"What is the President's Endgame?" with Eric Swalwell & Dennis Mehiel

Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA 15) joined The Common Good for a riveting conversation as we discuss his new book "Endgame: Inside the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump." We got an inside look into what went on during the impeachment, recent revelations made by other government leaders, along with discussing the 2020 election. Moderated by business leader and philanthropic icon Dennis Mehiel.

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Eric Swalwell is serving his fourth term representing California's 15th Congressional District, in the East Bay near San Francisco. Elected to Congress at age 31, he now serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Judiciary Committee, and co-chairs the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. 

In his first term he introduced three bills and had two signed into law -more than any other freshman congressman. He has since continued to have great success and has been credited as a leader within the party. Swalwell ran for the Democratic nominee for president focusing heavily on gun control but eventually dropped out. He recently published the book "Endgame: Inside the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump." 

Dennis Mehiel is one of the Democratic Party’s most visionary, effective and experienced leaders in the fields of business, government, politics and philanthropy. His close friends, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and dozens of other national Democratic leaders and Presidential candidates can attest to his vision and effectiveness. He has chaired and been involved with numerous committee's including the Battery Park City Authority and founded ShowUp in 2018 to increase participation in the 2018 midterm election. 

Mehiel’s governmental and political skills arise from decades of business and charitable activities. As Chairman, CEO and principal shareholder of Sweetheart Cup Company – then North America’s largest producer of disposable tabletop products for the “away-from-home dining” market, he brought the Company back from the brink of bankruptcy and preserved 8,000 jobs. During his long career in the corrugated packaging business he twice built the largest independent producer in North America. 

"Trump, the Republican Party, and the American Future" with Sarah Longwell and Susan del Percio

Sarah Longwell, political strategist, founder of Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), and publisher of the right-leaning opinion and news website, The Bulwark, spoke to Susan del Percio about her focus groups, her priorities, and the Never-Trump movement. Sitting at tables with conservative intellectual heavyweights and discussing the cancerous effect of Trump got old for Sarah and inspired her to say to the group, which included Bill Kristol and Charlie Sikes, “let’s do something.” 

Sarah concedes that she originally and naively thought the establishment Republicans would serve as a guardrail against Donald Trump and that there would be a more formidable primary challenger to him; today, however, it’s clear that neither were true. 

Sarah harkened back to her days in communications to devise focus groups around the country with the intent of getting into the minds of “reluctant Trump voters” - what drove them to Trump and what would persuade them to leave him in 2020?

• Focus group participants readily admitted Trump’s erratic behavior and questionable character were problematic.  

• “Women, who voted for him and then went home and cried, were persuadable.”

Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT)

Recognizing that personal stories move people, RVAT’s goal was to compile intimate testimonials from people who had voted for Trump in 20126, but were not going to in 2020. Sarah admits that it was hard at first, taking 4 months to get the first 100 videos, but after the launch, people saw they weren’t alone and videos poured in. 

“There’s not enough tax cuts and conservative judges in the world to justify Donald Trump,”  Sarah Longwell 

Trump won 3 states by 77k votes in 2016, so Sarah’s goal remained hyper-focused and grounded in reality - eliminate 3% of Trump’s support among Republicans. In order for Republicans to get the message, however, Biden needs a landslide victory. And that message, according to Sarah, is that Republicans should be electorally punished for their faustian bargain with Trump, someone who is actively subverting our Democracy. 

“I believe in liberal democracy more than I do marginal tax rates,” Sarah Longwell

Sarah predicts that Independents will break against Trump, because he now has a record to run on and it’s a bad one. Covid-19 has real consequences, and it will be harder to generate excitement to shake things up again - “I feel already pretty shaken right now! (we all do)” 

When asked why she doesn’t just become a Democrat, Sarah reminds us that she is still a conservative - a strong American presence in the world, free markets and limited government. Moreover, Democrats are experiencing something similar to Republicans right now, but they’ve done a better job of suppressing it’s populist, far left contingent. 

“Polls are not gospel,” Sarah Longwell 

Biden has to play to win, which means Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and NOT Texas, which is expensive and unlikely. If he’s going to stretch anywhere, have it be Georgia. 

