Texas Border WIN at SCOTUS, Talking with Coach Nick Saban re College Sports & Media Hypocrisy on Trump

Summary

Detailed Summary of "Texas Border WIN at SCOTUS, Talking with Coach Nick Saban re College Sports & Media Hypocrisy on Trump"

Podcast Information:

• Title: The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
• Host: Ben Ferguson
• Episode Title: Texas Border WIN at SCOTUS, Talking with Coach Nick Saban re College Sports & Media Hypocrisy on Trump
• Release Date: March 20, 2024

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1. Texas Supreme Court Victory on Immigration Enforcement

Key Discussion: The episode begins with Senator Ted Cruz discussing Texas’s recent legal triumph at the Supreme Court concerning immigration enforcement.

• Temporary Victory:
  [00:16] Senator Ted Cruz announces, "the victory is temporary. Litigation is still ongoing. Nonetheless, it is a major, major step forward."

• Legal Background:
  Cruz explains that the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Texas, allowing the state to enforce its immigration laws by arresting and deporting illegal immigrants. This decision challenges the 2012 precedent set by Arizona vs. United States, where the Supreme Court determined that immigration enforcement is primarily a federal responsibility.

• Potential Implications:
  [09:35] Cruz outlines the timeline, stating that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on April 3rd. If the appellate court reverses the decision, the federal government may seek further review from the Supreme Court. Cruz emphasizes the historical significance, noting, "this is a big damn victory, not just for Texas, but for the whole country."

• Immediate Enforcement:
  [11:13] Senator Cruz details how Texas can implement the law swiftly. The state can utilize the Texas National Guard to arrest and deport illegal immigrants directly within Texas, a role traditionally held by federal authorities. He remarks, "Texas could begin enforcing the law immediately, allowing the Texas National Guard to arrest and deport illegal aliens directly within the state."

2. Crisis in College Athletics: NIL and Transfer Portal

Key Discussion: Senator Cruz shifts the conversation to the turmoil in college sports, focusing on Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements and the transfer portal.

• Current Challenges:
  [16:05] Cruz expresses concerns about the "wild west" nature of current NIL policies and the transfer portal's impact on the integrity of college athletics. He states, "we have the current state of affairs with name, image and likeness is that athletes are being paid by schools vast sums of money, sometimes millions."

• Roundtable Insights:
  Cruz recounts a recent Senate Commerce Committee roundtable featuring Coach Nick Saban, ACC Commissioner, athletic directors, star athletes, NIL attorneys, and collective association presidents. The discussion centered on maintaining fair competition and preventing the dominance of a few "monster schools."

• Legislative Efforts:
  [24:42] Senator Cruz discusses his proposed legislation aimed at standardizing NIL rules across states. He emphasizes the importance of allowing the NCAA to set regulations and warns against treating student-athletes as employees, which could harm non-revenue sports and smaller institutions. He states, "if student athletes were treated as employees, it would end up badly damaging, particularly smaller schools, Division 2 schools, Division 3 schools, and it would badly damage non-revenue sports."

• Bipartisan Cooperation:
  [22:58] Cruz highlights the necessity of bipartisan efforts to pass meaningful legislation. He believes there is agreement across the aisle that action is needed but acknowledges challenges in defining the specifics of the legislation.

• Impact on College Sports:
  [27:17] Nick Saban voices concerns over the current state of college athletics, emphasizing the loss of core values like player development and educational opportunities. He states, "All the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics."

3. Media Hypocrisy on President Trump's "Bloodbath" Statement

Key Discussion: The episode delves into the media’s misrepresentation of President Donald Trump’s use of the term "bloodbath."

• Trump’s Statement Clarified:
  [32:01] Donald Trump clarifies his use of "bloodbath," explaining it in the context of economic consequences due to poor trade policies: "if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the country."

• Media Misrepresentation:
  [29:33 - 36:49] Cruz and Ferguson illustrate how various media outlets distorted Trump's remarks, suggesting he was advocating for violence or civil war. They compile multiple media clips and headlines where the term "bloodbath" is used out of context to describe political events unrelated to Trump's statements.

• Exposing Hypocrisy:
  [36:40] Senator Cruz condemns the media’s actions as both "a lie and brazen hypocrisy," pointing out that while they criticize Trump for using "bloodbath," they frequently use the term themselves in unrelated contexts.

