WEBVTT - 2018 Midterms: Where Do We Go from Here? 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.400 Hey, Brian, Hi Katie. Well, Brian, you know I love 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:10.640 to play music or sing it times during our podcast, 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.040 and for this week's episode, I found just the ticket. 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:18.720 Let me take you back to nine three. This got 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:25.759 to be a mooning enough. If we can hold on, 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:33.800 not we have a chance to find the sun shot. 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:41.920 Let's keep on. Very well played, Katie, Thank you, very 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.160 well played. With a hat tip to Maureen McGovern, Thank 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.560 you Maureen for that tune and Brian. Today we're going 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.760 to spend some time looking for the light to try 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.320 to understand what happened during the mid term elections and 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:57.960 what they mean for the future of the country. As 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.280 we know, the Democrats took the House, flipping dozens of 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:05.040 Republican districts, but the Republicans kept control of the Senate, 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.640 gaining a number of seats by beating incumbent Democrats. Well, 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.040 this is like Christmas Morning for me, Katie. So I'm 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.560 so excited about this show, and we've invited one of 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.360 the people I most admire, Amy Walter, a terrific political analyst, 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.319 to talk with us today about what happened where we 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.240 go from here. She's the national editor of the Cook 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.360 Political Report, which by the Way is my favorite beach read, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:30.840 highly recommended to all of you. Then we're going to 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.880 be hearing from some of you are listeners, because voters 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.240 from all across the country are calling in with questions 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:40.679 or interesting perspectives, and I'm very excited about that as well. 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:42.600 And in the second half of the show, we're gonna 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.160 hear from presidential historian Doug Brinkley. He's going to talk 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.600 about the big picture, how the midterms will change the 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.360 trajectory of Donald Trump's presidency, and also what lessons he 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:57.520 can learn from the way past presidents dealt with opposition congresses. 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:00.840 Doug Brinkley one of my favorites. But first let's talk 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.720 to another one of my favorites, Amy Walter. We got 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.600 her on the line yesterday morning, fresh off the mid terms. 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.519 Amy Walter, Welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you, 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.440 who I'm very glad to be here. I it's the 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.520 my day after the election. UM mood and mood, which 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.480 is a just um really subsisting on adrenaline, caffeine, a 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:32.440 little bit of sugar, and a lot of peanut butter. 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.200 And that's it. That's all that's keeping me alive right now. Nice. Well, 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.440 you know, it seems to me that both sides are 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.919 claiming victory. Certainly compared to two thousand and ten, when 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:47.399 Barack Obama famously self described his experience as a shellacking, 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.160 it seems to be more of a mixed verdict for 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:54.800 President Trump. In fact, he portrayed this way quote tremendous 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:59.560 success tonight, thank you to all. So how can we 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:04.200 see such different perspectives on the same results. They both 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:08.360 actually can be correct, that both sides can find something 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.480 that they really liked out of this midterm election. And 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.280 it's something, Katie, that we've been talking about the Cook 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.160 Report for quite some time because of two things. One 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.639 just how polarized we are as a country now. Um 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.720 we saw it obviously in the difference between the popular 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.919 vote and the electoral college vote and how it's playing 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.760 out in a mid term year. Is that the House vote, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.040 which it looks like Democrats will have won by about 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:40.640 nine points somewhere north of thirty seats. But in the Senate, 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:47.400 where the map was decidedly read, Democrats defending ten states 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.040 that Trump carried, uh five of them that Trump carried 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:56.920 by double digits. The president remained popular and his success 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:01.600 his popularity helped to boost or publican candidates there, and 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.880 so we had two different elections take place on Election 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.560 Night in two very different Americas. As I'm beginning to 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:14.160 break down in my own head, it seems like we're 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.599 just seeing an acceleration of all the trends we've witnessed 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.320 in the last few years in politics, kind of culminating 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:25.080 in the election of Donald Trump. This big educational