YouSaid · the spoken record

Mick Mulvaney

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79

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2024-01-11

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2024-01-11

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1. “That's not conservative. The institutions have to be Trump. By the way, I do think that the weaponization of the government is absolutely real. That's why I worry about the deep state and support what any Republican president would do to try and get the bureaucracy back to serving both parties equally. That does not happen. And anybody who works in government would tell you that government leans left. It absolutely does. Even the FBI, even the DOJ, and we need to fix that. There's a difference between fixing that and using that to get vengeance on your enemies. I think that just doing the latter thing just makes it worse. I don't want to live in a country where I have to worry about going to jail every time there's a Democrat in the White House and you have to worry about going to jail every time that there's a Republican White House. That is a problem.”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

2. “A conservative, I can't stand that as a conservative. I don't like the populism, babe. I really don't. Populism in the long term can be dangerous. I agree with that. That attitude.”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

3. “As it did on January 6th. So, I don't, by the way, I honestly don't think he was trying to overthrow the governor on January 6th. I know how the man thinks he plays checkers, not chess. So it's not part of a grand scheme. He was trying to delay the vote because they told him once they vote it's open. He was trying to delay things. Is that splitting here? Maybe it is. But I don't think there's a master plan to turn Donald Trump into a dictatorial authoritarian tyrant”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

4. “We get the government we deserve, right? If that's what the majority of the country wants and it's constitutional and it is, that that's the government that we get. We've elected felons, by the way, David all the time. You know, that is what, half a dozen felons in Congress right now. In both parties, I have faith in the American electorate. Let's put it that way.”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

5. “There's a lot of folks that I wouldn't hire. There's a lot of folks that I know and I have a great deal of faith in. Russ Vote used to work for me. I imagine you'd be chief of staff, a budget director again, Mark Paalletta could be an excellent White House counsel. So there's some really, really good folks. I don't worry, like many of my Democrat friends do about this threat to democracy. I just don't. I think that's hyperbole and I think it's backfiring politically especially. I don't think that any one person or any one administration can take down the American democracies. I don't worry about that. Is he going to run it the way that I would run it? Probably not, but I'm not worrying that our Democratic Republic is going to end if Donald Trump wins. And I think that right now a slight majority of Americans agree with me because they're still supporting him for president.”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

6. “I think that's what you're going to get more of. Are there going to be some smart people? Yeah, there's a lot of smart people I used to work with alongs folks. They're smart folks, but I don't think you're going to end up seeing the same caliber of people that you saw at the beginning of the first Trump administration. There's going to be some good candidates for Secretary of State, Secretary Treasury. I have no clue whose Attorney General is going to be, but it's not going to be somebody that Bill Bars, I agree, that's for sure.”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

7. “The trump that you'll see in the next four years is the Trump you saw in the last eight months. Keep in mind, when we started the first administration, the inner circle included the former CEO of ExxonMobil, the former president of Goldman Sachs. Right. At the end of the first term, it was a guy who sells pillows at night at Fox News.”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

8. “The chief executive officer of the company should have the ability to have the team that he wants working for him. I do agree with that. Democrat or Republican.”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

9. “You'll expect a lot of the same from him. He's 87, he's 78, 80. Now, you're not going to change him. The administration will be different in that it will be focusing a lot more on the minutiae and the blocking attacking of running a government. The attack on the deep state will be real and it will be concerted and well thought out and well conceived. I begged him to do civil service reform when I was OMB director and chief of staff. I was just flabbergasted when I went over to the CFBB that I couldn't fire anybody couldn't fire anybody. I mean we had somebody who stole money and I couldn't fire them”

   2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

10. “That completely exonerates Donald Trump. I hope that people can be able to change their minds based upon new information.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

11. “My boss failed to live up to my expectations for my boss. And when you're in that circumstance, when you work in an organization, your boss does something. Try and do something to fix it if you're in a position to do so. You can do nothing and have everybody assume that you support it or you can leave. I was no longer in a position to do anything about it. No one was returning my calls anyway, but I was no longer chief of staff. I couldn't do anything to change what was happening. I was not going to stand by and have people assume that I approved of this. So the last choice didn't do that is to quit. I did not think at the time the president had done anything impeachable. I thought that he failed to live up to my expectations as one of his employees. During the January 6th committee hearings, there was information presented that I found credible that makes me wonder whether or not the president's actions that particular day were wrong and or criminal and or impeachable. So I have changed, I've moderated my position on January 6th based upon the evidence that has come out. And I hope that other folks would do the same. If there's evidence that comes out tomorrow,”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

