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Ben Ferguson
welcome in as vertic with center Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. For all the mothers out there that may be listening, we hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend. So happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there as well. And Senator, we've got a lot to talk about today including the fact that aoc, she wants to get rid of all the wealthy people in this country, make it illegal for you to make a billion dollars. It's pretty impressive.
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, let me first of all say happy Mother's Day. I took my mom out for brunch and my mom is 91 years old. She is amazing, she is brilliant and it was just fun to hang out with me and my mom. We had some one on one time and a really delightful time. I hope everyone listening, I hope to all the, the moms who are listening, I hope your kids, I hope your, your family embraced you, said thank you to you and and, and said how much we appreciate everything moms do and everyone else. I hope you did that to your mom, to your wife if you didn't do it now even if it's Mother's
Ben Ferguson
Day and you're in the doghouse, by the way, if you're doing it this late, you're in the doghouse so you better get a better gift.
Senator Ted Cruz
But, but you know what moms the there's a reason moms are the only things that rank above apple pie. That it's a beautiful thing.
Ben Ferguson
We've got one big story to talk about today. It deals with socialism, communism, Marxism and aoc. She now wants to ban wealthy people in this country and says you didn't really earn it. You can't make it up. This is now the Democratic Party in a new shocking tell all. Want to also talk to you about your cell phone provider and how would you like to know that every time you make a call, every time you send a text, you're actually standing up for the values you in. Well, that is exactly what patriot mobile does while offering you unbelievable satisfaction and quality no matter where you're going.
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Ben Ferguson
All right, center. So let's start with aoc and this is something you and I have been talking about for a really long time on the show. There is a war on success in this country and it is being led by the democratic party. They don't want you to own your own stuff. They don't want you own your own business. They don't want you to succeed. They don't want you to keep more of your own money. They believe that you are a worker bee for their socialist, communist, Marxist ideals. And AOC went all the way to the University of Chicago institute of politics to now make her case yet again.
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, communism is a dangerous ideology. It is one based on deception and it's one based on ignorance. And I'm very hard pressed to find anyone who combines deception and ignorance in more of a complete package than aoc. She was at, she was with David Axelrod at the Institute for Politics in Chicago. And one of the things she started off by saying is her understanding of the American revolution And give a listen to what apparently according to aoc, the American revolution was all about.
Narrator/Announcer
The American revolution was against the Billionaires of their time. And we are declaring independence from such an extreme marriage of wealth and power and the state.
Ben Ferguson
I mean, I clearly need a refund in high school and college, Senator, because that's not what I was taught at all, by the way. I didn't know there was a whole lot of billionaires back in the revolution days, but apparently there were.
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, look, if you wrote that answer on your 9th grade history exam, you would get an F because it is not only a little bit wrong, it is not only kind of slightly wrong, it is entirely 180 degrees opposite. What was the American Revolution fought against? It was fought against arbitrary government power. It was fought against King George. It was fought against government tyrants that tax you without representation. It was fought against the AOCs of the world. The irony is, literally, she is an advocate of more and more government power. She wants to be able to tax the hell out of you. She wants to be able to regulate the hell out of you. And she wants to ensure that you have no voice. You don't get to say anything. She is in charge. That's what it was fought against. But here's why her retelling is so both ignorant and dangerous, which is, do you know who funded the American Revolution?
Ben Ferguson
Who is that?
Senator Ted Cruz
That. That would be effectively the billionaires of that time. There's a guy named Robert Morris. Robert Morris was the wealthiest man in America. He was a Philadelphia financier, and he put virtually all of his wealth into the American Revolution. He ended up. He died nearly bankrupt. But wow. He funded. He funded the American Revolution. You have other people. You have other people like George Washington. George Washington was one of the richest men alive. If you look at George Washington's wealth, by the time he died, if you adjusted it for inflation, he had the equivalent in today's dollars of about $600 million. That's how wealthy George Washington was. Thomas Jefferson, likewise, was incredibly wealthy. A landowner in Virginia. It was. We didn't have billionaires at the time. No one had accumulated a billion dollars. But the richest people in America are the people who funded and supported the revolution against government power. And listen, like a little Marxist that she is, she takes that story and turns it on its head and says the Revolution was against the American free enterprise that actually funded the revolution. And what they were fighting for was giving government more power. She is the King George in this story. And those sorts of lies that is right at the heart. Look, there's a reason, the reason communists go and try to undermine the American Revolution. It's the Same reason, by the way, that say, anti Semites go and try to undermine what happened in World War II and in particular cast doubt on the Holocaust. Because you go to foundational premises and you turn them into bizarre land, you turn them upside down and you end up with, unfortunately, some really confused young people who haven't learned history. And then she also had this to say. Let's just talk about billionaires in general. Look, part of the communist argument is nobody deserves to create any wealth. Government should be in charge of your wealth because you don't do anything to create anything.
