Into the Lion's Den-Debating School Choice, Abortion, Second Amendment & Border Crisis with Austin Liberals

Summary

Podcast Summary: The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Episode Title: Into the Lion's Den-Debating School Choice, Abortion, Second Amendment & Border Crisis with Austin Liberals
Release Date: September 25, 2023
Host: Ben Ferguson
Guest: Senator Ted Cruz

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of The 47 Morning Update, host Ben Ferguson engages in a robust dialogue with Senator Ted Cruz at the annual Tribfest event in Austin, Texas. The conversation delves deep into four pivotal issues shaping the national discourse: school choice, the Second Amendment, abortion, and the ongoing border crisis. As the political landscape intensifies in anticipation of the presidential election, Ferguson and Cruz provide unfiltered insights and critical analyses, challenging prevailing narratives often echoed in mainstream media.

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1. School Choice: A Civil Rights Imperative

Discussion Overview:
Senator Ted Cruz passionately advocates for school choice, framing it as a pivotal civil rights issue of the 21st century. He underscores the transformative potential of education in addressing broader social challenges such as poverty, crime, and healthcare disparities.

Key Points:

• Support Among Minority Communities: Cruz highlights that a significant majority (60-80%) of African American and Hispanic parents support school choice, desiring better educational opportunities for their children free from the constraints of failing public schools.

  [02:45] Ted Cruz: "Education is the gateway. It's antecedent to every other social problem."

• Economic Disparities in Educational Access: He contrasts the choices available to affluent families with those of low-income parents, emphasizing that economic means enable the former to opt out of subpar public schools, while the latter remain trapped in underperforming institutions.

  [06:29] Ben Ferguson: "Yeah."

  [06:30] Ted Cruz: "Low income parents... are trapped... Democrats are adamantly opposed."

• Political Resistance: Cruz attributes the resistance to school choice initiatives primarily to teachers' unions and Democrats who perceive such reforms as threats to their influence.

  [05:50] Ted Cruz: "The only argument is the teachers unions... They view it as maintaining power."

Notable Quote:

[07:54] Ted Cruz: "This is something we should take to the people, because people that are stuck in failing schools will side with you."

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2. Second Amendment: Protecting Law-Abiding Citizens

Discussion Overview:
Cruz defends the Second Amendment as a critical tool for self-defense, particularly for vulnerable populations in high-crime areas. He challenges the efficacy of gun control measures, arguing that they disproportionately impact law-abiding citizens while doing little to deter criminals.

Key Points:

• Defensive Gun Use: Citing data from the Obama White House, Cruz points out that firearms are used defensively between 500,000 and a million times annually in the U.S., underscoring their role in preventing crimes.

  [15:54] Ted Cruz: "Firearms are used defensively to stop a crime, to stop a murder, to stop a rape... every year in the United States of America."

• Impact of Gun Control Laws: He contends that jurisdictions with stringent gun laws, like Chicago, experience higher murder rates, suggesting that disarming citizens leaves them vulnerable to criminal activities.

  [17:18] Ted Cruz: "If you pass a law that disarms law abiding citizens, criminals don't."

• Audience Reaction: The discussion becomes heated as Cruz emphasizes the disconnect between left-wing policies and the safety needs of marginalized communities.

  [18:10] Ben Ferguson: "You can't send us your people."

Notable Quote:

[06:30] Ted Cruz: "If you're a rich liberal... the Second Amendment is not necessarily life or death because you're able to outsource protection."

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3. Abortion: The Battle Over Roe v. Wade

Discussion Overview:
The conversation shifts to the contentious issue of abortion, particularly in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Cruz critiques Democratic efforts to codify Roe, asserting that proposed bills misrepresent their true intent to legalize abortion up to the moment of birth.

Key Points:

• Misrepresentation of Legislation: Cruz accuses Democrats of mislabeling their abortion bills as efforts to "codify Roe" when, in reality, they seek to remove all state restrictions on abortion.

  [22:10] Patrick Swiatek: "The Democrats said the bill was to codify Roe... but it would effectively strike down every single state restriction on abortion."

• Public Opposition: He highlights that only 9% of Americans support the most extreme abortion measures proposed, contrasting sharply with Democratic lawmakers' positions.

  [22:57] Patrick Swiatek: "National polling... only 9% of Americans agree."

• Democratic Narrative vs. Reality: Cruz argues that Democratic narratives around abortion are out of touch with public sentiment, emphasizing that restoring legislative control over abortion laws undermines democratic principles.

  [23:33] Ted Cruz: "It is the Democrat process, not by nine unelected lawyers in black robes."

Notable Quote:

[24:30] Ted Cruz: "Left wing activists don't like to hear it. They want to decree their view and force it on people whether they like it or not."

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4. Border Crisis: Open Borders and Its Consequences

Discussion Overview:
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to dissecting the ongoing border crisis. Cruz critiques the Biden administration's immigration policies, attributing the surge in illegal crossings to decisions like halting border wall construction and repealing the Remain in Mexico policy.