divide 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.360 between white collar, college educated whites and blue collar, non 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.400 college educated whites, a divide between cities and close in 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.560 suburbs on the one hand, and excerpts in rural areas 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:41.280 on the other, whites versus minorities, etcetera, etcetera. Is there 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:45.440 anything new or different that we learned in this election 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.640 that we didn't know going in. I don't know that 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.680 we learned anything particularly new, And I think that this 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.240 is what sort of fascinating about this election is that 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.200 if you look at the exit polls, for example, of 0:04:56.240 --> 0:05:01.400 the election that basically told you the story of the 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:06.599 eighteen election, We've had an incredible amount of stuff happen 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:11.919 in between eighteen and yet we ended up essentially in 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:17.120 the same place. And the amazing thing for the President 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.880 again is as as you noted earlier, go on to 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.479 say that he was successful, right, the places where he 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.480 campaigned the candidates one, that is true. The places where 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:31.400 he was popular candidates one, absolutely true. But there a 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:35.640 whole lot of places that we know that the president 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:44.440 carried in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania where Republicans didn't do very well. Um, 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.040 those are going to be uh to me. Those are 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:48.800 the sorts of places I'm going to be spending a 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.400 lot more time looking at as we get into And 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.560 the other question I think is whether this is a 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.120 permanent realignment that we're seeing or whether this is one 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:03.880 that is really unique to President Trump. Are these districts that, 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:08.839 for example, in the Houston suburbs that went for Mitt 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:13.960 Romney by double digits and then flipped to a Democrat 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.719 this year, are these now permanently in the Democrats camp 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.280 or are they going to move back to their sort 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:26.280 of Republican DNA once Trump's no longer in office. And 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.200 we're not going to have the answer to that right now, 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:33.040 but I do think that what we have today, instead 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:37.200 of a president with a broad coalition, he has a 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.800 narrow but deeply committed coalition. One more thing just to 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:46.400 recognize is again the president definitely had some successes. It's 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.760 always better to have a bigger Senate majority than a 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:53.240 smaller one, and it will be a more committed Trump majority. 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.080 Remember some of his biggest critics, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:00.280 from Tennessee, they're no longer in the delegations and have 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:05.040 to worry about the Mavericks so much anymore, potentially denying 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.600 him Supreme if there's another Supreme Court opening or other 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:13.400 judicial openings. But I don't think we have any idea 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:18.400 how this president is going to react to Democratic Congress, 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.960 the subpoenas, the oversight, and at the same time, we 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.200 have no idea how Democrats are going to react to 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.440 not knowing how Trump is going to react it. It 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.080 feels to me a little bit like you're handling a 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:35.520 very uh unstable substance. You know it's nitroglycerin or something, 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.640 and you're passing it around between each other and at 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.240 some point you know that something's going to explode. I 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.200 just don't know who's going to be holding it when 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.040 it explodes. Well, you know, it's interesting, as Brian and 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:53.000 I have listened to the analysis at nause um um. 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.280 You know, one one side posits that it actually is 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:01.000 helpful to President Trump to have an enemy. And now 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:05.240 that enemy obviously will be the democratically controlled House of 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:10.840 Representatives and Nancy Pelosi, which you can only imagine sort 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.360 of the vitriol that's going to be coming her way. 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.200 A S. A. P. So you have no idea in 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.920 terms of the dynamic we might be witnessing between the 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:25.320 House and the White House, right because the President is 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.600 so unpredictable, Well, he's predictably unpredictable, right, I mean, we 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.880 I think we know that he's going to punch back 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:39.400 at any subpoena or oversight or question by Democrats. But 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.840 the Democrats could also put in front of Congress some 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:49.120 of the cabinet members or the administration officials who quite 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.320 frankly haven't had to answer any questions for the last 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:56.040 two years on some pretty significant policy, whether that's healthcare 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:01.400 or immigration or trade, and they're answers to those questions 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:05.320 could be a bigger problem for Republicans than the President 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.120 can acknowledge right now. And I think he's focused very 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.440 specifically on well, if the Democrats try to impeach me, 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.600 they're going to go too far, or if Democrats try 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.400 to impeach Judge Kavanaugh, that's not what the American public wants, 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.880 so show their just obstructionists. But what if they start 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:25.440 bringing folks from HHS or DHS up to the Hill 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:30.160 and start asking questions about the immigration process on the border. 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.040 What about asking questions about the e p A and 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.240 some of the deregulatory efforts. What if they start asking 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:40.160 questions that Republicans and the administration don't have very good 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:46.240 answers for, or uncover scandals that previously had gone unknown 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.720 or unremarked. This is you know, again, this is not 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:55.040 just theoretical. These folks in Congress do have subpoena power. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.360 Amy pray your point about impeachment. I think it's pretty 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:03.240 clear that the Democratic leadership at least has no interest 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.960 in that from a political perspective, But they may not 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:10.880 have a choice if and when Robert Mueller issues his 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:16.920 report and there's some pretty damning accusations in there, um 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.280 which there might be, there might not be, but if 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:24.360 there are, um, can't you see a process like that 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:29.000 derailing whatever the agenda is now that the Democrats are 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.959 trying to absolutely and I think there are a lot 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.880 of question marks about that, as well as requesting the 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:40.280 president's tax records, which they can do, but I don't 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:44.880 know what legislative accomplishment comes from that, you know, like, 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:49.720 what's the what's the reasoning behind that for Congress, And 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.240 they're going to have to be able to to make 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.640 that case pretty cleanly and clearly for it to look 0:10:55.679 --> 0:11:00.440 like it's substitutive rather than just phishing expedition. Uh, that's 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:04.640 focused on just embarrassing the president. Speaking of that, Amy, 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:06.600 I was going to ask you about you know, there's 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:09.520 been a lot of debate internally, Amy, about the direction 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.720 of the Democratic Party, with a sort of fight over 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.319 the heart and soul. Should it be the moderate middle, 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.239 should it be the party of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.400 Did the results of the mid terms give us any 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.839 insight into that? Yeah, it's an excellent question. I think 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:30.360 there are many Democrats hoping that there would be a 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.880 definitive answer to that, especially from places like Florida or 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:38.960 Georgia or Texas where Democrats were running not just as progressives, 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.960 but their message was we can win in these diverse 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:48.640 states by pumping up turnout among voters of color, younger 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.840 people who traditionally don't show up to vote in midterm elections. 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.600 And to do that, you know, we need candidates with 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.520 interesting stories and they need to be unapologetic and unafraid 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:02.640 to to run as progressives. Well, it looks like all 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.920 three of those candidates UM will have lost. And I 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.800 think there is going to be something of a pushback 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:13.160 among national Democrats to say, if that message isn't working 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:18.000 in Florida, a state that is a battleground in if 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.880 that isn't working in Georgia or Texas, to states that 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:26.400 Democrats have been saying now for years demographically are are 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:30.360 turning their direction, then it makes it really hard to 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.560 say that that's the right message up against Donald Trump. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.880 At the same time, some of the most centrist candidates 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:45.360 lost in Indiana. Damn, you're sort of damned if you don't, right, 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.760 that's the centrist candidates lost in fairness in much more 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:54.480 difficult states, in states where Trump had like a approval rating, 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.680 where he won with a much larger margin, but in 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.400 the closer states that Trump won in two sixteen, but 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:06.800 the Democrats one on Tuesday in the Midwest, Michigan, Pennsylvania, 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.360 and Wisconsin, for example, the three states that made a 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:14.680 difference in the presidential race. Moderate Democrats or relatively center 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.040 left Democrats were the ones who were able to prevail, 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.200 and they were able to show the Democrats can still 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.040 win in those places, which I suppose was a little 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.280 bit in doubt before this. Yeah, and I think you know, 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.400 Tammy Baldwin is a great example of this senator from Wisconsin. 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.560 No one is going to call her a moderate. She 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.040 is one of the more liberal members of the United 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.520 States Senate. And yet there is and I hate this 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.880 word because it gets overused, but I'm going to use it. 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:46.000 Is there's an authenticity to Tammy Baldwin. People know exactly 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.280 who she is. Same with Shared Brown in Ohio. He's 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.600 sort of a populist liberal in Ohio, a state that 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.080 not only did Donald Trump carry, but Republicans carry the 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:01.839 governorship there. They have uniqueness to their state and an 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.240 attachment to their state that really sets them apart. Again, 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:08.960 not because of where they you know, it's it's they 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:13.840 didn't tack necessarily to the center ideologically, but personality wise. 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.120 And there the attention that they paid to the state 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.800 pays dividends and and so I think really, and Katie, 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.440 I've been thinking about this for a while that you know, 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:29.360 folks like me in Washington, for so many years we've 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:36.240 been looking at the presidential primary process on an ideological scale, right, Uh, 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:38.520 do you have the more left or the more right? Candid? 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.440 How conservative? How liberal? Um? Do you need to be? 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.760 I think normal people and so I'm not a normal 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:49.040 person I recognize as normal people. Primary voters are not 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:52.960 looking at these ideological scales and and sort of checking 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.280 off a list, right, Well, they've put on these six criteria. 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.840 They're looking for the personal attachment, the personal story, the 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.320 way that they feel that they can connect there. And 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:05.920 Donald Trump was a perfect example of that. He Uh, 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:10.000 he was not a straight down the line conservative Republican. 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:15.520 On so many issues he broke with Republican orthodoxy, but 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.280 there was an authenticity to him. And Bernie Sanders. I'm 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.240 sure you all heard it on the campaign trail too. 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.920 When I would talk to people who liked Bernie Sanders, 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.760 some of them were really conservative people, and they said, 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.640 I don't agree with anything that he says, but gosh, Dart, 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:33.760 I like that he stands up for it, he believes 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.760 in something. Well, that's such an anti establishment vote, whether 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.840 it's Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. And I was having 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:43.840 breakfast with a friend of mine this morning, and she 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:47.680 was saying she thinks we're witnessing a massive realignment, not 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:53.560 from left to right, but more populist versus elitist, you know, more, 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.240 as Brian mentioned, sort of rural and ex ex urban 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:03.320 voters versus urban and suburban voters, and that we're more 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.560 divided on those lines, along those lines than ideological lines 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.240 per se. I agree with that, And a lot of 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.880 it is cultural, right, the sense that if I live 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.480 outside of a major metropolitan area, I have a whole 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:25.160 set of life experiences and viewpoints that people in the 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.520 suburbs and the cities don't appreciate and they don't understand. 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.000 And you go into the cities and the suburbin areas 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.560 and they look out at the rural areas and they say, 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.600 why don't you understand? This country is diversifying. This country 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.240 doesn't look like it did fifty years ago. It's not 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:41.480 going to look like that anymore. Stop trying to bring 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.320 us back there and that push and pull between you know, 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.600 the transformative right, here's where we're going in the future. 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.440 And the restorative Here's who this country is and we 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.960 want it to remain. Is that fight that is going 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.000 to be with us, certainly for the next four year, 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:03.800 isn't The real question is how much longer will this 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:10.280 tension be the central force in our politics. The one 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:14.000 ideological element I would add to this discussion, though, is 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.560 that the Democrats you mentioned in the Midwest didn't give 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.520 their Republican opponents an obvious line of attack by saying 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.720 they were going to abolish ice or b for impeachment, 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.800 or take some of the kind of harder edged positions 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.280 than a number of the more liberal Democrats and the 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:34.840 Sun Belt took, which their Republican opponents seemed to use 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:39.159 very effectively against. It's an interesting point, and look in 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.840 those suburban districts. What you found were Democrats who did 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.679 the following one. They stayed away not just from some 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.880 of the divisive issues like ice um, but they also 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.720 stayed away from impeachment. I didn't hear anything about Russia 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:59.920 or Mueller. In fact, the word Trump rarely came up 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.199 for many of these Democrats who won in these suburban districts. 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.000 They focused much more in healthcare. But I do think 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.359 that this is the ideological fight within the Democratic Party 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.200 to come on the issue of healthcare. Democrats made that 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.080 a centerpiece of their election this year, specifically looking to 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:23.680 Republicans and their votes in Congress to repeal Obamacare, the 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:28.680 decision by the Trump administration to continue to fight for 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:33.400 um in the courts to overturn the law, and you 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.000 saw sort of a split within the party and whether 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:41.199 they're in conservative districts more moderate districts about the question 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:45.399 of medicare for all and what that means for some voters. 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.560 I think they interpret it in one way. Other voters 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.399 interpreted another way. But at some point Democrats are going 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.200 to have to actually explain what Medicare for all does mean. 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.440 And what you saw in many of these competitive states 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:04.280 was at Republicans were ready to pounce on this issue 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:10.840 by labeling Democrats as socialists, right, they want socialized medicine. 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.120 They're going to take away your access to your doctors. 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.560 It's going to be trillions of dollars of taxes. And 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:21.320 I think in many cases those attacks didn't work, in 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.280 part because people don't quite understand what this whole Medicare 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.440 for All thing is about. But they did very clearly 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.320 understand what the pre existing condition fight was about, what 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:33.920 drug cost fight was about. That's a day to day 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:38.000 concern for them. But I think come this debate over 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:42.840 expanding healthcare to include this Medicare for all or single 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:47.840 payer versus the President wanting to repeal Obamacare and what 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.399 would be in its place is going to be a 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:54.560 central argument. We asked some people to call in with 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:59.280 their questions concerns, and we have a few people who 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:02.120 are nice enough to do just that. So we don't 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.040 want to keep them on hold indefinitely. And Amy, I 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:09.119 know they benefit from your insight UH as well. So 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:12.400 let's go to Julie from Kansas, who has a question. 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:16.040 Julie High, how are you? Hi? Katie? Hi, Brian, thank 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:18.919 you so much for having me all. You're welcome. Thanks, 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:23.080 what's your question? I'm some campus and UM. I was 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:25.920 so heartened and so excited last night that we did 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:29.959 not elect Chris Kobach to be UM our next governor. 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.880 We actually went Democratic with Laura Kelly and we had 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:36.399 one other district UM where we elected Sharis David's for 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.879 the House UM. But this morning, as I really started 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:42.760 to think about it, I started feeling more like these 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.280 were exceptions. These were two people that were absolutely horrible 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:50.720 candidates and they went Democrat because the Republican option was 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:56.080 so incredibly awful. I'm curious what your take is on 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:58.840 what this means of the country with a with a 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.959 red state going Democratic in a couple of different areas. 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:03.719 I don't think this is a blue wave for US. 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.520 I think that these are small exceptions. Amy, what would 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:09.159 you say, Yeah, it's a really good point because Democrats 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:13.000 were hoping that they could have similar success in other 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.960 red state governorships where he had an unpopular governor in 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.160 the case of Oklahoma, just like Kansas that was retiring. 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:23.119 Oklahoma and Mary Fallon, who left office I think was 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:27.240 something like a fifteen point favorable rating um in that state, 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:31.960 and uh, the race got very close, but ultimately Republicans 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.880 prevailed in Oklahoma. South Dakota another place that has had 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.359 Republican governors for quite some time, but Democrats had a 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:44.440 really appealing candidate in a former rodeo writer um who 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:48.600 had been paralyzed in a rodeo accident, who kept that 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:54.159 race very competitive. Ultimately that race tipped to the Republicans. 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.000 And Iowa, another state where Republicans have bit a charge 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.080 for a long long time. They kept the governorship in 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.359 that state. And so Kansas really of of of the 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:08.080 red states where Democrats saw an opening. They had good candidates, 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:12.520 they had unpopular governors, or at least maybe a cent 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.439 from voters in that state that it was time to 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:16.960 do something new, you know, they they could turn a 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:23.800 new leaf, try out another party. Only Kansas really delivered 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:29.240 on that promise. Wisconsin was a big win for Democrats. 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:31.200 You know, they've been trying now this is a fourth election, 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.760 they've been trying to unseat Scott Walker. But that's not 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:38.160 really a red state. So of the of the dark 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:41.880 red states, Kansas does definitely stick out. Julie from Kansas, 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:45.600 Thank you for calling. Julie, Thank you. Okay, we've got 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:49.880 Jonathan from Texas. Uh, thanks for calling in and what's 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:53.280 your question? Hi gaty Hi, Hi Brian. It's so great 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:57.000 to be speaking with you guys. Um. So my question 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:02.119 is um. I'm a um the border. I'm a second 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.080 generation Texan born and raised on the border. From the radio. UH. 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.160 Immigration has always locally been talked about as a positive thing, 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.639 and betso as someone from the border El Paso, I 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:16.359 believe understood in articulate this issue better than anyone I've seen, 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:19.080 and so after looking at the margins in the race 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:21.520 last night, it looks like a lot of other Texans 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:24.640 agreed to even though it wasn't obviously enough to get 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:28.160 him across the finish line. But are there any lessons 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:32.120 that national Democrats can be learning from how Betso talked 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:36.760 about immigration and any lessons that can be applied nationwide 0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:40.320 for um the elections in the future. I'm really interested 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:42.920 in this, Jonathan too, And I'd love to hear Amy 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.119 and Briant's take on this, because obviously the cornerstone of 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:50.520 President Trump's last ditch efforts to do well in these 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:54.560 mid terms was to talk about the caravan pretty much 0:23:55.359 --> 0:24:00.960 seven and two Stoke, I think some fear about immigrants 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:05.080 and the people who were escaping poverty and violence in 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.960 Central America through Mexico. So um, and I was pretty 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:13.160 surprised how well Betto did. Um. I guess I had 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:19.640 read some premature obituaries about him prior to election day. 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:23.760 But but what about the way that immigration is being portrayed? 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:27.600 Does this, you know, go right along party lines? Brian 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:31.080 and Amy? And what lessons can national candidates learned from this. 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:33.960 I mean, I just view that as such an interesting 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:39.680 race because Cruz was about as narrow a red candidate 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:43.639 as Texas has produced for a major statewide office in 0:24:43.680 --> 0:24:47.960 a while. Um, and Texas is still just Republican enough 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:52.200 that by consolidating the people who like what Trump's doing, 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:55.800 who identify as conservatives, he was able kind of just 0:24:55.920 --> 0:24:59.520 to get over the line. Um what Betto did. That's 0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:03.000 differ weren't than you know, any Texas Democrat pretty much 0:25:03.040 --> 0:25:05.879 for the last twenty years. Is he was able to 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:09.880 take a lot of moderate suburban voters in places outside 0:25:09.920 --> 0:25:14.800 Dallas and Houston and convinced them that he's bigger and 0:25:14.960 --> 0:25:18.159 maybe a little bit different than a typical national Democrat. 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:21.720 And even though he was pretty liberal per Amy's point 0:25:21.760 --> 0:25:25.600 about authenticity, people liked him. And a lot of those 0:25:25.600 --> 0:25:28.040 people just didn't like Ted Cruz. They thought he had 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:30.400 taken his eye off the ball by running for president, 0:25:30.480 --> 0:25:34.199 spending more time in Iowa than in Texas. So, you know, 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:36.399 he was able to come close, but I think some 0:25:36.480 --> 0:25:42.000 of the ideological positions that he took probably resulted in 0:25:42.080 --> 0:25:45.080 him being you know, just short in the end. And 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:48.199 before Jonathan goes Jonathan, what do you hope is in 0:25:48.320 --> 0:25:51.800