BONUS POD: A Battleship Bombshell-Trump’s Navy Goes YUGE!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Verdict with Ted Cruz

Episode: BONUS POD: A Battleship Bombshell—Trump’s Navy Goes YUGE!

Date: December 23, 2025
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz & Ben Ferguson
Special Guest: President Donald Trump (featured via press conference clips)

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Episode Overview

This special edition of "Verdict with Ted Cruz" (hosted by Ben Ferguson for the "47 Morning Update" segment) centers on President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new, massive “Golden Fleet” of battleships for the U.S. Navy—a move positioned as both a national security imperative and a major jobs program. The episode also features Trump’s wide-ranging press conference where he comments on the Jeffrey Epstein files, U.S. policy towards Venezuela and Colombia, and claims of record-breaking foreign investment in the U.S. Key themes are transparency, American military strength, job creation, and re-asserting U.S. dominance on the world stage.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s “Golden Fleet” Naval Announcement

(Main Segment: 11:30–14:02)

• President Trump unveils plans for the construction of two massive, cutting-edge battleships—the largest and most powerful U.S. ships ever built—in a project dubbed the “Golden Fleet.”
  • The ships will be “100 times more powerful” than World War II-era battleships (Iowa, Missouri, etc.).
  • Asserts heavy investment, all-American construction, bigger size, more armament, and economic/spin-off benefits for U.S. workers.
  • “As commander in chief, it is my great honor to announce that I have approved a plan for the Navy to begin the construction of two brand new, very large, [the] largest we've ever built battleships... These are bigger, but they will have 100 times the... the force of power.” (Donald Trump, 11:30)
• Jobs, economic revitalization, and a revival of American shipbuilding are emphasized.
  • “Making this fleet be built in America—something we stopped doing, and we’re far too reliant on foreign countries for our ship making. This is all part of his plan to put America first…” (Ben Ferguson, 14:02)
• National security and “peace through strength” are central rationales:
  • “Battleships are the largest, sturdiest and most heavily armed vessel built specifically for naval combat… while America has built many new warships over the years, they've tended to be smaller and much smaller and not conducive to where we are and where we're going. And peace through strength.” (Donald Trump, 13:31)

2. Transparency and Press Conference Dynamics

(04:00–06:16, 14:02–14:43)

• Trump portrays himself as the “most transparent president in modern political history,” taking all questions—even controversial ones.
• Notably refuses to dodge any topic, including the Epstein files, Venezuela, Russia-Ukraine, and U.S. drug policy.
  • “Now, the President making it clear there is nothing he is unwilling to discuss. There's no question that he is saying, ‘No, I'm not going to answer that.’ This is part of the President being the most transparent president in modern political history.” (Ben Ferguson, 04:24)

3. Epstein Files and Political Repercussions

(03:01–03:24 and 05:59–08:50)

• Trump comments extensively on the release of Jeffrey Epstein files and their political implications:
  • Distances himself, laments photos of Bill Clinton, but calls for perspective given Epstein’s broad social circle, including “highly respected bankers and lawyers.”
  • Critiques political opponents leveraging the scandal:
    • “What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has... today we’re building the biggest ships in the world... and they’re asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein. I thought that was finished.” (Donald Trump, 03:01 & 06:16)
  • On releasing files: expresses discomfort with exposure of “innocently met” individuals and seeks to balance transparency with privacy.
  • Throws criticism at Congressman Thomas Massie:
    • “...Massie’s a loser and he likes it, and that he works with the Democrats. He's just being used by the Democrats.” (Donald Trump, 07:46)

4. U.S. Economic Strength and Foreign Investment

(09:11–09:53)

• Trump claims historic foreign investment numbers and frames tariffs as a negotiating tool:
  • “Trillions of dollars is coming into our country from other countries and companies. They're building factories... including auto plants, all over the United States.” (Donald Trump, 09:11)
  • “...the biggest number was $3 trillion in history. That was China many years ago. Now it’s $18 trillion. And that's just in 10 months. We think we could hit $20 trillion.” (Donald Trump, 09:35)

5. Venezuela, Oil, and U.S. Policy Toward Colombia

(10:18–11:12)

• Responding to the Colombian president’s criticism, Trump quickly shifts to the issue of drug production in Colombia:
  • “He's no friend of the United States. He’s very bad, very bad guy. And he’s got to watch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States of America from Colombia.” (Donald Trump, 10:34)
  • Directly warns about closing Colombian cocaine factories.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Epstein Files & Political Deflection:

  • “This whole thing is with Epstein [is] a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has. Like for instance, today we're building the biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in the world. And they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein. I thought that was finished.”
    (Donald Trump, 03:01 & 06:16)

• On the “Golden Fleet”:

  • “These are bigger, but they will have 100 times the... the force of power. And there's never been anything like these ships.”
    (Donald Trump, 11:30)

• On the Colombian President:

  • “He’s no friend of the United States. He’s very bad, very bad guy. And he’s got to watch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States of America from Colombia.”
    (Donald Trump, 10:34)

