Iran: Why We're Fighting, How's it Going & What's the End Game

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3:03That's iFlag.org. Welcome at his verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson. With you, it's so nice for you to join us today. And we've got a lot to talk about. The world's talking about Iran right now, Senator. And we've got updates on where we are in this war with Iran. Well, we're in week two of the war with Iran. And I will say this success is continued to build up. If you look at the first day of this conflict, Iran launched 350 ballistic missiles. By day eight, that had dropped to 15. Yeah. The second day of this conflict, Iran launched 541 drone attacks. By day eight, that had dropped to 12. What we have done in less than two weeks now, we have taken out Iran's air defenses. We've taken out their missile launching capacity. We have taken out their missiles.

4:05We've taken out their missile manufacturing. We've taken out their drone launch capacity. We've taken out their drones. We've taken out their drone manufacturing. If you look at their navy, virtually every ship in their navy has been sunk to the bottom of the ocean. That effect in less than two weeks is profound. And I want you to listen to the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, talking about what's been accomplished and what to expect next. Give a listen. Before we get to that, though, I want to tell you about our friends at Bitcoin IRA. Can you buy real Bitcoin in your retirement account? If not, it's time to upgrade to Bitcoin IRA. You can buy and sell Bitcoin with major tax advantages. Visit Bitcoin IRA dot com slash Ben to learn more right now. That's Bitcoin IRA dot com slash Ben or call 8666797871.

5:11That's 8666797871. All right, Senator, so let's play for every part of you. Let me interrupt you right now, Ben. So you're right now in Cabo. I am. That's true. Yes, yes, that's true. And I just want to thank you on behalf of every verdict list, but especially the verdict viewers. So there are a lot of verdict viewers who watch on YouTube, who watch on Facebook. And I just want to say I'm really glad that you are not in the speed of right now. I am not. I am in a suit, a jacket, or even worse, a borat, a borat that like covers the equipment and goes over your shoulders. I'm just going to say, to be honest, we don't know if you're in a speed of a borat because the camera shot is only chest up. Yeah, this is this is what you call hazing when when when when center crews, okay, one of us is at Warming Cabo, like I've spent the whole day in the Senate. I'm working by the way, it's your spring break. It's my spring break.

6:14My girls were we're skiing on spring break. I went for a day and a half and then got on a plane and I flew back to Washington, DC because some of us have a job. Yeah, I know, and and I'm too proud of here. I want you to know that I'm proud of you as I was clear on the beach today. Benjamin has had 19 decaries today. And and and if I asked him to to walk in a straight line and and spell the alphabet backwards, he couldn't do so. I did have two Miami vices today, just an honor of you. I knew you would appreciate it. I don't even know what a Miami vice is. You that's that's just sad. I'll introduce you the next time we're hanging out in Cabo. What what is a Miami vice? It's it's a pinnacle out of strawberry battery together. They call it a Miami vice. Okay, that's never had a Miami vice in your entire life. As I'm sitting here in Cabo, I will mean this sincerely. I just don't care. I'm happy I am. All right, so here we go. Here's Pete headsets. We're going to start with Pete headsets giving an update on the war. I want you to take a listen to what he had to say about where we are now.

7:15And what is happening? Take a listen to this. On day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury. They're straightforward and we are executing them with ruthless precision. One, destroy their missile stockpiles, their missile launchers, and their defense industrial base. Missiles and their ability to make them. Two, destroy their Navy. And three, permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons forever. It's a laser focused, maximum authority mission, delivered with overwhelming and unrelenting precision. No hesitation, no half measures. Well, let me ask you this center, as you hear him lay that out. I want to know what the pulses and DC, as you guys are there talking about this,

