Partisan Shirts Vs. Skins: David Drucker Talks to A&G

become a shurts and skins game. You know, partisanship has always been a big part of American politics, especially their two party system, but you know, over the past that's tended twenty years. UM. Voters on both sides of the aisle have made a calculation that it doesn't matter what

kind of person they send to Washington. Uh, and I say Washington in particular, there's much more nuance and much more I think, uh, a willingness to cross the aisle in in state and local races, UM, but especially in congressional races and in presidential contest, it's simply about how will you vote, which side will you vote with? In fact, I don't even know if you'll do anything I like but you say you're for my side, you'll support that majority.

You hate the people I hate, and that's good enough for me, And in fact, that's the most important thing to me. Yeah, you said the key phrase, and I've seen polling on this. That is what it's more about than anything else. You hate the people I hate. Yeah. Um, Look, if you're a Republican running for office, you're a Democrat running for office. I've seen this in particularly more acute

ways on the Republican side. I think it's sometimes it's completely immaterial whether or not you're a reliable fiscal conservative or reliable reliable conservative on other issues. It just matters that you are willing to mix it up with Democrats, mix it up with you know, goats like me in the media. And if you can do that, I'm not even going to pay that close attention to how you're

voting on particular legislation. Now, obviously, UM, as a Republican or Democrat, UM, you have to tow the line or believe in certain things to survive in a primary right, you have to oppose abortion rights. If you're a Republican,

you have to be four abortion rights. If you're a Democrat, there are other issues in there that are important, but all things being equal, as long as you're not uh contradictory on the biggest issues gun rights is a huge issue on the Republican side, then we just want to see you throw punches at the people that I think

are trying to kill me and destroy my life. And you know the language that he's used now in politics where people UH constantly believed the other side wants to, you know, pour gasoline on the country, lighting on fire, and I guess we're you know, move everybody to China or something. And this is you know, this is the atmosphere that we're dealing with. I talked to voters all the time, and you know, they are they are insistent that the other side, by the way, they're insistent that

the other side plays dirty. They're regretful that their own side won't play as dirty as the other side. I run into that all the time. They're also insistent that the other side always wins and we always lose, and that we don't win this time, even though there's a regularly scheduled election coming two years from now and two years after that and two years after that. Nope, this is it. It's either now or never, or we're all going to end up subjugated by you know, g or

you know, name your authoritarian at the moment. Yeah, you're either gonna have to answer to AOC or Trump, depending on who wins. Well to that point, Yeah, and I want to get to one of your columns here in a second moment. One my favorite poll number of the day. This is from NBC News. Percentage of Americans who say the opposite party's agenda poses a threat that, if not stopped, will destroy America as we know it. Four out of five Democrats, four out of five Republicans say that four

out of five. Yeah. And not only that, they think that the other side is doing it on purpose. They don't even think it's you know, just you know, dumb luck that the other side's ideas are no good. They think the other side is in the room conspiring to ruin everything on purpose for the soul, a purpose of claiming power and subjugating them, as if we're all going to be serfs again. You know, it's funny because we've listened to this every two years, and then every two

years life goes on pretty much as normal. I get this, you know, I've still got the Constitution and the First Amendment and the Second Amendment, and I can say what I want, do what I want, travel where I want, protest the government, and you know what I mean. Obviously the economy. Um, you know, there's a business cycle. Sometimes some policies are good for the economy, some are bad. I'm not saying the government has no impact on things,

but these are policy debates. Are are general. American way of life has basically continued. And you know, if you look at it, the grand scheme of history only gotten better for more people, you know, and yet people are looking over their shoulder now convinced that their neighbor wants to boss them over and over the head of the baseball bad on purpose. And you know that's the stunt of where we are. Yeah, I don't know how we move forward if if of people think the other side

is out to destroy the country. But anyway, I want to get to this because I think it's one of the most fascinating thing things that's happening in politics. Democrats have believed for a very long time that the growing Hispanic population could give them a permanent majority, because clearly, as more Hispanic people come here, they're going to vote Democrat and that's just a good thing. Well, that's turning

out not to be the case. And a number of places around the country, and according to you, Nevada has become ground zero for Republican efforts to court Latino voters.

Tell us about that, Well, look, I mean, if you look at all of the polling this election cycle, Republicans UM could do very well with Hispanics or Latinos on the West Coast uh different terminologies on election day, right, and they could do well at historic levels, and they might even sweep some house seats in the Rio Grand Valley along the Mexican border in Texas, UM districts that

they haven't won uh for eons. And what you're seeing is that a lot of the Republican Party's appeal with blue collar voters is expending past the white working class into the Hispanic working class. I talked to people in Nevada about this, UM. You know, I think one of the reasons this may be happening. If it happens is as Hispanics, the majority of Hispanics will still vote for Democrats. They will still be a major part of the Democratic coalition.

One of the reasons though, lately they may be shedding these voters. Not only are Republicans playing the identity politics game and just making a much stronger ever effort to court Latino voters, actually opening offices in their neighborhoods uh firing you know, people who speak fluent Spanish to appeal to Latino voters, advertising and mormally in Spanish language media. Uh. You know. But Democrats at the moment a cultural agenda that is more left of center than it used to be.

It is making some Hispanish uncomfortable with the coalition, part of the same way that we got suburban Republicans uncomfortable with the Republican coalition during Trump's frantancy and moved towards the Democrats. So these, you know, these things happen and can happen over time. Interestingly enough, as much as Republicans out the gains that they think they're gonna make with Hispanics, they also constantly talked about the idea that Democrats opened

and border because they want more voters. So on the one hand they brag about the support they're gaining with Hispanics, on the other hand, they keep insisting that Hispanics are more likely to vote for Democrats. It's an interesting contradiction. I don't think, um all kidding aside that, although I

wasn't kidding, this is what's happening. But aside from that, I don't know if Democrats are fully appreciated yet that if they believe it's interesting polish more to the left on some of these hot button cultural issues, they're going to have to there that not as many. It was such a big deal when I was a kid, but you know, the way the way things change. But I don't know where this is going to lead our politics.

It's it's always seemed weird to me that because I live in an area where there are a lot of Hispanic families lined up to go to church on you know, every Sunday, and uh, you know, the Democratic Party is not exactly church going friendly. So I've never understood how that fit together. Well. Look, I mean, when you know, voters of all stripes make decisions about where they feel most at home. I mean, there are plenty of Republicans in the suburbs that have been a part of the

GOP coalition. They're not a part of the coalition because us they're fixated on trying to reduce abortions, or because they embrace the Second Amendment to what other Republicans do in other um parts of the country or in rural neighborhoods or ex Serman neighborhoods. But you know, for reasons of taxes and regulations, how small businesses are treated by the government, uh, for issues of foreign policy. They're part of the Republican coalition. So it's it's natural to find

voters in a coalition. They don't agree on a lot of things. That they agree on the things that matter to them and um so that and that's where they are. But when things change too much, it can cause you on particular issues, it can cause them to reconsider. Hey, I gotta ask you this before we let you go. I ask your colleague Sarah Westward about it, and I'm

wondering what your take is. She seemed to feel like the zeitgeist in d C was that Joe Biden will will at some point give a speech where he says he's stepping aside for the next generation or something like that, will not finish out his first term. What do you think will not finish out his first term? No, no, no, no, no no, no, no, He's finished, well, I'm sorry, not not run again. He'll finish his term, but not run again.

So I don't have reporting to give you. What I can tell you is that the man wanted to be president for fifty years and you just don't just walk away from that. I think he wants to run again.

I think that he intends to run again. I'm just not convinced he's actually going to run again when they have to sit down and game out a re election campaign where he's gonna have to be much more aggressively public and on the road because there will not be knock on what a raging pandemic that forces everybody to be inside. Does he turn to come, does he turn to Kamala, or does he say we should open it up to all comers. It really doesn't matter what he does,

because all comers are going to come after it. Vice President Harris has not established herself as a political figure with a base of power or report within the party that is sufficient to keep other ambitious Democrats out of an open sea bris. I know you don't have reporting on it, but do you think that's the most likely scenario, just based on your reading of the tea leaves? I just think it's a toss up. You know. Some days, honestly,

I just I'm convinced he's gonna run Another days. I think to myself, when you're eighty two headed toward eighty six, if you could finish the second term, the you know, the presidency ages everybody. Right, you go into the presidency in your mid foties or mid fifties, and if you're not gray yet, you come out gray. Most of the reason, two term presidents are happy to be done with everything. In fact, one term presidents usually because as much as you want the job, as ambitious as you are, it's

so taxing that once you're done, you're just done. And so you know, that's I think what Joe Biden and his family I unfortunately about a second term. I have to, unfortunately, have to let you go. I appreciate you answering that question, because I know reporters don't like to speculate. But David Rucker, we'll have you on again soon. It's going to be a spicy couple of years, no doubt about that. Armstrong and Jetti