WEBVTT - James Comey, Incompetent or Corrupt? 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:04.280 This investigation of the president was corrupt. The FBI and 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:08.520 the Department of Justice were politicized and weaponized. And in 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.960 my opinion, there are only two possibilities that you were 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:16.279 deliberately corrupt or woefully incompetent, and I don't believe you 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:23.280 were incompetent. This has done severe damage to the professionals 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.400 and the honorable men and women at the FBI because 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.320 law enforcement should not be used as a political weapon, 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:40.120 and that is the legacy you have left. This might 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.199 be my favorite aspect of the show. I mean, this 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.160 is what we've been seeing since impeachment, all the way 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.559 back what was it eight nine months ago? Now is 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.600 we get the first look and the first talk with 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:57.160 Senator Cruz after all of these extraordinarily consequential events. Senator, 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:59.480 you have just come from a hearing with former FBI 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:04.400 Director James Comey. James Comy is not just a controversial figure, 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:10.840 but he has, in your words, either incompetent or worse. 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:16.240 Let's if you wouldn't mind take us through the hearing. Well, yeah, 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.320 so he was testifying about his leadership at the FBI 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.920 and his role in the investigation of President Trump of 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.600 his campaign of Michael Flynn of Carter Page, and I 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:28.959 got to say, you know, you know, Comy at this 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:34.080 point just blames everything on Oh, mistakes were made, the 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.959 passive voice was used, nobody as an actor. It just 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.560 just happened to happen. Oh up, some things were sloppy. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:45.920 And I gotta say I thought too many Republican senators 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.480 were willing to credit him with Oh, you just didn't 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:55.160 know what was going on, Bologny. Comey knew exactly what 0:01:55.240 --> 0:02:01.600 was going on. Comy, I believe bears very direct responsibility 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:07.400 for politicizing the FBI, for politicizing dj and Obama and 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:16.239 Biden used Komy and used Brennan to turn dj CIA, 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.799 FBI and the political weapons to go after Trump. And 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:24.400 I think Komy was complicit the hearing today which I 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:26.440 just came from. I spent most of the morning over 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.920 at the hearing. He's very good at dodging and weaving. 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:35.320 He's slippery. He doesn't like to answer a direct question. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:40.680 So you know, he talked about well, anytime, anytime the 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.640 FBI is thought of as less than competent or honest, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.840 that's a problem. And I pointed out that in according 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.480 to the Inspector General report, they made seventeen material misstatements 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:56.240 to the Federal Court. And he's like, oh, well, yeah, 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.280 that's competent and honest and and and he said, well 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.040 he was honest at least, and I said, well, no. 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.840 One of those was when an FBI lawyer who worked 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.600 for you fraudulently altered a document from the CIA. He 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.240 emailed the CIA and said, hey, it's Carter Page a 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.760 source for you because he's talking to the Russians. But 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:14.880 if he's talking to the Russians on behalf of the CIA, 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.840 that's very different than if he's running around with Russian agents. See. 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.720 I said, oh, yeah, he's a source for us. And 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:27.680 the FBI lawyer fraudulently altered that email and added the 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:31.240 words is not a source, literally turned it to the 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.280 opposite of what it said. I mean, I mean reversed 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.800 its meaning one hundred and eighty degrees, and they used 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.640 that as the basis for a submission to the Federal Court. Comy, 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.520 being slippery as he is, said no, no, no, that's 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:47.640 not what the Inspector General concluded. And fortunately I had 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:49.440 the IG report right in front of me, so I 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.680 pulled it over and read the damn quote from the report, 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.600 and he just he had nothing to say on that. 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:01.400 I like this dichotomy that you drew between incomptance and corruption. 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.360 I think even I and I think for so many 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.480 people who are listening, who don't have the time to 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.760 go through all of the aspects of what this means 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.000 for spying on the Trump campaign and the Russian collusion narrative, 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.200 and on and on and on, and it's complicated. It's 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.440 hard to figure out. It is hard to figure out. 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.359 And we know that bureaucracies are incompetent a lot of 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.160 the time. So I think even a lot of us 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.520 who are pretty conservative will say, Okay, maybe we'll give 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.200 them the benefit of the devil. What you're pointing to 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.159 here is one the language that Komy uses, this passive 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.520 voice which he always uses, is designed to push away 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.880 any sort of guilt, and we can read in the 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:45.159 report that there was flagrant intentional dishonesty. Yeah. A couple 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.960 of additional observations. Komy at the hearing today and at 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.359 the press all the time, makes all these dispersions. Like 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.880 he said at the hearing, I think the Russians have 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.760 something on Trump. And mind you, he has no basis 0:04:57.760 --> 0:04:59.919 he was leading the FBI. It used to be the 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.159 that you actually have something based on evidence rather than 