Political strategists react to Trump walking out of NBC interview, break down Wisconsin House race

[0:00] Welcome back to The Takeout. Democrats are eyeing Wisconsin's third congressional district as a [0:05] potential flip in November. I spoke to Democratic candidate Rebecca Cook, who is hoping to [0:11] unseat Republican Congressman Derek Van Orden. Take a listen. [0:15] Why do you think the seat can be flipped? [0:18] Yeah, I think, again, it's about running a value-centered campaign that's pulling people [0:23] together. So I think people in D.C. are there so far left or so far right and unwilling to [0:29] work across the aisle to get things done. I'm very much a moderate blue-dog Democrat, [0:33] and I'm proud of that. And I think people are looking for less chaos and division stirs. [0:37] I want to bring in our political panel, Democratic strategist Joel Payne and Republican strategist [0:44] Harrison Fields. Both Joel and Harrison are CBS News political contributors, and we thank you so [0:50] much for being with us. Obviously, I spoke with Cook ahead of President Trump's visit to Wisconsin [0:55] last week. But talk to me, Joel, about the significance of some of these seats, particularly [1:00] in the Midwest and kind of this message from Cook. Obviously, she's trying to strike a more [1:08] moderate or centrist tone we've seen in other races, other Democrats strike a more progressive [1:13] tone. But what do you think will make the difference in terms of Democrats' goals of [1:17] flipping some of these seats? [1:19] Yeah, you know what's interesting about Cook is she actually has both establishment and progressive [1:23] support. She's got support from all over what I would call a continuum of Democratic ideas, [1:30] which makes her pretty unique and that race pretty unique, because there are other races that are [1:35] frontline races where Democrats are fighting amongst themselves about, should we go the progressive [1:40] vision? Should we go the more establishment vision? That's actually not happening in that seat. [1:44] And I actually think that's going to be one of the top pickup opportunities. I think what is going [1:49] to make it a top pickup opportunity is two things. One, Donald Trump is deeply unpopular [1:53] across the country and in Wisconsin on the issues that matter to Wisconsin voters. [1:58] And secondly, Derek Van Orden is someone who has created a lot of controversy and has a lot of [2:04] bad feelings. He's worked up with his own constituents. I mean, he's had a number of embarrassing [2:08] moments here in Washington, D.C. and back at home in Wisconsin. That will all be weaponized [2:13] against him. [2:14] And of course, Harrison staying in Wisconsin. Of course, President, while there, did an interview [2:19] with Meet the Press in the middle of a major rainstorm, which I can tell you was pretty big [2:25] and thunderous, but maybe not as much as this interview. Take a listen to one exchange that [2:31] the president had with NBC's Kristen Welker over election results. [2:37] There's more evidence than ever presented. [2:41] Let's talk about- [2:41] Your elections in this country, we're like a third world country. [2:45] Your elections are crooked and you're crooked and meet the press is crooked. [2:49] And so is ABC and CBS and CNN. [2:53] But Mr. President- [2:54] Your one-sided crooked networks, right? Let's call it quits because I've had enough. [2:58] Thank you, darling. Have a good time. [2:59] Okay. So this started off as an exchange over the anti-weaponization fund. And she questioned [3:05] him about, you know, the contest in California, which as we mentioned, they're still counting [3:10] those results. But you've worked closely with this president. I'm sure you've staffed a number [3:14] of these interviews. What happened here? [3:17] The president, this isn't new for him in terms of his position on the election. This isn't breaking [3:23] news. To continue to belabor the point, Kristen's mind is never going to change. The president's [3:29] mind is never going to change. Why even mention it or allow the interview to get to a place [3:35] where it did? There are a lot of other issues on the American people's mind right now. [3:40] Affordability, housing, the border, the war in Iran. Why talk about this and allow it to [3:45] go this way? I know Kristen well. I'm sure if she had to do it again, she probably would. [3:49] But if you talk about the accessibility to this president, more than any president in the [3:54] United States, you could pick up the phone right now and call the president. He would answer [3:58] and you would probably have a 30-minute interview and you break news right now. A reporter from the [4:02] Daily Mail just texted the president earlier today to ask him about the G7. The president of the [4:07] United States text this reporter back. Talk about access. So this president will go back and forth [4:12] with the media every single day. The media understands the relationship here. He, you know, [4:17] he cut the interview short. I wish he would have stayed because he's able to have these [4:21] conversations. I actually don't. But he's very accessible. I don't think Krista would have done [4:24] that interview differently. I think she did an excellent job in that interview. And first, [4:29] I would say, this is a Wendy, sir. Like, what was he talking about? I mean, Kristen Welker was [4:33] actually trying to move the conversation onto the issues that matter to Wisconsin voters. It was the [4:37] president who didn't want to actually have a focused conversation about what voters care about. [4:42] Donald Trump wanted to talk about the 2020 election, not Kristen Welker. She was fact-checking [4:47] him because he lied about it there, just like he lies about it all the time. And that's [4:51] the, and bigger than all of this, this is Republicans' biggest problem. They have to run [4:55] with this. So whether it's Derek Van Orden in Wisconsin or whether it's Susan Collins in Maine, [5:01] this is who you have to run with. And you can't run away from that type of crazy. [5:04] Your focus is Democrat candidates. My focus is Republican candidates. They're not talking [5:07] about the election of 2020. They're talking about how to make gas groceries rent cheaper. [5:11] They're talking about what the president has done when it comes to, so you're making the point [5:17] that I'm making, not the one you were just making before. [5:19] But still, I would note, though, I mean, even Speaker Johnson was asked about this earlier [5:23] today, and he said something to the effect of, I'm not saying it's rigged with respect to the [5:28] ongoing election count in California, but he did say it stinks to high heaven. So I guess, [5:33] what is the value in kind of keeping this narrative alive here? [5:35] I actually think they should talk about Democrats and how they run elections. I come from a state of [5:41] Florida, where back in the day, we ran elections very bad. Let's mention hanging chads. Ever since [5:47] then, we were scapegoated. Now we run the best elections in the country. It is no excuse why a [5:52] state like California, we are almost a week past election day, and we still don't know who is [5:57] winning that election. It's absolutely absurd. In Florida, when we get a ballot, it's automatically [6:02] logged. We know the election result by 7 p.m. Election, that's like a matter of an hour. Days in [6:10] California, that's a problem. And the longer we take to get election results, it breeds more of [6:15] these questions. And when you sow doubt in the American people's mind because you don't know how [6:20] to run elections, that's a problem. I hope California is able to change that. One person is [6:25] sowing doubt. There are a lot of people asking questions. One person is sowing doubt. Do you think [6:28] it should take a week to get election results? No, it shouldn't. It doesn't mean it's crooked. [6:32] But when you have a long, when you see the votes automatically coming out. I'd love to get a lot of [6:35] things in life faster. It doesn't mean I don't believe what the results are. But you should be, [6:39] it asks questions. Why is it taking so long? And why can't we have mature leadership from the [6:45] person who's supposed to be the most mature leader to actually not make people's distrust of the [6:50] system worse? The president has been extremely consistent on this issue. And whether or not you [6:56] agree with the, that's fine. Consistently wrong. We're going to continue the conversation. We're [7:02] going to go into overtime with this conversation. But we thank you, Joel Payne and Harrison Fields, [7:06] for joining us tonight.