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Speaker 3: Now, Welcome to the Monday edition of Bloomberg Sound On.
Speaker 3: I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. Hope you had a good
Speaker 3: weekend as we pick up here essentially where we left
Speaker 3: off last week with an historic strike being staged now
Speaker 3: by the United Auto Workers. As we've been saying all
Speaker 3: three of the Big Three, and the language that we're hearing,
Speaker 3: the latest that we're hearing is not terribly encouraging about
Speaker 3: a path forward. Seth Harris is going to be with
Speaker 3: us in just a moment and has been prescient about
Speaker 3: this whole situation so far. As now, the UA doubled
Speaker 3: President Sean Fain says no go to the latest offer
Speaker 3: from Stilantis.
Speaker 2: They did have talks with all three over the weekends.
Speaker 3: The Landist offering at twenty one percent pay raise, It's
Speaker 3: definitely a no go, he said on Face the Nation
Speaker 3: yesterday on CBS. Here's what else he said about what
Speaker 3: they're prepared to do.
Speaker 4: We're prepared to do whatever we have to do. So
Speaker 4: the membership is ready. The membership is fed up. We're
Speaker 4: fed up with falling behind. It's been decades of falling behind,
Speaker 4: and especially this past decade in the most wealthiest times
Speaker 4: in the history of these companies. There is no excuse.
Speaker 4: These companies have made a quarter of a trillion dollars
Speaker 4: in the last ten years, twenty one billion dollars in
Speaker 4: the last six months alone, and our workers' wages and
Speaker 4: conditions have went backwards.
Speaker 3: So questions now about to what extent this strike might
Speaker 3: be expanded in the days ahead, even as talks continue,
Speaker 3: and we're starting to see the ancillary impact with you
Speaker 3: threatened layoffs. For instance at GM at one plant that's
Speaker 3: not even being targeted in the strike, but they're not
Speaker 3: getting the stamped materials that they need to make the
Speaker 3: products that they're working on.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 3: This is where Seth Harris comes in. Everything he has
Speaker 3: told us about this event has happened so far. Senior
Speaker 3: fellow at the Burn Center for Social Change at Northeastern University,
Speaker 3: the former top labor policy advisor to President Biden, former
Speaker 3: labor secretary to President Obama. Okay So we've got somebody
Speaker 3: who's been there and done that. Although Seth this does
Speaker 3: feel historic in its scale, and the language that we're
Speaker 3: hearing welcome back, by the way, makes us feel like
Speaker 3: the sides are ever further apart. How do you see
Speaker 3: it on this Monday?
Speaker 5: Well, Joe, it's great to be with you. I think
Speaker 5: we've got a good long way to go before we
Speaker 5: get to a settlement here. The parties are quite far
Speaker 5: apart on a number of issues. It's not just wages.
Speaker 5: We're all fairly tightly focused on the dollar figures for
Speaker 5: what kind of wage increase the auto workers will get
Speaker 5: over the next four years. But there's a longer list
Speaker 5: of very very important issues, one of them being the
Speaker 5: two tiered employment structure. Another is cost of living adjustments.
Speaker 5: Another is whether temporary workers will become permanent workers. And
Speaker 5: also the union is demanding job security. So I think
Speaker 5: there's a long way to go in a number of places.
Speaker 5: We'll see the union ramp up the number of plants
Speaker 5: that it shuts down over the course of the next week,
Speaker 5: maybe longer, and then we're going to have to see
Speaker 5: if the companies move.
Speaker 3: What's it like at the table right now when You've
Speaker 3: got a union president who's talking about not only a
Speaker 3: strike that's actively underway seth but one that could get
Speaker 3: worse and more expansive in the days ahead. This could
Speaker 3: take a lot of different directions here. What's the posture
Speaker 3: of the automakers when they're hearing this from the other
Speaker 3: side of the table.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, it's an intriguing question how they are
Speaker 5: taking this in. They have moved on their wage offers,
Speaker 5: which is an indication that they know that the union
Speaker 5: is very, very serious about the strike, but they have
Speaker 5: not moved in a lot of other ways. And you know,
Speaker 5: I think there are sort of two models here, Joe.
Speaker 5: One is the UPS model, where the teamsters applied a
Speaker 5: tremendous amount of pressure, threatened to strike, prepared to strike,
Speaker 5: and UPS understood the moment, understood what was going on
Speaker 5: with their employees, and they moved. They substantially revamped their
Speaker 5: relationships with their employees. On the other hand, we have
Speaker 5: the Hollywood studios who have completely mismanaged their labor relations,
Speaker 5: completely misunderstood the moment. They're trying to cut costs, cut employment,
Speaker 5: and frankly shift the cost of their business decisions onto
Speaker 5: their workers and both the writers and the actors have
Speaker 5: said no way. So the question for the automakers is
Speaker 5: which of those two models are they going to follow?
Speaker 5: Are they going to modernize their employment relationships and try
Speaker 5: and cut a fair deal with the EUAW. Are they
Speaker 5: going to be as intransigent as the Hollywood studios have been.
Speaker 5: I think it's going to be interesting to see what
Speaker 5: happens as the UAW ramps up the pressure.
Speaker 3: I like to ask you about that Hollywood action SETH,
Speaker 3: because we don't talk about it enough, and it's been
Speaker 3: going on a lot longer than this one. But we're
Speaker 3: reading now that we've got one hundred million dollar loss
Speaker 3: every week for Ford and GM as the strikes continue,
Speaker 3: knowing that number could get a lot higher, what makes
Speaker 3: you think that this could be protracted that doesn't usher
Speaker 3: in a deal anymore quickly? Here with the automakers or SETH,
Speaker 3: Are they thinking about a lockout?
Speaker 2: Could that be the next move?
Speaker 5: I think a lockout is unlikely, and the one hundred
Speaker 5: million dollar figure, I think assumes a much larger scale
Speaker 5: strike than we're seeing right now. What the union has
Speaker 5: launched is what they're calling a stand up strike, which
Speaker 5: is a hearkens back to the days of nineteen thirties
Speaker 5: when the union had sit down strikes, and that's how
Speaker 5: the union was born. So they're only striking three facilities,
Speaker 5: and that's causing a small number of layoffs, both in
Speaker 5: those facilities and beyond. But you know, the companies are
Speaker 5: not really shut down. If you had a complete shutdown,
Speaker 5: then we would be looking at billions of dollars in
Speaker 5: costs over the course of a couple of weeks. I
Speaker 5: don't think we're going to see that much loss. We're
Speaker 5: not going to see that much loss in auto communities
Speaker 5: because most of the auto workers are still working and
Speaker 5: they're still paying their bills, they're still shopping, they're still
Speaker 5: paying their rent and mortgage. So I think the economic
Speaker 5: impact right now is fairly limited. But the risk is
Speaker 5: tremendous as the union ramps up and both the companies
Speaker 5: and the union have to figure out how much cost
Speaker 5: they can bear. And you know that's how power is defined.
