April 23, 2025 • 18 mins
-
Background and Appointment:
- Linda McMahon was co-chair of the transition committee for the President.
- Despite her background not being primarily in education, she was appointed Secretary of Education due to her leadership and business experience.
- The President's goal was to shut down the Department of Education and return control to the states.
-
Challenges and Actions:
- McMahon identified significant wasteful spending, particularly $600 million on teacher training programs focused on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) rather than traditional teacher training.
- She emphasized the need to return to basics in education, such as reading and arithmetic, to improve performance scores.
-
Critique of the Department of Education:
- McMahon criticized the Department for focusing on indoctrination rather than education.
- She highlighted the decline in performance scores despite significant spending since the Department's establishment in 1980.
-
Technology and Education:
- There is a disconnect between education and current technological needs.
- McMahon pointed out outdated practices, such as teaching film development, which are no longer relevant.
-
White House Dynamics:
- May Mailman, a senior policy strategist, discussed the improved teamwork and pace in the current administration compared to the previous term.
- The administration is facing challenges from activist judges and lawfare from the left.
-
Trade and National Security:
- The President's focus on reducing dependence on China and improving supply chain independence.
- Efforts to listen to businesses and adjust policies to support American companies.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Everyone's going to do well in this country because of tariffs.
We have seven trillion dollars of investment already and that's
coming in. I think for two reasons. It's coming because
of an election that people liked, and it's coming in
because of tariffs. I could name eight right now already
auto plants that are either starting or about ready to
start construction. The non union workers in the automobile industry,
(00:23):
they love Trump.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good Wednesday morning. Ben Ferguson with you, and it's so
nice to have you on the forty seven Morning Up day.
When we started this podcast, the goal was to take
you behind the scenes of what's happening at the White House,
giving you the three big stories of the day. But
we also told you we're going to give you access
directly the White House. Well, today's show is a perfect
example of that. I spent the day at the White
(00:49):
House talking to different cabinet secretaries and advisors to the
President of United States of America about the first one
hundred days at the White House.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
We're going to tell you that for you now.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
First you're gonna hear from the woman who's in charge
of education, Lenna McMahon, is talking about why she's shutting
down the Department of Education at the Presence Directive and
how important it could be to changing education all over
the country. And then we're going to talk with one
of the advisors at the White House about what's happening
(01:22):
with tariffs as well and some other big issues with
one hundred day mark. So it's the forty seven Morning
Update from the White House and it starts right now
story number one sitting in front of me as a
woman that has taken on an almost impossible task. I
was so excited when I heard this name, Linda McMahon.
(01:43):
And if you don't know the history of Linda, you
need to google it because she has done some amazing
things in her career. And you get this job, You
get a phone call to become the United States Secretary
of Education. How did this even come about? How is
the phone call that you received from the presid I
got to know the backstory real quick because I think
it's so fascinating.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well, good morning, and thank you very much for having
me ben it. Well, you may or may not recall,
but I was the co chair of the transition committee
for the President. So we were putting in place all
of the different cabinet secretaries, etc. And you know, I'm
working on everybody else's department. And the President talks to
me and he says, look, he says, I've got the
(02:24):
perfect place for you. And I said, oh, okay, what
are you thinking? He said, Department of Education. I said, well,
you realize that my background is not, you know, in
the world of education. Although I got my certificate to
teach and I was prepared to teach French. I also
served on the Connecticut State Board of Education, and then
I've been on the board of trustees at Sacred Heart
(02:46):
University for sixteen years. I said, so I do have
education background. And he said, look, here's what I want
to do with the Department of Education. I want to
shut it down. And so I laughed. I laughed, and
I said, so in other words, excuse me, I said, so,
in other words, you want me to preside over my
own demise. And he laughed out loud and he said yep.
He said, I do want you to do that. He said,
(03:08):
and here's what I need, he said, Rather than have
an educator in place to do this, what I really
need is a business person. I need an executive. I
need a leader who knows how to manage and can
handle this. He said, we need to return education to
the States. He said, I want to take the bureaucracy
out of education and as much money as worth saving
(03:29):
and doing that, I want to make sure that the
states can maximize that money and have the programs that
they need in place. So he said, so I need
you to come on board and do that, and I
do that. Yes, II Captain, I'm ready to go.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So you get here and you get this new job,
and it's an incredible job, and you're putting yourself out
of business, which is also like a weird mentality to have.
What was the biggest waste of tax dollars that you've
uncovered at DOGE And let's start there.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Well, I can tell you know they First of all,
let me say I welcomed the DOGE group that came
in and has been looking at a lot of the
wasteful spending that has been going on. I think one
of the things that jumped out at me was that
we had about six hundred million dollars that we were
spending on teacher training programs. Now that's so. Now that sounds,
(04:24):
you know, incredibly like a good amount of money to
be spending or on a good thing to train our teachers.
But what we really were finding was that most of
the programs at that point were really focused on DEI training, yeah,
and not on what you would typically be looking at,
you know, for teacher training. And so we took back
(04:44):
that money and we shut down that kind of training program.
So that was one that just jumped out at me.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So is it fair to say the Department of Education?
And I have a sister, she's in an innercy school
and she's doing the best that she can. My mom
was a teacher, my aunt was a prince. Like I
come from that world. But what is sad to me
is it seems like the Department of Education has basically
decided we're going to indoctrinate kids instead of educate kids,
(05:10):
and we're going to do it in a way with
your using taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate them and what we
believe in instead of reading, writing, and arithmetic. How far
off am I on that from a national standpoint?
Speaker 4 (05:19):
You know, far off on that at all? And what
we have really seen, I mean, think about this ben
The Department of Education was established in nineteen eighty and
since that time, we have spent over three trillion dollars
in education, and our performance scores have continued to go down.
And you know, I don't I don't say there haven't
been things that have been tried. I mean, the Bush
(05:40):
administration tried no child life behind. Yeah, Barack Obama tried
race to the top. But we're failing in the mission
of teaching our our students. And I think the reason
for that is we have gotten away from basics. We've
gotten away from teaching reading and teaching arithmetic. And so
(06:01):
what we're finding in schools that are showing improvement in
scores is that they have returned to the science of reading,
teaching phonics, teaching repetitive you know, just memorization like in
mathematics for your times table and things like that, and
then building upon that base. You know, up through third
grade you are learning to read, and after third grade
(06:23):
you're reading to learn. And if you can't read, you're
not going to be able to learn. So we found
that a lot of the fall off, if you will,
in education is because we're not teaching the basics, and
so a little return to that basics is great Now
a lot of other things that can be introduced that
can be helpful, like AI yes, because they're at how far.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Behind are we own technology? Oh my gosh, because it
seems like we're back twenty years ago and all of
a sudden, now are thirty years ago in technology and
we're having these kids go out in the world. I
laughed the other day I was talking to a group
of students and the students said that it their high school,
they were still teaching them to do photography and develop film.
(07:07):
And You're like, for what reason that doesn't happen anymore?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
You're not going to use Is that going to be
Is that going to be their major when they go
off right a career path that they want to be on.
If it's a career path they want to be on
them all for that However.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
It's digital now, pictures are digital. They like the teacher
has been there and said, well, this is how we've
always done it. That was a response to students. I'm like,
we're paying that salary to someone who's literally saying I
refuse to move forward.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Yeah, And I just think that just goes to the
bigger problem of how I think education is not in
touch with the communities. It's not in touch with the
industries that we need. And that's what we need to
make sure of that we are educating our students for
you know, for their for their livelihood. What you know,
what what does industry need? What does the community need?
(07:54):
You'll hear most universities say that we want to make
sure we can keep students in the community when we're
when we're training them. But if you don't understand what
the community, what industry, what business needs, or what technology needs,
et cetera, you can't construct the proper curriculum to fill
that need, and you'll find we won't be successful.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Next story number two, we're live here at the White House,
and I guess with me now is May Melman, senior
policy strategist at the White House and a unique perspective
because she was in forty five in that administration, you're
now in forty seven. We were talking before the show
and I just let's just start with this because I
think it's so cool. This White House is running at
(08:38):
a different pace than it did with the first time around.
Part of that was learning government. I think part of
it's having a team. This time that seems to be
working as a team and just seems like everyone wants
to win and is getting along. The leaks were not
seeing like we did last time. It seems like everybody's
a team player. This is really fun to watch on
(08:59):
the outside. I was the Bush administration and it was
in the second and from four to oho eight, and
it was just a different type of team than we
had in the first part. You got to enjoy watching
the past and now the president. How cool was that
for you?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (09:12):
I used to be jealous of what the Bush people
had in the sense that they still did reunions and
they all hung out with each other and they you know,
we had our criticisms, certainly, but it felt like they
were all very unified. And I think during Trump one
point zero people very much got along. It was friendly.
(09:32):
But people had come from different places. So you had
people who were campaign people, you had people who were
RNC people, You had people who were either longtime friends
of the family, these sort you know, everyone kind of
had their own different background. But now there is such
a thing as Trump World, and there are people who
have been here and those they've had relationships and they've
(09:52):
had ups and downs, with each other, and so it
is easier to have everybody rowing in the same direction.
And I've had strange experiences that I never had during
the first time. So during the first time, I was
also writing a lot of executive orders, helping push a
lot of policies, and I would have to follow up
and follow up and follow up, and nothing would happen
at the speed and the pace and the level that
(10:15):
I wanted it to. Now, if I write something that's
very nuanced, I'm careful, Okay, we're not trying to do this.
People will just do it at the one hundred out
of ten, even though we just needed ten out of ten.
That's okay. So the excitement people have been planning, people
are ready to go, and it does feel very different,
even though it is actually a lot of the same people.
(10:36):
I'm working with a lot of the same people, but
it's just different this time.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So let's talk about where we are one hundred days in.
You're here, your senior pology strategists. I think one of
the big things that people we are witnessing right now
they're concerned about is the law fare. There is very
clear a movement by the left, by the Democrats to
use the court system, and activist judges their allies, they know,
(11:00):
are quickly on their team, making sure they're filing things
in certain courts where they know it'll give them a
favorable opinion, which is against this White House and trying
to stop the president. Fie law Fair. You guys are
fighting back. You work with Jason Miller. You guys are
out there hardcore going against this. Where are we now
and how big of a roadblock is this going to
be for Trump's agenda getting actually done?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well?
Speaker 5 (11:23):
The Democrats have no political strategy, they have no political leader,
they have no north star. So all they have is
know and the place you go for no is the courts.
And so that's where all the money has been. That's
where the excitement is, that's where the investment is. Is
just no, there's some protests, there's blowing up tesla's, but
mostly it's in the courts. And I think the judges
(11:44):
are very excited. These are activists, these are longtime Democrat donors, partisans,
you know, they're part of the movement. They're excited to
actually be the leaders of the left right now. And so, yeah,
it is a problem. I'm a lawyer for four years
when I was not in the White House, I was
bringing lawsuits and the judges that we would get, even
if we were in conservative areas of the country with
(12:06):
very conservative judges, these were measured approaches. I'll just take
Title nine for example. Twenty six states brought lawsuits and
I think eight different jurisdictions to challenge Biden's rewrite of
Title nine. Each one of those judges, every single one,
issued an injunction that was just narrowed to the parties
that had brought the suits. So there never was a
nationwide injunction, even with twenty six states in eight different lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Compare that to here, where you just have any sort
of group. It's not states bringing these is just random people,
random activists, bringing these lawsuits and getting nationwide injunctions at
the tro stage, the temporary restraining order stage, which is
not even assessment of the merits of whether you're right
or wrong. It's just, Hey, I'm the judge, and I
(12:52):
feel like doing this nationwide thing based not even on
the merits. I want to freeze the Trump administration from
doing anything. So this law fair is a serious, serious problem.
In my opinion, I think that it violates the job
of the judiciary, which is to say what the law is,
not to become the policymaker. So I think there's been
some calls for impeachment and things like that. You know,
(13:15):
Congress should absolutely impeach judges who are not doing their jobs. However,
that's just not going to be the solution. The solution,
I think is going to be a reshaping of what
it means to have judicial power, whether that's coming from
the Supreme Court, whether that's coming from Congress, or whether
that's coming from the administration, just saying you know what,
if you are actually stepping into the executive branch's power,
(13:37):
we're not going to abide by it. And so I
think these judges are really playing with fire. But they
know it, and they want it, and they want to
pick this fight because they feel the leadership of the
Democratic Party right now.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Let's talk about trade, and that is a big issue
that is I think top of mind for virtually every American.
I have dear friends that knew I was going to
be here today and I was like, they're dealing with this,
and they've got companies that are American companies, startups from
their garage that are now being affected because of this
trade war with China. They're very concerned about what they've built.
(14:11):
Where are we with this master plan from the President?
It seems to me saying, Hey, I want to get
great deals done with a lot of countries so that
we have much less dependence on China. This is about
reducing China's influence in the world, especially when it comes
to trade. Are we moving forward and when are we
(14:31):
going to start getting deals announced to calm the markets
but also the people that have businesses and how long
are they going to have to deal with this? Because
we saw yesterday this is a good sign. President was
meeting with top companies. They're meeting with Lows and Home
Depot and Walmart and Target about this trade war. That
could be good news, but also could be bad news
depending on who you read and what you're being told.
(14:53):
We know the media wants us to be miserable. They
want to be fear mongering. They want this inflation issues
to happen. They want this to be a Trump disaster.
I don't see it that way though.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I think the President's heart is where actually a lot
of Americans' hearts are, which is that we want to
be supply chain independent, we want to be able to
make our pharmaceuticals at home. We don't want to be
reliant on a country who is threatening to us. And
yet I think the President also is a very practical person.
(15:24):
He's a business person, he is a listener, and you
can see even from the changes to the original announcement
of reciprocal tariffs, that he wants to be in it
with allies to shore up our manufacturing against people who
do not have our best interests, including China. So while
(15:45):
I can't give a timeline for when you would see
an exact announcement, I can say that the White House
is in listening mode and we have been hearing from
people changes and those changes have already been implemented, whether
whether it has to do with lower tariffs on certain
electronics that we simply can't make we can't on shore quickly.
(16:09):
And then I think also part of the national security.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Right, This is when I've asked, and I've had leaders
call me and they're like, Ben, what is he doing?
Why is he doing this? And say, look, you got
to look at this from two views. One is national security,
and if you bring enough of that back to the US,
you don't have to be the leader in the world,
but you need to have enough from a national security
standpoint that if something happens somewhere else in the world,
you're still good. And that's part of what the president,
I think learn from COVID.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Yeah, and so from a national security standpoint, I think
the nation is pretty strong and we feel good there.
And so really it is focusing on small businesses and
the impact, and it is alarming actually how tightly our
supply chains and how quickly they are connected to China, which,
of course, you know something that we all know, which
(16:52):
is why the whole action exists to begin with. But
nobody wants to harm American small businesses. What we want
is is for China and the United States to find
a resolution and then of course to eventually work toward
a trade policy that is going to be best for
(17:13):
our national security, best for our economy. And you know,
as President Trump is going to be income tax replacement.
And it's a complicated thing, but no president has really
taken this on seriously. And year by year by year
by year, we become more reliant, less safe, less secure,
(17:36):
less independent, And it almost doesn't matter whether you have
a southern border or what the if the threat is
coming in from your nation's dependence. That said, I think,
as you noted, the President is in complete listening mode,
so there is a need to make sure that our
small businesses and our large businesses, and our supply chains
(17:57):
and our consumers are all accounted for.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Thank you for listen litening to the forty seven 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.
Everyone's going to do well in this country because of tariffs.
We have seven trillion dollars of investment already and that's
coming in. I think for two reasons. It's coming because
of an election that people liked, and it's coming in
because of tariffs. I could name eight right now already
auto plants that are either starting or about ready to
start construction. The non union workers in the automobile industry,
(00:23):
they love Trump.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good Wednesday morning. Ben Ferguson with you, and it's so
nice to have you on the forty seven Morning Up day.
When we started this podcast, the goal was to take
you behind the scenes of what's happening at the White House,
giving you the three big stories of the day. But
we also told you we're going to give you access
directly the White House. Well, today's show is a perfect
example of that. I spent the day at the White
(00:49):
House talking to different cabinet secretaries and advisors to the
President of United States of America about the first one
hundred days at the White House.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
We're going to tell you that for you now.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
First you're gonna hear from the woman who's in charge
of education, Lenna McMahon, is talking about why she's shutting
down the Department of Education at the Presence Directive and
how important it could be to changing education all over
the country. And then we're going to talk with one
of the advisors at the White House about what's happening
(01:22):
with tariffs as well and some other big issues with
one hundred day mark. So it's the forty seven Morning
Update from the White House and it starts right now
story number one sitting in front of me as a
woman that has taken on an almost impossible task. I
was so excited when I heard this name, Linda McMahon.
(01:43):
And if you don't know the history of Linda, you
need to google it because she has done some amazing
things in her career. And you get this job, You
get a phone call to become the United States Secretary
of Education. How did this even come about? How is
the phone call that you received from the presid I
got to know the backstory real quick because I think
it's so fascinating.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well, good morning, and thank you very much for having
me ben it. Well, you may or may not recall,
but I was the co chair of the transition committee
for the President. So we were putting in place all
of the different cabinet secretaries, etc. And you know, I'm
working on everybody else's department. And the President talks to
me and he says, look, he says, I've got the
(02:24):
perfect place for you. And I said, oh, okay, what
are you thinking? He said, Department of Education. I said, well,
you realize that my background is not, you know, in
the world of education. Although I got my certificate to
teach and I was prepared to teach French. I also
served on the Connecticut State Board of Education, and then
I've been on the board of trustees at Sacred Heart
(02:46):
University for sixteen years. I said, so I do have
education background. And he said, look, here's what I want
to do with the Department of Education. I want to
shut it down. And so I laughed. I laughed, and
I said, so in other words, excuse me, I said, so,
in other words, you want me to preside over my
own demise. And he laughed out loud and he said yep.
He said, I do want you to do that. He said,
(03:08):
and here's what I need, he said, Rather than have
an educator in place to do this, what I really
need is a business person. I need an executive. I
need a leader who knows how to manage and can
handle this. He said, we need to return education to
the States. He said, I want to take the bureaucracy
out of education and as much money as worth saving
(03:29):
and doing that, I want to make sure that the
states can maximize that money and have the programs that
they need in place. So he said, so I need
you to come on board and do that, and I
do that. Yes, II Captain, I'm ready to go.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
So you get here and you get this new job,
and it's an incredible job, and you're putting yourself out
of business, which is also like a weird mentality to have.
What was the biggest waste of tax dollars that you've
uncovered at DOGE And let's start there.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Well, I can tell you know they First of all,
let me say I welcomed the DOGE group that came
in and has been looking at a lot of the
wasteful spending that has been going on. I think one
of the things that jumped out at me was that
we had about six hundred million dollars that we were
spending on teacher training programs. Now that's so. Now that sounds,
(04:24):
you know, incredibly like a good amount of money to
be spending or on a good thing to train our teachers.
But what we really were finding was that most of
the programs at that point were really focused on DEI training, yeah,
and not on what you would typically be looking at,
you know, for teacher training. And so we took back
(04:44):
that money and we shut down that kind of training program.
So that was one that just jumped out at me.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So is it fair to say the Department of Education?
And I have a sister, she's in an innercy school
and she's doing the best that she can. My mom
was a teacher, my aunt was a prince. Like I
come from that world. But what is sad to me
is it seems like the Department of Education has basically
decided we're going to indoctrinate kids instead of educate kids,
(05:10):
and we're going to do it in a way with
your using taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate them and what we
believe in instead of reading, writing, and arithmetic. How far
off am I on that from a national standpoint?
Speaker 4 (05:19):
You know, far off on that at all? And what
we have really seen, I mean, think about this ben
The Department of Education was established in nineteen eighty and
since that time, we have spent over three trillion dollars
in education, and our performance scores have continued to go down.
And you know, I don't I don't say there haven't
been things that have been tried. I mean, the Bush
(05:40):
administration tried no child life behind. Yeah, Barack Obama tried
race to the top. But we're failing in the mission
of teaching our our students. And I think the reason
for that is we have gotten away from basics. We've
gotten away from teaching reading and teaching arithmetic. And so
(06:01):
what we're finding in schools that are showing improvement in
scores is that they have returned to the science of reading,
teaching phonics, teaching repetitive you know, just memorization like in
mathematics for your times table and things like that, and
then building upon that base. You know, up through third
grade you are learning to read, and after third grade
(06:23):
you're reading to learn. And if you can't read, you're
not going to be able to learn. So we found
that a lot of the fall off, if you will,
in education is because we're not teaching the basics, and
so a little return to that basics is great Now
a lot of other things that can be introduced that
can be helpful, like AI yes, because they're at how far.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Behind are we own technology? Oh my gosh, because it
seems like we're back twenty years ago and all of
a sudden, now are thirty years ago in technology and
we're having these kids go out in the world. I
laughed the other day I was talking to a group
of students and the students said that it their high school,
they were still teaching them to do photography and develop film.
(07:07):
And You're like, for what reason that doesn't happen anymore?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
You're not going to use Is that going to be
Is that going to be their major when they go
off right a career path that they want to be on.
If it's a career path they want to be on
them all for that However.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
It's digital now, pictures are digital. They like the teacher
has been there and said, well, this is how we've
always done it. That was a response to students. I'm like,
we're paying that salary to someone who's literally saying I
refuse to move forward.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Yeah, And I just think that just goes to the
bigger problem of how I think education is not in
touch with the communities. It's not in touch with the
industries that we need. And that's what we need to
make sure of that we are educating our students for
you know, for their for their livelihood. What you know,
what what does industry need? What does the community need?
(07:54):
You'll hear most universities say that we want to make
sure we can keep students in the community when we're
when we're training them. But if you don't understand what
the community, what industry, what business needs, or what technology needs,
et cetera, you can't construct the proper curriculum to fill
that need, and you'll find we won't be successful.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Next story number two, we're live here at the White House,
and I guess with me now is May Melman, senior
policy strategist at the White House and a unique perspective
because she was in forty five in that administration, you're
now in forty seven. We were talking before the show
and I just let's just start with this because I
think it's so cool. This White House is running at
(08:38):
a different pace than it did with the first time around.
Part of that was learning government. I think part of
it's having a team. This time that seems to be
working as a team and just seems like everyone wants
to win and is getting along. The leaks were not
seeing like we did last time. It seems like everybody's
a team player. This is really fun to watch on
(08:59):
the outside. I was the Bush administration and it was
in the second and from four to oho eight, and
it was just a different type of team than we
had in the first part. You got to enjoy watching
the past and now the president. How cool was that
for you?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (09:12):
I used to be jealous of what the Bush people
had in the sense that they still did reunions and
they all hung out with each other and they you know,
we had our criticisms, certainly, but it felt like they
were all very unified. And I think during Trump one
point zero people very much got along. It was friendly.
(09:32):
But people had come from different places. So you had
people who were campaign people, you had people who were
RNC people, You had people who were either longtime friends
of the family, these sort you know, everyone kind of
had their own different background. But now there is such
a thing as Trump World, and there are people who
have been here and those they've had relationships and they've
(09:52):
had ups and downs, with each other, and so it
is easier to have everybody rowing in the same direction.
And I've had strange experiences that I never had during
the first time. So during the first time, I was
also writing a lot of executive orders, helping push a
lot of policies, and I would have to follow up
and follow up and follow up, and nothing would happen
at the speed and the pace and the level that
(10:15):
I wanted it to. Now, if I write something that's
very nuanced, I'm careful, Okay, we're not trying to do this.
People will just do it at the one hundred out
of ten, even though we just needed ten out of ten.
That's okay. So the excitement people have been planning, people
are ready to go, and it does feel very different,
even though it is actually a lot of the same people.
(10:36):
I'm working with a lot of the same people, but
it's just different this time.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So let's talk about where we are one hundred days in.
You're here, your senior pology strategists. I think one of
the big things that people we are witnessing right now
they're concerned about is the law fare. There is very
clear a movement by the left, by the Democrats to
use the court system, and activist judges their allies, they know,
(11:00):
are quickly on their team, making sure they're filing things
in certain courts where they know it'll give them a
favorable opinion, which is against this White House and trying
to stop the president. Fie law Fair. You guys are
fighting back. You work with Jason Miller. You guys are
out there hardcore going against this. Where are we now
and how big of a roadblock is this going to
be for Trump's agenda getting actually done?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well?
Speaker 5 (11:23):
The Democrats have no political strategy, they have no political leader,
they have no north star. So all they have is
know and the place you go for no is the courts.
And so that's where all the money has been. That's
where the excitement is, that's where the investment is. Is
just no, there's some protests, there's blowing up tesla's, but
mostly it's in the courts. And I think the judges
(11:44):
are very excited. These are activists, these are longtime Democrat donors, partisans,
you know, they're part of the movement. They're excited to
actually be the leaders of the left right now. And so, yeah,
it is a problem. I'm a lawyer for four years
when I was not in the White House, I was
bringing lawsuits and the judges that we would get, even
if we were in conservative areas of the country with
(12:06):
very conservative judges, these were measured approaches. I'll just take
Title nine for example. Twenty six states brought lawsuits and
I think eight different jurisdictions to challenge Biden's rewrite of
Title nine. Each one of those judges, every single one,
issued an injunction that was just narrowed to the parties
that had brought the suits. So there never was a
nationwide injunction, even with twenty six states in eight different lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Compare that to here, where you just have any sort
of group. It's not states bringing these is just random people,
random activists, bringing these lawsuits and getting nationwide injunctions at
the tro stage, the temporary restraining order stage, which is
not even assessment of the merits of whether you're right
or wrong. It's just, Hey, I'm the judge, and I
(12:52):
feel like doing this nationwide thing based not even on
the merits. I want to freeze the Trump administration from
doing anything. So this law fair is a serious, serious problem.
In my opinion, I think that it violates the job
of the judiciary, which is to say what the law is,
not to become the policymaker. So I think there's been
some calls for impeachment and things like that. You know,
(13:15):
Congress should absolutely impeach judges who are not doing their jobs. However,
that's just not going to be the solution. The solution,
I think is going to be a reshaping of what
it means to have judicial power, whether that's coming from
the Supreme Court, whether that's coming from Congress, or whether
that's coming from the administration, just saying you know what,
if you are actually stepping into the executive branch's power,
(13:37):
we're not going to abide by it. And so I
think these judges are really playing with fire. But they
know it, and they want it, and they want to
pick this fight because they feel the leadership of the
Democratic Party right now.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Let's talk about trade, and that is a big issue
that is I think top of mind for virtually every American.
I have dear friends that knew I was going to
be here today and I was like, they're dealing with this,
and they've got companies that are American companies, startups from
their garage that are now being affected because of this
trade war with China. They're very concerned about what they've built.
(14:11):
Where are we with this master plan from the President?
It seems to me saying, Hey, I want to get
great deals done with a lot of countries so that
we have much less dependence on China. This is about
reducing China's influence in the world, especially when it comes
to trade. Are we moving forward and when are we
(14:31):
going to start getting deals announced to calm the markets
but also the people that have businesses and how long
are they going to have to deal with this? Because
we saw yesterday this is a good sign. President was
meeting with top companies. They're meeting with Lows and Home
Depot and Walmart and Target about this trade war. That
could be good news, but also could be bad news
depending on who you read and what you're being told.
(14:53):
We know the media wants us to be miserable. They
want to be fear mongering. They want this inflation issues
to happen. They want this to be a Trump disaster.
I don't see it that way though.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I think the President's heart is where actually a lot
of Americans' hearts are, which is that we want to
be supply chain independent, we want to be able to
make our pharmaceuticals at home. We don't want to be
reliant on a country who is threatening to us. And
yet I think the President also is a very practical person.
(15:24):
He's a business person, he is a listener, and you
can see even from the changes to the original announcement
of reciprocal tariffs, that he wants to be in it
with allies to shore up our manufacturing against people who
do not have our best interests, including China. So while
(15:45):
I can't give a timeline for when you would see
an exact announcement, I can say that the White House
is in listening mode and we have been hearing from
people changes and those changes have already been implemented, whether
whether it has to do with lower tariffs on certain
electronics that we simply can't make we can't on shore quickly.
(16:09):
And then I think also part of the national security.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Right, This is when I've asked, and I've had leaders
call me and they're like, Ben, what is he doing?
Why is he doing this? And say, look, you got
to look at this from two views. One is national security,
and if you bring enough of that back to the US,
you don't have to be the leader in the world,
but you need to have enough from a national security
standpoint that if something happens somewhere else in the world,
you're still good. And that's part of what the president,
I think learn from COVID.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Yeah, and so from a national security standpoint, I think
the nation is pretty strong and we feel good there.
And so really it is focusing on small businesses and
the impact, and it is alarming actually how tightly our
supply chains and how quickly they are connected to China, which,
of course, you know something that we all know, which
(16:52):
is why the whole action exists to begin with. But
nobody wants to harm American small businesses. What we want
is is for China and the United States to find
a resolution and then of course to eventually work toward
a trade policy that is going to be best for
(17:13):
our national security, best for our economy. And you know,
as President Trump is going to be income tax replacement.
And it's a complicated thing, but no president has really
taken this on seriously. And year by year by year
by year, we become more reliant, less safe, less secure,
(17:36):
less independent, And it almost doesn't matter whether you have
a southern border or what the if the threat is
coming in from your nation's dependence. That said, I think,
as you noted, the President is in complete listening mode,
so there is a need to make sure that our
small businesses and our large businesses, and our supply chains
(17:57):
and our consumers are all accounted for.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Thank you for listen litening to the forty seven 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.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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