The NPR Politics Podcast - Weekly Roundup: September 25th

Episode Date: September 25, 2020

There was bipartisan backlash after Trump suggested that he would have to see the results before committing to a peaceful presidential transition. And Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the first woman in U.S. history to lie in state at the Capitol.This episode: campaign correspondent Scott Detrow, congressional reporter Claudia Grisales, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, and legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi, this is Henry calling from London, England, and I've been working on my Scott Decio impression, so you might not know whether it's me talking or him when the podcast begins. This podcast was recorded at, it's, um, I'm stunned, uh, it's 1235 Eastern on Friday, September 25th. Things may have changed by the time you hear this. Okay, here's the show and me or Scott. That is awesome. Bravo. Should I just do the rest in like an offbeat British accent to counterbalance it or just plow forward?

Oh, man. Hey there. It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm actually Scott Detrow. I cover the presidential campaign. I'm Claudia Girisatis. I cover Congress. And I'm Franco Ordonez. I cover the White House. All right. I'm going to reset here and move forward.

We actually, as you probably know, listening to this podcast, have a lot of serious things to talk about this week. President Trump said this week that he might not follow through with a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election. And that is obviously a very important thing to talk about in detail. And let's start there with Franco. Tell us what the president said and what the context is for these repeated comments. Yeah, he's repeated this a few times this week. You know, first, in response to reporters asked whether, you know, win, lose or draw, whether he'd accept the outcome. Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election?

Well, we're going to have to see what happens. You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. I understand that, but people are rioting. Do you commit to making sure that there's a peaceful transfer of power? We want to get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful, there won't be a transfer, frankly, there'll be a continuation. He has, you know, repeatedly for months kind of railed against mail-in voting. And he has only just kind of picked up that attacks this week, even after his

own White House kind of tried to walk it back. The president, again, doubled down yesterday, speaking to a few of us reporters outside on his way to Charlotte, and just continues to say that he does not have faith in the election. He does not think that it could be a trustworthy election. And that's really significant, considering that so many experts have said that there is no meaningful evidence of fraud in mail-in voting. Right. And the context here is that polls have consistently over and over again shown former Vice President Joe Biden with a lead over President Trump nationally in most of the key states that will decide this race. It's also, we cannot underscore enough, one of the main reasons that American democracy has been so

strong and stable compared to other countries is the fact that by and large, the country accepts that elections are free and fair. And that across the board, going back to, you know, George Washington and John Adams, our presidents have peacefully transferred power and peacefully left when they've been voted out of office. And these repeated statements really start to, you know, wear away at those norms that we just take as a given here. You know, I'm not a historian, but it is almost unprecedented, the level of attacks that this president has laid against the upcoming election. And it's, you know, it's not this week. It's been for months, even years. I mean, since 2017 has been kind of railing against the upcoming election and kind of creating this, these questions about the authenticity of the election.

Even the last election, you remember, he made these controversial statements, baseless attacks about illegal voting. It is a major issue. Right, because even though he won the Electoral College, he lost the popular vote by a significant margin, and he tried to say, well, that was only because of voter fraud, which was never proven a false statement. Claudia, given all of this, what has the reaction been on Capitol Hill? So on Capitol Hill, we saw quite a bit of daylight between Republicans and the

president on this. Quickly, it seemed to be a wave of members here who are issuing statements, talking to reporters, letting them know that there will be a peaceful transition of power. Among them was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Both said we will see that peaceful transfer. And we saw other Republicans also speak out. For example, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah. This is the lone Republican who voted for Trump's removal during the impeachment trial. He said that it is fundamental to democracy that there is a peaceful transition of power. He said this in a tweet soon after the president made this statement. He said, any suggestion that the president might not respect this constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.

And now, Claudia, you have, there's been so many examples where the president says something really controversial or something that really goes against democratic norms or so many other examples. And there's like this wide range of Republican response, particularly in the Senate of, oh, I didn't see that, to really making a point to disagree. Where does this fall in, in terms of the different levels of Republican response that you've seen to Trump statements over the years? This is probably the strongest reaction. If I had to compile all of the times we've chased Republicans through the hallways and they've dodged questions, they've not responded at all, or they might just kind of blow off the remarks and not take them seriously. This time they wanted to be clear, it seemed, that they didn't stand with any kind of line of this kind of thinking.