Key Points:

• Policy Failures: Cruz identifies three pivotal actions by the Biden administration that exacerbated the border crisis:

  1. Halting the construction of the border wall.
  2. Reinstating the failed "catch and release" policy.
  3. Abandoning the Remain in Mexico agreement.

  [27:25] Patrick Swiatek: "The Biden administration announced 232,972 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in August."

• Impact on Small Communities: Using Eagle Pass, Texas as a case study, Cruz illustrates the strain on small towns overwhelmed by mass illegal crossings, drawing parallels to potential scenarios in major cities like New York.

  [33:15] Ben Ferguson: "Eagle Pass is a small town... more than 4,000 illegal immigrants came into Eagle Pass on one day."

• Political Hypocrisy: He criticizes Democratic leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for not taking decisive action to secure the border, instead promoting open-border policies that he argues are detrimental to local economies and public safety.

  [38:33] Ben Ferguson: "If you're a guy and you feel like you've lost your edge... use promo code, Ben."

Notable Quotes:

[37:55] Ted Cruz: "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer... want 7.5 million to go to 10 million to go to 12 million to go to 15 million."

[44:22] Ben Ferguson: "An Hispanic Democrat... CNN didn't want to tell you this is a Democrat who's calling what's going on."

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Audience and Media Reaction

Throughout the episode, Cruz highlights the hostile reception he receives from predominantly liberal audiences. Whether discussing school choice or the Second Amendment, his viewpoints often clash with the prevailing sentiments at events like Tribfest, leading to boos and laughter from attendees resistant to his perspectives.

[07:32] Ben Ferguson: "Ha ha ha ha ha."

[20:07] Ted Cruz: "They do not like you're not allowed to defend an African American single mom in the inner city because they're in charge of her."

Additionally, Cruz accuses mainstream media outlets like CNN of biased reporting, selectively presenting information that aligns with Democratic narratives while omitting critical details that challenge their stance.

[43:44] Ben Ferguson: "It's a trick question... CNN didn't want to tell you this is a Democrat who's calling what's going on."

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Conclusion

In this enlightening episode, The 47 Morning Update provides listeners with a thorough exploration of some of the most pressing and divisive issues in American politics today. Through his conversation with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson sheds light on the complexities and contradictions inherent in current policy debates, offering perspectives that challenge mainstream narratives. Whether addressing educational reform, gun rights, reproductive freedoms, or immigration, the dialogue underscores the importance of open discourse and the need for policies that truly reflect the will and welfare of the American populace.

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Note: This summary intentionally omits promotional segments and non-content advertisements present in the original transcript to maintain focus on the substantive discussions.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

Senator, nice to be with you in person. I love it when we get to do this once a week. You had a very interesting weekend. And I think this conversation, what people are about to see, is very foreshadowing of the presidential election and the conversation that many Americans are going to be having. There's this thing called Trip Fest down in Austin. It's a bunch of lefties in a room, a bunch of young people. I love when I get to watch you do these things because I know how much you enjoy it. But there was real dialogue and a real conversation that's important for the country. And one of the things about this was you got to talk about issues like school choice, which was incredible.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, that's right. So on Saturday, I was up in Austin and the event, Tribfest, they do every year. It's hosted by the Texas Tribune, which is a Texas political and news organization. And they have lots of different elected officials. They have predominantly Democrats. They get media. They get reporters from all over the country. National media comes down. They've had Hillary Clinton down there. They had Joe Manchin. This year, they bring in. It's sort of a nickname that the weekend has, is Libfest instead of Tribfest.

[Ben Ferguson]

Because it is accurate.

[Ted Cruz]

It skews heavily left. And most of the attendees are either left wing reporters or they're UT students who lean heavily left. And so this event was an hour long where I'm up on stage being interviewed by a reporter, Patrick Swiatek, who's their political reporter. Very smart, capable guy. I know Patrick well. And so he interviewed me for 45 minutes, and then the audience had 15 minutes of questions. And as I said, I've done it year after year after year. And the crowd are always these, like, woke lefties from UT that know everything who are frankly horrified to see someone right of center. But it gives you a chance. And actually, while I was there, I took the point of thanking them, the folks who were booing me, to say, hey, listen, thank you for coming. Yeah. You know, I talked about at the outset how we don't talk to each other enough, how we do too much screaming and yelling and the right talks to the right and the left talks to the left. And in fact, I told him, I said, all right, it'll kill you to do this, but subscribe to the podcast. You ought to actually listen to a view that you don't ordinarily hear. But it was a good chance to talk about a lot of issues. And here's the first where I brought up school choice and they all had their minds made up to begin with. But here's the exchange.

[Patrick Swiatek]

I think this year is the best.

[Ted Cruz]

Opportunity of your in my lifetime for the state legislature to pass a real.

[Patrick Swiatek]

And serious school choice program to provide every child in Texas with hope and access to an excellent education. Texas unfortunately lags behind on school choice. I am a passionate defender of school choice. I've spent 30 years fighting for school choice. I think it is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. And you know, people who've gotten a good education can laugh at that. But you know, it's interesting. If you go into the inner cities and you ask African American parents, you ask Hispanic parents, do they say Support school choice? 60, 70, 80% of them support it. So I get in Austin, when folks have money and they feel quite comfortable that they can oppose choice, My view is don't trap kids.

