Mitch Landrieu and Mercedes Schlapp Join Dasha Burns

Welcome to Ceasefire, where we seek to bridge the divide in American politics. I'm Dasha Burns, Politico White House bureau chief, and joining me now from either side of the aisle, two guests who have agreed to keep the conversation civil even when they disagree. Mercedes Schlapp, former White House Director of Strategic Communications during the first Trump administration, now a senior fellow at CPAC. And former New Orleans Democratic Mayor Mitch Landrieu. He was also the infrastructure czar during the Biden administration and served as national co-chair of the Kamala Harris presidential campaign. He joins us now from Louisiana. Thank you both so much for joining me here. Mitch, we missed you here in person, but you are in a much more fun place in Washington, D.C. right now. Well, you both are now civilians, but you both spent time inside of the White House. I want to ask you about that experience. What is it like to be inside, in the nuclear inner circle, during these high-stakes administrations that you were both a part of? Mitch, we'll start with you. Well, first of all, thank you. It's great to see you. I'm sorry that I can't be with you, Mercedes. I look forward to meeting you. I think everybody who worked in the White House irrespective of what president they worked for would tell you that every day when they step onto that really sacred ground is just awed by it. I mean every minute that you're there it's a very hard job you get there very early you stay very very late it's high pressured but you're in really the most powerful place in the world and you're trying to do the most important work and literally every day that you're there you're actually in awe of the men and women, many of whom are in security positions who may or may not agree with the president that they're serving, just serving their country. And it's just incredible. Of course, each and everybody's experience is different depending on who they're working for. But the year and a half that I was here, I thought it was really one of the greatest honors of my life. Mercedes, you were in the first Trump administration, which, you know, I think you might agree was maybe a little bit more chaotic than this time around. That's too nice of an expression. Yeah, take me back. Take me back a little bit. Look, during the first Trump term, obviously, there was a lot of turnover. You know, after the first six months, the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, had resigned. Steve Bannon had left the White House as well. So there was a big shakeup. I was brought in during that time to help build out the processes that were needed in the communication. Easy job. Such an easy job. In the communications shop, obviously, that's a hard job because you have to remember, President Trump is the ultimate communicator. And many times he would be tweeting at two o'clock in the morning. We'd get up the next morning between Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now governor of Arkansas, and Kellyanne Conway and several of us to decipher the tweets and then make sure that we had the right responses when we would talk to the reporters. But look, we were facing the Russia hoax. We were facing the the the the articles of impeachment that was coming from Congress, from the Democrats. We were very much on defense in a lot of ways, despite the fact that President Trump did have a lot of victories the first time. But to Mitch's point, I want to say it was truly the greatest honor of my life to serve the American people in the White House. every time I would step into the White House, I was always reminded of why I was there. I was so humbled because I knew that my work was to be there to serve the American people, to do what we could do in that short period of time in passing policies that would help improve their lives. So I do agree. It is really, truly something that, you know, as a Latina, as someone whose parents came from Cuba, my father was a political prisoner in Cuba, fighting the communists, to be able to then be this first generation Cuban American to serve for the president. I served for President Donald Trump and I served for President George W. Bush. So I was one of the few who actually worked in the White House twice. Well, you know what? One of the things I want to just kind of frame out for the people who are listening is that White House complex is a complex that has people working in it that have been working there sometimes for 20, 30, and in some instances 40 years. They work across administrations and these people are not political. They are basically serving their country every day. And it really is an awesome thing to just kind of walk in one of those gates and run into somebody that maybe is running the library in the EEOB or they're running the mess or are they doing security. And just to listen to them tell their stories about all the presidents that they have served. They don't have a political angle one way or the other. I know some people in that place think they do, but I think Mercedes can confirmed for me that it is just it's like awe-inspiring actually to be in there every day notwithstanding the fact that you're about to do great work just the just the way that that building gets handed over through political processes from different people over time there is a steady group of people there have committed their lives you know to the betterment of America and it's just it's really awesome and even as a reporter to walk in to that briefing room and to know that you are living history every single day. And of course, right now in this moment, there are a number of high stakes issues facing this country that this administration is dealing with. This week, talk about high stakes, negotiations between the U.S. and Iran took place in Geneva. It came after President Trump targeted Iran with some pretty strong language at the State of the Union this week. Take a listen. After midnight hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions. We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words, we will never have a nuclear weapon. My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen. Ahead of the State of the Union, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe did brief the Gang of Eight. Take a listen to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer here. Look, closed-door briefings are fine, but the administration has to make its case to the American people as something as important as this. Mercedes, do you think the president has effectively made the case for potentially taking military action in Iran? Look, I think that the president, first of all, he is not one to be wanting to go to war, right? Like, that is not his natural instinct. He is not a neocon. And so I think he would want to tread carefully in trying to get America into any war. In fact, the MAGA base themselves don't want President Trump engaging, having these foreign entanglements in cases like Iran. Now, he is trying to say, look, we're going to try with diplomacy first. Obviously, the nuclear situation, making sure they don't obtain a nuclear weapon is critical. With