8:19I'm still trying to figure out what exactly the Democrat talking point is. I've seen like four or five of them that they've been kind of throwing yellow to wall to see if anything will stick. They're obviously wanting to hurt Donald Trump in this, or trying to say he's going to get us into forever war. It's not really working. So what are your colleagues saying in the Senate about this? And also among Republicans as well, there's even been, there was an interesting moment, by the way, where like they were trying to bait you and attrashing Lindsey Graham and others are trying to turn Republicans against Republicans. And as I was sitting here on the beach drinking my Miami vice, I enjoyed watching you have to deal with that on TV, because I just got to be a spectator, it was great. Yeah, look, last night I was on Laura Ingram and Laura's a friend, and she's supporting President Trump in this military conflict. But she asked a whole series of questions about, aren't you upset that it's been reported that Lindsey Graham was talking to Prime Minister Netanyahu? And she basically said, isn't Lindsey acting as a lobbyist for Israel?

9:21And I said, Laura, with all due respect now, and that's really a silly question. Listen, Lindsey, I agree with Lindsey on some issues. I disagree with Lindsey on other issues. You look at the Iraq war. Lindsey was a big proponent of the Iraq war. I think the Iraq war was a serious mistake. I think it did harm to the United States, and I've said that for a long, long time. So Lindsey and I are on totally different pages when it comes to Iraq. When it comes to Iran, Lindsey and I agree. I think when the Iatola says death to America, he means it. I think President Trump is right to act, to take out the leadership at Iran, because having radical Islamist leadership that wants to murder Americans is bad for America. The regime in Iran has been the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism for 47 years. They provide 90% of the funding for Hamas, for Hezbollah, and for the Houthis.

10:22They've killed nearly 1,000 Americans in the last five decades. The Iatola, he leads mobs chanting death to America. And he hires two different crews of Hitmen to try to murder Donald J. Trump. Yeah, not one. Can we pause on that for just a second? One was just convicted in the last week of doing so. Yeah, I was going to say, let's spend a moment on this, because this is part of the Democrats' talking point, and I've been fighting this pretty hard on TV as well. And they're like, well, they weren't, there was not a direct threat here. This was not a direct threat to America. Totally false. You're now putting people in harm's way. Let's make it very clear on this show, as you described it, not one, but two, that we know about were sent to try to take out and kill the President of America. That came directly from Iran. And by the way, the Hitman told the Department of Justice, I was hired by Iran. I was trained by Iran, and my purpose was to murder President Trump.

11:23There's no dispute that it was Iran that was paying for this. And I will note, if you remember last year, when I was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, it was an unhinged interview, but he disputed me. He said, no, no, I've never heard that Iran's trying to murder Donald Trump, which was insane and totally counterfactual, and it's hard to actually argue with someone for whom facts don't matter, and they just make up facts. But then Tucker said bizarrely, well, and if Iran was trying to murder Trump, we should attack them now. We should nuke them, which was insane. And by the way, I will say in Monday's podcast, we pointed out, Tucker has become such an Islamist shill, such an Israel-hating zealot, such an advocate for every Islamist enemy of America, that he has argued this week that President Trump's demand for unconditional surrender of Iran

12:28means that Iran should expect American soldiers to rape their wives and daughters. That is an absolute slander of our American servicemen and women. It is totally false, it is a historical, we don't do that. Other armies do that, America does not. And he also argued that he thinks America is going to nuke Iran. To be clear, that's what Jihadist Tucker said in his interview. We should do if Iran was trying to murder President Trump. We now have one of the hitmen convicted in a federal jury for trying to murder Trump. So Tucker's bad faith disingenuous position is we should nuke them. Of course we should nuke them. We're not going to nuke Iran. That is bizarre, that is wrong. We're also not, there is no circumstance in which American soldiers are going to rape the

