Woke and Confused

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Woke and Confused"

Podcast Information:

• Title: The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
• Host/Author: Premiere Networks
• Episode: Woke and Confused
• Release Date: July 14, 2022

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Overview

In the episode titled "Woke and Confused," host Ben Ferguson delves into the intricate dynamics of contemporary American politics, focusing on the Democratic Party's strategies, voter demographics, and internal conflicts. The discussion is enriched with insights from prominent political figures, including Senator Ted Cruz and commentator Michael Knowles, who dissect the implications of political correctness, identity politics, and policy decisions on voter behavior and party allegiance.

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Key Sections

1. Democratic Missteps and Hispanic Voter Dynamics

   Ben Ferguson critiques the Democratic Party's approach to engaging Hispanic voters, highlighting perceived condescension and cultural misunderstandings. He references Joe Biden's attempt to connect with Hispanic communities by likening them to "tacos," suggesting it exemplifies the party's out-of-touch strategies.

   [02:19] Ted Cruz: "...anyone who puts an X in the word Latino or Latina ain't actually one of them. It is only a woke White leftist..."

   The conversation emphasizes a significant shift in Hispanic voting patterns, particularly in South Texas, where historically Democratic districts are increasingly favoring Republican candidates. The hosts attribute this change to the Democrats' failure to authentically engage with and understand the cultural nuances of Hispanic communities.

   [05:25] Ted Cruz: "...the out of touch wokeness of calling people Latinx... And by the way, who sends the first lady to a conference called the Latinx Conference?"

2. Senate Hearing on Abortion Rights

   The episode critiques a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion, spotlighting the radical positions taken by Democratic members. Ferguson highlights Senator Dick Durbin's historical stance against Roe v. Wade and contrasts it with the current Democratic push to eliminate abortion restrictions.

   [10:25] Ted Cruz: "...any president says he's running. You say that, so you're not a lame duck..."

   The hosts argue that such extreme positions alienate moderate voters and fail to resonate with the broader electorate, potentially damaging the Democratic Party's standing in upcoming elections.

3. Transgender Issues and Political Rhetoric

   Ferguson and Knowles discuss the Democratic Party's language surrounding transgender issues, critiquing terms like "person with the capacity for pregnancy" as erasing the identities of women and fostering division.

   [23:45] Ted Cruz: "...a person with the capacity for pregnancy... That's the opposite of dazed and confused. It's very woke."

   The dialogue underscores the contention that such rhetoric not only alienates voters but also fuels internal conflicts within the party, making it challenging to maintain a cohesive platform.

4. Platform Censorship and Freedom of Speech

   The conversation shifts to the banning of conservative voices like Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin from social media platforms. Ferguson expresses concern over the implications for free speech and the ability to engage in political discourse without censorship.

   [37:08] Ted Cruz: "...you write E L L and put a couple of asterisks afterward... And you can call attention to this insane rule..."

   This segment highlights the perceived bias of social media companies against conservative viewpoints, framing it as a significant barrier to open and fair political dialogue.

5. Biden’s Executive Order on Abortion

   The episode examines President Biden's executive order aimed at protecting abortion rights post the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Ferguson expresses skepticism regarding its effectiveness and the administration's commitment to safeguarding reproductive rights.

   [40:01] Ted Cruz: "...the radical left has gotten mad with the Biden White House for not being, like, super extreme..."

   The hosts predict that without substantial legislative support, the executive order may fall short in securing abortion rights nationwide.

6. COVID-19 Policies and Democratic Strategies

   Ferguson discusses the Democratic Party's handling of COVID-19 policies, suggesting that the administration may leverage health threats to divert attention from policy shortcomings. He expresses doubt over the likelihood of reintroducing lockdowns but acknowledges the potential for fear-mongering tactics.

   [36:04] Ted Cruz: "...they view that as one of the few issues that can rescue them..."

   This analysis posits that the Democrats may use public health crises as a means to regain political traction amidst declining approval ratings.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• [02:19] Ted Cruz: "Anyone who puts an X in the word Latino or Latina ain't actually one of them. It is only a woke White leftist..."

• [05:25] Ted Cruz: "...the out of touch wokeness of calling people Latinx... And by the way, who sends the first lady to a conference called the Latinx Conference?"

• [23:45] Ted Cruz: "A person with the capacity for pregnancy... That's the opposite of dazed and confused. It's very woke."

• [37:08] Ted Cruz: "You write E L L and put a couple of asterisks afterward... And you can call attention to this insane rule..."

• [40:01] Ted Cruz: "...the radical left has gotten mad with the Biden White House for not being, like, super extreme..."

