← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Strong Trump Cabinet Comes Together, plus Kamala had to PAY Celebrities to Stand beside Her
00:50:17
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- [00:02]
Ben Ferguson
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, it is a victory dance that's got some meat and potatoes with it. Donald Trump putting together his cabinet and it is, well, making the media light their hair on fire. And a lot of conservatives have voted for Donald Trump, are liking the payoff. There's consequences when you win and when you lose, especially if you're a Democrat today.
- [00:28]
Ted Cruz
Well, change is on the way. And the change is coming, as Trump would say, bigly. We are seeing major nominations for cabinet members, for senior officials in the White House. We're gonna go through all of those, give you a sense of where the new administration is coming out, give you a sense of what to expect in the next two months. And then in January when the new Congress is sworn in, and then when the new president is sworn in, we're also gonna tell you particularly, I just think, funny story about how utterly corrupt today's Democrat Party is, about how they paid millions and millions of dollars for their celebrity quote endorsers. That Kamala was basically in the business of purchasing fake endorsements. And I gotta say, the fake endorsements, they didn't work. But they sure did spend a lot of money giving Hollywood celebrities cash to pretend they had political views and to hope that that would move voters votes.
- [01:27]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it was a lot, a lot of cash. And donors aren't happy about it. We're going to break that down as well. Want to tell you about Patriot Mobile. If you have a cell phone and 99% of you listening right now do, how would you like to know that every time you make a call, every time you send a text, you're actually making a difference in standing up for your conservative Christian values. Well, you may not realize with the Big Mobile provider that you're paying right now, they're actually doing the opposite of that with your money. Big Mobile has been giving massive donations to Democratic causes, candidates and organizations for years. Extreme organizations, organizations that are paying for abortions right now. And that is exactly why over a decade ago Patriot Mobile was started, there was a group of conservatives said it's ridiculous that our money is going to fight against what we believe in and our values. And they said, we're going to start our own company. And not only do they do it, but they have grown it to something that's truly incredible. Now, in 2024, you don't have to worry about logistics like you used to 10 years ago. You have to worry about coverage issues. Because in 2024, everybody is using the same networks and the same towers so you get the same coverage you used to without the woke extreme agenda of the left. And then this is the part I love the most about Patriot Mobile and why I want you to switch and join me as a customer. Because when you make a phone call and when you pay your bill, they you're making a difference because they take about 5% of your month and they give it back to conservative causes. Stand up for our first and second amendment rights, the rights of unborn babies. And they stand with our military, our veterans, our first responders and our wounded warrior heroes. So I know when I pay my bill, not only am I paying for a bill, I'm going to have every month, I'm making a difference. Make the switch and I'm going to give you one month free service right now. Go to patriotmobile.com verdict that's patriot mobile.com verdict verdict patriot mobile.com verdict or call them 972 Patriot that's 972 Patriot or patriotmobile.com verdict and get one month free. So Senator, this is an interesting list of all these different positions that have been filled by Trump early on. You and I were talking before the show. We actually know these people. I know several of them very well. You know them well as also. And I actually want to start with a really important post and that is the ambassador to Israel and former governor of Arkansas. Mike Huckabee is getting that position. That one made me grin from ear to ear.
- [04:03]
Ted Cruz
Well, Mike Huckabee will do a terrific job in that regard. Huckabee obviously was governor of Arkansas, but, but also was a Baptist pastor for many years. And, and Mike loves Israel. He loves the people of Israel. He loves the Jewish people. He has been an outspoken advocate for Israel. And I think it will be an appointment that he will enjoy profoundly. It will be markedly different from how things have been under the last four years. And I think it shows just how important changing the page on the Biden Harris abandonment of Israel will be because Mike Huckabee will stand unshakably with the state of Israel. And that's going to be also President Trump's view is to stand unshakably with Israel. It's why under the Trump administration, the first term we saw peace flower in the Middle East. It's why we saw peace war break out in the Middle east because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris undermined Israel and sent billions of dollars to our enemies. It's a great appointment. And you know, as you're looking at the appointments that have come out. Let's start with the White House. So the White House are the kind of core team right around the president. First appointment that was announced as the White House Chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Now, who is Susie Wiles? Susie Wiles is President Trump's campaign manager. She's been a political operative forever. She's going to become the first woman to serve as a White House Chief of staff. And Susie is someone who has worked for. She ran Rick Scott's campaign when he ran for governor. She ran Ron DeSantis campaign. And in fact, if you go way back, she was deputy director during Reagan's 1980 campaign. So she's a longtime political operative. I'll tell you, I know Susie a little bit. I don't know her very well, but her reputation is someone who's very effective, who doesn't like the limelight, is not out seeking to be in front, is not looking for a bunch of glowing media profiles on election night.
- [06:09]
Ben Ferguson
When Donald Trump tried to get her to talk and she would, she went, she went to the back of the, of the, of the stage was like, she walked up, said hello, and then left. I mean, that's.
