1. Trip Recap & Foreign Relations
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El Salvador:
Cruz praises President Nayib Bukele for drastically reducing homicide rates by aggressively targeting gangs like MS-13 and 18th Street. He contrasts El Salvador’s success with U.S. crime and immigration challenges. -
Panama:
He toured the Panama Canal and highlighted U.S. concerns about China’s growing influence there, including ports, bridges, and tunnels near the canal. Cruz warns that China could disrupt canal traffic in a future conflict, threatening U.S. national and economic security. -
Mexico:
Cruz met with senior Mexican officials (Foreign Secretary, Defense Secretary, Agriculture Secretary). He urged cooperation on border security and dismantling drug cartels, stressing Trump’s policies and a reported 99% drop in illegal border crossings.-
Mexican leaders, including President Claudia Sheinbaum, rejected U.S. military involvement, citing “sovereignty.”
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Cruz compared Mexico’s stance to El Salvador’s crackdown and Colombia’s Plan Colombia (early 2000s), arguing that success requires political will.
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He warned that if Mexico refuses, the U.S. may still act militarily against cartels under Trump’s leadership.
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2. Domestic Politics & Crime
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Cruz and Ferguson shift focus to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, criticizing him for downplaying crime in Chicago.
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Cruz cites statistics on Chicago’s murder rate (highest in the U.S. for 13 consecutive years) and argues Democrats prioritize criminals over victims.
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He frames Democrat policies in Illinois, California, and nationally as failures comparable to Mexico’s refusal to confront cartels.
3. Broader Political Commentary
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Cruz claims Democrats have become the “party of criminals,” siding with offenders over law-abiding citizens.
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He notes polling showing Americans are highly concerned about crime in cities.
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Discussion touches on 2025 midterm elections:
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Republicans may benefit from Democrat extremism.
-
But Cruz worries about a GOP “enthusiasm gap,” citing a special election loss in Iowa.
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He stresses the need for Republican voter turnout despite Trump’s early policy “successes.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in his verdict with center, Ted Cruz ben Ferguson
with your center. You have come back from a codell
of Latin America and it is finally wrapped. You got
back in the wee hours of the morning, and you're
going to give us a final update on the last
part of your trip.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, I got home at four in the morning last night,
so it's good to be at home. It's good to
sleep in my own bed. It was a very productive trip.
As we discussed on previous pods. We started by going
to El Salvador. I met with President Bukelly, the president
of El Salvador, saw the incredible success he has had
defeating gangs, defeating Ms thirteen and the eighteenth Street barrio
in l Salvador. They've gone from the highest murder rate
(00:39):
in the entire world one hundred homicides per hundred thousand people.
That meant in any given year, one in one thousand
Salvadorans was being murdered. That number has plummeted by ninety
eight percent. Last year, their murder rate was one point
nine per one hundred thousand. That is among the safest
in the world. That is three times safer than the
(01:00):
United States of America, where just over six murders per
hundred thousand, El Salvador is now three times as safe.
Incredible success. What they're doing in El Salvador. From then
I flew on to Panama, Panama was a fascinating meeting.
I toured the Panama Canal. I must say it is
truly an engineering miracle. The idea that the United States
(01:21):
was able to build this more than a century ago
in nineteen fourteen, it is incredible, an incredible design, and
it's incredibly important both for US national security and for
US economic security. And so I had multiple discussions with
senior Panamanian officials about the critical importance of removing China
(01:42):
from the Panama Canal. China right now has a major
port at the mouth of both ends of the canal.
I went and went right up by that port, and
you could see China's strategic location to be able to
shut down the Panama Canal should we have a military
conflict with China. Not only do they have a major
port at the mouth of the canal, China is also
building a bridge right across the mouth of the canal
(02:05):
at the Pacific. They are also digging a tunnel under
the canal for a metro train. Any of those would
give them the ability if they use them maliciously, to
try to shut down traffic on the canal, which among
other things, would have a massive economic harm to the
United States, but it would also severely limit our ability
to move our naval ships. We have a very significant
(02:27):
portion of our fleet in the Atlantic. The Panama Canal
cuts weeks off the transit to get those ships to
the Pacific, and should there be a conflict in the Pacific,
the Chinese would like to force our Atlantic fleet to
stay in the Atlantic and not be able to traverse
the canal. And so it was a very productive meeting,
stressing that the United States was going to do whatever
(02:48):
is necessary to make sure that the canal is safe
and that the Chinese don't control it. The final step
of the codell was Mexico, and I spent yesterday or
the day before in Mexico with multiple senior government officials.
Met with the Foreign Secretary, and met with the Defense secretary,
and met with the Agriculture Secretary.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We had very productive.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Meetings, and the focus of my meetings was very much
safety and security. Number one, securing the border, and number
two going after the Mexican drug cartels, and we have
seen extraordinary success securing our border because President Trump is
back in office and because we have a president who
(03:29):
is willing to secure the border, and we have seen
illegal border crossings drop ninety nine percent. When I was
in Mexico, I was going to the Mexican government. I
was asking the government to join with us, join with us,
and partner with us in taking out the Mexican drug cartels.
We had extensive discussions on this, and finally we're going
(03:50):
to talk about how JB. Pritzker and the Democrats have
decided to be open that they are in support of criminals.
They are the party of murderers. They are the party
of criminals. It is sadly it is the culmination of
a long, long downward slide from today's Democrat party.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
All of you know that I am a pro Second
Amendment guy. I've shared on numerous occasions how carrying my
firearms saved my life from a gang related attack. But
for those of you out there with family members who
may not be comfortable having a gun by their side,
you still want them to be able to protect themselves
and others in times of danger and that's where the
Burno launcher comes in. Berna is a handheld pistol that
(04:28):
fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants to separate you
from an attacker. And I'm here with Josh Cherrard from
Berna to share the true story of how an avid
hiker uses burnon to stop an attacking mountain lion. Josh
tell us what happened.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Yeah, you know, Jason is an avid hiker deciding to
take his family out on a hiper he's done several times,
super easy, high but super fun, all armed with his Berna.
