Transcripts For CSPAN 2017 Conservative Political Action Con

Association winter meeting in washington dc, a panel on Cyber Threats coming your way. Live coverage here on cspan. Now we continue our coverage of cpap cpac, the Political Action conference. It continues in washington dc just outside the city. Here is a discussion on the rust belt. You cant tell anything. Its a Pretty Simple direction. You go to the right, this person goes to the left. How are you all enjoying cpac cpac so far . Is anybody tired . This is good. Coffee, we all have our liquid courage. Person on this panel is someone i feel like i have a special relationship with. She is our vice chair of the foundation. She is like the righthand person to wayne lapierre. Susan page and i grew up together in the same town. She went to one rival high school, i went to the other. We both travel to wichita from time to time. Much of my family is here today. Lets shout out for wichita kansas. He is a little bit more left wing than i am. Even with a guy that is a little off. I kind of want to know what is going on. To severalet to talk times a week. Byron and i have a special relationship because we go to the same hairstylist. Its really cool to be confused with mike pence. This is a question of realignment in politics. Politics, 2016 would have been the year you chose to cover politics because there is so much change on the right and the left. I want to start with ralph who has been covering politics for a long time. Have you ever seen a year like in 2016 . Have never seen a year like this. I ever predicted the outcome of president ial elections. This one was unbelievable. I thought he was a joke, he couldnt be serious. When he started to run i didnt think he could win anything. I realized everything i had learned over 50 years in journalism out the window, i didnt understand what was going on but it was fun. Trump said a lot of the things that many of us thought or thought unconsciously. I found everybody cheering. Susan, there is a lot of realignment. Think there is a lot of realignment going on with both parties. I think this is an election we will be seen with the benefit of more perspective as they are realigning the election. The president s speech, describing a Republican Party in different terms than we had ,eard described before foruding three states nearly a quarter century had been part of the blue wall. Michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. I think there is some buddy here from michigan. See some of the. Epercussions theyre trying to figure where the Democratic Party fits in a world where they were going to be more coastal and have more trouble. The south has been pretty republican for some time. What is going on with the election for the dnc chair and generally in the elect in the Democratic Party . You talk about the election. All of the conversation was about the dysfunction that is going to exist in the Republican Party. I would popd then up and say we are not talking about it. It is worse. It didnt really come to light. It is the factionalized nation is stunning. The voting has begun for who will be the next chairman. Are there superdelegates . Hold on a second. Of course it is rigged. Dont anybody quotes that. We dont know what is going to happen. Keith will probably be the chairman. They like that. It is not a good sign. You can have strange things happening. Trump won the republican nomination by challenging or , trade up some key areas being one of them, entitlements being another. I went to a bunch of rallies where they said we are not going to touch your social security. His criticism of george w. Bush was brutal. He also exploded a republican divisions that exist on immigration. Doing all that he won. You that a lot of people who vote republican are not as orthodox as perhaps some people in washington insist. I was a big believer in the blue wall. Looks the idea that if you at the states that had voted for president , democrat in the last , that was 242 electoral votes. The democrats started out with 242 electoral votes. Trump lou would up. And he also, he destroyed this , and they idea believed with the obama coalition, that democrats are going to be elected now on. That idea is gone right now. I kind of like it. I was out taken the train from washington to new york to be there on election day. We were filled with campaign operatives. You dont know what is going to happen. All the chatter and everything, not good from my perspective. Felt good the day before and started getting a pit in my stomach. You guys are such experts. Im not setting you up. At what point in this process did you realize it was going to be President Trump . Was it early that morning or the next morning or somewhat worked earlier . I dont want to go any further than this room. I had written to prepare to run on page one and analysis of the election. And the lead was why donald trump lost. I agree with everyone else. There is that blue block that you cant make significant. I like these absurd things. You say some of the absurd things. Its not going further than this