Speaker 1: Hi. I'm John Void and I'm on a set in Burbank, California,
Speaker 1: and I'm looking at the beautiful face of Ted Cruz.
Speaker 1: And this is Michael Knowles, who's the boss. We're on
Speaker 1: Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Speaker 1: As John just said, I'm Michael Knowles. It is so
Speaker 1: good to be here because we're at a time of
Speaker 1: great tension, lockdown, plague, riots. Everyone seems to be very tense,
Speaker 1: and in this town in particular, it is so nice
Speaker 1: to be among friends, including one of the great American actors,
Speaker 1: Academy Award winner, and more importantly, I would say, John,
Speaker 1: great American John Voyd, thank you so much. Michael. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought you're gonna say. I usually say, I say
Speaker 1: the man who did you know? Midnight Cowboy Coming Home,
Speaker 1: Runaway Train, and of course the great Anaconda yea. And
Speaker 1: people laugh where they say that. And with two little
Speaker 1: girls the National Treasures. I've got to tell you that
Speaker 1: that is popular in the cruise household. Well, I'm very
Speaker 1: pleased about that, because, as you know, I'm crazy about
Speaker 1: your two gals. By the way, I do need to
Speaker 1: ask the President the next time at the White House
Speaker 1: if I can check on the resolute desk to see
Speaker 1: if anything is hidden in Ah. Yes, you just kind
Speaker 1: of wonder we could go in together. That'd be fun.
Speaker 1: And you get our screwdrivers in full around. So this
Speaker 1: is not the first time that you guys have met. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Senator Cruise, you've spent a bit of time in Hollywood. John,
Speaker 1: You've spent a lot of time in Hollywood, and you're
Speaker 1: one of the few big Hollywood stars who has been
Speaker 1: open about your political views, and increasingly so over the
Speaker 1: past few years as we face these national problems. So actually,
Speaker 1: the first time John and I met was twenty thirteen
Speaker 1: and I was newly elected to the Senate and I
Speaker 1: came to California to speak to Friends of Ape Yea, which,
Speaker 1: as you know, was a group of conservative, libertarian, right
Speaker 1: of center people and entertainment. And it was, you know,
Speaker 1: it was a big crowd. It's probably four or five
Speaker 1: hundred people came out and and I have never I've
Speaker 1: never been in any other group where people were afraid,
Speaker 1: like there was a rule no cell phones, no pictures,
Speaker 1: and and and there were a handful of big stars,
Speaker 1: and John was the most notable who was like open,
Speaker 1: he was willing to be there, and John's a big
Speaker 1: enough deal that it was like, all right, to hell
Speaker 1: with it, I'm here and deal with it. But it
Speaker 1: made a real impression on me that the people who
Speaker 1: were there, the gaffers, the carpenters, the writers, the lighting folks,
Speaker 1: they were terrified if someone got a picture of them
Speaker 1: at that gathering, they'd be unemployable. And it was really
Speaker 1: you know, I sort of joked if we were at
Speaker 1: a Satanist gathering that was murdering kittens, it wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been more dangerous. Yeah. And that's look, I mean, you've
Speaker 1: you've demonstrated a lot of courage to speak out in
Speaker 1: a town and industry that it's not easy to do. Well.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's look, we all know we're in a
Speaker 1: very serious situation. It's an historic situation that I've been
Speaker 1: you know, born at this time and come to this
Speaker 1: point where this country is being threatened in this way. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I never would have been able to put that together,
Speaker 1: but I but I saw the beginning of it anyway,
Speaker 1: I mean, the beginning of the open hostility in the sixties. Yep,
Speaker 1: and uh and uh, and that that that had been
Speaker 1: produced by a lot of work with the communist system,
Speaker 1: with the KGB working overtime to try to infiltrate Now,
Speaker 1: when did you start acting? How old were you when
Speaker 1: you you started in the movie business. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want to talk about me. I was, I was
Speaker 1: a when I was a young fellow. Was I imicked
Speaker 1: some of the things I saw on television and stuff
Speaker 1: and wanted to make people laugh and all of that,
Speaker 1: you know. So that's when it really started. And a
Speaker 1: great wonderful comic actor by them of Sid Caesar was
Speaker 1: somebody I went to school on and I had to
Speaker 1: credit him with giving me the instructions because the stuff
Speaker 1: that he did was so indelible. And we just lost
Speaker 1: Carl Ryder, you know, a couple of weeks ago, and
Speaker 1: imagine cocon those guys, they were really wonderful and and
Speaker 1: so that was the beginning. And then I really didn't
Speaker 1: know I was going in that direction. I just was,
Speaker 1: you know, smitten with those characters. And and then later
Speaker 1: on I made a serious effort to be an actor.
Speaker 1: This was right before my senior year in college when
Speaker 1: I realized I was working around with a book that
Speaker 1: was a book of criticism for the British theater. And
Speaker 1: I was looking and I'd earmarked all the work of
Speaker 1: Laurence Olivia, all the heroic roles of Laurence Olivia. And
Speaker 1: I suddenly said, after three years driving people, mostly girls crazy,
Speaker 1: asking what do you think I should be when I
Speaker 1: get out of call? And and I said, I know
Speaker 1: what I want to do. I want to be him,
Speaker 1: Laurence Olivia. And that's that's where it started then. And
Speaker 1: once I had made that decision, it was such a
Speaker 1: relief that I knew what I would I could do something.
