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Speaker 1: My co host has taken on some tough political opponents

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Speaker 1: in his career. Fears tough political battles against Barack Obama,

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Speaker 1: against America's geopolitical foes, against establishmentarians in his own party,

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Speaker 1: and now he finds himself fighting against one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest opponents yet, Big Bird. This is Verdict with Ted Cruze.

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Speaker 1: Verdict with Ted Cruze is sponsored by AMAC, the Association

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Speaker 1: click the microphone at the top of the page and

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Speaker 1: enter code Verdict. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.

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Speaker 1: I am Michael Knowles, Senator. I saw you trending on

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Speaker 1: Twitter today. I say, what has Senator CRUs done? Now?

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Speaker 1: And I kid you not. The description says Senator Cruz

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Speaker 1: gets into a fight with big Burn. What is happening? Well,

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Speaker 1: I guess it's a sign that I had too much

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Speaker 1: time on my hands yesterday afternoon. But you know, it's

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Speaker 1: important to take on the muppets that are destroying America.

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Speaker 1: And there are furry puppets being controlled, being controlled by dark,

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Speaker 1: ominous forces that are really a danger to our liberty. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, we might sound like we're joking about this,

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Speaker 1: but there actually are furree puppets being controlled by dark,

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Speaker 1: ominous forces, because we're not talking about doctor Fauci. We're not.

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Speaker 1: That's un tootally. We would never say that about the

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Speaker 1: good doctor Applicable though it may be. The muppets are

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Speaker 1: actually being used as a mouthpiece right now to persuade

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Speaker 1: children to get the vactor that we're talking about kids

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Speaker 1: between the ages of five and eleven, to go get

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Speaker 1: the COVID vaccine. Well, look that that's exactly right. And

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Speaker 1: when it comes to vaccine, it ought to be your choice.

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Speaker 1: You ought to be the one making that decision. And

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Speaker 1: what we're seeing from Joe Biden, what we're seeing from

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Speaker 1: a lot of big businesses, what we're seeing from sports

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Speaker 1: leagues is they want to use government force to force

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Speaker 1: you to comply. And when it comes to kids, I

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Speaker 1: think that's really pernicious. So, you know, a couple of

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Speaker 1: days ago, Big Bird tweeted out, I just got the

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Speaker 1: COVID vaccine and boyd as my wing hurt. And and

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Speaker 1: you know, it's a tweet sent out directed at kids,

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Speaker 1: and listen, on one level, it's Big Bird, but but

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Speaker 1: you know, and so I responded on my phone and

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Speaker 1: I said, government propaganda directed at your five year old

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Speaker 1: and I gotta say Michael's it's an amazing thing. Liberals

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Speaker 1: I think are genuinely like mentally ill on open border,

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Speaker 1: two million people crossing illegally. They don't care a disastrous

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Speaker 1: retreat from Afghanistan, surrender, giving eighty billion dollars in military

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Speaker 1: equipment to the Taliban. They don't care, skyrocketing inflation, they

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Speaker 1: don't care. All the disasters that are happening, none of

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Speaker 1: them matter. But you mess with Big Bird. Holy crap

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Speaker 1: that they lost it. I mean, we're seeing lefties. I

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Speaker 1: just initially intended a smartass tweet. I was driving along

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Speaker 1: and saw it and just thought it was kind of dumb.

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Speaker 1: And then the reaction of the left. This has been

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Speaker 1: on ABC News, on NBC News, on CBS, the Washington Post,

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Speaker 1: like the entire corrupt corporate media is surrounding Big Bird.

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Speaker 1: They're protected the big fella. And you also apparently had,

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Speaker 1: you know, tweets coming out from Elmo, you had tweets

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Speaker 1: coming out from Oscar the Grouch. Now pause for a second.

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Speaker 1: Would you really take vaccination advice from somebody who lives

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Speaker 1: in a trash can? I mean, that's just not a

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Speaker 1: safe place to get needles and you got to wonder

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Speaker 1: about that. It does not seem conducive to public health.

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Speaker 1: It most assuredly is not. And the entire thing is

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Speaker 1: driven by I don't get the left that wants to

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Speaker 1: control you and force you to take the vaccine. If

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Speaker 1: you want to take the vaccine, make a decision and

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Speaker 1: take it. If you don't want to take it, don't

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Speaker 1: take it. And with your kids, if you decide you

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Speaker 1: want your kids to get the vaccine, that's your right.

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Speaker 1: You ought to be able to make that decision, but

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Speaker 1: you also ought to be able to make the decision

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Speaker 1: with your five year old that, gosh, maybe this isn't

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Speaker 1: the right decision for a five year old. That the

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Speaker 1: cost benefit analysis, the risk for a child of getting

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Speaker 1: seriously ill from COVID is very very low. The risks

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Speaker 1: of unknown side effects from a new and experimental vaccine,

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Speaker 1: we don't know what those are. I think parents can

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Speaker 1: make that determination. And it is bizarre to see the

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Speaker 1: democratic complex saying you don't have a right to make

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Speaker 1: your choices, you don't have a right to make choices

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Speaker 1: for your kids. Well, it's that last part that I

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Speaker 1: think is what's so pernicious about this muppet assault you know,

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Speaker 1: propaganda assault for the COVID vaccine because ninety nine percent

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Speaker 1: plus of the viewers of Sesame Street are children. And

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Speaker 1: maybe you've got a parent watching too, or walking into

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Speaker 1: the room or something. But this was not a message

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Speaker 1: going out saying, hey, parents, you really should vaccinate your kids.

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Speaker 1: And here are the reasons why this was going over

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Speaker 1: the heads of parents, going directly to the kids. That

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Speaker 1: seems really ugly, It seems disordered, and I know that

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Speaker 1: beyond the cartoons and the puppets, you're actually bringing this

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Speaker 1: fight to Capitol Hill to try to put some teeth

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Speaker 1: in it, to stop these mandates for five and six

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Speaker 1: year olds to get the faucciogi. No, that's exactly right.

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Speaker 1: So I've filed legislation. I filed legislation banning vaccine mandates

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Speaker 1: at work. I filed legislation banning vaccine passports. I've filed legislation.

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Speaker 1: Just this past week, I filed legislation focused on kids

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Speaker 1: to prevent any level of government federal government, state government,

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Speaker 1: local government, school boards from requiring kids to get the

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Speaker 1: COVID vaccine. It should not be a requirement. Look, we're

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Speaker 1: seeing places like California where they're forcing school kids. Whether

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Speaker 1: you want it or not, you've got to give this

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Speaker 1: vaccine to your kids. I don't think that's right. I

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Speaker 1: think we ought to empower parents, and I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: the arrogance of the left. Look when it comes to parents.

