April 2, 2025 • 37 mins
-
Election Results:
- Recent elections in Florida and Wisconsin were significant for control in the House and for President Trump's agenda.
- Republicans won two congressional seats in Florida, providing a slight majority in the House.
- In Wisconsin, a constitutional amendment for voter ID passed, but a liberal judge won a Supreme Court seat.
-
Longest Filibuster:
- Senator Cory Booker set a new record for the longest filibuster in Senate history, surpassing Ted Cruz's previous record.
- Cruz shared anecdotes about his own filibuster experience, including advice from Rand Paul and the challenges of standing for long periods.
-
April Fool's Day Prank:
- Cruz played an April Fool's joke by tweeting a photoshopped image of himself without a beard, which garnered a lot of reactions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in his verdict with Senator Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson
with you as always, Senator. It was election day in
some parts of America, but they were very significant, especially
when it comes to control in the House and giving
Trump a little bit of breathing room.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, we had election day in Florida and Wisconsin. A
ton of money was spent on it, and the end
of the day, the results were three wins and a loss.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We'll break it down.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We'll talk about exactly what happened, the money that was spent,
and what the consequences are. Secondly, we have now seen,
as of yesterday, the longest filibuster in Senate history, and
it was done by Corey Booker, Democrat from New Jersey,
who spoke for twenty five hours and frustratingly, infuriatingly beat
(00:51):
the record of yours truly at over twenty one hours.
So we're going to break that down as well, and
we're going to compare what core Booker was filibustering over
to what I filibustered over in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We'll discuss that as well.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
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before we start with all the politics. I got a
great text message from someone today and it said, what
the hell did Ted Cruz do to his beard? They
(03:12):
didn't remember that it was April Fool's Day and you
had a brilliant tweet that you put out with some
nice chops like you sawed off a lot of your beard.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well I did.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I had had some fun with with with April Fools,
and so I tweeted today a very simple tweet that
said Washington, DC can be a hairy place. But this
morning's committee hearing reminded me just how important it is
to cut waste, shave down our debt and trim down
the size of our government. And then it was a
(03:46):
picture of my face photoshopped. So the beard was magically gone,
and instead I had a big ol' honk and el
Chapo mustache, and I got to say, look, look, look
as a Cuban American, I was pretty proud of the
l Chappa mustache.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I mean it kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It was believable. It was believable because my phone blew up,
people saying did he do this? When did he do this?
Why did he lose a beat? What happened? He lose
his bracket?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
And I just.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Kept responding with April one, April one, like get there faster, guys.
Everybody apparently thought your bracket is a basketball guy sucked
and it costs to your beard.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It was, you know, I don't know. I just might
do it tomorrow though, you never know. But it reminds
me of when I first grew the beard, which was
which was back I think twenty eighteen. You know, I
grew the beard actually just for the hell of it.
It was over Thanksgiving and on the holidays. I would
never shave. That's something for years, would ever do. And
(04:46):
I just came back from Thanksgiving and Monday morning, came
into work in the Senate and just hadn't shaved and
actually by my top political guy who you know very well,
sent me this email that said worst decision ever.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And that really pissed me off.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I'm like, all right, screw you, I'm going to keep
it and uh and I have, although I will say
it was you're and my friend Betty Johnson came and
wanted to record a video.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Asked if I would do an instructional video.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
On how to grow I remember this, yeah, and I
said sure, I said, come on in coming into my office,
I sat at my desk. I said, all right, start
start recording. And I said, everyone, this is an instructional
video on how to grow a beard. And I reached
in a drawer of my desk and I pulled out
a razor and I said, this is a razor.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Don't use it. And that was the end of the video.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, that was that simple. Well, I got in on
the action because people laugh. They were like, how often
do you and Cinder Cruz talk? And I'm like, during
the day, he's pretty busy. We'll exchange of text here
and there. But there's a there's a long delay when
you're working. And so someone sent me, you know, your tweet.
I'm laughing, I'm looking at it. And then I said,
all right, I got a photoshop this. So we took
(06:07):
your beard, threw it on my new headshot, and then
I put out a tweet so I'll keep the salt
and pepper alive for you. That also went viral. It
was a fun day to mess with people, all right.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
But let's be clear. You did not take my beard
and put it on you. You used a I to put
a salt and pepper beard on you. Because the beard
you put had way more salt than pepper. No, no, no,
way more salt than pepper.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
You notice that, Because that was my little dig I
was like, is he going to write back? That's too
much gray. I was kind of wondering what I could
get away with there. So I was told, and I'm
quoting now Ferguson, if this is real, shave it off.
Shave it off right now. You cannot handle the beard.
So the people have spoken. I don't think I'm growing
(06:54):
a beard anytime soon, that I can promise you.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
All right, So let's you know what you could carry
off those asult patch I'm for a little soul patch on,
Ben Ferguson.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Can you imagine that in a rattail? Yeah, that's the
end of my TV career, that's for sure. I did.
By the way, you remember No Shave November? Do you
remember that? I do? Yeah. So when that gosh it
was I mean years ago, right when that thing happened
and everybody was doing and I was like, I'll do it. Fine.
So I at the time, I was fighting the comedies
at CNN, and towards the end of November, I got
(07:27):
a text I think it was from Aaron Burnett's executive producer,
and I was supposed to be on her show and
they said, we also are inquiring is the beard gone yet?
Question Mark? So it it. It was pretty patchy. I
couldn't sell it. It just didn't work. I'll have to
I'll have to unearth that picture and I'll throw it
(07:47):
up on X for people to see. But it was
pretty real.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Look but Ben, once you hit puberty, you'll do just
fight on that front.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Next time. I'm going all white Santa Beard when I
copy years. That's gonna be my revenge here.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
All right. Sorry, let's talk elections.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Election. We had election Day in America. And there's there's
two headlines here. If you watched CNN tonight and I
was watching the reaction, they're saying it's a total disaster
for Republicans. They spent all this money on the Supreme
Court election in Wisconsin. Trump was involved, Musk was involved,
and this is just a referendum on Donald Trump after
(08:24):
he's been in office for ninety days. That that is
their narrative.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
So CNN doesn't like Trump.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yes, yes, that's exactly I.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Really I had not picked up on that.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So that's that that you're really good at reading between
the lines, and and you know, both of their viewers
I think probably picked up on that as well. Look,
no doubt the results tonight were mixed. You and I
are recording this at is twelve fifteen in the morning,
so so the results are still coming in and right now.
