← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
GOP Gaining Midterm Momentum, Sen. Cruz Does A Deep Dive Into All The Major Races You Need To Watch!
01:00:25
Loading summary
Transcript125 lines
- [00:00]
Host
We're just days away from the biggest midterm election that we've had in a long time when it comes to fighting for America. Plus, the senator called out some people on the View, including Hillary Clinton, and Chelsea's fighting back. And finally, what do you need to do to get ready for Election Day? And how are the races looking? This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Senator, we're just days away from a midterm election. You've been barnstorming the country, helping so many candidates. And we're going to talk about how to really look at this Senate race and the House and if we're going to flip in a moment. But there was something special that happened. There is a video that has been put out that is a montage of the View lying about your appearance and Chelsea Clinton coming after you. This had to make you laugh and smile a little bit. See Chelsea Clinton try to rewrite history, and you got to bust her out.
- [00:51]
Ted Cruz
Well, look, as we talked about earlier on the pod, going on the View was amazing fun. They're not used to anyone challenging them. They're not used to anyone presenting, representing anything other than the hard left, partisan propaganda. And they kind of lost their mind and they couldn't let it go. So even though we got into it a week ago, the last few days, they had Chelsea Clinton on and they asked her about what I had said, and in particular that Hillary Clinton had gone on their show and had said that President Trump's election was illegitimate. And they. Well, watch what Chelsea said.
- [01:26]
Host
Take a look at this. It's hysterical.
- [01:29]
Chelsea Clinton
Senator Ted Cruz, who was here on the show when we pressed him on the MAGA Republicans election denial, he did whip out some sort of prop, and he argued that your mother did the same thing. I do think that he knows that he's an illegitimate president. What's your opinion? That's funny, Sonny, because I'm pretty sure that I remembered that next day I was standing behind her when she conceded, yes, he's an illegitimate president. And that she said while she had campaigned very hard against President Trump, she hoped that he would be a president for all Americans. Illegitimate president. You know, I think that Senator Cruz just might have a slightly different memory of that. I do think that he knows that he's an illegitimate president.
- [02:14]
Ted Cruz
They sat here and said it was illegitimate and you guys were fine with it.
- [02:19]
Chelsea Clinton
I do think that he knows that he's an illegitimate president.
- [02:25]
Ted Cruz
And because of that, the chairman of the January 6 committee objected to a prior presidential election. Representative Raskin, the lead prosecutor for the Impeachment objected to a prior presidential election. Hypocrisy. Anytime a Republican is in front of a TV camera, try to say the election was fair and square and legitimate, you know who y'all don't do that to. You don't do it to Hillary Clinton, who stood up and said Trump stole the election.
- [02:54]
Host
It's a fact. There's the video. I hope everyone will share this video, put it out on social media, share the podcast. Wherever you get your podcast, please share this moment because it's just a great example of where we are not only with the media, but also with the Democratic Party. They know they can go on these shows, say whatever they want to say, and they will always give them cover, even if the lie was told on the same show.
- [03:17]
Ted Cruz
Well, and look, it is interesting. Chelsea was lying on behalf of her mother and the media hosts were trying to help her. So what I said was Hillary Clinton came on the View and said Donald Trump's election was illegitimate. And in fact, the host agreed with it. Now, mind you, when I said it last week, Whoopi Goldberg immediately chimes in. It was so they still think, yeah, Trump's election was illegitimate. They don't back away from it at all. They're happy to embrace their double standard. And what Chelsea answers a non sequitur where she says, well, I was behind my mom when she gave a speech. Okay? I didn't say she gave a speech or didn't. I said she went on the View and said the election was illegitimate, that he was an illegitimate president. And it is a deliberate strategy of partisan Democrats to say things that are just flat out false. Why? Because the fawning propagandists of the media will amplify it. There is an objective answer. Did Hillary Clinton say on the View to rapturous applause and happiness from the left wing host, that Donald Trump was an illegitimate president? There is an answer. The answer is yes. And no amount of spinning can change that.
- [04:35]
Host
Even this week it concerned me because we now know that apparently the FBI is already looking into misinformation and disinformation to affect the midterm elections. It's almost like they're getting their game plan ready, which is if we lose the House and we lose the Senate senator, that immediately it's the fault of some sort of propagandist Russia or whatever country they want to bring up now to say this wasn't a legitimate election and we're going to undermine the victory of Republicans and undermine the votes of every American that clearly seem to be Leaning towards we want to change.
- [05:08]
Ted Cruz
I think that's exactly right. They cannot accept election. Democrats have challenged every Republican presidential election since the year 2000. That has been their pattern over and over again. And Hillary setting the stage. When Democrats lose in 2022, they're going to say it's illegitimate. When Democrats lose in 2024, they're going to say it's illegitimate. And all throughout, they're going to say it's the Republicans who are the election deniers. We just think anytime we lose, it's illegitimate.
- [05:34]
Host
I want to do a deep dive, and I'm calling an audible here because I think you just mentioned things so important. Is it the job of the DoJ, of the FBI to spend as much time as they are spending, as they claim they're spending saying or claiming or looking into election interference the way that they say that it's out there? I mean, this has become an obsession. I can't even imagine how much money they're spending on this. We all know that foreign governments try to interfere in elections. I think it's pretty clear right now the conversation we're having in America is there's no third world country or a major country that's influencing people's opinions right now. How concerned are you that our actual government is spending this much time involved in our elections?
- [06:16]
Ted Cruz
Well, I'm concerned enough that I wrote a book that came out this last week called justice how the Left Has Weaponized the Legal System. And under Barack Obama, now under Joe Biden, the DOJ and the FBI and the IRS and the CIA and the Alphabet soup of Washington has turned into a partisan weapon for the Democrats. Look, in the 2000 election, we saw senior officials for the FBI go to Facebook and ask them to pull down the Hunter Biden laptop story. The Hunter Biden laptop story, which not only wasn't misinformation, we now know was true. So it was literally they were political emissaries. Now, it is a special category of information online that Big Tech historically has deeply disfavored. And it's what I call true but bad for Democrats. And true but bad for Democrats is their favorite category of, quote, misinformation to suppress. And in that instance, you literally had the FBI, mind you, the FBI while Trump was president. So it's the deep state, it's the career, senior career positions that have been infested with hard, vicious partisans who viewed their job. We must take down the elected President of the United States because we disagree with him. And it's our job to topple the President and Big Tech was more than happy to salute and say not only will we take the content down, we will punish any media outlet that reports on it. I mean, that's the amazing thing is the traditional media outlets have completely handed their spines to Big Tech. Big Tech now controls on the Hunter Biden laptop. Big Tech said we will ban you if you report on it. And all of the supposed the Woodward and Bernstein's of the world, they are now just minor little employees for Silicon Valley billionaires. And if you actually care about journalism, that ought to trouble you deeply. But the left doesn't care about journalism.