12. “It was fine. I got the job I wanted. I got a job in the diplomati corps. I was a special envoy to Northern Ireland. We knew it was a temporary posting. It was going to be six months, but it was going to be a year. At the end of the year, we were still in impeachment. And we talked about it's wrong to change chief of staffs when you're going through impeachment.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

13. “I saw him slam the table a couple times, but I never saw him throw anything and never saw him throw ketchup models again. So I never saw that.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

14. “David, I don't remember that part of the transit, the part that I remember standing out of mind is do us a favor. And as soon as you say that, it's going to look like it's a problem. Keep in mind, we had known for a long time about Bay's conversations regarding the attorneys in Ukraine and how awful that looked. So we were aware of the risks here. It was that, do us a favor language. So I remember I don't remember the specifics of the stuff you're talking about.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

15. “War cabinet for the impeachment. The president calls me on the phone and says, Where are you? I got to go back to DC. You're going to get impeached over this. He's like, don't say that. That was a perfect conversation as president. It may be the perfect legal conversation, but you aren't going to get impeached over this. And he had some derogatory comments and slammed down the phone. And 20 seconds later, Kevin McCarthy called me and said, where are you? I said, I'm on the train. He goes, he's going to get impeached over this. I said, yeah, I think he knows that now. So the folks who knew Washington understood what was happening.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

16. “Conversation was in July. The inquiry had begun before that. There had been an impeachment inquiry over the summertime. Again, they were always going to impeach Donald Trump that was part of their campaign. But the impeachment inquiry had begun. I had never seen the transcript of a conversation until after it had been released. I remember looking at it going, okay, this is fine. I understand why the president says it's a perfect conversation, but from a political standpoint, I'm telling you this is a problem. This language is a political problem. It's not a legal problem. This is a political problem. You say, you know, do us a favor, Mr. President. I get why your lawyers are telling you that's okay, but I'm telling you, you're going to get impeached over this. In fact, I left Washington that day. We were there for the United Nations General Assembly and jumped on a train to come back to DC to start to put together a...”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

17. “Making sure that it's going to the right places for the right reasons. That was why the Office of Management Budget held up the money, at least delayed the money, but not anytime longer than it's allowed to do under law.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

18. “No, we did it for an entirely different reason. And I know there's a press conference and I've been back and forth on this for John Carl, Johnson, a friend of mine. Ukraine is, and my fear, David, today we're going to find out that it's even more of a problem, one of the most corrupt places in the world. It is. There are special laws on the books of the United States on how money flows from the U.S. to Ukraine because it is so corrupt. What people forget is the context. So at the time Ukraine just had an election and we had a new Zelensky was brand new, but they don't elect their parliament at the same time they elect their president. So it was while he was coming in as a reformer. It was unclear whether or not he was going to have the ability to do that. So we were waiting to see what direction Ukraine was going to take on dealing with things like corruption. People say, oh, you withheld the money. The money flowed. The money went at the time prescribed by law. There was never any violation of law in terms of when the money went to the Ukraine. But I think that being good stewards of taxpayer money includes”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

19. “We want to change the direction of the place. Again, we don't have time to go into, but we wanted to get them back to basics to actually following the law, our perception was that they had. Taken an inch and turned it into a mile. They were abusing their regulatory authority. And I wanted to change the direction to refocus it back on consumer. You think they were”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

20. “Know you don't manage Donald Trump, you manage the staff, you're not the chief of the president, you're chief of the staff. And the reason I took the job was I had been in the West Wing as a member, as a director of the Office Management Budget. It was running very, very poorly. John Kelly did not like the president. John Kelly had not come to work for several months towards the end of his tenure and the morale in the building was really, really low. And I had just finished a stint running the CFPB president and sent me over there sort of a turnaround specialist on that place. He was very pleased. I said, Mick, can you come in and do to the West Wing what you did at the CFP, sort of turn the place around six month, that's why it's acting. You know, coming here on temporary and then you go back and do your budget thing. And that's how I took the job and why I took the job was to try and redirect the West Wing and the staff.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

