The Daily Signal - #468: Former White House Insider Discusses Draining the Swamp, Next 18 Months

Episode Date: May 24, 2019

Rick Dearborn had a front-row seat to President Donald Trump’s first year in the White House. He led the White House transition team and then served as deputy chief of staff, before joining The Heritage Foundation. Dearborn shares his most memorable moments in the White House, and his perspective on how Trump can succeed moving forward. Plus: Chandler Thornton of the College Republican National Committee talks about his work wto grow the GOP on college campuses.We also cover these stories:•House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it's not time for impeachment--yet. •John Walker Lindh, who’s known as the American Taliban militant, is released from prison.•Michael Avenatti is accused of stealing nearly $300,000 from Stormy Daniels. The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, May 24th. I'm Kate Trinko. And I'm Daniel Davis. Rick Dearborn had a front-row seat to President Trump's first year in the White House. He led the White House transition team and then served as deputy chief of staff before joining the Heritage Foundation. Rob Blowy, our executive editor, sat down with Dearborn to hear about his most memorable moments in the White House and get his perspective on how Trump can succeed moving forward. Rob also sat down with Chandler Thornton of the College Republican National Conference. committee. He's working to grow the GOP on college campuses, and he shared his thoughts on how to win hearts and minds. Today, we'll share both of those interviews. By the way, if you're enjoying this podcast, please consider leaving a review or a five-star reading in iTunes, and please encourage

others to subscribe to help us grow. Now onto our top news. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday she's still not ready to impeach President Trump. The president's behavior in terms of his obstruction of justice, the things that he is doing. It's very clear. It's in plain sight. It cannot be denied. Ignoring subpoenas, obstruction of justice. Yes, these could be impeachable offenses.

But I intend not to, if we're the fact, there's three things. You might understand it better if you remember these three things. We want to follow the facts to get the truth to the American people. with a recognition, two, that no one is above the law, and three, that the president is engaged in a cover-up. And that is what my statement is. Well, we deal with it is a decision that our caucus makes, and our caucus is very much saying whatever we do,

we need to be ready when we do it. And I do think that impeachment is a very divisive place to go in our country. And what we can get the facts to the American people, Through our investigation, it may take us to a place that is unavoidable in terms of impeachment or not, but we're not at that place. But don't mistake that for any love lost between Pelosi and Trump. NBC reports, citing unnamed sources, that Pelosi referred to Trump's actions as villainous and said he wanted to be impeached in a meeting with Democrats. Well, John Walker Lind, who's known as the American Taliban militant, is walking free from prison this week. Lund was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan just months after 9-11, where he had joined the Taliban at age 19.

On Thursday, he was released from federal prison in Indiana, despite concerns from lawmakers that he had not renounced terrorism. Lind was given a 20-year prison sentence upon his conviction, but was released a few years early for good behavior, according to Fox News. Lind was blamed for playing a role in the death of Johnny Span, a Marine, who was the first U.S. casualty in Afghanistan. Last week, Senators Richard Shelby of Alabama and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire expressed their concerns about releasing Lind in a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons obtained by the Washington Post. They wrote, quote, We must consider the security and safety implications for our citizens and communities who will receive individuals like John Walker Lind, who continue to openly call for extremist violence, end quote. Could the U.S. send more troops in the Middle East?

Amid tense U.S. Iran relations, the Pentagon reportedly briefed the White House on a plan to send as many as 10,000 additional troops. The Associated Press reports citing unnamed sources. The AP added, quote, acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan and Secretary Mike Pompeo told lawmakers the U.S. is seeking to deter, not provoke Iran, even while accusing Tehran of threatening U.S. interests in the Mideast. Well, it looks like the Jesse Smollett case could soon come into the light. On Thursday, an Illinois judge ordered the Empire actor's case to be unsealed, saying that the public deserves to know why his charges were dismissed. Earlier this year, Smollett faked a hate crime against himself because he was unhappy with his salary. The evidence against him seemed overwhelming, but then Kim Fox, Cook County's state's attorney,

mysteriously dropped all the charges against him, and a judge ordered the case sealed from public view. Outrage then ensued, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel calling it a whitewash of justice and the police chief excoriating Smollett for what he did. Smollett has maintained his innocence throughout the whole ordeal. The city of Chicago is currently suing him to try to recoup the resources spent on the investigation. Well, Michael Avinati is now in further hot water. He is charged by federal prosecutors with stealing nearly 300,000 from porn star Stormy Daniels, who he used to represent in her case against President Donald Trump.

