May 26, 2023 • 42 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome. It is verdict for Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson
with you as always, Senator, We've got a lot to
talk about, including this second IRIS whistleblower coming forward and
telling his story at a very shocking place. We're going
to tell you about that in a moment. Also, would
you have ever imagine that a big presidential campaign would
be launched on social media? Ronda Santis said exactly that.
(00:22):
We'll talk about how unique that is. And Target they're
going looken, well, they're they're going broke. Target has lost
eight to nine billion dollars, they say, in the week
following the calls for a boycott over their Gay Pride
LGBTQ plus Friendly Kids clothing and propaganda. Senator, let's start
(00:46):
with this Iris whistleblower. You and I were talking before
the show. It's interesting that he's come forward. It's also
very interesting where he did his sit down interview. Let's
talk about that.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, it's quite stunning.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
CBS News put him front and center, interviewed him on camera,
and he's making serious allegations. He's making serious allegations that
the Biden Department of Justice is slow walking, is blocking
the investigation of Hunter Biden. One of the consequences of
those allegations is, if that's true, it means Merrick Garland
(01:20):
lied under oath. And I got to say, listening to
this interview on CBS takes your breath away. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately
saw it was way outside the norm of what I've
experienced in the past.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Gary Shapley is a supervisory special agent for the IRS.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Where he's worked for fourteen years.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
In January twenty twenty, he was assigned to what he
calls a high profile investigation. Who's the subject of the investigation?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I can't confirm or deny the subject of this investigation.
Why not because you know part of the tax secrecy
laws don't allow it.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Shapley can't say it. But CBA News has learned the
investigation was the probe of Hunter Biden by the Trump
appointed US attorney in Delaware. Senior Biden administration officials have
vowed to let it run its course without interference.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
It's not restricted in his investigation in any way.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
But CBS News has obtained this letter Shapley's lawyers sent
to Congress Monday, alleging irregularities in DJ's handling of the investigation.
Shapley is seeking legal protections from Congress so he can
share specifics of his allegations.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
There was multiple steps that were or slow walked at
the direction of this Department Justice.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Had you ever encountered that before?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I have not known these deviations from normal process. In
each and every time it seemed to always benefit the subject.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Shapley says he decided to blow the whistle after a
heated meeting last October with federal prosecutors.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
That was my red line meeting that just got to
that point where that switch was turned on and I
just couldn't silence my conscience anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Senator, He says, he couldn't silence his conscience anymore, and
that's why he's been so brave and to come forward.
When you hear this whistlebo or speak, what comes to
mind for you initially.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well that these allegations are very serious. That what he
is stating is that for the first time in his
experience of over a decade, the Department of Justice was
actively impeding an investigation, was slow walking it, and that
that number one reeks of political cover up, but number two,
(03:43):
it's it's directly contrary to what Merrick Garland has said.
And you know, one of the things that Merrick Garland
is fond of saying, and that that gets repeated a lot,
is that the person doing this investigation is the quote
Trump appointed US attorney in Delaware with that that individual
is a person named DAVIDI. And it's true he was
appointed by Donald Trump. He had previously been the acting
(04:06):
US attorney under Barack Obama. And you know, let me
point out about how US attorneys are appointed. In order
for them to go through, you have to get the
sign off of the senators from that home state. Delaware
has two Democrat senators, which means is a practical matter,
the Democrat senators in Delaware picked this US attorney. And
(04:29):
so the phrase the Trump appointed US attorney suggests that
he's a Republican, that he somehow might be out to
get the Bidens. There is zero, in fact less than
zero evidence that's true. But if what this whistleblower is
alleging is accurate, then his investigation was actively slow walking
(04:54):
the investigation of Hunter Biden. And one of the things
striking is that means that the Attorney General testified falsely
to the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to questions, I
asked him directly.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I want people to hear exactly that back and forth.
Take a listen to this.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It occrues, Thank you, mister Chairman General Garland. The Department
of Justice should enforce the law regardless of politics. I
do not believe that has been what is happening in
the last two years, among other things, I believe you
very much want to indict Donald J. Trump. Toward that end,
(05:35):
the Department of Justice has leaked that DOJ is investigating
and intends to indict Hunter Biden. The purpose of those leaks,
I believe, was to set the predicate for an indictment
of Trump, to say, look how even handed we are.
We're indicting A Biden. We're indicting a Trump. Those leaks
(05:56):
are not law or enforcing the law. They are politics.
Did you know about the leaks about the Hunter Biden investigation.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
I don't know about the leak that you're talking about,
and I'm not leaks are in violation of our regulations
and our requirements.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
So the answer is the leaks are consistently on one
side of the aisle, advancing one political agenda. As you know,
the FBI raided Donald Trump's mar Lago home, and subsequent
to that raid, there have been multiple leaks about what
was discovered there, including a photograph of documents that were
(06:37):
discovered there. Did you know about the leaks?
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Rate?
Speaker 6 (06:41):
The photograph was a filing in court in response to
a motion filed by mister Trump. It was not a leak.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So you're testifying there haven't been leaks about the Trump
rate investment.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
I'm responding to the point about that.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
You know about the leaks that have occurred because the.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Leaks, they are inappropriate. We also don't know where they
come from witnesses on the well.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
What's interesting is when the shoe was on the other foot.
I believe your intention, and I believe it's a political
intention to indict President Trump became infinitely harder when classified
documents were discovered repeatedly at President Biden's multiple residences. According
to the public record, those were first discovered on November two,
(07:26):
six days before the prior election. Department of Justice was
notified on November fourth, and yet miraculously, there was no
leak about the classified documents at President Biden's home when
it politically benefited The effort to go after and charge
Donald Trump. DOJ leaked when it potentially harmed the Democrat president.
(07:49):
DOJ did not leaked. Does that strike you as at
all a double standard?
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Weeks under all circumstances are inappropriate, and they were not
directed by anyone in the justice.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Let me say, in particular on Hunter Biden, I very
much hope that an investigation of Hunter Biden is focused
not just on his own personal substance of abuse issues,
but on connections to his father and potential corruption. That
is the matter of public concern and why people are concerned.
It was striking that the leak that came out from
(08:22):
DJ suggested this is just going after some poor, poor
person struggling with drugs instead of looking at the very
real evidence of corruption. Will you commit that the investigation
will actually examine the public corruption aspect and not simply
scapegoat Hunter Biden as an individual.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
I can't comment about the investigation other than to say
that all the matters involving mister hunter Biden are in
a purview of the US Attorney in Delaware. It's not
restricted in his investigation in any way.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Well, you don't comment here, but then you leak at
the same time Senator.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Holy Senator, ask you a pretty simple but one question.
Did he lie to you? And more importantly, did he
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acting at the Attorney General? Did he lie to you?
And did he lie to Congress?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Well, if what the whistleblower is saying is accurate, then
Merrick Garland, in all likelihood gave false testimony to Congress. Now,
whether it's a lie depends on two things. Number One,
his knowledge at the time. It is possible that he
believed what he was saying was true even though it
(10:58):
was false. There should be an investigation. If he knowingly
gave false testimony, that's a lie. That is also a felony.
