California Crazy-LA's Maddening Mayor Race plus Iran & Israel Fire More Missiles at Each Other

Summary

Podcast Summary:
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Episode: "California Crazy—LA’s Maddening Mayor Race plus Iran & Israel Fire More Missiles at Each Other"
Release Date: June 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode, hosted by Ben Ferguson (with guest Senator Ted Cruz), focuses on two major topics: the chaotic Los Angeles mayoral race reflecting California’s ongoing social and political upheaval, and the rapidly escalating missile exchanges between Iran and Israel. The hosts provide candid, critical commentary—often humorous and provocative—on California's troubled politics, electoral processes, and their national impact, before pivoting to updates and analysis of the Middle East conflict including recent statements from President Trump.

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Key Topics and Discussions

1. The Los Angeles Mayoral Race: A Symptom of “California Crazy”

Timestamps: 02:25–24:59

1.1. Dysfunction in California Politics

• Ben Ferguson opens with a direct question: "What in the hell is wrong with California? ...the Los Angeles mayor race is as bizarre a race as I've ever seen." (02:25)
• Describes the exodus of “sane” residents fleeing the state due to mismanaged government and quality-of-life issues.
• Points out that despite the flight, many remain, but "they are fleeing like crazy." (05:24)

1.2. Chaotic Vote-Counting and Erosion of Trust

• Ferguson is sharply critical of LA’s delayed vote count—a week after the election, only 83% of votes counted.
  • "Let’s start with the fact that these imbeciles can’t actually count the votes in an election. We’re a week into it and we only have 83% of the votes in..." (05:24)
• Discussion on betting odds (from Kalshee) showing near-certainty of a far-left candidate securing second place:
  • Ferguson: "Throw out a number." Cruz: "89%"; Ferguson: "Higher." Cruz: "99%?" Ferguson: "Bingo. It was 99 earlier today, dropped to 98." (07:31-07:43)

1.3. DEI and Public Safety Satire

• Both Ferguson and Cruz lampoon LA’s leadership, e.g., the fire chief and deputies:
  • “The top three officials in the LA Fire department were all lesbians named Kristen.” (09:16, Ferguson)
  • They mock diversity hiring practices as “DEI at its best.” (09:21, Cruz)
• Ferguson shares a personal story about his 91-year-old mother’s evacuation in Houston, contrasting functional public services in Texas vs. LA. (10:35)

1.4. LA’s Decline: Crime, Homelessness, and Public Policy

• Chronic problems listed:
  • Crime, homelessness, fentanyl needles in parks, vandalism, and decay of public spaces like Venice Beach.
• Laments LA's wasted natural beauty:
  • “I look around, I’m like, how did they screw this up?...It’s breathtaking.” (12:13, Ferguson)

1.5. Statewide Impact and Political Ramifications

• California’s decline is called tragic for the entire nation, given its historical role as an economic powerhouse.
  • “California destroying itself is tragic for the country.” (12:58, Ferguson)
• Ferguson celebrates Spencer Pratt's viral videos, noting Pratt's campaign wasn’t ideologically right-wing but focused on basic public services:
  • “How about a mayor that will stop your house from burning down, stop criminals from murdering you, stop homeless people from assaulting your children…” (14:02)

1.6. Voters’ Choices and Ideological Drift

• Voters are caricatured as wanting “everything for free...to work and be able to have our drugs as well.” (14:58, Cruz)
• Deep cynicism about LA voters’ rejection of basic governance in favor of ideological extremes.

1.7. Election Integrity & Voter Disillusionment

• Discussion on how LA’s drawn-out vote counting process undermines faith in the system:
  • “If it takes you a week to count the votes, something just doesn’t seem right with that. And this is where people genuinely start to have distrust in the election.” (17:43, Cruz)
• Both hosts blame policies like widespread mail-in voting and ballot harvesting for making election fraud more likely.
  • “The Carter-Baker commission concluded that voting by mail increases the chances of election fraud...ballot harvesting makes voter fraud much more likely.” (18:07, Ferguson)

1.8. Comparative Voting Systems: Texas vs. California

• Ferguson praises Texas’ in-person and early voting system for efficiency and speed, pointing out California's population is no excuse, given Texas and Florida manage timely counts. (21:47-23:25)

1.9. Voter Apathy and Political Hopelessness

• Discussion on why Republicans don’t turn out in California, feeling outnumbered and hopeless:
  • "It's almost like when they come up to me, it's like the Christians in the ancient coliseum where with the foot they make the shape of a fish in the sand, they are beaten down." (28:26, Ferguson)