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Conclusions and Predictions

Ben Ferguson concludes that the Democratic Party's current trajectory, characterized by excessive political correctness and ideological rigidity, is alienating key voter demographics, particularly within Hispanic communities. The hosts anticipate a continued shift towards Republican representation in traditionally Democratic strongholds, driven by the Democrats' failure to authentically engage with and understand their base. Additionally, the suppression of conservative voices on social media is portrayed as a significant obstacle to free and open political discourse, potentially hindering the Republican Party's ability to counteract Democratic narratives effectively.

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Final Thoughts

The "Woke and Confused" episode serves as a critical analysis of the Democratic Party's strategies and their repercussions on voter behavior and party cohesion. Through incisive commentary and referenced political events, Ben Ferguson provides listeners with a perspective that challenges mainstream media narratives, emphasizing the importance of authentic engagement and ideological clarity in shaping electoral outcomes.

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Subscribe and Stay Informed

Don't miss out on future episodes of "The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson." Subscribe now on the iHeartRadio app or your preferred podcast platform to stay ahead with unfiltered insights and honest commentary on the issues shaping America today.

Transcript

[Ted Cruz]

Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community, as distinct as the Bogotas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio.

[Michael Knowles]

Is your strength.

[Ted Cruz]

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[Michael Knowles]

Welcome back to Verdict. I'm Michael Knowles, joined as ever by my favorite taco, Senator Ted Cruz. Senator, how spicy are you feeling today?

[Ted Cruz]

I feel like a good chorizo and egg and cheese taco. And Michael, I gotta say, there are times when life imitates satire. If Saturday Night Live was trying to mock an out of touch Democrat going in front of an Hispanic audience and saying, you guys are a bunch of tacos, like, I'm sorry, Tina Fey could have delivered that line. Your tacos and the Bogotas in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, like, apparently Jill's never been to a bodega. I mean, that is just weird. And it typifies the out of touch Democrat Condescension to Latinxs. By the way, that conference was the Latinx explosion. And I gotta tell you right now, anyone who puts an X in the word Latino or Latina ain't actually one of them. It is only a woke. White leftist are the only people that stick X's in it. And that's apparently why the Bidens think we're tacos.

[Michael Knowles]

I can't wait for Jill Biden to pander to my community, the Italian American community, and say, you Italian Americans, you're greasier than a bowl of scungilli. You are slipperier than a nice focaccia bread. I don't think it would do a lot to win over the Italian vote. And I do know Democrats have been struggling with the Hispanic vote every cycle. The Republicans say we're about to make huge inroads with the black community or the Hispanic community. But if you look at the numbers right now, it would appear that massive chunks of the Hispanic voting bloc are moving rightward right now. So do you think that the taco pandering is going to win them back?

[Ted Cruz]

So look, Michael, in all seriousness, you, Michael Knowles, are a spicy meatball.

[Michael Knowles]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Ted Cruz]

I may be a taco, but you are a meatball with extra zest.

[Michael Knowles]

I've said it for years.

[Ted Cruz]

And look, since I'm Irish and Italian too, maybe I got a little meatball in my taco and I don't know, Irish with a pint of Guinness. I don't know. I don't even know.

[Michael Knowles]

It's.

[Ted Cruz]

That's not too bad. I've never had Guinness for breakfast, but breakfast taco. And there we go. We're set. It's actually amazing what is happening with Hispanic voters. By the way, there's an interesting. There was polling some time ago that I saw. I haven't seen it recently, but five, ten years ago the polling was that people who self reference as Hispanic tend to be more conservative. People who self reference as Latino tend to be further left. And people who self reference as Chicano tend to be the furthest left. And it's just kind of an interesting language piece. I don't know if that still holds because that polling data is a little bit out of date.

[Michael Knowles]

I think the people who self identify as Latinks, they actually tend to skew white. I think they're entirely white and not.

[Ted Cruz]

Yes and woke and confused. It's the opposite of dazed and confused. It's very woke. You know, it's an amazing thing. The Democrats numbers among Hispanics are plummeting and we saw that with Myra Flores, who was elected in Texas special election just a couple of weeks ago. The district runs from just south of San Antonio all the way down to Brownsville to the southern tip of Texas. It literally right on the border with Mexico. That is a district that hasn't had a Republican represented since 1871. That's a long time. And I've been predicting for a long time, I think all of South Texas is gonna turn red. By the way, Myra Flores district is the second most Hispanic congressional district in the entire United States of America. Hmm. It's something like 84% Hispanic. I'm not remembering the exact number, but it's in the neighborhood of 84%.

