Historic Victories: ALL the Major WINS in the First Six Months of the Trump Presidency

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Historic Victories: ALL the Major WINS in the First Six Months of the Trump Presidency"

Podcast Information

• Title: Verdict with Ted Cruz
• Host/Author: Premiere Networks
• Episode Title: Historic Victories: ALL the Major WINS in the First Six Months of the Trump Presidency
• Release Date: July 21, 2025
• Description: Hosted by Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Shapiro, "Verdict with Ted Cruz" delves into the significant political developments and victories of the day, providing insights into the Trump administration's impact on the nation. This episode focuses on the major achievements in President Trump's first six months of his second term.

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1. Celebratory White House Dinner

The episode kicks off with Ted Cruz recounting a celebratory dinner held at the White House to honor the administration's achievements. Cruz emphasizes the newfound team mentality between President Trump and Congress, a stark contrast to the fragmented dynamics of 2016.

• Ted Cruz [04:34]: "Heidi and I were with the President. He was in as good a mood as I have ever seen him. He was jubilant... winning is a good thing."

This dinner not only celebrated legislative successes but also highlighted the collaborative spirit driving the administration forward.

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2. Major Victories in the First Six Months

Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro outline five primary victories achieved within the initial half-year of Trump's presidency, setting the stage for a deeper dive into the comprehensive "One Big Beautiful Bill."

a. Securing the Border

Ted Cruz [05:49]: "If you're looking at President Trump's first six months, the number one victory is obvious and it has to be the border."

Cruz underscores the administration's success in halting illegal immigration, referencing significant reductions in apprehensions:

• ABC News Reporter [06:38]: "Apprehensions at the southern border dropped to 6,072 in the month of June, a massive reduction from the 83,532 apprehensions recorded in June of last year."

The implementation of over 25 miles of concertina wire by U.S. Marines and the reallocation of Border Patrol agents to traditional duties are highlighted as pivotal moves ensuring border security.

• Ted Cruz [10:18]: "Over 25 miles of concertina wire our US Marines put up for us."

b. Winning the War with Iran

Ted Cruz [11:57]: "President Trump won a war with Iran... Israel defeated Hamas. Israel defeated Hezbollah. With our support."

The administration's decisive military action against Iran's nuclear capabilities is portrayed as a landmark achievement, effectively neutralizing threats without American casualties.

• ABC News Reporter [12:08]: "He has declared success on both."

Cruz criticizes previous administrations' handling of Iran, emphasizing the strategic prowess of Trump's decisions.

c. The Take It Down Act

Ted Cruz [16:04]: "Victory number three, the Take It Down Act... it is protecting children, women, and teenage girls from non-consensual intimate imagery."

This legislation addresses the misuse of technology and AI in creating harmful content, reflecting the administration's commitment to safeguarding vulnerable populations.

• Ben Shapiro [17:32]: "And it wasn't auto penned. What an idea, right?"

The act's significance is further amplified by Melania Trump's unprecedented role in signing the bill, symbolizing its non-political, moral importance.

d. Rescissions and Cutting Spending

Ted Cruz [18:15]: "We cut $9 billion in spending... including federal funding for PBS and NPR."

The administration successfully implemented the first rescissions, streamlining government expenditures and targeting previously resistant areas like public broadcasting.

• Ben Shapiro [20:10]: "But they do a great job."

Cruz highlights the bipartisan effort and the strategic elimination of funding for entities perceived as liberal-leaning.

e. The One Big Beautiful Bill: 12 Conservative Victories

The centerpiece of the episode, the "One Big Beautiful Bill," encapsulates twelve major conservative legislative achievements. Ted Cruz meticulously breaks down each victory, emphasizing their long-term impact.

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3. Detailed Breakdown of the "One Big Beautiful Bill"

1. Stopping a $4 Trillion Tax Increase

Ted Cruz [22:42]: "We have stopped a $4 trillion tax increase... that's a massive victory."

Preventing the expiration of Trump's tax cuts ensures sustained financial relief for American taxpayers.

2. New Tax Cuts

The bill introduces several tax relief measures:

• No Tax on Tips

  • Ted Cruz [24:07]: "No tax on tips. I wrote it."
  • Benefiting millions of service industry workers by eliminating taxation on their gratuities.

• No Tax on Overtime and Social Security

  • Fulfillment of Trump's campaign promises, providing further financial benefits to working Americans.

3. Securing the Border ($150 Billion)

A substantial investment in border security infrastructure and personnel:

• Ted Cruz [26:54]: "It will build the wall. It will complete the wall."

This allocation not only enhances security but also boosts job creation through infrastructure projects.

4. Repaying States for Border Security ($13.5 Billion)

Repaying states like Texas for their prior expenditures on border security, alleviating financial burdens unjustly placed by previous administrations.

5. Rebuilding the Military ($150 Billion)

A significant infusion into the military to modernize equipment and address emerging threats, particularly from China:

• Ted Cruz [31:20]: "With the military, often you're fighting the last war. We're going forward."

6. Coast Guard Enhancement ($24 Billion)

Doubling the Coast Guard's budget to bolster maritime security and technological capabilities, especially in the Arctic region.

• Ted Cruz [29:59]: "The biggest investment in the Coast Guard in the history of the United States of America."

7. Spectrum Auction Authority

Releasing 800 MHz of spectrum to the private sector to generate over $100 billion in revenue and stimulate technological advancements like 6G, countering China's dominance.

