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Speaker 3: I hope you're looking forward to a long weekend wherever
Speaker 3: you're joining us here on the radio, on the satellite,
Speaker 3: and on YouTube. This is Ballance of Power, the Friday edition.
Speaker 3: Doesn't it feel good to say that? And I'll tell
Speaker 3: you what Washington has already cleared out. My ninety minute
Speaker 3: commute on Tuesday, same exact drive took me nineteen minutes today,
Speaker 3: which gives you a sense of where we are here
Speaker 3: inside the bubble. Good luck finding anyone, but you can
Speaker 3: find a table at the restaurant of your choice, So
Speaker 3: good luck. If you're a weekend warrior here heading out
Speaker 3: on the roads or the airlines. By God, it's going
Speaker 3: to be an interesting one as the candidates try to
Speaker 3: put themselves in the best position they can on this
Speaker 3: holiday weekend. Donald Trump in the Bronx last night, What
Speaker 3: do we think of this? The headline in the New
Speaker 3: York Times and a Trump rally in the Bronx, chance
Speaker 3: of build that wall and great color from the scene
Speaker 3: in front of him. A more diverse crowd, as I read,
Speaker 3: than typical of his rallies, with many black and Hispanic
Speaker 3: voters wearing Maga hats in New York City last night.
Speaker 3: Donald Trump says he can win it. Most people don't
Speaker 3: think that is possible. We'll talk to it about it
Speaker 3: now with Gregory Cordy, who's of course always got his
Speaker 3: eyes on the campaign trail, Bloomberg News, White House and
Speaker 3: Politics for Porter. Great to see the Bronx. Huh yeah,
Speaker 3: felt like Friday last night for Donald Trump. I guess
Speaker 3: he's not serious, right? Is he a contender in New York?
Speaker 3: For starters? Is that in an alternate universe.
Speaker 4: He's talking a big game. But I will believe it
Speaker 4: the moment that the Trump campaign spends a dime on
Speaker 4: television advertising in the New York market. It's a very
Speaker 4: expensive market to advertise in. It's a huge state. It's
Speaker 4: a tough state to win. It would be delusional to
Speaker 4: think that he could win it. But he's He's there
Speaker 4: for two reasons. One is that he's there anyway, because
Speaker 4: he's on trial in New York, so he's on a
Speaker 4: pretty short leash. And while he's there, he's decided to
Speaker 4: make some lemonade out of the lemons that the Manhattan
Speaker 4: District Attorney has given him. And also because being in
Speaker 4: New York is a good foil for his audience, right
Speaker 4: he can campaign against New York to the rest of
Speaker 4: the country, which is popular in a lot of parts of.
Speaker 3: The clean up this mess in the city, he says,
Speaker 3: we'll clean up the subways.
Speaker 4: Do you think he's ever been on the New York subway?
Speaker 4: You know, you would have to think in his entire
Speaker 4: life he would have had to. But I've been looking
Speaker 4: for a photograph preckory. I can't find one.
Speaker 3: Seventies, eighties, ninety Yeah, okay, so a couple of questions here.
Speaker 3: Then that's New York. How about the demographics we saw
Speaker 3: at this rally last night. Are we to believe that
Speaker 3: Donald Trump, and we have polling on this, is in
Speaker 3: fact pulling black and Latino voters into the fold in
Speaker 3: this campaign and away from Joe Biden.
Speaker 4: You know that remains to be seen right now. If
Speaker 4: you look at the polling, he does seem to be
Speaker 4: making inroads. But remember that we're six months out, and
Speaker 4: what we see from you know, a lot of voters,
Speaker 4: not just Black and Hispanic voters, but a lot of
Speaker 4: voters like to talk about being undecided. They like to
Speaker 4: say tell posters that are keeping an open mind. And
Speaker 4: particularly among black voters who really want you to earn
Speaker 4: their vote year after year, a lot of them have
Speaker 4: been sitting on the sidelines. Much higher numbers of undecided
Speaker 4: voters in that community, and that's what's been depressing Joe
Speaker 4: Biden's numbers there. But look, you have to give him credit.
Speaker 4: Trump himself is seeing numbers in the two ease among
Speaker 4: Black voters, even higher among Hispanic voters. As the Hispanic
Speaker 4: population in this country begins to mature, right where you
Speaker 4: have first and second generation families now becoming third and
Speaker 4: fourth generation families, as they become more integrated into parts
Speaker 4: of American society and lose some of maybe that the
Speaker 4: Hispanic identity that yes they have becoming more Republican, and
Speaker 4: that is a generational thing. It's a long term thing,
Speaker 4: and Trump is taking advantage of it.
Speaker 3: This really interesting moment, and we're told that the commander
Speaker 3: in chief was sort of employing the powers of incumbency
Speaker 3: here with the state visit this week with the Kenyan president.
Speaker 3: It was interesting when you look at the guest list
Speaker 3: for that state dinner last night, to what extent was
Speaker 3: that messaging to the demographic we're describing.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not sure. Look, it is, as we've
Speaker 4: been reporting, the first state dinner to honor an African
Speaker 4: head of state.
Speaker 3: In sixteen years.
Speaker 4: Remarkable to me looking back on it. I covered the
Speaker 4: Obama administration that President Obama, who has ancestry in Kenya,
Speaker 4: would not have done this.
Speaker 3: It's he unlike Joe Biden, visited Africa, which is something
Speaker 3: that this president has promised to do.
Speaker 4: Yes, and Africa always gets talked about, but almost as
Speaker 4: an afterthought in foreign policy. It's becoming increasingly important, as
Speaker 4: is much of the global South with the rivalry with China,
Speaker 4: and we may be entering a new sort of soft
Speaker 4: Cold War here. But in terms of US voters domestic politics, look,
Speaker 4: there are a lot of constituencies, especially democratic constituencies, who
Speaker 4: think that Joe Biden is maybe spending too much time
Speaker 4: on foreign policy, and he has had some foreign policy
Speaker 4: issues to deal with, not just China, but talk about Israel,
Speaker 4: and you talk about Ukraine, and given where we are
Speaker 4: with the given where we are with the economy, there
Speaker 4: is a strong feeling in many parts of even the
Speaker 4: Biden coalition that he needs to spend more time at home.
Speaker 4: And that's going to be challenging because he's about to
Speaker 4: go off to the G seven and in France and Normandy,
Speaker 4: all very important parts of what a president does. But
Speaker 4: it's an election year and that's why you know there's
Speaker 4: going to continue to be this tension.
Speaker 3: Greg Ricordi, thank you as always for stopping by reporting
Speaker 3: for Bloomberg from Washington. I'm Joe Matthew. This is balance
Speaker 3: of power, and I'm glad you're with us here on the radio,
Speaker 3: on the satellite, and on YouTube. It was at the
Speaker 3: bilateral news conference that Joe Biden held with the President
Speaker 3: of Kenya yesterday that the matter of Israel came up.
Speaker 3: We expected this would be the case. Of course, the
Speaker 3: Biden Whitehouse wanted to talk about investments in Kenya and
Speaker 3: throughout the continent, but reporters are going to ask what
Speaker 3: they want to ask about, and the matter of the
Speaker 3: ICC came up. These arrest warrants that we're understanding are
Speaker 3: being pursued for Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Ettnya,
Speaker 3: who himself right alongside leaders of Hamas. Joe Biden, responding
Speaker 3: to a question about this yesterday in the East Room,
Speaker 3: let's listen.
Speaker 5: Made our position clear on the icc We don't think,
Speaker 5: we don't recognize the jurisdiction hi ic C, the ways
Speaker 5: being exercised, and it's that simple. We don't think there's
Speaker 5: an equivalence between what Israel Mohammasti.
Speaker 3: Fast forward to news today the UN's top court ordering
Speaker 3: Israel to immediately halt its military operations in Rafa, partially
Speaker 3: granting a request by South Africa in a case over
Speaker 3: genocide allegations. This is where we start our conversation with
Speaker 3: Hidar Suskan. He is now president CEO of Americans for Peace,
Speaker 3: served as sergeant first class in the IDF and it's
Speaker 3: great to have you back. Kadar, your thoughts first on
Speaker 3: this latest development from the International Court of Justice, which
Speaker 3: I am sure frankly most Americans have never heard of.
Speaker 3: This is unenforceable, but it's an important message. How will
Speaker 3: Israel respond well?
Speaker 6: Israeli political leaders, starting with President, with Prime Minister NITTANYAHUO.
Speaker 6: But going frankly all the way through, the opposition are
Speaker 6: of course opposed to this. They believe that, you know,
Speaker 6: that the International Criminal Court, that the ICJ, that these
Speaker 6: institutions don't have jurisdiction and frankly don't have Israel's interests
Speaker 6: at heart. So that's the broad response of the Israeli government.
