Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: When our great producers asked me who would you like
Speaker 2: to talk with on the last show of the year,
Speaker 2: We didn't have to think very hard about it, I
Speaker 2: said Frank. Frank Luntz, founder CEO fil Ink, political strategist.
Speaker 2: I'm supposed to say celebrity polster too, right, Frank. It's
Speaker 2: great to see you. I hope the holiday season is
Speaker 2: going well for you. Happy New Year in advance. With
Speaker 2: everything that I just said, is our nation more or
Speaker 2: less divided now than it was at the beginning of
Speaker 2: the year.
Speaker 3: Well, here's what's interesting. And you and I spend an
Speaker 3: afternoon in the freezing cold of Des Moines, Iowa. Your
Speaker 3: set was only one block from my hotel, and I
Speaker 3: almost didn't make it. And now we end the year
Speaker 3: so still so angry, with half of America in disbelief
Speaker 3: and the other half celebrating looking ahead to twenty twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five as being the best year ever. Are we divided?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: Polarized? Yes? Is their pressure to bring us together? Not really?
Speaker 3: Now that said, let me give you three findings over
Speaker 3: the last few days. Number one is that Donald Trump's popularities,
Speaker 3: favorability is higher now than it was when he became
Speaker 3: president back in twenty seventeen. Number two, there are groups
Speaker 3: within the electorate, particularly Latinos, younger men, Union members, who
Speaker 3: are considering voting Republican more so now than they ever
Speaker 3: have in modern times. And number three, the Democrats are
Speaker 3: divided as to what to do, how to move forward,
Speaker 3: and the only advice I can give them as we
Speaker 3: end this year is this idea being the resistance is
Speaker 3: not what America wants. Even those that did not vote
Speaker 3: for Donald Trump don't want resistance. What they want is
Speaker 3: an alternative vision, an alternative approach, And everyone across America
Speaker 3: watching right now results results that they can count on,
Speaker 3: results that are both meaningful and measurable. That's what the
Speaker 3: American people are asking for.
Speaker 2: Well, so then would it be a misstep for Democrats
Speaker 2: to not help elect a Speaker of the House on Friday,
Speaker 2: knowing that Mike Johnson has four votes to play with
Speaker 2: Frank Well.
Speaker 3: Hakeem Jefferies is one of the best communicators in America today,
Speaker 3: and he has the ability to reach across the aisle.
Speaker 3: Whether he chooses to probably the answers probably no, because
Speaker 3: he has a different point of view than the Republicans,
Speaker 3: and it's not the job of the Democrats to help
Speaker 3: the Republicans. That said, it would be a shock and
Speaker 3: two tens of millions of Americans a disappointment if the
Speaker 3: Republican Party, after waiting this long to have a president,
Speaker 3: a Senate, and a House, end up tearing themselves apart.
Speaker 3: The American people want you to stand up for your convictions.
Speaker 3: They don't want you to give up on your beliefs.
Speaker 3: But they even more so want to get things done
Speaker 3: on immigration. They want to solve the border on prices,
Speaker 3: they want to do policies that effect affordability, and they're
Speaker 3: just tired of this yelling and screaming in Washington, d C.
Speaker 3: That's the message that they need to take home this
Speaker 3: New Year's even.
Speaker 2: Well, so, are we going to find a Republican conference
Speaker 2: that is united on Friday? Where of course, that's the
Speaker 2: intrigue right now is whether we're going to have multiple rounds.
Speaker 2: Maybe Mike Johnson can't survive the Tom Massey's or Chiff
Speaker 2: Roy's of the world depending on how they end up voting,
Speaker 2: or is there some real discord inside this Republican Party
Speaker 2: despite the mandate that Donald Trump talks about.
Speaker 3: There is discord and when you when your majorities are
Speaker 3: barely over a minority, you have nothing, You have no gift.
Speaker 3: And the fact is that the public does support most
Speaker 3: of the Republican positions. But mark my words, you can
Speaker 3: play this tape again thirty first, twenty twenty five. If
Speaker 3: they do not solve the border issue, if they do
Speaker 3: not bring down and permanently address affordability, and if they
Speaker 3: continue to fight among each other rather than get stuff done,
Speaker 3: the public will punish them on the reverse. On the contrary,
Speaker 3: if they do solve these challenges, you can see a
Speaker 3: Republican majority for years to come.
Speaker 2: Producers are pulling that cut right now, Frank, to play
Speaker 2: back a year from now, when you consider what we're
Speaker 2: left with here at the end of this year, I
Speaker 2: can't talk to Frank Lunz without getting philosophical. I just
Speaker 2: walked through a couple of pretty wild stages that we
Speaker 2: all experienced in the world of politics this year. They
Speaker 2: included two attempted assassinations, of course, a lot of arguing, Frank,
Speaker 2: and a lot of uncertainty as we went into this election.
Speaker 2: What is the electorate left with? How do we feel?
Speaker 2: Where are the bruises and the wounds that could be
Speaker 2: exposed in the new year.
Speaker 3: We have a Okay, I'm going to just make everything worse.
Speaker 3: So if you want to be excited and optimistic, you
Speaker 3: need to. I don't want to tell them when to
Speaker 3: turn off their TV or their radio, but this is
Speaker 3: not going to go well for you. We have a
Speaker 3: lower degree of trust and confidence in our institutions than
Speaker 3: at any time in forty years. We do not believe
Speaker 3: we're being told the truth by the media, by journalists,
Speaker 3: by the politicians, and the various elites in America. And finally,
Speaker 3: we are the belief that the country is seriously off
Speaker 3: on the wrong track, although those numbers have begun to
Speaker 3: change in the last two months. If you I've been
Speaker 3: doing this now for over thirty five years and have
Speaker 3: not seen a time of more anger and division. But
Speaker 3: what concerns me the most is two data points. A
Speaker 3: third of America don't believe that they are invested in
Speaker 3: the future of the country, and two thirds of America
Speaker 3: believe that their country is not invested in their own future.
Speaker 3: That is horrific. We need to address that, not just
Speaker 3: for right now, but for the long term, because in
Speaker 3: the end. Our economic success depends on it. Our political
Speaker 3: our democratic institutions depend on trust and confidence. We have
Speaker 3: to get to the truth, and we have to do
Speaker 3: so now because we've done so much damage to our
Speaker 3: politics and to our faith and confidence in the future.
Speaker 3: It's time to turn that around.
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about who's invested in America, because, as
Speaker 2: we've discussed, Frank, you spend a lot of time at
Speaker 2: West Point, and you've conducted some fascinating conversations with the cadets.
Speaker 2: They are focus groups that we can learn a lot from.
Speaker 2: You just had one recently that I had a chance
Speaker 2: to watch, and it was inspiring, and you asked the
Speaker 2: cadets in the room, tell me what you love about America.
Speaker 2: Here's a sample of what Frank her.
Speaker 4: Tell me what you love about this country.
Speaker 5: The values that we are a country build on values.
Speaker 5: We all hear officers and the cadets where knows of
Speaker 5: the Constitution that not to a president, not to a leader,
Speaker 5: and that the standard in America, because we're based on values,
Speaker 5: is set so high that we're striving towards more perfection.
Speaker 4: So you just mentioned the Constitution. This is the single
Speaker 4: greatest misconception I think Americans have is that they don't
Speaker 4: realize that that's where your oath is. What does the
Speaker 4: Constitution mean to you?
Speaker 1: America? The Constitution means America because the Constitution is the
Speaker 1: very soul of America. That's what it is. When the
Speaker 1: Constitution and its ideas were first written over two hundred
Speaker 1: years ago, it was an experiment, it was an idea.
Speaker 1: They didn't know it was going to work, just like
Speaker 1: with the revolution. They had no idea if it was
Speaker 1: going to work or not. But they had the dream
Speaker 1: and they had the hope. And for me, that inspires
Speaker 1: my dreams and my hopes.
Speaker 2: Our future leaders. Talking with Frank Lunz at West Point,
Speaker 2: Frank short of our listeners and viewers all in listen
Speaker 2: thing in the military on this New Year's Eve? What
Speaker 2: should they learn from this?
Speaker 3: That there was a group of young people and I swaar.
Speaker 3: I was not going to get emotional because it's the
Speaker 3: end of the year. I want you to have me back.
Speaker 3: But they inspire me and they should inspire the country.
Speaker 3: Service with character and sacrifice, a commitment to the Constitution,
Speaker 3: not partisanship, not politics, but the most important document in
Speaker 3: global history. These cadets work harder, train harder, and make
Speaker 3: a greater effort for the country. And they do so
Speaker 3: because they love their country, and they will protect each
Speaker 3: other and they protect us. And they'll give you one phrase,
Speaker 3: the Army Navy game. I wasn't too happy about the
Speaker 3: outcome this year, but this is the only game that
Speaker 3: is played for the people on the field commit to
Speaker 3: defend everyone in the stands and everyone watching. The people
Speaker 3: on the field will give their lives for the people
Speaker 3: we're watching. That's west point. That is what makes America great.
Speaker 3: And thank God and God bless these cadets because they were.
Speaker 2: The last that you can bring this to us, Frank,
Speaker 2: they are indeed, and this is why we wanted to
Speaker 2: talk with Frank Luntz on our final show of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four. Founder CEO fi L Frank, Happy New Year.
Speaker 2: It's great to spend some time with you. As always,