- [08:22]
Host
No, they don't. And I think it's very clear heading into the midterms how much water they're willing to carry for Democrats hoping that they can somehow pull out some victories in some seats that they're desperate to hold onto so they don't lose total control of the House as well as the Senate at the same time. And I want to get into how you watch election night and what are the most important races right now as we're about a week out. But before we do that, I want to tell you about our sponsor, Patriot Mobile. If you have a cell phone, you are going to save money with Patriot Mobile. On top of the fact that every bill you pay, they take a portion of your bill at no extra cost to you. And they support conservative causes and candidates around the country. They stand up for first and our Second Amendment rights. They stand up for the rights of the unborn and they even help when it comes to adoption. Now in this country since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, they also use the same cell towers that you're on right now with your cell phone. So imagine every time you text, every time you make a phone call, you know you're standing up for what you believe in. If you're ready to stand with companies that stand with your beliefs, they are the only Christian conservative cell phone coming in the U.S. go online right now to patriotmobile.com verdict that's patriotmobile.com verdict. Use our promo code verdict. You'll get four free activation and other great savings. You can also call them nine seven two patriot. That's nine hundred and seventy two patriot. Use the promo code verdict and you can save money and make a difference with every single phone call you make. Patriotmobile.com verdict promo code verdict Senator, I want to get into the midterms and there is a real concern now that we might not be able to grab the Senate. I think there's some confidence that we are going to be able to grab the House. Let's start with your prediction on the Senate and what are the races that people really need to be focusing on.
- [10:18]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. So I am very confident about this election. I think it's going to be a really good election in the House. I think we're going to get a majority and I think even potentially a big majority. A majority that could be 30, 40, 50 seats. We'll talk about the House in a minute. Let's talk about the Senate. I think we'll take the Senate and I think we'll get either 53 or 54 seats in the Senate.
- [10:38]
Host
Now that's gone up since just a couple weeks ago.
- [10:41]
Ted Cruz
I was 53. I've moved it, I'd say up 53 or 54. I'm probably 53 and a half is where I'd put it right now. And let me walk you through because this is these races are specific and most of these candidates I've been on the ground in the middle of our 17 state national bus tour. So I've been campaigning in almost all these states. Let's break it into three categories. Let's start with pickup opportunities. Then let's start with defense. And finally I want to throw out a couple of wild cards. Pickup. We have really six credible pickup opportunities. Nevada is the number one pickup opportunity in the country. I think we're going to win Nevada. Adam Laxalt is the nominee. Adam was the attorney General. Adam is a good friend. Adam is a conservative. He's running against Catherine Cortez Masto. Nevada is historically a purple state. Polling in that race has pretty consistently shown Laxalt up three to four points. Not overwhelming, but it's been pretty consistent. Cortez Masto is vulnerable. She votes with Joe Biden almost 100% of the time. She does not have much of a presence in the state. I think Nevada is. And Laxalt is also a really good candidate. And I do think candidate discipline matters. Having someone who knows how to run a campaign, knows how to not say stupid things and blow themselves up, that matters. I think Adam is staying on message.
- [12:02]
Host
An amazing job of staying on message in that race.
- [12:05]
Ted Cruz
Adam has also done a really good job of unifying the hardcore Trump supporters in the state and the Republicans who are not as keen about Donald Trump. And that's just a difficult dynamic for any candidate running because you've got different slices of Republicans and to get to 50, you usually need to get them all together. Adam's done a good job of bridging that without causing any internal battles. So I think Nevada is the number one pickup opportunity in the country. I think the number two pickup opportunity in the country is Georgia. Georgia. Herschel Walker is running against Raphael Warnock. Look, Walker has the reverend.
- [12:43]
Host
Don't forget the reverend guy that makes more money being a reverend at a church he doesn't really go to very often than he does in the U.S. senate.
- [12:49]
Ted Cruz
You know, it is. I was just with Herschel a couple days ago. We did a couple of big rallies on the ground in Georgia. I was really encouraged. The rallies. We had huge crowds, incredible enthusiasm. I was talking to Herschel. He and I grabbed some barbecue for lunch, and we were talking about how the crowds are markedly different from what the Georgia crowds were in the runoff two years ago. So I was there campaigning for Purdue and Loeffler, and I have to admit, the results didn't surprise me, because you could see when you were there, you could feel it. They were demoralized. They were pissed. They were depressed. You'd show up with a Senate candidate in Georgia. And the activists are yelling at them like they were angry. And listen, it is a reality. If your voters stay home, you lose elections. And that Georgia runoff. Republicans stayed home. It's night and day. The energy and enthusiasm. And listen, Herschel. Herschel's a rock star, I gotta say. Also, I campaigned with Herschel a couple of months ago. The difference between a couple of months ago and now, Herschel was on fire. I was really impressed. He's gotten.
- [14:04]
Host
He's never stride.
- [14:05]
Ted Cruz
You know, part of it is, I think Warnock pissed him off because it's gotten so nasty. It's gotten so personal. They've gone after him, they've gone after his family. I think Herschel has responded. He's gotten angry. He's standing up. I think he went after and debated Warnock effectively. Warnock came in. Warnock may be the candidate with the greatest divergence between his voting record and the voters of that state. I think Georgia is a fundamentally red state.
- [14:35]
Host
Yeah.