Speaker 5: How much cost can you bear, how much benefit are
Speaker 5: you going to get? How much risk are you willing
Speaker 5: to bear?
Speaker 3: Twenty one percent pay raise offered by Stilantes interesting by
Speaker 3: the way that the automakers are putting their offers out
Speaker 3: publicly so people know what it is that's being rejected.
Speaker 3: As I said earlier, definitely a no go. The language
Speaker 3: from Sean Fain on twenty one percent. Do you have
Speaker 3: a number in your mind as the union I believe
Speaker 3: stands at thirty six percent? Seth, Is it somewhere between
Speaker 3: these two?
Speaker 5: I don't. I don't know what the number is going
Speaker 5: to be. And what matters from the union's perspective is
Speaker 5: what contract will get an overwhelming ratification vote, a favorable
Speaker 5: ratification vote from the membership. Sean Fain was elected by
Speaker 5: just a few hundred votes, and he really needs to
Speaker 5: pull his union together around this contract. So he needs
Speaker 5: to get a vote of sixty sixty five percent something
Speaker 5: even north of that, to show that his members are
Speaker 5: standing behind him and the Teamsters UPS negotiations. The UPS
Speaker 5: Teamsters voted eighty three percent for their contract. That's a
Speaker 5: sign that President O'Brien succeeded in getting them the deal
Speaker 5: that they wanted. Now we have to see a president
Speaker 5: Fain can negotiate a deal that his members are going
Speaker 5: to support enthusiastically.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Talk to me more about what's happening
Speaker 2: in Hollywood.
Speaker 3: Seth Harris, we saw Drew Barrymore pulling about face after
Speaker 3: she said she was putting her TV show back on.
Speaker 3: Now she's not after the backlash. Same thing happened just
Speaker 3: about an hour ago to Bill Maher, who was supposed
Speaker 3: to have his show back on HBO this Friday. Apparently
Speaker 3: that's not going to happen either. Following his explanation for
Speaker 3: that decision, he said, this has been going on a
Speaker 3: long time, didn't seem like any progress had been made.
Speaker 3: They've both been forced to back off those plans.
Speaker 2: Seth. How long is this going to go for in Hollywood?
Speaker 5: Boy, It's very hard to predict, you know. There are
Speaker 5: the writers started their strike in May, the actors started
Speaker 5: their strike in July, and act the writers are just
Speaker 5: getting back to the table. I don't think there have
Speaker 5: been any negotiations with the actors in quite some time.
Speaker 5: I think that the studios just thoroughly misunderstand what's going
Speaker 5: on here, and we're not going to see shows getting produced,
Speaker 5: accept those that are produced or movies that are produced
Speaker 5: by independent producers who are not part of the trade
Speaker 5: association that's negotiating with SAG. AFTRA and the Writer's Guild.
Speaker 5: And let me say, Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher by
Speaker 5: pulling back their efforts to start their shows, did the
Speaker 5: right thing. You don't want to cross a picket line
Speaker 5: and put yourself in conflict with your co workers and
Speaker 5: your friends in your industry. But at the end of
Speaker 5: the day, the studios are going to have to make
Speaker 5: some significant changes to the way they want to do
Speaker 5: business and the way they're currently doing business and let
Speaker 5: those workers, the actors and writers in on the profits
Speaker 5: that they're making. Now. They've made some bad business decisions.
Speaker 5: They overinvested in streaming. There's a lot of streaming services
Speaker 5: right now. They're not making enough money off of that.
Speaker 5: But that's competition among the businesses. There's no reason the
Speaker 5: workers should have to subsidize that by giving up money,
Speaker 5: giving up jobs, and giving up opportunities.
Speaker 3: So what's the cumulative effect here on A. Marria's view
Speaker 3: on organized labor seth Maybe I'm asking the wrong person,
Speaker 3: but I'm curious your thought on this. When they hear
Speaker 3: auto workers turning down a twenty one percent pay raise,
Speaker 3: when they see the situation happening in Hollywood, they don't
Speaker 3: have the shows that they were hoping to watch this fall.
Speaker 3: Does it come together before Americans in a way that
Speaker 3: makes organized labor appear broken?
Speaker 5: I think the opposite is true. I think the increased
Speaker 5: worker activism and worker organizing we're seeing around the country
Speaker 5: has increased the popularity of the labor movement, the labor movement.
Speaker 5: Two thirds of Americans say they have a favorable view
Speaker 5: of the labor movement. Eighty eight percent of workers under
Speaker 5: the age of thirty say they have a favorable view
Speaker 5: of the labor movement. Two thirds of the workers under
Speaker 5: the age of thirty say they would like to have
Speaker 5: a union in their workplace. Boy, that is really really
Speaker 5: good news for organized labor, and I think bad news
Speaker 5: for the corporate folks who are trying to sort of
Speaker 5: tarn the story against unions. I think that seeing activism,
Speaker 5: seeing unions fighting for their members and winning, is a
Speaker 5: successful strategy for the labor movement, and so far, you know,
Speaker 5: the public is wholeheartedly behind them, including the UAW.
Speaker 3: Seth, It's great to have you back. He's helped us
Speaker 3: walk through this and I think we're going to need
Speaker 3: your help again. Seth Harris, the former I want to
Speaker 3: get it right this time. Deputy Assistant to the President
Speaker 3: Labor and Economy under President Biden, former Deputy Secretary of
Speaker 3: Labor and former acting you had every friendly business card
Speaker 3: possible between these two administrations during the Obama administration. He's
Speaker 3: now at Northeastern University Senior Fellow at the Burns Center
Speaker 3: for Social Change. Seth, thank you as we assemble our panel.
Speaker 3: Rick Davis and Genie Shanzano join now Bloomberg Politics contributors
Speaker 3: on What he Is Day four, I guess, the third
Speaker 3: full day of this labor action. Genie, what do you
Speaker 3: think about what Seth just said. If unions are more
Speaker 3: popular than ever because of all of this, when does
Speaker 3: that add up to increased membership?
