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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. You're listening to the

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch Just Live weekdays at

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Speaker 1: noon Eastern on Appo, CarPlay, and then roud Otto with

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Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get

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Speaker 1: your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.

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Speaker 2: Here in Washington on this Friday. It's the day after

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Speaker 2: for President Biden, who seems to be stuck in some

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Speaker 2: kind of political limbo after his news conference last night

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Speaker 2: that by and large focused on foreign policy, He spoke

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Speaker 2: at length about many topics, fielded questions about his age,

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Speaker 2: and almost got through it without gaffing, but not entirely

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Speaker 2: as this happened in the very first answer he gave

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Speaker 2: it the press conference.

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Speaker 1: What concerns do you have about Vice President Harris's ability

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Speaker 1: to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top

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Speaker 1: of the ticket.

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Speaker 3: Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be

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Speaker 3: vice president.

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Speaker 4: He did have an earlier stumble in which he was

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Speaker 4: introducing President Zelenski called him. President Trump quickly corrected himself, sorry,

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Speaker 4: putin thank you.

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Speaker 5: We all do it.

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Speaker 4: I keep saying that, And that's part of the story here.

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Speaker 4: And you wonder if these little gaffes that I can

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Speaker 4: get away with on the air like I just did,

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Speaker 4: and Joe Biden has for forty years, are still part

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Speaker 4: of the problem that we're talking about now. When it

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Speaker 4: comes to stamina signs of aging. None of that is

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Speaker 4: new for Joe Biden, and people who know him are.

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Speaker 6: Kind of used to that.

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Speaker 4: So when we try to delineate between what matters here

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Speaker 4: and what doesn't, we look to the likes of Gregory

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Speaker 4: Cordy Bloomberg politics reporter, who's been knee deep in all

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Speaker 4: this stuff, including our own polling here, and Gregory, I

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Speaker 4: just wonder, having had a chance to sleep on this,

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Speaker 4: what your view is if Joe Biden's in the same

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Speaker 4: place he was before he walked on stage last.

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Speaker 7: Night, having slept on it, I kind of think that

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Speaker 7: we're in the same place as we were last night.

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Speaker 7: He didn't necessarily win over any of the critics from

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Speaker 7: within his own party who have asked them to step aside,

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Speaker 7: but he didn't really do much additional damage either. There

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Speaker 7: were three or four members of Congress who after his

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Speaker 7: press conference did put in their calls and join the

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Speaker 7: chorus of Democrats asking to step side. But you kind

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Speaker 7: of got the impression that those were prepared statements, they

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Speaker 7: were just waiting on the press conference to put those out,

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Speaker 7: and their minds had already been made up. So again,

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Speaker 7: we just kind of have to watch the coming days

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Speaker 7: to see whether that drumbeat continues. It has been a

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Speaker 7: steady drip, drip drip over the past couple of weeks.

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Speaker 7: But each time this question comes up to Joe Biden,

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Speaker 7: he is steadfast. He is not getting out of this race.

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Speaker 7: He does not believe that there's anybody who could do

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Speaker 7: any better than him. He does not believe that he

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Speaker 7: is going to lose to Donald Trump at this point.

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Speaker 7: And the polling as it continues to come in, I

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Speaker 7: think we've seen a little bit of a floor. We've

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Speaker 7: reached a point where the Biden trails probably by no

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Speaker 7: more than three percentage points in the national polls, a

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Speaker 7: little bit worse in some of the swing state polls.

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Speaker 7: And so if the bleeding stops, maybe there's only upside

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Speaker 7: as Biden world sees it. But again, we're gonna have

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Speaker 7: to wait for more data and more voices the way in.

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Speaker 2: Well, one voice did weigh in kind of today, Gregory,

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Speaker 2: and that would be the House Democratic Leader Hakem Jeffries,

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Speaker 2: who put out a Dear Colleague letter saying that he

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Speaker 2: met with President Biden yesterday, and to quote Leader Jeffries,

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Speaker 2: in my conversation with Biden, I directly expressed the full

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Speaker 2: breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path

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Speaker 2: forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together.

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Speaker 2: What the Leader did not say, Gregory, is I told

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Speaker 2: Joe Biden I endorse his real election run, that others

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Speaker 2: within the caucus want him to stay in this race.

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Speaker 2: How should we read between the lines here?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, what's really remarkable is that Democrats have given space

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Speaker 7: to dissent within their own party, which is something that

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Speaker 7: you don't see, by the way, on the Republican side.

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Speaker 7: Remember Donald Trump was indicted, went to trial and was

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Speaker 7: convicted on thirty four felonies, and we heard naria peep

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Speaker 7: from anyone within the Republican Party that, you know, maybe

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Speaker 7: there should be some consideration that Trump should step aside

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Speaker 7: for a new nominee. And so this is part of

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Speaker 7: what makes the Democratic Party the Democratic Party. It's a

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Speaker 7: little bit messier sometimes, And what I see in that

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Speaker 7: dear colleague letter from Hakim Jefferies. Is he's really representing

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Speaker 7: the caucus here. He is trying to play the role

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Speaker 7: of a sort of a good faith interlocutor between some

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Speaker 7: of these critics and the White House and to go

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Speaker 7: to Biden and give him the full breadth of opinion

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Speaker 7: from his caucus all the way from he needs to

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Speaker 7: get out right now to I'm a little bit worried.

