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

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  Speaker 1: Here's more marks alone on seven to ten. Wo R. Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's talk to the Dean himself, Ed Rollins. Nobody has
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  Speaker 1: been in more white houses, run more campaigns. This was
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  Speaker 1: running some of the most successful campaigns ever. And it's
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  Speaker 1: great to have him back with us. Ed Rollins, how
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  Speaker 1: you doing doing well?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, good morning, Thank goodness. Nothing happened to the
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  Speaker 2: President or any the White House staff and senior cabinet
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  Speaker 2: Fatday Knights disaster.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Now you were there with Ronald Reagan in his
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  Speaker 1: White House. Do you remember what that assassination attempt? How
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  Speaker 1: did that change things?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it was thirty days in and it was very dramatic,
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  Speaker 2: and you know the President was wounded a lot worse
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  Speaker 2: than the public knew. You know, he was in a
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  Speaker 2: rush to get back to the White House. But you
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  Speaker 2: remember several weeks later he got up and he addressed
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  Speaker 2: the Congress and asked for his legislative program and done
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  Speaker 2: it all passed, and I certainly had an impact on it. So,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, there's just too much hostility out there,
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  Speaker 2: and obviously at these big events, who attract some bad people. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: but thank thank goodness, knowing but knowing that hurt.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, every time we see an assassination attempt,
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  Speaker 1: we realize how bad the security was. Obviously with Kennedy
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  Speaker 1: and then the idea of Reagan they would just walk
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  Speaker 1: him outside in front of all those people.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's it's it's it's a learning process. You know,
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  Speaker 2: you have to be in a mindset secrets does as
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  Speaker 2: good a job as you can do. I think obviously
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  Speaker 2: the outdoor thing, the Butler event, there were lots of mistakes,
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  Speaker 2: but this one the other night, they function well. The event,
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  Speaker 2: it's itself of being held in the hotel. It has
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  Speaker 2: been for many, many years. This is zoo you've done
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  Speaker 2: to them. There's twenty five hundred people. It's uh, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of wondering around, a lot of a lot.
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  Speaker 2: And I think we were very lucky that that the
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  Speaker 2: attempt was done by an amateur who obviously didn't succeed.
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  Speaker 2: But the fact that people out there want to take
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  Speaker 2: shots that presidents are bad, that scenes gone on as
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  Speaker 2: presidence but you know history.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess you're right. We just don't realize things
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  Speaker 1: like we've all been to this White House correspondence dinner
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  Speaker 1: in millions. It's never occurred to anybody. How can you
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  Speaker 1: have it in a hotel that's open with a thousand
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  Speaker 1: strangers standing right upstairs. It's they're going to have to
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  Speaker 1: move that right somewhere else from now on.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think they do, and you know, I don't
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  Speaker 2: think it's the selling point for the the new convention
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  Speaker 2: center at the resid wants in the White House with
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think the key thing here is the
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  Speaker 2: closest thing that they focused on this election. When he
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  Speaker 2: gets through with this is with the king and what
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  Speaker 2: have you. He's got to get focused on the election
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  Speaker 2: right right now. We're not in the jape in the house,
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  Speaker 2: and certainly they sent us down play and he's got
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  Speaker 2: to focus at the best the dantagy he has. He's
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  Speaker 2: raised a ton of money and super PACs and what
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  Speaker 2: have you. We won't be outspent, and we certainly have
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  Speaker 2: twenty five or thirty seats we have to defend. But
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  Speaker 2: that's the key. Then they've got the same number. We
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  Speaker 2: just got to get in there and make sure we
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  Speaker 2: win these spaces.
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  Speaker 1: So when Democrats yell no kings, he's a dictator, he's
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  Speaker 1: a Nazi, he's a criminal's does that really work? On
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  Speaker 1: independent photos does that really persuade him.
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  Speaker 2: No, No, it doesn't. You know, at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the day, it energizes their base and they've had gigantic turnoffs,
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  Speaker 2: which often happens in the midterms. The critical thing here
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  Speaker 2: is the message has to be that we hear you,
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  Speaker 2: we know what's going on with the country. We need
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  Speaker 2: to get these oil prices down, we need to get
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  Speaker 2: overall prices down, and you know, hanging with us will
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  Speaker 2: get it done. But you can't be fighting among the Congress.
