By Billy Cunningham, the Great American of course, tonight, starting at nine
oh one Eastern time. It'll be a unique presentation. I've looked back in
American history the last time there was a sitting president debating a previous president.
It might have happened in nineteen twelve when tr of the Bull Moose Party was
running against William Howard Taft from Cincinnati against Woodrow Wilson. But I don't think
in nineteen twelve there are any debates going on, so this might be the
first debate of its kind. Joan, you and I now is Lauren Tomlinson.
She's a Republican strategist who worked in the Trump administration. And Lauren Tomlinson,
welcome to the Bill Cunningham Show. And Lauren from the Democrat and or
Republican position, what does in your view that Trump needs to do tonight and
what does Joe Biden need to do? If anything? So Trump tonight,
We're looking for him to be more disciplined version of himself, for him to
stay on message and make sure to pivot to the issues that voters currently care
about to stay in the future. You know, this is a unique time
in which the economy is top of mind for voters. Inflation is still super
high. It's keeping those interest rates high, which is preventing people from buying
home. Lots of trickle down effects there that are affecting people's everyday lives.
And by talking about that and making the nostalgia about the economy as it was
under Trump, he can have a really successful night. For Joe Biden,
what he's looking at is how do I remind people of what they didn't like
about Trump in twenty twenty, the reason why I want in twenty twenty,
the chaos, the drama, the unscripted moments, and the Twitter rants.
How can I remind people constantly that he isn't presidential. So for Trump,
as long as he can maintain the focus on the future, not get dragged
into personal grievances, and make sure that he doesn't take debate on revisiting the
pass, which Joe Biden will continuously try to do, he should have a
good night. Let's talk about the two moderators. And I would like to
think Donald Trump did not receive good advice on this one. But Jake Tapper
worked for many years as a Democratic staffer on the Hill. Some of the
comments he's made about Trump being Adolph Hitler, and in twenty twenty, Jake
Tapper CNN said the long national nightmare is over and Dana Bash has a long
history of anti Trump rans and raves on air. Couldn't the Trumpster? I
guess he didn't have a choice of having someone from Fox News or Breitbart or
Newsmax from talk radio come on, and didn't he kind of lose the It's
not a debate so much as a forum because they're not going to debate each
other. But isn't it a problem when CNN picks the moderator so to speak,
and all the parameters of the debate. Was that a mistake? I
think it's interesting that both campaigns agreed to go outside of the non partisan by
partisan presidential debate for him, so or commissioned because with the commission you get
things like that, You get to negotiate the host, you can bring in
people from other networks, you can ensure more of a balance moderator panel.
Since they decided to work directly with the network, you're kind of limited in
the talent pool. So he could have maybe, you know, he maybe
could have pushed for Chris Wallace, who is now a c and an anchor
who's formally a Fox News to be there with him. But either way,
it wasn't going to be a favorable outcome for Trump in that regard. Now
on the flip side, in September, there's going to be another debate that
you know, the Biden campaign will say that the that the moderators are unfriendly
towards him, so at least it's balanced in that set. But for this,
for this debate, because they chose to go with the network, there
really wasn't a lot of negotiating from of who they were going to get.
The one positive though, I will say about Jake Tapper, he has been
very vocal about the Israel Hamas war and anti Semitism in this country currently,
and so I think that that could actually play to Trump's favor, reminding people
how weak Biden has been on this issue, how he hasn't been standing with
our ally, how he hasn't been standing up for Jews in this country,
And so Trump can focus on the positive there, then he could also make
a really strong foreign policy point with a sympathetic moderator. And the other thing,
Lauren, is that Trump is the only president in American history that has
Jewish grandchildren, and the idea that somehow Trump's going to be an isomitic would
be a joke. And is this a debate? Isn't it more or less?
