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Speaker 2: I Love You. Day two of the convention. Delegates recovering
Speaker 2: from a very late night in that hall as Joe
Speaker 2: Biden delivered his address that went late, described as emotional,
Speaker 2: he did wipe a tear during a very long standing ovation. Kayleie,
Speaker 2: that was the moment that many in this administration had
Speaker 2: been waiting for, and of course tease up Kamala Harris
Speaker 2: for her acceptance speech on Thursday night.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and of course before we can get there, there's
Speaker 3: more speakers lined up this evening. We'll be hearing from
Speaker 3: both Obama's President Barack Obama and his wife, the former
Speaker 3: First Lady Michelle Obama, and the second Gentleman, Doug Mhoff
Speaker 3: will be speaking here in Chicago at the United Center
Speaker 3: this evening, but at the same time, Kamala Harrison Tim
Speaker 3: Walls will actually not even be in the state of Illinois.
Speaker 3: They're heading to Milwaukee to Wisconsin and the Pfizer Forum,
Speaker 3: which of course was the scene of the Republican National
Speaker 3: Convention last month.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a little interesting bit of programming. They are spending
Speaker 2: every night in Chicago, but leaving town for this one
Speaker 2: day two with the theme a bold Vision for America's
Speaker 2: future as the Democratic Party tries to deliver the message
Speaker 2: that they're turning the page.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the question is to what extent will they
Speaker 3: have success doing so in this pact convention week. Bloomberg's
Speaker 3: Hadrian Loan chron is here with us in Chicago covering
Speaker 3: it all along with our wonderful team of Bloomberg reporters,
Speaker 3: and she's joining us now here on set. So obviously
Speaker 3: there is a lot of pumped circumstance surrounding this. We
Speaker 3: will see that again this evening. What we will not
Speaker 3: see is Harrison Walls in the box where they were
Speaker 3: last night. Can you just walk us through the thinking
Speaker 3: of the campaign here? To not be present on nighte
Speaker 3: two of the convention when so many members of the
Speaker 3: party are taking the Florida speak.
Speaker 4: Right, it does seem a little odd, especially when you
Speaker 4: compare things to I was in the RNC in Milwaukee
Speaker 4: and Trump was there pretty much the whole week.
Speaker 3: But again, I think this really.
Speaker 4: Goes to the point where the Harris campaign really really
Speaker 4: feels they are the underdog. They're not taking anything for granted.
Speaker 4: And so yes, they're out campaigning. They were in Pennsylvania
Speaker 4: before the convention began, they're heading Milwaukee, they're hitting the
Speaker 4: swing stats.
Speaker 3: And I think that also.
Speaker 4: Comes as important to note that this comes as Trump
Speaker 4: will be doing a lot of counterprogramming this week, hitting
Speaker 4: several swing stats and making a visit to the border
Speaker 4: in Arizona. So again, the Trump campaign is trying to
Speaker 4: make that contrast. So the Harri's campaign is still saying, here,
Speaker 4: we're traveling, we're hitting the swing stats, swing states, we're
Speaker 4: not taking our voters for granted.
Speaker 2: Well, it is also fair to say that in the
Speaker 2: past you might not see the nominee until the final
Speaker 2: night of the convention. But we'll see how this plays
Speaker 2: out this evening. Do you want to ask you about
Speaker 2: Joe Biden last night? There's been a lot of talk
Speaker 2: about run of show, the fact that he didn't get
Speaker 2: on TV sets on the East Coast or computer screens
Speaker 2: until eleven thirty at night. That was an interesting moment
Speaker 2: for him, a very emotional one. How come it went
Speaker 2: so late.
Speaker 3: Well, that's a great question.
Speaker 4: We know that a lot of the speeches did run
Speaker 4: pretty long. We know that a lot of it also
Speaker 4: came from the fans in the arena. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: Hillary Clinton minutes three, four or five minutes before they
Speaker 4: were speaking, before she was set to speak, just roaring applause,
Speaker 4: and so the crowd is very energized. We also know
Speaker 4: that they were protests out kind of during the events
Speaker 4: that took place earlier on in the evening. We know
Speaker 4: that that was kind of cited as one of the
Speaker 4: reasons for a bit of the delays. They did have
Speaker 4: to move some things around, and you know, people were nervous.
Speaker 4: Biden has tended to not do as well the later
Speaker 4: in the evening events have taken place. We know this
Speaker 4: is reminiscent of the late night debate. But you know,
Speaker 4: he was able to speak for nearly an hour.
Speaker 5: I think he.
Speaker 4: Did what he needed to do. He was tiery. You know,
Speaker 4: this is a very bittersweet moment for him. It's very
Speaker 4: non traditional. Passing the reins over to Harris and he
Speaker 4: spoke a bit about his record, but he also did
Speaker 4: say he was ready to be I think the quote
Speaker 4: was he's ready to be the best volunteer for the
Speaker 4: Harris Wolves campaign. And you know, to your point earlier
Speaker 4: about the weird kind of Harris Iman, Harris did actually
Speaker 4: make as a prize appearance on Tuesday. I'm on Monday,
Speaker 4: and we are again excited. Everyone is ready to see
Speaker 4: her on Thursday. Tip to you know, formally accept the nomination.
Speaker 3: But when we think about Harris being in that room
Speaker 3: with President Biden speaking last night, someone who wasn't physically
Speaker 3: in the room, but very much was, it felt like
Speaker 3: the center point of the majority of the speeches is
Speaker 3: the former president Donald Trump. Joe Biden mentioned him by
Speaker 3: name probably dozens of times. Realistically, Trump himself is counterprogramming
Speaker 3: this convention too. He's going to be in Michigan today.
Speaker 3: What is the Trump campaign strategy as Democrats try to
Speaker 3: put on the show of unity Republicans were trying to
Speaker 3: put on in Milwaukee, list.
Speaker 4: They're really trying to get Harris to do some more
Speaker 4: unscripted settings. We know that everyone speaking throughout the convention
Speaker 4: has a teleprompter. This is something that the Trump campaign
Speaker 4: is really hoping to kind of good Harris into taking
Speaker 4: more questions from reporters, doing a sit down interview, which
Speaker 4: she said she would do at the end of the month.
Speaker 4: In addition to Trump himself counter programming throughout the week,
Speaker 4: he has surrogates who are here in Chicago every day
Speaker 4: holding a press conference where they themselves are taking questions.
Speaker 4: I wish they're on Monday. And I think the important
Speaker 4: kind of contrast here is again they're trying to say
Speaker 4: they acknowledge the polling that there has been a bump
Speaker 4: and enthusiasm. The campaign is saying they expected that, they
Speaker 4: think that a plateau has been reached, and now they're
Speaker 4: thinking the more that voters will get a chance to
Speaker 4: see Harris, the more that enthusiasm will wane and they
Speaker 4: will start to see the Trump campagn will start see
Speaker 4: those numbers go up. So they're hoping that the more
Speaker 4: opportunities there are for Harris to speak to the press,
Speaker 4: maybe trip up when discussing policy, that'll be the place
Speaker 4: where the Trump campaign then can jump in and make
Speaker 4: up some ground.
Speaker 2: We're to be hearing from Donald Trump and Howell Michigan
Speaker 2: a little bit later on today talking about crime. This
Speaker 2: is one of the issues including the economy, a few others,
Speaker 2: the border that pull really well for Republicans. This is
Speaker 2: a message that's been sticking here in a place like Chicago.
Speaker 2: Are you hearing about that from Democrats? Are they acknowledging this?
Speaker 3: Yes, excellent question.
Speaker 4: I mean, crime is definitely something that the Trump campaign
Speaker 4: is working. They're actually using it as a way to say,
Speaker 4: this is their way to get women voters as well,
Speaker 4: which we know they are not having as much luck
Speaker 4: with compared to the Harris campaign. When asked just at
Speaker 4: the press conference the other day about appealing to women voters,
Speaker 4: they pointed to crime and they're focused on that, saying, well,
Speaker 4: women want to feel safe, they want a secure border.
