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Speaker 1: Cactus to six five five three two again that's eight

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Speaker 1: text Cactus to six five five three two. Welcome back

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Speaker 1: to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, having deja

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Speaker 1: vu all over again. Hold on just a second, Michael,

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Speaker 1: hold on just this again. Let let me jump in

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Speaker 1: here because I think there's another very important topic that

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Speaker 1: we might want to touch on right here at the

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Speaker 1: top of the show. So, if I'm a senator, um,

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel, can we address this for just a second,

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Speaker 1: because Jimmy Kimmel has been going after you for about

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Speaker 1: a week now. Yes, we're laughing because our viewers are

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Speaker 1: probably aware of this. He's been tweeting out some kind

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Speaker 1: of disturbing, disgusting images of you. Well, what do you

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Speaker 1: make of this? What is going on here? Well, look,

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Speaker 1: Jimmy may be a Russian Communist at a minimum. He's

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Speaker 1: clearly disturbed. And you know, I'm kind of reminded of

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Speaker 1: the mean Girl's meme. You're kind of obsessed with me.

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Speaker 1: Every night, Jimmy Kimmel's seems to be hitting me. In

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Speaker 1: his monologue, he put out this really horrific photoshopped image

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Speaker 1: of my head on this fat dude's naked body who

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Speaker 1: is straddling an enormous hot dog, which which I don't

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Speaker 1: know if this is like some homoerotic fatasy he has.

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Speaker 1: It's a little frightening. I guess I should be flattered

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Speaker 1: that it is a ginormous hot dog, but I don't

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Speaker 1: understand why this exists in the Twitter sphere. I will say, though,

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Speaker 1: that I do have a standard policy, which is every

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Speaker 1: time Jimmy hits me, and it seems to be a

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Speaker 1: regular a regular occasion, I respond by simply observing that

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Speaker 1: when Jimmy and I last saw each other, we played basketball.

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Speaker 1: We played one on one hoops and long and short

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Speaker 1: of it, and actually long of it because it was

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Speaker 1: a really long and ugly game. But the long and

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Speaker 1: short of it is I kicked his ass, and so

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Speaker 1: I've had some fun putting out a highlight video entitled

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Speaker 1: Buckets and Blocks that consists of me hitting jump shots,

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Speaker 1: driving to the lane, driving left, driving right, scoring on him,

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Speaker 1: and then the blocks are just rejecting the hell out

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Speaker 1: of his shots, one after the other after the other.

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Speaker 1: A few times I foul the hell out of him too,

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Speaker 1: but it is it is a wonderful reminder that that

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Speaker 1: and by the way, that that game came to pass.

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Speaker 1: We actually raised eighty thousand dollars for charity to play

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Speaker 1: that game. But neither one of us wanted to lose,

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Speaker 1: and well one of us did, and Jimmy seems to

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Speaker 1: be having a really hard time getting over it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is a pretty extreme case of sour grapes. I

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Speaker 1: think mixing that with his ideology and man like, I

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Speaker 1: think the word you used as corrective was pretty disturbing,

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Speaker 1: pretty disgusting, the things that he was posted on Twitter.

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Speaker 1: It's uh, you know. I have to say the game

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Speaker 1: was interesting because he didn't have a sense of humor

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Speaker 1: about it. He was like really serious and like when

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Speaker 1: we walked out on the court. We played at TSU

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Speaker 1: Texas Southern University. Six thousand people came out to watch

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Speaker 1: the game, I mean, and it was as we're walking

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Speaker 1: out there, he comes out to confetti cannons and like

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Speaker 1: loud music and we had you know, Gus Johnson and

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Speaker 1: Isaiah Thomas and we're broadcasting the event. But but as

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Speaker 1: we're walking out, he turns to me and says, prepared

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Speaker 1: to be humiliated. And it was not. It was not ingest.

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Speaker 1: It was like Ivan Drago and Rocky for going. You know,

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Speaker 1: if he dies, he dies. That that was essentially his

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Speaker 1: his his sentiment, and I think he thought he was

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Speaker 1: going to have a great time dominating me, and that

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Speaker 1: that is not in fact what happened. Now, I will

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Speaker 1: say one of the ESPN announcers had a point he said,

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Speaker 1: if doctor Naysmith had seen what happened year tonight, he

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Speaker 1: would have invented a different game. It was an ugly

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Speaker 1: game of basketball, but aw aws aw, and poor Jimmy's

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Speaker 1: got to live with that the rest of his life. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: I think that's that's where we leave that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he can do a seller grapes on Twitter, but you've

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Speaker 1: always got that win in your pockets. All right, Liz,

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Speaker 1: we'll see you back at the end of the show

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Speaker 1: to get into the mail bag. And frankly, I see

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Speaker 1: why you had to get to that topic first, because

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Speaker 1: as disturbing as the invasion by Russia of another country is,

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Speaker 1: nothing could possibly be as disturbing as that photo on

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Speaker 1: the hot dog from Jimmy Kimmel's account. So we will

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Speaker 1: see you at the end of the show. Now, Senator,

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Speaker 1: into another disturbing topic. This is real. I mean, this

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Speaker 1: is not just a more media hype about something. We

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Speaker 1: know that Vladimir Putin invaded Georgia during the Bush administration.

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Speaker 1: We know he invaded Crimea during the Obama administration. Now

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Speaker 1: it appears that he is poised to go into Ukraine again.

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Speaker 1: How credible is this? What does the timeline look like

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Speaker 1: and why are we supposed to care? What are we

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Speaker 1: supposed to do about it? Yeah, so it is, It

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Speaker 1: is very credible. The timeline is short. So there are

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Speaker 1: right now over one hundred thousand Russian troops massed on

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Speaker 1: the border of Ukraine, and those numbers are growing. They're

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Speaker 1: growing on a daily basis. And the Biden administration over

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Speaker 1: the past several days is declassified documents that suggest we

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Speaker 1: could see an invasion of Ukraine as early as as

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Speaker 1: the beginning of next year, as January of February of

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Speaker 1: next year. You know, there are several points, and this

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Speaker 1: stuff is complicated, but you know, in many ways we're

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Speaker 1: getting back to to really the the origins of Verdict.

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Speaker 1: When we started, you know, our very first episode in

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Speaker 1: the basement in the bowels of DC and on the

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Speaker 1: first impeachment trial was explaining Ukraine and Burris an impeachment

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Speaker 1: and natural gas and all of that. You remember, one

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Speaker 1: of our first episodes said, all right, well what is Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with that. You know, Ukraine is a country.

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Speaker 1: It is a country that is to the west of Russia.

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Speaker 1: It is a country that used to be to the

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Speaker 1: part of the Soviet Union, and when the Soviet Union

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Speaker 1: broke out, it's one of many countries that became its

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Speaker 1: own independent country. Why does Russia want to invade Ukraine?

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Speaker 1: The simple answer. Vladimir Putin has been very candid about it.

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Speaker 1: He has said that he considers the dissolution of the

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Speaker 1: Soviet Union to be the single greatest geopolitical disaster of

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Speaker 1: the twentieth century. He wants to reassemble the Soviet Union.

