Minnesota's Election Results: Analysis and Insights with David Fitzsimmons

[00:00:12] Welcome to The Breakdown with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics, policy, and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr.

[00:00:19] And I'm Michael Brodkorb.

[00:00:20] We are pleased to be back to our regularly scheduled programming looking at the weeks and months following the 2024 election cycle. Today, we are excited to be joined by David Fitzsimmons, who received our first virtual round of applause on a recent episode. David is a good friend of ours and someone who has taught me almost everything I know in the world of politics over the years. He has served in the world of politics over the years.

[00:00:39] He's been joined as Chief of Staff and Campaign Manager for Congressman Tom Emmer, Jim Hagedorn, Brad Finstead, and Congresswoman Michelle Fishbach.

[00:00:46] With David, we are going to break down Republican's surge to success, achieving their trifecta in Washington, D.C., and what that meant for our margins here in Minnesota.

[00:00:56] We will break down what he was hearing and seeing on the campaign trail in 2024 and discuss the million-dollar question, what do Republicans need to win statewide in Minnesota?

[00:01:06] Then Michael and I will get into the recent Trump cabinet appointments, who was included, who was not, and what it could all mean for the upcoming administration.

[00:01:14] Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show.

[00:01:17] We are joined now by one of my favorite people in politics, but one of my favorite people ever, David Fitzsimmons. Welcome, David. Thanks for coming.

[00:01:25] Thank you for having me, Becky.

[00:01:27] You bet.

[00:01:29] Very nice.

[00:01:30] Very nice.

[00:01:30] I'm here too, David.

[00:01:31] It's great to see you too, Michael.

[00:01:33] Thank you so much.

[00:01:34] We are just a week past the election now.

[00:01:37] Last week, Michael and I really sat down and went through-

[00:01:41] And California only has one more week to count votes.

[00:01:43] That's right.

[00:01:43] There you go.

[00:01:44] No, on the edge of our seats of what the California outcome is going to be there.

[00:01:48] But we've been analyzing the results a little bit and you have been an expert in all things Congress and all things Republican politics in Minnesota.

[00:01:58] So really excited to get your insight on things.

[00:02:00] Want to start by Michelle Fischbach, absolutely crushing it, winning by over 40%.

[00:02:07] And as we talked about having the chaos that sometimes is in CD7, she really just came out on top.

[00:02:14] Talk to us a little bit about that district and how that margin is just 41%.

[00:02:19] I think it just really shows that she does fit where Western Minnesota is in the 7th Congressional District.

[00:02:27] She got 71% in the general election.

[00:02:31] Her opponent had actually said a couple of weeks before that if he got 35%, he would consider it a win.

[00:02:38] I think if you're going to set a very low bar as a win, you should set it low enough to get over it.

[00:02:44] He got 29%.

[00:02:46] So he was off his low goal by six points.

[00:02:49] But all that aside, she does it by putting together the right place to be on policy and politics in the district.

[00:02:57] And I think that's been validated.

[00:02:58] It was validated in the primary election where she got 65%.

[00:03:02] So she's very clearly demonstrated that amongst wider Republicans, she's where she needs to be.

[00:03:07] Amongst the general public, she's where she needs to be.

[00:03:09] And she's continued to do that through building over the years and not easy years coming in right in the middle of some of the COVID situation and presidential changeover number one.

[00:03:21] Now it's going to be presidential changeover number two and really going through that.

[00:03:26] And I would just add, too, and she she really continues to be a leader in D.C.

[00:03:31] I she was in this past Congress.

[00:03:33] She was on four committees.

[00:03:34] I believe that she's the only member of Congress that's on four committees.

[00:03:38] So she's a workhorse and gets things done for Western Minnesota.

[00:03:41] And they validated that with the vote.

[00:03:44] Absolutely.

[00:03:45] And now I know the official side and the campaign side are different.

[00:03:50] You serve in the official capacity as chief of staff for Brad Finstead down in CD1.

[00:03:54] He also came out very successful.

[00:03:57] I assume that what happened on the campaign side also reflects what you're hearing from constituents in the great service that he is giving on the official side out there in Washington, D.C.

[00:04:07] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:04:07] On the official side, he had a fantastic performance.

[00:04:10] We when when we looked back when he won two years ago, we generally had to go back to 2004 to find the numbers in that district that had been reached by Gil Goodnick on his last reelect on this last election.

[00:04:27] By last week, he actually performed better in in many of the counties than even that 2004 number.

[00:04:35] So then you have to go back to the high point of Goodnick 2002, which was, of course, a stunningly good year for Republicans.

[00:04:44] One of the things people have talked a lot about is Blue Earth County.

[00:04:47] Finstead won Blue Earth County convincingly with by 2000 votes and Trump carried it by a slightly narrower margin, but he carried it.

[00:04:57] And Blue Earth County is if you're not winning as a Democrat in Blue Earth County.

[00:05:01] Yep.

[00:05:03] There's not a lot of places you're winning in greater Minnesota.

[00:05:05] And that's what Mankato it has colleges.

[00:05:08] It's very traditional, but a blue collar.

[00:05:11] And even in the rural areas of Blue Blue Earth County is really a lot of the old hotbed of some of the farmer union types and the old DFL.

[00:05:19] And they got quite frankly, they got smoked.

[00:05:21] And that's where Walls lived.

[00:05:24] That's where Walls taught.

[00:05:25] And that's so I think that was a big county to flip.

[00:05:29] To flip.

[00:05:32] David, one of the I'm curious if this is reflected in the election results, particularly in Blue Earth.

[00:05:37] One of the points that the Becky and I discussed prior to Election Day was the fact that Walls being picked as the running mate of Vice President Harris would energize Republicans in some ways.

[00:05:49] Based on some of the election results that happened.

[00:05:52] Is that your perspective on the ground being so close in these races?

[00:05:56] You were working so close?

[00:05:57] Yeah, that is my perspective.

[00:05:59] I think that there is a lot.

[00:06:01] There are a lot of people that don't feel connected with Governor Walls.

[00:06:05] And I think that disconnect has only grown as he ran on the one Minnesota platform and really just over and over again has become increasingly partisan and really one sided.

[00:06:22] That's really turned a lot of people off.

[00:06:24] The other thing I would bring up to and let's be honest, I think we saw this when Senator Klobuchar ran for president.

[00:06:32] We saw it when Governor Walls ran for national office.

[00:06:37] The national media is not quite as kids gloves when it comes to Democrat politicians in Minnesota.

[00:06:44] And I would hope that would be maybe at some point a self-reflection of Minnesota media that really it takes Democrats in Minnesota running for national office in order for them to get real scrutiny in order for them to really get vetted.

[00:07:00] I just don't think that's a good place for our Minnesota institutional media to be.

[00:07:06] And I have always counted myself as a person that actually believes in a strong free press and one that is fair and balanced and accurate.

[00:07:15] And I would challenge them to be a little self-reflective of this is now two in a row.

[00:07:19] So that is a pretty clear demonstration of that.

[00:07:22] I think that's a really interesting point.

[00:07:24] And we'll get back to some of the Minnesota results in a second.

[00:07:27] But I think that the Minnesota press was also maybe a little surprised of their lack of access to Walls when he did get escalated to this position.

[00:07:37] I do in the Star Tribune and their daily newsletter had a running count for a while of how many days it's been since they've been able to talk to him or ask him questions.

[00:07:46] So it will be interesting now that he is back here.

[00:07:48] He is serving as governor for the remainder of his term.

[00:07:51] It will be interesting to see if that changes the relationship at all.

[00:07:55] If they treat him any differently, time will tell.

[00:07:58] But a good perspective that I hadn't really thought much of.

[00:08:01] Staying on congressional results.

[00:08:03] So I did want to get your perspective.

[00:08:05] You've been out in Washington for nearly a decade now seeing the different members from both sides of the aisle, how they work, how they excel, where they fail.