Speaker 3: But in contrast, the.
Speaker 4: Biden Harris campaign, sorry the Harris Walls campaign now, but
Speaker 4: also the Biden Harris administration has also been pointing to
Speaker 4: the border. They've been their main thing. And Biden i
Speaker 4: think mentioned it mundane night, was that they had this
Speaker 4: border bill that's by partisan border bill, and that Trump
Speaker 4: then called up senators and that was why the border
Speaker 4: bill was killed. So Biden pointed to that. The Democrats
Speaker 4: have been pointing to that, So that's kind of their
Speaker 4: you know, counter messaging on the border.
Speaker 3: All right, bloomberg'shdrey On alone and Crown very busy here
Speaker 3: in Chicago. Thank you so much for joining us live
Speaker 3: on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Now, is hedred On talks
Speaker 3: about some of the messaging from President Biden last night
Speaker 3: and also was talking about women in particular. That is
Speaker 3: something that we heard from the incumbent president on the
Speaker 3: issue of diversity, not just for women, but all kinds
Speaker 3: of demographics across America.
Speaker 6: In America where the fucking amount of created this nation,
Speaker 6: all of us are created equal, It's still very much
Speaker 6: alive and abroad. Coalition of Americas joined with me. Eighty
Speaker 6: one million voters voted for us. You are any time
Speaker 6: in all of history because of all of you in
Speaker 6: this room and others. We came together in twenty twenty
Speaker 6: to save democracy. As your President, I've been determined to
Speaker 6: keep American moving forward, not going back to stand against
Speaker 6: Hayden violence in all its forms, to be a nation
Speaker 6: where we not only live with, but thrive on diversity,
Speaker 6: demonize you, no one, leave you, no one behind, and
Speaker 6: becoming a nation that we profess to be.
Speaker 3: For more on that message and this convention as a whole.
Speaker 3: We're joined now by Congressman Catherine Clark of Massachusetts, the
Speaker 3: House Minority, which he's here with us in our studios
Speaker 3: in Chicago. Congressman, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 7: My pleasure.
Speaker 3: Of course, we heard the President last night referring to diversity,
Speaker 3: talking as we heard many about the big tent in
Speaker 3: the Democratic Party. Is your job in the House to
Speaker 3: bring all those diverse forces together to be singing the
Speaker 3: same song. Can you just walk us through what it
Speaker 3: was like within the membership of the House to line
Speaker 3: everybody up behind what is now the Harris campaign, not
Speaker 3: the Biden campaign.
Speaker 7: I have to say, out of all the tasks I've
Speaker 7: had as a whip in the House for the Democratic Party,
Speaker 7: this was perhaps the easiest. People immediately gravitated to Kamala
Speaker 7: Harris and saw her as our standard bearer for all
Speaker 7: the things that we have worked on with her as
Speaker 7: Vice President and her vision for the future. So whether
Speaker 7: that's lowering costs, whether it is growing the middle class,
Speaker 7: protecting our fundamental freedoms like reproductive freedom, Kamala Harris has
Speaker 7: been our partner. And that was truly just almost instantaneous,
Speaker 7: that movement from President Joe Biden to her candidacy, because
Speaker 7: we knew she was the candidate for the the moment.
Speaker 2: It's a very delicate thing we're witnessing though, and witnessed
Speaker 2: last night to see Joe Biden talking to the delegates there.
Speaker 2: I know it went very late into the evening, but
Speaker 2: the people in the room weren't concerned about the time.
Speaker 2: Obviously it had a rally feel to it, but there
Speaker 2: was a bittersweet emotional feel to this. It happened so fast. Congresswoman,
Speaker 2: how does he feel when you talk to him? What
Speaker 2: kind of emotions was he experiencing?
Speaker 7: You know, I think we saw it on display, a
Speaker 7: true pride. And what has always been a hallmark for
Speaker 7: Joe Biden is his gratitude to be able to serve
Speaker 7: what an incredible quality and a politician and a leader,
Speaker 7: and it is what has made him a transformative president,
Speaker 7: that idea that there is a bigger calling here, that
Speaker 7: the American people are always at the center of his work,
Speaker 7: and it's at the center of this extremely patriotic decision.
Speaker 7: And he deserved every minute of those accolades from the crowd,
Speaker 7: that genuine affection for him, respect for the job, and
Speaker 7: his service, and we look across the aisle at Donald
Speaker 7: Trump and you see.
Speaker 2: The exact opposite.
Speaker 7: He says, Democrats station, it's in one eighty because he
Speaker 7: cannot fathom giving up power for something bigger than himself.
Speaker 7: That is where Donald Trump is. It is always about
Speaker 7: how he will benefit, not how the American people will,
Speaker 7: not how the Democratic Party that is based on values will.
Speaker 7: So I'm sure he is wrestling with this moment, calling
Speaker 7: it a coup because he cannot understand it, because he
Speaker 7: could never do what Joe Biden did well.
Speaker 3: Joe Biden has suggested his decision wasn't even as much
Speaker 3: about his ability to defeat Donald Trump, and instead the
Speaker 3: impact he could have, perhaps detrimentally on House and Senate
Speaker 3: races and the ability for other Democrats to win. What
Speaker 3: has changed for the Democrats' odds of retaking the majority
Speaker 3: in the House since Harris assumed her role as the
Speaker 3: Democratic nominee. How many seats, realistically do you think you
Speaker 3: can pick up?
Speaker 7: You know, I have always been bullish on the Democrats
Speaker 7: retaking the House because what we've seen are do nothing
Speaker 7: at best and real extremism that the American people are rejecting.
Speaker 7: And so what we're seeing is this incredible energy and
Speaker 7: momentum that we are going to turn into action and
Speaker 7: in real time that is meaningful. Our candidates have seen
Speaker 7: a surge in volunteers of small, first time donors. When
Speaker 7: you get that ten to fifteen to twenty dollars donation,
Speaker 7: that's a boat.
Speaker 3: That is a boat of that translate into ten to
Speaker 3: fifteen extra seats in the House.
Speaker 7: Though, well, we certainly hope so. But my number is
Speaker 7: the whip and I like to keep tagging the numbers
Speaker 7: is to eighteen. That's our goal to win that majority
Speaker 7: and be able to bring the voices of everyday people
Speaker 7: back into the process. What we have seen from the
Speaker 7: GOP is this complete focus on their own power, their
Speaker 7: own civil war that they're engaging in, and the American
Speaker 7: people feel like they're outside looking in. What we've continued
Speaker 7: to work with the Biden Harris administration to bring down
Speaker 7: the costs of healthcare, cap insulin at thirty five dollars
Speaker 7: a month, take on big pharma and say it is
Speaker 7: time that people be able to afford their life saving medication.
Speaker 7: Make those investments in climate change that also are great
Speaker 7: for the economy, and all of that work was done
Speaker 7: and brought down our deficit at the same time. These
Speaker 7: are the kind of investments that we are going to
Speaker 7: build upon and continue to help families meet the very
Speaker 7: real challenges they're facing still in this economy. With Kamala Harris.
Speaker 2: The issue of Israelness war against Times has been obviously
Speaker 2: a big one in this campaign in the primary cycle,
Speaker 2: and it's brought some fissures to the Democratic conference in
Speaker 2: the House. We've got tens of thousands of protesters here
Speaker 2: in Chicago that have been part of the story. You've
Speaker 2: also got a couple dozen delegates who are not committed
Speaker 2: for this reason. How important, congresswomen, will it be for
Speaker 2: the Biden administration, the Biden Harris administration to strike a
Speaker 2: ceasefire deal this week?
Speaker 7: You know, it is all hands on deck and they
Speaker 7: are working so hard to make sure that we end
Speaker 7: this war, that we have a ceasefire, that we can
Speaker 7: bring those hostages home, and that we can surge aid
Speaker 7: to Palestinian civilians who, through no fault of their own,
Speaker 7: have suffered horrendously and continue to suffer. So we appreciate
Speaker 7: that there are protesters here, that's part of the democratic process.
