Castro Indicted, Massie Ousted, SCOTUS Reshapes the Map | Ludwig & McNeily

[00:00:14] Welcome to The Jenny Beth Show. Breaking from Punchbowl News. Republicans are considering postponing a vote on the reconciliation bill to fund ICE and Customs and Border Patrol until after the Memorial Day recess. Speaker Johnson is going to the White House to discuss this with the president who wants a bill on his desk by June 1st.

[00:00:34] Punchbowl reports that the Senate has still not released a bill, and the debate, plus a lengthy voterama, could push Congress into a Memorial Day weekend session. Our team will continue to monitor for any breaking updates throughout our live broadcast. Personally, I think the Senate is still reeling from President Trump's endorsement of Kim Paxton. The establishment senators don't know what to make of it.

[00:00:57] Well, if the establishment really wanted Cornyn reelected, they should figure out how right now today to attach the Save America Act to this reconciliation bill and get it passed now. That is the biggest thing they could do to help their beloved—and I say that in air quotes for our listening audience—their beloved colleague. They don't care that much about Cornyn. If they did, they'd make sure this bill was passed into law.

[00:01:23] And they sure as heck don't seem to care enough about an issue that 80 percent of Americans want to see passed into law. But don't worry. Even if it's not attached to this reconciliation bill, Tea Party Patriots Action does care about the Save America Act, and we will continue to work to get it passed. In other news, justice does not always come on time. Sometimes it is delayed. But justice is served.

[00:01:49] Yesterday, at the Miami Freedom Tower on Cuban Independence Day, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche walked up to the microphone and announced that Raul Castro, the 94-year-old former dictator of Cuba, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for the murder of four American citizens.

[00:02:08] Four men, three of them Americans, the other had a green card, shot out of the sky on February 24, 1996 over international waters in the Florida Strait. Their names were Armando Alejandro, Alejandro Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pina, and Pablo Morales. They were members of the Brothers to the Rescue.

[00:02:36] A humanitarian organization that had been flying over those waters for years, searching for Cuban rafters and saving lives. Cuba sent up MiG fighter jets and blew them out of the sky. Here is Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche making history yesterday from the Miami Freedom Tower.

[00:02:55] Today, we are announcing an indictment charging Raul Castro and several others with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. Mr. Castro and the others are charged with additional crimes as well, including destruction of aircraft and four individual counts of murder.

[00:03:22] For nearly 30 years, 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice. On February 24, 1996, two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue were shot down over international waters by military aircraft from Cuba. Four men were killed.

[00:04:20] Raul Castro and five co-defendants participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military aircraft firing missiles at those civilian planes and killing four Americans. Those are the allegations returned by a federal grand jury. My message today is clear. The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.

[00:04:50] I want to say that we also do not forget the families, the loved ones, and the friends who have carried grief and heartache for 30 years. For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country, in the United States of America, for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens.

[00:05:17] Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability. President Trump is committed to restoring a very simple but important principle. If you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed.

[00:05:41] I'm very thankful we have a president who is sending that kind of message to people around the world. He will not tolerate Americans being killed. This was not a coincidence at all. The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, flew down to Havana hours before the announcement yesterday. He met with Castro's own grandson. And then the Justice Department walked to the podium at the symbol of the Cuban exile community on the day Cuba celebrates independence and said,

[00:06:10] Justice is coming. This is what America first foreign policy looks like when it has teeth. This is what it means to put American victims first, not diplomatic convenience, not regime comfort, not 30 years, not 30 more years of waiting. Justice. Also on Tuesday night, Congressman Thomas Massey was defeated in a primary, a Trump endorsement and a lesson in accountability. And we'll be discussing that election and Trump's endorsement of Kim Paxton today as well.

[00:06:40] And then on today's show, let me tell you about our guests. We have two people who are going to bring it all together and make sense of all these breaking news items. Hayden Ludwig is the founder of Restoration-News.com and host of the Restoration Spotlight podcast. He has been one of the clearest voices in conservative media on the America first foreign policy and downstream political fights that define this movement,

[00:07:07] including a ruling from the Supreme Court that could reshape American politics for the next generation. And Robert McNeely is the director of broadcasting and grassroots engagement here at Tea Party Patriots Action. Robert has been covering the Trump coalition from the ground. And this week, that coalition sent a message that every Republican in Washington needs to hear. Hayden, Robert, thanks for joining me today. We have a lot of ground to cover. Thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having me back. All right.

[00:07:36] So let me let's talk about what happened first with the indictment of Cuba on February 24th, 1996. Over over, gosh, 30 years ago on the Florida Strait. I think we've got a clip for this. So let me let's pull that clip up. I think I'm checking. Not sure. Maybe we don't. If we don't, we'll keep going.

[00:08:07] So there were four Americans who were shot down over the international waters. And now now now President Trump is working to hold them accountable. Hayden, when acting attorney general Blanche made the announcement at the Miami Freedom Tower yesterday, you obviously the timing and the location was not an accident. What the Trump administration did sending to sending this message in the indictment of Raul Castro. What do you make of it? And what are you thinking of this indictment?

[00:08:38] Yeah, well, I would say Raul, change your locks, but I don't think it's going to do you any good. The president doesn't do anything that's just symbolic, although he's very aware of how important symbolism is, especially to dictators who think about that every time they get out of their beds, even in their 90s. But clearly he's setting up to do to the Castros what he did to Maduro back in January. And I think that's all to the good. You know, we've got to finish this thing. It's been going on for a very long time. I personally won't tell you where I was in 1996. You don't want to know the answer to that.