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Speaker 1: We saw that play out in Virginia where the same

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Speaker 1: people who are saying, we the government are going to

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Speaker 1: force your kids to obey whatever you think. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's what Terry mccullufs said. Parents have no business telling

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Speaker 1: schools what to teach their kids. These same people think too,

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Speaker 1: parents have no business making healthcare decisions for their kids.

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Speaker 1: I gotta say that's nuts. I believe in parents and

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Speaker 1: trust parents. You know. I will say one of the

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Speaker 1: people who got mad at me about this was Seth

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Speaker 1: Seth McFarlane, you know, the comedian who's family guy, and

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Speaker 1: he's funny as all get out. And he sent a

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Speaker 1: tweet saying that that that big bird is smarter than Cruz,

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Speaker 1: and so's Elmo and the Cookie Monster and Oscar the

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Speaker 1: Grouch and animally listed a whole bunch of others, and

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Speaker 1: you know I had to respond and I said, look,

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Speaker 1: last I checked, every one of those you listed are puppets.

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Speaker 1: Usually with someone's hands stuck up their rear end. So

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Speaker 1: and I said, listen, you're a really funny guy, and

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Speaker 1: I'm sad to see you shilling for authoritarian tyrants who

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Speaker 1: want forced kids to obey and take away healthcare choices

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Speaker 1: from parents. I think that's not right, of course, And

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Speaker 1: you know, comedians used to speak truth to power. Now

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Speaker 1: they just push the regular narrative. But you know, the

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Speaker 1: Virginia of it all is what's interesting to me, Because

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Speaker 1: the Democrats just got a shellacking. You would imagine they

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Speaker 1: got the message that this issue of education, parents having

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Speaker 1: a right and how their kids are raised, that's really

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Speaker 1: going to resonate even in a blue state like Virginia.

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Speaker 1: So do you think there's any chance that you could

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Speaker 1: get some Democrats in the Senate or in the House

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Speaker 1: to come along, come over and say, you know, no

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Speaker 1: mandates for kids? Or is the party line so strictly

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Speaker 1: enforced that doesn't matter what happens in Virginia they can't

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Speaker 1: back down from it. Look, I think the party line

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Speaker 1: is so strict they're terrified. You know, we had a

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Speaker 1: vote on vaccine mandates on the Senate floor where we

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Speaker 1: voted to stop government funding for vaccine mandates for your job,

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Speaker 1: that you shouldn't be fired if you decline to get

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Speaker 1: a vaccine, and every Democrat to no. I mean, it

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Speaker 1: was a complete party line vote. It's where their party is.

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Speaker 1: They believe in government power, and they don't think you

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Speaker 1: have individual rights. They don't think you have individual liberty.

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Speaker 1: And I gotta say, Michael, it's striking as I travel

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Speaker 1: the country, I'm hearing from people in all sorts of

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Speaker 1: walks alive. I'm hearing from doctors and nurses because they're

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Speaker 1: firing thousands upon thousands of doctors and nurses because they're

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Speaker 1: declining to get the COVID vaccine for various reasons. I'm

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Speaker 1: hearing from airline pilots and air traffic control controllers. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're seeing every week, it seems there's a new story

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Speaker 1: about thousands of flights being canceled Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, United,

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Speaker 1: one after the other, cancelation after cancelation, and the corporate

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Speaker 1: media is desperate to say it has nothing, nothing, nothing.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they freak out, absolutely nothing to do with

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Speaker 1: the vaccine mandates. I'll tell you, I'm talking with the pilots, unions,

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Speaker 1: I'm i was chairman. I'm now the ranking member on

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Speaker 1: the Aviation Subcommittee the Senate Commerce Committee. So I talked

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Speaker 1: to aviation people a lot because I'm the lead Republican

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Speaker 1: on all aviation issues. I'm talking to the pilots unions,

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Speaker 1: I'm talking to the air traffic controllers unions. I can

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Speaker 1: tell you they're a whole bunch of them who are

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Speaker 1: really upset about these mandates. And what I'm hearing is

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Speaker 1: that we're seeing sickouts and walkouts. Now, the unions don't

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Speaker 1: want to acknowledge that publicly because there are negative legal

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Speaker 1: repercussions that come from doing that. But I think that's

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Speaker 1: what's happening, and the media is desperate to have nobody

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Speaker 1: acknowledge it. And you know, I gotta say. This weekend,

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Speaker 1: I was up in Chicago and I was speaking at

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Speaker 1: an event that was called Freedom Fests, about seven eight

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Speaker 1: hundred people there and was talking to them. So I

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Speaker 1: flew up there. Now, as I flew up there, this

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Speaker 1: happens almost every time I fly now where people stop me,

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Speaker 1: airline pilots, flight attendants, mechanics on airplanes. They come up

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Speaker 1: to me that they grab me by the shoulder, they say,

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Speaker 1: ted thank you. Keep fighting. It has gotten to the

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Speaker 1: point now I almost can't get on an airplane without

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Speaker 1: somebody coming up and saying that because they're facing I'm

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Speaker 1: hearing every time I fly someone saying I've been with

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Speaker 1: airlines such and such for ten, twenty twenty five years.

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Speaker 1: I'm losing my job. When I arrived in Chicago, I

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Speaker 1: was greeted by Chicago cops. Didn't look normally, there's a

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Speaker 1: police officer too that is there to escort you. In

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Speaker 1: this case, it was seven or eight cops who were there,

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Speaker 1: and the Chicago cops. I love the Chicago cops. They

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Speaker 1: gave me two of their patches Chicago Police Department. And

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Speaker 1: I've been speaking out loudly for the Chicago cops because

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Speaker 1: the Chicago Police Union is fighting their idiot. Mayor Lori

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Speaker 1: Lightfoot has a vaccine mandate. According to the Chicago Police Union,

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Speaker 1: a third of the Chicago police have refused to file

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Speaker 1: and their vaccination status and they're facing being fired. Joe

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Speaker 1: Biden was asked in a national town hall what should

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Speaker 1: Chicago do should should they fire a third of their cops?

