No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Republicans' entire 2024 strategy blows up in their faces

Episode Date: November 12, 2023

A major Republican strategy backfires ahead of 2024. Brian interviews Speaker Nancy Pelosi about her response to the Democrats' stellar election performance, the revelations about Mike Johnson's policy positions, and her relationship with Trump when the cameras were off.Donate to the "Don't Be A Mitch" fund: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dontbeamitchShop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today, we're going to talk about a certain Republican strategy backfiring ahead of 2024, and I interview Speaker Nancy Pelosi about her response to the Democrats' stellar election performance, the revelations about Mike Johnson's policy positions, and her relationship with Trump when the cameras were off. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. Over the course of 24 hours, Republicans set themselves up for disaster as we head into 2024. Here is exactly how. So on Tuesday night, Democrats overperformed in races across the country. from Kentucky to Ohio to New Jersey

and even to some degree in Mississippi just by virtue of keeping that gubernatorial race within a few points. But in Virginia, the election was a referendum on Glenn Yonkin's promised 15-week abortion ban if he was able to secure a Republican trifecta in that state. And he framed it as a compromise,

which I'm not exactly sure how it's a compromise when one side says you deserve the right to bodily autonomy and the other side says, no, you don't. And the compromise is that you still don't have bodily autonomy. That's that Republican logic hard at work. But that was the deal. And far from securing that trifecta, Republicans ended up losing both chambers of the state legislature, the state Senate and the House of Delegates, meaning that Glenn Yon predicated the election on yet another abortion ban, and the people of his state rejected him loud and clear. And of course, we saw a similar result in Ohio where the voters in that red state voted overwhelmingly to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution, although Republicans are now immediately moving to undermine that process, so we're certain to see a fight in the coming months. We've seen similar results across the country, Kansas, also in the 2022 midterms.

We saw them in California and Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont. Also in 2022, in the gubernatorial races in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, where Democratic candidates vowed to veto any abortion bans passed by their state's Republican legislatures, all of which is to say this is a recurring theme in this country, even in the red estates, that voters overwhelmingly reject these attacks on reproductive rights. And so it was what happened next within the Republican Party that, That would defy logic if I hadn't stopped expecting anything logical to happen years ago. Within 24 hours of those results, a bunch of Republican primary candidates went on stage, were

asked their positions on abortion, and this is what they had to say. Well, I stand for a culture of life, and I understand that it's important that everyone gets a shot. They have been caught flat-footed on these referenda, and they have been losing the referenda. A lot of the people who are voting for the referenda are Republicans who would vote for a Republican candidate. So you've got to understand how to do that. But let's just be clear. The Democrats have taken a position. They will not identify the point at which there should be any protection all the way up until birth. That is wrong and we cannot stand for that. When you look post row, a wrong

was made right. They took it out of the hands of unelected justices and they put it in the hands of the people. And now we're seeing states vote. Well, I'm 100% pro-life. I have had 100% pro-life voting record, I would certainly, as President of the United States, have a 15-week national limit. I would challenge both Nikki and Ron to join me at a 15-week limit. It is in our nation's best interest, and frankly, I think it's unethical and immoral to allow for abortions up until the day of birth. We have an opportunity in this nation to stop that reckless behavior from states like California, New York, and Illinois. I'd go step further.

And my parents' plan, we start by talking about funding, block-granting resources to crisis pregnancy centers. It was my home state of Ohio. I'm upset about this yesterday, that passed a constitutional amendment that now effectively codifies a right to abortion all the way up to the time of birth without parental consent.

Why it's back to that Republican culture of losing. The Republicans did not have an alternative amendment or vision on the table. That was one day after voters turned out en masse, virtually because of the Republicans proposed abortion bans. And then these people trotted themselves out on stage and advocated for the exact policy that one day earlier lost them a raft of elections, even in red states. I mean, my God, it's like these people are trying to lose. And look, the reason is obvious. Their sole focus right now is on winning the Republican primary.