[Michael Knowles]

Is that a fluke or is that a bellwether for the midterms?

[Ted Cruz]

I think it is very much a bellwether. There are two other congressional seats in South Texas that are represented by Democrats right now. I think there is a very good chance that at least two out of those three will be represented by Republicans come January. And it might be all three out of those three. And interestingly enough, those Republicans, the candidates, all three are Hispanic women. I've endorsed all of them. I'm campaigning for all of them. And throughout the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, it has voted Democrat for over a hundred years. That's how long it's been. And there's all sorts of things that are causing that. I mean, it's the, you know, the out of touch wokeness of calling people Latinx. And by the way, who sends the first lady to a conference called the Latinx Conference? And that taco thing, here's the amazing thing. That wasn't an ad lib. This wasn't a Joe Biden, like, screw up because they just let him like meander off and talk. She was reading from a teleprompter. A White House staffer wrote those lines and thought, isn't this great? If we call them all tacos, they'll clearly vote for us if we do that.

[Michael Knowles]

That's a really important point because you've seen a ton of gaffes this week from Joe Biden. Biden at one point the White House tried to cover this up, but he actually read on the teleprompter, repeat the line. Repeat the line now. But he didn't repeat the line. He just read, repeat the line. You've seen all sorts of gaffes suggesting that he kind of forgot that he was the President at one point. And so we've come to expect that from Biden but what you're pointing out here is. No, this is the alleged adults in the room. The people who are supposed to be the geniuses who have their finger on the pulse of the base and the electorate. They're the ones who put the taco line into the speech.

[Ted Cruz]

Look, the Democrats look down on the American people as a whole, look down on voters as a whole, but they especially look down on minorities. I remember Joe Biden is the one who went, I think it was at the NAACP when he was vice president and said about Republicans, they're gonna put you back in chains. The Democrats look at Hispanics and they think we are a bunch of ignorant. I don't even know how to describe what they think about us, but they think we just. We have to vote Democrat, and there's no sense of wanting to earn the votes. I'll tell you, if you are an Hispanic guy in South Texas, you work at the oil field and you drive a pickup truck and you go bird hunting on the weekends, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the Democrats want to destroy your livelihood, want to endanger your family by open borders and chaos. And you know what? You're voting Republican. And that is happening at amazing numbers. And I can't wait to see three Hispanic women Republicans from the Rio Grande Valley standing up to Nancy Pelosi and AOC and all these liberals who insist, hey, illegal immigration is just hunky dory. It's just fine. The people who are living it know it's not. And I think the fact that this White House wrote this into a speech, A, sent the first lady to this ridiculous conference, and B, wrote these condescending lines into the speech. I think it's indicative of just how badly Biden and the Democrats are doing with Hispanics nationally. And I think we're gonna see a real sea change in this election.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, it seems to me the greater fear for the White House right now is not just that they're losing Hispanics. It seems that they're losing all of the Democrats. There are these poll numbers coming out that the majority of Democrats don't want Biden to be the nominee in 2024. And even worse than losing the Democrat vot, it seems to me that the White House is losing the Democrat establishment, the Democrat media, the Democrat press. You're seeing lots of negative stories coming out about Biden in the New York Times, in the Washington Post, in all of the corporate press, kind of stoking the flames of this Democrat uprising against Biden. Is this a sign that the Machine. The party and the powers that be have had it with Biden and they want a different option in 2024.

[Ted Cruz]

Yes, and it's also, listen, I think the chances that Biden runs in 24 minuscule. He ain't running. He's not up to the job. Now, he says he's running, but to be honest, any president says he's running. You say that, so you're not a lame duck. So I understand why he says he's running. I don't believe for a second that he's running. He's clearly not up to the task today. I mean, this is a man who shakes hands with the empty air. This is a man who they send staffers dressed as the Easter Bunny to prevent him from wandering and getting lost. It is. I think there's no chance he's running. But some of these stories, you gotta understand, are ambitious Democrats trying to take him out. And we can already see the daggers between Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg, both of which are. It's not even daggers, it's chainsaws. It's Patriot missile firing against it. Probably Scuds, but. And by the way, Gavin Newsom, now, you know your former governor chiming in and trying desperately to say, look at me, look at me. This is. And then you're going to have Elizabeth Warren riding in on a rainbow unicorn. It's the 24. Democratic primary has started already and it ain't pretty. They're going to light each other up and Biden is just a casualty of that.