Ben Ferguson
The only thing that should be wealthy, you should be a minion.
Senator Ted Cruz
So give a listen to what she says about today creating wealth and whether it's possible for anyone to generate a billion dollars in production and society.
Narrator/Announcer
There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned, right? You can't earn a billion dollars.
Cancer Survivor/Advocate
That's right.
Narrator/Announcer
You just can't earn that.
Cancer Survivor/Advocate
That's exactly correct.
Narrator/Announcer
You can. You can get market power, you can break rules, you can do all sorts of things, you can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they're worth, but you can't earn that. Right. And so you have to create a myth that since you didn't earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it.
Ben Ferguson
A myth, Senator, of earning it. That. That's a whole new way of putting it. And by the way, I know some people that are billionaires. They earned it. They didn't. They didn't break a rule. They didn't do any of the things she tried to describe. They actually created an amazing product or did something unbelievable or, or created something out of thin air. And, and many times that turns into something that's massive. And she's like, no, no, that's impossible.
Senator Ted Cruz
Well, there's a village somewhere that's missing its idiot. What she is saying there is bizarrely foolish and profoundly ideological. And of course, the left wing interviewer there is. Oh yes, that's right. That's exactly right. Oh, yes, yes, you're right. Now, to be clear, I have to acknowledge, you know, AOC has not earned a billion dollars. She was a bartender. Nothing wrong with being a bartender. Bartender is an honorable job to have. But she's right. If you're slinging drinks, you can't earn a billion dollars slinging drinks. That's true. I mowed lawns as a teenager mowing lawns. I couldn't make a billion dollars mowing lawns. There are a lot of jobs where you can't Earn a billion dollars. Now what does AOC do today? She's a member of Congress. She's right. You can't earn a billion dollars as a member of Congress unless you're like Nancy Pelosi, unless you're engaging in say insider trading. Set that aside. But, but let's actually look in history. All right, who have the billionaires been? Let's look at the first billionaire in American history. That was John D. Rockefeller. What did John D. Rockefeller do? He discovered oil and he developed low cost distribution for energy all across the country, produced enormous value, transforming this nation, transforming the lives of millions of people. One of the other early billionaires, Henry Ford invented the Model T, invented and perfected the assembly line of production. What did that do? It literally brought about the American middle class. We went from a society where you had horses and carriages, and even horses and carriages were limited to people who were wealthy to within a generation having automobiles being widespread and being at a point where middle class families could afford Ford an automobile. Now in AOC's telling, Henry Ford did not generate a billion dollars worth of worth, I've got to say, bringing up the, creating effectively the American middle class, both the workers that worked for Henry Ford and worked in the auto industry, that could go in and have honorable jobs and make, make money and go and buy at home and raise their kids and have a house with a backyard and a swing in the tree and, and have a car parked in the driveway. I mean that for most of history, for millennia, you lived with lords and serfs, you lived with monarchs and peasants, people that were scraping out subsistence living, trying to farm enough food on the ground not to feed lots of other people, just to feed themselves and their own kids and barely surviving. You had life expectancies. At the time that our country began life expectancies, people were dying in their 30s. Yeah, you look at the benefit of a Henry Ford or let's take Elon Musk. So according to aoc, you cannot earn a billion dollars. Well, how about inventing the Tesla? Inventing and, and putting in place the manufacturing capability of Tesla to be the world's dominant seller of electric vehicles, to sell millions of electric vehicles by the way, also developing the self driving technology that now millions of people are putting their cars on auto drive. Transforming how we are living within relatively short order as we see more and more people moving to autonomous vehicles and self driving. One of the benefits of that every year There are about 40,000 people who are killed in car accidents. In within the next decade we're going to see that number drop to nearly zero is saving 40,000.
Ben Ferguson
So just because the autonomous cars.
