View From The Floor Of The House: Biden's Angry & Dishonest State Of The Union

Summary

Summary of "View From The Floor Of The House: Biden's Angry & Dishonest State Of The Union"

Introduction

In the February 8, 2023 episode of The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson, host Ben Ferguson engages in a critical discussion with Senator Ted Cruz regarding President Joe Biden's recent State of the Union address. The conversation delves deep into the content and delivery of the speech, highlighting perceived inconsistencies, dishonesty, and policy missteps by the Biden administration.

President Biden’s State of the Union Address

Senator Cruz opens the discussion by expressing his disappointment with President Biden's speech. Describing it as "divisive," "angry," "out of touch," and "profoundly dishonest," Cruz criticizes the President's portrayal of the nation's current state. He noted moments of Biden mumbling and yelling, likening his demeanor to "a crotchety old man on his porch screaming at the kids, get off my lawn" (00:24).

Critique of Border and Immigration Policies

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around Biden's statements on border security and illegal immigration. Senator Cruz challenges Biden's claim of having a robust plan to secure the border, labeling it as "profoundly dishonest." He cites Biden's early decisions to open the border, resulting in "the highest rate of illegal immigration in the history of our country," with over 5.4 million illegal crossings under Biden's administration (02:50).

Cruz further links the surge in illegal immigration to the influx of fentanyl, attributing the rise in overdoses to Chinese fentanyl entering the country via the open border. He criticizes Biden for not taking responsibility and instead presenting a flawed plan that inadvertently accelerates illegal crossings (03:29).

China and Foreign Policy Critique

The discussion shifts to Biden's foreign policy, particularly his handling of China. Cruz condemns Biden's perceived weakness in dealing with China, referencing the incident of the Chinese spy balloon. He argues that Biden's delayed and ineffective response "confirmed" his weakness to global adversaries like Xi Jinping (04:09).

Senator Cruz also accuses Biden of being overly friendly with China, pointing out that Biden remains one of the largest purchasers of Chinese-made products, including electric vehicles. He highlights bipartisan efforts to ban federal purchases of goods produced with slave labor in Chinese concentration camps, noting Biden's obstruction of such measures (03:44).

Social Security and Medicare Allegations

One of the most contentious points discussed is Biden's assertion that Republicans aim to "sunset Social Security and Medicare." Cruz ridicules this claim, stating it was "side splittingly funny" to many in the chamber. He clarifies that this allegation was based on a single proposal from Senator Rick Scott, a freshman Republican, and does not represent the stance of the entire Republican Party (06:43).

Cruz emphasizes the Republican commitment to preserving and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, countering Biden's narrative that Republicans intend to dismantle these vital programs. He shares a personal story about his elderly mother relying solely on Social Security, underscoring the importance of these programs for seniors (08:21).

Personal Anecdotes and Stories

Senator Cruz shares his experience introducing Lieutenant Levi Beard, a Navy serviceman who resisted the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. He details the administration's attempts to penalize Beard financially and professionally for his stance, highlighting broader issues of governmental overreach and the impact on military personnel (30:00).

Cultural Critiques: The Grammys and Mainstream Media

The conversation also touches on cultural events and media representations. Cruz and Ferguson critique the recent Grammys for what they perceive as "Satan worshiping" performances, mocking mainstream media's (CBS) controversial sponsorship with Pfizer. They argue that such events reflect the broader cultural decline and the influence of left-wing agendas (18:12).

Conclusion and Final Remarks

In wrapping up the discussion, Senator Cruz contrasts the respectful behavior of some House members during the State of the Union with the contemptuous actions of others, particularly Nancy Pelosi. He reiterates his hope that personal stories like Levi Beard's will resonate with fellow senators and the public, fostering a greater understanding of the administration's policies' real-world impacts.

Ben Ferguson concludes the episode by emphasizing the critical nature of these discussions and encouraging listeners to stay informed and engaged with current political developments.

Notable Quotes

• Senator Ted Cruz (00:24): "I thought it was divisive. I thought it was angry, I thought it was out of touch, and I thought it was profoundly dishonest."

• Senator Ted Cruz (06:43): "It was half the chamber literally laughing. ... to the American people, anyone paying attention, that was clearly not true."

• Senator Ted Cruz (08:21): "I've made solemn promises to seniors that we need to honor. No president has inflicted more damage on seniors in two years than Joe Biden."

• Senator Ted Cruz (30:00): "They're trying to collect about $200,000 from him. They're trying to collect about $75,000 of a bonus they paid for him because he had accepted and was in training to be a division head in the Navy."

