Transcripts For CSPAN Newsmakers Tim Chapman Heritage Action

Uniteamerica. Org. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Saturday morning, we will discuss the role of Health Care Policy in campaign 2020 with the American Enterprise institutes joseph antos and josh bivens. Then the 2020 do matter democratic caucuses with reporter michelle price. Cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern saturday morning. Join the discussion. Joining us on newsmakers is tim chapman, the executive director of the Heritage Action for america and joining us with the questioning is kate ackley and gabby. Thank you, tim, for joining us. On this thursday, roger stone, former trump associate was sentenced earlier today to three years in prison for lying to federal prosecutors as part of the russia probe. Onanted to get your take whether or not that is a fair sentence and whether you agree with some of the statements President Trump has made . Tim i know the president had some issues with it. Obviously, infractions were made , it was a felony. I think it is a problem and i think the sentence makes sense, but i will leave it up to the people in the Legal Community to figure that out. Do you think he received a fair trial . Tim from my vantage point, latest in as the series of Trump Campaign officials now facing prison time or in prison. Is this a problem for the president in this Election Year . Tim of course, any perception of people like that around you is a major problem and what we have counseled the white house to do, you are seeing some of this, focus on the policy. Focus on what is going on in the economy, try to stick to one and to the extent they do that, this wont be as big a problem, but if you are spending a lot of time talking about this more than your actual record, it is a political drag. How would a pardon play into that . If he received a pardon, with that put things to rest or bubble it up even more . What would your advice be to the white house. Tim a pardon would be on the front page of every newspaper and every media outlet would run it for a while. Ultimately how it would play long term politically, like everything in the news cycle right now, it would probably be a 24, 40 eight hour news story and a talking point in the campaign. Im not sure exactly how that would end in terms of where people go and vote. Gabby you just said earlier advisingtage action is the president of focus on policy, talk about the economy. One of the phrases we have heard out of the Trump Campaign this election cycle is socialism takes, and capitalism creates. I just wanted to ask you if you truly think that is something outside thes voters conservative base and is able to shore up support with suburban communities and demographics that are trying to move away from the Republican Party at the moment . Tim absolutely, weve done a lot of work in terms of polling in key swing states and key battleground districts, and the socialism issue is a major drag for democrats, especially if you look at the big issue right now, and the big issue is where our republican suburban voters going to end up going . Will they stick with the president or will we have a similar situation to 2018 where we sagged a little with those voters. Absolutelyng that puts them back on the mac is nominating a socialist in the Democratic Party. There is just too much at stake, and when you look at the numbers they were asking people what the characteristics they most disliked about the candidates or the candidates, but top one was socialism at 65 . I think the democrats are really playing with fire here because they would be smarter as a party to try to do it we are suggesting, as well, to just talk about issues. Issues,talk about people are more interested in having that conversation and have a better chance, but if you are putting a democrat socialist at the top of the ticket, you put all of the suburbs, whether the philadelphia suburbs or whether it is des moines or whatever, they are back on the map. I think that is a Good Development for the president s chances. Kate Michael Steve Michael Bloomberg is not the nominee, but if he were, his Campaign Said he would spend 4 billion. Does that worry you . Tim of course it is not insignificant, but i dont think money plays a role in politics it used to play. I think increasingly people are skeptical of bigmoney campaigns. I think the era of carpet bombing estate or a district with Television Ad and make that the final difference in elections, i think that era is over. What matters most in american Politics Today is authenticity, and i think part of bloombergs problem will be that the money might actually work against him in that respect, because it wont feel authentic. Does he have a real Grassroots Movement behind him or is he buying his way toward election . But inot insignificant, dont truck it up as much as some others would. Kate does his entry into the race undermine democrats message about wanting to be the party of political reform, which was do hr1, the first premier piece of legislation that House Democrats Campaign Finance reform and a host of other measures, does having this billionaire come in and get himself on the debate stage and enter the race like that, does not undermine the rationale for Campaign Finance overhaul and things like that . Tim absolutely. I think it undermines this goes back to authenticity. I said earlier that nominating a socialist is bad for the party. I still believe that, but at least with sanders, dairies level of authenticity and row Grassroots Movement. He is a believer in what the most progressive base of the party believes in, so