Trump-Venezuela Oil Deal
- Trump has reached an agreement involving access to 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil.
- Examines potential benefits for U.S. energy, jobs, and long-term gasoline prices.
- Raises concerns about dealing with the Venezuelan government, competition issues for private energy companies such as Chevron, and government ownership stakes in businesses.
Texas Senate Candidate James Tallarico
- Previously recorded comments by James Tallarico regarding climate change, capitalism, and social justice have been released.
- Cruz argues that Tallarico's views are far outside the political mainstream in Texas.
- The discussion focuses heavily on capitalism, energy policy, and ideological differences between Republican and Democratic candidates.
Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed
- Examines Abdul El-Sayed’s planned participation in an Islamic convention near the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
- Discusses other speakers at the event, alleged ties to controversial organizations, and debates surrounding 9/11-related commentary.
- Cruz and Ferguson frame the issue as part of a broader discussion about ideological divisions within the Democratic Party.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, it is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Week in Review,
Ben Ferguson with you, and these are the stories that
you may have missed that we talked about this week.
First up, there was big news this week when it
comes to Venezuela oil and what it could mean for America.
So how good is the deal? And are there concerns
about what actually this means moving forward? Senator Cruz and
(00:20):
I break that down for you. Up next, there's a
major Senate race in Texas. James Tallarico is wanting you
to believe that he's normal, but his words from the past,
especially the ones he's deleted, well, they're coming back to
haunt him, and we have the receipts. And finally, as
we're getting very close to the anniversary of 9-11, we're
(00:40):
now learning exactly what El-Said is going to be doing,
and it is going to shock you. It's The Weekend Review,
and it starts right now. I want to move center
to another issue real quick, which has had a lot
of big breaking news over the weekend. And that was
the president of the United States of America announcing a
historic deal with a massive amount of oil on True Social.
(01:00):
The president saying, we've got this deal now with Venezuela.
It is going to be huge for not just America,
but the world. And the price of gas could go
down significantly for Americans. Talk about what this is and
what it means.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, this week, President Trump announced a new deal with Venezuela,
a deal for 65 billion barrels of oil. That is
a massive amount of oil. Venezuela has the largest proven
reserves of any country on earth. And this is a
deal that will be funded by a private company, but
with the U.S. government as a major investor in the company,
(01:35):
and under the terms that was announced, that company will
have access to to the oil at cost, and the U.S.
government is taking an equity position and will get the
upsides in terms of the profits from that oil. I
will say, as we're talking about this right now, the
full details of the deal are still somewhat opaque. It
(01:55):
is difficult to know exactly what's going on. My reactions initially,
number one, 65 billion barrels of oil is a big deal.
That is a lot of oil in a massive amount and,
and the United States getting access to that, that's good
for American jobs. It's good for the economy and it's
also good in the longterm for gasoline prices. Although to
(02:17):
be fair, do not expect this to have an immediate
impact on gasoline prices. It will still take years or
even decades to build up the infrastructure to produce all.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Of that oil.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So that will not happen overnight. Um, That being said,
there are also significant concerns being raised. Number one, this
is a deal that was cut with Delcy Rodriguez, who
is the interim president of Venezuela. She was Nicolas Maduro's
vice president. She is a communist. She is a Marxist.
She has a long history of being viciously anti-American. Maduro
(02:50):
was illegitimate and Delcy Rodriguez is illegitimate. Neither one of
them were elected by the people. And the Trump administration
has kept Delcy in for a period of time during transition.
What I've been saying consistently is there need to be
free and fair elections. Let the people of Venezuela choose
who their leadership is rather than maintaining someone illegitimate. I
(03:12):
still think that's the right decision. I certainly don't want
this oil deal to somehow... push off the notion that
the people of Venezuela get to elect their own leaders.
I don't think we should be maintaining anti-American communists in
power against the wishes of the people who elected them.
I'll say secondly, we are hearing concerns from some, particularly
(03:36):
in the oil and gas business. So Chevron is anticipating
putting and is contemplating at least putting billions of dollars
of investment into Venezuela. They already have significant investments in Venezuela.
And I got to say, if you're an American company,
the prospect of competing against another company that is business
partners with the federal government, the U.S. government, and that
(03:58):
has a special deal with the Venezuelan government, that's going
to make you as a private company pause and say, wait,
is this a fair playing field? Can I compete here?
And so how that's worked out, it's unclear at this point,
but those are a concern a number in the energy
world are raising, and I think those are reasonable concerns
to ask. There is also the longer-term concern that this
(04:22):
deal is being done through the Office of Strategic Capital
at the Department of War, and it is being done
in exchange for equity ownership in the company. We've talked
before on this podcast how I am very uncomfortable with
this administration's taking equity positions in lots and lots of companies.
(04:43):
I think that is a very bad precedent. I think
it puts us on a slippery slope. They started it
with Intel taking a big equity position in Intel. Look,
if you look at the definition of socialism, socialism is
government ownership of the means of production or distribution in
an economy. If the federal government starts taking a major
(05:03):
equity position and just– Can.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
You say that again? Because that is the warning. That
is the warning that people need to hear and why
you're saying when the U.S. government starts getting into these businesses,
these private businesses and ownership positions, at first it can
sound great, but this goes back to– when we had
the big fall in 2008 at Lehman Brothers, and should
America take equity positions in these companies? And it was
a grand economic debate. But say that statement again, because
(05:27):
this is what you mean when you say the slippery slope,
that if we start this, what does it end with?
Does it end with government ownership in the biggest sectors,
and then we, as Americans, are dependent on the government,
not the private sector anymore?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So the textbook definition of socialism is government ownership or control.
Of the means of production or distribution in an economy.
At the end of the day, if we end up
with the federal government having equity shares, ownership stakes in
the biggest companies of America, that is socialism. It is
(06:00):
the definition of socialism. And there's a combination of, number one,
you look at what China does, where the Chinese government
and every company in China has what's called the golden share.
And the golden share gives them the ability to control
the companies. It makes every company an arm of the government.
That ain't good. I don't want every company in America
to be an arm of the federal government. And you
(06:21):
may think it's great when it's Donald Trump. But you
know what? Donald Trump is not going to be the
last president. And it ain't nearly that great if it's
President Elizabeth Warren or President AOC or whatever communist comes next.
And so I think it is a very, very dangerous proposition.