• On Transparency and Openness to Press Questions:

  • “There is nothing he is unwilling to discuss... This is part of the President being the most transparent president in modern political history.”
    (Ben Ferguson, 04:24)

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Important Timestamps

• [03:01] – Trump connects Epstein media coverage to Republican achievements
• [05:59] – Reporter’s question about the Epstein files and Trump’s response
• [09:11] – Trump on record-breaking U.S. investment
• [10:20] – Trump’s remarks on Colombia’s president and cocaine production
• [11:30] – Main announcement of the “Golden Fleet”
• [14:02] – Ben Ferguson recaps key themes: transparency, jobs, national security

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Tone and Style

The episode mixes Trump’s characteristic bravado, nationalism, and combative style with Ferguson’s supportive and energetic summarization. There’s a strong focus on American exceptionalism, direct press engagement, and framing of Trump as action-oriented and unfiltered.

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Conclusion

For listeners seeking insight into Trump-era defense policy, campaign themes, and White House communication style, this episode delivers a fast-paced look at military modernization, job creation, and political messaging. The “Golden Fleet” announcement stands as a centerpiece, with broader commentary showing the administration’s penchant for open, sometimes provocative engagement with both media and international adversaries.

Transcript

[Donald Trump]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Podcast Host]

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[Donald Trump]

That innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and they're highly respected bankers and lawyers and others. What this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has. Like for instance, today we're building the biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in the world. And they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein. I thought that was finished.

[Ben Ferguson]

You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.

Good Tuesday morning. So nice to have you with us. On the 47 Morning Update, Donald Trump comes out with a big announcement. A new golden fleet of battleships saying these will be the best in the world and they will bring jobs back to America. That's not all the president covered. He also covered narco terrorism, Venezuela and what country could be our next target. I have the full breakdown for you. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now.

Story number one, President Donald Trump speaking.

From Mar a Lago, talking about building our military, new ships that our military desperately needs. And not just talking about that, but clearly being the most transparent president in modern political history. At a more than 50 minute press conference, the president took questions about building the new golden fleet, about the golden fleet counters with China, intercepting drugs on land and what could happen with possible attacks on land, what he was going to do with the seized oil of oil tankers coming out of Venezuela and the black fleet of oil tankers that also deal with Iran. He also was asked about Venezuela and U.S. oil companies working together. And he was asked about Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein, a workforce to build the golden fleet that'll help American workers. The end game with Maduro was also covered. He was asked about Colombia and the president there and could that be next after Venezuela and a new envoy to Greenland. He was asked about the war with Ukraine and Russia. Had he spoken with Vladimir Putin or Zelensky recently and what did they say? And then the pursuit of other oil tankers came up. Would America continue to push forward with that and is the goal to force Maduro from power? He also talked about health care Insurers, meetings, and exactly what had happened there. Now, the President making it clear there is nothing he is unwilling to discuss. There's no question that he is saying, no, I'm not going to answer that. This is part of the President being the most transparent president in modern political history. One of the big questions was about the Epstein files, and there was an awful lot of pictures that came out of a former president by the name of Bill Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein. The president's response may be one that will surprise you. I want you to hear what he had to say.

[Reporter]

Thank you, Mr. President. Were you surprised by the number of photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files? And you. Can you commit to their and were you surprised by the number of photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files? And can you commit to their full release? By the end of the year? Some of the victims were protesting that too many of them were redacted.

[Donald Trump]

I know there are a lot of people that are angry about all of the pictures of other people, you know, but I think it's terrible. Look, I don't like the. I like Bill Clinton. I've always gotten along with Bill Clinton. I've been nice to him. He's been nice to me. We've always gotten along, respect him. I hate to see photos come out of him. But this is what the Democrats, mostly Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans are asking for. So they're giving their photos of me, too. Everybody was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly. But, you know, he was around. He was all over Palm beach and other places. The head of Harvard was his best friend, Larry Summers, and Bill Clinton was a friend of his, but everybody was. I actually threw him out of Mar A Lago. And as a, you know, as a person that was in Mar A Lago, I threw him out. Mar A Lago. This is Mar A Lago. It's the hottest place in. I think it's the hottest place in the world, but it's the hottest place in Florida. And everybody would come here, come here. We actually threw him out. But no, I don't like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown. I don't like the pictures of other people being shown. I think it's a terrible thing. I think Bill Lenzer, a big boy, he can handle it. But you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and they're, you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others, and they'll end up because of guys like Massie, who's A real low life. His polls are down to about 9%, by the way, in the great state of Kentucky. If you look at Kentucky, Kentucky is such a great place. But I don't know, they've got a couple of people on there that are very strange in terms of leadership. But Massie's a loser and he likes it. And that he works with the Democrats. He's just being used by the Democrats. Because what this whole thing is with Epstein is a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has. Like, for instance, today we're building the biggest ships in the world, most powerful ships in the world. And they're asking me questions about Jeffrey Epstein. I thought that was finished. I believe they gave over 100,000 pages of documents. And there is tremendous backlash. It's an interesting question because a lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein. But they're in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin a reputation of somebody. So a lot of people are very angry that this continues. And a lot of Republicans are angry because of the fact that it's just used to deflect against a tremendous success. Look, we have eight.