Sarah is mostly staying out of the Senate races, noting that it has been hard to watch so many moderate republicans get run out of the party. 

What happens to the GOP after Trump loses? 

It depends on the margin of his loss. There’s an opportunity to have a fight for the soul of the party, but unless Trump goes to prison, he’s not going anywhere. The party is doomed if he becomes a kingmaker, which is likely at this point. 

What’s possible if Republicans hold the Senate? 

• Rule of Law reforms 

• Anti-corruption legislation 

• Modest movement on Healthcare 

• Narrow senate majority is a foil for Biden. Excuse for Biden to go far too left, where he is comfortable.

What is Trump’s argument that he can run on against Biden? 

• Trump wanted to run on the economy, but can’t now, so he’s  trying cultural wedge issues. However, talking about monuments when Americans can’t send their children to school or afford groceries isn’t a winning strategy.  

“It’s not as fun to own the libs when you can’t own a house or a car because of a wrecked economy, “ Sarah Longwell

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Sarah Longwell has served as a defining member of the Voters Against Trump movement and gained national attention as a Republican strategist and active voice in Republican politics. She is the head of the Republicans for the Rule of Law, part of Defending Democracy Together, which has and does advocate against Trump. She also served as the first female member of the board for the Log Cabin Republicans and would go on to serve as chairwoman of the board. 

Sarah Longwell has been involved in national politics for several decades. After moving to DC she worked and eventually became the Vice President and Communications Director of Berman and Company. She later went on to create her own successful communications firm, Longwell and Associates.

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Susan Del Percio is a New York-based Republican strategist and founder of Susan Del Percio Strategies, she has advised dozens of candidates in New York and elsewhere on successfully communicating messages to an electorate. Ms. Del Percio has served as a media spokeswoman on many campaigns, both political and corporate, and frequently appears on many local and national news outlets as a political analyst. Susan is also an MSNBC contributor. She served in the Giuliani Administration and holds a Masters degree in political communications.

With nearly 30 years of experience in the political, government, nonprofit and private sector arenas, she is a trusted advisor helping leaders develop and execute focused strategic communications and winning crisis management campaigns. Her unique insights on government procedure, regulatory environments and public policy is highly sought after, especially now, with public affairs, policy and media so thoroughly intertwined.

Appointed as a Special Advisor to Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2014, she initiated and implemented communication strategies, and advised and developed policy initiatives. Susan also served as Deputy Commissioner in the Giuliani Administration (1995-2001) prior to founding her firm in 2001. Her client list includes large and mid-size private corporations, Fortune 50 executives, leading elected officials, political organizations and candidates as well as non-profits.

"The Law, the Vote, and the 2020 Election" with Solicitor General Neal Katyal, Moderated by Kay Koplovitz

Legal scholar and former Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal joined The Common Good to discuss all the new legal challenges facing the 2020 election. Moderated by business legend and co-founder of Springboard Enterprises Kay Koplovitz, the two led a fascinating conversation, headlined by pressing issues such as mail-in ballot and combating the spreading of misinformation.

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General Neal Katyal served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States, where he argued several major Supreme Court cases involving a variety of issues, such as his successful defense of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, his victorious defense of former Attorney General John Ashcroft for alleged abuses in the war on terror, his unanimous victory against eight states who sued the nation's leading power plants for contributing to global warming, and a variety of other matters. As Acting Solicitor General, Neal was responsible for representing the federal government of the United States in all appellate matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals throughout the nation. He served as Counsel of Record hundreds of times in the U.S. Supreme Court. He was also the only head of the Solicitor General's office to argue a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, on the important question of whether certain aspects of the human genome were patentable.

Neal has also served as a law professor for over two decades at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was one of the youngest professors to have received tenure and a chaired professorship in the university's history. He has also served as a visiting professor at both Harvard and Yale law schools.

Ms. Kay Koplovitz is the founder and former Chairman & CEO of USA Networks, the SyFy Channel (formerly Sci-Fi Channel), and USA Networks International, today a multi-billion-dollar cable television network. Ms. Koplovitz ran the network for 21 years before stepping down in 1998. As founder of USA Networks, Kay is the visionary who created the business model for cable networks by introducing the concept of two revenue streams: licensing and advertising.