Speaker 1: I was going to do this, and I knew I
Speaker 1: would never I would never give up. I knew. I
Speaker 1: knew at that moment that was it for me. And
Speaker 1: probably that's true for you guys too, in some way,
Speaker 1: that you get something you love and you know you
Speaker 1: can put yourself to work at it, and that's it,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's going to be difficult. I'm going
Speaker 1: to have to start from scratch and and all of that.
Speaker 1: I'm going to have my ups and downs like everybody else.
Speaker 1: And I certainly have had my successes in my failures,
Speaker 1: and I've had long periods of time without enough money
Speaker 1: and all of that, but I knew I wouldn't. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't for the decide. I knew I would go. That
Speaker 1: was there a moment that was your big break? That
Speaker 1: it was like a part you got Did you start
Speaker 1: in theater or TV or movies or what was when?
Speaker 1: When did you get started? Well, I these are just
Speaker 1: you know. I worked on a play after I had
Speaker 1: studied for two years in a professional class was Sansford Meisner,
Speaker 1: one of the great great teachers, And then coming out
Speaker 1: of that, I was just saying a prayer that I
Speaker 1: would get some kind of a work where I could
Speaker 1: test my abilities. And I got a role in A
Speaker 1: View from the Bridge, which was a wonderful play by
Speaker 1: Arthur Miller, and Arthur Miller was kind of producing it too,
Speaker 1: and Dustin hof Huffman became the assistant to the director
Speaker 1: because he knew Ulu Gross brought the director and Bobby
Speaker 1: Duval was playing the leading role, and I was the
Speaker 1: second lead. And Dusty and I got to know each
Speaker 1: other before I ever saw any of his work as
Speaker 1: an actor. I had heard that he was a genius,
Speaker 1: but we got to know each other and we had
Speaker 1: some fun. So you and I share something. I just learned,
Speaker 1: which is we've both been in Arthur Miller play. So
Speaker 1: in law school, I did the Crucival Wow and was
Speaker 1: Reverend Paris, and all politicians are frustrated actors like like I.
Speaker 1: In high school, I was convinced. I told my parents,
Speaker 1: I'm dropping out of school. I'm moving to Hollywood. I
Speaker 1: want to be an actor. And and look, it's a
Speaker 1: good thing. I went the path I did because I
Speaker 1: didn't have the talent you had. I didn't have the
Speaker 1: talent to make it. But I envy and love you
Speaker 1: have said that before. I mean, there was a line.
Speaker 1: They always say that politicians or politics rather is show
Speaker 1: business for attractive people. I think that that ain't how
Speaker 1: to go. Well, that's similar to that. Thanks for that.
Speaker 1: Well you listen, you're you're plenty of talented. You both
Speaker 1: are plenty of talented. And I was saying before we
Speaker 1: started this thing that my son, James uh Is, James
Speaker 1: Haven as he calls himself, is now working on human trafficking.
Speaker 1: He's a very various student in that area and he's
Speaker 1: helping out. But he's political, it's to some degree. But
Speaker 1: he's crazy about you. He says, when this guy talks,
Speaker 1: he says, that's it everything. Everybody listens to him, and
Speaker 1: he said, and that's true. And the way you phrase
Speaker 1: things and the way you prepare and you gather the focus,
Speaker 1: nobody's better. You both raise an excellent point here, which is,
Speaker 1: it does seem to be a lot of actors are
Speaker 1: interested in politics and politicians are interested in acting. There
Speaker 1: does seem to be a similarity in these two businesses.
Speaker 1: And and I've always thought there was, like remember what
Speaker 1: Reagan said when someone asked, how can an actor be
Speaker 1: in politics? And he said, well, how could someone in
Speaker 1: politics not be that? How could they not be an actor?
Speaker 1: And it's look, at the end of the day, you're
Speaker 1: trying to communicate with people, and it one way or
Speaker 1: the other. One of the frustrating scenes. Yeah, go ahead
Speaker 1: just say, you know, a lot of conservatives we're not
Speaker 1: doing a lot of communications. The whole point of this podcast,
Speaker 1: I mean, we're saying an assault on our whole country.
Speaker 1: We're on our constitution, on our founding principles, and young people,
Speaker 1: I mean it makes you weep. The schools aren't teaching
Speaker 1: the principles that built this country. And if we don't
Speaker 1: explain them, how can we fault the young people for
Speaker 1: not knowing they've been they've been getting that fed to them,
Speaker 1: you know, for more than a generation, several generations have
Speaker 1: been brought up on common Core. And this is a disaster,
Speaker 1: teaching against our country. And and they don't teach, they
Speaker 1: don't teach history, well, they teach, they teach a sort
Speaker 1: of fiction. I've noticed that actually reminds me of a
Speaker 1: line from your acting teacher, Sanford Meisner, who famously described
Speaker 1: acting as living truthfully in imaginary circumstances. It's very good
Speaker 1: increasingly the history to school, this guy, thank you, But
Speaker 1: increasingly it seems like the history we're being taught is
Speaker 1: it imaginary circumstances. So I'll give an interesting My girls,
Speaker 1: who you've met, that they are wonderful little girls. They're
Speaker 1: nine and twelve. We were recently with two other friends
Speaker 1: of theirs who are about the same age, and the
Speaker 1: topic of Christopher Columbus comes up, and all four of
Speaker 1: the girls are being taught in school that Columbus is
Speaker 1: a genocidal maniac that murdered people. And and look, as
Speaker 1: a dad, you're trying, you're trying not to be too
Speaker 1: overbearing with your kids, and so i'd like, asked Caroline,
Speaker 1: I say, well, okay, look, we have a federal holiday
Speaker 1: in this country called Columbus Day. Do we typically name
Speaker 1: holidays after psychopathic murderers? Like like, is there maybe another
Speaker 1: side to this? And I'm not invested in defending Christopher
Speaker 1: Columbus as the greatest person who ever lived, but I was.