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Notable Quotes from the LA Segment

• Ben Ferguson: "If I'm in a fire, I don't care what the firefighter who shows up looks like. Doesn't matter to me at all as long as he carry me out, someone big as hell who can throw my ass over his shoulder and get me out of there." (10:11)
• Ted Cruz: "It takes effort to screw it up. The only way you could make people not want to go there is if you have terrible services, insanely high taxes, and anti-business policies…" (12:21)
• Ben Ferguson: "Spencer Pratt...was not running a right wing campaign...‘How about a mayor that will stop your house from burning down, stop criminals from murdering you, stop homeless people from harassing and assaulting your children, and pick up the needles in the park?’" (14:02)
• Ted Cruz: “If it takes you a week to count the votes, something just doesn’t seem right with that...that’s when people believe it’s rigged.” (17:43)
• Ben Ferguson: "California destroying itself is tragic for the country. ... to watch people like Karen Bass, people like Gavin Newsom, just destroy it and destroy it." (12:58)

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2. Iran & Israel Missile Escalation and U.S. Policy

Timestamps: 29:05–38:11

2.1. Breaking News: Renewed Hostilities

• Host timestamp: “It is 12:37 am Eastern time as we are recording right now...” (29:05)
• Recap of recent mutual missile attacks between Iran and Israel after a short-lived ceasefire; U.S. not militarily involved in Israeli strikes. (30:44)
  • “The strikes in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack against Israel mark a new phase in a growing escalation...” (30:44)

2.2. Analysis of Trump’s Policy and Interview

• NBC Meet the Press interview clips with President Trump about his red lines for Iran:
  • Conditions for sanctions relief: no nukes, no funding for terrorism, and opening the Strait of Hormuz. (33:38)
  • Critique of past administrations flooding Iran with cash—specifically the Obama-era $1.7 billion cash flight. (32:38)
  • Trump asserts: destruction of most of Iran's drone and missile capacity; “They have...maybe 21, 22% of their missiles. It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked.” (35:41–36:00)
• Cruz and Ferguson mock the hostile tone of mainstream media when interviewing Trump:
  • Cruz: “I just, I gotta say, I laugh at how they want him to tell them in forensic. I’m not going to tell you that publicly.” (36:02)
  • Ferguson: “NBC, unfortunately, is...effectively rooting for the United States to lose.” (36:20)
  • Critiques media for doubting the logic of negotiating with Iran: “Why don’t you negotiate a better deal with Charles Manson? ...It is not possible to negotiate a deal with someone whose only objective is to murder you.” (37:20, Ferguson)

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Notable Quotes from the Middle East Segment

• Ben Ferguson: “President Trump...has drawn a red line and he's insisting that Iran comply...” (33:38)
• NBC Interviewer/Trump:
  • “Do you know where all of Iran's nuclear material is?”
    “Yes.” (32:22)
  • “They have...maybe 21, 22% of their missiles. It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked.” (35:41–36:00)
• Sen. Cruz: “I laugh at how they want him to tell them in forensic detail...I’m not going to tell the enemy what I know of everything.” (36:02)
• Ferguson: “It is not possible to negotiate a deal with someone whose only objective is to murder you. And the media refuses to acknowledge that.” (37:20)

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Memorable Moments

• Satirical Critique of LA’s Fire Department Leadership: The running gag about the three fire department officials all being lesbians named Kristen (09:16).
• Personal Story of Ferguson’s Mother: Heartfelt yet pointed anecdote about his elderly mother carried from a high-rise by Houston firefighters—emphasizing the importance of operational, not ideological, public safety (10:35).
• Mocking of LA Vote Count Delays and Voter Integrity Issues
• Direct Criticism of Media’s “Hostile” Approach: Cruz and Ferguson’s incredulity over NBC's adversarial questioning of Trump (36:02–36:20).

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Important Timestamps

• 02:25 – Start of LA mayoral race critique
• 05:24 – Discussion on delayed vote counting
• 09:16 – Satire about LA Fire Department leadership
• 10:35 – Ferguson’s story about his mother
• 14:02 – Spencer Pratt’s “common sense” campaign
• 17:43 – Cruz on loss of faith in voting process
• 18:07 – Ferguson on mail-in voting and ballot harvesting
• 21:47 – Texas voting system vs. California’s
• 28:26 – Ferguson on GOP voter demoralization in CA
• 29:05 – Shift to Iran-Israel missile escalation
• 30:44 – Breaking news: Israel strikes Iran
• 32:22 – Trump on controlling Iran’s nuclear material
• 35:41 - 36:00 – Trump details destruction of Iran’s arsenal
• 36:20 – Ferguson critiques mainstream media’s stance
• 37:20 – “Impossible to negotiate a deal with someone whose only objective is to murder you.”

