Trump's Surprising Tariff Pause Explained w/ Ted Cruz
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I think there's an incredible opportunity right now. You look at the announcement that he put of tariffs on countries all over the world. I think it sets the president up that there's really a fork in the road that the president, the administration can choose. And I think there is a good path and a bad path. The good path, my hope is that the president will use the leverage from these tariffs to

negotiate with our trading partners to dramatically reduce the tariffs they impose on American goods and services, to remove the barriers to our goods and services, and do so in exchange for lowering American tariffs. And if the result, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days from now, is tariffs worldwide have gone way, way down, that would be an extraordinary outcome.

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Tell Congress end the Biden pill penalty. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. Keep the faith, hold the line and own the lips. It's time for our main... Good Thursday to all of you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm particularly proud of this one. Obviously, there's a lot of news going on. We'll cover taxes and tariffs and all of that stuff. Big new media announcement.

genre that we're pulling out of this one. You're going to see some recognizable faces. Natalie Winters is with us. Smash, I know you've interacted with her as a member of the White House Correspondents. Yeah, you know what? She is changing media day by day, and we're very lucky to have her this afternoon. Yeah, totally. We're going to get to some activist judges. We talk about that, taxes, and a whole bunch of stuff that's going on with a very fun guest, fellas.

Very fun guest. I think everybody's going to recognize who this person is. Yeah, perfect guest for the topic, too. Let's get right to it. Well, when we're thinking about a big news week, we always like to bring in some folks that might have some knowledge and insight into what's happening around town. You may recognize the man to my right, Senator Ted Cruz. How are you, sir? It's good to be back. Is anything going on this week? Yeah, right? Yeah.

Did you happen to notice there were some folks around? It's been quiet. I've actually taken just to taking naps every afternoon because there's so little happening that I really have got plenty of time on my hands. No trips to the Bahamas, though. That was the first time we talked to you. No, no, no. Cancun, damn it. Don't knock Cancun.

That's right. No, no, no. That's right. I think that was the first time we talked to you. One of our favorite... By the way, I do intend at some point to do a donor retreat in Cancun. You have to. Just as a giant screw you to every knucklehead. You 100% have to. Great idea. So for those of you who are not like OG Ruthless listeners, the first time we had Senator Ted Cruz on was a fun time because there was a, shall we say, some mixed feelings.

I don't follow you. Sort of the relationship that maybe we've all had over the years, and this was a good chance to clear the air, but we were coming off of...

What the media blew up, you had a scheduled vacation. You went on vacation and a horrible event happened and all of a sudden you're to blame because you're on vacation. But what I respected the most about it is that Ted Cruz was not going to take the media's bait on this stuff. He'll go and he'll talk to anybody. Comes into our shop...

And sits down and we have a lot of laughs. We have a good time. You put the whole thing in perspective. You start telling stories about how the whole thing unfolded and like what the media said and what they're trying to say about your neighbors and everything else. And like that to us in year one of our program, like perfectly illustrated what we were trying to do here. And like you were a big part of that story.

So thank you. Well, I'm glad I didn't screw it up. You didn't. You didn't. You did a great job. And I didn't even confess to my meth habit. Although I think you did confess to being a serial killer in the 1960s. Well, there is that. There was some of that. Anyway...

Listen, fellow podcaster, we're going to get into that. To be honest, look, my dad killed JFK. So the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Who did you have to bribe to keep him out of the JFK file? Look, I'm just really glad for those redactions. And the Cuban, and suddenly it's all blocked out. And the Cuban!

That's so good. I was looking at a word search cruise. I didn't, I came up with nothing. I was like, they're still covering it up all these years. They're still covering it up. Look, you know, I, the president and I work very closely together and occasionally you have to call in some papers. It's so good. It's so good. All right. So let's just top this off. Obviously the economic news is what's driving the week and what everybody's concerned about. Uh,

Liberation Day as of last week, a whole bunch of new tariffs scheduled to go into effect. A bunch of countries came to the table. You were amongst people who were advising the president on how you thought you could handle this in a way that ultimately gets to what it is that he wanted to accomplish, which is renegotiating a bunch of these things without ultimately getting ourselves in an economic conundrum. You saw bond markets and all stock crashes and all these things like

Tell us a little bit about your thought process on this. Well, look, let me say the announcement today of pausing the higher tariffs that he announced last week but also raising the tariffs on China I think was exactly right, and I'm very glad he made that decision. I think there's an incredible opportunity right now. You look at the announcement that he put of tariffs on countries all over the world. I think it sets the president up that there's really a fork in the road.

that the president and the administration can choose. And I think there is a good path and a bad path. The good path, my hope is, that the president will use the leverage from these tariffs to

negotiate with our trading partners to dramatically reduce the tariffs they impose on American goods and services, to remove the barriers to our goods and services, and do so in exchange for lowering American tariffs. And if the result 30 days, 60 days, 90 days from now is tariffs worldwide have gone way, way down,

That would be an extraordinary outcome. Donald Trump is situated to have one of the most incredible economic victories for the American people and the American workers we've ever seen. And that is very much the path I hope the president takes. Now, there's another path.

And in the White House, in the administration, there are voices on both sides of the path. As you know, I do a podcast every week. I'm familiar. Very, very popular podcast. We all listen. Good. Good. Verdict with Ted Cruz three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So the podcast on Friday was all on the tariffs and the podcast on Monday was.

was about, as I described, the angels and devils on the president's shoulder. The angels urging path number one, use these tariffs as leverage to lower tariffs worldwide. But path number two is keep high tariffs in perpetuity. Yeah, tariffs are good. Tariffs are good. They're wonderful. Now, the result of that will be retaliatory tariffs from all our trading partners and basically...

to trade across the globe, I think that outcome would be terrible. It would be terrible for Texas and America. And also a static prognostication of what it all means, right? Yeah. I mean, like you hear all these billions and billions that will raise off tariffs, but it also assumes that everybody has the same level of consumption at twice the rate.

Right. And consumption goes down. Look, tariffs are taxes. They are taxes, and I am – I have a Republican and conservative aversion to taxes. I don't like taxes going up. Thank you. You're getting to be fewer and further between. Here at the Ruthless Variety Program, we appreciate that. God bless.

I think that this choice may well be the most consequential choice of this administration. I'll tell you, I spent an hour on the phone with the president last night urging go down path number one. And he has many times articulated that he wants to use tariffs as leverage. And I got to say...

Look, there's never been a president before him that uses tariffs as this kind of leverage and understands. His point is exactly right, that America was getting screwed and that almost every country we do business with has dramatically higher tariffs than we have on their goods. And look, what he announced last week was the highest rate of tariffs since 1933. Right.

