Steve Elmendorf
Appearances
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I think the state of the party is not as bad as you might say or others might say. I think, you know, it's always hard when you're in the when you do not control the presidency. It is always hard to have. I know a lot of people would like us to have one Uber messenger who tells everybody what to do, but that's not the way politics works.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
And it's not the way with either party that politics works when you don't control the White House. And you have a Congress, House, Senate, different voices. You have governors, different voices. You have people who are thinking about running for president who aren't in any of those bodies who are voices.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
And I think the most important thing, though, is that we've had some elections that we've done well in, and we're about to have more elections. And I suspect the narrative will change when we win the governorship in New Jersey, when we win the governorship in Virginia, when we win the House in 2026, when we do better than expected in the Senate in 2026. And I think that's all going to happen.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
And the reason it's going to happen is, you know, as you know, beginning of the year, I told you I thought Donald Trump was doing pretty well. I don't think he's doing very well right now. And I think in six months, in nine months, he could be doing worse because ultimately he was elected because people wanted him to make the economy better.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
And the economy is not better today than it was when he was elected. And I don't think it's going to be better. I'm not wishing for this, but I don't think it's going to be better in six months.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I think there's a number of people. I think, as I've said to you before, Mark, I think it's really important that we command attention and that we be authentic and that we create some action. And I think that Cory Booker's overnight event did all of that. I think that the Hakeem Jeffries, Cory Booker, you know, sit on the steps of the Capitol did that.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I think many, I think Pete Buttigieg appearing on that three hour podcast the other day did that. I think we have a bunch of people out there who are beginning to figure out that we have to communicate in a different way. And that one of Trump's secret powers and his group's secret powers is they have
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
have gotten out of the mainstream media and gone into different ways and different venues and different avenues of communication. And we're you know, maybe we're too slow on that, but I think we're making progress and we're going to make a lot more progress before we get to the next votes being counted.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I wish that Rahm Emanuel were like king of the world and were convening a war room every morning with all the best professionals and the representatives of all the elected groups and telling them what to do. But he's not. And nobody really is in my experience at the moment. I don't know if it would work, but I do think I think there's a fair amount of coordination.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
It's just that there is not a central dominant strategist driving that coordination. I don't know if that would work. But, you know, again, everybody like one of Trump's secret powers, everybody wants this authoritative figure telling them what to do. And, you know, Democrats at the moment, we don't have that person.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I wouldn't overstate it. I think the you know, I worked on the John Kerry for president campaign that are losing effort in 2004. And I remember us having a big discussion about we couldn't let these groups dictate the the debate schedule for us in the primaries.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
And look, I think we've been all, and both parties have been wrestling with the, particularly when you get into the micro-nominating process or the not general election, is trying to figure out how do you talk to voters and not have people be gatekeepers to define what you say to voters.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
And I just think we have to, this is part of our problem and our challenge is we've got to figure out different channels to communicate to people and not rely on on other people to do it for us. I think our elected officials have to get out there and be, as I've said, more authentic and more in the room with these, not with a group, but with the individuals and make their message.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I think you have to figure out a theory of the case on Trump. I think you have to figure out a communication strategy that is completely different than the traditional communication strategy that all the smart consultants have told you to do in all your previous campaigns. And I think you better figure out what is your relationship with the African-American community.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
And because it is, as we saw in the last presidential election, it is critical in the Democratic nominating process. And if you don't start out with a good relationship and if you're not working that relationship, you have a problem.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
Governor Shapiro, Pennsylvania, I basically every governor that's talking about this, whether it's Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, J.B. Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, I think any governor has got to be taken seriously, because I think there is a feeling in the party that they have gotten it, you know, as Josh Shapiro says, GSD, I get shit done. And I think that the governors are sort of first in line.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I think she's a she I love the former governor of Rhode Island. I think she's got to make this to my previous question about, you know, what's the constituency from Rhode Island that she has relationships with that translates into the national arena? Right.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I also think Pete Buttigieg is a real candidate who's out there every day showing that he has a theory about how to communicate in a way that's different than other Democrats that should be taken seriously.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I worked for a House member who ran for president and it didn't go very well. I think it's highly unlikely we will ever see a House member of either party get elected.
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Why Stephen Miller and JD Vance Have All the Power, Plus Rand Paul's Favorite Trump Admin Disruptors
I think in this environment and I live in Washington and do a lot of work with senators, so But I will say, I think our candidate is likely to not come from Washington, because I think part of our message is going to be Donald Trump and the Republicans run Washington, and we need to run against that.