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Speaker 7: I'd like to see a little bit more strength in

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Speaker 7: the president too. On the other hand, I'm all in

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Speaker 7: all the way to November, and you see that range

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Speaker 7: of opinions within the Democratic caucuses in Congress.

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Speaker 6: Greg Recording, thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 4: Gregory reporting from Washington here this day after the news

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Speaker 4: conference that of course ended the NATO summit. As we

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Speaker 4: looked at Joe Biden at the podium last night, the

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Speaker 4: big seventy fifth anniversary emblem right in front of him.

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Speaker 4: This is a big moment for the Alliance, and there

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Speaker 4: was more at play than Joe Biden's acuity. And we're

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Speaker 4: going to get into a lot of this now. As

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Speaker 4: we heard from the President last evening, he spoke for

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Speaker 4: roughly one hour fifty nine minutes, and he was asked

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Speaker 4: about what he was hearing about his age, about his

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Speaker 4: status politically here from world leaders at NATO.

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Speaker 3: Here he is I'm not handing any My European allies

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Speaker 3: come up to me and say, Joe, don't run. What

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Speaker 3: I hear them say is you've got to win. You

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Speaker 3: can't let the sky come forward. He'd be a disaster.

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Speaker 3: He'd be a disaster. I mean, I think he said

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Speaker 3: in one of his rallies, don't hold me to this

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Speaker 3: recently where NATO. I just learned about NATO or something

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Speaker 3: to that fact. Foreign policy has never been his strong point.

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Speaker 2: Joe Biden, of course, making those remarks he wrapped up

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Speaker 2: the three day NATO summit here in Washington and joining

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Speaker 2: us now as someone who is in town for that summit.

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Speaker 2: The Foreign Minister of Poland, Radik Sakorski, is here with

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Speaker 2: us in our Washington d C. Studio. Minister, welcome back

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Speaker 2: to Bloomberg. It's lovely to have you. I wonder what

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Speaker 2: your perception of Joe Biden was, not just in the

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Speaker 2: press conference last night, but over the course of your

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Speaker 2: visit to Washington this week. Do you see a man

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Speaker 2: not only capable of leading a country for another four

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Speaker 2: and a half years, but effectively leading the free world.

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Speaker 8: Look, I'm not interfering in your internal affairs. I can

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Speaker 8: tell you that we had a summit with President Biden

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Speaker 8: in March, with our president, our Prime minister. I was there.

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Speaker 8: We had I think nineteen minutes of conversation. President Biden

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Speaker 8: was focused, strategic, and quite humorous. Actually, slip ups happened.

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Speaker 9: You know.

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Speaker 8: I was just meeting with your journalists and I made

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Speaker 8: a slip up and I didn't correct myself. But we

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Speaker 8: need America to lead, and President Biden is leading the

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Speaker 8: effort on Ukraine, for which we are very grateful.

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Speaker 4: I just used the wrong name on the air before

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Speaker 4: you came in. I did a slip up, and I

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Speaker 4: do it all the time. We're trying to figure out

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Speaker 4: what counts as a slip and what qualifies as deterioration.

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Speaker 4: And I would ask you, you're not a doctor. We

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Speaker 4: don't have to dwell on your view on that necessarily.

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Speaker 4: But this is a very important moment for the alliance.

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Speaker 4: We're talking about the potential for enormous change here domestically

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Speaker 4: politically in the United States. There's a lot of noise

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Speaker 4: around the president, as we already know, which could have

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Speaker 4: been a bit of a distraction, but there's also great

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Speaker 4: uncertainty about the trajectory of politics and a number of

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Speaker 4: European nations, having seen elections in France, having seen a

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Speaker 4: change in leadership in the UK, some are calling this

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Speaker 4: a peak for NATO, that it might not be the

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Speaker 4: same following this moment. How does the Alliance survive the

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Speaker 4: uncertainty globally politically?

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Speaker 8: Now, well, let's unpick or you've just said there's change

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Speaker 8: in the UK. But I am assured by the new

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Speaker 8: government and the Foreign Minister visited me at home in

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Speaker 8: Poland on the third day of his of him holding office,

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Speaker 8: that Ukraine will be solid I mean the Britain will

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Speaker 8: be solid on Ukraine. And Prime Minister Stama reaffirmed that

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Speaker 8: in France some people worried that the nationalist side of

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Speaker 8: the politics will take over. That hasn't happened. Putin is

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Speaker 8: constantly counting on our divisions and on our inefficiency, and

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Speaker 8: he doesn't understand our psychology and he doesn't understand that

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Speaker 8: we are in it for the long haul. Look, as

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Speaker 8: you said, I took part in the summit yesterday. I

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Speaker 8: was I was impressed at how consistent and powerful and persuasive.

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Speaker 8: Almost all the leaders of the Alliance were in saying,

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Speaker 8: we are in it for the long run until Ukraine

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Speaker 8: is a secure, independent nation, and we have some good

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Speaker 8: decisions out of this summit, and President Biden is the

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Speaker 8: author of these good decisions.

