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Tom Cole: “We passed the first Trump tax cuts in 2017 and we lost like…”

Featuring: Tom Cole, Republican | U.S. House Oklahoma, 4th Congressional District

The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK

Published June 30, 2026 | Video Starts at 32:24

So that impacts things, but always maximizes the strength of your fringe elements. All of a sudden three or four votes matter. You know, that's not always the case. We passed the first Trump tax cuts in 2017 and we lost like 12 or 14 Republicans. and we lost all the folks in the Northeast, New York. Yeah, over salt and things like that. Can't do that anymore, right? At least not right now. (32:24–32:34)

CLAIM

Claims that 12 to 14 Republicans voted against the first Trump tax cuts in 2017.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Tom Cole

“J.C. Watts, who is one of the best natural politicians I ever met. Only the second African American Republican elected in the 20th century.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 11:22-13:41
“In 2000, [it was the] first time in 48 years, Republican Party wins the presidency, the Senate and the house.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 12:28-12:35
“When I was chief staff the Republican National Committee, there were about 160 seats in the country that were decided within five points one…”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 31:50-32:02
“My mother had become a political activist. She grew up in a Democratic family in a Democratic state.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 02:34-02:42
“Her grandfather had been the last elected treasurer of the Chickasaw Nation before Dawes Commission in Oklahoma statehood.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 02:57-03:06
“His father had been a elected supreme court clerk, tribal supreme court clerk.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:05-03:14
“She got actively involved in local politics.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:19-03:23
“She was kind of a worker bee, you know, precinct chairman, then a county officer, then the state committee woman.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:22-03:29
“They finally talked her into running for the state legislature in an area that was very heavily Democrat.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:30-03:38
“Her first race was in 76.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:39-03:42
“I was in graduate school. I lived immediately adjacent to her district.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 03:41-03:47
“I was in London on a Fulbright fellowship.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 04:55-05:06
“I was teaching European history courses at the University of Oklahoma.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 05:09-05:14
“I put together a campaign and she won that time.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 05:37-05:41
“I start running races. Little school board races or special county commissioner race.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:11-06:17
“I got a reputation as being pretty good.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:16-06:20
“He [J.C.] decided late. So it's late June of 2002, and I knew nobody else could win that seat. Only JC could have won it. First Republican…”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:30-15:14
“I got a call from the state party chairman going into the 1980 campaign.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:46-06:54
“He said, will you take a year out of academic life and come and be the executive director of the state party?”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 06:53-07:00
“Mickey Edwards, who became the fourth ranking leader in the Republican Party, was the only Republican congressman in Oklahoma at the time.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 07:36-07:51
“State senate at that time was the most expensive state senate race in Oklahoma history.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 09:49-09:55
“Guy Vanderjack, who was, you know, longest serving chairman of the NRCC in history.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 10:33-10:39
“The primary was in July.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 15:15-15:18
“I decided I would make the race. It was a targeted NRC race.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 15:52-15:58
“In 06, I ran for NRCC chair.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 17:47-17:52
“I chaired two dues drives for the NRCC along with Kevin Brady.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 19:40-19:46
“We hadn't gotten a big bill out in five years [from the Labor Health and Human Services subcommittee].”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 24:56-24:59
“We both like biomedical research, you know, so we can do that.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 25:26-25:31
“We both liked early childhood, which is a really good investment for the country to make.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 25:31-25:36
“We both like to do things for first generation college kids because I think that changes the whole trajectory of a family.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 25:38-25:47
“I'm a pro life Republican. We're not going to agree on abortion.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 26:13-26:17
“I'm a Second Amendment, you know, classic kind of Republican.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 26:26-26:30
“I push the decision making down to my cardinals, like so subcommittee Chairman, I got 12 of them.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 27:34-27:40
“The politics of how you pass something is very different than it was back in the early 2000s.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 30:26-30:34
“Obama honestly radicalized the Democratic Party. It is so much further to the left now than when you and I first got here.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 30:41-30:51
“Today we have 48 senators in Oklahoma. 41 of them are Republicans.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 31:15-31:21
“83 of the 101 in the House [in Oklahoma].”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 31:21-31:24
“We lose the majority in 2006. Re. You know, regain it in 2010.”
The Cloakroom with Peter Roskam: Featuring Congressman Tom Cole, R-OK | Uploaded June 30, 2026 | 32:24-32:24