← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Ayatollah Outta Controllah, 401 (K) for your Kids & 'Was' Biden POTUS for 4yrs? He Can't Remember Week In Review
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Bob Pittman
You're listening to an iHeart podcast. How to have fun anytime, anywhere. Step 1 Go to chumbacasino.com chumbacasino.com Got it. Step 2 Collect your welcome bonus. Come to Papa. Welcome bonus. Step 3 Play hundreds of casino style games for free. That's a lot of games, all for free. Step 4 Unleash your excitement. Woo Hoomba. Chumba Casino has been delivering thrills for over a decade. So claim your free welcome bonus now and live the chumba life. Visit chumbacasino.com no purchase necessary. VG prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions apply. This podcast is supported by Talkspace. When my husband came home from his military deployment, readjusting was hard for all of us. Thankfully, I found Talkspace. Talkspace provides professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatric providers online. Military members, veterans and their dependents ages 13 and older can get fast access to providers, all from the privacy of their computers or smartphones. I just answered a few questions online and Talkspace matched me with a therapist. We meet when it's convenient for me and I can message her anytime. It was so easy to set up and they accept Tricare. Therapy was going so well, my husband and I started seeing a couple's therapist through Talkspace too. Talkspace works with most major insurers, including Tricare. Match with a licensed therapist today@talkspace.com military go to talkspace.com military to get started today. That's talkspace.com military hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones. We're exploring the power of audio. Yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me. Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. 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. He's Joe Getty. We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world about something about a comed tone. We have a winner. Yes. Listen to Armstrong and Yeti on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency. It became known as the Iran Contra affair. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you. Please do to hear the whole story. Listen to Fiasco Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz Week in Review. Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the three big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, major negotiations with Iran. And it could be the difference between war and peace. So what did Senator Cruz have to say about it? I'll have that for you in just a moment. Also, there is a program that has been introduced. Senator Ted Cruz is the brainchild behind it and it could change every newborn child's financial future in this country. We'll have that for you as well. And finally, who was running America now? The media admitting that Joe Biden was not really the President of the United States of America. So who was calling the shots and who was using the auto pin? It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now. I want to talk about what we also some big news that deals with the issue of Iran. You went on Life Liberty Levin, our good friend Mark Levin show, and we're talking about Iran right now and what they are actively trying to do. Fill us in on that for a second. Well, right now there's ongoing negotiation going on with the nation of Iran. And the ayatollah is a theocratic lunatic. He regularly, regularly leads mobs chanting Death to America and death to Israel. And by the way, if history teaches us anything, it's that if somebody tells you they want to kill, you, believe them. Yeah. And when it comes to Iran, I'll tell you, there are some voices in Washington and the administration that are pushing for another Iran deal. They really want an Iran deal. And basically they want. Why? Why do they? I gotta ask. Because there's some of you listening, they're gonna say the same thing I'm saying right now is why on earth would you want an Iran deal if you know that they cheated on the last deal? So look, I don't know. I'm not Sigmund Freud, I'm not their psychoanalyst. I just know they're advocating for it. If you look at the Obama Iran nuclear deal, the elements of it. It lifted international sanctions. It allowed Iran to sell oil on the global market, and it allowed Iran to have its nuclear program continue unmolested. There are voices within the administration, by the way, I led the charge to pull out of that disastrous deal. And President Trump did exactly that. He did the right thing. It was the single most important decision, national security decision, of his first term, to pull out of the disastrous Obama Iran nuclear deal. And right now, there's a battle within the administration. But I agree with the red line that President Trump has drawn. And he has said that any deal must include full dismantlement, dismantling the centrifuges, shutting them down, that anything short of that is unacceptable when you look at that deal. And I want to play part of what you said on Mark Levin's show, because it is more background just on how crazy the ITIL is in Iran and how big of a threat it is and why you shouldn't trust them. Take a listen. It's my understanding that the vast majority of Republicans in the Senate and the House are saying Iran must dismantle its nuclear program. It's not a joke. We know what it means when people talk about a civil or