Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound On.
Speaker 1: As a nation, we have to ask when in God's
Speaker 1: name we're going to stand up to the gun mom.
Speaker 1: There has been no criminal history identified yet there was
Speaker 1: no known mental health history. Floomberg Sound On, Politics, Policy
Speaker 1: and perspective from DC's top names. Sound You're out of
Speaker 1: You're out of line and an embarrassment. Please leaves sutorium
Speaker 1: for the side personal agendas. Think of somebody other than ourselves.
Speaker 1: Think about the people who were hurt. Floomberg Sound On
Speaker 1: with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio and on the day
Speaker 1: after the massacre in Texas, Washington is paralyzed. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the fastest hour in politics, as we bring you the
Speaker 1: latest from Texas and the response from the nation's capital
Speaker 1: as some lawmakers tackle the question what can be done
Speaker 1: to stop gun violence. Will be joined by Congressman Mike
Speaker 1: Thoms and a head Democrat from California who sponsored the
Speaker 1: background checks bill you've been hearing about that passed the
Speaker 1: House and languishes in the Senate. Later, we'll talk with
Speaker 1: Jessica Taylor of the Cook Political Report about an important
Speaker 1: primary night, and we'll get analysis from the sound on panel.
Speaker 1: President Biden addressed the nation a short time ago, as
Speaker 1: you heard on Bloomberg before signing an executive order on
Speaker 1: police reform. That's what he was up to, and use
Speaker 1: similar language to what we heard last night as he
Speaker 1: spoke to Americans late upon his return from Asia, calling
Speaker 1: for what he calls common sense gun laws following, of course,
Speaker 1: the school shooting in Texas series. So they clearly will
Speaker 1: not prevent every tragedy. We know certain ones will have
Speaker 1: significant impact and have no negative impact on the Second Amendment.
Speaker 1: Second Man is not absolute. When I was passed. You
Speaker 1: couldn't own a you couldn't own a canon, you couldn't
Speaker 1: own certain kinds of weapons. It's just always been limitations.
Speaker 1: But guess what these actions we've taken before they saved lives,
Speaker 1: the President repeating it's time to stand up to the
Speaker 1: gun lobby. While in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott delivered a
Speaker 1: briefing with the latest known on the shooter. There has
Speaker 1: been no criminal history identified yet. He may have had
Speaker 1: a juvenile record, but that is yet to be determined.
Speaker 1: There was no known mental health history, making us wonder
Speaker 1: if he would have been scooped up in a background check. Now,
Speaker 1: while he was talking at that briefing Governor Abbott, things
Speaker 1: went off the rails for a bit. Just as he
Speaker 1: was introducing Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, none other than bettle
Speaker 1: Or Rourke walked in, went right up to the stage
Speaker 1: and started to call them out. Excuse me, Senator Ted
Speaker 1: Cruises on the stage embarrassment. He was escorted out of
Speaker 1: the room. And we'll talk a little bit more about
Speaker 1: this later on with Jessica Taylor. Better or or than
Speaker 1: held a sort of impromptu news conference outside. The temperature
Speaker 1: is rising, and as we consider the idea of gun controls,
Speaker 1: as we consider political solutions here, if I can use
Speaker 1: either term, today, there is legislation on Capitol Hill that
Speaker 1: could get that ball rolling. Congressman Mike Thompson, Democrat from California,
Speaker 1: chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and sponsored
Speaker 1: the background checks bill that passed the House and has
Speaker 1: yet to move in the Senate. He's with us now. Congressman,
Speaker 1: welcome back to Bloomberg. Thank you very much. I'm just
Speaker 1: sad to be your a diseased circumstances. I wish we
Speaker 1: were here to talk about something else, of course, but
Speaker 1: I appreciate your being with us as the background checks
Speaker 1: bill that you sponsored and saw past the House is
Speaker 1: beginning a lot of talk since yesterday. I'd like to
Speaker 1: start by asking you how it works. This would cover
Speaker 1: all gun sales nationally. Correct, that's correct right now. The
Speaker 1: federal floor is that if anyone buys a gun from
Speaker 1: a licensed dealer, they have to get a background check. Uh.
Speaker 1: And sadly, in many states, that floor, that federal floor
Speaker 1: is the ceiling. So someone can go into a gun store,
Speaker 1: attempt to buy a gun, find out that they're prohibitive
Speaker 1: moaning the gun. Maybe there are a criminal, maybe they're
Speaker 1: dangerously mentally ill, a domestic abuser. Uh, there refused the sale,
Speaker 1: and they can go out, and they can go to
Speaker 1: go to a computer store next door and go online
Speaker 1: and and find someone who's selling the same gun, but
Speaker 1: not a dealer by the same gun in the McDonald's
Speaker 1: parking lot. And it's just it's it's just flawed system.
