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Mark interviews political strategist Ed Rollins. · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: Mark Simone, live from the WOR LifeVac studios.
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  Speaker 2: Well, let's talk to the dean himself. Ed Rollins has
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  Speaker 2: been in a lot of White Houses. He's run a
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  Speaker 2: lot of campaigns. He's run some of the most successful
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  Speaker 2: campaigns in history. And he's with us now. Ed Rollins,
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  Speaker 2: how are you doing?
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, Mark. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Very good. 34 days until the midterms. What do you think?
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  Speaker 1: How does it look to you?
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't look good.
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  Speaker 4: Uh, I mean, being perfectly, being perfectly honest, it's, uh,
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  Speaker 4: I would, I would bet the house is gone and
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  Speaker 4: the people that are watch these things closely are, are,
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  Speaker 4: are betting heavily on that. But the question is, is
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  Speaker 4: it by 10 votes or is it by 25 votes?
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  Speaker 3: The, the difference. And, and that's, that's a big difference.
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  Speaker 3: The thing that I.
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  Speaker 4: Think none of us anticipated a couple months ago is
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  Speaker 4: incentives in play now.
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  Speaker 3: And if, and if for some reason the president's party.
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  Speaker 4: Loses the Senate, uh, Then he's got two miserable years ahead.
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  Speaker 4: And I think the thing that we all were hopeful
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  Speaker 4: for is he's got hundreds of millions of dollars sitting
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  Speaker 4: in a fund, a PAC fund, that we thought was
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  Speaker 4: going to be put in these races. And we now
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  Speaker 4: see that he's running free campaigns paid for by the government,
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  Speaker 4: which is only going to antagonize people. And they're not
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  Speaker 4: very good ads about himself, I think, to a certain extent.
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  Speaker 4: if you want to be successful, you got to go
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  Speaker 4: out and convince voters that I need this congressman. I
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  Speaker 4: need this Senator. I need them desperately to, to finish,
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  Speaker 4: finish my agenda in the last two years.
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  Speaker 3: And I don't see that happening at this point in time.
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  Speaker 1: Now, nobody's a better fighter battler than Donald Trump. Why
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  Speaker 1: is he falling asleep here on this?
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  Speaker 4: I don't know. I, I think he's either getting bad
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  Speaker 4: information or doesn't believe any of this. Uh, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 4: if you don't believe, you don't believe your pollsters, you
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  Speaker 4: don't believe the polls or if we don't think it matters, uh, You.
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  Speaker 3: Don't care about the House and the Senate, then you
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  Speaker 3: don't do the right thing.
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  Speaker 4: And the other thing is there's nobody in this administration
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  Speaker 4: that can help candidates.
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  Speaker 3: If I was running a campaign, there's not a single
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  Speaker 3: member of this cabinet.
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  Speaker 4: That I would want to come out to, possibly Rubio,
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  Speaker 4: and he can't come out as a secretary of state.
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  Speaker 4: He's got 15 jobs already. There's not a single person
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  Speaker 4: in this cabinet. I mean, if I've got problems with
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  Speaker 4: the ag community, I don't want Secretary Rawlings to come
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  Speaker 4: out and tell me, We don't need beef as other
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  Speaker 4: means of getting protein when the beef market is dying.
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  Speaker 4: I don't want the energy seconds here to come out
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  Speaker 4: and tell me that things are going to be great
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  Speaker 4: when diesel fuel is $ 7, $ 8, $ 9 a gallon.
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  Speaker 3: So my sense is in the five weeks we have
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  Speaker 3: left here, it's late.
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  Speaker 4: People are already voting now by absentee ballots in other places.
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  Speaker 4: And I think in the next couple of weeks, unless
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  Speaker 4: something dramatically happens on the war economy, which I don't
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  Speaker 4: anticipate happening, it's not going to be, it's not going
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  Speaker 4: to be a good election.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, the economy, you look at the real numbers, the
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  Speaker 1: economy is in great shape. I know gas is high,
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  Speaker 1: but the economy is in great shape. But most people
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  Speaker 1: are watching the news where they're told every day it's
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  Speaker 1: a disaster, economic disaster. What, what do Republicans do about that?
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  Speaker 1: The fake news, the bad, uh, gaslighting of the world.
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  Speaker 3: They should be doing something about that.
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  Speaker 4: You know, and instead, you know, the reality here is,
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  Speaker 4: you know, the president's out there talking about, uh, uh,
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  Speaker 4: I'm raising warnings about the deep state, the warmongers, globalists, Marxists, communists,
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  Speaker 4: and fascists. That was Joe McCarthy's thing when I was
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  Speaker 4: eight years old, 50 years ago.
