State of the Union Extravaganza

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring. And tedious. And depressing. And makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty. We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth. And help you figure out this crazy modern world. How about something about a comedic tone? We have a winner. Listen to Armstrong and Getty on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you, and it is 1 a.m. in the morning Eastern time after the State of the Union. I want to be very clear that I am doing this show in protest right now because I was on a plane. No, no, let me rephrase that. Senator, true or false, you and I hung out yesterday in your office. We did, and you were in D.C. And I can't help it that you fled Washington during the State of the Union. And listen, karma's a bitch. And so when you decided you were a little girl and you had to get out of town because the Democrats getting mad at the president were scary, there was a consequence, which is for those who are watching on YouTube, A coup has occurred. The original co-host of verdict has returned and seized the seat. To be clear, he has relegated Mr. Ferguson to appearing as a little box on a monitor. Yeah, yeah. We banished Ben. I saw it, not just the seat, but I saw this cigar, and I said, this is very good. And this has actually become something of a tradition, I've noticed. I've only ever been to two states. By the way, if only T.C. would tell us that there is a tradition, then I wouldn't have gone on a plane at two o'clock this afternoon. You could have changed your flight. Washington, D.C. Like, think about this. Hey, Ben, we should have cigars have the State Union and do the show here. Great idea. I'll change my flight. That is how normal people would have done this. Michael and I could have figured this out a year in advance. This happened late on the fly. And so this afternoon, Michael texted me and said, hey, you want to grab cigars after everything tonight? And... I was like, well, we have to do the pod, but aha. I have an idea, and I didn't really want to do the pod and finish it two in the morning and then have cigars. And so I'm like, we'll combine it. And by the way, Daily Wire does this great. What is it? Late night, what is it called? Backstage. So I've done several times done backstage with them where they sit around. and drink scotch and smoke cigars. And so I said, let's bring some backstage. This is like a Marvel Universe crossover where like DailyWire and our heart are intersecting. There's also really, it's kind of a double verdict tradition in that.

Two years ago, I came to my first state of the union address. It was Biden's state of the union, the one where they injected him with whatever they injected him with. And he yelled for 92 minutes. And then afterward, actually before I'd set it up, I said, hey, Senator, I happened to be in town, hate to pressure you for a cigar. Same thing. He said, well, okay, we can have a cigar, but you got to do the podcast first. I said, okay, well, that'll be a lot of fun. And so, of course, it's midnight, 1 o'clock in the morning. And this really takes us back because... When verdict started, it was always 1 o'clock in the morning, and it was actually not all that far from here in Washington, D.C. Though I noticed the digs have improved a little bit. So we're in a highfalutin cigar bar in D.C. Because it turns out it's actually complicated to find a studio that will let you smoke a cigar. Yes. And my team was... By the way, I don't get to light my cigar. That's the part that I'm really chapped about. I did look at my wife and Senator, you know Anna well. And I was like, what are the chances for the sake of the show in authenticity I could smoke said cigar? I literally did not get an answer. I got the look. And when you're married, you guys both know the look. Each one of our wives all have a look that they give you. And I was like, okay, I got it. I know how this is. So, Ben, you are thoroughly domesticated. Yes, yes, and it doesn't pun your manhood. Yes. But, and I'm not going to tell a story on myself. So when Heidi and I were engaged, I had an apartment in D.C., and I would host poker games. And at the poker games, we would smoke cigars. And we do it at my dining room table. And my buddies that would come over and play, they'd be like, dude, how does Heidi let you smoke cigars inside? And I was in my 20s and stupid. So I'm like, look. If you're the man of the house and you want to smoke a cigar, you smoke a cigar in your damn house. That's right. And I said it with all the bravado of a young idiot. Yeah. Meanwhile, he didn't own said house. It was an apartment, but keep going like the story. So then we get married. We actually get married 25 years ago, May 27, 2001. This is our 25th anniversary. Wow. And we come back from our honeymoon. And shortly thereafter, I'm hosting a poker game. And Heidi says, get the damn cigars out of the apartment. You will never smoke another one inside again. And in 25 years, I never have. And so when I say, you are domesticated. That's another way of saying, You're actually married. Aren't we all? Aren't we all? It's good to be domesticated in a way. There you go. So more of the story is for planning purposes for all the Vueck listeners and watchers. Next year, Michael and I are in charge of programming. Michael, I think we should do the show together, all of us in D.C. and smoke cigars together after, say, the Union. What do you think, Michael? Is that a good idea? That's a great idea. Listen, I'm in.

All right, good. All right. Well, you and I will have a group chat to set it all up in advance, and we will all be one happy family with all of us, among your cigar. The Ferguson family got bigger over the holidays with a new puppy. And I can tell you, having one dog that is over a decade old and a new dog that's just months old, there's one thing they both have in common. I want them to live a great quality life. And that is exactly why I give them rough greens. Now, I've been telling you about my older dog and some of the symptoms that he was having, slowing down and itching and having bad breath, losing interest in playtime. That... is just part of the aging process, but it doesn't have to be. And after just a few weeks of rough greens, we start to see a real difference. The stuff is truly amazing. And if you have a dog you love, you've got to try rough greens for your dog for life. It not only supports long-term health by providing live bioavailable nutrients, including essential vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and digestive enzymes, as well as omega oils. The ingredients work together to improve nutrients. nutrition absorption and maintain joint and muscle health and enhance overall vitality and you can witness it happen over weeks. So if you love your dog and you are ready. to get your dog back to the way maybe he used to be and was more playful, then check out Rough Greens. It's so easy, you just put it on top of your traditional dog food, and that is it, and dogs absolutely love it. Go to roughgreens.com. That's RUFF Greens.com. Use the promo code verdict. And you're going to get a free jumpstart trial bag. All you got to do is add Rough Greens to your dog's food. So you cover the shipping. That's it. promo code verdict to claim your free jumpstart trial bag at roughgreens.com. That's RU-F-F-F-G-R-E-N-S dot com. promo code verdict. So, Ben, what do you think of the damn state of the union? I actually think it was the best speech Donald Trump has ever given. I actually thought it was one of the most real and authentic responses from him to the Democrats and how they were acting. I love that he was like, you can't even stand for that. You won't even stand. You don't even stand. You guys are crazy. Yeah, you guys are crazy. And it came across. That was like the third most incredible line. I mean, there were a lot of them. Yeah. But it came across on TV in an amazing way.

