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Speaker 1: Armstrong and Jetty show. This time will be the first
Speaker 1: one on one debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be a little different than the previous
Speaker 1: debates due to concerns about coronavirus. There will be no
Speaker 1: live audience in attendance, which bets the philosophical question if
Speaker 1: Joe Biden makes a horrible gaff and no one's there
Speaker 1: to hear it, does it still make you cringe? I
Speaker 1: still can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm
Speaker 1: not going to be watching Kansas and Duke and whoever
Speaker 1: played basketball? But I will see two old men. Are
Speaker 1: you in a n empty room? Yeah? The Masters is
Speaker 1: beyond my super Bowl, and I love baseball more than
Speaker 1: some family members, so you can imagine my frame of mind. Uh.
Speaker 1: Lanna e j Chen joins us Lon. He's the Dave
Speaker 1: and Diane Steffyr Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution, Director
Speaker 1: of Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University, among other Echo leids.
Speaker 1: Lon here, how are you, sir, boy? No hockey, no baseball? Uh?
Speaker 1: No basketball. I don't know what I'm gonna do with
Speaker 1: myself for the next couple of weeks. What am I
Speaker 1: gonna do? Read we're talking earlier. If this continues for
Speaker 1: a while, If this continues for a while, and it's
Speaker 1: likely so, if my kids are out of school and
Speaker 1: everything's closed and there's nothing going on, that we're gonna
Speaker 1: it's gonna be kind of an interesting little period we
Speaker 1: go through here. Yeah. Yeah, well, just someone someone said
Speaker 1: on Twitter, I thought it was very good. This will
Speaker 1: be the ultimate test for marriages and for relationships with family,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Yeah. Indeed, So listen, let's talk a
Speaker 1: little politics. It is my opinion on He's that Bernie
Speaker 1: Sanders has essentially strapped himself in a suicide vest and
Speaker 1: is going to go into the debate with old man
Speaker 1: Biden the other night and maybe blow him up. Um
Speaker 1: am I nuts or what? No? I think he's made
Speaker 1: pretty clear. I mean, he gave that speech with it
Speaker 1: yesterday the day before where he said, you know, I've
Speaker 1: got some questions for for Joe Biden, and and you
Speaker 1: know these are not questions that can be answered well
Speaker 1: by Joe Biden. And certainly I think it is Bernie
Speaker 1: Sanders strategy to use this debate to to take him
Speaker 1: down because he realizes, you know, he's desperate now. He
Speaker 1: realized if he cannot take Joe Biden down in this debate,
Speaker 1: the contest is overlooked. I think the contest is basically
Speaker 1: over now. But Bernie Sanders believes this is his last
Speaker 1: best chance to impact the race. And a a desperate
Speaker 1: man is a dangerous man, right. We've all seen the
Speaker 1: scene in the movie where the hero is triumphed in
Speaker 1: the fight and then the bad guy I reaches up
Speaker 1: and stabs him with a knife nobody knew was there.
Speaker 1: And listen, bad guy might still lose the fight, but
Speaker 1: he is really really damaged. You know. In this metaphor,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden Democratic Party allowing this to happen, well, I
Speaker 1: you know, I think they have to because if they don't,
Speaker 1: the Standard supporters are really gonna go nuts. They're gonna
Speaker 1: go nuts anyway, that's my my theories. You're not gonna
Speaker 1: win over the hardcore Bernie crowd anyway, you could. There's
Speaker 1: only downside to put Biden in a room with him Sunday.
Speaker 1: But what's your opinion? Well, you know, I think I
Speaker 1: think they for optics sake, they feel like they have to.
Speaker 1: And and the debate was scheduled, and it's the opportunity
Speaker 1: for them to go one on one. Imagine the outcry,
Speaker 1: Imagine the amount of backlash the Democratic Party gets if
Speaker 1: they if they really look like they're trying to take
Speaker 1: this away from Bernie. And you know, some would argue
Speaker 1: that the rules that have been put in place, um,
Speaker 1: you know, make it harder for Bernie. Now, I think
Speaker 1: for Bernie, those are rules he agreed to. And by
Speaker 1: the way, Willie insisted on him. Yeah, and and and
Speaker 1: and he was ahead of the delicate race. He was
Speaker 1: the one saying no, no, no, the person with a
Speaker 1: plurality you know that that that person will be then
Speaker 1: the nominee. So I look, I think they're doing it
Speaker 1: because they feel like they have to. But I think
Speaker 1: it's a very very risky proposition for Joe Biden, no
Speaker 1: question about it. I could I can talk about this
Speaker 1: the whole time we have you on, and maybe we will.
Speaker 1: But this is breaking news. The president of Brazil has
Speaker 1: tested positive for coronavirus. He's the highest ranking world leader
Speaker 1: with coronavirus. Canada's trudeaut doesn't count, but he dined. He
Speaker 1: dined with Trump on the seventh, so that's fairly recently.
Speaker 1: If Trump tested positive, if he ends up with corona,
Speaker 1: how do you think that would play out politically? Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, I mean that would be you know that
Speaker 1: there would be first of all, we'd see a market
Speaker 1: shock like you've you've not seen already. Well it's hard,
Speaker 1: you know, I know, but but really yourself, don't say
Speaker 1: that a loud break, but don't say allowed. That's one thing. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it will. I think it will
Speaker 1: create some serious, um, you know, political challenges because you know,
Speaker 1: he's not a young guy. I mean, he's actually pretty
Speaker 1: healthy and so it appears for a guy at his age,
Speaker 1: but he's not a young guy. So you know, people
Speaker 1: are gonna have to keep an eye on him, and
Speaker 1: you know it's going to create it will change the
Speaker 1: political dynamic fundamentally, you know, all the bickering, all the partisanship.