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Speaker 1: He has images of Russian greatness and Soviet greatness and

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Speaker 1: he wants to restore that, and that means he wants

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Speaker 1: to conquer his neighbors. Now, why is this happening now?

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Speaker 1: Some of it is testing a new president, and you're

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Speaker 1: absolutely right that Russia and all of our enemies test

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Speaker 1: a new president. Some of it is a response to

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Speaker 1: Biden's incredible weakness and ineffectiveness in Afghanistan and the disastrous

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Speaker 1: withdrawal and surrender there, which we've talked about on Verdict,

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Speaker 1: made every enemy of America much more likely to engage

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Speaker 1: in aggression against US because they took a measure of

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Speaker 1: the man in the Oval Office and determined Joe Biden

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Speaker 1: is unlikely to do anything about it. But There's another

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Speaker 1: cause here, which we've talked about before on Verdict, but

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Speaker 1: I think it is worth drilling down in some detail,

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Speaker 1: and that cause of this Russian hostility is a decision

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden personally made to surrender to Russia on Nordstream too,

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Speaker 1: a natural gas pipeline that Russia is building from Russia

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Speaker 1: to Germany. And that decision Biden took what had been

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Speaker 1: a foreign policy victory that we had won, and he

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Speaker 1: turned it into a loss. And that is the direct

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Speaker 1: but or cause of why Russia is prepared to invade Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: Now let's start with what does a pipeline have to

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Speaker 1: do with Ukraine? Because that that's not immediately evident to

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Speaker 1: someone who is analyzing it and thinking through it. Well,

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Speaker 1: I remember I had this thought when you when you

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Speaker 1: brought it up center, and we we've talked about it

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Speaker 1: a little bit on this show. But I would like

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Speaker 1: because because it's things seem to be coming to a head.

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Speaker 1: So I do want to be able to understand this.

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Speaker 1: But I think I think there's this question of, as

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Speaker 1: Barack Obama said, why do I care if Russia exerts

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Speaker 1: influence in its traditional sphere of influence? What do I

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Speaker 1: care about Ukraine? I don't know anything. Most people, as

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Speaker 1: you point out, probably don't even know where Ukraine is

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Speaker 1: on a map. And and what does it have to

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Speaker 1: do with this pipeline. I guess I care about pipelines

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Speaker 1: because I care when gas goes through the roof like

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Speaker 1: it is doing right now. But but where is the

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Speaker 1: interest for the average American citizen? So Vladimer Putin is

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Speaker 1: a bully, He's a thug, he's a tyrant. He commits

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Speaker 1: murder and torture and lies and oppression on a regular basis,

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Speaker 1: and he wants to dominate his neighbors. He wants to

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Speaker 1: rebuild the Soviet Union. Now, look, we spent decades fighting

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Speaker 1: a Cold War. The Soviet Union was a very dangerous adversary.

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Speaker 1: It's not an America's interest to see Putin rebuild the

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Speaker 1: Soviet Union. It's not an America's interest to see an

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Speaker 1: enemy who wants to defeat us gets stronger and more powerful.

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Speaker 1: When it comes to energy, there's a second component of it,

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Speaker 1: which is that Putin uses energy to blackmail Europe, to

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Speaker 1: force Europe to do what he wants. And you know,

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Speaker 1: there's a phrase that John McCain used to use that

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Speaker 1: I think is a really apt phrase, which is that

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Speaker 1: Russia is a gas station with a country attached, which

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Speaker 1: is the source of Putin's money that he uses to

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Speaker 1: pay his army, to buy his tanks, to buy his missiles,

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Speaker 1: to develop the nuclear weapons he has pointed at you

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Speaker 1: right now in Nashville, pointed at every major country in America.

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Speaker 1: The source of that money is energy, selling oil and gas. Now,

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Speaker 1: twenty fourteen was the last time Putin invaded Ukraine, and

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Speaker 1: he invaded a section of uk Ukraine called Crimea, but

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Speaker 1: then he stopped. He didn't go all the way into Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: He didn't invade the entire country, didn't go into the capital,

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Speaker 1: which you know, the capital. Everyone used to pronounce at Kiev,

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Speaker 1: and now it's it's considered I guess more enlightened to

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Speaker 1: pronounce it Kiev. So I have to refer to one

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Speaker 1: of my favorite dinners as Chicken Kiev apparently, not chicken

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Speaker 1: Kiev apparently. Whether it's one syllable or two, I will

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Speaker 1: leave that to the linguists. But the reason he didn't

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Speaker 1: march into all of Ukraine is right now, the principal

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Speaker 1: route that Russia uses to get its natural gas to

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Speaker 1: Europe is going through Ukraine. Is pipelines that go right

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Speaker 1: through the middle of Ukraine, and Ukraine makes a bunch

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Speaker 1: of money on these pipelines because it's how they send

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Speaker 1: Russian gas to Europe to heat their homes, to provide

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Speaker 1: energy for their homes and right so, Putin faced the

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Speaker 1: risk if he if he sent tanks into the heart

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Speaker 1: of Ukraine, if he invaded Kiev, that those pipelines could

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Speaker 1: be destroyed, that they could lose their ability to get

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Speaker 1: their gas to market, and it protected Ukraine's safety and security.

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Speaker 1: So what did Putin do in response? Well, the very

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Speaker 1: next year, twenty fifteen, is when he began building the

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Speaker 1: Nordstream two pipeline. And basically what he said is, all right,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to have to go through Ukraine to

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Speaker 1: get my gas to Europe, so let's build a pipeline

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Speaker 1: that goes underwater and goes directly from Russia to Germany.

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Speaker 1: That cuts Ukraine out of the process, so then we

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Speaker 1: can march into Ukraine and they can't do a damn

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Speaker 1: thing about it. Well, he began building that pipeline. It

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Speaker 1: took a lot of time. As we got to twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: the pipeline was nearly complete. And I have been the

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Speaker 1: leading voice, the leading actor in the Senate to stop

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Speaker 1: this pipeline. Because this pipeline, if built, if online gives

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Speaker 1: putin billions of dollars to attack Americans, attack our allies.

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Speaker 1: I want putin week and I want him not aggressive

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Speaker 1: and hostile. So in the summer of twenty nineteen, I

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Speaker 1: introduce legislation in the Senate to sanction the companies that

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Speaker 1: were building Nordstream two. It was bipartisan legislation. I got

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Speaker 1: brought together Republicans, Democrats, passed it through the Senate Foreign

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Speaker 1: Relations Committee, passed it through the entire Senate, passed it

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Speaker 1: through the entire Congress, and President Trump signed it into law.

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Speaker 1: Now here's something amazing, Michael. They were building the pipeline.

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Speaker 1: They were actively rushing trying to complete the pipeline. It

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Speaker 1: was about ninety percent complete when President Trump signed the

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Speaker 1: sanctions into law. They stopped building the pipeline that day,

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Speaker 1: not the next day, not a week later, not a

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Speaker 1: month later. The day the sanctions were signed into law,

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Speaker 1: and they were designed because they would have bankrupted any

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Speaker 1: company that continued to build the pipeline. So what happens next.

