Campaign Manager Brad Parscale: Trump "Set For Four More Years," "Could Beat Anybody.
Campaign Manager Brad Parscale: Trump "Set For Four More Years," "Could Beat Anybody." "The Momentum Behind This President Right Now Is Like Nothing That History Has Ever Seen."
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realclearpolitics.com
Campaign Manager Brad Parscale: Trump "Set For Four More Years," "Could Beat Anybody"
President Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale said the momentum for the president is "like nothing history has ever seen" in an interview Tuesday with FOX News host Martha MacCallum.
Full transcript, via FOX News:
video at the page link
MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Let's bring in President Trump's campaign manager tonight, who joins us exclusively on “The Story”, Brad Parscale.
Brad, thanks for coming back to the program tonight. Good to have you here.
BRAD PARSCALE, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Thanks for having me on again, Martha.
MACCALLUM: Thanks for being here.
It's interesting when you look back, I mean, that was really one of the bragging points of the Trump campaign last time, that it was lean and that it didn't need all the money the other candidates needed. Why do you need so much this time?
PARSCALE: Well, I mean, I still have President Trump, and I still have the power of his Twitter account, the power of his voice and everything else. But now, we have a top of that -- we didn't need that in 2016. The president, in 2020, we have now more opportunity. We now have the power of incumbency, and we have the power of the money and what it can do and help us build out a ground game and operation across the country to turn out the vote.
MACCALLUM: So, you have said that your job is to sort of get to even that one-tenth of 1 percent that is out there, who is, you know, staying home, or somebody in a district that you really need, with all of this money and with this machine that’s getting ready. Who’s in that number? Who are those people?
PARSCALE: Well, look, there is millions of people across the country that want to vote for the president. They need to have -- be pushed to go out to vote. You know, there’s millions.
And our job is to find them, get them turned out and deliver them to the polls. And I think that's going to show up. And I think that's what we’re building (ph). The money that we have now allows us to look at each donor now, build better models, build better audiences and really understand who a Trump supporter is today, so we can deliver more tomorrow.
MACCALLUM: But when you look at -- you know, I remember last time around, you talked about how you knew what district you needed to be in. You knew where you needed to go as the campaign moved forward.
PARSCALE: Yes.
MACCALLUM: So, now, when you look at it, which voters, which areas are you, you know, feeling like, look, we have got this money, this is where we need to spend it, on Facebook and elsewhere?
PARSCALE: Well, look, we individualized the people. These donors coming in now, talk about this -- 725,000 donations, right? When you look at those kind of donations, we can take that model to those people and then we can determine where they are.
We can -- nothing is stronger for President Trump than to know it's a voter (ph) than a donation today. So we can model off of that. We know where they are. And so, that's how they are. We don't look at them like it’s this kind of person or that type of person. We model off that data, and then we find them later. That's very helpful to have all these donations so early.
MACCALLUM: Yes. You know, a lot of people have said, you know, the president should do this or that to sort of court voters who may have, you know, drifted away from him. Is that where your focus is, or are you more focused on, you know, sort of bringing out the base and increasing the base with evangelical voters? I’ve heard that you want to spend, you know, even more time and money bringing some of those voters out. Is that true?
PARSCALE: Look, we are building out a large coalition program from Latinos for Trump, Black Voices for Trump, the faith-based, all kinds of different coalitions. That's an important thing for us to do. We need to turn out those voters.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
PARSCALE: But overall, what we are trying to do is -- there is hundreds of millions -- not hundreds of millions, but a hundred million plus, tens of millions of people that will vote for President Trump. You know, only 70 percent or so of the population turns out to vote. We need to find those people, we need to get them to show up and get them to vote.
It's not about trying to go out there and try to find some voter and change his mind. It's about getting the ones that support the president now and get them to show up to the polls and vote. And I think they are doing that right now by donating.
MACCALLUM: So, what about this app? And when and how are you going to roll this out at the rallies? Because I know you said that you were going to -- thought you might do it on the big Tuesday night Florida opening of the campaign. But now, you want to try it in smaller venues. Why and when?