[Ben Ferguson]

I gotta say, I really do believe school choice is an issue that is changing. And I think a lot of it is because of COVID But especially among African American, Hispanic Americans, single mothers, yes, they want their kids out of these failing schools. And they see the damage that these teachers are doing their kids future. And they saw it at home during the time of COVID The lid came off. I don't think you put this genie back in this bottle.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, I agree. I think the momentum behind choice is massive. We are seeing growing numbers. You're seeing state after state after state across the country passing school choice programs. For me, it's been an issue that, it's been a 30 year passion. I think it is the single most important domestic issue in this country. Education is the gateway. It's antecedent to every other social problem. So you think about it, whether you're dealing with poverty or crime or health care issues or substance abuse, if kids get an education, many of those problems largely take care of themselves. On the other hand, if kids don't get a good education, if they drop out, if they don't learn to read and write, we know that those problems, crime and poverty and health care issues and substance abuse issues, they follow like night follows day. And so allowing kids to be trapped in failing schools is consigning them to be shut out of the American dream. And you know, there are a lot of issues in public life. You take an issue like affirmative action, you take an issue like abortion.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

Where people of good faith can disagree. You and I have strong views on both of those topics. But I understand the people who disagree with us. I understand how someone can look at that Same issue and come to a different conclusion. And there are real arguments on both sides of that issue. School choice is the only issue I know of in public policy on which there is literally not a good argument. On the other side, the only argument is one of venal self interest. The only argument is the teachers unions.

[Ben Ferguson]

Bingo.

[Ted Cruz]

Who? For whom? Democrat politicians are bought and paid for. And they view it as maintaining power. Because look, a point I make all the time. The rich and middle class have always had school choice.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

If you're in a wealthy jurisdiction. An example I use. Let's say you live in Bethesda, Maryland. All right, so Bethesda, Maryland is a very nice rich, she she neighborhood outside of Washington. If the Bethesda public schools had a 50% dropout rate, if among those kids who remained in School only 30% graduated reading at grade level, if you had drug dealers roaming the hallways and you had little girls getting sexually assaulted in the bathrooms, the Bethesda public schools would be empty. Why? Because the parents there have money.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And so they would do one of two things. They would either move. They'd move to another home in a different district that had a better public school or because they have the resources. They would pay tuition to send their kid to a private school, but they would not send their child to a school that was failing. What happens is low income parents, often in the inner city, are trapped. They're facing schools exactly what I just described. But if they're not rich, they don't have the option to change it. And you see Democrats who are blocking children, and it is predominantly African American and Hispanic children in inner cities who are trapped in these failing schools. And by the way, the Democrats like to consider themselves the champions for the minority community. And on the single most important civil rights issue in the country, which is giving those kids a chance at the American dream, the Democrats are adamantly opposed. And you listen to all of those left wingers at UT laughing, oh, how funny. Little children that can't get an education.

[Ben Ferguson]

Ha ha ha ha ha.

[Ted Cruz]

And there's an arrogance on the left that I think is really disturbing.

[Ben Ferguson]

What is your advice for those that are running in this presidential election on this issue? Because when I, when I worked in the Bush campaign 04, there was, this was a third rail issue. It was a do not touch issue. It was leave it alone. It was, don't.

[Ted Cruz]

That's fascinating.

[Ben Ferguson]

It was, it was a grand debate. It was two debates that we had on that campaign. Social Security reform. Don't talk about till after we win. And then the second one was school choice and school vouchers. It was like, we don't go there. That's third rail. And I remember fighting, going, this is something we should take to the people, because people that are stuck in failing schools. I was from Memphis, had a different perspective. Majority of schools there, public schools, are failing schools. Year after year, they're failing schools like this. You guys don't understand. If you take this idea to the community that has it and needs it, they will side with you. You just have to explain it. Are we winning now? Where this is no longer that fear of that third rail. Don't touch it. Don't mention it. Democrats will beat you over the head with it.

[Ted Cruz]

So I gotta say, you and I have never talked about this topic before, so I didn't know that story. You were on the 2004 Bush Cheney reelect. I was on the 2000 campaign, the first Bush Cheney campaign. And my job was domestic policy Advisor. I was 28, 29 years old. I was a young lawyer. And I essentially covered any issue that touched on law. And so education and school choice was not in my portfolio. But I cared about it passionately. And so on the 2000 campaign, I actually wrote a memo. I wrote a memo to Karl Rove and Josh Bolton and all the senior people on the campaign arguing and arguing that George W. Bush should have come out and promised scholarships for 1 million kids across the country to go to any school of their choice, lean in and own school choice. And I put the polling data, I put the polling data that showed that African Americans and Hispanics, even back then, that was 23 years ago, were consistently 60, 70, 80% in support of school choice. They also at the time ranked education as their number one issue, as did white parents. But black parents and Hispanic parents, they all put education as their top issue in 99 and 2000. And I said, look, you've got the issue that is the top issue for minority parents. They have an overwhelming view. And the Democrat Party is bought and paid for by the teachers union. So they are adamantly fighting them. And then I ran a series of electoral hypotheticals. Sadly, I knew I was not gonna persuade the campaign on the merits. We should have. But I didn't even bother to make that argument. I just tried to make a simple political argument. I ran the numbers looking at the last three presidential races, and I ran a couple of hypotheticals. I said, what would have happened if the Republican nominee got 5% more, 10% more, or 15% more of the black and Hispanic vote? So I didn't assume suddenly you get 50% more.

