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: Well, as you know, Donald Trump is on a nationwide
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: tour campaigning for Senate and House candidates and gubernatorial candidates
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: across the country. And John Decker has been with him
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on many of those stops. John Decker is the WOR
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: White House and Washington correspondent and host of the podcast,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: The White House Briefing Room with John Decker. That can
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: be found on the iHeartRadio app. John, I heard Donald
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Trump talking about losing his voice the other day because
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: he was yelling at some dignitary, he said. But I'm
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: surprised he doesn't lose more than that. I can't get
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: over that this guy is 80 years old. He sleeps
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: four to five hours a night, and yet he can
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: go on this nationwide tour this week with seven events
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: in six days. Is there any secret to this, how
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: he keeps all this energy going?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm always amazed by it. You know, I travel
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: with the president. I traveled with the president on Air
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Force One on Sunday to Michigan. I'm always amazed. You know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the people that travel, my colleagues were always amazed by
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: his energy level. He's doing two campaign rallies today in Texas, Larry.
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  Speaker 2: And that is a remarkable thing for anybody, yet alone
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  Speaker 2: someone who's 80 years old. He has the energy of
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: someone half his age. And I see it every time
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: that I travel with him.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: John Decker, he's also going to South Carolina again, which
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I don't think he ever anticipated doing for Darlene Graham,
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  Speaker 3: his chosen candidate to replace her brother, Lindsey, who passed
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: away against Dr. Annie Andrews. I've made some calls to people,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: you know, so many of us from up here moved
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: down there, and they say what's having an effect on
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  Speaker 3: the Darlene Graham vote is I think everyone recognized that
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  Speaker 3: Lindsey Graham was gay.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Nobody cared.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: But they have this ad out there now, it's online,
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  Speaker 3: about three male escorts who said Lindsey paid them for sex. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, especially amongst the evangelicals, it's having a very
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: negative impact. Now, nobody's really commented on it, but that's
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: what I'm getting this sense of why maybe one of
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: the reasons the president has to go down there and
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: help her.
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  Speaker 2: Well, she's a first-time candidate. She's never run for political
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: office before. And you can tell sometimes with the answers
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  Speaker 2: that she's given to various questions that have been posed
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: to her. So she's not the strongest candidate. And on
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: top of all of that, you have the headwinds that
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Republicans are dealing with all across the country. A, the
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: party power doesn't typically do well in the midterms. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: then B, you know, those issues of affordability, they're being
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: felt in South Carolina just like they're being felt everywhere else.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: High gas prices, high prices at the grocery store. And
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: if you asked me at the very beginning of this
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: election cycle whether the president would need to go down
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: to South Carolina one week out from the midterms, I
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: would have said you're crazy. And yet that's exactly what
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: the president said. has to do to help out Darlene
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Graham and keep that seat in Republican hands.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's a lot of states like that. Mississippi, Kansas.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: You know, a year ago, nobody thought they would be
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: a race there, and they're very tight now. This is
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: what happens in the midterms. It's happened before. But let's
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: talk about another election right now, the one that's happening
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: in Israel. How involved is Donald Trump in this? Curtis
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: pointed out a moment ago, that there's posters all over
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  Speaker 1: Israel and ads featuring Donald Trump because he's so popular there.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Well, that's right. He is. And that is what Prime
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping will allow him to emerge
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: victorious with a governing coalition. You know, I've spoken to
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: a lot of people that are very much involved in
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: that race. And they say, you know, after this election,
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  Speaker 2: There may not be either candidate who has a governing coalition.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: That's what we're looking at potentially after this election takes place. But,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's no doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu has
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: hitched his wagon to Donald Trump. Whether that's enough, we'll see.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: He's got a lot of baggage associated with another run.
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  Speaker 2: He's the longest serving Israeli prime minister in history, and
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: he's hoping to extend that run with this election taking
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: place on the 27th.
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  Speaker 3: Now, John Decker, in all these rallies, the president obviously
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: is surrounded by mostly MAGA supporters. They give him a
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: good ovation. The best ovation I heard, maybe I'm wrong,
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  Speaker 3: is at the end of his Mississippi rally. He looked
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: at everybody and he says, I promise everyone here in Mississippi,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: I will never change the name of the Mississippi River.
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  Speaker 3: And they gave him a standing ovation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, that's a new line, by the way. I've
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: heard just about, I've been to these rallies, so I
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: pretty much know everything the president's going to say, when
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: he's going to say it, how he's going to say it. Obviously,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: I had not heard that line until you just told
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  Speaker 2: me it, Curtis. The president loves these rallies. I think
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: he gets energized by these rallies, even though it's essentially
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: the same thing in city after city. that the president
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: does them. And there's always something new. When I was
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: in Michigan on Sunday, the something new was Nicki Minaj,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: the president brought to that campaign rally in Port Huron, Michigan.
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  Speaker 2: She traveled with us on Air Force One out there
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  Speaker 2: and made some remarks. And there's always something new. He
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: did it. I traveled with him to Arizona a few
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: weeks ago when he brought Floyd Mayweather the former boxing
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: champion with him who made a few remarks. So there's
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: always something new that the president brings to each of
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: these rallies.
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  Speaker 1: So I know that you talk to Democrats there as well,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: and you talk to people at the White House all
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: of the time. Is the White House braced for a
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Democratic takeover, at least in the House and possibly the
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: House and the Senate? Do they know what might be coming?
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Do they talk about it already?
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I asked the president this question just the other day.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I said, Mr.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: President, are you concerned? I asked him this on Friday, actually.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: I said, are you concerned about political gridlock if Democrats
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: take over the House and the Senate or the House
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: or the Senate? And, you know, there are a lot
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: of politicians when asked that question that would say in response, well,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: that's a hypothetical that's not going to happen. To President
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Trump's credit, he answered the question. He said, look, if
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: that happens, there will be gridlock. I have a veto pen.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I'm going to use my veto pen, but my veto
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: is going to force Democrats to come to the negotiating table.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: So what he's prepared for is essentially a bipartisan compromising
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: next two years as far as his legislative agenda is
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: concerned with the possibility of Democrats in control of both
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: the House and the Senate. If Democrats take over the
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: House and the Senate, I think it's going to be
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of investigations over the next two years, investigating
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: the Trump family, investigating Pete Hegseth, investigating business deals done
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: by the Trump organization, and potentially a move towards impeaching
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: the president as well. I don't know on what grounds,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: but that is something that would not surprise me if
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: that also took place within the next two years.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: John, in the portfolio of Secretary of State Marco Rubio
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: are two files, Venezuela and Cuba. With the re-arrival of
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: the previous Nobel Prize winner who gave her prize to
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the President, Maria Corina Machado, 10 months after Delce Rodriguez
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: replaced Maduro, is this something that we knew, we encouraged,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: or took us by surprise since she's back in Venezuela
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: and she wants to new elections.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing. If you didn't know this already,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you something that's very interesting. There
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: is a political component to this. And what is the
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: political component? The White House was hearing from Republicans in Florida.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: They were not happy about the way that Maria Karina
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Machado was being treated. And this, of course, could impact
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: the Senate race in Florida, the governor's race in Florida,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: and those individuals who are Venezuelan Americans, Cuban Americans, were
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: urging Marco Rubio, were urging the administration to allow her
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: to return to her home country. So that is why
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: that happened this past week.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, that's really fascinating. You know, we haven't been talking
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: about Iran so much during the campaign. I'm surprised it
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: doesn't come up a lot more. I know the Democrats
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: just use it to say we never should be there,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: but But not much from the Republican side and not
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: much from the president except to say that we may
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: be close to airstrikes. Is there a feeling that there
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: could be airstrikes right after the midterms?
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, all you need to do, Larry, is
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: look at what's happening in the Middle East. There will be,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I believe by the end of this week, three aircraft
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: carrier groups in the Middle East. And that sends a
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: message that the U.S. is prepared to resume military operations
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: against Iran. It's certainly an option for the president, and
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: the president has not foresworn that option. And so would
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  Speaker 2: I be surprised if after the midterms we see a
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: resumption of those military operations? against Iran? No, I wouldn't
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: be surprised if that happens at all, given the kind
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: of military firepower and U.S. military assets that have moved
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: into the regions.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Do appreciate that, John Decker, White House correspondent, always ahead
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: of the curve. Another great appearance, John.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Thanks a lot. Have a great day, Curtis and Larry.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: We'll talk to you on Thursday. Bye-bye.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Bye-bye.