Speaker 6: I will say, there is a range of different views
Speaker 6: within the Israeli population, and many of those believe that,
Speaker 6: you know, these things are reflective of the politics, but
Speaker 6: in a way where we shouldn't look at them as
Speaker 6: scoring a goal for one team or the other. So
Speaker 6: it's not good, it's not bad. It is a tragic
Speaker 6: reflection of the reality that Israelis and Palestinians find themselves
Speaker 6: in of months and months and months of ongoing war
Speaker 6: that is again only tragic for both sides.
Speaker 3: Well, as I mentioned, South Africa is alleging genocide. The
Speaker 3: language here becomes important. Israel of course denies that how
Speaker 3: should this be described?
Speaker 6: You know, one of the things, and you know, I
Speaker 6: apologize to going back to the same frame so often,
Speaker 6: but it continues to be true that so often folks
Speaker 6: on both sides are pushing to the extremes, using straw
Speaker 6: man arguments, using the most extreme language. So you know,
Speaker 6: whether this is genocide or not, whether that's you know,
Speaker 6: simply in all of Gaza and Rapha can be argued.
Speaker 6: I am not an international law expert to give a
Speaker 6: definition of that, but there's no question that it's horrific,
Speaker 6: and there's no question that it's tragic. So it doesn't
Speaker 6: need to be genocide in order to be horrible and
Speaker 6: to be opposed. And likewise, I heard, you know, in
Speaker 6: your earlier conversation the questions coming up about, you know,
Speaker 6: is there equivalency or is the is the International Court
Speaker 6: trying to create an equivalency between Kamas and the Israeli leadership,
Speaker 6: which again is a straw man argument. The International Court
Speaker 6: has brought these charges against or all for these warrants
Speaker 6: against both Prime Mister Natanyahu and Defense Minister Galan and
Speaker 6: against COMMAS leaders. They didn't say their equivalent, they didn't
Speaker 6: say they did the same thing. Frankly, the charges are
Speaker 6: many of them different. So the equivalency argument is again
Speaker 6: just people falling back trying to use these straw man
Speaker 6: arguments as opposed to really dealing with the facts. What's
Speaker 6: happening on the ground. Tens of thousands of people have
Speaker 6: been killed in Gaza. That's a fact, no one in question.
Speaker 6: People still argue about the exact number and argue about
Speaker 6: how many are compatants, but there's no question that tens
Speaker 6: of thousands of people have died, that people are suffering
Speaker 6: from hunger if not found, and thousands and thousands of
Speaker 6: homes and buildings have been destroyed. It's horrific. And again,
Speaker 6: going back to the Hama side, October seventh is unquestionably
Speaker 6: war crimes. They killed twelve hundred people, they took hostage
Speaker 6: as civilians. So all of these things candy and should
Speaker 6: be strongly opposed without fighting over whether or not it
Speaker 6: is equivalent. It doesn't have to be equivalent to all
Speaker 6: be wrong.
Speaker 3: Well, we get lost in the language here, very often
Speaker 3: lost in the jargon for sure, and I'd like to
Speaker 3: talk to you a lot of what is happening on
Speaker 3: the ground. You're absolutely right. It's one thing that we
Speaker 3: specialize in here and we waste a lot of time
Speaker 3: doing it. Haadar. One thing that has been accomplished is
Speaker 3: the construction of this temporary peer with tens of millions
Speaker 3: of dollars and a lot of effort by the US military.
Speaker 3: It's barely being used, is what we understand. How would
Speaker 3: you describe the current state on the ground when it
Speaker 3: comes to delivering humanitarian aid, Well, that.
Speaker 6: Is extremely, extremely problematic for sure. The state of delivering
Speaker 6: aid overall, it changes very regularly with announcements by the
Speaker 6: Israeli government that they've opened or closed a specific crossing. Also,
Speaker 6: those announcements are not always met by reality on the ground,
Speaker 6: but actually have been a lot of questions as to
Speaker 6: whether any aid that has come in through this US
Speaker 6: funded peer has actually reached people in Gaza. It's unclear,
Speaker 6: but there have been claims both ways. What I think
Speaker 6: is clear is that it is just a reflection of
Speaker 6: how broken the politics is that this peer is necessary
Speaker 6: at all. Right, it is not physically necessary to build
Speaker 6: this peer in order to bring in more aid. All
Speaker 6: that was necessary is opening the crossings. There's no question
Speaker 6: that bringing it in by truck through Israel, through the
Speaker 6: crossings in both the north and the south of Gaza
Speaker 6: is by far more effective. The US did this, built
Speaker 6: this peer, spent I think hundreds of millions of dollars,
Speaker 6: not tens of millions because they couldn't get the Israeli
Speaker 6: government to agree to open those crossings, and so this
Speaker 6: was a workaround the fact that the US government felt
Speaker 6: it necessary, work around the obstruction of Prime Minister Natanyahu.
Speaker 6: I think speaks for itself.
Speaker 3: Speaks for itself. Where are we going to be a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks from now, because the White House is
Speaker 3: trying to walk a line on Rafa, a red line?
Speaker 3: Dare i say? As President Biden articulated a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks ago. The fact of the matter is we haven't
Speaker 3: seen the full on invasion and occupation of Rafa that
Speaker 3: some expected. It's been referred to as a limited incursion
Speaker 3: and therefore not a violation of the red line. When
Speaker 3: you put your IDF hat back on headar what's going
Speaker 3: on in Rafa And is this the extent to which
Speaker 3: we're going to see the military involved?
Speaker 6: Well, I think if you look at reporting limited though
Speaker 6: it is coming out of Rawa, people don't consider this
Speaker 6: a targeted invasion. Again, Initially, the Israeli response was that
Speaker 6: they were not invading and certainly not occupying the city
Speaker 6: of Raffa, but rather just the crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Speaker 6: They did that, they then did move forward. They have
Speaker 6: increasingly bombed and taken taken military further and further in.
Speaker 6: They are doing it in a slow, specific way. I mean,
Speaker 6: it's pretty clear. It's one of these here's the line. Okay,
Speaker 6: is my toe over the line?
Speaker 7: Now?
Speaker 6: Okay? What about now?
Speaker 3: What about now?
Speaker 6: And again President Biden said, a full invasion of Rafa
Speaker 6: is the red line, but that hasn't been defined what
Speaker 6: exactly that means. And so that's what the dance is
Speaker 6: right now. Whether this will continue in this way, I
Speaker 6: don't know, you know, I hope that what we're going
Speaker 6: to see is an end to this, an end to
Speaker 6: this war, which.
Speaker 3: Is what I want you to come back and talk
Speaker 3: to us as we feel our way through this. Sidar,
Speaker 3: I wish we had more time. As always, Adar Suskan
Speaker 3: with the Mayor Frickins for Peace. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington,
Speaker 3: will continue our conversation ahead with an eye on the
Speaker 3: campaign trail and Governor Chris Sanunu. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast.
Speaker 2: Can just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and
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Speaker 3: Welcome to the Friday edition of Ballots of Power on
Speaker 3: Bloomberg TV and Radio. I'm Joe Matthew. Just a couple
Speaker 3: days ago, Nikki Haley made big news here in Washington
Speaker 3: announcing her intention to vote for Donald Trump. A lot
Speaker 3: of questions about whether that was in fact a real
Speaker 3: endorsement of the former president, as she did not tell
Speaker 3: her supporters to do the same. She in fact encouraged
Speaker 3: Donald Trump to work for their support, something I discussed
Speaker 3: yesterday in a wide ranging conversation about the presidential camp
Speaker 3: with the Governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sanunu, of course,
Speaker 3: an ardent supporter of Nicki Haley when she was on
Speaker 3: the campaign trail. Here's what he said.
Speaker 8: People will say, well, if you're if you're voting for them,
Speaker 8: are you endorsing them, supporting them? Are you campaigning with
Speaker 8: I think I would never speak for Nicki Haley, but
Speaker 8: like myself, I'm gonna We're gonna vote for Obviously, we
Speaker 8: have a lot of complaints about Donald Trump, as a
Speaker 8: lot of folks do. But elections are about choices, they
Speaker 8: really are. It's A or B. You don't have to
Speaker 8: be all or one in extreme one way or the other.
Speaker 8: But if you want democracy to work, you got to
Speaker 8: get out there and vote in a lot of folks say, gee,
Speaker 8: we don't like the bombastic style of Trump, we don't
Speaker 8: like the chaos, but we need a change, We need results.
Speaker 8: We need somebody to do something about inflation, about the border.
Speaker 8: Those are the top issues. And I think Nikki did
Speaker 8: a great job kind of pointing that out that look,
Speaker 8: people care about issues. You have to talk about these issues.
Speaker 8: You have to. You can't just kind of say, we
Speaker 8: know you have record credit card debt, but ignore that.
Speaker 8: You're all fine. Bi nomics is working. It's not right,
Speaker 8: and so we call that gas lighting, right, you know,
Speaker 8: basically not validating the reality that a lot of us
Speaker 8: are a lot of individuals are feeling right now. And
Speaker 8: if anything, that's where I think Biden has really kind
Speaker 8: of screwed this thing up. Well, so to say it's
Speaker 8: telling people that it's working when it's clearly understood.