• Senator Ted Cruz (38:32): "It is remarkable chutzpah for him to falsely claim Republicans want a sunset Social Security."

Conclusion

This episode of The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson provides a thorough critique of President Biden's State of the Union address, focusing on issues of dishonesty, policy failures, and the administration's handling of key national concerns. Through Senator Cruz's insights and personal stories, the discussion underscores significant partisan divides and calls for accountability and transparency in leadership.

Transcript

[Ben Shapiro]

Welcome. It is a special fun edition of Verdict for Senator Ted Cruz. It is midnight after the State of the Union. Senator, what a speech it was. And a rewrite of history from the President. Everything's great in the country. The Union is strong. Inflation really doesn't matter. We've got a secure border, and we don't even have to talk about the balloon or China. It was an interesting speech.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, interesting is one word for it. I just came from the House floor, went over to the Fox studio, sat down with Sean Hann Kennedy, talked with him about the speech, and I'm now back in our studio recording this podcast for tomorrow morning, and I'll tell you my reactions to the speech. I thought it was divisive. I thought it was angry, I thought it was out of touch, and I thought it was profoundly dishonest. There were portions of it where he was mumbling, and it was very difficult to understand what he was saying. There were other portions where he just yelled randomly out of nowhere. Uh, at times he reminded me like a crotchety old man on his porch screaming at the kids, get off my lawn. Um, it was remarkable. Look, more than 2/3 of Americans believe we're on the wrong track. We just had an election in November where the American people elected a Republican majority in the House. There have been enormous problems with the Biden policy agenda. He could have given a speech trying to recognize that. Remember Bill Clinton after Congress flipped, where he gave a speech and he said, the era of big government is over, and he tried to pivot to the center. This speech was not that. This speech was doubling down on the same failed left wing agenda. And, you know, I talked about the speech being dishonest. There were lots of portions of it that I thought were dishonest, but three really stood out. Number one, when Biden had a portion of the speech talking about fentanyl, and he said, pass my plan to secure the border. And literally half the chamber broke out in laughter because it was so profoundly dishonest. Joe Biden and the Democrats made political decisions at the beginning of his presidency to open up the border. It was a conscious political decision. And as a consequence of that, we have had the highest rate of illegal immigration in the history of our country. Over 5.4 million people across illegally under Joe Biden. Last year, we had over 100,000 deaths from overdoses, most of those from Chinese fentanyl flooding across Biden's open border. And yet he accepted no responsibility for it. He instead claims he has a plan to secure the border, which is not in fact a plan to secure the border as we've talked about on prior pods. It's a plan to actually expedite, to speed up illegal aliens and coyotes crossing the border. And that I thought in the chamber was side splittingly funny, but to the American people, anyone paying attention, that was clearly not true.

[Ben Shapiro]

You gotta go back to his first day in office and let's just remind people of what Joe Biden did to create the onslaught of not just illegal immigrants coming across the border, but the fentanyl coming across the border. He halted the border wall construction.

[Ted Cruz]

Yep.

[Ben Shapiro]

He paused deportations. This is the first day in office. He suspended the remain in Mexico basically rule. He proposed amnesty for millions on that first day in office. And he ordered ICE to limit arrests and deportations. And then he comes out today and is like, oh, we're going to fight fentanyl. He's the biggest drug dealer in America right now because he's the one that's opened the border which has allowed the drugs to come in.

[Ted Cruz]

