Here & Now

Political Panel Gives Thanks

Frederica Freyberg:

In these hyper, uber, uncontrollably partisan times there must be something partisans can come together on, like being thankful in this season of giving. Well, maybe. We check in on that now with our political panel of two, conservative Bill McCoshen and liberal Scot Ross. Thanks for being here.

Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross:

Thanks for having us.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you guys had an assignment and that was to give us some of the things that you are thankful for. We will start off with Bill McCoshen’s first one. That is, that you are thankful that Speaker Nancy Pelosi put Adam Schiff in charge of the impeachment inquiry. Why are you thankful for that?

Bill McCoshen:

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you and your entire audience.

Frederica Freyberg:

Thank you.

Bill McCoshen:

I am super thankful that Nancy Pelosi put Adam Schiff in charge of the impeachment process. I don’t think it could have gone better for Republicans. First of all, I think he’s the least credible congressman in D.C. He was the guy that told us there was collusion hiding in plain sight. Remember that? And there wasn’t. He said that there was evidence that would take down Donald Trump as it relates to this impeachment. There hasn’t been any proven. He’s the least credible guy. Secondly, turns out the book was much better than the movie on this. The poll numbers for the impeachment was growing when they were having secret depositions down in the basement of the House of Representatives. When they put this on TV, Adam Schiff is sort of a creepy-looking guy. Didn’t sort of work out for him. And I think it ultimately played to Republicans’ benefits. And national polls and state polls have now shown that Donald Trump’s numbers have flipped as relates to impeachment.

Frederica Freyberg:

That is true. Your response?

Scot Ross:

My response is that I’m actually very happy that the Democrats are moving forward with the Constitutionally-required provision that they hold corruption accountable in the executive. And, you know, listen, I saw — I just saw a poll, you know, early, middle week, that said 60% of women in the United States want impeachment and removal and that there is a majority of people who want impeachment and removal. I know the Franklin poll had some numbers about — but to believe those Franklin numbers, you have to believe that liberals — you know if you look at the cross tabs, that liberals increased the amount that they — liberals increased — reduced the amount that they are for impeachment by 10% to 15%, as did the 18 to 44. I just don’t think that’s credible with all due respect.

Frederica Freyberg:

Let’s go then to your thankful note. You say that you are thankful that the Democrats have held Trump to account for his endless corruption on this same topic.

Scot Ross:

Absolutely. I mean it’s so important because if the president can get away with this corruption, then anyone can get away with things. It’s a reckless lawlessness that we don’t need. I think that the case has been laid out in plain sight. I mean my God, the president admitted that he — that what he did, his chief of staff admitted what he did. Again, I understand what Bill’s task is. He’s got to muddy up the waters. But who are you going to believe in this? Career public servants who testified under oath with a consistent time line and no derivation in their stories. Or guys who won’t go under oath.

Frederica Freyberg:

What about that?

Bill McCoshen:

Democrats are running a risk here. They’re becoming the party of Chicken Little. The sky isn’t falling. It hasn’t been falling every day since Donald Trump took office in January of 20 — you know, two years ago. So I think they run the risk of not having an agenda and actually getting issues done that people care about. Polling now says that voters say that politicians and the media care more about this than they do.

Frederica Freyberg:

Let me ask you both what you think of Rudy Giuliani?

Scot Ross:

You can hear that? Wait, I can hear it. It’s that sound when the bus backs up, because Trump’s basically getting ready to roll him under that. You know, I guess we’ll have to see what that insurance policy is that he’s been crowing about.

Bill McCoshen:

Rudy’s got sharp elbows. I don’t think Trump’s going to roll him under any bus. Who knows how that’s all going to shake out but I’d rather have Rudy in the foxhole with me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Ok, Scot Ross, you also say that you are thankful that the Democratic Party is the party of inclusion and empowerment. That’s very nice.

Scot Ross:

Well, but let’s not — you know, I’m a white guy, so there’s clearly a lot of work to be done in the Democratic Party, but I am proud to be a member of the Democratic Party where the ideas of individual — respecting individual rights and needs are a part of the party platform. Whether it’s issues of race, LGBTQ, issues of gender. You know, all these issues of diversity are critically important to the Democratic Party. And why it represents people in a much better way than the Republican Party does. One thing in particular. After the House elections in 2018, the Republican — the representation of white men in the Republican House went from 86% to 90%, whereas the Democratic Party, white men, we went from 41% to 38%.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you mean to say that the Republican Party does not empower or include people?

Scot Ross:

I think when you have a guy, a white nationalist, white supremacist like Steven Miller directing policy that are so harmful to so many folks, I think the reason the Democratic Party is more reflective of America is because it’s got more of America in it. You know, and you see that in the policy, you know, in what it’s concerned about.

Bill McCoshen:

Republicans just elected the first black attorney general in Kentucky history a couple weeks ago. I think Donald Trump is going to be proud to run on his record for minorities. Unemployment for blacks and Hispanics is the lowest in history. Their incomes are going up. Those are things that Barack Obama, an African-American president, could not say. Unemployment actually increased while he was president. So I think while I understand Scot’s point and I appreciate it, I think the Republican Party has come a long, long way on this and we’re actually going to be able to compete more favorably in the minority communities in 2020.

Scot Ross:

Until the president is not tweeting by the light of a tiki torch about s___hole countries and things like that, I think the Republicans have a lot of work to do.

Frederica Freyberg:

We will leave that one there. We’ll go next to Bill McCoshen’s last note of thanks that Republicans in Wisconsin successfully pushed for a middle income tax cut.

Bill McCoshen:

This is important. I mean as people get ready to start buying their holiday gifts, they have a little bit more money in their pocket because Republicans insisted that Tony Evers deliver on the promise he made during the campaign which was to lower middle income taxes. He vetoed a bill in February that would have done that. They put it in the state budget a little later in the process. Ultimately the governor signed that. It’s not only good policy. It turns out to be great politics ’cause not a single Democrat voted for those bills, either the one in February or the one in June. They’re going to see information about that in their campaigns in 2020 for sure.

Scot Ross:

The Republicans are hauling Tony Evers to court because he wanted to increase education spending. That’s all you need to know about the economic priorities of the Republican Party.

Frederica Freyberg:

We leave it there. You guys have a great holiday weekend.

Scot Ross and Bill McCoshen:

You too.

Frederica Freyberg:

Thank you.