Alito & Thomas Dissent, Tesla Terror gets a Pass & Democratic Disarray Week In Review

Summary

Verdict with Ted Cruz: Episode Summary

Release Date: April 26, 2025

In this episode of "Verdict with Ted Cruz," hosted by Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson, the duo delves into three pivotal stories shaping the current political landscape: the Supreme Court's controversial decision on deportations of Venezuelan immigrants, the alarming rise in targeted vandalism against Tesla vehicles, and the mounting disarray within the Democratic Party as highlighted by recent CNN polling data. This comprehensive analysis provides listeners with in-depth insights into these critical issues, complete with notable quotes and contextual discussions.

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1. Supreme Court's Ruling on Venezuelan Deportations: Alito & Thomas Dissent

Overview: The podcast opens with a discussion on the Supreme Court's recent decision to halt the deportation of Venezuelan illegal immigrants. This ruling has stirred significant confusion and frustration among the public, raising questions about its implications for immigration policy and executive authority.

Key Points:

• Court's Decision: The Supreme Court issued an emergency order blocking the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants under an 18th-century law, effectively suspending their removal until further notice.

• Dissenting Opinion: Justices Alito and Thomas penned a vehement dissent, criticizing the Court's expedited and broad intervention without clear jurisdiction or sufficient procedural grounds.

Notable Quotes:

• Senator Ted Cruz [01:01]: "It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Weekend Review, Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week."

• Chief Justice Alito & Justice Thomas [02:20]: "In sum, literally, in the middle of the night, the court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order and without providing any explanation for its order."

Discussion: Ben Ferguson breaks down the complexities of the ruling, highlighting the procedural anomalies and the narrow majority (7-2) supporting the decision. He emphasizes the dissent's concerns about the Court overstepping its jurisdiction and the potential long-term ramifications for the Trump administration's immigration policies. Ferguson suggests that the Democrats may be attempting to provoke further Supreme Court interference, a strategy he views as both risky and detrimental.

Implications:

• Policy Roadblocks: The ruling presents a significant obstacle for the Trump administration's promises to secure the border and eliminate illegal immigration, particularly concerning violent offenders.

• Judicial Overreach: The dissent underscores fears of the judiciary unduly influencing immigration enforcement, potentially weakening executive authority and legislative intent.

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2. Tesla Terror: Vandalism and Judicial Inaction

Overview: The second major topic addresses a spree of vandalism targeting Tesla vehicles by a Minnesota state employee, raising concerns about domestic terrorism and the perceived leniency of liberal district attorneys towards such acts.

Key Points:

• Incidents: Dylan Brian Adams, a 33-year-old government employee, was responsible for over $20,000 in damages by keying multiple Tesla cars while walking his dog.

• Judicial Response: Henneman County District Attorney Mary Moriarty chose not to press charges against Adams, sparking outrage among law enforcement and the public.

Notable Quotes:

• Ben Ferguson [15:52]: "This is from the New York Post, that Moriarty's decision not to bring charges is frustrating for his officers and the public."

• Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Farra [15:52]: "Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Henneman county attorneys should be directed solely at her office."

Discussion: Ben Ferguson criticizes the district attorney's decision, framing it as indicative of a broader Democratic trend of excusing or ignoring violence against conservatives and business figures like Elon Musk. He connects this incident to a perceived increase in domestic terrorism endorsed by leftist factions, suggesting that the inaction sends a dangerous message to other potential vandals.

Implications:

• Public Safety Concerns: The leniency towards vandalism against Tesla owners may embolden further acts of violence, undermining community trust in law enforcement and the judicial system.

• Political Polarization: Ferguson argues that such judicial inaction reflects the Democratic Party's prioritization of ideological battles over the rule of law, exacerbating societal divisions.

Additional Insights:

• Psychological Impact: Ted Cruz raises the concern that the district attorney's inaction could deter individuals from purchasing Tesla vehicles, effectively engaging in financial warfare against Elon Musk and his enterprises.

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3. Democratic Party in Disarray: CNN Polling Analysis

Overview: The final segment focuses on the internal struggles within the Democratic Party, as reported by CNN's recent polling data. The analysis reveals significant drops in confidence and leadership approval among Democratic constituents.

Key Points:

• Polling Data: CNN reports a sharp decline in Democrats' confidence in their congressional leaders, with approval ratings for figures like Chuck Schumer dropping from 73% to 52% in New York alone.

• Leadership Challenges: The departure of prominent Democrats, such as Senator Dick Durbin, underscores the party's internal dissatisfaction and potential leadership vacuum.

