Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
is directly targeting
his rival
Republican frontrunner
Donald Trump after Trump
called Florida's
six week abortion ban
that the Santa
signed into law a terrible mistake
Time he did a deal with Democrats,
whether it was on budget,
whether it was on the Criminal Justice
First Step Act.
They ended up taking him to the cleaners
he's going to make the Democrats happy
with respect the right to life.
I think all pro-lifers should know that
he's preparing to sell you out
Let's discuss with our panel.
It's such a weird
it's such a weird debate because
there is nobody
other than maybe Mitch
McConnell
more responsible for the overturning Roe
v Wade than Donald Trump.
And yet, on the other hand,
Governor DeSantis
is accurately pointing out
that Donald Trump is criticizing,
you know,
the laws that now
because of Donald Trump's actions,
states are passing that make abortion
essentially all but illegal.
There's a lot to unpack there right here.
One in one question.
And first,
Ron DeSantis actually supported
the first version of the first to back
voted for it.
He was a member of Congress then,
which is now trying to criticize
Trump with.
But with abortion,
it becomes very complicated.
It's always been a complicated issue.
It's become more complicated
for Republicans since the Dobbs decision.
Donald Trump
often said, only I can do this
or only I can do that.
As you point out,
it's either him or Mitch McConnell
who can say, only
I was able to overturn Dobbs.
But what we see is where the Santas
has tried to move
to the right of Trump
on issue after issue
and not really been able to.
This is an area
where
he might be able
to ultimately
see where voters are reacting
when it comes to a six week ban versus
maybe 12 or 15 isn't
where the rest of the country is.
You know, it's
a complicated issue for Republicans,
but with regard
to Donald Trump, it's not,
as you said,
he's responsible for Roe v Wade
being overturned.
Other than the justices
who actually rendered the decision.
And he just a few months ago
was bragging about having killed
Roe v Wade.
What this is,
though, Ron DeSantis
actually I mean, Donald Trump
is playing to a general audience, right?
He's our election
on the general election. Right.
So DeSantis actually
was helping him
in a general election context.
That's a fight that
Trump would love to have. Right.
Because he knows
this is the kind of manipulation
we saw in 2016.
Now in 20, 24.
He actually has a record
like he did in 20, 20.
And we have to hold him accountable.
It's not complicated.
This is the kind of distortion and abuse,
frankly, of the media and the airwaves
that we've seen from Donald Trump.
He's trying to have it both ways.
And the truth is,
nobody trusts Donald Trump
to get any kind of deal with anybody.
And I can just say as a Democrat,
I'm not happy
if that's what Ron DeSantis one here.
You're not to say
you're not happy that what he said
DeSantis said, you know,
this is going to make Democrats so happy.
No, I'm not happy.
I'm happy to see Donald Trump again.
You know, more lies, more misdirection,
than that.
Unfortunately, some people may buy.
And Doug, let's turn to another
matter of the Trump campaign.
A new radio
ad, the Trump
campaign is running in Detroit
and Toledo, where autoworkers are talking
about the auto workers strike
Donald Trump calls them great Americans
and has always had their backs
from tax cuts for their families
to playing hardball with China.
Biden, he's turned his back
on the auto workers
by cutting a deal that uses American
tax dollars
to help
fund China's electric car business.
It's not entirely accurate there.
The electric car business is it's
an American electric car business.
It's true
that the batteries are made in China
and maybe that's something
that American manufacturing
should think about.
But what's interesting about
it is obviously Trump
making a direct play
for the four union voters,
which is not something
that Republicans normally have done.
Now, we we've already seen a real split
with that with Tim Scott, who's gone
in the more traditional route and done
so loudly.
So the one time
I talked to Donald Trump's
campaign, I emailed a friend
who I'd known for a long, long time.
This will tell you
how much our politics have changed.
I said, you know,
no Democrat has gone to Flint,
Michigan, yet
and talked about the groundwater
that the drinking water there.
If Donald Trump were the first,
he would explode this campaign.
It obviously never happened.
But this is sort of a version of that.
He's going to places
where Republicans don't typically do
so, is going to do it presumably
when Republicans are at the most
the biggest shrine
that Republicans
have, the Reagan Library, and in a debate
to say
I'm doing something different
and ultimately I'm for you.
That message
that he used effectively
against Hillary Clinton
he's trying to do so here.
Again, it's
not what Republicans may want to hear,
but he's making a different argument.
But again, it's a general election
argument, right?
Because the truth is
and I think Biden would love to have
this conversation in a general election
because the very C.E.O.s that the union
is trying to hold accountable
in their negotiating
got massive
tax breaks from the Trump tax cut.
So the irony of him going back to workers
and saying,
I'm for you
when he didn't do a thing
for him, for them
when he was president,
I actually went back and looked at all
the fact checks from his various trips
to Michigan during 20, 20,
where he basically once again
just lied about his record.
Remember,
he said he's going
to bring manufacturing back
and he was going to save plants
when actually during his reign
his time in office we lost factories
GM factory
frankly in Michigan
so sure he's going to do
it doesn't he's going to tell the truth.
What's interesting about it
is that more than 70%
of the American people
according to a Gallup poll,
are with the striking auto workers and
a majority of the country
is with the striking actors
and writers in Hollywood.
I mean there is a
I don't want to call it populist
because that word's getting so
stigmatized but
there is a real pro-worker
sentiment in the country right now.
And yet Trump is doing this,
which I think is smart politics.
You have Nikki Haley asked about it.
She says, I'm from a right to work state.
I chase out the unions.
You have Tim Scott saying,
look at what Reagan did
with the air traffic controllers.
If people go on strike,
you should fire them.
I mean, it feels like Trump.
And again, you don't have to believe him.
But just in terms of the politics of it,
it does seem more on
the pulse of the American people.
Well, and Trump's not alone here.
We've we've seen J.D.
Vance speak out on this as well.
I think we'll see other Republican
House members and Senate members, too.
But there is also a risk here,
and that's as these things go
on, often
where the blame happens
can shift, as House
Republicans have learned over the
over the years,
when you shut down the government,
the country
may think it's fine for a while.
But the longer it goes on,
they start to question
some of those policies
if we have this strike go on
for a long time.
I think families are going to be
in a real bind here
and we'll see if they turn on this
or not.
Speaking at a closed door
fundraiser in a packed Broadway
theater yesterday, Karen,
President Biden
had sharp words for Donald Trump.
He said, quote,
Let there be no question
Donald Trump
and his MAGA
Republicans are determined
to destroy American democracy.
He said in 20, 24.
Democracy is on the ballot once again.
I know
he really believes
that the message worked in 2020.
Do you think it's going to be as resonant
this year
or next year
rather 1,000%
because look at what
just happened in Ohio
when reproductive freedom
was on the ballot
it won particularly for women
in this country.
That is democracy
if we're not treated as full citizens
in a democracy.
Absolutely the attacks on voting rights
and other freedoms
and the fundamental shifts
that this country is undergoing
that Joe Biden is trying to talk about.
Doug and Karen,
thanks so much for being here.
Appreciate it.