← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Trump declares Antifa a Terrorist Organization plus Feds Drop Rates & How it Effects You
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Less learn more@propain.com you want smart political talk without the meltdowns? We got you. I'm Carol Markowitz. And I'm Mary Kathryn Hamm. We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently. Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic. We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day. Join us every Tuesday and Thursday Normally on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Whatever team Phi is on has a chance to win a championship. I'm Christina Williams, host of the podcast in case you missed it with Christina Williams, the WNBA playoffs are here and I've got the inside scoop on everything from key matchups and standout players to the behind the scenes moments you won't find anywhere else. So really, really hard to be the champions. But we have to remember how it feels and embrace the new challenge that we have. So listen to in case you missed it with Christina Williams and iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and entertainment on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Ben Ferguson. And I'm Ted Cruz. Three times a week we do our podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz. Nationwide we have millions of listeners. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court. And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else. We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family. So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now. Wherever you get your podcasts, cars of the of ICE and Border Patrol. By a past administration, it became almost a culture. If somebody throws a rock at you, do nothing. If somebody spits in your face, do nothing. And I say when they spit, you hit. Do whatever you want. You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good Thursday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. And we've got two big stories for you coming out of the White House. First up, President Trump has declared that Antifa is a major terrorist organization. What does this mean? Well, it's going to have a big impact on those that are fighting, funding the organization and finding out who they are. Also, finally, the Fed cuts rates by a quarter percent, signaling two more cuts will be coming this year. And it means that Donald Trump was right. Interest rates were far too high. And now the Fed's finally having to admit it. All right, I want to take a moment and I want to talk to you real quick about what you can do to help the people in Israel. It was nearly two years ago that the terrorists murdered more than 1200 innocent Israelis and they took 250 hostages. Today it seems as if the cries of the dead and dying have been drowned out by the shouts of anti Semitism and just pure hatred, not just in America, but around the world. And the most brutal attack on Jewish people happened. It happened since the Holocaust. And now it's like they're trying to act like it never happened. Now this is where it is important for us to stand with the people in Israel. It's a movement of love and support for the people of Israel. And this is where I want you to get involved. It is called Flags of Fellowship. It's being organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And on October 5th, you can stand with Israel and the victims proudly, just a few weeks away. Millions across America will prayerfully plant an Israeli flag in honor and solidarity with the victims of October 7, 2023 and stand with their grieving families. You can be a part of this movement as well. And that's what I love about what IFCJ does. They're making sure that the world knows there are, there are lots of people of faith in this country and friends and advocates for Israel. They're going to stand with them. You can get more information about how you can join the Flags of Fellowship movement, including your church. There are going to be countless churches around the country. They're going to plant flags as well. So all you have to do to get involved with flags of fellowship movement is go to ifcj.org that's ifcj.org stand with Israel on October 5th. It's just a few weeks away. And if your church you think would want to be involved, you can also find out more about how to get your church to be involved on a special Sunday@ifcj.org that's ifcj.org it's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now. Story number one. President Donald Trump has declared that he is designating the Antifa movement as a major terrorist organization. He also stated he will recommend that people or organizations funding Antifa be strongly investigated under the highest legal standards and practices. Now, this announcement came in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which Trump and his allies say underscores the need to address what they characterize as left wing extremism. Now, Antifa, you may ask, what is it though? They say it's anti fascist. It's not a single group or a, with a hierarchy structure. In fact, it's a loosely affiliated ideology where people all the time are saying I'm a member of Antifa and then carrying out many times criminal activities. Now, because of the decentralization of it, there's no clear chain of command, which means you have to actually follow the money. Because without formal membership lists or centralized leadership, you got to find out who is funding Antifa and who on the left is writing the checks for so many of the things that they actually do. Now, there are several significant legal obstacles to make this kind of designation meaningful and also enforceable. And that's exactly what the president is doing right now. In fact, if you want to know when this really became a reality, you can go to the White House in the Oval Office just two days ago, when the president was asked this question about Antifa and what it would mean to designate them a terrorist organization. From a member of the press, take a listen. Do you plan on designating Antifa finally a domestic terror