Did it? Yeah. Oh, I mean, it was just his look, his demeanor. He was looking over at them. I mean, you were there, obviously, so it's going to feel different to you. But like, I'm watching, I'm going, that line landed. And I think the American people probably saw it. And they're like, wow, this is going to be really good. So I'm sitting there. It was very kind of Speaker Johnson to invite me. And I'm sitting over the Democrats. So I got a prime view of the Democrats. The first line that really brought down the house was when President Trump looked over, and it was beautifully written and beautifully executed. He looked over and he said, okay, I want everyone to stand up if you agree with the statement that America should protect Americans. Or something to that effect. And not illegals. And not illegals. America, the point of over illegals. Yeah. And they refused to stand. Political malpractice, the likes of which one has rarely seen. And it was a brutal moment. He totally took advantage. So that moment will be played in a million campaigners. Yes, yes. And by the way, it was the longest sustained applause of Republicans. We stood. And we applauded and we applauded. And he just looked over. He stepped away from the lectern. With amazement watching them. And the ad writes itself, they're for illegals and not for you. And they were given that choice. Do you stand with Americans or do you stand with illegals? And the entire party. No, we're the party of illegal aliens and not the party of Americans. It was shocking. So then he doubles down on, I'm skipping around a little bit in time because it escalates. Well, by the way, he noticed a trend. He noticed this is going to be the trend of my speech. Like, I don't think he planned it. This whole like, You guys aren't going to stand for that. It was the moment, and then it hit, and then it was like, I'm going to keep doing this tonight to show Americans how crazy these guys are on the left. That's how it came across on TV. Well, he landed it on the transgender ideology. Yes. The kid who had been transed and it destroyed his family, and then the kid finally ended up in the right place. And... He said, isn't that wonderful? The family's reunited and everyone's flourishing. And the Dems wouldn't stand. And that was when he dealt the blow. He said, These people are crazy. And that, too, lit it up. Now, where it got a little dark, but it was the same strategy. It was the same tactic, I suppose, is when he started bringing up violence. And he obviously turns to Erika Kirk, this national hero, perhaps the most sympathetic figure in the entire country, certainly up there. And the Democrats didn't want to stand for Charlie.

They didn't want to stand for Erica. Again, that itself is disgraceful. But he even gave them it out. He said, we're a country where we say in God we trust and we reject political violence of all kinds. And I was looking over. Some Democrats stood for that. I'd say more than half. On the political violence I looked and it was probably 60, 70%. Think about that. But a third did not. What an indictment. A third did not. A third would not stand for, we reject political violence of all kinds. It was, I felt, a disaster of optics for Democrats and a disaster of morals. Well, and on the, we don't stand for political violence. The reason two-thirds stood as Chuck Schumer stood. By the way, have you ever noticed how much Chuck Schumer looks like the villain and the Smurfs? What's the name? I don't even remember the name of the villain. Like the curved over, like, you know, he's hunched. He has kind of a hunchback. Maybe Penguin from Batman was what I got. Yeah. There we go. Yeah. But he sort of. No, I couldn't agree with you more. By the way, you guys are in there, so you may not know this, so I may break news to you. Did you guys see what Rashida Tlaib was chanting while everyone was chanting USA USA at one of the points in the speech? No. No. She was chanting KKK, KKK, KKK, KKK. KKK. Really? Yes. Well, you know, truth is an advertising. Credit to her. You guys, I don't know if you can see, but let's be. Our good friend Steve Guest, put it out there. Watch, Democrat Representative Talib, she's chanting KKK while everyone else is cheering USA. Well, let's be honest. It's there. The KKK was founded by Democrats. It was almost exclusively populated by Democrats. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the clan. was a delegate, a delegate to the DNC National Convention in 1860. He was a national delegate. And you look at... The Klan was founded by Democrats. Jim Crow laws were founded by Democrats. Segregation was enforced by Democrats. They have been the party of racial bigotry, the entire history. And by the way, our party, I mean, we often refer to our party as the party of Lincoln, but we were literally founded to abolish slavery. Right. That's why the Republican Party came together. And by the way, we did. The first Republican president is who signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Well, you know, on racial animus and Rashida Tlaib, did you see, I don't know if you caught this, but when President Trump said, what a wonderful thing, we released all the hostages. We got the hostages released, both dead and alive, but we returned even their remains. And most people stood up. I looked, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib were sitting down. Yep. Yeah. And by the way, at one point, they heckled when there was a reference to the...