that being said, you're starting to see a lot of this pressure of saying, yes, but we need to talk about ballistic missiles next. So I think for the president, I think he's going to tread carefully. And I think right now, it seems that he's listening to the Pentagon officials that are saying, you go into Iran, and this is not going to be like Venezuela, where there was white flags being waved and the Venezuelan military saying, yes, please, please take Maduro. That is not going to be the case with Iran. Iran is going to do what they can to maintain power, that Iranian regime. It is very clear they are not going to go away quietly. Yeah, Mitch, I mean, how high are the stakes right now for the country, for the president politically? And where are Democrats in all of this? Well, first of all, I think that there's probably common ground on this issue that most Americans and all of the presidents in this century, and even in the last two decades of the last century, were adamant that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. And I think everybody feels very strongly about that. Secondly, I very vividly remember President Carter and the humiliation that the country suffered when they took the hostages back in 19... I actually very vividly remember the yellow ribbons that everybody had awaiting the hostages return. So this regime that has been in power for at least 40 or so years has been one of the most oppressive regimes. And as all the presidents have said, you know, Iran has been a state sponsor of terror of epic proportions. So it's critically important that we get this right. Now, whether or not the president decides to actually go all the way or some other way or negotiate. Presidents need a little bit of room to do that. I do think it's really important for us, though, to be really humble in a minute and think about Iraq and Afghanistan and other wars that we have gotten into and kind of heed the admonition of Secretary Rice and maybe even Colin Powell that if you break something, you really have to fix it. And I think Mercedes, when she said that the MAGA base doesn't want to go to war either, in some instances, one of the reasons why they voted for this president was because he said, I really don't want to do that. So I think you have to be very careful here. I especially think if you're going to pull the trigger on something this big, and we're repositioned all of our assets to suggest that it's going to be big, I do think you have to make the case to the American people that it's imminent and that it is important. You will recall that the president ordered a strike, a very specific strike on Iran not too long ago and said that he had basically neutered them. And so it's a little bit curious to people to say, well, if that was true, why this buildup? I'm not saying that it's not true. All I'm saying is that I do think that you have to make the case for the American people because you're about to commit a lot of potential American troops to a very, very, very difficult and potentially long, expensive process. And Mercedes, this could be a challenge for this president. That's right. Because of what you and Mitch have both said, which is people expected him to come in and be much more of an isolationist than he has been. And Iran specifically, as I've been talking to my White House sources, I mean, it's kind of his white whale. He is not a foreign policy hawk on a lot of issues, but Iran is one where he is a little bit more hawkish. He's been saying that he doesn't want to see them get a nuclear weapon since like 2011 or maybe even before that. I have some reporting this week with my colleague, Nahal Tusi, that the White House is debating not just, you know, strikes, the scale of strikes, but also the sequencing. They would prefer to see Israel take the first action to give us more impetus to act, assuming that, you know, Iran would likely retaliate and it would help galvanize Americans behind the United States. Look, I got to tell you, the president had, I believe, one of the most successful speeches of his presidency just during the State of the Union just this week. The message for the American people, it's about the economy. It is about making sure people can feel the economic benefits of President Trump's economic policies. I think that if the administration moves towards what you would say more military tactics, a more aggressive posture into Iran, I think that that could be detrimental for Republicans going into the midterm elections. I agree with Mitch. Look, I lived during that President George W. Bush. I was there during the White House time there. It became a very unpopular war quickly. And the thing is, is that once the United States escalates, I believe Iran escalates. And so I think that there really has to be a pause and serious consideration before taking aggressive tactics or military tactics into Iran. I mean, you are so tapped into the MAGA base. How dangerous could this be for the president politically? I think that the MAGA base will make it very loud and clear to the president that they will not necessarily agree if it becomes a situation that it becomes a prolonged war, which, again, knowing the president, I don't believe he wants to go in that direction. I think that there would be targeted sites that they would look at along with working with our ally Israel to make sure they hit certain areas with ballistic missiles or any more of these nuclear sites that need to be taken out. That I could see happen. However, we have to remember right now the Iranian regime, they are dispersed. They're in different secretive areas. So if one area falls, another leader can pop in. And the opposition, they are not organized enough. They don't know who their quote unquote leader will be if, for example, the regime were to fall. Yeah, Mitch, go ahead. Well, yeah, I just, again, just to apply a bit of keen observation here and distance between some of the president's top people. Pete Hegseth has a tendency to pop off and talk about things that he doesn't seem to know much about. But the head of the Joint Chiefs of staff does. And there is reporting coming from within the White House, and I don't know how accurate this is, that he is very cool to the idea because he's being very sober as somebody who's been in war really knows. And this is what Mercedes was talking about. And I think this is what Colin Powell said. Once you get in someplace, you can't really predict how you're going to get out. And if there's no next day plan, you actually could get stuck. And we have examples of this. So it's not SO MUCH THE ARGUMENT ABOUT SHOULD YOU GO OR SHOULD YOU NOT GO, BUT HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GO, DO YOU HAVE A PLAN, IS THERE A COMPELLING NATIONAL INTEREST TO DO THAT? ON THE POLITICAL SIDE OF IT, YOU KNOW, IT'S HARD TO KNOW WHERE THE CHIPS ARE GOING TO FALL. I CAN SAY THIS THOUGH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE MOSTLY FOCUSED RIGHT NOW ON THEIR COST OF LIVING THAT IS THE THING THAT OCCUPIES MOST OF THE TIME THE PRESIDENT AS you know tried to address that the other night No I think this is where Mercedes and I are going to disagree I don