Speaker 1: But it's the degree to which our children are being
Speaker 1: fed propaganda. Uh. And and you know, you see this
Speaker 1: and the mobs that that that are tearing down and
Speaker 1: attacking George Washington and Jefferson and Madison and Lincoln. You know,
Speaker 1: they attack Frederick Douglas, the great abolitionist, and and and
Speaker 1: they don't even know who he is, but if there's
Speaker 1: a statue of him, he's got to be bad. That's
Speaker 1: facing real insanity here, you know. But as I say,
Speaker 1: they it's been this destructions as a source. And and
Speaker 1: now it has many sources because there's there's Islamists, there's
Speaker 1: there's originally Russian you know, Marxism, and now there's Chinese Marxism,
Speaker 1: Chinese absolutely incourasions and uh and a lot of people
Speaker 1: in the United States are really wanting so badly to
Speaker 1: take down this president that they're falling in with anything
Speaker 1: and there's just nothing but um, there's is a real
Speaker 1: lack of compass morally, and they'll do anything and say
Speaker 1: anything to get to power. So we're in we're in
Speaker 1: a tough spot here. Now. Was there a time when
Speaker 1: you saw Hollywood, when you saw an entertainment get get worse,
Speaker 1: get get markedly more intolerant? Um? I mean, is there
Speaker 1: a point that sort of stands out to your mind
Speaker 1: as a shifting point or was it more gradual? Well?
Speaker 1: She was? I mean, that's that's a good question, Ted.
Speaker 1: I think the movies that I love, I was I
Speaker 1: was raised at a time. I'm born in nineteen thirty eight,
Speaker 1: and I was raised on the Golden Age movies, the
Speaker 1: movies of you know, of Capra and then you know
Speaker 1: all these great when they talk about actors and when
Speaker 1: they say, John, you're a great actor. One of the fellas.
Speaker 1: Look what it looks what we came from. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know we had Bogard and Tracy and and the
Speaker 1: Gable and Jimmy Stewart and all those fellows were you know,
Speaker 1: I was going to school on those guys. And then
Speaker 1: Marlin came along. Of course, at night we just threw
Speaker 1: in with Marlin. But uh, and the gals at that
Speaker 1: age fantastic performers, and all of a sudden, at some
Speaker 1: point we felt, oh, we're a little we're more sophisticated,
Speaker 1: we have more complex techniques to bring to them for
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But you look at that
Speaker 1: other stuff that was before. It's fantastic, But we lost
Speaker 1: what did they have in the Golden Age? Hollywood invented
Speaker 1: the happy ending, the Hollywood ending. They invented it. Who
Speaker 1: invented it? A group of Jewish people who were saved,
Speaker 1: came here to save their lives and to build their lives.
Speaker 1: They know what I have The ending is because they
Speaker 1: were all people who were policies. We'd freed the world
Speaker 1: from from from the evil of Hitler. I mean that
Speaker 1: that was a powerful Oh you're bet your bet. But
Speaker 1: the other thing is you see that in the Bible,
Speaker 1: the Jewish people, at the end of every chapter you
Speaker 1: have to end on a positive note. So if you
Speaker 1: know if it's coming to the end, like if you've
Speaker 1: read Isaiah and there's some bad stuff as being stated,
Speaker 1: they're telling you that the future is going to be
Speaker 1: pretty damn But then they go back and reiterate something
Speaker 1: on the positive side. You know that there will come
Speaker 1: a time when the so and so and end of
Speaker 1: a change and uh, we've reached the land of Israel
Speaker 1: or whatever. You see talking about movie grades, did you
Speaker 1: get to know John Wayne? And what do you think
Speaker 1: about the recent efforts to rename the airport. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a there's a real I think they should call
Speaker 1: it u uh the Redskins. Listen, you know there's I
Speaker 1: have I'm very close to the Indian community, and they
Speaker 1: they'd love it that they have a football team. But
Speaker 1: they should give the they should keep the name, and
Speaker 1: they should give these guys, you know, seventy five off
Speaker 1: of tickets or may give them tickets to every game.
Speaker 1: A better deal would be cool, and then celebrate the natives.
Speaker 1: I suppose this is the fear, though, is you had
Speaker 1: this Hollywood ending that that you know that Hollywood invented
Speaker 1: increasingly though it seems to me people don't like a
Speaker 1: happy ending. People seem to That's that's what's happened. You see,
Speaker 1: how did we It's a negative strain, uh, the because
Speaker 1: it's a loss of it's the loss of a spiritual base.
Speaker 1: Really We're meant to be happy. Human beings are meant
Speaker 1: to be happy. God is saying be happy and enjoy.
Speaker 1: Let go let God, do you know? And and this
Speaker 1: is the way you approach problems. That's the way I
Speaker 1: approach problems. I say, what are we doing? What am
Speaker 1: I getting? All cooled down? Man? Just watch what happens.
Speaker 1: Do the best you can. Celebrate the day, be grateful
Speaker 1: for your gifts and the many gifts and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And that's that's a proper and positive way to be.