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  Speaker 2: You can't be having you know, they can't be going
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  Speaker 2: home every other week for periods on. They kind of
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  Speaker 2: got to be there and work and get the things
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  Speaker 2: done that the president wants. And the president needs to
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  Speaker 2: sit down with the leadership and say, all right, what
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  Speaker 2: are the four or five things we got to get
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  Speaker 2: done by November. What we're going to run on and
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  Speaker 2: get get a consistent message to the consistent strategy, and
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  Speaker 2: go out and spend minions dollars they have on those
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  Speaker 2: things and target those traces carefully. And there's going to
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  Speaker 2: be some members who can't get redeemed. They're going to
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  Speaker 2: lose and you've got to write them off. And those
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  Speaker 2: that are marginal you've got to make sure they win.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, Ed Rollins, you worked around the greatest people
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  Speaker 1: in Congress. They used to be Statesman Tip O'Neil and
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  Speaker 1: Bob Dole and these these great figures. Now you have
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  Speaker 1: to see these low iq Hakeem Jeffreys types. What happened?
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  Speaker 2: What changed? I'll tell that story. I've been around the
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  Speaker 2: game for fifty years and I ran a congressional committee
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  Speaker 2: of people who say to me, why don't you run
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  Speaker 2: for Congress? I said, I wouldn't run for Congress. They
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  Speaker 2: maybe two million dollars a year committed. It's going to work.
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  Speaker 2: It's a tough, hard job. And I think to a
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  Speaker 2: certain extent, a lot of the giants in the path
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  Speaker 2: have decided that's not why they want to spend a
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  Speaker 2: year of their time. Who who would want to basically
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  Speaker 2: be a congressman today and go up there and fight
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  Speaker 2: every day and and you know, you don't have the
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  Speaker 2: power that you once had, you don't have the excitement,
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  Speaker 2: You're not very important back in the district. So I
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  Speaker 2: think the key thing here is you got to recruit
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  Speaker 2: good candidates. And that's getting pretty close to the finish
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  Speaker 2: line here. And you've got to basically make sure that
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  Speaker 2: the standings or something and the things you got to
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  Speaker 2: stand for is what the people are most concerned about.
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  Speaker 2: That's the high price of oil and foods and what
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  Speaker 2: have you those going been issues and who can do
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  Speaker 2: it better?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And if I was running his campaign, because I'm not,
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  Speaker 2: how you get every single one of these Democrats potential
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  Speaker 2: chairman or chairman, and I'd run against them. I'd run
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  Speaker 2: against the leadership of the Democrats. I'd say, do you
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  Speaker 2: want these guys to basically guide you one of these
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  Speaker 2: tough times or do you want the team that can
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  Speaker 2: step up?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, Rothers, let me ask you this is a
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  Speaker 1: good question. You worked with the greats, the Reagans, and
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  Speaker 1: you know those types, and they were very formal politicians,
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  Speaker 1: and they would speak formally, and it would never you
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  Speaker 1: would never think that a president would just call somebody
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  Speaker 1: names or just talk like he's in a locker room
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  Speaker 1: or but it's a very real way to talk. It's
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  Speaker 1: pretty effective. But is this what's caused all the trouble
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  Speaker 1: with the news fake news going crazy that he's so bad?
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  Speaker 2: I think so? Yeah, I mean, to me, I would
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  Speaker 2: ignore the news media. They're going to do what they're
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  Speaker 2: going to do, and you're not gonna change them any
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  Speaker 2: And at the end of the day, if you're going
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  Speaker 2: to call somebody out to do it in private, you
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  Speaker 2: know presidents will send his team up. Which I was
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  Speaker 2: a political character, I'd you up and I'd say to someone,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you want to bad amount, the president are
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  Speaker 2: going to come after you. We're going to basically not
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  Speaker 2: get any fundraisers. We're going to basically look at all
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  Speaker 2: the congressional appropriations you have and if you're not going
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  Speaker 2: to be part of the team, you're not gonna get
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  Speaker 2: any of the resources.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. But the most outrageous, the most outrageous things. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: the most outrageous things. President Trump has said the worst
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  Speaker 1: things you ever said in public. You will testify that
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  Speaker 1: every other president said the same exact stuff, only they
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  Speaker 1: would do it in private. Once you got.
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  Speaker 2: They're doing in private, they do it in prov And
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  Speaker 2: I think that's the key thing. He and you know,
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  Speaker 2: he he doesn't sleep well whatever. He's up at two
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  Speaker 2: o'clock in the morning writing thinking, you know, I'm a
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  Speaker 2: little but all of them his stamina is amazing to me.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of times there's times he stroked. You know,
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  Speaker 2: a punch and you take care of your own and
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  Speaker 2: you know you got you got a bunch of people
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  Speaker 2: speaking for themselves. And I think that I think the
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  Speaker 2: Congress itself, the leadership of the Congress itself is basically
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  Speaker 2: by going home, by not doing a job, has given
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  Speaker 2: Democrats more of openings than they should have.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, so Ed Rollins, there's a lot of young Democrats
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  Speaker 1: they've been indoctrinated in these universities that become communists, socialists.
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  Speaker 1: There's so many of them. They've gone so far to
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  Speaker 1: the left it's forcing Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi to all
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  Speaker 1: act like they're that kooky left wing. How that's never
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  Speaker 1: going to change, is it? How are you going to
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  Speaker 1: get back to me?
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  Speaker 2: It's not gonna change. Uh, you know, it would become
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  Speaker 2: more of a personality you're driven, uh, than than we
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  Speaker 2: are philosophy, I mean everything. Democrats have to have something.
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  Speaker 2: What they have right now is they have a p
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  Speaker 2: in his partner that is basically not addressing the issues
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  Speaker 2: far as the country's concerned. You look at the polls,
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  Speaker 2: and you've got to address those issues. I say, here's
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  Speaker 2: what we're going to do. We're going to basically the
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  Speaker 2: next ninety days one hundred and twenty days, we're going
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  Speaker 2: to focus on you. Everything's gonna be about you. We're
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  Speaker 2: going to get these gas prices and I think these
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  Speaker 2: food prices down will go to help farmers and everybody
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  Speaker 2: saying the same script as opposed to everybody popping off.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, it's a combination of the new media's,
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  Speaker 2: combination of all of the cable television. You know, you
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  Speaker 2: have people on your show all the time that basically
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  Speaker 2: say different things, and you need you need to have
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  Speaker 2: a singular message here, and the messages we can get
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  Speaker 2: it fixed, they can't.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So if the war in Iran is settled in
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  Speaker 1: a month or two or three and gas prices are
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  Speaker 1: way down, everything's doing to what chance do the Republicans
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  Speaker 1: have in the midterms.
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  Speaker 2: I'd say the House is going to be it can
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  Speaker 2: be close, the Senate should be are still all of this,
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  Speaker 2: all those three or four races that are as it
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  Speaker 2: shouldn't be in play what they are. But the key
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  Speaker 2: thing here is the president basically has to bite his
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  Speaker 2: tongue a little bit. And if he doesn't, if he
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  Speaker 2: loses the House of the Sun and he's gonna have
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  Speaker 2: a lot pad the last two years. So he just
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  Speaker 2: tests to be very disciplined, and the White House has
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  Speaker 2: to be disciplined, the cabin has to be disciplined, and
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  Speaker 2: nobody should be saying anything to side on the script.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I know that's the tradition. But it's
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. Can we get rid of the scripts
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  Speaker 1: that everybody just say what they really think?
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  Speaker 2: I think they saying I think I think that's part
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  Speaker 2: of the part of the problem. He doesn't any good
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  Speaker 2: to spend eight every million dollars on advertising it is
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  Speaker 2: if everybody has a different message.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. All right, Well, Ed Rollins, you're the expert,
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  Speaker 1: the dean himself. Ed Rollins, great stuff, Thanks for being
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  Speaker 1: with us. We'll do it again soon anytime, all right.
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  Speaker 1: I take care. I know what he means. You got
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  Speaker 1: to you gotta you know, you can't say these outrages things.
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  Speaker 1: You can't talk like that in the public. But it
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  Speaker 1: all started ten years ago, eleven years ago when Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump came down that escalator. And thank god he did
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  Speaker 1: all that, because where would we have been without Donald Trump?
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  Speaker 1: What would we been talking about for the last eleven years?
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  Speaker 1: You realize what this guy does and has done for
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  Speaker 1: our ratings, for everything. Had he just been a regular
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  Speaker 1: politician when he's accused of the worst stuff in the world,
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  Speaker 1: if he was like Reagan and said, where what will
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  Speaker 1: we talk about all day? Do you know what this
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  Speaker 1: guy has done for us? It's unbelievable. Anyway, we got
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a lot to get to, a lot coming up. Hey,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Bill O'Reilly will be with us the next hour. You know,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: he was in the ballroom and he was in the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: back of the room. He just happened to be in
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  Speaker 1: the towards the back when the gunshots went off. He
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: was like right there, heard them immediately. So he'll tell
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: us all about it. Coming up in the next hour. Hey,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: don't forget Buck Sexton and Klay Travis or be here
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: at noon today with an excellent show. Sean Hannity, who
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: was listen to over today, I'll probably tell the story again.
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  Speaker 1: When the gunshots were fired, the President was rushed out
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  Speaker 1: of the room to a holding room, and while he
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: was in that holding room, Sean Hannity got him on
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  Speaker 1: the phone, and the President didn't hang up. He said here,
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  Speaker 1: he just held the phone there while he argued with
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  Speaker 1: the Secret Service guys about staying are going. He's a
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  Speaker 1: fascinating story. He'll be here at the most listened to
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: radio show in America at three o'clock, Jesse Kelly. At six,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Fayla will be here at nine. He was in
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  Speaker 1: the ballroom covering the whole thing, so you'll hear him
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  Speaker 1: talk more about that tonight at nine. Right here on
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  Speaker 1: seven to ten, WR