• Ted Cruz [35:09]: "Historic Spectrum Auction Authority producing hundreds of thousands of jobs and beating China to 6G."

8. Modernizing Air Traffic Control ($12.5 Billion)

Upgrading outdated air traffic systems to enhance safety and efficiency in aviation.

9. Space Investment ($10 Billion)

Funding NASA's Artemis program to ensure the U.S. remains a leader in lunar exploration, countering China's ambitions to establish a lunar base.

• Ted Cruz [38:13]: "If they did that and we lost, it would be a catastrophic loss."

10. Eliminating CAFE Standards

Removing stringent fuel efficiency mandates to restore the automotive industry's focus on safety and consumer choice.

• Ted Cruz [40:31]: "We're not trying to save weight here. We're trying to actually make safe cars again."

11. School Choice

Implementing federal incentives for school choice, allowing taxpayers to contribute to scholarship organizations, thus promoting educational opportunities across states.

• Ted Cruz [42:13]: "Every single American taxpayer can now contribute up to seventeen hundred dollars a year to a scholarship granting organization and get a dollar for dollar credit on their taxes."

12. Trump Accounts (Invest America Accounts)

Establishing personal investment accounts for every child in America, seeded with initial funds and tax-advantaged contributions to foster future generational wealth and capitalism.

• Ted Cruz [43:54]: "Every newborn child will have it seeded with $1,000."

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4. Concluding Remarks

Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz emphasize the transformative nature of these legislative achievements, urging listeners to share the information widely to counteract perceived media suppression.

• Ben Shapiro [45:41]: "I hope you share this one... Share it with your family and your friends."

The episode culminates with a call to action for listeners to subscribe and stay informed about ongoing political developments.

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Notable Quotes:

• Ted Cruz [00:41]: "The corporate media does not want the American people to know the size, the scope of President Trump's success."

• ABC News Reporter [10:00]: "Acting Patrol Chief Jeffrey Stalnaker tells us the San Diego sector has seen a significant drop in illegal entries."

• Ben Shapiro [07:44]: "It's all about political battles."

• Ted Cruz [27:20]: "There's a tactical advantage going forward on the next budget battle because this $150 billion we have appropriated it."

• Ted Cruz [33:06]: "The Coast Guard is critical for securing our border."

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Conclusion

This episode of "Verdict with Ted Cruz" provides a comprehensive overview of the Trump administration's milestones in its first six months, highlighting strategic legislative moves and their intended long-term benefits. Through detailed discussions and key quotations, Cruz and Shapiro present a narrative of significant conservative victories aimed at reshaping America's political and social landscape.

Transcript

[Ben Shapiro]

This is an iHeart podcast. Welcome. It is Verdict with sinner Ted Cruz. We're in studio this week as well, so people that are listening, they can also watch this episode on YouTube or on Facebook x etc. This is going to be a fun show, one that people are going to want to share with their family and their friends because we're going to talk about how just six months into this presidency, the winds are incredible. Even comparing it to 2016, this is moving at such an incredible pace for the President's agenda items. Having the Senate and the House on your side and working with you is amazing. And there's been some celebration on that. But the media's not covering much of the success.

[Ted Cruz]

Well, that's exactly right. And this is one of those episodes where the value of a podcast becomes clear because the corporate media does not want the American people to know the size, the scope of President Trump's success. And so the only way you can get the information we're gonna have in this podcast is listening to this podcast or other things similar alth, although I'm not sure there's a whole lot similar to listen to. But let's take what President Trump just put up on Truth Social. Wow. Time flies. Today is the six month anniversary of my second term. Importantly, it's being hailed as one of the most consequential periods of any president. In other words, we got a lot of good and great things done, including ending numerous wars of countries not related to us other than through trade and, or in certain cases, friendship. Six months is not a long time to have totally revived a major country. Quote, one year ago, our country was dead with almost no hope of revival. Today, the USA is the, quote, hottest and most respected country anywhere in the world. Happy anniversary.

[Ben Shapiro]

I love it.

[Ted Cruz]

I gotta say, that is not hyperbole. The six months that we have seen in 2025 under President Trump's second term, I believe have been the most consequential six months of any president of our lifetime. We are going to break down the victories, the major victories right now.

[Ben Shapiro]

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[Ted Cruz]

So it was a fantastic celebration dinner. It was Friday night the President invited Republican senators to come join us. About 30 Republican senators came with our spouses. So Heidi was there and it was great fun. We were celebrating the victories of the first six months, but in particular the one big beautiful bill. And I'll tell you you can see some of the images from that night. Heidi and I were with the President. He was in as good a mood as I have ever seen him. He was jubilant. Look, we were celebrating. We were celebrating that night. We were feeling fantastic. It turns out winning is a good thing. I'm not tired of winning yet. And none of the rest of us are either. And it was the entire atmosphere, the President said, but the rest of us agreed with what he said. In that truth, these have been the most consequential six months of any president of our lifetime. And also we have seen the most conservative victories in any six months period in our lifetime. And I want to end this podcast. I want to highlight five of those victories. But the fifth one is the one big, beautiful bill. And one of the things we're going to do in this podcast is we're going to break down some of the major elements of that one big beautiful bill because the press has demonized it.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And it is extraordinary how many wins were in the one big beautiful bill. But if you're looking at President Trump's first six months, the number one victory is obvious and it has to be the border. Because this election was a referendum on Joe Biden and the Democrats opened borders on four years of 12 million illegals flooding into this country. The American people said enough is enough. And the results President Trump has produced are utterly unprecedented. And by the way, if you don't want to believe, Ben, well, that's usually good instinct. Even if you don't want to believe me, believe ABC News, and God help me that I just uttered that sentence. But give a listen to what ABC News says about what President Trump has accomplished on the border.

