month after month, and it became pretty obvious as the economic numbers were getting better, as the hunter biden stuff sort of fizzled out, that this would be their number one issue for 2024. we see trump talking about it at every rally, we see members of congress constantly going down to the border for photo ops, as we saw today with mike johnson, and this will be their issue. they folds a number of issues into this particular issue, like drug overdoses, which they blame on the border, crime, which they'll blame on migrants. so many issues are all being folded into this one issue, and the optics of it are not great. i mean, they are constantly hosting -- posting videos of migrants crossing the border just like you just showed, but in much larger numbers. when i look to the administration and when i look to left-leaning channels or
>> i don't know what it will take to stop it. that is beyond my ability. i am having to pull bodies out of the river anymore, would be nice. >> and tonight, the doj filed suit against the state of texas for its controversial new law that would let the state authorities not just federal authorities, arrest people crossing the border illegally. joining me tonight to discuss, former republican congressman carlos curbelo of florida, and ron filipkowski, meidastouch editor and chief and former federal prosecutor. ron, i want to start with you because you published a piece today entitled democrats don't want to talk about the border, so i will start. all right, give it to us. what is your argument? >> well, i covered right wing media, the right-wing media ecosystem, their politicians, podcasters, cable stations, and they do nothing but talk about the border. it is on a loop, day after day, month after month, and it became pretty obvious as the economic numbers were getting better, as the hunter biden stuff sort of fizzled out, that this would be their number one issue for 2024. we see trump talking about it at every rally, we see members of congress constantly going down to the border for photo ops, as we saw today with mike johnson, and this will be their issue. they folds a number of issues into this particular issue, like drug overdoses, which they blame on the border, crime,
pretty sure i don't see democracy at the top or even abortion for that matter. top issues are the economy, cr crime, immigration, education, foreign policy, you name it. i don't see any other issues near the top five. so that was disingenuous. as far as favorability, yeah, look, joe biden is somebody who ran on being the guy who would bring normalcy back to the white house, honest guy who loves his family. now we've seen that narrative fall apart in terms of the hunter biden stuff, it is not about hunter biden, it is if joe biden is compromised by china, russia, ukraine, kazakhstan, i could go through a litany of countries that is a problem not
long six months to go and it will be a roller coaster. cute opportunity but again to your point. if we are saying donald trump's name 500 times and not getting any airtime or not taking advantage of potential airtime. that could be on them, when every story revolves around donald trump. don't be surprised he's leading in the polls, by such a huge amount because he's getting all the press and attention. he loves it, he knows it. that is his path in terms of not getting his navigation, getting into a position where he's pardoning himself, he mitigates his legal trouble. joe biden is not knocking out of the park the last time i checked, whether it's a health issue, hunter biden stuff, i think there is still a variety of different opportunities for the democrats to either move them along or he moves himself along by next year. long way to go and i'm still betting neither of these guys
republican candidates are, and the fact that, are they even running for president? the fact that they are not trying to take down donald trump as the top contender in the primary race, the fact that he has been and i did now three times. and potentially for with this upcoming georgia stuff this week. you know, it's just crazy to me that he is also untouchable by these candidates. and any other primary setting, you would see them going after him. so it almost makes me think, are they just setting this up now for donald trump to kind of just come in and be the bearer of the party again? and become the nominee in 2024? i don't really know. but when it comes to this hunter biden stuff, you know, i think it is hard for president biden to stay out of the fray right now. and not comment on what is going on on the trump side of things. and also do not really comment on what is going on with the hunter biden stuff. so i think it will be interesting to see what happens going into 2024. but his strategy is spot on, currently. >> we have only a little bit of time, very quickly, each of, your prediction for the republican debate that's coming
with a man who was a former advisor. i'm wondering if you think that this is a big deal. stefanik wrote, at the time of this photo, hawkstein was in communication with hunter biden and burisma where hunter served on the board. we know this photo was taken on air force two ahead of biden's meeting with poroshenko if he would have aid withheld if the prosecutor was not fired. do you share stefanik's concern here. >> this is the key concern for all of this hunter biden stuff. it is not personal about what demons hunter biden may or may not have contended with, it's whether or not the biden family was in some way compromised by the business dealings that hunter biden engaged in. and amos hochstein has been the
and the democrats is social security, reproductive freedom, the fate of our democracy, social security, all those things. they're much stronger positioned because at that point, the swing voters don't want to hear about hunter biden. they want to hear about what matters to them at their table. >> so, are you essentially saying that this daily drumbeat that natasha says, you don't think we'll be at the forefront of votes minds' heres. it seems like democrats waved off the stories that involved hunter biden. should they be stronger with their messaging as it pertains to him? >> i think they should never bring up hunter biden. what the american public cares about is x, y and z. what the hunter biden stuff does is it feeds the red meat to the gop base who likes to hear about it. but in the end, the people that are going to decide the elections, those swing voters in key states don't care about hunter biden, they care about what's going on in their life
we would all like to watch it. i don't think the trump team would like to have it tele advised. >> ainsley: you don't? i think they would. i remember him saying i hope they handcuff me. i want the world to see. >> steve: he wanted the mugshot to fund raise off of and whatnot. stay tuned. let's see what happens. >> brian: one other thing to add about this. if you are running against trump, the big story is how do you make some progress? so doug burgum is on over the weekend. 70% of all the questions are about trump. he says hey, listen, i'm not a lawyer. i'm a business guy. i'm a governor. i'm looking to define mineself. why won't you condemn trump? why won't you support him? >> i'm trying to run for president. why are you asking me about the other guy 70% of the time. it's almost as or committees straighted as the ignoring of the hunter biden stuff. it's that we are going to get any other contender with or without talent or esteem and momentum and all we are going to do is ask about do trump?
deal, you may recall that collapsed last week, adding to the first family's legal woes. >> steve: devin archer was convicteds in 2018, of tax charges, unrelated to the hunter biden stuff, right? >> griff: that is right and telling them to report to jail. we are told it will not impact any of these proceedings. guys. >> ainsley: thank you so much. if you read comer's, he sent out a memo, a statement, it talks about his take, his opinion and he has takeaways. brief takeaways, number one, it was confirmed joe was the brand and burisma would have gone out of business if the brand had not been attached to it. number three, december of 2015, executive of burisma put pressure on hunter biden to put
>> absolutely. look, it is not the first charge we have heard about donald trump. it is not the first court or the first prosecutor that is going and against the former president. these things keep lining on. on the other side, the hunter biden stuff is getting worse and worse for the biden family by the day. it does not bode well for either party. as it pertains to republicans, donald trump in my home state of new hampshire we have him under 40%. what it says is the majority of these hard-core republicans are not with this guy. through events like this we can get it to down other candidates, he is in trouble and he knows it. he is afraid that we will have that discipline to get it down to one on one. >> hunter biden is not the front runner of the democratic party. he is not accused of withholding national security secrets. >> that is correct --