WEBVTT - Big Sister Is Watching 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.680 Well that was fast. Within just days of Elon Musk 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:07.960 announcing his intention to buy Twitter to give conservatives a 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.639 little more freedom to speak our minds on just one 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:16.160 of the big tech platforms, the Biden administration has announced 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:20.959 the creation of a Disinformation Governance BORT, a brand new 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:28.760 Ministry of Truth to make sure that misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.280 really anything that you and I want to say is 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.639 not allowed to be said. Big Sister is watching. This 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:43.440 is Verdict with Ted Cruz. 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Just 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.160 go to ip vanished dot com slash cactus to claim 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.800 your discount and secure your online life. That's ip va 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:19.400 nish dot com slash cactus. Welcome back to Verdict with 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:25.360 Ted Cruz for now until the Disinformation Governance Board gets 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.600 its way. You can subscribe to Verdict over an Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:34.039 Google Play, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. For now, Senator, 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.920 how much time do we have left? Well, I don't know, 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.240 but I just got an order from Big Cis that 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:45.040 from now on, this podcast must be done entirely by 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:50.520 singing Broadway show tunes. Oh is that is a fate 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.919 worse than cancelation, Big Cis, I suspect you're referring to 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:58.960 is Nina Jankowitz, the Biden pick to lead the Disinformation 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.520 Governance Board, about whom I know only two things. One 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:07.359 she spread misinformation about the Hunter Biden laptop, and two 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.599 she loves singing show tunes on camera. And to a credit, 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.080 she's actually a pretty good singer. It's a little bizarre 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.640 and creepy what she sings, but she I don't know 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:22.280 as a professional or semi professional singer. But she's this 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:28.440 hard knee jerk leftist. And you know watching number one 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:33.200 Secretary may orchis who has presided over the most lawless 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.360 cabinet agency in the history of our country, which the 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.839 Department of Homeland Security has decided we don't enforce the border. 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.640 We let two million illegal aliens come in. The law 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:47.719 means nothing to US. So now he's created this misinformation 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.960 board in charge of fighting misinformation, and you know you 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:55.720 pointed out he did it literally within hours of Elon 0:05:55.800 --> 0:06:01.479 Musk's buying Twitter. It is stunning. Listen, the left ideas 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.919 are crap. They cannot defend them. They don't want to 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.840 defend them. They want to silence everyone who disagrees. I mean, 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:15.040 let's show you something amazing about Elon buying Twitter, which 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:20.320 is Twitter accepted Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter on 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:27.560 April twenty fifth. The very next day, literally the next day, 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:33.640 April twenty sixth, my new Twitter followers skyrocket. So I'm 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.200 just gonna read you the daily count of it, because 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:40.200 it's stunning. So on April nineteenth, I gained one seventeen 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.760 hundred and thirteen followers. April twenty fourth, one four hundred 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.880 and eighty six. April twenty fifth, the day Twitter says 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.719 yes to Elon Musk one thousand, two hundred and fourteen. 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.520 So consistently, day after day, I'm between a thousand and 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.320 two thousand new followers the next day. What's your guest 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.080 is to how many new followers I got the next day, 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.400 I'm gonna say it doubled at least on April twenty 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:14.200 twenty sixth fifty one thousand, four hundred and five, April 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:18.880 twenty seventh, sixty one thousand, two hundred and fifty one, 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:24.800 on April twenty eighth, seventy thousand, five hundred and eighty four. 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.280 The level of shadow banning, it's as if And by 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.360 the way, this is true for conservatives across the board 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.600 that they're seeing their numbers. Mine literally went from one 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:40.520 to two thousand a day to fifty sixty seventy thousand. 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.280 I've gone from four point eight million followers to five 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.680 point one million followers in a week, and all it 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.240 took was Elon buying it. This is the same thing 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.080 has happened with me. I am not a United States senator, 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.800 I have not run for president. I am but a 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:59.040 humble podcaster. I've gained at least one hundred thousand followers 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.640 in the what is a week since Elon took over, 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.240 It's been something like a clip of twenty thousand per day. 