Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound On.
Speaker 1: I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Policy all gone,
Speaker 1: So why is she's still here? I'm going to hear
Speaker 1: the Prime minister? How did you govern an ungovernable conservative
Speaker 1: policy Floomberg sound On Politics, Policy and Perspective from DC's
Speaker 1: top name. He sold miracle jurors that I can't pronounce,
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't have been able to pronounce it even
Speaker 1: before the strokes. If I have to be in a
Speaker 1: fox hole, I want John federman Ino with it. Is
Speaker 1: the normal election time, Doggan County Show, Bloomberg Sound On
Speaker 1: with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Another prime minister resigns.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the fastest hour in politics and one of
Speaker 1: the fastest turns in politics today in London. Yeah, Liz
Speaker 1: Trust is out and a new search begins with some
Speaker 1: familiar names already in the mix helping us understand the
Speaker 1: chaos today. Bloomberg Senior Executive editor Dave Merritt with us
Speaker 1: in Washington. Later, the President hits the campaign trail in
Speaker 1: battleground Pennsylvania, where the Senate race is too close to call.
Speaker 1: Right now, we'll talk about it with Jacob Rabashkan from
Speaker 1: Inside Elections and with our panel. Bloomberg Politics contributor Democratic
Speaker 1: analyst Jeanie Schanzano is here today along with Lester Monthson
Speaker 1: of b g R Group, there with us for the hour.
Speaker 1: It's already over for Liz Trust's announcing her decision to quit,
Speaker 1: only forty four days into her tenure. We woke up
Speaker 1: today hearing that this could happen as a possible people
Speaker 1: didn't really think it would be, and by eight thirty
Speaker 1: a m. Eastern time, she spoke live from Number ten
Speaker 1: downing I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was
Speaker 1: elected by the Conservative Party. I have therefore spoken to
Speaker 1: His Majesty the King to notify him that I am
Speaker 1: resigning as leader of the Conservative Party. Short and sweet
Speaker 1: turned and went back inside. And of all days here
Speaker 1: we're fortunate to have a real expert from Bloomberg. Gave Merritt,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Senior executive editor, was in Washington when the news broke,
Speaker 1: and we're delighted to have them with us now on
Speaker 1: sound on. Dave, Welcome, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm going to have a couple of dumb
Speaker 1: questions for you here because in many cases Americans don't
Speaker 1: know what to make of this. Not alone, we're struggling
Speaker 1: to know what to make of it. That's fine, but
Speaker 1: I mean, forty what is it? Forty four days? Forty
Speaker 1: four days? It's a record? How is it possible? By
Speaker 1: quite a long way? As well? I mean it's been
Speaker 1: a little bit like time has sped up. In the
Speaker 1: last few weeks. We had this very protracted leadership contest
Speaker 1: that lost it all over the summer, and we heard
Speaker 1: Richie Sunac and this Trust debate the economic issues, two
Speaker 1: very competing views. Liz Trust going from massive tax cuts
Speaker 1: to try to stimulate growth, Richie Soon saying you can't
Speaker 1: do that, it's going to set interest rate surging. We've
Speaker 1: got to get inflation under control. Well, Liz Trust one
Speaker 1: that argument with the constituents of the Conservative part to
Speaker 1: put in place her tax cuts or announced them. And
Speaker 1: what happened it was exactly what she soon said, interest
Speaker 1: rates surge, bond market went into term or the Bank
Speaker 1: of England had to step in um and rescue Britain's
Speaker 1: pensions industry. And at that point, really her credibility was
Speaker 1: shredded and it became very clear from that point it's
Speaker 1: gonna be very difficult for her to continue once that
Speaker 1: the U turn happened, if I can call it. Then
Speaker 1: she started pulling back on these plans. Was it over? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think it was the I think it
Speaker 1: was the mother of all U turns. She gave a
Speaker 1: press conference after sacking her chancellor, Quasi Quarteng, who, by
Speaker 1: the way, was one of her oldest political allies. They
Speaker 1: wrote a book together years back called Britannia Unchained, where
Speaker 1: they laid out this vision for a low tax, high
Speaker 1: growth Britain. So this really was their kind of lifelong work,
Speaker 1: very much in partnership. She sacked him, replaced him with
Speaker 1: Jeremy Hunt, who shredded all of her agenda, and then
Speaker 1: she stood up. She gave a very bizarre press conference.
Speaker 1: I think it was only about eight minutes long. Didn't
Speaker 1: take any questions. I mean, she looked like someone frankly,
Speaker 1: he was hollowed out from the inside. She was a husk,
Speaker 1: a shell of her former self, someone whose entire vision
Speaker 1: had just been dismantled in front of her eyes. She
Speaker 1: carried on at that point, said she was going to
Speaker 1: carry on, but I think it was clear to most
Speaker 1: observers that it was only going to be a matter
Speaker 1: of time before she had to step down as Prime Minister.
Speaker 1: It was less than twenty four hours before her resignation,
Speaker 1: and you know, this was the cut that went viral.
