Speaker 1: Big picture. What were your takeaways from the president in
Speaker 1: that conversation.
Speaker 2: You know, I think the biggest takeaway Willie to me
Speaker 2: and Jim just alluded to this is that he thinks
Speaker 2: Republican voters are angry and doesn't quite get it. He
Speaker 2: said they're not angry at him, which I think is
Speaker 2: not I think demonstrably not true based on his approval ratings.
Speaker 2: But they think they're angry at congressional Republicans, who of
Speaker 2: course are up for reelection this fall. And I think
Speaker 2: that's an incredibly difficult dynamic for the president. And he
Speaker 2: conceded gas prices could very well go up if he
Speaker 2: hits a run again. What we didn't talk about, because
Speaker 2: it just broke about twenty minutes ago, is that Lisa Murkowski,
Speaker 2: the Republican that he one of the Republicans that he
Speaker 2: has been extraordinarily critical of, and was extraordinarily critical of
Speaker 2: her in our interview. He said she's going to vote
Speaker 2: against rather, she's going to vote against Todd Bland for
Speaker 2: attorney general. He said, she's terrible, and I asked him,
Speaker 2: you know, point playing. I mean, his entire agenda. Willie
Speaker 2: has been hamstrung by the several senators who he has
Speaker 2: either endorsed against or tried to defeat, and he has
Speaker 2: no remorse at all about that, and I thought that
Speaker 2: was a very interesting insight into his psyche.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Murkowski announcing about fifteen minutes ago that she's going
Speaker 3: to be a no on the Blanch nomination, citing everything
Speaker 3: from his anti abortion stances to the Epstein matter to
Speaker 3: the Trump immunity deal. That makes Bill Cassidy a very
Speaker 3: important person today on Capitol Hill because if they lose him,
Speaker 3: then the Blanche nomination is lost. Perhaps why we haven't
Speaker 3: seen that vote scheduled yet, but we'll see what the
Speaker 3: day brings. Jake, to pivot back to your interview with
Speaker 3: the President, you asked him about voter turnout for Republicans
Speaker 3: in the midterms, and I want to play what he
Speaker 3: told you.
Speaker 4: If I don't run, will those people go out and vote?
Speaker 4: And that's the one thing I can I'm going to
Speaker 4: ask him to. But I'm just watching guys like you,
Speaker 4: and you're very talented people. The question is will they
Speaker 4: vote because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans.
Speaker 4: To be honest with you, I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 4: they're angry Republicans, but they're not why they're not angry
Speaker 4: at me, but they are angry at Republicans.
Speaker 3: So he was never going to say, well, they're angry
Speaker 3: at me and Republicans, right, So that was never on
Speaker 3: the table. But I do think it's an interesting thing
Speaker 3: that he's talking to you about there, And I wonder
Speaker 3: if he connects the discontent with Republicans to other members
Speaker 3: of Congress. Maybe not the folks that we're talking about,
Speaker 3: the Lisa Murkowski's, the Susan Collins who have bucked him
Speaker 3: or been thorns in his side at various turns, but
Speaker 3: I wonder. And you tried repeatedly to get him to
Speaker 3: talk about Thun. You describe the relationship in the newsletter
Speaker 3: this morning as complex, but when he's mad, he says
Speaker 3: so when he attaches names to it, And I was
Speaker 3: struck by the fact that he didn't do that with
Speaker 3: Thune necessarily.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I think he understands Ali that Soon holds
Speaker 2: the key to his legislative fortunes. As you know, I
Speaker 2: think that Thune, if he slags him too much, I mean,
Speaker 2: Thune could really strike back and has so far. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's just a very interesting dynamic that all these people
Speaker 2: who he has spoken up against and he has been
Speaker 2: critical of hold the keys to his entire legislative agenda
Speaker 2: to the extent he cares. It's not entirely clear to
Speaker 2: me because on an issue like Blanch, he could have
Speaker 2: Todd Blanch stay in as acting Attorney General for as
Speaker 2: long as he wants, and Joe Biden did that with
Speaker 2: Lisa Sue during his administration and as Labor Secretary when
Speaker 2: she couldn't get confirmed. But he wants Blanche confirmed on
Speaker 2: the first point ally, And I think I think you
Speaker 2: know this better than probably anybody. I mean, Republicans who
Speaker 2: vote for Trump in presidential elections who have are not
Speaker 2: guaranteed to come out and vote for Republicans for Congress.
Speaker 2: That is the story of this Republican party going back
Speaker 2: to twenty sixteen. And I think that is one of
Speaker 2: the things that really is challenging for Trump. And he
Speaker 2: kind of says, listen, I could ask him to go vote,
Speaker 2: doesn't mean they're going to And for Republicans to hear that,
Speaker 2: I think is a quite difficult thing. And I asked him,
Speaker 2: you know, if MAGA Inc. Which is the super pac
Speaker 2: that has four hundred million dollars in the bank. Whether
Speaker 2: it's going to spend for congressional Republicans, Trump said yes,
Speaker 2: but he said I could spend it on anything I want,
Speaker 2: which is technically true within limits. He could spend it
Speaker 2: on other political matters and political travel and things like that.
Speaker 2: But Republicans are probably watching this and they've heard all
Speaker 2: of this from the President before with a sense of fear,
Speaker 2: because if you can't count on that Trump coalition, and
Speaker 2: combine that with the fact that a midterm is really
Speaker 2: tough for the party in power, it spells trouble.
Speaker 1: Jake, I thought you were exchange with the President about
Speaker 1: Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries was fascinating. This is a guy
Speaker 1: who has gone after in personal ways. He's called him
Speaker 1: a thug, a low iq individual. He flowed the idea
Speaker 1: that Jeffrey should be impeached, and now, perhaps seeing what's
Speaker 1: coming in November and who might be the majority leader
Speaker 1: come January, it seems like he's dialed back a little bit.
Speaker 5: Let's look, you've had a meeting with Hakim Jeffries a
Speaker 5: long time ago. You I don't think you've had many
Speaker 5: more conversations with him since then. Maybe you have, But
Speaker 5: what's your what's your read of him? I think he's
Speaker 5: a nice guy. I mean I did. He was here. Yeah,
Speaker 5: we had a good meeting. It was you know, look,
Speaker 5: he's harsh on you, he says. I mean, well, he's
Speaker 5: rush because I'm harsh on him. I'm sure he wouldn't
Speaker 5: be so harsh. I've said bad things about it. Could
Speaker 5: you do business with him?
Speaker 4: You think?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think so.
Speaker 4: Look people ushering me, I'm ushing them as part of
Speaker 4: the world you covered very well, you cover specifically Congress.
Speaker 4: You see a strange group of people. But I'd probably
Speaker 4: get along with him very well. Again, you know I
Speaker 4: had I met him essentially once. Yep, I think I'd
Speaker 4: probably get along with them very well.
Speaker 1: I said he'd be majority leader of quicks, he'd be
Speaker 1: the Speaker of the House come January. But a little
Speaker 1: flattery for Trump almost of Haqem Jefferies. Would you read
Speaker 1: into that? Well?
Speaker 2: My read, Willy is that he's right that Congress is
Speaker 2: a very strange group of people. But fact true exactly so.
Speaker 2: I think that the politics of the moment for Democrats
Speaker 2: not going to allow Hakeem Jeffries to do a tremendous
Speaker 2: amount of business with Donald Trump. I think that much
Speaker 2: is clear, uh. And I don't think by the way
Speaker 2: that Trump who he takes attack and that that you know,
Speaker 2: he's not going to do work with Democrats if they
Speaker 2: are investigating him and peaching him or anything like that.
Speaker 2: And I think the main story of House Democrats take
Speaker 2: the majority over the next two years, the main one
Speaker 2: of the main stories is going to be uh, investigations, subpoenas,
Speaker 2: all sorts of oversight into the Trump administry and the
Speaker 2: Trump administration's business dealings, members of the administration's business dealings.
Speaker 2: So yes, he's trying to flatter him. And I think
Speaker 2: his inclination naturally is to have a good relationship with
Speaker 2: someone like Jeffries, but I think politics and reality gets
Speaker 2: in the way of that.
Speaker 1: The entire interview with President Trump is really fascinating, available
Speaker 1: now on YouTube. Co founder of punch Bowl News, Jake Sherman, Jake,
Speaker 1: always great to have you with us. Thank you, Thanks