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TC Ted Cruz Ted Cruz U.S. Senator from Texas who co-hosts a political podcast and weekend radio show with Ben Ferguson, recapping the week's politics and news.

“You notice there was not one word of, I disagree with him, he's wrong, saying America deserves 9-11. That's wrong. Pritzker didn't say any of that. He's like, I don't know. I don't want to talk about that. Please don't ask me about that.”

The Ben Ferguson Podcast · US Politics · September 2026

“You notice there was not one word of, I disagree with him, he's wrong, saying America deserves 9-11. That's wrong. Pritzker didn't say any of that. He's like, I don't know. I don't want to talk about that. Please don't ask me about that.” — Ted Cruz on JB Pritzker, The Ben Ferguson Podcast

Context

Ted Cruz on his Verdict podcast with Ben Ferguson, reacting to a clip of Pritzker on ABC's This Week declining to denounce streamer Hasan Piker, who has appeared alongside Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. In the clip, Pritzker said he was not focused on streamers and wanted to talk about stopping Donald Trump.

Transcript

The Ben Ferguson Podcast Around 25:17 into the episode
Speaker 1

Doesn't mean anything to my election.

Ben Ferguson

That's one heck of a way of describing it and throwing someone under the bus there, right?

Ted Cruz

Well, look, he, he spoke accurately when he says he doesn't want to talk about him. He really doesn't want to talk about him, but, but, You know, Jonathan Karl doesn't press him at all. I mean, these powderpuff interviews, I can't imagine what it's like to be a Democrat and just have all of these reporters basically acting like your press secretary. You know, he doesn't press him. Well, I get that you don't want to talk about him, but are you troubled that your party's nominee in Michigan is campaigning alongside him, welcomes him? Look, without Hassan Pike or Abdul Al-Sayed probably doesn't win the nomination. And Al-Sayed repeatedly refuses to distance himself. And by the way, Al-Sayed said many of the same things. Do you support him? Are you troubled that Chuck Schumer is supporting him? Those would be the questions that would be asked of a Republican if the tables were turned. But, you know, from Pritzker's perspective, and this is true of every Democrat, they welcome these America-hating radicals, or at least they…

Speaker 7

I mean, a lot of the energy in the Democratic Party right now is clearly on the left, far left. I mean, Democratic Socialists of America, DSA, you've had a number of their candidates winning in these Democratic primaries. Are you concerned about that? That that's like a message that may work in…

Speaker 6

Look, there haven't been very many of those, at least DSA candidates who are winning. It's true that there are progressives that are winning.

Speaker 7

Around the country. We're going to have trouble in the House. A few.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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