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Speaker 1: This is December of twenty nineteen. The pipeline lays dormant

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Speaker 1: for over a year. By the way, one of the

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Speaker 1: talking points today as well, it was ninety percent done.

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Speaker 1: It was ninety percent done. Well, that's true, but a

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Speaker 1: ninety percent done pipeline is zero percent done. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: work till you connect both ends and turn it on,

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Speaker 1: unless unless the oil is going to jump out and

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Speaker 1: make it that last ten percent, then it's useless. Yep.

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Speaker 1: So for over a year we had defeated this pipeline.

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Speaker 1: We had won. It was a massive bipartisan victory over Russia.

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Speaker 1: It was a victory for Europe, it was a victory

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Speaker 1: for Ukraine, and it was a victory for America. Then

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden comes to office and the Biden foreign policy team.

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Speaker 1: Number one, their view towards bullies and enemies of America

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Speaker 1: is weakness, is weakness towards the Taliban and Afghanistan, weakness

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Speaker 1: towards the Chinese communist weakness towards Iran, and weakness towards Russia.

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Speaker 1: But number two, they really elevate Germany in their foreign policy.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I've joked that that the Biden foreign

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Speaker 1: policy team has votive candle of Angela Merkel under their

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Speaker 1: beds at night that they just they they worship Merkel

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Speaker 1: for whatever reason. And Germany wants the pipeline. So Biden

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Speaker 1: reversed course and surrendered on these sanctions. And here it's

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Speaker 1: really quite amazing. The pipeline is stopped the day Trump

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Speaker 1: signs the sanctions in December of twenty nineteen. Joe Biden

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Speaker 1: is sworn into office January twentieth, twenty twenty one. Do

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Speaker 1: you know what day Biden Putin begins building the pipeline again?

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Speaker 1: What day? January twenty fourth, twenty twenty one, four days

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Speaker 1: after Biden puts his hand on the Bible, Putin begins

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Speaker 1: building the pipeline. What you've what you've drawn here that

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Speaker 1: I did not appreciate before it. Obviously I understood there's

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Speaker 1: some connection here between this pipeline and and what Russia

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Speaker 1: is doing in Ukraine. But the pipeline is a symbol.

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Speaker 1: It's a physical representation of the imperial ambition of Vladimir Putin.

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Speaker 1: The Whole point of the pipeline, other than saving a

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Speaker 1: little bit of money, I guess, is to free up

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Speaker 1: Russia to go pursue whatever imperial ambitions it has in Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: So you kill the pipeline, you kill or at least

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Speaker 1: seriously dampen the imperial ambitions. And if you give the

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Speaker 1: OK on the pipeline, you are tacitly giving the OK

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Speaker 1: on Russia going into Ukraine. Michael, That's exactly right. And

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Speaker 1: it's a point that I made repeatedly. It's a point

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Speaker 1: that senators, both Republicans and Democrats made over and over

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Speaker 1: and over again. It's also a point that was made

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Speaker 1: by Ukraine in Poland. So this summer, when Biden formally

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Speaker 1: surrendered to Putin and waived the sanctions that were part

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Speaker 1: of US law, Ukraine and Poland put out a joint

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Speaker 1: statement condemning that decision and saying giving into Nordstream two

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Speaker 1: creates a grave security threat against Ukraine and Central Europe

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Speaker 1: because once the pipeline is on, Putin can drive the

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Speaker 1: tanks into Ukraine and not worry about whether they destroy

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Speaker 1: their pipeline or not, because he has another way to

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Speaker 1: get the gas to market. The amazing thing is, so

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Speaker 1: where are we now on the pipeline. The pipeline is

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Speaker 1: now complete. So Biden surrendered allowed Putin to complete it,

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Speaker 1: but it's not on yet. And the reason it's not

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Speaker 1: on is before it can be turned on, it has

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Speaker 1: to go through certification. It has to go through the

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Speaker 1: final regulatory approval in Europe before they can turn the

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Speaker 1: pipeline on, which means Biden can stop this right now

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Speaker 1: if he simply follows the law. So he has waived

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Speaker 1: the sanctions, he could revoke the waiver. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: earlier today we had testimony in front of the Senate

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Speaker 1: Foreign Relations Committee from Victoria Newland, who is the under

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Speaker 1: Secretary of State, and I asked her directly, could President

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Speaker 1: Biden today in those sanctions on Nordstream two by simply

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Speaker 1: revoking his waivers? She said, yes, he could do it today.

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Speaker 1: If you want to stop Russian tanks from driving in

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Speaker 1: into Ukraine and conquering them, Joe Biden needs to bring

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Speaker 1: out a damn pen and piece of paper and impose

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Speaker 1: the sanctions that Congress is mandated. But he didn't want

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Speaker 1: to do it, and so Democrats are playing the blame game.

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Speaker 1: It's amazing. You know, you asked why should we care

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Speaker 1: about Ukraine? Listen, let me be clear. We shouldn't send

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Speaker 1: American troops to go defend Ukraine. I have no interest

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Speaker 1: in sending American soldiers or sailors or airmen and marines

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Speaker 1: to be in harm's way to go fight the Russian army.

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Speaker 1: That's a bad idea. But we've got enormous leverage. These

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Speaker 1: sanctions are using American economic power to stop military tyrants

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Speaker 1: from dominating Europe and threatening America, and we should use them.

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Speaker 1: We should also be providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: Ukraine wants to defend themselves, but Russia's got a lot

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Speaker 1: better weaponry, a lot better equipment than Ukraine does. In Ukraine,

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Speaker 1: I went and visited Ukraine back in twenty fourteen and

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Speaker 1: went to the Maiden Square where where you had protesters

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Speaker 1: were being shot in the square when they were standing up.

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Speaker 1: And the people of Ukraine want to be allied with America.

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Speaker 1: They want to be allied with the West, they want

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Speaker 1: to be allied with Europe. They don't want to be

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Speaker 1: subject to Putin and Russia's domination. And it's in our

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Speaker 1: interest for them to be an ally and so, but

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Speaker 1: you know what, Joe Biden and the Democrats canceled the

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Speaker 1: sale of lethal defensive military equipment to Ukraine. So they're

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Speaker 1: not even helping the Ukrainians defend themselves. And if Biden

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Speaker 1: doesn't change course, I think it is the odds are

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Speaker 1: high that within ninety days Russia will have in invaded

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Speaker 1: and sadly in all likelihood conquered Ukraine and taken a

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Speaker 1: major step towards reassembling the Soviet Union. Because Joe Biden

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Speaker 1: is too weak to stand up to Putin. It is astounding.

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Speaker 1: This is a scary prospect, obviously, but it's very important

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Speaker 1: and people should bookmark this episode if you're listening to it,

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Speaker 1: because what you're saying is right now, it's not too late.

