Musk becomes Liberal's Public Enemy #1, Georgia Election Turning Heads & College Sports Bill a Reality Week In Review

Summary

The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Musk becomes Liberal's Public Enemy #1, Georgia Election Turning Heads & College Sports Bill a Reality Week In Review
Date: June 20, 2026
Host: Ben Ferguson (with featured guest Senator Ted Cruz)
Podcast: The 47 Morning Update (Premiere Networks)

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Episode Overview

This “Week In Review” episode recaps three major stories with significant political and cultural impact from the week:

1. Elon Musk’s rising status as the top enemy of liberal politicians and media (after becoming the world’s first trillionaire),
2. A consequential Georgia gubernatorial primary that could have national ramifications, and
3. The passage of a landmark bipartisan college sports reform bill in the Senate.

Ben Ferguson and Senator Ted Cruz offer inside commentary, political strategy, and anecdotes related to each story, staying true to the show's tone of direct, unfiltered conservatism with a blend of humor and policy focus.

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1. Elon Musk: Liberals' Public Enemy #1

[02:15–13:10]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Elon’s Wealth and Liberal Backlash

  • Ben Ferguson announces Musk as the "first trillionaire in the world’s history" and highlights Democrats' calls to seize Musk’s wealth.
  • Cruz contrasts the left’s treatment of Musk with their support for George Soros, noting the hypocrisy in targeting one billionaire while praising another for funding “Marxist ideology.”
  • The conversation highlights the entrepreneurial impact of Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, XAI, Boring Company) versus the financial wheeling of Soros.

• Capitalism and Free Enterprise Principles

  • Cruz defends Musk’s wealth as the result of offering products and services people want, drawing a sharp line between value creation and wealth redistribution.
  • Discussion of how free enterprise rewards innovation and efficiency, whereas "Marxists" on the left favor control and envy the success of others.

• Mars as Life Goal: Musk’s Unifying Theme

  • Extended discussion on how all Musk’s companies feed into his dream of building a civilization on Mars:
    • “Each of his companies… is designed to actually get us to Mars.” — Ted Cruz [07:10]
  • Cruz recalls his direct interview with Musk, sharing Musk’s aspiration: "Do you want to die on Mars?" “Yes, hopefully not on impact.” — Elon Musk (relayed by Cruz) [08:34]

• Liberal and Media Ridicule

  • Ben plays a Jimmy Kimmel clip mocking Musk as a “rich and weird” trillionaire, which Cruz argues exemplifies the left’s "coordinated effort" to bring Musk down [09:19].
  • Cruz predicts a relentless campaign by Democrats, if they regain power, to “crush their enemies” by weaponizing government against Musk and his companies.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On free enterprise vs. left-wing envy:

  • “The beauty of free enterprise is the way you succeed is by making others succeed.” — Sen. Ted Cruz [04:54]
  • “You create a solution…and what is the reaction of the left? It is envy.” — Ted Cruz [08:34]
  • “He is literally making Americans rich all across the country. And if you’re really good at that, you make a bunch of money too. Leftists hate that.” — Ted Cruz [11:50]

• On the left’s response:

  • “They want to destroy him for daring to demonstrate that free enterprise works.” — Ted Cruz [09:59]
  • “If the left takes over, you will see every single federal government agency weaponized and targeting Elon Musk.” — Ted Cruz [09:59]

• On voluntary capitalism:

  • “They all wanted to make money.” — Ben Ferguson, on SpaceX investors [11:50]

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2. Georgia Election Turning Heads

[16:10–27:18]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• A Game-Changing Primary Contest

  • Georgia’s hotly contested Republican gubernatorial primary between Rick Jackson (businessman, philanthropist) and Bert Jones (lt. governor, Trump-endorsed).
  • Ted Cruz’s late endorsement of Jackson sparked attention, given Trump backed his opponent.

• Why Rick Jackson? A Story of Grit and Success

  • Cruz reviews Jackson’s rough early life: foster homes, dropping out of college, his start in sales, rapid entrepreneurship, and ultimately building a “massive multibillion dollar health care company in Georgia” [19:52].
  • Jackson’s philanthropy—especially investing in foster kids and Christian charities—is highlighted as evidence he “puts faith into action.”

• Behind the Scenes: The Endorsement Battle

  • Cruz explains Trump’s early endorsement (before Jackson entered), and Don Jr.'s subsequent public praise for Jackson, which shaped the race’s late momentum.
  • Jackson ultimately wins with 52.6% of the vote [24:54].