there is a real relationship there. It goes both ways. Underou have seen them do pelosi in the house is try to legislate those values, so at least in that way, that is authenticity. Bloomberg does not have that and i think it is a real problem for the party and the other thing i is, isay about bloomberg think what you are seeing is, his assumption was there is this Critical Mass of moderate in the democratic primaries that are ready to go and elect a moderate democrat, and i dont think that is there. Yes, some of them are being and bidenklobuchar to an extent, but there is no energy there. What we are learning from bloomberg, which will probably be a fizzling out in the next few months, what we are learning is the real energy in the party is with the progressive hardcore base. Steve who do you think the nominee will be . Tim at some point, we have to believe the polls, right . At some point, you have to look at what happened with donald trump. No one believes the polls with trump. Republicans were saying over and over again that a certain senator would ascend or for some reason trump would stumble, and then ultimately the energy was there and that was the same dynamic i am talking about. There was authenticity there. People look at trump and thought this is a guy it who is not a traditional politician, and he is definitely rough around the edges and he says stuff we dont and is anree with imperfect vessel, but at least we think he is authentic in his desire to be someone who shakes up the status quo in washington, so i see the same dynamic playing out in the Democratic Party. I will not be surprised at all if Bernie Sanders is the nominee or they decide to tamp it down a little and go with Elizabeth Warren. There are scenarios where you have a convention where there is brokering going on, but if you just sit back and look at the statistics and look at the polls and look at the energy and look at the rallies, it will be one of those two. With youve been involved gop politics for several years Heritage Action is on the forefront of the cultural. Ars in this country based on some of the rhetoric we have seen from the democratic primary debates and particularly senator klobuchars claim there should be a litmus test for future democratic president s to impose on Supreme Court nominees on abortion, is that something you think republican candidates moving forward also need to adopt . There should be a litmus test to determine whether Supreme Court nominees would commit to overturning roe v. Wade . Tim republicans have always issued a litmus test, and sometimes to this advantage of constitutional conservatives, who have seen some of our nominees go to the court and vote in ways we are not operable with, but i think that is the right way to be. I dont think you want to impose litmus tests on judges. Ultimately, what you want to do is your best vetting possible, look at their legal arguments, and make your best judgment possible. I dont think republicans will move toward a litmus test. What you see with the Republican Party is a prolife party, no doubt about it and im a proud a partyr, but you see that is big enough to allow other competing thoughts into we have a lot of that going on in the Republican Party and that is a strength of the party and when you juxtapose that with what you have on the left, which is absolutely litmus , especiallysolutely in terms of political candidates, is there room for her life political candidates in the Democratic Party . I think the answer is no. Kate we actually had a story on remaining, that antiabortion democrats in the house are having hard time finding allies among various groups. I just wanted to step back a little bit. You were writing in 2010, 2011 about the rise of populism, and weve really seen that play out in the Trump Administration when it comes to trade policy and other matters like that. You see it in the rise of Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail. What is going to happen next . Is this populism going to continue and how would that play out in policy issues, or is this reaching its end point . Tim i think the populism will continue, but i think it will begin to mature in a sense and i think the populism on both sides is going to begin to coalesce so as youas, mentioned, we have been involved in that populist movement for a long time when restarted started Heritage Action in 2010. We were very antiestablishment and had a lot of fights with our own leadership in the Republican Party, and they were over these that wasissues, and the precursor to trump in many ways, that period from 2010 to 2016, and then trump comes along with, an agent of change whatever you think of him, he is not establishment. He is here to shake things up. What is going to be really interesting is on the right hand on the left, where do people in you see on the right some thinking on different policy ideas. I used trade as an example, and you are not seeing conservatives freeway from the idea of trade. People understand the value of free trade, but you are seeing a more sophisticated thought process about it when you are really weighing all of the factors that occur in some of these trade deals and thinking of other ways to make sure that people in this country get to take advantage of all that we have to offer, so i think it should be a really interesting next decade is the next decade you will see on the left and right, people coalesce around policy agendas that might look a little different than they have. Gabby do you mean by partisanship . Tim by partisanship bipartisanship. No, there have been pivotal moments in republican politics, the most recent was the reagan era of the 1980s and the right did something that was really smart, which was think about all we have had that and how they apply to the politics of the 80s and fuse a movement around that. Conservatives, social conservatives, and you had business conservatives coming together around an idea, and that is the kind of stuff i am talking about, on the right and left trying to figure out the coalitions of the future. President trump gave a little thatet in 2016 of what might look like in bringing a new cohort of voters. When he won wisconsin and pennsylvania and michigan, he by bringingates workingclass voters, who had voted for democrats in previous election. 