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Speaker 2: Some very troubling news with this fighter pilot down and
Speaker 2: Iran still missing, the Iranian government, a provincial governor is
Speaker 2: apparently offering a sixty six thousand dollars rewards of citizens
Speaker 2: who quote capture the pilot alive.
Speaker 5: Imagine the urgency of what's taking place on the ground
Speaker 5: right now. And we'll remind everybody that when President Trump
Speaker 5: delivered his primetime address to the nation just a couple
Speaker 5: of nights ago, he said that Iran no longer had
Speaker 5: any anti aircraft equipment, that we had won the skies,
Speaker 5: and this is a difficult reminder that we have more
Speaker 5: wood to chop here with a lot of missiles and
Speaker 5: a lot of launchers in Iran that are still left.
Speaker 2: There were also increased strikes in the United Emirates overnight.
Speaker 2: UA said it detected sixty nine projectiles fight fired from
Speaker 2: Iran Friday, including forty seven drones and eighteen ballistic missiles.
Speaker 5: Well, well, we've got some great voices to talk to
Speaker 5: us about this, all right.
Speaker 2: We want to bring in Mark Apudo. He's AXIO senior
Speaker 2: politics reporter. Ethan Brawner, He's Bloomberg News Israel Bureau chief
Speaker 2: and Brigader General Mark Kimmitt, He's former Assistant Sectuary Estate
Speaker 2: for Political Military affairs. Thank you all so much for
Speaker 2: joining us. Mark, first, I want to start with you
Speaker 2: because President Trump spoke to NBC very briefly and said
Speaker 2: the situation with the down pilot doesn't alter negotiations with
Speaker 2: Iran or the trajectory of this war. What's your take
Speaker 2: on that.
Speaker 6: Well, he's saying when he feels he has to, but
Speaker 6: we have no fa and says to what's going to
Speaker 6: happen if the pilot is killed or the crew member
Speaker 6: I should say, if the crew member is held hostage,
Speaker 6: or if the crew member is rescued three very different
Speaker 6: scenarios that can affect very differently how Iran deals with
Speaker 6: the United States and therefore how the United States deals
Speaker 6: with Iran. Trump has benefited from these reporter calls where
Speaker 6: he kind of says nothing or sort of delivers the
Speaker 6: same message he says on truth social and there's not
Speaker 6: much pushback, and so here he's sort of being given
Speaker 6: that advantage. But the reality is this is that the
Speaker 6: White House yesterday was expecting that it was good Friday,
Speaker 6: people were going to be in and out of the
Speaker 6: office pretty quickly and they'd be out by mid morning.
Speaker 6: And instead what wound up happening was this, and there
Speaker 6: was an all day meetings in the White House in
Speaker 6: the Situation Room. President was and rightfully so, very concerned,
Speaker 6: and there's a lot of worry. There is some indications
Speaker 6: that there might be some sort of special operators in
Speaker 6: the United States on the ground assisting in the search,
Speaker 6: but that's only an indication, we don't know. Nevertheless, this
Speaker 6: marks a real major turning point in the way in
Speaker 6: which this war has discussed for the reasons you just said. Namely,
Speaker 6: while the United States does have a lot of air superiority,
Speaker 6: over the skies of Iran, it doesn't have complete air superiority,
Speaker 6: and in this case, thinking that the United States did
Speaker 6: help lead to this pilot bank shot down.
Speaker 5: General Kimmitt, we'd love to hear from you on both
Speaker 5: ends of this search. First, the actual search and rescue
Speaker 5: operation that's underway right now, whether it includes boots on
Speaker 5: the ground or the C one thirties and helicopters that
Speaker 5: we saw video.
Speaker 7: Of over the weekend. But also what is this pilot
Speaker 7: going through.
Speaker 5: These are of course very well trained men and women
Speaker 5: for an instance like this, talk to us about the
Speaker 5: seer training that they are putting into place.
Speaker 8: Now, let's first talk about the seer training. That's a
Speaker 8: very very specialized course given of pilots and in some
Speaker 8: cases other special operations forces. They go through a couple
Speaker 8: of weeks of this exact type of scenario. You're on
Speaker 8: the ground, your plane is crash, you're possibly injured, you
Speaker 8: have nothing more than what you're carrying on yourself and
Speaker 8: some communications. The first and most important thing is to,
Speaker 8: as they say, learn to live like a bunny. In
Speaker 8: other words, imagine you're a small, fragile, quiet little bunny.
Speaker 8: You just don't try to be brave, try to hide,
Speaker 8: try to find the right time to contact your rescue team.
Speaker 8: But first and foremost, get yourself in a place where
Speaker 8: you can't be found and don't attract anything other than
Speaker 8: those aircraft that are coming to save you.