• Jackson’s Platform

  • Freeze property taxes, cut state income tax in half (and work to abolish it), and vow not to run for re-election if he fails to deliver [24:54–25:41].
  • Cruz argues Jackson is uniquely motivated by belief in Georgia and America—not personal ambition.

• National Significance

  • Winning Georgia is positioned as critical to maintaining Republican control and defeating Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, with Cruz warning Georgia has shifted from “bright red” to “purple.”

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Jackson’s story:
  • “He ends up building this company into a massive multibillion dollar healthcare company…Self-built from nothing.” — Ted Cruz [19:52]
• On Jackson’s motivation:
  • “This is an incredibly successful dude…He could play golf every day. To run for office, you gotta be nuts…Rick is doing this because he believes in Georgia, he believes in the country.” — Ted Cruz [25:41]
• On implications:
  • “The best way to do it is have a gubernatorial candidate who’s running an incredible campaign, who’s mobilizing voters across the state.” — Ted Cruz [26:30]

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3. College Sports Bill Becomes Reality

[29:51–40:13]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• College Sports in Crisis

  • Rapid, unchecked changes: transfer portal chaos, eligibility issues, lawsuits, “mini NFL” risk with only elite programs surviving, mass cancellation of Olympic and non-revenue sports.
  • Over 500,000 college athletes at risk of losing their futures in sports and education [33:27].

• Cruz’s Bipartisan Bill

  • Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Cruz, passes new legislation with a strong bipartisan vote (19–9).
  • Bill is set to stabilize college sports, protect smaller programs, and curb the dominance of super-leagues (SEC, Big Ten).
  • Crucially, it aims to maintain opportunities for the “99%” of college athletes who aren't future pros.
  • Congress is acting because existing federal laws are a root cause of the current chaos.

• Saving the Sports Ecosystem

  • Cruz emphasizes preserving entire collegiate athletic ecosystems, not just powerhouse programs.
  • Credits collegiate sports as a life-changing platform, especially for economically disadvantaged and minority students.

• Broad Support and Political Strategy

  • Bill enjoys endorsements from 24 conferences, NFL, NBA, MLB, college coaches (Nick Saban, John Calipari), Olympic Committee, and player associations.
  • Main opposition: Big Ten and SEC leadership (“want to create a super league and everyone else goes out of business” — Cruz [39:48])
  • Bill prohibits formation of a "super league" to protect diversity in college athletics.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On college sports stakes:
  • “If Congress doesn’t act, I think five years from now, there will be 30 to 50 competitive college football programs. Basically a mini NFL.” — Ted Cruz [32:30]
• On personal significance:
  • “Sports was my way in. It was a savior to a better life afterwards…It completely changed the trajectory of their family tree.” — Ben Ferguson [35:51]
• On the goal:
  • “My focus was not on the superstar athletes…99% of college athletes will never play in the NFL or NBA, but yet athletics is their ticket to college.” — Ted Cruz [34:28]
• On the bill’s coalition:
  • “24 conferences have endorsed this bill...The NFL endorsed the bill. The NBA endorsed the bill. Major League Baseball endorsed the bill...Nick Saban has endorsed it. John Calipari led over 100 college coaches who’ve endorsed the bill.” — Ted Cruz [38:42]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Elon Musk discussion: [02:15–13:10]
  • Musk as public enemy, Mars, capitalism vs. left, Kimmel’s ridicule, predictions of government targeting.
• Georgia Election analysis: [16:10–27:18]
  • Endorsements, Rick Jackson’s biography, behind-the-scenes stories, election outcome, significance for GOP.
• College Sports Reform: [29:51–40:13]
  • Crisis overview, Cruz’s bill, bipartisan support, coalition endorsements, impact for non-revenue athletics.

---

Memorable Moments

• Cruz quoting Musk on Mars:
  • “Do you want to die on Mars?” — “Yes, hopefully not on impact.” — Elon Musk (via Cruz) [08:34]
• Ben Ferguson’s prediction:
  • “I believe that the Democratic Party…will go after Elon Musk…and every one of his government contracts…” — Ben Ferguson [09:19]
• Cruz’s anecdote on Rick Jackson’s sales pitch and rise:
  • “He said, how about if you don’t pay me the $1,500 a month, don’t pay me anything, but just give me the 33% of sales…” — Ted Cruz [18:55]

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Conclusion

This Week In Review showcased the intersection of business, politics, and culture:

• The political left’s intensifying animosity toward entrepreneurial success (personified in Musk),
• The stakes and real-world stories animating state elections with national implications, and
• The urgent, bipartisan effort to preserve the foundation of college sports against both legal and market chaos.