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Speaker 1: And Biden said, yeah, fire, I'm fire cops. I gotta

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Speaker 1: tell you the speech I gave in Chicago. I told

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Speaker 1: that story and I pulled out the patch of the

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Speaker 1: Chicago Police Department. I held it up and said, I

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Speaker 1: am proud to stand with the men and women of

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Speaker 1: the Chicago Police Department. Every person in the room stood

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Speaker 1: to their feet, a long, rousing standing ovation for those

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Speaker 1: Chicago cops. I told the press who were there, I said,

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Speaker 1: why don't you guys cover this, that every person at

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Speaker 1: the Chicago gathering stands with the Chicago cops. You know what,

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Speaker 1: It didn't make the sixty six o'clock news. It did not,

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Speaker 1: And it's not just the Chicago cops. There was a

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Speaker 1: story out now that more than a third something closer

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Speaker 1: I think to thirty seven percent of truck drivers in

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Speaker 1: the United States could resign or be fired, but would

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Speaker 1: would end up off the job amid a supply chain

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Speaker 1: crisis as we're approaching the holiday season, could could be

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Speaker 1: a massive disruption to the economy. Little Johnny won't get

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Speaker 1: won't get his Christmas presents in time, and there will

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Speaker 1: be more serious consequence. But the Big Bird has a

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Speaker 1: special present for little Johnny. That's right there there is

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's industry after industry you mentioned the airlines.

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Speaker 1: What coincidentally, there was only negative weather that affected Southwest

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Speaker 1: Airlines a few weeks ago. Then there was only negative

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Speaker 1: weather that affected American airlines just a couple weeks later.

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Speaker 1: These are obviously sickouts. Sometimes it's not even the airline, it's,

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Speaker 1: as you say, the air traffic controllers. So there was

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Speaker 1: a court decision, i believe from the Fifth Circuit Court

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Speaker 1: of Appeals that pushed for a stay on the Biden

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Speaker 1: vaccine gandate, saying we're gonna have figure out if this

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Speaker 1: is constitutional or not. In the meantime, you can't force

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Speaker 1: your your employees to take the vaccine. The Biden White

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Speaker 1: House has just come out today and said, never mind,

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Speaker 1: forget about that, force your your employees to get the

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Speaker 1: vaccine anyway. It seems utterly lawless and the very least

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Speaker 1: extremely confusing. So what are the work workers supposed to do? Yeah? Look,

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Speaker 1: lawless is the right word for it. If you look

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Speaker 1: at the Biden vaccine mandates, there's four levels to it.

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Speaker 1: There's a mandate that applies to federal civilian employees. There's

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Speaker 1: a mandate that applies to federal military active duty military.

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Speaker 1: There's a mandate that applies to government contractors, anyone that

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Speaker 1: does business with the federal government. And then there's a

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Speaker 1: mandate through OSHA that's supposed to be a health and

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Speaker 1: safety regulation that applies to any employer with one hundred

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Speaker 1: or more workers. All of those mandates are being challenged

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Speaker 1: in court. I think all of them are legally dubious.

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Speaker 1: The ones focused on federal employees are the most likely

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Speaker 1: to succeed, just because the federal government has a fair

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Speaker 1: amount of leeway there. But what's interesting is the litigation

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Speaker 1: is succeeding against all of those different components. You know,

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Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, I'm I'm also hearing from a

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Speaker 1: lot of active duty military, from soldiers, from sailors, from

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Speaker 1: airmen and marines. I've talked to Navy seals, you know.

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Speaker 1: I was in the Detroit airport and a guy pulled

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Speaker 1: me aside, said said, I am a ten year Navy seal.

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Speaker 1: I've given over ten years of my life to defending

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Speaker 1: this nation. They are forcing me to get this vaccine.

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Speaker 1: He said, I'm gonna quit. And he said, a bunch

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Speaker 1: of the other seals who have put in years and

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Speaker 1: years and years, and he said, some of them who

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Speaker 1: are at fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years, and you know you

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Speaker 1: get your retirement the military at twenty years. He said,

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Speaker 1: those guys are ready to quit, and so that dynamic

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Speaker 1: is massive. Now there's been different litigations. So for example,

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Speaker 1: the United employees have sued trying to stop the vaccine

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Speaker 1: mandate for the airlines. Where they're getting hit is the

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Speaker 1: government contractor aspect of it. So you know, Southwest Airlines

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Speaker 1: the United States government as their single biggest customer. All

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Speaker 1: of the other lines are customers. The government is a

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Speaker 1: customer to them, and so they're really they're between a

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Speaker 1: rock and a hard place because the federal government is

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Speaker 1: threatening to withhold millions of dollars if they don't comply

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Speaker 1: the litigation. The last I checked the United litigation, there

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Speaker 1: was a stay in place so that the employees had

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Speaker 1: won the initial round. The Fifth Circuit case you're talking

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Speaker 1: about is a lawsuit that was brought against the OSHA

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Speaker 1: regulation targeting employees employers that have one hundred or more employees,

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Speaker 1: and the Fifth Circuit, the Federal Court of Appeals concluded

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Speaker 1: that they had stated a strong initial case that there

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Speaker 1: was a likelihood of success on the merits and a

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Speaker 1: strong case of statutory and or constitutional violations. The Biden

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Speaker 1: administration is litigating this. I've said from the beginning, the

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Speaker 1: Osho rule is going to be struck down. It's going

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Speaker 1: to be struck down as contrary to law. I believe

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Speaker 1: that is by far the most likely litigation outcome. I

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Speaker 1: also think Michael Joe Biden's lawyer due too, that they've

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Speaker 1: told the Biden White House we're gonna lose in court.

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Speaker 1: But they've also said, look, litigation takes months, sometimes years.

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Speaker 1: It's slow, and in the meantime, most people will comply.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, if you watch at the White

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Speaker 1: House press conference when asked so so, the Biden administration

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Speaker 1: lost in court. The Federal Court of Appeals stayed the order,

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Speaker 1: in other words, say issued an injunction saying this order

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Speaker 1: has no effect, and the Biden deputy Press secretary said, well,

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Speaker 1: people should comply. Nonetheless, just shut up and obey, never

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Speaker 1: mind the law. That's that's really disturbing. You know. I

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Speaker 1: had the same gut reaction when President Biden made the announcement.

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Speaker 1: I said, I think that they're on shaky legal ground here,

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Speaker 1: but they're just going to hope that everyone takes the

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Speaker 1: jab and then it won't be a big deal. Today.

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Speaker 1: When when the White House came out and said, well,

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Speaker 1: while this is working its way through the courts, comply anyway,

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Speaker 1: I thought, there's the proof. There's the proof that you

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Speaker 1: know you're not going to win in court, so you're

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Speaker 1: going to try to get your desired outcome before that

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Speaker 1: all happens. There's a ton of hypocrisy here, by the way,

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Speaker 1: and we've seen this from the beginning on the left

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Speaker 1: and democratic politicians not following their own mandates and their

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Speaker 1: own health requirements. And before we get to the mailbag,

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Speaker 1: I can't let us move on without bringing this up.

