Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power?
>> I wasn't anywhere near Washington that day.
I have nothing to do with what happened that day.
Obviously, I didn't enjoy seeing what would happen.
>> Imagine being so terrified of Donald Trump that you pretend as though
you need to be in the Nation's Capital on January 6 to acknowledge
that there was a massive pro-Trump riot with an attempt to
overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Obviously, Ron DeSantis knows what we all know,
that there was not a peaceful transfer of power.
And how do we know that, even though we weren't there ourselves in Washington,
DC at the time?
I don't know, maybe because there's a lot of documentation of it, including this.
[NOISE] >> Multiple
capital entries.
Multiple capital entries.
[NOISE]
>> So now that we got that out of the way,
let's watch DeSantis's statements in full context.
>> Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power,
a key principle, that of American democracy that we must uphold?
>> Are you in high school?
>> Yeah.
Where do you go to school?
You go around here?
>> Vermont.
I live in New Hampshire.
>> Okay, so you're from Vermont?
Well, thank you for the question.
So here's what I know.
If this election is about Biden's failures and
our vision for the future, we are gonna win.
If it's about re-litigating things that happened two, three years ago,
we're gonna lose.
And so I can tell you this.
I can point you to Tallahassee, Florida, on,
I believe, January 5th, 2023.
We had a transition of power from my first administration to my second cuz I
won reelection in a historic fashion.
And at the end of the day, we need to win, and we need to get this done.
So I wasn't anywhere near Washington that day.
I have nothing to do with what happened that day.
Obviously, I didn't enjoy seeing what would happen,
but we've got to go forward on this stuff.
We cannot be looking backwards and be mired in the past.
>> Ladies and gentlemen, get that soft churned butter ready,
because DeSantis is toast.
I mean, this guy is so pathetic, absolutely pathetic.
>> I'll tell you the core of it.
Look, it's easy to focus on I wasn't in Washington because you don't have eyes,
and you can't tell what happened on that tape, etc.
But that's not the main thing.
The main thing is, he gives political answers that are rehearsed.
He talks to his consultants behind the scenes about, how do we frame this?
How do I say it in a way that doesn't upset MAGA, but that still makes our case?
All right, we're gonna make our case by saying,
although insurrections are kind of, they're a little awkward,
little uncomfortable, but hey, I'm not blaming you guys.
That was wonderful, great job, etc.
>> Some people say.
>> Some people say, but we want to focus on winning,
we want to focus on the future.
These are buzzwords that your consultants go through with you, right?
But what happens at the end of that process is you look like a plastic robot.
>> 100%, and look, in the context of robot
politicians being obsessed with framing things in
these honestly snakelike ways, that was clunky as hell.
>> Yeah, but they're all clunky.
That's why, I mean, you watch Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley,
they're all a disaster, they're all Cannon and Barbie dolls.
And by the way, that's why the Republican voters picked Trump in the first
place all the way back in 2016, cuz they were tired of the phonies.
>> Right. >> And
their both parties are filled to the room with phonies.
The Democrats might have even more phonies.
And whether you like some of their policies or not, all those politicians on
the Democratic side are, I am giving you the talking points my corporate donors and
consultants gave me, right?
And people are vomiting it.
They hate it, right?
So that's why I keep saying, I think the only other guy who has a chance on
the Republican side is Chris Christie, cuz he doesn't sound like a robot.
He sounds like a real person, and he's willing to piss off MAGA.
So that's a huge detriment in the beginning, but by the end,
my theory is he'll earn their respect by not being a phony.
>> I'm interested to see how that plays out,
because Chris Christie right now seems to be dead last in the polling, right?
And he's continuing to attack Trump very aggressively.
He does not pull back any punches.
And so if things continue the way they're going and Christie remains dead last,
it will reinforce the notion that these Republican candidates challenging
Trump should avoid attacking Trump and upsetting the MAGA base.
But we'll see how it all plays out.
I'm really curious to see if you're correct.
>> Yeah, look, I honestly have a pretty good track record on this.