Speaker 1: I am not a quitter, Mrs Baker. I am a
Speaker 1: fighter and not a Did she know at that point
Speaker 1: that it was over? You know, It's an interesting thing
Speaker 1: about leaders isn't it. And I think we saw this
Speaker 1: with Boris Johnson as well, that they seemed to be
Speaker 1: the last person to acknowledge that really, you know, times
Speaker 1: up is that they're eagle or the bubble they're in,
Speaker 1: or the bubble they're in. It's possibly that to do
Speaker 1: with the personalities involved. I mean, let's trust has got
Speaker 1: of notoriously, she's got a very sort of thick political skin.
Speaker 1: You know, she has had lots of personal criticism thrown
Speaker 1: at her over the years, lots of kind of memes
Speaker 1: about her rather wooden presentation staff, and she kind of
Speaker 1: spun that around in the leadership contest. She said, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not the slickest presenter, is the way she kind
Speaker 1: of spun it. But then when this sort of big
Speaker 1: moment came. She was then found wanting and yes she
Speaker 1: she hold herself up in the bunker a little bit
Speaker 1: in number ten. Not for as long. I mean, Johnson lasted,
Speaker 1: the speculations swirling him lasted weeks really before he finally
Speaker 1: stepped out and decided to leave. The same thing happened
Speaker 1: to Theresa May. I mean, you know, this is the
Speaker 1: third prime minister in a road at the Conservative Party
Speaker 1: has jettisoned without there being an election, and each one
Speaker 1: seems to get a little bit more careful than the last.
Speaker 1: And they're promising a successor by October. What's going to
Speaker 1: happen in the next I mean, the last time they
Speaker 1: told us it was gonna they're gonna have a fair process,
Speaker 1: it was going to take um several months, a couple
Speaker 1: of days later a week, And now it turns out
Speaker 1: you can do it in a week. It might even
Speaker 1: be shorter than that, Joe, Because really, what the Conservative
Speaker 1: Party wanted at this point um is for everyone to
Speaker 1: coalesce around someone who can bring stability. Now, if you remember,
Speaker 1: or maybe people don't remember, but when David Cameron resigned
Speaker 1: after the Brexit referendum in twenties sixteen, there was a
Speaker 1: leadership contest, but in the end it didn't get to
Speaker 1: the final stage because all the other candidates dropped down.
Speaker 1: Everyone in the party sort of rallied behind Theresa May,
Speaker 1: and you know, initially that worked. That kind of that
Speaker 1: gave a sense of the public that a bit of
Speaker 1: stability was was back, that the party was united, and
Speaker 1: that maybe this rather traumatic result of this Brexit reference
Speaker 1: bit of a shock to half the country, um was
Speaker 1: it was all going to be okay because Theresa was
Speaker 1: going to kind of steady the ship. They're kind of hoping,
Speaker 1: i think against hope for a similar effect now, like, yes,
Speaker 1: this has been a rocky time. I mean most people
Speaker 1: say the rockiest of all the last few days that
Speaker 1: they've ever witnessed in Westminster. But perhaps if they can
Speaker 1: all just come together and agree on one person, we
Speaker 1: might even know the name of that person. But by
Speaker 1: the beginning next week it's a big ift, though it's
Speaker 1: a big if because the party is really at each
Speaker 1: other's throats. What are the ads that name is Boris Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's remarkable, isn't it become back? It is
Speaker 1: being reported, not confirmed at this point, but it is
Speaker 1: being reported. Maybe we'll hear from him soon. He's apparently,
Speaker 1: by the way, on holiday in the Caribbean. So I
Speaker 1: learned from you this morning exactly learning about this, but
Speaker 1: it will be Apparently he's he's cutting short his holiday
Speaker 1: coming back to London. Um. It's been reported quite a few,
Speaker 1: quite a few times in the recent weeks that he
Speaker 1: has been eyeing a comeback, you know, watching from the
Speaker 1: wings silently the missteps of his successor. I'm thinking, well,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe there's a space to me to come back.
Speaker 1: He always felt aggrieved by the way he was turfed
Speaker 1: out of office, and he thinks, you know, this is
Speaker 1: he's good at the job. And it's interesting actually, if
Speaker 1: you compare the resignation speeches of Boris Johnson to Liz Trust.
Speaker 1: Boris turned it into a bit of a hut, as
Speaker 1: he always does, used a bit of humor, had a
Speaker 1: few kind of choice terms of phrase. Let me say
Speaker 1: that I am now like one of those booster rockets
Speaker 1: that is fulfilled its function, and I will now be
Speaker 1: gently re entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in
Speaker 1: some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific. There were
Speaker 1: some rice smiles and people thinking, oh, well, you know
Speaker 1: he's still got the gift of the gud there. You know,
Speaker 1: he's got the way with the words very different thirty
Speaker 1: seconds just you know, icily reading out the words in
Speaker 1: front of her um and then retreating it was there
Speaker 1: was no emotion there, Theresa May if you remember, um,
Speaker 1: you know, welld up was over common emotion when she did,
Speaker 1: and then Boris turned it into a bit of a joke.
Speaker 1: But let's trust nothing really going on. So in those
Speaker 1: big moments, Boris Johnson will be thinking, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a space for me to come back here. Now he's
Speaker 1: to have a mountain to climb. Well, yeah, how does
Speaker 1: he consolidates enough support to make this happen? Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's gonna be what is it missed me yet? So
Speaker 1: the rules that they've just announced, and you know Tory Party,
Speaker 1: you know they've got this great ability to make up
Speaker 1: the rules as they go along. But the latest rules
Speaker 1: that they have agreed on or announced is that they're
Speaker 1: going to try and whittle down over the weekend the
Speaker 1: final candidates. But any candidate needs a hundred MPs to
Speaker 1: back them. That means you've got a maximum shortlist of three.