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Speaker 1: There was a ton of hypocrisy from left wing politicians

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Speaker 1: who have just been at their climate change of pelooza

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Speaker 1: all week, the United Nations Climate Summit, and it seems

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Speaker 1: to me a fair number of them flew private jets

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Speaker 1: on the way to save the world and stop the emissions. Well, look,

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Speaker 1: hypocrisy is something democrats do a lot. I gotta say

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Speaker 1: by that. Let me start off by saying, what did

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Speaker 1: the Scots do to piss us off so much that

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Speaker 1: we caused all these people to descend upon them like locust?

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Speaker 1: I always liked the Scots. By the way, if you

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Speaker 1: haven't watched it, Michael, have you seen Robin Williams's analogue

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Speaker 1: on golf? I don't think I have act. Oh, oh,

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Speaker 1: your life is incomplete. You are culturally stunted. So look,

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Speaker 1: I adored Robin Williams. I think he's one of the

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Speaker 1: funniest human beings to have ever lived. I shed a

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Speaker 1: tear when he passed. He was such an incredibly gifted,

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Speaker 1: funny as hell talented actor. But his stand up on

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Speaker 1: golf um now language warning that there is a profanity

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Speaker 1: about every third word. But it's like a like like

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Speaker 1: my ribs hurt and I can't breathe when I watch

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Speaker 1: it when he talks about the scotsman inventing golf, and

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Speaker 1: and and and and and just what a screwed up

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Speaker 1: game golf is. So so I will say, I love

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Speaker 1: the Scots. I wish we hadn't caused all these folks

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Speaker 1: to descend upon them the hypocrisy of democrats. It's it's

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Speaker 1: almost their defining characteristic. Um. Look on masks, they all

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Speaker 1: know masks or Kroc. So Nancy Pelosi when she does

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Speaker 1: a fundraiser in California, all the rich Democrats sit at

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Speaker 1: the table, the big donors. They don't wear masks, and

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Speaker 1: they make their serving staff wear masks. Barack Obama when

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Speaker 1: he does his birthday party in Martha's Vineyard he turned sixty,

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Speaker 1: he's dancing on the disco floor along with him, dancing

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Speaker 1: or other rich Democrats, none of them have a mask.

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Speaker 1: Gavin Newsom at the French Laundry, the mayor of San Francisco.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the examples go on and on and on,

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Speaker 1: and they put rules they don't follow. Just this weekend,

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Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer was down in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico as

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Speaker 1: a mask mandate indoors. He's partying indoors, dancing. By the way,

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Speaker 1: no one should have to gaze at Chuck Schumer dancing.

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Speaker 1: It's a violation of the Geneva conventions. I think I

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Speaker 1: will tell you a true story of one of my colleagues,

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Speaker 1: a Republican senator who's female. Describe being in the Senate

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Speaker 1: gym and accidentally the door opened and seeing Schumer in

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Speaker 1: his tighty whities, and she just said she wants she

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Speaker 1: said she wanted to wash her eyes with bleach. It was,

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Speaker 1: it was, it was deeply traumatic. Um but look Schumer

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Speaker 1: dancing away no mask. By the way, you know who

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Speaker 1: was down there too, Randy Weingarten, the head of the

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Speaker 1: one of the big teachers unions, partying away no mask.

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Speaker 1: Um mind you, this is the person one of the

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Speaker 1: people saying all kids have to wear a mask at

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Speaker 1: all times. And she explained, well, I didn't wear a

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Speaker 1: mask because it was hard for people to hear me.

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Speaker 1: Oh oh really, Oh okay, that's that's unique to you

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Speaker 1: that no one else has ever had the problem of

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Speaker 1: it being hard for people to hear them. But the

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Speaker 1: hypocrisy is massive and on climate. Look, the person who

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Speaker 1: I think embodies hypocrisy so much is John Kerry. John

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Speaker 1: Kerry is dripping with patrician condescension. Thurston Third. So, okay,

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Speaker 1: how old are you, Michael? I'm thirty one years A

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Speaker 1: lady never tells, but I'm thirty one years young. Well, okay,

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Speaker 1: but you know who Thurston Howell is. So I was

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Speaker 1: on Fox News and I referenced Thurston Howe and I

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Speaker 1: went back to my office and my staff they're all

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Speaker 1: twenty somethings in thirty somethings. Nobody on my staff had

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Speaker 1: any clue who Thurston Howell was and I felt a

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Speaker 1: thousand years old. They didn't watch enough Nick at night

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Speaker 1: when they were kids. You know, those reruns were very important.

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Speaker 1: And apparently Thurston Howell the third was based on one

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Speaker 1: of the founders of the Conservative movement, William F. Buckley Jr. Oh,

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Speaker 1: Now that I didn't know. Okay, that's an interesting bit

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Speaker 1: of Okay, there's the the Yaloe mafia kicking years the connection,

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Speaker 1: so it was interesting. I told that story at the

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Speaker 1: Republican Senator's lunch and I stood up and said, you know,

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Speaker 1: I talked about John Kerry. I was like Thurston Howe.

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Speaker 1: And then I said warning to you guys that that

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Speaker 1: I asked my staff and no one knew who he was.

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Speaker 1: And I said, no, you got there are all such

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Speaker 1: old fart yo'all know who he is. And and Mitt

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Speaker 1: Romney had some advice. He said, used mister Burns instead,

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Speaker 1: that mister Burns is a younger hipper reference. And I

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Speaker 1: looked to Met for younger hipper references. So that but

426
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,680
Speaker 1: this is a digression on a digression. John Carrey has

427
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 1: a private jet. He flies his private jet all over

428
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:29,359
Speaker 1: the place and carries comment He said, you know, really

429
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:35,679
Speaker 1: for someone like me, it's the only way to travel

430
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:42,359
Speaker 1: that makes sense. A rich, condescending, arrogant hypocrite, mind you,

431
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 1: who's trying to impose taxes and fees and regulations on

432
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: you because of carbon emissions to drive up the cost

433
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:51,760
Speaker 1: of living and to take away he wants, I mean

434
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: to take away practically all the joys of your life.

