Updated on: September 6, 2026 / 2:36 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sept. 6, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Congresswoman Lisa McClain. She is the chair of the House Republican Conference, and she joins us today from New Haven, Michigan. Congresswoman, you're not just one of the most powerful Republican women in Washington. You also work on messaging. I want to ask you about President Trump's plan to hold this big gathering in Dallas. His approval rating currently is 39% according to CBS. On Iran, inflation, even lower. He says put the focus on him, though, for these midterms. Pretend he is on the ballot. Isn't doing that possibly helping the opposition?REP. LISA MCCLAIN: Well, I don't think he thinks so, and I don't think so either. Listen, Trump is absolutely on the ballot, right? But the whole goal of the midterm convention is to get Republicans together and share the stories of what we've done through this Congress and the past two years, and get our base fired up and united. And I'll remind everybody what Republicans did was secure the border. We passed the largest tax cuts in history. We want to keep more money in your pockets. And what our goal is with the midterm convention is really compare and contrast the two roads: one communist crazy versus traditional American common-sense values. So that's the goal of the midterm convention, and I'm pretty excited to go.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report said of your party's prospects in the midterms, Republicans should brace themselves. The outcomes could be bad, really bad, or truly horrible. What he was zeroing in on are the tariffs and the fuel and fertilizer costs that are hitting rural voters. I know out in North Dakota, Senator Kevin Cramer said farm country serious trouble for Trump. Are rural voters in Michigan also serious trouble?REP. MCCLAIN: Listen, I've had the opportunity to be in the district and talk to the rural voters. Right, we have a lot of farmers in our communities, and what the farmers are excited about and actually applaud the president for is actually standing up to Canada and try and level the playing field with the tariffs. Since the 1990s, Canada has had a 250% tariff on our farmers for things like milk and cream and poultry. He's trying to level that playing field. Number two, the president for our farmers also is- is enacted 20 new trade deals. Twenty. The last time we had a trade deal was under Barack Obama, and we had three. And the third thing that our farmers are really applaud the Republicans and President Trump for is actually the death tax. We want to keep more of those family farms in the family, so we want to make sure that they can pass that generational wealth onto the next generation.MARGARET BRENNAN : Yeah. Sorry. We are going to take a quick break. You're freezing up a bit. I'm hoping we fix that during this break. Stay with us if you could. [COMMERCIAL BREAK]
