WEBVTT - No One’s Asking Questions Anymore.  Lanhee Chen Talks To A&G

0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:02.480
<v Speaker 1>Have you decided whether you are going to run for

0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:05.280
<v Speaker 1>re election in four You haven't set up a re

0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:08.119
<v Speaker 1>election campaign yet, as your predecessor had by this time.

0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:14.040
<v Speaker 1>My predecessor need to need you to my predecessor. Oh God,

0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.279
<v Speaker 1>I missing. Um No, an answer is yes, my plan

0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.119
<v Speaker 1>is the run for reelection. That's my expectation. Do you

0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.840
<v Speaker 1>believe you'll be running against former President Trump? Oh? Come on,

0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:26.960
<v Speaker 1>I don't even think about I don't. I have no idea.

0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:32.040
<v Speaker 1>I have no idea what it will be a Republican party. Ah,

0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:34.720
<v Speaker 1>those are dumb questions in my opinion, It's a dumb

0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:36.720
<v Speaker 1>conversation of all the things we need to talk about.

0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.519
<v Speaker 1>But anyway, Um, we're happy every Friday when we get

0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.600
<v Speaker 1>to talk to Lawn he Chen. He's the David and

0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.800
<v Speaker 1>Diane Stephie Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the

0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.920
<v Speaker 1>Hoover Institution and the Director of Domestic Policy Studies at

0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:53.080
<v Speaker 1>Stanford University, and he's a regular contributor at CNN Opinion.

0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.240
<v Speaker 1>In Lawn he welcome to the Armstrong and Getty Show.

0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.360
<v Speaker 1>How you doing? Always great to do with you. Thanks, Um.

0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.280
<v Speaker 1>This is what I'm and asked today whenever we've I

0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:03.680
<v Speaker 1>don't think we've ever approached this way. As a smart

0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.800
<v Speaker 1>guy who follows all kinds of different stuff, what is

0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.319
<v Speaker 1>the most interesting thing to you right now? Not what

0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.000
<v Speaker 1>you know. I know lots of people have be on

0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:12.560
<v Speaker 1>his guests and they want to talk about the news

0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.440
<v Speaker 1>of the day, and that's not always the most interesting

0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.960
<v Speaker 1>or important thing going on. What's like, what's actually on

0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:20.920
<v Speaker 1>your mind? Like things you're going to be reading up

0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.360
<v Speaker 1>on today? Uh boy, I mean, I there's a lot

0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:29.360
<v Speaker 1>of things. I'm always I always come back to this

0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:32.360
<v Speaker 1>issue of how polarized we are as a society, you know,

0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.319
<v Speaker 1>and how how many uh and and really kind of

0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:40.400
<v Speaker 1>intractable differences there seemed to be between people based on

0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:42.920
<v Speaker 1>kind of how they see politics. And I've been thinking

0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:46.600
<v Speaker 1>a lot recently about how it is that there are

0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.440
<v Speaker 1>institutions and the ways that we do things that actually

0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:52.400
<v Speaker 1>make it worse. Um. You know, one of the things

0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:54.680
<v Speaker 1>I'll just mention this is this might be a little nerdy,

0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.080
<v Speaker 1>but the thing is every ten years, you know, we

0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.160
<v Speaker 1>take a census and then we actually draw new UH

0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:06.360
<v Speaker 1>lines for congressional and state legislative districts. Right, we sort

0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:11.040
<v Speaker 1>of create these new districts, and that's a really contentious

0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.920
<v Speaker 1>process politically, I don't I don't know if people realize it,

0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.600
<v Speaker 1>but there's a lot that goes on behind scenes. But

0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.440
<v Speaker 1>one of the things that the states, yeah, it's done

0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.200
<v Speaker 1>state by state and one of the things, and different

0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.200
<v Speaker 1>states do it differently, by the way. Some states have

0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.799
<v Speaker 1>a commission, independent so called independent commission of people that

0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:33.359
<v Speaker 1>come out and propose lines. Some have experts draw the lines, whatever.