[Michael Knowles]

Newsom is buying airtime in Florida. That's kind of a weird thing to do if you're focused on rebuilding your state. It's not a weird thing to do if you want to position yourself for 2024. You mentioned our friend La Watha there, Ms. Warren. Elizabeth Warren seems to be riding in on this issue of abortion. She's focusing so intently. I mean, you can almost see the fire in her eyes when she lights up. First about the leak, then about the Dobbs decision, now about the pro life laws all around the country. You had a pretty bizarre exchange today in the Senate. There was a hearing on abortion. I looked at polls, I saw that for only 15% of the electorate, is abortion the top issue? Most people don't vote on abortion. Whether we're talking pro life or pro abortion, it the Democrats abortion position, abortion on demand without apology until the moment of birth. That is not where the American people are. No, polls suggest that it is. Is this gonna be a winner for Liz Warren? Do the Democrats really think that they should keep putting their pro abortion talking points in before the midterms.

[Ted Cruz]

So look, it might well be a winner for her in the Democrat primary. Their primary has become a race to the crazy left. It's not a winner. I don't believe in the general election. And you know, you mentioned we had a hearing today in the Judiciary Committee that Dick Durbin, the chairman of the committee, held, and it was designed to describe what an apocalyptic hell we're living in post Dobbs, that without Roe, America is an unrecognizable. It's Mad Max at Thunderdome. It's truly horrific. And I gotta say, I think the hearing went really, really badly for Democrats. I think by the end of the hearing, even the Democrats were starting to recognize this is not going the way we wanted it to.

[Michael Knowles]

Senator, I think you're being modest, actually. I think what happened is that you personally rhetorically shivved poor Dick Durbin and you didn't do it by lobbing any bombs. All I saw was the one clip of you talking about Dick Durbin. You just read his own words back to him.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, I pointed out that the Democrat Party used to have room for diversity, used to have some voices of reasonableness on all sorts of issues. Look, on foreign policy, there were Scoop Jackson Democrats, there were more moderate Democrats. Planned Parenthood versus Casey. A lot of people don't know that the Casey there was Governor Bob Casey Sr. He was a Democrat. He was strongly pro life. Today's Democrats have said, if you're pro life, get out of the party. We don't want you. And so at the hearing, I took a chance to say, all right, we should reflect on just how radicalized the Democrat Party's gotten on abortion. And I said, for example, when Roe vs. Wade was decided 1973, one person who was very critical was a person named Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. Who said in 1974, quote, I don't like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don't think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body. So that was Joe Biden in 74. And I pointed out, I said, well, okay, maybe 74 is a long time ago. He, you know, he's woken up since then. Well, let's look at Joe Biden in 2007. 2007 is just 15 years ago. Joe Biden is on Meet the Press. Tim Russert says, quote, you supported that ban on late term abortions. And Biden said, quote, I did. And I do. That was just 15 years ago. That was the position of Joe Biden. Just a few weeks ago, the Democrats voted to strike down every ban in the country on late term abortions, and every single Democrat but one voted for it. The view of Joe Biden 15 years ago or 1974 is no longer allowed in today's radicalized Democrat Party. And then here's what you referenced that I pointed out to show just how far it was gotten. It's not just Joe Biden. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin. In June of 1983, Durbin wrote a letter and here I quoted it at the hearing. The letter says, quote, I have clearly studied the issue of abortion in depth and I'm in favor of the Eagleton Amendment, which states clearly that the right to abortion is not guaranteed by the US Constitution. The effect of this amendment will be to return us to the legal environment which existed before Roe versus Wade in 1973. And it was signed Richard J. Durbin, Member of Congress. And it wasn't just in 1983. Fast forward to 1989. So six years later, Chairman Durbin wrote again, and here's a quote. I believe we should end abortion on demand. And at every opportunity I have translated this belief into votes in the House of Representatives. I continue to believe the Supreme Court's decision in Roe vs. Wade should be reversed. Dick Durbin, now the chairman Democrat, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and he's one of the people who happily voted to strike down every single restriction of abortion on the country and to allow unlimited abortion on demand because the Democrats are wildly out of step on this issue.

[Michael Knowles]

What's amazing is that you're reading their own words, you're gutting their argument with their own words from the distant past. And the not so distant past wasn't even the craziest exchange that I saw. Frankly, it might not have even been in the top two craziest exchanges that I saw during this hearing today. The Democrats put forward some pro abortion radical and your colleague from Texas, Senator Cornyn, couldn't get an answer out of her or it took a while to get an answer out of her on the value of babies.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, it was really extreme. I do want to say before we leave the Durbin thing. So I give my questioning with a poster board behind me with the images of the letters from Durbin with his signature. And look, to be honest, I mean, I'm filleting the guy who's sitting about eight feet from me. I read all of these quotes. I end my remarks with what the Supreme Court has done is return this deeply personal, deeply important, deeply contested, contentious issue to the voters to let the American people decide. That's democracy, and all of us should be happy about that. Durbin then has has a chance to response. Here's his response. I'm gonna quote it in full. Thank you, Senator Cruz.

