Speaker 1: It is the two year anniversary today of the COVID lockdowns.
Speaker 1: Two long years. We all thought it was going to
Speaker 1: be a couple of weeks. Then we thought, maybe it
Speaker 1: goes until Easter at the latest. Well, two easters have
Speaker 1: come and gone. We're coming up on the third now.
Speaker 1: And while in some ways it seems like the COVID
Speaker 1: measures are going away, in other ways they seem to
Speaker 1: be in place. You still have to wear a mask
Speaker 1: on an airplane. The National Emergency Authorization has not gone away,
Speaker 1: but Biden has actually said that he'll veto it if
Speaker 1: the House and the Senate vote to take it away.
Speaker 1: Doctor Fauci has gone into witness protection, but he's still
Speaker 1: around in his post at NIAID. Will COVID ever be over?
Speaker 1: This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. This episode A Verdict
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Verdicts with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, Senator.
Speaker 1: Please you're on Capitol Hill. Tell me is there ever
Speaker 1: going to be an end to the COVID lockdown measures. Yes,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna happen over Democrats dead bodies. They don't
Speaker 1: want it to happen. They are the Biden White House
Speaker 1: is fighting tooth and nail. As you noted, Joe Biden
Speaker 1: just extended the airline mask mandate for another month. Why
Speaker 1: because they want to virtue signal. It makes zero sense.
Speaker 1: It is assinine. But there is good news. So the
Speaker 1: good news is the Senate voted today. I just finished
Speaker 1: voting on a resolution to end the airline mask mandate.
Speaker 1: And that resolution in the Senate, it passed. It passed
Speaker 1: with a big bipartisan margin. It passed with eight Democrats
Speaker 1: who voted for it. Here I'll read you the Democrats.
Speaker 1: You have Bennett from Colorado who's on the ballot. You
Speaker 1: have Cortes Masto from Nevada who's on the ballot. You
Speaker 1: have Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire who's on the ballot.
Speaker 1: You have Kelly from Arizona who's on the ballot. You
Speaker 1: have Cinema from Arizona who's on the ballot. You have
Speaker 1: Jackie Rosen from Nevada who's helping out Cortez Masto who's
Speaker 1: on the ballot. You have John Tester and Montana because
Speaker 1: he realizes he doesn't live in a communist state. And
Speaker 1: we have Joe Mansion from West Virginia because he realizes
Speaker 1: he doesn't live in a communist state. I'm noticing a
Speaker 1: theme here, Senator. It is people who realize this is
Speaker 1: eighty outic. Now every other Democrat voted for the mandate
Speaker 1: that they all lined up like lemmings to jump off
Speaker 1: the cliff. Look, on the face of it, the airline
Speaker 1: mask mandate makes no sense whatsoever, and everyone knows that.
Speaker 1: Everybody does. You think about what we're told. Okay, you're
Speaker 1: sitting on an airplane which has got fancy filtration systems.
Speaker 1: Apparently they clean out ninety nine point nine percent of
Speaker 1: the particles in the air. The rules are you must
Speaker 1: have a mask on. Everyone will die if you don't.
Speaker 1: Until you pick up a diet coke. When you have
Speaker 1: a diet coke in your hand, no mask needed. You
Speaker 1: can laugh, you can spit, you couldn't do whatever you want.
Speaker 1: Everything is safe. You put the diet coke down. I
Speaker 1: just recently had a flight with a really intense flight
Speaker 1: attendant who would literally as you set your drink down,
Speaker 1: like put your mask on in between SIPs, and it
Speaker 1: was kind of like, dude, just just relax, just breathe, breathe,
Speaker 1: You're gonna be fine. I never quite understood it. You'd
Speaker 1: be sitting there and they'd say, it is urgent. It's
Speaker 1: federal law. It's important to the health and survival of everyone.
Speaker 1: You must have the mask on unless we hand you
Speaker 1: a cookie, in which case, if you get the cookie,
Speaker 1: then you have to eat it. So I'm really pleased
Speaker 1: to hear that the Democrats came out and a good
Speaker 1: number of them, especially the ones on the ballot, voted
Speaker 1: to get rid of the mask mandate. And then all
Speaker 1: the Republicans, I assume we're on board with getting rid
Speaker 1: of the mandate. Well yes and no. All the Republicans
Speaker 1: were on board except Mitt Romney. So okay, so you
Speaker 1: can still sort of say yes, I can't defend the
Speaker 1: guy on this. I'm sorry, this is idiotic. I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you a crazy suggestion. How about we have
Speaker 1: the same rule for Americans across the country who get
Speaker 1: an airplanes that we have for members of Congress at
Speaker 1: the State of the Union address. With the State of
Speaker 1: the Union Address two weeks ago, five hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: five members of Congress. We're all sitting on the floor
Speaker 1: of the House. I don't think there were five people
Speaker 1: wearing masks in the entire House chamber. Joe Biden wasn't,
Speaker 1: although his speech might have been better if he was.
