April 14, 2025 • 36 mins
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Weekend with President Trump:
- Ted Cruz describes his eventful weekend spent with President Trump, including flying on Air Force One to Miami and attending a UFC fight. He shares his experience of the fight, the atmosphere, and the notable attendees such as Elon Musk, Marco Rubio, and Tulsi Gabbard.
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Tariffs and Economic Impacts:
- The discussion shifts to the ongoing battles in Washington regarding tariffs. Cruz explains the changing rules and policies and their economic impacts. He mentions the Trump administration's approach to negotiating trade deals and the involvement of top law firms providing pro bono legal services.
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Big Tech Exemption from Tariffs:
- The podcast addresses the recent exemption of tech items like smartphones and laptops from tariffs. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explains the rationale behind this exemption and the future plans for sector-specific tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
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Trump Victory in Deporting Anti-Israel Radical:
- The episode covers the decision by an immigration judge to deport Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-Israel protester at Columbia University. Cruz discusses the legal grounds for the deportation and the broader implications for anti-American radicals on student visas.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good Monday morning. Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you
and Center. You had one eventful weekend, A little time
on Air Force One, catching your first UFC fight. Not
a bad way to hang out on the weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Well I did.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
I had a fantastic weekend. I spent much of Saturday evening,
in fact, all of Saturday evening with President Trump. Flew
down to Miami on Air Force One. Went to the
UFC fight, which was incredible, was joined by multiple members
of the cabinet. I'm going to tell you all about that.
I'm going to take you on Air Force One. I'm
going to take you to the UFC tell you everything
that happened. There's also a lot of battles that are
(00:37):
playing out in Washington. The dominant story continues to be tariffs,
and tariffs are having massive economic impacts on the United
States on the world. The particular rules and policies are
changing every week, sometimes every day. We're going to break
down those changes, what they mean, and we're going to
talk about what's likely to happen next. We're also going
(00:59):
to talk about a a decision from an immigration judge
this past week that Mahmoud Khalil, who was the anti
Israel protester at Columbia University, that he can be deported,
he can be sent home. This is the right decision.
We're gonna explain what happened all of that in today's podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, it's gonna be a really interesting story there, that's
for sure. I want to talk to you real quick
about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. So many
of you are now getting involved in helping the people
in Israel right now, and unfortunately Israel is still under attack.
Messl fire has resumed from the Huthis, from Hesblah and
Hamas and the enemies. They're seeking Israel's destruction. They've been
(01:37):
pretty clear from the river to the sea. Well, here
in America we cannot imagine living under constant threat of
terrorism and rocket attacks. And this is the reality unfortunately
in Israel. Parents who take their kids to school and
then are forced to fall to the ground, lay on
top of their children, trying to comfort them as a
sirens blair. The next attack against Israel is happening, and
(01:58):
it's with little tom for the people there to get
into a safe place. And that is where you come
in the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews are providing
life saving aid and security essentials, and your gift today
will help provide security essentials like bomb shelters, flat jackets,
bulletproof vests for first responders, as well as armored security vehicles,
(02:22):
armored ambulances so they can save people that are in
dangerous areas and so much more. So join me in
standing with Israel. You can call right now to give
your gift eight to eight four eight eight IFCJ that's
eight eight eight four eight eight four three two five
(02:44):
eight a eight four eight eight IFCJ, or go online
to support IFCJ dot org. That's one word, support IFCJ
dot org.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Centat.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I gotta say the videos that came out to U
of you with Donald Trump and and some others that
people will know, like the FBI director Toldsea Gabbard, uh
at this UFC fight, it looked like you guys were
just having a blast. Was this your first time at
a usc fight? And what did you think of it?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
First off?
Speaker 4 (03:17):
So it was I'd never been to a UFC fight. Fight,
It was a blast. Dana White invited me to come
and and then the President invited me to to join
them on Air Force one coming down. So I was
I was part of the President's UH team that came in.
And so I came in with with the President, with
with Elon Musk and Little X. We had also Marco
(03:38):
Rubio came, Cash Pateel, the director of the FBI came,
Bobby Kennedy came and his wife and and Telsea Gabbard came,
and and so.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
We were all UH on Air Force.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
One came came to the the the event and and
I gotta say, have you ever been to a UFC fight?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I actually have, and I think they're just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Holy cow number one.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
It's in Miami that the stadium was rocking the energy.
I mean it just shook the floor. And and and
I walked in with with President Trump. When the President
walked in, there are not words to describe how much
the people in that stadium love President Trump and and
and it just erupted it it. You know, if he
(04:24):
were Mick Jagger riding on Evil Knevels motorcycle through flaming rings,
I'm not sure they would have cheered louder.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
And it was it was very cool. We were all seated,
uh right ringside, right by the octagon, and it is
so close. I mean, it is something else. These guys,
these fighters, they are big dudes. Actually some of them
are little dudes. But but the little dudes are ripped
and they just beat the living crap out of each other.
(04:57):
I mean they are so fast. You know, the first
fight we saw, you know, one hard punch literally dropped
a guy and he was basically just knocked out cold
because he stepped into a punch. Some of these fights
that they get pretty bloody, which was like wow, I mean,
they just beat the living daylights out of each other.
(05:18):
But the skill, uh that these fighters are are boxers,
they're wrestlers, they do jiu jitsu, they they do mixed
martial arts, and so there's there's kicking and punching and
throws and grappling and and and it was incredible. And
I got to tell you that the number of fighters
who came up to the president and just said you're
(05:39):
my guy, that was powerful as well.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
This place, as you mentioned, was packed.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And one of the things that as I was watching
it on TV, and many may have seen some of
the tweets that were sent out, that the excitement, as
you mentioned for Donald Trump, the chance of USA and Trump.
They were very loud. He comes in there, and look
this guy. I understand the moment. It's one of the
I think one of the best things about Donald Trump.
(06:05):
He walks in like he's a prize fighter walking in
for a mask like and that's how he's treated.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
It is it absolutely is. Now, I will say, one
of the strange things is is you know President Trump
wears wears a suit and tie pretty much everywhere other
than the golf course. He wears a suit and tie constantly.
So if I were going to a UFC fight, I
would never wear a suit and tie like that. That
is not how I would dress. Sure, And so I'll
confess I kind of debated, all right, what do I wear?
(06:34):
And you know what, I figured, all right, if you're
hanging with the president, you owe the respect to the office.
And so I went ahead and put on a suit
and tie and and came in and it was and look,
it was very nice. They they introduced me during the
course of the fight and there was a big loud cheer.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I was.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I was gratified. Look, I'm you know, I'd represent Texas,
not Florida. But but the Miami folks were feeling sending
some I love my way, so that made me happy,
and it was it was an amazing time.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We were taking lots of pictures.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Several of the pictures that I tweeted out were actually
taken by Cash Pateel, the FBI director.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Who Who's Who's a friend of mine?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, good guy, good friend of mine as well. He's awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And and by the way he gets away with not
wearing the suit, did you notice that he was.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Like black on black.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I did give him some grief for that. Now, Cash
is a huge UFC fan. He's been to a bunch
of the fights and he follows them closely, and he
was he was just like, no, this is what this
is what I'm gonna wear. But so I had him
take several of the pictures and then I turned to
him and I said, Cash, what kind of moron gives
his cell phone to the director of the FBI. And
(07:47):
he cracked up laughing, and I said, just to be clear,
I'm not waving any Fourth Amendment privilege on my phone.
