00:00Mr. Chairman, always good to have you. As we consider this notion of resumed hostilities
00:05with Iran, even if the president suggests that we're not going back to war outright,
00:10I would imagine if you're a member of the House or someone up for re-election in the Senate and
00:15you're home right now, you're having to answer to this for your constituents, right? I would
00:21imagine that as we draw closer to the midterms, these kind of headlines only get harder for
00:27electeds to navigate. Yes, it's uncertain for all of us watching the situation, but
00:34particularly jarring for those seeking re-election and trying to give your constituents a sense of
00:41certainty, especially about the cost of things in their life, particularly gas prices. It's very
00:48hard for an elected official to say that we're in much better shape than we otherwise should be,
00:54given the fact that the Strait of Hermousse is effectively closed. That's a very hard message,
01:01but America is in a dramatically better position than where we've been in previous generations with
01:07our oil supply and production and refining capacity in the United States. That's a lame message to take
01:14if you're running for re-election, that things could be worse. That is never a good election year
01:19message. But that's what they have to contend with right now. As somebody who's run for re-election
01:26a couple of times, Mr. Chairman, you wonder what the mentality is going to feel like by Labor Day.
01:34And I don't know if you buy into that longstanding bit of wisdom that people start to solidify their
01:39opinions right around the beginning of September. And that's when these races start to harden,
01:44that the races start to codify themselves based on what we're seeing in the current standing in
01:49the polls. Right now, I guess everybody's on the beach. You know that. They're not paying quite as
01:53much attention. But when does $3.79 become a real problem for consumers who are starting to make
02:00decisions for November? Well, it's currently a problem for families that are traveling this
02:05summer. This is prime travel season, prime motoring season in the United States.
02:11When do they connect the dots to elections? But you're right. At Labor Day, it does solidify.
02:18Everything kind of crystallizes and feelings get locked in. And since Election Day is no longer
02:25really Election Day, once you hit the month of October, you have people voting or starting to
02:31vote across the country. That means that you basically have a month-long Election Day
02:36here in the United States. And so you really want to have your act together. And as an incumbent running
02:42for re-election, especially as a Republican going into midterm, it's going to be tough. It's a very
02:49tough message. So that is when you want to have things have a smoother path forward when it comes to
02:56Iran and with energy prices. You want to see things starting to recede by then. Otherwise,
03:01it's going to lock in a very negative view for Republicans, a negative view for President Trump
03:07going into Election Day, which is really catastrophic for House Republicans especially
03:13and some Senate races as well.
03:17Well, I'd like to ask you about one Senate race in particular, the Senate race in Maine. We are still
03:24waiting to see what Graham Plattner's future will be if he does ultimately drop his campaign
03:30in his bid to unseat Susan Collins in the face of sexual assault allegations, which of course he
03:35denies. Mr. Chairman, if you're Susan Collins right now, is it heartening to know you may have
03:41a new opponent in a matter of weeks who isn't going to have as much time to build up support?
03:48Or did
03:48you want to run against Graham Plattner? Oh, I think I think Senator Collins wanted to run
03:55against Graham Plattner and the Democrats started to understand that with multiple serious
04:01allegations and each one becoming more damning and less defensible for the Democratic Party. And as
04:08late as three three days ago, you had Democratic operatives, especially from the socialist wing of the
04:14party defending every bit of allegation against against Graham Plattner. It's troubling for them
04:22to have to answer for that. But there's this larger divide within the Democratic Party we're going to
04:27see come to four, which could be a benefit to Senator Collins and to Republicans generally, which is the
04:33divide within the Democratic Party between the socialist left that is ideologically fixed. They were hoping that
04:39Graham Plattner, working class looking guy who was, you know, you know, went to elite boarding schools.
04:47But they've tried to write that out of out of his narratives. But the socialists wanted a white
04:53working class guy to make this look like instead of an elite intellectual activity from the socialists
05:00and not diverse, they were trying to show a level of diversity with this ideology that's never been
05:05evident. And so you're going to have that wing of the party versus those that really want to win with
05:11a more
05:11pragmatic view, though liberal. And those things are going to play out in coming days in Maine. And we're going
05:17to see
05:18that really open up not just what happened in New York and New York primary elections from a few weeks
05:25ago, but to show an
05:26additional state that you have this serious ideological divide within the party between moderates or liberals versus the very
05:35far left socialist wing of the party driven by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
05:39Well, the main Democratic Party does not seem divided on the issue of getting Graham Plattner out of the race
05:45and keeping him out of whatever comes next. Pretty dramatic stuff, Mr. Chairman, from Devin Murphy Anderson,
05:52the executive director of the main Democratic Party, who was so upset about what she was hearing and overtures,
05:58apparently, from the Plattner campaign that she put up this video to send a very stern message. Let's watch and
06:04listen.
06:05The main Democratic Party has been working around the clock to develop a process to replace our U.S.
06:11Senate nominee that is open, inclusive, transparent and fair. The integrity of this process is just as
06:18important as the outcome. And we are committed to ensuring that Democrats across our state can have
06:24confidence in both. Unfortunately, Graham Plattner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to
06:31put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. Wow. So what do you see here, Patrick
06:37McHenry,
06:38some sort of shotgun primary process? What what could the party do in Maine to satisfy voters
06:44that they had a say in this and that Plattner's thumb was not on the scale? Nothing. All of it
06:51is a show.
06:52This is what happened with Kamala Harris replacing Joe Biden after it became evident of his inability to
07:00see through a successful election as President Trump. So it's going to play out like that. Again,
07:06you're going to see theater about inclusivity and input. But the party apparatus and party rules
07:12dictate and in state law will dictate this replacement process, which is very, very closed circuit in the
07:19Democratic Party within Maine, just like most parties across the country. This is a closed door,
07:25effectively a closed door event. But they'll they'll have some theater to show inclusivity.
07:29The word integrity, though, is very interesting to hear. The Democratic Party is trying to regain
07:35their sense of integrity, having done this elaborate dance to defend Graham Plattner in the hopes of
07:40gaining the Senate seat. Both parties, in fact, my friends and Republicans in Texas are doing something
07:47similar around a, you know, a pretty bad Republican nominee in the Texas Senate race. So both parties
07:54are dealing with this. And these are these are these are things that parties have to to deal with from
08:00time to time. And unfortunately, we're all going to be able to unfortunately for the Democrats in Maine,
08:05they're the ones that have to go through this pretty nasty and arduous process to to to find a way
08:12to salvage
08:13an election in May.
08:14We'll see you next time.
08:14We'll see you next time.
08:15We'll see you next time.
08:15Bye-bye.
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