[ABC News Reporter]

Today marks six months since President Trump returned to office for his second term. It has been a head spinning half year. From sweeping changes in the federal government to mass deportations and bombs dropped on Iran. The President promised changes, and there is no question he has made them. President Trump won the 2024 election based largely on his vow to improve the economy and crack down on illegal immigration. He has declared success on both.

[Ben Shapiro]

I mean, that's coming from ABC News. It was also interesting this week. I was up in New York for a couple of days and I love green room conversations because you get you're hanging out with usually someone from the opposite party and I won't say their name. It was a Democrat operative high up in the Democratic Party. And what was said to me was, you guys screwed up. Y' all secured the border too quick. I would have slow Played it longer to get more of a victory lap out of it. So because it was shut down so fast, they said to me, they're like, we can't believe how fast you guys had the success of closing the southern border. And they said, politically, you should have played it out a little longer.

[Ted Cruz]

You know what? That doesn't shock me. A Democrat says that because to Democrats, everything is political.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

It's all about political battles. Never mind what that Democrat is saying. You should have let more Americans be murdered for longer. You should have let more women be raped by illegals for longer. You should have let more children be. Be brutalized by child molesters. I mean, what a revealing comment.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

And I gotta say, I disagree, even as just a matter of political strategy, with whatever that unnamed.

[Ben Shapiro]

Strategy Democratic operative.

[Ted Cruz]

As I just named David Axelrod said. But. And here's why I disagree. Because the fact that it was done so quickly demonstrates for all times that what the Democrats did did was deliberate.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

That they could have fixed it at any time. And they didn't because they wanted the border open. And they were perfectly fine. Everyone who died the last four years, every single Democrat said, hey, if it benefits me politically, I will let your family die. That level of cynicism I think it's very hard to come back from. And even now they're telling you, gosh, you should let more people die because you'd get some political advantage from it. That's just wrong.

[Ben Shapiro]

It's also interesting in the conversation that we had, and I think this is a bigger point, the American people need to understand about the win and how big of a deal this is. They were even talking about how flooding the border and illegal immigrants really helped shape the map for Democrats. We're able to give them more votes in Congress because of population. And we were counting illegal immigrants as a part of the population. They were saying that's one of the things that. Because the border was open, I mean, this was an open conversation.

[Ted Cruz]

They were completely open about it. But in terms of the successes on this, let's go back to ABC News, because again, and what's very funny is you can tell Martha hates this. She's miserable. You know, in that last segment we played, she describes it as head spinning. I gotta say, I am glad the corporate media's heads are spinning. I want them to spin a whole lot more. But listen to ABC describing the President's success on securing the border.

[ABC News Reporter]

You will hit the border with Mexico, where there is little question that Trump is fulfilling a campaign promise.

[Ted Cruz]

All illegal entry will immediately be halted.

[ABC News Reporter]

In a matter of months, migrant crossings have hit record lows. Apprehensions at the southern border dropped to 6,072 in the month of June, a massive reduction from the 83,532 apprehensions recorded in June of last year.

[Ted Cruz]

Over 25 miles of concertina wire our US Marines put up for us.

[ABC News Reporter]

Acting Patrol Chief Jeffrey Stalnaker tells us the San Diego sector has seen a significant drop in illegal entries.

[Ted Cruz]

And what that has done, it's allowed us to get our agents back on the border to do their traditional work. In addition to that, we have maximized consequences.

[Ben Shapiro]

It can be an immigration consequence or.

[Ted Cruz]

A consequence because of a criminal history, something they've done in the past.

[ABC News Reporter]

So in other words, if they come across, you find out they have criminal history, they go to jail and probably be kicked out later. Or if they don't, they're just immediately.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

So criminal history and immigration.

[Ben Shapiro]

You go back to one thing he said there. He said, we've been able to now get our officers to be able to go back to the border and do their job. One of the things that happened was there was so much taking care of all these legal immigrants that were coming across on purpose that you pulled them away from their jobs. The border was which allowed more people to come across the border and allowed the cycle to continue to grow.

[Ted Cruz]

Border patrol agents were processing. They were changing diapers. They were administering baby food. Look, one of the things we covered at a previous pod, talking about the flooding in the Texas hill country, Texas DPS said we were able to be here rescuing people from drowning. Why? Because we're not on the southern border anymore. Because finally the federal government is doing its job. So DPS was able to be in Texas saving Texans. And so that consequence is massive. All right, that's victory number one. The border. In the first six months, we have secured the border, and we're going to lock that in and make it permanent. Victory number two. President Trump won a war with Iran.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yes.

[Ted Cruz]

Period. The end. Iran. The Ayatollah chanting, death to America. Death to Israel. Israel defeated Hamas. Israel defeated Hezbollah. With our support.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

And Israel defeated Iran, took out their nuclear capabilities in one of the most amazing, successful military strikes of our lifetimes. And President Trump ordered a targeted bombing strike. B2s flew all the way around the world, took out Iran's nuclear facilities. Not a single US Casualty. Utterly decimated and destroyed Iran's nuclear capability, Secured the border, and won a war. And we're just six months into it.

