← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
United Democrat Camouflage at the DNC, Did 'Playing The Hits' Impact Voters & Can We Trust Harris? DNC '24 In Review
00:32:02
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- [00:01]
Ted Cruz
Welcome. It is verdict with Ted Cruz, week in review. Ben Ferguson with you. And my oh my, was it a big week at the Democratic convention And we covered a lot. Optics seem to be the number one thing Democrats were obsessed with. And it was showing a unified front. But they may be lying to you about just how unified the Democratic Party is. We're going to explain exactly what Democrats are saying behind closed doors about Kamala Harris's campaign. Also playing the hits right. It's a smart strategy if you're the Democrats. But can it work with Kamala? Apparently, many of the Democrats don't think that's a strategy that can get her all the way to the White House. And finally, can America actually trust Kamala Harris after lying about Biden's cognitive decline and covering it up for so long? We're gonna deal with all of that. It is the weekend review and it starts right now. You also have the optics of the party right now, and the Democratic Party is very much acting like they are united. But there was some reporting that came out night two and it said VP Kamala Harris held an event 90 miles away from the DNC on the night the party's two most popular figures, Barack and Michelle Obama, campaign on her behalf. And a source familiar with the DNC planning tells Fox that the choice was made out of sensitivity and respect for, quote, Joe Biden. Obama's are still not on the White House. Good side, quote, unquote. Why? Cuz well, they were part of the coup. A source familiar with the situation said, quote, it would not be helpful. Helpful to their relationships, quote, unquote. Fox is told this plan came together to avoid the optics of Harris still serving as Biden's vp, appearing alongside one of the figures he views as responsible for driving him out of office, driving the end of his reelection bid at the very convention which was supposed to be his his only weeks ago, quote. We are in tricky territory. The source said to Fox. Now, I find a little bit of hope in this because you mentioned the media, you mentioned everything's supposed to be Kumbaya, but there's still a lot going on behind the scenes. There are still people, by the way. And I tweeted this out when I was watching Michelle Obama and she came out. I said, go and compare the crowd noise and the excitement when Michelle Obama walked out to when Kamala Harris walked out. And they love Michelle more than they love their president for the, their, their candidate for the White House.
- [02:38]
Ben Ferguson
Well, look, that's clearly true. And you and I, 11 months ago predicted number one, that Joe Biden, the Democrats would throw him off the ticket. We were right on that. But number two, I predicted that they would replace him with Michelle Obama. Now, I gotta say, if they had, I think their odds of winning would be very, very high. If I were a Democrat, I would have been all in on the team Michelle, because Michelle would have been a incredibly formidable candidate. I think they tried to convince Michelle to do it. I think she said no. And you and I talked about at the time, what would prevent that. And I said two things would prevent that. One, if Joe refused to go, and I think he did refuse to go for month after month after month until they finally forced him out by threatening the 25th Amendment. And then I said, number two, maybe, just maybe, Michelle would say no. Why? Because she likes to take more than she needs. Why? Because she likes to fly on a G5. Why? Because she likes Martha's Vineyard. Why? Because she likes to party with Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney. Why? Because she lives the life of a movie star and so decided not to do that. Now, I'm grateful for America that she did because as I said, she would have been an incredibly dangerous candidate. But I gotta say, listening last night to Michelle Obama and listening to Barack Obama, those two may be the two most dangerous demagogues our country has seen in a generation. Barack Obama, listening to him talk, that man is a talented communicator. I disagree with him on virtually every issue. I think Barack Obama is the progenitor of the Marxist takeover of the Democrat Party. I think that is his ideology. It is born of the radical extremism in our universities. But he can dress it up in a way that it doesn't sound extreme. It is dangerous. And I'll say one thing I thought about last night during the convention. Thank God for the 22nd Amendment. Thank God for the limitation of two terms as a president. Because if Barack Obama was still running, he might be president for another decade. And so I'm grateful that he can't formally have the job. But he remains incredibly potent and incredibly dangerous because he masks up extreme radicalism in a way that seems innocuous, that seems non threatening, and it seems very hip and very cool.
- [05:08]
Ted Cruz
Well, I stopwatched it. He literally demonized Republicans for 31 minutes and then called for unity. I mean, who can do that unless you're an incredibly talented politician where you trash the other side. And by the way, I'm still waiting for somebody in prime time to say they're glad that Donald Trump is alive and Wasn't assassinated. That, that's not ever. That hasn't come out of anybody's mouth.
- [05:33]
Ben Ferguson
No. They're trying to completely erase that gaslight. Gaslight that and just completely erase it from public consciousness that it even happened.