Speaker 1: And by requiring a background check for all gun sales,
Speaker 1: you'll stop a lot of people who shouldn't be getting
Speaker 1: guns from buying firearms. Governor Abbott today in Texas says
Speaker 1: there has been no criminal history identified at least yet
Speaker 1: there was no known mental health history. Congressman, would your
Speaker 1: bill have stopped him from buying those two rifles? I
Speaker 1: don't know all of the particulars about that individual, but
Speaker 1: I have never pretended to believe that any bill mine
Speaker 1: or anybody else's can stop all gun violence. It's just
Speaker 1: one step we can take to make our communities safer.
Speaker 1: The only, the only, only law that would stop all
Speaker 1: gun violence is a law that would do away with
Speaker 1: all guns, and no one is proposed in that. We're
Speaker 1: just trying to take an incremental step to be able
Speaker 1: to make our communities and our schools UH safer. Background
Speaker 1: checks are something that we know works, and we know
Speaker 1: that if we expand them to include all gun sales,
Speaker 1: we will in fact make our community safer. It's something
Speaker 1: that has broad bipartisan support across the country. So we
Speaker 1: need to take this well. Your bill passed the House
Speaker 1: with the help of eight Republicans. One Democrat voted against it.
Speaker 1: All I keep hearing is this couldn't possibly pass a
Speaker 1: fifty fifty Senate. Do you believe that, Well, it would,
Speaker 1: It would pass UH if it could come up for
Speaker 1: a vote. But the problem in the Senator, as you know,
Speaker 1: you need ten Republicans over there to allow a bill
Speaker 1: to come up for a vote. So they if if
Speaker 1: we could find ten Senate Republicans who had the courage
Speaker 1: that it would take to help make their communities safer,
Speaker 1: we could bring that bill up and it would pass.
Speaker 1: So you can't clear that culture vote. Senators Joe Manson
Speaker 1: and Pat Toomey, as I'm sure you know, are offering
Speaker 1: a bit of a compromise bill that requires background checks
Speaker 1: on all commercial sales, including gun shows, but not individual
Speaker 1: private sales to family or friends. Is that a loophole
Speaker 1: in your view? Congressman, I think we need to expand
Speaker 1: background checks to cover all guns. The bill that I
Speaker 1: have uh takes care of the issue of passing the
Speaker 1: gun onto a family member. Uh. But uh, that that
Speaker 1: that that bill, that the amendment, actually that mansion that
Speaker 1: to me offered a way back when I think, uh,
Speaker 1: there's a much lesser thresh gold for community safety. We're
Speaker 1: talking with Congressman Mike Thompson, Democrat from California. I know, Congressman,
Speaker 1: you're a lifelong gun owner and a Vietnam War veteran,
Speaker 1: and you've drawn the distinction between guns for hunting in
Speaker 1: sport and guns that are weapons of war. As you
Speaker 1: put a Governor Abbot again said at the n r
Speaker 1: A convention in that the cause was specifically not about
Speaker 1: hunting in sport. Listen to what he said, and we'll
Speaker 1: have you respond. These men and women understood the necessity
Speaker 1: of the individual rights to keep been bear arms, not
Speaker 1: for hunting, not for supporting, but to defend themselves from
Speaker 1: dangerous attacks. What's your response to that, Congressman. I don't
Speaker 1: have a problem with someone having a firearm for personal defense.
Speaker 1: My issue, again is to make sure that the people
Speaker 1: who home guns are not a danger to themselves or
Speaker 1: other people. What does the n r A think about
Speaker 1: your bill? Do they have your number? I don't think
Speaker 1: the n r A likes to build UH. But it's
Speaker 1: important to note that the belt Way n r A
Speaker 1: UH isn't reflective of n r A members across the country.
Speaker 1: My bill is supported by over of the American people.
Speaker 1: It's supported by an overwhelming majority of n r A members.
Speaker 1: It's the Beltway gun lobby that is stopping this from happening,
Speaker 1: not regular citizens. Are they trying to stop your bill? Though?
Speaker 1: Is the n r a putting money against your bill. Well,
Speaker 1: they lobby pretty hard against it, as you know. And
Speaker 1: you know you you did the research on the number
Speaker 1: of Republicans in the House that voted for it. If
Speaker 1: you dig a little bit deeper, you'll see that there
Speaker 1: were some Republicans that voted for it the time before
Speaker 1: who didn't vote for it this time. So they must
Speaker 1: have been here in an air full from somebody. So
Speaker 1: what's your message to the n R A. We're not
Speaker 1: going to stop. We are not going to stop working
Speaker 1: on making our communities safer. We're not going to stop
Speaker 1: working on gun violence prevention measures. And they ought to
Speaker 1: start representing the responsible gun owners in the United States
Speaker 1: of America and do the right thing and get on
Speaker 1: board and work with us to make sure that every
Speaker 1: gun owner isn't isn't painted because they're stopping us from
Speaker 1: doing gun safety legislation. Congressman, is there anything that President
Speaker 1: Biden can do from the executive to change this? He
Speaker 1: has actually, uh, he's he's nominated a permanent director of
Speaker 1: a t F, something we haven't had for a while.