There were two congressional seats on the ballot in Florida,
(08:56):
and one was Mike Waltz's seat, who is now the
National Secure the advisor for President Trump. The other is
Matt Matt Gates's seat, who stepped down when Trump named
him as Attorney General and then ultimately withdrew the nomination
and both of them were incredibly tightly contested, and and
in fact, the Democrats spent like crazy, and the result
(09:19):
the Republicans won both of them. Now, they were pretty
solidly Republican seats. But at the end of the day,
Jimmy Patronis the Republican won with fifty six point nine
percent to forty two point three percent, So that was
a fifteen point victory. And Randy Fine, the Republican won
with fifty six point seven percent to forty two point
(09:42):
seven percent. And and so both of those we were
sizeable victories. If you look at Randy Fine, he was
literally outspent ten to one.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I mean it was massive.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I've been in races where I've been out spent three
to one, but ten to one is a massive funding disadvantage.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
And and and so that victory is really significant.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
So you look at this, and let's talk about how
important this was for Donald Trump's America's First agenda. There
was a a razor thin majority in the House, and
this gives a little bit of breathing room now for
Donald Trump's agenda to have a chance to make it through.
It's also gonna help Mike Johnson, I think significantly, not
(10:29):
have to capitulate and pander to any Yahoo that wakes
up and decides either A want to be famous or
B want to throw something in with pork, or c
just want to be a pain in his able ass.
Now it's it gives him the ability, I think to
actually be a better speaker. Is that you agree with that?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah? No, I think that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Look what we have had an excruciatingly small majority UH
in the House. And and to be clear that that
that is why President Trump withdrew the nomination of at
least Stephonic to be h u N Ambassador because she
had been nominated to be UN ambassador. But UH, if
she was confirmed and she resigned, there'd be a vacancy
(11:11):
in the New York Governor Kathy Hokeel was was threatening
to basically play games and keep the seat vacant for
the rest of the year, which would which which would
have shrunk the majority by one uh. And and listen,
special elections are always dangerous and always risky, Strange outcomes
can occur. And and so the President at the end
of the day, I think quite rightly decided that that
(11:34):
risking the very narrow House majority was was was dangerous
and and to a Lease's credit, I think at least
would have done a terrific job as you had, ambassador.
But but but I appreciate her her putting, putting the
interest of the country ahead, and and and saying she
was not going to risk the House majority. But the
result as of as of today is the Republican majority
(11:56):
has two more Republicans.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
In the House.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And that will help, That will give the speed or
some breathing room that that will that will help us
extend the the Trump tax cuts, that will help us
secure the border, that will help us win on victory
after victory. So that was a very good result. And Florida,
had those been losses, had even one of those been losses,
it would have been it would have been a serious,
(12:20):
uh serious setback.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And and the media would have gone crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Well, and that goes back to the money game what
you mentioned earlier. Democrats just decided we're going to just
spend virtually every dollar we can get our hands on
down there, throw jell at a wall, hope that something sticks,
and maybe we flip with these seats, because like you said,
if that happened, it could have been catastrophic for Donald
Trump's agenda.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, And look, that can make special elections very dangerous
because often the party out of power is particularly energized.
They're angry, their their their base is agitated, and and
and so that they can be willing to pour a
whole bunch of money into it. And and that is
certainly happening now Wisconsin. Look, Wisconsin is a much more
(13:05):
purple to blue state than Florida. Florida's gotten quite read Wisconsin,
there were there were two major elections on the ballot,
and and and we split. We won one and we
lost one. So the one we won was was a
constitutional amendment to put into the Wisconsin state constitution a
voter ID requirement, requirement that you show photo ID to vote. Now,
(13:28):
that is existing Wisconsin law, but that but that's just
a statute. In other words, the next legislature could change
that could get rid of voter ID. And that remains
a major priority for Democrats across the country. In fact,
in California, they've gone so far as to make it
illegal to ask for Photo I D for voting, So
they're they're actively and openly encouraging voter fraud in California
(13:53):
by doing so. Well Wisconsin, the voters had on the ballot,
should photo I D for voting be in the Wisconsin Constitution,
and that one overwhelmingly. The vote was sixty three point
two percent to thirty six point eight percent. So it
was a massive, almost a thirty point victory. That's great.
That is a terrific victory for election integrity. Wisconsin is
(14:16):
a swing state and so voter fraud is is particularly
dangerous in a swing state like Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
And so that's a great victory.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So those are three big victories, extremely important, especially like
you said, on the voter id that's going to give
a signal to other states move forward on this. The
American people want it, and we'll probably see a trend
come out of that. That's good news obviously. So let's
talk about the loss and the headline and all the
(14:46):
media is liberal judge wins in Wisconsin. That's what they
want you to know. They don't want you to know
the GOP swept Florida. They don't want you to know
that voter ideal law became a thing in a swing state.
They're all obsessed now with quote liberal judge winning a
lot of money in this race. President was involved, Musk
was involved, so they're saying this is a referendum on
(15:06):
Donald Trump. I think that's obviously going way too far.
This is special election time. Everybody dialed down the crazy yet.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Now, to be clear, on the photo ID law in Wisconsin,
it wasn't that it became the law, because it is
current law right now. What happened is it got added
to the constitution. So now it is much much harder
for Democrats to take it away. It's enshrined in the
state constitution and so it would take a constitutional amendment
to get rid of it. And so that's that's a
major victory. But the loss, the loss was a real one,
(15:38):
and it was an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
It was election between Susan Crawford, who is a liberal Democrat,
and Brad Schimmel, who is a conservative. And the result
at the end of the day was that was that
the liberal won fifty four point four percent to forty
five point six percent. So that was a nine point victory.
(16:00):
That was a sizeable victory and the result of it
is control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. So the court
was in the ballance. This was the swing seat. And
I got to tell you, the money that was spent
in this race. How much do you think was spent
in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I'm going to guess tens of millions of dollars, knowing
how important this was, at minimum.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Ninety eight million dollars ninety eight million dollars on a
judicial race in Wisconsin. Yahoo News is reporting that, according
to the Brennan Center for Justice, more than fifty three
point three million dollars was spent by Shimmel and his backers,
including twelve point two million from Elon Musk's America Pack
(16:49):
and Crawford's campaign and those backing her have spent an
estimated forty five point one million dollars, so all told,
ninety eight million dollars. That is, to the best of
my knowledge. In fact, I was going to say that
that's the most it's ever been spent on a judicial race,
but if I read the next sentence on the article,
it would say the spending has made the Wisconsin race
(17:10):
the most expensive US judicial in US judicial history, which
it clearly is. I don't know what's second, but it
ain't even close. That's a massive amount of money. And listen,
this is an unfortunate loss. There's going to be some
bad rulings in Wisconsin, including potentially redistricting rulings that have
political consequences in Wisconsin, and so it is unfortunate. I'm
(17:33):
grateful Elon leaned in hard on this, but it's worth
remembering Wisconsin is a purple state, and on election day
in twenty four we had mixed outcomes in Wisconsin. Donald
Trump won Wisconsin barely, but he won, but we lost
the Senate seat. Tammy Baldwin, the incumbent Democrat Eric Hovedy,
(17:56):
was challenging and he lost. Unfortunately, we didn't up the
Senate seat. And right now, Wisconsin is one of the
relatively few states that has a Republican senator and a
Democrat senator.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
So it's split.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You've got Ron Johnson, a Republican, a conservative, a good
friend of mine, and you've got Tammy Baldwin, who is
a liberal Democrat. And so in a purple state and
a state that is evenly divided, you would expect that
we win some races and we lose some races, and
so all told, I'm really happy about the three victories,
but I would have been happier with four victories.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
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Call him today. All right, Senator, So let's move to
another very interesting moment. One of your colleagues in the
Senate decided he was going to take away your record
on a filibuster. You guys were very different and why
(20:40):
you were filibustering. But he did beat your record today
and you even posted something that was hilarious online as well. Well.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Corey Booker, Democrat from New Jersey, has now set the
record for the longest speech in history on the Senate floor.
