← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Loading summary
Transcript53 lines
- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Senator. It is shocking to see, but the President of the United States of America is now treating Israel like they are almost an adversary and actually protecting Hamas and where they are now in other parts around Israel where they can plan and orchestrate attacks against them.
- [00:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
We have truly gone through the looking glass. Up is down, black is white, good is evil. The Biden administration's foreign policy is exactly backwards from what any sane, rational American foreign policy should be. Joe Biden and the Democrats are sending money to Gaza that is going straight to Hamas. They are sending money to Iran that is going straight to Hamas. And in this past week, Joe Biden announced that he's cutting off weapons to Israel, that Israel is now the bad guy. And the Biden administration, the Biden White House is openly the enemy of Israel. It is stunning. It is shocking. There is no precedent for it in history and it is profoundly dangerous. We're going to get into it in great detail.
- [01:08]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it's so important. So many of you have been asking the question, how can we help the people in Israel? I want you to know about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and a need that is right now so important. You've seen the anti Israel protests and demonstrations that have continued at college campuses. You've seen so many people that are just absolutely anti Israel, not just in Israel, but in this country. And as they are facing these vile anti Semitic hate speech and harassment and violence, there is a real need in Israel right now, and that is for bomb shelters. Now is the time that you can help protect the people in Israel, the Jewish people who are up against these attacks of people that are trying to literally kill them. I want you to stand with the Jewish people by providing an emergency bomb shelter or an emergency bomb shelter kit. That is what the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is doing. Last Sunday, there were over 100 rockets from Hezbollah that were fired at northern Israel. And IFCJ supported soup kitchens in the cities there that were directly hit by these Hezbollah attacks. The elderly and the most vulnerable that stay behind are the most impacted when the sirens go off. And that is why not only do they need food, but they need a safe place to go. And that is where your donation is a huge gift to the people in need. Thanks to a matching challenge from a generous IFCJ supporter, your gift will be doubled to impact. To help provide twice the support. All you have to do is call 1-888-488-IFCJ. That's 1-888-4-828-IFCJ or you can go online to supportifcj.org to give that supportifcj.org to help the people in Israel right now. Senator, this all started with a conversation on cnn. The President was doing an exclusive interview on that friendly network. And this is what he said about what's happening right now in the warning to Israel.
- [03:20]
Joe Biden
I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, they haven't gone in Rafah yet. They go into Rafah. I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, to deal with that problem. We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the, in the Middle east recently. But it's. It's just wrong. We're not going to. We're not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells used that have been used.
- [03:54]
Unnamed Speaker
Artillery shells as well.
- [03:55]
Joe Biden
Yeah, artillery shells.
- [03:57]
Ben Ferguson
He calls Israel defending themselves. It's just wrong. And to be clear, Senator, for everyone that may not understand this, the terrorists have moved into Rafa. They've moved out of much of Gaza. This is now where they're regrouping. And what the president just said was, you cannot go after them.
- [04:17]
Unnamed Speaker
Well.
- [04:17]
Senator Ted Cruz
And understand also, this is the culmination of Joe Biden and the Democrats lying to the American people week after week after week. Just a few weeks ago, Congress passed the foreign aid bill that Biden was pressing ferociously for. And the linchpin of that foreign aid bill was Israel aid. And the reason that Congress was told you got to vote for it is Israel military aid. And it was a big bipartisan vote. I voted no because, number one, I said that this is gonna provide $9 billion, up to $9 billion that can go to Gaza, that can go to Hamas. And I'm not interested in giving money to Hamas. Well, it turned out that the first aid shipment that went to Gaza, guess what? Hamas seized it. So literally, the opening shipment. Exactly. What I said would happen is what did happen, but the bait and switch that the Biden White House convinced a bunch of Republicans and even maybe some Democrats to vote for this because it was military aid to Israel, because it was artillery shells to Israel they needed. And as soon as Congress passes it, Biden comes along and says, nope, I'm not going to send it. I'm not sending it to Israel. It is astonishing. And I'll tell you, Ben, last week I joined a number of other senators, we had A press conference on Capitol Hill. This.
- [05:37]
Ben Ferguson
Well, you were fired up, by the way, as you should be. You were angry, you were irritated. And it's got to feel like you're one of the lone voices right now that's standing with Israel.