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:09.279 just making making wild accusations. But listen, I know James 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.159 Comy not well, but I've dealt with him for a 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:15.799 number of years. I think Comey was deeply, deeply political, 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:22.000 small p political political in the maneuvering, and I think 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:26.000 Comey had delusions of grandeur. He worked in the Jed 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.279 gro Hoover building, which is the headquarters of the FBI, 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.200 and I think he thought he was Jed Groover. I mean, 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:35.520 Hoover famously abused the power of head of the FBI 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:39.800 and basically blackmailed people, had you know, all sorts of 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:44.440 incriminating information on lots of players. And I think Comy, look, 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.719 Comy played a role in twenty sixteen and torpedoing Hillary 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.680 at the end and then an exonerating Hillary and going 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.280 back and forth, and I think he was playing politics. 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.400 And then I think he felt guilty about the role 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:58.320 he played in Hillary. And I think he hated Trump 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:05.200 and he was perfectly happy to have the FBI be 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:09.400 a political weapon. And there needs to be accountability. People 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:11.240 need to go to jail for breaking the law and 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.640 to date, they haven't, and I hope they do. Will 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.320 they be held to account? I mean, I know we're 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.360 having hearings at the Senate, we're having the investigation from 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.680 the DOJ into all the mess that happened. Is there 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.640 going to be some consequence to all of this or 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.640 are the nefarious players just going to run out the clock? Look, 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.560 I pray they will. I don't know. I think Bill 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.920 Barr is doing a terrific job. I think if anyone 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.800 can ensure some accountability, it's bar. That being said, it's 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.400 been four years and there hasn't been much of any 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:46.880 And you know, one of the things I asked Comey 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.000 about is is he testified under oath and under penalty 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.599 of perjury that he had never leaked to the press 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.039 and that he'd never authorized anyone to leak to the press. 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:59.400 Concerning this, Andrew McCabe, who was his deputy, has publicly 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.440 stated that he leaked to the press and that Comy 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.440 authorized him to do so, and he knew about it. 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.520 And so I asked Coomy about it. I read the 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.920 two statements. I said, Look, these are directly contradictory. They 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.360 can't both be true. So who's telling the truth and 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.840 Comy again under oath, reiterated that he never leaked and 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:21.320 never authorized anyone to leak. McCabe's coming before the Judiciary 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.600 Committee next week, and you better believe I'm going to 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:25.720 ask him the same thing. One or the other. Is 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.120 lying and doing it in front of the Judiciary Committee. 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:33.000 Is perjury that is punishable by prison term. Well, we'll 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.600 obviously have to cover that next week. You know, I 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.200 want to get to the debates a little bit. And 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.160 actually this ties directly in one one line that President 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.200 Trump came back to last night, as he said, there 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:48.240 was an attempted coup. The previous administration spied on my campaign, 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.440 they drove up this whole ridiculous narrative. They tried to 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.520 impeach me over absolutely nothing. And so it's not a 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.720 minor issue. It's not enough to just say, oh, well 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.880 that was a few years ago. We'll move on. You know, 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:01.960 this is an issue that gets to the heart of 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.520 the integrity of our political system, and that there was 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:07.720 a little bit of a parallel I felt at the debate, 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.280 which is that it's supposed to be the two people 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.160 who disagree, right, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and a 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:17.160 neutral moderator. There are supposed to be neutral, nonpartisan elements 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.400 to our government, and the moderator, just like a lot 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.120 of elements of the government, turned out to be a 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:27.240 partisan Democrat weighing in on the side of Joe Biden. Yeah. 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:31.360 I think Chris Wallace did an abysmal job. I think 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:36.520 he's consistently been a really bad presidential debate moderator because 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.880 he's biased, and he's condescending, and he thinks it's all 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.640 about him. And so you saw, you know, before the debate, 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.679 he said he wanted to be invisible, but that disappeared 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.000 when the debate started, where he you know, there was 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.480 a lot of stomping his foot and you know, I'm 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.079 in charge here, listen to me. You know, reminded me 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.760 of South Park, you know, respect my authority. I mean, 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:02.840 I mean that that was Chris Wallace, and yes, and 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.679 but he was also Look, a lot of people get 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.240 confused because Wallace is on Fox News, and so they 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.000 assume he might must be a Republican or right of center. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:17.959 He's a liberal Democrat and he's been in the entire 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.320 time I've been in the Senate. I've seen Wallace do 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.920 it over and over again, that he attacks conservatives, that 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:28.120 he carries water for the left. You saw with the questions, 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.000 you know, one of his questions to Trump was the 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.200 New York Times hit piece on the taxes, which you know, 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.680 conveniently two days before the debate, entirely designed to be 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:39.440 the attack on the debate. Now, mind you, the New 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.520 York Times doesn't actually release the tax documents, so it's 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:49.640 purely the Times's characterization of them. But but Wallace does 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.360 none of that to Biden. Apparently there are no issues 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:54.640 with Biden. Did you know that there are no criticisms 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:59.679 of Joe Biden? Lucky guy? You know, at times Wallace's 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.800 question were almost like, you know, mister Vice President, are 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.120 you more handsome or brilliant? Like like like it was, 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:12.400 and his little his laughter, his snide comments. There is 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:17.000 zero doubt for whom Chris Wallace is voting, that he 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.920 is voting for Joe Biden. And that's not a good 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.200 thing for for a moderator. Now, you know, we were 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.440 talking about Senate Judiciary Committee a minute ago and how 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:29.000 the witnesses testify under penalty of perjury. I think it's 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.400 a good thing that neither of the candidates last night 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:36.160 were testifying under penalty. There's some exaggerations perhaps in there, 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.480 or worse, it was wild and Woolley. I don't think 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:42.680 there's ever been a debate like this in the history 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.880 of presidential debates. At times it was ugly. I drew 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:51.959 an analogy to the Detroit Pistons basketball team in the 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.120 nineteen nineties in that there were a lot of hard 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.440 fouls and miss shots. And you know, Trump at times 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:03.080 was Bill Lambier, coming with this massive arm and slamming 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:07.000 Joe across the head. Now Joe was rabbit punching back, 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:12.640 and I mean it was at times it almost became 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:15.439 Jerry Springer and I expected someone to grab a chair 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.800 and like throw it at the other. It was disappointing, 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.880 I felt, I have to say it was. It was 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.560 obviously a two on one debate Wallace and Biden against 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.240 Trump to begin with, but I think a lot of 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:31.760 people were dispirited because you felt on the substance, Trump 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.480 had much more than Joe Biden. And even even on 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.000 the attacks, Joe Biden's attacks were just to call Trump 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.160 a clown and a racist and tell him to shut up, 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:44.400 man and come on man. But it was so childish 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.480 and I understand maybe the President's strategy was to off 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.400 foot Biden a little bit, but I felt there were 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:53.320 too many interruptions. I felt that was counterproductive. It was 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:55.840 just dispiriting. I felt for both camps. What do you 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.200 think the upshot of it is going to be for 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.200 both campaign and how do you think that they can 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.560 do better next time? Yeah, Look, I don't think the 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.600 debate moved many votes last night. I think the people 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.960 that came in supporting Trump left supporting Trump. The people 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.600 that came in supporting Biden left supporting Biden. I don't 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:18.079 think there were a whole lot of undecided voters whose 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.720 views were changed. Both candidates had good moments in the debate. 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:25.480 Trump I think his best moment was when he called 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:29.880 out Biden and he explained that Biden is supporting shutting 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.240 down the economy, shutting down small businesses, shutting down restaurants, 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:38.520 destroying job, shutting down schools. And Trump contrasted that says 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.640 he wants people to open, go back to work, go 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.640 back to school. That was really important, and Biden didn't 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.840 have a good response to that. Biden was trying to 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.920 run away from his positions. I thought that was a 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:54.560 very positive exchange. I also thought Trump was particularly good 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:59.360 went on law enforcement. You know, Joe made reference to 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.079 being supported law enforcement, and Trump said, really, name one, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:06.480 name one law enforcement organization in all of America supporting you, 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.000 and Joe just kind of blinked, wide eyed and had 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:14.080 no idea. And then, of course Chris Wallace jumped in 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.720 and bailed Joe out. Wallace should have shut up and 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.040 stayed out of it right then, and Trump should have 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:26.640 been quiet yeah and pressed it. It's one very powerful 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:32.200 thing in a negotiation, in an interview is silence. Silence. 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.480 People hate silence. People want to fill silence with space. 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:40.000 And you know, the question Trump asked, name one law 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.320 enforcement agency in the entire country that has supported you. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.800 I think if Trump had just simply looked at him 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.720 and waited, and there had been two three, four, five 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.920 six seconds of silence as violent Biden had no answer, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:57.560 it would have been really powerful that being said, the 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.320 point was made. Nonetheless, the point was made, and it 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.199 was too bad that Chris Wallace jumped in. I mean, 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:04.320 obviously I guess that was what he was there for, 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:07.360 was to go in and help the Democrat. But there 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.960 is this basic rule in politics I don't need to 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.240 tell you this, which is that when your opponent is 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.520 destroying himself, don't get in the way. There's no reason 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.280 to interrupt that well, and by the way, an another 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.720 quick example, you know Joe Biden, he tried a couple 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.480 of times to run away from some positions of the left. 