The New York Times, which reported the charges, is also reporting that Avanotti, quote, is accused of putting the money toward his personal expenses, including plane tickets, hotel stays, meal delivery, dry cleaning, and a monthly payment on a Ferrari, end quote. Avinati is denying the charges. He tweeted, no monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled. She received millions of dollars worth of legal services and we spent huge sums and expenses. She directly paid only $100 for all that she received. I look forward to a jury hearing the evidence. Well, Southwest Missouri is reeling from a violent tornado that hit Wednesday night, claiming three lives so far.

Jefferson City, the state capital, took a particularly direct hit and suffered extensive building damage, with 25 people believed to be injured. Emergency officials are going door-to-door, searching for survivors. Narenda Modi, seen as being on the right, in India, just won re-election as Prime Minister in India, with his party posting impressive results in the election. President Trump tweeted, congratulations to Prime Minister Narenda Modi and his BJP party on their big election victory. Great things are in store for the U.S. India

partnership with the return of PM Modi at the helm. I look forward to continuing our important work together. Well, up next, Rob sits down with Rick Dearborn, the former Deputy Chief of State. staff at the White House. Do you own an Amazon Echo? You can now get the Daily Signal podcast every day as part of your daily Alexa Flash briefing. It's easy to do. Just open your Amazon Alexa app, go to settings, and select Flash Briefing.

From there, you can search for the Daily Signal podcast and add it to your flash briefing so you can stay up to date with the top news of the day that the liberal media isn't covering. We're joined at the Daily Signal by Rick Dearborn, who's a distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, also former executive director of the Trump Transition Team and a deputy chief of staff in the White House. Rick, good to be with you. Nice to be with you too. So I want to ask you, you know, you had obviously an opportunity to work very closely with President Trump, both before becoming president and then obviously in the White House. Tell us about that experience and what it was like in those early days of the Trump administration. It started off a little lonely.

Jeff Sessions was the first senator to endorse then candidate Trump. We had about six House members. We were working in June of 2015 and through the summer and into the fall, putting together a lot of white papers and thoughts that Sessions had on a bunch of issues that I think were precursors to a lot of the things that the president intuitively latched on to in the campaign. But, you know, things that Sessions had been talking about for some time, smart trade, an immigration system that we could respect and be proud of, smart foreign policy based on our international interest. And so they'd had multiple conversations.

Stephen Miller, who I'd hired eight years ago, had gone to the campaign that fall. And then Sessions had come out to endorse the president in February of 2016. And I joined on a part-time basis the campaign in March, I think. And it was just fascinating and fun and enjoyable. And he would give his speeches at rallies, and they were chock full of different policy positions, and we'd catalog all of that. And he's been consistent on those ever since. And the campaign was fantastic.

There's nothing like going to a 30,000-person rally in Huntsville, Alabama, or Mobile, or around the country. And the numbers were staggering. I mean, he was busting at the seams at all these events. and the cross-section to me was the most interesting. I'd gone to several of the rallies, and you'd see people in business suits and families bringing in their little kids and guys in biker jackets,

and you'd see workers that had just come off their shift. So something was obviously going on, and he caught that spirit of the country and I think ran on issues that really resonated with them and has governed on those ever since. And issues, exactly, that appealed to people who weren't traditionally considered Republicans. I mean, winning in places like Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin. How did that happen?

I mean, it surprised so many people in the Washington establishment, the media establishment, that he was able to do that. Well, immigration was a hot issue. I think workers, I mean, if you want to talk about union members, blue collar, Reagan Democrats, a lot of different folks that can fit in that category. immigration, I think, concerned people. People's job security at that point in time was something they were nervous about. And the idea that there might be individuals coming in that might threaten their ability to keep their job, I think was a concern. The heartland, especially the Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin area, like many other parts of the country, had suffered under trade deals like NAFTA. So it resonated with these folks because they saw factories that had shut down. They

hadn't seen anything come back into their hometown to replace it. They didn't have any options. Their wages hadn't grown in decades. And he was talking about issues that went to the heart of their anxiety and concern. And I think what I'm proudest about is not only in the administration, but even out watching it now, is that they continue to fulfill those promises and focus on those issues that every voter and worker and employee and employer care about across the country. That was fascinating. Now, take us to January 20th of 2017. The president inauguration day, he comes in.

That first week, I can just remember, I mean, a flurry of activity. I mean, so many decisions being made right off the bat. What was it like to be part of that experience early on? It was fantastic. We structured a lot of it through the transition, but it's all the president. You know, he's an executive. He is, you provide him good information. He makes smart, quick decisions.

He's not a hang ringer, a hand ringer. He hears what you have to say, and he instantly understands and grasps the issue. He asks really smart questions. Contrary to what you hear in the press, the president asks a lot of questions. You need to provide him with good, crisp answers. And that allowed him to make a lot of decisions on a constant basis. And so, yeah, we were doing, we had a lot of CRA activity, a lot of executive orders that were going out the door. departments were making a lot of decisions. So we were pumping a lot of stuff out the first several

weeks. It was a hectic but fun time. Yeah, yeah, certainly, certainly Supreme Court nomination in their mix. Unbelievable. A lot to do. So take us to where you fit into the puzzle. There were a lot of things that obviously you accomplished during that piece. Is there a particular policy initiative or executive action that you're most proud of working on? I think the tax reform bill, because we dedicated so much time on it. On the heels of how much time in capital was spent on the Obamacare issue, and then the unfortunate result of that, I personally didn't feel like that was an area where the president was putting all his capital.

I think he was being supportive of the effort. To me, it seemed more like it was congressionally driven. But I think the president was always wanting to try to get to tax reform and infrastructure. But I was proudest of our entire team, starting with the president, but everybody. Gary Cohn, Shihira Knight, Mark Short. I mean, our whole team that really came together and put what I thought was a great strategy together to work the tax bill in both the House and the Senate and get it through. And it continues to pay dividends to this day in terms of the economic growth, right?

Look at unemployment across the board in every category. Look at the opportunities for workers. Look at employers who have provided bonuses to their employees and increase their salaries so that we're seeing wage growth for the first time since the 1970s. I'm telling you this wouldn't have happened without that tax reform bill. You mentioned a couple of other issues that the president talked about during his first campaign, immigration, health care, an area where the Senate Republicans weren't able to get that one final vote. What do you see as the legislative prospects over the next 18 months with the Democrats controlling the House?

Are there any policy areas where you see this president being able to work with Democrats? I think infrastructure would be one where they could work together. A lot of the thought leaders now on the Democratic Party are pushing some extreme positions. A lot of people would look at it and say, you know, borderline kind of social policy, socialism type planks. So the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, the amount of money that would have to be spent on that, the impact it would have on our economy, the impact it would have on workers. So I think the parties are on very different philosophical ground. You would think infrastructure would be something that they could get together and work on.

So the Democrats have to ask themselves, do they want to give the President that victory before the election? I know the president would love to be able to work with him on it, but I think they're going to be the ones answering that question. But I think the administration is willing to work with the Republicans and Democrats to pass a smart infrastructure bill. I don't know that it'll get through between now and the election. Now, as somebody who spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill yourself, what do you think of the dynamics that are currently playing out in this Congress?

I mean, you have a couple of Democratic freshmen who have captured the headlines almost on a daily basis. as it seems. And also a lot of talk about things that, it seems the American people are ready to move on from. Impeachment continues to be a daily drumbeat among some of the Democrats. How do you think that the first few months

of this Democratic House is really going? Well, I think it's been pretty rocky for them. And I think that they, I think by staying focused on all this oversight and investigation, even in their own party as their presidential candidates, are spread out across the different battleground states like Iowa and New Hampshire, the investigation and oversight issues are just not at the top of their list. People are caring about the economy and infrastructure and, you know,

I'm sure health care is a topic that they talk about as well. So my personal opinion is that it's to their peril if they continue to go down this road of constant investigation. Because at the end of the day, I think the voters ask a very basic question, which is, well, what is it that you're doing for me? And I don't know that the investigation serves any purpose that's going to be helpful for the average American. The average American wants to be able to raise their kids, put them in good schools, keep their job, work hard, hopeful to get a raise. If you're not addressing the issues that take care of and answer those questions, then I think you're on the wrong track. So I think that if you watch many of the Democratic leaders you're hearing now among some of the more pragmatic Democratic leaders in the House, that there are concerns about how far they're going on that.