And I'll tell you, President Trump and I have discussed
(06:41):
this multiple times. What I am urging him to do
is to take these equity positions that they have taken
and before he leaves office, put them directly into the
Trump accounts of 70 million kids, transfer them out of
the federal government, And send them to the children of
America instead so that that way you have America with
(07:03):
a widespread investment in the companies of America, but you
don't have the government having the ability to control those companies,
having the ability to dictate. And by the way, think
about how a left-wing president would use that equity share.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Share.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
You know, think how bad woke was now. Imagine a president,
Elizabeth Warren telling every company, we own 10% of your company.
Let me tell you right now, you've got a higher 20%, uh,
transgender left-handed witches, uh, non-binary bubble, like that's giving government
power over the private sector is a really dangerous road
(07:43):
to be on. And, and, and, and so I am
encouraged that we have a deal to access a massive
amount of oil that for energy and jobs is good.
But there are also some dangerous aspects here that we
need to be cautious about and we need to think
carefully through where this goes going forward.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week. Now on to story number two.
All right, Senator, I want to pivot real quick and
move to James Tallarico. He'd be the perfect candidate for
California for Senate. He's running, though, in Texas. And there's
(08:22):
those Zoom meetings, and they're coming out of what he
actually believes and what he's actually said. And it's a
really bad look, especially in Texas.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Well, I got to say, it is a sharp contrast
to what we talked about in the first part of
the pod, was the Trump accounts and capitalism and creating
a whole new generation of capitalists, and that's... I am
a die-hard, unapologetic capitalist. I believe that if people are
invested in the future of America, that's good for everyone. Well,
it turns out James Tallarico believes exactly the opposite, and
(08:53):
he's running for Senate. It's a very close race in Texas.
He's not going to win. Ken Paxton's going to be
the next senator from Texas, because... James Tallarico is a radical.
He's extreme. Now, he's trying to hide that. He's trying
to pretend that he's somehow middle of the road. This
is a guy who says God is non-binary. This is
a guy who says there are six genders, whatever the
(09:14):
hell those six are. But this week, there's a video
that was unearthed where a few years back, James Tallarico
was on a Zoom call with a bunch of Sierra
Club activists. I want you to listen to what Tallarico said.
This is in his own words, him speaking. to radical
left-wing activists just a few years ago in 2020?
Speaker 4 (09:34):
The multifaceted threat of a climate crisis, an economic crisis,
and a social justice crisis, I think that kind of
New Deal effort would be the only approach to start
to address all three in a thoughtful and meaningful way.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Thank you very much. The second question, communities of color
receive the most harm from the impacts of climate change
and yet receive the least government support to deal with it.
Tell us about one of the committees you are on
or hope to be on and the most important actions
that committee could take to fight for climate justice and
(10:14):
mitigate the impacts of climate change for all Texans.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah, and I'm I am so thankful that you asked
this question and also thankful that young activists have really
drawn the link between climate change and white supremacy and
capitalism in our country. And I think only in the
ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together
are we going to be able to begin the process
of dismantling them.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Dismantling. That word, if you didn't hear it, he just
talked about dismantling what makes this country this country.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Well, what he specifically said is he said capitalism... climate change,
and white supremacy are all linked together. They are all
three systems of oppression, and he wants to dismantle all three. Now, again,
you mentioned he'd be a great Senate candidate in California. Sadly,
(11:06):
that is probably the case. But he ain't a great
candidate in Texas, because there are very few Texans who
want to dismantle capitalism that's in his own words that's
not me speaking for him that's what he's saying he
wants to do and by the way yeah in that
same conversation uh he said the oil and gas industry
is going to go away and he says that that
(11:29):
that that texas's leadership of the oil and gas industry
he said is like quote being a leader in cassette
tapes in the 1980s that industry is not going to
last so he wants oil and gas to go away
which would destroy millions of jobs in the state of Texas.
And by the way, would massively benefit communist China. And
(11:52):
Tallarico has also voted to allow communist China to buy
hundreds of thousands of acres of Texas land, including land
next to military bases in Texas. So he wants to
end oil and gas in Texas and dismantle capitalism. Well, listen,
comrade Tallarico. I get in the woke circles you run in,
(12:15):
where when you say, God is non-binary, people clap and go,
oh yes, oh yes, so nice. Remember, Tallarico is also
the guy who declared his campaign was going to be
vegan because meat is destroying the world. This is a
woke radical, and the media is deeply invested in making
(12:36):
sure you don't know that. So This portion of the podcast, look,
I'm going to ask everyone to share this podcast, but
especially the video. Watch Tallarico in his own words, and
he thinks he's just talking to left-wing radicals. So on
the campaign trail today, he's not admitting he wants to
dismantle capitalism. That's just what he tells the radicals, the
(12:58):
DSA nuts who elected Mondami, who are supporting El-Said. That
is James Tallarico's base. And it's why he's going to
lose this Senate race in Texas, because we don't want
a nutcase who wants to dismantle capitalism. We want capitalism
to grow. We want free enterprise. And we want every
American to be an investor invested in capitalism, invested in
(13:19):
the future of our country.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
As before, if you want to hear the rest of
this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
download the podcast from early this week to hear the
entire thing. I want to get back to the big story,
number three of the week you may have missed. All right, Senator,
let's get into Abdul El-Said. He is going to join
a panel. And the anniversary, an important anniversary, the 25th
(13:44):
anniversary of 9-11 is coming up. He is going to
join a panel with 9-11 conspiracy theorists at an Islamic convention. Now,
this convention clearly is being done just days before the
9-11 anniversary.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Obviously, they chose that on purpose.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But I cannot believe that more are not talking about
the Democratic Michigan Senate nominee and what he is scheduled
to speak at and who's around him.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Well, I've got to say it. The Democrats running for
Senate across the country seem to be competing with each
other in terms of who can be more radical, more extreme,
more out of the mainstream. On Wednesday's podcast, we covered
James Tallarico, the extreme left-wing Democrat running for Senate in Texas.
And in particular, we uncovered the Zoom call he did
(14:33):
six years ago with left-wing activists from the Sierra Club
where he pledged to, quote, dismantle capitalism. these guys are
radicals and extreme. Well, Abdul Al-Sayed basically said to Telerico,
hold my beer, I can be more extreme than you can.
And the story you just noted, so this coming week
(14:56):
is the 25th anniversary of September 11th. That was the
most horrific terror attack on the homeland in American history.