[00:09:08] But, you know, look, we're finally finishing decades of fights. And I'll remind people, too, it was the Obama administration that began this process of normalizing relations with Cuba. Cuba never changed, but the United States under Democrats has begun to change. That only accelerated under the Biden administration. Finally, we see what real leadership looks like. Robert, what did you think of the indictment? What are you making of this?

[00:09:36] And also thinking about what happened in Venezuela recently. Well, to Hayden's point, first and foremost, it was America last under Barack Hussein Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., the auto pen. But now leading into this, Jenny Beth, we have a situation here where President Trump truly is fulfilling the Monroe Doctrine, as we've heard it called the Donro Doctrine. We will defend our Western Hemisphere. We will defend this side of the globe.

[00:10:05] And if you threaten and kill and murder American citizens or even those exiles seeking that liberty, even if it's after 30 years, we will seek justice in this with Venezuela, with Iran, and now clearly with Cuba and that siren sound of communism failing its citizens. And those in South Florida now, I think, are singing praises of President Trump and this administration.

[00:10:32] So, Hayden, Cuba is saying that they will never extradite Raul Castro. He's 94 years old. Many critics are calling this indictment just symbolic. How do you respond to that and what do you make of it? Oh, they don't have to. We're going to come get him. I mean, I'm not speaking for the administration, but I think it's pretty clear.

[00:10:52] We surround that dinky little island with all the aircraft carriers we need, and we've shown that we can go pretty deep inland into a country of mountains and jungles like Venezuela, specifically Caracas, which sits pretty high up in the mountains, let's not remember. We can bypass even the latest Chinese anti-American technology that's given to them. And remember, I'll bring people back to January. Maduro was protected by Chinese weaponry that was designed to shoot down American aircraft. That failed.

[00:11:22] And he was personally protected by Cuban bodyguards who were supposedly the best that Latin American can come up with. So, honestly, I think the guy's in big trouble either way. It's just a matter of when. Yeah, I think that you are exactly right about that. And I was listening to the podcast that Ted Cruz does every day. And, of course, his father escaped from Cuba.

[00:11:50] He was not on the show this morning. He was on the show yesterday. And today it was Ben Ferguson talking about it. And one of the things that Ben was pointing out is that when this kind of indictment happens around the world, people, other foreign countries, understand that you can't let someone who's under indictment from America be traveling through your country. You don't want to be giving foreign aid to that country.

[00:12:16] It just winds up tightening everywhere around the country. It's putting pressure on Castro as well as the rest of the country. And he said that he thinks that will also help in addition to potentially going in there, as you just said, Hayden. Yeah. And I would point out, you know, that's a law enforcement action, not a CIA coup or something. That's very important to differentiate. We're basically policing our own hemisphere for the first time instead of the rest of the world.

[00:12:46] That's very appropriate. That's the Monroe Doctrine that President Trump is reviving. Yeah, that's exactly that is exactly right. So, Robert, what do you think that this message sends to the Cuban exile community who are now part of America and very much interwoven in our society, especially those those who are in Florida and in Miami?

[00:13:10] Well, it's promises made promises kept by this administration where the living former president president president Trump's predecessors clearly either failed on that part to Hayden's point with the technology that we now have, but also did not follow through in defending the Cuban people. Furthermore, if you look down at Panama, the Panama Canal and all the Chinese influence that was held over that canal over the past decades.

[00:13:36] This now removes Chinese and Russian influence in the region that dates back to the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[00:13:45] So, although there's still calamities and sad things happening on the island nation, there is now hope that these people can have a partner in the United States and an administration that will fully back them and normalize relations at the same time putting America first and capitalistic, common sense principles in place rather than, again, the Obama administration that led from America last.

[00:14:14] Those are very good points, Robert. Let's let's shift gears a little bit and talk about Tuesday, Tuesday night. Thomas Massey lost. President Trump endorsed against him. I think we've got like a headline to show about that while we're talking here. There there were Thomas Massey was an eight term incumbent and he's gone because he voted against Trump's agenda, not just once, like occasionally maybe you just disagree.

[00:14:42] With the agenda and your conscience just won't let you you vote for certain pieces of legislation. But Thomas Massey was voting against what what the House Republican conference wanted and against what President Trump wanted over and over and over and over and over and over again. Speaker Mike Johnson had to just assume that Thomas Massey was going to be a no vote every single time he was whipping votes.

[00:15:09] So he when you do that over and over, you are going to get the attention of people like President Trump endorsing against you. Robert, let me start with you. You've been covering the Trump coalition from the ground, not necessarily here at Tea Pretty Patriots Action, but in your previous job, because you were on the ground at every single Trump rally working with right side broadcasting RSBM.

[00:15:33] What do you make of Thomas Massey being gone and what do you think that people in the grassroots are saying about it? Well, they want the November 2024 mandate to come to fruition. And Vice President Vance put it perfectly.

[00:15:47] We can love the ideology and the career of Thomas Massey, but it seems as if in the last term and really the last four years or so where he has been voting with Democrats the majority of the time or simply against President Trump based on personality, going the way of people like Mitt Romney and some of those current senators right now who are playing political games with the Save America Act.

[00:16:13] And going against the common sense principles that these voters wanted to see enacted through their Congress and through the executive branch under this president. So for those that want to make this out to be more than it is, it's rather quite simple. Thomas Massey was not supporting what the voters put into place, wanted in place with Republican majorities in Washington, D.C. back in 2024.

