Full interview with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at RNC | Politico

please welcome politico's senior political columnist and politics bureau chief Jonathan Martin and Arkansas governor Sarah Huckaby Sanders hey are you well hey everybody grab a seat if you don't have one looking at you Kevin Yoder the pride of Johnson County all right um well well thanks for coming everybody and Governor thanks for joining us today full disclosure the governor and I have known each other since we are both I think in our 20s um I met when when her dad was governor of Arkansas and exploring a run for president um and uh some of us have done something with our lives since then uh I like to drink both of us so I want to start with last night because you gave a pretty spicy uh Speech out there last night there's a little bit of your dad out there right which is the kind of uh fun with smiling but a little bit of a blade there too so um tell me tell me who came up with a line about your son and Jill bite um you will be you will be proud to know that was a collaborative effort with you nailed it my dad there you go uh so I I have the distinct privilege of having a dad who is uh a masterful communicator uh I'm also married to somebody who is brilliant in messaging and strategy and so certainly a great team effort I have a a great team on the ground as well and um work together but for me and ultimately I wanted it to be something that was personal and I felt like it was important to tell my story and no one else's and so that's what I went out there to do was talk about my experience um and what I got to see firstand and communicate that in a way that was both authentic to me but also helpful in for other people to get to see a side of the president that you don't always see let's stay on that topic because obviously you did serve in the White House in the first president term first first term of the former president and and you know him pretty well um what's a interesting fun compelling or revealing story about President Trump that maybe folks in this room haven't heard before that that you think sort of tell us something about what he's actually like behind the scenes you know one of the things that I feel like the president sometimes gets credit for but usually not is that he has one of the best senses of humor of any person you will ever encounter um he's truly fun to be around and he's you certainly see I think a lot of that in his speech style is that he has this Larger than Life personality U but he likes to have a good time he works really hard but his uh sense of humor comes out in his day-to-day certainly interactions and I got to experience that a lot and some stories I will tell in a setting like this and some I won't um but uh certainly one of my favorites and I'll try to make this the short version I had the the chance to travel with the president pretty extensively both domestically uh and I went on every foreign policy trip that the president took during my two and a half years and that's where I think you really get to know people uh when you've been on the road uh doing long days as you know for 20 hours at a time over a 7day stretch away from all of the the normal life and he was getting ready for probably one of the most historic Monumental days of his presidency certainly up until that moment when he was getting ready to meet with Kim Jong-un in Singapore uh you have two world leaders the rhetoric had been pretty intense back and forth leading up to this moment and you know anytime you're talking about nuclear war things get pretty serious pretty fast and so the level of intensity was very high you had the entire world watching waiting to see how the was going to unfold uh many people cheering for failure many people just tuning in because they wanted to see what would happen but literally everyone was watching to see what would take place on the world stage and uh we're getting ready to walk in I was one of uh a handful of people that were going to represent the US delegation on our side and our North Korean counterparts would be on the other side so we're literally going into a room with the world's most brutal dictator um and his team that has been charged with carrying out some of these pretty awful orders right and I'm looking up and down the row and you've got Mike Pompeo John Kelly John Bolton a couple of guys that are experts in North Korean and Asian Affairs and me and it was very clear very quickly who the one that stuck out was and so I think you know what for my own personal benefit I'm going to lighten the mood a little bit and see if I can loosen things up mostly to put myself at ease and I turned to Mike Pompeo and I said hey Mike am I the only person here who either hasn't killed someone or hasn't ordered someone to be killed he looks at me he looks at the room he goes yeah Sarah you're the only one I told him I said I saw that going a little differently and uh so that sets the stage for this meeting so I'm already pretty nervous and terrified of what's going to go down and uh I'm sitting just on one side of John Kelly the president in the middle and I'm taking notes and just trying to capture the moment and we're working through a translator and at one point I look up as I've caught up with the translator and I make direct eye contact with Kim Jong-un and he gives me this kind of like little nod and wink and I thought oh my gosh I've just been Marked for Death so I immediately take my chair and move it over to John Kelly and I'm getting as close to him as possible without making a big scene thinking if things go down next to the fourstar Marine General so like I'm I'm moving over and he's kind of giving me a look like hey can you settle down whatever is happening over there please make it stop and um so the day goes on and it's a huge success and they have this great first meeting um the president does a press conference about an hour and a half totally on message like we're on Cloud9 like things are going well and the president comes off the stage he goes hey Sarah you didn't do too