The Verdict - Sen. Ted Cruz & Sen J.D.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the verdict with Ted Cruz. Please welcome from Ohio, Senator J.D. Vance from Texas, Senator Ted Cruz and host of the Ben Ferguson podcast and co-host of the verdict with Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson. All right. So they already start our clock. I want I want to reset back there, conservative story. That's that's crap. I should at least you got to give me the time back here to run a tight ship here. How are you? So so we're calling an audible here. They've got to vote. We're going to talk about that in a second. But we're literally going to start the show like we do an actual podcast, because this will actually be a podcast, which means you can download it. You can hear your screams if you like. So they say applaud loud. It will be in the podcast. So with that being said, we're going to start. I'm going to say live from CPAC. You guys can erupt and hopefully you'll hear yourself later. So here we go. Three, two, one. Welcome to this verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you and our guest, J.D. Vance live from CPAC. So so we've got this is going to be fun for everyone listening to the show later. We they have you guys have a vote. Yep. Today. And you both have to go back. We decided we're going to make this work. We'll have J.D. on with us as well. Senator, let's just talk about like you guys have really good jobs, but I've learned you guys have no idea what your schedule is. How is that possible in government? It's actually you got the joke. All right. I like that. It is a bizarre thing in the Senate. You have utterly no control over your schedule. The Senate majority leader decides when to call a vote. And look, Chuck Schumer is really bad. So you have literally no idea what's happening. He'll come in, decide to have a vote, maybe not decide to have a vote. So on Thursday nights, typically we fly into D.C. Monday morning, we fly home Thursday night. But we don't know if we're home or not, so I would call home. I remember, you know, one of my girls were little. I'd call home and and they'd say, well, daddy, you're going to be home tonight. And I'd say, I have no idea. And and and actually, Caroline referred to Mitch McConnell for years as that mean man, because she would say she'd ask, daddy, are you coming home? And I said, well, it depends on on when Mitch calls the vote. She said, is that mean man going to let you come home tonight? Which I told Mitch that and to his credit, he laughs pretty hard. He thinks that's that's funny. But is that not a bizarre aspect of this job? It really is. And so my my version of this is, you know, when I first got sworn in early January and I would go home and do a lot of radio interviews with people and say, what's what's the most interesting part of the job? What's the thing you didn't expect? I talk a little bit about the schedule, and I think they wanted me to have some some brilliant policy solution or idea. And what what I was just sort of blurted out almost accidentally was these guys don't work very hard. Right. So the very first day we're sworn in, we're then sent on a three week recess. And that really frustrated me because, you know, I'm a new senator. I want to get to work. I want to work with my good friend Ted here. And then I kind of realized, actually, the the Democrats not working very hard for the next two years is maybe not the worst thing in the world. So, Mary, that's that's an accurate, accurate statement there. Every day the Schumer Senate is not in session is a day they're not destroying America. That's right. So you're saying more three week vacations is what are needed. I like it. I want to get into policy. And J.D., you're new to the Senate. You're in the minority now, not the majority. Yeah. And that's obviously coming with interesting things. But what we have seen come out is the issue of covid and the media getting it wrong and having to admit they got it wrong on the Wuhan Lab Institute. On the fact that we weren't crazy and on this podcast. Three years ago, we said you said, Senator, this is pretty clear from data that we have coming in, there's a very good chance this is we're being lied to by China. Well, and let's reflect for a second. So three years ago, this podcast was here at CPAC. On the stage. And three years ago, thank God we're finally allowed to gather again by our nation's capital. Yeah. Yeah. You look at the idiots who had shut the country down. And and listen, CPAC has an interesting mark to my mind as of really the the beginning of the pandemic, because we did the podcast, it did verdict that here at CPAC, I flew home. And actually, I had a campaign fundraiser at an Eagles concert, which and I love the Eagles. I will confess, that was my idea. It's like, all right, if you got to have people write checks to the campaign, let's at least go to a cool concert, enjoy it. And so we're sitting there Saturday early evening and I get a phone call from MATCH Lab. And Matt's like, yeah, Ted, I need to tell you so. So a good friend of ours who was at CPAC with you has this thing called COVID. And yeah, you guys were piling around and this is kind of a problem. I'm like, oh, really? And so I ended up quarantining for two weeks as a result of Matt's call. Thank you. But I will tell you, the worst part was not that it was Heidi coming down the stairs dressed to the nine. She was ready to go to the Eagles concert. And I'm like, OK, sweetheart, I love that we have a studio audience, because if you didn't hear that on the video, on the audio of this, all the ladies, it was all in the audience here. She comes down ready to go. And I'm like, OK, sweetheart, we can't go. And she gets mad, she's like these people pay thousands of dollars to like go hang out at this fundraiser. You can't stand them up. And at this point, very few people knew much of anything about what COVID was. But I'm like, look, this is potentially a deadly virus. We don't know. And I promise you, they will be happy that we're not exposing them to it at the outset. So we called and explained it to him. And they had a great time at the concert. We stayed at home and Heidi was mad at me. So it is worth pointing out that three years later. We've discovered that the virus, if you're really old, if you're really sick, it can be deadly. But for young, healthy people, we've discovered the health impacts are much lower than we thought. And what's interesting is the breaking news that we all know now that that now two different cabinet agency in the in the Biden administration, the Department of Energy and the FBI. Have both concluded that it is likely that the COVID virus came from a Chinese government lab. Now, as everyone here knows, finally, finally, these two departments are doing some good work. It is shocking, finally. But as everyone here knows, for two years, that was derided. As a conspiracy theory, tinfoil hat wearing nutty theory that you weren't allowed to say that you'd get banned on social media for saying. And I have to point out this podcast three years ago in March of 2020 and in April of 2020, we did two extended pods laying out the evidence then three years ago that this came from a Chinese government lab. And in fact, we walked through what what convinced these guys today. Yeah, almost all of it. You knew three years ago, but politics wouldn't let them say it. And so I will say and miraculously, they didn't censor our podcast. They censored just about everything else. But they didn't try to censor verdict. I do think it's only appropriate. We're back in D.C. that we remind the amazing media of what they were saying to the American people. I want to play clip to take a look at this. This is your media. Not not pushing any narrative at all. Tom Cotton, a couple of days ago, spouting a conspiracy theory that the Chinese made this virus up at the lab and in a lab. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh with zero proof suggesting a Chinese bioweapon lab is to blame. We know that it's been debunked, that this virus was manmade or modified or anything like that. Dr. Anthony Fauci rejected the conspiracy that coronavirus was manmade in a lab in Wuhan, China. And yet this week, Donald Trump is still pushing the debunked bunkum, despite his own intelligence community's findings that that is simply not true. If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what's out there now, it's very, very strongly leaning towards. This could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated. Well, Brad, I'm really sorry that the lab leak has become such a distraction for so many people, because frankly, we still don't know. There is no evidence really to say most of the scientific community, myself included, think that is a possibility. But far more likely, this was a natural way in which a virus left. So so the first few hosts, they were actually trying out for dumbest cable television host. That's that's what that's what that was. So sorry, I have my own COVID ruined my wife's life story. So I would tell that briefly. So we're in the heat of primary campaign and what turned into a very, very intense campaign. And, you know, my wife was 39 weeks pregnant. So we're very bad at family planning. So my wife, my wife gets COVID and she actually I got for me, it was like a mild cold for her. She got actually pretty sick, which maybe has something to do with the fact she was 39 weeks pregnant. Nine days afterwards, she starts going into labor and we called the hospital and they said, try to wait another few hours, because if you come in now, you're going to have to wear the full mask body gear set up, complete quarantine. Your husband can't be in the room with you. But if you wait a few hours, then you've reached the quarantine period. This was in December of twenty twenty one. So we ruined I mean, all of us have a crazy COVID story. I think mine is better, better than most. In other words, there are a lot of people, of course, who are prevented seeing loved ones in their final moments. And that is heartbreaking. But the failure to be honest about this virus with the American people ruined a lot of lives. And the fact that they called us conspiracy theorists for stating the obvious, I mean, credit to you guys for talking about this. Credit to Tom Cotton for talking about this. But it was I mean, look, there were always two options, right? Like one was a bat that had COVID flew into a guy's soup and it sort of wafted into his nose and he got human COVID or it was plausible. By the way, that's not a conspiracy. Or it was made two miles down the road in the Wuhan Institute of Virology that studied bat coronaviruses. It was always the most reasonable baseline assumption. And the fact you were censored for it is crazy. And by the way, the good news is that CPAC is serving bat soup for lunch. It's it's it's it's delicious. So, look, what J.D. said is exactly right. What are the facts that we knew within a couple of months of this pandemic beginning? What are the facts we laid out on on on this podcast? Number one. The Wuhan Institute for Virology, which studies viruses, not just viruses, studies coronaviruses, not just coronaviruses, studies coronaviruses derived from bats. By the way, the bats in question that carry these coronaviruses do not occur naturally in Wuhan, China. The closest you can find these bats to Wuhan are in caves that are 900 miles away. Now, where is the Wuhan Institute for Virology? It is literally a couple hundred yards from the wet market where the first outbreak occurred. You could drive a golf ball. Well, I couldn't. I was about to say I could drive the golf ball. You could drive it in a golf cart. Yes. To the spot of the crime. That's fact number one. Fact number two. In November of 2019. Not one, not two, three scientists, employees at the Wuhan Institute for Virology checked themselves into the hospital with serious illnesses that may well have been the beginning of the pandemic. Fact number three. When the pandemic erupted. We discovered that China had been stockpiling protective medical equipment several months before the pandemic. And China ordered the Wuhan Institute for Virology to destroy the samples. Now, look, in a court of law. And I'm sorry, you have two lawyers here. You did something really wrong. In a court of law, in a civil case or a criminal case, if someone destroys evidence. A judge will instruct the jury, you are entitled to draw an inference from the destruction of evidence that that evidence was incriminating, that there's a reason they destroyed the evidence. In this case, it ain't complicated what the reason was that the Chinese government said destroy all the samples. We don't want any evidence. I think now and then it was overwhelmingly likely that Covid escaped from a Chinese government lab. And I think it is significantly more likely than not that it was, in fact, altered in that lab through gain of function research, that it was a natural virus that they made more dangerous, more, more deadly. And that's why China doesn't want culpability for it. And I will say this. If you want to know the facts on what's going on. On this issue and everything else, I want to encourage everyone here, take out your cell phone. Take out your cell phone. He's not joking. You can take out your cell phone and text the word verdict. To two four zero zero five. Let me give that to you again. The number is two four zero zero five. All right. Now that's awesome. Text the word verdict to two four zero zero five. What you will get is a link to subscribe to this podcast. We do it three days a week, which to quote your dad. Remind people that. So you all know my dad. This is awesome, by the way. But my dad is 83 and he points out, he says, look, don't say subscribe. People are thinking like it's like a magazine subscription. You got to pay for it. No, it's free. And you get it three days a week. And this is we've had now on verdict over 50 million downloads. We had 700000 unique viewers last month. We are beating CNN every week of the year. Which is getting easier and easier. I kind of like that. I got it. It just says Ted Cruz is awesome again and again. I wrote that. This is propaganda on my job. I write each one of those earlier today. That's automatic now. All right. I want to ask you guys this. You and I have talked about this on the pod before center, but I want to know and I think most people at CPAC would agree. You want some accountability specifically with Dr. Fauci. I think there's a lot of people believe he lied to Congress. Is there going to be any accountability and you can keep it short, but is there going to be any accountability for him looking, saying I did not. We did not fund end of function research. It was not this Wuhan. This is it was not the Institute of Virology. I mean, he's gone all in on this. Will there be an academy? Because you were on the House side as well. He was looking and I, in my opinion, lying to the American people. Look, there there should be accountability. It's that simple. I mean, look, he clearly Tony Fauci lied under oath. He lied to the American people. And it's not just that he he he he compelled and persuaded the FBI to censor information about the pandemic as it was unfolding. Yep. He tried to shut down. He used his government power to shut down the functioning of the First Amendment so that we could not have an honest and open debate about where COVID came from and what to do about it. And I think it's absolutely disgraceful what Tony Fauci did. Now, the question, and Ted is a much smarter lawyer than I am, is if we actually want to say he committed perjury, is that Merrick Garland who has to make that decision? Which I know you met him yesterday. I'm not optimistic that Merrick Garland is going to do the right thing here. But let's go to Merrick. Go ahead. But let's go to Merrick Garland after that. So look. Amen. That's right. That's exactly right. So someone just called out follow the money and the money. Look, Dr. Fauci is the most has done more damage than any bureaucrat in the history of our nation. That's right. And was the highest paid. He he he led policies that that destroyed people's lives, that hurt tens of millions of kids across this country, that destroyed businesses. And he lied repeatedly over and over and over again. Now, one of the consequences is he elevated politics above science and medicine. There has been no person who has done more to destroy trust in the scientific and medical community than Dr. Anthony Fauci, who told millions of Americans lies willingly, knowingly, glibly, supremely arrogantly. Should there be an accountability in any sane system, he would be prosecuted for lying under oath and he would go to jail for lying under oath to Congress. Now, unfortunately, I can quantify with mathematical precision the likelihood that the Biden Department of Justice will prosecute him and the odds are zero point zero zero zero percent. They will not do it. This is a lawless Department of Justice. Will there be accountability? There will be accountability. Number one, we have a majority in the House, and I am confident in the House that we're going to use that majority and use it to hold Dr. Fauci and the others who lied accountable. And we need to have hearings on the origins of COVID. We need to have hearings to follow the money. We need to have hearings examining and laying out the facts about how Fauci misled the American people and the corruption that drove that. You mentioned Garland a second ago. There were some fireworks yesterday on Capitol Hill. And I want to play a clip of you talking with the A.G. and I'm going to call for clip five, because this was about two systems of justice in this country. I think it's very clear there are two systems of justice. You asked him about this. Take a look. I sent 70 United States. Marco, try again. And has the Department of Justice brought even a single case under this statute? So, yes, no question. It's not a give a speech on the other things you did. The job of the United States marshals is to defend the lives of the answers. No, it's to defend the lives of the justices. And that's our number one priority. They have to argue unwilling to say no. The answer is no. You know, it's no. I know it's no. Everyone in this in this hearing room knows it's no. You're not willing to answer a question. Have you brought a case under this statute? Yes or no. As far as I know, we haven't. And what we have done is defended the lives of the justices. So how do you decide? How do you decide which criminal statutes the DOJ enforces and which one it does? The United States marshals know that they have full. I recognize you want to give a separate speech. No, I don't want to. How do you decide which statutes you enforce and which ones you don't? The marshals on scene make that determination in light of the priority of the marshals do not make a determination over whether to prosecute you, the attorney general, make a determination. And you spent 20 years as a judge and you're perfectly content with justices being afraid for their children's lives. And you did nothing to prosecute it. Can I answer the question? No, you have refused to answer. I am answering your question. The attorney general does not decide whether to. How did you choose not to not to enforce this statute? The marshals on scene don't make that decision. They do make the decision of whether to make an arrest. Someone. No, they don't. If they make if they make it, marshals do not have prosecution. If they make an arrest. All right, let's change the topics because our time is limited. He had his coffee. How many? How many? So so getting to host a podcast with you is fun for me because I know your habits. How many diet Dr. Peppers did you have, Senator, before you got into that questioning yesterday? Eleven. Eleven. OK, there we go. So you look at that moment, and I think it was all encompassing of what the American, I think, especially conservative like they're up against, which is there's two systems of justice here. If you're a conservative, we'll come after you with a full strength. We'll break down doors. We'll bring people to come after you. You know the story of a man, and you can pick it up from here and remind people of how they treat conservatives compared to when you're intimidating judges in the Supreme Court over issues like Roe v. Wade, where they're trying to put votes. So look, Merrick Garland, I believe, is the most partisan and politicized attorney general our nation has ever seen. And what is happening at the Department of Justice is heartbreaking because it is turned into the political weapon for the Democrats to attack their enemies and protect their friends. And it is it is astonishing. Look, Garland spent all day before the Judiciary Committee in testimony. He will not answer a straight question at all. And he looks at you, number one, you know, we were talking about Fowchee and Supreme Arrogance, you know, Merrick Garland can compete in that category with Fowchee, and that's impressive. Garland to do that's when you're going pro. Garland looks at you like, how dare you ask me a question? And the guy was a judge for 24 years. And you look at that hearing. So, for example, what we were talking about, as you guys know, when the Dobbs opinion was released, when it was leaked. Hundreds of left wing protesters, radical left wing protesters went to the homes of six Supreme Court justices and engaged in angry, violent protests. And by the way, left wing groups were not only giving out the home addresses of justices, they were giving where the justices worshiped, what churches they went to. They were giving where their kids went to school and angry protesters at your home when your kids are sleeping in their bedroom is inherently threatening. There is a statute 18 U.S.C. 1571 that makes it a crime, a federal crime to protest at the home of a judge in an effort to influence the outcome of a case. It's the same. It's similar to jury tamper. You can't go to a juror's house and protest to try to get a not guilty verdict. This Department of Justice refuses to enforce the law, and it was clear for that hearing that Merrick Garland's political staff had written one sentence. This is your political talking point. The marshals decide whether or not to arrest someone. That's true. There were marshals there and the marshals didn't arrest someone. But under our system of justice, marshals are essentially police officers. They have zero prosecution authority. The only prosecution authority in the federal law is in the Department of Justice with the prosecutor. Merrick Garland is the one who made the decision. We're not going to prosecute here. And by the way, these numb nuts put up pictures of themselves on social media. We're not talking master criminals. They've confessed to the crime. They could be found easily. But Merrick Garland agrees with the protesters. He doesn't like the Dobbs decision. He supports Roe versus Wade. And what is shocking for someone who spent 24 years as a judge is that he's perfectly willing to be complicit with a left wing violent mob threatening the lives and families of the justices because he supports their political agenda. That is incredibly dangerous. Yeah, let's let's let's take stock for just a second of who Merrick Garland has gone after and who he's refused to go after. He's gone after a pro-life father of seven at his home, arrested him like a hardened criminal. He's gone after parents peacefully protesting at their children's school board meetings. He's had the FBI investigate traditional Catholics as being domestic terrorists, and he won't use the Department of Justice to go after people who are harassing the children of Supreme Court justices. The guy is a disgrace. He needs to go. How much? You just ran. You're out there with the voters. You're talking to them. How how concerned and tell a little bit about your story. You're what I would refer to as blue collar conservative. You come in, you run for this thing. How concerned are the American people? About these type of issues when you were talking to them that, hey, this government that I'm supposed to trust, it's supposed to protect me, it's supposed to protect my rights, or I'm supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, are now being accused of things just because of politics. And can they can ruin your life? They can come in and literally ruin your life. Yep. Look, one of the things Ted said when he was out on the campaign trail campaigning with me to this blue collar conservatism point that I stole that I hope you won't mind it. But but I gave you credit, though, so borrowing. He would talk about how if you look at who's voting Republicans. I mean, we're the we're the party of soldiers and sailors, of nurses, of construction workers, of people who go to work, pay their taxes, raise their children and just want to live in safe communities. That is our base right now. And I love that, right? We should be proud of that base and we should be working hard to serve that base. And, you know, I got to say, a lot of our elites, a lot of the leaders, I think, of the establishment of the Republican Party, they're ashamed of our new base. I know Ted and I are. And that's something that's very, very good that's happening in our party. It's a great thing. But look, if you think about those people, middle class people who go to work, they do their thing. They try to just live a good life in the country that their parents and grandparents built. They know that when the Department of Justice acts unfairly, they are the very kind of people who suffer. They know that the very thing that makes this country special is that whether you're powerful or not, whether you're rich or poor, we all have equal justice under law, or at least we did until Joe Biden's gang of thugs moved into the White House. And let me let me say something on that, which is, you know. J.D. is a brand new senator, and he's one of the people I am incredibly excited. That is now a member of the U.S. Senate, because thank you. As J.D. mentioned, I campaigned with him all over the state of Ohio. He's a hell of a candidate. He was powerful and effective on the stump. He worked his tail off. But, you know, J.D.'s personal story is a story that describes who the Republican Party is. I mean, J.D. grew up in Appalachia, grew up in working class environments, in rough working class environments, was a Marine who went to Yale Law School, right? And I will tell you, there's a long history of on verdict of making fun of Yale University. It's deserved for a long time. Michael, I did it together and I tried to make fun of Yale on a regular basis. So we're just continuing that trend. But as you guys all know, J.D. wrote a New York Times number one bestseller, Hillbilly Elegy, which is a fantastic book. It is actually it's it's probably the best explanation. You can combine them at checkout at Amazon dot com. Just so you know, Justice Corrupted, this book, you can literally put them together. That's for the record. I wasn't hawking my own book. I was like, you might as well get both. Right. And while Ted talks about how great I am, let's extend the clock a little bit. We're running a little low on time to make sure Ted has has plenty of time to go on. Yeah. But look what J.D. did so powerfully, because I am going to go on is. Described the pathologies that have been just hammering working men and women in this country are not even working men and women, people who are not working. And and whether the the opioid crisis and addiction, the destruction of manufacturing jobs, the loss of of fathers and at home raising kids. And and it is a powerful explanation of the damage that's been done. And it's a really clarion call. I got to tell you, you know, this is no longer the party of the country clubs. Right. And and there's some of our colleagues in the Republican conference who are really confused who this guy is. And that's why I'm so excited that he's come. Give us your your thoughts on. All right. You've been in the Senate two months. Yep. Vacation for three. So it's, you know, half of it we've been on vacation. But what do you see? As the future of the Republican Party, as it concerns, how are we different from the Republican Party of 20 years ago? Yeah, I mean, that's a that's a that's a big question. I guess the way that I think about it is we are the party of wage earners. We're the party of taxpayers and we're the party of the people who fight and hopefully win America's wars. That's really how I think about it. And what that means is because because we have a different coalition than maybe we had 30 years ago, we got to think a little bit about about different issues differently. I think the old Republican Party would have maybe seen Merrick Garland applying equal justice in our country unequally and would have said, well, you know, they're in power. The Democrats get to do what they want to do. I think you and I, our attitude is, look, if we don't stop this dead in its tracks, we're going to lose the very thing that makes life livable for our own voters and for our own people. It's unacceptable. I think for too long, I mean, look, even going back 20, 30 years, the Republican Party was OK with trade deals and with negotiations with China, most favored nation status with China that destroyed the manufacturing base that, by the way, hollowed out our ability to make our own weapons on the national security side, but also destroyed a lot of good middle class jobs in the state that I came from. We're not doing that anymore. We're not playing that game anymore. We are the pro-America party, not the pro-China party. That's changed. And, you know, I guess I think the final the final way I think about this is the Democrats approach to people who are struggling in the heartland is it's fine if you lose your job, we'll just give you welfare. But we believe in the dignity of work and of moms and dads supporting their families. And we want policies are going to make that easier to happen. I want to and I'll tell you, we're seeing that divide play out. There are lots of issues on which the the blue collar shift in the party is playing out. Immigration is front and center, right? There used to be Chamber of Commerce Republicans that were all for open borders because they looked at it and saw cheap labor. Exactly right. And that's not where the American people are. That's not where the Republican Party should be. And that change matters. Look, we saw recently we almost had a massive rail strike. And we almost had a massive rail strike, and there was a dispute between management and the unions, and it ended up coming to an impasse because Biden and Pete Buttigieg screwed it all up. And it came to an impasse. That happens a lot these days. But the assumptions was kick it to Congress and Congress will rule with management and that'll be it. And I got to tell you, and it was the Biden administration that was pressing to overturn what the unions wanted. The unions wanted paid sick leave. Actually, the rule in the railroads. Was if you wanted sick leave, you had to put in for it several days in advance, which is really helpful. If you know, hey, I'm planning to get sick next Wednesday. Like, I'm not sure exactly how that works. And so I looked at it and my first view is, why is Congress getting in the middle of it? This ought to be freely negotiated between management and the unions. We have no business getting in the middle and resolving it. And so initially we had a vote to delay and give them more time to negotiate a mutually agreed upon solution. That vote was rejected. And so at the end of the day, there were a handful of us that said to heck with this and voted with the workers, because I thought the workers demands were really reasonable. And I said, look, we're not a rubber stamp for what management wants. That is a new dynamic in the Republican Party. And I think J.D. being there is a big part of getting it viscerally, which is something we need going forward. And I got to say, also, everyone here is horrified at the derailment in East Palestine. Right. And J.D. has been fantastic going back there. On leadership. Yeah. Like going back there, you know, he went and did a video of him poking water with a stick and all sorts of crazy, scary crap came up. And by the way, Joe Biden, completely AWOL Pete Buttigieg. What the hell does this guy got to do to get fired? Like like at this point, it's it's a bar game. Like what else could he do? And I got to say, J.D. standing up and the Democrats don't give a damn. About East Palestine, because it's it's a blue collar red. Red place. And they're like, to hell with you. If you were a bunch of transgender tech workers, you'd have the entire Biden cabinet down there for a listening session and sit in to feel their pain. But J.D. and by the way, J.D., alongside Donald Trump came there and guilted the administration. And that was powerful as hell. I've never said this, by the way, in a podcast before. You guys have a vote coming up that you're about to head off to. See, the nice thing is, Ben, being a radio guy, he's very docile. So we have screens up here that say, please wrap up. We're just ignoring it. Look, we're having fun, right? We're having fun. I like that. You're I need a raise. I need a raise. Yeah, I need a raise for this. All right. I will ask last question. And I'm sure Matt's not going to fire me over this. I will ask one last question. I do think it's an important one. What is the Republican Party need to do over the next two years to unify and find good candidates? And the reason I say this is the Democratic Party is very unified right now. Yeah, they are so unified. They elected dead guy in Pennsylvania on purpose. And they will elect Fetterman, who clearly they took advantage of. I think it's evil what they did to him, in my opinion. And you look at what where Biden is right now, if he is their guy, which I have every I expect him to be their guy, as long as he has a heartbeat, they'll vote him in. That's how unified they are as a party right now, which is scary. But what is the conservative movement need to do for the next two years? Quickly, let me offer my views, because I just came off an election. And look, the thing that I was really caught off guard by when I won my primary is that, yes, some arms of the establishment said maybe this wasn't our number one choice, but look, he won and we need to keep the seat red. And so we're going to support J.D. Vance. There are a lot of folks in the establishment wing when they don't get their preferred candidate who whine, who will not help, who will not lift a finger to help candidates. And look, there are going to be a lot of candidates that win Republican primaries that aren't going to be my first choice. They may be, you know, a little bit more moderate than I am, a little bit more established than I am. Who cares when you have a candidate win the primary? We've all got to get on board and support him from the president on down. No more whining from the establishment. Let's help our candidates win. And look, to be very clear, the D.C. establishment basically abandoned the Senate candidate in Arizona, basically abandoned the Senate candidate in New Hampshire. And that was disgraceful. We need to win. And that means getting behind people who are ready to fight and taking it seriously. I support the strongest conservative who can win and we need to win. We need to take back the Senate. We need to grow our majority in the House. Yes. And we need to send Joe Biden back to his beach house in Delaware. Amen to that. There it is. Thank you guys for being here at CPAC. Being a part of Verdict, make sure you download it. We'll see you soon.