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes. Is saving $40,000, 40,000 lives a year, is that producing of a billion dollars of value? How about SpaceX? SpaceX launching, you know, going to South Texas, going to Boca Chica, where six, seven years ago that, that was an empty strip of sand on the beach down in South Texas. I've been there. Elon built an entire city there, built an entire factory there that's manufacturing a rocket ship a month. Over 90% of the satellites around the world are SpaceX or Starlink satellites, by the way, Starlink producing connectivity all over the globe. You can be in the middle of the Amazon, you could be on a deserted mountain somewhere in the middle of nowhere and nonetheless have connectivity because Elon has put satellites all around the globe. And you want to talk about changing, changing, going to space where it used to be for the entire space race. You launch a rocket, and when you're done launching the rocket, you throw the rocket away, it crashes into the ocean, it burns away in the atmosphere. It's never used again. Everyone knew that's the only way you can do it. Elon said, well, why, why not reuse it? And he developed the technology that he launches a rocket, has it come down in giant arms, giant chopsticks, grab, grab the spaceship and set it back down on the landing plate. That is crazy science fiction technology. And yet for that sweet little communist, nothing Elon has done has earned the money. He has made the beauty of the American free enterprise system. You can earn today billions of dollars, and many people have done so. But the way you do it is by inventing a product. People work, inventing want, inventing a service people and improving their lives. Look, people's lives were better because Henry Ford created the Model T and created a system and manufacture it. And communists like AOC would say, we're going to crush those inventors, we're going to crush those entrepreneurs. We're going to move you to the kind of poverty that comes when the communist government is in charge, whether that is in Russia, whether that is in China, whether that is in Cuba, whether that is, whether that is in North Korea and aoc. I'm sure she doesn't know the facts, but every place or system of government has been implemented communism. The result is crushing poverty, starvation, suffering, misery. And it's also in terms of human rights, murder, torture, imprisonment. And in China, at least concentration camps. That's literally what the left is arguing for. And they don't know enough. And they are not honest enough to admit it.
Ben Ferguson
I gotta ask you a question.
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Ben Ferguson
Now you know there's also something else she said and she's decided it was a good time to play the race card and talk about race and wealth. I want to, I want to play for you what you said and then and get your reaction. Take a listen.
Narrator/Announcer
There are very few like real archetypes of in my opinion truly what America is all about. I think about the civil rights and voting rights movement and how black Americans really created democracy in this country.
Cancer Survivor/Advocate
That's exactly right.
Narrator/Announcer
How they literally made something from nothing, it is just beyond me. I think about how like native people have survived and preserved and treasured their culture. I think about, and I think many of us think about immigrants which if you aren't from one of those first two populations, you are certainly from largely the third. And so many of us like have our story of our parents, our grandparents, our great great grandparents and so on and so forth and who like come and make something from nothing. And I think that's a big part of also the most inspiring elements of what America is all about.
Ben Ferguson
That's her definition of what inspiring America is all about. God help us.
Senator Ted Cruz
Well look, I will say that the actually third point she made, I agreed with her when she talked about the immigrant story that so many millions of Americans have. But it's interesting what she described. She said so many people, whether us, our parents or grandparents who came to America and made something from nothing. That's actually right. And she screwed up and actually told the American free enterprise story, like accidentally. I'm sure she didn't actually listen to the words she was saying. But look, when my dad came from Cuba in 1957 with $100 in his underwear, he came to America because, as AOC accurately put it there, you could make something from nothing. Freedom was possible. You could live. Your success didn't depend on who your parents were, who your grandparents are. If you had talent and hard work and a vision, you could succeed. It's why millions of people come to this country. But you look at the first half of what she said, it was like she was at a faculty lounge and just sort of signaling out all of the oppressed people because it's intersectionality. There's a whole spectrum. I was really waiting for her to talk about, like a. A lesbian Hamas terrorist in a wheelchair. Like, like, how could you find every element of oppression? So she says, she says, well, indigenous people, that, that there, she just sort of emotes in their direction. She doesn't actually say anything.
Ben Ferguson
It just checked the, it's. Check the boxes.
Senator Ted Cruz
She's just like, oh, you know, we're on stolen land. Mind you, she's not proposing giving Manhattan back. She just is like, stolen land, stolen land, America. Illegitimate. But look, the comment she makes at the beginning, which is truly, it's just ludicrous. She says black Americans created democracy in America. Now, listen, I think much of the journey of America has been a journey towards equality, a journey towards justice. And I agree with her. The civil rights movement in America was pivotal. But the idea that democracy was created in America by black Americans is just wildly ahistorical. Where did democracy come from? Well, number one, we don't have a pure democracy. A pure democracy, an Athenian democracy, would be, say, all the people get together and vote on the ultimate policy. So you get together and say, what should the law be? Should the top tax rate be 10%, 20%, 30% or 90%? Everyone votes and whatever wins. That's what it is. That's a pure democracy. We don't have that. We have a republic. We have representative democracy. But her claim that black Americans created democracy in America, no, there were actually two processes that created democracy in America. Number one, what we are celebrating in July of this year, the Declaration of Independence. That was the birthday of our nation. And it was Thomas Jefferson who penned the immortal words, we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That declaration, by the way, declaring our independence not from billionaires, but from oppressive government from King George. That was the beginning of our nation. And then some 20 years later, the United States Constitution, which created our democracy. I mean, if you want to look at the moment that our democracy was created, it was the delegates in Constitution hall in Philadelphia who drafted the Constitution, who set up our system of government, and then the states that had to ratify it. And once it was ratified, it went into effect. That is what has created our democracy. Now, if she were speaking, precisely what she could have said is, when our democracy was created, it was imperfect and we had to travel a journey to move towards greater equality. That statement is unequivocally right. It is true.
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, accurate.
Senator Ted Cruz
When our nation was created, African Americans in half the country were slaves. They had no right to vote. Women had no right to vote. On the question of slavery, I've said many times, slavery is the original sin of America. It was a grotesque evil. I will point out, though, that how did we abolish slavery? Look, we abolished slavery, number one. The person who did it was Abraham Lincoln, the very first Republican president. Our party was crazy, created in order to defeat slavery. That was the purpose. That's the origin of the Republican Party. The Democrat Party, by the way, virtually its entire tenure defended slavery and fought ferociously in favor of slavery. But the way the abolitionists in the Republican Party successfully abolished slavery was not by attacking our founding principles, not by attacking the Constitution, not by attacking the Declaration, but rather by appealing to those principles, by saying, we are not living up. When Jefferson wrote the words all men are created equal, that statement is, on its face, completely incompatible with slavery. Jefferson knew that. He was brilliant and he was putting into place, I believe, with. I agree with Dr. Martin Luther King, who said, the arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. But aoc, and this is true with, with the squad and with all of the communists on the left, they're so ignorant that everything I just said there, they don't know. They're told that the American Revolution was a communist revolution against the billionaires, that the answer is more government power. And. And they repeat things like black Americans gave us democracy, which is just simply not accurate. The Civil Rights movement was one of the greatest democratic movements in our nation's history. By the way, she points to the Civil Rights Act. Look, Civil Rights Act. Far more Republicans. A much greater percentage of Republicans in Congress voted for the Civil Rights act than Democrats. Her party opposed the Civil Rights act, the majority of them. And so yes, we're on a journey, but the left, their ignorance. It is a close battle which predominates, ideology or ignorance. But they're both intertwined and they're both fundamentally wrong.
Ben Ferguson
I want to take a moment to tell you about an organization that is called Americans United for Life. ALU is a nonprofit law firm and advocacy group that was founded in 1971, two years before Roe established the constitutional right to an abortion before fetal viability.
Patriot Mobile Representative
With the US Supreme Court's decision and
Ben Ferguson
Dobbs v. Jackson and the Women's Health organization overturning its 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, the nonprofit law firm has seen its biggest victory yet. Now there are Democrats and liberals that are fighting back. And that's where you and I have the opportunity to overturn pro abortion laws and advance pro life legislation that attacks the most vulnerable in our society. From the womb to the tomb. Together we can stand side by side and we can shape the future of our nation through life affirming legislation in every state. And that is where your monthly gift, $25 genuinely helps to advance pro life legislation desperately needed in 38 states to help pass pro life legislation to defend life for America's 250th birthday. Every gift they receive will be matched 2x up until $200,000. You can donate securely right now at alu.org/verdict. That's a U L.org verdict aul.org verdict sponsored by Americans United for Life. And by the way, AOC was not done there. She also had another pretty interesting line. She made it very clear that she wanted to say something about illegal immigrants and saying through fear mongering that once they're all deported, they're going to come after other groups referring to Republicans. Take a listen to this.
Narrator/Announcer
All of a sudden we now have a paramilitary force. We don't have a court system. Right. They don't need, they don't think they need judicial warrants so you don't get due process. So you start creating this black box system. That's right, black box warehouses. Point a finger whether it's like again like we saw in Jim Crow, whether you just point a finger and 100 years ago accuse a little black boy or something, you can point a finger and accuse someone of that today. If you think when once you build that machine that it's only going to be reserved to that.
Cancer Survivor/Advocate
That's right.
Narrator/Announcer
This eats profit, these things. Ice. It's not just ice, it's corecivic, it's geo. Group these, those are corporations that run ICE detention centers.
Cancer Survivor/Advocate
That's right.
Narrator/Announcer
They are for profit. They are traded on Wall Street. And what happens is that those companies and this system is that it does not accept anything but growth. It's not even good enough to be profitable. It's not even good enough to be profitable. You have to be more profitable and more profitable and more profitable. It's not enough to be a profitable business. You have to keep growing those profits. And so once they've rounded up every person in this country, who do you think is next?
Senator Ted Cruz
You know, look, that, that is the. Both the classic ignorance and misinformation of the left. So, so they understand AOC supports a open border. So she wants to abolish the police, she wants to abolish ice. She opposes all law enforcement that actually secures our border against foreign invaders, against illegal immigrants, against violent murderers, rapists, child molesters and gang bangers. And her position has consistently been let all of them out of jail. But at the same time, she wants to tell her very ill informed supporters, if there are detention centers that are used for illegal immigrants, that are used for violent criminals, those will be used by government against you. And part of what is really astonishing is if you look throughout history, in almost every instance where there have been mass detention centers, it's been the left that has put them in place. You look at whether it is the Soviet Gulags where communists imprisoned millions. You look at Joseph Stalin, you know, you read Solzhenitsyn, the Gulag Archipelago and talks about the incredible miseries of communism imprisoning millions in prisons. You look at my father's home country of Cuba and the prisons that are there right now. You look at North Korea, Cuba's communist. Soviet Union was communist. North Korea is communist. You have gulags there. You look at China. China today has over a million Uyghurs who are religious minorities who are in concentration camps. It's the largest instance of human slavery on the face of the planet. That is communist China. And by the way, you look at World War II, the Nazis. So leftists like to paint the Nazis as right. But let's be clear, Nazis were National Socialists. That was their policy. That's what Nazi stands for, is National Socialist. The economic policy of the left is what the Nazis believed in, government control. And I do want to be clear. It's not just historical leftists who have imposed concentration camps. Let me be very clear. I think slavery is wrong. Concentration camps are wrong detention camps. By the way, the United States, which president created Detention camps and detained American citizens.
Ben Ferguson
I'm gonna go with it was a Democrat. As I just wanna be clear about
Senator Ted Cruz
this, it is a Democrat. It was FDR who set up internment camps for Japanese Americans who were American citizens and interned thousands of them, forcibly detained them during World War II. That was a Democrat. By the way she talks about Jim Crow. She probably doesn't know this, but do you know who wrote the Jim Crow laws? That would be Democrats. Do you know who funded, who funded and founded the kkk? That would be Democrats. And I want to read to give you something recent. In 2020, there was an Iowa based field organizer for Bernie Sanders, his campaign who was caught on tape discussing the need for, quote, re education camps for people who did not support Bernie Sanders, particularly for Trump supporters. So aoc, it is her side that has advocated we're going to put the people we disagree with in camps. In some level that's not shocking because the left has always been willing, if you support government power, you are willing to use that government power to lock up everyone who disagrees with you. And there's something fundamentally different between locking up a violent criminal, locking up someone who has violated the law, that is protecting the community, that's protecting our citizens, that is upholding the rule of law. There's something fundamentally different between that and rounding up and locking up lawful citizens. And in history, virtually the only people to have done so have been leftists, have been communists like aoc. And yet, look, I do think she studied Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. She starts and throughout accuses her opponents of doing that, which she would do. And look, these interviews, truth matters. And let me say this as a final point, this is a big part of the reason we do these podcasts is to actually engage and give you the substance. Because if someone is a young person and they're listening to AOC and they're like, oh, oh yeah, the American Revolution fought to overcome the billionaires. We got to stop those billionaires. This podcast is here to give you the facts and information to push back on that dishonest and ignorant indoctrination.
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, no doubt. Don't forget we do this show three days a week, so make sure you share it wherever you can right now so other people see it. Write us a five star review as well and hit that download or auto subscribe button. It's always free and you will not miss an episode. Plus, we do the show on YouTube as well if you want to watch it there and the center and I will see you back here. On Wednesday morning.
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Ben Ferguson
this
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Verdict with Ted Cruz – May 11, 2026
Hosts: Senator Ted Cruz & Ben Ferguson
In this episode, Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson dissect recent remarks by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) regarding American history, the existence and morality of billionaires, and the foundational values of the United States. The hosts critique AOC's rhetoric as historically inaccurate and ideologically charged, arguing that her perspective embodies a mixture of “ignorance and deception” that, if embraced, leads to the erosion of economic freedom and constitutional principles. The episode also touches on the broader themes of socialism, capitalism, immigration, racial justice, and the legacy of American democracy.
[07:06 – 11:17]
Claim by AOC:
The American Revolution was “against the billionaires of their time” and for “declaring independence from such an extreme marriage of wealth and power and the state.” [07:38]
Hosts’ Response:
Notable Quote:
“She is the King George in this story.”– Senator Ted Cruz [10:33]
[11:17 – 19:06]
AOC’s Statement:
“There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned, right? You can't earn a billion dollars ... you can break rules ... abuse labor laws ... pay people less than what they're worth, but you can't earn that. Right. And so you have to create a myth that since you didn't earn that, you create a myth of earning it.” [11:33]
Hosts’ Counterarguments:
Notable Quotes:
“There's a village somewhere that's missing its idiot.” – Senator Ted Cruz [12:39]
“But the way you do it [create wealth] is by inventing a product … and improving their lives.” – Senator Ted Cruz [16:20]
[20:19 – 25:53]
AOC’s Statement:
Black Americans “created democracy in this country,” and Native people and immigrants “literally made something from nothing.” [20:30]
Hosts’ Analysis & Clarifications:
Notable Quotes:
“She screwed up and actually told the American free enterprise story, like accidentally.” – Senator Ted Cruz [21:57]
“When Jefferson wrote the words all men are created equal, … that statement is, on its face, completely incompatible with slavery. Jefferson knew that.” – Senator Ted Cruz [25:53]
[30:15 – 36:40]
AOC’s Allegation:
Equates modern law enforcement (ICE, private detention centers) with systemic oppression, claiming “once they've rounded up every person in this country, who do you think is next?” and that the system “does not accept anything but growth.” [30:15]
Hosts’ Criticism:
Notable Quotes:
“...her side has advocated we're going to put the people we disagree with in camps.” – Senator Ted Cruz [34:12]
“She studied Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. She starts and throughout accuses her opponents of doing that, which she would do.” – Senator Ted Cruz [35:54]
[36:00 – 36:40]
“...to give you the facts and information to push back on that dishonest and ignorant indoctrination.” [36:33]
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Paraphrase | |------------|-------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 07:06 | Ted Cruz | "Communism is a dangerous ideology. It is one based on deception and ... ignorance."| | 10:33 | Ted Cruz | "She is the King George in this story." | | 12:39 | Ted Cruz | "There's a village somewhere that's missing its idiot." | | 16:20 | Ted Cruz | "The beauty of the American free enterprise system... you can earn today billions..."| | 21:57 | Ted Cruz | "She screwed up and actually told the American free enterprise story, like accidentally."| | 25:53 | Ted Cruz | "When Jefferson wrote the words all men are created equal...that statement is, on its face, completely incompatible with slavery."| | 34:12 | Ted Cruz | "...her side has advocated we're going to put the people we disagree with in camps."| | 36:33 | Ted Cruz | "...to give you the facts and information to push back on that dishonest and ignorant indoctrination."|
| Segment | Timestamps | |--------------------------------------------|--------------| | Intro & overview of AOC's recent comments | 03:18–06:36 | | American Revolution & history debate | 06:36–11:17 | | Billionaires, capitalism, wealth | 11:17–19:06 | | Race, immigration, America’s legacy | 20:19–25:53 | | Law enforcement, detention, historical parallels | 30:15–36:40 |
The episode is highly critical, polemical, and leans into sarcasm and rhetorical hyperbole, particularly from Senator Cruz. Both hosts aim to debunk AOC’s assertions, defend capitalism/free enterprise, and link progressive rhetoric to dangerous outcomes using historical and contemporary examples.
If you haven’t listened to this episode, expect an in-depth critique of AOC’s interpretation of American history and economics, with Senator Cruz and Ben Ferguson vehemently defending capitalist values, offering alternate historical analysis, and framing contemporary progressive arguments as both misleading and historically dangerous. The discussion is dense with analogies, references to U.S. founding documents, and cautionary tales from global history.