00:07:27.240And it was disgusting to me to see it because it was in such a stark, stark contrast to watching President Trump by himself looking at a gaggle on a rope line on his way to Marine One from the White House,
00:07:44.420taking every question, giving every response, and doing it day after day after day.
00:07:50.200They were just transmitting like a radio, those senators under McConnell.
00:08:04.640I mean, like, when you look at what gets Republicans excited, you need to switch those people out, and you need to put Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, because that's what this party is now.
00:09:27.220We've got, my goodness, Cheney, Kensinger.
00:09:32.440There's a long list in the House, including six who just cited, as you well know, Robert, with the Democrats, with Pelosi on an initiative to grant amnesty to the millions of illegal immigrants coming into this country.
00:09:51.720You couldn't do anything that would set fire to a Republican advantage like that if you schooled on it for six months.
00:10:05.600That's exactly what I'm worried about.
00:10:09.720If you have this element within the party that keeps wanting to calm things down, you know, I mean, I know this is going to kind of sound mean,
00:10:20.020but I think this is the kind of people who are listening to the Frank Lutzer of the world.
00:10:24.420You've forgotten that these guys are being paid by corporate masters to dictate a philosophy that does not match the philosophy that is winning elections,
00:10:33.880and you need to quit listening to that crowd because that crowd is the same crowd that doesn't understand who is voting and why they're voting.
00:10:43.440People are angry about everything from what's happening in their school to what is happening at the gas station.
00:10:53.160I mean, when you look at it, the one thing we get from voters that we picked up on, it's this, whether it's making, I mean, this is people speaking,
00:11:02.260whether it's making me wear a mask, whether it's paying people not to work, whether it's blowing up the deficit,
00:11:10.520whether it's creating inflation by sending all this money, the government involvement in my life is what is the problem.
00:11:20.000So there's a consensus that the government getting too involved in people's lives in every aspect is ruining their happiness,
00:11:28.120is ruining their finances, you know, is, you know, is, you know, is wasting their time, you know, waiting on stuff, like all of this.
00:11:37.000And there's a wholesale rejection of it.
00:14:05.940And the Democrats, by the way, and I can't wait to get your reaction to this.
00:14:09.800Within the last 24 hours, we have seen en masse blue state governors act as one,
00:14:16.920and many blue city mayors act as one, dismiss mandates, dismiss even mass, and very clearly signaling that they're going to back away from jabs.
00:14:33.880It is saying subtly that not only, as President Biden said, there isn't a federal solution.
00:14:42.140Hell, there isn't a state or local solution either.
00:14:46.440So, quote, unquote, we now have to live with the pandemic, which means it's an endemic.
00:14:53.300Your thoughts about the Democratic Party moving as one, and I mean stopping on a dime and pivoting.
00:15:00.140It looks like the Democrat Party has returned back to its senses and is listening to people like James Carville,
00:15:09.060and we're still listening to people like Frank Lutz.
00:15:13.520I think that is the best way to put it.
00:15:16.740And for people who don't know, Frank Lutz is a – would you like to describe him, Robert?
00:15:22.440Well, I mean, it has been clear I think Tucker Carlson has done some of the best work on this is that he definitely had a great reputation as a pollster,
00:15:34.400but he got hired by so many of these corporate types and making such big corporate money and pushing their agendas.
00:15:41.880And, hey, you know, absolute power corrupts will – you know, millions of corporate dollars can also corrupt.
00:15:52.680And sometimes it's easy to forget where you came from and to forget that this guy started as a Buchanan pollster for where he is today.
00:16:02.140And there is not a recognition that his advice is no longer aligned with where we are.
00:16:08.940Yeah, and let's be – to be completely honest, I think most Republicans in the House and the Senate particularly would just as soon forget where they did come from.
00:16:23.720They came from sitting on the knee of the Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the Business Roundtable,
00:16:31.160and acting like they were the dummies.
00:16:33.820They were the party of big business, corporate America, Wall Street.
00:16:39.120I don't believe that anything is going to change one whit in November 2022.
00:16:44.840That's how strongly I believe that these Republicans are just out of their minds right now, their leadership.
00:16:52.200Well, the trends are definitely in favor of Republicans.
00:16:57.600But, again, my fear is that they're not utilizing it right.
00:17:05.260And, you know, when you've got a big wave – and this is coming from a guy who couldn't surf if it made his life.
00:17:12.380But in watching people surf, you either cry send of the wave or you glide on top of it.
00:17:21.040And we better learn to glide on top of it because the public is frustrated, and right now the Republican Party is the answer.
00:17:29.980You know, we had our generic ballot a few weeks ago had a 14-point gap, and I was on Newsmax after the rally, and somebody suggested, oh, you know, the Republicans picked up all these people.
00:17:43.820I said, no, these are not Republicans.
00:17:45.760Just because somebody is saying a generic ballot, I'm going to vote Republican, doesn't mean they're Republican.
00:17:52.600It's full of people that were self-identified Democrats, self-identified independents.
00:17:57.640It's like if you've been at the casino all night, and you've been betting red, and you go, man, I'm losing my butt.
00:18:04.620I'm just going to bet black for a while.
00:18:06.640That doesn't mean that that is your new direction.
00:18:09.620It means you're going to give the Republicans a shot, and the Republicans, if they win, have a chance to earn your support on going that doesn't make your Republican to vote Republican once.
00:18:20.900Let me ask you this, and I'm looking at your latest survey.
00:18:26.440The question, if election for Congress were held today, which candidate would you vote for the generic ballot?
00:18:31.820The Republican candidate looks like 13% differential with a Democrat.
00:18:36.440Well, right now, most of the independents are voting Republican.
00:20:21.060And I feel like that's kind of where the Republican Party is, is it's running this kind of a pre-event,
00:20:26.740trying not to lose defense versus just going all in on what you believe in.
00:20:33.200And I see, you know, just little compromises in the way they're putting things.
00:20:38.440I mean, I keep hearing they're going to put together their contract with America, you know, my version.
00:20:44.080Well, I'd really like to see what it is you're wanting to coalesce around believing because I have a hard time buying that it's going to be the stuff that's really moving people.
00:22:26.600Well, Biden has already leapt at the opportunity to send troops abroad.
00:22:31.380He said he was taking our troops out of Afghanistan because he wanted to bring the troops home.
00:22:39.820He did that because Donald Trump wanted to bring our troops home and to end our foreign adventures, and appropriately so.
00:22:49.120And then as Biden tries to ape Trump, he screws up a surrender for crying out loud.
00:22:57.900It doesn't get much worse than that in military terms.
00:23:01.160There is not a single thing that this administration can point to that is a positive going into the midterm elections as of right now.
00:23:11.540So I think the question we're at right now is, what do the Republicans do internally to deal with their rhino issue, to deal with their leadership issue, and to assure victory in November?
00:23:31.160Well, I mean, if it was easy, everybody would do it.
00:23:37.400You know, you look at kind of what the Democrats have just gone through with, you know, they've got some of their moderate members abandoning them.
00:23:48.660And I always joke that the Democrats are in a bad marriage and the Republicans are in a civil war.
00:23:57.840But there's one side that is playing a game of addition, and there's the other side trying to hold on to something that went away a long time ago.
00:24:11.680And there's, you know, a lot of this has to do with kind of that, you know, that forgotten American, that the Mitt Romney ships your jobs overseas Republican Party isn't, is gone.
00:24:28.560It's not that, you know, the party of big businesses and expensive small towns, you know, this is much more the party of made in America and, you know, looking out for, you know, America first, Americans first.
00:24:46.120And this is not a party that's afraid of a tariff if somebody isn't treating fairly with America.
00:24:51.860And they don't like that and they would like for the quote unquote bad old Trump days to go away.
00:24:58.700But the problem is, is there's not a party left then because so many of those people that were on their side are Democrats now.
00:25:08.400And they've inherited a larger crowd of people, but at the same time, we, you know, what Republicans don't need is to lose even the RONOs because it's got to be a coalition to stay.
00:25:26.900I mean, we, I think in all the years and everything I've read, we're as close to some other kind of a movement, whether it's some of the Democrats, some of the Republicans, to me, I feel like we're as close to some kind of a third party, some kind of a, some kind of a breakaway of a little bit of each as we've been in a long time.
00:25:52.940And that probably spells doom for the Republicans.
00:25:56.900So it's like, almost like if you're a Republican and you're RONO and you don't, and you don't like the Trump world and you don't like MAGA, you got to get through 2022 and you might have to hold your nose and put up with some stuff you don't like, because the only thing you like less than that is losing.
00:26:15.680Trump showed everybody what to do to win.
00:26:18.660Take on the issues, take a position that is America first, puts America first.
00:26:24.820That is still a radical idea after Trump proved what it can do, both electorally and in governing.
00:26:31.840To me, it's insane that we listen to dinosaurs like McConnell and when we need desperately new blood, new energy, vigor and fight to go out after the purpose of a Senate and a House to begin with.
00:26:52.600To represent the people, to represent the people, to achieve a common consensus that is fundamentally the purpose of our government and get things done for this country.
00:27:06.180We've got to have candidates who can talk and understand and communicate the reality and what these Republicans are going to do.
00:27:13.960That's better than these, uh, not socialists, not progressives, not liberals.
00:27:19.520They're, they're, they're Marxists, the democratic party, your thoughts.
00:27:25.080And the thing is there's a growing American consensus.
00:27:28.060I mean, the one thing we've figured out in polling recently is that it doesn't matter what party you're in.
00:27:34.100There is a, there is a, there is a, an American consensus that has arrived that is, we don't need the supply chain to go through China.
00:27:45.840And I mean, one of the things we found most fascinating was on the environment.
00:27:50.340Even people who consider themselves really on the left environmentally say things like, what difference does it make if China's building coal plants?
00:27:59.280Why do we have to live every, there is a consensus that China is a, a major threat and a major problem.
00:28:08.280Uh, people see it, they, uh, they understand it.
00:28:10.760You, you have more and more people speak out about it.
00:28:13.440And there, this is, again, this is America, this is 60, 70% of the public.
00:28:19.140I mean, this is the kind of thing that you ought to jump onto because this is, this is one of those places.
00:28:24.620It's a huge divide and, you know, that there's, there's such, uh, there's such friction and, you know, there, no matter what the administration says, people understand about the virus and about everything that, that happened and the way it was sent.
00:28:41.140And that would they do anything to stop it and they lied about how it happened.
00:28:45.740They understand that, that they're, you know, everything from their movies are being changed to, to the, they're being, people are, are building, um, all kinds of infrastructure there and, you know, losing American influence around the world.
00:29:05.620And, and, you know, it's, it's funny when you, you, when we did the contrast on Ukraine and China, Americans are not about going all in for Ukraine, but they sure are all in for not letting China have Taiwan.
00:31:52.860And the question is, how do they answer that question?
00:31:57.040Did they feel better in the fall of 2022 than maybe they did in the fall of 2021?
00:32:02.900And I'm not sure what the answer about that is when they look at their pocketbooks and they look at their lifestyles.
00:32:08.160I mean, you know, when you look at, at, at, at all these sporting events and these huge crowds, it's because it's kind of new to get back out.
00:32:20.400And so, and there's a little bit of euphoria comes with that.
00:32:23.800So when people, especially in more of the swing areas, because a lot of the South and other places have already been kind of open, but as they start open and they start to kind of quote unquote live again, there's a little euphoria.
00:32:36.960Well, like, I don't know why I'm going to do it, but I'm just happier.
00:32:41.100And when people are happy, they don't tend to vote people out.
00:32:46.100This president is feeble and it's, it's palpable.
00:32:51.860Uh, that is what's incredible to me is that the American people right now, uh, have rejected it, uh, looking at these poll numbers, they're, they're disastrous.
00:33:03.720Uh, and, uh, for the first time, uh, in looking at real clear politics that he's fallen below on that average below 40% for the first time.
00:33:14.740What are your thoughts about that and the significance of it for the election in 2022?
00:33:21.280Well, I think that, um, there's still some really crazy polls in there.
00:33:27.980The fact that it's as high as it is, um, you know, when you, you, you, you've got some polls who are still thinking that 45% of the population thinks Biden's doing all right.
00:33:37.280Um, you got to start wondering who the heck are they talking to, um, but you know, I think that people, I think it's more, Robert, I think, Robert, it might be more that, uh, those corporations paying for those polls, uh, may have more influence on the, on the outcome.
00:33:57.100Well, you know, I've, I've always, uh, the last few years I've been saying, these people are either intentionally trying to skew the polls or they're incompetent.
00:34:46.200I think that we, we are at a point where Biden continues to be the face of the Democrat party.
00:34:52.720And, um, and then, you know, backup face, uh, is come and, um, that's not good news either for them.
00:35:03.000Um, and I think that, that, the fact that they've got that, those poster child, you know, that, those are kind of their lead poster children, uh, for their movement is, is positive for Republicans.
00:35:19.020Um, Nancy Pelosi is still, you know, kind of a, I mean, she, she still motivates a lot of people to vote.
00:35:27.440I mean, when, you know, Kevin Carsey's ads on TV or fire Pelosi, not, not make me speaker.
00:35:32.440But when, when you build an entire operation, an entire movement based on get rid of them and not why us, then you run the risk of when, if that anger at them starts to wane, you haven't given them an option B.
00:35:56.600You haven't, you haven't, I mean, you haven't really inspired what it is you're going to do.
00:36:02.080And so that is, that is, yeah, that's a real problem.
00:36:07.580And unfortunately, Robert, uh, we've got a, a more recent and significant empirical, uh, rejoinder to that.
00:36:16.780And that is of course the Biden campaign of 2020, the man ran against Trump.
00:37:03.700And then he gets in and all of a sudden he gets in with what I would, you know, the political equivalent to a push with a five seat majority in the house.
00:37:14.360And, uh, uh, dead, even Senate and a ridiculously close presidential race, but, you know, uh, less than a hundred thousand votes split between a few States.
00:37:23.900And, and he's governing like he's got a Roosevelt, um, mandate.
00:37:30.480And so no, no wonder the policies don't match the way he won.
00:37:35.860I mean, he should have been down the middle finding things that are very, very bipartisan that he could get done instead of pushing for things that you would need to have.
00:37:46.720And, you know, another 10 senators and another 30 reps to get done.
00:37:54.800Uh, you know, I, I wish we had more time to talk.
00:37:58.700I hope you'll come back sooner rather than later.
00:38:02.080Uh, and, uh, please join us for a continued conversation about what is shaping up as one fascinating political year, uh, in every respect in our lives here in America.
00:38:14.740It's a fascinating year, uh, Robert, we appreciate you being with us.
00:38:19.800Uh, any, any last concluding thoughts?
00:38:25.140Well, if you, if, if you look at the, um, if you look at this election, like a crazy car ride, I might suggest wearing your seatbelt and make sure your airbags work.
00:38:39.280Robert Cahaley, uh, one of the best, uh, pollsters strategists in the country, a great American, uh, and he puts it in language that, uh, all of us can understand.
00:38:49.620Uh, and, uh, whether we agree with, uh, uh, you know, some of the, uh, uh, things he said, uh, every one of his thoughts and his views are well-reasoned and, uh, we admire him greatly.
00:39:04.280Okay. So thanks for being with us on this edition of the great America show.
00:39:09.040And thank you very much for, uh, making America great.