[Ben Shapiro]

Hold on. Democrats say he was gonna start World War Three if he did this. What happened to that narrative?

[Ted Cruz]

By Democrats, do you mean Tucker Carlson? Yeah, let's be clear.

[Ben Shapiro]

That's true. He did say that as well.

[Ted Cruz]

So let's be clear. Tucker and others said if Donald Trump bombs Iran, he said it will start World War Three.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

He said thousands of Americans will die.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

And he said it's a world war that America will lose. So that was his prediction. Iran will beat us in. In World War Three. Now, that wasn't just a teeny weeny bit wrong. Yeah, it was totally, 100% absolutely false. And all of the Democrats who agreed with Tucker Carlson, all of the AOCs and left wing nuts who agreed with Tucker Carlson, all of the corporate media hacks who agreed with Tucker Carlson, all of them were wrong. And President Trump was right.

[Ben Shapiro]

How much safer are we now that we actually not just took out their nuclear facilities and pushed them way back? But also, I do think it also sends a very big message to other terrorists around the world and to other bad actors around the world. If you push America, we will defend ourselves. Under this administration.

[Ted Cruz]

The enemies of America are terrified of Donald Trump. That is a very good thing. Look, I believe in peace through strength. I want our commander in chief to be strong. Now, that doesn't mean that we engage in forever wars. Look, it's important to understand. Donald Trump didn't invade Iran. He didn't send boots on the ground. He's not trying to turn Iran into Switzerland. But what he did do is acted decisively to take out nuclear weapons being developed to potentially be used against the United States of America. That is a strong commander in chief, by the way. He is also acting to take out the Houthis who are bombing American ships and harassing American commerce. And the message, the message to Iran, the message to North Korea, the message to Venezuela that. The message to Cuba, the message to Russia, the message to China. If you are an enemy of America, you are dealing with a commander in chief who will stand up and defend America. And here's what the isolationists never understand. Weakness produces more military conflict. Because our enemies are afraid of President Trump, we are much, much less likely to go to war. I want our enemies afraid of the American president.

[Ben Shapiro]

This again, I think you said it's victory number two. I think it's so understated by the media just how big of a victory this was and the fact that there was no loss of American lives and World War 3 wasn't started and now the rest of the world's on notice?

[Ted Cruz]

Well, it wasn't guaranteed. I mean, when President Trump gave that order, it could have gone very, very differently. Imagine if those B2s had dropped a bunker buster and had missed its target and hit a civilian target instead, and there had been hundreds or thousands of casualties. That would have been a dramatically different. Imagine if those American planes had been shot down. Remember Jimmy Carter, when Iran took Americans hostage? He launched a military strike to try to get them down. And our helicopters crossed, crashed in the desert with no opposing fire. The entire dynamic would have been very different if we had lost American servicemen and women on that attack. Instead, it was delivered with incredible precision and, and total success. That's valuable not only for defeating Iran, but for every one of our enemies, and by the way, every one of our friends to sit back and say, holy cow, don't mess with them.

[Ben Shapiro]

Don't mess with them. Big victory number two. What's three?

[Ted Cruz]

Victory number three. It's one that I care particularly about, the Take It Down Act. And I'll tell you Friday at the White House, the President brought the Take It down act as one of the major victories of his first six months. He brought up Melania Trump.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah, she was all involved in this.

[Ted Cruz]

She leaned in hard. I wrote the Take It Down Act. It is the first bill in years restricting big tech. It is protecting children, women and teenage girls from non consensual intimate imagery, either real intimate images or deep fakes made using AI. We passed it through the Senate, we passed it through the House. We had a great bill signing on the South Lawn. And in fact, when you walk into the White House and you can see this is framed, this is the first picture that's framed as you come into the White House, I'm standing directly behind the President, and this is the signing of the Take It Down Act. And what was interesting is after President Trump signed it, he handed it to the first lady and he said, here, Melania, you want to sign it? So the picture is actually of her signing it. Remember we talked on this podcast? I'm willing to bet. I'm virtually certain this is the first and only law in American history that's been signed by the First Lady. And so the bill has two signatures, Donald Trump and then Melania Trump under it. And one of the questions you asked is you said, well, does that create a legal problem that Melania signed? It's like, no, once the President signs it, Mickey Mouse can sign it. It doesn't undo it, but it's still very cool that the first lady signed it. It was a great victory for kids.

[Ben Shapiro]

And it wasn't auto penned. What an idea, right?

[Ted Cruz]

It was not auto penned. We were standing there and I just love that that's the first picture when you come into the White House.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, and I also think it talks about how important this is to the White House and, and to the First Lady. And Melania Trump has made it pretty clear she says out of the political stuff, this was a moral issue for her.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah. This was a protecting kids and protecting women.

[Ben Shapiro]

And that to her was a non political issue, which is I think why she's there and signing it.

[Ted Cruz]

Absolutely. Yes. So fourth big victory rescissions. This past week we passed the first rescissions. Rescissions is an expedited process to cut spending. We cut $9 billion in spending. We cut a bunch of foreign aid spending, which was a good thing. We codified some of the Doge cuts on foreign affairs. But most notably we cut the federal funding for PBS and for npr. Now that is something conservatives have been fighting to do for 50 years. As long as you and I have been alive, conservatives have been fighting to cut the funding of PBS and npr. We talked about, the president talked at dinner when we were at the White House. He said, you know what? Reagan couldn't do it, Bush couldn't do it.