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Speaker 2: Well, we don't know that he'll be President Biden beyond

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Speaker 2: January four.

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Speaker 8: Well, that's democracy for you, certainly.

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Speaker 2: And even the president of Poland, President Dudah, has told

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Speaker 2: Joe and I that if it does turn out to

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Speaker 2: be a second Donald Trump administration, he can work with

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Speaker 2: Donald Trump. We hear it frequently from other diplomats, such

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Speaker 2: as yourself, a willingness to work with him. Ever, I

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Speaker 2: guess my question is, do you really believe that Donald

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Speaker 2: Trump will be as willing to work with you as

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Speaker 2: President Biden.

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Speaker 8: We keep in touch with the administration and with the

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Speaker 8: alternative administration, as we do with any other democracy. We

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Speaker 8: have a cohabitation in Poland. The president is from a

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Speaker 8: more Trumpian side of Polish politics, and he's kept in

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Speaker 8: touch with a President Trump all along, and we encourage him.

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Speaker 8: I personally, of course work with the administration, but I

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Speaker 8: talk to President Trump's people and some of the things

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Speaker 8: that they tell me about what they plan to do.

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Speaker 8: Are interesting and creative, not frightening. Politics is a difficult business.

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Speaker 8: Some of these things are very controversial. We were disappointed

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Speaker 8: that the American supplemental took so long, but eventually the

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Speaker 8: good thing happened. We hope that President Trump will want

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Speaker 8: to be a winner and a winner of getting to

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Speaker 8: a fair piece in Ukraine, which means Ukraine enjoying it's liberty.

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Speaker 4: Do you worry about the idea of redefining Article five,

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Speaker 4: as Donald Trump has suggested based on the level of

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Speaker 4: financial contribution? Is that a creative idea?

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Speaker 8: He was right to insist that allies should spend more,

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Speaker 8: and I publicly defended many, even in style because when

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Speaker 8: predecessors that it politely didn't work. Okay, So the combination

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Speaker 8: of President Trump's, Joe Biden's pressure, and the war in

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Speaker 8: Ukraine resulted in the fact that twenty three out of

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Speaker 8: the thirty two allies now spent two percent of GDP

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Speaker 8: on defense, Poland spends four and we are going to

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Speaker 8: spend five next year. We are number one in nature,

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Speaker 8: including the United States, in proportion obviously because we are

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Speaker 8: no longer in eternal post Cold War peace. But to

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Speaker 8: think about. So this is a good thing and that

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Speaker 8: was needed. But an alliance is not a neighborhood security company.

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Speaker 8: Take Iceland, which is a nature member, which hardly has

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Speaker 8: a defense budget at all, but it has other vital assets,

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Speaker 8: its territory, its ability to refuel, to bring. When we

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Speaker 8: rallied around the United States, when countries were spending under

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Speaker 8: two percent, sent first Poland one brigade to Afghanistan, in

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Speaker 8: other brigades to Iraq. Others did the same. So the

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Speaker 8: level of spending shouldn't be the early oddstick.

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Speaker 2: Just in our final moment with you. Something else that

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Speaker 2: came out of this summit was the labeling of China

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Speaker 2: as a decisive enabler of Russia. And we also know

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Speaker 2: that Donald Trump has quite hawkish toward China, as is

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Speaker 2: Joe Biden for that matter. And I wonder if to you,

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Speaker 2: whatever the outcome of the election, does it seem that

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Speaker 2: the US is orienting more toward that adversary, leaving Europe

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Speaker 2: to be the one who has to step up defense

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Speaker 2: militarily against the threat of Russia.

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Speaker 8: Sequencing matters if we enable Ukraine to win to defend

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Speaker 8: its independence and borders in the next couple of hours.

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Speaker 8: Then I think other theaters could become a priority, and

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Speaker 8: actually helping Ukraine win, I believe would also moderate China's behavior.

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Speaker 8: China is respecting our thickest line, which is not to

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Speaker 8: send alms to Russia, unlike Iran or North Korea. And yes,

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Speaker 8: China could actually bring the vassal Putin to heal and

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Speaker 8: tell him to end this war. And we are making

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Speaker 8: these representations to the Chinese leadership and I hope they

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Speaker 8: act on them.

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Speaker 4: We've enjoyed staying in touch with you, and I hope

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Speaker 4: that you'll continue to factor us into your plans when

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Speaker 4: you return to Washington. Thank you for joining us on

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Speaker 4: this NATO summit week. The Foreign Minister of Poland, Radislaw Sikorski,

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Speaker 4: back with us on Bloomberg TV and Radio. I'm Joe

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Speaker 4: Matthew alongside Kaylee Lions with the summit in.

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Speaker 6: Our rear view mirror.

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Speaker 4: So too is the news conference that had so much people,

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Speaker 4: so many people talking, so much going into it. We

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Speaker 4: now have the analysis coming out of it with Rick

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Speaker 4: Davis and Genie Shanzino. Our signature panel is up next.