organization? Well, it's something I would do, yeah, if I have support from the people back here. I think would start with Pam, I think, but I would, if you give me, I would do that 100%. And others also, by the way. But Antifa is terrible. Are there other groups? There are other groups, yeah, there are other groups. We have some pretty radical groups and they got to way with murder. And also I've been speaking to the attorney general about bringing RICO against some of the people that you've been reading about that have been putting up millions and millions of dollars for agitation. This, these aren't protests, these are crimes. What they're doing where they're throwing bricks at cars of the, of ICE and border patrol, they come in a beautiful new car. They're so proud. It's border patrol ice, you know, it's got whatever it is and they're throwing rocks at it. And after 50 yards, it looks like an old beat up vehicle. It was just brand new. It was just bought for the purposes. And they don't have to take that anymore. I let it be known we'll take responsibility. They don't have to take it anymore and they don't want to take it. I watch it. I watch it so sick. It made me. For four years I had to sit home and watch people screaming at policemen and spitting in their face. And they weren't able to do anything. They just had a grin and bear. They're standing up like a piece of steel. And a woman, in many cases women, you can see they're professional agitators. I had one the other night, I had four the other night, all in one group, total phonies that started to scream when I got into a restaurant. Oh, you know, something with Palestine. I said, well, I'm doing a great job for peace in the Middle East. I should get lots of awards for that, right? With the Abraham Accords and everything else. But a woman just stood up and starts screaming and she got booed out of the place too. The people, there were a lot of people in the restaurant. I went there to show how safe and it was safe. I mean, the woman is just a mouthpiece or she was, she was a paid, she was a paid agitator. And you have a lot of them. And I've asked Pam to look into that in terms of RICO bringing, RICO cases against a criminal. RICO because they should be put in jail. What they're doing to this country is really subversive. That is where all of this really got started. Now here is the best part about what this means moving forward. The consequences of this action on antifa are huge. This will now allow the US Government to increase investigations into individuals or entities that are believed to provide support to antifa, AKA money and logistics supplies. Trump specifically asks for these types of investigations. It also allows for potential executive orders, regulations, policy changes aimed at curbing political violence or hate speech associated with antifa. And then there's the possible legal or administrative sanctions for those found to be a material support of antifa if state or federal laws can be invoked. This is where there is real consequences for people that are involved with this radical organization. And you need to find out who is exactly funding them. Follow the money is everything here. Now, we can also expect legal challenges. Groups like the ACLU and the splc, they're going to argue that the designation violates constitutional protection, free assembly, free speech, due process. And then the courts are going to have to interpret what designating a terrorist organization means in this context. I think this is clearly a fight the White House is more than happy to have. And then there's the political polarization of this. Democrats already coming out and saying that this is a threat to free speech. So let's go back to the president and what he actually had to say after designating Antifa a terrorist organization. Here's how CNN put it as they had to read the President's words. Now, I don't know if you know this, but I've just seen that the president on a social media, on his social media has announced. I'm pleased to inform our many USA Patriots that I'm designating Antifa a sick, dangerous, radical left organization, as a major terrorist organization. I'll also be strongly recommending those funding and TIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. They can't stand the fact that radical organizations that are out there being funded by dark money from Democratic donors are then committing crimes and terrorizing the public are no longer going to be able to operate the way they were under the Biden administration. By the way, this is exactly why I voted for Donald Trump and I think so many of you did as well. Now, story number two. Donald Trump has repeatedly urged the Fed to cut interest rates more aggressively. For example, in June of this year, he called for a full percentage point drop. Also, he said the rates are at least 3 percentage points too high. Now, Trump had criticized the Fed, especially the chair Jerome Powell, for not cutting sooner or more deeply. He made it very clear he believed that the cuts need to come and it was holding the economy back. He even talked about the idea that it was time to get rid of Jerome Powell, that he should resign. Well, Jerome is still there. But the good news is finally the Feds have cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point. And here's how the news hit on cnn. Tell us about this decision, Matt. Yeah, Brianna. The Fed just delivered an interest rate cut and it is the quarter point cut that was widely expected. Now, this is a big deal because it is the first, first interest rate cut of the second Trump administration and it's sending a clear message that Federal Reserve officials are more worried about the slumping job market than they are about stubborn inflation. They're acting now to try to shore up the job market before this trouble turns into something worse. And they're signaling this concern in their new statement that they just put out by inserting some new new language that I'll read to you. Now. Fed officials say that job gains have slowed and the unemployment rate has edged up but remains low. Fed officials also say that they have