think the speech was that great I think that he spent a lot of time honoring great, wonderful heroes who deserve to be honored because he was trying to kind of skate past the complicated economy that continues to exist, costs that continue to go up. So just back to the national security stuff, the more he focuses on Iran and the more he focuses on Venezuela and Greenland and all of these other things, which seem to be completely counterintuitive to the way that he ran for office. You have people back home that are living, you know, paycheck to paycheck that are going, why aren't you focusing on my cost of living? And that, of course, has political implications. But this particular issue is so intensely important to the world that it is going to require our focus and attention should the president decide to pull this trigger. And how he does it is going to be a real challenge for everybody, not just him. You both bring me nicely to the next topic here, which is the economy. I mean, Mercedes, the president's poll numbers are not going in the right direction for him on the economy and on inflation. Did he do anything this week to stop the bleeding? First of all, I don't think there is the bleeding. I think that you're looking at incredible economic numbers knowing that President Trump inherited a disaster from the Biden administration. He had to go in and fix a lot of the problems that were there. When you were talking about that under Joe Biden, there was inflation up to 9%. Now that's down to 2%. Unemployment is down. Wages are up. The consumer price index is high. Mortgage rates are coming down. Did he do enough to tell that story this week? I believe that. Oh, he's going to do more. And I think you're going to see a lot of the administration officials going out to talk about the fact that, look, we're cutting taxes. You're going to be receiving your refunds. There's deregulations. I mean, there is so much that has happened that President Trump has been able to do during his first year in office in helping to, quote, stop the bleed of what we saw that with the Biden administration and the economic chaos that they created. The question will be, this is always kind of the lag, which is, will the American people feel relief, right? So this is what's going to be what we're going to have to see as we go into the midterm elections. We still have a long way to go. I think President Trump and his team, they're going to be focused on making sure that that economic message saying, look, I am working for you. What is the Democrats plan? They don't have a plan. Their only plan has been to show that they dislike President Trump so much that they won't even show up to the state of the union. Mitch, I hear you laughing over there. Yes, equal time. Now I'm claiming equal I KNOW SHE WAS A SPOKESPERSON FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP IN HIS FIRST TERM. BUT LET ME MAYBE, I KNOW HE TRIED TO PUT LIPSTICK ON A PIG THE OTHER NIGHT, BUT IT WAS STILL A PIG. ALL RIGHT, THE FACTS ARE VERY STUBBORN THINGS. WHEN JOE BIDEN TOOK OFFICE, WE WERE, OF COURSE, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COVID CATASTROPHE, AND INFLATION ACROSS THE WORLD WAS HIGH. IT WAS 9% WHEN JOE BIDEN TOOK OFFICE. WHEN HE LEFT OFFICE, HE HAD SUCCESSFULLY MOVED IT DOWN TO 2.9%. OKAY, NOW IT'S DOWN A LITTLE BIT AND IT'S GONE UP. Here's another fact that you might want to go on. All of last year, all of last year, all 12 months, Donald Trump produced 181,000 jobs, and that is it. Throughout every month of Joe Biden's presidency, the average was 250, 300, 450 for a total of 16 million jobs, all right? When Donald Trump came into office, he said, look, I've got this magic wand that nobody else seems to understand. I'm the smartest guy in the world. It's called tariffs. I love tariffs. I wish I could imitate him. because he just is the most important word in the world, whatever the hell he's talking about. Give us your Trump impression, Mitch. Come on. And wait, wait, wait. I love tariffs. I love tariffs, Mitch. I love tariffs. I love tariffs. He said, he said, I'm going to put so many tariffs on that I'm going to get rid of the income tax. Like, people can't count. If even if he was wildly successful and imposing all the tariffs, which seems to be a lot on everybody all the time, it would make up about this much. And there is literally no practical way to replace income tax with tariffs, even if he wanted to. BUT PUTTING THAT ISSUE ASIDE, HE SAID THAT TARATS WERE GOING TO REDUCE COSTS AND IT WAS GOING TO INCREASE MANUFACTURING. WELL, WHAT HAPPENED? COST OF EVERYTHING WENT UP. IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO THE STORE LATELY, AND I KNOW ALL OF YOU HAVE, BUT COST OF EVERYTHING BASICALLY HAS GONE UP. MEAT HAS GONE THROUGH THE ROOF. BUTTER HAS GONE THROUGH THE ROOF. SHOPPING IS A PAINFUL EXPERIENCE FOR MOST PEOPLE. AND GUESS WHAT? WAIT, HANG ON A SECOND. AND MANUFACTURING JOBS HAVE GONE DOWN, NOT UP. But you know what did go up? The trade deficit, which is what he said was the whole reason for him doing it. Now, the American people, and Mercedes said this, and I know she understands this politically, there is how people are, and you can argue that they're fine, and it is how they feel. And they will tell you how they feel, and they're telling you now, because they're ringing up negative numbers on Trump that are really kind, it should be scary for any politician going forward. So listen, as we get into the midterms, if we're going to have like a political fight about it, YOU HAVE WORKING-CLASS PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT ARE GOING, WAIT A MINUTE, WHY DID YOU GIVE A TAX BREAK TO 1% AND YOU'RE TAKING AWAY MY HEALTH CARE? AND I CAN'T TAKE CARE OF MY MOM AND MY DAD'S GOING TO STROKE OUT IN THE RURAL AREA AND THE RURAL HOSPITALS ARE CLOSED? THERE IS A LOT OF ANXIETY THROUGHOUT AMERICA RIGHT NOW. AND BY THE WAY, THE PRESIDENT HAS THE PRESIDENCY. HE'S GOT THE HOUSE. HE'S GOT THE SENATE. AND I WOULD HAVE ARGUED BEFORE LAST FRIDAY HE HAD THE SUPREME COURT, BUT THEY DID A LITTLE BIT OF CATCHBACK THAT I THINK GAVE PEOPLE some confidence in an independent judiciary. Mercedes? Yeah, I mean, we can argue about the facts, Mitch. You know, I think when you're looking at the fact that wages are up for the American people, we've seen, I'm sure your gas prices down in Louisiana, I think they're pretty low right now compared to Joe Biden. You know, I think you're seeing so many of these factors, especially on the macroeconomic side, really moving in the right direction. But Mercedes, listen, I want to tell. And we've seen most Americans, I mean, we've seen more Americans being employed right now in history than we have in the past. But listen, not because... And they're real jobs, they're not government jobs. Wait, wait, wait, hang on a second. Look, the numbers, we really don't need to argue about this. Whoever's in the production camp can write, you can go look at the numbers of jobs that were created during Biden and jobs that were created in the first year of Trump. Remember, and by the way, Donald Trump, this is his fifth year of his presidency. This is not his first year of his presidency. So, I