[Ben Ferguson]

The President talking about those tremendous successes and yet again having to deal with the Epstein files that have been released. The President wanting to talk about other issues as well. One of the things he talked about is about American investment. This is one of the things he says is really important that he's working on.

[Donald Trump]

We're doing a great job, and we enjoy doing it. Our border is secure. Our country is strong. Trillions of dollars is coming into our country from other countries and companies. They're building factories and plants, including auto plants, all over the United States of America. Without tariffs, they wouldn't be doing anything, although they were very happy with the November 5 election. But it's only because they want to avoid paying tariffs that they're all coming in. And again, the biggest number was $3 trillion in history. That was China many years ago. Now it's $18 trillion. And that's just in 10 months, we think we could hit $20 trillion. That's investment in the United States, including plant and equipment.

[Ben Ferguson]

So you listen to the President talk about the investment. He also talked about protecting Americans when it comes to drugs. Something else that he says is a very important point of his administration, and it's something that we must stand firm on. Part of that is dealing with the cocaine coming out of Colombia. The President asked about Colombia, and here's what he said.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, go ahead, please.

[Reporter]

So, in response to the United States taking sanctioned oil from. From Venezuela, Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized the United States by saying, well, the Southwest has stolen land and that it should be returned to Latin America. I just wanted to know what your response to that is.

[Donald Trump]

Well, he has to watch because, you know, he's got drug factors. They make cocaine in Colombia, and he's no friend of the United States. He's very bad, very bad guy. And he's got to watch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States of America from Colombia. We love the Colombian people. I love the Colombian people. They're great people. Energetic, smart, great. But their new leader is a troublemaker, and he better watch it. You better close up those cocaine factories. If at least three major cocaine factories. We know where they are. He better close them up fast.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, he better close them up fast. The president also wasn't done there as he talked about this major important announcement that deals with the Golden Fleet of battleships, saying, these are the best in the world and long overdue.

[Donald Trump]

So I want to wish everybody a big hello and Merry Christmas and welcome to Mar a Lago for this exciting announcement of the new Golden Fleet. We're calling it the Golden Fleet that we're building for the United States Navy. As you know, we're desperately in need of ships. Our ships are. Some of them have gotten old and tired and obsolete, and we're going to go the exact opposite direction. We're delighted to be joined by Secretary of War Pete Hagseth, who's doing a fantastic job, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan. Marco Rubio is here, who gave a great few words toward the end of last week. He spoke for a couple of hours on what a good job we're doing, which is true. As commander in chief, it is my great honor to announce that I have approved a plan for the Navy to begin the construction of two brand new, very large, largest we've ever built battleships. You know, you used to build the Iowa, the Missouri, the Wisconsin, the Alabama, many others. We had big battleships. These are bigger, but they will have 100 times the. They'll be 100 times the force of power. And there's never been anything like these ships. These have been under design consideration for a long time. And it started with me in my first term because I said, why aren't we doing battleships like we used to? And the. These are the best in the world. They'll be the fastest, the biggest and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built. So if you look at the Iowa, the Missouri, Wisconsin, Alabama and others, but they were similar in size, some a little bit bigger than the others. But if you take the biggest one, it's 100 times more powerful. They're longer by a little bit, but the and they're bigger. They're bigger ships, but they hold much more. They use the word lethality. Battleships are the largest, sturdiest and most heavily armed vessel built specifically for naval combat. While America has built many new warships over the years, they've been, they've tended to be smaller and much smaller and not conducive to where we are and where we're going. And peace through strength.

[Ben Ferguson]

President Trump yet again saying, a I'll talk about anything, B I'm going to keep you safe, C I'm going to make sure that we bring jobs back to this country, making this fleet be built in America, something we stopped doing and we're far too reliant on foreign countries for our ship making. This is all part of his plan to put America first and from a national security standpoint. And the president saying I'll stand here and answer as many questions as I need to. It's important that you have a president that's transparent and that is exactly what Donald Trump did yet again on a multitude of issues.

Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now and for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.

[Podcast Host]

Season two of unrivaled basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy Tips off January 5th on TNT, TruTV and HBO.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Max support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI, it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member finra SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures get ready.

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[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

How are USDA staff cuts and budget challenges affecting farmers?

[Farmer]

My dad and I both have a CSP contract, but staff can't check the fields to approve them for us to get paid. We're going through a very bad economic time. If we don't have the funds to support our conservation practices, we're gonna see a major drop off in producers. I don't know guys, this is scary. I got a young family, a young business and have no idea what's gonna happen.

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[Optum Advertiser]

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[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.