[Ben Ferguson]

Sure. But what if you move the needle a little bit?

[Ted Cruz]

I ran three reasonable scenarios. 5% more, 10 and 15. The one that really stood out to my mind was 1996, Bob Dole versus Bill Clinton. If Bob Dole had gotten 15% more of the black and Hispanic vote, he would have won an additional 96 electoral votes.

[Ben Ferguson]

Wow.

[Ted Cruz]

It was stunning. And I still remember that debate when Bob Dole was asked about education. And his answer, he said the word school choice. But they were so painful. I remember screaming at the television. I was so mad at this old man who knew nothing about choice and didn't care about it and was reading a talking point that he didn't give a flip about. And it was horrible. Well, this memo that I submitted, it got filed in the circular file because the education advisors on that campaign very much were sympathetic to the Blob, to the teachers unions and the education bureaucracy. And so I was never able to get them to embrace choice. And actually the memo I wrote was co signed. I wrote it, but I asked the chief economic adviser who was on the policy staff. He signed it. I asked the chief education adviser who was in the policy staff. She signed it.

[Ben Ferguson]

Wow.

[Ted Cruz]

I asked the chief advisor on kind of urban and inner city issues. He signed it. And frankly, I could have gotten every single policy staffer, there are about a dozen of us to sign it if I had asked them, I think. But I didn't want. I thought that was sort of piling on.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And to get. But the difference was we were all 20 something or 30 something. And for the 20 somethings and 30 somethings we saw it as massively important. The senior people on the campaign were 40 somethings and 50 somethings and they were not interested in taking it all.

[Ben Ferguson]

Don't go there.

[Ted Cruz]

And they didn't.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, Same thing in 04. It was don't go there. Great idea. Great idea, young guys. And we're not going to do it. We don't touch it. And I think it's interesting now in this cycle how this could change the Republican Party for the better for decades to come.

[Ted Cruz]

So, Ben, something I told Heidi before I first ran for Senate in 2012, I said if when I am dead and buried, my tombstone says Ted played a meaningful part in bringing about school choice to every child in Texas and every child in America. I said, I will die a happy man. I mean, it is difficult to think of a more meaningful and powerful legacy than giving kids hope and opportunity and a real Chance to achieve a better life for themselves and their kids and the future.

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Patrick Swiatek]

This is the basic divide. Every time there's a mass shooting, you see elected Democrats, their approach is they want to take away the second amendment rights of law abiding citizens. Here's the now see, this is what I mean. We just yell at each other. This is, this is not. There is zero evidence that doing so. There is zero evidence that doing so protects any lives. And in fact, if you look nationally, if you look at the jurisdictions with the strictest gun control laws, almost without exception, they have among the highest murder rates and among the highest crime rates. The city of Chicago has some of the toughest gun control laws in the country and it consistently has horrible murder rates. Because what happens if you pass a law that disarms law abiding citizens. Law abiding citizens. By definition they follow the law, the criminals don't. And so what ends up happening is the criminals target the law abiding citizens. So your question, there are proposals that say, listen, we want to raise the age to buy a firearm to age 21.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, you know what, I think that.

[Patrick Swiatek]

A 19 or 20 year old single mom living in the inner city in Houston or Dallas going to work in a dangerous neighborhood has a right to protect herself as a right under the second amendment to protect herself from someone who would commit violence against her. And I'll give a stat again, look, this is an audience who I think has their mind made up and doesn't want to hear actual data. But let me give you, let me give you data from a source that I suspect you would agree with the Obama White House. You're going to agree that's not a right wing source. Here's what the Obama White House put out. They said every year firearms are used defensively to stop a crime, to stop a murder, to stop a rape. Between 500,000 and a million times a year, every, every year in the United States of America. That is a very simple reality. And so when you disarm people, when you take that 19 year old single mom and you say you, you can no longer defend yourself. The data show you see crime rates go up, you see murder rates go up, you see sexual assault rates go up. And if you want to stop those crimes and listen, I believe the people here want to stop those crimes but if you want to stop them, you should look to the data of what actually works. And what works is putting the criminals in jail. And I'll point out we got to.

[Moderator]

Move on to the next question, but.

[Ted Cruz]

Hold on a second.

[Patrick Swiatek]

This is deeply connected.

[Moderator]

Just make it brief please.