And he spoke for twenty five hours and four minutes.
And so it was, it was incredibly long. It it surpassed.
The record had been held by by strom Thurman, who
(21:10):
spoke for twenty four hours and eighteen minutes in nineteen
fifty seven. And he was uh, he was filibustering strom
Thurman was filibustering the nineteen fifty seven Civil Rights Act.
And that that had been been the record until until
last night, when when Corey Booker broke it.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Now fourth all time, it is yours, truly.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I used to be third all time, but but Corey
knocked me down, and and so so my record in
twenty thirteen, I spoke on the Senate floor for twenty
one hours and nineteen minutes.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Uh and and so Corey, Corey just beat me.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I will I will say I tweeted out right before
he broke my record, And so I took to Twitter
and tweeted out, As Corey Booker approaches my twenty one
hour filibuster record, I'm contemplating pulling the fire alarm hat
tip Jamal Bowman, and I sent out a picture of
Jamal and but Bowman, the Democrat congressman pulling the fire
(22:11):
alarm in.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
The Capitol to avoid a vote.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And I will say that that that that tweet went viral,
and in fact, Corey ended up at the end of
his his twenty five hour filibuster reading that tweet on
the Senate floor, which which was.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Which I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I actually like Corey and he and I are friends,
and so I'm glad he read it. And I will
say in my twenty thirteen filibuster, I read a number
of tweets on the Senate floor, and I believe that
was the first time in history a tweet had ever
been read on the Senate floor, and I read a
whole bunch of them. Now, there is a significant difference
(22:54):
between what what what I was filibustering over and what
Corey Booker was philibustering over. What I was philibustering over
was Obamacare. And I was doing so because it was
right when Obamacare was going into effect, and I was
trying to stop it from going into effect because the
American people it was having the effect of driving up
(23:14):
premiums dramatically reducing choices. Barack Obama famously said, if you
like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, and millions
of Americans discovered that was not the case, that was
a lie. In fact, PolitiFact named Barack Obama's if you
like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, the lie
of the year. And for them to admit a Democrat
is lying is really quite remarkable, because PolitiFact lies for
(23:35):
a living. And so that filibuster, when I did it
in twenty thirteen, I was a brand new baby freshman,
and it was the theme of the filibuster was make
DC listen.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And I will tell you it had.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It had a significant effect, and in fact, it energized
people across the country. And I'll point to what the
effect was in twenty fourteen. The next year, we had
an election and it was a tsunami election. Republicans ended
up winning nine Senate seats, we retired Harry Reid as
(24:17):
majority leader, and we ended up winning the biggest majority
in the House of Representative since nineteen twenty eight. And
if you look at exit polling in that twenty fourteen election,
the number one issue in the country, according to the
voters that were turning out in massive numbers, was Obamacare,
and they were saying, finally, finally, you're fighting. Finally, Republicans
(24:38):
are not rolling over and so that had I think
a very significant effect on election day and helped win
back both the Senate and House for Republicans. I don't
think Corey Bookers is going to have that same effect.
And in fact, listen, I don't know how many people
watched it. I suspect that CNN and MSNBC was probably
(25:00):
gushing about it, but I'll confess I didn't turn on
see at aner MSNBC, so I.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Don't know one where or the other.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I don't particularly care the the the seven Rabbid partisans
who watched those networks.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Uh, probably were quite happy with it.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
But at the end of the day, look, what was
Corey Booker talking about? As best I can tell, it
was I hate Donald Trump. I'm a Democrat. Trump bad,
Orange Man bad. I'm mad at the voters. Why did
the voters elect Trump? Whye did the voters elector Republican Senate?
Why did the voters elected Republican House? Gosh, I'm mad
at the voters. Gosh, I hate Trump. I'm not sure
(25:35):
there's anything new there. I'm not sure was there a
person in America who was confused yesterday and didn't know
that that that that saidate Democrats hate Donald Trump, like like,
was there any new information in it? And and and
and so I've got to say I'm skeptical, uh, that
(25:56):
that it's going to have a meaningful impact. And I'll
point out it's not just me who says said that.
Take a listen to what Joe Biden's communications director, uh
Kate Bettingfield said about Corey booker speech.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
The Democratic base and Democratic donors are looking for signs
of life, and so I think what Senator Booker is
giving them, here are some signs of life. Is it
going to have a tangible impact on business? And the
have a tangible impact on Booker. But if he won't
have a tangible impact on business in Washington.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I mean, that's CNN saying it, Senator. And look it
was they change.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
And that's Biden's communications director.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
It's Biden's communication director, amazingly enough. And so so look, Corey,
that's that that That's fine.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Now now I will tell you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So it was funny as Booker was giving his his filibuster,
reporters were all rotting up to be and then they
all knew that that that he was he was aiming
to beat my record. So they were asking me about it,
and they said, did you have any advice?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
And I will.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I will admit Corey didn't ask me for any advice.
So now I did not give him any advice on this,
but I did share a story. So when I did
the filibuster in twenty thirteen, I had gotten some advice
from Rand Paul. So Rand Paul had done a thirteen
hour filibuster and I was planning to do mine, and
(27:21):
and Rand I asked him, Hey, Rand, you got any
advice because he'd just done thirteen hours, and he said, yeah,
two things. He said, Number one, wear comfortable shoes, because
he said, your feet and your legs will be killing you.
And I will confess I as you know, every day
in the Senate, I wear black cowboy boots. The boots
(27:44):
I wear alligator boots and they have the Senate seal
on the front and on the back of it they
have the come and Take It flag. And so that's
that's my standard foot wear in the Senate. But for
the filibuster, I went to the store and I bought
some some black tennis shoes and in the middle of
the filibuster, at like two or three in the morning,
I confess to the people of Texas. I said, look,
(28:05):
I have to I just have to apologize to the
people of Texas. I'm sorry I didn't have the courage
of my convictions to wear my boots. I weened out
and got black tennis shoes. But but I was planning
on standing here for a really long time, and so
I will admit the tennis shoes are are are are
more comfortable for the marathon time. The second bit of
(28:25):
advice ran game.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I got to ask you, Yeah, I got to ask
you though, when you were picking out the tennis shoes.
Did you buy brand new or did you wear them
a little bit beforehand?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I didn't break them in and they were fine, and
I don't think I've ever worn them since then. Like
I literally they wore them for the filibuster and that
was it. But but fortunately, even though they were new,
they were they were pretty comfortable. They were not bad
at all. The second bit of advice Rand gave me
was was, if anything even more important. He said, drink
(28:57):
very little water. And in fact, Rand said when he
ended at thirteen hours, he said, my legs didn't take me.