bad today you want to ride back with me to Air Force One I'm like yes I do this you know historic Monumental day I'm living my best moment still terrified that I'm underwatched by the North Koreans though and thinking it'll be much safer to be in the Beast with the president so we get in the car and he's talking he's like so what do you think of the day and I was like I thought it was amazing except for this one moment I uh was pretty terrified I think I'm on like the watch list and he starts laughing Hyster Al and John Kelly is laughing hysterically and I'm thinking I'm glad that my complete and total demise is so funny to the two of you I was like why are you laughing and he goes Sarah he wasn't marking you for death I'm pretty sure he was hitting on you Bo and I was like I don't think so and you know in a way that only he can he laughs and jokes around and he goes Sarah your family's really going to miss you but you get to be a hero to the entire country you're going to love North Korea obviously joking and um at no point was he seriously considering send me I don't think to North Korea but just one of those pyang exactly one of these like just totally surreal day um and yet ends in a pretty uh light moment and what a way to close out uh that day in history Governor you you grew up literally in their Republican party Arkansas was a a very Democratic State when when you were a kid and uh you've seen the party change and obviously working for your dad's campaign no8 really kind of the the front of the wave in terms of the realignment of the party um uh in terms of of it its orientation both voters and increasingly policy-wise I tell me what you think is happened to to your party just in in in your lifetime and and how do you square it with the kind of traditional you know reaganism small government free trade strong military protect Force abroad um yeah what do you what do you think happened and H how do you live in peace today between the kind of if you the Vance Wing I I guess you could say in the more traditional uh kind of reaganite wing well I I think that the biggest thing um and the most even maybe oversimplification for me in describing the difference of of the two parties there's a lot of nuance and you can sit and you can debate every single issue and you'll find you know Republicans that can be divided in certain places but when you really look at kind of the driving forces of both parties the way that I see it and certainly the way that I govern in the state of Arkansas and I think most uh Republican conservative leaders are trying to govern from whatever position they're in is that if you want a party that believes that individuals should make decisions about how to run their business how to engage in their Community where and how their kids should be educated and frankly you want the government to leave you alone for the most part and you're a republican if you want the government to make those decisions and dictate the rules much more heavy-handed then you're a Democrat everything else gets much more simplified when you look at it from those two lenses but I see that to be the most clear distinction between where the two parties are now you have one that really believes in the decision-making power of the individual and you have one that thinks that a lot more power should be centered in the government and for me in the way that I'm trying to govern that's why we focused on cutting taxes passing Universal school choice and really trying to put power back in the hands of the people now the the critique of you in Arkansas that that folks I haven't heard any of those I know you're clear you're clearly reading the wrong wrong information so uh ex I'll stop reading the Arkansas times u i could have told you that long ago so the critique of you in Arkansas is obviously you grew up there you grew up literally in the Mansion but that you're you're more of a national oriented figure now and that you're you're kind of looking beyond the The Horizon of Arkansas toward a national profile um I guess my question is uh do you have any interest in serving in a Trump White House in any capacity number one I I think the answer is no right I I love what I'm doing I think I have the best job in the country and I have three amazing kids that are 12 10 and N that are very happy in Arkansas and to be back home we did two and a half years in Washington our family settled and I'm very interested in serving in that capacity for the next six and a half years so you want you want to run free election and serve the a full second ter I do I've actually already announced that I'm running again and I filed my campaign and in full steam ahead 26 yes now I think I'm right here but my understanding is that there's going to be an open race for president 20128 um your math seems correct I mean I know you're a writer so so um a lot of people do believe that the first female president inevitably is going to be a republican uh do you subscribe to that school a would it be easier for the country to elect a woman Republican number one and then number two whether it's 28 or 32 or down the road are you at all intrigued by the idea I I mean I I certainly hope that the first uh female president is a Republican and I think there's a a long list of people that are capable and could certainly take that on and I would be excited to see that happen I want to see every president be a republican whether they're male or female so I'm I'm pretty biased in that um right now frankly the only election I'm focused on is November of this year as soon as that's over again I will transition into really focusing on 2026 and getting reelected as governor in my home state I'm really proud of the things that we've been able to do you know there there are probably some critics that say that I focus too much on National politics but if you look at what I'm actually spending my time doing and not just the narrative that they want to drive my time has been focused on Arkansas I've done more than 250 events over the last year and a half in the state of Arkansas and all counties