All, as delivered in a style that “mainstream media won’t touch”—equal parts strategy, behind-the-scenes, and unfiltered conservative commentary.

Transcript

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[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome to this Verdict with Ted Cruz. We can review Ben Ferguson with you and here are some of the stories that you may have missed that we talked about this past week. First up, Elon Musk becomes enemy number one by the Democrats.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Why?

[Ben Ferguson]

Because he's successful and has becomes the first trillionaire in the world's history. So what do they want to do? Well, they want to steal all his money. And we break that down for you. Also, a big election night result in Georgia. And what does it mean? Looking ahead to the midterms, we break it down for you. And finally, a bill that is actually moving through Congress that is now quite possibly going to save college sports forever. It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now, by the way, that the liberals are all they're going to hear from the show. I want to be very clear, 20 minutes in is you said that Elon Musk should be carved into Mount Rushmore. That will be the headline. I just want to predict that right now, but keep going.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

It may well be. Although what I said is if the leftists believed what they said they should carve, they should be doing it. Because there is literally no human being who has existed in the history of humanity who has done more for electric vehicles than Elon Musk. But you know what? They hate him now. You know how he could change that? Do you know whose wealth they're not calling to confiscate? George Soros.

[Ben Ferguson]

Oh, of course not.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

No, no. If you're elected, if you pay. He's a massive billionaire, by the way. He made his money on arbitraging currency, on essentially betting and bankrupting lots of people. He made his money in a very, very cynical way, shorting the British pound and causing enormous devastation. That's quite different from how Elon made his money building companies that employ thousands of thousands of people, innovating and transforming the world. But you know what? The left loves George Soros because he funds their Marxist ideology.

[Ben Ferguson]

Look at, look at Platner, who we've talked about. Platner's biggest donors are four different multibillionaires. This. And they'll sit up there saying, the oligarch. No oligarchs is on their side. And those signs are literally being paid for by billionaires. That's like Hypocrisy 101.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And by the way, Bernie Sanders and AOCs, no oligarch Garc tour, they flew in private jets from stop to stop to stop. So you get off your private jet and say oligarchs are terrible.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And I don't know if you saw. It was very funny, but Bernie was doing an interview and asked, well, Bernie, how did you become a millionaire? And he said, oh, by writing anti capitalist books. Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

Which so he was. Capitalism caused him to become a millionaire, which he was writing books against.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, there's a principle here that I think is really important for folks listening to verdict to understand the beauty of free enterprise is the way you succeed is by making others succeed. Let's take Tesla as an example. If Elon made crappy cars, they didn't work, they were ugly. If they were slow, they broke down a lot, nobody would buy them. And you know what? If nobody buys his cars, he doesn't make any money, he goes broke. Like Free Enterprises is ruthlessly efficient. If you can't solve a problem and improve people's lives, not only do you not make money, you had a business, how do you make a ton of money? You make a product. People like that is better than the alternatives on the market that people are willing to pay for and they're happy for you. Look at whether it is SpaceX, whether it is XAI, whether it is Starlink, whether it is Tesla, whether it is the Boring Company. The Boring Company is just getting started. But the ability to build tunnels, I think that's another one that he's filling a need that doesn't exist in the market. And I think for those who, in terms of connecting, say, a busy downtown where there's a ton of traffic, the ability to tunnel down and suddenly double your usable space, that is a transformational technology. Now, Ben, do you remember why he created the Boring Company?

[Ben Ferguson]

Why was that?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Because Elon has a unifying theme with all of his companies and it is going to Mars. He's filling a need that doesn't exist in the market. And I think for those who, in terms of connecting, say, a busy downtown where there's a ton of traffic, the ability to tunnel down and suddenly double your usable space, that is a transformational technology. Now, Ben, do you remember why he created the Boring Company?

