Bonus Pod: Trump Pushes for Keystone Pipeline & Backs Elon's Email to Government Workers
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Are we paying other people that aren't working? And, you know, where's all that? Where's the money going? We have found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud so far. And we've just started. We're actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there. Because maybe somebody sold the gold. Tons of gold.

You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Good Tuesday morning. It's Ben Ferguson with you. It's nice to have you on the 47 Morning Update and here are the big stories we're talking about today. First up, Donald Trump not taking the bait from the media. Backing Elon Musk's email to government employees asked him, what did you do in the last week at work? I'll have the details on that in a moment. Also, you may remember the Keystone Pipeline. Democrats did everything they could do to shut it down and it

cost countless people their jobs in this country. Well, now Donald Trump has a plan to bring the Keystone Pipeline back. And finally, Marco Rubio says enough already, ripping the United Nations and many of the war hawks that are obsessed with keeping the war going between Russia and Ukraine. It's the 47 Morning Update, and it starts right now. Story number one. On Saturday,

Elon Musk, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, issued an email to all federal employees with the subject line, What did you do last week? Now, the email requested that employees submit a list of five accomplishments from the previous week by 11.59 p.m. on

on Monday night. Musk stated that non-responses would be considered resignations. This directive led to, quote, "...widespread confusion," the media states, "...and resistance across various federal agencies."

Trying to find a crack in the armor with Donald Trump and Elon Musk to start a war between the two men. Well, the president made it pretty clear. He wants to know who's even reading their emails. Well, I'm pushing back on you, not on Elon Musk or his email.

Do you think that Doge could benefit from more streamlined communications? There was that email telling employees to give five things that they've done last week. Agency heads then told people to ignore it. You're talking about the last email that was sent? Yeah. Where he wanted to know what you did this week. You know why he wanted that, by the way? I thought it was great.

Because we have people that don't show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government. So by asking the question, tell us what you did this week. What he's doing is saying, are you actually working? And then if you don't answer, like you're sort of semi-fired or you're fired because a lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist.

They're trying to find out. That's how badly various parts of our government were run by, and especially by this last group. So what they're doing is they're trying to find out who's working for the government. Are we paying other people that aren't working? And, you know, where's all that? Where's the money going? Senator.

Some of the Asian people. So I think it was actually there was a lot of genius in sending it. We're trying to find out if people are working. And so we're sending a letter to people. Please tell us what you did last week. If people don't respond, it's very possible that there is no such person or they're not working.

Some of the agency heads instructed their employees not to respond because they were waiting on further guidance, but Elon Musk's tweet said a failure to respond would be taken as a resignation, so there's been a disconnect in communications. Are you concerned at all about that? No, no, no. That was done in a friendly manner. Only things such as perhaps Marco at State Department where they have very confidential things or the FBI where they're working on confidential things.

And they don't mean that in any way combatively with Elon. They're just saying there are some people that you don't want to really have them tell you what they're working on. But other than that, I think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea. We have to find out where these people are. Who are they? And we said, if you don't respond, we assume you're not around. And that holds, that stands. And you're not getting paid anymore, too. So, you know, we're doing a real job. And we just had a poll come out, I guess the Harvard poll,

Saying that it's massively popular what we're doing. The polls are saying that Donald Trump has the support of the American people. How do we know this? A new Harvard-Harris poll has come out saying that 58% of Americans say that Donald Trump is doing a better job than Biden. 81% say they support deporting criminal aliens. 76% support eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in our government. 76% support closing the U.S. border.

70% support merit-based hiring instead of just government quotas. 61% support reciprocal tariffs. And 60% think that Doge is helping tremendously in this country. So if you were thinking the president was going to back down or Elon Musk was going to back down or there's some sort of war between the two,

Well, the media keeps lying to you and they keep getting busted lying to you each and every day by this administration. Now, story number two. Seven years ago, Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office and promised that the Keystone XL pipeline was going to be built to lower costs for American families.

and also so that we would have energy independence. Fast forward seven years later, and the president is still working on the project that Democrats have done everything they can do to stop it. So what did the president say seven years ago? Here he is in his own words. Canada will finally be allowed to complete this long overdue project with efficiency and with speed.

We're working out the final details as we speak. It's going to be an incredible pipeline. Greatest technology known to man.

or woman, and frankly, we're very proud of it. Russ Gerling, president of TransCanada, is right behind me, and I'm going to have to say a few words. I know, Russ, you've been waiting for a long, long time, and I hope you don't pay your consultants anything because they have nothing to do with the approval. In fact, you should ask for the hundreds of millions of dollars back that you paid them because they didn't do a damn thing except give you a no vote, right?

