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My List of Winners and Losers of the First Republican 2024 Debate · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The number one question people asked me as soon as
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the debate is over, as who is the winner?
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Who is the loser?
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I said that last night's presidential debate was a vice
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: presidential debate in all reality because of the massive lead
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: that is being held by Donald Trump in the polls
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: before that debate last night, if you combined everyone's poll
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: number the eight people on stage, you were still twenty
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: five points behind Donald J. Trump in the primary generic ballot.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: That means that last night somebody had to come out
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and do an amazing job to become the quote alternative
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to Trump to even have a chance. So let's answer
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: that question first. Did anyone last night become the alternative?
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: The answer is, in my opinion, no, last night's debate
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: was the debate that had winners and losers, There's no
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: doubt about that. I think one of the biggest losers
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: from last night was Mike Pence. Mike Pence was holier
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: than now. He came across as an elitist. He was
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: condescending to anyone younger than him that was new to politics.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Specifically the VIC. I thought it was a cocky and
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: arrogant appearance by Mike Pence.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Do I think it helped him last night, I do not.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I think this was a really bad night for Mike Pence,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a night where he tried to act like he was
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: better than Donald Trump, that he was more important than
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: everyone else on the stage. And I also think that
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: last night he didn't help himself by mocking younger people
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that are coming into the Republican Party and into the debate. Now,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: if you listen to the news, all right, the mainstream media,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: they're going to tell you the absolute opposite of what
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I just said. The Hill newspaper said the winners last night,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: their first one was former Vice President Mike Pence.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: It said this in The Hill.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Pence had struggled to qualify for the debates, taking a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: conspicuously long time to get over the requires threshold of donors.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: But he has the surprise. He was a surprise.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Winner on Wednesday night with a number of forceful interventions.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: He also got an unexpected assist in the shape of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a question to all the candidates about his actions on
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: January the sixth, twenty twenty one. Several rivals paid tribute.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: They asked the question, did he do his job on
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: January the sixth? If you missed that in the debate.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: It was pretty simple. They were like, you know, do
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you believe that Mike Pence did the right thing by
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: certifying the election results on January the sixth. I believe
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: he did, by the way, but I also think last
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: night it was not some amazing moment for him when
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you had people like Chris Christie, who's auditioning for a
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: job at MSNBC, not for the Republican Party, not certainly
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: not for the presidency, agreeing and standing behind him. Pence's
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: action certifying the results of the twenty twenty election and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: was standing Trump's pressure to overturn it was a winning moment.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: The Hill newspaper rights at other moments, Pence's fierceness, especially
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: when directed at Vivic Ramaswami, was the most startling element
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: of the night early on, and this is that arrogant
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: moment that The Hill says was an amazing moment. I
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: couldn't disagree with him more. Penceway said early on, said
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: it was clear a clear swipe at thirty eight year
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: old Ramaswami. Now is not the time for on the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: job training. We don't need to bring in a rookie,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: as he described Ramasami who is thirty eight years old.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Pence was also effective, the Hill says, and reminding anti
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: abortion voters of his long record on the topic, quoting
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: biblical scripture to back up his position. Pence faces enormous
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: challenges in the primary, not least unfavorable numbers with GOP
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: voters that are higher than almost any other candidate. The
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Wednesday night was the best night of his campaign to date.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I there is a chance you could argue that that
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: it was the best night of his campaign. I might
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: even agree to that, because that's how bad and how
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: big of a disastrous campaign has actually been. But to
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: claim that he was the winner is ludicrous. And this
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: is the part about the manipulation of the media. When
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I watched this thing last night, I said, Mike Penn's
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: had a terrible night because I think he inspired more
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: people to vote against him than he inspired to vote
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: for him. So that is the definition of a disaster
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: of a night on stage. I think he came across
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: as very arrogant, very cocky, and very unlike likable. Now
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: the media immediately says he was the big winner of
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the night. Of course they're gonna say this, and that's