End of the war in Gaza, they heckled and screamed genocide. I mean, that's who their party is. Well, and you look at tonight, there was four Democrat responses. Like, that's not good for your party when you're that broken. Who were the four? So you had one in Spanish. You had one that was a progressive radical. You had one that was like the next level moderate. And then you had the Virginia governor. You had four official responses tonight. I'm sorry. I'm going to have to disagree with you. I don't even know who they were, but there are four who were progressive radicals. Well, I agree with you. Yes. I'm giving you their official statement, but they literally had, hey, depending on how crazy you are, if you're a Marxist, communist, or a radical lefty, or like the transgender, or maybe just like a normal Democrat, here's all of your responses for you, and we'll have all of those for you. So right after the State of the Union, I did Sean Hannity. And as I was sitting there waiting to go on. Fox wouldn't put Sean Hannity on air until Abigail Spanberger finished her response. So I sit down and put my earpiece in, and it's just her voice screeching and loud. And I'm, and I turned to Sean Hannity and I said, Sean, I haven't led nearly a wicked enough life to deserve to listen to this. And so I just turned the volume off. I'm like, I can't. there's just a limit to how much pain I can endure. But, you know, what's very telling about Abigail Spanberger is you had Andy Beshear come out, who is a serious presidential candidate, Kentucky governor, and he said Abigail Spanberger is the model for Democrats in the midterms, which means translation will run as moderates. It means lie. They'll lie. They'll lie. They'll run as moderates, and they will immediately enact the most radical leftist agenda. You could maybe. imagine. Michael, I love, by the way, I know you're a man of the people and you do all of your own yard work. But if you lived in Virginia, she's so crazy. How many people here are wearing French cuffs? Yeah, that would be only that guy right there. I just want to be clear. The one where the big cloud of smoke that just went up in the air, that would be that guy's cufflings. Yeah, that's the one there. So there, look, it is impressive because at Yale, he wore a cravat. That's right. I'm going more populist as I age. And I will say... Michael had designer jeans before we knew what those were. But I'm also impressed because Ben at Ole Miss never wore pants. So we're kind of reaching a kind of middle grader. Evens out, actually. A man of the people, a man of Prada and Gucci. It just, it is what it is. No, but like, in Virginia, they've gone so crazy. They literally have laws written right now that she's in favor of to ban gasoline-powered wheat eaters and blowers. And then they're putting a 10% tax on electric blowers. So they're going to charge even more to be green. That's Virginia. I love that the president brought up.

There was, at that time, the writing component? There was a writing thing that they added. It was kind of optional or experimental. And the funny thing is, I did not get a perfect score. I actually don't remember the exact, it was less, it was the 680 or something, but the funny thing is, that's the thing I went into, and my most famous book has no words in it. So it ended up working out just fine. Ted, your point on Gavin Newsom. I am going to decline to answer on the advice accounts. Oh, wow. Because I am in elected politics and running around like squawking about your SAT score. Did you have two perfect scores out of the three categories like Michael? I just want to know. Can we at least get that? Did you have perfect score in any of that? I did not. I did not. And I did. well on the test but but i am i i'm just telling you i may not know much about politics but i am quite certain it is dumb as hell to say this this was my SAT score to prove that to prove how much of a man of the people i am i walked in and took the test i forgot my my calculator And I looked at the lady that does the test and I said, what is the minimum for NCAA requirements? Can I do it without a calculator? And she goes, I'm intrigued to see if you can. And I was above the NCAA minimum without a calculator. And I took it once and the score came in and my mom was furious when it came in the mail. She's like, you're taking it again. She was so mad. I forgot. Remember the TI 83 or whatever it was like, you know, like the calculator you took with you? And I was like, I forgot it. My mom's an educator. She was like, you're taking it. I was like, no, I'm not. I'm above the minimum for NCAA requirements. That's all I care about. And that way I took it once. All right. So I'm going to tell you a SAT LSAT story. So when I show up at college, my first job, I worked at Princeton Media Services, videotaping things. And like I run an operator video camera and like videotape all sorts of different programs and things. And that paid either seven or eight bucks an hour. And then I got hired by the Princeton Review to teach the SAT. which was a much better job because it paid 15 bucks an hour. And so I'm like, hot diggedy damn, I could do that math and 15 is better than seven. Yeah. So for like a year or two, I taught the SAT, I guess a year. And then I'm like, wait, there's no margin in teaching the SAT. I've already taken it. And I knew I wanted to go to law school. So I went to the course and said, hey, can I teach the LSAT? And so they paid me. to train me to teach the LSAT, which was useful because I had to, in fact, teach the LSAT. So when I was a sophomore in college, I was teaching the LSAT, and the students would say, well, what score did you get? This sounds like a Somali daycare right now. Well, no, no, it was, there were real classes. But the hysterical story is, so I taught the LSAT for a year. And then.

