Transcript

AFP - Now What? · Brian Thomas

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Speaker 1: 729.
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Speaker 2: Californication, Joe? Oh, Brian Thomas, welcoming you back to the
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Speaker 2: 55 KRC Morning Show with an out loud question. Well,
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Speaker 2: now what? Donovan Neal from Americans for Prosperity. Welcome back,
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Speaker 2: my friend. Let me first start by thanking you and
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Speaker 2: AFP and all the folks that you got to go
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Speaker 2: on this wonderful door knocking trip through the state of Ohio.
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Speaker 2: About a million doors knocked on roughly somewhere in there.
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Speaker 2: And I know you did all you could to get
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Speaker 2: people to think about this election and vote in their
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Speaker 2: own best interest. Apparently, they didn't get the message. Donovan,
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Speaker 2: it's great to have you back on. Brian, that's very
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Speaker 2: kind of you.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, our team did phenomenal work, right? Grassroots
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Speaker 1: out there was dialed in, focused up. And, you know,
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Speaker 1: that's what you go do. You got to go prosecute
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Speaker 1: that case to the voters and You know, in this
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Speaker 1: in this case, you know, voters were looking for answers
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Speaker 1: on cost of living. They gave Republicans two years to deliver.
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Speaker 1: And while things like the working family tax cut helped
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Speaker 1: in the other side of the ledger, right, a reckless
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Speaker 1: war tariffs and a lack of focus in some cases
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Speaker 1: on those kitchen table issues across the country. Right. Voters
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Speaker 1: sent a message.
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Speaker 2: Yes, they did. And the most hilarious and sad point
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Speaker 2: about this, the Democrats end up moving forward with their
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Speaker 2: green agenda policy. They're the ones that wanted gasoline to
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Speaker 2: be more expensive anyway through legislation. Now they got it
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Speaker 2: through economics and they got what they wanted and they're
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Speaker 2: not going to turn their back on their green agenda.
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Speaker 2: I can't imagine that, Donovan.
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Speaker 1: No, but, you know, again, talking about, you know, our
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Speaker 1: leadership's focus is on our volunteers and something I've, you know,
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Speaker 1: they've been sending us messages and I've been thinking about
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Speaker 1: that and talking with our team about it. So I
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Speaker 1: bring that up, Brian, is, yeah, we're going to hold
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Speaker 1: those folks accountable, right, on that agenda, right? Voters believe, obviously,
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Speaker 1: based on these results, that the Democrat Party has answers
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Speaker 1: to the affordability problems they're facing. But we've got to
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Speaker 1: hold them accountable to follow through on that, not in
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Speaker 1: the big government socialism realm. you know, answers to the
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Speaker 1: affordability problem, but the freedom and liberty answers.
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Speaker 2: Well, one of the points I made before, and it's
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Speaker 2: an easy point to make, everybody's making it, you said
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Speaker 2: that people believed the Democrats have answers to the affordability problem.
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Speaker 2: All the Democrat campaigns were all about affordability and evil
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Speaker 2: orange men, boiling it down to the two most prominent
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Speaker 2: points that they all advance. They never answer the question, how?
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Speaker 2: It's just... It's like Donald Trump before the election. I'm
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Speaker 2: going to bring down inflation on day one. How, Mr.
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Speaker 1: Trump?
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Speaker 2: How can you do that? It just was a dumb
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Speaker 2: campaign pledge. I said it early on at the time.
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Speaker 2: Here we are. He didn't. One man couldn't. So pivoting
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Speaker 2: over to the Democrats, what are they going to do
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Speaker 2: that allows them to say we're going to tackle this inflation,
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Speaker 2: this affordability problem? I haven't seen it anywhere, Donovan. Did
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Speaker 2: I miss something?
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Speaker 1: No, I don't think you missed anything there. I mean,
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Speaker 1: the answer is, you know, give us more control, more power,
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Speaker 1: us being, you know, the Democrat Party and especially the
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Speaker 1: socialist wing of the Democrat Party. But I think, you know,
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Speaker 1: there's two things I think we've seen out there. One,
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Speaker 1: and you hit on them spot on there, Brian, right?
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Speaker 1: One is there were a number of voters, right? We
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Speaker 1: identified those folks back in a memo we released in
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Speaker 1: April saying there is a core part of the Republican
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Speaker 1: Party that is dissatisfied with the job the president's doing
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Speaker 1: and the and, you know, they are inclined to vote
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Speaker 1: the other way. I talked to a voter in Galleon, Ohio,
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Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, just a week ago, actually,
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Speaker 1: who was frustrated with that and is, you know, viewing
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Speaker 1: this election as a referendum.
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Speaker 2: So that's one.
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Speaker 1: Two, they're looking for solutions on affordability, right? And so
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Speaker 1: the pendulum swings and the voters swing it the other
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Speaker 1: direction to see if, you know, the blue party can
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Speaker 1: deliver for them. But you're right, the the solutions there
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Speaker 1: are yet to be filled in. And, you know, I
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Speaker 1: think that's where the alarming part is, is what those
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Speaker 1: policies could be, can be incredibly damaging and not the
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Speaker 1: actual solution, long-term solution to the problems that face this country.
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Speaker 2: Well, policies that may come about through legislation, which they,
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Speaker 2: now that they control the House and the Senate, they
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Speaker 2: can probably get whatever legislation is through, but they don't
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Speaker 2: have a veto-approved majority. And so Donald Trump will just
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Speaker 2: veto whatever they put through. So I think we're looking
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Speaker 2: at two years of gridlock Of course, two years of
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Speaker 2: gridlock will allow the Democrats to advance the argument, well,
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Speaker 2: we would have been able to accomplish something but for
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Speaker 2: evil orange man wielding his veto pen, so you've got
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Speaker 2: to give us the presidency in 2028 or we're never
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Speaker 2: going to accomplish our grand ideas to control your lives. So,
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Speaker 2: I don't know, it looks to me like, given all
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Speaker 2: the pronouncements from the Democrats that are currently in Congress,
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Speaker 2: get ready for this wave of subpoenas, get ready for,
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Speaker 2: you know, criminal investigations and yada, yada, yada. So, I
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Speaker 2: think that's what we're staring at, Donovan, unless I've misread
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Speaker 2: the landscape.
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Speaker 1: I hope that's not what we're staring at. I think
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Speaker 1: you're probably more right to realize there's O'Brien as usual.
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Speaker 1: But I think, you know, they think if the Democrats
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Speaker 1: do that, right, that's why we're going to hold them
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Speaker 1: accountable to the affordability message that folks care about around housing, energy,
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Speaker 1: the economy. Because if that if it is two years
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Speaker 1: of two more years of D.C. dysfunction, right. working families
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Speaker 1: are going to still be suffering, right? The national debt's
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Speaker 1: going to go up. Our energy problems are not going
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Speaker 1: to get any better. And that's not what I think,
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Speaker 1: you know, having been somebody who's talked to a lot
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Speaker 1: of voters at the doors over the years, that's not
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Speaker 1: something that the voters are looking to reward. But it's
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Speaker 1: going to take strong, clear leadership from the minority party now,
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Speaker 1: the Republicans, right? And it's going to take Democrats... pushing
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Speaker 1: back against the more extreme wings of their party, right,
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Speaker 1: to make sure that you can craft an agenda. And
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Speaker 1: it's possible that helps actually solve the problems facing this
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Speaker 1: nation on energy, the economy, and housing.
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Speaker 2: Well, let's bring you back, Donovan. We'll talk about a
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Speaker 2: couple more political points on the outcome of this. We'll
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Speaker 2: call it Republican bloodbath, if you want to be honest
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Speaker 2: about it. More with Donovan O'Neill from Americans for Prosperity.
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Speaker 2: Hang on, brother. It's 735 right now. 55KRCD Talk Station.
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Speaker 2: Let me recommend strongly... Talk Station... Excuse me for the cough.
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Speaker 2: Brian Thomas with Donovan O'Neill, Americans for Prosperity. Doing a
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Speaker 2: little post-mortem here. Donovan O'Neill, I haven't seen any specific numbers.
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Speaker 2: I'm thinking about the state of Ohio primarily, but obviously
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Speaker 2: it was a huge turnout by all accounts, all the
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Speaker 2: poll information. I know my polling place was packed. Everyone
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Speaker 2: I've talked to said it was packed. Did the Republicans
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Speaker 2: turn out? Have you seen any statistics or numbers on
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Speaker 2: the registered voters versus the ones that showed up? Because
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Speaker 2: I have a feeling so many people are concluding this,
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Speaker 2: and you can count me among them, that this was
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Speaker 2: more a referendum on, you know, evil orange man than
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Speaker 2: it really was about any given race, and that's notably
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Speaker 2: the governor's race in the state of Ohio. Your thoughts?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I haven't seen any numbers yet. I'm sure
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Speaker 1: we'll have some of that and happy to come back,
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Speaker 1: you know, in a future segment and talk about that
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Speaker 1: down the line. But I think, yeah, well, you know, again,
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Speaker 1: I think, you know, we were spending a lot of
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Speaker 1: time this year talking to voters in that persuasion universe, right? Because...
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Speaker 1: we're finding, right, where these truly independent voters, they voted
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Speaker 1: Republican last election and they were, you know, with the
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Speaker 1: price of gas and where things were, just not feeling
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Speaker 1: like the Republican party was doing it for them. And
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Speaker 1: so I think, you know, that independent vote has a
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Speaker 1: lot of influence. We also saw early in the cycle, right,
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Speaker 1: low enthusiasm with, you know, even, you know, what you
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Speaker 1: would consider base Republican voters. Mahoning County, I'll point to,
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Speaker 1: where I grew up, right, since 2016, it's voted 60-40 Republican.
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Speaker 2: It voted, I.
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Speaker 1: Think, 51% for Amy Act and 52% for Sherrod Brown, right?
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Speaker 1: Areas that President Trump consistently wins moved back to the
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Speaker 1: Democrat Party where they had been previously for three decades.
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Speaker 2: So that shows, I think I'm hearing you say, that
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Speaker 2: the independent voters... are swayable because they haven't established a
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Speaker 2: loyalty to any of the two parties that they're easy
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Speaker 2: targets for either side to go after. So Trump didn't
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Speaker 2: deliver or Trump brought war or whatever, and that just
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Speaker 2: pushed the independent back over probably fairly easily to the
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Speaker 2: side maybe he or she came from originally, the Democrats.
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Speaker 2: I don't know, but they're clearly not loyal, the independents,
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Speaker 2: but they're the ones that seem to determine elections anymore
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Speaker 2: these days.
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Speaker 1: Well, yeah. And I think it's, again, you know, there
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Speaker 1: wasn't really a clear alternative from Republicans. They'd hear proposals
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Speaker 1: that were a lot like the left, right? $ 5, 000 government checks,
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Speaker 1: federal stakes in private companies. You know, we saw the
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Speaker 1: polling that, you know, voters on one hand do not
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Speaker 1: like socialism, right? And we know that's rising in the
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Speaker 1: Democrat party, but at the same time, they dislike these tariffs, right?
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Speaker 1: They dislike the lack of results that were being achieved
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Speaker 1: in terms of the cost of living question. And so, yeah,
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Speaker 1: I think they're persuadable, but they also, you're only renting them, right?
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Speaker 1: You're only renting these voters. You have to go get
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Speaker 1: them every two years. And the policies that we've got
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Speaker 1: out there right now, we're not doing it. But that's
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Speaker 1: why organizations like ours exist, right, Brian? We will remain
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Speaker 1: focused on those policies we believe are going to actually
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Speaker 1: get the results, not the socialism light. that voters just
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Speaker 1: aren't interested in.
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Speaker 2: Well, and the other, I guess, a complicating factor, not
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Speaker 2: that I'm concerned at all about the Democrats' challenges, but
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Speaker 2: I think part of the reason, again, you have evil
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Speaker 2: orange man argument, but then you also have this war,
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Speaker 2: and a lot of people on both sides of the
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Speaker 2: political ledger are angry or upset about it, they don't
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Speaker 2: believe it was necessary, but are obviously having to deal
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Speaker 2: with the aftermath, which didn't go away as quickly as
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Speaker 2: Donald Trump kept promising. So I guess, what are the
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Speaker 2: Democrats left? How are they going to deal with the challenges?
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Speaker 2: If they just walk away from the situation or that's
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Speaker 2: what they're ultimately able to accomplish, then I don't see.
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Speaker 2: that as bringing the price of oil down, the price
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Speaker 2: of gasoline down, because that basically leaves the Iranians in
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Speaker 2: control of the strait, and they can do whatever they
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Speaker 2: damn well please.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think getting a quick resolution of that
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Speaker 1: war is probably job number one, and it's the fact
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Speaker 1: that we've been dealing with this since, what, February 1st,
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Speaker 1: March of this year without any end in sight, that
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Speaker 1: came up a lot at the doors, right? And it's
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Speaker 1: something that has compounding impacts. We also have an opportunity, though,
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Speaker 1: thinking about energy, right? Aside from the Iran war and
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Speaker 1: how that wraps up hopefully here soon is permitting reform, right?
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Speaker 1: Republicans still have control of Washington till January. We've got
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Speaker 1: permitting reform out of the House, into the Senate. There's
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Speaker 1: bipartisan aspects to that. Certainly, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats
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Speaker 1: have a lot of leverage right now because they can
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Speaker 1: just wait the clock out until they have power in January.
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Speaker 1: But that's something we could get done in the next
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Speaker 1: four to six weeks that can solve our decades-long energy problems.
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Speaker 1: We can finally modernize our energy permitting and regulatory policies from,
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Speaker 1: for the first time since the 1970s. That's the, you know,
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Speaker 1: we can get that done as well. We'll see if
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Speaker 1: the willpower is there to have folks fly into DC
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Speaker 1: and get it done though.
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Speaker 2: Well, I hope they do. And you know what, maybe
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Speaker 2: they can vote on the save act while they're at it.
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Speaker 1: Well, you got that as well. I mean, there's a
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Speaker 1: lot of open items, you know, the morning after an election,
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Speaker 1: especially an election with a loss always feels a bit rough,
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Speaker 1: but it's a pendulum, right? And yes, there's, folks can
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Speaker 1: get out there and keep working. And then, you know,
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Speaker 1: we still have the policies that, you know, these folks
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Speaker 1: have to be held accountable to. And that's what, that's
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Speaker 1: what we do here.
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Speaker 2: And you're not giving up. Are you Donovan O'Neill from
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Speaker 2: Americans for Prosperity?
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Speaker 1: Never. Our folk, you know, we've got a long-term perspective
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Speaker 1: on these things from the state house in Columbus to Washington, D.C.
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Speaker 1: Our folks are going to remain committed and dialed in
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Speaker 1: on the things that matter. And that's what makes Americans
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Speaker 1: for Prosperity the greatest, brightest center grassroots organization.
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Speaker 2: And again, On behalf of my listening audience and for
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Speaker 2: me personally, thank you very much for all the hard
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Speaker 2: work you did. It's not an easy task, but you
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Speaker 2: were able to get people up off their butts, out
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Speaker 2: into the world, interacting with their neighbors and friends and
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Speaker 2: talking about these important issues. And I think it's a
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Speaker 2: noble task that you took on, and you did a
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Speaker 2: great job. In spite of the loss, keep it up,
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Speaker 2: and we will have you on regularly as we approach 2028.
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Speaker 2: It's right there. You can so close you can taste it,
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Speaker 2: isn't it, Donovan?
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Speaker 1: No, no, no, Brian.
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Speaker 2: I know. Give me a couple days. Take a couple
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Speaker 2: of days vacation. Donovan O'Neill, Americans for Prosperity. God bless you.