civilian nuclear program. We're not going to be fooled. They must dismantle their program. Is that what you understand? That is exactly right. And I got to say, Mark, there's a real contrast between the strength that President Trump has shown with respect to Iran and the weakness and appeasement that Joe Biden showed for four years. The first term President Trump took on Iran directly, pulled out of the disastrous Obama Iran nuclear deal. He ended the civilian nuclear waivers. He ended the oil waivers. And the result? Maximum pressure put the Iranian economy into free fall. Their oil sales fell from a million barrels a day of oil down all the way down to 300,000 barrels of oil. When Joe Biden came into office, the Iranian economy was in shambles and the ayatollah and the mullahs were teetering and near collapse. But sadly, Biden reversed everything. He did complete appeasement. He stopped enforcing the oil sanctions. And as a result, the Ayatollah's oil sales skyrocketed from 300,000 barrels a day to 2 million barrels a day. That's $100 billion that Joe Biden and the Democrats gave the Ayatollah. And the Ayatollah is using it to fund the IRGC to attack and kill Americans. The Ayatollah is using that to fund Hamas and Hezbollah in a very real sense Joe Biden and the money he gave the Ayatollah funded October 7th. Now that Donald Trump is back in office, he's drawn a clear red line. Iran must dismantle their nuclear capacity. They must shut down their centrifuges. It is the only thing that is verifiable, is full dismantlement. And I have every confidence. Confidence the president is going to hold that line. I do. But I don't have any confidence in the Iranians who lie and cheat and steal and murder. Yes. And so the question is, how can we expect a regime that does all those things? It is not abided by anything it's agreed to, anything it has promised over the course of the last 15 years. So here we are at the 11th hour. Here we are at the 11th hour trying to deal with this. How can we trust them? Or better put, we're not going to trust them. How do we make sure that they do what we tell them they must do? Well, listen, we can't trust them because we know that they lie and they lie over and over and over again. It's worth noting the Ayatollah, right now, today, is actively trying to murder Donald J. Trump has hired hitmen trying to murder the President, United States. The Ayatollah is also actively trying to murder the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and the former National Security Adviser, John Bolton. They have hired hitmen that are targeting former senior U.S. officials and the sitting President of the United States. These are not people who can be trusted, which is why the objective must be full dismantlement, must be the centrifuges, disassembled, destroyed, taken out. And as President Trump said recently, we can do that either nicely or not so nicely. Nicely, if they agree and we go in and dismantle them ourselves. Or not. Not so nicely is if Iran refuses to negotiate, we have the capability to take out these nuclear facilities. And I got to say, Mark, you and I have talked about this. Listen, there are some voices in the Trump administration that, that are on the isolationist wing of foreign policy that say, let's not worry about Iran. Let's not, let's not do anything about Iran. And listen, I am someone who is very reluctant to use military force. But, but Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons because Iran wants to be able to threaten to use nuclear weapons, and they might even use them. And I believe a nuclear Iran is an unacceptable threat of seeing an atomic bomb detonated in the skies of New York or the skies of Los Angeles. And so our commander in chief, President Trump I don't think he's going to allow that risk. We are going to demand the centrifuges, the nuclear capability, be dismantled. And they either do so willingly or they'll be dismantled unwillingly. It doesn't seem to be any gray area here from you, Levin there and the president. It seems to be y' all are all in lockstep on the same thing here. You cannot trust Iran at all. Well, and you asked, why do people oppose this? The rhetoric they use is they say, well, if you're standing up to Iran, you're a warmonger. And let me be clear, as I mentioned to Mark Levin, I have consistently been very reluctant to use military force. You know, you go back to 2016, the presidential race. You had 17 Republicans running for president that year. Set Rand Paul aside because Rand's views are unique in the Senate. Of the remaining 16, there were only two of us on that stage who believed and said the Iraq war was a mistake. Donald Trump and me, both of us, said the Iraq war was absolutely a mistake. I believe it was a mistake because you had a dictator, a cruel dictator, Saddam Hussein, who was killing terrorists. We came in and we toppled that dictator. And the result was the terrorists took over and they began killing Americans. That did not help America. Toppling a dictator and putting the terrorist in charge was a mistake, by the way. We made the same mistake in Libya, where you had Gaddafi, another very cruel dictator, but he was killing terrorists. We came in and toppled him and the terrorists took over and they began killing Americans. I think that's a bad trade off. So when I say that we need to focus on American national security, it doesn't mean we should invade other countries. It doesn't mean we should send them Marines. It means we should look at serious, real