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris wasn't. Sitting right behind him, by the way,
Speaker 1: she didn't have anything to say. Nothing prevented her from
Speaker 1: wearing a mask. Nancy Pelosi wasn't, and just about every
Speaker 1: other Democrat in the chamber wasn't it. We're sitting right
Speaker 1: next to each other, we're in a closed environment, but
Speaker 1: none of them were wearing it. So why is it
Speaker 1: that a grandmother flying to visit her grandkids has to
Speaker 1: put a mask on when Chuck Schumer or Kamala Harris
Speaker 1: or Nancy Pelosi don't. It is stupid. It is theater,
Speaker 1: by the way, you know, just a week before the
Speaker 1: State of the Union, Pelosi was demanding that. She said,
Speaker 1: no one will be allowed in the House Chamber unless
Speaker 1: they have tested negative A and B, unless they're wearing
Speaker 1: an N ninety five mask. And I was like, you
Speaker 1: can kiss my hind quarters. I Am not going in
Speaker 1: there with an n ninety five masks. So I hadn't
Speaker 1: decided whether I was going to just skip the whole
Speaker 1: thing altogether, or whether I was going to go in
Speaker 1: without a mask and see, I see if the House
Speaker 1: would try to remove me. That actually would have been
Speaker 1: kind of fun. Dragged out by the police. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: would have been great. But then what I assume happened
Speaker 1: is someone in Pelosi's office looked at the polling and said,
Speaker 1: holy crap, this is really unpopular. Do we want Biden's
Speaker 1: whole speech to be seen with Pelosi and Kamala both
Speaker 1: wearing masks behind him the whole time? People won't like that.
Speaker 1: And suddenly the science changed, not the medical science, the
Speaker 1: political science changed, and they got rid of the mandate.
Speaker 1: This is garbage and it's time to get rid of it. Well,
Speaker 1: if that's the case, so it passes the Senate. You've
Speaker 1: got a lot of Dems who sign on to it.
Speaker 1: It's going to go to the House. Now. Is the
Speaker 1: House going to take it up? Is the House going
Speaker 1: to vote for it? Is Biden going to sign it? Look,
Speaker 1: I assume Pelosi won't take it up, that she'll just
Speaker 1: leave it and won't allow a vote on it. Presumably
Speaker 1: it would pass the House if you got eight eight
Speaker 1: Democratic senators who voted for it. There are a lot
Speaker 1: more Democrats of the House who would love to cast
Speaker 1: this vote, but Pelosi is listening to the crazies inter
Speaker 1: party what this may do. It was such a strong
Speaker 1: bipartisan vote that what it may do is caused Biden
Speaker 1: not to extend this damn thing beyond April eighteenth. It
Speaker 1: was supposed to expire this week on March eighteenth, extended
Speaker 1: a month, seeing eight Democrats, including almost every Democrat on
Speaker 1: the ballot, though Raphael Warnock didn't vote for it, and
Speaker 1: he's on the ballot in Georgia. Apparently he thinks Georgian's
Speaker 1: like wearing masks on planes. You know, I'll let him
Speaker 1: explain that. But it may put political pressure on the
Speaker 1: White House to change. Look, I'll give another example. The NBA.
Speaker 1: The Brooklyn nets nets Kyrie Irving, fantastic player, not allowed
Speaker 1: to play. He hadn't been playing for months. Why because
Speaker 1: the idiotic New York rules, So you have to be
Speaker 1: vaccinated to play, and Kyrie chose not to be vaccinated.
Speaker 1: Now what this week? It truly Ilios illustrated the idiocy
Speaker 1: because New York revoked it requirement that you had to
Speaker 1: be vaccinated to go to the games, so the fans.
Speaker 1: Kyrie went to the game as a fan. He's wearing,
Speaker 1: you know, civilian clothes. He's there as a fan. By
Speaker 1: the way, no more mask mandates, so we don't have
Speaker 1: a mask on. He's not vaccinated as a fan. Perfectly
Speaker 1: okay for him to be sitting in the stadium. He
Speaker 1: hugs his teammates on the courtroom, perfectly okay for him
Speaker 1: to hug his teammates as a fan. Apparently he bought
Speaker 1: a ticket, just like you or I Wood. He went
Speaker 1: and bought a ticket. But New York's rules are so
Speaker 1: idiotic that as a fan he can be unvaccinated not
Speaker 1: wear a mask, but as a player he's not allowed
Speaker 1: to play because they say if you're were is an
Speaker 1: indoor performance, you must be vaccinated. I don't know, Michael,
Speaker 1: explain the science to me. Is there something about touching
Speaker 1: the leather on a ball? Is it like the reverse
Speaker 1: of the diet coke that if you touch the leather
Speaker 1: on a ball, suddenly it's deadly and everyone's going to die.
Speaker 1: Is that how it works? Yeah? I think it must be.