Speaker 7: We respect their right to be here, and we hope
Speaker 7: that remains peaceful.
Speaker 2: But it is the goal of.
Speaker 7: The Democratic Party to bring peace and security not only
Speaker 7: to Israel but to the region.
Speaker 3: And of course we know those conversations are ongoing. We'll
Speaker 3: still wait to hear more from hamass to whether or
Speaker 3: not it will agree. I'm also curious the conversations you're
Speaker 3: having related to your everyday job in Washington. Obviously still
Speaker 3: on the August recess, but when you come back in September,
Speaker 3: it's going to be a race against the clock to
Speaker 3: avoid a government shutdown. Are you in conversations already with
Speaker 3: leadership and Republican leadership about how that's going to be
Speaker 3: avoided when you return to Washington in a few weeks,
Speaker 3: What exactly are you going to have to whip you.
Speaker 7: Know, I'm so glad you brought that out because one
Speaker 7: thing we realize from the very start, when we were
Speaker 7: in the fifteen rounds of Kevin McCarthy be trying to
Speaker 7: become a speaker, that we are in the minority. So
Speaker 7: we have reached our hand out to them at every
Speaker 7: turn to say, work with us, help us prevent shutdowns,
Speaker 7: help us get to a budget process that matters. What
Speaker 7: we have seen from them is a rejection of that
Speaker 7: and a move to try and coddle the most extreme
Speaker 7: members of their extreme party. And so it is really
Speaker 7: like such a basic fundamental job and responsibility of the
Speaker 7: House of Representatives to pass our budgets and they have
Speaker 7: utterly failed to do that. So once again, it will
Speaker 7: be Democrats, as we have done repeatedly, who will keep
Speaker 7: government functioning, who will come to the table forge a compromise.
Speaker 7: Because we work for the American people. They are working
Speaker 7: to try and hold their own coalitions together. And that's
Speaker 7: the fundamental difference. We're seeing it play out around reproductive
Speaker 7: freedom for women. We're seeing it play out and bringing
Speaker 7: down the cost of groceries and housing, these issues that
Speaker 7: I hear about as I not only travel my district
Speaker 7: but travel the country. That is what people are worried about.
Speaker 7: That is what they want to see in Congress. It's
Speaker 7: why we're going to win the majority back.
Speaker 2: Meet us back in Washington so we can continue this conversation. Congresswoman,
Speaker 2: it's great to see you. Love to thanks for the
Speaker 2: time today. I'm Bloomberg TV and Radio. The House Minority Whip,
Speaker 2: Congresswoman Catherine Clark in an important conversation on day two
Speaker 2: of the Democratic National Convention. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee
Speaker 2: Lines with much more to follow.
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Speaker 3: She continues here in Chicago, and it'll be interesting to
Speaker 3: see the tone shift that happens on this evening night
Speaker 3: two after night one, it was dedicated to the current president,
Speaker 3: Joe Biden, by and large, with signs of I Love
Speaker 3: Joe on the convention floor. He's now out of town
Speaker 3: and now it becomes much more about Kamala haha, Gers
Speaker 3: and Tim Walls.
Speaker 2: That's true. It's a good place to start with the
Speaker 2: panel here, Kaylee, because it was an important moment and frankly,
Speaker 2: not a lot of Americans saw this live. Joe Biden
Speaker 2: didn't get on stage till eleven thirty last night, and
Speaker 2: as we said, the ovation might have lasted till midnight.
Speaker 2: Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzano are with us right now.
Speaker 2: Bloomberg Politics contributors. Rick Partner at Stone Core Capital, Genie
Speaker 2: of course, political science professor at Iona University. Welcome to
Speaker 2: day two. Rick. Were you getting adjuta as someone who
Speaker 2: ran a convention watching this thing go over time last night?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I was on a group chat with a bunch
Speaker 8: of guys who helped me organize the two thousand and
Speaker 8: eight convention, and we're all talking by about nine or
Speaker 8: ten o'clock.
Speaker 2: This thing is really off the rails.
Speaker 1: It's way late.
Speaker 2: What is it any when you're canceling speakers in primetime?
Speaker 8: It's a real embarrassment to the campaign organization, to the
Speaker 8: program committee of the convention. This thing is supposed to
Speaker 8: be accounted for. Every second of the schedule is written down,
Speaker 8: debated and rehearsed, and the fact that they were off
Speaker 8: by forty five to minutes to an hour and a
Speaker 8: half is just like a criminal offense in politics.
Speaker 2: So I think that there was.
Speaker 8: Probably a lot of come to Jesus meetings this morning
Speaker 8: around the program for tonight, and it'll be interesting if
Speaker 8: they can make their marks tonight get past it. But
Speaker 8: if they can't, this could be like the twenty or
Speaker 8: the nineteen ninety two convention for Republicans in Houston where
Speaker 8: Ron Reagan was pushed into midnight out of the primetime
Speaker 8: slot which was supposed to be his last, or off.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know how much of this can be
Speaker 3: contributed to or blamed on overstuffing the schedule perhaps, or
Speaker 3: just not when you're doing those calculations on time accounting
Speaker 3: for how many chants of thank you Joe you might
Speaker 3: have to get through before the President actually were to
Speaker 3: start speaking. Gene, I'd love for you to just reflect
Speaker 3: on the reception he got in that room last night
Speaker 3: and whether it makes it frankly better or worse from
Speaker 3: him knowing that he is on his way out.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it was an amazing reception. But first of all,
Speaker 9: they bumped sweet Baby James for Jamie Raskin and I
Speaker 9: don't know Chris Coons and I love them both, but
Speaker 9: you know, let's get James Taylor back. I think tonight
Speaker 9: we will see a tighter schedule.
Speaker 3: Let's hope.
Speaker 9: To your point, there was a lot of applause for
Speaker 9: Joe Biden, but it wasn't only that some of not
Speaker 9: only do they have a lot of speakers, But some
Speaker 9: of these speeches went so long, and they were saying
Speaker 9: sort of perfunctory things sometimes like you know, help me
Speaker 9: elect Kamala Harris.
Speaker 3: Well, we all know we're doing that.
Speaker 9: So there's some nitpicking I could do on the way
Speaker 9: that this rolled out, But overall, a really warm reception
Speaker 9: for Joe Biden. These are all his delegates. You know,
Speaker 9: he's done something quite extraordinary, and stepping aside for Kamala Harris,
Speaker 9: it was not the speech I thought I was gonna get.
Speaker 9: I thought I was gonna get more. Here's what it's
Speaker 9: like to work with Kamala Harris.
Speaker 3: Who here's versus here's what I've done.
Speaker 9: Here's who I am, and here's what I've done.
Speaker 3: But besides that, he's.
Speaker 9: Done an extraordinary thing. It was his moment. But you
Speaker 9: just see when she came out like a rock star
Speaker 9: last night.
Speaker 3: That's where the energy is.
Speaker 9: And I was saying to Rick earlier, imagine if that
Speaker 9: had been Joe Biden still at the top of the
Speaker 9: ticket Thursday night. The difference in terms of the reception.
Speaker 2: Woll how true, A lot of things have changed, and
Speaker 2: one of the more enduring images of last evening beyond
Speaker 2: what Genie just described, Sean Fame, who runs the United
Speaker 2: Auto Workers tearing his shirt open allah Hulk Hogan to
Speaker 2: show a T shirt that says Trump is a scab,
Speaker 2: and that apparently is going to be a refrain that
Speaker 2: we hear a lot in this campaign. Is it effective? Yeah?
Speaker 8: I don't think the ripping off the blue blazer to
Speaker 8: show a T shirt intact was exactly h emotional Hulk Hogan.
Speaker 8: But there's only one Hulk Hogan.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Look, I think that last night actually echoed all the
Speaker 8: basic themes of the Democratic Party. You had a lot
Speaker 8: about union labor, right as if there is no other
Speaker 8: kind of labor in America union labor, And I think
Speaker 8: that's a dangerous place for the Democrats to go to
Speaker 8: say that it's only union labor that we speak to.