Speaker 2: In general, when they eject, they don't eject together. They're
Speaker 2: on two different parachutes. What is the protocol? Are they
Speaker 2: supposed to find each other? Does it depend on the situation.
Speaker 2: I know the big impetus is survive. What do you do?
Speaker 2: Do you look for your other guy or do you
Speaker 2: run and hide?
Speaker 8: Or does it just depend Yeah, it just depends, as
Speaker 8: you say. I mean, for example, if you've seen the
Speaker 8: other parachute go down and it's near where you are,
Speaker 8: you might want to try to link up. But typically
Speaker 8: your first focus is on yourself. You don't do anything
Speaker 8: to expose yourself. You may get over to your buddy
Speaker 8: to make sure that he or she is not injured,
Speaker 8: but it's got to be an independent action that the
Speaker 8: individuals are taken. Because more people just bring in more,
Speaker 8: attract more, attract more.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Ethan Brauner, we know that Tehran is offering a reward,
Speaker 5: as Christine mentioned sixty six thousand dollars to citizens who
Speaker 5: capture the pilot alive. To what extent might this American
Speaker 5: pilot run into friendly people on the ground.
Speaker 9: Well, I wish I could really answer that with any authority. Look,
Speaker 9: I mean, the Masaden has been offering beast rewards in
Speaker 9: Iran two for a long time now, and some of
Speaker 9: them are getting answered. I don't really know if the
Speaker 9: sixty six thousand dollars is going to do it. I
Speaker 9: think that this is a battle that isn't really fundamentally
Speaker 9: about money, you know, it is about two cultures at
Speaker 9: war with each other, and of course within around there's
Speaker 9: a culture war as well, So I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 9: you know, I think I would say that also in
Speaker 9: the history of wars, you know, one down a crew
Speaker 9: member is not a huge tragedy. But it's just for us,
Speaker 9: we don't really consider this to be a necessary war
Speaker 9: most Americans, and therefore everything that happens seems like it's
Speaker 9: going to knock the thing off over the edge, right.
Speaker 2: And also maybe you know, I don't what is in
Speaker 2: south western Iran. I mean, it's it's pretty rural. The
Speaker 2: provincial governor is one of the people who's called to
Speaker 2: this bounty, what's out there, who's out there, and where
Speaker 2: could the dangers be.
Speaker 9: I mean, I don't have any greater granular knowledge than
Speaker 9: you do Southwestern around.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, no, I'm sorry to put you on the spot.
Speaker 2: I just yeah, it's it's interesting to me because we've
Speaker 2: seen from these other pilots there was another aircraft that
Speaker 2: went down as well, and the pilot was able to
Speaker 2: punch out and get to I think Kuwait and so
Speaker 2: so I'm assuming they're close to the water there, but
Speaker 2: I don't know what the infrastructure is or even where
Speaker 2: these pilots would be trying to go.
Speaker 9: In Southwest around. Yeah.
Speaker 10: Right.
Speaker 5: You know, we've barely talked about the A ten Warthog
Speaker 5: because there is not a search and rescue operation underway.
Speaker 7: But Mark, this is a pretty big deal too.
Speaker 5: We just added a number of these aircraft to the
Speaker 5: region to help with strafing runs along the Strait and
Speaker 5: be ready for whatever the President might be asking for.
Speaker 5: Do we have any information on what caused this plane
Speaker 5: to go down?
Speaker 7: No, we don't.
Speaker 6: One of the things that a lot of people point out,
Speaker 6: which you know, it's the general there can talk about
Speaker 6: more than I can, is the Aten Warhog is a
Speaker 6: very old plane. I mean, my father was in the
Speaker 6: Vietnam War and they were in service at that time,
Speaker 6: and there have been moves by the Air Force periodically
Speaker 6: to get rid of it. But it's sort of an
Speaker 6: iconic airplane, in part because it flies slow enough and
Speaker 6: fire so many rounds that it has a lot of advantage.
Speaker 6: But nevertheless, whether it's mechanical or whether it was brought
Speaker 6: down by enemy fes, I'm not quite sure, but we
Speaker 6: shouldn't rule out the mechanical reasons for the reason stated
Speaker 6: that is that these are variable airplanes.
Speaker 2: General to that point. I was asking some military folks
Speaker 2: about that yesterday. I was asking, you know, why we're
Speaker 2: still using the F fifteen, Why we're still using the Aten?
Speaker 2: Maybe you can explain it a little bit, But I
Speaker 2: was told that the F fifteen, excuse me, has almost
Speaker 2: a perfect airframe, and there was actually an incident where
Speaker 2: one of the wings was shot off and the plane
Speaker 2: could still land. Is it because these planes are just workhorses.
Speaker 2: They're around and they do get the job done. Why
Speaker 2: are we still using these and what are they really
Speaker 2: good at?
