MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We're going to dig in a bit more on this with Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. He has held top communications and strategy positions in the House and in the Senate. He's the cofounder of the consulting firm ROKK Solutions. Good morning, Ron.
RON BONJEAN: Hi, good morning.
MARTIN: So the polls had both former President Trump and Vice President Harris neck and neck going into Election Day. Were the polls wrong or incorrect, as we say, or did something break Trump's way at the end?
BONJEAN: They sure did - they sure were wrong. I think that when you really look at the demographics of those that supported Trump, you don't just have white working-class Americans. You have people of all demographics, from Black, Hispanic, young, independents. And he's changing the Republican Party from that white working class into, you know, a working-class party with all types of people in it.
MARTIN: We've been talking about this throughout the morning. Was this a victory of style, or was this a victory of policy? I mean, is it that people were attracted to his kind of outsiderness, even though he was president for four years? Is there something about that that was attractive or were there specific policies that you think people were drawn to that they are banking on?
BONJEAN: Yeah, I think poll after poll showed that the economy remained the biggest issue, followed by immigration and a frustration over rising prices of groceries and housing. And Trump gambled that America would - feeling the high inflation and deeply dissatisfied with the current administration would embrace him as a strongman who would fix it. I think he - people know who Donald Trump is, and they - they know who he is. They may not like him, but they know that he's the change candidate. And America is surely going to get changed now.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Ron, you just used - this is Steve Inskeep, by the way. You just used the word strongman.
BONJEAN: Yep.
INSKEEP: Which we've heard elsewhere on the program today. In the last hour or so, we heard from Lloyd Doggett. He is a Democratic member of Congress from Texas who regards this election as a national catastrophe. And we talked through his fears, his concerns about Trump trying to be an authoritarian strongman. And there's a particular aspect I want to ask you about. People may know that you have worked for a lot of leading figures in the House and the Senate.
The Senate has a separate role in the checks and balances from the presidency. But Doggett's fear is that Republicans who now control the Senate will in no way be a check and balance on this particular president, that they are completely pliant - to use Susan Davis' word from a moment ago. With your experience and knowledge, do you have any reason to think that Republicans in the Senate and maybe the House would be in any way a check or balance on this president?
BONJEAN: Well, usually, the party in power works with each other. So, I mean, you know, when Schumer and President Biden, they work with each other, and the Senate Democrats usually back up President Biden. I can see the same thing happening with Senate Republicans backing up President Trump, you know, on his nominations, depending on, you know, the qualifications. I mean, if there's somebody that wasn't really qualified, you know, that would give them pause, and that person would probably withdraw, which happened in 2017.
INSKEEP: Yeah. Well, I mean, that's what I'm wondering, actually. I mean, there are times when you have senators who have their own point of view or they stand up for the institution of the U.S. Senate.
BONJEAN: Yes.
INSKEEP: Do you have any reason to think that this group of Republican senators would do that in any meaningful way?
BONJEAN: I think they would. Well, it depends on the issue, but I think they would stand up to an administration if they saw there was problems or issues. I mean, there are several nominees that were, you know, put forward by the Trump administration that ended up having to withdraw because of their own issues that - but I think this time around, the vetting is a little bit stronger, you know, going in by the - by a very well-organized Trump transition team.
MARTIN: Ron, before we let you go, the president-elect said in his victory speech that he was going to be a unifier. He was going to bring the country together. How? Given that the last phase of this campaign was so negative and so many people found it demeaning, how do you envision him bringing the country together?
BONJEAN: Yeah, it's the million-dollar question. I don't have any easy answers today. There are a lot of hard feelings on both sides, and it's going to be a challenge that we're going to have to see if President Trump can pull off where he wants to pull off. He's going to need - if Democrats, for instance, win the House of Representatives, he's going to need them going forward, you know? And there are lots of Americans right now that need to hear that from him, that unity message that he didn't use during the campaign but needs to use now.
MARTIN: That is Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. Ron, thank you.
BONJEAN: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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