And he did give it back. He gave it back
and he did not search the contents.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That's awesome when you look at this cabinet and I
you were on Air Force one by the way down there,
and this is your first time on air Force one
in forty seven. This term his new term. You've been
on it obviously before. I've been on Air Force one.
It's the coolest plane in the world. I don't care
what anybody says. It's absolutely unbelievable. But what's it like
(08:16):
in the mood there this cabinet? And the reason why
I ask is it seems like they are much tighter.
They have a genuine affinity for one another, and they
enjoy each other's company. You can see it when they're
in the cabinet meetings, you can see it when they're
on the plane, but you're there with them. I mean,
it just seems like there's a different level of mesh,
(08:38):
like they're genuine teammates working together every day.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Yeah, I think that's right.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I think the cabinet the second term is much stronger
than the cabinet the first term. I think the president
has been looking for and disappointed change agents, people that
are going in to really make a serious difference in
the cabinet agencies they've been appointed to. And he's looking
for people who are committed to fighting to implement his agenda.
And I'll tell you in the first term he had
some people who did that, but he had some of
(09:07):
his appointments who actively undermined and fought the White House
and did real damage. And so I think I think
there's a much greater consistency of the cabinet fighting alongside
the president rather than fighting against the president in this
second term. And you asked what the mood was. Look
on Air Force One. I've been on Air Force one
a bunch of times. The mood the president was. He
(09:30):
was in great spirits, he was in great cheer. You know,
we flew back at two in the morning. I gotta say,
the president is seventy eight, he's almost seventy nine years old,
and he had complete and total energy. And I got
to tell you X, who's four turns five and in
May as a four year old, he was wide awake
(09:53):
in running around at two in the morning. And in
fact I asked the President, I said, okay, mis President,
who more energy you or X? And he just kind
of laughed. But it was kind of close. They're both
at at two o'clock in the morning. In fact, the
President went to the back of the plane and did
an impromptu news conference. The reporters fly in the back
of the plane, and he was joking, you know, before
(10:15):
he went in, he was talking with all of us,
said all right, I'm gonna go talk to the reporters now.
And he said, can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?
And he said, look, Biden would be asleep by like
eight pm? How could he possibly But.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
He wouldn't even bet the fight. Let's be honest.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Yeah, they're there now. Look it, if they had a
game of shuffle board, Biden might have made.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That that's true, or or you know, he did like
riding the bikes until he fell over.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
But you know, there's there's that as well.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I just think it's incredible to see not only the stamina,
but also the excitement and the love for life. I
feel like there's a genuine happiness around this Trump. I
feel like there's a lot of days in sixteen to
twenty where he was angry and for good reason and
mad and frustrated and he was going to war with
the media. I feel like now he's messing with him
a little bit more, and he's genuinely loving his time
(11:03):
as being president. This time it's a different perspective. Is
part of that because the assassination attempt, do you think
and also saying, hey, I'm getting another chance of redo
basically from sixteen, I'm better at at this time. I
know of what I'm up against, I know how bad
the government is, the deep state, etc.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Look, I think he's having fun. I also think and
this is something actually he and I talked about quite
a bit on Air Force One, which is he's able
to accomplish a lot more this term than he would
have been if he had served an immediately successive term.
If he'd gone back in the White House in twenty
twenty one in what would have been a close and
(11:41):
bitter and contested election, we would not be accomplishing a
fraction of what he's accomplishing now. It really took the
four years of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the absolute train
wreck that they made of everything, to make I think
the American people ready for the Trump administration to implement
real and souitous change. I also think those four years
(12:05):
the Trump team spent that time really thinking and thinking
seriously about what they wanted to accomplish. And so you
look at these executive orders they're putting in place that
they're rolling out day after day after day. I think
if it were an immediately successive term, you would not
have seen anywhere near as bold and as effective executive
(12:25):
action as we've seen. And and Trump emphatically agreed that
that that the fact that he was coming after four
years of Biden gave him much more ability to implement
significant change than if he'd just been serving an immediately
consecutive second term.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So the question I'm going to ask, which is the
one I think nine percent of the people listening want
me to ask you right now, is all right, So
did you guys talk about tariffs?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Did you talk about Trey?
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Like?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
What's the conversation? What were you guys chatting about?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
When it comes from a policy standpoint, because if you
look at the different people you were with, it could
have gone a lot of different ways. You had Kennedy there,
that's totally different than cashpertel conversation or or or Tolsted's conversation.
Maybe what were you guys talking about?
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Yeah, look, a lot of times the conversations are are substantive.
I got to tell you this one. Everyone was excited
about going to the USC and so it was kind
of a happy, jovial mood.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
On the way back.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
He his granddaughter Kai was there and she's a terrific golfer.
So he was like, you know, show everyone your golf swing,
and so he pulled it, you know, had her pull
out a phone and show you know, she's gonna be
playing at University of Miami golf team, and so he was.
It was it was a relaxed, joking around fun environment. Look,
there was some discussion of tariffs, but the main discussion
(13:45):
of tariffs, and we're going to get into tariffs right now,
was he was talking about all of the law firms
that that that have cut deals with the administration and
have signed commitments to give typically one hundred million dollars
or in some instance is one hundred and twenty five
million dollars of pro bono legal services, free low legal
services for for issues that that that that matter to
(14:10):
the Trump administration. And he was saying, collectively, it's over
a billion dollars in legal services. And so he was saying,
you know, what should we use that for? And I'll
tell you what I suggested, and what he was agreeing
is you've got some of the best lawyers in the world,
and I was saying, look, we ought to use these
guys to help negotiate trade deals. We've got We've got
companies all over the work, or countries rather all over
(14:32):
the world that are coming and wanting trade deals, wanting
to lower their tariffs against US goods and services, wanting
to get President Trump's tariffs lowered against them, and just
papering one hundred plus deals is incredibly complicated. It takes
a lot of serious lawyering, and so having over a
billion dollars of free legal services, and I think I
(14:55):
think the President was quite interested and was pretty emphatically
agreeing that that is a very good thing to devote
a lot of that energy is to negotiate negotiating trade
deals that benefit America and that lower tariffs on American
goods going abroad.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, you mentioned that there's a lot of paperwork. Yeah,
there's going to be an awful lot of paperwork, because
we're now hearing from the White House that they have
negotiations that are in essence underway with what was forty
countries early, then it jumped to seventy. Now they're saying
one hundred and thirty countries are sitting there ready to
have the conversation on tariffs.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Kevin Hasset, who's the head of the National Economic Council,
he was on TV this weekend. Give a listen to
what Kevin said.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Well, what do you say to small business owners or
even big business owners who say they're having difficulty making
long term business decisions because the country seems right now
to be run by capricious whim.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Oh, i'd think at all, it's run by capricius whim.
