Jim Jordan Pours Cold Water On Campaign Retribution Promises
Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan clashed with CNN’s Dana Bash in a heated segment on whether President-elect Donald Trump would pursue retribution against his opponents.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Jordan and Bash exchanged words over Trump’s campaign rhetoric promising to be his supporters' “retribution.”
“People talk about retribution; the retribution has been from the other side,” Jordan said. “I’ve been trying to stop retribution for the last… 10 years.”
Bash then attempted to interject, noting she would address it, but pointed out that she was specifically asking about Trump’s promises regarding “retribution.” She pressed Jordan on whether he would support Trump using the Justice Department to prosecute alleged opponents.
“He didn’t do it in his first term,” Jordan replied, before being interrupted and questioned again about his stance on retribution in Trump’s second term. Jordan responded by citing alleged examples of political targeting by the Biden administration.
“I don’t think any of that’s going to happen, because we’re the party who’s against political prosecution,” he argued. “We’re the party who’s against going after your opponents using lawfare.”
The discussion shifted to free speech when Jordan and Bash disagreed on whether Trump’s team supported it. When Bash asked which illegal immigrants would be deported, the exchange became equally heated as they debated immigration policy.
President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Rep. Liz Cheney, former Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA), Vice President Kamala Harris, and others were cited as potential targets of Trump’s “retribution” rhetoric during his campaign.
Trump and his allies, however, have argued that this is simply payback for what they view as politically motivated prosecution against him.
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Another tense exchange occurred when Bash and Jordan discussed election integrity and how Vice President Kamala Harris received millions fewer votes than Biden in the 2020 election.
“It seems to me that Republicans claim voting fraud and election integrity when you lose and not when you win,” Bash said.
“No,” Jordan replied. “I think this election was the greatest political comeback we have ever seen. Trump did something even Teddy Roosevelt couldn’t do. And the country — ” he began, before Bash interrupted him.
“But you think it was a free and fair election?” Bash pressed.
“No, no, this election — you just interviewed the Latino, I think, restaurant owner or a restaurant worker, and he said he was tired of all the woke stuff. This election was really simple,” Jordan said. “You had back-to-back administrations running for the top job, and people could make a direct comparison. And they said, ‘We liked the safe streets versus the record crime, the $2 gas versus the $4 gas, the secure border versus the open border.'”
“That’s totally fair,” Bash replied. “But last time around, it wasn’t so much about the policy differences or personality. There were false claims about election fraud when Donald Trump lost. This time, Donald Trump won, and you think the election was free and fair. You see there’s a little bit of a…?” she asked.
“No, I think the Democrats need to ask, ‘Why did we go from getting 81 million to 70 million?’” Jordan responded. “Maybe it’s not smart to run an election where you have no vision, no record to run on, and you’re just calling the other side names and using lawfare.”
“Do you believe the 2024 election was free and fair?” Bash asked. Jordan replied, “I do. I do.”
“And why was it different from 2020, when he lost? Is that the only difference?” Bash responded sarcastically.
“No, there were concerns about 2020 with all the mail-in voting,” Jordan explained. “What, Pennsylvania had like two-point-something million mail-in ballots come in without any signature verification, which was required by Pennsylvania statute. So there were all kinds of concerns with the 2020 election process.”
Jordan concluded, “But the biggest question Democrats need to ask is what happened to the 10 million voters that Joe Biden had who didn’t turn out for Kamala Harris. President Trump’s numbers held steady, but the Democrats’ numbers dropped significantly. I think it’s because they had no vision, no record to run on, and they just resorted to name-calling. Turns out, when you label people as fascist, racist, deplorable, they don’t respond well. And when you use lawfare to go after their candidate, they don’t like that either. That’s why they voted for President Trump—on top of the economy, gas prices, and inflation.”