Speaker 1: So it may well be a challenge for him. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, people are crunching the numbers furiously as I speak.
Speaker 1: A couple of MPs, some of Johnson's former cabinet have
Speaker 1: come out and said he's the man for the moment,
Speaker 1: so he will get some votes. Can he get over
Speaker 1: a hundred? I think it's going to be challenging for him.
Speaker 1: But we can still have this conversation with a straight face.
Speaker 1: This is nice, we can have it. Only he's dreaming about.
Speaker 1: This is not beyond the realms of fantasy that he
Speaker 1: actually gets it onto the final ballot. And if it
Speaker 1: does go to the members, we know for a fact
Speaker 1: this is a fact. If it if he gets down
Speaker 1: to a canvassing of the members between say Richie's soon
Speaker 1: at Kim Johnson, Boris Johnson will probably win that vote
Speaker 1: and he'll be back in Downing Street within a week.
Speaker 1: You just unbelievable. You just heard it from Dave Merritt.
Speaker 1: Now what does that mean for all this trust? What
Speaker 1: does she do now? Well, she still remains an You know,
Speaker 1: this is the British system, it's a parliamentary system. This
Speaker 1: is why Johnson can make a comeback, because he didn't
Speaker 1: leave politics. He went back to what we call the backbenches,
Speaker 1: so he became an ordinary constituency MP. Liz Trust will
Speaker 1: do the same. UM. I don't resign though she's still
Speaker 1: I mean some it depends some some prim treason may
Speaker 1: never It is still a constituency MP, and she serves
Speaker 1: a role she's always been had that kind of public
Speaker 1: service Americans, you know, you know, but not all the
Speaker 1: Tony Blair did. And Tony Blair was gone I think
Speaker 1: pretty much after he stepped down UM and went into
Speaker 1: one of the things, and there was then I think
Speaker 1: of by election in his place. I think David Cameron
Speaker 1: also Gordon Brown sticks stuck around. As an MP said,
Speaker 1: it's sort of it's a it's an interesting reflection on
Speaker 1: the character of the prime minister where they sort of
Speaker 1: zoom off to do bigger things or whether they just
Speaker 1: sort of gently fade back into the background. Big kind
Speaker 1: of that was supposed to be the American plan, right.
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson said, you know, you move away from your career,
Speaker 1: you serve a term or two and then you go back. Yes,
Speaker 1: public service, that's that's correct. Yeah, we don't do that here.
Speaker 1: We just stay forever if we if they if they can,
Speaker 1: but you know comebacks, I think you know we would
Speaker 1: be on the minds here shorty right. I mean if
Speaker 1: if if you get Boris back in Downing Street, what
Speaker 1: does that that empowered Donald trum So you know, are
Speaker 1: they going to get the band back together? What? What
Speaker 1: a thought? We've got a lot to cover in the
Speaker 1: months ahead, don't we? Absolutely? I mean, you know whatever. Next,
Speaker 1: I'm delighted that you're here in Washington. Come see us
Speaker 1: again soon. I will absolutely thank you, sir. An historic
Speaker 1: day in politics and great to have Dave Merritt with us,
Speaker 1: our senior executive editor at Bloomberg. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington,
Speaker 1: where we assemble the panel. Next, I want to hear
Speaker 1: from Jeanie Chanzano, Bloomberg Politics contributor, and Lester Munson is
Speaker 1: with us today from b g R Group. You couldn't
Speaker 1: even outlast the Lettuce. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The
Speaker 1: economist called her the Iceberg Lady, and it was not
Speaker 1: a reference to the Titanic. They meant Liz Trust could
Speaker 1: not outlast, ahead of Iceberg Lettuce. That got everyone going online,
Speaker 1: to the point where the Daily Star newspaper launched a
Speaker 1: live cam, a live stream of their camera aimed at
Speaker 1: ahead of Lettuce. At least it was their version of one.
Speaker 1: It had eyes in a blonde wig. Huh. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the Lettuce one. Let's assemble our panel today. Genie Chanzano
Speaker 1: is here Democratic Analysts and of course Bloomberg Politics contributor,
Speaker 1: joined by Leicster months and back with US principle at
Speaker 1: Government Relations Firm b g R Group, former staff to
Speaker 1: after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Great to have both
Speaker 1: of you with us here, Jeanie. I believe someone else
Speaker 1: put it differently. I think it was four point one
Speaker 1: scaramuchis who would have thought forty four days? Who would
Speaker 1: have thought, you know, Joe, it's just the tip of
Speaker 1: the iceberg. Well done. Have to say thank you. I
Speaker 1: practiced that for you. Um, you know, it is stunning.
Speaker 1: I saw Scaramucci say that. Um, you know, it's been
Speaker 1: quite a day. It's really head spinning. And I think
Speaker 1: one of the biggest challenges here, as you know, the
Speaker 1: Conservative Party attempts to go forward and you were just
Speaker 1: talking about that with David and how they've changed the
Speaker 1: you know, the rules so they can make this happen.