[Michael Knowles]

It's a smart response.

[Ted Cruz]

That literally is how he responds to my reading his letter. Two letters, while I'm sitting with a picture of him behind me.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, what's he gonna say? What's he going to say? He's sitting there, you got him dead to rights. He knows he can't win. So, okay, moving on.

[Ted Cruz]

All right, so then we get to Cornyn. Cornyn asks questions after me, and there was this law professor who is as radical a Democrat witness as I've ever seen. She's African American woman. She's a law professor whose specialty is abortion. So, like, she is at a law school, and all she does is advocate for abortion all day long. And so Cornyn starts by saying that her testimony says that African Americans have abortions at a rate three times or four times greater than, than non white Americans. And he asks her, is that a good thing? Is that systemic racism? And she won't answer whether it's a good thing for there to be more black abortions or not. She refuses to answer that. So then Corden goes in and he asks a very simple question. Do you think that a baby that is delivered alive has value? This witness is silent for. I went back and counted it 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds. And finally she says, yes. I got to tell you in the room, those four seconds were a long time. The question was, do you think a baby that is delivered alive has value? So Cornyn goes on and says, do you think that a baby that is not yet born has value?

[Michael Knowles]

I believe that a person with a capacity for pregnancy has value. They have intelligence. They have agency.

[Ted Cruz]

Cornyn comes back, no, I'm talking about the baby, Professor Bridges, and I'm talking.

[Michael Knowles]

About the person with the capacity for.

[Ted Cruz]

Senator Cornyn, you're not answering the question. I'm asking Professor Bridges with the smugness of a leftist who views all of us with condescending sneers.

[Michael Knowles]

I'm answering a more interesting question to me.

[Ted Cruz]

Cornyn tries again. Do you think that a baby that is not yet born, let's say the day before this mother delivers, do you think that baby has value?

[Michael Knowles]

Her answer, I think that the person with the capacity for pregnancy has value and they should have the ability to control what happens to their lives.

[Ted Cruz]

Now, I gotta say, even among advocates for abortion, it is stunning to have a witness who is unwilling to acknowledge that an infant in a mother's womb who is nine months pregnant has any value whatsoever. That is not a sentence she's willing to say. Look, there are people who are pro abortion who could say, yes, of course, the child has value, but I value the mother's liberty interest more. I understand that position. That's not what she said. She's unwilling to articulate, to acknowledge one iota of value in the child. And it took her four seconds to acknowledge that even a baby that's been born has value.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, she wouldn't even acknowledge the question. To me, that's even almost crazier. It would be like asking, hey, Michael, do you think that babies have value? And I'll say, I think the 1998 New York Yankees have value. You say, okay, sure, that's fine, but that's not what I'm asking you.

[Ted Cruz]

And did you notice a really weird tick? So this whole questioning with Cornyn occurred after I had asked my questions. Did you notice a word that she didn't use in response to any of those questions?

[Michael Knowles]

The most controversial word around today, it's.

[Ted Cruz]

The word that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson doesn't know what a woman is. And she kept using this phrase, a person with the capacity for pregnancy, which I don't think I've ever heard that phrase until this afternoon. And that led to one of the most astonishing exchanges. So after Cornyn, Josh Hawley from Missouri had an opportunity to question her, and he couldn't help but ask about this bizarre phrase, she kept using, a person with capacity for pregnancy.

[Senator Cornyn]

You've referred to people with a capacity for pregnancy. Would that be women?

[Michael Knowles]

Many women, Cis women have the capacity for pregnancy. Many CIS women do not have the capacity for pregnancy. There are also trans men who are capable of pregnancy as well as non binary people who are capable of pregnancy.

[Senator Cornyn]

So this isn't really a women's rights issue. It's a.

[Michael Knowles]

We can recognize that this impacts women while also recognizing that it impacts other groups. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Senator Hawley.

[Senator Cornyn]

So your view is. Is that the core of this, this right, then, is about what?

[Michael Knowles]

So I want to recognize that your line of questioning is transphobic, and it opens up trans people to violence by not recognizing that.

[Senator Cornyn]

Wow, you're saying that I'm opening up people to violence by asking whether or not women are the folks who can have pregnancies.

[Michael Knowles]

So I'M one. I want to note that one out of five transgender persons have attempted suicide. So I think it's important because of.