It didn't make me give in my bladder did And
and the most common question that that that that I
would get about the filibuster is, okay, what what do
you do about going to the bathroom? And and the
real simple answer is you don't. So the rules of
(29:18):
a filibuster, uh, you have to stand, you cannot sit,
and you have to stay on the Senate floor. If
if you sit or if you leave the Senate floor,
you relinquish the floor, and and and so, and that's
why that's why comfortable shoes matter, because you're not allowed
you're technically not even allowed to lean on the desk,
although that that rule is not not heavily enforced.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
You you can lean a little bit, but you can't. Uh.
But but you can't can't sit.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
And and legend has it that during strong thermons uh filibuster,
that that that he had an aid hold a bucket
in in in in the Senate cloak room, and and
and and he he took a leak while filibustering while
standing on the Senate floor. I figured, in the in
(30:05):
the era of c Span that probably wasn't the best idea.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
So I was not going to do that.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
And so for the entire course of twenty one plus hours,
I drank one tiny little glass of water and that's all.
I basically would take a little sip just to just
to moisten my throat. And I got to say, look,
I've never gone twenty one hours without going to the bathroom.
And and you know, I discovered a very simple principle,
(30:33):
which is nothing in, nothing out. And so it was
it was fine, But that was excellent advice.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
When does your mind start to wander? I mean, at
what point do you feel like you're getting a little
bit you know, delusion alway is the best word I
can use. There's got to be a certain point where
you're sitting there going you know, it's like when you
do an all nighter in college, you kind of slap
yourself on the face. You're like, Carl, I got to
wake up, walk around the room, and sit back down.
When does that fatigue hit?
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Yeah, it wasn't too bad. I mean it was Look,
it was energized. And I was I was telling us
a story. I was talking about the very real people
being harmed by Obamacare, and I was telling people's stories,
and I was laying out facts and figures and data
and and and so I had a lot of material
that I was presenting. As I mentioned, I read tweets
(31:19):
about the harms from Obamacare, and we started the hashtag
make DC Listen, which which went viral during the filibuster.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
And and and.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So it really was I look just like we're doing
in in this podcast. It was an effort to communicate
with the American people. But it now we also had
some fun. So the rules do allow you to yield
to another senator for a question, and and and so
you can yield for a question without yielding the floor.
(31:49):
And so what happens during a long filibuster is that
people will come and support you. And so I had
multiple senators come and support me, and they would Mike
Lee did did the most heroic. He was there for
a great deal of the filibuster. And and what what
you could do is he would stand as I'm up there,
and he'd say, with the senator, yield for a question,
and I'd respond, I'm happy to yield for a question
(32:10):
without yielding the floor. And then Mike could ask a
thirty or forty five minute question and and and you know,
basically give a speech and then at the end of
it say don't you agree, And so it would let
you rest your voice, because if you speak, you know,
I know you do radio for a living, but if
you speak twenty one hours without pausing, your your vocal
(32:32):
cords will be pretty ragged.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
So it was helpful to have folks go and spell
you for a little while.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
And I will say, you know, at like three and
four in the morning, Mike was there, and he gets
really punch struck when he's tired, and so we were.
He was reading like like bad jokes and seventies rock lyrics.
And look, one of the things people remember from my
filibuster it is that I read Green Eggs and Ham
(33:02):
on the setate floor. Now what a lot of people
don't know is is why I read green eggs and Ham.
Do you know why your daughter's yes? So look at
the time, my girls were worth three and five and
and when I was home every night, I would read
them a bedtime story, which which you know, I'm sure
you you do with your kids too, but that that
(33:23):
that was my practice when they were little, and and
so it was their bedtime, and so we called home
and told them turn on the TV. And so I
read green Eggs and Ham and and there is a
picture in my office which you've seen, and it's both girls.
They're in matching pajamas. And Catherine was three years old
(33:44):
and she has her little hand on the TV and
and and she she's touching it and and and she's
just sort of watching in wonderment. Her daddy read her
Green Eggs and ham on TV. And and Caroline, who
was five, is just crack king up, laughing. I love
the picture because she's just like laughing hysterically. And look,
(34:05):
Caroline can can be cynical with her dad. Not a
whole lot I've done in the Senate as impressed her.
And she she when I came home, she was five,
and she had her arms crossed and she.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Was like, okay, Dad, that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And I was like, all right, I was psyched that
that that that the Bedtime Story had earned some brownie
points with the girls at home.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
All right. So final question on this, and this is
I'm sure something that was going through your mind, Corey
Booker's mind. When did you know you were just gonna
end it? How do you decide Are you looking at
a certain time in your mind where you're like, I
gotta make it to X and then as soon as
it hits I'm done. What is the process of that
(34:49):
as well?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Well?
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Actually I could have gone longer. And the problem was,
and in order to do the filibuster, A pure philibus
is when the Senate floor is wide open and you
take control of the filibuster, and it is the prerogative
of every senator have unlimited debate, and so if you
take control of the floor, you can hold it for
(35:12):
as long as you are able to hold it. When
I started the filibuster, unfortunately Harry Reid, then the majority
leader the Democrats were in charge, had locked in a
unanimous consent resolution that the next day there was a
vote scheduled I think at noon, and it was locked in,
(35:35):
which meant I had an endpoint. I had an endpoint
that was a wall because that unanimous consent had been
locked in, and so it trumps is it's.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Effectively a Senate rule.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
And so when I was north of twenty one hours,
I had plenty of strength. I could have kept going,
and I really wanted to break strom Thurman's record, and
I actually sent one of my staffers to ask Harry
Reid if he would consent. I I could have asked
unanimous consent, uh to be allowed to complete my speech
(36:10):
and and and if read it aloud and I would
have been able to So I asked my staffer, I'm like, look,
do you really want the record for the longest filibuster
to be to be held by by a segregationist who
was who was filibustering against the civil rights laws?
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Like like, like, you.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Know, I'd really love to break it. And and Harry Reid,
bearing being Harry Reid, he just said no, and and
so I was forced to end. When when when I did, Uh,
Corey Booker that there was not a unanimous consent in place,
locking up the time, and so Corey was able to
go long enough as long as he wanted and and
and then and he was able to break the record.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Don't forget We do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Hit that subscriber auto download button, UH, and make sure
you tell again your family and friends about this show
as it continues to grow and hopefully make a difference. UH,
and educate a lot of people what's going on in Washington.
Grab my show on those in between days, the Ben
Ferguson Podcast. I'll keep you update on the latest breaking
(37:07):
news on those days and the Center and I will
see you back here on Friday morning.
