The Hangover Chapter 5: Chris Stirewalt and Parker Poling

The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

The Dispatch

Politics, News

4.7 • 6.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While it’s true that Chris Stirewalt came to perform an autopsy on the GOP’s 2020 election strategy and results, it’s worth pointing out that “the GOP” as a rule didn’t do all that badly in 2020 – the real problem was Donald Trump. Given this state of affairs, Chris decided to reverse course momentarily by speaking to Parker Poling, the 2019-2020 executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and one of the primary architects of the GOP strategy for congressional elections in 2020. Parker helps to give us a better sense of why Republicans entering the party without Trumpian baggage were able to outperform the president in their own state and local elections and what it was like to make such strides in diversifying the GOP cohort to include more women and racial minorities at a time of revanchist populism. Parker even gives us her advice for freshman members of Congress (Hint: Most of them don’t follow it, even though they should). Show Notes: -Parker’s time in the GOP -Patrick McHenry’s unexpected congressional career -Congressional Republicans outperformed Trump -Florida’s 27th Congressional District had an unpredictable election -Iowa’s 2nd District, and the election with a six-vote margin -A hint of what the NRCC could’ve run on before January 6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, I'm Chris Steyerwalt and this is the Hangover, a limited run podcast from the Dispatch
0:05.0	and Dispatch media that aims to figure out how Republicans took the shortest trip for
0:09.2	a party in nearly 70 years from total control in Washington to absolute minority.
0:14.6	The GOP doesn't seem very interested in understanding why, so we'll have to do it for them.
0:19.1	How did this surprise success of 2016 give way to defeat, an effort to overturn the election,
0:24.1	in the siege of the U.S. Capitol, and what comes next?
0:27.6	You could argue that Parker Pollink was perhaps the most successful Republican strategist
0:31.1	of 2020.
0:32.5	Under her leadership, the National Republican Campaign Committee, the party's House
0:36.0	election arm, stunned the political world by adding seats when the nearly unanimous expectation
0:41.2	was that the Democrats would expand their majority thanks to Joe Biden's co-tails.
0:45.8	If she doesn't seem like a political consultant, that's because she doesn't think like one.
0:49.8	She straightforward, isn't afraid to say she doesn't know the answer sometimes and
0:53.5	manages to speak both with authority and humility.
0:57.4	As the Republicans emerge from their post-election stupor, it will be essential that they can
1:02.1	learn not just from their failures, but from the successes of political professionals like
1:06.3	her.
1:08.3	Parker, thanks for being with us today.
1:19.1	My pleasure, thanks for having me.
1:21.1	Okay, it's certainly good of you to join us because I think you can put some perspective
1:26.7	on this that probably nobody else in America can.
1:31.1	So, were you raised a Republican?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Dispatch, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Dispatch and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.