The Dan Bongino Show - The Bongino Brief - A Race for Second Place

Episode Date: August 26, 2023

Donald Trump was the clear winner in Wednesday's Republican presidential debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Dan Bongino. Folks, listen, I could give you all this winners and losers talk. I put it in the title of the show, but the hard reality is the winner last night is Trump. Oh, Dan, you're a Trump supporter. No, I'm just telling you from pure political tactics. Guy, if I'm wrong, call. Donald Trump is up by 40 points. His biggest contender last night was Ron DeSantis. Ron DeSantis disappeared on stage and now Vivek and Ron are

going to fight it out for the number two spot. That's just what happened. You don't have to take it from me. I love Ron DeSantis, the greatest governor in the country. There's not even a close second. The guy is going to be the future of the Republican Party. But last night, Ron DeSantis, the greatest governor in the country. There's not even a close second. The guy is going to be the future of the Republican Party. But last night, Ron DeSantis did okay. He did not do bad, but Ron DeSantis can't do okay. Because politics isn't about doing okay. Politics is about the big mo and momentum. And the big mo, momentum, comes from being relatable but entertaining.

Entertaining? What is this the gladiator arena yeah well that's kind of manichean yep no people want to hear about the issues please get the out of here that's not what people give a shit about folks they don't you might you're here along with 33 000 others four minutes in who thank you for your loyalty yesterday after yesterday's tech meltdown by the way i appreciate that you you probably do care the hard reality is up on the stage outside of foreign policy where yes there are significant differences outside of foreign policy there's almost no difference for many of the candidates they're all going to tell

you they support school choice tax cuts balanced. You've heard it a thousand times. Have you not? Tell me what candidate came out last night and said, I support more government spending, higher taxes, and public schools are awesome. Did anyone say that? No. No, they didn't. So if you're not voting on the issues, what are you voting on?

You're voting on relatability and performance. The talking head bull on the air this morning was revolting. Folks, it was. I'm really sorry. But most of the people, I think it's because I ran for office three times and lost. And I'm telling you, you learn more by losing than you ever do by winning. What happened last night with DeSantis is a perfect example. The guy, I don't think he's ever lost the race for political.

He won by 20 points in Florida. And you know what? He learned all the wrong lessons. I got a lot to get to on this, but on the DeSantis point last night, I'm going to, folks, I got a lot of energy today. I've been like beaming to get on the AM10 series. You saw me in the chat at like 10.15 this morning. For those of you who get here early, that's me.

You know, I'm a D. Bongino show. That's me. Ron DeSantis needs to get back to Ron DeSantis. He won an election by 19 points in Florida, almost 20 points, which is ridiculous, obscene. That never happens in Florida. You win by one point in Florida, you're a superhero as a Republican.

He won by 20. What got Ron DeSantis there was being a ball buster. Ron DeSantis, unfortunately, is now playing it safe. You can't play it safe when you're losing. Listen to the governor's team. You probably don't give a flying about my advice. Please take it. I am a Trump supporter.

I love you guys, too. And I'd like I want to see Trump win, but I'd like to see you have a big future because you're an amazing conservative. Please take my advice. Cut the. You're listening to way too many people in his ear on every answer. He needs to get back to doing where the Ron DeSantis strikes again, where Ron DeSantis says. again, where Ron DeSantis says to the media and starts kicking ass again, he needs to get out in front of the camera and say, you know what? I am down 30 points. And you know why? I swear if he did this, this shit for him would turn around tomorrow. He needs to get out in front of the camera and say, I listened to too many people. They're all in my ear telling me what I should and shouldn't do. You know what? That's on me. I own it. It's the Ron DeSantis campaign, not the Ronnie Bag of

Donuts campaign. And I played it safe and that was a mistake. From this point forward, if we lose, we're going down swinging and we're going to start kicking some freaking ass again. That's what we're going to do. The guy jumped 10 points in the ball. I don't think he beat Trump. And again, I'm a Trump supporter, but

folks, I'm not here to bullshit you either. Okay? There are DeSantis supporters. I'll watch this show and I love having you here. He's an awesome governor, but we can't let's not lie to each other either. The campaign I heard it said yesterday, I think it was Kellyanne Conway. No one had a better 2022 than Ron DeSantis and no one had a worse 2023. Folks, the numbers don't lie. We can sit here and bullshit each other all day.

Oh, you know, listen, he's doing great. He's not doing great. And last night he did okay. And you can't just do okay. You can't. You can't just do okay. D, can I go out of order here? I don't mean to screw up the whole show. Can you play the clip of the hand-raising

thing where DeSantis looks uncertain? This is what I'm talking about. A question is asked. It's a very simple question. And-raising thing where DeSantis looks uncertain? This is what I'm talking about. A question is asked. It's a very simple question. And I want you to watch DeSantis. This moment's going to do some real damage. Again, he doesn't look like the Ron DeSantis of old who should have just popped his hand up as a yes. It looks indecisive. And now DeSantis supporters are like, oh, he looks indecisive.

