Chris Johnson – College Republicans Joins Houston Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ris Johnson's with US College. Republicans do swap working very
hard to elect Kamala Harris. George Charles is buying up
the air waves. Secret Service Lord knows what they're doing,
especially in trying to protect Trump. Continuing resolution yesterday had
Liz Cheney Chris endorsing Kamala Harris. Not that that I
don't think that makes a bunch of a difference. But

(00:20):
they're trying their level best. They're trying, They're doing everything
they possibly can. You think they have enough going to
make it as success. Well, luckily we.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Have the issues on our side. And I know that
sounds like cliche, but you know, for the younger folks
like us have only been through a couple of election
cycles working in politics, it seems so obvious that Republicans
should be winning up and down the ballot if we
focus on the issues. And I know we want to
work the rest. And it's at tempting to get angry
about the reality that entrenched interests are supportive of Harris,

(00:52):
but ultimately we've got to fight with the tools we
have available, and luckily people trust us on the economy
and immigration, and those are the two biggest issh is
so if we do the build baby, build, drill baby
drill rhetoric the Americans want to hear, and we stick
to that, I think we've got a real way to
overcome these and entrenched interest.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
I'm interested in the tone. I was watching Trump's rally
in Saginaw, Michigan yesterday. There were so many young people there,
and a lot of them union workers obviously in Saginaw,
but it was a hopeful rally. You know, the Democrats
talk all the time about all this joy, but everything
is so negative negative. Donald Trump was offering young people

(01:33):
a future and a hope and solutions to this malaise
that has hit this country. Do you get that when
you're out and you're holding rallies or meetings or whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
With the younger folks. Sure, And that's where really I
hope the Republicans continue to at the top of the
levels of the GOP and the RNC recognize that that
energy is there, and they tap into it, and they
use us and they use the young people. They focus
on the energy that we create. You know, in western Michigan,
they've got a huge Dutch reform community there that is

(02:07):
very young, that is having a lot of kids that
is having big families, and that's the kind of future
that the Republican Party should be focused on. And I
know it's tempting to get into a lot of the
grievance politics, and because there is a lot to be
to have grievances about. But if you want a forward
looking campaign that wins over a really winnable group of people,
which is young evangelical Christians, young conservative men, those are

(02:31):
the areas where if you focus on issues like the environment,
if you focus on climate challenge, if you focus on
issues that young people care about that older folks may think, Ah,
that's not that important of an issue, you can win
over a lot of gettable people and on the margins
at a place like Michigan is huge. The way that
folks are worried about Dearborn for Democrats, we should be
worried about Holland and saganhaff for Republicans.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Interesting, obviously you mentioned young male conservatives at college. Are
are young women totally being written off at this point
because we hear that young men have become more conservative,
that young women are becoming even more liberal. Is there
any way to reach them?

Speaker 2 (03:09):
I think there's definitely a gender gap, But I think
it mostly comes down to tone than issues. I think
when you talk to younger folks they have, you know,
they'll they'll give the answers they think they're supposed to
be a I'm worried about my rights as a woman.
I'm worried about the unfortunate stuff. I think when you
really get down to it, I think they are, you know,
young people. I would love to believe that we have

(03:30):
these fully formed thoughts on politics and the issues, but
a lot of the time, basically the gist is, well,
I think Republicans are mean, and if we can go
and we can talk the way that JD Vance did
the other night about the issues, that goes away immediately.
That's and Jade Vance is one of the younger members
of the Senate, and so that's why we need to
get more young people out there. We need to get
JD out there, We need to get as many of

(03:52):
these folks out there talking this way because I do
think that it's a tone issue, it's a vibes issue,
and young women are responding to that. I saw many
of my younger female friends saying, Wow, I didn't know
JD was like this. I thought that he was this
big jerk because that's how he's portrayed in the media,
and so seeing him give thoughtful answers on everything from

(04:13):
climate to family to immigration, they were like, Wow, this
is this is not the Republican Party I thought existed.
So if we can break through, I think that's what's
just Thanks for young women.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
They're totally not to be written off. Good to hear,
Chris Johnson. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it for the
college Republicans. Chris Johnson, it's six twenty seven time