- [05:42]
Ted Cruz
And here we are. Two other questions I want to dive into real quick. I haven't seen a lot of American flags of the Democratic Convention except if they're being burnt outside of the dnc. Democratic supporters are there burning the American flag. We are seeing, I would argue, a fair amount of arrest. Yes. We've had a second perimeter wall that's had to be put up because of the pro Hamas, pro terrorist protesters were able to break through the first wall yesterday. And the Chicago police, you know, for Democrats, they're all about defund the police until they need them to protect their convention. And many of the Democrats are being protected by these police are the same ones that have been demonizing and attacking the police. One of them, by the way, is Kamala Harris. Let's not let her off the hook for that. And we also found out from the, from the people in charge, they said don't worry if it's a misdemeanor, no one's going to be charged any crime. So go out there and do what you want during the convention.
- [06:40]
Ben Ferguson
So I think it's worth asking yourself why is it that anti Israel, pro Hamas protesters burn the American flag? And the reason is simple. Those who hate Israel hate America. And when you understand that simple reality, it tells you an enormous part amount about the delegates that are in that convention hall. Why is Josh Shapiro not Kamala Harris's VP nominee? Answer. Because he's Jewish. And Kamala Harris and the Democrat Party did not want to piss off the angry protesters outside who are burning American flags. That is more and more the base of the Democrat Party. And understand they don't just hate Israel, they hate America as well.
- [07:33]
Ted Cruz
All right, so let's look ahead into the political crystal ball. Senator, you, you still have a candidate that the Democratic Party isn't that excited about that behind the scenes they're worried and nervous that the coronation is now coming back down to the reality, which is she was not liked as a vice president for the last three and a half years. She was not liked as a presidential candidate either and was like one of the first ones out of the race. And now she's back in prime time. What does she have to do to sell herself to the American people? Can she overcome all of that or are they just screwed because Harris is at the end of the day still, Harris?
- [08:18]
Ben Ferguson
Well, look, they're motivated by two things. Number one, a lust for power. And Democrats are united in a lust for power. They are willing to do just about anything to stay in power. They were perfectly willing to be behind a president who is all but comatose. They knew that. Everybody knew that. And yet it kept them in power. So it was just fine with them to have a commander in chief who is not capable of defending this nation, by the way. It's also why they're willing to embrace policies like open borders and the invasion of this country, because they look at eleven and a half million million illegal immigrants as future Democrat voters. And so power justifies everything. And this is a Democrat party that they follow orders. They are collectivists, they are authoritarian. So they all follow order. So everyone is on Team Kamala. By the way, I don't think you're going to hear complaining even from the Biden circles about him being forced out. Because when they crack the whip, this is a party that everybody gets on board, even Joe Biden after he's been put out to pasture. But secondly, what is going to motivate Democrats in this election? Hatred for Donald J. Trump. It's why the word Trump is the most frequent word uttered at the convention, because that's what they're all unified. They might disagree on other things, but they all agree we hate Trump. Those two things are going to motivate a lot of Democrats. And we got to make sure that the American people are focused on the issues, focused on the policy, focused on the substance, focused on the utter failures of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden's policies and how they've hurt the American people. If we can focus on the issues, we win.
- [10:06]
Ted Cruz
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week. Now, on to story number two. You know, when you have a convention, it's always about play the hits, right? And they're going to have a lot of people that come in and a lot of people that quote, unquote, play the hits. It's going to be Barack Obama, it's going to be Michelle Obama. It's going to be every famous person that they want to throw up there. It's going to be the Clintons. They're going to clearly, I think, play the hits. Is that a smart strategy? Even if it kind of takes her off stage a little bit, Is that actually a better idea? Idea? Because then it's not all about her. It's more about the Kumbaya ism of the Democrats, Abs.
- [10:51]
Ben Ferguson
Absolutely. Look, they don't want to actually talk about Joe Biden's record. And so playing the hits, playing Barack, playing Michelle, you know, they're going to have Bill Clinton and have some nostalgia. They're going to talk about, hey, things were great when we were in charge. Bizarrely enough, they're trying to run as the change campaign, despite the fact that the Democrats are the incumbent party. What is so bizarre? But every time Kamala proposes something is okay. If she could magically lower prices in grocery stores, why isn't she doing so right now? Like, she's in office, like there's nothing preventing her. If there is this magic wand, is she just mean? Does she just like high grocery prices? No, it's complete nonsense. But no one in the press is asking, wait a second. You are in office. You don't get to say, here's my great idea. You know, we're watching her emulate Trump's policies. Things like copying no taxes on tips. Well, she's been in office for four years. Why haven't they proposed it? I filed legislation to do that. Where's the White House? They are simply trying to ignore the fact that they are the incumbent administration. You're going to see a lot of that. There's something else that I think it's important for us to point out. We've talked a lot about how Democrats engage in Freudian projection. I think Sigmund Freud is rolling over in his grave that every single thing the Democrats accuse their opponents of doing, every single thing, is in fact, what the Democrats are doing. Now, Ben, what was the adjective that. That Tim Waltz famously used for Republicans, especially J.D. vance?