[Patrick Swiatek]

This is deeply connected with the policies Democrats have championed defunding the police and also George Soros prosecutors who release violent criminals. Because the same people who are all worked up about gun control are also by and large supporting releasing criminals from jail. And we see that pattern over and over and over again. And when it happens. So I've sat down with Texas police chiefs who said to me, answer the question. We know who the trigger pullers are, we know who the criminals are, we want to arrest them and we can't because they keep getting let go and they keep committing more murders. If you want to stop crime, go after the criminals, not law abiding citizens.

[Moderator]

Let's talk about another, another big issue.

[Ben Ferguson]

We got to move on. You're making too much sense over here. Senator. We got it. Let's move it. We heard your answer. I can't believe that the audience couldn't even clap at a basic idea that a single mother who's 19, inner city should be able to defend herself against someone bringing her home, trying to kill her, rape her, whatever it may be. Not a clap in the room.

[Ted Cruz]

Now look, rich liberals like school choice. If you're a rich liberal, you live in a neighborhood where they haven't abolished the police. You've got lots of police officers protecting your home.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

You know, actually, if you're wealthy enough, the Second Amendment is not necessarily life or death because you're able to outsource protection, you're able to live in an environment where you're not living next door to a crack house. In all likelihood, if you're low income, if you're in the inner city, if you're a single mom, you're facing the very real prospect of if you're taking the subway at home at night or the bus at home at night, at being robbed, at gunpoint, at being assaulted. And you often don't have a choice. You don't have another option. You can't move to a safer place where the criminals are not next to you. And liberals talk about compassion enormously, but when you actually point out that the people who are hurt by their policies are the most vulnerable, they get very angry. They do not like you're not allowed to defend an African American single mom in the inner city because they're in charge of her. And dammit, if they disarm her and she gets killed, it was good for her. It made them feel good to disarm her, even though they also championed the policy that released the murderer who killed her. They take no responsibility. You heard the crowd howling when I brought up George Soros. Prosecutors that they all support, they all contributed.

[Ben Ferguson]

They laugh, they act like you're making it up. The data shows that you're not.

[Ted Cruz]

The numbers are staggering. George Soros has spent literally millions of dollars electing DAs who let violent criminals out of jail over and over and over again. And they commit crimes over and over and over again. But you know what? They generally don't commit crimes against rich people living in rich, white, liberal neighborhoods where they say, oh, I feel so good emptying the prisons. Isn't that nice? No, it's the inner cities. It's the people. And it's predominantly African Americans and Hispanics whose lives are lost. All the people with the yard signs out front of their house that say black lives matter, apparently don't really give a damn about black lives. Because when you point out that more African Americans are being murdered because of the left wing policies they support, undermining police officers and letting violent criminals go, they react like that crowd, they boo you. Just two weeks ago, they don't want to hear it.

[Ben Ferguson]

Just two weeks ago, there was an African American young woman. There was a Soros DA elected because Soros backed him and gave him the money.

[Ted Cruz]

Yep.

[Ben Ferguson]

And she was shot, it was four or five times by her ex. She was in surgery in critical condition. And the man who they caught, who shot her had already gotten out of jail because of an activist Soros DA who said bail reform. Oh, I can't keep you here. You don't have a lot of money. He was out free in the city while that woman was still in surgery fighting for her life. And that's the source. And they laugh about that.

[Ted Cruz]

Yep.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's amazing. There's also another issue that it's interesting to see how abortion plays in election cycles. There seems to be a real taste for revenge right now from Democrats because of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and it going back to the states. There seems to be a, this is a presidential election year issue. They want it to be inspiring for women and feminists and angry people on the left to come out and get revenge because they say how dare Republicans protect the life of the unborn. You talked about some of the ways they're trying to get back Roe v. Wade and try to put back these laws into place. And that also had a very interesting reaction from the crowd. Take a look.

[Patrick Swiatek]

So twice the Democrats have taken up a bill and it's a bill they said was to recodify Roe.

[Moderator]

I get it. You're saying it's not, it's not plausible politically right now.

[Ted Cruz]

But let me go a little further.

[Patrick Swiatek]

So the Democrats said the bill was, was to codify Roe. And what's interesting, that actually is poll tested, that polls pretty well. But it is not, in fact what the bill would do. The bill that was voted on in the Senate is a bill that would effectively strike down every single state restriction on abortion. So it would legalize abortion up until the moment of birth. It would legalize partial birth abortion.

[Moderator]

Democrats dispute that.

[Patrick Swiatek]

Obviously it would strike down parental notif parental notification and parental consent.

[Moderator]

Point taken though. You're saying that.

[Patrick Swiatek]

But I want to say something that's important to understand. If you look at national polling, that view is an extreme and radical view. 9% of Americans agree with that view. And every single Senate Democrat voted for that view. And so the position of Washington Democrats is wildly out of step with where the American people are.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, Senator, you listen to the stats, you listen to what you said. He doesn't want to hear it. The audience doesn't want to hear it. And they don't want to hear what's actually in the bill that you just described because it doesn't fit their narrative. Even though it's not the truth.

