A Firsthand Look at Socialism

Summary

Long-Form Summary: "A Firsthand Look at Socialism" – The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Podcast Information:

• Title: The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
• Host/Author: Premiere Networks
• Episode: A Firsthand Look at Socialism
• Release Date: February 29, 2020
• Description: Hosted by political commentator Ben Ferguson, the podcast delves into the latest news and political headlines, focusing on the presidency's administration, policies, and agenda. This particular episode explores socialism through firsthand accounts and expert commentary.

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Introduction: The Menace of Socialism

Ben Ferguson opens the episode by highlighting the rising concern over socialism's appeal in America, especially among younger generations. He introduces guests, including Tia Sonia—a refugee from the communist regime in Cuba—and political commentator Michael Knowles. The episode aims to shed light on socialism's real-world implications by juxtaposing personal experiences with political rhetoric.

Michael Knowles (00:51): "Bernie has spent his entire life, his entire career praising communist dictators... This guy is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to be president, and he sings the praises of Castro and Cuban communism."

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Personal Experiences Under Castro: A Testimony of Oppression

Tia Sonia shares her harrowing experiences fleeing Cuba during Fidel Castro's rise to power. Reflecting on the initial hopes that Castro brought to the Cuban people, she describes how quickly reality diverged from expectations.

Tia Sonia (02:29): "Everybody went down. Everybody got paid the same amount of money. There was no difference between the poor and the rich. Everybody lost."

She recounts the pervasive oppression, forced loyalty, and the erosion of familial bonds due to government indoctrination.

Tia Sonia (03:07): "They trained people to even be against the family. The sons against the father, the daughters against the family."

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Bernie Sanders' Misrepresentation of Cuba

The discussion turns critical of Senator Bernie Sanders' portrayal of Cuba, arguing that Sanders' positive comments overlook the systemic suffering under Castro's regime.

Michael Knowles (08:42): "In 1989, Sanders stated, 'After visiting Cuba, I did not see a hungry child. I did not see any homeless people.'"

Tia Sonia (08:57): "That is not true. He is lying to the people of this country. He is playing on the mind of the younger generation here."

Sonia emphasizes that Sanders' depiction ignores the daily hardships experienced by ordinary Cubans.

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The Harsh Realities of Cuban Life Under Socialism

The guests provide vivid accounts of life in Cuba, dispelling myths of socialism's benefits such as universal healthcare.

Tia Sonia (11:49): "I went to the doctor there because I have mosquito bites... There’s no transportation, there’s no gas, so you can’t move. Doctors come to your house on a bicycle, and they’re hungry."

The availability of basic necessities is questioned, with a focus on how communist regimes prioritize the elite while the general population suffers.

Tia Sonia (21:49): "People are being drinking water. You see, the kids, they drink water with sugar to get their stomach full."

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The Appeal of Socialism to Young Americans: Ignorance and Ideology

Ben Ferguson and guests discuss the growing allure of socialism among millennials and Gen Z, attributing this trend to misinformation and ideological indoctrination.

Tia Sonia (13:31): "They want to see something different. They want to try something new. It doesn't work, guys. It does not work."

Ferguson raises concerns about the lack of understanding regarding socialism's consequences, exacerbated by inadequate education on historical communist atrocities.

Michael Knowles (14:22): "And too often they're not taught in schools... how the Soviet Union killed 20 million people and China killed 77 million people."

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Religion and Socialism: The Clash of Beliefs

The conversation touches on socialism's inherent atheism and the role of religion in countering its influence. The decline in religiosity among Americans is posited as a factor in socialism's rise.

Ted Cruz (16:00): "As religiosity in America has declined... maybe that's playing some role in why communism is catching on."

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Education and Indoctrination: Shaping Minds from a Young Age

Guests describe how socialist regimes manipulate education systems to instill loyalty and suppress dissent from an early age.