• Notable Quotes:

  • Senator Cruz [35:22]: "The media's hypocrisy. It's just an absolute bloodbath."
  • Various Media Personalities [34:28 - 36:28]: Repeated misuse of "bloodbath" in unrelated political and social contexts, highlighting the inconsistency.

Conclusion

The episode effectively covers three major topics:

1. Texas’s Legal Battle on Immigration Enforcement: A pivotal but temporary victory that could reshape state and federal roles in immigration.
2. Crisis in College Athletics: Urgent need for bipartisan legislative action to address the chaos caused by NIL and the transfer portal, ensuring the sustainability of college sports.
3. Media Hypocrisy: Exposing how the media manipulates language and context to attack political figures while inconsistently applying the same rhetoric elsewhere.

Overall Insights:

• Senator Cruz emphasizes the importance of state-level action in immigration amidst federal inaction, the critical state of college athletics needing urgent legislative intervention, and the pervasive media bias and misinformation techniques against political figures like President Trump.
• Nick Saban’s insights underscore the loss of foundational values in college sports, highlighting the need for systemic reforms to preserve the integrity and educational benefits of collegiate athletics.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• [00:16] "The victory is temporary. Litigation is still ongoing. Nonetheless, it is a major, major step forward." – Senator Ted Cruz
• [16:05] "We have the current state of affairs with name, image and likeness is that athletes are being paid by schools vast sums of money, sometimes millions." – Senator Ted Cruz
• [27:17] "All the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics." – Nick Saban
• [35:22] "The media's hypocrisy. It's just an absolute bloodbath." – Senator Ted Cruz

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights shared in this episode, providing listeners who haven’t tuned in with a thorough understanding of the topics covered.

Transcript

[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Senator, we have got a lot to talk about tonight, including a massive victory for the state of Texas when it comes to dealing with illegal immigrants at the southern border.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, that's right. This week Texas won a huge victory at the supreme court by a 63 vote. The Supreme Court is allowing Texas to enforce its immigration law to arrest and deport illegal aliens. Now the, the, the victory is temporary. Litigation is still ongoing. Nonetheless, it is a major, major step forward. Number two, this is a great week. This is a great week for sports fans and, and it's March Madness. March Madness is always a lot of fun. Everyone who loves college basketball, it is a blast to see what's happening. I got to say, there are a bunch of Texas teams that are in the mix. And we also have a moment in college athletics that is really remarkable. I think there's a crisis in college athletics with name, image and likeness with the transfer portal. We're seeing chaos in the wild west in college athletics. Well, last week I sat down with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and several others at a roundtable discussing how to fix college athletics. We're going to get into that in depth. And finally, the media this past week suffered an utter bloodbath of hypocrisy when it came to attacking Donald Trump. We're gonna expose it all.

[Ben Ferguson]