- [12:48]
Ted Cruz
Weird.
- [12:49]
Ben Ferguson
Weird. And by the way, like, Joy, he said weird. And suddenly every. Every corporate media outlet. Weird. Weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, weird, weird. That became the, you know, weird is the word.
- [12:59]
Ted Cruz
But can we. Can we just. You just mentioned weird. Doug Inhofe today said something that was weird, referring to Harris and Waltz. You were sitting behind him. Listen.
- [13:11]
Ben Ferguson
And again, we really bonded. You saw me get up on that stage and we just hugged it out. A few of my friends texted me, like, what's the deal? Like, we. I've known you for 20 or 30 years. You've never hugged me like that. Well, you've never been a vice presidential candidate before on stage, by the way.
- [13:29]
Ted Cruz
That's weird. That is just something weird to say. If you want to talk weird. And that's the Harris campaign.
- [13:34]
Ben Ferguson
Okay? And I got that beat. I'm going to give you something really bizarre. This is a headline from this week. DNC attendees will have opportunities for free vasectomies abortions. Here's the news article. Attendees at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will have the opportunity to receive feet free vasectomies and abortions just blocks away from the proceedings at the United Center. Planned Parenthood at Great Rivers, which operates in parts of Missouri and Illinois, will park its mobile health clinic near the DNC on October 19 and August 19 and August 20. According to the New York Times, medication abortions are reportedly available on both days, with vasectomies exclusively being offered on Monday. We clip on Mondays. And in fact, here's the tweet. Here we come, Chicago. Our mobile health clinic will be in the West Loop providing free vasectomies and medication abortion. Okay, Ben, that is weird. A political convention. We're going to nominate our presidential nominee. You go to Chicago. What for? You want a free vasectomy and free abortion? Like, these people are zealots.
- [14:54]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, it's not just weird. It's also, I would argue, creepy on a whole nother level because they're actually celebrating the fact that you can come to the Democratic convention with child and leave without a child. And that is now the Democratic Party. Planned Parenthood actually put it out. Not only are they offering free abortions and vasectomies of the dnc, but they said they've, like, maxed out of appointments, apparently for the vasectomies. And they said, we've got unlimited, however, medical abortions, medication abortion. So just keep on coming, ladies, with your babies. The DNC come with a child and leave without one. That's sick.
- [15:39]
Ben Ferguson
All right. It is certainly sick. And you think about how far the Democrat Party has come. Bill Clinton stood up in the State of the Union, and he said as a Democrat, he wanted abortion to be safe, legal and rare. There was a time when Democrats would acknowledge that abortion was the taking of a life. And they defended it, but they didn't celebrate it. Now this Democrat Party is all about abortion all the time. It's, it's, it's, it's a reason to dance in the streets. That is just how extreme the Democrat Party has gone. But, but I am going to say something. I'm going to go out on a limb. There's actually a portion of this I support. I support every delegate at the DNC getting a vasectomy. I think that. I think the world will be better off if these people don't reproduce. Now, look, half of them are not actually going to have conjugal relations with someone of the opposite sex. And so they probably won't reproduce anyway. But I'm for. Let's just, let's just stop it now. I'm really grateful. I would encourage. You're a bad Democrat delegate if you don't get snipped.
- [16:54]
Ted Cruz
Senator, let me ask you two final questions. One, what do you expect from the P candidate this week? Is that part of the campaign kind of going to disappear? I mean, we, we saw the excitement the DNC and all the Democrats had over at Walls. Now, is he just kind of. Okay, next, number one, will that be an issue? And number two, Harris is. Speech. How important is this speech to her future?
