Ep. 13 - The Stakes of 2020

Summary

Podcast Summary: Ep. 13 - The Stakes of 2020

Host: Michael Knowles
Guest: Senator Ted Cruz
Release Date: February 11, 2020
Transcript Excerpt From: Verdict with Ted Cruz

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1. Impeachment's Conclusion and Emerging Political Risks

The episode opens with Michael Knowles announcing the end of the impeachment proceedings against President Trump, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of the political landscape leading into the 2020 elections.

Michael Knowles [00:00]: "The impeachment is over. Now the real political risk begins."

Senator Ted Cruz concurs, acknowledging that while the impeachment saga has concluded, significant political challenges are on the horizon.

Ted Cruz [00:21]: "Now you can get a good night's sleep."

2. The Critical Importance of the 2020 Elections

Knowles emphasizes the significance of the 2020 election cycle, questioning what is truly at stake.

Michael Knowles [00:22]: "Every single election cycle, this is the most important election of our lifetimes. Now, everything is about 2020. I wanna know from your vantage on the inside in the Senate what is really at stake in 2020."

Cruz responds by framing the election as "unbelievably consequential" across multiple fronts, highlighting the ongoing battle between Democrats and conservatives.

Ted Cruz [00:56]: "Look, I think it is an unbelievably consequential election on a lot of fronts."

3. Democrats' Strategy and Potential Amplification of Partisan Behavior

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the Democrats' tactics and the potential consequences if they secure victories in November.

Ted Cruz [01:17]: "Do you like the nuttiness? Do you like the gallop to the left? Do you like the abuse of the Department of Justice and the FBI and Target targeting the president and attacking the president and impeaching him for partisan purposes?"

Cruz warns that a Democratic win could lead to the amplification of extreme behaviors and policies.

Ted Cruz [01:44]: "Depending on what happens in November, we'll either get a lot more of it or a lot less of it."

4. Historical Context: Impeachment Lessons from Clinton and Obama Administrations

The conversation delves into past impeachment efforts, comparing the outcomes of President Bill Clinton's impeachment to the attempts during President Obama's tenure.

Ted Cruz [03:05]: "Because the Bill Clinton impeachment didn't go well."

Cruz points out that impeachment can backfire, as seen with Clinton's approval ratings rising post-impeachment.

Ted Cruz [04:13]: "Impeaching Clinton was a disaster. We don't want to do it again."

5. Filibuster's Role and Democratic Plans to Alter Senate Procedures

A critical segment discusses the filibuster's historical significance and the Democrats' intentions to dismantle it to further their legislative agenda.

Ted Cruz [08:01]: "When they fell to 59, there were some old bull Democrats who wouldn't end the filibuster."

Understanding the filibuster's impact, Cruz explains how its removal could lead to swift Democratic control over Senate decisions.

Ted Cruz [08:40]: "What it means as a practical matter, though, in the Senate is that to take up any legislation, you need 60 votes."

6. Democrats' Agenda to Alter the Electorate and Ensure Long-Term Power

Cruz outlines a hypothetical strategy Democrats might employ to secure indefinite control, including granting citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants and altering voter registration processes.

Ted Cruz [11:08]: "Make as many illegal aliens as possible citizens and voters instantaneously."

He argues that such measures would drastically shift electoral outcomes in favor of Democrats.

Ted Cruz [12:37]: "If Republicans lose Texas, we're never becoming president again."

7. Statehood for Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico as Political Tools

The discussion covers proposals to grant statehood to Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, which Cruz suggests would guarantee additional Democratic seats in the Senate.

Ted Cruz [12:58]: "They can make the District of Columbia a state. Washington, D.C. is like an 85% Democratic city."

8. National Instantaneous Voter Registration and Electoral Reforms

Cruz critiques Democratic proposals for federalizing voter registration, arguing it undermines state-level controls designed to prevent voter fraud.