Now, some bad things happened in 1933. It turns out. But I will say this, and this is what I went in depth on the Verdict podcast. Today, we had markedly different leverage than we had in 1933. Today, we're the biggest market in the world. Today, listen, if everyone jacks up tariffs, it will hurt America, but it'll hurt everyone else worse because our market is so important. Now,

hurting everybody is not a great outcome. Like a global recession is a really lousy end to this story. A much better end to the story

is using the leverage of the disproportionate pain we can put by threatening tariffs to say, all right, get rid of all these garbage. Let's tear down these barriers because I think American farmers and ranchers and small businesses and manufacturers, I think we can kick the ass of every country on earth if there's a fair and level playing field. So that's what I hope we end up with. Listen, I think it's well said. Last thing on the economic situation, a huge second part of this is taxes. And I know you've been working on this.

And look, we'll see what the House ultimately does. The Senate did its job over the weekend by passing the first step of this and that negotiated budget resolution, which enables all of this. Is this something that can be done in the near future, in your view?

I think it will get done. I don't think it will be super soon. I love the Speaker of the House. He's a good friend. He suggested a very optimistic timeframe of next month. I just think it's going to take longer than that. And, you know, an interesting stat of the House members, 60 percent of House Republicans...

We're not here in 2017 when we passed the Trump tax cuts. A lot of people. It's wild, right? It is amazing. How did you become the old guy in the chamber? It's freaking bizarre. Look, I'm old. You were the young rabble rouser. Damn straight. Look, I have to say this, though. You ever want to feel young?

Get yourself elected to the U.S. Senate. Like, holy crap, the median age is 106, and my colleagues reminisce about Eisenhower. And they still think, like, I'm damn skippy in short shorts, like playing with my yo-yo. But a lot of butterscotch candies, I'm sure. A Werther? Yeah, Werther's original. Just get a Werther or two, they can take it out of the pocket unwrapped. Yeah.

By the way, you can tell my colleagues whether they want to hear what you're saying or not, and it just depends on whether they put you on the hearing aid side or not. The sad thing is that's not actually a joke. That is, in fact, a thing. No, listen, I've seen it with my own eyes. And when the Capitol Hill dermatologist comes once a month to the Capitol physician's office,

The next day on the Senate floor, it looks like a war zone. Like it's just, it's like an old MASH episode with everyone with bandages. Am I making that up? No, you are not making that up. I mean, that's actually like a true thing about the Senate. It is 100% true. Everybody looks like they were physically insulted.

That is so funny. I've never made that observation. All right. So but look, I think a big concern. You did ask a question and I went off on a totally divergent tangent. Well, you kind of answered it. Look, I'm a little bit like Homer Simpson. Squirrel. But you answer the basic part of it. But but I think like the larger part, there's some House Republicans that are having a problem with.

Revenue, whatever. I see the budget resolution as a means to an end in terms of what you're doing on taxes. And so I see it a little bit differently in terms of like long term deficits or whatever. But you what I would appreciate about you always. But but in this particular context specifically, is you're like, all right, you have a revenue problem. I have an actual solution for you. You're obviously chairman now.

the commerce committee spectrum has been something that has been very important to you this is something that like flies outside the lines of most americans consciousness but i will tell you most 70 of you that are watching this right now you're watching it on a wireless deal yep you're not doing it on some cable package somewhere that other people choose whether or not you can watch it it's spectrum it's wireless it's how we're provided the opportunity to get to people

You've understood this. You've worked through the issue over years. And for the 5% of you watching it on an Etch-a-Sketch, we can't help you. I'm sorry. This is not applicable to you. We'll find a way to make it applicable. But the point is— By the way, does anyone know what an Etch-a-Sketch is anymore? Oh, I hope so. I feel like we left that with Mitt Romney. Do they make those? I think we're all getting old. I am virtually certain my kids who are 14 and 16 have no idea what an Etch-a-Sketch is.

He's Donald Trump's number one enemy in Congress, Chicago Senator Dick Durbin. And now Dick Durbin has a new scheme, a government takeover of your credit card. Today, consumers have thousands of choices in credit cards, all with equal, strong security.

But Durbin's plan is less competition and less security. And that means more risk for your credit and your identity. Tell Republicans in Congress, stop Dick Durbin's takeover of your credit card before it's too late. Can I tell her? I'm sorry. I'm going to tell a tangent just for the hell of it. And then we'll get back to spectrum and like real serious topics. But a couple of years ago, I was on a TV show and I don't remember what it was, but I was talking about Joe Biden. I was talking about him being old and clueless.

And I analogized him to Mr. Magoo. Yeah, I remember this. Cuddle all heat. And I went back to my office. And as you know, Capitol Hill staffers are all children. Yes. Not a single one of my staffers had any idea. Yeah.

who Mr. Magoo was. Incredible. Like, thanks for the reference, Grandpa. And similarly, I also was talking about John Kerry and I analogized him to Thurston Howell from Gilligan's Island. And again, nobody, not

One, I asked. I'm like, all right, hold on. Does anyone have an idea who it was? And Capitol Hill staffers are all in their 20s or the old guys are in their 30s. Yeah. And so, all right, I go to the Senate lunch. And every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, all the Republican senators have lunch together. And I don't know. For some reason, I felt like sharing, so I –

stood up and told the story about how I went on TV and I analogized John Kerry to Thurston Howell and nobody had any idea what I was talking about because they were all too young. And at that point, Mitt Romney says, you know, Ted, I ran into the same problem.

And I actually found that if you want to create a picture of an out-of-touch rich guy, that Mr. Burns works much better than Thurston Howell. By the way, for those of you all listening that don't know who Thurston Howell is, he was the millionaire on Gilligan Island. The millionaire and his wife. So Mitt says, you know, Mr. Burns works much better.

And it suddenly struck me, oh my god, I'm getting lessons on how to be relatable. From Mitt Romney. Amazing.

we're gonna do a little inventory we're gonna do a little inventory on this uh spectrum sorry but like seriously talk about because yes you simply have auction authority that you can do but it also raises you know potentially hundreds of billions of dollars they can help pay for tax relief to the american people all right so electromagnetic spectrum just about everything we we use communicates via spectrum our

Our cell phones, wireless, Wi-Fi, all of that takes spectrum, takes different slices of the electromagnetic spectrum. The largest holder of unused spectrum is the United States government. And historically, when the government auctions off spectrum, it holds an auction and the highest bidder can purchase that spectrum and put it to productive use.