- [05:47]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so. This is exactly what I said Biden would do. Have a listen to what I had said at the press conference.
- [05:56]
Unnamed Speaker
Security policy of Joe Biden and the Democrats is precisely backwards. For three and a half years, Joe Biden, the Democrats have undermined and weakened our friends and allies, and they have sent billions of dollars to our enemies. It is exactly opposite what you would be doing if you were actually focused on US national security interests. Let's look at our enemies. Tragically, Joe Biden has been the greatest friend the Ayatollah Khamenei has ever had on planet Earth. Tragically, Joe Biden has been the greatest friend to Hamas and Hezbollah that there is on planet Earth. Now, those sound like extraordinary statements. What are the facts? Under the Biden presidency, this administration has flowed more than $100 billion into Iran, $6 billion in ransom for five Americans, a policy which many of us said at the time would only lead to more Americans being taken hostage. And we saw, tragically, on October 7th that proved exactly right. $10 billion in funds in Iraq that the Biden administration wanted to flow to the Ayatollah and then over $80 billion in oil. When Joe Biden came into office, the Trump administration, with the active support of all of us, had vigorously imposed oil sanctions and had cut Iran's oil exports from 1 million barrels a day down to about 300,000. The Iranian economy was in shambles. The ayatollah was on his knees. Joe Biden came in like the cavalry coming to the rescue and immediately stopped enforcing oil sanctions. And what happened? Iran's oil sales went from 300,000 barrels a day to now more than 2 million barrels a day. Every one of those barrels is a gift from Joe Biden and the Democrats. That is over $80 billion. Mind you, this is from the same administration that does everything they can to kill oil and gas production in America while allowing a theocratic ayatollah understand. The ayatollah chants with mobs, chants, death to America and death to Israel. And Joe Biden has said, Here's $100 billion. This seems like a great idea. And what happened with that hundred billion dollars? Well, 90% of Hamas's funding comes from Iran. 90% of Hezbollah's funding comes from Iran. October 7th was in a very real way funded by money given by Joe Biden and the Democrats to Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah. And by the way, Biden also sent hundreds of millions of dollars into Gaza. Even though many of us said, if you send it to Gaza, it will go to Hamas and be used for terrorism. They knew that. They agreed with that. The Biden administration concluded it was, quote, highly likely the money would go to Hamas for terrorism. You know what they did? They waived the anti terrorism laws and said, send it anyway. Where are we now? Where we are now is the Biden administration is sending money right now to Gaza. Many of us said, if you send the money to Gaza, it will be seized by Hamas. What happened? The first shipment came in and boom, immediately seized by Hamas. Exactly like we said. But they're combining it with blocking weapons to Israel. The Biden White House has been the most anti Israel administration this nation has ever seen. Literally from day one, the Biden White House has been undermining Israel at every step of the way. When October 7th happened, when Hamas death squads were murdering 1,200 innocent civilians, were raping women and little girls while the attacks were happening, the Biden State Department sent out a tweet at 3 in the morning saying, Israel must not retaliate. There should be no military response. That tweet was disgraceful. I called it out at three in the morning and they deleted the tweet within minutes. The next day, Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, sent another tweet, said, I just talked with a Turkish foreign minister. We agreed Israel must not retaliate, must not strike back. I called that tweet out again. They deleted it again. Where are we today? Well, yesterday Joe Biden said, quote, I made it clear, if Israel goes into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons, we're not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells. I will point out Joe Biden and the Democrats lied to the American people on the supplemental funding bill that was just voted. They claimed it was to provide military funding to Israel. We now know they were lying. It was instead to give money to Gaza and Hamas and everywhere else except Israel. We should have sent this military aid six months ago. Six months ago, many of us went to the Senate floor to force a vote on emergency military aid in November. Right after October 7th, every single Democrat voted no. It was a straight party line vote. A final what Joe Biden is doing is not new. He has spent decades attacking and undermining Israel. Yes, it is true. The Radical left wing of the Democrat Party, the pro Hamas wing of the Democrat Party is on the rise, is on campuses, and the Democrats are terrified of him. All of that is true? Yes, it is true. They're terrified they're going to lose Michigan unless they give in to the pro Hamas wing of the Democrat Party. But understand, these sentiments are not new for Joe Biden in 1982, when, by the way, I was 11 years old.