Ted Cruz [14:33]: "The Democrats want a federal takeover. They wanna put the states and local governments out of the election business."

9. Big Tech's Influence and Potential Censorship Under a Democratic Regime

A significant concern raised is the role of Big Tech in elections and the potential for increased censorship if Democrats gain power.

Ted Cruz [16:10]: "But as bad as they are now, in a Democratic, in a Bernie Sanders administration, they would. I am not exaggerating when I say this podcast could very well be off the air."

He fears that Democratic control could lead to stringent regulation and suppression of conservative voices online.

10. Judicial Appointments and Supreme Court Expansion Fears

Cruz expresses anxiety over potential Democratic efforts to expand the Supreme Court and appoint more liberal justices.

Ted Cruz [19:48]: "The Democrats are talking about packing the Supreme Court. In other words, expanding it from nine. The number they're talking about is to 15 justices, so six brand new justices."

11. Senate Conduct During Impeachment and Upholding Constitutional Principles

In response to a mailbag question, Cruz defends the Senate's role in conducting a fair impeachment trial, emphasizing the importance of due process.

Ted Cruz [22:29]: "We had a responsibility to say we're going to do a fair trial. The House has voted. That constitutionally is a big deal."

12. Final Thoughts: Legislative Priorities and Defense of Liberty

Cruz concludes by outlining his legislative goals, including confirming effective judges and defending constitutional liberties against perceived socialist threats.

Ted Cruz [20:26]: "The most important thing I'll do is defend the principles of liberty. It's why we're doing this podcast."

He highlights his efforts in promoting school choice, presenting it as a pivotal civil rights issue.

Ted Cruz [21:07]: "School choice, it is the most important civil rights issue facing America now."

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Conclusion

This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz provides a comprehensive analysis of the political tensions surrounding the 2020 elections. Senator Cruz articulates concerns over potential Democratic strategies to entrench power, legislative maneuvers like ending the filibuster, and the broader implications for American democracy. Through insightful dialogue, the conversation underscores the high stakes of the upcoming elections and the profound impact they may have on the nation's future trajectory.

Transcript

[Michael Knowles]

The impeachment is over. Now the real political risk begins. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles. Impeachment is over. Finally.

[Ted Cruz]

Now you can get a good night's sleep.

[Michael Knowles]

Now we can get a good night's sleep, but actually, we were talking about this a little bit last episode. Impeachment was always gonna end the way it was gonna end. It was never gonna end in the removal of the president. In some ways, I wonder if impeachment was kind of the safe period for conservatives in politics. And actually, now the real threat begins. We are told every single election cycle, this is the most important election of our lifetimes. Now, everything is about 2020. I wanna know from your vantage on the inside in the Senate what is really at stake in 2020.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, I think it is an unbelievably consequential election on a lot of fronts. But let's step back, take just the meta level first, reward and punishment. Look back over the last year, over the last three years. Do you like the behavior of the Democrats?

[Michael Knowles]

No.

[Ted Cruz]

Do you like the nuttiness? Do you like the gallop to the left? Do you like the abuse of the Department of Justice and the FBI and Target targeting the president and attacking the president and impeaching him for partisan purposes? Do you like the SQUAD and AOC attacking Israel, embracing socialism and going nuts? If you do? Well, depending on what happens in November, we'll either get a lot more of it or a lot less of it.

[Michael Knowles]

I mean, obviously they've run far to the left. What could happen, though? I mean, just beyond more crazy AOC tweets and speeches.

[Ted Cruz]

If the Democrats are rewarded November, they have a good election day. Everything we've seen now gets amplified and it gets amplified tenfold. Politicians are not complicated creatures. They react to incentives. If something works, they do it again, they do more. If it works again, they do more of it. They do more of it. And by the way, if it doesn't work, they stop doing it. If they get punished. Look, it's a little bit like when your dog takes a crap on the sofa. If you whack him with the newspaper, he'll stop doing that. Politicians need to be whacked with newspapers more.

