He's Been To Every Republican Convention Since 2004, He Says This One is Different

0:00as this has been billed as Trump a polluza. Dennis Lennox says it's a grift and not a convention in Dennis Lennox. Long time political commentator and a public affairs consultant joins the show once again. Dennis, it's good to have you back. Hey, good morning Chris. Always be on the great list. Griff is a is a big word. Why do you why do you feel like this is a grift? It's not a convention. Even even Trump and the RNC and the people in the world are met that it's Trump a polluza. It's that that's their words not mine. That it's the greatest Trump rally that's ever been held. Again, their words not mine. There were no delegates selected the way they usually are. The way they orchestrated this to get all of the various state Republican parties on board. There's a look you can charge whatever you want. So some of the state Republican parties go to $100,000 or ticket in Michigan.

1:01You know tickets were I think five or $7,000 if you wanted to be a quote unquote delegate from Michigan. Whereas the conventions every four years are free for delegates. Members of Congress that they wanted to show up were $25,000. People that supposedly President Trump wants elected or reelected 54 days. So why would you charge them $25,000 to show up? It really was and is because it's still going on an attempt by Trump and the RNC to capitalize on the American police control of Washington and try to extract a little bit more money from donors and special interests while they control all the levels of power. Dennis, I'm wondering with this around war and these rising gas prices weighing in on voters right now, did the President make an effective case for continuing that conflict or did he raise more political questions for Republicans or running? I don't think he's made an effective case whatsoever.

2:03And every time he says there's a deal or things are happening, it's going to get better that doesn't materialize. Literally what Iran is doing right now is what they did to Jimmy Carter, their waiting out Donald Trump, either the remainder of his presidency or through the midterms when if he does lose one or both houses of Congress, he will be a complete lame duck and will have to capitulate to Iran and give them a much better deal than what they were otherwise get right now. I think my biggest objection getting back to this midterm convention, Chris and Lloyd, my biggest objection is whether somebody paid $15,000 or $5,000 or $200,000 to go to this convention, whether the convention costs $20 million or $50 million to put on, I would rather have that as a Republican. I would rather have that money be spent for against Republicans and Democrats, not on

3:05two days in Dallas. Like every penny that is being spent in Dallas this week on this convention is a penny that is being spent on electing Republicans and defeating Democrats. And that's a good scratch for me. And you were saying that you hope it maybe doesn't work because if it works, this will be replicated again and again. Oh, absolutely. If this somehow works, not only will the Republicans do this again, the Democrats will do this again. We'll do it. The convention in two years time, real actual convention every four years to nominate a presidential candidate. If you're one of a party starwarts out there who like going to these things, you can kiss your opportunity goodbye because they're going to say, you don't want, you want to be a delegate, you're going to have to pay. You saw it on the television last night.

4:06The seats weren't full. It was not a full arena. The other thing that you point out is we may not necessarily know where this money is coming from. That's correct because this wasn't done through the Republican National Committee or the Trump's political action committee because the deal was each state Republican party could charge whatever it wants. It's up to the state Republican party to figure out how they're taking that money and whether they're reporting it based on what their state requires. Michigan has disclosures, but Michigan also allows political parties to have off the dark money and administrative accounts with nobody ever knows. Some states have no disclosure whatsoever. So I'm not mad. Even though we can't have money in politics, you have to have money in politics. But I think the public has a right to know who is giving money and who is buying access especially if you're selling tickets at $200,000.

5:07And you got some. I think the public has a right to know who's buying those tickets. Absolutely. And some of those vulnerable Republican candidates, they stayed away from Dallas last night. Does that absence tell you about the president's value or maybe his liability in some of these competitive races? If I were a Republican running in a swing seat in 54 days and actually it's not 54 days because ballots in Michigan drop in about three weeks and about 60% of people in Michigan were vote by ups and developed this year. I would stay away from Trump. And I'm not an ever-tomper. I just want to be clear about that. There's numbers are at historic lows in just about every state in the Detroit News WDIV poll yesterday. I think it was 64 or 65% of respondents in Michigan disapprove of his job performance. There is absolutely no reason if your Tom Barrett or Mike Rogers or Bill Heising up in Michigan to be tying yourself to Donald Trump.

6:12Because people in these competitive races, they want to run their own race that catered to that area. Maybe they didn't want to come to this national stage in Dallas. You're 100% correct. The Democrats are saying how will you praise Jesus because Donald Trump is national and is a select and made this election about himself. And that's always the problem in midterms for presidents, Democrat or Republican. But instead of allowing many of these candidates or many of these endangered incumbents to be running local races, he is making this about himself more so than what it otherwise would be. I would tell Bill Heising up or Tom Barrett, you know, two of the most endangered House Republicans in the country, both from Michigan, there's a look you need to be enrolled in the incumbent protection program right now. You got to do it. You got to do it. Interesting perspective as always, Dennis Lennox, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

7:12Thank you. Yeah, you got it. Meanwhile, coming up on the other side, running opposite Mike Rogers, Abdul Al-Sahed joins the show. It's Jair Morning.