No, that's exactly right. And Joe Biden is also personally responsible for flooding billions of dollars to the Mexican drug cartels. They are making massive amounts of money. Roughly half their revenue comes from drug trafficking. Roughly half their revenue comes from human trafficking. And if you are a narco terrorists, Joe Biden becoming president is the best thing that ever happened to your bottom line because business is booming. And again, he didn't accept any of that. He didn't even accept that there was a crisis. He just flat out lied. Another example when he talked lateness speech and it took nearly an hour for him to get to it. But when he finally got to China and he said, we're standing up for China and, and America's stronger than ever before and our enemies are weaker, it was utterly absurd. I mean we just finished last week the, the world watching as a Chinese spy balloon for over a week hovered over U.S. army bases, secure installation, committing espionage. And Biden weakly and impotently rung his hands. He did nothing. And then finally, after it had completed its mission, he shot it down. Once the mission was over, once our security had been compromised, and the result of that is Xi and every other enemy of the world took the measure of the commander in chief and they concluded he was weak. He was not willing to defend U.S. airspace. I think that was actually one of the major objectives of the incursion. I think the Chinese knew the balloon would be spotted. It was visible to the naked eye. They knew it would be spotted. And yet they also knew Biden would be so weak, he wouldn't do anything about it or they suspected it. And he confirmed that. And so for him to say, we've shown the world we're tough on China, mind you, Joe Biden is also one of the largest customers for Chinese slave labor, buying electric vehicles and parts. In the last Congress, when I forced a vote on the floor of the Senate to ban the federal government from purchasing electric vehicles or batteries made with slave labor in Chinese concentration camps, every Democrat but Joe Manchin voted no. So that was another profoundly dishonest point. And I'll tell you a third one that struck me as incredibly dishonest is when he leaned forward and says, republicans want to sunset Social Security and Medicare.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah, that was one of the most awkward moments of the entire State of the Union. And I want to dive into that. But before we do that, let me remind our listeners about Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile is an incredible company that I want you to check out. It is the only conservative cell phone company in the U.S. the only Christian cell phone coming in the U.S. and when you pay your bill every month to Patriot Mobile for a cell phone that you have right now, when you pay that bill, you're actually giving back to conservative causes and organizations that you support. We're talking about the first and the Second Amendment, we're talking about protecting unborn children, we're talking about helping with adoptions. Patriot Mobile actually is fighting for what you believe in. So when you make a phone call, when you send a text, you're standing up for what you believe in. Right now. We talk about big tech all the time. Now. It's time for us to vote with our dollars and support companies that support what we believe in. Check out Patriot Mobile. If you have a small business, they have an entire section of their business just for small businesses. And it's easy to switch. You get to keep your same cell phone number. You many times you can keep your same cell phone. Plus they have the same exact coverage you have right now. So go online to patriot mobile.com verdict make the switch patriot mobile.com verdict or call them 878-patriot. Use the promo code verdict and you'll say big 878-patriot center. You just mentioned one of the weirdest moments of the night from, from the president. And it was one of those moments where I think everybody's sitting there going, are you kidding me? Go into detail of what it was like being on the floor of the House when he said it.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, so I was sitting in, in the second row behind the cabinet Just to the left of the President, from his, from his view, and he leans forward. And when he says that Republicans want to sunset Social Security and Medicare again, the result was spontaneous laughter. It was half the chamber literally laughing. Now look, at some level, this is not new. Every election cycle, Democrats demagogue on Social Security and Medicare and they always say Republicans want to throw granny off the cliff and the hook for this. By the way, his predicate for what was a brazen lie was one proposal that came out from one single senator. So in the last cycle, Rick Scott put out an 11 point plan for what he wanted to do with a Republican majority. Now, Rick Scott is a freshman senator. He's entitled to have his views. He's a good friend. He's good. He's a good man. Of those 11 points, I agreed with most of them. There were two in particular that I think were a mistake and that I disagree with. And I think most Republicans disagree with. And my guess is even Rick disagrees with it. On further contemplation, one of the 11 that he had is he said every American should pay some taxes. Now, that might be right in the most abstract of senses, but right now, more than 50% of Americans don't pay income taxes. And so what that was quickly characterized as is saying that Rick Scott wants to raise taxes on 50% of Americans. I believe emphatically that Republicans should never, ever, ever be in the business of raising taxes. We should cut people's taxes. So I think that was a mistake for him to propose that. The second thing that he included in his list of 11 is he said every federal program should be sunset. And listen, he's approaching this like the former governor of Florida, which he is, where there are lots of state programs where you have a sunset review. And in the sunset review, you examine the programs and you make them better. And I understand why, from a state governor's perspective, that can make sense. The reality is that Social Security and Medicare are different. And they are, I think they are vital bulwarks of our country. I think we've made solemn promises to seniors that we need to honor. And Republicans are committed, all of us, including Rick Scott, to saving, preserving, strengthening, making sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for seniors going forward. All of this Biden knows. So he's literally taking one bullet point in one policy paper put out by a single senator, a freshman senator, and he's claiming that is the position of Republicans in the entire Congress. It's absurd. But by the way, Biden did this all over the Country. He campaigned using this bullet point to, to lie and deceive people. And then he went on and said, listen, we need to stand with seniors. And I'll tell you, when he said that, I think he thought he was giving a Democrat talking point. I stood up and applauded, yes, we need to stand with seniors. And I gotta tell you, there is literally no group in America who has been hurt more in the past two years than seniors. You look at seniors facing skyrocketing inflation. You know, you're a senior, you're retired, you're on a fixed income. The cost of rent has gone up, the cost of food has gone up, the cost of electricity has gone up, the cost of everything has gone up. And at the same time, you've seen your retirement drop 20 to 30%. That is a double whammy where I do not believe it is hyperbole to say no president has inflicted more damage on seniors in two years than Joe Biden. So it is remarkable chutzpah for him to falsely claim Republicans want a sunset Social Security.

