← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
JD Vance Joins Live at CPAC-Wuhan virus, Politicized AG & Blue-Collar GOP
00:37:11
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- [00:01]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome to this Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you and our guest, J.D. vance, live from CPAC.
- [00:08]
J.D. Vance
There we go.
- [00:11]
Ben Ferguson
This is gonna be fun for everyone listening to the show later. We, you guys have a vote.
- [00:17]
Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [00:18]
Ben Ferguson
Today. And you both have to go back. We decided we're gonna make this work. We'll have JD on with us as well. Senator, let's just talk about, like, you guys have really good jobs, but I've learned you guys have no idea what your schedule is. How is that possible?
- [00:32]
Ted Cruz
In government, it's actually.
- [00:35]
Ben Ferguson
You got the joke.
- [00:36]
Ted Cruz
All right.
- [00:36]
Ben Ferguson
I like that.
- [00:37]
Ted Cruz
It is a bizarre thing. In the Senate, you have utterly no control over your schedule. The Senate Majority Leader decides when to call a vote. And look, Chuck Schumer is really bad at it. So you have literally no idea what's happening. He'll come in, decide to have a vote. Maybe not decide to have a vote. So on Thursday nights, typically we fly into D.C. monday mornings, we fly home Thursday nights, but we don't know if we're home or not. So I would call home. I remember, you know, when my girls were little, I'd call home and, and they'd say, well, daddy, are you going to be home tonight? And I'd say, I have no idea. And actually, Caroline referred to Mitch McConnell for years as that mean man. Because she would say, she'd ask, daddy, are you coming home? And I said, well, it depends on when Mitch calls the vote. She said, is that mean man going to let you come home tonight? Which I told Mitch that. And to his credit, he laughs pretty hard. He thinks that's, that's funny. But is that not a bizarre aspect of this job?
- [01:39]
J.D. Vance
It really is. And so my, my version of this is, you know, when I first got sworn in early January, and I would go home and do a lot of radio interviews with people and they'd say, what's, what's the most interesting part of the job? What's the thing you didn't expect? I talk a little bit about the schedule and I think they wanted me to have some, some brilliant policy solution or idea. And what, what I always just sort of blurted out almost accidentally was these guys don't work very hard, right? So the very first day we're sworn in, we're then sent on a three week recess. And that really frustrated me because, you know, I'm a new senator, I want to get to work. I want to work with my, my, my, my good friend Ted here. And then I kind of realized, actually the, the Democrats not working very Hard for the next two years is maybe not the worst thing in the world.
- [02:19]
Ben Ferguson
So that's. That's an accurate. Accurate.
- [02:24]
Ted Cruz
Schumer Senate is not in session. Is a day they're not destroying America.
- [02:29]
J.D. Vance
That's right.
- [02:30]
Ben Ferguson
So you're saying more. Three vacations is what are needed, basically. I like it. I want to get into policy. And, jd, you're new to the Senate. You're in the minority now, not the majority. And that's obviously coming with interesting things. But what we have seen come out is the issue of COVID and the media getting it wrong and having to admit they got it wrong on the Wuhan Lab Institute, on the fact that we weren't crazy. And on this podcast three years ago, we said. You said senator. This is pretty clear from data that we have coming in. There's a very good chance this is. We're being lied to by China.
- [03:14]
Ted Cruz
Well, and let's reflect for a second. So three years ago, this podcast was here at CPAC on the stage. And three years ago, thank God we're finally allowed to gather again by our nation's capital.
- [03:31]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, yeah.
- [03:34]
Ted Cruz
You look at the idiots who had shut the country down. And listen, CPAC has an interesting mark to my mind as of, really, the beginning of the pandemic, because we did the podcast. It did. Verdict here at cpac. I flew home and actually, I had a campaign fundraiser at an Eagles concert, which. And I love the Eagles. I will confess, that was my idea. It's like, all right, if you gotta have people write checks to the campaign, let's at least go to a cool concert. Enjoy it. And so we're sitting there Saturday early evening, and I get a phone call from Matt Schlapp. And Matt's like, yeah, Ted, I need to tell you. So. So a good friend of ours who was at CPAC with you has this thing called Covid. And yeah, you guys were palling around, and this is kind of a problem. I'm like, oh, really? And so I ended up quarantining for two weeks as a result of Matt's call. Thank you. But I will tell you the worst part was not that it was Heidi coming down the stairs dressed to the nine. She was ready to go to the Eagles concert. And I'm like, okay, sweetheart.