- [12:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
There you go, Ted.
- [12:16]
Unnamed Speaker
In 1982, Joe Biden was a senator from Delaware, and he confronted Israel's Prime Minister Menachem, beginning during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony. And you know what Joe Biden was doing in 1982? Same damn thing he's doing in 2024. He threatened to cut off aid to Israel in 1982. And Prime Minister Begin responded as follows, quote, don't threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it, we fought for it, we died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them, and when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.
- [13:29]
Ben Ferguson
Senator, you obviously had a lot to say, and it was important that it was said. And one of the questions I have to ask you is it's pretty clear that Joe Biden has changed.
- [13:41]
Senator Ted Cruz
He.
- [13:42]
Ben Ferguson
He's now not just undermining Israel, he's literally telling the terrorists, this is how you beat them. You go to populated areas and I won't give them what they need to come get you. And I will attack them in the process by saying, you better stay within your area, Israel, or you're going to lose America. Even though 24 hours before he said that it was an ironclad relationship. Well, if you ask Israel, I doubt they would say that it's ironclad if this is how you're treating our most important ally in the Middle East.
- [14:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, I actually don't think Joe Biden has changed much. As I mentioned there, he was doing this in 1982 when I was 11. Were you even born in 82?
- [14:21]
Ben Ferguson
Ben 81. I was 1 years old.
- [14:24]
Senator Ted Cruz
So you were a bouncing bundle of joy while Joe Biden was trying to cut off aid to Israel, even back then. And look, I'm reminded of what Bob Gates, who was the Secretary of Defense under Obama, said he said Joe Biden has been wrong on every foreign policy issue for 40 years. That's just the reality. Biden consistently give us an enemy. And Joe Biden wants to show weakness to that enemy, appease that enemy and send them billions of dollars. I do not understand what goes through the mind of a leftist who, to use the classic phrase from the Simpsons, is a cheese eating surrender monkey. Like whenever someone is our enemy, the Ayatollah, give him billions. Russia, give them billions. China, give them billions. North Korea, give them billions. Venezuela, give him billions if you are an enemy. Cuba, give them billions. If you're an enemy of America, count on Joe Biden and the Democrats to be Santy Claus and come with cash. If you're a friend, count on to do what they're doing to Israel. So in other words, blackmail you and starve you.
- [15:31]
Ben Ferguson
So in other words, what you're saying is, is Joe Biden basically is a guy that's been anti Israel when it really matters and when he politically needed to act like he was pro Israel. I'll give a perfect example of this. PBS NewsHour. Back in 2019, he said that his own policy now was, was basically crazy and was, was a deadly policy. Listen to what he said in 19 news this week.
- [16:01]
Unnamed Speaker
To the extent that some of the Democrats are saying that if, because of Israel's settlements policy that they, they would look at cutting off military aid to Israel as a result of that, that'd.
- [16:13]
Be a tragic mistake. I strongly oppose Israel's settlement policy on the West Bank. I've made that clear to Bibi when I was vice president and made it crystal clear to the Israelis. But the idea that we would cut off military aid to an ally, our only true, true ally in the entire region, is absolutely preposterous. It's just beyond my comprehension. Anyone would do that.
- [16:46]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, that's what he just did. Yeah, that's what he just did.
- [16:49]
Ben Ferguson
What he said was preposterous.
- [16:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
Preposterous beyond my comprehension. And let me tell you something else he did, and this has gotten almost no coverage. But do you know what he did the day before he announced that he was going to cut off aid Israel?
- [17:04]
Ben Ferguson
What was that?
- [17:06]
Senator Ted Cruz
He issued a sanctions waiver to allow arms sales to Qatar, Lebanon and Iraq. Hamas Allah ally Qatar. Qatar is where the Hamas leadership is headquartered. And there are right now sanctions on weapon sales to countries that boycott Israel. And the Biden administration very quietly waived those sanctions in order. In order for the administration to sell allies to Qatar, Lebanon and Iraq. The day before they cut off arms, arms transfers to Israel. Now that has gotten virtually no coverage.