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.920 So either that means that they've unleashed the bots, which 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:11.560 I don't think it is, by the way, because my 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.880 engagement on Twitter is up. I'm seeing new people new 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.520 blue checkmark people who are ostensibly verified human beings. It 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.920 seems as though because don't forget, this deal hasn't even 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.679 gone through yet, so it's just the threat that Elan 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:27.200 is going to buy it. It seems as though this 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.600 has lifted a major shadow banning of conservatives. You know, 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:35.959 it's like they're sitting there running the shredders, going oh crap, 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.000 they're going to find out all the stuff we've done 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.520 shred at all, turned the algorithm off, and then within 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:46.880 hours the Biden administration announces we have a new board 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.320 to fight misinformation. I gotta tell you I had so 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.880 this week. I've had two hearings where I've asked Biden 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.480 officials about this. First of all, I had a Foreign 0:08:55.520 --> 0:09:00.640 Relations Committee hearing with the Deputy Secretary of State. Okay, 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.240 so ma Orchus got popped on Sunday about this, and 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.600 he says, no, no no, no, this is not to go 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.880 after American speech. This is all about foreign speech. This 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:14.440 is foreign disinformation only. Now, mind you, this office is 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:16.640 not at the US Department of State, It's at the 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:21.400 Department of Homeland Security. It's directed at Americans in the homeland. 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:23.480 But their talking point is no no, no, this is 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:27.440 only foreign disinformation. So I asked the Department of State today, 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.959 the Deputy Secretary of State, I said, it so happens. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.640 There actually is a long standing office at the State 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:41.280 Department whose statutory mission is to fight disinformation abroad from 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:45.200 foreign governments, and it's funded. Congress just funded them one 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:49.080 hundred and fifty million dollars. It's statutory mission is exactly 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.160 what these clowns are claiming the new office is going 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:55.080 to do. So I asked the State Department, gush, did 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.880 anybody talk to you about this? No? Do you know 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.920 anything about it? No? I have no idea. Is it 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:04.120 concerning to you that they've announced a new office that 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.080 they're claiming is doing the same thing your existing office 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.880 is doing. I have no idea. Nobody consulted us. We 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:14.600 know nothing. So that was lie number one. Number two. 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.760 We also had Pete boodhag Edge, the Secretary of Transportation, 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.719 testifying before the Senate today, and I asked him about this, 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.440 and I said, look, I read a quote from the 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.920 presidential campaign where he gave he waxed poetically about free 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.559 speech is wonderful, it's incredible, It's what makes America America. 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.640 I value free speech. When I was a soldier fighting 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.320 for America, the flag on my shoulder, it represented free speech. 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.199 It was you know, he's a pretty eloquent guy. And 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.079 I read the whole quote. I said, you know, gosh, 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.000 I agree with every word of that. That's beautifully stated. 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:50.400 Do you still agree with that? Do you still agree 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.240 with free speech? Yes? Well, then why did the Biden 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:57.520 administration announce an office, the Ministry of Truth to silence 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:02.680 people who disagree with you? And he immediately backtracks. He's like, well, well, well, 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.880 I don't know. I don't know. Like, well, come on, 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:12.520 I mean, you're you're aware of this, right, And he's like, well, well, well, 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:17.360 I don't know. But it's to stop disinformation, to stop 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:22.600 Russian disinformation. I said, really, like Hunter Biden's laptop. Is 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.240 that what you mean by disinformation? He's like, well, I 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.880 don't know anything about Hunter Biden's laptop. It's like, oh, really, 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.280 nobody seems to know anything about Hunter Biden's laptop, do they. Well, 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.280 and in this case, the woman who's going to be 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:40.000 running the Ministry of truthier for Biden, used that specific example, 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.160 so this is not just a hypothetical. She said, the 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:46.120 Hunter Biden laptop was a case of Russian disinformation, and 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.720 so presumably this board would have completely wiped away that 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.600 news story, had Big Tech and the the establishment media 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.320 not already done that for them two years ago. Now 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.120 that's exactly right. And as you know, the talking point, 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.439 there were fifty former leaders from the intelligence community community 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.160 that put out a letter when Hunter Biden's laptop broke 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:11.079 that said, this has all the classic signs of Russian disinformation, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:15.480 which we've learned now is code for this is really 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:20.440 bad for the Democratic presidential nominee. But we now know 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:25.880 that letter was an outright blatant lie. We know the 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.800 talking point that that that I don't know whether we 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:33.480 should call Nina the Minister of Truth or the commissary. 