The Long Game ft. Governor Scott Walker

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Long Game ft. Governor Scott Walker

Podcast: Verdict with Ted Cruz
Episode Title: The Long Game
Release Date: March 24, 2021
Guests: Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Scott Walker

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz is joined by former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to discuss the strategic long-term efforts of conservatives to counteract the progressive "long march through the institutions." The conversation delves into the challenges conservatives face in educational institutions, media, and government, and outlines actionable strategies to reclaim influence and promote conservative values.

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The Conservative Long Game

[00:00 - 02:10]
Michael Knowles opens the discussion by addressing the entrenched power the left has amassed across various institutions over decades. He highlights the conservative focus on short-term victories at the expense of long-term cultural influence.

Notable Quote:
"The left has engaged in a long march through the institutions. They've amassed power in higher education, lower education, the media, big tech, corporate America."
— Michael Knowles [00:00]

Governor Scott Walker emphasizes the necessity of engaging students early and widely. He underscores the efforts of the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) in supporting conservative students across approximately 2,000 campuses, aiming to expand to all 4,000 campuses in the U.S.

Notable Quote:
"We've got to be on all of them. We've got to be not only with undergraduates, we've got to be with folks getting their two-year associate degree..."
— Scott Walker [01:18]

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Expanding Conservative Influence in Education

[02:10 - 06:47]
Ted Cruz reminisces about his college days, highlighting the rarity of liberal dominance at that time and contrasts it with the current climate where conservative voices are often marginalized on campuses.

Notable Quote:
"We weren't quite persecuted by death squads at midnight. At times it feels like that's where colleges are now."
— Ted Cruz [02:30]

Governor Walker discusses the increased suppression of conservative voices and the importance of creating a supportive environment for conservative students. He cites successes like shutting down programs at UC Berkeley that hindered conservative speakers.

Notable Quote:
"We've had big victories even at UC Berkeley. We shut down the program where they all but made it impossible for a conservative speaker to come on campus."
— Scott Walker [04:45]

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The Impact of HR1: The Corrupt Politician Act

[12:21 - 19:58]
The conversation shifts to HR1, dubbed the "Corrupt Politician Act," which aims to overhaul election integrity laws. Ted Cruz criticizes the bill, arguing it would undermine voter ID laws, automatically register voters through government interactions (potentially including illegal aliens), and strip states of their authority to restrict voting for felons.

Notable Quote:
"HR1 says that's illegal. No more photo ID. You may need one to buy a beard or get on a plane to drive a car. But voting, no problem."
— Ted Cruz [13:48]

Governor Walker warns of the bill’s implications for states like Wisconsin, where such legislation could skew electoral outcomes by diluting voter integrity safeguards.

Notable Quote:
"If HR1 won, if the Corrupt Politicians Act had been the law, it would have pushed an incredible imbalance."
— Scott Walker [18:27]

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Educational System and Union Influence

[21:17 - 32:50]
The discussion turns to the influence of teachers' unions on education. Governor Walker criticizes unions for prioritizing their interests over teachers and students, citing examples like the Milwaukee school district's difficulties in hiring exceptional teachers due to union constraints.

Notable Quote:
"The union is not looking out for them. They're looking out for what's best for the union bosses and for getting their money."
— Scott Walker [25:15]

Ted Cruz shares personal anecdotes illustrating the positive impact dedicated teachers can have on students, contrasting this with the restrictive behaviors of union leadership.

Notable Quote:
"There are millions of wonderful men and women who love kids who go into teaching because they want to make a difference."
— Ted Cruz [23:09]

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Policy Proposals and Legislative Battles

[29:01 - 34:38]
Ted Cruz discusses his efforts to amend the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill to ensure funding supports in-person education, proposing scholarships for families if schools do not reopen. Despite bipartisan support from Republicans, the amendment was narrowly defeated by a single Democratic vote, highlighting the partisan stalemate.

Notable Quote:
"Every Republican supported the amendment, every Democrat voted no. And so it failed. 50 to 49."
— Ted Cruz [30:14]

Governor Walker reinforces the importance of these legislative battles as part of the broader long-term strategy to reclaim institutional influence from progressive forces.

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Call to Action and Future Collaborations

[34:38 - 35:00]
The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to support the long-term conservative strategy by engaging with organizations like Young America’s Foundation. Governor Walker and Ted Cruz encourage listeners to participate in upcoming events and advocate for conservative values on their campuses.

