← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Debt Ceiling Showdown, the 14th Amendment, plus a Beer Company Goes Woke & Markets to Kids?!?
00:44:05
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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And we have got a very important show. First, we're going to deal with the debt ceiling. Then we're going to deal with what Barack Obama said back in 2011 about the 14th Amendment that everyone seems to be really excited about right now in Washington. And also Bud Light, could they be in trouble for marketing themselves potentially to children, going to deal with all of that, plus the passing of a great Republican leader who passed away today. We'll tell you about his story in life as well. But, Senator, let's first start with this debt ceiling. The debt ceiling issue is confusing to many. And there's a lot of Americans that say, I just want to know what's going to happen, where we're going to be, what happens if we default, and is that a real possibility? Because we've seen this circus happen quite a few times. You've been in Washington when this circus comes to town and leaves. And it's also used as political leverage many times by the party that's in power in the White House. So where are we on the debt ceiling before we get to the 14th amendment?
- [01:09]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, right now we're in a showdown and we're in a showdown between Joe Biden and Republicans, in particular House Republicans, who've passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling. But they put meaningful spending cuts as an attachment to the debt ceiling. And Joe Biden and the Democrats don't want to have any spending cuts. You know, it's worth stepping back and saying, all right, what is the debt ceiling? Because this is these are terms that get bannied about. We usually hear about them once or twice a year. And the debt ceiling is a cap on how much money the federal government can borrow. And Congress passes it periodically. And then because we keep seeing budgets that are deficit spending, the debt grows and grows and grows. And when it hits the debt ceiling, in order for the federal government to borrow more money, Congress has to raise the debt ceiling. And so that's the battle that's happening right now. The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, estimates that what's called the X date, which is when we will hit the debt ceiling, is on or around June 1st. Now it's on or around that because the Treasury Department has some what are called extraordinary measures. It has steps it can take where that date is typically not carved in stone but is a little bit flexible and they can delay it. But what's happening right now, for months, Joe Biden in the White House has said he will not negotiate at all he's not willing to cut any spending at all. That the only thing he will take is a blank check to borrow unlimited money. Now, that was always an unreasonable position. That was always an extreme position. And one of the best evidences of that is that Biden's been forced to back away from that on April 26th. So several weeks ago, the House, by a vote of 217 to 215, passed their bill to raise the debt ceiling, and yet at the same time to cut $4.8 trillion from the budget over 10 years. And so the two were attached together. Right now, the two sides appear to be very far apart. Joe Biden is insisting instead of cutting spending, he wants to do, guess what, raise taxes. And so they're fighting on a lot of different issues. One of the big sticking points is work requirements for welfare. The House Republicans are insisting that if you're going to get welfare, if you're an able bodied adult, you should have to look for work or go to work. The Democrats don't want people to go to work. They are adamantly opposed to work requirements. So that's a sticking point. And if the two sides reach an impasse, if they can't reach an agreement, I do think right now the chances of a default are higher than they have been any time in recent memory. And that's dangerous because a default would be very bad for the economy.
- [04:02]
Ben Ferguson
When you say it's bad for the economy, there's a lot of people that fear monger over this. But the reality of a default, people say, all right, well if it happened, what does that really look like? And then how fast would you be able to undo it and fix it? Is that even possible to fix it or once you default, is the damage done and then there's a new normal?
- [04:24]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, if the United States defaulted our debt, what it would mean is that there would be interest due on bonds that the Treasury Department had sold that the Treasury Department would fail to pay. And that would be called a default. And the reaction to that would be that the credit agencies would downgrade the credit of the United States government. And when you downgrade the credit, it would mean that going forward, the federal government would have to pay a higher interest rate and potentially a significantly higher interest rate to borrow money in the future. Historically, the very best credit rating has been the government of the United States of America. And so shaking that gold standard is dangerous and it potentially has lots of repercussions throughout the economy. Now, we should never default on the debt. And this is an important thing to understand because there's a lot of scaremongering on this. Even if the debt ceiling is not raised on June 1, we should not default on the debt. And do you know who could insure that, Ben?