Speaker 1: Well I am glad to see. I've just noticed it
Speaker 1: anecdotally that the tide seems to be turning even my
Speaker 1: most liberal COVID neurotic friends and relatives. But both of them,
Speaker 1: all two of them. No, they really have. I mean,
Speaker 1: I come from New York. I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people who are pretty on the left. You're a New
Speaker 1: York yalely, I assume you have many liberal neurotics. Look,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you how crazy it is. I just did
Speaker 1: something twenty minutes ago that you would never believe I did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I retweeted Trevor Noah, I hope, with some mocking, derissive comment. No,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no. I said, I agree with Trevor Noah,
Speaker 1: and I said this is a sign of the apocalypse
Speaker 1: because he was talking about Kyrie and he said, this
Speaker 1: stuff makes no sense. I mean, he was just it
Speaker 1: was a rant about how idiotic it was. And when
Speaker 1: you've lost Trevor Noah as a leftist, you've lost everybody.
Speaker 1: And I gotta say, I did a press conference today
Speaker 1: in which I made a direct appeal to Kyrie come
Speaker 1: to Houston. I'm a die hard Rockets fan. You know,
Speaker 1: in Texas, we actually are not insane. Unlike Manhattan, Kyrie,
Speaker 1: you can start tomorrow for the Rockets. I have no
Speaker 1: authority to make that offer. And yet I feel confident
Speaker 1: if you walk in and put on a Rockets uniform,
Speaker 1: they're gonna let you play. He is a hell of
Speaker 1: a ball player. And the idiocy. By the way, Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant just this week said, it's the dumbest rule I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. He's allowed to sit in the stands, but
Speaker 1: not to dribble a basketball. Trevor Noah asked a great question, Michael,
Speaker 1: I'd be interested in your thoughts. He said, Okay, so
Speaker 1: how does it work. He can buy a ticket, he
Speaker 1: can go as a stand, he doesn't have to wear
Speaker 1: a mask, he can hug them, but he can't touch
Speaker 1: a basketball. What happens if halftime they call him in
Speaker 1: to make the halftime shot to win a car? Can
Speaker 1: he touch a basketball then as a fan but not
Speaker 1: a player. It just is garbage. And by the way,
Speaker 1: the NBA just find him fifty thousand dollars because he
Speaker 1: went into the locker room. It is dumb. And the
Speaker 1: good news is it is so acidine that I think
Speaker 1: they've I believe these mandates are on their way out,
Speaker 1: because even the craziest Democrats realize how unpopular it is.
Speaker 1: Everyone but the loons, well and Mitt Romney realize how
Speaker 1: bad it is. That's I used to say that Senator
Speaker 1: Romney was my favorite Democrat, but I think those Democrats
Speaker 1: who voted against the masks, they probably take the cake. Now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the way you know it, the way you know it's Senator,
Speaker 1: that the public opinion is moving in this direction is
Speaker 1: of course that Anthony Fauci has gone into the witness
Speaker 1: protection program. I actually have a documentary series out today
Speaker 1: on the Daily Wire about doctor fouch. She's history, not
Speaker 1: just during COVID, but going all the way back to
Speaker 1: the eighties. The way he's amassed all of this power,
Speaker 1: the way that the most dangerous place in Washington is
Speaker 1: the space between Faucci and a television camera. They used
Speaker 1: to say that about Chuck Schumer. Now you see that
Speaker 1: really with Faucci. The fact that this man has held
Speaker 1: onto power for so long, we don't know very much
Speaker 1: about him. That's the reasons out now as Faucci unmasked.
Speaker 1: I think they know, and I think that's why they're
Speaker 1: going to bench the man. They're trying to get through
Speaker 1: the midterms, and then what happens after the midterms, I
Speaker 1: guess is anyone's guess. So look, I think we should
Speaker 1: be understated. I don't think we should engage in hyperbole.
Speaker 1: And I know you have no desire to make a
Speaker 1: shameless pitch on this podcast never But if I hear
Speaker 1: you right, you're saying that if you don't go immediately
Speaker 1: watch your documentary on doctor Faucci, that you will go
Speaker 1: to your grave as a poor, ignorant fool, unable to
Speaker 1: deal with the universe and with really a lacking in
Speaker 1: basic awareness of anything happening on Earth. Is that is
Speaker 1: that about, right, Senator? That is the subtlety that I
Speaker 1: have come to expect from you, and it happens to
Speaker 1: be one hundred percent correct. You've put it very well.
Speaker 1: This is the time head on over to Daily Wire
Speaker 1: to go watch Fauci Unmasked. I just wanted us to
Speaker 1: be as shameless on this as you're and my friend
Speaker 1: Ben Shapiro and and and if he can brand just
Speaker 1: about everything on Earth, and then surely we can we
Speaker 1: can pitch your documentary. That's really all I want to
Speaker 1: do is get one overrun Ben. So I really I
Speaker 1: appreciate your help, and I appreciate the help of all
Speaker 1: of the Verdict listeners. I did want to get your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this regarding Senator Romney, not even the mask vote,
Speaker 1: but he got into a tiff with a former Democrat,
Speaker 1: Congresswoman Tulsie Gabbert. Tulsa Gabbert had published a video about
Speaker 1: a United States program it's run out of the Pentagon
Speaker 1: to work with Ukraine on certain biological research facilities. As
Speaker 1: often happens, when this program was exposed or being discussed
Speaker 1: in the media, we were told it was a crazy
Speaker 1: tinfoil hat conspiracy theory, it doesn't exist. Then we found
Speaker 1: out it does exist, but we don't have the United
Speaker 1: States didn't every much to do with it. Then we
Speaker 1: found out the United States actually has had this program
Speaker 1: and it goes back to a treaty from two thousand
Speaker 1: and five. But the research was totally not dangerous whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Now we find out hearing from the Pentagon in the
Speaker 1: State Department, actually there are some very dangerous pathogens in
Speaker 1: these labs and if the Russians get their hands on them,
Speaker 1: this could be a really big problem in Ukraine. So
Speaker 1: Tulsea Gabbard made a video basically to that effect, and
Speaker 1: Senator Romney came out and said that she was a
Speaker 1: traitor who was peddling false Russian propaganda. He accused an
Speaker 1: American service member, Tulsa Gabbard and former member of Congress,
Speaker 1: of treason. That was unfortunate. Tulsi came back and just
Speaker 1: body slammed. Man. I mean it was it was brutal.
