Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – official guest host Grant Henry welcomed Fox Nation contributor and host of No Interruption, Tomi Lahren to the newsmaker line to weigh in on the possibility of more strategic SCOTUS leaks, Republican messaging, and a much-needed Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump alliance.
Henry: Let’s not waste time. We have a fantastic guest on the line right now. The incomparable Tomi Lahren needs no introduction either in this state, in this community, or really in this nation. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, Tomi. How are you doing?
Lahren: I’m doing well, and I don’t have three names but am glad that you had me anyway.
Henry: I appreciate that. We’ll take you regardless. Let me ask you this. You tweeted yesterday “you can’t support my body, my choice, and simultaneously be a forced vaccine advocate. Doesn’t work.
Now, look, I’m not going to hold my breath here thinking the Democrats are going to catch up with their own hypocrisy anytime soon. And even if they did, they’re certainly not going to admit to it. Let me ask you this as a question, though. Give me your take on what you think this SCOTUS is, the Supreme Court ruling to repeal Roe v. Wade. How is that going to impact the midterms for Democrats coming out to the polls?
Lahren: Listen, I’m not going to lie to you. I think it’s going to be excellent for Democrats. I think it’s their only saving grace, which is why the leak happened, which is why they’re leaning into it so strongly. They don’t want to talk about inflation.
They don’t want to talk about gas prices. They don’t want to talk about our border. They don’t want to talk about any of those things. They would much rather talk about this issue, which will get their voters out to the polls.
Probably one of the only things that will get their voters out to the polls. So I said this the other day on Outnumbered on Fox News, and I’m going to reiterate it for any of those elected Republicans, or conservatives, that may be listening.
The only way that we combat this is to make sure that our messaging is strong. I understand the religious argument. I understand the pro-life movement and the desire to just talk about pro-life, pro-life, pro-life.
However, that is not going to be a winning argument for the midterms. What we need to talk about is how this is a win for states’ rights.
Henry: Yes.
Lahren: Leave the religious element out of it if we can, and talk about the fact that this does not mean that abortion is going to be illegal. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be outlawed. It means it would throw it back to the state.
To get that messaging out is so important because there are so many people who don’t understand what throwing out Roe v. Wade would actually mean.
Henry: And I think the most accurate way legally to describe what’s about to happen in this opinion is, look, it’s not the Supreme Court saying that there is or is not a right to abortion. That’s not what they’re asking.
They’re basically asking, who has the right to decide that? Exactly to your point. It’s an issue of federalism. It’s a Tenth Amendment issue. It’s kicking it back to the states, as it should be. Let me ask you, Tomi, in particular about that leak.
More importantly, I really want to know, do you think anyone will stoop to a level so low as to make this a kind of regular occurrence? Does this tactic itself of leaking become the standard operating procedure?
I mean, honestly, because doing so would strike at the very fabric of our Republic and its separation of powers. You know what I mean?
Lahren: Unfortunately, I think that we are going to see this time and time again. I don’t think this is going to be the last time we’re going to see this.
I think it’s because the Democrats know that they do very well in the court of public opinion. They don’t do so well when it comes to policy. They don’t do so well in reality, but they’re very good at tugging on emotions.
And that’s why you had this leak. So I do think we’re going to see it again, especially on decisions that they are obviously very fired up about. We’re going to see this, I think, when it comes to gun rights.
Anything that the Democrats particularly want to win on, I think you’re going to see more leaks. And it’s unfortunate. And I think that they’re also going to hail this leaker and other leakers as a hero and a martyr. And this is really bothersome to me.
Henry: Yes, I completely agree. If you turn this person into a martyr, you make him replicable, right? You make him or her replicable – somebody that should be idolized, and the process itself should be repeated. It will be disastrous to the country. Tomi, you also tweeted out recently that Trump’s endorsement is the only endorsement that matters.
And we actually had an interesting conversation in the last hour about this. I want to get your take here. Trump’s endorsements clearly performed well last night in Ohio and Indiana.
No doubt. How do you think the rest of Trump’s endorsements are going to play out across the country in these midterms?
Lahren: I think you have to have great candidates. I think that that’s first and foremost. But when it comes to the Republican Party, his endorsement is the endorsement that matters.
There are not really any other endorsements that are going to do anything or are going to make any waves. It’s his and only his that are going to get headlines and that are going to matter to people.
And I’ve also said this, I don’t want Trump to run in 2024. I want Ron DeSantis to run in 2024. But I want Donald Trump to be our kingmaker.
I want him to go around the country, as he’s kind of doing already, and pick who he wants to be elected into office when it comes to congressional races, when it comes to other races of importance.
And even gubernatorial races around the country. I want him to use his power of endorsements that make big waves for our country and for the Republican Party. I think that that’s where he is best suited, and I think that that’s where he can really give us a lot of wins.
Henry: You said a second ago you don’t want him to run. You would prefer to see Ron DeSantis. Let me ask you a follow-up. Realistically speaking, however, do you think he actually does run?
Lahren: I think he does. I think that it’s going to be a struggle right now. It’s going to be a power struggle between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. And I think that Ron DeSantis is playing it very well right now because he doesn’t want to come out and announce.
He doesn’t want to have those two energies competing right now. So he’s waiting to see what Trump is going to do. And I think he’s doing it very gracefully. But I hope that those two can come to some kind of an agreement because we need them both.
We really do. We cannot have those two fighting. We cannot have those two in a brawl. We really need those two to have a united front because they’re two very strong leaders. I think if Trump was smart, he would step back and say, you know what? Ron DeSantis is going to be a great candidate for President. He’s going to come with fewer issues than I do.
But I still want to obviously be in this movement. I want to lead the movement, but I’m going to put my power behind Ron DeSantis. And that is what I really hope we see, although I’m not super-confident in that outcome.
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Tomi Lahren” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
