0:00

We are thirty two days out from

0:02

the midterm elections. We are in the middle

0:04

of a seventeen state month

0:07

long campaign bus tour, and

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we are coming to you from sunny Las Vegas.

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1:26

Cactus. Welcome back to

1:28

Verdicts with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Nols,

1:30

Senator. Excellent to see you in person.

1:32

You are looking very good and awake

1:35

and energetic for having

1:37

been on a seventeen state bus tour. Well,

1:40

I'm having a blast. So we're on day

1:42

seven of the bus tour. We started

1:44

in Texas. Tom Ball, Texas, which

1:46

is just north of Houston, did a big

1:49

rally with Wesley Hunt, who's going to be a new Congressman,

1:51

a Republican elected from there, West

1:54

Point graduate, African American football

1:56

player at West Point, great guy. We

1:59

went from there down to the Rio Grand Valley.

2:01

We did three rallies down in the Rio Grand

2:03

Valley with three congressional candidates.

2:05

We did rallies in McCallan, Harlan

2:07

Jin and Laredo. All three

2:09

congressional candidates all Republicans,

2:11

all Hispanic women. I think all three are

2:13

going to win, huge, packed out

2:15

rallies down in South Texas. We went from there

2:18

to New Mexico, did a big rally in New Mexico.

2:21

We went from New Mexico to Arizona. Did

2:23

two rallies in Arizona. Seemed to sort of

2:25

light up the internet. You know,

2:27

I've seen bits and pieces from the tour, but your appearance

2:30

in Arizona really seemed to explode

2:32

very exciting candidates in Arizona. It

2:35

was fantastic. So we did in New Mexico.

2:37

We were with Vette Harold, who's running for reelection.

2:39

She's fantastic. In New Mexico. In

2:42

Arizona, we were with Eli Crane,

2:44

who is a Navy seal. The guy's a badass,

2:47

smart, principled, he's a warrior.

2:50

He's going to win defeat a Democrat. And then we did

2:52

a rally with both Blake Masters and

2:54

Kerry Lake. And I got to say that lit

2:56

it up. She's going to be the next governor, and

2:59

I think Masters has a real shot at winning that Senate

3:01

race. And it was those events were

3:03

packed. And now we're here

3:05

in Las Vegas. We're doing a rally here tonight

3:09

with Mark Robertson and Sam

3:12

Peter's both running for the House here, both

3:14

have a real shot to beat Democrats and get

3:16

elected. After Nevada,

3:19

we go to Utah. Then we go to Missouri,

3:22

Kansas, Iowa,

3:24

Ohio, Pennsylvania,

3:27

Virginia, North Carolina,

3:29

Tennessee, Georgia,

3:31

Florida, back up to Michigan,

3:34

back up to Wisconsin, and we close it out

3:36

in Texas the day before the election. I'm exhausted

3:38

just hearing that schedule. That's outright, And

3:40

I do know we've been on the road together many many

3:43

times. I do know. Whatever

3:46

stop you're at, whatever the event is, whether it's a verdict

3:48

life or wherever, you are never the

3:50

one to say, okay, we've all got to go home. I'm two

3:52

tired guys. You stay up very

3:54

very late, you keep on going well

3:56

as long as you feed me with Scotch and cigars.

3:59

I'm happy to go as long as you like. And I

4:01

have to note a couple of milestones. Number

4:03

one, this is your first time in Vegas.

4:06

This is shockingly I

4:08

love gambling. I love, you know,

4:10

staying out late and getting up to no good. This

4:13

is my very first time. And I didn't realize they have slot

4:15

machines in the airport. Oh yeah. And by

4:17

the way, we are filming this studio is

4:19

unique that we are filming in a studio where

4:21

I guess they train show girls. Like

4:24

I know, I went to the rest. That's why it looks familiar.