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Overall Tone and Style

The entire episode is driven by sharp, sarcastic, and sometimes explosive political commentary. Ferguson and Cruz blend satire, personal stories, and serious analysis, maintaining an “unfiltered” conservative critique of California governance and national security policy. The interplay is animated and direct, often punctuated by biting humor and incredulity at the status quo.

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For listeners seeking unvarnished, critical conservative takes on California politics and US foreign policy, this episode delivers a lively mix of news, analysis, and memorable soundbites.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human

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[Ben Ferguson]

You got it coming. This is total non stop action.

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TNA Thursday night impact every week on AMC. For showtimes and more information visit tnarrestling.com

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why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring and tedious and depressing and makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.

[Joe Getty]

He's Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world.

[NBC Interviewer]

Something about a comedic tone.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have a winner.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Listen to Armstrong. You get it on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Welcome. It is Vertical Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as well. And Senator, we have got a lot of action happening right now in the Middle East. We're going to cover it the best we can because it's changing so quickly.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, we are, but we're going to start with a very simple question. What in the hell is wrong with California? Look, I got to say, the Los Angeles mayor race is as bizarre a race as I've ever seen. We're going to break down the results there. They're going to shock you. They're going to piss you off. We're going to talk about exactly what's going on. We're also going to talk about, as you noted, the Middle east and in particular, Iran is firing missiles at Israel. Israel is firing missiles at Iran. Things are escalating right now. Things are fast moving. We're going to give you the latest.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

All right, so I will. I have a theory, Senator. If we're. Let's go back to California and start there. I have a theory that when you make so many people miserable, as soon as the sane can get out, they get out as fast as they can. If you are a normal person and you're living in a place like LA and you watch part of the city burn down and you see that the fire hydrants aren't working well and the reservoirs don't have water they need, and then you're dealing with all the crazies there in government, you just leave. So my question is this. Did all the same people basically leave la? Therefore the only thing you have left is Karen Bass or a communist or a socialist. And that's it. Because they've destroyed the entire city.

[Ben Ferguson]

Look, there's still a whole lot of people there. A lot of people have left. They are fleeing like crazy. But. But there are a lot of people still there. Let's do the Latest news. It's 11:17pm Sunday night. So as of right now, Karen Bass, the incumbent, is going to the runoff. She. She has been called she. She has received so far 250,871 votes, which comes up to 34.7%. Now, the election happened a week ago. Let let's start with the fact that these imbeciles can't actually count the votes in an election. We're a week into it and we only have 83% of the votes in. They have another 17% that they haven't counted yet. That is true statewide. We're gonna break that down in a minute. But by the way, Texas, somehow we managed to have elections and no election night or late in the morning the next day. The results, because we actually count our votes. Apparently in California, vote counting keeps going until I guess they get the result they want. I mean, it. It is messed up. For much of the past week, Karen Bass was in first and then Spencer Pratt was in second. But in a sizable second, he had a sizable lead. Then suddenly today's vote count dropped. And Nitya Raman, who is the left wing Marxist who by the way, thinks Karen Bass, the communist who palled around with Fidel Castro, is not left wing enough, she has now surged into second place. So as of right now, Nitya Rahman has 196,198 votes, which is 27.1%. And Spencer Pratt has 193,085 votes, which is 26.7% now, what does that mean? Well, I'm going to tell you, I looked on Kalshee right now just to see what the betting odds were. Yeah. On who will be in second place. What do you think the odds are, according to Kalshee, that Nicha Ramen is in second place?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

I'm going to go like, super high.

[Ben Ferguson]

Throw out a number 89% higher.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Higher. So basically they're saying it's. It's rigged and there's no way a Republican's going to come in second. That's what you're telling me.