Notable Quotes:

• CNN Analyst [23:21]: "Democrats and their leaders. I mean, take a look nationally... That number has been slashed in half to just 39%."

• Ben Ferguson [24:08]: "The fact that AOC has a higher approval rating than Chuck Schumer means the Democratic Party is dead."

• Senator Ted Cruz [25:25]: "Dick Durbin is the number two Democrat in the entire Senate... he's calling it quits. He is also the top, the ranking member, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Discussion: Ben Ferguson interprets the polling data as evidence of the Democratic Party's decline, attributing the dissatisfaction to what he perceives as a shift towards more extreme and unmanageable leadership. He criticizes figures like Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin for lacking the necessary competence and appealing leadership, suggesting that their inability to effectively lead is driving the party's erosion.

Implications:

• Leadership Vacuum: The departure of senior Democrats like Dick Durbin could lead to further instability and weakening of the party's influence in Congress.

• Voter Confidence: The plummeting confidence among Democrats indicates a potential fracturing of the party's base, which could have significant repercussions in upcoming elections.

Additional Insights:

• Comparative Approval: Ferguson highlights the higher approval ratings of younger Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) compared to established leaders like Chuck Schumer, emphasizing a generational and ideological rift within the party.

• Critique of Competence: The discussion underscores a demand within the Democratic base for more effective and ideologically aligned leadership, reflecting broader tensions and challenges faced by the party.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Verdict with Ted Cruz provides a critical examination of recent developments in the Supreme Court's immigration rulings, the surge in politically motivated vandalism against Tesla vehicles, and the internal struggles plaguing the Democratic Party. Through detailed analysis and impactful quotes, Cruz and Ferguson offer listeners a thorough understanding of these issues, highlighting the profound implications for American politics and society.

For a more in-depth exploration of these topics, listeners are encouraged to download and listen to the full podcast episode.

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Note: Advertisements and non-content segments have been omitted from this summary to focus solely on the substantive discussions presented in the episode.

Transcript

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[Ted Cruz]

Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Weekend Review, Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, SCOTUS getting involved in the deportation of Venezuelan illegals. It's interesting to see what Alito and Thomas had to say about it. We're going to break that down. Also, you know that Tesla terrorists, well, some radical judges are saying, yeah, let's just let them go. Where's it happening and how are they getting away with it? That as well. And finally, yes, it's real. CNN sounding the alarm that the Democratic Party is in total disarray. So is the Democratic Party over with and are they just going to admit they're socialists and communists and Marxists? We'll break that down as well. It's the Weekend Review and it starts right now. I want to move also to the second big, big story and there's some people that are confused. I also think very frustrated by the Supreme Court halting the deportations of illegal immigrants in some cases. Can you break down what this ruling is? Alito was in the dissent here and the the headlines over Easter weekend. The people are like, wait, what? How, why is this happening? I don't understand how we're protecting people that are illegal immigrants yet again at the level of the Supreme Court. Break this down so it makes sense.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, the Supreme Court early Saturday morning issued an order blocking the deportation of a ven Venezuelan illegal immigrants under an 18th century Law and what it said is that they had to halt the deportations until, quote, further order of this court. And I gotta say, Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, wrote a very fiery dissent, really disagreeing with it. I'm gonna read you part of the dissent. Here's what Justice Alito and Justice Thomas wrote. Quote, shortly after midnight yesterday, the court hastily and prematurely granted unprecedented emergency relief proceeding under the All Ritz Act. The court ordered the, quote, government not to remove a, quote, putative class of detainees until this court issues a superseding order. Although the order does not define the, quote, putative class, it appears that the court means all members of the class that the habeas petitioner sought to have certified, namely, quote, all noncitizens in custody in the Northern District of Texas who were, are and will be subject to the 3-20-25 presidential proclamation entitled Invocation of the Alien Enemies act regarding the invasion of the United States by trend and or its implementation. It also appears that applicants have recently moved to amend their class petition for habeas corpus and their motion for class certification. So it is not clear if the applicants will continue to defend this specific definition or will argue for a new one. And although the court does not specify what it means by, quote, the government, it appears that term is intended to embrace all the named defendants, including the president. The court did all of this even though it is not clear that the court had jurisdiction. The All Writs act does not provide an independent grant of jurisdiction. Therefore, the court had jurisdiction only if the court of appeals had jurisdictions of the applicant's appeal. And the court of appeals had jurisdiction only if the supposed order that the applicants appealed amounted to a denial of a preliminary injunction. But here, the order that applicants appealed was what they viewed as the district court's constructive denial of their request for a temporary restraining order. That is, the district court did not actually deny their most recent request for a tro. But they inferred that it was constructively denied because the district court failed a rule on that request before the expiration of a truncated council imposed deadline. The denial of a true TRO is not appealable. And here it is not clear that the applicant's TRO request was actually denied it. Indeed, in an order issued last night, the fifth Circuit held that it lacked jurisdiction. For this reason, it is questionable whether the applicant complied with a general obligation to seek emergency injunctive relief in the district court before asking for such relief from an appellate court. When applicants requested such relief in the district court, they insisted on a ruling within 45 minutes on good Friday afternoon. And when the district court did not act within 133 minutes, they filed a notice of appeal which the district court held deprived it of its jurisdiction. Now, a lot of that, that jurisdictional language seems confusing, but understand what happened. They went to the district court and they said, we want an answer within 45 minutes. And the court did not respond one way or another in 45 minutes. And they immediately appealed and said, oh, they haven't answered. That means you've denied it. And the Court of Appeals ruled that, well, we're not going to act on this. And unfortunately, seven, two, the Supreme Court jumped in. And in fact, here's how Justice Alito and Justice Thomas end their dissent. In sum, literally, in the middle of the night, the court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order and without providing any explanation for its order. I refused to join the court's order because we had no good reason to think that under the circumstances, issuing the order at midnight was necessary or appropriate. Both the executive and and the judiciary have an obligation to follow the law. The executive must proceed under the terms of our order. And this court should follow established procedures.