The way that I would think about it is that
in the previous administration, you can sort of say, if
you're thinking about it in the foot all analogy is
that they were running out the clock. And what's going
on now and the Trump administration is across a wide
array of policy areas. We're in a two minute offense,
and the two minute offense is pushing, as you've seen
(16:12):
the reconciliation build through, so that we get tax relief
for America people, deregulation, and of course trade policy. Now
on the trade policy, the whole point of the trade
policy is to address the national emergency that we're too
dependent on foreign products in the US, especially if we
were at a time of conflict, and we're doing something
(16:32):
about that. And the Reciprocal Act was basically, guys, if
you come to the table and negotiate us with us
and treat us the same way we treat you, then
we'll get your rate really low. And so right now
one hundred and thirty countries, one hundred thirty countries have responded
and we're negotiating with them, and they've got their rate
down to ten percent. And so really it's kind of
(16:53):
almost a two world system. There's a process about China
and that's very very nascent, if at all, and then
the process for everybody else. So the process for everybody
else is orderly. It's clear people are coming to town
with great offers. We've got japanned Korea, India. I was
just talking to the Foreign Minister of Idea and everything
(17:15):
is moving forward very quickly. And so I guess the
bottom light is that the small business owner has experienced
over the last few weeks the start of a process
that's settling down really quite quickly. Gave one hundred thirty
contries are at ten percent now.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
One hundred and thirty countries and at ten percent now,
and they're saying they're coming in and they want a
deal done, and they want to get done quick.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Well, look, and I think that's notable that the number
of countries are coming in asking for a deal, negotiating,
eager to come to the table. It's up to one
hundred and thirty, is what the White House is saying.
That is unprecedented. That is remarkable, and that is a
significant victory. That is reason to celebrate. Now, you and
I have talked before about how this administration's approach has
(17:57):
been an approach kind of borrowed from Silicon Valley, move
fast and break things, and and so things are moving fast. Uh,
there's a lot of uncertainty, and I do think it's
right that that the business world is is disconcerted by
the uncertainty that that that when it comes to investment,
if you're going to invest money, and this is true
(18:18):
whether you're you're, uh, you know, a small business or
a giant corporation, you need some modicum of certainty to
know whether to deploy capital.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And and and so every time.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
The rules change, that that that that makes business is
less likely to deploy capital.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And so my.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Hope is that that we will see a greater degree
of predictability and certainty. Now, you and I have talked
in this podcast about how there is a battle waging
within the Trump administration that's still very much going on,
and it is waging.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
On the one hand, you.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Have people like Kevin Hassett, You have people like Elon Musk,
You have people like Scott Bessant who are arguing aggressively
lower tariffs from other countries, use these tariffs's leverage to
negotiate extraordinary free trade agreements, and those voices right now,
(19:14):
I think there's some momentum behind those voices. Those voices
prevailed when last week President Trump paused the tariffs across
the board, as we talked about in this podcast. I
spent an hour the night before along with several other senators,
urging the President to do exactly that, and he listened
to us and others that we're.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Arguing to do that.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
But there are other voices in the administration that are saying, no,
don't lower the tariffs. It doesn't matter if other countries
lower their tariffs. Let's keep tariffs in place in perpetuity.
And I very much hope that that second group of
voices does not prevail, because I think that would be
a really harmful economic policy for the country. If we
(19:59):
end up having massively high terriffs of every country on
Earth against America, and massively high tariffs in America against
every country on Earth. I think that'd be really bad
for Texas farmers and ranchers and businesses, and for American
farmers and ranchers and businesses. And so I'm encouraged right
now that I think the free market side of that
argument is prevailing. But I would say don't get complacent.
(20:22):
This battle is very much going back and forth, and
it is a live argument.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There's also a big separation now that we're seeing in
this conversation, and it deals with He's saying, hey, we're
dealing with a lot of these countries one way, We're
gonna deal with China a little bit differently. Then we
also had this announcement come out that there were going
to be some exemptions on tech items like phones, computers,
and chips from these tariffs. The Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnik,
(20:51):
he went on ABC this week to try to explain
all of this, saying, hey, this is in essence also
short term, and we will set tariffs come in there,
but we're trying to make this work now so that
there's not a major disruption or a massive hike in
some of these important items. Take a listen to what
he had to say on ABC this week.
Speaker 8 (21:12):
I'm joined now by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary
of Lutnik, Thank you for being with us this morning.
I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So let's start with that news like pleasure.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
Let let's start with that news Lefari that this exemption
on electronics smartphones, laptop, computers and the like. What's the
thinking why the exemption.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Well, if you remember, over the past couple of months,
President Trump has called out pharmaceuticals and semiconductors and autos.
He called them sector tariffs, and those are not available
for negotiation. They are just going to be part of
making sure we resure the core national security items that
(21:54):
need to be made in this country. We need to
make medicine in this country. We learned it during COVID.
We need to make and in this country. We need
to make semiconductors because if we don't own semiconductors here.
Remember all virtually all semiconductors are made now in Taiwan
and they're finished in China. It's important that we reassure them.
And so the President is going to come out with
(22:15):
his policies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. They're going to be
outside the reciprocal tariffs. And he was just making sure
everyone understood that all of these products are outside the
reciprocal tariffs and they are going to have their own
separate way of being considered.
Speaker 8 (22:31):
But wait a minute, I'm asking you about the exemption,
not about I mean the notice that went out Friday
night saying that electronics, a wide range of electronics, including smartphones,
including components used to make microchips, that these are now
exempt from the reciprocal tariffs. Why that move.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Well, remember those products are going to be part of
the semiconductor sectoral tariffs which are coming. So you're going
to see this week there'll be a register in the
Federal Registry. There'll be a notice put out that is
different types of work. So we're going to do that.
We did that in autos. The President's going to do
(23:15):
it for pharmaceuticals and he is going to do it
for semiconductors. So all those products are going to come
under semiconductors and they're going to have a special focused
type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshort.
We need to have semiconductors, we need to have chips,
and we need to have flat panels. We need to have
these things made in America. We can't be reliant on
(23:36):
Southeast Asia for all of the things that operate for US.
So what he's doing is he's saying they're exempt from
the reciprocal tariffs, but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs
which are coming in probably a month or two. So
these are coming soon. You shouldn't think this is really
outside of it. Really think of it as being included
(23:58):
in the semiconductors base, much like pharmaceuticals. Okay, sir, special attention,
and the President is on it.
Speaker 8 (24:05):
So you're saying that the big tariffs on things like
smartphones and laptops, iPhones, all those iPhones built in China,
that those tariffs are temporarily off, but they're going to
be coming right back on in another form in a
month or so or what are you saying?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (24:26):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Semiconductors and pharmaceuticals will have a tariff model in order
to encourage them to re sure to be built in America.
We need our medicines, and we need semiconductors and our
electronics to be built in America. We can't be the
hold in and rely upon foreign countries for fundamental things
that we need. We can't be relying on China for
(24:49):
fundamental things that we need. Our medicines and our semiconductors
need to be built in America. Donald Trump is on it.
He's calling that out. So you should understand these are
in included in the semiconductor tariffs that are coming, and
the pharmaceuticals are coming. Those two areas are coming in
the next month or two. So this is not like
a permanent sort of exemption. He's just clarifying that these
(25:12):
are not available to be negotiated away by countries. These
are things that are national security that we need to
be made in America.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You listen to Howard there, you know him obviously, and
you hear what he's saying. He's trying to say, hey,
we're still moving forward, but we're also having to make
sure we don't do too much at one time that
can hurt people. And so there's a tough line here.
I understand how frustrating this can be as an American
because you may say, well, hold on, it sounds like
maybe they're getting a better deal. The little guy is
(25:46):
here break that down for us.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, it sounds like that because they are listen. I
like Howard.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
He's just a smart, very effective business leader, and he's
joined a team that is that is drinking from a
fire hose. So they're trying to do an awful lot
all at once. But but I have to say the
result is the rules are changing, and they're changing very rapidly,
which makes it incredibly hard for anyone to know and
(26:14):
predict what they're going to be tomorrow and for them
to deploy capital knowing what the rules are going to be.
