cover of episode Inside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Court on Super Tuesday

Inside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Court on Super Tuesday

2024/3/6
logo of podcast Somebody's Gotta Win with Tara Palmeri

Somebody's Gotta Win with Tara Palmeri

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Tara and Mark discuss the outcomes of Super Tuesday and what it means for the Trump and Biden campaigns, setting the stage for the general election.

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Hi, I'm Tara Palmieri. I'm Puck's senior political correspondent, and this is Somebody's Gotta Win. Okay, Super Tuesday was pretty uneventful this year. It was pretty obvious that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden would sweep the nomination for their party as Donald Trump won almost all of the 15 states and one territory, American Samoa, except for Vermont. He lost that state to Nikki Haley.

Joe Biden won all the states except for the American Samoa Territory. So these two men are officially the Republican and Democratic nominees. You can say that the general election starts right now. No one else at this point will be able to get enough delegates to challenge them. This rematch for many people is considered an American nightmare and it is starting right now.

I ended up inside the inner belly of MAGA world at Mar-a-Lago for Trump's victory party. People ask me what it's like in there. I say, it's sort of like how an American would recreate Versailles. There's tall gilded pillars, mirrors on the wall covered by velvet curtains.

opulent chandeliers, high ceilings. And then there's just this court of Trump sycophants waiting for the king to come out. One of those people was Marjorie Taylor Greene, who I spoke to tonight. She was pretty much making the pitch to me why she could be Department of Homeland Security secretary in Trump's next administration or vice president. She seemed to sort of poo-poo all the options I threw out there. I'm like,

Katie Britt, Kristi Noem, Tim Scott, she thought they weren't MAGA enough. But yeah, it was quite the crowd. But I did catch up with one of my former colleagues, Mark Caputo. He was there. And I thought, you know what? Mark has always had his finger on the pulse of the GOP. So we stepped outside and we had a chat about what's next for the Trump and Biden campaigns.

So I am at the Trump victory party for Super Tuesday. And obviously they declare this a victory party way before because it was obvious that it would be a victory for Trump. I think that's pretty clear. And I just so happen to come across my old colleague, Mark Caputo, who is now at the Bulwark writing a column called Magaville. So we are in Magaville. We are in Magaville.

We are in Mar-a-Lago. We are outside. This is like the Mecca of Magaville. Yeah, it's a bit wild in there. Lots of red hats. Lots of glitter on the ladies, I gotta say. Lots of leopard. The hair, it is blonde and helmet-like. A lot of women inspired by Calista Gingrich, I see. When I used to live in West Palm, I thought a good color for

paint at Home Depot would be called Palm Beach Blonde. Yeah, it's a beautiful color, honestly. And it's the color that I'm looking at right now at Mar-a-Lago. I believe it is about eight o'clock right now on Tuesday. But we expect Trump to win almost every state, right? I mean, is there any state that might be Vermont? Oh, just because Vermont anyone can kind of vote in and out. They don't really have a hard party registration. But what the Trump campaign wants is

is they want Nikki Haley only to have one win, which is what she got over the weekend, which is DC. They want Swamp Queen. They call her Swamp Queen. They want Nikki Haley to be the Swamp Queen. Nikki Haley's done sort of the impossible, which she's made herself more hated in Magaville than Ron DeSantis. Yeah, that's amazing, actually. And to think that at one time, Ron DeSantis was like the MAGA action hero that could take on Trump to some people, or at least the establishment, like Mitch McConnell. I didn't buy it.

Yeah, I didn't buy it either, by the way. You and I were both writing stories at Politico about this. You were the first one to write about how he didn't have a team that could work for him. My thing was, it doesn't matter what team it is.

