Paul Ryan Denies Trump Had Role in GOP Rep's Loss; Sen. Corker: "GOP Leadership Relationship with Trump "Cultish"
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: -- support or opposition to the president of the United States played in these Republican primaries?</s>JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the evidence is, as David said it is, it played quite a bit of a role. And these races are won on the margins. And all things being equal, people seem to want a person who was an ally of President Trump, who endorsed or somehow associated himself or herself with President Trump instead of the opposite. On paper, Mark Sanford would look like the perfect candidate. Paul Ryan was alluding to these are races specific to these areas, the voters in the state and the district. But he would be, on paper, if he looked at his profile and the way he's voted, Mark Sanford is tailor made for Republicans in that district. He's a fiscal conservative. He's a member of the Freedom Caucus. He was a member of the class of 1994, the Republican revolution. You would think they would want someone like that. And it does seem to be his remarks about President Trump and his willingness to put distance between himself and the president made a big difference there.</s>BLITZER: If the president, David, keeps supporting and Republican voters keep electing far-right candidates, like Corey Stewart, who is going to be the Republican candidate for Senate in Virginia? Roy Moore, we remember what happened to him in Alabama. Rick Saccone, we remember what happened to him in Pennsylvania. They all lost. Both of those guys lost. Is this all good news potentially for Democrats?</s>DAVID GREGORY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, and there's already a lot of momentum for Democrats in their direction. A lot of energy in the Democratic base. The fact that the president himself is unpopular at such a level that it creates a lot of weight for him. But I do think -- there's a couple of points about these special elections. Like off-year elections, these are more enthusiastic people that vote, people that are more committed as opposed to the broader electorate. And, two, I think that association with a particular party is not the winning way to go here on the Republican side. It is much more cultish. It's much more about personality, the Trump personality. It can be about fear. It can be about particular issues that the president has just driven over and over again. He likes to talk about immigration being a winning issue. So I think that's what it is. And this idea of loyalty. You look at Corey Stewart, who is so repugnant to so many, including Republicans in the establishment in Virginia, that standing up for monuments is a proxy for rejecting political correctness in a lot of people's eyes. So those are the kinds of things the president stands for and is providing fertilizer for these candidacies.</s>BLITZER: Bob Corker is not running for re-election, the Republican Senator from Tennessee. He unloaded today, speaking about a cult-like relationship developing between some Republicans and the president. But listen to what he said yesterday.</s>SEN. BOB CORKER, (R), TENNESSEE: We might poke the bear! The president might get upset with us, as United States Senators, if we vote on the Corker Amendment. Well, we'll do what we can do. But, my gosh, if the president gets upset with us, then we might not be in the majority!</s>BLITZER: How scared are Republicans of poking the bear?</s>HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: I mean, I think it's a real thing, it's a real fear, and it's the reason you don't see more Republicans stepping up to come behind Bob Corker in the tariff challenge that he has. Everyone understands, in the Republican and Democratic Party, that could be damaging for them, because their constituents could be badly affected by that, people in foreign states and other areas. But what we saw last night was the cautionary tale of what people are worried about. It's not just that they're worried the president will get mad at them, but their constituent will get mad at them, because they're not seen as a close enough alley of the president. What's difficult for Republicans who are facing reelection challenges or running this year is that Trump's popularity is not necessarily transferrable to them. But in many of these places, if you are seen as somehow disloyal to him or, as David said, if you're seen as not aligned with his values, and too much aligned with the establishment and the people who are in Congress, you're going to have a hard time with those voters. They won't to see a change.</s>GREGORY: I wonder if the Republican Party, Trump's Republican Party is going to be a free-trade party, unless maybe it is, all of a sudden. A lot of people who support Trump say, yes, we don't understand trade exactly. A lot of people -- I look at some of the trade issues and I don't understand everything. A lot of people feel that way. And they say, yes, he's standing up for America. Why isn't that a good thing? Maybe if he shifts, he'll say, yes, but we worked it out and now we have better trade deals than we would have had, and it's a success and we should be free traders. And people would go along with that. The real point is, there's no Republican, who is not retiring, who is willing to take the president on. Even Corker, who is taking him on, what has he done to stand in front of the Trump agenda? That's the question for Jeff Flake. The party has to decide, party leaders like Paul Ryan -- now Paul Ryan is standing up against Trump now that he's decided he's not going to run again? There's really not a lot of courage here in the Republican Party. That's all you need to know. They don't want to cross any lines with him for fear he's potent enough on the trail. That's all you need to know.</s>BLITZER: Including the leadership of the Republican Party --</s>BLITZER: -- in the House and Senate. Stick around, guys. There's more we need to discuss. Since many Republicans are scared to speak out against President Trump, is the legal system the only reality check against the president? We'll discuss that. And the president says the country's biggest enemy right now isn't Kim Jong-Un, isn't Russia. It's what he calls the fake news media. We'll be right back.