Speaker 6: You know, I think we may see that going forward,
Speaker 6: depending on how this pans out. And of course, as
Speaker 6: you mentioned, the important strike going on in Hollywood, and
Speaker 6: you know, I think it is striking in addition to
Speaker 6: the polls that Seth mentioned, and I think that is
Speaker 6: very good news for labor. Is the fact, if you
Speaker 6: look at our public officials, and I've been paying careful
Speaker 6: attention to their statements over the last several days, from
Speaker 6: Biden to Trump, the most popular public officials on all
Speaker 6: sides are standing with and trying to attract labor, and
Speaker 6: I think the reason is pretty simple. We are talking
Speaker 6: about record profits for CEOs and we are talking about
Speaker 6: workers on the line whose pay has not kept up
Speaker 6: with inflation. It is not as simple with as that
Speaker 6: when you get to the bargaining table, of course, but
Speaker 6: that's the message the public is hearing. Forty percent pay
Speaker 6: increase for CEOs versus workers whose pay hasn't kept up
Speaker 6: with inflation. That is a message that is going to
Speaker 6: resonate with the public, and that means that the polls
Speaker 6: are supportive of where these workers stand.
Speaker 2: Jeanie says, it's striking Rick.
Speaker 3: That was pretty good, Genie, I don't know how you've
Speaker 3: always managed to do it.
Speaker 2: When's the backlash? Though?
Speaker 3: Potentially for these unions, at a certain point, you do
Speaker 3: reach the level of diminishing returns. Here, people's shows aren't
Speaker 3: on this fall. Maybe you can't get a car the
Speaker 3: way you want, or your car's price goes higher because
Speaker 3: of this, and maybe the cumulative effect leads to a recession.
Speaker 3: Does that blow back on the union ever?
Speaker 7: You know, I think the cover over all of this
Speaker 7: is the politics of this right. You got to remember
Speaker 7: that it were the union voters who helped put Donald
Speaker 7: Trump up and become president in twenty sixteen in some
Speaker 7: of these key Midwestern states, and so they've been looking
Speaker 7: at options to being, you know, loyal to the Democratic Party.
Speaker 7: And I think what you see here is the potential
Speaker 7: for this strike and the emergence of time with the strike.
Speaker 7: In other words, the longer it takes, the worse it
Speaker 7: is for Joe Biden. I don't think anybody disagrees with that,
Speaker 7: and potentially the better it is for Donald Trump. I mean,
Speaker 7: so Biden's efforts to try and promote unions in America
Speaker 7: may result in benefits to Donald Trump.
Speaker 3: A lot more to come with our panel, Rick Davis
Speaker 3: and Jeanie Shanzino. Out of the Blocks on a Monday,
Speaker 3: with an apparent deal in the House on the budget
Speaker 3: among Republicans, can it last be? On the end of
Speaker 3: this program, we'll talk to Rick and Jeanie and have
Speaker 3: more from Capitol Hill.
Speaker 7: Next.
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Speaker 3: As the UAW auto wor strike enters day four today,
Speaker 3: there's talk of a deal here in Washington on funding
Speaker 3: the government. This is not a story that's going away
Speaker 3: anytime soon, certainly not before the end of the month
Speaker 3: when the fiscal year ends. The big question right now
Speaker 3: is does the government shut down at the end of
Speaker 3: this month or will there be a continuing resolution to
Speaker 3: stop gap bill that somehow gets us through the end
Speaker 3: of the month and buys a little more time to
Speaker 3: negotiate here. By the way, everyone seems to think a
Speaker 3: shutdown we'll still be inevitable just later on in the year.
Speaker 3: But how about this headlining great work from Billy House
Speaker 3: and Eric wasson Bloomberg Congress reporters. McCarthy demands eight percent
Speaker 3: spending cup border wall to avert shutdown.
Speaker 2: Hey, we've got a deal on something.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: Of course, members of the Freedom Caucus have not been
Speaker 3: big fans of Speaker McCarthy, leading to this government fight.
Speaker 3: Interesting headline as well on the terminal as we seek
Speaker 3: to apparently Gate, the debt ceiling deal. Now, this was
Speaker 3: playing out on Sunday Morning television before we bring Rick
Speaker 3: and Jennie back in here. Kevin McCarthy on Fox talking
Speaker 3: to Maria Bartiromo about landing a deal here and avoiding
Speaker 3: a shutdown for political reasons.
Speaker 8: A shutdown would only give strength to the Democrats, It
Speaker 8: would give the power to Biden. It wouldn't pay our troops,
Speaker 8: it wouldn't pay our border agents, more people would be
Speaker 8: coming across. I actually want to achieve something.
Speaker 3: Right around that same time, Fox New Sunday, at least
Speaker 3: to phonic of course, whipping for Republicans in the leadership
Speaker 3: in the US House.
Speaker 9: Well, we're in a very good place. I've been engaged
Speaker 9: in conversation with members as well as Speaker McCarthy over
Speaker 9: the weekend. We are working through this and I'm optimistic
Speaker 9: that we will continue to move the appropriations process forward,
Speaker 9: and that includes the dud Appropriations Bill, that also includes
Speaker 9: potentially a continuing resolution to ensure that we do not
Speaker 9: face a government shutdown.
Speaker 2: Government funding fight.
Speaker 3: Just round two of the debt ceiling brawl, I read
Speaker 3: on the terminal and that is basically what we're talking
Speaker 3: about here.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 3: This was largely done earlier in the year when we
Speaker 3: avoid a default, but we're doing this again. Let's reassemble
Speaker 3: the panel with Genie Shanzano and Rick Davis. What's your
Speaker 3: thought on the appropriations process this morning? Here, Rick, I
Speaker 3: see that ninety eight members of the House Democrats, the
Speaker 3: new Democrat coalition, this, according to Axios, off with a
Speaker 3: letter to Kevin McCarthy urging him to put the Senates
Speaker 3: Bipartisan Appropriations Bill up for a vote. Does it sound
Speaker 3: like consensus around anything right now on Capitol Hill?
Speaker 7: Well, I think we can ignore the Democrats right now.
Speaker 7: They're probably just taking advantage politically. Their ability to affect
Speaker 7: change right now is pretty limited.
Speaker 2: I think what you're hoping for.
