[Music]

hey everybody welcome back to the all-in

podcast we're here at the inauguration

of our 47th president Donald J Trump and

we have a very special guest joining us

on our coverage Senator Ted Cruz from

the great state now my great state of

Texas welcome to the all-in podcast and

welcome to Texas it's pretty great uh

where'd you get the boots uh any chance

I can get a recommendation here a refer

that's easy these are lucazi

uh the factory is in El Paso they're

handmade there they're beautiful okay uh

and and these particular Boots the front

of them have the Senate seal on on them

oh that's cool oh that's strong that's

um and the back of them that's really

great have the come and take it flag

whoa which I don't know do you know the

history of the come and take it flag I

was about to ask you okay since you're a

new Texan this is important and he

started saying y'all so he's adapting

but he needs to learn y'all got to stop

giving me a hard time about that okay

all right so Texas in the 18 20s and

1830s we were part of Mexico and the

dictator of Mexico was General Santa Ana

and there's a little town in South Texas

called the town of Gonzalez and then

General Anna 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

and General San Ana 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 wow and and they flew it

over the town and that was the beginning

of the Texas Revolution now the epilogue

is San Ana came in with about 6,000

soldiers and he did in fact take the

cannon I mean Gonzalez 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 golad was a Slaughter much

like Washington where every battle he

lost and lost and lost and then at San

Joo we won defeated Santa Ana General

Sam Houston and we became our own Nation

the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1845

says something about resiliency doesn't

it it does let me ask you a question um

having lived in New York and grown up

there now and then done 20 years uh in

California now my second year in Texas

or starting my second year um it's

amazing to me that you're allowed to

build things in Texas like homes or

factories and the price of home hes has

gone down two years in a row and then

the other two places I live the price of

homes go up every year 10

20% um and then you don't have state

taxes um 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 want to build yeah it's

a great question a cancer W for children

they'll stop you because it throws shade

on a protected species of flower

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 we believe

in low taxes and low regulations and and

to understand the

state Texas was basically founded by a

bunch of

wildcats who were guys with fourth grade

educ a that began drilling holes in the

ground and one after the other became

the richest man on Earth yeah and and

the

ethos of Texas you know it was

interesting 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 so I was

asking them they only been in Texas for

a couple of months I said all right

what's the biggest

difference and I thought maybe they'd

say taxes or maybe regulations or maybe

lawsuits those were the three things I

was going to 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 they said look there's an

exception for Tech and an exception for

Hollywood if I need more yeah well I

mean that was their view but they were

not in Tech or Hollywood they they were

in sanitation which was not a sexy

business mhm and and the way they

described it they said if you're at a

party and someone asked what do you do

and you say I'm a businessman

they said people to turn around and walk

away and I got to say as a Texan that is

weird I mean we lionize entrepreneurs

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 those

politicians are elected by the voters so

the 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 the United States all the

the states of the Republic came from a a

pioneering origin well there is a cause

and a fact and you go back to 1987 and

1987 is when Ronald Reagan signed

amnesty into place and at the time there

were 3 million illegal immigrants living

in the United States and Congress went

to the American people said all right we

got a deal for you we're going to secure

the Border we're going to fix the

problem of illegal immigration forever

and in exchange we're going to give

amnesty to the 3 million people who are

here illegally now right and in ' 87 the

American people said okay that sounds

like a reasonable deal they took the

deal MH 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 six

consecutive years six consecutive Cycles

previously right 1988 was the last year

California ever went Republican well

Schwarzenegger for president oh for

president in in the presidential race

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 realized that they could vote

themselves more and more of of the large

s

of democracy right and it um so Jason

brought up a really important question

to kick this off um I just want to give

you a chance to maybe expand on it which

is there are so many examples Texas is

one um you can look abroad the UAE as as

an example is another where there's a

high degree of quality of infrastructure

and Y you know civility Social Services

education security

um 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 billion budget is just

completely falling apart how like what

is what what happens because you then

see everything at the federal level but

when you go back to your state you see

hey we don't have and and your real

estate taxes aren't that much higher are

they than California yeah 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 2% one

and a half to 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 uh but no income tax look