[Ben Shapiro]

And you and I both know this. Seniors don't have 10% for the big guy, 401ks like he does. So it's a lot harder for them to recover when they lose money compared to Joe Biden.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, you know, my mom right now is living on Social Security and she's retired. She's 88 years old, and she pays her expenses. And, you know, she doesn't get cable because cable's too expensive. And it's, you know, it's tough. It's tough being a senior citizen. As their son, I help support her as, you know, a good son. If you're able to do that, you ought to do that. But it is tough being a senior, and particularly when you have a budget. I mean, she is meticulous in her budget because she wants to make ends meet and she has limited means to do it. And when the price of everything goes through the roof and your income doesn't match it, that really, really hurts seniors. And this was a speech designed not to be honest, not to be candid, not to be direct about what's happening. But instead, it was a in your face, partisan speech. It was a screw you to everyone on the other side, everyone that voted on the other side. By the way, one particularly nasty thing was in the course of the speech when Biden recognized Paul Pelosi. And that was a gracious thing to do. You know, Paul was violently assaulted in his home. That was horrific. No one should face political violence. Somebody Hitting you in the head with a hammer. But then you look at the language that Biden used. He blamed that, he said on the big lie on, on, on 2020. He wanted to blame that, take that act of physical violence and blame it on every Trump voter in America.

[Ben Shapiro]

And there was no connection to that. We know from the guy they caught.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, he was a hippie nudist in Northern California and the guy's a nut. He's a lunatic. But Biden couldn't resist using it as a political knife to try to attack. And not just attack. Listen, if he wants to attack Republicans, that's fine. But when he was doing that, he wasn't attacking Republicans, he was attacking the voters. He was going after the people. And he was trying to use that to attack all of the voters who disagree with him. And that's just a strange strategy for a State of the Union to tell half the country, go jump in a lake.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. And it was certainly a moment for him that he wanted to make there. He also said something else that was weird. Trying, I think, to relate to the American people. And a lot of people have called this out as basically another big lie where he gets away with it. He said this about his, his wife implying that she teaches full time.

[Sean Hannity]

We made the best educated, best paid. We became the best educated, best paid nation in the world. The rest of the world's caught up. It's caught up. Jill, my wife, who teaches full time, has an expression. Hope I get it right, kid. Any nation that out educates us is going to outcompete us. Any nation out educates can outcompete us.

[Ben Shapiro]

Now that may be a fair point, right? That any, any nation that out educates us is going to outpace us. But the Internet exploded. Senator, you were obviously on the floor of the House. Then they're going, wait, when did she become a full time teacher? How can you just make up things like this when she's the First Lady? You can see her schedule. It's clear the schedule that she keeps. She's not a full time teacher. And there were even teachers that were outraged by this idea that you can just make stuff up as you go.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, look, I'm going to leave Jill Biden out of it, but I will say I agree with the principle that any nation that out educates us will out compete us. And you want to talk about the failures of the Biden administration. Joe Biden and the Democrats are responsible for shutting schools down all over this country in many places for more than a year. And the result has hurt kids more than anything in our lifetime. And in particular it has hurt low income kids, African American kids, Hispanic kids. We've seen the greatest learning losses ever recorded. And this was done at the behest of the teacher union bosses who had schools shut down for tens of millions of kids for more than a year. Schools were shut down. And I'll point out this is also an administration that viciously, passionately opposes school choice, opposes charter schools, does everything they can to leave kids trapped in failing schools. So when he stands up and talks about education, I agree. And his policies are hurting education. There's another portion where he was talking about the tax code and he said, he said the tax code is fundamentally unfair. And I began applauding heartily. I was one of the few from the Republican side applauding at that. But I think the tax code is terrible. It's why I think we should abolish the IRS and pass a simple flat tax. And he had all of this rhetoric demagoguing big business, big companies. Here's one of the interesting ironies. And all the Democrats are standing up and hooting and hollering and cheering. You know, all those big corporations, they are overwhelmingly supporting Democrats. You know, he was demagoguing big pharma. Big pharma is so much in bed with the Democrats that they snuggle and nibble on Joe Biden's ear at night.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. And he knows it, but it was one of those moments where he probably winked and nodded them. Hey guys, I'm gonna, I'm gonna slap you around a little bit in the state of the union. But don't worry, I'm the guy that's gonna keep getting you paid through vaccine mandates and things like that.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, I'm gonna make it illegal not to buy your product. And in fact, I'm gonna try to fire people who don't buy your product and. All right, we gotta take it aside, cuz you and I have not done a podcast since the ridiculous Grammys.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yes.