Speaker 7: Is that the Republican Caucus actually gets together. If you
Speaker 7: could get ninety Republicans in a room who would actually
Speaker 7: agree on a way forward on this saying, it'd be
Speaker 7: a significant accomplishment. I think what we heard over the weekend,
Speaker 7: you know, with the Freedom Caucus and the Main Street Caucus,
Speaker 7: two dimetrically opposite groups, right, one tends toward more centrist policies,
Speaker 7: the other tends toward more off the cliff policies. And
Speaker 7: they got together and said, look, let's put a little
Speaker 7: mini bus together, you know, a group of agencies that
Speaker 7: we can fund. They did the eight percent cut that
Speaker 7: you described non defense spending and said we as a
Speaker 7: group would be willing to support this. The problem is
Speaker 7: there are three other caucuses within the Republican Party, the
Speaker 7: five Families, Remember were reminded of them all the time
Speaker 7: we get into this kind of trouble. Well, they haven't
Speaker 7: been heard of yet. So I was really happy to
Speaker 7: hear the speaker, as you played the clip over the weekend,
Speaker 7: say I want to avoid a shutdown because some in
Speaker 7: his caucus think a shutdowns good politics. He is smart
Speaker 7: enough still as a politician to know that that's only
Speaker 7: going to give more power to the Democrats and make
Speaker 7: Republicans look like they can't manage the federal budget. So
Speaker 7: there seems to be new pressure, new momentum in trying
Speaker 7: to avert a shutdown. And I think it's pick them right.
Speaker 7: You know, you can take the Senate bill, you can
Speaker 7: pass the House bill, but either way it gets then
Speaker 7: into us a good conversation about putting a spending package
Speaker 7: together that keeps you from having to shut down the government.
Speaker 10: Genie.
Speaker 3: At least the Phonic says, Republicans in the House are
Speaker 3: in a good place. Rick just mentioned the Main Street Cox,
Speaker 3: the House Freedom Caucus coming together to essentially endorse this
Speaker 3: deal that Kevin McCarthy is promoting. He says they're going
Speaker 3: to vote on this on Thursday. But it wasn't the
Speaker 3: Main Street Caucus we had to worry about originally, Right
Speaker 3: is can the House Freedom Caucus stay together on this?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 6: Apparently not. I mean, just in the hours after they
Speaker 6: released this, you had ten members come forward and say
Speaker 6: they weren't going to support it, including Marjorie Taylor Green,
Speaker 6: who's not a part of the Freedom Caucus, she's part
Speaker 6: of McCarthy's leadership. I don't know what a least Stephonic
Speaker 6: is thinking when she describes this as a good position
Speaker 6: for the House Republican leadership. It is anything. But she's
Speaker 6: very optimistic. Apparently God bless her. She's also a New Yorker.
Speaker 6: But the reality is what they are talking about ISDA
Speaker 6: It is dead on arrival in the Senate and they
Speaker 6: are going to waste all this time, all this energy.
Speaker 6: I don't know best case scenario they hold these various
Speaker 6: families as describes them together, they pass this thing, it
Speaker 6: is dead on arrival in the Senate. It will not
Speaker 6: get the signature of the President. Even if it passed.
Speaker 6: And let's not forget if you are serious about curtailing spending,
Speaker 6: if you are serious about the deficit and debt we
Speaker 6: have overspent in recent years. This is a nightmare because
Speaker 6: it is not going to help the situation. But the
Speaker 6: reality is most of these people in the Freedom Caucus
Speaker 6: are not serious about this. This is performative because if
Speaker 6: they were serious, they would be thinking about things, and
Speaker 6: they would be working with people who also have power
Speaker 6: in Congress to move this through in a productive way.
Speaker 6: So yeah, Alas, Stephonic very optimistic this weekend, but I'm
Speaker 6: not sure why.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3: Ron DeSantis not terribly optimistic. He's backing those members of
Speaker 3: the Freedom Coucress who say go ahead and shut it down.
Speaker 3: And Kevin McCarthy was asked about that as well in
Speaker 3: his interview on Fox Rick.
Speaker 2: Here's what he said.
Speaker 8: Look, I served with Ron DeSantis. He's not at the
Speaker 8: same level as President Trump by any shape or form.
Speaker 8: He would not have gotten elected without President Trump's endorsement.
Speaker 8: And so I believe our best step forward pass our
Speaker 8: appropriation bills, so we're stronger.
Speaker 2: With a swipe.
Speaker 3: Ron de Santis on the campaign trail as well. Should
Speaker 3: the governor of Florida wait it into this, Rick or
Speaker 3: does he end up with egg on his face?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, I don't get it.
Speaker 7: I mean, the one thing about running for president if
Speaker 7: you're in Congress is it means you don't have to
Speaker 7: weigh into this stuff. You know, you would think the
Speaker 7: governor would be smart not to get into the middle
Speaker 7: of this morass, and especially because you have no idea
Speaker 7: how it's going to turn out. And so yeah, I
Speaker 7: can't imagine. I mean, like, I've advised a lot of
Speaker 7: candidates who ran for national office, and I didn't ever
Speaker 7: have one single moment where I said, hey, it's a
Speaker 7: good thing to jump into this, you know, Internestine political
Speaker 7: warfare in Washington, because somehow that's going to mean more
Speaker 7: to your primary voters. Now he's wrong about this. He's
Speaker 7: only going to spend more of his political capital. And
Speaker 7: something that doesn't isn't worth anything.
Speaker 2: That's pretty tough stuff there.
Speaker 3: He's looking for any opportunity to break out the genie
Speaker 3: and the latest polls that we saw for the weekend.
Speaker 3: There was another one for CBS show Ron De Santis,
Speaker 3: and some polls back in single digits. Here, I don't
Speaker 3: want to open a whole new front on the campaign trail,
Speaker 3: but specific to his candidacy, weighing in on the Tubberville
Speaker 3: blockade and support winging in on the Freedom Caucus, support
Speaker 3: of a government shutdown, is this his final stand?
Speaker 6: You know, it very well might be because also over
Speaker 6: the weekend you had Donald Trump out un meet the
Speaker 6: press with Kristin Welker. Congratulations to Kristin Welker, another woman
Speaker 6: leading a Sunday show.
Speaker 1: And what was he doing.
Speaker 6: He was talking like he is already the candidate for
Speaker 6: the Republicans. He's pivoting to the general. So you know,
Speaker 6: it may be a last stand for Ronde Santis. And
Speaker 6: ouch the swipe that McCarthy took, I've served with them
Speaker 6: and he's not up to par I mean, you know,
Speaker 6: it was ugly all around for Ronde Santis this weekend,
Speaker 6: not something he should have weighed in on. And you know,
Speaker 6: just getting hit down by the House speaker got less.
Speaker 2: Than a minute.
Speaker 3: Rick Will Kevin McCarthy then be the undoing of the
Speaker 3: DeSantis campaign.
Speaker 7: No, I think the DeSantis campaign is being undone by
Speaker 7: DeSantis himself. Nobody can take that award away from him.