room. Channelinghe was trump before trump decided to do this. You can see some of these things. Was a realignment. That is my next question. I was going to get them through answering this question. Party is nolican longer the party of free markets. Conservatives had free markets unimpeded. And then he tries to change that. He is talking about fair trade, free trade, and he gets nowhere. America first doesnt get any worst. Donald trump manages to win an election that republicans historically a pose. Americans in congress are not eating the but jesus out of him in which every member of that congress has run. Time on thea lot of clock. How about you leading up to the election . Election nights are humbling things for people who cover politics. It doesnt matter what the polls show you, it shows what the polls actually do. I have covered several election nights where i think it is a surprise. I did the analysis for a series. The first deadline was 6 30 or so. Not predict who was going to win. Like at a polls, they tell us what people are thinking. The analysis became friendlier to the prospects that donald trump is going to be the next president. The last deadline we had donald trump being elected president. They are actually going to do this thing that he said i was covering an election in youngstown ohio. Youngstown is my logo. That to me is the center. Im doing the Radio Program but we are watching local returns. Up and donaldme trump was ahead. The mayor and i we just looked at each other with our mouths open. Thats when i realized donald trump was going to be the next president. I was in new york on a night and heading toward the hilton on 6th avenue. They were depressed about the exit polls because the exit polls from florida did not look good. Its a very early night. Even when trump seemed to be ahead, there was this big group of voters. There had been this debate before election day. They want to trump to do better than mitt romney. So many never trump republican said trump was going to lead the parties, this devastating catastrophic historic to beat historic defeat. Then i get to the trump event. Sessions is very circumspect. He is cautious and doesnt seem optimistic. Trump showedg is the appeal of this message. Even if he doesnt win it will have done a lot. The New York Times had this meter. Chance. Tarted at a 2 later in the evening things are better. Somebody said trump has a 59 chance. I said it is bigger than that. It goes to 89. Sessions is looking at it. 89 . What the lord is in this thing . The mood shift was unbelievable. Mercy who is a big news junkie, she is checking twitter and everything else. She was following the New York Times, but they are not going to get it right. She said though you dont get it, if the New York Times says it is there that means it is really good. Tower hangingmp out with these folks. We were going to the trump celebration. For some reason there was construction going on. And a guy goes hes going to do it, and he did it without the party and he is going to do it. My invitation was apparently lost. I was invited to trump tower. I dont know what happened. We go to the celebration, and i somehow get stuck in with the donors, which is fine with me, but i am up with the donors at the trump celebration. I have been working republican policy for 20 years. Oftentimes i know them. I knew one donor. A very brave guy, because a lot of the institutional donors did not jump on board. These were donors who i had never met before. Started to talk to them as the evening went on. To punctuate the whole evening, when the network news finally said he was over the top, a ,oman, who was not caucasian came running out of the kitchen with her kitchen outfit on, and she said, in her thick accent, he did it, he did it, he did it. [applause] matt schlapp so that was beautiful, because i am married to someone whose parents came to this country, with such a beautiful thing. Does not always get covered, a lot of regular joes and janes, filling their voice was heard. This goes back to you, ralph, of realignment. Is this a permanent change in what makes us the coalition of voters who can elect republicans to the white house, or is this a temporary trump phenomenon driven by a rather unique and spectacular individual and doesnt have Lasting Impact on this coalition . Ralph there is no rate no way to answer that with precision. Ith the first 100 days the midterm elections next year, there are 33 senate seats up, 23 are democrats. Traditionally the party that owns the white house loses at least 14. I suspect that if things go the way they are going, that wont happen, and the republicans will hold what they have or maybe add to it. It depends on what trump is able to do. Has thehe president required much from congress. He has leaded by fiat. I am not saying it is not significant, but it is not the heaviest lifting. We dont know what is going to happen. But we do know the following. Leastarty no longer, at for the next few months maybe through the next four years, is no longer committed to the religious belief in the adam smith