Speaker 5: Two.
Speaker 8: I thought that actually they did an amazing job talking
Speaker 8: about abortion, putting a public face on it. Republicans didn't
Speaker 8: talk about abortion at all at the Milwaukee convention, and
Speaker 8: you would have thought that was something that would get
Speaker 8: Republicans excited.
Speaker 5: So what we saw last night was.
Speaker 8: The base politics. You know what is going to get
Speaker 8: our people excited, not a lot of crossover appeal. There
Speaker 8: at all last night.
Speaker 3: Well, something else we heard a lot about in addition
Speaker 3: to those themes Brick was Project twenty twenty five. We've
Speaker 3: heard a lot about this on the campaign trail thus far,
Speaker 3: but certainly it was a common theme in some of
Speaker 3: these convention speeches. Here's a little taste.
Speaker 10: Donald Trump appointed the Supreme Court justices who got us
Speaker 10: into this mess. His Project twenty twenty five goes even further.
Speaker 10: Here's the thing Trump advance. Simply, don't believe in your freedom.
Speaker 11: While Trump falsely please ignorance of Project twenty five, which
Speaker 11: in my opinion is Jim Crow two point zero KAMA
Speaker 11: has been offering the American people in enlightening proposals and
Speaker 11: visionary leadership.
Speaker 6: Donald Trump and the Republican friends and I only can't
Speaker 6: think they can't read very well. Seriously think about it,
Speaker 6: look at their Project twenty twenty five. Why do way
Speaker 6: the part of education?
Speaker 3: Rick. I want to come to you on this first,
Speaker 3: because obviously Donald Trump has now taken pains to distance
Speaker 3: himself from Project twenty twenty five. But given the messaging
Speaker 3: we're getting out of this convention, is it too late
Speaker 3: for him to create that separation? Knowing many of the
Speaker 3: authors of this project do have close ties to him.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's really quite a phenomenon because you wouldn't think
Speaker 8: something like this would actually go mainstream, right. It's kind
Speaker 8: of a club issue. Right, Republicans and Democrats and high
Speaker 8: places talk about these policy things and very rarely seeps
Speaker 8: out into the electorate. But in this case, Polster after
Speaker 8: Polster I've talked to says twenty twenty five is showing
Speaker 8: up in their verbatims. You know that people are worried
Speaker 8: about this plan. They're afraid of it, and they couldn't
Speaker 8: articulate anything that was in it, but they know it's
Speaker 8: a bad thing. And so it's actually become a mainstream issue.
Speaker 8: And I think by virtue of that, Trump's already behind
Speaker 8: the curve.
Speaker 2: And do you really want.
Speaker 8: To debate twenty twenty five a plan that people think
Speaker 8: is a negative plan. So I think that it's going
Speaker 8: to hurt Republicans. I wouldn't suggest that anybody invests heavily
Speaker 8: in that. But I think the funniest part is there's
Speaker 8: a big Trump tower in Chicago and they were broadcasting
Speaker 8: in lights. Yeah, headquarters of twenty twenty five on the
Speaker 8: front of it.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's amassing projections on the buildings walking around Chicago
Speaker 2: at night. But wait, Rick makes a great point, this
Speaker 2: is pretty esoteric stuff, and we're hearing people talk about
Speaker 2: it on a level. Janie, I would suggest, Kayleie, that
Speaker 2: every reference to Project twenty twenty five on the air
Speaker 2: gets a more vitriolic response on social media, for instance,
Speaker 2: from both sides of the aisle. How did Democrats make
Speaker 2: this a thing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fascinating.
Speaker 9: I just wrote a piece on this, and the reason
Speaker 9: why was because when I was in Europe this summer,
Speaker 9: the number one question, to Rick's point, that I was
Speaker 9: asked from just people in the street, friends, colleagues, what
Speaker 9: do you think about Project twenty twenty five? And to
Speaker 9: your point, I couldn't get over how this had spread.
Speaker 9: And you know, my view of this is that it
Speaker 9: is quite an opportunity for Democrats. I have read through
Speaker 9: this and it is long, and what you find in
Speaker 9: there are disagreements, fundamental disagreements amongst the Republican Party about
Speaker 9: critical issues. I wrote about Ukraine, for instance, which divides
Speaker 9: about twelve ways at this point. So I think of
Speaker 9: it as an opportunity for Democrats, not just to keep
Speaker 9: raising it in the way they are, but to try
Speaker 9: to pull over some folks who might otherwise, if they
Speaker 9: care about these issues, might go a Republican. But they
Speaker 9: care so much about an issue like Ukraine that they're
Speaker 9: willing to think about voting the other side, whether it's Senate,
Speaker 9: House or the presidency. So it is an opportunity and
Speaker 9: Donald Trump knows this, which is why he's trying to
Speaker 9: walk away from it. But Democrats are saying this week,
Speaker 9: not so fast, we shall broadcast on Trump Tower.
Speaker 3: Well, Genieus, you talk about drawing people over, and I
Speaker 3: raised this conversation with another one of our Democratic strategist
Speaker 3: We speak to you frequently, christ and Hahn yesterday. This
Speaker 3: notion that the people who are here in Chicago are
Speaker 3: the hardcore Democrats. They were going to vote for the
Speaker 3: Democratic ticket no matter who it was, if it was
Speaker 3: Biden or Harris. It is not their enthusiasm that you need.
Speaker 3: So as everybody comes in confidence saying, look at how
Speaker 3: enthusiastic and energized we all are, those aren't the people
Speaker 3: you need energized? Right? You need to reach out to
Speaker 3: the people who aren't making the trip to sh Cogo necessarily,
Speaker 3: who are still on the fence. Do Democrats risk being
Speaker 3: too celebratory this week and not doing enough reaching out
Speaker 3: to those who still may not have their minds made up?
Speaker 9: Absolutely, And this is where I felt so nitpicky last night,
Speaker 9: because they were speaking, in my view, many of them,
Speaker 9: And I would pull Alexandro Casio Cortez as an exception
Speaker 9: to this. I think, whatever you think of her, she
Speaker 9: gave a great speech. Not substantive necessarily, but in terms
Speaker 9: of speaking to the audience at home, because a lot
Speaker 9: of what happens is like we're watching in the room.
Speaker 9: You can hear what the crowd is saying and all
Speaker 9: that stuff, and the speakers are talking to these folks
Speaker 9: and it's all of the delegates for Biden and Harris
Speaker 9: and now Waltz. But at home, people can't hear what's
Speaker 9: going on on the floor. You've got to speak to
Speaker 9: the people at home.
Speaker 3: To your point.
Speaker 9: I didn't find that happened enough last night. I think
Speaker 9: that's why it dragged on and on and on. They've
Speaker 9: got to ride that applause, speak over it and speak
Speaker 9: to the people at home. And they can't make this
Speaker 9: about an Excello cord or speech. It's got to be
Speaker 9: we're in Chicago. It's got to be to the folks
Speaker 9: who are going to decide this thing, the independence moderates
Speaker 9: in the seven Swing States. So I thought Alexandro Casio
Speaker 9: Cortes coach her very Kurk. Did I just say her
Speaker 9: Kurt very very effective last night in terms of the
Speaker 9: way that they.
Speaker 2: Spoke good placement. Well, that's the crossover that you were
Speaker 2: talking about earlier, Rick, You've had to strike that balance.
Speaker 2: Tonight it's Barack Obama. Ironically, as I sit here with
Speaker 2: Brick Davis, is he the one for that job?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 2: Probably not.
Speaker 8: And Monday nights are usually like that insurnal speak, that's
Speaker 8: not a surprise. But I think tonight is a really
Speaker 8: important point that Genie's making. I think they really need
Speaker 8: to open it up. Remember in twenty twenty, Barack Obama
Speaker 8: leveled a heavy attack on Donald Trump as being you know,
Speaker 8: the end of democracy, and a lot of people at
Speaker 8: the time thought, wow, that's really over the top. I mean,
Speaker 8: like this was quite a leveling of an attack on him.
Speaker 8: And and the question for me tonight is does he
Speaker 8: reprise his role as a tack dog on Donald Trump?
Speaker 8: The visionary who has been there done that, and can
Speaker 8: you know, sort of guide the American public, this group
Speaker 8: that's still trying to make up its mind, who will
Speaker 8: determine the outcome of the election, not the people in
Speaker 8: that convention hall. And how will he speak to them
Speaker 8: about the perils of Donald Trump.
Speaker 3: What's interesting is that as he speaks, as Michelle Obama speaks,
Speaker 3: as the second Gentleman speaks, Kamala Harrison, Tim Walls will
Speaker 3: not actually be in the convention hall to hear it.
Speaker 3: They will kind of be counter programming as they also
Speaker 3: speak in prime time at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Speaker 3: If you were running this campaign, Rick, would you not
Speaker 3: have staggered these events? So you get the coverage of
Speaker 3: the rally in the afternoon, and then you get the
Speaker 3: primetime network coverage of the speeches. What do you make
Speaker 3: of this call?
Speaker 8: I think this is really strange. You know, your counterprogramming.
Speaker 8: That means you don't like the programming in your hall,
Speaker 8: so you're.
Speaker 5: Going somewhere else to get it.
Speaker 8: That's usually what Republicans do at a convention for Democrats,
Speaker 8: and it's a crowd event. Eighteen thousand people are going
Speaker 8: to fill that stadium in Milwaukee, just like the report.
Speaker 8: Look convention and I think it's a very strange thing.
Speaker 8: Bad use of money, Right, you got a convention hall
Speaker 8: full of people, you want to go talk to somebody
Speaker 8: there they are right across the river. But the bottom
Speaker 8: line is she's going to get a moment of her
Speaker 8: time tonight without actually being in the convention hall. And
Speaker 8: that's unusual, and I can see the value of that.
Speaker 8: She's still trying to introduce herself to the American public,
Speaker 8: and this way she gets to talk to the people.
Speaker 8: Genie's talking about, the undecided voters in a targeted state.
Speaker 2: Well, to Kaylee's point, she's supposed to talk at nine
Speaker 2: pm Eastern. Who are we watching tonight?
Speaker 9: We're gonna split that screen, Joe Matthew. Yeah, I think
Speaker 9: it's very street like. It would have made total sense
Speaker 9: if it was in the afternoon or maybe on Friday.
Speaker 3: She leaves Thursday. It goes there.
Speaker 9: She does need to be in Wisconsin, obviously, she needs
Speaker 9: to be making these speeches. She needs to take it
Speaker 9: to Donald Trump. Nothing drives them crazy like her getting
Speaker 9: a crowd where he just at his convention. But the
Speaker 9: timing is very, very odd, and the fact that her
Speaker 9: husband is speaking here that you know you've got the
Speaker 9: former president.
Speaker 3: It's strange. Now do you think maybe they change the time.
Speaker 9: I don't know how, but at this point it's a
Speaker 9: strange way to schedule.
Speaker 3: Things, is all I can say. Unless they're counting on
Speaker 3: the schedule here running lately Primetime, see you work and.
Speaker 2: Actually thoughts here breakfast with Obama.
Speaker 3: Who knows, Rick Davis, and Jeanie Shanzino here for breakfast, lunch,
Speaker 3: and dinner with us. Basically, we are all spending all
Speaker 3: of our time together here in Chicago as we broadcast
Speaker 3: live from.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast catches
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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Speaker 3: A two, which is also night too, which of course
Speaker 3: is when we're going to hear from former President Barack Obama,
Speaker 3: the former First Leady Michelle Obama, and the current second
Speaker 3: Gentleman of the United States, Doug M. Hoff, who will
Speaker 3: be head tonight after the headliner of the first night,
Speaker 3: the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who has
Speaker 3: now left the town and is on vacation in California.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Joe Biden has left the building. It went late
Speaker 2: last night. He left the city and the state as well.
Speaker 2: Kayley to allow the proceedings now to begin in a
Speaker 2: wind up that will bring Kamala Harris Thursday night to
Speaker 2: her acceptance speech. Her formal acceptance speech. Barack Obama will
Speaker 2: be holding forth later the former president, who might have
Speaker 2: some stern words for Donald Trump. Although, by the way,
Speaker 2: counter programming this convention throughout the week. Today he is
Speaker 2: back in Michigan, something that we'll be talking about later.
Speaker 2: He's got an event on crime, of course, with Chicago
Speaker 2: in mind.
Speaker 3: Yes, something the Republicans are hitting very hard. But Democrats
Speaker 3: were taking a fair number of shots at their own
Speaker 3: about the Republican Party in general and specifically the former president.
Speaker 3: We got a lot of those from President Biden last night,
Speaker 3: including some pretty powerful emotional words about what Donald Trump
Speaker 3: has said about veterans.
Speaker 6: Yes, you do at it and done respect our veterans.
Speaker 6: We know from his own chief of staff and four
Speaker 6: star General John Kelly that Trump went in Europe, would
Speaker 6: not go to the grave sites in one of the
Speaker 6: France The brave service members who gave their lives of
Speaker 6: this country. He called them suckers and losers. Who in
Speaker 6: the hell does he think he is? Who does he
Speaker 6: think he is? There's no words for a person. They're
Speaker 6: not the words of persons not worthy of being the
Speaker 6: commander in chief period, not then.
Speaker 9: Not now, and not ever. I mean that.
Speaker 1: I mean that in the bottom of my heart.
Speaker 2: President Biden last evening in one of the more dramatic
Speaker 2: moments of his address, and it's where we start our
Speaker 2: conversation now with Congressman Seth Moulton, the Democrat from Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: has arrived in Chicago, and of course, if you've been
Speaker 2: with us before, you're aware of his time as a
Speaker 2: Marine combat veteran, serving four tours in Iraq, so a
Speaker 2: unique perspective that we always enjoy sharing. Congressman, it's great
Speaker 2: to see you in Chicago. Thanks for being here. This
Speaker 2: clearly made Joe Biden angry. How does it make you feel? Well?
Speaker 12: I mean, we all know how important Bo Biden's service
Speaker 12: is to Joe Biden as a father, as a commander
Speaker 12: in chief, as an American, and it is really remarkable
Speaker 12: that you have a major party candidate in Donald Trump,
Speaker 12: who just truly hates veterans, and that's not an exaggeration.
Speaker 12: He has shown time and time and again he's called them.
Speaker 12: He's called us losers and suckers, and there was losers
Speaker 12: for signing up, suckers if you get killed. He was
Speaker 12: walking around Arlington Cemetery with his own chief of stabmarine
Speaker 12: veteran John Kelly, when he said, I just don't understand
Speaker 12: why they did it, what was in it for them?
Speaker 12: And this while John Kelly was there in part to
Speaker 12: see his own son's grave, Lieutenant Kelly, who died in Afghanistan.
Speaker 3: Well, whatever you may think about his attitude toward veterans,
Speaker 3: he does have a veteran running with him in jd Vance.
Speaker 3: Kama Harris also has a veteran running with her in
Speaker 3: Tim Walls, and yet his service record has come under
Speaker 3: immense scrutiny since his selection. It has framed it as
Speaker 3: stolen valor.
Speaker 12: Well, because Jade Vance is following Donald Trump's playbook of
Speaker 12: denigrating veterans, and we should be celebrating the fact that,
Speaker 12: you know, for the first time in a long time,
Speaker 12: we have two veterans on the major party candidates, the
Speaker 12: first time that we've had veterans really from these most
Speaker 12: recent wars, and that's something that we should be celebrating.
Speaker 12: And you know, both Jadie Vance and Tim Waltz have
Speaker 12: service records that should be lifted up and used as
Speaker 12: an examples. Instead JD. Vance is just going down the
Speaker 12: same path as Donald Trump and attacking the service record
Speaker 12: of Tim Walls, who, by all accounts was a great
Speaker 12: soldier in the army.
Speaker 2: Well, look, we saw this with your former colleague John
Speaker 2: Kerry from Massachusetts the swift Boats. Of course, we've got
Speaker 2: some of the same people involved in the messaging in
Speaker 2: this campaign in Chris Losovita, who was part of the
Speaker 2: Swift Boats campaign back in two thousand and four. I
Speaker 2: was compelled by Mark Kelly's response to all of this.
Speaker 2: Clearly was not happy with this stolen valor accusation, but
Speaker 2: he said, both of you should be thanked for your
Speaker 2: service JD. Vance's and Tim Walls. Is that the way
Speaker 2: we should approach.
Speaker 12: Exactly, And then that's what I just said. I mean,
Speaker 12: we should be lifting up the fact that both of
Speaker 12: them have served the country in different and important ways.
Speaker 12: And you know what veterans really hate is other veterans
Speaker 12: who misrepresent their service who make their record out to
Speaker 12: be more than it is. And that fundamentally is what
Speaker 12: jd Vance is trying to accuse Tim Walls. But it
Speaker 12: just doesn't. It doesn't hold water. It doesn't hold water
Speaker 12: at all, and it's not really the way that veterans
Speaker 12: respect youself serving in Congress, I have a lot of
Speaker 12: veterans on the other side of the aisle and I
Speaker 12: disagree with on a lot of policy ischusing, yet they're
Speaker 12: often the first people I go to work with, like
Speaker 12: if I have to do, you know, work on a
Speaker 12: piece of bipartisan legislation like the nine eight eight National
Speaker 12: Mental Health Hotline now it's part of the Veterans Crisis
Speaker 12: Line as well. I co authored that bill with an
Speaker 12: Air Force veteran from Utah. There are a lot of
Speaker 12: issues we disagreed on, but he was one of the
Speaker 12: first people I went to to work with on that
Speaker 12: legislation because I knew, as a result of our shared service,
Speaker 12: we had something in common. We had some trust that
Speaker 12: we shared some common experience, even though we did very
Speaker 12: different things as an infray auser in the Marines, as
Speaker 12: a world record holding pilot in the Air Force. So
Speaker 12: you know, Chris was an amazing Chris Stewart was an
Speaker 12: amazing partner in many ways, much more distinguished military record
Speaker 12: than mine. I'm not in againest book of World Records
Speaker 12: for anything from.
Speaker 2: My time in the Marines.
Speaker 12: But the point is that we found that common and
Speaker 12: you would like to see that happening on the presidential stage.
Speaker 12: But of course Jade Vance is just going down in
Speaker 12: the gutter with with Donald Trump. He's much more interested
Speaker 12: in following Donald Trump's playbook than upholding the values that
Speaker 12: he should.
Speaker 2: Have learned in the Marines.
Speaker 3: Well, Congressman, obviously, we thank you for your service and
Speaker 3: all those who have served or currently serving. And in
Speaker 3: recent weeks, Joe and I have had to ask some
Speaker 3: pretty tough questions about those who are currently serving and
Speaker 3: whether or not they may have to become active in
Speaker 3: combat in the Middle East once again, as we cast
Speaker 3: an eye on Iran, which still has yet to retaliate
Speaker 3: against Israel, and wait for a progress on a potential
Speaker 3: ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. That of course, is something
Speaker 3: Joe Biden wants to achieve with the remaining time as president.
Speaker 3: He spoke about that on the convention floor last night.
Speaker 3: Just take a listen briefly to his words.
Speaker 6: Oh, keep working to bring hostages home and end the
Speaker 6: war and gossm and bring pieces of carters in the life.
Speaker 6: We're working around the clock. My Secretary of State, rent
Speaker 6: a wider war re and I hoste to their families,
Speaker 6: and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza.
Speaker 2: Now the.
Speaker 6: Civilian suffering of the Palace Indian people, and finally, finally,
Speaker 6: finally deliver a cease firing in this war.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Israel, of course has accepted this bridge cease file proposal
Speaker 3: from the US Hamas at this time has not. Are
Speaker 3: you confident that it can be done or are you
Speaker 3: still worried that potentially the US could get involved in
Speaker 3: a deeper conflict in the Middle East.
Speaker 12: No, look, I'm very concerned, and let's just be clear,
Speaker 12: not in our national security interests to be drawn into
Speaker 12: another massive war in the Middle East. It's not in
Speaker 12: our interests in terms of our big picture problems around
Speaker 12: the globe, like focusing on China, where the real focus
Speaker 12: should be for US national security. Right now, of course,
Speaker 12: there's already a hot war in Ukraine that could spill
Speaker 12: over into Europe. Last thing we need is to get
Speaker 12: bogged down in the Middle East. That would be a
Speaker 12: gift the sieging thing in China and Vladimir Putin in Europe.
Speaker 12: We also we also want to make sure by the
Speaker 12: way that in the Middle East we reach a resolution
Speaker 12: that enables us to truly have peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
Speaker 12: And we should agree on some common points here. First
Speaker 12: of all, Israel needs to not just end this war,
Speaker 12: but actually win it, actually defeat Hamas. You can't have
Speaker 12: a terrorist organization running Gaza, but they need to do
Speaker 12: that in a way that has a political endgame that
Speaker 12: both sides can buy into, that can truly bring peace.
Speaker 12: Prime Minister, Yet Yaho hasn't articulated that yet. So this
Speaker 12: is a complicated situation in some ways because the players
Speaker 12: have made it so complicated.
Speaker 2: But it shouldn't be.
Speaker 12: We should be able to find a lot of common
Speaker 12: ground here. Let's defeat Hamas, Let's stop killing civilians, Let's
Speaker 12: have a durable peace plan that it is politically acceptable
Speaker 12: to both Palestinians and Israelis, and ultimately that not only
Speaker 12: brings peace to them in the least it make sure
Speaker 12: that the United States doesn't have to have troops on
Speaker 12: the ground.
Speaker 2: Well, there is a fear of, not an expectation, that
Speaker 2: Iran is going to retaliate militarily against Israel for the
Speaker 2: killings of the leader of Hamas and the official from Hesbolah.
Speaker 2: That means that, once again, after what we saw in April,
Speaker 2: American airmen sailors could actually be in a direct head
Speaker 2: to head combat, essentially knocking down missiles out of the air,
Speaker 2: shooting at drones. We're getting very close to a direct
Speaker 2: engagement in that world with Iran. How nervous does that
Speaker 2: make you?
Speaker 12: That's right, and the Republicans have attacked President Biden for
Speaker 12: trying to de escalate the situation. Let me just be clear,
Speaker 12: de escalating the situation is exactly in our interests right
Speaker 12: now because we do not want to be in a
Speaker 12: shooting war with Iran. We do not want to be
Speaker 12: putting us lives at risk here now. Does Iran need
Speaker 12: to be deterred from further action, Yes, absolutely, But this
Speaker 12: is a complex negotiation going on here, and we want
Speaker 12: to have fundamentally peace between Israelis and Palestinians so that
Speaker 12: Iran doesn't have the motive to continue these attacks. Let's
Speaker 12: also not forget that Israel has a serious problem on
Speaker 12: its northern border with Hesbola, and I think that's a
Speaker 12: particularly complex situation. There's not an easy answer there. Israel
Speaker 12: has already seen one hundred thousand of its citizens displaced.
Speaker 12: They need to be able to go back to their
Speaker 12: homes in peace. So you know, there's a reason why
Speaker 12: the United States is having a role in the peace
Speaker 12: process here and why we're trying to stay out of
Speaker 12: a direct conflict that would fundamentally draw us into a war.
Speaker 3: Congressman, it's great to have your expertise as a member
Speaker 3: of the Armed Services Committee, of course, given your own
Speaker 3: experience in the region. Congressman Seth Milton of Massachusetts, enjoy
Speaker 3: your time in Chicago, sir, We appreciate having you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens
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Speaker 3: We are joined now by Danny Wurtsch, Chairman and CEO
Speaker 3: of the Chicago Blackhawks, alongside Michael Ryan Soto are a
Speaker 3: president and CEO of the Chicago Bulls. They are both
Speaker 3: here with us on set in Chicago. Welcome to you both.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for being Yes, it is a
Speaker 3: power team that's so sure about that. I don't know indeed. Well,
Speaker 3: obviously it's a big week for you guys. I'm sure
Speaker 3: one that has had probably a year or so of
Speaker 3: preparation leading up to it. Michael, if we could just
Speaker 3: start with you talk to us about the decision to
Speaker 3: host this convention at the United Center and what all
Speaker 3: has gone into it and whether or not this is
Speaker 3: the most lucrative thing you could have done with a
Speaker 3: building of itself.
Speaker 13: Oh, I mean, clearly, it's not the most lucrative thing
Speaker 13: we could do because we've shut down our buildings since
Speaker 13: the end of our season, so we've had no we
Speaker 13: haven't booked any events for the last couple of months.
Speaker 5: But to us, this was kind of a no brainer.
Speaker 13: When Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lifefoot came to us, we
Speaker 13: were on board from the very beginning.
Speaker 5: The convention kind of kicked off.
Speaker 13: I think that a lot of the redevelopment on the
Speaker 13: West Side in ninety six, so the United Centers opened
Speaker 13: up in nineteen ninety four. This's our thirtieth year, and
Speaker 13: the ninety six convention was a complete success, and now
Speaker 13: it's many years later and we want to do our
Speaker 13: part of supporting the city of Chicago that we love
Speaker 13: so much.
Speaker 2: Fascinating, I'm really taken by the logistics behind something of
Speaker 2: this scale. You can throw a concert, you can host
Speaker 2: a game, but this is on a much larger level.
Speaker 2: You have fifty thousand people attending, and I'm just curious
Speaker 2: what goes into that type of a transformation.
Speaker 14: Tremendous planning. And the good thing is our team kind
Speaker 14: of at the United Center are used to these, you know,
Speaker 14: one hundred and fifty nights a year working games, concerts,
Speaker 14: et cetera, big events like All Star Games. But this
Speaker 14: is another level, and I know our team at the
Speaker 14: United Center kind of like the challenge of really rising
Speaker 14: to the occasion. And then of course it's partnerships. It's
Speaker 14: partnerships with all the city agencies and all the people
Speaker 14: that have to make at all work. And it's an
Speaker 14: impressive experience to go walk through and just walking through
Speaker 14: last night and see all the pieces come together to
Speaker 14: make the event is it public.
Speaker 2: Service though also Kaylee references the fact that you could
Speaker 2: be making a lot more money doing something else.
Speaker 14: Yeah, I think it's kind of in our DNA to
Speaker 14: step up and to do the right thing for the city,
Speaker 14: because when the city does well, we do well as
Speaker 14: a business. And these conventions are big opportunities to put
Speaker 14: the spotlight on our great city, to showcase what we
Speaker 14: do so well, and to bring people and bring business
Speaker 14: to Chicago.
Speaker 3: Well, as we think about the work you're doing in Chicago,
Speaker 3: obviously you announced a few weeks ago, as Tyler mentioned,
Speaker 3: the nineteen oh one project, you're besting more than seven
Speaker 3: billion dollars to basically the area where now the area
Speaker 3: that surrounds the United Center. How do you fund that?
Speaker 3: As we're having a conversation here about money.
Speaker 5: Well, we're going to fund it privately.
Speaker 13: You know, We're lucky because the United Center is kind
Speaker 13: of the anchor tenant, so we have a chance to
Speaker 13: redevelop the land, the parking lots. So when we opened
Speaker 13: the building, we had six thousand parking spaces available, and
Speaker 13: we never we didn't want to make it a sea
Speaker 13: of parking. But what happened with a lot of people
Speaker 13: bought parking, you know, vacant lots and made additional parking,
Speaker 13: so we actually became kind of a sea of parking.
Speaker 13: And now we have this opportunity to reimagine this neighborhood.
Speaker 13: It's not We're not Danny, I've talked. This isn't It
Speaker 13: is not an entertainment district that you see in a
Speaker 13: lot of other cities with their buildings, their arenas and stadiums.
Speaker 13: This is an opportunity to do something different for the
Speaker 13: West Side. So it will be privately financed, and you
Speaker 13: know we're talking we're talking a lot of development, whether
Speaker 13: it's we're building a music hall, we're building hotels, affordable housing,
Speaker 13: open park space. I mean, it's it's kind of like
Speaker 13: Chicago's West Side. It's it's their time, it's our time.
Speaker 2: There's a big conversation about crime in this campaign that
Speaker 2: you hear a lot about. I'm sure the former president
Speaker 2: Donald Trump has been criticizing Chicago of using crime statistics
Speaker 2: in some of his speeches, and we have to acknowledge
Speaker 2: the reality of the matter. But when you consider an
Speaker 2: investment of that scale and you look at the geography,
Speaker 2: is it you build it and they will come the
Speaker 2: timing is what I'm curious about considering the backdrop of
Speaker 2: your investment here when it comes to crime in Chicago.
Speaker 5: Well, we have a long term view, Danny. How long
Speaker 5: has your family been.
Speaker 14: Been here for almost one hundred years and tell you,
Speaker 14: you know, crime has always been something that we've had
Speaker 14: to contend with and work with. But we also know
Speaker 14: that when when we invest in the neighborhoods and when
Speaker 14: you invest in economic development, that is one way to
Speaker 14: help create opportunities that gets to sort of the root
Speaker 14: cause of some of the crime issues you see today.
Speaker 14: So I think Chicago has a history of really rolling
Speaker 14: up our sleeves and trying to be part of the solution,
Speaker 14: try to partner, you know, with the public sector to
Speaker 14: figure out how do how do we create those opportunities
Speaker 14: to help, you know, stem some of those problems from violence.
Speaker 13: Yeah, you have to understand one thing. When the United
Speaker 13: Center opened, there was no one went west of the
Speaker 13: business district. Yes, and units in open ninety four. Mayor
Speaker 13: Daily wanted to bring the convention to you know, make
Speaker 13: up for what happened in sixty eight.
Speaker 5: Ninety six.
Speaker 13: Convention went off perfectly, and then all the developments started happening.
Speaker 13: I don't think Fulton Market, which is just to the
Speaker 13: east of US, I don't think that naturally happens without
Speaker 13: the Uniteds that are kickstarting all of this. So for us,
Speaker 13: we're not worried about the timing. We think the timing
Speaker 13: is right right now.
Speaker 3: Well, the timing for having the public cooperation with investing
Speaker 3: in things like stadiums, as we've seen evidence by say
Speaker 3: the Chicago Bears, for example, doesn't seem to be great.
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of pushback in that. And I
Speaker 3: know you just said that you're planning to finance this privately,
Speaker 3: but what do you think about the dynamic surrounding the
Speaker 3: financing mechanism of these investments into sports facilities of Frinkley
Speaker 3: the facilities around them. If, as you say, this is
Speaker 3: about helping to invest economically, that could help with things
Speaker 3: like crimet I.
Speaker 14: Think every situation is very different. Every you know, wherever
Speaker 14: you're looking to do your development, has different opportunities, and
Speaker 14: I think it is that partnership, you know, with the
Speaker 14: public to figure out where that benefit lies. We know
Speaker 14: in our situation, you know, we own our land, We've
Speaker 14: owned our land for a long time. We've been part
Speaker 14: of this community for almost one hundred years, so you
Speaker 14: have a good feel of what the neighborhood needs, how
Speaker 14: to how to find those nice trade offs and those
Speaker 14: important trade offs between our commerce and what we need
Speaker 14: from the community, and then you build it together. And
Speaker 14: I think other developments are going to obviously are putting
Speaker 14: that more at the forefront than ever before.
Speaker 2: When you consider public private partnership and just the role
Speaker 2: that you play in this city. You're no strangers to politics,
Speaker 2: which is what we talk about every day here on
Speaker 2: this program. Are politics making it more difficult to do
Speaker 2: business or the conduit for your success?
Speaker 13: I mean, for us, I think that there seems to
Speaker 13: be a lot of interest in our development. When we
Speaker 13: went to the Mayor's office, we talked to people you
Speaker 13: know that surround him, all the men Walter Burnette.
Speaker 5: And seem to be on board. Like to me, this
Speaker 5: was almost like a no brainer. I mean, you have
Speaker 5: a group of people that want to spend seven billion.
Speaker 2: Dollars, they might want to take that meeting. Yeah, Night's
Speaker 2: relationships are long and important to you.
Speaker 5: Of course. I mean we have.
Speaker 13: You know, we have friendships going back many many years.
Speaker 13: Now we have a new mayor here who just became
Speaker 13: mayor of last year, and we're developing a relationship with him.
Speaker 13: But like I said earlier, our families go back a
Speaker 13: long long time. We're about Chicago, not about the politics.
Speaker 13: It's what can we do to make Chicago a better place.
Speaker 3: Well, a lot of the politics today, or at least
Speaker 3: the political issues that seem to be dominating in there.
Speaker 3: I certainly we're seeing this week and in this election
Speaker 3: surround the economy as well. We've seen such a change
Speaker 3: in the economy over the last four years from the pandemic,
Speaker 3: which obviously shut down facilities like the United Center for
Speaker 3: an extended period of time, to this resurgence and demand
Speaker 3: for that experience economy people wanted to go to live
Speaker 3: of events like sports games and concerts. Now we're all
Speaker 3: asking this question of whether or not the softening is
Speaker 3: finally upon us in the labor market and potentially in
Speaker 3: consumption as a result. Are you seeing any any signs
Speaker 3: of that in a waning of demand or is there
Speaker 3: still demand to go?
Speaker 14: I think for some expensive things for sports and entertainment,
Speaker 14: I think it seems like every year is bigger than
Speaker 14: the last year. I think we had a record year
Speaker 14: for other events outside of our two teams. Last season,
Speaker 14: we obviously here across the board Lollapalooza had record attendance
Speaker 14: this year for live music and festivals. So again, I
Speaker 14: think that desire to be connected, that desire for experience
Speaker 14: and people willing to pay for it is still there.
Speaker 14: So at least in that part of the business, for sure,
Speaker 14: we see some nice tailwinds, whereas you know, other parts
Speaker 14: of the business definitely see some of those.
Speaker 13: I think it's helped that in the music industry changed
Speaker 13: so much over the years that before putting out albums
Speaker 13: was really made the money.
Speaker 5: Now it's tory.
Speaker 13: So now you have all these acts, and so every
Speaker 13: year seems like we're getting more and more acts. And
Speaker 13: how many different concerts did we do last year?
Speaker 14: I mean, I think we're almost eighty different content.
Speaker 5: It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 13: And so now we're building this music hall, which is
Speaker 13: a six thousand seat venue, and that's going to get
Speaker 13: some of the smaller acts.
Speaker 5: And we don't see a softening.
Speaker 14: Right now, and especially in the markets like Chicago, which
Speaker 14: seems to be able to absorb a tremendous amount of
Speaker 14: live events and entertainment.
Speaker 13: Sure Chicago loves Yeah, Chicago loves is sports. So we
Speaker 13: feel pretty good about where we're at here.
Speaker 2: But it's an interesting take that you have just broadly
Speaker 2: beyond even spending on events, sports and concerts, you don't
Speaker 2: see a consumer prepared to slow down or more wary
Speaker 2: about conditions.
Speaker 5: I think.
Speaker 13: I think what we see is that you better make
Speaker 13: sure that you are delivering a special experience from the
Speaker 13: time that someone gets into their car or takes the
Speaker 13: train or takes their ride sharing to you know, get
Speaker 13: parking the car, going to the building, getting their food,
Speaker 13: getting their drinks. We better make sure that it is
Speaker 13: a top quality experience. And that's some of the biggest
Speaker 13: challenges we have because we don't control the traffic, we
Speaker 13: don't control certain things. We don't control when it's a
Speaker 13: blizzard in the middle of winter. Probably one of the
Speaker 13: great things about this DNC is that it's in the
Speaker 13: summer right above that not here in the winter.
Speaker 3: I have to say, the weather right now is certainly preferable.
Speaker 2: We ordered up for you guys, thank you.
Speaker 3: I want to ask as well because something we just
Speaker 3: saw happen in Washington last year was the purchase of
Speaker 3: a sports team for a pretty rich valuation in the Commanders.
Speaker 3: We've seen the valuations seem to go up in general,
Speaker 3: and I wonder if you think this is something that
Speaker 3: is sustainable. How you're considering your own valuation for the
Speaker 3: black Hawks at this time, If you've been having any
Speaker 3: conversations with private equity about these kind of things, can
Speaker 3: you just shed some.
Speaker 14: Light on that, Danny, I'm fourth generation owner of our family,
Speaker 14: I think, one of the longest contiguous owners of a
Speaker 14: major sports franchise in all of sports, and for us,
Speaker 14: it's something we just hold really dear to our family.
Speaker 14: So we're sort of in a very unique situation from
Speaker 14: an ownership standpoint, which, of course the interests in these
Speaker 14: very coveted licenses are driving those values up. So we
Speaker 14: love the valuation, but it doesn't necessarily change our strategy
Speaker 14: to continue to hold and develop and grow our family
Speaker 14: asset for another few generations.
Speaker 13: And what about for the Bulls, for the Bulls, I
Speaker 13: mean for the Chicago Bulls. Why would we want to
Speaker 13: get out being part of the Chicago Bulls. I mean,
Speaker 13: we were the first, probably the first global sports franchise
Speaker 13: in the world thanks to Michael Jordan. So for our
Speaker 13: family and for our investors, our partners, we're not interested
Speaker 13: in being a seller. Is it nice that the valuations
Speaker 13: of these teams are going up. Sure, but at the
Speaker 13: same time we're not going to realize any of that
Speaker 13: because it's the bulls aren't going anywhere.
Speaker 2: Well, we have another big sports deal in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: And that was Ted Leonsen's teams deciding to stay in
Speaker 2: Washington and a massive deal to kind of of rebuild
Speaker 2: the neighborhood. He talked to us about the challenges of
Speaker 2: moving buildings, changing spaces that allow people to flow into
Speaker 2: a new area that they might not be going to otherwise.
Speaker 2: You're facing something similar here when you've got a river
Speaker 2: in the way, You've got a couple of things. How
Speaker 2: do you envision this project in western Chicago in a
Speaker 2: way that will actually bring the flow of people to Europe. Actually,
Speaker 2: think the hardest.
Speaker 14: Part was thirty years ago, as Michael said, you know,
Speaker 14: crossing that threshold to come to the West Side to
Speaker 14: see an event. And you know, over seventy years, you know,
Speaker 14: people got used to coming to the Chicago Stadium, but
Speaker 14: it didn't offer a lot on the way where we're
Speaker 14: at now. The growth happening on the west side of
Speaker 14: Chicago is tremendous. Fulton Market is the most explosive neighborhood
Speaker 14: in the city of Chicago. That's right at our doorstep.
Speaker 14: The growth of the Illinois Medical District just south of us.
Speaker 14: So there's momentum here and there's a lot of other
Speaker 14: things happening around this development that I think gave us
Speaker 14: the confidence that the energy is coming, and the energy
Speaker 14: is here, and the infant ructures.
Speaker 5: In the infrastructure.
Speaker 14: Now that's an area where I think I think the
Speaker 14: city is very interested in really understanding what the infrastructure
Speaker 14: needs are to make sure we can continue to bring
Speaker 14: people here through the various forms of transportation that we have,
Speaker 14: all the things we need for this to be continued
Speaker 14: by our neighborhood.
Speaker 2: What a treat to have this much time. Thank you
Speaker 2: both for being so generous, A great conversation here. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this is why we came to Chicago. Denny Words, Michael Reinstorff.
Speaker 2: Great to see both of you and thank you for
Speaker 2: being with us on Balance of Power. Thanks for listening
Speaker 2: to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe
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