Should more Republicans start to distance themselves from the president in these final days of the campaign cycle?

You know, Pam, it- it- it's- it's tough because if you, as you heard in, or if you watch any of these debates or parts of these debates, um, every Democratic, uh, person who's running in these races, every candidate says Donald Trump's name before they say the candidate's name, right? So th- there is no way to distance yourself from Donald Trump if you have an R after your name.

So, you know, John Ossoff, you- you know, with Mike Collins, he's saying, you know, "Donald Trump," you know, you saw El Sayed said, "Donald Trump called you Mike Rogers." So, uh, uh, Donald Trump is on the ballot here whether candidates like it or not.

Um, listen, I think the president is still wildly successful, um, uh, excuse me, wildly popular amongst, um, even the MAGA base.

He's still in the 80s.

Um, l- listen, he's not in the 90s, but he's still popular in the 80s, and that's- that's important if you're turning out the vote.

I- I think, um, Elissa was right.

Yeah

Should more Republicans start to distance themselves from the president in these final days of the campaign cycle?

You know, Pam, it's tough because as you heard, or if you watch any of these debates or parts of these debates, every Democratic person who's running in these races, every candidate, says Donald Trump's name before they say the candidate's name, right? So there is no way to distance yourself from Donald Trump, if you have an R after your name.

So, you know, John Ossoff with Mike Collins, he's saying, you know, Donald Trump, you know, when you saw El-Sayed said, Donald Trump called you Mike Rogers.

So Donald Trump is on the ballot here, whether candidates like it or not.

Listen, I think the president is still wildly successful, excuse me, wildly popular amongst even the MAGA base.

He's still in the 80s.

um listen he's not in the 90s but he's still popular in the 80s and that's that's important if you're turning out the vote i i think um alyssa was right during the debates last that were just most recently held last night and in the past past few nights um republicans have done pretty well mike collins is a good man but obviously john ossoff is a little more polished a little slicker i think mike rogers um landed some pretty substantive shots with um el sayed saying You know, if you're a candidate for the United States Senate and you cannot, you know, denounce Iran as an enemy of the United States, it's pretty bad.

But I think that Mike Rogers performed extremely well and landed some very good blows last night.

I want to ask you, how did you interpret the takeout L.A. remarks?

Yeah, listen, I do think that was a clumsy, sloppy kind of statement.

Obviously, he's riffing there.

I think that this administration's intention the entire time has been to preclude...

Iran from getting a nuclear weapon so that it could do anything against any U.S. city in the future.

And so while it was crude and kind of rough and tumble and he kind of laughed about it, I don't think the president meant it.

Even the Guardian, the conservative bastion, the Guardian, corrected their headline to say that Trump didn't suggest that the cities be nuked.

She admitted she knows very little about where Taiwan is.

they are spending public money on them?

Because I think that the argument is, obviously, Anderson, that the president's not on the ballot.

They're not campaign ads.

And so they're promotional ads.

They're patriotic ads.

I mean, that's the argument, right? Because he's not on the ballot.

Do I think it's it's credible? Well, he's not on the ballot for sure.

As a former Trump advisor yourself, and you know a lot of these states well, do you agree?

I'm wondering what you thought of it.

Yeah, look, I, I, I, it wouldn't have been my, my move, but I, I disagree with the professor there in that, um, we, the president went to the National Archives, showed President Xi all our most sacred documents, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence.

I mean, he went to literally where all those documents are enshrined.

Anderson, at the state dinner, they played tunes from, they had the US, um, military band singing, um, songs from Les Mi- Les Mis, which are banned in China, about uprising and democracy.

So I, I'm not quite sure that the president was weak in any part there or showed any weakness in America.

The pomp and circumstance and pageantry that Lia's talking about was, is, was, was just pure diplomacy, that President Trump was simply repaying President Xi for the, uh, the diplomacy that was showed to him upon his arrival in Beijing.

I think he was trying to put Xi on equal footing, that they treated him equally.

David, what do you think came out of this?

What do you think of this?

You know, Anderson, to Jeff's point, I think the president, and you know, I come on here every night and say we should be talking about a lot of different things.

Today, for example, instead of talking about banning the media, the president does have good news.

There's a report out, the U.S. Census Bureau put a report out that said Poverty rates in America are a historic low, all time low in the United States.

As a matter of fact, real wages, real medium household income jumped 2.6% to 87,000 bucks, the highest inflation adjusted level since census records began in 1967.

The lowest poverty rate in America since 1967.

And instead of talking about that like all day and crowing about that great news, We're talking about this.

And as the president likes to say, we'll see what happens.

[laughs]

...

but I, I'm not gonna say those on air.

But, but you know, what the, I, I don't think the administration understands is even if they were a, a, they said, "Look, you know, there's this clear statute that says Kennedy Center, no other names can be put on them." I mean, if you read the, just the law itself, it's pretty clear in its, um, its statement and its intent.

I understand they're, they're trying to, you know, have a Trump Plaza there now and some little plaque, et cetera, to work around it.

But w- a- as soon as President Trump leaves office, the next administration will take those letters down just as quickly as they put them up.

So I'm not quite sure why they're f- even bothering to fight this fight.

Where, where do you, how do you see it?

[laughs]

But, um, uh, you know, uh, this is geared towards the base.

The president believes that he's got a long list of accomplishments, and that the communications shop has done a terrible job at messaging it.

And so I, I think you'll see for the next couple nights, and, and, and I've been watching today, you get, you know, the kind of the, the greatest hits.

We closed the border.

We're driving down fentanyl.

We're, you know, gonna try to reshore jobs.

I don't remember that yet.

If that's true, why is the U.S. military still attacking Iran?

Now, Wolf, I think that they were responding here.

You know, what had happened in this kind of latest give and take is the Iranians were going to launch a missile, which then would deploy mines in the Straits of Hormuz, further blocking the Straits.

The United States took out those missiles in retaliation for that strike.

which would have somewhat closed down the straits again.

The Iranians responded to that.

So the president and the administration made clear, I think, at this point that the straits need to remain open for the international flow of commerce.

So they still have military capabilities.

In other words, what's really going to change if they lose Republicans the House, other than subpoena power now being in the hands of Democrats?

Yeah, he gets, he'll, he'll get to argue with Hakeem Jeffries versus Mike Johnson.

That's the [laughs] I think that's the biggest part, right? I mean, Mi- Michael, your, your question's a fair one, right? Because I, I do believe that the president looks at the House...

You've, you've seen some of these interviews he's done where he says, "Look, structurally, you know, the president in power always loses." He seems almost resigned to the fact that it's gonna happen.

And, and, um, you know, I, I think he looks at the Democratic House as kind of feckless.

He's faced them before.

They've impeached him twice.

Make it about me"?

She still may win this thing, but I promise you Democrats are gonna have to spend money in Wisconsin we should be spending in Texas.

Yeah, she's gonna...

That's gonna be a tough race.

My wife's from Wisconsin, spent a lot of time in Wisconsin.

She is, she's-

Yeah?

I mean, if you watch some of her tape, like Chuck says, she's not...

She's, she's pretty far out there.

But is this really something that should be jumped up and down about, saying, "Aha, here's your huge problem"?

Um, look, John, do, do I think it's a, a, you know, a deal breaker in every state? No.

But does it undermine voter confidence in, in elections? Yes.

And is that bad for American democracy? Yes.

Democrats can't keep coming on TV and saying, "This never happens.

There are not undocumented ali- you know, immigrants voting in, in, in elections." Y- well, here, here's, here's case one of it happening.

It's happening in New Jersey.

Mm

Do you see any reason at this moment the Republicans, despite, some of them have issues, grievances, pick your word for it, with President Trump, that they would actually torpedo the attorney general pick?

No, I think, I, I, I think Todd Blanche will s- will, will, I don't wanna say sail to confirmation, but he will be confirmed as the, uh, as the next attorney general.

Look, I agree both with Jeff, as well as Alyssa, um, here.

I think the, the bar was pretty low for, for Todd Blanche.

He just couldn't go out and be a, a, a, a, a jerk.

He, he, he, he answered questions deferentially.

He was, um, responsive, tried to be responsive, said, "I, I, you know, I take an oath to the Constitution," said all the things that I think most of the senators wanted to hear.

Uh, sir, Joe Biden won"? And if not, isn't that a problem?

... to the '90s, right?

Yeah, so I met Senator Graham the f- when I was Arnold Specter's chief of staff, and Lindsey was a House member.

He was the House manager, if you remember, in the Clinton impeachment.

And so it went back then, and then he joined the Senate in 2002, um, when Strom and Fritz Hollings were leaving.

It was kind of a generational change in South Carolina.

And, uh, and I've known him since then.

I've hosted a fundraiser for him in my neighborhood in Florida, flown with him on some, some trips.

Yeah.

Why is he trampling on a clean legislative win that would help people with housing affordability at a time when they're suffering a bipartisan bill, um, and instead focus on grievance and an election bill that is not particularly popular and it, and has no chance of passing the Senate?

Yeah, I mean, Jake, it's a good question, right? And the President here, I think is really be- you know, kind of biting his nose off to spite his face in that this, this housing bill will help him, right? And help Republican-

Yeah

... perhaps, perhaps, right, keep control of the House, which would be a terrible thing.

He, he is pushing this, uh, this, uh, voting rights bill saying, ex- the, it, well, election integrity bill, say, thinking that-

So what does that mean? Let's talk to, uh, David Urbanwho speaks Republican

Yeah, I think, uh, I did.

I think that, uh, Speaker Thune along, excuse me, uh, Majority Leader Thune, along with Speaker Johnson, probably had a discussion with the president and looked at the political calculus.

Um, you have a handful of senators now who are not running for re-election, some of them because of the president's doing.

Um, and Speaker Johnson probably similarly with Massey and Nancy Mason others, and, and simply explained to the president this was already pushing a big rock up a hill, and it was gonna be pushing an even bigger rock, and he w- he just simply wasn't gonna win.

Under the law, y- you know, people could still sue the federal government.

There's, you know, 28 U.S.C. 2761 is the Federal Tort Claims Act.

We didn't need this one point eight billion dollar weaponization fund.

Mm

... and drug addicted people on the streets.

Um, I, I, I keep seeing, you know, the, the, the, uh, campaign for mayor out in Los Angeles, and I think a lot of those, a lot of those same themes are, are prevalent in Washington, DC.

But look, the president, they have the Guard in there.

I see the National Guard.

I thank them all the time.

I see those young men and women walking around the streets keeping people safer than they ever were before in their life.

What do you think? Good or bad, UFC at the White House South Lawn?

Mm

... homeless and drug addicted people on the streets.

Um, I, I, I keep seeing, you know, the, the, the, uh, campaign for mayor out in Los Angeles, and I think a lot of those, a lot of those same themes are, are prevalent in Washington, DC.

But look, the president, they have the Guard in there.

I see the National Guard.

I thank them all the time.

I see those young men and women walking around the streets keeping people safer than they ever were before in their life, and so I applaud the president for what he's doing in Washington.

What do you think? Good or bad, UFC at the White House South Lawn?

David Urban, you, of course, disagreed with him on many issues, but does he have a

match today? Yeah, I agree with Karen's comments, right? It's kind of like Trump.

Whether you agree with a guy or not is very consequential.

Whether you agree with Barty Frank or not, he was a smart individual, smart member of Congress.

He knew how to legislate.

He knew how to get things done.

Dodd-Frank is a big piece of legislation that still remains out there.

which is not actually a reliable

Uh, do you think Massie's gonna pull it off?

I, I, I don't know.

I mean, he sounds pretty confident for [laughs]...

Doesn't sound like he's a dead man walking there, and I think that, uh, look, a- as John said, it depends on what, uh, what happens in a lot of these counties.

Thomas Massie goes home every weekend.

He, you know, flies flags for the Boy Scouts, gets grandmas their Social Security checks, good on constituent services.

That goes a long, long way.

Mm.

Do you think he still has a chance?

Yeah.

You know, Anderson, he, he's a tough, he's a tough guy, tough fighter.

Um, what I would say that Massie's probably saying is that he, he knows his constituents.

Congressional districts are much smaller.

Paul knows this.

And you're, when you're running statewide, you're always gonna make somebody mad.

Do, do you have concerns about Paul's glee?

Um, what do you make of Democrats hitting back?

Yeah, so listen, um, uh, Anderson, I, I, while, while I am, am a lawyer, I called America's favorite lawyer, not Perry Mason, Elie Honig, before I came here tonight and, and asked him for his opinion on this.

Uh, Elie...

So, so what I am told and what I've, the little reading I've done, and I think this gets struck down not because of any partisan, um, politics, but because the, the Democrats in Virginia didn't follow their own rules.

There's a rule that says the legislature, after they pass this, it has to be 90 days before any voting could oc- that could occur on this.

So when the legislature passes sometime in February, you know, 90 days would be sometime in May.

So that's strike number one against them.

Ur- Urban, does the 37% number worry you?

Do you think that's appropriate, David?

Well, g- Kaitlan, if you, if you, if you were Van, expect me [laughs] to kinda, you know, get on, get, get a shield and start defending it.

It's, it's indefensible, obviously.

Look, when you're, when you're a cabinet secretary or you're a principal in these agencies, your, your, your, your good work is supposed to be making the news, not the, the, the, it, the, those...

You're not supposed to be making the news in ba- bad headlines like that.

So, you know, s- stuff like that starts occurring, whether it's true or not true, right? It becomes difficult for you to do your job in, in any of these instances.

And so, um, if you're the president, um, you, you, you wanna see that go because you, you wanna be able to focus on the things that are, that are happening in the agency.

Do you think that's it, David? Or do you think, I mean, there's real issues that Republicans are facing, including, you know, the energy secretary telling Jake Tapper yesterday, uh, he doesn't know if gas will be under $3 a gallon until maybe 2027.

David, if Iran is still gonna control the strait or is going to control the Strait of Hormuz moving forward, what was the White House's big win or was there a White House win in this ceasefire?

Yeah, Anderson, I, I, I don't think that's the likely outcome of any, of any negotiations.

You heard that they, they said they will open the Strait of Hormuz, um, uh, to begin these negotiations.

I'm not sure...

You, you asked the important question there.

Will the foreign minister be at the negotiating table? Who will be at the negotiating table? Who speaks for the Islamic Republic at this point in time? You know, who, who's gonna have enough credibility to carry these things forward, and, uh, who's gonna be able to enforce anything? I, I think i- they're, uh...

Pakistan is, is, is, is leaning in here because they share a long border there and they see what may, might, might happen.

Um, w- when the commander-in-chief threatens to kill a country's entire civilization and bring it back to the Stone Age, have you ever heard a military leader or an American president use that kind of language or even think in those terms?

If that is what he reiterates tonight, and our reporting is that is what he will say, i-i- is that enough to assuage the public here? Because approval for the war is dwindling, just 34% and sinking.

Yeah, John, you know, I, I, I, I, I see those numbers and I, and I shake my head.

I wish the president, uh, s- somebody in the earlier segment, I think it was, uh, McGurk, mentioned that he wished the president would've given this address at the beginning of this, uh, endeavor.

I, I think that Van points out correctly, I wish the president would've laid out the, the things that, to, that he's been doing and this administration's been doing and our, uh, brave men and women in uniform have been undertaking on a daily basis in, in denigrating this regime's ability to spread terror amongst its neighbors, or even internally.

Um, they've been incredibly successful, and I, I, I wish he would've laid that out and said, "Here are the things we're gonna achieve.

We're gonna, we're gonna wipe out their missile ability.

We're gonna sink their navy.

I- is that satisfactory to you?