Speaker 1: Not now she she popped back and said, you have
Speaker 1: one of two choices, either respond and refute the fact
Speaker 1: time laying out, or immediately apologize and resigned from the Senate,
Speaker 1: which was probably not terribly understated either. You know, I
Speaker 1: will say on this issue, there is some subtlety here
Speaker 1: in that Tulsia is absolutely correct that there are biolabs
Speaker 1: in Ukraine, that there are labs that are studying pathogens,
Speaker 1: that are studying infectious diseases. Now that shouldn't surprise anybody.
Speaker 1: I mean, Ukraine is a first world country. You know,
Speaker 1: every first world country has labs that are biolabs that
Speaker 1: are studying pathogens. You know, Ukraine is entitled to have
Speaker 1: a CDC just like Frances or the United Kingdom. Is
Speaker 1: that that's what you know, developed countries have as they
Speaker 1: have medical research into dangerous diseases. So of course Ukraine
Speaker 1: has labs that are studying infectious diseases that presumably have
Speaker 1: all sorts of infectious diseases they're studying. And the point
Speaker 1: that you and I have made and others have made
Speaker 1: that when you have labs with infectious diseases, the dangerous pathogens,
Speaker 1: it's a really bad idea for Russia to be firing
Speaker 1: missiles and having their tank shoot at them, just like
Speaker 1: it's a really dangerous idea for Russia to be firing
Speaker 1: missiles and having their tank shoot at nuclear reactors. Like
Speaker 1: nuclear reactors being hit by missiles is just bad. It's
Speaker 1: just a bad, bad, bad idea. Same thing if you
Speaker 1: have a biolab that is studying dangerous pathogens, dropping a
Speaker 1: bomb on it is a really bad idea. You don't
Speaker 1: want dangerous diseases to escape. There is a slight nuance
Speaker 1: here in that there are folks online and the Twitter
Speaker 1: sphere that are referring to these labs as bioweapons labs. Now,
Speaker 1: bioweapons labs are different than biolabs, and that one word,
Speaker 1: it's a small word, but it makes a world a difference.
Speaker 1: Bioweapons labs suggest that they're studying how to use biological
Speaker 1: weapons to kill people, kill civilians, kill soldiers. I have
Speaker 1: seen no evidence of bio weapons labs in Ukraine. That's
Speaker 1: not to say they don't exist, but if they do,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen any evidence of it. I think that's
Speaker 1: what Romney was jumping on, and I think it would
Speaker 1: have been perfectly fine to respond like a reasonable person
Speaker 1: and say, well, of course Ukraine has biolabs and it
Speaker 1: would be dangerous if Russian missiles or or bombs hit them.
Speaker 1: The evidence at this point is not clear that Ukraine
Speaker 1: has bioweapons labs, and so we should be cautious in
Speaker 1: terms of what we say. That's actually how a rational
Speaker 1: person would engage, but in this hyper politicized shirts and
Speaker 1: skin tribal I hate anyone who disagrees. Instead, we just
Speaker 1: screamed trader, trader, trader, off with their heads, and I
Speaker 1: think that's really It'd be better if everyone refrained from
Speaker 1: doing that, right. There is obviously a ton of nuance here.
Speaker 1: I was wondering if you had any updates on what's
Speaker 1: going on in Ukraine and Russia. The situation seems to
Speaker 1: be changing constantly. Everyone is pumping propaganda into the air,
Speaker 1: so sometimes it's hard to know what exactly to believe. Now,
Speaker 1: one of the big points of contention here has been
Speaker 1: NATO membership. Yeah, a lot of the Russian propaganda says
Speaker 1: the whole reason for the war is because NATO's going eastward.
Speaker 1: Ukraine has said they wanted to join NATO. NATO has
Speaker 1: said no, the reason for the war is because you've
Speaker 1: Vladmir Putin or rolling tanks into Ukraine and you want
Speaker 1: to recreate the Soviet Union. Zelenski himself in Ukraine had
Speaker 1: been saying that he wants to join NATO. He had
Speaker 1: been signaling this for years. Now. Just today he's come
Speaker 1: out and said that he's cooling on the idea of
Speaker 1: Ukraine joining NATO. You're right, that's a shift from where
Speaker 1: he's been in the past. Listen, personally, I am not
Speaker 1: a fan of Ukraine becoming a member of NATO. I agree,
Speaker 1: and the reason is, Look, being a member of NATO
Speaker 1: is a big deal, and NATO is a military alliance.
