Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. I'm Ris in Washington
Speaker 1: with a special guest, the Democratic Congresswoman Heidie Stevens of Michigan.
Speaker 1: I am axious, abati.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, John, and Congresswoman Stevens. You're also
Speaker 2: going to be in Michigan tomorrow with Biden. Yes, I
Speaker 2: am a star supporter of him, and you're not backing down.
Speaker 1: Why. I'm really enthusiastic about this campaign and what we've
Speaker 1: built in Michigan. I've been rigorously on it since the
Speaker 1: beginning of the year. Detroit is at its lowest levels
Speaker 1: of unemployment and fifty years we have manufacturing growth. I
Speaker 1: have a really popular governor, Gretcham Whitmer, who's endorsed this president,
Speaker 1: who's a co chair of his campaign, who's met with
Speaker 1: him since some of the debate fallout and is sticking
Speaker 1: by him. And the commitment to stand up for women's
Speaker 1: reproductive rights, to tackle our gun violence epidemic that has
Speaker 1: hit us pretty hard in Michigan, and there's a team
Speaker 1: right have built an incredible ground operation and it's hard
Speaker 1: work with persuasion voters, with turnout. I don't want to
Speaker 1: turn away from this though now I want to keep going.
Speaker 1: Fifteen some weeks left. Let's bring this over the finish line.
Speaker 1: And I believe and know that the Biden Hearris ticket
Speaker 1: is the one to get this done for us.
Speaker 2: Do you think he's the best candidate though, I do.
Speaker 2: You see the polling today from Washington Post ABC more
Speaker 2: than fifty six Democrats say six and ten independents say
Speaker 2: he should step beside. Is it that he's the best
Speaker 2: candidate at this moment or there's concern about basically telling
Speaker 2: a sitting president, the leader of the party, that it's
Speaker 2: time to go.
Speaker 1: Look, the stakes are high. The other thing that the
Speaker 1: polling is showing you is that people are freaked out
Speaker 1: about Donald Trump coming back. What that means for young women,
Speaker 1: what that means for our economy that spiraled out of
Speaker 1: control when he was president during a global pandemic that
Speaker 1: was not well hand him.
Speaker 2: And so polling also shows people think Trump would be
Speaker 2: better when it comes to things like the economy, which
Speaker 2: our polling shows is still the number one issue.
Speaker 1: It is the number one issue, and it's not just
Speaker 1: look at the facts today. Look, polling is absolutely important.
Speaker 1: I have to look at polling and I have had
Speaker 1: polls that have led me down a path of success,
Speaker 1: and I've had polls that have led me wrong before.
Speaker 1: But what I know is that people are concerned about Trump.
Speaker 1: I mean, I hear that on the ground in Oakland County, Michigan.
Speaker 1: It is pulpable. People want to win. These stakes are high. Obviously,
Speaker 1: when President Biden was gathering his delegate votes and campaigning
Speaker 1: in the small primary that he had earlier this year,
Speaker 1: it wasn't one hundred percent clear every step of the
Speaker 1: way that Trump was going to be the nominee. Now
Speaker 1: he's hiding in mar A Lago. We don't see him
Speaker 1: really very much. He's come to Michigan maybe once or twice,
Speaker 1: a few surrogates here and there. Pretty quiet from him.
Speaker 1: And in part we've got a president who's governing, who's
Speaker 1: leading NATO, who's got the backing of international leaders who
Speaker 1: support his plan. We have, by the way, a major
Speaker 1: foreign aid package that got done in a divided government.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what Joe Biden asked for.
Speaker 2: I think the concern is not so much can he
Speaker 2: lead right now? It's what does the next four years mean?
Speaker 2: And you mentioned Governor Whitmer. She was on CNN last
Speaker 2: night and she was asked should he take a cognitive test?
Speaker 2: Her answer was it wouldn't hurt. Do you agree with
Speaker 2: the governor? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, Trump joked around about his own cognitive tests, and
Speaker 1: you know that he was some super genius and was
Speaker 1: spouting off things. Look, anything the president needs to do
Speaker 1: to reassure people. I have been recently with him when
Speaker 1: he announced tariffs on Chinese evs and critical minerals. I
Speaker 1: was in the Oval Office with him for an extended
Speaker 1: period of time. I haven't seen one decision coming out
Speaker 1: of this administration under his leadership that concerns me. I
Speaker 1: also know that we have got a message for the
Speaker 1: next four years. It's clear people are spooked. It's also clear, though,
Speaker 1: people are united to do whatever it takes to beat
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, and we've got the campaign to do it.
Speaker 1: We really do.
Speaker 2: You've spent time with him recently, You're going to be
Speaker 2: with him tomorrow. You said, there's not a decision that
Speaker 2: makes you rethink this that's coming from President Biden. Not
Speaker 2: a decision you see that concerns you. But what about
Speaker 2: his speech, the way he walks actual deterioration is health.
Speaker 2: Have you seen any of.
Speaker 1: That not really to be honest with you. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: I know I can't tell people to unsee what they
Speaker 1: saw on the debate. I thought he answered it honestly. Look,
Speaker 1: it's not news that he is the age that he is.
Speaker 1: I look at this and I see flawless execution from
Speaker 1: this administration. COVID relief, infrastructure dollars, not just bills that
Speaker 1: have gotten pasted, but things that are being executed flawlessly,
Speaker 1: like the Chips Act, which is so important to our
Speaker 1: Michigan manufacturing economy. Something that President Biden has championed his
Speaker 1: campaign message is let's finish the job. There is more
Speaker 1: to do. It's promises made, promise has kept. There are
Speaker 1: more things that we need to accomplish here that are
Speaker 1: on the horizon, paid leave, funding for our public schools,
Speaker 1: support for our educators, the next generation. This is a
Speaker 1: real campaign. And look, this is a tough moment. It's
Speaker 1: been quiet. We've had twenty four to seven Trump TV
Speaker 1: and his convictions and all that insanity. I don't want
Speaker 1: to go back to that. My voters in Michigan are
Speaker 1: terrified of going back to that. The former president pretends
Speaker 1: that he supports unions, goes to a non union shop.
Speaker 1: We worked for the UAW, we got the UAW endorsement.
Speaker 1: We've had this whole process here where weeks out from
Speaker 1: our own convention. We got to stand up to this
Speaker 1: trus team.
Speaker 2: Leaders our concerned Washington Post this morning, there was a
Speaker 2: behind the scenes meeting yesterday Sean Fain. President Biden went
Speaker 2: and stood on a picket line with this man. He
Speaker 2: is now voicing his concerns. So when you're in Michigan
Speaker 2: and you hear from union leaders, Trump is chipping away
Speaker 2: at these people Michigan, potentially Biden can movese. That's what
Speaker 2: Congresswomen's Lackin even said on a reason Donor call.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, we want we want the winning campaign. And
Speaker 1: our union leaders they're deploying their members to knockdoors to
Speaker 1: evangelize this effort. And that's what you do in closed
Speaker 1: door meetings, you know, you do say, hey, what's our plan,
Speaker 1: how we're going to do this. We're the Democratic Party,
Speaker 1: you know, differing opinions, expression of opinions. I've had four
Speaker 1: to five Republican members of Congress from Michigan who've either
Speaker 1: left their party, impeached the former president, or got voted out.
Speaker 1: I mean give me a break like this is how
Speaker 1: it works in our party. It's a good and healthy thing.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you something else that I
Speaker 1: know about Joe Biden. He is the ultimate comeback king.
Speaker 1: He's the most underestimated individual in American politics. He always
Speaker 1: has been. He's got a good north star. He's tapped
Speaker 1: into his faith, He's been through things that have tested
Speaker 1: him for this moment. And yes, he's our older, wiser president.
Speaker 1: He has not steered us wrong, and he has got
Speaker 1: a vision alongside this amazing team that he has to
Speaker 1: continue to win
Speaker 2: The future for US Commerceoman Haley Stevens, thank you so
Speaker 2: much for your time.