Speaker 3: Some would say as well, with Donald Trump's association with
Speaker 3: the economy that we see bearing out in the polls,
Speaker 3: that that doesn't match with his record on the deficit,
Speaker 3: for instance, Sider, which I know is a big issue
Speaker 3: for you and a big issue for Nikki Hailey. Did
Speaker 3: you help her work through this? Did you arrive at
Speaker 3: this decision together?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 8: I love Nikki. I think she's the best I wanted
Speaker 8: since she got out of the race. I wanted her
Speaker 8: to be nothing but happy spending some time with her,
Speaker 8: her family. Her husband finally got home after nearly a
Speaker 8: year long deployment, so I know she's spending a lot
Speaker 8: of time with him and that that's been wonderful. She
Speaker 8: came out and you know, she had an event yesterday,
Speaker 8: was asked and she said she was going to vote
Speaker 8: for Trump. But I think she also made a really
Speaker 8: critical point, which was there's a lot of voters out
Speaker 8: there that have to be earned and Trump has to
Speaker 8: do some work. He's got to do some work on
Speaker 8: the issues. He's got to do some work to make
Speaker 8: sure that all those folks that may not voted for
Speaker 8: him in the primary on the Republican side are going
Speaker 8: to come home and they're not going to do it
Speaker 8: just because he's got to go earn him. But there's
Speaker 8: time for him to do that. Biden has a bigger
Speaker 8: challenge on his hands, I think, and that I think
Speaker 8: Biden's base has walked from him more than the Trump
Speaker 8: base has walked from Trump. I think independents are walking
Speaker 8: away from Biden. I think the younger voters that really
Speaker 8: should be all with Biden right now a lot of
Speaker 8: them which won't vote. So Biden has his own set
Speaker 8: of chores in the next.
Speaker 3: Well, that's clear, and it's bearing out on our own
Speaker 3: polling here at Bloomberg and my god, the Trump base
Speaker 3: won't budge even as he sits in criminal court. But
Speaker 3: she said more than as you point out, more than
Speaker 3: just that she was going to vote for him. There
Speaker 3: was one particular line that stuck out to me, a
Speaker 3: loud part She said, of each party wants us to
Speaker 3: abandon our allies, appease our enemies, and focus only on
Speaker 3: the problems we have at home. She said, this worldview
Speaker 3: has already put America in great danger, and the threat
Speaker 3: is mounting by the day. That sounds like she's speaking
Speaker 3: to Donald Trump, who's the audience there.
Speaker 8: Well, So a couple of things when it comes to
Speaker 8: foreign po policy, appreciating that you get world peace through
Speaker 8: America's strength. I think there's no one better in understanding
Speaker 8: those issues than Nikki Haley. So I think she's just spotted.
Speaker 3: She worried about protectionists bent in the Republican Party.
Speaker 8: It's not just the Republican Party. Look, when you look
Speaker 8: at folks that say international issues are the most important,
Speaker 8: it's about US fifty to fifty split those who think Trump. Look,
Speaker 8: Trump portrays an image of strength that Biden doesn't portray.
Speaker 8: I think, but some of Biden's policies were more in
Speaker 8: line with with where we should be, but he doesn't
Speaker 8: portray the strength. He's kind of gone back and forth
Speaker 8: on Israel, right, I'm a big supporter of Israel. Got
Speaker 8: to stand with him unquestionably. He was unquestionably with him
Speaker 8: on May seventh, and on May eighth, He's like, by
Speaker 8: the way, we're gonna withhold weapons, so you can't have
Speaker 8: your foot half in and half out. That kind of
Speaker 8: inconsistency is a problem for Biden. I think some of
Speaker 8: Trump's statements, you know, quasi supportive of Putin and you know,
Speaker 8: calling him this smart guy and all of that, that
Speaker 8: sort of thing that stuff scares people as well, So
Speaker 8: I think they're both have a lot of problems on
Speaker 8: the international front.
Speaker 3: Well, this is an interesting view to hear from you
Speaker 3: on both these because you know, it's supposed to be
Speaker 3: my job to try to make you turn into a
Speaker 3: pretzel to explain to me why you want to vote
Speaker 3: for Donald Trump or plan to vote for Donald trup.
Speaker 3: Of course, after effectively mounting a strong campaign against him
Speaker 3: and helping Nicki Haley, you've already done that interview. I
Speaker 3: want to bring it back to the Snowshoe Club conquered
Speaker 3: the night before the primary, and there was hope inside
Speaker 3: the barn that night that something different, that there was
Speaker 3: an alternative, and this person, Nicki Haley, had everybody talking
Speaker 3: as they were drinking by the fire and wondering what
Speaker 3: might happen the next day after you did a lot
Speaker 3: of work in the state for her. What happens to
Speaker 3: those old line Reagan Republicans. What happens to the donors
Speaker 3: who followed Nicki Haley or the suburban women who support
Speaker 3: still and by the way, some early primaries that we've seen,
Speaker 3: they're still showing up in primaries for Nicki Haley. Did
Speaker 3: they stay home.
Speaker 8: What do you tell them to I think, look, the
Speaker 8: majority of them will come over and vote for Trump.
Speaker 8: But I think NICKI made a great point. There's still
Speaker 8: a lot of them and that have to be earned.
Speaker 8: And I go back to that point, it's not that
Speaker 8: they can't be earned. Well, then the base come over
Speaker 8: Trump man, Probably not not like you know, not like
Speaker 8: they had in the past. I don't think so. I
Speaker 8: think a lot of the significant Republican donor base is
Speaker 8: going to put their money into the Senate seats, the governorships,
Speaker 8: the congressional race is really trying to you know, drive
Speaker 8: that home there. Trump has kind of co opted a
Speaker 8: bit the RNC to be his his kind of donor
Speaker 8: feeder system. But they're having a they've had some success.
Speaker 8: I don't think it's going to be like it was
Speaker 8: back in twenty sixteen and even in twenty twenty. The
Speaker 8: voter that the voters themselves, though, those are the ones
Speaker 8: that have to be spoken to, and there's plenty of
Speaker 8: time for Trump to do that if he wants to
Speaker 8: earn them. On the Republican side, Like I said, I
Speaker 8: don't think there's any policy changes Biden could implement today
Speaker 8: to get an appreciable different result that would drive people
Speaker 8: back over to him. So Biden's in a tougher position
Speaker 8: right now where it goes with everyone's looking at the trials,
Speaker 8: right Sure, I don't think the trials have an appreciable
Speaker 8: difference in this in this campaign.
Speaker 3: Conviction does that feel different?
Speaker 9: No?
Speaker 8: No, Look, I'll say this, three things are going to happen.
Speaker 8: He's either innocent, and that's a big win for Trump
Speaker 8: because not only would he be off on this one,
Speaker 8: but he would then claim that all the others are
Speaker 8: politically motivated and it would put a shadow of a
Speaker 8: doubt on all of them. Same with a hung jury,
Speaker 8: he probably gets the same result a conviction. People say, yeah, well,
Speaker 8: you know, uh, I just don't think it's going to
Speaker 8: drive people away from him. And if you are driven
Speaker 8: away by that, I respect you're right to say that
Speaker 8: that's a line too far. If he's convicted, keeping Penance
Speaker 8: away from him, I don't think so, because independence is
Speaker 8: Trump even with a conviction. If they've already broken away
Speaker 8: from Biden, it's because they don't like the convictions. They
Speaker 8: don't like January sixth, they don't like election Nile. But
Speaker 8: they are getting crushed by inflation. Inflation is the issue
Speaker 8: of the day, there's no question about it. And and
Speaker 8: the border. Those are the still remain to be the
Speaker 8: top two issues, and those are really bad when Biden
Speaker 8: doesn't do well with those at all.
Speaker 3: And that's driving the Republican convention in Milwaukee. Will you
Speaker 3: have a message for delegates?
Speaker 8: No, not really. No. I look at the convention. It's
Speaker 8: going to be a fade of complete Trump's going to
Speaker 8: be the nominated. It'll be kind of Trump Trumpville Convention.
Speaker 8: I don't if I go out there? Maybell go?
Speaker 7: Do so?
Speaker 3: Corn in the Republican Party? Shouldn't he invite Chris Snunu.
Speaker 8: No, I've been invited. I've been invited, and yeah, I
Speaker 8: mean I don't know to speak. I don't know if
Speaker 8: they've settled all that, but I've been invited. I may
Speaker 8: go out. I may not. It really depends on the schedule.
Speaker 8: But if anything, it's a logistics Nightmare's like a lot
Speaker 8: of travel. You gotta stay like an hour or even
Speaker 8: I think avengers are a big, a big logistics mess. Well, yeah,
Speaker 8: it's got to like go to the super Bowl. I
Speaker 8: think I'd rather just watch it from home.