435
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 1: The guy's got a bigger car carbon footprint than most

436
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,399
Speaker 1: small towns. So this past week I was doing a

437
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 1: press conference with a bunch of Republican senators talking about

438
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,080
Speaker 1: the environment, talking about if you want to clean up

439
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,720
Speaker 1: the environment, you want low cost energy, you want more

440
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:15,359
Speaker 1: natural gas, all of the steps that actually lower emissions.

441
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,680
Speaker 1: And I talked about carrieous hypocrisy on the jet and

442
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,200
Speaker 1: I said, you know, last I checked, none of us

443
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,480
Speaker 1: up here on this stage have a private jet. Now.

444
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,679
Speaker 1: John Kennedy was one of the senators there, and Kennedy

445
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 1: is ridiculously funny, and Carrie deadpans goes Portman does. So

446
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 1: Rob Portman was behind me, and it was funny. And

447
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: here's the here's the funny, funnier thing. The media all

448
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 1: believed Kennedy check me. ABC News wrote stories about how

449
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:54,160
Speaker 1: Cruz was fact check because Rob Portman has a private jet. Okay, shocker,

450
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: Rob Portman does not have a private jet. Kennedy was

451
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 1: being funny as hell and and a smart like it's

452
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 1: actually Portman. And I spent the next day like fighting

453
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: back these fact checks because the Liberals were so happy,

454
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,679
Speaker 1: ah ha ha, this Republican has a private jet, you

455
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: know what. Portman doesn't. But even if Portman did, he's

456
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: not running around trying to impose rules on you that

457
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 1: he's not obeying. That's what John Kerry is doing. I

458
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 1: feel very confident that Barack Obama when he went to

459
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: Scotland for his speech, did not fly commercial. And these

460
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,160
Speaker 1: guys are hypocrites. Yes, you know Obama, I don't think

461
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 1: was you know, in section B of Southwest or anything. No,

462
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,560
Speaker 1: he flies private, I think all of the time and

463
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,119
Speaker 1: has for a very long time. And so beyond the

464
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 1: hypocrisy which we all see, I mean, at this point,

465
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 1: it's it's almost we don't even want to talk about

466
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 1: it because it's so flagrant. You know, if the Democrats

467
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,400
Speaker 1: didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all.

468
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,640
Speaker 1: But the substance of what was said at this conference

469
00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:05,679
Speaker 1: was a little disconcerting too, especially in Barack Obama's speech.

470
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 1: It made me long for a Scandinavian teenager. And by

471
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,400
Speaker 1: the way, that's a sentence that can really be cut

472
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,199
Speaker 1: out of context and used against me. So so I'm

473
00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 1: going to insist that there be broader there's no clipping

474
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,680
Speaker 1: of that sentence. You think they took the Kennedy Portland

475
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,560
Speaker 1: private jet thing out of context, that you are, Senator,

476
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 1: You're going down with that one. But but what Barack

477
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,400
Speaker 1: Obama said was that he apologized to the world. It's

478
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 1: too bad that America has been behind on climate for

479
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 1: so long because of big bad Donald Trump. Mind you,

480
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 1: by the way, that in the first year of the

481
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 1: Trump administration, the United States did better than the actual

482
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 1: signatories to the Paris Climate Accord on reducing carbon emissions

483
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 1: and protecting the environment. Never mind completely thrown out the

484
00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:52,400
Speaker 1: window because big Bad Trump got us out of the

485
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 1: Paris Climate Deal. But what Barack Obama said was that

486
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,520
Speaker 1: it was the fault of rising nationalism that we weren't

487
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,960
Speaker 1: taking on this problem of climate change, and we need

488
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: to come together. If there's one thing that should transcend

489
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,760
Speaker 1: our politics, it ought to be climate change. And It

490
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,400
Speaker 1: was so spooky to me because what he was saying

491
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: is that all the ordinary political fights and workings of democracy,

492
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,400
Speaker 1: in our constitutional order and the way we run our government,

493
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: basically all of that's got to be suspended and superseded

494
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 1: by the need to fight off the sun monster. And

495
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 1: it occurs to me that's basically been their strategy from

496
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 1: the beginning. Well, look, their strategy is always, always, always

497
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:37,160
Speaker 1: give them power. It's the only thing they care about.

498
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:42,920
Speaker 1: The COVID vaccine mandate, the shutdown, schools shutdown, businesses shut down,

499
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: churches shutdown, synagogue shutdown. It's all about power. They want

500
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: control over your life. And when it comes to climate,

501
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's policies are terrible for the environment. Last year,

502
00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 1: the number one nation leading the world and reducing carbon

503
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 1: emissions and pollutions was the United States of America. Because

504
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 1: of the widespread substitution of natural gas for coal and

505
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 1: energy production. Joe Biden and the lunatics in his administration

506
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 1: are shutting down US production. Meanwhile, they're begging OPEC to

507
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 1: produce more oil. OPEC produces it dirtier and pollutes more.

508
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 1: They're literally shifting from low pollution energy to high pollution, energy.

509
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 1: They don't believe what they're saying. They're hypocrites. But their

510
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:38,320
Speaker 1: answer to everything is they say, we're all going to die.

511
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 1: There's a catastrophe. It's coming tomorrow. They've been saying for

512
00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:44,840
Speaker 1: thirty years, in twelve years, the world's going to end,

513
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 1: and no one notices when twelve years passes. They just

514
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 1: repeat it again and again and again. And you know what,

515
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: when you get twelve years, twelve more years, twelve more

516
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 1: and there's a solution, it's a solution. Fidel Castro looks

517
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 1: at these people up from hell and says they're good.

518
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 1: I mean, what an excuse? Make me dictator for life

519
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 1: or else all of humanity will perish. That's the left

520
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,720
Speaker 1: pitch right now. You want to have a serious conversation

521
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: about protecting the environment, about keeping air clean, water clean,

522
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 1: being good stewards of our earth. Absolutely, yes, these guys

523
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,640
Speaker 1: are not having that conversation. They this is an excuse

524
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 1: for power. Right. The past is always evil, the future

525
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 1: is always going to be wonderful, and the present is

526
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 1: always a crisis that justifies them taking more and more

527
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: power before any of us know what is going on.

528
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,360
Speaker 1: So before we die, I think it would be important

529
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 1: to bring back our good old friend Liz Wheeler to

530
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 1: come on and bring some of the questions that all

531
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:53,720
Speaker 1: of the Verdict listeners have submitted. So a Liz, give

532
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 1: us some questions. We have a lot of great questions

533
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:59,200
Speaker 1: over at verdict plus tonight. By the way, anybody who

534
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 1: wants to met a question for upcoming episodes, please join

535
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,840
Speaker 1: me over at Verdict with Ted Cruz dot com slash plus.