So junior year, we're taking the L-Sat. And you guys both know my college roommate. It was my law school roommate. And other than Heidi, my best friend in the world, David Pantam. Yeah. Jamaican, incredibly talented, became Barack Obama was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. David was the second black president of Harvard Law Review. So, but when David and I are in college, we're both taking the L-Sat. The night before the L-Sat, David and I like complete morons, did I mention that we were like 19 or 20, I guess 20? We stayed up all night playing Nintendo. We literally did not sleep. We pulled an all-nighter playing Mario Brothers on Nintendo. This story checks out, by the way. Okay. The L-Sat was in Newark. So I had a, my first car was a green 78 Ford Fairmont. Right. So I drove us to Newark. We take the all set. It was at 8 a.m. So we leave at like 6.6.30, go sit for the test. It's like four hours or so. So we're coming home, coming back to college at like 1 in the afternoon. And we're driving back. And I said, so David, how did it go? And he said, well, during one of the sections, I put my head down and fell asleep. And he said, I woke up with two minutes left. And I just filled out B for every question. And he turns to me and says, do you think B is the right answer? And so it turns out you can cancel your LSAT score on the spot if you want to. And he went up and just canceled a score. Oh, that's good. And so the poor guy had to take it again. And then he did well the second time he took it. But he literally, I laughed so hard. I almost crashed the car. But I ended up keeping them up all night and making him fall asleep during the else. What if all the answers were B? They could have been. He might have missed out on the perfect score. It could have the perfect score. For the next 60 seconds, can you hit pause on your life and just think about this? In communities around the world, millions of children like Lucy faced the crushing weight of poverty, hunger, illness, and a lack of opportunity dim their bright futures. But through Compassion International, and local churches, everything is changing. Lucy receives nourishing food, vital medical care, and the chance to go to school. She learns life skills, develops God-given talents, and builds a loving relationship with Jesus. It's a journey from vulnerability to empowerment, and it's sparked literally by your love. This transformation echoes far beyond Lucy, impacting her family. the community in shaping the future of her nation. And you can make this profound difference right now. So join me in sponsoring a child. Visit compassion.com today. You'll empower a life and change the world. That's compassion.com to learn more. The Gavin Newsom thing is really frustrating, because right now he is the leading candidate for the Democrats, I think, without question. And I'm so happy he is, by the way. At the Munich Security Conference, Gavin Newsom's still the leading candidate. And on the one hand, he has these social media posts where he's sitting there performatively reading Beloved by Tony Morrison, performatively reading all these books that are... But by the way, are you aware that Gavin Newsom lit himself on fire in a social media exchange about verdict?

No. So coming back from Munich, we did a whole show on Munich. Yeah. Lighting up Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and lighting up Gavin Newsom. And Gavin Newsom in Munich said Donald Trump is the first president in history to federalize the National Guard. And so on verdict, I said Gavin Newsom is historically illiterate. Yes. Yes. And actually, you talked about it on your show. I defended your use of the English language properly. And so I said that. And then he tweeted out, he said, calling someone who's dyslexic, illiterate, is a new low even for Cruz. Yeah. And mind you, who knew he was dyslexic? I didn't know that until he sent out his tweet. For a guy that then also claims on a white podcast so he can read a 300-page book in two hours. Don't forget that came out as well. So it's so much for being majorly dyslexic, right? But then, so we had, we actually had twin responses. So my staff came up with a response with a gift from Zoolander. And I wrote a response and said something like, I didn't say you couldn't read, you clown. I said you were historically illiterate because you apparently have no idea about the civil rights movement and the fact that Eisenhower federalized the National Guard. And this is actually a cool... I think this is the first tweet I've ever sent that was partially written by AI. So... I went to Google, and I just typed in Eisenhower Federalizing National Guard. Yeah. And instantaneously, several paragraphs pop up that are beautifully researched. And so I cut and paste one of them that said on date, and I didn't know the date. You know, Eisenhower signed the executive order number, and I didn't know the executive order number. But it was like this beautifully researched. So the second half of the tweet, I actually wrote that tweet. while playing hoops. So as you guys know, I play hoops twice a week. So it was like in between games on my phone. I like type the first half, put it in the AI. Wait, wait, wait. Time out. Time out. I got it. You, you opened up something there. You said in between games, were you the odd man out? Yeah, I lost. I lost. Okay, you lost. I just wanted to get that on the record. I lost the game. Did you hear what he said? Michael, can you make sure is Mike's working? He just, did he say he lost? I just want to be very clear about that. I think that was recorded, in fact. Okay, got it. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I'm glad that we got that. That was worth staying up late for just that right there. Keep going with your story, sir. This is getting good. So, but when I sent my tweet, my social media team was all mad. And they're like, wait, we like our Zoolander tweet. And I said, no, no. Put them both out. Yeah. And let's have an experiment. Let's see who wins. Who gets more like you've got mine. And, you know, you guys. And so it was close. I only beat them by 250%. So they got, I think, 400,000 engagements and I got 1.1 million. But I will confess, making an admission on this.