That's a problem. You need consistency that there's a bigger problem,
which is the question that was being asked is is
the administration announced this week that that that for smartphones
and laptops and electronics that they were exempt from from
(26:36):
the tariffs announced, including the tariffs in China one hundred
and forty five percent tariffs. I got to say that
that's a policy. A lot of folks are quite rightly
pointing out, uh that that that that benefits gigantic tech
companies that have armies of lobbyists in Washington whose CEOs
were arrayed on the stage at inauguration Day. But but
(27:01):
it doesn't do a whole lot of good for the
little guy.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I'm hearing from Texas small businesses that are manufacturing goods
and and some of the components that go into the
goods they're making or coming from China, coming from other countries,
and they're facing very significant tariffs, and the small business
is not getting an exemption. And I got to say
the argument that, well, yeah, we gave a gigantic gift
(27:26):
to tim Cook and Apple, but don't worry. In the future,
we'll put some different tariffs on semiconductors, but we're not
going to tell you what they are.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
But they are going to come, and at.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Some point in the future they'll come, but presumably they're
going to be a lot less than one hundred and
forty five percent on China that everyone else has to
pay if they're not in big tech. I mentioned that
there is an ongoing battle within the administration. I think
this policy is a consequence of that ongoing battle.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I'll be clear, I am not.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
A fan at all of sectoral exemptions that essentially benefit
that pick winners and losers. I think you know when
you talk about the swamp. When Washington decides to say, Okay,
you're the winner, you're the loser. You're the winner, you're
the loser. That is a really dangerous and slippery slope.
(28:24):
And if you're going to do it at all, if
you want to make an exemption, make an exemption for
small businesses, make an exemption for the little guy. If
you want to say a small business with revenues below
fifty million dollars or one hundred million dollars, a small
manufacturing business is exempt from paying the tariff. That might
make sense because we're going to see some of those
(28:45):
small businesses that are really important dependent potentially go out
of business. And if you wanted to make an exemption,
rather than do it for gigantic companies, I do it
exactly on the other side and look out for the
little guy that is more vulnerable to the immediate vicissitudes
(29:06):
of the changes in policies.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, and like you said, they're drinking from a fire hose.
This is when it gets complicated. When you're trying to
break big things and change things. There are x factors
in here in caveats where you say, hold on a second,
is this really what the aus you put it? The
small business owners need, which is the reason why we
have this conversation every day. I want to move to
this other big issue also that we mentioned earlier, and
(29:31):
it was a massive victory for the Trump administration when
it came to an immigration judge doing a major ruling
on deporting students that are advocating for the death and
destruction of students on campus that, by the way, a
Jewish are advocating their support for terrorists organizations. And this
(29:51):
all comes out of Columbia University, where it has become
a major point of all, right, who's going to win
this is the Trump administration going to win this or
the radicals on the left going to win? And it
was a big win for Donald Trump this week.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Well, it was a win. I don't know that it
was a massive victory because it's clearly right under the law.
So it was a win that was going to happen,
but I'm glad it did. And so listen, one of
the things that President Trump is doing that is exactly
right is the Trump administration is deporting those who engage
(30:24):
in anti Israel, anti American protests, who are foreign students,
who are on student visas, who are non American citizens.
You don't have an entitlement to be here. And look,
we talked about during the Bide administration when these viciously
anti Israel, anti Semitic protests were going on, that the
Biden administration could do something about it, but they didn't
want to because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer,
(30:47):
they agree with the pro Haamas protesters, they agree with
the radicals, and so you didn't see the Department of
Justice investigating them. You didn't see them following the money.
You didn't see them trying to do anything really to
protect the Jewish students on campus who were being targeted
for harassment and threats of violence. Well, you and I,
(31:07):
in fact, one of the very first pods we did
in the new administration, as we interviewed Pam Bondy at
SEAPAC and in that podcast with with with then Attorney
General Bondi right after she got confirmed, she made clear
then they're gonna go after these radicals. And I will
say immigration law gives considerable considerable flexibility to the administration
(31:33):
to decide who that is here on a permissive visa
can be sent home. And so in this case, you
had my Mood Khalil, who was a Columbia anti Israel protester,
who who the administration is in the process of deporting,
and he is challenging that in court. And an immigration
judge ruled that he can be deported due to his
(31:57):
involvement in last year's Rohamas protests at Columbia. And this
is a judge, Judge Jamie Corman's coman's rather uh and
and he said said the government had met its its
burden of proof.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
I think that's that's clearly right. And and the Department
of Homeland Security laid out how Khalil misrepresented himself on
his green card application, and in particular, he was not
upfront about his involvement with organizations he's involved with. He
he willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian
(32:33):
office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied
for permanent US residency.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Uh. And what what.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
What the federal government argued is that made him inadmissible
at the time he was given his green card because
of quote fraud or wilful misrepresentation.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Of material.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Fact, he also failed to disclose his work for UNRA.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
And and you know Une.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
We've talked about before, is is the UN agency that
that has literally been in bed with a maas you
had multiple A Moss terrorists working at on rah. UNRA
has given significant material aid hamas terrorists. And and the
court ruled that that look that that is is ample
(33:21):
grounds to deport uh, to deport him. I think that
ruling is is clearly right. And if you looked at
at at Khalil, you looked at his writings. This is
someone who is viciously anti Israel and anti American and
in fact he's using the the deportation to just rail
(33:42):
against America and.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
What a what a hostile UH environment it is.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
And and in fact Khalil's argument, here's something he wrote, Uh,
he wrote an op ed in Columbia, you know, attacking
how dare you deport me? And and he he he
says something. He accuses the Columbia administrators of manufacturing quote
(34:07):
public hysteria about anti Semitism without once mentioning the tens
of thousands of Palestinians murdered under bombs made of your dollars.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
So understand.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
This guy's complaint is that the Columbia administrators stood too
strongly against anti Semitism. They let their entire campus get
taken over, that they let Jewish students be terrorized, they
let campus buildings be taken over. They were weak and
and effective, which is why the president of Columbia had
to step down. And yet this guy's claim is no, No,
(34:40):
they were too strong against anti Semitism. They should have
been effectively marching alongside me in favor of Hamas. This
ruling is clearly right. I'm glad it came down. There're
gonna be more rulings like this.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
If you are here.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
This will have precedent, right like this is.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Gonna be No.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
This is a ruling of an immigration judge in this case,
so it doesn't resolve the issue across the country. But
the immigration law is quite clear that. Look, Khalil's case
was harder because he was a legal permanent resident. He
has a green card, and legal permanent residents have greater
(35:19):
legal protections than just somebody under student visa. Somebody under
a student visa, they can have their visa revoked and
sent back. It is not a high threshold to do that.
To revoke a green card is a higher threshold. And
so the ruling here as well that the Department Homeland
Security gave evidence that he had lied when getting his
(35:40):
green card and that was basis for deportation, and so
that I think that's the right ruling here. It's a
good ruling, and I think you're going to see. Listen,
let me say to any anti American radicals who've come
in on student visas, you are not welcome in America.