Speaker 1: Is they not only have the challenge of dealing with
Speaker 1: the economic crisis that they are in, but they also
Speaker 1: have a crisis in this Conservative Party. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is a crisis that's deep. It is you know, what
Speaker 1: is the Conservative Party in Britain gonna look like post
Speaker 1: Brexit as she goes And it's pretty clear that this
Speaker 1: idea of a you know, small state, low taxation idea
Speaker 1: that was so attractive to the members of the party
Speaker 1: who wanted to support her and did in the last election,
Speaker 1: is no longer a viable way for the Conservative Party
Speaker 1: to go forward. So they've got quite a challenge on
Speaker 1: their hand. And let's not forget they're dealing with post
Speaker 1: COVID of war in Ukraine and everything else they've got
Speaker 1: to deal with. My god, you know that. And we're
Speaker 1: now saying that the Premier maybe decided Monday. The headline
Speaker 1: maybe Monday as Tories set contest rules. Is that realistic
Speaker 1: lester things moved that quickly. Huh Well, and they just
Speaker 1: went through this exercise, uh, you know, for Scaramucci's ago.
Speaker 1: So presumably the muscle memory is pretty good. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I I feel like the British We're looking at political
Speaker 1: chaos here in America and said, hold my beer, uh,
Speaker 1: watch what we can do. Um and they and they
Speaker 1: seem to have done a better job of being chaotic
Speaker 1: than we than we have done. That's saying a lot lester.
Speaker 1: Although I don't know when you step back from this,
Speaker 1: it's a pretty straight shot from Brexit to the chaos
Speaker 1: that we've been experiencing now, right, how did Brexit inform
Speaker 1: Liz Trust's demise? Well, I think you're absolutely right. Uh,
Speaker 1: that was a dispositive event, a real uh inflection point.
Speaker 1: The Conservatives, the Tories, uh, in Great Britain became a
Speaker 1: different a different construct in the wake of Brexit, much
Speaker 1: more populist, much more kind of in ah, what we
Speaker 1: would call a Trumpian mold. It's a it's a different
Speaker 1: party than it used to be. And we see the schizophrenia.
Speaker 1: The old model is still there with the new model,
Speaker 1: they're not sure which way to go. They're not totally compatible.
Speaker 1: We're seeing that in our own politics with the populist
Speaker 1: wing and the more establishment wing and a lot of
Speaker 1: name calling and things like that. In Great Britain that's
Speaker 1: manifest in these changes. It's hard to underscore the cultural
Speaker 1: influence of the United Kingdom. Uh And you know it's
Speaker 1: it's it's significant role in history, genie. But as you
Speaker 1: look at what's going on now, are we going to
Speaker 1: be able to call it, you know, a major world
Speaker 1: economic power in a couple of years. You know, we're
Speaker 1: going to have to see going forward. And one of
Speaker 1: the you know, the most amazing things as we look
Speaker 1: at this from the United States perspective is that, you know,
Speaker 1: what happened to Liz trust and what she did arguably
Speaker 1: couldn't have taken place with the checks and balances we
Speaker 1: have here. So we don't often get to pat ourselves
Speaker 1: on the back or pat Madison on the back, but
Speaker 1: these Madisonian checks really do well. There's a lot of chaos,
Speaker 1: as as Lester was just talking about, in both parties,
Speaker 1: but it's hard to make the kind of swift policy
Speaker 1: changes she tried to make over there. It simply could
Speaker 1: not have happened. And you know, in that case would
Speaker 1: have allowed her quite frankly, to stay in a lot longer.
Speaker 1: So you know, it is quite a difference between what
Speaker 1: we would see here and what they see there, and
Speaker 1: you know, whether they're going to be an economic power
Speaker 1: house going forward. I suspect they will find their way back,
Speaker 1: but it may require a re examination of what conservativism
Speaker 1: is in Britain after Brexit. Leicester is a Boris Johnson
Speaker 1: comeback something that you're taking seriously right now? And if
Speaker 1: that really happened, Let's let's be hypothetical for a moment.
Speaker 1: We just go back to the policies that that he
Speaker 1: was overseeing. You know, I'm taking it seriously. The policies.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure we're the issue with with Bojo. I
Speaker 1: think it was his behavior. Yeah, yeah, So if he
Speaker 1: comes back a more as a more sober prime minister,
Speaker 1: then I think he he'll be more successful. And then again,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't be Boris Jenny. That's right. You know, that's
Speaker 1: like an oxy moron to think of a sober Bojo.
Speaker 1: Would he be popular as a sober Bojo? I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm being serious, he may not be, you know, but
Speaker 1: the reality is is that his policies were fairly popular.
Speaker 1: It was the personal behavior that got him into some trouble.
Speaker 1: And so but you know, is Boris Johnson going to
Speaker 1: change his ways, I seriously doubt it, you know, and
Speaker 1: I was amazed to hear David say he thinks that
Speaker 1: there's a real shot that Boris Johnson can come back.