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: how you know he actually wasn't the winner from last night.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: He also wrote this up in the Hill. Former New
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Jersey Governor Chris Christy got in the cleanest shot of
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the night soon after Ramaswani boasted that he was the
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: only kid on stage not bought and paid for. An
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: exasperated Chrispy jab back, I've had enough already tonight of
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: a guy who sounds like chat gp t Okay, that
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: was a line that people are going to write about.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: It did not land, by the way, didn't land at
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: all in the room. Many people don't know what chat
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: GPT stands for.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: What is it.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: It's an AI artificial intelligence powered language model developed by
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: open Ai, capable of generating human like texts based on
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: content context and also on past conversations. So that was
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: like a clearly pre planned line his campaign gave him. Now,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: to be clear, if you've ever I've worked on presidential
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: campaigns and advised candidates before debates like this at all
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: different levels governor, senator, Congress, et cetera. And I can
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: tell you when you have debate prep, there are people
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: that will help you come up with lines, lines that
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: would hit hard against the candidate and maybe stick. That
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: was a pre planned line. Now, with that line, Christy
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: may have found the weak spot in Ramaswami's armor, just
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: as he did when he attacked Florida Governor Senator Marco
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Rubio in a similar debate almost eight years ago. Christy
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: then went on to emphasize the Hill said his differences
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: with Trump. Of course, now they're saying that Chris Christy
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: was the winner last night. The biggest booze last night
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: were for Chris CHRISTI be very clear about that. Chris
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Christie is a guy who is not a hardcore Republican,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and anyone that says that he is, they're just lying
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: to you. I'm not sure why Chris Christy isn't running
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: honestly as a Democrat right now. He should be running
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: as a Democrat right now. He is a Democrat right now.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: And anyone that thinks he's not a Democrat right now,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you're an idiot, Okay. I just want to
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: be clear about that. Chris Christie is an individual who
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: was obsessed with working and getting a big a job
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: in Trump's administration, and now he's come out and he's
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: acting like Donald Trump's the worst thing in the world.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I also think That's another reason why I don't trust him.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: He's a total fraud. But to claim last night that,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, the two biggest losers of the night
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: are somehow the biggest winners tells you just how how
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: jacked the media actually is. They're not giving you real analysis.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: They're giving you pure propaganda. That's what this is. It
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: is propaganda. Let me say it again, it's pure propaganda.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Now you look at the other people that were in
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: this debate last night, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: She had a very long and more moderate response on abortion.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: It was a response, however, that I do believe is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: going to stick with women. Could that help her with
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: women in different states? Yes, it could, I think she could.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: She was trying to make herself different on her stance
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: on abortion. She was expressing serious skepticism about the federal
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: ban at the early stage of a pregnancy and about
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the role of the Supreme Court justices and deciding something.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: As she described it this.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Personal quote unquote, she starkly branded Trump the most dislike
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: politician in America to make the argument that the GOP
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: can when with him as the standard barrier. Now, if
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: you look at the polls. She's not lying to you.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump is the most disliked politician in America. He
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: also is the most liked and most loyal politician I've
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: ever seen from conservative voters. So is that going to
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: land in a primary.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: No.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I actually think it hurt Nikki Haley saying that, you
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: know he's the most disliked politician in America, therefore you
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: can't vote for him. I think his voters and supporters
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: are going to say, shut up and sit down. I
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: also think Nikki Haley has no chance of winning this thing.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Her single biggest moment came in a blast also I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Vivi Gramaswami and I don't worry. I haven't forgotten about him.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I'm holding I think the best for last. From last
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: night's performance, she blasted him over the Entrepreneur's deep skepticism
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: about funding for Ukraine. She clearly is an interventionalist. Interventionalist,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and she's an old school Republican, which is, when there's
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: a bad person around the world doing something, we should
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: get involved and start another World War three, four, five, six, seven,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: eight or nine or ten. And that's that old thinking.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: But to be clear, that was my old foreign policy
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: after nine to eleven. I also learned from what happened
