The new RNC Chairman, Michael Whatley from North Carolina, joined me this morning:

Audio:

03-28hhs-whatley

Transcript:

HH: Joined by Michael Whatley, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. Hi, Michael. Welcome. How are you?

MW: Thank you. It’s great to be with you, Hugh. We’re doing really well. It’s a great day to be a Republican. I’ll say that.

HH: It is, but I am worried about, let’s get my worries out of the way. You are a Golden Domer. Now I know you went to UNC and Wake Forest, but you are a Golden Domer. And I checked the schedule. Notre Dame is playing at Navy on October 26th, and then the Seminoles of Florida State are coming in to South Bend on November 9th. Will you give us your full and undivided attention during the football season?

MW: You know, it’ll be hard, but I think that we’re going to have a lot going on. We’ve got 32 weeks to stay focused, and then come, you know, the time for the national championship game, we’ll be able to return to football.

HH: Well, you Golden Domers are always the same. They talk national championship, because they saw one like 20 years ago. Michael, let me start with the obvious thing. You were a part of the debate selection process. And you were general counsel. Do you have any explanation for what NBC did to Ronna McDaniel over the weekend?

MW: It is an absolutely appalling double standard. You know, you think about Jen Psaki walking straight out of the White House over to the MSNBC studio, they had absolutely no heartburn whatsoever with that. You’ve got folks like George Stephanopoulos. You’ve got folks like Chuck Todd, Democrats that have been hired for years on all these networks. And as soon as you have one Republican step on stage, there’s an absolute national meltdown. It really is an appalling double standard.

HH: In 2014, Ronna’s predecessor, Reince Priebus, boycotted MSNBC, called on all GOP elected officials to boycott MSNBC, because they had done an outrageous tweet. You know, Phil Griffin apologized, because that was major shutdown time. Do you think, will you be asking other Republican elected officials and appointed officials to not appear on NBC or talk to NBC, because and unless and until they apologize to Ronna?

MW: No, look, I think we want to be able to use every single available outlet to get our message out to the American people. But people are not going to go on a network that they can’t trust, that they know they won’t be treated fairly. So I think you’re going to see that across the board. We know that we need to find alternative ways to talk to the American voters. We can’t just stay still. We can’t just stop. We have to be able to communicate. You know, one of the great things about 2016 was Donald Trump was able to capture social media and use it effectively to go talk directly to the voters. That’s why we’ve got shows just like yours. That’s why we’ve got shows across a number of different platforms, including Twitter and X where we are seeing shows that are popping up right now as ways for us to be able to get out to the American voters the information that they need to make informed decisions.

HH: Now Michael, you were the general counsel before you became the chairman. And therefore, you would have gone over the contract with NBC and been in the negotiations with NBC. I believe you were in the room when I presented with Salem and CNN, and I believe you lawyered everything. My question, at any time during this whole process, did anyone refer to Ronna McDaniel at NBC as an election denier, a mobster, or a pickpocket?

MW: Not at all. And again, I think it just goes kind of back to what we’re seeing on air right now, is the double standard that they are showing. You know, when it was time for them to try and work with us on business decisions, that’s great. But as soon as she steps on air, we see people that came out of Democratic operations melting down over the fact that they were trying to be fair, maybe. But the double standard we’re seeing today is really unfortunate.

HH: Now Comcast owns NBC. Comcast owns NBC. Comcast is run by Brian Roberts, Cesar Conde runs NBC/Universal. Rebecca runs NBC News. And of course, Carrie Budoff Brown was in charge. Have any of those four people called you, Michael Whatley, to apologize for what went on, the mugging and the election denier lies, and I mean, she was just defamed, and relentlessly defamed for 24/7 in the most hostile workplace I’ve ever seen.

MW: No, I’ve not had any outreach from any of them. And I don’t really expect any outreach that’s going to come to them. Again, we are focused right now on making sure that we are communicating with American families why Republicans are better. And every voter understands today that they were better off with Donald Trump in the White House than they are today with Joe Biden. And that is going to drive those decisions that we’re going to see come November. And so we are really truly focusing on building our operations right now to get ready to get out the vote and protect the vote come November.

HH: Well, I’m going to turn to some very nuts and bolts stuff in a second, but I want to close the loop on Ronna. I think what NBC did is really one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen on TV. And I think they’re doing it, and Noah Rothman agreed with me, in order to anathematize, to make real Trump supporters taboo. I think they’re trying to punish anyone who has anything good to say about Donald Trump. What’s the RNC going to do about that, because it’s going to intimidate people. They’re going to be afraid they’re going to lose their jobs if the network, they’re going to get mugged on reality TV and slandered and defamed. How do you guys deal with that?

MW: We are going to go to every available outlet, every available platform, and we are going to communicate directly with the American voters. You know, the single most important statistic in all of politics is if you have a 5-minute conversation with an undecided voter, they are 6% more likely to vote and vote for your candidate. At the end of the day, we are going to win elections based on tableside conversations based on conversations at work, based on conversations at church. We are going to make sure that we are using any and every available platform to put our message out there and demonstrate to the American people the amazing contrast that we have in front of us right now, where you see on the left, they want to weaken America. They want to weaken families. They do not want to have an American economy in a great place. They don’t want us to stand by our allies. When you look on the right, what you see is that we are going to have secure borders. We are going to have a strong national security posture. And we’re going to have an economy that works for every American family. The contrast is so big, all we need to do is have people understand that they are better off under President Trump. They will be better off under President Trump. And they’re going to go out, and they’re going to vote.

HH: You know, I think the former President is going to win, and I’m going to vote for him, and I’ve always said that. I voted for him in 2016 and 2020. I just, I’m just sick to death of the media, because it’s just, Michael, I don’t know how you can do your job. But let’s talk about going around them. How is the money situation at the Republican National Committee and the Trump reelect, I guess it is a reelect campaign. What’s the money situation?

MW: We are absolutely going to have the resources that we need to get our message out to every American voter from one end of the country to the other.

HH: And will you be focused on the seven swing states like a laser and deploying staff? And if so, when do they start to arrive?

MW: We have already started deploying teams out there. We’ve got political teams that are going to be out there, and their key job, with our victory programs, is going to be recruiting and training the volunteers that are going to make the phone calls, knock on the doors, and make sure that we are having those 5-minute conversations with the voters. We also have put out election integrity teams into a number of different states, and we’re building that apparatus out there right now. These are going to be attorneys and political folks that are going to be recruiting and training attorneys and observers to be able to serve any time we’re watching votes that are being cast, votes that are being counted. We want to make sure that we’re in the room. So those investments have already started. And yes, we know that it’s going to be six, eight states that are going to be absolutely crucial for the presidential. We also know, we’re working with the senatorial committee that we’ve got a number of states like Montana and Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, where we’ve got races that we want to make sure that we’re competing in. And then on the Congressional side with my good friend, Richard Hudson and the NRCC, we’re working right now to make sure that we’re going to have a functional majority in the House going forward.

HH: I think Chairman Hudson’s doing a great job. I know Steve Daines is doing a great job. And you named the big five. Those are the big five Senate races. I want to talk about something, you know, I’ve been in this game for a long time. I’m older than you. But I learned from J.D. Vance after the last campaign why a hard dollar contribution to the RNC or the candidate is so much preferable to a superPAC contribution. You get the rate. You get the best rate on the card. I never figured that out. So what’s the pitch to my audience that they should contribute to the RNC as opposed to, you know, some group they see on TV?

MW: Look, at the end of the day, when it comes to winning elections, it’s about making sure that we are turning out the vote, and that we are protecting the ballot. Those are the two main functions that the RNC has. We have merged our operations with the President’s campaign already. We are working with a unified political front. We’re working with a unified communications team. Our finance teams are working together. Our digital teams, our data teams, every single dollar that investors make with us is going to put lead on target in these key races. And we’re working hand in glove with the Senate Committee and the House Committee. But at the end of the day, as a party, we are able to directly coordinate. Like you said, we get the best rate. We’re going to be working directly with our candidates, coordinating with our candidates, and making sure every dollar is focused on winning in November.

HH: Now you and Ronna and everyone at the RNC built WinRed. And it’s really successful. Is that still the place to go?

MW: That is absolutely the place to go. And look, when you see a joint finance operation like we’ve got with Trump47, is what we’re calling it this year, people can go to Trump47 and be able to make the investments there. They’re going to run through WinRed. And WinRed is going to give you a platform that you can trust to be able to make your small dollar donations to the RNC and to the presidential campaign.

HH: I hope you will keep coming back here, Michael Notre Damer or not, UNC fan or not. But I do want to point out one thing. I hope I never see you on NBC or MSNBC. They’re going to want you. They’re going to beg you to come. And when they called Ronna an election denier, they mean you, me, everyone who voted for Trump. That’s what they meant, right?

MW: Look, I think at the end of the day, we need to communicate across all platforms at all times. But right now, we just need to make sure that the American public is focused on the huge distinction, the huge contrast between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and Republicans and Democrats up and down the ballot.

HH: Well, I hope you go back. Look at Reince’s statement in 2014. It took about one week for Phil Griffin to bend the knee and apologize, because when the Republicans cut off a news network, and I mean cut them off, they realize they’ve just got to stop this MSNBC agitprop. I mean, it’s like new speak from 1984. It’s Brave New World. It’s Darkness At Noon stuff, Michael. Did they read those at Notre Dame and Wake Forest and UNC? I’m just wondering.

MW: Oh, absolutely. Look, I think, you know, we all know that the media is biased. We all know that they play with double standards. And you’ve got to be able to communicate to the American voters, no matter how they do. And that’s the beauty of what Donald Trump has been able to do, and what other candidates have been able to do. If you go through the media, if you go around the media, if you go over the media, whatever vehicle you can find to get your message out to the American voters, because when they’re informed voters, they’re going to vote Republican.

HH: RNC Chair Michael Whatley, thank you. Keep coming back, Notre Dame affiliation or not, I appreciate it.

End of interview.