Speaker 1: We know that he has been expressing real frustration that
Speaker 1: he was pushed out and did not want to resign
Speaker 1: obviously and wanted to find a path back. So amazing
Speaker 1: he could find himself back there. At this point, President
Speaker 1: Biden had only nice things to say, very brief remarks
Speaker 1: as he was leaving the White House today for Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: It was great working with you. Hardly knew you a
Speaker 1: great partner in the supporting of Ukraine with its war
Speaker 1: against Russia. We're gonna pick up on that, by the way,
Speaker 1: the President today in Pennsylvania. Back on the trail. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg broadcasting live from our nation's capital, Bloomberg to
Speaker 1: New York, Bloomberg eleven, Frio to Boston, Bloomberg six one
Speaker 1: to San Francisco, Bloomberg nine six to the country, Sirius
Speaker 1: x M General one nine and around the globe of
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business app then Bloomberg Radio dot Com. This is
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew. Much as the names
Speaker 1: of President Biden's schedule, his lack of campaign travel in
Speaker 1: the weeks before the mid terms. But he's back out today,
Speaker 1: flying to battleground Pennsylvania to help John Fetterman and what's
Speaker 1: one of the closest Senate races in the country. Will
Speaker 1: it make a difference to last Jacob Robashkan from Inside Elections.
Speaker 1: President Biden back on the trail today. The one scheduled
Speaker 1: stop this week battleground Pennsylvania, as I mentioned, the place
Speaker 1: that he likes to call home, right Scranton, Pennsylvania, even
Speaker 1: though he lives in Delaware now a rare campaign stop
Speaker 1: to help John Fetterman, and and visited the site of
Speaker 1: the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh as well as the
Speaker 1: bridge that collapsed January. You might remember that, you know,
Speaker 1: really became kind of a symbol of the nation's infrastructure deficit. Here.
Speaker 1: President said his policies were focused on rebuilding the middle class. Uh.
Speaker 1: And sitting right there in the front row, look at
Speaker 1: that John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor, and he was wearing
Speaker 1: a suit today we're in a suit when he met
Speaker 1: the President at the airport. Here's Joe Biden, go very
Speaker 1: much for for running. I really do appreciate it. And Joel,
Speaker 1: you're gonna You're gonna be a great, a great lady
Speaker 1: in the center. Wasn't that worth all of the trouble?
Speaker 1: All right, Let's bring in Jacob Robashkin, inside elections analyst
Speaker 1: with an eye on this contest. Jacob, we've really seen
Speaker 1: this one narrow and in a lot of other so
Speaker 1: called battleground states, you name it, Ohio, Georgia, they've kind
Speaker 1: of asked the president to stay away. How come Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: is different? Look, I think there are a couple of
Speaker 1: different factors that contribute to Biden making the trip here
Speaker 1: to Pennsylvania. First, of course, Biden carried the state in
Speaker 1: the election. That's always helpful. Second, as you said, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, Biden has a particular affinity for Pennsylvania. It's
Speaker 1: it's the place where he was born, it's close to Delaware,
Speaker 1: and so I think that when he's deciding where he
Speaker 1: wants to go out on the trail, is probably ranks
Speaker 1: pretty highly. And then finally, what John Futterman needs to
Speaker 1: do right now is uh staunch any sort of momentum
Speaker 1: that dr Oz has picked up over the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. And one of the places where he really
Speaker 1: has to lock down full and total supporters from Democrats
Speaker 1: in the state. Right, it's not just about winning over independence,
Speaker 1: but at the moment where we see Futterman lagging, for instance,
Speaker 1: Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for governor, is that he
Speaker 1: doesn't have quite as much to the fort among Democrats.
Speaker 1: So bringing the president in as a surefire way to
Speaker 1: get Democrats excited and bring more attention to the race,
Speaker 1: which is what Futterman needs. Thirty eight. Let's see, they've
Speaker 1: got Fetterman forty seven point seven to oz Is forty
Speaker 1: three point two. That, of course is an average of
Speaker 1: polls here. Uh, there's a very short amount of time left. Right,
Speaker 1: we've got less than three weeks. Are these numbers essentially
Speaker 1: what we have baked in going into election day? Well,
Speaker 1: I don't think that they're quite baked in yet. This
Speaker 1: is a race where we have seen some interesting movement.
Speaker 1: Of course, Dr Oz began the general election in the
Speaker 1: thirties coming out of that bruising Republican primary against Dave McCormick,
Speaker 1: husband of DNA Powell mcgormick, the next head at the
Speaker 1: Robin Hood Foundation. Apparently um. And we've we've seen Oz
Speaker 1: pickup steam as he's consolidated Republican voters and now he's
Speaker 1: working on winning over independence as well, and so he
Speaker 1: is running a real campaign that is trying to use
Speaker 1: their head of steam over the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: to close that gap. I think Spedderman's job at the
Speaker 1: moment is prevent defense. He's got to hold on to
Speaker 1: that forty eight percent of the vote that he has
Speaker 1: right now and make sure that he can scoop up
Speaker 1: a little bit of undecided the voters that will need
Speaker 1: to get him to fifty or close to it. And
Speaker 1: if he's able to do that, he should be fine here.