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.400 I'm kind of on the fence as to what her 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:43.040 tatalitarian titles should be. But she was out there pushing 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.800 this is Russian disinformation, and that's an uttered lie. And 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:53.760 leftists define as disinformation anything that is inconvenient for them, 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.800 anything they disagree with, and especially anything that is politically 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:03.600 damaging they call disinformation. And this is the Biden administration 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.800 nakedly getting getting caught with their hand in the cookie 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:08.959 jar to mix my metaphors pretty badly. I'm going to 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:13.439 upset my Yale colleague here with with that rather mangled illusion. 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:15.920 That is exactly the kind of thing that the new 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.199 censorship board is going to censor, the mixing of metaphors. 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.440 And that's that's a wonderful thing. There's a little silver 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:25.680 lining in that storm cloud, Senator. The White House has 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:30.240 given two examples of the kind of thing that the 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:33.680 board is going to shut down. That is calls to 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:40.280 violent extremism and as you say, foreign disinformation, specifically Russian disinformation. 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.400 And the problem it would seem to me is that 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:47.199 the White House accuses everything that Republicans say of being 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.600 a called to violent extremism or Russian disinformation. So we're 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.480 joking about it. It's absurd, and it's funny to make 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.960 fun of this, this power hungry lady and the whole 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.880 bind administration. But what are they going to do? And 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.480 what are we going to do about it? Look, it 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:07.960 is so bad that this week Jake Tapper from CNN 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.200 was forced to go on TV and acknowledge, Yeah, she 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.960 does really seem to be a partisan where she echoes 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.960 the Democratic talking points and she's skeptical of everything Republicans say, 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.520 and there's a clear political bias in her take on things. 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.520 Now when Jake Tapper, who has become a mouthpiece for 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:28.840 the hard left, he didn't used to be, but he's 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:33.520 become that. When even he says that, like, holy cow, 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:36.120 So what are we going to do about it? Listen? 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:37.800 I think one thing we're doing about it, we're doing 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:39.960 right now, which is just shining enough of a light 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.680 on it that it prevents them from going forward. I 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:49.200 do think you're seeing the Biden administration backpedaling. There's been 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:53.200 enough of a blowpack. I actually think labeling it the 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.120 Ministry of Truth is really powerful, because look, obviously there 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.120 are communist regimes that have ministries of truth and and 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.680 that throw you in the gulag for daring to speak 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:09.720 other than than the government line and calling this out 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:13.320 for what it is. My hope is that that that we, 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:20.440 you know, cut it off right at the beginning. If not, 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.880 then there's a reason why I asked about it twice 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.680 this week to two different Biden officials, because I want 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:29.720 to keep the pressure on. I want to keep the 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.480 light on. I want to force them to defend this, 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:37.000 this ridiculous abuse of power. And if they continue to 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.600 try to go forward with it next year, I believe 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:43.440 we're going to have majorities in both the House and 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.000 send it. We had to use the majorities in the 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.080 House and send it to cut off the funding and 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.000 to shut it down because the government has no business 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.680 silencing what the American people say. I don't think the 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:58.480 timing is coincidental. It's just too perfect, right after we've 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:00.640 been joking about it. But I think I think it's legit. 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.960 Right after Elon Musk announces this, you get the announcement 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.480 from the White House. So then turning to Musk, do 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.840 you think this deal is going to go through? One? 