- [04:46]
Ben Ferguson
I love that we have a studio audience, because if you didn't hear that on the audio of this, all the ladies is aw in the audience here.
- [04:53]
Ted Cruz
Okay? She comes down, ready to go. And I'm like, okay, sweetheart, we can't go. And she gets mad she's like, these people paid thousands of dollars to like go hang out at this fundraiser. You can't stand them up. And at this point, very few people knew much of anything about what Covid was. But I'm like, look, this is potentially a deadly virus. We don't know. And I promise you they will be happy that we're not exposing them to it at the outset. So we called and explained it to them and they had a great time at the concert and we stayed at home and Heidi was mad at me. So it is worth pointing out that three years later, we've discovered that the virus, if you're really old, if you're really sick, it can be deadly. But for young, healthy people, we've discovered the health impacts are much lower than we thought. And what's interesting is the breaking news that we all know now that now two different cabinet agency in the Biden administration, the Department of Energy and the FBI, have both concluded that it is likely that the COVID virus came from a Chinese government lab. Now, as everyone here knows, finally, finally.
- [06:03]
Ben Ferguson
These two departments are doing some good work.
- [06:05]
Ted Cruz
It is shocking, finally, but as everyone here knows, for two years that was derided as a conspiracy theory, tinfoil hat wearing, nutty theory that you weren't allowed to say that you'd get banned on social media for saying that. And I have to point out this podcast three years ago, in March of 2020, and in April of 2020, we did two extended pods laying out the evidence then three years ago that this came from a Chinese government lab. And in fact we walked through what, what convinced these guys today. Yeah, almost all of it. You knew three years ago. But politics wouldn't let them say it. And so I will say, and miraculously, they didn't censor our podcast. They censored just about everything else, but they didn't try to.
- [06:55]
Ben Ferguson
I do think it's only appropriate we're back in D.C. that we remind the amazing media of what they were saying to the American people. I want to play clip to take a look at this. This is your media not, not pushing any narrative at all.
- [07:09]
J.D. Vance
Tom Cotton a couple of days ago spouting a conspiracy theory that the Chinese made this virus up in a lab.
- [07:19]
Ben Ferguson
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh with zero proof suggesting a Chinese bioweapon lab is to blame.
- [07:25]
J.D. Vance
We know that it' debunked that this.
- [07:27]
Ted Cruz
Virus was man made or modified or anything like that.
- [07:30]
J.D. Vance
Dr. Anthony Fauci rejected the conspiracy that coronavirus was man made in a lab in Wuhan China. And yet this week, Donald Trump is still pushing the debunked bunkum, despite his own intelligence community's findings that that is simply not true.
- [07:44]
Ted Cruz
If you look at the evolution of.
- [07:47]
J.D. Vance
The virus in bats and what's out.
- [07:50]
Ted Cruz
There now, it's very, very strongly leaning.