Because his testimony began with his raising his right hand
and taking an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Merrick Garland knows that, and
so the whistleblower's testimony strongly suggests that the Attorney General's
(11:25):
testimony was false. And I believe there should be a
serious investigation into whether it was knowingly false.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
There's going to be a lot of people that are
gonna ask this question, when is there going to be
some accountability, Because when these whistleblowers come forward and they
tell their stories and we see what was really going
on behind closed doors, there are so many people that
are just so angry, Senator that I talked to you
talk to every day when you are in and around
Texas and around the country in Washington, DC, who are
(11:53):
saying they're sick and tired of watching these people get
away with this is Do you feel like the momentumouslowly
starting to change where there will be real and honest accountability.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Well, I think there will be accountability in the House
of Representatives. You have investigations both from Jim Jordan and
Representative Comer that are looking directly at these issues. I
think you will continue to see hearings in the House
of Representatives that are putting evidence before the American people.
There is more and more indication that the House may
(12:27):
hold Chris Ray, the Director of the FBI, and contempt
for refusing to respond to subpoenas issued by Congress, and
if the Attorney General. I expect the House of Representatives
to cross examine the Attorney General on whether he lied
and whether he knowingly lied in the Senate. I don't
(12:49):
expect the Senate Judiciary to do anything about it. I
think Dick Durbin and the Democrats they do not care.
They are happy for the Attorney General to cover up
the investigation of Hunter Biden. They want the Attorney General
to cover up the investigation of Hunter Biden.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
They want the.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Department of Justice to be the political arm of the
White House. They want this DOJ to be utterly corrupt.
And look, that's a strong allegation. But if they didn't,
Dick Durbin could hold a hearing tomorrow. If they didn't,
Dick Durbin could subpoena the Attorney General tomorrow. If they didn't,
(13:29):
just one of the Democrats, just one of the Democrats
could muster up the mustard seeds of courage to ask
the Attorney General about it. But if you look at
the hearings, the Democrats all get in and play patty
cake with him, that they praise him, if anything, that
they urge him. Why can't you be more vigorous going
(13:52):
after our enemies why can't you be more vigorous going
after every little old lady who waved an American flag
on the mall during Januari. Those are the questions the
Democrats ask. And so if there is a Democrat senator
who gives a damn about whether DOJ is obstructing justice
and covering up criminal activity from the President of the
(14:14):
United States involved in corruption with foreign countries like China
and Ukraine and his son, if there's a Democrat who cares,
he or she has yet to open his or her
mouth about.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
It, Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how
many more whistle blowers come forward as well, and how
so many men and women are becoming so brave now
feeling like they have a safe place to go to
conservative members of Congress to tell their stories. And this
is shocking that CBS did it. So I got to
ask you the politics of this senator CBS News doing
this interview to me, just screamed, this isn't normal, this
(14:51):
is odd. They've not wanted to cover any of the
Hunter Biden scandal. Now all of a sudden, they're not
only they covering it, they're breaking news. The coveted whistle
blower were you taken aback by that? And is there
a chance The reason why they're doing this is because
they realize the Republican field is getting more crowded with
Rohnda Santis announcing as well, and they're really worried that
(15:13):
any of these candidates might be able to beat Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Well, it is fascinating that CBS ran this story, that
they focused on it, that they highlighted it.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
They have had.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Little to no interest in covering the mounting evidence of
corruption in the Biden family. So this is a big
break and that decision would have been highlighted by a
network executive. That was not done by an individual reporter.
It was not done by an individual anchor. That was
done by a higher up by the suits at CBS,
(15:51):
by someone with authority, the head of the news division,
somebody with real authority made the decision greenlight thiss go
with this. That's powerful as to why I don't know,
you know, you asked about whether it is the Republican
field getting a little bit more crowded with ron De
Santis getting in the race. That could be a factor.
(16:14):
I have said before, so six months ago, I did
not believe Joe Biden was going to be the nominee.
I didn't think Joe Biden was going to run because
he is so obviously diminished mentally that he's not up
to it. And pretty much everyone knows that. Republicans certainly
know that, but the Democrats know that too. What changed
(16:35):
in the last six months it is I right now
think Biden is quite likely to be the nominee. Why
because I think right now most Democrats believe Donald Trump
will be the nominee, and Democrats who believe Donald Trump
will be the nominee also believe that if Trump is
the nominee, that they can nominate Biden and just hide
(16:57):
him in the basement for two years and on a
campaign about how much they hate Donald Trump. And they
believe that Biden in the basement plus their antipathy for
Donald Trump, produces a victory on general election Day. I
do think if if the nominee, if Democrats believe the
Republican nominee really is anyone other than Trump, I think
(17:18):
the odds skyrocket that Democrats decide they want to dump
Joe Biden and find somebody else, because if the nominee
is someone other than Trump, it's much harder for them
to run a campaign on how much they hate Trump,
then they actually have to find a candidate who can
actually leave the basement and say something. And so whether
this is CBS network execs starting to starting to have
(17:41):
those knocking knees, I don't know, but it is. It
is a very interesting development and it will get more
interesting if you see more of the corrupt corporate media
following suit.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, that's no doubt about it. I got to ask
you about the other story. Ron DeSantis has the announced
he's running for president, and yes, that's that's newsworthy. But
the way that he did it is something I could
have never imagined. You actually worked on a presidential campaign.
You've run for president as well, and I've worked on
(18:15):
presidential campaigns. I never could have imagined us sitting in
a room saying, hey, we should announce on social media.
Is this moving and changing? Just in proof how important
social media is. To see a candidate do it the
way that Ron DeSantis did it. Could you've ever imagined
this ten, fifteen, twenty years ago?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, I think it's twin commentary Number one, the rising
importance of social media and alternative avenues of communication, and
number two a continuing indictment of the corrupt corporate media.
