The Battle for the Future of MAGA Begins

Greg Gutfeld:

Emily: VP JD making the first move, blaming the Republicans’ losses on the Iran war, tweeting, “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night, and the honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis laid out the damage.. ‘This is close to probably the last hundred years. This is going to last far beyond just two years. You look ahead to the ’28 election, the presidential election. You are not, as Republicans, going to be able to retake the Senate under this current map just two years from now. So this is really going to have an impact two years, four years, six years.’

So, Jesse, I keep trying—I want to figure this out. It could be both, but when he says Republicans’ reason for losing is the war, is it because the war went against Trump’s promise of no more wars? Which would make sense? Or was it just that it didn’t end as quickly as expected? Those are two very different things. And you can’t use one to supplant the other and say, “Oh, he said he’d never have a war,” when you are also okay with it if it was over quickly. You catch me?

Jesse Watters:

Yeah, it was over the price increase, because it drove up energy and it drove up rates.

So it wasn’t even about—

That’s what I believe. And I think that’s what people say when they talk about the war. It was about what it did to the prices. And the country wasn’t prepared for the war or persuaded that it was worth it. But the commander in chief, his mandate is to keep the country safe. And the country is safer because of that. But it smashed the base to smithereens. And JD might have to put it all back together. Young men, white working-class voters, male Hispanics. I mean, wow, that’s a lot of lifting.

But so he comes out with the statement, and, you know, he’s getting a lot of heat for it because a lot of people are like, “Well, why didn’t you say something about the war earlier?” Or maybe this is a little disloyal for you to do, JD. And then, you know, Trump was the one that did the MOU that Iran violated. But a lot of people in the administration gladly said it. They were thinking it, but glad he said it.

Now Trump can still stick the landing. Next six months, absolutely. And I think a lot of Republicans will be grateful that are running for president. And sometimes politics takes the back seat to war. Just got to finish the mission. And so we’ll see what he does.

Ron was on every show Tuesday and Wednesday. Every time I turn on the TV. And good for him. You know, he deserves it. Florida was at all. Everyone’s moving there. They have great politics. Going to run. The amount of waiting. See if a Democrat wins, challenges that Democrat—or some dark horse. Some guy just rides in, young gun, America First….

Greg: ..It’s not like Trump is trying to—not about politics. He weighed the consequences. Everybody can agree. He can agree. Vance can agree. It had consequences. So what then?

Emily Compagno:

Right, and I think JD Vance’s response is being treated as accurate but incomplete. In that, when he mentions the Iran war, it’s not the start of it. It’s that there hasn’t been an end to it. And it’s that during the development of it, people felt the effects at home when they thought their mandate was for an America First agenda. Young people especially. Especially. Mental effects now. Incredibly accurate. And he touched on a lot of stuff yesterday. They are on recess all the time. It just seemed like we inherited nothing but slop when it was quite clear what the mandate was and that there was power for two years to actually execute it.

But I think the signals that we’re seeing here is that DeSantis would b

e running on his government record because he’s making the distinction that Florida was sort of the bastion despite the blue tsunami. But Vance would be running on proximity to the administration. And that, to me, is the framework that 2028 would be all about.

What Americans need right now: We need everyone in Congress to actually put on their pants. We need people who represent the American people, who are tethered to the mandate, not tethered to the president. We need Congress to actually function on its own, not just totally attached to the president.

So what I see coming forward and incumbent on the landscape is every person needs to show what Americans are asking for and not be tied to what one person is doing or saying, because that one person will not be here anymore. But that Congress will be, and those candidates will be.

Greg to Harold Ford Jr:

So we’ve been talking to you about your side. Now time to talk about our side.

Harold:

I don’t think this is a side, but I understand what you’re saying. The president says we lost the Republicans because of the war. Now, a week ago, he was not saying that at all publicly. So it appears that because the numbers came back where Republicans got beaten pretty badly at the polling booth, that he now thinks the reason we lost is the war.

Does that mean we should not ensure that the Iranians don’t have a nuclear weapon and they can’t launch ballistic missiles and sprout proxies? I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and I’d love to hear him expand upon that.

And then to say that the president—he agreed on this in private. He often says he won’t disclose conversations, but maybe he will now.

I do think the American people, regardless of their side, want an end to this. No one wants to abruptly leave and give the Iranians a victory and give the Strait of Hormuz over to the Iranians so they can control that.

But I just didn’t like that comment. It was political and naive in so many ways to say what he said and say it how he said it.

Remember, throughout this time, the president has said we’re very close to a deal. He will oftentimes—he did it on Thursday or Friday so the market would jump back up for the weekend. “We’re close to a deal, and everybody should know we’re talking. They want me to give them a deal, but I want a better deal.”

He said that about Ukraine as well. He’ll have a little harder time saying that. And I hope the one positive about what the vice president has said is maybe there will be a willingness to work with Democrats and work with Republicans to try to get something done.

Finally, I don’t know who is going to win between JD Vance or Marco Rubio, but I’ll tell you, I like Marco Rubio personally. He’s a friend. But I think anybody who is serious about running, you’ve got to say a little more than the obvious. You have to tell us how you’re going to do it. That goes for Democrats, too.

Greg: Dana Perino?

Dana:

I would say no political movement lasts forever. And President Trump’s was longer because of the interruption of his two terms.

Worst halftime show ever.

Well, and very consequential, so. I believe that the party, and I think the country, is looking forward and needs to have a full-throated debate in the primary. So let’s see it.

And I don’t know how many people will run on the Republican side. I don’t think that JD will have that lane to himself, obviously, if the last 24 hours are any indication.

We haven’t mentioned Ted Cruz. He was out there immediately as well, and he’s been doing a podcast the last two years, like in the top 20, which is high in terms of how many people are listening. So he was never going to have that lane to himself.

And we’ll have that big debate. I just want to mention this morning on Newsroom, Jim Messina, who worked for Barack Obama, I put up a poll. Do we have that? About right? He said just too few. It was a double line. He said, “I have personally spoken to 29 candidates.”

But here’s the guess what? This is the best part. The first primary Democratic debate, do you know what date it is? April 1st.

I said, “Why didn’t they just make it April 2nd?”

Doesn’t make any sense.

The Five (on Fox)