- [07:54]
J.D. Vance
Towards this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated. Well, Brett, I'm really sorry that the lab leak has become such a distraction for so many people, because frankly, we still don't know. There is no evidence, really, to say. Most of the scientific community, myself included, think that is a possibility, but far more likely, this was a natural way in which a virus left. So. So the first few hosts there were actually trying out for dumbest cable television host. That's. That's what. That's what. So sorry. I have my own COVID ruined my wife's life story. So I'm gonna tell that briefly. So we were in the heat of the primary campaign, and what turned into a very, very intense campaign. And, you know, my wife was 39 weeks pregnant. So we're, you know, very bad at family planning. So my wife. My wife gets Covid, and she actually. I got. For me, it was like a mild cold for her. She got actually pretty sick, which maybe has something to do with the fact she was 39 weeks pregnant. Nine days afterwards, she starts going into labor. And we called the hospital, and they said, try to wait another few hours, because if you come in now, you're going to have to wear the full mask, body gear setup, complete quarantine. Your husband can't be in the room with you, but if you wait a few hours, then you've reached the quarantine period. This was in December of 2021. So we ruined. I mean, all of us have a crazy Covid story. I think mine is better than most, in other words. And there were a lot of people, of course, who were prevented seeing loved ones in their final moments. And that is heartbreaking. But the failure to be honest about this virus with the American people ruined a lot of lives. And the fact that they called us conspiracy theorists for stating the obvious. I mean, credit to you guys for talking about this. Credit to Tom Cotton for talking about this. But it was. I mean, look, there were always two options, right? Like, one was a bat that had Covid flew into a guy's soup and it sort of wafted into his nose and he got human Covid.
- [09:52]
Ben Ferguson
Or it was plausible, by the way, totally reasonable conspiracy.
- [09:55]
J.D. Vance
Or it was made two miles down the road in the Wuhan Institute of Virology that studied bat coronaviruses. It was always the most reasonable baseline assumption. And the fact you were censored for it is crazy.
- [10:08]
Ted Cruz
And by the way, the good news is that CPAC is serving bat soup for lunch. It's. It's. It's delicious. So, look, what JD Said is exactly right. What are the facts that we knew within a couple of months of this pandemic beginning? What are the facts we laid out on this podcast? Number one, the Wuhan Institute for Virology, which studies viruses. Not just viruses, studies coronaviruses. Not just coronaviruses. Studies coronaviruses derived from bats. By the way, the bats in question that carry these coronaviruses do not occur naturally in Wuhan, China. The closest you can find these bats to Wuhan are in caves that are 900 miles away. Now, where is the Wuhan Institute for Virology? It is literally a couple hundred yards from the wet market where the first outbreak occurred. You could drive a golf ball. Well, I couldn't.
- [11:09]
Ben Ferguson
I was about to say I could drive the golf ball. You could drive it in a golf cart? Yes, to the. To the spot of the crime.
- [11:18]
Ted Cruz
That's fact number one. Fact number two, in November of 2019, not one, not two, three scientists, employees at the Wuhan Institute for Virology, checked themselves into the hospital with serious illnesses that may well have been the beginning of the pandemic. Fact number three, when the pandemic erupted, we discovered that China had been stockpiling protective medical equipment several months before the pandemic. And China ordered the Wuhan Institute for Virology to destroy the samples. Now, look at a court of law, and I'm sorry, you have two lawyers here. You did something really wrong. In a court of law, in a civil case or a criminal case, if someone destroys evidence, a judge will instruct the jury, you are entitled to draw an inference from the destruction of evidence that that evidence was incriminating, that there's a reason they destroyed the evidence. In this case. It ain't complicated what the reason was that the Chinese government said, destroy all the samples. We don't want any evidence. I think now and then it was overwhelmingly likely that Covid escaped from a Chinese government lab. And I think it is significantly more likely than not that it was in fact, altered in that lab through gain of function research, that it was a natural virus that they made more dangerous, more. More deadly. And that's why China doesn't want culpability for it. And I will say this. If you want to know the facts on what's going on on this issue and everything else. I want to encourage everyone here. Take out your cell phone. Take out your cell phone.
- [13:12]
Ben Ferguson
He's not joking. You can take out your cell phone.
- [13:14]
Ted Cruz
And text the word verdict to 24005. Let me give that to you again. The number is 24005. All right, now that's awesome. Text the word verdict to 24005. What you will get is a link to subscribe to this podcast. We do it three days a week.
- [13:38]
Ben Ferguson
Which, to quote your dad, remind people that.
- [13:40]
Ted Cruz
So y'all know my dad.
- [13:41]
Ben Ferguson
This is awesome, by the way.