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Speaker 4: This is Bloomberg.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast can

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Speaker 1: just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then

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Speaker 1: Rounero with the bloom Birn Business app. You can also

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Speaker 1: listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station,

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Speaker 1: Just Say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.

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Speaker 2: Four weeks over two weeks, to be exact. The conversation

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Speaker 2: that has dominated all of political thought is whether or

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Speaker 2: not Joe Biden is sticking it out and will become

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Speaker 2: next month the Democratic nominee in this election cycle, as

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Speaker 2: a growing number of Democrats have called for him to

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Speaker 2: step aside. Now eighteen congressional Democrats as of the last count,

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Speaker 2: have done so. And the question is not just can

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Speaker 2: Joe Biden stop the bleeding, but has there been too

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Speaker 2: much bleeding already? This is something we spoke with Charlie

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Speaker 2: Cook of the famed Cook Political Report about last night,

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Speaker 2: just ahead of Biden's presser.

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Speaker 10: I think the presidence lost control of events here. And

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Speaker 10: you know, it's not really a question of of whether,

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Speaker 10: it's sort of when and how, And I think it's

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Speaker 10: going to be pretty soon. It's just starting to tumble

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Speaker 10: out of control. And I don't think there's then he

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Speaker 10: stopped and I think, you know, it's just a matter

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Speaker 10: of days or hours or something.

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Speaker 4: Sounding a lot like Rick Davis to me as we

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Speaker 4: assembled our panel, Rick Davis and Geenie Shanzio Bloomberg Politics Contributors.

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Speaker 4: It was Kayley the knight of the debate when Rick

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Speaker 4: sat with us at this table and essentially said that

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Speaker 4: now that we have Genie Shanzano back in the fold

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Speaker 4: this week, she who agrees that Joe Biden will eventually

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Speaker 4: need to step down in this case, and I'll point

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Speaker 4: you both welcome Rick and Jeanie. Following a late night

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Speaker 4: here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. A Dear Colleague letter

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Speaker 4: sent this morning by House Minority Leader Jakim Jeffries, he

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Speaker 4: met with the president, says he expressed the full breadth

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Speaker 4: of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward

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Speaker 4: that the caucus has shared in our recent time together. Genie,

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Speaker 4: how difficult was that meeting for Joe Biden?

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Speaker 9: It had to be terribly difficult on both sides. I

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Speaker 9: mean to imagine being the minority leader and having to

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Speaker 9: share the number of people Kaylee was just talking about

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Speaker 9: and I was hearing, you know, thinking that Kaylee last

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Speaker 9: night was saying a dozen, then it crept up to fifteen.

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Speaker 9: Now it's at eighteen. It's not going in the right direction.

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Speaker 9: And you know, I think it's important to put the

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Speaker 9: context here. Like Charlie Cook was talking about, this is

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Speaker 9: an issue of a path forward. And I am really

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Speaker 9: struck by this piece by Democrat Doug Sasnik, who is

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Speaker 9: talking about the fact that Joe Biden's path to the

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Speaker 9: presidency for a re election has all but vanished and

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Speaker 9: Trump is the clear winner. And you go through the

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Speaker 9: numbers that he's laying out, and again this is a Democrat,

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Speaker 9: and he says he's never seen such a grim electoral

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Speaker 9: college landscape for Biden. And it gets worse from there.

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Speaker 9: But the bottom line is this predates the debate, which

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Speaker 9: was horrifying enough. There's a reason that they wanted the

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Speaker 9: debate in June to stop the bleeding, and of course,

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Speaker 9: as we all saw, it made it worse. And so

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Speaker 9: he is in a position now when his path forward

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Speaker 9: has become just one real path, and that is through

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Speaker 9: the rust belt. That's why he's going to be in

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Speaker 9: Michigan today. But it is a very narrow path for him.

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Speaker 9: And opening up for Trump, exactly opposite of what the

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Speaker 9: Democrats want and need.

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Speaker 2: Well, in addition to his trip to Michigan, we understand,

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Speaker 2: based on a number of outlets reporting that Biden's going

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Speaker 2: to be meeting with a number of key groups on

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Speaker 2: the Hill today as well, or at least virtually the

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Speaker 2: Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the

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Speaker 2: New Demps. It seems that he is still trying to

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Speaker 2: do this outreach, Rick, But is it too far gone

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Speaker 2: considering that the majority of those eighteen that we have

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Speaker 2: talked about who have publicly called for him to step

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Speaker 2: aside generally are white. They aren't these coalitions of color

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Speaker 2: that we know were key to Joe Biden's victory in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty.

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Speaker 11: Yeah, it's really phenomenal rearguard action one month from your convention.

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Speaker 11: It's amazing that we find ourselves in this position with

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Speaker 11: an incumbent president. All the advantages of incumbency has vanished

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Speaker 11: for Joe Biden. If anything, it's a burden, and he's

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Speaker 11: carrying that burden around frankly, a burden he can't lift.

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Speaker 11: So this is really phenomenal. I mean, You've got a

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Speaker 11: guy who is struggling to prosecute a campaign against Donald

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Speaker 11: Trump and has struggled all year with that, and now

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Speaker 11: has the additional burden of having to backfill his support

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Speaker 11: amongst core constituency groups. These are people who should be

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Speaker 11: voting for Joe Biden ninety five percent of the time,

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Speaker 11: and he's using scarce resources his time, you know, campaign

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Speaker 11: efforts to try and shore up his base a month

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Speaker 11: before his party's convention. It's a phenomenally difficult position, one

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Speaker 11: I have not seen in modern political history. This was

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Speaker 11: you know, Ronald Reagan never had this problem. George Bush

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Speaker 11: never had this problem. Bill Clinton never had this problem.

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Speaker 11: I mean, there were people who had to firm up

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Speaker 11: their base, but never to the degree where you spend

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Speaker 11: a Friday afternoon after a NATO summit, you know, basically

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Speaker 11: begging you know, the various caucuses in Congress not to

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Speaker 11: bolt on you. It's really shocking and historic. What we're

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Speaker 11: seeing is the melting down of an entire party to

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Speaker 11: the degree that Joe Biden can take them down with him.

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Speaker 11: And that's why people are coming out publicly and saying,

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Speaker 11: please reconsider get out of the race, because they see

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Speaker 11: the drag on the party writ large, not just his campaign,

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Speaker 11: and that is even more important that if Donald Trump

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Speaker 11: is president, the Congressional Democratic Party needs to be healthy.

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Speaker 4: This is all happening, of course, Rick as Maga packs

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Speaker 4: up from Milwaukee. We've got a convention that's starts on Monday.

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Speaker 4: I suspect we could get some news this weekend, potentially

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Speaker 4: on a vice presidential pick. This whole convention is beginning

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Speaker 4: to take form. Reports suggest Donald Trump Junior will have

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Speaker 4: a primetime speaking slot to introduce the VP, whoever that

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Speaker 4: may be.

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Speaker 6: He's good friends with a senator from Ohio, I know

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Speaker 6: that much.

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Speaker 4: The Mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, Trent Conway, is going

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Speaker 4: to be speaking so too. Apparently, well, at least attending

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Speaker 4: will be Malania Trump. It's unclear if she's going to

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Speaker 4: actually have a speaking role. Dana White another name that

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Speaker 4: we're hearing about. Genie Joe Biden's going to be sitting

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Speaker 4: down with Lester Holt NBC News on Monday. He's got

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Speaker 4: travel plans throughout the week. Does he stick with them?

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Speaker 9: I think he absolutely should. He should be out as

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Speaker 9: much as possible. You know my views, he should have

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Speaker 9: been out before and after the debate performance in that way.

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Speaker 9: I don't know that it is going to stem the tide.

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Speaker 9: I do think it is very interesting thing to hear

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Speaker 9: that Donald Trump Junior is going to be introducing the

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Speaker 9: VP nominee, which leads me to conclude, although I have

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Speaker 9: no basis for this, that it won't be Marco Rubio, because,

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Speaker 9: of course, Donald Trump Junior has said that that would

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Speaker 9: be a choice to give Republicans in the Senate incentive

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Speaker 9: to impeach his father so that they could get Marco

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Speaker 9: Rubio in the seat. I mean, just shocking thing to say,

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Speaker 9: but you've got to imagine that if Donald Trump Junior

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Speaker 9: is doing this introduction, that Marco Rubio may not be

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Speaker 9: amongst the top three that we've been hearing about. I

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Speaker 9: don't know, but that's my conclusion hearing he's making that introduction.

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Speaker 2: Of course, we just still don't know. We don't know

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Speaker 2: when we will find out. We do know the convention

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Speaker 2: starts Monday. What we also don't know, Rick, is whether

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Speaker 2: or not this ticket Donald Trump and whoever, is actually

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Speaker 2: going to be up against a Biden Harris ticket, or

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Speaker 2: if something could realistically change. We touched on this a

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Speaker 2: bit during our special coverage last night, Rick, But how

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Speaker 2: unusual is that if you're the Trump campaign, you're attaching

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Speaker 2: someone else to your ticket and not knowing that this

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Speaker 2: is actually the ticket that is going to do as

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Speaker 2: well against whomever if Biden doesn't become the nominee.

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Speaker 11: Yeah, it's it's it's kind of like running against a ghost.

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Speaker 11: You really don't know who's going to walk through that door,

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Speaker 11: you know, come their convention. So yeah, you just got

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Speaker 11: to package the best you can. Look, they've sliced and

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Speaker 11: diced the electric that's available to vote for Trump, right,

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Speaker 11: I mean, these are very slim margins that will determine

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Speaker 11: this election. So, you know, certain kinds of suburban voters,

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Speaker 11: certain kinds of you know, young male blacks, you know,

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Speaker 11: certain kinds of Hispanic voters. And and they've matched up

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Speaker 11: the various contestants against those voting groups that are most

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Speaker 11: likely to go for Trump in a a in a

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Speaker 11: competitive election, they may leave something out because the ticket

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Speaker 11: may change, but this is a pretty well defined election

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Speaker 11: regardless of who's at the top of the ticket, you know,

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Speaker 11: on the Democratic side, So they can be very confident

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Speaker 11: that they're putting the our package that they think is

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Speaker 11: the best ticket to go forward and try to appeal

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Speaker 11: to these constituencies. So I don't think they worry about

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Speaker 11: it a lot. Frankly, they're probably high five in each

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Speaker 11: other right now as they roll into Milwaukee, because they've

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Speaker 11: got a situation where today, as we've been talking about,

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Speaker 11: Joe Biden is spending more time trying to shore up

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Speaker 11: his base and attack Donald Trump. And that's a good

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Speaker 11: day for Donald Trump. Every single day that occurs between

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Speaker 11: now and election Day, that that is the standard.

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Speaker 4: It's advantage Trump, advantage Trump, with some counter programming from

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Speaker 4: Joe Biden. It'll be interesting to see what takes place

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Speaker 4: next week. It'll all unfold right here on Bloomberg TV

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Speaker 4: and Radio. Both Rick and Jeanie are going to be

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Speaker 4: traveling with us this weekend for special covers that will

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Speaker 4: last through the week. We're going to be meeting you

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Speaker 4: back here noontime Monday from Milwaukee, Kayley Lines, myself, our

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Speaker 4: signature panel, and we'll have special coverage on the nominating

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Speaker 4: speech Thursday evening, when we actually see Donald Trump on

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Speaker 4: the stage. Rick and Genie's safe travels. We'll see you

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Speaker 4: a little bit later on in the late edition of

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Speaker 4: Balance of Power and of course again in Milwaukee on Monday.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch

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Speaker 1: us Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Epocarplay and then

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Speaker 1: roun Otto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.

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Speaker 4: Read the dear colleague letter from Hakim Jeffries, who met

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00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:40,360
Speaker 4: with Joe Biden last night, and pretty clear that this

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Speaker 4: probably was not a very fun meeting, as he expressed

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Speaker 4: in his words the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives

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Speaker 4: and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has

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Speaker 4: shared in our recent time together. He did not call

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Speaker 4: on Joe Biden to withdraw from the race, and Kaylee,

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Speaker 4: he's said repeatedly and including at the podium yesterday, that

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Speaker 4: he is not going to betray the trust of his members.

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Speaker 4: As long as this conversation is ongoing, He's going to

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Speaker 4: essentially remain on the sidelines as he's dealing with a

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Speaker 4: couple of different factions. And by the way, the faction

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Speaker 4: calling for Joe Biden to step down remains pretty small.

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Speaker 4: At at two hundred and thirteen, we're still not even

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Speaker 4: that twenty.

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Speaker 2: No, only eighteen congressional Democrats have called for Joe Biden

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Speaker 2: to leave the race, at least publicly. The question is

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Speaker 2: what is the true nature of the conversations that are happening. Well,

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Speaker 2: that's behind closed doors and within the family, as the

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Speaker 2: Democratic leader was alluding to in that leab.

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Speaker 6: Yes, absolutely.

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Speaker 4: We have to acknowledge though that there were reports, including

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Speaker 4: some here at Bloomberg, that a letter could be sent

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Speaker 4: today following the NATO summit with dozens of Democratic House

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Speaker 4: members on it, and Kaylee, we have not seen that yet.

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Speaker 2: No, we haven't, and we have a lot of questions

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Speaker 2: for the Democrats in the House that we haven't heard

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Speaker 2: call for Joe Biden to resign, including the one we're

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Speaker 2: speaking to next, and please to say joining us is

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Speaker 2: Congressman John garah Mende, the Democrat from California. Sir, welcome

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Speaker 2: back to Bloomberg. Always lovely to have you on Balance

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Speaker 2: of Power. First, we'd like to wish you well, as

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Speaker 2: you've shared this week that you haven't diagnosed with cancer.

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Speaker 2: How are you feeling.

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Speaker 5: Excellent? Ready to go, just have to be away from

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Speaker 5: people to avoid getting an infection. But I'm in great health.

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Speaker 5: And we're going to whip this thing in the next

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Speaker 5: three to five months. The really good news is extraordinary

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00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:29,200
Speaker 5: progress has been made dealing with multiple maloma as well

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Speaker 5: as others. And guess what, using the president's words, guess what,

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Speaker 5: remember the Biden moonshot. It is one of the ways

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Speaker 5: in which the research is helping me. So thank you,

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Speaker 5: Joe Biden.

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Speaker 6: Well, that's remarkable to hear. Congressman. You've been on our

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Speaker 6: minds as a frequent.

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Speaker 4: Voice here on Bloomberg TV and radio, and we appreciate

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Speaker 4: you sharing that with us. And we do hope that

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Speaker 4: you're well because we're having a difficult conversation about aging

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Speaker 4: right now in Washington. You are supporting Joe Biden through

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Speaker 4: this time. And I wonder if you can explain to

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Speaker 4: our viewers and listeners why, because we're hearing from voices

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Speaker 4: Congressman every day telling us that it's already over.

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Speaker 5: Well, it is not over at all. In fact, anybody

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Speaker 5: that's been paying to take attention and not listening to

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00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:21,119
Speaker 5: the feeding frenzy would realize. Yes, Joe Biden had a

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Speaker 5: very bad debate, no doubt about it. However, Donald Trump

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00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:28,320
Speaker 5: had a worse debate. He refused to answer any questions,

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00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 5: lied repeatedly, as is his tendency to do that. Remember

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Speaker 5: during his four years in office, thirty thousand lies. Well,

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00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 5: he added up a few more during that debate. The

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Speaker 5: fact of the matter is, after that debate, the President

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Speaker 5: has been very, very strong, both on the stump, ad

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Speaker 5: libbing off of the teleprompter, absolutely strong, and three days

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Speaker 5: with NATAL leaders. We're talking about an assembly of more

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Speaker 5: than twenty five NATAL leaders that worked with the President

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Speaker 5: over the previous three days, and then the press conference yesterday.

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Speaker 5: If you were looking for problems in the press conference, hey,

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Speaker 5: you found two flubs. Big deal. Will I doubtedly have

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Speaker 5: a flub or two of my own on this, and

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Speaker 5: maybe even one or two of yours. But the reality

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Speaker 5: is he went through an entire litany of international affairs

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00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 5: from China to Russia, the Philippines, the Pacific, and NATO.

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Speaker 5: He did all of that in depth and proving that

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Speaker 5: he's on top of the issues, including the domestic issues.

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Speaker 5: So what's the problem here. The problem here is a

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00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 5: bad debate and a whole bunch of willy niellies that

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Speaker 5: are scared to death of their own shadow. We have

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Speaker 5: a very seasoned president that can carry on? Can you

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Speaker 5: do it for four years? Till you and I? Are

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00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 5: we going to be around for four years? We never

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00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,080
Speaker 5: know the day, but we do know that we have

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Speaker 5: a great team because we have a vice president that

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Speaker 5: is ready to go should it ever be necessary.

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Speaker 2: Well, Congressman, I appreciate what you're saying about the debate

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Speaker 2: being a singular bad night. Certainly that is what we

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Speaker 2: have heard from the President. The fact is, though polling

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Speaker 2: has showed, and has done so consistently, that the vast

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Speaker 2: majority of Americans just think President Biden is too old

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Speaker 2: to serve, many more than think the same about Donald Trump,

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Speaker 2: who is just three years younger. And I wonder if

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Speaker 2: it's a question of whether these all need to be

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Speaker 2: mutually exclusive. Is it not possible that President Biden could

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Speaker 2: have the chops on foreign policy, could be an honest

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Speaker 2: good man, as clearly you believe him to be, and

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Speaker 2: still not be the best person to beat Donald Trump

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Speaker 2: in November.

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Speaker 5: No, that's incorrect. What we have is a president over

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Speaker 5: the previous three and a half years, has proven he's

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Speaker 5: on top of all of the issues, including this week.

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Speaker 5: This is not something that is new for him. This

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Speaker 5: week dealing with the heads of state, NATO heads of state.

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Speaker 5: He proved to them and anybody that cared to listen

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Speaker 5: to what the outcome of that meeting was. He proved

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Speaker 5: that he is on top of the issue and that

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Speaker 5: he is the leader for the free world bottom line.

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Speaker 5: He proved that to all of those heads of state

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Speaker 5: that attended the NATO conference that's this week. Now going forward,

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Speaker 5: he's also shown that he can handle the progress. He

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Speaker 5: did that with skill, with determination, and with a great

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Speaker 5: deal of insight and information. For more than an hour

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Speaker 5: he stood Now just what three weeks ago we had

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Speaker 5: the White House. We're talking about ninety degree heat. We're

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Speaker 5: talking about Republicans with their families, Democrats with their families

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Speaker 5: lined up to greet the president. And he worked that

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Speaker 5: ropeline for more than an hour and a half and

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Speaker 5: those that were last in line got the same effort,

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Speaker 5: the same energy, the same greeting that those that were

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Speaker 5: first in line. This man can do it, and he

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00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,080
Speaker 5: has shown it. What he has not been able to

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00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 5: overcome is the feeding frenzy. But that will also happen

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Speaker 5: in the days ahead as he continues, probably in the

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Speaker 5: next couple of hours, in Michigan, once again showing anybody

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Speaker 5: that cares to listen and honestly evaluate that he is capable,

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Speaker 5: that he's on the game. Now. What is not being

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Speaker 5: considered is that he has a team, not only his staff,

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Speaker 5: but he has a vice president who has been with

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Speaker 5: him for three and a half almost well three and

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Speaker 5: a half years now and has proven herself to be

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00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 5: very capable international affairs, international travel, understanding the world around it,

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00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 5: understanding domestic and importantly pointing out that Trump will take

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Speaker 5: away the fundamental rights that women once had before Trump

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Speaker 5: put into office the most conservative Supreme Court perhaps in

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Speaker 5: the history of America. That's what Trump did, and Kamala

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Speaker 5: Harris is out there pointing out to the world and

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Speaker 5: pointing out to American women, beware, beware of another four

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Speaker 5: years of Trump because Project twenty twenty five has clearly

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Speaker 5: stated that they're going to take away nationally the right

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Speaker 5: to women's healthcare.