[00:16:40] And this is a result of that. It was the same with Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana. And I predict come Tuesday, unless there's some rapid legislation through reconciliation to pass the Save America Act before Tuesday. I think we'll see it with the Lone Star State and Ken Paxton beating John Cornyn down there in Texas. Robert, I think that is a really good point that you are making, that this isn't just about Massey.

[00:17:07] It is about not the voters who elected Massey two years ago also voted for President Trump. And they don't want those votes canceled out. They thought they would be they were voting for the same agenda. And Thomas Massey, in his votes in Congress, basically were we're we're canceling out President Trump's agenda. So I think that's a really good point you made. Hayden, we're very close to the Texas runoff. And President Trump has endorsed Ken Paxton over John Cornyn.

[00:17:37] What do you make of that endorsement? And how do you think that Texas conservatives are reacting to it? Well, I mean, if you look at the span of election results on Tuesday, it strongly suggests that Republican voters are looking forward to November. I mean, that's really good. I mean, if you go back to this whole thing, what we're really looking at in the House is basically a five seat majority. We've had a couple of deaths and retirements. Five seats is nothing. That's people, you know, missing a vote one time and we lose it to the Democrats.

[00:18:05] We are looking at razor thin margins that I hope will change the next couple of years. But look, if you go to four to November, the number one reason you win elections is enthusiasm. Right. I mean, the party whose voters are most excited to go out and vote for their party's candidates is typically the one that wins. So I'm I see this as some good news for us, especially because President Trump has already with the Save America Act identified who the rhinos are. If we didn't already know who they were. And he's one by one taking these guys down.

[00:18:35] I think that shows canniness. It shows that he can both hold a long term vision of what success looks like while also reconciling and compromising in the short run to get legislation through and then come around behind some of these rhinos in the Senate particular and take these guys out in primaries. I think that's the way to do it. We just got to keep the momentum going a few more months. Yeah, I think that you made really good points there.

[00:19:01] And it is very, very, very hard to take out an incumbent senator, whether it's I think it's more difficult in a primary than it is in a general election. But but either time, it is very difficult to do there because it's every six years. They're very good at building name ID, building a huge war chest and also in that last year voting the way they think their people want them to vote. And voters seem to have a short memory.

[00:19:30] So they don't remember normally all the other bad votes. When it came to Cassidy, they certainly remembered the bad votes. And the same thing happened with Thomas Massey, who isn't a senator, of course. OK, Hayden, let's talk about Senators Murkowski and Collins. They've called this endorsement that President Trump has made against Cornyn and for Paxton dangerous for the party. How do you think the conservative base will process that?

[00:19:57] And are they are they their states? Well, Maine is a little bit different than certainly than the Deep South. I think that in Alaska, people are just as conservative as we find find in other red states across the country. So how do you think that that works with their base in their own states? Well, I don't think the conservative movement ever listens to what Murkowski and Collins have to say on anything, nor should they. You know, frankly, I think this is a relevancy.

[00:20:26] Why are they talking about something that has nothing to do with them? You know, if they're trying to run and as far as I understand, things aren't looking great for the Republicans in Maine right now. Of course, this is early polling. You know, five months is still a long ways away till we get to Election Day. But, you know, keep your nose out of your own business there and let the real MAGA movement that runs the Republican Party today and in the future handle our own business. I think that's a good message to give them and basically tell them to shut up.

[00:20:52] OK, and then going back to both of you very quickly, and I'm going to start with Robert and then I'll go to Hayden. If Paxton wins on Tuesday, what is the message to Senate Majority Leader Thune, to McConnell and all the other Republican senators, especially as it relates to slow walking the Save America Act? So first, Robert. Pass the Save America Act. Here's why. Mitch McConnell always said that House races are so different than the Senate races.

[00:21:20] If the Senate doesn't act on this, it can leave Republican voters at home out of apathy. If this legislation that's supported by roughly 83 percent of United States citizens does not pass, they threaten to lose their majorities. And to the point of what's happening with these incumbents losing, it's not the bullying of President Trump. It's, as we've been saying on this show today, simply the fact that they are unwilling to enact that legislation.

[00:21:50] So Senator Cornyn and Senator Thune, to all the leadership in the Senate right now, if you want to save that seat for Senator Cornyn in Texas, pass us through reconciliation. You have hours to go before this recess. Perhaps a good move before Tuesday's elections. And to House Speaker Mike Johnson, you have to give credit where credit's due.

[00:22:11] He was someone who actually stayed out of the Kentucky 4 district race at Galrain, who defeated Thomas Massey, to give Thomas Massey that due diligence as an incumbent. Washington will always put that incumbent favor first in many cases. This was the will of the American people. They want this legislation passed. And it's important for House Republicans who did their job to tell their Senate colleagues as well, get that across the finish line and let's get this done before Memorial Day.

[00:22:41] And Hayden. Yeah, I couldn't add to Robert. He'd absolutely nail it. All I would say is let's remember, too, these men have long records. Kent Paxton was battling the woke agenda and pushing America first policies on the border. Right. And after the 2020 election bonanza, he was pushing all of those things against the Biden administration for years while his opponent, Cornyn, was basically bending over and doing whatever the left said.

[00:23:09] I mean, clearly you have a long track record of success and defeat. I just I know which one I want to win. You know, I think that the senators don't understand something. And I I don't think that they are in touch with what we Americans are feeling throughout the entire throughout the entire country. We have we so and so much of this came to light from 2020 till till 2024.