And if you are going to use our hospit hospitality
(36:01):
to attack and threaten and harass fellow students. If you're
going to use our hospitality to attack America, get the
hell out, and we're going to help you get the
hell out. And that is one of the best things
that Trump administration is doing right now.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, aim into that. Don't forget. We do this show
on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
We have a week in review on Saturdays of things
you may have missed during the week. So make sure
you get that subscriber auto download button. Share this podcast
on your social media wherever you are, because it helps
us reach more people and get the news out of
what we're talking about. In the CINAT and I will
see you back here on Wednesday morning.
Good Monday morning. Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you
and Center. You had one eventful weekend, A little time
on Air Force One, catching your first UFC fight. Not
a bad way to hang out on the weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Well I did.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
I had a fantastic weekend. I spent much of Saturday evening,
in fact, all of Saturday evening with President Trump. Flew
down to Miami on Air Force One. Went to the
UFC fight, which was incredible, was joined by multiple members
of the cabinet. I'm going to tell you all about that.
I'm going to take you on Air Force One. I'm
going to take you to the UFC tell you everything
that happened. There's also a lot of battles that are
(00:37):
playing out in Washington. The dominant story continues to be tariffs,
and tariffs are having massive economic impacts on the United
States on the world. The particular rules and policies are
changing every week, sometimes every day. We're going to break
down those changes, what they mean, and we're going to
talk about what's likely to happen next. We're also going
(00:59):
to talk about a a decision from an immigration judge
this past week that Mahmoud Khalil, who was the anti
Israel protester at Columbia University, that he can be deported,
he can be sent home. This is the right decision.
We're gonna explain what happened all of that in today's podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, it's gonna be a really interesting story there, that's
for sure. I want to talk to you real quick
about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. So many
of you are now getting involved in helping the people
in Israel right now, and unfortunately Israel is still under attack.
Messl fire has resumed from the Huthis, from Hesblah and
Hamas and the enemies. They're seeking Israel's destruction. They've been
(01:37):
pretty clear from the river to the sea. Well, here
in America we cannot imagine living under constant threat of
terrorism and rocket attacks. And this is the reality unfortunately
in Israel. Parents who take their kids to school and
then are forced to fall to the ground, lay on
top of their children, trying to comfort them as a
sirens blair. The next attack against Israel is happening, and
(01:58):
it's with little tom for the people there to get
into a safe place. And that is where you come
in the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews are providing
life saving aid and security essentials, and your gift today
will help provide security essentials like bomb shelters, flat jackets,
bulletproof vests for first responders, as well as armored security vehicles,
(02:22):
armored ambulances so they can save people that are in
dangerous areas and so much more. So join me in
standing with Israel. You can call right now to give
your gift eight to eight four eight eight IFCJ that's
eight eight eight four eight eight four three two five
(02:44):
eight a eight four eight eight IFCJ, or go online
to support IFCJ dot org. That's one word, support IFCJ
dot org.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Centat.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I gotta say the videos that came out to U
of you with Donald Trump and and some others that
people will know, like the FBI director Toldsea Gabbard, uh
at this UFC fight, it looked like you guys were
just having a blast. Was this your first time at
a usc fight? And what did you think of it?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
First off?
Speaker 4 (03:17):
So it was I'd never been to a UFC fight. Fight,
It was a blast. Dana White invited me to come
and and then the President invited me to to join
them on Air Force one coming down. So I was
I was part of the President's UH team that came in.
And so I came in with with the President, with
with Elon Musk and Little X. We had also Marco
(03:38):
Rubio came, Cash Pateel, the director of the FBI came,
Bobby Kennedy came and his wife and and Telsea Gabbard came,
and and so.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
We were all UH on Air Force.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
One came came to the the the event and and
I gotta say, have you ever been to a UFC fight?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I actually have, and I think they're just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Holy cow number one.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
It's in Miami that the stadium was rocking the energy.
I mean it just shook the floor. And and and
I walked in with with President Trump. When the President
walked in, there are not words to describe how much
the people in that stadium love President Trump and and
and it just erupted it it. You know, if he
(04:24):
were Mick Jagger riding on Evil Knevels motorcycle through flaming rings,
I'm not sure they would have cheered louder.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
And it was it was very cool. We were all seated,
uh right ringside, right by the octagon, and it is
so close. I mean, it is something else. These guys,
these fighters, they are big dudes. Actually some of them
are little dudes. But but the little dudes are ripped
and they just beat the living crap out of each other.
(04:57):
I mean they are so fast. You know, the first
fight we saw, you know, one hard punch literally dropped
a guy and he was basically just knocked out cold
because he stepped into a punch. Some of these fights
that they get pretty bloody, which was like wow, I mean,
they just beat the living daylights out of each other.
(05:18):
But the skill, uh that these fighters are are boxers,
they're wrestlers, they do jiu jitsu, they they do mixed
martial arts, and so there's there's kicking and punching and
throws and grappling and and and it was incredible. And
I got to tell you that the number of fighters
who came up to the president and just said you're
(05:39):
my guy, that was powerful as well.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
This place, as you mentioned, was packed.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And one of the things that as I was watching
it on TV, and many may have seen some of
the tweets that were sent out, that the excitement, as
you mentioned for Donald Trump, the chance of USA and Trump.
They were very loud. He comes in there, and look
this guy. I understand the moment. It's one of the
I think one of the best things about Donald Trump.
(06:05):
He walks in like he's a prize fighter walking in
for a mask like and that's how he's treated.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
It is it absolutely is. Now, I will say, one
of the strange things is is you know President Trump
wears wears a suit and tie pretty much everywhere other
than the golf course. He wears a suit and tie constantly.
So if I were going to a UFC fight, I
would never wear a suit and tie like that. That
is not how I would dress. Sure, And so I'll
confess I kind of debated, all right, what do I wear?
(06:34):
And you know what, I figured, all right, if you're
hanging with the president, you owe the respect to the office.
And so I went ahead and put on a suit
and tie and and came in and it was and look,
it was very nice. They they introduced me during the
course of the fight and there was a big loud cheer.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
I was.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I was gratified. Look, I'm you know, I'd represent Texas,
not Florida. But but the Miami folks were feeling sending
some I love my way, so that made me happy,
and it was it was an amazing time.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
We were taking lots of pictures.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Several of the pictures that I tweeted out were actually
taken by Cash Pateel, the FBI director.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Who Who's Who's a friend of mine?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, good guy, good friend of mine as well. He's awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And and by the way he gets away with not
wearing the suit, did you notice that he was.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Like black on black.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I did give him some grief for that. Now, Cash
is a huge UFC fan. He's been to a bunch
of the fights and he follows them closely, and he
was he was just like, no, this is what this
is what I'm gonna wear. But so I had him
take several of the pictures and then I turned to
him and I said, Cash, what kind of moron gives
his cell phone to the director of the FBI. And
(07:47):
he cracked up laughing, and I said, just to be clear,
I'm not waving any Fourth Amendment privilege on my phone.
And he did give it back. He gave it back
and he did not search the contents.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That's awesome when you look at this cabinet and I
you were on Air Force one by the way down there,
and this is your first time on air Force one
in forty seven. This term his new term. You've been
on it obviously before. I've been on Air Force one.
It's the coolest plane in the world. I don't care
what anybody says. It's absolutely unbelievable. But what's it like
(08:16):
in the mood there this cabinet? And the reason why
I ask is it seems like they are much tighter.