- [13:42]
Ted Cruz
But my dad is 83, and he points out, he says, look, don't say subscribe. People are thinking like. Like a magazine subscription. You got to pay for it. No, it's free. And you get it three days a week. And. And this is. We've had now on verdict over 50 million downloads. We had 700,000 unique viewers last month. We are beating CNN every week of.
- [14:06]
Ben Ferguson
The year, which is getting easier and easier. I kind of like that. I got to.
- [14:11]
J.D. Vance
This just says, ted Cruz is awesome again and again. This is propaganda.
- [14:16]
Ben Ferguson
My job. I write each one of those earlier today. That's automatic now. All right, I want to ask you guys this. You and I have talked about this on the pod before center. But I want to know, and I think Most people at CPAC would agree, you want some accountability, specifically with Dr. Fauci. I think there's a lot of people believe he lied to Congress. Is there going to be any accountability? And you can keep it short, but is there going to be any accountability for him looking, saying, I did not. We did not fund gain of function research. It was not this Wuhan. It was not the Institute of Virology. He's gone all in on this. Will there be an academy? Because you were on the House side as well. He was looking. And in my opinion, lying to the American people.
- [14:55]
J.D. Vance
Look, there should be accountability. It's that simple. I mean, look, he clearly, Tony Fauci lied under oath. He lied to the American people. And it's not just that he compelled and persuaded the FBI to censor information about the pandemic as it was unfolding. He tried to shut down. He used his government power to shut down the functioning of the First Amendment so that we could not have an honest and open debate about where Covid came from and what to do about it. And I think it's absolutely disgraceful what Tony Foushee did. Now, the question. And Ted is a much smarter lawyer than I am is if we actually want to say he committed perjury. Is that Merrick Garland who has to make that decision, which I know you met him yesterday. I'm not optimistic that Merrick Garland is going to do the right thing here.
- [15:41]
Ben Ferguson
Let's go to. Go ahead. But let's go to Merrick Garland after that.
- [15:44]
Ted Cruz
So look. Amen.
- [15:48]
J.D. Vance
That's right.
- [15:49]
Ted Cruz
That's exactly right. So someone just called out follow the money and the money. Look. Dr. Fauci is the most. Has done more damage than any bureaucrat in the history of our nation.
- [16:01]
J.D. Vance
That's right.
- [16:03]
Ben Ferguson
And was the highest paid.
- [16:05]
Ted Cruz
He. He led policies that. That destroyed people's lives, that hurt tens of millions of kids across this country, that destroyed businesses. And he lied repeatedly over and over and over again. Now one of the consequences is he elevated politics above science and medicine. There has been no person who has done more to destroy trust in the scientific and medical community than Dr. Anthony Fauci, who told millions of Americans lies willingly, knowingly, glibly, supremely, arrogantly. Should there be an accountability in any sane system, he would be prosecuted for lying under oath and he would go to jail for lying under oath to Congress. Now unfortunately, I can quantify with mathematical precision the likelihood that the Biden Department of Justice will prosecute him. And the odds are 0.000% they will not do it. This is a lawless Department of Justice. Will there be accountability? There will be accountability. Number one. We have a majority in the House. And I am confident in the House that we're going to use that majority and use it to hold Dr. Fauci and the others who lied accountable. And we need to have hearings on the origins of COVID We need to have hearings to follow the money. We need to have hearings examining and laying out the facts about how Foushee misled the American people and the corruption that drove that.
- [17:42]
Ben Ferguson
You mentioned Garland a second ago. There were some fireworks yesterday on Capitol Hill. And I want to play a clip of you talking with the AG And I'm going to call for clip five, because this was about two systems of justice in this country. I think it's very clear there are two systems of justice. You asked him about this. Take a Look.
- [18:04]
D
I sent 70 United States Marshals.
- [18:06]
Ted Cruz
Try again. Has the Department of Justice brought even a single case under the statute? So yes, no question. It's not a give a speech on the other things you did.
- [18:15]
D
The job of the United States Marshals is to defend the lives.
- [18:18]
Ted Cruz
So the answer is no.