[00:23:35] We saw what's happening firsthand in our school system to our children across the entire country before 2020. And the lockdowns, which never should have happened in the first place. But the lockdowns happen. Kids went home. Classrooms happen on the kitchen table and in the children's bedrooms. And we heard what was happening in the classrooms. And we realized it wasn't just our children in one off with a counselor at their school or one one teacher in one classroom.

[00:24:05] It was happening in every single classroom across the entire country. They were pushing an agenda that promoted racism, that promoted sexism, that didn't that that favored DEI over education. It was indoctrinating our children rather than educating our children. And we're just sick of it. We love our children and we want people who are willing to go to Washington, D.C.

[00:24:33] to fight for us, to fight for the Americans, put America first and make sure that we are leaving a better country for our children and our grandchildren. That's what President Trump is doing. When you look at what he just did in Cuba, what he's doing in Iran, what he's doing in China, what he's doing, what he did in Venezuela, he is looking out for America around the entire world.

[00:24:56] He is doing the exact same thing with with the things like he just did this morning with a press conference saying that he's changing refrigerants that grocery stores use because the prices are sky high right now because of crazy regulations from the EPA that he pointed out. Don't even keep our drinks cold. And I don't know about you guys, but how many times have you been to a grocery store lately and seen that you go to get a gallon of milk and it's barely warmer than than room temperature?

[00:25:25] You don't want milk that's going to spoil before you even get home. He's looking out for us. He's fighting every single battle that he possibly can. Kim Paxton has been fighting battle after battle after battle on behalf of the Texans, on behalf of Texans for years. People want that kind of spirit in the Senate and in the House and Murkowski and Collins and McConnell and Tillis, all of them.

[00:25:50] If they would just go listen to what their voters want and advocate for them with the same kind of passion that President Trump does rather than advocating for the whatever Key Street wants, we wouldn't even have to have this conversation. OK, I'm going to pause. I hop off my soapbox, go to my call to action and a quick promo. So here's a call to action. It's the same thing we've been saying all week. You need to call your congressman.

[00:26:19] The Senate is so frustrating right now. So we have to call our congressman. The number to call is on the screen. It's 202-224-3121. 202-224-3121. That is the Capitol switchboard. Tell your congressman to join President Trump's call to attach the Save America Act to every single bill the House moves until it's passed into law. President Trump has called for a couple pieces of legislation.

[00:26:48] We're kind of upping the ante here. Attach it to everything and just keep sending it to the Senate. Make the Senate reject voter ID and only American citizens voting. Make the Democrats have to defend that ludicrous, insane position that doesn't even make common sense. The House has passed it three times already. We appreciate the fact that they've done it, and we're just asking them to do it one more time.

[00:27:16] Now, while you're on the phone call with your congressman, go ahead and tell your congressman to stop the so-called Dignity Act. We all know that the so-called Dignity Act is amnesty. No amnesty, not now, not ever. And then the other thing to do is to call on President Trump and thank President Trump. The best way to thank him is to do so on social media or to use the form at whitehouse.gov forward slash contact.

[00:27:45] What you want to say on social media or if you fill out that form at whitehouse.gov forward slash contact is thank him for saying—for advocating for the Save America Act, for urging the House to attach it to other pieces of legislation, and urge President Trump to veto bills if it doesn't have the Save America Act in it. I think that that is one of the other things he could do to kind of up the ante and put more pressure on the Senate.

[00:28:13] He is advocating for us and fighting for us. He needs to know that we appreciate that, and we want him to keep doing so. All right, we're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back.

[00:28:25] Senator Ron Johnson went on the record calling Senate Majority Leader Thune to step up.

[00:29:33] Let's watch this clip of Senator Johnson. Stop allowing the Democrats and the minority to run the Senate, to destroy this country. And that's why I reluctantly have called to end the filibuster. The Senate is broken. There's not much left the filibuster anyway. A lot of my Republican colleagues just refuse to vote to give Democrats the tool that they're going to take anyway. That's the reality of the situation. When they have the power, they'll end the filibuster.

[00:30:00] They'll complete their goal of turning America into one-party nation. Puerto Rico, D.C., into states. This packed Supreme Court, nationalized their elections. So that's the path we're on. I want to prevent that by passing good legislation to secure our election. That means we have to end the filibuster. We don't have the votes right now in the Republican conference to do that, though. Robert, in plain English, what is Senator Johnson asking Senator Thune to do that he has not done already?

[00:30:26] Enact the mandate that was passed by the American people in November of 2024. Actually listen to their constituents. And that's what's so exciting about what the Supreme Court did just a couple of weeks ago, to defend that 14th Amendment, that congressmen might actually have to get to know their districts, and that these districts won't be gerrymattered in a sense solely based on race. But in addition to that, it's that uniparty. It's that deep state.

[00:30:56] It's the insiders on K Street who refuse to listen to Main Street. And I just want to thank the Badger State's very own Senator Ron Johnson for always being on the right side of history and actually advocating for his constituents and listening to those as he's in a very purple state. But regardless, red or blue, whatever it might be, you should be listening to those who sent you to Washington, D.C.

[00:31:21] How many times do these politicians forget that it's us, the citizens, that actually elect them? And we're their bosses, not the other way around. Hayden, your sister organization, Restoration of America, has been pushing for the Save America Act and has done ads about it. If the Save America Act does not pass before the midterms this year, what do you think happens?

[00:31:44] And what do you think is the best path to ensure only American citizens are voting in November? You know, that's a great question. And I'm very torn on the filibuster because I can easily see how it would be used against us. So I would urge caution on that. However, that's not the only path to getting back to photo ID and ensuring only citizens vote. Jenny Beth, I know you know this topic very well.