Speaker 1: Like when you see I came into this group and
Speaker 1: you can't see everybody, you can't see all the people
Speaker 1: around here. We're all in a positive note. You know,
Speaker 1: everyone's happy, we're cheerful, we're saluting each other, making each
Speaker 1: other feel good, and we'll have a nice experience here.
Speaker 1: And that's the way we were meant to be. And
Speaker 1: we've lost that to some degree. We think we're smart, Alex,
Speaker 1: we can be more sophisticated. We can and and Marlon
Speaker 1: didn't help sometimes because he created this dark image and
Speaker 1: it was so attractive that everybody wants to be dark
Speaker 1: and mean, and you know what it was. But but listen,
Speaker 1: Marlin was magnificent. Let's you know, I'll let you know
Speaker 1: I'm still crazy by Marlin Marlin. I'm crazy, but well.
Speaker 1: And people communicate with storytelling. I mean, that's what's so powerful.
Speaker 1: And and the left they've seized culture. They've they've seized
Speaker 1: education K through twelve. They've sees colleges and universities that
Speaker 1: they've seized journalism and movies. I love movies. I love stories.
Speaker 1: I mean, when I was a kid, my dad, so
Speaker 1: you and my dad are both both the same ajor
Speaker 1: both eighty one, and my dad would tell these incredible
Speaker 1: stories that I would just sit and listen to them.
Speaker 1: And you think about the stories that are told now.
Speaker 1: I mean, I look at these protests are wherever you're
Speaker 1: going to see another cop movie again? Can any of
Speaker 1: all the great movies of heroes who are police officers?
Speaker 1: Can they be told anymore? We absolutely do. And And
Speaker 1: all right, let's take something like the great debate right
Speaker 1: now in the country between free enterprise and socialism. You
Speaker 1: look at the movies coming out of Hollywood. When's the
Speaker 1: last time someone in business was portrayed as not a villain?
Speaker 1: Like like, I'm actually happy when a small business owner
Speaker 1: is not murdering kids. If they're just a crook and stealing,
Speaker 1: that that qualifies for a positive portrayal. And what about
Speaker 1: all of the epic stories of our nation, a people
Speaker 1: with nothing who made it big. And that's that's why
Speaker 1: people come to America. And well, you know there's still
Speaker 1: the positive thing is there's still coming to America. That's
Speaker 1: true the Neil Diamond song. You know they're coming to America.
Speaker 1: And why because there's nothing else out there, fellas, And
Speaker 1: anybody who wants to is listening to me, you kids,
Speaker 1: you're listening to me. Why a says everyone who want
Speaker 1: to come to America? Because the other side, this socialism
Speaker 1: that people are saying is a good, good thing to
Speaker 1: in jest and speak for has never worked ever, has
Speaker 1: never brought about anything but misery and death. Yep. But
Speaker 1: John on this every time, on this point on immigration
Speaker 1: is I'm telling your kids, listen here. But this is
Speaker 1: such a great point. People are still coming here. They're
Speaker 1: coming here to this country so much more than to
Speaker 1: any other country on earth. And yet it's this problem
Speaker 1: you've identified, which is that people no longer have gratitude
Speaker 1: for their country, for their family, for their God. It
Speaker 1: seems like we're in more of an entitlement society than
Speaker 1: a grateful society. People want us to be an entitlement society.
Speaker 1: That's what the Democrat Party is selling. So oh boy,
Speaker 1: and they have really sold out completely. I remember I
Speaker 1: said this before, but there's a moment when via Ragosa
Speaker 1: or a mayor who's a good guy by the way,
Speaker 1: was asked to go out and correct the Democrat platform.
Speaker 1: This was several beginning of the Democrat convention with par Obama,
Speaker 1: I think, and and he was to send out you see,
Speaker 1: as a sacrificial lab to to put God back in
Speaker 1: the platform and to put the idea of Jerusalem being
Speaker 1: the capital of Israel into the platform because they felt
Speaker 1: they couldn't sell the tickets. Do you understand a lot
Speaker 1: of votes won't go their way if that and that's
Speaker 1: all they're interested and they care what it is. If
Speaker 1: they you know, they would say anything in order to
Speaker 1: get a vote. And they have anything three times the
Speaker 1: delegates at that convention. That's right. So mayor goes to
Speaker 1: so that's it. So all in favor of putting this
Speaker 1: in the platform, say I and they go, they go,
Speaker 1: you know, and pretty good. And then and the Nays nay,
Speaker 1: and they go yeah nay, And it was one was
Speaker 1: more dominant, Nays were more dominant. And then he does it,
Speaker 1: let's do that again. He could have used better acting.
Speaker 1: Let me do that again. Uh, you understand what we're
Speaker 1: saying now, zone zone. He says, the God been the
Speaker 1: platform and put the capital of Israel is Jerusalem. Okay,
Speaker 1: all in favor I I again the same sound and
Speaker 1: nay nay. And you see the people that go and
Speaker 1: have the ex throwing things. I mean there really is.