- [18:19]
D
Is to Defend the lives of the justices, and that's our number one priority. They have.
- [18:24]
Ted Cruz
Why are you unwilling to say no? The answer is no. You know it's no. I know it's no. Everyone in this. In this hearing room knows it's no. You're not willing to answer a question. Have you brought a case under this statute, yes or no?
- [18:33]
D
As I know we haven't. And what we have done is defended to the lies of the justices.
- [18:38]
Ted Cruz
With 70 U.S. marshals, how do you decide which criminal statutes the DOJ enforces and which one it doesn't.
- [18:44]
D
The United States Marshals know that they have full.
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Ted Cruz
I recognize you want to give a separate speech.
- [18:49]
D
No, I don't want.
- [18:50]
Ted Cruz
How do you decide which statute you enforce and which ones you don't.
- [18:53]
D
That marshals on scene make that determination in light of the priority of the marshals.
- [18:59]
Ted Cruz
Do not make a determination over whether to prosecute you. The Attorney general make a determination. And you spent 20 years as a judge and you're perfectly content with justices being afraid for their children's lives and you did nothing to prosecute it. Let's shift to it.
- [19:14]
D
Can I answer the question?
- [19:15]
Ted Cruz
No, you cannot refuse to answer.
- [19:18]
D
I am answering your question. The Attorney General does not decide whether to.
- [19:22]
Ted Cruz
How did you choose not to. Not to enforce. Enforce this statute? The marshals on scene don't make that decision.
- [19:26]
D
They do make the decision of whether to make an arrest.
- [19:29]
Ted Cruz
Someone. No, they don't.
- [19:30]
D
If they make a. If they make.
- [19:32]
Ted Cruz
Marshals do not have prosecution.
- [19:33]
D
If they make an arrest, then it goes.
- [19:35]
Ted Cruz
Topics. Because our time is limited.
- [19:44]
Ben Ferguson
He had his coffee.
- [19:51]
Ted Cruz
How many?
- [19:52]
Ben Ferguson
How many? So. So getting to host a podcast with you is fun for me because I know your habits. How many Diet Dr. Peppers did you have, Senator, before you got into that question yesterday?
- [20:03]
Ted Cruz
11.
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Ben Ferguson
11. Okay, there we go. So you look at that moment, and I think it was all encompassing of what the American, I think especially conservatives like, they're up against, which is there's two systems of justice here. If you're a conservative, will come after you with a full strength of law, will break down doors, will bring people to come after you. You know the story of a man, and you can pick it up from here and remind people of how they treat conservatives compared to when you're intimidating judges of the Supreme Court over issues like Roe v. Wade, where they're trying to flip votes.
- [20:34]
Ted Cruz
So, look, Merrick Garland, I believe, is the most partisan and politicized attorney general our nation has ever seen. And what is happening at the Department of Justice is heartbreaking because it is turned into the political weapon for the Democrats to attack their enemies and protect their friends. And, and it is, it is astonishing. Look, Garland, he spent all day before the Judiciary Committee in testimony. He will not answer a straight question at all. And he looks at you, number one. You know, we were talking about Fauci and supreme arrogance. You know, Merrick Garland can compete in that category with Fauci, and that's impressive. Garland, hard to do.
- [21:17]
Ben Ferguson
That's when you're going pro.