[00:32:10] In the last few years, there has been a wave of only citizen-only voting constitutional amendments that have passed. And I believe the number is about 22 to 25 states. This includes bright blue Colorado, where even Democrat voters turned out to overwhelmingly pass an amendment to their constitution that clarifies non-citizens will never, ever, ever be allowed to vote in any election,

[00:32:37] from municipal elections all the way to president of the United States. Now, that doesn't solve all the problems. Remember that one of the key parts of the Save America Act is allowing the Department of Homeland Security to audit voter rolls from these states, like blue states that simply don't do the job in, say, Illinois or New York or California. But we're getting closer to ensuring that illegal aliens are never allowed to vote. There's still a long way to go. And I'm very disappointed the Senate hasn't pushed this thing through.

[00:33:05] So we've got to keep fighting on this thing. And I'm glad the work that Tea Party Patriots Action is putting forward on this. Well, thank you very much. And one more time, here's a reminder. Call your congressman right now, 202-224-3121. 202-224-3121. If you're watching this on X or YouTube or Rumble, you can just push pause and make this phone call and then come right back to us. That number is a capital switchboard.

[00:33:33] Tell your member of Congress to attach the Save America Act to every bill the House passes. Thank them for already passing it three times. Tell them we know they are doing their job, but we need them to help us put pressure on the Senate. So attach it to every bill the House passes. And then on social media, thank President Trump for standing up for the Save America Act and urge him to veto legislation that does not have the Save America Act attached to it.

[00:34:03] And you can tag President Trump and the White House as you post that on social media. You can post it on X, on True Social, on Rumble, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. Post it everywhere that you are active on social media. OK, let's shift gears just a little bit. But we've talked a lot on this show about the Supreme Court decision, Louisiana versus Calais. It's proving to be a landmark ruling upholding the integrity of the 14th Amendment.

[00:34:33] But Washington Democrats are crying a foul and blaming it on gerrymandered maps around the country. And they're just totally freaking out about it. That ruling is going to change the redistricting map for the next decade. And Hayden has written an op-ed about this.

[00:34:54] Well, actually, your CEO, Doug Truax, wrote an op-ed about it, arguing that the Supreme Court just ended 60 years of affirmative action. And I don't know that it's really ending 60 years of affirmative action, but ending this, the current racist gerrymandering that is now happening. That it's not gerrymandering, but districting. They are looking at, have been looking at race as they make congressional districts.

[00:35:24] And that no longer is going to be happening. So, Hayden, walk us through what it actually does and how it affects redistricting. So, Louisiana and the Supreme Court just gave the green light to create a permanent MAGA majority in the House. And let me explain why. If you go all the way back to the housing days, the 1960s with free love and marijuana in the air, the 1965 Voting Rights Act created this really weird tension.

[00:35:50] It said that when states draw their congressional maps every 10 years after the census, they have to make race a huge part of that. But they also can't make race the number one criterion they use to draw those maps. That's obviously a massive tension. We've lived with that tension for 61 years until a month ago the Supreme Court finally abolished that. And why? Well, it created what we call a majority-minority House district.

[00:36:16] There are 144 of these majority-minority House districts. And they're basically districts drawn to guarantee a usually Black or Hispanic Democrat wins that House seat. Now, I call that, jokingly, affirmative action for Democrat congressmen because there's 34 House seats drawn in Republican states like Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and many, many more that Republican legislatures have to draw to guarantee a Democrat wins.

[00:36:44] That's been the interpretation of that 1965 Voting Rights Act for an entire generation. And what the Supreme Court just found is that violates the Constitution because you're not applying the law equally to all U.S. citizens. You're basically trying to draw a map that elects a congressman according to their preferred skin color. Obviously, that's not fair. It's not right. And they've done away with that. Now, go back to the significance of this.

[00:37:10] This frees up 34 House seats currently held by Democrats like Jim Clyburn in South Carolina that now red states can redraw to be competitive for Republicans for the first time in 61 years. That's why it's such a massive, massive opportunity. I cannot overstate.

[00:37:29] That's pretty remarkable, the way that you just said that, Hayden, that it is 34 House seats that could be redrawn in a way they haven't been able to be for 61 years. Justice Thomas, Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote in his concurring opinion that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not regulate redistricting at all. He called the prior precedents an act of cowardice.

[00:37:55] What do you think that that means exactly, and why is that so important to highlight from him? Well, you know, if you look at it, in the 1960s, they passed a lot of these changes on how states can draw their congressional maps. I remember gerrymandering is just drawing maps that your opponent dislikes, right? So they tried to pass all of these during the civil rights era, mostly governing red states in the South under the idea that these states cannot be trusted amid Jim Crow laws to draw their borders the proper way.

[00:38:25] Well, the Supreme Court said multiple times in the intervening years in various cases, as recently as the 1980s, 1990s, that soon we won't need to have these 1960s Jim Crow era laws to govern how red states in the South draw their maps. And basically what the Supreme Court just said is we've been misinterpreting that 1965 law for twice the time I've been on planet Earth. We no longer need that. We don't live in 1965 anymore.

[00:38:53] We can draw fair and equitable maps where Democrats actually have to compete. Now, this is why Democrats are freaking out, because for the first time ever, ever, they have to defend 34 seats that were just a given that they'd win in double digits. That's money they have to spend. They can't spend in purple states like Wisconsin and Nevada and Arizona because they've got to go fight in South Carolina and Texas. I cannot tell you what a massive victory this is, and it won't happen overnight.

