In our house, you know, it wasn't that politics was something you'd just kind of read the paper and, oh, that's interesting.

I mean, there was an urgency to it. It was having principled men and women in office, that's how you protect yourself from tyranny.

And so that's what I wanted to do my whole life.

Hey, hey, and welcome. This is The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday special. We're joined by Senator Ted Cruz. We'll get to that in just a second. But first, you know what I hate? I hate when people take my data and then use it to make money off of me. It's my data. Why are you just taking it and making money off of me? Instead, you should join Big Token. It is an app that you download. You share data about yourself, your interest and habits, and then you get paid for it. Right now, you share an enormous amount of info with tech companies that make money off of it. You should too. That's where Big Token comes in. Here's how it works. First, download the app and sign up for a free Big Token account. Next, complete actions to earn points. Actions include answering surveys, checking into locations, connecting your social accounts, and more. Then you can redeem your points for rewards like cash, gift cards, or you can donate your earnings to charity. If you're a good person, you choose what data you share with BigToken, and then you get paid for it. You can also get more points for referring friends and family. Your data is always secure in BigToken.

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token right now. Senator Cruz, thanks so much for stopping by. Really appreciate it. Great to be

with you, Ben. So first question, where were you the night of December 20th, 1968?

You know, apparently I was in Northern California. It is amazing the time travel. I mean, I was at that point just a sparkle in my daddy's eyeball, but at the time I'm blamed for all sorts of things. For those who don't care, it's a Zodiac Killer joke, guys. It's a joke. He's not actually the Zodiac. So I will tell you on the presidential periodically, you'd get college kids that would come up with a sign saying, are you the zodiac? And more than once, I pulled them aside and said, son, if I were really the zodiac, would you want to bring that sign here? So let's start from the premise that you're not the zodiac killer. And let's talk about how you got into politics in the first place. So a lot of people kind of know you from the last seven, eight years since you've been in the Senate. But not everybody knows kind of your origin story of the superhero Ted Cruz. So Senator Cruz, where did you get started in politics? Well, look, I was a science student and I was bitten by a radioactive spider and you know the rest of it is history now

grew up in Texas and and for me politics is my family story I mean look all of us are products of

our family story and and my dad as you know my dad fought in the Cuban Revolution I mean when he was a kid

when he was a teenager he was fighting alongside Fidel Castro, fighting against Batista, who was a corrupt

dictator and was thrown in prison and he was tortured. And my dad came to Texas when he was just

18. And I grew up as a kid hearing stories, hearing stories about being a freedom fighter. And it actually works out, my father fought with Castro, didn't know Castro was a communist. Anytime I really wanna yank my father's chain, I'll call him a communist gorilla. It drives him nuts. What he knew was that Batista was corrupt. He was in bed with the mob, you know, Godfather

too, you know, that whole, I mean, that was, that was what it was.

It was a completely corrupt dictatorship.

And the revolution, as my dad describes it, were a bunch of 14 and 15 year old kids who didn't

know any better.

My dad left in 57 and he fled Cuba because Batista's army was going to kill him.

The revolution succeeds in 59. So 59, Kastra declares as a communist, begins seizing people's

lands, begins executing dissidents. And my aunt, my the Asa Sonia, who I'm very close to,

...