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:29.880 He pretended he didn't support packing the cord, or actually 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.640 technically he said he wouldn't answer that question, which means yes, 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.440 he supports packing the cord. He did help himself, I 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.440 think when he came out strongly and said that he 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:44.040 opposed defunding the police, although I think both Wallace and 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.640 Trump should have pressed back on him hard. And I 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.080 thought it was interesting that he ran away from the 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.280 Green New Deal and said I don't support the Green 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:56.160 New Deal. If Wallace were actually being a fair and 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.440 impartial moderator, the natural follow up question to that is 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.560 why aspects of the Green New Deal do you not support? 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.720 You're running mate as a co sponsor of it. I mean, 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.280 there was no substance, so he was able to say no, 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.520 no, no no, no, I don't I don't support that, but 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.920 with no details, and he wasn't pressed one iota. And 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.720 the first question of the debate actually is what we 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.560 were talking about on the last episode. The first topic 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.280 dominated the beginning was the Supreme Court, and it was 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.200 on this issue of court packing, and it was on 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:33.000 other other aspects of the Supreme Court. Coincidentally, you happen 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.760 to have a book out on this subject, One Vote Away. 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.640 But I do think it kind of vindicates what we 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.320 were saying on the previous episode, which is that, however 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:44.240 it is today, I don't however it came to be 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:50.120 the Supreme Court is the dominant issue in the presidential elections. Now, 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.520 I think that's right. It was the number one question 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.360 in the debate. The book, One Vote Away, it came 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:59.160 out yesterday. It's actually done really well. We did podcast 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.480 yesterday and we asked folks thank you for going going 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:06.400 online to Amazon or wherever and buying it. We've been 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:10.760 in the top ten national best sellers on Amazon. Actually 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:16.200 right now on Amazon's best seller list for political conservativism 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.560 and Liberalism, which is sort of an odd odd list 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.560 if you're I guess a righty or lefty. Um, the 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.680 book is right now number one, and I gotta say 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.480 I think Verdict listeners, you guys are a huge part 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.520 of why that is thank you that really it makes 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.400 a difference, and I think I think you'll find the 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:38.880 book really interesting and informative and helpful, hopefully for the 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:43.600 same reason that that you find verdict helpful. Right. Well, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.600 it's actually I think it would be a good contrast 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.920 to the debate, which is that I am professionally obligated 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:51.920 to watch every minute of that debate, and if I 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.400 were not professionally obligated to do it, I would not 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.720 have it. I didn't feel it was productive. It was 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:02.440 difficult often to watch and listen to. But it's different 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.960 when you're talking about the book. You're you actually do leave. 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:06.679 I'm not. I'm not just shilling for your book. I 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.000 really am enjoying it because for this reason, you leave 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.520 with actual information, so you can say, Okay, this is 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.600 this is ammo I can use frankly, when I'm having 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.880 these debates with my friends and I'm at the water 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:22.439 cooler or I'm wherever at a dinner party. Well, and 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.359 you know the debate last night. The first question, actually 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:27.920 Wallace asked a good first question. It was a neutral 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:32.280 moderator question where he said, mister President, your position on 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:36.280 the Supreme Court vacancy is as follows. Vice President Biden, 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.600 your position is as follows. And he fairly neutrally characterized 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.920 both sides, and he said, tell us why, why you're right? 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:44.879 And then so he just teat up the issue and 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.880 then let them engage. That was actually a pretty good beginning. 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.879 It was it was not as biased as some of 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:55.919 his later questions. I got to say. The president's response, 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.080 he essentially said, well, I'm president, and I got elected, 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:06.000 so I get to nominate, and we won. And I 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:13.680 wish I wish the president had focused on why it matters, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.840 why the Supreme Court matters, what's at stake. I wish 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.119 the president had focused on the issue is really at 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.720 the core of the book. One vote away that he 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.760 talked about free speech or religious liberty of the Second Amendment. 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:28.840 You know, when I was a college debater, we used 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.600 to think all the time, when when you were in 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.840 an opposition of of focusing on harms. In fact, you know, 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.000 I would say, harms, harms, harms, how does it impact you? 