Speaker 1: That's uh, those hearings I believe we're going on now. Hopefully,
Speaker 1: hopefully he will be confirmed. Uh. President Biden also came
Speaker 1: out with some pretty good regulations regarding ghost gun Yeah,
Speaker 1: we covered that as a matter of fact. But he
Speaker 1: spoke last night about the assault weapons band. Congressman, will
Speaker 1: there be a move to make that law again? I
Speaker 1: think there's always been a move to do that. I
Speaker 1: don't think is there anything that President Biden can do
Speaker 1: to bring that back. I don't know. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's something that can happen administratively. But the ghost guns
Speaker 1: thing is important because the ghost guns are kids. They're
Speaker 1: kids guns that you can buy without a background check,
Speaker 1: and you can put them together in fifteen twenty minutes
Speaker 1: an your couple table, and then you have an unserialized
Speaker 1: firearm that you can use for the theorious um purposes
Speaker 1: that can't be traced if it's picked up in a
Speaker 1: crime state, Mike Cops. In my congressional district in California,
Speaker 1: I've picking ghost guns up off the street every day.
Speaker 1: I hear from them all the time. Congressman, do you
Speaker 1: have any sense of optimism now that you didn't have
Speaker 1: twenty four hours ago? Why is this different than, for instance,
Speaker 1: after Newtown? Well, I I feel optimistic that folks like
Speaker 1: yourself for interested in this and talking about it. Then
Speaker 1: I remember that every time there's a mass shooting and
Speaker 1: a tragedy like this, there's a lot of discussion about
Speaker 1: the media fixed it up. They talked about it for
Speaker 1: a couple of days, and then it goes away. And
Speaker 1: you know, we all have a responsibility to keep this going.
Speaker 1: And I'd appreciate your continued um effort to make sure
Speaker 1: people know about how dangerous this situation is and how
Speaker 1: important it is for us to UH to address it.
Speaker 1: Congressman Mike Thompson, thank you for your insights today. We'd
Speaker 1: like to follow progress on this build and stay in
Speaker 1: touch with you. Coming up, we assembled the panel, Rick Davis,
Speaker 1: Jeanie Chanzano. Next on sound On, I'm Joe Matthew. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Do you remember the Sutherland
Speaker 1: Springs church shooting Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty six people were killed,
Speaker 1: including an unborn child, more than twenty wounded, the deadliest
Speaker 1: mass shooting in Texas. The shooter killed himself, but not
Speaker 1: before a man named Stephen Williford got involved. Plumber is
Speaker 1: at home when he heard the gunfire. His daughter told
Speaker 1: him what was going on the church, and so he
Speaker 1: went to his safe. He grabbed his a R fifteen
Speaker 1: and ran to the sound of the guns. In this case,
Speaker 1: Senator Ted Cruz picks up the story as he told
Speaker 1: the crowd at n r A convention in Texas, what
Speaker 1: played out next was a gunfight. The shooter opened fire
Speaker 1: on Stephen. I've stood by that pickup truck riddled with
Speaker 1: bullet holes. The small house behind Stephen had bullet holes
Speaker 1: in the wall. The shooter, as you know, was wearing
Speaker 1: body armor. But Stephen is an n r A rifle instructor,
Speaker 1: otherwise known as the media's perfect nightmare. Well not Actually,
Speaker 1: he was made a hero out of this. Not only
Speaker 1: picked the guy off a couple of times, he got
Speaker 1: a couple of shots in him. They got into a
Speaker 1: car chase, and the shooter ended up in a ditch
Speaker 1: and killed himself in the car. Stephen Williford was honored
Speaker 1: at that convention repeatedly. He was called out by Governor
Speaker 1: Abbott as well. That story was laid out as the
Speaker 1: example of what should happen, and so you're asked, I
Speaker 1: guess left asking the question is that the option is
Speaker 1: it gun control or vigilante justice. This is where we
Speaker 1: start with our panel today. Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeannie Chanzano
Speaker 1: and Rick Davis make our signature sound on panel. They
Speaker 1: were with us last night at this very moment as
Speaker 1: we all learned together what was going on, and Genie,
Speaker 1: is that the choice we're talking about here, this is
Speaker 1: what the American public is often being told. And this
Speaker 1: idea that you should purchase a gun for protection is
Speaker 1: one that resonates with a lot of people, and that's
Speaker 1: why we now have more guns in the United States
Speaker 1: than we have citizens. There's about four hundred million firearms
Speaker 1: in the United States today and three thirty one million people.