My number one priority is jobs, and particularly as the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, we've got jurisdiction over 40 percent of the U.S. economy. I'm focused on jobs, jobs, jobs. There are very few policies that can generate as many jobs as moving spectrum into the private sector, and it generates jobs in terms of, number one, jobs.

hundreds of billions of dollars of new investment because the people that buy that spectrum and have it can then develop it but number two hundreds of thousands of jobs and this is really critical to win the race for 5g and 6g which we're starting to move into and it's a race with china who's going to win the race to 6g yeah and by the way if we lose the race to 6g

Then globally, the telecom architecture of the world will be put in place by Huawei and China, which is an incredible economic security threat and a national security threat. Look, that's not hyperbolic. I mean, that is an actual fact. Every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine has a cell phone in their pocket. And if they're calling and Huawei has the ability to intercept every one of those calls, that is a disaster. And so...

I am fighting hard to include in the reconciliation bill spectrum auction authority and a pipeline to free up 600 megahertz of spectrum, which is a lot of spectrum.

If we do that, that generates roughly $100 billion to the federal government. Real money. And that's not a make-believe. Like sometimes you have pay-fors on Capitol Hill. No, they actually have to pay for it. Yeah, that's real dollars. They like stroke a check and hand it. So it's an ability to generate real money, and we can use that $100 billion to do things we really need to do, like secure our border, like rebuild our military, invest it where there are real needs. Provide tax relief to the American people. Damn straight. All of that.

All of that, but even better than the $100 billion the federal government makes from the sale of Spectrum is the 2x and 3x multiple of investment in jobs that it produces on the private sector. Well, your MSNBC friends are not having it.

They're very angry. That means I'm right. Yeah, I think you're right. We think you're right. Listen, thank you for covering that because we've talked about this a little bit, but you put a finer point on it. And by the way, I don't know if you saw the breaking news, but MSNBC wants to modernize, so they're putting all their programs out on Etch-A-Sketch. We're going to have to get one of those. We will. I want to play a clip for you because one of the things you're known for is your –

Well, I just sense a theatrics in a committee. What do you mean? Well, let's play this thing. Clip one, please. Spaghetts.

Go away. Not how he's doing it. And the only reason there's all these injunctions, Senator Cruz, is because he's violating the Constitution. Why would Trump appointed judges? Why don't you file him in red districts? Senator Cruz. Get her. What did you just say? Why don't you file him in red districts? Why are the Democrat Attorney General seeking out left wing, blue, white patient with Senator Cruz's activity in this building? Senator Whitehouse. He's entitled to... I'm just going to ask for a point of order.

Madam Klobuchar, Senator Klobuchar. Senator Moody, we have debates on this committee. Let's let her have her time, and then we'll get back to that. If you want to wait, we'll get back to you, Senator Cruz. She's welcome to answer the question or not. Go ahead. I'm so excited to be following Senator Cruz once again. Excuse me? I didn't hear you. What did you say?

And I will take more than my time since he's taken more than his time to yell at me. So what I will say is that— I'm not yelling. I asked a question. That is incredible. How? How do you deal with that? First off, I mean, not only Klobuchar, but you also have Sheldon Whitehouse on that committee. That's a tough place to deal with these folks.

So I will say, Klobuchar, it's interesting, she never did answer the question. So her whole theory is these nationwide injunctions, the fact that they're issuing shows that Trump is violating the law. And it's like, wait, why are you going out and seeking out every loon left-wing activist that Biden put on the court? And you've got a judge that's a transgender witch. That's who we'll go to to stop deporting Venezuelan gang members. Yeah.

And gosh, if you were confident about the law, you'd go file it in a red district with a judge that I don't know, maybe follows the law. Yeah. And no, they don't want to do that. And Klobuchar had nothing to say, no response at all other than other than orange man bad. That was the entirety of her speech. And I will say Sheldon Whitehouse. So Sheldon.

Sheldon genuinely believes like every right wing conspiracy theory. All of them. He believes all of them. Yeah. More than once. We're all in a cabal, by the way. We just sort of plan. Yeah. Yeah. More than once in response to Sheldon's rants in the Judiciary Committee, I've tweeted out.

Do you know the meme of the guy connecting all the rainbows? Like, that's Sheldon, and this is connected to here, and it's connected to the here! It's a beautiful mind, right? It's insane. I think he genuinely believes...

And all of the crazy stuff. He tried smearing multiple Supreme Court nominees that we've put up with these insane debunked theories. And he's never like... When he asked Brett Kavanaugh, what is this beer you speak of? Yeah, right, yeah.

I'll tell you guys, I know why they believe that. It's because that's what they do. And Mr. Chairman, I know you're not surprised to hear that we are very well sourced on Capitol Hill. And one of the things we heard about this week is a speech that you made to Senate Republicans on an issue regarding the GAO and the deep state.

continuing to try to drive forward this electric vehicle mandate that President Trump has spoken out against. And everybody is talking about what you were saying in that meeting. And I wonder if you could just share a little bit with us about that.

All right. That is, number one, a kick-ass question. And let me say to everyone, you guys, this is why you listen to the Ruthless podcast, because nobody else would ask that question. That actually is an incredibly inside. So if you're not subscribed to Ruthless, you ought to. And then right after that, subscribe to Verdict. See what I did there? See what I did there? That was nice. Cross-promotion, they call it. Hey, it works. It's good. It's all for, I guarantee, y'all have a bunch of subscribers that don't subscribe to Verdict and vice versa. Get on both. Get on both.

All right, so this – California has a very weird carve-out under the Clean Air Act that enables it to get a waiver from national laws concerning clean air, and it enables them to be much stricter. And so California, being the loons that they are, passed laws –

prohibiting the internal combustion engine and mandating that every car sold in California has to be an electric vehicle, that you can't buy a gasoline engine. And it kicks in in a few years. But they're just... So, and under the Clean Air Act, California gets this waiver and the Biden administration granted them this waiver in order to put the mandate in place. Now, the Clean Air Act has a weird wrinkle also.

Other states can opt in to California's waiver. And so 18 states across the country have opted in. So right now, 18 states have a law in effect that is going to ban gasoline engines in just a few years. It is a massive. And there's like basically nothing the federal government from the executive side can just sort of do to undo this. Well, there is. So the Biden administration, they granted the waiver. They said, OK, that's good with us.

And there is a law called the Congressional Review Act. The Congressional Review Act gives Congress the ability to reverse rules, and that's the critical legal term, a rule. Congress has the ability to reverse it if it's within a narrow window of time.

And that often happens. We're doing it right now. In fact, in a few minutes, we're going to go to the floor and vote on a CRA, which is my CRA, to reverse a Biden-era rule that mandated, banned the most commonly used tankless water heaters and has the effect of driving up the cost for people to buy a tankless water heater of about $450 and just hurting consumers. We're going to reverse it. So we're going to win that vote in a few minutes on the Senate floor. Hell yeah. So...