some of it is government does less uh I

mean there's a philosophy that

government doesn't have to spend and

provide everything government does

police and firefighters and Roads and

does the basic responsibilities of

government right but it's not not

engaged in funding every pet project of

every politician right

um that's part of

it you know you look at across the

country I mean it is not a complicated

migration pattern that people are

fleeing bright blue states with high

taxes and high regulations yeah and they

are coming to Red states with low taxes

and low

regulations any safety so we've had it

has now been more than a DEC that we

have had over a thousand people a day

moving to Texas so when I was first

elected 13 years ago we had 26 million

Texans today we have over 31 million

Texans so we've added 5 million 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 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 but 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 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 are doing great but

people also want to be safe and and so

you know you look at things like like

defunding the police or Soros

prosecutors that let murderers go yep

and that gives people a pretty acute

incentive to get the heck out we uh were

involved in the recall of Chess budine

our podcast and David Sachs our

compatriot who couldn't make it um he's

he's busy working uh with you guys here

um but yeah this this crime issue seems

people have seemed to Lost uh they seem

to have lost a script on who the state

is working for the taxpayers or the

criminals and in Texas it 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 factious 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 going to take a decade or two to

unwind it but let's let's double click

on immigration since the the great state

of Texas has to deal with this than

anybody but this is a land of immigrants

we are all immigrants on this land and

so that's our tradition in fact you're

sitting next to two extraordinary

immigrants my my Bes chamat and freeberg

what do you believe at this point in

time is America for the Americans are

here or do you believe we should be

getting the best and brightest to come

to this country look absolutely both um

I have for a long time describe my

immigration views in in four words legal

good illegal bat okay um I think most

Americans most Texans agree with that

and most immigrants yeah 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 my dad 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 he he was 18

couldn't speak English had $100 in his

underwear and he washed dishes making 50

cents 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 and he was an 18e 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 work was

he able to see your success is he still

with us he is my dad is 85 oh my God

what a dream for him 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 along with my

cousin BBE with my dad and and bib's Mom

my theonia and she

also she was also imprisoned and

tortured in Cuba and we would sit and

sit and listen to them tell stories yeah

and all I ever wanted to do from when I

was three four five years old was was be

a freedom fighter

I 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 and so I

got to tell you today I I literally jump

out of bed every day because I I look at

the US Senate and I think it is

basically the Roman Coliseum and and you

strap on some armor and you grab a

battle ax and and you go fight the Barb

Varan and and that is that that's an

amazing opportunity I I feel blessed and

fortunate every day you are in Arena do

you think it's become we were talking

with ro cona congressman from California

earlier uh today and we talked about how

there might be good policy put forth by

one of the two 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 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 westwing

and he always talks about the great

debate you know like we never have the

great debate anymore we don't talk about

the fundamental you know policy

decisions we talk about the Republicans

said this and so and so it gets personal

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 in my

opinion but I'd love to hear your point

of view on how things operate in DC

today well well listen I I agree with

your point at the outset which is that

we need to talk to each other um I worry

that we are too polarized and and

tribalize that the left only listens to

left-wing media the right listens to

right-wing media anyone who disagrees

you scream at them uh the the sense of

community and and that we used to have

has been

badly badly unraveled you know on social

media if someone agrees with you you

unfriend them and and we're all in this

little Echo chain but we're all Patriots

is the sad part all Americans all

Americans but we're we're living in

alternate realities and and so look what

y'all are doing is really important I'm

grateful for this podcast we got to talk

to each other um I do a podcast every

week called verdict with Ted Cruz we've

got about a million unique listeners

that listen to the verdict podcast and

we do it Monday Wednesday and Friday

every week my podcast is beating CNN

yeah it's incredible and I think the

reason is the same reason people listen

to you guys 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

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

campuses and so couple what has that

been like well for example we did one at

at Yale a couple years ago and had about

700 students come out and I 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 kataji