Speaker 1: It's a treaty that under Article five a NATO an
Speaker 1: attack on one nation is an attack on all the
Speaker 1: member nations, and it's an obligation So, for example, if
Speaker 1: Russia invades France, we have a treaty obligation under NATO,
Speaker 1: the NATO Treaty to treat the invasion of France as
Speaker 1: if it were an invasion of the United States, and
Speaker 1: under the most traditional interpretation, that means to respond defending
Speaker 1: France militarily. That is a big deal to make that obligation.
Speaker 1: And I'm not a big fan of extending treaty obligations
Speaker 1: to send American servicemen and women into harm's way. I
Speaker 1: think NATO is a very important alliance with the current
Speaker 1: NATO members. You know, I can tell you in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: I traveled to Ukraine, and I traveled to Poland and
Speaker 1: Estonia right after the Maiden Square. Right after, you know,
Speaker 1: there was a Russian puppet who was in charge of Ukraine,
Speaker 1: and the Ukrainian people rose up and threw them out,
Speaker 1: and the Ukrainian secret police like shot protesters. I walked
Speaker 1: through the Maiden Square had a sixteen year old girl Ukrainian.
Speaker 1: It was one of the protesters who walked me through
Speaker 1: the Maiden Square and said, all right, here's where this
Speaker 1: friend of mine was shot. And you could see the
Speaker 1: marks of bullets where they had hit and they just
Speaker 1: sat there. It was like Tianamen Square. They sat that
Speaker 1: they're executing protesters. But it led to effectively a revolution
Speaker 1: in Ukraine where they ended up with a democratically elected
Speaker 1: government that is much more pro America, m pro Europe,
Speaker 1: much more pro West, rather than a Russia puppet government.
Speaker 1: But on that trip, when I was there in Ukraine
Speaker 1: meeting with leaders who wanted to be friends with America,
Speaker 1: as I said, I also went to Poland and Estonia,
Speaker 1: both of which are NATO members, And I asked Poland,
Speaker 1: I asked it. In Estonia, I said, all right, what
Speaker 1: is your confidence if Russia invades you, invades Poland invades Estonia,
Speaker 1: what is your confidence that NATO will vigorously act under
Speaker 1: Article five to defend you? And I got to tell you.
Speaker 1: In both nations the blood drained out of their face
Speaker 1: and they had little to no confidence as it is
Speaker 1: that NATO would defend them. I think they basically believed
Speaker 1: they'd get a stern press release and maybe some like
Speaker 1: you know, cyber response or something, but not a robust
Speaker 1: military response. In both Poland and Estonia, Russian tanks in
Speaker 1: the street are not a distant memory. People who were
Speaker 1: alive during the Cold War remember Russian tanks in their street,
Speaker 1: and so it is already defending NATO is already a
Speaker 1: serious obligation. There are NATO members that feel less than secure.
Speaker 1: I think expanding it to former Soviet republics is a
Speaker 1: bridge too far. We can support Ukraine, we're providing them
Speaker 1: with military weapons. We are to provide them with more
Speaker 1: military weapons. We ought to use economic power to take
Speaker 1: away Putin's revenue, but we don't have a treaty obligation
Speaker 1: right now to send American servicemen and women into Ukraine.
Speaker 1: And I think that's good. I think that would be
Speaker 1: a bridge too far. I agree, and frankly, before this
Speaker 1: latest really full scale invasion by Russia of Ukraine, even
Speaker 1: when they had just invaded Crimea, had Ukraine joined NATO
Speaker 1: at that point, presumably that would have triggered Article five.
Speaker 1: That would have been the fastest route to a world
Speaker 1: war that we've ever seen. And so I entirely agree
Speaker 1: with your take, and one hopes that this shift in
Speaker 1: strategy is maybe pointing the way at some point toward
Speaker 1: a resolution of this conflict and an end to the bloodshed.
Speaker 1: Now turning domestically for a moment. Joe Biden is trying
Speaker 1: to blame all of his problems at home on Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 1: He's doing this especially we talked last episode about gas prices,
Speaker 1: and he's trying to do this with inflation broadly. Now, Senator,
Speaker 1: I know it's wrong. I know that he's lying. I
Speaker 1: don't believe him for a second, but I can't quite
Speaker 1: explain why he's wrong. And now Joe Biden is enlisting
Speaker 1: TikTokers to spread his talking points to the masses of Americans.
