“Revenge presidency” a term you’ll hear a lot from the Acela Media after former President Donald Trump’s interview with Televisa anchor Enrique Acevedo. NBC’s Kristin Welker tried it on RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, and quickly regretted it.
Watch this key exchange from McDaniel’s interview on NBC’s Meet The Press:
KRISTIN WELKER: Let me ask you about the Republican front-runner, former President Trump. This week, during his campaign events, he essentially threatened to indict his political enemies if he wins a second term. Does that essentially make the Republican Party take a stance of the Republican Party’s stance for revenge? What do you think of that messaging?
RONNA McDANIEL: I'm not going to get involved in rhetoric that's happening during a contested campaign for our presidential nominee. I will say a lot of Republicans, Kristen, feel like there's a two-tier system of justice that Republicans are getting prosecuted and -- or persecuted through prosecution and they see it with President Trump. People really feel like there's one set of standards for Republicans and one for Democrats and they've seen it come through Democrat attorneys general or others, and that is something that concerns a lot of Republicans.
WELKER: As you know, though, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez has been indicted, the New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams just had his phone searched by the FBI, so- doesn't that undercut the argument that there is a two-tiered system of justice? Democrats are being indicted, investigated, as well. How can you guys continue to make that argument?
McDANIEL: I think when you look at what’s happened with the Biden family, and what’s been uncovered since we’ve taken the House…
WELKER: Well, Hunter Biden's been indicted, too!
McDANIEL: But, more than that… when you see $20 million go to ten different family members, through different LLCs, from foreign companies- it's really concerning. I always think if this were Donald Trump Jr. getting that money, there would be a big issue. Hunter Biden…
WELKER: As you know, Hunter Biden is…
McDANIEL: …took millions of dollars form China. I mean, this is simply alarming.
WELKER: As you know, Hunter Biden is still under investigation by the Special Counsel…
McDANIEL: But it’s going really slow. Thank goodness we have the House.
WELKER: Let me move on, thought, because I know you don’t want to get into messaging, but…
McDaniel was efficient in talking about two-tiered justice, and the narrative crumbled with minimal pushback. “But Menéndez!” “But Mayor Adams!” “But Hunter!”, pled Welker before changing the subject.
The “But Hunter” response was particularly rich, given Welker’s role in suppressing the exchange on Hunter Biden’s laptop during her moderation of one of the 2020 presidential debates.
However, the deception of the “revenge presidency” narrative is predicated on the idea that Trump is the one going to weaponize a future government, as opposed to one already weaponized. Trump himself made that clear during his Televisa interview (click "Expand" to view):
ENRIQUE ACEVEDO: You say they've weaponized the Justice Department, they weaponized the FBI. Would you do the same if you're reelected?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, he's unleashed something that everybody we've all known about this for a hundred years. We've watched other countries do it and, in some cases, effective and in other cases, the country's overthrown or it's been totally ineffective. But we've watched this for a long time, and it's not unique, but it's unique for the United States. Yeah. If they do this and they've already done it, but if they want to follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse. It could certainly happen in reverse. What they've done is they've released the genie out of the box. You understand that They've done something that nobody thought would happen. They've taken a president who is very popular. I got 75 million votes, much more than that. I believe no president's ever gotten that many votes and they've taken that number of people. And I think you can double it or almost you can triple it in terms of the real the feeling. You can't do that. You can't go after people. You know, when you're president and you've done a good job and you're popular, you don't go after them so you can win an election. They've done indictments in order to win an election. They call it weaponization, and the people aren't going to stand for it. But yeah, they have done something that allows the next party. I mean, if somebody if I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them. Mostly what that would be, you know, they would be out of business. They'd be out they'd be out of the election. In my case, it was there were such pathetic indictments. Like I challenged the election, I challenged the election. They everybody challenges elections if they think they're wrong. The Democrats challenged my election in 2016. Almost everybody, they challenged it. Well, nothing happened there. So these are very these are political indictments is a Biden indictments. And the people get it. They really get it. It's been very impressive to watch.
Government has been weaponized for a long time, though. Recall how the Obama Administration unleashed its IRS against tea party groups ahead of the 2012 election, its persecution of inconvenient journalists such as James Rosen and Sharyl Attkisson, and its attempt to impose contraceptive mandates upon an order of nuns.
This all happened well before Trump was targeted by Obama’s DoJ and, as they say, the rest is history. And this all happened well before the abuses we see today, such as the Biden Administration’s persecution of parents that question their school boards, and the malicious prosecution of pro-life activists such as Mark Houck- among many other examples.
Whether or not you like Donald Trump, there is no denying that government was weaponized against him. The Acela Media have gone out of their way to hide these facts from public view. And these facts are what crumble their “revenge presidency” narrative.
Click “Expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, November 12th, 2023:
KRISTIN WELKER: Joining me now is Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Chairwoman McDaniel, welcome back to "Meet the press". Thank you for being here.
RONNA McDANIEL: Thank you for having me. Great to be with you.
WELKER: Really appreciate it. Let's talk about Tuesday night and let's talk big picture. Republican say that they had a tough night on Tuesday; obviously, losses in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky/. What do you say to Republicans who say you bear some responsibility for that and you're not the right person for this moment?
McDANIEL: Well, I'm proud of the RNC, and I stand by what the RNC is doing, and some people don't understand what we do. We're a turnout machine and actually, it’s going to look like more Republicans turned out in Virginia than Democrats. We actually turned out more Republicans than Democrats in Kentucky. We're not the messaging. That comes from the candidate and that's up to them, but I am very proud of our minority outreach that the RNC is doing, the 70 lawsuits we’re in right now on election integrity, and our Bank Our Vote initiative, and I think it's instrumental to how we’re going to win back the Senate, the White House, and keep the House in 2024.
