MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH FMR. REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX) (2024)

TRANSCRIPT

August 09,2024

NEWS PROGRAM

FMR. REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX); NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH FMR. REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX)

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NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST

NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST: Let me bring into our coverage, former Democratic congressman from Texas, Beto O'Rourke. We have spoken about so many of these sort of flash points, and I wonder what your take is, sort of have been campaigned through the Trump era and been face to face with so many voters and constituents. What do you think is happening on the ground?

FMR. REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX): Whatever it is, it makes me so happy. I have not felt like this in a really long time. And if I'm anything like millions of other Democrats, and probably millions of Independent and probably even millions of Republican voters across the country. We just didn't know how badly we needed this right now.

I mean, you can focus group things, you can pull test certain messaging, you can look at the metrics and dollars raised or crowd attendance. But something that transcends all of that is the subject of your program today, which is the joy that I see in the Harris and Walz campaign. And as many have said before me on this show, they're no longer playing defense, there's not that sense of fear or even doom about all these terrible things that Donald Trump is going to do to this country. And he will do these terrible things to the country if he's elected, but it's almost as though we kind of swept that aside to fiercely focus on the future, a really beautiful future for this country, and ambitious future for this country.

Instead of hatred, there is hope. Instead of grievance, there is aspiration. And that's really America at its best. And I just can't tell you how proud I am of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz for finding this moment.

And getting kind of past the stuff that gets cooked up in political laboratories, or the corporate side of our politics, and just finding what is fundamental to democracy, which is people being with people, finding connection and joy in that. And that, I think, more than anything else, is going to power their victory in November.

WALLACE: You know, I obviously track some of my former colleagues from — it feels like another time, right, when there was a Republican Party that hadn't sort of imploded and brought it from the inside. And some of the arguments from David French and from Charlie Sykes is also on this panel, and from Adam Kinzinger are the most aggressively pro-Harris-Walz arguments that are out there.

And I wonder how much of that you chalk up to how brazenly autocratic and negative Trump is, or how ripe this moment was for the leadership of someone like Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.

O'ROURKE: Well, I think it has a lot to do with Trump, for sure, but I also think it has a lot to do with the Democratic ticket. And it's not news to anyone that there was a lot of uncertainty about this ticket, even as recently as a month ago, and about the prospects of President Biden winning re-election, despite the extraordinary record he was able to put together in three-and-a-half years, arguably the most effective president of my lifetime, my 51 years on this planet.

And I think there were some open questions about Vice President Harris, to be honest, but I think she's answered those. The bounce in her step, the smile on her face, the confidence with which she moves right now, the command and control that she has on the issues, on the people that she's engaging with, on her ability to work with the press and really kind of dismiss the bizarre behavior of Donald Trump is really something.

And I also think it's meaningful that, as you pointed out in the opening, that Trump is in Montana, of all places right now, is that because they feel like they have to play defense in a place that should have been reliably read. I don't know, but I can tell you, in Texas, which Barack Obama lost by 16 points in 2012, Hillary Clinton lost by nine points in 2016, and Joe Biden only lost by 5.4% in 2020.

WALLACE: Yes.

O'ROURKE: This is really the sleeper battleground state. The last time I saw Reverend Al Sharpton before this show today was at the celebration of life services for Sheila Jackson Lee, one of the most extraordinary champions, human rights, civil rights and voting rights in this country. And at the end of Reverend Sharpton speech, that entire congregation in the sanctuary was on their feet, rising to the occasion, both in memory of Sheila Jackson Lee and everything she's done to bring us to this moment, but also in the recognition that we're on the precipice of something absolutely amazing.

And just think about 40 Electoral College votes in Texas. If, at a minimum, we can get Trump to play defense here, because of this changing dynamic, it's going to open up other possibilities in other states and some days sooner than later, and maybe it's 2024 we win Texas.

WALLACE: I am not a skeptic of the inevitability of that, because I think what you're seeing at the national level is that there is a ceiling to the politics of hate and division. And I like that Kamala Harris describes herself as the underdog. I think that's the right way to run any race, but especially this one.

But I'm excited to see Governor Walz at some high school football games in this great state of Texas. Tell me about the Tim Walz you know.

O'ROURKE: So got to know this guy serving on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, as you know, 24 years in the Army National Guard rose to the rank of command sergeant major, the highest rank for an enlisted officer in the history of the United States Congress, 240 years plus. But also just a genuine man, just a wonderful human being.

He, you know, Reverend Sharpton knows this, your other panelists know this. Most politicians, most members of Congress, they'll storm into that committee room and give a speech for five minutes, and then make sure it pops on social media, and then they'll leave the room. Walz was the first guy there shaking the hands of every veteran, every veterans service organization that would come in the room. He was the last guy to leave.

He would bring Republicans and Democrats alike together to work on legislation to, for example, open up more mental health care access at a time that veterans were taking their lives at an alarming rate. And who signed that legislation, it was none other than Donald Trump. This guy can work with anyone, anytime, anywhere. And to meet him is to like him.

And it gets back to this idea of joy in the campaign, could Kamala Harris have picked a better contrast to J.D. Vance who, I think, in opposite to Walz, to know that guy is to really detest that guy, and at a minimum, to wonder what that guy really believes in and is for. Having previously referenced Donald Trump as America's Hitler, as saying that this person is the worst thing to happen to American politics, and to change his stripes so blatantly in the service of his own personal ambition, that is not something that is going to rally voters or help that Trump ticket.

So we are really lucky to have Governor Walz who, in addition to all of his likable characteristics, has really done some amazing things in Minnesota, like making sure that hungry kids can eat, like putting a billion dollars into affordable housing, one of the most significant challenges that we have as a country right now, and making sure that he uses political capital to help people who desperately need it. That's what this country wants, deserves, needs and will get when Harris-Walz win in November.

WALLACE: I hope you will come back and talk to us. We miss talking to you but it's great to have you. And you obviously know and feel a lot of what these two are doing all across the country. Thank you for making time for us today.

O'ROURKE: Any time, thank you.

WALLACE: Thank you.

END