Speaker 1: This is the beginning of that movement. I'm telling that
Speaker 1: we saw in the streets right it's right there, yes,
Speaker 1: And and then somebody walks up to him from long
Speaker 1: this big stage all the way over to him sis
Speaker 1: and he goes he says, okay, we'll do it one
Speaker 1: more time. Uh, all those in favor saying same thing,
Speaker 1: same response, all those again nay, the eyes have it, ye,
Speaker 1: thank you, And it gets off the stage well and
Speaker 1: and and as you noted, that was to put God
Speaker 1: back in the platform because they they'd removed it, and
Speaker 1: three times the delegates denied it. And I have to
Speaker 1: bet I sort of chuckled and wondered if there was
Speaker 1: a rooster crowing somewhere. I mean, there is a parallel
Speaker 1: for that. But but it is some of the early
Speaker 1: beginnings in modern times of the anti Semitism, of the
Speaker 1: anti Israel sentiment, of the anti American sentiment on the
Speaker 1: far left that has been manifested, that are now manifested
Speaker 1: in the mobs that that are burning our cities and
Speaker 1: that are murdering police off exactly exactly. And it's you know,
Speaker 1: and with the complicity and the support and the encouragement
Speaker 1: of the media, And it's the media. Donald Trumps broke
Speaker 1: in the media. I mean, remember the media used to
Speaker 1: argue they weren't biased. They used to pretend they weren't biased.
Speaker 1: They don't pretend anymore. I mean they hate him with
Speaker 1: an unhinged quality. And I want to tell a story
Speaker 1: about John. That's an interesting story. So John is careful,
Speaker 1: passionate about our country, and passionate at risk to himself.
Speaker 1: He's in a town, he's in an industry. We're speaking
Speaker 1: out Carrie's risks. But but in twenty sixteen, as you know,
Speaker 1: Michael I had a tough primary against h I think
Speaker 1: that's a diplomatic It was we both went at each
Speaker 1: other and he won. I lost. And after that happened,
Speaker 1: John actually got on a plane. He called me and said, hey,
Speaker 1: can I come see you at your house? And you
Speaker 1: got on a plane. You flew to Houston and you
Speaker 1: came over to my house. It was about ten o'clock
Speaker 1: at night. I said, chirkya, come on over. I'm happy
Speaker 1: to talk to you. And you went. You brought from
Speaker 1: my girls a stuffed animals. I think there's stuffed rabbits.
Speaker 1: And you sat in my living room for about an
Speaker 1: hour and you were urging me at the time, saying, Ted,
Speaker 1: you need to support Trump, and I wanted to see
Speaker 1: Trump be conservative. I wanted to be more conservative, and
Speaker 1: you were as earnest and you said, look, our country
Speaker 1: is hanging in the balance. And that conversation, it was
Speaker 1: powerful because it was from the heart. It was because
Speaker 1: it was a plea, We've got to pull our country
Speaker 1: back from the brink. And I did. I supported Trump,
Speaker 1: I campaigned with him. But the fact that you flew
Speaker 1: across the country to sit in my living room and
Speaker 1: make that plea, this was not just type of tweet
Speaker 1: and throw it out in the world. This was, by
Speaker 1: the way, there were no cameras there. I mean, this
Speaker 1: was a private interact. Told that story that first time
Speaker 1: you've ever said it publicly. But you did it because
Speaker 1: you can out the country. Yes, And I knew the
Speaker 1: power of Ted. I knew it was important that we
Speaker 1: can't lose Ted and uh. And I had seen I
Speaker 1: had seen Ted with his um filibuster and I was
Speaker 1: so impressed with it, and I listened to a lot
Speaker 1: of it. He was like Jimmy Stewart, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, this was as good as a movie. And
Speaker 1: he was wonderful, really wonderful. And the statement he made,
Speaker 1: regardless of whether he was able to sway everything at
Speaker 1: that moment, was extremely important. He was making a stand,
Speaker 1: he said. He was doing it with a smile, nothing,
Speaker 1: not an angry statement. He was just saying, this is America, fellas,
Speaker 1: don't lose it. That's the essence of what he was doing.
Speaker 1: And I saw that, and I said, this, this guy's important.
Speaker 1: And so I actually went out of my way to
Speaker 1: say a lot of him. And then when this thing happened,
Speaker 1: I knew. I talked to a friend friends of mine,
Speaker 1: I said, you know, I really want to go and
Speaker 1: talk to him. Well, why did you do that? Call
Speaker 1: him up he'll be you know, and that he said,
Speaker 1: come on down and come on to spend the time.
Speaker 1: And I spent time with Heidie and the children, and
Speaker 1: I had a wonderful time. There's wonderful time, and we
Speaker 1: were able to connect on that filibus run that on
Speaker 1: that very moment you're describing. I know that didn't win
Speaker 1: you a lot of friends in Washington. I think it
Speaker 1: didn't make you mister popular in the Senate. It probably
Speaker 1: won you a lot of supporters out here in the
Speaker 1: rest of the country. But I see the same thing
Speaker 1: with you, John, which is you've been outspoken, You've been
Speaker 1: passionate about your views, not just on politics, but on
Speaker 1: religion too, very unpopular in this town. And so that's it.
Speaker 1: You see, it's the same thing. But but there's no
Speaker 1: religion anymore. I mean, you know, I mean it's like like,
Speaker 1: look at look at what our governor does. You say
Speaker 1: you could march in the streets arm in arm, but
Speaker 1: you can't sing in a church, that's right. I mean
Speaker 1: it's crazy. You can break into somebody's you know, offices
Speaker 1: and work and burn them down and turn over a
Speaker 1: police car and you can't pray in a time of crisis,
Speaker 1: people's character comes out, and on the left that there
Speaker 1: is for too many elected officials a deep hatred of religion,
Speaker 1: of religious liberty. And we've seen petty tyrants, whether it
Speaker 1: is Gavin Newsom saying you can't sing in church, or
Speaker 1: Bill de Blasio in New York City saying any church
Speaker 1: or synagogue that meets, we're going to permanently close that
Speaker 1: church or synagogue. And who the hell what what politician?