and um I have invested and put all of my time in terms of legislative policy on things that impact everyday our canons education being first and foremost uh I made no secret during the campaign that that would be my top priority and ever since then we have spent almost every single day working not only to pass historic transformative education legislation in my state but now implementing it you can can pass the best legislation in the world but if your execution is terrible then it doesn't matter and so we have spent a tremendous amount of time very singularly focused on making sure that the execution is done to the highest level so that the students in our state really start to achieve at the highest levels come back to the challenge of of of women running for high office because obviously the most prominent example is Hillary Clinton but there have been a number of Republican women who have run for president and who have struggled I mean from Elizabeth do Dole to Nikki Haley and and folks in between but where's your head on that like what why has it been so challenging for this country which in so many ways has made enormous progress um uh uh over the decades why haven't we yet cracked that that I mean to be fair a lot more men have run and lost for president than women so I mean in comparison um but I do you think our country is ready I think that there is a a great desire for a female to serve in that role and when and who that is uh certainly is is yet to be seen but I think our country is ready for that and would be supportive of it so you obviously supported the president this time around but not immediately out of the gates and there was some reporting about you know you why hasn't Governor Huck could be endorsed she worked for the Trump Administration um what was the phone call like when you talked to president Trump and said all right I'm coming out for you and you plan that event like was it a little awkward or tense or how'd that go no it wasn't you know I I have a great relationship with the president I started working for him uh during the 2016 campaign and have maintained a a great back and forth and uh really proud to stand with him both in 16 and 20 and again at and again now I I mean I wanted to get through my first legislative session and and um we spoke and planned out that event for a couple of events or for a couple of months and um it's a it's was an amazing feeling to get to be back with a lot of the people that I had worked with in the white house but more importantly to support somebody that I knew could step in and lead on day one and he has a clear and strong record of saying here's what I'm going to do and then going and actually getting the job done and so for me it wasn't a hard decision I wanted the timing to be right but could not be more proud to support this President both in 1620 and again now and I know he's going to win big in November and I'm excited to help him every step of the way as as he gets to the final days and and takes the White House back this is a political junky crowd and this is a question for this kind of an audience but it's widely assumed that if Trump does win the junior senator from Arkansas Tom Cotton will take a position in the Trump cabinet um and we were talking a minute ago about Arkansas state law which I think most most folks here don't realize this but the appointment process to fill that seat is a little different in Arkansas tell us about that so um certainly a a great possibility that Senator cotton could uh take on a role in a trump Administration he is incredibly smart incredibly conservative articulate and I think there are so many different things based on both his business background political uh military service what's the best gig for him if you could write it today like what the best gig for I I mean I think he would be phenomenal in the CIA defense those are places that I think he immediately steps into and can be a great voice at the table uh with President Trump But ultimately that's the president's decision he has to have a team that he's comfortable with that he has good chemistry with I've seen the difference uh when he has somebody in a role that works and doesn't um and so it's really important and ultimately it'll come down to where he thinks someone fits best but if that were to happen uh certainly would leave a big hole in Arkansas um while we would be happy for him sad for us but um he fills a big space on the foreign policy uh and National Security front for our state but the way that it works is the governor then appoints but that person cannot run for that seat later so it would be a Max of a two-year uh commitment for whoever went into makes easier on you in some ways because you don't have to choose a favorite then because whoever you would Aon they still see it as picking a favorite so I'd be happy for you to communicate that it wouldn't mean that but uh you know usually no Head Start for anybody you make one person happy for life and a whole bunch hate you forever so you know but uh again we'll cross that bridge when we get there but we love the two senators that we have in our home state they are a great compliment to each other uh really strong leadership there um and would love the opportunity to continue serving with both of them for a long time uh you were in the white house with Trump in the I mean you saw some of those shall we say robust discussions on policy what do you think it would be like if we had a Tom Cotton who's an Uber Hawk with with JD Vance in the sit room talking about Ukraine policy like what how would that go do you think I think it'd be fun to be at the table so but and that's one of the Beauties I think of this President is that he does uh despite what a lot of the critics say he actually enjoys a really good back and forth indifference of ideas at the table but ultimately he's the decision maker he is masterful at taking in copious amounts of information getting all of the nuances of both sides and then being the one to ultimately make a decision and that's what you need an executive and he's very