- [17:24]
Ben Ferguson
Well, look, I think Tim Waltz. Tim Waltz will have a major primetime speech. And they're going to do a lot to tell the narrative of him as nice old grandpa, your favorite teacher. They're going to call him coach a lot. He's going to be coach, coach, coach. And it's going to be, I mean, think Mr. Holland's opus. It is going to be telling the narrative of a nice, you know, genial, affable teacher who just mentored young people and he coached them on the football team. And, and, and he's just. They're gonna do everything they can to make it sunshine and light and joy. They will not, I predict, have him play the typical role of attack dog that VP candidates often do. They'll do a little bit of that and it'll mostly be attacking Trump and Trump and Vance. I think you'll get some of. He'll use his line that they're weird because that, that kind of made his name. But, but I think they will try to just pitch him as utterly harmless. And they will talk nothing about the radical policies. You will not hear about the snitch line he set up to report on, on your neighbors if they violated his draconian stay at home order. You will not hear about his order to put tampons in the boys bathroom at school because, you know, boys really do need tampons. You won't hear any of that. You will not hear when they tell his life about the romantic honeymoon he enjoyed in communist China. None of those extreme positions, none of, none of the weird aspects of his life will be highlighted. As for her speech, look, this speech is a big deal and I think she will give a good speech. I think Republicans that are all eager. Oh, she's gonna fall on her face. Listen, at the convention, she's done a pretty good job at the rally, she reads from the teleprompter just fine. And they'll write her a good speech. They've got some amazing storytellers in the Democrat Party and it is gonna be all, none of it is going to take responsibility for the disastrous and failed record of the last four years. But it is all going to be hope and change and joy. And you know, I think she will deliver it just fine. She's at much, much greater risk when she's ad libbing, when she's answering questions and being pressed. That will not happen this week. So she'll read the speech just fine as before.
- [20:04]
Ted Cruz
If you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go back and download the podcast from earlier this week to hear the entire thing. I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed. It's interesting that you said they need to lay out these facts and the rapid response from the Trump campaign I think did a pretty damn good job during the Democratic convention laying some of this out because right at the end of her speech, they sent out a, a picture with Kamala Harris next to Joe Biden and it said Biden, Harris accomplishments. And here it was. The bullet points allowed 15 million unvetted illegals into the country. Historic inflation crisis. Record high gas prices in all 50 states. Record high consumer debt Release terrorists into the country. Ukraine, Russia, war, Israel, Hamas war. Disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Violent crime, skyrocketing. Tried to jail political rival in the name of democracy. Lied to the American public about Joe's decline. And I think we should talk about that in a second. Senator declared war on American energy. Record low test scores in this country right now for K through 12 students. And she was also the most unpopular vice president in US History. Now, there's a trust factor here, and I'm not so sure that the Trump campaign has done a good enough job of talking about this issue. And I think they should actually talk about it more, especially at the debate coming up is how can we trust you when you clearly covered up the cognitive decline of the president of the United States of America? I think that would resonate with American voters. Can I trust a woman that clearly lied to me for three years?
- [21:53]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, I guess I don't see it the same way you do. I think most voters are cynical of politicians across the board. I think they think all politicians are liars. And so did Kamala Harris lie to the American people for four years? Absolutely. Did she cover up Joe Biden's mental decline? Absolutely. I'm not sure that changes a vote, though. I think that's a little bit baked into the cake. What I would like to see the conversation on, I think every election turns on the most basic question. Are you better off than you were four years ago?
- [22:25]
Ted Cruz
Amen.
- [22:26]
Ben Ferguson
And when the Trump campaign gets distracted by issues that are not about how the American people's lives are worse off today than they were when Trump was president, if the campaign gets distracted, it's not making progress. I think it needs to focus every day. And by the way, look, that set of bullet points that the campaign put out last night, that was a good set of bullet points. That needs to be very much what Donald Trump is saying on the stump, what he's saying in interviews, what their ads are saying. And one of the points in there that has not gotten enough attention is the plummeting test scores for kids, and especially African American kids and Hispanic kids. And, you know, it was striking tonight at the convention. Earlier in the convention, before Kamala spoke, they had Randy Weingarten, the leader of one of the big teachers unions who advocated for shutting down schools for over a year. Tens of millions of school kids had their schools shut down for over a year because of COVID Kamala was a vocal and vigorous advocate of that. And it will go down, I believe, in history as one of the most catastrophic policies ever implemented that hurt tens of millions of children across this country. I think we need to make that case that kids have been hurt by her radical policies. And you overlay that by her radical immigration policies that are releasing violent criminals that are threatening kids. You overlay that with a radical policy supporting defunding the police that are releasing violent criminals that are threatening our kids. Look, much of this election is going to come down to suburban voters and suburban women who historically have voted Republican and in recent years have moved left. And suburban women in recent elections have not been fans of Trump, personally, of his style. However, you look at the number one issue with suburban women, it is illegal immigration and it is crime. Those two together. And it goes fundamentally to the safety of their families, the safety of their kids. And I think litigating that case, making the case that Kamala Harris has endangered your family and your children is really important. I also mentioned on the disconnected from reality. You know, Kamala went through this whole litany that Trump is going to lock up his opponents and wage war on you and send American troops against the American people. And it really was a dystopian Mad Max picture of Trump as a deranged dictator. And listen, that's the kind of rhetoric that sells well with left wing Democrats, but it ignores the fact that we had four years with Donald Trump as president. He didn't do any of that. For that matter, the party that has done much of that has been Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. That have used the Department of Justice and the FBI to attack their political opponents over and over and over again, especially Donald Trump. But also pro life activists, also individual conservatives engaged in free speech. They've engaged in the most massive effort of censorship. In bed with big Tech and making that case that, look, we know what a Trump presidency is like. We've been through it. And in almost every circumstance, the lives of Americans were better when Trump was president than they are now. That contrast every day between now and Election Day needs to be front and center.