Absolutely. That may be one of the most fun stories of the show today. Want to talk to you real quick about your retirement. Is the money you've been saving for retirement going to be enough? With inflation still well above the Fed's target rate and consumer prices much higher than they were three years ago, you need a financial plan that ensures the money you save today will be enough for you tomor. That's where gold and silver come in. Gold and silver have historically been good hedges against inflation and a great way to protect your hard earned retirement funds. And when it comes to buying gold and silver, you need a trusted partner. You need to reach out to Freedom Gold usa. Freedom Gold USA is all about educating their clients on how to invest in precious metals. They preach protection and diversifying your assets and on average charge 25 to 30% less than most major gold and silver firms out there. So take control of your financial future right now. Visit freedomgoldusa.com verdict that's freedomgoldusa.com verdict. Or you can call them 1-800-655-8843. That's 1-800-655-8853. That's freedomgoldusa.com verdict or 1-800-655-8883. And when you call them, make sure you ask them about getting free silver in your account today. 1-800-655-8843 center. This may be one of the weirdest 24 hour news stories I've seen in a long time that deals with the rights of the state of Texas. And this story that initially came out that the Supreme Court said, no, you cannot arrest people coming across the southern border who are here illegally. That's the job of the federal government. But then within 24 hours, it flipped. Please explain to everyone that's confused how this went from a massive, you know, victory and celebration by the left to all of a sudden, just kidding, now Texas has the ability to protect its border from illegal immigrants that are invading.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, it's a big victory, but it may be a temporary victory. So what's happened? Well, we all know that we've got an historic crisis of illegal immigration levels that have never been seen in the history of our country. Millions and millions, over 10.4 million illegal immigrants crossing into this country, the vast majority crossing into Texas. We also know that Joe Biden is refusing to enforce federal immigration laws, is releasing millions and millions of illegal immigrants, is causing this crisis. My home state of Texas has said enough is enough. And Texas is taking extraordinary steps trying to address that crisis. One of those steps is Texas passed a bill, Senate Bill 4, that was designed to give the state of Texas the authority to handle directly this crisis and in particular to arrest people who've crossed illegally into this country and to send them back. Now, when Texas passed that legislation, the governor justified it, the legislature justified it under the constitutional provisions giving the state the authority to defend itself in the case of invasion. Well, of course, plaintiffs immediately went to court and sued and a federal district court issued an injunction against Texas's law order. Texas do not enforce the law. That went up on appeal to the fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. The fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals vacated that injunction. In other words, it said, Texas, you can enforce the law. Now, understand the fifth Circuit has not answered the question whether it thinks Texas's law is consistent with federal law of the Constitution. It simply said while this appeal is pending, Texas because it can enforce the law. The Biden Department of Justice appealed that decision to the U.S. supreme Court. The Supreme Court initially stayed the enforcement of the law while it considered what to do, but that was a temporary administrative stay. And then yesterday, the Supreme Court concluded it was not going to impose an administrative stay. Now that was a 6:3 decision. The three liberal justices dissented. Justice Sotomayor dissented along with Ketanji Brown Jackson, along with Elena Kagan. Those three dissented. Justice Barrett and Justice Kavanaugh wrote a brief concurring opinion. Their concurring opinion, they said, listen, we're not resolving whether this law is constitutional. We're not resolving whether this law is consistent with federal law. We're simply saying that while the appeal is pending, it's up to the federal court of appeals whether to stay the effect of the law or not. The three dissenters said, that's terrible. This is going to upend all of immigration law. And what Justice Barrett and Kavanaugh said is, listen, the fifth Circuit is going to resolve this issue quickly. If they don't resolve it quickly, the United States might come back to us. What does all of this mean? Well, the challenge to this law, the biggest challenge, is a decision from the supreme court called Arizona vs United States. Arizona vs United States is a 2012 decision of the Supreme Court. You remembered back during Barack Obama when illegal immigration got bad under Obama, Arizona passed a law that had some similarities to Texas's Senate Bill 4.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And the Obama DOJ took that to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court struck it down. And the Supreme Court concluded in Arizona versus United States, quote, the government of the United States has broad undoubted power over the subject of immigration and the status of non citizens. And the court continued in that case, quote, it is fundamental that foreign countries concerned about the status, safety and security of their nationals in the United States must be able to confer and communicate on the subject with one national sovereign, not 50 separate states. Texas, in bringing this case, is trying to challenge the case of Arizona versus the United States. And it's trying to get the Supreme Court to overturn it. The Supreme Court said that, quote, the removal process is entrusted to the discretion of the federal government because removal decisions touch on foreign relations and must be made with one voice. And so what Texas is trying to do is get the court to overturn that decision. I don't know if they will or not. I can tell you a central argument in this case is the circumstances are different. So there's a way for the Supreme Court to uphold the Texas law without overturning the earlier Arizona case. And what it could conclude is the Arizona case is usually the rule, which is that states cannot deport people under normal times. But the mass of the invasion is so great and the invasion clause of the Constitution gives state special powers that in an instance where the federal government, where the executive is defying the federal immigration laws, refusing to enforce it, when it is an order of magnitude worse than it's ever been, then a state has the extraordinary powers to defend itself and defend its sovereignty. Now, to be clear, that would be making new law. That would be a landmark decision. And so Texas is, is pushing the bounds of jurisprudence, but it's doing so because this crisis has never happened before. The long and short of it is this victory could go away. It could go away in the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. It could go away on a subsequent appeal to the U.S. supreme Court. But right now, the Supreme Court has concluded that Texas has the authority to arrest illegal immigrants and to send them back. And that is a big damn victory, not just for Texas, but for the whole country.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, so let's talk about the timeline here. And you said that this could be a short lived victory, so let's talk about the timeline. When could this in theory be heard and possibly go in the other direction if that is the scenario that plays out hypothetically?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, it could be very fast. So the briefing on the motion to stay pending appeal has already been briefed in the 5th Circuit. It was fully briefed by March 5th. It is set to be argued on April 3rd. So just a couple of weeks, the 5th Circuit could issue an opinion on that motion to stay very soon thereafter. There's also briefing on the underlying merits of the appeal, whether or not the law is constitutional and consistent with federal law. That will take longer. But. But what the Supreme Court said, what Justice Barrett and Justice Kavanaugh said, is if the fifth Circuit does not issue a decision on the stay pending appeal soon, the Biden administration could go back to the Supreme Court. So I would expect to see a decision from the 5th Circuit within 60 days. And potentially shorter than that, potentially a couple of weeks to a month. And depending on what the fifth Circuit concludes, it could go back to the Supreme Court. All of which is to say this issue is not over. There's a whole lot more litigation to come. Nonetheless, this victory yesterday was significant, and I'm glad for it.