4:26

Yeah, Like there's there's you know, there's

4:28

mirrors all along the walls and and

4:30

you know, I kind of feel like we ought to be wearing sparklies or

4:33

something. Well that could be. I guess

4:35

that that's a thought for the for the next stage

4:37

a Verdict. And actually, speaking

4:39

of the next phase a Verdict, there

4:43

is there is huge news

4:45

that's come in and it's come in very very recently,

4:47

and it's part of the reason that I wanted to fly

4:50

out here. It's really

4:52

really good news and it's a little bit

4:54

of bad news, but I think we should let the audience

4:56

in on it. So here's the really really good news

4:58

about Verdict. Has been a

5:00

bootstrapped operation from

5:03

the very beginning, starting in a basement

5:05

in DC, you know, not

5:07

on one of the major outlets or a major

5:10

podcast or radio network, and just

5:12

really bootstrapped in fun and largely independent.

5:15

So an offer has come in from iHeartRadio

5:18

to take this show to

5:22

a huge national audience. Now it's already

5:24

obviously at a national audience on podcast, but

5:26

on radio stations. On terrestrial

5:29

radio, iHeart has a gigantic network.

5:32

I Heart can fund the whole thing, yet

5:34

fund production, dump a whole bunch

5:36

of money into marketing. This is incredible.

5:38

It will make this show sustainable,

5:41

not just for the next few months, going going

5:43

into the midterms, but for the

5:45

next years. The

5:47

only bad news is from

5:50

the very beginnings. As much as

5:52

I, you know, love this show,

5:54

it's been my moonlighting job because my day

5:57

job is over there at the Daily Wire, and I've

5:59

been a very great loaned

6:01

out by the Daily Wire to do this show,

6:03

and because the Daily Wire is

6:05

a different podcast network, and because

6:08

I have a radio show on a different radio network.

6:11

If Verdict is to move into this next very

6:14

sustainable, exciting, energetic phase,

6:17

it will have to be without me

6:19

as part of it. I certainly

6:21

will be coming back around, maybe

6:23

coming too a live events, coming around as a guest.

6:25

But I think it is very, very

6:27

important that this show remained sustainable.

6:30

This show has never been about me. It is

6:32

Verdict with Ted Cruz. It's been an

6:35

amazing ride. We took it to number one

6:37

of all the podcasts. Ted Cruise became

6:39

a bigger podcaster than Joe Rogan and

6:42

stayed there for a actually pretty

6:44

decent period of time. And so I

6:46

am really very excited for this

6:49

next phase with iHeart. And there's

6:51

a great broadcaster from iHeart who's

6:53

been in the business forever, who's

6:55

been a friend of mine for many, many years, who

6:57

is going to come on and fill this seat, and

6:59

that would be Ben Ferguson. Should

7:02

we bring Ben on? Ben? Can you come out here?

7:04

All right? Welcome,

7:08

good to see how are you two

7:10

guys that usually get to hang out in Tennessee

7:13

all the way in Vegas. Welcome your your maiden

7:15

voyage. As they say, it is a little strange,

7:17

you know, to have senator from Texas,

7:20

a broadcaster from Texas, a broadcaster

7:22

from Tennessee who only ever sees

7:24

you in Tennessee, in Tennis for some reason, we're in

7:26

Nevada. It's it's

7:29

a strange world of politics, that's

7:31

right. So now, the last time Ben that I saw

7:33

you, it's a little blurry.

7:36

Actually it was about one in the mornings.

7:39

Involved there were cigars, maybe, angrybers,

7:42

angry liberals and politic I remember

7:45

we were at some honky tong down there

7:47

in Nashville. But since then,

7:50

and for the handful of people out there

7:52

who might not know who you are, what have you been up to?

7:54

So I've been hosting my radio show,

7:57

syndicated show podcast and uh

7:59

and in three boys, that's

8:01

what I say. I shouldn't say it that way. I'll get

8:03

in trouble with the wife. She's doing the majority

8:05

of it and I'm paying some bills. Is that a better way?

8:08

That's good? And uh yeah, So I mean, man, I

8:10

don't know why that's the case. I raised my daughters

8:12

all on my own. That's

8:15

a man has decades right there of experience.