- [14:35]
Ted Cruz
And Warnock is a hardcore leftist. He's one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate. At the end of the day, that divergence is significant. And I think Walker wins. The question is going to be, Does Walker break 50%? Because we could see an outcome. There's a third party candidate. We could see an outcome where Walker wins and say has 49% and Warnock has 47%, which sends us to another runoff. And so one possible outcome that nobody wants to see is another Georgia runoff. That could conceivably decide control of the Senate. I hope that doesn't happen. It is not certain whether HERSCHEL will break 50 this time around. I'd really like him to break 50 and just be done with it.
- [15:21]
Host
Sure.
- [15:22]
Ted Cruz
That's the second best pickup opportunity. The next tier is two other races, and that's Arizona and New Hampshire. Arizona is Blake Masters. He's running against Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly is a very effective candidate. He's a Navy veteran. He's an astronaut. You know, he looks like Captain America. And his campaign ads. He might as well be Donald Trump. He's running as a conservative. He's. Mark Kelly secures the border. Now, mind you, every single time, 100%, without exception, when it comes to a vote. Mark Kelly votes for open borders like it is the most. But if you want.
- [16:01]
Host
It's the most bizarre thing you've seen. And I gotta give credit to his campaign, his political campaign. They figured out what the people wanted to hear, and they have a candidate that's effective at telling you that that's who he is, even though that's not what his voting record actually is at all.
- [16:15]
Ted Cruz
Yep. Well, that was something that Herschel and I were talking about when I was campaigning with him, which is that Democrats win when they lie effectively. Republicans win when we tell the truth effectively, because the policy views of Democrats are wildly out of step with the voters. So the Democrats that are really effective campaigners are the ones that pretend they don't believe what they actually believe.
- [16:39]
Host
Sure.
- [16:40]
Ted Cruz
On the other hand, Republicans win when we effectively cut through the media lies and explain what it is that we in fact believe. Look, Blake Masters, he went through a really rough primary and then came out of the primary with no money. And so a month ago, Blake was down probably 8, 10 points. And there were some national Republicans who were writing the race off and saying it can't be won. The recent polling that we have shows the race effectively tied. Now, Mark Kelly has unlimited cash, and he spent, I think, over $60 million hammering Blake and claiming to be someone he's not. I think Blake has a real good shot at winning that race. And I've campaigned there, did a big rally with him. One of the reasons that I think Blake is more likely than not to win that race is Kerry Lake is going to win governor. And that's actually one of the reasons I think Herschel is going to win in both of those states. You've got Kemp is going to win in Georgia. He could win 8, 9, 10 points if that happens. I have a hard time envisioning who is the Georgia voter who goes in and votes for Kemp and Raphael Murdoch?
- [17:55]
Host
Yeah, I would say that. And there's two totally polar opposite candidates at the same time. And you have a hard time imagining that you would actually be that deliberate and say, Republican here for governor. Liberal, liberal, hardcore Democrat for Senate.
- [18:09]
Ted Cruz
You know, guy who's praised Fidel Castro. I mean, that hardcore socialist. There is some risk in Georgia there will be some voters who vote for Camp and don't vote in Senate. Yeah, that's possible. If Kemp is winning 8, 9, 10 points, I just don't believe it's gonna be 8, 9, 10 points of the electorate. Same thing in Arizona. Kerry Lake is a really strong candidate.
- [18:31]
Host
I went and did she turn into a rock star? You've been around her. You spent time with her. I think she's one of those candidates that you say, oh, not just oh, as a governor, like, oh, oh, like this could be a new voice in the conservative movement.
- [18:44]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, she is already a star. When she wins, she's going to be a bigger star. I did a big rally with both her and Blake. She's very impressive. The polling there shows her pretty consistently up about 4 to 5 points. I think if Lake wins by 5 points, Blake wins also. If Lake only wins by 2 or 3 points, Blake could lose that race. So it depends on movement, but Arizona is a very winnable race. The next state that we have a decent shot at is New Hampshire. New Hampshire. The Republican nominee is General Don Baldock. He was a retired general, served 30 plus years in the military. New Hampshire is a purple state. The incumbent Democrat, Maggie Hassan, I think, is quite vulnerable. Her approval rating is consistently below 50%. Joe Biden's approval rating in the state is terrible. I think it's in the 30s.
- [19:42]
Host
I was gonna say it's in the 30s last week when I was looking at that race.
- [19:46]
Ted Cruz
Bolduc doesn't have much money and the national Republicans haven't been putting a whole lot of money into it. Both Arizona and New Hampshire have been on the short end of the stick with battles with Mitch McConnell and his super PAC and not sure whether they're going to invest or not. And so, you know, our number three and number four pickup opportunity. We're sending our candidates into fights where they're being outspent 3 to 1, 5 to 1, 10 to 1. The money differential is massive. But I think Bulldog could be one of the real surprises on election night because he has not been given the resources, frankly, needed to make that state fully competitive. But I think it Would not surprise me at all to see General Bulldog win that race despite not having the reinforcements he needed.
- [20:36]
Host
When you see that, there's a lot of people that are going to be listening and watching and they're going to say, there we go again, the Republican leadership screwing this up. How frustrating is it when you see opportunities like this, New Hampshire being a sleeper race and having these kingmakers, as I call them, like, nope, we've already said that one's impossible to come back from. It's going to go to the Democrats. We're moving on to these other races, when in reality they should have invested there early on.
- [21:01]
Ted Cruz
Well, there's a reason for that, which is the single largest funder of Republican Senate candidates is Mitch McConnell's super PAC. Mitch puts all of his money behind moderates and incumbents, and conservatives get left alone. Conservatives get starved for resources, and Republican donors give to that super PAC knowing that that's not going to go to conservatives. And right now, I'm trying to fill that void in House races and in House races, I'm backing conservatives because Republican leadership does the same thing. They back moderates, they don't back conservatives with anywhere near the same financial resources. And so, look, part of the reason why Arizona and New Hampshire are not getting the funding that they deserve is that both of those candidates are strongly aligned with Donald Trump, and Republican leadership doesn't like that. My view is I want to win and have a majority of strong conservatives. And I think it was a mistake not to invest more vigorously in both Arizona and New Hampshire. Look, Arizona, you had an added complication in that. Blake Master's main financial donor is Peter Thiel, someone I know very, very well. Peter and Mitch McConnell were each looking at each other going, you fund the race. No, you fund the race. And for a long time, they left Blake out there gasping for air. I talked all of that.
