JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick
RNC Chair Checking In After Trump's Victory
Well, the transition is on and, in fact, Donald Trump back in the White House today for the first time since early 2021 and meeting with President Joe Biden talking about the transition in the Oval Office. Let's bring in Michael Watley, the chair of the RNC this afternoon. Michael, it's good to have you back. Let's talk about what this last week has been for Republicans for the RNC. What has this week been like for you? Well, we've got a couple different things going on. First and foremost is we still have elections that have yet to be decided, yet to be called. We are still counting ballots in California, and we've got, you know, counts that are going on in places like Pennsylvania and Arizona and Nevada. So we're trying to make sure that we have all of these votes locked down, and then we can kind of tie up this election cycle with a big red bow. And also the president is moving very aggressively forward with the transition period and making sure that he is making announcements on cabinet secretaries and other officials at the White House that are going to be senior staff for the administration as we move forward. The beautiful thing about that is we are seeing that all of these picks are firmly in line with the campaign positions that he had staked out through the course of the campaign and really truly continuing his focus on rebuilding, you know, our economy, restoring the southern border and ensuring we're going to be strong enough to protect our interests at home and abroad around the world. So I looked about a half hour ago, and I just flipped back on ABC News got it, CNN's got it, that Republicans have 218 officially members of the House. So that looks like the Republicans will keep control of the House. Yes, it's going to be a tight, narrow margin, and we've still got a few more races out in California that have not been called yet. So we're going to kind of wait and see what the final numbers are going to look like. But, you know, thinking we're going to be in that 219, 220, 221 range, and very close. But, you know, look, we are in a position to move forward with the president's agenda. The president's mandate for common sense that he campaigned on is going to be very, very important to get that done through Congress. You know, we had leadership elections in the House and the Senate today. And we are ready to work with the House and the Senate to get the president's nominations through and then get the legislation done that we're going to need to really truly take America, you know, around the corner and put us on a right track. Meanwhile, today, the former president, the president elect, and President Joe Biden meeting today in the Oval Office, what can you tell us about that meeting? Well, I can tell you the president looked absolutely great back in the White House. And really very excited for that. It was a very cordial conversation with Joe Biden. And, you know, we'll wait and see the president, current president, you know, said that he is going to work very hard with his administration to make sure that there is a smooth transition and we hope that that's going to be the case. We're excited about, you know, what's going to happen on January 20th and be able to go in there and start making the changes that need to be made to get the country back on track. You mentioned a couple of minutes ago. I want to go back to something you said about these cabinet appointments and the people that are being considered for these high-level jobs that Donald Trump has named a number of them. So what do you take out of some of the people that he has named officially, publicly, and how does that kind of curb the way that he is going to govern? Well, it shows you that he is very serious about keeping the campaign promises that he made. You know, you look at the national security appointments that have been made with Michael Waltz, you look at, you know, what has happened with, you know, the appointments at the Department of Homeland Security, the fact that we're going to have a very, very strong borders are, the fact that Mike Huckabee is going to be the ambassador to Israel, and Elise Stefanik is going to be the ambassador to the UN. It shows you that he's very serious about protecting our ally Israel, about having a very strong national, you know, security posture, and about securing our southern border. And I think as he goes through the rest of his picks, you're going to see that in every one of these selections, it is about the agenda, and it is about keeping these promises. And he said on day one, he's going, you know, two jobs, secure the southern border, unleash American energy. And I think that you will see throughout the course of all of these appointments, he's never going to waver from the agenda that he ran on. What is the plan now for these next couple of months here, the transition process? Because I mean, you know, you look at some of the dominoes that fell from all over the globe. I mean, in the wake of the election when you had Hamas talking about coming to a ceasefire agreement, the Houthis have talked about backing down. I mean, the prospects for Iran to continue to operate the way they have it by people that I've talked to say that it just isn't going to happen that way anymore. So what does Donald Trump do? What does he focus on now that the elections behind him, he wins the transition process is already in place. What does he focus on for the next couple of months? Well, I think he's going to focus on making sure that this administration is ready to go on day one. You know, the transition team that we are putting together right now is going to make sure that every department, every agency, we are ready to take over on January 20th. The appointments that he is going to be making as soon as he's in office, both the senior level White House staff as well as, you know, the cabinet officials and others really truly are going to be focused on getting that agenda done simultaneously. We're setting up an inauguration committee that is going to make sure that the inauguration festivities are going to go very smooth, very well. But, you know, his focus right now is on making sure that come January 20th, we are in a position to move very quickly to start implementing this agenda that we just want on. Senator John Thune has been named the new Senate majority leader. And there was a hotly contested kind of back and forth couple of different senators throwing their name into the hat, John Cornyn, Rick Scott, a couple of guys that are well known Republican names in the Senate in the high chamber. What do you make of John Thune becoming the next speaker, a majority leader in the Senate? Well, we're excited to have Senator Thune take over that role and be able to start moving. I mean, obviously the first thing he's going to have to do is run the confirmation process for all of the presidential appointments that are going to be made on the 20th and start moving forward, you know, with the various parts of the agenda that the president is going to want to move through when he talks about no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, you know, that's going to require legislative change. When we talk about what's going to happen at the Southern border, a lot of that can be done administratively, he's done it once, he'll do it again, but there are going to be some changes that he wants to see that are going to have to be done legislatively. So we're excited about the opportunity to work with Senator Thune and the rest of the leadership team and, you know, the same thing that's going to happen on the House, you know, with Speaker Johnson and the rest of the House leadership team that we met with today. And so we're excited. I mean, we really truly are at we have an opportunity here to really move forward as a unified Republican Party around an agenda that was completely ratified by the American people. And that doesn't happen very often. So we're excited about the opportunity. Michael Watley, appreciate your time as always. Let's talk again soon. I got a whole bunch of other questions for you. So let's do it again soon. Perfect. Thank you, sir. Yep. You got it. That's Michael Watley, the chair of the RNC. We'll get to your calls. Your text coming up eight hundred eight five nine zero nine five seven eight hundred eight five nine zero W. J. R. It's J afternoon.
November 13, 2024 ~ Chris talks with RNC Chair Michael Whatley about the meeting between President Biden and President-Elect Trump today, about Trump's cabinet choices and about what's happening in the RNC post-election.