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.240 And and a little bit of the back and forth 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.200 between Trump and Biden, it was about them and and 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.919 and I really think it would have been more effective 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:50.600 for it to be about you at home, if you're 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:55.960 the soccer mom at home watching this debate. Okay, yes, 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.159 people elected the president. And by the way, Biden had 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:04.360 a huge created a huge opening because he came and said, well, 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.400 the American people deserved to have a say. They get 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:09.359 to vote on a president, they get to vote on 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.840 the Senate, and they deserve to have a say. That 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.399 was his reason why we shouldn't vote on him. And 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.920 Trump had a natural response of you know what, Joe 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.920 was absolutely right. The American people deserved to have a say, 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:24.000 and they did. They elected me in twenty sixteen. I 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.280 told him what kind of justice I was going to appoint. 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.200 They elected a Republican Senate. They told him what kind 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.040 of justice we were going to confirm. And Joe, there's 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.119 a reason the American people that they want free speech. 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:39.000 They don't want the government prohibiting you criticizing politicians. They 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.400 want religious liberty, they want to be able to worship. 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.800 They want the Second Amendment. And Joe, your justices would 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:49.359 take away Second Amendment rights from Americans. It was a 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.880 great opportunity that Joe kind of stuck his chin out 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:58.400 there and asked to be clavered, not in a personal attack, 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:03.119 but really a substantive of your vision for America is 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.400 not what the American people want, and it's not how 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:10.959 they voted in twenty fourteen in the Senate, in twenty 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:13.040 sixteen in the Senate and the presidency, or in twenty 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:16.240 eighteen in the Senate. That's a great insight. I mean, 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:18.560 I saw that missed opportunity there. I felt you could 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:20.520 have hit it. But I like the framing that you've 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.760 just described, which is it's not about me, it's about you, 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.840 and don't forget that was a huge help to President 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.720 Trump in the general election in twenty sixteen when Hillary's 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:32.159 slogan was I'm with her, and he said, forget that, 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:35.000 I'm with you, completely flips there races I'm with you. 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:36.960 And in the spirit of that, as a matter of fact, 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:39.360 I do want to get to some mail bad questions 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.640 from you, not you senator, but you out there. And 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:47.000 this does relate to the debate. This question is from 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.960 Brandon what changes could be made to make the debates 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:59.040 more effective or I'll add listenable. Look, at some level, 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.280 it's impossible if the two are going to yell at 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:08.200 each other. President Trump in particular want like is looking 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.359 for a brawl. I actually think he would be better 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:15.200 off sort of ratcheting down a little bit and engaging 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:20.600 in a more more of a conversation and discussion. But 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.800 I think it would be benefited from having moderators. I 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.919 think rather than pretending people are unbiased, we ought to 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.360 just admit. So I'd have a Republican moderator, a Democratic moderator. 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:36.160 I'd have a you know, how about have Sean Hannity 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.480 and Rachel Maddow moderator debate together and everyone will know 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:44.000 which hat they're wearing, or you know, or Mark Levin 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:49.159 or Rush Limbaugh or Michael Knowles or Ben Shapiro. I mean, 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:51.680 I mean, can you imagine Ben modering a debate and fine, 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:55.159 get some whatever, smart lefty, get lefty Ben Shapiro and 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.560 Chris Hayes. That would actually be an interesting debate. Now 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.159 everyone gets that Shapiro would ask questions. He's coming from 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:06.399 a perspective, and Hayes is coming from a perspective, and 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:08.959 they would ask questions to advance their perspectives. I think 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.960 that actually be a more honest debate, an interesting debate, 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.960 because it would expose the weaknesses of both sides and 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:20.280 help people make an intelligent decision. Absolutely, I totally agree 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:22.080 this idea of when can we get back to a 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:26.199 perfectly balanced, neutral objective press that probably never existed, that 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:28.320 I think is missing the point. Let's just be honest 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:31.000 about it, and that way you get to some fairness. Now, 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:34.320 this question is going to come from the opposite end 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.520 of watching or listening to last night's debate from Margot. 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:41.399 What does Senator Cruz do for fun to take a 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:50.479 break from politics? Play basketball? I love hoops about the past. 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:53.720 I played two hours of hoops yesterday, played two hours 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:56.280 of hoops two days ago. I can barely walk because 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:59.680 I turned fifty and a couple of months, so for 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.280 to five hours of hoops is a bit too much. Um. 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:08.880 I like playing tennis. I love movies. I'm I used 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:10.960 to go to the movies at least once a week. 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.359 I mean, I love being in the big movie theater. 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:19.000 Um play with my kids. I mean the girls are 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:23.040 nine and twelve, so so free time at home is 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:26.960 family time. We play games. I'm love to play games, 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:33.240 play poker, UM play backgammon with Catherine, she likes backgam 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:40.000