All Episodes
Previous Next
Jan. 15, 2024 - Doug Collins Podcast
24:46
2024 Iowa Caucus
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Doug Collins Podcast.
It's Monday.
It's finally here.
It's election time.
It started.
Iowa caucuses are tonight.
I can't think of a better way to get the Iowa caucuses to start off than a primer.
From our one, our only, yes, a friend of this show, a friend of mine, a great guy.
He's been out there in Iowa stumping.
He's with Trump.
He's been doing everything.
Matt Whitaker, former acting attorney general.
He's been on this show many times.
You know him.
But he has a unique gift and ability today.
It is unique.
It's maybe not superpower-ish, but it is unique.
He is an Iowan.
He can explain the Iowa caucuses.
For those of us who've never had a part in the Iowa caucuses, Matt is here to explain that today.
So we're going to take a few quick minutes today just to get you caught up, let him tell you everything that's going on out there, but also how we can understand what to make of tonight as it goes down at the Iowa caucus.
So right after the break, we'll be right back with Matt Witter.
Hey folks, you know, when you look out and you see the country and just the disarray it is, you see the Biden administration, you see the wholesale prices have just went through the roof again.
Inflation is tearing us up.
If you have your finances all impinged in just a few areas, if you're just in stocks and bonds and you're not diversified, I got some news for you.
You need a navigator.
You need somebody to help you get to where you need to go with those finances.
And I can't think of anybody better to do that than my friends at Legacy Precious Metals.
You need precious metals in that portfolio.
You need gold and silver.
And legacy precious metals, the folks there, they're the navigators.
They know how to deal with tough times.
They know how to look ahead and take your personal situation and make it something that can be workable for you in the long term.
Because that's, at the end of the day, that's the one you're most concerned about.
You need to make sure that your personal finances and your retirement are secure.
You need folks like legacy precious metals helping you in that.
They will take the time to learn you.
They'll learn your finance.
They'll learn where your investment goals are, and they'll help you get there.
And metals and gold right now in this kind of crazy inflation, in this kind of crazy economy with the Biden's economy, you need that help.
And Legacy Precious Metals is the one to do that.
So give Legacy Precious Metals a call.
866-528-1903.
866-528-1903.
Or you can Always visit them online at LegacyPMInvestments.com and you can download their free investor's guide.
Legacy Precious Metals, they're the ones you need.
They're the navigators to help you to these turbulent times.
Hey everybody, it's MyPillow's 20th year anniversary and over 80 million MyPillows have been sold.
Mike Lindell and MyPillow wants to thank each of you and every one of you for giving you the lowest price in history on their MyPillows.
You will receive a queen-size MyPillow for $19.98.
Regular price is $69.98 and just $10 more for a king-size.
You will receive deep discounts on all MyPillow products, such as bed sheets, mattress toppers, pet beds, mattresses, my slippers, and so much more.
This is a time to try out something other than the amazing products that you've had your eye on.
Go to MyPillow.com, click on the radio podcast square, and use the promo Collins, C-O-L-L-I-N-S, to receive this amazing offer on the queen-size MyPillow for $19.98, or call $800.
800-986-3994.
This offer comes with a 10-year warranty and 60-day money-back guarantee.
It's time to start getting the quality sleep you deserve.
You know how I know that?
Because I sleep on a MyPillow every night.
Go to MyPillow.com and use promo code Collins, C-O-L-L-I-N-S, or call 800-986-3994 today.
All right, Matt.
Good to see you, buddy.
Got you a warm cup of coffee and a cold state this morning.
It's only getting colder.
It's only getting colder.
That's what I'm hearing.
For those of us in the South, if it gets below 60, it's a cold snap and they start wearing sweaters.
It's like, okay, I don't think you want to go to Iowa at this time.
Well, if you like below zero temperatures, it's the only time I wear an overcoat, actually, is once it gets below zero.
Zero to 32 is balmy for me.
And, you know, with these types of temperatures, you know, thank God for global warming is all I can say.
That's it.
We're so glad it's here.
Okay.
Well, look, everybody knows you're an Iowa football legend.
I mean, you've been there.
You know it.
But one of the things, too, is I've got to get your take on this.
Was there ever a worse loss by a professional team than Miami losing to the Bills last week and having to go to Kansas City this weekend to play?
Go from 80 degrees to 2?
Yeah, that was quite a turn of events, but the Bills just outplayed them for that game.
Obviously, playoff football is usually the cream rises to the top, but we'll see as these teams progress and we head to the Super Bowl who the best of the best are.
I love NFL playoff football.
It's going to be fun at this time of year.
I've got to agree with you at that point.
All right.
Man, I know you got things.
It's getting closer.
We're getting this today.
Today is, you know, when this video airs, we're taping this actually a couple days before, but this podcast is today on Iowa Caucus Day.
This is for all of the discussion since...
2020 November, it's finally here.
We're back in a presidential cycle.
2024, Iowa caucuses, starting it off.
But Iowa is different in the sense that it doesn't do like New Hampshire or South Carolina or Georgia or many, many others where you just go to the voting place, you vote like you normally do.
Iowa's different.
And there's some who argue that's better, some argue it's not, but I think it's unique.
And for what I want people to understand, Matt, from your perspective of your beloved home state, Explain why, and I've heard this from reporters this week, that it's not just showing up, it's staying.
That you actually don't just come and do something, you gotta stay.
Explain that to us and let us talk about it.
Well, Doug, I'll explain it this way.
You know, if you think of the caucuses are really a party organizing function, it's a meeting of the grassroots, the base of the base, organizing their county parties, you know, so delegates to the county convention, and then ultimately members of the county central committee.
That feeds into the four congressional districts and their district And that feeds into the state convention and the state central committee.
So it's a party organizing function.
Usually we get about 25% new people every year.
So there's kind of a trimming of the activists and who wants to be involved.
And, you know, obviously the people that are involved in the Republican Party, you know, it's hard work.
There's very few people to do the work.
And so, you know, you don't just show up to vote.
And I think the other thing, comparing it to a primary, is typically a primary is an all-day vote.
You have absentee ballots so you can vote early.
This is, you have to show up in person.
You show up before 7 p.m.
because the meeting starts at 7 p.m.
We do a prayer.
We do a pledge.
We pass the hat for Lincoln bucks to raise money for the party, the Republican Party, and to put on these caucuses.
There's a temporary chair that calls it to order.
You elect a permanent chair, elect a secretary or treasurer, and you go about the business.
There are recommendations for the planks of the platform that, that originate at these precinct caucuses.
And there's over about 2000 of these meetings going on all over the state.
I'm going to be in Ankeny, my home city participating in my caucus.
And then each, and then there's, you know, they start a straw poll, which is what the caucus, you know, what the numbers that's reported out of this and who wins or who loses.
It's a straw poll.
And so each campaign has an ability to have one speaker for three minutes, I was talking to Don Jr. recently, and he's going to speak at one of these caucuses on behalf of his dad.
And he said, it's going to be hard for me as a Trump to take less than three minutes.
But there's speakers that speak in support, you know, on the Trump campaign, very well organized.
We have caucus captains that have been designated, been given lanyards, identifying them.
They have hats that are these beautiful white with gold trim caucus captain hats to identify themselves.
And so ultimately after the speeches are given, and so there could be up in it.
And if there's no representative for a campaign, Then no speech is given for that candidate unless somebody just decides that they want to speak on behalf of a candidate that they're supporting.
And then you'll see people persuaded by those speeches because, you know, not everyone is coming in knowing who they're going to vote for.
Obviously, a lot of, you know, there's been a lot of campaigning and a lot of hand to hand, you know, Meetings and speeches.
And, you know, I've been all over the state talking to folks about why I'm supporting Donald Trump.
And then a piece of paper is passed around.
Sometimes it's a quarter sheet of letter paper, or sometimes it's a preprinted, you know, colored piece of paper.
Each person in the room that has been qualified as a legitimate Iowa voter, so they're registered to vote in Iowa, they're Iowa residents, and they're the proper age, they get a piece of paper, they all fill it out, you pass it to the The people collecting the pieces of paper, and then they're taken to the front of the room.
Each campaign typically has a representative watching the count.
The pieces of paper are put in a pile, and the number is announced as business is continuing to go on while the count is happening.
The results are announced.
Those are reported to the state party, and then those are posted ultimately for the number of votes that are received.
Meanwhile, you're electing delegates to the county convention.
You're electing delegates to the district convention.
You're talking about platform.
Typically, you lose a lot of people after the vote count is released.
People walk out, and then you end up with the faithful party folks.
All that being said, it's a neighborhood meeting.
At the end of the day, my meeting is going to be about...
You know, three minutes from here, just in a Baptist church around the corner by my old nine-hole golf course that I grew up on.
So it is just an amazing experience.
I went to my first one, Doug, when I was a senior in high school.
I was 17 and a half.
I was going to vote in the fall elections.
I got extra credit in my government class, and I got elected to be a delegate to the county convention.
That's pretty cool.
You and I both got started early in this thing.
But Matt, one thing I heard, and maybe correct this from me, because again, I'm not an Iowa, you know, of course, native.
I haven't, you know, followed it, of course.
Well, you're always welcome here, Doug, especially if you like the cold.
Well, especially in that, we get it.
One of the things that I heard was, is like you caucus, like you get the Trump supporters will be here, DeSantis, Haley, and- So I want to dispel, before you explain this, I want to dispel this.
This is how Democrats do it.
Democrats have a viability test.
Oh, there we go.
Caucusing this year.
But typically in a Democrat caucus, they separate everybody by support and then they have a viability threshold of 15%.
And so on the Democrat caucus, if you don't have 15% of the people in the room, then you decide your second pick.
In Iowa, no second pick.
It's just you vote for who you want and you go on.
So it's apples and oranges.
The Democrats do it a little different.
Obviously, they prefer a top-down approach, and they don't want challenges to the preferred candidate, although Barack Obama blew Hillary Clinton up here in 2008 with a strategy that was very successful.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, okay, that makes great sense then.
I mean, because I'm glad we're having this meeting, because I've learned something here, because I thought both acted sort of the same way.
So that means, in essence, okay, I'm hesitant to step here.
So in essence, what you're doing...
I'll help you.
Come on.
We'll take care.
We'll figure this out.
Oh, yeah.
You're basically having a primary...
But just at one time, in one place, everybody just comes and votes by putting their piece of paper in, and that's what they do.
So it's just really, instead of having all day, everybody just comes that night, within that time frame, they put their paper in, and they're done.
Yeah, it's a straw poll.
It's a preference poll, a straw poll, and the vote at that moment.
And, you know, and again, it's at a meeting.
It's a straw poll at a meeting.
So it's as if we got, you know, when we were down together in Palm Beach, when it was much nicer, if we got in that room and handed out slips of paper and said, who do you all want for president?
And we counted it and reported it.
It'd be just like that.
Right.
Now, can Democrats come over and caucus with the Republicans?
I'm going to give you a long answer on this because I know your listeners are going to find this interesting.
The legislature changed the law and said that the state party could require party registration up to 60 days before the caucuses.
State party didn't take action on that.
And so we have same-day registration, same-day party registration.
So you could be a Democrat or a no-party voter and change your registration at the caucuses.
I don't think that will be a big problem here in Iowa because we're Iowans and we're, you know, not going to try to screw with other people's parties.
I think we are going to see a few Democrats show up.
But remember in Iowa, you know, we were a purple state that's now super red.
So we could see people that used to identify as Democrats that are now Republicans and want to participate in Republicans and vote for President Trump or whoever their candidate of preference is.
So I think that's going to be hard.
You know, we'll get the postmortem later as to how many Democrats Registration changes we got on that night from the Secretary of State.
I don't think it's going to be a big problem.
It'll be in the hundreds.
It won't be in the thousands, and it won't have a dramatic impact in the result.
Yeah, but I can see it.
I know we see this sometimes in our primaries, like here in Georgia.
You'll see in areas where Democrats are just not going to win, they'll flop over because we don't have a party registration in Georgia.
So they'll come in, and you do see it.
And we saw it in the 2022 elections that you did, especially in our primaries.
Democrats voting for, say, Brad Raffensperger or others.
We did see that a good bit.
And I was wondering, that brought the question of, like, in Sioux City and Des Moines and other than college towns, could that be a little bit of an issue, especially to say they wanted to come in and disrupt Donald Trump or do something like that?
Yeah, it could be.
You'd have to do a major effort.
We're not seeing that.
There's been a little bit of internet traffic, Facebook, you know, people onesie-twosie kind of things.
Not seeing that in any meaningful way.
I think the more interesting thing, Doug, is going to be turnout.
I think everyone believes that the higher the turnout, the more people show up, the more votes for Donald Trump.
That is because, again, he's he's very much connected with folks that are not typical political people, people that aren't involved normally in politics.
I've had a lot of conversations with folks that love President Trump, love his policies, and they've never caucused before.
And so I've spent a lot of time explaining exactly what I'm explaining to you as to how it works, where to show up.
I think we've done a good job at the campaign level.
Assuming everyone has no knowledge of how to caucus, we've produced videos.
Laura Trump did a really nice video.
We have walked people through, you know, we have websites to find out where to go on caucus night to make sure they get there before 7 o'clock and get checked in and all those kind of things.
So I think, you know, I think we've, you know, as we say in Iowa, the hay's in the barn.
But at the same time, we just need our Trump supporters to show up.
Yeah, well, that's what I've been saying all along.
Everybody talks about it.
I said, you know, if you take what we're seeing, it's done.
But at a certain point, and I think the president echoed this as well, he said you've got to show up.
And I think that's not a sign of weakness.
It's just a sign of honesty.
It's a good candidate in that regard.
Okay, for those of us who are not Midwesterners who seem to relish the zero-degree weather, Like in Georgia, if we were to have on a primary day, it drops down to say 15 degrees.
I'll just say that.
And it's not real good.
You will see a definite probably drop off in attendance.
Is that really, is it that big of a deal in Iowa since it is normal, if you were to say for this weather, or is that a real concern for tonight?
Yeah, listen, we've had three measurable snowfalls in the last week leading up to caucus day.
It will be most likely slightly below zero at the time of the caucuses, as long as there's not snow and ice or freezing rain that makes driving hard.
I think we'll be fine.
You know, the plows, we have 700 plows just that the state puts out on the roads anytime it snows.
So the roads are going to be clear and it's just going to be cold.
And, you know, to go from a warm car into your church and then back to, you know, a car, it's not that hard.
I mean, I think it may affect a few elderly people that, you know, that might want to get out and they just can't.
But, you know, I think the Trump campaign, and I don't know what, I can't speak for other campaigns, but Certainly if our supporters need help and support, you know, getting to and from, having their car parked, whatever, you know, we're all going to be there.
Because if anything, Iowans help their neighbors.
And I could imagine a scenario where you would see somebody, you know, a handicapped individual that's a Trump supporter, helped into the, you know, across the snow and ice and helped park their car by a DeSantis voter.
Because that's just kind of how we do things in Iowa.
That's good.
A couple quick things before I get you going.
President Trump last week had his one-on-one with Fox.
Of course, they had the debate, which was the Sanders and Haley food fight.
But one of the things you and I have both seen of President Trump, and I think if he's on this He's frankly unbeatable.
When he is focused and when he is, you know, and he's had that, I mean, the discussion the other night with the Fox folks, he was focused.
And I think it came across, it couldn't have been a better split screen, if you would, from the, like I said, the food fight over here to what Trump was saying on the other side.
I agree.
I was there in person at the Trump Town Hall on Fox News.
And not only did it look great, I thought the president gave probably one of his best closing arguments that I've seen.
And he dismissed, you know, I mean, the media loves to parse what he has to say.
And I thought he had a great response to a couple of the key things that he has been recently criticized for.
And, you know, and that's the Donald Trump What I know is, you know, he is an effective leader.
He's going to build a great team.
It's going to probably be a skeleton crew.
So you better rest up, Doug, because everybody's going to be all hands on deck.