Speaker 3: Donald Trump has found religion on early voting, which I
Speaker 3: find fascinating. He's encouraging people to embrace this now after
Speaker 3: demonizing it for years. This requires a re education, some
Speaker 3: would argue of a Republican electorate who now think early
Speaker 3: voting is evil.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I will say this. I don't like early voting either.
Speaker 8: I don't think Trump likes early voting. But I think
Speaker 8: with the Republican parties are saying, if the rules in
Speaker 8: your state allow for early voting, then get out and
Speaker 8: do early voting. Play by the rules. Don't just sit
Speaker 8: there and don't do absentee or don't do early voting.
Speaker 8: You got to play by the rules to make sure
Speaker 8: you're getting out the vote, because that's what this is
Speaker 8: all about.
Speaker 1: The cards.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 8: So I don't think any of us like early voting.
Speaker 8: I think there's a lot of problems with it. But
Speaker 8: in the states where it's allowed, you better play by
Speaker 8: those rules, and Republicans better go out there and work
Speaker 8: hard at.
Speaker 3: We saw something very troubling in our latest Bloomberg Swing
Speaker 3: State pole. It came out just yesterday. Half of the
Speaker 3: electorate in the swing states that are going to decide
Speaker 3: the selection are fearing violence. They fear an outbreak of
Speaker 3: violence surrounding this selection, the conventions we just mentioned around
Speaker 3: the election itself. If it's undecided for days, people have
Speaker 3: shades of January sixth still, of course in their memories,
Speaker 3: but it was equal shares. Democrats and Republicans had this
Speaker 3: same fear. What are governors like you going to have
Speaker 3: to do to keep this.
Speaker 8: Well, let's understand why that is. You're seeing what's happening
Speaker 8: on college campuses right now, the protest, the violence. It's
Speaker 8: not peaceful protests. They think as long as it's in
Speaker 8: the name of social justice, it's okay to break the
Speaker 8: rules and break the law. It's not. It's absolutely not.
Speaker 8: We are a nation of laws and you have to
Speaker 8: nip it. So as governors, for example, you know, when
Speaker 8: we looked at what was happening in the universities, we
Speaker 8: were very proactive. We talked to them. We're transparent. What
Speaker 8: are the rules, where are the guidelines? Where will you
Speaker 8: make arrest hold folks accountable? If you kind of nip
Speaker 8: it in the butt early, you can really make sure
Speaker 8: that it doesn't fester to something. Bigger states that didn't
Speaker 8: handle it earlier, university systems that didn't handle it early,
Speaker 8: bring in law enforcement, do the right thing. They're the
Speaker 8: ones that are suffering the most. On the other side
Speaker 8: of things, you have the election denial and all that
Speaker 8: sort of thing, the fears of January sixth, that's legitimate.
Speaker 8: We've seen it sprout up in January sixth, and so
Speaker 8: obviously there's concerns on the other side there. The one
Speaker 8: thing I try to encourage folks is to be optimistic.
Speaker 8: All the election denial. Guess what, Biden won the election
Speaker 8: and he was deemed the winner, and there was a
Speaker 8: smooth transition of power post January sixth. But on January twentieth, yes,
Speaker 8: Fiden slept at the White House, right, so it worked out.
Speaker 8: And so I've had volks say, yeah, but I was
Speaker 8: from Arizona and they said my vote didn't count. But
Speaker 8: it did count, and even though they challenged it, the
Speaker 8: system worked right. The institution stood strong through all those
Speaker 8: wins and all those pressures are instances.
Speaker 3: And you believe they will again.
Speaker 8: I do. I believe in the institutions that Look, our
Speaker 8: institutions have stood strong through everything from Civil Wars, World Wars,
Speaker 8: Pandemics nine to eleven. January sixth. It's they're tough times,
Speaker 8: they're big bumps in the road, but man our founding
Speaker 8: fathers really designed the system well and believe in it
Speaker 8: because it has worked up until now. And I'm so
Speaker 8: I'm very optimistic about even though there may be bumps
Speaker 8: in the road and complaints on both sides or whatever
Speaker 8: might come, America is going to be okay. Son's going
Speaker 8: to come up.
Speaker 3: You love being in Washington. I know you want to
Speaker 3: stay here as long as he can. But when you're
Speaker 3: back home and you're walking down Elm Street in Manchester
Speaker 3: and you're talking to people, what is it that gives
Speaker 3: you hope? What are we missing here in the Capitol?
Speaker 8: Look, I would say this, there's a lot of talk
Speaker 8: about democracy being eroded, and I go back to that,
Speaker 8: and if anything, I tell people, I'm not trying to
Speaker 8: tell you how to vote. I'm not trying you vote
Speaker 8: for Trump, vote for Trump, vote for Biden, and vo
Speaker 8: for Biden. Do whatever you want, but vote. Do not
Speaker 8: let anyone tell you, well, just don't vote. That's the
Speaker 8: most Unamerican thing you can do, because so many people
Speaker 8: on this planet don't have the ability to vote and
Speaker 8: choose their leadership. And at the heart of it. You
Speaker 8: can't say democracies being eroded, democracy is being threatened, But
Speaker 8: I won't participate in democracy. That's crazy, right. Your vote
Speaker 8: is all that will decide who leads this country, who
Speaker 8: leads your school board, who leads in your governorships or
Speaker 8: your mayor. Your vote is everything to that process. So
Speaker 8: don't waste the opportunity to make sure your voice is here.
Speaker 8: Your voice is as valid it has merit. I mean,
Speaker 8: we've had presidential elections go back to two thousand that
Speaker 8: have come down to a couple hundred votes here or there.
Speaker 8: You never know where it's going to be in all
Speaker 8: of these toss up states. As you pointed out, even
Speaker 8: New Hampshire now is a toss up. Holy smokes, that
Speaker 8: hasn't happened in twenty years. It's always been Democrats on
Speaker 8: the presidential side have always won. They have this really
Speaker 8: awesome Republican governor, but the Democrats on the presidential side
Speaker 8: of one for quite a while. But again, you just
Speaker 8: don't know what's going to happen. So I think you're
Speaker 8: going to see a higher voter turnout than most people think.
Speaker 8: I think what gives me hope is that the institution
Speaker 8: stands strong. Your vote does matter, and I have a
Speaker 8: lot of confidence that, regardless of the outcome, we are
Speaker 8: going to have a peaceful transition of power.
Speaker 3: The Governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sanunu, many thanks for
Speaker 3: sitting down with us and being so generous with his time.
Speaker 3: I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. You're listening to the Bloomberg
Speaker 3: Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon
Speaker 3: Eastern on Apocarplay and Android outo with the Bloomberg Business App.
Speaker 2: Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch
Speaker 2: us live on YouTube.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Friday edition of Balance of Power. I'm
Speaker 3: Joe Matthew on Bloomberg TV and Radio. On the week
Speaker 3: that crypto grew up in Washington, That's what I keep hearing.
Speaker 3: At least we've talked about this each step of the way,
Speaker 3: and House passage of the FIT twenty one Market Structure
Speaker 3: Bill this week was the moment, and the cherry on
Speaker 3: top might have been the Ethereum ETFs being approved by
Speaker 3: the SEC. This has all been driven in part with
Speaker 3: the help of Congressman French Hill, Republican from Arkansas and
Speaker 3: only serves on the House Financial Services Committee. It's important.
Speaker 3: He is chair of the subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology,
Speaker 3: and Inclusion, and he's with us at the table on
Speaker 3: this Friday. What a treat to see you in studios.
Speaker 3: They're welcome, great to be with you. So are you
Speaker 3: taking a victory lap here? This is something that a
Speaker 3: lot of people didn't think could happen in this Congress.
Speaker 9: It's a big issue and I'm so glad to see
Speaker 9: such a strong bipartisan vote. Two hundred and seventy nine
Speaker 9: members of the House voted for our Market Structure Bill,
Speaker 9: which gives clarity for the first time in a roadmap
Speaker 9: for digital assets, how to offer them where they trade,
Speaker 9: whether it's under SEC rules or the CFTC rules, how
Speaker 9: to be a dealer, how to be a broker, how
Speaker 9: to doodan be a custodian. So this was a big
Speaker 9: bipartisan success.
Speaker 3: It needs to go to the Senate now, where I'm
Speaker 3: told it's a steeper client. We've had some tell us
Speaker 3: that it does not have the votes to pass the Senate.
Speaker 9: What are you hearing, well, what's interesting Over the past
Speaker 9: two years working for Payment Stay legislation, which is a
Speaker 9: dollar backed private stable coin issued by the private sector,
Speaker 9: not a central bank digital currency. That work has bipartisan support.
Speaker 9: I've seen leaders in the Senate speak out in favor
Speaker 9: of that, and on the Market Structure bill, We've had
Speaker 9: Senate interest for years on that. Senators Loomis and Jilliran,
Speaker 9: for example, have been working on ideas there. Senator's Stabinaw
Speaker 9: and Bozeman had been working on ideas. So I think
Speaker 9: we're listening to senators. I think our big vote two
Speaker 9: hundred and seventy nine votes in favor seventy one Democrat
Speaker 9: votes in favor, will help send a message that we've
Speaker 9: got text on market structure in a pretty good place
Speaker 9: to start working with the Senator.