8:18

You gotta understand, I'm in real trouble because

8:21

Heidi listens to this podcast. So

8:23

that statement, my phone is

8:25

going to ring while she do

8:28

it. I already know how much that bill is going to cost

8:30

and where you're going to end up taking her. That's

8:32

just that, that's that's gonna hurt. Yeah, that's gonna

8:34

be worse than losing at the Roulette table this week.

8:37

I canna promise you that. So I've

8:39

just been doing that and doing a little more

8:41

TV and getting to hang out with this guy, So that's been

8:43

good. This is very exciting news also because

8:46

you guys both live in the same town. Yeah, you live

8:48

in Houston, so you know,

8:50

I mean, obviously, this deal came up relatively

8:53

quickly. We're heading right into the midterm elections,

8:55

so we wanted to make sure that this kind

8:57

of the ink could dry, you know, as quickly

9:00

as possible. Well, this thing for the podcast

9:02

is just a big damn deal. Yeah.

9:05

I Heeart Radio as a monster. It's got eight

9:07

hundred and fifty stations across the country,

9:10

and so this was something this was not

9:12

something we were out looking for. But

9:14

but they came and they saw

9:16

what was happening on this podcast. They saw the

9:18

work at the incredible viewers

9:20

and fans and and engaged

9:23

viewers we have all over the country, and they said,

9:25

listen, we want to take this podcast to

9:28

the next level. We want to reach

9:30

we want to promote it across our eight hundred and fifty

9:33

stations, we want to promote it across our podcast

9:36

and listen. iHeart Is is the network that

9:38

that work and built with

9:41

Rush Limbaugh and and helped him

9:43

build into the greatest ever h

9:45

and that works with folks like like Hannity

9:48

and Glenn Beck and Clay and

9:50

back at Jesse Kelly, you know. And there's

9:52

a coincidence. Actually, right before

9:55

my show became syndicated to Teristra

9:58

Radio nationwide, I got one

10:00

last little opportunity to be

10:02

on a different radio network. And it was when the

10:04

president of iHeart called me. It was in

10:06

the last days of Rush Limbaugh's show, said,

10:09

Michael, would you like to host Russia's show? And I

10:11

said, Oh my gosh, this is a dream come true.

10:13

I would love to, said, I've got this other

10:15

radio contract. It's about to be inked in like three

10:18

days, but yes, that would be That would be just the greatest

10:20

thing in the world. And so I note the reach of iHeart

10:22

is just phenomenal. It's

10:25

gonna be fun. And I think you talked

10:27

about being a big deal. I think you're

10:29

getting to expand it to three days a week, getting

10:32

to talk more breaking news and

10:34

having people not have to wait once

10:36

a week to get it. And you wonder if it's you know,

10:39

as it dated and when was it done. I mean, we're gonna be able

10:41

to break news, talk about breaking

10:43

news, and give people your

10:45

point of view instantly.

10:47

And I think that's so important now. People are hungry

10:50

for that. I mean you've seen it, whether it's your podcast

10:52

or mine or radio. I mean people want

10:54

to go around the mainstream media to the people

10:57

they trust. And there's a lot

10:59

of Americans that are going to be introduced, I think

11:01

because they're going to hear this promotion. Oh,

11:03

Ted's got this podcast. I'm in. I

11:05

want to hear this on a regular basis and

11:08

make it a part of their day. And I'm

11:10

excited to get to expand that

11:12

with you and reach more people and

11:14

hopefully ultimately, which is what you

11:16

and I we started. We talked about this in Nashville.

11:19

You and I do this because we want to change hearts and minds.

11:21

You do what you do for the same exact

11:24

reason, and the more people we can

11:26

have listened to what we believe in, why we believe

11:28

in it, why it makes sense logically.

11:31

It's been my life goal, my mission field as politics.

11:33

I've said that for years. I started when as twelve, as

11:35

you know, and started in TV

11:38

bill O'Reilly when I'm seventeen, and

11:40

that's my mission field. And I look

11:42

at where we're going as a country. I mentioned earlier,

11:45

I've got twin boys or three, and I've got a six year

11:47

old, and I'm terrified of where we're headed.