536
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 1: We will be exclusively taking questions from our supporters over there.

537
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 1: That is Verdict with Ted Cruz dot com slash plus.

538
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 1: The questions tonight are very interesting, very intellectual. Michael, this

539
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,720
Speaker 1: one's for you. This is from Real Truth Cactus, who

540
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: says we've seen the red wave come to Virginia. Do

541
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: you think one of the biggest reasons with that Junkin

542
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 1: made the race about the issues while mccaulliffe tried to

543
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 1: make about Trump. We need to move our arguments away

544
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: from Trump and to the culture war. Well, don't forget

545
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 1: Donald Trump was pretty successful by running on the culture

546
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: war two and some people really like Trump and some

547
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: people really hate Trump. And I think that mccaulliff's strategy

548
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 1: in Virginia was recognizing that Virginia has a lot of Democrats,

549
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,400
Speaker 1: a whole lot of Democrats, and a lot of more

550
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 1: moderate Republican voters. Mccaulliffe wanted to make this all about

551
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 1: about Trump, and then he thought that he would handily

552
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 1: defeat Yunkin. Yunkin realized I think one that he is

553
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 1: not a personality driven candidate, right. He is not quite

554
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,840
Speaker 1: the reality TV star of Donald Trump. He's a standard

555
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 1: conservative Republican of the sort that can win in Virginia.

556
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 1: And so he picked his issue very well. He wasn't

557
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: just running on tax cuts, he wasn't just running on

558
00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 1: kind of ordinary Chamber of Commerce type issues. He ran

559
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: on a big culture war issue, which is education and

560
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 1: whether parents have the right to raise their kids and

561
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:35,400
Speaker 1: keep radical racial and sexual ideologies out of the classroom.

562
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 1: So I think that worked very well in Virginia. I

563
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,560
Speaker 1: think the lesson more broadly for the gops, we do

564
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 1: need to lean into these cultural issues, but you've got

565
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,040
Speaker 1: to be smart about it. You know. If I think

566
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 1: if Glenn Yuncan had run on the campaign of overturning

567
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 1: Oberghafell and getting rid of gay marriage, I don't think

568
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: that would have been a culture war issue, but I don't.

569
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,120
Speaker 1: I don't think he would have won in Virginia. If

570
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 1: Glenn Yuncan had run on a hardline immigration campaign, that

571
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 1: would be a culture war issue, but I don't. I

572
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,400
Speaker 1: don't think it would have won in Virginia. So there

573
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,920
Speaker 1: is a little bit of savvy here that's required. You

574
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 1: need to be wise as a serpent and innocent as

575
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:20,799
Speaker 1: a dove. And so it depends on what district you're in.

576
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:22,480
Speaker 1: I mean, there are certain districts I think in this

577
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,160
Speaker 1: country where if you certain states, even but certainly certain

578
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:27,799
Speaker 1: districts where if you ran on your great friendship with

579
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, that would probably serve you very well, but

580
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,160
Speaker 1: it wouldn't serve you very well in Northern Virginia. And

581
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 1: so there is just an element of running a good

582
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:38,000
Speaker 1: campaign that you need to have here. And if we're

583
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 1: going to retake the country, I mean, it's a very

584
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:41,799
Speaker 1: conservative principle. There's just not going to be a one

585
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:44,399
Speaker 1: size fits all strategy. You're gonna have to tailor your

586
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 1: message to the different constituencies and to the different states

587
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:52,840
Speaker 1: and districts that you will be representing and not pretend

588
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,320
Speaker 1: that some solution that's going to work for a Republican

589
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,560
Speaker 1: in California is going to be the same sort of

590
00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 1: thing that a Republican in the middle of Texas is

591
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,640
Speaker 1: going to want. Senator Cruz, you have the cactus sitting

592
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,399
Speaker 1: behind you, So same question to you. You, by the way,

593
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,839
Speaker 1: also started a culture war this week when you hit

594
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:12,279
Speaker 1: Big Bird for engaging in propaganda about the COVID vaccine. Well, listen,

595
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,839
Speaker 1: let me say a couple of things on that number one.

596
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: What you know Michael's answered a minute ago. I think

597
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,800
Speaker 1: there are a lot of Republicans that that that behave

598
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,760
Speaker 1: as if they're wise as doves and innocent as a circuit,

599
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:33,480
Speaker 1: they get it backwards. Um. You know, when it comes

600
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:38,239
Speaker 1: to Donald Trump right now, the Democratic playbook is scream Trump, Trump, Trump,

601
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: Trump Trump. So when you had the California recall, they

602
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: made Larry Elder into Donald Trump. Terry McCullough's strategy in

603
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: Virginia was to say, Glenn Yunkin is Donald Trump. Well,

604
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,200
Speaker 1: look he's not. They're very different people. I think that

605
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:57,120
Speaker 1: playbook is a one dimensional playbook and it's not very

606
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,080
Speaker 1: tethered to reality. The flip side, though, I don't think

607
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 1: Republicans should be running away from Trump I think we

608
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 1: accomplished an enormous amount when Trump was president, and he's

609
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,840
Speaker 1: going to continue to have a significant platform and a

610
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 1: significant voice, and so we can acknowledge all the good

611
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 1: we did working together without having every election. If you're

612
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:23,239
Speaker 1: debating is Glen Yunk and Donald Trump, that's really dumb. Secondly,

613
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:27,600
Speaker 1: on culture war, it's worth remembering, Listen, we're not waging

614
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 1: a culture war. It is the left that is waging

615
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:36,480
Speaker 1: a culture war. They are attacking every institution of our culture.

616
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,879
Speaker 1: They're tearing them down. They're tearing our communities down, they're

617
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:42,919
Speaker 1: tearing our families down, They're chearing our children down, they're

618
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 1: tearing our churches down. They are engaged in cultural jahad.

619
00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:56,439
Speaker 1: And all we're doing is defending the culture. So Terry

620
00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 1: mcculloff stood up and said, we should not teach critical

621
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,520
Speaker 1: race theory to our kids. We shouldn't be telling them

622
00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 1: that America is inherently racist and that all white people

623
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 1: are racist and America was built on racial oppression. That's

624
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,799
Speaker 1: not waging a culture war. That's defending our culture. That's

625
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:22,360
Speaker 1: saying American culture has value. You know, when Terry mcculloff

626
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 1: says parents have no business saying what's taught in our schools.

627
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,520
Speaker 1: He's waging a culture war. Now, Republicans have a choice.