- [06:19]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. Have you ever seen that in, in all of politics, have you ever seen that?
- [06:22]
Ben Ferguson
No. Everybody's usually clamoring to get in front of a microphone and talk and have their moment in the sunshine. And, and it was very clear there. I think her, her body language that night was, we've got work to do, like, yeah, we just won, but now the work begins. And that is her type of really her MO for her entire career.
- [06:42]
Ted Cruz
Look, Susie's reputation is as a serious person who gets things done. That's a good thing. I will tell you, Objectively speaking, Trump's 2024 campaign was by far his best run campaign. It wasn't even close. It was much, much better than how the 2016 campaign was run, and it was much, much better than how the 2020 campaign was run. There was greater organization, there was greater discipline, there was better execution. It just, they played at a different level. So that's a strong opening appointment. Now, right behind it is the deputy chief of staff, uh, the deputy chief of staff for policy, and that's Stephen Miller. Now, Stephen is someone I know very, very well. Steven used to be a, a white, a Hill staffer. He was Jeff Sessions top person on immigration policy when Sessions was a senator, was a colleague of mine. Uh, Sessions was one of the leading immigration hawks in the Senate. And Stephen is smart as hell. He knows the substance of Immigration law exceedingly well. And I'm confident there's not gonna be literally a single person in the administration more committed to securing the border than Stephen Miller. He wakes up focused on that. That is his priority. He is someone who he was in the first Trump White House. He was helping drive those policies. But from a lower profile position, Deputy chief of staff for policy is a big deal. I'm glad Steven is in that job. I think he'll do a very good job.
- [08:13]
Ben Ferguson
Well, let's talk about when you expand out from there to some of the other positions Donald Trump is putting together, I think a team of people that he trusts, that he feels like is ready to go to work. Another example of that is the deep state. We know what the deep state has done to conservatives. We know what the deep state has done to Donald Trump and the people around him. And someone that we both know well, a Texan has been named CIA director in John Ratcliffe, former congressman from. From Texas in the. In the Dallas area. This is a big appointment, obviously an important one, but also someone that saw from within in his last administration just how corrupt the deep state could be.
- [08:59]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, I'm very glad with this pick. John Ratcliffe is a good friend of mine. He's someone I know very well. He's someone who, candidly, I urge the Trump administration to appoint to this position. I think John is a good choice. You know, John was in the first Trump administration. He was a member of Congress, and then he was the Director of National Intelligence. And he really did an effective job taking on the deep state at a level that is exceptionally rare. It's hard to do. And John showed a seriousness. He'd been a U.S. attorney before the Department of Justice. He has demonstrated a courage to take on embedded bureaucrats who are fighting against the president, fighting against the agenda of the president, and I think really fighting against the national interest. And sadly, after years of Obama and now Biden, you have hardcore leftists who have burrowed into senior positions, and they don't view their roles in those positions as carrying out the policy priorities of the elected president. They don't view the role of those positions as following the instructions that they're given. Rather, they view their role as fighting against presidents they hate and policies they hate. And I think John is a serious guy who is going to be well positioned to try to turn that around. Look, turning CIA around is not easy, but I think John is a very, very good choice. As I said, he was one of the people that I've already leaned in and I urged the transition team to make exactly this appointment. So I think it's an excellent one.
- [10:42]
Ben Ferguson
Let's talk about dod. Traditionally, it's been someone that's been a little bit older at the Department of Defense. It's so funny how quick these things happen and how things can change. You and I were at the Republican convention and the night of the of Trump's acceptance speech that final night. Afterwards, I went on to host Fox Nation with the guy who's now been appointed Pete Hed. Seth as the Secretary of Defense, Jesse Waters and Fox Tonight, they were just talking about how much they love this guy, how much, how well they know him, how he's an individual that has not only served his country in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he's also Ivy League educated, very smart guy, family man, actually lives in Tennessee and would go up to New York on the weekends to host Fox and Friends weekend. And all of a sudden, I think he shocked the world Trump did when he said, hey, I'm appointing Pete as Secretary of Defense, saying, no one loves America more than Pete does. And he understands war. He understands how powerful it can be, how hard it can be, how disruptive it can be, and how it can hurt people's families and American soldiers as well. And this is a guy that says, I don't want to start wars, I want to end wars, referring to Trump. Pete's been to war in both of these countries in our lifetime and seen a lot.