[Ted Cruz]

They just yell, it's not true. No, no, no, it's not true. Yet it is the view over and over again of elected Democrats. And they hate when you point it out. Reporters hate when you point it out. Activists hate when you point it out. Because Republicans are supposed to be on the defensive. They're supposed to run away and not be willing to discuss the issue. And what I said earlier in at Tribfest, I said, listen, abortion people disagree, people disagree strongly. And the Supreme Court was right in overturning Roe and leaving the issue to the Democratically elected legislature so that we can have the answer to that question about what the rules should be decided by the Democrat process, not by nine unelected lawyers in black robes. And again, left wing activists don't like to hear it. They want to decree their view and force it on people whether they like it or not, because they've got a real problem with democracy.

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Ted Cruz]

Not remotely. Unfortunately, left wing college students live in an ivory tower. These are the same college students that think school choice, there's no need for it, that think the second amendment is unnecessary and we should disarm people that want to see unlimited abortion on demand because they're being indoctrinated. Look, they're 19, 20 year olds who are being indoctrinated. So on immigration, their only view is open borders is mandated by justice. And so they don't want to hear the people who are hurt. They don't want to hear the suffering. They don't want to hear the death that comes from open borders because it's inconsistent with their political narrative.

[Ben Ferguson]

Take a look at this video.

[Patrick Swiatek]

It's interesting and it's a problem that is man made. This is one of the important things to say. So if you look at press talking.

[Ted Cruz]

Points, one of the talking points that.

[Patrick Swiatek]

You see from the White House is well, the border is just not solvable. The problem with that is that is objectively false. When Joe Biden came into office, he inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. And this crisis was caused by three specific decisions. Number one, it was caused the first week in office. Biden immediately halted construction of the border wall Number two, he reinstated the failed policy of catch and release so that.

[Ted Cruz]

When people are apprehended, they're given a.

[Patrick Swiatek]

Court date sometime in the future, they're let go, and the vast majority of them are never seen again. And number three, he pulled out of the incredibly successful Remain in Mexico agreement. Now, what was Remain in Mexico? Remain in Mexico was an international agreement the United States negotiated with Mexico that said that when people cross illegally into Mexico, typically from Central or South America, that they would remain in Mexico while their US Asylum case was proceeding. And it worked. It worked incredibly well. So much so that we saw the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. Biden came in his first week in office, he ripped that agreement to shreds. And we right now have the highest rate ever recorded. 7.2 million people have crossed illegally since Biden became president. And it is utterly indefensible.

[Moderator]

Want to move on to one kind of one or two topics before we go to audience questions here.

[Ben Ferguson]

Let's just think about how silent he was. It's like, let's move on again, right? Don't want to talk about the facts. And if you look at the numbers since Joe Biden took office, you have 7.5 million illegal immigrants that have crossed the border, including 1.5 million got aways who escaped Border Patrol and vanished into the country. In Friday, there was a dump of new data. The Biden administration announced 232,972 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in August. That's the 30th straight month center of the worst border crisis in history and the highest total for that month in Department of Homeland Security history. That is how bad it is. And if you take a look at the graph that was released on Friday by the Border Patrol custom border, this is what it looks like and I want to get your reaction to it. Now, this is just the encounters. And you can explain the difference for people between encounters and got aways.

[Ted Cruz]

So encounters are where border Patrol agents actually encounter someone. They stop someone, they turn them in. A got away is they see someone and they take off. So they don't actually apprehend them, but they know that they are there. They just got away. And let's go back to this chart because, because I want to, I want to walk it through. So. So if you look at the August numbers, all right, August of 2020, there were 40,929 encounters. That's a lot. Although it was the lowest in 45 years. One year later, August of 2021, it goes from 40,000 to 213,593. So August of 2020, there were 50,000. 14 encounters. Now, that's a lot. But 2020 was the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years.

[Ben Ferguson]

Who was the president then?

[Ted Cruz]

That would be Donald Trump.

[Ben Ferguson]

Just making sure everybody knows that.

[Ted Cruz]

So 50,000 in 2020. One year later, August of 2021, 209,840. So it's increased 400%. First year Biden's in office. August of 2022, 204,000. So it stays up forex where it was under Trump. And how about August of 2023? They just released the numbers 232,972. It's nearly 500% where it was in August of 2020. And if you look at this chart, that same ratio is there every single month. October, November, December, January, February. All the way through, you see numbers that are about a quarter of what they are now. A 4x increase. And that's what happens when you have open border Democrats who empower the cartels and among other things, make billions of dollars for the cartels in human trafficking and drug trafficking, not concerning themselves with the death and suffering and misery that results from it.

[Ben Ferguson]

There's a civil war in the Democratic Party right now over the immigration issue. We're seeing, you know, Mayor Adams come out, the governor of New York come out, and it's hard to just overlook what's happening at the border. There was an interesting Fox report that I think put it in perspective for people, and I wanted to make sure we played it in the video pod. And many people are listening this right now. They're listening on audio only. You can go watch the video that we're about to do on YouTube. All right. Because we're doing this one video and audio. Go look at it. Because this is something that should go viral and people should see.

