July 10, 2024 • 41 mins
Sean Spicer interviews Newt on his podcast, The Sean Spicer Show. (simulcast). Learn more at seanspicer.com
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think what you have is a tired old man
who is less and less capable of doing things, whose
wife and son both tell him you're doing great. His
brother and his son have made a lot of money
off the family name, and they have learned to be openly,
(00:23):
cheerfully dishonest on the grounds that nobody will challenge them.
To what extent do you believe anything, Joe Biden says?
So Biden may tell you it's about legacy. I think
it's about power, and we're asking Biden to quit being
the most powerful person on the planet.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
All Right, guys, it's unbelievable that we're here in July
and this much is happening politically. We are under seven
days from the start of the RNC the schedule. By
the way, in the platform, I'm going to talk to
you quickly about some of the updates they are released.
Yesterday last evening, KJP having an absolute meltdown in the
briefing room. Gosh, I feel so bad. Nope, and House
(01:08):
Democrats met this morning. It wasn't good. They are now
twelve days after this debate, trying to figure out how
to handle the Biden situation. Where do we go from here?
As a party unbelievable New Gingrich is going to be
here to help us break down where things are historically
and where they are politically, and where we move forward.
(01:29):
Speaking of which, James Carvill has a brand new opet
up in the New York Times. I'm going to talk
to Speaker Gingrich about this. He says Biden's not going
to be the nominee. I'm going to ask him about it.
And then tomorrow, by the way, We've got a Democratic
operative on the show, and I'm going to ask them
are they comfortable with Joe Biden as the nominee? Do
they think, as Carville does, that you've got to replace
(01:49):
the guy now? And here's how he suggests you do it.
I will ask her tomorrow. But the Democrats have a
lot of answering to do about not just this campaign,
but whether Biden should be governing for four more years.
I think that's a legitimate question that's not getting asked.
Let's get back to all of the issues that I
(02:12):
was telling you about before we get into it with
Speaker ging Gridge. The platform of the RNC got released
yesterday and it's speaking of Gingridge, it's Contract with America
Style twenty bowl In points unbelievable, right, and this is
having drafted a couple of these have been part of
that process. This is the smart way to do this,
easy to understand themes, that people understand where you are,
(02:35):
where you stand for, what you stand for. I think
they got it right. Everyone's freaking out about the pro
life language, and I think that Donald Trump's position on this,
as you've seen, I'm as pro life as they come.
I don't want a world in which babies are aborted.
I want to promote life. The platform recognize this. It
(02:57):
gets out there and everybody's worried because it doesn't call
for a national ban anymore. Here's the problem. It's not
that I'm not supportive of that. It's that it's unrealistic.
You're not getting sixty seats in the Senate. It's just
not going to happen. Okay. So President Trump has said this.
We fought to overturn row, which sent it back to
the States, and this is now happening state by state
(03:19):
with voters input. That's how it should be, and I
think we're doing it the right way. The platform focused
on things like making us energy independent, securing the border,
making us prosperous. And when you read this, I tweeted
out the twenty points that they put together. It's digestible.
It's something that if someone says, what does your party
(03:41):
stand for? You can go boom. Here are the twenty points.
Very contract with America. Like I said, it focuses on
protecting seniors. Not everything in there I agree with. I'll
be honest with you, that's not what it's for. It's
not meant to get everybody on the world. But if
you can get eighty percent, isn't that what Reagan said? Okay,
I'm hired eighty percent, don't get me wrong, But I'm
(04:02):
just saying I think that the way that they handled
it the cycle was a lot better. And then they
announced the programming for the convention. It's four days, as
you know, so Monday is going to be make America
Wealthy once again. Tuesday is going to be make America
Safe once again. Wednesday, make America Strong once again, Thursday,
(04:26):
make America great once again. You notice the once again, right,
harkening back to the four years that Trump had in office.
That's a key part of this. The current schedule historically
is that the VP will make their speech Wednesday night,
and Trump will accept the nomination on Thursday night. This
is gonna be a big difference than the DEM convention,
right in the sense that Biden's got to accept that
(04:48):
nomination virtually throw a roll call prior to his speech
because the dummies don't own a calendar and forgot when
the Ohio ballot deadline was. Now they forgot it in
Alabama as well, but the Alabama state Legislature are extending
it for them, which I think was kind of silly,
but whatever, So this is going to be a really
(05:11):
great week. I think Trump talked about it a little
last night on an interview that he had with Sean Hannity.
I guess that Thursday Friday, right in there before the convention,
like this week, he will announce that VP nominee. He's
not going to wait. He wants them to get some
excitement and get going be able to obviously, you know,
becoming the nominee takes a minute, right, you want to
(05:32):
draft this your speech and get your thoughts together. So
I think that's what's going to happen. As I said,
the fallout from the debate continues, but now it's shifting
into this medical issue over the weekend, the New York
Times and The New York Post revealed that this doctor,
doctor Kinnard, who's a neurologist that specializes in Parkinson's, visited
(05:57):
the White House eight times. The New York Post revealed
meetings in which the president's personal doctor, Kevin O'Connor was
in meetings with him and an unknown person. While who's
that unknown person? Gosh, who would possibly not need to
get waved into a meeting? Hmm? Who else would be
living at the White House anyway? I digressed. I want
(06:17):
to play you a clip from the briefing room, because
everyone this morning you're like, wow, KJP whatever. I'm like,
this is what it was like every day for me.
I'm sorry that she's losing the press. These are her buddies.
She's like, hey, guys, remember I used to work with
some of you at CNN or on SBC wherever she was. Yeah,
she was at MSS. I think right. She's like, here're
my buddies. My old partner was at CNN. We're all
(06:38):
in the family, right. Why are you getting so hard?
She literally said Ed O'Keefe of CBS News, who's basically
a scribe for the Democratic Party. I mean, he's the
guy that asked him about his feelings and ice cream
and all that. He literally, that's the guy that's She
was like, Ed, you're disrespecting me? Are you kidding me?
They have legitimate questions about why Dilkinson's doctor is visiting
(07:02):
the White House eight times and she's giving this word
salad about you know, remember the last time and I
talked about it from here and we talked to me whatever,
I want to play you this clip.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Though, Ed, I also said to you for security reasons,
we cannot share names. We cannot share names.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Can we have to? We have to others he would
have met with. We can't share names. In regards to
if someone came here.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
We cannot share We cannot share names of specialists broadly,
from a dermatologist to a neurologists. We cannot share names.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Okay, just pause for a second. Do you want to
know why we know doctor Canard's name because it's in
a public log. It's in a public log they released
that there's no security issue here. The only reason we
know it is because he got waived into the White
House on a log that is released of the visitors
(07:57):
that's pretty public. There's no secure already issue. Now is
there a hippa issue, a health issue of revealing who
he saw? Yes, And that's why she's asking being asked,
did he meet with the president? Now? I want to
play you her go on about this is the slide
of hand. This is where if you've never worked in
the White House, and this is why what I bring
to the table is so valuable. She's trying to make
(08:18):
it seem like, oh, he could have been seeing anyone.
Here's her talking about the military piece of this.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I understand that I hear you. I hear you. I
cannot from here confirm any of that because we have
to keep their privacy. What do you missed about? Are
he just asked about what do you And then every
time I come back and I answer the question that
you guys asked to come back, and I never answered
the question incorrectly. That is not true. I was asked
(08:46):
about a medical exam. I was asked about a physical
that was in the line of question that I answered,
and I said, no, he did not have a medical exam.
And I still stand that by that by of fact,
the President still stands by that he had a verbal
check in. That is something that the president has a
couple times week a couple times a.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Week now, doctor Kevin Cannard, and I.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Am telling you right now that I am not sharing
confirming names from here. It is the security reasons. I
am not going to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Ed all right, this is silly, This is absolutely ridiculous.