But, you know, it's going to require, you know, a disciplined candidate.
And I think you saw that at the town hall.
And I think his messaging is messaging for the general.
You know, he knows he's going to be one-on-one with Joe Biden.
And I think that's going to be an exceptional heavyweight fight.
Well, that's going to be great to look at and see.
And I can't wait to see the results.
A little bit has changed.
In full disclosure, Matt and I were talking, I thought I was going to be in Iowa on Monday.
I've gotten moved a little bit.
And I will be talking about what I believe is a Trump victory on Tuesday on Outnumbered and other things in Fox.
So I will be looking forward to talking to you that night as well.
Let's keep in touch on how it's going at your precinct.
I'd love to do that.
And we'll bring that out as a special thing For people in the next day or so, you know, coming forward on the podcast.
Matt, you have enlightened me, and I appreciate it a great deal.
I mean, it's the reason I wanted you on here, because there's so much mystique around the Iowa caucuses, and you've been able to boil it down into understandable, which is what you always do.
They're magical.
I'm a proud Iowan, as you know.
I think this is one of the greatest political traditions to be the first in the nation.
I don't think we take it for granted.
Obviously, we need to always be improving our process to make sure that the candidates that come to town feel like they're treated fairly.
That they get a fair shake, that they get to share their message.
But, you know, there's no substitute for investing the time in the state.
And you've seen all of these candidates, but especially Ron DeSantis and, you know, Donald Trump have been crisscrossing the state, talking to voters.
I mean, after the town hall, you didn't see this, but Donald Trump went and shook almost every hand of everybody that was in that room.
He's just a tireless campaigner, and that's what you have to do to win Iowa.
And so I think we're well positioned for a good result today.
Curious.
I mean, I think Trump does win convincingly in Iowa.
Everything points that way.
But after almost a $200 million spend and $300 million, is there a real...
And this is my last question for you, Matt.
Is there a real...
I mean, I'm looking at it as a real fact that there is a...
Real dogfight for number two.
Haley's not put a lot into Iowa, necessarily.
DeSantis has put everything, and he just, he reached his high the day he announced and has never gotten, went further, it doesn't look like.
Does that look like the fight that, could he actually end up in third?
He could.
He could.
And that would obviously be detrimental to his campaign.
You know, it's amazing.
There's only so many ways, as you know, to spend political dollars.
And we're not an expensive political state.
We have just three or four TV markets.
There's been a ton of mail.
You know, just the amount of mail and postcards we're getting.
Three a day from every candidate with various messages supporting their candidates.
Super PACs are burning money in fireplaces right now, to be honest with you, because you can't spend that amount of money.
But at the same time, this is not an air war.
It's not a mailbox campaign.
It is a one-on-one campaign.
Getting people to show up to your, you know, your event at Pizza Hut or, you know, at the local community college.
And so it is very much hand to hand and voter to voter.
And I think, you know, I can only speak for the Trump campaign, but we've, you know, we've done a really good job running an Iowa campaign.
That is great.
One of my best experiences I've had in my political career was in 2019. I was invited to speak at the Isle of Faith and Freedom Fall Conference there at the fairgrounds in Des Moines.
I was keynote speaker.
1,500, 2,000 people packed into this place.
Food everywhere.
I got my picture taken by the red, white, and blue tractor.
I mean, I got the whole thing.
It was pretty cool.
We love you in Iowa, Doug.
We're sad that you're not going to be here, but we'll find another time to get you here because this is a great state with people that just love folks like you, true patriots.
They're good folks.
All right, folks, that's Matt Whitaker.
Matt is a great guy.
Looking forward to this.
Thank you for the update on the Iowa caucus today.
Folks, tune in tonight.
You're going to find out the first results coming back in.
Of course, we'll be talking about it the rest of the week.
And also, tomorrow, be watching for me.
I'll be on Fox News.
And Newsmax all day on different things, talking about this.
Appreciate all your support.
If you have any questions for Matt or myself, please go to DougCollinsPodcast.com, hit that link button where you can email me.
We'd love to hear your comments as we go.
▲
Export Selection