21. “No, you know this as well as anybody. It's sort of a natural progression. I don't know if I'm the sixth or eighth or whatever budget director to become chief of staff. That's a natural progression within a West wing, mostly because after the chief of staff, if a White House is running properly, the budget director is probably with the president as much as anybody other than the chief of staff because the budget director is involved in so many things. So you have a lot of time with the president as a comfort level. You learn how to work with each other, et cetera.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

22. “I don't remember that. I do remember other conversations with him about running the printing press. He knew what got me, right? He knew what buds to push on me. And he's like, Nick, why don't we just run those presses? Well, run the presses, right? That's what we'll do that. And we did have a conversation. Print money. One time we had a conversation about infrastructure and it said, well, it looks like Nancy's going to be introducing a trillion dollar infrastructure bill, Mr. President. He goes, well, okay, we'll do two. I mean, that was, yeah, he is not fiscally conservative. There's no question about that. And that is a fair criticism to say that Donald Trump by himself ran up a quarter of the deficits that I consider that to be.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

23. “Successful in the long term. I will say this. I keep going back to the fact that even though Trump gets blamed for the budgets, I blame him for signing bills. There is no question about it. And I begged him not to sign the spending bills in 2017-18 and 19. Congress spends the money. They do. That's just as much an attack on my party because my party ran the Congress in 2018-17 or 18 and 19. But the other party was running Congress the rest of the time, at least in the House Representative. Congress spends the money. So again, I'm not trying to blame the Democrats for deficits here because both parties have gotten us $34 trillion in deficit. You don't get $34 trillion in deficit by having one party do it to the other.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

24. “I think that it remains to be seen. It's never going to pay for itself in a year. The question is, are you changing the growth arc of the country? Is the pie getting bigger than it otherwise would have been? And I do think that we had a great deal of growth because of that. I don't think it's possible. By the way, and you know as well as I do, these things get measured in 10-year windows anyway, right? When you score something at the congressional budget office, you have to look at it over 10 years. That being said, congression budget office is really, really bad at judging things on a dynamic scoring basis. The budget office says if you raise the price of a hamburger by a dollar and you sold 100 hamburgers, you're going to make a hundred more dollars. They don't take into consideration the fact you might sell 97 hamburgers because you've raised the price. That's dynamic scoring and they're really, really bad at it. So I don't think that we'll know for a while as to whether or not those were.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

25. “We were running them a trillion dollars a year. I think we're under a trillion in 17. They ran a trillion dollars after that. I mean, that wasn't that much different.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

26. “Depends almost entirely on how much he cares about an issue. And if he cares about something, he cares about it a lot. If he doesn't care about it, he doesn't care about it at all. And I remember one time walking in, when you do the budget, we had a list of what we call sensitive cuts. And these are cuts regardless of the amount of money. We knew they would be politically sensitive. And I'd go in one week and say, president, here's a cut. Here's a cut. Now, this is a cut, Mr. President. This is a foreign aid cut to a country that we're friends with. It's $16 million, which is not a lot of money, but here's why it is what it is, and all this. He's like, okay, I'm good. I go back about eight weeks later. We're walking through the cuts and expression. Oh, by the way, here now we've got a $15 million cut. Remember this on this foreign aid thing. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It was $16 million last week last time. What happened? So he was really good with numbers. He was really good with stuff he cared about. If he didn't care, sometimes like beating your head up against a wall trying to get him to engage on it. No, he was not stupid.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

27. “Getting a job was probably a function of my relationships with Paul Ryan, who was very close with Wright's Privus, who was the first chief of staff, and my direct relationship with Mike Pence, who had been in the house with me. And they both knew I was pretty good with numbers. I had some Democrat support for the position. I promised my Democrat friends I would never use their names publicly, but I actually had some Democrats on the Budget Committee reach out to the transition team and say, yeah, this guy actually knows his stuff. You should consider him. And I think that weighed fairly heavily with the Trump transition team, who was not all the Republicans. You know, Donald Trump has been a Democrat as much as he's been a Republican in his past and served members of his transition team were Democrats, including his family. So that had some weight. Working for him was fascinating. I get also all the time, is Donald Trump smart or is he stupid? And my answer has always been, how much Donald Trump engages on an issue and retains information about an issue.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

