Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Ari Fleischer | Former White House Press Secretary Says V.P. Vance is Distancing Himself from Trump Ahead of 2028 Run

Transcript

Ari Fleischer | Former White House Press Secretary Says V.P. Vance is Distancing Himself from Trump Ahead of 2028 Run · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Ari Fleischer. Ari, good morning, buddy.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 0:03
  Speaker 3: Good morning to you.
• 0:05
  Speaker 4: Nice to talk to you again. I saw you in Vegas.
• 0:08
  Speaker 4: That motivated J.D. Vance to actually reach out to me.
• 0:11
  Speaker 4: You know the story, Ari. You spoke to me that morning. Yeah,
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: we spoke that morning. I was on the way to D.C.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And I met with J.D. Vance.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: It was lovely.
• 0:19
  Speaker 4: We talked about the Cincinnati Reds. We talked about mob movies.
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: We talked about the food in New York. Here's my point.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: He wanted no.
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: Part of discussing Tucker Carlson, Israel, any of that with me.
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: So when I leave, he says, let's keep the dialogue going, Sid.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed this. Yeah, me too.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: There's been no dialogue since.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: Because he knew that day he would never, ever be
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: able to appease me on either one of those fronts.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: And he continues to show us on a semi-regular basis
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: that that he doesn't care about what President Trump feels,
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: or Iran, or Israel.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: You pointed that out yesterday. So did I. That tweet
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: from J.D.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Vance, from me, Ari Fleischer, speaks to disloyal to the
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: President of the United States.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Your thoughts?
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, here's the thing about J.D., who, of course, very
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: much vehemently opposed Donald Trump. J.D. is a maneuverer. What
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: is missing in J.D., in my opinion, is deep-rooted ideology,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: care about principle, putting issues first.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: J.D.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Is always ready to maneuver, take the next position, defend
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Vivek Ramaswamy's ad that he ran in Ohio. And when
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: it comes to the Middle East and when it comes
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: to Israel, J.D. represents the Tucker Carlson wing of the
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Republican Party, which is a very small wing. Most of
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: it has left the party. They're becoming Democrats. It's the
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: Abdul El-Sayed wing of the Democratic Party.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: J.D.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Is more comfortable there than he is in the Donald
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Trump wing of the Republican Party. So I've got a
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: lot of bones to pick on policy with J.D., and
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: I thought J.D. crossed the line yesterday when he put
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: out that statement that was disloyal to President Trump. And two,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: to basically throw Israel overboard. No, the United States and
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Israel are a fantastic team. We should not be throwing
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Israel overboard.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: He does it all the time, though.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: And that's why I was surprised that the RJC picked
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: him to be the speaker.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I know they're trying to maybe fix that relationship. He's
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: a VP.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: It makes sense on paper, but he does that all
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: the time. And then, as you pointed out, and so
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: did I, the Iran war is not the problem. President
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Trump did the right thing, okay? They were getting very
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: close to a nuclear weapon. The detractors say, I've been
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: hearing that for 30 years.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Well, you're stupid.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: They were very, very close to getting it. He decided
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: enough is enough. Other presidents did nothing about it. They
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: just paid him. That's not the issue. The issue is,
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: and I've been yelling about this for months— These constant ceasefires.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Trump called out Iran on that Tuesday night, Ari, a
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: month ago. He should have done what he promised to do.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: Here's where I will critique the president and blown their
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: doors off. Instead, these constant ceasefires. And who wants to
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: do these?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: J.D.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Vance. The problem was not the war. The problem was
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: the ceasefire. The ceasefire didn't work. It didn't hold. And
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: it's left us in this muddled middle, which is what
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Americans are really uncomfortable with. We don't like and we
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: don't want to ever go to war. But if we
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: go to war, Sid, you want to get in, get out,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: get it done and get home. And we could have
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: done that. We should have done that. And here's the
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: bigger picture about Iran. For 47 years, they've been an
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: enemy to the United States. We had a chance to
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: bring a different regime, a pro-Western regime, a regime that
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: believed in peace, a regime that could have gotten along
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: with all its neighbors, including Israel. A new Middle East
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: could have been born, a peaceful, enduring Middle East. Iran
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: is the crux of the problem. They're the ones who
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: fund the terrorists. They're the ones who fund Hamas, Hezbollah,
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: the Houthis. Get rid of that regime. There are pro-Western
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: young people full in Iran. We had a chance, and
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: then we blinked. That's why we're in trouble now in
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: the Middle East. What are we going to do? Withdraw
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: all the naval flotilla that we have there, the blockade,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: and then let Iran have hegemony over Bahrain and the
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia? We can't do that.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Keep them there forever? We don't want to do that.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: We need to finish this job, and we need to
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: get the new regime in Iran.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: 100%.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: We never won this war. We need to finish this job.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: We should have done it months ago, and now we
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: put ourselves in a very poor position. I've got to
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: tell you something else, Ari. If you take a good
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: look at J.D. Vance's tweet, look at the people who
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: liked it. Look at the people who added emojis. You know,
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Megyn Kelly doesn't surprise me. Don Jr., I'm sorry if
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: my son Gabriel... liked a tweet from somebody who worked
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: for me, who I made famous, that actually took a
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: shot at me, I'd be very, very upset.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Wouldn't you? Yeah.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what I mean. It's the Abdul Saeed wing
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: that liked that tweet. You know, all the exit polls
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: show that Republican voters powerfully, strongly support Israel. They understand
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: the beauty of the United States-Israel relationship. They understand how
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Israel is on the front line defending us, defending our freedoms,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Western Christian Jewish way of life in a very bad neighborhood.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: I get America first. I'm America first. But that doesn't
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: mean America only. And it doesn't mean that we ditch
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: America's best friends. That's where J.D.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: Is. So how does this relationship continue? I know President
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Trump said all the right things yesterday.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, he's right. He's right.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: I got no problem with it. I knew when I
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: was going in this may happen. But you know that
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Trump is pissed.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I know Trump.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: And by the way, I also know that Trump doesn't
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: like J.D. OK, I know that people have told me
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: that inside the White House. So I'm breaking news. So
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: how does that relationship go on now for the next
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: two years?
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: Well, here's the thing about Trump. He still loves the
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: show The Apprentice. And so he doesn't mind having all
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: these people maneuver around him and see who's up, who's down,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: who pulled it off, who did it right, who did
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: it wrong. And then he lets them swim or sink.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: And so that's what he's doing. He's seeing what J.D.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: can do with this. You know, he's mindful of it.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: He's the decision maker. But, you know, if you're the
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Pentagon or you're the State Department now and J.D. asks
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: you for something, what do you do? You know now
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: he doesn't support what the president is doing in Iran.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: So he's putting everybody in a very difficult spot because
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: their job is to work for the president, not the
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: vice president. And if the vice president is hell-bent on
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: just end the war, bring everybody home, change the relationship
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: with Israel, it makes it hard for the state, all
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: the agencies to work for both president and vice presidents. Look,
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, these decisions are presidential decisions.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: What you and I are really talking about is the
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: on-deck circle. Who's next? Who's going to run in the
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Republican race in the presidency? And J.D. is going to run.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: But like I said, I think he's going to represent
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: the Tucker Carlson wing of the party. And that's not
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: going to take him very far. There's a massive opening
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: in the Republican Party. And frankly, I think the fact
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: that what you said about J.D. and what I said
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: about J.D. were verdurated in social media to such a
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: great degree. shows that there's still a strong peace through strength,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: muscular foreign policy wing of the Republican Party. And Ted Cruz,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: Marco Rubio, Glenn Youngkin, there are several people, Ron DeSantis,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: all of whom are possibilities. Keep your eye on all
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: of them. It's a wide open race.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: So, to your point, Dari Flesher, you're exactly right. If
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: our tweets, yours and mine yesterday, have generated now over
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: 6 million likes... which basically defended the president.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I got four of them, by the way.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: You only got one or two of them.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, you got like five million.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: You're the big star here. Trust me, Harry. I said
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: it all morning long. You're the star.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: No, no, no.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: You're the big star. But on a serious note, I
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: mean this.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Doesn't it show that even though Tuesday night was a
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: Republican bloodbath, that President Trump isn't dead just yet?
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Or is he?