[Ben Shapiro]

And they tried.

[Ted Cruz]

And they tried.

[Ben Shapiro]

They did. I want people to understand the history of this. This is something they tried to do. Couldn't get it done.

[Ted Cruz]

And just a week ago we were on the senate floor till 2:30 in the morning. I'll tell you the reason we were there at 2:30 in the morning, the last four hours, there was a real chance we were not going to get the votes. It looked like the votes, it was going to go down. And we were spending four hours. It wasn't that we wanted to vote at 2:30 in the morning, it's that at 10pm we didn't have the votes. And so we spent four hours trying to get the votes. We got them.

[Ben Shapiro]

How hard is that? I just gotta ask, like when you're and you're one or two votes, I'm assuming at that point, right.

[Ted Cruz]

There were four no votes. We could only afford to lose three. And so we had to work and talk to the folks and strategize and go back and forth. And we got it done. But it was four hours of major uncertainty because if it had been voted down, it would have been catastrophic. And so we avoided that. And I just want to say, and look, there's going to be more rescissions that come over. Heidi and I were sitting, we're sitting with Russ Vogt, who's the head of omb. Great conservative, great friend. We were telling Russ, send more, and he's like, look, this was a test case. Will Republicans in Congress stand up and actually cut spending? And we did. And for it to be PBS and npr. You know, I spoke on the Senate floor. We talked about this in the last podcast. And I said, listen, if you want to listen to left wing propaganda, turn on msnbc.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep. But they do a great job.

[Ted Cruz]

There's no reason I wouldn't know, but there's no reason the taxpayer should subsidize it. And we actually got that done. I will confess I did somewhat tongue in cheek, ask the president if the dinner menu Friday night if they were serving big Burger for dinner, which some of my colleagues groaned a bit at. But, but look, it was. That is a massive conservative victory. That's victory number four.

[Ben Shapiro]

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[Ted Cruz]

Number five is the one big beautiful bill. And you know, it's interesting, we have seen for months Democrats in the media trying to demagogue this bill, trying to spread lies about this bill, trying to fear monger about this bill. I will tell you something the president said Friday night and multiple of us, including me, said Friday night. This bill has the most conservative victories in it of any piece of legislation I think that has ever passed into law. I don't think that it's hyperbole. There is no other bill that has as many major conservative victories. I'm gonna walk through quickly, 12 of them. We're gonna do this fast. But this is information you cannot get anywhere else. And this segment right now is the reason to listen to Verdict. It's the reason to share it with your friends. It's the reason to post it online. It's the reason to make sure you subscribe because you can watch CNN all day long. God help you if you do. Your eyes will bleed. You will go insane and run around in circles. But you could watch it all day long and you will not get this information that you're getting right now on verdict. 12 victories that are in the one big beautiful bill. Victory number one, we have stopped a $4 trillion tax increase. If we did nothing on December 31st, the Trump tax cuts would disappear and every American taxpayer, your taxes would go up significantly. $4 trillion, every taxpayer. And by the way, the, the Democrats wanted your taxes to go up to stop a $4 trillion tax increase is a massive victory. That's victory one, in the one big beautiful bill. Victory two, we enacted new tax cuts. No tax on tips. Yep, that's my legislation. I drafted it. It is in this bill. That means if you're a waiter or waitress, if you're a bartender, if you're a barber or hairstylist, if you work at a nail salon, if you're a taxicab driver or an Uber driver, millions of Americans rely on tips. We're providing real and meaningful tax relief to working Americans. That's in there no tax on overtime is in there. No tax on Social Security is in there. All three of those were President Trump's campaign promises. We delivered on all three of those. And working Americans all across Texas and all across this country will see the benefits of those major tax cuts.

[Ben Shapiro]

That's huge. I mean, it's just huge. When you think about that and you think about the promise and how it was, you know, you look at the president, I go back to the campaign, and he came out and he was in Vegas, and he was like, hey, we shouldn't be taxing people. They're working their tails off. And the tips and everything else. And then the left actually came out and immediately started attacking him for the saying, it'll never happen. This is not a good idea.

[Ted Cruz]

They did say it'll never happen. They said it's an empty promise.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

By the way, I've told the story of where he came up with the idea of no tax on tips. He was. The day of his Vegas rally, he was having lunch in Vegas. He said there was a waitress who came up to him, was serving him lunch, and Trump being Trump, he told us, he said she was beautiful. I'm telling you, she was beautiful. And he said she was saying how stressful it was to pay taxes on tips and how complicated it was. And he said, he just pulled out a piece of paper and he wrote on the piece of paper, no tax on tips. He said, what do you think? She says, that sounds great. And he said, I had a rally that afternoon. So I went out to the rally and I said, all right, let's try it out. And he said, no tax on tips.

[Ben Shapiro]

Place went nuts.

[Ted Cruz]

It went nuts. And I was a tipped town.

[Ben Shapiro]

I mean, it is.

[Ted Cruz]

People make it. 65% of the workers in Nevada are tipped workers.

[Ben Shapiro]

They rely on it as their income.

[Ted Cruz]

Yes. And so I saw it, and I said, this is political genius. And I immediately drafted the legislation to make it happen. That is part of one big, beautiful bill. Victory three, securing the border. We mentioned what the President has done by enforcing the law. What we put in one big, beautiful bill is $150 billion to secure the border. It is the largest investment in border security in the history of America. It will build the wall. It will complete the wall. We will hire more Border Patrol agents. We will hire more ICE agents. We will build more detention facilities. We will have more detention beds. And we will employ technology, infrared drones, helicopters. It is, as I said, the biggest investment ever to secure the border. That is in the bill.