What happened, the Biden administration said, oh, this waiver, it's not a rule. They said it. The reason they said it's not a rule is because then they didn't want it to be CRA-able. They didn't want Congress to be able to overturn it. Well, when Trump came in, Lee Zeldin, the new head of the EPA, took the waiver and submitted it as a rule. Said, I'm the head of the EPA, and I say this is a rule. And so that...

triggers the clock on the congressional review act to be able to reverse this waiver now sheldon whitehouse getting back to him oh yeah again one of his red threads brought him um to to the gao the government accounting office and so he asked for an opinion is this a rule

And the GAO, look, the GAO, I have requests that are six months old that they won't respond to me. Within days, they issued this lengthy opinion saying, damn straight, it is not a rule. Have we sent Elon over this joint yet? I feel like Doge ought to visit this joint. It is clear these guys are resistance, Green New Deal, hardened. And this was all cooked up. This is, in fact, a red thread. They planned on this.

They turn this around so fast. And then what has happened is there's a battle with the Senate parliamentarian. What I was urging my colleagues is I said, look, under the statute, GAO has no say whatsoever in terms of whether this is a rule. And in the entire history of the Senate...

Whenever an agency has deemed something to be a rule, 100% of the time, the Senate has treated that determination as binding. And so what the case I was making to my colleagues is we should do the same thing. And it's a huge deal substantively. If you don't want to ban cars, which is what the lunatics want to do, then you want this waiver reversed.

And it's also a big deal precedentially because this is a massive power grab by unelected bureaucrats who are saying we don't want the elected senators deciding on whether to overturn this. We want to protect our crazy man. So ultimately you're advocating for your colleagues to sort of overturn this thing. Yes. And then and get to the CRA, treat it like you would and get that thing. And reverse the waiver. I hope there's nobody who disagrees with that.

Because this is crazy. I think we're going to prevail on that. I think we're going to get it done. And it means consumers can choose. Look, if you decide to buy an electric car, cool. Awesome. That's your choice. But if you decide not to, it shouldn't be some knucklehead in a windowless office in D.C. forcing it down your throat. Yeah, it's just so well said. Thank you for raising that. Thanks for the question, too, because I had forgotten about that. But it's a really big deal.

Yeah. And also, you know, look, not for nothing, we had a full campaign where we talked about this ad nauseum. Electric vehicle mandates, electric vehicle. And people like had a definitive opinion on it. To know that it actually takes the GAO signing off in order for us to actually get that reversed is wild. I will say, by the way, I do have a deep personal gratitude to electric vehicles.

because they've demonstrated that the left are utter and total hypocrites. That is the truth. Because they're out there keying Teslas because Orange Man bad, Elon Man bad, and so suddenly electric vehicles that were going to save us all from Armageddon are...

are terrible and you must carve swastikas into them. And it also shows leftists are idiots because there are cameras all over them. So you show up with a key to carve a swastika in something where you're on candid camera. It's got like 1080 HD. Like a dumb, radical hypocrite. And without EVs, we would not have such definitive proof of that. Listen, we got to get you out of here so you can vote on your thing. But you got to remember, you got to subscribe to The Verdict.

You got to do it. Damn straight. It's actually a great podcast. You learn a lot. You know, maybe not as much as you do on the Rhythmless Variety Program. No, I'm just kidding. You do. You get a ton of substance and up-to-the-minute stuff. We are loyal subscribers. Look, I will say on Verdict that there is less musical theater.

You don't like the variety? But I will say this. The sun will come out tomorrow. Well, maybe we can do a rendition of that next time you're here. Ted Cruz, ladies and gentlemen.

There's a new front in China's war on America. Illegal vapes for children. Bubblegum-flavored, some with video games. Banned in China, they're smuggled into America and sold illegally to kids. What's in them? Unknown. China makes billions selling illegal vapes to our kids. Biden did nothing to stop it. But with President Trump's leadership, we can.

All right, so you heard from fellow podcaster, Ted Cruz, an appreciator of new media. You're going to hear later on in the program from Natalie Winters, who's sort of pioneering an awful lot of this. So our question of the day for all of you in the new media front, because we know that you consume an awful lot of this, is who do you want to see next? Who in the new media do you want to see next on Ruthless? We're going to get to all of your comments. Like and subscribe.

Get those comments in there. We'll read them all. We'll get back to you on Tuesday. Well, we want to get to your comments from the question of the day on Tuesday, which I think was a good one. And I, there's context to all of this has played out through the week and, and your comments are very helpful to sort of guide our thinking a

of like what the rest of the country, there tends to be some like panic in major epicenters of things and you kind of got to see through that and see what the people are thinking. So this is very helpful. If you like and subscribe, we read your stuff. - Yeah. - And we read all of these. The question was, do you trust Trump on tariffs? To do that, we always start with a voice.

Okay, first comment comes from Jesse Ortegon. And Jesse writes, I have to say, fellas, if Trump could have picked one single thing to ruin his second term, it would be his tariff wars. If he continued the agenda from Term 1, deregulation, tax cuts, energy independence...

He would be remembered as the greatest president of the new millennium. I fear the economic and political turmoil from these tariffs will wipe out that legacy and give Dems a boost in

In the midterms and in 28. Jesse has sort of a negative view on what the president is doing with tariffs. And I think it's part and parcel of our audience. You know, you have just a full panoply of views. It's a real split. And it's not, you know...

Look, everybody knows who we are. You wouldn't listen to us if you didn't think we were right of center. We are. We've got a right of center view. We're certainly not sycophantic about anything. We try to tell you exactly what it is that we see and we hear and we laugh along the way. And I think you see that in the audience. They have different points of view on that. You come about these things differently. And I can completely understand what he's talking about. Yeah, but you're a typical Republican out there. They're watching the market. They're concerned.

And they express that. It's all fun and games until your own pocketbook just evaporates in a 48-hour period of time. And so our audience, we have people who are honest with us. They're not just saying, oh, yeah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah. It's a conversation. And also hindsight's 20-20. I mean now that we have seen the market's ripped.

this is now completely focused on China. It's different. But at the time, there were tons of people. Yeah, when we did the episode on Tuesday, it looked real dark. Yeah, a lot of confusion. Real dark. Awesome. Comment two. This is from David Titzer.

I trust Trump on the tariffs. We've got to force change. China, however, has always been stubborn, and if they cave, they'll eventually violate the deal. What breaks my heart are the Rush-esque, low-information voters who only know and believe what Lester Holt tells them. Yeah. I like the Rush shout-out in that. Yeah, that's good. That's good. I wonder if tits are ever got any shit in high school. Yeah, it'd be a tough one. Listen, we know your nickname. We know it.

I thank you a lot for commenting. It's actually a really good comment. That's insightful stuff. And you're right. The low information stuff all just reacts to our, you know. The echo chamber. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly right. Comment three. This comes from Zlung Butters, and they write, I elected Trump because I trust him to be able to fix this broken country. I'm not going to panic, but give him room to implement his plan.

