7-8-24 *INTERVIEW* Democratic Strategist Antjuan Seawright on the Biden Candidacy

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
My next guest, Antoine ce Right. It's been a while since Antoine's been
on with me. I think he'sone of the most interesting, thoughtful,
well connected, and straightforward guests whenit comes to getting the Democratic Party's perspective
on what's going on in politics.It's you know, I'm unaffiliated, but

(00:21):
most of my friends are our Republicansand know that world better. So I
really rely on folks that I trust, and especially well connected folks like Antoine,
who is founder and CEO of BlueprintStrategy where they do political strategy and
pr and things like that. Soanyway, with that long introduction, Antoine,

(00:41):
it's great to see, great totalk to again. It's been too
long. It's been too long,But reunions are good, certainly when the
world is watching the world. Theworld is definitely watching. We live in
crazy times, and I think foryou know, I'm a radio talk show
host, so I have to talkabout this stuff. I think Republicans have
been mostly just kind of sitting backand watching the show, and there's probably

(01:03):
very little upside for Republicans to saymuch about what's going on with the Democratic
Party. But you've got to beliving and breeding this for the last week
and a half trying to figure outwhat the party will do, what the
party should do, and so whydon't we just start with the macro.
We've seen Joe Biden saying today he'snot getting out. But if you were

(01:26):
in charge of the Democratic Party,would Joe Biden be the nominee? And
why or why not? Oh?Absolutely? And I think it's smart for
the President to double down on hisefforts to not neglect or push aside the
votes of millions of people who trustedhim with their vote in twenty twenty and

(01:48):
the millions who trusted he and thevice president with their vote in our prim
there process in twenty twenty four.I think those of us who care about
democracy and freedom as we know it, those of us who understand that when
people cast their vote, whether it'sfor you or against you, those votes
should be casted and respected, shouldalso fall in line with the same posture

(02:09):
I have. And so I appreciatethe President doubling down on his efforts.
If you notice there's a different conversationon K Street than it is on our
street. When you get down toour main street, you realize very quickly
that some of the chattering class observationsare not in line. Black voters,
who are the heart and soul ofthe Democratic Party, arguably the most consequential

(02:32):
and loyal voting block in the historyof this country, have proven time and
time again that they are loyal tothe cause and to that candidate. That's
Joe Biden and Kambla Harris, andyou're seeing that play out in real time.
I have not seen publicly one keyAfrican American lawmaker call for the president

(02:53):
to step aside. I have beento events where people are saying, do
not say to the president, donot leave this race, stay in it.
He's been good for all of America. He's been consequential for Black America.
I think that's the difference for thepoliticians who are expressing themselves publicly.
Two things I say to that.One, I'll say that you can have

(03:15):
your disagreements, but the disagreements wehave amongst each other do not compare to
the different disagreements we have with theother side. Two, you can express
your frustration. I think we shouldalways embrace diversity and inclusion, whatever that
looks like. I think we shouldalways embrace our partner's feelings in a relationship
like politics, is you should notdismiss the feelings of your partners. In

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this case, it's the millions ofvoters who trusted Joe Biden with their vote,
and so we can't dismiss that.But I think we also have to
keep our eye on the ball rossbecause we seen in twenty sixteen when we
were not a united front as aparty, we lost the election and arguably
democracy itself went full Steen backwards.And so we've seen what a unified front

(03:58):
looks like in twenty and we've seenwhat a fracs A front looks like in
twenty sixteen. Okay, there's aheck of a lot there. And I'm
and I'm counting on you today foranswers that aren't so much democratic spin but
your clear analysis, right, AndI'm I'm gonna do the same, uh,
straight down plate because I think it'sso important in these moments where everything

(04:21):
is elevated, that we call ballsand strikes like they are. Right.
Okay, So I think that everythingyou said makes perfect sense from the perspective
of democratic strategy. I also wantto re emphasize that it's very smart of
Biden to double down aggressively and tryto just smack down all this talk of

(04:44):
his getting out as soon as possibleand get everyone lined up behind him and
going the same way. And Isay this as someone who isn't a Biden
supporter, but just in terms ofstrategy, it's very smart. But I
I think that any honest person hasto admit that the debate really changed some
things, and that there are alot of people who did vote for Joe

(05:04):
Biden in the Democratic primaries, peopletrue Democrats of goodwill, whether or not
they hate Donald Trump, but they'reDemocrats and they have real concerns about whether
Joe Biden can beat Trump and maybemore importantly, whether he can be president.
Look, I think all of mostreasonable people would agree the president did

(05:28):
not have the best night cosmetically,most reasonable people would agree if you compare
that to what happened posting debate,thirty plus million dollars into the campaign,
coffers, there was a several groupsof poland indicate that independent voters shifted towards
the president. He went gave ahell of a rallying speech right after the
debate, and then in North Carolina, et cetera. And so if you

(05:50):
do a Wye Cam observation, youwould say, yeah, he did not
have a ninety minute solid knight,but it's been solid posting debate. On
how you measure the debate. Theother argument is or conversation if you will,
is the fact of the matter is, while Trump cosmetically may have been
perceived to have a decent night,but look at what he actually said,

(06:14):
there's no substance to it. Mostof the people would agree, reasonable people
would agree that it was most ofthe information did not have a relationship with
the truth. In some communities theycall that line. And so how do
you argue or how do you measurewhat's a good debate night and what's a
bad debate night? So the presidentdid not have the best debate night performance

(06:34):
wise, posted debate, he's donewell. Should people be concerned? If
you care about the president, thenyeah, if you care about as well
being, you should be concerned,and you should have expectations because we care
about him, you expected him tohave a handsome knight. I know I
personally did. Was I disappointed?Yes? Was I mad? No?

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Did I understand that politics is agame of addition and multiplication, not subtract
the division? Absolutely? But whatI would say to those people who are
on the edge of their seat,will have doubts in their minds. Is
that the real opposition is against DonaldTrump an extremists. It's not within our
own party. And if you careabout defeating Trump and trump Ism, you
will know it's not just Joe Bidenon that ballot. It's the vice president

(07:19):
on the ballot. It's the chanceto win back the majority in the House,
which means Hakeem Jeffers, first AfricanAmerican Speaker, Joe the Goose from
Colorado, first African American Assistant Speaker, Katherine Clark, first woman to be
majority Leader, Pete Aguilar, firstLatino to be Majority Whip, Ted Lu,

(07:41):
first person from the Asian American PacificIslander community to be the Conquers Chair.
Down ballot, they are a ballotinitiatives and almost in many states their
courts on the ballot, there's twoblack women with the opportunity to be in
the United States Senate, gubernatory racist. There's so much more owned the ballot.
So if we're fractured, that doesn'thelp out long term calls. Okay,

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so I think I think you're underestimatingthe damage done by the debate.
And when you said he had abad day cosmetically. I think what you're
drifting towards was the question that NancyPelosi kind of asked on the air.
Was that an episode or is ita condition? And I think that there
are a lot of people who wouldn'tsay that Joe Biden's debate was a cosmetic

(08:26):
problem. I mean, this isthe debate we're having, right, But
I think there are plenty of peoplewho would say that it wasn't just one
bad night. And there's all thesereports in the media of oh yeah,
we've like Carl Bernstein goes on CNNand says, oh yeah, everybody behind
the scenes knows he's done this fifteenor twenty times before, freeze up like
that. And we hear all thesethings, and I think I think you

(08:48):
are either underplaying or underappreciating the damagefrom the debate, especially among centrist,
unaffiliated or independent bourbon voters, peopleare not part of the Democratic base like
you. Well, ros's two things. Black voters are the base of our
party. Let's be crystal clearve outthere no movement there. Do we have

(09:11):
work to do in that area,yes, but no real tectonic plates shifting.
Again, there was Poland indicated thatone independent thinkers and independent voters shifted
towards President Biden because I think mostpeople understand. Look, Ross, I'll
say it this way. If debatematters, Reagan would have never been president.
If debate matters, Barack Obama wouldhave never won reelection. If debate

(09:33):
matters, Trump would have never beenpresident because they were white the floor within.
And so I don't think you cancapture a full four year election,
full four year term, or anentire election cycle in ninety minutes. Should
people? Did people have concerns?Absolutely? Does that mean they're going to
go out and vote for Donald Trump? Hell no, because the fears,

(09:54):
frustration, and all the sentiments andfeelings that existed before that debate still exists.
The only difference is Joe Biden isin a real way trying to unify
his party and remind him about whathe's done, and he can do the
job. But those fears and concernsabout four more years of Trump are probably
even more elevated because we now knowwhat the centerpiece of the Trump agenda is,

(10:18):
and that's probably twenty twenty five.Yeah. So again, I think
you are very well reflecting the Democraticbase but I don't think you are very
well reflecting the independent and moderate,the suburban voters, and I think many
of them are going to say,I really don't like Donald Trump, but
I really don't think Joe Biden cando the job. And that's a bigger
risk to the nation to have aguy who just freezes up and doesn't know

(10:41):
what he's saying. And I'm notgoing to take that risk, even if
it means I have to vote fora lot of ross. I guess I
would say to those people, whatdo you care about more? Do you
care about a ninety minute debate oryou care about the next ninety minutes of
the next ninety years of this country? And what I can tell you about
those suburban white voters, rural,urban, suburban, wherever they may fall,

(11:03):
I would say to them a coupleof things. One I would say
to them, many people during themid term elections said the same thing about
where they were going to fall interms of their vote. And look what
happened. Many people said in Ohio, Kansas and some of these other places
where reproductive freedom and women's woman's choicewas on the ballot, they said,

(11:26):
those people would not vote the waythey have, and they've always defied odds,
and so I don't think this momentthat we're in is any different.
The only big difference in the momentis we Trump is officially back on the
ballot again. Trump dam was onthe ballot before. Now Trump is on
the ballot. And even if youdon't love Joe Biden, I think you
love your country enough to vote againstDonald Trump. And we've seen that in

(11:50):
elections before. You don't necessarily,you may not always vote for a candidate,
but you may use you most ofthe cases vote against the opposition.
And first sure, in previous elections, that dynamic has played out in Colorado,
which I mean Trump gets destroyed.And not only did Trump get destroyed
in Colorado, but in the previouscouple election cycles, suburban voters in particular

(12:11):
would in every election, all theway down the ballot with candidates they never
heard of, just vote straight Din neighborhoods that weren't normally straight D.
But I don't I don't think it'sgood. I might still play out that
way in Colorado. But I've gotmore I want to ask you about.
But I want to ask you aboutKamala. But one thing, like do
you you want to bet me abeer on the election, I'll do that.

(12:33):
I bet you. I don't drinkbeer, but I do in those
are times with Tito's okay, soI'll bet you your beer. I'll see
you might address so you can sendit to me. Okay. No,
well, this is the thing.I'm not going to send you anything.
We're going to meet somewhere and havea drink together. It is just a
question of who has to buy thetran I will actually get on a plane,

(12:56):
come to Colorado, do your showperson, and we'll have a drink
over. And so tell you inretrospect how the math math in favor of
Joe Biden comments. So, soare you willing to bet today that you
are You're going to say that ifJoe Biden is the nominee, that he
will beat Donald Trump? Is that? What are you willing to bet that.

(13:18):
I'm saying Biden is going to bethe nominee ye, and I'm also
saying that we're going to beat themup and defeat Trump. Is okay?
All right? So maybe even justto make it simpler, even though there's
a little more risk on my part, I'll just bet that Donald Trump wins
the election no matter who's he's whohe's up against, and you have Biden

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and everybody else. I know,you think it's going to be Biden,
and I think it's going to beBiden for the Dems. But all right,
so that'll be that'll be our bet. I've got Trump and you got
everybody else, you got every Democrat. Okay, So I want to talk
about Kamala Harris for a minute becauseI'm like a suburban white dude, and
I would like to better understand someof the thinking. Not that it's uniform,

(14:03):
just like not all white people votethe same way, but you know,
African Americans thinking about this race.And I thought it was really interesting,
with all this talk in previous daysabout replacing Biden with Kamala Harris,
that Joe Biden went and did atleast one, maybe two pardon me events

(14:24):
at black churches thirty black churches overthe weekend, and then he did radio
interviews with a couple of black radiohosts, And it seemed to me that
Biden was making a very specific appealto black voters who already liked Biden.
You mentioned that before, but whatis the dynamic within how black voters.
Again, I don't want to generalizetoo much, because there's just as wide

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arrange there and thoughts as there areamong any other group. But about potentially
replacing Biden with Kamala given that she'sblack or half black, well, I
think that's the falls and aarity becauseshe's qualified to be whatever she want wants
to be, not just because she'sa black woman, but because she's qualified.
You're talking about someone who served inthe United States Senate, someone who

(15:07):
served as a prosecutor, someone whowas a Howard University graduate. All the
accolades that come with Vice President Harrisnothing to do with the black being an
African American, being a woman ofcolor has just been an additional asset to
her already stellar resume in an alreadystell a career. So I think that's
the want number two. When you'rethe vice president of the United States,

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duties, roles, and responsibilities comewith that. When she was chosen to
beat nobody's runmate, duties, rolesand responsibilities come along with that. She
has been by far the most consequentialand historic vice president in the history of
this country, not because of herrace, but because what she's been able
to help Usher and Marshal through interms of an agenda, and what she

(15:54):
brings to the table in terms ofher shared lived experiences of not just being
a black woman, but being awoman, uh, being a being a
woman of color, being a lawyerin the HBCU, graduate and all the
other things that come. So letme just let me get a conversation to
the contrary about anybody other than KamalaHarris when it comes to the immediate future

(16:15):
of our party. And I thinkthat's now pregnant. Okay, So the
two quick, two quick things we'realmost at the time. So number one,
I think very few people in thecountry agree with your assessment of Kamala
Harris being an excellent vice president.She's she's not known for having accomplished anything.
She's the borders are and the borderis a mess. She's hold on.

(16:37):
Let me let me finish one questionon that. Let me finish my
sense. She's most famous for herword salads and terrible answers and and if
people are going to give her,uh, you know, kind of tie
her into the Biden agenda. Idon't know that that helps her. It
might help her in some communities,but the Biden. I think they're most
famous for terrible inflation and open porterSo I don't know how that how that

(17:02):
helps her. So we got abouttwo minutes left. You can respond to
that and ask whatever you were gonnaask. But also I want you to
give me a very quick answer asto whether the fact that she's a black
woman, even though you're saying it'snot that important, would give her any
benefit among black voters if she wereto be the replacement for Biden. Well,

(17:23):
first of all, I didn't sayit's not important. I said it's
not the only thing. We shouldonly category we should put her in.
She's qualified because she's a black woman. I think that's a false narrative.
Okay, she's qualified because of hercredenions. Okay. Number two, when
you talk about the agenda and beingtied to the agenda, there's not a
constituency in this country who have notbenefited from the Biden hands administration. That's

(17:45):
why you see many Republicans who didnot vote for some of the legislative proposals
end up trying to go back athome and take credit for them for bringing
back home the initiatives and the implementationpart. So I think Republicans had to
bend the need to the idea thatthe agenda of buying in Harris was successful.
If you look at what she wasable to do in the role of

(18:07):
the vice president, ushering in historicjudges, including more black women on our
nation's court than any other presidents,any other president combined. If you look
at the historic tie break and natureshe has done as vice president, and
then what she's been able to helpdrive the narrative, the conversation being a
woman when it comes to things likereproductive freedom, what she's been able to

(18:30):
do when it comes to childcare andall those things. So she's been historic.
And when you talk about the roleof the vice president, most people
ross could not name a vice presidentto any president in this country better yet
in modern history, so historically thathas not been an elevated role. What
I do believe is that Kama Harrishas elevated the role and made the role

(18:55):
more consequential. And then when youtalk about her, word sealer is to
hear people say, well, nameof more a vice president history who've done
more than her in terms of theirsubstance. You can't, because most people
can't even name vice presidents in history. People also said about Joe Biden,
he was the vice president. Ohthe way he talked, his language,

(19:15):
his word salad, that word wasyou then was a distraction. It wasn't
this, wasn't that. But JoeBiden ended up being one of the most
effective vice presidents in our nation's history, and I believe that gave him the
credibility that launted him to the presidency. Antoine Seawright is founder and CEO of
Blueprint Strategy. He's based in SouthCarolina, very tied into the Democratic Party

(19:40):
and thinking there, which is whyI like having him on the show.
I feel like I just want tobear but we'll see, because that's why
they play the game, as theysay in football. So I look forward
to keeping in touch with you.The election is coming up very soon,
and thanks so much for your time. As always, we'll do it again.
We'll come back, all right,