[Ted Cruz]

So you look at this and what is this going to mean moving forward? And how big of a roadblock is this going to be for the Trump administration to do what they've said and promised the American people? And by the way, the American people voted for which was, we want to secure the border and we want to get rid of all the illegal immigrants that came into this country, especially those that are violent.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, look, it's not clear how big a challenge it's going to be. The most distressing thing about this order was that it was 7 2. 72 is not good. It means everybody bot Alito and Thomas voted to stay to halt the deportations of Venezuelans. It's not clear, presumably they're going to write a more extended opinion at some point. And so we'll find out more of their reasoning. But I gotta say, look, these two stories, this story and the first one are connected because I will say the Democrats strategy in doing the full Ginsburg, in some ways, I think their audience is not the American people. They've got to know somebody on the Democrat side of the aisle has got to know, hey, this is not earning us votes. When we say we're the party of illegal aliens and criminals and gang members and wife beaters that's us. You don't have to be a rocket scientist when it comes to reading public opinion to know that's not the most popular of issues to stake your entire party platform on. But in many ways, they're aiming at a much smaller audience. They're aiming at five. They're hoping to get five justices pissed off and to get them pissed off enough that we see a series of Supreme Court orders against the Trump administration trying to halt these deportations. Now, I don't think that's going to happen, but this ruling is troubling that it was 7:2 Alito's dissent. Look, Alito was very concerned about this. And the procedural minutiae that he recounts is very unusual. And so that dynamic, it is a dangerous process. It is. Right now there's a little bit of a game of chicken. And I think what the Democrats are trying to do is piss off a couple of Supreme Court justices and get them to rule decisively against the president. That would be very unfortunate if that starts to happen.

[Ted Cruz]

Simply another question real quick before we move on, is part of this, could it just be the quickness that they were asking for the ruling from the court? Is that something that you could change moving forward? Could that be part of that issue?

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, look, it was done as an emergency appeal. And there are times, you know, there's another context where this happens a lot, which is dealing with death penalty appeals. And when you have death penalty appeals, you have someone who's been convicted of a capital offense and they're set to be executed. And very frequently you have last minute appeals that are filed. And I'll tell you, when I was a law clerk, I was a law clerk for Chief justice Rehnquist in 1996 and 1997. And at the time, so this gives you a sense, you can now make a crack about how old I am at the time. The way we would get these emergency appeals is they would be faxed in so they weren't emailed at the time they'd be faxed in. And you'd get it off the fax and you would get, say if the midnight was if the execution was scheduled to happen at midnight. And by the way, if it was midnight on the west coast, that MEANT it was 3am in D.C. but if the execution was scheduled at midnight, you would get sometimes a hundred page appeal faxed in at 10:30pm and what would happen? So what plays out when that gets faxed in is the justice who is the lead justice for that circuit. So each circuit, each region of the country has a lead justice. Who is the justice to whom emergency appeals go. Initially, Chief Justice Rehnquist was the lead justice for the Fourth Circuit as concerned death penalty appeals. And so that was Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia in particular, there were a fair number of capital cases. So you would get it faxed to you. You, as the law clerk, would read through it. You'd have to read through it very quickly. You'd have to prepare a memo, write a memo. You then send it to your justice. And a lot of times, if this was at midnight or one or two or three in the morning, you'd have to call home and wake your justice up. Your justice would be asleep. You'd call home. You'd say, chief, we had an emergency appeal. Now, the justice would know there was an execution set that night, and so would know that there is likely to be a call. But you'd call, wake youe justice up and ask, okay, here's the arguments. Here's what I think about it. And you would write a memo from your justice saying, summarizing the arguments in the appeal and making the recommendation. So for Chief Justice Rehnquist, in virtually every circumstance, if someone was seeking to halt an execution at the last minute, he would recommend that that be denied. You would then forward it to the other eight chambers. To the other eight chambers. And there was a law clerk. So the night of execution, at least nine of us were there till midnight or one or two or three in the morning. And so when you would forward your memo, and a memo in a case like this would be anywhere from two to maybe eight pages, depending on how complicated the issues were. They would then get your memo, and they've gotten the appeal as well. So they're reading the appeal at the same time. They would then call their justice, wake him or her up at home, and they would cast votes at midnight or one or two or three in the morning. And a strategy that is still quite frequent when it comes to death penalty appeals is just throw so much crap at the wall that they're hoping the justices say, I don't know. I can't figure this out this quickly. All right, just stay the execution, halt the execution so we can figure this all out. And unfortunately, that strategy can work. There may have been some of that, that this was being done over Easter weekend very quickly. And it may be that the justices wanted to say, hold on a second. We want to understand what's going on here. That's possible. But I do think the Democrats entire strategy is Try to see if they can get a majority of the Supreme Court ticked off. And I don't think that's happened, but I do think that would be very dangerous and harmful if it did happen.

[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.

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[Ted Cruz]

Two, which by the way also brings us to another issue real quick. And that is I, I still can't believe this. There's a guy that went viral, a Minnesota state employee who apparently caused about 20,000 or over 20,000 damages to Teslas. I'm going to say that, make it clear. Plural, not one, but multiple. It has now led to a woke liberal district attorney saying, nah, we don't really want to hold this guy accountable. Let's keep the lawlessness up. As long as it's against conservatives and Elon Musk and Tesla owners, we're fine with that. No big deal. You're good man. We're going to let you basically go on home.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, there is a suspected vandal. He's 33 years old. He is a government employee. His name is Dylan Brian Adams and he was allegedly spotted keying multiple Tesla vehicles, stripping their paint off while walking his dog around the city. And he caused over $20,000 in damage vandalizing half a dozen Tesla. So he was doing this over and over and over again. And by the way, if this guy did this, he's Dumb as a stump. Because Teslas all have cameras on them that video the person, any person who walks up to them. So he's doing it on camera. Because leftists, number one, they're utter hypocrites. So their claim to care about the Green New Deal are complete lies because they've decided now to attack electric cars. Why? Because they hate Elon Musk and understand they hate Elon Musk not just because he's now supporting Trump, not just because he's now cutting the government. They hate Elon Musk because he's a heretic. This is religion. And the woke leftist, cultural Marxist religion five years ago lionized Elon Musk. And they view him as someone who has betrayed the faith. And so this angry government employee who as far as I know has not lost his job despite being a brazen criminal, was caught keying and vandalizing six different Teslas. And unfortunately, the Henneman County District Attorney is a woman named Mary Moriarty, who is a left wing George Soros da And she decided that they're not going to go after her, that they're not going to charge him. And it is unfortunate. So the Chief of police, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Farra, said that the damage in each case is the equivalent of a felony. And the chief said in a scathing statement on Monday. This is from the New York Post, that Moriarty's decision not to bring charges is frustrating for his officers and the public. And here's what the police chief said, quote, the Minneapolis Police Department did its job. It identified and investigated a crime trend, identified and arrested a suspect and presented the case file to the Henneman County District, the Kenneman County Attorney's Office for consideration of charges. The case impacted at least six different victims and totaled over $20,000 in damage. Any frustration related to the charging decision of the Henneman county attorneys should be directed solely at her office. Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they pour their hearts into are declined. In my experience, the victims in these cases often feel the same. That's the chief of police. And the sad reality is that for leftists today, for elected Democrats, they are now openly embracing domestic terrorism. They are now openly. We played on this podcast before Chuck Schumer refused to condemn. People firebombing Tesla dealerships, people throwing Molotov cocktails at Tesla dealerships, people firing guns into Tesla dealerships. Somebody's going to be killed. I don't want that to happen. I pray it does not happen. But this escalating violence is going to lead to a loss of life. And the Democrats are celebrating it. And now the left wing DA's are saying, hey, you vandalized cars. And we decide we don't like the person who owns the company that built the car. Well, tough luck. Sorry, Ben. We're gonna scratch up your car, we're gonna key it, we're gonna do thousands dollars of damage and nothing you can do about it. Because we, the Democrats, support domestic terrorism.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, you're absolutely right. And there's also that just scary psychological aspect of it. If you know your DA won't go after the people that are going after your car, is it going to make you more or less likely to buy a Tesla? That's part of the. The financial warfare against Elon Musk.

[Ben Ferguson]

And by the way, what's the DA going to do if they commit violence against you? What's the DA going to do if they commit violence against you? Yeah, like if this radical leftist is able to vandalize a Tesla, how about if he walks up and punches the owner of the Tesla in the face?

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

Do you have any confidence that this left wing nutcase DA is going to charge the radical with punching someone in the face? Their view is, hey, if you're punching a Tesla owner in the face, that's, that's an admirable act of resistance. It is lawless. And let me be clear. I disagree with the political views of Marxists and communists and leftist, but I passionately oppose violence against them. And if anyone engaged in violence against a leftist, I would support prosecuting them and sending them to jail. Violence is never acceptable. And you know what? The Democrats can't say that because they support. They refuse to condemn the violence against their political opponents because it is part of their ideology. And we saw that tragically during the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots across the country, where Kamala Harris most strikingly raised money to bail out of jail radical antifa terrorists who committed crimes of violence. In Minneapolis, same city. Because the Democrat Party is a party that supports violence in pursuit of their remaining in power.

[Ted Cruz]

As before, 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.

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[Ted Cruz]

To the big story number three of the week you may have missed. All right, let's turn to the Democratic Party in disarray. And it's a real thing right now and CNN is saying it. So don't trust us. CNN having a freak out moment on TV with new polling data. And here is what they said.

[CNN Analyst]

Yeah, this I think is a revolt, a revolt that is going on within the Democratic Party right now. Democrats and their leaders. I mean, take a look nationally. Hello, Democrats on Dem leaders in Congress, the belief that they will do the right thing when it comes to the economy. Last year at this time, 80% believed that the Democratic leaders in Congress would do the right thing when it comes to the economy. And keep in mind, this is Democrats. Look at where we are now. That number has been slashed in half to just 39%. Holy Toledo. That is the lowest number by far in Gallup polling. The lowest previous was just 60% which is 21 points higher than this. Democrats hate, hate, hate, hate what their congressional leaders in Washington are doing right now on the key issue of the day, the economy and their confidence has fallen through the floor. Mr. Berman, all right.

[Ben Ferguson]

Chuck Schumer is the Senate Democratic leader right now. How are feelings about him, particularly in New York?

[CNN Analyst]

Yeah, let's go to the state of New York at what's always on my mind.

[Ben Ferguson]

Right.

[CNN Analyst]

We're in the state of New York right now. New York Democrats on Chuck Schumer view him favorably in December of 2024. That was just a few months ago. It was 73%. Look at where that number has fallen to in just a few months. It is now down to just 52%. That is the lowest I could ever find in Siena College on how Democrats in Chuck Schumer's home state. View him. And keep in mind, if you're thinking about a primary challenge, it would be a future years away. But Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's favorable rating among Democrats is considerably higher in the 60s. So he is doing quite poorly in his own home state of New York. I never thought I'd see the day in which just 52% of New York Democrats review Chuck Schumer favorably. It's almost unfathomable.

[Ted Cruz]

It's almost unfathomable. Now, here's the takeaway for me, Senator. The fact that AOC has a higher approval rating than Chuck Schumer means the Democratic Party is dead. The socialists, Marxists and Communists have taken it over, and now they're out with these old guys. We also saw one of your colleagues, Dick Durbin, hanging it up, saying, I'm out of here. I'm not running for reelection.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, what is stunning about that is a couple of things. Number one, as they're relaying poll numbers that show Democrats unhappy with the Democrat leadership in Congress, the reason they're unhappy is they think Chuck Schumer is not crazy enough. They think Hakeem Jeffries is not crazy enough. The problem. And listen, we're in a very polarized society. Both sides are pulling further and further apart. But people that identify as partisan Democrats, they hate Donald Trump. And I'm not quite sure what they want Chuck Schumer to be doing. Maybe lighting himself on fire on the Senate floor, running around naked, screaming at the top of his lungs. I don't know. You know, maybe they just want him to join AOC and Bernie Sanders on their Fight the Oligarchy tour. All to be clear, they're flying around in private jets to fight the oligarchy, which actually may symbolize today's Democrat Party more than anything else they could do to get off their private jet and stand up and say, fight the oligarchy. And by the way, George Soros, thanks for the money. But the Democrats want their elected leaders to be even more crazy. And this is after four years of absolute shambles of the Obama administration. And what's striking also about that clip you played is cnn, which is a propaganda outlet for the Democrat Party, is panicking. They can't believe it. They are terrified. The media is in disarray. You mentioned Dick Durbin, Democrat senator from Illinois, announced he was not running for reelection. Look, Dick Durbin is the number two Democrat in the entire Senate. He is number two only to Schumer, and he's calling it quits. He is also the top, the ranking member, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He used to be the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. And so they've got senior Democrats that are saying, get me out of this place.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, and by the way, he said something that was really interesting, how low the bar has fallen. So Dick Durbin's excuse for why he's not running for reelection was in essence, well, I don't want to become Joe Biden. And he put it this way in the interview. Listen, Senator, yesterday, after you made your.

[CNN Analyst]

Announcement that you would not be seeking.

[Ted Cruz]

Reelection, there were a number of Democrats.

[Ben Ferguson]

Who privately really applauded your choice, saying.

[CNN Analyst]

That it was, that it was something the right thing to do, to step aside and perhaps let a younger generation.

[Ben Ferguson]

Of politicians step to the forefront.

[CNN Analyst]

We know the idea of Democratic elected.

[Ben Ferguson]

Officials and age has been a hot.

[Ted Cruz]

Topic in recent years.

[CNN Analyst]

Do you hope, do you agree with that thinking? Do you think it is time now for younger politicians, the next generation, to come forward?

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, I think it's more complex. It is not just a question of a number, what your age is. Look at Bernie Sanders, for God's sake, still drawing thousands and thousands of people out for rallies. And, and he's a few years older than I am. The bottom line is, are you competent? Can you still do the job? That's the question the voters should ask. But should a new generation be interested in public service? You bet. I've spent my time in office trying to encourage younger people to get involved. Senator Durbin, it's Ali Vitale.

[CNN Analyst]

I wonder if I can pick up.

[Ben Ferguson]

On something you just said, this idea.

[CNN Analyst]

Of, are you competent?

[Talkspace Advertiser]

Are you able to do this job in the Senate? As you see this push from the.

[CNN Analyst]

Grassroots that Lemire is talking about here.

[Talkspace Advertiser]

Do you think enough of your colleagues are asking themselves those fundamental questions about if they can continue to serve?

[Ben Ferguson]

I think so. I think if you're honest about yourself and your reputation, you want to leave when you can still walk out the front door and not be carried out the back door.

[Ted Cruz]

I mean, you hear that, and it's basically saying, well, I'm not going to pull a Joe Biden. And other people need to look at this as well. He was, I think, quite clearly knocking Joe Biden in what he just said as well.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, and nobody in that discussion acknowledged that Dick Durbin spent four years lying to the American people saying that Joe Biden was not senile, that he was mentally capable to do the job. By the way, CNN spent four years lying to the American people screaming that it was a conspiracy theory to point out what is obviously true and was obviously true then that Biden's mental capacity was severely diminished. I will say this, and actually it might surprise you, I'm gonna say something nice about Durbin. So I've served with Durbin for 13 years on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I'll tell you what I tell any nominees that are coming before Judiciary. I tell them Durbin is the single most dangerous Democrat on the Judiciary Committee because I think he's the smartest Democrat and he is radical and extreme, but he's very good at sounding reasonable. There are other Democrats that are radical and extreme as Sheldon Whitehouse and Adam Schiff, but they sound like lunatics when they're ranting. Everyone knows they're lunatics. Part of what makes Durbin such a dangerous questioner for Republican nominees or Republican witnesses is he's very good at masking his extreme policies in ways that sound much more reasonable than his colleagues. And so I will say for Democrats, seeing seeing Durbin hang it up is a real loss to them.

[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 and 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.

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