[Michael Knowles]

I think that's an issue that everybody could get behind in the whole country.

[Ted Cruz]

I am all for it. Except the problem is the newspapers work for the Democrats, so they're not gonna whack them. And we could take a total digression and go, Joe Pesci, Goodfellows and whacking politicians. But that's a really bad idea.

[Michael Knowles]

Now we're gonna get banned from Twitter. This is actually something I wanna ask you about too, but.

[Ted Cruz]

Let me give an example. Why do you think it was that Barack Obama was never impeached?

[Michael Knowles]

Because John Boehner refused to do it.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, but why?

[Michael Knowles]

I don't know why.

[Ted Cruz]

Because the Bill Clinton impeachment didn't go well.

[Michael Knowles]

Huh?

[Ted Cruz]

So Bill Clinton's president, Republicans impeach him, they get all energized, they bring the impeachment and what happens? Bill Clinton's approval rating goes up and Republicans approval rating goes down. Bill Clinton loves it. Because the American people say, look, this guy's actually focusing on what we care about. And who are these crazy Republicans that are focused on just a partisan fight? Well, so fast forward to the Obama administration. Listen, there were grassroots activists asking all the time, impeach Obama. Now I'll be clear. I never thought we should impeach Obama. But I would get asked and this is, I ran in 2012, I'd never been elected to anything. I mean, the first thing I've ever been elected in my life is Senate. So I'm running, I'd be with activists and they'd say, why don't we impeach Obama? And you know, I'd usually say, I wouldn't necessarily argue with them just cause it's not a bad idea. It's not a good idea to get in a fight with like grassroots activists.

[Michael Knowles]

The people you're asking their votes for you.

[Ted Cruz]

But I just. The answer I would usually give is, you know what? It's better. The better solution is beat him at the ballot box. That rather than use impeachment, trust democracy or trust the Democratic Republic we have. We're not a pure democracy, but trust the Democratic checks. So what that means. And by the way, every Republican had accepted in Congress it was received wisdom. Impeaching Clinton was a disaster. We don't want to do it again. That's why, that's why they didn't go down that road. If the Democrats win doing this, every bad behavior gets amplified. So that's the broader meta level, but it's a very real level.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, that's an important point because what.

[Ted Cruz]

You'Re saying garbage will get and not just a little worse, a lot worse. Like the vindictive, personal, nasty, abuse my power, use everything for partisan gain, Rip the State of the Union speech. Look fast forward to where they go. If this gets rewarded, I think it's really scary.

[Michael Knowles]

The point that is so Interesting here is that I thought we had the final impeachment vote last week, the important impeachment vote, but actually what you're saying is the really important impeachment vote, the vote that is gonna tell us what future impeachments will look like or what future behavior from the party that impeached will look like. That actually didn't happen last week. That's gonna happen this November.

[Ted Cruz]

In November. Listen. The Senate acquitted President Trump about 4:30 in the afternoon. Five and a half hours earlier, at 11:00am Jerry Nadler announces they're subpoenaing John Bolton.

[Michael Knowles]

That's right.

[Ted Cruz]

They're not done. This has released the hounds. This is attack. This has used everything we've got. And if they win in November, all of that gets amplified. Now let's talk specifics. You're right. Every politician says it's the most important election. And listen, if it's your rear end on the, I mean, say the most important to you, they're actually not necessarily lying when they say that.

[Michael Knowles]

It's just very specific.

[Ted Cruz]

You remember what Reagan said against Jimmy Carter where he said, you know, recession is when your neighbor loses his job, depression is when you lose your job, and recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job. That's right. I mean, all of that is very real if it impacts you. But if you look at substantively, I mean, think back to the State of the Union, think back to the President reciting all the incredible gains in the economy that frankly, if you had predicted three years ago, no one would have believed you. The media would have mocked you. That'll never happen. It's impossible. We can't bring manufacturing jobs back. We can't see wages rise. We can't see.

