Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Joe Bartlett, former WOR news director Interview

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Joe Bartlett, former WOR news director Interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Down in South Carolina, we go to Joe Bartlett, retired,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: playing bocce every day with the boys. I'm sure some
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: of them are from up north, but you're right in
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the middle of what has become now a neck-and-neck race
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: between Darlene Graham, the sister of Senator Graham, and the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Democratic challenger. Can you give us any insight of why
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden it's tightened up neck-and-neck?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's because of the president and his policies.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: And who knew that when I moved down here to
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: South Carolina, this would be a political battleground state. This
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: is always solid Republican. And I think there's a number
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: of factors. The choice of Darlene Graham was bad. And
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: if this goes badly for the Republicans, it's on Trump.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: just like Texas is on Trump if that goes badly
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: because he's propped up poor candidates. He's messed up North Carolina.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Roy Cooper, the Democrat, is going to win there too.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: It's his choice. So Darlene Graham is not a very
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: dynamic person. She's inexperienced, and her only qualification is she's
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: going to be a bobblehead and will do whatever Trump wants.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: So that makes the Democrat maybe more attractive.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Let's talk about the Democrat, because not a lot has
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: been reported on Annie Andrews. All it says, as I read,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: is that she was a pediatrician. You just talked about
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: the experience of one. Does she have experience?
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Political? No, not at all. But here's the thing. We
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: voted early, and the line was extraordinarily long. And I
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: said to my wife, I said, You know, you've got
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: to think that people who are lining up and waiting
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: this long are not turning up because they like things
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the way they are. I think there is a lot
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: of motivation for a change. And this is a pretty
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: dramatic change, if you ask me, for South Carolinians to
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: start voting for Democrats. So it's got to be bad.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's two chains of thought on that. And you're right.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: In most midterm elections, it's anger with whoever's in office.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: That's why it switches so much. That's why the Democrats
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: lose when Republicans are a president and the Republicans win
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: when Democrats are a president. But there's two chains of
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: thought now on what is happening with the high turnout
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: across the country. One is that the Trump supporters are
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: getting out because he's galvanizing them. But normally it is
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: people that are voting on hatred. The midterm elections, as
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: you know, Joe, because you've covered so many of these,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: is all about emotion. Sure.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Here's the other thing, too. You know, I know Trump
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: is trying to rile up his base. I watched his
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: last rally here in South Carolina, and I must say
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: there was no spark. You know, he rambled a lot.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: You could tell. He had a teleprompter speech. But then
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: he would say something from that. Then he'd veer off
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: into these, I don't know, weird places that he would go.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: And he rambled a lot. It's interesting, too. He's in
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: South Carolina. He was talking more about races around the country. And,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: you know, it's the same old barbs, same old jokes,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: no enthusiasm, and smaller crowds. But I think the real problem,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: not only here in South Carolina, but I think around
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: the country for the Republicans and Trump is his dismissal
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: of this affordability issue. Now, he keeps saying it's fake news,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: but when he goes to these rallies or when he
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: has his news conferences, he says, this is the best
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: economy ever. Don't pay attention to the fake news. And
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: then he says, I like inflation. Don't worry about high
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: gas prices because we're making billions of dollars. Well, that's
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: his oil company buddies that are making billions of dollars.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Most Americans are paying $ 4 plus for gasoline.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: I think you're wildly misquoting him. You're wildly misquoting what
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: he said.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: He said those things, Larry.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: No, he didn't.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: He did.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: So give me the quote again about the gas prices.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: He doesn't worry.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Actually, he said, I think the quote is, I don't
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: give a damn about high gas prices because they don't
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: want me to say this, but we're making billions of dollars.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: Because we're making billions of dollars. He said that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Here's another thing he said, Larry. He just put this
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: out the other day. He said, the golden age of
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: America is upon us. He said that Sunday. The golden
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: age of America is upon us. People don't believe that.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Now, Joe, when I was running for mayor, and it'll
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: be a year now, I used to go on Fox
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: News Channel and appeal to people south of the Mason-Dixon line.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: And I would say, look, help elect me mayor. I'll