28. “We used to joke about that. He'd joke. He would have to joke about it. The tape was out. Everybody knew about the tape. I had a debate, David, in York County, South Carolina, the night that the Access Hollywood tape came out. And I got asked about the tape and I said, look, it sounds to me like Donald Trump is an absolute horrible person. And I said that. And Trump knew about it. He always sort of joked and they sort of didn't joke about it. Listen, Donald Trump knows that people say bad things about him. So he doesn't hold it against you forever. But that was out. It wasn't really an issue ever, I don't think, when I served in the White House. But yeah, it's certainly there.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

29. “I think inevitably there'll be some type of not inevitable. I shouldn't say that. It's possible that that happens. I honestly.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

30. “Anything that moves the ball in your direction is going to be a win. It's stunning that you've been able to accomplish what little you have in the first place. I think that 1% across the board massy amendment was I thought was, although it's not enforceable, was a good place to sort of have a battle. If you can get some policy wins in the border, which I think Democrats are more and more interested in talking about now because the border is becoming a bipartisan issue, anything is going to be a win when you've got a three-vote majority in the House. To my Freedom Caucus friends, and I've had this conversation with them, guys, where were you in 2017 and 2018 when I was trying to convince the president not to sign these huge spending bills? Where was the Freedom Caucus then fighting for lower spending? So why are we doing this now when you don't have the levers of power? Let's wake up. Let's get smart. Let's take wins where you can find them because you don't have a lot of leverage here.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

31. “It would be different advice than I gave back when I was budget director in 2017, 2018. Because back then, we controlled the Houses Senate and the White House. Now, Mike's got a three-vote majority as of this morning in the House, and that's it. Guys, take whatever you can get as a win. Seriously. Otherwise, you're going to get steamrolled.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

32. “And that's one of the things that stunned me. I thought from the very beginning that Trump could lose it a head-to-head race but would be unbeatable in a multi-person race. Now I'm not sure he can be beaten to head-to-head race. I never thought his ceiling, David, was 62%, which is what I've seen in some national polls right now. He's done one of the best natural politicians I've ever seen. And he's way out before what I thought he would be doing in this race.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

33. “Well, I think that's fair. But he's polling so low in New Hampshire. The better question is Chris Christie in New Hampshire. If Chris Christie somehow were to get out of the race, which I don't think he would. Most of his votes are going to Nicki Haley, not to, but all of Avek Brahmaswamy's votes are going to Donald Trump, most of, you know, most of the DeSantis vote is going to Trump. So that's the real question, is that how big is the anti-Trump movement? Is it 58% or is it 38%? Right now, I think it's 38%.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

34. “I think if he doesn't finish second in Iowa, he's finished. It looks like Nikki's going to finish second. I think there's two tickets out of Iowa, first and second, two tickets out of New Hampshire first and second. And that's it. Only anybody who finishes third, I mean, you're almost too far back at second place anyway. So if DeSantis can get a second in Iowa, he'll go on and go to Michigan and Florida for Super Tuesday. And if Nicky Haley beats him in Iowa, he's probably done.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

35. “That's a stronger position to take than okay. You opposed me on this. We're going to take that away. I think that's a fairly complex”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

36. “Is not a conservative position. If you agree with me, you get stuff if you don't agree with me. You don't get stuff. That's a populist attitude. And I absolutely get that. If the reason I say I can see it is like this, this was a benefit that a previous governor back in the 60s had said, okay, since you're coming into the state, we're going to give you this. And it's okay for a later governor to take it away. And yes, you can make the claim that Ron did because Disney disagreed with him.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

37. “I can see both sides of it. I defend the position because I also, because I know just because of what I used to do for a living, I know the benefits that are conferred on private corporations by the type of deal that Disney got back in the 1960s. And I think Ron's attitude was, hey, look, if you guys want to play in politics, that's fine. But if you're going to get involved in this business, we're not going to let you take advantage of your status as a corporation and give you all these benefits. We're going to take away the benefits.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

38. “That's where the base is. Now, I don't think that's contrived. I think Ron is a social conservative, just like Ronald Reagan was, but Ronald Reagan is not remembered for his social conservatism. He's remembered for his strong positions on defense and his libertarian leading Republicanism.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

39. “Bill Clinton has that special magic ability that some politicians have to walk into a room to meet somebody and he makes them feel like they're the only person in the room. He's always been friends with them. He's always be friends with them. I haven't got that. I don't know if you haven't got it, but I certainly know that Ron DeSantis doesn't have it either.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

40. “So, I mean, we used governors, Ron has earned his place in this conversation. He and I get along well because I know him well and we're friendly with each other. We can talk about golf, but it takes a long time to get there with Ron. And he doesn't have that instant connection with people.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

41. “Another great example of what Iowa and New Hampshire voters are looking for. Iran is exactly the criticism of Ron is that he's stiff and he's hard to sort of, he can't sit around a dinner table and talk to folks. And that's accurate. He's extraordinarily bright. I think he's done a really, really good job as a Florida governor. He's earned the right to be considered. He's a successful governor of a large state, which is how both parties used to sort of vet people for Congress. It's obviously changing now. It's changed with Barack Obama. But, well, Obama was the first senator since Kennedy to get elected, right?”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

42. “It's not the job of the cheapest staff, David. You know that. Your cheapest staff who wants to be friends with the president probably ends up like Mark Meadows.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

43. “No, no, I'm not on anybody's team or the Republican nomination. I'm good friends with everybody who's running against Trump and I've worked with Trump. I don't consider Trump to be a friend, by the way.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

44. “If she wins New Hampshire, it's a different story. I don't think she's going to win New Hampshire. It doesn't hurt. Let's put it this way. Let's agree on this. It does not help you as a politician to lose your home state in a national election.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

45. “70 30 That's what I say. Rhond DeSantis, I think, is making the right decision of putting all his eggs in Iowa. And if he comes out second Iowa, he's off to Super Tuesday because he can skip South Carolina because no one expects him to do well. But I think Nikki is expected to do well in home state. And I think there's a real risk there that she gets beat badly, even in a two-person race. It might be 70, 30, 60, 40, 40. Is that a win? If it's your home state, I don't know the answer to that question. She not spent a lot of time there recently, but clearly we know who she is. We also know who Donald Trump is. But I think people who are looking at Nikki's possibly winning South Carolina, I've not seen a pulling down a day that I don't know how much there is in South Carolina, but I don't see Nikki Haley winning South Carolina. And I think that is a problem for her. For anybody.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

46. “My point is I have confidence they'll see if Nikki Haley is too contrived. Nikki Haley is too managed if she's too calculated things too much. Calculating, won't the voters of BIOS see that?”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

47. “About Trump Yes, I think that's a fair point. Let's take a more hopeful look on the American electorate, though, is that one of the reasons I love Iowa, the voters there can see that, right? I mean, that's the beauty about Iowa. Great thing about Iowa is it's small. It's cheap. You don't have to have a lot of money. You should have a lot of time and a lot of energy.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

48. “That's probably a fair criticism at the same time. She's probably not the only politician who's ever been accused of that. I've had people say, you know, she's ambitious. I'm like, show me somebody who's running for president who is not.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

49. “I think that's a function of overthinking things and being tired. When I used to campaign, one of the things we used to pray for at night was a good night rest because you make mistakes when you're tired. You just do”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

50. “It was about freedom. The Democrat plan, and the point to that is, and I mentioned this in News Nation the other night, okay, so what's a Democrat plan? You want to be president of the United States. You're going to face bigger challenges in life than a Democrat plant. At one of your town hall meetings. People make mistakes all the time. When you talk for a living, you're going to say the wrong thing from time to time. And I don't think people hold that against you. We could have a longer conversation, but I don't think that's what this is about. No, no, no.”

    2024-01-11 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 563 — Mick Mulvaney · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source