Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / Trump's Art of the Peace Deal , Charlie Kirk Honored plus Eric Trump & the cost of Political Warfare Week In Review

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Trump's Art of the Peace Deal , Charlie Kirk Honored plus Eric Trump & the cost of Political Warfare Week In Review · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: It is Verdic with Ted Cruz Weekend Review Ben Ferguson
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: with you, and here are some of the big stories
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: that you may have missed that we talked about this
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: past week. First up, Donald Trump's message to the world
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: on the peace Agreement, What was behind it, how did
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: it get done, and how big could this be for
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: peace in the Middle East. We break it down for you. Also,
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Charlie Kirk's widow receives the Medal of Freedom award for
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: her husband. This was a touching moment the White House
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: and Senator Cruz was there for it. And finally Eric
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Trump joins us the present son to talk about how
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: much it costs the Trump family to fight all of
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the legal warfare. It's the weekend Review and it starts
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: right now. So so many people that are listening to Verdict.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: They're going to get to not only I think here,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: from probably leadership in Israel in the next several hours.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: It's certainly going to happen in the morning or midday.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: You're also going to be able to hear from the
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: President United States of America. What do you expect his
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: message to be? And this is by the way, all
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: happening right now while the federal government is still shut
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: down in the US. And I want to get your
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: take on that in a moment. But what do you
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: expect to hear from the president today?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Look, I think the President is going to say, this
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: is an historic day. This peace agreement is a moment
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of history that ended a war that has extended for
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: two years, that freed people who have been in captivity
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: for two years subject to horrific treatment. And I think
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: he's going to say, I expect the parties to stick
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: to the terms of the agreement. I think he is
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: going to continue with peace through strength. He's going to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: continue with the opposite of weakness and appeasement because we
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: don't get to this peace agreement without President Trump's strength.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: And then this is one thing to remember that there
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: are some observers who want to say that Donald Trump
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: is an isolationist. He has never been an isolationist. He
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: is Look the first term that Trump was in office,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: when when he came into office, he inherited an Isis
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: caliphate that had grown under Barack Obama that was the
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: size of the state of Indiana. They had an entire
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: nation state to wage terror against America. And Donald Trump
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: utterly decimated and destroyed it. Within months, the caliphate was gone.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: He completely defeated them. He also took out General Solomoni,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: who took out Al bag Daddy. Those are not the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: actions of an isolationist. You look at the second term
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: uh where he's been bombing the living daylights out of
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the Huthis who are attacking ships going through the Suez Canal.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: He is bombing the heck out of narco terrorist off
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the coast of Venezuela. And by the way, Machada was
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: smart to to say he deserved it, because look, her
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: efforts fighting Maduro are very important, and they're and they're
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: they're courageous. But President Trump's strength is the single factor
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: that makes it most likely that the Maduro regime will
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: be toppled and and so it in Trump taking out
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: those narcert terrorists is another example of peace through strength.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: And finally, the the Iran bombing run taking out their
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: nuclear facilities. None of those are the acts of an isolationists. Now,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: to be clear, President Trump is also not an interventionist.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: He's not invading foreign countries. I don't expect to see
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the Marines engaged in invading other countries other than to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: protect the vital security interest of America, to keep America safe.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: The only instance in which we would see a ground
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: war is is where there was a direct danger to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the lives of Americans. And in those instances, President Trump
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: is willing to use military force, but he's not engaged
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: in this broader endeavor to send in our military to
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: try to turn every country in the world into some
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: utopian democracy. That's not the job of the military. Donald
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Trump doesn't think it's the job of the military. And
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the result, strength is the best way to avoid war.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Our enemies are afraid of Donald Trump. That is a
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: very good thing. Hamas is afraid of Donald Trump. Hesbla
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: is afraid of Donald Trump. Iran is afraid of Donald Trump.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Maduro is afraid of Donald Trump. China and Russia are
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: afraid of Donald Trump. All of that is good because
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: America is safer and we are much likely more likely
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to avoid military conflict when our enemies are afraid of
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the commander in chief than when our enemies. You look
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: at Joe Biden, when they look and say, the commander
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: in chief is weak and completely incapacitated. And that is
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: why we went from no wars across the globe to
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: two wars Ukraine and Gaza, both raging under Joe Biden.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: That's what happens when you you have a week and
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: appeasing president.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: An update for everyone on the government shutdown here in
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the US. We are into two weeks now of this
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: government's shutdown. We are starting to see it affect people's
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: lives or seeing healthcare issues with those for example in
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: San Antonio, I was there today talking about there's a
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: lot of people there that are saying that the providers
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: are not able to get the money and the funding
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: they need. Doctors are frustrated. The Schumer shutdown is really
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: starting to hurt people in our military, their kids, those
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: with special needs as well. Your reaction, how much longer
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: this is going to continue? And do you see any
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: movement this week?