- [12:04]
Ted Cruz
Well, that's right. And Pete's someone who's a friend to both of us. I like Pete personally. I consider him a friend. I think he does a great job. You know Pete's background, he was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, and he did tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and he ended up earning two bronze stars. He is currently one of the co hosts for Fox and Friends weekend, and he has been since his military service. He has been in the media world more than anything else, including writing an important book on taking on the woke DOD culture. Look, this is a nomination that is going to get some pushback. The Democrats are going to fight against this one. I'm predicting a real battle because typically, defense secretaries are people who've spent 30, 40, 50 years either in the military running major military operations or running major logistical corporations running big institutions. And Pete does not have that background. So I expect Democrats to attack him for that. That being said, I assume that Trump has nominated Pete because he is in particular focused on taking on the generals who were involved in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal. That was utterly disastrous. He has also been really courageous and outspoken, fighting to eliminate the WOKE initiatives that have taken over the military. And so I think Pete at DOD will do something very similar to what Ratcliffe is going to do at CIA, which is he's going to come in with a real mission of clearing out the hardcore partisans who burrowed into senior career positions. I think that's a good thing. But I would also anticipate at his confirmation hearings, I think we'll see some fireworks. I think we'll see some Democrats going after Pete. And so that'll be a fight, I expect in the Senate.
- [14:11]
Ben Ferguson
Talk about the arming this audience. This is one of the reasons why I love this show, is because we get to give people some of the talking points that they may not hear anywhere else. And you look at Pete and his nomination, you said there's gonna be fireworks. We've already seen a lot of this happen on social media over the last, I don't know, six, seven hours since this broke. And. And they're like, he's unqualified. You look at Pete, he graduated from Princeton and then he has a graduate degree from Harvard. He's an army combo.
- [14:44]
Ted Cruz
Wait, let me stop you, Ben. So you're saying. I just want to understand, as an Ole Miss grad, you're saying it is a good thing to have a degree from Princeton and Harvard. I just want specify exactly the meats and bounds of what you're saying.
- [14:59]
Ben Ferguson
All right. I feel like I'm auditioning now for a job in the administration. What I'm. Let me clarify to my remarks. What I'm saying is it's not, it's not necessarily a bad thing to go to an Ivy League school, but obviously common sense and going to is phenomenal as well.
- [15:15]
Ted Cruz
Ben, I didn't get a chance to compliment you on the record for the ass kicking that Ole Miss unleashed on Georgia.
- [15:23]
Ben Ferguson
Thank you. I was waiting for the text. I really was. I thought for sure I was going to get a text from you about that game because it was unbelievable.
- [15:30]
Ted Cruz
Like, holy cow, you got reason to be pretty proud.
- [15:33]
Ben Ferguson
I knew you were in that moment thinking, man, that would have been fun to go to that school. When you rushed the field at the end, you pulled out a goals post. Have you all ever a goal post at the Ivy League school before? I'm.
- [15:44]
Ted Cruz
See, we don't actually score goals, so we don't have goal posts.
- [15:48]
Ben Ferguson
That fair? Fair enough.
- [15:50]
Ted Cruz
So we go, we go to the 50 yard line and we play chess. It's. It's a very different game. We do it in pads. So. So, but it's, it's chess nonetheless.
- [15:58]
Ben Ferguson
You know, they say the biggest day at a football stadium at a high league school is graduation day, when you guys are actually getting graduate graduating. You know that, right? Like that's the most attended day there is.
- [16:06]
Ted Cruz
All right, so I will tell you, when I was in college, George Schultz was the Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, and he's a Princeton grad. And the rumor, which everyone acknowledges is that George Schultz had on his rear end a tattoo of a Princeton tiger. And so Schultz would come to Princeton football games and if you went to the stadium, you would see the band would line up in the shape of Schultz's ass.
- [16:40]
Ben Ferguson
Are you serious?
- [16:41]
Ted Cruz
And the mascot would go and lay down on one cheek. And I remember thinking as a 19 year old, all right, you have really made it in life when your rear end is on the 50 yard line.
- [16:53]
Ben Ferguson
Of your alma mater at an Ivy League alma mater at that. That's, that's a valid point. Valid, valid point. But you look at Pete, he graduated Princeton and then graduated gradu degree from Harvard. The guy's an army combat veteran who did tours. And again, this is where I armed this audience with the facts. Guantanamo Bay. Check that mark that box. Iraq and Afghanistan. And as you mentioned earlier, for his actions on the battlefield, he was decorated with not one, but two bronze stars as well as a combat infantryman's badge to boot. Now, I tonight had an interesting text message from a warrior, a, a SEAL Team 6 member who said it's about blanking time. That America has someone that went to war, understands modern warfare, understands PTSD, and advocates for those that are mentally wounded in our armed forces like Pete has done for years. I don't care what anybody says. I'll reenlist and I will go back and I would stand under this. I think there's a lot of military veterans that have that mentality as well.
- [18:07]
Ted Cruz
Well, and I'll say this. Pete does not have the traditional criterion that many prior DoD secretaries have of 20, 30, 40 years experience running massive multi,000 100,000 person organizations. And being DoD secretary is incredibly complicated because talk about like turning a battleship doesn't even begin. That analogy is not even close to how complicated it is. That being said, what Pete brings in addition to being a combat veteran himself is he brings experience, calling out the ideological rot that Barack Obama and Joe Biden put into our military. And so I think Pete, there's a reason I drew the analogy between Pete and John Radcliffe, which is, I think both of them. The latter has shown, and I think the former will show a willingness to take on the corruption that is damaging the institution they've been sent to. That courage, that clarity that is rare. And it's one of the reasons why I think the left is gonna attack him and attack him really hard.