It's remarkable that there's there's certainly been no prior cycle
where when any presidential candidate would make an announcement like
this on social media and Twitter spaces. I'll tell you
(19:00):
going back to twenty eleven, when I first announced my
campaign for US Senate, very first time, I made that
announcement on a conference call with bloggers, and it was,
to my knowledge, the first time anyone had done that,
and bloggers were relatively due. And the reason I did
that is that there were a lot of folks who
(19:22):
were blogging and who were writing things, and I wanted
them to write about the campaign. I wanted them to
get excited about the campaign. And so it was at
the time trying to take advantage of a cutting edge
in the development of media and communication. I think what
Desanus did this week is similar to that, but obviously
the technology and communication has changed dramatically in the years
(19:44):
since then.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Now there's been a ton.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Of coverage on the technical glitches that the Twitter spaces,
that there were so many users on it that it
was delayed and glitchy and didn't work very well. And
look that I am sure Elon Musk has decapitated more
than a few people at Twitter because that was not
a good moment for Twitter. That that was a high
profile moment for Twitter as an avenue for communicating to
(20:10):
hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously. But I am quite
confident this will not be the last campaign launched in
this format. And it's striking that it wasn't launched on
a TV show. It wasn't launched on Fox News, which
I think Fox News was less than happy about. It
(20:32):
wasn't launched in a big rally. When I launched my
campaign in twenty fifteen, I did so at Liberty University
in an auditorium with about ten thousand students, and that
was that that was a fantastic place to launch it
and and energizing to be surrounded by a crowd. Uh,
(20:55):
And and that that's how I chose to launch it
years ago. This reflects that that technology is moving, communication
is moving. But it also reflects, presumably that a Santus
campaign believing they wouldn't get a fair shake from much
of the traditional media and so trying to cut out
(21:17):
the middleman and go straight to the voters. And I
think you'll see a lot of that. It also reminds
me in six or in twenty sixteen, Trump's use of
social media was cutting edge. It was he would put
out tweets that would drive the news cycle in a
way that had never happened before, and it changed how
(21:38):
people communicate through his use of Twitter. I'll say, actually,
in response, among other things, to the glitches on the announcement,
the Trump campaign put out a mock Twitter spaces with
featuring the Santus and Mosque, but also featuring people like
(21:59):
the Devil and eight Off Hitler. And I got to say,
whoever the writer was, it was funny as hell. So
it was clever how they mocked it. And I think
you're going to see an awful lot more humor and mockery,
probably on both sides. But you're right, this was a
milestone in terms of communications and how candidates communicate with
(22:21):
the voters.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I also think it also shows us from the Twitter files, Senator,
just how important social media is to driving Americans viewpoints
and opinions and views. We have seen that in a
topic we're going to talk about in a minute with Target.
We've seen that that's happened with bud Light. But it
(22:42):
also shows you how important the Democrats understood Twitter and
Facebook to be when they were meeting with them on
the regular, trying to influence the news and what people
were seeing. And then you see somebody like DeSantis use
the platform to announce the president to run. It's like, yeah,
it's because we're we all know how important this medium is.
(23:04):
And the Democrats are cooking the books for years against conservatives,
silencing and censoring conservatives, and they want us to act
like it wasn't a big deal when clearly it was.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, that's right.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
And let me say there's also an avenue of social media,
which is that it drives traditional media. I cannot tell
you how many times if there's a topic that I
want to engage on, I'll pull out my phone and
send a tweet, and within minutes you can see people
reporters who follow Twitter. If the tweet is on a
(23:37):
topic of a public concern and something they care about,
you can see stories written I've typed out tweets and
within ten minutes seeing them on the TV on Fox
News the tweet that I just typed on my phone.
That there's a speed of it that in many ways,
engaging in social media is an instantaneous press release two
(23:59):
millions of people, including every reporter on planet Earth, and
so that it's a different relationship than it used to be.
And as I said, it was Trump who pioneered that.
But I've been on Air Force One with Trump where
we were talking about a topic and he said, all right,
let's send a tweet on that, and he in that instance,
dictated it to his social media guy, Dan Scavino. Dan
(24:21):
sent the tweet out from Air Force One. And I've
been in the President's office on Air Force One with
Fox News on the TV and boom as tweet pops
up on the TV again five ten minutes after he
decided to send that tweet. And so there's an instantaneous
communication piece to it that is very, very.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Potent, no doubt about it. I want to talk about
one of the places where social media is driving change
and reform that deals with bud Light and now Target
losing nine billion dollars in the week following the calls
for boycotts over what they've been doing, going after kids
and their gay pride to and some of the just
(25:02):
horrific things that they're selling online and their designers are
designing the clothes it is a Satanist who is designing it,
saying that, you know, trans people should come to Satan.
It's shocking to see this all play out, but it's
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I love watching victories play out in real time. The
victory over Anheuser Busch by conservatives after they decide to
partner with a dude who's dressed like a chick mulvaney.
Now we're seeing Target. Target is posted a nine billion
(26:54):
dollar loss and market cap in just a week after
they face backlash for their Pride gear, which included tuck
friendly swimsuits and other gender related products. Just like Budweiser.
They're learning very quickly that parents and normal adults are
going to not just sit back and take it anymore.
They're not going to allow their children to be manipulated. Conservatives,
and I say this with hope, now are finally waking
(27:17):
up and realizing how powerful we are as a group
when we stand together as patriots and say no more.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
You don't have to say, it's amazing how many big
companies don't understand their customers and don't respect their customers,
because if you respect your customers, you don't insult them.
If you respect your customers, you focus on what your
customers want, and you don't try to impose your political
ideology or your extreme views on your customers. It's the
(27:48):
phrase the customer is always right used to mean something.
We see this throughout corporate America, where ad agencies are
hard left, h our departments are hard left. That the
C suite is scared to death of the shareholder activist,
is scared to death of the twenty four year old
(28:09):
children that they've hired out of woke universities who are
demanding that they virtue signal. And it used to be
the case that that that the CEOs believed, well, if
I give in to the mob, it'll appease the mob,
and I can go do what I want. And I
got to say that that there's a constellation now of
three events and in fairly quick order. Uh, there's Disney
(28:33):
and and and when Disney came out vocally against Florida's
law prohibiting the teaching of sexually explicit information to children.
The backlash was significant when when the legislature acted to
strip Disney's special tax subsidy and exemption from the ordinary
rules in Florida law. That was one of the very
(28:54):
first big consequences to a company going woke then, and
you had bud Light and bud Light likewise not understanding
or respecting its customers. And the reaction was was swift
from the customers who could who found that they could
switch to another beer and another light beer really quite
(29:16):
easily and quite costlessly. And and that cost has been
significant for Anheuser Busch and now thirdly Target and Target
nine billion dollars in just a few days. That's a
lot of money. That's a lot of money anyway you
look at it, and and it's you know, Target is
trying to wrap themselves in oh, we're just you know,
(29:39):
defending pride, and and you know people are LGBT that
that they shop too, and that's true, they do. But
but Target was not simply selling to all their customers
straight or gay. It was rather aggressively directing this propaganda
kids at little kids, at three year olds, at time, toddlers,
(30:00):
at babies. And I got to say that is extreme.
It is only well, it's actually, as we pointed out
in the lot last podcast, they literally hired a self
identified Satanist to design the display, and and they're selling
clothing with explicit appeals to the devil, Like I'm sorry,
(30:26):
what imbecile at Targets said, you know what, our customers
really want more Satanic worship, and maybe Satanic worship combined
with convincing two year olds that they really should have
sex and be gay like what and be transgender and
be two like? How exactly does that pitch go? And
(30:51):
is there anyone in the room that says, well, gosh,
maybe some of our customers just want them us to
leave their kids alone. I do think there is the
cumulative effect of Disney and then bud Light and then Target.
It's much greater than additive because I think it is
(31:12):
a deterrent to the next company thinking about doing this.
You know, we already have information for within Target. They're saying,
we don't want to be bud Light, we don't want
to be bud Light. Well you know what the next
company is going to say, we don't want to be
bud Lighter Target, we don't want to be bud later Target.