- [05:32]
Ben Ferguson
Who's that?
- [05:33]
Senator Ted Cruz
Joe Biden. Joe Biden could stand up. Let me tell you what a responsible president would say. A responsible president would say the United States of America will never, ever, ever default on our debt and no matter what happens, we will pay the interest on our debt. Now how could he do that? Well, because every month the revenue that the federal government takes in is significant and is significantly larger than the interest on the debt. So through what's called prioritization, essentially the president could say we're going to pay interest on the debt first. That would ensure we didn't default. Now why doesn't Biden do this? Because he wants to scare people. He wants to threaten the stock market. He wants to threaten the bond market. He wants to get people scared that their 401k is going to drop in value, that there's going to be damage to the economy. And he's doing this because he's counting on the dishonest corporate media to blame any risk of default on Republicans. Right now it seems to be backfiring. If you look at the polling right now, a large majority of Americans believe that we should rein in spending as part of any effort to raise the debt ceiling. Amazingly enough, and here's polling numbers in particular, that ought to worry the White House, 58% of Democrats believe we should rein in spending as part of any agreement to raise the debt ceiling. And so Biden is not just to the left of Republicans, not just to the left of independents. He's to the left of a majority of Democrats in this country. And I think that shows that his position is really irresponsible and unsustainable.
- [07:18]
Ben Ferguson
Senator, I want to ask you a question about the substance of what Republicans want to do in the House. The White House has tried to label this and get the media to label it as extreme. And before you answer that, I want to tell everybody about our good friends over at Augusta Precious Metals. We're talking about the economy right now. We're talking about what's happening. We've had some bank failures and the stock market. And for many people right now, this is an incredibly stressful time, especially if you're retired or getting close to retirement. You want to protect your hard earned dollars, you want to protect your assets because there is very little time to make up losses. Well, that's why I want to tell you about Augusta Precious Metals. Augusta Precious Metals can help you get that peace of mind. Augusta Precious Metals they actually sit down with you and they do things very differently than you may be used to. They talk to you about gold and see if it is actually right for you. They want you to learn about gold IRAs and how they can protect your hard earned dollars. That's the most important thing they do. They're also willing to give you a pure gold coin for free. All you have to do is reach out to Augusta Precious Metals a day and get started with gold. Don't let the bank failures get you down. Don't let the stress of what we're talking about get you down. Take control and diversify and protect your hard earned dollars and get that peace of mind. Call them 877-The-Number 4 Gold IRA. 8, 77 the-Number 4 Gold Iraq to learn more about how you can protect your retirement and get your free gold coin. AugustaPrecious Metals.com that's AugustaPreciousMetals.com Senator, I go back to the media. They've really tried to label Republicans and the Republicans ideas plan as extreme, imply that somehow they've gone rogue and they're going to destroy our economy and that they're the ones that would cause these failures to happen and take place. Talk about the Republican plan and why it is not crazy, it is not extreme. It's actually fiscally responsible what they're advocating for.
- [09:22]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that is exactly right. And let's put this into context. Let's step back for a second and look at the overall numbers. In 2017, total federal spending in the budget was $4 trillion. That was the entire federal budget. Total federal revenue was about $3.3 trillion. So that means the deficit, doing some quick math, was about $700 billion. That was in 2017. Then we had the pandemic hit. Then after the pandemic, we had the second pandemic which was the pandemic of Democrats hit with Joe Biden and Schumer and Pelosi taking over Congress. We went from total federal spending in 2017 of $4 trillion to today total federal spending of $6.4 trillion. So that's more than a 50% increase from 2017 to today on revenue. So remember 2017 revenue was 3.3 trillion. The Trump tax cuts passed and remember the Democrats and the media all says this is going to devastate federal revenues. It's going to result in shortchanging the federal government. It was 3.3 trillion in 2017. What do you think federal revenues are this year?
- [10:41]
Ben Ferguson
I'm sure there are new records and I'm sure we're going to waste every dime of it.