And instead of honoring that attack instead of honoring the
nearly 3,000 lives that were taken that day, Abdul El-Sayed
is speaking at an Islamic conference that is essentially defending
(15:20):
the attackers. Here, I'm going to read to you a
story from the Washington Free Beacon. Democratic Senator, Michigan Senate
nominee Abdul El-Sayed is scheduled to speak at an Islamic
convention this weekend, six days before the 25th anniversary of 9-11.
On a panel alongside a quote 9-11 truther, and a
Muslim cleric conspiracy theorist who has called for an examination
(15:44):
of the official narrative surrounding the terrorist attacks. El-Sayed is
headlining the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention in
Detroit on Saturday. There, El-Sayed will speak on a panel
to examine a, quote, turmoiled America alongside left-wing pundits Sent
Uygur and Zaid Shakir, an outspoken New Jersey-based cleric. Both
(16:09):
men have promoted conspiracy theories surrounding 9-11, in which al-Qaeda
operatives killed 2,977 Americans. Quote, I no longer believe the
official 9-11 story, Ugyur declared in a social media rant
in February. Ugyur, who hosts the Young Turks YouTube show,
(16:31):
is now pushing debunked claims about Israeli involvement. Because, of course,
Israel is the one that committed 9-11. Don't you know that?
I mean, these guys are radicals and kooks. including the, quote,
dancing Israelis myth, an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that posits that
five Israeli spies filmed and celebrated the terrorist attack. Quote,
I didn't know we arrested Israeli spies who were here
(16:53):
to document the event, wrote Ugyur, who is the uncle.
of Hassan Piker, a close al-Said ally who has said
that America deserved 9-11. Boy, I didn't know that. Did
you know that Cenk Uygur is the uncle of Hassan Piker?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
You know what? I did know that, only because I've
had to deal with him so many times. You know,
he had to go on Piers Morgan's show and do
a mea culpa after losing it when he was debating
me recently over the issue of Israel, oddly enough. because
he's absolutely obsessed with Israel and anyone that supports Israel.
And this is where the hate comes from within the
Democratic Party. You can, by the way, that clip when
(17:30):
it went completely viral, Piers brought him back to try
to rehabilitate himself, and then he doubled down on it,
which was even funnier.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well, Hassan Piker, who's campaigned alongside Abdul Al-Sayed, said America
deserved 9-11. He's the nephew of Sanko Yerhu, who now
Abdul Al-Sayed is sitting on the panel with. Ogier was
widely mocked, as one outlet described it, for going full
9-11 truther. Similarly, Shakir has called for a, quote, examination
(17:58):
of what he describes as glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies in
the official 9-11 narrative. He has argued that the U.S.
government used the attacks to, quote, launch a war on Islam,
and he directed followers to the writing of David Ray Giffen,
a leading 9-11 conspiracy theorist, who has argued that the
United States orchestrated the attacks. Look, these people are kooks.
This guy is standing there going, oh yeah, the American
(18:19):
government is the one that knocked down the World Trade Center.
The American government's the one that attacked the Pentagon. But
they're not just kooks. It's not just crazy. It's not
just thinking you see little green men. It is anti-American
conspiracy theories that always, always, always blame America and always, always,
always apologize for radical Islamic terrorists who are murdering Americans.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
It is.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Conspiracy theory with an ideological bite to it. And look,
in a September 11th, 2012 essay for CNN that called Muslims, quote,
another victim of 9-11, El-Sayed cited a study conducted in
(19:04):
California that found a dramatic increase in premature births for
Muslim women after 9-11 compared to before the attacks. El-Sayed
omitted from his essay the findings of his own study
comparing birth outcomes for Muslim women before and after 9-11,
which found no difference in premature births. Shakir, in addition
(19:25):
to propagating 9-11 conspiracy theories, has blamed Israel for other
terrorist attacks and called for Muslims to, quote, use guerrilla
warfare to achieve their desired political outcomes. In a 1992 treatise,
Shakir argued for Muslims to embrace, quote, extra-systemic political action
(19:46):
ranging from, quote, non-cooperative tactics. to guerrilla war in order
to influence government policies or eradicate the system altogether. Shakir
asserted that every major Muslim political gain in modern history
was brought about through such action and cited the creation
of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the, quote, armed
(20:08):
struggle of that led to the Taliban control of Afghanistan.
So understand this. Abdul Al-Sayed is sitting next to a
guy who thinks it's great that the Ayatollah carried out
a revolution in Iran and took Americans hostage for 444
days and waged war against America for 47 years. He
thinks it's great that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan
(20:28):
and oppressed women and enforced Sharia law on everyone. And
by the way, coddled and nurtured Al-Qaeda, which launched 9-11.
These are the radicals and This is who El-Sayed is
associating with on the anniversary of 9-11. This is who
the man is. When he tells you who he is,
believe him.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Who is putting on this conference where El-Sayed is going
to be hanging out with these conspiracy theorists on the,
basically on the 25th anniversary of 9-11?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Well, it's a group that's called the Islamic Society of
North America. And it was founded, do you know who
one of the founders was?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Who is it?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Abdul El-Sayed's father-in-law. So his father-in-law was one of the
founders of this organization. By the way, his father-in-law is
also the single largest donor to Abdul Al-Sayed's super PAC.
So this is a man who's funding his campaign. And
what is the Islamic Society of North America? Well, it
is a group with extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,
(21:29):
which is a terrorist organization. It's been designated by the U.S.
government as a terrorist organization. It's been designated by Egypt
and Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a terrorist organization.
And the Islamic Society of North America is closely affiliated
with the Muslim Brotherhood, so closely that the Islamic Society
of North America was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a
(21:51):
2008 Hamas fundraising case, the Holy Land case. This is,
and by the way, that was a case where millions
of dollars had been funneled from Americans to fund Hamas
and to fund terror attacks. The group, who's an unindicted
co-conspirator in that, is who is hosting Abdul Al-Sayed. By
(22:12):
the way, another speaker at the conference is a Texas-based
cleric named Yassir Qadi, who has called the Holocaust a hoax.