That starts to get really powerful.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
You know, there's something else about this too that's really
shocking to me. Target seems to understand that they don't
want to be don't want to become bud Light. But
at the same time, their internal memos that have been
leaked show that they're not backing down from selling these goods.
They're just redesigning how they're showcasing them within their stores,
(31:49):
and specifically, it says within southern stores in Southern states.
In other words, when when you walked into the Target
that was right by my house, it's it was the
first thing you saw when you want in this massive
pride with the target set on Target Pride, that the
section was very clearly there. Now they're moving that section
(32:10):
away from the front of the store, but the goods
that they were selling are still in the store. And
they even said in their own internal email, says, to
the teams who have been working so hard on our
plans for Pride and now are showing incredible agility as
we adjust. Thank you. Your efforts will ensure we can
still show up and celebrate Pride in meaningful ways. They
(32:32):
also went on to say that the lgbt Q IA
plus community One of the hardest parts in all of
this was trying to contemplate how the adjustments we're making
that we're making to alleviate these threats quote to our
team's physical and psychological safety would impact you in your
well being in psychological safety. We stand with you, they say,
(32:52):
now and basically forever. This is the part that I
think is shocking about Target not learning. They're basically saying
that if you are against them doing this to kids,
that somehow you're attacking them and their workers psychologically and
their well being. In other words, well, it's these mother's fault.
It's these women who are not shopping your's fault that
(33:14):
we're having to do this. And we still stand by you.
We're still selling everything Centator, but we're going to move
it around and place it in different areas, and don't worry,
We're still going to accomplish our agenda here. We're not
going to say we got it wrong.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Well, and you notice Target is engaging in the same
sleight of hand that left wing activists and the corrupt
corporate media did in the fight over the law in
Florida concerning teaching kids about sexuality. Remember they branded that
law don't say gay, and this is all about gay rights.
This is all about just efforts to suppress.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
The LGBT community.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
The law in Florida, as you and I have talked
about at length, which they wrongly call the don't say
gay law, I view as the don't say sex law,
don't don't talk about gay sex, don't talk about straight
sex with five year olds, leave five year olds alone.
The law applied in Florida to pre KK one, two
and three fourth grade. Florida law allowed you, katie, bar
(34:14):
the door, get into anything you wanted in this instance. Notice,
Target's entire defense is all just generically about LGBT. It's
not about the fact that they are targeting infants, literally
onesies for infants, and not only that, they're selling clothing
(34:34):
for young girls to strap their breasts down to hide
their breasts, and they're selling bathing suits for three year
old boys to tuck their genitalia in and hide it
like that is. Look, that's extreme on any measure, targeting children,
and what Target is trying to do, ironically, is cover
(34:57):
that up entirely by making it broader and more generic
and ignoring the truly grotesque part about what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah, I want to ask you another question about this politically,
and that is the bud like controversy was predominantly we
now know from the data that's been shared, is men
saying I'm not buying bud Light. The nine billion that
disappeared from Target in a week is we know now
(35:27):
from the data is clearly women. What does this say
about not just moms really now getting involved in standing up?
And also what does this mean going into this next
presidential election? And before you answer that, I want to
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eight Patriot. Senator. I've really been encouraged, you know, with
the Disney and what happened at Disney. We saw an
(37:17):
initial kind of reaction from moms who said, Okay, we're
gonna boycott, and then it's kind of disappeared. Disney's doing fine.
Moms wanted to have those moments with their kids. They
wanted to go to Disneyland. I've had this grand debate
with many of my family and friends, and butt light happened,
and that was predominatly men standing up saying, uh uh,
I'm not doing this. Target is women's and I'm so
(37:39):
happy to see mothers that are being inspired. And I
think part of this was from the lockdowns and seeing
what was happening their kids' schools. But this is amazing
to witness mothers, and I think this is going to
play out with a lot more women running for office
as conservatives. We've seen some of that already happen at
school board rates around the country, but this was an
inspired week for me to watch so many mothers take
(38:02):
nine billion dollars out of the pockets of target.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Well, we are seeing and we have seen the power
of women and moms when they get really engaged and
they get really angry. As you noted, we're seeing it
in school board races all over the country when they
see what's being taught to their kids and their outrage
at the garbage being taught to their kids, and they're
flipping school board races nationwide. There are a bunch of races
in Texas. I've gotten actively involved in where we flip
(38:28):
them from left wing boards to moms taking their schools back. Look,
we saw it powerfully in Virginia and Louden County, where
moms in Virginia were angry at the arrogance of the schools,
at the left wing propaganda, at the critical race theory,
at covering up sexual assaults of little girls in the
(38:51):
girl's bathroom in Louden County in that instance by a
boyd in wearing a skirt, and those moms, and many
of those moms had voted for Joe Biden just the
previous election, but they flipped over and elected Glenn Youngkin.
That is a very powerful thing. I think it also
matters in terms of Boycott's. Historically, Conservatives have typically been
(39:13):
not very good at Boycott's. Part of the problem is
that that for some things, it's it's hard to substitute.
Disney's an example where you can be annoyed at Disney
but but if your kids really want to go to
Disney World, that can be hard to say no to.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
They're not a lot of alternatives.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
There's six Flags, but but disney World is a pretty
unique offering, and for that matter, Disney's movies. I mean look,
there's only one snow Whiter or Cinderella or you know
toy story from Pixar. I mean, they're, they're, they're. That
is a difficult product for many people to give up permanently.
(39:52):
I think the same thing is true about pro sports.
I think lots of sports fans are unhappy with the
NFL or the NBA and all of the woken. But
at the same time, people and I put myself in
this camp, really love going to sports events, ensuring on
their teams, and so it's a painful boycott. What really
(40:12):
came to bite bud Light is that wasn't a hard boycott.
It's difficult for nobody on planet Earth if you were
going to order a bud Light to say, uh, of course,
like like, that's a very simple substitution. I'm not sure
many people could could go through a blind taste test
and tell the difference. And so it's it's an easy substitution.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Target.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
We'll see how prolonged and easy a substitution it is.
There's Walmart, you know, there are alternatives. I will say
targets are located in a lot of areas and very
convenient for a lot of shoppers. So we'll see if
this becomes a persistent consequence or not, but whether it
(40:56):
is sustained. The fact that it was so concentrated and
intense has I think certainly made a real impression on
the target executives, I hope, but also on the next executives.
And you and I have talked about before. If we
want to stop corporate America from going woke, we've got
(41:16):
to change the cost benefit analysis so that when the
next executives are thinking about it, the downside of the
ledger is bigger and more problematic. And I do think
the last couple of weeks have dramatically increased the downside,
not just for these companies but for every other. And
(41:36):
that's a good thing for those of us that would
like companies just to get back to sell in their
damn products and keep their idiotic politics out of our lives.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, great point, and a great point to end on.
Don't forget we do this show three days a week Monday,
Wednesdays and Fridays that there's big breaking news. We do
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(42:06):
on the charts as well, and we will see you
back here in a couple of days.