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Well, we're right now in day twelve of the Schumer
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: shutdown and the government is shut down because over and
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: over and over again the Democrats are voting to shut
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: the government down. And I will say, you know, it's
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: actually interesting today on Twitter, fifty three Republicans was trending,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: and the reason it was trending was an exchange back
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and forth that I had with Gavin Newsom on the shutdown.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: So Gavin Newsom tweeted out, Wow, that is wild. I
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: wonder who has control of the White House, Senate and
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the House. And this is one of the Democrat talking
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: points as well. This is the Republican's fault because the
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: President and the Senate and the House are all in
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Republican control. Here's what I responded on ax. I said,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Gavin is deliberately lying. To fund the government takes sixty
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: votes in the Senate. There are only fifty three Republicans.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: We need at least seven Democrats. We keep voting to
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: open the government, Dems keep voting to shut it down.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Gavin Newsom knows this, and he's lying to you. And
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: as of right now, that's had one point seven million views.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: It was trending on Twitter. And it's the simple fact
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: we cannot pass funding for the government without sixty votes
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: in the Senate. That means there is nothing Republicans can
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: do to fund this on our own. The Democrats all
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: know this. We have voted, I think eight times now
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: the Republicans have voted to open the government to fund
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the government, and every Democrat but I think three, have
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: voted no. And that's why we have a shutdown. Now.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: We're all expected to go back to d C on
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Tuesday of this week and we'll vote again to fund
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the government. I voted to fund the government now, over
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and over and over again. I'll vote again on Tuesday
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: to fund the government. And I think it is very
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: likely right now the Democrats will continue the Schumer shutdown.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what I think is one of
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: the major reasons is coming up on October seventeenth. There
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: is this big rally in d C, No King's Rally,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: where a bunch of the left wing radicals are coming
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: to d C. And what most of my colleagues believe
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: is that the Democrat senators are terrified of opening the
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  Speaker 1: government before that rally because they don't want their crazy base,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the same base that almost cost Schumer the job his
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: job last time. They don't want their crazy base to
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: get angry. And so I think most of us.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: So you're telling me the American people right now that
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: there's a very good chance that the government shutdown will
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: continue because of a rally date.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Yep. And that date again is what October seventeenth.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, so the thirteenth fourteenthifte Okay, so we got another
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: five six days of this just to get to the rally,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: and then maybe we'll actually do their job and like
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: fund the government.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Look, at some point they're going to do their job
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: and fund the government. But you know, a bunch of
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: federal federal employees are about to miss their first paycheck.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you. Ordinarily, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines would
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: lose their first paycheck as well. The Trump Department of
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Wars said they're going to move some funds around and
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: pay our servicemen and women, and Democrats are furious. How
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: dare you find a way? Look, I don't know if
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: they can do it because it is not easy with
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the funding paused, but the Democrats don't care. And I'll
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: tell you one of the great acts of hypocrisy is
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: the Democrat congressmen are all paying themselves, or most of them,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: maybe I don't know about all, but so under the
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: twenty eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the compensation of a
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: member of Congress cannot be reduced during your term of office,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: which means during a shutdown, House members and senators get
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: paid no matter what, even though everyone else their paycheck.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Stop.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Elected members of Congress get their paycheck. Now you can
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: say no. So I sent a letter to the Secretary
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: of the Senate saying, please hold my paycheck, do not
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: pay me. I do not want that money deposited my
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: account until the government shutdown ends, until our service members
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: are being paid. I'm not going to pay myself. But
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: you look at these Democrats who are happily shutting the
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: government down. They're also taking their own paycheck and saying, gosh,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: I like being paid. And you know they are not
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: troubled at all if some young corporal serving overseas suddenly
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: doesn't get his paycheck and can't pay his bills this week.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: from earlier this week.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Now onto story number two.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Speaking of the White House, as you just mentioned, you
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: were there with many Cabinet members that were in attendance
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: for a really, I think special moment. You and I
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: had the honor and the privilege to go to the