[Ben Ferguson]

Keep going.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

99% down 1, 98%. Okay, so there we go.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. Bingo. It was 99. Earlier today, it dropped to 98. Let me ask you, all right. Before we get into the. The process, questions. All right, so Karen Bass, I think, has demonstrated she is the most incompetent mayor you could possibly imagine being in charge of a podunk city, much less the second largest city in America. Much of her city burned down. She saw the most costly natural disaster in American history is the Pacific Palisades way rage. Mind you, this was after both LA and California had little to no fire mitigation. They allowed, they allowed the overgrowth of brush. They didn't do anything to clear it out because apparently no one's figured out that there are fires in California. This is a really complicated thing for Democrats to figure out. On top of that, they didn't have water. They let the reservoir be empty. The fire hydrants had no water. And you remember, we played this on the, on the podcast at the time. We did an entire pod on the preventable train wreck that was the LA wildfires. The public policy decisions that made the risks much greater and then made the ability to mitigate it, to stop it, to put it out, much, much weaker. LA at the time, their fire chief and the top two deputies. Okay, this is almost something out of Saturday Night Live. If Saturday Night Live was allowed to be funny anymore.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

The top three officials in the LA Fire department were all lesbians named Kristen.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, yeah, it was. It was DEI at its best. Like, if you just want to be really honest.

[Ben Ferguson]

Does that. Doesn't that sound like almost a rejected script for an SNL? Let's have Kristen 1, Kristen 2, and Kristen 3. They're all lesbians. And, and, and we played an interview. I think it was Kristen, too. Although, to be honest, I can't keep track of who was an African American woman who was explaining that they had as a high priority Hiring lots of women. And look, women are great. But she said some of you might be saying, well, what if that little woman can't carry my husband out of a fire?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

And she says, you know what, when you see a firefighter, you want someone who looks like you. That's what you care most about. And if your husband's in a fire, that's his fault. He shouldn't have gotten himself in that position in the first place.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yep.

[Ben Ferguson]

Like, it truly was unbelievable. Let me be very clear for the record. If I'm in a fire, I don't care what the firefighter who shows up looks like. Doesn't matter to me at all as long as he carry me out, someone big as hell who can throw my ass over his shoulder and get me out of there. That, that is. And by the way, you know, my mom, my mom is 91 years old.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yep.

[Ben Ferguson]

My mother lives in a high rise in Houston and she lives up in the 26th floor. And a couple of years ago, oh, I remember this, the power went out in the building and ended up having. It had malfunctions. They shut the building down for a couple of months. But my mom is up on the 26th floor, the power is out, they're evacuating the building and the elevators aren't working and my mom uses a walker. So there is no universe in which my mother is making it down 26 flights of stairs. That is just not something she is capable of doing at age 91. And so Houston firefighters, two Houston firefighters carried her down 26 flights of stairs.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Incredible.

[Ben Ferguson]

I promise you, my mother didn't say. Okay, wait, I'm sorry. You guys are both big strapping dudes. No, I don't need that. I need, could you send two 90 year old ladies to carry me down? That's what I'd like. This is asinine. And at some point, and never mind the out of control crime, never mind the homelessness, never mind Venice beach, the homeless camp, they're assaulting people. Never mind the drug needles in parks, Never mind the kids stepping on fentanyl needles. Like watching what has happened to la. It's tragic. Look, I spent a lot of time out in California because Heidi's a native Californian. Her whole family are Californians. It's a spectacularly beautiful state. I have a lot of dear friends who live there. When I look around, they've got perfect weather, they've got the Pacific oceans, they've got mountains. I mean, it's breathtaking.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

It is absolutely beautiful.

[Ben Ferguson]

And I look around I'm like, how did they screw this up? Like. Like it's not. And I want to be clear, by the way.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

It takes effort to screw it up. It's easy to be successful if that's what you're given as your surroundings. You look at it and you go, I'd love to live here. Like, you go to California and you look at California. I don't care what part of the coast you're up or down. You see it and you're like, this is amazing. The only way you could make people not want to go there is if you have terrible services, which you're describing, insanely high taxes, which you're describing, and anti business policies, which. Which they also have there. And then it forces people to make a tough decision, which is, I love the land, I love what I see, but I gotta get outta here. I can't afford it.

[Ben Ferguson]

And I want to be clear. Look, I like to talk smack on the whole Texas versus California thing, and that's a fun thing to do. But let me be clear. California destroying itself is tragic for the country. Look, California is our largest state. California historically has been this economic engine that has created enormous numbers of jobs. It's been really valuable for the American economy. And to watch people like Karen Bass, people like Gavin Newsom, just destroy it and destroy it. Newsom, with this idiot wealth tax, has driven trillions of dollars out of the state. I mean, they're just fleeing like crazy. And listen, I don't know. Spencer Pratt. Never met the guy. I have no idea what his policies were. I will say the videos, the viral videos that his campaign put out, I watched every one of them. I love them. At one point I tweeted, how could you not vote for this guy? Yeah, because he's just saying. And he was not running a right wing campaign. He was not running a conservative campaign. He was like, how about a mayor that will stop your house from burning down, stop criminals from murdering you, stop homeless people from harassing and assaulting your children, and pick up the needles in the park?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

That's not conservative or liberal. That's just like, can we get the basics right again so that we don't watch the city, like, continue to go up in flames?