- [10:45]
Senator Ted Cruz
$4.8 trillion. So after the tax cuts, the economy boom. By the way, revenue increased every year since the tax cuts. They didn't go down even for a year. So federal revenues went from 3.3 trillion to 4.8 trillion. But if you do the math, the difference between 4.8 trillion in revenue now and 6.4 trillion in spending means the deficit is 1.5 trillion. Now, what's happened to the debt? The debt in 2017 was just over 20 billion. The debt now is 31.8 billion. So it's increased more than 50%. It is massive. I mean, when you look at these numbers, they're shocking, which is why, thank God, House Republicans are standing together and they passed, I think, a very reasonable bill. They didn't try to solve the whole problem overnight, but rather they passed a bill that would result in saving 4.8 trillion over 10 years. 4.2 trillion of that is in savings directly and 547 billion is in savings on interest. Because when you save money, you also save on interest over the 10 years going forward. Now, what does it include? The single biggest piece of it is it reduces discretionary spending, which is everything that's not mandatory. Mandatory is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. But discretionary spending is most of the rest of the budget. It rolls back spending levels from what they are today to what they were in December of 2022. Now, last I checked, December of 2022 is five months ago. Remember this when you see Democrats screaming about these horrible draconian cuts, they're going to picture granny being thrown off a cliff. They're going to picture people starving in the streets. This budget cuts spending to what it was five months ago, what it was at Christmas time of last year. And it's worth asking anyone, if you're at work, if you're talking to your Uncle Joe, if you're talking to your next door neighbor and they say, gosh, these are big spending cuts, it's worth asking them, was it the apocalypse five months ago? Would the world end if we spent as much in the federal government today as we spent five months ago? That's what Joe Biden is freaking out about, calling extreme. What this budget does is it cuts spending to what it was in December of 2022, and then it allows spending to grow at 1% per year going forward. Now, what else does it do? It rescinds unspent Covid money. So there's roughly about $30 billion that Congress appropriated to deal with COVID Now, look, even Joe Biden admits the COVID pandemic, the emergency is over. So the Democrats are saying it is radical and extreme not to spend money on a pandemic that's over. That doesn't make any sense. What else does it do? It cuts the spending for the 87,000 new IRS agents that the Democrats really want to harass the enemies of the White House to attack the middle class and the working class. An overwhelming majority of Americans would love to see those 87,000 new IRS agents not materialize. And then one of the biggest things that Democrats are freaking out about is the work requirements for welfare. And this is just a real divide. Look, you want to know what today's Democrats are all about? They're all about paying people not to work. And I got to say, I think not only is that bad policy, but it's cruel. I think people want to work. They want the dignity of work. They want the self respect. One of the most amazing policy results we had when Trump was president, we had Republican majorities in both houses is 7 million Americans came off of food stamps, which meant 7 million people got to experience the joy of going to work and providing for their family. And you know, you think about it, that meant like a single mom would be coming home in Dallas, Texas, and she'd be carrying two bags of groceries and she'd set the groceries on the kitchen table and her kids would look at her with a newfound respect because she'd worked and she'd provided for the family and she'd look in the mirror and have a new self respect. I think everyone wants to work, and everyone who is able to do so should work. And if you look at welfare reform, which when Bill Clinton was president, Republicans in the House forced Bill Clinton to sign. And by the way, Joe Biden voted for, ironically enough today, he says work requirements for welfare are extreme and draconian. He voted for them when he was in the Senate. And they were an incredible policy success in the 1990s, just like under Trump. They resulted in millions of people going back to work and people re entering the workforce providing for their families. That is unambiguously good and it helps them in addition to helping everybody else.