- [17:49]
Ben Ferguson
But so how does that mean impracticality for people that don't understand how big of a deal that actually is?
- [17:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, it is US Law that if a country boycotts Israel, we cannot sell weapons to them. Many sanction laws are written with a presidential waiver written into them. Well, what Biden just did is waived that sanctioned law. By the way, I mentioned before in that press conference, we have in place antiterrorism laws that says you say you can't send money if it is likely that money will be used for terrorism. The beginning of the Biden administration there was a dispute over whether or not to send hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza. I joined with a total of 19 senators urging the administration don't do it. And I said early on if you send hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza, it will go to Hamas. Why do I know that? Well, for one thing, Hamas is the government of Gaza. They are the elected leadership of Gaza. They control Gaza. There is a decades long history of aid going into Gaza being directly diverted by Hamas and used for terrorism. Look, the international world would send in things like money to rebuild schools and they take the concrete, they build underground tunnels from which to conduct terror. They'd send in water pipes so you could put in fresh water and sewage. And Hamas would seize the water pipes, cut it into portions and turn it into missiles, use the water pipes, seal it on both ends, cut it off and turn it into rockets to fire into Israel. Hamas obsession is with murdering as many Jews as possible. And so I urged the Biden administration don't send money to Gaza. Trump had cut it off. I'd urge Trump to cut it off and he did. When Biden came in, it was clear they wanted to and so I urged him not to. Uh, there were a group of about 150 House Democrats on the other side that urged Biden to send money to Gaza. This is early on, long before October 7th. Even though it was clear that money would be used by Hamas for terrorism. And we now know how the Biden administration resolved that question, which is they determined internally that it was, quote, highly likely that the any money they sent would be used by Hamas and diverted for terrorism. Now normally that'd be the end of the inquiry. If it's highly likely it's going to go to terrorism. U.S. anti terrorism law says you can't send it. Game over. Well, as I mentioned, most sanctions laws are written with a presidential waiver. So what did they do? They waived the anti terrorism laws and said, well, we don't care if it's used for terrorism. This is our political agenda. And so we're going to. Going to send the money anyway. And that is exactly so. It was Tuesday of last week, which is the day before Joe Biden threatened to withhold weapons from Israel, that the State Department informed Congress that it intends to bypass laws that bar the United States from selling weapons to nations that boycott Israel. And just look at the contrast. Why do they want to send money and weapons to nations that support Hamas? They want to cut off weapons to Israel that is fighting Hamas. Give me a conclusion other than the obvious conclusion that this administration and the Democrats like. Like there's a phrase I use in the press conference. The pro Hamas wing of the Democrat Party. Ben, pause for a second and say, what upside down, crazy ass world are we living in? That there's a pro Hamas wing of the Democrat Party, but by the way.
- [21:28]
Ben Ferguson
Is substantial and growing.
- [21:31]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. And I don't want to engage in hyperbole. I don't want to. Like, normally no respectable, normal political party in the United States would support terrorists who commit mass murder and rape and seek the genocide of the Jewish people. You would think that that would be understandably outside of the ordinary bounds of political discourse. And yet there is a very real and growing pro Hamas wing of the Democrat Party. And the sad thing is Joe Biden's policies. Name a person on planet Earth whose policies have benefited Hamas more than Joe Biden. Let's be clear, it's not Biden alone. It's easy to say, oh, Biden's the problem. No, no, no, no. Name a Democrat other than John Fetterman who has shown even a tiny modicum of courage to call out the administration and say, this is wrong. Stop sending money to Iran. Stop sending money to Hamas. Stop boycotting Israel. The entire Democratic caucus in the Senate is terrified to cross the Biden White House and the pro Hamas contingent of the party.
- [22:47]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah. And Fetterman, as you mentioned, deserves a lot of credit for standing up to his party because he's obviously out there by himself.
- [22:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes, undoubtedly. I don't know where that has come from. It is not something I predicted when he was elected, but I will give him credit. But the fact that he's standing up, one of the things that's striking is just how alone he is.
- [23:09]
Ben Ferguson
Yep.