[Michael Knowles]

Nobody hates taxes more than me. I despise when taxes go up. I think it'll kill jobs. I am worried about all of that. That's not keep me up at night kind of fear. What actually has me worried about 2020 are the big changes. The changes that are more radical than we've seen before, the changes that won't be so easy to undo. Is there a real risk of that kind of stuff?

[Ted Cruz]

So listen, I think the very first priority Democrats will have is stay in power forever. Yeah. Does that make sense? I think they will look at structural changes. How do they structurally make it so they can never lose?

[Michael Knowles]

Can they do that? I mean, they haven't done that before.

[Ted Cruz]

They haven't, but they've rarely had the.

[Michael Knowles]

Majorities and you mean majorities in House.

[Ted Cruz]

Senate presidency and the ability to force it through. There have always been checks on it. So, for example, all right, we wake up January 2021. Bernie Sanders is president.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

Chuck Schumer's majority Leader. Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House. I think one of the first things that happens is they end the filibuster.

[Michael Knowles]

So the filibuster is one of these terms that everybody kind of knows what it means. But what is the meaning of the filibuster? What has it meant for American political history?

[Ted Cruz]

So look, historically, the filibuster meant unlimited debate. It meant you could stand up and talk as long as you want. What I did in 2013 on Obamacare, and when people think of filibuster, they think of Jimmy Stewart standing up and doing this long filibuster. What it means as a practical matter, though, in the Senate is that to take up any legislation, you need 60 votes. What it means is the minority has a veto.

[Michael Knowles]

Even you're not controlling the Senate, but you've got enough votes that you can slow things down.

[Ted Cruz]

Right. That's how the Senate has operated on legislation. It has been a tool over and over again to just slow things down.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

What's changed? So when Obama was president, there was a period. So there was a brief period where they had a Democratic super majority. They had 60 votes. And that's when they took up Obamacare. That's when they were ramming things through, when they had 60 votes. And then you remember Ted Kennedy died.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And that 60th vote, you remember who.

[Michael Knowles]

Got elected a Republican in Massachusetts?

[Ted Cruz]

Scott Brown.

[Michael Knowles]

Scott Brown.

[Ted Cruz]

And it was a national election.

[Michael Knowles]

Right.

[Ted Cruz]

Because it was, holy cow, we gotta stop this 60th vote. And it was basically a referendum on Obamacare. And the people of Massachusetts said, give us a Republican. Now, when does that last happen?

[Michael Knowles]

Right, right. Because it just opens the door. That doesn't happen a lot. That one party controls absolutely everything. And when it does happen, they can get through major transformational legislation like Obamacare.

[Ted Cruz]

So when they fell to 59, there were some old bull Democrats who wouldn't end the filibuster. It was just. It was a different Democratic Party in 2009 than it is in 2020.

[Michael Knowles]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Ted Cruz]

You can see that the Democratic caucus in the Senate, every one of them would vote to end the filibuster. By the way, we saw them do that with Harry Reid when they ended the filibuster on judges.

[Michael Knowles]

This is what makes me very nervous about it, because for so long, the filibuster was sacred because whatever party had the majority knew that eventually one day they'd be in the minority.

[Ted Cruz]

So, all right, let's assume you're Chuck Schumer's political strategist.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And your objective is stay in power forever. What do you want to do? You want to, number one, change the electorate. You want to change who's voting. What's the easiest way to do that?

[Michael Knowles]

Illegal immigration.

[Ted Cruz]

But not just illegal immigration. Make everyone here illegally citizens.

[Michael Knowles]

Yes.

[Ted Cruz]

The estimates vary. 11 million, 12 million. I've seen estimates as high as 18, 20 million people here illegally. No one really knows, but I think right at the top of the priority list is make as many illegal aliens as possible citizens and voters instantaneously, because.