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden can't just say, well, whoopsie Daisy, there was

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Speaker 1: nothing I could do. It is not too late. They're

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Speaker 1: actually concrete measures you could take right now that could

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Speaker 1: stop this, that could prevent this next step in Russia's

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Speaker 1: imperial ambitions. As usual, of course, we're running late, but

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Speaker 1: I do have to get to one story before we

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Speaker 1: get to the mailbag, and it's on this very same

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Speaker 1: point of not too late. There are things we can

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Speaker 1: do right now to maintain our way of life and

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Speaker 1: protect protect our freedoms and our rights. There was a

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Speaker 1: move by Democrats, and unfortunately some Republicans I saw went

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Speaker 1: along with this during the debate over the National Defense

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Speaker 1: Authorization Act that would draft women, that would that would

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Speaker 1: create this system where women could be drafted potentially to

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Speaker 1: go die overseas. We touched on it when this was

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Speaker 1: being debated on this show. I just had a visceral

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Speaker 1: reaction to it. I thought, this is so disgusting, this

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Speaker 1: is so backwards. What kind of a country America is,

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Speaker 1: basically say, basically wealthy, basically secure, and we're going to

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Speaker 1: drag our daughters and send them overseas and draft. I thought,

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Speaker 1: what reasonable person could ever get behind this? But it

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Speaker 1: looked like it was a done deal. And then just

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Speaker 1: in the past few days you and some of your

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Speaker 1: colleagues sponsored and cosponsored and amendment to rip this out

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Speaker 1: of the NDAA, and that appears to be successful. Well, look,

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Speaker 1: that's exactly right. And it's for over a decade there's

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Speaker 1: been this effort to try to make girls and women

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Speaker 1: subject to the draft, subject to being forced into the

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Speaker 1: military against their wishes, and it is driven by the Democrats.

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Speaker 1: The Democrats emphatically want to be able to draft our daughters,

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Speaker 1: and sadly, there are a bunch of compliant Republicans that

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Speaker 1: are scared to stand up to it. They think, oh, well,

429
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 1: well if I say we shouldn't draft our daughters somehow

430
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 1: I don't like women. What utter garbage. Listen, I've got

431
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 1: two daughters. If my girls want to serve at the military,

432
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:31,560
Speaker 1: God bless them, I will encourage them. I will cheer

433
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 1: them on. That is a choice that is open to them.

434
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 1: If they decide they want to serve in that capacity, bravo,

435
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 1: that's their choice. But there's a difference between opening up

436
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 1: our military. We have men and women who serve honorably,

437
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: voluntarily and forcibly. Conscripting a woman and putting her in

438
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 1: harm's way when there are real biological differences between men

439
00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:03,800
Speaker 1: and women, and to women into the military into combat

440
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 1: against their wishes is putting them at real risk. Are

441
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 1: there some women that are badasses? Or there's some women

442
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 1: that that could whip your butt or whip my butt? Sure,

443
00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:21,480
Speaker 1: but probably not every woman. I'm confident, Michael, there is

444
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:23,680
Speaker 1: at least some woman who you could beat arm wrestling,

445
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: I hope. So I appreciate your confidence in me, Senator.

446
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,160
Speaker 1: I'm not totally sure, but thank you. For the compliment.

447
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I've got believe in you on that.

448
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: But you know, this battle and I got to say

449
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 1: it was really looking looking bad that that that the

450
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,680
Speaker 1: Democrats were ramming this through, that half of the Republicans

451
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,159
Speaker 1: were surrendering on this. And there's a long history on

452
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 1: this issue. So I gotta tell you I've been fighting

453
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,920
Speaker 1: against this for for nine years, and on the Senate

454
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,359
Speaker 1: Arm Services Committee. You know, one of the biggest proponents

455
00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 1: of drafting our daughters was John McCain. John mc kane

456
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 1: loved the idea, and he was chairman of the Senate

457
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: Arm Services Committee. I was on the Arm Services Committee,

458
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,119
Speaker 1: and I would battle him. I'd argue and yell, and

459
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,800
Speaker 1: McCain would curse at you. I mean he was he

460
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: had a temper and he would yell and curse, and

461
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 1: we had some epic battles. I seem to recall he

462
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:19,680
Speaker 1: said some not very polite things about you. On occasion,

463
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,480
Speaker 1: every now and again he called me a whacko bird.

464
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: I thought that was a particularly nice. In fact, I

465
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,160
Speaker 1: had some activists who gave me a baseball cap with

466
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 1: whacko bird written on in a picture of Daffy Duck

467
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: but so what would happen every year in the Senate

468
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: arm Services Committee is he would fight for it, ram

469
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: it through, and he would get enough Republicans to go

470
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 1: along with the Democrats that he would succeed in that.

471
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 1: But I would work with conservatives in the House and

472
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 1: we'd pull it out. And so I won those battles

473
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,880
Speaker 1: year after year after year, much to his volcanic rage.

474
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 1: He was furious about it. So there's an interesting story

475
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:05,240
Speaker 1: on this, Michael. So, beginning of twenty seventeen, Donald Trump's

476
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: the new president. He nominates to be the General Counsel

477
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,720
Speaker 1: of the Army a guy named Ryan Newman. Now Ryan,

478
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 1: it's a great guy. He had. He was my chief

479
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 1: counsel in the Senate. Ryan was a West Point graduate,

480
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,760
Speaker 1: served in the Army. He was a captain in the Army.

481
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: Ryan clerked on the US Supreme Court for Justice Alito.

482
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 1: Ryan was a student of mine at the University of

483
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 1: Texas Law School. So when I was teaching Supreme Court litigation,

484
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,280
Speaker 1: he was one of my very best students, and so

485
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:42,560
Speaker 1: I was very enthusiastic when President Trump nominated Ryan to

486
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,960
Speaker 1: be the General Counsel of the Army. So Ryan's hearing

487
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: is confirmation hearing is set. The day before his hearing,

488
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: he goes in to meet with the Chairman of the

489
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:56,760
Speaker 1: Armed Services Committee, John McCain, and he sits down in

490
00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: McCain's office and McCain asks him, says, Ryan, what are

491
00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:09,959
Speaker 1: your views on drafting women? And Ryan gave exactly the

492
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 1: right answer for a lawyer nominated to that job. And

493
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,920
Speaker 1: he says, Senator, that is a policy decision for Congress

494
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,920
Speaker 1: to make. Congress is elected to make that policy decision.