Speaker 1: You don't have the power of the First Amendment. It
Speaker 1: is fundamentally wrong. And that doesn't mean that there there
Speaker 1: isn't government power to have reasonable common sense. You can
Speaker 1: have a prohibition on large public meetings if there's a
Speaker 1: public health crisis, that there's a long constitutional authority for quarantines,
Speaker 1: for reasonable restrictions. What you can't do is single out
Speaker 1: and persecute religious faith and treat it worse than everything else.
Speaker 1: You can't say, if I agree with what you're saying,
Speaker 1: it's okay, But if it's just faith, you're a second
Speaker 1: class citizen and we're gonna come shut you down. You
Speaker 1: look at Deblasio, the persecution that he's directed at the
Speaker 1: Orthodox Jewish community. I mean it has been. It's very
Speaker 1: revealing of of the antipathy for faith that the far left. Yes,
Speaker 1: for sure, Yeah, this issue, Senator. I mean, you're obviously
Speaker 1: in the political fight every day, you're in the fray
Speaker 1: and John you're you're outspoken, and you've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of this. You've you've you know, you've you've been you've
Speaker 1: been one of the biggest actors in town for decades
Speaker 1: and decades now you've seen things change. Are you looking forward,
Speaker 1: hopeful for the country or less than hopeful? I'm an optimist.
Speaker 1: I'm an optimist by I mean, that's the essential me
Speaker 1: is it? After this? People who know you know that
Speaker 1: this is true. But I feel we've been blessed with
Speaker 1: this president. I feel that this man, I mean, you
Speaker 1: look carefully at what he does day by day. You
Speaker 1: can't think of another human who's above twenty four that
Speaker 1: can handle this schedule and this kind of battle every day,
Speaker 1: and the hate that's visited upon him that I mean,
Speaker 1: it's unhinged. Yes, So, so what what he needs is us,
Speaker 1: You know, he needs every pat on the back he
Speaker 1: can get. He needs to see our smiles and our
Speaker 1: lack of fear in the face of this too, because
Speaker 1: he's leading the way with that in those aspects. And
Speaker 1: so do we have the leadership, Yeah, we have the leadership. Yes,
Speaker 1: we have the leadership. We have many brilliant people right now.
Speaker 1: And I said at one point, I said, look, I
Speaker 1: said the Democrat Party, and the Democrat Party is not
Speaker 1: anywhere near it's not even an American party any longer. Unfortunate,
Speaker 1: I have to say that it's they're not for America.
Speaker 1: They're wed to something else. These guys are connected to
Speaker 1: Marxism and to those countries that represent Marxism. It's serious.
Speaker 1: So they're a torpedo against the ship of state. There's
Speaker 1: no doubt about that. But I said, you know, there's
Speaker 1: no one on the other side, I said, Mark Levin.
Speaker 1: I said, Mark, they don't have anyone of stature. There
Speaker 1: are no statesmen, no one of stature. No one will
Speaker 1: look what they've come up with as their as their candidate.
Speaker 1: They've and they've gone through everything they can go through,
Speaker 1: and that's what they came over. Anything. Pardon, he's in
Speaker 1: hiding and he's not willing to take on the of
Speaker 1: the angry. He's being told to hide. It's listen it's
Speaker 1: it's all. This is all manipulated, it's all there's figuring
Speaker 1: what how they can get him in now. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, I told Mark Leman, I said, I can
Speaker 1: give you fifty people of great stature right now, and
Speaker 1: you can give me another fifty on top of that.
Speaker 1: And I and I believe that. I believe we have
Speaker 1: an army of great people. And if we are directing
Speaker 1: ourselves toward helping this union restore itself, like guys like
Speaker 1: Ted Cruz, who knows what has been taken from the Constitution,
Speaker 1: Mark Levin another one like that, we have to restore.
Speaker 1: We have to go back to that essential the Constitution
Speaker 1: and the and the Declaration of Independence and all of
Speaker 1: the letters of our founding father and support of those things,
Speaker 1: and the history of the decisions that were made by
Speaker 1: the great people in Lincoln and Jefferson and Adams and
Speaker 1: Jackson and all of these people right to the present.
Speaker 1: They're great people right to the present. Okay, we have
Speaker 1: a tremendous history that we can fall back on and
Speaker 1: learn from and restore ourselves with. And that's what we
Speaker 1: have to do. And people are hungry, I believe for
Speaker 1: leaders who will defend America, who are proud of America,
Speaker 1: who say I love our nation. And that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that you ignore our faults. That doesn't mean that you
Speaker 1: don't try to move towards justice. You know, you look
Speaker 1: at the great civil rights leaders, You look at it
Speaker 1: at Frederick Douglas, you look at doctor King, where they
Speaker 1: made explicit appeals over and over again to our founding documents.
