Interview: State of the Presidential Race w/Jon Decker

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Helped your spot on Brian mud Show, and I'd mentioned it.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
You know, we've been in hurricane mode pretty much since Monday,
So this week for so many of us has been
a wash. And then you start coming out of that
mode and it's like, right, we're under four weeks away
from the election. What's been going.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
On out there?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
And you know, for a lot of us, including me,
it's a good question what's been going on out there?
Somebody who knows, who covers it every single day. Our
White House correspondent John Decker, who's joining us now, Good morning, John,
and what's been going on out there?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, I get it. I understand why you've been lost
in terms of what's happening out on the campaign because
of what all of Florida has been dealing with over
the course of the past two weeks or so. Well,
it's been busy. You have Donald Trump in Pennsylvania this week,
two campaign stops in Pennsylvania, both in Reading, Pennsylvan also Scranton, Pennsylvania.

(01:02):
And as far as this weekend is concerned, he's got
a busy weekend as well, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday days
in which she'll be campaigning and no doubt about those
battleground states. Today it's Aurora, Colorado, and Reno, Nevada. Tomorrow
it's Coachella, California, and Sunday it's Prescott Valley, Arizona. Harris

(01:25):
is busy out west. She was in Arizona yesterday, in Nevada.
Today Sunday she'll be in Greensville, North Carolina. So it's
really heating up out on the campaign.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Show, Hey, John, The one thing I remember heading into
this week was that Harris has set up a bunch
of media hits. You know, that's been one of the things.
Her accessibility really hadn't been there for the duration of
her campaigning so far. She opened herself up to what
appeared to be largely you know, friendly venues, but still
a lot of media accessibility. This week, how's that been going?

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, I leave it to others how it's been going.
She did one tough interview that aired on Monday night
that was sixty minutes. Sixty minutes is no softball, and
you know, I think that was a mixture review that
she received. And then she did those you know, friendly environments.
She did the view, she did Colbert, she did the
Howard Stern radio show, and you know those are friendly audiences.

(02:22):
But you know, on the other side, Donald Trump does
friendly audiences as well. It's all in an effort on
both sides, Trump and Harris to reach out to those
undecided voters. And you know, polls indicate it is such
a tight race. Here. We are a little over three
and a half weeks to go until November the fifth,
and it's essentially a dead heat. It's really a remarkable

(02:45):
race also, Brian, because you have energy on both sides,
and that is something that is not always the case.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's a really good point. And one of the things
that's always interesting, you know, especially in recent election cycles,
is more and more people are vooting earlier. You start
to take a look at some of these polls, it's
interesting in that, you know, it's not just people that
are saying here's how I intend to vote in some
of these states, and they're saying, hey, this is how
I've already voted as well, So you know, in some respects,

(03:13):
and people are wondering, hey, why did poles start shaping
up a little bit differently as we get close to
election day. Some of that's people paying more attention momentum
of race. Other things like that, and some of it also,
I think it comes down to intent as well. Are
there any storylines as we're heading into the weekend that
are a particular note? I know that, you know, speaking
of hurricane related stuff, there's been a lot of back
and forth about you know, all that and federal response

(03:34):
and the like. Talking to state officials all throughout the
course of our hurricane coverage this week, Florida said that
the federal coordination for Milton anyway has been has been
real solid.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah, you know, look, as it relates to that, I
think that every leader, whether you're a governor, whether you're
a county supervisor, whether you're President of the United States,
they've learned lessons. You know, when natural disasters happens, you
have to step up the lessons maybe going all the
way back to George W. Bush and Katrina, and so

(04:08):
a lot of resources moved into Florida, pre positioned in
Florida head of Milton making landfall. That's a good thing.
Even search and rescue teams from the Pentagon moved in
and prepositioned as it relates to Milton, which was seen
as a catastrophic storm. As it relates to Florida, I

(04:29):
think the governor of Florida really expressed it quite well.
It was bad, but not as bad as it could
have been worst case scenario. So that's a good thing.
That's one storyline. You had Obama President Obama out on
the campaign trail yesterday, and he's going to start campaigning
in these key battleground states. We'll see if you know,
surrogates have any effect whatsoever, Brian, in terms of moving

(04:52):
the needle from where the race is right now.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well, I remember Obama really pushing hard in Pennsylvania, yeah,
four years ago and helping helping Biden pull out that state.
I imagine that's going to be a big part of
the plan with you talking about him getting out there
on that trail.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, he was in Pittsburgh yesterday. I'm sure he'll go
to the eastern part of the state, do an event
in Philadelphia certainly over the next three and a half weeks.
And if I had been what his itinerary is going
to be, it's going to be similar to what it
was Brian four years ago, hitting Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Milwaukee,
for sure, and maybe out west as well, in Phoenix

(05:29):
and in Las Vegas. He's going to be just as busy,
I think, as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. With these
remaining twenty something days to go until November.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
The fifth, Pennsylvania still look like it's the most important
state out there.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
It really does. You know, you do the map, I
do the map. You know, I don't see how the
vice president can win without Pennsylvania. And you know, Brian,
it's one of those things. You saw what happened in
twenty sixteen and in twenty twenty Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin,
they ultimately went to one candidate. They didn't split it up.
So if Pennsylvania goes one way based upon what happened

(06:04):
in twenty twenty and twenty sixteen, I would not be
surprised if Michigan and Wisconsin go that same way for
one particular candidate.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Great update, John, Thank you so much. Looking forward to
talking to you soon.