This Is the Democratic Party's Biggest Fear | Lisa McClain

27 Dec 2025 · 13 min · 7 chapters

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In short

Lisa McClain argues Democrats are “rudderless, leaderless, visionless” and fear Republicans’ offense and messaging; she claims Republicans are winning due to border closure and falling prices/interest rates, and says Democrats frame issues with “lies” that Republicans feel compelled to defend.

Guest background

Rep. Lisa McClain, a Michigan Republican congresswoman, frames her experience as coming from the business world and emphasizes reconnecting with constituents rather than DC “bubbles.”

Key claims

Border is closed and no longer discussed; inflation and mortgage/interest rates are down; working-family tax cuts (no tax on tips/overtime) will be felt via retroactive refunds; Democrats don’t agree on a clear platform; Democrats are afraid to confront “the bully” (a metaphor for their own internal dissent).

Notable examples

Rashida Tlaib is cited as emblematic of “anti-American” Democrats; comparisons to IRS enforcement and “America’s 250” messaging are mentioned.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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The Democratic Party's Fear and Inaction

0:00 to 0:43

Explore the challenges facing the Democratic Party and their lack of direction.

“Well, I think the problem is, like I said earlier, the voices of the few speak for the many, right?”

Republican Wins and Policy Successes

1:00 to 1:40

Discussion on recent Republican successes and the importance of positive messaging.

“Very, very, very different is we're winning.”

Messaging Disconnect and Short-Term Memory

1:40 to 3:16

Analyzing the disconnect between Republican achievements and public perception.

“So interestingly, you just hit on something that I think has come up in almost every interview so far, which is it seems to me there's a disconnect between what actually is happening and the messaging part.”

Rashida Tlaib and Anti-American Sentiment

3:16 to 4:13

A critical look at Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and her influence within the Democratic Party.

“And now tell me how much we talk about the border.”

Rashida Tlaib and Anti-American Sentiment

7:17 to 7:52

A critical look at Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and her influence within the Democratic Party.

“Call the professionals at Tax Network USA.”

Congressional Deadlines and Optimism for Midterms

8:00 to 10:37

Discussion on the urgency of congressional deadlines and cautious optimism for upcoming elections.

“I was definitely like you Monday morning, most likely.”

Celebrating America's 250 Years

10:37 to 12:27

The importance of celebrating America's history and capitalism in light of upcoming anniversaries.

“Can I give you a little advice as one of the primetime people in the Republican Party, I think you guys really need to go heavy on America's 250.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Well, I think the problem is, like I said earlier, the voices of the few speak for the many, right? And I think it's like a bully. Nobody wants to stand up to the bully. Everyone's afraid of the bully, that the bully's going to steal my lunch money right up until somebody comes up and punches that bully right in the face, and then it's done. It's over. But you've got to have some courage to do that. And right now, that's what the Democratic Party is afraid of. They're rudderless. They're leaderless. They're visionless. tell me one thing that really the the democratic party agrees on not not really much

0:43congresswoman lisa mcclain how are you i'm great i said how are you when you walked in and you said something that i probably shouldn't repeat on air so you i just mentioned to you this is this is like my eighth interview in the last two hours so i'm gonna just go like this What do you want to talk about? What do you want to talk? What's going on in this crazy town? Oh, golly. No, it's amazing to me. I come from the business world. Very, very, very different is we're winning. We as Republicans are actually winning. Could we be on offense? Can we talk about it? I mean, my goodness gracious, look at what we've accomplished in just one year.

1:22Close the border. No one's talking about that anymore. Right? We're bringing prices down. Mortgage is down. Interest rates are down. We have a massive hole that we're trying to dig out of. And we're digging out of it. Could we act a little happy? I'd rather be us than them right now, Dave. Come on. So interestingly, you just hit on something that I think has come up in almost every interview so far, which is it seems to me there's a disconnect between what actually is happening and the messaging part. What is that? I mean, Trump is the master at messaging. So you can't blame Trump. So what is going on here?