When Bill de Blasio was in fourth place, when he was first running for
mayor of New York, I said, I think he's gonna win because it's about, and
I thought Trump was gonna win in 2016.
I thought Bernie was gonna make a historic run.
Why?
Cuz it isn't about where you are in the polling today,
it's about the fundamentals.
Are you doing the things right or are you doing things wrong?
And so when everybody was saying Marco Rubio or
Jeb Bush was going to win in 2016,
I sensed that the Republicans were even more populous than the Democrats were.
The voters themselves, right?
So when Marco Rubio comes in like this, they're, no interest.
No interest.
That's why everyone on TV loved them, cuz they love phonies, cuz they're phonies.
And that's why all the voters hated them.
And so, bottom line is, when they see Ronda Santos doing this,
it's not gonna work, man.
And remember, Trump might actually get knocked out by the indictments.
I mean, these trials are gonna be no joke, right?
And if he gets knocked out,
then Christie's gonna make a huge run on DeSantis.
>> I have a feeling DeSantis is just trying to keep his powder dry and
avoid upsetting the MAGA base with the hope that Trump does end up
getting convicted in the classified document.
>> No, that's not a hope, and it's not a possibility.
That's definitely a strategy.
Okay, but how long are you gonna keep your powder dry?
>> Listen, we've done that drug, DeSantis?
Okay, we've been on that drug, and I will tell you, it is not a good drug to be on.
You will be disappointed if you have full faith in our justice system when it
comes to prosecuting potential criminals like Donald Trump.
>> Well, that's point number one.
And point number two is the Democratic Party's slogan might as well be,
keep our powder dry.
And how has that worked out for us?
We lose to buffoons like Trump cuz all you do is, you always keep your powder dry.
Nobody ever finds out your own position, and you never make a strong case for
yourself, and the other side wins.
>> And let me just remind you all that while DeSantis seems to shiver anytime
anyone asks him about Donald Trump because he wants to avoid attacking him,
Trump does not pull back punches himself.
I just want to give you one of my favorite examples,
which was Trump attacking DeSantis over his eating habits.
Let's watch.
>> Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don't belong.
And we're not just talking about pudding.
DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements,
like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, even raising our retirement age.
Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his pudding fingers off our money.
And someone get this man a spoon.
>> Make America Great Again inc is responsible for
the content of this advertising.
[MUSIC]
>> That is a perfect political ad.
Look, as much as I dislike Donald Trump, that ad attacking Ron DeSantis was
perfect because it evokes disgust with that guy putting his,
it makes me nauseous just watch it.
Please stop doing and then on top of that, there's the substantive point and
economic populist point in regard to DeSantis wanting to gut Social Security.
>> Yeah.
>> So it was well done.
I'm just gonna keep it real with you all, that was a great ad.
>> And by the way, so disgust is the number one thing that triggers
conservative mind, even more so than fear.
So that whoever's doing that ad for Trump hit it exactly right.
Number two, it show strength.
I'm gonna punch you in the mouth and see how you like it and Democratic voters,
a lot of them don't like that.
They're, no, NPR says, don't punch your opponents.
Make sweet love to them, right?
But Republicans love punching their opponents in the face, so
they're gonna like that.
And then the last part of it is, look, guys, if you're listening to someone in
mainstream media, they have a 90% chance of being wrong, because people in
mainstream media look at that and go, that is not a professional ad.
That statistics, that's uncivil, it's weird.
Why do they have that imagery?
It doesn't talk about any of the substantive issues that The New York Times
is talking about, etc.
No, they have no connection to actual human beings cuz people in
corporate media haven't hung out with a regular person in decades, so
they just cannot sense where the population is.
So in terms of just sheer politics, Trump is way, way better than DeSantis.
Trump's problem is that he's a lifelong criminal, a complete con man and
a pathological liar.
So those are pretty [LAUGH], the fact that he has overcome those to already be
president once and is leading by 20 to 30 points currently in the Republican
primary, shows you how good a politician he is.
>> Yeah, it's pretty devastating.