[Ben Shapiro]

One of the things that you mentioned there was technology. It is amazing to see how far behind we've been on technology and how we didn't have the funding for the technology that we knew we needed. That was clearly done on purpose by the prior administration. Because if you don't have the technology, then you're behind. The cartels are ahead, the human traffickers are ahead. The people are ahead of you. They held us back on purpose to again open the border.

[Ted Cruz]

Yes.

[Ben Shapiro]

So we've been playing catch up, and that's why this money was so important. This bill.

[Ted Cruz]

There's another strategic victory, which is every spending bill, the debt. Democrats hold border spending and military spending hostage.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

What we've done is funded the things that are critical to keeping this country safe, which means the Democrats can't hold it hostage anymore. So. So it has. There's a tactical advantage going forward on the next budget battle because this $150 billion we have appropriated it. It is going out the door. And there's not a damn thing Chuck Schumer or AOC can do to stop it that is valuable on the psyche aspect of it.

[Ben Shapiro]

Because I do think this is one of the things that is. I'm witnessing a change. Our border patrol agents, whether it's Department, Homeland Security, ice.

[Ted Cruz]

Yes.

[Ben Shapiro]

Their mentality right now has got to be on a high.

[Ted Cruz]

It is like a drowning man about to die, given a life preserver, lifted out, saved. They are able to do their jobs. They're locked down.

[Ben Shapiro]

They're fired up, they're ready to go to war.

[Ted Cruz]

Traffickers. They're stopping drug traffickers. Every time I see border patrol agents or an ICE agent, to be honest, half the time we just hug. I mean, the level of. They're just like, thank God we get.

[Ben Shapiro]

To do our job.

[Ted Cruz]

Victory number four, repaying the states for border security. $13.5 billion. Over $10 billion going to Texas. Texas taxpayers spent over $10 billion to secure the border because Joe Biden and the Democrats refused to do so. I helped lead the charge to repay the states that is in there. That means Texas is getting over $10 billion paid back. That's a huge victory. Victory number four. Victory number five, rebuilding the military. Over $150 billion to support our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen, our Marines, to build new submarines, to build, build new next generation fighter jets to improve our ability to stand up to China, to stand up to our enemies, to combat hypersonics, the next generation of warfare. Look, with the military, often you're fighting the last war. We're going forward. We're going to face 10,000 drone swarms using AI, investing $150 billion to make sure we can defend this nation. There's no responsibility the federal government has that is more important. And by the way, this is the money the Democrats always hold hostage. So we funded it. Right now they can no longer touch this hostage because this is done. Huge victory number six, the Coast Guard. Now this is something I'm particularly proud of because as you know, I'm the chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

The Coast Guard is in our jurisdiction. So I wrote the Coast Guard provision $24 billion for the Coast Guard. This is the single largest investment in the Coast Guard in the history of the United States of America. To give you a sense of the scope of the order of magnitude, the annual budget of the coast guard is about $12 billion. We are spending about 200% of the annual budget on the Coast Guard in investments. And what are we doing? We're buying new ships, we're buying new helicopters, we're buying new physical infrastructure. And critically, we're investing in ice cutters and polar ice cutters and Arctic ice cutters. Right now China is kicking our ass in the Arctic. And the Arctic is critical for national security. Any war ICBMs are gonna come over the Arctic. The Arctic is now you've got the United States on the Arctic. You've got China playing on the Arctic, you've got Russia playing on the Arctic. And we are losing. This funding will enable us not only to compete, to win. And by the way, a huge theme of everything I do in Congress is beat China, beat China, beat China. This investment in the Coast Guard is to beat China and the Arctic. But let me tell you, a huge America first benefit for this, which is shipbuilding in America has almost entirely disappeared.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. And that's scary.

[Ted Cruz]

From a national security standpoint, it is very scary. But this Coast Guard bill will bring shipbuilding back to America. You look at Galveston, Texas. There's a huge multi billion dollar shipyard that is being built and expanded right now to build these ice cutters. And the problem previously is if you're a private company, you couldn't make the multi billion dollar investment because you didn't know where demand was going to come from. Because we have $24 billion appropriated. There is a multi year stream of buy orders coming from the Coast Guard for these ice cutters. That is going to bring back thousands of jobs, good American jobs right here. Building ships to keep America safe. That is in the bill. I'll tell you when I was in the hill country when I was with the Coast Guardsmen who were rescuing Texans from the floods. Every single coastie, every one of them, every man and woman knew exactly about this investment in the Coast Guard. They knew it was the biggest in history. And every one of them said, thank you. This will make a massive difference in our ability to do.

[Ben Shapiro]

I've got a good friend, the Coast Guard. And he said to me the other day about this, he said, you know, the Coast Guard, he's been in for 20 plus years. He said, we've always gotten the hand me downs. We get the leftover equipment and the old equipment, that's a lot of their equipment literally come from surplus, from military and other things. He said, this is the first time that we are now, like, on the cutting edge, on our own because of what you just described. He said, not only is morale gone through the roof, we're no longer like the forgotten agency. Like, we're kind of like, oh, the fifth wheel of military and government. He's like, now we matter. And it matters for national security, as he described it. And I think that's a great point.

