History Wont Remember This Fondly: Sarah Westwood Talks to A&G

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Front page headline, Ron de Santis is the future of
the Republican Party, as Jonah Goldberg set up on CNN,
representing the Republican side of things, he is the head
of the Republican Party now, Ron de Santis, I think
that might be a little premature. There's a there's a
there's an orange man from New York who has actually
from Florida who has a say in that. Also, if

(00:22):
I'm gonna go with the more negative spin though, I
was just watching a little Fox News coverage in the
lunch room and their hosts saying, We've got the worst
inflation in forty years, We've got the worst crime in
forty years, we have the worst border ever, and the
Republicans couldn't get over this is this is a referendum

(00:42):
on the Republican Party. The Fox host said, Let's chat
about this and more with Sarah Westwood, an investigative reporter
for the Washington Examiner previously the White House reporter for CNN. Sarah, welcome,
how are you. I'm great, Thanks for having me. We
will give you free reign over our radio show. What
are your takeaways? What are your impressions from last night?

(01:05):
But to a lot of pressure, but thank you. You know,
I think Republicans had raised expectations to an unrealistic level
before the election, and I think some of the choices
that the Republican campaign are made in the run up
to the election are going to be second guests. I mean,
if you look at, for example, the Superpack connected to

(01:26):
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, that group Congressional Leadership Fund
was spending millions of dollars in districts that ultimately didn't
even come close. In districts in Oregon, in Washington State,
you know, big reaches for Republicans and not shoring up
the winnable districts that ended up being very close, but
many of them broke for Democrats. So I think there

(01:49):
was sort of an irrational optimism among Republicans because the
landscapes looked so bad for Democrats. But in the end,
Joe Biden was not the polarizing figure that Donald Trump was,
and so even dissatisfied voters went into the poll box
and at the ballot box and didn't necessarily cast a

(02:11):
vote purely against Joe Biden. So his unpopularity wasn't the
type of drag that I think a lot of analysts expected,
and of course we we answered the question of can
you be a doctor who sells fake dial the diet pills,
moved to a different state and try to become a
U S Senator? So that question has finally been answered. Uh,
the age old question can you be a quack doctor

(02:32):
from a different state and become a senator? He lost
to a stroke victim, good Laurel and a guy who's
never held a real job. If you wanted to look
at the Federmentaz race, Sarah or a number of different
races around the country, what about the Republican senatorial candidates.
So there's you know, got a lot of talk about
candidate quality, and I think that the Pennsylvania race is

(02:55):
a perfect example. Dr Oz didn't have a lot of
credibility on the issues that pattered the most to voters
this cycle. Right, they cared about inflation, they cared about crime,
and Dr Oz was television doctor, so he wasn't able
to speak to the issues most important to voters. And
that's sort of the same problem that you know, herschel
Walker and Georgia had. Sure, he had celebrity, he had charisma,

(03:18):
but what credibility did he really have to be talking
about keeping the street safe and keeping inflation down. Democrats
have a lot of message discipline in both of those races,
even though John Cutterman was an exceptionally weak candidate and
he was beatable, and and so was Rafael Warnock in Georgia,
and you know, you can go down the line down
through house races. There were a number of other UH

(03:41):
races that were winnable for Republicans, like in Virginia, the
race in Northern Virginia Gainst Abigail span Burger and Yes
Lea Vega, Yes Lea Vega had a big controversy saying
something kind of like if you remember taught aken then
the Missouri Center race said about women's bodies can't get
pregnant if they're raped. You know, candidates that weren't vetted,
it weren't ready for prime time. We're put up in

(04:02):
these key races, and Republicans sort of thought that that
would be overlooked because of concerns about the economy, and
it wasn't. Okay, I have another essay type question for you,
but before we get there, let's let's not leap past
the headlines. It looks correct me if I'm wrong, Like,
the Republicans will take the House of Representatives. How likely
is that that? And by how many seats do you think?

(04:24):
Right now? It does look that way, but it just
looks to be like a handful at this point, and
the races outstanding are really really close, So that doesn't
exactly give Republicans a big mandate, And you know, it
makes it so that any vacancies that occur in the
House are going to be big marquee events over the

(04:45):
next two years, right, So that's going to be instructful
for Washington. In the Senate, you know, there's still an
outside chance that Republicans can take the Senate. The Republicans
are looking really good in Nevada with Adam lack Salt
running a out of Catherine Cortez Bass, so that will
be a pick up opportunity that would essentially cancel out

(05:05):
the Settlement win and control of the Senate could come
down once again to Georgia runoff, which I believe would
be December six, So just a few more weeks until
we've learned the outcome. So all is not lost for Republicans,
but you know, conceptually, politically, it was a bad night
and even if they pull out very narrow majorities, this

(05:26):
won't be considered a good mid term. History won't remember
definitely was not a good mid term for the Republicans.
But if you're going to pick out, the best thing,
which I already mentioned earlier, is the Republicans have a
new rock star. I mean, he was a rock star
before last night, but now he's an ultra super rock
star in Ron Santas. And let me let me throw
this in as well, Sarah, the email to the Armstrong

(05:48):
and Getty show has been running astonishingly toward Trump has
to go practically universally, which was as surprising to me
and Jack as any buddy. Um, you feel free to,
you know, throw that into your answer. What about the
santiss rise, Yeah, I mean I think that's the other
huge element of this, of what these results tell us

(06:12):
is that Donald Trump, I think was a drag on
a number of candidates who didn't have brands independent of him, right,
and or candidates who were associated very very closely with him.
For Republican candidates who were not, who were seen as
independent of him, they did very well. Rondo Santis is

(06:34):
a great example of that. I mean, he ran up
historic margins in his state sort of solidified his position
as the hat of the party. I think that Trump's
negative of facts on the party's prospects has been something
that's sort of been whispered about with more frequency and
Republican circles, and I wonder if this result will let
people start saying it out loud, because at this point,

(06:56):
what cost will Republicans have for kiding that Trump stepped
off the stage? I mean, before there was a fear
that voters would punish any Republican who said that out loud.
This election is clear evidence, but that's not the case.
I don't think that Republicans will be punished if they
start to say it's time for a new leader to emerge.
So maybe some of that fear of speaking out against

(07:18):
Trump will be removed from electric Republicans and they can start,
you know, moving the party in a direction away from him.
I mean keep in mind that, you know, the Christmas,
after the midterm elections, once we get through the holidays,
basically the presidential race will start, and so it's time
to start having the conversations now well, right, and including
on the other side, where a lot of the belief

(07:38):
was if the Republicans have a giant knight. That gives
a lot of Democrats the power to say, look, Joe Biden,
you gotta go. You're a drag on the party. But
you can't make that argument now, So where's that leave us?
That could ultimately end up if there's if there's a
very outside overlying for Republicans, this gives Joe Biden the

(07:59):
justification to stay a top his ticket. He can argue
that he saved his party from a historic beating in
the mid terms when the history suggested he would his
party would endure, and with his brilliant shuffling leadership across
the country exactly something he can claim. And then Republicans, conversely,

(08:21):
can look at these results and and take away from
it that it's time to push Trump off the off
the stage and usher a new leadership. And if race
could boil down to someone like Rhnda Santis running against
someone like Joe Biden, that could put Republicans in a
position to take a historic amount the palette. I think
you've nailed it. The headline flip was yesterday it was

(08:42):
looking like Trump's gonna announce He's gonna be tough to beat,
and the Republican and the Democrats are gonna push out Biden.
It might have flipped overnight. Biden is going to be
the nominee. Trump's gonna get pushed out alright, two points
number one. God gets a vote on whether Joe Biden
is going to run again, as does his brain. There's
no freaking way it happens. I'll bet you my house, Sarah.

(09:04):
I tell you what you put, what, what do you
have of value? Anything you get a nice ballpoint pen,
you bet that pen against my house. I'll take that action.
Joe Biden does not run again. Uh. Secondly, it's if
you will accept that premise. It is wide open on
the Democratic side because Kamala Harris doesn't have a snowball's

(09:24):
chance in hell. So that's gonna be a knife fight. Well,
I I think that's definitely right. Um, it's hard to
see though, who the natural successor is. I mean, the
thing that benefits Republicans is that they have a clear
natural successor to Trump, and that's round the santis and
there's near unanimity about that in the Republican Party. I

(09:45):
don't think if Trump doesn't run that that will be
a particularly close Republican primary. Because he's so popular. Meanwhile,
the Democrats would have a blood baths on their hands
if Joe Biden decides not to run because there are
so many candidates U weaker candidates in a more wide
open field. So I think in either scenario, if Joe

(10:05):
Biden runs again, obviously Rhonda Santas that would be a
favorite given the dynamics in the country right now, if
the economy doesn't improve dramatically. Um. But if Joe Biden
did not run, I think Rhonda santa is having all
that time as the heir to the throne of the
Republican nomination while Democrats kill each other to see who
emerges successful, and a Democratic primary always involves tacking to

(10:29):
the left. Um, he would have an advantage in that
scenario as well. Boy, that excites me, and my new
pan excites me. I'm gonna write polies with that pen.
I'm going to sign checks right, personal letters. I can't wait.
I think people too casually use the term blood path.
I mean, that's a horrific notion. She means it metaphorically,

(10:51):
and it made me excited. Sarah Westwood, investigative reporter of
The Washington Examiner. Sarah, you are absolutely terrific. It's great
to talk. Thanks don't thank for having me