[Ben Ferguson]

Why was that?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Because Elon has a unifying theme with all of his companies and it is going to Mars. And he is, by the way, that's

[Ben Ferguson]

when we interviewed him, we talked about this. Him saying getting a person to Mars was like a life dream goal of his.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Look, not just getting a person to Mars, building a civilization on Mars. Because unlike the Marxists who have all of these apocalyptic language about how climate change is going to destroy us, mind you, their solution is so put us in charge of your life, let us be dictators because of climate change, Elon's solution is okay. Elon's solution is okay. If the Earth is going to be destroyed. I don't know if it is or not, but if it's going to be, let's go build a New civilization. And that's what he's working to do. And each of his companies, look, SpaceX Starship is designed to actually get us to, to Mars. Not just get humans to Mars, but get enough equipment, get enough materials that we could build a civilization. Tesla electric vehicles are designed to power transport on Mars. The boring company is designed because to build a civilization, to build a city on Mars, you need to dig tunnels. And so he. There wasn't. Nobody was doing that. And so he built a whole company to do that. Xai the AI will be needed to build the Mars civilization. We asked him in the interview, said, what do you want to be remembered for? And he said, and he said, getting mankind to Mars. And I asked him, I said, I said, do you want to die on Mars? And he said yes.

[Ben Ferguson]

There was a long pause, by the way, which was really funny. He said, on Mars, not getting to Mars. Right there was. He wanted to distinguish that very clearly, if I remember right.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, what he said. He. What he said is yes, hopefully not on impact. Yes, there you go. Which I thought was quite good. And that, look, that's how you innovate with capitalism. You create a solution. And what is the reaction of the left? It is envy. And we've heard Bernie Sanders, we heard Elizabeth Warren. I want you to listen to Jimmy Kimmel to really embody the leftist envy and contempt. Give a listen. First ever trillionaire in the history of the world. This man, our first trillionaire, the richest man in the world, is also one of the weirdest people we've ever seen on this planet. This obscenely wealthy weirdo has the ability and means to blow up the moon if he chooses, and also to put a lot of other people's money in his pockets.

[Ben Ferguson]

You listen to that. Just, just the disdain there. It is a coordinated effort. Which goes back to my final question, Senator, and I'll make a prediction here. I believe that the Democratic Party, if they gain power again in the House, Senate, certainly the White House, they will go after Elon Musk. Yes, and every one of his companies and every one of his government contracts because of what he did with Doge and the fact that he was an ally of President Trump. Even though they've had their own little fights, they will move to destroy him and make sure that there's no part of our US Government that uses anything that he touches.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You are absolutely right. And understand, these are not the Marxist of the like, sit in a faculty lounge and muse abstract theories. These are the Marxists of the Stalinist kind of the kind that go and crush their enemies. If the left takes over, if AOC or Gavin Newsom or some other leftist becomes president, you will see every single federal government agency weaponized and targeting Elon Musk. You will see them denying him licenses to launch satellites, denying him canceling his contracts, the EPA shutting down his launches, Tesla being investigated by osha, by the irs, Elon personally. They will make it their mission. This cannot stand is what Bernie said. They want to destroy him for daring to demonstrate that free enterprise works. And I want you to think back again to what Jimmy Kimmel said, which is he makes obscene amount amounts of money by getting other people's money. And let me just ask a very simple question, Jimmy. How, how does he get other people's money? And he does it one of two ways. One, he does it by running a business that's very profitable. So he builds a car people really like and they decide, I like this car better than all the other cars and it's really good and it's fast and it's, it's, it's super environmentally clean and, and it looks cool and, and it, it's self driving. So I want to buy it. So he produces a product people really like and want, which by the way is also much, much better for the environment which you hypocrites claim to care about. But there's a second way. How did he make so much money this week? Well, he sold 550 million shares of stock. And you know what unified every single person who bought that shop stock.

[Ben Ferguson]

They all wanted to make money.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

They did so voluntarily. Nobody forced them. 550 million decisions of people who said, I would like to purchase at least a share of SpaceX, I want to buy that. And by the way, it's not just gazillionaires, it's lots of moms and pops, lots of ordinary people. And you know what? You and I, we probably don't know this, but you and I are both probably, and most of our listeners are probably SpaceX stockholders too. And because many of the purchasers were pension funds for a 1Ks. So if you're in a widely diversified mutual fund, which most of my retirement savings are in mutual funds, many of them bought SpaceX as part of their portfolio. So, so the people who purchased he is literally making Americans rich all across the country. And if you're really good at that, you make a bunch of money too. Leftists hate that. They want to destroy you. And they also want to take the money. They want government in charge of it and they want. The only way you can make money is for government to give you a check every month. So you got to go vote to reelect the Marxists and keep them in power. I want to say to Elon Musk, to Gwynne Shotwell, to everyone at SpaceX, congratulations. This was an historic week. God bless capitalism. God bless liberty.

