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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is a special Debate Verdict with Ted Cruz and Ben Ferguson podcast. We get to do these on big nights jointly like this. Depending on where you're listening to us right now, you get us both. Senator, your initial reaction. You watch the debate, I watched the debate. What were your big takeaways?
- [00:20]
Ted Cruz
Well, tonight was a big and consequential debate. But. But I have to say it before we get into it and this entire podcast, we're going to analyze the debate in depth and say what it showed about where the race is, where President Trump is, where Kamala Harris is. But I do want to point out it is exactly midnight as you and I are recording, which means it has just become September 11th. And for our listeners who are downloading this, you'll be downloading this today during September 11th. And so I just want to start by acknowledging that 23 years ago the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history happened. And you and I Both lived through 9 11. We had friends who lost their lives in 9 11. We saw the agony. And we have talked on this podcast many times about my view that today we have a greater risk of a major terrorist attack than we have had any time since September 11, 2001 because of the disastrous policies of the last four years. And so I want to acknowledge that at the front end. And then we're going to walk through right now what the biggest takeaways are from the debate tonight.
- [01:38]
Ben Ferguson
Senator, this was a obviously important debate for Kamala Harris. It was really a rollout in a sense where she could be challenged. What we quickly saw though was a three on one debate against Donald Trump and ABC News. What an in kind donation they gave.
- [01:58]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, the ABC moderators did not do a good job. They clearly were biased towards Kamala Harris. We saw that from their live quote, fact checking, where repeatedly they'd follow up what Trump said by contradicting him, by disputing him. Many instances their fact checks were wrong and they never, never could be bothered to fact check a word that came out of Kamala Harris's mouth. It was very one sided on that front. But look, ABC News was the least consequential part of tonight. What tonight illustrated is that Kamala Harris is utterly incapable of defending her own record. And what we saw tonight, this was her stump speech and this was her DNC convention speech, cut into sound bites and repeated. She memorized a series of vignettes, a series of little segments and just repeated those talking points ad nauseam. And it really became clear with the very first question of the night. And the first question of the night that David Muir asked her is the question that you and I in Monday's podcast said is the single most important question of the debate and really of every election, which is, are you better off than you were four years ago? And to mirror credit, he started with that question, are people off today than they were four years ago under Trump? Now, interestingly enough, Kamala refused to answer it at all. She didn't say yes. She didn't say people's lives are better. She said nothing at all. Instead, she had a little memorized set piece about how I was raised in a middle class family, I was raised with a mom who loved me and struggled. And she just talked about her bio and gave just, just empty platitudes that continued for the entire night. And so look, we saw this evening why it is that Kamala's campaign team keeps her hidden in Joe Biden's basement. Why they just bring her out, have a read from a teleprompter, and then they tackle her and throw back in the basement. Because. All right, let's take the very simple question. She didn't say, yes, you're better off than you were four years ago. Why? Well, you really can't, like it's impossible to defend on every front. Inflation. All right, let's, let's just take inflation in the economy. Her policies and Joe Biden's policies have been disastrous. America, the working people of America have seen the price of just about everything go up, from food to electricity to rent to lumber to health care to gasoline to mortgages, everything go up. And critically, this is where her record matters. Kamala Harris was the tie breaking vote multiple times on the floor of the Senate on trillions of dollars of the out of control spending from this administration that has caused this inflation. She was literally without her vote. The trillions of dollars that we borrowed and the trillions of dollars that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ran the printing presses on that drove this inflation. That doesn't happen. And she can't defend that. She doesn't have a good answer when it comes to energy and gas prices. People are hurting because of gas prices. Well, it is her policies and Joe Biden's policies that has waged war systematically on, on oil and gas production and American energy. And she can't defend that either. And so instead she simply says, well, we're gonna lower energy prices, we're gonna lower gas prices. And with no acknowledgement that, wait a second, she is in fact the sitting vice president and who knows where the heck the actual president is besides passed out asleep on a beach when you.
- [05:49]
Ben Ferguson
See, I think, the strategy. And now it actually, I think, makes more sense, right? Like just hide her. Buy ads, get the media to cover for you and protect you at all costs. And. And maybe that is a winning strategy. Which comes to the. Obviously, the next big question. Should there be another debate? Do you believe there will be another debate? They were obviously in the Harris camp, implying that there was a big victory tonight, saying, that was fun, let's do it again, and threw out another date, signaling from her campaign they wanted. They want to tee it up again and go toe to toe with Donald Trump again. Is that the right move for her?