Speaker 1: You know, the Declaration of Independence began, you know, made
Speaker 1: the majestic promise we hold these truths to be self evident,
Speaker 1: that all men are created equal. And yes, we had slavery,
Speaker 1: we had discrimination, we had that was the original sin
Speaker 1: of our nation. But we were founded on a promise
Speaker 1: of equal rights and equal justice for all. And and
Speaker 1: I agree with doctor King that the arc of history
Speaker 1: bends towards justice. But the left, they don't teach that,
Speaker 1: they don't know that. They tear it down, that we're
Speaker 1: an evil society rather than a society committed founded on
Speaker 1: noble ideals. And we've had a long and at times
Speaker 1: bumpy journey. I mean, we fought a civil war where
Speaker 1: six hundred thousand lines were lost to end slavery, and
Speaker 1: and and and that you know, you reference the Obamacare filibuster.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that was a moment where people
Speaker 1: wanted someone to stand up and fight the president. The
Speaker 1: best characteristic of President Trump is he's got a backbone
Speaker 1: and he will stand and fight. And they're so we
Speaker 1: need that. We need people who will defend America, who
Speaker 1: will stand up and defend police officers who are your
Speaker 1: bet heroic and keep saying you bet, you're going to
Speaker 1: bet that's that's a good affirming line too. And this
Speaker 1: is the strange thing. I hate to play Devil's advocate here, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: but I'm looking around him seeing statues falling down. I'm
Speaker 1: seeing the country riding. I'm seeing a whole young generation,
Speaker 1: my generation go towards socialism. How do I get your optimism?
Speaker 1: I mean, John, all of your peers in Hollywood, how
Speaker 1: on earth do you end up being one of the
Speaker 1: very few to defend our country and look with hope
Speaker 1: on its future. I've had a lot of support in
Speaker 1: my life. I've had a noble father, told stories, great storyteller,
Speaker 1: just like your dad. And you know, I've been helped
Speaker 1: and I've helped been helped by other people right to
Speaker 1: this day, and I really rely on those friends who
Speaker 1: tell me the truth and have straightened me out when
Speaker 1: I've been out of line, and all of that stuff
Speaker 1: that I've gone through, you know, and and that's where
Speaker 1: I get my stuff. And also I'm a fellow who
Speaker 1: says a prayer every day, many prayers, and I really
Speaker 1: and I meditated, and I try to get there, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I try to get there. And
Speaker 1: it's hard to meditate. People say it's easy, a true
Speaker 1: prayer is hard to get to that tone where it's
Speaker 1: really just talking. So so let me give you a
Speaker 1: moment of optimism. We're in the midst of a year
Speaker 1: unlike any other. We've got a global pandemic, we've got
Speaker 1: the Great Depression, We've had race riots. On some level,
Speaker 1: it's it's horrifying. At another level, look, I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: like like the shutdown we had in March and April
Speaker 1: and May, in our family, there's never been a moment
Speaker 1: that has been better. So if you were to ask
Speaker 1: as parents, and it's it's it's it's hard to be
Speaker 1: a parent. It's with our girls there I am again
Speaker 1: the single big thing. If I could have prescribed what
Speaker 1: our family needed more than anything else, it would have
Speaker 1: been cancel every event, cancel every dinner party, cancel every playdate,
Speaker 1: cancel every basketball game, cancel everything. Put all four of us,
Speaker 1: Hidie and me and both girls in the house twenty
Speaker 1: four hours a day with nothing but each other for
Speaker 1: about three months, and we've never had so. Heidie and
Speaker 1: I we began during the whole time of the COVID lockdown.
Speaker 1: We did lunch every day with the girls and dinner
Speaker 1: every day We've never done in their own lives. We
Speaker 1: began doing something I've wanted to do for a long
Speaker 1: time We've never done. We began doing a devotion at
Speaker 1: night where we would read together. We would read three
Speaker 1: chapters of the Bible each night and just start with three.
Speaker 1: And I'd wanted to do that, but look, it's hard.
Speaker 1: You're busy, you're on the road, everyone's doing something or else,
Speaker 1: and we were all at home and I got admit.
Speaker 1: The first week or two we did it, the girls
Speaker 1: went nuts. They didn't want it. They wouldn't stay still.
Speaker 1: They I mean, they were back and it's been a wonderful.
Speaker 1: We just finished Second Corinthians, so we started, Matthew. We've
Speaker 1: made it through Second Corinthians. They were actually in Glacians.
Speaker 1: We're in Glacians chapter two right now. But it's been
Speaker 1: every night and we have conversations. We live near downtown Houston.
Speaker 1: Every night, Heidi and I would go for a walk.
Speaker 1: We'd walk our dog at about sunset, and the whole
Speaker 1: town we turned into Maybury. People were out. You couldn't
Speaker 1: get close to each other, so you'd walk socially distanced,
Speaker 1: and it was it was a beautiful thing, and it
Speaker 1: was a reminder this is still a great country. I mean,
Speaker 1: I point to that as a source of optimism. I
Speaker 1: have heard so many people who say our families grew closer,
Speaker 1: and that's a that's a wonderful thing. All right. Let
Speaker 1: me segue to a different topic, which is just the
Speaker 1: world of movies. You worked with lots of actors. Is
Speaker 1: there an actor like in all your time who you
Speaker 1: were just like, Wow, that guy is incredible, that woman
Speaker 1: is like like, who took your breath away? And I mean,
Speaker 1: is there someone who stands out? Well? I have to say,
Speaker 1: you know, when I look at people, I just see talent.
Speaker 1: I see everybody as unique. I see, you know, like
Speaker 1: some people remember this a rab by the cold People said,
Speaker 1: how can he was giving dollars to people all day long,
Speaker 1: all day long, old man, and he said, how can
Speaker 1: you do this? He says, well, I'm counting diamonds. How
Speaker 1: can you get tired of counting dimonds? And he's talking
Speaker 1: about human beings, the value of human beings and the
Speaker 1: potential of each human being. I believe everyone has superpowers.