Notable Quote:
"Tell us your campus. Tell us where you want to come. Tell us to come."
— Ted Cruz [34:40]

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Conclusion

This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz featuring Governor Scott Walker provides an in-depth analysis of the strategic efforts required to counteract progressive dominance in key societal institutions. Through discussions on election integrity, educational reform, and legislative actions, Cruz and Walker outline a comprehensive "long game" aimed at preserving and promoting conservative values for future generations.

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For more information and to get involved with the long-term conservative strategy, visit long [e-mail].

Transcript

[Michael Knowles]

For the past half century at least. Really, it goes back even further. The left has engaged in a long march through the institutions. They've amassed power in higher education, lower education, the media, big tech, corporate America. The list goes on and on and on. And conservatives have focused for the most part on short term wins, to the long term loss of the culture. All that changes now as the Young Americas foundation announces the long game. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, joined as ever by Senator Cruz. And we are so delighted to be joined this week by Governor Scott Walker, former governor of the state of Wisconsin and president of the of the Young Americas Foundation. Governor Walker, thank you for being here.

[Scott Walker]

Great to be with you both.

[Ted Cruz]

Scott, welcome.

[Scott Walker]

It's a pleasure. Thanks, Ed.

[Michael Knowles]

I am so excited to hear about this. A long game for conservatives. We always hear about the long march through the institutions and the left steadily winning and winning and winning. And somehow we always seem to lose the longer struggles, even if we win individual battles now, conservatives are going to fight back. How are we going to do it?

[Scott Walker]

Well, through a series of things, but for us, it really is about engaging more students and engaging them sooner. For example, Young America's foundation is the oldest and largest conservative organization focused on students. Goes all the way back to the 1960s, starting in college campuses across America. But even being at a point where we work with and support students on about 2,000 campuses, that's just not enough. We've got to be on all of them. We got to be on all 4,000 campuses. We've got to be not only with undergraduates, we've got to be with folks getting their two year associate degree, the folks that are out ready and hungry to get to work. We got to be not only in high school, but even in junior high. And increasingly we've got to start to have the early elements of a program targeted towards not only elementary school students, but particularly their parents to teach them the values of why America is so exceptional instead of all the hate that they're getting from somebody on the left.

[Michael Knowles]

You know, Senator, before I had ever met you in person, one of the photos that really made me think, I wanna meet this guy. This guy has the right idea. I think it was a photo of you from college and it was election night and you're there, you've got a cigar, you're tallying the votes. You were not a liberal in college. You were that young conservative from day one.

[Ted Cruz]

So that was actually law school and that was election night, 1994. So it was the big Republican takeover of the House. And so I'm at Harvard Law School and, and we're having an election night party and we had results. And that was actually me putting the check mark when George W. Bush beat Ann Richards and they had a Republican governor in Texas and it was a big deal. And I'm wearing a Bush quail T shirt and look, there are a bunch of pinko libs at Harvard Law. They were so unhappy. And let me just say, libations were flowing that night and cigars were lit and it was a moment of celebration. But those are few and far between today. I mean, how do we turn it around? I think back to when I was in college and law school and conservatives were outnumbered, but there were at least some of us there. We weren't quite persecuted by death squads at midnight. At times it feels like that's where colleges are now. How do we change that even in.

[Scott Walker]

The last few years? Because certainly in our generation, you and I aren't too far apart. And we think about, yeah, there were left wing professors for sure, but you could still have a voice and you certainly weren't going to be run down by your fellow students today. I think even more than the professors, most students are worried about the grief that they get from activist students of just being shut down and pushed out of the conversation entirely, or worse, actually being attacked and villainized and worse along the way. So we've got to show more than anything, and you guys have both been at our conferences before, one of the most important things we show students is they're not al. And so for the students that are there, it's great. Ron Robinson, the longtime leader of Young America's foundation, did a great job running a program that was really well fitted for the students who came to our program to let them know they weren't alone. We just got to reach more. And that means breaking down the barriers. Part of it means the legal route center you know about this, fighting the battle in terms of free speech and changing the rules. We've had big victories even at UC Berkeley. We shut down the program where they all but made it impossible for a conservative speaker to come up on campus. But we can't just go there. We've got to make it possible on every campus in every part of this country and then flood those campuses with conservative speakers and programs and opportunities for those students.

[Ted Cruz]

So right now YAF is in about 2,000 campuses and the goal is to double that. There are about 4,000 universities in the U.S. exactly.

