Speaker 1: Let's welcome to the show to talk a little more
Speaker 1: politics of variety of flavors. David Drucker. He's the senior
Speaker 1: political correspondent of The Washington Examiner and a longtime guest
Speaker 1: on the program. David, how are you today? I'm great?
Speaker 1: How are you? What do you think of that that
Speaker 1: the majority of voters now say character, health, whatever. I
Speaker 1: just want to have, you know, an extra number on
Speaker 1: my side. It's true. I mean, if politics has really
Speaker 1: become a shurts and skins game. You know, partisanship has
Speaker 1: always been a big part of American politics, especially their
Speaker 1: two party system, but you know, over the past that's
Speaker 1: tended twenty years. UM. Voters on both sides of the
Speaker 1: aisle have made a calculation that it doesn't matter what
Speaker 1: kind of person they send to Washington. Uh, and I
Speaker 1: say Washington in particular, there's much more nuance and much
Speaker 1: more I think, uh, a willingness to cross the aisle
Speaker 1: in in state and local races, UM, but especially in
Speaker 1: congressional races and in presidential contest, it's simply about how
Speaker 1: will you vote, which side will you vote with? In fact,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if you'll do anything I like
Speaker 1: but you say you're for my side, you'll support that majority.
Speaker 1: You hate the people I hate, and that's good enough
Speaker 1: for me, And in fact, that's the most important thing
Speaker 1: to me. Yeah, you said the key phrase, and I've
Speaker 1: seen polling on this. That is what it's more about
Speaker 1: than anything else. You hate the people I hate. Yeah. Um, Look,
Speaker 1: if you're a Republican running for office, you're a Democrat
Speaker 1: running for office. I've seen this in particularly more acute
Speaker 1: ways on the Republican side. I think it's sometimes it's
Speaker 1: completely immaterial whether or not you're a reliable fiscal conservative
Speaker 1: or reliable reliable conservative on other issues. It just matters
Speaker 1: that you are willing to mix it up with Democrats,
Speaker 1: mix it up with you know, goats like me in
Speaker 1: the media. And if you can do that, I'm not
Speaker 1: even going to pay that close attention to how you're
Speaker 1: voting on particular legislation. Now, obviously, UM, as a Republican
Speaker 1: or Democrat, UM, you have to tow the line or
Speaker 1: believe in certain things to survive in a primary right,
Speaker 1: you have to oppose abortion rights. If you're a Republican,
Speaker 1: you have to be four abortion rights. If you're a Democrat,
Speaker 1: there are other issues in there that are important, but
Speaker 1: all things being equal, as long as you're not uh
Speaker 1: contradictory on the biggest issues gun rights is a huge
Speaker 1: issue on the Republican side, then we just want to
Speaker 1: see you throw punches at the people that I think
Speaker 1: are trying to kill me and destroy my life. And
Speaker 1: you know the language that he's used now in politics
Speaker 1: where people UH constantly believed the other side wants to,
Speaker 1: you know, pour gasoline on the country, lighting on fire,
Speaker 1: and I guess we're you know, move everybody to China
Speaker 1: or something. And this is you know, this is the
Speaker 1: atmosphere that we're dealing with. I talked to voters all
Speaker 1: the time, and you know, they are they are insistent
Speaker 1: that the other side, by the way, they're insistent that
Speaker 1: the other side plays dirty. They're regretful that their own
Speaker 1: side won't play as dirty as the other side. I
Speaker 1: run into that all the time. They're also insistent that
Speaker 1: the other side always wins and we always lose, and
Speaker 1: that we don't win this time, even though there's a
Speaker 1: regularly scheduled election coming two years from now and two
Speaker 1: years after that and two years after that. Nope, this
Speaker 1: is it. It's either now or never, or we're all
Speaker 1: going to end up subjugated by you know, g or
Speaker 1: you know, name your authoritarian at the moment. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: either gonna have to answer to AOC or Trump, depending
Speaker 1: on who wins. Well to that point, Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: want to get to one of your columns here in
Speaker 1: a second moment. One my favorite poll number of the day.
Speaker 1: This is from NBC News. Percentage of Americans who say
Speaker 1: the opposite party's agenda poses a threat that, if not stopped,
Speaker 1: will destroy America as we know it. Four out of
Speaker 1: five Democrats, four out of five Republicans say that four
Speaker 1: out of five. Yeah. And not only that, they think
Speaker 1: that the other side is doing it on purpose. They
Speaker 1: don't even think it's you know, just you know, dumb
Speaker 1: luck that the other side's ideas are no good. They
Speaker 1: think the other side is in the room conspiring to
Speaker 1: ruin everything on purpose for the soul, a purpose of
Speaker 1: claiming power and subjugating them, as if we're all going
Speaker 1: to be serfs again. You know, it's funny because we've
Speaker 1: listened to this every two years, and then every two
Speaker 1: years life goes on pretty much as normal. I get this,
Speaker 1: you know, I've still got the Constitution and the First
Speaker 1: Amendment and the Second Amendment, and I can say what
Speaker 1: I want, do what I want, travel where I want,
Speaker 1: protest the government, and you know what I mean. Obviously
Speaker 1: the economy. Um, you know, there's a business cycle. Sometimes
Speaker 1: some policies are good for the economy, some are bad.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying the government has no impact on things,
Speaker 1: but these are policy debates. Are are general. American way
Speaker 1: of life has basically continued. And you know, if you
Speaker 1: look at it, the grand scheme of history only gotten
Speaker 1: better for more people, you know, and yet people are
Speaker 1: looking over their shoulder now convinced that their neighbor wants
Speaker 1: to boss them over and over the head of the
Speaker 1: baseball bad on purpose. And you know that's the stunt
Speaker 1: of where we are. Yeah, I don't know how we
Speaker 1: move forward if if of people think the other side
Speaker 1: is out to destroy the country. But anyway, I want
Speaker 1: to get to this because I think it's one of
Speaker 1: the most fascinating thing things that's happening in politics. Democrats
Speaker 1: have believed for a very long time that the growing
Speaker 1: Hispanic population could give them a permanent majority, because clearly,
Speaker 1: as more Hispanic people come here, they're going to vote
Speaker 1: Democrat and that's just a good thing. Well, that's turning
Speaker 1: out not to be the case. And a number of
Speaker 1: places around the country, and according to you, Nevada has
Speaker 1: become ground zero for Republican efforts to court Latino voters.
Speaker 1: Tell us about that, Well, look, I mean, if you
Speaker 1: look at all of the polling this election cycle, Republicans
Speaker 1: UM could do very well with Hispanics or Latinos on
Speaker 1: the West Coast uh different terminologies on election day, right,
Speaker 1: and they could do well at historic levels, and they
Speaker 1: might even sweep some house seats in the Rio Grand
Speaker 1: Valley along the Mexican border in Texas, UM districts that
Speaker 1: they haven't won uh for eons. And what you're seeing
Speaker 1: is that a lot of the Republican Party's appeal with
Speaker 1: blue collar voters is expending past the white working class
Speaker 1: into the Hispanic working class. I talked to people in
Speaker 1: Nevada about this, UM. You know, I think one of
Speaker 1: the reasons this may be happening. If it happens is
Speaker 1: as Hispanics, the majority of Hispanics will still vote for Democrats.
Speaker 1: They will still be a major part of the Democratic coalition.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons though, lately they may be shedding
Speaker 1: these voters. Not only are Republicans playing the identity politics
Speaker 1: game and just making a much stronger ever effort to
Speaker 1: court Latino voters, actually opening offices in their neighborhoods uh
Speaker 1: firing you know, people who speak fluent Spanish to appeal
Speaker 1: to Latino voters, advertising and mormally in Spanish language media. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know. But Democrats at the moment a cultural agenda
Speaker 1: that is more left of center than it used to be.
Speaker 1: It is making some Hispanish uncomfortable with the coalition, part
Speaker 1: of the same way that we got suburban Republicans uncomfortable
Speaker 1: with the Republican coalition during Trump's frantancy and moved towards
Speaker 1: the Democrats. So these, you know, these things happen and
Speaker 1: can happen over time. Interestingly enough, as much as Republicans
Speaker 1: out the gains that they think they're gonna make with Hispanics,
Speaker 1: they also constantly talked about the idea that Democrats opened
Speaker 1: and border because they want more voters. So on the
Speaker 1: one hand they brag about the support they're gaining with Hispanics,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, they keep insisting that Hispanics are
Speaker 1: more likely to vote for Democrats. It's an interesting contradiction.
Speaker 1: I don't think, um all kidding aside that, although I
Speaker 1: wasn't kidding, this is what's happening. But aside from that,
Speaker 1: I don't know if Democrats are fully appreciated yet that
Speaker 1: if they believe it's interesting polish more to the left
Speaker 1: on some of these hot button cultural issues, they're going
Speaker 1: to have to there that not as many. It was
Speaker 1: such a big deal when I was a kid, but
Speaker 1: you know, the way the way things change. But I
Speaker 1: don't know where this is going to lead our politics.
Speaker 1: It's it's always seemed weird to me that because I
Speaker 1: live in an area where there are a lot of
Speaker 1: Hispanic families lined up to go to church on you know,
Speaker 1: every Sunday, and uh, you know, the Democratic Party is
Speaker 1: not exactly church going friendly. So I've never understood how
Speaker 1: that fit together. Well. Look, I mean, when you know,
Speaker 1: voters of all stripes make decisions about where they feel
Speaker 1: most at home. I mean, there are plenty of Republicans
Speaker 1: in the suburbs that have been a part of the
Speaker 1: GOP coalition. They're not a part of the coalition because
Speaker 1: us they're fixated on trying to reduce abortions, or because
Speaker 1: they embrace the Second Amendment to what other Republicans do
Speaker 1: in other um parts of the country or in rural
Speaker 1: neighborhoods or ex Serman neighborhoods. But you know, for reasons
Speaker 1: of taxes and regulations, how small businesses are treated by
Speaker 1: the government, uh, for issues of foreign policy. They're part
Speaker 1: of the Republican coalition. So it's it's natural to find
Speaker 1: voters in a coalition. They don't agree on a lot
Speaker 1: of things. That they agree on the things that matter
Speaker 1: to them and um so that and that's where they are.
Speaker 1: But when things change too much, it can cause you
Speaker 1: on particular issues, it can cause them to reconsider. Hey,
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you this before we let you go.
Speaker 1: I ask your colleague Sarah Westward about it, and I'm
Speaker 1: wondering what your take is. She seemed to feel like
Speaker 1: the zeitgeist in d C was that Joe Biden will
Speaker 1: will at some point give a speech where he says
Speaker 1: he's stepping aside for the next generation or something like that,
Speaker 1: will not finish out his first term. What do you
Speaker 1: think will not finish out his first term? No, no, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, no, He's finished, well, I'm sorry, not
Speaker 1: not run again. He'll finish his term, but not run again.
Speaker 1: So I don't have reporting to give you. What I
Speaker 1: can tell you is that the man wanted to be
Speaker 1: president for fifty years and you just don't just walk
Speaker 1: away from that. I think he wants to run again.
Speaker 1: I think that he intends to run again. I'm just
Speaker 1: not convinced he's actually going to run again when they
Speaker 1: have to sit down and game out a re election
Speaker 1: campaign where he's gonna have to be much more aggressively
Speaker 1: public and on the road because there will not be
Speaker 1: knock on what a raging pandemic that forces everybody to
Speaker 1: be inside. Does he turn to come, does he turn
Speaker 1: to Kamala, or does he say we should open it
Speaker 1: up to all comers. It really doesn't matter what he does,
Speaker 1: because all comers are going to come after it. Vice
Speaker 1: President Harris has not established herself as a political figure
Speaker 1: with a base of power or report within the party
Speaker 1: that is sufficient to keep other ambitious Democrats out of
Speaker 1: an open sea bris. I know you don't have reporting
Speaker 1: on it, but do you think that's the most likely scenario,
Speaker 1: just based on your reading of the tea leaves? I
Speaker 1: just think it's a toss up. You know. Some days, honestly,
Speaker 1: I just I'm convinced he's gonna run Another days. I
Speaker 1: think to myself, when you're eighty two headed toward eighty six,
Speaker 1: if you could finish the second term, the you know,
Speaker 1: the presidency ages everybody. Right, you go into the presidency
Speaker 1: in your mid foties or mid fifties, and if you're
Speaker 1: not gray yet, you come out gray. Most of the reason,
Speaker 1: two term presidents are happy to be done with everything.
Speaker 1: In fact, one term presidents usually because as much as
Speaker 1: you want the job, as ambitious as you are, it's
Speaker 1: so taxing that once you're done, you're just done. And
Speaker 1: so you know, that's I think what Joe Biden and
Speaker 1: his family I unfortunately about a second term. I have to, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: have to let you go. I appreciate you answering that question,
Speaker 1: because I know reporters don't like to speculate. But David Rucker,
Speaker 1: we'll have you on again soon. It's going to be
Speaker 1: a spicy couple of years, no doubt about that. Armstrong
Speaker 1: and Jetti