Capehart and Ponnuru on Trump's attacks on press freedom

Geoff Bennett:

Now to discuss Republicans' frustration with their own party ahead of the midterms and how Congress is responding to warnings about artificial intelligence, or not, we turn to the analysis of Capehart and Ponnuru. That's Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW and Ramesh Ponnuru, editor of The National Review. David Brooks is away this evening.

Good evening. gentlemen.

Jonathan Capehart:

Hi, Geoff.

Ramesh Ponnuru, Editor, "The National Review": Good evening.

Geoff Bennett:

Before we get to these other issues, I want to start with this announcement tonight from President Trump that he is banning MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House because he doesn't like what those outlets report.

Jonathan of MS NOW, we will start with you. Your reaction.

Jonathan Capehart:

Look, this is not a story about us at MS NOW. It's not a story about CNN. It's not a story about Politico.

It is a story about a president of the United States who is continuing to squeeze freedom of the press. We are not the first ones to be targeted by him, the AP, ABC News, other news outlets. Our job, no matter where we are, no matter where we sit, is to report the news, report it in real time, and to hold power accountable.

And we're going to do that, whether the president of the United States likes it or not. And we're going to do it from wherever, wherever it's -- if it's at the White House or not at the White House. And I will say, at this moment, at last I checked, we're still there.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Ramesh, President Trump is not the first American president to not enjoy critical press coverage.

Ramesh Ponnuru:

That's right. Trump, though, is a marked change from previous presidents.

He has now a long record of making comments that are hostile to the freedom of the press, talking about pulling broadcast licenses from stations that air what he regards as fiction. And I think that's the nub of the issue. You can have your own opinion about what's true, what's false, what's fair, and what's unfair, but the whole point of a First Amendment is the government does not get to officially decide what's true and what's false.

Geoff Bennett:

I want to shift our focus to something we saw this past week from the Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria Salazar. She shot this ad that's up on the airwaves now in Florida just weeks ahead of the midterms breaking with the Trump administration over his immigration agenda. Take a look at this ad.

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL):

Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.

Geoff Bennett:

She recorded that ad in front of the White House, a not-so-subtle message there.

So, Jonathan, what does it mean that a Republican like Maria Salazar, a district that Trump won by 15 points, is up with an ad like this?

Jonathan Capehart:

It's the clearest signal, to me anyway, that Republicans are in trouble with their House majority, that Republicans are in trouble with Latino voters.

I mean, Congresswoman Salazar is right. I mean, President Trump won the biggest share of Latino voters since President Bush. I can't remember it was his first election or the second.

(Crosstalk)

Jonathan Capehart:

Yes, in the second election.

And so I remember at the convention, where she -- you and Amna tried to interview her over the din and talking to her about the president, the first assassination attempt, and she vowed right then and there, he's a changed person. He is going to be different from the way he was before.

And what we have seen since is that nothing's changed. He's the same, if not worse than the first Trump administration. The key word she used in that ad, and I'm glad you played it, was betrayed. And I had not seen the ad. I only read the stories when it focused on it earlier.

And I thought about David Brooks months ago when he talked about how Trump voters must feel betrayed by the president because he promised all these things and he has not fulfilled them.

And for her to use that word, and for her specifically in a district that she won her seat the last time by 20-something points, he won her district comfortably, for her to come out in this way direct to camera, to your point, from the White House, should be a signal to Republicans in general and to the president in particular that they are in trouble.

Geoff Bennett:

And, Ramesh, as Jonathan mentioned we interviewed her at the RNC, the convention. Amna interviewed her more recently and pressed her on the potential for mass deportations because it was known then that there weren't enough undocumented immigrants with criminal records to reach the deportation numbers that the administration was calling for.

So here's part of that interview.

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar:

That deportation is going to be among those criminals who are the gang members, the got-aways, the Tren de Aragua. I am sure -- and I'm going to be the number one...

Amna Nawaz:

Not all 200,000 undocumented in your community, is that what you're saying?

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar:

I am sure that we're not, that the Trump administration is not going to be targeting those people who have been here for more than five years, that have American kids, that don't have criminal records, that have been working in the economy and paying taxes.

Geoff Bennett:

So do you make of what she's saying now?

Ramesh Ponnuru:

Well, I don't think that she has grounds for saying that she was betrayed. There were plenty of signs from what the president was saying on the campaign trail in 2024 and from the people he surrounded himself with that there would be, in fact, mass deportation.

I mean, that was the phrase they used constantly during the 2024 campaign. Now, it turns out, though, that the way they have gone about implementing that policy, they have lost huge amount of support, not just among Hispanics. Immigration was a huge, powerful, positive issue for Trump's reelection in 2024.

That advantage has now been squandered because people don't like the face of the immigration enforcement regime.

Geoff Bennett:

I want to shift our focus now to an op-ed that Karl Rove wrote. Of course, he's one of the architects of the modern Republican Party. He wrote this week that he plans to vote for a Democrat in a Texas race after Republican Bo French made bigoted comments.

He writes this:

"The GOP has a growing number of Bo Frenches, and not only in Texas. Conservatism and the party it dominates have an increasing number of bigoted advocates of a heritage America composed of white descendants of the original European settlers."

And he argues that Republicans built their strength in Texas by welcoming this diverse coalition of voters who happen to share conservative values. What does it say about the party that you have Karl Rove, who feels now compelled to draw this line?

Jonathan Capehart:

It says that the Republican Party is in trouble.

And, in fact, I would say that the Republican Party of Karl Rove, Mitt Romney, George W. Bush is gone. I mean, that Republican Party put the Bo Frenches of the world over here. They knew they were there, but they didn't let them anywhere near elected office or of any significance. And now that's all done from the presidency on down.

And it would be helpful -- it's great that Karl Rove has come out and written this op-ed and has sent a signal. We're talking about it because Karl Rove is not an insignificant person in American politics and the Republican Party. But it would be great if we could have folks in higher elected office -- and that's no shade on Senator Cornyn, who said something very strong about this.

But it'd be great if, say, the president of the United States were to set the example and say, this kind of language, this kind of talk, these kinds of views are not what we are about as a party. It's not what I am. And since you guys follow me, you should act accordingly.

But, as we see with Bo French, they're acting accordingly.

Ramesh Ponnuru:

French has an extensive record of disparaging nonwhite people. And the president has set an example. One of the ways he has set an example is when Rove said that he wasn't going to vote for French. Trump denounced Rove, not French.

Party loyalty matters more than the expression of these bigoted, hateful and un-American sentiments. That's the -- that's the tone he set.

Geoff Bennett:

Is there still a meaningful mechanism inside the Republican Party for policing conduct that prominent Republicans, they might not be MAGA Republicans, but that prominent Republicans, respected Republicans believe crosses a line?

Ramesh Ponnuru:

Well, Republican voters have a way of policing that, and I think we might very well see it in this election, particularly because you have got this extreme provocation from French, but he also would only be one of three railroad commissioners.

So it's kind of a low-cost way of Republicans to draw this line and say, no, we're not going to support him.

Geoff Bennett:

Jonathan?

Jonathan Capehart:

Great point. But I'm glad Karl Rove said something. I'm glad Senator Cornyn said something.

When these situations, these instances happen, it would be great if more Republicans would come out and forcefully condemn what's being done and what's being said.

Geoff Bennett:

Jonathan Capehart, Ramesh Ponnuru, our thanks to you both.

Jonathan Capehart:

Thanks, Geoff.

Ramesh Ponnuru:

Thank you.