I mean, you look at the markets the way they ripped. Yeah, I mean, look, I think this is part of the thing that we have struggled with and I think a lot of people struggle with because of the bifurcated messaging within the administration where you've got the Navarros of the world that are saying tariffs are good, they've raised billions of dollars, and they're going to be here for the long haul. And then you had, you know, Besson and –

Howard over there and, you know, a whole crew of people saying like, no, it's a means to an end because we got to get a fair deal for the American taxpayer. And I think all of us who assumed that that was basically Trump's point of view, if you read the art of the deal, like, you know, his point of view is, is like nothing is solid until it's a deal. Um,

And that comment is a perfect example of give them some room. Give them some room to try to make a deal. And, you know, this isn't over by any stretch of the imagination. But if people are making deals, they're making deals. Yeah, I think like there's a lot of conservatives out there, and I probably count myself among them, who want the most conservative thing possible in almost every single instance.

But, like, there's some situations, at least in my personal politics, where I feel like if we have...

generational institutional problems in this country, I'm willing to try or trust Donald Trump to find heterodox solutions to them, at least in the short term, and try to figure it out. Because the guy clearly has been doubted in so many ways throughout his life. He's been a Rasputin in almost every element of his life dating back to like 1980. Yeah, but I'm not going to sit here and be like, I think tariffs are an intrinsic good that we should keep up forever. Because I don't believe that. Because it's not true. Yeah.

Right. I mean, there's a difference between just adopting something that somebody says and saying, like, I don't know, man, there may be more to this game. Yeah, maybe he can figure it out. That we think. But the best thing about these comments and I think the best thing about our show is we are not four anchormen reading you the news and telling you exactly what you should think. He could do that, though. He could really do it. You know what I'm saying? Like.

Actual Republicans and conservatives out there are having a conversation, and it is not one view or the other. It is all of them talking, and that's what we get on this show. We were up on Capitol Hill today. This is the conversation. You're hearing the conversation that everybody was having up there.

What are we doing? Does this work? Does that work? I trust them to do this. I'm a little worried about this. This is the conversation that people who are involved in the process are having, which we try to bring you on a daily basis. Your thoughts are immensely helpful. Thank you for liking and subscribing and being a part of this overall discussion. With that, listen. When we come back, we're going to hear from

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All right, fellas, how about a little variety? Love it. Let's do it. Oh, it's like hearing from Ted Cruz. We've got Natalie Winters coming up. But, you know, like, let's have some fun. The thing that we do the best, which everyone's followed along with, is hack madness. There's the music. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. We do. And I think I want to first say thank you so much to all the minions for the hundreds of thousands of votes.

which were cast, and it came down to one hell of a battle. It was a battle. Folks, we have a champion, Margaret Brennan. Congratulations. Hack of the year. Wow. Hack madness champion. Hey, how about that? How about that? How about that?

Hard fought, hard won. I mean, really, you've got to put in the time and the effort day after day, Sunday after Sunday. But that's the only way you go wire to wire like she did. There was a moment last fall when everybody watched her in that debate, and everybody, I think, knew she was going to win.

she was going to win this tournament. I do think she had an easy final. You know, Joy Reid was fired. Yeah, I agree. Fired by MSNBC. Couldn't provide new stuff. She's in the transfer portal. Yeah. You know, Nicole Wallace could have given a better match, I think, to Margaret Brennan. No question in my mind. But I think ultimately the issue for her, you know, Nicole Wallace at MSNBC is sort of like Joe Burrow at the Bengals. A lot of talent at a failing franchise. Oh, my God.

That's just violence. I will look past that comment. I really wish I had a broom for sweep.

I mean, she swept this entire thing start to finish. You know, I mean, I knew in the first two rounds when she was posting like 90, it was going to be a tough deal. It's been a while since we've seen something like that. Like it's like early Jen Rubin performances when it was just like absolute domination. But I really do think, I mean, so many Americans saw that debate with J.D. Vance where she tried to make herself the story, cutting them off. And it didn't stop there. It's not like a one hit wonder.

It became a week in, week out kind of thing where she's like, well, you know, not all buildings in Colorado were taken over by criminal legal gangs. And he's like, I don't care. You know, like she made herself the story so many times. I'm so glad you mentioned that smug because I think this is a hack madness unlike any other, you know? Oh, I think that's exactly right. And well said here on Master's Week. Right.

Because most of the hacks who win this thing over the previous years, they've like... Opinion. Opinion, folks, right? Or they're doing primetime cable. This is network broadcast news. This is supposed to be the most serious show on the network. This is a different thing. This illustrates how far the media has fallen. The fact that that has offended our listeners more than like...

joy in the finals or like a keith oberman or tells you it tells you where cbs is it is a seminal moment we've never had a network i'm not sure we've had a network final four we now have a network champion it's incredible yeah i really think espn needs to do a 30 for 30 on everybody hates margaret brennan

If they did something like that, I mean, every... Like, I would watch. Maybe Wolf can throw something together. Great idea. You know? Like a historic season. We've got to give a shout-out to Sean, who won our prediction bracket. He won 217 to 216 over Carroll. Ooh.

So, Sean, wherever you are, we'll get your information. We'll be in touch. We're going to have to send you a bunch of merch. Sean, you're going to get a lot of goods, buddy. You got a lot of free gear coming your way. Hats off to your participation. And for the thousands of you who sent in brackets, thank you for doing it. For the hundreds of thousands of people who voted on this thing, thanks for participating. It wouldn't work without you. Incredible run. It really was. The old tweet account, I imagine the Menchies were just a complete disaster. I can't get over...

And I think the whole reason is folks now see clearly how biased this media has become. It's at the point where network news anchors are the biggest hack of the year. Can I ask you something? So when we started Hack Madness four or five years ago,

When we initially unveiled Brackets and had all the stuff, a lot of complaints from journos. There were all over the menchies. I was getting texts everywhere like, why would I be included in that? I try to be fair and balanced. I didn't detect this year. Not as much. They've come to accept it. I think they've come to accept it. I think for the longest time they tried to like...

act like they're oh fair and balanced and now they're like no we know like yeah we know we know at this point everyone knows badge of honor for them yeah yeah they're like we know we got it it's incredible it's really something it's one of our favorite things that we do most wonderful time of the year hack madness and now concludes margaret brennan our new champion the biggest hack in all of journalism it joins an elite sorority fraternity

Of champions that we have here. Yeah. Brian Stalter, Jen Rubin. Heavyweights. Taylor Lorenz. Heavyweights. Heavyweights. The co-ed hall of fame. Yeah. I mean, that's name the rafters type stuff. It's really good. All right. We got another clip for you. This is old President Donald Trump. He's got some things to say. We always find it fascinating. Let's play clip two, please. We are screwing around with wind. Oh, wind. Wind.

