The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Episode: Dunking on Newsom, Forbidden Words for Democrats & SCOTUS Victory for Trump Cancelling $783M in DEI Grants
Date: August 25, 2025
Host: Ben Ferguson (with Senator Ted Cruz)

Overview

In this episode, Ben Ferguson and Senator Ted Cruz discuss three major political stories:

1. Gavin Newsom’s attempts to blame rising electricity prices on Donald Trump—and the backlash on social media.
2. A Democrat think tank’s memo urging their party to stop using "forbidden" woke terms to avoid alienating voters.
3. A close Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to cancel $783 million in DEI-related NIH grants.

The conversation is packed with political analysis, social media anecdotes, and pointed critiques of progressive policies and tactics.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Gavin Newsom, Electricity Prices, and a Viral Twitter Dunk

Timestamps: 02:06 – 15:32

• Sen. Cruz’s Viral Tweet: Sen. Ted Cruz recounts how his AI-powered response on Twitter (using Grok) to Gavin Newsom’s claim that “electricity prices have gone up 10% since January—Great work, Donald Trump” went viral (14 million views).
• Fact-Checking with AI: Cruz uses Grok to demonstrate that the states and cities with the highest electricity rates are run by Democrats and have strong renewable mandates.
  • Top Five States: Hawaii, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island.
  • Top Five Cities: Honolulu, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Hartford.
• Policy Breakdown: Cruz explains that blue states’ policies (high taxes, renewable mandates, regulatory barriers) drive up electricity prices, not federal policy or the Trump administration.
• Texas as a Counterexample: Renewable energy works in Texas not because of mandates, but due to market access and policy flexibility (including natural gas and coal).
• Energy Policy Irony: Cruz cites the example of New England importing Russian gas due to pipeline restrictions from New York—calling it “left-wing liberal logic.”
• Media Fact-Checkers: Ferguson and Cruz lament the lack of mainstream fact-checking on Democrat narratives, noting a double standard.
  • Quote (Cruz, 15:32):
    “The so called fact checkers are not, in fact, objective…they mask their often deceptive editorial views as objective fact checking.”

Notable Quotes

• Sen. Ted Cruz [07:02]:
  “Gavin Newsom is fact free, he is data free, he is Evidence free, he is usually reality free, but he's pretty slick and drives a message.”
• Sen. Ted Cruz [11:40]:
  “When you put mandates, as blue states do, when you put massive renewable energy mandates, that drives up the cost of generating electricity. Consistently, the cheapest form… is either coal or natural gas.”
• Sen. Ted Cruz [15:32]:
  “The fact checkers are in the business of lying, so they're not going to be fact checking what Gavin Newsom says.”

2. Democrats’ “Forbidden Words” Memo: Third Way’s Effort at Rebranding

Timestamps: 18:00 – 25:02

• Third Way Memo: A major center-left Democrat think tank, Third Way, circulated a list of 45 banned words and phrases to help Democrats sound less “elitist” or “woke.”
  • Reported by Politico as “The Blue Blacklist.”
  • The aim: bridge the gap between party leadership and “everyday people.”
• Categories of Banned Terms:
  • Therapy speak (e.g., “triggering,” “dialoguing”)
  • Social justice jargon (“microaggression,” “privilege,” “cultural appropriation”)
  • Progressive policy-speak (“the unhoused,” “birthing person”)
• Mockery and Skepticism: Cruz and Ferguson lampoon the memo, suggesting that Democrats’ problem isn’t their language—but their underlying beliefs and policies.
• George Carlin Reference: Cruz jokes about the “seven words you can’t say on radio,” likening the memo to a new set of unmentionables.
  • Quote (Cruz, 21:35):
    “We actually had a hearing in judiciary where a Democrat senator made multiple references to birthing people…and I said, dude, is your party really that whack job crazy that you can't say mom?”