13:33women of Iran. But do you know who is broadcasting Tucker's broadcast right now? Literally, Iran state-sponsored media is broadcasting it to their people. The government of Iran is broadcasting Tucker to their people. The Muslim brotherhood has retweeted and put out Tucker's broadcast to the world. RT, the press organization, Russia today, is pushing out Tucker. So you want to talk about a damn affected propagandist for people who hate America. And this is the slippery slope of Jew hate and Israel hate. You start with just hating Israel and Jews, blaming everything bad in the world, it's the Jews. And you very quickly get into the problem is capitalism. By the way, Tucker is now attacking capitalism on a daily basis. And embracing, he's embraced comrade mandami as the mayor of New York. He's defended him repeatedly. He's embraced Nicholas Beduro, the Marxist, America hating dictator

14:34Venezuela, who Donald Trump went and rightly apprehended for being one of the biggest drug dealers in the world killing Americans. Tucker is defending him. And that pattern is incredibly dangerous. We're seeing it play out every day. By the way, side note, this is going to be interesting. I want you to guess in 2000, this would probably be 2009, eight or nine. My big today, today, like to date right now, the biggest contract I've ever been offered in my entire life to do radio TV. Do you know who it was from? I'm guessing Tucker and what I want to ask is, did you have to buy a home and cut her like he is. No, no, that's a good guess, but no, it was not. My biggest offer in the history of my career was RT. They tried to hire, they were trying to hire really servants. And so in 2000, whatever year they, like they came into America in the market place, how much do they offer you? Oh, dude, it was seven figures. I mean, it was, I don't remember

15:34like serious. I get rich, like instant, get rich money. So like they offered you over a million dollars. Yes, over a million dollars. So to likes to, to, to say, Vladimir Putin is wise and a damn good lucky man. So this is how they entrap people as I describe it. I was, I didn't, in the bush years, I get a phone call from a former worker slash, you know, TV executive from Fox News channel. And they said, Hey, I've moved on to something else. I'd love to meet with you. I'm like, sure, more than happy to meet. I'd worked with them before at Fox News channel, like, okay, no big deal. I go to lunch in DC. And that's where I was living the time. And she hands me her card. And she's working for RT. And I'm like, RT, like rush of the day, like, and she's like, yes. And she's like, we would love to have you come on and just give your viewpoint. We would never tell you what to say. We would never tell you what to, like, you know, we want you to just be exactly who you are. We want a fair and balanced conversation about the world. We think you would be great. I was like, I was like, I'm still in shock. I'm like, this is I'm like looking for cameras. I'm waiting for like,

16:37you know, somebody to come out like from the side room, I forgot him. And I'm like, I literally look, I was like, there's no amount of money that is going to make me work for the Russian, for Vlad, I think I said Vladimir Putin. They were like, well, here's the offer. And they slid it across table. It was like a scene out of the movie. And I opened it. It was, I mean, seven figures. And I literally, I literally remember the number. Tell me what seven figures means. Do you remember? It was well over a million per year, but it was a multi-year deal. So it was like, I was like a million one a million nine. I can't, I can't remember if it was like, I want to say, again, a long time ago, I want to say it was like a million two or three. And that was their first offer per year. And what? So I leave the meeting. And I'm like, look, I'm not going to do it, but things. I just think about it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it, but things. They're like, well, if you ever want to come on as a guest or if you ever change your mind. So I leave. And I called John Ashcroft at the time, who's the former trade general. I was like, John, I just got offered money from Vladimir Putin. He was like, started chuckling like Santa. He was like, Russia today. I was like, he's like, you're like the eighth person's called me today to tell me the last week. They're getting an offer for Russia today because they're trying to legitimize themselves in America for

17:38their propaganda. And then they were on TV until they invaded Ukraine. And then RT like fired everybody in America, but I knew people that took the money and got rich. Like I knew like legit, people like, yeah, I'll take the Russian cash. Like no problem. That is, by the way, the reason I bring it up is because of with Tucker Carlson, whenever I was like, well, there is a really money to be made to be like anti-America, anti-Israel. Yes, there is lots of money that people are getting paid. I don't know who's getting paid, but a lot of people are getting paid. So just know that money. By the way, we know that a foreign funders for US universities, the number one country in the world. You know what it is? Is it China? Nope. Really? Russia? Nope. Iran? Nope. All right, who is it? Cutter. Oh, okay, there you go. $6.6 billion with the B. $6.6 billion comes from cutter to our universities. To our universities, you want to know why our universities are so rapidly anti-American, so rapidly anti-Semitic, so rapidly anti-Israel,