So they need to be careful. What does President Trump need to do over the next 18 months to set himself up for success? Look, I think getting the word out about everything we've already accomplished, which I think we've successfully done, even in. in light of a pretty hostile media. So trying to get that news out, you know, the impacts of tax reform, what he's done in terms of deregulation, what he's doing with regards to energy dominance. I mean, there's what he's doing with trade. What I think he's trying to focus on with immigration. Look, he wants an immigration system that the entire country can be proud of.

I think the folks on the other side want an issue that they can just use politically. And I think he actually is trying to figure out how to solve the problem. So I think he's going to highlight all those issues in his campaign. And I think there's going to be a stark difference between what the nominee and the Democratic Party will ultimately be standing for and what the president has not only accomplished but still has yet to do. And I think it'll be very appealing for the voters across the country. Finally, I want to ask, the president famously came into office saying that he was going to drain the swamp in Washington. How would you say he has fundedly transformed the way Washington operates?

And has he been successful in draining the swamp? I think draining the swamp is a tough thing to do. It's pretty swampy out there. But I think in some ways the deregulatory front is a way to do it. Taking some of that power out of the hands of bureaucrats and taking the yoke off of the average workers, or the company that they work for is one way to do it. There's a lot of unique organizational plans in these different departments to try to take different components of those departments

and put them out in the hustings. So the Department of Interior has been talking, for example, has been talking about a reorganizational plan where they take a lot of the folks that are here in headquarters and ask them to actually be in different offices out in the rest of the country. I think that's great because I think that it will expose those employees to a healthy dose of common sense. We should be great.

Rick, thanks so much for joining the Daily Signal. You bet. Enjoyed being here. Thanks. Do conversations about the Supreme Court leave you scratching your head? If you want to understand what's happening at the court, subscribe to SCOTUS 101,

a Heritage Foundation podcast, breaking down the cases, personalities, and gossip at the Supreme Court. Signal by Chandler Thornton, the chairman of the College Republican National Committee. Chandler, thanks for being with us. Thanks, Rob, for having me. Tell us about CRNC,

some of the work that you are doing there, and what our listeners might, find interesting about your organization? So the College Republican National Committee is the nation's oldest, largest, and most active youth political organization. We're active in every state across the country, about 2,000 college campuses, and we're working to grow the future of the Republican Party on campus. You hailed from Maryland, a state that currently has a Republican governor, but is

probably more traditionally known as a blue state. Sure. Tell us how you became involved and ended up as chairman. So I first got involved, before college actually, I grew up in Frederick, Maryland, in a place where civic engagement really matters to a lot of people in the community. I went on to go to American University in D.C. where I couldn't help but be involved in politics. I got involved in college Republicans there at the local level. Met a lot of great engaged people, mostly on the left, believe it or not.

And that helped me to better understand what I believe by hearing other perspectives. and I actually got an internship at Heritage in college, and the rest is history. You know, so many people in the political space are focused on reaching young people, and I can understand why. I mean, we see polls that show there's a rising support for socialism, for instance. What are some of the things that you are doing at the College Republican National Committee in an attempt to communicate them some of the conservative values that you believe in? Well, young people are finally starting to show up in vote.

We saw in 2018 young people had the highest youth voter turnout, over 25 years, 31% turnout. So we need to start reaching out to young people and investing in the next generation. I think we do need to combat these ideas of socialism that are becoming more popular. And there's a lot of misinformation out there. Socialism is kind of this cool thing

and people don't really understand how bad socialism really is. So we need to educate the next generation, encourage people to hear multiple points of view on campus. And once we have that debate on campus, we're going to win because our ideas, I believe, are better. We just need to communicate them. your advice for conservatives on campus today can be sometimes a hostile environment to bring those

ideas forward, to bring speakers to campus, for instance. So what do you encourage them, what steps do you encourage them to take to have that kind of conversation and hopefully win over others in a persuasive way? Well, I think if we want to win hearts and change minds, we need to talk about things in a more compassionate way. We need to be listeners. We need to each have our chance to make our argument on campus. And I think once we have the opportunity to make our argument, we're going to win. But we need to come about it in a compassionate way. We need to expose the bias on campus from progressives, but we need to start marketing our conservative ideas of freedom and equal opportunity in a way that young people will listen to that. And I think that means

compassion. Who are some of the role models that you think are doing a good job in the conservative movement of reaching young people today? Well, I think the president of the Heritage Foundation, K. Cole James, is doing an amazing job. I think that many other members of Congress that are currently in the Senate and the House are doing a great job of reaching young people in ways that previous members of Congress haven't. So I have a lot of role models out there, but I think the President of Heritage is a great one. You know, we can also talk about the President of the United States. You know, he's somebody who has obviously brought in different people to the conservative Republican coalition, able to an ability in 2016 to win states that people didn't really ever think Republicans. would compete in. So what is it about his appeal, particularly with some young people, that you think has helped him

expand the reach of the Republican Party and the conservative movement? Well, President Trump has actually energized a lot of young people to get involved in politics for the first time, and I think that's really exciting. One policy achievement that the administration has had, the lowest youth unemployment rate in 60 years. I think that's a pretty impressive thing. Young people, that's what they care about. They want to have more opportunities after graduation. They want to have more opportunities after graduation. They want to have lower taxes, they want more freedom and opportunity in their lives. And they're seeing that from President Trump and Republicans in office right now. You mentioned that issue as one. Are there other issues that you find are really animating young people today and your interactions with them? I think that just the opportunity agenda on campus, young people want to have greater opportunity. They want more freedom in their life. This is a generation that cares about the shared economy, technologies that allow us to, you know, have more opportunity and more freedom in our lives, such as Uber and Airbnb and things. And so young people are naturally pro-freedom and

opportunity. They just need to have kind of explained to them in a way that is different from what they hear on campus and in the media. On the flip side, are there things that you see conservatives doing that are a turn-off to young people that we might want to think about how we talk about issues in a way that's different. and more appealing to young people? Well, I think, as you put it, it's about how we talk about it. I think we need to have a conversation in a way that is more compassionate. That doesn't mean compromising our principles at all.

We need to stand strong about what we believe in and why we're conservatives. However, we need to go about it in a way that shows compassion and shows that we're listening to the other side as well. We're not just shouting them down. Who on the left is having success in terms of reaching young people? We see obviously a lot of these younger members of Congress, for instance. Do you think that they're doing an effective job of reaching young people, or do you think it's a short phase that we're going through?

Well, I think that there are certain members of Congress. You know, there's a certain member in New York that everyone wants to talk about, the young member, AOC. And then there's Bernie Sanders, who is kind of at the other end of the spectrum demographic-wise, but he's still reaching young people. And so it just goes to show that socialism is reaching people, but we need to combat that and talk about why capitalism is actually what build America. Freedom and opportunity is what's going to win in the day.

What are some of the ways that you're using to grow the College Republican National Committee, and how can people get involved if they want some more information? Well, we're encouraging dialogue on campus. We're encouraging the debate with the college Democrats. We have actually a pretty strong working relationship with them and hosting events on campuses across the country. In terms of getting involved, CRNC.org is our website. We'd love to get you involved, get someone involved.

in our campuses across the country. Great. Jamler Thornton, thanks so much for talking to The Daily Signal. Thank you, Rob. Are you looking for quick conservative policy solutions to current issues? Sign up for Heritage's weekly newsletter, The Agenda. In the Agenda, you will learn what issues Heritage Scholars on Capitol Hill are working on, what position conservatives are taking, and links to our in-depth research. The Agenda also provides information on important events happening here at Heritage

that you can watch online, as well as media interviews from our experts. Sign up for the agenda on heritage.org today. Well, that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast, brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud, and please leave us a review or rating on iTunes to give us feedback. We'll see you again on Monday. You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis, sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visitdailysignal.com.