Elizabeth Pipko

And we welcome you back to the read revolution.

I'm John Reed, you know, during the campaign for president, we talked to Elizabeth Pipco,

a number of times she was the spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.

Now she can speak without anybody looking over her shoulder and tell us what she's really

thinking.

I suspect that she's feeling pretty good about the progress that the Trump administration

is making at this point.

Elizabeth Pipco joined us today.

I really appreciate you taking time to be with us, Elizabeth.

What is your assessment one year on about what the Trump administration has been able

to do, even with the open hostility of the left wing Democrats in Congress?

Well, I'm glad you mentioned those hostilities because I don't think it's just elected officials

in Congress.

I think his biggest actual challenge every single day for president Trump is the narrative

that is built around him and every single thing that he does.

So not only does he have to accomplish everything that he set out to do, not only does he

have to deliver for the American people, but he has to work against the narrative that

the media puts out every single day about everything that he does and make sure that he's

explaining to people why things happened and actually getting a response out to the American

public from him and from our White House instead of from those outlets that want to destroy

his reputation and kind of make the American people feel like everything that's happening

is going wrong.

It's unfortunate, but that is his reality.

He's certainly used to it.

He certainly learned the hard way in his first term that that was going to happen, but

for him, it's not just about the accomplishments.

It's about making sure the American people hear about those accomplishments at the same

time.

So I think he's done an incredible job considering those challenges.

I think when you talk about border crossings, when you talk about everything that's going

on, when it comes to our foreign policy, especially in comparison to what went on under

Joe Biden, when you talk about the economy, people love to talk about how things are not

affordable right now.

Things are statistically getting increasingly better, excuse me, by the day compared to

when Donald Trump first took office last year.

We can only anticipate that it'll continue to get better going on into our midterms this

year.

Things are much better than we were when Joe Biden was in office.

Things are better than anyone could have expected when it comes to things that Donald

Trump promised he would accomplish that no one believed were possible.

And I think for him, he's pretty proud of where he is, but also very aware of the fact

that he has three years left to finish the job and do exactly what he promised the American

people that he would get done on that campaign trail.

Yeah.

When you were the spokesperson of the RNC, how did you navigate this type of open hostility

from reporters who I think it's safe to say at this point had no intention of treating

you fairly or treating the campaigns fairly.

It was almost like they were paid operatives for the DNC working against you.

How did you navigate that?

Well, look, I think it's about going in knowing that that's exactly what you're about

to face.

I wasn't the only one doing media, of course.

So for us was about watching each other and seeing how everyone else was being treated.

I watched Lara Trump.

I watched Caroline Lebit.

I'm watching the president himself, of course.

And I'm seeing these people that I care about it, who I know very well, being treated

like awful individuals before they even get to open their mouth and answer a basic question

because they're going in as the face of something that these folks do not want to see

in the White House, do not want to see victorious.

And so they're not really in it for the same reason that someone else might be.

You might get a journalist who wants to be fair and ask a genuine question, and then

you get a journalist that wants to ask that question, but make sure that they get to

twist into something negative or that they edit your words after the fact, even worse,

which has happened to me quite a bit.

So I think it's really just about the fact that I saw it happen all around me.

I was much more prepared to do the job now than I would have been a four or five or ten

years ago.

I started working with Donald Trump in 2016.

At that point, I was incredibly naive and I would not have believed any of the hostilities

that I later faced.

I would not have believed that that could be possible when I started because I just believed

so much in our country.

And of course, I still do.

But the evil that I've seen, the negativity I've seen, the amount of people I've seen

who would put really their hatred for Donald Trump and Republicans above their love for

the country or their interest in seeing America succeed really, really surprised me.

But fortunately, I guess you get used to it very, very quickly.

So I went in with the fact and knowing that I was going to face some really hostile people

and knowing that what I believed to be true was coming out of my mouth and that's really

all that I could really deliver and do at that point.

Yeah.

You got to be nimble.

I have to tell you, at the beginning, I knew that the ICE raids and the deportations would

generate ugly stories.

It's not a nice thing to see people, you know, have to leave a country even if they're

not here illegally.

I did not hear legally.

I was surprised though that at the beginning, at least, both the media and the Democrats focused

on the most unsympathetic characters that were out there, people who were associated with

foreign gangs and had been convicted of crimes.

And they acted like they were defending them.

Now they've recalibrated to show a little five-year-old boy.

And I don't think they're telling us the truth about what happened with that child.

At least you can look at a five-year-old boy and everybody would have some sympathy.

Did you encounter a lot of that type of deception when you were in your role?

Certainly.

I think for me, it's about realizing the Democrats, really anyone who opposes Donald Trump,

it's not just Democrats at this point, but that these individuals want to take an issue

with anything that he does and says, even if it doesn't seem like it makes sense in

the moment, that's what they're going to do.

We like to joke that Democrats very often take the losing side of majority of these 80-20

issues, whether it's about voter ID laws, which they don't want, despite majority of

Americans wanting them, whether it's about allowing boys into girl sports, despite the

fact that majority of Americans stand against it, whether it's about these strikes in Iran

that just happened.

When you know that the majority of Americans understand that Iran is our enemy, they

want to take that losing side because they have to oppose anything Donald Trump says

and does.

So I think for me, on the campaign trail, that's what I was aware of.

I knew that everything Donald Trump was advocating for, the majority of our country wanted.

I've always said it.

He has said it from day one.

It's not conservative.

It's just common sense.

And to me, I wasn't really representing Donald Trump in that time, although I was and

that meant a lot to me.

But I was also representing the millions of Americans who wanted to vote for the GOP in

that race, had voted for the GOP over the years, and were crucified for it by their neighbors

and their bosses and their friends and by the media.