- [21:18]
Ted Cruz
Garland looks at you like, how dare you ask me a question? And the guy was a judge for 24 years. And you look at that hearing. So, for example, what we were talking about, as you guys know, when the Dobbs opinion was released, when it was leaked, hundreds of left wing protesters, radical left wing protesters, went to the homes of, of six Supreme Court justices and engaged in angry, violent protests. And by the way, left wing groups were not only giving out the home addresses of justices, they were giving where the justices worshiped, what churches they went to. They were giving where their kids went to school. And angry protesters at your home when your kids are sleeping in their bedroom is inherently threatening. There is a statute, 18 USC 1571, that makes it a crime, a federal crime, to protest at the home of a judge in an effort to influence the outcome of a case. It's the same. It's similar to jury tampering. You can't go to a juror's house and protest to try to get a not guilty verdict. This Department of Justice refuses to enforce the law. And it was clear for that hearing that Merrick Garland's political staff had written one sentence. This is your political talking point. The marshals decide whether or not to arrest someone. That's true. There were marshals there, and the marshals didn't arrest someone. But under our system of justice, marshals are essentially police officers. They have zero prosecution authority. The only prosecution authority in the federal law is in the Department of Justice with the prosecutors. Merrick Garland is the one who made the decision. We're not going to prosecute here. And by the way, these numbnuts put up pictures of themselves on social media. We're not talking master criminals. They've confessed to the crime. They could be found easily. But Merrick Garland agrees with the protesters. He doesn't like the Dobbs decision. He supports Roe vs Wade. And what is shocking for someone who spent 24 years as a judge is that he's perfectly willing to be complicit with a left wing, violent mob threatening the lives and families of the justices because he supports their political agenda. That is incredibly dangerous.
- [23:46]
J.D. Vance
Yeah, let's, let's, let's take stock for just a second of who Merrick Garland has gone after and who he's refused to go after. He's gone after a pro life father of seven at his home, arrested him like a hardened criminal.
- [23:59]
Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [24:00]
J.D. Vance
He's gone after parents peacefully protesting at their children's school board meetings. He's had the FBI investigate traditional Catholics as being domestic terrorists. And he won't use the Department of Justice to go after people who are harassing the children of Supreme Court justices. The guy is a disgrace. He needs to go.
- [24:21]
Ben Ferguson
How much you just ran, you were out there with the voters. You're talking to them. How concerned and tell a little bit about your story. You're what I would refer to as blue collar conservative. You come in, you run for this thing. How concerned are the American people about these type of issues when you were talking to them that, hey, this government that I'm supposed to trust is supposed to protect me for, supposed to protect my rights, where I'm supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, are now being accused of things just because of politics and can, they can ruin your life. They can come in and literally ruin your life.
- [24:56]
J.D. Vance
Yep. Look, one of the things Ted said when he was out on the campaign trail campaigning with me to this blue collar conservatism point that I stole. Ted, I hope you won't mind it, but, but I gave you credit though, so borrowing. He would talk about how if you look at who's voting Republicans. I mean, we're the, we're the party of soldiers and sailors, of nurses, of construction workers, of people who go to work, pay their taxes, raise their children and just want to live in safe communities. That is our base right now. And I love that. Right. We should be proud of that base and we should be working hard to serve that base. And you know, I got to say, a lot of our elites, a lot of the leaders, I think, of the establishment of the Republican Party, they're ashamed of our new base. I know Ted and I aren't. And that's something that's very, very good that's happening in our party. It's a great thing. But look, if you think about those people, middle class people who go to work, they do their thing, they try to just live a good life in the country that their parents and grandparents built. They know that when the Department of Justice acts unfairly, they are the very kind of people who suffer they know that the very thing that makes this country special is that whether you're powerful or not, whether you're rich or poor, we all have equal justice under law. Or at least we did until Joe Biden and his gang of thugs moved into the White House.
- [26:20]
Ted Cruz
And let me, let me say something on that, which is, you know, JD is a brand new senator and he's one of the people I am incredibly excited that is now a member of the US Senate because.
- [26:36]
J.D. Vance
Thank you.
- [26:39]
Ted Cruz
As JD mentioned, I campaigned with him all over the state of Ohio. He's a hell of a candidate. He was powerful and effective on the stump. He worked his tail off. But, you know, JD's personal story is a story that describes who the Republican Party is. I mean, JD grew up in Appalachia, grew up in working class environments, in rough working class environments, was a Marine who went to Yale Law School.
- [27:11]
J.D. Vance
That's right.
- [27:13]
Ted Cruz
And I will tell you, there's a long history on verdict of making fun of Yale University. It's deserved for a long time. Michael Knowles and I did it together and I tried to make fun of Yale on a regular basis. So we're just continuing that trend. But as you guys all know, JD wrote a New York Times number one bestseller, Hillbilly Elegy, which is a fantastic book. It is actually. It's probably the best explanation.