[Ted Cruz]

Did you see the horrific Satan worshiping. Bizarre. Like it is to my knowledge the first time there's been a full on Satan celebrating ritual on network tv.

[Ben Shapiro]

And not only that, but you actually had CBS tweeting out we can't wait to worship. They've now taken that tweet down because the backlash as they were getting ready for a moment that clearly they knew was coming with a Satan worshiping. And then at the very end it was amazing because it couldn't have better illustrated the world that we live in right now center because it said brought to you by Pfizer when they went to the break.

[Ted Cruz]

So, Ben, you and I have been doing this too long together because you knew where I was going. That was the connection. So. So they have. That they have a transgender biological male who's a transgender female gyrating half naked in a cage with male and female strippers outside the cage. That they have a man who identifies as non binary gyrating with red devil horns on while demons pull him down with fire in the air as this full on Lucifer celebrating event. And by the way, you and I didn't watch the Grammys. I'm assuming you didn't. I certainly.

[Ben Shapiro]

No, I did not. I did not. And full disclosure, I, I did not watch that.

[Ted Cruz]

But you know what? Our kids listen to the garbage that's being produced by these people. And these are the glitterati, these are the entertainers. It was an illustration of how corrupt, how fundamentally evil. I tweeted out just watching this video, this is evil. But then to end with, sponsored by Pfizer. Yeah, you know, I couldn't help but tweeting, well, you know, Pfizer really is taking truth and advertising a little bit far on this.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. It was so accurate of the, of the culture war that is happening right now in America. And the only.

[Ted Cruz]

And I want to ask you a question, Ben. So, so I was there in the chamber. I didn't watch the speech on tv. When Biden finished his rhetoric attacking Big Pharma, did they break in and say, this speech brought to you by Pfizer? Because they really should have. They should have had the naked devil guy dancing in front of Biden and then say, brought to you by Pfizer. And all the Democrats hooting and hollering if they hate big business so much, ask yourself, why does almost every big business player support the Democrats, contribute to the Democrats? Why are almost all of their boards of directors consisting of Democrats? Why are almost all their CEOs Democrats? It is. This speech tonight was all about smoke and mirrors and deception. We're going to use rhetoric that say we believe in one thing while our policies and actions are the opposite.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah, the one thing about the Grammys, I got to go back to that for a moment because, you know, it had this cameo from Fat Cities, Satan. It was a catastrophe in the ratings. This is the only good news. It was a just 12.4 million viewers watch the Grammys. So I do think that's a good, a good point to point out here that the more extreme they Go. The more America seems to be waking up to just how far gone we are and how extreme the left has become. And that may be the only good news that comes out of these moments.

[Ted Cruz]

Here, by the way, I will confess. So I don't know if you happen to see it, but you know James Corden, you know, the late night comedy host?

[Ben Shapiro]

Oh, yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

So he did a whole riff on the Grammys, and in particular, he had about three minutes of pounding the hell out of me because I tweeted, this is evil about that. And it was so. So I, like, my team in the office saw it and I was like, okay, of course late night comedy is defending the, like, devil worship on mainstream tv. And then every single person on my staff was falling on the ground holding their ribs, laughing, saying, this is the funniest damn thing I've ever heard. Because it has me sitting on my. On. On my couch going, okay, I must tweet on this and in it. And so I ended up, of course, embodying what they were mocking me for, tweeting on it and saying, okay, late night comedy is finally funny. But I've told all my staff, all right, I'm off that. Y'all think this is so damn funny. I don't understand why, but okay, I'll own it.

[Ben Shapiro]

That's hilarious. Hey, you know what? Sometimes, like you said, you just gotta own that moment. I want to go back to something you said earlier, and you said that tonight's speech was an extremely partisan kind of bitter and angry speech. And we were also talking about just some of the kind of anger and the screaming. I want to play. This was an eight second moment. And it, I think totally encompasses this speech of basically what it was.

[Sean Hannity]

Name me a world leader who changed places with Xi Jinping. Name me one. Name me one.

[Ben Shapiro]

I mean, he was angry. Now, the reason why I play that is forget what he was saying for a moment. I was watching this, and about 15 minutes in, I literally said out loud, well, it's official. He is definitely running for reelection because it was a campaign speech that I watched tonight with a campaign theme that you kept noticing was coming up of. Let's finish what we started. Let's get the job done. They were test marketing the campaign theme of Joe Biden. This was, I think, the soft launch of officially his presidential campaign 2.0.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, it could be. I'll say a couple of things. Number one, that little portion of name someone who would change places with Xi Jinping. I'll tell you, we were all looking at each Other and scratching our heads because he was yelling, name one. Name one. And he was like, he was a deranged man yelling. He was yelling loud. And it's a weird point. It's like, well, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Nicholas Maduro, like every tin pot dictator in the world would love to be Xi Jinping. Like, like, it's a weird. I don't understand what his point was. That, that, that was actually, I don't know if he read it wrong or if it's a bizarrely inconceived. If you're an oppressive dictator, name someone who would like to be the world's most oppressive dictator with 1.3 billion people and a massive economy and a military that is challenging and the greatest geopolitical threat to the United States of America for the next hundred years. It's like, Joe, there are lots of people who would like to be that. And you are hopelessly naive if you think. And by the way, Joe, you have said for years, China is our friend. No, they're not our friend. So, so it was a, that was one of the stranger moments because we were looking at each other saying, what is his point? We don't get this.

[Ben Shapiro]

You mentioned his obsession with China and saying that they are not somebody that we should have worried about. And let's just go back to 2001. Listen to Joe Biden from 2001 to present, obsessing over China. Before I play that for you, I want to talk to you about our friends in Augusta Precious Metals. If you've been saving for a long time and you need to make sure you can protect your assets and your retirement, then you should talk to our friends at Augusta Precious Metals about how to protect your money with a gold ira. I want to tell you about a company that not only do I trust, but I actually use them. They're different because they tell you if a gold IRA isn't your answer, they give you the facts. There is not pressure. Augusta Precious Metals is all about protecting IRAs and 401s in this crazy economy that we're dealing with right now. And it's incredibly important for you if you're close to retirement to. Because there's no time to make up losses. If you've saved a hundred thousand dollars or more, then you should take a look at their free guide and sign up for their web conference. I've done the web conference and it was incredible. It is filled with economic Insight about Gold IRAs, 401k and how you can have peace of mind with retirement. Call Augusta Precious Metals, 8774-Gold IRA. That's 877, the number four Gold IRA. Or visit Augusta Precious Metals with an S dot com, say I sent you and they'll pay your fees for up to 10 years. That's Augusta Precious Metals at 8774-GOLD Ira. Senator, here is Biden, who spent literally decades, this goes back to 2001, knowing and bowing to China. In fact, he even said he hoped for their expansion, saying it was good for America.

[Sean Hannity]

China is not our enemy. I believe then, and I'm even more convinced now that arising China is an incredibly positive development for not only China, but the United States and the rest of the world. It is in our self interest that China continue to prosper. China is a great nation and we should hope for the continued expansion. We want to see China rise. A rising China can be a significant asset for the region and the world. China is going to eat our lunch. Come on, man. They're not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They're not a. They're not. They're competition for us. China is not our problem. We can help them with some of their problems. China's not a problem. The idea that China is going to eat our lunch is bizarre. And so what are we worried about? We talk about China as our competitor. We should be helping.

[Ben Shapiro]

Do you think in retrospect that you were naive about China?

[Sean Hannity]

No.

[Ben Shapiro]