Trump lost 2020. He lied about it. He convinced a bunch of sad saps to go to the Capitol. And then some of them got out of hand and sacked the place for the first time ever. I don't know if they'd say got out of hand. It got out of hand. That seemed like that was an insurrection. I mean, for sure.

fair? Well, let the Supreme Court decide that. Well, they already did. Well, no, they said that he could be on the ballot. They didn't say it was an insurrection or riot. Correct. I mean, the reality is, you know, if people want to call it an insurrection or riot or whatever, the fact is it was the first time the U.S. Capitol had been sacked.

And then what happened like 10 months later, candidates, Republican candidates from California over to the East Coast, up and down the ballot were crawling on their hands and knees to Mar-a-Lago begging for Donald Trump's endorsement in 2021 and 2022. Isn't it crazy, right? Because I thought that when he announced his candidacy in November here...

Wait, no, no. It was January, right after the midterm election that they lost. He announced a week after. Oh my God, it was November. You're right. I was not wrong about that. And it was the most pathetic thing of all time, right? It was. It was sad. And a lot of Trump's people...

Didn't want to say it on the record, but they were saying Donald Trump is basically a TV show and there's no new material. What do you do if you have a TV series and you want to make it exciting and have a courtroom drama? So what do we have? Judge Judy. We got four criminal cases, two civil cases. We got courtroom drama and that enables them to win the primary. Right. Well, we haven't really seen him inside of a courtroom yet. We've just seen a bunch of, well,

We have courtroom drama. No, we do. I know. But it's not like live video yet. I don't think we'll ever be. Well, I think that would play to his hand. Maybe two of the federal cases like federal courts don't have cameras on them. But, you know, the only case that we're pretty sure is going to go to trial is the Alvin Bragg case. And that's the worst case for the for the porn star payment. If you want Donald Trump to be viewed as a criminal in the eyes of the electorate broadly.

The Alvin Bragg case is the worst case to have that happen. Because they're saying it's like an accounting expense. Also, I think the porn star thing is kind of baked into Trump. Every voter knows that they're getting this. Like he is. Even legal scholars who hate Donald Trump and love the other cases think that the Alvin Bragg case is a bad case. That is the one case where he is likely to be convicted. Right.

If he is tried on any case, basically in New York, he's going to be convicted. And the same thing for Washington, D.C. That's why the federal case, the January 6th case in D.C. is the one that terrifies Trump the most, because that's the one that people likely will start to really look at him in a much more negative way if there's a conviction. Right. But if he wins the presidency, he can then pardon himself because it's a federal case.

Right. Or if it hasn't gone to trial yet, he'll get his DOJ to drop it. Okay, exactly. So there you go. Perfectly normal. Totally normal. And here we are on Super Tuesday. And I do, in my mind, this is the first day of the general election to me. Because I think, well, we know Nikki Haley's going to drop out. She's not speaking tonight. She wants her own news cycle tomorrow. She wants to be able to...

There's this weird hostage email that went out. That's the one where it says, the mood is jubilant. Yes. We are happy warriors. Who has ever said happy warriors in an email? Ever. I would assume there's a Soviet apparatchik somewhere who once wrote that in some sort of official document. So we know that Nikki Haley is not speaking tonight. And the interesting thing so far has been that all of her speeches after she loses sound like victory speeches, right? And that really pisses Trump off.

So he tries to get ahead of her and he wants to give the speech before her. Like in South Carolina, he made sure to come out at seven. And if she would have spoken tonight, we would have been done. Yeah.

She's not going to speak tonight. Exactly. Trump would have come out and he would have given a speech ahead of time. So she could not sound like she had won. But sadly for us, we're going to be here till late if we want to hear Trump speak. We're tracking 1015, I think. We are tracking 1015. That is what we're being told. But this podcast drops tomorrow, so you'll all have listened to it. We will have not listened to it, but we're pretty sure it's going to be the greatest hits. And well, you know, Trump, you can never really know what he's going to say. Trump is going to say whatever comes into his mind. Right. And I do wonder if he will have the restraint to,

to not attack Nikki Haley because some people think that he needs to bring her voters over, the never-Trump voters. I don't know if he'll ever be able to do that. I mean, are they really never-Trump voters? I don't know. It's hard to say. Not that one should live... You think that they're all Democrats across the line? Not really, but I'm not sure we should live by the polling and die by the polling, but...