1:56Because I'm with you. I get all the wins. I talk about the wins every day on my show. And yet there seems to be a certain set of people on our side that don't believe it or something like that. Because we let the voices of the few define the many. And we live in this little bubble up here in DC. And we got to get back home. We got to reconnect with the people and the constituents in our districts, right? Is there's always going to be problems. There's always going to be things that we need to fix, right? That's just the nature of the beast. But let's play offense. Let's be positive. Would you rather be in the majority under the Trump administration where people focus on progress, growth, bringing manufacturing and jobs back to America, where you have capitalism again, where you have law and order again?

2:53Or would you rather be under the Biden administration where big government's going to tell you what to do, when to do, how to do it? It's like, come on. We are winning, people. How much of this is just a short-term memory problem? Like people, even on our side, maybe forget about how bad the border was literally less than a year ago right now. You are 100 % spot on. We were in a crisis situation. And now tell me how much we talk about the border. Zero. It's closed. We fixed it. Take a victory lap on that. We fixed it. There's not tens of millions of people pouring through our border. Trump fixed it.

3:33Okay, we're done with that, right? We have such, as a society at times, we have such a short-term memory, and we are so much on the immediate gratification that we need to stop and take a look at the totality of really what we've accomplished. And I will say this. How many people are looking to leave this country? I mean, we have liberals all day long saying, if Trump gets elected, I'm moving out of the United States. You promise? Like, could you keep your commitment and go? I have a list of Democrat congresswomen I'd like to have leave the country. Do you want to, do you want, you can probably, I don't have enough to show you the list, do I?

4:10I probably got the same list. But nobody ever leaves. I mean, if this country is that bad and that terrible, there are flights leaving every day, but no one gets on them. So is it a messaging issue, like something on the economy? You just mentioned inflation's down, cost of goods is down, gas is certainly down. Interest rates are down. Interest rates are down a little bit. Inflation is down. So, okay, so then it's just purely messaging. You know, I think part of it is he who frames or she who frames the issue wins. And right now, just because somebody says something doesn't mean we have to respond.

4:48We can talk about what we want to talk about and that's what the Democrats do so well They throw out this lie and we we feel the need to defend it We don't need to defend it because it's a frickin lie. I mean come on, right? Let's talk about what I want to talk about Which is would you rather live in America? Would you rather have jobs coming back? Would you have rather have the border closed? Would you rather have law? I can control the debate, right? But you got to have your facts and you got to really believe it. I won't go into the list that I have on the pocket here, but I, all right, well, let's try it this way.

5:27One of the people on the list is a Michigan Congresswoman named Rashida Tlaib. She, I think, represents everything that is sort of wrong with the Democrat party and sort of the never always complains, never leaves and all this stuff. I mean, what is going on in Michigan that, that someone like her who's so radically anti-American, and I have no problem saying that, has gained so much power in the Democrat party? Yeah. Well, I think the problem is, like I said earlier, the voices of the few speak for the many, right? And I think it's like a bully. Nobody wants to stand up to the bully. Everyone's afraid of the bully, that the bully is going to steal my lunch money right up until somebody comes up and punches that bully right in the face, and then it's done.

6:12It's over. But you got to have some courage to do that. And right now, that's what the Democratic Party is afraid of. They're rudderless, they're leaderless, they're visionless. Tell me one thing that really the Democratic Party agrees on. Not really much, right? Don't seem to like Chuck very much. No, Chuck is kind of on the outs, right? But they do agree on that. So maybe I'll give you that one. But sincerely, what's the Democrat Party for? They'd have no plan, no vision, no leader, but what are they for? What do they stand for? Used to be global warming. Oh, no, no, no. I mean, climate change.

6:49Oh, no, no, no. They're finding their way. And the problem when you have this void or you have this vacuum of leadership, craziness comes into play. And that's exactly what you see right now. And compare and contrast that to President Trump, Right. He's got super thick skin and he's playing chess. He has an agenda that he wants to accomplish. And everything that he does is calculated towards that agenda. If you owe the IRS back taxes, they can garnish your wages, levy your bank accounts, even seize your retirement or take your home. Don't let the IRS target you. Call the professionals at Tax Network USA.