All across the board, we were hearing reactions. And I do have to say, this is a buildup over the past year, where we see these Republicans more and more speaking up against the president. And you can see the daylight clearly between them when ideas like this come up, when he expresses ideas like this. Though, of course, as we'll talk about the second part of the podcast, there is often a wild disconnect between that and the fact that they support his legislative agenda and support at the moment the push to get a new Supreme Court justice on the bench in the next month or so. Again, that's a conversation for the second half of the podcast. Franco, have you seen any signs that this is a feeling shared by the rest of the Trump administration, that there's any wheels of the administrative branch of the federal government turning to possibly not respect an outcome? Again, we don't know what the outcome of the election would be, but to follow through on this early threat. You know, being at the White House yesterday, you're hearing contradictory

statements from officials. Take Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. She was asked about this controversy yesterday during the briefing, and she really did her best to try to quell that uproar, saying repeatedly that the president would accept a free and fair election, that the president would accept the will of the people. But, you know, as we've noted, just an hour later, the president was kind of undercutting those comments. So I think it had made a lot of work for his staff and for his administration, because I think they're trying to kind of have it both ways. But clearly, the president kind of making this argument that he does not feel that the current system is a free and fair election. But again, you know,

this is not shown. And just another example, his own FBI director testified on the Hill yesterday, Christopher Wray, and he emphasized that historically we have not seen any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election. You know, that's contradicting the president almost exactly. I feel like I'm the walking lawfare or Atlantic article in this conversation. But I think the other important context to point out here is that, you know, let's take let's take this this this threat to the extreme of if Joe Biden were to win the election and President Trump were to say, I'm not leaving. It's not necessarily up to President Trump, right? Congress would weigh in. Claudia was talking about how Congress is

responding. The federal courts would weigh in. Chief Justice Roberts would decide who he's going to swear in. Yeah. And we can also add, for example, the number two Republican in the Senate, John Thune of South Dakota. He was asked specifically, will Republicans stand up to the president if he decides to reject the election results, if they don't go his way? And he said yes. So there's already this kind of thinking among even Republicans that they may need to be put in this position and stand up to the president if it comes to it. All right, Franco, we are going to let you go for the next segment, but you're going to come back for Can't Let It Go. So start working on those

zingers and jokes right now. You know, you can never be too ready. I wanted to try to say something with a thank you, British Scott. Thank you. Go for it. Go for it. Thank you. Thank you, Scott. And thank you, British Scott. No problem, Franco. Thank you. Claudia, hang tight. You and I are going to talk more about this Supreme Court confirmation battle after a quick break and we'll be joined by Nina Totenberg support for the NPR politics

podcast and the following message come from Indeed. Indeed is here to help when small businesses have to be more efficient than ever and every hire is critical. Indeed.com is the number one job site in the world because they get you the best people fast.

You only pay for what you need, can pause your account at any time, and there are no long-term contracts. Try Indeed out with a free $75 credit at Indeed.com slash NPR. Terms and conditions apply. Offer valid through September 30th. Radioambulante is NPR's only Spanish-language podcast.

Listen for stories you won't hear anywhere else told by the voices that make Latin America come alive. Each week we bring you another remarkable story that will surprise and move you. Radio Ambulante, new episodes every Tuesday. Listen and subscribe. We are back and now we are joined by Nina Totenberg. Hi, Nina. Hi there, Scott. So today, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is lying in state at the U.S. Capitol. She is the first woman in U.S. history to be given that honor. And even though that's embarrassingly overdue, it feels fitting that it's her to have that honor. And according to our own Sue Davis, she's also the first Jewish person to lie in state.

I went down to the Supreme Court with my family last night to see her in, you know, lying in honor on the steps of the court. Just the crowds there the last few nights have been really moving to see and the amount of people in this country who were touched by Ruth Bader Ginsburg who wanted to say goodbye to her. What from this week has stood out to you, Nina? Well, I have to say that's the one part about her dying that I didn't anticipate. I anticipated the maelstrom, the firestorm, the partisanship. I expected all of that. But then on the night that she died, before her body was brought to lie in repose at the court, I looked at the TV as I was getting ready to do something on NPR.

I don't remember what. By the time I'm looking at the TV and it's dark, there are hundreds of people there with flowers and candles and singing, singing Amazing Grace. I didn't see that coming. Yeah. This begins a confirmation process. It's well underway already now. I didn't see that coming. the women who seem to be the finalists? Well, I would say that clearly Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the Seventh Circuit, seems to be the leading contender. I think she's been at the White House not once but twice. There's another judge who has some appeal to the president. Her name

is Barbara Lagoa. She's on the Eleventh Circuit, but she's been on the 11th Circuit less than a year. Amy Coney Barrett's been in her judge job for three years and has a pretty extensive record. Judge Barbara Lagoa has only written seven opinions, and of those seven, there's one that was just, you know, not terribly significant opinion at all. So they don't have a clear record with her. But what they do have are some political attributes that are very attractive. She's, her parents fled Cuba when Fidel Castro, after Fidel Castro took over, she speaks, she's, so she's Latina, she speaks fluent Spanish. She's a Catholic conservative. And she's most important from Florida, a state that means a great deal to the president in the upcoming election. Claudia, this week began with a question about whether Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, would have the Republican support he needs to move forward quickly.

We have talked a lot about the fact that this is the exact opposite approach that he took in 2016 when President Obama was in office and there was an opening. He is moving forward, and it was notable that he really did shore up that Senate Republican support very fast. Yeah, that was pretty amazing how quickly that all came together. The questions started already the weekend of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing. Within hours, we were hearing from Mitch McConnell and other Republicans about potentially filling this seat this close to an election. And now during an election with early voting going in several states at this time. Quickly, we saw folks like Romney and Gardner and Tillis say that they would support this plan to move forward with a nominee. For example, Romney said he was following

basically the rule of law to allow this to proceed. So right now, it looks like they're on track to get this done pretty quickly, maybe even before Election Day. Typically, confirmations, you don't have even a hearing for a couple of months, six, eight weeks. So they're, you know, they have what, 39 days left before the election? Yeah, from Saturday. They're going to have to really rush this through. They're going to have to really rush this through. They're going to have to really rush this through. And the Democrats really, there used to be not just the filibuster, but other procedural speed bumps that the Democrats could use to slow things down, but they don't exist anymore. So there's really not much Democrats can do. I mean, outside

of the Senate, Democrats feel like they have a better than even chance at this point to win back control of the chamber starting next year. But over the next month, is there anything at all Democrats can do? It sounds like the answer is really no. They do admit that, that they're resigned to this is what Republicans are going to do, and they don't have a lot of tools at their disposal to slow this down. We did see some maneuvers already in the chamber of Democrats trying to slow down any kind of Senate business, even a continuing resolution, which needs to pass. This is what's going to keep the government's lights on because they run out of money come October. So they need to pass this stopgap measure by Wednesday to make sure the government remains funded. We don't go into government shutdown. And Democrats have even slowed that down. It's as if they're trying to slow to next week. And so Democrats want to make clear there isn't cooperation here. Nina, I just want to end the segment bringing

it back to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. On Friday in a podcast, you were talking about how you've known her for so long, and you wrote a whole piece on this that really exploded all over the internet. But I just want to tell you that I've been thinking all week about this idea of you and Ruth Bader Ginsburg early in both of your careers just having a long first conversation with each other that turned into this long conversation about constitutional law. And just to tell you, for me, I've been thinking about that all week and what a nice moment it is. And if somebody could take a time machine to that moment, I just think so many people would love to see it now.

Well, it was an amazing thing because I was reading this brief in a case that turned out to be the first case in which the Supreme Court said that you couldn't automatically prefer men over women in state law. And I didn't understand it. I didn't know enough about constitutional law at the time to have any conception of how this would be under the 14th Amendment guarantee to equal protection of the law, which after all was enacted to protect former slaves, largely to protect former slaves. And so I flipped to the front of the brief and saw that it was written by a Rutgers law professor named Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and I called her. And so I flipped to the front of the brief and saw that it was written by a Rutgers law professor named Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And I called her and I got an hour long lecture. I mean, it was just an amazing thing. I staggered out of that phone booth. We had phone booths in

those days. And I was like a goose whose liver had been primed for foie gras is the way I always put it. I just wanted to add in that, God, your tributes, Nina, to Ginsburg last weekend, they just broke me multiple times. The obituary, just thinking about it, I get emotional about this bond that you had with this iconic figure and how hilarious she was. We would see it as a public watching her, but you gave us a different insight into how joyful she was and how brilliant she was, and I really appreciated that. This is a very public radio moment. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died exactly a day after Cokie Roberts died a year ago. And so my feelings that Friday night were so much about women's friendships and what they have meant to me over my life.

And it was just particularly poignant because it was a year after Cokie died. So I think that's important for people to remember about both of these women, about Ruth Ginsburg and about women in general. It's not insignificant. I learned this Jewish teaching the next day, which I had not known because we dropped some food off at the Ginsburg apartment for the family the night that she died. But she was still alive then. I didn't see her, but she was still alive. But we knew that it was very difficult. And we dropped some food off. And as we were driving home, my husband and I, the sun was just setting, and I have learned that there's this Jewish teaching that says that on Rosh Hashanah, and Friday was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year on Rosh Hashanah,

God saves the most righteous people who he keeps alive all year long until just before the new year at sunset, because the world needs them so much. And it just seemed fitting. Yeah. That's a great point to end on. Nina Totenberg, thank you so much for all your reporting and for joining us on the podcast a couple times this week. You're welcome.

