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: All right, let's bring in our WOR White House correspondent
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and Washington correspondent John Decker, because there's so much going
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: on right now. Of course, we have a new government
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: coming in. We have J.D. Vance also getting out there
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: talking about what was the cause of the Republicans losing
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: in a landslide. And you have the president. that was
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: out in front of the construction of the ballroom, very
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: oddly happy yesterday considering what happened.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm going to do a complete pirouette
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: on this because I was very critical of all the
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: self-improvements for D.C. that the president is engaged in. He
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: said this relaxes me. And the president is better when
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: he's relaxed than when he's aplactic. But I think we
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: got John Decker on the line now. We do have
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: John Decker on the line. And since you started off
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: with that, let's ask John Decker about it. John, were
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: you out there by the construction site with the president yesterday?
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: No, I wasn't in the pool yesterday. I was watching
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: it in real time. And it was the president initially
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: not speaking about the The elephant in the room, and
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: that is the historic losses that Republicans suffered in the
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: midterm elections on Tuesday. The president did take questions on
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: that ultimately, but he really wanted to talk about all
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: the progress that has been made concerning his ballroom more
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: than anything else.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: But, John, you know me, I've been very critical about
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: not just the ballroom, but all the other fixing up
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: in D.C. When he said to the gathered press, you know,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: this relaxes me. I said to myself, John, I'm in
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: favor of this now because when Trump is relaxed, he's
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: really good. When he's aplectic, he's over the top. He's
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: out of control.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: I never thought about it that way.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: You might be right.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: But look, it is something that is ongoing. Every day
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: that I enter into the White House complex, I look
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: around and I see all of the projects that the
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: president has either completed or or that are ongoing, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: you can't miss them. I mean, he really has made
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: his mark in just two years at the White House
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: with beautification projects that will last well beyond his presidency.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: But that being said, there are other big problems that
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the president is dealing with, and the problems start with
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: the war in Iran. They continue with the affordability issue,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: which isn't going away, and those are the big issues
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: that the president will have to contend with for the
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: remainder of his presidency.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: It was interesting yesterday, almost immediately, Burnham in Great Britain
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and also a spokesperson for the EU was out in
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: front talking about how they hope that the United States'
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: attitudes towards Ukraine change after this. So it was fascinating
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: to me because it seems like that was the most
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: important thing for them. They came out and actually made
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: statements to the media yesterday. Do you think that's going
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to happen, that the attitudes toward Ukraine are going to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: change because the Democrats took over?
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: You know, I think that what we saw yesterday from
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: the incoming Speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, talking about
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: the focus for Democrats once they take over. The focus,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: he says, in terms of legislation is going to be affordability.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: But there certainly are members of Congress of both political
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: parties that want to increase America's commitment, its resolve in
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: terms of supporting Ukraine. And I think that's going to
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: come out. I think there are certain Republicans that during
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: the course of the president's first two years in office
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: were reluctant to speak out, to defy the president. And
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: I think you're going to see more of that. And
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: that indeed could put pressure on the president. He's the
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: decision maker, however. He's the person who speaks on behalf
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: of America, on behalf of our foreign policy. So it's
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: really up to the president in terms of whether to
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: increase that commitment.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: John Decker, I have a way that the president who
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: said there were some subjects he would be open to
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: sitting down and have conversations with Democratic leadership. Immigration was one,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: a few others. Remember in that first term, He was
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: sitting in the Oval Office. He had Pelosi to his
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: right with Schumer, and he had McConnell and Paul Ryan
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: to his left. He was ignoring McConnell and Paul Ryan
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: to their distress. He was so happy with Schumer and
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Pelosi because they were within millimeters of getting a deal
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: on the Dreamers, which suddenly fell apart. I think if
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: he were to revive that and sit with all four
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: of the leaders now and then look to Chuck, you know,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: New Yorker to New Yorker and say, Chuck, there's one
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: thing we have in common. We're both hated in New York.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: You're the most hated Democrat. I'm the most hated Republican.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Let me give you a gift. The dreamers. You go
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: back with that. All of a sudden you'll be king
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: for a day. And that will show that the president.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: is really trying to negotiate some things that should have
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: been already in place.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: President, initially in the first 24 hours after having those
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: results sink in, did speak about an area he believes
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: of common ground. And he actually did mention, to your point,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: he mentioned immigration, which is pretty interesting. Usually the area
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: that comes to mind when you think of bipartisanship and
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: common ground is infrastructure. But the president mentioned immigration. So
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: maybe we could see that as an area in which
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Republicans and Democrats could come together and have some sort
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: of an agreement. As you know, so many presidents, have
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: tried moving in this direction before, and they have not
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: been successful. So maybe the president with this Democratic-controlled Congress
