Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Mayor of Milwaukee, Cavalier Johnson, mister Mayor, it's great to
Speaker 2: have you here at the table with us. Thank you
Speaker 2: for coming over.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I know you have a couple of things going on today.
Speaker 2: I've been talking to Republicans Kaylee two here on set
Speaker 2: and outside, walking around the streets and at the convention hall.
Speaker 2: Everyone seems to be a pretty big fan of Milwaukee.
Speaker 2: So if we put this behind us.
Speaker 1: Look when I first heard that, that was news to
Speaker 1: me too, because yeah, okay, I remember going to Washington
Speaker 1: to do the final pitch to the Republican National Committee's headquarters,
Speaker 1: and nowhere around we were any former presidents. It was
Speaker 1: just me and the county executive. Okay, our team here.
Speaker 1: But he didn't pick Milwauk. No, no, you didn't. It
Speaker 1: was hard work by our visitors and tourism Bureau US
Speaker 1: selling Milwaukee, and ultimately that's what transpired to get us
Speaker 1: to where we are today. But I, like you, have
Speaker 1: been talking to a lot of Republicans who are here
Speaker 1: from across the country and even you know form press
Speaker 1: as well. Everybody's just blown away by the city. First
Speaker 1: time here, their first impression of Wisconsin is this, and they.
Speaker 3: Love it well. It takes a lot to put on
Speaker 3: a convention like this, especially in the aftermath of an
Speaker 3: assassination attempt. We have all borne witnessed to the incredible
Speaker 3: amounts of security, the barriers that have been acted, police
Speaker 3: who have come in from out of state. What kind
Speaker 3: of resources go into hosting this And like net net is,
Speaker 3: does it cost the city more or gain the city
Speaker 3: more in terms of economic impact? Sure?
Speaker 1: So in terms of the security apparatus, which is the
Speaker 1: largest expenditure we have here. Cities who host these sort
Speaker 1: of events get a grant from the federal government. So
Speaker 1: typically those grants have been stuck at fifty million dollars
Speaker 1: going back to two thousand and four. That was the
Speaker 1: first year that these conventions, both the Republican and Democratic
Speaker 1: national conventions, we're getting funding for them in the wake
Speaker 1: of nine to eleven. Then as you look to today,
Speaker 1: twenty years later, things are a little more expensive. So
Speaker 1: myself county executive partners on the ground here in this community,
Speaker 1: we worked in a bipartisan manner. We went to Washington, DC.
Speaker 1: We lobbied members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats and ask
Speaker 1: for a twenty five million dollar increase to support this convention.
Speaker 1: Our lobbying was successful, and so there's seventy five million
Speaker 1: dollars going to support the security efforts around the convention.
Speaker 2: So this is massive. You've got to be involved on
Speaker 2: a lot of layers that people don't tend to think about.
Speaker 2: But what does a Democrat do when Republicans come to
Speaker 2: his city? In your case, are you in the hall
Speaker 2: over there?
Speaker 1: Are you?
Speaker 2: Are you going to the breakfasts and the forums with
Speaker 2: the RNC?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this is a national and a global
Speaker 1: event that's taking place in my city and an opportunity
Speaker 1: to elevate Milwaukee too. So yes, I do go and
Speaker 1: I go check it out. Now, certainly I am a Democrat,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, I'm going to the DNC as a
Speaker 1: delegate next month, probably to vote for President Joe Biden
Speaker 1: to continue on in his job here, and I think
Speaker 1: he'll win reelection. However, the same time, there's the political end,
Speaker 1: and then there's the business end. The business for me
Speaker 1: is making sure that we promote Milwaukee across the world.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to do.
Speaker 3: Just because you brought us here, Mayor and Joe Biden.
Speaker 3: You say you're planning to go to Chicago and cast
Speaker 3: your vote as a delegate for Joe Biden. Yet another
Speaker 3: Democrat today, in a high profile one at that Congressman
Speaker 3: Adam Schiff of California, has now joined a growing list
Speaker 3: of members of your party who say they do not
Speaker 3: believe that Biden can beat Donald Trump and should drop
Speaker 3: out as a result. What do you think about that.
Speaker 1: I think he and other Democrats are wrong. There's only
Speaker 1: one person in the United States who has ever beaten
Speaker 1: Donald Trump in a political contest, and his name is
Speaker 1: Joe Biden. He has an outstanding record to run on
Speaker 1: over the course of the last three years, and he's
Speaker 1: got tremendous plans for a second term. This also reminds
Speaker 1: me of what happened in twenty twenty during the Democratic primaries. Right,
Speaker 1: we had people on the front end who voted and voted,
Speaker 1: and then we said, hey, why don't we let the
Speaker 1: diversity and the Democratic Party speak? And then South Carolina
Speaker 1: came and Joe Biden had all this support in the world.
Speaker 1: Now he's President the United States, So let's allow for
Speaker 1: minorities for African American, particularly African American women to speak
Speaker 1: in this.
Speaker 3: Election, but the data would suggest that more and more
Speaker 3: they are turning away from President Biden. Well you don't
Speaker 3: believe that.
Speaker 1: Well, I can tell you this. I go out and
Speaker 1: I speak to my constituents. We were having a conversation
Speaker 1: just about festivals and things like that on the ground
Speaker 1: in this city. I go out to all those festivals
Speaker 1: and I engage with voters, particularly African American voters and
Speaker 1: African American mail voters too. I asked them the question
Speaker 1: about the election coming up, just real talk. Are you voting?
Speaker 1: Are you registered? Some say yes, some say no. Many
Speaker 1: of them have said yes and say, okay, who are
Speaker 1: you voting for? You know, just real talk, just me
Speaker 1: and you, And they say, we're voting for President Joe Biden.
Speaker 1: There is no other person to vote for. And there's
Speaker 1: reasons for that because they know that Joe Biden has
Speaker 1: delivered for black people in this city and in this
Speaker 1: state and across the country. And you know, they know
Speaker 1: what they would get under a second Trump presidency. And
Speaker 1: so my understanding from talking directly with my constituents is
Speaker 1: that they are voting for President Joe.
Speaker 2: Biden, and Wisconsin's going to be awfully important if he's
Speaker 2: going to pull this off. A lot of folks say
Speaker 2: he cannot be the president without Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania. That said,
Speaker 2: you're referring to four years ago here almost that. I
Speaker 2: remember that I talked to Joe Biden in New Hampshire
Speaker 2: and what was supposed to be the eve of his
Speaker 2: campaign ending, and things turned out a lot differently. But
Speaker 2: where's he going to be four years from now is
Speaker 2: what many people are asking the oldest president ever. If
Speaker 2: his mental acuity is not there, he's not physically able
Speaker 2: to do the job. Do you have confidence in Kamala
Speaker 2: Harris or do you entertain the ideas of blowing this
Speaker 2: whole thing open and finding a new ticket.
Speaker 1: I'm not interested in nullifying the votes of millions of
Speaker 1: people who voted for Joe Biden as an insult that
Speaker 1: we're talking about people other than Kamala Harris. Yes it is, Yes,
Speaker 1: absolutely it is. But the fact of the matter, regardless
Speaker 1: of who we're talking about, Joe Biden is a nominee
Speaker 1: anybody eve, including Democrats who are saying he should drop up.
Speaker 1: They had the opportunity to run against him in the primary.
Speaker 1: They chose not and chose not to do it. President
Speaker 1: Biden got the votes necessary, he's got the delegates necessary.
Speaker 1: He's going to be our nominee. We are going to
Speaker 1: support him, and I believe he's going to win, not
Speaker 1: just but in Wisconsin and win re election to the presidency.
Speaker 3: What does it take to win Wisconsin. What's the winning
Speaker 3: issue in Wisconsin?
Speaker 1: The President has to come, continue to come. He has
Speaker 1: been doing it, and I'm glad that he's been doing
Speaker 1: it because it's important. And that's why his campaign has
Speaker 1: been making early and often investments reaching out to voters
Speaker 1: all across Milwaukee, especially black voters, so let them know
Speaker 1: about the deliverables that his administration has gotten for them
Speaker 1: and people across the state and across this country. But
Speaker 1: they've got to continue to come to tell the story.
Speaker 1: The difference between these two men in this binary choice
Speaker 1: for president is that one is a show horse and
Speaker 1: one is a workhorse. Right, Joe Biden tucks his head down.
Speaker 1: He just gets the job done. He just Joe just goes.
Speaker 1: He just gets a job. She just gets a job done.
Speaker 1: But he's got to also toot his horn and let
Speaker 1: folks know what's going on. He has been doing that.
Speaker 1: Folks have been coming here. I encourage him to continue
Speaker 1: doing that leading up to the election.
Speaker 3: All right, mister Mayor, thank you for joining us, and
Speaker 3: thank you for having us here in Milwaukee. I appreciate
Speaker 3: your time in hospitality. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson here with
Speaker 3: us on Bloomberg