Speaker 1: So how is it the case that inflation is not
Speaker 1: all Vladimir Putin's fault? Well, listen, I will say on
Speaker 1: this issue, like so many others, the White House has
Speaker 1: been nothing short of incoherent. As I count them, there
Speaker 1: are five shifting explanations they've had for inflation. So the
Speaker 1: first explanation they had a year ago is they said
Speaker 1: there is no inflation, doesn't exist. Janet Yellen, actually I
Speaker 1: think it was March of last year, almost exactly a
Speaker 1: year ago, said there is no inflation. I'd be highly
Speaker 1: surprised if there was inflation. It just doesn't exist. Pay
Speaker 1: no attention to your lying eyes. Those numbers going up
Speaker 1: in front of you. They don't exist. That didn't last
Speaker 1: very long. Then Explanation number two is they said, okay,
Speaker 1: there's inflation, but it's transitory. It's just briefly here for
Speaker 1: a moment. You know. I sat down, I had a
Speaker 1: coffee with several other senators and Jay Powell, the head
Speaker 1: of the Federal Reserve, and at the time we pressed
Speaker 1: them on inflation. And this was spring of last year,
Speaker 1: and that was Jay Powell's answer, it's transitory. It just
Speaker 1: it's gonna be here for a minute. So, yeah, prices
Speaker 1: are up, but we're not worried about it. It's going
Speaker 1: to go away. And we were like, well, bologny. Then
Speaker 1: the third explanation that they get progressively more asinine. So
Speaker 1: if there's a asininity meter, I don't know, is that
Speaker 1: what you would call it an asininity? I believe there
Speaker 1: there's an asidinity scale. Yeah, so it climbs the acidininity.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't exist transitory. That's two. Number three was
Speaker 1: Ron Klaine saying it's a high class problem. Yeah, yes
Speaker 1: it exists. We're not saying it's transitory, but it's high class.
Speaker 1: It's it's just the people eating gray poupon, who are
Speaker 1: worried about it. It's it's it's not regular Americans yet. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's it's just rich guys, which is a weird explanation
Speaker 1: because it's actually the opposite. Rich guys don't care. You know,
Speaker 1: the gazillionaires, the people who run the Democratic Party now,
Speaker 1: the Silicon Valley billionaires. What difference does it make to them?
Speaker 1: John Kerry when he flies in his court his private
Speaker 1: jet all over the world, he doesn't care on prices.
Speaker 1: He's got more money than he knows what to do with.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's the seniors on a fixed income who
Speaker 1: care about it. So high class problem was really an
Speaker 1: asinine explanation. But then they managed to beat it, and
Speaker 1: it explanation number four. They said, yes, inflation exists, it's
Speaker 1: not transitory. It's not high class anymore. Everyone's facing it.
Speaker 1: But explanation number four is inflation is a good thing.
Speaker 1: It's a sign of just how good the economy is. Hot.
Speaker 1: Diggity damn, we're just booming and inflation. You ought to
Speaker 1: pop a champagne. Of course, you can't afford a bottle
Speaker 1: of champagne. But if you get afford a bottles champagne,
Speaker 1: pop the cork and celebrate. Maybe a can of beer,
Speaker 1: you know, one beer. You could pop a beer and
Speaker 1: celebrate because it is so good that you ought to
Speaker 1: be thrilled. It's not happening, and it's good that it is. Right. Yes,
Speaker 1: that was explanation number four. Now at this point, right now,
Speaker 1: the polling shows inflation as the number one concern of Americans.
Speaker 1: I just saw that polling today. So the Biden White
Speaker 1: House is like, oh crap, this is a problem. And
Speaker 1: so explanation number five is Putin did it? Yeah? And
Speaker 1: that is and they are pushing this through every outlet
Speaker 1: of propaganda, which means number one, the corporate media, and
Speaker 1: the corporate media is shilling CNN. Is you know, Brian
Speaker 1: Stelzer was saying Putin is causing the inflation. Might think
Speaker 1: it's Joe Biden, but no, no, no, it's Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 1: And as you've noted, these clowns got these TikTok influencers
Speaker 1: to push the story that all the inflation you see,
Speaker 1: it's it's Putin. And unfortunately, these TikTok influencers are more
Speaker 1: than happy to just yap these talking points. They presumably
Speaker 1: don't understand what they're Okay, one or two things is
Speaker 1: the case. Either they don't understand what they're saying, or
Speaker 1: they do understand and they're deliberately lying because the talking
Speaker 1: points are absurd. Inflation has been rising week. Just last
Speaker 1: month it was seven point nine percent, the highest in
Speaker 1: forty years. Steve Rattner, who was the top economic advisor
Speaker 1: for Obama in the White House, Steve Rattner tweeted out said, look,
Speaker 1: these inflation numbers are before the invasion in Ukraine and
Speaker 1: they have you know the Ukraine number. Russia has very
Speaker 1: little to do with this. This is Biden's inflation. He
Speaker 1: needs to own it. Now. When you got Obama's economic
Speaker 1: advisor saying this is Biden's inflation, that's pretty compelling. People
Speaker 1: get it right now. Can they blame it on the lockdowns?
Speaker 1: Can they say, well, you see, because we had to
Speaker 1: lockdown the country, which is obviously a debatable point in
Speaker 1: and of itself, But because we had to lockdown the country,
Speaker 1: we didn't have as much commerce going on. But now
Speaker 1: there's a lot more and demand is up. So anyway,
Speaker 1: if it's not Putin's fault, and it is really happening,
Speaker 1: and it's not good, then just blame it on the lockdowns.