Speaker 1: I actually think and I would hope that if he
Speaker 1: were to be ill in that way, it would go away,
Speaker 1: you know, at least for that period of time. But boy,
Speaker 1: that would be something. It's it's it's hard to imagine.
Speaker 1: It's hard to fathom. I I don't want to imagine
Speaker 1: that that's the case. I mean, regardless of how one
Speaker 1: feels about a political leader, you never want them to
Speaker 1: be sick in that way. Right, Well, put up a
Speaker 1: lot chans on the line, Uh, a lot he putting
Speaker 1: aside the fact that it's a bilateral choice when it
Speaker 1: comes to an election, and be um, Donald j will
Speaker 1: be running against either an ancient borderline communist or Joe
Speaker 1: Biden who's really showing signs of weakening. Putting those things aside. Um,
Speaker 1: to what extent do you think Trump's reelection will rise
Speaker 1: and fall on the response to the coronavirus. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I think it's it's almost entirely. I shouldn't say that,
Speaker 1: because you know, we know that politics, the cycle's turnover,
Speaker 1: so quickly and and God God willing, if this is
Speaker 1: all kind of behind us by the time we get
Speaker 1: to the summer, there's still a whole another lifetime before
Speaker 1: the election. That having been said, I think this is
Speaker 1: going to be a formative part of people's opinions about
Speaker 1: how Donald Trump has handled the job of president. Uh.
Speaker 1: It is a crisis, that is you know, here in
Speaker 1: California obviously we see it every day, but now I
Speaker 1: think people across the country are really starting to see
Speaker 1: this is a major, major, not just public health crisis,
Speaker 1: for human crisis, and how the president handles it I
Speaker 1: think will be influential in how people view him when
Speaker 1: it comes time for re election in November. I think
Speaker 1: he has renewed his sense of caution about what he
Speaker 1: says and doesn't say, because there are a couple of
Speaker 1: missteps early well, there were missteps, I mean certainly in
Speaker 1: what he said. Look that there's no excuse for that
Speaker 1: speech the other night, having the errors that had in it.
Speaker 1: The reason you have prepared text is so that you
Speaker 1: can vet it and avoid those errors. Having been involved
Speaker 1: in a lot of speech writing over the years, you
Speaker 1: know that that shouldn't happen, doesn't mean that it doesn't,
Speaker 1: but it shouldn't do. The thing I would say is,
Speaker 1: you know, every crisis has a moment that crystallizes public
Speaker 1: opinion about how the leader is doing. So Katrina for Bush,
Speaker 1: were the signs of people stuck in the flood saying
Speaker 1: please help us? Right, every crisis has a moment. The
Speaker 1: coronavirus crisis to me, at least that moment could be
Speaker 1: this lack of testing. That really could be the thing
Speaker 1: that crystallizes in people's minds. Trump's handling of it, and
Speaker 1: and look, some of this is beyond his control, no
Speaker 1: question about it. But it is unconscionable that we still
Speaker 1: do not have access to testing for people who wanted
Speaker 1: in this country. It is unconscionable. Um, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to ask this. So it seems like part of the
Speaker 1: strategy from Republicans is going to be really hammer Biden
Speaker 1: on every gaff for you know, mental senior moment or whatever.
Speaker 1: You think that's a good angle in thirty seconds or
Speaker 1: less port Well, you look, I think I think it's
Speaker 1: probably the the angle that they think is best at
Speaker 1: this point, given that Joe has shown that he's not
Speaker 1: the same in Canada, US several years ago. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think they'll perceive two angles. One will be corruption,
Speaker 1: Washington insider, swamp monster, and the second will be sort
Speaker 1: of mental confidence. And I think they're going to go
Speaker 1: up both of those very hard. Wow, it's always interesting
Speaker 1: in in this one. Oh my gosh, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: I'm strong enough, but we'll live through it together. Lonie
Speaker 1: Chen of the Hoover Institution and Stanford University. Always informative,
Speaker 1: You're the best. Thank you take care of guys, great
Speaker 1: to talk. Is this like a full ninety minute debate
Speaker 1: Sunday night? Yes, two people, no crowd. That's going to
Speaker 1: seem like a long debate. There's plenty of time for
Speaker 1: Biden's mind to want udern, for him to say something wacky,
Speaker 1: and Bernie's big applause lines and millionaires and billionaires in
Speaker 1: an empty room is gonna seem weird. You quit yelling
Speaker 1: at me, old man, I can hear you a fine.
Speaker 1: You know, if the dots are allowed, all right, Yellen,
Speaker 1: quit yell at the dynamics of that are gonna be
Speaker 1: so strange. Yeah, And I don't think either one is
Speaker 1: going to cover themselves in glory, as they say Art
Speaker 1: strong Eddy. What if I had a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to the Fisher family, I would start crying because I
Speaker 1: can't articulate how much it meant to us. A Fisher
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Speaker 1: enough to help you thrive through these hard situations. Go
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