Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Bullpen. [MUSIC] All right, first time in the Bullpen we have Mr. Juan Villasmil, commentator, Young Voices. [00:00:15] He covered the Republican debate yesterday, if you wanna call it that, in Florida. It was an interesting saga. I don't want to presume what you believe about what happened at that debate, [00:00:32] Juan, I will let you opine, and I would then respond. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, so the loudest voice in that debate was not actually there. >> Speaker 1: Right. [LAUGH] >> Speaker 2: President Donald Trump, who was holding a rally 30 minutes drive away from the Arsht Center in Miami. [00:00:53] Nonetheless, there were some funny moments. Vivek Ramaswamy, called Ambassador Haley and Ron DeSantis, Dick Cheney in three-inch heels, which was a funny line. [00:01:08] >> But hold on, Juan, I usually would not interrupt here. And forgive me, dear brother. I thought he was referring to Governor Ron Desaden, I mean, DeSantis, as having the three inch heels. And the reason I say that is because [00:01:28] of the speculation around his booter tyre. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought that it was directed solely at him [INAUDIBLE]. But then when Nikki Haley responded, I was like, hey, [00:01:45] here, that was not directed at you. >> Speaker 1: Right. >> Speaker 2: But then said it was directed at both, so. >> Speaker 1: Right, yeah, there you go. There you go. Okay, so let's talk about the elephant in the room, no pun intended. Donald Trump obviously came out the winner based on the polling date. [00:02:02] He wasn't even in the debate, but he won the debate based on Republicans. So right now you have a proxy war for what? What are they actually trying to do? Typically, in a scenario like this, when you have a runaway candidate, [00:02:18] you're trying to create viability so that you can negotiate yourself to a VP pick during the convention. Or get enough delegates, get enough popularity to where you can have an agenda that is introduced and actually honored by the nominee of the party. [00:02:35] I don't think either one of these things are going to happen with this slate of characters. I think the reason why they are still in the race is because they're hoping that Donald Trump is simply in prison and cannot be president. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, so the latter is in some of the people's minds. [00:02:52] In previous campaigns, one can argue that they're running for the VP spot, but I don't think Donald's gonna select any of them for the VP spot. But nonetheless, although I can see the argument for increasing name ID, [00:03:09] some of the people in the governor's campaign, Governor DeSantis campaign, for instance, seem to believe that he actually stands a chance. Same can be said about Ambassador Nikki Haley. Their argument goes something like this, [00:03:26] and I talked about this with Iowa Talk Show host Steve Deace, who was there at the debate, who endorsed Ron DeSantis. He tells me that although Trump, yes, is really popular and he's leading by 30% in Iowa, he's sitting at 40% in Iowa? [00:03:43] And his argument is that if people drop out, and now that the governor has the endorsement of another governor, the governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, it seems, according to him, that DeSantis could actually win Iowa, just like Ted Cruz did. [00:03:59] But then, wouldn't that be a repeat of what happened with Ted Cruz? He won Iowa, but then he [INAUDIBLE]? >> Speaker 1: Right, and I understand the point of the broadcaster, but the reality is you have the plurality spectrum inside of a primary. [00:04:16] So Donald Trump will likely not win any state in a Republican primary with over 50% of the participants supporting him. But he doesn't need to, because so many others are running and splitting their natural base. [00:04:31] He has consolidated a very unique base that remains constant in every state. The only way you really make the model work is if all of these individuals running, they get behind one candidate. Just one, it can't be two. [00:04:47] Just one. You may have a chance. Now, you get competitive in these states cuz you do not split your natural base anymore. But they don't have the, let's just say they lack the insight and enlightenment to do something like that, and they all believe they should be dubbed King or Queen, per se. [00:05:05] But that would be the only way that you would defeat Trump, in my opinion, in the Republican primary by way of vote. And the other way is by way of indictment and incarceration. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Those are the only two ways, from what I could tell, being there, heading there, actually. And I talked about this in the article that I just wrote for the Spectator World. [00:05:24] You could see on the way to the debate, a mile away, people with Trump signs and Trump 2024 flags. You didn't see any people with Nikki Haley hats or chanting for Vivek Ramaswami. [00:05:40] You didn't see any people fainting when Tim Scott walked past them. Trump is the energy of the GOP, and the only way someone could actually challenge him is if he gets imprisoned, if he gets killed, or if everyone quits and they all unite behind a single candidate. [00:05:59] And it seems like that candidate was DeSantis. But now with Nikki Haley reaching him in the polls in Iowa, although his staffers were really confident when I talked to them in Florida, really, really confident, a lot of people seem to be questioning if actually Ron can make this. [00:06:17] >> Speaker 1: Wow, let me ask you this question a little bit different than just the debate. But it came up during an interview with Trump, where Trump was posed a question about a VP running maiden and the guy offered Tucker Carlson. Trump kind of goes into this, well, the ratings would be great if we did it. [00:06:36] We had great ratings when we were on TV together, blah, blah, blah. Naturally, that's not how we would hope somebody would pick a VP, but Trump would. I don't think Trump would pick Tucker. He said he would consider him, but he was just talking. Trump, in my opinion, is going to pick someone not like Mike Pence, [00:06:57] which simply means, somebody who is such a Trump surrogate that they would not challenge him on any leadership decision. Do you see that any differently than I do in whatever VP pick he chooses? [00:07:18] >> Speaker 2: It's a complicated question, cuz of course, there are strengths in selecting a more moderate version of a Republican as a VP candidate. That's [INAUDIBLE] with former VP Pence. And it worked well, strategically speaking. >> Speaker 1: Well, but not with Trump. [00:07:33] I mean, Trump wanted the guy to not sign the certification. So I just think he tries to find someone who would do that for him the next term. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, so this time around, [00:07:48] it seems like it's not traditional election strategy. Trump also wants a fighter. And for him, he always says that loyalty is the most valuable currency in politics. And he actually believes that firmly. [00:08:05] So you see a lot of people fighting, especially a Republican of former governor candidates like Kerry Lake and other women in GOP politics, since some people assume that the future VP might be a woman, [00:08:21] since President Joe Biden running mate is a woman as well. So they have that in mind, too. I'm not sure if [INAUDIBLE] that he would nominate a woman. But we don't really know. [00:08:39] >> Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. So in my opinion, you give Donald Trump power again, you can kiss this form of democracy goodbye. That is my opinion of it. Thank you, dear brother. We appreciate you being on the show. Thanks for the work you do. >> Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me. [00:08:54] >> Speaker 1: Absolutely.