- [22:25]
Host
Just throw them away fest at that point, right?
- [22:27]
Ted Cruz
I'm like, I don't care who funds the race, but somebody fund the damn race. Because let's not give away a win. I think we could end up winning both those states anyway. But there needs to be a serious discussion about how to ensure that strong conservative candidates actually have the funds to communicate our messages. All right, two more pickup opportunities that are long shots, but not impossible. Colorado and Washington state. Colorado has also been a purple to blue state. But in a good year, a Republican can win in Colorado. Cory Gardner in 2014 was elected in Colorado. Joe O'Day, who's running, I think, is a good candidate. I think Michael Bennett, the incumbent, is very vulnerable. He's done nothing in his entire time in the Senate. He is an empty suit. He is not well known in the state. Colorado has gotten bumpier because O'Day and Trump are in a pissing match. And it, you know, it makes you want to just jump out a window. O'Day foolishly went on a Sunday show and when asked about 2024, said, no, Trump shouldn't run and I will oppose him if he does. Now you might say, okay, if you're trying to appeal to moderate independent squishy in Colorado voters, I understand why you would say that.
- [23:54]
Host
Still a bad move.
- [23:55]
Ted Cruz
Well, and it's a bad move because if you understand the universe in which we live, Donald Trump reacts to things like that. And so Trump, I think the next day immediately came out blasting O'Day and telling Republicans, don't vote for the guy. And you're just sitting there going, okay, great. So we're gonna elect the Democrat who votes pretty much 100% of the time with Schumer and Biden. You know, O'Day would not be conservative.
- [24:26]
Host
In Texas, but in Colorado, it'd be a great pickup.
- [24:30]
Ted Cruz
In Colorado, I want people to vote for Joe O'Day because I want Chuck Schumer out of power. I wish O'Day had had the judgment just not to poke the bear. Just don't piss off Trump because the races we lose are races where there's a pissing match between the Republican candidate and Trump.
- [24:52]
Host
It's a self inflicted wound. Almost every time. When you look at this map at.
- [24:55]
Ted Cruz
This point and do I wish Trump would exercise the restraint not to take a bat to him? Yes, but he's not going to. So I might wish that. All I want, he's not going to. So that means a candidate ought to have the sense. Look, it would have been very easy for O'Day to say, I'm not going to worry about 2024, it's 2022, I'm on the ballot, the country's in crisis, we've got to win. This is where anytime you have first time candidates, you're rolling the dice. I talked about Adam Laxalt and what I like about him is he's a disciplined candidate. Adam wouldn't have said that. It's a dumb thing for a candidate to say, but first time candidates make that mistake because they don't gameplay through. Okay, if I say this. Yes.
- [25:43]
Host
What happens? What's the cause and effect?
- [25:44]
Ted Cruz
That's exactly right. So I don't think the chances in Colorado are zero. But unfortunately it's gotten messier. I'm less optimistic on Colorado now than I was two weeks ago. Still possible, but it would take a really good, really good year. And it would take a lot of Republicans being willing to say, look, I'm.
- [26:06]
Host
Gonna overlook this fight between him and Trump.
- [26:08]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, I will say, by the way, I wish Trump was spending some of his money. Trump's got $100 million and he's spending almost none of it to support these candidates. That is not ideal when Mitch McConnell only spends for the moderates and the anti Trump candidates. It would be nice if Trump would spend some of that $100 million to help some of these candidates who Mitch is abandoning because they're pro Trump. Those are the two pockets of money that are there. And right now, neither of them are spending in a number of these states. They're not. All right, so those are the six realistic pickup opportunities. Where are we on defense? We're on defense in six states. So these are states that are currently Republican, but we could lose. We're at 50, 50. So we need a net of plus one to take control of the Senate. The most vulnerable incumbent Republican is Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, which is shocking because.
- [27:06]
Host
He'S a very conservative guy. He's been leading on the issue of Hunter Biden and the Biden investigation and some of the documents we've been seeing more and more come out about that in the last week or two. I hope that helps him in that state. Why is he so vulnerable though?
- [27:21]
Ted Cruz
Because Wisconsin's a purple state. I mean, Wisconsin is always a purple state. It's evenly divided. You've got some very liberal voters there. You've got some very conservative voters there. A very blue collar state. So I think Ron's going to win. And actually the current polling shows him up four to five points. He's been pretty consistently. The polling has been stronger. Both of Ron's previous elections, he shocked the world by winning because the pollsters and the pundits had all said he was going to lose. And he won twice in a row. I like Ron. Ron is one of my closer friends in the Senate. He's a strong conservative. He's a fighter. I've gone and campaigned with Ron in Wisconsin. I think we're gonna win Wisconsin. It helps that Mandela Barnes, the Democrat, is really far out there. He's been really vocal in favor of cashless bail and abolishing the police. He's one of these AOC socialists who the Democrats nominated. And I think that's out of step with Wisconsin. So I feel pretty good. Ron will hold that seat. It's still seriously contested, but I think we'll hold onto that. The next most likely Republican seat for us to lose is Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania right now is held by Pat Toomey. It's a Republican seat, like Wisconsin. Pennsylvania is a purple state. It can vote Republican, it can vote Democrat. Right now, it has one Democrat senator, one Republican senator. That race has been bumpy. Dr. Oz, the Republican candidate, had a vigorous primary with another candidate, Dave McCormick, who I supported in the primary, I think would have been a very strong nominee. But Oz won. Oz had, for a couple of months, a pretty bumpy general election campaign against John Fetterman, and he was down 10 points over a month ago. The race right now is basically tied. So Oz has had a very good month, and Fetterman has had a terrible month.
- [29:23]
Host
You mentioned Fetterman having a terrible month. Part of it is, yes, he had this stroke. Part of it was the debate that he had. We talked about that on a previous verdict, which was, why would you even debate if you're clearly in that place cognitively having a very hard time communicating? But now he's got another big problem, and that is he's screwing up on issues. Fracking being number one. I want people to take a look at this video because this may be why he loses this race. Take a look.