[Michael Knowles]

Those new voters are much more likely to vote for Democrats.

[Ted Cruz]

I think they're convinced they will vote Democratic. And by the way, that's not true with Hispanic voters generally. I mean, in Texas, I get over 40% of the Hispanic vote. In Texas, I did in 2012. I did in 2018. But those are legal Hispanic citizens. Very different people who followed the rules. The Democrats have gone all in on gambling that illegal aliens are gonna vote Democrats.

[Michael Knowles]

So that's a big structural change. Ending the filibuster. And then through that, if they control everything, you get amnesty for maybe tens of millions of people.

[Ted Cruz]

And think about the voting consequences. Where are illegal aliens concentrated? Florida.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

Florida turns bright blue and never votes Republican again. Texas. Texas becomes a Democratic state. North Carolina, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico.

[Michael Knowles]

If Republicans lose Texas, we're never becoming president again.

[Ted Cruz]

It's game over. If they just that. Let's assume they do nothing else. They enact the filibuster, and they make 12 million illegal alien citizens. That's it.

[Michael Knowles]

Game over for us at the national level.

[Ted Cruz]

And you don't think Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders want to do that, Right?

[Michael Knowles]

Of course.

[Ted Cruz]

So let's talk about the Senate. If they take the Senate, let's ASSUME they have 51, 52 Democratic senators, I think, high on their list. Get more Democratic senators.

[Michael Knowles]

How do you get. Are you going to annex Greenland?

[Ted Cruz]

They won't do that.

[Michael Knowles]

Trump wants that.

[Ted Cruz]

Mostly because they made fun of Trump for it. I have to admit, it was a very interesting idea. But you know what they can do? They can make the District of Columbia a state. Washington, D.C. washington, D.C. and by the way, Washington, D.C. is like an 85% Democratic city. You want a state guaranteed to elect Democrats for all eternity. D.C. as a state would be the most liberal state.

[Michael Knowles]

And they've proposed it before. Joe Lieberman proposed it right before he Left the Senate.

[Ted Cruz]

And so if you're Chuck schumer, you make D.C. a state and suddenly you get two brand new Democratic senators that will never lose.

[Michael Knowles]

Right?

[Ted Cruz]

Puerto Rico becoming a state. Now it's interesting, there's some debate, you get debate whether if Puerto Rico is a state, would they elect Republicans, would they elect Democrats? I don't know the answer to that. But I can tell you the Democratic Party thinks they'd elect Democrats, thinks it.

[Michael Knowles]

Would be a win for them. So you could have a situation with some real probability that you add four Democratic senators and then suddenly you're trying.

[Ted Cruz]

To say how do you get the Senate back? And instead of being down 51, 49, you're down 56. 49. Yeah, 55, 49. No one told me there'd be math on this. Okay, so not only that, let's take a big priority of Democrats right now. And I think one of the first bills they would pass if they take control, which is national instantaneous voter registration. Now look, that sounds kind of boring, okay?

[Michael Knowles]

Right, right. So right now voter registration is done by the states. And you gotta sign up for it.

[Ted Cruz]

State and local level. And there are a lot of state and local levels that combat voter fraud. The Democrats want a federal takeover. They wanna put the states and local governments out of the election business.

[Michael Knowles]

Why?

[Ted Cruz]

And make everyone immediately an eligible voter? Because they don't. It's the same reason they fight photo id. They don't want to see photo ID on voting.

[Michael Knowles]

Cuz it's harder to steal elections.

[Ted Cruz]

You want to talk about structurally ensuring they stay in power.

[Michael Knowles]

You know, we're seeing them do this at the local level, where I am, in California, where I am, when I'm not in Washington, they pass these laws, motor voter laws, so you get instantaneous registration at the dmv. You even see ballot harvesting.