Welcome in his verdict with Senator Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson
with you as always, Senator. It was election day in
some parts of America, but they were very significant, especially
when it comes to control in the House and giving
Trump a little bit of breathing room.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, we had election day in Florida and Wisconsin. A
ton of money was spent on it, and the end
of the day, the results were three wins and a loss.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We'll break it down.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We'll talk about exactly what happened, the money that was spent,
and what the consequences are. Secondly, we have now seen,
as of yesterday, the longest filibuster in Senate history, and
it was done by Corey Booker, Democrat from New Jersey,
who spoke for twenty five hours and frustratingly, infuriatingly beat
(00:51):
the record of yours truly at over twenty one hours.
So we're going to break that down as well, and
we're going to compare what core Booker was filibustering over
to what I filibustered over in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
We'll discuss that as well.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Let me tell you quickly about the International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews. I had the honor of speaking at
one of their religious gathering meetings where they had religious
leaders from all over the world come together for a
two day conference about protecting and standing with the people
in Israel, and I came away more inspired than ever.
(01:27):
And the work that they're doing in Israel is truly unbelievable.
They are providing life saving care for people, and also
they're providing things like bomb shelters. They're providing these armored ambulances,
which are saving lies because they're able to go into
areas where there a hostile environment and still be able
(01:48):
to get the wounded out. That is exactly what they're
doing with your donations. It's been more than a year
of this war and terror and pain in Israel, and
the need for security essentials is what they need right
now the most. They have to prepare for the next
attack wherever it comes from. And Israel, we all know,
(02:09):
is surrounded by enemies on all sides. So if you
want to stand with the people in Israel and you
want to help provide those bomb shelters, those armored security vehicles,
those armored ambulances, firefighting equipment, flack jackets and bulletproof vests,
there's a lot of needs. Your donation will help ensure
the people of Israel are safe and secure for the
(02:30):
days to come, as threads of terrorism remain imminent all
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support if CJ dot org, and you are going to
have a true impact for the people in Israel. You
can call as well and give a donation at eight
(02:51):
eight for eight eight IFCJ. That's eight eight eight for
eight eight IFCJ, or support i FCJ dot org center
before we start with all the politics. I got a
great text message from someone today and it said, what
the hell did Ted Cruz do to his beard? They
(03:12):
didn't remember that it was April Fool's Day and you
had a brilliant tweet that you put out with some
nice chops like you sawed off a lot of your beard.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well I did.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I had had some fun with with with April Fools,
and so I tweeted today a very simple tweet that
said Washington, DC can be a hairy place. But this
morning's committee hearing reminded me just how important it is
to cut waste, shave down our debt and trim down
the size of our government. And then it was a
(03:46):
picture of my face photoshopped. So the beard was magically gone,
and instead I had a big ol' honk and el
Chapo mustache, and I got to say, look, look, look
as a Cuban American, I was pretty proud of the
l Chappa mustache.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I mean it kind of.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It was believable. It was believable because my phone blew up,
people saying did he do this? When did he do this?
Why did he lose a beat? What happened? He lose
his bracket?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
And I just.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Kept responding with April one, April one, like get there faster, guys.
Everybody apparently thought your bracket is a basketball guy sucked
and it costs to your beard.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
It was, you know, I don't know. I just might
do it tomorrow though, you never know. But it reminds
me of when I first grew the beard, which was
which was back I think twenty eighteen. You know, I
grew the beard actually just for the hell of it.
It was over Thanksgiving and on the holidays. I would
never shave. That's something for years, would ever do. And
(04:46):
I just came back from Thanksgiving and Monday morning, came
into work in the Senate and just hadn't shaved and
actually by my top political guy who you know very well,
sent me this email that said worst decision ever.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And that really pissed me off.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I'm like, all right, screw you, I'm going to keep
it and uh and I have, although I will say
it was you're and my friend Betty Johnson came and
wanted to record a video.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Asked if I would do an instructional video.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
On how to grow I remember this, yeah, and I
said sure, I said, come on in coming into my office,
I sat at my desk. I said, all right, start
start recording. And I said, everyone, this is an instructional
video on how to grow a beard. And I reached
in a drawer of my desk and I pulled out
a razor and I said, this is a razor.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Don't use it. And that was the end of the video.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, that was that simple. Well, I got in on
the action because people laugh. They were like, how often
do you and Cinder Cruz talk? And I'm like, during
the day, he's pretty busy. We'll exchange of text here
and there. But there's a there's a long delay when
you're working. And so someone sent me, you know, your tweet.
I'm laughing, I'm looking at it. And then I said,
all right, I got a photoshop this. So we took
(06:07):
your beard, threw it on my new headshot, and then
I put out a tweet so I'll keep the salt
and pepper alive for you. That also went viral. It
was a fun day to mess with people, all right.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
But let's be clear. You did not take my beard
and put it on you. You used a I to put
a salt and pepper beard on you. Because the beard
you put had way more salt than pepper. No, no, no,
way more salt than pepper.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
You notice that, Because that was my little dig I
was like, is he going to write back? That's too
much gray. I was kind of wondering what I could
get away with there. So I was told, and I'm
quoting now Ferguson, if this is real, shave it off.
Shave it off right now. You cannot handle the beard.
So the people have spoken. I don't think I'm growing
(06:54):
a beard anytime soon, that I can promise you.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
All right, So let's you know what you could carry
off those asult patch I'm for a little soul patch on,
Ben Ferguson.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Can you imagine that in a rattail? Yeah, that's the
end of my TV career, that's for sure. I did.
By the way, you remember No Shave November? Do you
remember that? I do? Yeah. So when that gosh it
was I mean years ago, right when that thing happened
and everybody was doing and I was like, I'll do it. Fine.
So I at the time, I was fighting the comedies
at CNN, and towards the end of November, I got
(07:27):
a text I think it was from Aaron Burnett's executive producer,
and I was supposed to be on her show and
they said, we also are inquiring is the beard gone yet?
Question Mark? So it it. It was pretty patchy. I
couldn't sell it. It just didn't work. I'll have to
I'll have to unearth that picture and I'll throw it
(07:47):
up on X for people to see. But it was
pretty real.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Look but Ben, once you hit puberty, you'll do just
fight on that front.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Next time. I'm going all white Santa Beard when I
copy years. That's gonna be my revenge here.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
All right. Sorry, let's talk elections.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Election. We had election Day in America. And there's there's
two headlines here. If you watched CNN tonight and I
was watching the reaction, they're saying it's a total disaster
for Republicans. They spent all this money on the Supreme
Court election in Wisconsin. Trump was involved, Musk was involved,
and this is just a referendum on Donald Trump after
(08:24):
he's been in office for ninety days. That that is
their narrative.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
So CNN doesn't like Trump.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yes, yes, that's exactly I.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Really I had not picked up on that.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
So that's that that you're really good at reading between
the lines, and and you know, both of their viewers
I think probably picked up on that as well. Look,
no doubt the results tonight were mixed. You and I
are recording this at is twelve fifteen in the morning,
so so the results are still coming in and right now.