These are not mainstream. These are not normal people. These
are radicals. And I want to note also, do you
know who used to be on the agenda? He's not
going to be on the agenda, but he was originally.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Who was that?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
A Pakistani cleric named Tariq Masood. He was scheduled to
appear at the event. And he admitted to forcing his
13-year-old niece into marriage in compliance with what he believed
was Islamic law. And he's been accused of pedophilic rhetoric
(22:54):
and marriage with her own family. And he argued that
Muslims should marry their 13-year-old nieces and nephews and their
family and should essentially rape children. So this Pakistani cleric
was on the agenda, and actually Verdict covered this. We
covered this in a previous pod, and we said Abdul
(23:14):
Al-Sayed is speaking alongside this person who quite openly bragged
about pressuring his 13-year-old niece, forcing her into marriage, and
said this was a good thing, and Abdul al-Sayed's defense
at the time was, well, yeah, we're both speaking at
the same conference, but we're on different panels. I'm not
speaking on the same panel with him. He's on a
different panel. The public outcry was so great that they
(23:37):
canceled the cleric Tariq Massoud, but you know what? Abdul
al-Sayed is still speaking there with every other conspiracy theorist,
and being an anti-American, Holocaust-denying, 9-11 truther, Hamas and al-Qaeda
defending zealot and Islamist, well, that is apparently a very
popular thing in the Democrat Party right now. Yeah, it really,
(23:59):
really is.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
And this, again, goes back to the civil war that
we're witnessing right now in the Democratic Party. It's really funny,
by the way, and I want to get your reaction
to this. You had some Democrats come out and say
that Hassan Piker and Al Saeed basically need to get
out of the Democratic Party, that they're not stop using
the word Democrat with Socialists of America. James Carville came
(24:21):
out and said that. I kind of laughed at his
meltdown because it's only because they're afraid they're going to
lose that they're now saying this. They did not keep
any of these crazies in check. And now he's like,
get out of my party. You know, quit using the
name Democratic. Just be a socialist if you're going to
be a socialist. And my response would be, well, then
why did you allow them to run in the Democratic
(24:43):
primaries if you're now claiming that they are not Democrats?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Look, they're taking over the Democrat Party, and it is–
It's clear that not every Democrat in the Senate or
House is a Marxist or an Islamist, but every one
of them is terrified of the Marxist and Islamist. And
they're holding the party hostage. They're winning primaries all over
the country from New York City to Michigan to Colorado
(25:11):
to Florida to Oklahoma. And all the Democrats are terrified.
And by the way, these radicals pretend they're not as
radical as– As they are. So, for example, I want
to listen to you. I want you to listen to
Abdul Al-Sayed on CBS talking about 9-11 and pretending that
(25:33):
he's much more reasonable on it. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
We noticed that there were.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Some resurface posts on 9-11.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And I was wondering if it's making it challenging to
reach more Republican or more moderate voters in this race.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
Well, I mean, I think all of us look back
and say 9-11 was an awful thing that happened in
this country. And I think all of us also look
back and say, think about all the wars that were fought,
and how much safer do we feel like they made us?
How many lives did they ruin? And my point is
just to say that what happened on 9-11 is a disaster.
It was a terrible attack on our country. And our
(26:09):
responsibility is also to think about how do we build
an America where we are protecting our servicemen and women,
from being asked to fight in wars we have no
business fighting that ultimately end up doing harm to people.
And we're seeing that right now. If you look at
the consequences of this war that we have no business fighting,
(26:31):
the billions of dollars that are being spent to raise
our gas prices, we're in a quagmire.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
We don't know how to get out of.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
And you'd think that after the disasters in Afghanistan and
Iraq that we would have learned a lesson, but apparently not.
And so I just think it's really important for us
to be learning the lessons of our history. And I'm
talking to Michiganders every single day who wonder when the
era of all these wars is going to end. Because
that's what Donald Trump said he was going to do.
He said America first. I'm America first. There is not
(27:02):
a day that goes by that I don't think about
the destruction that 9-11 wrought. And also think about how
do we build an America where we're not constantly... Fighting wars,
we have no business to fight. Both of those things
can be true.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
All right. So, Senator, you hear that.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And it is, again, he's clearly saying, all right, I
got to pivot from what I've been saying and what
I really believe.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And I'm going to totally change it.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And you're like, all right, buddy, sure, I believe you.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
So what's interesting, if you actually listen to the words
he said, he's not even entirely pivoting. So like what
he says there at the end is, quote, there's not
a day that goes by that I don't think about
the destruction that 9-11 wrought. What's interesting, when he's talking
about destruction that 9-11 wrought, he doesn't mean the 3,000
Americans murdered. He means the destruction that America destroyed al-Qaeda,
(27:52):
that America destroyed the Taliban. He is mourning that it
cost the terrorists their lives. And by the way, if
you think, well, no, no, no, surely that can't be
the case. As I mentioned, he had made a ton
of tweets about about 9-11. And when he launched a
(28:14):
Senate campaign, what did he do? He deleted all of them.
So there were 11 tweets from 2020 to 2022 in
which he trivialized 9-11. And you listen to some of them.
So here's one he sent. The fact that the U.S.
government continues to pit the Afghan people against 9-11 families
is appalling. All are victims. All deserve the full share
(28:37):
of support they are owed. Here's another one. The hypocrisy
of the U.S. war on terror, withholding humanitarian aid from
the Afghan people who had nothing to do with 9-11
but endured 20 years of war for it and are
now facing famine while exporting weapons to Saudi government allies
that exported the ideology that created bin Laden. Here's another one.
(28:58):
Defending America never should have meant responding to tribalistic grievance
with tribalistic grievance as so much of the post-9-11 era
has been. Rather, it should have meant embracing the ideals
that transcend it Here's another very revealing one that he
sent on September 11th, 2021. Quote, today I mourn the
(29:21):
3,000 lives, 6,000 injuries, and infrastructural devastation in New York
perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my faith. Tomorrow, I'll
mourn the 1 million lives, millions of injuries, and infrastructural
devastation in three countries perpetuated ignorantly in the name of
(29:41):
my country. So understand, when he's saying he weeps the
devastation of 9-11, he doesn't mean the Americans killed. He
means he's mourning that we killed so many al-Qaeda terrorists
and Taliban terrorists. That's who he's mourning. And and here's
another tweet that he deleted. COVID-19 has taken over 3,000
(30:03):
American lives, more than 9-11. I hope that means we'll
spend the next 10 years fighting a war for public
health and against climate change and poverty, like we launched
a global war on terror after 9-11. We could save
lives rather than take them. This is over and over
and over again. He has sent tweet after tweet after tweet.
(30:27):
And the amazing thing is, He deleted them all. He
thought no one would notice. And this is someone who
wants to represent the state of Michigan in the United
States Senate. And he won the primary. And among radicals,
by the way, Bernie Sanders is supporting him. Elizabeth Warren
is supporting him. AOC is supporting him. Chuck Schumer is
(30:49):
supporting the guy. The senator from New York is supporting
the guy who is mourning the terrorist who carried out
the 9-11 attacks. It is astonishing.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator
Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download
my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every
other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day
when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have
you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
And we will see you back here on Monday morning.
Welcome, it is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Week in Review,
Ben Ferguson with you, and these are the stories that
you may have missed that we talked about this week.
First up, there was big news this week when it
comes to Venezuela oil and what it could mean for America.
So how good is the deal? And are there concerns
about what actually this means moving forward? Senator Cruz and
(00:20):
I break that down for you. Up next, there's a
major Senate race in Texas. James Tallarico is wanting you
to believe that he's normal, but his words from the past,
especially the ones he's deleted, well, they're coming back to
haunt him, and we have the receipts. And finally, as
we're getting very close to the anniversary of 9-11, we're
(00:40):
now learning exactly what El-Said is going to be doing,
and it is going to shock you. It's The Weekend Review,
and it starts right now. I want to move center
to another issue real quick, which has had a lot
of big breaking news over the weekend. And that was
the president of the United States of America announcing a
historic deal with a massive amount of oil on True Social.
(01:00):
The president saying, we've got this deal now with Venezuela.
It is going to be huge for not just America,
but the world. And the price of gas could go
down significantly for Americans. Talk about what this is and
what it means.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, this week, President Trump announced a new deal with Venezuela,
a deal for 65 billion barrels of oil. That is
a massive amount of oil. Venezuela has the largest proven
reserves of any country on earth. And this is a
deal that will be funded by a private company, but
with the U.S. government as a major investor in the company,
(01:35):
and under the terms that was announced, that company will
have access to to the oil at cost, and the U.S.
government is taking an equity position and will get the
upsides in terms of the profits from that oil. I
will say, as we're talking about this right now, the
full details of the deal are still somewhat opaque. It
(01:55):
is difficult to know exactly what's going on. My reactions initially,
number one, 65 billion barrels of oil is a big deal.
That is a lot of oil in a massive amount and,
and the United States getting access to that, that's good
for American jobs. It's good for the economy and it's
also good in the longterm for gasoline prices. Although to
(02:17):
be fair, do not expect this to have an immediate
impact on gasoline prices. It will still take years or
even decades to build up the infrastructure to produce all.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Of that oil.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So that will not happen overnight. Um, That being said,
there are also significant concerns being raised. Number one, this
is a deal that was cut with Delcy Rodriguez, who
is the interim president of Venezuela. She was Nicolas Maduro's
vice president. She is a communist. She is a Marxist.
She has a long history of being viciously anti-American. Maduro
(02:50):
was illegitimate and Delcy Rodriguez is illegitimate. Neither one of
them were elected by the people. And the Trump administration
has kept Delcy in for a period of time during transition.
What I've been saying consistently is there need to be
free and fair elections. Let the people of Venezuela choose
who their leadership is rather than maintaining someone illegitimate. I
(03:12):
still think that's the right decision. I certainly don't want
this oil deal to somehow... push off the notion that
the people of Venezuela get to elect their own leaders.
I don't think we should be maintaining anti-American communists in
power against the wishes of the people who elected them.
I'll say secondly, we are hearing concerns from some, particularly
(03:36):
in the oil and gas business. So Chevron is anticipating
putting and is contemplating at least putting billions of dollars
of investment into Venezuela. They already have significant investments in Venezuela.
And I got to say, if you're an American company,
the prospect of competing against another company that is business
partners with the federal government, the U.S. government, and that
(03:58):
has a special deal with the Venezuelan government, that's going
to make you as a private company pause and say, wait,
is this a fair playing field? Can I compete here?
And so how that's worked out, it's unclear at this point,
but those are a concern a number in the energy
world are raising, and I think those are reasonable concerns
to ask. There is also the longer-term concern that this
(04:22):
deal is being done through the Office of Strategic Capital
at the Department of War, and it is being done
in exchange for equity ownership in the company. We've talked
before on this podcast how I am very uncomfortable with
this administration's taking equity positions in lots and lots of companies.
(04:43):
I think that is a very bad precedent. I think
it puts us on a slippery slope. They started it
with Intel taking a big equity position in Intel. Look,
if you look at the definition of socialism, socialism is
government ownership of the means of production or distribution in
an economy. If the federal government starts taking a major
(05:03):
equity position and just– Can.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
You say that again? Because that is the warning. That
is the warning that people need to hear and why
you're saying when the U.S. government starts getting into these businesses,
these private businesses and ownership positions, at first it can
sound great, but this goes back to– when we had
the big fall in 2008 at Lehman Brothers, and should
America take equity positions in these companies? And it was
a grand economic debate. But say that statement again, because
(05:27):
this is what you mean when you say the slippery slope,
that if we start this, what does it end with?
Does it end with government ownership in the biggest sectors,
and then we, as Americans, are dependent on the government,
not the private sector anymore?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So the textbook definition of socialism is government ownership or control.
Of the means of production or distribution in an economy.
At the end of the day, if we end up
with the federal government having equity shares, ownership stakes in
the biggest companies of America, that is socialism. It is
(06:00):
the definition of socialism. And there's a combination of, number one,
you look at what China does, where the Chinese government
and every company in China has what's called the golden share.
And the golden share gives them the ability to control
the companies. It makes every company an arm of the government.
That ain't good. I don't want every company in America
to be an arm of the federal government. And you
(06:21):
may think it's great when it's Donald Trump. But you
know what? Donald Trump is not going to be the
last president. And it ain't nearly that great if it's
President Elizabeth Warren or President AOC or whatever communist comes next.
And so I think it is a very, very dangerous proposition.
And I'll tell you, President Trump and I have discussed
(06:41):
this multiple times. What I am urging him to do
is to take these equity positions that they have taken
and before he leaves office, put them directly into the
Trump accounts of 70 million kids, transfer them out of
the federal government, And send them to the children of
America instead so that that way you have America with
(07:03):
a widespread investment in the companies of America, but you
don't have the government having the ability to control those companies,
having the ability to dictate. And by the way, think
about how a left-wing president would use that equity share.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Share.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
You know, think how bad woke was now. Imagine a president,
Elizabeth Warren telling every company, we own 10% of your company.
Let me tell you right now, you've got a higher 20%, uh,
transgender left-handed witches, uh, non-binary bubble, like that's giving government
power over the private sector is a really dangerous road
(07:43):
to be on. And, and, and, and so I am
encouraged that we have a deal to access a massive
amount of oil that for energy and jobs is good.
But there are also some dangerous aspects here that we
need to be cautious about and we need to think
carefully through where this goes going forward.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week. Now on to story number two.
All right, Senator, I want to pivot real quick and
move to James Tallarico. He'd be the perfect candidate for
California for Senate. He's running, though, in Texas. And there's
(08:22):
those Zoom meetings, and they're coming out of what he
actually believes and what he's actually said. And it's a
really bad look, especially in Texas.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Well, I got to say, it is a sharp contrast
to what we talked about in the first part of
the pod, was the Trump accounts and capitalism and creating
a whole new generation of capitalists, and that's... I am
a die-hard, unapologetic capitalist. I believe that if people are
invested in the future of America, that's good for everyone. Well,
it turns out James Tallarico believes exactly the opposite, and
(08:53):
he's running for Senate. It's a very close race in Texas.
He's not going to win. Ken Paxton's going to be
the next senator from Texas, because... James Tallarico is a radical.
He's extreme. Now, he's trying to hide that. He's trying
to pretend that he's somehow middle of the road. This
is a guy who says God is non-binary. This is
a guy who says there are six genders, whatever the
(09:14):
hell those six are. But this week, there's a video
that was unearthed where a few years back, James Tallarico
was on a Zoom call with a bunch of Sierra
Club activists. I want you to listen to what Tallarico said.
This is in his own words, him speaking. to radical
left-wing activists just a few years ago in 2020?
Speaker 4 (09:34):
The multifaceted threat of a climate crisis, an economic crisis,
and a social justice crisis, I think that kind of
New Deal effort would be the only approach to start
to address all three in a thoughtful and meaningful way.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Thank you very much. The second question, communities of color
receive the most harm from the impacts of climate change
and yet receive the least government support to deal with it.
Tell us about one of the committees you are on
or hope to be on and the most important actions
that committee could take to fight for climate justice and
(10:14):
mitigate the impacts of climate change for all Texans.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah, and I'm I am so thankful that you asked
this question and also thankful that young activists have really
drawn the link between climate change and white supremacy and
capitalism in our country. And I think only in the
ways that all three of those oppressive systems work together
are we going to be able to begin the process
of dismantling them.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Dismantling. That word, if you didn't hear it, he just
talked about dismantling what makes this country this country.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Well, what he specifically said is he said capitalism... climate change,
and white supremacy are all linked together. They are all
three systems of oppression, and he wants to dismantle all three. Now, again,
you mentioned he'd be a great Senate candidate in California. Sadly,
(11:06):
that is probably the case. But he ain't a great
candidate in Texas, because there are very few Texans who
want to dismantle capitalism that's in his own words that's
not me speaking for him that's what he's saying he
wants to do and by the way yeah in that
same conversation uh he said the oil and gas industry
is going to go away and he says that that
(11:29):
that that texas's leadership of the oil and gas industry
he said is like quote being a leader in cassette
tapes in the 1980s that industry is not going to
last so he wants oil and gas to go away
which would destroy millions of jobs in the state of Texas.
And by the way, would massively benefit communist China. And
(11:52):
Tallarico has also voted to allow communist China to buy
hundreds of thousands of acres of Texas land, including land
next to military bases in Texas. So he wants to
end oil and gas in Texas and dismantle capitalism. Well, listen,
comrade Tallarico. I get in the woke circles you run in,
(12:15):
where when you say, God is non-binary, people clap and go,
oh yes, oh yes, so nice. Remember, Tallarico is also
the guy who declared his campaign was going to be
vegan because meat is destroying the world. This is a
woke radical, and the media is deeply invested in making
(12:36):
sure you don't know that. So This portion of the podcast, look,
I'm going to ask everyone to share this podcast, but
especially the video. Watch Tallarico in his own words, and
he thinks he's just talking to left-wing radicals. So on
the campaign trail today, he's not admitting he wants to
dismantle capitalism. That's just what he tells the radicals, the
(12:58):
DSA nuts who elected Mondami, who are supporting El-Said. That
is James Tallarico's base. And it's why he's going to
lose this Senate race in Texas, because we don't want
a nutcase who wants to dismantle capitalism. We want capitalism
to grow. We want free enterprise. And we want every
American to be an investor invested in capitalism, invested in
(13:19):
the future of our country.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
As before, if you want to hear the rest of
this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
download the podcast from early this week to hear the
entire thing. I want to get back to the big story,
number three of the week you may have missed. All right, Senator,
let's get into Abdul El-Said. He is going to join
a panel. And the anniversary, an important anniversary, the 25th
(13:44):
anniversary of 9-11 is coming up. He is going to
join a panel with 9-11 conspiracy theorists at an Islamic convention. Now,
this convention clearly is being done just days before the
9-11 anniversary.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Obviously, they chose that on purpose.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But I cannot believe that more are not talking about
the Democratic Michigan Senate nominee and what he is scheduled
to speak at and who's around him.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Well, I've got to say it. The Democrats running for
Senate across the country seem to be competing with each
other in terms of who can be more radical, more extreme,
more out of the mainstream. On Wednesday's podcast, we covered
James Tallarico, the extreme left-wing Democrat running for Senate in Texas.
And in particular, we uncovered the Zoom call he did
(14:33):
six years ago with left-wing activists from the Sierra Club
where he pledged to, quote, dismantle capitalism. these guys are
radicals and extreme. Well, Abdul Al-Sayed basically said to Telerico,
hold my beer, I can be more extreme than you can.
And the story you just noted, so this coming week
(14:56):
is the 25th anniversary of September 11th. That was the
most horrific terror attack on the homeland in American history.
And instead of honoring that attack instead of honoring the
nearly 3,000 lives that were taken that day, Abdul El-Sayed
is speaking at an Islamic conference that is essentially defending
(15:20):
the attackers. Here, I'm going to read to you a
story from the Washington Free Beacon. Democratic Senator, Michigan Senate
nominee Abdul El-Sayed is scheduled to speak at an Islamic
convention this weekend, six days before the 25th anniversary of 9-11.
On a panel alongside a quote 9-11 truther, and a
Muslim cleric conspiracy theorist who has called for an examination
(15:44):
of the official narrative surrounding the terrorist attacks. El-Sayed is
headlining the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention in
Detroit on Saturday. There, El-Sayed will speak on a panel
to examine a, quote, turmoiled America alongside left-wing pundits Sent
Uygur and Zaid Shakir, an outspoken New Jersey-based cleric. Both
(16:09):
men have promoted conspiracy theories surrounding 9-11, in which al-Qaeda
operatives killed 2,977 Americans. Quote, I no longer believe the
official 9-11 story, Ugyur declared in a social media rant
in February. Ugyur, who hosts the Young Turks YouTube show,
(16:31):
is now pushing debunked claims about Israeli involvement. Because, of course,
Israel is the one that committed 9-11. Don't you know that?
I mean, these guys are radicals and kooks. including the, quote,
dancing Israelis myth, an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that posits that
five Israeli spies filmed and celebrated the terrorist attack. Quote,
I didn't know we arrested Israeli spies who were here
(16:53):
to document the event, wrote Ugyur, who is the uncle.
of Hassan Piker, a close al-Said ally who has said
that America deserved 9-11. Boy, I didn't know that. Did
you know that Cenk Uygur is the uncle of Hassan Piker?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
You know what? I did know that, only because I've
had to deal with him so many times. You know,
he had to go on Piers Morgan's show and do
a mea culpa after losing it when he was debating
me recently over the issue of Israel, oddly enough. because
he's absolutely obsessed with Israel and anyone that supports Israel.
And this is where the hate comes from within the
Democratic Party. You can, by the way, that clip when
(17:30):
it went completely viral, Piers brought him back to try
to rehabilitate himself, and then he doubled down on it,
which was even funnier.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well, Hassan Piker, who's campaigned alongside Abdul Al-Sayed, said America
deserved 9-11. He's the nephew of Sanko Yerhu, who now
Abdul Al-Sayed is sitting on the panel with. Ogier was
widely mocked, as one outlet described it, for going full
9-11 truther. Similarly, Shakir has called for a, quote, examination
(17:58):
of what he describes as glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies in
the official 9-11 narrative. He has argued that the U.S.
government used the attacks to, quote, launch a war on Islam,
and he directed followers to the writing of David Ray Giffen,
a leading 9-11 conspiracy theorist, who has argued that the
United States orchestrated the attacks. Look, these people are kooks.
This guy is standing there going, oh yeah, the American
(18:19):
government is the one that knocked down the World Trade Center.
The American government's the one that attacked the Pentagon. But
they're not just kooks. It's not just crazy. It's not
just thinking you see little green men. It is anti-American
conspiracy theories that always, always, always blame America and always, always,
always apologize for radical Islamic terrorists who are murdering Americans.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
It is.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Conspiracy theory with an ideological bite to it. And look,
in a September 11th, 2012 essay for CNN that called Muslims, quote,
another victim of 9-11, El-Sayed cited a study conducted in
(19:04):
California that found a dramatic increase in premature births for
Muslim women after 9-11 compared to before the attacks. El-Sayed
omitted from his essay the findings of his own study
comparing birth outcomes for Muslim women before and after 9-11,
which found no difference in premature births. Shakir, in addition
(19:25):
to propagating 9-11 conspiracy theories, has blamed Israel for other
terrorist attacks and called for Muslims to, quote, use guerrilla
warfare to achieve their desired political outcomes. In a 1992 treatise,
Shakir argued for Muslims to embrace, quote, extra-systemic political action
(19:46):
ranging from, quote, non-cooperative tactics. to guerrilla war in order
to influence government policies or eradicate the system altogether. Shakir
asserted that every major Muslim political gain in modern history
was brought about through such action and cited the creation
of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the, quote, armed
(20:08):
struggle of that led to the Taliban control of Afghanistan.
So understand this. Abdul Al-Sayed is sitting next to a
guy who thinks it's great that the Ayatollah carried out
a revolution in Iran and took Americans hostage for 444
days and waged war against America for 47 years. He
thinks it's great that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan
(20:28):
and oppressed women and enforced Sharia law on everyone. And
by the way, coddled and nurtured Al-Qaeda, which launched 9-11.
These are the radicals and This is who El-Sayed is
associating with on the anniversary of 9-11. This is who
the man is. When he tells you who he is,
believe him.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Who is putting on this conference where El-Sayed is going
to be hanging out with these conspiracy theorists on the,
basically on the 25th anniversary of 9-11?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Well, it's a group that's called the Islamic Society of
North America. And it was founded, do you know who
one of the founders was?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Who is it?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Abdul El-Sayed's father-in-law. So his father-in-law was one of the
founders of this organization. By the way, his father-in-law is
also the single largest donor to Abdul Al-Sayed's super PAC.
So this is a man who's funding his campaign. And
what is the Islamic Society of North America? Well, it
is a group with extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,
(21:29):
which is a terrorist organization. It's been designated by the U.S.
government as a terrorist organization. It's been designated by Egypt
and Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a terrorist organization.
And the Islamic Society of North America is closely affiliated
with the Muslim Brotherhood, so closely that the Islamic Society
of North America was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a
(21:51):
2008 Hamas fundraising case, the Holy Land case. This is,
and by the way, that was a case where millions
of dollars had been funneled from Americans to fund Hamas
and to fund terror attacks. The group, who's an unindicted
co-conspirator in that, is who is hosting Abdul Al-Sayed. By
(22:12):
the way, another speaker at the conference is a Texas-based
cleric named Yassir Qadi, who has called the Holocaust a hoax.
These are not mainstream. These are not normal people. These
are radicals. And I want to note also, do you
know who used to be on the agenda? He's not
going to be on the agenda, but he was originally.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Who was that?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
A Pakistani cleric named Tariq Masood. He was scheduled to
appear at the event. And he admitted to forcing his
13-year-old niece into marriage in compliance with what he believed
was Islamic law. And he's been accused of pedophilic rhetoric
(22:54):
and marriage with her own family. And he argued that
Muslims should marry their 13-year-old nieces and nephews and their
family and should essentially rape children. So this Pakistani cleric
was on the agenda, and actually Verdict covered this. We
covered this in a previous pod, and we said Abdul
(23:14):
Al-Sayed is speaking alongside this person who quite openly bragged
about pressuring his 13-year-old niece, forcing her into marriage, and
said this was a good thing, and Abdul al-Sayed's defense
at the time was, well, yeah, we're both speaking at
the same conference, but we're on different panels. I'm not
speaking on the same panel with him. He's on a
different panel. The public outcry was so great that they
(23:37):
canceled the cleric Tariq Massoud, but you know what? Abdul
al-Sayed is still speaking there with every other conspiracy theorist,
and being an anti-American, Holocaust-denying, 9-11 truther, Hamas and al-Qaeda
defending zealot and Islamist, well, that is apparently a very
popular thing in the Democrat Party right now. Yeah, it really,
(23:59):
really is.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
And this, again, goes back to the civil war that
we're witnessing right now in the Democratic Party. It's really funny,
by the way, and I want to get your reaction
to this. You had some Democrats come out and say
that Hassan Piker and Al Saeed basically need to get
out of the Democratic Party, that they're not stop using
the word Democrat with Socialists of America. James Carville came
(24:21):
out and said that. I kind of laughed at his
meltdown because it's only because they're afraid they're going to
lose that they're now saying this. They did not keep
any of these crazies in check. And now he's like,
get out of my party. You know, quit using the
name Democratic. Just be a socialist if you're going to
be a socialist. And my response would be, well, then
why did you allow them to run in the Democratic
(24:43):
primaries if you're now claiming that they are not Democrats?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Look, they're taking over the Democrat Party, and it is–
It's clear that not every Democrat in the Senate or
House is a Marxist or an Islamist, but every one
of them is terrified of the Marxist and Islamist. And
they're holding the party hostage. They're winning primaries all over
the country from New York City to Michigan to Colorado
(25:11):
to Florida to Oklahoma. And all the Democrats are terrified.
And by the way, these radicals pretend they're not as
radical as– As they are. So, for example, I want
to listen to you. I want you to listen to
Abdul Al-Sayed on CBS talking about 9-11 and pretending that
(25:33):
he's much more reasonable on it. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
We noticed that there were.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Some resurface posts on 9-11.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And I was wondering if it's making it challenging to
reach more Republican or more moderate voters in this race.
Speaker 5 (25:46):
Well, I mean, I think all of us look back
and say 9-11 was an awful thing that happened in
this country. And I think all of us also look
back and say, think about all the wars that were fought,
and how much safer do we feel like they made us?
How many lives did they ruin? And my point is
just to say that what happened on 9-11 is a disaster.
It was a terrible attack on our country. And our
(26:09):
responsibility is also to think about how do we build
an America where we are protecting our servicemen and women,
from being asked to fight in wars we have no
business fighting that ultimately end up doing harm to people.
And we're seeing that right now. If you look at
the consequences of this war that we have no business fighting,
(26:31):
the billions of dollars that are being spent to raise
our gas prices, we're in a quagmire.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
We don't know how to get out of.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
And you'd think that after the disasters in Afghanistan and
Iraq that we would have learned a lesson, but apparently not.
And so I just think it's really important for us
to be learning the lessons of our history. And I'm
talking to Michiganders every single day who wonder when the
era of all these wars is going to end. Because
that's what Donald Trump said he was going to do.
He said America first. I'm America first. There is not
(27:02):
a day that goes by that I don't think about
the destruction that 9-11 wrought. And also think about how
do we build an America where we're not constantly... Fighting wars,
we have no business to fight. Both of those things
can be true.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
All right. So, Senator, you hear that.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And it is, again, he's clearly saying, all right, I
got to pivot from what I've been saying and what
I really believe.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And I'm going to totally change it.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And you're like, all right, buddy, sure, I believe you.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
So what's interesting, if you actually listen to the words
he said, he's not even entirely pivoting. So like what
he says there at the end is, quote, there's not
a day that goes by that I don't think about
the destruction that 9-11 wrought. What's interesting, when he's talking
about destruction that 9-11 wrought, he doesn't mean the 3,000
Americans murdered. He means the destruction that America destroyed al-Qaeda,
(27:52):
that America destroyed the Taliban. He is mourning that it
cost the terrorists their lives. And by the way, if
you think, well, no, no, no, surely that can't be
the case. As I mentioned, he had made a ton
of tweets about about 9-11. And when he launched a
(28:14):
Senate campaign, what did he do? He deleted all of them.
So there were 11 tweets from 2020 to 2022 in
which he trivialized 9-11. And you listen to some of them.
So here's one he sent. The fact that the U.S.
government continues to pit the Afghan people against 9-11 families
is appalling. All are victims. All deserve the full share
(28:37):
of support they are owed. Here's another one. The hypocrisy
of the U.S. war on terror, withholding humanitarian aid from
the Afghan people who had nothing to do with 9-11
but endured 20 years of war for it and are
now facing famine while exporting weapons to Saudi government allies
that exported the ideology that created bin Laden. Here's another one.
(28:58):
Defending America never should have meant responding to tribalistic grievance
with tribalistic grievance as so much of the post-9-11 era
has been. Rather, it should have meant embracing the ideals
that transcend it Here's another very revealing one that he
sent on September 11th, 2021. Quote, today I mourn the
(29:21):
3,000 lives, 6,000 injuries, and infrastructural devastation in New York
perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my faith. Tomorrow, I'll
mourn the 1 million lives, millions of injuries, and infrastructural
devastation in three countries perpetuated ignorantly in the name of
(29:41):
my country. So understand, when he's saying he weeps the
devastation of 9-11, he doesn't mean the Americans killed. He
means he's mourning that we killed so many al-Qaeda terrorists
and Taliban terrorists. That's who he's mourning. And and here's
another tweet that he deleted. COVID-19 has taken over 3,000
(30:03):
American lives, more than 9-11. I hope that means we'll
spend the next 10 years fighting a war for public
health and against climate change and poverty, like we launched
a global war on terror after 9-11. We could save
lives rather than take them. This is over and over
and over again. He has sent tweet after tweet after tweet.
(30:27):
And the amazing thing is, He deleted them all. He
thought no one would notice. And this is someone who
wants to represent the state of Michigan in the United
States Senate. And he won the primary. And among radicals,
by the way, Bernie Sanders is supporting him. Elizabeth Warren
is supporting him. AOC is supporting him. Chuck Schumer is
(30:49):
supporting the guy. The senator from New York is supporting
the guy who is mourning the terrorist who carried out
the 9-11 attacks. It is astonishing.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator
Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. Don't forget to download
my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every
other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day
when you listen to Verdict afterwards. I'd love to have
you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
And we will see you back here on Monday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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