Speaker 8: Well, first of all, I think you're referring to the
Speaker 8: A ten, not to the F fifteen. The F fifteen
Speaker 8: is a high performance aircraft, flies high flies fast, drops
Speaker 8: precision munitions. The A ten came into use in the eighties.
Speaker 8: It's a tank killer, has thirty millimeter gun on it,
Speaker 8: which has depleted uranium rounds on it, and it was
Speaker 8: built to stop the Soviet assault into Western Europe. It
Speaker 8: is essentially a plane built around a gun, and as
Speaker 8: you said, it is so sturdy you can brow a
Speaker 8: wing off and still rand it. Very slow, very vulnerable.
Speaker 8: But the pilot actually sits in a titanium bathtub because
Speaker 8: he is expecting or she is expecting to get hit
Speaker 8: by ground fire.
Speaker 5: That thirty millimeter gun is about the size of a
Speaker 5: Volkswagen bug inside the front of that airplane.
Speaker 7: It's pretty remarkable, Ethan.
Speaker 5: I'd like to ask you about Iran's offensive capabilities Beyond
Speaker 5: what we saw in the shooting down of this airplane.
Speaker 5: Iran is launching about twenty missiles a day at Israel,
Speaker 5: firing one or two at a time. How long can
Speaker 5: it continue this cadence?
Speaker 7: Right?
Speaker 9: This is a great question. I mean, the Israelis have
Speaker 9: been saying for weeks now that they've taken out seventy
Speaker 9: percent of the launchers and the vast majority of their
Speaker 9: missiles ballistic missiles, and then of course every day we
Speaker 9: see more of them still coming, and in smaller amounts,
Speaker 9: as you said, one or two per volley, and therefore
Speaker 9: eminently gettable with Israel's defense systems, but they don't seem
Speaker 9: to be able to stop them at all, and there's
Speaker 9: a growing sense that they're able to repair them more
Speaker 9: quickly than has been allegend. As we know, of course,
Speaker 9: President Trump one day says one thing and one day
Speaker 9: another thing, and it's very difficult for us to know exactly.
Speaker 9: It's a enormous country, a ninety million people, and the
Speaker 9: idea that somehow we are able to know exactly what's
Speaker 9: going on across the entire region and all the launchers
Speaker 9: seems unlikely. And this is a country that's been at
Speaker 9: war on and off, you know, plenty, and is clearly
Speaker 9: ready to suffer while it takes down in that asymmetrical
Speaker 9: way against a bunch of a Western country that really
Speaker 9: isn't entirely sure why it's there.
Speaker 2: And speaking of that flip flopping mark, we have some
Speaker 2: sound from the President over about how the objectives of
Speaker 2: this warm we've heard from the administration. The messaging has
Speaker 2: changed throughout the conflict. We're going to play that for.
Speaker 10: You, going to hit them extremely hard over the next
Speaker 10: two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back
Speaker 10: to the stone ages where they belong in the meantime.
Speaker 10: Discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We
Speaker 10: never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because
Speaker 10: of all of their original leader's death. They're all dead.
Speaker 10: The new group is less radical and much more reasonable.
Speaker 2: Right, it's not regime change, but we got regime change.
Speaker 2: The new group is less radical, which I think is
Speaker 2: a source of quite vigorous debate on that. And we're
Speaker 2: also hearing this familiar two week timeframe we were seeing earlier.
Speaker 2: It's almost like when the airlines tell you, oh, twenty
Speaker 2: more minutes, twenty more minutes. The White House just keeps saying, oh,
Speaker 2: two more weeks, two more weeks. What's your take on
Speaker 2: all this and how the messaging is impacting operations and
Speaker 2: how people feel about this conflict.
Speaker 6: Well, colleing Barackravine, myself in access we had written about
Speaker 6: the complications of kind of understanding what the actual signal
Speaker 6: versus the noises coming from the president, because it has
Speaker 6: lots of things, some of them are contradictory to his
Speaker 6: opponents and his critics, and this is just sort of
Speaker 6: madness to his supporters and people in the White House.
Speaker 6: This is part of a strategic genius keeping things ambiguous
Speaker 6: and keeping everyone off balance. But I think it helps
Speaker 6: to go back to the original February twenty eighth announcement
Speaker 6: with the beginning of the war that Trump had made.
Speaker 6: He laid out four goals that the US military would accomplish,
Speaker 6: which is destroying the nuclear, missile, naval and terrorist proxy
Speaker 6: funding capabilities of Iran. He then added another one, saying
Speaker 6: that he hoped, essentially that the people of Ron rose
Speaker 6: up and shook off the regime. So while he didn't
Speaker 6: say we are going to do regime change, he made
Speaker 6: it clear that the United States would like the.
Speaker 7: Running people to do that.
Speaker 6: Now, contrast that with the clip you just played, which
Speaker 6: is the President of the United States is saying that
Speaker 6: we're going to bomb them back to the Stone Age.