mean, people should kind of keep that in mind. But when you really think about the numbers themselves, 16 million jobs under Biden, 181,000 in the first year of Donald Trump manufacturing jobs, they actually, actually in real jobs went down. But listen, Mercedes, you know this as well as I do. And I made this mistake because I was out there trying to sell the infrastructure bill, which we did. We have 73,000 projects being built across the country, which and this is what I really don't understand about Trump, because you've got to give him some credit for being a halfway decent politician. Why would you cut infrastructure jobs from communities when they actually are putting working class people to work because you're mad? Maybe because the state didn't support you or some governor yelled at you. I don't know. Nobody would really ever do it. It doesn't make any sense. But actually, the number of manufacturing jobs have gone down, gone up. And here's the thing. I used to go on TV and talk about the macro numbers. And Mercedes, I know that this has happened to you. where I ran through the macro numbers and everybody would say, yeah, that's great, but I don't feel it. And then we would say, well, you don't really know what you're feeling. They were like, no, I know what I'm feeling. Listen, Mitch, I go, I travel across the country. I'm constantly with the grassroots. I was just in Charlotte. I'm leaving to Arizona, Arizona tomorrow. I completely get it. And I do think that there would, I do think that the American people were so burdened under Joe Biden and his economy. I really do believe that. And they've told me, I mean, we've seen these conversations about the inflation, about their lack of opportunities, about their wages not matching up to these inflation numbers. There has been a lot to clean up. And I think that President Trump is taking our economy in the right direction. All right, I'm going to move us along to another topic because we could do this part all day. He keeps saying, before we end, he keeps saying, wait till next week. You're going to see it next week. He doesn't say it that way. Listen, people clearly, people clearly have communicated to everybody. This is Trump's economy now. You can talk about Joe Biden. And I will say one thing that the administration officials that I talk to keep emphasizing is that what they did with the one big beautiful bill was politically strategic in terms of some of those benefits, those populist parts of the bill. The no tax on tax. That's all going to come in in this year. So, I mean, ultimately, whether or not the president is successful, whether or not the midterms are favorable to Republicans, is going to depend on how people feel about the economy. But the other major issue that the president is focused on and that Democrats are also focused on at this point is immigration. Amid the ongoing talks to end the partial shutdown that's impacting DHS, the president called at the State of the Union for lawmakers to reopen the department. And he asked a question. Moment quickly went viral, and it's now already this fast being used in an ad campaign. Watch. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. These people are crazy. Mitch, how does this look for Democrats? Should they have stood up there? Is this going to be a problem? Because I got a feeling that this moment is going to be played a lot in this year. No doubt. You may remember that when Joe Biden gave a State of the Union address, he got the Republicans to do something similar to that relating to Social Security. You know, staffs make these things up and they say, oh, you got to get a good hit in a viral moment. And it was a good lick because it was really a false question. And they're going to play it a thousand times. You know, whether the American people believe it or not is another thing. There is nobody in America that I know of that is in favor of having violent criminals on the streets of America, whether they be immigrants or whether they be American citizens. You know, the president secured the border. That's great. You know, that's a done deal. But what you can notice now about the polling, and I think most Americans are very reasonable at this. They think the president has gone extremely too far with Stephen Miller and Holman and Bovino and these guys and the way that ICE is executing the policy of moving people from where they are to where they need to be, how they're treating people, how they're treating American citizens. I think most Americans want to be tough on this, but they don't want to be cruel. And I think that they think the president and his team have crossed the line. Mercedes, good showmanship moment for the president there. But is there concern for this administration with the issue of immigration and the tactics that the American public is not loving? So, look, I think if I were in the White House right now, I would go back to the fact, like, let's go talk about the fact that you're stopping drug cartels and human traffickers from crossing the border. You have stopped drugs from coming into the United States. That's why we're starting to see even the fentanyl deaths, overdoses dramatically decrease here in the United States. Really, the huge success of President Trump has been going from a chaotic open border, who we had no idea who was coming into our country under Joe Biden, to a border that is finally secure. But the focus right now isn't so much on the border, but on these deportations that are getting folks in his administration in some hot water. And at the end of the day, the goal, I mean, the primary goal should be on these criminal gang members who are here, these criminal illegal aliens who have basically either killed Americans, murdered or raped, you know, women or children. That should be the primary focus. I think when it comes to ICE, I do think that there's an opportunity here for the Department of Homeland Security to say, look, and I think this is something that both Democrats and Republicans agree on. The body cams, making sure that we can be transparent in this process. You know, I think even Tom Homan came out, you know, after, you know, one of the deaths of Renee Good basically saying, let's we got to have an investigation. And I think that's the right way to go on this. You want to make sure these ICE officials have the right training of going into these processes. Well, thank you for wrapping us on a bipartisan note, Mitch. I wish we could do this for the entire day, but we are out of time. Thank you both so much. former Trump White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp and former New Orleans Democratic Mayor and Biden Infrastructure Czar Mitch Landrieu. Thank you both so much for joining me. Thank you. All right, we turn now to this week's C-SPAN flashback, where we dig deep into our video archives to highlight moments that connect to today's headlines. We take you back to 1980 and Jimmy Carter's final State of the Union address, where two very familiar global hotspots were highlighted. Take a look. As we meet tonight, it has never been more clear that the state of our union depends on the state of the world. This is a time of challenge to our interests and our values, and it's a time to test our wisdom and our skills. At this time in Iran, 50 Americans are still held captive, innocent victims of terrorism and anarchy. Also at this moment, massive Soviet troops are attempting to subjugate the fiercely independent and deeply religious people of Afghanistan. These two acts, one of international terrorism and one of military aggression, present a serious challenge to the United States of America and indeed to all the nations of the world. And now to the portion of our show where we focus on the strategy behind the policy. I'm joined by two political pros from both sides of the aisle. Republican strategist Tiffany Smiley, founder of Endeavor PAC, which supports conservative candidates. She also a former Republican Senate candidate in the great state of Washington And Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter former advisor to President Barack Obama and senior advisor to the Harris 2024 presidential campaign Thank you both so much for joining me Now Stephanie this is ceasefire. You famously were a host of Crossfire. You know, we do things a little bit differently on this show. Well, I definitely prefer this than lobbying back and forth. I'm looking forward to the conversation. Well, it's so great to have you both. Tiffany, we met a while back during that Senate run of yours. So this is a perfect moment to get your perspectives on what each of your parties is doing and why strategically. Of course, this week, the big story was the State of the Union address. We just heard from former President Jimmy Carter there. What is the State of the Union politically? What is it historically? What is the goal for the person standing behind that podium in their party? Well, at this point in his term, you know, we are in the midterm election year. Typically, the State of the Union is to reset the discussion on your terms in the run-up to the midterms. And also typically, and I've worked for two presidents and multiple State of the Unions, You want to reach as many people and appeal to as many people as possible. I think what President Trump's strategy was, it's a little different, it was a base strategy. He was really trying to mobilize and energize his base, his MAGA base, and not really to appeal to all Americans in that speech. So the State of the Union wasn't really the Union collectively. He had a very specific audience he was talking to. Tiffani, what do you make of what the president achieved and what the goals were there? Yeah, I thought it was a very good speech by President Trump. You know, he had a lot of factors in play in the speech, certainly. It wasn't heavy on policy, but he sprinkled policy in. And I think what he was doing was relating to everyday Americans. He brought in the young mom who was going to benefit, who was a waitress and going to benefit from the no tax on tips. And she was going to, she's going to save nearly $5,000 this year. He brought in people from all walks of life. And he highlighted, you know, affordability, the economy is such a hot topic right now. And from the very beginning, he made a point to remind the American people that not a single Democrat voted in favor of his historic tax cuts. And I think that's important because Americans, you know, heading into tax season are going to start to see the policies that he passed this last summer with the No Tax on Tip Act, they're going to start to see more money in their pocket. And they are going to know that that is President Trump's policies that have allowed that and that the Democrats, if they had it their way, you know, they would like to use Americans' pain for their political points in shutting down the government or their theatrics that they continue to play. And I think President Trump did a really good job of showing just where the Democrat Party is today. I think it was nearly 70 of them that didn't even show up. I think that's embarrassing for the party. And then when he highlighted common sense, he highlighted the Save America Act, the voting ID laws, which is widely popular with Americans, Democrat independents alike. He highlighted protecting Americans versus protecting illegal aliens, and the Democrats didn't stand up. So that will be clipped and used across the country in the midterms heading out. It already has been. So he did a really good job of just painting, you know, sharing the vision and how his policies will start to take root and benefit the American people, but then also showing where the Democrat Party is today. And they're completely out of touch. So what do you make, Stephanie, of the strategy for Democrats, those that did not show up? Would you have advised lawmakers to do that? I would have advised them to go to the speech. I understand why they didn't want to sit there because it really was a reality TV show. It was all theatrics, zero substance. And you're right, he did try to appeal to everyday Americans with his granting of awards and having the U.S. hockey team, men's hockey team come out. And, you know, that was the one moment where you had a full round of applause throughout the gallery. Everyone can unite behind those hockey players, right? However, we all know President Trump and what that speech was going to be. And it was not going to be a state of the union. Typically, as I said before, presidents use those speeches to pull people together, to really give an assessment of where their policy stands, what accomplishments have they made, what challenges still lay ahead. It's a real state of the union. It doesn't, you know, the first president to call, you know, the opposing party sick and crazy from the podium was President Trump. So I understand why people don't want to sit through that. I would have advised them differently. Sit there and face it and really demonstrate the difference between President Trump and the Democratic Party. You know, the Democratic Party is concerned about you. President Trump is only concerned about himself. And that could have been made much more clear had Democrats sat there. Yeah. Yeah, I think the opposite happened because what what it showed is that the Democrats only care about themselves. And President Trump is the one out fighting hard for everyday Americans. And and the the Democrats would rather miss it or host their state of the swamp where they had frogs and giraffes on stage. They just really made themselves in that moment look completely unserious. Well, let's talk about why we care about this so much right now. You mentioned it earlier. We are in the midterm year. I want to play you a soundbite from Speaker Mike Johnson. He spoke after the speech about the stakes of the midterms. He needs all four years, not just two, to fix the mess. And that's what we need. If we lost the midterms, heaven forbid, if we lost the majority in the House, it would be the end of the Trump presidency in a real effect. Tiffany, what do you make of that? Would it be the end of the Trump presidency, as he just said there? I mean, those are serious comments that he's making ahead of the midterms. And I think he's also referring to Trump's previous term, where we saw when the Democrats were in control, then all they did was try to impeach and thwart Trump, even against common sense policies and ideals. And I think this will be the trouble for the Democrats in the midterms, because they have to be for something for the American people. I don't think they're going to be able to just be against President Trump. You look at Crockett in Texas. That's all she is. She's, you know, she's an agitator. She's basically running against President Trump. And I think that will be a problem. But the midterms will be interesting. You know, obviously it's an uphill battle. Historically, we know that it could be a bloodbath. But at the same time, we're in very unique times in our country. We are in times where people are really suffering out there. They are looking for hope. Not only that, they're looking for a party that they can have confidence in. They're looking for a party that's real, that will deliver results for their everyday problems from crime to the economy, to grocery prices, to gas prices. And, you know, Trump came into office with an economy that wasn't working. Bidenomics, Biden were not working and he tried to tell the American people how to feel. And President Trump is really trying to deliver on that. Well, actually, I mean, there is criticism right now of the president kind of making the same mistakes that Biden did in rhetoric, saying that this is the greatest economy of all time when people aren't feeling that. How do Republicans, when they are in these areas campaigning, telling voters what they're going to do for them, How do they work with what the president is putting out there on the economy and the reality on the ground for those voters? Yeah, I think two things can be true at the same time. Prices are coming down. Gas prices are coming down. The stock market is surging. Mortgage rates have dropped. I think the 30-year just dropped below 6% recently. So things are trending in the right direction, but they also still have to acknowledge the pain that people are feeling. I'm a mom of three boys. I know my grocery bill is very expensive. steaks and beef is still very, very expensive out in the real America. So they need to be able to thread that needle where they can relate to and understand people's pain, but also acknowledge that it's changing. And I think if you can give the American voter confidence that it is changing, things will go well. So two things can be true at the same time. And when I ran in 2022 in a very deep, deep blue state, we were able to be competitive because we had those conversations. We had those real conversations with voters about crime, about just getting a coffee at your local neighborhood coffee shop was so expensive. We're at nearly $7 a cup of coffee now. Well, the coffee is very good in Washington. It is, but I don't know if it's $8, $9, you know, and who can afford that? So the Republicans have a challenge ahead of them, and it is to continue to promote President Trump's policies that we know are working. Because if they weren't working, we wouldn't see these trends going the way that they are. The polling, though, is not going in the right direction, and I want to get your take on this. Because before the State of the Union, CNN released a poll that found just 32% of Americans think Trump has the right priorities. 68% think he is neglecting top issues. Tiffany makes a point about some of the numbers and the trends, stock market, mortgage rates, etc. The polling, though, is proving problematic for Republicans right now. What do Democrats do with this? Well, let me just address the trends for a second. And I understand why you're making that argument. Anybody in President Trump's position and the Republican Party's position, you want to make a case that things might not be exactly where we want them, but we're heading in the right direction. That's a legitimate argument that anybody in their position would make. We've made it many times when President Obama's running for reelection. Well, and I will say the president's advisors have told me time and again, the way that they structured the big, beautiful bill is that some of those populist policies in there would hit Americans in the midterm. Right. Except things are not going in the right direction. And And the American people see that, the polling numbers reflect that, not just in terms of his approval ratings, where they are at a record low, but in how people feel about the direction of the country. Or a year from now, do you think you're going to be better off? No, they don't believe they will be. And there's good reason for that. Prices aren't going down. And for many reasons, including his disastrous tariff policy, which have tagged, had lobbed on over $1,000 to the average American family's bills. And all of the cuts to health care and other social programs that were keeping people afloat have left people with basically nothing. So for the majority of the American people, things are not going very well, and they're worse off today than they were when he came into office. Now, there is a portion of the American people that are benefiting. And those are people at the top. And there's nothing wrong with people benefiting no matter where you are in the ladder of the economy. However, not at the expense of somebody else. So do you think Democrats are making that point clearly enough to the American people? Like what do Democrats do with the sort of less than ideal polling numbers that the president is seeing? How do they capitalize on that for the midterms? Well, I think what you'll see is, you know, there are two pieces of this strategy. Number one, this election is about Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Number two, Democrats have to show that they are the plausible alternative, that they can do better. And that, you know, over the next, where are we, at the end of February or beginning of March, you know, there's plenty of time to do that. Because as I was watching a former network of yours earlier today, you know, the polling showed that it was dipping for President Trump, but it's still pretty darn low for Democrats. Right. Because they are in the minority party. They're not in charge of any piece of the government. It is wholly owned by Republicans. But what traditionally voters will want at a time in our politics like this is they want a balanced government. They want a check and balance on the president of the United States, and they don't have that right now. They have a House and a Senate who are just the president's lapdogs. And that's not how they want their government to work. So over the next several months, and this has already started to happen. You saw it in Abigail Spanberger's response. You know, the Democrats are fighting for affordability on energy prices, on food prices, on health care, which the prices have gone up under President Obama, not just because of his, you know, Under President Trump, you mean you said Obama. Sorry, yes, President Trump. Not just because of the expiration of the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, but generally how we've managed this economy and taken away some of those safety nets that prevented health care from bottoming out for many people. So the conversation we're having here in Washington, D.C. is going to have an impact on the conversation across the country and these races. Let's talk about Texas because that is going to be a huge indicator of where things are at. First primaries of campaign 2026 kickoff on Tuesday. All eyes are on this Texas Senate race. Let's take a look at this headline from the Texas Tribune. they say more ballots have been cast in Texas through the first seven days of early voting for the 2026 midterms than any recent midterm or presidential election year driven by high turnout in the Democratic Party That turnout is fueling optimism among Texas Democrats who are once again trying to score their first election victory for a statewide office since 1994 Tiffany I actually going to start with you here Does that freak you out as a Republican I think it wishful thinking that Crockett or is it Tallarico Tallarico Well we get through I certainly John Thune I'm certainly watching it. The majority leader in the Senate doesn't necessarily think so. He said this week that this is a concern. Well, he's also trying to get more money to continue. You think that was politically strategic? Perhaps. Perhaps. And I know Cornyn, he was, you know, supportive of me and my race when I ran. And I also have done a couple fundraisers with Wesley Hunt as well. And I think what we're seeing. I don't hear you mentioning Ken Paxton. I don't know him. Okay. But I think something to be said about that race, too, is Cornyn has spent nearly $10 million against Hunt. So Hunt is obviously a formidable candidate. And what we're, I think, seeing in some regard is maybe the incumbency doesn't matter as much anymore. Like, there's this new uprising of a younger generation feeling ready to take over on both sides of the aisle. And fresh blood and new ideas. Well, candidates do matter. We've seen that time and time again over the last several election cycles. I mean, do you worry that Ken Paxton makes that seat more likely to flip than the other two candidates you mentioned? No, I mean, I think it's still so red that that's just not, that's wishful thinking for the Democrats. The Republicans are strong in that district. Are you wishing, Stephanie, for Ken Paxton versus one of the Democrats? I'm always wishing. You know, I don't want to have a Lucy in the football moment with Texas because that has been our recent experience. I think that it is a red state. However, it is difficult for a Republican to win there without some independent votes. And the way Cornyn and Paxton are running against each other, they're really killing each other. You know, the recent ad that Cornyn went up with against Paxton, you know, like highlighting his infidelity, highlighting his fraud. You know, it was it was a devastating ad and Paxton throwing it right back at Cornyn. So I think, you know, there are early signs that give us hope. I don't want to say that, you know, I don't want to jump ahead and say that this is a slam dunk. is going to take a lot for a Democrat to get there. But just even in the early vote, you know, almost a quarter million more people, more Democrats or more people voting for the in the for a Democratic primary primary compared to the last midterm where there's only six thousand more on the Republican side. So that's a sign that there is enthusiasm and interest and people organizing. I think that on the Democratic side, you've got Crockett and Tallarico, and they're running very different strategies. Break that down for us a little bit here. What are we seeing in these two different representations of the direction of the party? Well, they have very different strategies of how they want to win Texas. Crockett is, you know, she's a firebrand, and she has spent her time in Washington holding people accountable, and she's known for that. And I think she believes, and I'm not an expert on Texas, and I'm not working on her race, so all those caveats, I think she believes if she can mobilize the African-American vote in Texas, it will allow her to win. Tallarico has a very different strategy where he is, sure, he's holding people accountable, but he's also trying to pull people in. And he is one of those once-in-a-generation inspirational figures. and I think he's got a strong future in the party, but his strategy is to pull people in and to broaden his vote and pull as many independents in as possible. So two very different strategies. I think most of the polling shows that Crockett is ahead. However, things seem to be closing. Tallarico has a money advantage. We'll see. I think on the Republican side, that's going to end up going to a runoff, don't you think? I don't know that it'll be a runoff. I'm not 100% certain on that. You know, it's a non-registration state, correct? So it's hard to know in these primaries how it will shake out. I think it's something we're going to have to watch game day. Who do Republicans want to see win on the Democratic side? You know, well, you know, it's like, okay, is Crockett the new leader of the Democrat party? That would be wonderful. okay okay so the republicans are only thing the wishful thinking on your end is is i mean the only thing crockett is i all i know is what she's against and it's donald trump um it's if donald trump's for it i'm against it she's really you know again is that brand of democrat that's focused on herself and probably just more digital fundraising and building a fire brand than she is actually legislating and doing working on behalf of the american people um all she does is talk about Donald Trump. That's her whole campaign. That's all she talks about. It is hard to get through a news program these days without talking about the Epstein files. There was a lot going on this week. Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were deposed by the House Oversight Committee as part of the Epstein probe. Take a listen to House Oversight Chair James Comer responding to questions about why the Clintons were called to testify. Some folks have said it seems like the Clintons are basically on trial here versus people who know more about what was going on with Maxwell, what was going on with Epstein, and that this is really kind of dragging them through the mud when there are other witnesses. Let's address that, Chad. The Democrats voted to subpoena the Clintons. The Democrats voted with the Republicans to hold the Clintons in contempt. So the Democrats have just as many questions for the Clintons as the Republicans. So this isn't a partisan witch hunt. Stephanie, you worked for President Clinton. Will this testimony have lasting impact? How are the Clintons playing this? Just break this down for us a little bit. Well, I think Secretary Clinton has made it clear she doesn't know Epstein, didn't know Epstein, never spent time with Epstein. the fact that they were subpoenaing her compared to many other people that know a whole lot more. It was a political play. Do you think that political play impacts Democrats? No, not at all. She gave her testimony. She's got really no information to share on it. President Clinton knew Epstein through philanthropy, spent time with him, but neither one of them, there's nothing in those files that point to any wrongdoing. And even Republicans will say that. The problem here for Republicans is how they've played this. In the run up to the 2024 election, you know, you couldn't listen to a Republican podcast without somebody saying, release the Epstein files. So then President Trump wins the presidency. Republicans control the House and the Senate, and they don't release the Epstein files. And it's like a foul ball, foul ball, all the way through all of 2025. And just this past week, we learned that DOJ is redacting things from the files that make President Trump look bad, which is a problem. It came out that there was a young teenager who said that she had met President Trump through Jeffrey Epstein, and President Trump had made advances on her, and she refused, and all sorts of things happened. Why hasn't that been released? And the president and the White House, of course, deny any sort of wrongdoing. They do. If there's no wrongdoing, then just put the files out. But yeah, Tiffany, I am curious. I mean, there has been a lot of criticism from both sides of the aisle about how this administration has handled the release of these files. What is the strategy going forward? I mean, what's been done has been done. What would you want to see from here? I mean, this is so tangled and convoluted and wrapped up in political elites and the wealthiest of this country. I mean, that's really, someone said to me recently that this is less about left and right and more about elites and everyday. It should be. Absolutely. And, you know, if there was really a smoking gun on President Trump, then why didn't Merrick Garland and the DOJ and Biden release it then? You know, so there's a lot of questions. And I think the American people, you know, President Trump has released the files. He has been transparent. He's doing everything in his power, and the Democrats keep implying that he, perhaps there's some criminal activity or wrongdoing. And that's just not true. That's not going to work. It's not going to fly. But the American people are looking at this going, okay, look at Bill Gates. You, you. By the way, here's a Wall Street Journal headline. Gates apologizes to foundation staff over Epstein ties. And Microsoft co-founder acknowledged he had two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered. and that they didn't involve Epstein victims. Also, you have former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announcing he's going to resign from his roles at Harvard. I mean, how far should Congress go with this probe? And, I mean, how much is this going to loom over the midterms? I don't think it will loom over the midterms necessarily, but the American people want truth. They want to know that people will be held accountable. There's real victims in this. These are heinous crimes trafficking young, underaged women. This is sick. and it needs to be dealt with, and the American people deserve the truth. The American people are looking at it saying, okay, the wealthy and the elites can get away with this, but you're going to come after me if I don't pay my taxes. Something's really messed up about that. All right. And if I could just make one comment on that, and I totally agree with that. The American people want truth. It is not the Democrats who are alleging wrongdoing on Trump. It is Epstein victims who are saying that these files should be released, including the files on Donald Trump. And, you know, look, none of us are in the White House. None of us is sitting the DOJ. We're not in on those conversations. But we are reading the reporting where the DOJ was instructing attorneys to redact anything that made Trump look bad. So if, you know, that's reporting, if you believe what you read in the press, there's something going on there. And the American people are not stupid. But if there was really something there, then Merrick Garland would have released it. Let's put a pin in this, ladies, because I think, listen, this story is far from over. We will, I assume, continue to have this conversation. We will be getting more and more information. Before I let you both go, let's do a quick palate cleanser. We talked about how the USA hockey team is among the things that is uniting us. I want to bring them in for our weekly feature, not on my bingo card, where we highlight a funny, offbeat, or downright weird political or cultural moment. The United States of Men's Hockey team did travel to Washington this week. They spent time at the White House following their gold medal win at the Winter Olympics. The team had a meal during their visit. A reporter posted this video that appears to show the gold medalist chowing down on some fast food-style burgers. Now, the Internet had mixed responses to this. Some saying they should have had a more upscale gourmet meal. Others say that it is the perfect meal after days of celebrating. I mean, they look pretty happy to me. I don't know, ladies. If this is a controversy at the White House in this moment. Exactly. It's a faux controversy. I'm sure they loved it. But I have a son who plays hockey. And I will tell you, other than McDonald's, it's Chipotle. So I'm surprised there wasn't Chipotle there. Looks fantastic. And, you know, what a moment for our country. And I think just a reminder to all of us that this country is the best country in the world. And to see the grit and the hard work and the heart, you know, losing your teeth and bleeding and fighting and winning the gold. That's what this country is all about. Built on sports and burgers. All right. That is all the time we have. Republican strategist Tiffany Smiley and Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter. Thank you both so much. And let's close this week's program with our ceasefire moment of the week. highlighting what's possible when politicians come together as Americans, not just partisans. Eight Georgia gubernatorial candidates got together for a bipartisan roundtable in Atlanta. The event focused on affordability, small business, and agriculture. Here's what some of the governor hopefuls had to say. Words aren't going to feed a hungry child. Words are not going to cover rats. Words are not going to actually fix the problems people are facing. I don't care your race, your gender, your religion, your sexual orientation, where you live or where you're from. You deserve to be safe in the states of Georgia. And it's because of politicians like Donald Trump and my opponents, both Republicans and Democrats, who have continuously put the politics ahead of the interests of the people of the state of Georgia. This is my first time with this, guys. I'm a business guy. I'm a husband, a father. But I also have built an entire career around client service. serving clients, building businesses, strengthening nonprofits, enriching communities across the state. The Georgia primary is set for May 19th with a runoff date of June 16th, if necessary. And that's all the time we have for this episode. Ceasefire is also available as a podcast. Find us in all the usual places. I'm Dasha Burns. And remember, whether or not you agree, keep talking and keep listening. you