[Ted Cruz]

So this idea, and by the way, I wouldn't put it past them to have electronic voting. To have, number one, a holiday, a mandated federal holiday on election day. And electronic voting, because you know, we've seen how well that worked in Iowa. They'll have the same guy, Robbie Mook, who, what a name.

[Michael Knowles]

Worked for Mrs. Clinton.

[Ted Cruz]

He was Hillary Clinton, I guess her campaign manager.

[Michael Knowles]

And he was behind that app that completely botched the Iowa caucuses.

[Ted Cruz]

So instead we'll just have the entire election run through an app. But don't worry if it's not Democratic operatives running the app, it'll be big tech. Because we can trust big tech to be in charge of that.

[Michael Knowles]

They would never censor conservatives have a political bias.

[Ted Cruz]

And as bad as they are now, in a Democratic, in a Bernie Sanders administration, they would. I am not exaggerating when I say this podcast could very well be off the air.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, because social media, these big tech companies, they go after conservatives even when the Republicans have the Senate, when you can grill them, drag them to the.

[Ted Cruz]

Capitol, which I've done a bunch of times.

[Michael Knowles]

Which in particular you've done a lot. And when Republicans have the White House. So you're saying there's.

[Ted Cruz]

And the Department of Justice and the executive branch. So they're nervous. Look, Big Tech right now doesn't want DOJ to break him up under the antitrust laws.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

You get Bernie Sanders in power, they're going to come in. Look, a lot of the Democrats. Do you remember when Mark Zuckerberg testified in the Senate and there were like 45 senators? It was the Commerce Committee and Judiciary Committee. I was one of them that grilled Mark Zuckerberg. Just about every senator grilled him. Both Democrats and Republicans. It was actually a fascinating moment, but if you listened, it was like two ships passing in the night. Because what the Democrats were saying was, why the hell did you let Donald Trump win?

[Michael Knowles]

So they weren't saying. What the Republicans were saying is, why are you censoring people? What the Democrats were saying is, why didn't you censor people?

[Ted Cruz]

The Republicans were kind of meandering around like, so what's this Internet thingy again? System of tubes. It was not the most effective cross examination in the history of the Senate.

[Michael Knowles]

But the Democrats were calling for more censorship.

[Ted Cruz]

They were saying, you let these crazy conservatives speak and look what happened. And they'll put it in the frame of let's stop lying. And so they'll tell Big Tech. Big Tech's already going down this road. But imagine it accelerated with the federal government they define as a lie anything they disagree with.

[Michael Knowles]

Right.

[Ted Cruz]

Medicare for all is bad. That's a lie. Where we're just going to say you can't lie and that means you can't disagree. Do you ever read 1984?

[Michael Knowles]

I did, yeah. George Orwell.

[Ted Cruz]

So I actually read 1984. In 1984, I was in eighth grade. I actually thought it was totally cool. Mr. Wall was our teacher and he sign 1984. In 1984 we're all like, all right, that's kind of cool. But you remember the propaganda. We're at war with Eurasia. We've always been at war with Eurasia.

[Michael Knowles]

This is the totalitarian government. They're always just saying, we're at war with Eurasia. We've always been at war.

[Ted Cruz]

But then they switch it. They switch it to. And suddenly what was said in the past is no longer operative. Big Tech has that kind of power.

[Michael Knowles]

They control information. They control the flow of information.

[Ted Cruz]

They hear you and. And then throw in, all right, economic policies, not just repealing the tax cuts. Massive new taxes. I mean, crushing new taxes. Regulatory. Who do you think? Who do you think will be EPA administrator?

[Michael Knowles]

I dread your answer.

[Ted Cruz]

How about aoc?

[Michael Knowles]

Oh, no. Oh, no.

[Ted Cruz]

And I'm not exaggerating. If you have a President Sanders or a President Warren, why wouldn't they put someone like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in?

[Michael Knowles]

So when I asked you what was at stake here, I was kind of hoping you would just tell me. They're gonna raise your taxes, and I'm gonna hate that, but I'll get over it. This is sufficiently terrifying that before all of this happens and they shut down everybody who writes into the mailbag.