[Ted Cruz]

Yep.

[Ben Ferguson]

Take a look at this.

[CNN Reporter]

I can tell you that early this morning in Eagle Pass, we witnessed one of the largest mass illegal crossings we have ever seen in the last two and a half years of covering our southern border. We'll get right to this video. Take a look at this stunning footage. Border Patrol sources telling us just after midnight, about 2,500 migrants crossed illegally into Eagle Pass. You can see this lengthy line of them stretching from shore to shore in the river. This video perspective coming from the Mexican side of the river. And Pedro Negras, one of our contacts over there, shooting this video as they essentially bum rushed Eagle Pass last night.

[Ben Ferguson]

You saw that and there was another video also went viral. And that was a train coming towards America filled with people. And it's like the cartels have figured out, hey, they're not going to stop us. In fact, the more that we send, the more likely it is to be successful. We can just bum rush the border and this administration will not stop us.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah. Let's put these numbers in context. So, as we've discussed on the pod before, Mayor Adams in New York has said that New York City is in a Crisis. They've had 110,000 illegal immigrants. He says that 110,000 illegal immigrants is destroying New York City. Now, I want to focus on Eagle Pass, where if you watch that video, you just saw the people crossing. Eagle Pass is a small town on the southern border on the Rio Grande River. It has a population of about 28,000 people. So it's a little town. On one single day last week, more than 4,000 illegal immigrants came into Eagle Pass on one day. Now, 4,000 people in a town of 28,000 people is about 14% of the population. About 14% of the population of the city came illegally into Eagle Pass on one day. What would that be in New York City? New York City has a population of about 9 million people. If 14% of New York City came into New York on one day, that would be 1,260,000 people invading New York on a single day. Mayor Adams says 110,000 people over two and a half years is a crisis destroying the city. Well, how would he feel about 1,260,000 people entering the city on a single day? That's what Eagle Pass saw on one day last week. And you know what? They saw thousands more the next day and the next day and the next day and the next day. And these Democrats do not give a damn.

[Ben Ferguson]

Border Patrol Union put out a very interesting tweet, and this is what they said as they put this out. It said from September 1st through the 20th, the Biden administration ordered the release of more than 100,000. This order, the release of 100,000 legal border crashers. Enough to double the population of cities like Yuma, Arizona. Think about what Biden is doing to this country with his out of control border policies. How many millions more? That's not exaggeration. When they say Border Patrol Union saying how many millions more? That's a very accurate statement because there are millions.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, they're at seven and a half million. And Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer and Alejandro Mayorkas and Every Senate Democrat and just about every Congressional Democrat, they want 7.5 million to go to 10 million to go to 12 million to go to 15 million. They want as many as possible. And by the way, if you don't believe me that they want as many as possible, take a look at the governor of New York, Governor hochul, back in 2021, so just two years ago, where she is explicitly inviting as many as possible to come to New York. Take a look.

[Kathy Hochul]

So our message to the world is send us your people. Send us those who need the cloak of comfort that we can demonstrate as New Yorkers with big hearts and open arms, and we'll provide a safe haven, particularly for these Afghan refugees who are so proud that are here. We have already 7,500 Afghans living here already, and we expect to have another 1800 more. And we send a message from day one, we'll take as many as you want to have us have come to New York State because it's a huge point of pride for us, and we'll support them to build a whole new life.

[Ben Ferguson]

Open arms and big hearts in 2021.

[Ted Cruz]

And she also said, we'll take as many as you want to have come to New York. Please come. So that is the approved talking point. Now Fast forward to 2023. Same governor, here's what she says. This year it certainly will, because about.

[Kathy Hochul]

41% of the people in our shelters today are from Venezuela. They are literally from around the world. West Africa, south and Central America. They're coming from all over. But we have to let the word out that when you come to New York, we're not going to have more hotel rooms. We don't have capacity. So we have to also message properly that we're at our limit. If you're going to leave your country, go somewhere else. But the smarter thing is to apply for asylum before you leave your country, and then you'll have a different experience when you arrive.

[Ben Ferguson]

If you're going to leave your country center, go somewhere else.

[Ted Cruz]

Now, does that mean we're at our limit? We're at our limit.

[Ben Ferguson]

We have no more hotel rooms for you.

[Ted Cruz]

And by the way, look at the numbers. So in 2021, she was saying we have 7,500 Afghans and we expect another 1800 more. Okay, so if they're talking 7, 8, 9,000, we're good. 110,000.

[Patrick Swiatek]

Oh, crap.

[Ted Cruz]

We're at our limit. We said 1800. We didn't say 110,000. Well, what do you think about seven and a half million. The utter hypocrisy. And mind you, you know what name she didn't say Joe Biden.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

She didn't say Kamala Harris. She didn't say Chuck Schumer. If New York is at its limit, doesn't New York state have two U.S. senators?