0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.280
<v Speaker 1>But one of the things that struck me is how

0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.280
<v Speaker 1>when we draw these lines and we put these districts together,

0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.400
<v Speaker 1>we oftentimes pack pack in people who think in a

0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.320
<v Speaker 1>very similar way. We don't put people next to each

0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.040
<v Speaker 1>other who have very different ways of thinking. And so

0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.480
<v Speaker 1>as a result, people say, well, why are we much

0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:53.680
<v Speaker 1>more polarized now? And I say, one of the reasons

0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.360
<v Speaker 1>is because we elect people to Congress, or we elect

0:02:56.400 --> 0:03:01.800
<v Speaker 1>people to state legislatures who are increasingly polarizing. Because that's

0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.639
<v Speaker 1>also kind of what's what's happening to us. We're living

0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.400
<v Speaker 1>next to people, by and large, who we you know,

0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:09.959
<v Speaker 1>may may think in a very similar way to who

0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.560
<v Speaker 1>may look like us. And that's much more common now

0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:14.960
<v Speaker 1>than it was. Let's say a couple of decades ago,

0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.760
<v Speaker 1>and I think that's actually made the polarization worse. Yeah,

0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.520
<v Speaker 1>I've seen some of those stats on the number of

0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.600
<v Speaker 1>counties that are um, you know, way more of one

0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:26.359
<v Speaker 1>than the other, and how much more that is than

0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:31.280
<v Speaker 1>it used to be. It's culturally, it's interesting. So, you know,

0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:33.760
<v Speaker 1>getting to the press conference, which is the news of

0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.040
<v Speaker 1>the day, when he was talking about the filibuster in

0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:37.520
<v Speaker 1>that sort of thing. Well, I've seen a lot of

0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.760
<v Speaker 1>cable news articles and our discussions and read a lot

0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.480
<v Speaker 1>of articles about the filibuster, and each side chooses their

0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.880
<v Speaker 1>own point. Going back as to who's to blame, you know,

0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.600
<v Speaker 1>who started this whole thing. Well, Mitch McConnell did do

0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.040
<v Speaker 1>away with the filibuster for Supreme Court justice, but Harry

0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.000
<v Speaker 1>Reid did it away with it for Lord Court judges,

0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.680
<v Speaker 1>and then before that you had you know, stonewalling on

0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.440
<v Speaker 1>this these nominees, and so it just keeps getting further

0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.040
<v Speaker 1>and further down the track of of of tip for

0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.880
<v Speaker 1>tat and getting further apart is it. Well, like you said,

0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:10.480
<v Speaker 1>you've been thinking about this, trying to figure out how

0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:11.920
<v Speaker 1>to fix it, but it doesn't seem like we're going

0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.520
<v Speaker 1>in the right direction currently we're not. I mean, this

0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.159
<v Speaker 1>debate over the filibuster is a great example of that.

0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.800
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you can very easily if you if you

0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.400
<v Speaker 1>go on the Google machine, you can very easily look

0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.880
<v Speaker 1>up and find clips of Joe Biden and Barack Obama

0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:31.360
<v Speaker 1>and prominent Democrats talking about how important the filibuster is

0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.360
<v Speaker 1>when they were in a position to use the filibuster

0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:38.919
<v Speaker 1>to stop let's say, either nominations or legislative action. And

0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.560
<v Speaker 1>you know, now the rules are reversed, and you've got

0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:43.560
<v Speaker 1>the same Democrats saying, well, you gotta get rid of

0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.280
<v Speaker 1>the filibuster. And by the way, you know, Republicans aren't

0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.600
<v Speaker 1>aren't necessarily immune from that hypocrisy well when it comes

0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:53.479
<v Speaker 1>to these kinds of issues. So it really is that

0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.320
<v Speaker 1>kind of political convenience that I think gets people worked up.

0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.320
<v Speaker 1>I mean, at a at a very basic level, you

0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.880
<v Speaker 1>would hope that there can be some consistency in politics,

0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.479
<v Speaker 1>but we just don't see that as much anymore. And

0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:07.919
<v Speaker 1>I think that also contributes to we're talking about this

0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.480
<v Speaker 1>polarization thing, when you feel like you have to always

0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.280
<v Speaker 1>take the positions that your side is taking, otherwise there's

0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.479
<v Speaker 1>some kind of trader or you're somehow less than uh.

0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.920
<v Speaker 1>In in the Republican Party, we have this term rhino

0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:23.960
<v Speaker 1>that's been thrown around. You know, you're a rhino if

0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.479
<v Speaker 1>you don't support everything the Republicans do. And and you know,

0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.120
<v Speaker 1>I think that's really too bad because there are a

0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:30.760
<v Speaker 1>lot of things that you just took a good hard

0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:32.839
<v Speaker 1>look at it and said, look, you know, is this

0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.479
<v Speaker 1>something that that is conservative? Is this something that's progressive?