Since 2000, Kay has served as Chairman of Springboard Enterprises, where under her leadership, the venture-catalyst accelerator has been bringing women founders leading transformational businesses to full parity in raising capital. The value of Springboard Enterprises has been validated by a strong 19-year track record of success with over $10 billion capital raised, 190+ exits, and 20 IPOs. Companies in the portfolio include technology and life sciences, and in 2014, Ms. Koplovitz co-founded the New York Fashion Tech Lab bringing promising technology companies in collaboration with the fashion and retail industry.

Springboard Enterprises was born after Ms. Koplovitz’ was appointed as Chairman of the bipartisan National Women’s Business Council (1998 NWBC) by President Clinton.  During that time, Kay discovered that there were few venture capital and funding options for women entrepreneurs.

Siege: Trump Under Fire

The Common Good hosted a special discussion with Michael Wolff, New York Times bestselling author and journalist to discuss his book, Siege: Trump Under Fire. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Fire and Fury.

Just one year into Donald Trump’s term as president, Michael Wolff told the electrifying story of a White House consumed by controversy, chaos, and intense rivalries. Fire and Fury, an instant sensation, defined the first phase of the Trump administration; now, in Siege, Wolff has written an equally essential and explosive book about a presidency that is under fire from almost every side.

At the outset of Trump’s second year as president, his situation is profoundly different. No longer tempered by experienced advisers, he is more impulsive and volatile than ever. But the wheels of justice are inexorably turning: Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt” haunts Trump every day, and other federal prosecutors are taking a deep dive into his business affairs. Many in the political establishment―even some members of his own administration―have turned on him and are dedicated to bringing him down. The Democrats see victory at the polls, and perhaps impeachment, in front of them. Trump, meanwhile, is certain he is invincible, making him all the more exposed and vulnerable. Week by week, as Trump becomes increasingly erratic, the question that lies at the heart of his tenure becomes ever more urgent: Will this most abnormal of presidencies at last reach the breaking point and implode?

Both a riveting narrative and a brilliant front-lines report, Siege provides an alarming and indelible portrait of a president like no other. Surrounded by enemies and blind to his peril, Trump is a raging, self-destructive inferno―and the most divisive leader in American history.

"...it was a quiet weekend in Southampton, small family dinners, punctuated by a Common Good conversation with Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, and now The Siege: Trump Under Fire. Bonnie Lautenberg, widow of Senator Frank Lautenberg, and accomplished photographer, hosted in her lovely Watermill home, filled with her pictures of moments in history, captured during her fascinating life with Frank, and her new series of film stills married with artwork from the same period. To Wolff’s credit, or was it … when asked if he would comment on Epstein (before his demise), he said ‘No’." - Debbie Bancroft, New York Social Diary

Michael Wolffe is an American journalist, author, columnist and internet entrepreneur. He’s the founder of the news aggregation website ‘Newser’. His books include Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House (2018) and Burn rate: How I survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet (1998). He’s written columns for publications like The Hollywood Reporter and USA Today. Wolf was born on August 27, 1953 in Paterson, New Jersey. His father, Lewis, worked in advertising, while his mother, Marguerite, worked as a newspaper reporter. He attended Vassar College followed by Columbia University.

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Meet & Greet: Representative Steve Cohen

The Common Good was proud to present a special meet and greet with Congressman Steve Cohen [D-TN], hosted by Charles Myers, Chairman, and Jason Press, Senior Partner, Signum Global.

As a member of the important House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Cohen plays a crucial role in oversight of the Executive Branch and a check and balance on possible wrongdoings or overreaches. He has already overseen testimony from Attorney General William Barr, Michael Cohen, and other members of the Trump administration. As calls for impeachment continue to grow following the Mueller report, Congressman Cohen has become a lead voice for a vigorous approach to these investigations.

Congressman Steve Cohen has represented Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District since 2007. His thoughtful legislation on civil rights and justice has distinguished him throughout his tenure, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi dubbing him “the conscience of the freshman class” in 2008. Prior to his election to the United States House of Representatives, he served for 24 years in the Tennessee State Senate. He currently serves several House Committees including the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

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