trade, and this is truly important, because it means that the party, the Republican Party, has a real chance to appeal to working men and women in a way that never happened before, including with reagan. Because working men and women got left out when free trade, or then used to say, full baloney, prevailed. It helped Lower Consumer prices, but it hurt a lot of americans. It made america no longer a nation of manufacturing. This has already changed. How long it lasts will determine matt schlapp jump in here, panel. Is not a permanent election. American politics are common stanley are constantly shifting. People are enthusiastic about wentact that these states for donald trump, but they win a combined total of 107 thousand votes. That is a very small number. I do think we are seeing them found in new ways. If the Democrat Party is a party of the kochs, millennials, diversity, women, high collegeeducated voters, that is not what the Democratic Party was, you know, the past decades ago. The Republican Party is increasingly rural and suburban areas, white, more male than female. It has got real strength in some of these industrial midwestern states that were democratic. Matt schlapp let me just jump on to this for one anecdote that i got. I want you and byron to talk about this as well. I was shocked in these green rooms before you go on tv, you learn so much interesting stuff. Most of us are not like donald trump. We say the most interesting stuff before the camera goes on. He is the opposite. He says very interesting things. One of the things i heard was so blatant, which is they said, why why are you, supporting the iran deal, doing so much to induce real panic with your jewish supporters . They are like, they are not part of the coalition. We dont worry about them. If you change what is the coalition i think what is happening, in my party, i have seen this movie before. We will move to the left, we will lose a lot of elections, then we will come back to the center. I have seen this movie in my lifetime. What is happening with Republican Party is fascinating. I listened to steve bannon. When he said economic nationalism, i went wow, and i will post it as a question. While you may agree with that approach, i agree she i appreciate that, are you still the party of reagan if you are going in that direction . It is interesting to think about, because i dont see that as ronald reagan. Ralph hallow there was a movement called the reformacons, the precinct for the basic presence was reagan was president long ago, trying to update his core values, the importance of people to fit our current conditions. Success or failure will have a huge determination on how much the Republican Party changes, but the fact that he won doing it changes a lot. There was conversation along every republic about after trump loses, what is the posttrump sentiment owing to be . There would be some republicans astrump is sort of seized their nomination, he goes on to win, they go, that is close. We can go back to being what we were before, and then there were other republicans that said, look who won the primaries, the nomination. Can i ask you this question . This kind of throws it all on its head, but would any of the other 16 have won . I personally do not believe that. Hillary clinton was a terrible candidate. But trump is really one who could have won, is what your saying. Byron york in my opinion. We had a better candidate that we didnt run that would have won who was joe biden. Matt schlapp you think joe biden really would have won . It is not whether you elect joe biden or not. I agree with byron, i think he was the only candidate who would have beaten hillary. I follow the candidates around, i remember spending a day, a couple of days, watching ted cruz. They went up to northern iowa. Phase inwas in cruzs which he was like, no one was going to have a bigger bible then ted cruz. He was going to carry a huge bible if he had to go to these events, some of which were in churches, and he would quote scripture. Wasi saw the same day, it out of ballroom, trump appeared. He got a bigger vote of evangelicals that cruise did by carrying the cruz did by carrying the big bible. Anyou dont have to be evangelical to get the support of evangelicals. On york obviously that they elected Rick Santorum and mike huckabee, the last two caucuses, but what they were telling me was that they felt they were under attack in the larger culture lawsuits, cake making, all of this stuff. They felt they were under attack. They fell donald trump could protect them and their interests. Matt schlapp susan, let me ask you a question. Thatof us believe democratic process was not as open as it should have been, shall we say here he you think the democrats actually armed themselves by what they did, donald trump with Bernie Sanders . When he had been a federal a better nominee . Democrats agree the system should have been more open. There were younger upcoming democrats who say, i should have run, someone other than Martin Omalley could have done a better job at challenging. I think it is hard, hard