Brown Jackson was confirmed 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 fact

that you're cheering at that shows that

obviously we're coming from different

places on the political Spectrum I said

I want to thank you especially for

coming here uh because you may not agree

with me on on everything or even most

things yeah but but thank you for coming

and being part of a conversation and so

we did it's about 90 minutes of all Q&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 and he

said he said Ted you know 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 there's something about

the podcast format where you're taking a

little bit of time you're not rushed in

six or seven minutes like you are on the

weekly shows where I see you all the

time uh and and that's sparring yeah and

you're just trying to get a message out

in three minutes five minutes but here

you know you can open it up maybe listen

to each other invite guests in with

different opinions learn something uh

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

board to close we want it legal but we

also want to bring in a certain number

of people and we want a system and uh

you know I did my research on this and

places that have consensus like Canada

uh 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 but

the one criticism I have of politicians

which I think you're one of um sadly

iest charge 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 uh to our politicians and

helping that out um you know we can

bring in two million people this year

hey if it goes up to 5% we're going to

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 500 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

why is that on this issue that you guys

can't just put some numbers on paper 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 62% right now and so

there are millions that have just

dropped out of the labor force

altogether they're not measuring in in

Topline unemployment but it's still a

real challenge we have healthy young

adults who should be working and who are

not working why aren't they in your mind

is it because they have the resources to

not do that um look 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 it's

bad incentive 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 that once

someone gets the habit of dependency I

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 and I

think about you know my dad when when he

was a teenage kid in Austin washing

dishes thank God some well-meaning

liberal didn't come to him and and say

Rafael let me take care of you right

totally just stay home let me send you a

government check don't work so hard at

and and it's utterly destructive it it

breaks your your self-respect your

individual responsibility but it comes

from an empathetic Place Center Senator

so and and and I know this like in you

know in kind of a a liberal setting you

see people in need you want to 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 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 um service providers 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 by the way all of us know this in

our own life if if your kid let's say

you have a kindergarten who's struggling

with math there's not a one of us who

would do our kids math homework y we

know that's not helping them that that

if your daughter doesn't learn to do

arithmetic it's going to hurt her for

the rest of her life so you've got to

work through that problem with her even

if itd be easier for you just to finish

it for right we know that in our lives

um you know the old adage of give a man

a fish you feed him for a day teach a

man to fish you feed him for a lifetime

right we know that with people we love

but yet when it comes to public 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 three different CNN Town

Hall debates with Bernie Sanders and

listen I like Bernie because he is an

Unapologetic socialist yeah and I'm an

apologetic

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

we talked about the facts and and and

I'll point out something let's take

socialized medicine it's interesting the

as The Advocates of socialized medicine

when I pointed out all of the problems

socialized medicine produces in every

country in which it's been implemented

the United Kingdom

Canada Bernie's answer was well it

wouldn't be that way here so the reality

would not be here every year about

50,000 Canadians come to America on 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

are

Californians that I love asking

Advocates of socialized

medicine why didn't California adopt it

right 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 yep right 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

socialized medicine it wouldn't work

doesn't work it wouldn't work and people

would flee their state and so their

answer is we want to do it to everyone

in the entire country so you can't flee

unless you're willing to leave America

you're stuck 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 healthcare my opinion is

much of the inflation in healthare 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 educ

education across the board dists the

free market but 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 the roads and

I'll give you the anecdote real quick

yeah my brother lives in England they

just had a child he and his partner and

went to the delivery room and they

couldn't get a bed for lab she was in

labor they could not get a bed to have

the baby I think it took them 36 to 72

hours to actually get into a bed while

she was in labor it was the most insane

he's calling me he can't get a bed it

was I'm like you're living in the

fraking UK 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

sorry let's uh you're the quarterback

okay quarterback the next two weeks of

the Trump

Administration well on Monday we're

going to see a flurry of executive

orders I think it'll be in the

neighborhood 100 executive orders I'm

optimistic about them that's the number

they're talking about wow it it it's

going to be in that neighborhood

shocking off 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 and in some ways

it'll just make it almost impossible for

the Democrats to react because where do

you focus 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 uh as young people in the

Bush Administration and and I I think

there is a Quantum of outrage and I call

it the arsonic Quantum of outrage 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

like 6 weeks the media saturated the

airwaves with the evil Republicans want

to poison our children with Arsenic and

I mean it was it dominated forever and

they beat The Living Daylights out of

him for it now look Monday when you get

a 100 executive orders I think that's

how much outrage there

ish and that arsonic Quantum of outrage

will be directed at everything

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 the outcomes in November 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 so number one secure the border

and 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 um I think that will be

followed up by going and arresting

criminal illegal aliens going and

arresting murderers and rapists and

child molesters and G and gang bangers 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 um

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 uh it it was illegal

immigration and safety and it was

inflation in the economy 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 look there are a host of

them energy is is is the easy example

where where the the Biden

administrations put in over 90 different

regulations and executive orders all

designed to drive up the cost of energy

right so the input gets higher and

everybody suffers got it and so I expect

I expect pretty much all of those to be

reversed hydrocarbon and then subsidies

for quote green

energy look I I think on energy we ought

to pursue all of the above uh 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 going

to take some time 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 right

on Monday as well Senator you just said

five 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 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 require legislative Authority

and it's going to be a longer form

process or is there going to be a lot of

very quick action so and I'm happy to

answer that directly let me just say one

thing you just said there um with

respect is incorrect yes you said

there's no way we're cutting taxes and

not cutting spending and having

inflation stay down and I just saying

that's objectively false because that's

exactly what happened in the first Trump

term which is the 2017 tax cuts CBO had

these apocalyptic projection y about

you're saying tax revenue grow went up

as the as the economy grow tax revenue

went up every single year after we cut

the taxes the revenue from the federal

government went up so we cut taxes sadly

we did not cut spending yeah um I tried

mightily to cut spending but we did not

have the votes to do it and inflation

still stayed down so the econom is

booming yeah you can turn things around

look Doge but is there a deficit mandate

so I am excited about Doge um Elon is a

good friend I admire the hell out of him

I'm thrilled that he's a

Texan um 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 um

now Elon calls me periodically going

what all right what the hell is this

government thing how does this work this

way and I'm I'm trying to give whatever

guidance I can on that but I think how

you deal with uh a

disruptor uh in government is going to

be an interesting challenge VC is is

very smart very

creative I will say a couple of

challenges right now look I'm excited

about Doge I want to see some big bold

creative ideas I'm going to give you two

warning

signs number one the phrase waste Fraud

and Abuse MH anytime someone talks about

waste Fraud and Abuse they don't really

want to cut government spending you know

why because there is no waste Fraud and

Abuse caucus there's no one that says

I'm for the waste so 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 totally and so

you have lots of politicians who say

they're going to lose they're going to

lose their votes right somebody will be

matad that's right 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 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 andum TR wanted the

checks to be even bigger and a lot of

the folks in the White House they asked

me they said Ted can can you go try to

talk him talk him down from this Lynch y

that's a tough job so so I went on Air

Force One and and I'm sitting there with

the president I'm trying to make the

case that we don't need these gigantic

uh stimulus checks and he goes Ted and I

get the back of the hand he goes Ted no

one ever lost an election by spending

too much money I said yeah but they did

bankrupt the

country so I did not succeed then well

you know what you should have done you

should have asked him to keep the same

number but just make the check larger

and the signature bigger that's a good

idea look I I'll go with it he likes are

you a small government conservative very

much so and is what percent if there if

no one was going to 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 I got to get reelected so look

it's it's a good versus what I versus

what principes tell me yeah listen I I

am also a passionate advocate of term

limits so so I have

introduced uh in every Congress a

constitutional amendment that would

limit Senators to two terms limit house

members to three terms yeah I think term

limits would change that dynamic in a

very significant way right and the

career politicians in both parties

oppose it um 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 about 20 of

us who will vote against a trillion

dollar spending Bill 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 KLA

Harris and look if if Elon and beet

convince president Trump that he's going

to lean in aggressively on on cutting

spending great but that hadn't happened

so far what would it take for for the

voters to eventually get there because

it would require the voters backing a

candidate with that message and it seems

like no one sees that because what

everyone sees is I want to get X and the

only way I get X is if I get the

government to do X for me 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 role which is I support the most

Conservative candidate who can win yeah

and that varies look look a candidate

who can win in Texas is different than a

candidate who can win in Maine yeah

right 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

yeah never been elected to nothing yeah

literally the last thing I was elected

to was student counsil

by the way Cham you may not remember

this you actually wrote me a check that

race I was going to tell that St we

looked it up which because we were

together in Utah y Peter teal had an

event or he does his thing and we had a

breakfast and uh 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 Central castle

and he went through the firing squad and

he came out the other side and I thought

wow this this is really great and so

then I I was I was very happy to donate

well I I was you you were a demned donor

back then I was a demned donor but I 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 and I

think what happens instead is people

stay loyal to a party Y 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 yeah and then committed subu

and that's the most important thing that

happens I mean are reset you don't have

to go and kick the COA ring what will

they say what will all this

infrastructure say what does Sor say all

of that is done the whole thing's

flipped over hey Senator you that's very

powerful I you had an anecdote from me

two nights ago I don't know if you're

willing to share it about a convers

regarding Denmark and

Greenland do you want to tell us what

you think uh so happens here look my

view on Denmark and Greenland so I did a

podcast two weeks ago on Denmark

Greenland and Canada and I did all all

three of them on my verdict podcast and

and I put them in a spectrum let's start

with Canada I think the president's

Canada remarks we're just trolling I

think he was just screwing with Trudeau

I think he was sitting at the table and

decided you know why are you even

country you ought to be a state you

should be a governor that I send jcal

texts like that all the

time you know I would have paid frankly

to be sitting at that table to see

Trudeau's face in fact um look it was

reminiscent if you remember in the

2016 uh campaign on the debate stage

where Trump turned Rand 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 I mean it was the same sort of

comment that was just just messing with

him yeah um I put that in one and by the

way way that may be the most epic troll

of all time because I think that

literally pushed Trudeau into resign

crazy huh I mean it it's a fair why

would he not why would he do that go to

Maro I mean such a stupid thing to do he

just should have been like yeah you know

we're our own sovereign country Banks

well he was already I think we he go he

likes he likes to go with the trend so

that was the trend yeah that's what

happens when you're a weather v um I

will say I I couldn't resist tweeting

and said you know trau lasted really

long for a son of Fidel

Castle which wa

no no no keep telling us

about can yeah denark Greenland um

Greenland on the other hand I think is a

very serious policy proposal 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 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 incred

inedibly prime location on the Arctic if

from a national security perspective God

forbid we ever get in a shooting war

with China or with Russia icbms are

coming right over the Arctic right 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 prized prized access there

Greenland makes an enormous sense from

that perspective it also makes an

enormous perspective from critic

minerals and rare earth minerals they

have vast amounts uh 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 um and

and look Denmark's a little freaked out

by all this conversation Y and and I'll

tell you what I told the Ambassador I

said listen Denmark is our friend you

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 we're going

to have a conversation and and by 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

totally right now look for it to happen

I think you would probably have to have

a referendum on Greenland yep I find it

quite plausible that the greenlanders

about 50,000 of them yeah would say wait

a second I get to be an American they P

just showed positive results he just did

a survey there 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 greenlanders well Senator we could

pay 200 billion dollars for the

territory to Denmark they would their

federal debt or their National debts

about 150 billion they'd have a 50

billion Surplus they could build a

pension plan around want that's why we

have you could spend another you could

spend another 10 billion to put everyone

in a great situation for the rest of

their life a resident of Greenland and

that becomes an American territory and

be like a whole new philosophy for us I

think we just go right to 60 States

let's just make an open offer no but so

so it's and and yeah and sorry how does

the president of the administration how

are they going to tackle this or do you

have any insights into what's going to

happen here so look uh Ken Howry you

guys know I know is a good friend who

has been nominated the ambassador to

Denmark I've talked with good friend of

yeah talked with Ken just yesterday

about this y um I think we need to lean

in and try to negotiate both with with

Denmark and Greenland um I'm certainly

from the Senate going to push it but I

wanted contrasted is Canada become going

to become a state no but Greenland

listen we acquired make it a protractor

Louisiana Purchase we purchased from

France Alaska we purchased from Russia I

mean there's a long history of this

totally Puerto Rico next let's go if

they want to come on board why not well

it's an American this it's a it's not a

state and so Panama I view as kind of in

the middle of the two right and and

Panama is a little more

complicated look I think Jimmy Carter

giving away the Panama Canal now remains

one of the most spectacularly stupid

decisions a president has ever done in

office 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

yeah 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 number one when we gave the

Panama Canal to technically sold it for

a dollar uh we had a binding agreement

that laid out the terms of that transfer

yeah 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 can and should we

be at a point of conflict military or

other with China it's not ult to imagine

those Chinese State own Enterprises

using that location to try to shut down

anyone traversing the sounds like they

avoided the contract I that's that's a

pretty powerful argument the second

argument and I had breakfast this

morning with with President Trump he had

breakfast with all the Republican

Senators two and a half hours he gets

sworn in tomorrow and he spent two and a

half hours stamina stream of

Consciousness talking we talked about

Pano he's pointing out uh 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 y than

other nations pay look we need to drill

down into those facts 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 price and I could easily

see an outcome where both Navy ships and

commercial ships that are American pay

much much lower rates number one and

number two critically that we get China

the hell out of the canal and and that

if we accomplish those two that would be

a massive improvement from us interest

have you um I'm sure you've been paying

attention uh beyond the things that

you've been a part of the confirmation

hearings can you give us the sort of

blowby blow of where you think things

have gone well where there was room for

improvement whether there's going to be

some spotty weather ahead look I've been

really happy so far um I think the array

of cabinet nominees has been very very

strong were there a couple that were you

thought going in we have to this one

will be a little bit harder than the

other and well look clearly the most

bumpy was Matt Gates and and they

withdrew Matt Gates yeah um he was not

going to get confirmed there there were

multiple Republican Senators who were

going to vote now right um but I will

say I mean they withdrew that nomination

pretty quickly was strategic they sent

him up the hill to take the first two

and Pam Bondi seems amazing Pam Bondi is

going to be terrific she's going to get

confirmed easily I think right now every

Trump cabinet nominee gets confirmed

that's great um Pete hegi is clearly who

they're shooting at the most um I don't

think they've scored real blood I I did

a whole podcast on the Heth uh

confirmation

hearing where it spoke volumes that the

Democrat virtu 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 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 so I think everyone gets

through right now do you think that

you'll see any Democrat

Senators support any of the candidates

yes um Rubio so Rubio will get 90 votes

he could get north of 95 votes it'll be

a huge bipartisan vote for

Rubio John Radcliffe for CIA he'll get

significant bipartisan votes Shan Duffy

at Transportation he'll get a bunch of

bipartisan votes uh Howard lutnick at

Commerce my guess is he'll get

bipartisan votes although he hasn't had

his hearing yet so we'll see so there

will certainly be some Pam Bondi I think

Pam is terrific Brook Rolland Brook will

get bipartisan votes part of it is all

right let's take Shawn Duffy so I

chaired the confirmation hearing for

Shawn Duffy secretary trans

Transportation it was a Love Fest why

was it a Love Fest because everyone

wants a bridge or a road in their state

so if you're a Democrat you're like wait

you're Santa Claus and you're giving out

hundreds of billions of dollars I want

some and so everyone wants it and so

Brook Rollins at at Department of

Agriculture again everyone wants stuff

for a and farmers in their state so in

that sort of role it's easy for it to be

a Love

Fest 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

going to vote no but I think Pam will

hold every Republican and so I I think

she she gets through easily Bobby

Senator I think he makes it through I

spent an hour with him it'll be

interesting this is I was talking with

him about this W will any Democrats vote

for him obviously he's been a Democrat

his whole life until like 12 minutes ago

they hate him and they really they do

view him as a Judas for daring to to

change all of us it's still look J K too

you look at like red Dy number three you

look at what what Bobby is doing I'm I

am re what I more change before he's

become AJ secretary the food system is

so screwed like let him cook let's see

what he can do and his willingness to

take on corruption Corruption of of big

pharmaceutical compan get in bed uh 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

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 love

it

brilliant I I'm going to fight for I

have been fighting for that but I think

now I'll have an HHS secretary that that

agrees with it 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

disruptors and and that's exciting we

need that all right listen your people

have been trying to for 20 minutes but

you know what let the man cook I got to

tell the president our bestie Phil helm

youth every time he sees you comes back

to our game says what a great poker

player what a gentl 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 100% right you are

amazing great to have you on the you are

tempting me with poker chips I mean

we're going to get you in a game I know

you don't make it to California much but

when you do come play just so you know

the boots play and we need scotch and a

cigar and and I am perfectly happy happy

maybe we'll go playing often 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 man you're going to fation

and good scotch so great to have you and

uh congratulations on the big win and

thank you for your service appreciate it

thank you very much thanks a lot thank

you that was great