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  Speaker 3: It didn't work then. It's not going to work now.
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  Speaker 3: You've got to go out and you've got.
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  Speaker 4: To basically point out these new Democrats, what they're about,
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  Speaker 4: and define them before they define us. And I think
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  Speaker 4: to a certain extent, those terms, globalists, Marxists, communists, fascists,
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  Speaker 4: it's hard to tell anybody what that means.
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  Speaker 3: What you can, though, is you can take someone like
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  Speaker 3: the mayor of New York and.
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  Speaker 4: You can take someone like some of the other candidates
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  Speaker 4: and define what they are. This is what they stand
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  Speaker 4: for and this is what I stand for. This is
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  Speaker 4: what the Republican Party needs to be saying. I need
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  Speaker 4: these Republicans to help me finish the last two years
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  Speaker 4: to get the economy moving again, to basically get my
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  Speaker 4: peace plan and all the rest of it.
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  Speaker 3: Right now, it's not credible.
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  Speaker 1: So, if Democrats win the House, they'll be impeaching Trump
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  Speaker 1: All the time. But if they win the Senate, what
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  Speaker 1: does that mean? They could convict him, right, and remove him?
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  Speaker 4: I don't think they can convict him, and I think
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  Speaker 4: it would be terrible for them to even try it.
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  Speaker 4: For them, what they can do is they can batter him,
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  Speaker 4: they can block everything, they.
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  Speaker 3: Can basically control the money.
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  Speaker 4: You know, the truth of the matter is the House,
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  Speaker 4: under the present speaker, has been an arm of the
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  Speaker 4: White House. It will not be an arm of the
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  Speaker 4: White House or the Democrats' control. It will be every
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  Speaker 4: single thing the president will have to fight for.
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  Speaker 3: And he doesn't care.
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  Speaker 4: He's an 80-year-old man. He's got the things that he's
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  Speaker 4: interested in, which right now are not what the country's
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  Speaker 4: interested in. The country doesn't care about a ballroom in
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  Speaker 4: the White House. The country doesn't care about a wading pool.
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  Speaker 4: The country doesn't care about tearing down the Kennedy Center.
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  Speaker 3: If they care, it's a negative side.
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  Speaker 4: So I think to a certain extent, he needs to
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  Speaker 4: be talking about the big picture, what happens after the
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  Speaker 4: Iranian war is settled, how do we keep peace in
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  Speaker 4: the world, How do we get the job market.
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  Speaker 3: Back in a more effective place?
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  Speaker 4: And he's been a great communicator in the past, but
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  Speaker 4: he's not been a good communicator right now.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think his heart's in it.
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  Speaker 1: Ed Rollins, you've sat through a lot of administrations. You've
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  Speaker 1: been in a lot of White Houses. You've been there
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  Speaker 1: until the end. How do you think this ends for
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  Speaker 1: Donald Trump in two years? How do you think it's
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  Speaker 1: going to end?
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't end well. Really? Yeah. No, I don't think
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  Speaker 3: it does.
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  Speaker 4: Uh, you know, it's, especially if the Democrats take control,
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  Speaker 4: there'll be a, there'll be a very severe opposition. Uh,
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  Speaker 4: you know, historians will go back and, and basically rewrite
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  Speaker 4: the negative stuff. Uh, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's
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  Speaker 4: had his peak periods. And I think to a certain extent,
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  Speaker 4: you know, he still can bring, if he, if he
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  Speaker 4: develops a piece in the Middle East, it's that other
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  Speaker 4: people salute and, and, and respond to.
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  Speaker 3: Uh, but, you know, he doesn't, it doesn't seem to
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  Speaker 3: be doing that. And, and I think to a certain extent, uh,
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  Speaker 3: Unless the.
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  Speaker 4: Economy is booming and the promises that he's making that
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  Speaker 4: it will be booming, it has to be proven.
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  Speaker 3: To the American public. It's not right now.
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  Speaker 1: But, you know, you study his history in business and whatever.
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  Speaker 1: When he's really down, when they really got him, when
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  Speaker 1: he's wiped out, that's when he always battles back and
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  Speaker 1: comes out better than ever. You don't think that could
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  Speaker 1: happen here?
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  Speaker 3: Well, no.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think there's a big difference between battling back
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  Speaker 4: and coming back in a city like New York where
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  Speaker 4: you're building buildings with your names on them. as opposed
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  Speaker 4: to basically running a government that the opposition is very severe.
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  Speaker 4: Right now, the last two years, he's controlled every element
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  Speaker 4: of abortion in D.C., and I think that's what he's
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  Speaker 4: going to be measured on. But the last two years,
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  Speaker 4: as I said, I think if the Democrats try and
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  Speaker 4: impeach him, that's not what the country wants. The country wants,
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  Speaker 4: and if the Democrats want to have more than two
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  Speaker 4: years in office, they've got to go show the ability
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  Speaker 4: to move the ball forward.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, uh, Bruce Blakeman, uh, catching up in the polls.
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  Speaker 1: He's put out an incredible, a brilliant tax plan that
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  Speaker 1: would reduce taxes on everybody. What do you think Bruce
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  Speaker 1: Blakeman's chances are?
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  Speaker 4: I think he has a better chance than most Republicans
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  Speaker 4: across the country. I mean, New York's a tough state for,
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  Speaker 4: for Republicans, but, uh, I think he's run a good campaign. Uh, the,
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  Speaker 4: the problem is everything, everything is so negative.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you've got to win these things.
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  Speaker 4: Before the last three or four weeks. Uh, I think
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  Speaker 4: he has the momentum. Uh, she's a terrible candidate, uh,
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  Speaker 4: terrible governor. I'm doing a good candidate here. Uh, and
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  Speaker 4: I think he's been a good candidate. Uh, he's got,
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  Speaker 4: he's got something. I think if there's any bright, smart,
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  Speaker 4: it's there. Uh, uh, but he's got to have money.
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  Speaker 4: He's got to have resources. And I think to a
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  Speaker 4: certain extent, uh, he's got a plan that obviously most tech,
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  Speaker 4: most New Yorkers would like this plan. If they can get,
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  Speaker 4: get through the, all of the dialogue, the campaigning, I
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  Speaker 4: can just say, I haven't been around this business for
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  Speaker 4: 50 years. Um, the negative advertising that's everywhere is terrible. Uh, every, and,
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  Speaker 4: and it's, it's hard to break through, uh, Democrats or Republicans. Uh,
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  Speaker 4: and right now it's all, I think the country turns
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  Speaker 4: it out. Uh, now the advantage the Republicans have had
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  Speaker 4: is this four or five billion, billion dollars that, uh,
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  Speaker 4: PAC fund that Trump has. And he's not spending that money.
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  Speaker 4: He needs to spend that money and spend it quick
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  Speaker 4: because we're, we're down to, down the short areas here.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Uh, If Trump is listening and he says, that's it,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to fix this, what could he actually do
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  Speaker 1: at this point? It's only a month away.
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  Speaker 4: Well, he can go out and save some of these
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  Speaker 4: Senate races, and he can go out there and basically
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  Speaker 4: talk about things that matter. And again, what matters is
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  Speaker 4: not convention center ballrooms.
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  Speaker 3: You look at that White House. I mean, take last week.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, the stupid fight with CNN and MSNBC and
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  Speaker 3: what have you.
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  Speaker 4: He had two days of monumental meetings with the head
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  Speaker 4: of China.
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  Speaker 3: Most people in the country didn't see it.
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  Speaker 4: For a stupid, stupid fight over CNN and MSNBC that
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  Speaker 4: maybe has two million viewers a day, he's got to
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  Speaker 4: basically just get out there and have a plan.
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  Speaker 3: I don't see a plan.
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  Speaker 4: And I'm a Trump guy in the past, kind of
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  Speaker 4: super backer. I just don't see a plan. I don't
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  Speaker 4: know what's going on with the White House people.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know where they are. You know, we've got
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  Speaker 3: candidates out there basically.
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  Speaker 4: In Iowa and Texas and Florida running in trouble.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we're fighting for the governorship of Florida.
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  Speaker 4: We're fighting for the Senate seat in Texas, two of
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  Speaker 4: the strongest states we have.
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  Speaker 3: And right now they're question marks. People, places like Iowa, Kansas,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it's just to me, it's mind-boggling.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Ed Rollins, great as always. Always good having you
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  Speaker 1: with us. We'll do it again soon. Thanks for being
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  Speaker 1: with us.
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  Speaker 3: Take care, Bob.
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  Speaker 4: All right.
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  Speaker 3: Take care. All right.
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  Speaker 1: Not the most encouraging report there, but, hey, we've got
• 10:08
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• 10:11
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• 10:14
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• 10:17
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• 10:19
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• 10:19
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• 10:22
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• 10:26
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• 10:31
  Speaker 1: 9 to midnight, here on 710WOR.