[Scott Walker]

We want to be at everyone, public or private, college or university. We've got to have a presence in every campus if we're going to turn the tide, because the left isn't conceding any ground. We shouldn't either.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, and so much of what's missing on the right is storytelling and humor and having fun. And I think there's a huge opportunity right now because the left is so unfun, they're so serious. And I mean, it's almost like Handmaid's Tale. And I actually haven't watched Handmaid's Tale, but it seems like a bunch of Puritans trying to control every aspect of your life. You must conform or you will be silenced. That seems like a great opportunity for young people who just want to be free.

[Scott Walker]

They want to be free, and they want to have fun. I often say on campus, a great difference between freedom and socialism, because it's not conservative or liberal. It's really as fundamental as freedom or socialism is. Socialists are like the taxi, where taxis are in cities where they want to control things. They tell the taxi what they can do, when they can do it, big fee involved, and they usually box everybody else out. That's because in those cities, just like in socialist countries, they tell you what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, because they believe in the government. I said, those of us who believe in freedom, we're like Uber or Lyft. Uber or Lyft just cares about getting the passenger and driver from point A to point B safely. I tell the students, as long as you don't hurt the health and safety of your neighbor, go do your own thing. Live your own life.

[Ted Cruz]

Well. And an interesting point that nobody knows because it got no press coverage, but Joe Biden's nominee to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation was. Was the head of transportation in New York City, and she spearheaded what was widely called the most draconian crackdown on Uber and Lyft in the country. I remember because it was. We got a monopoly with taxicabs, and we don't want these small businesses, we don't want entrepreneurs, and we're gonna crush Uber and Lyft.

[Scott Walker]

Absolutely.

[Ted Cruz]

That's who Joe Biden picked to be the number two person of the Department of Transportation. And of course, every Democrat lines up behind them. And it's an example of how today's Democratic Party, their status, their collectivist.

[Michael Knowles]

You know, I see this point. I totally agree. And I think a lot of what they're doing is unpopular, and we have a naturally better Pitch, I think, not just to college students, but to everybody.

[Ted Cruz]

By the way, Uber and Lyft are both hardcore Democratic companies that support Democrats exclusively at their own parent, while the Democrats are trying to crush them. Get their own parents. Because it's like chic to be supporting the party that's trying to drive you out of business.

[Michael Knowles]

It's a sort of a masochism, I guess. But they're really good at this, right? I mean, the left is so good that they get these companies to support them, even if it hurts their bottom line. And even getting back to the title of this program, the Long Game, the Long March through the Institutions was successful because to quote Antonio Gramsci, that communist theorist who's kind of behind the scene.

[Ted Cruz]

Does a day go by that you don't quote some obscure communist theorist?

[Michael Knowles]

I mean, it's sort of. It's become cliche at this point, actually.

[Ted Cruz]

Crack open a warning on attending Y that if you go to Yale, you're going to make these random references. No one other than former Yalies is going to have any idea what you're talking about.

[Scott Walker]

We don't for Chinese foods. The rest of us open up, you know, our cookies and see, you know, nice little saying at Yale. They give you these great points.

[Michael Knowles]

They give you that. Well, and the problem too, at Yale is they all love the Italian communist theorists. You know, they're always quoting him. Very admiring.

[Scott Walker]

Yeah, the answer, the difference between a socialist not is those who understand a socialist versus those who quote a socialist.

[Ted Cruz]

You're right.

[Michael Knowles]

They say that the socialist reads Karl Marx and the conservative understands Karl Marx. But I will say, to give the devils their due, the radicals were really right about this. Where Gramsci, at this point, he said, there's a war of maneuver. It's when you kind of, you know, you advance and you retreat and you fight each other. And that's only effective sometimes. But the war of position, where you just amass the power very subtly, very gradually. Now, we're at this point where a lot of the Biden administration's policies deeply unpopular. We're at this point where a lot of college students, I think, would like to be able to speak, would like to be able to learn. They're not able to do that because the people who hold those positions of power can wield it. And we as conservatives never seem to be able to do anything about it.

[Scott Walker]

Well, and part of it, Michael, is because I think inherently we don't put our faith in the government. So we win elections, do what we say, we're gonna do, or at least those of us who are successful are, and then move on to the rest of our lives. The left, I mean, everything they do is about power. I mean, even this latest political power move, that's the first bill in the House, is all about power. All these things are about power. So you can see why their whole life is consumed with it. The wake up call. I think for those of us who it's not enough just to win the battle, we've got to win the battle of the day and the war going ahead. And it's going to take more than just a news cycle, more than a presidential cycle. It really is going to take a long game to get this.