If you believe, for instance, the New York Times poll over the weekend, Donald Trump's base Republican voters are much more aligned and much more excited about voting for him than Democratic voters and the Biden Democratic base is about voting for Biden. Right. So it's really going to come down to...

the voters in the middle. You know, it's going to come down to the independents who are split. But I do think that they do have to win some never Trump voters over. Probably. Sure. The problem with this election is that it's the first time since the 1800s that we have seen a former president take on the president who beat him. And we look at all of the polling and all of the interviews and all of the focus groups and at least or about three quarters of Americans believe

don't want this rematch. No. So what does that mean? Low turnout. Right. Who's going to want to go to the sequel that they never wanted to see? Exactly. That's why this show is called Somebody's Gotta Win. Somebody's Gotta Lose. Yeah. And somebody's gotta win and that means that you got to go out and vote. So the question is... The turnout is going to be low and that's going to impact...

Right. So there's two schools of thought. One, Donald Trump's base is largely low propensity voters. And if you have a low propensity elect, if you have election that's low turnout, he's not going to win. However, what if the idea is, is that those low propensity voters only turn out for Donald Trump?

We're going to see. Right. And Biden's voters, his core students, African-Americans, furious with him over Gaza. And we'll see if they come out in a year. But remember, as far back as they just come out and vote, protest vote. As far back as June, the polling has shown consistently that somehow Donald Trump is winning 20 percent of black voters. Do I believe that?

On Election Day, Donald Trump is going to win 20 percent of black voters. No, I'll admit I don't believe that. I don't believe the polling is predictive, but I think it's indicative of the fact that Joe Biden's got problems. Here's my thing. Can Trump actually exploit the progressive voters, the African-American voters that Biden is losing? Do they have the opportunity or is that a lost cause they could screw up altogether? Can they actually, you know, exploit the softness in Biden's face? Well,

I think it will backfire terribly. What do you mean? As in, as in he'll get, Trump will get progressive voters? No African-American voters over the anchor over Gazette. I just, I mean, by and large, remember this. I don't see that. Unless they're young, by and large, black voters are more moderate or more traditionally liberal than the modern term progressive, right? Right. So...

I mean, can Trump rely on black voters giving him 20% of the share of their vote? I don't think he can. He probably more likely can rely... Well, what they're, I'm sure, hoping is that these people, black voters, young people, students, and Arab Americans stay home, especially in Michigan. In Michigan, right. Yeah, exactly, where they protest vote, where they choose someone else. There's another thing that we're not talking about enough in the media, which is when you look at the Michigan vote, and Michigan is going to just be such a crucial state to watch, is...

The turnout for Biden was much lower than the turnout was for Trump. Now, that makes sense because Trump actually has a more contested election. However, a lot of Republicans are looking at Michigan and saying, don't pay attention to the progressive problems that Joe Biden has. Pay attention to the fact that Joe Biden and Democrats generally are hemorrhaging white voters. That's something they're paying attention to, working class whites. Now, one of the things that Donald Trump is trying to do to appeal to them is he's

coming out strongly, to use a Trumpian term, against electric vehicles and electric vehicle mandates. And he's saying that the union sold them short. I don't know if they're going to buy it, but the reality is the numbers don't look so great for Joe. Right. Well, that's fair. Nancy, we're podcasting. Nancy, do you want to get on the show? Come on in. Nancy. Yeah, we'll talk. Nancy, who do you think is going to win the election? Be honest. She's not going to answer.

No one's going to answer that. Nancy is a top Bloomberg political reporter. She's the top Bloomberg. She's paid not to answer that question. Who's running a stronger campaign right now? Joe Biden or Donald Trump? You can answer that. By the way, I hear some cheering, so I'm guessing another state. Who's running a stronger campaign in Europe? I haven't been covering Biden as closely, but I will say Trump is running like a very, very efficient, very sophisticated campaign this time around, having watched him in 2016 and 2020. So by comparison? Caputo?

By comparison to his prior campaigns, but by comparison to the Biden campaign, what would you say? I think the Biden campaign is like slow to realize what a threat he is. I'll say that. Yes. I think that they played into this idea for way too long that Trump was unelectable. And then they realized, oh, shit. And so now what are they going to do? Right. I mean, if you look at the issue grid of what people care about, they don't care about

On the issue grid relative to inflation, immigration, abortion and crime about preserving and protecting democracy. Now Nancy's running away. She has to go get a drink of water. We'll get you back, you know, we'll find you. But no, like the reality is, is a lot of Joe Biden's messaging is about how Trump is a threat to democracy. I'm not saying that's bad and I'm not saying that Joe Biden is wrong.

but people are more concerned about other issues. I do think that the threat to democracy is a very powerful position, but it's probably a little too abstract. And that's the problem for day-to-day voters. Because I don't think everyone in Washington...

We were terrified by what happened on January 6th. I know Republicans who still cannot talk about it. They are still in states of trauma based on what happened. Look at the vote that just happened. I mean, he got his clock cleaned in Washington to Nikki Haley. Exactly. In a Republican primary. Although I would probably argue that a lot of the Republican aides, they live in Virginia. Ah, fair. You know what I mean? Yeah. Washington's a Democratic city. Of course it is. Right. I don't know what the primary situation's like, if you can switch parties, regardless.

Regardless, I do wonder how many Democrats are crossing over for Nikki Haley because there are some stats that show that nine out of every 10 Republicans is for Trump. So I wonder if it's like if a lot of the polling, which the Trump team should be concerned about that, you know, in some states, I guess it's her home state of South Carolina that she won 30 percent of the vote, right? Forty. Forty. And then Michigan was 30 percent of the vote. Right. I mean, do you think that's not substantial enough? I mean, I.

I just think that most Republicans, including those who don't like Donald Trump, are going to vote for Donald Trump once he's on the ballot. And that saying, oh, Nikki Haley won 30% or 40% of the vote in this state or that state, and therefore Donald Trump needs to win back those 30 or 40%, those are just cheap, easy votes those people are doing. And I don't have any focus grouping about this or polling, but I would venture to say the

The overwhelming majority of them, the super majority of those people who voted for Nikki are going to vote for Trump in the general. You really think so? Republicans. Yes.

I mean, it's one of the things that makes you a Republican. Yeah, but a lot of Republicans voted for Biden in the last election. Yeah, let's watch. Let's also watch if Nikki Haley decides to endorse Donald Trump. I think she is continuing this campaign because her donors just want her to soften up Trump. And I think they want her to keep going. I think she's doing it because she's stubborn. She has a reputation of having been stubborn. In fact, hold on. You know who taught me this lesson? I was just ripping you off.

Josh Shottie is now on my podcast from The Washington Post.

I was just saying this, that Nikki Haley is staying in this race because she's stubborn. And now Nancy's leaving. Am I allowed to ask you that question? Do you think Nikki Haley is staying in because she's stubborn? I think Nikki Haley has long been someone who keeps her on council and does whatever she wants to do in that moment. And it's hard to talk her out of doing what she wants to do. So if she wants to stay in the race at this point, I think she will stay until she doesn't want to. You're from South Carolina, so you would know. Yeah, you would know better. Gamecocks.

I'm a Gamecock. But tomorrow will be, I think, the moment of truth. Don't you think? She keeps going. She hasn't booked any ads going forward. She hasn't booked any trips going forward. She's not appearing in public tonight. I don't think. And she's not joining the no labels ticket. Seems hard to imagine. Yeah. Josh is out of here. But does she have any future in the Republican Party is the real question. I think she's got a future. Oh, yeah. Where? Where?

the Republican Party. I mean, let's see. Secretary of Defense in Trump's cabinet. I'm not sure that Trump would appoint her again. Really? I mean, the story about what and Trump has told this before in dribs and drabs about why did he pick Nikki Haley to be his U.N. ambassador? Because he wanted McMaster to be governor. And McMaster is still governor. And he endorsed Donald Trump over Nikki Haley.

Okay. So it's not that Donald Trump was like, oh, wow. I love Nikki. She's so great. Correct. It was, hey, if I remove Nikki from South Carolina, my friend Henry can become governor and he'll be governor longer than anyone else has. And obviously like UN ambassador is not really the biggest deal, though he made it a cabinet position for her. It's kind of a cool job. It wasn't a cabinet position before that. Right.

So, and it gave her some cred when she can talk about foreign affairs. And that's a big issue. Those are big topics. Although no one really votes based on foreign affairs. And I think if we get into the mind of Nikki, so outside of the fact that she has a reputation or a history of being stubborn. Right. She kind of reminds me of that...

who moved out of the parents' house and she thinks dad is kind of an asshole. He is an asshole. She's able to say, you know what? Fuck you, dad. She's able to...

assert her independence and tell Trump things that she always kept back. And she's been enjoying it and she's had the money to do it. And people who like that, who financed her. And then the other thing is YOLO. You're right. And it's kind of addictive to be at the center of the spotlight. What's she going to do? She's not really anymore. It's becoming a bit of a sideshow at this point. Correct. But she's written it to here and tomorrow she gets her spotlight again. So why not? We can't really write her obituary. Think about her future career.

is that she will have won more votes than any other woman who has ever run as a Republican in a primary. That's going to be her pitch. That sounds kind of lame. Listen, I'm not advising her campaign, but it's part of her pitch. No one's talking about Michelle Bachman. I mean, she dropped out early, but women have run before. I don't think anyone's talking. But she's gotten more, is the thing. She's gotten more than DeSantis. Fair enough. That's what she's going to say. People who run for president, they don't win.

And they're like Jeb Bush. Like, they go away. Right. You never see them again. Well, I think you're going to see Ron DeSantis again. Well, he won't back down either. Right? It wasn't that the name of the case. He would never back down. That was the slogan of a super PAC. He didn't even have a slogan for his campaign. It was part of the problem. And he's very angry still at Trump, which he should be because Trump was, you know, destroyed his campaign. But it's interesting because he's still, he endorsed him, but yet he's still trashing him. What do you think is going on there? I mean, is he really trashing him? Not really. I mean, yeah.

I mean, the reality is like DeSantis is being DeSantis. He learned his lesson and he's already looking at 2028. Really? Yes. This wasn't like a humiliating defeat? It was. That cannot be... I don't think so. I don't think it has irradiated him permanently. Okay. Put it this way. Because he dropped out after Iowa. And the phrase that one of his advisors used, which I used in a story at the time before he dropped out was...

The person said, like, basically, he needs to drop out and endorse Trump, swallow the sandwich and the shit sandwich in one bite rather than swallow it in little bites. Right. And that's what he did. He's in Florida in your home state. Correct. He broke the shit sandwich down. He had a hostage video where he had a painted smile on his face. Always a hostage video with him. It's really...

Who is doing any of the video, like the producing? They need to hire someone that came from that work. More cheers. I think he's won another state. Oh God. Yeah. So many states. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. You know, for me, fitness has always been about finding that groove, whether it's hitting the pavement outside, which I've been allowed over dialing up a sweat session indoors.

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Do you think it's day one of the general? Because I think it's the end of Nikki and then he can really swallow the RNC like he's wanted to. Tomorrow is an RNC meeting in Houston. His team is taking his daughter-in-law, Laura Trump, to Houston to make her the co-chair and his co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, is going to be the COO of the RNC. He's booted his old gal pal,

You know, Ronna McDaniel, Romney. And the thing is... No longer Romney. She dropped the Romney for Trump. Infidelity. Wow. Yes, out of servitude to Trump. But you know what? I don't know. Do they really think they're going to raise more money than she could? Oh, that's a great question. They do believe that they're on pace to still raise the money they need to, which will be more than $900 million. They believe they're going to raise $900 million to $1 billion by the end of the campaign. How? From who? From donors. I don't know, man.

You know, that's a great question. He's already spent $50 million on legal fees over the past 13 months. It's a little complicated. It's like 1 to 10 for every dollar that Trump has, Biden has 10. Right. But

But where does most of that money go? Most of that money goes on what, TV? Yes. You don't need to buy ads when you're Trump, I guess. He gets so much free media. How do you advertise against Donald Trump on TV with a tax that they've already seen on TV? Because it's baked in.

Right. That's the problem. I'm not saying they don't necessarily, I'm not saying they necessarily won't work, but the idea that, oh, if we run this devastating ad against Donald Trump for trying to persuade Vladimir Putin into invading NATO countries, well, you know what? He's already said that. Right.

It's been on multiple times, actually, since 2016. Exactly. I believe I was at that NATO meeting when he called out each nation state and was like, pay up. Yes. No, I remember that. Yes. And so the question is, is it's kind of old material is so Joe Biden will have a financial advantage. He never went so far as to say that Putin should invade the country.

Right. While he's already invaded a country. Correct. Well, he technically invaded Ukraine before he became president. He took Crimea. Yes. But I'm not saying I'm not saying I'm not saying it's it's it's not going to work. But the idea that a financial advantage in ad money is going to disproportionately advantage Biden is a questionable proposition. We're going to have to see, obviously, if it works. He's going to have an ad heavy campaign because they're going to lean into abortion.

And to Dobbs, the Dobbs decision. So they need ads for that. And IVF. Yes. And they need lots of ads reminding women swing voters exactly the horrors and terrors of, you know, um,

The abortion decision and what happens. I mean, it worked in Kentucky. Sure. I mean, let's see if it works. I'm not saying it's not going to work, but let's see if it works here. Or do you think that that candidate in Kentucky was just a really strong Democrat? I'm blanking on his name. Bashir? Yeah, the governor. Yeah, the governor. Yes. He lost to Cameron, who was like supposed to wait for Mitch McConnell to retire so he could take his seat. But well, that didn't happen. But Cameron was a strong candidate as well.

And there was like one really devastating ad that they made about a girl who was being sexually abused by her stepfather and needed an abortion and couldn't get one. Right. And that is very powerful. Ads usually work to tell you something new about someone.

And make that issue stick. And the question is, can these ads say something new about Donald Trump that is really persuasive to people? Or new about Joe Biden. That's true. I mean, these guys have 110% name ID. One problem I think we need to talk about with Republicans

Republicans is the fact that the Democrats have a much better ground game. They have much better data. They're much better organized in the swing states in Michigan, in Arizona. The Republican parties there have been clown shows. There have been problems in Georgia. So that's a problem for Trump. OK. And also Trump has long told his voters not to mail in vote. That might be out of

Let's put aside the crazy things he said. The most devastating thing he could say to his own candidacy, Donald Trump, is to dissuade people from voting by mail. Well, he already did it. So how do you convince... And he keeps doing it. Yeah, he keeps doing it. He keeps doing it. That's the thing. He keeps hitting his head into that wall. And I'm pretty sure, I'm not saying I know, that the people around Trump...

don't want him to say that. Oh, I'm sure. Now, Donald Trump has a history of saying things that people don't want him to say. Even for, you know, Ronna Romney McDaniel, I'm putting Romney back in there for her. She deserves that. She deserves her maiden name back. But she was the one who was really actively trying to... They have a whole program. The RNC has a program telling people to vote by mail. And now Donald Trump is up there and saying, like, you know what? Mail-in votes are fraud. Yeah, well...

That'll screw them over. Out of all the devastating things and the terrible things that Donald Trump has said to damage his own candidacy, the absentee ballots, don't vote by mail, is the worst for him. Right.

Right. More so than any of the other comments he said. And do you think more so than I want to be dictator for a day? More so than I am. Sorry, I didn't mean to run over you like that. No, no, it's OK. It's the one of the other things I want to be dictator. Yeah, right. That's pretty wild. The other thing is, do you actually believe that he can have the restraint to not talk about how the election was stolen? No. For the next two next, you know, seven months.

No, that's his shtick. That's his thing. And I feel bad for Axios. They recently ran a piece saying, oh, he's no longer to say the election was stolen. So then he starts telling him the election was rigged. Like, that's really... It was like a truth a minute later, basically, right? Right. Yeah, it just...

You know, it's just Donald Trump. Donald Trump, he doesn't pivot. He whirls like a dervish. And so if you were going to put your money on Biden or Trump, who do you think is going to win? I don't know. It's a flip a coin kind of thing. Yeah, I think if you flip a coin, it's going to wind up on its edge here. I literally don't know because again...

Three quarters, roughly, of voters don't want this. And how many people go to a sequel of a movie they didn't like in the first place? Fair enough. I have one more thing I'm going to grab at with you while I've got you, Mark Caputo. RFK Jr.,

He's a threat. Yeah, probably. Let's see him get on some ballots first. He's in Arizona and Georgia right now. Nah. Nah? Nah. Nah. Let's see. I think that he could... I mean, right now, I think he pulls from Democrats, but he could potentially pull from Trump. I don't know, man. I think in Georgia, just my first thought, just...

Georgia Republicans are different from these other swing state Republicans. There's a real dislike for the way in which Trump went after Brian Kemp, the governor.

And I think there are probably enough Georgia Republicans who might think JFK, I'm not going to vote for, pardon me, RFK, whatever. Whatever. One Kennedy, two Kennedy, ten Kennedy. But like, I think that can be a problem for him. So I should amend my meh and say, yeah, I think Georgia is a place to watch for that. A wise political consultant who asked not to be named today told me, you know, spoilers decide elections. Yeah.

Do you agree with that? In close elections, everything matters. And this is going to be a close election. I mean, we're down to a dynamic where, what, Donald Trump essentially won the presidency by, what, 10, 20,000 votes. And he essentially lost the presidency by, what, 50,000 votes or something. When you just look at the swing states, I know it's kind of unfair.

We all know that. It's true. The reality is, is popular vote has not decided the presidency. When you when you lose or win an election by a percent, everything you did right helped you win and everything your opponent did wrong helped him lose and vice versa. And everything Jill Stein did in Michigan, you know, hurt Hillary Clinton. Yeah. Hillary Clinton not showing up and taking Michigan for granted also hurt her. I don't think Biden is going to do that. Right.

I mean, he's in Michigan all the time, although right now, whenever he goes to Michigan, he's being protested. But for more on Michigan, I have Hill Harper, the actor turned Senate candidate. He'll be on on Thursday. So tune in for that.

That was another episode of Somebody's Gotta Win. I'm Tara Palmieri from outside of Mar-a-Lago at the Trump Victory Party with my old colleague, Mark Caputo. We'll bring him back, his energy and his knowledge. In the meantime, it was great having you. Oh, I've been trying to get on this whole time. So thank you for finally having me, Tara. And you know what I said? I saw Mark and I said, you know what? Fuck it. I'll give Mark a chance. I'll make him a star. Because I got nothing else to do. I love it.

Thanks so much for listening to another episode of Somebody's Gotta Win. I'm Tara Palmieri. I want to thank my producers, Connor Nevins and Christopher Sutton. If you like my reporting, sign up for my newsletter, The Best and the Brightest. Go to puck.news slash Tara Palmieri. And if you like this podcast, subscribe, rate it, share it with your friends. And I'll be back on Thursday.