- [19:22]
Ben Ferguson
Let me ask one other question about this. Does this mean that there's a real chance and we haven't talked about this in a few months, so I think it's the perfect time to go back and really about this is the reinstatement of men and women in our military that were kicked out because they refused to get vaccinated with the Republican singer of the House. And that's official. We haven't actually gotten to mention that on the show. So let's just have that little moment of victory that Republicans are retain the House, we have the Senate, we have the presidency. Is there a chance that those men and women that were kicked out of our military could actually come back in? Is that an issue you think will come up in January?
- [20:03]
Ted Cruz
I hope and pray that it does. As you know, Ben, I am the author of the legislation that ended the Maxine, the vaccine mandate in the military. The Biden administration had thrown out thousands, if not tens of thousands of active duty military members. And I drafted the legislation that Congress passed into law that ended that COVID vaccine mandate. It made sense. We got it done. I tried very, very hard to make the end of the vaccine mandate retroactive. In other words, There were some 10,000 servicemen and women who'd been thrown out to say, look, if you're no longer requiring it, you ought to let back in the people you threw out, particularly when we've got a shortage of servicemen and women. These are very experienced. In some cases, you're talking about SEAL team members, Army Rangers, very experienced, highly trained military men and women who were thrown out, unceremoniously, in many instances, thrown out with a less than honorable discharge. So they received less in terms of pension and benefits. And I'll tell you, when I've fought for that, we have not been able to get that legislation to pass. Every single Democrat, all of them voted no. They voted no. We're not going to allow those who were thrown out of the military for not getting the COVID vaccine back into the military, even though today the military doesn't require it anymore. And sadly, we had two Republicans who also voted no, which was really frustrating.
- [21:36]
Ben Ferguson
What was the reasoning behind that? Did they give at the time? Because I don't remember.
- [21:41]
Ted Cruz
So the two Republicans were Mitt Romney. Mitt will be gone and then Mike Rounds. And I'm frustrated. I don't know why I disagreed with it. I really was arguing forcefully. I do have some real optimism going forward. We'll get this fixed, I think, with a Republican House and Senate. I'm gonna fight very hard to get that in the next iteration of the ndaa. The NDAA is the National Defense Authorization Act. I also am gonna press the Department of Defense, if they can, just to do it unilaterally. I'm pretty sure they can. Although I say this, I have not studied the legal questions. So that's, that is an instinct rather than the result of a studied analysis. But when Pete is confirmed as Defense Secretary, I'm gonna urge Pete that he at the outset says if you've been discharged for failure to get this vaccine, you were invited to be readmitted and returned to your old rank and your and your old position.
- [22:40]
Ben Ferguson
Want to talk to you real quick about keeping your family safe. And if you carry a firearm, you know that that's your motive to protect yourself and your family. But what happens if you actually use that firearm to protect yourself? What happens if you're up against an activist DA that cannot stand, people just like you that exercise their second amendment right? Well, you're at risk of losing everything. And that is why over 800,000Americans are members of the USCCA. Now, I've had to use my firearm to save my life. I had to pull the trigger. And I can tell you I wish I would have known more about what my rights were in the moments after that incident took place. Well, you don't have to worry if you're a member of the uscca because not only will you get access to their protector academy, which teaches you vital skills like precision shooting and how to fortify your home against criminals, but you also get access to the 247 Critical Response Team and the included benefit of self defense liability insurance to make sure that you and your family are prepared for anything. And for a limited time, if you text the word America right now, text the word America to 87222. You're going to get the USCCA's free life saving Concealed carry and family defense guide plus a chance to win seventeen hundred dollars to buy any self defense gear you need before it's too late. So what are you waiting on? Text the word America right now to 87222. That's the word America. Text it to 87222 right now, center, there's an interesting. And I, I want to get your take on this because it went viral when it happened. Donald Trump has selected Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency. Now, I was asked the question right after this broke on social media, wait, is that even an actual department of the US Government or is this made up? I laughed. Wait, there's a lot of people that actually want to know, what is this? Does it exist? Is this something new? And how big of a deal it is that Donald Trump picked the Tesla CEO and ex owner Elon Musk and an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead this Department of, quote, government Efficiency.