Welcome. It is verdict for Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson
with you as always, Senator, We've got a lot to
talk about, including this second IRIS whistleblower coming forward and
telling his story at a very shocking place. We're going
to tell you about that in a moment. Also, would
you have ever imagine that a big presidential campaign would
be launched on social media? Ronda Santis said exactly that.
(00:22):
We'll talk about how unique that is. And Target they're
going looken, well, they're they're going broke. Target has lost
eight to nine billion dollars, they say, in the week
following the calls for a boycott over their Gay Pride
LGBTQ plus Friendly Kids clothing and propaganda. Senator, let's start
(00:46):
with this Iris whistleblower. You and I were talking before
the show. It's interesting that he's come forward. It's also
very interesting where he did his sit down interview. Let's
talk about that.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, it's quite stunning.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
CBS News put him front and center, interviewed him on camera,
and he's making serious allegations. He's making serious allegations that
the Biden Department of Justice is slow walking, is blocking
the investigation of Hunter Biden. One of the consequences of
those allegations is, if that's true, it means Merrick Garland
(01:20):
lied under oath. And I got to say, listening to
this interview on CBS takes your breath away. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately
saw it was way outside the norm of what I've
experienced in the past.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Gary Shapley is a supervisory special agent for the IRS.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Where he's worked for fourteen years.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
In January twenty twenty, he was assigned to what he
calls a high profile investigation. Who's the subject of the investigation?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I can't confirm or deny the subject of this investigation.
Why not because you know part of the tax secrecy
laws don't allow it.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Shapley can't say it. But CBA News has learned the
investigation was the probe of Hunter Biden by the Trump
appointed US attorney in Delaware. Senior Biden administration officials have
vowed to let it run its course without interference.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
It's not restricted in his investigation in any way.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
But CBS News has obtained this letter Shapley's lawyers sent
to Congress Monday, alleging irregularities in DJ's handling of the investigation.
Shapley is seeking legal protections from Congress so he can
share specifics of his allegations.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
There was multiple steps that were or slow walked at
the direction of this Department Justice.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Had you ever encountered that before?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I have not known these deviations from normal process. In
each and every time it seemed to always benefit the subject.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Shapley says he decided to blow the whistle after a
heated meeting last October with federal prosecutors.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
That was my red line meeting that just got to
that point where that switch was turned on and I
just couldn't silence my conscience anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Senator, He says, he couldn't silence his conscience anymore, and
that's why he's been so brave and to come forward.
When you hear this whistlebo or speak, what comes to
mind for you initially.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well that these allegations are very serious. That what he
is stating is that for the first time in his
experience of over a decade, the Department of Justice was
actively impeding an investigation, was slow walking it, and that
that number one reeks of political cover up, but number two,
(03:43):
it's it's directly contrary to what Merrick Garland has said.
And you know, one of the things that Merrick Garland
is fond of saying, and that that gets repeated a lot,
is that the person doing this investigation is the quote
Trump appointed US attorney in Delaware with that that individual
is a person named DAVIDI. And it's true he was
appointed by Donald Trump. He had previously been the acting
(04:06):
US attorney under Barack Obama. And you know, let me
point out about how US attorneys are appointed. In order
for them to go through, you have to get the
sign off of the senators from that home state. Delaware
has two Democrat senators, which means is a practical matter,
the Democrat senators in Delaware picked this US attorney. And
(04:29):
so the phrase the Trump appointed US attorney suggests that
he's a Republican, that he somehow might be out to
get the Bidens. There is zero, in fact less than
zero evidence that's true. But if what this whistleblower is
alleging is accurate, then his investigation was actively slow walking
(04:54):
the investigation of Hunter Biden. And one of the things
striking is that means that the Attorney General testified falsely
to the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to questions, I
asked him directly.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I want people to hear exactly that back and forth.
Take a listen to this.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It occrues, Thank you, mister Chairman General Garland. The Department
of Justice should enforce the law regardless of politics. I
do not believe that has been what is happening in
the last two years, among other things, I believe you
very much want to indict Donald J. Trump. Toward that end,
(05:35):
the Department of Justice has leaked that DOJ is investigating
and intends to indict Hunter Biden. The purpose of those leaks,
I believe, was to set the predicate for an indictment
of Trump, to say, look how even handed we are.
We're indicting A Biden. We're indicting a Trump. Those leaks
(05:56):
are not law or enforcing the law. They are politics.
Did you know about the leaks about the Hunter Biden investigation.
Speaker 6 (06:06):
I don't know about the leak that you're talking about,
and I'm not leaks are in violation of our regulations
and our requirements.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
So the answer is the leaks are consistently on one
side of the aisle, advancing one political agenda. As you know,
the FBI raided Donald Trump's mar Lago home, and subsequent
to that raid, there have been multiple leaks about what
was discovered there, including a photograph of documents that were
(06:37):
discovered there. Did you know about the leaks?
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Rate?
Speaker 6 (06:41):
The photograph was a filing in court in response to
a motion filed by mister Trump. It was not a leak.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
So you're testifying there haven't been leaks about the Trump
rate investment.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
I'm responding to the point about that.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
You know about the leaks that have occurred because the.
Speaker 6 (06:58):
Leaks, they are inappropriate. We also don't know where they
come from witnesses on the well.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
What's interesting is when the shoe was on the other foot.
I believe your intention, and I believe it's a political
intention to indict President Trump became infinitely harder when classified
documents were discovered repeatedly at President Biden's multiple residences. According
to the public record, those were first discovered on November two,
(07:26):
six days before the prior election. Department of Justice was
notified on November fourth, and yet miraculously, there was no
leak about the classified documents at President Biden's home when
it politically benefited The effort to go after and charge
Donald Trump. DOJ leaked when it potentially harmed the Democrat president.
(07:49):
DOJ did not leaked. Does that strike you as at
all a double standard?
Speaker 6 (07:55):
Weeks under all circumstances are inappropriate, and they were not
directed by anyone in the justice.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Let me say, in particular on Hunter Biden, I very
much hope that an investigation of Hunter Biden is focused
not just on his own personal substance of abuse issues,
but on connections to his father and potential corruption. That
is the matter of public concern and why people are concerned.
It was striking that the leak that came out from
(08:22):
DJ suggested this is just going after some poor, poor
person struggling with drugs instead of looking at the very
real evidence of corruption. Will you commit that the investigation
will actually examine the public corruption aspect and not simply
scapegoat Hunter Biden as an individual.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
I can't comment about the investigation other than to say
that all the matters involving mister hunter Biden are in
a purview of the US Attorney in Delaware. It's not
restricted in his investigation in any way.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Well, you don't comment here, but then you leak at
the same time Senator.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Holy Senator, ask you a pretty simple but one question.
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acting at the Attorney General? Did he lie to you?
And did he lie to Congress?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Well, if what the whistleblower is saying is accurate, then
Merrick Garland, in all likelihood gave false testimony to Congress. Now,
whether it's a lie depends on two things. Number One,
his knowledge at the time. It is possible that he
believed what he was saying was true even though it
(10:58):
was false. There should be an investigation. If he knowingly
gave false testimony, that's a lie. That is also a felony.
Because his testimony began with his raising his right hand
and taking an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Merrick Garland knows that, and
so the whistleblower's testimony strongly suggests that the Attorney General's
(11:25):
testimony was false. And I believe there should be a
serious investigation into whether it was knowingly false.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
There's going to be a lot of people that are
gonna ask this question, when is there going to be
some accountability, Because when these whistleblowers come forward and they
tell their stories and we see what was really going
on behind closed doors, there are so many people that
are just so angry, Senator that I talked to you
talk to every day when you are in and around
Texas and around the country in Washington, DC, who are
(11:53):
saying they're sick and tired of watching these people get
away with this is Do you feel like the momentumouslowly
starting to change where there will be real and honest accountability.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Well, I think there will be accountability in the House
of Representatives. You have investigations both from Jim Jordan and
Representative Comer that are looking directly at these issues. I
think you will continue to see hearings in the House
of Representatives that are putting evidence before the American people.
There is more and more indication that the House may
(12:27):
hold Chris Ray, the Director of the FBI, and contempt
for refusing to respond to subpoenas issued by Congress, and
if the Attorney General. I expect the House of Representatives
to cross examine the Attorney General on whether he lied
and whether he knowingly lied in the Senate. I don't
(12:49):
expect the Senate Judiciary to do anything about it. I
think Dick Durbin and the Democrats they do not care.
They are happy for the Attorney General to cover up
the investigation of Hunter Biden. They want the Attorney General
to cover up the investigation of Hunter Biden.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
They want the.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Department of Justice to be the political arm of the
White House. They want this DOJ to be utterly corrupt.
And look, that's a strong allegation. But if they didn't,
Dick Durbin could hold a hearing tomorrow. If they didn't,
Dick Durbin could subpoena the Attorney General tomorrow. If they didn't,
(13:29):
just one of the Democrats, just one of the Democrats
could muster up the mustard seeds of courage to ask
the Attorney General about it. But if you look at
the hearings, the Democrats all get in and play patty
cake with him, that they praise him, if anything, that
they urge him. Why can't you be more vigorous going
(13:52):
after our enemies why can't you be more vigorous going
after every little old lady who waved an American flag
on the mall during Januari. Those are the questions the
Democrats ask. And so if there is a Democrat senator
who gives a damn about whether DOJ is obstructing justice
and covering up criminal activity from the President of the
(14:14):
United States involved in corruption with foreign countries like China
and Ukraine and his son, if there's a Democrat who cares,
he or she has yet to open his or her
mouth about.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
It, Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how
many more whistle blowers come forward as well, and how
so many men and women are becoming so brave now
feeling like they have a safe place to go to
conservative members of Congress to tell their stories. And this
is shocking that CBS did it. So I got to
ask you the politics of this senator CBS News doing
this interview to me, just screamed, this isn't normal, this
(14:51):
is odd. They've not wanted to cover any of the
Hunter Biden scandal. Now all of a sudden, they're not
only they covering it, they're breaking news. The coveted whistle
blower were you taken aback by that? And is there
a chance The reason why they're doing this is because
they realize the Republican field is getting more crowded with
Rohnda Santis announcing as well, and they're really worried that
(15:13):
any of these candidates might be able to beat Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Well, it is fascinating that CBS ran this story, that
they focused on it, that they highlighted it.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
They have had.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Little to no interest in covering the mounting evidence of
corruption in the Biden family. So this is a big
break and that decision would have been highlighted by a
network executive. That was not done by an individual reporter.
It was not done by an individual anchor. That was
done by a higher up by the suits at CBS,
(15:51):
by someone with authority, the head of the news division,
somebody with real authority made the decision greenlight thiss go
with this. That's powerful as to why I don't know,
you know, you asked about whether it is the Republican
field getting a little bit more crowded with ron De
Santis getting in the race. That could be a factor.
(16:14):
I have said before, so six months ago, I did
not believe Joe Biden was going to be the nominee.
I didn't think Joe Biden was going to run because
he is so obviously diminished mentally that he's not up
to it. And pretty much everyone knows that. Republicans certainly
know that, but the Democrats know that too. What changed
(16:35):
in the last six months it is I right now
think Biden is quite likely to be the nominee. Why
because I think right now most Democrats believe Donald Trump
will be the nominee, and Democrats who believe Donald Trump
will be the nominee also believe that if Trump is
the nominee, that they can nominate Biden and just hide
(16:57):
him in the basement for two years and on a
campaign about how much they hate Donald Trump. And they
believe that Biden in the basement plus their antipathy for
Donald Trump, produces a victory on general election Day. I
do think if if the nominee, if Democrats believe the
Republican nominee really is anyone other than Trump, I think
(17:18):
the odds skyrocket that Democrats decide they want to dump
Joe Biden and find somebody else, because if the nominee
is someone other than Trump, it's much harder for them
to run a campaign on how much they hate Trump,
then they actually have to find a candidate who can
actually leave the basement and say something. And so whether
this is CBS network execs starting to starting to have
(17:41):
those knocking knees, I don't know, but it is. It
is a very interesting development and it will get more
interesting if you see more of the corrupt corporate media
following suit.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, that's no doubt about it. I got to ask
you about the other story. Ron DeSantis has the announced
he's running for president, and yes, that's that's newsworthy. But
the way that he did it is something I could
have never imagined. You actually worked on a presidential campaign.
You've run for president as well, and I've worked on
(18:15):
presidential campaigns. I never could have imagined us sitting in
a room saying, hey, we should announce on social media.
Is this moving and changing? Just in proof how important
social media is. To see a candidate do it the
way that Ron DeSantis did it. Could you've ever imagined
this ten, fifteen, twenty years ago?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Well, I think it's twin commentary Number one, the rising
importance of social media and alternative avenues of communication, and
number two a continuing indictment of the corrupt corporate media.
It's remarkable that there's there's certainly been no prior cycle
where when any presidential candidate would make an announcement like
this on social media and Twitter spaces. I'll tell you
(19:00):
going back to twenty eleven, when I first announced my
campaign for US Senate, very first time, I made that
announcement on a conference call with bloggers, and it was,
to my knowledge, the first time anyone had done that,
and bloggers were relatively due. And the reason I did
that is that there were a lot of folks who
(19:22):
were blogging and who were writing things, and I wanted
them to write about the campaign. I wanted them to
get excited about the campaign. And so it was at
the time trying to take advantage of a cutting edge
in the development of media and communication. I think what
Desanus did this week is similar to that, but obviously
the technology and communication has changed dramatically in the years
(19:44):
since then.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Now there's been a ton.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Of coverage on the technical glitches that the Twitter spaces,
that there were so many users on it that it
was delayed and glitchy and didn't work very well. And
look that I am sure Elon Musk has decapitated more
than a few people at Twitter because that was not
a good moment for Twitter. That that was a high
profile moment for Twitter as an avenue for communicating to
(20:10):
hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously. But I am quite
confident this will not be the last campaign launched in
this format. And it's striking that it wasn't launched on
a TV show. It wasn't launched on Fox News, which
I think Fox News was less than happy about. It
(20:32):
wasn't launched in a big rally. When I launched my
campaign in twenty fifteen, I did so at Liberty University
in an auditorium with about ten thousand students, and that
was that that was a fantastic place to launch it
and and energizing to be surrounded by a crowd. Uh,
(20:55):
And and that that's how I chose to launch it
years ago. This reflects that that technology is moving, communication
is moving. But it also reflects, presumably that a Santus
campaign believing they wouldn't get a fair shake from much
of the traditional media and so trying to cut out
(21:17):
the middleman and go straight to the voters. And I
think you'll see a lot of that. It also reminds
me in six or in twenty sixteen, Trump's use of
social media was cutting edge. It was he would put
out tweets that would drive the news cycle in a
way that had never happened before, and it changed how
(21:38):
people communicate through his use of Twitter. I'll say, actually,
in response, among other things, to the glitches on the announcement,
the Trump campaign put out a mock Twitter spaces with
featuring the Santus and Mosque, but also featuring people like
(21:59):
the Devil and eight Off Hitler. And I got to say,
whoever the writer was, it was funny as hell. So
it was clever how they mocked it. And I think
you're going to see an awful lot more humor and mockery,
probably on both sides. But you're right, this was a
milestone in terms of communications and how candidates communicate with
(22:21):
the voters.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I also think it also shows us from the Twitter files, Senator,
just how important social media is to driving Americans viewpoints
and opinions and views. We have seen that in a
topic we're going to talk about in a minute with Target.
We've seen that that's happened with bud Light. But it
(22:42):
also shows you how important the Democrats understood Twitter and
Facebook to be when they were meeting with them on
the regular, trying to influence the news and what people
were seeing. And then you see somebody like DeSantis use
the platform to announce the president to run. It's like, yeah,
it's because we're we all know how important this medium is.
(23:04):
And the Democrats are cooking the books for years against conservatives,
silencing and censoring conservatives, and they want us to act
like it wasn't a big deal when clearly it was.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, that's right.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
And let me say there's also an avenue of social media,
which is that it drives traditional media. I cannot tell
you how many times if there's a topic that I
want to engage on, I'll pull out my phone and
send a tweet, and within minutes you can see people
reporters who follow Twitter. If the tweet is on a
(23:37):
topic of a public concern and something they care about,
you can see stories written I've typed out tweets and
within ten minutes seeing them on the TV on Fox
News the tweet that I just typed on my phone.
That there's a speed of it that in many ways,
engaging in social media is an instantaneous press release two
(23:59):
millions of people, including every reporter on planet Earth, and
so that it's a different relationship than it used to be.
And as I said, it was Trump who pioneered that.
But I've been on Air Force One with Trump where
we were talking about a topic and he said, all right,
let's send a tweet on that, and he in that instance,
dictated it to his social media guy, Dan Scavino. Dan
(24:21):
sent the tweet out from Air Force One. And I've
been in the President's office on Air Force One with
Fox News on the TV and boom as tweet pops
up on the TV again five ten minutes after he
decided to send that tweet. And so there's an instantaneous
communication piece to it that is very, very.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Potent, no doubt about it. I want to talk about
one of the places where social media is driving change
and reform that deals with bud Light and now Target
losing nine billion dollars in the week following the calls
for boycotts over what they've been doing, going after kids
and their gay pride to and some of the just
(25:02):
horrific things that they're selling online and their designers are
designing the clothes it is a Satanist who is designing it,
saying that, you know, trans people should come to Satan.
It's shocking to see this all play out, but it's
cost him now apparently nine billion dollars. And before we
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I love watching victories play out in real time. The
victory over Anheuser Busch by conservatives after they decide to
partner with a dude who's dressed like a chick mulvaney.
Now we're seeing Target. Target is posted a nine billion
(26:54):
dollar loss and market cap in just a week after
they face backlash for their Pride gear, which included tuck
friendly swimsuits and other gender related products. Just like Budweiser.
They're learning very quickly that parents and normal adults are
going to not just sit back and take it anymore.
They're not going to allow their children to be manipulated. Conservatives,
and I say this with hope, now are finally waking
(27:17):
up and realizing how powerful we are as a group
when we stand together as patriots and say no more.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
You don't have to say, it's amazing how many big
companies don't understand their customers and don't respect their customers,
because if you respect your customers, you don't insult them.
If you respect your customers, you focus on what your
customers want, and you don't try to impose your political
ideology or your extreme views on your customers. It's the
(27:48):
phrase the customer is always right used to mean something.
We see this throughout corporate America, where ad agencies are
hard left, h our departments are hard left. That the
C suite is scared to death of the shareholder activist,
is scared to death of the twenty four year old
(28:09):
children that they've hired out of woke universities who are
demanding that they virtue signal. And it used to be
the case that that that the CEOs believed, well, if
I give in to the mob, it'll appease the mob,
and I can go do what I want. And I
got to say that that there's a constellation now of
three events and in fairly quick order. Uh, there's Disney
(28:33):
and and and when Disney came out vocally against Florida's
law prohibiting the teaching of sexually explicit information to children.
The backlash was significant when when the legislature acted to
strip Disney's special tax subsidy and exemption from the ordinary
rules in Florida law. That was one of the very
(28:54):
first big consequences to a company going woke then, and
you had bud Light and bud Light likewise not understanding
or respecting its customers. And the reaction was was swift
from the customers who could who found that they could
switch to another beer and another light beer really quite
(29:16):
easily and quite costlessly. And and that cost has been
significant for Anheuser Busch and now thirdly Target and Target
nine billion dollars in just a few days. That's a
lot of money. That's a lot of money anyway you
look at it, and and it's you know, Target is
trying to wrap themselves in oh, we're just you know,
(29:39):
defending pride, and and you know people are LGBT that
that they shop too, and that's true, they do. But
but Target was not simply selling to all their customers
straight or gay. It was rather aggressively directing this propaganda
kids at little kids, at three year olds, at time, toddlers,
(30:00):
at babies. And I got to say that is extreme.
It is only well, it's actually, as we pointed out
in the lot last podcast, they literally hired a self
identified Satanist to design the display, and and they're selling
clothing with explicit appeals to the devil, Like I'm sorry,
(30:26):
what imbecile at Targets said, you know what, our customers
really want more Satanic worship, and maybe Satanic worship combined
with convincing two year olds that they really should have
sex and be gay like what and be transgender and
be two like? How exactly does that pitch go? And
(30:51):
is there anyone in the room that says, well, gosh,
maybe some of our customers just want them us to
leave their kids alone. I do think there is the
cumulative effect of Disney and then bud Light and then Target.
It's much greater than additive because I think it is
(31:12):
a deterrent to the next company thinking about doing this.
You know, we already have information for within Target. They're saying,
we don't want to be bud Light, we don't want
to be bud Light. Well you know what the next
company is going to say, we don't want to be
bud Lighter Target, we don't want to be bud later Target.
That starts to get really powerful.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
You know, there's something else about this too that's really
shocking to me. Target seems to understand that they don't
want to be don't want to become bud Light. But
at the same time, their internal memos that have been
leaked show that they're not backing down from selling these goods.
They're just redesigning how they're showcasing them within their stores,
(31:49):
and specifically, it says within southern stores in Southern states.
In other words, when when you walked into the Target
that was right by my house, it's it was the
first thing you saw when you want in this massive
pride with the target set on Target Pride, that the
section was very clearly there. Now they're moving that section
(32:10):
away from the front of the store, but the goods
that they were selling are still in the store. And
they even said in their own internal email, says, to
the teams who have been working so hard on our
plans for Pride and now are showing incredible agility as
we adjust. Thank you. Your efforts will ensure we can
still show up and celebrate Pride in meaningful ways. They
(32:32):
also went on to say that the lgbt Q IA
plus community One of the hardest parts in all of
this was trying to contemplate how the adjustments we're making
that we're making to alleviate these threats quote to our
team's physical and psychological safety would impact you in your
well being in psychological safety. We stand with you, they say,
(32:52):
now and basically forever. This is the part that I
think is shocking about Target not learning. They're basically saying
that if you are against them doing this to kids,
that somehow you're attacking them and their workers psychologically and
their well being. In other words, well, it's these mother's fault.
It's these women who are not shopping your's fault that
(33:14):
we're having to do this. And we still stand by you.
We're still selling everything Centator, but we're going to move
it around and place it in different areas, and don't worry,
We're still going to accomplish our agenda here. We're not
going to say we got it wrong.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Well, and you notice Target is engaging in the same
sleight of hand that left wing activists and the corrupt
corporate media did in the fight over the law in
Florida concerning teaching kids about sexuality. Remember they branded that
law don't say gay, and this is all about gay rights.
This is all about just efforts to suppress.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
The LGBT community.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
The law in Florida, as you and I have talked
about at length, which they wrongly call the don't say
gay law, I view as the don't say sex law,
don't don't talk about gay sex, don't talk about straight
sex with five year olds, leave five year olds alone.
The law applied in Florida to pre KK one, two
and three fourth grade. Florida law allowed you, katie, bar
(34:14):
the door, get into anything you wanted in this instance. Notice,
Target's entire defense is all just generically about LGBT. It's
not about the fact that they are targeting infants, literally
onesies for infants, and not only that, they're selling clothing
(34:34):
for young girls to strap their breasts down to hide
their breasts, and they're selling bathing suits for three year
old boys to tuck their genitalia in and hide it
like that is. Look, that's extreme on any measure, targeting children,
and what Target is trying to do, ironically, is cover
(34:57):
that up entirely by making it broader and more generic
and ignoring the truly grotesque part about what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah, I want to ask you another question about this politically,
and that is the bud like controversy was predominantly we
now know from the data that's been shared, is men
saying I'm not buying bud Light. The nine billion that
disappeared from Target in a week is we know now
(35:27):
from the data is clearly women. What does this say
about not just moms really now getting involved in standing up?
And also what does this mean going into this next
presidential election? And before you answer that, I want to
tell you about our friends at Patriot Mobile. We're talking
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(35:47):
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eight Patriot. Senator. I've really been encouraged, you know, with
the Disney and what happened at Disney. We saw an
(37:17):
initial kind of reaction from moms who said, Okay, we're
gonna boycott, and then it's kind of disappeared. Disney's doing fine.
Moms wanted to have those moments with their kids. They
wanted to go to Disneyland. I've had this grand debate
with many of my family and friends, and butt light happened,
and that was predominatly men standing up saying, uh uh,
I'm not doing this. Target is women's and I'm so
(37:39):
happy to see mothers that are being inspired. And I
think part of this was from the lockdowns and seeing
what was happening their kids' schools. But this is amazing
to witness mothers, and I think this is going to
play out with a lot more women running for office
as conservatives. We've seen some of that already happen at
school board rates around the country, but this was an
inspired week for me to watch so many mothers take
(38:02):
nine billion dollars out of the pockets of target.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
Well, we are seeing and we have seen the power
of women and moms when they get really engaged and
they get really angry. As you noted, we're seeing it
in school board races all over the country when they
see what's being taught to their kids and their outrage
at the garbage being taught to their kids, and they're
flipping school board races nationwide. There are a bunch of races
in Texas. I've gotten actively involved in where we flip
(38:28):
them from left wing boards to moms taking their schools back. Look,
we saw it powerfully in Virginia and Louden County, where
moms in Virginia were angry at the arrogance of the schools,
at the left wing propaganda, at the critical race theory,
at covering up sexual assaults of little girls in the
(38:51):
girl's bathroom in Louden County in that instance by a
boyd in wearing a skirt, and those moms, and many
of those moms had voted for Joe Biden just the
previous election, but they flipped over and elected Glenn Youngkin.
That is a very powerful thing. I think it also
matters in terms of Boycott's. Historically, Conservatives have typically been
(39:13):
not very good at Boycott's. Part of the problem is
that that for some things, it's it's hard to substitute.
Disney's an example where you can be annoyed at Disney
but but if your kids really want to go to
Disney World, that can be hard to say no to.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
They're not a lot of alternatives.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
There's six Flags, but but disney World is a pretty
unique offering, and for that matter, Disney's movies. I mean look,
there's only one snow Whiter or Cinderella or you know
toy story from Pixar. I mean, they're, they're, they're. That
is a difficult product for many people to give up permanently.
(39:52):
I think the same thing is true about pro sports.
I think lots of sports fans are unhappy with the
NFL or the NBA and all of the woken. But
at the same time, people and I put myself in
this camp, really love going to sports events, ensuring on
their teams, and so it's a painful boycott. What really
(40:12):
came to bite bud Light is that wasn't a hard boycott.
It's difficult for nobody on planet Earth if you were
going to order a bud Light to say, uh, of course,
like like, that's a very simple substitution. I'm not sure
many people could could go through a blind taste test
and tell the difference. And so it's it's an easy substitution.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Target.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
We'll see how prolonged and easy a substitution it is.
There's Walmart, you know, there are alternatives. I will say
targets are located in a lot of areas and very
convenient for a lot of shoppers. So we'll see if
this becomes a persistent consequence or not, but whether it
(40:56):
is sustained. The fact that it was so concentrated and
intense has I think certainly made a real impression on
the target executives, I hope, but also on the next executives.
And you and I have talked about before. If we
want to stop corporate America from going woke, we've got
(41:16):
to change the cost benefit analysis so that when the
next executives are thinking about it, the downside of the
ledger is bigger and more problematic. And I do think
the last couple of weeks have dramatically increased the downside,
not just for these companies but for every other. And
(41:36):
that's a good thing for those of us that would
like companies just to get back to sell in their
damn products and keep their idiotic politics out of our lives.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, great point, and a great point to end on.
Don't forget we do this show three days a week Monday,
Wednesdays and Fridays that there's big breaking news. We do
special pods in between, so make sure you hit that
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(42:06):
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back here in a couple of days.
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Ben Ferguson
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