Washington Wednesday: CPAC and Republican hopes for 2024

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday, March 8, 2023. We’re so glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

It’s Washington Wednesday. Washington was a busy place over the weekend for some Republican presidential hopefuls. CPAC--The Conservative Political Action Conference--returned to the nation’s capital for the first time since COVID.

EICHER: CPAC has traditionally been a who’s who of conservative leaders.

But this year, two major likely GOP contenders decided to skip the event: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.

BROWN: Joining us once again to talk about what we heard and what we didn’t hear is Matt Klink. He is a political strategist and president of Klink Campaigns. Matt, good morning!

MATT KLINK: Hi, Myrna, good morning.

BROWN: Well, let's start with the headline of this year's event, which was, of course former President Donald Trump. What stood out to you about his speech?

KLINK: Donald Trump was super aggressive. He pitched it in the traditional us versus them, insider Washington DC inside the beltway versus conservative outsider populist, and he's going to run a hard aggressive campaign in 2024.

BROWN:  Now, former ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, is Trump's only major opponent who has already declared a run for president. She spoke at CPAC and again talked about Republicans losing the popular vote and seven out of the last eight presidential elections. And she called for a new generation of leadership. But she didn't mention Trump by name. What do you think about her remarks over the weekend?

KLINK: Nikki Haley is running an aggressive campaign as well. And I must tell you that she's largely following the Glenn Youngkin model that works so well for the current Republican in Virginia. She likely won't mention Donald Trump by name, but her messaging of the need for younger, more middle not middle of the road, but more middle aged candidates certainly resonates with, you know, an 81 year old Joe Biden and an eight or 79 to 80 year old Donald Trump. And she's going to make the aggressive argument that it's time for the next generation of leaders to step up and have their turn at the helm of the country.

BROWN: Now for his part, Trump really hasn't said much at all about Haley. It seems most of his criticism has been aimed at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. So what does that tell us?

KLINK: Donald Trump has tried to attack Ron DeSantis, who is proving to have Teflon for an outer coating at the moment. He's tried calling him Ron De-sanctimonious and, you know, a number of other names and his quippy one word errors that the President used very effectively in 2016. But Ron DeSantis, has not taken the bait. He is not a declared candidate. And my guess is that Ron DeSantis is gonna run, run. Just a very subtle campaign promoting his book talking about what's wrong with America. And then when he's ready, he'll declare, but look, Donald Trump knows. There was a poll just released in California where Ron DeSantis was over the weekend that showed in a head to head matchup DeSantis beating Trump in California by more than double digits, which, you know, everybody says, But California is the bluest of blue states. Well, we have a March primary this year in California, and we also have the largest Republican delegation. So if if any candidate does well in California, they will have a leap and bound advantage in terms of getting the Republican presidential nomination, and Donald Trump is toxic in California.

BROWN: You touched on where Ron DeSantis was this past weekend. Instead of speaking at CPAC he spoke to an exclusive donor retreat sponsored by the Conservative Club for Growth. So what are your thoughts Matt about his appearance there?

KLINK: Ron DeSantis, his campaign team, even though it's the unofficial campaign team, clearly made the decision that CPAC is a Donald Trump dominated audience and that he will he will win more supporters and raise a lot more money if he attends the Club for Growth which has already they haven't they haven't not endorsed Trump, but they have said that we need someone new, which is basically saying we're going to endorse someone but just not this guy, Donald Trump. And then Ron DeSantis jumped on an airplane and spoke at the Reagan Library to 1000 people and attended a fundraiser to the Republican Party of Orange County in California, where he raised almost $800,000. So Ron DeSantis again, he clearly has methodically thought out what he wants to do. And Donald Trump, he knew he was going to do really well, at CPAC. He won the straw poll, which should surprise no one. That was his crowd. But you get Donald Trump and other audiences and other forums. And it will be questionable if he draws the crowds that he has in the past.

BROWN: Well, Matt, when do you think we can expect the rest of the Republican field to take shape? You know, when might people like DeSantis, Pence and Pompeo announce?

KLINK: I think Myrna what you're going to see is a lot of candidates. I mean, there really is no advantage to declaring really early for president, it limits how you can raise money, primarily. So you know, and Ron, I believe that Florida has what's called a resign and run provision in its laws. So Ron DeSantis will likely get through the Florida the current session of the Florida legislature, and pass pass some some legislation that will really set him out as the conservative populist leader that can lead America forward. And he'll probably declare some time over the summer. Look, I guarantee you that everybody will dip their toe in the water before August when we have the first Republican debate. But I think you're gonna see people, you know, probably May, June, that field will will grow exponentially. You know, probably Mike Pompeo, you've already gotten Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis. We could have two senators Scott, one from South Carolina, one from Florida.

So I mean, look at what the biggest challenge for Republicans right now is a large field favors Donald Trump. A small field favors whomever is the challenger to Donald Trump, because Donald Trump brings 30% with him no matter what, they're not going to leave him. So if a large crowded field comes in Donald Trump, Donald Trump pulls his 30, he gets his delegates, but with a concentrated field of two or three total candidates. I think that puts up some really steep obstacles for Donald Trump. But on the flip side, Donald Trump knows how to win Republican conventions, and nobody else on the Republican Party has done it at this point. Doesn't mean they can't, it just means that they haven't done it.

BROWN: I'm glad you taught numbers one last question. Trump is clearly leading the GOP field at the moment, but multiple early polls have him under 50% among registered Republican voters. So how would you gauge the strength of Trump's campaign at this early stage?

KLINK: Myrna I respectfully dispute the fact that Donald Trump is leading the polling at this at this point. I think that I mean, look just like, just like Teddy Roosevelt, who stopped running for office and waited a term and decided to run again, and didn't fare so well. You know, Donald Trump, the world has changed significantly since since 2016, when he was successful. And even since 2020, when he unsuccessfully ran for president. 2024 will present new obstacles. It's a much different campaign environment. The geopolitical threats are radically different. And I think that what you're seeing, especially in early primary states, like North Carolina, or like New Hampshire, like in Nevada, like in California, is that Donald Trump is by no means the front runner. He might be the best known, but he's also the most polarizing. So the challenge for any Republican is, what's your plan for the future? How are you going to make the voters' lives better on a going forward basis? If Donald Trump talks about the future and what he wants to do? The world opens up for him. If he re-litigates 2020 voters have moved on and Donald Trump either moves on or he's going to get left behind. So and I think that that's what Nikki Haley, that's what Ron DeSantis, that's sort of Mike Pompeo, they're all talking about what they want to do in the future. Not about all the flaws of the past. And that's how you win presidential elections is talking about the future.

BROWN: Well, all right.

Matt Klink with Klink Campaigns has been our guest, Matt, thanks so much.

KLINK: Thank you for having me.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.