- [29:53]
Chelsea Clinton
In a 2018 interview, you said, quote, I don't support fracking at all. I never have. But earlier this month, you told an interviewer, quote, I support fracking. I support the energy independence that we should have here in the United States.
- [30:08]
Ted Cruz
I've always supported fracking, and I always believe that independence with our energy is critical. We can't be held, you know, ransom to somebody like Russia.
- [30:19]
Chelsea Clinton
But there is that 2018 interview that you said, quote, I don't support fracking at all. So how do you square the two?
- [30:29]
Ted Cruz
Oh, I do support fracking, and I don't. I don't. I support fracking and I stand and I do support fracking.
- [30:41]
Host
There's nothing worse than a flip flop in politics, especially on an issue that's so important in Pennsylvania on fracking. The only thing I think now that I realize is worse than that is an incoherent flip flop. And this was that moment in that race where I was like, it's not just that he can't communicate. It's literally a flip flop with bad communication where it looks like he's incoherent, just not in control. That had to have an impact on the voters.
- [31:06]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. Look, I think that that moment is one of the worst moments I've ever seen in a political debate, particularly that second question on fracking. When she asks it. The silence, the confusion, the eyes darting around. He clearly has no idea what's been being asked or what to say, and he just repeats the line. All he knows to say is, I support fracking. Because presumably someone trained him to memorize that. But he's not from that video. He's not able to actually engage in a conversation with another human being about substance, which is kind of a problem because the job of the Senate entails engaging in lots of conversations about substance and hearings and making determinations and judgment. I think that debate is unbelievably damaging. Prior to the debate, my handicapping of Pennsylvania was. It was essentially a coin flip. If we were going to lose a seat, it was going to be Pennsylvania. I think after the debate, the odds have shifted significantly to Republicans winning, to Oz winning. I think Oz is likely to win now. One downside. There were hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania votes that had been cast already before that debate happened. They.
- [32:27]
Host
Early voting there is big.
- [32:28]
Ted Cruz
Early voting there is big. They put in place universal mail in ballots. An incredibly foolish decision, a decision that invites voter fraud. But one of the reasons it's a bad idea to have such early voting is you bake in votes before late breaking developments happen. So for all the people who voted before the debate, they didn't see this. They didn't know that. They just voted for someone who can't answer simple questions and is. Has clearly been deceiving the voters by saying he's up to the task.
- [32:57]
Host
I want to ask you, on a human level, I watched that debate, and I genuinely felt bad for Fetterman. I also think even after that debate, seeing the way his campaign is obsessed with just getting him over the finish line and the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic leadership, I feel like they're almost taking advantage of him. They know that clearly something's changed, that he's been incapacitated. I'm sitting there going, as a human being, I want him to get as much help as he can to overcome this stroke that he's had. And they're just propping this guy up, saying, we're gonna keep forcing you down this election road. I found it just completely disheartening as a human being to see them out there saying, no, no, no, we're gonna. He's fine. Shut up. Stop asking questions. He's fine. Clearly, he's not fine. And they want to win this seat so bad they don't care what happens to him. Even.
- [33:49]
Ted Cruz
Well, you know, if they're willing to do that, think what they would do to try to win the White House in 2020. Yeah, look, it's the same thing they've done with Joe Biden. In both instances, you've got someone with severe mental impairments that their partisan interests are so important they're willing to weaken at Bernie's. Them just put them up there and attach a pulley, raise their hand when they want them to raise it. Now, I will say this. You said you feel sorry for him. I gotta say, listen, I feel sorry that he's having the health impairments. I don't. Don't wish ill health that on anyone. But before his stroke, John Fetterman was a socialist. He was a radical left winger. He was someone who repeatedly voted to release murderers and violent criminals into the community.
- [34:36]
Host
Murderers. I want people to understand that it's almost been overlooked by people acting like this is normal. This is a guy that actually said people that had murdered people, been convicted of murdering with no controversy around the indictment. And the verdict of being guilty should be out on the streets with the American people.
- [34:54]
Ted Cruz
He said repeatedly that we could release a third of the people in prison in Pennsylvania and there would be no harm to it. That is a radical view. If you want to empty out the jail and release a third of the people immediately. And we're not talking traffic offenses. We're talking murderers. We're talking rapists. We're talking child molesters. I have less sympathy for someone who is a true radical, who is a Marxist. And like many Marxists, he's rich. Rich people often look, he has a trust fund. He was a giant man baby, living with his mommy and daddy till he was 40. He didn't pay his own taxes. He didn't pay his school taxes for 13 consecutive years. People who inherit great wealth and advocate for socialism because they feel guilty about the great wealth, and so they think socialism is the right answer. I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. And I think some of it is because my family story in Cuba, I've seen what communism does, and I don't have sympathy for people that want to inflict that kind of misery on Americans. I will say this, though. The Democrats are desperately telling themselves the Fetterman debate didn't do any harm. Now, quietly in Washington, they're freaking out, but they're trying to spin it otherwise. And in fact, Chuck Schumer was caught in a hot mic I was just.
- [36:24]
Host
Saying, I want to play this because he was caught in a hot mic, and it was really telling about where the Democrats are going into the election day. Take a listen to this. Danger. Use the word danger there.
- [36:58]
Ted Cruz
Well, and it's interesting. So what he says we're in danger is of losing in Georgia. And he says we're slipping in Georgia. And he's acknowledging. And actually, the debate made a difference there. Warnock, the expectations were so high. And he's a preacher. He's very smooth. He's very eloquent. He's very slick. And Herschel Walker did a very smart job of downplaying expectations. And, you know, before the debate, Herschel would say, well, you know, he's a very slick preacher man. He'll talk really, you know, really well. And he said, you know, I'm just a country boy from Georgia. That was very. Herschel knew exactly what he was doing, setting expectations. And I think the contrast there, Herschel won that debate, which was particularly damaging to Warnock because it exposed just how extreme and radical his policies were. And that's what Schumer is telling Biden, is we're in real danger. We're slipping in Georgia. They're recognizing, oh, he's in trouble. He also tells Biden there, the good news is he doesn't think the debate hurt them in Pennsylvania. So we'll see. Listen, with the hardcore Democrats, if you're a hard partisan, if you're a socialist.