[Michael Knowles]

Senator, I will speak for you. I'll presume to do that when I say we would certainly like to be very involved with that long game going forward.

[Scott Walker]

Well, we got an exciting announcement tonight too, because you guys were both super popular at our conference. The Freedom Conference, a live in person event in the free state of Florida. That was just about a month ago. You did the Verdict live in front of our students. They absolutely loved it. And we'd love for the rest of this year to have you embark at least a half dozen more opportunities like that. Maybe you can do a Freedom State tour.

[Michael Knowles]

That sounds great.

[Scott Walker]

That'd be a great way to college campuses and share the Verdict as a way of speaking directly to college students and then broadcast it all across America.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, and it's an exciting collaboration. So we're going to be working with Yav, going to six college campuses in the next year doing Verdict live. And so sitting in front of your campus. And actually we haven't decided on the six campuses yet. So this is a great opportunity for everyone who listens to Verdict, everyone who watches Verdict, Email the mailbag and let us know if you want us to come to your campus. And by the way, we're not looking for love. We're looking for places where the domineering force of the totalitarian left is a problem and where truth and light are needed and they're needed in darkness, they're needed when lies abound. And so let us know, how do they do that, Michael?

[Michael Knowles]

So people can email mailbagverdictpodcast.com also you can tweet us for now. I mean, we're all still on Twitter for now. Who knows how long that will last.

[Ted Cruz]

Until Trump Facebook Twitter launches.

[Michael Knowles]

And then you can certainly, I don't know the mechanism there, but certainly you can send it in that way. But please do send in those suggestions. I can't wait. Because the left rushes in where angels fear to tread. But in the long run, through their persistence, they've really amassed a lot of power. And so I totally agree. I agree with you, Senator. As much as I will get a kick out of going to a lot of conservative schools, I also would like to get to those left wing campuses and actually try to crack up the left's control there. Speaking of control, by the way, I do have to bring this up with both of you guys. HR1, this is a law. It's a bill. It's being floated. I thought it was so absurd and ambitious and radical that it would just be laughed out of the room. We wouldn't have to worry about it. It's a bill that could really threaten our election integrity. Kind of the whole structure of government here. It looks like it's plausible.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, it shouldn't be. And in anything resembling the merits, it wouldn't be. But right now, Democrats have the White House and both houses of Congress and it really is the crazies who are driving it. So let's take a minute. One of the things verdict does is try to help people understand what's really going on. So let's talk a minute about what's in this bill. I mean, even the intro of HR1. I mean, who talks about HRS and S1 like that, but it actually says something. So the one means it's the very first bill that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats introduced in the house. S1, which is the counterpart, means it's the very first bill that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats introduced in the Senate. And I think it's interesting that their first priority wasn't Covid. It wasn't immunizations, it wasn't getting kids back in school, it wasn't reopening the economy. Their first priority more than anything else is staying in power. And this bill, it's 700 pages long and it is this massive. It's every bad idea the left has had to lock in their power rolled up as one. So what does it do? It takes virtually every state law that was passed to protect election integrity and it strikes them off the books. So a bunch of states have photo ID. You gotta have a photo to go vote. HR1 says that's illegal. No more photo ID. You may need one to buy a beard or get on a plane to drive a car. But voting, no problem.

[Michael Knowles]

So it's not just saying you don't need the id. It's saying you can't have those laws.

[Ted Cruz]

You can't require it. Wow. It sets them all aside. Not only that, it automatically registers people to vote. Does it? Automatically. Anytime you interact with the government. So if you're getting welfare benefits, if you're getting unemployment benefits, you're automatically registered to vote. Now, the Democrats know that this will register millions of illegal aliens. That's the intended effect.

[Scott Walker]

And then they're locked in.

[Ted Cruz]

Then they're locked in. And one of the real purposes of this is to get millions of illegal aliens voting once they're registered, get them voting. Not only that, but this bill, a bunch of states have very reasonable restrictions on felons voting, on criminals voting. A lot of states have made the decision, you know what? We don't really need murderers casting ballots. This bill strikes aside every one of those laws and says criminals should vote, murderers should vote, rapists should vote, child molesters should vote. And it is designed to ensure that you get millions of illegal aliens and criminals voting. Because I think the Democrats quite reasonably have come to the conclusion that if illegal aliens and criminals are voting, they're gonna vote for Democrats, and the Democrats could never lose. This is about Democrats being in charge of the federal government for the next hundred years.