And because the rest of the party has lunged so far to the right and brought their primary base to the far right with them, now the only way to emerge from a primary is to attack to the far right too. And so, of course, they all do it. And then they are all immediately saddled with the most toxic baggage heading into a general election. And yet, for some reason that, again, defies logic, they just keep doing it. There's no desire to moderate their position, even as it becomes an existential issue for them. And it really does go to show how, at their core, these people want minoritarian rule. There is no interest in serving the majority of Americans.

It's not even an interest in serving their own constituency. They are solely interested in imposing a wholly unpopular will onto Americans who've already said in every which way that they are not interested in what the GOP is selling. When I say that these Republican officials are Christophascist, I'm not doing it because I think it sounds spooky in the same way that Republicans call Democrats Marxists and communists and socialist. I'm saying it because these are Christian fundamentalists who are seeking to impose their religious doctrine onto people who have already told them no.

and there is nothing small d democratic about that. The GOP's branding as the pro-democracy party was nothing but a glossy veneer to hide their actual position which is to force us into their handmaid's tail fever dream. And again, they won't moderate. They didn't after the Democrats won the House by the biggest midter margin in modern U.S. history in 2018.

They didn't after the Republicans lost the House and the Senate and the White House in 2020. They didn't after the Republican's big red wave election was reduced to a five-seat majority in the House in 2022, and they won't now. after losing yet another spate of elections from Ohio to Virginia to Kentucky in 2023. The extremism isn't a bug, it's a feature. It is the whole ballgame.

And look, that's not to say that we've got anything in the bag here either, because after 2016, we should all absolutely be clear-eyed about what can happen. But this is more to show you the danger of allowing this party to take power. A party so far right, so extreme, that they are wholly and completely unresponsive to the will of the people. Next step is my interview with Speaker Pelosi. I'm joined today by Speaker Pelosi. Thank you so much for taking the time. My pleasure to be with you.

So Democrats have overperformed in races across the country in this latest off-year election cycle from Pennsylvania to Virginia to Kentucky. When you saw this happen. Ohio. Ohio. Even almost in Mississippi, when you were watching this happen, even as everyone had written Democrats off, what was going through your head? Well, last year, as you know,

it was going to be a red tide. We were going to have 40, we'll lose 40 seats or 30 seats at a minimum. We lost five. Five in New York. And we'll get those back with our new leadership with Hakeem Jeffries. But five. And you know why? Because the pundits who really are not out in the field or anything,

just sitting wherever they are, just out there saying, oh, they have the wrong message. Woman's right to choose Dobbs' decision. That's in the rearview mirror. They've got to be talking about something else. But we knew. I kept saying to members and to grassroots activists, because that's where I am, we can win this.

And we won just about every place because we made the distinction about freedom, women's rights to choose this or that, about saving the planet, about gun violence prevention, about democracy, and showed the votes of the Republicans versus the platform of the Democrats. And we won all over. When I see all these Dobbs' decision is in the rear view mirror now, I barely say hello to them because it was destructive to our country.

And so we campaigned, campaigned. I have a grassroots operation calling into all of these states, especially Virginia and Ohio, because they had very strong grassroots operations that welcomed outside help. I spent the day in Virginia, and their vitality was so strong. But again, this is a very big issue. And it was compelling, as you saw in Ohio and in other states. And the victory in Virginia was very significant because they want to turn it into Florida. And the Democrats there just said no. Well, to that exact point, when you have these Republicans who are suffering loss after loss after loss, largely owed to Dobbs in their position on abortion, why double down?