It's a great day for American jobs and a historic moment for North America and energy independence. This announcement is part of a new era of American energy policy that will lower costs for American families. Seven years ago, the president made that statement. Democrats did everything they could, as I mentioned earlier, to stop it. So what is the president saying now? Donald Trump putting out a statement on Monday that he wants the Keystone XL pipeline.

which was opposed for years by activists fighting against climate change to be built. The pipeline, which was proposed in 08 to bring oil from Canada's western tar sands to U.S. refiners and was halted in 2021 by the owner, TC Energy Corp, after Democratic Republicans

Joe Biden revoked a key permit needed for a U.S. stretch of the project. Our country's doing really well. And today, I was just thinking that the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline that was

viciously jettisoned by the incompetent Biden administration should come back to America and get it built. Now, I know they were treated very badly by sleepy Joe Biden, but the Trump administration is very different. Easy approvals, almost immediate start.

If not them, perhaps another pipeline company. We want the Keystone XL pipeline built, Trump said on Truth Social. Now, the president has said yet again that he believes that energy independence is one of the most important things to lowering inflation and helping the American family be able to survive day to day. This is something the Democrats didn't care about. How much you suffered and they wanted you to pay a lot.

for gas at the pump. They wanted you to pay a lot for natural gas. They wanted you to suffer and to bow to their wishes for a Green New Deal. Donald Trump making it clear now America is open for business, including the Keystone XL pipeline. And finally, story number three. One of the things that's really important that we are going to be covering on

on this show each and every day is when there is clearly propaganda that is being used against the Trump administration. This may be one of the biggest flashpoints so far in the first six weeks of his administration. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ninety-three countries voted in favor, 18 against, including the United States government.

Now, this immediately turned into propaganda, anti-American propaganda, anti-Trump propaganda, saying that Donald Trump is now siding with Russia. It's easy to buy into that headline if you don't actually understand the story or why the American government decided to say no to condemning Russia at the United Nations. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State,

ripped the United Nations as antagonistic and warmongers, trying to keep the Ukraine-Russia war continuing on and on forever. I want you to hear what the Secretary of State said about this vote so that you understand the real story behind it.

take a listen some news today by the United States voted against a I'll Europe-led resolution at the United Nations to are condemned Russia for the invasion Ukraine and then later a US-led resolution passed the I the Security Council talk to us about what happened there yeah well on the broader resolution we think the UN needs to get but it's going to be useful in the 21st century the UN needs to get back to its charter mission which is the prevention and the ending a war and conflict

And so we felt, everyone knows, you know, you can go back and read newspaper articles over the last three years and figure out what happened in Ukraine. But now, as the president's made very clear, President Trump wants to end this war. He thinks far too many people have died and he wants to bring it to an end. So we didn't feel it was conducive, frankly, to have something out there at the UN that's antagonistic against either side. We're trying to get these guys to the table.

And unfortunately Ukraine didn't agree, they wanted to move forward on theirs. We then went to the Security Council with our compromise, which I think is a very fair language, and it basically says war is a terrible thing. I mean, I'm paraphrasing and I'm being simplistic, but it says war is a terrible thing, way too many people have died, this war needs to end in a way that's enduring. In essence, echoing President Trump's view of what this conflict needs to be, and reminding the United Nations

at the purpose of the United Nations was the prevention of war and the ending of conflicts not making it harder to end conflicts so I'm I thought it was good that we got it done at the Security Council Russians didn't veto it which is a good sign I'm not telling you that that is going to end this conflict and I can't wait till Elise Stefanik is there because it would be great to have her leadership

But I certainly think our language is a better language and hopefully furthers the cause of peace. President Trump today, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, said that he hopes that this can be resolved in a matter of weeks, not months, weeks.

What are some of the major steps that we need to take to get to that point? Well, I think the president would want it to end yesterday, right? He thinks already too many people have died, there's been too much destruction. By the way, I think everybody should be very happy that President Trump is a peace president. We have a president that wants to end wars, not start new ones. He wants to end human suffering, not exacerbate it or extend it. Now, that said, it's a conflict, it's a war, and it's going back and forth. We've got to get them both to the table.

starting with the Russians. So we met with them last week and the basic question of that meeting was, are you interested in ending this conflict or not? A lot of people don't know the answer to that. If you talk to some in Europe, they'll tell you that Putin is not interested in ending the war. They said they would be under the right conditions. We didn't discuss what those conditions were. So the next step now is to meet with them again at some point with the right group of people in the room and begin to outline what would it take for Russia to stop a war. And obviously we've got to ask Ukraine the same question because you can't stop a war unless both sides agree to it.

So whether it takes days or weeks or what have you, we're going to begin that process. It may not work out, but why would anybody criticize President Trump for wanting to end a war that's cost billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives and tremendous and ongoing human suffering? You listen to what Marco Rubio said there, and now you understand exactly why they decided to not.

Try to antagonize two countries you're wanting to get to the table to end the war. Now, the media is not going to tell you this part of the story. They're not going to play for you what I just played for you from Marco Rubio. And this is exactly why I say I hope you take the information that I give you every day here.

and you give it to others that you know. Because without all of us telling the story, the media will continue to lie and win. Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast. And we will see you back here tomorrow.

With the American Express Gold Card, I can earn four times membership rewards points at U.S. supermarkets. So with all these groceries, I'm also getting points. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash U.S. slash explore dash gold. Terms and points cap apply.