- [25:16]
Ted Cruz
Well, it is not currently a government agency. I don't think it's an accident that Department of Governmental Efficiency spells out doge, since Elon is a very vocal supporter of the dogecoin cryptocurrency. I think that was, was quite deliberate. Listen, I'm very glad that Elon is going to play a critical role in the administration focusing on making government work more effectively and more efficiently. I'm glad Vivek is too. He's a very smart guy. I know them both very well. I'll tell you, I spent 30 minutes on the phone with Elon this week talking about precisely this mission, how you make government operate more effectively. And Elon is dealing right now with there is a major difference between government agencies and the private sector. There are lots of differences. And you know, one of the things I pointed out, there's a fantastic economist man named Ludwig von Mises who was one of the founding fathers of the Austrian School of Economics. Brilliant man, wrote a lot of different things, but he wrote a book called On Bureaucracy and von Mises and On Bureaucracy. What he argued is that inevitably you have people who come from the private sector who come into government and they say, we're going to make government more efficient. We're going to make it operate like a business. And von Mises argued that is always, always, always doomed to failure. And he explained why. He said, listen, government lacks the essential element of any private enterprise. And that is the profit motive. And the analogy he uses, he says, okay, look, Ben, let's say you have a private company, you have, say, a barbecue restaurant in Memphis. If you're running your barbecue restaurant in Memphis, every single employee at the restaurant is motivated by the, by the profit incentive. If the janitor, the guy who is sweeping up the spilled barbecue sauce in the restaurant, if he comes to you and says, Mr. Ferguson, I've got an idea that can reduce our costs by 10% and that can increase revenues by 5%. So my guess is a, Ben, you'd listen to him. You'd be like, okay, I want to hear that idea.
- [27:41]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [27:42]
Ted Cruz
My guess is, number two, if his idea was right, that guy ain't gonna be sweeping floors any longer. He is immediately gonna get a promotion. Because for him and everyone else at, at the restaurant, the incentive is the profit motive. That, that unifies the incentives of everyone in the private sector. In contrast, and this is what von Mises argues in On Bureaucracy. In government, there is no profit motive. And in fact, the incentives are precisely the obverse. Let's say you're running a particular office in a government agency, and you've got a million people who are receiving $10 billion in benefits. Your incentives are not to reduce the number of people receiving those benefits. Your incentives are not to reduce the amount of benefits they're they're receiving. Instead, what are your incentives in government? Your incentives in government are to increase the 1 million people to a million, 5 or 2 million. Your incentives are to increase the $10 billion in benefits to 15 billion or 20 billion. Your incentives are to take your say, thousand people that work for you and increase it to 2000 or 3000. All of your incentives, not only are they not aligned on the profit motive, they are exactly the opposite of the profit motive. So I actually, I recommended Elon. He read the book. He had. He did not know the book. And we spent about 30 minutes talking about, how do you change this beast that is government? You're never going to make it quick and nimble. I also talked about the fact that, that a huge problem with government is that you cannot fire government employees. Generally speaking, there. There are civil service protections in place that if you try to fire someone, you have litigation. It's very difficult. And I pointed out to Elon, look, when you went into Twitter, you fired, what, 60% of the employees. That is a flexibility that you have and what it means. And I tried to lay this out to him as well. So I said, Listen, at Tesla, SpaceX, my guess is you have very, very few employees who wake up every day with their mission in life being to stop you, to frustrate the objectives of the company and to try to make them fail. And if you did have any employees that were doing that, you'd fire them because they work for you, and that'd be it. In government, particularly with the deep state, there are literally thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of deep state employees who wake up every day with their objective, their mission being to stop everything Donald Trump is trying to accomplish. And so I'm really glad that Elon is doing this. And I think Vivek is very smart. I think Vivek will add to that. We will get some good results out of it. But it is going to be an incredibly important and an incredibly challenging endeavor. And I'll say Elon is as smart a person as I have ever encountered. And look, I've been blessed. I've actually run in some circles where I've known some freakishly smart people, including people like Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Anton Scalia. And Elon is just another level in terms of brilliance. So I'm excited to see what he can do in this role. But it is going to be, I think his instinct is going to be to break some China. And, and we'll see how that plays out in the government world.
- [31:22]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, in the government world is a key point there. Let's talk about one of the most important appointments, and that is Tom Homan. And there are so many conservatives that voted for Donald Trump, so many Americans that voted for Donald Trump because they want a secure border. He's the former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director. He has now been named Trump's border czar, task of cracking down on immigration and overseeing the southern border, the northern border as well. And he said this on Fox yesterday. Look, I've seen, I've seen some of these Democratic governors say they're going to stand in the way. They're going, they're going to make it hard for us. Well, I, you know, a suggestion. If you're not going to help us.
- [32:04]
Ted Cruz
Get the hell out of the way.
- [32:05]
Ben Ferguson
But we're going to do it.
- [32:06]
Ted Cruz
So if we can't get assistance from.
- [32:08]
Ben Ferguson
New York City, and I may have.
- [32:10]
Ted Cruz
We may have to double the number.
- [32:12]
Ben Ferguson
Of raises we send in New York.
- [32:13]
Ted Cruz
City because we're going to do the job.
- [32:15]
Ben Ferguson
We're going to do the job without.