There were two congressional seats on the ballot in Florida,
(08:56):
and one was Mike Waltz's seat, who is now the
National Secure the advisor for President Trump. The other is
Matt Matt Gates's seat, who stepped down when Trump named
him as Attorney General and then ultimately withdrew the nomination
and both of them were incredibly tightly contested, and and
in fact, the Democrats spent like crazy, and the result
(09:19):
the Republicans won both of them. Now, they were pretty
solidly Republican seats. But at the end of the day,
Jimmy Patronis the Republican won with fifty six point nine
percent to forty two point three percent, So that was
a fifteen point victory. And Randy Fine, the Republican won
with fifty six point seven percent to forty two point
(09:42):
seven percent. And and so both of those we were
sizeable victories. If you look at Randy Fine, he was
literally outspent ten to one.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I mean it was massive.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I've been in races where I've been out spent three
to one, but ten to one is a massive funding disadvantage.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
And and and so that victory is really significant.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
So you look at this, and let's talk about how
important this was for Donald Trump's America's First agenda. There
was a a razor thin majority in the House, and
this gives a little bit of breathing room now for
Donald Trump's agenda to have a chance to make it through.
It's also gonna help Mike Johnson, I think significantly, not
(10:29):
have to capitulate and pander to any Yahoo that wakes
up and decides either A want to be famous or
B want to throw something in with pork, or c
just want to be a pain in his able ass.
Now it's it gives him the ability, I think to
actually be a better speaker. Is that you agree with that?
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Yeah? No, I think that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Look what we have had an excruciatingly small majority UH
in the House. And and to be clear that that
that is why President Trump withdrew the nomination of at
least Stephonic to be h u N Ambassador because she
had been nominated to be UN ambassador. But UH, if
she was confirmed and she resigned, there'd be a vacancy
(11:11):
in the New York Governor Kathy Hokeel was was threatening
to basically play games and keep the seat vacant for
the rest of the year, which would which which would
have shrunk the majority by one uh. And and listen,
special elections are always dangerous and always risky, Strange outcomes
can occur. And and so the President at the end
of the day, I think quite rightly decided that that
(11:34):
risking the very narrow House majority was was was dangerous
and and to a Lease's credit, I think at least
would have done a terrific job as you had, ambassador.
But but but I appreciate her her putting, putting the
interest of the country ahead, and and and saying she
was not going to risk the House majority. But the
result as of as of today is the Republican majority
(11:56):
has two more Republicans.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
In the House.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And that will help, That will give the speed or
some breathing room that that will that will help us
extend the the Trump tax cuts, that will help us
secure the border, that will help us win on victory
after victory. So that was a very good result. And Florida,
had those been losses, had even one of those been losses,
it would have been it would have been a serious,
(12:20):
uh serious setback.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And and the media would have gone crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Well, and that goes back to the money game what
you mentioned earlier. Democrats just decided we're going to just
spend virtually every dollar we can get our hands on
down there, throw jell at a wall, hope that something sticks,
and maybe we flip with these seats, because like you said,
if that happened, it could have been catastrophic for Donald
Trump's agenda.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, And look, that can make special elections very dangerous
because often the party out of power is particularly energized.
They're angry, their their their base is agitated, and and
and so that they can be willing to pour a
whole bunch of money into it. And and that is
certainly happening now Wisconsin. Look, Wisconsin is a much more
(13:05):
purple to blue state than Florida. Florida's gotten quite read Wisconsin,
there were there were two major elections on the ballot,
and and and we split. We won one and we
lost one. So the one we won was was a
constitutional amendment to put into the Wisconsin state constitution a
voter ID requirement, requirement that you show photo ID to vote. Now,
(13:28):
that is existing Wisconsin law, but that but that's just
a statute. In other words, the next legislature could change
that could get rid of voter ID. And that remains
a major priority for Democrats across the country. In fact,
in California, they've gone so far as to make it
illegal to ask for Photo I D for voting, So
they're they're actively and openly encouraging voter fraud in California
(13:53):
by doing so. Well Wisconsin, the voters had on the ballot,
should photo I D for voting be in the Wisconsin Constitution,
and that one overwhelmingly. The vote was sixty three point
two percent to thirty six point eight percent. So it
was a massive, almost a thirty point victory. That's great.
That is a terrific victory for election integrity. Wisconsin is
(14:16):
a swing state and so voter fraud is is particularly
dangerous in a swing state like Wisconsin.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
And so that's a great victory.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So those are three big victories, extremely important, especially like
you said, on the voter id that's going to give
a signal to other states move forward on this. The
American people want it, and we'll probably see a trend
come out of that. That's good news obviously. So let's
talk about the loss and the headline and all the
(14:46):
media is liberal judge wins in Wisconsin. That's what they
want you to know. They don't want you to know
the GOP swept Florida. They don't want you to know
that voter ideal law became a thing in a swing state.
They're all obsessed now with quote liberal judge winning a
lot of money in this race. President was involved, Musk
was involved, so they're saying this is a referendum on
(15:06):
Donald Trump. I think that's obviously going way too far.
This is special election time. Everybody dialed down the crazy yet.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Now, to be clear, on the photo ID law in Wisconsin,
it wasn't that it became the law, because it is
current law right now. What happened is it got added
to the constitution. So now it is much much harder
for Democrats to take it away. It's enshrined in the
state constitution and so it would take a constitutional amendment
to get rid of it. And so that's that's a
major victory. But the loss, the loss was a real one,
(15:38):
and it was an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
It was election between Susan Crawford, who is a liberal Democrat,
and Brad Schimmel, who is a conservative. And the result
at the end of the day was that was that
the liberal won fifty four point four percent to forty
five point six percent. So that was a nine point victory.
(16:00):
That was a sizeable victory and the result of it
is control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. So the court
was in the ballance. This was the swing seat. And
I got to tell you, the money that was spent
in this race. How much do you think was spent
in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I'm going to guess tens of millions of dollars, knowing
how important this was, at minimum.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Ninety eight million dollars ninety eight million dollars on a
judicial race in Wisconsin. Yahoo News is reporting that, according
to the Brennan Center for Justice, more than fifty three
point three million dollars was spent by Shimmel and his backers,
including twelve point two million from Elon Musk's America Pack
(16:49):
and Crawford's campaign and those backing her have spent an
estimated forty five point one million dollars, so all told,
ninety eight million dollars. That is, to the best of
my knowledge. In fact, I was going to say that
that's the most it's ever been spent on a judicial race,
but if I read the next sentence on the article,
it would say the spending has made the Wisconsin race
(17:10):
the most expensive US judicial in US judicial history, which
it clearly is. I don't know what's second, but it
ain't even close. That's a massive amount of money. And listen,
this is an unfortunate loss. There's going to be some
bad rulings in Wisconsin, including potentially redistricting rulings that have
political consequences in Wisconsin, and so it is unfortunate. I'm
(17:33):
grateful Elon leaned in hard on this, but it's worth
remembering Wisconsin is a purple state, and on election day
in twenty four we had mixed outcomes in Wisconsin. Donald
Trump won Wisconsin barely, but he won, but we lost
the Senate seat. Tammy Baldwin, the incumbent Democrat Eric Hovedy,
(17:56):
was challenging and he lost. Unfortunately, we didn't up the
Senate seat. And right now, Wisconsin is one of the
relatively few states that has a Republican senator and a
Democrat senator.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
So it's split.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You've got Ron Johnson, a Republican, a conservative, a good
friend of mine, and you've got Tammy Baldwin, who is
a liberal Democrat. And so in a purple state and
a state that is evenly divided, you would expect that
we win some races and we lose some races, and
so all told, I'm really happy about the three victories,
but I would have been happier with four victories.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
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Call him today. All right, Senator, So let's move to
another very interesting moment. One of your colleagues in the
Senate decided he was going to take away your record
on a filibuster. You guys were very different and why
(20:40):
you were filibustering. But he did beat your record today
and you even posted something that was hilarious online as well. Well.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Corey Booker, Democrat from New Jersey, has now set the
record for the longest speech in history on the Senate floor.