Speaker 3: Well, that's saying something there. It is from a master
Speaker 3: in campaigning, Rick Davis, Dany Shanzano. We thank you as
Speaker 3: we turn to news next about this prisoner swap with Iran.
Speaker 3: This is highly controversial, but one that coincides with President
Speaker 3: Biden's arrival at the United Nations General Assembly in New York,
Speaker 3: and of course precedes a speech and only from a
Speaker 3: President Biden, but of course the leader of Iran at
Speaker 3: that event as well.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound on podcast. Catch us
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Speaker 3: Important news as President Biden begins his visit to the
Speaker 3: United Nations General Assembly this week in New York. The
Speaker 3: news is not from New York, but oversees five Americans
Speaker 3: freed in Iran prisoner's swap Landing cut Her the headline
Speaker 3: on the terminal A remarkable moment. Whether you agree with
Speaker 3: this or not, imagine their thoughts as these five Americans
Speaker 3: walked onto the ramp in one hundred four degree fahrenheit
Speaker 3: late Monday in Doha. Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln spoke
Speaker 3: a short time later.
Speaker 11: Just a few minutes ago, I had the great pleasure
Speaker 11: of speaking to seven Americans who are now free, free
Speaker 11: from their imprisonment or detention in Iran, out of Iran,
Speaker 11: out of prison, and now in Doha route back to
Speaker 11: the United States to be reunited.
Speaker 2: With their loved ones.
Speaker 11: Five of the seven, of course, had been unjustly detained
Speaker 11: imprisoned in Iran for years. Two others had been prevented
Speaker 11: from leaving Iran.
Speaker 3: You've seen that shot of the tarmac. If you're with
Speaker 3: us watching today on YouTube, you can do that always
Speaker 3: now on Bloomberg sound on, get to YouTube, search Bloomberg
Speaker 3: Global News and join us here in studio.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: As part of the swap, the administration here is releasing
Speaker 3: five Iranians held at US custody. The most controversial element, though,
Speaker 3: is the money here about this likely by now six
Speaker 3: billion dollars in oil revenue that had been frozen in
Speaker 3: South Korean banks due to sanctions now unlocked. Let's reassemble
Speaker 3: our panel for their take on this. Rick Davis and
Speaker 3: Jeanie Shanzano, Bloomberg Politics contributors, Genie, was this all worth it?
Speaker 6: You know, you look at these people and they've suffered
Speaker 6: in one of the most notorious prisons in Iran for many,
Speaker 6: many years, in some cases Evan Prison, and you know,
Speaker 6: your heart goes out to them. You're so happy for
Speaker 6: their families. They seem to be in good health. That
Speaker 6: is all a very positive thing. But I think the
Speaker 6: concerns on the flip side are very real. From a
Speaker 6: policy perspective. The United States has had this challenge which
Speaker 6: with Iran since its inception in nineteen seventy nine. We
Speaker 6: have had many exchanges before. But let's be very clear,
Speaker 6: and I think one thing, one very small thing the
Speaker 6: administration could do is change its language. This is not
Speaker 6: a prisoner swap. The Americans held were given sham trials.
Speaker 6: They were not prisoners. The people held here that are
Speaker 6: being released, the Iranians, they were given a fair trial.
Speaker 6: So it is, you know, not as if it is
Speaker 6: a prisoner swap. The Americans held were held, excuse me, unjustly,
Speaker 6: and so that is one very small thing. But I
Speaker 6: do think the concerns are very real about the use
Speaker 6: of this six billion dollars. You know, Iran has been
Speaker 6: very clear they won't just restrict it to humanitarian reasons,
Speaker 6: and I am a firm believer that we have to
Speaker 6: have a set out policy on that, and we have
Speaker 6: not as it pertains to these activities that have been
Speaker 6: going on long before Biden came into office.
Speaker 3: Rick, I want to read you a statement from Senators
Speaker 3: Head Cruz, of course serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Speaker 2: Quote.
Speaker 3: President Biden has established a secret nuclear deal with the
Speaker 3: Iranian regime, he writes, that is being kept from Congress
Speaker 3: and the American people. Today's news, he says, confirms there
Speaker 3: has already been a side deal, including a six billion
Speaker 3: dollar ransom and the release of Iranian operatives.
Speaker 2: Is he right?
Speaker 7: We have no idea of what Teddy Cruz says is
Speaker 7: true or not. There's no evidence that there is a deal,
Speaker 7: And if there were a deal, why wouldn't it be public.
Speaker 7: I doubt if anybody in the White House could think
Speaker 7: that they could keep an Iranian nuclear deal secret, especially
Speaker 7: through an election year, So I discount that. But I
Speaker 7: think he is right to question the use of frozen
Speaker 7: Iranian funds to pay for the release. We all celebrate
Speaker 7: the release of these individuals. One mister Nemazi had been
Speaker 7: in a horrible prison for you know, almost three thousand days.
Speaker 7: I mean, that's as outrageous. And the conduct of the
Speaker 7: Iranian regime is to blame nobody else. And so it's
Speaker 7: a good thing that they're they're coming home, and it's
Speaker 7: a good thing that that that they're being greeted with
Speaker 7: a fanfare by Americans because we can't allow the Iranians
Speaker 7: to dictate fairness. And that being said, Iran has turned
Speaker 7: hostage taking into a commercial enterprise, and we have to
Speaker 7: find ways as a government to not fall prey to that.
Speaker 7: Right now, if you're an American in Iran, you're a
Speaker 7: high value hostage because they know that they can get
Speaker 7: something from our administration for it. And that's Republicans and
Speaker 7: Democrats alike. Nobody wants hostages to remain in that god
Speaker 7: forsaken place. So we need a new policy, We need
Speaker 7: something that we can adhere to. And thank god they're back,
Speaker 7: but it gives us time now to really think through
Speaker 7: how to approach this regime in the future.
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk to your Genie that this move paves
Speaker 3: the way for talks over Iran's nuclear program. Is that
Speaker 3: the end goal or was this just a matter of
Speaker 3: getting people home?
Speaker 6: Yeah? I mean, the administration has denied any connection between
Speaker 6: the two, but there is, to your point, a lot
Speaker 6: of specula that in reality there is a tie. You know,
Speaker 6: I think talks would be a very good thing, and
Speaker 6: any communication on Iran's nuclear capacity would be a good thing.