- [23:10]
Senator Ted Cruz
That. That. Where is anybody else? And by the way, I do have to read a tweet, because it's a tweet that is really quite remarkable. So this is a tweet that Joe Biden sent on October 18, 2019. I want to read the tweet. Here's the tweet quote. President Trump withheld congressionally appropriated aid to Ukraine unless they granted him a political favor. It's the definition of quid pro quo. This is no joke. Trump continues to put his own personal political interest ahead of the national interest. He must be impeached. Now, that is precisely what Joe Biden has just done. In fact, I want to reread that tweet and all I'm going to do is I'm going to going to replace the word Trump with the word Biden and I'm going to replace the word Ukraine with the word Israel. Other than that, every word of this is exactly what Joe Biden tweeted in 2019. Listen. President Biden withheld congressionally appropriated aid to Israel unless they granted him a political favor. It's the definition of quid pro quo. This is no joke. Biden continues to put his own personal political interests ahead of the national interest. He must be impeached.
- [24:35]
Ben Ferguson
Wow. Want to tell you real quick about our friends over at Patriot Mobile. If you are a conservative and you have a cell phone in this election year, you need to see and pay attention to where your money's going. When you pay that bill. You may not know that Big Mobile supports Democrats with massive donations. I'm talking about the local, state and national level. You may not realize that your cell phone provider right now may be giving huge donations to Planned Parenthood. Ten years ago, Patriot Mobile was started as America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. And they've been fighting the fight ever since. But now more than ever, you need to make the switch. I am on Patriot Mobile and I use it. And it's amazing. Now here's the part that you need to know about. Not only do you get the same service you have right now. Why? Because you're using the same exact towers that you're using right now when you switch to Patriot Mobile. But you stop funding the radical left. And every bill that you pay to Patriot Mobile, they take about 5% of that bill, no extra cost to you, and they give it back to conservative causes and organizations that support free speech, religious freedom, the sanctity of life, the Second Amendment, as well as supporting our military and our veterans, our first responders, and our wounded warrior heroes. Now, switching is also easier now because of technology than it's ever been before. You don't even have to go into a store. You can do it over the phone and you can keep your same cell phone number you have right now or you can get a new number if you want it. You can keep the same phone you have right now or you can upgrade to a new phone. It is actually that easy in 2024. So make the switch and stop giving your money to woke companies. They're support you're against. 972 Patriot is the number 972 Patriot. That's 972 Patriot or online at patriot mobile.com verdict that's patriot mobile.com verdict center I also want to ask you about a second part of what we've learned. And this actually came out in the Washington Post. The US apparently offers Israeli Israel intelligence and supplies an effort to avoid the Rafah invasion. Now this is I think maybe a quid pro quo. Is that how you would describe it?
- [27:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, I would say it's even worse than that. So. So this is an article that came out in the Washington Post or that was published at a lot of places and it was on May 11. The title of the article is what you just said. US Sites Intelligence offers Israel Supplies to Limit Rafa Operation Let me read the first couple of paragraphs because it really is stunning news when you understand, quote, the Biden administration, working urgently to stave off a full scale Israeli invasion of Rafah, is offering Israel valuable assistance in an effort to persuade it to hold back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location Hamas leaders and find the group's hidden tunnels, according to four people familiar with the US Offers. Now I want you to pause and understand what that means. It means the Biden administration is saying that right now they know where senior Hamas leaders are and right now they are not telling Israel where the senior Hamas leaders are. That also means that Biden is saying right now the administration knows where Hamas's hidden tunnels are and right now they are not telling Israel where the hidden tunnels are. Now I mentioned before that there is a pro Hamas wing of the administration. What in the hell? Hamas murdered 1200 Israelis. It is US policy that Hamas are terrorists. By the way, they murdered over 30Americans. And what this White House Hamas knows where the senior leaders are and is like, nope, nope, we're not going to tell you. We're not going to tell you. Like how the hell is that possible? And now they're saying, well, if you don't invade Rafah and go after Hamas, we'll tell you where the leadership is. That is truly stunning.
- [29:06]
Ben Ferguson
Isn't that the same thing that they were Implying, by the way, that Donald Trump, they accused him and impeached him like that. Quid pro quo with, with, with Ukraine, remember, I'll go after the Bidens. Even though that's not actually what it was. It was the real quid, quid pro quo back then was Joe Biden withholding a billion dollars from Ukraine until they fired the prosecutor that was going after the company where his son was getting paid and he was getting the other kicked off.