And he spoke for twenty five hours and four minutes.
And so it was, it was incredibly long. It it surpassed.
The record had been held by by strom Thurman, who
(21:10):
spoke for twenty four hours and eighteen minutes in nineteen
fifty seven. And he was uh, he was filibustering strom
Thurman was filibustering the nineteen fifty seven Civil Rights Act.
And that that had been been the record until until
last night, when when Corey Booker broke it.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Now fourth all time, it is yours, truly.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I used to be third all time, but but Corey
knocked me down, and and so so my record in
twenty thirteen, I spoke on the Senate floor for twenty
one hours and nineteen minutes.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Uh and and so Corey, Corey just beat me.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I will I will say I tweeted out right before
he broke my record, And so I took to Twitter
and tweeted out, As Corey Booker approaches my twenty one
hour filibuster record, I'm contemplating pulling the fire alarm hat
tip Jamal Bowman, and I sent out a picture of
Jamal and but Bowman, the Democrat congressman pulling the fire
(22:11):
alarm in.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
The Capitol to avoid a vote.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And I will say that that that that tweet went viral,
and in fact, Corey ended up at the end of
his his twenty five hour filibuster reading that tweet on
the Senate floor, which which was.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Which I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I actually like Corey and he and I are friends,
and so I'm glad he read it. And I will
say in my twenty thirteen filibuster, I read a number
of tweets on the Senate floor, and I believe that
was the first time in history a tweet had ever
been read on the Senate floor, and I read a
whole bunch of them. Now, there is a significant difference
(22:54):
between what what what I was filibustering over and what
Corey Booker was philibustering over. What I was philibustering over
was Obamacare. And I was doing so because it was
right when Obamacare was going into effect, and I was
trying to stop it from going into effect because the
American people it was having the effect of driving up
(23:14):
premiums dramatically reducing choices. Barack Obama famously said, if you
like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, and millions
of Americans discovered that was not the case, that was
a lie. In fact, PolitiFact named Barack Obama's if you
like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, the lie
of the year. And for them to admit a Democrat
is lying is really quite remarkable, because PolitiFact lies for
(23:35):
a living. And so that filibuster, when I did it
in twenty thirteen, I was a brand new baby freshman,
and it was the theme of the filibuster was make
DC listen.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And I will tell you it had.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It had a significant effect, and in fact, it energized
people across the country. And I'll point to what the
effect was in twenty fourteen. The next year, we had
an election and it was a tsunami election. Republicans ended
up winning nine Senate seats, we retired Harry Reid as
(24:17):
majority leader, and we ended up winning the biggest majority
in the House of Representative since nineteen twenty eight. And
if you look at exit polling in that twenty fourteen election,
the number one issue in the country, according to the
voters that were turning out in massive numbers, was Obamacare,
and they were saying, finally, finally, you're fighting. Finally, Republicans
(24:38):
are not rolling over and so that had I think
a very significant effect on election day and helped win
back both the Senate and House for Republicans. I don't
think Corey Bookers is going to have that same effect.
And in fact, listen, I don't know how many people
watched it. I suspect that CNN and MSNBC was probably
(25:00):
gushing about it, but I'll confess I didn't turn on
see at aner MSNBC, so I.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Don't know one where or the other.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I don't particularly care the the the seven Rabbid partisans
who watched those networks.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Uh, probably were quite happy with it.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
But at the end of the day, look, what was
Corey Booker talking about? As best I can tell, it
was I hate Donald Trump. I'm a Democrat. Trump bad,
Orange Man bad. I'm mad at the voters. Why did
the voters elect Trump? Whye did the voters elector Republican Senate?
Why did the voters elected Republican House? Gosh, I'm mad
at the voters. Gosh, I hate Trump. I'm not sure
(25:35):
there's anything new there. I'm not sure was there a
person in America who was confused yesterday and didn't know
that that that that saidate Democrats hate Donald Trump, like like,
was there any new information in it? And and and
and so I've got to say I'm skeptical, uh, that
(25:56):
that it's going to have a meaningful impact. And I'll
point out it's not just me who says said that.
Take a listen to what Joe Biden's communications director, uh
Kate Bettingfield said about Corey booker speech.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
The Democratic base and Democratic donors are looking for signs
of life, and so I think what Senator Booker is
giving them, here are some signs of life. Is it
going to have a tangible impact on business? And the
have a tangible impact on Booker. But if he won't
have a tangible impact on business in Washington.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I mean, that's CNN saying it, Senator. And look it
was they change.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
And that's Biden's communications director.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
It's Biden's communication director, amazingly enough. And so so look, Corey,
that's that that That's fine.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Now now I will tell you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So it was funny as Booker was giving his his filibuster,
reporters were all rotting up to be and then they
all knew that that that he was he was aiming
to beat my record. So they were asking me about it,
and they said, did you have any advice?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
And I will.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I will admit Corey didn't ask me for any advice.
So now I did not give him any advice on this,
but I did share a story. So when I did
the filibuster in twenty thirteen, I had gotten some advice
from Rand Paul. So Rand Paul had done a thirteen
hour filibuster and I was planning to do mine, and
(27:21):
and Rand I asked him, Hey, Rand, you got any
advice because he'd just done thirteen hours, and he said, yeah,
two things. He said, Number one, wear comfortable shoes, because
he said, your feet and your legs will be killing you.
And I will confess I as you know, every day
in the Senate, I wear black cowboy boots. The boots
(27:44):
I wear alligator boots and they have the Senate seal
on the front and on the back of it they
have the come and Take It flag. And so that's
that's my standard foot wear in the Senate. But for
the filibuster, I went to the store and I bought
some some black tennis shoes and in the middle of
the filibuster, at like two or three in the morning,
I confess to the people of Texas. I said, look,
(28:05):
I have to I just have to apologize to the
people of Texas. I'm sorry I didn't have the courage
of my convictions to wear my boots. I weened out
and got black tennis shoes. But but I was planning
on standing here for a really long time, and so
I will admit the tennis shoes are are are are
more comfortable for the marathon time. The second bit of
(28:25):
advice ran game.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I got to ask you, Yeah, I got to ask
you though, when you were picking out the tennis shoes.