18:44so rapidly anti-capitalism. So rapidly, look, you look at the anti-Semitic protest that we had on college campuses all across the country. Yeah. Did any of you notice that the tents all matched? Yeah, there you go. And to be clear, cutter, by the way, it's been publicly reported. They hired spies to spy on me. Yeah. They view me as their biggest opponent in Washington. And listen, it's very simple. I don't have anything against the guitarries. Other than they will come and host the senior leadership of Hamas. They live like billionaires. They live in lavish luxury. They support Hamas. They encourage Hamas. They fund Israel haters, America haters, communists, people tearing America down. They propagandaize our kids. I'm perfectly happy to welcome the

19:45guitarries into the society of civilized nation if they will stop funding people trying to destroy America. And I don't take it kindly when you write lots of checks to people who hate American or trying to destroy our nation. I view that as less than friendly conduct. Having just come back from Israel, I want to paint you a picture. It's midnight, sirens are blaring, and you have only seconds to grab your child and run. Now imagine your elderly, your legs don't work like they used to. Getting downstairs feels impossible. And after all of that, you end up in a bomb shelter for hours, even days because you can't make the trek again. This is what's happening across Israel as Operation Epic Fury continues. Children are being traumatized. Families are just exhausted. And homes have been destroyed. And that's why the international fellowship of Christians and Jews is there. On the ground, bringing food, emergency equipment, care for those children, and help for the elderly and supplying the bomb

20:48shelters and medical centers for critically needed essentials. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to stand for Israel and stand for good against evil, this is it. And that's why I'm asking you to now please act. Give $45 right now to rush life saving essentials to the vulnerable's under fire. You can also call 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-IFCJ. Join me and give and make a real difference online at ifcj.org. That's ifcj.org. By the way, to everyone in Qatar that's a spy listing right now, I just want you to know. And this is a compliment. Ted's life is very boring sometimes. It really is. It's pretty aponical. It's not there's nothing exciting happening there. I just want to be clear. Can I tell a story and it's a story. Some of our podcasts listeners will remember. So back in 2016 when I'm running for president and it's getting down

21:53to the end of the race and it's me and Donald Trump and we're neck and neck. And in that race, I won 12 states. Trump won 24. And no other Republican won more than a single state. Kasek Wano, Ohio, Rubio, one Minnesota and Trump and I won every other state of the country. And in the course of that campaign, there was a story that broke in the national inquire that said I was having five simultaneous affairs. And this is front page. Big story. Cruise caught. Yes. And look, Ben, you know my wife, Heidi. I do. I had to call Heidi. And for anyone married, let me say to everyone listening and watching this spot, if you're married, I've got to tell you, it sucks to pick up the phone and call your spouse and say a sweetheart. So there's a front page story that is in every checkout aisle of every supermarket in America that said I'm having five

23:02simultaneous affairs. And I adore Heidi. She's my best friend in the world. But I was nervous about this call. That is not a fun. If you had to call on and say that, that would be a call that sucked. Yeah, that's that's not so I make the call. Do you know Heidi's reaction? Well, I know this story and I know exactly reaction, which is the best part about the whole story. Heidi burst into a rorious laughter. She's like doubled over laughing. And I actually got offended. I'm like sweetheart. It's not true. But damn it, I could. I mean, like what are you saying? Like I like I didn't but but you're that undesirable. That's what she's saying right there. There's no way. And I got to say for the Katari spies, I think they were frustrated because look, I have dinner many nights in DC at Capitol Grill. You and I have had dinner many times there. Yes. We had my political facts to be clear. I don't think you and I have ever

