Kamala’s VP pick is a gift to Republicans

joining me now for the view from the Trump campaign is former Republican presidential candidate V ramaswami uh thank you so much for being here sir uh and I do want to talk about some of the criticisms you had of the Trump campaign yesterday this was one of them you said uh that our latest strategy of repeatedly labeling kamla a radical leftist will soon fall flat and it's interesting because the first response for the Trump campaign today uh to Harris picking Tim Walls was to call him a radical leftist as you saw in that video that we just played are you worried that this campaign's line of attack is a miscalculation so look one of the things I've also said is I believe that Josh Shapiro was going to be the VP pick I was wrong about that this was a decision that I think still is confusing to me that the Democrats have made but provides a great new opening for the Republicans I've been the first to say the last couple of weeks have not been our strongest weeks this provides the much needed reset that actually resets this race and opens up a clear path to victory for Republicans the bottom line is this walz is a progressive when it comes to policy he presided over the BLM riots in Minnesota which he led he favors healthc care for illegal immigrants so let's have that debate on policy and if we have that policy debate believe me the reality is going to be Republicans come out on the economy on immigration on staying out of Foreign Wars and if this election is decided on policy that's what this pick does it refocuses the debate on policy I actually think it strengthens Republican chances but do they need to do more than just labeling him a radical leftist so they actually have to talk about some of this these policies as opposed to just playing The Name Game yes and we will and we have to I've been clear about that we cannot just fall into the Trap of criticizing the other side and if we're calling it straight down the middle here I tell you that this pick presents risks for Democrats and Republicans The Pick of waltz's VP presents a risk for Democrats that they lose Centrist voters over a lot of his Progressive policy positions the risk I see for Republicans is that he is such a progressive and he's far on the left of many of his policies that it becomes tempting to just focus on him instead of offering our own vision of who we are and what we stand for that's ultimately what's going to be required for us to win this election seal the Border end rampant crime grow the economy stay out of World War II revive national pride in this country these are things that Donald Trump stands for these are the things that the Republican Party stands for and I think we have to resist the temptation and risk to forget to talk about that because of the ripe criticisms that the other side makes it so easy for us to now level I mean isn't the person doing that the least is the candidate himself Donald Trump it seems uh at most of his rallies he spends most of his time just calling people names and complaining about past grievances it's rare that he actually offers up policy prescriptions do you think the candidate himself needs to do that more so I respectfully disagree with your characterization there look at that debate the one that actually turned this entire race around the CNN debate that was a policy focused debate where with all due respect Donald Trump mopped the floor with Joe Biden the reality is that was so much the case that they had to swap out Joe Biden as a consequence so I do think that Donald Trump cares deeply about policy the Dirty Little Secret if I may in this race is that between the two tickets here between the two presidential candidates Donald Trump is actually now the moderate on policy you take the historical criticisms of the Republican Party extreme positions supposedly on abortion on gun control on interventionist Foreign Wars let's just go straight down that list Donald Trump opposes a National Abortion ban against the will of many Republicans he's taken a measured approach on gun control he is against the Iraq War and he's against other interventionist Foreign Wars these are exactly the policy criticisms that Democrats have had of Republicans for Years yet Donald Trump is to the center of many Republicans on all of those questions so if this question if this race does yes come down to policy I think it should be a hands-down victory not just for Trump but for candidates all the way down the ballot and I think that's a big part of why you want to take waltz's selection I just if I may just make this one point because I think it's important there's a little bit of a contradiction in how they're pitching him on one hand they say he's this Midwestern unifier on the other hand he is the guy who is leveling this charge of being weird on 70 million Americans on the other side and I don't think you can have it both ways I do think that that's divisive I think it's the 2024 equivalent of Hillary Clinton's basket of deplorable and I do think that that's going to come back to hurt Democrats if Republicans keep our eye on the ball and that's what I'm urging us to do well then I want to get back to this idea of keeping the eye on the ball as you rightly point out uh and I would also point out that no one calls people names more than former president Trump he does it on a regular basis did that with Governor Kemp at his rally over the weekend but it also seems as though that the former president is still pretty focused on Joe Biden he claimed this afternoon that Biden would try and take back the Democratic nomination he called out several Democrats names in the process do you think that's where he wants to focus his policy right now well the reality is Kam Harris and Joe Biden are part of the same ticket that leads this country today she's trying to claim a lot of Biden's victories so I do think it's fair game in a presidential election to say that that sitting president owns his policy record and so does the vice president who's now trying to take some credit as much as she tries for some of those alleged successes let's talk about the Border let's talk about actually how even the stock market decline of the last week is undoubtedly correlated to at least increased expectations that the market has that K Harris could be the president so I do think that's fair game to look at the Biden and Harris regime or the administration as one ticket that's how they've pitched themselves to their own voters so I think it's fair game for Donald Trump to say that she also owns Joe Biden's policy failures but that's a policy focused discussion that I think is good I think the country will be better off if this is an election decided on competing visions of policy for the future I don't think it's going to be good if either side makes this about which side is weirder alleging weirdness of the Republican party I just think it's divisive I think it is a way of alienating whoever wins this election it's going to cost 70 plus million people to see themselves not as part of the same culture or country Tim Governor Waltz is the one who started that the reality is I hope Republicans are able to take a very different path to say this is who we are and if we do we win I mean what you're describing though is not at all what Donald Trump has ever done over the of his presidential or political career for that matter uh and you're asking him now to just completely focus on policy not to call names not to try and settle grievances from the past we're 90 days out from this election obviously you're calling for what appears to be somewhat of a different course when it comes to the campaign do you think there needs to be new leadership to try and encourage a more policy focused campaign or is that impossible with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket well so look I got to be very very careful in precise in what we're saying here what I'm going to say is is that when the media puts Donald Trump into a corner when the farle puts him into a corner sometimes he's left with no other choice when you have the other side alleging that you're weird and your people are weird of course the most natural charge is to say well you know what we have a stronger case in return you could think about refusal to Define what actually a woman is refusal to say that men should not compete with women in women's sports taking away gas stes out of ordinary Americans hands if Republicans want to play this game yes I do think we have a stronger case to say the other side is weirder than we are but I think the better way to go and you do hear this from Donald Trump I think the media doesn't often report on it what does he say he says success is unifying success will be our Vengeance and I think that's an important part of the message where that's a side of Donald Trump that the media doesn't often let voters see I think people who have been to his rallies absolutely do take that message away and I do think the more he leans into that message one of the things you've been hearing him say even more that I love is it's not just about making America great again it's about making America greater than we have ever been before that success and ambition and Excellence are our heritage these are exact lines out of Donald Trump's speeches not the ones that get reported on yes I would say stick to those messages and I think we're going to revive this country and hopefully win this election and dare I say let Trump be the president who unites the country okay V ramaswami thank you so much for your time sir we appreciate it we're going to talk more about this now join me on set