Speaker 1: I believe everyone potential like that. So it's just a
Speaker 1: matter of encouraging them and getting them to discipline things
Speaker 1: and do things and think positively. All of that and
Speaker 1: something comes out. You know. And I've worked and the
Speaker 1: actors I've worked with, worked with great actors. Are there
Speaker 1: people to stand out? Yes, all the people with the
Speaker 1: movies that have been successful for me, Like starting with
Speaker 1: Midnight Cowboy, nobody was better than Dustin Hoffman. Dustin Hoffman
Speaker 1: is ah When they said he was a genius on
Speaker 1: the set of of of the Arthur Miller Flay of
Speaker 1: You from the Bridge, they were right. Who was a genius?
Speaker 1: And we got along. We liked each other, and we
Speaker 1: got along together. We were perfect for each other. We
Speaker 1: helped each other, and we were laughed with each other.
Speaker 1: We invented. Okay, that's that. And then every other one,
Speaker 1: you know, certainly with Burt Reynolds and Deliverance, Bert got
Speaker 1: the role of his life one of the great movies
Speaker 1: of all time. I mean it iconic. Yeah, and Bert
Speaker 1: was sensational. It was his role. You know, when anybody
Speaker 1: gets animated, when every individual has that kind of every
Speaker 1: individual is just filled with potential. I remember I ran
Speaker 1: a class for a couple of years. For a year
Speaker 1: a year, I said I'll take over the class of
Speaker 1: somebody's leaving and the teacher was leaving and they said, John,
Speaker 1: would you take over class? I said, okay, And my
Speaker 1: purpose in the class, I set as my purpose that
Speaker 1: I was going to get every one of those kids
Speaker 1: in that class, which about twenty four kids, to achieve
Speaker 1: that moment where they took the class over where it
Speaker 1: became their moment, their class when everybody walked to while
Speaker 1: I was like wow. And I remember this one fellow
Speaker 1: right down to the end, he couldn't get a last
Speaker 1: the last class that I had, he broke through and
Speaker 1: he was fantastic. And it was not that he could
Speaker 1: do it every night, not that he went on to
Speaker 1: have a great career, but that night he was a superstar,
Speaker 1: a different question. Do you have a thought, is is
Speaker 1: one harder than the other drama versus comedy or I
Speaker 1: mean they're both. Well, I've never done a real comedy comedy.
Speaker 1: I've done some stuff that was funny, like in Holes
Speaker 1: when I played mister Sarah. You know, it was a
Speaker 1: funny character. And I have a pretty good sense of
Speaker 1: humor and all in every role, like with Cowboy Midnight Cowboy,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of humor in that. Yeah, And the
Speaker 1: thing that actually sustains Anaconda is humor. That every line
Speaker 1: I say in that movie is funny to me, right,
Speaker 1: I love it. I love every lot. It's so it's
Speaker 1: so crazy. So anyway, there's humor in the work that
Speaker 1: I do, But I haven't done comedy. Comedy. I think
Speaker 1: comedy is very specific. You know, it's a it's a different,
Speaker 1: different aspect, different technique in a certain way. But we
Speaker 1: have and we have people who are doing wonderful, wonderful work.
Speaker 1: I grew up in the time when we had said Caesar,
Speaker 1: as I said, Jackie Gleeson, I love Lucy Lucille. Ball
Speaker 1: was a genius, and you know we had all these
Speaker 1: rick regarded Oh yeah, he was, and he was quite
Speaker 1: brilliant Ricky. So anyway, so it's Jackie Gleeson used to
Speaker 1: they say, he didn't rehearse. He would have somebody else
Speaker 1: read lines for him, and he had a kind of
Speaker 1: photographic memory. But he was absolutely he knew what it
Speaker 1: was and he knew this character so well, and then
Speaker 1: he would come on and do it and they loved
Speaker 1: it because that's why it was so spontaneous. That's why
Speaker 1: the people were listening to each other. He had this
Speaker 1: little cluster, you know, with Art Carney and the gal
Speaker 1: was in Ardie Meadows. They were fantastic. But he came
Speaker 1: on and they didn't know quite what He hadn't rehearsed it,
Speaker 1: so he was just you know, he was going. He
Speaker 1: was ready. You know. On the subject of comedy, there
Speaker 1: are many jokes about politicians and actors, which I'm sure
Speaker 1: we've all heard. They're very negative, but I am struck
Speaker 1: by a positive version of it, which is that a
Speaker 1: similarity between actors and politicians is they've got to be
Speaker 1: concerned with truth, the truth about public policy, public philosophy.
Speaker 1: Were getting in truth about a character truthfully and imaginary circumstances,
Speaker 1: and you've got to like people you know this. If
Speaker 1: you don't like people, you're gonna have a horrible time
Speaker 1: on the campaign trail. If you don't like people, why
Speaker 1: would you dedicate your life to building characters? You know,
Speaker 1: that's the that's the bright side of good. And I
Speaker 1: thank you very much. And I got to tell you, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: I think you both exhibit the bright side of both
Speaker 1: of those professions. And I wish we could go on
Speaker 1: another five hours, but we'll have to just do it again, Senator,
Speaker 1: next time you're in town. John, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for being here. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with
Speaker 1: Ted Cruz. This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is
Speaker 1: being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom and Security Pack,
Speaker 1: a political action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations,
Speaker 1: and candidates across the country. In twenty twenty two, Jobs
Speaker 1: Freedom and Security Pack plans to donate to conservative candidates
Speaker 1: running for Congress and help the Republican Party across the nation.