Prof. Lawless Talks David Hogg, Trump Tariff Chaos and Democrats' Problems
Prof. Lawless Talks David Hogg, Trump Tariff Chaos and Democrats' Problems
"There's always been a divide within the Democratic and the Republican parties about the extent to which the party should officially play a role in primaries. And most of the time, the party operates as an incumbency protection agency and does not support primary challengers, does not recruit primary challengers, and even in open seats tends not to endorse primary challengers. So this is a major shift, and I think it speaks to the fact that there are generational differences within the party about the best way to take on this administration and fight back," said Lawless, of Hogg wanting new candidates to primary incumbent Democrats within the party.
“The backlash that he's been receiving generally is coming from older members of the party who just haven't played this way before and I think it's probably going to be pretty popular with a lot of Democratic voters,” said Lawless. Hogg spoke in Providence Thursday night.
Last week, Politico reported that the friction between Hogg and the DNC had hit a crescendo.
“The Democratic National Committee is going to force David Hogg to decide: Get out of the primary game or lose his DNC post. During a member call on Thursday, DNC Chair Ken Martin is expected to announce a proposal to change the party’s rules to mandate all DNC officers stay neutral in all Democratic primaries, according to a person directly familiar with the plan and granted anonymity to describe private discussions. The move comes after Hogg pledged last week to spend millions of dollars funding challenges to 'asleep-at-the-wheel' Democrats in primaries, igniting a firestorm inside the DNC,” reported Politico.
“It will just enable [Hogg] to be even more vocal. If the Democratic party actually strips him of this position, it's not like he hasn't already cultivated the relationships with the media that will allow him to go on television and take to social media and tell everybody what happened. And so at this point, I think the party would be well situated and well positioned to say, 'Look, there are multiple strategies here. Let's figure out how we can work together to make sure that we take back the House, that we don't continue to bleed in the Senate,’” said Lawless.
“And maybe that means running some pretty competitive primary challengers against certain incumbents. Maybe it means endorsing primary challengers in open seats that we didn't expect to have. And I think it really does not behoove anybody not to take seriously the strategy that he's putting forward," added Lawless.
Democrats' Effort to Retake the House
Lawless said that the Democrats are now talking about a 50-state strategy to contest all the House races, but warned that resources should be focused on the critical congressional seats that the Democrats can flip from red to blue.
Trump Reeling - Tariffs, Stock Market, Fed
“The chaos and the uncertainty are beginning to take hold and they're beginning to take hold not only with the markets but they're beginning to take hold with public opinion and with the American people. Trump's approval rating is moving downward...he would rather have the numbers he had four months ago than the numbers he has right now,” said Lawless.
She also discusses Trump’s fight with Harvard and the other Ivy League schools.
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