628
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 1: We can roll over and surrender our culture. And by

629
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,239
Speaker 1: the way, if we surrender our culture, we surrender our country.

630
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:43,600
Speaker 1: Or we can actually defend the Declaration of Independence. We

631
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: can defend the Constitution, we can defend the Bill of Rights.

632
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,680
Speaker 1: We can defend the founding fathers, not pretending that they

633
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:53,839
Speaker 1: are We're perfect men, not lionizing them. Yes, they had faults.

634
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. Slave owning is horrific.

635
00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:03,439
Speaker 1: He also laid out a vision for America of equality

636
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:08,320
Speaker 1: that ultimately resulted in abolishing slavery and transforming the world.

637
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:13,000
Speaker 1: And so we can defend our culture with honesty and facts.

638
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:17,480
Speaker 1: But you know, I get irritated at the press when

639
00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: they say we're waging a culture war. We're simply defending

640
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:26,359
Speaker 1: America against Marxists who are trying to destroy our culture. Yeah.

641
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: Well said. So this next question is kind of a

642
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,319
Speaker 1: long question, but I think it's worth asking. It's a

643
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,600
Speaker 1: little bit edgy, which is something that I really like.

644
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:35,600
Speaker 1: I like to hear both of you answer these questions.

645
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:38,479
Speaker 1: This comes, of course, on verdict Plus it is from

646
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:44,120
Speaker 1: t Cells who asks Republicans, including Senator Cruz, seem to

647
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,799
Speaker 1: be carrying on as if the twenty twenty election was

648
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,479
Speaker 1: like all other elections. They're focusing on twenty twenty two

649
00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:53,600
Speaker 1: and expect to win back seats that they lost. How

650
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:55,920
Speaker 1: do we know that all of the mailed out ballots,

651
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 1: not the absentee ballots, connect with a real, live, legal voter.

652
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,719
Speaker 1: I want to be convinced that Biden the Democrats won

653
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,400
Speaker 1: in the close elections, but I am not there. The

654
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,200
Speaker 1: alternative that they beat the system is frightening, and if true,

655
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:10,919
Speaker 1: should make election integrity the number one, if not only,

656
00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:14,400
Speaker 1: priority for Republicans right now. The fact that really bothers

657
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 1: me is this. If we counted all the votes as

658
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:19,240
Speaker 1: we have done it before, in person and absentee ballots,

659
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:23,760
Speaker 1: Trump wins. If we add in the very abnormal mailout ballots,

660
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:27,000
Speaker 1: then Biden wins. I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist,

661
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:28,879
Speaker 1: but it seems like it would not be too hard

662
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:33,480
Speaker 1: to manipulate that kind of vote. Senator you first, so listen.

663
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:37,120
Speaker 1: Those concerns are real, and their concerns I hear all

664
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:41,160
Speaker 1: across Texas and all across the country. When it comes

665
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:44,319
Speaker 1: to voter fraud. My view is that the two extremes,

666
00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:48,400
Speaker 1: neither one of them is right. There are right now

667
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,239
Speaker 1: those in the corporate media and Democrats who say there

668
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,879
Speaker 1: is no voter fraud, it doesn't exist, it's the big lie. Well,

669
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,400
Speaker 1: that's a load of crap. That's simply not the case.

670
00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: On the other hand, it's not the case that that

671
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 1: there is such widespread voter fraud that every election is

672
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 1: rigged and we can never have a real election. That's

673
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 1: not true either. The reality is democracy is messy. Voter

674
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:15,760
Speaker 1: fraud has been part of elections as long as people

675
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,000
Speaker 1: have been voting. There have been people stealing votes. Should

676
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:23,160
Speaker 1: we fight against it. Absolutely, Yes. I've spent thirty years

677
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 1: fighting against voter fraud and we need to fight for

678
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:31,920
Speaker 1: strong election integrity legislation. Now, what do we do in

679
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 1: twenty two and twenty four. There's a shift, and it's

680
00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:37,800
Speaker 1: a shift that has happened in the last couple of years.

681
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 1: It used to be a few years back that you

682
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:45,280
Speaker 1: would get some monicum of bipartisan agreement that we want

683
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:49,400
Speaker 1: safe and secure elections and we should have reasonable ballot

684
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:52,919
Speaker 1: integrity provisions That used to be possible that you could

685
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 1: work together Republicans and Democrats. That has changed, and it's

686
00:40:57,239 --> 00:41:02,520
Speaker 1: changed because Democrats have decided I believe that voter fraud

687
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,200
Speaker 1: benefits them, that it's good for them politically. And so

688
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:08,840
Speaker 1: right now today in the United States Congress, you get zero,

689
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,600
Speaker 1: not a single Democrat willing to work in any way

690
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: on any positive element of election integrity. That's true. In

691
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:17,920
Speaker 1: the Senate, there are zero Senate Democrats, and I think

692
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:19,479
Speaker 1: it's true in the House. I don't know of any

693
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,239
Speaker 1: House Democrats. What does that mean for twenty two and

694
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,280
Speaker 1: twenty four, Well, it means in red states like Texas

695
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 1: or Georgia or Florida, you're going to see the legislatures

696
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,799
Speaker 1: they're passing reasonable, common sense voter integrity laws. That's good.

697
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,600
Speaker 1: I support that. I salute them for doing the right thing.

698
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:41,200
Speaker 1: In blue states, you're not. In states that have democratic

699
00:41:41,239 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 1: governors or democratic legislatures, they're not going to pass good

700
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 1: legislation in the next two years or four years. On

701
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,080
Speaker 1: the federal level. As long as Pelosi and Schumer are

702
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 1: running the two houses, the chances that Congress passes good

703
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:57,880
Speaker 1: voter integrity law are zero. The Democrats don't want it,

704
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:02,960
Speaker 1: So what's our answer. The answer, the good news is

705
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 1: election fraud historically only matters when it's close, when it's

706
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:12,440
Speaker 1: on the margins. If it's a close election, absolutely election

707
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:17,520
Speaker 1: fraud can take and switch the results. The answer is

708
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:19,719
Speaker 1: what we saw last week in Virginia, which is in

709
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 1: twenty two and twenty four, we've got to win by

710
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,319
Speaker 1: a big enough margin they can't steal it. Was there

711
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:28,239
Speaker 1: voter fraud in Virginia? Sure was there voter fraud in

712
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:30,839
Speaker 1: New Jersey? I'm sure there was. But if we win

713
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:33,480
Speaker 1: by a big enough margin, you can overcome the fraud.