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: memorial service for Charlie Kirk. What we witnessed today was
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: something incredible. Donald Trump awarded Charlie Kirk the Medal of
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Freedom on what would have been his thirty second birthday
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: at the White House and his wife, his widow, Erica,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: was there to accept this. It was a moving moment
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: and you were there for all of it.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: So it was truly a beautiful It was a beautiful day.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: It was a beautiful fall day at October at Washington, DC. See,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the sun was out. We were in the Rose Garden,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: and in the Rose garden you had you had a
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: lot of members of Congress, you had virtually the entire
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: cabinet came out for it, and Erica Kirk, Charlie's widow,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: was there. The President really, i think did a very
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: good job remembering Charlie, speaking speaking from the heart, honoring
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Charlie's legacy, and presenting him with the highest civilian honor
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: we have in this country, and in the military context,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: the Medal of Honor is the highest recipient that can
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: be awarded an individual. In the civilian context, the Medal
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: of Freedom, it is the highest honor that can be
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: awarded an individual. And to give it to Charlie, it
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: was bittersweet because Charlie would have been thirty two, He
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: was a young man, He had an incredibly bright future.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: As you and I have talked about. We both have
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: known Charlie a long time. I considered Charlie a very
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: close friend. Heidie and I met Charlie when he was
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: just eighteen years old, when he was a kid, you know,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: at the ceremony at the White House, I met Charlie's parents.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I had not met his parents before, and I had
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to just just tell both his mom and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: dad say, look, look, Hidie and I we love Charlie.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: And when we got to know him fourteen years ago,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: his vision then was as clear as it was the
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: day he died. His vision of creating a movement to energize,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to mobilize young people, to mobilize young people to love freedom,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: to love free enterprise, to love the Constitution, to love America.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: That vision, you could see it. What I met at
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: me was this tall, lanky, eighteen year old kid. He
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: was freshouted high school, had not gone to college. And
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: you gotta remember the context. This is twenty twelve, beginning
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of twenty thirteen. Barack Obama had just been reelect The
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Democrats were resurgent at that point. Young people being a
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Democrat at an Obama Democrat was hip and cool. The
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: idea of energizing a lot of young people to be conservatives, frankly,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: sounded looney. It did not sound like an easy task
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: at all. A lot of people in the Republican Party
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: said this will never work. But Charlie had a vision.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: And I was telling his mom and dad, I said, look,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: his vision was extraordinary. One of the things I said
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: to them is I said, look, I'm queer grieving the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: loss of your son. He was extraordinarm So sorry, so
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: sorry for your loss. But I said, you know what
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I think, in the last month, it may well be
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: possible that more people have heard the Gospel than in
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: any comparable period of our lifetimes. That that memorial service
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: in Arizona for Charlie was a global event where people
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: heard the gospel. And I got to say at at
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Charlie's funeral service when Erica stood up and she talked
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: about how when Jesus was hanging on the cross and
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: he was looking down at the Roman soldiers who had
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: nailed him to the cross, who were in the process
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: of killing him, and Jesus said, from the cross, Father,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: forgive them, for they know not what they do. And
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: she talked about how how Charlie really had a mission
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: for young people, particularly young men, young men who were
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: often disaffected, disillusion to help them find find their way
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: and find find a purpose in life, a meaningful purpose
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: that provides real, real satisfaction and real reason uh for living.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: And she talked about that young man who shot Charlie,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: that young man, and then she said, and I got
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: to say, she was doing this wind up. I knew you,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: knew where she was going. And I to tell you understand,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: you and I were standing next to each other. I
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: literally held my breath. I'm like, is she going to
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: be able to say this? And she stood up with
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the eyes of the world upon him and said, that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: young man, the young man who pulled the trigger and
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: murdered her husband, murdered the father of her children. She said,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I forgive him. I don't know that There was a
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: dry eye in the house. And one of the things
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: that is so incredible is millions of people were watching that,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and listen. If you're a Christian, you understand, just like
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: they do, even as they were killing him. But if
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: you're not a Christian, I believe thousands, if not millions
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: of people looked at each other and said, how can
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: she say that? Where does that come from? Where does
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: that forgiveness come from? Where does that love come from?
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: And I think it was as powerful a testament of
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the Gospel as as as as we have seen in
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: a long long time, and and and and it and
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I got to say today the President spoke beautifully. And
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: by the way, when Erica said I forgive him Ben,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I hope and pray you or I are never in
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: that situation. I don't know that those words could come
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: out of my mouth. I would want them to, I
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: would desperately want them to. But I that the strength
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: it took for her to say those words I find
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: utterly astonishing. And I just I told Charlie's parents, I said, listen,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I so wish Charlie were with us today. But millions
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: have heard the Gospel in the last seven weeks because
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: of Charlie. And that is one hell of a legacy,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I think one of the most incredible things that you
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: just mentioned is the legacy. And one of the things
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: that the present said today at the White House for
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: people that didn't hear it, was talking about Charlie Kirk
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: being a martyr, and this is what the President said
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: about that.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: He said on the day that he was assassinated. Charlie
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Kirk was a martyr for truth and for freedom, and
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: from Socrates to Think and to Saint Peter, from Abraham
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Lincoln to Martin Luther King, those who change history the most,
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: and he really did have always risked their lives for
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: causes they were put on earth to defend. He was
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: put on earth to do exactly what he was doing.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: He didn't want to waste time. He would have been
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: a top student at any college in the country I know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: to college as well. He was smarter than the guys.
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: He was so smart. But he almost I guess, didn't
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: have the time. He knew what he wanted to do.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: It wasn't like Jae, I want to sit in this
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: classroom for four years listening to people teach me liberal
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: principles because they were never going to teach him that anyway.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: But he didn't have the time. He really didn't have
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: the time. But every time the enemies of goodness and
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: virtue tried to silence the voice of righteous and noble
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: leaders like Charlie, they failed. They seem to fail. Ultimately,
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: they look like they're doing well and then they end
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: up failing because the truth has been unrelenting over the years,
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: over history, and people like Charlie, it's just they've got
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: a power that others don't have, and very few people
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: will ever have. So today, like those martyrs before him,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Charlie's voice, his message, and his legacy are stronger and
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: greater than ever before. They are greater than ever before.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: You know him saying as I said on the day
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: he was assassinated, Charlie Kirk was a martyr for truth
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and for freedom. Yep. And I couldn't agree more. To
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: compare him as he did to Saint Peter, to Abraham Lincoln,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: to Martin Luther King Junior. These are people that change history.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Charlie will be remembered in the same breath with those
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: types of leaders, and I think that's part of the legacy.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: And as you mentioned, not only did Charlie and his
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: legacy now it is one hundred percent setting I think
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: young men and young women on fire to be bolder
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: in their faith, to be better Christians and to seek
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: the truth of the Bible and the Gospel, and just
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: what he was able to do in his death is phenomenal.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: But also what he was doing to fight for this
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: country at the same time, that is going to be
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: a legacy that's going to live on because so many
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: people they are going to do it for Charlie. I
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: think you and I would include ourselves in that as well.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Well. Listen, he was very much. He was a martyr
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: for freedom and a martyr for truth. I also told
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Charlie's parents, I think more people heard Charlie's words of
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: the last four weeks that then her them in the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: entire thirty one nearly thirty two years of his life.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: That the number of people who went and said, who
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: was this Charlie Kirk guy? What did he have to say?
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Who listened to exchanges as he was on college campuses,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: as he was engaging with people who disagreed with him,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: as he treated them with respect, with dignity. That is
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: a powerful legacy. I will tell you. One of the
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: things that was also striking about the Metal of Freedom
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: ceremony is it was a continuation of a conversation that
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: happened at Charlie's funeral ceremony. So at the funeral, Erica
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Kirk spoke and I mentioned how she said that that
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: she forgives the murderer who murdered her husband, and she
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: talks about how Jesus teaches us to love our enemies.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: And and you know, Trump spoke at the funeral, and
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: he gave, I think, very strong remarks. But one of
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the things he said is he said that's something he
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: had a great deal of difficulty doing. That he did
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: not love his enemies, that he hated his enemy, and
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: he liked to fight his enemies. And he kind of
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: laughed about it, but he said that, and and and
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: it was that was a back and forth from Arizona.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Well in the Rose Garden, Trump brought it up again
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: and and and look, President Trump knew Charlie very well.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: And he said, you know, I know Erica talked about
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: how he loved his enemies. But he said, you know,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: when I talked to Charlie, he said, I'm not sure
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: I saw that. I think he like when he was
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: in a battle, he would fight fight his enemies. Uh
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: and and fight them vigorously. And listen, Charlie was a
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: strong man and a passionate man who knew what he believed.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: But it was very interesting. Erica spoke after the President
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: in the Rose Garden, and she gave beautiful remarks. But
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: one of the things she said that I think was
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: directly responding to the President. She said, look, I can
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: tell you from having been married to him, Charlie prayed
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: for his enemies. And she said, I saw that. She said,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know that anyone else saw that, but she said,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I saw him, and he prayed for his enemies. And
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: and President Trump was standing behind her right shoulder, and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: she said it it was it was lighthearted, but she
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: was kind of she was in many ways responding to
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the President. And he he like laughed, He was good natured,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: but he was genuinely laughing, and it was a look.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I think it was a good back and forth that
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: that that we should be vigorous in what we believe.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: We should not not give in uh to to to
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: those who who argue for positions that are harmful to America.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: We should be full throated in our argument. But but
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I also think that the message that Erica was carrying
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: forward about it's possible to disagree, and and look, you
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: go watch the exchanges Charlie had on college campus after
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: college campus, when when you would have someone come in
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: and argue for open borders, when you would have someone
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: come in and argue for socialism, when you have someone
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: come in and argue for transgenderism, when you'd have someone
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: come in and argue for for hamas terrorists. Charlie was
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: vigorous and full throated in disputing them, but he was
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: not mean spirited about it. He was not I hate you,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: he was not you're the enemy, but he would engage
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: in a way that said, look, I understand why you're
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: saying that. Here's why I believe you're mistaken. And I
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: think Erica was right that he was able to do
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: so from a position of love. Love does not mean agreement.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Love does not mean saying, I accept the position you're advocating,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: even though I believe it is harmful to our country.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: But love means not treating your political adversary as the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: enemy to be destroyed, but instead trying to respond with reason,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: with compassion, trying to move and even if you don't move,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: your immediate interlocutor, those who are observing it. Charlie was
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: very good at responding in a way that persuaded a
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: lot of other people, And I thought that back and
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: forth Tuesday between the president, and Erica was really powerful
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: as before.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: If you want to hear the rest of this conversation
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: on this topic, you can go back and dow the
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: podcasts from earlier this week to hear the entire thing.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I want to get back to the big story number
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: three of the week you may have missed. So all right,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: So our guest with us is Eric Trump, Senator. You
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: and I were just talking with him about this really
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: his family being under siege. You talked about these big
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: boy subpoenas part of that is to financially hurt you.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: What did you, guys spend just doing the fighting of
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: all the lawsuits against you during that four year period.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: How much did it cost you?
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Roughly four hundred million guys.
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: I laugh when people I, oh, Trump is profiting off
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: of government.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: I go, wha wait, excuse me.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: If you want to come in, I'll break down the
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: finances you want to Trump's profit. We spent four one hundred
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: million dollars to defend ourselves against nonsense, the fact that
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: we did not have secret servers communicating with the Kremlin,
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: the fact that Don wasn't a Russian agent.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: Remember you had Adam Schiff.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: Out there every single day Donald Trump Junior is a
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: Russian agent.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: Guys.
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: If he wasn't, if he wasn't protected by the speech
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: and debate laws, you would have, honestly, the guy would
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: have been worth a zero. He would have been living
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: in a shoe box based on the fact that you
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: would have sued him for slander and taken everything that
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: he ever had. It was all made up lies. They
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: did everything they possibly could to take us down. We
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: spent over four hundred million dollars between that. You know, Letitia,
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: you know Alvin braggsy Vance, you know Fanny. I mean,
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: I could go on and on the raids the Mara alive.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: What was the worst to deal with? Between Alvin braggs,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Sye Vance, Leticia, James Jack Smith, who was the worst?
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Probably Letitia? Have you want to know the truth?
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: I mean, it was so corrupt and I don't know
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: Alvin Braggby's you had Brshawn, I mean Judge Barshawn's daughter
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: is like that, the digital fundraiser for the Democratic Party.
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: And the guy wouldn't recuse himself and literally you'd be
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: sitting in these courtrooms guys, and I would not leave
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: my father's side. I sat next to him every single day.
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: If he was there, I was gonna be there as
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: a son to support him, you know. And most of
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: the time, some of these cases I wasn't gagged in
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: so normally I was the guy in the courthouse steps,
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: you know, shouting and yelling at the cameras as to
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: what the hell was actually going on, because that's the
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: only way you could communicate a message. But guys, I mean,
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: you had liberal and I mean liberal reporters who was
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: in that courtroom shaking their head saying none of this
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: makes any sense. I mean, they shut down all of Manhattan,
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: Lower Manhattan for a hundred thousand dollars payment that my
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: father didn't even make, made by a lawyer. They indicted
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: him thirty four times. I mean, you know, al Capone
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: had had one fell in the indictment. They indicted my
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: father thirty four times for one hundred thousand dollars payment,
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: by the way, by a district attorney who ran on
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: the premise, you know, of reducing what you know, just
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: decriminalizing just about anything. You know, you could shoot away
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: the face in Times Square and it was decriminalized, and
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: you're gonna let them out, and you know, you're gonna
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: have community policing and all sorts of nonsense. I mean,
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: he ran on the premise of literally emptying Rikers Island,
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: so you had no criminals in there. Yet you know,
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: thirty four felonies in six month period of time is
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: shutting down New York in the FDR drive every day
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: over one hundred thousand dollars.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: I mean, it wasn't believable.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: If only your father were mugging people in Times Square,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: then Alvin Bragg would never have prosecuted him. But instead
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: he committed the unspeakable sin of not only being president
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: of the United States, but being an extraordinarily successful and
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: bold president of the United States, which is an unpardonable sin.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: All right, we don't have much much time left, but
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I want to take it a little bit lighter and
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: ask what was it like? Like? Your father is unique.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I've never in my life have I met anyone remotely
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: like your father. He and I have spent a lot
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: of time together. He has extraordinary courage. But before he
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: was president, what was it like growing up as a
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: kid with Donald Trump as your father? Like? Like, like,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: how what was he like as a dad when you
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: were ten?
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: Honestly, the greatest dad you could ever imagine expected big
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: things from us, right, I mean every day I go
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: give him kiss before I went to school. Honey, no
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: drink drinking, no drugs, no smoking, and you better get
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: good grades. And by the way, never trust anybody. Right
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: he did once in a while I had that he
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: never never trust anyone. Hey, that's probably going to be
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: I said, I probably benefited us pretty well, So amazing guy.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: You know, listen, we're spoiled as hell.
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: And that we lived in you know, Trump Tower, We
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: had a beautiful roof over our head. We were always
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: well fed. We we had the best education, but we
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: were never handed money. We're never handy cash. If we
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: wanted something. If I wanted a fishing road, congratulations, you're
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: working for it. I got on our construction sites when
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: I was eleven years old, doing demo, doing electrical HVAC
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: you know, running back hose excavators. You know, I grew
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: up working with my hands on our construction sites with
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: many of the guys that work for me today. And
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: and you know what, he wanted us to learn a trait.
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: He wanted us to learn the value of a dollar.
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: And by the way, he wanted us to be tired
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: as hell at the end of the day, you know,
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: because listen, don't give type A kids or any kid,
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: but don't give type A kids money or free time,
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: because bad things happen. And he was an amazing father.