WELKER: Let's talk about one of the core issues…
McDANIEL: Sure.
WELKER: …we talked about with the candidates earlier this week, the issue of abortion. I want to put the same question to you that we asked them, which is: given the losses that you saw on Tuesday, given the losses that we saw in the midterms, what is the path forward for Republicans on the issue of abortion both in terms of messaging and policy?
McDANIEL: You know, Kristin, I'm very passionate about this. I'm a suburban woman. I saw this in 2022 as chair of the RNC. I actually put a memo out letting our candidates know this is a big issue. I think I probably took it more seriously than some others because I have suburban mom friends. This is my community. Listen, we have to talk compassionately. We can't attack women. We also have to define ourselves before the Democrats define us and this is my number one message. If you're digging yourself out of a hole you're going to lose. But if you go on TV and you say to the American people: listen, we all are passionate about this issue and it's confusing right now. But in a time of consensus, can't we agree on reasonable limitations at 15 weeks when a baby feels pain? And I think when you do that, will Democrats join me here? Democrats are still extreme on this issue, we will won voters, but you have to define yourself first.
WELKER: Let me follow up with you on that. Because you talk about 15-week limits. That's what the governor of Virginia was pushing for and Democrats, of course, swept the state legislature. Do you still stand by that message that 15 weeks limits-- a 15-week limit at the federal level is the right policy to be pushing for for the Republican party?
McDANIEL: So, it's not my decision of federal or state, and I think Glenn Youngkin actually did a good job. And I actually think the numbers in Virginia are going to bear that out with the higher turnout. Where they spent the money, though, is the issue. Democrats spent on abortion nine times to one for Republicans, and this is my point of if you are letting them define you. They had ads going up saying we're going to ban everything, no exceptions for rape, life and incest. That just isn’t true. Listen. I'm proud to be a pro-life party, but we can win on this message. The American people are where we are and they want common sense limitations, they want more access to adoption. We want to make sure that there's pregnancy crisis centers- these are things we can win on, but we have to talk about it and you can't hide in a corner and think abortion is not going to be an issue. This is what Democrats are running on because they can't run on crime, they can't run on the border, they can’t run on fentanyl. $350 million in 2022 was spent on this issue. We just saw it again in Ohio and Virginia. There are lessons we need to take and it’s going to be up to the candidates to go on TV and say it. ANd I’ll say one candidate: Danny Diggs in Virginia ran for state senate. They didn't sweep Virginia. It was one seat, OK? It's a purple state. But he had his daughter on TV, he took it head-on, and he really handled that issue well.
WELKER: NBC News is reporting that in the wake of Tuesday's results, the campaign arm of the Senate Republicans is calling on candidates to clearly oppose a national abortion ban in TV ads and speeches. I know you don't want to weigh in, but just big picture, is that a smart strategy? Is that the right approach?
McDANIEL: I'm not going to get involved in- I’m not a policy person. I know my lane and we're going to let the legislators and the senators and congressional members stake their lane out. The Democrats are going to make it a national issue, though. And I do think we have to talk about this issue because the Democrats will say “we're going to take it to the Senate and codify it”. And so I think there's a lot of discussion to be had, but we can't just say it's a state's issue and be done.
WELKER: Let me ask you about the Republican front-runner, former President Trump. This week, during his campaign events, he essentially threatened to indict his political enemies if he wins a second term. Does that essentially make the Republican Party take a stance of the Republican Party’s stance for revenge? What do you think of that messaging?
McDANIEL: I'm not going to get involved in rhetoric that's happening during a contested campaign for our presidential nominee. I will say a lot of Republicans, Kristen, feel like there's a two-tier system of justice that Republicans are getting prosecuted and -- or persecuted through prosecution and they see it with President Trump. People really feel like there's one set of standards for Republicans and one for Democrats and they've seen it come through Democrat attorneys general or others, and that is something that concerns a lot of Republicans.
WELKER: As you know, though, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez has been indicted, the New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams just had his phone searched by the FBI, so- doesn't that undercut the argument that there is a two-tiered system of justice? Democrats are being indicted, investigated, as well. How can you guys continue to make that argument?
McDANIEL: I think when you look at what’s happened with the Biden family, and what’s been uncovered since we’ve taken the House…
WELKER: Well, Hunter Biden's been indicted, too!
McDANIEL: But, more than that… when you see $20 million go to ten different family members, through different LLCs, from foreign companies- it's really concerning. I always think if this were Donald Trump Jr. getting that money, there would be a big issue. Hunter Biden…
WELKER: As you know, Hunter Biden is…
McDANIEL: …took millions of dollars form China. I mean, this is simply alarming.
WELKER: As you know, Hunter Biden is still under investigation by the Special Counsel…
McDANIEL: But it’s going really slow. Thank goodness we have the House.
WELKER: Let me move on, though, because I know you don’t want to get into messaging but let me just ask you, big picture, because former President Trump did raise eyebrows yesterday with his Veteran’s Day message, I’m just going to read you part of it. He says, quote, “In honor of our great Veterans on Veteran’s Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal and cheat on elections and we will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America”. Are you comfortable with this language coming from the GOP frontrunner?
McDANIEL: Again, I am not going to comment on candidates and their campaign messaging. I will say this- I know President Trump supports the veterans, our whole party supports our veterans, and I do think we're at a very serious moment in our country. The one thing I wish had come out more in our debate is that the RNC and NBC for the first time ever had a jewish co-sponsor for the debate. I am really proud of that history that we created so thank you for being part of that because this is a time when we met the moment.
WELKER: Thank you so much for having us. It was an honor to co-moderate that debate and we really appreciate it. Ronna Mcdaniel, thanks for being here.
McDANIEL: Thanks for having me.
WELKER: Good to see you.