These people are crazy. They say, oh, it's great for the environment. It kills all your birds. You want to see a bird cemetery? Walk under a windmill sometime. Birds all over the place. They're screaming for help. They got whacked. They're screaming for help. It's an environmental dream. You know why? Because you're never going to have energy. They're the most expensive form of energy there is. Ten times more expensive than clean natural gas. Ten times much more expensive than coal.

and not very unreliable. Like if they wanted to watch us tonight on television, "Alice, Alice, I want to watch the president tonight. I'm sorry, darling, but the windows aren't blowing."

I mean, last week we launched our go to the week segment. And this week, President Trump has to go. He has to that because of like the way he paints the picture. It's so good for those of you on audio only. You know, he says the windmills and then he does the circle with his hand in the air. And then he's talking about bird cemeteries like the guys. Just he's a he's a showman. It's showman's show.

illustration of this larger idiocy that we're confronted by being normal, you know, that we've been told forever. It's like, ah, we can't have oil and gas. Despite the fact that we have more of that than anybody else in the world. Uh, we can't do any of these things that actually provide energy. It's windmills that work, but he's entirely right. Like, but he's been doing this for a while. Remember he would do this to like, uh,

Kennedy compound. Talk about the windmills out. We didn't have a problem with windmills right until they tried to put it in front of the Kennedy compound. Didn't like the view. I mean, it's just great stuff. I love it.

In other stories, you can get three-part variety today. Lots of good variety. So China, which, you know, look, it's in a tough spot. They're in a tough spot. They're in a tough spot for a lot of reasons this week. But a China court auctions off 100 tons of live crocodiles for half a million dollars. But the winner must pick up the lot at their own risk. Wow.

I need to know more about this, so I clicked on it. Here's what we've got. It could be a while for these crocodiles. The Chinese court is trying to auction off 100 tons of live crocodiles. Is that how you measure a crocodile? I've never heard of crocodiles sold by the pound. That's what I'm saying. Wouldn't you say you've got like 100 crocodiles? They're like, no, we have a...

Tons. They're weighing tons. Anyway, 100 tons. That's a lot. That's a lot of crocodile. Yeah, it totally is. For the third time since they were acquired from a bankrupt company. So they're basically trying to settle a bankruptcy in this company that has gone bankrupt, not surprisingly, because they have 100 tons of live crocodiles. No idea what they're doing with them. Here's the thing. If I were a billionaire, I would call the president. I'd say, Mr. Trump.

Buy the crocodiles? If one of these countries refuses to deal with you on tariffs, I am going to buy these crocodiles and I'm going to dump them in the place that matters most to their people. Like just throw it in Beijing? Right there. Yeah. So they quantify this, though, helpfully for us, the New York Post. It does great work. It's roughly 200 to 500 beasts, as they say. That's an army.

Yeah, yeah. Four million yuan, which is, you know, about $550,000. Anyway, they've got all these things and they don't know what to do with it. But the company, because the company failed to meet its obligations, they have to liquidate it. But in liquidating it, they have 200 to 500 beasts. And apparently, like, you know, everybody says, like, China is so cruel.

I'm not sure the United States in a court, if somebody was like, hey, we got to liquidate this company and you have 500 crocodiles, we wouldn't be like...

Well, let's just put a bullet in 500 heads. Think about all of the cowboy boots. Yeah. I'm trying to, I read ahead. I'm trying to see what the hell this company even does. It's called the Guangdong Hongyi Crocodile Industry Company. Yeah. Which was founded by Mo Junrong, quote, the crocodile god. And it says that in China, crocodiles are a top commodity and are used in more than 100 products.

ranging from makeup to wine. So wait, is this like a cattle ranch in China? I mean, yeah. Farming crops. Is that basically what this is, a cattle ranch? And also there is crocodile wine in China.

No, that's not... It can't be right. It says straight up. It says they're used in 100 products ranging from makeup to wine. I'm telling you, if you took a truck and you brought all of those crocks into Ottawa and you just let them go in Canada and you said...

Deal with it, Canadians. You think the Mounties are so great. You think your country is so great. You deal with this. Wouldn't you be like if you were Canadian, we'd be like, wait for winter. Yeah, they're cold blooded. Wait for winter. If they can make it that far, Crocs might start eating them. Oh, yeah, it's true. It's true. It could take a Canuck out or two.

No question about it. Anyway, they've offloaded this thing. They said they're not going to pay any shipping or handling. You've got to actually pick up these Crocs, which is an interesting deal. Like, I don't think we've had this in the United States. You have livestock auctions and all these kind of things. People have big semi trucks. They're like custom made for them to stand up and they drive down the free. Everybody's seen them. You live in the Midwest. You've seen them. For Crocs, loading up 500 crocodiles, it strikes me as a more difficult task. Yeah.

And they're not like alligators, because there's a significant difference. Alligators are the ones that drag themselves by the belt. They're slow-moving. Crocs are quick. Nasty. They're up on their feet, and they can move. Demon beasts. They're very difficult to deal with. Crocodile Dundee over here is giving us the specs. Wouldn't you just make boots? Immediately. Boots and belts. I'm not taking delivery of these things live. I'm not trying to take delivery of them live. I'm not going to try to collect them live. They've got to go. Just boots, right? Because I mean, like...

Well, I mean, there's a million things you could do with a croc, you know? I mean, hell, I'd make a rug out of one. Just please do not say... You love the rug! Just do not say... Every time we talk... Croc rug! Every time we talk about... It's rugs. Any animal at all, he's like, I want the rug. Croc rug it. As long as they don't send them to the Wuhan live market. Oh, Jesus. Give us another coronavirus. I'm okay with whatever they do. Instead of bat soup, we're going to have, like, croc lung. Yeah. You know? It'll be like, oh, shit. Oh, shit.

And the only antidote is a crock tooth. Yeah. You got to go harvest another 500 to get us the antidote to this thing. And then you get the, what do they call them? The rods. No, the rods. You don't want the rods. You don't want it. You don't want the rods. Anyway, that's what's going on in China right now is they're threatening trade retaliations if they've got a crock situation on their hands.

Very creative. Anyway, when we come back, a great guest. Fellas, I'm sorry I couldn't make the interview. You've done a terrific job. She's terrific and actually sort of pioneering this new media space that our friend has helpfully pioneered in the White House by reporting news from something other than like the four major dailies that have crowned themselves the White House correspondents. Natalie Winters.

Hardworking Americans know when it's time to roll up our sleeves and get the job done. Now is the time to unleash our nation's energy to create jobs, secure our future, and make life better, more affordable, and full of opportunity for all Americans. That's the power of America's oil and natural gas. Learn more at LightsOnEnergy.org. Paid for by the American Petroleum Institute.

I want to welcome to the program a new media sensation from the War Room, Natalie Winters. Thanks for joining us today. Hi. Thank you guys so much for having me in your wonderful studio. I'm envious of the tiles, the neon sign. It's very nice. Can you believe this used to be a conference room? No. It doesn't have bad vibes. It has good vibes. It's good. It's good.

We're doing our best. And I remember, so when I asked the question at that press conference, I remember sitting in that chair and looking back around the room, and I saw in the seats were all the legacy media types, all the old people who've been doing this forever, and who was standing around the sides. It's all of the new media people, conservatives, and I saw Natalie's face. And I will tell you that they're the ones who are working the hardest to deliver the news to people around

in a way that they want to consume it. And Natalie, I just can't thank you enough for joining us to talk about new media today. Well, thank you. And thank you for being the first person brave enough to sit in that seat. I'm sure you and I probably understand the arrows that have been, I guess, hurled at people who've dared to sort of breach the new media Rubicon, Lexicon, right? That they, I think, have really pushed back against every day. Now I'm fielding interview requests from whether it's international media outlets or legacy media outlets sort of trying to, I think,

smear me as a propagandist and the whole new media operation is something that's very akin to like state funded, state sponsored propaganda. So it's been an interesting thing to sort of push back on. I thought I'd just be in there being able to kind of report the war room worldview, but instead now I seem to be defending the new media initiative. Where do you think that comes from? Like, I mean, my theory of it is like,

They know they're losing market share. And you look at the way Donald Trump won his election last fall, and it was new media. It was podcasts. It was breaking outside of this bubble of the establishment, legacy media, and talking directly to voters. And obviously the Trump administration has put an emphasis on that in the briefing room.

Is it desperation? Is it like, you know, these folks, they know they don't have the viewers anymore. And so they're trying to figure out a way to tear you down or us down or basically anybody else. I think it's twofold. One, I always say we're on perpendicular tracks, right? If you look in terms of viewership, but more importantly, I think impact.

Right. And I think our show like War Room, a lot of the new media outlets that are in there, we don't just have viewers, but we have a very activism oriented audience, which I think is very different from the sort of cohort that the CNNs of the world are talking to. Right. They wish they had the audiences that we had who are willing to pick up phone calls.

and call their senators, call their members of Congress, call even whoever, right, state legislator, you name it. So I think that's one fundamental difference. And I think having just my face in there is sort of a, I guess, harsh reminder. That briefing room has also gone through, I think, a very kind of Darwinian evolution, right? So many layoffs, so many firings. So those people are really struggling with that. But even I think to your point, right, talking about bringing the news to the people, right,

you know, our conception of what constitutes news is wholly disparate from what everyone who represents the seated people, right, what they would constitute to represent news. And I think that for so long, they have used that briefing room, but that institution more broadly, not just to push left wing talking points, I think that's a reductive trope, but to really run cover for sort of the establishment for this just sort of

whether it's a narrative that's benefiting the military-industrial complex or just a discussion that never entails an actual open, free and fair-handed discussion about legal immigration or illegal immigration. They'd rather focus on one Tren de Aragwa member, right? That's not what the American people want to hear.

So I think that it's just a fundamental shift in what media is, which really can only be chalked up to, I think, a continuation of the trajectory that the campaign really embraced, which was these alternative media sources. But lastly, I would just add that I think there's an interesting kind of inherent conflation that a lot of the legacy media has.

have placed upon new media where they say, oh, well, you're all right wing, right? You're all Trump propagandists. Not necessarily. It's just that new media, right? What people want to listen to that sort of expanding demographic, it

It just so happens that it's more conservative or right of center because I think that that's what people – it's just truth, right? It's not some USAID-funded spin. Right, right. No, it's such a great point. I mean the audiences wouldn't be flocking to different sources of media if not for a reason, and that reason is that they've been lied to by legacy media over and over and over again, and they're just tired of it.

And it really seems like this White House is taking a different approach to media. I mean, they are shuffling around that briefing room slowly but surely. I mean, there was the whole dust up with the Associated Press and then they sued to try to get back into the room and or to get to get into the pool coverage.

but they're already a part of it. You know, they just want more and exclusive access. It's just like they feel like they're entitled to something that actually belongs to the people. They're so entitled. And I always say they're such pseudo intellectuals. I was like so disappointed, not that I was expecting them to be anything intelligent, but I really think it's the trope of like, you know, you're a cog in the corporate wheel, you're sitting in the cubicle. If you die the next

day you're irrelevant same with these people who have such I think inflated senses of self because they're the ones you know asking the questions and they have the shows so they think they're so important but I also think why they're so desperate and why we really pose such an existential threat to them is

I think, you know, on the war room, we focus a lot on the concept of, you know, color revolutions and the opposition and resistance to President Trump. And obviously they tried to impeach him right when they had the House. But since they didn't take the House, obviously not the Senate and certainly not the presidency with a popular vote, an overwhelming one at that.

They're sort of relegated to, I think, really being only able to wage their resistance from really two spheres of influence, one being the media and controlling people's kind of public opinion, which I think is why you see the protesters, the shock troops, right? There's that sort of inherent connection there, or the lawfare stuff, the judges, the activism that we're seeing coming from the bench.

So I think that's why they're doubling down so hard and why they really, it's almost projection, right? When they say that I'm a state-funded propagandist, right? Whenever they attack President Trump as a dictator or an autocrat, I think that it's sort of their internal way of

of coping with how to justify opposing a democratically elected president despite the fact saying, oh, well, we just love democracy so much. So you have to smear him as a dictator, as an autocrat to justify this sort of like outside the system political change. And when you look at the people who are funding these protests, the sort of

They're revolutionary. I mean, they're very hardcore. This isn't just activism. This is like political warfare. I think it shows you how desperate they are. And I guess I get a dose of it every day in the briefing room. But as you know, it's very bad energy in there. It's very bad vibes. It's bad. I mean, I wonder if you could just give the audience a little bit. I tried my best to explain my take on it. But you're in there so much more than I. You know, I was just there that one time. Like, surely they're a little...

fights going on between these people that nobody ever knows about and like they're elbowing each other out and it's I mean it's wild it's not fun the best way I describe it as you know when you're at a party and you see someone who it's like a friend's friend that you maybe know but you don't know you don't know whether or not to say hi like I'm sure everyone can feel that sense of awkwardness so times that by like a thousand and instead of it being someone that you know through mutual friends it's someone that you know because you've probably attacked them on TV so that's sort of

the vibe in there, which real friendship, which I love. It's great because I think these people, I think more of two. I mean, I love Steve. Like we're very about mocking institutions that deserve to be mocked. And in some ways, even the criticisms of what I wear, I'm like, I refuse to affirm this as a legitimate institution. I respect the White House and I respect Caroline Levin and President Trump. But the people who are in there are not

serious intellectuals doing work that means anything other than just pure propaganda. The vibes in there. So for reference, when you watch it on TV, on the right side is where a lot of the new media people, until we get our seats, which we're hoping to see a rearrangement there, they all sort of have gathered there during the briefings. And the room is also just a lot busier than it ever was, not just because people stopped going there,

under Joe Biden, but they've added so many people, right? Especially from the new media court. So it's really hard to get through. And I think the best way that the legacy media people will kind of display their animosity or contempt for us is when they try to sort of scoot by that way or like walk down that corridor. They'll be so dramatic. They'll be like, it never used to be like this. Or, oh, it's so busy. All you guys are here. And we're just like...

And some of them are, I mean, there are catfights over like people leaving bags to save spots. And then one girl's like, you can't save spots. And then they'll start taking it out. It really is. I try to kill everyone with kindness. I'm always like, oh, I love your shirt. No, but that's so cute. Where'd you get it? But it's really weird. I really don't like going

there. It's like the worst part of my job. But it's, I mean, it's a lot of personality disorders probably coming together all fueled by like narcissism and large egos. The thing that you said earlier about, you know, calling them like left wing is sort of reductive. And I think that's exactly right. It's, I would say it's sort of a lack of curiosity. And I think the growth of

alternative media and podcasts and things like that. It's just people approaching stories from a different angle and thinking about the news differently or what actually the American people care about. I'm curious as someone who spends a lot of time in that briefing room, can you predict like what are the three questions? What are the five questions they're going to ask? Because it feels like they have such a narrow view of what constitutes news and you know the angle that they're going to use. Of course. I love watching MSNBC, so it's usually it's the best. So they probably just pull whatever

whatever morning jones periodically i'll re-watch the 2024 election night coverage it's great you can watch the entire thing without commercials i know i am addicted to it and it's because it's very dopamagenic in the sense that you never know when they're gonna say the next crazy thing right so you gotta keep watching you never know you're gonna get a jackpot you never know when rachel maddow is gonna say like that's it we should just kill all trump's right like who knows um

But yeah, it's so I actually I like to go and sit in the briefing room for like 10 minutes before my hits. And just to kind of I know no one's listening, but just to eavesdrop on what they say, because it's it's really funny. The long faces on certain issues, they were really apoplectic over Doge, obviously. And I remember I was like waiting in line for the restroom and there were a couple of people behind me, I think.

I don't know what outlet they were with, but I can guarantee you they were not new media. And they were, it was like a Tuesday. It was very early in the week. And like this week, it's so long. Like, I just don't know. How do we, they're like, how do we report this to the American people? They don't want to hear this. Like he's destroying the government. I'm not being, they're just dismantling the,

They were going on and on. I was like, this sounds great. This is what the American people voted for. But there's just that contempt. And honestly...

you know, love me or hate me. I think that through the coverage that they've sort of voiced on me, I think I've sort of become maybe a bit of a representation for like the whole new media push and the sort of like MAGA, BNN, whatever people being in there. And the disrespect I would say, or just unseriousness that they treat me with is really how they would treat you, right? If not you, but like your audience or any of us, if we were in there and they just fundamentally don't take me,

me seriously, which I think is kind of funny. But no, their questions, I mean, you can tell that they're collaborating behind the scenes and you can also tell, I mean, for how smart they are, they ask the same freaking question, right? And I think like the immigration, and I actually was just filming yesterday with Sienna and that's another reason why I'm convinced that they all hate me because...

All of these outlets, Legacy and a lot of the international ones have wanted to do stories on the new media stuff. And I guess thanks to the Daily Mail, I'm now their go-to girl. So every time I have to go and walk and they'll film me walking and it looks like I think I'm really self-important. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. It's the Japanese that are filming me. It's not me. Secret Service is like, are you a celebrity? I'm like, no, CNN just really dislikes me. But when I was in there...

I just lost my train of thought getting PTSD from all the stuff that I have to deal with. But like I was saying, the immigration thing is, I think, a very instructive, illustrative rather like paradigm through which I've sort of pushed back on the idea that what they're doing is journalism. Because that's an interesting pushback that probably the top line of defense that I get, whether it's CNN or...

New York Times, any of these outlets, that if you were to kick out the legacy media outlets that the conservative institution and infrastructure is not enough to actually do fact-finding. Like, we couldn't report. It's ridiculous. And it's like, they don't want to talk about the actual issues of immigration. They want to myopically focus on one makeup artist that may or may not have had MS-13 tattoos. Right. That's not what the American people want to talk about when it comes to immigration. Right? Right, because...

they're actually not getting to the truth. They're actually not reporting. They are parroting what they hear from their sources inside the federal bureaucracy. And I think it's very revealing that they were losing their minds so much over Doge because when Doge happens, that means that their entire structure is falling apart. That means that their entire establishment is actually crumbling. And I

For the life of me, I do not understand why they go so hard into the paint on immigration. I mean, it's like we have laws in this country. If there are violent terrorists in our country, they should be out. Obama himself deported three million people. So it shouldn't be so controversial to move these people out of our country who shouldn't be here in the first place.

And yet the press is acting like, no, this is our mission is to make sure that all of the violent criminals and terrorists who want to be here can be here. It blows my mind. But it's, you know, the benefit is to alternative media. Well, and thankfully, we have people like Natalie in that briefing room every day getting us the news. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Thank you guys for having me.

I mean, she's so great. We need to have her again. She is really a pioneer in new media. And I got to be honest with you, fellas. What she is doing is really upsetting the apple cart with the legacy media and with so many people who have been at it for a long time because she's normal. She is a very normal person and presents information in a way that normal people would like to consume. And so...

They don't like the competition. Bottom line, they don't like the competition. I always like to see like a next generation get involved and take it a little bit further. Right. I mean, we never had the opportunity when we were Natalie's age to even dream about doing this kind of thing. But President Trump has obviously opened the aperture of what's available and you get talented people to run through it. And that's what she's doing, which I find. I mean, personally, I think it's absolutely terrific.

So listen, fellas, our question of the day, who in the new media do you want to see on Ruthless? Great question. So, you know, like you heard from Natalie, we had Teddy Ballgame on here. He's a new media guy. Yeah. Big podcaster. Big, big podcaster. Maybe most of them first podcasts. Yeah.

Rude. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. But honestly, we would be interested because you all follow a whole bunch of different things. We do too, and we're big fans, and we interact with people. Like we've always said, we see ourselves as a little bit like the band. We play a set with everybody. And so who's your favorite? Tell us who's your favorite, and we'll try to get them on next with that fellow's.

Look, I think we did it. I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much, Senator Ted Cruz. Thank you so much, Nellie Winders. And thank you so much to the Minions. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube, hit that subscribe button. It's more fun and video. So until next time, Minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the libs. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless.