Senator Ted Cruz | The All-In Inauguration Series

(0:00) Besties intro Senator Ted Cruz; history of the "Come and take it" flag (2:21) Texas vs. California: how to approach building and entrepreneurship (10:25) Thoughts on immigration, serving in the Senate, over-politicization (16:55) How to create a bipartisan consensus on immigration, increasing prosperity through opportunity (23:54) How Sen. Cruz would approach Trump's first two weeks of his second term (29:02) DOGE's two major challenges, unlimited Congressional terms, ideology over party, the great political flip (35:22) Trump's strategy on Greenland/Denmark, Panama Canal, and Canada (42:45) Thoughts on Senate confirmation hearings Follow the Besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow Senator Cruz: https://x.com/tedcruz Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect

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Senator Ted Cruz | The All-In Inauguration Series Podcast Episode Description

(0:00) Besties intro Senator Ted Cruz; history of the “Come and take it” flag

(2:21) Texas vs. California: how to approach building and entrepreneurship

(10:25) Thoughts on immigration, serving in the Senate, over-politicization

(16:55) How to create a bipartisan consensus on immigration, increasing prosperity through opportunity

(23:54) How Sen. Cruz would approach Trump’s first two weeks of his second term

(29:02) DOGE’s two major challenges, unlimited Congressional terms, ideology over party, the great political flip

(35:22) Trump’s strategy on Greenland/Denmark, Panama Canal, and Canada

(42:45) Thoughts on Senate confirmation hearings

Follow the Besties:

https://x.com/chamath

https://x.com/Jason

https://x.com/DavidSacks

https://x.com/friedberg

Follow Senator Cruz:

https://x.com/tedcruz

Follow on X:

https://x.com/theallinpod

Follow on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod

Follow on TikTok:

@theallinpod

Follow on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod

Intro Music Credit:

https://rb.gy/tppkzl

https://x.com/yung_spielburg

Intro Video Credit:

https://x.com/TheZachEffect
This interactive media player was created automatically by Speak. Want to generate intelligent media players yourself? Sign up for Speak!

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Senator Ted Cruz | The All-In Inauguration Series Podcast Episode Summary

In this episode of the All In podcast, the hosts engage in a comprehensive discussion with Senator Ted Cruz, focusing on the benefits of the podcast format for in-depth conversations, particularly on contentious issues like immigration. Cruz emphasizes the importance of having substantive discussions rather than brief, polarized exchanges typical of mainstream media. He highlights the need for a consensus-driven approach to immigration, citing countries like Canada, Japan, and Australia as examples where immigration policies align with economic needs and unemployment rates.

The conversation also touches on the political climate in Washington, D.C., where policy discussions often become politicized rather than focusing on the country’s best interests. Cruz and the hosts express concern over the polarization in media consumption, where individuals only engage with content that aligns with their political views, leading to echo chambers and a lack of constructive dialogue.

Cruz shares insights from his podcast, Verdict, where he engages in civil discussions on conservative ideas, even inviting antagonistic questions to foster open dialogue. He recounts a positive experience at Yale, where a large group of students participated in a constructive conversation on conservative topics, highlighting the potential for meaningful discourse.

On policy matters, Cruz discusses the need for an “all of the above” energy strategy and the importance of extending and expanding the 2017 Trump tax cuts. He criticizes the Biden administration’s foreign policy, suggesting it has alienated allies and shown weakness to adversaries, and expresses a desire for a more assertive approach.

Overall, the episode underscores the value of open, fact-based discussions and the need to bridge political divides through dialogue and consensus-building.

This summary was created automatically by Speak. Want to transcribe, analyze and summarize yourself? Sign up for Speak!

Senator Ted Cruz | The All-In Inauguration Series Podcast Episode Transcript (Unedited)

Speaker: 0
00:04

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the All In podcast. We’re here at the inauguration of our 47th president, Donald j Ram, and we have a very special guest joining us on our coverage, senator Ted Cruz ram the great state, now my great state, of Texas. Welcome to the oil and podcast.

Speaker: 1
00:21

And welcome to Texas.

Speaker: 0
00:23

It’s pretty great. Where’d you get the boots? Any chance I can get a recommendation here,

Speaker: 1
00:27

a referral? Oh, that’s easy. These are Lucchese. Lucchese, the factory is in El Paso. They’re handmade there. They arya beautiful. Okay. And and these particular boots, the front of them have the senate seal on on them.

Speaker: 2
00:39

Oh, that’s that’s strong. That’s

Speaker: 1
00:41

strong. And the back of that That’s really great. Have the come and take it flag Woah. Which I don’t know. Do you know the history of the come and take it flag?

Speaker: 0
00:49

I was about to ask you.

Speaker: 1
00:50

K. Since you’re a new Texan, this is important.

Speaker: 3
00:52

And he started saying y’all, so he’s adapting, but he needs to learn.

Speaker: 0
00:55

Y’all gotta stop giving me a hard time about that. Okay?

Speaker: 1
00:58

Alright. So Sir. Texas in the 18 20s 1830s, we were part of Mexico. Right. And the dictator of Mexico was General Santa Anna. And there’s a little town in south Texas called the town of Gonzales. And General Sana sent an order to the Texians, which is what we were called back then, Texians, to hand over their guns and there was a cannon that guarded the city.

Speaker: 1
01:21

And General Sana Anna said, Hand over the cannon. And the Texians responded by making a flag with an image of the cannon and underneath it the legend, come and take it.

Speaker: 0
01:32

Mhmm. Oh, wow.

Speaker: 1
01:34

And and they flew it over the town and that was the beginning of the Texas Revolution. Now the epilogue is Santa Ana came in with about 6,000 soldiers and he did in fact take the cannon. I mean, Gonzales was a tiny little town and the Texas revolution was very much like the American revolution. We lost every damn battle. The Alamo was a slaughter.

Speaker: 1
01:52

Goliad was sai slaughter, much like Washington where every battle he lost and lost and lost. And then at San Jacinto, we won, defeated Sana Ana, general Sam Houston, and we became our own nation, the Republic of Texas, from 1836 to 18 ai.

Speaker: 0
02:07

Says something about resiliency, doesn’t it?

Speaker: 1
02:09

It does.

Speaker: 0
02:09

Let me ask you a question. Having lived in New York and grown up there, and then done 20 years, in California now, ai 2nd year in Texas or starting my 2nd year. It’s amazing to me that you’re allowed to build things in Texas, like homes or factories, and the price of homes has gone down 2 years in a row.

Speaker: 0
02:31

And then the other two places I live, the price of homes go up every year at 10, 20%. And then you don’t have state taxes. Yep. How is all this possible when you look at it just from first principles? How are you able to accomplish so much development in Texas when in California, the NIMBYism, like, literally if you wanna build Yeah.

Speaker: 2
02:52

It’s a great question.

Speaker: 0
02:53

A a cancer ward for children, they’ll stop you because it throws shade on a protected species of flower.

Speaker: 1
03:00

So California used to know the answer to this. 50 years ago, California was the economic engine of the country. And unfortunately, you’re cursed by idiot politicians who were destroying this this mighty economic engine. You know, none of this is rocket science. In in Texas, we believe in freedom.

Speaker: 1
03:18

We believe in low taxes and low regulations. And and to understand the state, Texas was basically founded by a bunch of wildcatters who were guys with 4th grade educations that began drilling holes in the ground and one after the other became the richest man on earth. And and the ethos of Texas you know, it was interesting.

Speaker: 1
03:40

Number of years ago, I was visiting with with a CEO and an executive team of a company that had moved from California to Texas. And they didn’t have any Texas ties, but they were just fed up with California. They moved to Texas. Sai I was asking them. They don’t have only been in Texas for a couple of months.

Speaker: 1
03:54

Ai, I said, ‘Alright, what’s the biggest difference?’ And I thought maybe they’d say ‘taxes’ or maybe ‘regulations’ or maybe ‘lawsuits.’ Those were the ai things I was gonna guess. Their answer blew me away. They said, the biggest difference is the culture.’ And what they said is in California, if you’re in business, you’re a pariah.

Speaker: 1
04:13

They said look, there’s an exception for tech and an exception for Hollywood.

Speaker: 2
04:17

If you want.

Speaker: 1
04:18

Well shah was their view but they were not in tech or Hollywood. They were in sanitation which was not a sexy business. Mhmm. And and the way they described it, they said if you’re at a party and someone asks what do you do when you say I’m a businessman, they said people would turn around and walk away.

Speaker: 1
04:32

And I sana say as a Texan, that is weird. I mean, we’d lionize entrepreneurs.

Speaker: 3
04:38

But California was a pioneering state. The Gold Rush. What happened? Because it’s, you know, it’s always easy to blame idiot politicians, but in a democracy Yeah. Those politicians are elected by the voters. So that something where did the voters go that caused this change in that state compared to where the voters went in Texas when they both came from and all of America, all of the United States, all the the states of the republic came from a a pioneering bryden?

Speaker: 1
05:06

Well, there is a cause and effect, And you go back to 1987, and 1987 is when Ronald Reagan signed amnesty into place. And at the time, there were 3,000,000 illegal immigrants living in the United States. And the congress went to the American people and said, alright. We got a deal for you. Sana gonna secure the border. We’re gonna fix the problem of illegal immigration forever.

Speaker: 1
05:25

And in exchange, we’re gonna give amnesty to the 3,000,000 people who are here illegally now.

Speaker: 2
05:30

Right.

Speaker: 1
05:31

And in 87, the American people said, okay. That sounds like a reasonable deal. They took the deal. Mhmm. Now we now know what happened, which is the amnesty happened, but the border never got secured. What did that mean for California? The highest concentration of illegal immigrants was in California. 1988, California voted Republican. The presidential race as it had for 6 consecutive years 6 consecutive cycles Right. Previously.

Speaker: 1
05:58

ai was the last year California ever went Republican. Walter Schwarzenegger? For president.

Speaker: 3
06:05

Oh, for president. Yeah.

Speaker: 1
06:06

In in the presidential race.

Speaker: 3
06:07

On the president.

Speaker: 1
06:08

And so I think the amnesty law played a significant part, the federal law changing the voting composition of the state. Yeah. And then and look. You guys would know the state politics more, but it also seemed to me that you have the public employee unions in California that ai that they could vote themselves more and more of of of the largess.

Speaker: 3
06:28

The ultimate feeling the ultimate failure of democracy. Right?

Speaker: 1
06:31

And it,

Speaker: 2
06:33

So Jason brought up a really important question to kick this off. I just wanna give you a chance to maybe expand on it, which is there are so many examples. Texas is 1. You can look abroad. The UAE as an as an example is another, where there’s a high degree of quality of infrastructure and Yep.

Speaker: 2
06:54

You know, civility, social services, education, security, but you don’t have the traditional taxation. Right. And so how is Texas able to actually keep the wheels on? And states like California, which has, you know, $322,000,000,000 bryden, is just completely falling apart. How like, what is what what happens?

Speaker: 2
07:19

Because you then see everything at the federal level, but when you go back to your state, you sai, hey, we don’t have, and and your real estate taxes aren’t that much ai, are they, than California? Yeah.

Speaker: 1
07:29

The the real estate taxes are a little bit higher, but we have no income tax. So it more more than makes up for it. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: 0
07:34

That’s that’s 2% 1 and a half to pound.

Speaker: 1
07:36

That’s the principal avenue of taxation. You got real estate taxes and sales taxes or or where the state and and local governments get their taxes. But no income tax. Look, some of it is. Government does less. I meh, there’s a philosophy that government doesn’t have to spend and provide everything.

Speaker: 1
07:51

Government does police and firefighters and roads and does the basic responsibilities of government.

Speaker: 2
07:58

Right.

Speaker: 1
07:58

But it’s not engaged in funding every pet project of every politician. Right. That’s part of it. You know, you look at across the ai. I mean, it is not a complicated migration pattern that people are fleeing bright blue states with high taxes and high regulations.

Speaker: 2
08:19

Yeah.

Speaker: 1
08:20

And they arya coming to red states with low taxes and low regulations.

Speaker: 0
08:24

And it’s safety.

Speaker: 1
08:26

So we’ve had it has now been more than a decade that we have had over a 1000 people a day moving to Texas. So when I was first elected 13 years ago, we had 26,000,000 Texans. Today, we have over 31,000,000 Texans. So we’ve added 5,000,000 Texans in 13 years. And and the biggest state folks come from is California. It’s interesting, the migration pattern. You get a lot of California to Texas.

Speaker: 1
08:50

New Yorkers tend to go to Florida more. We get some New Yorkers, but but for whatever reason, West Coast folks seem to prefer Texas and East Coast folks seem to prefer Florida.

Speaker: 3
09:00

But

Speaker: 1
09:00

I actually think the competition in terms of where we lose people to, we lose people either to Florida or Tennessee. Those are about the only two places if someone’s thinking of leaving, and I love that competition. I want Florida and Tennessee to be out fighting and saying we can create an even better environment for small businesses and jobs.

Speaker: 1
09:20

And and part of it is the number one reason people come to Texas is Texas where the jobs are. And you want an environment where you have small businesses that are doing great, but people also sana be safe. And and so, you know, you look at things like like defunding the police or Soros prosecutors that let murderers go.

Speaker: 0
09:38

Yep.

Speaker: 1
09:39

And that gives people a pretty acute incentive to get the heck out.

Speaker: 0
09:42

We, were involved in the recall of Ches Boudin Yep. Our podcast, and David Sacks, our our compatriot, who couldn’t make it. He’s he’s busy working, with you guys here. But, yeah, this this crime issue seems people have seemed to lost, they seem to have lost the script on who the state is working for, the taxpayers or the criminals.

Speaker: 0
10:05

And in Texas, it’s just extraordinary that you’ve figured out that you could prioritize the people not committing crime and not cater to the people committing crime. I mean, I’m saying this in the most facetious way possible, but it’s just common sense. And I think it it feels to me like Californians have had enough, and it’s just gonna take a a decade or 2 to unwind it.

Speaker: 0
10:25

But let’s let’s double click on immigration since the the great state of Texas has to deal with this more than anybody. But this is a land of immigrants. We are all immigrants on this saloni. Yep. And so that’s our tradition. In fact, you’re sitting next to 2 extraordinary immigrants, my my besties, Chamath and Friberg.

Speaker: 0
10:41

What do you believe at this point in time? Is America for the Americans who are here, or do you believe we should be getting the best and brightest to come to this country?

Speaker: 1
10:50

Look. Absolutely both. Okay. I have, for a long time, described my immigration views in in four words. Legal, good. Illegal, bad.

Speaker: 0
11:00

Okay.

Speaker: 1
11:02

I think most Americans, most Texans agree with that.

Speaker: 2
11:04

And most immigrants.

Speaker: 1
11:06

Look, there’s a right way to come to this country. There’s the way you came to this country. There’s the way my dad came to this country. I mean, my ai was born in Cuba. He grew up in Cuba. He fought in the Cuban Revolution. When he was a teenager, he fought, was thrown in prison, he was tortured when he was 17 years old. And he came to Texas in 1957.

Speaker: 1
11:23

He he was 18, couldn’t speak English. Had $100 in his underwear, and he washed dishes, making 50¢ an hour. But he came legally because he had applied to the University of Texas. He’d gotten in. He came on a student visa.

Speaker: 1
11:35

And he was an 18 year old freshman, and he started going to school here. And he came legally and he worked and and got a job and went on in time to start a small business and and

Speaker: 0
11:45

and worked for him. Success? Is he still with us?

Speaker: 1
11:47

Or He is. My dad is 85.

Speaker: 0
11:49

Oh ai god. What a dream for him.

Speaker: 1
11:51

He he is my hero. It is he he’s an incredible he I will say when you have lost freedom, it’s personal to you. Yeah. You know, people ask sometimes, you know, why why do you do politics? And and I grew up as a kid, I would sit on the floor saloni with my cousin Bibi with my dad and and Bibi’s mom, ai tia Sana.

Speaker: 1
12:15

And she also she was also imprisoned and tortured in Cuba. And we would sit and sit and listen to them tell stories. And all I ever wanted to do from when I was 3, 4, 5 years old was was be a freedom fighter. Ai mean it was it’s inspiring because what they said and still say and they’re both still going strong is is, ‘Look, if the only thing that prevents us from tyranny is having good people in office who will fight for our freedoms.

Speaker: 1
12:44

And so I gotta tell you today, I I literally jump out of bed every day because I I look at the US Sana, and I I think it is basically the Roman Colosseum. And and you strap on

Speaker: 0
12:56

some

Speaker: 1
12:56

armor and you grab a battle axe sana and you go fight the barbarians. And and that is that that’s an amazing opportunity. I I feel blessed and fortunate every day.

Speaker: 0
13:06

You are in the arena. Yeah.

Speaker: 3
13:07

Do you think it’s become we were talking with Roe Connaugh, congressman from California, earlier, today, and we talked about how there might be good policy put forth bryden of the 2 parties, but the other party’s intention is always to get more seats, get more attention, get more votes, and hurt the other party. So we end up having conflict over policy. Do you feel like there’s too much of that in DC?

Speaker: 3
13:33

And a lot of people talk about the, you know, everything has become too politicized as opposed to you know, I always think about the show. I love the show The West Wing, and he always talks about the great debate. You know, like, we never have the great debate anymore. We don’t talk about the meh, you know, policy decisions. We talk about the Republican said this and so and so.

Speaker: 3
13:49

That gets sana, and it gets political as opposed to, like, let’s all take our hats off and talk about what’s the right thing for the country, Doge being a great example of my opinion. But I’d love to hear your point of view on how things operate in DC today.

Speaker: 1
14:00

Well well, listen. I I agree with your point at the outset, which is that we need to talk to each other. I worry that we are too polarized and and ai, that the left only listens to left wing media, the right listens to right wing media. Anyone who disagrees, you scream at them. The the sense of community and and that we used to have has been badly badly unraveled.

Speaker: 1
14:27

You know, on social media, if someone disagrees with you, you unfriend them. And and we’re all in this little echo chamber.

Speaker: 3
14:32

But we’re all patriots is the sad part. All Americans. All Americans.

Speaker: 1
14:36

But we’re we’re living in alternate realities. And and sai, look, what y’all are doing is really important. I’m grateful for this podcast. We gotta talk to each other. I do a podcast every week called Verdict with Ted Cruz.

Speaker: 2
14:47

Yep.

Speaker: 1
14:48

We’ve got about a 1000000 unique listeners that listen to the Verdict podcast. And we do it Monday, Wednesday Ai. Every speak, my podcast is beating CNN.

Speaker: 2
14:58

Yeah. It’s incredible.

Speaker: 1
14:59

And I think the reason is the same reason people listen to you ai. Because you’re actually talking about issues and you’re not just screaming at each other. You know, it’s it’s not Jerry Springer go grab a a chair and fling it at somebody, but it’s have a real and substantive conversation.

Speaker: 1
15:13

And I’ll tell you one of the things that I’ve done and enjoyed is I’ve taken the podcast on the road to college campus. And so

Speaker: 2
15:20

a couple of What has that been like?

Speaker: 1
15:22

Well, for example, we did one at at Yale a couple of years ago and had about 700 students come out, and I didn’t know how the reaction would be. And interestingly enough, about a third of the students were left of center. And and and I know that because it was right after Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed.

Speaker: 1
15:38

And I made a reference to that, and about a third of the room began cheering. And and I stopped and I said, hey. Look. The the fact that you’re cheering at that shows that, obviously, we’re coming from different places on the political spectrum. I said, I wanna thank you especially for coming here, because you may not agree with me on on everything or even most things.

Speaker: 0
15:59

Yeah.

Speaker: 1
15:59

But but thank you for coming and being part of a conversation. And so we did about 90 minutes of all q and a. And and we had a rule. We said if if you have a hostile question, if you have an antagonistic question, come to the front of the line. And we spent 90 minutes having a real conversation. Afterwards, I I went out with an orthodox rabbi on campus, and and we got a drink.

Speaker: 1
16:21

And he said he said, Ted, you know, Ai I’ve been working on Yale’s campus for decades. He said, this is the biggest group of students I’ve seen have a positive civil constructive conversation on conservative ideas, he said, in 20 years. Mhmm.

Speaker: 0
16:36

There’s something about the podcast format where you’re taking a little bit of time. You’re not rushed in 6 or 7 minutes like you are on the weekly shows where I see you all the tyler, and and that’s sparring. Yeah. And you you’re just trying to get a message out in 3 minutes, 5 minutes.

Speaker: 0
16:50

But here, you know, you can open it up, maybe listen to each other, invite guests in with different opinions, learn something. With the specifically the immigration issue, which seems to be the one that’s tearing us apart a whole bunch, there’s so much consensus. Hey. We we want the border closed.