- [16:06]
Ben Ferguson
No doubt about that. I want to ask you also about the 14th amendment, because a lot of people have been hearing about that. What does it actually mean? Before we get into that, though, I do want to talk to you real quick about our friends over at Patriot Mobile. If you've got a cell phone and your cell phone is with big mobile, then you need to know they have been dumping millions of dollars into leftist causes and we used to just have to take it because there wasn't another option. Well now there is. Patriot Mobile, America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. They offer dependable nationwide coverage on all three major networks so you get the best possible service in your area without the woke propaganda pushed by leftists working hard to destroy this country and your family. Now when you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're not just switching to a conservative company, you're actually switching to a company when you pay your bill every month. They take part of that money and they give it to support free speech and religious freedom groups, sanctity of life, the second amendment, they support our military, veterans, first responders, that's what they're doing with your money. They're 100% US based customer service team. Makes switching easy as well. So whether it's for you and your family or a business or a small business, just go to patriotmobile.com verdict that's patriot mobile.com verdict or call them. Switching is easy. And keep your same cell phone number you have right now and your same cell phone or upgrade to a new one. Pay patriot mobile.com or 878 patriot. That's 878 patriot 878 patriot or patriot mobile.com Senator, let's talk a little bit about the 14th amendment. Joe Biden's been talking about this. Says he thinks he has the authority to use the 14th Amendment on the debt ceiling. What's funny about that is Janet Yellen went on TV on Sunday morning and actually contradicted that saying no, I don't think that we can use that. There's a lot of mixed signals coming out of this White House. What is the 14th amendment and why are Democrats all of a sudden obsessed with it?
- [18:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Democrats hate the debt ceiling. They don't want anything that constrains spending or that constrains debt. And so this is an extreme legal theory. I think it's a frivolous legal theory, but it's something that the radical left is seizing upon right now. Now what does the 14th amendment say in particular? This focuses on section four of the 14th amendment. So the 14th amendment was one of three amendments that was passed right after the Civil War. The 13th Amendment ended slavery. The 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote their foundational landmark amendments. The 14th amendment was likewise absolutely Foundational and its most important provisions ensure everyone gets the equal protection of the laws. That's called the equal protection clause. And also protects the rights to due process, that you cannot have life, liberty or property deprived from you by states without due process of law. And that was incredibly important protection of rights and especially rights for African Americans who had been enslaved prior to the Civil war. And the 14th Amendment was critical. It was the first major step in constitutional step to protecting people's civil rights. Now, Section four dealt with something different, which we'd just come through a civil war. It was very expensive, and there were a bunch of debts that the United States had incurred fighting against the Confederacy. And there were also a bunch of debts the Confederacy had incurred fighting against the Union. And what the Congress wanted to do in the 14th amendment is to say, we're going to pay all the debts of the Union, the debts that were incurred fighting to keep America whole. But we're not going to pay the debts of the Confederacy, the money they borrowed to wage civil war. We're not going to charge the taxpayers for that. We're not going to pay that. You're out of luck if you loan money to fuel the rebellion. So here's what Section 4 says. The validity of the public debt of the United States authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of an insurrection or rebellion against the United States or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave. But all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Now, notice, part of that was saying, okay, there's no debt for the slaves who were liberated. It's not like the prior slave holders could bring a legal claim or say, pay us back. It's like, no, slavery was horrible and evil and it is ended and you ain't getting nothing. That's what Section 4 of the 14th Amendment said. Now, what has happened is the far left has seized upon that, and in particular the language that says the validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned. And they say, well, that means the debt ceiling is unconstitutional and Biden can just borrow anything he wants. That position is absurd. It's not what it says. What it says is that the United States was going to pay our debts from fighting the Civil War. But, and to be clear, two people who agree with that are Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
- [21:53]
Ben Ferguson
Two days ago, back in the day in 2011, Barack Obama actually said this specifically about the 14th Amendment and the debt ceiling. Listened to obama back in 2011.
- [22:07]
Barack Obama
Now, the gentleman asked about the 14th amendment. There is a provision in our Constitution that speaks to making sure that the United States meets its obligations. And there have been some suggestions that a president could use that language to basically ignore this debt ceiling rule, which is a statutory rule. It's not a constitutional rule. I have talked to my lawyers. They don't. They do not. They are not persuaded that that is a winning argument.
