STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have Hogan Gidley, who was a deputy press secretary in the Trump White House. Hogan, thanks for coming by. Good to see you.
HOGAN GIDLEY: Absolutely. Thanks for having me. I appreciate your time.
INSKEEP: And I understand you said you're going to be door-knocking a little bit later.
GIDLEY: Door-knocking this weekend, heading over to the Pittsburgh side of the state to do the bus tour with the Trump folks later today as well.
INSKEEP: Do you think that face-to-face contact is what decides an election like this?
GIDLEY: I think when you're talking about margins decided by a few thousand votes, all the hand-to-hand combat you can participate in, the better off you'll be. And looking into the eyes of voters and finding out exactly what they want out of candidates and what they want out of campaigns is always helpful when you're trying to get this stuff done.
INSKEEP: Now, through the program, we're hearing about lots of different issues - the economy, immigration, inflation. We just heard something about social issues. One of them is abortion. Now, I know former President Trump has said this is a state matter now...
GIDLEY: Right.
INSKEEP: ...Which, according to the Supreme Court, it is. But there are also numerous ways - as you know from working in the White House, numerous ways that a president does weigh in on abortion rights. How do you see the president's second term if he gets one?
GIDLEY: Yeah. I don't know he's going to weigh in much at all. I think he's been pretty consistent on this. For the first time in 50 years, we now have people deciding this issue as opposed to unelected judges. I think that's significant. When you're talking about misinformation and disinformation campaigns, I think one of the most successful one has been on the pro-abortion side - 68% of Americans actually believed when Roe v. Wade was overturned that abortion was outlawed in this country - obviously not the case. In fact, a story just came out yesterday. There have been more abortions in America since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
INSKEEP: True.
GIDLEY: So it's obvious those rights still exist.
INSKEEP: Although, when we think about a president of the White House, it's not like it's off the table for the president. Paying for the military to travel - that's a choice that President Biden made, President Trump could make differently if he's president again - health regulations, restrictions on scientific research, which President Bush was involved in once upon a time - there's even a conservative proposal to require states to report abortion information to HHS. Abortion is part of what people are voting on, right?
GIDLEY: Oh, there's no question about it because it has been such a hot topic in this country now for half of a century. But the fact is what Donald Trump was able to accomplish was giving that decision over to the states. And, listen, we can talk about a federal law all you want to, but Trump's been very clear about that, too. He doesn't want a federal law. He would not sign a federal law - any type of ban on abortion - despite how many times the left tries to say he would. He's been very clear about it. And here's the beauty of the Trump campaign - you don't have to guess. He was already president of the United States, and you didn't see that type of movement on his side.
INSKEEP: Although he appointed the three justices who, he explicitly promised, would overturn Roe v. Wade, and they did.
GIDLEY: And they sent it right back to the people as he promised.
INSKEEP: And they did.
GIDLEY: Yep.
INSKEEP: And they did. I want to ask about another bit of news. A number of Republican members of Congress have filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania, challenging in advance overseas ballots, including people serving in the military. Why do that now?
GIDLEY: I've not seen the details of that lawsuit, so it'd be tough for me to comment on exactly the reason why. But the question of election integrity or security of our ballots has been a long-standing one in this country for decades. I mean, while 2000 saw a very serious problem in the state of Florida, obviously, we've traded the dimpled chads and the hanging chads and dimpled ballots for drop boxes and mail-in, but there's still questions and concerns. And it's the Democratic Party, obviously, that has questioned the outcome of every presidential election since Reagan, refusing to seat electors. So Raskin himself even said - the congressman sitting currently - made the point, hey, I'm going to go ahead - if Trump wins, I'm going to go and tell you now we're going to not certify the thing.
INSKEEP: Well, let's be clear. Some Democrats have questioned the results of past elections. Jamie Raskin of Maryland himself tried to challenge the 2016...
GIDLEY: Sure.
INSKEEP: ...Election result and was shut down by the then-vice president of the United States, Joe Biden...
GIDLEY: Correct.
INSKEEP: ...Who said this is over, which was the position of the Democratic Party. President Trump raised his questions in 2020 about a stolen election. It was litigated in court. Nothing was found. There were audits afterward, even by Trump allies in places like Arizona - found nothing to overturn the election. The laws have been updated and changed in many places, tightened in ways that Republicans would want. Isn't that all an argument for broadly having faith and confidence in the election results this fall, regardless of who wins?
GIDLEY: In some places, I think it is. I mean, look, states - we take this federalist model where you get to decide because what works in Montana may not work in Massachusetts or Maine or Mississippi. And so states have the right to make those laws to protect legal votes and legal voters. You saw this in Georgia. They passed some significant voter protection laws in that state and, of course, were vilified by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and the left for being racist and suppressing voters. But it turns out, when you actually put measures in place that instill confidence, more people turn out, as is the case in Georgia.
INSKEEP: Never mind Donald Trump - are you personally going to accept these election results?
GIDLEY: Again, it depends on how the thing's conducted on its face. I have to be confident in the fact that the votes that are cast are counted properly, of course.
INSKEEP: Hogan Gidley is a former deputy press secretary in the Trump White House. Hogan, thanks for coming by. I'm glad you got a cup of coffee.
GIDLEY: Anytime. Thanks so much.
INSKEEP: We'll talk to you again sometime. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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