[Ben Ferguson]

And the bizarre thing is the voters said, okay, so 34.7% said, hey, this is awesome. We want more of this. Give us an incompetent commie who doesn't know how to run a city. And then the second biggest group of people, 190,198 said, you know, what? She's not bat crap crazy enough? We've got someone that is full on it turns out incompetent Marxist is not far enough and so they want full mondami I guess you know it is.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

We want everything for free. We don't want to have to work and we want to be able to have our drugs as well.

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

you this question though and I go back because I was watching this explode on X. You mentioned earlier how long it's taken to get the vote in in a local election. Yep, there is. This goes back to 2016, this goes back to 2020. This goes back to to a lot of election issues that a lot of I think sane conservatives, non conspiracy theorists. I, I'm one of them now Mike, when you watch him go from second place and drop down to third all of a sudden and it took a week to count. Why would anybody have any faith in that system? Senator like it it. That's. And look I think a lot of us post Covid and all the lies that we were told on about COVID and hey six feet stop the spread. The list goes on and on the Vaccine. And the list goes on and on. But there's people like me that look at this. You're like, I'm going to, I'm going

[Joe Getty]

to throw up a red flag here

[Senator Ted Cruz]

and say, if it takes you a week to count the votes, something just doesn't seem right with that. And this is where people genuinely start to have distrust in the election. And then that also means a lot of people then go, well, why do I even vote? It's rigged, right? That's, that's what I don't want to happen. But that's what people think is, maybe I shouldn't even vote. It's not waste of my time. It's. It takes them a week. I don't believe my vote matters or even is counted correctly.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, and listen, in California, it is illegal for officials to check a photo id. So we know that illegal aliens are voting. We know that illegal votes are counted. They also, they vote overwhelmingly by mail. And it's worth reminding everyone that the last major bipartisan study of election integrity, that was chaired by former Democrat President Jimmy Carter and chaired by former Republican Secretary of State James Baker, the Carter Baker commissioner concluded that voting by mail increases the chances of election fraud. And they also concluded that ballot harvesting, yes, the ability of paid operatives to collect ballots and then send them in by mail is the single most dangerous policy. Because what happens is a correct operative can say, go into a nursing home with the ballots of every person there and fill them out. And you can have people who are completely senile, who are in a coma, they can fill out the ballot and vote for them. Uh, they can also see who the person votes for. And let's say someone has a moment of sanity and they vote for someone they don't like. A corrupt operative can just throw that ballot in, in, in, in the trash. So ballot harvesting makes voter fraud much more likely. What does California do? Allows ballot harvesting. Now, let me say at the gubernatorial election, we don't know who's gonna be in the runoff. It's, it's a weekend to it. Uh, so so far they've con concluded that Javier Becerra, who is the California Attorney General, who is in the midst of a corruption scandal, who is incompetent, who is a far left radical, he's in first place. And, and then as of Sunday morning, conservative commentator Steve Hilton holds the lead for second place over billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer. Yeah, Hilton was the top choice for 26.1% of voters and stiers for 21.3% of voters. But you know, What? But given the drop of ballots, who knows, Maybe that could flip. And in fairly short order, you'll see two Democrats. But let me read a story from the San Francisco paper because it asks how many votes are left to be counted and it says, according to the California Secretary of State's office, There are approximately 3 million unprocessed votes as of Saturday evening.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Ben Ferguson]

Over 6.3 million ballots have been counted. Uh, updated vote totals normally drop in the evenings. Why does California take so long to count votes? The Secretary of State's office explains on its site that there are a few reasons why Californians often wait days or weeks for the full results. Mail in ballots that are received within a week of election day need processing, which means some of the ballots still in the mail system may need counting. Once a ballot is received, the Secretary of State says, quote, election officials must confirm each voter's registration status, verify each voter signature on on the vote by mail envelope, and ensure that each person did not vote elsewhere in the same election before the ballot can be counted. That's no small feat for a state as large as California, which has about as many residents as the entire population of Canada. Nonetheless, both Republicans and Democrats agree the process should be speedier. On Friday, a spokesperson for Governor Gavin Newsom told the San Francisco paper that Newsom, quote, wishes the vote count moved faster, too. Well, doofus, there is a way to fix it, which is don't let people mail their ballot in on election day. End mail in ballots require the ballots be received by election day. Look, we actually have, in Texas, we have early voting. We have two weeks of early voting.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