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Ben Ferguson]

now, on to story number two. But there is a story that is not being covered. That is an important story, and that is there was actually an election in Georgia. You were involved in it. You went down to Georgia. Was that yesterday or the day before? Every day is running together now with the, with the, with the flight times and, you know, whatever time it is in the morning as we speak. But you were just there and made an endorsement there, or a couple, actually in Georgia. What has happened there and what does this mean for, for the control of power in D.C. yeah, so it was

[Senator Ted Cruz]

yesterday and there was a. The Georgia primaries were tonight, Tuesday night in Georgia. And in the governor's race, you had a guy named Rick Jackson, who's a very successful businessman, who was running against Bert Jones, who's the lieutenant governor. And early on, President Trump had endorsed Bert Jones. And just a few days ago, I endorsed Rick Jackson. And that, that caused the press to, like, the tongues to wag and being like, oh, this is a big conflict. I will say, look, my approach on endorsements is, number one, I endorse the most conservative candidate who can win.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And so I want to see proven evidence that you're conservative. But I also want to see that you can win, that you got a path to victory, not just in the primary, but in the general. Number two, I tend to get involved in races late. That's my philosophical approach, is that I try to get involved right before election Day, hopefully at a time when the election is close and my involvement can make a difference. It can move someone into victory. And so I jumped in this race just a few days ago. Yesterday, the day before the election, I flew down to Georgia, to Atlanta, did a big rally with Rick. And I gotta say, so Rick's story, let me tell you a little bit about the guy. And I did not know him until the last few days, but I looked at his record, I examined it, I talked to people who knew him, and I made the decision to endorse it. So his story, he grew up in a broken home in the projects in Atlanta. Poverty, dysfunction. As a young boy, he ran away from home. He ended up Going into the foster home system as a child. He had five foster families, so that's what he came out of. He then went on to college, spent I think a little over a year in college, dropped out of college, did not succeed in college, and he went and got a job. This is a cool story. So he went and interviewed to work for a company that was engaged in healthcare sales. He did the interview. He did pretty well. And then the guy interviewing him said, I'm sorry, look, we only hire people who have college degrees. You dropped out of college, we're not going to hire you. And Rick said, okay, that's fine. He said, can I ask you just out of curiosity, what did the job pay? And the guy said, well, it paid $1,500 a month plus 33% of all the sales you make. And Rick came back, he said, I'll tell you what, how about if you don't pay me the fifteen hundred dollars a month, don't pay me anything, but just give me the 33% of the sales. And the guy kind of laughed. He said, well, that sounds like a good deal. I don't have anything to lose on that, do I? So he hired him. Even though he didn't have a college degree. He came in and was a monster salesman. Ended up making so much money that within two years he bought the company that had hired him.

[Ben Ferguson]

Wow.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And he ends up building this company into a massive multibillion dollar health care company in Georgia. He's one of the biggest employers in the state of Georgia. Incredibly successful businessman. Self built from nothing.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

He now has been an incredibly generous philanthropist. He's decided, look, I don't want to take. He's worth several billion dollars. He's very successful. And he said, I don't want to take this money with me, so I'm going to give it away and make a difference to the world around me. So, for example, on foster care, he has given millions to help foster kids in Georgia. So. So kids that are in foster care, he'll come in and say, you know what, I'm going to pay for you to go to college. I'm going to pay for your expenses. I'm going to help you get started. Because he's been there. Look, so many foster kids, they've been subject to horrible conditions. They've often been subject to abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse. They're the kids that it seems sometimes society gives up on. And he understands firsthand. Look, you can be in that circumstance and you can make something of your life and make A real differ. And so he's invested in these kids that have every disadvantage. I'm going to help them achieve their dreams. He's also funded Christian ministries all over the world. For example, he's funded a Christian orphanage in China. That my understanding is it's the lone orphanage that's able to teach Christianity in China. So he's putting, look, you and I are both Christians.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

It's one thing to have empty words. It's one thing to say you have faith. It's another thing to put your faith to action, to put, to invest and make a difference. And Rick decided, okay, I'm going to run for governor because I think I can make a difference. And I looked at his record and I said, this guy has an incredible, I mean, an inspirational life story and I think he can win. And so I endorsed him. I went down, we did a big rally in Georgia and I'm going to give you some fun behind the scenes story. So as we're coming in, I fly down there on Monday, we're going to the rally. And Trump had endorsed his opponent, this guy named Bert Jones. I don't know Bert Jones. I'm sure he's a perfectly decent and fine man. He's the lieutenant.