[Senator Cornyn]

My line of questioning. So we can't talk about it because.

[Michael Knowles]

Denying that trans people exist and pretending not to know that they exist.

[Senator Cornyn]

I'm denying that trans people exist by asking you, if you're talking about women.

[Michael Knowles]

Having pregnancies, do you believe that men can get pregnant?

[Senator Cornyn]

No, I don't think women can get pregnant.

[Michael Knowles]

So you are denying that trans people.

[Senator Cornyn]

Exist, and that leads to violence. Is this how you run your classroom? Are students allowed to question you, or are they also treated like this, where you're told that they're opening up people to violence?

[Michael Knowles]

We have a good time in my class. You should join. You might learn a lot.

Wow.

[Senator Cornyn]

I would learn a lot. I've learned a lot.

[Michael Knowles]

I know.

[Senator Cornyn]

Absolutely extraordinary.

[Michael Knowles]

That is a truly extraordinary exchange. Senator, how did your colleague, Mr. Hawley, keep his cool?

[Ted Cruz]

It is amazing. Look, I got to say, I've served in the Senate 10 years. I've seen lots of witnesses in front of lots of committees. Number one, I have never seen a witness as moon bat bizarre out there as this witness. And I've also never seen a witness as contemptuous of a senator asking her a question in a Senate hearing as that professor was. And it's the contempt of the hard left. It's the same contempt of the White House staffer that said to Jill Biden, call Hispanics tacos. It's, if you don't agree with what we demand, it is sneering condescension. You're opening up for violence. After that exchange, I pulled Josh aside on the Senate floor, and I was like, holy crap, what an exchange. And I actually confessed. I said, you know, my team had written a line of questioning similar to this because she used in her written testimony also the phrase person with capacity for pregnancy. And I decided to focus on the Durbin and Biden stuff as well, just to show how radical the Democrats were rather than going after the witness in particular. But when Holly did that and she came back sneering, I actually asked him, I said, how on earth did you keep your cool? I thought Josh did a very nice job of staying calm. I'll confess, I do not think I would have remained that calm to that. He was amused. And I particularly like, oh, I bet I would learn a lot in your class. This is her students. I mean, you're literally, if you believe that women get pregnant, apparently that statement is inciting to violence. That's just that is a clip every voter in America should watch the day before election day. I'll tell you an exchange I had with another Democrat senator on the Judiciary Committee, oh, I don't know, maybe a year ago, where he referred to birthing people. And I pulled him aside and I said, birthing people is your base really that moon bat crazy that you can't say bombs? Is the word mother now forbidden? And he basically admitted, yeah, it is. And you just saw she's unwilling to acknowledge that it is women who give birth.

[Michael Knowles]

There's an irony to this, too, which is that their own people don't love this. I mean, I'm with you. I think we should plaster this clip everywhere. I endorse this woman, Professor Bridges. I endorse her for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. Please, Professor Bridges, now is the time we need you to accuse 90% of America, which understands that men and women are different. We need you to call them all killers. That's the way that we want you to run that election.

[Ted Cruz]

And by the way, we need Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Ward and Pete Buttigieg and Gavin Newsom to get to the left of craziness. I don't even know what the next step is. If you're not allowed to say men.

[Michael Knowles]

And women, Transhumanism might be the next thing. Speciesism, I don't know. I don't want to give them ideas. But there's this irony here, which you mentioned, that the Democratic senators, for goodness sakes, but certainly these professors are using all these phrases, birthing people, persons with the capacity to become pregnant, just erasing women entirely from public life. There was a major criticism of this the other day from my absolute favorite Twitter account. Sorry, Senator, you are not my favorite. My actual favorite Twitter account is Bette Midler. She posts by far the greatest stuff on that platform. Bette Midler, radical to the left, probably not the highest information voter out there. And she. She posts in one of her rants on Twitter, she says, these misogynists, these sexist conservatives, they're erasing women. They're taking away our rights. They won't even call us women anymore. They call us birthing people and all these sorts of euphemisms. And I read that, and I said, well, I'm with you, darling. I'm with you. Ms. Midler. We're not the ones using the phrase birthing people.

[Ted Cruz]

And the funny thing is that exchange. I saw that tweet, the left lit her on fire. And she, look, it is obviously, yes, I believe women exist. That didn't used to be a radical statement. And so the phrases. Look, you actually skipped over the phrase she used. She referred to they won't call us women. They call us people with vaginas. I gotta say, that's an obnoxious. Like it really is reducing women to genitalia. And that's the modern left. And, and, and it, and even Bette Midler recognizes this is horrible. And so the woke left immediately says, bette Midler, you, you, you, you are not woke enough. I will say, by the way, as obnoxious as Bette Midler can be on. On Twitter, she is one heck of a singer. A. Have you seen the movie for the Boys?