You know, this is one of those things where he
didn't expect to see anything, and all of a sudden
on this hike, this mountain lion appears out of no
work or He sends his family on down the trail,
(05:02):
watches the line for a few minutes, realizing it's not
going away, so uses his burner, fires a few rounds
to scare it off. Continues down the trail, but unfortunately,
this mountain line appears again, at which point he realized
he was going to have to up his aggression with
that burner. Fire's four rounds was able to strike the
mountain lion all four times at chest and torso, at
(05:23):
which point that mountain lion airs off, never to be
seen again. These guys make it down the trail back
to their car and back to home safely. Fortunately, this
is all it took to make sure and get this
family back home safe off a hike that could have
taken an obvious turn for the worst.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And I'm going to guess that burner has been used
to stop other types of animal attacks as well.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Absolutely, we get stories all the time of users with
whether it be dogs or other wildlife. We even have
an ecological park whose security carries burna four bears out
in the smoky mountains out there. That's been effective there
as well. So once again not just a tool for people,
but very affected against animals as well.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's really incredible. If you want to get more information
on how you and your family member can protect themselves
with the burner launcher, go to Berna dot com. That's
by r NA dot com. Again by RNA dot com
Berna dot com. Senator, Let's start with these meetings that
you just had in Mexico, and you mentioned the issue
(06:24):
of safety and security that obviously is top of mind
for so many Americans. Explain what their reaction was, what
they had to say about the border being shut down
in essence compared to wide open border. Look, they're one
of their top stimulus of their economy is illegal immigrant
sending money back to Mexico. So this is going to
have some sort of economic effect on their country, I'm
sure as well.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I started the meeting with a long meeting with Juan
Ramon de la Fuente, who is the Secretary of Foreign
Affairs of Mexico, and it was a very positive meeting.
He is the minister, speaks fluent English, he is someone
who has spent significant time in the United States. He's
a professional economist, and we talked. We actually started by
talking about areas of cooperation and in particular trade and
(07:09):
commerce between the United States and Mexico. Every year, the
United States and Mexico, that we have roughly eight hundred
billion dollars worth of trade and commerce between our nations
and about three hundred billion of that is between Texas
and Mexico. And so one of by big focuses. My
number one priority in the Senate without fail has been jobs,
(07:30):
focusing on more jobs, higher wages, greater opportunity, helping small businesses,
and so expanding trade between Texas and Mexico is good
for Texas farmers and ranchers and small businesses. And so
we talked about that. We talked about the four new
bridges that I've taken the lead on getting built between
South Texas and Mexico, to expand the ability for our
(07:51):
farmers and ranchers to sell our livestock south of the border,
to span our ability for us to sell energy south
of the border, to expand our ability to export manufactured
goods south of the border, and so on that I
would say the Ford Minister and I had a very
positive meeting, and there's steps that are going forward that
have been taken under the Trump administration that are expanding
(08:13):
trade mutually beneficial trade for both countries. But then we
shifted into okay, that will happen in an environment where
security is maintained, and I pressed, I said, listen, the
United States wants to be a friend of Mexico. We
want to be your partner. And I pointed out to him,
(08:35):
and I pointed this out also to the Defense Secretary.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I said, listen.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Under Joe Biden, the Mexican drug cartels became unbelievably wealthy.
Here's a stat from the New York Times. In twenty eighteen,
the Mexican drug cartels made roughly five hundred million dollars
from human trafficking twenty eighteen. Last year, again, according to
the New York Times, the cartels made over thirteen billion
(09:02):
dollars from drug trafficking. That is a two thousand, six
hundred percent increase. And what Joe Biden and the Democrats
did to Mexico was horrible. Mexico paid a very real
price for that night. And I told the Foreign Secretary
of Defense. Secretary, I said, listen to America was not
being a good friend with Joe Biden and the Democrats
(09:23):
open borders. Those open borders, they did massive damage to
the US, but they also did massive damage to Mexico
because we took transnational criminal organizations who are vicious murderers,
who commit unspeakable atrocities, and Joe Biden the Democrats flooded
tens of billions of dollars into them, turning them into
(09:43):
dominant economic forces in the nation of Mexico. And there
are countless numbers of Mexicans who have been murdered, who
have been kidnapped, who have been tortured because of Joe
Biden and the Democrats' open borders. And so my request
to the Mexican government is, and I said, listen, the
United States stands ready to assist Mexico in eliminating the cartels.
(10:08):
The twenty twenty four election in the United States was
clearly a mandate from the American people to close these
open borders. President Trump has rightly declared the cartels to
be terrorist organizations, and so my pitch to them was
work hand in hand with us to take it to
a different level, to take those cartels out.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
You talk about that, what is their response, because everybody
knows that. Look, the infiltration of the cartels in Mexico's
government is significant and it's real, and I think everybody
knows that that knows anything about the cartels down there
in general, when you say this, is it lip service
or is there a sense of like, hey, maybe you
(10:52):
guys can help us do something we can't even do ourselves.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
So unfortunately, the response was flat out no.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yesterday, Mexico's President Claudia Scheinbaum was asked about my trip,
about the offer I made for the United States to
assist Mexico in eliminating the cartels. And her answer was
absolutely not. No, we do not want America's help. This
is Mexico. We will handle it internally. Essentially, we don't
want the Yankee gringos in our country. She didn't quite
(11:22):
say that, but that was the message of it. And
I would say that was consistent with what I was
hearing from the Foreign Secretary and the Defense Secretary, both
of them. The phrase they repeated most often was sovereignty.
They kept saying sovereignty, sovereignty, sovereignty, Mexico. We want our sovereignty.
We don't want the American military in Mexico. And I'll
(11:43):
tell you Ben, I tried to make an historical analogy
and compare it to some other instances. I pointed out
number one, Del Salvador, and I said, look, I was
just in El Salvador a few days ago, and I
described to them the unbelievable success that El Salvador had
dealing with the gangs in MS thirteen eighteenth Street barrio.
They were just like the Mexican drug cartels. They were
(12:04):
vicious transnational organizations. And when you had a leader, President Bukeley,
who decided I'm going to value the innocent civilians, the
moms and dads and the kids of El Salvador, more
than those criminals. They knew who the criminals were. They
went and arrested them, and they locked them up. And
by the way, if you did not see our podcast
(12:27):
on Wednesday, if you did not listen to our podcast
on Wednesday, let me encourage you to listen to it,
because I take you inside the Seacot Prison, the maximum
security prison where these very worst gang members are held.
I described or never seen anything remotely like this. I
describe it in detail. And I also recount an extended
conversation that I have with an MS thirteen member who
(12:47):
joined in the United States and faalse Church Virginia, who
lived for years in America, lived for years in Texas,
and he described some of the crimes that he committed
in the United States and some of the crimes he
committed in El Salvador. If you didn't listen to it,
go back and listen to it. But I use that
example with the Mexican leaders to say we can do this.
(13:08):
You know who the cartel members are, go after them
and have the same political will. What is missing is
the political will, have the political will that El Salvador
did to say, we are not going to let the
cartels be effectively the government of Mexico. We are going
to let the people. I made the argument they were
talking about sovereignty. I said, you want to talk about
sovereignty when the cartels are allowed to control the country
(13:32):
and terrify people. I described a mayor of a northern
Mexico city who I visited with a number of years ago,
described how in his region there were over more than
three thousand disappearances of Mexican nationals who just disappear. The
cartels kidnap them, they murder them, they throw them in
mass graves and abandon them. That is not the behavior
(13:55):
of a sovereign country that is protecting its citizens the
way it should be. And so my pitch was followed
the example of El Salvador. And then there was a
second example I used been which was Columbia. Colombia in
the early two thousands, George W. Bush was president, and
he made an offer to President Eurebae of Columbia. He said, Colombia,
(14:16):
like El Salvador a few years ago, like Mexico, now
had narco terrorists controlling the country, had the murdering police
officers and murdering soldiers and journalists and judges and elected officials,
terrorizing the citizenry, and Colombia President of Rebe demonstrated some
of the same clear eyed resolve that President Bukelli and
El Salvador's demonstrated. And President of Rebe said said to
(14:38):
the United States, yes, we want your help. And the
American military came into Colombia and just all but eradicated
the terrorist came in with incredible force and effectiveness, but
did it hand in hand with the partnership of the
Colombian government. That was called Plan Colombia. And I said,
follow that model, we will work hand in hand with you.
(15:00):
And I got to tell you both the Defense Minister
and the Foreign Minister and then ultimately President Shinbaum yesterday
said no, we do not want to work with the
American military. We're not willing to do so. That is unfortunate.
I understand the Mexican politics. I got to say, the
first night I was there, there was actually a fistfight
(15:21):
in their Congress. Two Mexican senators began punching each other
on the face on this issue.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
So the level of this are amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
By the way, because I mean, when you see the
news break like that, you're like.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Wow, yeah, that was right.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
When I landed in Mexico City and I looked at
the video of two senators getting in a fist fight,
and it was over, should we accept America's help to
use military force to take out the cartels? And listen,
there's a long history of politics in Mexico where it
is good politics. Generally speaking, it is good populist politics
(15:55):
to rail against the Yankee imperialist from the north, and
that that has elected quite a few politicians in Mexico
saying we're going to stand up to America. Shinbaum is
a protoche of am Loo.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Amlow ran on.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
A hard left anti American agenda. Shinebaum less so. But
Mexico has a complicated situation because their economy is intertwined
with the United States. We are by far their largest
trading partner, and so there's a combination. Some of what
they're doing when they're saying no, we will not let
the United States military into our nation is that they
(16:31):
are appealing to those populous and nationalist sentiments in Mexico.
I was trying hard to say, listen, this is an
opportunity for you. Your nation will be safer, your citizens
will be safer if you accept our help.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
When you look at the response now, I think many
Americans are going to ask the question, Okay, this goes
back to the Trump doctrine of declaring these cartels terrorist organizations. Yes,
and that gives us more ability to hit them. It
is is your calculus change because of this trip? Is
what is your thoughts about moving forward? If they're just
(17:08):
not willing to do it or they're so compromise they
can't do it in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So I will tell you, particularly with the Defense minister,
I had a very frank and candid conversation. General Travilla
came in. He argued, at first, at great length. He says, well,
the cartels are not terrorist. We do not think they're terrorists.
They're just ordinary criminals.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
They do a straight phase.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Oh he did.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
He had a whole PowerPoint presentation and and I listened
to him. I thought it was interesting that that's how
he chose to begin his presentation.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
And he also.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Argued, pointing to some some military exercises in which Mexico
had done very well and had done better than the
United States, and some military exercises.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
And I didn't bother to.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Argue with him on that's It's like, okay, fine, you
guys are great like like I I'm.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Not interesting in that conversation, right.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I'm not interested in a context in a contest where
we're measuring appendages. And and this same Defense secretary there
there was a House member who previously was down there
who apparently got in a screaming match with him over
exactly this question of whose military is tougher. And I'm like, look,
I'm not going to vest at any time and energy
(18:24):
arguing with you. We both know the answer to that,
so so you can say whatever you want to say
face and that's fine. What I said to him was
the following I said. And I said, listen, I understand
that you care about your sovereignty. That's good and important
that you should care about your sovereignty. America cares deeply
about our sovereignty. But I said, you need to understand
these cartels. If these were just criminal organizations in Mexico,
(18:45):
and if they were just killing Mexican nationals, that would
be tragic, but it would not be our concern. They're
not just killing nationals in your own country. These Mexican
drug cartils. Cartels are killing vast numbers of them Americans.
They're committing crimes in the United States. They're murdering people,
they're raping people, They're dealing vast amounts of drugs. Last year,
(19:07):
we had over one hundred thousand people die of drug overdoses,
seventy percent of which was fentanyl. The impact on the
United States is enormously harmful. And I said, in light
of that, because we believe in our sovereignty as well,
we are going to act. And I told the Defense Secretary.
I also had a press conference and I said this
in the press conference, I said, I find it very
(19:30):
hard to believe that four years will pass and the
United States will not act in a serious military manner
against these drug cartels. And I pointed out to both
the Defense and Foreign Secretary. I said, listen, I'm not
the commander in chief. That's not my decision to make.
The ambassador, the United States ambassador from Mexico was sitting
(19:50):
next to me. I said, that's not his decision to make.
That decision is made by President Donald Trump. And I
believe sometime in the next four years you will see strong, long,
decisive military action against the cartels. I said, the choice
you have to make is which way do you want
it to go. We would much rather it be cooperative.
We'd much rather it be the American government working hand
(20:12):
in hand with the Mexican government. That's the best way,
as friends and neighbors for.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Us to do this. Sure, but if you refuse.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
To act, I think it is extremely unlikely that Donald
Trump will allow four years to go without acting militarily.
And the two examples I used also, I said, listen,
you can talk about sovereignty all you like, but we
just a matter of weeks ago sent two B two's
across the globe to deliver bunker buster bombs to obliterate
(20:43):
Iran's nuclear weapons facilities. The United States is perfectly capable
of acting and projecting force anywhere on the planet if
American citizens are threatened, if it is endangering the lives
of Americans, and these Mexican drug cartels are most assuredly
doing that. I said, you know what, we didn't ask
the Eye, I told this permission to do so. We
did so because we had a strong commander in chief
(21:04):
who was protecting the citizens of America. And I said, likewise,
when America went and took out Osama bin Laden. I said,
in that instance, we did cooperate with the Pakistani government.
We did inform them and work work with them to
take out bin Laden because bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.
But I said, I'll tell you what I think, if
the Pakistani government had resisted US, I believe we would
(21:25):
have taken out bin Laden as well, because he was
a terrorist, and he was a terrorist who had killed
thousands of Americans.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And so you've got a choice to make.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I believe America is going to act, and we are
going to act very directly on these cartels because they've
killed too many Americans for US to sit idly by.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And your choice is.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Do you want to be our partner in doing so
or do you want to read about it in the
newspaper and watch it on the six o'clock news.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Response, I got to ask what was it? Finally?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Look, the response was the president doing a press conference
and she said, no, we will not allow the US
military into the United States. It was defiance. It was
it was giving in to the populist stand up to
America rhetoric. You know that's fine to say in a
press conference when when you're feeding red meat to the masses.
(22:19):
We'll see what she says to the Trump administration directly.
And I think this is going to be an ongoing
discussion for the next three and a half years. But
as I said, I believe that President Trump, he's already
secured the border. I think he's going to act decisively
against these cartels who have been waging war on the
United States of America. And during the Biden administration, not
(22:41):
only were we not fighting back, but Joe Biden the
Democrats were actively complicit in waging that war.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Which center brings us to part two of this conversation.
Let's bring it back home.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
JD.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Pritzker is a interesting man. He's got a lot of money.
He's a governor, and he thinks he's succeeding at fighting crime.
But getting illegal immigrant killers and rapists off our streets
is quote unquote dangerous, he says. And now it is
apparently anti American. Tie that into your trip to Mexico.
(23:15):
I mean, you want to talk about to people the
kid gotten together and had one heck of a lunch.
The people you met with with JD, they'd be like
kumbayayeing this stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Well, JB. Pritzker. He is a billionaire.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Like many Democrat billionaires, he did not make his money.
He inherited it. He inherited a vast fortune. And he's
now the governor of Illinois and presiding over a state
where the people are fleeing his state, where crime is
out of control, where left wing policies are are an
absolute disaster, and it's striking. He has the same reality
(23:50):
denying vision. Gavin Newsom has the same thing in California
where they both You know, it reminds me of that
meme of the dumpster burning in the background and saying,
you know, everything fine here. That that is today's Democrats
just telling you don't believe your lying eyes. Just make
sure to duck the bullets when you're in your living room.
But everything other than that is great.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
JB.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Pritzer says he's succeeding at fighting violent crime in Chicago,
and you're right. It is reminiscent of these Mexican government
leaders who said they're handling it just fine. Look at
the great progress they're making, and you look at the
cartels who are murdering Mexicans with impunity and who are
committing vast numbers of crime in the United States.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Here give a listen to JB. Prisker, Governor Illinois.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
What we won't do, however, is engage in what is
a federal effort. That is to say, they have their
job immigration. We have our job, which is to fight
violent crime on the streets of our city. And by
the way, we're succeeding at that job. But when they
bring people in and don't coordinate with us, they're going
(24:51):
to cause enormous problems.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So going to cause enormous problems they're center. I mean,
if that doesn't sound like a threat, I don't know
what is.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
So.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Pritzker claims he is succeeding at fighting violent crime in Chicago.
Chicago has had the most murders of any American city
for thirteen consecutive years, thirteen years in a row. Chicago
is number one. Chicago's murder rate is three times higher
than Los Angeles. It is five times higher than New
(25:19):
York City, it is two times higher than Islamabad, that
it is fifteen times higher than Delhi. And the answer
to a billionaire democrat who is surrounded by police officers
at all times, so he's not worried about being mugged
on the streets of Chicago. That's not a threat he's facing.
He says, we've got the highest murder rate in America.
(25:40):
We're succeeding. This is Democrats success, you know. But he
goes even further. He expresses great dismay that if President
Trump is successful in turning around crime in Chicago, that
would be a bad thing.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Listen to the second clip.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
So this is dangerous. They shouldn't be doing it. It's
anti American, it's un American. And I would tell her
to maybe check herself for what does she really believe?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Nothing says we're fighting crime, like threatening the woman who's
out there in Department of Homescurity Secretary Nome and saying
you need to check yourself right and saying it's dangerous
and un American and anti American to go after a
legal American killers and rapists.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
It's stunning. The Democrats are becoming more and more open
that if they have a conflict between a murderer and
a victim, if they have a conflict between a Venezuelan
gang member and an innocent American citizen, if they have
a conflict between a rapist and a single mom, if
they have a conflict between a violent sexual predator and
(26:46):
your children. The Democrats will pick the criminal every single time.
They're not even pretending anymore to go after those criminals.
Democrat Governor Pritzker says is dangerous, anti American and un American.
And I think the American people are getting fed up.
You know, there was a new poll from ap Slash
NORC that found that a large majority of Americans sixty
(27:11):
eight percent, see crime as a major problem in large cities.
And the approach of the Democrat Party is they're not
going to do anything about it. In fact, the highest
murder rate in the US they describe as a success.
And what it is, it's reminiscent of the leadership in
Al Salvador when they had the highest murder rate in
(27:31):
the world, and they describe what they were doing as
a success. And the only answer is new political leadership
that actually says keeping our citizens safe is our number
one priority, and we're going to do so. We've seen
what happens when President Trump does so in the United
States and the border is immediately secured. We had a
ninety nine percent decrease in illegal crossings. We saw what
(27:53):
happened with President Bukele in El Salvador, where they had
a ninety eight percent drop in homicides. Ironically, we saw
what happened in San Francisco where President she came to
San Francisco and Gavin Newsom immediately cleaned up San Francisco,
removed the homeless people, took the junkies off the street,
and cleaned up the human feces off the street, all
(28:13):
of which demonstrates they know how to do so. If
they could do so on Monday, they could do so
on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The reason
they don't, the reason the crime persists, the reason your
family is threatened is because the Democrats politically their ideology,
they think it's better to side with the criminals than
it is with you and that I don't get that,
(28:38):
but that's where we are, and I do think it's
part of the reason we see today's Democrat Party getting
more and more extreme and appealing to a smaller and
smaller sliver of our society.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Final question on this, I believe now that the Democratic
Party is in such shambles that they don't even know
how to get out of this.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
There is no real leader.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
We're being told Obama's coming back and going to like
quote start mentoring people in the Democratic Party. That's how
desperate they are. The same guy that's the godfather, as
I described it on Laura Ingram's show on Fox Friday Night,
as the godfather of this type of insandi and anarchy.
He's the that created the aocs of the party and
gave them power. And so you look at the Democratic
(29:21):
Party now. I don't want to be over confident, but
what I do want to say is I feel like
these midterms may actually be a big opportunity for Republican
candidates coming up. Usually you give up seats when you
have all three branches in the midterms, there's a chance
this could actually work out for Concertives, as you mentioned,
because the voters are so sick and tired of the
(29:41):
left not keeping them safe. It's not even about the economy,
it's about safety.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Look, I hope so, Ben, I'll confess I'm significantly more
worried than you. We've got cross cutting forces for the midterms.
On the positive side for Republicans, the Democrats have gotten
so extreme, so whacked j out there that it seems
like they took a list of a dozen eighty twenty issues,
and they said, let's take the twenty percent side of
all of them. And in some instances they've even taken
(30:08):
ninety ten issues and said, let's appeal to the smallest
liver of America we can. Generally speaking, that is a
really bad political strategy, so that augurs in our favor.
On the other side, we have a real enthusiasm gap.
And this worries me about the midterms, which is an
awful lot of Americans are really happy with the success
(30:29):
we've seen in the first eight months of twenty twenty five.
