Friendly Fire: Grewal’s visit, the sales tax hike, and Van Drew's Kool-Aid (2024)

Can Americans still have a sensible and friendly political discussion across the partisan divide? The answer is yes, and we prove it every week. Julie Roginsky, a Democrat, and Mike DuHaime, a Republican, are consultants who have worked on opposite teams for their entire careers yet have remained friends. Here, they discuss the week’s events with editorial page editor Tom Moran.

Q. A federal jury convicted Hunter Biden on three felony gun charges on Tuesday, and President Biden said he will not pardon his son. Will that do anything to dispel Donald Trump’s claim that Biden corruptly uses the Department of Justice to persecute political enemies?

Julie: There is nothing anyone can do to break the MAGA fever. Even the best cult deprogrammers likely cannot succeed at the moment. The Biden Justice Department indicted not just Hunter Biden but Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar. If you read or listen to right-wing media, all those lawsuits exist purely as a cover to protect Biden and go after Trump. (I know, I don’t get it either.) It’s very hard to argue with flat-earthers.

Mike: It won’t do anything to cool the furor most Trump supporters feel. They believe Trump is only being prosecuted because of politics, and any outside case has no bearing on those feelings.

Q. In the corruption trial of Sen. Robert Menendez, former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Menendez wasn’t the only Democratic pol to press him about a pending criminal case. Grewal testified that former Gov. Richard Codey, when he was in the state Senate, also pressed him on another case, as did an unnamed chief of staff under Gov. Phil Murphy, who appears to be George Helmy. How serious is that accusation?

Julie: It’s serious enough for the former attorney general to provide more detail and for reporters to ask George Helmy some tough questions.

Mike: Umm, are they alleged to have been bribed to intervene? Did they only intervene after enriching themselves from the potential target of the case? I don’t know the ethics of speaking to the AG about a potential criminal case you care about, but that whole bribery allegation seems to be a major, major distinction here.

Q. Here’s a head scratcher: While Biden is struggling in swing states, fellow Democrats running for Senate have comfortable leads in most of them, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan. What gives? And how likely are Democrats to keep control of the Senate?

Julie: I am going to put all polls aside for now – both good and bad. I still remember polls showing a Hillary Clinton win in 2016, a Murphy landslide in 2021 and a Republican red wave in 2022. On balance, I still think President Biden is slightly favored to win re-election. The senate is a tougher hill to climb for Democrats.

Mike: It’s not a head scratcher at all: Biden is incredibly weak. What can Democrats and the press not understand here? Biden is a terrible candidate. He is lethargic and completely uninspiring personally, while we have chaos and war around the world and terrible inflation, high interest rates and unchecked illegal immigration stressing all our government services here at home. How in the world do Democrats scratch their heads about his weakness? You should have run someone else, almost anyone else. There is a chance you will blow it in 2024 just like 2016 due to complete hubris.

Julie: Actually, Biden is the most successful president of our lifetime. He has created more jobs than any other president, the stock market is booming, small business applications are at a record high, economic growth is stratospheric compared to his predecessor’s term, and wages have outpaced inflation for 13 straight months. He capped the price of insulin, and the unemployment rate is at a historic low. Finally, Joe Biden is all that stands between women and their subjugation to a nationalist Christian message that would ban all abortion and, quite possibly, even IVF. Biden’s biggest challenge -- and I have said this repeatedly -- is the poor messaging emanating from the White House.

Mike: According to polling, it appears you may be alone in thinking he is the most successful president in our lifetime. Even many people reluctantly voting for him thinks he stinks at the job.

Julie: To the extent that is not a wild exaggeration, this is a messaging problem, not a policy problem.

Q. Two weeks before the state budget deadline in Trenton, Democrats are considering hiking the sales tax instead of raising corporate taxes on the 600 largest companies doing business in the state, like CVS and Walmart. Help me understand the politics behind that: Wouldn’t raising the sales tax anger more voters in this day of concern about affordability?

Julie: You are correct, which is why Speaker Coughlin smartly opposes raising the sales tax. The speaker has consistently looked for ways since he assumed his office to provide New Jersey residents with fiscal relief. I would be surprised if he agrees to a regressive sales tax hike.

Mike: I have a crazy idea. Hear me out. Don’t raise either tax. Wow! Nice idea. For once, say no to raising taxes on businesses AND individuals. The state budget is a staggering 61% higher than when Gov. Murphy took office. That’s $21 billion more than six years ago. Give the taxpayers a break.

Q. Jeff Van Drew is one of 11 House members sponsoring a bill that would allow Donald Trump to move all state criminal and civil cases to the federal courts, where, presumably, Trump could quash them if he wins the presidency. I used to think Van Drew’s embrace of Trump was all about winning re-election, but he’s safe on that front. What’s his angle now? A senior post in a second Trump administration?

Julie: Can his angle be that he drank the Kool-Aid and is a true believer, like millions of other MAGA cult members?

Mike: I can’t say as I know what Van Drew is after. He obviously is really good at reading politics and getting ahead of where others are. He won as a Democrat in Republican Cape May County, and then switched parties before the changing politics of South Jersey swamped him and other Democrats out. The Democrats who didn’t switch parties are now enjoying an early retirement.

Q. Finally, we have a signed contract to get all the federal money needed to build the $16 billion Hudson River tunnel, an effort that’s dragged on for 20 years and was blocked entirely while Trump was in the White House. It’ll take a decade to actually build, and the existing tunnels could fail before them, creating a transit Armageddon. But after all this, any lessons learned? Any heroes or villains?

Julie: I worry that Trump will find a way to abrogate this contract if he is re-elected. It’s quite simple: Democrats from Jon Corzine to Chuck Schumer to Joe Biden fought hard to avoid a transit Armageddon. Republicans from Chris Christie to Donald Trump found ways to bring us to the brink. Let’s just pray nothing fails between now and when Mike and I are close to collecting Social Security.

Mike: It’s great news for the state, and thank goodness the federal government and other states will pay their fair share finally thanks to Gov. Christie putting his foot down a decade ago. The plans of yesteryear were far worse logistically and left NJ taxpayers paying billions more than the federal government or other states. Given how much NJ sends to DC and how little we get back in comparison to other states, it’s about time the federal government stepped up for a big project for us.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

A note to readers: Mike and Julie are deeply engaged in politics and commercial advocacy in New Jersey, so both have connections to many players discussed in this column. DuHaime, the founder of MAD Global, has worked for Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and President George W. Bush and is currently consulting Senate candidate Curtis Bashaw. Roginsky, a principal of Comprehensive Communications Group, has served as senior advisor to campaigns of Cory Booker, Frank Lautenberg, and Phil Murphy. We will disclose specific connections only when readers might otherwise be misled.