- [27:48]
Ben Ferguson
You can combine them at checkout@Amazon.com Just so you know, justice corrupted this book. You can literally put them together.
- [27:54]
J.D. Vance
That's.
- [27:55]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. For the record, I wasn't hocking my own book.
- [27:58]
Ben Ferguson
You might as well Marijuana. Get both, right? Yeah, exactly.
- [28:01]
J.D. Vance
And while TED talks about how great I am, let's extend the clock a little bit. We're running a little low on time. I want to make sure TED has plenty of time to go on.
- [28:07]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. But look, what JD did so powerfully because I am going to go on, is described the pathologies that have been just hammering working men and women in this country, or not even working men and women, people who are not working. And whether the opioid crisis and addiction, the destruction of manufacturing jobs, the loss of fathers at home, raising kids. And it is a powerful explanation of the damage that's been done. And it's a really clarion call, I got to tell you. You know, this is no longer the party of the country clubs.
- [28:53]
J.D. Vance
Right.
- [28:53]
Ted Cruz
And there are some of our colleagues in the Republican conference who are really confused who this guy is. And that's why I'm so excited that he's come. Give us your, your thoughts on all right, you've been in the Senate two months.
- [29:10]
J.D. Vance
Yep.
- [29:11]
Ben Ferguson
Vacation for three. So let's, you know, half of it.
- [29:15]
J.D. Vance
We'Ve been on vacation.
- [29:16]
Ted Cruz
But what do you see as the future of the Republican Party as it concerns. How are we different from the Republican Party of 20 years ago?
- [29:28]
J.D. Vance
Yeah, I mean, that's a, that's a, that's a big question. I guess the way that I think about it is we are the party of wage earners, we're the party of tax taxpayers, and we're the party of the people who fight and hopefully win America's wars. That's really how I think about it. And what that means is because we have a different coalition than Maybe we had 30 years ago, we got to think a little bit about different issues differently. I think the old Republican Party would have maybe seen Merrick Garland applying equal justice in our country unequally and would have said, well, they're in power. The Democrats get to do what they want to do. I think you and I, our attitude is, look, if we don't stop this dead in its tracks, we're going to lose the very thing that makes life livable for our own voters and for our own people. It's unacceptable. I think for too long. I mean, look, Even going back 20, 30 years, the Republican Party was okay with trade deals and with negotiations with China, most favored nation status with China, that destroyed the manufacturing base that by the way, hollowed out our ability to make our own weapons on the national security side, but also destroyed a lot of good middle class jobs in the state that I came from. We're not doing that anymore. We're not playing that game anymore. We are the pro America party, not the pro China party. That's changed. And you know, I guess I think the final, the final way I think about this is the Democrats approach to people who are struggling in the heartland is it's fine if you lose your job, we'll just give you welfare, but we believe in the dignity of work and of moms and dads supporting their families. And we want policies are going to make that easier to happen.
- [31:09]
Ted Cruz
I want to ask, and I'll tell you, we're seeing that divide play out. There are lots of issues on which the blue collar shift in the party is playing out. Immigration is front and center.
- [31:21]
J.D. Vance
That's right.
- [31:22]
Ted Cruz
There used to be Chamber of Commerce Republicans that were all for open borders because they looked at it and saw cheap labor.
- [31:29]
J.D. Vance
That's exactly right.
- [31:30]
Ted Cruz
And that's not where the American people are. That's not where the Republican Party should be. And that change matters. Look, we saw recently we almost had a massive rail strike, and we almost had a massive rail strike, and there was a dispute between management and the unions. And it ended up coming to an impasse because Biden and Pete Buttigieg screwed it all up and it came to an impasse.
- [32:00]
J.D. Vance
That happens a lot these days.