[Michael Knowles]

I haven't, no.

[Ted Cruz]

Oh. Oh. It's a fabulous movie with James Caan and we just lost.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And they're a husband, wife who are singing and they sing for the troops. And it starts in the 50s and goes through Vietnam. It starts in the 40s, actually goes through Vietnam. And they age. And it's a fabulous show. But the songs. I may not be a fan of her politics generally, but that woman can sing.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, speaking of left wing singers who are taking issue with this, did you see the Macy Gray interview flip flop on this specific issue on transgenderism?

[Ted Cruz]

I have no idea who that person is.

[Michael Knowles]

She did that song I Try to say Goodbye. And how much of this song am I gonna have to get through before you?

[Ted Cruz]

I have no idea who that person is.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, then I will spare you the rest of the one Macy Gray song. I know Macy Gray was this singer. She still is. She's still around. She was a popular singer in the late 90s, early 2000s. She's kind of making a comeback now. She's got some new album coming out. And so she goes on an interview on Piers Morgan's show and she acknowledges. She says, look, I know this isn't politically correct right now. I know I might irritate some people, but I'm a woman. It matters to me to be a woman. And I don't think that men who call themselves women, I don't think they're really women. I don't think if you get a surgery that magically makes you a woman, I am woman. Hear me roar. Really basic point, everybody would have agreed with this five minutes ago. The left lights her up. I'm sure she got a bunch of angry calls from her agent. She goes on the Today show. She goes on with Hoda, the host on the Today show. And it was like a hostage tape. And she's sitting there this is just, what, four days after she made the comments of her very clear views that she had considered and she knew wouldn't be popular. And then she completely flips them. And the interviewer says, so, Macy, have you learned? What have you learned? Have you been educated? And Macy says, yeah, well, I guess, anyway, yeah, okay, fine. Anybody can be a woman. All right? Can you buy my album now, please? And she was browbeaten into falling into line. But I wonder how many Macy Gray wanted to get rid of the National Anthem. Okay, Macy Gray wanted to get rid of the Star Spangled Banner because she's so far to the left and she was swept up in the anti American rhetoric of the last few years. She is not a conservative. Bette Midler is not a conservative. If the libs. If the Democrats are losing, bet and Macy's. How many more people are they losing on this issue?

[Ted Cruz]

Well, you forgot J.K. rowling, who even Harry Potter has denounced J.K. rowling, who, like, wrote the whole damn thing again for the radical heresy of saying women exist.

[Michael Knowles]

So I sort of hope that this issue is one where the left is leaning really hard. Maybe because they really believe it ideologically, maybe because they need to serve a radical base. But I just think if now Bette Midler and Macy Gray and J.K. rowling are considered on the right, how do they expect to win an election in November? Forget about 2024.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, and actually, this connects back to the issue we started with, which was the whole Latinx thing. So, look, literally, the Spanish language, you define someone Latino and Latina based on whether they're male or female. And most words in Spanish are either male or female. The entire language is designed, is structured. In fact, one of the reasons my Spanish is so lousy is I screw up the male and female all the time in Spanish. But someone putting Latinx in is literally saying your entire language and culture matters less to me than my ideology that women do not exist. I mean, it's. That's weird.

[Michael Knowles]

Well, now, this does get to a mailbag question we got, because if you look at the polls right now, the Democrats are underwater on every single issue with this possible exception of COVID That's the one issue where they might have a very slight net positive. This question in from Jake. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, and Joe Biden are already sounding the alarm on a new round of COVID In your estimation, Senator, are the Democrats planning to lockdown again before the midterms?

[Ted Cruz]

I doubt they'll go so far as to lock down, but I do think the Democrats desperately want a Covid scare. They want masks. They want. I think they view that as one of the few issues that can rescue them. I'll be surprised if they go so far as to try lockdowns again. But I do think some good old fashioned fear mongering. We're definitely. We saw that on Monkeypox where the White House was trying to lean in on that. They're really eager for some health threat to distract from the train wreck that is their policy failures.

[Michael Knowles]

This question from our cactus, our very own cactus, this comes from the Verdict plus community. She says some conservatives handle a banning by sticking to their guns, like the Babylon Bee who you just referenced, while others will follow along with Twitter rules so that they can maintain their platform and continue to call out Twitter's hypocrisy. If one of our friends from Verdict were in this situation, what would they do?

