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

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  Speaker 1: The Mark Simone Show, now nine till noon weekdays on 710WOR. Well, hey,
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  Speaker 1: let's talk to the dean himself, Ed Rollins. Nobody has
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  Speaker 1: run more campaigns, more successful campaigns. He's been in a
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  Speaker 1: number of administrations, White Houses. Nobody knows this stuff better.
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  Speaker 1: Ed Rollins, how you doing?
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  Speaker 2: Doing pretty well. How are you doing?
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  Speaker 1: I'm good. How are the Republicans doing midterm wise? Looking better,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Mark, I don't know where you drink. Whatever you're drinking.
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  Speaker 1: But isn't it good to be a little behind right
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  Speaker 1: now with momentum and surging? Registration looks good. What do
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  Speaker 1: you think?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we've got to make sure the voters turn out.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what the president's efforts are out there trying
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  Speaker 2: to do at this point in time. And obviously, we
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  Speaker 2: won't know until Election Day. People are actually voting in
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  Speaker 2: absentee ballots already. it's a lot of little things that
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  Speaker 2: keep happening, like Ambassador Guilford asking someone for $ 100, 000 to
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  Speaker 2: pay off her American Express. You know, that becomes a
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  Speaker 2: big story, and that's a story people understand and don't
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  Speaker 2: think of it positively in the sense of, sure, I'd
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  Speaker 2: like to have someone give me $ 25, 000, $ 60, 000 to pay
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  Speaker 2: off my bills, and she's our ambassador to Greece, and
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  Speaker 2: she was engaged to her son. Those things become the story,
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  Speaker 2: and it's hard for the president to drive what he
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  Speaker 2: wants to drive the What he should be doing is
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  Speaker 2: he should be out there saying, I need a Republican
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  Speaker 2: Congress to finish the job. Here are the four or
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  Speaker 2: five things I want to do in the last two
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  Speaker 2: years of this term. I can't do it if the
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  Speaker 2: Democrats are in control and they'll roll back everything we have.
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  Speaker 2: That's got to be the message for the last two
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  Speaker 2: weeks here. And they put a congressman on the other
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  Speaker 2: side and you're saying, I need to go back and
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  Speaker 2: help the president. None of that's occurring. No, that needs
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  Speaker 2: to occur now.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, when he does these rallies, he's really great. These
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  Speaker 1: rallies are really something. But, you know, he'll talk for
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  Speaker 1: two and a half hours. Would it be more effective
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  Speaker 1: if he had a nice tight message and he spoke
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  Speaker 1: for like 20 minutes?
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  Speaker 2: Of course it would. It would be much better if
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  Speaker 2: he wasn't doing rallies. It would be much better if
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  Speaker 2: he's going around these different places where the congressional seats
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  Speaker 2: and the Senate race and do local TV or local radio.
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  Speaker 2: He'd get much play. He makes news wherever he goes.
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  Speaker 2: And he can stay on script for five or ten
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  Speaker 2: minutes and drive his message. And he can do everything.
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  Speaker 2: But he gets in front of these audiences, 6,000, 7,000,
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  Speaker 2: whatever they may be. And it becomes about his rally
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  Speaker 2: and what he wants credit for. And the reality is
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  Speaker 2: at this point in time, it's really how do you
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  Speaker 2: help the congressmen and the senators who are in trouble
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  Speaker 2: and follow your lead? So that's just my advice. And
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  Speaker 2: I don't see any– there's no polling that's showing anything's
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  Speaker 2: positive coming back. There's nothing but negativity out there and
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  Speaker 2: all the ads. And so we're down to, you know,
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  Speaker 2: who gets the road up. Democrats right now are more
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  Speaker 2: intense than our side is, but it's still possible.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Now, Ed Rollins, you've run a lot of campaigns,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of rallies, a lot of presidents, worked with
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  Speaker 1: Reagan and even Ross Perot is another billionaire. whatever they're
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  Speaker 1: doing wrong. Is there ever a moment where you can
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  Speaker 1: sit them down and say, listen, you're doing it wrong.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what you need to do. Is that ever possible
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  Speaker 1: with these guys?
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  Speaker 2: No, no, absolutely. Absolutely not. Uh, Reagan was a tremendous candidate.
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  Speaker 2: Reagan was a performer and he was a good president
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  Speaker 2: and he knew, he knew his audience and he could basically,
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  Speaker 2: and he listened and he said to me when I
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  Speaker 2: was running his presidential campaign, he said, uh, you're my director.
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  Speaker 2: Tell me what to do. I'll basically try and perform it.
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  Speaker 2: And if I don't like what you're telling me, I'll,
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  Speaker 2: I'll not do it, but, uh, we'll talk about it. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: most candidates, especially when they get in the heat of
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  Speaker 2: the last closing weeks of the campaign, uh, think they
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  Speaker 2: know what the audience wants and they're trying to drive it.
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  Speaker 2: Trump basically is combined by, he feels he's being treated
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  Speaker 2: so unfairly by the media that he goes out and
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  Speaker 2: he beats up the media that has to cover his message. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: and so at the end of the day here, uh,
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  Speaker 2: He's got to get his votes back. Right now, 25%
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  Speaker 2: of his voters who voted for him two years ago
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  Speaker 2: aren't there. They're not necessarily voting for Democrats, but they're
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  Speaker 2: not enthusiastic and they're not giving him an approval rating.
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  Speaker 2: So he's got to basically reinforce that base. He's got
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  Speaker 2: to basically energize Republicans to turn out and vote. And
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  Speaker 2: that's a tough challenge. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So last night, Michigan, there was a debate, Rogers, El-Sayed.
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  Speaker 1: Rogers was pretty good. El-Sayed was pretty crazy. It's like
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  Speaker 1: neck and neck. What do you think will happen in Michigan?
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  Speaker 2: That's going to be the last race probably decided and
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  Speaker 2: probably the one that decides whether we get the Senate
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  Speaker 2: or not. Right now, it's the last couple of polls,
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  Speaker 2: two or three points differential, which means anyone can win.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's a question, again, is who has
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  Speaker 2: the money, who has the resources, who gets their vote out?
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  Speaker 2: And I think to a certain extent, Roger still has
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  Speaker 2: a shot at it, but I would not say at
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  Speaker 2: this point in time he would be viewed as a favorite,
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  Speaker 2: other than the fact that the candidate he's running against
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  Speaker 2: is someone who obviously is very objectionable in his view.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, one thing about these Trump rallies, they'll get 10,000,
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  Speaker 1: 20,000 people show up. They make everybody fill out this thing,
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  Speaker 1: and they make everybody get registered. Doesn't that help? That's
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  Speaker 1: kind of the ground game there, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, one of the problems with, you know, I was
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  Speaker 2: White House political director and ran these stuff. Once you
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  Speaker 2: have to decide in the closing weeks of a campaign,
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  Speaker 2: do you want the White House to basically come in
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  Speaker 2: and get a big crowd for the press, which obviously
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  Speaker 2: you do, and take volunteers away from the campaign in
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  Speaker 2: order to do that? There's not an unlimited number of volunteers.
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  Speaker 2: Republican activists basically should be out at this point in
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  Speaker 2: time doing everything they can to get the vote out
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  Speaker 2: for the candidates and not basically running around worrying about
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  Speaker 2: how many people are there for the press. So that's
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  Speaker 2: why I say he'd be better off not going into
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  Speaker 2: all these places. It takes a lot of time and
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  Speaker 2: attention to build a crowd of 6,500 or 10,000 or 15,000.
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  Speaker 2: It's not quite the enthusiasm it once was. So those
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  Speaker 2: are decisions that need to be made. And obviously, the
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  Speaker 2: Congressional Committee and the Senate Committee have to decide where
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  Speaker 2: they want to spend their money, where their priority is.
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  Speaker 2: And the President has to start spending his money more plentiful.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Ed Rons, is this another problem? The rally might
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  Speaker 1: not be the best thing, but the President, you probably
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  Speaker 1: went through this with some of them, They want to
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  Speaker 1: do the rally because they want to get the hell
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  Speaker 1: out of the White House. They want to go somewhere
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  Speaker 1: and speak.
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  Speaker 2: No, listen, this is where the president has fun. He
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  Speaker 2: wants to go out there and beat the press up.
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  Speaker 2: He wants to beat up the Democrats. He wants to
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  Speaker 2: basically get attention for things that he thinks he's done
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  Speaker 2: that are sustainable. Now, whether the public thinks that at
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  Speaker 2: the same time, the public, everybody's talking about affordability and
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  Speaker 2: what have you. He's not out talking about those issues.
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  Speaker 2: He's talking about the issues that matter to him, and
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  Speaker 2: they may not be the same issues mattering to the voters.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, but one of the things I don't think
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  Speaker 1: Democrats understand, you go into the heartland of America, real
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  Speaker 1: working people working day and night, they don't care about
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  Speaker 1: the ballroom. They don't care about an arch. Even Kimberly Guilford,
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  Speaker 1: it's not an issue for them, is it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's not an issue today, and that's why you
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  Speaker 2: shouldn't be talking about it. You should be talking about
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  Speaker 2: gas prices and food prices and things that aren't working.
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  Speaker 2: You go to Nebraska and you talk about the farm
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  Speaker 2: situation The farm chaos. I never thought I'd see the
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  Speaker 2: day in my lifetime, and I've been doing this for
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  Speaker 2: a long time, as you say, where we have to
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  Speaker 2: worry about Kansas. We have to worry about Texas. We
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  Speaker 2: have to worry about Iowa. Those are our states. Those
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  Speaker 2: are places we should win easily, not even have to
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  Speaker 2: go there. But we've got to fight for all these
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  Speaker 2: things at this point in time. That's what scares me.
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  Speaker 2: That's what scares me.
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  Speaker 1: So if you could turn the clock back, go back
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  Speaker 1: to January. and talk to the president, what would you
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  Speaker 1: tell him to do to prepare himself for the midterms
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  Speaker 1: that he hasn't done?
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  Speaker 2: I would tell him that he has to basically get
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  Speaker 2: a new roadmap. Uh, obviously, first of all, I get
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  Speaker 2: out of the war, uh, and which was keep gas
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  Speaker 2: prices down and basically listen, listen to the polls, listen
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  Speaker 2: to the public. Uh, you've got good pollsters yourself who
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  Speaker 2: knows what's going on and listen to what they're telling you.
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  Speaker 2: People want to hear, you know, you go out and
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  Speaker 2: you talk to an audience that doesn't want to hear
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  Speaker 2: your message. Uh, then you're not going to do very well. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the 6,000, 10,000 people that are in front of him
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  Speaker 2: in a rally are his most diehard supporters, and they
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  Speaker 2: may very well want to hear the message of the
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  Speaker 2: greatest president ever. But the independent voters, and the big
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  Speaker 2: dilemma here is, the plurality of voters in America are independent.
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  Speaker 2: We're getting killed among independents. And the president basically did
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  Speaker 2: very well among independents two years ago. We've now lost
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  Speaker 2: that vote. And that's the vote that's going to take
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  Speaker 2: us down.
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  Speaker 1: Well, except New York. You know, it turns out in
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  Speaker 1: the latest polling, Bruce Blakeman is very strong with independents.
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  Speaker 1: Is that going to be a big factor?
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  Speaker 2: Same, same drill. If he gets the independent vote, he's
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  Speaker 2: going to win. If he doesn't get the independent vote,
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  Speaker 2: he's going to lose. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Well, because it looks like right now he's got 60%
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  Speaker 1: of independents. Pretty good.
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  Speaker 2: He's got to maintain that and make sure they vote.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Ed Rollins, brilliant as always. Nobody knows this
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  Speaker 1: stuff better. Ed Rollins, great talking to you. We'll do
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  Speaker 1: it again soon.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 2: Great.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks, Bob.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks.
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  Speaker 1: Take care. Speaking of Bruce Blakeman, he'll be with us
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  Speaker 1: later in the show. We'll talk to him in the
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  Speaker 1: next hour. And I think he's going to campaign later
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  Speaker 1: today with President Trump. I think they're both headed to Syracuse. Well,
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  Speaker 1: we'll get the answer when we talk to him coming up.
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• 9:52
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