Although they didn't get nearly the reach, the comments on the Zoolander gift, the people that saw it. Way better. Loved it. Yeah. I mean, they're just like best tweet in the history of the internet. Like they were. So I think it was a smaller niche audience. Yeah. But the ones it hit, it really hit. That's good. It's almost like as good as when you were the Zodiac killer. Maybe you still are. But, you know, those never make me not laugh. What do you mean when I was the Zodiac? Yeah, exactly. When did I? I haven't checked the statute of limitations recently, but I think you're safe now, so you can... Do you know that in 2016, an actual poll done in the state of Florida found 38% of Floridians believe that I could be the Zodiac Killer? I still believe. The Zodiac Killer killed at least five people in Northern California in the late 1960s. I was born in 1970. Yeah, yeah. And yet nearly half of Floridians believed I could be the Zodiac Killer. Yeah, yeah, that's... You could have lied about your age. You could have lied about your age. This is how conspiracies begin. I did have one rally where this kid had a sign, it's like 20, and he had a sign that said, are you the Zodiac Killer? And I went up to him, I put my hand on his shoulder. I said, son, if I was the Zodiac Killer, Would you really want to be here with that sign right now? You know, this actually was the point, which is how we got on to Gavin Newsom. The sign, I don't know if you guys saw the memes that were going around. So I lost a bet on this. I bet that the Democrats would not have a member ejected from the speech. I thought they might have a supporter or some cast or something. Did you actually believe that, though? I didn't think that, I thought they would listen to Hakeem Jeffries and try to chill, but they can't. No way. Al Green has no chill. So he opens up with that. By the way, there's a very real chance Al Green loses his Democrat primary a week from now. Really? Yeah. Really? He's actually in jeopardy. And so I think the antics were partially, of course, he did his antics last year, like waving his cane. Yeah. Which, like, to embody a grumpy old man, like, Get off my lawn, you kids. It's perfect. But he made a real optical error, which is he unfurled the sign, which from my angle in the gallery, I could not see. And so I said, what's he saying? And I guess the sign said, black people aren't apes. But the problem was the way he was holding it. It looked like it said are. It looked like he said R. The one that I saw, maybe one of those said that too. The one I saw said black people rent apes. which was like an unfortunate. Any way you slice it, these are very unfortunate optics. And I thought, you know, the Democrat leader in the House asked one thing. He said, hey, guys, please don't look crazy during the speech. And as the president is walking into the room, Al Green unfurls this sign. And I thought, you have the discipline of a fruit fly. Like, there is no chance. They didn't make it five minutes. They're insane. All right, I have to ask you guys being there because one of the best lines of the whole speech that was just one of those little kind of tit for tat lines, but it worked, was when he was talking about insider trading. And then he said Nancy Pelosi's name. And it was amazing on TV because if you didn't know the story, you immediately went to Google. Every one of us was thinking. Yeah, and I was too. But like, if you didn't know.

And then you saw the reaction and you heard the, the hissing, but whatever it was in the hall, I don't know exactly what they were saying. It was like they were like, you can't say her name like that. You know then everybody went and Googled insider trading Nancy Pelosi. And then they learned about the story. Like they literally helped him sell the story. What was the reaction from, were Democrats mad or what was the reaction? You were on the floor. Oh, look, they were mad constantly. So is there one? I will say, though, there's a difference from this year and last year. So last year, they went through the entire State of the Union, and they didn't applaud. They didn't applaud when Trump walked in. They didn't applaud for anything. They just sat there stone-faced and heckled and waved their cane at it. This year before the State of the Union, I actually went to several Democrats and asked them. I said, okay, are you guys going to applaud for the U.S. hockey team? Like, come on. And they all said yes. In fact, several of them had an expletive. They said, F, yes. And I said, look. To be clear, last year you didn't applaud for a kid with cancer. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a crazy question. Okay, one of the Democrats who I actually like, he's, I'm not going to identify him, but he's got a good sense of humor. I said that to him, and he said, yeah, we hate kids with cancer. Which was like, all right, like, don't argue. Just kind of own it and be, I'm like, all right, well, well played. They did it again this year, by the way. There was a little girl who couldn't walk, who now might have to look. And it was the same thing. A good chunk of Democrats would not. I guess they were trying to play the stoic card. It did not read, at least from my vantage, I thought it looked really callous because there was no unity within the party, so there was no clear messaging. You know, look, it all seemed pretty disastrous. The question then I have, as a proper conservative, who is always looking for the downside of things, just to tell temper my jubilation. Do you think, I think universally the speech was viewed as quite good, quite effective, does it make a meaningful difference in the midterms? Look, I think it does. Do you? All right, lay out why. And I'll tell you why. This speech was the things that irritate Republican slash moderate voters about Trump. That it's all about him and he doesn't know when to, you know, the mean tweets and when to shut up and the things that irritate those that can stay home. Watching his demeanor tonight, he came across in such a way of like. These guys don't want this. These guys don't put you first. These guys don't do this. He also was giving incredible accolades and awards and the U.S. hockey team. There was momentum there. It was one after another. It was a hundred-year-old man, a veteran. It was the guy who was flying the helicopter, the Chinook, and telling a story. He was praising what makes America great and the people that make America great.

I actually think that if you are a moderate voter, someone maybe a Republican that traditionally stays home during the midterms, I actually think that this speech landed with you more than any other speech of Trump the way it played on TV. I think it also is going to land on the economic issues of him reminding the no tax on tips, the no tax on overtime. I'm trying to make life more affordable. The gas prices. Those are things that I actually think will, you know, they've been hammering him on the approval ratings at 40 this or 39 or 38, depending on what poll. I think he gets a bump that actually stays because he landed it so well in the audience. And he looked really calm. He looked really just like, I'm doing this because I want to fix the country. And other speeches haven't come across that way always. Yeah, let me agree with you in that I think the message tonight was the record of the last year. And the record of the last year, I believe, is objectively phenomenal. And I've been in the Senate now 14 years. We've never had a year where we've accomplished even a fraction of what has been accomplished in the last year. I mean, it is staggering, and he did a good job. You know, we talked about on the last pod how I spent 30, 40 minutes on the phone with Trump last week. And one of the things we talked about was messaging for the midterms. And I said, listen, we need to focus on results, on the very real results. securing the border, 99% drop in illegal crossings. And then I encouraged him, a message that's not getting the attention it should is the impact on crime. Yes. Amen. Murder rates have dropped 20%. Drug overdose deaths have dropped 20%. They're literally thousands of Americans who are alive today because Trump was elected and Republicans won Congress. It's a great message. Yeah. And that's been lost. And I was really happy, like the first 20 minutes of the speech were laying out that message. Yeah. And going through murder rates and crime rates and D.C. rates. And like how unhappy the Democrats were. that crime rates had plummeted in DC and New Orleans and your hometown of Memphis. Memphis, yeah. And the Democrats were furious. Yeah. that fewer people are being murdered. They wouldn't stand up on mass for murder declining. You know, this, I was looking at the polls and aggregate of the polls from just January and February leading into this. And to be fair, the pro-murder community in America is pretty small. It is. Look, it's a constituency, but it's not the one you want. And so I was looking at this aggregate of polls. Maris, PBS, a handful of others. And...