And much of that, most of that is in person. And it's really quite easy to vote. I usually vote early and you go into the, to the polling place and you can do it there. If you vote early, there are almost never any lines. You wait in line maybe five minutes, you go vote. And it's quick and easy. You do a paper ballot, they put it in, they count it. And so the early votes. Right now in Texas, about two thirds of the votes are cast early, and they're cast early in person. We have limited mail in ballots for people who are seniors, people with disabilities, for military, those serving the military that oversees. So it's a limited number of exceptions, but we managed to get. And then the remainder of the ballots are in person on election day, and we don't have people mailing in ballots on election day. You've gotta get your ballots in. And Texas, let's be clear, California has the highest population in the country. But what's number two? Texas. We managed to get our votes counted, typically by election day or occasionally if it's a really close election, it may drag on a day or two. If it's down to like, like, if it's neck and neck, it could drag on a day or two. But. But that is the exception rather than the rule, by the way. Florida, same thing. They're. They're. They have the third highest population. Somehow Florida manages to count their ballots. And, and so listen, I, I don't know in la, if the loony communists surging ahead of, of Spencer Pratt is a result of voter fraud or a result of a bunch of voters who just say, you know what? It's so bad, I want it worse. But, like, nobody. And let's be clear, this is not just lefty Californians that are like, oh, I love abortion. Okay, fine, look, the question of choice in life. I have no idea what Spencer Pratt's view is, but I can't believe he's anything but pro choice. I have no reason to think anything else. It's not about gay rights. I'm not aware of any view Spencer Pratt has about gay rights. I assume that we're two years away from them making it mandatory for every child in the California public schools to be transgender. So, like, that's the path they're on. Is Ben, congratulations. Your three boys. We're now going to surgically sterilize them whether they want it or not. They're not quite there yet, but they ain't far.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, they're not.

[Ben Ferguson]

Those were not the issues in this race. This was not socially, we're liberal, blah, blah, blah. I don't agree with that. But. But that's not what this was over. This is people saying, no, I don't want a mayor who can hire a fire department who could put out a fire. Nope. I don't want a mayor who could actually hire police officers who could arrest murderers. No, I don't want a city that, that stops crackheads from, from leaving. Leaving drugs on the streets, from people defecating on the streets, from putting needles on the streets, from threatening our kids. Apparently the people of LA are like, nope, nope, basic services, not interested in those. I just want, you know, it is somewhere between, you know, Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto, and that's what they care about.

[America 250 Announcer]

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[Ben Ferguson]

Mom, can I have Lingokids? Dad, Lingokids, please.

[Joe Getty]

When did we become the Lingokids house?

[Parent (Lingokids Ad)]

No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs.

[Ben Ferguson]

This week it's Lingokids.

[Joe Getty]

Why Lingokids?

[Ben Ferguson]

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

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[Senator Ted Cruz]

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So no dinosaurs.

[Ben Ferguson]

And dinosaurs. Mango cakes.

[Joe Getty]

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[Ben Ferguson]

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[Joe Getty]

as this right here.

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Don't miss the action of TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC. For showtimes and more information, visit tnawrestling.com

[Jack Armstrong]

why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on Demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring and tedious and depressing and makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.

[Joe Getty]

He's Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world about something.

[NBC Interviewer]

Something about a comedic tone.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have a winner.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Listen to Armstrong and Yeti on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Final question on this. If you do end up having even, let's say Bass lose and you go to even more extreme Canada, it turns Mandani. What does that say about this country that are two of their biggest state cities in the nation have gone this far to the extreme. It's not even the Democratic party anymore. We're talking about communism and socialism in our biggest cities on the west and east coast.

[Ben Ferguson]

And by the way, to be clear, Karen Bass is already pretty much where Madame is. Yeah, like. Like there's not a whole lot of daylight. So. So, so this loony leftist who thinks Bass is too conservative. I shudder to think what the hell that means. Like. Like it's. It's getting to the point. It's not healthy for our country. And I have to assume that there are a lot of voters in LA who are not paying attention. Look, there are A lot of Republicans in California who are demoralized, who don't think it matters anymore, who stay home, that is a big factor. I'll tell you, as I said, I'm out in California quite a bit. And when I'm out there, I will have people in LA come up to me and they'll sort of look to the ground and they'll furtively look around and they'll say, ted, I'm the only conservative in California. And I'll tell them, no, no, you're not. No you're not. And in fact, do you know what state has the most Republicans in it?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

California.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes, there are more Republicans in California than there are in Texas. Now there are even more Democrats. They are outnumbered. But it's almost like when they come up to me, it's like the Christians in the ancient coliseum where with the foot they make the shape of a fish in the sand, they are beaten down. And I will say an awful lot of Republicans don't show up because they believe it is hopeless. And unfortunately, that belief too often can become a self fulfilling prophecy.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

I want to take a quick moment and talk to you about an incredible organization and it is called Compassion International

[Joe Getty]

and how you can get involved.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Love, generosity and compassion. We say those words all the time and they sound good, they feel good. But here's the truth. Those words don't mean anything unless they turn into action. And right now, not later today, not tomorrow, there's a child in the world who doesn't know if they'll eat, if they'll have a chance to learn, or if there's any hope at all. And while we're all busy, life keeps moving forward. But that child is waiting. This is where you come in. With Compassion International, you have the chance to change a child's future not just with words, not with promises, but with real help that provides food, education and hope through local churches and people already in their community. Put your words into action and join me. Introduce a child to a loving heavenly father [e-mail] that's compassion.com all right, let's timestamp this. It is 12:37am Eastern time as we are recording right now, Senator. And so let's talk about what's happening right now in the Middle East. We have had a, a flare up, I think it's a fair way to put it. Israel involved, Iran involved, hitting terrorist targets as well in Lebanon. This has turned into a bigger deal. The President trying to still get this deal done with Iran making phone calls apparently to BB Netanyahu saying, hey, let's not go too heavy here. Let us see if we can keep this framework together. Trying to keep that ceasefire together as well. There's an awful lot happening right now.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, let's talk about the latest news. And as you, as you noted, it is Sunday night, so things could break by Monday. By the time this podcast is out, we could have more news breaking. But as of right now, the latest news Axios reported just a few, few minutes ago, quote, the Israeli Air Force conducted strikes on military targets in central and western Iran on Monday morning local time. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. The strikes in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack against Israel mark a new phase in a growing escalation that started on Sunday morning. This is the first time Israel has struck Iran since the April 8 ceasefire. Further exchanges of fire could unravel the negotiations between the United States and Iran and lead to the resumption of the war. President Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hours before the strikes not to retaliate after Tehran conducted a retaliatory attack on Israel. A US Defense official said the US Military was not involved in the Israeli strikes on Iran. The official said the Israeli strikes were relatively limited in their scope. So we have returned to firing missiles. Active hostility between Iran and Israel. Both have fired missiles at each other in the past 24 hours. That certainly has the potential to escalate. And also Sunday morning, President Trump was on Meet the Press. He was asked about Iran. Here's what President Trump had to say.

[NBC Interviewer]

Their leaders are gone.

[Meet the Press Host]

Do you know where all of Iran's nuclear material is?

[NBC Interviewer]

Yes.

[Meet the Press Host]

Would you unfreeze any Iranian assets or lift any sanctions up front as a

[Parent (Lingokids Ad)]

part of any deal?

[Meet the Press Host]

So that would come after comes after

[Ben Ferguson]

they turned over their job.

[Meet the Press Host]

We stopped talking material.

[NBC Interviewer]

Unlike Obama. Obama flew a bunch of Boeing 757 a plane I know very well. They took the seats out and they loaded it up with $1.7 billion in cash from the banks in Maryland and Virginia and D.C. they emptied out the banks and they gave them 1.7 in green and they gave them tens of billions of dollars. Just kept giving them money and it didn't work.

[Meet the Press Host]

Would any again, it never works. But again, Mr. President, you promised that you were going to negotiate a better deal.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Do you, do you, you listen to the president there. And I do think it's really interesting to see how quick on Meet the Press they wanted to get back in his face go, but this is a disaster. Like he's like it's three Months, like what I'm doing right now is really tough. Others said they were in favor of what I'm doing. They didn't do it the way I'm doing it. I'm holding them accountable. This goes back to just perspective here, I think, is the biggest thing that the president saying.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, what the President said that is very clear is he's drawn a red line and he's insisting that Iran comply with his red line. His red lines, which we've talked about at length, are, number one, no nukes, no nuclear materials. They have no nuclear enrichment, and they have to hand over the enriched uranium they have. Number two, they have to stop funding terrorism. Number three, they have to open the Strait of Hormuz. And you will not see, he has said, sanctions relief. You will not see money going to them until they comply with those conditions. That's the right way to negotiate. Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden just flooded billions into Iran, as the President said, Obama literally flew a plane filled with almost $2 billion in cash, pallets of cash, into Iran in the dead of night. There was another exchange President Trump had had with Meet the Press. Give a listen to this one.