[Ben Ferguson]

Final question on this for you. And I want people to understand what this allows Texas to do. The Supreme Court is saying we're gonna allow the law. Right. That would allow the Texas National Guard to arrest and deport illegal aliens within the state of Texas. How would that work and play out? And would that be something that they can basically jump on and start enforcing right away, or could that take weeks or months?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, they could jump on it right away. So Senate Bill 4 makes it a crime for a noncitizen to enter or attempt to enter Texas directly from a foreign nation or any location other than a lawful port of entry. It also makes it a crime for a noncitizen to enter, attempt to enter or be found in Texas after having previously been denied admission to or excluded, deported, or removed from the United States. These crimes are punishable by thousands of dollars in fines and up to one year in prison. Once Texas charges a noncitizen under Senate Bill 4, a state judge may, with the consent of the noncitizen, enter an order that, quote, requires the person to return to the foreign nation from which the person entered or attempted to enter before any conviction. Once the non sentence noncitizen is convicted, the judge, quote, shall enter an order requiring the person to return to the foreign nation from which the person entered or attempted to enter. So it gives the state of Texas the authority to arrest illegal aliens and to send them back to where they came from. Historically, that has always been the federal government's province. And so this litigation is going to turn on whether the circumstances are so extraordinary that Texas is justified legally in acting here. And it's also ultimately going to turn on whether the Arizona decision should be overturned. Of course, the court of appeals can't overturn a supreme court decision. So that would have to be the supreme court of the United States that would overturn that.

[Ben Ferguson]