11:49

And that's kind of given me my second win

11:51

in my career. I think to say, Okay, are

11:54

we going to leave this place better than it was when

11:56

I got to grow up? And right now it's not right.

11:58

If you looked at the clock and you look at the issues,

12:01

and you look at what's happening, but there's also some things exciting

12:03

that's happening, and that is you're seeing parents

12:06

are getting involved in their school boards. You see

12:08

police officers are now getting the backing

12:10

again from society with crime

12:13

that's out of control. You have people that are starting

12:15

to understand like this deficit that

12:17

we have right now is a massive

12:19

problem. And you see people dealing

12:21

with inflation the highest in our lifetime. And so

12:24

these are I think, a palliative issues that

12:26

if we can hear from the center more often,

12:29

it's gonna change more hearts and minds. And so

12:31

that's why I'm super excited to get

12:34

to partner with you and do this and to keep the

12:36

torch going that you guys started, because

12:38

when you started during impeachment, it was unbelievable

12:40

and you guys. I don't know if everyone knows

12:42

this, but the story of how y'all started this and

12:45

at what time of night you started it, Like

12:47

when you said you were moonlighting, you weren't lying earlier

12:50

during the first impeachment, right which

12:53

impeachment we're talking about, But when

12:56

you guys started this, and I remember listening

12:59

and thinking, this is something

13:01

that's missing from the market, and that was

13:03

a conversation that was missing, and

13:06

being obviously a fan of yours, I remember

13:08

the first time I ever had you on my show when I was hosting

13:10

in Dallas, when you were running the impossible

13:12

campaign, yep, against the richest

13:15

guy that do hurt. You can't you can't touch

13:17

him, you can't. You know, this is an election

13:19

that's already tied up, it's done, and you came

13:22

out of nowhere and proved

13:24

all the experts wrong. And

13:27

that's you know, From that moment on, I was hooked.

13:31

Well, I will say this, it's

13:33

interesting that you use the phrase hearts and minds.

13:35

As both of you guys know, I'm obsessed

13:38

with what we got to do as conservatives is we have

13:40

to connect with people's hearts and minds. We've

13:43

got to reach beyond the people watching

13:45

Fox News. We got to reach young people, We got to

13:47

reach Hispanics and African Americans and suburban

13:49

moms. And it

13:52

has been amazing. You know, looking back, it's been two

13:54

and a half years since we started this podcast. We

13:57

started it, as you just noted, Ben, it was on the

13:59

very first day the first impeachment trial. We're

14:02

on the Senate floor till midnight,

14:04

one in the morning, jumped in a truck and headed over

14:06

to a basement studio. It

14:09

was dingy. I think we had this same craps

14:13

right, and and it

14:15

just started like walking off the Senate

14:17

floor, let's talk about it. And it went

14:20

from a standing start with zero

14:22

viewers, zero downloads two

14:26

within days, we shot

14:28

to the top of the charts. And I remember, I

14:30

remember that first night. We're sitting down

14:33

there. I've never done a podcast. We know how to do

14:35

this, and we're talking about it, and we were talking

14:37

about what would success look like, and

14:40

we talked about, okay, if we could break into the top

14:42

hundred. Ye that, by

14:45

the way, to this day is still an amazing accomplishment

14:48

if you even get there, yep, yeah, that that

14:50

would have I think we were speaking, not

14:52

even realistically. We were we were thinking that's

14:54

actually that would be an ambitious goal. Yep.

14:57

And then what was it? Four days later? And then we

14:59

like boom into the top hundred, and then we're in the top

15:01

ten, and then we climbed ten, nine, eight,

15:04

four three. We're sitting there going, holy crap, could

15:06

you imagine if we get and then boom

15:08

number one as we kicked Joe Rogan out of the out

15:10

of the spot. I mean, it was it was

15:13

crazy. And we've

15:15

done now, we've done one hundred and forty five

15:17

shows. We've had over

15:19

fifty million downloads of this podcast,

15:22

and every single week we

15:24

beat CNN's morning show, right,

15:26

And so that has been that's always been the mission,

15:30

Right, that's what you get as your bonus structure. You

15:32

get to beat CNN every week. That'll

15:34

make you wake up and do the shows. Right. But

15:36

but now with with with iHeart

15:39

stepping in to distribute and promote,

15:41

the reach is going to be that much broader.