They have a genuine affinity for one another, and they
enjoy each other's company. You can see it when they're
in the cabinet meetings, you can see it when they're
on the plane, but you're there with them. I mean,
it just seems like there's a different level of mesh,
(08:38):
like they're genuine teammates working together every day.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Yeah, I think that's right.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I think the cabinet the second term is much stronger
than the cabinet the first term. I think the president
has been looking for and disappointed change agents, people that
are going in to really make a serious difference in
the cabinet agencies they've been appointed to. And he's looking
for people who are committed to fighting to implement his agenda.
And I'll tell you in the first term he had
some people who did that, but he had some of
(09:07):
his appointments who actively undermined and fought the White House
and did real damage. And so I think I think
there's a much greater consistency of the cabinet fighting alongside
the president rather than fighting against the president in this
second term. And you asked what the mood was. Look
on Air Force One. I've been on Air Force one
a bunch of times. The mood the president was. He
(09:30):
was in great spirits, he was in great cheer. You know,
we flew back at two in the morning. I gotta say,
the president is seventy eight, he's almost seventy nine years old,
and he had complete and total energy. And I got
to tell you X, who's four turns five and in
May as a four year old, he was wide awake
(09:53):
in running around at two in the morning. And in
fact I asked the President, I said, okay, mis President,
who more energy you or X? And he just kind
of laughed. But it was kind of close. They're both
at at two o'clock in the morning. In fact, the
President went to the back of the plane and did
an impromptu news conference. The reporters fly in the back
of the plane, and he was joking, you know, before
(10:15):
he went in, he was talking with all of us,
said all right, I'm gonna go talk to the reporters now.
And he said, can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?
And he said, look, Biden would be asleep by like
eight pm? How could he possibly But.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
He wouldn't even bet the fight. Let's be honest.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Yeah, they're there now. Look it, if they had a
game of shuffle board, Biden might have made.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That that's true, or or you know, he did like
riding the bikes until he fell over.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
But you know, there's there's that as well.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I just think it's incredible to see not only the stamina,
but also the excitement and the love for life. I
feel like there's a genuine happiness around this Trump. I
feel like there's a lot of days in sixteen to
twenty where he was angry and for good reason and
mad and frustrated and he was going to war with
the media. I feel like now he's messing with him
a little bit more, and he's genuinely loving his time
(11:03):
as being president. This time it's a different perspective. Is
part of that because the assassination attempt, do you think
and also saying, hey, I'm getting another chance of redo
basically from sixteen, I'm better at at this time. I
know of what I'm up against, I know how bad
the government is, the deep state, etc.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Look, I think he's having fun. I also think and
this is something actually he and I talked about quite
a bit on Air Force One, which is he's able
to accomplish a lot more this term than he would
have been if he had served an immediately successive term.
If he'd gone back in the White House in twenty
twenty one in what would have been a close and
(11:41):
bitter and contested election, we would not be accomplishing a
fraction of what he's accomplishing now. It really took the
four years of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the absolute train
wreck that they made of everything, to make I think
the American people ready for the Trump administration to implement
real and souitous change. I also think those four years
(12:05):
the Trump team spent that time really thinking and thinking
seriously about what they wanted to accomplish. And so you
look at these executive orders they're putting in place that
they're rolling out day after day after day. I think
if it were an immediately successive term, you would not
have seen anywhere near as bold and as effective executive
(12:25):
action as we've seen. And and Trump emphatically agreed that
that that the fact that he was coming after four
years of Biden gave him much more ability to implement
significant change than if he'd just been serving an immediately
consecutive second term.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So the question I'm going to ask, which is the
one I think nine percent of the people listening want
me to ask you right now, is all right, So
did you guys talk about tariffs?
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Did you talk about Trey?
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Like?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
What's the conversation? What were you guys chatting about?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
When it comes from a policy standpoint, because if you
look at the different people you were with, it could
have gone a lot of different ways. You had Kennedy there,
that's totally different than cashpertel conversation or or or Tolsted's conversation.
Maybe what were you guys talking about?
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Yeah, look, a lot of times the conversations are are substantive.
I got to tell you this one. Everyone was excited
about going to the USC and so it was kind
of a happy, jovial mood.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
On the way back.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
He his granddaughter Kai was there and she's a terrific golfer.
So he was like, you know, show everyone your golf swing,
and so he pulled it, you know, had her pull
out a phone and show you know, she's gonna be
playing at University of Miami golf team, and so he was.
It was it was a relaxed, joking around fun environment. Look,
there was some discussion of tariffs, but the main discussion
(13:45):
of tariffs, and we're going to get into tariffs right now,
was he was talking about all of the law firms
that that that have cut deals with the administration and
have signed commitments to give typically one hundred million dollars
or in some instance is one hundred and twenty five
million dollars of pro bono legal services, free low legal
services for for issues that that that that matter to
(14:10):
the Trump administration. And he was saying, collectively, it's over
a billion dollars in legal services. And so he was saying,
you know, what should we use that for? And I'll
tell you what I suggested, and what he was agreeing
is you've got some of the best lawyers in the world,
and I was saying, look, we ought to use these
guys to help negotiate trade deals. We've got We've got
companies all over the work, or countries rather all over
(14:32):
the world that are coming and wanting trade deals, wanting
to lower their tariffs against US goods and services, wanting
to get President Trump's tariffs lowered against them, and just
papering one hundred plus deals is incredibly complicated. It takes
a lot of serious lawyering, and so having over a
billion dollars of free legal services, and I think I
(14:55):
think the President was quite interested and was pretty emphatically
agreeing that that is a very good thing to devote
a lot of that energy is to negotiate negotiating trade
deals that benefit America and that lower tariffs on American
goods going abroad.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, you mentioned that there's a lot of paperwork. Yeah,
there's going to be an awful lot of paperwork, because
we're now hearing from the White House that they have
negotiations that are in essence underway with what was forty
countries early, then it jumped to seventy. Now they're saying
one hundred and thirty countries are sitting there ready to
have the conversation on tariffs.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Kevin Hasset, who's the head of the National Economic Council,
he was on TV this weekend. Give a listen to
what Kevin said.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Well, what do you say to small business owners or
even big business owners who say they're having difficulty making
long term business decisions because the country seems right now
to be run by capricious whim.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Oh, i'd think at all, it's run by capricius whim.
The way that I would think about it is that
in the previous administration, you can sort of say, if
you're thinking about it in the foot all analogy is
that they were running out the clock. And what's going
on now and the Trump administration is across a wide
array of policy areas. We're in a two minute offense,
and the two minute offense is pushing, as you've seen
(16:12):
the reconciliation build through, so that we get tax relief
for America people, deregulation, and of course trade policy. Now
on the trade policy, the whole point of the trade
policy is to address the national emergency that we're too
dependent on foreign products in the US, especially if we
were at a time of conflict, and we're doing something
(16:32):
about that. And the Reciprocal Act was basically, guys, if
you come to the table and negotiate us with us
and treat us the same way we treat you, then
we'll get your rate really low. And so right now
one hundred and thirty countries, one hundred thirty countries have responded
and we're negotiating with them, and they've got their rate
down to ten percent. And so really it's kind of
(16:53):
almost a two world system. There's a process about China
and that's very very nascent, if at all, and then
the process for everybody else. So the process for everybody
else is orderly. It's clear people are coming to town
with great offers. We've got japanned Korea, India. I was
just talking to the Foreign Minister of Idea and everything
(17:15):
is moving forward very quickly. And so I guess the
bottom light is that the small business owner has experienced
over the last few weeks the start of a process
that's settling down really quite quickly. Gave one hundred thirty
contries are at ten percent now.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
One hundred and thirty countries and at ten percent now,
and they're saying they're coming in and they want a
deal done, and they want to get done quick.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Well, look, and I think that's notable that the number
of countries are coming in asking for a deal, negotiating,
eager to come to the table. It's up to one
hundred and thirty, is what the White House is saying.
That is unprecedented. That is remarkable, and that is a
significant victory. That is reason to celebrate. Now, you and
I have talked before about how this administration's approach has
(17:57):
been an approach kind of borrowed from Silicon Valley, move
fast and break things, and and so things are moving fast. Uh,
there's a lot of uncertainty, and I do think it's
right that that the business world is is disconcerted by
the uncertainty that that that when it comes to investment,
if you're going to invest money, and this is true
(18:18):
whether you're you're, uh, you know, a small business or
a giant corporation, you need some modicum of certainty to
know whether to deploy capital.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And and and so every time.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
The rules change, that that that that makes business is
less likely to deploy capital.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And so my.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Hope is that that we will see a greater degree
of predictability and certainty. Now, you and I have talked
in this podcast about how there is a battle waging
within the Trump administration that's still very much going on,
and it is waging.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
On the one hand, you.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Have people like Kevin Hassett, You have people like Elon Musk,
You have people like Scott Bessant who are arguing aggressively
lower tariffs from other countries, use these tariffs's leverage to
negotiate extraordinary free trade agreements, and those voices right now,
(19:14):
I think there's some momentum behind those voices. Those voices
prevailed when last week President Trump paused the tariffs across
the board, as we talked about in this podcast. I
spent an hour the night before along with several other senators,
urging the President to do exactly that, and he listened
to us and others that we're.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Arguing to do that.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
But there are other voices in the administration that are saying, no,
don't lower the tariffs. It doesn't matter if other countries
lower their tariffs. Let's keep tariffs in place in perpetuity.
And I very much hope that that second group of
voices does not prevail, because I think that would be
a really harmful economic policy for the country. If we
(19:59):
end up having massively high terriffs of every country on
Earth against America, and massively high tariffs in America against
every country on Earth. I think that'd be really bad
for Texas farmers and ranchers and businesses, and for American
farmers and ranchers and businesses. And so I'm encouraged right
now that I think the free market side of that
argument is prevailing. But I would say don't get complacent.
(20:22):
This battle is very much going back and forth, and
it is a live argument.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There's also a big separation now that we're seeing in
this conversation, and it deals with He's saying, hey, we're
dealing with a lot of these countries one way, We're
gonna deal with China a little bit differently. Then we
also had this announcement come out that there were going
to be some exemptions on tech items like phones, computers,
and chips from these tariffs. The Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnik,
(20:51):
he went on ABC this week to try to explain
all of this, saying, hey, this is in essence also
short term, and we will set tariffs come in there,
but we're trying to make this work now so that
there's not a major disruption or a massive hike in
some of these important items. Take a listen to what
he had to say on ABC this week.
Speaker 8 (21:12):
I'm joined now by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary
of Lutnik, Thank you for being with us this morning.
I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So let's start with that news like pleasure.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
Let let's start with that news Lefari that this exemption
on electronics smartphones, laptop, computers and the like. What's the
thinking why the exemption.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Well, if you remember, over the past couple of months,
President Trump has called out pharmaceuticals and semiconductors and autos.
He called them sector tariffs, and those are not available
for negotiation. They are just going to be part of
making sure we resure the core national security items that
(21:54):
need to be made in this country. We need to
make medicine in this country. We learned it during COVID.
We need to make and in this country. We need
to make semiconductors because if we don't own semiconductors here.
Remember all virtually all semiconductors are made now in Taiwan
and they're finished in China. It's important that we reassure them.
And so the President is going to come out with
(22:15):
his policies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. They're going to be
outside the reciprocal tariffs. And he was just making sure
everyone understood that all of these products are outside the
reciprocal tariffs and they are going to have their own
separate way of being considered.
Speaker 8 (22:31):
But wait a minute, I'm asking you about the exemption,
not about I mean the notice that went out Friday
night saying that electronics, a wide range of electronics, including smartphones,
including components used to make microchips, that these are now
exempt from the reciprocal tariffs. Why that move.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Well, remember those products are going to be part of
the semiconductor sectoral tariffs which are coming. So you're going
to see this week there'll be a register in the
Federal Registry. There'll be a notice put out that is
different types of work. So we're going to do that.
We did that in autos. The President's going to do
(23:15):
it for pharmaceuticals and he is going to do it
for semiconductors. So all those products are going to come
under semiconductors and they're going to have a special focused
type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshort.
We need to have semiconductors, we need to have chips,
and we need to have flat panels. We need to have
these things made in America. We can't be reliant on
(23:36):
Southeast Asia for all of the things that operate for US.
So what he's doing is he's saying they're exempt from
the reciprocal tariffs, but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs
which are coming in probably a month or two. So
these are coming soon. You shouldn't think this is really
outside of it. Really think of it as being included
(23:58):
in the semiconductors base, much like pharmaceuticals. Okay, sir, special attention,
and the President is on it.
Speaker 8 (24:05):
So you're saying that the big tariffs on things like
smartphones and laptops, iPhones, all those iPhones built in China,
that those tariffs are temporarily off, but they're going to
be coming right back on in another form in a
month or so or what are you saying?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (24:26):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Semiconductors and pharmaceuticals will have a tariff model in order
to encourage them to re sure to be built in America.
We need our medicines, and we need semiconductors and our
electronics to be built in America. We can't be the
hold in and rely upon foreign countries for fundamental things
that we need. We can't be relying on China for
(24:49):
fundamental things that we need. Our medicines and our semiconductors
need to be built in America. Donald Trump is on it.
He's calling that out. So you should understand these are
in included in the semiconductor tariffs that are coming, and
the pharmaceuticals are coming. Those two areas are coming in
the next month or two. So this is not like
a permanent sort of exemption. He's just clarifying that these
(25:12):
are not available to be negotiated away by countries. These
are things that are national security that we need to
be made in America.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You listen to Howard there, you know him obviously, and
you hear what he's saying. He's trying to say, hey,
we're still moving forward, but we're also having to make
sure we don't do too much at one time that
can hurt people. And so there's a tough line here.
I understand how frustrating this can be as an American
because you may say, well, hold on, it sounds like
maybe they're getting a better deal. The little guy is
(25:46):
here break that down for us.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Well, it sounds like that because they are listen. I
like Howard.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
He's just a smart, very effective business leader, and he's
joined a team that is that is drinking from a
fire hose. So they're trying to do an awful lot
all at once. But but I have to say the
result is the rules are changing, and they're changing very rapidly,
which makes it incredibly hard for anyone to know and
(26:14):
predict what they're going to be tomorrow and for them
to deploy capital knowing what the rules are going to be.