- [29:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, look, Ben, I don't care. I don't care about the quid pro quo. I don't care even about the, the analogies to the Trump impeachment. Everyone knew at the time that was a partisan exercise by Democrats because they hated Trump, had nothing to do with Ukraine, had nothing to do with quid pro quo. It just had to do with Orange Man Bat. It had to do with Trump derangement syndrome. We will weaponize impeachment to go after Trump. By the way, it's the same thing that has led 1, 2, 3, 4 Democrat prosecutions of Trump in the past year. It's what led to the ridiculous circus playing out in the New York trial court. Just like the last ridiculous circus that played out in a different New York trial court, the one, the civil trial that resulted in a half billion dollar judgment against Trump, the current one where Democrats are living their fantasy. This is fantasy porn. And by the way, I don't mean in terms of actual. A porn star discussing salacious details. That's actually the least pornographic thing for leftists. They're just loving seeing Trump dragged through the mud because they hate his guts. And so I am less concerned about the quid pro quo stuff than I am about the simple reality. Given a choice between Israel and Hamas, Joe Biden and today's Democrats over and over and over again choose Hamas. That is astonishing. It is idiotic, it is unprecedented, it is dangerous, it is indefensible, and there are no Democrats defending it. Every Democrat ought to be asked, why, given the choice between Israel and Hamas, do you choose to give money and weapons to Hamas and blockade weapons to Israel?
- [31:28]
Ben Ferguson
Let's go back quickly to you guys getting notified about the President deciding to change this and to basically go around the sanctions. So if I've got the list correct, there's these newest, hey, we're going to allow for, you know, these weapons to be sold to places that are basically hate Israel. We have Iran, that we have oil sanctions on Iran right now that we're not imposing. And we have a president. This is coming also from the New York Times, Peter Baker, that Biden privately threatened to rethink his support for the war in a private call with Netanyahu back in February. That would be two months before doing so publicly. So lying to the American people are misleading them. The White House didn't put it into the readout of the call because they purposely were trying to, I would argue, cover up or avoid, quote, a public blow up. And the New York Times has got this now.
- [32:25]
Senator Ted Cruz
No, look, that's exactly right. This administration from the beginning, from January 20, 2021, they had been systematically undermining Israel. And by the way, some Democrats will say, well, it's Netanyahu they hate. Look, there's a unity government. Israel, the entire war cabinet supports going into Rafah. Rafah is where the Hamas terrorists are and Israel is committed. We're going to destroy Hamas. The Biden administration and the Democrats have decided they're going to use the full force of the American government to try to protect Hamas from Israel.
- [33:01]
Ben Ferguson
I want to talk to you real quick about your morning. You probably start your morning off just like I do with a cup of coffee. The question is, is it a premium cup of coffee? Is it a fabulous cup of coffee or is it a cup of coffee from a company that probably is on a hardcore list of woke companies? You may even be thinking about a name or two right now. Well, if you are sick and tired of average coffee and you don't want to be drinking woke coffee, you've got to check out blackout coffee. It is fun to get messages from you guys online about blackout coffee. I get them now weekly from different listeners that say, Ben, you weren't lying. Blackout coffee is amazing coffee. I'm, I love it. It is absolutely what you said is a premium cup of coffee without the woke agenda. Well, Blackout Coffee is 100 committed to conservative values. From sourcing the beans to the roasting process, customer support, shipping. They embody true American values and they accept no compromise on taste or quality. I start my show every morning at 7am I've got to be awake, I've got to be alert. And I want to drink a premium cup of coffee and I get it every single morning from blackout coffee. Now I want you to try it and I'm going to save you 20% right now. Go to blackout coffee.com verdict whether it's just a premium cup or a premium cup of flavored coffee or their instant coffee that I travel with now all the time, it is premium in every cup. Use the coupon code. Verdict for 20% off your first order, blackout coffee.com verdict. That's blackout coffee.com verdict promo code verdict. And you'll save 20% off your first order. Be awake, not Woke. That's blackout coffee.com verdict. Senator, final question I have for you is this. If you are Israel right now, and in essence, you're being blackmailed to, to not protect yourself, you have a country that's supposed to be your ally that they're heavily dependent on for military aid and equipment. And the president saying, I'm not giving it to you if you don't do what I tell you to do. And you see this, and then you look at our withdrawal from Afghanistan, and then you look at what's happening in Russia, Ukraine. If you're an ally of America right now, do you feel like you're actually a genuine ally? Because in the past, if you were an ally of America, it meant Big Brother America is going to protect and defend you. And you don't screw with the little brother because they're an ally of America. And if you do, there will be major consequences. That seems to be completely gone now in the world.
- [35:43]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah. Look, I think every ally of America is questioning how valuable is that? With Joe Biden as president being an ally of America, you can't count on this administration. Let's take, for example, a country like Saudi Arabia. Listen, I think if Donald Trump had served a second term, Saudi Arabia would have joined the Abraham Accords. They were very close to. They were ready to do so. And Biden came in and he immediately began undermining our allies, including Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia still has not joined the Abraham Accords. And I think.
- [36:16]
Ben Ferguson
Explain the Abraham Accords. People that are listening may not understand exactly what that means.
- [36:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
So the Abraham Accords were historic peace deals that Donald Trump and his administration negotiated. And they were peace deals. They were peace accords between Israel and several Arab countries, between the United Arab Emirates, between Bahrain and Israel. And I was there on the South Lawn of the White House when they were signed into law. And it was. You had to go back 40 years for the last time something like this had happened. It had been either with Jordan or with Egypt. And it had been 40 years since we'd seen peace between the Arabs and the Israelis. And we were seeing multiple Arab countries signing normalization accords. They were called the Abraham Accords. Now, I will say it was very sad when the Abraham Accords were signed. Do you know how many Democrat senators showed up at the signing?
- [37:09]
Ben Ferguson
I'm going to guess between zero and five.
- [37:11]
Senator Ted Cruz
Zero.
- [37:12]
Ben Ferguson
There you go, by the way, when.
- [37:14]
Senator Ted Cruz
We opened our embassy in Jerusalem in Israel, I was there. I flew to Israel. I was there at Jerusalem. The day we opened the embassy happened to be the 70th anniversary of the creation of the modern state of Israel. You know how many Democrats were there, either senators or House members, the day we opened our embassy in Jerusalem?
- [37:32]
Ben Ferguson
I'm going to go with zero.
- [37:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
Zero, Not a one. Now, Joe Lieberman was there, so you could say he was a former Democrat senator. But to be clear, the Democrats drove him out of the party. And the last time he was reelected, he was reelected as an independent because they'd beaten him in the Democrat primary. So he had been a Democrat, but he didn't lose his mind and decide that he hated Israel. And so that was the closest we have. And by the way, the defense that some Democrats gave as to why they didn't go to the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem, which, by the way, many, many Democrat senators had claimed they supported for years, the defense they gave as well. Trump didn't invite us. You know what? Trump didn't invite me either. When they opened, when they were opening the embassy, I said, I'm going. And by the way, let me tell you how it works as a senator. If you want to go somewhere, you go. You don't have to be invited by the White House. They don't decide where you travel. As a senator, I decided, this is an historic moment. I will be there. And I flew down there. Mike Lee flew down there with me. Lindsey Graham was down there. Dean Heller was there. There were several Republican senators. I proposed to Mike, hey, do you want to go to Israel for the opening of the embassy? Said, absolutely, let's go. And we flew down. The reason no Democrats were there is they didn't want to be there. They didn't want to be at the signing of the Abraham Accords. And the point is, the value of being an ally to America when Joe Biden and the feckless Democrats are in charge is much, much less than it used to be. And that's tragic. It should be really valuable to be a friend and ally of America. And. And listen, if you're the government of Taiwan right now, you got to be looking around going, boy, I'm feeling really lonely. And those are some big Chinese missiles and big, big Chinese amphibious vehicles that. That are looming on the horizon.
- [39:27]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, great point. And it's shocking to see this administration doing this now in real time. We will keep you updated on all of this. Please make sure you share this podcast with your family and friends. Don't forget to that subscribe, follow or auto download button, depending on where you're listening to us right now as we do this show Monday, Wednesday and Fridays and on those in between days, grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. Wherever you get your podcast, I'll keep you up to date on the latest breaking news the Center I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.