- [06:29]
Ted Cruz
Well, listen, I think Trump should absolutely accept that offer for another debate. He should jump on it and say, let's go. I think the debate is a valuable opportunity to calmly litigate her actual record. And let me say this, though. Even if Trump does follow that advice and does accept the debate, I think there's very little chance it happens. I think Kamala's team will back out on it. I think they're mostly just puffing out their chest and boasting right now with the offer of another debate. I think there is no world in which they let her do a second debate. I think it's back to the basement. And if I were to predict we're not going to see Kamala emerge from the basement until election day, it's like the groundhog. Until she sees her shadow on election day, she doesn't get to come out of the basement other than to show up at a rally here and there and read from the teleprompter the same speech, but they want to keep her absolutely controlled and repeating. And listen, I will say the Democrat Party has very good message masters. They have very good. This is the party of Hollywood. This is the party of storytellers. Her memorized set pieces, some of them are pretty effective. They're disconnected from reality. They don't acknowledge any facts on earth. But if you just listen to them, they are calmly reassuring. They sound nice. And it's why, look, this is the same reaction I had with her convention speech. It's dangerous as hell because if you're not paying close attention, what she says sounds nice unless she is forced to confront her actual own record. And in the entire debate, the ABC moderators never once pointed out that her record is exactly the opposite of what she said on the debate stage over and over again.
- [08:20]
Ben Ferguson
So when I watch the debate, the question I always ask myself Is, okay, if I was going in tonight voting for Donald Trump, was I convinced by Kamala Harris that I should switch my vote? The answer honestly is no. And if I'm a Kamala Harris voter and was going into the night watching Kamala Harris saying, I'm gonna vote for her, am I gonna switch my vote to Donald Trump tonight? Honestly, probably not. Does that mean that this is a draw, in essence, where, hey, Donald Trump's team, they walk out of this going, okay, maybe we could have done a little better on this, that or the other. Maybe we'll work on that for the next debate. But we didn't do any harm. And, and, and we got out some good points. Kamala's team probably says, hey, we, we had it. We survived the night. We've had you in hiding in the basement.
- [09:04]
Ted Cruz
I.
- [09:05]
Ben Ferguson
Is this one of those debates that we both said was one of the most important ever, but could in theory be a draw? Because really, you're. If, if the, if the barometer is, I'm trying to change hearts and minds, did anyone's mind change tonight?
- [09:19]
Ted Cruz
Well, Kamala's team and all of her cheerleaders in the corporate media are going to relentlessly hype that she won, that she won, that she won. And by the way, they were going to say that whatever happened, she could literally fall to the ground and start screaming and wailing and kicking her feet in the air and they would say she won. So that was going to be the narrative. Regardless, I will say what we learned is she doesn't have a good answer to her own record. The Trump campaign needs to continue to prosecute the case. So let's take, for example, there was a whole back and forth on abortion, and Trump said accurately that she supports late term abortions into the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy. And she just said over and over again, no, I don't. No, I don't. That's false. That's false. And the moderators sat there like potted plants. Well, it so happens that Kamala actually has a record. And in particular, she has voted for legislation on the floor of the Senate to strike down every single restriction on abortion in the country and to legalize abortion in the eighth and ninth months up to the moment of birth. That is her actual voting record, what she has voted for. There was another exchange where Trump points out that the governor of Virginia, the former governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, had advocated for post birth abortion. And she flat out lied and said, no, no, he didn't. No, he didn't.
- [10:42]
Ben Ferguson
And play that because we have that clip. And this is why I love doing the show, is we get to play it. This is Northam on the radio on WTOP saying what. What she said and the media said never happened.
- [10:58]
Ted Cruz
If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered and the infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mothers.
- [11:16]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, where's the fact check from ABC News on that, Senator?
