Welcome in his verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you and Senator We've got a lot to talk about tonight, including some big news that Donald Trump has announced a twenty five percent tariff on imported cars. We're gonna deal with that, but also some other things as well.
Well.
We're gonna talk about tariff's number one, we're gonna talk about terrorists, number two, Prohamas radicals being deported, having the student visas revoked, and we're gonna talk number three about massive foreign money flooding into our universities. All of that we're gonna break down on today's podcast.
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. So let's start with the tariffs. And Donald Trump has come out he has announced his twenty five percent tariff on import cars, and the President announcing it said he believes this is the beginning of liberation Day in America. Here's the President in his own words.
So this is the beginning of liberation Day in America. We're going to take back just some of the money that has been taken from us by people sitting behind this desk or another desk that's not quite as nice, but they have their choice of seven, as you know, and we're going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they've been taken over the years.
They've taken so much out of our country. Friend and foe, and frankly, Friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe. And this is very modest. What we're going to be doing is a twenty five percent tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States. If they're made in the United States, is absolutely not terror. We start off with a two and a hared percent base, which is what we were at, and we go to
twenty five percent. And basically, as you know, and as you've been seeing not reporting as accurately as it should be reported, because it's a massive story, business is coming back to the United States so that they don't have to pay tariffs. And I think also because of November fifth, the election, they're very happy.
Now that's the President talking in the Oval office about this, Senator, And look, tariffs can be very complicated. This is something that a lot of people are going to hear and say, good, we're leveling the playing field. But they can also be very complicated, and there's a lot that we're dealing with
now in this country with tariffs. So I want you to break it down for people, say, understand, some of these tariffs have been a straight up just strategy from the President to get leverage and to lect countries or they can't keep treating us the way that they are. We've seen that with Canada, We've seen that with Mexico. These are a little bit more complicated and complex.
Well, listen, President Trump uses tariffs for multiple purposes. One purpose, he uses them for his leverage to incentivize foreign countries to do things that are in America's interest. The easiest example of this is the threatened tariffs against Mexico and Canada, where the President has threatened twenty five percent tariffs against Mexico and Canada unless and until they actively and aggressively help us secure our borders. Now, I got to tell
you ben On that I emphatically support President Trump. There is no greater mandate that came out of the November election. Then we must secure our borders. And I got to say, in the first Trump administration, the President used the threat of tariffs against Mexico, a twenty five percent tariff. He threatened to get Mexico to make enormous concessions on border security. Mexico ended up caving and the government of Mexico Amlo, who is the President of Mexico, assigned six thousand Mexican
soldiers to their southern border. The Mexican southern border is much smaller than our southern border because it obviously it constricts into an isthmus. And they put six thousand soldiers on their southern border, and they adopted the remain in Mexico policy. So the remain in Mexico policy was amazingly, tremendously successful. It produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in forty five years.
So when it comes to using.
The thread of tariffs or tariffs as a avenue of leverage, especially for something like securing the border, I am emphatically in sport of it. By the way, we did an earlier podcast where when the nation of Colombia earlier in the Trump administration refused to accept illegal immigrants coming back, Trump immediately threatened tariffs against them, and Colombia cratered within hours that they just surrendered and said, okay, we'll take
them back. So I'm all for tariffs's leverage to get positive foreign policy concessions from other countries.
Well, let's talk about the twenty five percent on the cars and how this kind of got started from a political standpoint, explained to the American people why this is a strategy that could work. But also it is very complicated.
So, Ben, there's a second component of President Trump's tariff approach, which is he genuinely loves tariffs. We've all heard him rhapsodize at length where he said tariff is the most beautiful word in the English language. And I got to say, of every view President Trump has ever had, this is the most consistent policy view of his entire life. If you go back to the nineteen eighties when Ronald Reagan was president, Donald J. Trump was calling for we need more tariffs on foreign goods.
He believes this.
I have sat with Donald Trump over and over and over again, and he goes on at great length about how tariffs are wonderful, how they're going to raise hundreds of billions of dollars. He goes on about how when William McKinley was president, the economy was great. As you're just played. He goes on saying it's the golden age of America. Before we had an income tax, we got our revenue from tariff's. Now, I will say on that front, I've urged the President two things. Number One, I've urged
President Trump focus on China. I believe China is the single greatest geopolitical threat to the United States for the next one hundred years.
So tariffs are.
A great tool, a powerful tool, and everything we can do to delink our economy from China is a good thing. Everything we can do to on shore to bring manufacturing back from China to the United States is a good thing. Everything we can do to nearshore to bring manufacturing back from China to countries near America, that is a good thing. So that's number one on what I've urged. The second thing I've urged the President to do is focus on reciprocity. Now, Ben,
why am I focused on reciprocity. Listen, I believe in free trade, and well, by.
The way, for people that are new, maybe they don't know what is your definition of free trade, so that they understand that, because there's people that have bastardized free trade over the last twenty years to mean a lot of different things.
So look, as an economic matter, I believe America prospers and does well when we can export our crops, our livestock, our goods, our services into other nations. I think we are the greatest producing nation. We are the greatest economic power on the face of the planet. And when we can open up foreign markets to American exports, we do fantastic. American farmers and ranchers do great when foreign markets are
opened up, and their enormous benefits. Now, what I've verged the President to do is focus on the principle of reciprocity. What do I mean by reciprocity. I mean by reciprocity that we should adopt tariffs that mirror the tariffs other countries apply to us. Why is it that I'm advocating for reciprocity because since I believe in free trade, I think it is better economically for America to embrace free trade.
Reciprocity puts a downward ratchet on our tariffs because if the Trump administration imposes tariffs against foreign nations, there is an easy avenue for those foreign nations to lower the tariffs. And the way they can do so is lower their own tariffs against American goods. So I can tell you in the last two weeks, the CEO of a major European car company was meeting with me and they're very dismayed.
They're very concerned about tariffs being imposed against them. And I can tell you that this European CEO is advocating Europe we will zero out our tariffs on American cars. Right now, Europe has significant tariffs on American cars. The CEO is advocating we'll drop those to zero if America doesn't hammer us with tariffs on importing cars to the United States. That's a great outcome. I want to see foreign countries lower their tariffs on American goods, so that's
a great outcome. I will say, Ben, it is clear the President likes tariffs. He describes when you sit down I spend a lot of time with the President. When you sit down with him in person, he will go on sometime for hours at length about how tariffs will generate hundreds of billions of dollars, how they're terrific for the American economy. I don't want to see a situation where it is a major feature of the long term economic picture of America that we have big tariffs in place.
And here's why who pays tariffs. The American consumer pays tariffs. If there are major tariffs on imported goods, it means if you go and buy them, you pay a much much higher price. And so I would rather see a scenario. I prefer lower taxes to higher taxes. I would rather see a scenario where we are not imposing big tariffs, but at the same time foreign countries are lower their tariffs so we can export more. So I am emphatically
on board with Donald Trump using tariffs' as leverage. I have concerns and I think it would be harmful to Texas in the country if tariffs become a persistent feature of our economic policy nationally.
So this is one of those where it's also if you're a business person, you and your manufacturer, you want there to be some stability in the market. What am I dealing with?
What does the future look like for me?
And so if you're planning, I think, if I'm reading this correctly, you're saying this is probably going to be a part of his policy for quite some time. This isn't going to be a blip on the screen the way that you described it. And that may be why so many are so concerned.
Right, So, the single most frequent question I get from business leaders in Texas and from bus leaders nationally. And I meet with business leaders literally every single day. That's a big part of the job of being in the Senate is you meet with leaders from your state across the country. The most frequent question I get is what's going to happen on tariffs? What's going to happen on trade?
And I genuinely don't know. But look, all right, Ben, you're a fancy schmancy radio host, your you know, big national guy lots. So you drive a Porsche pan America. Really cool ass car. Like, by the way, your steering wheel is like really antique wood, which is cool looking.
It's the best part of the car. And I'm not gonna lie, it's like it is nice.
I agree.
Now, the last I checked, Porsche's made in Germany. Yes, today the President announced a twenty five percent tariff on foreign made cars. That means if you bought that car tomorrow, you, Ben Ferguson, would pay twenty five percent more for the same car you have right now.
That's meaningful, Yeah, it's meaningful. And what it makes in the reality is for many people they'd say, all right, well, I'm not going to spend the twenty five percent premium on that car.
And listen, I will say, there's there's an economic matter when it comes to imposing tariffs to block imports. A lot of nations do that, and there's an economic school of thought called public choice theory, which examines how political decisions are made based on economics. And one of the consequences of tariffs is you have concentrated benefits. So there are industries and jobs that benefit and do great, and
they're very enthusiastic, and then you have diffuse harms. So frequently with tariffs, if you put tariffs and you protect jobs at home, if you look as a matter of economics, the benefits are in the aggregate much smaller than the harms, but the benefits are concentrated. So the people who are getting it are really energized, they care a lot about it, whereas the people that are being harmed it is more abstract,
They're less energized, they're less focused on it. I believe America has benefited enormously from exporting our goods and services. If you talk to any farmer and Rancher, the benefits of exporting to foreign markets are massive. If you talk to American manufacturers, the benefits of exporting to foreign markets are massive. And so I don't want to see a scenario where every country is putting massive tariffs on imports from other countries, because it will hurt American exports significantly
and it will raise prices for American consumers. That being said, if the President employs these tariffs in the way I'm suggesting, which is focused on reciprocity, then they can be a powerful tool for lowering the tariffs other countries impose and expanding trade, expanding what we sell abroad, expanding American business, expanding jobs, and lowering prices for American consumers. I think that is a much better outcome.
I want to move on to the corruption of academia, and we are now saying that three hundred Prohamas protests got visas protesters, they got visas revoked, and this was certainly a big deal. Marco Rubio talking about it, making it a clear that, hey, we promised you that if you're here on a visa and it's a privilege to be here, and you are cheering on the terraces and you're hurting your campus or this country. You're anti American. We don't have to put up with it. I love this your.
Reaction, Amen, hell olujah. And look, this is something we've talked about on Verdict quite a bit. The First Amendment protects American citizen. So if you're an American citizen, you have a constitutional right to espouse the most hateful, horrible, terrible ideas. American citizen has a First Amendment right to advocate for being a Nazi, to advocate for being a clansman.
By the way, if you do advocate for being a Nazi or clansman, the rest of us have a moral obligation to say, you're a reprehensible bigot and what you're saying is evil, but you have a right to say it. But the First Amendment does not apply to foreigners. It applies to Americans. And when it comes to student visas, foreigners that are getting student visas, they're asking for permission from the federal government to come study in America. They
don't have a First Amendment right. And we have no obligation, no legal obligation, no moral obligation, no obligation under anything. I can imagine to let people in who hate America, who are undermining America, who are attacking Jewish students or
other students at campus, who are spreading poison. And so the story broke this week that three hundred student visas have been revoked by the way, under Joe Biden, when we had viciously anti Semitic, anti Israel, anti American protests on college campuses, to the best of my knowledge, zero student visas were revoked. And in fact, the Democrats they support the Prohamas protesters. Well, Trump being elected, and this is something I predicted before the election. This is something
I said right after the election. You are going to see the radical anti American zealots. You're going to see them arrested and deported. Well, well that is happening. Three hundred student visas have been revoked. And here's what Secretary
of State Mark or Rubio said. Quote, if you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us that the reason why you're coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus.
We're not going to give you a visa.
If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States and with that visa participate in that sort of activity, We're going to take away your visa. And Secretary Rubio continued, you're no longer legally in the United States, and we have a right, like every country in the world has a right to remove you from our country. Amen, hallelujah. And you gotta ask yourself why didn't this happen even once under Joe Biden.
Well, you also look at what we found out about some of the people that are getting arrested. A great example of that is this Tofts University graduate student from Turkey was arrested by Ice agents on the street in Massachusetts. The liberals are losing their minds, like this is so unfair. Should have not been arrested? How dare you target this student?
But according to the Department of Home in Security, the woman was arrested for quote glorifying and supporting terrorists and for showing support for a terrorist organization Hamas, the Palestinian political party and militant group so they're like, you can be set all you want to. We're not putting up with this and it shouldn't be happening in America.
Look, if you are a foreigner and you're saying I love Hamas, if you're a foreigner and you're saying I hate America, if you're a foreigner and saying I support the enemies of America, we have no obligation to admit you to our country. We have no obligation to let you stay here, and no legal obligation, no more obligation.
And what is bizarre as the Trump administration is saying, all right, these radicals that hate America, that are attacking and threatening violence against Jewish students, that are demonizing Israel, that are demonizing America, that are praising Amas. And by the way, look, let's be clear, Hamas are vicious terrorists that want to murder you. Are you if you're an American? And I think most of the people listening to this
podcast are Americans. Understand Hamas wants to murder. You understand Hamas on October seventh, carried out the mass murder of twelve hundred civilians. They raped women and little girls, and these radicals are praising child rapists. You know what, if you're praising child rapists, if you're supporting child rapists, get the hell out of our country.
Now.
Look, if you're a US citizen, we can't throw you out, But if you're not, if you're a foreigner, we have no reason to let you in here. And this is exactly right, and Benen is amazing. Democrats given a choice, do you support protecting Americans, protecting Israel, protecting Jewish students at schools, or do you support the radical anti Israel, anti American pro Hamas zell It, they are choosing the violent anti American protesters. They are standing up and saying,
deport nobody. We don't care if you are a radical pro Hamas supporter, we want you in America. I got to say, I don't know any rational or normal American that wants pro Hamas supporters in America.
Let's give a perfect example of this. University of Alabama a doctoral student that was arrested. An Iranian student who was studying at the University of Alabama was arrested by Ice agents.
Quote.
The University of Alabama recently learned that a doctoral student had been detained off campus by federal immigration authorities, the school said, and statement, federal privacy laws limit what we can share about an individual student. International students are quote
valued members of the campus community of the university. Added The student newspaper said that called the crimson White identified the man arrested who was in the United States on a student visa, saying quote, it's unclear what charges he's facing, why he was attained, or if he has a lawyer. But here's what they did report, and this part really
made me laugh. In the statement that came out from the University of Alabama College Democrats, the group said they were aware of the man's arrests and saying, quote, our fears have come to pass President Donald Trump. The borders are Tom Homan and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of the University of Alabama's international community.
As far as we know right now, ICE has yet to provide any justification for their actions, so we are not sure if this persecution is politically motivated, as has been seen in other universities across the country. It goes back to your point that you just made. The Democrats on even at the University of Alabama are like this is persecution. You know, facts be damned, supporting terrorist activities be damned. Advocating for hamas be damned.
Well clear, understand the principle.
When you were quoting that newspaper story, you said, the Alabama Democrats were saying, we don't know what crime this person has been charged with. You don't have to be charged with a crime. Let me be clear, like, okay, if you're charged with a crime, that ought to be easy. Although I say it ought to be easy if you're
charged with a crime. My Democratic colleagues, when we argue to port people who've committed crimes, support people who committed violent crimes, to port people who are murderers, to port people who are rapists, to poort people who are child molesters. My Democratic colleagues party line vote no. So even if you're guilty of a crime, they don't want to deport you, but set it aside for a student visa. If you're not a US citizen, you don't have to be guilty
of a crime. If you come to America as a foreigner and we've given you a permissive visa, we said, okay, we want you to come, and you come here and you grab a bullhorn and say I hate America and I want the enemies of America to defeat America. You know what, my answer is, get the hell out. We don't have a reason to let you in. I don't have a protection. If you are an enemy of America, you're entitled to be that.
You know what.
They're seven to eight billion people on planet on Earth. There are some people that are enemies of America. But why do we have to let enemies of America in? If you say I hate America. It's like the old Saturday Night Live skit of the flight attendant as people are leaving the plane going bubbye, Bubby, you hate America, Bubby, get out hate America somewhere else. But we're not letting you in here because we don't need people who hate American are trying to undermine our nation in this country.
Which brings me to story number three. And this is one where we have I think led on exposing the amount of foreign money that's been pouring into universities. We also exposed it with a Biden crime family and the amount of foreign dours coming in to the Biden Institute, for example, and other universities. And we've witnessed the amount of money coming in to a point where you say,
this doesn't make sense economically. This is my opinion. I think now you're looking at a bigger issue, which is what are they actually getting in return for the staggering amounts of foreign money that's pouring these universities. Is this co covert opts by foreign nations? Is this trying to control the next generation of American minds? Is this about spying?
What is it?
But when you look at this new report from a nonprofit and a non person government watchdog group, they're sounding the alarm saying this amount of money coming in is not just from do gooders. This money's coming in, It's coming in for something big center. What is that?
Yeah, look, this is not covert, It is overt. It is open, is out and brazen. So the history in Fox News entitled quote new reports sounds alarm on staggering amount of foreign money pouring into US universities. The report says that seven hundred and ninety five million dollars has gone from foreign adversaries to American universe. And here's what the article says. I'm going to quote a little bit
of it. Quote a new report from a nonprofit and nonpartisan government watchdog is shedding light on the tens of billions of dollars tens of billions that have poured into US universities in recent years, including twenty billion dollars to
some of the most prestigious universities in the country. The report, produced by Americans for Public Trust and released this week, found that sixty billion dollars again, sixty billion dollars in foreign gifts and contracts were funneled into American colleges and universities, including twenty billion dollars alone to elite schools like Harvard, Yale,
and others. Within that total, seven hundred and ninety five million dollars came from nations that are long standing adversaries to the United States, including China, Russia, Venezuela, and Yemen. This is shocking. It is fundamental corruption. I can tell you I've introduced legislation to require to minimum that universities report every dollar of foreign money they received so that
we have scrutiny. And I'll tell you, Ben, one of the very first pieces of legislation ever passed, when I was a brand new baby senator thirteen years ago, was dealing with this issue of foreign money flooding into universities, and China had been funding these things called Confucius institutes.
Confused institutes were institutes on American college campuses that taught Mandarin, that taught the Chinese language, and they were used number one as hubs of espionage where China would send spies to engage in espionage in the United States, and number two as tools of propaganda, where they would push propaganda that was favorable to the Chinese Communist government. And when I was a brand new baby senator, I introduced legislation that banned any money from the Federal Department of Defense
going to university that had a Confuseducious institute. And at the time they introduced it, we had a Democrat Senate. When I got elected, Harry Reid as the majority leader of the Democrats were in the majority. I was on the Senate Armed Services Committee. I introduced this amendment, and Ben I'll tell you, I got bipartisan support. I got
Democrats to support me and Republicans. We passed it into law, and the legislation I passed resulted in more than twenty Confucius institutes across the country being shut down this was a problem back in twenty thirteen, I got to say, in twenty twenty five, it's much much worse.
So what is the government's response now? What should the government response be moving forward? And is it time to actually look at these universities and ask questions or have regulations about money coming in from foreign countries, especially those that are adversaries of the United States of America. I don't like government overreach, I want to make that clear.
But the wild wild West that we're we're looking at right now from this report and sixty billion and foreign gifts and contracts are funneled to American colleges and universities like that, they're getting something in return, twenty billion alone to Harvard, Yale and other elite schools. They're getting something
in return. And if they're buying the minds of American students or influence, or even what worries me the most is stealing intellectual property or spying on America and future leaders, this scares the hell out of mean. So what should the government's response be?
Yes, yes, yes, all of the above. So they're doing this to buy influence, They're doing this to push propaganda, They're doing this to engage at espionage. They're doing this to steal intellectual property, and so many of our universities,
especially our elite universities, have eagerly jumped in bed with them. Look, you and I discussed early on in the wake of October seventh, when the anti Semitic protests were breaking out, if you look at the universities with the highest percentage of foreign students, it almost perfectly maps to the universities with the most the most virulent, the most nasty antisemitic protests. Universities like colombiaan NYU are at the very top of the list. And when you let in a bunch of
foreign students. Now, look, universities like foreign students because they pay full tuition, they pay full freight. They're cash cows. But why are American universities in the business of educating foreigners, especially foreigners who hate American or undermining America. I don't see a reason for that. But not only that, but they're pushing this to drive a political agenda. And so what should we do? Number One, we need transparency.
As I mentioned, I've introduced legislation to require transparency if a university is getting money from a foreign country. We need to know about it, how much from which country? And I'll tell you the legislation I'm introducing puts putative tax penalties if you get money from a country that is an enemy of America. In my view of the federal government ought to put penalties in place where you
end up being taxed more than you get. We don't need the enemies of America funding our universities and actively undermining our education. We need leaders who are willing to stand up for America first. And I think that's incredibly important.
If you look at the money that came in a perfect example of this is within that total I gave you the twenty billion alone going to those elite schools, seven hundred and ninety five million came from nations that are long standing advisaris in the US, including China, Rush of Venezuela, and Yemen. Is it also time to look at certain countries and say you can't have donations coming in from there.
Yes, and we ought to penalize the hell out of it. If it RAN is funding your university, you're doing something fundamentally wrong.
Great point. Don't forget.
We do the show Monday, Wednesday and Friday hit that subscriber auto download button and on those in between days, grab my show, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. I'll keep you up to date on breaking news as well, and we'll see you back here on Saturday for the week in review