The hard fact, I spoke to some members of Congress about this today, the hard fact is Republicans are underwater on the economy, on economic perception. I think you could turn it around, but right now we're a little bit underwater. On health care, Democrats always went on health care and on defense of democracy. It's kind of a contrived category, but anyway, they win on that. So the ones that we're winning on right now quite decisively are immigration. and border enforcement, even more so, now the border is shut down, and especially on crime. So the key, it seems to me, is one, that tells you people are concerned about safety, and two, if you can tie all of that together, The crime relates obviously to illegal immigration. That's why it's called illegal. And the housing prices even. All the way to the, you know, the fact that you have six months consecutive decline on housing prices coinciding with mass deportation. With 2 million people being deported, and that's just less demand. That's right. You know, by the way, like a couple of weeks ago, the Houston Chronicle had a front page story. that said murder rates in Houston have declined 18%. Yep. And Heidi showed me the article because she knew it pissed me off. You talked about this the other day. I love this. The article, The Chronicle, says, nobody can figure out why. It's completely inexplicable. The experts we talk about have no idea why the murder rate is dropping, and it like doesn't occur to them that arresting and deporting murderers and gangbangers. will reduce the murder rate. Like it's not, this is not rocket science. Fewer murderers means fewer murders. But yet, to Democrats, that makes no sense to them. And so that message was good. I also liked on no tax on tips. that he had the mom who was the waitress stand up, and he said between no tax on tips and no tax on overtime, she's going to take home $5,000 more this year than last year. That was real and it's not abstract. And by the way, the Democrats wouldn't applaud for her. Like the mom waiting tables, they're not rooting for her. And they want to take that $5,000 for it. And that's real money. You know, $5,000 is real money. It's not some abstraction. Israel is a very hot topic right now, and with so many opinions and emotions surrounding it, it can feel hard to know where to start. The Bible tells us, I will bless those who bless you. That isn't just a comforting promise. It's a clear calling from God. And today, with anti-Semitism rising around the world, that calling is more urgent than ever, at a time when Jewish communities are experiencing more hostility, more threats, and more violence than ever. Christians have a powerful opportunity to respond with God's love to say, you are not alone. When Christians choose to bless Israel, we're not entering a political issue. We're honoring the root of our faith and standing against hatred.

Supporting Israel is more than a belief. It's a biblical mandate. And by partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, you can push back against darkness and be a light to God's people. Learn how you can bless Israel and be blessed in return. Visit IFCJ.org today. That's IFCJ.org today. Be a blessing. Live in the world. Answer the call. So, nuts and bolts, you know, if this was a speech, obviously geared at the midterms, do you think it moves the needle? If we keep message discipline of focusing on it, yes. By the way, yes. Yesterday morning, you and I am talking about this, I had breakfast of Speaker Johnson. And you talk about the reason why I think this one sticks. There is a very real sense that Republican leadership have our act together for once that we haven't had in a long time. I also think that matters. Speaker Johnson understands he basically has a one one person majority. He does not want to have and President Trump doesn't want to have the Democrats take over the House. It is insanely slim. And I think they're working so well together the same way, Senator, that you work so well with the president. There does seem to be that we're actually on the same team for once. I've not experienced that many times in my life in the Republican Party. Like there's always the end fighting. We always got to screw it up when we get power. There's different people jacking for positions. There does seem to be a little bit of momentum now that we're on the same team going in the midterms. That's the other reason I think this speech will continue in the momentum because you have Johnson and others advocating. Look, I hope so. To play devil's advocate, we're a very divided country. And so the people who hate Trump still hate him after this speech. For sure. Because they're not actually listening. And so I do think, Ben, you focused on the right area, which is the people who voted for him in 24, but may be demoralized by the press narrative that has been driven. And to the extent this focuses them on, wow, we're winning some big, big victories. I also really liked, look, the No Tax on Tips emphasis I liked because I wrote that bill. And I really liked his emphasis on the Trump accounts, because as you guys know, I wrote that too. And the Democrats wouldn't applaud for that. Sorry, I actually have to pause here because I'm sitting in the upper part of the gallery to the right, if you're the president, pointing. You didn't get everyone was standing up at certain moments. That was one where I bolted up. And other people were kind of slower. I think they didn't quite process what the Trump accounts meant. I'm really into the Trump accounts. Like the Trump accounts, I think, are such a white pill, you know, focusing on families, which is an existential issue. It's so practical. And I'm going to confess something. I should follow this. I'm like professionally. I'm supposed to follow this closely.