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.960 And two? What does that mean for conservatives on social media? 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.280 Whether we're talking about how the other big tech platforms 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.600 are going to react, or whether we're talking about how 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.920 the government is going to react. Joe Biden is already 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.760 talking about clamping down on Twitter the minute they free 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.560 up speech for conservatives. Yeah. And by the way, the 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:31.680 European Union is rattling its swords and reminding Twitter we 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:36.880 have rules to follow. Look, I think the deal is 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:38.440 going to go through. I don't know for sure. I 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.280 don't know the inside details of the deal. But Elon 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.280 seems very committed and certainly vocally committed. The board has 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:49.560 accepted it. According to the public reporting, he had financing lockdown. 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.200 The financing may change in terms of the mix of 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.880 debt and equity. That wouldn't surprise me. But it certainly 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.920 seems like it's going forward. You know, I will say 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.840 there is an irony that Elon Mosque has suddenly become 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:10.919 the champion and the defender of conservatives. Elon vocally supported 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.639 and voted for Barack Obama not once, but twice. You know, 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:17.240 Joe Rogan the other person who has become that They 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.119 may be the two most important people concerning free speech 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.320 in the entire country, Joe Rogan and Dorris Bernie Sanders. 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.600 So neither one of them meets the standard definition of 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:33.640 a conservative, but they both appreciate liberty. They both value 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.960 free speech. You know, it's spoke volumes. I don't know 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:40.120 if you saw last week a journalist at Time magazine 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:44.800 and I put journalists in scare quotes, said that free 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:50.040 speech is an obsession of rich white guys like the 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:59.440 today's corporate media wants to silence everybody except themselves. They 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.960 want to have a monopoly on speech, only the corporate 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.880 media and only big tech. And I know you've seen 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.360 the meme that that Elon tweeted out, which I think 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:12.720 is incredibly accurate, that it showed him previously where you 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:14.840 had the right, the left, the center, and it had 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.359 him left of center, and then what it showed was 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.680 the left running full speed to the left, and suddenly 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.480 the center moved, so he was right of center. But 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.159 in the meme he hadn't moved an end. Shit's just 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.160 the crazies had taken over the Democratic Party. By the way, 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.639 Bill Maher's in the same boat, where these are old 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:37.800 school liberals that just happened to believe in actual liberty, 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:44.240 and that in today's Democratic Party that is not only 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.680 not the mainstream anymore, that is a heretical view that 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:52.720 must be demonized and quashed. What do you think the 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.520 electoral politics of this look like. Do you think that 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:59.359 this plays for Democrats? Do you think this ministry of 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:01.560 truth is going to help them in the mid terms, 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.200 whether through the operation of the agency or just through 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.800 the public perception of it. Or are they stepping on 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.000 a rake here? I think they're stepping on a rake. 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.520 But a word you use there that is important and 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:18.080 that we don't know yet is operation like whether this 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.800 board will actually have any legal power or authority if 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:26.240 they engage how they intend to engage, if it's just 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:30.439 a look an example, an example we've talked about early 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:34.120 on when it happened on this podcast was doctor Fauci 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:40.160 in emails asking Mark Zuckerberg to silence and censor any 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.560 discussions of the origins of COVID nineteen, and in particular 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:48.120 discussions that it had escaped from a Chinese government lab 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.840 in Wohan. And we talked about two years ago. This 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:57.440 podcast walked through exhaustively the evidence that suggests and suggest 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.800 overwhelmingly that COVID nineteen escape from a Chinese government lab 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.560 in Wuhan. Zuckerberg was more than happy to comply. He said, yes, 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.680 we will censor it, we will keep it silent. I 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:13.080 could see this board playing a similar role and for example, 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:18.040 emailing Zuckerberg and and Facebook going along. I don't know 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:21.320 whether there are media outlets that will go along. I 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:25.800 feel