15:44

And I think that's really exciting because this was always

15:46

about really equipping our

15:48

listeners. If you're gonna battle

15:50

to save the country, if you're gonna take

15:52

on the cultural Marxist

15:55

if you're going to take on the socialist and the people

15:58

coming at everything

16:00

that built America, you need the tools, you need

16:02

the information you need to know what's going on.

16:05

And the vision of this podcast was always

16:08

We're gonna give you as much of

16:10

those tools as possible so

16:12

that you're prepared and you know the inside

16:14

story. And so I

16:16

couldn't be more excited about this next step.

16:18

It is sad, you know, Michael,

16:21

you and I didn't know each other very well when we started RUM.

16:24

We have become very close

16:26

friends. We are remaining very close

16:29

friends. You know. I will note you know

16:31

when you started, you were, you know, an uptight,

16:33

young whipper snapper. Yea. And

16:37

for one hundred and fifth podcast, I'll just

16:39

say right now, we're in

16:41

Vegas, and for the first

16:43

time ever, Michael Jules is not wearing socks

16:48

skin. Yeah, And I will

16:51

tell you so when we cut, when Ben was walking

16:53

out of here, we cut the camera scene, and I will

16:55

tell you Michael was adjusting his uh,

16:57

adjusting his micro proceeded

17:00

to undo his belt. I'm like, Michael, Ben's

17:02

coming, do not drop your pants on

17:06

the podcast set. I was told this is Las

17:08

Vegas. What happens in Vegas.

17:11

I know that was okay that You're right,

17:13

No, it's true. I have now loosened up,

17:15

apparently to the point of political scandal,

17:18

but it has been really I mean, the show,

17:20

to your point, has really grown

17:23

and it's loosened and it's

17:25

changed, and we've gone on the road and we've

17:27

done all these great things. And it's so important

17:29

too to continue to hit new

17:32

and new audiences. And so you know,

17:34

we've cultivated this really, really

17:36

large, wonderful group of listeners. And

17:38

now moving over to with the show moving

17:40

over to a different platform, that's going to give us

17:43

new listeners. With the show moving to terrestrial

17:45

radio in some cases, that's going to give you an

17:47

entirely new Democrat. And Michael, I'll make

17:49

a promise to you right now that that

17:52

even though neither Ben nor I went there,

17:54

we will continue to make fun of you. You know, I'm really

17:56

easily that's not going to end. That's

17:58

going to be a consistent That's

18:00

part of my bonus structure they gave me was

18:03

that I get to make fun of Yale on a

18:05

regular vasis The first time I ever went I went

18:07

to Harvard Kenny School right after the OZ four

18:09

election. Yeah, and I walked if. They asked

18:11

me to speak, and I worked on the Bush campaign. They

18:13

were doing a retrospect of that campaign.

18:15

I walked up there. It's a big room of

18:18

people, and I walked up. I was younger, and I just

18:20

didn't say anything, and the room was just

18:22

kind of quiet, and I didn't

18:24

say anything, just kind of looked around and got to

18:26

the point where on purpose it was a little awkward, and I

18:28

leaned down. I was like, I just want to savor the moment.

18:30

There's no chance in hell I could have gotten into this

18:32

place, and now you're paying me to speak, and

18:35

the laughing. I was like,

18:37

I may never get to come back, but I'm going to enjoy

18:40

this moment right here, right now,

18:42

where the ivy leaguers jokes on you

18:45

and I got paid. That is

18:48

magnificent. It was fun. Well, you know,

18:50

to this point, before we go I mean, before we

18:52

sort of let people go in, there will be a whole new phase of verdict.