- [32:17]
Ted Cruz
You or with you.
- [32:18]
Ben Ferguson
It's very clear Democrats are already gearing up to fight against the government and deportations. He has said their number one goal is what you and I mentioned on this show. I think it was even before Election day. They're going to go after the criminals first. They're going to go after the people that, that have already had due process and have been told that they are to be deported from country. And again, I, this is where I love doing the show. Let's remind listeners and, and, and arm you Guys with the facts. When, when you hear the left say it's inhumane to deport people, do not forget Barack Obama deported more than 3 million illegal immigrants while he was president. So this idea that we are doing a million plus that are felons, that have been convicted of crimes have already had due process, don't fall for this. Because remind all of the people that say otherwise. Barack Obama deported more than 3 million illegal immigrants when he was president.
- [33:17]
Ted Cruz
So Tom Homan is a serious guy. He cares passionately about defending this nation, securing our borders. I am very, very happy that Trump has named him Border Czar. He also named Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Homan and Noem will work hand in hand. I think that's going to be very effective. Tom Homan understands the border. He understands what it takes to secure the border. And I think he is going to be the point person driving the agenda, as I predicted before. But I want people to hear this. It's November. We are still facing an invasion at our southern border. We are going to secure the border, and it is not going to take a year. It's not even going to take six months. It will be done by January and February of next year. And in February, Ben, I want you to play this clip back and either we're going to say the results are in, Cruz was right, or hold me to account and say, okay, it didn't happen, what went wrong, but either way, that's my prediction. And I think Tom Homan is going to be driving the effort to get that done. And I also think Stephen Miller, as Deputy Chief of Staff, will be driving it alongside him. I'm very optimistic about what we're going to get done on that front.
- [34:35]
Ben Ferguson
And, and finally, when we're talking and there's more names are going to come out and we will continue to let you know what we think about them and, and how exciting this moment is. But there's one of your colleagues in the Senate, someone you know very well. There was a lot of people that were on the short list. I, I say a lot, a lot that you and I knew that were. That were floated for the short list for Secretary of State. I was paying very close attention to this one, as I know you were. And, and the nominee is going to be your colleague, the Florida Republican Senator, Marco Rubio.
- [35:09]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, I think this is terrific. I think Marco's gonna do a good job. He is focused on foreign policy quite a bit his entire time in the Senate. Marco is smart. He cares about foreign policy. He cares about standing up to Communists, especially in Cuba. He cares about standing up to communists in China. Marco is more interventionist on foreign policy than I am. But that being said, he cares deeply about it. And so I think he is more interventionist on foreign policy than Trump is. And at the end of the day, Trump is going to make the decisions. But I think Marco is someone who is diplomatic, he is articulate. He will be a very effective diplomat for America. I think it's a great choice. I think it's a natural fit. I will tell you so. So I sent Marco a text tonight, which I'll go ahead and read to you what I sent him. I sent Marco the following text. Congrats, sir. A big damn deal. You join an historic roster, including John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Calhoun, William Jennings Bryan, Charles Evans Hughes, Henry Stimson, George Marshall, Dean Acheson, John Foster Dulles, Dean Rusk, Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and James Baker. Truly rarefied air. Every Cuban is deeply proud. And then I finished it with. And I'm confident at least, that you'll kick the ass of Hillary and John Kerry.
- [36:56]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, that low bar. But I couldn't agree with you more on that one. Right. It's. I. I have no idea. I have no doubt, I should say that Marco was gonna laugh when he reads that last part of the tax.
- [37:06]
Ted Cruz
So he did laugh and he responded, all right, I. I will almost never out my colleague's text, but I think Marco would forgive me for this. His response was, he said, there is hope for the Cuban caucus. And then he sends me a story from Latin Times. Social media users launch campaign to get pit bull appointed to Marco Rubio's Senate seat. Ron DeSantis has only one choice, and I could only respond to that spectacular.
- [37:34]
Ben Ferguson
You gotta love it. Want to tell you about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Last week, Americans voted in one of the most consequential election in our history. And with all that's happening, we know that the support of Americans like you means so much the people of Israel. Especially now, this past year, not only have we seen the war rage on in the Holy Land, but we've also seen an alarming rise in anti Semitism. This is why I'm a proud partner of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They have been building bridges between Christians and Jews for over 40 years. And since that time, they have been on the ground helping the vulnerable and providing security for Jews in both Israel and Ukraine. Thank you for your support during this critical time because so many of you have stepped up and your gifts have helped the fellowship provide not only food and necessities, but also security for those most in need. Standing with Israel and the Jewish people has never meant so much. And if you've not gotten involved, please take a look at what you can do to help. Go to supportifcj.org that's support ifcj.org to learn more and to make a gift. Now that's support IFCJ.org you can also call them to give at 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488 IFCJ or 4325. Senator. One other story is Donald Trump is getting his cabinet together and making appointments that is not gotten a lot of attention. Is, uh, the take out the trash everybody throwing everybody under the bus. In the Biden camp, the Harris camp, we find out she blew through a billion dollars, she's upside down in debt. They're begging for money with text messages to liberals saying we need your help with the counting of the votes and give money. Now, I wish I was joking, but I'm not. Uh, and they're, I don't know, someone said 18, 20 million upside down. And then we found out where a lot of the donations actually went. The donations were going to celebrities. Oprah's had to come out after there was a million dollar check given to her quote, production company for production of a one day sit down interview that we many people saw on TV with Oprah. It doesn't cost a million dollars to produce that, but that was the price tag. And then we found out that there were a lot of celebrities that were being paid to act like they loved Kamala Har. And there are some Democratic donors that are livid right now over the price tag on this.