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8:03what do you make of this time of year here in this town as things are about to close down the deadlines are coming things have to get signed basically one way or another i mean not exactly but basically i mean how does that you like this period um i actually do because i think when you have a deadline it's funny how things get done it's no different than when we were in college you mean when they have to go on vacation everybody's ready to do exactly or when you have a term paper per term paper due on Monday, you usually do get it done Sunday night, right? Maybe, maybe nobody was like me. Everybody got it done on Tuesday.

8:35I was definitely like you Monday morning, most likely. But the one thing I will say about this Congress and the really the past two as well, we don't have the end of the year omnibus anymore. Remember the Christmas tree that we loaded up? We've seemed to have broken that cycle, which is good. But if we don't put deadlines on something, it does, it's not going to get done because, because there's always going to be something better or we should do this. Or at some point in time, we have to have these family discussions. We have to have these disagreements. We have to have these debates, so to speak, and then put the most conservative bill on the floor and vote on it.

9:11And that's what we're doing, but you got to have a deadline or nothing's ever going to get done. So, so beyond messaging and getting some of the policies right and that kind of thing, I mean, the conventional of wisdom here and half the people that have sat in that chair today have said it's not looking good for the midterms i mean what do you have to do to to stem that because if the democrats take power all the good trump stuff is basically done i mean the term is pretty much over then it'll halt and and every and everybody knows that here's what i know a year before the midterms that's like an eternity in politics i mean everything can switch on a dime so different than a lot of my counterparts I'm actually optimistic, cautiously optimistic, but I am optimistic.

9:54The whole reason why we signed the one big beautiful bill or the working families tax cuts by July 4th was so it could take effect this year, right? Remember all of the tax savings, the no tax on tips, the no tax on overtime, right? That is retroactive and people will actually feel it in their pocketbooks. No one's feeling it now. And I think that's a big difference because Biden gaslit the American people, right? When they get their tax returns, they will actually feel it. They'll open up, oh, wow, I've got$1 ,000 more. I've got$5 ,000 more. Business will begin to invest, et cetera, et cetera.

10:31And that's where I think the first, end of the first quarter, beginning of second quarter of 26 will be massive. Can I give you a little advice as one of the primetime people in the Republican Party, I think you guys really need to go heavy on America's 250. Like, I think that it will be a good way to garner to kind of well, garner support for the Republicans, but also kind of expose the anti Americanism of the Democrats. People want to celebrate the birthday. But I think you guys are gonna have to really grab that and run with it. That would that would be my one piece. I would agree with you wholeheartedly.

11:06I mean, 250 years of this experiment called capitalism under freedom with democracy. If we fail, think of what you just said. If we failed, where else are you going? No, that's it. No, literally, we're done. I mean, the stuff we complain about here, why don't you go to Cuba, Venezuela? They have a little bit different concerns than we do. Yeah, well, I live in Miami. I've got all the good Cubans with me right now, so it's okay. Anything else on your mind before we wrap this up? No, just again, you're feeling I'm glad to see this. I am glad I said to Jim Jordan earlier because he always comes in with a smile, too, that it's like it's good to see some people that can have the positive part of this, because I know that it gets grating and all that.

11:51If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you can't. So to me, I'm an optimist. There's nowhere that I'd rather be under the leadership of President Trump and the Republicans. We have the right message. We just need to go out there and sell it. Right. remind people just like you said where else would you rather be I'll tell you no not people this is the country that people risk their lives to get to how many people are leaving they're not because what this is I mean this these are great times when the cameras go off can we compare lists yeah deal thanks

From the publisher

Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks to Rep. Lisa McClain about why Republicans struggle to communicate their wins; how the GOP has made real progress on border security, taxes, inflation, and interest rates but fails to message it effectively; how a loud minority and media narratives distort public perception; the role of congressional deadlines in forcing action and the need for Republicans to control the narrative; why the GOP will win some midterm gains once voters feel tax relief and urges celebrating American success over anti-America rhetoric; and much more.

Check out the NEW RUBIN REPORT MERCH here: https://daverubin.store/

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