[NBC Interviewer]

And they would have had a nuclear weapon five years ago.

[Meet the Press Host]

But, Mr. President, I'm curious, because when you were campaigning, you said you would rip up the Iran nuclear deal but negotiate a better deal. Why didn't you negotiate a better deal at the time? Because after it was ripped up, there were guardrails and they escalated their production of enriched uranium.

[NBC Interviewer]

It takes years to do these things. These people have been fighting for 47 years. They've been killing Americans. They've been taken off their legs and their arm and their faces have been hurt so badly and so horribly. I'm moving very fast. I'm into three months. You know, Vietnam lasted 19 years. I'm into my third month. And all I do is say, well, when are you going to win? If I were a Democrat, nobody would be talking that way. But it doesn't matter to me. I've gotten so used to it. Look, we have totally destroyed their military. They have some missiles left. They have some drones left.

[Meet the Press Host]

You know how many missiles?

[NBC Interviewer]

Yes, exactly how many? I don't want to tell you. Can you give me a ball left? No, but I. They have. I. No, almost to the number. And we know where they are, too, and we know where their drones are, and we know where their drone factories are. Most of the drone factories have been knocked out. Most of the launching pads have been knocked out. And most of the missile Manufacturing areas have been knocked out, but they still have capacity. They have some missiles. They have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21, 22% of their missiles. It's a lot of missiles. Missiles, but it's not what it was when we first attacked.

[Meet the Press Host]

So you're saying they have 21, 22% of their missiles left?

[NBC Interviewer]

Correct? Yes.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

I just, I gotta say, I laugh at how they want him to tell them in forensic. I'm not going to tell you that publicly. Well, why won't you? Because I'm not going to tell the enemy what I know on everything. This seems pretty normal. Yet the entire interview had that level of hostility in it.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, look, I mean, NBC, unfortunately, it is approaching this and it has approached this like the rest of the corporate media with effectively rooting for the United States to lose. As the President laid out, the United States has had extraordinary military results in this conflict. 80% of the missiles, 80% of the drones destroyed. Virtually all of the drone manufacturing and missile capacity destroyed. The Air Force in rubble, the Navy sunken at the bottom of the ocean. The Ayatollah dead, many of the mullahs dead, many of the leaders of the IRGC dead. And her question, she says, well, why didn't you negotiate a better deal? You know, I'm listening to that, wondering, you know, it's like someone saying to the police, why didn't you negotiate a better deal with Charles Manson? Why didn't you negotiate a better deal with Jeffrey Dahmer? Why don't you negotiate a better deal with Ted Bundy? It is not possible to negotiate a deal with someone whose only objective is to murder you. And the media refuses to acknowledge that. They're like, you know, the right solution is send them billions of dollars. That's what Democrats want. It is complete appeasement. It is denial of the reality that when the Ayatollah says death to America, he means it. And the reason President Trump is waging this war is because if the Ayatollah got nuclear weapons, we could see hundreds of thousands of Americans murdered in a flash of an eye. And the President is not going to let that happen. And it is, I gotta say, by the way, I'm quite confident the folks at NBC News are cheering the results of the LA mayors race because the last thing they want is a mayor that can actually put out fires or arrest criminals.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, that's a great point. We're gonna keep you updated on both of these stories. Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So hit that subscribe or auto download button and you can watch on YouTube. A lot of you heading over to YouTube, which is really fun. We see the numbers grow every week, so make sure that if you want to watch the show on YouTube, you can do that as well and on Facebook. And the Senator and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.

[America 250 Announcer]

This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark [e-mail]

[Parent (Lingokids Ad)]

with my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.

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[TNA Wrestling Announcer]

wrestling fans, the action continues every week.

[Ben Ferguson]

This is total non stop action.

[TNA Wrestling Announcer]

TNA Thursday Night Impact every week on AMC. For showtimes and more information visit tna

[Jack Armstrong]

wrestling.com why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring and tedious and depressing and makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.

[Joe Getty]

He's Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world.

[NBC Interviewer]

How about something about a comedic tone?

[Jack Armstrong]

We have a winner.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Listen to Armstrong. You get it on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.