495
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 1: If I was confirmed as General Counsel of the Army,

496
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: I would implement whatever policy decision Congress made, which is

497
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:31,480
Speaker 1: exactly the right answer. McCain looks at him and goes, bullshit,

498
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 1: I want your personal views, and Ryan says, well, Sir, personally,

499
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 1: I think it's a bad idea. McCain looks at him

500
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 1: and says, get the hell out of my office, throws

501
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 1: him out of his office, cancels his hearing. The next day,

502
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: and for the next couple of months, McCain refused to

503
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 1: have a hearing with him, and ultimately the Trump White

504
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 1: House with through the nomination and they named him instead

505
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 1: Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Defense. Which doesn't

506
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: require a Senate confirmation. So McCain was so pissed off

507
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 1: about the fact that I had been leading the fight

508
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: for years against his efforts to draft our daughters, that

509
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:24,240
Speaker 1: he torpedoed an incredibly qualified guy's nomination to be General

510
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: Counsel of the Army because he was mad at him,

511
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: and he was really mad at me. And I got

512
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 1: to say, you know, John McCain was an incredible war hero,

513
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: but he may be rolling over in his grave because

514
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,040
Speaker 1: once again we've beaten the efforts of the bad guys

515
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:42,440
Speaker 1: to try to draft our daughters and force him into combat.

516
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 1: That is great stuff. You know. I'm sure having Professor

517
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,800
Speaker 1: Cruz on the old CV may not have helped your

518
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 1: friend very much in this meeting with Senator McCain, but

519
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 1: this is really great stuff. And I didn't know that.

520
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,360
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that McCain had been pushing so hard

521
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,160
Speaker 1: for that. There are a number of Republicans who were

522
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,400
Speaker 1: pushing for it. Frankly, I found it disqualifying. I just

523
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,360
Speaker 1: I felt if you were of the view that we

524
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 1: should forcibly draft America's daughters, you just don't get it.

525
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: There's just something has gone wrong. In your political vision.

526
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 1: I did not think that we were going to be

527
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: able to get it out this time. I thought that

528
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: the Democrats had succeeded. And so seriously, I mean this.

529
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 1: I hate, I hate to give a sincere compliment on

530
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:27,920
Speaker 1: the show, but great stuff. Just kudos, thank you, great stuff.

531
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,200
Speaker 1: I am so glad that you and some of your

532
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 1: colleagues were able to pull this out and do the

533
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 1: right thing. Absolutely wonderful. Should we bring this this is

534
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 1: too nice? I feel I feel awkward being this nice?

535
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,400
Speaker 1: Shall we bring Liz back on? Absolutely a little bit

536
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 1: of mail back before we go, By the way, speaking

537
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:49,080
Speaker 1: of someone who could beat both of us arm wrestling Liza, well,

538
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 1: well we'll have to. I'll have to save that at

539
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 1: least for episode one hundred. We can't. We can't pull

540
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,239
Speaker 1: that out in episode ninety eight. But Michael, you might

541
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 1: have to continue to feel awkward for just another second,

542
00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 1: because I do have to echo what you were saying.

543
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 1: Senator Crew is on behalf of my daughter. I thank

544
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:04,320
Speaker 1: you for fighting this fight. It's the right thing to do,

545
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 1: and it's a politically incorrect fight. In you know, this

546
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 1: era of critical gender theory that the left is trying

547
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 1: to force on all of our children. But I sincerely,

548
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 1: I sincerely thank you for fighting this fight on behalf

549
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,960
Speaker 1: of America's daughter and my own daughter. That being said,

550
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 1: we have great questions from our Verdict plus community tonight,

551
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 1: from our subscribers over on Verdict Plus and anybody who

552
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 1: is not already a subscriber on Verdict Plus. We have

553
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 1: a great deal between now and Christmas. You can become

554
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 1: an annual subscriber for the very low, very cheap amount

555
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 1: of money fifty six dollars a year. This is basically

556
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:39,520
Speaker 1: the cheapest that you'll ever see it. So please join

557
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:41,600
Speaker 1: us over there if you want exclusive access to the

558
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 1: Senator to be able to ask questions to Michael and

559
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: to the Senator on these episodes. So, Senator Cruz, the

560
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 1: first question is of course for you from Flow Brenton.

561
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,760
Speaker 1: This is a pretty interesting one. She says, I love Verdict,

562
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: but right now Nancy Pelosi is abusing her position with

563
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 1: her January sixth Soviet style commission. The DJ is at

564
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 1: her back, and call I cannot enjoy the entertainment of Verdict,

565
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 1: Flow says, while our constitution is being torn to shreds,

566
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: and not a single Republican congressman or senator stepping up

567
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,319
Speaker 1: to the plate to protect us. This is disgraceful. It's

568
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,600
Speaker 1: time to take care of business. So, Senator Crews, my

569
00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:18,239
Speaker 1: question is, how do you address this anger that's not

570
00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:22,120
Speaker 1: just felt by Flow but by the American people regarding

571
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,760
Speaker 1: how the Democrats are handling the January sixth Commission. Well, listen,

572
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 1: Flow is exactly right that what Nancy Pelosi and the

573
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,680
Speaker 1: Democrats are doing is a sham. It is a political

574
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 1: kangaroo court. This is a commission set up in Congress

575
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 1: that is all Democrats. And then when Kevin McCarthy, the

576
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,000
Speaker 1: leader of House Republicans, named some Republicans to it, Nancy

577
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 1: Pelosi said, no, you can't have the Republicans you want,

578
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: and so she put Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger on

579
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 1: there instead. Which when you have a Democratic speaker picking

580
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: who's wants, let me tell you the conclusions are already decided.

581
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:09,400
Speaker 1: This is a political operation. The conclusions are that every

582
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:13,680
Speaker 1: Republican in America is a terrorist and the only hope

583
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 1: for Americas for Democrats to rule us as our benevolent

584
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,920
Speaker 1: dictators for the next thousand years. That's the conclusion of

585
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,279
Speaker 1: the Nancy Pelosi January sixth Commission. That is designed to

586
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:27,920
Speaker 1: be the conclusion. It is the purpose of the show trial,

587
00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,399
Speaker 1: and it is consistent with the abuse of power we've

588
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 1: seen from the Democrats. You know, I will say Flow's

589
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,280
Speaker 1: question talked about the Department of Justice and their abuse

590
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 1: of power, and you're right that this is an incredibly

591
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 1: political Department of Justice. I can tell you that I,

592
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 1: for one, am doing everything humanly possible to try to

593
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:54,000
Speaker 1: hold dj to account, to hold the Attorney General to account,

594
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 1: to shine a light on their abuse of power, to

595
00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 1: shine a light on their partisan and political witch hunts

596
00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 1: and persecution of people for their political views, including free speech,

597
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 1: whether it is targeting parents for going to school boards

598
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 1: and speaking out, or targeting people on January six who

599
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 1: engaged in peaceful protest that is protected by the constitution.