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: will be successful in moving that kind of measure forward.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think Curtis has a wonderful idea. I
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: kind of hope the president or somebody from his staff
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: is listening this morning, because that would be a wonderful idea,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: and it would set an agenda rather than have them
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: make the agenda themselves. I do know that Jeffries yesterday
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: had a press conference. The expected incoming speaker and the
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: expected incoming majority leader in the Senate both said the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: same thing. Chuck Schumer said the same thing, that no,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: there's none of our members that came forward talking about impeachment.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: We're not just going in there with impeachment. It's affordability. Well,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of the Democrats disagreed with that, including the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: incoming chairman of the Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, who tweeted out,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: lawyer up. So it seems like there's going to be
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: some disagreement about going after the administration.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Well, when Congressman Garcia said lawyer up, I think he's
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: talking about all of the investigations. that will be taking
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: place with Democrats in control of all of the investigative
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: committees and oversight committees. And they will be doing investigations
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: into certain business deals being done by the Trump family
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: and how it's alleged they've enriched themselves. I don't think
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: that he was referring, however, to this idea of another
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: impeachment of President Trump. You know, that was not why
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Democrats and independents came together and some Republicans came and
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: handed the keys over to Democrats to control Congress. It
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: really was this issue of affordability, high gas prices. I
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: think that was the overriding issue, and they were not
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: sending a message to those Democrats that will control Congress.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Now we want you to impeach and remove the president.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: I think if Democrats move in that direction, they won't
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: be holding on to Congress for very long.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Now, John, in this new spirit of being cool, calm,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: and collected, the president, was asked yesterday by reporters, did
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: you okay Vice President J.D. Vance's posting on his social
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: networking that the war in Iran was a mistake and
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: that we have to redo our relationship with Israel, which
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: was really his first semi-official shots for the 2028 nod,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: GOP nod to run for president. And the president said, yeah,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: he ran it by me. I didn't have a problem
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: with it. Although later on he went back and he said, no, no, no, no,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: if left to do it again, I would have the
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: war in Iran. Can you explain that?
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think that the president doesn't really
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: ever go back on the decisions that he makes and
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: ruminates and considers whether he made the right decision or not.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: He feels that his gut has always worked well for him. And,
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: you know, to a certain extent, you don't win the
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: presidency twice, by going against your gut. And so the
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: president has that. Now, as it relates to the vice president,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: I think you're right, Curtis. This is the beginnings of J.D.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Vance moving away from President Donald Trump as he embarks
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: on his own path to the White House for 2028.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: And will this be enough? just separating him himself from
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: the policies of the administration on the war?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, the point person in terms of negotiations to
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: end the war, it's a guy named J.D. Vance.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: And now J.D.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: Vance putting out this lengthy social media post saying the
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: reason we lost is the war. Well, you know, the
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: vice president has a role in that in the sense
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: that he traveled all the way to Islamabad, met with
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Iranian negotiators for 24 straight hours and came away with nothing.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: So that's going to be around his neck as he
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: considers his run for the presidency in 2028.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: You're absolutely right that that was the unofficial start of
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the 2028 election, and many of the Democratic governors that
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: are said to be in the front of the pack
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: for running for the Democrats, including Shapiro and Moore, who
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: says he's not running, but we will see. And Pritzer
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: all won substantial elections, and they were all out there flexing.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: But among the Republicans, someone that we kind of forgot
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: about with the Republican race was DeSantis, who was all
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: over the place yesterday and was one of the last
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: standing Republicans. I think he's running.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, he is absolutely 100% running. He won his second term,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: as you may recall, by 20 points in the state
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: of Florida. And, you know, he's carved out this place
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: for himself. He believes in the Republican Party as someone
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: who is not afraid of, you know, speaking his mind
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: in the primary process and in that election in which
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: he ran against President Donald Trump. He wasn't afraid to
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: go up against Donald Trump. He lost that nomination. So yeah,
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: I agree with you, Larry. I think there's no doubt
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: that he will be among those Republicans seeking the nomination
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: in 2028.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: And he has a good story to tell right now
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: of being the last man standing among the Republican governors
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: in the big states.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Well, and it's interesting, Larry, because he may have a
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: decision to make. And that decision is whether to be
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: a part of the Trump administration. The reason I say that,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: there's talk about Pete Hegseth moving on one way or
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: the other from his position heading up the Pentagon. And
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: the name that I hear most often in terms of
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: replacement for Pete Hegseth is a guy named Governor Ron DeSantis.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: So we'll see if that happens.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, he shouldn't take that job. If he wants to
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: run for president, I think you're right. If he wants
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: to run for president, he should avoid that job. Thank
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: you so much, John Decker, WOR White House and Washington
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: correspondent and host of the podcast, The White House Briefing
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Room with John Decker. which can be found on the
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app.