Do you think in retrospect you were naive about China? May have been the best question ever asked by cnn. And of course he says no.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, he wasn't naive. Those quotes read like someone who's been paid millions of dollars from the Chinese Communist government. And we know that Hunter Biden was paid millions of dollars. We know that the Penn Biden center was paid millions of dollars. We know that Joe Biden has made a career of crawling in bed with the Chinese Communist government. And so it's not naive. Naive doesn't begin to capture it. It's more fundamentally corrupt than that. It is. The Democrat Party today is structurally pro China. We've talked about this before. All of their major stakeholders are pro China. Big business, big tech, big Hollywood, big universities. All of them are in bed with China. And so the Democrat Party is in bed with China, too. All right, I make. I want to make two final points before we wrap up. Number one, we talked about this on the last pod. Every senator is entitled to bring one guest to the State of the Union. As I mentioned in Monday's podcast, I brought Lt. Levi Beard as my guest. Now, Lieutenant Beard has Been in the Navy for 10 years. Great guys from Fort Worth originally. I had dinner with him, invited him to the Senate dining room, and he had dinner with the other senators and me and Levi. The Biden administration is trying to fire him because he's declined to take the COVID vaccine. And Levi brought litigation to stop that. And a federal court issued an injunction preventing the Biden administration from firing him. But they're not done. The Biden Department of Defense is litigating against Levi, trying to collect about $200,000 from him. They're trying to collect about $75,000 of a bonus they paid for him because he had accepted and was in training to be a division head in the Navy. And then they're also trying to force him to repay the cost of postgraduate school at the Naval War College. The reason they're going after him for both of those is the Navy will not let him be a division head. Why? Because he hasn't gotten the COVID vaccine. So even though Congress has repealed the mandate, the Biden Department of Defense doesn't care. They are still enforcing it and severely restricting servicemen and women that make the decision. In Levi's case, he put in an application for a sincere religious objection. They denied him. They don't care. And you've literally got a 10 year sailor who they're trying in litigation to get $200,000 out of him, to extort it from him. And I will say number one, at the dinner in the Senate dining room, I introduced him to a number of my fellow colleagues. Now, some of them have been strong voices against the vaccine mandate in the military, but others of them, I introduced him to several Democrats, I introduced him to some of the Republicans who have not been willing to stand against the military vaccine mandate.

[Ben Shapiro]

And.

[Ted Cruz]

And it was striking, the reactions. Look, I enjoyed introducing him to people who agree with us, but I have to admit, I enjoyed even more introducing him to senators who are on the other side. Because I would introduce him, say he was in the Navy, and they're like, oh, thank you for serving. It's great. And I tell that story and you would see it would vary. Some of them, the blood would shoot out of their face and they'd like run away. Others would look at him and listen and they'd hear his story. And I'm hoping that at least a couple of them in that room, having met him, having met a real human being. You know, Levi and I were talking about how people think in terms of memories, we think in terms of stories, the way our mind works. They can now put a face to the name, a face to the problem. A I hope it makes a difference. And it was striking to me. In the entire course of this speech, Biden did not say a word about the thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines and coast Guardsmen that he fired because of his abusive vaccine mandate. And so I hope others focus on Levi's story and the story of the other servicemen and women that had been screwed by this administration. It was striking to me. He wouldn't say a word about it.

[Ben Shapiro]

It is shocking that he left. That and many other issues just completely disappeared from him, including school choice, Covid learning losses, critical race theory. The issue of Israel did not come up tonight at all. Anti Semitism did not come up at all tonight. Asian Americans and anti Asian hate crimes, which was something they used to talk about, didn't come up. And certainly nothing came up tonight about his mishandling of classified documents. He did not mention Iran tonight. He did not mention.

[Ted Cruz]

You know what also didn't happen? You know what also didn't happen? Kevin McCarthy didn't ostentatiously rip the speech into pieces behind him because Kevin McCarthy actually demonstrated some class, unlike Nancy Pelosi, who demonstrated just complete contempt not just for Donald Trump, but for the presidency. And I thought that was a sharp contrast. Now, I gotta point out, there is one really important issue that I know that, that our loyal listeners will remember, and it's a really significant issue, which is in Monday's pod, you and I both made predictions about how long the State of the Union address would be. And in Monday's pod, I predicted that it would be one minute and one hour and 21 minutes. And you came in, I think, with like, was it 42 minutes? It was 40 something.

[Ben Shapiro]

What was it? Diaz? Can we go back? I don't remember what I said, but it was under you. Like not enough that I was price prices writing you. I want to be clear about that.

[Ted Cruz]

So I was an hour and 21 minutes and you were down in the 40s. Well, the official count according to C span was one hour, 12 minutes and 41 seconds, which means that I was eight minutes off.

[Ben Shapiro]

You were eight minutes over. That means you're automatically disqualified, right?

[Ted Cruz]

No, no, no, no. This is not prices. Right. This is who was closest. And you know, I'm just going to say, and it was, it was 11 minutes longer than last year's speech. And you know, when you predicted that it would be in the 40 minute range, I have to admit, I laughed on Monday. And I think I have sat on the House floor, I believe for 10 of these now. And, and so my, I think my reaction is just not my first rodeo. But I am wondering what we wagered, what do I win?