600
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:22,400
Speaker 1: Violence is not if someone engaged in violence on January

601
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:24,160
Speaker 1: sixth or any other day of the year. If you

602
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 1: violently assault a police officer, I don't care if your

603
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 1: politics or right wing or left wing, I don't care

604
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 1: where you fall. If you engage in violence, you should

605
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 1: be prosecuted. But the Democrats are cynically using those that

606
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 1: did engage in violence as an excuse to target and

607
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:45,600
Speaker 1: go after the political speech of millions of Americans they

608
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,720
Speaker 1: just happen to disagree with, and it is a total

609
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:49,880
Speaker 1: abuse of power, and I agree we need to do

610
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:52,960
Speaker 1: everything we can to hold them accountable. It is disappointing too,

611
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,920
Speaker 1: I think to see, you know, the Republicans Cheney and

612
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,399
Speaker 1: Kinsing are acting like democrats when they have a responsibility

613
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,319
Speaker 1: to their constitutions and to the American people to make

614
00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,160
Speaker 1: sure that the DOJ isn't abusing their power. But they're

615
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:08,760
Speaker 1: not living up to that responsibility. So the next question

616
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 1: is from our tried and true friend here on Verdict,

617
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,799
Speaker 1: this is real truth, Cactus. She asks, what happened at

618
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,480
Speaker 1: the school in Michigan was terrible. I do think on

619
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 1: a legal level, it is strange that they're pursuing charges

620
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,360
Speaker 1: against the parents. She asks, has this ever been done before?

621
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:25,600
Speaker 1: Do you think it will set a legal precedent to

622
00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:29,879
Speaker 1: press charges against the parents of children who commit violent acts. Well,

623
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,799
Speaker 1: it's it's a good question, and we don't know all

624
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 1: of the facts of what happened there. It was a

625
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 1: horrific school shooting of yet another troubled teenage boy who

626
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 1: took a gun to school and opened fired on his classmates,

627
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:46,320
Speaker 1: and we've seen far too many of those, horrifically across

628
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: the country. I've seen too many of those in the

629
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,480
Speaker 1: state of Texas. I was at the Santa Fe High

630
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: School just outside of Houston on the morning of that

631
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 1: horrific shooting in Santa Fe High schools less than an

632
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,359
Speaker 1: hour from my house, so I was within minutes after

633
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: the shooting, and it was it remains one of the

634
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:07,000
Speaker 1: worst things I've ever seen in my life. We've seen

635
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:12,120
Speaker 1: far too many of these. Whether the parents can and

636
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: should be held to account depends on the facts and

637
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:17,839
Speaker 1: circumstances of what happened, and it also depends on what

638
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 1: the state law is. My understanding is in this circumstance

639
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:26,840
Speaker 1: that the parents had had purchased the firearms, had kept

640
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:32,960
Speaker 1: them in an unlocked drawer, I believe, where where their

641
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:37,279
Speaker 1: teenage son could access them. And it also appears from

642
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,279
Speaker 1: some of the back and force that the parents had

643
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 1: good reason to know, or at least very seriously suspect

644
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:48,000
Speaker 1: that this was a deeply troubled child who could well

645
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 1: be endangered others. And if those are the facts, I

646
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 1: think there are a lot of states, Michigan and others

647
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 1: where parents could be held liable if if you you know,

648
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:00,600
Speaker 1: I'm a gun owner, but I keep I can keep

649
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 1: our firearms locked up because I don't want our kids

650
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 1: accessing our firearms. And I think responsible gun owners that

651
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:11,720
Speaker 1: that's what we do, is we don't want to see children,

652
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 1: particularly young children, playing with guns having an accidental shooting.

653
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:20,120
Speaker 1: Lots of bad things can happen when kids have access

654
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:24,800
Speaker 1: and unrestricted access to guns. All the more so depending

655
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,399
Speaker 1: on the facts of what the parents knew about their son,

656
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: and if there were from the early discussions, the texts

657
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,799
Speaker 1: that were going back and forth between the shooter and

658
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 1: his mom, it certainly seems like the parents knew that

659
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,400
Speaker 1: this was a very unstable and very dangerous kid. And

660
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:50,520
Speaker 1: I would say that that there's a fairly long standing principle,

661
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:55,279
Speaker 1: certainly of civil liability, but even of criminal liability if

662
00:39:55,360 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 1: you are recklessly allowing firearms to fall all into the

663
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 1: hands of a child under your care who you have

664
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,879
Speaker 1: reason to know as a dangered others. So, Senator, that

665
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: answer was absolutely outrageous because you have violated the rule

666
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,880
Speaker 1: of modern political discourse. You didn't make it completely reductive

667
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:18,920
Speaker 1: and simplistic, and so I think what everyone is expecting

668
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,439
Speaker 1: is you need someone to say absolutely, one hundred percent

669
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 1: ban all guns, repeal the Second Amendment, and throw anyone

670
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:26,239
Speaker 1: who owns a gun in the clank, or you know,

671
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:27,960
Speaker 1: you can do whatever you want with your gun, and

672
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,879
Speaker 1: you can leave twenty rifles on the roof of your

673
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:32,960
Speaker 1: home and with big signs that say, come take this

674
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:34,839
Speaker 1: rifle right here. But of course that's not the case.

675
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 1: There is such a thing as prudence, and our liberties

676
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 1: require that we exercise them with prudence, and so I

677
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,799
Speaker 1: think that's a terrific way to view it. And it's

678
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,400
Speaker 1: obviously it's going to change state by state, and political

679
00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:48,960
Speaker 1: activists are going to try to exploit these events as

680
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,680
Speaker 1: often they do, to score whatever ideological point they have.

681
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:56,000
Speaker 1: But but what's much more interesting than those shallow ideological

682
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,200
Speaker 1: points are the details or the facts and the questions

683
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:03,239
Speaker 1: of prudence. Right because the mother allegedly texted her son,

684
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,000
Speaker 1: don't do it. As soon as she heard it on

685
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,880
Speaker 1: the news, the father reportedly called the police have reported

686
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 1: that his gun was missing. He said he suspected that

687
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:12,200
Speaker 1: it was his son that was shooting. So these parents

688
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:15,640
Speaker 1: had some awareness. It also should spark the conversation not

689
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:17,479
Speaker 1: just about the laws that are currently on the books,

690
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,160
Speaker 1: but how should this be handled If parents are aware

691
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 1: of this, are they culpable, should they be liable? What

692
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 1: should what should the laws be? And that's a policy

693
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,279
Speaker 1: discussion that politicians should have as well as talking about

694
00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 1: the diversionary the diversionary policies that some of these schools

695
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,320
Speaker 1: have implemented when they see red flags from these students,

696
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:38,160
Speaker 1: including violent drawings and violent comments, and how they handle

697
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 1: that outside of the criminal justice system. Now, look, I

698
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,400
Speaker 1: think that's exactly right. And you look at some of

699
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:47,360
Speaker 1: these shootings. You look at the shooting in Parkland and Florida,

700
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 1: and there were all sorts of warning signs that that shooter.