confident Elon Musk won't go along. And it's why 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:30.360 his buying Twitter is so important, because it creates a 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:35.240 significant avenue by the way, one thing people may not 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:39.199 realize as to why Twitter matters so much. So so 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:45.040 a tiny percentage of Americans actually listen follow Twitter, and 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.600 those that do skew pretty heavily left. If the world 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.880 were the Twitter sphere, we'd all be screwed. It would 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.600 be sunk. Yeah, you know, AOC would be president. So 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.600 I'm glad that the world is not the Twitter sphere. Now, 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:03.520 some of that is is amplified by the shadow banning 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:06.000 and practices, so we may find out that the Twitter 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:11.000 sphere is not as left as it appears. But most 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:13.480 normal Americans are not on Twitter. The reason it matters, 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:15.320 One of the reasons it matters so much is every 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:18.199 reporter in the universe is on Twitter. And so I 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.080 could tell you in politics, frankly, the way you get 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.639 out a statement and get it out quickly as you 0:21:23.680 --> 0:21:26.000 go to Twitter and you put it out, and it's 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:30.040 an amazing thing. Look, Donald Trump pioneered this in twenty sixteen, 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.600 and I was on the opposing side, and he captured 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:38.119 how to use Twitter and just dominate the news within instances. 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.640 And it is a wild thing that I will pull 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.800 out my phone and I'll send a tweet and within 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:47.199 minutes I can turn on the TV and see my 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:51.359 tweet on the news, driving the news and driving messaging. 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.199 That's part of why free speech on Twitter matters, because 0:21:55.240 --> 0:22:03.159 it influences everyone that has outlets of communication that is 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:06.919 potent for the overall public discourse. Right. I agree, it 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:09.800 does set the news in a way that Facebook and 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:12.400 YouTube and Google don't. I think that's why they are 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:16.160 absolutely losing it that Elon is promising conservatives a little 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:19.159 more freedom on this question of political speech. I am 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:22.480 ashamed to say that I have neglected our Verdict listeners, 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:24.200 but I will do that no more. There's a question 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:26.359 I really want to get to here in the mail bag. 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.640 You of course can join Verdict plus over on locals, 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:33.280 the Verdict plus community, and you can subscribe to Verdict 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:36.920 wherever you get your podcasts. This question comes to us 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:40.280 from Al who says, Senator Cruz, how do you think 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:45.760 the court will rule on Ted Cruz versus fec A 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:48.520 question not only about political speech, but about a case 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:50.800 that you are heavily involved in. Yeah. No, it's a 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.040 case I care a great deal about. It is a 0:22:54.119 --> 0:22:58.360 case challenging, and I'm the name plainiff. I brought the lawsuit. 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.960 It is challenging an element of McCain finegold, which is 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:06.720 the big campaign finance law. It's a terrible law. One 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:10.280 element of the law limits the ability of a political 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:14.359 candidate to pay themselves back for loans they make to 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:19.120 their campaign. And so it caps it at paying yourself 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:23.080 back at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is the 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:26.280 most you can pay yourself back from funds received after 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:29.119 the campaign. And so you know, you have lots of 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:33.280 candidates who put their life savings into into a campaign, 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:36.400 and they may put five hundred thousand or more into 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:40.040 a campaign, and McCain finegold says, well, tough, you're not 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:42.919 allowed to pay yourself back. You've just basically given a 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:45.359 gift to democracy. And doesn't it suck to be you? 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:50.000 And by the way, the reason that Congress passed it, 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:52.560 if you go look at the debates, it's an incumbent 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:58.440 protection plan because one of the ways incumbents avoid being 0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:01.640 beat is their challengers raise any money and they don't 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:03.280 have the name idea to raise money. And so what 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:06.480 happens often as someone will invest their own money into 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:10.440 the race, and it is how challengers get the initial 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:13.840 oxygen to get their message out, well, if you make 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:16.360 it that. You know, Michael, you put your money into 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:18.440 the race, and even if you win, you can't get 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:21.560 it back, and it's going to cost you. You might 0:24:21.600 --> 0:24:23.160 be willing to do it, but a lot of people 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:28.080