- [22:46]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, that's the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, back in 2011. Excuse me, Barack Obama, I should say, back in 2011, saying that, yeah, look.
- [22:57]
Senator Ted Cruz
Obama, the same thing. The left was pressing Obama to do this, and Obama was willing to stand up to him and say, nope, we can't do it. And just two, three days ago, the left was pressing Biden to embrace this same wacky claim. And he told progressives, nope, nope, can't do that. And then what happened is Bernie Sanders gave a speech and said, use the 14th amendment, ignore the debt ceiling, borrow, borrow, borrow, bankrupt the country. That's not exactly what he said, but it's basically what he said. And you know what? Biden did the same thing he's done for two and a half years. Every time Bernie Sanders and the socialists bark, he rolls over. He does whatever they say. And so he was in Hiroshima, Japan, at the G7. He wasn't even here negotiating on the debt ceiling. And he said, well, gosh, you know, I think maybe we can do something on the 14th Amendment. But then he says, yeah, but it'd be challenging to court, and it'd be a real problem. So he showed some leg on the 14th Amendment, but the claim would be laughed out of court. And there's a reason. Janet Yellen, Biden's Treasury Secretary, was on TV yesterday morning on a Sunday show saying, no, no, we can't do that. It is. It's. It's the extreme left in the Democrat Party who want the debt ceiling eliminated for all time because they want to borrow us into oblivion. And let me make another point about even if their argument were right, and it's not, but if their argument were right, that something about Section 4 of the 14th Amendment constrained what the President did here, what that would mean is it would mandate that Joe Biden implement prioritization. Do what I said. In other words, it would mandate, at Most, what the 14th Amendment would say is that when you hit the debt ceiling, Joe Biden must pay interest on the debt first. There's nothing in the 14th Amendment that says Joe Biden has the ability to fund the IRS and the Department of Labor and every other agency without an appropriation from Congress. The Constitution is absolutely clear. The power of the purse is given to Congress, which means the executive cannot spend money that Congress doesn't appropriate. And so Biden can meet the debt. And so if he does that, his threat of default goes away. But there is nothing. There is no credible argument. In fact, it's absurd. And I haven't even heard anyone bother to make the argument that the 14th Amendment would let Biden do what the left really wants, which is spending on the entirety of the federal government in perpetuity, even without Congress acting. That is not the way the Constitution operates and it has not been the way the Constitution has ever operated in over two centuries of our nation's existence.
- [25:59]
Ben Ferguson
Lastly, before we move on to this other big topic with Bud Light, if people are listening right now and they say, okay, Senator, what do I need to do this week? Do they need it? What do they need to be doing? Do they need to call their senators, their congressmen, both, and what should they be asking for?
- [26:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, I think the best solution is support what the House bill. The House bill is reasonable. It is a good solution. It is not extreme. It is a modest incremental step that that takes, makes real progress in reining in that the out of control spending and debt. It is a very reasonable offer. Now, at the end of the day, does anyone think that the House bill is exactly what we're going to end up with? No. It's going to be a negotiated agreement somewhere between Congress and the White House. But the White House is gambling that they can just say hell no, jump in a lake and the media will protect them. And so everyone listening to this publicly speak out, call out the Democrats, call out the White House to stop gambling with our economy and to accept the House's very reasonable offer to rein in spending and start to get our fiscal House in order.
- [27:22]
Ben Ferguson
I want to move to another issue, and that is the issue of Bud Light. Senator, you had some a very interesting thing to say on Bud Light on Fox and Friends, talking about the partnership with Bud Light with Dylan Mulvaney and the idea that this was potentially marketing purposely to young people, kids, those under 21, which is something that you're not supposed to do. But if you look at Mulvaney and who her target audience is, it's very clear that a significant portion of it is 21 and well below 21. Why would Bud Light have wanted to do this? Now I want to play for everybody what you said, a portion of it on Fox and Friends.