President Trump has been winning major victories. The danger is
that when people are happy, when they're seeing success, they're complacent,
they stay home. I'll tell you what. The left is
not complacent. They are in rage. They are out raising
Republicans three to one. They hate Donald Trump. And we
(30:50):
saw we just saw a special election in Iowa state
senator seat that Trump had won that district by eleven points.
They just elected a Democrat state senator in that district
that I believe was an enthusiasm gap. That the left
is motivated by rage and hate and and and that
means that that they are definitely showing up. And it's
our job to make sure that that that the the
(31:13):
common sense majority of this country is not complacent but
realizes if we don't show up to defend what we've got,
that that's how you get these whack jobs elected in
the first place.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, grade point, it's gonna be a lot that we're
gonna have to watch, certainly going into the midterm elections.
Don't forget. We do this show on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,
so at that subscriber auto download button wherever you get
your podcasts, uh, and so that you don't missing an episode.
Also on this in between days, grab my podcast, the
Ben Ferguson podcasts as well. I'll keep you up to
down on the latest breaking news and the Senate and
I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.
Welcome in his verdict with center, Ted Cruz ben Ferguson
with your center. You have come back from a codell
of Latin America and it is finally wrapped. You got
back in the wee hours of the morning, and you're
going to give us a final update on the last
part of your trip.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, I got home at four in the morning last night,
so it's good to be at home. It's good to
sleep in my own bed. It was a very productive trip.
As we discussed on previous pods. We started by going
to El Salvador. I met with President Bukelly, the president
of El Salvador, saw the incredible success he has had
defeating gangs, defeating Ms thirteen and the eighteenth Street barrio
in l Salvador. They've gone from the highest murder rate
(00:39):
in the entire world one hundred homicides per hundred thousand people.
That meant in any given year, one in one thousand
Salvadorans was being murdered. That number has plummeted by ninety
eight percent. Last year, their murder rate was one point
nine per one hundred thousand. That is among the safest
in the world. That is three times safer than the
(01:00):
United States of America, where just over six murders per
hundred thousand, El Salvador is now three times as safe.
Incredible success. What they're doing in El Salvador. From then
I flew on to Panama, Panama was a fascinating meeting.
I toured the Panama Canal. I must say it is
truly an engineering miracle. The idea that the United States
(01:21):
was able to build this more than a century ago
in nineteen fourteen, it is incredible, an incredible design, and
it's incredibly important both for US national security and for
US economic security. And so I had multiple discussions with
senior Panamanian officials about the critical importance of removing China
(01:42):
from the Panama Canal. China right now has a major
port at the mouth of both ends of the canal.
I went and went right up by that port, and
you could see China's strategic location to be able to
shut down the Panama Canal should we have a military
conflict with China. Not only do they have a major
port at the mouth of the canal, China is also
building a bridge right across the mouth of the canal
(02:05):
at the Pacific. They are also digging a tunnel under
the canal for a metro train. Any of those would
give them the ability if they use them maliciously, to
try to shut down traffic on the canal, which among
other things, would have a massive economic harm to the
United States, but it would also severely limit our ability
to move our naval ships. We have a very significant
(02:27):
portion of our fleet in the Atlantic. The Panama Canal
cuts weeks off the transit to get those ships to
the Pacific, and should there be a conflict in the Pacific,
the Chinese would like to force our Atlantic fleet to
stay in the Atlantic and not be able to traverse
the canal. And so it was a very productive meeting,
stressing that the United States was going to do whatever
(02:48):
is necessary to make sure that the canal is safe
and that the Chinese don't control it. The final step
of the codell was Mexico, and I spent yesterday or
the day before in Mexico with multiple senior government officials.
Met with the Foreign Secretary, and met with the Defense secretary,
and met with the Agriculture Secretary.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We had very productive.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Meetings, and the focus of my meetings was very much
safety and security. Number one, securing the border, and number
two going after the Mexican drug cartels, and we have
seen extraordinary success securing our border because President Trump is
back in office and because we have a president who
(03:29):
is willing to secure the border, and we have seen
illegal border crossings drop ninety nine percent. When I was
in Mexico, I was going to the Mexican government. I
was asking the government to join with us, join with us,
and partner with us in taking out the Mexican drug cartels.
We had extensive discussions on this, and finally we're going
(03:50):
to talk about how JB. Pritzker and the Democrats have
decided to be open that they are in support of criminals.
They are the party of murderers. They are the party
of criminals. It is sadly it is the culmination of
a long, long downward slide from today's Democrat party.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
All of you know that I am a pro Second
Amendment guy. I've shared on numerous occasions how carrying my
firearms saved my life from a gang related attack. But
for those of you out there with family members who
may not be comfortable having a gun by their side,
you still want them to be able to protect themselves
and others in times of danger and that's where the
Burno launcher comes in. Berna is a handheld pistol that
(04:28):
fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants to separate you
from an attacker. And I'm here with Josh Cherrard from
Berna to share the true story of how an avid
hiker uses burnon to stop an attacking mountain lion. Josh
tell us what happened.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Yeah, you know, Jason is an avid hiker deciding to
take his family out on a hiper he's done several times,
super easy, high but super fun, all armed with his Berna.
You know, this is one of those things where he
didn't expect to see anything, and all of a sudden
on this hike, this mountain lion appears out of no
work or He sends his family on down the trail,
(05:02):
watches the line for a few minutes, realizing it's not
going away, so uses his burner, fires a few rounds
to scare it off. Continues down the trail, but unfortunately,
this mountain line appears again, at which point he realized
he was going to have to up his aggression with
that burner. Fire's four rounds was able to strike the
mountain lion all four times at chest and torso, at
(05:23):
which point that mountain lion airs off, never to be
seen again. These guys make it down the trail back
to their car and back to home safely. Fortunately, this
is all it took to make sure and get this
family back home safe off a hike that could have
taken an obvious turn for the worst.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And I'm going to guess that burner has been used
to stop other types of animal attacks as well.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Absolutely, we get stories all the time of users with
whether it be dogs or other wildlife. We even have
an ecological park whose security carries burna four bears out
in the smoky mountains out there. That's been effective there
as well. So once again not just a tool for people,
but very affected against animals as well.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's really incredible. If you want to get more information
on how you and your family member can protect themselves
with the burner launcher, go to Berna dot com. That's
by r NA dot com. Again by RNA dot com
Berna dot com. Senator, Let's start with these meetings that
you just had in Mexico, and you mentioned the issue
(06:24):
of safety and security that obviously is top of mind
for so many Americans. Explain what their reaction was, what
they had to say about the border being shut down
in essence compared to wide open border. Look, they're one
of their top stimulus of their economy is illegal immigrant
sending money back to Mexico. So this is going to
have some sort of economic effect on their country, I'm
sure as well.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I started the meeting with a long meeting with Juan
Ramon de la Fuente, who is the Secretary of Foreign
Affairs of Mexico, and it was a very positive meeting.
He is the minister, speaks fluent English, he is someone
who has spent significant time in the United States. He's
a professional economist, and we talked. We actually started by
talking about areas of cooperation and in particular trade and
(07:09):
commerce between the United States and Mexico. Every year, the
United States and Mexico, that we have roughly eight hundred
billion dollars worth of trade and commerce between our nations
and about three hundred billion of that is between Texas
and Mexico. And so one of by big focuses. My
number one priority in the Senate without fail has been jobs,
(07:30):
focusing on more jobs, higher wages, greater opportunity, helping small businesses,
and so expanding trade between Texas and Mexico is good
for Texas farmers and ranchers and small businesses. And so
we talked about that. We talked about the four new
bridges that I've taken the lead on getting built between
South Texas and Mexico, to expand the ability for our
(07:51):
farmers and ranchers to sell our livestock south of the border,
to span our ability for us to sell energy south
of the border, to expand our ability to export manufactured
goods south of the border, and so on that I
would say the Ford Minister and I had a very
positive meeting, and there's steps that are going forward that
have been taken under the Trump administration that are expanding
(08:13):
trade mutually beneficial trade for both countries. But then we
shifted into okay, that will happen in an environment where
security is maintained, and I pressed, I said, listen, the
United States wants to be a friend of Mexico. We
want to be your partner. And I pointed out to him,
(08:35):
and I pointed this out also to the Defense Secretary.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I said, listen.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Under Joe Biden, the Mexican drug cartels became unbelievably wealthy.
Here's a stat from the New York Times. In twenty eighteen,
the Mexican drug cartels made roughly five hundred million dollars
from human trafficking twenty eighteen. Last year, again, according to
the New York Times, the cartels made over thirteen billion
(09:02):
dollars from drug trafficking. That is a two thousand, six
hundred percent increase. And what Joe Biden and the Democrats
did to Mexico was horrible. Mexico paid a very real
price for that night. And I told the Foreign Secretary
of Defense. Secretary, I said, listen to America was not
being a good friend with Joe Biden and the Democrats
(09:23):
open borders. Those open borders, they did massive damage to
the US, but they also did massive damage to Mexico
because we took transnational criminal organizations who are vicious murderers,
who commit unspeakable atrocities, and Joe Biden the Democrats flooded
tens of billions of dollars into them, turning them into
(09:43):
dominant economic forces in the nation of Mexico. And there
are countless numbers of Mexicans who have been murdered, who
have been kidnapped, who have been tortured because of Joe
Biden and the Democrats' open borders. And so my request
to the Mexican government is, and I said, listen, the
United States stands ready to assist Mexico in eliminating the cartels.
(10:08):
The twenty twenty four election in the United States was
clearly a mandate from the American people to close these
open borders. President Trump has rightly declared the cartels to
be terrorist organizations, and so my pitch to them was
work hand in hand with us to take it to
a different level, to take those cartels out.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
You talk about that, what is their response, because everybody
knows that. Look, the infiltration of the cartels in Mexico's
government is significant and it's real, and I think everybody
knows that that knows anything about the cartels down there
in general, when you say this, is it lip service
or is there a sense of like, hey, maybe you
(10:52):
guys can help us do something we can't even do ourselves.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
So unfortunately, the response was flat out no.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yesterday, Mexico's President Claudia Scheinbaum was asked about my trip,
about the offer I made for the United States to
assist Mexico in eliminating the cartels. And her answer was
absolutely not. No, we do not want America's help. This
is Mexico. We will handle it internally. Essentially, we don't
want the Yankee gringos in our country. She didn't quite
(11:22):
say that, but that was the message of it. And
I would say that was consistent with what I was
hearing from the Foreign Secretary and the Defense Secretary, both
of them. The phrase they repeated most often was sovereignty.
They kept saying sovereignty, sovereignty, sovereignty, Mexico. We want our sovereignty.
We don't want the American military in Mexico. And I'll
(11:43):
tell you Ben, I tried to make an historical analogy
and compare it to some other instances. I pointed out
number one, Del Salvador, and I said, look, I was
just in El Salvador a few days ago, and I
described to them the unbelievable success that El Salvador had
dealing with the gangs in MS thirteen eighteenth Street barrio.
They were just like the Mexican drug cartels. They were
(12:04):
vicious transnational organizations. And when you had a leader, President Bukeley,
who decided I'm going to value the innocent civilians, the
moms and dads and the kids of El Salvador, more
than those criminals. They knew who the criminals were. They
went and arrested them, and they locked them up. And
by the way, if you did not see our podcast
(12:27):
on Wednesday, if you did not listen to our podcast
on Wednesday, let me encourage you to listen to it,
because I take you inside the Seacot Prison, the maximum
security prison where these very worst gang members are held.
I described or never seen anything remotely like this. I
describe it in detail. And I also recount an extended
conversation that I have with an MS thirteen member who
(12:47):
joined in the United States and faalse Church Virginia, who
lived for years in America, lived for years in Texas,
and he described some of the crimes that he committed
in the United States and some of the crimes he
committed in El Salvador. If you didn't listen to it,
go back and listen to it. But I use that
example with the Mexican leaders to say we can do this.
(13:08):
You know who the cartel members are, go after them
and have the same political will. What is missing is
the political will, have the political will that El Salvador
did to say, we are not going to let the
cartels be effectively the government of Mexico. We are going
to let the people. I made the argument they were
talking about sovereignty. I said, you want to talk about
sovereignty when the cartels are allowed to control the country
(13:32):
and terrify people. I described a mayor of a northern
Mexico city who I visited with a number of years ago,
described how in his region there were over more than
three thousand disappearances of Mexican nationals who just disappear. The
cartels kidnap them, they murder them, they throw them in
mass graves and abandon them. That is not the behavior
(13:55):
of a sovereign country that is protecting its citizens the
way it should be. And so my pitch was followed
the example of El Salvador. And then there was a
second example I used been which was Columbia. Colombia in
the early two thousands, George W. Bush was president, and
he made an offer to President Eurebae of Columbia. He said, Colombia,
(14:16):
like El Salvador a few years ago, like Mexico, now
had narco terrorists controlling the country, had the murdering police
officers and murdering soldiers and journalists and judges and elected officials,
terrorizing the citizenry, and Colombia President of Rebe demonstrated some
of the same clear eyed resolve that President Bukelli and
El Salvador's demonstrated. And President of Rebe said said to
(14:38):
the United States, yes, we want your help. And the
American military came into Colombia and just all but eradicated
the terrorist came in with incredible force and effectiveness, but
did it hand in hand with the partnership of the
Colombian government. That was called Plan Colombia. And I said,
follow that model, we will work hand in hand with you.
(15:00):
And I got to tell you both the Defense Minister
and the Foreign Minister and then ultimately President Shinbaum yesterday
said no, we do not want to work with the
American military. We're not willing to do so. That is unfortunate.
I understand the Mexican politics. I got to say, the
first night I was there, there was actually a fistfight
(15:21):
in their Congress. Two Mexican senators began punching each other
on the face on this issue.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
So the level of this are amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
By the way, because I mean, when you see the
news break like that, you're like.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Wow, yeah, that was right.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
When I landed in Mexico City and I looked at
the video of two senators getting in a fist fight,
and it was over, should we accept America's help to
use military force to take out the cartels? And listen,
there's a long history of politics in Mexico where it
is good politics. Generally speaking, it is good populist politics
(15:55):
to rail against the Yankee imperialist from the north, and
that that has elected quite a few politicians in Mexico
saying we're going to stand up to America. Shinbaum is
a protoche of am Loo.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Amlow ran on.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
A hard left anti American agenda. Shinebaum less so. But
Mexico has a complicated situation because their economy is intertwined
with the United States. We are by far their largest
trading partner, and so there's a combination. Some of what
they're doing when they're saying no, we will not let
the United States military into our nation is that they
(16:31):
are appealing to those populous and nationalist sentiments in Mexico.
I was trying hard to say, listen, this is an
opportunity for you. Your nation will be safer, your citizens
will be safer if you accept our help.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
When you look at the response now, I think many
Americans are going to ask the question, Okay, this goes
back to the Trump doctrine of declaring these cartels terrorist organizations. Yes,
and that gives us more ability to hit them. It
is is your calculus change because of this trip? Is
what is your thoughts about moving forward? If they're just
(17:08):
not willing to do it or they're so compromise they
can't do it in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So I will tell you, particularly with the Defense minister,
I had a very frank and candid conversation. General Travilla
came in. He argued, at first, at great length. He says, well,
the cartels are not terrorist. We do not think they're terrorists.
They're just ordinary criminals.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
They do a straight phase.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Oh he did.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
He had a whole PowerPoint presentation and and I listened
to him. I thought it was interesting that that's how
he chose to begin his presentation.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
And he also.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Argued, pointing to some some military exercises in which Mexico
had done very well and had done better than the
United States, and some military exercises.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
And I didn't bother to.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Argue with him on that's It's like, okay, fine, you
guys are great like like I I'm.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Not interesting in that conversation, right.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I'm not interested in a context in a contest where
we're measuring appendages. And and this same Defense secretary there
there was a House member who previously was down there
who apparently got in a screaming match with him over
exactly this question of whose military is tougher. And I'm like, look,
I'm not going to vest at any time and energy
(18:24):
arguing with you. We both know the answer to that,
so so you can say whatever you want to say
face and that's fine. What I said to him was
the following I said. And I said, listen, I understand
that you care about your sovereignty. That's good and important
that you should care about your sovereignty. America cares deeply
about our sovereignty. But I said, you need to understand
these cartels. If these were just criminal organizations in Mexico,
(18:45):
and if they were just killing Mexican nationals, that would
be tragic, but it would not be our concern. They're
not just killing nationals in your own country. These Mexican
drug cartils. Cartels are killing vast numbers of them Americans.
They're committing crimes in the United States. They're murdering people,
they're raping people, They're dealing vast amounts of drugs. Last year,
(19:07):
we had over one hundred thousand people die of drug overdoses,
seventy percent of which was fentanyl. The impact on the
United States is enormously harmful. And I said, in light
of that, because we believe in our sovereignty as well,
we are going to act. And I told the Defense Secretary.
I also had a press conference and I said this
in the press conference, I said, I find it very
(19:30):
hard to believe that four years will pass and the
United States will not act in a serious military manner
against these drug cartels. And I pointed out to both
the Defense and Foreign Secretary. I said, listen, I'm not
the commander in chief. That's not my decision to make.
The ambassador, the United States ambassador from Mexico was sitting
(19:50):
next to me. I said, that's not his decision to make.
That decision is made by President Donald Trump. And I
believe sometime in the next four years you will see strong, long,
decisive military action against the cartels. I said, the choice
you have to make is which way do you want
it to go. We would much rather it be cooperative.
We'd much rather it be the American government working hand
(20:12):
in hand with the Mexican government. That's the best way,
as friends and neighbors for.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Us to do this. Sure, but if you refuse.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
To act, I think it is extremely unlikely that Donald
Trump will allow four years to go without acting militarily.
And the two examples I used also, I said, listen,
you can talk about sovereignty all you like, but we
just a matter of weeks ago sent two B two's
across the globe to deliver bunker buster bombs to obliterate
(20:43):
Iran's nuclear weapons facilities. The United States is perfectly capable
of acting and projecting force anywhere on the planet if
American citizens are threatened, if it is endangering the lives
of Americans, and these Mexican drug cartels are most assuredly
doing that. I said, you know what, we didn't ask
the Eye, I told this permission to do so. We
did so because we had a strong commander in chief
(21:04):
who was protecting the citizens of America. And I said, likewise,
when America went and took out Osama bin Laden. I said,
in that instance, we did cooperate with the Pakistani government.
We did inform them and work work with them to
take out bin Laden because bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.
But I said, I'll tell you what I think, if
the Pakistani government had resisted US, I believe we would
(21:25):
have taken out bin Laden as well, because he was
a terrorist, and he was a terrorist who had killed
thousands of Americans.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And so you've got a choice to make.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I believe America is going to act, and we are
going to act very directly on these cartels because they've
killed too many Americans for US to sit idly by.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And your choice is.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Do you want to be our partner in doing so
or do you want to read about it in the
newspaper and watch it on the six o'clock news.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Response, I got to ask what was it? Finally?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Look, the response was the president doing a press conference
and she said, no, we will not allow the US
military into the United States. It was defiance. It was
it was giving in to the populist stand up to
America rhetoric. You know that's fine to say in a
press conference when when you're feeding red meat to the masses.
(22:19):
We'll see what she says to the Trump administration directly.
And I think this is going to be an ongoing
discussion for the next three and a half years. But
as I said, I believe that President Trump, he's already
secured the border. I think he's going to act decisively
against these cartels who have been waging war on the
United States of America. And during the Biden administration, not
(22:41):
only were we not fighting back, but Joe Biden the
Democrats were actively complicit in waging that war.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Which center brings us to part two of this conversation.
Let's bring it back home.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
JD.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Pritzker is a interesting man. He's got a lot of money.
He's a governor, and he thinks he's succeeding at fighting crime.
But getting illegal immigrant killers and rapists off our streets
is quote unquote dangerous, he says. And now it is
apparently anti American. Tie that into your trip to Mexico.
(23:15):
I mean, you want to talk about to people the
kid gotten together and had one heck of a lunch.
The people you met with with JD, they'd be like
kumbayayeing this stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Well, JB. Pritzker. He is a billionaire.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Like many Democrat billionaires, he did not make his money.