[Michael Knowles]

Now, I know that we were all supposed to believe that Joe Manchin, the one of the two semi moderate Democrats, he was gonna hold the line and stop this from going through in the Senate. And there are all these questions about the filibuster and there are all these sorts of things that I think a lot of people just don't pay a lot of attention to, the technicalities of. What is the likelihood that this thing gets through the Senate?

[Scott Walker]

Oh, I think it's real. I mean, I think from everything, Senator, you know, firsthand, but for everything we can see, Manchin is setting the table to say, well, in this one instance, for this particular thing, it's important. It's about election reform, election. Everything is just the opposite of what it is. And so I'd say anybody watching or listening right now, particularly if you live in West Virginia, Arizona, states like Montana in particular, and plenty of others, I mean, there's, I think, competitive seats in Nevada and New Hampshire coming up this next year as well, let your senators in particular know where you stand on this issue. And I would say not just Republican or conservatives, if you look at things like voter id, you talked about it wiping out state laws. I signed as governor a measure that had broad based support, not only amongst Republicans and independents, but even a fair number of Democrat voters. Not politicians, but people who weren't in office when the polling was out. Not that everything's done by polling but it just showed that people logically think hey, if I've got to show an idea, if I'm going to go get an immunization, if I've got to do it to get on a plane, if I've got to do it for all these other things, it's probably a good idea to actually show one to ensure the integrity of the vote. Should be easy to vote but hard to cheat. They wipe that all out completely and then on top of everything else, Senator, you said they would take the New York style campaign financing system which takes taxpayers money from all of us and then picks the people who will take it. And oh by the way, they can take a salary on top of that to double on what they're making in elected office. It is all the really bad ideas. Why I call it the Crooked Politician Act. But you're right, the HR one is important to know because it's the first priority, which is what we were talking about before. The long game for them is not about ideas, it's about power.

[Ted Cruz]

Well and what Scott just said there, I mean an element of this, it's about welfare for politicians. It says if you raise a dollar as a candidate, the taxpayer gives you $6. So it's literally flooding millions of dollars to fund the campaigns of politicians. Because if you think who are the most needy, deserving souls on the planet, clearly they're politicians.

[Michael Knowles]

Especially these hard times.

[Ted Cruz]

You know, I will say so. Scott and I a week ago were at a gathering of conservative leaders and it was an all day retreat strategy retreat looking at the threats facing the country. And we spent probably half the day talking about HR1 which we all agreed together we'll never call it HR1 again. Names matter and no one knows what HR1 means. And so the consensus in the group Scott says Crooked Politicians Act. I'm calling it Corrupt Politicians Act. In some ways corrupt or crooked are both redundant with politicians Act. But let me ask you in all seriousness, so you were elected statewide in Wisconsin multiple times, a purple state. How would those campaigns have gone if HR won, if the Corrupt Politicians act had been the law? What would that have meant for you?

[Scott Walker]

Oh I, I think it would have pushed an incredible imbalance. So shift the way so that I don't see a conservative winning a Republican winning statewide in a state like Wisconsin anytime in our probably in this next generation if that law stays intact.

[Ted Cruz]

So criminals were not a good constituency for you.

[Scott Walker]

Exactly. Particularly considering I didn't do any Pardons, Yeah, that, that's particularly true. But it, and, but just all the other mechanics, even the photo ID requirement, which again was fairly universal in support out there. And for all the hype and hysteria about how it was going to diminish the ability of people to vote, we've constantly seen growth. The very reporters that ask about how photo ID taken away somehow would change voting were the same ones claiming it was going to diminish the vote, then tell you that this was a record turnout in the last presidential election.

[Ted Cruz]

You know, an interesting follow up to the meeting we had is that you and I and a number of others went out to try to communicate to the American people what Biden and the Democrats want to do is ram this through in the dark of night and get it done so fast no one realizes what happened. And so I think there's a real need to educate people about the threats of this. And so following up, I did a whole numbers of conference calls and zooms with different groups, including alec, which as you know, is an organization of conservative, libertarian, liberty loving state legislators. And so I wanted the states to know, in every state, states have passed important election integrity laws, all of which their Democratic senators are preparing to repeal.

[Scott Walker]

Wipe right out.

[Ted Cruz]

And so I talked about it. Well, apparently somebody on the call taped the call, which in this line of work you assume is pretty much always happening, and they leaked it to the AP. And so this week the AP had this breathless story about Cruz says HR1 will let millions of illegal aliens and millions of criminals vote. And the funny thing is, like all these lefties begin attacking it, all the press begins attacking it. Nobody actually refuted the substance.

[Scott Walker]

Bingo.

[Ted Cruz]

Didn't even engage in the substance. They just, oh, what a ridiculous thing. Of course Democrats don't wanna do that when that's what the bill does.

[Michael Knowles]

What else would be the point of that?

[Scott Walker]

And that's their long game. And that goes back again why this is so important. Because everything you see setting up with something like this crooked or corrupt politician act is really not just about today's battle. Yeah, it's about looking ahead.

[Michael Knowles]

Right.

[Scott Walker]

It's exactly why we're trying to counter it. Not just by engaging in this battle, doing what Ted and I and others are trying to do, speak out about, put the pressure on your senators. Let's not let this happen. But it's also why with Young America's foundation, we're engaging in this long game plan. Because we know you not only have to win the battle, you've got to win the war for the heart and soul to save this republic. And you don't do that by just doing battle by battle. You've got to have a long game plan going forward. And that's exactly what.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, and I do want to hit on this corruption a little bit because that was the first thing I thought of. I thought, is it even legal for members of Congress to be totally grabbing all this power over elections? I thought they weren't supposed to be the ones figuring out the rules of their own elections. What could go wrong there? But the other really corrupt body that governor you have particular experience with that right now is keeping millions of American school kids from getting an education. These teacher unions. And I think, is there any greater example of leftist corruption and yet political effectiveness than the teacher unions?

[Scott Walker]

If Chicago, the city of Chicago, where by the way, the Catholic schools have been in session safely and successfully since last fall, if the Chicago school district, where they've been trying for months to get the schools open and the teachers back, if that city was in Wisconsin and not Illinois, they could be open because our laws we changed. We threw out collective bargaining because of that power. I said people always said it was about unions, it was about budgets. No, it was simple. Is that taking power out of the hands of the big government, special interest, the union bosses and putting it back into the hands of the hard working people and the people they duly elect to run their local and state and ultimately federal governments, by putting that power back, they make the decisions, not the union bosses. And sadly, in places like Chicago and many others across the country, the union bosses are making that decision. Probably one of the worst example, Fairfax county, just outside of our nation's capital. Not only did the unions say no, they jumped the line in front of seniors and others to get vaccinated and still said no. Talk about the outrage. They should not be controlling things. The American people should be.

[Ted Cruz]

And you know, Scott draws a really important distinction that sometimes in discussions gets missed. And it's a distinction between the teachers, union bosses and the teachers.

[Scott Walker]

Right.

[Ted Cruz]

There are millions of wonderful men and women who love kids who go into teaching because they want to make a difference. They had a teacher or two that impacted their lives and they want to do the same thing. And many of those teachers are held hostage by their union bosses.

[Michael Knowles]

You know, I won't say which teachers. I speak to a number of my teachers still, we still stay in touch. And I for their careers, I won't say which ones because they will write to me and say, I'm just so frustrated with the union Leadership and with the administrators and with basically all these political rules which keep me from teaching my students.

[Ted Cruz]

So since I outed you as a Yale geek earlier in the show, I will admit. So one teacher I had who made a huge difference in my life was Mrs. Loesure. Now, she was my senior high school English teacher and a wonderful teacher. And she had a policy that you lost 10 points on a paper if you had a single misspelling. So I still remember senior year, I wrote a paper where I was copying a quote, and the quote included the word verisimilitude, which I didn't even say it is. And I wrote it on a note card, and I didn't know what verisimilitude meant. So when I wrote it on the note card, I misspelled it and I spelled it instead of V, E R I similitude, I spelled it V, E R similitude. And since I didn't know what the word meant when I put it in my paper, I couldn't tell it was misspelled. She took off 10 and I ended up with a 90 on the paper. I still remember to this day it's.

[Michael Knowles]

The lowest grade he ever got in school.

[Ted Cruz]

But I never forgot the word. I mean, you want to talk about a teacher making a difference, those 10 points, to this day, that's true.

[Scott Walker]

And when I was in third grade, I had a speech impediment. So I couldn't even have said that when I was that age.

[Michael Knowles]

It is funny, there are those moments I hate to admit it, even myself, but a few of those, even if it's a negative mark, when teachers really care, that's a wonderful thing. And, Governor, you did it very well, which is you drew this distinction between crooked union bosses and the teachers who.

[Scott Walker]

Were a prime example of that. So, ironically, it ended up involving my kids because the year before I was governor, a young woman in Milwaukee, the biggest school district in the state, was named the outstanding new English Teacher of the year. But in 2010, people forget. Democrats in my state had cut. Because the federal government cut aid, the economy was in shambles. Democrats in charge of state government cut aid to local governments, including school districts. So what did they do? Under the old union contracts, they laid people off. Who was one of the first to be laid off? This woman named Megan Sampson, who had just got the award for being the best new Outstanding English Teacher. The irony of ironies was not long after that, the Wauwatosa school district, which is where my kids were at, picked her up as a teacher. She Ended up teaching my kids in high school and was a fabulous English teacher. I don't know where politics are at. Probably wants to be out of the limelight, but it was a prime example of that. School district used our reforms and was able to hire someone as exceptional as she was to benefit my kids and all the other kids at that school. Those are the people we're trying to protect and the students along with them. The union is not looking out for them. They're looking out for what's best for the union bosses and for getting their money.

[Ted Cruz]

And you think about where we are right now. So Covid and the COVID lockdown started a year ago, we were told a year ago, flatten the curve. It's just going to be a couple of weeks and then it'll all be over. Right now, today, only 40% of school kids across the country are in. In person school five days a week. I mean, that's staggering. More than half of the school kids in America are not in school. They're doing virtual school. Look, with our girls, they're 10 and 12 now. Virtual school was really hard. Our girls, thankfully, are back in person now. But it's amazing what the union bosses are doing that their argument is, as many of them are saying, give us the vaccinations. Many of them have gotten the vaccinations. Great. I think absolutely, teachers should get vaccinated. Give us the vaccinations and we're still not gonna teach you. And the union bosses are just wait a second. And you look at what is happening now. Kids across the country for a year have been falling behind reading, writing, arithmetic. And I gotta say, Democrats don't seem to care.

[Scott Walker]

That should be the eye opener in this whole debate. Not just. Again, not just in the battle of the moment, but long term, particularly amongst blue collar working households, where I think that's a huge distinction, where if mom and dad both have to work, particularly if they got younger kids and you got grandma and grandpa who might otherwise have watched the kids, but they can't because they're worried about being adversely affected by exposure. So where do they go? What do they do? I had a cabinet member of mine who after our terms were up, went and ran a united community center, which includes one of the biggest predominantly Hispanic student populations in the state of Wisconsin. And I remember last summer having breakfast with her, asking about how things were and if she was going to reopen the school. Then she said, I have no choice. I have to. These families will lose their mortgage. They will be kicked out into the street if they don't go to work, and they can't go to work if their kids aren't in school. I think that's going to be the eye opener, not only in the terms of. I think it completely reshapes the debate over whether or not we trust parents enough to give them the money that's otherwise controlled by the government to go pick the school that's right for their son or daughter, whether it's in person or virtual, whether it's government run or not. But I also think the other thing you saw in all this was so many of those schools, even when they were virtual, would prohibit parents from watching what they were teaching. That should be another red flag for parents all across America that you need to engage even in the elementary school ages, because what they're teaching you is not what they taught us and it's not right for your kids.

[Ted Cruz]

So let me tell a story that kind of brings together several of the themes we've been talking about, which is a couple of weeks ago when we were voting on the big the $1.9 trillion Porculus bill, that only 9% of the bill actually was Covid spending for healthcare, 91% of it wasn't. It included tens of billions of dollars for public schools. I introduced an amendment that was focused on this issue we're talking about, which is getting kids back in school. And my amendment was a very common sense amendment. It was designed to. What it said is that public schools can get all this money if they open five days a week. If they're actually teaching, they're essential they can get the money. But if they're not teaching, I didn't touch any of their existing money. So under my amendment, they get every penny of the money they get right now. But my amendment simply says you don't get the new money. The additional tens of billions of dollars if you owe aren't open and actually doing your job. Instead of that new money going to you to not teach the kids, that money instead goes to the kids and the parents. Scholarships up to $10,000 per kid. Because if the kids can't get an education at the school they've got, they gotta be able to find an alternative.