to rerun an election, but with everything we know now, if you knew trump was going to be the republican nominee, i think Bernie Sanders a better counterpart. They have some overlap appeal. I cant believe how many people i talked to were trying to decide between Bernie Sanders and donald trump. It is true. Susan page i guess i think if you are going to nominate, republicans are going to nominate donald trump, Bernie Sanders is a great match. I agree joe biden meant a lot, but it was a different degree. I think joe biden would have been afforded little desk a formidable candidate against trump. Matt schlapp we would go to these debates, you remember all the republican debates all over the country, and i would always be in an uber car and asking the uber driver who they supported. It was interesting how many times they said, i cant decide between Bernie Sanders or trump. For the first couple times it was like, what, what are you talking about . Then i realized it was a real theme, the forgotten man and woman. I asked if they would vote, and they said, sir, i can vote. I will be driving my uber car. This also tells a lot of the actuallyrump people dont get, you dont get the full amplification in the primaries. Susan page the first time i was at a rally, someone trying to decide between Bernie Sanders and donald trump, i thought it was extraordinary. I wrote a tweet saying this. And then by the 16th time i thought it would not be. Matt schlapp what would have happened what wouldve happened to Bernie Sanders, it hillary did not pull enough voters from certain democratic constituencies, Bernie Sanders would have had that problem. The other problem was, we are being honest with each other, Bernie Sanders program didnt work. There were nice ideas, but if you put [applause] ungar isapp i think playing up to the crowd. Perhaps the biggest reason Hillary Clinton lost was that she did not recreate the obama coalition, black and other minority voters did not turn out in the numbers they had for president obama twice. And i remember going to a Bernie Sanders rally at the fox theater in atlanta. He was innate souther swing trying to southern swing trying to a legal to black voters. Trying to appeal to black voters. The crowd was overwhelmingly white when he walked out, they stood up and remained standing. Or one hour and 40 minutes they stood the whole time. There werent that many black voters, and i felt i could speak to every single one of them, which i did. They were all young, and they all told me, they kept trying to convince their parents to vote for bernie. And they said, i just cant do it. They are with clinton. They wont leave clinton, and is because the bill. They dont like her that much, it is because of bill, and they wont change. I think Cyber Threats<\/a> coming your way. Live coverage here on cspan. Now we continue our coverage of cpap cpac, the Political Action<\/a> conference. It continues in washington dc just outside the city. Here is a discussion on the rust belt. You cant tell anything. Its a Pretty Simple<\/a> direction. You go to the right, this person goes to the left. How are you all enjoying cpac cpac so far . Is anybody tired . This is good. Coffee, we all have our liquid courage. Person on this panel is someone i feel like i have a special relationship with. She is our vice chair of the foundation. She is like the righthand person to wayne lapierre. Susan page and i grew up together in the same town. She went to one rival high school, i went to the other. We both travel to wichita from time to time. Much of my family is here today. Lets shout out for wichita kansas. He is a little bit more left wing than i am. Even with a guy that is a little off. I kind of want to know what is going on. To severalet to talk times a week. Byron and i have a special relationship because we go to the same hairstylist. Its really cool to be confused with mike pence. This is a question of realignment in politics. Politics, 2016 would have been the year you chose to cover politics because there is so much change on the right and the left. I want to start with ralph who has been covering politics for a long time. Have you ever seen a year like in 2016 . Have never seen a year like this. I ever predicted the outcome of president ial elections. This one was unbelievable. I thought he was a joke, he couldnt be serious. When he started to run i didnt think he could win anything. I realized everything i had learned over 50 years in journalism out the window, i didnt understand what was going on but it was fun. Trump said a lot of the things that many of us thought or thought unconsciously. I found everybody cheering. Susan, there is a lot of realignment. Think there is a lot of realignment going on with both parties. I think this is an election we will be seen with the benefit of more perspective as they are realigning the election. The president s speech, describing a Republican Party<\/a> in different terms than we had ,eard described before foruding three states nearly a quarter century had been part of the blue wall. Michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. I think there is some buddy here from michigan. See some of the. Epercussions theyre trying to figure where the Democratic Party<\/a> fits in a world where they were going to be more coastal and have more trouble. The south has been pretty republican for some time. What is going on with the election for the dnc chair and generally in the elect in the Democratic Party<\/a> . You talk about the election. All of the conversation was about the dysfunction that is going to exist in the Republican Party<\/a>. I would popd then up and say we are not talking about it. It is worse. It didnt really come to light. It is the factionalized nation is stunning. The voting has begun for who will be the next chairman. Are there superdelegates . Hold on a second. Of course it is rigged. Dont anybody quotes that. We dont know what is going to happen. Keith will probably be the chairman. They like that. It is not a good sign. You can have strange things happening. Trump won the republican nomination by challenging or , trade up some key areas being one of them, entitlements being another. I went to a bunch of rallies where they said we are not going to touch your social security. His criticism of george w. Bush was brutal. He also exploded a republican divisions that exist on immigration. Doing all that he won. You that a lot of people who vote republican are not as orthodox as perhaps some people in washington insist. I was a big believer in the blue wall. Looks the idea that if you at the states that had voted for president , democrat in the last , that was 242 electoral votes. The democrats started out with 242 electoral votes. Trump lou would up. And he also, he destroyed this , and they idea believed with the obama coalition, that democrats are going to be elected now on. That idea is gone right now. I kind of like it. I was out taken the train from washington to new york to be there on election day. We were filled with campaign operatives. You dont know what is going to happen. All the chatter and everything, not good from my perspective. Felt good the day before and started getting a pit in my stomach. You guys are such experts. Im not setting you up. At what point in this process did you realize it was going to be President Trump<\/a> . Was it early that morning or the next morning or somewhat worked earlier . I dont want to go any further than this room. I had written to prepare to run on page one and analysis of the election. And the lead was why donald trump lost. I agree with everyone else. There is that blue block that you cant make significant. I like these absurd things. You say some of the absurd things. Its not going further than this room. Channelinghe was trump before trump decided to do this. You can see some of these things. Was a realignment. That is my next question. I was going to get them through answering this question. Party is nolican longer the party of free markets. Conservatives had free markets unimpeded. And then he tries to change that. He is talking about fair trade, free trade, and he gets nowhere. America first doesnt get any worst. Donald trump manages to win an election that republicans historically a pose. Americans in congress are not eating the but jesus out of him in which every member of that congress has run. Time on thea lot of clock. How about you leading up to the election . Election nights are humbling things for people who cover politics. It doesnt matter what the polls show you, it shows what the polls actually do. I have covered several election nights where i think it is a surprise. I did the analysis for a series. The first deadline was 6 30 or so. Not predict who was going to win. Like at a polls, they tell us what people are thinking. The analysis became friendlier to the prospects that donald trump is going to be the next president. The last deadline we had donald trump being elected president. They are actually going to do this thing that he said i was covering an election in youngstown ohio. Youngstown is my logo. That to me is the center. Im doing the Radio Program<\/a> but we are watching local returns. Up and donaldme trump was ahead. The mayor and i we just looked at each other with our mouths open. Thats when i realized donald trump was going to be the next president. I was in new york on a night and heading toward the hilton on 6th avenue. They were depressed about the exit polls because the exit polls from florida did not look good. Its a very early night. Even when trump seemed to be ahead, there was this big group of voters. There had been this debate before election day. They want to trump to do better than mitt romney. So many never trump republican said trump was going to lead the parties, this devastating catastrophic historic to beat historic defeat. Then i get to the trump event. Sessions is very circumspect. He is cautious and doesnt seem optimistic. Trump showedg is the appeal of this message. Even if he doesnt win it will have done a lot. The New York Times<\/a> had this meter. Chance. Tarted at a 2 later in the evening things are better. Somebody said