threats to our national security. And I think the single most acute threat we face, the urgent threat we face right now, is a nuclear Iran, because you've got a theocratic lunatic who has said he wants to murder us. And by the way, we know that he's willing to hire hitmen to try to murder the president already. And if he had nuclear weapons, I think the odds are unacceptably high he would use them. And so in the first term, what I advocated for and what President Trump agreed with was maximum pressure using sanctions, cutting off their financial system. Their economy went into free fall because President Trump stood up against the ayatollah. And it was incredibly effective until Joe Biden undermined it by embracing appeasement. That was a massive mistake. And I hope and believe President Trump is turning that around right now. Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week. Hey, I'd like to change gears for a minute and talk about our friends in Israel. Now. It's now the month of May, and 80 years ago this very month, the horror of the Holocaust, quote, the final solution, thank God, came to an end. But did you know that half of all Holocaust survivors, they now live in Israel. And the pain of the past now intensified today by what happened on October 7, 2023, and the rise of antisemitism everywhere. Thousands live in Israel below the poverty line. There's no safety net. We have partnered with a great organization called the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Now, the Fellowship provides a lifeline to these precious people in the form of hot meals and boxes, a healthy food, and for only 25 bucks, you can help provide a food box. And better yet, $335 provides hot meals for an entire year. Call 888-488-IFCJ 888-488 IFCJ or online. You can give to ifcj.org that's ifcj.org this podcast is supported by Talkspace. When my husband came home from his military deployment, readjusting was hard for all of us. Thankfully, I found Talk Talkspace provides professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatric providers online. Military members, veterans and their dependents ages 13 and older can get fast access to providers, all from the privacy of their computers or smartphones. I just answered a few questions online, and Talkspace matched me with a therapist. We meet when it's convenient for me, and I can message her anytime. It was so easy to set up and they accept Tricare. Therapy was going so well, my husband and I started seeing a couples therapist through Talkspace, too. Talkspace works with most major insurers, including Tricare. Match with a licensed therapist today@talkspace.com military go to talkspace.com military to get started today. That's talkspace.com military hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones. We were exploring the power of audio. The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was, he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in. But that's exactly how and why I Fit. I just embraced that. Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me. Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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. He's Joe Getty. We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world. How about something about a comedic tone? We have a winner. Yes. Listen to Armstrong and Yeti on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency. Did you make a mistake in sending arms to Tehran, sir? No. No one was let go. It became known as the Iran Contra affair. And I'm not taking any more questions. In just a second, I'm going to ask. I'm Leon Naifak, co creator of Slow Burn. In my podcast, Iran Contra, you'll hear all the unbelievable details of a scandal that captivated the nation nearly 40 years ago, but which few of us still remember today. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you. Please do. To hear the whole story. Listen to fiasco, Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, on to story number two. So, Ben, let me ask you something. Yeah. Are you excited listening to this? I am. Because. Because I am. I know I am. And I think this is something that we've been missing. You know, you remember I. When I was working with the Bush administration, it was on Social Security forum because it was just a Ponzi scheme, in essence, where I was like, what are we doing? How are we not giving people more with investing? And this is one of those things that for me is about financial freedom and it allows people a chance to succeed in the greatest country in the world and do it in a way that is just so smart. And I. I can't imagine what this is going to do for single moms for People that, that, that are working nine to five jobs, two jobs, working hourly jobs. They say, now I feel like even I can give my kids a better life. Because that's ultimately, I think what every parent wants. They want to give their chance, their kid a chance to a better life than they live. And this is an example of starting literally at day one of their birth, saying, we've got you a nest egg now. Let's go and build on it. So, Ben, one of the things Brad was describing that has me really excited is the accelerator that is built into it. So seeding every account with $1,000 is valuable. By the way, there are 3.7 million babies born every year. And so $1,000 for 3.7 million babies is $3.7 billion a year. That means this will cost $37 billion over 10 years. This is a 4 to 5 trillion dollars tax cut. So $37 billion is a relatively small piece. But you want to talk about how it transforms America, that seed money is important. Even more important is simply creating the account. As Brad noticed, you know, 2/3 of Americans will not have an investment account, will not be invested in the market. And we're creating a world where every child, every single child, from gazillionaire kids to a homeless kid on the street is suddenly has an account invested the market. That is transformative. But then the accelerator. So what Brad has worked for several years is he's brought together world class CEOs, some of the most prominent CEOs in the country. He mentioned Michael Dell. That was not theoretical. Michael is. Michael is a good friend of mine. He's a Texan, incredible entrepreneur, worth over $100 billion. Michael is the chairman of the CEO Council for Invest America. So Michael is leaning in hard. He's committed. Dell Computers. When this passes, Dell will help fund the accounts for the kids of their employees. That's powerful. But as Brad said also Michael is quite interested on the philanthropic side in supporting not just the accounts for the children of his employees, but more broadly, having a bigger impact. I think we will see. Think for a second, Ben. About 401ks. Remember when we were kids, 401ks didn't exist. Yeah. Now just about every, every job at a big company. It's part of the plan. It's part of the plan. And the employer matches 401k contributions, makes their own contributions. It's a really attractive employee benefit. And what I like about this is the accelerator component that I think you will end up having real wealth creation that changes. Look, an 18 year old kid who's got a single mom, who's not coming from money, who's living in a rough environment, who suddenly got a couple of hundred thousand dollars invested in the stock market. That changes their whole life. This is life changing. Well, this also seems, I go back to the trickle down effect and it's like 401ks. You remember when it was your grand parents and your parents, when you go to get your first job, your first real job, like do they have a 401k? It's not the 21 to 23 year old that's asking that question, it's the parents and grandparents. I remember when I got my first job. Do they match? What do they match? They have a 401k. Imagine if you get that started in the mindset at age literally zero, that can transform an entire nation. So Brad, let me ask you something. How did you get involved in this to begin with? Because you were passionate in working on this. I got involved with you about a year ago, but you were passionate, involved in this long before that. What was the kernel of the idea that started this? Well, you know, you'll appreciate the senator as a dad yourself, but you know, I have two boys, Lincoln and Jack, and they're 16 and 14. And one of the things we talk about a lot when we sit around the dinner table is when we see problems, don't complain about them. Right. Have a bias to action. Have a bias to action. Do something about it. Don't just sit around and complain. And so coming out of COVID I was showing them the investment accounts I set up when they were born. Yep. And we're talking about the power of compounding. And we were showing, they were talking about the stocks they owned and I could see their excitement. And they said, dad, when are we going to be able to, you know, have some control over what we're investing in? We want to learn more. Will you set up a Robinhood account for us, et cetera. And then we started talking about the wealth gap and we started, you know, my son Lincoln brought me something, you know, that was a headline and it said 93% of stocks are owned by the wealthiest 10% of Americans. Yeah. And he said, dad, I feel, I feel like, you know, I'm glad you set this up for me when I was a kid, but I kind of feel guilty. Like what? Why can't everybody, you know, have this, this, you know, same benefit? And, and I said, you know, we, we got to fix this. And so he said to me, what are you going to do about it. And I turned to him and I said, no, what are we going to do about it? And we made a commitment as a family that we're going to do something about this. Yep. And you know, it's been one of the best parts of the journey. We set up a 501 C3 called Invest America and we literally, you know, just started, you know, making the calls and it was lining up like minded thinkers in the private sector and lining up like, like minded folks in Washington. And you and I have talked about this. You know, I had the good fortune when I was returning from studying overseas in 1990-91 to show up in Washington and go work for the late and great senator from Indiana, Richard Lugar. Lugar was a Rhodes scholar, he was a mayor of Indianapolis, became a long serving senator. Incredible senator. At the time he was working on denuclearizing the nuclear stockpiles coming out of the Cold War with Sam Nunn. And let's just say later in life I went on to have some success. And when I saw the senator in those later years, he said to me, you know, don't waste it. You know, remember those days, remember those runs around the wall in the mall in Washington and make sure you do something that matters. And so as a family, we want to do something that matters. And I will say in the House, in the Senate, you know, you know, in the White House and in a broad bipartisan way. And that was something that was really important to me. We've had incredible support. And I said, I've never seen an idea with a better product market fit. Everybody I talked to in the private sector in Washington was intrigued by the idea. And but I remember we were speaking with then Speaker McCarthy in the House. Lincoln was in the meeting with me, we had an incredible meeting with the speaker and we walked out and I said to him, as we're looking at the rotunda in the House, I said, every single good idea in America has started with a conversation just like that. Right. As an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, nothing happened in Silicon Valley, right. Not Google, not OpenAI, not Facebook. Right. Without a conversation on the back of a napkin that starts as an idea. And so I had started a few companies, I knew something about starting things and we just got started and the snowball started rolling. And here we are three and a half years later and I think we're on the precipice, your great leadership, the great leadership in the House and the White House of making this happen. And I agree with you, I think we're going to look back in 10 or 20 years and this is, this is going to be a massive legacy of this moment. You just said a word a moment ago by the word, and it's become a bad word now and is bipartisan. It like, never happens anymore. So I'm going to ask both, both of you this. Is there a chance that this can be such a great idea that it is, in fact bipartisan and that Democrats and Republicans can work together like they used to 20, 30 years ago, when there are nonpartisan ideas that are just great ideas that are great for all Americans. And this one, by the way, I would actually argue, would skew more to helping those that are poor in this country than anyone else, unquestionably. And I'll give you some positive signs on this one. There are significant overlaps between this idea and an idea that Cory Booker had called baby bonds. And his idea was to create bonds and create a savings account for every baby born in America. And when he was running for president, he campaigned on that. And Cory's a friend of mine, Brad, knows Cory. Well, I will say this is different from Cory's baby bonds because I was not a supporter of just the baby bonds of an investment account that is accruing interest. What really sold me on this was making a generation of capitalists was the fact that this money is not just a savings account, which is easy for Democrats to support, but rather it is investing in the equity markets, it is making children owners of the major companies in America. And that, to me, was really exciting. That being said, I think there's a good chance that we will get Democrats to support this. I'll say Dick Durbin, who is the Democrat whip and very liberal senator, although I've served with him on Judiciary Committee for 13 years. Dick Durbin, in a press story today, actually praised this idea and his comment about me that Dick is wicked smart. But we said about me as he said, well, a stop clock is right twice a day. And I actually ran into Dick in the hallway and I said, dick, you praised me in the press. He said, it must have been a mistake. And I reminded him of the quote, and he laughed. And I said, dick, it's a good thing you're retiring. They might primary you in the Democrat primary for saying something nice about me. But it's. And I'll tell you, there was another Democrat senator, a freshman who was newly elected, who came and approached me and said, I really like this idea. This is interesting. And I said, well, look, so no Democrat is gonna vote for the reconciliation bill. That's gonna be a pure party line bill. So the actual bill that passes this, no Democrat will vote for. But what I told this Democrat freshman, I said, well, co sponsor my Invest America bill so you can make clear you support it. I think we've got a decent chance of getting Democrats on board. Brad did a good job of talking to them. And I will tell you a couple of things. So Brad was describing all the time and energy he put in. And he said quite modestly, he said, well, I've had some success in business. Ben, let me be clear. Brad is a billionaire. Like, he's got a crap ton of money and he could sit back and play golf all day long and never need to work again. And he'd be fine and his kids would be fine and his grandkids would be fine. But he's not doing that. A, he's got a ton of energy, but he has poured so much time and energy and money. So I will tell you, the way this got done is he was relentless. He was talking to everybody in the House. Why is this in the House, bill? Because Brad was talking repeatedly to Jason Smith, the chairman of Ways and Means. He was talking repeatedly to Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House. By the way, I was too. I was talking to both of them. They're both good friends. He was talking repeatedly to me and other senators. I sat down with Brad this week with Mike Crapo, the chairman of the Finance Committee, who's drafting the tax portion of the reconciliation in the Senate. He's been talking in the White House to Kevin Hassett, who runs the National Economic Council, over and over and over again, he's been talking to the President. It has been that relentless. And by the way, President Trump weighed in directly with the speaker of the House and said, I like this idea included. How did this idea get like, a lot of the press is shocked. Why is this in the House bill? A big part of the reason is the President weighed in and said, I really like this idea. And so the House included it. That wouldn't have happened without Brad's efforts and my efforts making the case to the House, to the Senate, and to the White House. And I think we will get this done and it will have an impact when all three of us are dead and buried 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. Hey, I'd like to change gears for a minute and talk about our friends in Israel now. It's now the month of May. And 80 years ago this very month, the horror of the Holocaust, quote, the final solution, thank God, came to an end. But did you know that half of all Holocaust survivors, they now live in Israel. And the pain of the past now intensified today by what happened on October 7, 2023, and the rise of anti Semitism everywhere. Thousands live in Israel below the poverty line. There's no safety net. We have partnered with a great organization called the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Now, the Fellowship provides a lifeline to these precious people in the form of hot meals and boxes of healthy food. And for only 25 bucks, you can help provide a food box. And better yet, $335 provides hot meals for an entire year. Call 888-488-IFCJ 888-488 IFCJ or online. You can give to ifcj.org that's ifcj.org this podcast is supported by Talkspace. When my husband came home from his military deployment, readjusting was hard for all of us. Thankfully, I found Talkspace. Talkspace provides professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatric providers. Online, military members, veterans and their dependents, ages 13 and older can get fast access to providers, all from the privacy of their computers or smartphones. I just answered a few questions online, and Talkspace matched me with a therapist. We meet when it's convenient for me and I can message her anytime. It was so easy to set up and they accept Tricare. Therapy was going so well, my husband and I started seeing a couples therapist through Talkspace, too. Talkspace works with most major insurers, including Tricare. Match with a licensed therapist today@talkspace.com military go to talkspace.com military to get started today. That's talkspace.com military hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones. We're exploring the power of audio. The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was, he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in. But that's exactly how and why I fit. I just embraced that. Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me and have loyalties like me. Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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. He's Joe Getty. We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world. How about something about a comedic tone? We have a winner. Yes. Listen to Armstrong. You get it on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency. Did you make a mistake in sending arms to Tehran, sir? No. No one was let go. It became known as the Iran Contra affair. And I'm not taking any more questions. In just a second, I'm going to ask. I'm Leon Nayfak, co creator of Slow Burn. In my podcast, Fiasco Iran Contra, you'll hear all the unbelievable details of a scandal that captivated the nation nearly 40 years ago, but which few of us still remember today. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you. Please do to hear the whole story. Listen to Fiasco Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed. Is there going to be any oversight slash investigation? Should there be from Congress? And I know that's a weird question because there's some of you, like, look, we won, let's move on. But like I do actually, as an American citizen, want to know who was running the United States of America that was elected by no one. I want to know who was calling the shots. It was elected by no one because whether I win or lose an election, my vote should not be canceled out by some sort of dictator or tyrant within an administration that no one knows who's running a government. And by the way, there's a related question to that, Ben, which is we've seen the stories that apparently a substantial number of official things that Biden signed were signed by the auto pen. So was he even making the decision to sign them? Right. And he didn't even seem to know, like some of the pardons. And I actually think you'll have this litigated. I don't, I don't, not aware of any court that's ever decided is, is a pardon. Does a pardon have to actually be signed by the President? So look, every elected official has an auto pen. I have an auto pen. And so for things like constituent correspondence, if you write in to your senator, you'll, you'll get a response back and we try to respond substantively and the auto pen will sign it and I get millions of those letters so I couldn't physically sign them all. All I'm thinking about right now is how, where that auto pin is and how much fun I could have. But keep going. But look, it's fine for if something like correspondence, a birthday wish, but the question is for something that has legal force of law. And I actually want to know did they use the auto pen to sign any legislation? Because it's not clear to me legislation that the President didn't sign has legal force. The auto pen is not the commander in chief and the chief judge. What about judges? For example, if he did an auto pen, which means he, I, I, I, I'm truly convinced that he didn't know what was going on, he didn't know who he was appointing, he probably didn't know who's pardoning. And if that's happening where it'll be litigated. Okay, and that, and why is that so different? Because, look, it's interesting, like a pardon under the Constitution, all you have to have is a document from the President that said, you know, I, I pardoned Ben Ferguson and suddenly actually only if it's a federal offense. So he can't. Only if it's federal offense. Yeah, the abuse I take. The abuse I take. But it literally, there's no pomp and circumstance. It doesn't have to have gold leaf on the paper. It doesn't have to be an official, it just a piece of paper with a signature with those words in his signature that is legally a pardon. But if you don't actually have a signature. Listen, I've been in the Oval dozens of times, probably more when, when President Trump is signing things and he pulls out, he actually. So have you seen the President signing pen? Oh, yeah, I've got like, I've got one of the big sharpies with his mature on sharpies. Like most presidents use like a sharpie to have a signing pen. But President Trump's, it's a marker that's probably what, 10 inches long and maybe, and it's gold. It has, like, gold signature and like an inch in diameter. Like, it's. It is massive. But he signs one after the other after the other after the other, because that's what gives it legal force of law. If you have a president that's mentally incompetent and you have staffers running thing, it makes you wonder, Dr. Fauci's pardon, is it legit? I don't know. Yeah. And if it's the auto pen, which I'm sure they can figure that out, it will be. It's an interesting question. You know, I'll say a few more of these quotes from the cabinet members. The cabinet members in this book described said. One said, quote, the staff did him wrong. If you were with him every day and you knew this was going to be a problem, why didn't you go to him and say something? Another said, quote, access dropped off considerably in 2024, and I didn't interact with him as much. Uh, a third said, quote, yes, the president is making the decisions, but if the inner circle is shaking the shaping them in such a way, is it really a decision? And here was another cabinet secretary. I don't think he has dementia. But the thing is, he's an old man. The president can give you four to six good hours a day. When he got tired, sloppy isn't the right word, but his guard was down. That would be the commander in chief of the United States. I want to go back to the last quote, center that you just said about the people around the president. Now that it's over, now that everybody knows the cognitive decline, now that the books are being written, they're telling you they may have only gotten four hours a day out of the president. United States, America. That is maybe one of the most shocking statements I've ever heard about any president. Yeah, look, it's. He was not mentally capable to do the job. They knew it and they lied about it. And by the way, Jake Tapper's whole premise, that, gosh, little old me, Jake was deceived. They just didn't tell me the truth. I just didn't know. Well, Jake, if you listened to verdict, we were telling you the facts, and we were telling you the facts early on here. I want you to go back to January of 2024. I want you to listen to a segment of Ben and me and the podcast back In January of 24, talking about Biden's deterioration. Give a listen. You and I, and kind of anyone with eyes and common sense have been observing for a long time that Joe Biden's cognitive decline is massive. But it's easy for some observers to dismiss that and say, you know, these guys are biased, they're partisans, they don't like Biden, so what they're saying is not true. In this instance, the people speaking are the Biden Department of Justice and not any Department of Justice. This is a Department of justice that has proven itself the most politicized and partisan Department of Justice in history. And they have argued so. For example, I'm going to read you a paragraph from the report. In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden's memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended, quote, if it was 2013, when did I stop being vice president? And forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began, quote, In 2009, am I still vice president? He did not remember even within several years when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he, quote, had a real difference of opinion with General Carl Eitkenberry, when in fact Eikenberry was an ally who Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama. All of that was authored by the Biden Department of Justice. And when they are describing the sitting president as a well meaning elderly man with a poor memory, the natural question for anyone to say is, holy crap, if he's not competent to stand trial, why is he the commander in Chief with the authority to send our sons and daughters into harm's way? Why does he have access to the nuclear codes? Understand the description here. They say you couldn't charge him with a crime because he's not aware of enough to have the requisite mental intent. And yet Joe Biden tonight, if he so desired, could literally exterminate humanity from the face of the planet. As commander in Chief, if he gave the order, launch the nuclear weapons. Now, unless the military refused to obey the commander in chief, Joe Biden could exterminate every life on this planet. And if he's not mentally competent to stand trial, that is terrifying. So that was a year and a half ago. Yeah, a year and a half ago. In this podcast. And understand the entire basis of Tapper's book is he couldn't possibly know about known about this mental decline. The Department of Justice, and this would be the Biden Department of Justice went into court. So the Robert her report, remember, they did not prosecute Biden and when was that? I wonder, do you remember the time frame on that? That was early 24. Yeah. So early. We covered it a lot. And that with them interviewing him in 23. Right. So in 23, when they were interviewing Joe Biden, they then in 24 told America, he's so bad off, we can't even charge him with anything. So they concluded if they charged him, he would be found not competent to be convicted. That is a stunning. Look, there's a standard. There are people that are not competent to be tried. If you have dementia, if you're like mentally ill, that you're not able. The legal standard is you have to form what's called mens rea, which is intent. And they said, well, he's so old and senile, we can't charge him. So that's why they said, oh yeah, he clearly violated the law. He committed a felony. Remember, he kept classified materials everywhere, including his garage next to his antique car. Not a joke. That's real. And they said he was guilty of that, but they couldn't charge him because he was incompetent to stand trial. I want you to listen in 2023 to me laying out his mental decline and MSNBC Morning Joe making fun of me for it. This is like one of their big intros. May 4, 2023, 2011, when Republicans in the House stood strong on the debt ceiling again because Democrats had had majority of the Congress for two years had passed trillions in irresponsible spending. And Republicans stood strong and said, we will not raise the debt ceiling without serious fiscal reform. What happened then? Vice President Joe Biden came and negotiated a deal, a deal called the Budget Control Act. Vice President Biden sat down with House Republicans and reached a meaningful compromise. President Joe Biden needs to do the same thing. And I'll say sadly, the reason he hasn't so far, I believe, is because his mental faculties are too diminished right now. You know, you know. Hold on, hold on, hold on. What? He has such a point. Yes. His mental faculties are so diminished. Yeah. That he passed more bipartisan. Signed more bipartisan legislation even though he was doing it last year than any president since lbj. My God, if he were as cogent as he had been in 2011, he could have been like, you could have gone back to fdr. What else he did without. Without apparently realizing what he was doing. He like held NATO together to fight Russian aggression in Ukraine. And just amazing. And my God, I know he only increased 800 mile border NATO with, With. With Russia. Exactly. But I guess he, you know, he thought he was. I hate it when that happens. You know, it reminds me of Ronald Reagan when he was speaking at Harvard, a Eureka College grad. And he's sitting there talking to the grads and he's making fun of his education. At the end he goes, you know, sometimes I just sit here with a presidential seal in front of him and I wonder what I could have been with a good education. Go back and read Reagan. You'll learn a lot. Go back and read Reagan, he says, by golly, I, I mean, I love this. And by the way, we do know who was doing it now. It was either a and auto pen or a bunch of old staffers. So I, I'm curious that I may have missed this, but. But as Joe Scarborough apologized for lying to America. No, he's probably writing a book about the decline of Joe Biden. How they were apologized. Has msnbc, as NBC? Have any of them apologized? They knew he he was mentally diminished and they covered it up because they were partizans and they supported his agenda. To heck with whether we had a competent commander in chief or not. 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. This podcast is supported by Talkspace. When my husband came home from his military deployment, readjusting was hard for all of us. Thankfully, I found Talkspace. Talkspace provides professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatric providers online. Military members, veterans and their dependents ages 13 and older can get fast access to providers, all from the privacy of their computers or smartphones. I just answered a few questions online and Talkspace matched me with a therapist. We meet when it's convenient for me and I can message her anytime. It was so easy to set up and they accept Tricare. Therapy was going so well, my husband and I started seeing a couples therapist through Talkspace too. Talkspace works with most major insurers, including Tricare. Match with a licensed therapist today@talkspace.com military go to talkspace.com military to get started today. That's talkspace.com military hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones. We're exploring the power of audio. Yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me. Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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. He's Joe Getty. We're Armstrong Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world about something about a comedic tone. We have a winner. Yes. Listen to Armstrong. You get it on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the fall of 1986, Ronald Reagan found himself at the center of a massive scandal that looked like it might bring down his presidency. It became known as the Iran Contra Affair. The things that happened were so bizarre and insane, I can't begin to tell you. Please do. To hear the whole story, listen to Fiasco Iran Contra on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to an iHeart podcast.