Speaker 1: But ODS is clearly picking up steam and gaining on
Speaker 1: him in the closing weeks. It's been remarkable actually, the
Speaker 1: progress he's made. By the way, the real clear poll
Speaker 1: of polls has UH a smaller gap, Fetterman up by
Speaker 1: two and a half um. Dr Oz put some real
Speaker 1: money into ads, negative ads framing Fetterman is soft on
Speaker 1: crime and suggesting that h that he might be a
Speaker 1: drug user. Donald Trump says he's you know, he's smoking
Speaker 1: pot and his mom's basement, and that they try to
Speaker 1: frame him with the hoodie and the whole thing is
Speaker 1: essentially not a serious person. Is that what actually helped
Speaker 1: to narrow the numbers. I'm sure that is partially what
Speaker 1: it's about the specific messaging. I think more importantly is
Speaker 1: that Oz was running any sort of ads at all,
Speaker 1: because the things we saw over the summer was that
Speaker 1: after Oz and won that primary, he really went dark
Speaker 1: on TV, and Fetterman and his allies had free reign
Speaker 1: to define odds in a negative way and build up
Speaker 1: Betterman and his own positive image across the state. And
Speaker 1: so really where we begin to see the narrowing of
Speaker 1: the races when OZ woke up started giving a little
Speaker 1: bit more money to his own campaign and running any
Speaker 1: sort of ads on TV, including the specific ones about
Speaker 1: Fetterman and crime. And I think, you know, the crime
Speaker 1: issue matters more perhaps when it comes to the larger
Speaker 1: questions about crime and what we've seen happen in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and less about the kind of specific attacks. You know,
Speaker 1: Betterman has tattoos and things like that. Yeah, right, member
Speaker 1: of the crips. I think it was one of the
Speaker 1: interesting lines that I heard floated. Um, then there's the
Speaker 1: matter of his health of course, John Federman suffered a stroke.
Speaker 1: Uh and you know, look, he he took quite a
Speaker 1: bit of time off the trail. There were questions about
Speaker 1: that interview. He did use in clothes capturing, and some
Speaker 1: actually tried to make it a cause, saying this is,
Speaker 1: you know, you're supporting a disabled American here. Has that
Speaker 1: actually been a factor in people's decisions or sort of
Speaker 1: a national sideline story? I mean, he was out with
Speaker 1: a medical report from his doctor yesterday. How important is
Speaker 1: that in this race? Look, it's always going to be
Speaker 1: important if voters think that you're capable or incapable of
Speaker 1: performing the job and responsibilities of a senator. I'm not
Speaker 1: so sure that this is a make or break issue
Speaker 1: for Fetterman at the moment. I think there's there's evidence
Speaker 1: to suggest there's some skepticism from voters that they're getting
Speaker 1: the full story about his current health condition. But there's
Speaker 1: also evidence to suggest that voters do empathize with him
Speaker 1: because a lot of voters have people in their family
Speaker 1: or themselves who have gone through significant health challenges. Betterment
Speaker 1: has really leaned into that aspect. At his rallies these days,
Speaker 1: he asks everyone in the audience if you've ever had
Speaker 1: a stroke, raise your hand. If you have a family
Speaker 1: member who's had a stroke or a serious health condition,
Speaker 1: raise your hand, and tries to turn that against us.
Speaker 1: I think it's notable that OZ isn't really using those
Speaker 1: lines in is paid advertising. It's much more Republicans uh
Speaker 1: it out in the media space who like to bring
Speaker 1: up Setterman's recovery from the stroke. Jacob, thanks for your insights,
Speaker 1: Jacob Robashkan from Inside Elections. Perfect set up for our panel. Next,
Speaker 1: I want to get into this issue of the medical report.
Speaker 1: We haven't had a chance to talk about if the
Speaker 1: doctor says Fetterman spoke intelligently without cognitive deficits. He's still
Speaker 1: got a debate though, to prove that. Our panel is next.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. That John
Speaker 1: Fetterman went to the doctor on October four, Dr Clifford
Speaker 1: Shen's office, and the doc wrote, and what has now
Speaker 1: been released publicly a medical report on the Lieutenant governor,
Speaker 1: the Democratic candidate nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania. That key
Speaker 1: quote continues to exhibit symptoms of an auditory processing disorder,
Speaker 1: which can come across as hearing difficulty unquote. This is,
Speaker 1: of course, something that we talked about quite a bit
Speaker 1: when he sat for an interview I guess it was
Speaker 1: a week ago with NBC, and he had to use
Speaker 1: was captioning to to capture the questions properly, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, not unheard of. As he points out, most
Speaker 1: politicians use teleprompters when they're standing in front of people.
Speaker 1: But he also was reaching for his words and correcting
Speaker 1: himself in some cases, struggling to kind of complete a thought.
Speaker 1: And so there are questions about his ability to perform
Speaker 1: in a televised debate, which is hard enough as it is,
Speaker 1: and of course those around doctor Oz and he's had
Speaker 1: to be very careful about this, particularly as a doctor.
Speaker 1: While he might criticize Fetterman's eating habits following the whole
Speaker 1: crude detae uh situation, um, he's let other people kind
Speaker 1: of poke holes and in Fetterman and sort of asked
Speaker 1: the question is he fit for office? Let's reassemble the panel.
Speaker 1: Jennie Schanzano is here, of course, Bloomberg Politics contributor Democratic analysts,
Speaker 1: and Lester Munson is with us today principle from b
Speaker 1: g R Group, former staff director in the Senate Foreign
Speaker 1: Relations Committee, and it it's worth knowing out that Lester
Speaker 1: was the chief of staff for Senator Mark Kirk who
Speaker 1: had a stroke when he was in the Senate and
Speaker 1: had to manage a situation that's very similar to the
Speaker 1: one we're in here. Lester is his campaign doing it right?