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: in nine to eleven and what happened the aftermath of
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: our invasion of I Rack in Afghanistan, and understand that
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: you can't export democracy as easy as we may think.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: But that's exactly what she was saying, I have foreign
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: policy experience. You got to go after Vladimir Putin. She
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: referred to the Russian president Putin. She said, this guy
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: is a murderer, and you are choosing a murder over
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: a pro American country. When Ramasami tried to fit himself hell,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: he poured more pressure on him, saying, quote, you have
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: no foreign policy experience and it shows. Now you see
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: what the media is trying to do. They're trying to
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: tell you Nikki Haley had a great night. She's trying
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: to tell you that. They're trying to tell you that
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Governor Chris Cursy had a great night, and they're trying
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to make you believe that the winner.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Was Mike Pence. That is not the case.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: That's not the debate I was watching, Which brings me
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to Vivid Ramaswami. Vivid Ramaswami is a guy that came
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: into last night's debate, and he had a lot to say.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: He was trying to make a name for himself last night.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: That was very clear he was going at it, and
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I love this style. I want to be clear about
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that in a big way. His style was to take
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: on everybody up there, especially the re establishment Republicans, and
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: to say something new, I think, and authentic and fresh.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I actually like vivic I think Vivick is a guy
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: that everybody should listen to and pay attention to. I
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: think he is a very smart individual. I think he
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: would actually make a very unique vice presidential candidate. I
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: actually it makes me laugh when people like Mike Pence
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: are like, oh, well you're you know, you're a rookie,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: you're an amateur. You don't have foreign policy experience, as
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: NICKI Haley describe it. Yeah, where did all y'all's experience
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: get us? I think that's a fair question to ask,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Like you're interventionalists, that you didn't learn anything from the mistakes,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and we made mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let's be
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: very clear, we made mistakes. Vivick's like, let's not make
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: them again. Let's go into this war with Russia slasht
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Ukraine and sit there and definitely sending more money to
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the people in Ukraine than were seeing the people that
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: desperately needed help, for example in Hawaii. Let's not do
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: that here we are and that's exactly what they are demanding.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what they're saying they want to do now.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Vivic last night, I think had some great moments. I
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: think his performance is going to solidify him. Is even
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: possibly no doubt. I think is solid number three. But
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I think you're going to see him riseing the polls.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Do I think he could even come to get up
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: to number two in the polls above Ron DeSantis, who
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: I also have not mentioned yet, and I'm gonna get
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to him, don't worry. Yes, to answer that question, Ramaswami
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: is a candidate whose performance last night made people pay attention.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: If there was.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Anyone that gained name id last night and an understanding
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: of what the man believes in last night, it was
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the American people who were watching this.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Okay. I think Ramaswami was targeted by other candidates. That
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: was very clear.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: They're a little bit nervous about him, and I think
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: that's part of it. That's a compliment when you walk
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: up on stage. It's no different than Donald Trump if
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: he would have been there when everyone starts focusing on
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: you because they're worried that he's going to become a
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: solid second place candidate. Ramas Swami, by the way, made
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: some very smart moves last night, for example saying that
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: he would absolutely, if elected president, give a pardon to
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump. I think he's being very smart in
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the way he's handling Donald Trump as the leader. Now
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: do I think ramas Swami's running for vice president? I
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: think everybody on stage was running for vice presidents in essence,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: excluding me, like Chris Christy. I want to be clear
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: about that. They know they're never going to get chosen.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Mike Pence is another example. They know he's never He's
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: not going to get the job offered again. Okay, that's
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: just not going to happen. But Vivid last night made
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: enough noise and landed enough punches that I do actually
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: believe that that Vivid is a guy. Now when you
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: look at this, that he's got a real shot at
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: coming out of this as in the polling at least okay,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: keyword in the polling, he's got a real chance of
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: coming out in the polling as being victorious. I do
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: believe vik had a knight that if you walked out
