PROFESSOR ANTHONY CHERGOSKY, THANKS VERY MUCH.
>> THANK YOU. >> PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DONALD
TRUMP BEAT HIS LAST REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER STANDING IN THE NEW
HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY THIS WEEK. NIKKI HALEY VOWS TO CONTINUE HER
CAMPAIGN, BUT WHERE ARE WE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST?
WE TURN TO POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CHARLIE SYKES, WHO
KNOWS WISCONSIN POLITICS AS FORMER HOST OF A POWERFUL
CONSERVATIVE TALKRADIO SHOW OUT OF MILWAUKEE FOR MORE THAN 20
YEARS AND THE COFOUNDER OF PODCAST. HE'S ALSO A WELL-KNOWN
NEVER-TRUMPER. CHARLIE, THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US.
>> GOOD TO BE BACK WITH YOU. >> SO NOT W STANDING WHAT NIKKI
HALEY IS SAYING, IS IT A FOREGONE CONCLUSION THAT THE
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY RACE IS OVER AND THE GENERAL ELECTION RACE
BETWEEN DONALD TRUMP AND JOE BIDEN IS ON?
>> I THINK YOU HAVE TO ASSUME THAT THAT'S THE CASE.
THIS IS DONALD TRUMP'S PARTY. I THINK THAT THAT'S BEEN EVIDENT
FOR SOME TIME, AND I THINK THAT THE FACT THAT SO MANY ELECTED
REPUBLICANS ARE COALESCING AROUND HIM SO QUICKLY IS AN
INDICATION THAT THEY'RE EXPECTING A CORONATION THIS
SUMMER HERE IN MILWAUKEE. >> WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT?
>> WELL, IT IS EXTRAORDINARY HOW QUICKLY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS
CAPITULATED TO DONALD TRUMP ONCE AGAIN. I MEAN, THINK ABOUT ALL OF THE
OFF-RAMPS THEY COULD HAVE TAKEN. THEY COULD HAVE TAKEN OFF-RAMPS
AFTER HE WAS DEFEATED. THEY CERTAINLY COULD HAVE TAKEN
OFF-RAMPS AFTER JANUARY 6th, AFTER THE INDICTMENTS, AND YET
AT EACH TURN, THERE'S BEEN A FAILURE OF WILL, THERE'S BEEN A
FAILURE TO COALESCE AROUND SOMEBODY ELSE, AND HERE WE ARE,
THREE YEARS AFTER THE ATTEMPTED OVERTHROW OF THE FREE AND FAIR
ELECTIONS OF 2020, AND DONALD TRUMP IS POISED TO WIN THE
REPUBLICAN NOMINATION DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE IS FACING 90
FELONY CHARGES, A CASE STEMMING FROM A SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A WOMAN
BACK IN THE 1990s AND FRAUD CASES IN NEW YORK, AND YET THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY IS NOT BLINKING AT THE PROSPECT OF RUNNING UNDER
HIS BANNER. >> IN FACT, EXPERTS HAVE TOLD US
THAT CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST DONALD TRUMP MAKE HIM MORE
POPULAR AMONG HIS BASE, NOT LESS. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
>> WELL, I THINK TWO THINGS ARE HAPPENING. I MEAN, NUMBER ONE, CLEARLY THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY, THE BASE, HAS RALLIED AROUND HIM.
HE HAS EFFECTIVELY PLAYED THE VICTIM CARD, HE HAS EFFECTIVELY
MADE THE CASE THAT HE IS BEING TARGETED.
BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE THAT AS THE CRIMINAL
CHARGES UNFOLD OVER THE NEXT YEAR, THAT THERE ARE GOING TO BE
VERY MANY SWING VOTERS WHO MIGHT HAVE ABANDONED HIM IN 2020 WHO
ARE GOING TO SAY, YOU KNOW, THIS TIME AROUND, WE THINK WE'RE
GOING TO GO WITH HIM. SO I THINK THERE'S TWO
NARRATIVES THAT I THINK ARE PARALLEL AT THE SAME TIME.
NUMBER ONE, HE IS DOMINANT IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, BUT I
THINK THAT YOU'RE ALSO SEEING THAT HE'S VULNERABLE IN A
GENERAL ELECTION, HE'S VULNERABLE AMONG MODERATES,
AMONG SOFT REPUBLICANS AND AMONG INDEPENDENTS, AND I THINK YOU
SAW THAT IN BOTH IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE AND I THINK THAT
THAT'S GOING TO BE -- THAT THAT'S GOING TO BE MORE EVIDENT
AS WE GO THROUGH THE YEAR. >> HOW DO YOU THINK THOSE
DYNAMICS PLAY WITH THE WISCONSIN ELECTORATE? >> WELL, IN WISCONSIN,
EVERYTHING IS ON A KNIFE'S EDGE. THESE ELECTIONS HAVE BEEN
DECIDED BY 20,000 VOTES. AND DONALD TRUMP LAST IN 2020.
LARGELY BECAUSE HE WAS -- HE DIDN'T DO AS WELL AS HE NEEDED
TO DO IN THE SUBURBS. HE HAD A MASSIVE DEMOCRATIC
TURNOUT, BUT YOU ALSO HAD A NUMBER OF REPUBLICANS, QUITE A
FEW REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED FOR REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR THE
STATE LEGISLATURE AND FOR CONGRESS BUT DID NOT VOTE FOR
DONALD TRUMP. NOW, I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THEY
VOTED FOR JOE BIDEN, BUT THERE WAS CLEARLY AN UNDERVOTE, AND I
THINK THAT -- THERE'S TWO BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT WISCONSIN.
NUMBER ONE, WILL DEMOCRATS BE ABLE TO ONCE AGAIN BE ABLE TO
HAVE THE ENTHUSIASM TO HAVE A MASSIVE TURNOUT, PARTICULARLY IN
DANE COUNTY AND, NUMBER TWO IS DONALD TRUMP GOING TO CONTINUE
TO UNDERPERFORM IN THE WILD COUNTIES, WAUKESHA, OZAKE AND
WASHINGTON COUNTIES, AND I SUSPECT THAT HE PROBABLY WILL.
BUT AGAIN, EVERY ELECTION IN WISCONSIN IS CLOSE AND THIS ONE
PROBABLY WILL BE AS WELL. >> SO YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT
SOFT REPUBLICANS AND INDEPENDENTS. DO YOU THINK THEY'LL VOTE FOR
JOE BIDEN? >> I DON'T KNOW AT THIS POINT,
BUT I THINK THAT THERE IS -- THERE'S EVIDENCE, THERE'S A LOT
OF THOSE VOTERS THAT ARE JUST NOT GOING TO VOTE FOR DONALD
TRUMP. THE MAGA BASE IS GOING TO STICK WITH HIM, THERE'S NO QUESTION
ABOUT IT. I THINK THE HARD CORE REPUBLICAN
VOTERS ARE GOING TO TURN OUT. NOTHING IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO
CHANGE THERE, BUT I THINK THAT THERE IS A SEGMENT OF THE
ELECTORATE THAT MAY NOT AGREE WITH JOE BIDEN'S POLICIES, MAY
HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT HIS AGE, MAY HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT WHERE HE'S
TAKING THE COUNTRY, BUT ALSO RECOGNIZE, AS LIZ CHENEY HAS
SAID, ONLY ONE OF THE CANDIDATES ON THE BALLOT IS GOING TO SHRED
THE CONSTITUTION, AND SO THE QUESTION IS, WHAT WILL THEY
PRIORITIZE? WILL THEY PRIORITIZE CERTAINLY
IDEOLOGICAL ISSUES OR WILL THEY STEP BACK AND SAY WE CANNOT HAVE
A CONVICTED FELON IN THE WHITE HOUSE, WE CANNOT HAVE A
SEDITIONIST, WE CANNOT HAVE SOMEBODY WHO IS AS ERRATIC AS
DONALD TRUMP RETURN TO THE PRESIDENCY. >> OR MAYBE PEOPLE JUST STAY
HOME. CHARLIE SYKES, THANKS VERY MUCH. HOME. CHARLIE SYKES, THANKS VERY MUCH.