Michael Knowles (19:04): "And they’d tell the children, 'Close your eyes and pray to Jesus for a piece of candy.'... 'Pray to Fidel Castro for a piece of candy.'"

Tia Sonia (19:50): "They are actually indoctrinating the people since they were tiny little kids."

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Economic and Political Failures: The Core of Socialism's Downfall

Detailed discussions on how socialism fails to provide economic prosperity or political freedom, often leading to widespread poverty and governmental overreach.

Tia Sonia (21:49): "It's so basic, the basic things... not being able to work."

The inconsistency between socialism theory and practice is highlighted, illustrating how idealistic promises crumble under real-world pressures.

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Conclusion: The Persistent Danger of Socialism

Ben Ferguson and guests reiterate the dangers socialism poses to American society. They emphasize the importance of understanding its true nature and the lessons from historical failures to prevent similar downfalls.

Michael Knowles (23:48): "God help the direction this country goes if that happens."

Tia Sonia (24:57): "There is no place to go."

The episode concludes with a call for vigilance against the persistence of socialist ideologies and a reminder of the personal and societal costs witnessed firsthand under communist regimes.

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Notable Quotes:

• Ted Cruz (13:55): "Socialism does not work. You need to work and try to achieve your dream by hard work and by doing what you want to get ahead."

• Michael Knowles (16:31): "Pope John Paul II... defeated the Soviet Union and won the Cold War."

• Tia Sonia (22:25): "People are being drinking water... the kids drink water with sugar to get their stomach full."

This episode serves as a compelling narrative against socialism, leveraging personal experiences and political analysis to inform listeners about the potential pitfalls of embracing such ideologies.

Transcript

[Ted Cruz]

A specter is haunting the United States, the specter of Bernie's revolution. We are joined tonight not just by the senator, but by someone who fled another socialist revolution, one that Bernie Sanders speaks very highly of. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. We are joined, as ever, by the senator and also by the senators. Tia Sonia, my Spanish is not very good, but I think that was about right. Aunt Sonia.

[Tia Sonia]

That is correct.

[Ted Cruz]

Thank you. This is in a few days, going to be the 58th anniversary of your fleeing the communist regime in Cuba.

[Tia Sonia]

That is correct.

[Ted Cruz]

And yet we've got. The leader of the Democratic Party nomination process is praising the Fidel Castro regime. I think we have the clip.

[Bernie Sanders]

Very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba. But, you know, it's unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?

[Michael Knowles]

Listen, Bernie has spent his entire life, his entire career praising communist dictators. But this week, his latest ode to Fidel Castro, frankly, just pissed me off. And this is not a joke. This guy is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to be president, and he sings the praises of Castro and Cuban communism. My dad fled Cuba in 57. My theasonia was still there. She was a kid. And so she saw the Cuban revolution firsthand, and she ended up fighting against Castro. So, Thea, if you would, I just want you, first of all, tell me what it was like to be in Cuba when the revolution happened, when Castro took over.

[Tia Sonia]

Actually, it was. It was. It was. A lot of people were happy because finally somebody was coming in that was praising. We're going to give you a chance to change hope. We're going to change things around. Everybody was going to have whatever they want to. The poor will never be poor. The rich continue to have money, and everybody will be the same. In reality, yes, everybody went the same, but everybody was poor. Everybody went down. Everybody got paid the same amount of money. There was no difference between the poor and the rich. Everybody lost.

[Michael Knowles]

It's not that everyone was rich. Everyone was poor and suffering and miserable.

[Tia Sonia]

And everybody was miserable. Everybody was miserable. What Bernie is saying is bunch of garbage.

[Michael Knowles]

So you're there. You're a teenager. How old were you?

[Tia Sonia]

Probably 16, 15.

[Michael Knowles]

Okay, so you're seeing this. You're a teenage girl, right? You see what's happening? You see Castro begin executing people.

[Tia Sonia]

Yeah. Persecuting people. Nobody could talk. Nobody could say anything. They actually, he trained the people to even be against the family. The Sons against the father, the daughters against the family.