[Ben Shapiro]

I guess we could go with I will, I don't know. I'll have to think about this. I haven't decided yet. But I will make sure it's a good one and I'll come back to you on that because I know if I get let you decide, it's going to hurt.

[Ted Cruz]

All right, very good. I'll just take the vindication of having predicted correctly.

[Ben Shapiro]

You want lost? I'll take my lashing. Senator, thank you for that. Thank you for reminding the audience of that one. I have one Last bonus question, 30 seconds or less because this is just something everybody, I've always wanted to know and I think others have. How do you guys decide where the hell you're going to seat? Get seated at the State of the Union. How does that work? What's the protocol there?

[Ted Cruz]

So it's a great question. It's actually, it's utterly random. So when you come in, we gather in the Senate chamber. Oh, like I guess the speech begins at 9, I think we gather about 8:20 and about 8:30 we walk over. So we all, all the senators walk in a line across the Capitol. The Senate chambers on one side of the Capitol, the House chambers on the other. So we all walk in a line. We walk kind of in between tons of reporters and press that are snapping pictures.

[Ben Shapiro]

So it's formal.

[Ted Cruz]

Ish. I mean it's not like a parade, but it's, it's typically we're walking two by two often for whatever reason. Often you try to talk with someone from the opposing party. It's not always the case. But like walking over to this one, I was talking to Dick Blumenthal from Connecticut and he and I have served on committees together and we actually get along pretty well, even though we disagree on a lot of issues. But we were, we were talking and walking along and then when you walk in. So one of the things the House does is it reserves pretty much all of the seats in the front. So the front front rows are the cabinet and then also on the left side is the Supreme Court and the Joint Chiefs behind the Cabinet, the very next seats they reserve for the Senate. I have to admit I'm actually a little amazed that the House, given the tensions between the House and the Senate, I'm not sure why they're so nice to give Us the best seats of the House, but they always do. And so the front seats are reserved for senators, and they're, I guess, a hundred of them that have little signs that say reserved for a senator. But when you come in, it's literally first come, first serve. So you just walk in, and they've got a couple of assistants that are pointing you, oh, there are a couple of seats there, a couple of seats there, and you just go in randomly. The only senators that have assigned seats are the leaders in both parties. So Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, sort of the top five leadership in both parties have the front center rows on both sides, but beyond that, you sit wherever you want in the reserved seats for senators. And so I was, I guess, two rows behind the cabinet, just because that was the seat was. That was open. And so that's where I sat.

[Ben Shapiro]

There you go. See, we learned something new every night. Senator, always a pleasure. Don't forget, everybody.

[Ted Cruz]

All right, all right, hold on. I got to tell a story.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

State of the Union, I think it's 2014. So second one I've been to Obama, State of the Union. And I'm sitting next to Lindsey Graham, and Louie Gohmert in the House comes up to me, and Louie's a dear friend, and. And Louie's talking to me, and he's talking to me. And Lindsay and I are both sitting down, and Louie's standing there in the aisle. He hadn't gotten a seat, but he's talking, he's talking, he's talking. And they're getting ready to start, and. And Louie looks around and he's like, oh, crap, I don't have a seat. Where do I go sit? And Lindsay says, louie, Louie, there's a seat right up there next to the podium. Go sit up there. He said, you will be famous. And I laughed. I said, louie, you gotta do it. Go sit up there. You will be immortal. You'll be incarcerated, but you will be immortal. Dare right now and then. So this was 2014. Cause it was right after Nelson Mandela's funeral in December of 2013. And I don't know if you remember, this was a while ago, but at Mandela's funeral, there was a bizarre instance of this guy that stood up there and pretended to be a deaf interpreter.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. And he wasn't. He just figured his way in there.

[Ted Cruz]

And he wasn't doing sign language. He was just making random gestures and got on global television pretending to be a deaf interpreter. So I told Louie, I said, louis, go up there. And when Obama begins his speech, just start faking sign language. It will be you will go down in the history books. And God love, God love Louis. He had the sense not to take my advice, not to take Lindsey's advice.

[Ben Shapiro]

And doesn't have a and doesn't have a mug shot because of the evening. Everybody won. That's awesome. Senator, it's always a pleasure. As we said, everybody, it's late at night right after the State of the Union. We will see you guys back here on Friday morning. Don't forget, subscribe to the podcast so you get all three of them every week. They are free. Please write us that five star review so we can reach more people in the country. It helps with ratings on the chart so more people can find this podcast. And we'll see you back here on Friday.