[00:08:14] But CD2 is one that's always been in the top 10 closest races in the country, battleground states that both sides are going to be investing money in.

[00:08:23] Michael and I both thought that Angie Craig was going to come out on top by slimmer margins than she did.

[00:08:29] But she did have the narrowest margin in congressional wins, but it was still 14 points.

[00:08:34] Talk to us a little bit about what you've heard on the ground or what that feeling was and why that might be the case that Angie Craig.

[00:08:41] I, Michael and I both very much think that she serves her district well.

[00:08:45] She's been a very good purple member, bucked her party quite a bit.

[00:08:48] But curious because you have a little bit more of an insider insight, what you think about her and how she just nailed it as well.

[00:08:55] I think there's two things. I'll start a little bit on your track, the micro side of it.

[00:09:01] Angie Craig as a Congresswoman and as a campaigner and she, she's a hard worker and she, she doesn't take a lot of time off on doing this.

[00:09:13] She's obviously very intent on keeping this position. And I know that may sound obvious, but it's not always.

[00:09:22] It's following through and showing up and doing the hard work through a campaign.

[00:09:27] And that's one of the things when I talk to people about way, if they're thinking about running for Congress or statewide, I say you are going to make a choice that you're going to start running.

[00:09:38] And if you're successful, get this job. And the day before you do that is your last true free day until you're done.

[00:09:48] Because if you're really committed to it, there just is no such thing as real time off.

[00:09:53] You're always one, one phone call away from any number of issues that are going to pop up.

[00:09:59] And even if they don't, you're constantly wondering when they will and when and if they will.

[00:10:04] And you can get away with, with not doing something or other, but it'll all add up.

[00:10:09] So it really takes a lot of commitment.

[00:10:11] And I, I am loathe to admit when, when a Democrat is a good politician and I say that in the most generic way as possible, but Angie Craig is a good politician.

[00:10:21] And she, she really doesn't stop.

[00:10:23] Now, I will say, I think there's another side of it. That's obviously the, the more macro side of things and the continued solidification of the divide and in Minnesota.

[00:10:35] And I'll go back to, I definitely don't think that's something it's, it's certainly no one thing, but I don't think our current governor and Lieutenant governor ticket has done anything to alleviate that in Minnesota.

[00:10:49] It's certainly something that is going on nationally, but I think it's going on as intractably in Minnesota as any place that I have seen where the core metro is generally solidifying as Democrat and everything outside of it as Republican.

[00:11:06] And I just have not seen anything that is running strongly counter to that as a, as a bright line.

[00:11:14] Michael, you would know of thinking of looking at a lot of people.

[00:11:18] Now they look at the maps that are red and blue.

[00:11:20] That's a very overly simplistic way to look at it.

[00:11:24] If you look at traditionally, you would look at like precinct maps and you would have them gray scaled where they're going from a very light red to a very dark red.

[00:11:32] They're going from a very light blue to a very dark blue.

[00:11:35] And if you look at some of these old precinct maps from 10 years ago, they would be unrecognizable today.

[00:11:42] And, and largely what you'll see is almost all dark blue and a very narrow sliver of any kind of gradation and then dark red.

[00:11:53] And there's just no, there's no in between.

[00:11:56] And I think that's a big thing that's happening in our country.

[00:11:59] I, but I think it's happening in Minnesota and perhaps even more so than the national average.

[00:12:05] And I don't know that's the best thing for us as a healthy state in general, as a, as a born and bred and lifelong Minnesotan.

[00:12:15] And it's, it, it is my favorite thing to see.

[00:12:18] One of the things that I would say to that point is when I first did redistricting in 2000, and then I was a part of it in the 2010 cycle, the argument I made that if you looked at the data where the population was growing, it was, it'd be impossible for Republicans to not make gains.

[00:12:35] And David, when you mentioned the 2002 election, I was at the state party in 2002 and we made a bunch of gains.

[00:12:42] And that's because the population data was on our side.

[00:12:45] And at a larger point, I think we can talk to you on another episode about some of those population trends, because the concern I have is for Republicans to win statewide, they have to start making some inroads into, you can only run up scores so much in outstate Minnesota.

[00:12:59] Because eventually, while the congressional districts are apportioned internally the same way, and they're allocated to the population, winning statewide as much is a challenge, particularly when Democrats start elections with strong bases like they have in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

[00:13:16] And you're right, I think it's incumbent upon Democrat and Republicans kind of reading through a little bit what you're saying, I'm not trying to mischaracterize it, but we have to find some way of a middle ground so there can be more of a way in which that gradient just doesn't go from black and white or blue to red, that there's literally some purple and that exists.

[00:13:34] And this past election cycle, and Becky pointed out in the last episode, reading a tweet from Tom Hauser, we no longer have any, what I would consider to be, Tom Hauser considered to be swing congressional districts in the state.

[00:13:46] The margins were just astounding.

[00:13:48] Yeah.

[00:13:49] And that's something too, for those that maybe don't follow this as closely every cycle, for the most part, through most of my memory of Minnesota,

[00:14:00] we've generally had what were considered three or four of our eight districts were usually regarded as a swing district.

[00:14:10] And really my guests sitting here today, of course, two years is a long way from now.

[00:14:17] I was saying that about people asking predictions on the election two months ago.

[00:14:21] I'm loathe to make predictions of two years.

[00:14:23] But if I had to guess today, I would say we may have no targeted races and no swing, no true swing congressional races in Minnesota.

[00:14:30] And again, that was, it was long held that we were going to have somewhere between two and four every cycle.

[00:14:38] Isn't the lesson though, since you're the architect of some of this, that maybe David Fitzsimmons is just a bit too successful?

[00:14:44] Isn't that, but Becky, going back to your point, when, I just want to make sure I heard you correctly.

[00:14:49] So when Craig's margin of victory, what, 13, 14 points, was that the closest margin of victory?

[00:14:57] For any congressional seat.

[00:14:59] Oof.

[00:15:00] Yeah.

[00:15:00] In Minnesota.

[00:15:01] David's point is really well taken.

[00:15:03] Yeah.

[00:15:03] Finstads was almost 18.

[00:15:04] This was a district.

[00:15:06] I read Jim Hagedorn's when we flipped it in 2018.

[00:15:09] And it was-

[00:15:10] Oof was in a good way.

[00:15:11] It was a good one.

[00:15:13] Yeah.

[00:15:13] And so that went from a half a point to 18 points, two bookmarks in my life, six years apart.

[00:15:23] Yeah.

[00:15:24] Six years.

[00:15:25] Six years.

[00:15:25] So this is not really saying, okay, this is decades and decades of change.

[00:15:30] This is, a lot of this has happened, you know, very quickly.

[00:15:33] And it has a lot of components to it.

[00:15:35] One of which I think where you talk about like strategically or tactically with Republicans,

[00:15:40] a lot of times we were also, I would say, especially in the last 10 to 15 years, we were

[00:15:46] getting advantages over Democrat districts being overwhelmingly Democrat and enough of

[00:15:54] somewhat lean Republican districts that we could win.

[00:15:58] And so when you looked at Congress, when you looked at legislative seats, we could get

[00:16:02] some of that advantage and even on the electoral college.

[00:16:05] And now we're looking at a election cycle where the, looks like, again, if I can rag on California.

[00:16:14] Please do.

[00:16:15] Who knows when you're done counting, but it seems pretty clear that Donald Trump will win the

[00:16:19] national popular vote that constantly gets brought up.

[00:16:23] And the, if you look at numbers nationally cumulative, so they do the same thing with

[00:16:30] Congress, they're basically proportional to what the seats are, where there is no Republican

[00:16:35] advantage because we're essentially the districts have become so bifurcated.

[00:16:40] And I would really push back to the, on the, everybody loves to talk about gerrymandering.

[00:16:46] And of course that is a situation in certain places, but there's a lot of places where it's

[00:16:50] not.