Why triple down? I mean, even in this latest Republican debate, we had the... vast majority of those candidates on stage, advocate for a nationwide abortion ban. So why double and triple down on this issue? Well, they're trying to win the primary. And in the primary, that's the place they have to be. But understand this about elections, which is the challenge that we have. They have endless money. They're endless money. Endless. We don't have endless. We want to reduce the role of money in politics. We'll get to that later. But the endless money, and that's about ban on abortion, guns, guns, guns, because that's where a lot of their big money

comes, fossil fuel industry to say no, we don't have to adjust for saving the planet, those kinds of things. And it's a democracy issue, too. So I want to suppress the vote, and they want to win the primary, and that's the place to go among the act of Republicans. Yeah, I guess that's They're kind of the catch-22 they're in. They have to win the primary. That's their first, second, and third priority. But then once they actually get out of the primary and into the general election, they're faced with an electorate who has told them in every which way, up and down,

that they're not interested in the agenda that they're selling. Well, and besides, is it what they believe, or is it just a political expedient? Just to keep their jobs. And if you give them examples of young women in a certain circumstance, what would their own? if it were their daughter or their sister or their wife or whatever. Of course. And they know, by the way, that if they go the way of Liz Cheney or Adam Kinsinger or Mitt Romney, that they won't have a future in Republican politics after that.

And to that point, the media has been falling over itself, basically trying to have painted Glenn Yonkin as a moderate because he wears sweater vests, right? And that's not dissimilar to how they painted Mike Johnson, despite his actual policies because he didn't appear outwardly as crazy, then they can continue painting him as moderate.

In light of what we saw in this latest election cycle where Glenn Yonkin was reputed because of his policies and in light of the revelations that we found out from Mike Johnson, do you think that the media will give up this relentless pursuit of the elusive moderate Republican that they're trying to will into existence? Well, I don't know where they're on the strength of what are they making that proposal? Maybe they like to show a difference

between, among some Republicans, one from the other. But the facts do not bear it out. I mean, if we had not had the success we had in Virginia, this guy was on his way to a presidential campaign. I mean, it's such a weakling. He has money, so he bought into becoming the governor, And again, Virginia so far has been the only state that does not have an abortion ban, a ban on abortion. He wanted to make it complete, the only state in the south, in the south.

And this was a big victory for us for that not to happen. But I don't see the vision, I don't see the knowledge, I don't see the strategic thinking about unifying our country in here. him. And I don't get it with the press. I don't know if it's about corporate America supporting ads and the rest of that. I mean, I'm very disappointed because the press is the freedom of the press is the protection of our democracy. In our First Amendment, the freedom of the press is the transparency of it all is so very, very important. But what's his name? used to be in the White House, tried to diminish the press. And somehow or other, some of them have fallen into a pattern

that isn't what our founders intended. On the issue of Mike Johnson, had you heard of Mike Johnson before he became speaker? No, I didn't. I had not. I had not. I worked with some of the members from Louisiana. Scalise, we thought probably would be the one because he was in the leadership.

No, I didn't. What I've heard is that he is a nice person, and that may be so. He appealed to some of them because he had an approach that made it comfortable for them to be deniers of the election. It's kind of like dressing it up in an intellectual way. Yeah, and giving them a permission structure. And putting it like, oh, well, it's COVID and the rules and the this and that. And, of course, it wasn't true. and even the court

in one of his initiatives struck it down, but it gave them a comfort level. So understand this. I believe the country needs strong Republican Party. Democrats don't like me saying that, but it's important to have, if there is opposition,

to have it had some level of sanity, some level of commitment to the Constitution, protect and defend. And we've had that. We haven't agreed on issues, but at least least we agreed on patriot of honoring our Constitution. That's not where it is now. So that's why I say that. The Republican Party has turned into a cult to a thug, and that's just what it is.

And somebody's got to take it back. I don't know if you, I didn't watch that last night because, I mean, I saw some reports about it. It was exactly what you think it was. You know, well, here's what we have to do. And this, and I appreciate the opportunity. to chat with you. In order for us to unify our country in a positive way, without us and how do we bring people together? One way I think, and of course the young people are our hope. It's your future and you have to take responsibility for it and the political arena is a place to do that. But we have a responsibility to take it to a place. Our bill does it. for the people legislation, reduces the role of big, dark money makes it all disclosed.