Speaker 6: But you know, I don't think we know the veracity
Speaker 6: of whether, in fact that's the case. I do go
Speaker 6: back to the fact we do need a policy. You know,
Speaker 6: I was just talking to somebody about James Foley, and
Speaker 6: you remember this story. Well, we don't negotiate with terrorists,
Speaker 6: and yet in the case of Russia, who the President
Speaker 6: describes as a terrorist government in many respects, and Iran,
Speaker 6: we do negotiate. And so to the families of these hostages,
Speaker 6: and they are hostages. The question is when do we
Speaker 6: and when don't we as a government negotiate. We have
Speaker 6: no clarity on that from the US government. And again
Speaker 6: this proceeds Joe Biden by many, many years, if not decades.
Speaker 6: We do need to come to some kind of policy
Speaker 6: agreement and consensus on that we don't want to risk
Speaker 6: that we incentivize the cap of Americans traveling. And as
Speaker 6: one of this Republican senator said over the weekend, people
Speaker 6: need to be very careful about traveling to Iran at
Speaker 6: this point, it is a very dangerous situation.
Speaker 3: Now we've just learned the President held what's being described
Speaker 3: as an emotional call with the families of the American
Speaker 3: citizens returning home to.
Speaker 2: The US from Iran.
Speaker 3: And while we can talk about the controversy here and
Speaker 3: we will continue to certainly depending on how this plays out,
Speaker 3: I think what Rick said is important, and that's obviously
Speaker 3: all of us are relieved to see these folks get home.
Speaker 3: Anthony Blinkn referring earlier to the emotional conversation that he
Speaker 3: had with them as well and what must.
Speaker 2: Be going through their minds.
Speaker 3: I'm Joe Matthew in Washington with analysis from Rick Davis
Speaker 3: and Jeanie Shanzano.
Speaker 2: This is sound On.
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Speaker 3: I'm Joe Matthew now joined by Kaylee Lines here in
Speaker 3: the Bloomberg Washington DC Bureau. Good to see you as
Speaker 3: we pick up a new week with the same issue
Speaker 3: as we ended the last week with. And by that
Speaker 3: I mean day four on the strike yep, or I
Speaker 3: guess third full day we're saying, technically and a deal
Speaker 3: on the budget, just no celebration yet.
Speaker 2: This is pretty interesting now. We talked about it with
Speaker 2: the panel last hour.
Speaker 3: Main Street Caucus, Freedom Caucus, Right, cats and Dogs living together?
Speaker 2: Eight percent budget cut. But can they pass it?
Speaker 12: This is the question. And when we say Freedom Caucus,
Speaker 12: we aren't really talking about the whole Freedom Caucus who
Speaker 12: has agreed to this, because you already have a number
Speaker 12: of those members who said they would vote no to
Speaker 12: this agreement between these two different factions obviously one far right,
Speaker 12: one more center right. What they agreed to also include
Speaker 12: some measures that would pretty much make it debt on
Speaker 12: arrival in a Democratic controlled Senate, Whether it relates to
Speaker 12: the border, an asylum granted to migrants, constructing the border wall,
Speaker 12: those deep spending cuts that they probably aren't gonna like.
Speaker 12: And there's nothing in there for Ukraine or disaster relief
Speaker 12: that the President has asked for.
Speaker 2: Maybe just put this straight back to me. So we've
Speaker 2: seen this movie before. It feels like, yeah, there was
Speaker 2: a great.
Speaker 3: Headline on the terminal government funding fight. This is bloomberg
Speaker 3: government now government funding fight, just round two of the
Speaker 3: debt ceiling brawl.
Speaker 2: Ain't that the truth?
Speaker 12: Deja vous all over again?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: This is why we talked to Mick mulvaney every week,
Speaker 3: because there's always an update on this stuff and mix
Speaker 3: ben there on both sides of it. Capitol Hill of
Speaker 3: the White House even ran the budget. So we've got
Speaker 3: some stuff for Mick mulvaney today. It's great to have
Speaker 3: you back. Make of course, former OMB director, former member
Speaker 3: of Congress who co founded the Freedom Caucus. Every time
Speaker 3: McCarthy seems to think he's got a deal together here, Mick,
Speaker 3: it's just a couple of noisy members of that Freedom
Speaker 3: Caucus who burst the balloon. Is this actually going to
Speaker 3: get a vote on Thursday?
Speaker 10: Hey, Joe, Hey, Gayley, the more things changed, the more
Speaker 10: they stay the same, it seems. Look, and the difficulty
Speaker 10: of God is is just mass right. He's got a
Speaker 10: maybe a four seat, maybe a five seat margin depending
Speaker 10: on who shows up or you know, who quits between
Speaker 10: now and the end of the week, or who gets
Speaker 10: you know, thrown in jail. I don't know what's going
Speaker 10: on with some of these members. Then when you've got
Speaker 10: to margin that narrow, any four or five folks can
Speaker 10: throw a monkey wrench in. And that's exactly what you
Speaker 10: see happening. I was stunned by the way that the
Speaker 10: main street folks and some of the right way folks
Speaker 10: are able to come to a deal. I was impressed.
Speaker 10: That's pretty good work. And if that doesn't satisfy everybody,
Speaker 10: then the chances of getting anything out of the House
Speaker 10: just on Republican votes probably isn't very good at all.
Speaker 12: Yeah, And of course this is something that Speaker McCarthy
Speaker 12: would like to avoid eventually, even if he can get
Speaker 12: it through the House, he doesn't want to see a
Speaker 12: government shut down. Take a list and mick to what
Speaker 12: he said on one of the Sunday shows on Fox
Speaker 12: over the weekend.
Speaker 8: A shutdown would only give strength to the Democrats, it
Speaker 8: would give the power to Biden. It wouldn't pay our troops,
Speaker 8: it wouldn't pay our border agents. More people would be
Speaker 8: coming across. I actually want to achieve something.
Speaker 12: He wants to achieve something. And he went on to
Speaker 12: say Mick that a shutdown would just weaken the Republican's hand,
Speaker 12: would it We can speaker McCarthy's hand most of all.
Speaker 10: You know, actually no, I'll give you the counter on
Speaker 10: that one. I think that you sort of get the
Speaker 10: sense I spent all last week in Washington last We're
Speaker 10: talking to folks across the spectrum, and you sort of
Speaker 10: get the impression that the middle of the party. I'm
Speaker 10: not talking about the main street folks. I'm not talking
Speaker 10: about the Republican Study Committee, which sort of leans right,
Speaker 10: or even the Freedom Caucus people that are okay with
Speaker 10: perhaps this deal. Again, this is not a Freedom Caucus mutiny.