good at it Governor what's the biggest difference between politics today in the politics that you grew up with in the 80s and 90s I I I think the biggest difference and I don't mean this as a negative I ideologically I mean yeah and so I I hope it doesn't come across that way but I think the presence of the media is very different um one anybody who has a cell phone uh now considers thems to be a journalist whether they are or not um and so getting good Fair accurate information to the electorate is really challenging um because there's not the same level of an editorial process I mean think back to when you first started as a reporter before you put anything into the public space there were probably six or seven people that looked at it checked it before it ever saw the light of day now anybody with a cell phone pops out a tweet and it can drive and make and change the news cycle in a matter of seconds whether that's a political figure a media figure or just somebody who happened to catch something on a camera um and so the dynamic and the level of access has changed so dramatically and the way that the Press covers and engages has changed so much because you can't see sit back and wait on six people to weigh in and tell you otherwise the story's gone and it's already changed now there are certainly like longer form stories that do that but by and large news is driven no longer in a 24-hour cycle but it's like a 24 second cycle and people want to be first instead of being sometimes right and so there's a rush to put it out um and I'm not saying again that's a negative thing about the Press it's just the fact of where we are are now and it has changed the dynamic so drastically did you ever think when you first started working in politics that you would you would long for the days of the mainstream media when there were responsible reporters and editors from from newspapers come on you know I would love to for us to go back to that there you go you heard it here um no but like you nowadays if you if you want to reach the most arens right the the straight most straightforward way to do that is to go on Fox News I mean yes um reaching the most amount of our otherwise yeah or or also frankly using my own social media and so now you have the ability and I think president Trump was one of the Pioneers in doing this is he could go straight to the people and deliver the message he wanted to the people he wanted um and do so more quickly and more effectively than sitting down for an interview not to say that you shouldn't still do those things and we certainly do and engage but if you want to get something out we have our own channel to do that and used to that was not an option the only way to get a message out was to sit down and do an interview on the morning shows or the Nightly News and they have lost that punch because now people have the ability to get access directly um and in a much more unfiltered way but the downside being in their own chosen silos yeah right and you don't have the same shared facts that you would have had 30 years and sometimes it's not their chosen silos but big Tech has helped choose those silos because they push people into uh the places where they see what they want to see and so it's a very large Echo chamber that is not always dictated even by the person putting it out by the people who control uh the algorithms and the technology hey speaking of big Tech uh one of the things that you did that I thought was was pretty um interesting um was that you sent a copy of this new book that all of you have heard about that Jonathan ha wrote about the role of of of smartphones and children you said that copy book to every Governor uh why' you do that and what is your solution to kids in technology well and I think every State's going to be a little bit different and and hopefully uh this is one of the places I do think at some point the federal government may need to engage but there's not a single P de the feds yeah the feds which they do correct and there's not a hold on I'll come to that in just a second but there's not a single piece of data that exists that will tell you that kids having all day everyday access to smartphones and social media is a good thing we're seeing the Mental Health crisis just Skyrocket in this country and a lot of it ties back to access to social media to smartphones the depression rates suicide anxiety among teens particularly teen girls ages 12 to 17 has gone up 10 times in the last 10 years now and you know often it's compared to cigarette smoking and I think one of the biggest differen certainly uh we learned hey you know what smoking in confined spaces and smoking for kids is a bad thing so let's tell them not to do that we now see that social media for teens uh and young people is not a good thing so we've got to start raising that awareness one of the biggest differences of those two things is that when we really were at the height of young people smoking we had about 20% that were engaging now 90% of our teens are using social media they have access to drugs to sex trafficking to bullying to isolation so it's far bigger and more compound than that to Politico which you know depending on what you're reading danger op of all yeah go either way but I'm a mom um my husband Brian and I we have a 12-year-old a 10-year-old and a nine-year-old so we are living this in real time it's one of the biggest fights and challenges that we have 12old wants a phone she does um and it's a very unpopular opinion she doesn't um and that's a big fight and we've done you know the the stripped down watch that allows you to to text um so you're not totally on the outside but you know no internet browser and all those things um which makes us very unpopular you know the glares that I got from the State of the State address that I gave in Arkansas earlier this year the nastiest looks were from the front row of my children when I talked about how we should look at uh engaging on this topic and if you haven't read it yet the anxious anxious generation is a book by Jonathan hay NYU Professor not political uh brilliant uh in his ability to really break this issue down back it up with data and most importantly gives a road map of steps that we can take that can help us start to combat this so what's the one big thing Congress should do on this I I mean I I think it has to be um not a heavy-handed top heavy approach to begin with I think we have to change the culture before we can just demand it um and so one I think raising awareness and helping parents understand the dangers but I think we should start looking at restricting access uh to social media without parental permission we passed it in my state of Arkansas um that you can't get a new social media account under the age of 16 without parental permission not saying you can't have it just saying your parents need to know about it and say that they're okay with it I think looking for things like that one it helps us raise awareness but it also helps us limit the amount kids right now are spending on average 5 to six hours a day on social media and only about 3 to five minutes of outdoor play this is a terrible thing for not just our country you're seeing it across the world European countries are starting to do uh Nationwide bands on cell phones I don't think we're quite there yet but I do think that we need to start looking at what Solutions we can Implement and we're certainly doing that on a state level all right two final questions for you both of which um I think you'll uh appreciate one is former President Clinton is famous for a lot of reasons uh but um that can go a lot of different places leave that there uh exactly but one of the things he's famous for in Arkansas is he liked playing Mentor for Arkansas governors he has an apartment above his library in downtown Little Rock and he in both parties for decades now has has really tried to sort of tutor a new governor tell us about your your meeting with him after you became governor and the conversation you had did he have advice for you and if so what was that you know he and I have have shared a couple phone calls since I became governor and had some great exchanges I mentioned him and praised him uh in a speech that I gave on the day that I took office uh for his role in uh as president he and my dad opened the doors to lck Central Ohio on the 40th anniversary where I was a high school student at the time uh certainly one of the more memorable moments of my childhood to stand on the steps of my High School uh 40 years later to the day uh where those same stairs and streets had been crowded with protest and the National Guard had been called in so that these uh nine black students students could enter the building to that moment you have the president of the United States the governor and the mayor opening the door and those nine students then walking in to praise and Applause uh pretty Monumental moment certainly uh for a 15-year-old sophomore in high school and I had the chance to talk about that he called and and we had a good exchange uh reminiscing over that day and talking about the job and the role that I was taking on and he told me to enjoy it he said it's a it's a great job you're going to love it it's a great state and take time to enjoy uh the big moments and the small moments um and have a good time with what you're doing and um you know offered offered to be available I I also have a dad who is governor for 11 years so uh a really good phona friend for advice and um he always tells me it's worth what I pay for it but uh I'm I'm very blessed to have some great people like my dad that give good advice um pretty good speech material and very good free babysitting for our kids there you go and and last thing for you the big news in Arkansas the last few months has uh with all all uh our respect to you govern not been about anything do the politics it's been about the hiring of John Calipari as the Arkansas basketball coach I know that you met with him when he came to fville did he promise that he was going to deliver a national title or or at least a final four for the hog speaking to Bill Clinton bringing back the the Clinton era you know 40 minutes of hell Dynasty yeah I mean we don't like to necessarily give credit to him for the Basketball Championships of the 90s but uh certainly Coach Cal is brought tremendous amount of excitement to our state uh we're gearing up for what we hope will be a great football season look forward to hosting LSU mostly beating LSU uh still one of the more traumatic time periods of my life was attending a night game in Death Valley with my dad and um it the the LSU fans um you were silver that was problem just a little Rowdy um and yeah I was with my Baptist preacher father and so Diet Coke certainly not on par with 99% of the crowd there in Arkansas 1 and my dad turns to me and they were going to do a Trophy presentation on the field uh with my dad and the governor of L Iana and my dad goes as soon as it is over we are running out of here I was like I don't think it's that big a deal he goes trust me we are getting out of here as quickly as possible and he wasn't wrong I mean they're yelling they're booing they're throwing stuff it was probably one of the most aggressive crowds and I feel like I've been up against that's called that's called Saturday Baton Rouge that's like you know I mean they were not happy to see us and so we got out of there pretty fast but uh looking forward to a great season both in football and basketball and uh beating LSU welcoming Texas into the SEC officially who we also play year so when I was getting ready to go to college uh my dad you know was very supportive of whatever I wanted to do as long as and he sat me down and had this you could tell he had really thought about it he said Sarah we'll help you with whatever you want to do wherever you decide to go as long as it's not Texas or LSU um and and to this day I don't know how serious he was but he had raised me in such a way that neither one of those were on my radar never an option woo Pig Sue on that note Governor Sarah Sanders thank you thank you all thanks to see you thank you