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: keep everybody from fleeing New York so they don't come
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: down and turn.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Your state purple. You like that line, right? Good, good. Well,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: that's true. So explain it.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Because South Carolina is a place that a lot of
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: people from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, parts of Pennsylvania
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: are going, as is Georgia, as is North Carolina. I
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: get a sense that they're bringing with them a lot
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: of times their political values from up north.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there are a lot of liberals that have moved
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: down here to South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina especially, I think. Um,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I think, but there's a lot, there's also a lot
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: of conservatives and I think there were a lot of
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Trump supporters here, but you know, they feel like they've
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: been misled. And I, I sense this in my conversation
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: because living down here, you have to be careful if
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: you bring up politics because there's so many, you know,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: always Trumpers and then every once in a while you
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: get a never Trump. So you gotta be careful when
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: you start talking politics here. But I got a sense from, uh,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: talking to a lot of people that, that, Even though
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: there was this enthusiasm from Trump, his first term, let's
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: go for a second. But you know what? He got elected.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: It's waned. He's disappointed a lot of people.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Well, we're going to see what's going to happen. What
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: do you think about that one, Larry?
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: I want to hear about your response to that.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: No, let me give you one response real quickly. I
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: looked up the quote you were talking about. He did say,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: I don't give a damn about gas prices because the country,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: you said he, the country is making a freaking fortune.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: That's the exact quote. So that little change in making
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: it him that's making the money is a big, huge difference.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: And as a news guy, you know that.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I said his buddies in the oil business are making billions.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: He's making billions.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: When I asked you to re-quote it, you said he.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: I didn't get it the first time, but you said he.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I'll believe you. I'll believe that you said it that way.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: But the second time when I asked you for the re-quote,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: you said he. Listen, I know you went down there
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: and you're one of the few people that went down
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: to South Carolina and became a Trump hater. But listen,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: when you talk about the economy, you're right. Inflation's a
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: little bit too high. Not as high as it was
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: under Biden, but a little bit too high. But every
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: other economic... The standard, including the GPA, is way up.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: The gross national product is way up. So I don't
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: understand why you would say that the economy is horrible
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: just because of gas prices, because you know there are
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: other factors like unemployment and jobs and all that. That's
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: all up. And unemployment's down. Jobs are up. The GDP
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: is up, way up. So you're just talking about gas prices, right,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: when you say that the economy is off?
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: No, I'm talking about everything. I'm talking about gas prices.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Really? That's not true then?
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about the cost of groceries. Grocery prices are higher.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: The only price he ever reduced was eggs. Eggs have
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: come down.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: And medicine. And medicine.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: The cost of health care. You know what? All those numbers,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: they don't mean anything to a person who's trying to
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: balance their own budget.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: But they're making more money. than ever before.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Who's making more money?
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: They are. The more people are employed. A certain crowd. No,
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: the salaries are up across the country.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: His Mar-a-Lago crowd is doing just fine. Listen to you.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: See, you just got to press some facts against you
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: and it's going to come out. Your bias is going
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: to come out. It's not just his buddies that are
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: doing it. It's not just his buddies. Salaries are up $ 6, 000.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Why don't people feel it? Because they're being told by
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: people like you that all you should care about are
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: gas prices. Look it.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: The big news is this narrative, it's in the gut
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: of people, Larry.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: You're ignoring everything else. Time out, Joe. We've got to
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: move on, as you know, under the clock. Maybe we'll
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: reach out to you after the results of the midterm.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: And then you can tell us what everyone playing bocce
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: is thinking also.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: I think there's a real good chance that South Carolina
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: could go Democrat. Texas, I guarantee, is going to be
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: a Democrat.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: You're making Natalie nuts right now. I'm shutting you down, Joe.