- [32:02]
Ted Cruz
But the assumptions was kick it to Congress and Congress will rule with management and that'll be it. And I gotta tell you, and it was the Biden administration that was pressing to overturn what the unions wanted. The unions wanted paid sick leave. Actually, the rule in the railroads was if you wanted sick leave, you had to put in for it several days in advance, which is really helpful if you know, hey, I'm planning to get sick next Wednesday. Like, I'm not sure exactly how that works. And so I looked at it and my first view is, why is Congress getting in the middle of it? This ought to be freely negotiated between management and the unions. We have no business getting in the middle and resolving it. And so initially we had a vote to delay and give them more time to negotiate a mutually agreed upon solution. That vote was rejected. And so at the end of the day, there were a handful of us that said to heck with this and voted with the workers, because I thought the workers demands were really reasonable. And I said, look, we're not a rubber stamp for what management wants. That is a new dynamic in the Republican Party. And I think JD Being there is a big part of getting it viscerally, which is something we need going forward. And I got to say also everyone here is horrified at the derailment in East Palestine. And JD has been fantastic. Going back there on leadership. Yeah, like going back there, you know, he went and did a video of him poking water with a stick and all sorts of crazy, scary crap came up. And by the way, Joe Biden completely awol. Pete Buttigieg, what the hell does this guy got to do to get fired? Like, like at this point it's a bargain. Like, what else could he do? And I got to say, JD Standing up. And the Democrats don't give a damn about East Palestine because it's, it's a blue collar, red, red place. And they're like, to hell with you. If you were a bunch of transgender tech workers, you have the entire Biden cabinet down there for a listening session and sit in to feel their pain. But JD and by the way, JD Alongside Donald Trump came there and guilted the administration and that was powerful. As hell.
- [34:35]
Ben Ferguson
I've never said this, by the way, in a podcast before. You guys have a vote coming up that you're about to head off to see.
- [34:42]
Ted Cruz
The nice thing is Ben being a radio guy, he's. He's very docile. So that we have screens up here that say, please wrap up.
- [34:50]
J.D. Vance
We're just ignoring it. Look fun, right?
- [34:54]
Ted Cruz
We're having fun. I like that you're.
- [34:56]
Ben Ferguson
I need a raise. I need a raise. I need a raise for this. All right, I will ask last question. And I'm sure Matt's not going to fire me over this. I will ask one last question. I do think it's an important one. What does the Republican Party need to do over the next two years to unify and find good candidates? And the reason why I say this is the Democratic Party is very unified right now. They are so unified, they will elect a dead guy in Pennsylvania on purpose. And they will elect Fetterman, who clearly they took advantage of. I think that's evil, what they did to him, in my opinion. And you look at what, where Biden is right now, if he is their guy, which I expect him to be their guy, as long as he has a heartbeat, they'll vote him in. That's how unified they are as a party right now, which is scary. But what does the conservative movement need to do for the next two years?
- [35:48]
J.D. Vance
Quickly, let me offer my views because I just came off an election and look, the thing that I was really caught off guard by when I won my primary is that, yes, some arms of the establishment said maybe this wasn't our number one choice. But look, he won and we need to keep the seat read. And so we're going to support JD Vance. There are a lot of folks in the establishment wing when they don't get their preferred candidate, who whine, who will not help, who will not lift a finger to help candidates. And look, there are going to be a lot of candidates that win Republican primaries that aren't going to be my first choice. They may be, you know, a little bit more moderate than I am, a little bit more established than I am. Who cares when you have a candidate win the primary? We've all got to get on board and support from the president on down. No more whining from the establishment. Let's help our candidates win.
- [36:34]
Ted Cruz
And look, to be very clear, the D.C. establishment basically abandoned the Senate candidate in Arizona, basically abandoned the Senate candidate in New Hampshire. And that was disgraceful. We need to win. And that means getting behind people who are ready to fight and taking it seriously. I support the strongest conservative who can win. And we need to win. We need to take back the Senate, we need to grow our majority in the House, and we need to send Joe Biden back to his beach house in Delaware.
- [37:00]
J.D. Vance
Amen to that.
- [37:01]
Ben Ferguson
There it is. Thank you guys for being here at cpac. Thank you. Verdict? Make sure you download it. We'll see you soon.