Asm. Bramnick on President Trump & Governor Murphy

Steve Adubato speaks with Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R) – NJ, Assembly Republican Leader, to talk about President Trump’s tone and tenor, Governor Murphy’s agenda and the state of the Republican Party leading into the 2020 elections.

11/23/19 #326

Transcript:

"Welcome to State of Affairs. I'm Steve Adubato. We're coming to you from the NJTV Agnes Varis Studio in beautiful Newark, New Jersey. That's right. He's here. He is Jon Bramnick. He is the Assembly Republican Leader in the 21st Legislative District. Let me ask you this. All the attention on you, a lot of money in your race, Democrats coming at you on one end, right wing Republicans coming at you on the other end, some people said it was gonna be over for Jon Bramnick. What happened? I think just common sense prevailed. You know. They knew me in the district. And they know I'm not crazy. I'm not an extremist. And I think in today's world, that's what they're looking for. They're looking for somebody who's, in my judgement, just a moderate, reasonable, decent human being. Tough to find in politics today. And also, you were reelected as the Republican Assembly Leader... we should clarify that as well, in the minority party. I'm curious about this. Some of the names thrown around in your district, how important was the influence of President Trump in your election? Well, it didn't play a big role this time. Murphy... Governor Murphy actually played a big role. When he said... He wasn't on the ballot? Oh no. Big role. Because he went out and he said, "If taxes are your main issue, New Jersey's not for you." Now, do you want to send him two more votes? And I think people said, "You know, I think I like balance in Trenton. I don't think Governor Murphy's tax policy needs two more votes." I think that played much larger than Trump. Trump is not popular in my district. And by the way, if you check out our previous interviews with Assemblyman Bramnick, you'll hear the very candid comments that he's made about the president, and particularly about tone and demeanor, and... And I'll continue to say it. And I'm not afraid. Actually, they threatened me that if I didn't regret what I said about the president, they would run against me from the right. I said, "Bring it on." That's exactly what I said to them. Why are so many of your colleagues...? I'll come back to Murphy in a second. Why are so many of your colleagues in the Republican Party, particularly in Congress... look, we're doing this program in the middle of November. We know what's going on. This will be seen after that. Why do so many of your Congressional Republican colleagues appear to be so reluctant to say anything negative, question anything, about President Trump? Because of what happened to me. Two people said they were the Trump Republicans and they ran in the general election... Meaning you weren't real..."