That's a problem. You need consistency that there's a bigger problem,
which is the question that was being asked is is
the administration announced this week that that that for smartphones
and laptops and electronics that they were exempt from from
(26:36):
the tariffs announced, including the tariffs in China one hundred
and forty five percent tariffs. I got to say that
that's a policy. A lot of folks are quite rightly
pointing out, uh that that that that benefits gigantic tech
companies that have armies of lobbyists in Washington whose CEOs
were arrayed on the stage at inauguration Day. But but
(27:01):
it doesn't do a whole lot of good for the
little guy.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I'm hearing from Texas small businesses that are manufacturing goods
and and some of the components that go into the
goods they're making or coming from China, coming from other countries,
and they're facing very significant tariffs, and the small business
is not getting an exemption. And I got to say
the argument that, well, yeah, we gave a gigantic gift
(27:26):
to tim Cook and Apple, but don't worry. In the future,
we'll put some different tariffs on semiconductors, but we're not
going to tell you what they are.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
But they are going to come, and at.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Some point in the future they'll come, but presumably they're
going to be a lot less than one hundred and
forty five percent on China that everyone else has to
pay if they're not in big tech. I mentioned that
there is an ongoing battle within the administration. I think
this policy is a consequence of that ongoing battle.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
I'll be clear, I am not.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
A fan at all of sectoral exemptions that essentially benefit
that pick winners and losers. I think you know when
you talk about the swamp. When Washington decides to say, Okay,
you're the winner, you're the loser. You're the winner, you're
the loser. That is a really dangerous and slippery slope.
(28:24):
And if you're going to do it at all, if
you want to make an exemption, make an exemption for
small businesses, make an exemption for the little guy. If
you want to say a small business with revenues below
fifty million dollars or one hundred million dollars, a small
manufacturing business is exempt from paying the tariff. That might
make sense because we're going to see some of those
(28:45):
small businesses that are really important dependent potentially go out
of business. And if you wanted to make an exemption,
rather than do it for gigantic companies, I do it
exactly on the other side and look out for the
little guy that is more vulnerable to the immediate vicissitudes
(29:06):
of the changes in policies.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, and like you said, they're drinking from a fire hose.
This is when it gets complicated. When you're trying to
break big things and change things. There are x factors
in here in caveats where you say, hold on a second,
is this really what the aus you put it? The
small business owners need, which is the reason why we
have this conversation every day. I want to move to
this other big issue also that we mentioned earlier, and
(29:31):
it was a massive victory for the Trump administration when
it came to an immigration judge doing a major ruling
on deporting students that are advocating for the death and
destruction of students on campus that, by the way, a
Jewish are advocating their support for terrorists organizations. And this
(29:51):
all comes out of Columbia University, where it has become
a major point of all, right, who's going to win
this is the Trump administration going to win this or
the radicals on the left going to win? And it
was a big win for Donald Trump this week.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Well, it was a win. I don't know that it
was a massive victory because it's clearly right under the law.
So it was a win that was going to happen,
but I'm glad it did. And so listen, one of
the things that President Trump is doing that is exactly
right is the Trump administration is deporting those who engage
(30:24):
in anti Israel, anti American protests, who are foreign students,
who are on student visas, who are non American citizens.
You don't have an entitlement to be here. And look,
we talked about during the Bide administration when these viciously
anti Israel, anti Semitic protests were going on, that the
Biden administration could do something about it, but they didn't
want to because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer,
(30:47):
they agree with the pro Haamas protesters, they agree with
the radicals, and so you didn't see the Department of
Justice investigating them. You didn't see them following the money.
You didn't see them trying to do anything really to
protect the Jewish students on campus who were being targeted
for harassment and threats of violence. Well, you and I,
(31:07):
in fact, one of the very first pods we did
in the new administration, as we interviewed Pam Bondy at
SEAPAC and in that podcast with with with then Attorney
General Bondi right after she got confirmed, she made clear
then they're gonna go after these radicals. And I will
say immigration law gives considerable considerable flexibility to the administration
(31:33):
to decide who that is here on a permissive visa
can be sent home. And so in this case, you
had my Mood Khalil, who was a Columbia anti Israel protester,
who who the administration is in the process of deporting,
and he is challenging that in court. And an immigration
judge ruled that he can be deported due to his
(31:57):
involvement in last year's Rohamas protests at Columbia. And this
is a judge, Judge Jamie Corman's coman's rather uh and
and he said said the government had met its its
burden of proof.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
I think that's that's clearly right. And and the Department
of Homeland Security laid out how Khalil misrepresented himself on
his green card application, and in particular, he was not
upfront about his involvement with organizations he's involved with. He
he willfully failed to disclose his employment with the Syrian
(32:33):
office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he applied
for permanent US residency.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Uh. And what what.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
What the federal government argued is that made him inadmissible
at the time he was given his green card because
of quote fraud or wilful misrepresentation.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
Of material.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Fact, he also failed to disclose his work for UNRA.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
And and you know Une.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
We've talked about before, is is the UN agency that
that has literally been in bed with a maas you
had multiple A Moss terrorists working at on rah. UNRA
has given significant material aid hamas terrorists. And and the
court ruled that that look that that is is ample
(33:21):
grounds to deport uh, to deport him. I think that
ruling is is clearly right. And if you looked at
at at Khalil, you looked at his writings. This is
someone who is viciously anti Israel and anti American and
in fact he's using the the deportation to just rail
(33:42):
against America and.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
What a what a hostile UH environment it is.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
And and in fact Khalil's argument, here's something he wrote, Uh,
he wrote an op ed in Columbia, you know, attacking
how dare you deport me? And and he he he
says something. He accuses the Columbia administrators of manufacturing quote
(34:07):
public hysteria about anti Semitism without once mentioning the tens
of thousands of Palestinians murdered under bombs made of your dollars.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
So understand.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
This guy's complaint is that the Columbia administrators stood too
strongly against anti Semitism. They let their entire campus get
taken over, that they let Jewish students be terrorized, they
let campus buildings be taken over. They were weak and
and effective, which is why the president of Columbia had
to step down. And yet this guy's claim is no, No,
(34:40):
they were too strong against anti Semitism. They should have
been effectively marching alongside me in favor of Hamas. This
ruling is clearly right. I'm glad it came down. There're
gonna be more rulings like this.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
If you are here.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
This will have precedent, right like this is.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Gonna be No.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
This is a ruling of an immigration judge in this case,
so it doesn't resolve the issue across the country. But
the immigration law is quite clear that. Look, Khalil's case
was harder because he was a legal permanent resident. He
has a green card, and legal permanent residents have greater
(35:19):
legal protections than just somebody under student visa. Somebody under
a student visa, they can have their visa revoked and
sent back. It is not a high threshold to do that.
To revoke a green card is a higher threshold. And
so the ruling here as well that the Department Homeland
Security gave evidence that he had lied when getting his
(35:40):
green card and that was basis for deportation, and so
that I think that's the right ruling here. It's a
good ruling, and I think you're going to see. Listen,
let me say to any anti American radicals who've come
in on student visas, you are not welcome in America.
And if you are going to use our hospit hospitality
(36:01):
to attack and threaten and harass fellow students. If you're
going to use our hospitality to attack America, get the
hell out, and we're going to help you get the
hell out. And that is one of the best things
that Trump administration is doing right now.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, aim into that. Don't forget. We do this show
on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
We have a week in review on Saturdays of things
you may have missed during the week. So make sure
you get that subscriber auto download button. Share this podcast
on your social media wherever you are, because it helps
us reach more people and get the news out of
what we're talking about. In the CINAT and I will
see you back here on Wednesday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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