701
00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,800
Speaker 1: And by the way, one thing is a consistent policy

702
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:55,680
Speaker 1: matter I do. I will not say the names of

703
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:59,720
Speaker 1: any of these shooters. These evil bastards who commit mass murder,

704
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: they want their names to go down and infamy, and

705
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 1: I very consciously will never repeat their names because I'm

706
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:09,920
Speaker 1: not interested in giving them that infamy. But the Parkland shooter,

707
00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:16,840
Speaker 1: there were multiple interactions with law enforcement, and lets you

708
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 1: pointed out a policy that politicians have put in place

709
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,080
Speaker 1: that when you had people that engage in acts of

710
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 1: violence and threats against fellow students and the schools cover

711
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:28,760
Speaker 1: it up, and the schools don't report it to law enforcement,

712
00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:32,560
Speaker 1: in the schools don't treat it seriously, it has the

713
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:36,080
Speaker 1: potential of escalating and putting the lives of other students

714
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:39,800
Speaker 1: at real risk, right, and that that'll certainly be interesting

715
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 1: to watch unfold in the case of what happened in Michigan,

716
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:46,160
Speaker 1: because the student apparently had had been called into the

717
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,320
Speaker 1: office for making violent comments and the school told his

718
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:50,120
Speaker 1: parents to get him counseling. Now, we don't know all

719
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:52,440
Speaker 1: the details of whether that should have been escalated to

720
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,640
Speaker 1: law enforcement, but there were certainly those red flags. Senator.

721
00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 1: The next question is from Brent. Brent asks about a

722
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,480
Speaker 1: video that has gotten quite a bit of attention online.

723
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:07,000
Speaker 1: It's a Congressman Dan Crenshaw throwing shade at the Freedom Caucus.

724
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:11,360
Speaker 1: Like I said, this has made the rounds interesting comments

725
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:13,719
Speaker 1: from Congressman Crenshall here, what is your what is your

726
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:18,120
Speaker 1: stance on this video? On the comments from Congressman Crenshaw, listen,

727
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:20,880
Speaker 1: I've I've seen the video. I don't agree with what

728
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,240
Speaker 1: Dan had to say. I like Dan, I like him personally.

729
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:28,440
Speaker 1: I think he's he's talented. I'm certainly grateful for his

730
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,800
Speaker 1: service to our nation. He'd be lost an eye defending

731
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:35,240
Speaker 1: the nation. I'm grateful for that. And he's a charismatic guys.

732
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:37,879
Speaker 1: He's got a sense of humor, he's got some some verb,

733
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,320
Speaker 1: and he's willing to fight. All of those are good things.

734
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:45,800
Speaker 1: You know. In this video he's he's singing the praises

735
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,920
Speaker 1: of Adam Kinzinger and he's crapping all over the Freedom Caucus.

736
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:53,439
Speaker 1: I think that's pretty misguided. I think Kensinger has gone

737
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:57,879
Speaker 1: completely off the rails. And there's a reason that he's

738
00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:00,360
Speaker 1: not running for reelection because Kensinger couldn't get re elected.

739
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,759
Speaker 1: And I think the Freedom Caucus, they are consistently the

740
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:11,279
Speaker 1: strongest conservatives in Congress. And you know, it's there is

741
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:17,200
Speaker 1: a particular contempt that that some congressional moderates have for

742
00:44:17,920 --> 00:44:21,960
Speaker 1: conservatives who actually follow through on their promises. And you know,

743
00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:24,959
Speaker 1: it was interesting. I think the phrase that Dan used,

744
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:29,279
Speaker 1: he said, well, there are performance politicians and they are legislators.

745
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:34,279
Speaker 1: It is always a problem whenever you see someone use

746
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:37,680
Speaker 1: a word like legislator, and their voice always dropped an octave.

747
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:39,879
Speaker 1: I don't know why, but it's much more serious when

748
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:43,839
Speaker 1: it's a legislator. What they mean is someone who's going

749
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 1: to cut a bunch of deals with Democrats and give in.

750
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:50,440
Speaker 1: What they mean are the kind of Republicans who voted

751
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 1: with the Democrats on the big infrastructure bill that just

752
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:56,399
Speaker 1: came in. That's what they mean. And actually the other

753
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 1: phrase he didn't use it, but I was kind of

754
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,279
Speaker 1: surprised he didn't. The other phrase that the that you

755
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,239
Speaker 1: see congressional mods they love to use as they say,

756
00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:07,560
Speaker 1: there are workhorses and show horses, and what's a show horse.

757
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,359
Speaker 1: A show horse is anyone who actually does what they

758
00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 1: promise their constituents they would do, as compared to the

759
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:18,360
Speaker 1: workhorses who suck up to the Democrats and do what

760
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: the Democrats want them to do. And you know, look,

761
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 1: I guess it is easy sometimes for people to fall

762
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:29,040
Speaker 1: into that rhetoric. I think Dan was wrong in this one.

763
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:34,080
Speaker 1: There's also just an easy trap that unfortunately some I

764
00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:36,879
Speaker 1: know a number of my conservatives have conservative friends have

765
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:41,279
Speaker 1: fallen into, which is and especially this is true in DC.

766
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 1: You start to believe the things that you hear everyone

767
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,880
Speaker 1: talking about it. And so if you hear constantly that

768
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:52,400
Speaker 1: Liz Cheney is this great Republican leader, or Adam Kinzinger

769
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:55,440
Speaker 1: even more ridiculous, if you hear it enough and you're

770
00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:57,759
Speaker 1: surrounded by it, you kind of start to believe it,

771
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,320
Speaker 1: or at least some people do. And I just think that,

772
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:03,480
Speaker 1: as you said, Senator a little earlier, when we're talking

773
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:07,400
Speaker 1: about the January sixth Committee, the purpose of Liz Cheney

774
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,600
Speaker 1: and Adam Kinzinger in Congress right now is to do

775
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:13,160
Speaker 1: what Democrats want them to do. They might have an

776
00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:16,160
Speaker 1: R next to their name, but their actual utility at

777
00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:19,319
Speaker 1: the crucial fights is to act as the sort of

778
00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:22,479
Speaker 1: court jesters in the kingdom of liberalism. That's why they'll

779
00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:26,080
Speaker 1: go on CNN. They won't generally go on the conservative channels.

780
00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:31,400
Speaker 1: And so it's talk about a performance that we're seeing,

781
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:33,759
Speaker 1: talk about show voting that that to me is the

782
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:37,920
Speaker 1: most spectacular sensationalist performance of them all, and you can

783
00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:40,239
Speaker 1: see it on CNN. And when when you look at

784
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:42,800
Speaker 1: the Republicans who are constantly on S and N bashing

785
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:45,640
Speaker 1: other Republicans, that to me, those are the real, the

786
00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:48,719
Speaker 1: real performance. Well, and their their purpose is even more

787
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:51,520
Speaker 1: than that. It's to be a beard. It's to cover

788
00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 1: up what's going on. This is a kangaroo court, and

789
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:57,759
Speaker 1: they're there because they have it are after their name,

790
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,799
Speaker 1: and it's to dress it up up as something it

791
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:06,359
Speaker 1: is not, so so that it has some modicum of credibility.

792
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:08,719
Speaker 1: And listen, the reality of it is going to be.

793
00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:12,279
Speaker 1: Kinsinger is not running for reelection because he couldn't get

794
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:15,440
Speaker 1: re elected. I think Liz Cheney is extremely likely to

795
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:20,120
Speaker 1: be beaten in her primary because she has basically told

796
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:23,440
Speaker 1: Republicans and conservatives in the state of Wyoming piss off.