- [28:08]
Unnamed Fox News Host
Listen, now you're also a member of the Congress Committee and Commerce Committee, I should say. And you want to investigate what Bud Light was doing with Dylan Mulvaney. It destroyed a brand that may not recover. What's your focus?
- [28:22]
Unnamed Fox News Guest
Well, listen, I can't think of a company in modern times that has more alienated its customer base and, and seem to have so little understanding of who it is that actually drinks Bud Light. But, but this week I sent a letter to the CEO of Anheuser Busch along with Senator Marsha Blackburn, because the CEO of Anheuser Busch is also the CEO or the chairman of the Beer Institute, which is the regulatory body, the industry regulatory body that regulates itself.
- [28:48]
Senator Ted Cruz
And one of the rules that beer.
- [28:50]
Unnamed Fox News Guest
Companies are supposed to follow is they're not supposed to market to kids. Remember the whole, whole Joe the Camel thing? This is the same thing here. Well, you know what? Dylan Mulvaney, a massive percentage of Dylan Mulvaney's audience are kids. And Budweiser was trying, I believe, with this ill fated marketing attempt to target teenagers. If you look at things Dylan Mulvaney has online, it's things like Days of Girlhood. There's another video where Dylan Mulvaney is singing My name is Eloise and I am six. There's another one where Dylan Mulvaney is shopping for Barbie dolls. These are clearly things aimed at teenagers and even children younger than teenagers, which violates the rules. And so we're calling on the Beer Institute to investigate the degree to which Anheuser Busch knowingly was marketing to children. In going down this road, Senator, you never stop.
- [29:40]
Unnamed Fox News Host
Senator Ted Cruz, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
- [29:42]
Ben Ferguson
Senator. The idea that they are policing themselves in a sense and would investigate themselves, that just in itself seems like the whole system is rigged, that the people that may have done the campaign are the ones that are regulating the campaigns.
- [29:59]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, it's an unusual circumstance and it so happens that right now the CEO of Anheuser Busch is also the chairman of the Beer Institute, which is the industry regulatory body. It's a self regulatory body that was agreed to, but one of the things they've agreed to is fairly strict limitations prohibiting marketing to minors that they're supposed to market to adults. People 21 and over. And you know, I mentioned Joe Camel, you remember there was a whole. They stopped focusing on Joe Camel in the cigarette context. The same principle applies to beer that they're not supposed to. You know, Barney the dinosaur should not be marketing beer. That's fairly obvious. The point that I raise, and this is a letter that I sent with Senator Marsha Blackburn, is if you look at Dylan Mulvaney, and I'm setting aside the transgender issue, which is what's dominated the media attention, I'm just looking at what Dylan Mulvaney, who the audience is, and Whether it's on TikTok or Instagram, the audience is overwhelmingly kids. A lot of them are teenagers, A lot of them are teenage girls. A lot of them are prepubescent girls. You know the song that Dylan Mulvaney sings, I am Eloise and I am six. That's not even a 19 or 20 year old six. Shopping for Barbies. The last I checked, 16 year olds don't shop for Barbies. That's 8, 9, 10 year olds that are shopping for Barbies. And what I am pressing on is to what extent did Bud Light deliberately market to teenagers and even preteens? And to what extent did they have any data that said, okay, if we get preteens and teenagers drinking Bud Light, they might be a customer for the rest of their lives. And if they did so, that is in direct violation of the rules governing the marketing of beer.
- [31:57]
Ben Ferguson
You know, there's one also, if you go back, the Bud Light VP of marketing actually not only doubled down on her Extreme Woke strategy, which was to completely, radically change this company, but she mentioned declining sales when she took over and also mentioned young people. I want people to hear this. Now, this was before the Mulvaney controversy, but this is the Bud Light VP of marketing in her own words in a interview.
- [32:29]
Unnamed Bud Light VP of Marketing
I'm a businesswoman. I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light. And it was, this brand is in decline. It's been in decline for a really long time. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud.
- [32:45]
Ben Ferguson
Lights young drinkers to drink this brand Center. I mean, that's, that's, that's pretty brazen to say. Again, I'm going to read the transcript. And if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand, there will be no future for Bud Light. Those are her words.