Speaker 1: You know, I've been impressed by how Mr Fetterman has
Speaker 1: kind of soldiered on, taken on challenges, gone straight at
Speaker 1: this thing. It's clear, you know, he's working hard on
Speaker 1: his recovery and I truly wish him the best. Uh,
Speaker 1: And that makes a full recovery He's not. There are
Speaker 1: clearly some issues that he's still dealing with and working on,
Speaker 1: but he's out there and putting it before the voters.
Speaker 1: And I say good for him. It doesn't mean I
Speaker 1: agree with his platform or that if I were in
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania would necessarily vote for him, but I admire his
Speaker 1: courage and his steadfastness. Well, look, that's awfully nice of
Speaker 1: you to say. I mean, you can take a couple
Speaker 1: of different paths here, obviously, right, Um, you can try
Speaker 1: to act like a tough guy and and act like
Speaker 1: nothing's wrong. And some people accused him of doing that,
Speaker 1: by the way, and not being completely transparent at the beginning.
Speaker 1: Obviously we've learned a lot since then, and he's been
Speaker 1: talking openly about it a lot. It's part of his
Speaker 1: stump speech now. Uh, as we were just discussing with Jacob,
Speaker 1: or you can also open the door a little bit more,
Speaker 1: you know, Bob Casey was was a surrogate on his
Speaker 1: behalf Lester going on TV to say that, look, we have, uh,
Speaker 1: we have legislation in this country to protect people with
Speaker 1: disabilities like this. He's like a lot of Americans who
Speaker 1: are going to work with challenges like this. He's not alone.
Speaker 1: That's why he's asking people to raise their hands, those
Speaker 1: who have had a stroke, who are who are in
Speaker 1: the crowd, who have you know, likely recovered. Um, is
Speaker 1: that the effective path? Uh? It's it's it's a it's
Speaker 1: tempting to go down that path. It's really and it's
Speaker 1: fine to talk about that, but it's not enough. When
Speaker 1: Mark Kirk ran for re election in Illinois, the Chicago
Speaker 1: Tribune came out and endorsed his opponent it was now
Speaker 1: Senator Tammy Duckworth, because they said Mark Kirk couldn't totally
Speaker 1: fulfill his duties as a senator because of the consequences
Speaker 1: of the stroke. Uh So, I think we need to
Speaker 1: be hard eyed about what what being in the Senate means.
Speaker 1: It is a very difficult job. It requires all of
Speaker 1: your faculties. If you really want to represent the people
Speaker 1: of your state, you need to be operating at a percent.
Speaker 1: I think that's I think it's fair to consider whether
Speaker 1: a candidate who does who may not be a dent,
Speaker 1: is going to be able to carry out those duties
Speaker 1: as it's certainly a fair question to be asking about
Speaker 1: these candidates. I think Mr Fetterman has done a good
Speaker 1: job of getting out there and addressing them. There's some
Speaker 1: things where they've kind of implied that if he can't
Speaker 1: fulfill his duties, his wife might be appointed to reply
Speaker 1: as him. We're going to have to address that directly
Speaker 1: if they haven't done so already. Wow, But I think that,
Speaker 1: you know, the people need to consider all of these things.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's a really tough question. It's not much
Speaker 1: just to be a sympathetic figure. You saying, someone who's
Speaker 1: going to be really aggressive in the siding work work
Speaker 1: like crazy for their state. So I guess all of
Speaker 1: that said, Jennie Chanzano, how important then, because I'm guessing
Speaker 1: we cannot underscore enough the importance of his performance in
Speaker 1: a live debate. That's right, and we're going to see
Speaker 1: next week and the voters will get a chance to decide. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, but there's a school of thought, and I
Speaker 1: think I think it's worth considering that this health scare,
Speaker 1: unfortunate as it was, has made him more empathetic to
Speaker 1: many people on the ground. As you talked about. He's
Speaker 1: been using it in his stump speech often the image
Speaker 1: that's right, and um, you know, makes him more relatable. Um,
Speaker 1: he's had to go through what so many of us
Speaker 1: have gone through in the United States, dealing with the
Speaker 1: health care system and serious conditions. Absolutely, I agree with
Speaker 1: lesser health is critically important. Voters have a right to
Speaker 1: consider it. But what shouldn't happen is we shouldn't confuse issues.
Speaker 1: Many people used closed caption, Many people use wheelchairs, We
Speaker 1: use a whole lot of things, and you know, the
Speaker 1: Senate should be equipped to accommodate that if it's not,
Speaker 1: that's got to change. There was a long time there
Speaker 1: was no female restroom near the Senate floor. Quite frankly,
Speaker 1: you know, these are things that the Senate needs to accommodate.