trump has a 59 chance. I said it is bigger than that. It goes to 89. Sessions is looking at it. 89 . What the lord is in this thing . The mood shift was unbelievable. Mercy who is a big news junkie, she is checking twitter and everything else. She was following the New York Times<\/a>, but they are not going to get it right. She said though you dont get it, if the New York Times<\/a> says it is there that means it is really good. Tower hangingmp out with these folks. We were going to the trump celebration. For some reason there was construction going on. And a guy goes hes going to do it, and he did it without the party and he is going to do it. My invitation was apparently lost. I was invited to trump tower. I dont know what happened. We go to the celebration, and i somehow get stuck in with the donors, which is fine with me, but i am up with the donors at the trump celebration. I have been working republican policy for 20 years. Oftentimes i know them. I knew one donor. A very brave guy, because a lot of the institutional donors did not jump on board. These were donors who i had never met before. Started to talk to them as the evening went on. To punctuate the whole evening, when the network news finally said he was over the top, a ,oman, who was not caucasian came running out of the kitchen with her kitchen outfit on, and she said, in her thick accent, he did it, he did it, he did it. [applause] matt schlapp so that was beautiful, because i am married to someone whose parents came to this country, with such a beautiful thing. Does not always get covered, a lot of regular joes and janes, filling their voice was heard. This goes back to you, ralph, of realignment. Is this a permanent change in what makes us the coalition of voters who can elect republicans to the white house, or is this a temporary trump phenomenon driven by a rather unique and spectacular individual and doesnt have Lasting Impact<\/a> on this coalition . Ralph there is no rate no way to answer that with precision. Ith the first 100 days the midterm elections next year, there are 33 senate seats up, 23 are democrats. Traditionally the party that owns the white house loses at least 14. I suspect that if things go the way they are going, that wont happen, and the republicans will hold what they have or maybe add to it. It depends on what trump is able to do. Has thehe president required much from congress. He has leaded by fiat. I am not saying it is not significant, but it is not the heaviest lifting. We dont know what is going to happen. But we do know the following. Leastarty no longer, at for the next few months maybe through the next four years, is no longer committed to the religious belief in the adam smith trade, and this is truly important, because it means that the party, the Republican Party<\/a>, has a real chance to appeal to working men and women in a way that never happened before, including with reagan. Because working men and women got left out when free trade, or then used to say, full baloney, prevailed. It helped Lower Consumer<\/a> prices, but it hurt a lot of americans. It made america no longer a nation of manufacturing. This has already changed. How long it lasts will determine matt schlapp jump in here, panel. Is not a permanent election. American politics are common stanley are constantly shifting. People are enthusiastic about wentact that these states for donald trump, but they win a combined total of 107 thousand votes. That is a very small number. I do think we are seeing them found in new ways. If the Democrat Party<\/a> is a party of the kochs, millennials, diversity, women, high collegeeducated voters, that is not what the Democratic Party<\/a> was, you know, the past decades ago. The Republican Party<\/a> is increasingly rural and suburban areas, white, more male than female. It has got real strength in some of these industrial midwestern states that were democratic. Matt schlapp let me just jump on to this for one anecdote that i got. I want you and byron to talk about this as well. I was shocked in these green rooms before you go on tv, you learn so much interesting stuff. Most of us are not like donald trump. We say the most interesting stuff before the camera goes on. He is the opposite. He says very interesting things. One of the things i heard was so blatant, which is they said, why why are you, supporting the iran deal, doing so much to induce real panic with your jewish supporters . They are like, they are not part of the coalition. We dont worry about them. If you change what is the coalition i think what is happening, in my party, i have seen this movie before. We will move to the left, we will lose a lot of elections, then we will come back to the center. I have seen this movie in my lifetime. What is happening with Republican Party<\/a> is fascinating. I listened to steve bannon. When he said economic nationalism, i went wow, and i will post it as a question. While you may agree with that approach, i agree she i appreciate that, are you still the party of reagan if you are going in that direction . It is interesting to think