CHARLOTTE, NC — Bill Mitchell has a lot of theories.
The number one fan of Donald Trump on Twitter, who now boasts over 100,000 followers, opened up about his thoughts on the 2016 race in the latest episode of “The Jamie Weinstein Show” podcast, where he also discussed his upbringing, what he wants to do if Trump wins, how to become a social media superstar and much more.
Listen:
Show Map:
- Bill Mitchell on his life pre-Trump (4:24)
- When he first noticed Donald Trump (7:49)
- What Bill’s thinking was when Trump entered the race (10:08)
- Bill on his relationship with the Trump campaign (12:14)
- Bill on the issues (19:31)
- Bill defends Trump flacking for Putin (27:36)
- Is there anything Bill disagrees with Trump on? (34:08)
- Bill defends his poll analysis (36:28)
- Bill refuses to say Kim Jong Un is more evil than Hillary Clinton (48:04)
- On the Alt-Right (53:20)
- On his favorite news sites (56:34)
- Why Democrat elites want Hillary to lose (1:00:53)
- Why Bill refuses to contemplate a Trump loss (1:03:59)
- What Bill wants to do if Trump wins (1:08:38)
- On building a social media presence (1:09:48)
- On his influences (1:12:48)
An executive recruiter by trade, Mitchell took to political commentary when Trump entered the presidential race in June 2015. His main arena of political combat is Twitter, where he has grown his following from almost nothing when the Republican primary began to 126,000 followers. Along the way, he’s picked up a critic or two — or, perhaps, the entire political establishment.
Though Mitchell is regularly mocked by Beltway-types for his tweets and amateur poll analysis, the 56-year-old is confident he will have the last laugh on Election Day. Here are 11 of the best moments from Mitchell’s appearance on “The Jamie Weinstein Show”:
1.) Bill Mitchell was once of fan of Ross Perot … before the Texas billionaire “got off on the crazy train”
Before Donald Trump, there was Ross Perot.
Though a lifelong Republican, Mitchell says he did fancy Perot when he ran for president in 1992.
“I was initially enthusiastic about Ross Perot, not because I liked the man personally, but I liked the idea of a businessman, applying business concepts, to our government,” he explained.
But Perot eventually got a little bit nutty for Mitchell’s tastes.
“But then he got off on the crazy train a little bit there at the end and I lost interest on him,” Mitchell said.
How so?
“It just seemed like he became a little bit strange to me, a little bit conspiratorial, more of a cartoon figure toward the end,” Mitchell said.
2.) There is nothing Bill Mitchell disagrees with Donald Trump about
When asked what he disagrees with The Donald on, Mitchell initially suggested he was sometimes “annoyed” by Trump’s “shoot from the hip Twitter-style.”
“I would see some tweets he would put out and I’m like, ‘oh I could have said that one so much better,'” he explained. “You know, I wish I was writing his tweets for him. ”
But upon further reflection, Mitchell actually admitted he saw greater wisdom in Trump’s approach.
“But on the other hand you’ve got to understand that Trump is reaching out to a segment of society that has felt left out before,” Mitchell said. “And that fresh unconsulted style actually appeals to a lot of people.”
So is there anything he disagrees with Donald Trump about policy-wise — anything at all?
“No, not that I can think of,” Mitchell conceded.
3.) The idea that Donald Trump might lose the election is laughable to Bill Mitchell
Asking Mitchell to consider waking up in the morning to find out Trump lost the presidential election is akin to asking him to imagine waking up the “next day and a meteor fell on my house and killed everybody I care about.”
“It’s a hypothetical that’s just not going to happen,” Mitchell explained.
Mitchell says he is “100 percent sure” Trump is going to win on Tuesday.
“It would be historically almost impossible for Hillary to win,” Mitchell explained. “There is no enthusiasm out there for her — you can’t tell by rallies, by merchandise, by yard signs, by anything that there is any enthusiasm for Hillary. And yet, every single poll that is showing her tied or ahead is estimating greater enthusiasm for Hillary than there was for Obama.”
Is he afraid such confident pronouncements will depress Trump’s turnout by making Trump voters think that there is no need to show up at the polls because Trump has this one locked up already?
“No, because people love the idea of voting for Trump,” Mitchell said. “They want to be apart of history. I don’t think you are going to discourage the Trump vote.”
4.) Bill Mitchell never questions his poll analysis despite all polling experts saying it’s wrong
Mitchell has no training in polls and his views about polling stand in stark conflict with pretty much every polling expert alive. But at no time has Mitchell questioned whether the polling experts may be right and he wrong.
“No, because nobody is paying me for my opinion,” Mitchell said, explaining why he has never questioned his analysis. “These pollsters are not necessarily objective people. If you read some of the commentary in polls from Quinnipiac or a Monmouth, they clearly despise Mr. Trump.”
5.) Bill Mitchell regularly talks to Trump’s sons and campaign manager
Though he’s never met or talked to Donald Trump, Mitchell says he is in contact with Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, on Twitter.
“I direct message with them,” Mitchell said.
“Mostly it’s relatively light fair. I talk to them about polling,” he went on. “Things that I am seeing, trends that are happening on Twitter, what I am feeling is going on out there. One of the things I’ve always had a knack for, and this was in my executive recruiting business as well, I’ve always had a knack for seeing patterns in chaos.”
Mitchell says the conversations are not one way streets. All three follow him on Twitter and respond to his direct messages. But, he notes, he doesn’t “take any instruction from the campaign at all.”
“I’m completely independent,” he said.
Has he ever seen one of his suggestions implemented by the campaign?
“That would be difficult to pinpoint,” he admitted.
But, he added, he often communicates with pro-Trump figures on cable news and sends them “zingers” to use on air.
6.) Bill Mitchell won’t say Kim Jong Un is a worse human being than Hillary Clinton
Mitchell is not prepared to say Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are worse people than Hillary Clinton. Here’s a piece — only a piece — of our conversation on this topic
JW: You would admit that Obama and Hillary, as bad as they are, are not as bad as Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.
BM: That’s like saying, which is worse, a rotten pistachio or an apple with a worm in it. I mean…
JW: You think it is close?
BM: I don’t think they’re comparable. I mean, which is worse, Hillary or Kim Jong Un? Let me put it this way, the most present, the most current threat is Hillary and Obama because like I say they are the fox in the henhouse.
JW: I mean, this was not supposed to be a tough question. It seems obvious that Hillary Clinton is not as bad as Kim Jong Un…
BM: Why does that seem obvious to you?
JW: He runs the most oppressive state in the world where…
BM: Yea, they’re over there, Hillary’s here. I don’t see how this is a problem for you.
7.) Bill Mitchell says Trump is too focused on important things to criticize Putin
Mitchell says Trump has no interest in criticizing Putin for killing journalists because The Donald doesn’t waste time focusing on things he can’t change.
“Trump is a solver, ok? He doesn’t waste time on arguing issues that aren’t going to solve the problem,” Mitchell said when asked about Trump’s refusal to criticize Putin on “Morning Joe” back in December when hosts Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist noted that Putin has had journalists killed in his country. “And discussing whether or not Putin wants to kill journalists isn’t going to solve any problems at all.”
But Trump does seem to spend time discussing issues that aren’t of terribly great importance on Twitter, for instance. So why can’t Trump condemn Putin for killing journalists when asked about it?
“Why alienate Putin?” Mitchell responded. ” Trump all his life in negotiations, he negotiates. He goes in and tries to be friendly with everybody at the table. So why alienate Putin? Why create a breach there over something that does not matter to this election, you know, whether or not Putin is killing journalists or not.”
“Let me put it this way: What could President Trump do to stop Putin from doing that?” he went on. “Nothing. So why make it an issue. Because as president he can’t do anything about that. Putin is going to do whatever the hell he wants in his country. So Trump can’t say, ‘well, you know, we are going to fire nuclear missiles at you if you don’t stop killing journalists.’ It’s a nothing point.”
But hasn’t Trump criticized Saudi Arabia for its human rights record, specifically as it relates to the Clinton Foundation accepting funds from a country that oppresses women and gays?
“I don’t think these are at all similar,” Mitchell said.
8.) Bill Mitchell believes the Democratic establishment wants Hillary to lose the election
Have you heard Mitchell’s theory about what the Democratic establishment really wants to happen Tuesday? No? Buckle up.
Mitchell said he and a couple other “big hitters on Twitter” believe the Democrats don’t want Hillary to win the election.
“We think that the Democrat leadership at this point may have decided because of this renewed FBI investigation and the fact all this stuff that is going on with the Clinton Foundation and some of these other things with Weiner and stuff, they may not actually want Hillary to win this race,” he explained. “They may be better off with Trump winning this race and I’ll tell you why: Because the Democrat leadership is not afraid of Donald Trump. They are afraid of us. They are afraid of the movement, ok?”
Mitchell continued:
“They may be thinking: ‘You know what, if Trump is elected president we are going to have a stock market correction and a big one because Donald Trump will get new leadership in there at the Fed and he will make sure the interest rates start to make sense instead of just giving free money to these institutional investors to pump the stark market.’ So you are going to have a stock market correction, ok? You may have initially have some turbulence in the economy because of that. They are looking at the 2018 elections. So they could, with their media friends, if Trump is president, they could say by the 2018 elections — ‘oh Trump has ruined everything. It’s a failure’ — and then try to take back Congress in 2018. Then if they take back Congress in 2018, then they are very well positioned to take the White House in 2020 with a squeaky clean candidate that doesn’t have all of Hillary’s baggage. On the other hand, if Hillary wins and these investigations carry on, ok, it’s not just Hillary who is vulnerable, but a lot of other people, Obama and all those other people. So they maybe thinking they are better off with a President Trump than a President Hillary.”
9.) Bill Mitchell thinks Obama has been more harmful to the African American community than the KKK
Mitchell thinks President Barack Obama is a traitor — especially to the African American community.
“I think the people that Obama has been the biggest traitor to are black Americans,” he said. “You know, I mean he had so much promise for black Americans when he became a president and he has literally done nothing for them. I mean, he hasn’t even tried. If he spent as much time working for black Americans as he does trying to reduce his handicap then they might actually have a better lifestyle right now but they don’t.”
Later in the interview, after being asked for his thoughts on the alt-right, Mitchell pivoted to the insignificance of the Ku Klux Klan.
“I think you could argue — and this will be controversial — I think you could argue that Barack Obama has done far more to harm the black community than the Ku Klux Klan has,” he said.
10.) On Bill Mitchell’s devotion to Trump
So is there anything Trump could do that could make Mitchell reconsider his passionate support for him?
“He could endorse Hillary,” Mitchell joked.
11.) What Bill Mitchell wants if Trump wins
In the event that Trump wins the presidency — or, as Mitchell would put it, in the certain event Trump wins the presidency — Mitchell would like to be considered for the Trump television network he’s read Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is looking into starting.
“I would be very interested in doing that,” Mitchell said.
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