Speaker 1: When four friends from Washington, DC's most elite prep school
Speaker 1: are hacked, they're thrust into a global conspiracy that threatens
Speaker 1: to expose DC's most influential families. Meet the Daughters of
Speaker 1: d C. Listen to Daughters of d C on the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts,
Speaker 1: The Armstrong and Getty Show. But let's be frank and
Speaker 1: national nightmares upon us. The basic rules of our democracy
Speaker 1: a under attack from the president. We begin tonight with
Speaker 1: a series of admissions by the President that all but
Speaker 1: assures his impeachment in the House of Representatives, all but
Speaker 1: insurance his impeachment. We're living in a national nightmare upon
Speaker 1: us that's not very measured by sleepy eyes. Chuck Todd
Speaker 1: trying to figure out so that So that's Chuck Todd
Speaker 1: to meet the press, trying to figure out the currents here.
Speaker 1: So you got britt Hume of Fox here, senior political
Speaker 1: analyst of Fox. He's their top guy who tweeted, as
Speaker 1: I've written before, Adam Schiff is a reckless partisan who
Speaker 1: is only credible to other reckless partisans. But for the
Speaker 1: President of the United States States to say he could
Speaker 1: meet in treason is despicable, It's insanity. Trying to figure
Speaker 1: out where we are with all this stuff is difficult, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: and the currents EBB and flow. Who better to discuss
Speaker 1: that with than David Drucker, the senior political correspondent for
Speaker 1: the Washington Examiner. Speaking of top guys, David joins us. Now, Hello, David,
Speaker 1: how are you? I'm good to be here. Good, we're
Speaker 1: we're we're imported here. I don't I don't know what
Speaker 1: introm's supposed to use. I'm all confused. Well, do you
Speaker 1: believe a nationale whereas upon us never mind, don't answer that.
Speaker 1: We're employing what we call the impeachometer, and each unit
Speaker 1: of it is a Nixon and we are day to
Speaker 1: day trying to decide whether the impeechometer has moved closer
Speaker 1: to the president being removed from officer further away. It's
Speaker 1: a lot like the nuclear clock, right, it's impeachment, right,
Speaker 1: exactly So, given the EBB and flow of news stories
Speaker 1: and counter stories, So what do you make of all
Speaker 1: this today? Well, you know, I think that we're in
Speaker 1: a period and I think this will continue for probably
Speaker 1: for some time. But who knows where there are a
Speaker 1: number of facts that are coming out will come out
Speaker 1: that you know, will appear problematic for the President and
Speaker 1: give Democrats um reaffirm the Democrats belief that the impeachment
Speaker 1: inquiry was was the right course of action. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, the I think Republicans and the President will
Speaker 1: simply take a different view of those same facts. And
Speaker 1: I think there are Republicans on Capitol Hill that will
Speaker 1: not necessarily agree with the President, but I don't think
Speaker 1: many of them will break with him unless we end
Speaker 1: up with a set of a set of information that
Speaker 1: is particularly obvious and damning and not a matter of debate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, in that In that regard, it's going to
Speaker 1: be similar to the Russia investigation, where there was a
Speaker 1: lot of smoke, but there was never quite fire, at
Speaker 1: least as the partisan looked at it. Yeah, the partisans,
Speaker 1: because I'm still waiting to see the first and I
Speaker 1: haven't yet either partisan pundit that that I follow, or
Speaker 1: person in my real life change their position on supporting
Speaker 1: Trump or not. I still haven't had one person yet,
Speaker 1: and I would think that that would have to happen
Speaker 1: before impeachment really gets going, because so far it's still
Speaker 1: it's people that they were on board for impeaching him
Speaker 1: over Russia UM or supporting him over Russia, and they're
Speaker 1: in the same camp now. So I still haven't seen
Speaker 1: one person changed sides. Maybe you have, No, I haven't,
Speaker 1: And I mean I think that would be telling in
Speaker 1: terms of things turning against the president on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 1: I do believe at this point that he is very
Speaker 1: likely to be impeached and very very unlikely to be removed,
Speaker 1: so and and and I say that because if you
Speaker 1: look at the the information that Democrats are citing and
Speaker 1: referring to as um making impeachment the right course of action,
Speaker 1: at least the inquiry, I don't see what they're going
Speaker 1: to find out that is going to cause them to say, yeah,
Speaker 1: all this information is true and exists, but now that
Speaker 1: we know more about the context of it, you know,
Speaker 1: it's all it's not impeachable. I just do not see
Speaker 1: that happening. And I do not see the Democratic base
Speaker 1: being okay with that. But I don't even see them
Speaker 1: being okay with it. So I really think we're on
Speaker 1: course or impeachment UM. But at by the same token,
Speaker 1: you know, Republicans, whether this was strategic or not set
Speaker 1: the bar for legitimizing the impeachment inquiry and possibly entertaining
Speaker 1: impeachment as a quid pro quo in which he, you know,
Speaker 1: said to the to Ukraine, you can have this if
Speaker 1: you give me that. And Republicans are insisting that is
Speaker 1: in no way the case. And so unless there's something
Speaker 1: that is just completely obvious that that is the case,
Speaker 1: even if Democrats say in the fact they think that
Speaker 1: might be the case, then I don't really see them moving.