You just think about the visual of this. We've seen so many illegals. You've watched them when you've been at the border, come across the border, they run and turn themselves into border patrol. That could all change in Texas, where all of a sudden, these individuals aren't turning themselves in, they're being arrested. We haven't seen this in the last three years.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah. And what it may well do is accelerate what we're seeing already, which is illegal aliens and cartels moving to California or Arizona or New Mexico and avoiding Texas. And I'll tell you, that's not great for the country's perspective, but from Texas, I'm glad if we secure our damn border and let California worry about their open borders.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. Puts pressure on other states to realize they got to do something to fight this problem and start standing up to the president and the department of homeland security. No doubt about that. Want to talk to you real quick about your cell phone service. For 10 years, Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christ and conservative wireless provider. And when I say only, I mean the only one. And Patriot Mobile is incredible because they actually take your money when you pay your bill and they fight for conservative causes. That's right. When you switch to Patriot Mobile you're sending a clear message to Big Mobile that you are standing behind free speech, religious freedom, standing up and fighting for sanctity of life as well as our second amendment. And when you support the military, our veterans, our first responder heroes as well as our wounded warriors because 5% of your bill every month when you're with Patriot Mobile goes back to support conservative causes, you may not realize that Big Mobile is in bed big time with the left. They give massive donations to Democratic causes candidates including Planned Parenthood. So don't. Don't give your money to companies that hate your values. Make the switch to patriot mobile. Their 100 US based customer service team makes switching easy. When you look down at your phone, you're going to see Patriot in the upper left hand corner and you know you're making a difference. You need to keep your same cell phone number you have now. You can keep your same phone or upgrade to a new one and their team will help you save money and get the best plan for you, your family or your business business needs. Just go to patriot mobile.com verdict that's patriot mobile.com verdict or call them 972 Patriot. It's 972-patriot. You'll get free activation when you use the offer code verdict as well. So join me. Make the switch today. Get rid of the woke phone companies patriot mobile.com verdict or 972 Patriot center this is a fun time of year when it comes to the issue of sports and a big basketball fan. I know that you have actually filled out your bracket. People can go check that out on social media. They can follow you on social media and check that out there. In fact, one of you can even get a chance to play basketball with you if you pick the winning team. So you can find all that on our social media. It's really cool. But you also had a very serious conversation addressing what's happening now with student athletes rights, specifically with their name, image and likeness. And you had a very interesting conversation with a legendary football coach in Washington. Tell us a little bit about this.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well sure, I'll say. First of all, I filled out my bracket this week. I have to admit it's a bit of a homer bracket. We've got some great Texas team playing. So my final four is UConn against Baylor and Houston against University of Texas in the finals. I have Baylor against Houston and I'M predicting U of Hill to win the whole thing. So. So, so I will readily confess to being a Texan and biased for my home state teams, but I got to say, I think they've got the game to potentially deliver. And it's always fun. I mean, the joys of March Madness cheering on your teams is always fun. I will say this is a particularly unusual time because although it, you know, college athletics bring people together from all sorts of different walks of life, I think they've never been under greater threat than they are right now. And we've got the current state of affairs with name, image and likeness is that athletes are being paid by schools vast sums of money, sometimes millions of dollars. You combine that with the transfer portal and you have right now the Wild west. And it threatens, I think, to really jeopardize the competitiveness of college athletics, to jeopardize the loyalty that fans have to their teams, that players have to their teams if it becomes just a mad bidding war, that there's a real threat of a handful of super schools and a bunch of other schools that are also runs that can't afford to compete financially. And so I think there's a real need to assess what do we do to ensure that college athletics continues for a long time. Last week I hosted a roundtable in the Senate. I'm the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee and the commerce Committee has jurisdiction, among other things, over athletics. And so it is squarely within our committee's jurisdiction. And the roundtable I was joined by coach Nick Saban, the former coach of Alabama, legendary college coach, was also joined by the ACC commissioner, was joined by the athletic director of Alabama, was joined by the Cavender twins to star women basketball players who both participated and then by an nil attorney and by the collective association president. And we spent a couple of hours talking about these issues. I gotta tell you, Ben, I think it is really critical that Congress acts that if we don't act, we're risking seeing enormous damage done to college athletics. And that would be a tragedy. Number one, for all the fans who love cheering on their teams, but number two, for all the young men and women who. For whom college athletics gives them a path to get an education. If we let this get. Get screwed up, it would be. Be tragic. I don't want to see that happen.

[Ben Ferguson]

Senator, you mentioned this roundtable and I want to play some of your opening remarks. You were sitting there next next to Nick Saban, which is, by the way, if you're a sports fan, it's Just cool. He's, he's, he's a legendary coach. I'm so glad he retired so I don't have to deal with him playing him every year because he's a brilliant mind in football. But here's part of what you had to say.

[Nick Saban]

Fear and many others. Fear threatens to jeopardize all that is working so well with college athletics. More and more there is agreement that Congress needs to act to ensure that we have a level playing field, that we have real competition, that college sports can continue to thrive in the decades going forward. And this roundtable is designed to be a discussion with numerous stakeholders who are engaged in the process to get perspectives on what is needed and what is not. Right now we have the brave new world of nil and college athletes now, many of them earning very significant sums of money. I for one think that's a good thing. I think it is good that young men and young women have worked incredibly hard to develop fantastic skills that in turn can generate enormous economic activity, should be entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labor, should be entitled to benefit. But we also need a system where we have real competition and fair competition and not just one or two monster schools and everyone else as a hanger on, but real competition throughout the league to make for good games. We also need to make sure the rules that are in place don't just focus on Power 5 conferences, don't just focus on football and basketball, which generate most of the revenue. But we need to keep in mind and keep our focus on smaller schools, Division 2 schools, Division 3 schools. And we need to focus on the many other sports that are not going to be playing on ESPN but nonetheless.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Provide an avenue for young women and.