10 of Bernie Sanders election in 2016 voted across the aisle for President Trump. It is interesting how republicans are thinking of keeping that coalition together of being creative while sticking to your principles and not backing down. Are leaving Heritage Action this spring to work with nikki haley, former u. S. Ambassador, stanford america, why the move . Tim it is a fantastic opportunity. Ive been with Heritage Action for a decade now, they will do great. Nikki haley is someone i havent long have admired for a time. She has great, toughness, is principled and getting the opportunity to work for her is something im pretty excited about. Steve is she going to run for president in 2024 . Tim ill have to ask her. You will have to ask her. Steve what do you think . Tim i dont know. Inby is verygabby figure the gop you see as a natural successor to donald trump . Tim i dont think so. I think that is being settled right now. Those conversations are occurring, but in truth, the gop right now is not talking about a successor to trump the cousin people are focusing on getting trump reelected. I am sure that if he is reelected, the conversation becomes who is his successor, but there are so many good people out there, many who are qualified to lead, many who are learning the right lessons right now, thinking strategically about the future, so i think our bench is pretty deep. I want to go back to something you were talking about earlier, the Republican Partys realignment post trump era. Theres been a lot of discussion on the right over whether the libertarian wing of the party has consolidated power, gained too much influence in Republican Party circles and has essentially shut down a willingness to talk about social issues or issues important to social conservatives. Is that an accurate assessment of the current gop . Tim i have seen some of that and to the detriment for social conservatives. Whennteresting thing is you look at populist moment we their house always been an assumption in the last 10 years of the Republican Party that you need to stay away from socialist issues. We know you have your principles and values there, but dont run on those things because if you run on those things, you will theup losing elections, so social conservatives have kind of gotten elbowed into the back, and i think there is a resurgence where people are saying, no, values really matter and when talking about authenticity, that is how you connect with people. The values that they share are as important to them as many of the economic situations around them not that the economy is not important. It is tremendously important, but i think there is room for in the future social conservatives to be a bigger part of what we are doing, and i think it makes good populist politics, social. Politics, too. Kate immigration is an issue you have worked on with Heritage Action. The community has been saying the country needs more legal immigrants, whether hightech or Seasonal Worker visas, really to drive the economy, the u. S. Needs more immigrant workers. Trump administration during the trump era, Legal Immigration is down. Are you with the chamber of commerce on this or the Trump Administration . Tim im definitely with the Trump Administration. I dont think this is rocket science. The reason this has become so hard is it is just such a political landmine. Condemned the issue. Ecuring your borders, simple then you can have lots of conversations about if there are needs to be filled. Inhink the first thing we terms of the way youve got to look at it principally, is the need has to be there. It cant be something that could be filled by an american worker. That should be the priority first, but if there is a need, you can absolutely bring programs on board that will fill that need, if youve done the right stuff first, which is security and protecting your borders. Abby if you were advising republican president ial candidate in 2024 or down the road, what would you say they need to do to consolidate the middle class gains that President Trump has brought in for the party, while also not alienating suburban voters . Is there a particular policy agenda or elements . Tim there are a couple of things here. And theomy is important economy to the extent that the economy does well come you need to sing that song over and over again. Somethingmigration is you can do and Immigration Reform im talking about immigration security. You can do this in a way that doesnt alienate suburban voters. We worked with the administration on one of our proposals that i think they got exactly right. We had done some polling in swing states and found that the aboutt issue people felt ilLegal Immigration was not crime, was not culture was not those negative things that you think about with it, but it was what happens with social services that i need for my family and neighbors and my Community Needs . Schools, hostels, things like that. One of the things the Trump Administ