Speaker 1: And in part it's because I'm not sure that Republican
Speaker 1: voters are going to move now. If they do move,
Speaker 1: that I think would produce a different reaction among Republicans
Speaker 1: on the hill. You know, we know they're afraid to
Speaker 1: cross Trump. They don't want to get tweeted at problems
Speaker 1: and Republican primaries, but they don't want to cross their
Speaker 1: own voters. That's the bigger deal. As long as their
Speaker 1: voters are with Trump, there's very little motivation for them
Speaker 1: to move, no matter what they think. Privately, for folks
Speaker 1: just tuning in, we're talking to David Drucker with the
Speaker 1: Washington and Examineries, their senior political correspondent. The big headline
Speaker 1: today impeachment wise, is that a couple of diplomatcy you've
Speaker 1: never heard of are exchanging texts in which one was saying,
Speaker 1: this is crazy. It looks like a quid pro quo. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, if they investigate Biden will do these things
Speaker 1: for them, And the other guy says, it ain't that.
Speaker 1: Why are you saying that? Stop saying that? Um. And
Speaker 1: there are a number of instances where diplomats feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe it is a quid pro quote. But I'm always
Speaker 1: hesitant when the Democrats on a committee unleash um excerpts
Speaker 1: of something. I know they're carefully selected. And can we
Speaker 1: expect a Republican counter release today of texts? Well, I
Speaker 1: don't know, because I don't know what was withheld or
Speaker 1: not withheld, But I think that if such information was
Speaker 1: with hell, I'm sure it will be released. I think
Speaker 1: your question gets to the larger issue of voters and
Speaker 1: Americans trying to figure out what's true and what's not,
Speaker 1: what to believe and what not to believe, what the
Speaker 1: context of things are. And I mean, I think it's
Speaker 1: incumbent upon Democrats as they make the political case for
Speaker 1: impeachment and impeachment is a political process of politics is
Speaker 1: not unimportant here. They're going to have to make the
Speaker 1: case that the information proves the president acted improperly. At
Speaker 1: the very least, I think acting improperly would be enough
Speaker 1: of a case. By the way, um, if they're able
Speaker 1: to make it for Independence and Swing voters, two start
Speaker 1: to agree that impeachment and possibly removal is warranted. And
Speaker 1: I think that if you want to understand the long
Speaker 1: term political ramifications of this visa, you just watch Swing
Speaker 1: voters and Independence. A lot of them don't like Trump.
Speaker 1: They've been very suspicious about impeachment as the proper course
Speaker 1: of action. Will those numbers change. We've seen some indications
Speaker 1: that those numbers are changing, But you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: see how this plays out over time. The president is
Speaker 1: going to continue to make an alternate case. He has
Speaker 1: a big megaphone. Sometimes the Democrats don't know how to
Speaker 1: do anything that's politically smart because for some reason, and
Speaker 1: it's contects both parties. If you're a member of the
Speaker 1: House of Representatives, you're just clueless as to how to
Speaker 1: communicate to people who don't agree with you, and you
Speaker 1: think that stunts are actually a good idea Yeah, Adams
Speaker 1: Shifford doing himself no favors in terms of getting people
Speaker 1: on board. Finally, I think Nancy Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi is
Speaker 1: the most effective spokesman they have for this. She needs
Speaker 1: a deputy that's almost as good as her. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say that's absolutely correct. Hey, a final question, David,
Speaker 1: is Rudy Giuliani the loosest cannon in the history of
Speaker 1: American politics? I mean honestly, that is, he may be
Speaker 1: more entertaining than the president. I mean honestly, and and
Speaker 1: by the way, Republicans are concerned about him because he
Speaker 1: is he's he's his own boss. He says what he
Speaker 1: wants when he wants. And I think if he, if
Speaker 1: the President were able to put him in a box somewhere,
Speaker 1: they feel a love better. Out of time with David Drucker,
Speaker 1: senior political correspondent for The Washington CAAMA will have a
Speaker 1: link to find his latest pieces easily. David, Thanks, Milian,
Speaker 1: good to talk to you anytime.