18:55

I do have to ask you, guys. We've got

18:57

the United States Senator here, been on the campaign trail

18:59

constantly. We've got a lecturer at Harvard Kennedy's

19:01

School for that's

19:04

right, where do we stand

19:06

thirty two days out from the elections. I

19:10

still think it's going to be an historical election. I think we're

19:12

gonna retake the Senate. I think we're gonna retake the House.

19:15

But you still think we're gonna retake the Senate. I

19:18

put the odds of the House at north of ninety

19:20

percent, and I think there's a real chance we have a big

19:22

majority in the House thirty forty fifty seats.

19:26

The Senate, I'd put the odds at about

19:28

sixty five thirty five. It's

19:30

not a great map, and if I were to predict

19:33

my prediction right now, is we end up with fifty

19:35

three Republicans. Okay, because previously

19:37

you had said sixty forty. I've gone back

19:40

and forth between sixty forty and sixty five thirty

19:42

five. A month ago, two months ago,

19:44

I was at sixty five thirty five. A month ago, I

19:46

was at sixty forty, and I'm back to sixty five

19:48

thirty five. So it it did

19:51

turn a little bit south about

19:53

a month ago, and I think the momentum has

19:55

turned again. I

19:58

think we're gonna win win

20:00

a bunch of seats. This bus tour is designed

20:03

to do that, Ben, what do you think. I

20:06

tend to agree with you on this. I think

20:08

that you're seeing a really last minute shift,

20:10

and I've noticed it on my show with callers.

20:13

There is a real level of

20:16

stress with the American people right now, with the economy.

20:18

I just was in California. You're

20:20

seeing six dollars seven dollars gallon gas,

20:23

new records. You see a present

20:25

that is just draining our strategical reserves,

20:27

and there's no way to not talk about now how

20:29

low they're going to be come election day. You

20:31

see what OPEC has just done, and

20:33

you're starting to see the housing market switching

20:36

very quickly. We just sold a house,

20:38

for example, in the real estate agent said, you're

20:40

lucky you got out when you did, because because

20:42

I think if we if this fell through and we went right

20:44

back on tomorrow, it's a desert,

20:47

he said, it is. We've not seen anything like

20:49

this, he said, since oh eight. And

20:51

I think people are feeling that stress. And

20:54

I think the closer, unfortunately, and

20:56

I hate this, but the closer

20:58

we get to election day, it's getting worse, not

21:01

better. And I don't think the President

21:03

can do anything at this point, or the Democrats

21:05

somehow commits you. Oh, no, really, it's gonna be okay.

21:08

Oh, it's gonna be fine.

21:09

I really think people

21:12

are feeling it now. Small businesses

21:14

are feeling I'm a small business owner. We're seeing it.

21:16

We lost money for the first time ever

21:18

last month in our restaurant. Food

21:21

costs skyrocketed, labor costs

21:23

are up, and people are feeling

21:25

it and we'd never experienced it before. The count call

21:27

and they're like, hey, you guys lost six

21:29

thousand, six hundred dollars. Well, and

21:32

when you hear that and you see it

21:34

and then you start saying, what do we do to fix it?

21:36

I think that's the conversation America's having.

21:39

So I agree with you. I think the Senate is definitely,

21:41

in my opinion, I think it's more than I think it's

21:43

probably even more optimistic than you are on that

21:45

because I think people are having these conversations

21:48

right now, and I think that's going to be the only

21:50

blessing disguises. We're going to get a change in leadership,

21:52

and we're gonna get to go back to fiscal responsibility

21:56

and go back to what was working, and

21:58

people are willing to listen listen to that

22:00

idea now well, and when you talk to candidates.

22:02

So we're here in Nevada. I think

22:04

Nevada presents the number

22:07

one best pickup opportunity for Republicans

22:09

in the Senate. Adam Laxalt. Adam is a terrific

22:11

guy. He's a close friend. He was attorney

22:13

general here in Nevada. His grandfather

22:16

was Paul Laxalt, who was the governor and

22:18

senator from Nevada. As

22:20

a legend in this state. He was Reagan's

22:22

best friend in the Senate. His grandfather was.