Speaker 1: And as we talked about yesterday, the number of guns
Speaker 1: being sold has risen by as quadrupled in the last
Speaker 1: couple of decades. And part of the reason not all
Speaker 1: those people are hunters, of course, part of the reason
Speaker 1: is personal protection. People believe, and we're going to see
Speaker 1: it after this horrific shooting. There's going to be a
Speaker 1: surgeon gun sales again because people believe what Ted Cruz
Speaker 1: is talking about that you need a done to protect yourself,
Speaker 1: and if you don't get it now, legislation is going
Speaker 1: to come and take it away. And you know that
Speaker 1: that legislation is not really in the offing. But that's
Speaker 1: what's being talked about. The idea of personal defense versus
Speaker 1: hunting in sport Rick interesting when you consider the contrast there.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's all the same thing. But if this is
Speaker 1: the answer from the n r A that everybody should
Speaker 1: get a gun and good guys shoot the bad guys,
Speaker 1: where are we Well, you're playing into the n r
Speaker 1: A talking points. I think one of the things that
Speaker 1: we got to do is take a step back and
Speaker 1: and understand why we think this way. When when our
Speaker 1: when our leaders tell us that there's nothing we can
Speaker 1: do about the shooter, the perpetrator of the criminal, and
Speaker 1: all we can do is arm up so that we
Speaker 1: can protect ourselves from them, then then then that's what
Speaker 1: people are going to respond to. If our leaders take
Speaker 1: a different position and say there's got to be something
Speaker 1: we can do to avoid having another fifty percent jump
Speaker 1: in one year and active shooter incidents, to curtail the
Speaker 1: thousands of incidents we've had in mass attacks like this
Speaker 1: over the last three or four years. Then then then
Speaker 1: that's the debate that we need to have. And I
Speaker 1: think we have a shot right now, pardon upun to,
Speaker 1: to actually have a discussion about trying to avoid somebody's
Speaker 1: incidents so we don't have to grab our a R
Speaker 1: fifteen or a R five from the safe and go
Speaker 1: after somebody in a church. I mean, like that should
Speaker 1: be the last possible option, not the first one. And
Speaker 1: I think that that's one of the things we've got
Speaker 1: to hold our arming teachers or whatever it might be. Rick,
Speaker 1: what is it like to run Republican campaigns and interface
Speaker 1: with the n r A. You've actually been in that conversation.
Speaker 1: When we consider n r A scoring for incumbents, when
Speaker 1: we consider their endorsements, what is that relationship like In
Speaker 1: the two thousand after the two thousand UH presidential campaign
Speaker 1: that I ran for John McCain in the primary against
Speaker 1: George W. Bush Um, John McCain joined a couple of
Speaker 1: Democrats and co sponsored a gun show loophole bill very
Speaker 1: similar to the Mansion to Me bill, and and and
Speaker 1: the n r A started running ads in Arizona even
Speaker 1: though he was out of cycle right just to punish
Speaker 1: him for his intransidence to actually have the the timidity
Speaker 1: to to break ranks as a Republican the dur we
Speaker 1: got a vote on the back of a must pass
Speaker 1: bill and we have fifty eight votes for that. We
Speaker 1: didn't need sixty because it was a bill that was
Speaker 1: already through UMU, the filibuster rule and and and Mitch
Speaker 1: McConnell and majority of the time pulled it off the
Speaker 1: floor even though it was a must pass bill because
Speaker 1: our amendment had made its way on there. So it
Speaker 1: shows you the level of influence that the n r
Speaker 1: A has. Hopefully it has weekend over time, they've been
Speaker 1: ref with all kinds of scandal and issues. But but
Speaker 1: it's a systemic problem within the Republican Party because every
Speaker 1: year the n r A puts money into the elections
Speaker 1: of these members, and they have a grip on their
Speaker 1: their budgets and and so it's it's gonna take brave
Speaker 1: people to fight back like John McCain did back in
Speaker 1: two thousand two and and last I heard, he did
Speaker 1: pretty well after that, even though the n r A
Speaker 1: ran adds against him. Rick Davis and G. D. Schanzano
Speaker 1: are panel They're going to be back in just a
Speaker 1: bit here. As we also add Jessica Taylor from the
Speaker 1: Cook Political Report to the Conversation. We're gonna look at
Speaker 1: primary night through the guys of this shooting in Texas.
Speaker 1: The fastest hour in politics. Stay with us. I'm Joe Matthew.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg broadcasting live from our nation's capital, Bloomberg
Speaker 1: to New York, Bloomberg eleven, Frio to Boston, Bloomberg one,
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Speaker 1: the Country, Serious x M General one nine and around
Speaker 1: the globe, the Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio ker.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew. Headline on
Speaker 1: the terminal. Kemp defeats Trump pick per Due in Georgia
Speaker 1: GOP governor race. I should say so, who wins a
Speaker 1: high profile primary by fifty points. Of course, most of
Speaker 1: the nation was distracted by the Texas shooting the President's
Speaker 1: speech last night. So next we're gonna look at what
Speaker 1: happened in Georgia and consider the impact the shootings could
Speaker 1: have on the mid terms. With Jessica Taylor of the
Speaker 1: Cook Political Report. It was another primary night in America.
Speaker 1: Georgia of course, the biggest among the states voting. As
Speaker 1: we prepared you here on sound On, and it's a
Speaker 1: pleasure to welcome Jessica Taylor, the Senate and Governor's editor
Speaker 1: for the Cook Political Report, to talk about some of
Speaker 1: the results and some of the themes here on this
Speaker 1: day after the shooting in Texas. Jessica, welcome back to Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. It's hard to tackle the mid
Speaker 1: terms today without considering the impact of the shooting in Texas.