24:02had dinner anywhere else in DC. But there that town Monday. There is that doesn't even exist in DC in the world. No. Okay. Just checking. I want to make sure. Look, I'm cheating on anybody. It's Capitol Grill. That would be the story. Okay. I'm a home body. Listen, when I was in law school, I lived in the dorms, Hemingway. I lived in Hastings Hall, which is a dorm. I lived there three years. Right next to it was Hemingway Jim. And then right next to it was Gannard House was the large view. That triangle was maybe 300 yards. Yeah. I spent almost every waking moment of three years of law school in that triangle between my dorm, the jam and the law review. That was basically, I would go to class occasionally, but it was essentially that triangle. DC, I rarely, like, like Capitol is six blocks away from the Capitol. I rarely go beyond that radius. But I will tell you in 2016, my opponents and more than one of my opponents was like flashing major chunks of cash, trying to get Capitol, waiters and waitresses to like rat on me,

25:10like running around and getting busy with some Washington law. They were looking for any certain people don't realize this. This is real in politics. Like they go to their dragon through trying to get a hand out cash to anybody. They'll give them a story. So they can report it as someone who says in this world. And I got to say, like, my life is just pretty damn boring on that. And I will tell you, I actually, I want to take a minute. I want to speak to the man listening to this podcast. I want to share some wisdom. So our pastor is Greg Mott. And actually, you now go to our church. You used to go to Second Baptist. You now go to First Baptist. Greg Mott is a wonderful dear friend. He's a man of God. Before you moved to First, pastor Greg did a sermon series. It was like, I think six weeks. And it was on King David. And I really enjoyed that sermon series. King David was a remarkable person in the Bible. And I remember he was covering the chapter on Bathsheba. And if you remember, King David is standing on the roof of his palace. And he looks down and he sees Bathsheba, the most beautiful woman in the land. And he gazes upon her. And he ultimately ends up

26:16bringing her in and sending her husband, your riot to the front lines and killing him and sleeping with her and then marrying her. And God extracts the price of killing her first born son, although her next son was King Solomon. So he did continue the line. But Pastor Greg is talking about. And he just stops. He says, all right, I want to talk to all the men in the congregation. And he says, you may say, if you're this is podcast and you want to hear Greg Mott's voice, like go listen to one of his sermons. And you'll understand how good he is. It delivery means types of lines. Continue. And by the way, Pastor Greg started his ministry. He was a student at Texas A&M. And he started a little Bible study in his dorm room or his apartment. And it started with a few students. It grew into what's called breakaway. And he would have 10,000 students a week meeting in the basketball gymnasium. So where we go to church, first Baptist church is an institution in Houston. I went there as a little kid. Dr. John Bisonia was

27:20the pastor 40 years ago. And he was a Houston institution. By the way, the church was founded. Do you know the story? Do you know when the church was founded? No. So the church was founded. I don't know the exact year. But Texas was an independent nation between 1836 and 1845. And first Baptist church of Houston was founded somewhere in that nine-year period. I don't remember the year. And Pastor Greg said one time, he said, look, this church was actually founded by American missionaries who were coming to a foreign nation. And the foreign nation was the Republic of Texas. So American nations went for America to the Republic of Texas and they founded the church. Anyway, what he said to the men in the church. And by the way, so Pastor Greg built up breakaway and it was getting 10,000 students a week to come to this Bible study at A&M. And then when Dr. Bisonia retired, first Baptist did a search. Who's our new pastor?

28:23And they actually found Pastor Greg. He was 33 years old. And they brought him in. He'd never passed her to church. He'd just like led this Bible study at A&M. They brought him in. And he's led Pastor Greg and I are exactly the same age. We're both 55. And they brought him in like he's become our pastor. And he is. He's a great pastor. But what I admire most about him is he's incredibly humble. Yes. Like Heidi doesn't like mega churches. She grew up in a very small church in the central coast of California. She likes small intimate churches where you have 40 people there on Sunday morning. Like like where everyone knows everyone. And first Baptist is a huge church. The only reason we go there is because she likes Pastor Greg so much that she's just like, all right, I will endure the larger. The larger. Yeah. But part of the reason she likes him and I like him is he is genuinely humble and he's a godly man. Like he's a lot of pastors

29:23of mega churches are frankly arrogant. I mean, hubris. Look, hubris is. They become rock stars in a bubble. Pride is a temptation in the ministry. It's a temptation in politics. It's a temptation in the media like you like it's it's easy when you're surrounded by adulation to believe it. And it's hard to resist it. And I will say Pastor Greg does an amazing job. He and I spend every month actually something we started this year, which I'm really grateful for. He's begun coming over to my house once a month Sunday, afternoons, or evenings just to have a Bible study and prayer session together, which I'm grateful for. But anyway, his David sermon when he talks about Bathsheba, he says, I want to talk to the men in the congregation. And he said, you may think you're strong. You may think you have integrity. You have resolve. And he said, I want to tell you when temptation presents itself. Run. Run. Just get away. He said, the mistake David made is he's

30:32on the roof of his palace. He's looking down and he kept watching. What David should have done is turn around. And by the way, the Bible describes David as a man after God's own heart. And he said, David should have turned around and just gotten himself out of that. I want you to pause what you're doing for just one minute. And I want you to hear about love, generosity, and compassion. We say those words all the time and they sound good. They feel good. But here's the truth. Those words don't mean anything unless they turn into action. And right now, not later today, not tomorrow. There's a child in the world who doesn't know if they'll eat, if they'll have a chance to learn, or if there's any hope at all. And while we're all busy, life keeps moving forward. But that child is waiting. This is where you come in with compassion international. You have the chance to change a child's future, not just with words, not with promises, but with real help that provides food, education,

31:34and hope through local churches and people already in their community. Put your words into action and join me. Introduce a child to a loving Heavenly Father today at compassion.com. That's compassion.com. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weather bug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need. From storm warnings to pollen levels, write at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local, real-time, customizable alerts. Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the app store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7.

32:48Thousands of stocks build a one-of-a-kind index and lets you backtest it against the S&P 500. Then, you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com slash podcast. Paid for by public investing, brokerage services by open to the public investing ink, member finraw and SIPC, advisory services by public advisors LLC, SEC registered advisor. Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. Life gets messy. Spills, stains, head accidents and kid chaos. But with anabe, cleaning up is easy. Our sofas are fully machine washable, inside and out, so you never have to stress about messes again. Made with liquid and stain resistant fabrics, that means fewer stains and more peace of mind. Designed for real life, our sofas feature changeable fabric covers,

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34:49It's seamlessly in tune with you. Exfinity. Imagine that. Restrictions apply. So before we wrap, I want to get back to something else political world that I do think is important for us to cover real quick. And that is the one thing that the Democrats seem to be being able to grab on and something tangible here is gas prices. I know you've been around the president. I know you're in D.C. The president's been pretty clear about this. This is going to be short term increase. Democrats do seem to be latching onto this. Remember when egg prices are like a big thing in the in the putter world? Yep. This is the new egg price thing, right? Oh my gosh. Donald Trump says you're lower price than the pump for you. Look at it now. Look how bad it is now. It's going to be 10 hours a gallon in California. It's going to be five, six hours gallon everywhere else. The president's come out and says it's going to be short term. I believe him. I think also seeing how hard we're hitting Iran right now is also showing the timeline here that they are wanting to do everything as fast they can. Why drag this out? Go all in. Do it quickly. Get the paint over with and let those people hopefully rise up and take over Iran and actually move forward.

35:55Are you that worried about the gas prices? I'm not yet. I give it three months for now or two months for now. I'm going to be more worried. But right now I feel like this is exactly on schedule or ahead of schedule as the White House has described it. Yep. So look, there's been a short term increase in gas prices. And anytime there's a military conflict in the Middle East, gas prices go up because a lot of oil comes from the Middle East. And so military conflict has an effect on supply and demand. I think this will be short term. One of the things to remember is so six months ago gas prices were about, I don't have the exact number off the top of my head, but about $2.50 a gallon. Yeah. They've risen about a dollar. There are about $3.50 a gallon. This is national averages. And so it is true that over the last six months gasoline prices have risen. Where were they 18 months ago? Under Joe Biden, there were nearly six dollars a gallon. So by any

36:55measure, they're massively cheaper than Joe Biden. Yes, they've gone up from about $2.50 to about $3.50. But I think this is a short term increase. And I got to say, if and when the Iranian regime collapses, and by the way, we've utterly degraded their military and we've taken out the itola and the senior military leadership, if and when we have a government in Iran that is not a radical theocratic islamist government who wants to murder America, who is funding terrorist all across the world, who is actively trying to murder Americans every single day. If we have just a normal government, I don't really care who we have just as long as it's not a crazy person killing Americans. The effect on global gas prices will be to lower them significantly. So I actually think this conflict in the long term or even the medium term will have a substantial downward pressure on gasoline prices. There's a short period where prices have spiked somewhat. Oh, that'd be clear. They're much, much lower than under Biden, but they are higher than they were six months ago

37:59under Trump. I look, I think the Democrats are attacking gas prices because they hate Trump, and they're just everything Trump does is wrong. This is an incredibly important decision that Trump has made for advancing U.S. national security, and I will say part of the reason why when like it was being questioned on Lindsey Graham. I like Lindsey as I said, I agree with them, sometimes I disagree with them, sometimes, but what the questioning really was about is isn't the Iran war about Israel, isn't this all about Israel, and the suggestion was Israel or is a puppet master controlling Donald Trump. That's just a blatant lie. This military conflict has very little to do with Israel. The reason President Trump decided to attack Iran is because Iran has been waging war with America for 47 years, and they've killed nearly a thousand Americans, and they're the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. And so the people

38:59trying to say, I don't want another war for Israel. I don't want my children to die for the Jews. That is not honest, because we're doing this because the regime in Iran is killing Americans, and to be clear, if they had the capacity, if they had nuclear weapons, they would kill many, many more Americans. If they could, they would kill you and me right now, Ben. If they could, every listener of this podcast, they would kill. If they had a nuclear weapon, I believe there is a real possibility they would detonate it in the skies of Tel Aviv or New York or Los Angeles. And I'm not interested in seeing a day where hundreds of thousands of Americans are murdered by an Iatola chanting death to America. That's why President Trump acted, but it was not about Israel. It was about America, and I think we need to be very, very clear about that. I want you to pause what you're doing for just one minute, and I want you to hear about Alejandra.

40:02She lives in a remote community with very few resources and little to no health care. So when Alejandra gets sick, her parents have no real options, no doctors in their community, and no money for real medical care. By the third day, her body was shutting down. She woke up and just long enough to tell her mom, I can't take the pain anymore. I can't keep going. Her parents drove hours to find a doctor who tried everything, but she needed a private hospital, and that was impossible for her family to afford. And that is when compassion international stepped in. Now through compassion, Alejandra was treated, and against all odds she survived. She lived because someone just like you took action. Right now, unfortunately, there are children just like Alejandra who won't survive unless someone like you steps in. Compassion international partners with local churches, providing children with the support

41:06that they need, critical medical care, plus food, education, and the hope of the gospel, all in Jesus' name. So help a child just like Alejandra today. You can visit compassion.com. That's compassion.com. I also think one of the other things that I think is really frustrating is just seeing how many people act as if somehow Donald Trump was hoodwinked by Israel for us to get involved in this war. Yeah. And you were asked about that. I was asked about as well on TV, and I said, that is the biggest load of crap I've heard in a long time. President Trump isn't hoodwinked by anybody. President Trump isn't walked around by anyone. And if you've ever been around him, you know that. I think it goes back to what you just said. The president understood the national security risks, not to Israel. This is America first. Correct. It's America and the national security threat to America, including the fact that they're trying to kill and have sent people and trained people and paid people to try to kill the president of the United States America. Also people in the last administration, John Bolton, for example, was one of those.

42:10There's several others on this list that have actually been, they've had heaps out of all the hand hook. Yes, exactly. So you go with the list here. The president was clear about this. This is about America. And I think that's another example when I say there's like four or five working theories. Democrats are in jail at a wall saying, does any of this fit with Americans? I also think it's very interesting. And final thing to you, I don't think the American people are buying this. And part of it's because I think Democrats have just said some of those land is some crazy things on every issue. Try to hurt Donald Trump. Now it's becoming a little bit more of white noise. And that's that I'm thankful for that to be honest with you. Yeah, no, I think that's right. And look, some of the reaction of the voters will depend on how this plays out. If this military conflict lasts many months or years, if we're sitting here a year from now and still mired in a military conflict, if we've got a massive troop presence on the ground, if we have hundreds of thousands of American soldiers being killed, this war will

43:13be very unpopular. Yeah. I think the chances of that happening are very, very close to 0%. Iran is not a rack. We're not going to see a massive troop presence on the ground. We're not going to see an extended military occupation. Actually, I want you to listen to Pete Higgseth making this point. And we're going to wrap up on this. Listen, listen to the Secretary of War, Pete Higgseth. You see, this is not 2003. This is not endless nation building under those types of quagmires we saw under Bush or Obama. It's not even close. Our generation of soldier will not let that happen again. And nor will this president who very clearly ran against those kinds of never-ending, nebulously-scoped missions. Those days are dead. Instead, we're winning decisively with brutal efficiency, total air dominance, and an unbreakable will to accomplish the president's

44:16objectives on our timeline. We stay locked on the target because here at the Department of War, that's our job. You listen to Pete there. This is one of the reasons why I actually think it was a blessing that he was named and made it through confirmation. He's a combat veteran who's been in harm's way. Yeah, this is a guy that I think is genuinely in the room advocating to make sure that what happened to a lot of his colleagues when he was serving in uniform and deployed, that doesn't happen to this group of soldiers now. And it's clear that this is personal for him. That's why I'm so thankful that he's there in this position because he lived the other side of it that he was just describing. Right. Look, avoiding endless wars does not mean embracing isolationism. Peace through strength is what Reagan called it. Donald Trump just understands that is being a strong commander in chief that when people are killing Americans, he is going to respond vigorously to take them out. And by the way, our enemies are terrified, as I've said before,

45:21at 3 a.m. on January 3rd, there was not a Latin American dictator who didn't have to change his shorts because that's when President Trump sees Nicholas Maduro. What is happening in Iran, the top leadership has been taken out, every bad guy, every person who hates America is really, really worried right now because this is a nation that defends itself. And by the way that makes clear, if you kill Americans, there are going to be massive consequences to it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden's weakness and appeasement that if you kill Americans, oh well, we're not going to do anything about it. That invites more people to target and kill Americans. This is about avoiding war by being strong enough to take out the people that are killing Americans, and that in avoids protracted military conflict. I think that's what we're seeing right now, and it makes America a whole lot safer. Yeah, no doubt about it. For everybody listening, thank you for joining us as we do a do-a-pod with the Ben Ferguson podcast and verdict with

46:21Ted Cruz. Don't forget, hit that subscribe or auto download button wherever you're listening right now. And if you want to watch the show, it's also on YouTube. The verdict with Ted Cruz there, you can watch it on Facebook as well. And we'll see you back here in a couple of days. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weather Bug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need. From storm warnings to pollen levels, write at your fingertips. Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local, real-time, customizable alerts. Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise, so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7. Sink into affordable luxury. Anabay is the only machine washable sofa inside and out, with stain-resistant slip covers and a cloud-like frame-due bay, everything goes right in the wash. Plus, the modular design lets you change the look of your space anytime.

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