- [38:11]
Host
You'Re going to vote for Fetterman and you're going to vote for Warnock no matter what.
- [38:14]
Ted Cruz
He's probably right. And look, you're hearing more and more chatter. The Democrats plan is to try to get Fetterman elected, and then if he's completely unable to do the job, have him resign and fill him with. Fill him in with another Democrat that this is all about power. And he's just fill in the blank right here. I don't think Schumer's right, though. I think he's right with his hardcore partisans. But with the soccer mom vote, you know, the Philly suburbs, you've got a lot of voters that have historically been swing voters that have been sometimes Republicans, sometimes Democrats. They're the voters that elected Pat Toomey. I don't think if you're a suburban mom and you watch that you have any confidence about Fetterman. I think you look at him and say, I've got real concerns there. And so I think Schumer is wrong about that. All right, where else are we on defense we're on defense in North Carolina. Republican retiring there. Ted Budd is the nominee. I was campaigning with Ted earlier this week. I think Ted's going to win. I think he's a smart candidate. I think he's running a good campaign. North Carolina is historically a purple state. You can't take it for granted.
- [39:29]
Host
Yeah, you got to fight hard there every time.
- [39:31]
Ted Cruz
It is almost always a race that is decided by a couple of points. So I actually worry about North Carolina. I think Republicans are taking it a little too for granted because Ted Butt is a good enough candidate. They're like, oh, we're fine. Historically this has been a dangerous state and so I think we'll win, but we need to take it seriously. Ohio. J.D. vance is the nominee. I spent an entire day campaigning with JD we did events all over the state with huge crowds. Massive.
- [40:01]
Host
Which goes back to when you're on the road. You can feel momentum. And I've always said you can tell how an election is going to turn if it's a tight election based on momentum. The momentum there seemed to be massive. I even, I think I texted you that I was having FOMO fear of missing out because it seemed like it was such a raw, intense, grand debate that was happening and an amazing electric crowd when you were there with him.
- [40:27]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, no, I think that's exactly right. I will say JD Is also running a smart, disciplined campaign. He's a first time candidate. I was concerned when he started that with first time candidates, they're prone to mistakes. That it. I was really impressed. He's doing a good job on the stump. He's doing a good job with the grassroots. His messaging is tight and disciplined. He's not screwing up. And the polling there is pretty consistently showing it with him up about four or five points. I think we'll be fine in Ohio. It helps that DeWine, the incumbent governor, is going to be reelected by double digits. So we've got another state where a governor has a big, big margin and that should help the Senate candidate as well. Two more places we're on defense. Missouri Republican retirement. Roy Blunt. Eric Schmidt is the nominee. He's the Attorney General. I campaigned for him in the primary, did events all over. I think the primary really, really mattered. The one candidate who could have lost that race was Eric Greitens. Eric Greitens was the former governor of Missouri. He resigned in disgrace and scandal. There were a number of different scandals, including a fundraising scandal. But the one that really stuck in people's minds was that he was accused of having an affair and tying up his mistress in his basement and then taking a picture of her against her wishes and using it to blackmail her. Pretty ugly stuff.
- [42:06]
Host
Yeah.
- [42:06]
Ted Cruz
And he resigned from governor in disgrace. I don't know the truth or falsity of any of it. What I will say, I sort of joked. I said, look, for Republicans, I don't know that the bar for candidates needs to be extraordinarily high, but is it asking too much that our candidates not have tied a woman up in their basement? That seems to me, yeah.
- [42:30]
Host
There should be a standard above that.
- [42:31]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. We should just be like, okay, that's a problem. Let's not go with that. I think if Greitens had been the nominee, the Democrats would have flooded money into that race and tried to make it competitive with Eric Schmidt. He's the Attorney General. He's a smart, disciplined candidate. He's a conservative. I think he'll be one of the most conservative Republicans elected this cycle. So I've done multiple events with Eric. I think Eric and Adam Laxalt are the two most disciplined. This is not their first rodeo, so they're running smart, careful, disciplined campaigns. Eric's going to win that race, but it was won in the primary. He's got a billionaire heiress, Trudy Bush. Valentine of Bush beer.
- [43:16]
Host
Yeah.
- [43:17]
Ted Cruz
But at the end of the day, Missouri is a red state, and Eric is a good candidate. He's going to win that race. The final potential loss is Florida. Marco Rubio's up again. Florida historically has been a purple state. I think Marco's doing a good job, and this is a pattern. We're seeing a number of states. DeSantis is kicking ass, and he's going to win, I think, by a significant margin. And just like Georgia, just like Arizona, like, yeah.
- [43:48]
Host
It'd be hard for you to imagine. You walk in there to vote for DeSantis and you don't vote for Marco Rubio at the same time.
- [43:54]
Ted Cruz
Well, now I will say Marco's Democrat candidate is dangerous. They do a really good job in candidate selection. His Democrat candidate is Val Demings. She's an African American woman. She was a former police chief. And so one of the great vulnerabilities Democrats have nationally is on crime, on abolishing the police, on defunding the police. Val Demings is particularly able to counter that attack because she was a cop for decades and was a police chief. And that's just. That attack doesn't stick with her. Yeah, Even so, Marco's a smart, disciplined candidate. DeSantis has done a really good job as governor of Florida. I think we'll be fine in Florida. But those are, those six are the universe of seats we could lose. Now, let me throw two wild cards in there. The two wild cards are Alaska and Utah. So Alaska, you've got a weird race. You have Lisa Murkowski, one of the two most moderate Republicans in the Senate right now. And then you have Kelly Chewbacca, who is a challenger, a Republican. She is supported by Donald Trump. She's a conservative. She's got a lot of grassroots support. And then you've got a Democrat in the race. Now, the polling right now between Murkowski and Chewbacca has been back and forth and back and forth, and it appears to be essentially tied. Mitch McConnell has put, I think seven, eight million dollars into Alaska supporting McConnell. Mind you, he's not spending that money in Arizona. He's not spending that money in New Hampshire. He's spending it supporting Murkowski in Alaska because he supports moderate Republicans and he doesn't really want conservatives to win.