We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, can't let it go. This message comes from NPR sponsor Showtime, presenting The Comey Rule, a two-night event series looking into the aftermath of the relationship between James Comey and Donald Trump and the 2016 election. The series provides a new perspective on real-life events, including the hacking of the DNC, Russian interference, and Hillary Clinton's emails. Emmy winners Jeff Daniels, Holly Hunter, and Brendan Gleeson star in The Comey Rule, September 27th and 28th, only on Showtime.

With the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the president is hoping to fill the seat with a conservative judge. And evangelicals who play an important part in American politics have been waiting for this moment. But how did evangelicals become such a powerful force? Listen now to the history of evangelicals on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. We're back. It is time to end the show like we do every week with Can't Let It Go. It's the part of the show where we talk about the things from the week we cannot stop thinking about politics or otherwise. Franco, you're back.

Hi, welcome back. Thank you. Thank you. What can you not let go of? Well, since I've been away, I couldn't let go British Scott. So I kind of want to do that one. But I have. Have you heard about these Zoom nappings?

No. So check this out. These students, college students, i would say very bored students with their classes are in their zoom classes and what's happening is like they are faking being kidnapped during the class so they'll have they'll have groups of friends kind of storm in from behind. And all of this is on Zoom and grabbing the kids and pulling them out of the class. They've gone very viral, as you can imagine. They kind of started off on TikTok and gotten attention elsewhere.

And you can just kind of imagine it's cracking up the students. Even sometimes the teacher is like, what? And it's like, did you see that? Do we need to call the police? I mean, it's pretty obvious. And frankly, I can relate. You know, I mean, who wouldn't want to escape this life right now? And Zoom.

I would love to be kidnapped from most Zoom meetings that I'm in at this point in life, to be honest. I'm with you there. Every time I see my kindergartner, I'm like, man, he certainly would love to be kidnapped right now. You should bring Zoom kidnappings to Kindergarten Zoom and see how that goes. It might not go well for you. Exactly. I'll go next we were talking about just the ceremony throughout the week honoring ruth bader ginsburg the formality of her lying in state in the capitol lying in honor outside of the supreme court uh one particular moment really stood out to me that just happened uh

man goes up during the early part of the lying in statuary hall, standing in front of the casket respectfully. Then all of a sudden drops to the ground, rifles off three or four pushups, gets up, and then formally walks away. Like, what? And it was her trainer, Bryant Johnson, who over the years, her workout regime became part of her iconic stature.

And he was a big part of that. He was her trainer for decades. And that is how he chose to honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg today. I thought it was just so awesome. I loved it. I was here on Capitol Hill when that happened. So I ran out of my booth here and I was looking for him through the hallways. Bryant Johnson, wherever you are, I did a workout just looking for you. So he was very inspirational.

He would appreciate that. Claudia, what can you not let go of? So this week we had a spectacular tiny desk concert by a little group, a little band some folks have heard about called BTS, the K-pop group. And it broke the internet, the NPR internet. The previous record was 780,000. And that was for our first day for Billie Eilish. This group, BTS, had 700,000 views in the first 15 minutes of the concert going on line. By 9 a.m., it was hitting nearly a million views. And the first song they performed was Dynamite. This is their first song that they have performed all in English. So it was pretty spectacular. So amazing, the CR Tiny Desk tradition continue.

It's, of course, been, yeah. Yeah, even in this environment. Exactly, remotely, and people are loving it. And it also triggered this whole wave of giving. So thank you to all the listeners and the viewers who got to see the concert too. Keep coming back. Maybe they'll bring like some zoo nappings

to Tiny Decks. Exactly. And British Scott can come and then we can have a workout session with Brian Johnson. We can bring it all together. On that thought, that's a wrap for today. Our executive producer

is Shirley Henry. Our editors are Mathani Materi and Eric McDaniel. Our producers, Barton Girdwood and Chloe Weiner. Thank you to

Lexi Shapiro, Elena Moore, Dana Farentine, and Brander Carter. And our intern is Kalyani Saxena. I'm Scott Detrow. I cover the

presidential campaign. I'm Claudia Grisales. I cover Congress. And I'm Franco Ordonez. I cover the presidential campaign. I'm Claudia Grisales. I cover Congress. And I'm Franco Ordonez. I cover the White House. Thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast. And a special thanks to our funder, The Little Market, for helping to support this podcast.