No partisan redistricting, non-partisan redistricting, matching funds for small donors so that they can participate fully and feel that their participation has made a difference. And the first part of our bill, 300 pages written by John Lewis, to stop voter suppression. at the same time as we renew the Voting Rights Act in a stronger way, which they won't give us a vote on yet. So we have to win this election. But if we want to attract people to it, they have to have the confidence that their participation

is as valuable as David Koch, whoever you say his name. Did you give any advice to Speaker Johnson when he got the gavel? One thing, I congratulated him, wished him well and I said I see that you referenced President Reagan in your remarks and I wanted to call to your attention my favorite Reagan speech and that is the speech that Ronald Reagan made that goes starts this way this is the last speech I will make as president of the United States okay the great communicator of the last beat and I want to communicate a message to the

country I love starts with the Statue of Liberty talks about how immigration has made America great. We have opened our door, and that's why we are preeminent in the world. And should we close that door, we will cease to be preeminent in the world. It's better than that. It's longer than that. Google it. And I said, I think it would be...

He said, well, I'm not familiar with that one. And I said, well, I think it would be inspiring and instructive. Yeah. You know, you're from San Francisco. You obviously understand the significant. of LGBT rights, with the ascension of someone like Mike Johnson to the speakership, given his position on advocating for conversion therapy, for criminalizing

sodomy, for passing some type of a national, don't say gay law in the mold of what they have down in Florida. I guess what's your message to the LGBT community that is watching their very humanity become a litmus test for the GOP yet again? My message to them, and well, here, there, wherever I go, I listened to what they have to say. Elections have ramifications. We have, I salute the LGBTQ community in this way.

Marriage equality, people said, oh my gosh, it happened so fast. And it didn't happen fast. It's been years. And the grassroots, the outside mobilization is our strength. Inside maneuvering, we have the responsibility, but the outside mobilization, Outside mobilization of the LGBTQ community for HIV AIDS, which is the issue that brought me to Congress, when HIV AIDS was a model of outside mobilization

for other organizations, whether it's women in breast cancer, this or that. It was a model for freedom. And also taught families love and their own family. Sometimes it was successful, and sometimes families just didn't go there. We would not have, in my view, marriage equality now if we didn't have all that grassroots activism, act up all the groups. It just brought it all to life and to bear and showed the difference. When you were speaking, it's almost tearful for me to hear criminalizing. This isn't not a difference of opinion or this or that, which would be bad enough.

Yeah. But it, and others say, well, it's immoral. But it isn't. But they think that. But these people think it's criminal. Yeah. So understand this. When we had the marriage, the Dobbs decision, when we had the Dobbs decision, my personal favorite on the court,

Clarence Thomas. Yuck. Yeah. I think everybody is. Yeah. But imagine that he would say, this is, now that we, he didn't say it this way but this way I heard it now that we've renounced privacy in the Constitution and precedent in the court everything is up for granted marriage equality the

holiest and and that's about freedom you know for us it's a value and a joy but it's about freedom and by the way because it's about freedom that should be that should be permission for the Republicans to embrace it because it's the free because they're the purported part of freedom right well that's what they say that's what they say that's their own branding so have you spoken with with Kevin McCarthy since he's been ousted a speaker no we just haven't had the occasion I don't know I've I've heard that he blames me for his being asked it I'm so powerful but you know just learn how to count and then you'll have your votes to do it but that's that's not important right

Now, right now, right now, we must win the election. It's one year out. And just to remind, one year out from the election 2011 for the 2012, President Obama was not in good shape in the polls, one poll 5, 11, he was not in good shape in the polls. But that's what campaigns are about. So what is it that is your, what drives you, what is your passion? Is it saving the planet? Is it protecting personal anatomy, freedom?

Is it fairness in our education system and the race? Whatever, the election will make a difference. Because if you care about justice, social justice, economic justice, environmental justice, personal freedom, you have to, the Democrats have to win this election. And then maybe in the unifying way, we can have some of these issues become bipartisan to save the planet and save our democracy

and the rest. So when people say, oh, well, Biden's numbers are behind, you know what, that's the way it is. That's the way it was for Obama. That's the way it is. For him, he must win, and that's the path we're on. And we will win the House. We will win the House. And we have to increase our numbers in the Senate. As of right now, the Republicans still don't have a path forward on any type of a government spending bill. What does it say that we are being brought to the cliff of yet another government shutdown under Republican leadership?