And DeSantis haters are like, wow, he really looks indecisive and now the santa supporters are like oh he looks indecisive and the santa's haters are like wow he really looks indecisive when they're both saying the same thing you're not doing it right yeah watch this you see what i mean you all signed a pledge to support the eventual republican nominee if former president trump is convicted in a court of law would you still support him as your party's choice? Please raise your hand if you would. You see what I'm talking about? I say this with a pure heart. You know where I stand. He's welcomed the governor on my show. He will get an absolute fair shake. I don't talk to Trump about Ron DeSantis. I won't talk to, I don't talk about DeSantis when Trump's shake. I don't talk to Trump about Ron DeSantis. I won't talk to,

I don't talk about DeSantis when Trump's on. I won't talk about Trump to DeSantis. You will have an absolute fair shake. He's done a great job. You just can't do that. That is, what do I tell you all the time on the show? You P1s out there and chatsters,

47,000 now watching. Now we're not even 10 minutes in. What do I tell you all what are the most damaging political narratives in the world ones that change your pre-existing notion of who a candidate is DeSantis is a ball buster he is a fire starter he's freaking Drew Barrymore in fire starter that's what does. You can't beat a guy with the shaky hand. You can't beat a guy giving canned answers.

He can't just be okay. Now the problem, and this is why Trump runs away with this last night. He runs away with it. Because even though he wasn't there, and I think the views on the Tucker thing are being uh

exaggerated they're you know i'm listen it was viewed by a lot of people and i'm glad he did the tucker interview i would have liked to had it myself probably a little candid probably a little envy there but good for tucker for getting interviewed it was viewed by a lot of people but trump is the clear runaway winner last night because what Trump wants to avoid, pay attention, this is important. He wants to avoid a mano a mano. He doesn't want a one-on-one. He wants a one versus 10. And what happened last night is the mano a mano between him and DeSantis. And why does the mano a mano not work for Trump? Because after Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, everyone's going to drop out because they're going to run out of money. You following me?

At that point, if DeSantis is close, it's a dogfight and you get a Barack Obama, Hillary thing where it goes all the way to the end. That's what Trump doesn't want. It costs money and time. He wants to wrap it up early. So he wants to make sure the number two lane, the runner up is always changing. Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis. That way they never get close to him. They stay in this thing the entire time,

but it doesn't matter. He doesn't have to waste money beating him up because they're beating themselves up for number two, not for number one. You dig? And last night, Vivek was the standout. I don't care if you support him or not. I'm not asking you to support anyone.

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I'm telling you, Vivek was the standout because I believe in data and receipts. He was trending on Twitter. He was trending on social. He was all over truth last night as well. Vivek won just about every single straw poll that came out. And every single focus group is like, I like this guy. Now, to be fair in my criticism to all of these guys, Vivek's got to work on some stuff too. Vivek comes off sometimes way too canned.

And I think it's a huge mistake. Again, Vivek started as this fresh kind of young face in the race. And I'm friends with this guy, but I owe you the truth. And he's starting to sound canned on a lot of these things. You know what? Just be yourself. Yourself is what got you to where you were. And I don't mean that in some cliche, just be like Reagan, be Reagan. No, I mean, be your actual true self that you started the race with when you spoke off the cuff and you said things. I'm not saying don't think things through. There's too much. There's too much finger licking, I think, going on. That's going to be a mistake to lick the finger.

Where's the wind blowing? Don't do that. Don't do that. I let people get in my ear. I made a huge mistake on an abortion question on NPR a long time ago when I was running for office. And it wasn't how I felt. And folks, I regretted it. I regret it to this day. I'm still talking about it. Here's the thing about stating what your true position is. If you state what your true position is on an issue, you'll never have to remember what your true position is or what you told last time because you didn't lie about it. If I ask you your kid's name, you don't have to think about it, right?

about it. If I ask you your kid's name, you don't have to think about it, right? The thing about the finger licking that I think is going on with not just him, but a lot of these candidates now, Tim Scott just disappeared on the stage. He didn't even know he was there. Totally disappeared on the stage for a guy with such an incredible backstory because they're too canned. They're too canned. The finger licking, what happens is you changing your way on every issue. You're making the assumption that voters are one issue voters. If I give the wrong answer on this, on guns, on Israel, on Ukraine, on China, everybody's going to lead. They are not going to lead. There are very few people who vote on one issue. Just answer like you would answer so you don't have to remember your answers to keep up with the answers you didn't mean. That's why Trump was a huge winner.

And I got to say, after last night, I think my, you know, me changing my position on that was correct. Why would he show up? Everyone's now going to duke it out for second place. And someone said yesterday on a cable news channel, they said something like, you want Trump to show up at the next debate? Close the 40 point gap. I want trump to show up at the next debate close the 40 point gap i promise he'll show up but i can promise you today vivek's gonna move up desantis is probably gonna hold or move down and trump ain't gonna show up at the second one either a couple more thoughts on this last night it's time for asa hutchinson to get out of the race it's embarrassing

if you're like who's as Asa Hutchinson? Exactly. I made my point. No one even knew he was on the stage last night. There is absolutely no lane for this guy. He's not going to get a cable news host job. MSNBC doesn't like him. Republicans don't like him. Libertarians don't like him.

Conservatives don't like him. People from Arkansas don't even like him. Dude, am I lying? There's no lane for Asa Hutchinson at all. And the rest don't like them people from arkansas don't even like them they're dude am i lying there's no lane for asa hutchinson at all and the rest don't know him no they don't know him it's a joe said it right it's not even that they don't like him they don't even know him i would have much preferred larry elder on the stage who at least stirs some shit up you know asa was like was he even there last time like what happened was that like a cardboard cutout? And Doug Burgum sounds like a great guy busted up his Achilles yesterday.

But dude, it's time to go. It's time to go. I'm all about representative democracy. I can't tell you what to do. I'm just saying, like, you're sucking up donor money. You're sucking up volunteers. And these are all limited items. And you're just wasting people's time. You are. You're not up donor money. You're sucking up volunteers. And these are all limited items. And you're just wasting people's time.

You are. You're not going to win. You're not even going to get 5% of the vote. So why are you here? You're not going to get a contributorship. Burgum doesn't need it. He's independently wealthy. They got to get out of the race.

But if I had to play a few winners last night, Ramaswamy, I think won the debate. Again, just based on data. Data's got to matter. He was the most memorable, the most relatable, and he's entertaining. You know, I think Nikki Haley won. It was a winner last night, too, only because she didn't lose. Nikki Haley, it's clear as day right now, is not running for president.

OK, Nikki Haley is running for vice president. Nikki Haley last night. Again, she's another one licking the finger. I get it. She changes her positions all the time, too. And going after Trump pretty ruthlessly like she did afterwards after he put his faith in you is kind of like a loser move, in my opinion. But Haley, I think one last time because she didn't lose. I honestly think everybody up on the stage last night comes out of this worse. Chris Christie's just a slob. He looked like a total ass last night. Pence has to go. Pence has no, there's no grassroots support for him at all. He does not stand out for a guy with his pedigree. Last night should have been the end of it. And again, I think DeSantis loses because he didn't win. DeSantis had a show last night

that he was the rock star. He was the guy. He was the one-on-one guy who could take on the Lion King, Trump, who's 40 points ahead. And he didn't do it. He didn't do it when he had the opportunity. You got to be bold, man. You can't play not to lose when you're not winning. Think about what I just said. You can't play not to lose when you're not winning. And when you're not winning by 40, you definitely can't play not to lose. Here's what I mean

too last night about Vivek and how Christy just looked terrible. Play that cut we had originally lined up, number one. Here's Christy looking like a pompous ass just going, this guy just looks terrible. He thinks this is it's not it's goofy check this out i know a lot better i know a lot better than you do you've never done it like you've never done anything to try to advance the interests of this government except to put yourself forward as a candidate tonight and here's the thing we've stood up for law and order i did it as u.s attorney i

did it as governor and i am not going to bow to anyone when we have a president united states who disrespects the constitution he said he said he said i said to gee during the break i said my gosh 60 100 people only 20 minutes in. That's huge. He goes, yeah, just like Christie. The guy just he's not doing himself any favors. He looks ridiculous. It's clear he's on stage just to yell at everyone else.

And my listen, because I'm a facts and data guy. If Chris Christie thought this worked, he did the same thing to Marco Rubio in the last debate on the last in the election in 2016. Excuse me. Remember where to get Chris Christie? What do you finish? Seventh in New Hampshire or whatever. It's not working. Like try something else. Try not to be the I'm the loud bombastic. I'm not running for president. OK, that may work for me. It just doesn't work for this guy anymore. It worked in New Jersey because he ran a local campaign about New Jersey working values. Kind of like DeSantis ran a Florida centric campaign about Florida values. That does not mean it's going to play nationally folks. These guys got to get this out of their heads. They're not running Florida, New Jersey

campaigns. Listen, that's one thing I developed the national audience, man. You know, they haven't. I may have lost political races, but I got two shows kicking ass across the whole country. It's not because I'm pandering to people. It's because people crave authenticity and relatability. And Christie's shown absolutely none of it. He's really a sad can. It's just a very, it was a very, very weird night. And again, I thought the debate overall, I'm sorry, I thought it was really unmemorable outside of a few moments. And no one's going to take out Trump

with that kind of bullshit. You're just not. All everybody can think of last night. You know how many times I heard from Paula, man, how much more fun would this be with Trump here? I mean, that's what you're thinking about. Wasn't that what everybody was thinking about? Come on. Even if you're a DeSantis supporter,

you know you're welcome here. Like I said, great governor. Tell me you weren't thinking that last night. And if you're thinking that, it's a problem. For your guy, not for Trump. It's a problem. I love the guy. I want to have a future, but he's got to do better. Last night was not a good night. I don't care what anybody tells you.

They're lying to you. The Dan Bongino Show. If you'd like to hear more, subscribe to The Dan Bongino Show wherever you get your podcasts.