Speaker 10: It's a small group of people the Freedom Caucus at
Speaker 10: any time as roughly maybe forty members, and you need
Speaker 10: about eighty percent of those to take an official position,
Speaker 10: and nowhere near that. This is a rump group with
Speaker 10: ra happy to be Freedom Caucus members. Who are causing
Speaker 10: all the difficulty, And honestly, I think the more unreasonable
Speaker 10: they are being, the more it helps Kevin and that
Speaker 10: sooner or later, and it maybe I think after a
Speaker 10: shutdown you might see an overwhelming number of Republicans go
Speaker 10: to Kevin and say, it's okay with us if you
Speaker 10: start talking to Democrats about things that are reasonable, because
Speaker 10: it's the only way we're going to pass anything, And that,
Speaker 10: if it happens, might actually strengthen Kevin and really undermine
Speaker 10: these these five to ten folks who just say, note
Speaker 10: everything at this point interesting.
Speaker 3: So that would unlock a little bit of negotiating across
Speaker 3: the aisle in that world, make at least the Phonic
Speaker 3: described this as a good place. She said, House Republicans
Speaker 3: are in a good place right now. We've got a deal.
Speaker 3: When she was asked also on Fox News Sunday, how
Speaker 3: would you describe the place that the Republican whip.
Speaker 2: Is in today?
Speaker 10: Listen, I think they're the keV The meltdown last week
Speaker 10: was was was a watershed moment. The line that Kevin
Speaker 10: said when he said he knows just bring the F
Speaker 10: and motion, let's let's get this over with. That's a
Speaker 10: watershed moment, because what I think he's realized is that
Speaker 10: Number one, he's never going to satisfy everybody in the caucus,
Speaker 10: and he needs to satisfy just about everybody in the
Speaker 10: caucus to pass something with just Republican votes. But just
Speaker 10: as importantly, I think he's realized nobody else wants the job.
Speaker 10: Nobody else could get elected Speaker, and even if they did,
Speaker 10: they wouldn't want the gig. And I think that actually
Speaker 10: helps Kevin's hand because it sort of allows him to
Speaker 10: call these folks bluff. And I think that's you saw
Speaker 10: the opening salvo of that last week when Kevin challenged
Speaker 10: them to bring the motion notice. By the way, they
Speaker 10: didn't take him up on his offer that Matt Gase's
Speaker 10: response is, you know, please bring us the appropriations bills.
Speaker 10: And I get that, listen, I get what's causing us.
Speaker 10: I get the anks with the spending. I get the
Speaker 10: lack of a budget, which I think they're going to
Speaker 10: solve this week. They're actually going to pass the top
Speaker 10: line budget number, which is some of the things that
Speaker 10: the phys who conserves something complaining about. Those are legit concerns,
Speaker 10: But I think Kevin is finally realizing that the more
Speaker 10: this small group pushes and pushes and pushes, the more
Speaker 10: it actually helps him in strengthening his own hand.
Speaker 12: As we talk about this small group, Mick. Over the weekend,
Speaker 12: the House Democratic Leader Hakim Jeffries characterize what is happening
Speaker 12: among House Republicans as a civil war. Do you think
Speaker 12: that's an apt description?
Speaker 10: You know? Is it any different than the internal discussions
Speaker 10: in the Democrat Party? I mean, look, David Ignatius wrote
Speaker 10: a piece in The Washington Post last week saying that
Speaker 10: Joe Biden shouldn't run again and that Kamala Harris shouldn't
Speaker 10: run either. You want to talk about a civil war?
Speaker 10: Oh my goodness. When that outlet, with that author is
Speaker 10: taking that position, then you know there are discussions going
Speaker 10: on with the Democrats that are just as civil warish
Speaker 10: as the Republican discussions are. So yeah, I don't think
Speaker 10: the gem is wrong. But to think that it's not
Speaker 10: like that for both parties in Washington d C. Is naive.
Speaker 3: Look to ask you about something else that's making news
Speaker 3: here in Washington make and that's the prisoner swap with Iran.
Speaker 3: Some folks are very upset about this, a lot of
Speaker 3: Republican lawmakers are criticizing President Biden. Is it's not only
Speaker 3: a swap for five Iranian detainees Ruanian prisoners, but it's
Speaker 3: also unlocking six billion dollars that apparently was being held
Speaker 3: by South Korea. This is oil money apparently destined for Iran,
Speaker 3: which says it will use it anyway it sees fit,
Speaker 3: even though this was supposed to be for humanitarian purposes.
Speaker 3: You spend enough time in omb to probably understand some
Speaker 3: of the inner workings here. First of all, was this
Speaker 3: the right move to unlock that money? And how does
Speaker 3: the Biden administration do this without the help of Congress.
Speaker 10: Yeah, these are tough. I mean, the prisoner swaps are
Speaker 10: really tough because you know, we tend really not to
Speaker 10: take people into you know, arrest people in this country
Speaker 10: for political purposes, especially foreign citizens. Right. We don't go
Speaker 10: often and take a Russian because we want to be
Speaker 10: able to use that person as a as a brokering chip,
Speaker 10: and the Russians do, and the Iranians do. It's always
Speaker 10: difficult when we see our innocent citizens being held overseas,
Speaker 10: and you've got to you know, I sympathize with the
Speaker 10: Biden administration for the position they're in, we had it
Speaker 10: from time to time. Actually, one of things that President
Speaker 10: Trump was really really good at was these prisoner negotiations
Speaker 10: and so forth. The difficulty with doing it the way
Speaker 10: that the Biden administration is doing it and they're couching
Speaker 10: in terms of money only for you know, medicine and food,
Speaker 10: is that, as every listener of this program knows, money
Speaker 10: is one hundred percent fungible. In fact, it is the
Speaker 10: ultimate fungible thing, right and now, instead of having to
Speaker 10: spend six billion dollars on food, the arrangeys be able
Speaker 10: to take this six billion dollars and spend that six
Speaker 10: pillion we just gave them on food and use the
Speaker 10: six billion they were good to spend on food to
Speaker 10: buy weapons systems, which is exactly what they mean when
Speaker 10: they say they can spend this money every way that
Speaker 10: they want to. But they answer your question, by the way,
Speaker 10: deals with the abilities under the various laws that have
Speaker 10: already been passed that we give the we give the
Speaker 10: State Department, if we deal with already, would give the
Speaker 10: administration a great deal of authority. It's part of the
Speaker 10: execution of the laws. Typically speaking, if it's done properly.
Speaker 10: It is a proper function of the executive branch of
Speaker 10: government to cut these deals.
Speaker 3: Interesting, well, you know Senator Ted Cruze's issue to statement.
Speaker 3: It says President Biden has established a secret nuclear deal
Speaker 3: with the Iranian regime that's being kept from Congress and
Speaker 3: the American people. He says, Today's news confirms there has
Speaker 3: already been a side deal, including a six billion dollar
Speaker 3: ransom and the release of Iranian operatives. That is not
Speaker 3: good politics for the White House? Is it fair language?
Speaker 2: Ransom?
Speaker 1: Well, it is.
Speaker 10: Ransom, right, I mean, that's exactly what it. They took
Speaker 10: our people and we're paying the money. It is absolutely ransom.
Speaker 10: Like I said, this is a tough position for any
Speaker 10: administration to be in because that type of criticism is
Speaker 10: absolutely right. And the reason you don't like to pay
Speaker 10: ransom is that all it does is encourage people to
Speaker 10: do it again next time. So we used to have
Speaker 10: a policy in this country that we didn't negotiate with terrorists.
Speaker 10: But you know, clearly the Biden administration has done just that.
Speaker 10: But again with its innocent Americans being held that. The
Speaker 10: sympathy levels are very very high. I don't know where
Speaker 10: Ted is getting this issue about a larger nuclear deal.
Speaker 10: I think there's plenty of here to criticize without now
Speaker 10: going that for unless he's got evidence that he's not
Speaker 10: talking about. I'd be surprised by the way if that
Speaker 10: had happened, It wouldn't surprise you they would do it.
Speaker 10: I just can't see how they would do it in secret.
Speaker 10: The Democrats have wanted a deal on I Ranyan nuclear
Speaker 10: weapons for a long time. We tried to undo it.
Speaker 10: But I don't know what Ted is talking about when
Speaker 10: it comes to that. But maybe you can ask him, Mick.
Speaker 12: While we're on the subject of foreign relations. Of course,
Speaker 12: later on this week we're going to be looking forward
Speaker 12: here in Washington to a visit from Ukrainian President Zelensky,
Speaker 12: both at the White House and on Capitol Hill, and
Speaker 12: a headline just across the Bloomberg terminal Reuters reporting that
Speaker 12: McCarthy says he will meet with Zelensky this week. That's,
Speaker 12: of course, as McCarthy is dealing with parts of his
Speaker 12: Republican party in the House that would no longer like
Speaker 12: to help Ukraine in regard to funding for the war
Speaker 12: with Russia. When Zelenski makes the trip and please for more.
Speaker 12: Do you think it's going to fall on deaf ears
Speaker 12: in the house? Can mines change on this issue?
Speaker 10: Yeah, in fact, they're already changing, not on deaf ears,
Speaker 10: but they're going to be cynical ears. There's no question.
Speaker 10: I think the days of writing a blank check to
Speaker 10: Ukraine have coming gone. You've already seen the reports starting
Speaker 10: to leak out about the lack of accountability of buy
Speaker 10: the Ukrainians. People forget and they want to forget, especially
Speaker 10: folks on the other side of the Aisle want to
Speaker 10: forget because they want to just look at Ukraine in
Speaker 10: terms of a Trump issue. But one of the reasons
Speaker 10: that we withheld money for the Ukrainians in the first
Speaker 10: place was because they're one of the most corrupt places
Speaker 10: on the planet. There's actually special rules on the books
Speaker 10: in our country about giving money to Ukraine in terms
Speaker 10: of foreign aid. There's limitations that only apply to Ukraine
Speaker 10: because it is so corrupt, and you're starting to see
Speaker 10: that now come home to root. This is one of
Speaker 10: those interesting topics that is not necessarily right down the
Speaker 10: middle partisan. There's going to be Democrats who are interested
Speaker 10: in in not spending more money in Ukraine. There could
Speaker 10: be Republicans who want to be interested in not spending
Speaker 10: more money in Ukraine. You're going to see a very
Speaker 10: healthy debate, I think on this particular issue. I don't
Speaker 10: think so once he comes to deaf ears, but I
Speaker 10: don't think he comes now to folks who are willing
Speaker 10: to write a willing to write him a blank check.
Speaker 12: And Mick, I have one last question for you, because
Speaker 12: when you were on the show last week, you had
Speaker 12: some love express for Congressman Ken Buck, the Republican from Colorado,
Speaker 12: and he on Friday published an op ed in the
Speaker 12: Washington Post. I wanted to ask you about it's in
Speaker 12: regard to the impeachment inquiry. And this is a quote.
Speaker 12: Republicans in the House who are itching for an impeachment
Speaker 12: are relying on an imagined history. He goes on to
Speaker 12: say Trump's impeachment in twenty nineteen was a disgrace to
Speaker 12: the Constitution and a disservice to Americans. The GOP's prize
Speaker 12: in twenty twenty three is no better. Mack, what's your
Speaker 12: response to that?
Speaker 5: Sick?
Speaker 10: Ken Buck is a really, really conservative guy. Okay, this
Speaker 10: is some This is not somebody from the middle of
Speaker 10: the party. This is this is a right winger. He's
Speaker 10: saying that people should pay attention. He's also a very
Speaker 10: thoughtful guy. He's well regarded with in the party, and
Speaker 10: I don't know if he's right or wrong because I
Speaker 10: haven't seen the evidence. I also encourage people to recognize
Speaker 10: there's a difference between an impeachment inquiry and an impeachment.
Speaker 10: People want to sort of blurred lines between those two things.
Speaker 10: People forget there was an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump
Speaker 10: in twenty nineteen before there was an impeachment. And I'm
Speaker 10: necessary I don't necessarily disagree with the decision to do
Speaker 10: an inquiry. But when Buck is coming out and saying
Speaker 10: that people should pay attention because he's a thoughtful person
Speaker 10: and he might be right, you might, you know, say, look,
Speaker 10: if we do this, then are we just as bad,
Speaker 10: are we just as awful as a Democrats? Or is
Speaker 10: there not a moral high ground here that we can take.
Speaker 10: I remember back in twenty eleven and twelve, and I
Speaker 10: came in a tea party way, there was this inkling
Speaker 10: every now and then from back home about impeaching Barack Obama. Now,
Speaker 10: if that's the same question, where's the high crime and misdemeanor.
Speaker 10: Show me a high crime and misdemeanor that we have
Speaker 10: the discussion. I think that that's the same thing you're
Speaker 10: hearing from Ken Buck today. Show me a crime and
Speaker 10: we'll talk about our teachers.
Speaker 2: There you have it, from Mick Malvenny.
Speaker 3: We thank you McK as always with us here on
Speaker 3: Bloomberg sound On.
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