Mike Warren is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and Kevin Williamson to discuss why GOP midterm candidates aren’t heeding President Donald Trump’s electoral advice, as well as Texas Railroad Commission candidate Bo French’s racist tweet about a University of Texas football game.
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candidates → join → game
The Agenda:
—Making the election about Trump
Show notes:
[intro music playing] Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast.
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election → make → Podcast
On today's roundtable, we'll be returning to the upcoming midterm elections and discuss why Republican candidates appear to be ignoring President Trump's advice on how to run their campaigns.
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candidates → return → campaigns
They're not making the election about him, and they're certainly not promoting his five thousand dollar dividend.
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they → make → dividend
Then we briefly look at the race in Michigan and ask why Vice President Vance is telling House Republicans to, quote, "Just talk about Abdullah El-Sayed," unquote.
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Vance → look → Sayed
I'm joined today by Dispatch Editor-in-Chief, Jonah Goldberg, National Correspondent Kevin Williamson, and Dispatch contributor, Meghan McArdle.
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I → join → Goldberg
Let's dive in.
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's → let → ?
[instrumental music playing]
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music → play → ?
All right, we are recording on Thursday, September seventeenth, which means there are forty-seven days left until Election Day.
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which → record → Day
And there are a number of indications coming in here in these final weeks that the election might be very, very bad for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
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election → be → Trump
But I wanna start actually with a Washington Post article that, that caught my attention and just deep dive into this a little bit.
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that → start → this
Last week in Dallas, I was there covering the Not a Convention convention in Dallas.
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I → cover → Dallas
We heard from Donald Trump, you know, "This election is going to be about me."
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election → hear → me
He talked about the five thousand dollar payout to every American adult if Republicans hold Congress in the midterm elections.
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Republicans → talk → elections
It's very clear that the president wants Republicans to make this midterm election about him, which, you know, you can hear Democrats saying, "We know.
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We wanna do that too."
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And what I found interesting was this Washington Post article, "GOP candidates are largely ignoring Trump's midterm advice."
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candidates → find → advice
Essentially, nobody is talking about Trump.
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nobody → talk → Trump
If you are a Republican candidate for House or Senate, the Post has done this analysis, has found that the number of references to Trump has dropped among Republicans, but interestingly, also Democrats, which I think could be a whole nother conversation.
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I → do → Republicans
But not only are Republicans not talking about the president and the leader of their party, they are basically trying to avoid talking about the messages.
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they → talk → messages
He wants to talk about Save America Act, now this new five thousand dollar check proposal.
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He → want → Act
And it just got me thinking that it does seem that Republicans are perhaps simply engaging in a very old kind of political move here, which is you have an unpopular president, you're the incumbent party.
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you → get → president
The way to go about this is to run away from that unpopular president.
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way → go → president
It is almost an iron law of politics that you run away from the unpopular incumbent leader of your party.
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you → run → party
So is that what's going on, or are we seeing something a little deeper?
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we → go → something
Are Republican candidates, Republican members of Congress, and others in the party starting to look at Trump in the rearview mirror?
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candidates → start → mirror
He's just about to be a lame duck president, and, and the party is trying to move on in fits and starts.
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party → try → fits
Are we at long last seeing that?
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we → see → that
Jonah, let me start with you.
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What's your, your take on why Republicans aren't taking up Trump's message here and running with it?
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What's going on?
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Well, first of all, when you said-- when you asked, "Is the party moving on?" I get what you mean.
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you → said-- → what
When you say the party, you mean the members of the party who are running for office?
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who → say → office
But there's also, like, the actual organization of the Republican Party, and it is not moving on.
That's fair.
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That → be → Party
The Aporia