Speaker 3: The alternative is come on down and register. Would this
Speaker 3: have happened without the approach that Gary Gensler has taken
Speaker 3: from the SEC.
Speaker 9: Well Chair Clayton under the Trump administration, Chair Gensler here
Speaker 9: in the Bide administration could have used eempt of relief
Speaker 9: along the way to narrow some of these regulatory gaps.
Speaker 9: But President Biden himself in their Executive Order and in
Speaker 9: the Financial Stability Oversight Council's report says there's a regulatory
Speaker 9: gap between commodities, securities and how to do this in
Speaker 9: the right way, and they argued that it should have
Speaker 9: been a legislative solution. So I do think we've taken
Speaker 9: the right direction to have a legislated solution, and that
Speaker 9: perhaps neither Chairman Gensler at the SEC and certainly Chairman
Speaker 9: Venom at the CFTC could not really do it in
Speaker 9: a full effective way without legislation.
Speaker 3: Well, a lot of as you know, crypto executives felt
Speaker 3: like they were being set up, that there was no
Speaker 3: real way to navigate because there were no rules to
Speaker 3: the road and just coming in to quote unquote register
Speaker 3: might cost you a quarter of a million dollars in
Speaker 3: attorney's fees in dealing with the SEC.
Speaker 9: Or more I mean or more or effectively, that just
Speaker 9: wasn't happening. Coming in register was just a black hole.
Speaker 9: There was no exit. It was the original Hotel California.
Speaker 9: You could check in, but you couldn't check out on
Speaker 9: that process. And so that's why again I think a
Speaker 9: legislative solution is the best way to go, and it'll
Speaker 9: be more effective for everybody in the space, innovators, venture capitalists,
Speaker 9: consumer protection investors.
Speaker 3: I mentioned the ethereum ETFs. Of course, now on the
Speaker 3: heels of the Bitcoin ETFs is the institutional involvement that
Speaker 3: is predicted to follow here. Really what helps crypto mature?
Speaker 3: It helps your argument in Washington.
Speaker 7: I think so.
Speaker 9: I think look, Chairman Clayton and Chairman Genslert didn't feel
Speaker 9: like they had the right analytical framework to approve an
Speaker 9: exchange traded product for bitcoin, But after analysis and the
Speaker 9: work of Commissioner Perse, they found that the cash market
Speaker 9: and the analytics around that looks stable, and so they
Speaker 9: approve bitcoin. The Federal court said they should approve bitcoin ETP,
Speaker 9: and I think that federal court litigation and the analytic
Speaker 9: work done by the Commission staff pave the way for
Speaker 9: this ethereum decision.
Speaker 3: This week? Is stable coin next? Then you mentioned that
Speaker 3: there was talk about that maybe being put together with
Speaker 3: safe banking during the FAA extension. None of them happened, right,
Speaker 3: what's the way forward?
Speaker 9: Well, I think a payment's dollar back payment stable coin
Speaker 9: under US law with US oversight is a real critical
Speaker 9: need for this ecosystem, and so I do expect it
Speaker 9: to be next. I think Ranking Member Maxine Waters on
Speaker 9: the Financial Services Committee, Chairman Patrick McHenry have done a
Speaker 9: great job working on this. We've had tremendous engagement from
Speaker 9: the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve. So I think
Speaker 9: we're close. But you're right, we're looking for that legislative
Speaker 9: vehicle for payment stable coins. But to your point a
Speaker 9: few minutes ago about the Senate, I think there's solid
Speaker 9: Senate and House support to move that as well. We
Speaker 9: just have to find the right approach.
Speaker 3: Maybe post election on the edge.
Speaker 9: Could be I mean we're going to wait, and a
Speaker 9: lot of.
Speaker 3: Money and floating around in his campaign all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: isn't there.
Speaker 9: I've seen that you have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and it's impacting some races in a big way.
Speaker 3: As we spend time with Congressman french Hill, I want
Speaker 3: you to put your hat on another committee, and that's
Speaker 3: Foreign Affairs. This has been a very busy week from
Speaker 3: China to Israel, and i'd like to ask you about both.
Speaker 3: You may be preparing a codel right now and to
Speaker 3: go somewhere interesting in the world that you can tell
Speaker 3: us about. But the drills that we're seeing around Taiwan,
Speaker 3: i'd love to hear you speak to because this has
Speaker 3: been framed the biggest drills we've seen in some time
Speaker 3: by Beijing and the Taiwan Straight framed his punishment for
Speaker 3: swearing in their new president. I spoke yesterday with the
Speaker 3: ranking member on the China Selectivity, the House China Selectivity,
Speaker 3: of course, Roger christ the Morphy. Here's what he said
Speaker 3: about what appears to be a deteriorating relationship once again, Congressman,
Speaker 3: let's listen.
Speaker 11: I don't think it's maybe deteriorating as much as it's
Speaker 11: continuing to be maybe unresolved.
Speaker 3: I think that it's really up to Chizing Ping Joe.
Speaker 11: I think that he needs to make a decision, which
Speaker 11: is does he continue with this policy of aggression and
Speaker 11: provocative behavior which could potentially lead to dangerous and catastrophic
Speaker 11: consequences and the Taiwan Straight and the South China Sea.
Speaker 3: How much of this is a danger an increasing level
Speaker 3: of danger versus you know what we see this movie
Speaker 3: every time Taiwan makes noise.
Speaker 9: Well, it is it is a pattern of the Shi
Speaker 9: regime to intensify their military drills and be in a
Speaker 9: menacing and threatening away across the narrow Taiwan Straight Whenever
Speaker 9: there appears to be progress towards supporting democracy on the island.
Speaker 9: Here we have the inauguration of a new democratically elected
Speaker 9: leader of Taiwan. Chairman Mike McCall, the Foreign Affairs Committee,
Speaker 9: is lead leading our delegation to that inaugura. But you
Speaker 9: saw the same kind of behavior when Nancy Pelosi visited
Speaker 9: the island. When Chairman McCall and I were on the
Speaker 9: island last April, yes, we had the exact same greeting.
Speaker 3: They want to remind you that they could do a
Speaker 3: blockade in about five minutes if they wanted.
Speaker 10: They do.
Speaker 9: Look, I think fundamentally Taiwan is a great democratic, economic,
Speaker 9: free market success story. They're big investors in China. The
Speaker 9: people of Taiwan want the status quo. They want to
Speaker 9: maintain their democracy, free and open navigation of the Taiwan straight.
Speaker 9: They don't want to be, by warfare or force or coercion,
Speaker 9: compelled to join the communist regime in Beijing.
Speaker 7: She knows this, but this is.
Speaker 9: How he tries to pull the string of his long
Speaker 9: standing policy. Our policy here in the United States was
Speaker 9: founded back in nineteen seventy nine, where we committed that
Speaker 9: while we recognized China and Beijing is the capital of
Speaker 9: China formally that we would maintain our economic policy and
Speaker 9: our defense policy of the people of Taiwan and let
Speaker 9: them build their democracy and by GWI, over the last
Speaker 9: forty years, have they been successful in doing that?
Speaker 3: That's something. Would you go back to Taiwan knowing all
Speaker 3: of this.
Speaker 7: I would? I think.
Speaker 9: I think it's a magnificent, generous, innovative, amazing spark.
Speaker 3: More drills for them to deal with after you left.
Speaker 9: Well, look, I think they want America, Japan, South Korea,
Speaker 9: the Philippines, Vietnam, regional players supporting them in their interest
Speaker 9: to pursue freedom. But status quo, not independence of China.
Speaker 9: Just let's keep the status quo which allows our system
Speaker 9: to thrive. But the fear on the island is China
Speaker 9: turn their back on Hong Kong. They broke their word
Speaker 9: to the United Kingdom and the people of Hong Kong,
Speaker 9: and that's what's caused tensions in the region to remain high.
Speaker 3: The UN's top courts, the International Court of Justice, am
Speaker 3: I saying it. I don't think most people have ever
Speaker 3: heard of this before, to be honest with you, While
Speaker 3: it is of course very real, The International Court of
Speaker 3: Justice says that Israel needs to pull military operations from
Speaker 3: Rafa now, and this GEME as part of a complaint
Speaker 3: by South Africa that alleged genocide in Gaza. We've got
Speaker 3: a new temporary peer that we just spent a lot
Speaker 3: of money on that doesn't seem to be bringing much
Speaker 3: aid into Gaza. What needs to happen.
Speaker 9: I think we need to stand with Israel and let
Speaker 9: Israel use their best judgment on clearing the Hamas terror
Speaker 9: group out of Gaza.
Speaker 3: Are they still in Rafa?
Speaker 9: Do we know there are elements still in Rafa? They
Speaker 9: still are in a position to attack. We have more
Speaker 9: dead bodies of hostages announced today. This is a terrible situation.
Speaker 9: And remember that Israel has suffered an attack on the
Speaker 9: scale larger than our attack of nine to eleven from
Speaker 9: their point of view, by a terror group back by
Speaker 9: financed by Iran, an enemy of the United States. So
Speaker 9: I think we should stand by our ally and let
Speaker 9: them take the actions that they need to take to
Speaker 9: defend their.
Speaker 3: Own You don't believe it's genocide, obviously I don't.
Speaker 9: And I think that the International Court in this instance
Speaker 9: is wrong. We're not a party to that treaty, so
Speaker 9: we don't even think highly enough of that organization to
Speaker 9: be a subscriber to it. And I think what we
Speaker 9: ought to recognize is that we don't want this conflict
Speaker 9: to get broader. We need humanitarian aid there, and we
Speaker 9: need to recognize that Hamas is a political organization and
Speaker 9: a terror group back by their allies like those in
Speaker 9: Turkey and Tehran have facilitated this kind of behavior through
Speaker 9: their financing and their tolerance. And for twenty years Hamas
Speaker 9: is controlled Gaza. A lot of Americans don't know this.
Speaker 9: The Israeli government, the West Bank government, Fata Mamuda Boss Americans,
Speaker 9: the Egyptians. They allowed Hamas, they won an election in
Speaker 9: two thousand and six. They've had complete control of Godsma.
Speaker 9: Are the people better off under Gods? What about the
Speaker 9: billions of dollars from the United Nations and donor countries.
Speaker 9: Do you see better schools? Do you see better nutrition?
Speaker 9: Do you see better jobs under the Hamas leadership?
Speaker 3: So should Benjaminett? Yeah, who come here to speak to
Speaker 3: a joint session of Congress because the speaker is reportedly
Speaker 3: on the verge of inviting him.
Speaker 9: I think he should. I think outlli of the United
Speaker 9: States under attack by a group of people that we
Speaker 9: recognize as a global terror organization backed by the number
Speaker 9: one state sponsor of Iran, deserves to be heard in
Speaker 9: the United States.
Speaker 3: What if Chuck Schumer says no, does he come speak
Speaker 3: to the House alone? I would think that would be
Speaker 3: quite out of optics.
Speaker 9: I don't think that that's the way it would work.
Speaker 9: I believe that the Majority leader would think long and
Speaker 9: hard about that.
Speaker 3: What are you planning? Probably not allowed to answer this
Speaker 3: for your next trip abroad. You've been conducting some pretty
Speaker 3: heady codels, including one recently to Syria. What's next on
Speaker 3: the list?
Speaker 9: Well, I'm still concerned about countering the Assad regime and
Speaker 9: turning a terror state like Syria into a regional drug
Speaker 9: proliferation state in narco terrorism that is poisoning young people
Speaker 9: across the Gulf and into Europe. So that's certainly something
Speaker 9: I'll remain committed to working on. Not going to Lower
Speaker 9: Manhattan anytime, Not anytime. So Tom Emmer was on there.
Speaker 3: I tell you he's struggling to keep the schedule working
Speaker 3: correctly because so many people are going to New York to.
Speaker 9: We need all of our members available for voting. We
Speaker 9: have a two seat majority. Now we're delighted to have
Speaker 9: the new gentleman from Bakersfield, California.
Speaker 3: Has Vince Fon come by the office yet.
Speaker 9: He has, and he'll be sworn in and we look
Speaker 9: forward to his addition to our team.
Speaker 3: Well, we always look forward to spending time with you.
Speaker 3: Thank you for coming, Thank you, Thanks you last out
Speaker 3: of town. I hope you have a great holiday, happy Memorial.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much. I'm Joe Matthew and Washington. That's
Speaker 3: Congressman french Hill. As we assembled our panel for a
Speaker 3: quick hit on the issue that we were just talking about,
Speaker 3: the invitation of Benjamin Netanya, who that appears to be looming.
Speaker 3: Gidi Schanzeno is with us today, of course, Bloomberg Politics
Speaker 3: contributor and senior Democracy Fellow with the Center for the
Speaker 3: Study of the Presidency in Congress, alongside Marigillespie, Republican strategist,
Speaker 3: founder of Blue Stack Strategies. Jinny, is this going to happen?
Speaker 3: And if so, does Chuck Schumer need to get on
Speaker 3: board and invite Benjamin Neettanya how to speak to a
Speaker 3: joint session of Congress?
Speaker 12: Yeah, I think he should. I think he will. It
Speaker 12: certainly is an example of Johnson taking it to the Democrats.
Speaker 12: This is a tough one for the Democrats, but I think,
Speaker 12: you know, the Majority leader needs to make the case
Speaker 12: that he is supportive as Chuck Schumer always has been
Speaker 12: of Israel. It is this policies of net Nyahu that
Speaker 12: he has an issue with and that that invitation should
Speaker 12: be forthcoming. So I think he will do that, but
Speaker 12: it's not going to be easy for the Democrats. This
Speaker 12: is Johnson has done a good one.
Speaker 3: Here more of your thoughts on this. You worked for
Speaker 3: a speaker. What would it say if that invitation went
Speaker 3: out without the cooperation of the Senate leader?
Speaker 10: You know, I was there with a Speaker Brainer when
Speaker 10: naw who came to Congress previously under Speaker Brainer's invitation.
Speaker 10: And yes, it's preferred that it's a unified invitation, that
Speaker 10: that goes out in good faith by the Majority Leader
Speaker 10: as well as the Speaker of the House. But you know,
Speaker 10: the Speaker is the speaker of the whole House, and
Speaker 10: it's his opportunity to do so. And I think, you know,
Speaker 10: for the American people, it'll be an important opportunity to
Speaker 10: hear from net Yahoo to support Israel, to Genie's point
Speaker 10: is not necessarily to say that you support NAT and Yahoo,
Speaker 10: but we as an ally of Israel, need to hear
Speaker 10: about what's going on there directly from the sources.
Speaker 3: Well, we'll discuss it a lot more as we learn more
Speaker 3: about this invitation. Our panel is going to stick with us, though,
Speaker 3: Genie and Mora. As Donald Trump makes tracks to the
Speaker 3: Bronx Big Rally last night, it looked a lot different
Speaker 3: than the traditional Maga rally. We'll get into that next
Speaker 3: to the campaign trail on Balance of Power. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast.
Speaker 2: Can just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and
Speaker 2: then Ronoo with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also
Speaker 2: listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station,
Speaker 2: Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven.
Speaker 3: Thirty on a quiet day in the nation's capital. Not
Speaker 3: at all on the campaign trail, certainly not last night
Speaker 3: in New York, as Donald Trump made his way to
Speaker 3: the Bronx and pretty fascinating to see a much more
Speaker 3: diverse crowd then tends to gather for a Trump rally,
Speaker 3: But the color of the hats was the same in
Speaker 3: deep blue New York. MAGA has its moment. Donald Trump
Speaker 3: even seems to think he could win the state of
Speaker 3: New York in this selection, though many wonder what world
Speaker 3: in which that could happen. The fact of the matter
Speaker 3: is both of these candidates are making a concerted effort
Speaker 3: to win the support of black and Hispanic voters, and
Speaker 3: that probably would not be happening if we hadn't seen
Speaker 3: the deficit in recent polling that Joe Biden is showing.
Speaker 3: Let's assemble our panel for their take on all of it.
Speaker 3: Jenny shanz Know is with US Bloomberg Politics contributor and
Speaker 3: now Senior Democracy Fellow with the Center for the Study
Speaker 3: of the Presidency in Congress. More Gillespie here as well,
Speaker 3: Republican strategist founder Blue Stack Strategies, spent many years working
Speaker 3: for the Speaker of the House, Speaker Bayiner. Great to
Speaker 3: have you both with us here. More I'll start with you.
Speaker 3: You know New York, you know the Republican Party. Where's
Speaker 3: Donald Trump looking here? What's the purpose of this exercise
Speaker 3: when no one seems to think he could win that
Speaker 3: blue state?
Speaker 10: He sees and Republicancy a real opportunity to get the
Speaker 10: black vote. You know, I think it's something that I
Speaker 10: don't know, we talk enough about the problems people are
Speaker 10: having with what's currently going on, and you know, liberal
Speaker 10: more liberal run cities and states. You know, you saw
Speaker 10: the results from Oregon's primary this this week. Not great
Speaker 10: for progressives. You know, I think that the progressive policies
Speaker 10: haven't benefited people. They're not feeling in their pockets, and
Speaker 10: so the reflection of that is looking for somebody else's
Speaker 10: support where they felt like maybe times were better. I
Speaker 10: know that feels kind of you know, hard to imagine,
Speaker 10: given that during Donald Trump's presidency we were in COVID times.
Speaker 10: But prior to COVID, you know, people felt like the
Speaker 10: economy was doing better. So, yes, they are. You could
Speaker 10: be frustrated by Donald Trump, you could be. You don't
Speaker 10: have to like them to vote for them. And I
Speaker 10: think that we forget that as we talk about politics
Speaker 10: and talk about these choices. It's not binary to choose
Speaker 10: between the two as far as who you like better,
Speaker 10: It's about where do you personally feel you'll be doing
Speaker 10: better in four years from now.
Speaker 3: Well, that's an important line, Genie. Don't have to like
Speaker 3: them to vote for them. What do you make of
Speaker 3: the crowd that showed up in New York? What does
Speaker 3: it say about New York and the canidate.
Speaker 12: Yeah, there's nothing like a summer in the Bronx Joe,
Speaker 12: and that's where Donald Trump was yesterday. And I have
Speaker 12: to say, and I say this reluctantly, it was a
Speaker 12: very smart move. You know, he is doing what campaign
Speaker 12: should be doing. We've often criticized I have I shouldn't
Speaker 12: say you have, you have not. I have often criticized
Speaker 12: Donald Trump for not reaching out beyond his base. You know,
Speaker 12: we traditionally say he doubles down on his base. Well,
Speaker 12: this is an example of a truly smart campaign strategy
Speaker 12: of reaching out and taking it to the base of
Speaker 12: your opponent and saying, don't take this base for granted,
Speaker 12: Joe Biden and Democrats, because I you know, the fact
Speaker 12: is he doesn't have to win New York. No, no
Speaker 12: Republican Hansince, Ronald Reagan. But what he can do is
Speaker 12: he can take it to Joe Biden, make Joe Biden
Speaker 12: spend money, make Joe Biden fight for those those voters.
Speaker 12: And that is a brilliant strategy that Democrats should be
Speaker 12: doing the same with Donald Trump's base. That's what you
Speaker 12: do so very reluctantly, I say, for all the talk
Speaker 12: about you know things thirty forty years ago with Woolman
Speaker 12: Park and stuff, this was a very smart strategy on
Speaker 12: the Trump campaign's part.
Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting more, I keep here in that only
Speaker 3: six or seven states are going to decide this whole election.
Speaker 3: So why would either candidate go to a place like
Speaker 3: New York or California where it seems predetermined.
Speaker 10: It may seem predetermined, but I do think that in
Speaker 10: both New York and California you're starting to see some
Speaker 10: areas of those states where it's getting a little purple,
Speaker 10: and as an opportunity to capitalize on those who are
Speaker 10: disillusioned by you know, government right now. They're not happy
Speaker 10: with the choices they have. And we've long said that
Speaker 10: it's not up to us as voters, or maybe I've
Speaker 10: long said it, it's not up to us as voters
Speaker 10: to choose between the two, but it's up to those
Speaker 10: two candidates to convince us to vote for them. And so,
Speaker 10: to Genie's point, Donald Trump going out and making his
Speaker 10: case to people who maybe aren't happy with how things
Speaker 10: are well, he can make a case that he'll make
Speaker 10: it better. You know, that's what canad is supposed to
Speaker 10: be doing. And coming to the Bronx and going directly
Speaker 10: to them. I think one of the people who' said there,
Speaker 10: you know, we have a president here, We're going to
Speaker 10: listen at least, so I think that, yeah, making that
Speaker 10: effort really does make an impact. Whether you think you're
Speaker 10: gonna win that state or not, you're showing up.
Speaker 3: Well, let's follow the money for a moment here, because
Speaker 3: one of the big headlines this week was Donald Trump
Speaker 3: and the RNC out raising Joe Biden and the DNC
Speaker 3: for the first time this cycle. And it's only one month,
Speaker 3: but they're hoping for a lot more, as Axios reports
Speaker 3: today that jd Vance Senator jd Vance, supposedly on the
Speaker 3: list of potential vice presidential picks for Trump and very
Speaker 3: close to Peter Thiel, is putting together a massive fundraiser
Speaker 3: with heavy hitters from Silicon Valley. It'll take place in,
Speaker 3: of all places, San Francisco, on the sixth of June.
Speaker 3: G how much does Joe Biden need to worry about
Speaker 3: the mega donors turning away from him and towards Trump.
Speaker 12: Yeah, it is a concern. And again talk about going
Speaker 12: to a blue area. You know, there they go again.
Speaker 12: More just mentioned California. This will be in San Francisco.
Speaker 12: I think jd Vance has gotten the memo that if
Speaker 12: you want to be on the short list for VP,
Speaker 12: it is all about well, first of all playing amid
Speaker 12: paying rather onorge to Donald Trump, and second of all
Speaker 12: raising money. So he doesn't want to let Doug Burghum,
Speaker 12: you know, win the game there. So he is doing
Speaker 12: this and it's a smart strategy. They want to try
Speaker 12: to make what was the last month's numbers a trend.
Speaker 12: We don't know if we will see that at this
Speaker 12: point because we can't forget Donald Trump just became the
Speaker 12: presumptive nominee, so that was a benefit and a boon
Speaker 12: for the April numbers. But yeah, they're going out there
Speaker 12: and they're going to try to make the case. And
Speaker 12: you you know, you've talked a lot about Crypto on
Speaker 12: this show.
Speaker 6: Joe.
Speaker 12: Crypto has about eighty million to spend in this campaign
Speaker 12: as well at this well, but there's a lot of
Speaker 12: money there.
Speaker 3: That's a huge part of the story. As we discussed
Speaker 3: with Congressman Frenshill earlier, Genie. Then you've got Big Oil,
Speaker 3: Mora and a fascinating story on the Bloomberg Here Donald
Speaker 3: Trump raised forty million dollars in one day cash events
Speaker 3: in Houston and Dallas, described by people familiar with the events,
Speaker 3: forty million dollars in oil money, remembering he was looking
Speaker 3: for a billion. It was a story in the Washington
Speaker 3: Post that he asked for a billion dollars collectively from
Speaker 3: Big Oil to rescind all of the climate initiatives of
Speaker 3: the Biden administration. Maybe not a billion, but this is
Speaker 3: one of the highest single day hauls for a presidential
Speaker 3: candidate ever Mora and Big Oil has more money to spend, right.
Speaker 10: Absolutely, And again the policies of the Biden administration, but
Speaker 10: progressives around the country has not been seen as successful.
Speaker 10: So you're seeing a big push in Texas for energy.
Speaker 10: It's a huge issue there and there's a lot of
Speaker 10: money there. I mean, there's a lot of money to
Speaker 10: be gleaned from donors there and so it's maybe not
Speaker 10: a billion, but there's more to go, as you mentioned,
Speaker 10: and I think that's an opportunity to get in places
Speaker 10: where the policies or failed policies of the progressives are
Speaker 10: being reflected in communities like San Francisco, like in Austin,
Speaker 10: and in New York City. So it's definitely starting to
Speaker 10: get to people. And again, you know, there is a
Speaker 10: lot of donors who have been sitting on the sidelines
Speaker 10: that maybe are now taking a more active role.
Speaker 3: At the same time, though, we must acknowledge that the
Speaker 3: United States is cranking out more oil than ever. We
Speaker 3: are pumping more oil than any time in our history. Genie,
Speaker 3: does Joe Biden actually have to start saying that out loud?
Speaker 12: He absolutely should, and I think he should also stand
Speaker 12: up and say, look, people across the Democratic and Republican
Speaker 12: Party realize that when Donald Trump rather made that promise,
Speaker 12: you know, give me a billion and I will push
Speaker 12: back on all the steps that Biden administration has made
Speaker 12: as it pertains to our environment that impacts our children
Speaker 12: and our grandchildren. You want to get support from young people.
Speaker 12: The environment is critically important to how so many of
Speaker 12: them think because they are worried about the future. So
Speaker 12: I think the Biden team needs to put this in
Speaker 12: stark terms. Joe Biden understands you. To your point, we
Speaker 12: are pumping more oil. But we all have an interest
Speaker 12: in and deep concern about the impact of the environment.
Speaker 12: Donald Trump is interested in himself, and he's willing to
Speaker 12: trade all of that for a billion dollars for himself
Speaker 12: to pay off his lawyers. So that is something they
Speaker 12: should be saying. They haven't said it yet, but who knows,
Speaker 12: they may once they hear your show.
Speaker 3: Joe, Yeah, well I got knows. Today's by the way,
Speaker 3: the big gas price. The average today trip a national
Speaker 3: average going into Memorial Day weekend, three dollars sixty cents
Speaker 3: a gallon. When you look to New York, it's three
Speaker 3: sixty eight. Look to Illinois, where Democrats are going to
Speaker 3: have their convention this summer, four dollars, there's a four handle.
Speaker 3: And in California the aforementioned. I just I know it's
Speaker 3: not like the rest of the world, but five dollars
Speaker 3: fourteen cents. Great panel, great conversation. Love spending time with
Speaker 3: Genie Shanzano and Morag Gillespie. We thank you both.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast.
Speaker 2: Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and
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Speaker 2: on YouTube.
Speaker 3: They worked until the wee hours in the House of
Speaker 3: Representatives of late night for lawmakers with the knockdown, drag
Speaker 3: out markup session on the Farmville. This is now the
Speaker 3: newest controversy in Washington. When I say farm Bill, I'm
Speaker 3: not only talking about farmers. I'm talking about food stamps.
Speaker 3: This is going to expire in September. Lawmakers are trying
Speaker 3: to get their arms around it right now, and the
Speaker 3: debate in the markup session went on for some time.
Speaker 3: Congressman Jonathan Jackson speaking passionately about this in the process,
Speaker 3: the Democrat from Illinois First District, let's listen to.
Speaker 7: Be sure, this bill compels us to move beyond the
Speaker 7: politics of Blaine so that we might embrace a more
Speaker 7: excellent way. In fact, I would go far so far
Speaker 7: as to saying that the farm Bill is one of
Speaker 7: the few manifestations of the social contract this government makes
Speaker 7: with the American people. The SNAP program, I would like
Speaker 7: to focus in on more singularly, is a moral achievement.
Speaker 3: And he's now with us at the table. Congressman Jonathan Jackson,
Speaker 3: thank you for coming to see us today of Bloomberg.
Speaker 3: It's good to see you, great to see you. It's
Speaker 3: best after all that.
Speaker 7: Yes, it's funny.
Speaker 3: People say there's nothing left on Capitol Hill, but there's
Speaker 3: one big one and left it's called the Farm Bill.
Speaker 3: So what did food stamps get to be so controversial?
Speaker 3: I heard Republicans in that markup session talking about robbing
Speaker 3: Peter to pay.
Speaker 7: Paul right, And it seems like in this one hundred
Speaker 7: and eighteenth Congress has a lot of unique things. But
Speaker 7: essentially we're talking about one point five trillion trillion with
Speaker 7: the TEA budget that's looking out over a five year
Speaker 7: reauthorization over a ten year horizon, and the one point
Speaker 7: five trillion dollars eighty percent of that fund are going
Speaker 7: towards the snap the supplemental nutritional assistance program. That's right,
Speaker 7: and I have to put the focus on supplemental nutrition
Speaker 7: and assistance. The other side of that coin is dealing
Speaker 7: with malnutrition. There is rising malnutrition. If you did not
Speaker 7: have this part of the budget focused on the farming,
Speaker 7: you'd be talking about almost fifteen billion dollars in increasing
Speaker 7: malnutrition amongst American citizens. Forty two million Americans qualified for
Speaker 7: supplemental nutritional assistance. Roughly one hundred and eighty dollars a
Speaker 7: month would go to these persons two dollars per monk.
Speaker 7: This is the eighty percent of the farm bill. So
Speaker 7: it goes to show you that there's food insecurity in
Speaker 7: America that we have to deal with.
Speaker 3: Jony Ernst joined us. Just the other day. The senator
Speaker 3: from Iowa said there will be no new farm bill.
Speaker 3: We're going to have to extend the one we have
Speaker 3: and come up with a new product. Are you hearing
Speaker 3: talk like that as well?
Speaker 7: I'm not, but that very well could be the case.
Speaker 7: I'm more optimistic. We have a great chairman and a
Speaker 7: great ranking member, Chairman Thompson, ranking member Scott. So I'm
Speaker 7: very confident, or feel highly confident, or shall I say
Speaker 7: very hopeful who we'll get through this.
Speaker 3: Congressman. Tomorrow, we're going to mark four years since the death,
Speaker 3: the murder of George Floyd. This is going to be
Speaker 3: a moment for our country. You were at George Floyd's funeral,
Speaker 3: and there was a thought at that time that there
Speaker 3: was great change coming, and in some cases we saw it,
Speaker 3: particularly at the local level, in new laws and regulations
Speaker 3: for policing on the state level primarily, but there was
Speaker 3: something called the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act that
Speaker 3: passed the House some time ago. It went nowhere from there,
Speaker 3: and Shila Jackson Lee reintroduced it this week. What's different
Speaker 3: now when it comes to that legislation? Could it pass again?
Speaker 7: It seems like everything has changed. It seems to be
Speaker 7: a complete reversal, if you will, a retreatment and a
Speaker 7: retrenchment on corporate America's commitment to racial, social and justice equity.
Speaker 7: We've seen in the extension of our annual budget, of
Speaker 7: the budget that passed the DEI, the Diversity Equity and
Speaker 7: Inclusion Office on Capitol Hill was removed from out of
Speaker 7: the building. Now people are being sued after the overturn
Speaker 7: of the affirmative action ruling. If you will that thirteen
Speaker 7: attorney attorney generals from each state sent letters to the
Speaker 7: fortune one hundred corporations saying, if you have a diversity
Speaker 7: equity inclusion program in place, that that is subject to
Speaker 7: be challenged and sued.
Speaker 3: DEI become a swear word.
Speaker 7: I don't know, I mean just as the most bizarre things.
Speaker 7: But then again, there are a lot of things that
Speaker 7: are nominally here that have happened. How do we have
Speaker 7: a president if you will on trial for prostitution if
Speaker 7: you will, And I don't know what hush money payments are,
Speaker 7: that's actually bribery. I mean, like a lot of things
Speaker 7: have happened. We used to say look up to the president.
Speaker 7: And if you're talking about looking up to what's happened
Speaker 7: in food, how do we become mean towards women and children? Well,
Speaker 7: we should be talking about as a war on poverty,
Speaker 7: not a war on the poor. These are the most
Speaker 7: vulnerable people in our society that qualify for SNAP. People
Speaker 7: don't want to have this supplemental nutritional assistance. So therefore,
Speaker 7: if you've got crop insurance, meaning that there's climate issues
Speaker 7: that are out of our control that are going through
Speaker 7: Iowa and Oklahoma and Kansas and devastating the land and
Speaker 7: the farmers, that's a subsidized program that the federal government
Speaker 7: has for farm insurance. I've come to look at SNAP
Speaker 7: as food insurance and family insurance that the government uses
Speaker 7: when people cannot do for themselves. I think the government
Speaker 7: should help them. When the people can do for themselves,
Speaker 7: the government needs to step back right now, people are aching.
Speaker 7: There's been autoinflation, there's been housing inflation. There's education, if
Speaker 7: you will, the cost of education inflation. But this Farm
Speaker 7: bill doesn't even address to deal with food inflation. And
Speaker 7: so to think that we could talk about taking thirty
Speaker 7: billion dollars off of the out of the budget to
Speaker 7: attack women and children, We're going to take a stand
Speaker 7: and we're not going to concede an inch.
Speaker 3: You just set a lot. And I don't know anything
Speaker 3: about any prostitution charges in this case, but when we
Speaker 3: talk about well.
Speaker 7: It's called pornography, but well, I'd like to call it
Speaker 7: what I think it.
Speaker 3: Is understood where you're what you're referring to, Congressman, what
Speaker 3: can you do in the rest of this Congress? Then
Speaker 3: it sounds like your focus is on the farm bill,
Speaker 3: it's on food stamps as your answer to what you
Speaker 3: see as this cultural reversal, Am I.
Speaker 7: Right, Yes, it's a war on the poor that people,
Speaker 7: the American people, have a housing issue that's becoming fifty
Speaker 7: percent of the average consumer's income. We're talking about the
Speaker 7: average car is now forty thousand dollars. That's going beyond
Speaker 7: people's reach. Student debt is now shaping an entire generation
Speaker 7: where they're having to make a decision.
Speaker 3: Between While a lot of people are criticizing Joe Biden
Speaker 3: for higher prices, does he deserve it?
Speaker 7: No, I think there was a supply chain issue. I
Speaker 7: think we're going through a structural readjustment that the American
Speaker 7: people deserve. If you will an FDR moment or Franklin
Speaker 7: Delmore Roosevelt moment by President Biden to come and talk
Speaker 7: to the American people, do the White House to the
Speaker 7: fireside chat. This is our money, it's going abroad for wars.
Speaker 7: Here's what our benefit is and the peace dividend that
Speaker 7: we can expect after we define the victory. Here's what
Speaker 7: our money is going for defense. Here's where our money's
Speaker 7: going for allies abroad, and for this generation. Here's what's
Speaker 7: going to be your big deal. And then the student
Speaker 7: loan debt relief is good and great, but we've got
Speaker 7: to do more than that. What's the investment that enhances
Speaker 7: their life and that's what they're being hopeful and waiting for.
Speaker 3: I hope you have a great Memorial Day week, and
Speaker 3: I want you to come back and talk to us
Speaker 3: about the campaign and whether the black vote will be
Speaker 3: there for Joe Biden. Would you do that for us,
Speaker 3: I'd be honest to do. Thank you, Congress Jonathan Jackson,
Speaker 3: Thank you, Sir Than On Bloomberg TV and Radio Live
Speaker 3: from Washington, This is Ballance of Power. Thanks for listening
Speaker 3: to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe
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