Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Jon Decker, WOR White House correspondent Interview

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Jon Decker, WOR White House correspondent Interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As you know, in Dallas, they're having a midterm convention
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: for the Republicans, something that Donald Trump threw together, a
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: two-day event. And there was a few surprises there. Donald Trump,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of course, was the main speaker. But we'll get the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: latest on everything that happened from John Decker, WOR White
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: House and Washington correspondent and host of the podcast, The
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: White House Briefing Room with John Decker. That can be
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: found on the iHeartRadio app. John, you know, I said
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: there were a few surprises. I want to play something
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: for you that you know well about, but I want
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to play it for everybody that's listening. This was the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: biggest surprise.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm Senator John Fetterman, Pennsylvania. Yes, I'm a Democrat.
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  Speaker 2: Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well,
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  Speaker 2: I'm a common sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: socialism and that anti-American way of life.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: He was attacking a lot of Democrats at the end there.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: There is a lot of speculation at this point he's
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: going to become a republican or at least caucus with
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  Speaker 1: the republicans after the midterms what do you think john.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Well what i think is that he has said that
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  Speaker 3: he will not switch parties uh... formally uh... even if
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: there is a switch in congress in terms of who
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: controls the senate so he said that publicly uh... the uh...
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: speech that john federman delivered by video yesterday got a
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: very muted reaction inside the convention hall, and that was
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: pretty interesting to me. I think that John Fetterman is
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: essentially a man without a party. He is not someone
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: who's welcome in the Democratic Party, and at least I
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: saw the reaction from Republicans in that convention hall. He's
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: not someone who's necessarily welcome other than his vote in
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: the Republican Party. He's really an anomaly, and I think
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: that this is likely his last term in the U.S. Senate.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: It's interesting you say that because the polls in Pennsylvania
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  Speaker 1: have him very low with Democrats, down in the 30s,
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  Speaker 1: some in the high 20s. But the polls with Republicans
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  Speaker 1: are pretty good for him in Pennsylvania. So it really
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter how they feel about him in Dallas or
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: how some of the people that went to that convention went.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to matter how the voters in Pennsylvania feel
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  Speaker 1: about him. So if he were to run, say, as
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: a Republican, as of right now, he could win.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I've seen this play out before. Remember a
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: guy named Arlen Specter?
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  Speaker 4: Oh, sure.
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  Speaker 3: Arlen Specter switched parties. Didn't work out well for him.
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  Speaker 3: So look, you know, I'm a person who knows Pennsylvania
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: politics probably better than anyone. I worked for the most
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: beloved U.S. senator ever from Pennsylvania, a guy named John Hines. And,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: you know, to me, John Fetterman has some issues politically. And,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: you know, we'll see whether he can work out those issues.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: But as you point out, his approval rating within his
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: own party is extremely low. He would likely get a
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: primary challenge, and he would likely lose in that primary.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: And that's exactly what Arlen Specter faced in his own
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: party way back when. He switched parties and it didn't
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: work out well for him ultimately. He was defeated at
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: the polls, and I think that's the same route that
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: John Fetterman is facing as he considers what his political
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: future looks like.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: Well, John, you were in the hole for the midterm
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Republican convention and the theme speech given by the president.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: The hook of it that came out is this $ 5, 000
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  Speaker 4: promise dividend. If you– I didn't quite get it. You'll
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: get this bribe if you keep the Republicans in the
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: House and the Senate in majority because you can't give
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: a dividend. That's what you give when you have stocks.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 4: What the hell was the president talking about?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, this is actually, you may recall, Larry, I
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: actually proposed this idea to him back in July of
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: last year. I asked the president, would he consider with
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: all the tens and tens of billions of dollars in
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: tariff money coming into the U.S. Treasury, whether he would consider,
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  Speaker 3: I called it a tariff rebate check. He calls it
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  Speaker 3: a Trump dividend. But whatever you call it, that's what
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  Speaker 3: the president said he's considering. There are two provisions. Two
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: conditions associated with it. Let me skip the word proviso.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Two conditions. One, Republicans have to control the House and
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: the Senate after the midterms. And the other is you
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: have to spend the money, the president says, on only
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: American products. This is going to be problematic. You need
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: congressional approval to spend something that would be in the
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: order of $ 1 trillion. That's how much it would cost
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  Speaker 3: the U.S. Treasury if you're going to apply what the
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  Speaker 3: president pledged. in reality to every American adult who is
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: in the country. One trillion dollars. Think about that number.
