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Verdict with Ted Cruz

Trump DEI Spending Win, Cracker Barrel Pulls the Plug on Rebrand & Panama Canal at Risk by Far Reaching China Week In Review

Verdict with Ted Cruz

Premiere Networks

Politics, Daily News, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 43.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

  • Supreme Court Ruling on DEI Grants

    • The Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in favor of the Trump administration, allowing it to terminate $783 million in NIH diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) related grants.

    • The decision centered on jurisdiction — the Court found that lawsuits over federal contracts must be filed in the Court of Federal Claims, not in district court.

    • Justice Amy Coney Barrett cast the swing vote: siding with conservatives to block the payouts but with liberals on preventing reinstatement of the DEI guidance policy.

    • Conservatives framed this as a victory against what they see as “ideological” grants, while critics warned of reduced research support.

  • Corporate “Woke” Backlash — Cracker Barrel Example

    • Discussion shifted to Cracker Barrel’s rebranding effort that downplayed its nostalgic Americana imagery.

    • The company faced backlash, similar to Bud Light and Target controversies, leading to stock declines.

    • After pressure from customers, investors, and even Donald Trump’s public comments, Cracker Barrel reversed course and reinstated its traditional branding.

    • This was framed as an example of market-driven resistance to corporate progressivism.

  • Senator’s Latin America Trip (El Salvador & Panama)

    • The speaker described travels to El Salvador, highlighting improved safety under President Nayib Bukele. This led to “reverse migration,” with Salvadorans abroad expressing interest in returning.

    • In Panama, focus was on the Panama Canal’s strategic importance and concerns about Chinese control over ports, infrastructure projects, and canal-adjacent facilities.

    • The senator warned that in the event of a U.S.–China conflict, Chinese influence in Panama could threaten U.S. economic and military logistics.

    • He urged Panamanian officials to push out Chinese companies and secure the canal with U.S.-aligned interests.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:04.5

Welcome, it is verdict with Ted Cruz's Weekend Review. Ben Ferguson with you, and these are the

0:08.9

stories you may have missed that we talked about this week. First up, the Supreme Court

0:13.7

allowing Donald Trump to ax DEI grants. This is a big move, and it can save you a lot of money.

0:22.1

I have those details in a moment.

0:28.5

Also, Cracker Barrel, they reverse course, well, pretty quickly, but was it quick enough to save the brand? We'll talk about that. And finally, Senator Cruz is on a Codell to Latin America.

0:35.0

What he's seeing is truly unbelievable, especially in the prison system.

0:39.2

And some news from the Panama Canal as well. It's the weekend review, and it starts right now.

0:46.2

I want to move to another big story as well, and this is one that is not going to get a lot of media attention.

0:51.2

So I hope everyone listening will actually pay attention to this, because it was a big victory from the Supreme Court allowing Donald Trump to tax millions

0:59.8

of dollars, Senator, and funding for DEI-related grants. This is huge. It is. So it was a 5-4 vote,

1:08.6

and it allowed the Trump administration to terminate $783 million worth of grants.

1:16.4

They're grants from the National Institute of Health. And they were canceled because of the administration's policy positions on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and gender ideology.

1:29.3

And the Trump administration quite reasonably said, we're not going to give away $783 million for

1:36.0

DEI.

1:37.3

And these were awards that were studying all sorts of ideological objectives.

1:43.4

And in many instances, these are awards

1:46.6

that were granted because of the researchers' race. They made that a criterion. And listen,

1:53.2

I've got to say, there is an important role for scientific and medical research. NIH does good

1:59.7

work. And, you know, early in the Trump administration,

2:02.6

I was flying from D.C. back to Houston, and a woman came up to me on the plane. And she said she was a

2:07.9

cancer researcher at MD Anderson. And she said she was very worried about funding getting cut. And she

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