He inherited it. He inherited a vast fortune. And he's
now the governor of Illinois and presiding over a state
where the people are fleeing his state, where crime is
out of control, where left wing policies are are an
absolute disaster, and it's striking. He has the same reality
(23:50):
denying vision. Gavin Newsom has the same thing in California
where they both You know, it reminds me of that
meme of the dumpster burning in the background and saying,
you know, everything fine here. That that is today's Democrats
just telling you don't believe your lying eyes. Just make
sure to duck the bullets when you're in your living room.
But everything other than that is great.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
JB.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Pritzer says he's succeeding at fighting violent crime in Chicago,
and you're right. It is reminiscent of these Mexican government
leaders who said they're handling it just fine. Look at
the great progress they're making, and you look at the
cartels who are murdering Mexicans with impunity and who are
committing vast numbers of crime in the United States.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Here give a listen to JB. Prisker, Governor Illinois.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
What we won't do, however, is engage in what is
a federal effort. That is to say, they have their
job immigration. We have our job, which is to fight
violent crime on the streets of our city. And by
the way, we're succeeding at that job. But when they
bring people in and don't coordinate with us, they're going
(24:51):
to cause enormous problems.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So going to cause enormous problems they're center. I mean,
if that doesn't sound like a threat, I don't know
what is.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
So.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Pritzker claims he is succeeding at fighting violent crime in Chicago.
Chicago has had the most murders of any American city
for thirteen consecutive years, thirteen years in a row. Chicago
is number one. Chicago's murder rate is three times higher
than Los Angeles. It is five times higher than New
(25:19):
York City, it is two times higher than Islamabad, that
it is fifteen times higher than Delhi. And the answer
to a billionaire democrat who is surrounded by police officers
at all times, so he's not worried about being mugged
on the streets of Chicago. That's not a threat he's facing.
He says, we've got the highest murder rate in America.
(25:40):
We're succeeding. This is Democrats success, you know. But he
goes even further. He expresses great dismay that if President
Trump is successful in turning around crime in Chicago, that
would be a bad thing.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Listen to the second clip.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
So this is dangerous. They shouldn't be doing it. It's
anti American, it's un American. And I would tell her
to maybe check herself for what does she really believe?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Nothing says we're fighting crime, like threatening the woman who's
out there in Department of Homescurity Secretary Nome and saying
you need to check yourself right and saying it's dangerous
and un American and anti American to go after a
legal American killers and rapists.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
It's stunning. The Democrats are becoming more and more open
that if they have a conflict between a murderer and
a victim, if they have a conflict between a Venezuelan
gang member and an innocent American citizen, if they have
a conflict between a rapist and a single mom, if
they have a conflict between a violent sexual predator and
(26:46):
your children. The Democrats will pick the criminal every single time.
They're not even pretending anymore to go after those criminals.
Democrat Governor Pritzker says is dangerous, anti American and un American.
And I think the American people are getting fed up.
You know, there was a new poll from ap Slash
NORC that found that a large majority of Americans sixty
(27:11):
eight percent, see crime as a major problem in large cities.
And the approach of the Democrat Party is they're not
going to do anything about it. In fact, the highest
murder rate in the US they describe as a success.
And what it is, it's reminiscent of the leadership in
Al Salvador when they had the highest murder rate in
(27:31):
the world, and they describe what they were doing as
a success. And the only answer is new political leadership
that actually says keeping our citizens safe is our number
one priority, and we're going to do so. We've seen
what happens when President Trump does so in the United
States and the border is immediately secured. We had a
ninety nine percent decrease in illegal crossings. We saw what
(27:53):
happened with President Bukele in El Salvador, where they had
a ninety eight percent drop in homicides. Ironically, we saw
what happened in San Francisco where President she came to
San Francisco and Gavin Newsom immediately cleaned up San Francisco,
removed the homeless people, took the junkies off the street,
and cleaned up the human feces off the street, all
(28:13):
of which demonstrates they know how to do so. If
they could do so on Monday, they could do so
on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The reason
they don't, the reason the crime persists, the reason your
family is threatened is because the Democrats politically their ideology,
they think it's better to side with the criminals than
it is with you and that I don't get that,
(28:38):
but that's where we are, and I do think it's
part of the reason we see today's Democrat Party getting
more and more extreme and appealing to a smaller and
smaller sliver of our society.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Final question on this, I believe now that the Democratic
Party is in such shambles that they don't even know
how to get out of this.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
There is no real leader.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
We're being told Obama's coming back and going to like
quote start mentoring people in the Democratic Party. That's how
desperate they are. The same guy that's the godfather, as
I described it on Laura Ingram's show on Fox Friday Night,
as the godfather of this type of insandi and anarchy.
He's the that created the aocs of the party and
gave them power. And so you look at the Democratic
(29:21):
Party now. I don't want to be over confident, but
what I do want to say is I feel like
these midterms may actually be a big opportunity for Republican
candidates coming up. Usually you give up seats when you
have all three branches in the midterms, there's a chance
this could actually work out for Concertives, as you mentioned,
because the voters are so sick and tired of the
(29:41):
left not keeping them safe. It's not even about the economy,
it's about safety.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Look, I hope so, Ben, I'll confess I'm significantly more
worried than you. We've got cross cutting forces for the midterms.
On the positive side for Republicans, the Democrats have gotten
so extreme, so whacked j out there that it seems
like they took a list of a dozen eighty twenty issues,
and they said, let's take the twenty percent side of
all of them. And in some instances they've even taken
(30:08):
ninety ten issues and said, let's appeal to the smallest
liver of America we can. Generally speaking, that is a
really bad political strategy, so that augurs in our favor.
On the other side, we have a real enthusiasm gap.
And this worries me about the midterms, which is an
awful lot of Americans are really happy with the success
(30:29):
we've seen in the first eight months of twenty twenty five.
President Trump has been winning major victories. The danger is
that when people are happy, when they're seeing success, they're complacent,
they stay home. I'll tell you what. The left is
not complacent. They are in rage. They are out raising
Republicans three to one. They hate Donald Trump. And we
(30:50):
saw we just saw a special election in Iowa state
senator seat that Trump had won that district by eleven points.
They just elected a Democrat state senator in that district
that I believe was an enthusiasm gap. That the left
is motivated by rage and hate and and and that
means that that they are definitely showing up. And it's
our job to make sure that that that the the
(31:13):
common sense majority of this country is not complacent but
realizes if we don't show up to defend what we've got,
that that's how you get these whack jobs elected in
the first place.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, grade point, it's gonna be a lot that we're
gonna have to watch, certainly going into the midterm elections.
Don't forget. We do this show on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,
so at that subscriber auto download button wherever you get
your podcasts, uh, and so that you don't missing an episode.
Also on this in between days, grab my podcast, the
Ben Ferguson podcasts as well. I'll keep you up to
down on the latest breaking news and the Senate and
I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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