And so for me, I just wanted to make their voices heard and let people understand that

we're not the bad guy that they want us to seem like we are.

We're just Americans who see things a little bit differently.

And if you look at the numbers, the majority of people tend to agree, and it's just really

sad things have been framed very, very differently.

But I think anyone that follows politics at this point is incredibly used to it.

Yeah.

Well, you bring up Operation Epic Theory, and it is interesting.

A few years ago, I think most people of it would have agreed.

You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

And that seems to have been wiped off the table with the narrative that Donald Trump is

seeking another war that has, that he has no plan to get out of this.

What's your assessment having been through this rigour morrow in the past, how do you navigate

this situation right in front of us?

Well, I've heard people make that case, right?

You just mentioned that this is a new war, and the problem is that's where the lies begin

because it's not a new war.

We can certainly debate how this should have been done, what he could have done differently.

I mean, anyone that respects the United States of America and our military, I get it, we

are owed that conversation, we should always have that conversation.

But this is a conflict that's been going on for decades, right?

Iran has posed a threat to the United States of America and others, obviously, including

our allies around the world for many, many years.

And they've tortured and they've kidnapped and they've murdered hundreds of Americans,

if not thousands.

They're responsible for some of the most horrific images I ever saw growing up when I was

learning our own country's history.

And I think for Donald Trump, this is the opposite of starting a new war.

It's putting an end to a decade-long war and conflict and avenging the lives of those

Americans who were taken from us too soon by this regime, obviously, also supporting

those in Iran.

We know tens of thousands of those protesters were killed by the regime in recent weeks.

Donald Trump does not stand for that, so I know it means a lot to him to free these

individuals.

And I think most importantly, it's about future generations in America, our future children

and grandchildren not having to face the threat of a nuclear Iran.

So it's the opposite of a new war.

Ukraine was a new war.

What happened in the Middle East in Gaza, that was a new war.

Those were started on Joe Biden's watch.

I believe that never would have happened.

Either one of them, if Donald Trump was in the Oval Office at that time, he's put in

every effort possible to end those wars and others.

And now he's doing the same thing here.

It is not a new war.

It's the ending of a decades-long war, threat and conflict.

And it's making sure that our future American children will be safe and never have to deal

with this threat again.

What do you say to women?

It's surprising to me the women who have just reflexively gone against the Republican party

and against Donald Trump for whatever reason, who seem to be siding with the mullahs here

and the Iatola and the oppressive regime that treated women like dirt overseas.

And yet, there doesn't seem to be at least an acknowledged, but that's not something that

feminists and Western women would ever applaud.

And they seem to be on the wrong side of this issue in my opinion.

Well, look, I've debated our own policies here in America, which so-called feminists

for years, and I have every interest in the world in doing that because I love my country

so much.

And I hate to see the deep disagreements that we have.

I don't really have as much patience with feminists when we're debating if the Iranian

regime was good or bad, right?

When I see women that tell me they'd rather live in Iran than here in America or that women

are treated better in Iran, I mean, it really just means that you're either blissfully ignorant

or you're purposely lying to me and to yourself.

I mean, this is basic common sense, basic common knowledge.

You have to really, really know absolutely nothing and really despise your country here

at home to be able to utter those words.

I think it's disgusting.

And I just think people should open their eyes and realize that the same folks that they're

very often debating domestic policy with are the same ones that are very happy to burn

an American flag and march with the flag of the Iranian regime, march with the flag of

ISIS, those Hamas flags we've seen on protests for the last two years.

These are people that are not worth engaging with, they are blissfully ignorant or evil.

And when you hate America that much, I don't really think that we could ever come to any

kind of, let's say, solution in a conversation.

Yeah.

And I know you've got to go in a second, but let me ask you what you're thinking in advance

of the midterms this year.

We're looking at the gerrymandering proposal in Virginia that could change the numbers for

Democrats and Republicans in this Commonwealth.

But take that out of the mix.

How do you think Republicans do this fall?

That's a bad shot right now.

What do you think?

Well, I'm a little surprised by how many people are feeling negative about the midterms

when we're nine months out as someone who's been in, you know, the Donald Trump orbit

for 10 years.

I could tell everyone I have learned the hard way sometimes that you can never predict

the future in American politics.

And certainly when Donald Trump is at the helm, I have no idea what's going to happen

over the next nine months, but I do genuinely very confidently believe Donald Trump will continue

to succeed and Democrats will continue to embarrass themselves.

People very often like to show me Donald Trump's approval ratings, but they are, I mean,

limits above.

Obviously, those Democrats, right, I've never seen an approval rating for a party be so

low.

I've never seen an entire party really have absolutely zero to offer the American public

and to continue to run on the fact that Donald Trump is bad.

And they are good.

I have all the faith in the world and the people of our country who I know want to vote

really with their best interest at heart, with the best interest of America at heart.

I do not believe that things are as doom and gloom as they expect.

I understand statistically speaking very often the party that's not in power tends to do

better in those midterms, but Donald Trump is the president after the entire world went

after him and he was shot in the head.

So we have no idea what's going to happen.

And I'm feeling very, very confident in Donald Trump's successes right now and how many

more he can add to that list over the course of the next year.

Yeah.

Well, you've stated up close and it does seem like when he decides he wants to go after

something.

He's not passive.

He's going to be super aggressive over the next several months and maybe the successes

once he gets to articulate those that will move some of those numbers.

And I hope you'll bring you on board because I watched you from a distance two years ago

and you really knocked it out of the park time and time again.

Elizabeth Pipco, the former spokesperson for the RNC, the Republican National Committee.

I appreciate the chance to talk to you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

Okay.

We're back with more of the Read Revolution in just a moment.