- [33:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
You know what's funny, Ben? In the couple of days since I sent this letter calling for this investigation, the left, both Democrats and in particular left wing media outlets have been losing their mind. MSNBC has been running these pieces saying, you know, Cruz Is this radical, filled with hate? And none of them actually address the substantive point that beer companies are bound by rules not to market to kids. And none of them are disputing. What I think is indisputable is that Dylan Mulvaney is engaged in an aggressive campaign marketing to kids. Those are facts. And those are facts that, look, when it comes to transgender issues, today's left is so extreme that that you're not allowed to question anything about it. And so they're reflexively circling the wagon, saying, how dare Cruz ask these questions? Well, you know, I've got a job to do. My job's to represent 30 million Texans, and my job is also as the ranking member on the commerce committee. We've got direct jurisdiction over beer companies marketing to kids. And so we're gonna press to get to the bottom of it. And I'll tell you this. If Bud Light has marketing documents that, say, have projections of how many teenagers they could get to drink Bud Light by marketing to them, that is going to be a big, big problem if they deliberately went down this road to do what you just played from the VP of marketing to try to get more young drinkers underage.
- [34:40]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. Well, in her words, we got to get young drinkers. That's pretty damning right there. I want to also talk about a Republican, and I would say icon, especially behind the scenes, an individual who's. We should take a moment and celebrate his life, who has passed away. But before I do that, I want to talk to you real quick about chalk. If you're a guy and you feel like you things have changed, that you have become a little bit more weak and complacent. You just feel tired, like you don't have your same energy that you used to have. That is where you need to take a look at chalk. They can help you fix that problem, and you'll get rid of that weakness and complacency, and you'll put it back with strength and vitality. And that is through what chalk can do. They're here to help real men, just like you, maximize your masculinity by boosting testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. Now, I've been taking chalk choq now for a couple months. The male vitality stack. And what I can tell you is this. It works at testosterone levels. They have dropped off the charts, not just here, but all over the world. And that's another reason why you should take a look at what they can do for you. Go online to chalk choq.com and boost your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. That's chalk choq.com and if you use the promo code Ben, you're going to get 35% off any Chalk subscription for life. Plus, you can cancel anytime. So go to chalk choq.com and boost your testosterone, get back that strength and vitality and get rid of that weakness and complacency. Chalk choq.com promo code BEN for 35% off. Senator there is a name. Some may remember this name, others may not, but nonetheless, C. Boyden Gray, who's a lawyer, he has been in the establishment conservative, passed away at the age of 80. He was what I love about his story is he's a former Democrat. He actually served as White House counsel under George Bush and aided presidents including Ronald Reagan and Donald J. Trump. He has passed away. What an amazing man. You spent a lot of time with him. Let's talk a little bit about what he did for this country.
- [37:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, Boyden Gray passed away yesterday. He was 80 years old. He was someone who's a good friend. I knew Boyden very well. He lived a remarkable life. He was born in 1943 in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and he came from a family who had been an extraordinary family. His dad, a fellow named Gordon Gray, was the US National Security Advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. So when it comes to government service, it was a tradition in the family. His grandfather was president of the R.J. reynolds Tobacco Company. So Boyden came from considerable wealth. He went to Harvard University in 1964. He wrote for the Harvard Crimson. And then he enlisted the Marines, and he was a sergeant in the Marines from 1965 to 1970. He then went to the University of North Carolina Law School, and he was editor in chief of the North Carolina Law Review. And he was first in the class. And from that he became a law clerk to the Chief justice of the United States, to Earl Warren, which is pretty extraordinary. And he became a very prominent lawyer in private practice at the firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering, which is a big D.C. law firm. And then in 1981, he went to work for the White House as legal counsel for the vice president, George Herbert Walker Bush. When Bush became president, he came back and became the White house counsel for Bush 41. And he was very close to Bush 41. The two of them played tennis together. They were close friends together. Boyden was someone who he was an unusual guy. He was about 6ft 6. He was tall, skinny, lanky, and he was brilliant. I mean, he had a mind that was a Marvel to behold. And he was passionate about freedom. He'd been a Democrat. He'd been a law clerk for Earl Warren, but he was in no way, shape and form a liberal. He believed in freedom and especially economic liberty when it came to regulatory reform. I don't know that there's been a more important person in the last 50 years fighting to rein in the regulatory state than Boyden Gray. He was relentless. He was very active with freedom works, which played a big part in electing me. Boyden was also an early supporter of mine, and when I ran for the Senate, Boyden supported me right at the outset. You know, when I first ran in 2012, when we started, I was at 2% in the polls. And we refer to the folks that were with us from day one as the 2 percenters. You had to be really out of your mind. Actually, Ben, you were a 2 percenter.
