What does Mike Braun want?
The senator sits down with IMPORTANTVILLE.
By Adam Wren and design by Kris Davidson
There is Mike Braun, tangling with Tucker Carlson over qualified immunity reform and defending Black Lives Matter. There is Mike Braun, delivering an exclusive interview to the Washington Post about the importance of tackling climate change and praising Greta Thunberg. And there is Mike Braun, defending President Trump over on MSNBC amid impeachment.
In between visiting all 92 of Indiana’s counties in 2019 and filling the seat once held by Sen. Dick Lugar, Mike Braun is everywhere. The Republican Senator has become a relatively high profile senator given his time in office, perhaps insulating himself from one of the challenges his former Democratic opponent Sen. Joe Donnelly faced in his re-election battle: Low name identification. (Donnelly insiders and Democrats would say Braun has traded the media exposure for real accomplishments in his first term).
All of which raises the question: What does the gentleman from Jasper, who ran for the U.S. Senate as a Trump loyalist in 2018, really want?
In an exclusive interview while back in Indianapolis, Braun sat down with IMPORTANTVILLE for a wide-ranging conversation about his policy and political ambitions, detailing his frustration with his own Senate Republican caucus on fiscal issues and healthcare. He also discussed whether Republicans have failed to reign in presidential power, his decision to endorse in the crowded 5th Congressional District, Attorney General Curtis Hill’s defeat, and a possible gubernatorial bid in 2024.
Braun greeted IMPORTANTVILLE in his downtown office wearing an American flag-themed mask, and practiced social distancing throughout the interview. He spoke in his characteristically twanged and elliptical way, his sentences stretching out like salt-water taffy on a pulling machine.
“I’m going to stay involved in politics… and weigh in on the issues of the day,” Braun said, citing his pledge to serve at most two terms in the Senate. “Wherever that takes me in six years, I'm going to let the market [decide].”
Highlights:
On whether Fox News and conservative cable news talkers make it more difficult to pass substantive policies:
“I think so. In the sense of, in my case, I've had enough experience at it. That's something many legislators avoid is interacting with media, because you never know where it's going to go. I was disappointed there, because he didn't have full information. When you do take a point of view, where you're trying to definitely editorialize and make your point, and I'm not sure on most formats if there's much objective news being dispensed.”
On Roger Stone's commutation:
“Those [decisions], to me, are every, I think, individual that would be in the spot of being able to issue pardons will have a set of criteria that they’re going to consider usable. I think that whenever you do any of that, that looks like, and I think it's been done through the Clinton administration, through the Obama administration, with helping folks out with my particular relationship with you, it always is going to raise the question of, is that a way you should use a pardon? I personally would probably in that spot, try to use a more broader criteria of, ‘was there a potential injustice served when the original sentence was made?’”
On whether Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill got a fair shake at last week’s convention when he was defeated by former Rep. Todd Rokita:
I think Curtis got into a predicament that it had an uncertain destination. His conservative cred is good as is anyone’s. I think that when you're having to navigate through something like that, where it was hard to maybe debate the facts of the case, it just boils down to, well, what's the resolution?
I admired his dogged determination. I think he probably would have been, through a real dimension or the virtual, renominated before Todd Rokita stepped in and pretty well split the folks that attend.
Paid subscribers can get the full, unedited interview below.
Good Wednesday afternoon, and welcome to IMPORTANTVILLE.
BREAKING: Indiana will remain in stage 4.5 of its Back on Track plan, for at least another two weeks, as Indiana’s positivity rate spikes, testing lags and the number of cases rise.
AROUND IMPORTANTVILLE
Democratic Attorney General nominee Jonathan Weinzapfel starts off the Indiana attorney general’s race with a 40-1 cash-on-hand advantage over former Congressman Todd Rokita, sitting on $722,364 to Rokita’s $18,277.16.
In the Indiana gubernatorial race, Republican incumbent Gov. Eric Holcomb has more than $8 million cash-on-hand compared to Democratic nominee Dr. Woody Myers’ $72,300. Myers also owes $270,603 in loans.
Rep. Trey Hollingsworth—who said risking American lives in order to get workers back to work was “the lesser of these two evils”—appears to be the first member of the Congressional delegation to get the novel coronavirus, according to a Facebook post. According to a spokeswoman, Hollingsworth tested positive for antibodies meaning he had COVID-19 while quarantined with his family. “Yesterday’s post was an effort to promote and encourage all to contribute to our country’s effort and help in any way they can: whether that is donating plasma, helping elderly neighbors get their groceries, or taking precautions to limit unknowing transmissions.”
The UVA Center for Politics’ Crystal Ball has moved Indiana's Electoral College rating from “Safe Republican” to “Likely Republican.”
A CBS Battleground Tracker poll with a 5.3% margin of error gives President Trump a 10-point lead over former Vice President Joe Biden in Indiana, 54-44%.
IMPORTANTVILLE READS
Phillip Bump, The Washington Post: “A month later, Pence’s wildly optimistic view of the pandemic has proved almost entirely wrong”
Nearly a month later, Pence has been proved wrong in nearly every way on every bit of data he offered. The vice president, as the head of the government’s response to the pandemic, presented a case for his own success that was shown to be inaccurate often only days after his article was published.
Elena Schneider, James Arkin, Ally Mutnick, Politico: ‘Adapt immediately or find a new job’: Senate GOP confronts fundraising emergency
The NRSC, which has worked over the past several election cycles to build its own successful small-dollar program, is evangelizing about the importance of growing GOP online fundraising. Sen. Todd Young, the committee chairman, briefed senators during a party lunch about online fundraising the week after the meeting with chiefs of staff. And on July 1, the NRSC also assembled chiefs of staff for senators on the ballot in 2022 to emphasize the importance of starting early, according to people familiar with the meetings.
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading.