Speaker 1: I know we heard statements from a few candidates last night,
Speaker 1: including Congressman Henry quay Are in Texas, who actually one
Speaker 1: it looks like one has run off. Does this speak
Speaker 1: to the issue of crime or gun control on the
Speaker 1: campaign trail in this midterm cycle, Jessica or is it both?
Speaker 1: I think it can be both. But also this is
Speaker 1: something that unfortunately we as Americans are dealing with. You know,
Speaker 1: only a few days ago that the Buffalo shooting happened
Speaker 1: and others in California. So I mean it just to me,
Speaker 1: it shows just how partisan and divided our politics aren't
Speaker 1: right now, because it almost feels like everyone agrees something
Speaker 1: needs to be done, but there is still not a
Speaker 1: consensus on what that either party can get to a
Speaker 1: sixty vote threshold to change things. I mean, you're clearly
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of frustration among Democrats. The gun issue, though,
Speaker 1: can really have a galvanizing effect for people. It's reinforces
Speaker 1: their beliefs rather than having an event like this change
Speaker 1: their minds. Do you say, well, I mean you are saying,
Speaker 1: I mean Republicans are saying, you know, any talk about
Speaker 1: gun control is simply um, you know, trying to politicize
Speaker 1: the issue, while Democrats point that, you know, listen, something
Speaker 1: has to be done. And I'm sure you saw a
Speaker 1: better Aurorica interrupt Governor Abbott's briefing today in Texas. It
Speaker 1: was pretty dramatic stuff. He said. The response was totally
Speaker 1: predictable by the Abbot administration. Here's a little bit of
Speaker 1: what it sounded like. Shot right now and you're doing
Speaker 1: this is totally predictable. When to give usher him out
Speaker 1: of the womb and Jessica. He held a kind of
Speaker 1: an impromptu news conference outside. Right after Santa Fe High
Speaker 1: School was the time to stop the next shooting, Right
Speaker 1: after El Paso was the time to stop the next
Speaker 1: shooting right after Midland Odessa was the time to stop
Speaker 1: the next shooting. And in each case we say this
Speaker 1: isn't the time? Now is the time? Like literally right now?
Speaker 1: That's why I'm here. Did he help himself today? And
Speaker 1: I wonder is this now the defining issue in this race? Again?
Speaker 1: Just he's right? I mean, this has been things that
Speaker 1: have happened in Texas, which is certainly more has more
Speaker 1: loose gun regulations in many states. Um, And clearly you
Speaker 1: know when he was running for president that didn't last
Speaker 1: too long. He made I'll pass though a critical um,
Speaker 1: a critical spot. But again I'm not sure. I think
Speaker 1: it is, at least in this moment, but whether that
Speaker 1: lasts again, I think the election is about many things,
Speaker 1: and I have a hard time thing, even after this
Speaker 1: devastating incident, that it will have any sort of meaningful,
Speaker 1: meaningful change, because I do feel like as a country,
Speaker 1: we've these things happen and then we rail against it
Speaker 1: and we move on to the other things again. And
Speaker 1: I think it just reinforces just how politicize this issue
Speaker 1: has become, and that there's really hard to find metal grounds.
Speaker 1: This is incredible. Everyone I've asked in the last twenty
Speaker 1: four hours who follows politics or is involved in politics.
Speaker 1: Not politicians themselves, but people who have been living in
Speaker 1: this country paying attention. All answer that the same way.
Speaker 1: The fact is n r A endorsements and n r
Speaker 1: A scores for incumbents, Jessica, get Republicans elected. That's not
Speaker 1: going to change today, right Look at Brian Kemp. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it is an incredibly powerful lobby. They give
Speaker 1: millions to mostly Republican lawmakers, and you want that endorsement
Speaker 1: if you're running in a Republican primary, and it's just
Speaker 1: hard to see that changing. And you know it's the
Speaker 1: group overall we're going to, you know, say okay, maybe
Speaker 1: we can do these red flag laws. We can talk
Speaker 1: about background checks in different things, but regulations in many
Speaker 1: places are becoming looser instead of tighter. I did want
Speaker 1: to ask you about a couple of races. This is
Speaker 1: why you came to talk to us, Jessica about an
Speaker 1: important primary night, and I mentioned the governor of Georgia,
Speaker 1: Brian Kemp fifty points. That was remarkable. We also saw,
Speaker 1: of course, the Secretary of State Ravensburger keep his uh
Speaker 1: are the media making too much of the Trump effect
Speaker 1: in this cycle. Well, given how much Trump went all
Speaker 1: in on these races, I think it was clearly the
Speaker 1: most stinging rebuke that the president has faced since he
Speaker 1: left office, because he made Kemp and Ravensburger sort of
Speaker 1: public enemies number one in his book because they refused
Speaker 1: to bend his will and overturned the election results. So
Speaker 1: these were it. Probably if he could have taken only
Speaker 1: picked only two candidates of his that we're going to lose,
Speaker 1: I think he probably would have picked these two. But
Speaker 1: I think it shows clearly that the Republican electorate wants
Speaker 1: to move on, and that when you saw their opponents
Speaker 1: running essentially a one note campaign on saying that the
Speaker 1: election was solan, you know, and even Perdue went into
Speaker 1: how his beclaming his Senate seat was stolen, I think
Speaker 1: people wanted to talk about more than that that they
Speaker 1: were sort of really ready to move on. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I expected Kemp to win, but nothing in
Speaker 1: the dropping line. So I mean, it's just it was
Speaker 1: Jessica Taylor looks like a recount in Pennsylvania. Will this
Speaker 1: lead to a conclusion or are we going to spend
Speaker 1: all summer in court? That is what Republicans do not need. Um,
Speaker 1: the fact that they do not have a nominia in
Speaker 1: one of their biggest Senate races can quickly become problematic. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll be covering that closely here, of course on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: Dr Oz versus David McCormick in the Republican Senate primary
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. Jessica Taylor, Senate and governor's editor for the
Speaker 1: Cook Political Report, Thanks for coming back to talk to
Speaker 1: us again on Bloomberg. I hope it's a different conversation
Speaker 1: next time. Let's bring in Genie Genie Schanzano, Bloomberg Politics contributor,
Speaker 1: for a quick comment. If I can just go back
Speaker 1: to Georgia for a second here, Jeanie, how are you
Speaker 1: calibrating these two losses, I mean not losses? I believe
Speaker 1: Jessica used the word shellacking. Brian Kemp fifty points. Ravensburger
Speaker 1: keeps his job, Jody, heis is going to be unemployed.