- [11:20]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, and understand Ralph Northam, he was a Democrat, governor of Virginia. He was also someone whose medical school yearbook featured a picture of a Klansman. That's another part of Ralph Northam's background. But he was also an ob gyn. So he was actually talking about, as a doctor who presumably has done that. He was describing the approach. And that is delivering a baby. The baby is alive, is breathing, is outside the mother's womb, and he's talking about just letting the baby die. And again, this is where records matter. Kamala has a record on this. So when she says that's ridiculous, that's. No, no, no, no, no. That's not true. Well, Kamala Harris voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection act. And that was a bill that we voted on in the floor of the Senate that said if during the course of an attempted abortion, the child is delivered, the child is born and this, this happens and the child is alive and breathing and outside the womb, that, that the doctor cannot just let the baby die. And she voted no. Now, as you noted, ABC didn't fact check her on that. Her voting record is very clear. And this was a pattern over and over and over again on energy. So her big trick now on energy is she's run away from her long held position opposing fracking. Okay, fine. So she's like, yeah, I just flip flopped on that. What ABC didn't point out is, well, wait a second. Your repeated statements about banning fracking, that's not the only thing you've done on energy. First week in office, you and Joe Biden shut down the Keystone pipeline. Joe Biden, when he was campaigning for President, promised to shut down drilling onshore and federal lands and offshore. You put in over 90 different regulations and executive orders attacking oil and gas production in the United States. That has had a very direct effect, driving up cost. Your administration banned new permits exporting liquid natural gas. Like, her record on energy is terrible. And she has no answer to that. And by the way. Trump did a good job on this point of saying, listen, you banned the Keystone pipeline and gave a giant gift to Vladimir Putin by allowing him to complete The Nord Stream 2 pipeline which caused the war in Ukraine. And that's something you and I have talked about in this podcast a lot. It was my legislation in the Senate that sanctioned Nord Stream 2 and shut it down. Trump signed my legislation and Putin literally stopped building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline the day that Trump signed my sanctions legislation into law. Nord Stream 2 was a dead hunk of metal at the bottom of the ocean until Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came into office and they demonstrated weakness and they waived the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and it was a multibillion dollar gift to, to Russia and it caused the war in Ukraine. None of that. Does she have an answer for?
- [14:25]
Ben Ferguson
We just got in the official number. ABC News fact checked Donald Trump seven times. Not one time the debate did they fact check Kamala Harris not once. So that's the official tally now is seven times on Trump. That's three on one. And I do think that's going to have a turnoff, I would hope to some of those voters, maybe in the middle, the undecideds, which very much can be the deciding factor in this election. Will that play with undecideds, do you think? Did they see the bias that you and I saw?
- [15:02]
Ted Cruz
They saw that some, but I think, I think they also go in expecting the media to be biased. So I don't think anyone is surprised that ABC is, is a left wing mouthpiece for the Democrats. That's been the case sadly for a long time for abc, NBC, cbs, cnn, msnbc, all of them have been mouthpieces for the Democrats. So yes, they saw it, but, but again, they're not surprised. Look, the critical thing that we saw tonight is, is she doesn't have a good answer on, on the chaos at our southern border. Kamala Harris was the border czar. She is directly responsible for the worst level of illegal immigration in our nation's history. She is directly responsible for the people who have died, 853 migrants died last year crossing illegally into this country. She is responsible for the people, the women who have been brutally raped. She's responsible for the children who have been brutalized. She's responsible for the little boys and little girls who've been horribly assaulted by human traffickers. She's responsible for the hundred 110,000Americans who died last year of drug overdoses. She is responsible for the murderers that she and Joe Biden had in their custody. Murderers like the illegal alien murderer of Lake and Riley that she and Joe Biden had in custody. And they released murderers like the illegal alien murderer of Rachel Marin. That illegal alien was in her custody. She released them murderers like the illegal alien murderers of Jocelyn Nunery. Both of them were in her custody and she and Joe Biden released them. And so that record, she was not forced tonight to answer for any of that record. And that, but, but it demonstrated that she does not have a good response. And that's what I think the next two months, the Trump campaign has to prosecute systematically based on the facts. Here is her record. Here is what she has done. And it hasn't worked. It has failed. And the American people are worse off as a result of the failures of her extreme policy.
- [17:16]
Ben Ferguson
You mentioned Donald Trump's got to bring up some more of this stuff. And I think you and I have talked about this. But let's just remind people, since Kamaris took office, total prices are up over 20%. Car insurance up 84%. Hotels are up, say when you rent a hotel 51.2%. Gas is up 50.50%. Fuel oil is up 49.1. Transportation up 32.9. Electricity is up 31.7%. Baby foods up over 30%. Eating out of up 25, airfare up 23%. Rent up 22% and groceries are up about 22% as well. That's what they've got to focus on, every single one of his surrogates, not all this other in the weed stuff. I really do believe they've got to keep it simple for the American voter, especially if you're trying to go after undecideds.
- [18:11]
Ted Cruz
Sure. And that's what we talked about in Monday's pod, that the focus needs to be on harms, harms, harms. How are people's lives worse off because of the horrible policies that Kamala Harris is directly responsible for? And that's true on inflation. She was literally the tie breaking vote behind the trillions of spending that unleash this inflation. It's true on energy. She and Joe Biden, it has been their executive orders and their regulations that have driven up energy prices. And it's true on the border. And let me play there was one of the best exchanges was something Trump said on the border where he made the point that, listen, she could secure the border today. And listen to this, what he said to her right now, I would say.
- [19:01]
C
We would both leave this debate right now. I'd like to see her go down to Washington D.C. during this debate because we're wasting a lot of time. Go down to. Because she's been so bad, it's so ridiculous. Go down to Washington D.C. and let her sign a bill to close up the border. Because they have the right to do it. They don't need bills. They have the right to do the President of the United States, you'll get him out of bed, you'll wake him up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, you'll say, come on, come on down to the office, let's sign a bill.
- [19:31]
Ben Ferguson
It was a great moment in the debate.
- [19:33]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, look, that point is very powerful. And understand this invasion at our southern border, it is happening right now, today. There are hundreds, if not thousands, thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the border right now. Today. Today, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are apprehending hundreds, if not thousands of illegal aliens and they're gonna release them tomorrow. There are criminals they're going to release tomorrow. There are murderers they're going to release going forward. There are rapists, there are child molesters, and they keep on doing it. And the point Trump is making, and listen, his campaign needs to. Needs to follow this up by explaining, by really explaining. Look, when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came into office, they inherited the lowest rate of Illegal immigration in 45 years. Donald Trump. I worked hand in hand with President Trump to secure the border, and we had incredible success. When Trump was president, the border was secure and it was unilateral executive actions that caused this crisis. Three decisions that Biden and Harris did in the very first week. Number one, they immediately halted construction of the border wall. Number two, they reinstated the disastrous policy of catch and release. And number three, they pulled out of the incredibly successful remain in Mexico agreement. All three of those they could reverse tomorrow. And so the point, like, literally go down to the White House right now and do it. That is absolutely right. It is also right that if, and I pray when Trump is reelected, that he will reverse all three of those decisions on January 20th of next year and we will see the border crisis end and it will end quickly. And so that point was very effective. Let me say also, Ben, I thought the foreign policy portion of the debate was particularly strong for Trump and it was very weak for Kamala Harris. At one point, she looks over at Trump and says, well, well, you know, everyone knows that he was weak and ineffective on foreign policy. And I gotta say to me, that that was a laugh line. And listen, if you look across the globe, we had peace and prosperity. When Trump was president, we had no foreign wars. And in fact, we saw peace breaking out in the Middle East. We saw the Abraham Accords being signed. We saw Arabs and Israelis coming together. And. And I think it is absolutely the case that if Trump were still in the White House today, the war in Ukraine would not have happened and the war in Israel would not have happened. That it was Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's weakness that caused those wars. And, and critically. And Trump did a good job of this, too, laying out that. That, Listen, Kamala Harris has flowed over $100 billion to Iran. Iran provides 90% of the funding for Hamas, 90% of the funding for Hezbollah. Kamala Harris, in a very real sense, paid for the death squads that carried out the atrocities on October 7. And Kamala has no answer to that. And tonight showed that powerfully.
- [22:46]
Ben Ferguson
You know, I also think, and you go to the end of the debate, that one of the best parts was actually Donald Trump and his closing argument. And it goes back to the campaign strategy I think he needs to have moving forward, and that is to make sure he makes this about what she has done in comparison to what she claims she wants to do while she's in charge. Like, you're in charge, you're in charge, you're in charge.
- [23:15]
Ted Cruz
President Trump.
- [23:16]
C
So he just started by saying, she's going to do this, she's going to do that, she's going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for three and a half years. They've had three and a half years to fix the border. They've had three and a half years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasn't she done it? She should leave right now, go down to that beautiful White House, go to the Capitol, get everyone together and do the things you want to do. But you haven't done it, and you won't do it because you believe in things that the American people don't believe in.
- [23:51]
Ben Ferguson
It's a great line, and I wish it would have been used even more.
- [23:55]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, that was the closing, was Trump's best part of the entire debate. And that was exactly the right message. It's a message that the Trump campaign should amplify every day between now and Election Day. Listen, you and I have talked about how Kamala's trying to engage in this divorced from reality campaign where she pretends she's not in office, that she's not the incumbent, she disavows all responsibility for the mess that is happening. And in fact, she's behaving as if Donald Trump is the incumbent president and she's the change candidate. She is in office right now. Joe Biden is in office right now. And on every single level, on inflation, on crime, on illegal immigration, on foreign policy, on safety and security, the world was much, much better when Trump was president than it is today. And that, that needs to be emphasized every day between now and election day.
- [24:54]
Ben Ferguson
Senator, final question. I think for you and really for, for me when I was watching this tonight and it say, okay, where do we go from here? I'm in favor of another debate. I think you, you covered that earlier, right? You agree Trump should do another one?
- [25:08]
Ted Cruz
Number one, yes, but I don't think she will. I think she'll back up.
- [25:12]
Ben Ferguson
So your prediction is she's done?
- [25:14]
Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [25:15]
Ben Ferguson
Number two, if you're Donald Trump, what do you learn from tonight and what do you take into your big campaign rallies from this? And what is your messaging to your surrogates tomorrow on the surrogate call?
- [25:29]
Ted Cruz
I think the message is she cannot defend her record and her record is a failure. The American people are worse off. But, but listen, I think it's important to remember also, this is not about Donald Trump and it's not about Kamala Harris. It is about the American people. It is about, it is about young, young couples who are going out and buying their first home and they're discovering that a 7.5% mortgage rate is much, much worse than a 2.5% mortgage rate that you get about half the house. That's happening right now today. People are hurting. It's about a single moment who's trying to make ends meet. And she can't afford to buy groceries anymore because the prices have gone so high. And when she tries to fill up her tank to go to work, it just about breaks her. It's about the people who are suffering. Look, today on September 10th, there was a ceremony in the Capitol where the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the 13 servicemen and women who were murdered in Afghanistan from the absolutely disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Abbey Gate. And I'll tell you, the families were there and it was a beautiful ceremony. And the families, I spoke to many of the families, I thanked every one of them that I could to say thank you for your service and sacrifice. I'm sorry, but I also, to many of them had a follow up conversation where I said there needs to be accountability. There has been zero accountability. That the focus for the campaign every day from now to election Day needs to be the difference between Trump's record and Kamala's record and critically bringing it home to the voters, how their lives were much better when Trump was president than they had been under Kamala, and that her policies are failures and they're hurting the American people. That's gotta be the central message. Yeah.
- [27:31]
Ben Ferguson
And as you mentioned a second ago, on this anniversary of 9 11, I think it's important that we also take a step back. Remember how important it is that you have competent leaders that understand how important it is to protect and defend the homeland, to protect and defend freedom. And also, just a moment to say thank you to all, all of those that serve this country, to all of those that wear the uniform, to all those that have given the ultimate sacrifices and their families. There were so many people that died on 9 11, but there was also the second part, and that was so many that died because they wanted to protect and defend us after 911 that gave the ultimate sacrifice. And I said, everybody listening, say thank you to a veteran. Text them, everybody knows a veteran. Tell them thank you. I had the privilege of playing golf today with some of those that actually took out some of the worst terrorists in the world, some special operators. And they were amazing guys. And I say to them, thank you, because without you giving up years of your life and risking your life and losing your brothers in uniform, we wouldn't have the freedoms we have today. And that's what we need to remember, I think, during this election season as well. Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday on Verdict. I do my show, Ben Ferguson podcasts every single day. So grab our podcast, hit that subscriber auto download button. Wherever you listen to these podcasts, it's always fun. We get to do a joint podcast. The senator and I will see you back here in a couple days, and I'll see you back here tomorrow on the Ben Ferguson podcast as well. And again, God bless America and thanks to all of our veterans who are listening. You guys are the heroes.