[Ted Cruz]

Senator, Awfully good question, I will say. The last podcast we did, we talked about Jordan Peterson being banned from Twitter. We talked about Dave Rubin being banned from Twitter. I've spoken out against both of those, as it so happened. Last night I had dinner with Jordan Peterson and I asked him and he's still banned. And Jordan said, look, I will not take down the tweet no matter what. And I did marvel over dinner. I said, at least so far Twitter hasn't banned me. They may, they may try, but they haven't yet. And so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But I'm not sure how eager they are to do it, but we'll see. I think there will come a time when they try to ban me, but they haven't done it yet.

[Michael Knowles]

I do think your prudence is also important. We're called to be innocent as doves and wise as serpents. And so you do want to be able to live to fight another day. You don't want to do something that's wrong or immoral or break your principles, but you want to be able to live to fight another day. Day. So one tangible way that you can do this, one real practical way to do it, is when you look at why Jordan was banned. He was banned because he referred to the actress Ellen Page as Ellen Page and he called her she instead of he or by the male name that she has now assumed because she's saying that she's a man. And they said that this is misgendering her, which is ironic because he was just gendering her. The only people misgendering her are the people who are suggesting that she's not but a young lady who we've seen in a bunch of movies for years and years now. So how does one deal with this? You know, this is the same reason Dave was banned, is because he just posted what Jordan posted and then they took him down, too. How do you get around this? I don't think that you should cave and squish and call Ellen Elliot and him and go along with the Twitter rules. But does this mean that therefore you need to just go full steam ahead, kamikaze and nuke your account? I'm not sure that you have to. I mean, I think there are ways around this. Well, one way to do it is you write E L L and put a couple of asterisks afterward. Or you say ellen ye age pay or she who must not be named or something. And you can call attention to this insane rule that effectively bans all disagreement with transgenderism. But you're still in the game. You're still there to fight another day. Question from Ray. This is something I actually had meant to get to and we didn't get to it yet. So I'm glad it came up. Will President Biden's executive order to protect abortion rights, and I saw the headline, I actually haven't read very much about it. Will that executive order to protect abortion rights nationwide have any power now that Roe v. Wade is overturned?

[Ted Cruz]

I don't know. Is the short answer the executive order? There wasn't a whole lot of detail in it. So we'll see what the administration tries to do. I will say one of the interesting things in the wake of the, wake of the Dobbs decision is the radical left has gotten mad with the Biden White House for not being, like, super extreme and like, I don't even know what they're supposed to do. But, you know, turning every post office in America into a mobile abortion hospital. And we saw the White House actually put out a statement blasting the far left as out of touch with America. It was really quite remarkable. I do hope whoever wrote that statement watched the hearing today that Durbin and the Democrats put on, because those Democrat witnesses were as woke as you can get.

[Michael Knowles]

Yeah. Something tells me that it wouldn't play very well with nice little old grandmothers going to the post office ready to go vote. And it turns out they've turned the post office into an abortion mill or the national parks or anything else like that. Final question, very important one from Adam in our verdict. Plus community. Michael and Ted, if you could eat anything right now in the whole world, what would it be?

[Ted Cruz]

Cheese is my favorite food. A quesadilla. Like when I get home, my sort of comfort food at home, if I get home and I'm hungry is I'll take a tortilla or two and just melt cheese in it. Which just made me realize, holy crap, Joe Biden is right, I'm a taco. Cause that's what I have is that I have a melted cheese quesadilla.

[Michael Knowles]

No, that is obviously it. And it is Tuesday, Senator. It is Taco Tuesday. I will not say that what I would eat right now is a taco. I think that would be a direct threat against a US Senator. That would not be acceptable at all.

[Ted Cruz]

So I'll keep mum and Michael, I will give you need to answer the question from Verdict plus, but I will give a shout out to my colleague, Marco Rubio. So in response to the taco speech, I said I was a chorizo, egg and cheese taco, which was fine. It was a decent tweet, but it wasn't fabulous. Marco sent out a picture of a taco and said, my new profile picture. And I was like, all right, that is funny. That was props to best response, I think I've seen was Marco's response.

[Michael Knowles]

I guess I'll take inspiration from your description of me, Senator. I probably would just go eat a big fat meatball. I'm with you. I'm not a sweets guy. I'm a salty guy, a savory sort of guy. Really. Probably what I would have is a delicious cigar. I ate dinner already as well. It's the end of the night. We've been unwinding. You have been working all day. We have to leave it there. If you have not subscribed, my friend, go over and subscribe on all of the podcast apps on all of the video platforms, and especially the Verdict plus community on locals. Until next time, I'm Michael Knowles. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

[Ted Cruz]

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