I did not know that you were pushing the Trump accounts. I wrote it. Unbelievable. I should have known, but I didn't know. In fact, do you want to hear the story of the origin of the Trump accounts? It's a cool story. I've told it on the pod, but not in a while. So they originated from a poker game in Vegas. So, as you guys know, I like poker. By the way, Michael, were you invited to this poker night? I just want to be clear about this. I'm very offended, but I'll deal with that later. I was not invited to the poker game. Okay, neither was I. All right, we're on the same team again. Keep going, Senator. It was a poker game for political donors. If you guys were to write me a check, I'll invite you to the poker game. Okay. So now we're saying we're poor. We're poor people now. Got it. You're both rich podcasters. So, you know, you ought to be able to write a check. Michael, if you and I ever have a poker game, I think we will organize it next time. We'll invite the center in advance. Do you agree with that? We're very generous people. Yes, we are. We're very kind podcasters. Keep going with your stories. All right. So I do a poker fundraiser typically in April in Vegas. And so not last April, but two aprils ago, I was there. And typically several poker pros will come. I'm buddies with the number of the poker pros. And so we're sitting at the Belagio three in the morning. And Phil Helmuth. who's one of the greatest poker players to have ever lived. Phil would tell you he is the greatest poker player to ever live. And he's got a real argument to it. He's got, I think, 15 bracelets. So it's crazy. That's a lot. So we're sitting there playing poker. And he asks me, he says, hey, do you know Brad Gerster? And at the time I didn't, I'm like, yeah, who's he? And he's a very successful venture capitalist. in Silicon Valley, and he has this idea that was called Invest America. And I'm like, what's that? And Phil describes it for a minute. And I said, hey, that sounds like something I'd be really interested in. And so Phil pulls out his phone, and he puts together a text thread and connects me and Brad and says, you two should talk, you would really like each other. The next week, Brad gets on a plane, flies to D.C. comes to my office and pitches the Invest America accounts. I immediately called my policy team in and said, let's start drafting this. So we drafted the legislation. Now, Brad has said for months he had talked to a bunch of other senators, and none of them did a damn thing. He talked to them, and they'd all kind of nod and be like, yeah, yeah, that's a great idea, and then no one would do anything. We sat down and wrote the bill. That is the bill. That is Trump accounts. It was my bill that we wrote and it is literally the case that if Phil Helmuth does not connect me with Brad Gersner April a year ago, there are no Trump accounts and the American, the kids of America do not have trillions in investments, which is what they're going to have through Trump accounts. You know, this is Michael, Michael, you know what I heard there, by the way? I heard that could you imagine the bills that could have been written if you, Michael and I were there at that table. I know, I mean.

The ideas that we could have come up with, we could have cured cancer maybe at this point. We could have ended the 9th and 10th wars that could have added to the record of the State Department. The ending of the Michael and Ben Wars. I like this. You know, the thing that I love about the Trump accounts in particular from the Republican coalitional standpoint is the right always has all these different ideological. factions because we're more independent thinkers and the left has progressives and very progressives and John Fetterman I guess and we you know we kind of have all these divisions and so one of the divisions that's come about in recent years last five or ten years is people who are focused on more the common good you know kind of an Aristotelian view of politics and people are more focused on the libertarian view that comes from classical liberalism up through say Hayek And what I love about the Trump accounts is it actually marries the two. It's this beautiful, it just hits this sweet spot. It's good. That, no flattery, because I actually didn't even know you were behind it. That is really good stuff. By the way, we had Brad on verdict. No, no, he's come on verdict and talked about the whole idea. And Brad came up with the idea with his two teenage sons, and they spent years pushing it. And Brad was there and recognized by the president of the State of the Union. So Brad had put together a CEO's counsel behind the Invest America accounts. And the chairman of it was Michael Dell. And Michael's a good friend of mine. He's a Texan. We spent a lot of time together. And the CEOs had all committed that they would contribute or match to Trump accounts. So there are two accelerators that are written into these Trump accounts that make them even more potent. Number one is that employers can contribute or match. And listen, when Congress passed Section 401k of ERISA, nobody knew how fundamentally they were changing how Americans saved for retirement. Today, there's more than $12 trillion in 401K accounts. Trump accounts are 401Ks for kids. So in very short order, you're going to see trillions of dollars in there. The two accelerators, one is that employers can contribute or match. And so all the employers on the CEO council had already committed, we're going to contribute or match. This is going to become a ubiquitous, a standard employee benefit, just like a 401K contribution is a pretty standard employee benefit. You're going to see employers. We're already seeing a bunch who will match or contribute to the Trump accounts of the kids of their employees. So that accelerates massively. The second thing, and we deliberately wrote this so that it can accept philanthropy and it can accept charitable gifts. And as you know, Michael and Susan Dell have given $6.5 billion. And what they've given is $250 for America's 250th birthday to every child in America under age 10 who lives in a zip code. where the median income is 150,000 or less. And so we wrote it so you can turn the dials. You can turn the dials geographically. You can turn the dials age-wise. You can turn the dials income-wise. So Michael's done that. Brad Gerstner has given $250 to every kid in Indiana under H-5 in zip codes.

with median income of $150,000 or less. And Ray Dalio, the hedge fund billionaire, has sponsored the kids in Connecticut. That's so cool. And I actually have talked to a number of gazillionaires. And Michael Dell and Brad are getting on Zooms and talking to people with great wealth. That's awesome. Encouraging them, give your resources. And here, Michael and I have talked at length about that. And one of the things that he got excited about. So, look, Michael and Susan have between $100 billion and $200 billion. Like, it's a massive amount of money. And they're smart and responsible, and so they've had serious conversations about how do you give away your fortune? And look, you look at people who've achieved great fortunes. They create a foundation. The foundation gets taken over by a bunch of Marxists who spend all their money undermining everything the founders believe. Every time. Right. Henry Ford is rolling over in his grave. John D. Rockefeller is spitting in his grave. And one of the problems with that much money... is it's hard to give it away. Most charities can't take a billion dollars. Like it's too much money and it swamps them. So Michael and Susan have given six and a quarter billion dollars, but they've told me they are contemplating giving much, much more than that. That's so cool. One of the things that's really powerful about these Trump accounts is they're infinitely scalable. They could literally absorb the entirety. of Michael Dell's fortune and the fortune of every other gazillionaire. And what is really potent is the time value of investing. Look, if someone starts saving or investing when they're 60, it's hard for it to grow and accumulate enough to be really significant in by the time they retire. What makes the Trump account so incredibly potent. is we're starting at age zero. We're starting at babies, so you've got a time horizon where the kids of a single mom waiting table can accumulate hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. And so for philanthropy, the math is powerful. If you put another thousand dollars in at the outset, it really, really grows. And so that's something that is going to be really significant to speed these up. And the point, Michael, you made, which got me really excited, is we're creating a new generation of capitalists. Amen to that. Every kid will have skin in the game. and be an owner of the biggest employers in America. I thought this was a really important point the president touched on. Well, one, the Trump accounts just do that. So it gives people skin in the game. Even when the president pointed out, only half of Americans have access to 401K. They said, we want to bring that other half of Americans. Let them opt in to the thrift savings plan. That's an idea I've talked with the president in the White House about. I think it's a brilliant idea. I strongly support it. I'm working on legislation to do that as well, to codify that. Great.

Because it's, look, the more you can create investors, get people with equity. And one of the important things about how the administration is designing the Trump accounts app is that it is not going to simply say you've got X dollars in the S&P 500. it's going to break down every constituent stock they own within it. That's awesome. So a 10-year-old will be able to see, I own 100 bucks of Apple or Tesla or Ford or McDonald's, and they'll see. So a kid won't be rooting. I hate evil corporations. I want them to fail. They're going to be like, wait, I own that corporation. I want them to do better. that changes their whole worldview. It makes them capitalist. You know, even during one of the big crises of capitalism in the early 20th century, where you had real excesses of industrialization that created, you know, like child labor and all this stuff, there was this movement among serious Christian thinkers to try to resolve these tensions between capitalism and the working poor. And there were all these, Chesterton had a version with Belloc, distributism. But the whole point, and there's didn't really work, but the whole point was you need people to really have a stake in the society, in following subsidiarity and all these principles that are so enshrined in the American system too. And this really does that, where you think, oh, I have a stake in the corporations. I have a stake in the... By the way, I miss geeky, cerebral academic stuff on the pod. I will say the sort of tenor of verdict has shifted. I don't know why. I can't imagine the cause, but I'm just saying, you know, I'm having a waft of nostalgia. There's a little more Chesterton comes here. All the people that just fell asleep, wake back up. I got you back. Keep going. Okay. All right. Our audience level just went like this, but we're back now. They're all awake again. Make your final point. Go ahead. This key is really important because this is what really jazzed me about it. I don't like it when the right fractures into a million directions. Because, you know, I feel for Speaker Johnson, he has the worst job in all of politics. He has to herd a bunch of cats. They all have all sorts of views. They have all sorts of principles, some of which conflict with each other. And so it's hard to get the right to do anything together. And these kinds of ideas. And he is a good and decent man. He's a good friend. He's doing an amazing job. Yeah, he's a one. He's a wonderful guy, and he happens to also be doing a great job. But I just think what the president was speaking on, especially these kinds of issues, these are the kind of things that can actually rally the right together with moderate voters, frankly, even Central Left, who don't want the crazy. Final question for each of you quickly, as we are hitting about an hour here in our state of union coverage. Over under. On the midterms now, how much better do you feel going at leaving the end of the night compared to going into the beginning of the speech tonight? How much more optimistic are you that we can hold the house? Hold the house?

It's going to be very hard, in my view, to hold the House. I would say, look, I feel, I'll just pick a number. I feel 20% better if the Republicans can stay on message, if the Republicans cannot devolve into petty infighting, if the Republicans can be disciplined in the way they campaign. These are all, you know, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. I still think historic headwinds, best of circumstances, the party in power, especially with unified government, loses the House in the midterms. However, I think that the president did every single thing possible to put the party in an advantage heading into November. Senator? And look, my view, right now, the political environment is rough. Yes. If the election were today, it would not be a great outcome. We are nationally in about a D plus six environment. What that means is where polling is nationally is about six points more Democrat than it was on election day in 2024. If we're in a D plus six environment, we lose the House and the Senate is potentially in jeopardy. Crazy. If the election were today, that would be a real possibility. The good news is we got eight months. And the substantive record is phenomenally good. It's not just a little bit good. It is insanely good. And so tonight was encouraging because Trump focused most of his time on laying out methodically that substantive record and just how good it is. And what we have to do, I mean, I do like that we have eight months. Most Americans don't know all these victories we're winning. Exactly. And so our task. is communicate the victories that are making a real difference in people's lives. But the good news is we have a monster amount of substance to talk about. We just need to talk about it. And I think if we make that case, we could certainly... keep the House and the Senate and grow our majorities in both. There you go. Michael, next year, say the union, you and I will be hanging out. We'll make sure we invite Ted Cruz. And so we can... Maybe we will. Maybe. You're going to make me fly home? Yeah, we might make you fly somewhere. Exactly. We'll tell you while you're on the tarmac. Don't worry. There'll be plenty of time for you get off the plane. Don't forget we do this show Monday, Wednesday. Friday. Always a pleasure to have you, Michael, hanging out on a really fun evening. Hit the download auto subscribe button. You can watch us on YouTube or Facebook as well. The center and I will see you back here in a couple of days. Why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring. And tedious. And depressing. And makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty. We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth. And help you figure out this crazy modern world. How about something about a comedic tone? We have a winner.

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