[00:16:51] And that largely isn't what's happening.

[00:16:53] That's largely not what's happening in Minnesota.

[00:16:55] Minnesota is usually regarded as one of the least gerrymandered states out there.

[00:17:01] And it's happening here.

[00:17:02] When you look at those, I, at the, when I did added up the cumulative Republican and

[00:17:07] Democrat congressional votes in Minnesota, the Democrats beat us out by about six tenths of a

[00:17:14] percent.

[00:17:15] That's it.

[00:17:15] So that's a great data point.

[00:17:17] And it's really good.

[00:17:18] And so not only does it show how close the state is, but it shows that really that is,

[00:17:23] those are balancing out through these districts.

[00:17:26] So even with them having completely lopsided results, when you look at the state as a whole,

[00:17:32] that that's where it is ending up.

[00:17:34] And so that is just reflective of a lot of change that has happened where people live.

[00:17:40] And again, I would say some of that is great.

[00:17:42] People want to live where they want to live.

[00:17:43] But I do worry that there's some of it is an outgrowth of this.

[00:17:47] You've seen some of the things like don't go to your family's house if they're on the

[00:17:52] other side in this craziness.

[00:17:54] And that's just, that's where I say is incredibly unhealthy.

[00:17:58] It absolutely is.

[00:17:59] I wouldn't go to Becky's house because she doesn't serve turkey.

[00:18:04] Thanksgiving's the one time.

[00:18:05] The conversation would be pleasant, David.

[00:18:07] The conversation would be pleasant and delightful.

[00:18:09] Um, David, we chatted a little bit about the popular vote and I was for one surprised that

[00:18:16] Trump not only won that, but also for the first time, I think since 1988 surpassed 50%.

[00:18:22] So true majority there.

[00:18:24] I think he might just be just below that now.

[00:18:26] Okay.

[00:18:27] But close enough.

[00:18:28] Again, California is still counting.

[00:18:30] Oh, that's right.

[00:18:31] California is still counting.

[00:18:31] Yeah.

[00:18:33] But curious of your take of looking at this national results.

[00:18:36] Obviously Minnesota still, we did lose the state Senate special.

[00:18:40] The house is tied.

[00:18:42] Our Congress, we were four, four, but curious about your take of kind of what you guys were

[00:18:48] hearing and seeing, talking to voters about the issues and really why Trump was so successful

[00:18:54] this time around.

[00:18:56] Maybe surprising some folks, obviously sweeping the swing states and winning the popular voter

[00:19:01] and being so successful.

[00:19:03] What kind of issues?

[00:19:04] Is it, is it the economy stupid?

[00:19:06] What is that really?

[00:19:07] What it is in greater Minnesota and rural Minnesota being different than the twin cities, but what

[00:19:12] are you feeling and hearing from those voters of where things went this cycle?

[00:19:15] I think a lot definitely was the economy.

[00:19:18] And I think that to me, from my point of view, that was something I was perplexed at exactly

[00:19:28] what the Harris walls and the Democrats at large message on that was.

[00:19:33] There was, at times, saying you're wrong.

[00:19:39] The economy is great.

[00:19:40] There were times saying it was bad, but we made it better.

[00:19:46] There were times, okay, we're turning the page.

[00:19:50] We're a change agent and we're going to make it better now.

[00:19:53] We don't know why we didn't do it before.

[00:19:55] I really think that definitely the economy was a huge issue.

[00:20:00] It stayed a huge issue.

[00:20:01] And I never got the sense that Democrats knew exactly what to do with that.

[00:20:05] And even to the point of, and again, people that have followed this stuff long enough, I've

[00:20:10] found it absolutely fascinating hearing Democrats go after tariffs, which largely have been for

[00:20:19] decades.

[00:20:20] Usually even a union Democrat position was tariffs.

[00:20:25] And then arguing that increasing tariffs was going to be passed down to the consumer.

[00:20:30] However, I trickle down.

[00:20:33] Yeah.

[00:20:33] So tariffs are going to be passed down to the consumer, but tax policy and corporate tax

[00:20:37] policy is not going to be passed down to the consumer.

[00:20:39] Got it.

[00:20:40] So I just there.

[00:20:42] And look, I get it.

[00:20:43] All politics is you got to spin your spin.

[00:20:45] But I think that was just a tough spot that I just don't think they ever really figured out

[00:20:51] what to do about it.

[00:20:52] And it just went from variations of ignoring it, denying it.

[00:20:58] I said, I'm like, say what you will about Bill Clinton, but he knew enough to say, I

[00:21:02] feel your pain.

[00:21:03] And that was sure.

[00:21:06] And one of the things that's a great bill, a number of reasons, good points.

[00:21:10] It was Bill Clinton.

[00:21:11] First of all, people need to, if people need to talk about Bill Clinton gave the keynote address

[00:21:15] at the Democratic National Convention in 1988.

[00:21:18] He was practically booed off the stage in 1988.

[00:21:20] Two years later, or four years later, he was the nominee accepting nomination.

[00:21:25] But after the defeat of the Democrats in the 88 election, Clinton was a leader in setting

[00:21:31] up the DLC, the Democratic Leadership Conference, to help understand and have do some activity

[00:21:35] in understanding why they lost some of these races and what was going on.

[00:21:40] Becky and I had, I think, a really grounded perspective.

[00:21:43] Obviously, I had supported Harrison Walls.

[00:21:45] It wasn't a bet I was making.

[00:21:47] I wanted them to win for reasons.

[00:21:48] And it wasn't like a Vikings bet or a Vikings game on Sunday or something.

[00:21:52] But one of the points...

[00:21:53] It is weird now that when we say it wasn't a bet, that's a big thing because apparently

[00:21:57] a lot of people were betting.

[00:21:58] Yes.

[00:21:59] But one of the points that kind of grounded Becky and I's conversation on it was when

[00:22:03] we had John Rillow and Mark Drake on.

[00:22:04] And Mark Drake said that this race shouldn't be close because of the right track, wrong

[00:22:08] track.

[00:22:09] And that he thought that people were in a little bit of a sugar high about what was going on.

[00:22:14] And he kept going back to that right track, wrong track.

[00:22:16] Now, what's interesting, I think, which is something that should come out at some point

[00:22:19] is I don't think the polling was necessarily wrong, but it's certainly, I don't think, accurately

[00:22:25] predicted the sheer strength and volume of the Republicans' win.

[00:22:30] And that's an issue I've long had with polling prior to the arrival of Donald Trump was that

[00:22:36] Republicans sometimes get underrepresented in polls.

[00:22:39] And so it's interesting.

[00:22:41] I want to be sensitive of your time, David.

[00:22:43] Just one question before we close things out here.

[00:22:45] You are, and I said this before we recorded it, and I meant this as a compliment, you are

[00:22:49] a congressional know-it-all.

[00:22:51] And I mean that in a polite way.

[00:22:52] You are a political know-it-all in a sense that, and I mean that as a compliment, you are

[00:22:57] incredibly smart.

[00:22:57] You are someone who understands Washington, understands local politics, understands state

[00:23:02] politics.

[00:23:03] But you're someone who spends a lot of time on the campaign trail.

[00:23:05] And the numbers that you just ran, I was curious because you ran the numbers on the

[00:23:09] congressional.

[00:23:10] I was keeping track.

[00:23:11] I was told there would be no math in this episode.

[00:23:13] But I think what you're saying is even though that there was these not competitive congressional

[00:23:19] districts, Democrats statewide voting for Congress, please correct me if I'm wrong, had a slight

[00:23:25] edge, a small percentage edge.

[00:23:27] If you look statewide, Republicans, the margin was closer.

[00:23:31] I'm of the opinion that in order for Republicans to win statewide, there needs to be a coalition

[00:23:38] built of Republicans who may have not written someone in, may have supported someone else.

[00:23:44] That's the secret sauce for Republicans to win.

[00:23:47] Push back.