22:25

And Adam is pretty consistently running

22:28

three or four points ahead and the polls that's

22:30

been for about a month. He's been there. And

22:33

it's interesting, whether you talk to him or congressional

22:36

candidates all across the country, the Democrats

22:38

everywhere have just gone all in

22:41

an abortion. Every ad they're running is abortion,

22:43

abortion, abortion, abortion. And

22:45

I've been been pointing out, I said, look,

22:47

of course they are. What else

22:49

did they have to talk about? Imagine for a

22:51

second, God forbid? All right, Ben, you wake up tomorrow.

22:54

You're Catherine Cortez Masto's campaign

22:57

manager. Yeah, Now she's the incumbent Democrat

23:00

from Nevada. What are you going to talk about? You can't

23:02

talk about the economy because the economy has gone to crap

23:04

under Biden. Inflation is horrible.

23:06

By the way, Nevada has the second worst inflation

23:08

of any state in the Union. Gas

23:11

prices are through the roof, mortgages

23:13

have tripled. You certainly

23:15

can't talk crime, murder rates, carjacking

23:18

rates, all the crime rates of skyrocket are under

23:20

the Democrats. And you sure as hell can't talk

23:22

about immigration because the Southern borders

23:24

at the worst spot in sixty

23:26

two years. What you're going to talk for in policy? Isn't

23:29

it great we surrendered to the Taliban? Isn't

23:31

it great that all of our enemies are going well? Isn't

23:33

it great that we have the first major war

23:35

in Europe since World War friggin two? All

23:37

of this happened under Joe Biden. So

23:40

if you're a Democrat, what do

23:42

you talk about rather than fearmonger

23:45

on abortion and screaming abortion, abortion, abortion.

23:47

But look, I think people care about

23:50

kitchen table issues and what affects their family,

23:52

what affects literally putting the food

23:54

on their family, as people are having a hard time paying the grocery.

23:57

The CNN and Mint of this yesterday they said,

23:59

you know, I forget which commentator was on CNN

24:01

said, you know, I'm really surprised

24:03

that abortion consistently ranks

24:05

so low in people's priorities.

24:08

And if you've been paying attention to public

24:10

opinion polls for the last um thirty

24:13

years, you would know that is the case of both

24:15

both pro abortion and pro life. How does

24:17

it watch show thirty? You know, it's

24:21

an impressive tie there, But

24:25

you know, it's just not even

24:28

if your were all very pro life obviously

24:31

we've maybe do vote on abortion. We

24:33

are kind of outside the norm, you

24:36

know, And the same is true for people who support

24:38

abortion. It's just people vote

24:40

on the economy, they vote on safety, the vote on crime,

24:42

they vote on education, they vote on all these things

24:45

that as you say, Senator, the Democrats are just completely

24:47

dead in the water on and so there's just

24:49

a limit to what they can message it. There was

24:51

a joke that happened, and you may remember after

24:53

Donald Trump left office it was like I could really

24:56

use two fifty gallon gas

24:58

and a mean tweet right about now there

25:01

is when that came out, that first one

25:03

kind of hit and it turned into all the issues, like

25:05

you know, I really wish I could. I could use some police officers

25:08

right now and a mean tweet. It

25:11

is so all encompassing of this election

25:13

right now, and there's there's ideology and

25:15

then there's reality. And it's easy to be

25:17

a liberal and to seeing

25:19

these Kumbaya moments and the

25:22

you know, defund the police and what do we want dead

25:24

cops? And when do we want them now? Until

25:27

you see the crime come back, until you see

25:29

the interest rate skyrocket, until

25:31

you see the unemployment numbers, and when

25:33

these things start to happen, it

25:36

goes back to that mentality, right. I could

25:39

really use some of what we used to

25:41

have, and I think that's the opportunity

25:43

here. And if if, if, and you've seen

25:45

them on the road, I think the Republicans

25:48

are focused now. Conservatives are focused

25:50

on these issues and talking about them,

25:52

and that's going to be a huge difference on election

25:54

day. So I was in Arizona yesterday. We're

25:57

in Nevada today, Las Vegas.