The format? There's no pros, there's muted microphones, there's two commercial
breaks, I guess potty breaks, there's no studio audience. And instead of
going back and forth, CNN as they're hand on the mute button. And
I watched yesterday the sound coming out of the out of the podium with a
mute button on, and you couldn't hear anything it was being said. And
so isn't it isn't all the fourmats? I say, Trump's playing an away
game and Biden has picked the officials and are paying them, And is this
a debate when the parties can't go at each other? You know, it's
funny because the muting of the mic makes it less of a debate one hundred
percent. But they will be allowing the candidates to address the at least do
rebuttals. But I'm sure you've seen this as well. But at least with
my work with congressional candidates, almost every local election has TV debate in a
similar format, So you walk in the studio, it's kind of awkward because
there's no audience. You get two guests and you get to debate each other,
and so congressional candidates are kind of very used to this format, and
it's a little awkward not having the audience feedback when you land those singers and
not being able to play off of the crowd, But it also can be
beneficial in that part of the goal of a debate from a campaign communications perspective
is to make sure that you are reaching those secondary audiences. So here we
are. We're in the middle of June, almost July fourth holiday. People
are with their kids, they're preparing for Fourth of July barbecues, they're not
really paying attention. This is it's very early, you know historically for us
to be having these debates. They're not tuned in. And we know from
the polling that this is going to be a very tight race. So there's
basically ten percent of persuadable voters out there that will make the difference in this
race. So those ten percent are probably not watching the debates tonight, and
it's going to be really important, and the studio provides this opportunity. I
think if you have this goal in mind to make sure that you get a
good clip of your message and then push it via paid advertising and social media
after the fact. So the spin room and the campaign apparatus will be really
important because these messages and the effects of this debate won't be seen for weeks,
because the campaigns will be actively pushing moments for weeks to come to voters
who aren't paying attention. And I think that's going to be the opportunity here
where it won't feel like a normal debate like we've seen previously because of the
cross talk that you've talked about in the limits there. But it does provide
a real opportunity for the candidates to have those viral moments and make a campaign
ad and make a difference for some of those persuadable voters. It's only a
prediction, but I would think that come September, if Joe Biden is still
denominated the Democrat Party and I got hot fudgs Son, he bets all over
saying that he's not going to be the nominee of the Democrat Party, they
can't be that stupid to put him back up again. But nonetheless, if
he is and Trump's up five or six percentage points, Trump's gonna not want
to debate Biden. If, on the other hand, Biden stumbles through tonight
and doesn't mumble, stumble and fumble too much and have a senior moment,
a Mitch McConnell moment, and just stare into space, and if Biden comes
out of that in the media declares him to be the winner, which they
want to do. That case comes September. If Trump's up, he's not
gonna want a debate, and if Biden's up, if he's still the nominee,
he's not going to want a debate. And either way, I think
that's why this is more significance. But you're right, I don't think a
core Democratic voter is going to say, man, that was a bad performance
by Joe Biden. I'm gonna vote for Donald Trump. And I can't imagine
Ohio and a Kentuckian or a Hoosier but being a Trump supporter saying, you
know what, the trump'ster didn't do that, well, I think I'm gonna
vote for Joe Biden. And so it's hardened already as to you're gonna,
as you say, go to the five to ten percent cent of occasional voter,
and that they're going to decide the election and they may not be watching
it all because they don't pay attention to politics until October. And secondly,
I would say this that the Trumpster has Are you better off today than you
were four years ago? Inflations up about twenty percent, you have a duke,
Energy bills up about thirty percent, real estate taxes are through the roof,
Mortgage interest rates are about seven to eight percent. Gasoline has almost doubled
in price since twenty nineteen. Everything that should be up is down. Everything
that should be down is up. And all the Trumpster has to do is
point out the obvious and stay away from personal attacks. Ignore what happened on
January the sixth, move on from that, and uh, don't go after
Hunter Biden very hard because everyone knows his situation. Uh, and move on.
So, if you were gonna whisper in Donald Trump's here before before he
takes the stage at eight fifty five pm, what would Lauren Tomlinson say to
the Trumpster? I would say, stay calm. Remember your pivots don't act
like in the first debate, act like in the second debate. In twenty
joint exactly the second debate of twenty twenty and and like you were saying,
pivot, pivot, pivot, you know, every time that they want to
talk about something else, bring it back to the economy, bring it back
to inflation, bring it back to crime and immigration, because those are the
issues that people care about right now because they're affecting their lives. And if
you can keep reminding people of where they are right now and what you can
do to fix that, it's going to be very impactful. Because voters don't
care about the personal grievances and the politics and the personalities. They know these
guys, it's one hundred percent. Name might be they both have first term
presidencies under their belts. What they do care about is do you understand what
I'm going through right now and what I'm seeing? Because it doesn't feel that
way Lauren that Oh no, I was just gonna say. The person they
can reflect that will win. Lauren Tomlinson, you're like a woman and geop
strategistan, you're not a birthing people. You're like a woman. And I'm
watching Fox News right now. They have a list of all the crimes,
the vicious rapes and the torture that illegal aliens have put women through inside this
country, and the murder migrant gangs from Venezuela that are burglarizing homes, large
number of migrants if smuggled guns and New York City shelters, that the rapes
of so many women in the South, especially at the hands of legal migrants,
wouldn't that be a good ploy for the Donald to route off the names
of five or six women who were raped, tortured, and murdered at the
hands of the illegal immigrants that Joe Biden brought into this country one hundred percent.
And I think also tying that back towards the larger issue of there's a
reason why we have immigration laws and why our order is unsecure, is a
threat to national security. I mean, a lot of these laws are put
in place because of nine to eleven right in the terrorist attacks and the we
need to know who and what we're coming into our country. There was just
a report that four hundred ISIS linked migrants are at large in the country right
now because they came through the southern border, and so it's a it's not
just uh, you know, the horrible crimes that are happening at the communities,
which people are very upset about, and rightfully so, there's a broader
national security argument to be made there, and Democrats have denied that this is
happening for years. I mean even when I was working in the administration,
we knew that people with affiliations to ISIS were trying to enter the country or
coming into the country. They very much view transnational criminal organizations know that that's
the way to get in, and we have to know who is coming in
from a safety perspective. And so you know, even the Biden's going to
be taling his recent measures to women asylum claims and how that's dropped the numbers
at the border. But unfortunately, two thousand people coming in illegally is still
too much, right if you limit it per day, it's not enough,
right, Like you have to change the policies there. So I think as
long as Trump can make sure to tie it to broader national security and make
sure to connect to people that this is a big threat. I think he
went there lastly about a minute remaining. I see that ron Klain and Susan
Rice and others. They've taken Biden away from his job as the president for
a week to get ready. I think you'll overload many people that are mentally
not up to snuff by putting too many facts in their head. They can't
rattle them off sufficiently. From a national perspective, I have this thought that
democratic operatives that run the executive branch of government, not Joe Biden, wanted
this debate early, unpresidented, so that if he does particularly bad, there's
six weeks between now and the middle of August and Chicago to substitute out either
Michelle Obama or Newsome or god forbid, Kamala Harris to be the nominee.
Is there a thought this is Joe Biden's last chance to prove that he's mentally
alert. I think that there's there. I hear that rumor that this gives
them enough time before the convention to nominate someone else. I think that we
also have a situation in which there is early voting in some states as soon
as September, so we have a much shorter cycle to influence those voters with
the new early voting laws. And then three, I think that there's also
a thought that if Joe Biden stumbles, even if they stick with him as
a nominee. There's so much time between now and November that there can be
enough cleanup to be done, and like you said, they can forego the
second debate. So there's a lot of benefits for the Biden camp for doing
it this early. And number one, I do think it's influenced by the
early voting, and then number two, the ability to switch out before the
convention. Right, Lauren Tomlinson, You're a great American GOP strategist, also
worked in three or four different positions in the Trump administration. The truth will
set us free. I like to think God Almighty's in charge, and I
hope that some light has shined upon Donald Trump tonight. I set a rosary
for him two days ago. I want him to do well, and it's
up to up to him to perform up to snuff. And the country cannot
survive four to ten more years of what's happening on the southern border and what's
happening all around the world. We can't survive this. We can't put up
with another fifty to one hundred million people coming into the country illegally with bad
intentions, and we just can't. We just can't. We can't survive this
is the most important presidential election I think since eighteen sixty and we'll see what
happens. But Lauren Tomlinson, once again, thank you for coming on the
Bill Cunningham Show. And may God bless you and God bless America. Thank
you very much, Thanks for having me. All right, Lauren, thank
you very much. Let's continue with more your thoughts five, one, three,
four, nine, seven thousand plus Reds Baseball begins about six ten tonight
in Saint Louis on the home of your Reds News Radio, seven hundred WLW