[00:23:48] Tell me if I'm right.

[00:23:49] Tell me if I'm wrong.

[00:23:50] If you have pursued the life you had and you were told there would be no math and believed

[00:23:54] it, you really made some miscount.

[00:23:56] Politics and elections are absolutely math.

[00:24:00] They're one of the purest forms of math.

[00:24:03] If you have more than the other person, you are called the winner.

[00:24:08] If you have less.

[00:24:09] Slow down.

[00:24:09] You're called the loser.

[00:24:11] Okay, good.

[00:24:12] There's the whole quote, Becky.

[00:24:13] So, of course, you have to come up with the right number of votes.

[00:24:18] And so, even when I say, you know what I said about the congressional races.

[00:24:22] So, if you take those cumulatively, and I didn't run the numbers, but I heard that the

[00:24:27] numbers were very even in the statewide cumulative totals for the legislative, for the House, Minnesota

[00:24:36] House as well.

[00:24:37] So, then you look at those and say that this state, we're very close in numbers, but that

[00:24:42] isn't one person running, as opposed to, say, a person running for governor or a person, you know, running

[00:24:48] for U.S. Senate.

[00:24:50] And so, you can see that generically, there are enough votes for Republicans, but a person

[00:24:56] needs to put together those people, and they have to be able to appeal and speak to them in a way that

[00:25:05] does appeal to them and speak to them, but it has to be a genuine way that they believe.

[00:25:11] You bring up Donald Trump, I think there's a lot of people that may have varying feelings about Donald

[00:25:17] Trump, but a lot of people at least appreciate what they see as direct, and they know what they're,

[00:25:23] they know he's really saying something, he's talking to them.

[00:25:27] Just some of the things, even just his press availability, and even in the long-form podcasts that he was

[00:25:33] doing, I think that was a really big contrast to with what was happening on the Harris-Walls ticket.

[00:25:40] And in Minnesota, absolutely.

[00:25:42] You have to be able to, you have to be able to appeal and get the support of usually a majority

[00:25:49] of people, or at least, or at least more than your next closest opponent.

[00:25:53] You have to figure out a way to make that as, as broad as possible.

[00:25:57] And you do things by being honest, and people have to decide where they're at from that, but

[00:26:01] I, I've always been of the belief that don't go out of your way to make enemies,

[00:26:06] because do the right thing and you'll make enough by accident.

[00:26:09] So now you tell me, but so I think someone that runs a Republican to be successful, they just,

[00:26:14] I, that's what you have to do.

[00:26:16] You have to have, you have to, you know, have a platform that you can run on that can speak

[00:26:20] to a majority of Minnesotans.

[00:26:22] And it doesn't mean that they're all necessarily going to agree with it, but hopefully they agree

[00:26:27] with enough of it for you.

[00:26:28] And it is math.

[00:26:29] You have to have more than, than the Democrat gets.

[00:26:33] You are wicked smart.

[00:26:34] You're telling me there's a chance.

[00:26:36] There's a chance.

[00:26:38] David, thank you so much for giving us so much of your time.

[00:26:41] We know you have a busy life out there, busy week in DC.

[00:26:45] We're excited for the DC trifecta and certainly need to have you back on to chat about all

[00:26:50] the good things going on with Republicans having majorities out there.

[00:26:55] And hopefully I'm very optimistic of what can get done.

[00:26:58] Thank you for all you do for Minnesotans, for the voters and constituents, and for lovely

[00:27:03] little podcasters like us.

[00:27:05] We're really grateful.

[00:27:05] So thanks for joining us today and have a good one.

[00:27:08] Thank you guys.

[00:27:09] Appreciate it.

[00:27:09] Thank you.

[00:27:10] Thank you, David.

[00:27:13] Becky, we just interviewed one of the smartest people that I think we've ever had on this

[00:27:19] podcast.

[00:27:19] David Fitzsimmons, your take.

[00:27:22] Like I said, David is truly one of my favorite people in general.

[00:27:26] I've had the privilege of working for him and with him for five-ish years over the last decade

[00:27:32] plus and just learned so much from him.

[00:27:35] From what a good wine and whiskey is to how to analyze politics.

[00:27:40] He is just an enigma in this political world and so grateful to have his time and just

[00:27:46] hear from him on the messaging side, on the numbers.

[00:27:50] And I loved what he said about how elections truly are math in its truest form.

[00:27:55] And it's something that we really don't give that credence to.

[00:27:58] We don't talk about all that much.

[00:28:00] But it was fascinating to talk to him.

[00:28:02] The breakdown of the congressional numbers in Minnesota, how close that was.

[00:28:06] Because I've not looked into that myself and not thought about it.

[00:28:10] I haven't seen or read it anywhere.

[00:28:11] And just how fascinating.

[00:28:13] And it does give me a little optimism about Republicans statewide if we can ever get our

[00:28:18] act together.

[00:28:19] If we can get those coalitions together, if we can get a candidate, I could talk to him

[00:28:23] all day.

[00:28:24] Yes.

[00:28:25] And this is one of the things that's so great about this podcast that I just continue to

[00:28:29] appreciate.

[00:28:30] I supported Harris in Walls.

[00:28:33] And, but we spent, ever since we made that decision, we used our podcast to create this

[00:28:39] space where I'm not pushing an agenda.

[00:28:41] You're not pushing an agenda.

[00:28:42] We're being honest about who we are.

[00:28:43] It is our name.

[00:28:44] We can do that.

[00:28:45] We can push agendas.

[00:28:46] We're trying to do things good to provide and explain things.

[00:28:49] That interview, the interaction between you and him and your data point on Angie Craig and

[00:28:54] the closeness of her margin, coupled with what David was saying, that's the type of analysis

[00:28:59] that is just, I was in awe because with the way you guys are putting it together.

[00:29:03] That's the type of analysis that, that we can do and we can do in this podcast.

[00:29:07] And I'm so appreciative that David came on.

[00:29:09] I'm appreciative that any guest comes on, but David just spent his, his impact on Minnesota

[00:29:14] politics is just profound.

[00:29:16] And you look at these congressional margins and you look at his support.

[00:29:20] What I also appreciate about David is that David is big picture, very much like you.

[00:29:25] You are the, you obviously have a core set of beliefs in what you believe, but both you

[00:29:29] and David in much more in that Republican camp than I would necessarily identify.

[00:29:35] You guys are so willing and interesting to talk to you because you're not judgmental.

[00:29:41] You're curious about stuff and you bring that curiosity and you explain things.

[00:29:44] And it's so appreciative to be on the receiving end of that, but you and David are wicked smart.

[00:29:49] And that was just hands down.

[00:29:50] That analysis that you had pulled together on the last episode, coupled with what he did.

[00:29:54] Boy, that's a really fascinating way to look in some of these numbers.

[00:29:58] And the only thing I'm disappointed about is that it was recorded on a podcast and I can't

[00:30:02] go out and just steal it myself because I would sound really smart, but great job in doing

[00:30:06] that.

[00:30:07] Just great job.

[00:30:08] Thank you.

[00:30:08] I appreciated that.

[00:30:09] But maybe you want to take back your comments about me not being judgmental after we get

[00:30:14] through our next segment, because I might have some judgment.

[00:30:17] What are you judging me on?

[00:30:18] No, on this next segment, we're going to get into not judging you.

[00:30:21] Okay, good.

[00:30:22] Sorry, I'm a little punchy, Becky.

[00:30:24] No, no.

[00:30:25] I'm a little punchy, but no.

[00:30:26] Let's take it away.

[00:30:27] All right.

[00:30:28] We're going to continue on Republican politics, this time turning to D.C.

[00:30:33] We have a new president-elect, former President Donald Trump, coming back for another term.

[00:30:39] And the last week and especially the last 72 hours have been filled with names and appointments.

[00:30:45] And obviously, these cabinet positions largely have to be approved by Congress.

[00:30:50] And so these are just currently names being appointed.