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: of there and went into the war room with your team,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: they're gonna look at you and go.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: It couldn't have gone any better. It was.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: It was kind of one of those oh wow moments
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: for his candidacy. They what he accomplished last night was
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: more than anyone who expected of him when his name
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: first came out. It's more than anybody expected of him.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: To be clear, Okay, when he decided to run for
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: president of the United States of America. Okay, that I mean,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: that's just the way. It was, like, just full disclosure.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: And I think that's a very very very very very
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: interesting thing moving forward. Now, could he become the vice
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: president because of this? Possibly? Was he smart not to
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: go after Donald Trump, knowing reading the room and understanding
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: what was happening? Yes, was he smart to say you
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: would he would hardened President Donald Trump? Absolutely he was,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: And if I was a candidate, I would have said
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the same damn thing. It was a smart, smart moment
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: for him. Watch him moving forward. That's the last thing
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I'll say about the Vickers. Watch him moving forward, because
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: this could be a real spring board for him, specifically,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: as we move forward into the next debates, I think
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: he'll be on every stage now. I don't think he
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: has to worry now. I think he's gonna get some
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: money that's gonna come out of this and some fundraising
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: that he's gonna need. And look, he can self fund
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: his campaign to travel and to do things. But like
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: you still need buy in from the American people. Is
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: there a chance that the Americans last night sent him money.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's a chance. I think it's one
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: hundred percent guaranteed.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Now let's deal with who the losers were. The biggest
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: loser last night was Ron DeSantis. Ron DeSantis needed a
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: big night last night to clearly show that he's the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: top guy in this race, you know, behind Donald Trump.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: He did not do that. He needed a big night.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of pressure there. And the reason
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: why I say he needed a big night is the
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: donors that had give him a ton of money early on,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: who are now holding back. They needed a big night
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: to justify writing that second round of checks. I do
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: not believe that if you were DeSantis supporter last night,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: that you're going to walk out of that room, if
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: you were there going yep, it's time for me to
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: write a six figure check or to have a big
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: fundraising event for Ronda Santis. I don't believe last night
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Ronde Santis did what he needed to get done to
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: even stay in second place. Possibly, as I mentioned, I
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: think vic there's a good chance he could move to
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: second in some of these polls.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: As I said a moment ago, Ronda Santis needed a
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: big night. His donors needed him to have a big night.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: He did not have a big night. DeSantis needed to overachieve.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: And this is the problem when you are the front
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: runner and on the stage last night. He was obviously
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the front runner because Donald Trump wasn't there, But for
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: long stretches in the debate last night, DeSantis kind of
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: faded into the background of the debate and Vivic came
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: to the front. That's not good. Even Nicky Haley had
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: some moments right where she landed some punches. You even
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: had moments where Chris Christy had a moment here and there.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Did DeSantis have a moment last night? Yes he did.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: He clearly separated himself as the law and order candidate
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: number one, and at the tough on crime, candidate, getting
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: rid of activist das that aren't enforcing the law of candidate,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and border security. So that was a big win for
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: DeSantis last night. Now, the problem is when you are
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: in the lead right among the people on the stage
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: with Trump not being there, you need more than just
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: a couple of moments. You need to dominate that stage
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: because if you do, then you extend your lead and
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: then people solidify around here, going yep, that's exactly why
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: I thought he was going to be number one, right like,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: that's exactly why I believe that he was going to
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: be that he's the guy.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Yes, As a donor.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: If you're an if you're a never Trump person, or
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: you just think Trump is not electable in the general,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: then then that's the argument you would make before you
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: write that check. But if I'm a donor last night
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: and I am a donor looking to give my to
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: someone that's an alternative to Trump, do I think that
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: he had a good enough night.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: To get a bunch of checks written. I do not.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Now, there's been some donor fatigue in the DeSantis campaign.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Just so you understand, Okay, there has been this this
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: donor fatigue and a lot of people early on thought
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: he was the guy, and they started writing big checks
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: right like that was their thing. They started writing these
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: checks and they thought, all right, he's he's our alternative.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Right, he's he's our alternative. He's the guy.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: He's the one that's going to be you know that
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: he is the big alternative. That didn't happen, Okay, Like,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: there was no big, massive moment for him, except when
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: he was talking about what he had done to on
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: crime and what he'd done to support people in law enforcement,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and what he'd been done at the border.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Now, that was part of the issue.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I think that got him to where he is anyway,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I want to be clear about that. But he needed
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: a really really really really really really big night last night,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: and he didn't get it. His whole campaign was created
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: around being the alternative to Trump three four, five, six
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: months ago.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: You could argue that was a legitimate strategy. It's not now.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: And so when your whole problem is that your campaign
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: is on the alternative, when the guy who you're the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: alternative too is pulling it a massive lead over you
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: have thirty forty points right when you put the entire
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: field together and all of your poll numbers together, and
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: you're still getting beat by twenty five points by Trump.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Going out there and being a sole alternative Trump is
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: not working. Even if everybody else dropped out, you're still
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: twenty five points down. As I mentioned a few days ago.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: And Desanta's campaign has also been trending downward since his announcement,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: even right before his announcement, like he had some good
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: poll numbers. Some would even argue that he's not personable
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: enough right that last night he was, you know when
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: it comes to those tough issues like crime. Yes he
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: is the law and order candidate, clearly the stage. Yes
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: he's the border security candidate, clearly on the stage. And
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: yes he did a hell of a job with COVID
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: and fighting the lockdowns and things when he and putting
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: freedom ahead of other people when he was to go,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: you know, when that was going on as the governor
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: of Florida. But you still have to have something else
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: besides that to win this thing, and I don't think
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: he did that last night. I think he actually lost ground.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Now maybe that's because the bar was set higher for
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: him than anybody else on stage. There was no bar
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: that was set for vivid Ramaswami now I can tell
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: you this time. I can tell you this next time.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Guarantee it.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Want to want to be clear that they're all going
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: to be more prepared for him, and they're all going
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: to come after him, because I think last night, if
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: you walked out there and you said, who's my public
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: enemy number one? Right now, it is not Okay, I
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: want to be clear, it is not DeSantis anymore. It
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: is vivid that that that's my that's my honest gut
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: on this. He is a guy that has now shown
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: himself to be an individual that needs.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: To be reckoned with.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: And if you are one of these other teams, I
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: think there is a pretty good chance now that you're
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: going to start doing way more research and way more
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: marketing and ray and way more planning to go after
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: vivict than you are Aboutdasantis. I don't think that many
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: people last on stage, after walking on the stage are
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: worried about DeSantis anymore. Now that is also can change
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the dynamic of the next debate. It also may really
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: rattle the cages of the DeSantis campaign. And that's not
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: always That's not always a bad thing to kind of
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: wake up and realize that the strategy that you're using
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: right now is not working well, and that there's a
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: moment here that you have to say, Okay, we got
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: to redo this thing. We got to go, We got
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: to recreator or change how we are now. Jason Miller,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: who's a Trump guy, went on MSNBC afterwards last night.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: He had a very interesting thing to say about DeSantis. Now,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: this is obviously by it bias. He's a Trump guy.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: Listen carefully, and President Trump is champaigning on making America
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: great again. We saw the greatest economy that we've had
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: in a century, possibly ever when President Trump was in office.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: He makes it very clear. He has more policy videos
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: on his website, he gives speeches, he gives detailed interviews,
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: he takes on the tough battles with tough reporters. He's
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: actually doing it. And so President Trump, you saw tonight,
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: his policies loom large over everybody on that stage. He
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: dominated every answer, whether it's about him politically or policy wise.
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: And I quite frankly I agree with the comments earlier.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: President Trump looked like a genius by skipping the pigpile
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: tonight and instead doing the interview with Tucker Carlson, which, by.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: The way, Chuck just hit eighty.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Seven million views, so what probably ten a little more
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: than tenfold, and watching the rest of the folks have
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: their cat fight tonight. But here's the other thing is
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: a really important point. I heard someone earlier on the
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: panel say that they thought that the sanctimonious did Okay,
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: that's not right. We saw the death of Ronda Santis'
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: campaign tonight is vivid. Ramaswamy leaped frog him into second
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: place to see it. Just it didn't do good enough
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: for him to tread water. He had to have a
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: breakout moment, and Ramaswamy completely outshowed him. I knew President
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Trump wasn't going to be there tonight. I didn't know
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: Ron DeSantis I'm gonna skip the debate as well.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: By the way, that last line from Jason, and look,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Jason's a very smart political operative.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: He was looking forward to using that line, Okay, very
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: much looking forward to use that line.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump, I knew missed the debate tonight, but I
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: didn't know that DeSantis was gonna miss the debate tonight.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: He's right though, the same way that I just said it.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: He needed a great breakout night and that breakout moment
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: did not happen. Now you look at the other people
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: that were on stage last night, let me give you
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: a quick recap on them.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Senter Tim Scott. He had a fine night.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Okay, he's a tier two guy. He's very kind, he's likable.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I think he's you know, a compromise between a Nicky
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Haley and a Mike Pence and a Scott. You put
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: all three of those together, you're still only pulling at
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: what three six percent? Did he do enough last night
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to jump up maybe a little bit.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: He may be able to take a.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Few points last night from others like Hayley or Chris Christie,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: but they only have two points to give. So I mean,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: if you grab fifty percent of their supporters and fine.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: You know, it was clear also that I think Scott's
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: personality and his mentality was to stay above the phrase
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: the fray and not get into these shouting matches between
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Christy and Ramaswamians. In fact, he said he even said
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: when there was a big back and forth between Christy
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: and Ramaswami, he said, quote going back and forth, being
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: childish is not helpful for the American people.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: I believe he could take.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Some people from Pence as well because of his performance
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: last night. But Scott is a guy that is very
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: measured in his demeanor. That's why I love him. I
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: actually think he has a great chance of being named
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the vice president of Kennate to Donald Trump. At this point,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I think, if I'm the vice president or if I'm
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump, I'm looking at Scott saying, Okay, this is
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: a guy that has a lot of friends in the Senate,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: he has a lot of friends on Capitol Hill. He's
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: a very measured guy, very much in the same way
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: that the reason why he picked Mike Pence, and he
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: could bring some of that Washington know how to get
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: deals done for the Trump administration on Capitol Hill. That
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: would be the reason why I'd put him on the
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: very very short list as candidates to be chosen for
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the vice presidency. Now, Nikki Haley last night did take
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest shots of anyone on stage at
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump. She said this about Trump not being at
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the debates and also about Trump's campaign. Listen carefully, politician
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: in America, is Donald Trump a guy that you said
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: is your friend?
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: And we have to face the fact that Trump is
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: the most disliked politician in America.
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: We can't win a general election that way. We went
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: into that statement. It's true, it's true. You can look
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: at any of the polls. He is my friend. It
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: was an honor to serve with him. I agree with
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: most of his policies.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: But he's going to spend more time in a courtroom
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: next year than he is campaigning.
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: We have to be realistic about that.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: Do I want to clean up weaponization and Department of
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: Justice and the intelligence agencies?
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: You bet? Is he going to be the reason We're
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: to do it.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, But at the end of the day, we have
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: to beat President Kamala Harris. It is too dangerous to
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: think about what happens if she wins, and we can't
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: have a former president sitting in a courtroom campaigning from there.
• 26:12
  Speaker 6: It's not gonna work. How's he so, how's he winning
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: by so much?
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: There?
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: Well? Well, I mean, I think right now, this is
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: the kickoff of the campaign season. The first debate gets
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: things going, and then we'll go into the next few months.
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: We've got a debate every month.
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: This is where people can see their opportunities. I wish
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: you would have been on the stage.
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: I think it would have been good for him to
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: be on the stage so that he could have answered
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: some of the questions, but he wasn't. But we've got
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: to go forward. We have a country to save.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: We have to go forward. We have a country to save.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Nicki Haley saying Trump's going to be spending more time
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: in the courtroom next year than he is campaigning. Now,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I think that's a lie. Okay, I don't think that's
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: true at all. I think that's a cheap shot. It
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: from Nicki Haley to land a punch, and I don't
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: think that's a smart punch to Land Christy this morning
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: saying that Ramaswami is not the future of the GOP.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: He also went on to say national polls are so silly.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: My point is, clearly he knows Ramaswamy had a big night.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Listen carefully.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Is Vivick Ramaswamy the future of the Republican Party?
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: No?
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: Why is he pulling higher?
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: I mean I spent a lot of time going Sorry
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: to step on you.
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: There's a little delay, I asked, because you spent.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: A lot of time going after him last night, and
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: he is pulling higher than you.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: I responded to him twice when he came after me,
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: and so I don't think I spent a whole lot
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: of time on that poppy. He came after me, so
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: I'm going to respond. And by the way, he's not
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: pulling higher than me in New Hampshire, where I'm at
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: fourteen percent and in second place. And that's why these
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: national polls are so silly. We don't have a national primaries,
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: you know. And I'm really happy about the fact that
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: I'm at a clear second place now, five points ahead
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: of Ron Desantus and three points ahead of Vivek Ramaswami
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: in New Hampshire, and that's where this is going to
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: matter in the early states. That's going to set it up.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: So the national polls are silliness unless we decide to
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: have a national primary, which is not what we're doing
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: in this race. So you know, I am no more
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: concerned about Vivek Ramaswami, but I am about anybody else
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: in the race. And last night he just decided that
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: he was going to try to talk as much as
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: he possibly could and insult everybody on the stage. This
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: is a guy who's barely ever voted and now he
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: wants to insult all of us who have been giving
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: to the public, been in public life for decades, sacrificing
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: to try to make this a better country, while he's
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: been sitting on the sidelines, pouting and not voting or
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: participating in the process. So, you know, no, I don't
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: think that's the future of our party. I think it's
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: for the people who parts.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: You know, there's there's a there's a certain point there
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: where I just kind of like have to laugh this
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: idea that you've got to and I've I've dealt with
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: this my entire career by arrogant and cocky individuals who
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: are elected officials. Specifically, I remember starting rady on was
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: twelve and and there was a lot of people that
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: would dismiss me as, oh, he's that that young whipper snapper.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Oh he hasn't paid his dues.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: I had a politician one time tell me when I
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: was going to show you know what you need to do.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: You need to start knocking on doors. You need to
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: pay your dues and work your way up. You can't
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: just walk in here and have an opinion. Well guess
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: what you were.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: You're wrong. And I literally proved you wrong with my
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: entire career and.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: This idea, this elitist idea that oh, well, you have
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: to pay your dues and play the game.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: Screw that.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Like, I love newcomers. I like people that get pissed
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: off about how bad things are in this country and
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: they say, you know what, I'm going to run for office.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: I don't think you should have to stand back and
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: pay your dues. I think there's some new people that
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: come in and they wake up because of something happened,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: and they're like, all right, I'm all in and I
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: don't like how things are now, and I want to fight,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and I want to I want to go after and
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: defend this country and defend those and protect it. I
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: don't this whole idea that I've got to wait my
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: turn or I got to get to the back of
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: the line, like I'm sorry, screw you. And I can
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: name dozens of politicians that have said and treated me
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: that way, the same exact way that Chris Christy just
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: treated Ramaswam in other words, you know, no, this is
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: you need to shut up. I'm I've been around longer
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: than you, I've done more than you. I'm better than
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: you are, right, I mean, that's that's that's the argument
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: that's being made. Right, I'm better than you, I know
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: more than you, I've served more than you. So but
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: you know, by default you need to shut up and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: you need to go backwards. That's the crap that makes
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: me angry. I think, I think Ramaswami clearly came out
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: of this is the Winter last night. Make sure that
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: you share this podcast with your family and friends. Hit
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: that little forward arrow and text, or put it on
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: social media while the media does everything you can to
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: try to shut you down, silence us, and make sure
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: no one knows what's really happening. Also, hit that auto
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: download or subscribe button so you get this podcast each
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and every day for free, and I'll see you back
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: here tomorrow