Harmeet Dhillon Appears on FBN’s ‘The Evening Edit’ To Discuss the Last 2020 Presidential Debates
According to Dhillon (Video Transcript):
No, I disagree, Liz. I actually think that Joe Biden knocked himself out pretty hard at the very end of the debate. But even before that, look, the president has a reputation of being very kind of boisterous and pugilistic and he was actually very restrained, very measured, took his hits at the former vice president in a very surgical way, and I think he scored a lot of points. And, Joe Biden held his own for most of the debate began to deteriorate towards the end. And so, I definitely felt like the president outperformed and we learned a few new things about Joe Biden that he wished America hadn’t learned like he is lying about his position on fracking, and he was forced at the end to say that he does intend to phase out America’s use of oil, which is really bad news for Democrats in those battleground states. That’s not a popular position.
I would agree with that. I think that another remark I saw from that focus group was that people wished they had the president’s policies with the former vice president’s demeanor, but the president’s demeanor yesterday was great. And look, he’s not popular with the elites, the polished elites on the coast, but he’s very popular with blue collar workers and average people, and he’s turning out a lot of voters who don’t normally vote. That’s what we found in 2016 and I think those numbers are going to increase in 2020.
I don’t think it is one thing for one person. I mean, if you’re a retired person in your 80s and you’re watching this and you’re not worried about jobs, you’re worried about COVID. But, the apocalyptic demeanor of the former vice president on this issue, that’s actually not the experience that most of us have with this disease. It’s a terrible disease but it is actually very well controlled in our country. Our country is very honest and forthcoming about the cases. The cases are there, but actually the fatality rate is extremely low, thank God. And, we are at the world’s cutting edge on therapeutics. Thanks to our president’s decisive nature. I mean, imagine if Joe Biden were in charge of coming up with a vaccine, he’d be getting bids from China, the people who sent it to us and who knows what corruption would be part of that mix. That’s not the case with our president. Now, on the jobs front, the president has a great record to talk about. He expanded jobs for numerous demographics that Democrats have left behind over the years, and everything was going in the right direction very strongly and historically up until this COVID situation and even amidst the COVID situation, we are turning things around and is only going to get better when it’s behind us. And so, from those points of view, I think that, the president did a very good job.
Here’s what happens in real life, Elizabeth. People have their positions and their firmly held views, and certainly, Kamala Harris, from the far left edge of our country has those views. But then, when they focus test it, and they realize what really matters in those battleground states, they suddenly realize they’re off on the wrong foot, but it’s by then too late to retreat. So I think Joe Biden either dishonestly thought that the American people were not going to go look up his position, or maybe he forgot it. I mean, that’s also legitimate position to take, he has been very forgetful and had some signs of not being able to remember his positions and sort of the anger, the contradicting yourself. That’s also part of some sort of cognitive disconnect over there. But, you mentioned the question about masks. I mean, look, basic hornbook for lawyers is the president does not have police power in the states, only the states’ governors, and local officials have the power to order things like quarantines, masks and so forth. So he’s talking about interstate commerce, because he heard somewhere or some lawyer told him he can regulate interstate commerce. Most of us are driving from point A to point B in our towns. It’s not interstate commerce there, Joe. We don’t have to wear a mask in our car. That’s silly.
It’s huge. And, the President started out his years before all of this drama that dragged him into impeachment with a very decisive middle class tax cut that helped the vast majority of Americans take home more pay, that also set off an economic boom, expansion of jobs, particularly in those minority communities and for women. And so, that was a very durable expansion of our economy up until the last several months. And like I said, even that, it’s begun to rebound. What the democrats are proposing is massive new taxes, the Green New Deal, the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs, or not hundreds of thousands in the energy sector, and not to mention even selling out our country to these other countries. And we saw Joe Biden again and again last night talk about criticizing the president on health care. Well, his boss and he were in office for eight years, why didn’t they implement competitive pricing for prescription drugs? You know, I as an employer can tell you that our health care costs are triple that what they were and we get less for our money and our doctors have left the business. That’s happened to me personally. So, people who have some experience in life are not just listening to TV and talking points. They know that what he’s saying does not add up. And, it’s our job as Republicans to drive those facts home and make our closing arguments and I can promise you the president is working overtime to do it while Joe Biden is cowering in a bunker. The president was there today in the villages in Florida and there’s going to be many more stops where he make these points and bring it home.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