714
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:36,440
Speaker 1: And that may not be fair, but listen, we have

715
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:41,320
Speaker 1: two options. We either win by a lot or we

716
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:44,359
Speaker 1: give up our country. And I'm not willing to give

717
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 1: up on the country, but that's the reality. If we're

718
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:51,880
Speaker 1: sitting there waiting for democratic legislatures to change the laws

719
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,320
Speaker 1: to protect ballot integrity, we will wait until health freeze

720
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,000
Speaker 1: is over. So the only answer is go in and

721
00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:01,439
Speaker 1: beat them. And that's exactly what we did in Virginia.

722
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:03,520
Speaker 1: All Right, Michael, same question to you. I'm interested to

723
00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:06,359
Speaker 1: hear your response on this. I think that's a great point.

724
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,440
Speaker 1: It's also worth pointing out when people talk about should

725
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:12,120
Speaker 1: we go back and just constantly focus on twenty twenty,

726
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 1: I mean there has been a lot of inquiry into

727
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:17,200
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, and there has been the discovery of shenanigans

728
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:21,560
Speaker 1: and fraud and election practices that appear to be in

729
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,520
Speaker 1: violation of the state constitution, at least up in Pennsylvania.

730
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,879
Speaker 1: But then you look back and you think nineteen forty eight,

731
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,760
Speaker 1: there's a young fella by the name of Lyndon Johnson

732
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:36,240
Speaker 1: from a senator from your state. And that fella, Lyndon Johnson,

733
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:39,360
Speaker 1: he stole a Senate seat. He stole it, and he

734
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 1: stuffed a bunch of ballot boxes, and he actually joked

735
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 1: with top Democrat officials fdr. This was on an earlier race.

736
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,319
Speaker 1: They joked about sitting on the ballot box. And it

737
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 1: went up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, wouldn't

738
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:53,840
Speaker 1: hear it sound familiar? And Lyndon Johnson goes and he

739
00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,080
Speaker 1: gets his Senate seat. Then he gets picked to be

740
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,200
Speaker 1: vice president, then he becomes the president, then he leaves

741
00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:02,000
Speaker 1: the presidents, he does what he does, then he dies.

742
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:05,439
Speaker 1: And then in nineteen ninety, a writer named Robert Carro

743
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:08,200
Speaker 1: laid out the strong case that he had stolen that seat. Well,

744
00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:10,279
Speaker 1: what a great moral victor are gonna Are we gonna

745
00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:13,239
Speaker 1: go back and fight the nineteen forty eight Senate race. No,

746
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:15,839
Speaker 1: you can't. You can't do that. He got away with it.

747
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,919
Speaker 1: And sometimes these things happen. And so Senator, to your point,

748
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:22,720
Speaker 1: I just I think it's so pragmatic and realistic. You've

749
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,800
Speaker 1: just got to deal with the realities on the ground

750
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 1: and win and just win the next election so that

751
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:32,239
Speaker 1: you can make the changes that you want. And it's

752
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:35,319
Speaker 1: very encouraging to see in Virginia apparently at least we

753
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 1: can still win elections as Conservatives and Republicans. Hey man,

754
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,799
Speaker 1: It's almost a vicious cycle, isn't it. In order to win,

755
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,160
Speaker 1: you have to have elections which are intact, and in

756
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 1: order to enact election integrity or form you have to

757
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:52,719
Speaker 1: have you have to have won the elections to have

758
00:44:52,719 --> 00:44:55,200
Speaker 1: the power to do that. Like I said before, anybody

759
00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: who wants to ask a question to Senator Cruz or

760
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,719
Speaker 1: to Michael Knowles in upcoming episodes, go on over to

761
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:04,200
Speaker 1: Verdict with Ted Cruise dot com slash plus. That is

762
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 1: the Verdict plus community. We will exclusively be taking questions

763
00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:11,200
Speaker 1: from our supporters over there. That's Verdict with Ted Cruise

764
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:14,919
Speaker 1: dot com slash plus. Senator Michael, thank you for having

765
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 1: me a great round of questions this week. So, Liz,

766
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,840
Speaker 1: one more thing before we go. We just finished, as

767
00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:24,440
Speaker 1: everyone knows, our campus tour where we traveled the country

768
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:26,960
Speaker 1: bringing Verdict live to your campus. Well, we're going to

769
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:29,640
Speaker 1: continue it again this spring, the second half of the

770
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:32,000
Speaker 1: campus tour, and and so we want to come to

771
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:35,359
Speaker 1: your campus, but we want you to invite us to

772
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:38,080
Speaker 1: your campus and tell us why we should come to

773
00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:43,399
Speaker 1: see you. So go to YAF dot org slash verdict again,

774
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:47,000
Speaker 1: that's WYF dot org slash verdict, and and apply for

775
00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:49,640
Speaker 1: your campus to be where where Michael and Liz and

776
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,960
Speaker 1: I where we come in the spring we do Verdict

777
00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:57,040
Speaker 1: on campus. It is rocking. We had a fantastic time

778
00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:01,000
Speaker 1: at University of Wisconsin Madison, a fantastic time at Texas

779
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 1: A and m a fantastic time at Catholic University, and

780
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:05,759
Speaker 1: we want to be at your school too, So go

781
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:10,520
Speaker 1: to YF dot org slash verdict. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Liz.

782
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:14,480
Speaker 1: All Right, we have covered quite a lot of ground.

783
00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:17,799
Speaker 1: But I think it's very important when we think about

784
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 1: our elections, when we think about the tyrannical government pushing

785
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 1: these crazy mandates on us, when we think about our

786
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:31,319
Speaker 1: would be plutocratic leaders in Scotland telling us that we

787
00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:34,080
Speaker 1: have to upend our democratic norms, we need to tell

788
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:37,040
Speaker 1: them no, you've heard, chance of let's go Brandon. I

789
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:39,920
Speaker 1: think it's it's important to follow the Senator's lead and

790
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,520
Speaker 1: give the bird to Big Bird as well. I'm Michael Knowles.

791
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:46,480
Speaker 1: This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. We'll see you next time.

792
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:58,759
Speaker 1: This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is being brought

793
00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:02,000
Speaker 1: to you by Jobs, Free and Security Pack, a political

794
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:07,000
Speaker 1: action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations, and candidates

795
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:10,319
Speaker 1: across the country. In twenty twenty two, Jobs Freedom and

796
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:13,840
Speaker 1: Security Pack plans to donate to conservative candidates running for

797
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:17,240
Speaker 1: Congress and help the Republican Party across the nation.