Speaker 1: Is that. I've heard some of that chatter from the
Speaker 1: White House too, So look, they could and that's actually
Speaker 1: a more plausible explanation, but they're the ones that fault
Speaker 1: for the damn lockdown. Look, I'm from Texas, we opened up,
Speaker 1: Florida opened up. Yet you know red states. And by
Speaker 1: the way, these democratic, totalitarian petty dictators, is there anything
Speaker 1: thing they hate more than the fact that states like
Speaker 1: Texas and Florida exist? Because if you didn't have a
Speaker 1: handful of red state oacs that said, screw you, we're
Speaker 1: not shutting down our restaurants, we're not shutting down our bars,
Speaker 1: we're not shutting down our stores, and we're especially not
Speaker 1: shutting down our schools, then the whole country would be
Speaker 1: like New York and California. It would just be, you know,
Speaker 1: quietly accept the rules. And we've seen the contrast, which
Speaker 1: is powerful. So, look, did the lockdowns contribute to inflation?
Speaker 1: I'm sure they did, But these idiots are the ones
Speaker 1: that forced the lockdown, So either way, it's their screw up. Yep,
Speaker 1: right before we go, I agree that that is actually
Speaker 1: a very good answer. You should put that on TikTok.
Speaker 1: There we go. We should make a Verdict TikTok channel.
Speaker 1: Can you dance? I'll listen. If we can get to
Speaker 1: a million subscribers on Verdict, I will dance on TikTok.
Speaker 1: I do want to get to this question. It is
Speaker 1: I think on everyone's mind. It's from the mail bag
Speaker 1: that comes from midsized dog. I don't think that's his
Speaker 1: Christian name, but it comes to us from at least
Speaker 1: the pseudonym. Who would win in a fight? Putin or
Speaker 1: Elon Musk? Oh my, well, that question is is slightly
Speaker 1: different than then. I guess Elon Musk challenge Putin to wrestle,
Speaker 1: and if it was simply wrestling. Yea. Look, I like Elon,
Speaker 1: I respect Elon, but Elon is a tech gazillionaire. Putin
Speaker 1: is a KGB thug. So let me put it this way.
Speaker 1: If Elon wants to go like getting Jello and wrestle Putin,
Speaker 1: what he does in his own free time for fun
Speaker 1: is his own business. Yeah, I wish we hadn't introduced
Speaker 1: it Jello. I'm not willing to wag or anything because
Speaker 1: I think what Elon said is he wants to resolve
Speaker 1: the Ukraine war with him wrestling Putin, and I love Elon,
Speaker 1: but but I don't have enough confidence that he wins
Speaker 1: that wrestling match to stake the fate of Ukraine on
Speaker 1: it out. You ask the question slightly differently, though, which
Speaker 1: is who would win in a fight, and so a
Speaker 1: fight is different from wrestling on one level. Putin has
Speaker 1: nuclear weapons and the Russian army, which is not nothing.
Speaker 1: Although right now Grandma's and Ukraine are throwing Molotov cocktails
Speaker 1: on them, right, but you know, Elon might be able
Speaker 1: to send killer robots and self driving cars and like
Speaker 1: satellite laser beams to come after Putin. So a broader fight,
Speaker 1: Elon might have a shot in the broader fight, but
Speaker 1: wrestling match, I'm not willing to go with Elon just yet. True.
Speaker 1: When you fight dirty, including space lasers, all bets are off.
Speaker 1: What I want to know, what I want to know,
Speaker 1: and I want Elon to answer this. Does he have
Speaker 1: sharks with lasers on him? Sharks with friggin lasers? That
Speaker 1: would be really cool? Putin wanders by the ocean, a
Speaker 1: shark with a friggan laser comes out, and if he
Speaker 1: does not yet, Senator put A patent on that get that,
Speaker 1: don't get let elon get that idea for free. That's
Speaker 1: a good that's a good idea. A summit asks will
Speaker 1: the US dollar remain the global reserve currency? Probably? I hope.
Speaker 1: So there's no doubt. As we're putting sanctions on Russia,
Speaker 1: Russia's trying to find alternatives China. China wants their currency
Speaker 1: to replace it. At the end of the day, reserve
Speaker 1: currency is about who people are confident in and who
Speaker 1: they want to bet on. You know, I'm reminded of
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton's former chief of staff, guy named Erskine. Bulls
Speaker 1: a couple of decades ago, referred to the US economy
Speaker 1: as the prettiest horse in the glue factory. In other words,
Speaker 1: there are lots of problems and reasons. He was pessimistic
Speaker 1: about the US economy, but we were still much much
Speaker 1: stronger than everybody else. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: that dynamic is there. China has a serious and growing
Speaker 1: and dangerous economy, but there aren't a lot of people
Speaker 1: eager to tie themselves to China. China engages regularly and
Speaker 1: torture and murder and genocide and concentration camps and theft
Speaker 1: and oppression, and you've got to be pretty dumb to say, hey,
Speaker 1: that's the model I want. You know it, At the
Speaker 1: end of the day, doing business with America is better
Speaker 1: now if you keep seeing Democrats print money. And by
Speaker 1: the way, democrats with Republican complicity, I mean, I mean,
Speaker 1: on any massive spending bill, you get all the Democrats
Speaker 1: at half the Republicans. So there there's some big government
Speaker 1: Republicans that that that bears some blame as well. But
Speaker 1: if we keep debasing the currency, it's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons for the rise of crypto. It is that people
Speaker 1: are putting their money in crypto because bitcoin is the
Speaker 1: new digital gold, and money flows to gold and silver
Speaker 1: and to assets hard currency when you don't trust that
Speaker 1: the paper currency will retain its value. And so that
Speaker 1: the more Biden in the Democrat has to value our currency,
Speaker 1: the more vulnerable it gets, and the more people will
Speaker 1: flee to alternatives, and some of those will include foreign currency,
Speaker 1: whether the euro or the Chinese yuan. Final question from
Speaker 1: Shanaya Pineapple on pizza, yes or no. Okay, this is
Speaker 1: a terrible deviation from orthodoxy, but I like me some
Speaker 1: Hawaiian pizza ham and pineapple. It's tasty. I like the
Speaker 1: damn thing. I recognize your Italian. You're you're rolling over
Speaker 1: in your grave a mortal sin, I believe. Yeah, But
Speaker 1: but tell me, all right, hey, you tried it. I listen.
Speaker 1: I was young once, I was young and irresponsible. I
Speaker 1: tried a little bit, and tell me, was it good?
Speaker 1: I know there's something to it there. Look, Oh, okay,
Speaker 1: I've got a bigger admission. I've got Michael Knowles defending
Speaker 1: pineapple on pizza. That's a much bigger deal. Not all listen,
Speaker 1: there are some things we need to constrain our base appetite,
Speaker 1: Senator or that is a conversation for another episode, and
Speaker 1: chall let me just jump in because I made a
Speaker 1: promise today that I've got to keep. Okay, So on
Speaker 1: the steps of the Capitol, I met with the junior
Speaker 1: high class from Roma, Texas that's down in the Rio
Speaker 1: Grand Valley in Star County. There was a group of
Speaker 1: probably I don't know thirty thirty or forty junior high kids,
Speaker 1: eighth grade kids who were on their eighth grade trip
Speaker 1: to Washington. And I talked with them in the Capitol.
Speaker 1: Great kids and was visiting with them. Was asking questions,
Speaker 1: and they're asking They ask about Ukraine and what was
Speaker 1: going on. They ask smart, intelligent questions. These are smart kids.
Speaker 1: And I mentioned the podcast. I said, look, if you
Speaker 1: want to know what's going on one vehicle as you
Speaker 1: can listen to the podcast. And I tried to do
Speaker 1: my best to explain what's actually happening. And one of
Speaker 1: the kids said, well, will you mention us on the podcast?
Speaker 1: And I said, I'll tell you what I will. So
Speaker 1: I'm honoring my promise because I'm going to keep my
Speaker 1: word on that. I will tell you one thing that
Speaker 1: was fascinating. So these are from South Texas. South Texas
Speaker 1: historically has been overwhelmingly Democrat. It is eighty to ninety
Speaker 1: percent Hispanic. It's voted Democrat for a hundred years. Maybe
Speaker 1: a third of the kids there, we're wearing Make America
Speaker 1: Great red hats and we're wearing Trump shirts. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was stunning, wow. And I got to say, this
Speaker 1: is something that is happening. It's happening in Texas, but
Speaker 1: it's happening across the country, which is Hispanic voters are
Speaker 1: moving to the right massively. In South Texas, which has
Speaker 1: been democrat a long long time. I think in November,
Speaker 1: South Texas is going to go Republican and we're going
Speaker 1: to elect several Hispanic Republicans there too. I've endorsed Cassie Garcia,
Speaker 1: who was an Hispanic woman. She was on my staff
Speaker 1: for ten years. I know Cassie very very well. She's fantastic,
Speaker 1: and then Monica de la Cruz, who was another Hispanic woman.
Speaker 1: They're both running against Democrats in South Texas and seats
Speaker 1: that have Democrat forever, and I'm predicting now both of
Speaker 1: them are going to win, and it is a c change.
Speaker 1: If you can imagine the nightmare for Nancy Pelosi and
Speaker 1: for AOC to have Hispanic women who are conservative Republicans
Speaker 1: from the Rio Grand Valley standing up and saying the
Speaker 1: policies you're enacting are insane. I think that's the kind
Speaker 1: of red wave we're going to see in November. And
Speaker 1: shout out to the kids from Roma, well, let's shout
Speaker 1: out to them. You might have lost us some of
Speaker 1: the Italian vote with your offensive comments about pizza, but
Speaker 1: if we can pick up much more of the Hispanic vote,
Speaker 1: people realize these left wing policies are driving us off
Speaker 1: a cliff that would be a wonderful thing, a little
Speaker 1: bit to hold on hope for, but we've got to
Speaker 1: leave it at that. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict
Speaker 1: with Ted Cruz. This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruse
Speaker 1: is being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom and Security Pack,
Speaker 1: a political action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations,
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Speaker 1: running for Congress and help the Republican Party across the nation.