[00:30:54] But I want to get into it a little bit because there's some interesting things going on here.

[00:31:00] First, I want to just off the bat, a couple people that are not in the running.

[00:31:04] President Trump tweeted last week that he is not considering Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo for any positions.

[00:31:12] Disappointing for me on the Nikki Haley side in particular.

[00:31:15] But also, Pompeo was a good member of his administration last time around.

[00:31:19] I know they butted heads quite a bit, so it's not outright surprising.

[00:31:23] But those two are not being included.

[00:31:25] Tom Emmer has said—oh, go ahead.

[00:31:27] I want to get your perspective on Nikki Haley.

[00:31:30] Expand if you can just a little bit more.

[00:31:33] I have something to add to that, but I wanted to get your perspective on it.

[00:31:35] We talked a little bit before the end of the election or before the end—yeah, before the end of the election—

[00:31:41] Nikki Haley had mentioned in an interview that she had not been contacted by Donald Trump or his team since June.

[00:31:48] And she expressed some of the concerns she had about how the Trump campaign was talking to women or just simply not talking to women,

[00:31:56] just not giving as much attention to female voters as they should have.

[00:32:00] I was very surprised about that then and surprised about this now.

[00:32:04] I think that Nikki Haley has been a great, calm, rational voice and figure for the Republican Party for quite a while now.

[00:32:12] I think that she represents what I like about the Republican Party.

[00:32:17] I think that she is somebody that I have supported.

[00:32:21] We gave so much love to during her presidential debate performances and presidential campaigning.

[00:32:27] And she's just somebody that I really think still, regardless of this, has a great future in the Republican Party.

[00:32:33] I think it's disappointing because I always want—again, we are hopeful that President Donald Trump is successful

[00:32:40] and then that our country is able to move forward for the next four years.

[00:32:43] And I think that we would benefit from having Nikki Haley involved in this administration

[00:32:47] and having a smart, rational voice at the table and a strong, rational female minority voice at the table.

[00:32:55] I think there's so much that she brings to the table.

[00:32:58] And it's just a bummer.

[00:32:59] I agree with you.

[00:33:00] I will, in the interest of transparency, and I've said this before, I voted for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary.

[00:33:07] Part of the reason I voted for her was because I was really impressed.

[00:33:11] You know, we had Preya on.

[00:33:12] We had a bunch—Preyya in particular, who did some work for, I believe, a PAC that was helping her out.

[00:33:18] But you and I had always—you and I, since we started this podcast, we've had conversations about—

[00:33:24] because this podcast was started just days before the 2022 elections where Republicans got their tail kicked in statewide.

[00:33:32] And so for the last couple years, as we've been doing this podcast, one of the things that you and I have discussed a lot is about Republican messaging to women

[00:33:40] and then elevating female voices inside the Republican Party.

[00:33:45] And we've talked about that because women vote, and women vote particularly in this state by a very high percentage, a higher percentage than men.

[00:33:54] And as someone who was not going to vote—it was someone who would classify it as a little bit of a double hater.

[00:34:01] And I was—in a sense, I wasn't going to vote for Trump, but I wasn't going to vote for Biden.

[00:34:05] And even though I didn't like the term double hater, that's how voters like me were classified.

[00:34:10] And I voted for Nikki Haley, and I supported her on the primary.

[00:34:13] And I think she had a lot to offer this ticket.

[00:34:16] And so I was disappointed because she has been someone that we have talked to, talked about a lot,

[00:34:22] as being someone that her messaging resonated, how she talked about issues was something that we thought should be amplified.

[00:34:30] And I'm disappointed that in the aftermath of the election, that she wasn't utilized more during the election.

[00:34:37] And in the aftermath of the election, that she's not going to be in a leadership position.

[00:34:42] And it's difficult for me to not think that's punitive.

[00:34:45] I think it's short-sighted.

[00:34:47] I also have a larger point about that, which I'll make.

[00:34:51] But just speaking, and I'll make it when we go through some more of these picks.

[00:34:54] But on Nikki Haley, I was really disappointed.

[00:34:57] A couple other names, just that not folks that were turned away by the administration,

[00:35:02] but who have just said that they are comfortable staying where they are.

[00:35:07] Tom Emmer, staying in the House, he is, I believe, maybe even as we speak,

[00:35:14] is running for his second term as the majority whip.

[00:35:17] And to our knowledge, doesn't have an opponent in that race and optimistic there.

[00:35:23] I think it's a great place for him to be.

[00:35:25] Maybe Tom Cotton has also said that he wants to stay in the Senate.

[00:35:28] So those are some of the ones that we will not be seeing in Trump's cabinet.

[00:35:33] But now let's move into those we may be seeing or will be seeing, should they be obviously again confirmed.

[00:35:41] Let's start out with the breaking news of what I really, we logged on to do this.

[00:35:47] You asked me if I saw the news.

[00:35:48] I thought you were doing a bit when you told me what the breaking news was.

[00:35:52] It's not a bit.

[00:35:53] Trump's attorney general is going to be, drumroll, Matt Gaetz.

[00:35:59] Congressman from the state of Florida, Matt Gaetz.

[00:36:02] Yes, it was not a bit.

[00:36:04] Your take on that?

[00:36:05] Where's the green puke emoji when you need one?

[00:36:08] I am not a Matt Gaetz fan.

[00:36:10] I think that he has served as a great disruptor in the House.

[00:36:15] He is notably one of the main individuals who put us through the weeks-long speaker debacle and oust McCarthy.

[00:36:26] And just really, I think, has served more as Matt Gaetz's own fan club than a true congresswoman or congressman representing his state, representing our country.

[00:36:37] He's not my cup of tea.

[00:36:39] I'm a little concerned with him being appointed to a position of this magnitude.

[00:36:44] I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

[00:36:47] And so it's maybe.

[00:36:49] I don't know.

[00:36:50] I'm a little speechless by this choice.

[00:36:52] It's not something I had on my bingo card.

[00:36:55] What's your take on Gaetz as our new AG?

[00:36:58] I was informed by my wife who sent me a text about it.

[00:37:02] And I was like, I was surprised by it.

[00:37:04] Now, a couple of points I'd make about it.

[00:37:06] First of all, you did attend one year of law school.

[00:37:08] So you're the legal analyst for the breakdown with Broadcom and Becky.

[00:37:11] He is a lawyer.

[00:37:14] Let me just say this to you.

[00:37:15] I'd be very curious who's more excited.

[00:37:17] I would have a feeling that some of his House colleagues are probably excited about the possibility of Matt Gaetz becoming Attorney General because he's no longer in the House.

[00:37:25] I guess the question I'd ask you is a philosophical question.

[00:37:29] The president, elections have consequences.

[00:37:31] And the Senate has advising consent, responsibility.

[00:37:36] What is your perspective on the latitude?

[00:37:39] What's your perspective on presidential, on these type of nominations?

[00:37:43] What should be the role of the Senate?

[00:37:47] And what should be the role of Democrats?

[00:37:48] Do you think that because Trump wins, he gets to have anyone he wants as long as they're qualified?

[00:37:54] Or get your perspective on some of this.

[00:37:58] There are a lot of positions in advisory positions in Trump's inner circle that don't require confirmation by the Senate.

[00:38:07] I think that the one, this is one of the beautiful things about the democracy that we live in is the checks and balances that we have.

[00:38:15] And I think that this is a place where, yes, elections have consequences.

[00:38:19] Trump can appoint who he wants to appoint.

[00:38:21] The Senate also has currently, what, 53, 52, 53 members who are Republicans.

[00:38:28] And then the other side of Democrats that get their say in whether they believe that this is a person that is duly fit and will represent our country and our people in these positions.

[00:38:43] I don't think, this is the one I think when we get through some of these that we'll talk about that I think is going to have an uphill battle.

[00:38:51] Okay.

[00:38:51] Because I think that there are a decent amount of what I like to call the reasonables in the Senate.