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: No, he's not dead. I mean, I've been through so
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: many political cycles where I've seen people lose and come back.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: And remember, Barack Obama got his clock cleaned at every
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: midterm he ran in. But then he was reelected and
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: he left office a popular guy. Look, I think if
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Donald Trump leaves office with the economy booming, with the
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: war over in Iran, with a successful new regime in
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: place in Iran, new Abraham Accords, You don't know how
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: he's going to leave office. He could leave office a
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: very popular guy. I hope that's the case. Because if
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: he leaves an unpopular guy, it means the Democrats are
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: going to take the White House and have the Congress
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: and the White House. And that's a huge problem. So
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: we all have a lot of stake in this. And
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: by the way, Sid, just as a New Yorker, born
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: and raised, born in Manhattan, raised in Westchester, you're the
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: famous guy, not me.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for that. I appreciate that, Ari.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: You know, I respect, I look up to you, I
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: admire you.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: So thank you for saying that.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: I want to go back to what he said about
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: change relationship with Israel, because my first cousin, Norm Coleman.
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: asked him on stage, meaning he was sitting right there
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: in the audience, you and I, in Las Vegas, and
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: he went on about, hey, listen, things are different than
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: they were 30 years ago. He spoke about the Israel
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: relationship for about 10 minutes. I got to be honest,
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: I'm not as smart as you. I left there more
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: confused than when I entered the room. I had no
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: idea exactly how J.D. Vance felt about Israel.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: So when he says change the relationship, does he mean
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: just end it? What exactly does he mean?
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he spoke in code. He came to the Republican
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas. It was just last,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: when was that?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: In August.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: September.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: End of August, September 1st, yes.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And he said, we need to change the relationship.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: The things that we did, the things that we said
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: 30 years ago no longer have the same meaning. And
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: my question was, what exactly are you referring to? What
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: doesn't have the same meaning? He was imprecise.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: He was vague.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: And that was on purpose because I think what he
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: would tell you is if you've got a chance to
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: ask him and he gave an honest answer is the
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: United States doesn't need Israel. israel is no longer the
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: united states best friend in the region the united states
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: and israel have different interests by.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: The way he did say some of that he actually
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: included the uk in the same sentence.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: As israel Yeah, but where does it take him? What
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: does he mean? And I guess he starts to spell
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: it out in his tweet yesterday when he said, change
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: the relationship with Israel.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: But to what?
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: That's what I don't understand. J.D. 's heart is not
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: with Israel.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: J.D.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: 's heart is not with the Jewish people. And everybody
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: understands that. And that's fine. Israel is a sovereign, separate country.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: But it raises questions to me about J.D. 's judgment,
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: his wisdom, and his sense of what the American alliances
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: around the world should look like. If it's all based
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: on just whatever is selfishly in America's interest, there are
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: no mutual interests anymore. There are no things that we
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: can do for Israel that Israel can do for us.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: No things that we can do for another ally, things
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: that allies can do for us. Then I'm very suspect
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: about his isolationism. And isolationism has gotten the United States
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: into serious troubles in the past. We all know the
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: wars get bigger and longer the longer America waits when
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: there is trouble abroad. We almost set out World War
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: I and World War II. The price was the Holocaust
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: and World War II, not to mention the loss of
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: so many Americans because we didn't act when we had
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: a chance to go after Hitler.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: 100% we did nothing. We did nothing.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Isolationism has a long tradition in America. Yes. And I
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: respect the fact that people don't want America to go
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: to war. But that doesn't mean you abandon Israel.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Now, we have dangers on both sides.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: You've got the lunatics on the left who just hate
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Israel and hate the Jews.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: You've got the isolationists on the right, people like J.D.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: And Tucker.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: They're equally as dangerous.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: But it does beg the question, while we know that
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: President Trump is a friend of the Jews, he loves us,
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: and he's done great things for Israel, why would he
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: come out on Election Day and tell everybody something you
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: and I knew already for months, it's no big secret,
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: that U.S.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Aid to Israel is about to end?
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the timing of when it's going to end confused
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: me because there was an agreement in place. And I'll
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: offer the aid and let Israel buy what it needs
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: to buy. But that's the next fight set. It's not
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: going to be whether Israel gets aid to buy stuff.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: It's going to be whether Israel is allowed to buy stuff.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: There are a lot of Democrats in Congress now who
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: don't want Israel to get any weapons. They don't want
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: Israel to defend itself in any way. I mean, in fact,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: they would embargo and boycott the entire state. No trade
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: with Israel. Talk about not liking tariffs. They'd shut down
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: all trade with Israel. But that's the issue. Let Israel
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: buy its own weapons. They're a sovereign country, and that's fine.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Let them buy them wherever they think the place is right.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: That's going to be most likely the United States because
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: we're pretty good. So what he's talking about is don't
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: give Israel the money that Israel then puts back into
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: the United States to buy stuff.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Fine.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: But I hope we do that to Egypt. I hope
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: we do it to Jordan.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: But remember, the reason we give that aid to Egypt
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: and Jordan is because we have an interest in stability.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: And those are the allies. Jordan and Egypt were the
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: first nations that made peace with Israel. And so we've
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: longstanding had an agreement with Israel, Jordan, Egypt. To give
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: them aid.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I would say this.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: If we're going to stop, and you said it correctly,
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: we give Israel $ 3. 8 billion, and morons out there, take
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: a listen, because you're.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Stupid, okay?
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: $ 3.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: 4 billion of that never leaves the United States.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Never leaves.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: $ 3. 4 out of $ 3.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: 8 billion never leaves. Okay? So stop bitching.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: But if we're going to do that, why not shut
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: down all of our bases all over the Arab countries?
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right. And this is where J.D. is hollow. He
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: needs to spell out what he is advocating for. When
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: he puts something as provocative as end the relationship with Israel,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: what does that mean? And I hope that he has
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: to spell this out. I hope reporters pin him down
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: on it. I hope he gives a speech about it.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: And if that's his view, fine. We all have hints
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: this is his view. But then I don't see him
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: going very far in a Republican primary. That is a
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: misread of Republican primary voters. And the exit polls showed that.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: But they're going to say to you on the way out,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: this is an.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Accurate read of Democrat voters, not an accurate read of Republicans.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: But I would ask you then this, because we're in
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: the conversation and you're brilliant.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: I loved having you on. Please come back more often.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: If it's not an accurate read of the Republican voters
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: and it's not this, what exactly happened, that bloodbath on
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Tuesday night?
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Well, because it wasn't about Israel. It was about affordability.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: It was about costs. It was about a variety of
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: different issues. all of which added up to affordability. It
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: was an issue in which Republicans ran a 24 playbook
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: on cultural issues that didn't work because people were more
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: focused on just paying their bills in 26. It was
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: an economic election. We've been through those before. And that's
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: why we've got to get the Iran war behind us
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: in the sense that that helps oil, the price of
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: oil come down. We need to explore for more energy.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: That brings oil prices down and that brings prices down.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: All of that is what it was about. But to
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: blame it on one thing, that's wrong.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Are you confident moving ahead in the future as a
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: proud Republican? And you were a great, great, great press
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: secretary for George Bush.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Are you confident the Republicans can come back from this?
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: No.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry to say it like that.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: But you have to earn it. And America is a
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: closely divided country. And as this midterm shows, there can
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: be big sweeps. I mean, Mississippi might go Democrat. That's crazy.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Crazy.
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: So.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: This is what campaigns are about. This is why picking
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: the best right candidate is about. You know, just imagine
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: a Marco Rubio with his intellect and his articulateness standing
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: up and running and making the case in a strong
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: economy that Donald Trump might leave behind. That's how we
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: get back into the game. I do worry if the
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: economy is weak going forward and we have the wrong candidate. Yeah,
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: that's a high hurdle to get over.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: Ari, I couldn't agree more. It was an honor having
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: you on this morning. Really, you're so great. You know,
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: I really feel that way.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I love you.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Ari Fleischer, thank you so much.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: My pleasure. Great to be with you, Seth.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Take care.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: Ari Fleischer right there, the amazing, amazing press secretary for
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: George Bush 43. Just one of the nicest and smartest
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: guys you'll ever meet.
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: Like the podcast, share it with your friends, and listen
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: anytime at wabcradio.com and download the WABC Radio app. Hit
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: that subscribe button on all major podcast platforms. Plus, follow
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: WABC on social, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: See you next time for a.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: New episode so you never have to wonder.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: What the heck is going on here?