Banned Words Highlights (examples):

• Privilege

• Environmental violence

• Dialoguing

• Triggering

• Othering

• Microaggression

• Holding space

• Body shaming

• Subverting norms

• Systems of oppression

• Cultural appropriation

• Food insecurity

• Birthing person

• Cisgender

• Dead naming

• The unhoused

• Radical transparency

• Allyship

• Incarcerated people

• Critique: The hosts argue the memo doesn’t call for Democrats to stop believing in radical ideas—only to stop talking about them in ways that put off mainstream voters.

Notable Quotes

• Ben Ferguson [21:19]:
  “Birthing person real quick? That's the one…that would be a mom. But they don't want to say that.”
• Sen. Ted Cruz [24:03]:
  “We're doing our best to get Democrats to talk like normal people and stop talking like they're leading a seminar at Antioch…When they say words like that, they sound like freaks. But there's a reason…because they are.”

3. SCOTUS Ruling: Trump Administration Can Cancel DEI NIH Grants

Timestamps: 31:21 – 42:23

• Supreme Court Victory: The Court (5-4 split) allows the Trump administration to halt $783 million in NIH grants tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and gender ideology.
• Breakdown of the Case:
  • Grants terminated because they prioritized funding based on ideology or researcher race.
  • Liberal lower courts had ordered the administration to pay; Supreme Court overruled, citing jurisdictional issues (case was filed in the wrong court).
  • Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the swing vote, siding with conservatives on jurisdiction but with liberals on blocking Trump’s DEI guidance for now.
• Legal System Dynamics:
  • Cruz laments a pattern of district courts openly defying Supreme Court precedent, with left-wing plaintiffs “judge-shopping” to find sympathetic, activist benches.
  • Justice Gorsuch’s concurrence chiding lower courts: “Whatever their own views, judges are duty bound to respect the hierarchy of the federal court system…”
• Political Implications:
  • Ferguson and Cruz warn that such legal “lawfare” will persist, with left-leaning plaintiffs using the courts to try and stall or hobble the Trump administration at every turn.

Notable Quotes

• Sen. Ted Cruz [31:47]: “It allowed the Trump administration to terminate $783 million worth of [NIH] grants…canceled because of the administration's policy positions on diversity, equity and inclusion and gender ideology.”
• Sen. Ted Cruz [37:22]: “This is their next generation of lawfare. Just like before when they indicted him four times, that was an effort to use the courts…to stop President Trump, but also to stop the voters from re electing him. They failed in that—this is now their effort and it is relentless.”
• Sen. Ted Cruz [41:46]: “If you are citing a dissent, you are saying right on the front of it, I don't care what the majority held. I agree with the dissenters. No lower court judge has the authority to do that. That is the definition of lawlessness.”

Memorable Moments

• Cruz’s “Grok” Tweet Dunk [07:02 – 10:00]
  • Cruz calmly uses AI to destroy Newsom’s narrative: “I just need to ask a simple question. Where is it the highest? Now I do the answer.”
• Mocking “Birthing Person” [21:19 – 21:35]
  • Humorous reflection on the absurdity of language policing, with Cruz reliving a Senate hearing and bantering with Dem colleagues.
• Fact Checker Fiasco [15:32]
  • Cruz recounts an old PolitiFact episode where he was rated false on a technicality despite saying something literally true, highlighting perceived media bias.

Important Segment Timestamps

• Show Welcome and Viral Tweet Summary – 02:06–04:49
• Debunking Newsom’s Electricity Claim – 06:09–11:15
• Deep Dive: State-Level Energy Policy – 11:15–15:14
• Criticism of Fact-Checkers – 15:14–18:00
• Democrat “Forbidden Words” Memo – 18:00–25:02
• SCOTUS DEI Grants Ruling Explained – 31:21–37:06
• Legal and Political Implications of Court Ruling – 37:06–42:23

Tone & Language

The episode is conversational, sharp, and filled with pointed humor and skepticism—especially toward Democratic narratives and progressive policy jargon. The hosts use sarcasm, share personal anecdotes, and reference both political and pop culture as they break down the news.

Summary prepared for listeners who want to stay informed on major political developments, without listening to the advertisements or non-content sections.