[Ted Cruz]

Attorney General Kamala Harris.

[Michael Knowles]

No, I don't. I can't hear any more of this.

[Ted Cruz]

Supreme Supreme Court Justice Barack Obama.

[Michael Knowles]

No, you don't mean that.

[Ted Cruz]

And by the way, not just one. Look, the Democrats are talking about packing the Supreme Court. In other words, expanding it from nine. The number they're talking about is to 15 justices, so six brand new justices.

[Michael Knowles]

I am terrified at the end of all of. I am. The thought of Supreme Court Justice Barack Obama alone would be enough. So before all of this happens and before we have to go, I want to get to a mailbag question before all of our listeners are censored from. Bill, what is the most important thing for you to accomplish in the Senate after all of this impeachment stuff blows over?

[Ted Cruz]

Let's take two phases between now and Election Day. We're going to confirm judges, keep confirming good, effective judges.

[Michael Knowles]

That's pretty good.

[Ted Cruz]

And the most important thing I'll do is defend the principles of liberty. It's why we're doing this podcast. It's why I'm trying to engage is take on socialism, fight back on the forces that are trying to strip our liberty, defend free enterprise, and defend the Constitution more broadly in terms of policy. The legislation I'm most proud of having passed is legislation that I introduced as part of the tax cut bill that expanded school choice. I think school choice, it is the most important civil rights issue facing America now.

[Michael Knowles]

For a lot of people, it's their only ticket out of poverty.

[Ted Cruz]

And, you know, President Trump, during his State of the Union, called on Congress to pass my school choice legislation that it's $100 billion in federal tax credits for businesses and for individuals that contribute to scholarship granting organizations that are giving scholarships to kids K through 12 and also to adults in vocational training. $100 billion, you want to talk about. Transformational education is a gateway. And if we empower kids to choose the school that's best for them, that has the ability to change the world.

[Michael Knowles]

But unfortunately, now the Democrats have the House, the Republicans have the Senate, so there's not going to be a lot of legislating. Last question.

[Ted Cruz]

That won't happen between now and election day. But if we have a good, good election in 2020, I think it can.

[Michael Knowles]

Then there's a chance that we could. I mean, and I guess that gets to the whole point of the show is there is so much at stake here. Last question is just a personal question from Alex. Does it bother you that the impeachment vote could have been taken three minutes after the start of all of this and it would have produced the same results?

[Ted Cruz]

You know, it actually doesn't. There was a lot of debate early on and online about should we do a motion to dismiss at the outset.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And I thought that was an ill advised strategy. Why? A couple of reasons. Number one, if we'd done a motion to dismiss at the outset, I think we probably would have lost it. I think some of the wobbly Republicans that we had to work to get, they weren't there at the outset of this. We had to get them there.

[Michael Knowles]

They wanted the process to play out.

[Ted Cruz]

But number two, we all saw that the House was a kangaroo court.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

I don't think it actually would have served the Constitution or the country for the Senate to be seen as a kangaroo court or in fact be one. And so just throwing it out on day one. I think we had a responsibility to say we're going to do a fair trial. The House has voted. That constitutionally is a big deal. Even if you did it abusively, it's a big deal. When the House votes out articles of impeachment. We're gonna have a fair trial. We're gonna hear from both sides. You can present your case, we will listen to your case, and we're gonna follow the law. I think that was the right way to do it.

[Michael Knowles]

And the other reason why I like it just personally is because by dragging it out, it actually was very instructive. I guess that's the whole point of this podcast, was to be instructive on what is really happening, what impeachment means how it works. Unfortunately, this episode of the podcast has instructed me of all the many horrors that could befall us after November. So I'm probably not going to sleep between now and our next podcast. But it's a lot to think on, and it's important to know what the stakes really are. That's all the time we have. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.