- [45:40]
Host
He knows it's going to be a vote that there comes to Senate he can control.
- [45:44]
Ted Cruz
So I will say in that race, the two of them appear to be essentially tied. Alaska has this weird dynamic called ranked choice voting, which is you vote for your first choice and you vote for your second choice. And if your first choice doesn't finish in the top two, they eliminate your first choice and they reallocate your vote to your second choice. There is a danger we lose this seat that we elect the Democrat. And so I'm going to say, listen, I have stayed out of the primary between Murkowski and Chewbacca. In my entire time in the Senate. I have always stayed out of primaries involving my colleagues because, frankly, you can't do the job.
- [46:31]
Host
Yeah. If you're involved that way, if you.
- [46:33]
Ted Cruz
Get involved, if you're primary ing your colleagues, it just makes it impossible to actually, particularly in a close Senate, to get the votes you need to advance the legislation, you need to fight for the 30 million Texans I'm elected to fighting for. So I've stayed out of the primary. I will say it follows the pattern of states where we're in trouble, where Trump is in a battle with the incumbent Republican or the Republican candidates. We talked about that in Colorado. Trump and Murkowski hate each other's guts. Trump blasts Murkowski frequently. Murkowski voted to impeach Trump like it's bad blood on both sides. Here's the one request I'm going to make of Alaskans if you vote for Chewbacca, put Lisa Murkowski as your second choice. And if you vote for Murkowski, put Chewbacca as your second choice. Now that may be hard because they're beating the hell out of each other and these sort of angry bad blood. Here's what I don't want to have happen. They're both at around 40 and the Democrat is at around 15 to 18. If I don't want to see that somehow go to the Democrats, we'll see who wins. But I don't want us to screw that up.
- [48:05]
Host
It could easily be screwed up. I want to wrap today by there was a piece of audio that we played in an earlier verdict and by.
- [48:13]
Ted Cruz
The way, the way it is screwed up. So look, we just saw this happen in Alaska with ranked choice voting, which is the incumbent Republican House member Don Young passed away. He was the longest serving member of the House. He died. Died on an airplane. Died of old age. They had a special election for him. You had a three person election. Sarah Palin, Nick Begich, who was the son of actually the Democrat senator, but the son is a Republican. And then you had a Democrat. It was 60% of the voters in Alaska voted for one of the two Republicans, but 40% voted for the Democrat. What happened though is when they redistributed the votes, more of those votes got redistributed to the Democrat than to Sarah Palin. And Alaska just elected a Democrat to their one House seat. So it's the same as the Senate. It's statewide. We just saw a Democrat win because of ranked choice voting. For this to happen, look, if Murkowski and Chewbacca are one and two, that's fine. Then it will be decided by the Democrats second choice votes getting reallocated and you have to assume almost all of those go to Murkowski. The danger is if 1 and 2 is either Murkowski and the Democrat or Chewbacca and the Democrat, that if one of the Republicans is third and if they hate the other Republicans so much that they all put the Democrat as their second choice, we could wake up and find out that we have a Schumer Democrat Senate because let's say we won Nevada and lost Alaska, that would be a terrible outcome. We don't want that to happen. The one other I want to mention that we've talked about on this podcast before is Utah. Yep, Utah is dangerous. It's typically a red state. Mike Lee, who is a phenomenal senator, a rock rib conservative, a constitutional conservative, who is my Closest friend in the Senate. The Democrats are running a profoundly dishonest campaign with a fake independent, Evan McMullen. He is a Democrat. He's supported by the Democrats. He's funded by the Democrats. He's going to vote with the Democrats. He's going to support the Democrats, but he's pretending to the Utah voters that he's an independent. And the danger is there is no Democrat on the ballot. This is sort of like the games in Alaska with ranked choice voting. And by the way, Democrats love to play games with democracy because they don't actually care about democracy. They care about power. So whether it is electing a John Fetterman who cannot process and answer simple questions in the English language, or using ranked choice voters voting to elect a Democrat when 60% of the voters vote for Republicans, or fooling the voters of Utah by not nominating a Democrat and.
- [51:13]
Host
Having but endorsing the independent who is their candidate.
- [51:16]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, the Democrat Party has formally endorsed him. He raises his money on Act Blue, which is where all the socialists and liberals give their money. And he's hired Democrat consultants to support him. He is a Democrat, but their deceptive plan is get all the Ds to vote for him and just get 5 to 10% of the really moderate Rs who say, Gosh, he seems like a nice young man, and so we'll go with him, and they could steal that seat. And so Utah. Utah matters. I think Mike will win, but the two wild cards in this are Alaska and Utah.
- [51:53]
Host
I want to end the podcast with something that I think went viral. We played a little bit of a snip of the lies of the last year, year and a half of the Democratic Party. And if you hear this, share it with your family and friends. If you have people that are on the fence about what this election is about, this montage that has been put together is basically the big lies of the Democrats, the media helping them sell these big lies. And I want people to share this because it's so important that your family and friends see this. This is what this race is about. I'm talking about nationwide control of the House, control of the Senate. We just broke down all these races how important it is. But if you want to remind people what Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer have done to America, this is that montage. Share it everywhere on social media. Share the podcast. Take a look.
- [52:48]
Joe Biden
You're not going to get Covid if you have these vaccinations vaccinated.
- [52:52]
Chelsea Clinton
People do not carry the Virus. Don't get sick.
- [52:55]
Karine Jean-Pierre
Getting those shots out for 5 to 11 year olds is going to provide a lot of comfort to American families.
- [53:00]
Joe Biden
Horses really running over, people being strapped.
- [53:03]
Nancy Pelosi
Horrific video of the CBP officers on horse. On horses. Using brutal and inappropriate measures against innocent people.
- [53:09]
Chelsea Clinton
We have a secure border.
- [53:13]
Joe Biden
The border is in fact secure.
- [53:15]
Ted Cruz
The border is closed. The border is secure. The border is secure. The border is closed. We've been unequivocal in that on the issue of Afghanistan.
- [53:26]
Chelsea Clinton
And to that end we have seen a successful drawdown of the embassy.