Speaker 1: What's the message to Donald Trump? I think the messages
Speaker 1: voters in any state, but Georgia, being the center of
Speaker 1: the United States political universe right now, do not want
Speaker 1: to look backwards. They have enough issues to contend with
Speaker 1: right now and going forward. Brian Camp has delivered for them.
Speaker 1: Ravensburger has delivered for them. They like Donald Trump, they
Speaker 1: say it, but they also like their governor and their
Speaker 1: secretary of state, and they're gonna stick with him because
Speaker 1: they have delivered. And so the key to Donald Trump is,
Speaker 1: don't make endorsements based on a vendetta. Make them based
Speaker 1: on what voters want and what's going on in the moment,
Speaker 1: the old vendetta tour. I know Rick has feelings about
Speaker 1: that too, and we'll reassemble the panel. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: Genie and Rick Davis with us here on sound On.
Speaker 1: We'll get a check on the markets from Doug Chrisner.
Speaker 1: Interesting after our session here you'll want to hear about
Speaker 1: and of course traffic as always on the Fastest Hour
Speaker 1: in Politics, I'm Joe Matthew and Washington. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg you sound on with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on bloom Heard Radio. As we reassembled the panel, Rick
Speaker 1: Davis and Jennie Chanzano with us on the Fastest Hour
Speaker 1: in Politics. Thanks for spending part of your day with
Speaker 1: us here on Bloomberg. Sound On if you're just showing up,
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast Bloomberg sound On, search for it
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts, and just basking in the
Speaker 1: glow of another primary night. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the
Speaker 1: night that we had bargained for. You know, typically you're
Speaker 1: watching the returns come in, you're kind of getting a
Speaker 1: sense of the narrative. Maybe there's a couple of late
Speaker 1: night nail biters, but last night it was it was
Speaker 1: all about Texas. Who was about the president's speech, which
Speaker 1: actually ended up being pretty latest he returned from the
Speaker 1: trip to Asia. But there was big news on this
Speaker 1: primary night, including Georgia, as we just discussed with Jessica Taylor,
Speaker 1: Rick and Jennie here. I had a minute to compare
Speaker 1: notes with Genie on this Rick, I'm curious just your
Speaker 1: first blush reaction to a fifty point spread, a double
Speaker 1: loser for Donald Trump. Yeah, this was a real repudiation
Speaker 1: of the vengeance tour. Uh, everybody was watching this race
Speaker 1: all around the country, primarily because Donald Trump told us
Speaker 1: to watch this race. He put a target on Brian
Speaker 1: Camp and his administration and recruited David Purdue, a failed
Speaker 1: Senate candidate, from the from the runoffs, the rerun of
Speaker 1: the election in to run against him, funded it and
Speaker 1: campaign hard for him and got as your previous guest said,
Speaker 1: Shehall lacked and in in in in politics, that's a
Speaker 1: big deal. Uh, you know, A a six hundred thousand
Speaker 1: vote margin of victory, and so it wasn't even actually
Speaker 1: a really a race. I mean, I'm actually surprised we
Speaker 1: didn't pick up this huge margin coming into the election,
Speaker 1: you know, as as it turned out to be. But
Speaker 1: it is a repudiation of Donald Trump and in his
Speaker 1: efforts to go after people who refused to deny the
Speaker 1: outcome of the election and in this case actually took
Speaker 1: action against it. So does put Donald Trump completely into
Speaker 1: the back seat. No, he will continue to claim victory.
Speaker 1: He will continue to do these things against people you
Speaker 1: think kept him from being able to steal the election.
Speaker 1: And uh, and we haven't heard the last of him.