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Speaker 4: Well, and that's something that Joe Biden's talking about today

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Speaker 4: in Detroit. Is twenty twenty five. You mentioned Kamala Harris,

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Speaker 4: obviously from California. A lot of folks are looking at

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Speaker 4: the vice president now for obvious reasons. Congress I mean,

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Speaker 4: you can speak to her veracity as a candidate, but

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Speaker 4: I have to ask you, and I wouldn't say this,

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Speaker 4: wouldn't ask this of just anyone. But if we're being

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Speaker 4: honest here, you're right in the middle of these two

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Speaker 4: guys when it comes to age. Donald Trump is seventy eight,

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Speaker 4: Joe Biden is eighty one. And this has been compared,

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Speaker 4: this idea of a cognitive test to taking away the.

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Speaker 6: Car keys from an older member of your family.

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Speaker 4: And I think a lot of people can relate how

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00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 4: complicated and difficult that is. Do you think that both

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00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,520
Speaker 4: of these candidates should agree to a cognitive test.

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Speaker 6: What's good for one is good for the other.

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Speaker 5: If there's going to be a cognitive test, let's not

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00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 5: have a kindergarten cognitive test, which is what Trump continually

595
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 5: talks about. If there's going to be a cogniti test, yes,

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00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 5: both should. But I would like to see Donald Trump

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00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 5: stand in front of the international press board as Biden

598
00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:18,759
Speaker 5: did yesterday, and answered the questions, answered the detailed questions

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00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 5: about international relationships, detailed questions about national security, and I'd

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00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,400
Speaker 5: like him also to explain to the international press why

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00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 5: he spent four years four years as president, basically tearing

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00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 5: apart Natal and handing the keys to Putin. And I

603
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:46,000
Speaker 5: remember the press conference in Helsinki. I remember what happened there.

604
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:54,319
Speaker 5: And all of us now that we have Russia invading Ukraine,

605
00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 5: all of us should be aware of what's going on.

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00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:02,120
Speaker 5: And oh, by the way, who did Trump meet with yesterday?

607
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:08,800
Speaker 5: In Mari Largo? He met with Orburn? Who did ORBN

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00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:15,759
Speaker 5: meet with a week ago? Putin? Isn't it interesting that

609
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 5: Orbron goes meets with Putin and then meets with Trump.

610
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 5: What are those two guys dealing with right now? What

611
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 5: are they up to? What do we have to look

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00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 5: forward to? Oh? I remember, I remember very well what

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00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,600
Speaker 5: happened to Jimmy Carter when Reagan and his troops cut

614
00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 5: a deal with the Iran Iotola and leaving Jimmy Carter

615
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,279
Speaker 5: to hang out there. And what happened three months after

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00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 5: became after Reagan became president. Yeah, we had the Iran

617
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:54,400
Speaker 5: Contra deal. That's what we had. So what is Trump

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00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,239
Speaker 5: up to? What is Orbon up to? We need to

619
00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:00,360
Speaker 5: you need to ask those questions of those two characters.

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00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:07,080
Speaker 5: And by the way, you and I saw by over

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Speaker 5: the immediately as the run up to the Ukraine War,

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Speaker 5: rallying the support for Ukraine, rallying NATO, putting NATO back

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Speaker 5: together again, and adding Finland and Sweden. That is what

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Speaker 5: the President of the United States did during his tenure.

625
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,360
Speaker 5: Canny carry on. He gave every indication yesterday that he

626
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 5: can and if somewhere along the way, and every single

627
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,040
Speaker 5: one of us is subject to this, whether you are

628
00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:42,839
Speaker 5: Kamala Harris's age or whether you're your age or you're

629
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 5: seventeen years of age, we don't know when our day

630
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:52,120
Speaker 5: they will arrive. But should it arrive, should it ever arrive.

631
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Speaker 5: For the very best quarterback that we could put on

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00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 5: the field in the run up to the most important

633
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:02,320
Speaker 5: super political super all the ball, that would be Biden.

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00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 5: But if he can't carry on for whatever reason, then

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00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,840
Speaker 5: we have Harris. And I've worked with Harris since nineteen

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00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:13,480
Speaker 5: ninety two when she was the district attorney for San

637
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 5: Francisco we were going after bad guys then as insurance

638
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:25,720
Speaker 5: commissioner and as attorney city attorney. She is competent, capable, smart,

639
00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 5: and she's not going to be pushed around. And she

640
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 5: is out there campaigning today on behalf of American women.

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Speaker 5: So let's look at this. We have a team, we

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00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:43,440
Speaker 5: have a great quarterback, proven time. This last day, I

643
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:45,560
Speaker 5: know I'm going to have to shut this down, but

644
00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:49,800
Speaker 5: I am beginning. I've only begun to push for Biden

645
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:51,120
Speaker 5: and what we need to do.

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00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 6: He's closing the place today.

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Speaker 4: Congressman John garri Mendi, Thank you, Congressman for answering our questions.

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Speaker 4: We only ever wish we had more time. This is Bloomberg.

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00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make

650
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 4: sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify,

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00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,839
Speaker 4: or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find

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Speaker 4: us live every weekday from Washington, DC at Noontimeeastern at

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Speaker 4: Bloomberg dot com