0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.880
<v Speaker 1>And if it's so, then I'm gonna support or oppose it.

0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.560
<v Speaker 1>Then you know it's understandable. But when it comes down

0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.840
<v Speaker 1>to just as kind of shirts and skins partisanship, uh,

0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.120
<v Speaker 1>that to me is probably not not great for America

0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:48.840
<v Speaker 1>in the long run. We're talking with Lona Chen. You

0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.200
<v Speaker 1>probably see him on various big time shows here. I'm

0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.440
<v Speaker 1>on various big shows. Readers, articles, that sort of stuff. Um.

0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.320
<v Speaker 1>One interesting thing we've been discussing is apparently, according to reporting,

0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.479
<v Speaker 1>Joe Biden met with some historians the other day and said,

0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.080
<v Speaker 1>you know, how big should I go? Am I going

0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.520
<v Speaker 1>too big? And know they are because he invited in

0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.720
<v Speaker 1>super liberal progressive historians. Um, they all said no, no, no,

0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.800
<v Speaker 1>go big, goes big now's your time, and so we

0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.520
<v Speaker 1>think he's working on trying to be a transformational People

0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.120
<v Speaker 1>talk about him a hundred years from now like FDR

0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.680
<v Speaker 1>sort of president. And you know, if he takes some

0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.960
<v Speaker 1>hits right now politically for doing away with the filibuster,

0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:28.640
<v Speaker 1>that won't matter if people are still talking about the major,

0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.640
<v Speaker 1>the important changes he made to America, you know, a

0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.720
<v Speaker 1>century from now. Do you think that's where we're headed. Yeah,

0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:38.839
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I think that is part of the goal

0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.679
<v Speaker 1>of uh of of many who support him, and perhaps

0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.560
<v Speaker 1>Biden himself. I mean, just look at it for context.

0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:51.080
<v Speaker 1>We've passed two trillion dollars in fiscal stimulus spending or

0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.560
<v Speaker 1>fiscal relief, whatever you want to call. It's two trillion

0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:57.080
<v Speaker 1>dollars of spending and we and we did so in

0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.120
<v Speaker 1>sort of a record amount of time without a whole

0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.520
<v Speaker 1>lot of reflection in my view, And now they're talking

0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.200
<v Speaker 1>about doing four trillion dollars in additional spending later this

0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.479
<v Speaker 1>year on you know, I mean, some of it is

0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.680
<v Speaker 1>surely stuff that we need. We need better roads and

0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.480
<v Speaker 1>bridges and airports, and no one's arguing with that. But

0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.320
<v Speaker 1>the notion that we would do it, and you know,

0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:19.080
<v Speaker 1>just kind of say and wave our hands at it

0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.160
<v Speaker 1>and say, well, it's just another couple of trillion dollars.

0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:24.800
<v Speaker 1>That amount of expansion and spending and expansion in the

0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.840
<v Speaker 1>rule of government will will truly be unprecedented. And I

0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:31.960
<v Speaker 1>think if Biden manages to be successful, even if it's

0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.360
<v Speaker 1>just with that two trillion impact to two trillion dollar

0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.760
<v Speaker 1>package he did and another several trillion dollars and spending

0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:41.160
<v Speaker 1>going forward, that will met his place in history in

0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.600
<v Speaker 1>some ways as being the most progressive president that we've

0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:46.880
<v Speaker 1>that we've ever seen. And I and I think it's

0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.080
<v Speaker 1>remarkable because a lot of people, I think who voted

0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:51.880
<v Speaker 1>for him and supported him said, Okay, look here's someone

0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.040
<v Speaker 1>who's going to be relatively moderate and reasonable and gonna

0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.760
<v Speaker 1>come in and try to heal the divisions. And you know,

0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:58.560
<v Speaker 1>I just say, let's look at where we are and

0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.120
<v Speaker 1>let's look at what let's actually happened into. Yeah, you

0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:02.960
<v Speaker 1>never know what you're gonna get. I've done a lot

0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.920
<v Speaker 1>of reading about L. B. J and all those Carol books,

0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.080
<v Speaker 1>and you know, he was the guy in the Senate

0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.559
<v Speaker 1>that stopped any civil rights legislation from ever even getting

0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.160
<v Speaker 1>a sniff in a committee for years and years and years,

0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:16.920
<v Speaker 1>and then when he becomes president, you know, he turns

0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:18.760
<v Speaker 1>on a diamond and takes the other direction. So you

0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:20.360
<v Speaker 1>never know what you're gonna get with the president. It's

0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.040
<v Speaker 1>it's really interesting. And that was a good thing obviously,

0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.680
<v Speaker 1>but um uh, I guess you don't know what's in

0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.320
<v Speaker 1>somebody's true heart until they get the power to do things.

0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:29.920
<v Speaker 1>Do you have any idea how many push ups you

0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:33.720
<v Speaker 1>can do in a row right now? I don't know.

0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.160
<v Speaker 1>It's a good question, so we could lie. I could

0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:43.200
<v Speaker 1>lie and say a hundred, but that would I think, Uh,

0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.120
<v Speaker 1>I don't know. I I think fifty. I think my

0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.600
<v Speaker 1>son can do more than I can actually, because he's

0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.760
<v Speaker 1>you know, he's and he's ten. So that just tells

0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.400
<v Speaker 1>you what kind of that's funny because I'm my oldest

0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.800
<v Speaker 1>is eleven, and uh the other day we ran and

0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:56.959
<v Speaker 1>he's just about faster than me. Now I have to

0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.360
<v Speaker 1>run full speed to barely beat him now in a sprint.

0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.360
<v Speaker 1>Um yeah, yeah, there are points when you realize your

0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.839
<v Speaker 1>own physical limitation. And I will I will say that

0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:09.600
<v Speaker 1>that is that is a that is a part of

0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.120
<v Speaker 1>the of the age curve. I'm starting to find myself

0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.160
<v Speaker 1>on Now. It's interesting because every day I get slower

0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:15.839
<v Speaker 1>and every day he gets faster. So at some point

0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.480
<v Speaker 1>those lines are gonna cross, like supply and demand. The

0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:20.480
<v Speaker 1>reason I ask is we had this health thing. Um,

0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.719
<v Speaker 1>your chance of heart disease goes down two thirds if

0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.120
<v Speaker 1>you can do eleven push ups as opposed to ten

0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.200
<v Speaker 1>in a row. And I did, and I cranked out eleven.

0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.520
<v Speaker 1>So I'm feeling good about my heart health. So I

0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.640
<v Speaker 1>just wanted to you know, that's a stat Yeah, I didn't.

0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:37.880
<v Speaker 1>I didn't know that I learned something today. Yeah, that's

0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.400
<v Speaker 1>that's andy. Um. One more political question before we let

0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:45.840
<v Speaker 1>you go, um uh. Watching the press conference, what do

0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.680
<v Speaker 1>you think the performance was like overall? Were you bothered

0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.040
<v Speaker 1>by a guy who used to chair the Foreign Relations

0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.880
<v Speaker 1>Committee and was on Meet the Press every Sunday and

0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.040
<v Speaker 1>could talk about any place in the world and name

0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.320
<v Speaker 1>the leaders and had all those facts and figures at

0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.120
<v Speaker 1>you know, at the tip of this tongue. That's the

0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.839
<v Speaker 1>way he was young Joe Biden now having to read

0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:08.839
<v Speaker 1>few cards for his own foreign policy. Yeah, I mean

0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:13.080
<v Speaker 1>he's clearly lost several steps since he uh, you know,

0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.240
<v Speaker 1>played those roles you know. I mean, look, I think

0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.320
<v Speaker 1>me at least, that's not what I focus on. I don't.

0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:21.920
<v Speaker 1>I'm not bothered by whether he's reading or not. What

0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.240
<v Speaker 1>I am bothered by the actual policy. What I'm more

0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.160
<v Speaker 1>bothered by is what they're actually doing, rather than what

0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.240
<v Speaker 1>he's talking about or how he's talking about it. I mean,

0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.959
<v Speaker 1>Joe Biden is never gonna win on style points, so

0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.640
<v Speaker 1>you know, whatever, you give them that and I understand people,

0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.080
<v Speaker 1>you know, take issue with the fact that he can't

0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.600
<v Speaker 1>even talk about it without the que cards. And that's

0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.920
<v Speaker 1>fine if they want to. My my bigger issue is,

0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.679
<v Speaker 1>you know, do we really think four trillion dollars in

0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.440
<v Speaker 1>additional spending makes sense? Do we really think that that,

0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.360
<v Speaker 1>you know, a foreign policy like the one that we've

0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.719
<v Speaker 1>got now, you know, makes sense? I think those are

0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:55.959
<v Speaker 1>the kinds of questions we should be asking and not

0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:57.880
<v Speaker 1>you know, did he read off a cute card or not?

0:10:57.960 --> 0:10:59.679
<v Speaker 1>I mean that that's kind of where I would spend

0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.480
<v Speaker 1>my time and energy. So does he do like two

0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.200
<v Speaker 1>press conferences a year, all with just a handful of

0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.000
<v Speaker 1>reporters on his side, that he knows what they're gonna ask?

0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.120
<v Speaker 1>Is that the way he's gonna do it well the

0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.240
<v Speaker 1>more to me, at least, the more shocking thing was

0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.880
<v Speaker 1>not his performance, but the reporters performed. The fact that

0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.600
<v Speaker 1>you've got so many reporters who are unwilling to ask

0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.160
<v Speaker 1>tough questions. It's their job to ask tough questions. They

0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.240
<v Speaker 1>asked a lot of tough questions of Donald Trump when

0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.559
<v Speaker 1>he was president. That's what the that's what the media

0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.400
<v Speaker 1>is supposed to do. Now when it comes to Joe Biden,

0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.040
<v Speaker 1>they you know, they say things like, well, you know,

0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.240
<v Speaker 1>you have an image as an honorable and decent man,

0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.360
<v Speaker 1>and you know, you know, it's almost like Uncle Joe's

0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.640
<v Speaker 1>story time instead of holding a president accountable. And and

0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:43.840
<v Speaker 1>you need to hold president's accountable. I don't care if

0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.600
<v Speaker 1>the Republican or Democrat. The job of the media, if

0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.760
<v Speaker 1>they're doing it well, is to hold people in power accountable.

0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.360
<v Speaker 1>And you look at what's happening in Washington, by the way,

0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.320
<v Speaker 1>you look what's happening in state capitals like Sacramento. That's

0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:56.839
<v Speaker 1>why there's all these people, all these who have worked

0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.600
<v Speaker 1>up about Gavin Newsom. No one asked the hard questions anymore.

0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.920
<v Speaker 1>And and that's when you get essentially politicians who decide

0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.319
<v Speaker 1>they can do whatever they want. Pomo is another one. Well,

0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.000
<v Speaker 1>part of it got away with murder. Well, part of it,

0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.120
<v Speaker 1>especially now, is you'll get lit up by your own

0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.839
<v Speaker 1>side on your Twitter feed if you if you come out.

0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.200
<v Speaker 1>There was an there was a column in the Washington

0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.040
<v Speaker 1>Post saying, hey, media, go easy on Uncle Joe. Remember

0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.040
<v Speaker 1>he's on our side, not trying, you know that sort

0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.040
<v Speaker 1>of thing. It's yeah, I don't think people want to

0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.960
<v Speaker 1>take the bullets from their own side. Yeah, there's no

0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:28.920
<v Speaker 1>our side or their side when it comes to there

0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:30.840
<v Speaker 1>shouldn't be when it comes to the media. Unfortunately we

0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.160
<v Speaker 1>know that in too many cases there is, and it

0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:34.800
<v Speaker 1>shouldn't be that way. Well, I took a lot of

0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:36.800
<v Speaker 1>your time today. Appreciate you doing it. I expect you

0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:38.400
<v Speaker 1>to tweet out later how many push ups you did

0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.480
<v Speaker 1>in a row, and I'll be following your Twitter feed

0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:42.880
<v Speaker 1>that'll see. I'll be I'll be a shame you're not

0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:47.240
<v Speaker 1>gonna see that number. But but but all the best

0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.680
<v Speaker 1>for for good heart help. If that's a great whist

0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.160
<v Speaker 1>for everybody, you bet, Thank you very much. Loon heat Chen,

0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.559
<v Speaker 1>regular contributor on CNN Opinion uh, David and Diane Stephie

0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.280
<v Speaker 1>fellow in public policy at Hoover and all around smart

0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.360
<v Speaker 1>guy and I like it. Whenever if I see he's

0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.440
<v Speaker 1>on facination or something like that, I know it's gonna

0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.120
<v Speaker 1>be a good episode. Art Strong