In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024: Recent Episodes
The Ricochet Audio Network
In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 is a weekly interview program with some of the biggest names and political operatives in politics that examines the generational impact former President Donald Trump had, and is still having, on the Republican Party and takes a deep dive into the dramatic race for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 that is already well underway. In Trump's Shadow; The Battle for 2024 is a companion podcast to the forthcoming by David M. Drucker: In Trump's Shadow; The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP.
This week we conclude our series of interviews from the meeting of the American Conservation Coalition, a right-of-center environmental organization and talk to someone you may have never heard of but should – Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas. Westerman used to be the Majority Leader of the Arkansas House and moved up to Washington by winning Tom Cotton’s old district when he was elected to the...
Source
In a February Pew survey, Americans were asked to rank their priorities of 20 major issues for 2022 and climate change came in 14th. In the partisan divide the survey found only 11% of Republicans even thought it was a priority. (On the Democratic side it was 65%) Former President Donald Trump still holds considerable sway within his party and he pulled the United States out of the Paris Accords...
Source
This week we come to you from the meeting of the American Conservation Coalition, a right-of-center environmental organization and talk to New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. Sununu is currently running for his fourth 2-year term as the Executive of the Granite State and we touch on a variety of issues roiling the news cycle: abortion, redistricting, inflation, the environment and, of course...
Source
Former Congressman Will Hurd has a plan: For the Republican Party; for preparing the United States to withstand a major cyber attack from a foreign adversary; and possibly for running for president in 2024. On this episode, Hurd discusses his new book, American Reboot; An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done, and opens up about his service on Capitol Hill, his years as a clandestine officer...
Source
This week we split our time between the present situation in Europe and the future of domestic politics with Richard Grenell, a long time foreign policy advisor to Republican politicians. First, Grenell offers a look inside his former ambassadorial portfolio of Germany and how Angela Merkel’s policies helped make the current crisis in Ukraine worse than it had it to be and...
Source
Rep. Dan Crenshaw represents the 2nd Congressional District (which includes northwest Houston) and also represents the next generation of Republican leadership. As a member of SEAL Team 3, Crenshaw lost his right eye and damaged the left one due to an IED in Afghanistan in 2012. Lt. Commander Crenshaw (2 Bronze Stars – 1 with V – Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation with valor) was...
Source
Photo: RunSwitchPR/Shutterstock Unlike parliamentary systems, America doesn’t have a single, designated “Leader of the Opposition.” The closest thing we have today is Mitch McConnell, the current Minority Leader of the US Senate. McConnell has been in the Senate for 37 years, the last 15 years as Party Leader. On his shoulders rests the successes of Republican presidents and the failures of...
Source
To understand the long shadow that the former president continues to cast, we go back to the people that put him in the White House in the first place. Is it something the voters saw in Donald Trump that they really liked – or is it something they saw in the other candidates (such as the darling of the establishment, Jeb Bush) that they simply disliked? In 2018 Republican consultant Brad Todd...
Source
Photo: Harvard Kennedy School/St. Martins Press In a decidedly different edition of our show we get to take a look at the state of our politics from the other dugout – from the pollster who took a leave of absence from Harvard to join the 2020 campaign of Joe Biden. John Della Volpe is the author of a new book entitled Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America.
Source
Photo: Shutterstock/Tan Books Since 1974 when Ronald Reagan gave the first keynote address, the Republican Road to the White House has run through CPAC, the annual political conference run by the American Conservative Union. Since 2014 that organization has been run by Matt Schlapp. Schlapp served two years as the White House Director of Political Affairs in the first George W.
Source
Composite photo: Shutterstock and Axiom Strategies. Fresh off the win for his client in the Virginia’s Governor race, Republican strategist and campaign manager Jeff Roe sits down with David Drucker to talk about turning the Commonwealth from +10 Biden to +2 Youngkin, and looks forward to the next two election cycles. Roe is blunt (and explicit) about Joe Biden and the coming midterms...
Source
Robert O’Brien with VP Pence and President Trump (Photo: Trump White House/National Archives) In four years, President Donald Trump went through four National Security Advisors. The last of these, Robert C. O’Brien, may have been the best fit. Prior to the current occupant of the White House, O’Brien has served in every administration of the 21st Century, including Barack Obama’s.
Source
On this edition, a wide ranging interview with Representative Devin Nunes (R – CA22), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee and its Chairman from 2015-19. Among the topics discussed: The Steele Dossier and the current state of the Durham investigation, the politicization of the Intelligence Community and the Department of Justice, the readiness of our military and the aftermath of...
Source
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is, in many ways, a more polished version of Donald Trump. Blunt and outspoken, he has never been shy about engaging in political pugilistics. In this interview he takes on Trump’s post-election behavior, the Biden Administration and his own future and how that intertwines with that of his party and his country. This interview took place on September 23...
Source
In January of 2016 National Review published a cover story titled “Against Trump,” a collection of short essays opposing the eventual nomination (and election) of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States. Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, sat down with David Drucker to review the motivations behind that issue – and what they got right and what they got wrong – concerning what...
Source
Jason Miller, Communications Director for Trump/Pence at the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, NJ in Nov. 2016 (Photo: a katz / Shutterstock) Jason Miller is a longtime GOP operative. He witnessed Donald Trump’s rise to the White House, first as an opponent working for Sen. Ted Cruz (R – TEX) and then as the spokesman for his campaign after he won the nomination. Not without his own share...
Source
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” moderate a town hall with Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump in Charleston, South Carolina on Feb. 17, 2016 (Photo: Mark Peterson/Redux / Redux for NBC News File) Before there was Donald Trump the politician, there was Donald Trump the TV personality. Before there was Joe Scarborough the TV personality...
Source
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is unapologetic about his interest in running for president in 2024. He has made multiple trips to Iowa and New Hampshire this year — and the year isn’t over. In this episode, Cotton talks about his future, Trump’s impact on the future of the GOP, and where the two of them might differ (hint: they don’t agree on everything.)...
Source
Representative Liz Cheney speaking at an anti-abortion/anti-infanticide press conference outside the United States Capitol. (Shutterstock File Photo) Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming began the Trump era a rising Republican star. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, the same year Donald Trump was elected president, and quickly advanced in the GOP congressional leadership.
Source
Mike Pompeo began the Trump era as an opponent of the future 45th president. But by the time Donald Trump exited the White House in January 2021, the former CIA director and former Secretary of State had emerged as perhaps his most trusted Cabinet official. In this episode, Pompeo talks Afghanistan; discusses his experience in the Trump administration, sounds off on the former president’s impact...
Source