26:00

Driving over to the studio, I pulled

26:03

up Drudge on my phone. Two

26:05

stories on Drudge right now. A

26:08

professor at

26:11

University of Arizona shot and killed

26:13

on campus. I'm like, crap,

26:16

we were there yesterday and today

26:18

Thursday morning. It's Thursday afternoon right now,

26:20

Thursday morning. There was a mass

26:23

stabbing in front of the Wind

26:26

Casino here in Las Vegas. Not

26:28

at two in the morning, Thursday friggin

26:30

morning. Yeah, like you

26:33

will talking about one. You want to talk

26:35

about real crap, like like people

26:39

you know, what was it Northern California.

26:41

You had some lunatic with a samurai sword

26:43

cut a woman's head off. Yeah, right right.

26:47

That is a real

26:50

threat to people when they look around their towns, in their

26:52

cities, they say, you know, crime is up, police

26:54

protection is down. There has been defunding

26:57

of the police abroad, as you mentioned,

26:59

the first major war in Europe since World War Two. There

27:01

is a lot of uncertainty out there. I

27:03

think personal

27:05

security, national securities is really going to

27:07

be at the forefront. If you're ranking things to

27:10

be worried about in America. It

27:12

used to be beheading didn't make the list.

27:14

Yeah, and now

27:16

are mass stabbings. Yeah,

27:18

and now you have these things there are certing to happen

27:21

in broad daylight in this country.

27:23

But where were they saying defund the police

27:26

Las Vegas. Yes, you had people

27:28

campaigning off of it. I mean, you

27:30

look at California and look at the crime

27:32

there. You look at even in Memphis, Tennessee,

27:34

a place that is a was defund

27:36

the police, and you saw this horrific

27:39

murder of this of this runner Liza Fletcher there.

27:41

Yeah, and you see that happen. And

27:44

now you see what the changes. You have the governor

27:46

that had to come down to step in just

27:48

to talk to the people because you had a liberal Democratic

27:51

mayor there. You have a liberal city council that

27:53

still is refusing to fund the police.

27:55

They are literally twelve hundred

27:57

police officers down from where there's supposed to be

27:59

a sound like Memphis, which is the second

28:02

most angerous city in America, and

28:04

they are refusing to even

28:06

change things as simple as saying, okay,

28:08

to get more cops, you can live outside

28:10

of the county. You can live right

28:13

across in Mississippi or Arkansas,

28:15

you know where Memphis is. And the Democrats

28:17

on the city counts they are saying, no, you have to

28:19

live here, and they're saying, we can't recruit enough

28:21

police officers with these ridiculous,

28:23

arbitrary ideas that you guys have put on us.

28:26

And people are starting to realize this is

28:28

now life and death. And you know, Michael

28:30

ben insists that they know how to

28:32

make barbecue at Memphis. I just

28:34

it's true. I believe it. Yeah.

28:38

Well, the speaking of all

28:40

these places around the country, the tour is going

28:42

to continue on. The show is going to continue

28:45

on. I think there's going to be a ton of energy

28:47

behind it. I cannot wait to see this

28:50

next phase. It's going to be amazing. I

28:52

cannot wait to come back and visit wherever

28:54

somewhere around the country, here or there. It's going to be

28:57

wonderful. It's in excellent hands with mister

28:59

Benkburg, It's in pretty good hands

29:01

with the Senator Tech. That's

29:03

good. That's good. It's gonna be wonderful. Guys. I can't wait.

29:05

And so for the last time from this chair,

29:08

it has been truly one of the great

29:10

pleasures and honors and privileges of my life

29:13

to start the show with you, Senator. I'm

29:15

getting choked up. I'm getting mushy. Michael, You're

29:17

a gentleman and a scholar, and the

29:19

kindest thing I know how to say about you is

29:22

Yale did not fully screw you up. That's

29:25

how sweet night. Listen, It's

29:28

really time

29:30

with the Verdict. It's

29:32

it's really wonderful. Cannot wait to see the

29:35

next steps. For the last

29:37

time from this chair, I'm Michael Knowles.

29:39

This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. This

29:50

episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is

29:52

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