[Scott Walker]

Absolutely.

[Ted Cruz]

Now, three epilogues to that number one vote was straight party line. Every Republican supported the amendment, every Democrat voted no. And so it failed. 50 to 49. The reason is 50 to 49, by the way. Dan Sullivan from Alaska had to go. His father in law passed and so he was at a funeral in Alaska. So it would have been 50, 50. Instead it was 50 49. Every single Democrat was the deciding vote. So in the middle of the vote, and this is where it connects before, you were asking about Joe Manchin at HR1. So I like Joe. We get along. He's a very nice, very affable guy. I came up to Joe and I said, joe, look, I reminded him of. In 2013, my biggest legislative accomplishment was. I'm sorry, not 2013, 2017, when we passed the big tax cut. I introduced the legislation that expanded college 529 savings plans, good stuff, to K through 12 education. It's the biggest school choice bill ever to pass Congress. Manchin voted for it for about five minutes. And Chuck Schumer and the Democrats yelled at Manchin and he went up and flipped his vote. Now, I ended up winning. Anyway, Mike Pence cast the tie breaking vote. And so it passed without Manchin's vote. But I reminded Joe, I said, Remember 2017 where you voted for five minutes? You were with me. You were the only Democrat with the courage to do it. Come on, Joe. There are millions of kids right now, inner city kids, African American kids, Hispanic kids that are not learning right. And he just shook his head and said, I can't do it. I just can't do it. And you could see, I don't know what Schumer has in his office, if it's thumb screws, if it's a medieval rack, but the Democrats are terrified of crossing him. And it failed by a single vote. I'll tell you a final epilogue on that, which is one of the. Every Republican voted for my amendment, including Susan Collins. And it was interesting, Susan. So Susan had voted against the 529 bill that I passed. And Susan talked to me and I was gently encouraging her to support it. And she did. And she said to me afterwards, she said, you know, this is the only school choice bill I've ever voted for in my time in the Senate. And I was like, really? And she said, all right, it's limited. Just now, during COVID during the emergency, I said, yes. She said, okay, I could support it then. Like if you're supporting it.

[Scott Walker]

But that's the game changer, I think, right?

[Ted Cruz]

It's not just for her down then those kids. If you're not providing the school to them, then you gotta give them an option. I said, look, I'll take it.

[Scott Walker]

Yeah, but it makes the larger point for sure.

[Michael Knowles]

That's right. It shows the stakes of the whole issue.

[Ted Cruz]

And what does it say that none of the Democrats they don't have an answer to these kids that are stuck at home. They don't have an answer to the parents whose kids are not getting educated.

[Scott Walker]

Well, because it all circles back when you look at all of this, sadly so, because for years there were Democrats I didn't agree with in my state, but I respected. You could work on things, but increasingly it's all about the power. And again, go back to this theme, but it fits with why we're doing the long game. Because for them, they have a long term strategy, they're willing to ride it out, but they will never break from their power structure. It's all about amassing more power and more power and more power. And the only way they give on any of that, if it doesn't affect that, if it does, the teachers union, it's such a steady stream because they get those automatic dues. I remember when we had our debate, when we had 100,000 protesters occupy our state capitol not for hours, but for literally weeks, for nearly a month's time. The bottom line was the union bosses would have thrown away, they would have sold their members out for anything. They would have made them pay 100% of their pension in health care if only they could keep the automatic dues deduction. We gave those teachers, the good, decent public servants who, you're exactly right, overwhelmingly want to teach kids, they got in for all the right reasons. They love children, they want them to do well. When we gave them the chance, whether they could choose whether they wanted to be in a union or not, that's when things went from 100 to a couple thousand to 100,000 protesters because the national unions could not let that happen. The bosses wanted their money.

[Michael Knowles]

And this gentleman will have to leave it here. But it does actually get me quite excited because we will be able to continue this conversation not just here in this studio. We will be continuing this conversation on the road, on campuses, talking to real students, in real life.

[Ted Cruz]

And tell us your campus. Tell us where you want to come. Tell us to come.

[Michael Knowles]

Tell us where you want us to come. You can check out more about the long [e-mail] long game. Very easy URL to remember and you can catch us on the next episode of Verdict. I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

[Ted Cruz]

Foreign.

[Unknown]

This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom and Security pac, a political action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations and candidates across the country. In 2022, jobs, freedom and Security PAC plans to donate to conservative candidates running for Congress and help the Republican Party across the nation.