President-elect Donald Trump emerged as the Republican presidential nominee after butting heads with other prominent Republican leaders. We talk to a guest who argues that the Trump did not the divide the Republican party — in fact, he united it. We also discuss Trump’s latest picks for positions in his administration, including his choice of Sen. Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General. On Food Friday, we learn about which foods can keep at room temperature– just in time for Thanksgiving potlucks. We also get insights on the top news story of the day.
Featured in this Show
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Trump Names Picks For Three Key Posts
President-elect Donald Trump announced today his picks for two of the top positions in his administration, including one cabinet pick. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is Trump’s pick for Attorney General, and Kansas Representative Mike Pompeo has been nominated to lead the CIA. In addition, Trump also confirmed today he’ll nominate retired lieutenant general Michael T. Flynn as his national security adviser. A political scientist discusses the picks.
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Trump Strengthened The GOP, Commentator Says
Political commentator Fred Barnes comments on various aspects of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, including Republican control of the House and Senate. We hear why he believes Trump strengthened the GOP.
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Conservative Columnist: In The End, Trump Strengthened The GOP
Donald Trump wasn’t supposed to win the presidential election. Afraid he’d fracture the party, many Republicans did everything they could to make sure he didn’t.
Sen. Ted Cruz called Trump a pathological liar. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he was a modern day carnival barker. Former GOP nominee Mitt Romney referred to him as a phony and a fraud.
And then there’s what Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said of Trump. Walker bowed out early in the primary season to, as he said, “encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters could focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner.”
“This is fundamentally important to the future of our party, and, more important, the future of the country,” Walker said when he dropped out in September of 2015.
Despite the political infighting and just about every poll on the planet, the future of the party arrived in the wee hours of Nov. 9 when Trump won 290 electoral votes and the White House.
Trump’s campaign, however bombastic and unorthodox, was a litmus test and a handful of states, particularly in the Midwest, that hadn’t gone Republican in decades suddenly turned red, preserving conservative control in all three branches of government.
Whether they were holding their noses or not, 90 percent of self-identified Republican voters ended up voting for Trump, according to exit polls. That’s the exact same number of Republicans who wound up voting for John McCain in 2008.
In other words, said Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard and a Fox News contributor, “Trump didn’t split the GOP, he strengthened it.”
“I didn’t think Trump could win,” Barnes said. “I thought he was the one Republican, and many others thought this, the one Republican nominee who could not beat Hillary Clinton. I came out of the election thinking that he was the only Republican who could have beaten Clinton. He was the only one who could have won Pennsylvania.”
Pennsylvania is an interesting case study for Trump, Barnes said. Take Erie County for example, located in the very northwest corner of the state. In 2012, Barack Obama won the county by 14,000 votes. In 2016, Trump won the same county by 25,000 votes.
“In order to do that, in order to have that kind of reversal, Trump had to win a lot of people who were not Republicans,” Barnes said.
It was a similar story here in Wisconsin, where 22 counties switched from Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012 to Trump this year.
Trump also appeared to have coattails, another indication that he help strengthen the GOP, said Barnes. Again in Pennsylvania, Trump not only won the state, he pulled in Pat Toomey, the Republican incumbent U.S. senator who, according to Barnes, wouldn’t have won otherwise.
Barnes added that Republicans expected to lose as many as 15 U.S. House seats, but only ended up losing six.
“It would not have had happened without Trump,” he said.
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Food Friday: Room Temperature Potluck Foods
With the holidays just around the corner, we’re in potluck season. Whether it’s a potluck at work, at church, or with friends, it can be hard to come up with a dish to bring that will be okay sitting out at room temperature. Food Friday regular Lori Skelton shares her suggestions for room temperature potluck foods.
Episode Credits
- Rob Ferrett Host
- Veronica Rueckert Host
- Chris Malina Producer
- Haleema Shah Producer
- Amanda Magnus Producer
- David Canon Guest
- Fred Barnes Guest
- Lori Skelton Guest
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