Well, that's... See, if you don't believe in governance, you're okay with this. You know, when we had the three weeks of no action on the floor because we couldn't even... The House was not in order. We didn't have a speaker.

They were okay with that because they don't believe in governance and they don't believe in science. And so, if so... science, if we're having fires and all these natural disasters and saying we must do something about it, well, you're talking about governance for protections and science on the basis of science. That's the two knows do not make a yes. So when they talk about, when they, I've not been down this path with them before, it doesn't bother them to have a shutdown. Having said that,

It is my understanding that this new speaker does not want to start off with a shut down. Okay. You know, you'd mention in 2024, we're a year out. Do you believe that Joe Biden, that President Biden should begin to ramp up attacks against Donald Trump, who is, I guess what we would assume right now is the presumptive Republican nominee? You know what? One thing we talked about the press earlier, they're just so crazy about it. Can you turn on the TV or anything?

Well, on social media, you have your choice. But on TV, it's all about him. Oh, my God. And I guess that's a selling point to advertisers or something. I don't know why it is, but it's always about Trump. Here's what I think. Elections are about the future. And the president has to talk about why his election is better for the future of people in our country,

especially young people because that is the future and he's not going to go out there and say I deserve it because I did this this and this that's not what elections are about it's about well you can you can prove that you can get the job done by what you have done but it's not about deserving it's about what you will do the past it's about what you will do next and I think that's more of the message and there has to be some more clarity in people understanding all that this president did, whether it's about the economy, the environment, cost of prescription drugs, the list goes on and on. And that message has to be out there, too, as evidence of what more needs to be done. And he proves that he can get it done. Okay. If it's okay, if I ask one question,

one more question about Donald Trump. Your relationship with him, what was the life for you to negotiate with him? And was he the same to you in private as he was in public, or did he treat you differently in private? Well, it was just timing. When he was first elected, I respect the office he holds, and so I wanted him to succeed. Pretty soon I found out that I respected the presidency more than he did, and that was a rude, not awakening, but confirmation. And so we were going to be working on one thing we had in common was infrastructure. We were going to work on infrastructure. So we had, every conversation we had by phone or in person was included infrastructure until he didn't want to pay for it. And then that was over. But we talked

about immigration. And we, Chuck and I would have a conversation with him about immigration and it would be positive, especially in regard to our dreamers. And then he would, and he'd say things at meetings, bi-partisan meetings, oh, yes, we're going to do this and this. And then, boom, it would go away. So one day I said to him, I said, is there somebody else we should be seeing at the White House? Because when we talk to you, we seem to get an okay.

But then it seems to go away. Is there a man behind the curtain? So this was a real tragedy for America that such a creature should ever creep into the White House. Yeah, just like a kind of an unwillingness to actually execute on any of the

things that he claimed to want to do. Yeah, and I said to him, look, I'm very proud Affordable Care Act. We always know things could be changed or improved in their implementation. So why don't you, if you have some ideas, why don't we put it together, we can call it you and, you know, repeal and replacement repeal and repeal and not replace. And they were shocked that we won the not only a passing, but earlier, but saving it later. moving over to the next speaker have you given any advice to hakeem jeffreys my advice to hakeem is my advice to all members of all that my caucus be yourself you have arrived at this point with a set of values with an eloquence to convey them with a respect commanding the respect of members just be yourself go do it And I have so much confidence in, I can say, be yourself.

I leave advice on the personal side to my kids to talk to them about what it means to family and they're generationally in his place. But he's a remarkable person, and he does command the respect of our caucus. And he commands respect because he respects them. And that's how you have unity. It isn't a magical formula. It's about respect. You respect them.

They respect you. You build consensus. Everybody's not in total agreement all the time, but you'll get your turn next. Right now we're going on the path that we think will get the most votes and win. He will be speaker, and one year we'll be talking about. One year and one month, we'll have an election,

and he'll be our nominee for, speaker and I'm very confident about that. I know that sometimes in your position you have to pick and choose your battles during your time as speaker have there been any battles that you wish you had fought differently or fought harder?

No. Of course. Of course. No, the main point is that we had certain goals that we wanted to achieve. One one theme, not necessarily

a bill, but one theme, I believe that our country should be more supportive of human rights in the world and in our country. I've worked in a bipartisan way with Republicans over time, whether it's human rights in China or other – now we see what's happening in Ukraine. And I'm not satisfied. I know it's a long road to have any improvement. But when you look in China and you see what's happening in Tibet, destroying the culture, what's happening in Hong Kong, destroying the democracy. what's happening with the Uyghurs, a genocide, and then just generally diminishing freedom of expression in China.

That for me continues to be heartbreaking, but I also think we have to find a way to work with China to save the planet and the rest. So I'm disappointed, you know, that we haven't had more success. I thought right after Tiananmen Square, if we used our trade leverage, we could free the prisoners in Tiananmen Square. On the contrary to that, the president sent a representative and said, there are people who want to separate us, but we won't be separated.

And these were people had just a couple weeks before rolled off our students in tanks. So that would be my one disappointment. But it's not over. To that point on democracy abroad, what do you say to Republicans for whom, the issue of funding Ukraine's, Ukraine's fight for freedom against Russia has become a litmus test to win a Republican primary. I don't know. Do you think it is a litmus test to win a Republican primary? They may have decided that. They are, there is, shall we say, a Putin caucus here. And that's

so disgusting that it is beyond words, but that's what it is. And I think that it's really important that we continue to support the Ukraine. It is I think we will get a good vote on. When we get a vote that it will pass, that it will be overwhelmingly in support of support. The Ukrainians are supporting democracy. Their democracy are democracy. The Putin is, he's a thug too,

and he's a friend of the other thug here, and they just don't share our values. So they thought he was, he thought he was going to win in three days. what was he smoking but in any event the no I just say to here's the point that I want to make in a larger way

publicly I have to get more data but it's there wars are terrible for the economy and the longer Putin is at least active there

it changes the cost of oil changes the cost of fertilizer changes the cost of grain, all the rest. So if you didn't even care about the fact that they're raping little girls in front of their grandparents or kidnapping them, killing their mothers in front of their whole family, if you don't even care about that,

and you don't even care about if he would to prevail in Ukraine, that it would be dangerous to Ukraine's neighbors, and they fear that, especially those who do not are not part of NATO, just think about the economy. It's a very bad thing for the economy, as is what's happening in the Middle East, but Ukraine on a sustained basis for a long time, there's a real case that war,

and what it does to resources and competition for them is bad for the economy. Let's finish off with this. You know, you've led a storied career in Congress and a speaker. What do you hope that your legacy will be? Well, there's no question the Affordable Care Act made a difference in people's lives. And when we passed it, you know, I could think of what a difference it was going to make

and how exciting that was and really how much more we needed to do. But I also was so grateful to my members for their courage, for their courage to get it done the inspiration of the president and his leadership, President Obama and his leadership courage of our members. But I come right back to where I start with, the outside mobilization made it happen.

So I say to your viewers, know your power. Get out there. Make a difference. Let them know what you're thinking. You're the boss. I always say my constituents. They're my bosses. You're the boss. So engage so that you understand each other, your differences or what you have in common. But what was wonderful to me was with all of the challenge,

we fought the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the anti-government industry, the big money coming in that didn't want Obama to have that success, and we won because of the outside grassroots action. Perfectly put. We'll leave it there. Speaker Pelosi, thank you so much for the time. My pleasure. Thank you. Thanks again to Speaker Pelosi.

That's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen, produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesie, interviews captured and edited for YouTube and Facebook by Nicholas Nicotera, and recorded in Los Angeles, California. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app. Feel free to leave a five-star rating and a review, and check out Briantylercoen.com for links to all of my other channels.