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

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now let's get to John Decker, WOR White House correspondent. John,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I was pleasantly surprised, I should say, when the president
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: went on Fox News last night and congratulated the Democrats
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and said, I'm willing to work with them. He did say,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I'm going to veto every crazy thing they send to me,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: but that he's willing to work with them. Did you
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  Speaker 1: get the sense from Donald Trump in his conversation last
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  Speaker 1: night that this might go better than we thought?
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  Speaker 2: Well, remember, I think it was all sinking in for
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the president, what had happened over the course of the
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  Speaker 2: past few hours with all of those losses by Republicans
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  Speaker 2: in deep red states. So that's what the president's mood
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  Speaker 2: was last night when he spoke with Fox News. But
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  Speaker 2: then reality will set in. come January 3rd when this
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: new Congress is sworn in, and we'll see if the
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  Speaker 2: president has that same conciliatory tone that he had last
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: night in that interview with Fox News.
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  Speaker 3: Now, John Decker, I'm going to take you back to
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  Speaker 3: our favorite location, the reflection pool, because that's where the
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: president decided to give his final speech, rally up the troops,
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  Speaker 3: you know, to get them out to vote. And I
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  Speaker 3: heard from a lot of Republicans, I heard about algae,
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  Speaker 3: I heard about pipes, he was holding up signs of reconstruction.
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  Speaker 3: This was not his Braveheart Mel Gibson moment. I think
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  Speaker 3: at that moment, a lot of Republicans were of the
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  Speaker 3: opinion that he knows it's over. It's over.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I can't get inside the president's head. I was
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  Speaker 2: at that event, as you know, at the Reflecting Pool.
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  Speaker 2: I thought it was an odd choice of venues and
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: an odd choice in terms of the tone and content
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  Speaker 2: of the message that the president delivered there. just a
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  Speaker 2: day before the midterm elections. Instead of talking about the
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: closing message for Republicans, as you point out, the president
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: was talking about the beautification projects in Washington, D.C.
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  Speaker 3: That he's pursued.
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  Speaker 2: That, as you know, Curtis, that, as you know, Larry,
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  Speaker 2: not a top issue for voters, no matter what poll
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  Speaker 2: you are looking at this midterm election cycle.
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  Speaker 1: Is there going to be a presidential availability today that
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  Speaker 1: you know of?
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  Speaker 2: No, no open press events. that could change. All that
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  Speaker 2: is on the president's schedule today are closed-door policy meetings,
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  Speaker 2: no opportunities, as things stand right now, for the president
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  Speaker 2: to address the press about what happened over the course
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of the past 24 hours.
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  Speaker 3: John, give us some insight, if you can, about Mississippi.
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  Speaker 3: It's neck and neck. It's an actual tie between the
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  Speaker 3: sitting Republican senator and the Democrat challenger who was a
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  Speaker 3: DA columnist I know Democrats say, especially African-Americans, screaming that
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  Speaker 3: Chuck Schumer was asked a month ago to pour some
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  Speaker 3: money into Mississippi. He said, no, it's a losing proposition.
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  Speaker 3: How did it get to the point where we're neck
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  Speaker 3: and neck? And do you happen to know if there
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  Speaker 3: is a recount provision in their constitution?
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  Speaker 2: Well, in many states, as you know, there's a recount provision,
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  Speaker 2: a hand recount provision if It's within a half percentage
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  Speaker 2: point from each other. I don't know the provisions that
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  Speaker 2: exist under state law in Mississippi. That being said, what
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  Speaker 2: we saw was a blue wave across the entire country,
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  Speaker 2: not just in pockets, but just about everywhere. Maybe you
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  Speaker 2: could say it didn't happen in certain parts of Florida,
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  Speaker 2: given that in Florida you had Republicans emerge victorious in
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  Speaker 2: the Senate race as well as in the governor's race,
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  Speaker 2: but not by much. But in deep red Mississippi, as
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  Speaker 2: you point out, it's too close to call at this point.
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  Speaker 2: But in other deep red states like South Carolina, that
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  Speaker 2: was a major surprise for so many people. The fact
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  Speaker 2: that Darlene Graham could not hold on to that seat
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: that was held by her late brother, Senator Lindsey Graham.
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  Speaker 2: And in fact, South Carolinians will be sending a Democrat
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  Speaker 2: to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.
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  Speaker 1: While you were answering the question, I looked it up.
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  Speaker 1: Mississippi state law does not provide any statuary mechanism for
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  Speaker 1: automatic candidate-requested or voter-requested election recounts, and there is no
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  Speaker 1: automatic trigger. So it could just be 100 votes, and
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  Speaker 1: that's going to be the end of that election. That's
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  Speaker 1: kind of amazing to me, because you're right, John, almost
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  Speaker 1: every state in the country, every state in the country
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  Speaker 1: has some type of mechanism for a recount in the
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  Speaker 1: close election, but apparently Mississippi doesn't. So that looks like
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be another pickup for the Democrats down there.
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  Speaker 1: How does Donald Trump, I know he's talked about it
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  Speaker 1: last night, but he's had some headwinds like this before.
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  Speaker 1: So we have something to see and something to learn
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  Speaker 1: from about how he might handle having an adversarial Congress.
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  Speaker 1: How do you think he's going to react? The same
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  Speaker 1: as he did last time?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the president has to be aware of the fact
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  Speaker 2: that Democrats control all the levers of power in Congress,
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  Speaker 2: which means all the oversight committees, which means they can
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  Speaker 2: investigate all the things that they would have liked to
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  Speaker 2: have investigated over the course of the past two years.
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  Speaker 2: And they're going to do that. Let's leave aside this
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  Speaker 2: possibility of impeachment for a moment. there will be investigations.
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  Speaker 2: And that means that Democrats and those oversight committees have
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  Speaker 2: subpoena powers. They can bring to Congress any member of
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  Speaker 2: the president's cabinet. They can bring to Congress even Elon
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  Speaker 2: Musk if they wish to do so. And I think
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  Speaker 2: they're going to take advantage of that opportunity. But Democrats
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  Speaker 2: also have to be careful. You know, exit polls indicate
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  Speaker 2: that this was not an election in which American voters
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  Speaker 2: embrace the policies Instead, this was an election, again, according
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: to those exit polls, in which they were rejecting what
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  Speaker 2: had happened during the course of the first two years
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: of the second term of President Trump. They did not
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: like the war in Iran and what that has meant
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: in terms of high gas prices. I think that is
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  Speaker 2: the primary reason why the president's party ended up losing
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  Speaker 2: Congress yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the exit polls back you up on that, by
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  Speaker 1: the way. That's exactly what they said.
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  Speaker 3: The president seemed to say, John Decker, maybe I'm wrong,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: that he's not going to plan on bombing Iran now.
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  Speaker 3: At least he said that in the last 24 hours.
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  Speaker 3: Do you think that's the result of the sobering fact
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  Speaker 3: that he realized that, man, this is not helping at all?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think that that is a big part of
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  Speaker 2: the equation. And, you know, we can't get inside, you know,
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  Speaker 2: all the decision makers in Iran's head, you know, the mullahs,
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  Speaker 2: the IGRC, all of those decision makers. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they may be of the mindset, look what we did,
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  Speaker 2: you know, by not ending this war, by not coming
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  Speaker 2: to a peace agreement. Look what we did in terms
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  Speaker 2: of messing up the president's majority that he had in Congress.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe if we continue this up, we can impact the
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  Speaker 2: 2028 presidential election as well. So we'll have to wait
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: and see whether that war comes to a conclusion sometime soon. But,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: you know, in the meantime, There will be a lame
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: duck session of Congress that the president can use to
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: get things potentially through. But I think that may be
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: difficult as well, given the fact it's not just 53-47,
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  Speaker 2: the advantage that Republicans have right now, because there are
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  Speaker 2: some Republicans that are not in the mood to support
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  Speaker 2: many of the president's lame duck policies that he may pursue.
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  Speaker 2: You know, people like Susan Collins are out the door.
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  Speaker 2: John Cornyn, out the door. Tom Tillis, out the door.
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  Speaker 2: But they all can vote in that lame duck session
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  Speaker 2: of Congress.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they have not shown any inclination to vote
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  Speaker 1: with the president in the past. So give me your
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  Speaker 1: thoughts on it. You've been there for a while now,
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  Speaker 1: and you certainly have covered this president a couple of times.
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  Speaker 1: And you also know Congress. Are they going to be
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  Speaker 1: able to work together, or is this going to be
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  Speaker 1: just investigation after investigation after investigation?
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  Speaker 2: That's the big question. What do Democrats want to do?
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  Speaker 2: Do they want to show that they can govern and
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  Speaker 2: show Americans that if we had control of the White House,
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  Speaker 2: look what we could do. These are our policies. These
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  Speaker 2: are our goals. These are our policy objectives, or do
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  Speaker 2: they just pursue investigations? And that could essentially roil their
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  Speaker 2: chances in terms of trying to win back control of
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  Speaker 2: the White House in 2028. You know, it's important to
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  Speaker 2: look at some of these results. It's not just Democratic wins.
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  Speaker 2: It's wins by significant margins. John Ossoff winning another six-year
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  Speaker 2: term with nearly 60 percent of the vote, Josh Shapiro
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  Speaker 2: also winning with over 60 percent of the vote. Those
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  Speaker 2: are going to be front runners for the Democratic nomination
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  Speaker 2: in 2028 for sure. And James Tallarico, those polls, let's
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  Speaker 2: talk about the polls just for one moment. Those polls
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  Speaker 2: ended up being pretty accurate. He wins his Senate race,
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  Speaker 2: at least the way vote totals have come in so far,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: by 12 points. That's a pretty significant victory that he
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  Speaker 2: had in the state of Texas.
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  Speaker 3: Very quickly, I thought The big loss was Greg Abbott,
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  Speaker 3: the governor of Texas, who not only sealed his border first.
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  Speaker 3: You know, he was attached to the president. He did
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  Speaker 3: a great job. He lured business in. All these big billionaires,
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  Speaker 3: he personally lured in. And yet he got whacked.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he did. And that's pretty shocking as well. The
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  Speaker 2: first Latina governor of the state of Texas. Gina Hinojosa,
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  Speaker 2: she will be the new governor of the state of Texas.
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  Speaker 2: There hasn't been a Democratic governor. You'd have to go
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  Speaker 2: all the way back to Ann Richards. There hasn't been
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  Speaker 2: a Democratic senator in Texas since Lloyd Benson in the 1980s.
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  Speaker 2: So it's pretty remarkable what happened. over the course of
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  Speaker 2: the past 24 hours in so many states, but Texas
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  Speaker 2: certainly stands out.
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  Speaker 1: John Decker, WOR White House and Washington correspondent and host
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: of the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with John Decker,
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  Speaker 1: which can be found on the iHeartRadio app.