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  Speaker 3: There are some Republicans, by the way, who were against
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  Speaker 3: the idea of a Trump rebate check, saying essentially we
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: need to pay down our debt before we consider giving
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: money back to the American taxpayer.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: You know, you can usually tell the success of these things,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: or maybe that's not the way to phrase it, the
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: mood in the country by who shows up and who
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: doesn't show up? Who didn't show up that did so
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: for good reasons?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think that you have some individuals who may
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: not have been welcome at this convention. And the first
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: person who comes to mind is John Thune. There were
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: some boos when the president mentioned the Senate majority leader
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: last night at the convention. He's not here for the
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: two-day convention. One person who is there, however, someone you're
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: familiar with, a guy named Mike Lawler. Mike Lawler has
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: essentially said, I don't care. I'm going to be with
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: the president. I want to be attached to the president.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: I want to be attached to the president's policy. So
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: he's taking time away from a very, very competitive congressional
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: race to travel down to Dallas to make a speech
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: and to be there with the president during the course
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: of the two days this convention's going on.
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  Speaker 1: Mike Lawler's looking for a job if he loses.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Well, that's exactly right. You know, I mean, look, you
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: know that race better than I do. And, you know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: when I was in New York last week, I saw
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: quite a few Mike Waller campaign commercials. So maybe he's
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: doing some fundraising down here in Dallas, along with attending
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: the president's speeches and also delivering a speech of his own.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: Now, John, I really have vertigo on this administration and
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: how they refer to Whatever you want to call this
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: thing on whatever given day it is with Iran. The
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: other day, J.D. Vance says it's not a war. Last night,
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: correct me because you were there. The president said gas
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: prices will come down when the war is over with Iran.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: So what the hell is it? The president called it
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: a war last night.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: J.D.
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  Speaker 4: Vance, who speaks tonight, said it's not a war. They
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: can't even get on the same page about what this is.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Curtis, you know, I guess someone, it only required
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: going through the speech and looking to make certain that
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: the word war was not contained in the president's remarks.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Could have simply X'd that out, deleted it, and changed
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: it to conflict, maybe. But yeah, the president did use
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: the word war last night, a week after the vice president, J.D. Vann,
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: said what the U.S. has been involved with as it
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: relates to Iran since late February, since February the 28th,
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: is not a war. But there is a blockade going on,
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: and under international law, a blockade is an action that
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: is only taken during wartime. So, yeah, I guess you
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: have to get your stories double-checked and make certain that
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: those who speak on the administration, including the vice president
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: and the president, are essentially using the same terminology.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: It's fascinating they picked Texas for this midterm convention. I
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: think that shows in part the importance of the Senate
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: race there, because if Telerico were to beat Paxton, I
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: think they'd lose the Senate, because it shows a mood
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: across the country. That's a seat they should never lose.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Did you get that feeling as well? Was it very
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: much about that Senate race?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely. Ken Paxton was the first senator Senate candidate
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: who's in a competitive race to address the convention, and
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: he's addressing, when he did so, his fellow Texans. And
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: I agree with you. You know, it's pretty remarkable that
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: some polls show him trailing Tallarico in this head-to-head contest
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: for November, and that's pretty remarkable when you consider what
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: a red state Texas is. Now, Republicans have their own
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: opportunity to flip a Senate seat. That's in Michigan. So,
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: you know, you could actually see a situation where Texas
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: is lost by Republicans, but they gain a seat in
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  Speaker 3: Michigan to offset the loss in Texas. We'll just have
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: to wait and see. Obviously, it's up to the voters.
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  Speaker 3: But Republicans are increasingly feeling more and more confident about
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: flipping the Senate seat now held by a Democrat in
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: the state of Michigan.
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  Speaker 4: Now, question, John Decker. The president once again said, I
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: am asking you to pretend that I am on the ballot.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: I have never heard anybody ever mention pretend I'm on
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: the ballot in order to get you to vote. I
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: don't think that's a working strategy.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, he's said it a few times. over the
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: course of the past few weeks, said it last night,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: of course, in his remarks, nearly two hours. That's how
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: long the president spoke. And that's what the president believes
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: is necessary to energize Republicans. Imagine he says that I'm
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: at the top of the ticket. He is not at
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: the top of the ticket. This is a midterm. And
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Turnout for midterms is always considerably less than turnout in
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: general elections. And what Republicans fear is that the energy
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: level that they see on the Democratic side will not
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: be there on the Republican side. In all elections, Curtis,
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: you know this quite well, it's all about turnout, getting
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: your people to vote more than your opponents. And right now,
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: there's a fear on the Republican side that they, the Republicans,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: will not be able to match the enthusiasm that Democrats
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: have for going to the polls, either early voting or
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: on November the 3rd.
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  Speaker 1: John Decker, WOR White House and Washington correspondent, host of
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with John Decker,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: which can be found on the iHeartRadio app. Enjoy the
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: trip to Texas, John.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Thanks a lot. It's good to be here. I've had
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: some good barbecue, and I'll talk to you next week,
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Larry and Curtis. I appreciate it. Bye-bye.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Talk to you then.