WEBVTT - Sleepy Joe’s Soporific Speech 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.760 One hundred days into his administration, President Biden has finally 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.840 addressed a joint session of Congress sword of with a 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.480 State of the Union address. Sword of the room was 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:15.000 largely empty. There were lots of masks, people going in 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:17.720 and out. We will cover all of that. Senator Cruz 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:24.320 rather was there in the room, Senator any reports. Senator 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.800 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.880 I have often been called boring but radical, and Senator 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.080 I guess you've been getting a lot of that these days. 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.400 You had the finest moment of the night. I'm sort 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.080 of damning with faint praise because that State of the 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.440 Union address was unbearable to watch, and I could I 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.480 really empathized with you in the room because the TV 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:59.440 cameras caught you front and center dozing off during the speech. Well, look, 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.760 the whole thing was sixty three minutes. I'm amazed that 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.319 I didn't sleep more during the speech. I mean, I 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:10.320 mean it was so. It was actually on this podcast 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.039 about a month two months ago, that we actually coined 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.919 the three word summary for the Biden administration of boring 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:21.720 but radical. It was on Verdict, and that prediction had 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.040 proven right, and in fact, going into the State of 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.319 the Union, I did a bunch of preview interviews where 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.760 reporters say, okay, well, what's tonight going to be? And 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.000 I said, it's going to be boring but radical. I 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.320 didn't realize just how true that was, so like in 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.240 both directions, in both the boring side and the radicals. 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.679 The radical didn't surprise me. It was I was trying 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.840 to stay awake and it you know, actually one of 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.840 the reasons why it was so boring. So there's a 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:53.720 weird aspect of State of the Unions. And actually you 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.040 and I talked about this last Date of the Union, 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.520 which is there's kind of a game Republicans Democrats play. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.680 If it's your party, you're pop it up like pop 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:08.080 goes the weasel on every sentence, like yeay, yeay, yeay. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.040 And what's interesting is if you're in the out of 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.800 power party, So if you're a Democrat when Trump's president, 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.720 if you're a Republican, what Obama Biden's president. A State 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.360 of the Union is often kind of a complicated thing 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.120 because you're listening to each sentence and try to evaluate 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.200 do I clap, do I not clap? Do I stand 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.360 do I not stand? And you know, look, the Supreme 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.679 Court justice is the generals. They kind of clap and 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.079 stand for nothing other than the beginning of the speech, 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:40.440 and occasionally America is good, and then there's sort of 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.959 statements in between. This was bizarre. It is the only 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:46.800 this is the now the ninth State of the Union, 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.040 or that kind of speech that I've been to. There 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:54.240 was virtually nothing for any Republican to clap at. I mean, 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:58.519 it was strange. There were whole swaths of I don't know, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.000 seem like ten fifteen minutes where we're just sitting there 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.920 and every word out of Biden's mouth is directed only 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.799 to Democrats, and it's only Democrats clapping, and he wasn't 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.400 even throwing like a tiny fig leaf trying to trying 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:15.639 to bring anyone together, trying And that's part of why 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.600 I nodded off and and and you know, helped the 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:24.000 Internet go crazy last night. So in terms of the 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:28.079 big takeaways for people who like you, were nodding off, 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.640 not not in the Capitol but in their own homes, 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.080 what are we supposed to make of this? Because I 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:41.320 almost wish that Biden were more overtly radical, that he 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.840 were more exciting because he would be calling more people's 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.440 attention to what he's trying to do. So what is 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:48.360 he trying to do? What is going to get done? 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.800 And do Republicans have any hope? Well, Michael, your point 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.520 is really important that that the boring is by design. 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.480 It's a mask, it's a facade. It's designed to hide 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:04.040 just how extreme the policies are that are being implemented 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.120 by the way. Interestingly enough, I also saw screenshots of 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:11.040 at different points Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi both nodding off, 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.840 and I guess Met Romney was also filmed nodding off. 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.080 And so I I saw Met on the floor today 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:21.080 and I said, mett Man, you and I apparently need 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:26.000 to get more sleep, and and he laughed and said, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.520 I wasn't sleeping. I was looking at my phone. It's like, oh, yeah, me, 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:34.400 I was sleeping. Yeah, I was genuinely like I was 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:39.200 nodding off. And you know, but look, if you look 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:44.479 at what this administration has done, the hard partisan nature 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.919 of it is remarkable. They start with a so called 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.559 COVID relief bill, get zero Republican votes in the House, 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.320 zero Republicans in the Senate. That's actually hard to do. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.360 I mean, last year we did five COVID relief bills 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.880 that were overwhelmingly bipartisan. I mean, they made the decision 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:06.279 they didn't want any Republicans. They wanted a hard partisan bill. Infrastructure, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:10.000 they're they're two point six trillion dollar infrastructure bill as 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.840 written will get zero Republicans. And again, which is hard 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:15.360 to do because there are a lot of Republicans that 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:19.279 care about infrastructure. But Biden's bill, five percent of the 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.479 bill is Rosen Bridges. I mean, it really is absurd. 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:27.400 And you know, everything on Earth they're going to tax. 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:29.920 Every tax is going up. I mean, that's there. We're 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.520 looking at trillions and trillions and trillions in new taxes. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.040 The brazenness of it. You know, you think about the 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.480 speech last night, not a word about the crisis of 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.640 the border that his policies have created. By the way, 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:45.599 in the midst of the speech, I don't I don't 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.280 know how much of this made it on TV. But 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.800 Lauren Boebert, who's, you know, a new freshman House member 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.160 and someone I like and helped get elected and support 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.800 and she's a fireball. But but midway through the speech, 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:01.640 she pulled out of her bag a a reflective emergency blanket. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.400 Uh like, like the children are wrapped in in in 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.120 the cages on the border, and she wrapped herself up 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.479 in the reflective emergency blanket. I gotta tell you, Kevin 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.280 McCarthy is sitting in front of her and turns and 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:21.239 just glares with dagger eyes. I was doubled over laughing. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.360 But but it was an interesting sort of quiet protest 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.160 of the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants that that 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:34.040 Biden is ignoring and the crisis that he's created, that 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.000 that he's ignoring, you know, not a word about the 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.760 massive debt, not a word about you know, not a 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:45.840 word of graciousness to President Trump and Operation Warped Speed. 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:50.400 I mean, he just crowed about the vaccines without acknowledging 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.039 that he laughed at Trump when when he said that 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:54.960 we would have a vaccine by the end of the year. 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.360 And that's of course exactly what they did. So I 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.279 thought the substance and so of it. If you actually 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:07.640 hired an actor to give the identical speech but in 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.960 an angry partisan tone, yeah, people would have been shocked. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.840 I mean, it really is. It's almost a theatrical thing 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:20.960 of having these you know, soporific tones, which which as 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.960 you know, being being a yalily. Soporific is an underused term, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.080 but but it literally means putting people to sleep, and 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.880 last night that was a literal use of the word. Yeah. 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:36.360 You know, this has been Biden's great advantage, certainly in 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.320 the last several years, which is, if you just read 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:41.640 the text of the speech last night, that would have, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.840 I think put a lot of Republicans on their guard. 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.200 If Kamala Harris, for instance, gave that speech, I think 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:48.800 it would have put a lot a lot of people 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.760 in defensive But because it's it's Biden, it lulls everyone 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:57.240 into this false sense of security. There was, however, one 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.520 moment I noticed of quasi almost bipartisanship, and it was 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:07.240 the moment when Joe Biden began to take ownership of 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.440 a major Trump policy, or at least a presumptive Trump policy, 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:15.760 which was getting out of Afghanistan. And was very curious 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:20.120 was in that room the Democrats applauded, the Republicans weren't applauding. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:24.280 With a couple of exceptions, Yeah, when President Biden said 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.800 We're going to pull out of Afghanistan. There were that 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.720 I saw only two Republicans who applauded. I applauded, and 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.080 Mike Lely applauded, and the rest of our side of 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:38.040 the aisle sat there, stone faced, just looking at him. 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:41.240 And I think that's unfortunate, because I think this is 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.440 an area where President Trump was right and he was 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:47.800 leaning in to end the endless wars that we've been 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.440 in Afghanistan. It's been twenty years, and it's time to 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.680 bring our sons and daughters home. That doesn't mean we 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.520 stop killing terrorists and defending our nation, but we don't 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.280 need to be on the front lines of a battle 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:06.520 front for generations. And you're now literally having having soldiers 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:10.880 serving on a front that their parents served on, and 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.360 and that that that's a pretty strong sign that we've 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:18.200 been there too long. Yeah, this issue is one that 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.400 I think shows the way that the GOP, you know, 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.120 is kind of transforming from the way that it once 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.640 was and the way that Biden is transforming. Let's not 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.800 forget the decision to restart the war in Afghanistan to 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.559 really surged the troops there. That was an Obama Biden 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.719 decision back when when President Obama came into office. But 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.480 but other than that one brief moment, it did seem 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:42.360 extraordinarily divisive. And then there was the visual fact that 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.559 you had the masks in the room, you had Joe Biden, 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.880 who was very much pushing this idea of public health 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.360 crisis and we're not allowed to go back to normal, 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:57.760 and everything about it just felt so eerie. When when 0:09:57.840 --> 0:09:59.640 are we going to be able to get back to normal? 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:01.880 How are we going to be able to push this 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.679 unified government to get us back to Look, I thought 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.160 there was an enormous amount of political theater now and 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.440 listen State of the Union. There's always political theater. But 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:15.080 when it comes to COVID and masks, every person in 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:18.880 that room has been vaccinated, and we're also spread out, 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.120 so we were far away from each other. I actually 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.800 think it's idiotic that anyone was wearing a mask. And 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.680 there was a little moment at the beginning of the speech. 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.120 I don't know if you saw when Biden goes up there, 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.200 he walks up at his mask, because of course he does, 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.959 and then he turns and looks to Nancy Pelosi and 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.320 ask permission before he removes his mask. It may have 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:43.000 been the most beta moment for a US president in history, 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.000 and it was just pitiful. And look, I gotta tell you, 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.360 I was conflicted on what to do. So for I 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.400 think three weeks now, I have not been wearing a 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.040 mask on the Senate floor. And you've made a big 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.120 point about this. There have been reporters who have said, 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.200 please put a mask, and you've said, you're more than 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.719 welcome to walk away from me. But I've been inoculated. Hey, 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.720 you know, and listen, I'm not a zealot on mask issues. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.400 I wore a mask for a year on the Senate floor. 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.880 This is a dangerous disease. I thought, take reasonable precautions 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:18.280 makes sense. But in the Senate it's every person or 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:25.960 virtually every person has been vaccinated, and it doesn't make it. 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.199 I believe in vaccines, and so it's interesting. I just 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.000 so Rand Paul has not worn a mask throughout. He 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.320 was kind of the loan in the heat of the pandemic. 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:37.160 Now he got the disease. So he said, look, I 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.240 got the disease. I have have antibodies, which is reasonable. 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:42.040 But Rand was the only one of a hundred that 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.200 wasn't wearing a mask for months and months and months, 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:49.040 and then after everyone got vaccinated, and you know, Michael, 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.800 you'll remember I actually delayed getting vaccinated, so they offered 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:57.120 us the vaccines I think early January, and I didn't 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.880 think it was right for members of cong to cutting line. 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:05.040 I mean, I'm relatively young, relatively healthy. I get that. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.240 A whipper snapper like you doesn't think I'm that young. 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.480 But but you know, you know, compared to my colleagues 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.720 in the Senate, I'm still in short shorts and wearing 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.880 a beanie. It's true. And you remember when the polio 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.439 vaccine came out, so you're you know, you're well acquainted 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:22.040 with all these vaccines, and so you know, I said, 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:24.840 all right, I'm gonna wait and let seniors get the vaccine. 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.560 I'm gonna let first responders get the vaccine. It's not 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.320 right for me to cutting line. And I did that 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:32.920 until about March. And at March there had been tens 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.440 of millions of vaccines. The people who were at highest 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.320 risk had had the opportunity to get the vaccine. And 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.079 then I said, okay, I'll get it. So I've gotten 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.800 it now. And so a couple of weeks ago, I 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.800 just stopped wearing the mask, So what's funny? Two three 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:48.960 days I stopped wearing the mask walk on the Senate floor, 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.520 and nobody notices, Like I was doing it for two 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.440 three days, and it was just a nothing burger. And 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.439 then finally one reporter for CNN like sticks a camera 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.000 in my face and it's like, wait, wait, you're not 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:02.640 wearing a mask. Where are you not wearing a mask? 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.480 And I said, because we're all vaccinated, And actually this 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.960 reporter says, well, I'm not vaccinated. I'm like, well, that's 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:14.640 your choice, Like and the elevation, the elevator closed, and 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.160 I remember thinking like, Okay, if you're choosing not to 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.000 get a vaccine, you can do that, But what right 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:22.880 do you have to insist that the rest of us 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.199 must wear masks because you've chosen not to get a vaccine. 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.400 You don't have a right like it is available to you. 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.600 And and so I have not been wearing it for 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.679 two three weeks. I did wear my mask last night, 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.679 and I sort of struggled with the question. But Pelosi 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:47.679 is running this, you know, military installation. Do you know 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.760 that she is finding house members, finding them if they 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:54.560 don't wear a mask on the floor, and she is 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:59.000 insisting that House members go through metal detectors, and as 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.520 idiotic as it is, is because she's afraid some Republican 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.199 is going to be packing heat. It's the dumbest thing 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:08.839 I've ever heard. And thankfully the Senate is not that idiotic. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.959 And they actually they took down metal detectors or whatever, 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:12.480 because like when I walked in, we didn't go through 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:16.280 metal detectors, but I went ahead and wore the mask 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.360 on the house floor because that's sort of what they're 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.520 doing there. But but but I felt pretty sheepish for 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:26.000 doing so because it was all theatrics. There is something 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.040 deferential and conservative about saying, well, I'm in this chamber 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.240 now it's being run by this crazy lady, so I 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.440 guess I'll follow the rules. But that's exactly what I 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:40.160 was doing. Yeah, and it is really nice to see 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:43.400 that you've taken this very sensible approach, I think from 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.280 the beginning. And I don't think that people on either 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:50.720 side can call you reckless about the masks or particularly zealousy. 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:55.320 They can, but well they certainly will regardless. The only 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.120 question is now there are so many layers to this question, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.920 and I think and a lot of conservatives are very confused. 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.920 What do we do here? It's not just I recognize 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.280 the pun of many layers to the masks, but you 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:09.960 do You have some people who say we need to 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.560 wear three masks. There's some people who say just where 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.480 one mask is fine. Some people are saying you don't 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.960 need to wear a mask. Some people are saying everyone 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:18.800 needs to get vaccinated. Some people are saying you need 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.320 a vaccine passport. Some people are saying, ban it at 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.800 the government level, ban it at the private level. What 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:29.480 is the conservative, sensible American way to approach this issue? So, 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.200 I think a vaccine passport is a terrible idea, and 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.320 I have been vocal and outspoken saying the government shouldn't 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.200 require it. It It would be horrific if the government did it. 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.200 And I don't think private businesses should. So I don't 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:43.680 think airlines should. I don't think I don't think private 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.400 businesses should. I'm someone who believes in vaccines. I think 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.120 vaccines are a good thing. I've gotten the COVID vaccine, 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.880 Heide's gotten the vaccine, My parents have both gotten at 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.640 Heide's parents have gotten it, and I'm encouraging people to 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.240 get it. I'd like to see as many people as 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.320 possible get it. But I also believe in individual liberty, 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.080 and if you don't want to get it, that's your choice. 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.760 And there are some people who've got health issues for 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.120 whom it may not make sense to get it, and 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.440 so I think each person should evaluate whether it makes 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:18.320 sense in your circumstances. But you know, I think the 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.560 CDC is actually doing real damage with the arbitrariness of 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:27.840 their their rules. So for example, even after people get vaccinated, 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.920 they're still idiotically saying, oh, well, we're wear masks here 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.960 and there and everywhere, and it's like, well, wait a second. 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:36.920 If we want people to get vaccinated, one of the 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.280 best ways to do so is make clear once you 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:41.480 get vaccinating and take the damn mask off. I mean, 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.480 I mean that. I think CDC's dragging their feet on 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:52.920 that is very possibly disincentivizing millions of people from getting vaccines. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.520 And you know, this week they put out the guidance 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.640 of Okay, now you don't need to wear a mask 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.480 when you're outside if you've been vaccinated. It's like, well, okay, 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.359 only morons we're doing that, Like like that, thank you, 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.440 and like do I need a mask when I'm taking 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:11.800 a shower, like like you haven't clarified that point. Although 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:17.959 did you see Michael, a track coach in Massachusetts, was 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:22.280 fired because he wouldn't make his kids wear masks while 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:26.400 running cross country track outside. He didn't want his students 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.280 to collapse in the woods and fall fall down on 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.400 a rock. It. You know, there's so much of this 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.919 mass stuff that is just petty totalitarianism. It is we 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.959 can control you, and we want to control you, and 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.840 that's what we're doing. Well, the rules keep changing, but 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.600 it's not really about the rules themselves. I find it's about, 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:47.920 as you say here, the imposition of the rule. Who 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.080 gets to impose their will on others? I want to 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:53.000 go back to something you said though, that I think 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:57.359 is extraordinarily important. On the question of the vaccine passport. 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.080 A number of governors have been divided on this because 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:02.720 a lot of it's taking place at the state level. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.359 Some are saying we will not have any mandates from 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:10.240 the government on the vaccine passport. Others are saying, we 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:14.320 will not permit private businesses to force you to show 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.080 your medical history when you come into the bar, or 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.160 when you try to go on an airline or something 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.959 to that effect well, and you're seeing employers that are 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.560 firing employees for not getting the vaccines, which I think 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:30.119 is terrible. I think that that is deeply, deeply troubling 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.800 and shouldn't be allowed. This ties in with something that 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:37.000 you published yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, and you 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:39.280 did not tell me that this was coming out. It's 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:40.840 not like I got advanced notice. I just saw the 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.560 alert in the journal, and I basically stood up and 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.439 cheered when I saw this op ed because it's something 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:51.440 that conservatives just don't get except for very few who 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:55.280 are pretty rock ribbed. You said that the era of 0:18:55.400 --> 0:19:01.480 conservatives shilling for private companies corporations that hate our values 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.160 and are opposing our country and are opposing even voter 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.640 integrity measures. Ye, that time is over. And you said 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.359 that you will not accept corporate pack money in your campaigns. 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.600 So that's right. I mean, look, we've we've all been 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:20.199 watching the rise of the woke corporations and these big businesses, 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:24.720 these Fortune five hundred companies where the CEOs have essentially 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.840 decided they're going to be the political enforcers for the 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.199 radical left. They're going to be the muscle for the 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.720 Democratic Party and we've seen, whether it's Coca Cola or 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:41.080 Delta Airlines demogoguing on the Georgia voter integrity law, or 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:45.720 companies demagoguing on the Texas voter integrity law. And obviously 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:48.159 Major League Baseball yanking the All Star Game out of 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:52.320 Atlanta and moving to lilywhite Denver instead, which which which 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:57.920 just totally beclowns at Atlanta's fifty one percent black, Denver 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:03.000 is nine percent black. So they are so racially woke 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:05.640 that they're going to take one hundred million dollars out 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.040 of the pockets of a bunch of African American small 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:12.480 business owners and move it to a bunch of wealthy 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:16.040 white people in Denver, like it's weird. Also worth pointing 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.800 out that Georgia they left because of the voter integrity law. 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.439 Colorado has relatively strict voter laws. It's it's not a 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.880 clear cut issue over which has the more lenient voter laws. 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.640 So the dynamic that's playing out in the Fortune five 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:34.800 hundred big business is not conservative. They are not our friends. 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.840 Many of them are just risk averse and scared, and 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:44.320 the liberal mob comes after them and they mobilize their employees. 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.560 They mobilize their shareholders, they mobilize the press, and these 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:51.640 CEOs are more than willing to just cave in and 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.000 give the mob whatever they want. And it's really dangerous. 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.239 And so what I announced this week is is that 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:01.800 I am no longer going to accept any corporate pack checks, 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:05.679 that corporate packs, I won't take their money. And to 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.320 give a sense of the magnitude of that, so I've 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.720 been in the Senate nine years. Over those nine years, 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.000 I've gotten about two point six million dollars in campaign 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:18.240 contributions from corporate packs. Now I've raised well over one 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.639 hundred million dollars during that time, and so that's not 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:24.280 it's not the lion's share of the money that I've raised, 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.840 but it is you know, two point seven million dollars 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.240 ain't nothing. And I just decided enough is enough. If 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:36.439 you guys are going to be actively fighting the American people, 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.360 tearing down America, tearing down freedom, I don't want you're 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:44.119 stinking money. And I've called on other other Republicans to 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.240 do the same, and I think it's a powerful thing. 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:51.320 And listen, you and I have talked about before. Corporate 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:55.359 welfare has always been garbage and Republicans have been too 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:58.960 willing to engage in that where big companies come and say, 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.439 give us a subsidy of US corporate welfare, give us 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.360 a band date. And I've been fighting against that from 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.240 day one. A lot of other Republicans get sucked in. 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:13.080 So the Export Import Bank, which which serves as essentially 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:17.520 a giant subsidy for Boeing, a massive corporate welfare scam. 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:20.600 I've fought against the XM Bank for the entire time 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:22.480 I've been in the Senate, but a whole lot of 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.240 Republicans are eager to carry Boeing's water on that. Major 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:31.240 League Baseball, major League Baseball has a unique exemption from 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:36.359 the antitrust laws that no other sports league has, and 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:40.399 so in response to moving the All Star Game, I 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:43.680 joined with Mike Lee. We introduced legislation to revoke Major 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.520 League Baseball's exemption from the antitrust laws. And I think 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.960 these two should be tied together, which is no corporate 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:53.919 welfare and no more money from big companies. And I 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.359 think that if other Republicans follow suit, that will be 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:01.720 a real improvement. I hear this all the time from 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:04.720 conservatives writing in I'm not talking about elected people. I'm 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:08.600 not talking about Beltway staffers or anything, but just conservatives 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:13.280 around the country. They say these Republicans are such shills. 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:15.920 Even the ones who will call out the woke corporations, 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:19.560 they're totally in their pockets. They'll still accept a lot 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.560