Speaker 1: Front page headline, Ron de Santis is the future of
Speaker 1: the Republican Party, as Jonah Goldberg set up on CNN,
Speaker 1: representing the Republican side of things, he is the head
Speaker 1: of the Republican Party now, Ron de Santis, I think
Speaker 1: that might be a little premature. There's a there's a
Speaker 1: there's an orange man from New York who has actually
Speaker 1: from Florida who has a say in that. Also, if
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the more negative spin though, I
Speaker 1: was just watching a little Fox News coverage in the
Speaker 1: lunch room and their hosts saying, We've got the worst
Speaker 1: inflation in forty years, We've got the worst crime in
Speaker 1: forty years, we have the worst border ever, and the
Speaker 1: Republicans couldn't get over this is this is a referendum
Speaker 1: on the Republican Party. The Fox host said, Let's chat
Speaker 1: about this and more with Sarah Westwood, an investigative reporter
Speaker 1: for the Washington Examiner previously the White House reporter for CNN. Sarah, welcome,
Speaker 1: how are you. I'm great, Thanks for having me. We
Speaker 1: will give you free reign over our radio show. What
Speaker 1: are your takeaways? What are your impressions from last night?
Speaker 1: But to a lot of pressure, but thank you. You know,
Speaker 1: I think Republicans had raised expectations to an unrealistic level
Speaker 1: before the election, and I think some of the choices
Speaker 1: that the Republican campaign are made in the run up
Speaker 1: to the election are going to be second guests. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you look at, for example, the Superpack connected to
Speaker 1: House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, that group Congressional Leadership Fund
Speaker 1: was spending millions of dollars in districts that ultimately didn't
Speaker 1: even come close. In districts in Oregon, in Washington State,
Speaker 1: you know, big reaches for Republicans and not shoring up
Speaker 1: the winnable districts that ended up being very close, but
Speaker 1: many of them broke for Democrats. So I think there
Speaker 1: was sort of an irrational optimism among Republicans because the
Speaker 1: landscapes looked so bad for Democrats. But in the end,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden was not the polarizing figure that Donald Trump was,
Speaker 1: and so even dissatisfied voters went into the poll box
Speaker 1: and at the ballot box and didn't necessarily cast a
Speaker 1: vote purely against Joe Biden. So his unpopularity wasn't the
Speaker 1: type of drag that I think a lot of analysts expected,
Speaker 1: and of course we we answered the question of can
Speaker 1: you be a doctor who sells fake dial the diet pills,
Speaker 1: moved to a different state and try to become a
Speaker 1: U S Senator? So that question has finally been answered. Uh,
Speaker 1: the age old question can you be a quack doctor
Speaker 1: from a different state and become a senator? He lost
Speaker 1: to a stroke victim, good Laurel and a guy who's
Speaker 1: never held a real job. If you wanted to look
Speaker 1: at the Federmentaz race, Sarah or a number of different
Speaker 1: races around the country, what about the Republican senatorial candidates.
Speaker 1: So there's you know, got a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: candidate quality, and I think that the Pennsylvania race is
Speaker 1: a perfect example. Dr Oz didn't have a lot of
Speaker 1: credibility on the issues that pattered the most to voters
Speaker 1: this cycle. Right, they cared about inflation, they cared about crime,
Speaker 1: and Dr Oz was television doctor, so he wasn't able
Speaker 1: to speak to the issues most important to voters. And
Speaker 1: that's sort of the same problem that you know, herschel
Speaker 1: Walker and Georgia had. Sure, he had celebrity, he had charisma,
Speaker 1: but what credibility did he really have to be talking
Speaker 1: about keeping the street safe and keeping inflation down. Democrats
Speaker 1: have a lot of message discipline in both of those races,
Speaker 1: even though John Cutterman was an exceptionally weak candidate and
Speaker 1: he was beatable, and and so was Rafael Warnock in Georgia,
Speaker 1: and you know, you can go down the line down
Speaker 1: through house races. There were a number of other UH
Speaker 1: races that were winnable for Republicans, like in Virginia, the
Speaker 1: race in Northern Virginia Gainst Abigail span Burger and Yes
Speaker 1: Lea Vega, Yes Lea Vega had a big controversy saying
Speaker 1: something kind of like if you remember taught aken then
Speaker 1: the Missouri Center race said about women's bodies can't get
Speaker 1: pregnant if they're raped. You know, candidates that weren't vetted,
Speaker 1: it weren't ready for prime time. We're put up in
Speaker 1: these key races, and Republicans sort of thought that that
Speaker 1: would be overlooked because of concerns about the economy, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't. Okay, I have another essay type question for you,
Speaker 1: but before we get there, let's let's not leap past
Speaker 1: the headlines. It looks correct me if I'm wrong, Like,
Speaker 1: the Republicans will take the House of Representatives. How likely
Speaker 1: is that that? And by how many seats do you think?
Speaker 1: Right now? It does look that way, but it just
Speaker 1: looks to be like a handful at this point, and
Speaker 1: the races outstanding are really really close, So that doesn't
Speaker 1: exactly give Republicans a big mandate, And you know, it
Speaker 1: makes it so that any vacancies that occur in the
Speaker 1: House are going to be big marquee events over the
Speaker 1: next two years, right, So that's going to be instructful
Speaker 1: for Washington. In the Senate, you know, there's still an
Speaker 1: outside chance that Republicans can take the Senate. The Republicans
Speaker 1: are looking really good in Nevada with Adam lack Salt
Speaker 1: running a out of Catherine Cortez Bass, so that will
Speaker 1: be a pick up opportunity that would essentially cancel out
Speaker 1: the Settlement win and control of the Senate could come
Speaker 1: down once again to Georgia runoff, which I believe would
Speaker 1: be December six, So just a few more weeks until
Speaker 1: we've learned the outcome. So all is not lost for Republicans,
Speaker 1: but you know, conceptually, politically, it was a bad night
Speaker 1: and even if they pull out very narrow majorities, this
Speaker 1: won't be considered a good mid term. History won't remember
Speaker 1: definitely was not a good mid term for the Republicans.
Speaker 1: But if you're going to pick out, the best thing,
Speaker 1: which I already mentioned earlier, is the Republicans have a
Speaker 1: new rock star. I mean, he was a rock star
Speaker 1: before last night, but now he's an ultra super rock
Speaker 1: star in Ron Santas. And let me let me throw
Speaker 1: this in as well, Sarah, the email to the Armstrong
Speaker 1: and Getty show has been running astonishingly toward Trump has
Speaker 1: to go practically universally, which was as surprising to me
Speaker 1: and Jack as any buddy. Um, you feel free to,
Speaker 1: you know, throw that into your answer. What about the
Speaker 1: santiss rise, Yeah, I mean I think that's the other
Speaker 1: huge element of this, of what these results tell us
Speaker 1: is that Donald Trump, I think was a drag on
Speaker 1: a number of candidates who didn't have brands independent of him, right,
Speaker 1: and or candidates who were associated very very closely with him.
Speaker 1: For Republican candidates who were not, who were seen as
Speaker 1: independent of him, they did very well. Rondo Santis is
Speaker 1: a great example of that. I mean, he ran up
Speaker 1: historic margins in his state sort of solidified his position
Speaker 1: as the hat of the party. I think that Trump's
Speaker 1: negative of facts on the party's prospects has been something
Speaker 1: that's sort of been whispered about with more frequency and
Speaker 1: Republican circles, and I wonder if this result will let
Speaker 1: people start saying it out loud, because at this point,
Speaker 1: what cost will Republicans have for kiding that Trump stepped
Speaker 1: off the stage? I mean, before there was a fear
Speaker 1: that voters would punish any Republican who said that out loud.
Speaker 1: This election is clear evidence, but that's not the case.
Speaker 1: I don't think that Republicans will be punished if they
Speaker 1: start to say it's time for a new leader to emerge.
Speaker 1: So maybe some of that fear of speaking out against
Speaker 1: Trump will be removed from electric Republicans and they can start,
Speaker 1: you know, moving the party in a direction away from him.
Speaker 1: I mean keep in mind that, you know, the Christmas,
Speaker 1: after the midterm elections, once we get through the holidays,
Speaker 1: basically the presidential race will start, and so it's time
Speaker 1: to start having the conversations now well, right, and including
Speaker 1: on the other side, where a lot of the belief
Speaker 1: was if the Republicans have a giant knight. That gives
Speaker 1: a lot of Democrats the power to say, look, Joe Biden,
Speaker 1: you gotta go. You're a drag on the party. But
Speaker 1: you can't make that argument now, So where's that leave us?
Speaker 1: That could ultimately end up if there's if there's a
Speaker 1: very outside overlying for Republicans, this gives Joe Biden the
Speaker 1: justification to stay a top his ticket. He can argue
Speaker 1: that he saved his party from a historic beating in
Speaker 1: the mid terms when the history suggested he would his
Speaker 1: party would endure, and with his brilliant shuffling leadership across
Speaker 1: the country exactly something he can claim. And then Republicans, conversely,
Speaker 1: can look at these results and and take away from
Speaker 1: it that it's time to push Trump off the off
Speaker 1: the stage and usher a new leadership. And if race
Speaker 1: could boil down to someone like Rhnda Santis running against
Speaker 1: someone like Joe Biden, that could put Republicans in a
Speaker 1: position to take a historic amount the palette. I think
Speaker 1: you've nailed it. The headline flip was yesterday it was
Speaker 1: looking like Trump's gonna announce He's gonna be tough to beat,
Speaker 1: and the Republican and the Democrats are gonna push out Biden.
Speaker 1: It might have flipped overnight. Biden is going to be
Speaker 1: the nominee. Trump's gonna get pushed out alright, two points
Speaker 1: number one. God gets a vote on whether Joe Biden
Speaker 1: is going to run again, as does his brain. There's
Speaker 1: no freaking way it happens. I'll bet you my house, Sarah.
Speaker 1: I tell you what you put, what, what do you
Speaker 1: have of value? Anything you get a nice ballpoint pen,
Speaker 1: you bet that pen against my house. I'll take that action.
Speaker 1: Joe Biden does not run again. Uh. Secondly, it's if
Speaker 1: you will accept that premise. It is wide open on
Speaker 1: the Democratic side because Kamala Harris doesn't have a snowball's
Speaker 1: chance in hell. So that's gonna be a knife fight. Well,
Speaker 1: I I think that's definitely right. Um, it's hard to
Speaker 1: see though, who the natural successor is. I mean, the
Speaker 1: thing that benefits Republicans is that they have a clear
Speaker 1: natural successor to Trump, and that's round the santis and
Speaker 1: there's near unanimity about that in the Republican Party. I
Speaker 1: don't think if Trump doesn't run that that will be
Speaker 1: a particularly close Republican primary. Because he's so popular. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the Democrats would have a blood baths on their hands
Speaker 1: if Joe Biden decides not to run because there are
Speaker 1: so many candidates U weaker candidates in a more wide
Speaker 1: open field. So I think in either scenario, if Joe
Speaker 1: Biden runs again, obviously Rhonda Santas that would be a
Speaker 1: favorite given the dynamics in the country right now, if
Speaker 1: the economy doesn't improve dramatically. Um. But if Joe Biden
Speaker 1: did not run, I think Rhonda santa is having all
Speaker 1: that time as the heir to the throne of the
Speaker 1: Republican nomination while Democrats kill each other to see who
Speaker 1: emerges successful, and a Democratic primary always involves tacking to
Speaker 1: the left. Um, he would have an advantage in that
Speaker 1: scenario as well. Boy, that excites me, and my new
Speaker 1: pan excites me. I'm gonna write polies with that pen.
Speaker 1: I'm going to sign checks right, personal letters. I can't wait.
Speaker 1: I think people too casually use the term blood path.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a horrific notion. She means it metaphorically,
Speaker 1: and it made me excited. Sarah Westwood, investigative reporter of
Speaker 1: The Washington Examiner. Sarah, you are absolutely terrific. It's great
Speaker 1: to talk. Thanks don't thank for having me