[Ben Ferguson]

He endorsed early. Right. Like so people understand timeline.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

He endorsed early before Rick was in the race.

[Ben Ferguson]

And so I understand, look, that's a key point. Yeah, he went for who he thought at the time. The other guy wasn't in yet.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, Jones was the lieutenant governor. He was running. And so Trump endorsed early. Rick wasn't in the race. So Rick was actually at the White House at a big fundraiser this weekend. And you know, Trump was saying, hey, this guy's great, he's awesome, he's incredibly successful. I didn't know him, but he was like praising him vocally at this fundraiser this weekend, as I'm flying in, I'm headed to the event and we get the news that Donald Trump Jr. Is going to endorse Rick Jackson. Now that's a big deal because the main argument against him, what everyone was pounding him, is that Trump, Trump, the dad, had endorsed his opponent. You know, tons of campaign ads saying Trump picked the other guy. And we get the news that Don Jr. Was going to endorse Rick. And it was actually fun. As I'm headed to the event, the campaign said, hey, do you want to announce Don Jr. S endorsement? And listen, Don Jr. Is a buddy of mine. I know him very well. And I was like, yeah, sure. And I said, look, I just want to help your campaign. So if it's helpful for me to announce it, I'm happy to. If it's not like it's your call, but I'm more than happy to. And they ended up deciding that Don Jr. The actual endorsement statement, was not gonna use the word endorse, but was gonna praise him as, like, he's a great patriot. I know him well, and he's fantastic, and he's America first. And the timing ended up working out. I said, sure, I'm happy to announce it. But then they didn't end up approving the statement for another two hours. And it just. Look, it takes some time. When you're right before an election and you're trying to decide going through a political operation, it takes some time to approve it. So I said, I'm happy to announce wasn't finalized. So I did not, in fact, announce it from the stage. But right after I left, Don Jr. Tweeted out the support, and tonight, Rick ended up winning. The margin as of tonight, 99% is in is 52.6% to 47.4%. It's a great victory, and I think so. One of the cases I made to the voters, we had a big, big rally in Georgia. And I said, listen, Rick's life story is incredible. He's campaigning on a promise. Number one, to immediately freeze property taxes in Georgia.

[Ben Ferguson]

That's big.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Number two on income taxes, to cut the Georgia income tax in half, and ultimately to work to abolish it altogether. And what Rick has said is, he said, if he doesn't succeed in freezing the property taxes and cutting the income tax in half, he will not run for reelection. He will serve one term. If he fails in that, he's not running for reelection. And I made a point to everyone. I said, listen, I've got a crazy secret here. Rick is rich. Like, everyone laughs. I'm like, yeah, look, this is an incredibly successful dude. He could play golf every day. He could sit on the beach and drink daiquiris and live a life of leisure. And I said, listen, to run for office, you gotta be nuts. You gotta be certified.

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Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

That's crazy. Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You get attacked constantly. There's so much. And Rick is doing this. The case I made, I said, rick is doing this because he believes in Georgia. He believes in the country. He believes he could make a difference. And listen, Georgia used to be bright red. The unfortunate reality is it's purple now. And the Democrats. Right now, the Democrats are leading in the polling for the governor's race. I think Rick will win. I think Rick will keep Georgia red. And I also made the case. I said, listen, by y' all coming out and voting for Rick, we are going to help Jon Ossoff get a job in the private sector. Jon Ossoff is the very liberal Democrat who represents Georgia. He may be the senator who is most out of step with the values of his state because. Cause he's a very liberal Democrat. Georgia's not a very liberal state. But he's got a ton of money and he's right now leading in the polls a lot. And I said, listen, if you want to win the Senate seat here in Georgia, the best way to do it is have a gubernatorial candidate who's running an incredible campaign, who's mobilizing voters across the state, who, by the way, I mean, Rick has put massive millions and millions of dollars in the campaign. So he's gonna, he's funding it himself. And if you end up with a gubernatorial candidate at the top of the race who's turning out a ton of voters, that's how you have a chance to win the Senate race also. And I gotta say, I'm gratified that the voters of Georgia agreed and we had a big, big win in Georgia tonight.

[Ben Ferguson]

As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I want you to imagine standing exactly where the disciples stood, where prophets spoke, where the resurrection changed the course of human history. Not reading about it, not watching a documentary. Being there, breathing the air, feeling the ground beneath your feet. Israel transforms faith from something you carry in your heart into something you can touch with your hands. The Sea of Galilee and the Mount of Olives. The ancient streets of Jerusalem. Every step is scripture coming to life. Every site is a verse you will never read the same way again. For believers, there's no place like this on Earth. I am Israel. Come experience the journey your faith was made for. You can plan your trip today at Israel Travel. That's Israel travel.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

This is total non stop action.

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[Ben Ferguson]

i want to get back to the big story. Number three of the week you may have missed. All right, so center, let's move into. This is something you've been really working on. This is the most like jock bro I've ever seen you since I've known you. And it's really been fun for me because usually you're geeking out over like Supreme Court stuff. I feel like our friendship has moved to another level because now we've got to talk sports and nil so much. And the college sports bill, it is now reality. Let's walk us through how this was done and what it means for sports fans and saving many sports that were getting canceled around the country that were non money making sports.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So this week was a very, very big week for college sports because the Senate Commerce Committee, which I chair, passed my legislation to protect college sports. And it passed with a big bipartisan vote. The vote was 19 to 9. So we got a bunch of Republicans, bunch of Democrats. We got more than two thirds of the committee voted for it. That's really important. It has momentum now going to the Senate floor. I think it's going to pass on the Senate with a big bipartisan vote and it's going to go to the House and President Trump is eager to sign it. Now, what's going on in college sports? Listen, college sports is in crisis right now. Every week you see another story about a program being canceled, women's sports being canceled, track and field being canceled, Olympic sports being canceled, non revenue sports, tennis being canceled. And what is happening is you've got total chaos with the transfer portal. You've got athletes transferring two, three, four, five times. You have essentially no Rules on eligibility, they're all being decided by lawsuits. It got so ludicrous. You had the Brendan Sorsby case where even though he was gambling on his own games, you had a hometown judge say, no, he can still play anyway. Now, thankfully, Texas Tech backed away from that decision. I'm glad Tech made that decision to back away. That was an indefensible decision. But it illustrated the chaos we have. You have people that are 26, 27 years old still playing college sports and 28 year olds playing against 18 year olds, which is not fair, not right. And athletic programs, they're almost all losing millions of dollars. Many of them are losing tens of millions of dollars because the cost keeps spiraling out of control. And Ben, if Congress doesn't act, I think five years from now there will be 30 to 50 competitive college football programs. Basically a mini NFL.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. And I think it'll be a franchise. If you're an SC school, you own a franchise.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah. And I think all of the other programs go under. And what that means, by the way, that's not just college football going under. The way athletics works in colleges is football pays for everything else. And so if football goes under, it means those schools, they lose women's sports, they lose, they lose their entire athletic program. It means our Olympic athletes are just devastated and the college programs where they develop their skills right now go away. And I think that would be a terrible outcome. And it would also be a terrible outcome. Do you know right now there are more than 500,000 college athletes competing. Yeah. At any given time. Yep. If we allow this chaos to continue to play out, hundreds of thousands of those slots will disappear, those scholarships will disappear. And sports has been an avenue, by

[Ben Ferguson]

the way, millions of young men and

[Senator Ted Cruz]

women to go to school.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, let's be clear. The 500,000 you just mentioned, this is the part I want people to understand. The majority of College athletes, like 90s, I think some. I saw a study, you may know the number I want to say it was 98 or 99% of at college athletes do not play football or basketball. So if you think about college sports, it is all the other sports. The majority of them are not revenue making sports. Football barely is on most cam sometimes. And depending on what school you're at, if you're at a basketball school, then that will be your revenue sport. Outside that, almost all the others lose money.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yep.

[Ben Ferguson]

If you don't fix this, everything goes away. And then many of those football programs, that 1% of the student body, or basketball, which is I mean, most basketball teams, they have, I think, scholarships. I want to say it's nine in D1, maybe it's 11 scholarships. I can't remember. They're always moving it around. But for men like, that's not many people. Folks, if you don't fix this, you have a university that now doesn't even have an identity in sports.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, look, my philosophy in addressing this was, was number one, I didn't worry too much about the powerhouse programs, the big, big programs. Listen, in Texas, University of Texas and Texas A and M, I love them both. I go to games every year. I cheer them on. They're incredible institutions, to be honest. UT&A& M, they are going to survive and thrive regardless of what happens. They would survive the mini NFL and they'd continue to win national championships. But I worried about all of the other programs. To be honest. If we don't act, I'm not convinced any other program in Texas survives. And if you can imagine a Texas without smu, without tcu, without Baylor, without Texas Tech, without Rice, without University of Houston, that would be a tragic outcome. And so my focus was on maintaining the entire ecosystem. But secondly, my focus was not on the superstar athletes. If you're Michael Jordan, if you're Arch Manning, you know what, you're going to get millions of dollars, you're going to be on the Wheaties box. You're going to do great. 99% of college athletes will never play in the NFL, will never play in the NBA, but yet athletics is their ticket to college. Look, it was for you. Playing tennis is how you went to Ole Miss.

[Ben Ferguson]

I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure I would have gone to college if it wasn't for having the scholarship which came through tennis court to pay for college. My family did not have a lot of means and my dad was the first to admit. And it was like, if you want to go to college, if you want to go to good school, you're going to have to get there and earn it. Sports was my way in. It wasn't going to be the academic road, and that's another avenue you can go. But. But sports was, and for many of my friends, it was a savior to a better life afterwards, a better member of society. By the way, we pay a lot more taxes when you're successful, so it's a great reinvestment in the country from that standpoint as well. You want your kids to go to college, but for so many. I had roommates. They would have never gotten into college if it wasn't, and gotten their family many. I had two different roommates. They were the first kid in their families to ever go to college. It completely changed the trajectory of their family tree. And it was because of athletics.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, and some people have said, well, why is Congress getting involved in college sports? And the reason is it's federal laws that Congress has passed that created this chaos. It's why all of the rules got thrown out, because they're being sued under existing federal law, and every rule keeps getting thrown out. And so Congress created the problem, which means only Congress can fix it, because only Congress can alter that federal law. And if we don't act, we can see the crisis unfolding around us. And for millions of young men and women, many college athletes are coming from economically disadvantaged circumstances. Many of them are African American or Hispanic. Over years and decades, we're talking about millions of young men and women who this may be their only path to, A, going to college and getting an education, but B, learning the disciplines that come from being in organized sports of teamwork and hard work and discipline and sportsmanship. And look, I didn't have the skills to play college sports. I would have loved to, but I played high school sports. And it was, you know, being on. I played basketball and football and soccer and being on a team in high school, those are really important skills. And it's amazing. I actually asked this at our Senate Republican lunch. I said, all right, how many people around this table played college sports? And I would say about 20% of the Republicans in the Senate raised their hand and they were college athletes. I mean, that's true. And that's true. You find that with CEOs, you find that the discipline and nobody in the Senate played professional sports, but the discipline and the skills you learn set you up for success in life.

[Ben Ferguson]

Let me ask you one final question on this. Who was behind this that surprised you the most? Nick Saban was one that I was excited to see that the African American University of Memphis, my hometown football coach, he got behind this and had some great testimony there in front of you guys. I was proud of that as well. But who shocked you that was behind this?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So the support we've seen has been overwhelming. 24 conferences have endorsed this bill. They represent those conferences, represent over 200 different colleges and universities are enthusiastically supporting the bill. The NFL endorsed the bill. The NBA endorsed the bill. Major League Baseball endorsed the bill. The NFL Players association endorsed the bill. The NBA Players association endorsed the bill. The College Football Associated with association endorsed the bill. We've had. Nick Saban has endorsed it. John Calipari led over 100 college coaches who've endorsed the bill. The U.S. olympic Committee endorsed the bill. So we've seen just enormous support. And I will say the primary opposition came from the leadership of the Big Ten and the SEC. And look, the SEC is really important in Texas, obviously. UT A&M, I think they're great if Congress doesn't act. I believe the SEC and Big Ten wanna create a super league where they're the only football that exists and everyone else goes out of business.

[Ben Ferguson]

Billion dollar franchise organizations. That's what they would have.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And that is a terrible outcome. We explicitly prohibit a super league in the bill because I want to keep all the other programs alive. That's where the resistance has come from. I think we're going to end up having a big, big bipartisan vote on the Senate floor. My objective is to do this, get it done, get it passed. The president's eager to sign it and do all of that before school starts this fall.

[Ben Ferguson]

As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day. You're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.

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[Ben Ferguson]

When did we become the Lingokids house?

[America 250 Announcer]

No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it's Lingokids.

[Ben Ferguson]

Why Lingokids?

[America 250 Announcer]

Because it's the best thing ever. We can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.

[Startpage/LingoKids Advertiser]

With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs and shows, LingoKids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids.

[America 250 Announcer]

So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Lingokids. Everything kids love. Download it for free.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

It is like electricity blowing through your veins.

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No one can ever be as good as this right here.

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