[Nick Saban]

Young men to go to school and to get an education. We now have a patchwork of nil laws state by state that makes it difficult to navigate. We have multiple active litigation going on that prevents the NCAA and conferences and universities from enforcing rules or even knowing what the rules are. And we have a lot of uncertainty for student athletes and for agents and collectives who are trying to navigate the evolving and unpredictable rules, but uncertain what they're going to be today and even more so what they're going to be tomorrow. The purpose of this discussion is to listen. If we do it right, a number of senators are expected to join us. We have with us today Senator Moran and Senator Tillis and I think others will be coming in and out throughout the day. There are many members, both Republicans and Democrats, very interested in this topic. And I will say if we're going to go forward, and I very much want Congress to pass meaningful legislation addressing nil. But if we're going to go forward, it is going to take bipartisan cooperation. If this simply becomes a partisan exercise of shirts and skins, we know how that ends. That ends with a vote that doesn't pass through Congress. So we have, and I will say many of us here at this table have had multiple good, productive conversations with senators on the other side of the aisle. And I think we are coming towards some outlines of consensus, but we're not there yet. And I'm hopeful this conversation will help move the process forward.

[Ben Ferguson]

You talked about this being bipartisan, Senator. Rarely in Congress do you get something. I think everybody kind of agrees. Hey, we, we need to make sure this is done right. And you mentioned every different state's got different things. And this has become the nil's kind of become the wild, wild west. But, but having this discussion, does there seem to be a lot of consensus here on both sides of the aisle and pretty easy to get people at the table here to say, hey, let's do this in a responsible manner?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, yes and no. I would say there's bipartisan agreement that Congress needs to act. And I think senators on both sides are realizing, hey, we've got a real problem here. What is not clear is if we can reach consensus on what acting looks like. I think there's a need for federal legislation. We got a bunch of states stepping in, passing their own nil legislation, but you end up having this conflicting patchwork. So, for example, Texas has passed nil legislation. It did something I've never seen the state of Texas do before, or for that matter, any state legislature. In the Texas state bill, it explicitly calls on Congress to act. It says, look, it's not great for each of the states to be doing this. This ought to be a federal rule that applies to everyone. And so I've drafted legislation, I've circulated it. I spent the better part of a year listening to stakeholders, listening to universities, listening to athletic conferences, listening to players, listening to all sorts of players across the world of college athletics and trying to capture their best practices. So the legislation that I've put forward, number one, number one, it protects the ability of student athletes to earn from their name, image and likeness. And I think it's only fair, if you've worked incredibly hard, you developed fantastic skills, you should be able to reap the rewards of the fruits of your labor. But number two, it empowers the NCAA to set rules and set standards. Now there have been some other senators that have introduced legislation that would put the federal government in charge of setting the rules and standards. Either the government or a quasi governmental organization. I think that's a mistake. I think if you have politicians or bureaucrats, I mean, can you imagine what a nightmare it would be to have congressional hearings on what constitutes pass interference?

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, that'd be bad.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

That's bad.

[Ben Ferguson]

It would never get agreed upon, ever.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Right. Are there problems with the ncaa? Yes, but it's the least worst option out there. And so my legislation protects the ability of the NCAA to set rules. It also provides for things like the registration of agents. Right now you have 17, 18, 19 year old students who are being represented by agents. They don't know if these guys are honest. They don't know their background. There's no transparency. And it's really setting kids up to be swindled by people taking advantage of them. So it sets up a system of registration of agents. It also sets up a system of transparency where you can see what the name, image and likeness market is. You can see what other schools, what other positions are paying so that you're not operating in the dark. And I've introduced this legislation, I put it out there, and I have been in the process of negotiating with several Democrats to see if we can get to common ground. One of the important things my legislation also provides is that student athletes are not employees. This is a big question. It's being litigated right now. I think it'd be a disaster if student athletes were treated as employees. I think if that happened, if student athletes were treated as employees, it would end up badly damaging, particularly smaller schools, Division 2 schools, Division 3 schools, and it would badly damage non revenue sports. So football and basketball would be fine. But look, you played men's tennis, women's.

[Ben Ferguson]

Golf, volleyball, swimming, track and field.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You know, universities are saying across the board those sports would be obliterated by treating student athletes as, as employees. I'll say the historically black colleges and universities have come in and said likewise, please do not make student athletes employees. It will decimate our athletic programs. And so I'm in the process of negotiating and trying to find Democrats who are willing to find common ground on this. If we can't get common ground, the bill's not going to pass. I think we're close, but we're not there yet. But I will say, you know, sitting at the roundtable with Nick Saban, it was, it was striking. I asked Coach Saban, I mean he just stepped down from, from Being one of the most successful college football coaches in all time. And I asked him, I said, coach was the current chaos of nil and the transfer portal and everything. Was that a factor in your stepping down? And listen to what Nick Saban said in response to my question.

[Nick Saban]

All the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics. So it always was about developing players. It was always about helping people be more successful in life. My wife even said to me, we'd have all the recruits over on Sunday with their parents for breakfast, and she would always meet with the mothers and talk about how she was going to help and impact their sons and how they would be well taken care of. And she came to me, you know, like, right before I retired, and said, why are we doing this? And I said, what do you mean? She said, all they care about is how much you're going to pay them. They don't care about how you're going to develop them. Which is all what we've always done. So why are we doing this?

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, it drove him, I think, from the game.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah. No, it's striking. And listen, if Nick Saban can't stand it anymore, how the heck is anyone else supposed to? And I gotta say, the genuine concern I've heard from coach after coach after coach, from athletic director after athletic director, from the heads of conferences, they are genuinely afraid that we've got a short window of maybe a year or two to act to preserve college sports, or else we are risking major and permanent damage. So I hope we see Congress act. I'll tell you, I put the odds at about 50, 50. I think we're close to getting bipartisan agreement. I'm spending a lot of time talking with several Democrats, and we're close, and it was good. A number of Republicans and Democrats came to this roundtable, participated. It was a good conversation. What was nice about it is it wasn't a hearing where there was showboating and grandstanding. It was a real conversation. And I do think there's a desire to act to make sure we preserve something amazing. Because I gotta say, when you're cheering for your school, it brings people together across party lines, across races, across ethnicities, across everything when you're cheering together. And that's something amazing and special. And it's also such a powerful pipeline. There's so many young men and women who are getting college educations who wouldn't get it without college athletics, that if we screw this up, it would be enormous, enormously damaging.

[Ben Ferguson]

No doubt about it. I want to get into this other big issue and that is there has been a lot of oopses with the media when it comes specifically to their obsession with the President of the United States of America saying something that they took out of context and lied the American people about. Bloodbath. I'm going to have more on that in just a moment. Every morning I wake up early, I go on the radio at 7 o'clock and I have to have a great cup of coffee. Not average, not below average. And I've had plenty of those in my life. I want a premium cup of coffee. The problem is in the coffee industry there's a whole lot of woke companies, a lot of liberal companies that fight against my values. Well, that's why I want you to know about an America first cup of coffee that I start my day every day with blackout coffee. This coffee is 100% America 00% woke. Blackout coffee is committed to conservative values. From sourcing the beans, the roasting process, customer support and shipping. They embody true American value and accept no compromise on taste or quality. Now look, I, I, I'm going to have a good cup of coffee every morning. Blackout coffee, next level. And I want you to try it. All right? You can go to blackout coffee.com verdict and when you use the promo code verdict, you're going to get 20 off your first order and you're going to be hooked because it is truly a premium cup of coffee. Go to blackoutcoffee.com Verdict Use promo code VERDICT20 off your first order. Get away from those woke coffee companies. Be awake, just not woke. That's blackoutcoffee.com verdict blackoutcoffee.com verdict promo code verdict for 20 off your first order. Senator, you and I mentioned this in a previous show. There was a lot of lying about what Donald Trump actually said when he said the words bloodbath. We played that clip here for people. Then I'll give a quick reminder he wasn't threatening civil war in this country. If you don't vote for him, which is what the media implied and kept writing stories and losing their minds over it. What he was saying was, hey, as president, you we got to get our house in order, especially on trade, automobile manufacturing. If we don't, there's going to be a bloodbath for the American consumer. Here's Trump in his own words.

[Donald Trump]

Mexico has taken over a period of 30 years. 34% of the automobile manufacturing business in our country, think of it, went to Mexico. China now is building A couple of massive plants where they're going to build the cars in Mexico and think, they think that they're going to sell those cars into the United States with no tax at the border. Let me tell you something to China if you're listening, President Xi, and you and I are friends, but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you're building in Mexico right now, and you think you're going to get that, you're going to not hire Americans and you're going to sell the cars to us now, we're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line. And you're not going to be able to sell those cars. If I get elected. Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole. That's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That'll be the least of it. But they're not going to sell those cars. They're building massive factories of.

[Ben Ferguson]

Senator, there's the President's words. Nothing close to what the media actually said. They freaked out over the word bloodbath in general, but now we've. We kind of got them right. Like we have the media saying the word bloodbath. That's the best part of this show. We get to play that for you.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, that's exactly right. And we talked about this in Monday's podcast, which if you didn't listen to, you ought to go back and listen to. But, but the media went crazy attacking Donald Trump because he used the word bloodbath. And they took it wildly out of context and they suggested. The headlines all suggested that Trump threatened a bloodbath. In other words, violence in the streets if he didn't win. Now, you just heard what he said. He was talking about auto imports and American jobs and manufacturing jobs. And in context, it was a perfectly normal position for him to take. Concerning. Concerning protecting American jobs. And the media and the Democrats, they know, knew they were taking him out of context and they were just scaremongering. And so they were really caught in a lie. But I gotta say, it's not just a lie. It is brazen hypocrisy. So in the media's defense, I guess using the word bloodbath is some sort of mortal sin. That means you're really advocating violent revolution. Well, if that's the case, listen to how many gazillion left wing media talking heads have used the exact same language talking about politics.

[Various Media Personalities]

But as politico.com reports tonight on the quote bloodbath at the RNC, headlines calling it a, quote, bloodbath, a bloodbath. Not only is it going to be a bloodbath, but after they leave New Hampshire, it's a bloodbath on her home turf. That's really tough. Trump has left a lot of corpses in his wake. I mean, we can count the bodies as part of the quote MAGA drive to take over Maricopa County. And the headline refers to it as an impending bloodbath. Columnist Charles Blow has a new piece for the New York Times entitled a Biden bloodbath 2018 midterms. You can bet that they 100% are fearing a slaughter. In fact, the word bloodbath and massacre come up frequently. The Republican Party will be destroyed. It's going to be a bloodbath. There's going to be a bloodbath one way or the other.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Bloodbath for Bernie Sanders, it's been a bloodbath.

[Ben Ferguson]

There shaping up to be a bloodbath.

[Various Media Personalities]

Head off a bloodbath in next year's crucial midterm.

[Ben Ferguson]

Off year elections are often a bloodbath.

[Various Media Personalities]

This week's bloodbath for Democrats. A bloodbath at the ballot box.

[Ben Ferguson]

There could be a Republican blood bath.

[Various Media Personalities]

Talk about a bloodbath. There's a bloodbath.

[Ben Ferguson]

I have to talk about you and.

[Various Media Personalities]

It'S going to be a bloodbath all day long. Is in for a bloodbath.

[Ben Ferguson]

Hasn't been a bloodbath on the way down.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Donald Trump bloodbath be a bloodbath.

[Various Media Personalities]

Predicted to be a bloodbath. May not be the bloodbath. It would be a bloodbath. More of a bloodbath. It's going to be a bloodbath in November.

[Nick Saban]

Possible Biden bloodbath this November.

[Various Media Personalities]

A bloodbath on Wall Street.

[Ben Ferguson]

There's going to be a bloodbath in.

[Various Media Personalities]

Alabama into a bloodbath. Obviously there was a bloodbath. It was a bloodbath. We're down 800 points.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

This bloodbath at Department of Homeland Security.

[Various Media Personalities]

And it's a bloodbath. Today there was going to be this bloodbath election bloodbath.

[Ben Ferguson]

It could be a bloodbath for them.

[Various Media Personalities]

Bloodbath. Possible bloodbath. I went through with the Attorney General Bloodbath. 99 days out. The bloodbath is going to look like.

[Ben Ferguson]

Presided over a bloodbath in the diplomatic corps.

[Various Media Personalities]

Flute. In my opinion. Blood bud. Blood bath. The Democrats are on a ticket sales turn into a bloodbath Ticket sales for singer Taylor Swift's latest tour. It's safe to say the fans had a bloodbath for the company after the fiasco.

[Ben Ferguson]

I hope everybody takes that center shares it on social media because it's just such a perfect example of the scumbaggery of the media. They freak out when Trump says it, but they'll use it every day.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

That's absolutely right. We've got the receipts. We've got them. And I gotta say, the media's hypocrisy. It's just an absolute bloodbath.

[Ben Ferguson]

Don't forget, we do this show Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. We promise it will never be a bloodbath. Hit that subscribe or auto download button and I'll keep you up to date on the breaking news on those in between days. So download the Ben Ferguson Pod podcast as well and I'll keep you updated there in the center and I will see you back here Friday morning.