- [40:17]
Ted Cruz
You know, there's a terrific article in the Spectator world entitled Kamala Harris ran the Fry Festival of Campaigns. And it points out that Trump's campaign spent roughly $488 million and Kamala spent more than a billion. So she outspent Trump more than 2 to 1. And she. Which Kamala's campaign ended up $20 million in debt? Well, it turns out. Where did that money go? Well, one of the things that went to is they paid many of the quote, unquote celebrities who supported her were getting paid and getting paid significant sums. So, for example, remember the Call Me Daddy podcast?
- [41:00]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [41:01]
Ted Cruz
Well, apparently the campaign spent upwards of six Figures to build a custom set for her appearance on the podcast. And the podcast netted only 800,000 downloads. Less than a million downloads. Look, Ben, you and I, we have roughly a million unique listeners. If she wanted 800,000 downloads, I'll tell you, Kamala, right now, even though you've lost, Ben and I will invite you on Verdict right now. We will welcome you. We will not charge you to build a set so you can save all your money. And you paid Oprah a million dollars for production costs. We will charge you for production costs on. On Verdict. What do you think, 50 bucks?
- [41:41]
Ben Ferguson
Sure. Well, I, I think that's a fair price.
- [41:44]
Ted Cruz
50 bucks. 50 bucks will get you a very nice coffee cup with some Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. That'll. That's what we'll spend the 50 bucks on. And, and, and you can reach the same number of people. All right. By the way, she also turned down Joe Rogan. So Call Me Daddy got 800,000 downloads. How many do you think Joe Rogan's interview of Donald Trump got?
- [42:06]
Ben Ferguson
A lot more than that.
- [42:08]
Ted Cruz
47 million.
- [42:10]
Ben Ferguson
Wow. That's a lot. That's a lot.
- [42:14]
Ted Cruz
So there were also seven swing state concerts with expensive performers. And it turns out every one of them, they got a price. It is the world's oldest profession, and they are charging for it. It. So who are the performers that got paid millions of dollars? Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Jon Bon Jovi, Ricky Martin.
- [42:36]
Ben Ferguson
Hold on. You're telling me none of these people were like, doing it for free because they were all in for comma. They wanted to get paid that.
- [42:43]
Ted Cruz
Show me the money. They ended up spending more than $20 million on event production alone. Oprah, as you noted, charged a million dollars. And they went so far into debt that the campaign allegedly had to scrap Alanis Morissette. They were planning to do Alanis Morissette and they said no, okay, we can't afford her anymore. Nevermind. I mean, it is truly stunning. And you've got to wonder, like, I gotta say, I don't get paying millions of dollars for celebrities to fake endorse someone. She spent paid money to what, Beyonce?
- [43:23]
Ben Ferguson
Well, let's go over the big ones. This is coming from Fox. I'm going to play this. This audio. Take a listen. This is again from Fox. As they were going through, how much cash was spent?
- [43:36]
Ted Cruz
I can't get over these numbers. $10 million for Beyonce to step up and back Kamala Harris publicly. 5 million from Megan Thee Stallion million. 3 million for Lizzo. 1.8 million for Eminem.
- [43:52]
Ben Ferguson
Those numbers are unbelievable if you just look at them. And I, I was like, hold on a second. And I went back and watched that clip a couple of different times because you look at them. 10 million for Beyonce. If you're a donor and you wrote a big check. Megan the Stallion, 5 million. Lizzo, 3 million. Eminem, 1.8 million. You're like, hold on, I just raised all this money for you and this is how you spent it?
- [44:17]
Ted Cruz
Look, I gotta say, I've run a bunch of campaigns. I ran my first campaign for Senate in 2012. I ran my next campaign for president in 2016. We won 12 states all over the country. I ran my next campaign for Senate again in 2018. And I just finished running my most recent campaign for senate. Reelect a third term in 2024. I can tell you in the whole time, I've never paid anyone a million dollars for anything. I don't think we paid any entertainers. I don't know of any entertainers. We paid. Maybe at some point we paid five or ten grand for someone performing at some party. I'm not aware of it, but I can tell you this. Look, our stars. Now, to be clear, the stars we have at our events are our international supermodel, global talents like Ben Ferguson. And I gotta tell you, I just.