[00:39:22] But over 10 to 20 years, you were looking at the creation of a permanent majority of Republicans, MAGA Republicans, if we win all those seats. I think that's, you know, what I've heard, Hayden, that is what you're talking about is a little bit different than the way I've heard reaction on it before. I've heard everyone reacting about it, and I've heard them talk about the current redistricting that's happening, like what we've seen in Tennessee and Louisiana,

[00:39:52] and maybe we're seeing in South Carolina. Georgia is going to have a special session. It will affect 2028. But this is going to make a real difference when we have the census in 2030, right? Like you're talking about beyond just the immediate future right here in elections this year and in two years from now. But a huge shift in the way districting happens after the next census. Yeah, that's absolutely right.

[00:40:20] So everybody knows the census happens every 10 years. The Constitution requires that. In the 2010 and 2020 censuses, Democrat states like California and Illinois lost 17 House seats to red states and a couple purple states in there too. 17 states is a lot considering we currently only have a five-seat majority in the House. Well, projections say that after 2030 in that census, Democrat states are going to lose an additional 11 House seats.

[00:40:47] Now, 34 plus 11, you're looking at a 45-seat swing in both directions. Every time you add a red seat, you lose a blue seat. At the same time, you have all of these Republican states that have realized they can redraw their maps right now without waiting for the next census. That decision alone is going to net Republicans plus eight Republican seats just right now in the 2026 midterms. And we even begin to fight.

[00:41:14] There's another eight seats that we could lock up in states like South Carolina, Indiana, Nebraska. Frankly, if the Republicans there grew a spine. Yeah, I think that's very, very important. I'm so glad that you're thinking of it in this way. And yeah, we do need Republicans to have a spine. That's what we were just talking about. We want them to fight the way President Trump fights for us. We want them all to be fighting like that.

[00:41:42] And we feel like we're fighting like that. We're on the front lines as activists doing the same thing. And we have to engage in this kind of debate when we're going about our lives every day right now. And we just want our politicians to care as much and to show us they care as much as we care. He didn't.

[00:42:03] The Democrats actually spent over $200 million on the gerrymandering efforts in California and in Virginia, over $200 million combined. I think it was over $125 million in California and $64 million in Virginia. So maybe just shy of $200 million.

[00:42:29] Do you think that money is effectively wasted given what happened with Calais and also what happened in the Virginia Supreme Court? I think it's the only thing they could have done. So there's two different things going on. How you draw the maps with these majority-minority districts is what Louisiana v. Calais just solved. And that's a bit of a longer-term thing. At the same time, Texas had its own lawsuit called Abbott v. LULAC. LULAC is an acronym for a Latino get-out-the-vote group on the left.

[00:42:59] The Supreme Court greenlit that two days before the Louisiana case. And all that that did is said states, if their constitutions permit, may redraw their congressional maps before the next census. In other words, don't wait five more years. You could do it right now. Texas squeezed out five more seats. A number of red states followed. That added 13 Republican-leaning seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. Now, Democrats looked at that and they said, well, let's fight back, only to lose everywhere.

[00:43:28] And the number one reason they lost in states like New York, for instance, is because of those states' independent redistricting commissions, which actually draw those maps. Said commissions, by the way, were passed years ago by Democrats spending heaps of money because they said it was the cure for gerrymandering. So the only places they succeeded at first were California and Virginia, where I was born and now live. So maybe I'm the problem here. But look at all the money they spent.

[00:43:55] They lost in Virginia after spending, yes, $65 to $70 million because they rushed the process and violated our state's constitution. This is something any attorney who lives in the state could have told you. They blew $65 million only to loss basically on a technicality. And the best part is our DEI Attorney General, Regin J. Jones, filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, misspelled Virginia, and then filed in the wrong court.

[00:44:24] So these guys are not operating on all gears here. They only succeeded in California, and that nets them five more seats. If you do all of this complicated math, Republicans are still out ahead eight more House seats going into November. Yeah, and they misspelled—they also misspelled Senator in that same brief. They didn't—they were not doing spellcheck at all in that. Robert, we have Calais.

[00:44:52] We have the 2030 census projections. There's the Save America Act fight happening right now. Republicans hold so many cards. What's the biggest single way they could blow it as we head into November? Well, let's remember as well, all of New England virtually gerrymandered, so the Democrats should be happy with the current maps. But I digress, too.

[00:45:14] The Republican Party must go out there and enact what I've been saying the entire show, the 2024 mandate of MAGA and America first. Be not afraid of instituting those values in their respective bodies in the House chamber or the Senate.

[00:45:32] But the true legacy of this Trump administration, beyond everything else in putting this country first, especially with our friends and foes abroad, has been right here for Article III, the judicial branch of government in America. With the three appointment of the justices to the Supreme Court to countless hundreds of federal judges, God was watching out for us. There's no question about that.

[00:45:58] And that Clarence Thomas' originalist textual context of the Constitution, in other words, conservative jurisprudence, something that was not necessarily very popular in the late 80s, early 90s, when Clarence was nominated by Bush 41 to be on the court. But now has become really something common, whether it be in the Supreme Court or through federal courts across our land.

[00:46:27] OK, let's shift gears just a little bit. We're getting close to the end of our time. And I want to go through several more stories and articles that Restoration News has been covering. I hate in. So this is a little bit more of a lightning round because there are four different pieces and we don't have a lot of time time to go through it. The first one is a piece of restoration dash news dot com published. And I think I got that right.

[00:46:53] I'm remembering it off the top of my head that it published a piece asking why Trump broke with Biden on everything. It's a one issue involving the abortion drug. Explain what what is happening in this. Yeah, here's the lightning answer. So the abortion pill is the rising solution to big abortions problems after the Dobbs decision, which, of course, overturned Roe v. Wade four years ago. What you need to know is this.

