← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Biden Admin Urges Israel to STOP Killing Terrorists, Dems Smear Justice Thomas & School Choice, the Civil Rights Issue of the 21st Century
00:59:01
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- [00:02]
A
It's Verdict live from Arizona at the Goldwater Institute dinner. Welcome, Senator. Good to be with you. We are here in Arizona. Goldwater Institute had an amazing dinner with an incredible crowd that many people will hear in the background here. Thank you guys for having us. And we've got a lot to talk about tonight. And we're also going to get some Q and A in here from the audience, which is one of your favorite things to do on the road.
- [00:31]
B
You love that look, Ben. That's exactly right. And let me say, Goldwater Institute is an amazing institution. It is the premier free market think tank in Arizona. It has been a leading advocate for liberty here in Arizona and across the nation. And Goldwater in particular has been extraordinary, leading on school choice. Arizona has been at the tip of the spear on school choice. They've made an incredible difference, not just with the kids, but in Arizona, but they've been a model to the entire nation. And so you and I are proud to be here to support the great work Goldwater does, but also to bring this podcast to everyone here. And as we get started, I want to let everyone here know this podcast, we have just under a million viewers and listeners that listen every month to this podcast on Verdict. We are beating CNN every single week. And so every one of you, there's a very simple path. If you have your cell phone, you can take your cell phone out right now and you can text the word verdict to the number 24005. Let me give that to you again. The number is 24005. If you text the word verdict, what you will get back is a link to subscribe to the podcast. And I'll say something which is free.
- [01:57]
A
This is the best part.
- [01:58]
B
And that's the point. My dad, my dad is 84 years old and he pointed out to me, look, when you say subscribe, my generation thinks you mean magazine subscriptions. And you're going to charge me. So there ain't any cost, but you can get it downloaded to your phone every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And it is a tool to give you the information about what's happening in this country because we know that the corporate media is profoundly dishonest. And this is designed to empower patriots in Arizona and across the country who are fighting to pull our country back.
- [02:36]
A
You mentioned school choice, and we're going to get to that. We're also going to get some breaking news that deals with the Supreme Court. But before we get to that, let's start and talk about what's going on in Israel. Right now, there has been, over the last 24, 48 hours, a pretty significant shift, especially from the media in this country and also around the world. And more calls for a, quote, humanitarian ceasefire. It is frustrating when you see this, because it's clear that Israel is having to defend itself from these horrific terrorists. We've heard even more about their atrocities, including putting children in ovens, babies in ovens that were found. We know that they beheaded infant children. And yet the media is now trying to put pressure, not on the terrorists, but on. But on Israel, to just say pause, so that many of these terrorists would not be brought to justice, which I think for many, we agree, should be, that they are taken off the face of this earth.
- [03:35]
B
Well, Ben, as you know, this has been a battle, and it's been a battle with the Biden administration from the very beginning of this war. This war began on October 7 with a grotesque act of atrocities. The attacks of Hamas were the worst attacks on the state of Israel in over 50 years. On October 7, it was the single greatest mass murder of Jews in any single day since the Holocaust. And Hamas terrorists, the death squads went house to house, murdering every person in that house, seeking out civilians, murdering elderly people, murdering women, murdering children, violently raping women and little girls, dragging them into the streets and murdering, beheading, and burning alive infants. It has been sick. It has been grotesque. Over 1400 Israelis have been murdered. Over 200 Israelis are held hostage right now. And not only was this one of the worst attacks on Israel in history, this is also one of the worst terrorist attacks on the United States in history. On that day, 31Americans were murdered. There are roughly a dozen Americans that are held hostage right now. And I want to say at the outset, it is critical that we should be unequivocal that America stands squarely with the state of Israel.
- [05:09]
A
Amen. It's also shocking, I think, to so many people that there is such a divide right now on the issue of Israel within the Democratic Party. When you talk about the atrocities that you just mentioned, it should be a pretty easy political moment, I would argue. And 10, 15, 20 years ago, this would not have been hard. How is it that so many Democrats are not just screwing it up? They are actually advocating for the terrorist organization, for those supporting the terrorist organization. And we're witnessing it in the streets in America. We're witnessing it on college campuses. We're witnessing it all over the world, whether it's in Berlin, whether it's in France, whether it's at the opera house in Australia. There are large groups of people in countries all over the world and college campuses that are advocating for Hamas and the Palestinians.
- [06:05]
B
Look, it has been tragic to watch that on the far left today. There is a blatant strain of hatred for Israel and virulent anti Semitism. We see it in the House of Representatives, in the squad, and the squad are viciously anti Israel. You and I on this podcast talked about the video of Rashida Tlaib walking down the halls of the house when being asked, what do you think about women and children being raped? What do you think about infants being murdered? And she refused to answer. And I will say it has been tragic to watch college campuses across this country as vicious anti Semitism is broken out. This week I saw a video from my alma mater, from Harvard, of a Jewish student being harassed, being threatened, being surrounded by angry protesters, screaming, shame, shame, shame. Look, I called on Harvard. Any student doing that to another student should be expelled immediately. But let me say something else, Ben, because unfortunately, it's not just the radicals in the house. It's not just the radicals on university campuses. The Biden administration, from the very beginning of this war, has systematically undermined Israel. When the war began on October 7, early in the morning, at three in the morning, the State Department, the Office of Palestinian affairs, tweeted out. They said, we condemn the attack of Hamas, but we urge both sides to engage in no retaliation, no military acts. Violence solves nothing. This is literally as Israel is having terrorists murder that night, upwards of 1,000 Israelis. The US State Department said, israel, don't respond at all. Do nothing, do not strike back at the terrorists. Now, my staff and I, we spotted that tweet at 3 in the morning and we condemned it loudly. I said, look, everyone involved in drafting this tweet, everyone involved in approving it should be fired. The State Department within hours, deleted the tweet. The next day, Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, sent out another tweet. He said he had just talked with the Turkish foreign minister and they had agreed that it was imperative to have a ceasefire. Understand that the word ceasefire. Listen, Hamas does not intend to have a ceasefire until they murder every Jew they can find. That's when they intend to stop. Prime Minister Netanyahu has rightly said that they are going to utterly eliminate Hamas. And every time you hear a Democrat or the media saying the word ceasefire, what they are saying is, protect Hamas and stop Israel from retaliating. Right now, the US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, is in Israel and he went there to argue for what he called a quote, humanitarian pause. Yeah, now that's just fancy Orwellian speak for a ceasefire. What he's saying is, israel, please don't kill the terrorists. He's also arguing, israel, please give fuel to the terrorists. So in the Gaza Strip, many of the Hamas terrorists are in tunnels that they have dug underground. Those tunnels are ventilated. They are powered by fuel generators. And so Israel has said, we're cutting off your fuel. What is the Biden State Department saying? Send fuel in there. The reason Israel is cutting off the fuel is to get the terrorists out of the tunnels so they can kill the terrorists who are targeting and murdering civilians. And I got to say, and this is something. So in the last three weeks, this podcast, we've done a deep dive on what's happening in Israel, examining the atrocities that were carried out, but also examining the complicity of the Biden administration. It is funding this attack. It has flowed over $100 billion to Iran, who planned and directed this attack. But not only that, on this podcast, we've explained how the corporate media is an integral part of Hamas's war plan. We had a podcast episode that was entitled, CNN is Hamas's air Force. So is msnbc, so is abc.
- [10:39]
A
It's scary. It's accurate.
- [10:40]
B
It's terrifying.
- [10:41]
A
Yeah.
- [10:42]
B
And we went through a dozen different clips, including we played one on this podcast, by the way.
- [10:48]
A
Go back and download this if you didn't. If you did not get to hear this. This is why I love doing this show with you, because we take time. And we pulled all these clips and we played them back, and you can't.
- [10:59]
B
Get them anywhere else.
- [11:00]
A
Yeah, no one else is playing this. And we put it back to back so you can watch the American media defend this terrorist organization.
- [11:08]
B
Well. And one of the most stunning is CNN had a spokesperson for the Palestinians who went on CNN and said, hamas only attacks military targets. They never attack civilians. And the Israelis deliberately target civilians. And CNN sat there as they utterly lied. They aired globally terrorist propaganda, which is exactly opposite of the truth. And I'll point out, not only is it the case that Hamas deliberately was murdering civilians, and by the way, they don't keep this a secret. They videoed themselves and put the videos out for the world. They're proud of it. But not only that, the Israelis go to extraordinary lengths, more than any military on the face of the planet, to avoid civilian deaths. Now, tragically, we know there will be Palestinian civilian deaths, but the reason for that is Hamas deliberately using human shields. They want Palestinian civilians to die. So, for example, they put their military headquarters in the basement of a hospital. They put missiles in kindergarten classrooms. Because when the Israelis take out military targets, they want there to be dead Palestinians. Because they then know Hamas knows they're not strong enough to defeat Israel. But their plan is for the useful idiots in the global media to take those images and demonize Israel. Which is why it is so important to speak out and speak the truth.
- [12:40]
A
One of the things about being here at the Goldwater Institute for this event is we get to talk about a subject that's really important that I know many of you care about, and that's an issue at the Supreme Court. There is a really important week coming up that deals with the Supreme Court, Senator, and I want you to talk about this. A vote that's coming up in judiciary and it's not being covered by anyone. And it's going to have or could have major consequences. And part of this is the left's clear vision to change or alter the Supreme Court and how the American people look at it, how they view it. Undermining the Supreme Court. Undermining directly. Justices influencing justice. We saw this with Roe v. Wade and the leaking of that document beforehand. We saw how the left allowed them to go after these Supreme Court justices at their homes. And no one was held accountable for that either.
- [13:33]
B
So the left has been engaged in a multi year systematic effort to undermine and delegitimize the Supreme Court. They view it as the one institution of government. They don't have a stranglehold on it.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And so their intention is to destroy the court. And it has featured things including Chuck Schumer standing on the steps of the Court, threatening justices by name and saying if you do not rule the way he wants them to, that you have unleashed the whirlwind and you will pay the price. We saw, we saw the leak of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision. We then also have seen week after week, month after month, angry, violent protesters outside the homes of Supreme Court justices. Now, it's a federal crime to protest at the home of a federal judge trying to influence the outcome of an election.
- [14:26]
A
Let's just say that again, because I don't think people realize that of any federal judge, not just Supreme Court.
- [14:31]
B
You can't go and threaten a federal judge at their home. It's a federal crime. Now, the Biden Justice Department, you know how many people they prosecuted for violating that law? Zero. Not a single one. Now, it got so bad, there was one lunatic that traveled from California all the way to Bethesda, Maryland. He brought a gun, he brought a knife, he brought duct tape, and he came there to murder Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He was apprehended. He's being prosecuted for attempted murder. But every night, and he should be. But every night, the people who are committing criminal offenses in front of the justices houses trying to intimidate them, the Biden Department of Justice Merrick Garland refuses to follow federal law. So the latest iteration in the Democrats efforts to undermine the Supreme Court is they have been targeting a smear campaign directed at Clarence Thomas. Now, I know Justice Thomas very well. I believe Justice Clarence Thomas is an American hero. He's an extraordinary man. He's a brilliant. Actually, I want to take a digression.
- [15:42]
A
It's so funny.
- [15:42]
B
By the way, I want to tell you a fun story about Justice Thomas. So I was a law clerk at the Supreme Court from 1996 to 1997. And when I was clerking at the court, I clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. I got to know Justice Thomas very well. And at the time, two stories about Justice Thomas. Number one, one of my co clerks was a guy named Rick Garden. He's a professor of law at Notre Dame. And Rick and his wife had tutored a young African American kid in Arkansas the year before. His name was Carlos. He was a seventh grader. And Rick and Nicole said, okay, we want to fly Carlos to Washington D.C. he'd never left Arkansas. He'd never seen it. And they said, we want to bring him there. And so Carlos came and Rick sent an email to all nine Supreme Court justices. And he said, hey, this kid my wife and I tutored is coming. Would you be willing to meet with him? Two said, yes. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas. Now, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it was very nice of her to meet with him. And they had a conversation. But look, it was a little stilted. She was very prim. She was very proper. She was like a librarian. And for a kid who grew up in rural Arkansas, it was difficult to understand and really connect with Mrs. Ginsburg. But it was very gracious of her to say yes. The other who said yes was Clarence Thomas. Now, Clarence Thomas grew up in Pinpoint, Georgia. Pinpoint is a tiny rural town in Georgia. He grew up in abject poverty. And he sat there talking with Carlos. He spent over an hour with a seventh grade kid talking with him. At the end of the discussion, Carlos, the Supreme Court didn't mean a whole lot to him. But Justice Thomas had a picture of himself with Troy Aikman. He's a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. And that impressed Carlos. Like, wow, that's a big deal.
- [17:35]
A
You know, Aikman, that's. Yeah, you're in.
- [17:38]
B
And Justice Thomas saw how impressed he was. And he had on his desk, he had a ticket to the super bowl encased in loose sight and signed by Emmett Smith. And he grabbed it off his desk, he said, carlos, I'm going to give you this ticket. But he said, I want you to promise me you're going to get A's in school next year. And Carlos, with wide open eyes, nodded and said, yes, sir, I will. That's one day that was never reported. That was never commented. There were no cameras there. That's who Justice Thomas is. Here's the second story. So my college roommate and best friend, other than Heidi, is a guy you know well. David Panton. Oh, yeah, he is Jamaican. He is an extraordinary guy. And he was president of the Harvard Law Review. So the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was a guy named Barack Obama. I'm not sure what he went on to do after that.
- [18:34]
A
You can Google it if you need to check that out later.
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B
The second black president of the Harvard Law Review was my old roommate, David Panto. And so David, when I was clerking, he said, look, I'd really love to meet Justice Thomas. And so I asked the justice, hey, my roommate's president of the Law Review, would you be willing to meet with him? He said, sure. So they came, David came up, and the two of them sat, and I sat in on the meeting. They spent again about an hour, hour and a half talking, got along famously. Justice Thomas wanted David to come clerk for him. And David. David is in private equity. He's gone into business. And David says, no, no, no, no. I leave. He's Jamaican, so he has this lilting Jamaican accent. He goes, no, no, no. I leave law to the smart people. And Justice Thomas leans forward and says, so do I. And it was just. I'm sitting there like, holy cow. How am I sitting there watching this.
- [19:31]
A
Extraordinary exchange, by the way. Side note, because this is the best part about doing this show.
- [19:35]
B
And they're both brilliant.
- [19:36]
A
Both brilliant. But this is the best part about doing this show. I get to pull back the curtain. You are obsessed with basketball. People may not realize that you play at least, what, twice a week?
- [19:46]
B
I play twice a week. Obsessed is strong. No, I should have a better. You love it.
- [19:50]
A
You love basketball. It's your. It is your thing. Clarence Thomas likes basketball.
- [19:54]
B
He does. He did.
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A
You Ever play? Did you ever play when you were working?
- [19:58]
B
Sadly, I didn't because his wife Jenny won't let him play anymore. He hurt his knee. He used to play. We begged him to come out and play. Now, Byron White.
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A
Yeah.
- [20:07]
B
Who was. Who was. Okay, here's an interesting bit of trivia. Sorry, we're taking a total digression, but the fun thing about a podcast is we can do that. All right, so let's do a little bit of history. World War II, a boat known as PT109 is sunk in World War II. An intelligence report is written that describes in the sinking of PT109 incredible heroism from a young sailor by the name of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. And this intelligence report described Kennedy as an incredible hero. Fast forward 20 years, and JFK's president, JFK appointed one and only one person to the Supreme Court. Do you know who that was?
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A
I don't.
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B
Byron White. Do you know who wrote the intelligence report?
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A
Byron White.
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B
That is the.
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A
That's one way to get on the Supreme Court, I guess, right? That's the easiest way.
- [21:06]
B
The absolute truth. Truth. Now, Byron White is someone that I think would only exist in, like, a fictional Tom Wolf book. Byron White was second in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. Byron White was first in his class at Yale Law School. And the same year he was first in the class in the Yale Law School, he led the NFL in rushing.
- [21:36]
A
Wow.
- [21:37]
B
Like, holy cow, who does that? And so when I clerked, Byron White was retired. He was like 80, and he used to play hoops with the law clerks. And so at the Supreme Court, there's a basketball court. And the basketball court, guess what it's named by the way, it's at the top. And so the floor of the court is the ceiling of the courtroom. So they don't let you play during an argument because you can literally hear the dribbling through the ceiling.
- [22:04]
A
And its nickname, the Supreme Court.
- [22:07]
B
No, no, no, no, no, no.
- [22:08]
A
That's what I was told. All right, it's wrong. All right, I was told. I was told it was the Supreme Court. All right, what is it?
- [22:14]
B
Its nickname is the highest court in the land.
- [22:16]
A
Oh, well, okay, there you go.
- [22:18]
B
But Byron White used to play and he was. Look, the guy led the NFL in rushing. He was a massive guy. And apparently he'd play with pencil neck law clerks and he would foul like crazy and just throw him down you. Nothing he would do would ever be a foul. And he would just brutalize. When I was clerking, he was like 80. So we couldn't get him to play, but I just shook his hands and like, his fingers were the diameter of a quarter. I mean, it was weird. So he didn't play anymore. And sadly, Justice Thomas didn't play anymore when I was there either because Ginny wouldn't let him because he hurt his knee playing when you clerked.
- [22:56]
A
Last question on this, and then we'll get back to this vote this week. But I gotta ask, what was the coolest part about clerking in the Supreme Court.
- [23:05]
B
Being part of the decision making? So I clerked for Chief Justice Rehnquist. He was an extraordinary man. He was someone. He was born in Milwaukee. He was born in a blue collar family. He enlisted in the army in World War II. So he was a sergeant. He was a weather observer in North Africa during World War II. It's one of the really cool things. I've always loved that the Chief justice of the United States was not an officer. He was an enlisted man. And years later, when he was serving on the court, Lewis Powell, who served with him, was a colonel in World War II. And Powell used to say, you know, I outrank you. And the Chief justice would say, not anymore. But Rehnquist was spectacularly brilliant. So he had a purely photographic memory at a level I've never seen anyone else. So here's an amazing story. So Rehnquist graduated from Stanford Law School. He was first in his class at Stanford. In the same class was Sandra Day O'Connor. She was third in her class at Stanford. I've always wondered what happened to the poor schlab who. Second.
- [24:24]
A
Yeah.
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B
So Rehnquist and O'Connor dated. They dated in law school. And they actually. He asked her to marry him.
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A
Are you kidding?
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B
And she said no. Now, as y'all know, Sandra Day O'Connor came back to Arizona, was an Arizona legend, was the Senate Majority Leader here in the state of Arizona, and they served together. And she and her husband and he and his wife were friends for 50 years. They were very close friends. A great story from Sandra Day O'Connor. So when she was Sandra Day and she was dating John O'Connor, she describes in her autobiography how she brought this young Stanford law student, she was dating back to meet her dad on the ranch. And she said that day, dad just happened to be castrating calves.
- [25:16]
A
Just happened to be.
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B
And she writes in the book, I wonder if he was trying to send a message.
- [25:21]
A
That's like gun cleaning night in the.
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B
South, I gotta say.
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A
Have a daughter having a date. Right.
- [25:25]
B
As the father of two daughters, I find that exquisite.
- [25:32]
C
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- [27:22]
A
About this week in D.C. because it's important what's going on and explain what the plan is for the Democrats and what they're trying to accomplish.
- [27:30]
B
So the Democrats are intending to issue subpoenas for three people for Harlan Crowe, for Leonard Leo and for Robin Arkley ii. Now all three of them. Harlan Crow is a very successful businessman in Texas. Leonard Leo is a very close friend who has helped lead the Federalist Society for 30 years. I've known Leonard Leo for 30 years. He's been actively involved in fighting to confirm conservative supreme court justices for 30 years. The purpose of this subpoena is there is a concerted smear campaign directed at Justice Thomas. And so you've seen the stories about Justice Thomas flew on a private plane. Justice Thomas was the guest at the vacation home of a billionaire. And so he must be corrupt. Now, I'm going to tell you two things about that smear campaign. Number one, it is utterly and completely hypocritical in that if you look at the numbers from 2004 to 2018, the justices disclosed, how many trips do you think they took? The nine justices?
- [28:44]
A
No idea.
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B
1,306.
- [28:47]
A
That's a hell of a lot of travel.
- [28:48]
B
That's nine people. They travel a lot. Six of the Supreme Court's nine members received paid trips to Europe in 2014, including Berlin, London, Zurich. Justice Stephen Breyer was repeatedly flown around by the billionaire Pritzker family from Chicago, by the way, one of whom is the Democrat governor of Illinois right now. Justice Sotomayor likewise flew all over the place. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg flew all over the place. Justice Breyer took more reimbursed trips, 219, than any other member from 2004 to 2018. And the attack that's directed at Clarence Thomas. Look, if you want to argue Supreme Court justices shouldn't be able to fly on trips or on private planes, fine. If you want to talk about rules that apply to everyone, that's fine. That's a reasonable conversation. What's not reasonable is to say we're going to attack Clarence Thomas for doing the same thing the other eight justices are doing and we're going to hypocritically apply rules to him that don't apply to anyone else. Now, let me tell you something on top of that, which is this smear campaign is funded by and is driven by in particular, ProPublica. That has been the organization that's putting out all of these attack pieces. Now, who is ProPublica funded by? I'm going to quote from the Daily Caller, quote, Nonprofit news outlet ProPublica, which published multiple stories detailing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas alleged ethics violations, has many of the same donors as multiple groups actively campaigning for Thomas to be investigated or resigned. The Sandler foundation, which launched ProPublica in 2007 and is the news outlet's largest donor, has given it almost $40 million since 2010 for general support. The Sandler foundation has also given over $7.5 million to the Campaign Legal center since 2015 and over $6 million to the American Constitutional Society for general support since 2010. Those are all rabid left wing organizations. So understand this smear campaign is driven by left wing billionaires and it is funded to delegitimize the Supreme Court. And in particular, the left hates Clarence Thomas and they hate him with an intensity that is different from any other conservative justice. Look, I knew Antonin Scalia very well. He was brilliant. He was an extraordinary justice. He was every bit as conservative as Clarence Thomas. And yet the left did not heap contempt on Antonin Scalia the way they do Justice Thomas. The left's view is for a black man to dare to be conservative is an unacceptable crime, is something that has to be punished. The left refers to, they do magazine covers with pictures of Clarence Thomas as an Uncle Tom sitting at the feet of Antonin Scalia. It is bigoted, it's racist, it's a lie, it's immoral. And this viciousness directed at Clarence Thomas, these subpoenas we're going to vote on this week in the Judiciary Committee. The Democrats are going to have the votes to issue them from Judiciary. But the good news is they don't have legal force unless they get 60 votes on the floor of the Senate. And the chances of that happening are zero.
- [32:26]
C
Thank goodness for that.
- [32:29]
A
Before we get into Q and A, I want to ask you one other thing, and it's the issue. And I have a feeling a lot of people are going to like this idea here. School choice. I am a huge proponent of school choice. It's been something that you have been a champion of for years, but it's also become, in many circles, they say, a third rail. Don't touch it, don't talk about it, don't deal with it in politics. Do you believe in this next election cycle that conservatives can win on the issue of school choice? And how would they best do that nationwide?
- [33:04]
B
Look, I think absolutely, yes, I am. There is no domestic issue I care about more than school choice. I think school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. And listen, it is worth noting that school choice has been around from the dawn of time. The rich and the middle class have always had school choice. If you were a student at the Bethesda Public Schools in Maryland, Bethesda is this very wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C. if that school had a 50% dropout rate, if among the students that remained there, fewer than half of them graduated reading at grade level, if drug dealers were walking in the hallways, if little girls were getting sexually assaulted in the bathroom, the Bethesda public schools would be empty immediately because the parents there are rich. So they would do one of two things. They would either write checks and pay tuition at a private school, or they would move to another neighborhood that had a better public school. And they would exercise choice through choosing where to live. That's what the rich have always been able to do. That's what the upper middle class have always been able to do. It is low income Americans. It is single moms in inner cities who are trapped with failing schools. And those numbers I've described are true in school, after school, after school in this country. And it predominantly hurts low income kids. It hurts African American kids, it hurts Hispanic kids. And the Democrat party is bought and paid for by the teachers unions. If you look at African American communities or Hispanic communities systematically, 60, 70, as much as 80% of African American parents, as much as 60, 70, 80% of Hispanic parents support school choice. I believe every child in America deserves a right to have access to an excellent education, regardless of their race, of their ethnicity, of their wealth, of their zip code. So how do we win? I gotta say we are sitting in actually an extraordinary place because I want to say to the men and women here, thank you for your leadership. Arizona has led the nation in providing choice to your students. It has been extraordinary, it has been inspirational, it has been powerful. And the Goldwater Institute has been pivotal in making that happen. And if you look nationally, the two states at the front of this fight have been Arizona and Florida. And I will say something. You and I are both Texans. And look, Texans, we are known for being quiet and for our humility. Look, as Texans, I hate that there is anything Texans are not leaning on. But when it comes to school choice, Texans have been lagging behind. And I can tell you there's a major battle playing out in the Texas legislature right now. We have the single best moment we have ever had in our lifetimes to pass real and meaningful school choice in Texas. The governor, Greg Abbott, has said he's going to keep calling special sessions until they pass it. And I'll tell you something that I do in Texas that is unusual. Ben. So virtually every US Senator stays out of state primaries in their own state. And the reason is getting involved in a primary in your own state is just stupid. It hurts you that if you make an endorsement in your own primary, in a primary in your state, the rule of thumb is you get half of their friends and you get all of their enemies. I don't do that. I regularly endorse in primaries. To the best of my knowledge, I don't know another US senator that does. To the best of my knowledge, 99 of my colleagues do not. And I endorse in lots of primaries in Texas. And here's how. I have my staff prepare an Excel spreadsheet of Every vote that a state legislator has cast on school choice. And my rule is, if you voted in favor of school choice and you're otherwise relatively conservative, you're quite likely to get my support. If you voted against choice, the chances of getting my support are essentially zero. And it is very likely that I will endorse your primary opponent. And when I do that, I don't do it gently. I come in and I cut radio and TV ads and I come in.
- [38:05]
A
You're accused of a lot of things. You going gently into political time is not one of them, sir.
- [38:10]
B
The stakes are too high. And so we had last election cycle, seven runoffs with the teachers unions on one side and me on the other, and we beat them in a majority of those races. And the reason I do that. And listen, it hurts me politically to do that. I am losing votes when I do that. But the reason I'm doing that is that I want for the state legislators, when they're thinking about what do I do on this for it to be a carrot and stick that if there is a Republican House member that's on the fence, do I support it? Do I not? I want them to say, you know, I really don't want Cruz to screw around in my primary, so maybe I'll just do the right thing. And I'll tell you something, and it's something why I'm so inspired by the men and women in this room. When I was first elected to the Senate in 2012, here's what I told Heidi. I said, sweetheart, if when I die, if my tombstone says Ted played a meaningful role in bringing about school choice to every child in Texas and every child in America, I will die a very, very happy man.
- [39:25]
A
Amen to that. So we rarely get to do this, so I want to say a thank you. Our show, we have amazing, amazing sponsors that allow us to do this. Patriot Mobile is here tonight. I want to say a big shout out to those guys for being here. If you haven't checked them out, they're phenomenal. They do great work and really give people an alternative. So thank you guys for being here as well. Tonight. I saw that. I heard an amen out there. I knew. I was like, I know that voice. So that's. I got it. Right, Right. You're out there.
- [39:52]
B
Yes.
- [39:52]
A
See, there he is. All right, there we go. All right, so let's go to the Q and A real quick. We'll get. If you'll say your name at the beginning and where you live, and then we'll go there Go ahead.
- [40:02]
D
Hi, Senator, I'm Mark Folker from Las Vegas. A few weeks ago, Jay Powell, Chairman of the Fed, was asked if the Federal Reserve was going to issue a central bank digital currency. And his response was that would have to be authorized by Congress. So my question is, when legislation is introduced to authorize a central bank digital currency, what will be the response in Congress? Thank you.
- [40:40]
B
So Mark, thank you for that question. For anyone who didn't hear, he asked about the Federal Reserve potentially issuing a central bank digital currency and how Congress would respond if legislation was issued. I'll tell you, I am passionately opposed to any central bank digital currency. And in fact, Mark, I have introduced legislation to prohibit the Fed from ever issuing a central bank digital currency. When it comes to bitcoin, when it comes to cryptocurrency generally, I am very bullish on bitcoin. I'm personally an investor in bitcoin. I have a standing buy order. I buy Bitcoin every Monday on an automatic buy order. That's just my meager resources. That's part of our investment. I think bitcoin is an extraordinary number one hedge against inflation. But number two, look, I love bitcoin for the same reason that collectivists and statists hate it, which is that it cannot be controlled. Communist China has banned bitcoin. China hates Bitcoin for the same reason Elizabeth Warren hates bitcoin. Because they cannot control it. The left wants to control your finances and they want to monitor every monetary exchange you have, including the original version of the so called Build Back Better bill, which I called Build Back Broke required your bank to report to the federal government every single transaction you made in excess of $400. That meant every mortgage payment, that meant every car payment with inflation. That damn near meant every time you filled up your gas tank. I think it is insane. The federal government has no business monitoring the financial transactions of a free people. I will tell you also I am a big proponent. Texas is becoming an oasis for bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining that people are coming to Texas to be free. It is a benefit to have low cost, abundant energy. And if that's one thing Texas has, we have a lot of it. I will say I'm glad Jay Powell says that. I have asked him in my office about a central bank digital currency. What he said in my office sounded pretty good. Now it worries me sometimes that when Jay Powell is talking to Democrats, what he says doesn't sound pretty good. And so I remain worried the Fed will try to do this on their own. But I can tell you, if they do, I will lead the fight against it. And I don't think the federal government should ever get in that business.
- [43:33]
A
Go ahead. Next up, tell us your name.
- [43:36]
B
Hi, I'm Jenny Simpson from Paradise Valley, Arizona. My question is, Senator, when are you going to convince the rest of the.
- [43:46]
D
Senate that without border security, we don't.
- [43:50]
B
Have any US Security? Amen, Jenny. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that question. I tell you, we talked about, were we going to talk about securing the border or not? And I told him, ben, we're in Arizona. The chances that we go through Q and A without talking about border security are zero. Look, it is an absolute manifest disaster. You all know that. You deal with it every day in Texas. We know that. We deal with it every day. I was down at our southern border last week. I went there. Thursday night of last week. I went to the midnight muster with the border patrol agents, where I said to all of the agents, thank you, thank you, thank you for your heroism, for defending this nation, even when you have political nincompoops who are undermining you every single day. I then went out on midnight patrol with the border Patrol, which I've done many, many times. Every time you go out on midnight patrol, within minutes you encounter groups of illegal aliens. Karine Jean Pierre said at a White House briefing, people are not just walking across our southern border. It's not happening. Now, there's a technical term for what she just did there that is called a lie. It is not a point of view. It is not spin. It is not advocacy. It is a brazen, flat out lie. And I responded, actually on this podcast, I said, karine Jean Pierre, come with me to the southern border. Let's go out. And in one hour, I promise you, we will encounter illegal aliens because over 8 million have crossed since Joe Biden became president. Now, let me tell you something. One of the last times I was there, a reporter asked me, said, well, aren't the policies of Democrats much more compassionate and humane on immigration than you mean old Republicans who want to secure the border? And I just started laughing and I said, you know who doesn't believe that anymore? The Democrats. I said, where's Joe Biden? Where's Kamala Harris? Where is a single Democrat senator? None of them come to the border. And there's a reason for that, because you cannot see what is happening. You cannot see the dead bodies. Last year, 853 migrants died crossing illegally into this country. Texas farmers and ranchers find dead bodies on their property every single day. They do the same thing here in Arizona. You cannot see the children who have been brutalized by human traffickers. You can't see the women who've been sexually assaulted. You can't see the more than 100,000 drug overdoses last year, 70% of which came from Chinese fentanyl. You can't see that and argue this is humane or compassionate. It is a disaster. And we're seeing blue state governors and mayors, people like Mayor Erica Adams in New York City declaring an emergency and saying illegal immigration is destroying New York City. New York City has 9 million people. They've had roughly 110,000 illegal immigrants. Adams blames that madman down in Texas, by which I think he means Governor Greg Abbott. Frankly, I was offended. He didn't mean me like, what do I have to do?
- [47:31]
A
I'm sure we can get a reporter to ask that question, if you like, clarify. Right.
- [47:36]
B
I don't disagree with him that 110,000 illegal immigrants threatens to destroy New York City. But my question is, if that's true, what the hell do you think 8 million is doing for Texas and Arizona and the rest of the southern border?
- [47:53]
A
Amen.
- [47:55]
B
So I can tell you, periodically I bring my colleagues down. So on Thursday, I brought five senators down to the southern border to see firsthand what is happening. The Democrats, quite simply, do not care. It is the fault. This crisis is man made. Joe Biden created it, Kamala Harris created it, and every single Democrat senator created it. And they could stop it tomorrow. So I cannot promise you that I'm going to change their view. But I can promise you I will continue doing everything humanly possible to tell the American people the nightmare, the national security disaster that they are creating. The San Diego Customs and Border Patrol last week put out a written memo directing Border Patrol to be on guard for Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists crossing our southern border.
- [48:52]
A
And Christopher Wray changed his words this week, saying he's terrified over this.
- [48:57]
B
This is our last podcast. On Wednesday, we played Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, his words before Congress, where he said there's a real risk of a Hamas attack in the United States right now. And I am sorry to say I think we are at a greater risk today of a major terrorist attack in America than at any point since September 11th. And as long as Joe Biden and the Democrats keep an open border, we are jeopardizing the safety of every American in our country.
- [49:29]
A
One final question real quick, and we'll wrap it up.
- [49:33]
E
Hello, Senator. My name is Matt McGill. I'm from Alexandria, Virginia. We have a common mentor and Chuck Cooper.
- [49:40]
B
Oh, fantastic.
- [49:41]
E
Yeah. So my question for you is about Citizens United versus fec. So you know, this is something that Chuck and I worked on together going back, I don't know, way back to 2002. So all of a sudden, after the Supreme Court's decision in 2010, 13 years later, it's suddenly controversial again. Just wondering if you could explain why it's controversial and where you stand on that, please. Thank you.
- [50:09]
B
So it is a great question. I will say that the gentleman who just asked, he said that he had worked with Chuck Cooper. Chuck Cooper was my very first boss that I worked for after clerky for Chief Justice Rehnquist. He's one of my closest friends and mentors. He's one of the top Supreme Court and constitutional lawyers in the country. The question was about Citizens United. And I have a crazy radical view, which is we should protect free speech. Free speech matters. Do you know what Citizens United was about? So if you look at the case, Citizens United is a non profit organization that made a movie that was critical of Hillary Clinton. And the Obama administration wanted to go after and fine and punish this nonprofit organization for daring to make a movie that was critical of a politician. And it went all the way to the U.S. supreme Court. And actually at the U.S. supreme Court, there's an exchange where Justice Alito asked the Obama Justice Department, under your theory that the government can punish a movie maker for making a movie critical of a politician, could the federal government also ban books? Would you have the authority to ban books? You didn't like that. Criticize politicians. And the Obama Justice Department said, yes, yes, that's exactly what we're arguing for. The Supreme Court and Citizens United quite rightly upheld the First Amendment and said Americans have a right to speak and to speak about politics and the government can't criminalize you. And me speaking about politics now, I've been in the Senate 11 years. I've spent the last 11 years, I've spent all of my adult life fighting to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. My time in the Senate in particular, I've been passionate defending free speech. In the wake of Citizens United, the Democrats introduced a constitutional amendment to repeal the free speech protections of the First Amendment. Now you probably don't know that because the news didn't cover it. The first version of the constitutional amendment they introduced is an amendment that would give Congress plenary power, which means blanket power, total authority to regulate any expenditure of money that Involves politics. That means if a little old lady goes to Home Depot and buys a poster board and a stick and puts up a sign on her front yard that says Joe Biden is a dumbass, that the federal government could make it a felony and lock her up and put her in jail. That also means, by the way, the federal government could lock up Simon and Schuster, could lock up a movie producer, could lock up anyone who engages in speech the federal government didn't like. It also means, by the way, they could lock up any union organizer who spends even a dollar trying to organize people in a union. I led the fight against it. At the time, I was the ranking member on the Constitution subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. You can go online and watch. I debated Al Franken when he was a senator before he resigned in disgrace. Really a sad day for America. I asked Al Franken. I said, I've got three simple. Should the federal government be able to ban books? Yes or no. Should the federal government be able to ban movies? Yes or no. And should the federal government be able to criminalize the naacp? Because after the Democrats retreated from their first version of the amendment, they shifted to another version. They said, well, this is only true for corporations. Well, you know what? Paramount Pictures is a corporation. Yeah. Under their amendment, you could ban movies. Simon and Schuster is a corporation. Under their amendment, you could ban books. And the NAACP is a corporation. Under their amendment, they could criminalize membership in the naacp. We were in the Senate. I introduced a substitute amendment to replace every word of their amendment with word for word, the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. Every single Democrat voted no. We went to the Senate floor. I led the debate on the Senate floor. I had a poster board behind me. So they had tried to do this previously, and there had been lions of the left who spoke out against it. Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy said, when Democrats tried to do this in a previous decade. We haven't amended the Bill of rights in 200 years, and now is no time to start. I had a picture of Ted Kennedy behind me in that quote. My dad, whom I adore, who was an exile from Cuba and came to America seeking freedom. My dad called me terrified. He's like, my God, you've got Ted Kennedy behind. It's like, what has happened to my son? He's gone native. In the past, there had been Democrats that believed in free speech. We voted on it in 2014. Do you know how many Democrats voted against repealing the free speech protections of the First Amendment?
- [55:56]
A
How many?
- [55:57]
B
Zero.
- [55:58]
C
Wow.
- [55:58]
B
Not a single Democrat, every Democrat lined up for taking away free speech. By the way, that fall on Constitution Day, the National Constitution center in Philadelphia invited me to debate a Democrat on their amendment to repeal the free speech protections of the First Amendment. I immediately accepted. They invited Dick Durbin, the author of the amendment. He said no. They invited Sheldon Whitehouse, one of the leading advocates. He said no. They invited Al Franken, one of the leading advocates. He said no. They invited Chuck Schumer, one of the leading advocates. He said no. No Democrat was willing to show up. So I went to Philadelphia, an audience about 700 people, and I basically debated myself. I presented their arguments and I'm very pleased to say I kicked their ass.
- [56:55]
A
Thank you guys so much for having us here. It was well worth the flight down here to Arizona. Thanks to the Goldwater Institute for having us. Don't forget, you can download Verdict Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Hit that subscribe that auto download button, the follow button depending on where you download Verdict. Also remember, on Saturdays we have our Weekend Review where we grab some of the issues you may have missed a little bit deeper in each episode. And we put that out there for you as well. And the Senator and I will see you back here in a couple of days.
- [57:27]
C
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