Speaker: 0
17:03

We want it legal, but we also wanna bring in a certain number of people, and we want a system. And, you know, I did my research on this, and places that have consensus ai Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, just they they seem to understand that you need to match immigration to the reality of unemployment and which jobs you need.

Speaker: 0
17:23

But the one criticism I have of politicians, which I think you’re one of

Speaker: 1
17:28

Sadly guilty as charged.

Speaker: 0
17:29

Yeah. Is you you you all don’t talk about it in numbers. We need this many nurses. We need this many doctors. We need this many construction people. We have 4% unemployment record. Great job, to our politicians in helping that out. You know, we can bring in 2,000,000 people this year. Hey.

Speaker: 0
17:46

If it goes up to 5%, we’re gonna bring in 1.5. I I wish that the discussion could be more granular and with numbers, and you guys could actually say it’s not ai. It’s 450. Because if we were in a business decision here and we do business together and we say, hey. We have to deploy these resources to get this outcome, But it’s so contentious and polarized and not fact and number based.

Speaker: 0
18:07

Why is that on this issue that you guys can’t just put some numbers on paper?

Speaker: 1
18:11

So well, look. There there are a lot of numbers that matter intensely. Let’s start at one where you talked about low unemployment. As you know, that number can be deceptive because we also have among the lowest labor force participation we’ve ever had.

Speaker: 0
18:23

62% right now?

Speaker: 1
18:24

And so there are millions that have just dropped out of the labor force altogether. They’re not measured in in top line unemployment, but it’s still a real challenge. We have healthy young adults who should be working and who are not working.

Speaker: 0
18:37

Why aren’t they, in your mind? Is it because they have the resources to not do that?

Speaker: 1
18:41

Ai. I think it and I think it varies state by state. But I think when you have a welfare state where you get paid for not working

Speaker: 0
18:47

Pay incentive.

Speaker: 1
18:48

People end up not working. And the statistics are really crushing that if anyone doesn’t work for a year, the odds of their going back to the workforce drop precipitously. Right. That that that once someone gets the habit of dependency Ai I’ve said a bunch of times, you know, I I try to think of of every policy from the perspective of easing the means of ascent up the economic ladder.

Speaker: 1
19:12

And I think about, you know, my dad when he was a teenage kid in Austin washing dishes. Thank God some well meaning liberal didn’t come to him and and sai: Rafael, let meh take care

Speaker: 2
19:23

of you.

Speaker: 1
19:24

Just stay home. Let me send you a government check. Don’t work so hard. And and it’s utterly destructive. It it it breaks your your self respect, your individual responsibility.

Speaker: 3
19:35

But it comes from an empathetic place, senator, senator. So and and and I I know this, like, in Yes. You know, in kind of a a liberal setting, you see people in need, you wanna help them, and you use government as a tool to help people in need. And the fundamental issue is that in many cases, that creates an incentive model that makes it very difficult for that solution for that situation to find a solution on its own, a market solution.

Speaker: 3
19:57

And over time, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and you have cascading effects that I believe we’re now realizing in this country with what I estimated somewhere between 40 to 50% of people that are employed in this country employed by government or government, service providers.

Speaker: 1
20:13

And you’re right that much of it is not from ill will. And and and but we do need to have a real conversation about what works to lift people into prosperity. And and ai the way, all of us know this in our own life. If if your kid let’s say you have a kindergartner who’s struggling with math.

Speaker: 1
20:29

There’s not a one of us who would do our kids’ math homework. Yep. We know that’s not helping them. That that that that if your daughter doesn’t learn to do arithmetic, it’s gonna hurt her for the rest of her life. So you’ve gotta work through that problem with her even if it’d be easier for you just to finish it for her.

Speaker: 3
20:45

Yes. Right.

Speaker: 1
20:46

We know that in our lives. You know, the old adage of give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man a fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

Speaker: 3
20:53

Right.

Speaker: 1
20:54

We know that with people we love. But yet when it comes to public policy, you have a lot of people who don’t think about it more broadly. I’ll say back in 2017, I I did 3 different CNN town hall debates with Bernie Sanders. And listen, I like Bernie because he is an unapologetic socialist Yeah.

Speaker: 1
21:14

And I’m an unapologetic capitalist. And we had 90 minute town hall debates on on which system was better for maximizing human prosperity and abundance. Yep. And we didn’t insult each other. Neither of us called each other a son of a bitch. Yep. We talked about the facts and and and I’ll point out something.

Speaker: 1
21:31

Let’s take socialized medicine. It’s interesting. The ask the advocates of socialized medicine when I pointed out all of the problems socialized medicine produces in every country in which it’s been meh. United Kingdom, Canada. Bernie’s answer was, well, it wouldn’t be that way here. So the reality would not be here.

Speaker: 1
21:50

Every year about 50,000 Canadians come to America in what they call medical tourism because they can’t get the medical care they need in Canada. And I will suggest to you a question, particularly for those of y’all that are Californians, that I love asking advocates of socialized medicine. Why don’t California adopt it? Right.

Speaker: 1
22:10

You’ve got a Democrat governor. You’ve got a Democrat super majority legislature. There’s no constitutional impediment. California could adopt socialized medicine today.

Speaker: 2
22:18

Yep. Right.

Speaker: 1
22:19

It’s not the mean old Republicans that are stopping them. And as you know, the legislature looked at it and realized it would bankrupt them. By the way, Vermont, Bernie’s home state, They could adopt it and the reason you don’t see California or New York or Illinois or Vermont or any blue state in America adopt social ai medicine

Speaker: 2
22:36

That wouldn’t work.

Speaker: 3
22:37

Doesn’t work.

Speaker: 1
22:38

It wouldn’t work and people would flee their state and so their answer is we wanna do it to everyone in the entire country sai you can’t flee. Unless you’re willing to leave America, you’re stuck.

Speaker: 3
22:48

And I think what’s challenging, senator, is that then you have compromises that get you to a point where the federal government has a big enough role in health care. Yeah. My opinion is much of the inflation in health care costs arises from the federal government’s role. In the same way that the federal government has a role in student loans that has driven up the cost of education, and the federal government has a role in providing loans for housing, has also driven up the cost of housing.

Speaker: 3
23:10

Education. Education across the board.

Speaker: 0
23:12

It distorts the framework.

Speaker: 3
23:13

But but the the the empathetic solution is we need to provide access to those who can’t get it. And then at the end of the day, it inflates the cost of all of those services. And ultimately, the quality of the services erodes, and I’ll give you the anecdote real quick. Yeah. My brother lives in England.

Speaker: 3
23:25

They just had a a child, him he and his partner, and they went to the delivery ram, and they couldn’t get a bed for late she was in labor. They could not get a bed to have the baby. I think it took them 36 to 730 minutes to actually get into a bed while she was in labor. It was the most insane, he’s calling me, you can’t get a bed. It was Ai like, you’re living in the friggin’ UK.

Speaker: 3
23:44

This is supposed to be one of the wealthiest nations on Earth. That’s the outcome of socialized medicine. And along the way, you get the inflationary effects that we’re dealing with in the United States today. I’m with you on Chamathria. I’m sorry.