[Ted Cruz]

That is absolutely right. And by the way, the Coast Guard also does drug interdiction. It does border security.

[Ben Shapiro]

Exactly.

[Ted Cruz]

The Coast Guard is critical for securing our border. And so this investment, having those Coast Guard cutters to stop drug traffickers, stop human traffickers, and also to engage in search and rescue, which is hugely important. That investment is something I care deeply about. And by the way, we're at number six. I told you, I'm going to give you 12 major conservative victories in the one big, beautiful bill. We're at six. I actually want listeners to pause for a second. How many of you could list the first six before this podcast? And I just want to make the point, what kind of job does the corporate media do? I'm willing to bet virtually none of our listeners could have listed those first six because the news hasn't covered it. And it's why we do this podcast, to give you information so that when you're talking to your friends and your colleagues, you will know what's being accomplished. There's a reason President Trump is so excited about this one big, beautiful bill, because it is massive, massive victories for America.

[Ben Shapiro]

Number seven.

[Ted Cruz]

Number seven, Spectrum. Now, spectrum. What is spectrum? Electromagnetic spectrum. It is how we communicate. It's how our cell phones work. It's how WI fi works. It's how satellites work. It's how streaming works. It's all of electronics. Spectrum. The largest holder of spectrum is The United States government. The United States government has vast swaths of spectrum. And under Joe Biden, the United States government stop making new Spectrum available to the private sector. They ended auction authority. It was grotesquely irresponsible. It did massive damage to America. It destroyed jobs in America and it let China get ahead of America. In this bill, I wrote the legislation that directs the federal government to auction to the private sector 800 MHz of spectrum for private sector investment. What does that mean? Number one, that will generate in excess of $100 billion of revenue to the federal government.

[Ben Shapiro]

Wow.

[Ted Cruz]

Real money. Now, even in government terms, $100 billion is real money. And listen, you and I are deeply concerned about the deficit and the debt. The entire Commerce title that I wrote that had historic investments in Coast Guard and a bunch of other things. I ended up saving over $40 billion, reducing the deficit and the debt by over $40 billion. And the driver was, because of Spectrum auction authority, we brought in, we will bring in $100 billion to pay down the debt. That's real money. But it's not the biggest piece of this. The biggest piece of this is by auctioning this spectrum off, we will open up billions and billions of dollars of private sector investment. The companies that buy this Spectrum are going to invest. It is going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. That is not an exaggeration. Hundreds of thousands of jobs. And you know what Spectrum is all about? Beating China to 6G. I mentioned my consistent theme. Beat China, beat China in the Arctic with the Coast Guard. Beat China to 6G with spectrum. And I gotta tell you, three months ago, there was nobody in Washington who thought we could get this done. I sat in the office of the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, a good friend of mine. I said, mike, we're gonna do Spectrum on the one big, beautiful bill. And Mike laughed in my face. He's a good friend, but he's like, there's no way. He said, there's no chance. Because the Department of Defense and the CIA will fight you. They will stop you. You cannot get it done. We not only got it done, when I cut the deal and got it in the bill, President Trump called me the next morning. He said, ted, this is incredible. This is like, how did you get such an incredible deal? Historic Spectrum Auction Authority producing hundreds of thousands of jobs and beating China to 6G. That's in the bill. Number eight, air traffic control. This bill invests $12.5 billion modernizing our air traffic control. To keep your family safer when you fly, to keep My family safer when we fly. To stop using outdated radars, to stop using computers that have floppy disks and little copper wire. Copper wire. To modernize our air traffic control. A massive investment in keeping the American public safe. This bill, I wrote that portion that is also in the commerce title. So I wrote that portion that will fund and improve air traffic control. A huge victory. Number nine, space.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

This bill has 10 billion for NASA to go to the moon for the Artemis program, for the gateway program to beat China to the moon. China has said they intend to return to the moon by 2030. In my view, if we lose the moon to China, it would be a catastrophic loss. It would be a loss if we woke up in a few years and China was on the moon. And China established a base on the moon, which is what they said they intend to do with the Russians.

[Ben Shapiro]

And they made that very clear. That is the sole intent of going. It's not just to go to the moon, it's to have a base on the moon.

[Ted Cruz]

Yes. If they did that and we lost, I think it would be worse than Sputnik. That it would be a national body blow that would crush this country. And look, the Moon is critical, number one, for national security. The Moon is the high ground. You look at so much of our national security and so much of our commerce depends on, on satellites in orbit around the Earth. The Moon gives you the high ground. It is very dangerous for us to cede that to China. It is unacceptable for us to cede that to China. But number two, there are massive rare earth minerals on the moon. Their enormous economic advantages. It is current US law that it is the policy of the American government to have a sustained human habitation either on the lunar surface or in cislunar orbit. This investment in beating China to the moon. And by the way, the moon is a stepping stone to Mars. We will go to Mars, but we haven't landed on a celestial body in over 50 years. So we're gonna land on the moon first to make sure we know how to do it and then we're gonna go to Mars. This investment, I wrote this investment in there. I will say there was significant resistance and without getting too much into the sausage making, we won against the resistance. This is in there. It is a massive investment.

[Ben Shapiro]

And China is going to notice China as well.

[Ted Cruz]

Yeah, that is exactly right. That's number nine. Number ten, CAFE standards. The standards that mandate you keep having to have higher and higher fuel efficiency on your cars. That's what the Biden administration has used as its tool as one of its tools to wage the war on the internal combustion engine, to try to force every car to be electric, is they keep jacking up CAFE standards higher and higher and higher. What does that mean? Number one, it drives up the cost of your cars. You notice cars have gotten a lot more expensive, Trucks have gotten a lot more expensive. Number two, it makes cars less safe because one of the ways you get the gas efficiency higher is you replace metal with plastic.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

Make it lighter, cheap plastic that crumbles in a crash and more people die in the commerce section of the one big beautiful bill. You know what we did to CAFE.

[Ben Shapiro]

Standards, what was that?

[Ted Cruz]

Zeroed them out.

[Ben Shapiro]

Really?

[Ted Cruz]

They're gone. So it's actually.

[Ben Shapiro]

So you're telling me that my car, instead of being all plastic, where you have a little fender barrel and everything breaks, they could actually go back and say, hey, we're not trying to save weight here. We're trying to actually make safe cars again.

[Ted Cruz]

It can be a great American car again, made of steel, tough as hell. And by the way, you want to buy electric car, great. That's your choice. If you want to buy a hybrid, great. You want to buy a gas car, great. It ought to be consumers choosing. And actually, the way we did this, we very much modeled how in 2017, we repealed the individual mandate on Obamacare. So that was a fight I led in 2017. The individual mandate, the way we eliminated it is under the rules of reconciliation. We could not eliminate the legal mandate to buy health insurance, which was the individual mandate under Obamacare. So you know what we did? We made the penalty zero. So you used to be. The IRS fines you if you didn't buy health insurance. The IRS would fine you. It is still the law. You're required to buy health insurance. If you don't, you will be fined zero dollars and zero cents. We did the same thing to CAFE standards so they could put their standards out.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah.

[Ted Cruz]

But the penalty for violating it is zero. And I want to mention, look, this is again, like PBS and NPR. This has been a conservative battle for.

[Ben Shapiro]

50 years, and Democrats have been winning for 50 years, unfortunately.

[Ted Cruz]

And we got this done. I wrote this portion. It is in the bill. It is zeroed out. And we got this done. And I'm willing to bet fewer than 1% of our listeners even knew we had done it because we won so many victories that this falls all the way down to number 10 on the list.

[Ben Shapiro]

Incredible. Well done.

[Ted Cruz]

The final two.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yep.

[Ted Cruz]

The final two, as you know, are very near and dear to my heart. Number 11 is school choice. In this bill, we passed the single largest and most consequential federal school choice bill in the history of our country. I wrote this provision. Every single American taxpayer can now contribute up to seventeen hundred dollars a year to a scholarship granting organization in the states and get a dollar for dollar credit on their taxes. It means the money is free. The effect of this is going to be tens of billions of new scholarship money in the states for school choice. For K through 12 school choice. We're going to do a subsequent POD that does a really deep dive because.

[Ben Shapiro]

This is part of your legacy, by the way. This is going to be part of your legacy.

[Ted Cruz]

This is the issue I care more about than any anything else. I have spent 30 years fighting for it. And we're going to do another POD where we do a very deep dive because there's some aspects of this that I want the listeners to appreciate that are both incredible policy victories, but also massive political victories. We are creating incentives to turn blue states red to build constituencies of parents and kids who want fantastic education. This is, I told the President, if and when we get this done, you will go down in history as one of the greatest civil rights presidents in our nation's history. Your critics will never acknowledge that.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah, but the reality will be you're gonna change poor communities.

[Ted Cruz]

The reality is the school choice provision is massive and it's in the bill. And then the final number 12 are the Trump accounts, the Invest America accounts. Again, I wrote this provision.

[Ben Shapiro]

This could fundamentally change this country.

[Ted Cruz]

By the way, starting next year, July 4th of next year, the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, every child in America will have a personal investment account. Every newborn child will have it seeded with $1,000. Parents, family, employers can contribute up to $5,000 a year in a tax advantaged account. All of that money is invested in The S&P 500 is invested in the stock market. That enables every kid to enjoy the incredible benefits of compound growth which will transform our kids. The wealth creation for the next generation of Americans will be utterly transformative. And not only that, this creates a new generation of capitalists as our kids will all be owners of the largest employers in America. These two victories, school choice and personal investment accounts for kids. Without exaggeration, Ben, and I've told the President this, I think 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now, these will be the two things everyone remembers from this bill. Everything else I listed 1 through 10, which are massive. Yeah, they are conservative victories for the generations. I think 11 and 12 will dwarf 1 in 10 because the difference we will see trillions of dollars invested in 401ks for kids in these Trump accounts that will change the future of every one of our kids and make them all have skin in the game in our capitalist society. And school choice is going to literally provide hope and opportunity to millions of kids. We got both of them done. Those are victories, generational victories. And when the president signed it on July 4, they were victories for all of America.

[Ben Shapiro]

I hope you share this one. This is one of those shows I love that we've done. You get all this information, we give it to you. Share it wherever you can. If you're watching on YouTube, share it there on social media. If you're watching on Facebook, share it there. If you're on X, share it there. Share it with your family and your friends. This is big victories and a long list of what has happened since Donald Trump was inaugurated. January 20th. Six month checkup. I'd say we're doing pretty darn well right now. Don't forget, hit that subscribe or auto download button wherever you, wherever you get this podcast as well so you don't miss a single episode. And then Senator and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning. This is an I Heart podcast.