about, because i dont see that as ronald reagan. Ralph hallow there was a movement called the reformacons, the precinct for the basic presence was reagan was president long ago, trying to update his core values, the importance of people to fit our current conditions. Success or failure will have a huge determination on how much the Republican Party<\/a> changes, but the fact that he won doing it changes a lot. There was conversation along every republic about after trump loses, what is the posttrump sentiment owing to be . There would be some republicans astrump is sort of seized their nomination, he goes on to win, they go, that is close. We can go back to being what we were before, and then there were other republicans that said, look who won the primaries, the nomination. Can i ask you this question . This kind of throws it all on its head, but would any of the other 16 have won . I personally do not believe that. Hillary clinton was a terrible candidate. But trump is really one who could have won, is what your saying. Byron york in my opinion. We had a better candidate that we didnt run that would have won who was joe biden. Matt schlapp you think joe biden really would have won . It is not whether you elect joe biden or not. I agree with byron, i think he was the only candidate who would have beaten hillary. I follow the candidates around, i remember spending a day, a couple of days, watching ted cruz. They went up to northern iowa. Phase inwas in cruzs which he was like, no one was going to have a bigger bible then ted cruz. He was going to carry a huge bible if he had to go to these events, some of which were in churches, and he would quote scripture. Wasi saw the same day, it out of ballroom, trump appeared. He got a bigger vote of evangelicals that cruise did by carrying the cruz did by carrying the big bible. Anyou dont have to be evangelical to get the support of evangelicals. On york obviously that they elected Rick Santorum<\/a> and mike huckabee, the last two caucuses, but what they were telling me was that they felt they were under attack in the larger culture lawsuits, cake making, all of this stuff. They felt they were under attack. They fell donald trump could protect them and their interests. Matt schlapp susan, let me ask you a question. Thatof us believe democratic process was not as open as it should have been, shall we say here he you think the democrats actually armed themselves by what they did, donald trump with Bernie Sanders<\/a> . When he had been a federal a better nominee . Democrats agree the system should have been more open. There were younger upcoming democrats who say, i should have run, someone other than Martin Omalley<\/a> could have done a better job at challenging. I think it is hard, hard to rerun an election, but with everything we know now, if you knew trump was going to be the republican nominee, i think Bernie Sanders<\/a> a better counterpart. They have some overlap appeal. I cant believe how many people i talked to were trying to decide between Bernie Sanders<\/a> and donald trump. It is true. Susan page i guess i think if you are going to nominate, republicans are going to nominate donald trump, Bernie Sanders<\/a> is a great match. I agree joe biden meant a lot, but it was a different degree. I think joe biden would have been afforded little desk a formidable candidate against trump. Matt schlapp we would go to these debates, you remember all the republican debates all over the country, and i would always be in an uber car and asking the uber driver who they supported. It was interesting how many times they said, i cant decide between Bernie Sanders<\/a> or trump. For the first couple times it was like, what, what are you talking about . Then i realized it was a real theme, the forgotten man and woman. I asked if they would vote, and they said, sir, i can vote. I will be driving my uber car. This also tells a lot of the actuallyrump people dont get, you dont get the full amplification in the primaries. Susan page the first time i was at a rally, someone trying to decide between Bernie Sanders<\/a> and donald trump, i thought it was extraordinary. I wrote a tweet saying this. And then by the 16th time i thought it would not be. Matt schlapp what would have happened what wouldve happened to Bernie Sanders<\/a>, it hillary did not pull enough voters from certain democratic constituencies, Bernie Sanders<\/a> would have had that problem. The other problem was, we are being honest with each other, Bernie Sanders<\/a> program didnt work. There were nice ideas, but if you put [applause] ungar isapp i think playing up to the crowd. Perhaps the biggest reason Hillary Clinton<\/a> lost was that she did not recreate the obama coalition, black and other minority voters did not turn out in the numbers they had for president obama twice. And i remember going to a Bernie Sanders<\/a> rally at the fox theater in atlanta. He was innate souther swing trying to southern swing trying to a legal to black voters. Trying to appeal to black voters. The crowd was overwhelmingly white when he walked out, they stood up and remained standing. Or one hour and 40 minutes they stood the whole time. There werent that many black voters, and i felt i could speak to every single one of them, which i did. They were all young, and they all told me, they kept trying to convince their parents to vote for bernie. And they said, i just cant do it. They are with clinton. They wont leave clinton, and is because the bill. They dont like her that much, it is because of bill, and they wont change. I think Bernie Sanders<\/a> would have had a hard time putting those voters and might have done worse with the constituencies which are absolutely vital to the democratic victory. Different a totally dynamic. Elections do not follow the path they think we will follow. That would have been a fun election to cover. Matt schlapp so we had this trump victory, the first 30 days. You offered what i set about it. I cannot imagine a president who knows that all of you are important in doing a better job of letting him know how much he respects you. It has been a great 30 days, but it is 30 days. Ralph, what is the one or two things that he must turn around in the economy and society in order to be able to go to the american people, you know, three years from now and say, look, i have done what i said i would do, and we are on the right path . What is the one thing . Ralph hallow i dont know the one thing. He has a lot on the table. Something is being done with the law. There is a huge constituency for the law. For them the wall. For them, it is symbolism. It is really important. He has got to show, and i think he is doing this, he is serious about, as you put it, brian, protecting evangelical rights. Public speecha last week, opened it with the lords prayer. Because thisant, shows that the trump family, the president is white, actually believes that religion does belong in the public square. Hugely important. Remember he talks, this man actually won a Record Number<\/a> of 8,ngelicals on november Record Number<\/a>, out doing george w. Bush, who then held the record and was a true evangelical. Trump never claimed he is an evangelical. Doesnt think he is an evangelical, but they do believe him. They believe he has the power to carry out what he promised. I cant think of almost everything he puts in the top of his to do list, and it has got to happen, and once people begin magical, hemp is a doesnt have all the power they think he has, then problems will begin to arrive, i think. Lastlapp your fast statement was fascinating. One thing trump isnt doing is sending legislation to congress. And it is because, at that moment in time, people figure out, he doesnt have all the power. Rick ungar i dont know if that is the case, but well find out shortly. Wherewithalave the how do i put this . He doesnt have the people matt schlapp he had the campaign team. Going back as far as you want in the first 30 days of their ministration, guess, there were executive orders, but there were executive orders legislation. I think it was ok with republicans, because a lot of them are angry at obama for using it so much, and they want to see their guy use it. You get that obamacare thing [applause] he not only said more legislation, he had things past. Good 30 days. It is amazing what you can do with that in the house. Matt schlapp what is one thing he has got to get. Susan page i respectfully disagree. One thing he has to do [laughter] matt schlapp i can respect you. Thank you, susan. Susan page i dont think you need to check off a lot of boxes. He needs to make people like the economy is working better for them. That is the definition of the forgotten man and woman, that is why he wants pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin. When i talk to voters in rallies, they said he is a businessman, he can help the economy in a way the politicians cant. That is the fundamental test for President Trump<\/a>. Matt schlapp what a great panel. [applause] matt schlapp lets think ralph and rick for byron being here with us today. [applause] [captions Copyright National<\/a> cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer 1 live now to the Jw Marriott Hotel<\/a> in washington dc for the National Governors<\/a> Association Holding<\/a> its winter meeting in the nations capital, and a discussion coming up in just a few moments on Cyber Security<\/a> your governors will this afternoon. Live on cspan. Should be getting underway in just a few moments. Several of President Trump<\/a>s cam and candidate nominees face of the ahead as Congress Returns<\/a> from the president s day break. While we wait for the mga panel to get started, a capital reporter looks at that and other issues ahead for the house and senate. Writer that had fourenate set to vote on of the nominees next week. Commerceur ross, the secretary. Tell us how they will fare. Niels it looks like the nominees that are up before the beate next week are going to facing smoother sailing than some of the previous nominees in the roundtheclock sessions and the real protest from democrats. 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