Speaker 1: But I think this is a good example of the
Speaker 1: fact that, um, no matter how tough a situation Donald
Speaker 1: Trump tries to bring on you, uh, you can you
Speaker 1: can flourish in the opposition. So what's the general gonna
Speaker 1: look like here? Jeannie? But part of what Brian camp
Speaker 1: ran On was I'm the guy who can keep Stacy
Speaker 1: Abrams out of the governor's office and from becoming president.
Speaker 1: Here this conversation about the Texas shooting, the fact that
Speaker 1: he is endorsed by the n r A. Does that
Speaker 1: inform the electorate in this race or again galvanized existing physicians?
Speaker 1: You know, I voters will be informed by it. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure that there will be moved by it. We
Speaker 1: haven't at least seen that historically. And of course this
Speaker 1: rematch between Stacy Abrams and Brian Kemp is going to
Speaker 1: be one of the most watched. Unfortunately for Stacy Abrams,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a much tougher year, not because
Speaker 1: of anything she did, but because of where the president
Speaker 1: is in the polls, and of course the inflation and
Speaker 1: all the other issues. So much tougher year for her
Speaker 1: just because she's a Democrat. But it's going to be
Speaker 1: fascinating to see this rematch. And Joe Matthew, I love
Speaker 1: your double loser comment. I'm hoping that that gets picked up.
Speaker 1: We'll see see what the foreign president Trump has to
Speaker 1: say about that. Joe, I did not trying to make
Speaker 1: a nickname. I know, do you remember the gun ad
Speaker 1: that that Brian Kemp put up. This is He's got
Speaker 1: this kid sitting next to his. Name is Jake. I
Speaker 1: think the name of the ad was Jake. Jake, Rick remembers.
Speaker 1: And Brian camp is sitting there, has got a shotgun
Speaker 1: across his lap. He's got a whole bunch of you know,
Speaker 1: snazzy them. Oh my god, these massive pistols lined up
Speaker 1: on the the table next to the couch. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm Brian Kemp. This is Jake young and interested in
Speaker 1: one of my daughters. Yes, sir, Jake asked while I
Speaker 1: was running for governor, I said, one cap government spending
Speaker 1: to take a chainsaw to Regulations three make Georgia number one.
Speaker 1: Here in two things, if you go on date or
Speaker 1: one of my daughters, respect and a healthy appreciation for
Speaker 1: the Second Amendment. Sir, he cocks the gun and a
Speaker 1: lot of people were offended by this. It helped him, then, Rick,
Speaker 1: does it potentially hurt him now? Uh? No, I think
Speaker 1: that this is a very polarized issue, stated Georgia. The
Speaker 1: reason he's running that ad is because he can get
Speaker 1: the majority of the people to back him. Uh. He's
Speaker 1: not gonna He's not gonna do that in two thousand
Speaker 1: eighteen unless he sees it in the polling data that
Speaker 1: he can win with that issue, and and he won't
Speaker 1: run that ad this year if he doesn't think it
Speaker 1: has the same impact. So I think you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta take the different times in a different place for definitely.
Speaker 1: But you know Stacy Abrams would like to start running that.
Speaker 1: They're probably retweeting it now from back then. And what
Speaker 1: does this mean for the role that the n r
Speaker 1: A might play publicly in the campaign cycle? Rick? I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we've got the convention coming up here, and
Speaker 1: when you consider the way the n r A has
Speaker 1: reacted to tragedies past, the shootings in the past, well,
Speaker 1: listen to Wayne Lapierre, the CEO of the National Rifle
Speaker 1: Association here at convention. He is powerful anti freedom, gun hating,
Speaker 1: anti Second Amendment elites. They gaslight tragedy, They exploit victims
Speaker 1: to advance their ultimate agenda, kill the n r A
Speaker 1: and napalm the Second Amendment right out of existence. They
Speaker 1: marched themselves into a frenzy. They yell, and they shout
Speaker 1: every nasty name they can think of to call us,
Speaker 1: and they demand our surrender while predicting our demise that
Speaker 1: was held in Texas. The president then President Trump spoke
Speaker 1: at that event, as did Senator Ted Cruz. Does that
Speaker 1: line continue here, Rick, You're gonna hear language like that
Speaker 1: this year? That could be a winning message for Republicans.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Well, we're gonna We're gonna find out
Speaker 1: on Friday where the n r A is holding a
Speaker 1: conference in Houston. Uh, right after the heels of this
Speaker 1: So so I think pay attention to what Wayne Lapierre
Speaker 1: says this year versus what he said in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eighteen. Um. Uh. And And the reality is what
Speaker 1: Representative Thompson said earlier in the program is that there
Speaker 1: is a big difference between the leadership of the n
Speaker 1: r A and and their financing of influence in Washington
Speaker 1: and the membership of the n RA and and and
Speaker 1: I think what smart candidates like Kemp, and he's proven
Speaker 1: his medal by defeating Donald Trump in this election, uh,
Speaker 1: is that is that he's gonna side with the members
Speaker 1: of the n RA. He's gonna have a conversation with
Speaker 1: them in his next ad not with Wayne Lapierre, because
Speaker 1: there's nothing Wayne Lapierre can do for him in Georgia.