But she goes on and I want to play this
clip for you real quick, where she talks about the
fact that that doctor Canard, that specialist could be there
to see thousands of people from the White House here
it is.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Confirm whether or not the President is pretty specialists. And
you mentioned three times to the visitor log show duration
of eight very much. I think that is the clubs
of the 's. But I also said, I also said
there are thousands of military personnel that come to the
White House and they are under the care of the
(09:53):
medical unit.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
They are Okay, now, that's just not true. That is
not true the White House. Military folks that are there
don't get there, you know, beyond like an emergency. If
they have a routine appointment, they go to Walter Reed,
they go to another military facility. They don't get their
primary care or their specialty care at the White House.
(10:14):
One hundred percent faults. Not true. Now, I know most
of the press corps doesn't know that I'm not ragging
on I'm actually that's a legitimate thing that they wouldn't
know I do. I work there. That's not how it works.
And she's pretending like this specialist, this highly credentialed Parkinson's specialist,
somehow is treating random and listed folks in the White
(10:35):
House Military Office that we can't we don't want to
disclose there. That's not true, not true. That's not how
it works. And the White House Press Office was misleading
people when it tried to pretend that somehow all of
these individuals in the military that work in and out
of the White House get their care there, especially their
(10:56):
specialty care. Not true. All right, before I bring in
speaker Nuke Gingrich, who, by the way, has got a
great substack at Gingrich three sixty. You can go to
gingerstree sixty dot com to check it out. A great podcast,
nuts World, check all that out. All right, let me
bring in speaker new Gingrich. Well, mister speaker, how are you?
(11:17):
A very boring time in politics, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I've never seen anything like it, and I would say
that includes the Nixon Watergate crisis. This is amazing it.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I mean, I feel like there's a bunch of people
in Hollywood going I don't know that we could have
ever gotten away with writing something like this, and now
we're living through it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
It's a well, I think it's the total complexity. I mean,
if it was it would be one thing, if Biden
was really terrible and collapsed. But what we're watching is
and I thought Brett Baer caught it perfectly when he
said it's like the scene and The Godfather where they
go to the mattresses. I mean, the Biden family has
decided they're prepared to take everyone out if that's what
(12:00):
it takes, but then they leave them.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah. I want to break down several things, like I
want to talk about just crisises in general, because I
think you're hitting on something about how they haven't stemmed
the bleeding. But I want to start with something that
you quasi are familiar with this morning, but from the
other side this morning, the how Democratic Caucus met down
at their headquarters. They all as the Republicans do, and
you're well aware of that, you know every week and so,
(12:26):
but this is the angle that I want to take
you from outside the meeting where a bunch of staffers
from the NRCC, the National Republican Congression Committee, which obviously
you're very familiar with, and they were holding these signs
that said Joe Biden is unfit for office. Because obviously
they a lot of media trying to pick off members
as they went in. My contention is that this is
(12:47):
a mistake for our side to be urging Biden to
get out of the race. Let them do this. Why
are we doing it? Because number one, why get in
the way of them? But number two, and this is
where I want you to either push back on me
and tell me I'm wrong or tell me why I'm
onto something. But I feel like I would rather play
Biden in this game, if you will. We know him,
(13:09):
We have every bit of OPO on him. The American
people know him. Then at the X factor, right, probably
Kamala Harris, maybe someone new. But why are we trying
to urge him to get out? Let let this process
play out? It benefits us. Am I right or am
I wrong?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Well? I mean I think Trump was correct on Hannity
when he said that he's convinced Biden's staying in right,
when I've said all along. You know, first of all,
if your alternative is the White House, Marine one Air Force,
one Camp David, or bicycling and Delaware, why would you
(13:48):
pick bicycling and Delaware. And it's clear that Jill feels strongly,
Hunter feels strongly, and they're reinforcing Biden's natural stubbornness. So
my working assumption is that he's probably not going to
go anywhere. There was a day or two when I
thought the avalanche might build. But here's the other thing.
(14:08):
When Nixon stepped down, he had major Republican leaders saying
they would vote to impeach him. In Biden's case, you
would have to, I think, employ the twenty fifth Amendment,
and it's not going to happen. And the Black Caucus
is so strongly for Biden. Despite the opportunity for Kamala
(14:29):
Harris to become the nominee, they have clearly indicated that
they will, in fact, you know, go to the mattresses
to fight for them. So my view would be the
less we say, the more we allow it to roll out.
And Trump has been remarkably disciplined for the last week,
(14:49):
you know, and just let it roll out. Let the
New York Times every other day write an attack piece.
Let the Wall Street Journal every day write an attack piece,
and let the Washington Post every third day write an
attack and see how it plays out. Biden's not going
to get any stronger, and probably, sadly, his mental condition
(15:13):
is going to get worse and become visibly worse, which
which I think anybody who's had an adult relative go
through this kind of cognitive change can watch it with
a sense of sympathy and sadness and really wonder why
Jill's putting him through this.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, I think that's that's the concern a lot of
people have. But here's what I don't get. This morning.
James Carville, who you know, longstanding political operative, writes in
the New York Times, and this is this. I want
to read directly from this, so we're not mincing words.
He says, mark my words. Joe Biden is not going
to be is going is going to be out of
(15:53):
the twenty twenty four presidential race ready, whether he is
ready to admit it or not. His pleas on Monday
to reressional Democrats for support will not unite the party
behind him. Mister Biden is staying in the race, but
it's only a matter of time before the Democratic pressure
and public and private polling lead him to exit the race.
The jig is up, and the sooner mister Biden and
(16:15):
Democratic leaders accept this, the better we need to move forward. Now.
I agree with you and your assessment, but what are
we missing that James Carville isn't well.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I mean, first of all, Carville likes being a contrarian,
and it doesn't hurt his speech business, and it doesn't
hurt his long term reputation. Second, I think he had
his mind. He has a dynamic vision that we're going
to see more mistakes and that you know, day by
(16:50):
day people are going to realize, you know, this guy
couldn't possibly serve four years. I mean, I was shocked.
I don't know. With Kliston and I were in Rome
and we got up at like three o'clock in the
morning to watch the debate, and I thought, from our side,
(17:11):
if you know Biden made two or three mistakes in
ninety minutes, that would be pretty good for our team.
I was stunned and frankly felt bad about the total
collapse of that debate. I've never seen anything like it,
and I think that was a turning point because after
a year of denying that he was getting weaker, the
(17:35):
whole country realized that they've been lied to. And I
think what Carvilo is gambling is that there's a trajectory
of decline and that that trajectory accelerates, and that you're
going to see more examples of Biden not being capable.
(17:55):
It would be president, not such a question of whinning
are losing not being cap of being president?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So right, but that's what I think we all see.
This is not a one off. It wasn't a bad night,
it wasn't a cold, it wasn't jetlag. The reality is
you get older and those conditions exacerbate. So Carvo gets it.
I think he understands that it's not going to get
better for Biden. But the political reality is that, you know,
as Trump said on handity last night, Biden has the delegates,
(18:26):
he gets to decide, and he has no sign of
going anywhere. And that's where I think, you know, I
just I get it. And you brought this up before.
Is he making a mistake listening entirely to Jill and
Hunter as opposed to trusted as you've been in these
big decisions before right, who do you listen to?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Look? And first of all, there are pretty good arguments
that if you have his kind of cognitive problems, you
don't listen to many people, if anyone, if anyone, and
that there's a pattern of people, as they get older,
getting more stubborn and rejecting information that doesn't please them.
(19:09):
So you have that problem. You also have a really
simple question here, and I've said this for about eight
months now, he has no upside leaving. I mean, first
of all, if he announces that because he's so fragile
he can't run for reelection, that immediately asked the question, well,
(19:30):
then shouldn't you step down? How can you say as
president for the next six months if you're too fragile
to be in a campaign. So there's there's where they've
now found themselves. There's no good outcome. I think it's
how I would describe it. And if you're Biden, what's
the you know, you're sitting in the White House, surrounded
(19:50):
by your wife and your son. What's the genuine pressure
for way to do anything?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Well? Isn't it legacy? I Mean I've always ared that
Biden's legacy is all of these people He's appointed Pete Boodage,
you know Keatanji Brown Jackson that he wants to be
seen as the progressive north Star. That said, I put
the first lbgt QIA, these three PO five two six
in office. I did this as part of my cabinet.
(20:17):
I appointed this black woman, this transgender person, and that
by maybe handing the mantle off to the first female
black nominee, that would be seen as the Biden legacy.
I did this. I created this environment to your point.
I mean, I think if he loses to Trump, which
there's no way he doesn't right now, and he goes
down epically, that will be his legacy. And I think
(20:39):
that Biden is more concerned. You know, he always talks
about my word as a Biden and everything's about the
Biden legacy and my uncle this and Joey that. I
think he's really concerned more about legacy than accomplishment.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
First of all, to what extent do you believe anything
Joe Biden says. So Biden may tell you it's aboutgacy.
I think it's about power, and we're asking Biden to
quit being the most powerful person on the planet. The
Bidens have been grifters ever since he first won, They've
(21:17):
had all sorts of deals in Delaware. His brother and
his son have made a lot of money off the
family name, and they have learned to be openly, cheerfully
dishonest on the grounds that nobody will challenge them, and
so they just say whatever they want to say. And
(21:39):
in Biden's case, he says all sorts of stuff and
has always said all sorts of stuff that makes no sense.
So if you said to him, doesn't your legacy really matter?
He said, oh, yes, you know, the Biden name is
really important to me. If you said to him, well,
that means you should get give up, he would say, no, No,
(22:01):
the Biden legacy has never given him. Biden's are never acquitters.
And what he'll tell you is what he thinks he has.
You know, he's a little bit like a clumsy and
not very bright version of Bill Clinton. I mean Clinton
Clinton has, as you know, has this marvelous capacity to
look you in the eye, tell you that it's Christmas.
(22:24):
And by the time he's done talking to you, you're
looking for the missiletone and you know it's all a lie,
you know it's just but he does it so well
that you kind of you kind of like being part
of the dance. Well, Biden has the same characteristic of
dishonesty as Bill, but he has none of the skills.
And so in the end, I think what you have
(22:47):
is a tired old man who is less and less
capable of doing things, whose wife and son both tell
him you're doing great. And most of his senior staff,
who remember their power and their money come from being
his people. So most of them are saying, we can
(23:08):
get there. You came from behind, you know how to
do this. We can beat Trump, and nobody else can.
And frankly, I think as likely, as weak as he
now is, I think he's probably the best chance the
Democrats have. I just at a piece for Gingrish three
sixty called collapsing with Kamalaw and I do think anybody
(23:30):
else they try to put in at this stage is
like to actually run worse than Biden.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
So Biden's got you know, you get the family of
the age, right, So he's got Jail and Hunter that
He's got Mike Donohan and Steve Rochetti, Bruce Reid and
Eda donn know. But you have your Joe Gailord, the
person that's been around you forever, giving you political Joe
Gailard comes to you one day and says, is that
the kind of person in your experience that you go,
you know what if Joe says it? Or do you
(23:59):
say you know what, Joe, I'm going to go talk
to Callista instead. Like from your you've been at the
highest levels. Who is it that you would have respected
that comes to you and says, mister speaker, the jig
is up. We gotta go. Do you do you? Is
it the political people, the family, the combination.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I mean, I can't speak for everybody. I think in
a situation where it's literally a political life and death,
if you have a good relationship with your spouse, they
count a lot. Nancy Reagan had huge influence over Ronnie,
(24:38):
and nobody should be confused about that. Now. Conversely, I
don't think that Mamie Eisenhower at the same level they were.
She and Ike had a very affectionate relationship, but they
had a pretty severe distinction between his job as a
general or his job as a president and their personal relationship.
So I think Nixon had great affection for par and
(25:00):
in many ways listen to Pat and they endured Watergate together.
You know, I think Frank frankly that the Carters were very,
very much one unit. And I think that she had
as much influence on Jimmy as anybody, so that it
partly depends. But here you've got a guy. I remember
(25:23):
also when you get to be his age, and for example,
you're a little worried walking up and downstairs because falling
really is a significant problem. At his age, the person
you most rely on is Jill. Well, that creates a
(25:46):
sense of dependency. And so she says as the person
who's closest to him, the person who protects him, she's
telling him positive things. I mean, I think if she
was saying to him, why don't you drop out for
your legacy, that might be a different conversation. But she's
telling him what he wants to hear. You're doing great.
(26:07):
Rememb remember that whole scene after the debate.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
You answered every question, Joe.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I mean it was. And then I don't know
if you picked up on it, but I thought, when
she turns and she says, and what did Trump do?
He lied? The way she yelled lied reminded me immediately
of Governor Dean in Iowa in the primary.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
The Dean scream, we're going up in New Hampshire. We're
going Iowa, whoa.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah, Now she had some of that you know, over
the top kind of this is really we're really positive,
we're really not giving in.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I want to I want to go back to the
post debate fallout right, and this is where I want
to tap into to your expertise from a crisis communications standpoint.
I felt like they acknowledged that a bad night that night,
I mean, Kamala comes on air and say, as you know,
it wasn't the best night, but three and a half years,
good talking points, whatever, and then they let this time
(27:06):
go by, like literally, we're here at day twelve and
they're still worried about members of Congress. I cannot believe
based on what you and I both agree, the outcome
is that Joe Biden digs in, stays his denominee. The
idea that rank and file and even committee chairman on
(27:26):
the House side, on the Democratic House side, are coming
out now twelve days later. I don't get that. Politically.
I get the day after or whatever saying hey, I
have a problem here, but why would you wait twelve days,
ten days? As a rank and file member, that to
me seems like, Wow, you're cutting off your political future
(27:47):
real quick.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Well, I think first of all, my impression is that
they didn't believe it was as bad as it was.
So I think the first reaction of the White House
was sort of what they've said, we had a bad night,
and they didn't realize that, No, they didn't have a
bad night. They had a cataclysmic night. They had a
(28:09):
night that changed the perception of one hundred million Americans. Second,
because they didn't realize how bad it was, they didn't
go to an auto to an immediate rescue operation, and
it was only as the media began to pile on
that they and when nobody was jumping up to defending.
I think part of the lag was this was so
(28:33):
much worse than they thought possible. Their campaign manager doesn't
have the kind of authority that Susie Wiles and Chris
Lsavita have for Trump, so they're not able to turn
and they don't have a machine, you know. I think
the Trump people could reach out in touch virtually every
(28:54):
elected Republican within twelve hours. I think the Biden people
literally weren't prepared for that kind of all out grassroots,
get him back in line, talk to him, reassure him,
and so it grew out of control. Now I think
they're getting it back in control. And it's starting from
their real base, which is the Black Caucus. And the
(29:16):
fact that the Black Caucus is going to be militant,
given its size in the Democratic Party, almost guarantees that
an anti Biden rebellion can occurs successfully.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
So put yourself back in the shoes. They met, as
I said, this morning, as a caucus came Jeffries according
to like playbook, and everyone else was going to be
in listen mode. Should he be in lead mode? Right?
Should he? And Pelosi, as the elders and the leaders
that caucus be saying, guys, Biden's made it clear he's
going to be the nominee. No more dissension among the ranks.
(29:50):
We're all on board on this. Or should he be?
I mean, it seems like there's a lack of Pelosi
and he keep Jeffries trying to say to the flock, guys,
get in line. And is that the right mover?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
No, Well, I've always followed a model of listen, learn, help,
and lead. So I would say you walk into a room,
because here's what happens. You're dealing with independently elected people.
This isn't like a cabinet where you appoint them when
you fharro. They're independently elected. So if you try to
(30:28):
be a cheerleader, what you can do is you can
suppress them and they'll shut up. But that doesn't mean
they've changed their mind. It just means they've decided they
don't want to take you on. On the other hand,
if you let everybody ventilate, everybody gets to say here's
how I feel, here's how my district feels. First of all,
(30:49):
you know that over half of them are going to say,
my district wants Biden to stay. So you're gonna you
gradually build a growing majority. You'll have a bunch of
them who are waivering, and as they see where the
boat is going, they'll decide to get on it. And
then you'll have a small group that really does think
(31:10):
this is hopeless. But they also begin to shut up
because if in fact he is the inevitable nominee, and
if in fact the party's going to unify around him,
then it hurts their reelection to be seen as anti Biden. Right,
And so I think that's probably the model they're trying
(31:31):
to work off of.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
So the big next evolution of this crisis was yesterday
that press briefing unreal, but let's keep it in context.
I think everybody I got a question this morning. Somebody
said to me, did you you know?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
What?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Did you think? Did you? I forgot how they phrase it,
but my point was, oh my god, I dealt with
that every day. I think Krinna has just never had
to have somebody challenge her on something. The questions about
the Parkinson's visit from the doctor what I mean, I
feel like this is the real issue that they're screwing
up now, is that they need to reassure yes, we
(32:10):
all know he's getting older. Everybody knows that, because that's
just that's just you know, life. The Parkinson's issue or
another disease issue is where they've got to tread very carefully,
because if there are concerns about some kind of debilitating disease,
then they need to be out in front of this.
I felt like yesterday was so in a just ill managed,
(32:31):
unprofessional on Corin's part. She was not prepared for this,
and it was into you know, the the New York
Post and the New York Times. She should have come
out and taken this head on, and the idea that
doctor O'Connor is putting out a letter later that day
does not instill a sense of confidence in the president's
medical condition.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Look, I think this is the situation where if they
can get a specialist who can say with honesty he
has some limited cognitive problems, but I am confident that
he can serve for the next four years as president
and that this will not be permanently damaging, that's worth
(33:14):
its weight in gold. Now, if in fact they can't
get a doctor to say that, then this thing's never
going to go away. And I think people people have
not yet factored in we were shocked at how bad
Biden was the night of the debate. We have not
yet taken into account that. The real question here is
(33:36):
are you willing to vote for this guy for four
more years given what you've seen. That's a much different
issue than can he get from here to January? And
I think overwhelmingly even Democrats now when you look at
polling data, do not believe he can serve four years.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
I don't. I don't think that, And to your point,
this is a sympathetic I don't want him not only
is I mean, I look at this as the leader
of the country, the leader of the free world, but
then as a human being. I don't want somebody to
have to deal with that and face it and personally,
and I cannot believe that they're going through this. He's
got two big hurdles the rest of the week the
(34:18):
way I see this. Number One, you've got these NATO meetings,
and the hurdle is not having leaks come out from
leaders in their top eight saying he dozed off, he
was incoherent, etc. And then secondly, what the White House themselves,
unbelievably is branding a big boy press conference. If he
(34:38):
doesn't get through both of these with a's, do you
think that Friday morning we wake up and have a
different conversation about the state of this race.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, I think, particularly if he has either a truly
major mistake or if he melts down in the press conference.
I mean, why you would take him through a major
international meeting with twenty six other leaders and then turn
around in the next day have an hour long press conference.
(35:11):
That makes no sense at all. I remember years ago
Bob Novak told me a story about pacing and politicians
and said, that when Reagan became governor, he called Reagan's
press guy and said, I'd like to come out and
spend two or three days with the governor and then
(35:31):
have a chance to really interview him in depth. And
lin Na Seger said to him, you must think I'm crazy.
You're going to get thirty minutes with me in the realm,
that's it, because he understood that two or three even
with the guys brilliant as Reagan, two or three days,
you'll find five or six things that make him look
(35:52):
bad and there's no end. You shouldn't voluntarily do that.
So I would say, one, I don't know why they
would scheduled on Thursday. Yeah, because he's probably going to
be tired. I mean, and that's true of everybody. I mean.
Reagan once fell asleep while talking with Pope John Paul
the Second because it was his first trip to Europe
(36:14):
and they hadn't set aside enough time for Reagan to
rest before the meeting. And they learned from that all
every future meeting after that had a time to recover
and time to be totally fresh. Why you would take
a guy who collapsed during a debate turn around have
(36:35):
him do three heavy days, because remember, in between each
NADO meeting, he's talking to Democrats. He's saying, I can run,
I can do this, and so I mean he is
on a treadmill. Why you would do that makes no
sense to me.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
But let's just play this out. If he has an episode,
an incident, an issue, that press conference, what's the conversation
we're having Friday morning.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Well, I think you then see a renewed sense that
he has to go. And again, the real issue that
hasn't been joined is not can he survive to election day?
The real issue is if he won, can you imagine
the guy you're watching serve four years as commander in
(37:26):
chief and I think one or two more mistakes, you're
going to be a ninety percent of the country saying no, yeah,
I just And at that point, I think it's a
little hard to see how they avoid having a real
rebellion to get him off the ticket.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So, just to be clear, let's just place out for fun.
If he were to step aside voluntarily, do you agree
that Kamala Harris will be the nominee or do you
see somebody else? The the Gavin Newsom, the Gretchen Whitmer,
Josh Shapiro becoming the nominee.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I don't see, given the power structure of that party,
how you push aside a black female vice president. I
think you'd have a civil war, and I think you
would have the most loyal and most militant part of
(38:29):
the party go crazy. So my assumption is, and this
is why I wrote my piece on collapsing with Kamala,
because I think that when you really look at her record,
and you really look at mean, you know she's the
borders are and she's visited the border once in three
and a half years. Just take item after item, and
she is I think, much weaker than Biden. Once you're
(38:54):
in a real campaign.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I do too. But here's what I would just throw
at you. I keep using the baseball analogy, right Biden.
If Biden is our batter, right now, we know every
stat about and we know that he's never hit the
ball when we pay, I mean, we know we're gonna
win with Biden at the plate. Okay, That's how I
look at this. Politically, Kamala gets up to bat if
Biden has to take and she becomes the dh I
(39:18):
worry that the dynamic has changed and that who knows.
I mean, my point is I get all that the border,
you name it, whatever, But suddenly maybe she fires up
black women, maybe she fires up women in general. I
don't know. But here's what I know. I don't want
to deal with it. I want to deal with what
I know, the nones, and I know we can beat
Biden and that he loses the House in the Senate
(39:39):
with him, I would, and so that's why I keep
saying I worry about any effort on our side to
push him because I believe that Kamala will lose. There's
no question about it. For all the reasons that you enumerated. However,
I just there's X factors and I don't like X factors.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Well, I think Donald Trump agrees with you. I mean,
I think that's what he was saying on Hannity, that
you know he is quite happy to have Joe Biden
as his opponent.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, okay, Speaker Gingritch, I appreciate it. I know that
you've got a cold, jet lag, a bad night.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Uh. Luckily I'm not running for president and this wasn't
a debate.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
That's a beat. I always appreciate your historical wisdom and
insight political acumen. This is thank you for sharing and
being so generous with your time. As always, good to
be with you, all right, take care, all right, great
conversation with Nuke Gingritch. And remember tomorrow, I've got a
Democratic operative on the show that's going to answer this.
Democrat James Carvill's op ed in the New York Times
(40:48):
saying Biden's not going to be the nominee and here's
how they can go about it. I want here a
Democrat answer for that. Continue to subscribe, YouTube, Rumble, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
my Heart, wherever you get those podcasts. We'll see you
back here tomorrow
I think what you have is a tired old man
who is less and less capable of doing things, whose
wife and son both tell him you're doing great. His
brother and his son have made a lot of money
off the family name, and they have learned to be openly,
(00:23):
cheerfully dishonest on the grounds that nobody will challenge them.
To what extent do you believe anything, Joe Biden says?
So Biden may tell you it's about legacy. I think
it's about power, and we're asking Biden to quit being
the most powerful person on the planet.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
All Right, guys, it's unbelievable that we're here in July
and this much is happening politically. We are under seven
days from the start of the RNC the schedule. By
the way, in the platform, I'm going to talk to
you quickly about some of the updates they are released.
Yesterday last evening, KJP having an absolute meltdown in the
briefing room. Gosh, I feel so bad. Nope, and House
(01:08):
Democrats met this morning. It wasn't good. They are now
twelve days after this debate, trying to figure out how
to handle the Biden situation. Where do we go from here?
As a party unbelievable New Gingrich is going to be
here to help us break down where things are historically
and where they are politically, and where we move forward.
(01:29):
Speaking of which, James Carvill has a brand new opet
up in the New York Times. I'm going to talk
to Speaker Gingrich about this. He says Biden's not going
to be the nominee. I'm going to ask him about it.
And then tomorrow, by the way, We've got a Democratic
operative on the show, and I'm going to ask them
are they comfortable with Joe Biden as the nominee? Do
they think, as Carville does, that you've got to replace
(01:49):
the guy now? And here's how he suggests you do it.
I will ask her tomorrow. But the Democrats have a
lot of answering to do about not just this campaign,
but whether Biden should be governing for four more years.
I think that's a legitimate question that's not getting asked.
Let's get back to all of the issues that I
(02:12):
was telling you about before we get into it with
Speaker ging Gridge. The platform of the RNC got released
yesterday and it's speaking of Gingridge, it's Contract with America
Style twenty bowl In points unbelievable, right, and this is
having drafted a couple of these have been part of
that process. This is the smart way to do this,
easy to understand themes, that people understand where you are,
(02:35):
where you stand for, what you stand for. I think
they got it right. Everyone's freaking out about the pro
life language, and I think that Donald Trump's position on this,
as you've seen, I'm as pro life as they come.
I don't want a world in which babies are aborted.
I want to promote life. The platform recognize this. It
(02:57):
gets out there and everybody's worried because it doesn't call
for a national ban anymore. Here's the problem. It's not
that I'm not supportive of that. It's that it's unrealistic.
You're not getting sixty seats in the Senate. It's just
not going to happen. Okay. So President Trump has said this.
We fought to overturn row, which sent it back to
the States, and this is now happening state by state
(03:19):
with voters input. That's how it should be, and I
think we're doing it the right way. The platform focused
on things like making us energy independent, securing the border,
making us prosperous. And when you read this, I tweeted
out the twenty points that they put together. It's digestible.
It's something that if someone says, what does your party
(03:41):
stand for? You can go boom. Here are the twenty points.
Very contract with America. Like I said, it focuses on
protecting seniors. Not everything in there I agree with. I'll
be honest with you, that's not what it's for. It's
not meant to get everybody on the world. But if
you can get eighty percent, isn't that what Reagan said? Okay,
I'm hired eighty percent, don't get me wrong, But I'm
(04:02):
just saying I think that the way that they handled
it the cycle was a lot better. And then they
announced the programming for the convention. It's four days, as
you know, so Monday is going to be make America
Wealthy once again. Tuesday is going to be make America
Safe once again. Wednesday, make America Strong once again, Thursday,
(04:26):
make America great once again. You notice the once again, right,
harkening back to the four years that Trump had in office.
That's a key part of this. The current schedule historically
is that the VP will make their speech Wednesday night,
and Trump will accept the nomination on Thursday night. This
is gonna be a big difference than the DEM convention,
right in the sense that Biden's got to accept that
(04:48):
nomination virtually throw a roll call prior to his speech
because the dummies don't own a calendar and forgot when
the Ohio ballot deadline was. Now they forgot it in
Alabama as well, but the Alabama state Legislature are extending
it for them, which I think was kind of silly,
but whatever, So this is going to be a really
(05:11):
great week. I think Trump talked about it a little
last night on an interview that he had with Sean Hannity.
I guess that Thursday Friday, right in there before the convention,
like this week, he will announce that VP nominee. He's
not going to wait. He wants them to get some
excitement and get going be able to obviously, you know,
becoming the nominee takes a minute, right, you want to
(05:32):
draft this your speech and get your thoughts together. So
I think that's what's going to happen. As I said,
the fallout from the debate continues, but now it's shifting
into this medical issue over the weekend, the New York
Times and The New York Post revealed that this doctor,
doctor Kinnard, who's a neurologist that specializes in Parkinson's, visited
(05:57):
the White House eight times. The New York Post revealed
meetings in which the president's personal doctor, Kevin O'Connor was
in meetings with him and an unknown person. While who's
that unknown person? Gosh, who would possibly not need to
get waved into a meeting? Hmm? Who else would be
living at the White House anyway? I digressed. I want
(06:17):
to play you a clip from the briefing room, because
everyone this morning you're like, wow, KJP whatever. I'm like,
this is what it was like every day for me.
I'm sorry that she's losing the press. These are her buddies.
She's like, hey, guys, remember I used to work with
some of you at CNN or on SBC wherever she was. Yeah,
she was at MSS. I think right. She's like, here're
my buddies. My old partner was at CNN. We're all
(06:38):
in the family, right. Why are you getting so hard?
She literally said Ed O'Keefe of CBS News, who's basically
a scribe for the Democratic Party. I mean, he's the
guy that asked him about his feelings and ice cream
and all that. He literally, that's the guy that's She
was like, Ed, you're disrespecting me? Are you kidding me?
They have legitimate questions about why Dilkinson's doctor is visiting
(07:02):
the White House eight times and she's giving this word
salad about you know, remember the last time and I
talked about it from here and we talked to me whatever,
I want to play you this clip.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Though, Ed, I also said to you for security reasons,
we cannot share names. We cannot share names.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Can we have to? We have to others he would
have met with. We can't share names. In regards to
if someone came here.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
We cannot share We cannot share names of specialists broadly,
from a dermatologist to a neurologists. We cannot share names.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Okay, just pause for a second. Do you want to
know why we know doctor Canard's name because it's in
a public log. It's in a public log they released
that there's no security issue here. The only reason we
know it is because he got waived into the White
House on a log that is released of the visitors
(07:57):
that's pretty public. There's no secure already issue. Now is
there a hippa issue, a health issue of revealing who
he saw? Yes, And that's why she's asking being asked,
did he meet with the president? Now? I want to
play you her go on about this is the slide
of hand. This is where if you've never worked in
the White House, and this is why what I bring
to the table is so valuable. She's trying to make
(08:18):
it seem like, oh, he could have been seeing anyone.
Here's her talking about the military piece of this.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I understand that I hear you. I hear you. I
cannot from here confirm any of that because we have
to keep their privacy. What do you missed about? Are
he just asked about what do you And then every
time I come back and I answer the question that
you guys asked to come back, and I never answered
the question incorrectly. That is not true. I was asked
(08:46):
about a medical exam. I was asked about a physical
that was in the line of question that I answered,
and I said, no, he did not have a medical exam.
And I still stand that by that by of fact,
the President still stands by that he had a verbal
check in. That is something that the president has a
couple times week a couple times a.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Week now, doctor Kevin Cannard, and I.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Am telling you right now that I am not sharing
confirming names from here. It is the security reasons. I
am not going to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Ed all right, this is silly, This is absolutely ridiculous.
But she goes on and I want to play this
clip for you real quick, where she talks about the
fact that that doctor Canard, that specialist could be there
to see thousands of people from the White House here
it is.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Confirm whether or not the President is pretty specialists. And
you mentioned three times to the visitor log show duration
of eight very much. I think that is the clubs
of the 's. But I also said, I also said
there are thousands of military personnel that come to the
White House and they are under the care of the
(09:53):
medical unit.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
They are Okay, now, that's just not true. That is
not true the White House. Military folks that are there
don't get there, you know, beyond like an emergency. If
they have a routine appointment, they go to Walter Reed,
they go to another military facility. They don't get their
primary care or their specialty care at the White House.
(10:14):
One hundred percent faults. Not true. Now, I know most
of the press corps doesn't know that I'm not ragging
on I'm actually that's a legitimate thing that they wouldn't
know I do. I work there. That's not how it works.
And she's pretending like this specialist, this highly credentialed Parkinson's specialist,
somehow is treating random and listed folks in the White
(10:35):
House Military Office that we can't we don't want to
disclose there. That's not true, not true. That's not how
it works. And the White House Press Office was misleading
people when it tried to pretend that somehow all of
these individuals in the military that work in and out
of the White House get their care there, especially their
(10:56):
specialty care. Not true. All right, before I bring in
speaker Nuke Gingrich, who, by the way, has got a
great substack at Gingrich three sixty. You can go to
gingerstree sixty dot com to check it out. A great podcast,
nuts World, check all that out. All right, let me
bring in speaker new Gingrich. Well, mister speaker, how are you?
(11:17):
A very boring time in politics, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I've never seen anything like it, and I would say
that includes the Nixon Watergate crisis. This is amazing it.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I mean, I feel like there's a bunch of people
in Hollywood going I don't know that we could have
ever gotten away with writing something like this, and now
we're living through it.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
It's a well, I think it's the total complexity. I mean,
if it was it would be one thing, if Biden
was really terrible and collapsed. But what we're watching is
and I thought Brett Baer caught it perfectly when he
said it's like the scene and The Godfather where they
go to the mattresses. I mean, the Biden family has
decided they're prepared to take everyone out if that's what
(12:00):
it takes, but then they leave them.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah. I want to break down several things, like I
want to talk about just crisises in general, because I
think you're hitting on something about how they haven't stemmed
the bleeding. But I want to start with something that
you quasi are familiar with this morning, but from the
other side this morning, the how Democratic Caucus met down
at their headquarters. They all as the Republicans do, and
you're well aware of that, you know every week and so,
(12:26):
but this is the angle that I want to take
you from outside the meeting where a bunch of staffers
from the NRCC, the National Republican Congression Committee, which obviously
you're very familiar with, and they were holding these signs
that said Joe Biden is unfit for office. Because obviously
they a lot of media trying to pick off members
as they went in. My contention is that this is
(12:47):
a mistake for our side to be urging Biden to
get out of the race. Let them do this. Why
are we doing it? Because number one, why get in
the way of them? But number two, and this is
where I want you to either push back on me
and tell me I'm wrong or tell me why I'm
onto something. But I feel like I would rather play
Biden in this game, if you will. We know him,
(13:09):
We have every bit of OPO on him. The American
people know him. Then at the X factor, right, probably
Kamala Harris, maybe someone new. But why are we trying
to urge him to get out? Let let this process
play out? It benefits us. Am I right or am
I wrong?
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Well? I mean I think Trump was correct on Hannity
when he said that he's convinced Biden's staying in right,
when I've said all along. You know, first of all,
if your alternative is the White House, Marine one Air Force,
one Camp David, or bicycling and Delaware, why would you
(13:48):
pick bicycling and Delaware. And it's clear that Jill feels strongly,
Hunter feels strongly, and they're reinforcing Biden's natural stubbornness. So
my working assumption is that he's probably not going to
go anywhere. There was a day or two when I
thought the avalanche might build. But here's the other thing.
(14:08):
When Nixon stepped down, he had major Republican leaders saying
they would vote to impeach him. In Biden's case, you
would have to, I think, employ the twenty fifth Amendment,
and it's not going to happen. And the Black Caucus
is so strongly for Biden. Despite the opportunity for Kamala
(14:29):
Harris to become the nominee, they have clearly indicated that
they will, in fact, you know, go to the mattresses
to fight for them. So my view would be the
less we say, the more we allow it to roll out.
And Trump has been remarkably disciplined for the last week,
(14:49):
you know, and just let it roll out. Let the
New York Times every other day write an attack piece.
Let the Wall Street Journal every day write an attack piece,
and let the Washington Post every third day write an
attack and see how it plays out. Biden's not going
to get any stronger, and probably, sadly, his mental condition
(15:13):
is going to get worse and become visibly worse, which
which I think anybody who's had an adult relative go
through this kind of cognitive change can watch it with
a sense of sympathy and sadness and really wonder why
Jill's putting him through this.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, I think that's that's the concern a lot of
people have. But here's what I don't get. This morning.
James Carville, who you know, longstanding political operative, writes in
the New York Times, and this is this. I want
to read directly from this, so we're not mincing words.
He says, mark my words. Joe Biden is not going
to be is going is going to be out of
(15:53):
the twenty twenty four presidential race ready, whether he is
ready to admit it or not. His pleas on Monday
to reressional Democrats for support will not unite the party
behind him. Mister Biden is staying in the race, but
it's only a matter of time before the Democratic pressure
and public and private polling lead him to exit the race.
The jig is up, and the sooner mister Biden and
(16:15):
Democratic leaders accept this, the better we need to move forward. Now.
I agree with you and your assessment, but what are
we missing that James Carville isn't well.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I mean, first of all, Carville likes being a contrarian,
and it doesn't hurt his speech business, and it doesn't
hurt his long term reputation. Second, I think he had
his mind. He has a dynamic vision that we're going
to see more mistakes and that you know, day by
(16:50):
day people are going to realize, you know, this guy
couldn't possibly serve four years. I mean, I was shocked.
I don't know. With Kliston and I were in Rome
and we got up at like three o'clock in the
morning to watch the debate, and I thought, from our side,
(17:11):
if you know Biden made two or three mistakes in
ninety minutes, that would be pretty good for our team.
I was stunned and frankly felt bad about the total
collapse of that debate. I've never seen anything like it,
and I think that was a turning point because after
a year of denying that he was getting weaker, the
(17:35):
whole country realized that they've been lied to. And I
think what Carvilo is gambling is that there's a trajectory
of decline and that that trajectory accelerates, and that you're
going to see more examples of Biden not being capable.
(17:55):
It would be president, not such a question of whinning
are losing not being cap of being president?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So right, but that's what I think we all see.
This is not a one off. It wasn't a bad night,
it wasn't a cold, it wasn't jetlag. The reality is
you get older and those conditions exacerbate. So Carvo gets it.
I think he understands that it's not going to get
better for Biden. But the political reality is that, you know,
as Trump said on handity last night, Biden has the delegates,
(18:26):
he gets to decide, and he has no sign of
going anywhere. And that's where I think, you know, I
just I get it. And you brought this up before.
Is he making a mistake listening entirely to Jill and
Hunter as opposed to trusted as you've been in these
big decisions before right, who do you listen to?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Look? And first of all, there are pretty good arguments
that if you have his kind of cognitive problems, you
don't listen to many people, if anyone, if anyone, and
that there's a pattern of people, as they get older,
getting more stubborn and rejecting information that doesn't please them.
(19:09):
So you have that problem. You also have a really
simple question here, and I've said this for about eight
months now, he has no upside leaving. I mean, first
of all, if he announces that because he's so fragile
he can't run for reelection, that immediately asked the question, well,
(19:30):
then shouldn't you step down? How can you say as
president for the next six months if you're too fragile
to be in a campaign. So there's there's where they've
now found themselves. There's no good outcome. I think it's
how I would describe it. And if you're Biden, what's
the you know, you're sitting in the White House, surrounded
(19:50):
by your wife and your son. What's the genuine pressure
for way to do anything?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Well? Isn't it legacy? I Mean I've always ared that
Biden's legacy is all of these people He's appointed Pete Boodage,
you know Keatanji Brown Jackson that he wants to be
seen as the progressive north Star. That said, I put
the first lbgt QIA, these three PO five two six
in office. I did this as part of my cabinet.
(20:17):
I appointed this black woman, this transgender person, and that
by maybe handing the mantle off to the first female
black nominee, that would be seen as the Biden legacy.
I did this. I created this environment to your point.
I mean, I think if he loses to Trump, which
there's no way he doesn't right now, and he goes
down epically, that will be his legacy. And I think
(20:39):
that Biden is more concerned. You know, he always talks
about my word as a Biden and everything's about the
Biden legacy and my uncle this and Joey that. I
think he's really concerned more about legacy than accomplishment.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
First of all, to what extent do you believe anything
Joe Biden says. So Biden may tell you it's aboutgacy.
I think it's about power, and we're asking Biden to
quit being the most powerful person on the planet. The
Bidens have been grifters ever since he first won, They've
(21:17):
had all sorts of deals in Delaware. His brother and
his son have made a lot of money off the
family name, and they have learned to be openly, cheerfully
dishonest on the grounds that nobody will challenge them, and
so they just say whatever they want to say. And
(21:39):
in Biden's case, he says all sorts of stuff and
has always said all sorts of stuff that makes no sense.
So if you said to him, doesn't your legacy really matter?
He said, oh, yes, you know, the Biden name is
really important to me. If you said to him, well,
that means you should get give up, he would say, no, No,
(22:01):
the Biden legacy has never given him. Biden's are never acquitters.
And what he'll tell you is what he thinks he has.
You know, he's a little bit like a clumsy and
not very bright version of Bill Clinton. I mean Clinton
Clinton has, as you know, has this marvelous capacity to
look you in the eye, tell you that it's Christmas.
(22:24):
And by the time he's done talking to you, you're
looking for the missiletone and you know it's all a lie,
you know it's just but he does it so well
that you kind of you kind of like being part
of the dance. Well, Biden has the same characteristic of
dishonesty as Bill, but he has none of the skills.
And so in the end, I think what you have
(22:47):
is a tired old man who is less and less
capable of doing things, whose wife and son both tell
him you're doing great. And most of his senior staff,
who remember their power and their money come from being
his people. So most of them are saying, we can
(23:08):
get there. You came from behind, you know how to
do this. We can beat Trump, and nobody else can.
And frankly, I think as likely, as weak as he
now is, I think he's probably the best chance the
Democrats have. I just at a piece for Gingrish three
sixty called collapsing with Kamalaw and I do think anybody
(23:30):
else they try to put in at this stage is
like to actually run worse than Biden.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
So Biden's got you know, you get the family of
the age, right, So he's got Jail and Hunter that
He's got Mike Donohan and Steve Rochetti, Bruce Reid and
Eda donn know. But you have your Joe Gailord, the
person that's been around you forever, giving you political Joe
Gailard comes to you one day and says, is that
the kind of person in your experience that you go,
you know what if Joe says it? Or do you
(23:59):
say you know what, Joe, I'm going to go talk
to Callista instead. Like from your you've been at the
highest levels. Who is it that you would have respected
that comes to you and says, mister speaker, the jig
is up. We gotta go. Do you do you? Is
it the political people, the family, the combination.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I mean, I can't speak for everybody. I think in
a situation where it's literally a political life and death,
if you have a good relationship with your spouse, they
count a lot. Nancy Reagan had huge influence over Ronnie,
(24:38):
and nobody should be confused about that. Now. Conversely, I
don't think that Mamie Eisenhower at the same level they were.
She and Ike had a very affectionate relationship, but they
had a pretty severe distinction between his job as a
general or his job as a president and their personal relationship.
So I think Nixon had great affection for par and
(25:00):
in many ways listen to Pat and they endured Watergate together.
You know, I think Frank frankly that the Carters were very,
very much one unit. And I think that she had
as much influence on Jimmy as anybody, so that it
partly depends. But here you've got a guy. I remember
(25:23):
also when you get to be his age, and for example,
you're a little worried walking up and downstairs because falling
really is a significant problem. At his age, the person
you most rely on is Jill. Well, that creates a
(25:46):
sense of dependency. And so she says as the person
who's closest to him, the person who protects him, she's
telling him positive things. I mean, I think if she
was saying to him, why don't you drop out for
your legacy, that might be a different conversation. But she's
telling him what he wants to hear. You're doing great.
(26:07):
Rememb remember that whole scene after the debate.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
You answered every question, Joe.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, I mean it was. And then I don't know
if you picked up on it, but I thought, when
she turns and she says, and what did Trump do?
He lied? The way she yelled lied reminded me immediately
of Governor Dean in Iowa in the primary.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
The Dean scream, we're going up in New Hampshire. We're
going Iowa, whoa.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Yeah, Now she had some of that you know, over
the top kind of this is really we're really positive,
we're really not giving in.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I want to I want to go back to the
post debate fallout right, and this is where I want
to tap into to your expertise from a crisis communications standpoint.
I felt like they acknowledged that a bad night that night,
I mean, Kamala comes on air and say, as you know,
it wasn't the best night, but three and a half years,
good talking points, whatever, and then they let this time
(27:06):
go by, like literally, we're here at day twelve and
they're still worried about members of Congress. I cannot believe
based on what you and I both agree, the outcome
is that Joe Biden digs in, stays his denominee. The
idea that rank and file and even committee chairman on
(27:26):
the House side, on the Democratic House side, are coming
out now twelve days later. I don't get that. Politically.
I get the day after or whatever saying hey, I
have a problem here, but why would you wait twelve days,
ten days? As a rank and file member, that to
me seems like, Wow, you're cutting off your political future
(27:47):
real quick.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Well, I think first of all, my impression is that
they didn't believe it was as bad as it was.
So I think the first reaction of the White House
was sort of what they've said, we had a bad night,
and they didn't realize that, No, they didn't have a
bad night. They had a cataclysmic night. They had a
(28:09):
night that changed the perception of one hundred million Americans. Second,
because they didn't realize how bad it was, they didn't
go to an auto to an immediate rescue operation, and
it was only as the media began to pile on
that they and when nobody was jumping up to defending.
I think part of the lag was this was so
(28:33):
much worse than they thought possible. Their campaign manager doesn't
have the kind of authority that Susie Wiles and Chris
Lsavita have for Trump, so they're not able to turn
and they don't have a machine, you know. I think
the Trump people could reach out in touch virtually every
(28:54):
elected Republican within twelve hours. I think the Biden people
literally weren't prepared for that kind of all out grassroots,
get him back in line, talk to him, reassure him,
and so it grew out of control. Now I think
they're getting it back in control. And it's starting from
their real base, which is the Black Caucus. And the
(29:16):
fact that the Black Caucus is going to be militant,
given its size in the Democratic Party, almost guarantees that
an anti Biden rebellion can occurs successfully.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
So put yourself back in the shoes. They met, as
I said, this morning, as a caucus came Jeffries according
to like playbook, and everyone else was going to be
in listen mode. Should he be in lead mode? Right?
Should he? And Pelosi, as the elders and the leaders
that caucus be saying, guys, Biden's made it clear he's
going to be the nominee. No more dissension among the ranks.
(29:50):
We're all on board on this. Or should he be?
I mean, it seems like there's a lack of Pelosi
and he keep Jeffries trying to say to the flock, guys,
get in line. And is that the right mover?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
No, Well, I've always followed a model of listen, learn, help,
and lead. So I would say you walk into a room,
because here's what happens. You're dealing with independently elected people.
This isn't like a cabinet where you appoint them when
you fharro. They're independently elected. So if you try to
(30:28):
be a cheerleader, what you can do is you can
suppress them and they'll shut up. But that doesn't mean
they've changed their mind. It just means they've decided they
don't want to take you on. On the other hand,
if you let everybody ventilate, everybody gets to say here's
how I feel, here's how my district feels. First of all,
(30:49):
you know that over half of them are going to say,
my district wants Biden to stay. So you're gonna you
gradually build a growing majority. You'll have a bunch of
them who are waivering, and as they see where the
boat is going, they'll decide to get on it. And
then you'll have a small group that really does think
(31:10):
this is hopeless. But they also begin to shut up
because if in fact he is the inevitable nominee, and
if in fact the party's going to unify around him,
then it hurts their reelection to be seen as anti Biden. Right,
And so I think that's probably the model they're trying
(31:31):
to work off of.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
So the big next evolution of this crisis was yesterday
that press briefing unreal, but let's keep it in context.
I think everybody I got a question this morning. Somebody
said to me, did you you know?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
What?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Did you think? Did you? I forgot how they phrase it,
but my point was, oh my god, I dealt with
that every day. I think Krinna has just never had
to have somebody challenge her on something. The questions about
the Parkinson's visit from the doctor what I mean, I
feel like this is the real issue that they're screwing
up now, is that they need to reassure yes, we
(32:10):
all know he's getting older. Everybody knows that, because that's
just that's just you know, life. The Parkinson's issue or
another disease issue is where they've got to tread very carefully,
because if there are concerns about some kind of debilitating disease,
then they need to be out in front of this.
I felt like yesterday was so in a just ill managed,
(32:31):
unprofessional on Corin's part. She was not prepared for this,
and it was into you know, the the New York
Post and the New York Times. She should have come
out and taken this head on, and the idea that
doctor O'Connor is putting out a letter later that day
does not instill a sense of confidence in the president's
medical condition.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Look, I think this is the situation where if they
can get a specialist who can say with honesty he
has some limited cognitive problems, but I am confident that
he can serve for the next four years as president
and that this will not be permanently damaging, that's worth
(33:14):
its weight in gold. Now, if in fact they can't
get a doctor to say that, then this thing's never
going to go away. And I think people people have
not yet factored in we were shocked at how bad
Biden was the night of the debate. We have not
yet taken into account that. The real question here is
(33:36):
are you willing to vote for this guy for four
more years given what you've seen. That's a much different
issue than can he get from here to January? And
I think overwhelmingly even Democrats now when you look at
polling data, do not believe he can serve four years.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
I don't. I don't think that, And to your point,
this is a sympathetic I don't want him not only
is I mean, I look at this as the leader
of the country, the leader of the free world, but
then as a human being. I don't want somebody to
have to deal with that and face it and personally,
and I cannot believe that they're going through this. He's
got two big hurdles the rest of the week the
(34:18):
way I see this. Number One, you've got these NATO meetings,
and the hurdle is not having leaks come out from
leaders in their top eight saying he dozed off, he
was incoherent, etc. And then secondly, what the White House themselves,
unbelievably is branding a big boy press conference. If he
(34:38):
doesn't get through both of these with a's, do you
think that Friday morning we wake up and have a
different conversation about the state of this race.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah, I think, particularly if he has either a truly
major mistake or if he melts down in the press conference.
I mean, why you would take him through a major
international meeting with twenty six other leaders and then turn
around in the next day have an hour long press conference.
(35:11):
That makes no sense at all. I remember years ago
Bob Novak told me a story about pacing and politicians
and said, that when Reagan became governor, he called Reagan's
press guy and said, I'd like to come out and
spend two or three days with the governor and then
(35:31):
have a chance to really interview him in depth. And
lin Na Seger said to him, you must think I'm crazy.
You're going to get thirty minutes with me in the realm,
that's it, because he understood that two or three even
with the guys brilliant as Reagan, two or three days,
you'll find five or six things that make him look
(35:52):
bad and there's no end. You shouldn't voluntarily do that.
So I would say, one, I don't know why they
would scheduled on Thursday. Yeah, because he's probably going to
be tired. I mean, and that's true of everybody. I mean.
Reagan once fell asleep while talking with Pope John Paul
the Second because it was his first trip to Europe
(36:14):
and they hadn't set aside enough time for Reagan to
rest before the meeting. And they learned from that all
every future meeting after that had a time to recover
and time to be totally fresh. Why you would take
a guy who collapsed during a debate turn around have
(36:35):
him do three heavy days, because remember, in between each
NADO meeting, he's talking to Democrats. He's saying, I can run,
I can do this, and so I mean he is
on a treadmill. Why you would do that makes no
sense to me.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
But let's just play this out. If he has an episode,
an incident, an issue, that press conference, what's the conversation
we're having Friday morning.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Well, I think you then see a renewed sense that
he has to go. And again, the real issue that
hasn't been joined is not can he survive to election day?
The real issue is if he won, can you imagine
the guy you're watching serve four years as commander in
(37:26):
chief and I think one or two more mistakes, you're
going to be a ninety percent of the country saying no, yeah,
I just And at that point, I think it's a
little hard to see how they avoid having a real
rebellion to get him off the ticket.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So, just to be clear, let's just place out for fun.
If he were to step aside voluntarily, do you agree
that Kamala Harris will be the nominee or do you
see somebody else? The the Gavin Newsom, the Gretchen Whitmer,
Josh Shapiro becoming the nominee.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I don't see, given the power structure of that party,
how you push aside a black female vice president. I
think you'd have a civil war, and I think you
would have the most loyal and most militant part of
(38:29):
the party go crazy. So my assumption is, and this
is why I wrote my piece on collapsing with Kamala,
because I think that when you really look at her record,
and you really look at mean, you know she's the
borders are and she's visited the border once in three
and a half years. Just take item after item, and
she is I think, much weaker than Biden. Once you're
(38:54):
in a real campaign.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I do too. But here's what I would just throw
at you. I keep using the baseball analogy, right Biden.
If Biden is our batter, right now, we know every
stat about and we know that he's never hit the
ball when we pay, I mean, we know we're gonna
win with Biden at the plate. Okay, That's how I
look at this. Politically, Kamala gets up to bat if
Biden has to take and she becomes the dh I
(39:18):
worry that the dynamic has changed and that who knows.
I mean, my point is I get all that the border,
you name it, whatever, But suddenly maybe she fires up
black women, maybe she fires up women in general. I
don't know. But here's what I know. I don't want
to deal with it. I want to deal with what
I know, the nones, and I know we can beat
Biden and that he loses the House in the Senate
(39:39):
with him, I would, and so that's why I keep
saying I worry about any effort on our side to
push him because I believe that Kamala will lose. There's
no question about it. For all the reasons that you enumerated. However,
I just there's X factors and I don't like X factors.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Well, I think Donald Trump agrees with you. I mean,
I think that's what he was saying on Hannity, that
you know he is quite happy to have Joe Biden
as his opponent.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, okay, Speaker Gingritch, I appreciate it. I know that
you've got a cold, jet lag, a bad night.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Uh. Luckily I'm not running for president and this wasn't
a debate.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
That's a beat. I always appreciate your historical wisdom and
insight political acumen. This is thank you for sharing and
being so generous with your time. As always, good to
be with you, all right, take care, all right, great
conversation with Nuke Gingritch. And remember tomorrow, I've got a
Democratic operative on the show that's going to answer this.
Democrat James Carvill's op ed in the New York Times
(40:48):
saying Biden's not going to be the nominee and here's
how they can go about it. I want here a
Democrat answer for that. Continue to subscribe, YouTube, Rumble, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
my Heart, wherever you get those podcasts. We'll see you
back here tomorrow
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