Did you buy brand new or did you wear them
a little bit beforehand?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I didn't break them in and they were fine, and
I don't think I've ever worn them since then. Like
I literally they wore them for the filibuster and that
was it. But but fortunately, even though they were new,
they were they were pretty comfortable. They were not bad
at all. The second bit of advice Rand gave me
was was, if anything even more important. He said, drink
(28:57):
very little water. And in fact, Rand said when he
ended at thirteen hours, he said, my legs didn't take me.
It didn't make me give in my bladder did And
and the most common question that that that that I
would get about the filibuster is, okay, what what do
you do about going to the bathroom? And and the
real simple answer is you don't. So the rules of
(29:18):
a filibuster, uh, you have to stand, you cannot sit,
and you have to stay on the Senate floor. If
if you sit or if you leave the Senate floor,
you relinquish the floor, and and and so, and that's
why that's why comfortable shoes matter, because you're not allowed
you're technically not even allowed to lean on the desk,
although that that rule is not not heavily enforced.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
You you can lean a little bit, but you can't. Uh.
But but you can't can't sit.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
And and legend has it that during strong thermons uh filibuster,
that that that he had an aid hold a bucket
in in in in the Senate cloak room, and and
and and he he took a leak while filibustering while
standing on the Senate floor. I figured, in the in
(30:05):
the era of c Span that probably wasn't the best idea.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
So I was not going to do that.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
And so for the entire course of twenty one plus hours,
I drank one tiny little glass of water and that's all.
I basically would take a little sip just to just
to moisten my throat. And I got to say, look,
I've never gone twenty one hours without going to the bathroom.
And and you know, I discovered a very simple principle,
(30:33):
which is nothing in, nothing out. And so it was
it was fine, But that was excellent advice.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
When does your mind start to wander? I mean, at
what point do you feel like you're getting a little
bit you know, delusion alway is the best word I
can use. There's got to be a certain point where
you're sitting there going you know, it's like when you
do an all nighter in college, you kind of slap
yourself on the face. You're like, Carl, I got to
wake up, walk around the room, and sit back down.
When does that fatigue hit?
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Yeah, it wasn't too bad. I mean it was Look,
it was energized. And I was I was telling us
a story. I was talking about the very real people
being harmed by Obamacare, and I was telling people's stories,
and I was laying out facts and figures and data
and and and so I had a lot of material
that I was presenting. As I mentioned, I read tweets
(31:19):
about the harms from Obamacare, and we started the hashtag
make DC Listen, which which went viral during the filibuster.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
And and and.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So it really was I look just like we're doing
in in this podcast. It was an effort to communicate
with the American people. But it now we also had
some fun. So the rules do allow you to yield
to another senator for a question, and and and so
you can yield for a question without yielding the floor.
(31:49):
And so what happens during a long filibuster is that
people will come and support you. And so I had
multiple senators come and support me, and they would Mike
Lee did did the most heroic. He was there for
a great deal of the filibuster. And and what what
you could do is he would stand as I'm up there,
and he'd say, with the senator, yield for a question,
and I'd respond, I'm happy to yield for a question
(32:10):
without yielding the floor. And then Mike could ask a
thirty or forty five minute question and and and you know,
basically give a speech and then at the end of
it say don't you agree, And so it would let
you rest your voice, because if you speak, you know,
I know you do radio for a living, but if
you speak twenty one hours without pausing, your your vocal
(32:32):
cords will be pretty ragged.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
So it was helpful to have folks go and spell
you for a little while.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
And I will say, you know, at like three and
four in the morning, Mike was there, and he gets
really punch struck when he's tired, and so we were.
He was reading like like bad jokes and seventies rock lyrics.
And look, one of the things people remember from my
filibuster it is that I read Green Eggs and Ham
(33:02):
on the setate floor. Now what a lot of people
don't know is is why I read green eggs and Ham.
Do you know why your daughter's yes? So look at
the time, my girls were worth three and five and
and when I was home every night, I would read
them a bedtime story, which which you know, I'm sure
you you do with your kids too, but that that
(33:23):
that was my practice when they were little, and and
so it was their bedtime, and so we called home
and told them turn on the TV. And so I
read green Eggs and Ham and and there is a
picture in my office which you've seen, and it's both girls.
They're in matching pajamas. And Catherine was three years old
(33:44):
and she has her little hand on the TV and
and and she she's touching it and and and she's
just sort of watching in wonderment. Her daddy read her
Green Eggs and ham on TV. And and Caroline, who
was five, is just crack king up, laughing. I love
the picture because she's just like laughing hysterically. And look,
(34:05):
Caroline can can be cynical with her dad. Not a
whole lot I've done in the Senate as impressed her.
And she she when I came home, she was five,
and she had her arms crossed and she.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Was like, okay, Dad, that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And I was like, all right, I was psyched that
that that that the Bedtime Story had earned some brownie
points with the girls at home.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
All right. So final question on this, and this is
I'm sure something that was going through your mind, Corey
Booker's mind. When did you know you were just gonna
end it? How do you decide Are you looking at
a certain time in your mind where you're like, I
gotta make it to X and then as soon as
it hits I'm done. What is the process of that
(34:49):
as well?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Well?
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Actually I could have gone longer. And the problem was,
and in order to do the filibuster, A pure philibus
is when the Senate floor is wide open and you
take control of the filibuster, and it is the prerogative
of every senator have unlimited debate, and so if you
take control of the floor, you can hold it for
(35:12):
as long as you are able to hold it. When
I started the filibuster, unfortunately Harry Reid, then the majority
leader the Democrats were in charge, had locked in a
unanimous consent resolution that the next day there was a
vote scheduled I think at noon, and it was locked in,
(35:35):
which meant I had an endpoint. I had an endpoint
that was a wall because that unanimous consent had been
locked in, and so it trumps is it's.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Effectively a Senate rule.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
And so when I was north of twenty one hours,
I had plenty of strength. I could have kept going,
and I really wanted to break strom Thurman's record, and
I actually sent one of my staffers to ask Harry
Reid if he would consent. I I could have asked
unanimous consent, uh to be allowed to complete my speech
(36:10):
and and and if read it aloud and I would
have been able to So I asked my staffer, I'm like, look,
do you really want the record for the longest filibuster
to be to be held by by a segregationist who
was who was filibustering against the civil rights laws?
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Like like, like, you.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Know, I'd really love to break it. And and Harry Reid,
bearing being Harry Reid, he just said no, and and
so I was forced to end. When when when I did, Uh,
Corey Booker that there was not a unanimous consent in place,
locking up the time, and so Corey was able to
go long enough as long as he wanted and and
and then and he was able to break the record.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Don't forget We do this show Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Hit that subscriber auto download button, UH, and make sure
you tell again your family and friends about this show
as it continues to grow and hopefully make a difference. UH,
and educate a lot of people what's going on in Washington.
Grab my show on those in between days, the Ben
Ferguson Podcast. I'll keep you update on the latest breaking
(37:07):
news on those days and the Center and I will
see you back here on Friday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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