Speaker 1: If his doctor is coming out as he has said,
Speaker 1: there is no work restrictions, he is fully capable and
Speaker 1: he is fully functioning, then you know that is something
Speaker 1: that you know voters will consider certainly, but it does
Speaker 1: speak volumes. So I think Federman, You're right, the debate
Speaker 1: is going to be critically important for voters. But I
Speaker 1: think Fetterman has handled this right. Well, let's back off
Speaker 1: this whole thing and get back to what I was
Speaker 1: discussing earlier with Jacob. Was it helpful for Joe Biden
Speaker 1: to be there today or is he a liability? Lester Well,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden, Uh, you know, still does have a connection
Speaker 1: to the working class. He's he's got Pennsylvania roots. I
Speaker 1: think it can only help Futterman. I don't think it
Speaker 1: helps him a lot. Uh. You know, Joe Biden's numbers
Speaker 1: are not fantastic. There's some prevailing wins going against Democrats
Speaker 1: and the president, and this election we're seeing a little
Speaker 1: bit of a surge towards the Republicans. So I'm not
Speaker 1: sure it's going to be the answer that gets him
Speaker 1: over the finish line, but I'm sure it helps him
Speaker 1: a little bit. That's the one he chose to go to.
Speaker 1: Genie I still is it because of the Spranton thing?
Speaker 1: I mean, John Fennerman didn't want to appear with him
Speaker 1: in some instances earlier this year. Yeah, that's right. That said.
Speaker 1: You know, this election for Biden, I think he has
Speaker 1: played this right. There's been a lot of attacks on
Speaker 1: the fact he's not doing big rallies, he's not echoing
Speaker 1: what Donald Trump and Barack Obama have done. But let's
Speaker 1: be realistic. Two thousand and ten, fourteen eighteen, they didn't
Speaker 1: go so well after those big rallies. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go out on a limb here and
Speaker 1: say him focusing this week on what he has done
Speaker 1: or promises to do on abortion, gas prices, you know, marijuana,
Speaker 1: student loans tomorrow in Delaware, infrastructure today. Those are things
Speaker 1: that are popular with the base. And so if this
Speaker 1: is going to be a turnout election, you know, the
Speaker 1: headwinds are against Democrats. Certainly this is looking like it's
Speaker 1: going to be a traditional year and the Republicans should
Speaker 1: do well. But I'm not convinced that Biden has made
Speaker 1: a misstep. And Biden is going to do tonight what
Speaker 1: president should be doing. He's going to raise a heck
Speaker 1: of a lot of money for the campaign. This is
Speaker 1: his eighteenth trip to Pennsylvania. Next week will be his nineteen.
Speaker 1: So I think it will you know, is it going
Speaker 1: to change it big? No, it won't. But it's gonna
Speaker 1: help Federman at least around the edges. If it can
Speaker 1: get out some Democrats that's critically important. Well, and you know,
Speaker 1: he's got a good story to tell in Pittsburgh. What
Speaker 1: happened at that bridge is just you know, people forget
Speaker 1: very quickly. People have very short memories. Google that story
Speaker 1: and remind yourself of how horrifying it was when the
Speaker 1: bridge came down. Uh. I want to turn to Georgia
Speaker 1: while I still have some time with both of you,
Speaker 1: because you want to talk about another close win here
Speaker 1: this Georgia's Senate races within three and a half points
Speaker 1: now according to the average on five thirty eight, Raphael
Speaker 1: Warnock herschel Walker forty four point one. After everything that
Speaker 1: has happened. He's handing out badges at rallies. Now he
Speaker 1: has turned this thing around to his benefit and is
Speaker 1: holding up incredibly well, if not closing the race in
Speaker 1: some polls here and he feels empowered. Listen to Herschel
Speaker 1: Walker today going after Raphael Warnock on the stuff. Don't
Speaker 1: let him ride your back no more, Senator, get that
Speaker 1: side off your bike. You're straighten your back up. You're
Speaker 1: letting that president ride your back. You're doing everything they
Speaker 1: tell you to do. Hey, let me tell you I
Speaker 1: don't dancing scene for nobody. I never have. I'm from
Speaker 1: Rights Fire Georgia. The Lord had washed me in the
Speaker 1: blood of Jesus. So right now I know I represent Georgia.
Speaker 1: It's like a new candidate here. I don't dance and
Speaker 1: saying for nobody. Lester, what's he saying about Raphael Warna. Well,
Speaker 1: I think there's there's a lot of imagery and things
Speaker 1: to unpack in that statement. Yeah, I'm not sure I
Speaker 1: want to be I'm not sure I want to be
Speaker 1: the person to do it. But I think what Mr
Speaker 1: Walker is doing is is that that maybe we can
Speaker 1: address directly, which is he's saying I'm for Georgia. My
Speaker 1: opponent is with the president of the National Democrats. I'm
Speaker 1: the guy who's the local guy. That's going to be
Speaker 1: a pretty effective message. How does the Reverend push back
Speaker 1: on that? With so little time left here, Genie, because
Speaker 1: it does feel like there's some momentum for herschel Walker. Well,
Speaker 1: Warnock has released adds. You know, just in the last
Speaker 1: day or so, he is on the air big time,
Speaker 1: hitting Walker on abortion, saying he's a hypocrite for coming
Speaker 1: out against it without any exceptions except for anybody but himself.
Speaker 1: They referenced the sun, they referenced the girlfriend. So this
Speaker 1: is how he's hitting back, and it may be effective.
Speaker 1: He increased his numbers when this story came out. He
Speaker 1: may increase him some more. What a way to make
Speaker 1: a living, Genie. Thank you as always, Jeannie Chanzy, No
Speaker 1: Lester months in our panel today. Thanks to Jacob as
Speaker 1: well for being with us, and of course David Merritt
Speaker 1: with his great analysis on the chaos in the UK.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg