← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
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- [00:02]
Ben Ferguson
Joe Biden has officially dropped out of the presidential race. Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you on this special podcast. Senator, you predicted this 10 months ago. It has now become a reality. Your initial reaction?
- [00:19]
Ted Cruz
Well, today is an historic day. We are 106 days out from the presidential election and the Democrat nominee for president, the sitting Democrat president, is out. He will not be on the ballot. He will not be the candidate. At this point, the Democrat Party is in utter disarray. Chaos is erupting. We're going to break down exactly what is likely to happen next. We're going to walk all through the steps to expect in the 160 days between now and election day.
- [00:47]
Ben Ferguson
First, before we get into all that, I want to tell you about my friends at Blackout Coffee. I can promise you right now I don't need a cup of coffee with this new news that Biden's out. But on a normal day when I'm getting on the radio at 7am it is really important that I'm awake and I am ready to go. I don't want an average cup of coffee. I want a phenomenal cup of coffee, a premium cup of coffee without the woke agenda of so many of the coffee companies out there. When I said that, you probably thought about a couple of brands. Well, Blackout Coffee is a hardcore conservative company committed to conservative values from the sourcing of the beans, the roasting process, customer support and shipping. They embody true American values and they accept no compromise on quality or taste. Now, I have gotten countless emails and messages on social media from people that have switched and tried Blackout. They love it. I want you to try it and I want you to save some Money. Go to blackout coffee.com verdict and if you use the coupon code, verdict, you're going to get 20% off your first order. That's Blackout Coffee.com verdict. Be awake, not woke. Blackout Coffee.com verdict promo code verdict for 20% off your first order and get the best cup of coffee of your life. All right, Senator, so let's start with what's happened over the last week. Democrats witnessed an incredible GOP convention. You and I were there. It's the most, I think, unity I've ever seen. The Republican Party at a convention, undoubtedly. And they were, I think, really concerned after the convention of a big bump. How do you reset a race? You get in your new candidate and I think they clearly saw that. We saw the big five Democratic families and the media coalesce behind forcing him to get out. I think some sort of Deal had to happen to make sure that Joe Biden and his family are gonna be taken care of. Kamala Harris was the obvious choice. That's now who he's endorsed. And other Democrats seem to be jumping on board.
- [02:42]
Ted Cruz
Well, listen, I think this was inevitable, as I said at as of the night of the debate, but I think the momentum of it accelerated. Number one, with the assassination attempt on President Trump, number two, with the very successful presidential convention we just had in Milwaukee, I think Democrats were in absolute panic. They were in panic. Earlier today, poll numbers came out of Michigan that had Trump leading Biden in Michigan by seven points. You want to talk about something to put, put Democrats in cold sweats? If they're losing Michigan by seven points, go ahead and pull the curtains down, roll up the rug. It's all over. That's why they did this. That would have happened regardless. Even if the debate had been, even if the convention rather had been bumpy, even if Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania had not happened, I believe we would still have Biden out of the race. But the Democrats, we saw each of the major constituencies of the Democrat Party line up against Joe Biden and force him out. He did not want to go. He did not go willingly. But one after the other, starting with Democrats in Congress. Nancy Pelosi came out against him. Chuck Schumer came out against him. Hakeem Jeffries came out against him. And it was all self interest. All the Democrats in Congress were looking at their polls saying, holy cow, we're about to lose. And they all lined up against him. But you also saw, you saw Barack Obama quietly coming out against him. He put out a quick tweet in support of him, but he also signed off on George Clooney representing Hollywood abandoning him, saying, joe, get out. We saw the corporate media uniformly pushing him out. We saw the donors pushing him out. And the pressure became too much to bear. One senator after another senator after another senator. On the Democrat side, Biden didn't have a choice. But I will say it was very savvy of them to wait until after this convention.
- [04:36]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [04:37]
Ted Cruz
But let's just first go with the news. So today, here's what Joe Biden put out this afternoon. This is the letter he put out. He tweeted it out. This Screenshot is from 12:46pm Interestingly enough, it had 95.9 million views already. Yeah, I just checked a minute ago. We're about two hours later. It was up to 161 million views. This is his resignation letter. And rather than you and me, Read it. Which would be fine, but we'd have to say words that are demonstrably untrue things, claiming that Biden had actually done something. Well, that his record was something other than the train wreck it is. Rather than you or me read it, I think we're better off engaging in a bit of schadenfreude. And so watching Jen Psaki on MSNBC.
- [05:25]
Ben Ferguson
Read former White House press secretary Joe Biden's press secretary. Yeah. Having to carry the water.
- [05:30]
Ted Cruz
And I gotta say, look, since I said that, there are a number of lies about his record, Jen Psaki is actually quite a accomplished at reading lies. But for those of you watching this as a video pod. So this is one. We do this podcast three days a week. All three of them are on audio. Typically one a week is on video. This is one of the video and audio pods. And I will say, if you're listening on audio, I'd encourage you go to YouTube and watch it on video. Because to watch Jen Psaki's face, you cannot fully appreciate the agony without watching it. As she's reading these words and as we're watching the Democrat Party light itself on fire here. Give a listen, give a watch.
- [06:12]
Jen Psaki
We have breaking news here. President Biden has announced he will stand down from the race to read the statement here.
- [06:19]
Ted Cruz
Her expression, which is actually frozen on the screen right now, she's about to cry.
- [06:24]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. I mean, she's like, what has just happened to my world?
- [06:27]
Ted Cruz
No, no, no, it is that. All right, go ahead and keep playing.
- [06:32]
Jen Psaki
We also have Tim Miller, who's going to be joining us shortly. Over the past, my fellow Americans, over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a nation. Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We've made historic investments in rebuilding our nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We've provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Pass the first. Thank you so much. I'm just going to read off the paper here. Passed the first safety law in 30 years, appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court, and passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world.
- [07:18]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, really, that's. I mean, she just goes straight into it and is like, totally lost. Like, what just happened to us?
- [07:25]
Ted Cruz
Well, Joe Biden has suspended, as you And I predicted 10 months ago, as you and I predicted a month ago on the debate, and he will not be on the ballot. That has never happened before. You know, the closest analog is the 1968 Democrat convention, which was in Chicago as well. That is the last time you had an incumbent Democrat president. And that case, Lyndon B. Johnson.
- [07:51]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [07:52]
Ted Cruz
Not run for reelection. Now, Lyndon B. Johnson, why did he not run for reelection? A big part of it is he'd lost the support of the American people. He'd lost the support of Republicans, of independents and Democrats. And when you lose all of them, there ain't nobody left. It was the middle of the Vietnam War. Unlike Joe Biden, it was not that he was too old. It was just that he was physically worn down and tired and he'd lost the American people. And so LBJ didn't run. And you had. You want to talk about an incredibly contentious election. In that election, there was a guy named Robert F. Kennedy who was running that tragically is the election cycle where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in the course of the cycle. But he was, for a period, the rising star. You ended up having. LBJ's vice president, Hubert Humphrey got the nomination. But it was an incredibly close and contested race because you had a challenge from the left and a challenge from the left over Vietnam, a chaotic convention, and outside, you had rabid protesters engaged in violence and rioting. I think we may literally be seeing history repeating itself.
- [09:03]
Ben Ferguson
Let's talk about. And there's two aspects of what I'm about to ask you. Number one, we see early on, I think the front runner is Kamala Harris. We see people coalescing behind her. But the real question is, how did she get that support so quickly from this president? What is the deal that's being done behind the scenes? Was this the White House staffers making sure, hey, I want to stay in and keep my power. I have a better chance keeping it with Kama than going with somebody else. All these people in jobs, in, around Biden Harris are like, hey, I can keep my power if she's the person. Or was it, hey, he's. He's saying, okay, I trust you, Kamala, to take care of me, protect my son, possibly give out clemency or pardons that may be needed down the road. How did the sausage get made on this deal?
- [09:50]
Ted Cruz
All right, well, let's go back to Biden's resignation letter. Put that back up there. If you look at the resignation letter, that when he put it out earlier today, he says, and I'm going to finish reading from. From where we cut off on Jen Psaki. It's been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. And while it has been My intention to seek reelection. The damn Democrats drove me out of office. No, he didn't say that. He says, I believe it is in the best interest of my party. Notice his party first.
- [10:18]
Ben Ferguson
Yep.
- [10:19]
Ted Cruz
And the country. For me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. I will speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision. For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who worked so hard to see me re elected. I want to thank vice president Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me. Now, interestingly enough, in this resignation letter, you notice what he doesn't do.
- [10:55]
Ben Ferguson
I fully endorse.
- [10:56]
Ted Cruz
He doesn't mention endorsement at all. He says, I want to thank Kamala Harris. And he's silent. Now he puts that out, and I'm assuming when he puts that out, the powers that be in the White House and in the Democratic party freaked the hell out.
- [11:10]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. Lost their minds.
- [11:12]
Ted Cruz
Lost their minds. And so shortly thereafter, look at the tweet he put out as a follow up. Like it says something. Your resignation letter. It's kind of odd to need a.
- [11:20]
Ben Ferguson
Follow up and then a quick follow up at that.
- [11:23]
Ted Cruz
Very quick follow up. But there was enough time. That other one was 1246. This is 1 13. So, you know, time passed. And then he sends out another tweet. My fellow Democrats, I've decided not to accept the nomination, to focus all my energies on my duties as president for the remainder of my term. Notice that was in his letter.
- [11:39]
Ben Ferguson
Yep.
- [11:40]
Ted Cruz
My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my vice president. And it's the best decision I've made today. I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats, it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this.
- [11:58]
Ben Ferguson
So delayed reaction.
- [12:00]
Ted Cruz
So at this point, Kamala is clearly the front runner. Joe Biden is explicitly supporting her. In the time that followed, Bill Clinton came out in support of her. Hillary Clinton came out in support of her. Alex Soros has come out in support of her.
- [12:17]
Ben Ferguson
Alex, by the way, may be one of the most important actual endorsements because it's follow the money.
- [12:22]
Ted Cruz
Well, and look, George Soros has been the most important donor behind not just the Democrat party, but the radical leftists, the cultural Marxists, the anti semitic protesters on campus. Soros has been Funding all of that. According to multiple reports, George Soros's mental condition and mental deterioration is at least where Biden's is, if not substantially worse. And it's the son, Alex Soros is the one that's now making the decision. So understand when Alex Soros tweets out that he's behind Kamala Harris, what he's saying is the money is behind Kamala Harris. You're gonna see a lot of that. Now, interestingly enough, there's some other Democrats who are not quick to get on board. So, for example, take a look at what Gavin Newsom tweeted. President Biden has been an extraordinary history making president, a leader who has fought hard for working people and delivered astonishing results for all Americans. He will go down in history as one of the most impactful and selfless presidents. Thank you, Joe Biden.
- [13:25]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, there's not much of an endorsement there, is there?
- [13:27]
Ted Cruz
Whose name's not there?
- [13:28]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, Kamala.
- [13:30]
Ted Cruz
And interesting enough, now, look, Gavin is not lacking in ambition.
- [13:37]
Ben Ferguson
That's a very PC way of putting it. I like that. He's like, let's go to the convention and let's have this thing out.
- [13:44]
Ted Cruz
It'll be interesting. And by the way, earlier today there was all sorts of chatter that Hillary Clinton was going to make a play for this. It is interesting that she and Bill came out very quickly and said, let's get behind Kamala. You're going to see lots of chatter. There are Democrats talking about wanting to have a, you know, open convention, a sort of mini primary battle, have the delegates decide. Under DNC rules, initially the delegates will vote. It's being speculated that Biden will release his delegates and say, vote for whom you want. And there may be a process. They may do a process where Kamala runs and a handful of other people run and they have a first ballot. Under the DNC rules, the so called superdelegates, those include things like governors, things like senators. They don't vote until the second ballot. So the first ballot is the actual elected delegates. And if they were elected to support Joe Biden, if they've been released, they.
- [14:44]
Ben Ferguson
Can do whatever they want.
- [14:45]
Ted Cruz
They can do whatever they want. I think at the end of the day, there's going to be a little bit of noise, there's going to be a little bit of squawking. But I stand by my prediction from day one that there is one person and one person only for whom the Democrats will be willing to push Kamala Harris aside, and that is Michelle Obama. It doesn't appear Right now that Michelle is willing to get in. Now, that could be an August surprise. We've got nearly a month until the Democrat convention.
- [15:14]
Ben Ferguson
Can we just talk horse trading so people understand what this is gonna look like for the next 30 days? Behind the scenes delegates now have the power to pick who the president could be.
- [15:24]
Ted Cruz
Yep. And by the way, why is that? Because the Democrat Party. Look, they knew that Joe Biden was mentally incompetent. They knew a year ago. They ran him anyway. They had the voters, all the Democrat voters come vote for him, even though they knew he was mentally incompetent, that he couldn't do the job. Now, he couldn't do the job then, but they wanted power. The only thing that changed is with the debate, it became untenable. The American people realized this guy is not capable of doing the job anymore. It was only because they feared they were going to lose that the Democrats have abandoned him. But the consequence of that is the Democrats were perfectly fine with Democrat primary voters being completely disenfranchised. You will not get to select the Democrat nominee.
- [16:04]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, this person will be elected by no one in the public. It will all be done with horse trading. That can happen behind the scenes.
- [16:11]
Ted Cruz
A handful of elites, a handful of special interest, which actually is pretty typical of who the Democrat Party is.
- [16:17]
Ben Ferguson
Actually true.
- [16:18]
Ted Cruz
I mean, the irony is that they engage in Freudian projection at an historic level where everything they accuse the. Their opponents of is what they're doing. But Democrat primary voters will have no say in who the nominee is. It will be power brokers in Chicago.
- [16:34]
Ben Ferguson
So let's just paint behind the scenes so people understand the corruption that can come out of this. If you need delegates to get the nomination and you coalesce in smaller groups and then you go forward and say, hey, I'm so and so. I'm representing 35 people in this state, California. You can't win without us. I would like this, and this person would like this, and this person would like this and. And this person would like this, and their kids would like these jobs in the White House. If you give us this, you get all of our votes. That is exactly what we've seen happen at state level. We've seen corruption happen in a way when they're replacing a seat.
- [17:11]
Ted Cruz
Hey, Rob Blagojevich went to jail for basically selling a Senate seat. This is gonna happen now 100,000 times over. And by the way, put on top of that, the big labor unions and the big money players in the Democrat Party.
- [17:24]
Ben Ferguson
This is so corrupt.
- [17:26]
Ted Cruz
And the Sierra Club and the pro abortion groups and all of the different. The Democrat Party today is a coalition of rent seekers, of people who make their money suckling off the teat of government. That's who they are. And it is all about power and influence. Many of them, the reason they were willing to back someone who was obviously not mentally competent to be president is because they all stayed in power. Now suddenly, Joe Biden is going to be gone. And so they're all desperately scrambling. How do I keep my power? And we're gonna see that play out. What I think will happen at the end of the day, I think, number one, the Democrats are too much of racial and gender bean counters to push an African American woman aside for a white guy. So anyone looking at Gavin Newsom or anyone else, I just don't think that's gonna happen.
- [18:14]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, I agree.
- [18:14]
Ted Cruz
That's why I think Michelle Obama is the only person who could push her aside. And at least right now, it does not seem Michelle is trying to do that. If it's not Michelle, I think we will see Kamala Harris. And I think the real battle is gonna be who the VP is.
- [18:29]
Ben Ferguson
I wanna ask you about the vp, but before we get to that, is it fair to say that this might be the most corrupt picking of a presidential candidate in modern political history because of the time that people have to build their power and to basically, in essence, sell their vote?
- [18:47]
Ted Cruz
And it's perhaps now, to be fair, it hasn't happened yet, but it's all gonna be behind closed doors.
- [18:52]
Ben Ferguson
That's.
- [18:52]
Ted Cruz
That's not gonna be the voters. It's not gonna be in public. It's one thing if you campaign. Look, at some level, you could say all campaigns are in a way about buying votes. If you campaign and say, I'm for Medicare for all for socialized medicine, you're saying the Democrats are big on being the Santa Claus party. We'll give you free stuff if you vote for us. That's one thing.
- [19:12]
Ben Ferguson
But it's just a different level.
- [19:13]
Ted Cruz
It's a totally different. If you make a public promise in the press that I will support a law that has broad effect, you know, Joe Biden, I'm gonna give away a trillion dollars to people who have student loans.
- [19:26]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, vote for me. I'm buying your vote.
- [19:28]
Ted Cruz
That is very different from, you know, Ben, you control a pocket of votes. You ever thought of being Secretary of the Navy?
- [19:35]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [19:35]
Ted Cruz
You like votes?
- [19:36]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. Or I hear there's a great house in this country and the ambassadorship there is really fun.
- [19:41]
Ted Cruz
I mean, It's. We're going to see that happening every day now, mind you. You're gonna get competing people making those promises.
- [19:49]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [19:50]
Ted Cruz
And in terms of the vice president, that's going to be part of the negotiation is who Kamala teams up with to try to lock down, lock down the power brokers in the Democrat party. And one question is, does she try to quickly buy off whoever she thinks her most formidable adversary is? Possibly. Does she try to get all of the potential adversaries to compete? Wooing for her affection, more likely. But it's gonna take an entire month playing out for us to see.
- [20:24]
Ben Ferguson
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- [22:02]
Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [22:02]
Ben Ferguson
That had. No one's ever voted for for vice president is all of a sudden going to become the vice President? United States of America possibly, certainly will be the nominee for the Democratic party. How do they pick? I don't think a lot of people understand this like it's it's confusing enough picking the now Kamala Harris or whoever it's going to be, but let's say it is Kamala. It's a little bit more orderly. How the hell are we going to get the vice presidential pick from the Democratic Party?
- [22:27]
Ted Cruz
How.
- [22:28]
Ben Ferguson
How does that work?
- [22:29]
Ted Cruz
Look, they're going to decide who brings the most to the ticket. Often you look at geographic concerns. Will someone put a state into play? Will someone be beneficial? Sometimes you look to things like, is someone a great fundraiser? Will they bring a bunch of donors? Will they bring other interest groups on board? Sometimes you look to neutralize someone who's a potential opponent. In this instance, I think The Democrats are 100% about race and gender. It's how they think. It's how they're wired. They don't look at individuals.
- [22:57]
Ben Ferguson
It's dei.
- [22:58]
Ted Cruz
So it is dei. I think the VP nominee will be a boring white guy. That's my prediction. And they actually have a number of boring white guys. So they have a broad pick from.
- [23:09]
Ben Ferguson
So who picks it? Is it the person who gets the nomination? Yeah, it's called. So there's no voting by the delegates. So people understand the process.
- [23:17]
Ted Cruz
It will be. My guess is Kamala will announce who her VP is going to be before they vote. It could conceivably be afterwards. It depends. If there's a real contested battle at the convention, then maybe she doesn't announce it until after she's the nominee. Typically, the way it happens is the nominee is sewn up before the convention. It's been a long time since we've had a contested convention and there's been uncertainty as to who the nominee is going to be.
- [23:49]
Ben Ferguson
If the vote is really contentious and it's a drag out knockdown at the convention, you're saying there's a legit possibility that whoever comes away with it will barely survive, that they get the nomination. They say, hey, in a week or two, I'll tell you who my VP is going to be.
- [24:02]
Ted Cruz
No, no, no. I think it would be at the convention. I think it would be immediately thereafter. And if there is a real fight, I mean, one thing that has happened, you know, you could go to whoever's number two and say, look, I'll make you VP if you drop out and endorse me. And that could be how you lock up the votes. I don't think it'll come to that. I actually think people will coalesce around Kamala more quickly than that.
- [24:22]
Ben Ferguson
Who's the frontrunner then right now, in your mind, I mean, Obviously, this could change in a couple of weeks, but if Kamala is.
- [24:27]
Ted Cruz
I'm going to give you two names and why Josh Shapiro.
- [24:31]
Ben Ferguson
Okay. And tell people that don't know Josh who he is.
- [24:34]
Ted Cruz
He is the governor of Pennsylvania. He is widely perceived as a moderate. He is Jewish. He was attorney general in Pennsylvania. I think what is compelling is, number one, Shapiro has strong polling numbers in Pennsylvania. If the Democrats can win Pennsylvania, the path to Trump winning becomes much, much harder. He's also perceived as a moderate, and I think actually naming a Jewish Democrat would help tamp down some of the.
- [25:07]
Ben Ferguson
The anti Semitic that they've been dealing with the last several months.
- [25:10]
Ted Cruz
Yes. And so I think all of that, if you're sitting there around Kamala, that's attractive. A second choice that I think is also very attractive as a VP is Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly is senator from Arizona.
- [25:23]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [25:24]
Ted Cruz
Mark Kelly is a Navy veteran. Mark Kelly is a former astronaut. He's been to space.
- [25:29]
Ben Ferguson
He's also got a fame factor to him.
- [25:31]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. And Mark Kelly is also affable. And he seems reasonable. He doesn't seem crazy when you talk with him. I like Mark Kelly personally. He's someone. He's like a Joe Manchin. It won't be Joe Manchin, but he's someone who. His affect, his demeanor is very affable. And if you met him on the street, you wouldn't think the guy was a Democrat. You wouldn't think that he voted with a loony left on almost everything because he seems like a normal guy. I think that would be very attractive in Arizona. It is not as vital a swing state as Pennsylvania, doesn't have nearly as many electoral votes. But Arizona is certainly a battleground state. And Mark Kelly on the ballot could help. I would put those two as the top two.
- [26:15]
Ben Ferguson
I got to ask them, where's Gavin Newsom? Is he number three? If you're going for a white guy? The argument they would say is, some would say is he brings California. But the reality, they got California anyway. Exactly.
- [26:27]
Ted Cruz
So if they go Gavin Newsom, it's a combination of two things. One, money.
- [26:31]
Ben Ferguson
Okay.
- [26:32]
Ted Cruz
And Newsom's got a bunch of donors who love him, who will write checks. And California is the ATM of the Democrat Party. And so now Kamala is a Californian, so she's got a lot of that money behind her also.
- [26:45]
Ben Ferguson
But it neutralizes him, too. Right. Wouldn't that be the perk? Because then she didn't have to worry.
- [26:49]
Ted Cruz
About him in four years, potentially. Although she doesn't worry about him in Four years. If she's the incumbent president, he's not gonna primary her. If she gets this and gets elected, Newsom doesn't get to run for eight years. That's just it. Just.
- [27:02]
Ben Ferguson
That's how it's gonna work.
- [27:03]
Ted Cruz
Knocks that down, down the road. Look, Newsom, I think, is perceived as too liberal. My guess is they're not going to be that worried about money. And the other reason you would go with Newsom is he's talented. I mean, he is. He is a snake oil salesman par excellence. He's a communicator. He's slick.
- [27:21]
Ben Ferguson
He can be a great campaigner because people would show up to see him in the Democratic Party. That's important too, right? I mean, you have a. You have an event and your VP is popular. That's good for your campaign.
- [27:32]
Ted Cruz
Look, and in many ways, he would overshadow Kamala. It reminds me, back in the 1988 election, I remember Saturday Night Live was making fun as we were getting really close to the election. And you had George Bush and Dan Quayle. And look, people had ridiculed Dan Quayle enormously. And so what SNL did is the ballots as the parties have requested they be printed. And the Republican side had Bush in giant letters and Quail in tiny little letters. And then on the Democrat side, you had Michael Dukakis, who rode in a tank with a helmet and looked ridiculous. And then Lloyd Benson, who was the Texas senator who was moderate, well received, was going over well. SNL did the ballot of Dukakis, tiny little letter. Benson.
- [28:15]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, that could happen with Kamala.
- [28:19]
Ted Cruz
Kamala could be worried about is the risk that Gavin would overshadow her. And that's. That's why I think Shapiro or Kelly are more likely. I'd be surprised. I don't think she thinks she needs the money. And I think the downside she's. She would perceive as greater.
- [28:35]
Ben Ferguson
All right, let's talk about the media, because what we're going to see right now, and this is my biggest concern. You and I talked about this in Milwaukee. If Biden dropped out now it's. Biden has dropped out. It's a complete reset.
- [28:48]
Ted Cruz
Yes.
- [28:49]
Ben Ferguson
Of this presidential campaign. The polls, and I want to be very clear to our audience, this is my opinion. I don't know if you agree with me or not. I want to know Your take on it. Are completely meaningless and worthless right now.
- [29:00]
Ted Cruz
Correct.
- [29:00]
Ben Ferguson
The only poll that's going to matter is the first poll after we find out who the Democrats actually pick.
- [29:07]
Ted Cruz
Even that poll is not going to matter. And listen, this is something you and I talked about in our last podcast. We did two podcasts live from the convention. I love the convention. It was a blast. It's the best Republican convention I've ever seen. More unity than I've ever seen. However, I was very worried at the convention and I expressed this to you at the time, which is I am afraid people were overconfident at the convention that there was an air of celebration. It was, we've won. We're on to victory. This is a landslide. Trump's coming back in. We've got a huge Republican majority. You heard people talking about 55, 56 Republican senators, huge Republican House, like people were planning, People were talking about, all right, who's gonna be Secretary of State, who's gonna be Secretary of Defense? Like they're handing out already moved on. Yeah, we won.
- [29:57]
Ben Ferguson
And now what's next? And that's not the case.
- [29:59]
Ted Cruz
And my view, and I was trying to say this is, look, there's a time for celebration. Celebrate after election Day, celebrate after we've won. Now is not the time for celebration. Now's the time for hard work. Now's the time for rolling up your sleeves and going to win. And my assumption is coming out of the convention, Republicans will get a little bounce. You know, historically it's about four points is what you get out of your convention. I think it was a strong convention, so let's assume that happens. The Democrats, and I will give them credit for one thing, their timing of releasing it right after the convention. Perfect timing to do this because it resets the whole race. It almost doesn't matter what the bounce was out of the convention. And here's the problem. For the next month, all of the news is going to be dominated by who the Democrat is going to be. The Democrats are about to have a month long convention instead of a week. Why do you get a bounce out of a convention? You get a bounce out of a convention because you have four days of driving the news, the earned media, every night of your people on TV pitching all of the benefits of your nominee, all the benefits of your record, all the benefits of your agenda. Instead of a four day convention, the Democrats are about to have a month long convention where every news story will be focused on who the nominee is going to be. And they're also going to be doing a combination of, number one, praising Biden. You know, it's not graceful to, he's on his way out. People don't want to criticize him anymore.
- [31:25]
Ben Ferguson
They're Going to say, did this for America.
- [31:27]
Ted Cruz
He's historic. He's one of the greatest presidents in the history of the universe. I mean, you're going to hear all of that effusively, and then they're gonna talk about what an historic president Kamala Harris would be. And it's going to be a month long. We're going to see multi.
- [31:42]
Ben Ferguson
I would argue multi billion dollar in kind contribution.
- [31:45]
Ted Cruz
And by the way, Republicans, I worry, vastly underestimate Kamala Harris, that they don't think very highly of her. They don't think she's terribly bright. When you or I bring up Kamala Harris name in Republican circles, people laugh. It's immediately a punchline. I think people are underestimating what billions of dollars of free media, of the entire corrupt corporate media complex, pitching her as a combination of Mother Teresa, Oprah.
- [32:16]
Ben Ferguson
And Gandhi and save the party.
- [32:19]
Ted Cruz
It's gonna be and young and vibrant and it's historic. I mean, it is going to be. Now, I still think Trump wins in November, but this is not a layup. It is not given. And what's coming in front of us. Look, if you're a Democrat, what makes you nervous is chaos. And this much chaos a hundred days out is scary. But you know what? Even more scary is going to an election where you're almost certain to lose, which is where Biden was. So from their perspective, chaos and a chance to win or certain loss, they'll take chaos. But Republicans need to understand just how dangerous this is.
- [32:57]
Ben Ferguson
It's all perspective in life. And I said this earlier, it's like you're on the greatest cruise ship in the world and that cruise ship's going down and a crappy little fishing boat shows up and it saves your life. You love that crappy fishing boat the rest of your life. It doesn't matter how bad it looks, how ugly it was. You just got your life saved. And that's Kamala Harris, like not a.
- [33:15]
Ted Cruz
Good kid when she ran. I'm confident that you do not have a career as a Democrat. Politics ad maker. I can see the ad now. Kamala Harris, the crappy fishing boat to save your life.
- [33:25]
Ben Ferguson
To save your life. But it's perspective. I mean, that's what they're dealing with.
- [33:28]
Ted Cruz
I'm sure that fits on a bunch of.
- [33:29]
Ben Ferguson
I know, right? But she didn't even make it. I mean, I go back to when she was running.
- [33:33]
Ted Cruz
She got zero delegates.
- [33:34]
Ben Ferguson
Correct. And she was a terrible candidate. But when you're now in the position of that boat sinking and I'm the only one that's got. Doesn't have a hole in the boat. I'm pretty. I'm pretty appealing to everybody on that boat. And I love you, and I'm willing to swim to you and I'm willing to hug you and kiss you and say thank you for saving my life. It's all perspective. And that's what the media is gonna do to her, is say, she just saved us from guaranteed defeat. She is a savior to the Democratic Party. We love her. And they're all gonna be energized. That terrifies me.
- [34:06]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. Energized. And once she's the nominee, unified. One thing to keep in mind, people are focused on money, and Trump has a money advantage. Put yourself in the mindset of a Democrat. Gazillionaire of a Democrat activist of a Democrat union boss, of a Democrat special interest leader. A week ago, you were depressed. You were demoralizing. You were contemplating America run by Hitler. And by the way, if you're one of those people, you think Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler.
- [34:38]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [34:39]
Ted Cruz
Like, you were just. I don't even know if I want to show up and vote. It's terrible. It's horrible. And now to go back to the sinking cruise ship, you've been thrown a lifeline. I think we're gonna see jubilation on the Democrat side. That's dangerous, too, you know, jubilation. What happens is donors pull out their checks and they write really big checks.
- [34:59]
Ben Ferguson
When they're doing it, massive.
- [35:01]
Ted Cruz
What happens is activists go and they work harder. They turn more people out, and that particularly if the Republicans are overconfident. We cannot be overconfident. That combination is dangerous. And you know what it reminds me of, potentially? I hope this is not right, but it reminds me of a few years ago, the A&M versus Alabama game. I was there at the A&M versus Alabama game. Alabama at the time was the number one team in the country.
- [35:25]
Ben Ferguson
You had me at Sports Analogy. I'm all in now.
- [35:28]
Ted Cruz
A and M. A and M had started off as a top 25 team and a good team, but it had lost two games in a row.
- [35:35]
Ben Ferguson
Yep.
- [35:35]
Ted Cruz
To opponents that wasn't supposed to lose. I think maybe Mississippi State.
- [35:39]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it was bad.
- [35:39]
Ted Cruz
It was bad. And so we came into the game, and I was there in College Station, and I remember saying to my buddies, I was at the game with, I said, you know what? I think A and M has a real chance to win this game because I think Alabama is feeling like we're the number one team in the country and these A and M guys suck. Look at, look, they're losing to teams that are not contenders. This is easy. We're playing a junior high team and I think the Aggies were pissed off. They were at Kyle Field and they were defending their home and they were mad because everyone was dismissing them as a joke and they're like, wait a second, we're a top tier football team. And they ended up winning that game. It was awesome. 41, 38 was the final score. Kyle Field erupted. I don't want to see the Democrats playing the role of A and M in that dynamic. And so my message to Republicans is do not behave like this is in the bag because that's one of the easiest ways to ensure it's not in the bag.
- [36:37]
Ben Ferguson
I want to ask you a strategy question on if you are the Trump team, what do you do when you just start acting like you're running against Harris? Before you answer that, I want to tell you about our friends over at Preborn and the incredible work that they are doing and how you can get involved. Preborn is an organization that fights for unborn children. How do they do this? Preborn's network of clinics shine the bright light in the darkest corner of our country where abortions take place thousands of times a day. If we can help protect these children, it is so important that we make sure that their heartbeat, their voices are heard. How do they do this? Preborn introduces mothers to their precious preborn babies through ultrasound. Ultrasound is an incredible tool where a mother can hear the heart of their baby. This combination leads to preborn saving over 280,000 babies to date. What they do is they pay for those ultrasounds. Your donation of $28 sponsors one ultrasound and is critical for the battle for life. So let's join together and save as many lives and heartbeats as possible. Introducing mothers to their child's heartbeat. Please donate and it's easy. Just dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250. Say the keyword baby or go to preborn.com verdict that's preborn.com verdict and help save a baby today. That's preborn.com verdict sponsored by Preborn. Senator, if you are Donald Trump, you now know that Biden is gone. The number one question that the campaign's got to ask is how do you campaign against somebody for the next month that you don't know who it's going to be?
- [38:34]
Ted Cruz
So Look, I'd say 40% you campaign against Kamala Harris. You assume It's Kamala and 60% you campaign against the Democrats record. And I will say I've been concerned in recent weeks and months that we've spent too much time attacking Joe Biden for his mental diminishment and not enough time making the case, as you and I often do, that the Biden Harris Democrat record has been a train wreck. And I say Democrat record cuz it's not just Joe Biden, it's Kamala Harris and it's every single Democrat in Congress, every Democrat Senator, every Democrat House member. They voted repeatedly in favor of the spending and the debt that is causing inflation. They voted repeatedly in favor of Biden's war on oil and gas and energy that is causing energy prices to skyrocket. They voted repeatedly in favor of open borders that's endangering our families across this country. They voted repeatedly in favor of letting violent criminals out of jail that is again endangering our families. They voted repeatedly in favor of appeasing our enemies and undermining our allies. And so from the Trump's campaign, I would assume it's Kamala, but also make the broader point, it is their agenda that has failed the American people. The classic question in any election, are you better off now than you were four years ago? It doesn't matter what fill in the blank Democrat they drop into that slot. They're going to be defending the same disastrous failed record. And so I hope the Trump campaign, and I hope Republicans generally make that case substantively on the merits.
- [40:04]
Ben Ferguson
It's gonna be interesting. We're gonna cover it all. Make sure you share this podcast with your family and friends. Share the video on social media from YouTube. It's also up on Facebook. You can share it there as well so that you can have other people hear what we were saying here today. When this type of news breaks, we do a podcast as fast as we can. It's an emergency pod. Yes.
- [40:26]
Ted Cruz
Let me make a final statement.
- [40:28]
Ben Ferguson
I like this.
- [40:28]
Ted Cruz
I'm going to place the odds that Joe Biden pardons Hunter Biden at 100.0%. Hunter Biden will get a pardon as a result of this decision today. It will not happen till after election day.
- [40:44]
Ben Ferguson
That's what I was gonna ask. When's it happening?
- [40:46]
Ted Cruz
He's not gonna do it. He's not gonna do it before election day, but he's gonna stick around. And after election day, I believe it is now 100% that Joe Biden will pardon Hudner.
- [40:55]
Ben Ferguson
I have a feeling that might be part of our next show. It might be. Don't forget, we do this Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Hit that subscribe auto download button. The Senator and I will see you back here in a couple of days.