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: He is an amazing father. And everything we've ever done,
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: we fought together, whether it's real estate, whether it was
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: The Apprentice.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: I was on that for seven seasons. And then in politics.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: I mean when he decided to run, he said to us,
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: he goes, you know, kids, let's do this. You know,
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: I was on Megan Kelly. I didn't know what the
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: hell immigration was. I mean, Senator, this was not my world.
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: I built, you know, hotels, and all of a sudden,
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: I'm in.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: The middle of box I a wall, and now you're
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: on TV.
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: I've got ninety illegal immigrants around me, and I'm battling
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: all of them, and I don't know the first damn
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: thing about illegal immigration, right. I mean, like, this is
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: not the world that we came from. But my father's
• 29:41
  Speaker 5: a remarkable guy. My mother was an amazing powerhouse and strict,
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: demanded manners, demanded respect, demanded work ethic and either the
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: greatest parents you can ever imagine. I spent a lot
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: of time in underseage talking about you know, being raised
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: by them, and you know it was unique in so
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: many ways. But they they did everything they could in
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: this strange world that we lived in, uh, to ground
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: us and make sure we turned out to be hard workers,
• 30:04
  Speaker 5: normal uh, you know, and didn't have any of these
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: kind of Hunter Biden esque problems. I don't have a
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: laptop from hell, you know, I don't do finger paintings
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: selling it to you know, foreign nationals.
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: All over the world.
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: You know, never married my you know, my brother's ex wife, like,
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: never did that kind of stuff.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: No drugs, no, you know, no perversion.
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: I was always a good kid who believed in God
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: and believed in hard work and you know, lived in honestly.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Eric, I can't tell you how many times, dozens, if
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: not hundreds of times, people have commented that one of
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: the things they admire most about your dad is is
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: you and your brothers and sisters. And listen, it is
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: hard for for any successful person to to raise good kids.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: It's challenging. There's a lot of pressure and and you know, I,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I know know your entire family, and I will say
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: literally people early on throughout the process. They'll comment, well,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: you know, somehow his kids are like like not messed
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: up and incredibly successful and put together and and I
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: mean it's all right. Let me ask you. Let's let
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: let's say we have some young parents that are listening
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: to this podcast. Are there any lessons a young parent
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: by the way, uh, you know Ben, Ben has young kids,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: I have teenage Are there any lessons any lessons from
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: your dad that that young parents should know or lessons
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: that you've tried to apply.
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, keep them poor and make them start working early. Honestly,
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: I mean that's what it is. Keep them poor. Don't
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: don't give type A kids money and don't give them
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: endless time. That's just a bad recipe, right, And and
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: you know, I can't tell you, guys how many friends
• 31:37
  Speaker 5: I had, you know, who were who were peers who
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: went to school with me, and you know, three quarters
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: of them ended up in rehab and and a lot
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: of them went down bad roads. And guess what they
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: were getting ferraris you know when they're you know, sixteen
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: years old, Like, what what do you ever want to
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: aspire to to get? If if that's if that's how
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: you're being raised? I mean, does it surprise you that
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: those people don't have work ethic? Does it surprise you
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: that they go down bad roads? And my father would
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: never let that happen to us. And you know, he
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: made us work our butts off. And believe me, if
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: I wasn't good at what I did real estate wise,
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: I would not be in this chair.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, forget about bapotism for a second. It.
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: You know, if we weren't incredibly capable, Believe me, I
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: wouldn't be running one of the largest real estate empires
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: anywhere in the world. And he made us work, and
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: he made us prove that we were good at what
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: we do, and we fought every single day, and we're
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: an incredibly tight family. And he's a remarkable person who's
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: my best friend. I love him to death, and I'm
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: so proud of him, especially in a week where he's
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: accomplished as much as he had. I am so damn
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: proud of of what he did and what he's accomplished.
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: And the hell of a journey, guys, it's all worth it.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: As always.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to down with my
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: podcast and you can listen to my podcasts every other
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: day you're not listening to Verdict, or each day when you.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Listen to Verdict.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Afterwards, I'd love to have you as a listener to
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: again the Ben Ferguson podcasts, and we will see you
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: back here on Monday morning.