Two and a half years ago, Donald Trump assumed the Presidency, despite not receiving the support of a number of establishment Republicans who had expressed disgust with his personal behavior and alarm about the tone and content of his candidacy. But last month, Trump officially launched his reëlection campaign to applause from onetime critics such as Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio. And this past week, on the Fourth of July, he led an event on the National Mall replete with tanks and jet flyovers. Amid criticism about the event’s cost and optics from Democrats and former military leaders—the Trump team quickly turned around an ad with clips from the event, at which the President was admittedly restrained—the lack of complaints from Republicans was striking. Or perhaps not so striking: the Party’s general silence on reports of the horrific conditions that undocumented immigrant children are being detained in is further proof that the Republican Party now fully supports this President.
One of the establishment Republicans who once evinced skepticism and even disgust with the President was Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary to George W. Bush. After declaring, in May of 2016, that he would vote for Trump over Hillary Clinton, Fleischer walked that back in a Washington Post op-ed, writing of Trump that he “veered recklessly off track, attacking an American judge for his Mexican heritage, criticizing a war hero’s family, questioning the legitimacy of the election and otherwise raising questions about his judgment.” Fleischer decided to leave his ballot blank, but he has since warmed to the President, frequently attacking Trump’s critics on Twitter and on Fox News, where he is a contributor. He recently called the reaction to Trump’s Fourth of July event “hysterical,” and responded to the death of a migrant girl and her father, when a picture of their bodies went viral and was published around the world, by saying, on Fox News, “Come here legally.”
I recently spoke by phone with Fleischer. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed his critique of the Democratic Party, his message to immigrants, and why he is frustrated with accusations of racism against Republican politicians.
You tweeted about what you said was the hysterical reaction to Trump’s speech, and added, of Trump opponents, “They continue to dismiss Trump, ignoring the tens of millions who love the flag, displays of patriotism and the military. They’re blinded by hatred to Trump.” Can you explain what you meant by that?
Yeah, you know, often in politics there is something much bigger than the economy or the hot-button issues, and it’s the culture. And I say this as somebody who is a former Democrat, was raised a Democrat in a very liberal household, and who opposed Donald Trump in the primary, ultimately couldn’t even bring myself to vote for President Trump in the general election, left my ballot blank at the Presidential level, and have tried to figure out how so many people—myself included—missed how Trump could win in the primary cycle and the nomination and ultimately the general.
And this is where the Democrats’ reaction to the July 4th parade fits this significant cultural piece of America that Democrats overlook and view as somewhat deplorable still. The anger that the Democrats felt at Trump for giving the July 4th speech on the Mall, and displaying America’s military, was reminiscent of the disdain they felt for him in 2015 and 2016. I don’t think they have acknowledged what they are missing when they react with such hysteria.
You also tweeted, “I watched CNN this morning deride the July 4th military display. They interviewed a D Congressman who dismissed it as Trump being ‘vain glorious’. I don’t think CNN or the Ds realize how they’re coming across as anti-military. Their hatred for Trump overwhelms them.” One of the critiques of Trump was that he himself showed a certain disdain for the military—the McCain stuff, Khizr Khan, saying he was smarter than the generals. Why do you think that hasn’t stuck to him in the way you think these things have stuck to Democrats?
One is Democrats have a history, going back, really, to Vietnam, of being more vulnerable to these charges. Republicans, especially since Reagan, have been seen as pro-military. So stereotypes of the parties either shield you or make you vulnerable. And that’s always been the case. Democrats have that advantage on health care; Republicans have it on the military issues, or defense issues.
Do you think Trump has shown disdain for the military?
Let me get to that. The reason the McCain issue didn’t stick to Trump was because it was uniquely about John McCain, and not about America’s military.
He said he liked war heroes who weren’t captured.
Yeah, but it was aimed at John McCain, and that’s how it was viewed. Now, it was inappropriate, in my opinion. His statement about being smarter than the generals was ill-advised. He’s not smarter than the generals. But he’s got a damn good gut, and that was on display on July 4th.
Do you think having “disdain” for Donald Trump is a legitimate emotion? Why is it wrong to have disdain for him?
I don’t think there is anything wrong with having disdain for Donald Trump, but, in the context of the hysterical reaction to the July 4th speech, it won’t serve them well, because that speech was beautiful, the tribute to the military was stirring. Their criticisms remind me so much of the Democratic Party of the nineteen-seventies that was so liberal, so blame-America-first, so anti-military, that they couldn’t even understand how Ronald Reagan could connect with the American people. But he did.
I think what angers people is that they see a President who doesn’t actually respect the military, who is willing to make troop-withdrawal announcements that the military is not prepared for and that he doesn’t care they aren’t prepared for, who you get the sense would make any North Korea policy on a whim regardless of the state it put the military in South Korea in. It’s pretty clear Donald Trump’s No. 1 priority is Donald Trump, not the armed forces, and I don’t see why people shouldn’t be annoyed by this.
Then make those arguments about those policies. Fair enough. But when you say that the celebration is reminiscent of a North Korean military parade, or that you will have tanks in the streets of America, with all that connotes, you have gone too far, and are taking your opposition to Trump out on what turned into a beautiful American celebration. If you are a blue-collar worker in the Midwest, and you find displays of patriotism absolutely stirring, and you hear the Democrats say “tanks in the streets and reminiscent of the North Koreans,” it is going to boomerang, it is going to hurt the Democrats in the heartland.
More than fawning over the dictator of North Korea?
Again, the Democrats have many good arguments to make against Donald Trump, and they should make them. But in the context of the July 4th parade, the Democrats blew it.
I want to turn to the state of the country. The now famous picture of the girl and her dad face-down and drowned when trying to cross the Rio Grande got a lot of response, including by you, who stated, “This morning when I woke up and I saw that horrific picture of the dad with his little girl's arm around him who drowned in the river, all I could think of is an alternative picture: That’s the immigrants who come here and raise their arm at an immigration ceremony with their little girls. Come here legally.” Do you want to expand on what you meant by that?
America is a tremendously welcoming country, and we are made better by immigration. I want more immigrants to come here, but come here legally. It’s not complicated. If you come here illegally, you put yourself on a path of living in the shadows and of having a difficult life. But if you follow the rules and come here legally, this country will open its arms and heart to you, and you will have more opportunities than you have ever had in life.
You had said that these people should apply for asylum, but the Trump Administration has tried to make it much harder for people to claim asylum legally, including by keeping them from setting foot in the country to do so. That is one reason people are taking more dangerous routes.