[00:38:57] And by decent amount of, I think of the three, four Republicans that I think are going to have a hard time with this.

[00:39:05] This one in particular.

[00:39:06] I think there's a lot of other ones that would be willing to give a pass and give the benefit of the doubt and lead that choice to the president.

[00:39:13] This one's going to be a little tough.

[00:39:14] He's been quite a troublemaker.

[00:39:16] And I don't know that has been as much of a team player as attorney general's a really big job.

[00:39:22] And let me just deviate from what my plan was.

[00:39:25] I was going to offer this at the end, but I think now is an opportune time.

[00:39:28] Donald Trump cannot run for another term.

[00:39:30] So he's limited.

[00:39:31] So this is it.

[00:39:33] It's four years.

[00:39:34] And also, we have a midterm election coming up.

[00:39:37] So if you really look at what the shelf life of the Trump presidency is, and we've seen this in Minnesota with the trifecta.

[00:39:45] Donald Trump basically has a trifecta for two years.

[00:39:49] So he can guarantee right now that he, and so if you're looking at what he wants to accomplish, what he would want to accomplish, he is going to, he has a window right now of two years, which may seem like a long time.

[00:40:01] But it's actually not based on Washington time, which you can certainly attest to because you worked out there.

[00:40:06] But Donald Trump has a window here where he can try to cram through as much as he wants in this two-year window.

[00:40:13] And he can do so with the trifecta and one party control.

[00:40:17] So we'll get to some of the other picks.

[00:40:20] But when I saw the Matt Gaetz pick today, my reaction was he knows that he doesn't have four years.

[00:40:27] He knows he's got two years.

[00:40:28] And he's just going to do what he wants to do.

[00:40:31] And he's going to push this aggressively.

[00:40:33] Now, I come on both sides of this.

[00:40:35] I have a lot of concerns about where some of these nominations are coming from.

[00:40:40] But I think that the Matt Gaetz pick is an indication that Trump knows that he only has, he doesn't have a full four years.

[00:40:49] He's got two years.

[00:40:50] And he's not going to waste any time.

[00:40:52] Just to that, as you were talking about that, I did pull up the list of senators who are up in 2026.

[00:40:58] And Susan Collins being one of those.

[00:41:00] And she's one that I think is going to be a hard voter to win over for some of these, especially when she knows that in less than two years from these confirmations, she's on the ballot again.

[00:41:11] And so I think there's a whole list of, obviously, Republicans here, two dozen or so, that are going to be on the ballots.

[00:41:18] And this is something they have to think about themselves in their upcoming election cycle as well.

[00:41:23] I do want to move on.

[00:41:25] We're going to have a lot more to talk about this as we're going through the confirmation process.

[00:41:29] But that one was just the breaking big, big story right before we started recording here today.

[00:41:35] Secretary of State nominee currently is Marco Rubio.

[00:41:39] I love this pick.

[00:41:40] I think, again, I am a Rubio fan.

[00:41:43] I've thought that he has obviously transitioned to being more of a Trumper over the last couple of years.

[00:41:48] That is a lot.

[00:41:49] I can't fault him for that.

[00:41:50] But when it comes to foreign policy, I think that he is somebody that I align with his policies and his decisions a decent amount.

[00:41:58] Were you a Rubio person in 16?

[00:42:01] No, I was a Gingrich gal back in 16.

[00:42:05] I got a picture around in my files here with me in the former speaker.

[00:42:09] That's great.

[00:42:09] No, I don't remember who I was, but I wasn't as Trump would call him.

[00:42:15] Little Marco.

[00:42:17] Little Marco.

[00:42:17] But Little Marco won Minnesota, right?

[00:42:19] He did, yes.

[00:42:21] So keep going.

[00:42:22] So he has been a big champion of some of these international alliances like NATO that Trump has been skeptical of.

[00:42:31] So it will be interesting to see how some of that comes.

[00:42:33] But I love a person like that in a position like Secretary of State who I believe, and I guess I just don't know a better way to say it,

[00:42:42] has the balls maybe to go toe-to-toe with the president on some things like that.

[00:42:45] And I think it will be a good adult in the room.

[00:42:48] I like this pick.

[00:42:49] Okay.

[00:42:50] Your thoughts?

[00:42:51] You like him as state?

[00:42:53] The president gets his right.

[00:42:55] The president has won the election.

[00:42:57] The president-elect and former president has won the election.

[00:43:00] The Senate has an advise and consent role.

[00:43:03] I'm holding off on my public analysis and comments on some of these down-ballot ticks, down-ballot selections until the most deliberative body in the world has weighed in, which is the United States Senate.

[00:43:13] I love that.

[00:43:14] I also, real quick, have to give a shout-out to the recent episode of SNL because they did a little bit where they stood up there and talked about all the downfalls or the ridicules of President Donald Trump,

[00:43:24] and then talked about how he likes to target his enemies.

[00:43:27] And that's why we've always been with you, President Trump.

[00:43:30] It's a great bit if you haven't watched it.

[00:43:32] I'm certainly not going that far, but I'm just, yeah.

[00:43:35] I guarantee you, if there's a list, I'm on it.

[00:43:38] And the open by Bill Burr, both great.

[00:43:42] Secretary of Defense, hashtag local angle here, Pete Hankseth is currently the name for Secretary of Defense.

[00:43:49] Now, he ran for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2012.

[00:43:53] He did lose the endorsement.

[00:43:54] It was quite a battle.

[00:43:55] One of my favorite conventions at the up in St. Cloud.

[00:43:58] He has been a Fox News correspondent, host, whatever you want to call him, for the last eight-ish years.

[00:44:04] Army veteran served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[00:44:07] Does not have quite the resume that a lot of recent Secretaries of Defense have had.

[00:44:13] So I think he is a little out of left field for a lot of the reports that I've been reading.

[00:44:18] But that's where we are with Secretary of Defense right now.

[00:44:20] Local angle, a little bit.

[00:44:22] He and I went to the same high school.

[00:44:23] I was ahead of him, but he went to Forest Lake High School, and so did I.

[00:44:27] That is a fun fact.

[00:44:29] Yeah.

[00:44:30] Now, Becky, let me be very clear about something.

[00:44:32] I have a lot of strong opinions about all of these picks.

[00:44:35] I just, I don't want to interrupt you as you're going through the list.

[00:44:38] But yeah, trust me.

[00:44:39] To think that I'm not going to have a strong opinion is foolish.

[00:44:42] Go free to jump in whenever you want.

[00:44:43] I want to just let you, you're making some good progress here.

[00:44:46] I also want to be conscious of our time.

[00:44:48] We have lots of, there's going to be a lot that comes out about these folks.

[00:44:51] A lot that we have just discussed.

[00:44:52] So we'll just run through it.

[00:44:53] We'll do a lot more analysis later.

[00:44:55] I'm director of Homeland Security.

[00:44:58] Christy Noem, South Dakota governor.

[00:45:00] She was, yes, your thoughts.

[00:45:03] You got some.

[00:45:03] This was the one.

[00:45:04] Okay.

[00:45:04] So again, I'm a lover of history and I like the consistency.

[00:45:09] So I believe to the victor goes the spoils.

[00:45:11] I believe that.

[00:45:12] And I'm not trying to, and if you listen, they get to have their picks.

[00:45:16] The Senate gets to have a role.

[00:45:17] They have an advisory consent role.

[00:45:18] Um, I want to be consistent when this, if there was a while, when there was Christy

[00:45:25] Noem, that was around 10 times the while when it was Matt Gaetz, when it was Marco Rubio,

[00:45:30] I'm like, okay, I can see that.

[00:45:32] I can see that Pete Hexeth.

[00:45:33] I can understand why I can understand the logic as to why Trump was, why Trump picked him.

[00:45:40] There's a lot of things about Pete Hexeth that I think like with Senator Rubio make him

[00:45:47] a very interesting pick.

[00:45:49] There's a consistent, I think one of the reasons is obviously I think it's, I think it's a lot

[00:45:54] of people are going out there and I think diminishing his military service.

[00:45:57] Generally speaking, it, you know, it's, we usually have a civilian head to some of these

[00:46:02] agencies and, but Pete Hexeth has worn this country's uniform in military service.

[00:46:10] I will always respect someone who has done that because I have not done that.

[00:46:14] And so I want to be respectful, but I think there's a, there's the, the, this, there's

[00:46:20] a little bit of a, there's a little bit of a theme that's developing from some of these.

[00:46:24] Is Homeland Security as part of your surprise?

[00:46:26] The fact that it's South Dakota, a landlocked relatively.

[00:46:31] Yes.

[00:46:32] I would not.

[00:46:33] Let me say this to you.

[00:46:35] And this in the most serious way.

[00:46:37] As someone who was a huge fan of George W.

[00:46:41] Bush in the aftermath of nine 11, I would, I would literally crawl through broken glass

[00:46:46] for vice president Dick Cheney, which absolutely frustrates so many Republicans in the state

[00:46:52] that I revere and look up to both Bush and Cheney as much as they do.

[00:46:55] I was remembered when the department of Homeland security was founded.

[00:46:59] I just have to say that I questioned in some ways the qualifications of Christine Ohm to

[00:47:06] be Homeland security.

[00:47:08] You know who I wouldn't have questioned?

[00:47:09] Nikki Haley.

[00:47:10] She would have been great at Homeland security, but I just, there's just some judgment issues

[00:47:15] and I'm just, boy, oh boy, the cut, that confirmation hearing is going to be fun to watch.

[00:47:21] Yes, it will be.

[00:47:23] We know that she, I'm not going to get into that.

[00:47:25] No, you got to say it now.

[00:47:28] We talked about the controversy between her and her dog and her story.

[00:47:33] And so as I've talked to a few other folks about that, I guess if you want somebody who

[00:47:39] has the ability and decision-making to be able to shoot their puppy, you want somebody

[00:47:49] that has those kinds of, that kind of backbone in Homeland security, right?

[00:47:53] I guess.

[00:47:54] I want the type of, I want the ability of someone who has the ability to do that, but

[00:47:59] the brains to not put it in a book.

[00:48:01] Right.

[00:48:02] Thank you.

[00:48:02] She did.

[00:48:03] Is that fair?

[00:48:04] That is fair.

[00:48:05] I think that's very fair.

[00:48:06] She sent South Dakota National Guard troops to the Southwest border five times during her

[00:48:10] time as governor.

[00:48:12] There, it's going to be somebody we've heard a lot about Trump's campaign pledge to have

[00:48:17] mass deportations and increase the border security.

[00:48:22] So it will be of a position that we will have, that will have a lot of prominence and we'll

[00:48:28] hear a lot about.

[00:48:29] The face I'm making is, I think she may be a little trigger happy.

[00:48:33] That's the face I'm making.

[00:48:35] Like not necessarily, I don't mean, I don't, I guess the trigger, but I was thinking that

[00:48:40] she just, she might be someone that might not.

[00:48:44] I think what you want in the Homeland security office as would you want with secretary state

[00:48:49] is someone that can be a little even keeled and not just, but I worry was, I'm going through

[00:48:55] some, as I'm reading some of your notes and thinking about the dog incident.

[00:48:59] She seems to be someone who we'll see.

[00:49:02] We'll wait and see.

[00:49:02] For the record, the dog incident was not in my notes.

[00:49:05] Just to make that clear.

[00:49:06] It's in our memory.

[00:49:06] Rattling off a few of these, EPA, Lee Zeldin, former congressman from New York.

[00:49:11] He ran from governor.

[00:49:12] I like this.

[00:49:13] You know who started the EPA?

[00:49:15] Richard Nixon doesn't get enough credit for it.

[00:49:17] Richard Milhouse Nixon started the EPA.

[00:49:20] And by the way, when I was out in New Jersey, I ran into former governor, Christy Todd-Wittman.

[00:49:24] She was head of the EPA under George W. Bush.

[00:49:26] Fun facts.

[00:49:28] UN ambassador, Lee Stefanik, congresswoman and chair, conference chair.

[00:49:32] She's from New York.

[00:49:33] She was a former aide to George W. Bush.

[00:49:35] She's been very outspoken in support of Israel against all of the Gaza protests when they had

[00:49:41] campus presidents in Congress.

[00:49:43] I like Stefanik.

[00:49:44] She has been, she's way more conservative than I personally am.

[00:49:48] But I think that she is somebody who, she's my age, maybe a little, a little year younger,

[00:49:54] year older.

[00:49:55] She's young.

[00:49:56] She has had a very bright future.

[00:49:58] She came up, was first elected when I was out there in Washington and have just been very

[00:50:02] impressed with her.

[00:50:03] I do think that she will serve this position well.

[00:50:06] CIA is John Radcliffe, former congressman from Texas.

[00:50:10] He was Trump's director of national intelligence for a couple years there.

[00:50:15] I don't know a ton about his background, but it doesn't seem like a completely out of the

[00:50:20] blue pick there.

[00:50:21] Ambassador to Israel, Governor Mike Huckabee.

[00:50:25] And then one also that came out relatively shortly before we did this is national intelligence,

[00:50:31] Tulsi Gabbard, who famously was Democrat to supporting Trump.

[00:50:36] Let me just, let me, Stefanik, I think she is, she's really into, really is a Trump supporter.

[00:50:43] So if you're looking for a loyalist at the United Nations, someone that has the voice and

[00:50:49] strength, who has the voice and the strength and the confidence of the president in that

[00:50:55] deliberative body, which is the UN, which is the, if I may, if I think the United States

[00:51:00] Senate is the greatest deliberative body, no disrespect to any member of Congress from Minnesota

[00:51:05] in the House, the UN based on a college paper that I wrote is an absolutely dated institution.

[00:51:12] And I've long held the position that the, that I think that this is a, this, I think of all the

[00:51:19] picks, I think substantively could really shake things up within the bureaucracy. And I think her going to the

[00:51:26] UN is really sending a strong message. And I think the type of message that we want to send

[00:51:32] to that body, going back to my college paper, that body, which needs sometimes a message to be sent.

[00:51:40] Agreed.

[00:51:41] CIA, great. I'm, it's the, one of the appointments I'm most interested in. I think CIA is great.

[00:51:48] Perfect. And then a new agency being created, Department of Government Efficiency,

[00:51:56] led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

[00:52:00] I want to give a shout out to my son for pronouncing Vivek Ramaswamy correctly. Really

[00:52:06] proud of him for doing that. Yes. Your take, by the way, I'm sure you would have noted this.

[00:52:12] Those are not requiring Senate confirmation, both types of picks. By the way, those are my favorite.

[00:52:17] The ones that don't require, because those are the only ones that I could get,

[00:52:19] a nomination that doesn't require a Senate confirmation. Your take on this new agency,

[00:52:25] Department of Government Efficiency. First of all, we have to talk about the irony

[00:52:29] of a new agency to cut government agencies spending control. However, I do, this is something that Trump,

[00:52:40] I think we could give some credit to from his first term is cutting the red tape and cutting

[00:52:45] taxes and regulations. And I think that is something that I personally, it's on brand with my part of

[00:52:51] Republican. I do believe that the government has swelled to a size that is unrecognizable to what

[00:52:57] our founders intended. I think that the spending is out of control. And so I think there is a need for

[00:53:03] that. I have concerns with the individuals. I think they are- You're so diplomatic. Becky,

[00:53:09] I have to say something to you. You should be at the UN. You should be in the Secretary of State.

[00:53:13] You are so diplomatic. It is just, it is, it's just, you are so diplomatic.

[00:53:19] It's so tough because these two are obviously brilliant, smart, wildly intelligent individuals.

[00:53:26] My concerns often with people in politics are their desire to do things to promote themselves

[00:53:38] over maybe the greater good. And I just have a little skepticism when it comes to these two

[00:53:43] individuals of, are they going to actually be reducing spending, reducing the size of government?

[00:53:51] Or are they going to be looking for opportunities to be on the Sunday shows and be a political talking

[00:53:58] head just to continue to throw fire and mud? And so yet to be determined, I want to be cautiously optimistic.

[00:54:06] Like I said, I do think it's entertaining that you create a new agency to cut agency or to cut

[00:54:13] and reduce government. But I guess, how else sometimes are you going to do it? So we'll find out.

[00:54:19] So I think a couple of things. I want to revert back to our previous podcast episodes. Every time I

[00:54:25] see Vivek Raswami on TV, I want to take his lunch money. I can't move past that point. I consistently

[00:54:32] want to take his lunch money because he just grates me. A point on that, I'll just briefly make,

[00:54:39] because I think you touched on it very well, which is the reason why I think, not to, I think,

[00:54:44] which is interesting. I think both of these, and I'm not disparaging them in any way, but I think

[00:54:48] both of these individuals would face interesting confirmation hearings. I want to be balanced. I

[00:54:54] think both of them would face interesting confirmation hearings. I think it's interesting

[00:54:58] and somewhat problematic to have there be this, to create this new, you articulated very well,

[00:55:04] creating this department that is outside of the, you're creating in essence, a new bureaucracy to

[00:55:09] cut it. So there has to be, it can't become a creature of the bureaucracy in and of itself.

[00:55:16] But on the other side, by not having Senate confirmation, it allows them autonomy to just do

[00:55:22] what they need to do. But the problem is, do you want Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami doing whatever

[00:55:27] they want to do? I think it sounds good. I think if from a comms perspective, if we were being fair from

[00:55:33] a comms perspective, it really sounds great. But I think you and I, because of our experience,

[00:55:38] you much more in Washington understand that this could be a little bit of a Tonkton village.

[00:55:43] Yeah. So I'm very interested to see how that goes, where it goes, what we see. And then just

[00:55:49] rounding things off with some of the other key positions that we have seen announced is Trump's

[00:55:54] chief of staff. He's named Susie Wiles. She was serving as a co-campaign manager. She is going to be

[00:56:00] the first female chief of staff in the White House, which is very exciting. This very, on the opposite

[00:56:07] side of things, what we've just talked about, she is somebody that's very much kept her head down,

[00:56:13] right? She has not been, it's not been about her. She's not going on all of the broadcasts. She has

[00:56:18] other people to go out and be the vocal talking heads for the Trump campaign. No. Do I believe that

[00:56:24] we have a lot of differences in how we believe policies and our support for Donald Trump?

[00:56:29] Absolutely. But she seems like kind of a badass. They refer to her as the ice maiden. I saw in a

[00:56:36] couple articles and she was, seemed to be pretty hardcore, can go toe to toe with Trump. And that's

[00:56:42] something that I like to see and hear. So love that. Deputy chief of staff might have a little

[00:56:49] different view on Stephen Miller. Yeah. There we go.

[00:56:53] Who, local angle, used to work for Congresswoman Michelle Bachman,

[00:56:57] who I interacted with a few times when he was working for Congresswoman Michelle Bachman.

[00:57:02] Susie Wiles, what I'll say on that is, and I texted you about this and I think,

[00:57:05] you know, John Rouleau would be a good person. As we mentioned before, he's been a guest on the show,

[00:57:10] great person to have on. He was with us on our live stream. He had complimented her

[00:57:14] in just the management. And I think he would be good to talk to because she's gotten a lot of

[00:57:21] praise. And one of the things that's been consistent is that she has approached the job.

[00:57:26] And I think she's approached the job, at least from media reports, as she approached the job

[00:57:32] from the standpoint, look, I can't stop the circus, which is Donald Trump, but I can do a good

[00:57:38] job of ensuring that the circus isn't around him. And by all accounts, she was successful.

[00:57:44] She was successful. And we'll see. Again, I just want to remind our listeners that I supported

[00:57:49] Harrison Walls. I stand by that decision. I'm proud of it. I will not backpedal from it. But

[00:57:56] independent of that, which we can talk about more, I want the president to succeed. Presidents that I

[00:58:02] have not voted for, I have wanted to succeed in to some degree because when they're succeeding,

[00:58:08] America's succeeding. And there's obviously some policy differences. But I think you went through a

[00:58:14] great list here. And boy, oh boy, I just want to point out to you, Becky, we're recording this.

[00:58:19] The news about Matt Gaetz broke just before we started recording. And it is still labeled as a

[00:58:26] breaking news now, an hour plus into this interview. This is this I think is going to

[00:58:31] dominate the news. So a very timely show structure and script suggestion and topic that you came up with.

[00:58:39] You really nailed it. Unfortunately, we don't have any more time today.

[00:58:42] We do. I have two more comments. First of all, I see it as I had a tweet sent to me that

[00:58:47] Kristi Noem was thrilled when Hegseth was announced. Hegseth was thrilled when Matt Gaetz was announced.

[00:58:53] And but I'm Ching, Matt Gaetz can't wait for Robert Kennedy Jr. to be announced.

[00:58:57] Somebody that will take off the heat off of them from the next big choice. That's not outside the realm of

[00:59:02] possibility, right? Yes. I have held my fire on that. And I've got some real substantive issues

[00:59:08] with RFK being there based on what he's talked about, what he wants to do. And I'm trying to

[00:59:14] temper my remarks on some of these others. So when we get to this, when RFK's position,

[00:59:20] any position he has in the new Trump administration is finalized. Trust me, I'm loaded. Loaded for bear.

[00:59:26] Perfect. Did you get that?

[00:59:27] There's a lot of more.

[00:59:29] Oh, wait.

[00:59:30] You didn't get that? Loaded for bear?

[00:59:32] No.

[00:59:34] RFK. Hit a bear with his car.

[00:59:35] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[00:59:36] Okay. I just wanted to. All right. Sorry.

[00:59:38] Yeah.

[00:59:38] I spent a lot of time.

[00:59:39] We do have a number of positions outstanding that have yet to be named. We'll continue to chat more

[00:59:45] about this, but an interesting list so far. Some months.

[00:59:48] Very interesting list.

[00:59:48] Okay. Yeah. It's going to be interesting. And then to round it off, because I'm not going to let you get

[00:59:52] off this easy football, baby. We did tie for points this week. However, I do remain in the lead by three.

[00:59:59] I'm currently tied for first place. You are currently tied for fifth place. And I'm just

[01:00:02] sorry, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

[01:00:05] I'm going to remind you of something. I've been out there trying to defend democracy.

[01:00:08] I'm fully focused now on football and a little bit of still democracy. So any advancements that

[01:00:14] you've had in your household, you, your husband, anybody else, other members of the league,

[01:00:19] my calendar is cleared up and I'm going to be taking it a heck of a lot more seriously.

[01:00:23] By the way, I'm not doing as well also in my family fantasy football league. And I've had a few

[01:00:29] people reach out to me and notice that I'm doing less trolling of my sisters this year.

[01:00:34] That's because I'm losing and I'm not stupid. The league is private. My comments are public,

[01:00:40] but yes, on an interest of full disclosure, I am losing quite consistently to members of my family.

[01:00:46] Because again, I've been out defending democracy. All right, bring it.

[01:00:52] Becky, thank you so much for doing this again this week. And we want to thank our listeners for the,

[01:00:57] for joining us for this episode of the breakdown with Broadcom and Becky. Before we go show some

[01:01:01] love for your favorite podcast by leaving us a review on Apple podcasts or on the platform where

[01:01:05] you listen, you can also leave a review on our website and follow us across all social media

[01:01:10] platforms at BB break pot. The breakdown with Broadcom and Becky will return next week. Thank you. Bye.