| Time | Text |
|---|---|
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Why Courage Matters
00:04:58
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| I have said for years, every Republican needs to run against the Democrats and the left at least as much as against his or her opponent. | |
| They all individualize it. | |
| Well, I'm a better candidate than Jones here. | |
| Instead of saying, folks, if you vote Democrat, the left comes into power, the left wants to destroy this civilization. | |
| Why don't they do that? | |
| Well, I think, first of all, when you have the news media dominated to the degree it is today, it takes a lot of courage. | |
| We underestimate how courageous Reagan was, and for that matter, how courageous Trump is. | |
| It's easier to see in Trump's case because they hate him so deeply, and they're so vicious that it's just all over the place. | |
| But Reagan had the same challenge. | |
| They constantly wanted Reagan to be normal. | |
| And he just pleasantly refused to. | |
| And he kept saying the things he believed in. | |
| And he changed history as a result. | |
| I think we underestimate how relatively few people there are who can do that, which is frankly why I'm so deeply in favor of Trump. | |
| I mean, for all of his weaknesses and all of his lack of professional, political, and governmental experience, he has the sheer, raw courage. | |
| To stand up to the left and to slug it out. | |
| And I think what he's been doing is remarkable. | |
| And I see the beginnings of a younger generation of new Republicans coming along who are beginning to get it and who are beginning to understand that, in fact, that's the fight we have to have. | |
| So I'm a little more encouraged by the rise of that next generation. | |
| But the older generation, frankly, had been taught to accommodate. | |
| You know, don't be unreasonable. | |
| Don't challenge the natural patriotism of your enemies, even if they are actively trying to destroy the United States. | |
| And I think working your way through that has been really extraordinary. | |
| And frankly, had anybody but Trump been nominated in 16-1, we would probably have lost to Hillary. | |
| But two, Even if they had won the election, they wouldn't have understood that this is a period where you've got to be prepared to profoundly take on the left and to accept the psychological cost of doing that. | |
| Do you think the average member of Congress in the Republican Party understands the existential threat the left poses? | |
| No. | |
| No reason they shouldn't. | |
| Wow. | |
| There is a reason they should. | |
| There is a reason. | |
| I think more people are learning that. | |
| And I think, frankly, as you look at the 1619 Project and you look at the radicalism of the New York Times and you look at Black Lives Matter and what their underlying platform is, I think it's beginning to sink in. | |
| And I think the literal violence of tearing down statues and of looting stores. | |
| It's beginning to sink in. | |
| But, you know, in a free society, it's very hard to get people to draw conclusions that require as much conflict as you and I are talking about. | |
| Lincoln understood this. | |
| This is why, if you watch Lincoln in the first year of his presidency, he's very careful. | |
| And, for example, he spends months waiting patiently until the South finally attacks Fort Sumter. | |
| Because he knows that if he's too aggressive, he'll be seen as the aggressor. | |
| If he's the aggressor, he's going to lose Kentucky and Maryland and Delaware. | |
| And as he once said, he hoped God was on his side, but he had to have Kentucky. | |
| So can you name, I'm putting you on the spot, can you name names of people who give you hope in the Republican Party? | |
| I would say, in addition to Mike Pence and Donald Trump, I would say that Tom Cotton, who's recently done very well in a little fight with the New York Times, and I think Cotton won that round pretty decisively. | |
| I think that you have a number of other people who are remarkable in their own right. | |
| I think it's very easy to underestimate how much courage it takes. | |
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African-American Leaders Under Fire
00:00:59
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| To, in fact, be willing to live out your life, as the senator from South Carolina has, with all of the attacks he gets. | |
| I mean, if you're an African-American who is willing to stand up and actually do things, and Tim Scott, I think, has shown great steadiness under fire, not backed off an inch, and actually is very much us philosophically. | |
| So I would list him and that kind of group that I think are going to make a big difference. | |
| Ron Johnson from Wisconsin certainly is in that league, understands how deep this fight is. | |
| And I think, frankly, Trump did a good job of picking Mark Meadows because Meadows had always understood and helped create the Freedom Caucus out of his genuine belief. | |
| And I would say that Meadows probably is giving a... | |