- [53:31]
Nancy Pelosi
I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not.
- [53:34]
Joe Biden
This is Jim Crow on steroids what they're doing in Georgia. This is all about keeping working folks and ordinary folks that I grew up with from being able to vote.
- [53:43]
Nancy Pelosi
The reconciliation package would cost $0.
- [53:45]
Joe Biden
The cost of these bills in terms of adding to the deficit is zero.
- [53:49]
Nancy Pelosi
Some have expressed publicly that they're not comfortable with 3.5 even though zero costs $0.000.
- [53:59]
Chelsea Clinton
This bill is fully paid for and will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.
- [54:06]
Joe Biden
Let me say that again, be crystal clear. No one making less than $400,000 a year will pay a single additional penny in tax for all these things that were in the. And the build back better plan. If you're a husband and wife, school teacher and a cop, you're paying at a higher rate than the average person making a billion dollars a year is. My plans do not add to inflationary pressures.
- [54:30]
Nancy Pelosi
The build back better agenda will help reduce inflation, will help cut costs for the American people.
- [54:35]
Joe Biden
If we pass the other two things I'm trying to get done, we will in fact reduce inflation.
- [54:41]
Nancy Pelosi
Inflation is going to come down next year. Inflation will come down next year. These inflation rises will be transitory that they will come back down next year.
- [54:49]
Joe Biden
There's nobody suggesting there's unchecked inflation on the way. No serious economists. We know a lot of folks are struggling with inflation driven by Putin's war in Ukraine and the global pandemic.
- [55:00]
Nancy Pelosi
The greed of meat conglomerates, you could call it corporate greed short. You could call it jacking up prices during a pandemic.
- [55:08]
Ted Cruz
Even if we drilled as much as we could and the price of oil is still set globally, there's no amount.
- [55:15]
Karine Jean-Pierre
Of domestic production we can do to reduce or eliminate our vulnerability as a country to that volatility.
- [55:21]
Joe Biden
We brought down the cost of energy. Wages have gone up higher faster than inflation. We have a lower inflation rate than most any nation in the other nation in the world.
- [55:30]
Ted Cruz
The idea that 2/4 of negative GDP growth is a technical definition of a recession is wrong.
- [55:36]
Chelsea Clinton
I don't expect a recession right now. We don't see a recession right now. That is not, we're not in a recession recession right now.
- [55:43]
Karine Jean-Pierre
Virtually nothing signals that this period in the second quarter is recessionary.
- [55:48]
Joe Biden
No one is predicting a recession now.
- [55:51]
Karine Jean-Pierre
What we have seen over the course of the last year plus in the United States is a historically strong economic recovery and that has been supported by this president's economic policies.
- [56:01]
Host
Senator, those are the lies. That's what this election is clearly about. And this is what people need to sit back and think about and tell their family and friends before they head to the ballot box, before they go and show up to vote, before you're doing your early voting. They've been lying to you on all of these issues.
- [56:19]
Ted Cruz
There are three more that were not included there that are really striking. Number one, Karine Jean Pierre said from the podium at the White House, nobody is walking across the border. That simply isn't happening. That's a flat out lie. Number two, Karine Jean Pierre said again from the podium of the White House, said it was Republicans who wanted to shut down schools and it's Democrats who've been working to open schools, which is such a brazen, gaslighting monstrosity. It made you wonder if lightning was gonna strike her as she stood there. And number three, just last week, Joe Biden, who gave a speech, I assume written in the speech where he says I brought down gas prices and he said when I became president, gas prices were $5 a gallon. Now they're 338. Of course, when he became president, gas prices were 238. And the idea that they were five bucks a gallon even for the world of Democrats lying with the corporate media helping them, I don't know how every quote, fact checker in America didn't fact check them, but of course they didn't.
- [57:19]
Host
Yeah, it's gonna be fun to see how many of these videos get put up on Twitter now with Musk owning it and they start actually at least fact checking them because we saw a presidential tweet had missing context for the first time, I think ever this past week as Musk has taken over. That's gonna be fun. One last thing for everybody. I've got it. It's here. The book is out. Grab it wherever you get your books. It's one hell of a read, Senator. I've been reading it. I was on the plane Back and reading this on our way back from Nashville. I know you're excited about this book and tell people quickly what's in it so they know what to expect.
- [57:52]
Ted Cruz
Look, justice corrupted how the left has weaponized our legal system. It takes you inside to how Barack Obama and now Joe Biden have weaponized the Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA, the irs, how they're using them as political enforcers, how they're going after their enemies. And what this book does, it's really the same thing that this podcast does, which is that it tries to take people behind the curtain. It tries to take people to understand what's really going on and it tells stories. I've always found that, look, the human mind memory that we exist in a world of stories. And so the way I like writing books is to tell stories of this is what's really going on. So, for example, on January 6th, this is the first inside account of what happened on January 6, where I was standing on the Senate floor leading the Senate objection to certification of the election. Calling for an election commission, I lay out all of the allegations of voter fraud. I lay out and explained the different legal proceedings that were ongoing. I describe how President Trump called and personally asked me to argue the U.S. supreme Court case if the court had taken that case, and I agreed to do so. And you know, really what this book is about is when you're talking to your friends, when you're talking to your family, when you're talking to your co workers and all of these issues come up, whether it is voter fraud, whether it is election integrity, whether it is crime and violence, whether it is Black Lives Matter and antifa riots, whether it is George Soros prosecutors, whether it is affirmative action, whether it is the FBI raiding President Trump's home, the FBI raiding pro life activists, whether it is critical race theory. We've got chapters in the book on every one of those things that I just said. This book is designed to give you the facts, to give you the information, so that when you're talking to your friends and families, you can know the truth and explain it to them because most of them are listening to the lying corporate media. And so this book is really a toolkit to prepare you to help pull the country back from the brink.
- [60:03]
Host
Yeah, grab it. It's an awesome book, my friends. Don't forget Download verdict, hit that subscribe auto download button. Please share the podcast with your family and friends. Write us five star reviews so that we can. That'll help us reach more conservatives as we go up in the charts. It's so important. Write that five star review and the center and I will see you back here in just a couple of days.