797
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:26,400
Speaker 1: And and I think in a little over a year

798
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:30,759
Speaker 1: both of them will be regular contributors on MSNBC. And

799
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:35,680
Speaker 1: so they're auditioning for MSNBC right now. Um, And and

800
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:40,040
Speaker 1: that's that's not exactly that that that is not exactly

801
00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 1: worthy of dropping your voices, uh to your voice two

802
00:47:44,239 --> 00:47:47,839
Speaker 1: octaves and calling them great legislators as a result. That's right.

803
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:49,719
Speaker 1: This is the feeling you have. It's like when you

804
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,000
Speaker 1: when you see a friend of yours making any kind

805
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:53,640
Speaker 1: of decision that you don't think it's a great one.

806
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:57,120
Speaker 1: You'll say no, Dan get away from Kinsinger, don't don't

807
00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,960
Speaker 1: do it, don't don't. Don't believe the lies, because we're

808
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:03,640
Speaker 1: we're talking about truth and lies. I generally find that

809
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:06,080
Speaker 1: when I tune into CNN, I'm seeing a lot of lies,

810
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,520
Speaker 1: and when I tune into CNN, I tend to see

811
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:10,279
Speaker 1: a lot of Adam Kinzinger. You know what you're not

812
00:48:10,320 --> 00:48:16,080
Speaker 1: saying when you turn into CNN, Chris Cuomo, it's too soon,

813
00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:19,400
Speaker 1: the Senator, it's too soon. But oh my goodness, so right.

814
00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 1: It's also the only reason that I'm the only reason

815
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for videos like this is because it shows us,

816
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:26,400
Speaker 1: as the voters, the true character of the people who

817
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:28,959
Speaker 1: are supposed to represent us, so it better informs our vote.

818
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,680
Speaker 1: So I'm disappointed in what Crenshaw said, of course, but

819
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:34,640
Speaker 1: it does. It does show us a little bit of

820
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:37,000
Speaker 1: his decision making process or his judgment, and for better

821
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:38,840
Speaker 1: for worse, we do need to know that as the voters.

822
00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 1: On that note, if there is anybody on a college

823
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:45,120
Speaker 1: campus across the country who wants to bring Verdict with

824
00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:49,640
Speaker 1: Ted Crews, the Senator with Michael Knowles to their campus

825
00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:52,640
Speaker 1: this coming spring, submit your application by December fifteenth. You're

826
00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:56,000
Speaker 1: can apply at yaf dot org slash verdict that is

827
00:48:56,160 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 1: yaf dot org slash verdict to bring Verdict live to

828
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:03,480
Speaker 1: your college campus. It's a great old time. December fifteenth

829
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:07,000
Speaker 1: is the deadline, though, so submit those applications very very soon. Excellent,

830
00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:10,480
Speaker 1: Thank you, lez and Senator. I am so glad that

831
00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:13,839
Speaker 1: you got to the most delightful news story where there's

832
00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:16,120
Speaker 1: a lot of heavy news stories today, you know, talking

833
00:49:16,160 --> 00:49:19,080
Speaker 1: about what's going on in Russia, how they're a little

834
00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:21,320
Speaker 1: bit of hope there is still time maybe to stop things,

835
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,040
Speaker 1: if Biden will stand up and do it. The winds

836
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:26,680
Speaker 1: that we've had where we're pulling some of our conservative

837
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:30,200
Speaker 1: friends back from the precipice. But the most delightful story

838
00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:33,560
Speaker 1: is that the House of Cuomo has fallen. It's you know,

839
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:36,880
Speaker 1: it reminds us there's always a little silver lining in

840
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,879
Speaker 1: the storm clouds of politics. Michael. I will note one

841
00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:45,279
Speaker 1: of my favorite words foreign words is shaden freud, the

842
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:49,120
Speaker 1: German word for taking pleasure in the suffering of others.

843
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:54,479
Speaker 1: And I'll suggest perhaps a slight tweak to that, which

844
00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:58,920
Speaker 1: is let us revel in shadden Fredo, taking joy in

845
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:05,520
Speaker 1: the suffering of Fredo Cuomo, the troubled younger brother who

846
00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 1: I believe was last seen in a rowboat on Lake

847
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:12,879
Speaker 1: Tahosts saying Hail Mary. And now he is on CNN

848
00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:19,560
Speaker 1: no more, a legislator, a basketball champion, and a linguist

849
00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:22,480
Speaker 1: as well. Senator. Thank you very much. I'm Michael Knowles.

850
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:33,920
Speaker 1: This is Verdict with Ted Cruise. So I tried to

851
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:35,920
Speaker 1: get the great and powerful J Hay to draw a

852
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:39,640
Speaker 1: cactus on the vesta board for this little, this little

853
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:42,040
Speaker 1: bit that we're doing, but he could not produce. So

854
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:43,920
Speaker 1: let me just tell you. We have a twenty percent

855
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:46,840
Speaker 1: off sale on the Verdict Merch store right now. You

856
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:49,799
Speaker 1: can get one of those sweet sweet cactus hats. I

857
00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:51,680
Speaker 1: would put one on for you to model it, but

858
00:50:51,719 --> 00:50:53,120
Speaker 1: I'm a little vain of my hair today. I think

859
00:50:53,120 --> 00:50:54,520
Speaker 1: i'mving a pretty good hair day, so I didn't want

860
00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:56,319
Speaker 1: to mess it up. But go over to Verdict with

861
00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 1: Ted Cruise dot com slash shop and if you use

862
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:01,520
Speaker 1: the promo code Sam, then you will get twenty percent

863
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:06,040
Speaker 1: off the entire shop between now and Christmas. Twenty percent off.

864
00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:08,680
Speaker 1: That's a really good deal. We have t shirts, we

865
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,439
Speaker 1: have cactus merch, we have hats, we have all kinds

866
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:13,719
Speaker 1: of cool stuff over there. Between now and Christmas. You

867
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:15,960
Speaker 1: get the great deal twenty percent off if you use

868
00:51:15,960 --> 00:51:19,520
Speaker 1: the promo code Santa. Then, I don't know. In the meantime,

869
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:21,640
Speaker 1: maybe the Great Powerful ja Hey will figure out how

870
00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:23,279
Speaker 1: to put a T shirt or a cactus on the

871
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:26,160
Speaker 1: Vesta board. But while he's figuring that out, I invite

872
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,719
Speaker 1: you join us Verdict with Ted Cruise dot com slash

873
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:31,800
Speaker 1: shop to buy really cool merch. You get twenty percent

874
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Speaker 1: off if you use the promo code Santa at checkout.

875
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:44,799
Speaker 1: That's actually pretty good. This episode of Verdict with Ted

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00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:47,480
Speaker 1: Cruz is being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom and

877
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:53,400
Speaker 1: Security Pack, a political action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations,

878
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Speaker 1: and candidates across the country. In twenty twenty two, Jobs

879
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Speaker 1: Freedom and Security Pack plans to donate to conservative candidates

880
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Speaker 1: running for Congress and helped the Republican Party across the nation.