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

Isn't one of them the Senate Majority Leader, Charles Schumer, who could do something on this? It's like actually passing.

[Ben Ferguson]

Pass legislation or introduce legislation.

[Ted Cruz]

And not only does he not introduce legislation, he votes against anything to secure the border. He demonizes any effort to secure the border. He embraces the open borders that are destroying New York City. And, and even the Democrats who are calling it out, they don't dare call out their fellow Democrats. Instead, they blame, as I love, you know, Mayor Adams who said, some madman in Texas, Greg Abbott.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

I'm still offended that he wasn't talking about me.

[Patrick Swiatek]

But.

[Ted Cruz]

The hypocrisy is massive because New York's Democrat governor is not saying, stop, secure the border, stop the invasion. She's saying, please don't send them to New York. Send them to red states. Make other people deal with them so I can continue to Virtue signal. By the way, did you notice also in that press interview, it was a little Stepford Wives that both she and the woman interviewing her wearing the exact same white suit? Yeah, it was just kind of a little freaky looking. I'm not sure what was going on there.

[Ben Ferguson]

I love. Everybody asked me about, do you really believe there's bias in the media? And I'm like, yes, I really do. Like, I love. When I'm traveling, you get it too. All the time. People come up, they kind of want to antagonize. Like there's not biased media. If you were a decent person in the media, when she said, go somewhere else, any journalist, the initial response would have been, well, Governor, where else? What is this somewhere else? Is that another state? Are you telling me to go to another country? There was no follow up there on CNN at all?

[Ted Cruz]

No, no, no. Because there's no response to that. Go somewhere else. What they mean. And actually the Biden White House said that, go to Texas, send them all to Texas because they hate Texas. And they figure if they invade Texas with enough people, they'll flip it blue. And you know what? If the cities are bankrupted and if people die and if children are assaulted and if they're drug overdoses, all of that is an acceptable price for their partisan political objective.

[Ben Ferguson]

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[Rolando Salinas]

This is definitely a very serious situation for the city of Eagle Pass. We're a city of about 28 to 30,000 people. And the last couple days we've had in excess of 5,000 people cross from Piedras Negras, Mexico, into Eagle Pass, Texas. It's become a big concern for the community. A lot of people are frustrated. A lot of these people are being let loose in the community walking around. And it's just a big concern for the city of Eagle Pass. Not not only safety wise, but also our local economy is taking a hit because. Because of this crisis, we've had to shut down bridge number one, our international bridge. With so many millions of dollars cloth through this bridge we depend on the tolls of the people that pay those bridge tolls. And it's just an emergency situation. That is why as mayor for the city of Eagle Pass, I decided to declare a state of emergency for our city because we've never seen this before. This is not normal. And we shouldn't have to be going through a situation like this in the United States or here in here in Eagle Pass, Texas.

[Ted Cruz]

No, you shouldn't.

[Ben Ferguson]

No you shouldn't. By the way, that was on cnn. You just heard Aaron Burnett say no you shouldn't.

[Ted Cruz]

So I want to pull that screen up again. Don't play the video, but just pull the screen up again. I want to ask you what letter is missing from the screen?

[Ben Ferguson]

It's a trick question. I'm ready. Go ahead.

[Ted Cruz]

So it says at the bottom Mayor Rolando Salinas. Oh the D or the R. And what is he? He's a Democrat and they didn't put.

[Ben Ferguson]

The Democrat on the.

[Ted Cruz]

CNN didn't want to tell you this is a Democrat who's calling what's going on. So miraculously there's not a little D after his name, which they usually do. CNN knows how to do that.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, it's always up there.

[Ted Cruz]

It is always up there until they realize this is counter to the narrative. You've got an Hispanic Democrat, holy crap. In South Texas saying this is an emergency, this is not normal. No, no, no, no. We can't have that. Let's have people assume he's a Republican.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, let's make sure they don't think he's a Democrat.

[Ted Cruz]

Okay, look, South Texas, most of the elected officials are Democrats and I cannot tell you how many of them have said if my party nationally supports open borders, I can't be a part of that. Because you cannot see what is happening on the border and defend it. Nobody does. There is nobody who sees it day to day in reality and says this is a good outcome, this is a humane outcome, it is indefensible, it's an emergency and it's a man made emergency that Joe Biden and the Democrats want to have happen. And they want to make it worse tomorrow. And you know they do because the policies they're following are designed to make it worse tomorrow.

[Ben Ferguson]

That's why I love doing this pod, especially with video once a week cuz we get to show you these videos. Don't forget to share this video. It's on YouTube, it's on Facebook. You can share some of the many clips on Instagram and Twitter. We'll be putting them out. Share them with your family and friends. Make sure you hit that follow or subscribe or auto download button wherever you're listening to this podcast. We do it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and we have our new POD on Saturday, which is a weekend review of some of the stories you may have missed. It's become very popular in the last couple weeks, so make sure you grab that on the weekends as well. And on the in between days, I'll keep you updated on my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast, so make sure you download that and I'll keep you updated on the breaking news as well. And we'll see you back here in a couple of days.