[Michael Knowles]

So how did he do that?

[Tia Sonia]

By indoctrinating these people, by telling, we're gonna give you this and that and the other. And it's all gonna. You gotta tell us what's going on in your house. Who talk against the government. So everything was persecuting one another, especially the older people that actually, we live a good life. Before in Cuba, it was beautiful.

[Michael Knowles]

What do people face in terms of their friends and neighbors and families spying on them?

[Tia Sonia]

You have people in each block. There is somebody that is responsible to keep an eye on you in your house.

[Ted Cruz]

So there's a.

[Tia Sonia]

There's a tattoo in every block. And they tell you, you keep an eye on every neighbor of this block. So.

[Michael Knowles]

And what sort of things are they watching for?

[Tia Sonia]

They're watching for everything. If you bring anything, maybe I'm going from United States to Cuba, and there's somebody coming in, so we need to wash their house in case they go out and sell in the black market or they do something with what you brought in. So there's somebody who's always keeping an eye on you and try to report you. A good thing that happened to. Something that happened to me that is very interesting. One of the trips that I went back to Cuba, I wanted to take the kids, some of the kids from there to go fishing. I love fishing. So I went in and tried to rent a boat. And they told me, we can't. We don't rent boats to Cuban people. And I said, you may leave. And I said, look, I have a passport. I have a flight leader on Friday already left. So I'm coming in to take my family on a boat ride. We can't give it to you. We can't rent you a boat. You're Cuban. So.

[Ted Cruz]

Because they're so afraid of the.

[Michael Knowles]

By the way, Michael, if you go there, you can rent a boat. You can rent a boat. She can't rent a boat because she's Cuban, even though she's an American citizen now.

[Tia Sonia]

Yes, you're Cuban, so you can't do. There was a boat in the river that my niece wanted to go in. And when we get in to ride the boat with the rest of the people, they say, you all cannot get in. You all are Cuban. And I said, but we're paying with the same money that they're paying. Well, I'm sorry, you can't come in. You're not from another country. You're Cuban. And Cuban people are not allowed.

[Ted Cruz]

They're not allowed to leave. No because they know if they were allowed to leave, they'd all leave. Sonia, how quickly after, as you say, people liked Castro initially, he was promising them the world. How quickly did it turn? I mean, how quickly did it turn?

[Tia Sonia]

Right away, Right away. He immediately starts saying the policies that he want to do. He was gonna take things away from the rich, he was gonna take things away from the people to give to other. He was to actually take money from you and give it to the poor on the other side. I make my money. I work for what I have. My father work hard to be where he was. My mother was a great school teacher. She was really was proud of what she was doing. My mother itself was told, did she have to teach at the school, a different kind of curriculum. She was told she need to teach about the revolution, Castro, the regime, the things that needed to happen. My mother have to actually pretend that she was losing her mind and she was dismissed immediately.

[Michael Knowles]

So let me underscore this story and listen. I grew up hearing this story as a kid. I mean, I would sit with my cousin Bibi, who's. That is Sonia's daughter. The two of us would sit literally on the floor in the living room and listen to my dad and my theasonia tell us stories about the revolution. And my abuelo and abuela, their parents were there also. So my grandmother, my abuela, she's a sixth grade teacher. Castro takes over and she's ordered, you must teach communism to the kids. You must indoctrinate. You must brainwash the kids. And my grandmother said she wasn't gonna do it. And so it's funny, Mathias on, you mentioned something just very mild, but my grandmother pretended she was insane in the classroom. She began literally foaming at the mouth and pretending she was insane. Why? Because she couldn't quit in the communist dictatorship scene. She wasn't allowed to quit. And she made the decision she would rather have the stigma, have the shame of people thinking she was a crazy person, than be a part of indoctrinating these kids.

[Tia Sonia]

That is true. And it was very painful because my mother was a great teacher. It was loved by many people. But you have to play crazy in order to get out of that situation.

[Ted Cruz]

But what I want to know is how in Cuba, the public opinion changes very quickly. People see what a monster Castro is, and they start to hate his guts. How is it that in the United States now, so many years on, 58 years on now since you left, you have a presidential candidate, you got a US Senator who's still singing the Praises of this guy. What did he miss?

[Tia Sonia]

He have not been with the Cuban people. He only. If you go there as a Cuban, you go and see somebody, a relative, you're gonna see the misery that they live in. They don't know what to put on the table to serve their kids. They don't know how to. They're gonna get the food that they're gonna eat tomorrow. If you are going as somebody from another country or as a tourist, you're taking to, you actually become prisoner of the government. They take you where they want you to go. They showed you the model school, they showed you the best hospitals, they showed you the best restaurants.

[Michael Knowles]

In 1989, Sanders stated, After visiting Cuba, quote, I did not see a hungry child. I did not see any homeless people. Bernie said the Cuban people, quote, had an almost religious affection for Castro.

[Tia Sonia]

That is not true. He is lying. He's lying to the people of this country. He is playing on the mind of the younger generation here.

[Michael Knowles]

He was either himself complicit in the lie, or he was naive enough or ideological enough to let the Castro regime lie to him and say, look at this. This paradise.

[Tia Sonia]

They didn't take into what the Cuban people were. Cuban people are starving to death. Cuban people don't have any money to buy anything.

[Michael Knowles]

So let me take you back, thea, back to 59, back to 60. The revolution succeeded. You begin fighting against Castro. What happened to you as a result? What happened when you started?

[Tia Sonia]

Well, I was constantly persecuted. People was looking for me everywhere. They want to take me to prison. They picked me up several times.

[Ted Cruz]

So you were pretty clearly fighting against the regime?

[Tia Sonia]

Totally against Castro? Yes, yes.

[Michael Knowles]

So this is after Castro's taken over. So he's the dictator. So, like, when they picked you up, what happened? What does that mean?

[Tia Sonia]

They put you in a room and there was people sitting on the floor, and everybody's, you know, that's where you were, with a whole bunch of people in the floor, and they keep you there for two or three days. My parents did not know where I was. My mother did not know. So she was going crazy trying to find me. My friends, friends that I have, could not even come and find out with my parents, where was I, or what was wrong with me. They were afraid because everybody was persecuted. So it was very difficult to leave. On the Castro regime, when you left.

[Michael Knowles]

Cuba, it was 62.

[Tia Sonia]

You left, right.

[Michael Knowles]

You've been back a bunch of times, right?

[Tia Sonia]

Yes.

[Michael Knowles]

What have. So when you come back, you usually bring a duffel bag with medicine.

[Tia Sonia]

I bring medicine I bring food, clothes.

[Ted Cruz]

Sheets, just for relatives, just for friends.

[Tia Sonia]

Friends. People that need.

[Michael Knowles]

So they can't get anything.

[Tia Sonia]

Nothing. Nothing.

[Michael Knowles]

She leaves a suitcase. She leaves every bit of clothes she bought. She leaves her underwear and bra, everything, because nobody has underwear there because there's so much poverty. You'll wear like, sweatpants, a T shirt. That's what she wears.

[Tia Sonia]

And that's on the plane coming, right? That is correct.

[Michael Knowles]

A lot of people don't understand what is the difference between socialism.

[Tia Sonia]

That is correct.

[Michael Knowles]

Socialism is simply the economic system of communism. Socialism is government ownership of the means of production or distribution. Cuba in the 1950s was the world's number one producer of sugar. Yeah, it had problems. Look, Batista was a corrupt dictator. He was a bastard. My father to this day doesn't have his front teeth because Batista's police kicked them in, his guards, his army officers kicked them in.

[Ted Cruz]

But what about the universal health care? I mean, we're told by a lot of people in the United States, a lot of left wingers, they say Cuba has some of the best health care in the world and everybody's covered.

[Tia Sonia]

I can personally tell you that I went to the doctor there because I have mosquito bites, that it got into infection and they put a shot on me in front of 60 other people that were there waiting to be seen by a doctor. There's no transportation, there's no gas, so you can't move. Doctors come to your house in a bicycle, and they're hungry. They're hungry. When they get there, they come to the house to see. Matter of fact, I was in a house visiting, and they were trying to see the little girl. He came on a bicycle and I bought some things that there was somebody in the street selling. And he said, can I have one?

[Ted Cruz]

Probably the most visible sign that Cuba hasn't changed or hasn't progressed is they have those old cars, right?

[Tia Sonia]

Yes.

[Michael Knowles]

And, you know, people like to think that that's sort of quaint and cute, that they have cars from the 1950s. The reason they have cars from the 1950s is they can't get anything else.

[Ted Cruz]

You know, the scary thing about all of this is you've got the experience of it. 58 years of experience since you left Cuba. There are various studies that have come out that show that even the majority of young Americans, millennials and Gen Z now embrace socialism and prefer it to capitalism. Now, the bright side, I will say the silver lining is that a much smaller percentage can actually define socialism. So there would seem to be a problem there. But beyond Just ignorance beyond just not knowing what it is. What is drawing young Americans to this evil, evil ideology is the work that.

[Tia Sonia]

Dave is giving out, the change. They want to see something different. They want to try something new. It doesn't work, guys. It does not work. All of this ambition and giving it to me. There's nothing given to you. You need to work and try to achieve your dream by hard work and by doing what you want to get ahead.

[Ted Cruz]

I mean, I've noticed this with your colleague, Senator Sanders. I mean, he's been talking about this for 50 years and no one listened, but now, only now that he's in his mid-70s, it's catching on. And I even think of this absent Bernie Sanders. Forget about him for a second. It took a long time. People knew that communism, socialism were terrible for so long, and now they don't know that well.

[Michael Knowles]

And too often they're not taught in schools. What happened? You know how many Bernie supporters know that the Soviet Union killed 20 million people and China killed 77 million people? They don't know that.

[Tia Sonia]

No.

[Michael Knowles]

And so when Bernie defends. Seems. Look, and I have to admit, I remember in college, a guy who lived down the hall from me had a poster on the wall of Che Guevara.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

And I went in, I said, hey, that. That's really cool. That's all, you know, Che Guevara was a gorilla, fought with Fidel Castro in Cuba. And I said, hey, that's really cool. That's awesome. Have you thought of maybe putting a poster of Hitler next?

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

And maybe Stalin and Mao. Like, if you're going to celebrate people that torture and murder. Actually, Che was amateur.

[Ted Cruz]

He was low on the totem pole.

[Michael Knowles]

But, you know, he was good looking. He had stubble and he was, you know, these villains have been glamorized and it's dangerous.

[Ted Cruz]

You know, we've talked a lot about the political and the economic side of things, how the government takes all your stuff and then they take power away from you. You're both religious. I notice, Sonia, you have a cross that you're wearing. Obviously. Senator Cruz, one of the big aspects of communism as it's always been practiced is the atheism of it all. And I wonder if there's a relation here that as religiosity in America has declined as young people are raised more or less without a religion, if maybe that's playing some role in why communism is catching on. You know, one of the great men of the 20th century to defeat communism was the Pope. Was Pope John Paul ii.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, And Pope John Paul II played a profound role of going to Poland and promising that Poland would be free and speaking up. And it was truly, I think, divine providence. They cheered. They said, we want God and Reagan and Margaret Thatcher all at the same time. And I think those three people, more than any human beings on earth, defeated the Soviet Union and won the Cold War. Mind you, Bernie was rooting for the Soviet Union during all of this.

[Ted Cruz]

He's not even hiding it that much.

[Michael Knowles]

Bernie honeymooned in the Soviet Union. Michael, where'd you honeymoon?

[Ted Cruz]

I honeymooned in Hawaii, usa.

[Tia Sonia]

Okay?

[Michael Knowles]

That's where, like normal people, you go to the beach. You go to Heidi, and I went to St. Thomas. It was beautiful. We were walking along the beach. We had fun. What kind of crazy ideologue says, sweetheart, I love you so much, let's do a honeymoon in the Soviet Union? You know that clip you played? He says he's no friend of Putin. There's only one person I know on the national stage that honeymooned in the Soviet Union. You know, the Soviet Union killed over 20 million people. This is not cute little faculty. Leftists. If Bernie was a professor at some liberal arts college out in the frozen tundra, who cares? He's just corrupting a few young minds. This is someone who wants to be President of the United States, and he kisses up to and apologizes for totalitarian dictators. And you know who he doesn't praise? Americans.

[Tia Sonia]

Right.

[Michael Knowles]

Like, when have you ever heard him speak as positively about Abraham Lincoln.

[Ted Cruz]

Right.

[Michael Knowles]

As he does about Castro and Ortega and Mao and Stalin. Listen, communism also hates God.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

If you look at these communist regimes, they persecute faith. They persecute. They prevent people from. The beauty of the First Amendment is it gives everyone the right to choose how to worship what your faith will be. You know, Bernie, when he praised China in the debate this week, somehow when Bernie talked about its great poverty eradication, you don't have to go back to Mao to find the torture and murder. Right? Now, Today, there are 1 million Uyghurs, a religious and ethnic minority, 1 million million in concentration camps in China today. Why is burning? And why are leftists so willing to praise and be proud of regimes that are torturing and murdering people?

[Ted Cruz]

Do you think this is part of why they make their appeal successfully, though? Because the thing I notice so much about the socialists in America today is they're all making these very moral arguments. It's about human rights. It's about giving people their right to health care and their right to have a lot of money.

[Michael Knowles]

Here's a story my grandmother told me. In the schools, you would have Cuban soldiers come in, and this is kindergarten, first grade.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

And they'd tell the children, they'd say, close your eyes and pray to Jesus for a piece of candy. And the kids would all do it, and they'd open their eyes and there'd be no candy. And then the soldiers would say, close your eyes and pray to Fidel Castro for a piece of candy.

[Ted Cruz]

You're kidding me.

[Michael Knowles]

And the kids would close their eyes, and the soldiers would put candy on their desks and they'd open their eyes and there was candy. This is the literacy program Bernie Sanders is praising. This is the indoctrination that May Abuela refused to participate in.

[Tia Sonia]

And that is true. They are actually indoctrinating the people since they were tiny little kids.

[Ted Cruz]

Did it work? I mean, did the.

[Tia Sonia]

Of course it doesn't work.

[Ted Cruz]

It doesn't work because people see reality.

[Tia Sonia]

It doesn't work. Why don't they work? They don't work. Nobody want to work in Cuba. Why do they want to work? They're going to make the same money that you're making that he's making. Why do I want to do that?

[Ted Cruz]

But do they believe the theory? I mean, does the indoctrination end up persuading people?

[Tia Sonia]

Actually, they thought that it was going to be reality. They really blind them to believe what they were saying. But they immediately took the blind off and saying, everybody's in the same boat. We're all hungry.

[Michael Knowles]

They know they're hungry. They know they're poor. They know they're miserable. They know that hasn't happened.

[Tia Sonia]

That's right.

[Michael Knowles]

I mean, there's a reason people every day risk their lives to flee Cuba.

[Tia Sonia]

That's correct.

[Michael Knowles]

Reagan in the height of the Cold War, he had a great way of putting it. He said, the thing liberals never seem to notice is on the Berlin Wall, the machine guns all point in one direction. That you didn't get anyone from East Germany saying, or from West Germany saying, I gotta go live in that Communist paradise. The way I like to put it, as a Cuban American, is the thing liberals never notice is in Cuba, the rafts are all going one way. Just once I'd like to see Bernie Sanders go hop on a raft in Key West.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Michael Knowles]

And hit a 90 mile south. And by the way, he socialized medicine they have there. It's just you can't get. You can't actually see a doctor. You can't get medicine. You can't get toilet paper.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah. Well, actually, you know, tying in all of these pools on the economic, on the political and on the religious. Communism has been called the God that failed. Right. It was a sort of substitute religion, a substitute God and it failed. And you saw it fail personally. What was the biggest shock? I mean, what was the biggest despair, the biggest regret when you saw something that you had believed in?

[Tia Sonia]

Well, the biggest. It was seeing the people suffering for not being able to even get food to put on the plate. It's so basic, the basic things, not being able to work. Because why do you want to work when you don't have anything to buy with, you know, that money disappear from you immediately and you all know the numbers, but you know, an Average person make $30 a month.

[Ted Cruz]

$30 per month.

[Tia Sonia]

$30 per month.

[Ted Cruz]

Wow.

[Tia Sonia]

So what are you going to do with that?

[Ted Cruz]

Right?

[Tia Sonia]

So people are being drinking water. You see, the kids, they drink water with sugar to get their stomach full.

[Ted Cruz]

It's that basic need. It's so interesting that you say that because it's. Communism starts out as this idealistic fantasy, very highfalutin, very high minded literacy programs, all that. And then the reality of the failures, people can't even fill their stomachs.

[Tia Sonia]

That is true.

[Michael Knowles]

Although you know, there is one exception, which is the Communist Party rulers. Look, Fidel Castro lived like a billionaire. And by the way, Putin lives like a billionaire. Maduro and Hugo Chavez before him, they lived like billionaires.

[Tia Sonia]

Right?

[Michael Knowles]

Communism, when you have all the power at the top. And what does Bernie suggest it would be any different if the government is in charge of everything, every place that has happened, the rulers live like kings and everyone else is miserable.

[Ted Cruz]

Right. Well, we did actually get one mailbag question that I think is very much on this topic, which is with the Democratic Party veering so far to the left and embracing these absolutely disgusting positions, hopefully will turn off most of the American people. Should conservatives be happy? Should conservatives be happy that the God that failed is about to fail the Democratic Party?

[Michael Knowles]

Not necessarily.

[Ted Cruz]

You're not as complacent.

[Michael Knowles]

I understand people saying, okay, great, Bernie's so extreme. That means Trump will get reelected. I hope Trump gets reelected. I'm working hard to reelect the president. But listen, what is truly terrifying is I think the American people could elect a wild eyed socialist. The media, we're a divided country. If 100,000 votes had flipped in 2016, Hillary Clinton would be the president right now. And Bernie, the media treats him kind of like your crazy uncle. Oh, he's just the crazy uncle. Isn't that cute. He's praising, murdering, torturing communist dictators. Well, this guy believes this stuff, right? In his heart and soul. He believes it. His whole life has been dedicated to it. And I got to admit, I am. It's all fine and good to celebrate. Unless he ends up winning.

[Ted Cruz]

Unless it happens.

[Michael Knowles]

God help the direction this country goes if that happens.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, because you already fled one communist hellhole, and this was the great hope as America's the great hope.

[Tia Sonia]

There is no place to go.

[Ted Cruz]

Where do you go?

[Tia Sonia]

There is no place to go.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, I hope you won't go anywhere. You the listener. We've already used up more than our time, and we've taken up too much of your time, Tia, Sonya. But thank you so much for being here. And we've got a lot more coming up on the show anyway, so be sure not to flee anywhere. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

[Unknown]

This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom, and Security pac, a political action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations, and candidates across the country. In 2022, jobs, freedom and Security PAC plans to donate to conservative candidates running for Congress and help the Republican Party across the nation.