[00:47:22] The abortion pill allows women to do at home abortions. It's monstrous, but it's also very dangerous. More than one in 10 women who ingest this pill will suffer sepsis, go to the emergency room or even die. Now, Restoration of America Foundation, my colleagues over there, produced study after study urging the FDA, which governs this important drug, to return to its original safeguards that they had under the first Trump administration.

[00:47:51] Those safeguards were overturned by Joe Biden in December 2020, 2021, during COVID to allow women to buy this perilous drug through the mail. All we want to see is that they have to go to a doctor and have a physician's supervision. So we're putting pressure on the Trump administration right now, which unfortunately finds itself in the weird position of defending the Biden administration's policy from five years ago in court right now.

[00:48:18] We want to see a victory for pro-life because, frankly, abortion has skyrocketed to 1.1 million abortions a year. That's higher than it was when Roe v. Wade was the law of the land. I want to see America's most pro-life president do what his Christian base voted him to do, and I think he can do that. He already has the power to do that. He just needs to have the courage and the will to see it through. Absolutely.

[00:48:44] And I know that the activists in the pro-life community really want to see the president take action on this. OK, the next piece is that Secretary Hegseth just restored the right of off-duty service members to carry firearms on base. So, Hayden, explain what that's about. And then, Robert, I want to get your reaction to it as well. So, Hayden, first. This is the craziest story you've never heard.

[00:49:10] For 30 years, beginning with the Clinton administration, American servicemen who are otherwise qualified to kill America's enemies are not allowed to carry weapons on their own bases here in the homeland. And obviously, you remember things like Fort Hood. There's been a number of instances where active shooters have found their way on U.S. military bases. And look, the statistics don't lie.

[00:49:31] The FBI's own crime data says that more than half, 52 percent of all active shooters are stopped by Americans using their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm. Well, Secretary of Hegseth just reversed this 30-year-old mistake. And now our servicemen, God bless them, are allowed to carry their weapons on their own U.S. bases. And Robert, yeah, go ahead. As Peter Roskam used to say in Congress, the proof is in the pudding. To Hayden's point, this is common sense.

[00:49:59] These are people who know and are trained to use these weapons but also should be able to defend themselves as they're the finest in American society. Here's the big problem about mass shootings in America. Whatever the count may be, they usually end within that span of five minutes. Now, what's the response time on average by a police department in America? About five to ten minutes, usually hovering around that six to seven on average. So a huge loss of life can happen in that time.

[00:50:28] American citizens have that Second Amendment, especially our military should. And this is common sense. So thank you to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his team for reinstating this. Yeah, I think that if we trust them to carry weapons at war and we are training them on how to use them, we need to be able to trust them to have it on the base. And it just seems like common sense to me.

[00:50:54] Hayden, you also covered that North Carolina now—that North Carolina proves school choices already won. What is going on in North Carolina and how is that a model for the rest of the country? Well, COVID unleashed a revolution in Americans' parents finally paying attention to what their kids are learning in schools. This is an old story. We've all heard this before. Well, charter schools—we honed in on just North Carolina, which is a very education-friendly state.

[00:51:22] In 2025, it passed a Parents' Bill of Rights, which basically defeats the Trans Agenda's attempt to mutilate your children. But one of the victories we saw is in the years just before COVID, up to right now, the number of students enrolled in charter schools in North Carolina has gone up 50 percent, 5-0 percent. And the result is education is finally being taken seriously.

[00:51:46] And this includes, by the way, schools that have had to shut down that are charter schools that haven't met their own criteria here. So there's a level of accountability that we're finally, finally seeing for the first time ever in American education. And, of course, it's starting in red states. Of course it is. And then the last one, New York City Mayor Mondani is pushing rent control. And Restoration-News.com calls it a mirage. Explain why does rent control always fail?

[00:52:15] Well, I don't have to tell you that socialism always fails. It's not going to work this time. This is one of the things that Mondani ran on, that and nationalizing grocery stores. Well, this has been done before. I mean, New York City has had rent control. But most recently, the city of San Francisco, about a decade ago, put its own rent controls in. Now, if you think about it, Manhattan and San Francisco both have geographical problems, water on three or four sides. That means the prices have naturally gone up. Why? Because we're looking at a 4 million housing unit shortage nationwide.

[00:52:45] That's true in both California and New York. Well, when San Francisco put its own rent control prices to stop the increase in rents, the opposite happened. Rents went up 5 percent across the board. And the number of housing units for rent went down 15 percent. So, look, I think the real winner here is actually New Jersey because New Jersey is going to vote red the way that Mondani socialism is sending New York City into a spiral.

[00:53:13] And I only hope that Republicans can take advantage of this in the midterms and then again in 2028 when AOC and Gavin Newsom are running for president on the Democrat ticket and remind them, you have to live with the consequences of your own actions. Yes, that is. It is so true. You do have to live with the consequences of your own actions. And I think there are too many people in this country who did not learn the lesson that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

[00:53:40] Socialism and Marxism always promise a free lunch, but it isn't free. It never works out the way that they say that it is going to. OK, Hayden, explain to our audience, especially anyone who's watching and hasn't seen you or others from Restoration News before on the show. What is Restoration News? Talk about the new magazine, Independence Magazine. How can they sign up for for both news updates and also the magazine?

[00:54:08] You can sign up at restoration-news.com. Look, if you haven't heard of us, we are doing investigative journalism for the America First movement. We are a team of diggers and writers and researchers who share your worldview, your Christian conservative free market worldview. And we are battling the left on absolutely every issue we've talked about today and about 10 dozen more. So check out restoration-news.com.

[00:54:33] We've compiled the best of our analysis and commentary in a quarterly magazine called Independence Magazine, named, of course, to celebrate our 250th national anniversary. The next issue is coming out in the next couple of weeks. This is your last chance to sign up for the next issue. You do not want to miss it. I promise you it's the coolest magazine you have ever read. And I don't just say that because I wrote it. Last thing is I'm the host of Restoration Spotlight podcast. You can find our episodes out every week at restoration-news or on Rumble or on YouTube.

[00:55:03] Thank you so much. Well, Hayden Ludwig, thank you very much. And Robert McNeely, thank you. You're both doing such important work and I'm grateful you are here today. Thank you. All right. Before I close, I want to give our call to action one more time and then I'm going to end with a little bit about President Trump's commencement speech yesterday. So remember, you need to call your congressman. The number is on the screen right now. Call 202-224-3121.

[00:55:31] 202-224-3121. That's the Capitol switchboard. Tell your congressman to attach the Save America Act to every single bill it passes until it becomes law of the land. Let's make sure that the House of Representatives knows we appreciate that they've already passed it as standalone legislation. And we are asking them now to attach it to other bills.

[00:55:55] And while you've got them on the phone, tell them no so-called Dignity Act, no amnesty, not now, not ever. And then go to social media and post on social media tagging the president and the White House and thank the president for fighting for the Save America Act and urge him to veto legislation unless it has the Save America Act attached to it.

[00:56:20] You can also go to whitehouse.gov forward slash contact, whitehouse.gov forward slash contact to leave that message with the White House. And if you need more information, you can go to passtheSaveAmericaAct.com. PasstheSaveAmericaAct.com. All right. Before you go, I want to leave you with this. Yesterday, President Trump spoke at the Coast Guard commencement speech.

[00:56:49] And here is our commander in chief speaking to the graduating class of the United States Coast Guard. Quitting, never giving up is a big deal. You'll be right there, right at the gate. And you've seen it. You've seen it in sports. You've seen it. They're right there at the gate and they give up. Never give up. And whatever happens, no matter where you are in life or what situation you find yourself in, in the seas or anywhere else that you may be, keep pushing forward. Always push forward. Never stop.

[00:57:19] Pushing forward. No matter how terrible the storm, no matter how difficult the mission, never surrender. Keep going. Keep fighting. And make the adversary quit first. Let them quit. They're going to quit if you keep going. Isn't that what we were just talking about? We want the Senate not to give up on the Save America Act. We want Congress not to give up. And it's not just that. We want President Trump's agenda passed into law at every single term.

[00:57:49] I know sometimes it's frustrating for you because we don't get the results we want. But we need to do what President Trump was just saying right then. Never surrender. Never give up. Of course, he said it to the graduating class of the Coast Guard. But I think that it is true for all of us every single day. We need to call our congressmen. We need to keep signing those petitions. Post on social media. Everyone watching this show and wondering if you're making a difference, it absolutely does.

[00:58:17] Never, ever, ever give up. And here's one more clip from that commencement speech. Keep your eyes in the boat. You want to have your eyes in the boat. You know what that expression means better than anybody. Do not be distracted by what's outside. You just want to look back and you want to just see what's happening. But keep your eyes in the boat, a Coast Guard expression. Focus on the task before you and move forward. Always, always move forward. Never move back.

[00:58:49] Keep your eyes on the boat. Do not look at the waves. Do not look at what the media is saying. Do not look at the polls or the pessimists or anyone else who is trying to discourage you. Keep your eyes on the boat. Keep your eyes on the goal and keep going forward. And now here's something a little lighthearted. We're going to run this clip that he said that's a little bit lighter. We also have the only cadet who earned a perfect score on every single fitness test. Now we're talking fitness.

[00:59:19] Do you know who this is already? Wow, this guy must be something. I think we'll have to invite him up. I want to check it out. For the last four straight years, which they think may be an all-time record, congratulations to Thomas Roach. Thomas, get up here, please. I want to see. I want to check him out. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Oh, he's—we're not going to fight with him. I'm not fighting him. I'm not—this is not UFC.

[00:59:49] Please understand that, Thomas. Look at this guy. Look at the muscles on this guy. He's a wrestler, too. Just hit him on the shoulder. I hurt my hand. It's like hitting a rock. It's like hitting a rock. I love—I just love the way President Trump, in his speeches, he goes off teleprompter.

[01:00:18] He just—he's real. And he tells what's on his mind, and he does things completely unexpected. I love that moment because it is just so, so what we have come to expect from President Trump. All right. If you want to go deeper on the Calais redistricting, we just did an episode with Jay Christian Adams. It's essential viewing. You can watch it right here. We'll have the link below, or you can click through if you're watching on YouTube. I'm Jenny Beth Martin. Thank you so much for being here. We will see you tomorrow. And remember, never surrender.

[01:00:47] Keep your eyes on the boat. If you enjoyed today's conversation, go ahead and hit like and subscribe. It really helps us reach more people who care about liberty and the Constitution. You can find this and other episodes at JennyBethShow.com, as well as Facebook, YouTube, Rumble, Instagram, X, and your favorite podcast platform. The Jenny Beth Show is hosted by Jenny Beth Martin. The Jenny Beth Show is a production of Tea Party Patriots Action.

[01:01:15] For more information, visit TeaPartyPatriots.org.