Speaker: 2
23:56

Let’s, you’re the quarterback. K. Quarterback the next 2 weeks of the Trump administration.

Speaker: 1
24:03

Well, on Monday, we’re gonna see a flurry of executive orders. I think it’ll be in the neighborhood of a 100 executive orders. I’m ai husking about them. That’s the number they’re talking about. Wow. It it it it’s going to be in that neighborhood.

Speaker: 0
24:13

Shah and awe.

Speaker: 1
24:14

And I actually I’m I’m pretty happy about that. Now look. Will I agree with all 100? I don’t know. My guess is I’ll agree with the vast majority of them, but I don’t know everything that’s in there, so we’ll see.

Speaker: 2
24:24

And in some ways, it’ll just make it almost impossible for the Democrats to react because where do you focus?

Speaker: 1
24:30

Yes. And and and, Jamal, that’s actually a point. You know, I think back to so my wife, Heidi, and I met on the 2000 George w Bush campaign, and and so we both served, as young people in the Bush administration. And and Ai I think there is a quantum of outrage, and I call it the arsenic quantum of outrage.

Speaker: 1
24:49

If you remember the beginning of Bush 43, one of the first things he did is his EPA revoked a rule on arsenic. And for ai 6 weeks, the media saturated the airwaves with the evil Republicans sana poison our children with arsenic. And Ai mean, it was it dominated forever and they beat the living daylights out of him for.

Speaker: 1
25:10

Now look, Monday when you get a 100 executive orders, I think that’s how much outrage there is.

Speaker: 2
25:15

Mhmm.

Speaker: 1
25:16

And that arsenic quantum of outrage will be directed at everything It’s smeared. Which makes it very hard for them to oppose anything coherently and directly and gives an opportunity, I hope, for this administration. What I’d like to see is really delivering on the mandate of this election.

Speaker: 1
25:36

The outcomes in November were So

Speaker: 2
25:38

let’s ask that. What were yeah. What were the if you had to distill, what are your specific takeaways as the mandate in priority?

Speaker: 1
25:44

So number 1, secure the bryden. And ai I believe that’ll start on January 20th. It will start by ending catch and release so that when people are apprehended, they are detained, and they’re sent back to where they came from. Yeah. Ai think that will be followed up by going and arresting criminal illegal aliens, going and arresting murderers and rapists and child molesters and and gangbangers.

Speaker: 1
26:06

I think all of that will roll out very, very fast. I think there is also a mandate to end the federal government’s war on energy, on Texas oil and gas, and that will lower prices at the gas pump, at the grocery store, every bill people are paying. And I think if you look at the top two issues in this election, it it was illegal immigration and safety, and it was inflation and the economy.

Speaker: 1
26:32

I think we will also see a lessening of the job killing regulations on small businesses, a return to thriving booming economic growth. What would those be? Ai. There arya host of them. Energy is is is the easy example where where the the Biden administration’s put in over 90 different regulations and executive orders all designed to drive up the cost of energy.

Speaker: 0
26:58

Right. So the input gets higher and everybody suffers. Got it.

Speaker: 1
27:01

And so I expect I expect pretty much all of those to be reversed.

Speaker: 3
27:05

Hydrocarbon. And then subsidies for, quote, green energy.

Speaker: 1
27:10

Look. I I think on energy, we ought to pursue all of the above. Mhmm. Beyond that, I think I think there is also a mandate on the economic side. The 2017 Trump tax cuts are expiring this year. We’re going to extend them. My hope is we make them bigger and bolder. That’s gonna take some time.

Speaker: 1
27:28

We’ll do that through what’s called the reconciliation process. And then on on foreign policy, I think under Biden, we have abandoned and alienated our friends, and we’ve shown weakness and appeasement to our enemies. I think that will stop ai Monday as

Speaker: 3
27:45

well. Senator, you just said ai things, but what you didn’t say was Doge. So cutting taxes, there’s an inflation problem. There’s no way you’re cutting taxes and not cutting government spending and not tampering inflation down. Don’t we have to cut federal spending? How important is Doge?

Speaker: 3
28:00

How real is it? Is it a marketing gimmick from your point of view? How much can actually be done? Is it a real you know, is is this kind of required legislative authority and it’s gonna be a longer form process, or is there gonna be a lot of very quick

Speaker: 1
28:14

action? So and I’m happy to answer that directly. Let me just say one thing you just said there, with respect is incorrect.

Speaker: 3
28:20

Yes.

Speaker: 1
28:21

You said there’s no way we’re cutting taxes and not cutting spending and having inflation stay down. And I just say that’s objectively false because that’s exactly what happened in the 1st Trump term, which is the 2017 tax cuts. CBO had these apocalyptic projections Forecast.

Speaker: 3
28:37

Yep.

Speaker: 1
28:37

About So

Speaker: 3
28:38

you’re saying tax revenue grow went up as the as the economy grew?

Speaker: 1
28:41

Tax revenue went up every single year. Right. After we cut the taxes, the revenue from the federal government went up. Sure. We cut taxes. Sadly, we did not cut spending.

Speaker: 2
28:50

Yeah.

Speaker: 1
28:51

I tried mightily to cut spending Yeah. But we did not have the votes to do it, and inflation still stayed down. So if the economy’s booming Yeah. You can turn things around. Look, Doge

Speaker: 3
29:02

But is there a deficit mandate?

Speaker: 1
29:04

So I am excited about Doge. Elon is a good friend. I admire the hell out of him. I’m thrilled that he’s a Texan. You know, I’ve joked with Elon that that that he doesn’t just think outside the box. He doesn’t know there is a damn box. That that’s a great thing. Now Elon calls me periodically going, what alright. What the hell is this government thing? How does this work this way?

Speaker: 1
29:28

And I’m I’m trying to give whatever guidance I can on that, but I think how you deal with, a disruptor in government is going to be an interesting challenge. Vivek is is very smart, very creative. I will say a couple of challenges. Right now look. I’m I’m excited about Doge. I wanna see some big bold creative ideas.

Speaker: 1
29:53

I’m gonna give you two warning signs. Number 1, the phrase waste, fraud, and abuse. Mhmm. Anytime someone talks about waste, fraud, and abuse, they don’t really sana cut government spending. You know why? Because there is no waste, fraud, and abuse caucus.

Speaker: 1
30:08

There’s no one that sai, I’m for the waste. Sai it’s the easy place to go. We’ll cut the waste. If you actually cut real government spending, there is always always always a constituency who’s pissed off, who likes the thing they’re getting.

Speaker: 3
30:23

Totally.

Speaker: 1
30:24

And so you have lots of politicians who

Speaker: 0
30:25

stand out.

Speaker: 3
30:26

They’re gonna lose their votes.

Speaker: 1
30:27

Right. Somebody will be mad.

Speaker: 3
30:29

That’s right.

Speaker: 1
30:30

And and so that is a challenge. I will say secondly, at least in the first term, Donald Trump did not campaign as a small government conservative and he did not govern as a small government conservative. And in fact, I I I will relay a story. At at the end of the first term, you remember we’re in COVID and and the government is in the business of sending out checks and more checks and more checks to people all over the country.

Speaker: 1
30:56

And Trump wanted the checks to be even bigger. And a lot of the folks in the White House, they asked meh. They said, Ted, can can you go try to talk him talk him down from this ledge?

Speaker: 0
31:06

Yep. Oh, that’s a tough job.

Speaker: 1
31:07

So so I went on Air Force 1, and and I’m sitting there with the president. I’m trying to make the case that we don’t need these gigantic, stimulus checks. And he goes, Meh, then I get the back of the hand. He goes, Ted, no one ever lost an election by spending too much money. I said, yeah.

Speaker: 1
31:25

But they did bankrupt the country. Sai I did not succeed then.

Speaker: 0
31:30

Well, you know what you should’ve done? You should’ve asked him to keep the same number, but just make the check larger and the signature bigger.

Speaker: 1
31:35

That’s a good idea. Look, I’ll I’ll go with him. He likes big.

Speaker: 3
31:38

Are you a small government conservative?

Speaker: 1
31:39

Very much so.

Speaker: 3
31:40

And is what percent if there if no one was gonna be able to run for reelection, what percent of Congress do you think would support a massive reduction in government agencies? How much of this really is driven by this kind of Sai gotta get reelected?

Speaker: 1
31:54

So look, it’s it’s a good question. I versus

Speaker: 3
31:56

what Ai what versus what my principles tell me.

Speaker: 1
31:58

Yeah. Listen. I I am also a passionate advocate of terminals. So so I have introduced, in every Congress a constitutional amendment that would limit senators to 2 terms, limit house members to 3 terms. Yeah. I think term limits would change that dynamic in a very significant way.

Speaker: 3
32:13

Right.

Speaker: 1
32:14

And the career politicians in both parties oppose it. Look. On any big spending bill, you unfortunately have a bipartisan coalition in favor of spending. You have essentially all the Democrats and about half the Republicans. There are about 20 of us who will vote against a $1,000,000,000,000 spending bill.

Speaker: 1
32:32

And and and we are frequently begging our colleagues. And to be honest, I don’t think we will ever see real spending restraint without strong presidential leadership, which means it will never come from a Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. And look, if if Elon and Vivek convince president Trump that he’s gonna lean in aggressively on on cutting spending, great. But that hadn’t happened so far.

Speaker: 3
32:57

What would it take for the voters to eventually get there? Because it would require the voters backing a candidate with that meh. And it seems like no one sees that because what everyone sees is I wanna get x. And the only way I get x is if I get the government to do x for me.

Speaker: 1
33:08

Yeah. Look. It it varies. It takes electing strong leaders. So I elections matter. And and I engage so so I think I’ve probably campaigned for more candidates for senate, house, and and governorship than any Republican in the country. I mean, I travel all over the country. I endorse candidates and I follow the old Bill Buckley rule, which is I support the most conservative candidate who can win.

Speaker: 1
33:33

Yeah. Mhmm. And that varies. Look look, the a candidate who can win in Texas is different than a candidate who can win in Maine.

Speaker: 2
33:39

Yeah. Right.

Speaker: 1
33:40

And and so but but I can say the problem is you get I can tell you in Texas. I mean, when I ran 2012, I ran for senate. I’d never been elected before.

Speaker: 3
33:51

Yeah.

Speaker: 1
33:52

Never been elected to nothing. Yeah. Literally, the last thing I was elected to was student council. By the way, Jamal, you may not remember this. You actually wrote me a check

Speaker: 0
34:00

ai I raised.

Speaker: 2
34:01

I was gonna tell We

Speaker: 3
34:02

looked it up. We looked it up.

Speaker: 2
34:03

Since we were together in Utah. Yep. Peter Tyler had an event where he does his thing, and we had a breakfast. And, Ted was surrounded by sort of a handful of us who were speaking to him, and then what I would say is, like, every traditional Democrat from Vatsal Casting. And he went through the firing squad, and he came out the other ai, and I thought, wow. This is really great.

Speaker: 2
34:29

And so then Ai I was I was very happy to donate.

Speaker: 1
34:31

Well, I would I was

Speaker: 3
34:32

you you were a dumb donor back then.

Speaker: 2
34:34

I was a dumb donor, but Ai would but, see, here’s the thing, like and I think what you’re getting what I think what the senator speaks to, which is what I agree with, is ideology matters. And so when you make decisions about how you think the country should run, you should stay loyal to that.

Speaker: 2
34:51

And I think what happens instead is people stay loyal to a party. Yep. And it’s the minute you do that that the whole thing breaks, and this is what’s broken. And I think what the great thing that Donald Trump did was he basically conducted a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. Undoubtedly.

Speaker: 3
35:06

Yeah.

Speaker: 0
35:06

And then And that is going to be committed seppuku.

Speaker: 2
35:09

And that’s the most important thing that happens.

Speaker: 0
35:11

I mean, you know, you don’t have to go are reset.

Speaker: 2
35:13

You don’t have to go and kick the Coke’s ring. What will they say? What will all the Suros sai? What does Soros say? Yeah. All of that is done.

Speaker: 0
35:21

The whole thing’s flipped over.

Speaker: 2
35:22

Hey, senator, you you that’s very powerful.

Speaker: 3
35:24

You had an anecdote for me 2 nights ago. I don’t know if you’re willing to share it about a conversation regarding Denmark and Greenland. Do you sana tell us what you think

Speaker: 1
35:33

so happens here? Look. My view on Denmark and Greenland so I did a podcast 2 weeks ago on Denmark, Greenland, and Canada, and I did all all 3 of them on my Verdict podcast. And and I put them in a spectrum. Let let’s start with Canada. I think the president’s Canada remarks were were just trolling.

Speaker: 1
35:52

I think he was just screwing with Trudeau. I think he was sitting at the table and

Speaker: 3
35:55

ai to

Speaker: 1
35:56

you know? Ai are you even a country? You ought to be a state. You should be a governor.

Speaker: 3
35:59

It’s a lot that I send JCal texts like that all the time.

Speaker: 1
36:02

That. You know, I would have paid frankly to be sitting at that table just to see Trudeau’s

Speaker: 2
36:06

In fact. In fact.

Speaker: 1
36:08

Look, it was reminiscent if you remember the 2016, campaign on the debate stage where Trump turned Ram Paul was at the end, and he’s like, why are you even on this stage? And what is it with your hair? Yeah. I mean I mean, it was the same sort of comment that was just Right. Just messing with him. Yeah.

Speaker: 1
36:24

Ai put that in one. And ai the way, that may be the most epic troll of all time because I think that literally pushed Trudeau to resign him.

Speaker: 3
36:32

Crazy, I

Speaker: 1
36:33

mean, it is it’s a fair Why would he not

Speaker: 0
36:35

why would he do that? Go to Arya Lago? I mean, such a stupid thing to do. It just should have been ai, yeah, you know, we’re our own sovereign country banks.

Speaker: 1
36:42

Well, he was already I think we

Speaker: 3
36:43

He go he likes he likes to go with the trend, so that was the trend.

Speaker: 0
36:46

Yeah. That’s what happens when you’re in a weathervane.

Speaker: 1
36:48

I will say I I couldn’t resist tweeting and said, you know, Trudeau’s lasted really long for Assad and Fidel Castro.

Speaker: 3
36:54

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: 1
36:55

Which Oh, wait. Wait. It’s close to home.

Speaker: 3
36:57

I mean No. No. No. Keep telling us about Alright. Okay.

Speaker: 2
37:00

So by

Speaker: 1
37:00

Denmark, Canada’s control. Yeah. Denmark, Greenland. Greenland, on the other hand, I think is a very serious policy proposal. Yeah. And and I think there are you know, Trump mentioned this in the first term and a lot of people dismissed it. Oh, this is just Trump talking wacky. Yeah.

Speaker: 1
37:15

But I think there are enormous national security and economic reasons why acquiring Greenland makes a ton of sense. And you look at Greenland’s location on the Arctic, it has incredibly prime location on the Arctic. If if from a national security perspective, god forbid, we ever get in a shooting war with China or with Russia, Ai are coming right over the Arctic. Right.

Speaker: 1
37:39

And Greenland is a prime location to deal with that. We’re also seeing more shipping lanes coming in and around the Arctic, and China and Russia are both competing for ai prized access there. Mhmm. Greenland makes an enormous sense from that perspective. It also makes an enormous perspective from critical minerals and rare earth minerals. They have vast amounts.

Speaker: 1
38:01

And so what I said is, look, I think we should pursue this seriously. I’ll tell you I had a conversation this week with the Danish ambassador to the United States. And and look, Denmark’s a little freaked out by all this conversation.

Speaker: 3
38:13

Yep.

Speaker: 1
38:14

And and I’ll tell you what I told the ambassador. I said, listen. Denmark is our friend. You’re our ally. You will continue to be our friend and ally. But friends and allies can have conversations. We can have and and the ambassador said, well well, Greenland’s not for sale. I said, that’s fine. Everything’s for sale.

Speaker: 1
38:29

We’re gonna have a conversation. And and ai the way, if you maintain that, one of the things this has produced is a growing independence movement in Greenland. Totally. And if you do nothing, you may end up getting nothing for Greenland because they break off on the run.

Speaker: 2
38:42

Totally. Right.

Speaker: 1
38:43

Now, look, for it to happen, I think you would probably have to have a referendum on Greenland. Yep. I find it quite possible that the Greenlanders, about 50,000 of them Meh. Would say wait a ai. I get to be an Meh.

Speaker: 3
38:56

Their poll just showed positive results. They just did a survey there.

Speaker: 1
38:59

I mean, to to become an American is in many ways the greatest gift we can give anyone on planet Earth. Totally. And the billions in investment, if Greenland became an American territory, the difference it would make for Greenland.

Speaker: 0
39:11

100,000,000,000

Speaker: 3
39:14

for the territory to Denmark. They would their federal debt or their national debt’s about a 150,000,000,000. They’d have a 50,000,000,000 surplus they could build a pension

Speaker: 2
39:21

plan around.

Speaker: 1
39:21

Wanted that.

Speaker: 0
39:21

That’s why we haven’t

Speaker: 3
39:22

You could spend another insult themselves. You could spend another 10,000,000,000 to put everyone in a great situation for the rest of their life that’s a resident of Greenland, and that becomes an American territory and

Speaker: 0
39:30

This could be ai a whole new philosophy for us. I think we just go right to 60 states.

Speaker: 2
39:33

How, let’s make an open offer

Speaker: 3
39:35

No. But so so it’s and and yeah. And and sorry. How does the president and the administration how are they gonna tackle this or give any insights into what’s gonna happen here?

Speaker: 1
39:41

So look. Ken Howrey, you guys know I know is a good friend who has been nominated to be ambassador to Denmark. I’ve talked with Ken.

Speaker: 3
39:46

Friend of ours. Yep.

Speaker: 1
39:47

Talked with Ken just yesterday about this. Yep. I think we need to lean in and try to negotiate both with with Denmark and Greenland. I’m certainly ram the sana gonna push it, but I wanted to contrast it. Is Canada become gonna become a state? No. But Greenland listen. We ai

Speaker: 2
40:02

Make it a protectorate

Speaker: 1
40:03

like Louisiana purchase. We purchased from France. Alaska, we purchased from Russia. I mean, there’s a long

Speaker: 3
40:09

history of this.

Speaker: 0
40:10

Totally. Puerto Rico next? Let’s go. If they wanna come on board, why not?

Speaker: 3
40:14

Well, it’s an American this is a

Speaker: 2
40:15

it’s already a protectorate.

Speaker: 3
40:16

It’s an ordinary Meh

Speaker: 0
40:16

It’s like

Speaker: 2
40:17

it’s not a state.

Speaker: 1
40:17

And so Panama, I view, is kind of in the middle of the 2.

Speaker: 3
40:20

Right.

Speaker: 1
40:21

And and Panama is a little more complicated. Look. I think Jimmy Carter giving away the Panama Canal remains

Speaker: 0
40:29

one

Speaker: 1
40:29

of the most spectacularly stupid decisions a president has ever done

Speaker: 3
40:33

at all.

Speaker: 1
40:34

So I think it was profoundly harmful to US national security interest, to our economic interest. That being said, it’s been long enough that unwinding it is really tough. Yep. However, president Trump, if you listen to what he’s saying on Panama, he’s he’s got actually some very sophisticated legal arguments that he’s making.

Speaker: 1
40:53

Number 1, when we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, technically sold it for a dollar, we had a binding agreement that laid out the terms of that transfer.

Speaker: 0
41:03

Yeah.

Speaker: 1
41:03

And one argument that president Trump has put forth is that Panama is in violation of that agreement because they have allowed China to effectively seize control of the canal. How is that? Because a Chinese state owned enterprise owns a building on one end of the canal and on the other end of the canal.

Speaker: 1
41:22

And should we be at a point of conflict military or other with China, it’s not difficult to imagine those Chinese state owned enterprises using that location to try to shut down anyone traversing the contract.

Speaker: 0
41:34

Sounds like they voided the contract.

Speaker: 1
41:36

Ai that’s a pretty powerful argument. The second argument and I had breakfast this morning with with president Trump. Meh had breakfast with all the Republican senators, 2 and a half hours. He gets sworn in tomorrow and he spent 2 and a half hours

Speaker: 0
41:47

Got stamina.

Speaker: 1
41:48

Stream of consciousness talking. We talked about Panama. He’s pointing out, the president said this morning, said US Navy ships pay double what any other country’s Navy ships pay. Right. He said that that American commercial ships pay 58% more Yep. Than other nations pay. Look. We need to drill down into those facts.

Speaker: 1
42:10

But on the face of it, I think there’s a powerful argument that that’s inconsistent with the terms of the agreement. And is the final outcome of this that we get total control of the Panama Canal back? Probably not. I think that’s a high lift. But in many ways, I think Trump is negotiating on ai.

Speaker: 1
42:28

And I could easily see an outcome where both navy ships and commercial ships that are American pay much, much lower rates, number 1. And number 2, critically, that we get China the hell out of the canal. And and that if we accomplish those 2, that would be a massive improvement from US interest.

Speaker: 2
42:46

Have you, I’m sure you’ve been paying attention, beyond the things that you’ve been a part of, the confirmation hearings. Can you give us the sort of blow by blow of where you think things have gone well, where there is room for improvement, whether there’s gonna be some spotty weather ahead?

Speaker: 1
43:02

Look. I’ve been really happy so far. I think the array of cabinet nominees has been very, very strong.

Speaker: 2
43:09

Were there a couple that where you thought going in, we have to this one will be a little bit harder than the other and

Speaker: 1
43:14

Well, look. Clearly, the most bumpy was Matt Gaetz, and and they withdrew Matt Gaetz.

Speaker: 2
43:17

Yeah.

Speaker: 1
43:18

He was not gonna get confirmed. There there were multiple Republican senators who were gonna vote no.

Speaker: 2
43:22

Right.

Speaker: 1
43:23

But I will say, I mean, they withdrew that nomination pretty quickly.

Speaker: 2
43:26

Pretty quickly.

Speaker: 0
43:26

Ai think that was strategic. They sent him up the hill to take the first two off.

Speaker: 2
43:29

And Pam Bondi seems amazing.

Speaker: 1
43:30

Pam Bondi is gonna be terrific. She’s gonna get confirmed easily. I think right now, every Trump cabinet nominee gets confirmed.

Speaker: 2
43:37

That’s great.

Speaker: 1
43:38

Pete Hegseth is clearly who they’re shooting at the most. I don’t think they’ve scored real blood. I I did a whole podcast on the Hegseth, confirmation hearing where it spoke volumes that the Democrat virtually all of the Democrat attacks were personal attacks based on anonymous charges, typically with no evidence and with no one coming forward and putting their name on it.

Speaker: 1
44:02

And they had virtually nothing to say about the job to which he’d been nominated and what he intends to do as the secretary of defense. I I think that that fundamentally is a flawed strategy. I I think everyone gets through right now. Do you

Speaker: 2
44:15

think that you’ll see any Democrat senators support any of the candidates? Yes.

Speaker: 1
44:22

Rubio. So Rubio will get ai votes. He could get north of 95 votes. It’ll be a huge bipartisan vote for Rubio. John Ratcliffe for CIA, he’ll get significant bipartisan votes. Sean Duffy at Transportation, he’ll get a bunch of bipartisan votes. Howard Lutnick at Commerce, my guess is he’ll get bipartisan vatsal, although he hasn’t had his hearing meh, so we’ll see. So there will certainly be some.

Speaker: 1
44:46

Pam Bondi, I think Pam is terrific. Brooke Rowland. Brooke will get bipartisan votes. Part of it is alright. Let’s take Sean Duffy.

Speaker: 1
44:53

So I chaired the confirmation hearing for Sean Duffy, sai secretary of transportation. It was a lovefest. Why was it a lovefest? Because everyone wants a bridge or a road in their state.

Speaker: 0
45:05

So if

Speaker: 2
45:05

you’re a Democrat,

Speaker: 1
45:06

they’re like, wait, you’re Santa Claus and you’re giving out 100 of 1,000,000,000 of dollars? I want some. And so everyone wants it. And so Bryden Rollins at at Department of Agriculture, again, everyone wants stuff for ag and farmers in their state. So in that sort of role, it’s easy for it to be a lovefest.

Speaker: 1
45:22

Pam Bondi, even though she did very well, I’d be surprised if Democrats vote for just the nature of attorney general in this politicized environment. My guess is I think of the committee, the d’s are are are gonna vote no, but I think Pam will hold every Republican. And so I I think she she gets through easily.

Speaker: 2
45:42

Bobby? Senator?

Speaker: 1
45:44

I think he makes it through. I spent an hour with him. It’ll be interesting. Ai this is I was talking with him about this. Will any Democrats vote for him? Obviously, he’s been a Democrat his whole life until, like, 12 minutes ago.

Speaker: 0
45:56

They hate him.

Speaker: 1
45:57

And they really they they do view him as a Judas for daring to to to change. Yeah. All of us. It’s still look. J. Cal too. You look at, like, red dye number 3. You look at what what Bobby is doing. I’m I am what Ai

Speaker: 2
46:11

doing more change before he’s become secretary. I mean,

Speaker: 0
46:14

the food system is so screwed. Like, let him cook. Let’s see what he can do.

Speaker: 1
46:19

And his willingness to take on corruption, corruption of of big pharmaceutical companies shah meh in bed, with big government that they perpetuate their monopolies using government power. So I I talked to Bobby, for example, about a bill that I’ve I’ve been fighting for a long time that I call the Results Act.

Speaker: 1
46:38

The Results Act says that if any pharmaceutical, any medical device is approved in another major developed country, so approved in Canada or Japan or the EU, that the FDA has 60 days to approve it here or it’s deemed automatically approved by operation.

Speaker: 0
46:52

Love it. Wow. Brilliant.

Speaker: 1
46:54

I I’m gonna fight I have been fighting for that, but I think now I have an HHS secretary that that vatsal agrees with it. Yeah. And I do think if you look at these cabinet nominees, the most striking characteristic of virtually all of them is that they’re change agents, that they’re going to fundamentally change Disruptors.

Speaker: 1
47:10

Disruptors. And and that’s exciting. We need that.

Speaker: 0
47:13

Alright. Listen. Your people have been trying

Speaker: 3
47:15

to get you hooked in

Speaker: 0
47:16

hands for 20 minutes, but

Speaker: 2
47:18

you know what? Let the man cook. Yeah. He’s just

Speaker: 0
47:20

I gotta tell you. I gotta tell you. Another president. Our bestie, Phil Hellmuth, every time he sees you, he comes back to our poker game, sai, what a great poker player. What a gentleman. He drops your name. I can get him on the phone right now. I told him, call him right now. He never does it. He was a 100% right. You are amazing.

Speaker: 0
47:37

Great to have you on the arya.

Speaker: 1
47:38

Tempting me with poker chips. I mean, this is No.

Speaker: 0
47:40

We’re gonna get you in a game. No. No.

Speaker: 3
47:41

I know you don’t make it to California much, but when you do, come play. Just so

Speaker: 0
47:43

you know, the boots play.

Speaker: 1
47:45

And and and we need scotch and a cigar, and and I am perfectly happy happy Or maybe

Speaker: 3
47:50

we’ll maybe we’ll go play it often.

Speaker: 1
47:51

I can’t stand all these gang balls where everyone’s in in tuxedos, but but but but my happy place is sitting around the poker table. Oh, man. You’re gonna fit right in there. Good scotch.

Speaker: 0
48:00

So great to have you, and, congratulations on the big win, and thank you for your service.

Speaker: 1
48:03

Appreciate it.

Speaker: 2
48:04

Thank you very much.

Speaker: 1
48:05

Thanks a lot.

Speaker: 3
48:05

Thank you.

Speaker: 1
48:06

That was great.

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