- [39:55]
Ben Ferguson
That's right.
- [39:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
And Boyden was a 2 percenter. And he hosted fundraisers for me at his home in D.C. he backed me early on, and Boyden was brilliant. He was also deeply involved in battles over the Supreme Court when Clarence Thomas. When Bush 41 nominated Clarence Thomas, Boyden was intimately involved in defending Clarence Thomas for the vigorous attack that came after him and getting Thomas through the Senate. And, you know, Boyden was. I'll tell you something that actually a lot of people don't know. One of the things Boyden was quite passionate about was people with disabilities. And Boyden played a pivotal role in. In passing the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- [40:44]
Ben Ferguson
Wow.
- [40:44]
Senator Ted Cruz
Boyden Gray and Dick Thornburg, who was the Attorney General under Bush 41, the two of them were the leading architects of the Americans with Disability act. And Bush 41 signed it. And, you know, it's interesting. A lot of Democrats pretend, oh, the ADA is their policy. Well, no, it was Republicans who wrote it, it was Republicans who passed it, it was Republicans who made it happen. And I believe the Americans with Disability act is a very conservative policy. We started this podcast by talking about the dignity of work that everyone wants to work, that everyone wants to provide for their own family. And I think people with disabilities, that's especially true. Look, if you're blind, if you use a wheelchair, if you have some other impairment. Look, if you're blind, you probably can't be an airline pilot, but there's a lot of good work you can do if you're. You know, if you use a wheelchair, you're probably not going to run track, but there are lots of things you can do, including be the governor of the state of Texas. The ADA was all about empowering people with disabilities to work to their maximum potential and to have their maximum independence. And Fast forward to 1999 and 2000. I was a young lawyer. I was working on George W. Bush's campaign and was domestic policy advisor and covered all sorts of legal areas. But one of the areas I covered was disability policy. And I worked very closely with both Boyden and Dick Thornburg in drafting what became George W. Bush's disability policy, which was the new Freedom initiative, which he introduced and passed early in his presidency. And it again made a real difference, helping people with disability live with the maximum independence and engagement in the workforce. All of that is an incredible legacy. But I'll tell you, Ben, actually my favorite memory of Boyden has nothing to do with his impact in life. But Boyden, I spent time at his house. He had a beautiful house in Georgetown. And one of my favorite memories was being at his house with him and a couple of other folks playing bridge with him. And he was brilliant and fun and smart and he had a dry sense of humor. And I'm grateful for the legacy Boyden Gray left for our country. And both Heidi and I were going to miss him. He was an extraordinary man and an extraordinary patriot.
- [43:23]
Ben Ferguson
I love the story and like you said, what a great legacy to leave behind. An incredible work that he has done. And again, Boyden Gray, lawyer for the Republican establishment, an amazing guy, passed away at the age of 80. What an amazing life he had lived and an incredible legacy that he's left behind. Don't forget, we do this show three days a week, so make sure you hit that subscribe button right now wherever you're listening. We publish Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and even shows in between when there's big breaking news. So make sure you do that. Please write us a five star review as well that helps us tremendously reach a new audience on the charts. And we will see you guys back here in a couple of days.