- [45:11]
Ben Ferguson
Want that 10 million dollar payday once in my career. Like, oh, yeah, Beyon, yeah, yeah, I'm all in for the cause, but I just need 10 million to make it happen.
- [45:20]
Ted Cruz
Okay, Ben, to be clear, we don't pay you $10.
- [45:22]
Ben Ferguson
No, that's.
- [45:24]
Ted Cruz
Look, I. I'm a fiscal conservative, damn it. If you want to be there and you believe in saving the country, stand up and save the country. And if not, get the hell out. Like, what is it with these lefties who ironically, they want to put socialists in office who make it impossible for people to earn a living, and yet they're such capitalists that they're like, show me the money to do it. I mean, there is an intense hypocrisy on this.
- [45:51]
Ben Ferguson
I believe this. And I'm not just saying this because this moment in this headline, but I'm being dead serious. This could be a huge problem for Democratic candidates moving forward. Because when you see this type of abuse of campaign finance money from donors, those same donors, somebody's gonna be asking them for money in four years or less than four years from now. And I'm, by the way, the next.
- [46:14]
Ted Cruz
Time Beto O'Rourke or Colin Allred jumps on a stage with Willie Nelson, everyone's Going to ask how much you pay him?
- [46:22]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, how much of my money that I gave you did you just give him for that 13 minutes of him singing? It's a fair question.
- [46:31]
Ted Cruz
And it undermines the entire credibility that I'm here because I love America so much. And you've got to vote for this candidate. Look, I'll give you an example in the presidential race. So one of the cooler people that I got to meet and spend time with was Phil Robertson, you know, from Duck Dynasty.
- [46:48]
Ben Ferguson
Oh, yeah. And he was. I mean, massive back in the day, like, unbelievable star.
- [46:53]
Ted Cruz
Huge star. And so. So he invited me to Monroe, Louisiana to come stay at his place. And I went out duck hunting with Phil, which, by the way, ranks among the coolest things I've ever gotten to do. And we went to the duck blind. We're there at 4 in the morning. Look, I like to hunt in Texas. I gotta be careful about what I say because there's so many really serious hunters that I can't overstate. I go hunting a couple times a year. I enjoy it, but I'm not someone who, like, lives and breathes it. Phil, in that duck blind, I have never seen a person who is a better shot with a shotgun. He would drop birds at a distance that I wouldn't pick up my gun. They were too far away. I'm like, yeah, if the duck flies over here, I'll shoot it, but I can't shoot it way over there. And he would just boom. And then the dogs would swim out and grab the duck and bring it back and. And Phil, I'll tell you. So. So I went there and spent the day, went hunting with him. He recorded an ad for. For our campaign that we put out. It remains one of my favorite ads we've ever done. I'm all, like, wearing camo grease paint, and I'm in the duck blind with Phil. It was really cool. But Phil. Well, it was during the Iowa caucuses, and we asked Phil, will you come to Iowa and campaign with me? And Phil, for something like 40 years, had not missed a single day of duck season. He'd been out there every single day for four decades, and we'd invited him to come. And that morning, he went to the blind at 4 in the morning, and he's sitting there in the blind. And I guess, you know, it. It weighed on his heart. I can't do this today. I need to go fight to save America. And Phil left the blind, and he went and hopped on a plane and he flew to Iowa, and he did A big rally with me in Iowa. And I told him then I'm like, phil, I am beyond humbled that you missed the first day of duck season in 40 years to be here and campaign alongside me. Now. Now, I didn't write him a damn check to do that.
- [48:55]
Ben Ferguson
I just said, if you gave him Beyonce money, you know, you're like, oh, and by the way, here's $10 million.
- [48:59]
Ted Cruz
No, no, no. I just said, come help save America. And it, it meant a lot, like, for him to miss it. And that day, we were literally touch and go. We didn't know if he was going to come, but it meant a big deal when he came. If you're paying Beyonce $10 million, I mean, my good. I mean, goodness, who would she not endorse for $10 million?
- [49:22]
Ben Ferguson
No, it's a, it's a, it's a very fair question. And it's like, would any of these celebrities have showed up for her if she wasn't paying them? Not tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, but literally millions of dollars. I think it's going to be a very interesting talking point in politics moving forward. It's like, is anyone that's actually endorsing these Democrats or celebrities not on the take? Is it all just a massive payday they get a chance at every four years? And it's going to be interesting to see how that fold that, how that is dealt with a couple years from now when Democrats are on stage again with a bunch of famous people and they're going to have to now answer questions about it. It's going to be really fun. Don't forget, we do this podcast Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I on those in between days, grab my podcast. I'll keep you updated on the latest break news on the cabinet positions as well. Download the Ben Ferguson podcast there, and Senator Cruz and I will see you back here on Friday morning.