judged that downside risks to employment have risen. Now, at the same time, this statement also says that inflation has moved up and remains somewhat elevated, which just gets at this really difficult situation facing the Fed where they're really trying to fight a two front war, right? They're trying to fix the job market and they're trying to defeat inflation. At the same time, it is really difficult. Now, as far as the voting here, this was actually almost unanimous. It was an 11 to 1 vote with Fed Chair Jerome Powell joined by 10 of his colleagues, including Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who the President has tried to fire. The one dissenter is the Federal Reserve's new newest member. That's Stephen Myron, the Trump loyalist and White House economist. Not surprisingly, he was in favor of a bigger cut of half of a percentage point. Now, looking forward, the key change with the Fed's projections is they are now penciling in a total of three interest rate cuts this year, today's and two more quarter point cuts. And that's a shift from June when Fed officials had previously just penciled in two interest rate cuts. Now what does all this mean to everyone at home? Well, the fact that rates have come down, that could be helpful for people who have credit card debt and people have floating rate debt like home equity lines of credit. But we should be clear this is not a silver bullet that's going to fix the economy. Interest rates do remain high. The Fed spiked interest rates three years ago to try to fight inflation. That amounted to slamming the brakes on the economy. Now they're not going pedal to the metal and hitting the gas. They're sort of gradually taking their foot off the brake. Now later this hour, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, he's going to take questions. I'm interested to hear what he's going to say about all of the pressure, the political pressure from the White House on Federal Reserve officials and how many more interest rates he expects to have in the coming months. Back to you, Brianna. I love how they're like, well, this could be good for Americans. This is going to be massive by the way for Americans. And this is exactly what the President has been advocating for, saying that we need to move this in the right direction. We also know from what was said by Powell that you can expect that there is a very good chance that more cuts could be coming on the regular. So is this a victory for all Americans? Yes. Is this a big victory for the fact that Jerome Powell said it the way that he described it? Yes. Is it something that we should all celebrate? You better believe it. Jerome Powell in his own words, under what circumstances would a larger than 25 basis points rate cut be warranted? And how seriously was that option entertained at your meeting this week? There wasn't widespread support at all for, for a 50 basis point cut today. You know, I think we've done, we've done very large rate hikes and very large rate cuts in the last five years. And you tend to do those at a time when, when you feel that policy is out of place and needs to move quickly to a new place. That's not at all what I feel. Certainly now. I feel like our policy has been doing the right thing so far this year. I think we were right to wait and see how tariffs and inflation and the labor market evolved. I think we're now reacting to, you know, to the much lower level of job creation and other evidence of softening in the labor market and saying, well, those risks are maybe, maybe not fully balanced, but moving in the direction of balance now. And so that that warrants a change in policy. So even Jerome Powell having to admit he's probably gotten it wrong for a while now and he's having to be honest that Donald Trump was right. Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow. The 2025 NFL season is underway. Don't miss your chance to be a part of the action. Tickets to all regular season games are on sale now. Be there live to support your favorite team. See every epic showdown, every classic rivalry and Every primetime game. 17 games for all 32 teams. Visit NFL.com tickets to purchase tickets today. Verified tickets are available through the NFL Ticket Network, including Ticketmaster, seatgeek and Sports Illustrated tickets. This is the story of the one As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast. It's why he partners with Grainger to stay fully stocked on the products and supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers, all so that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused. Call 18 click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. You want smart political talk without the meltdowns? We got you. I'm Carol Markowitz. And I'm Mary Kathryn Ham. We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently. Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic. We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day. Join us every Tuesday and Thursday Normally on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Whatever team Phi is on has a chance to win a championship. I'm Christina Williams, host of the podcast in case you missed it with Christina Williams. The WNBA playoffs are here and I've got the inside scoop on everything from key matchups and standout players to the behind the scenes moments you won't find in anywhere else. It's really, really hard to be the champions, but we have to remember how it feels and embrace the new challenge that we have. So listen to in case you missed it with Christina Williams, an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and entertainment on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ben Ferguson. And I'm Ted Cruz. Three times a week we do our podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz. Nationwide. We have millions of listeners. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court. And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else. We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family. So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now. Wherever you get your podcasts, this is an I Heart podcast.