PARSCALE: So, the app is about connecting. You know, in 2016, we had about 700,000 volunteers. It was difficult sometimes to get all of them mobilized and to get the “Army of Trump” as we called them moving into households like door-knocking and doing things.
But in 2020 with the opportunity of the money now we have, we can build out tools and like an app, on their (ph) phone. Now, we’re looking at 1.7 million to 2 million volunteers. Now, we can get them as data mining crews, get them to go to (ph) events, checking in like -- almost like you’re checking in for a flight, get them to talk about, you know, neighborhood watch parties.
We can mobilize these people now to help us be the army that helps turn out the vote. And nothing’s stronger than your next door neighbor coming over and knocking and saying, hey, I know you are a Trump supporter. Let’s go vote.
MACCALLUM: All right. I want to ask you, you know, just a couple of lightning round questions about things that are going on out there. One of them are the polls that see Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren surging.
PARSCALE: Yes.
MACCALLUM: You know, do you think that Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren are tougher opponents for President Trump than Hillary Clinton was?
PARSCALE: No, I don’t -- first of all, I think the president could beat anybody. The momentum we are seeing right now, I mean, look, $105 million raised, $100 million cash on hand. What we are seeing overall, the president's successes overseas. The momentum behind this president right now is like nothing that history has ever seen.
And like you said in your opening talking point, you know, he’s raised almost more money than any president that has ever run before. He has raised almost twice as much and --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: All right. What about Pete Buttigieg raised $24 million? That’s pretty impressive for the mayor of South Bend.
PARSCALE: Yes, it’s -- yes, but it’s still nothing like this president has done. I mean, we’ve -- we’re not even in the main portion of the campaign yet, and we are already raising large numbers. This president’s -- and the voice he has and the message he can control and the way he can control what's happening on the media, no one can touch this.
MACCALLUM: All right.
PARSCALE: And I think the president is set for four more years.
MACCALLUM: Well, I mean, it is a race and it’s going to be between President Trump and somebody else. And the chances are that that person is going to be offering things along the lines of free college, higher minimum wage, Medicare for All. What's the president's response when they stand on that stage and say, you know, we are going to make sure that everybody has healthcare and that the cost comes down? Does he have an answer for that?
PARSCALE: Look, I think this president has said very clear that he cares about the cost of rising healthcare in this country. And if we are being correct about it, it was President Trump that saved the failing Obamacare that was falling off the cliff when he came into office. It wasn't for him and the changes that have been made, costs would be skyrocketing, drug prices would be skyrocketing.
Without even with the help of Congress through his own administration, he is able to stabilize this market. This president understands what the American people need. He understands we need a strong economy and, look, he has created the lowest unemployment numbers in history for almost every demographic. I think that's going to continue to show – it’s showing in wages across the country --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: What about free college? What’s he going to say when his opponent says, look, I think college should be free in the United States? You got a lot of people stand up and say, yes, I think that's a great idea.
PARSCALE: (Inaudible) the administration is going to have to come out and talk about what we're going to do about, you know, rising college prices of this country.
MACCALLUM: Yes.
PARSCALE: I do think they are absurd. And I think it's difficult, you know, for some -- for families across this country, because these universities have been gouging us.
I have a daughter in college myself. It's an expensive thing. We are going to have to deal with that issue. And I think one of the things is to call out these universities for these rising costs. But, you know, I don't think millions of Americans would like to lose their sports teams and all the other things that might have to happen in the changes. I think they need to have a real discussion about what college means and what those prices are and make sure these universities charge a fair price.
MACCALLUM: Interesting.
All right. I’ve got to let you go. But before I do, one last question, the census decision did not go the president's way. The citizenship question will not be on the census. What's the impact of that?
PARSCALE: You know, that was just -- I know that was just coming on right before I came on the air. You know, I think that long term, it’s going to have no impact on the president's election. I think the Republican Party is in a strong position with Latino voters and other demographics. I think the Republican Party is on a straight course to more victories, win back the House, grow a lead (ph) in the Senate and have four more years of President Trump. So, I’m not worried about it one bit
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