Speaker 1: But these are real voters in the state of Georgia
Speaker 1: who are members of the n r A, and and
Speaker 1: they're not buying in many cases what Wayne Lapierre selling.
Speaker 1: We heard from the senior Senator in Texas, John Corny
Speaker 1: and Genie Uh personal UH spokesperson citing personal reasons for
Speaker 1: him to back out of his convention speech UH prior
Speaker 1: to the tragedy to day in Vivaldi. The statement says,
Speaker 1: we had already informed me in r A he would
Speaker 1: not be able to speak due to an unexpected change
Speaker 1: in his schedule. He now has to be in d
Speaker 1: C for personal reasons. Awfully carefully written Genie. It is
Speaker 1: and and you know, we have to wait and see
Speaker 1: if there's any other change of schedules that come up.
Speaker 1: Ted Cruz, Dan Crenshaw, Governor of South Dakota. Yeah, Donald
Speaker 1: Trump will probably go, but I know, you know, speaking
Speaker 1: if we could just underscore the connection between these primaries
Speaker 1: and what happened in Texas, they do have the most
Speaker 1: permissive gun laws in the country, but pole after poll
Speaker 1: from has showed majority is of texts and voters support
Speaker 1: common sense gun gun gun laws. Rather, the disconnect is
Speaker 1: a lot of the power in Texas is decided in
Speaker 1: the primaries, and the fewer voters who turn out, the
Speaker 1: more they moved to the right. And so you know,
Speaker 1: we as voters own this. Voters have got to get
Speaker 1: out in primary elections. They can't just vote in general
Speaker 1: elections because state legislatures in particular are decided and that's
Speaker 1: true in New York on the Democratic side, are decided
Speaker 1: in these primaries, in these one party states and districts.
Speaker 1: You saw better or or uh interrupts Greg Abbott today.
Speaker 1: Uh we played a little bit of that at last,
Speaker 1: powerful anti phrase. Not the moment I'm talking about. This
Speaker 1: is that there's some of this stuff I can't even
Speaker 1: play on the air. Things got a little bit ugly,
Speaker 1: and then of course he stepped outside where the cameras
Speaker 1: were waiting for him. It is absolutely wrong. It is
Speaker 1: insane the government talks about mental health. It is insane
Speaker 1: that we allow an eighteen year old to go in
Speaker 1: and buy an a R fifteen. What the hell did
Speaker 1: we think he was gonna do with that? This one
Speaker 1: is on us. What's this governor's race gonna look like
Speaker 1: in Texas? Rick, Well, you know we talked yesterday is
Speaker 1: this crisis was unfolding about a hope that we could
Speaker 1: actually take a step back from the demagoguery and partisanship
Speaker 1: and try to find solutions to this rather than take
Speaker 1: advantage of it for political purposes. This is a classic
Speaker 1: example of taking advantage for political purposes. There was no
Speaker 1: productive discussion today when he crashed the press conference. He
Speaker 1: knew what was gonna happen. He knew what was gonna happen.
Speaker 1: It's a crass political move. Um. You know, I doubt
Speaker 1: if this is actually gonna do anything but get him
Speaker 1: on the evening news. And I doubt if he's going
Speaker 1: to convince one voter who's on the fence of this
Speaker 1: because of the horrible thing that has occurred, uh, that
Speaker 1: that somehow he's he deserves their votes. So I think
Speaker 1: people need to take a step back from this. I
Speaker 1: don't think these kind of stunts are the way to
Speaker 1: salute solutions and and if anything, it just starts to
Speaker 1: harden up everybody else's approach to this at a time
Speaker 1: when people are are still grieving in that community. So um,
Speaker 1: you know, look, I I would not have encouraged anybody
Speaker 1: to do what he did. I would have suggested that
Speaker 1: there's another way to make your point without, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to crash a press conference where they're trying to
Speaker 1: inform the public and inform the community of what what
Speaker 1: just happened. There's still a lot of questions about this
Speaker 1: young man who you know, uh, stormed this this elementary
Speaker 1: school and slaughtered these kids. So I think I think
Speaker 1: we need to take a step back here and just
Speaker 1: take a breath and hope we can actually get real
Speaker 1: reform done in a in a more benign environment. Jennie
Speaker 1: will bettle 'rourke regret that or is he raising money already?
Speaker 1: He's been raising money all along and he'll raise more.
Speaker 1: You know, I agree the politicization is a problem, but
Speaker 1: you know what, he also displays the kind of urgency
Speaker 1: that many people are asking for as students and kids
Speaker 1: are slaughtered in their classrooms. So I give him kudos.
Speaker 1: His message is right, the timing may have been wrong. Wow,
Speaker 1: you will not hear conversations like this anywhere else. That's
Speaker 1: why we welcome you every day to the fastest hour
Speaker 1: in politics. Many thanks to my colleagues Rick and Jeannie,
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew and Washington Will meet you here tomorrow
Speaker 1: as we follow the conversation from the nation's capital. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg