The
Republican National Convention is next week in Milwaukee, but the hyper focus remains on
Joe Biden and for the President on the ropes, tough choices.
How does the race shape up in the critical state of Wisconsin?
We turn to our political panelists, Republican Bill McCation and Democrat Scott Ross, and
thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me here.
So first to you, Scott, in all of this, what do Wisconsin Democrats want Joe Biden to do?
Well, I think they want him to continue to talk about what he's done for the people
of Wisconsin and what the choice is between he and Donald Trump.
I mean, you know, everything that I see, electeds, activists, and donors are all riding with
Biden still.
You know, he had a tough week.
But the fact is he has emerged from it.
His speech on Thursday was his hour-long press conference with the media, where it was
being grilled, you know, showed him at the top of his game.
And I think that that's what Democrats want to see.
They want to see that contrast, issues, abortion, health care, democracy.
And you know, again, pivoting back to Donald Trump, a guy who has 34 felony counts who,
on Thursday, would have been sentenced if the Supreme Court, which he controls, hadn't
named him immune from prosecution.
He's definitely on the ropes, though.
He's definitely on the ropes.
I don't think we've ever seen anything like this in our lifetime.
The latest a sitting president has gotten out of the race is March 31, 1968.
I was three years old, LBJ.
Are we going to see that in the next 10 days?
I'm not sure.
But if you look at how destabilizing the debate performance for Biden was, we had a situation
where he was literally on the mat and came to Madison last week, didn't do that great,
didn't do very well with George Stephanopoulos, made some mistakes there.
Does a full hour-long press conference last night, but he sends the congressional Democrats
a letter on Monday saying, hey, I'm your candidate, I'm in the race, I'm not getting out.
Three days later, former speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked about this, and she says, well,
he just needs to make a decision.
Either she didn't read the letter or she didn't get it, right?
So Democrats are still saying he needs to make a decision.
In his mind, he's made that decision.
This is all very destabilizing, so it's good for Republicans.
No, I mean, this is not the greatest thing for Democrats.
That's for sure.
But what I will say is it shows the contrast between the two parties.
The Republican Party is all in for a guy with 34 felonies, a guy who threatens democracy,
a guy who's met with Victor Orban this week, Putin's puppet, a guy who's going to turn
our country and our foreign policy over to Putin versus a guy like Joe Biden.
Let me ask you how untenable it is for someone like U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin running for
reelection.
I don't, I mean, she said she stands with Biden.
That was basically the statement, and that's the way she's always been.
Senator Baldwin has never been somebody out there throwing bombs one way or the other.
She goes out, she does the work for Wisconsinites, and she does the most important thing if we're
talking about elections, which is win elections by delivering solidly, by raising money and
by getting out all over the state.
And you contrast that with her opponent, I don't think, you know, I didn't think it
matters.
Seventeen congressional Democrats have called for Biden to step aside, not to resign, but
to step aside from the race.
There were reports yesterday before the press conference that as many as 24 to 30 more,
we're going to ask for the same thing for him to step aside.
Only one has done that since, so maybe he's stem the tide.
My sense is Tammy Baldwin can run ahead of Joe Biden, but the question is if he's the
nominee and he's a drag on the ticket, how much can he drag her down?
So Donald Trump wants Biden to stay in.
Absolutely.
Who would he least like to run against?
You know, for me, I think a young female would be, would be a challenge for him, for sure.
But there isn't one out there that's got universal name ID, although that can be bought.
But the one thing I'll correct Scott on, major donors to Democrats for a super-packed
$90 million, they've told the White House they're not going to release that money unless Biden
is removed from the ticket.
You know, at the top of this program, we described it as Democrats holding their breath.
Is that accurate?
I think that Democrats are trying to play this one out and see how it goes.
Now, I'll go back to what Bill said about, like, who would be the best opponent, you
know, who would be the worst opponent for Trump?
I'd say Kamala Harris, you know.
If you look at the demographics of what, of who's winning what, Joe Biden is beating
Trump in all of the age demographics, except for Gen X, 40 to 55-year-old voters.
He's down by 15 points with that.
Kamala Harris would be our first Gen X president, so he does definitely not want Vice President
Harris, who has a lot of name ID, who would have the operation, and who can stand on Biden's
record, specifically in Wisconsin, like creating 169,000 jobs, getting 27,000 people student-loan
relief, as opposed to the Trump record, 89,000 jobs lost.
You know, if we stay with the Biden-Trump matchup, so what kind of a choice is this for
voters?
Would they be voting for the platform, the party, not the president?
It's tricky.
A Pew research came out with a poll this week.
63% of voters don't want either of these choices, yet here we are, 85% in that same poll, and
in the Washington Post poll this week said, Joe Biden's too old, so I think a lot of
Americans would like a do-or-over, but here we are, and so that's how it's going to shake
out.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I do some traveling and some friends of mine from abroad were
asking me, tell me about the election early this year, and I said, well, about $5 billion
is going to be spent to determine whether or not an 81-year-old or a 78-year-old is
the future of the United States.
I mean, that's where we're at.
So down to the ground in Wisconsin, what is the most resonant issue do you think for
voters?
The Institute for Reforming Government released a poll this week of likely voters in Wisconsin.
They said it's inflation.
47% had listed inflation as their number one issue.
I think that's right.
I think immigration's a big issue here as well, and I think the border's a big issue.
I think those are the main three.
Scott will add abortion, I'm sure, and that is a big issue specifically for Democrats,
less so for Republicans and independents.
I mean, I guess if those are the issues that IRG says, then it's bad news because border
crossings are down, inflation's down, jobs are up.
I mean, you know, it couldn't be better.
The atmosphere couldn't be better issue-wise for Democrats.
Just a matter of not, you know, hopefully they'll continue to do what they do, which
is out-raise the Republicans, out-organize the Republicans, and out-get out-vote Republicans.
Again in this atmosphere in which we've got a real serious threat to democracy if this
goes south for Dems.
So next week, you both will be at the Republican National Convention speaking every day with
senior political reporter Zach Schultz to offer your color and insight at the RNC.
Bill, what are you most looking forward to seeing?
I'm excited to hear who Donald Trump chooses as his running mate.
The list I think is a little longer than has been released.
J.D. Vance is on the list, Doug Burgum, Marco Rubio.
My dark horse is still Glenn Youngkin.
I think he's the one that adds the most.
You want to have somebody that can put more states in play.
There's no question that Youngkin can do that.
I think my second choice in that list would be Marco Rubio because I think he helps in
both Nevada and in Arizona.
So does the VP matter to Trump presidency?
Generally not, but if you have someone like Glenn Youngkin who can deliver the Virginia
electoral votes, then the blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, you know, Joe Biden
still got to sweep that to win.
What are you going to be doing at the Republican convention?
I don't know it's so much what I'm going to see there as opposed to what I'm not going
to see there.
The former Republican president of the United States, George Bush, the former vice president
of the United States, Republican Dick Cheney, the former vice president for Donald Trump,
Mike Pence, and well, are we going to see Melania Trump there?
We haven't seen her on the trail so far.
And maybe finally, you know, we'll get Donald Trump to been 154 days since he did a press
conference.
Maybe he'll do one next week.
Democrats are going to be seen and heard there, I understand.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, as much as they've pushed the protest lines back, Democrats will find a way to get
their message out and, you know, hopefully they'll say the right things at the right
time to the right people.
We look forward to having you on our air next week.
Thank you very much.
As do we.
It's going to be great.
And look out on Scott Ross.
Thank you.