presidency who live with the knowledge of what trump has done to the country, the damage he's done to this country that will ensue for god knows how long, what is it about them that causes this knee jerk reaction, oh, i would vote for trump anyway? >> it's an interesting combination of two emotions, mike. fear and ambition. so the fear part of it is that all of them treasure their titles. and so, they treasure their titles more than they treasure the honor that's given to them by the people to actually have those titles. they don't want to lose them and all worried about being primaried by someone who would there donald trump's endorsement. second, and this is where it applies in both nikki haley's and ron desantis' position, most importantly with nikki is ambition. the fact is she's been asked over and over again in new hampshire and elsewhere -- in fact, she got asked by 9-year-old kid last week in new hampshire, would you take the
once that happens, house republicans will only be able to afford two defections on any votes. border security, foreign aid, government funding, you name it. could that shrinking majority force republicans to compromise with democrats. do you see it having any real world impact? >> look, i hope so. i hope that it would or that it will. but, you know, they're in a real -- they're just in a place that's incredibly -- that's dangerous, that's still led by the very harsh and ugly rhetoric and thinking of donald trump. they're still deathly afraid of being primaried by somebody who gets donald trump's support instead of them. so, you know, all of that makes it tough to do sensible bipartisan rational policy with the republican party in congress today. >> well, there are, though, as you know, there are republicans who are in purple districts who
rushed format, if it wasn't a special election, if it didn't seem pretty hypocritical based on what we've done just a few months ago by eliminating august special elections. >> david, have you seen any or experienced any second thoughts among some republicans in the state? >> i -- well, we did have five republicans vote against bringing this proposal to the august ballot, but that's five out of 67 ohio house representatives or 62 supported it, five voted against it the and then the entire ohio senate voted against it. i think representative calendar, he is one who voted against bringing this to the voters in august, and i think i've seen some hesitation from some republicans, but they're not speaking out very much. they're just kind of letting this happen. >> probably concerned about getting primaried. i wish i had time to play it,
the others are dirty sick players, and the republicans are very high class. they've got to be a little bit lower class, i suspect. they sit back, and they say, they have other priorities, we have to look at other things. any republican that does an act on democrat fraud should be immediately primaried, and get out, out! >> in pennsylvania this weekend, donald trump made time to threaten members of his own political party, saying if they do not back him up aggressively, they should be primaried. well, recent polling indicates the republican voters have the former president's back in that thought. trump has a 37 point lead over his closest challenger. back with me tonight, robert gibbs, former obama campaign senior adviser and white house press secretary, and michael murphy, veteran republican strategist and co-director of the center for the political future at the university of southern california, both host the podcast hacks on tap. okay, this is what i desperately want to know, and michael, i ask you first. donald trump has this huge lead. but aside from chris christie, asa hutchison, and a little bit of will hurd, none of his rivals will even criticize him. so, if they won't, are any of these people even running? because he's the person they need to beat. >> right, but a couple things
know, how this produces sort of a domino effect on to the 2024 campaign trail and whether or not republicans maintain power in the house, you know, and how they perform on the presidential election is something that we're going to be watching for. >> it's such a good point. especially with the 18 front liners, the freshman, a large portion of them are from new york and flip seats in this state, in the midterm elections. but trump over the weekend in iowa saying basically, if you're not seeking retribution on my behalf, you should be primaried, more or less saying that. which would seem to be a house speaker's total nightmare, given the fact that they have such a slim majority. and yet, this is the balancing act that kevin mccarthy always has to play, trying to figure out, what's the end game here for republicans, writ large? >> and just republicans in congress are in just this kind of tough spot with trump, because he is the most popular person in their party. if you are running in a tough race, you want him to endorse and be on his good side.
immediately primaried. and get out. out! >> so we'll see what devon archer ultimately tells lawmakers today behind closed doors, but obviously, the white house vehemently denies any connection to hunter biden's foreign business dealings, and democrats say these are all recycled claims. >> all right. zach cohen, we'll have to reconcile the democratic and republican views of the closed-door hearing later today. thanks, man. appreciate it. >> let's bring in two former federal prosecutors, sarah christoph and elie honig. i'll leave the devon archer stuff on the table and get into more of these issues with you. beginning with you, in terms of the fact that you have the arraignment of de oliveira today. you say there's two main things to watch. what are they? >> first of all, will there be any indication that this guy will flip? thus far, he's not. he has spoken to the pfbi and lied to them. he was asked, do you know anything about these boxes, and he said absolutely nothing.
with president trump, former president trump's comment there, calling for my republican he deems not adequately defending him to be primaried. we spend a lot of time on this show noting his influence on the gop. >> right. >> do we think this is something that could come to be, will people jump in the race, or will this motivate other republicans to take up his cause and investigate biden and the democrats? >> well, i don't think it is an empty threat. i was thinking over the weekend that one of the consequences of the looming indictments of donald trump is it becomes -- there will be more pressure to impeach joe biden. look, there's kind of a two-step strategy here. expunging trump's impeachments and then moving ahead with an impeachment of joe biden, all of which has the effect of throwing lots of smoke and dust into the air. also, downplaying the significance of impeachments. you and i are old enough to remember when impeaching a
clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. nothing on my skin means everything! ♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. with new legal peril looming donald trump is making threats and taking names, trying to squelch any notion republicans might have of backing down or backing someone else. >> any republican that doesn't act on democrat fraud should be immediately primaried. and get out. out. they have to play tough. and they have to be -- and honestly, if they're not willing
office, and he also spend a lot of time criticizing president joe biden. one thing i found very interesting is that he made an appeal to republicans and told them that they immediate to investigate the biden family more. and also to act on the information that they've gathered already. and he said, any republican that doesn't do that needs to be primaried. but he also spent a good amount of time talking about his own legal troubles. he railed against jack smith, criticized the justice department, and revised the well-worn playbook that we've seen him use time and time again when talking about the charges and mounting indictments that are looming in front of him, which is to characterize them as election interference. and my colleague kate sylvan and i caught up with some rally attendees and they told us that they think that donald trump is entirely right in the sense that they do think that he is the victim of a political witch hunt. and that really, the biden family needs to be more focused
normal for trump's rallies. yes, there were a lot of people there on saturday, but also many empty seats. but donald trump took to the stage at around 6:00 p.m. and gave a pretty typical 2024 stump speech. he went through his agenda items for his campaign. he also walked through his highlight reel from his time in office. and he also spent a lot of time criticizing president joe biden. one thing that i found sbrergs is that he made an appeal to republicans and said they need to investigate the biden family more and act on the information that they've gathered already. and he said any republican that doesn't do that needs to be primaried. but he also spent a good amount of time talking about his own legal troubles. he railed against special counsel jack smith, criticized the justice department, and revived the well-worn playbook we've seen him use time and time again when talking about the chargies and the mounting indictments that are looming in