- [26:22]
Ted Cruz
Senator, I got two questions I want to ask you. One of them goes back to are the American people dumb enough or are they going to be offended by one of the things that Kamala Harris said? She said she accepted the Democrats nomination on behalf of the people. No one voted for this woman. No one.
- [26:42]
Ben Ferguson
Be clear. My entire career, I've only had one client. The people. And so, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender, or the language your.
- [27:07]
Ted Cruz
Grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother.
- [27:13]
Ben Ferguson
And everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey on behalf.
- [27:22]
Ted Cruz
Of Americans like the people I grew.
- [27:25]
Ben Ferguson
Up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams, and look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could.
- [27:38]
Ted Cruz
Only be written in the greatest nation.
- [27:42]
Ben Ferguson
On earth, I accept your nomination to be President of the United States.
- [27:51]
Ted Cruz
Senator, great story, great words, great speechwriting. Though is this one problem? No one voted for her.
- [27:59]
Ben Ferguson
You know, I gotta say again, I don't think that's an issue that actually is going to move a single vote today. So the people that would be mad that no one voted for are the Democrats who voted for Joe Biden. And other than Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. Jill Biden and Hunter Biden, I don't know that there is a fourth Democrat in America that is mad right now. Every one of them is thrilled and relieved that they don't have what they perceived as the millstone around their neck that was Joe Biden bringing them to a certain loss. And they all believe they now have a real chance at victory in November. So there's not a single voter on the Democrat side of the aisle who is angry that they are disenfranchised. And I think anybody else, frankly, doesn't care. So that, that riff, to be honest, I thought that riff was pretty effective. I thought it was well written. She did a good job of leaning into her record as Attorney General. You notice, by the way, there was essentially not a word about her time as senator. I served with her in the US Senate for many years.
- [29:08]
Ted Cruz
I mean, there was nothing in there, which I was gonna ask you about that.
- [29:12]
Ben Ferguson
She was the most liberal senator in the entire U.S. senate. She voted to the left of Bernie Sanders and to the left of Elizabeth Warren. That is hard to do. I serve with Bernie and Elizabeth. They're both really whacked out on the far left, and Kamala was further left. Remember Kamala, as a senator, in one hearing, she compared ice, our. Our immigration agents with. To the kkk, which was grotesque and offensive. And, and all of that she just erased. Instead, she leaned into her time. And by the way, she. She largely her. Erased her time as DA as well, because her time as DA was a train wreck. She basically leaned into her time as Attorney General. And I gotta tell you, state attorneys general, it is a great job because a state AG lets you bring cases that are really politically popular that you could lean in on. So she could say, I fought on behalf of the elderly, on behalf of veterans. Anyone who's been an AG could give that same litany, but it's a pretty effective litany. And saying, you know, she described going to court and saying, kamala Harris for the people. I gotta say, having spent five and a half years as Solicitor General of Texas, anytime I was in court and, and, and, and, and say Ted Cruz for the state of Texas, look, that would send. Send a chill down your spine. I understood what she was saying when she was saying that, and I thought rhetorically that was effective. Now the response goes back to what we said before. The response is, well, what have her policies done for the people? And they have hurt the people over and over and over again. Her record as senator and her record as a. As vice president has been Kamala Harris for the criminals, Kamala Harris for the drug cartels, Kamala Harris for the human traffickers, Kamala Harris for the Ayatollah, Kamala Harris for Hamas and Hezbollah. Because the money she sent to the Ayatollah went to Hamas and Hezbollah. Kamala Harris for communist China. There was virtually not a word about China in this entire speech because this administration's been in bed with China from day one. Her record has consistently been siding with everybody except the American people. But in order for that point to be made, it's got it's incumbent on the Trump campaign to make that point because the media sure as heck isn't.
- [31:42]
Ted Cruz
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download my podcast. You can listen to my podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have you as a listener to again, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here on Monday morning.