Speaker 6: And that's a little different from sort of suggesting that
Speaker 6: we want to help liberate the people of Iran. Originally,
Speaker 6: we want to help liberate them from Prussian and now
Speaker 6: we're possibly going to plunge them in a darkness and
Speaker 6: destroy all their infrastructure and the electricity. Now it's not
Speaker 6: that quite clear and simple, but it has heard that way,
Speaker 6: and that speech caused the markets to plunge, which is
Speaker 6: a nightmare scenario for the president.
Speaker 7: It's something you didn't want to have happened.
Speaker 5: Be watching the markets of course when they reopen after
Speaker 5: this long weekend. And big thanks to our panel of
Speaker 5: getting things started here, Marco Puto. Great to have you,
Speaker 5: Ethan Bronner and retired General Mark Kimmitt. Just part of
Speaker 5: our conversation today on Bloomberg this weekend.
Speaker 4: Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend.
Speaker 2: Right after this, the White House is asking Congress for
Speaker 2: one point five trillion dollars for defense for the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty seven fiscal year. That would be the highest level
Speaker 2: in modern history, any forty percent increase from what the
Speaker 2: US spent on the Pentagon this year.
Speaker 5: We're already at a trillion dollars this year. You see
Speaker 5: what the President said on Wednesday, Christina.
Speaker 2: The President has said a lot of things on Wednesday, Joe,
Speaker 2: which which thing are.
Speaker 5: We talking about it's not possible for us to take
Speaker 5: care of daycare, medicaid, medicare all these individual things. We
Speaker 5: have to take care of one thing, military protection.
Speaker 2: We have to guard the country. He says, Well, I
Speaker 2: know one individual who might have something to say about that,
Speaker 2: and he is our next guest.
Speaker 5: Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is with us to
Speaker 5: top our nine o'clock hour here on the East Coast
Speaker 5: on Bloomberg this weekend. It's great to see you, mister Martin.
Speaker 5: Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. I want to
Speaker 5: ask you about a lot of things here, including the midterms,
Speaker 5: but your thoughts on this when it comes to messaging
Speaker 5: and Democrats who are on the campaign trail as we
Speaker 5: speak with a Congress that is not in Washington. Is
Speaker 5: this an ad that's already been written for you by
Speaker 5: the president?
Speaker 11: Well, certainly, I mean, of course, we've already started playing it.
Speaker 11: We've already been pushing it out all throughout the country.
Speaker 11: Because what a remarkable statement from a president of the
Speaker 11: United States to suggest that the only thing that federal
Speaker 11: government should be focused in on is of course, fighting
Speaker 11: wars of choice around the world at an enormous expense,
Speaker 11: at the expense of hard working Americans right now, who
Speaker 11: are really struggling based on this disastrous economic policy that
Speaker 11: Donald Trump has pushed over the course of this last year,
Speaker 11: which is making it harder for people to already afford
Speaker 11: their lives, and this war now of course making it
Speaker 11: even more difficult. Look, the reality is is he's made
Speaker 11: it very clear what his values are, and these are choices,
Speaker 11: of course, and he's decided to pick fights around the
Speaker 11: world and again to make it clear that people who
Speaker 11: need child care in this country, people who are concerned
Speaker 11: about the rising costs of groceries and the lack of
Speaker 11: affordable housing, and the fact that they can barely afford
Speaker 11: their utility costs or fill up their gas. You know,
Speaker 11: the reality is is right now people are struggling. Donald
Speaker 11: Trump is ignoring their cries for help.
Speaker 2: When it comes to the midterms, what is the priority
Speaker 2: for Democrats? Are you going to try to wrap this
Speaker 2: all into one? I mean, the president ran on affordability,
Speaker 2: gas prices are going up. How are Democrats planning to
Speaker 2: capitalize and message on that? Because sometimes the messaging is
Speaker 2: not your party's forte, but there is a lot there
Speaker 2: to do. How are you going to make this happen
Speaker 2: for your party.
Speaker 11: Well, listen, I would say if you look at the
Speaker 11: last year, we have had tremendous success. We've won over
Speaker 11: ninety percent of the elections on the ballot, historic over
Speaker 11: performance which was just about fourteen percentage points on average,
Speaker 11: which is an all time high. And the through line
Speaker 11: on that is that all of our Canada that's focused
Speaker 11: almost exclusively on affordability, making sure that we address the
Speaker 11: anxiety of this nation right now, which is really around
Speaker 11: the economy. Many Americans are falling behind and no one
Speaker 11: feels like this economy is working for them right now.
Speaker 11: And so as we go into these last two hundred
Speaker 11: and fourteen days left until the midterm election, we're going
Speaker 11: to focus on three really important things. One is, of course, affordability.
Speaker 11: How do we make sure that you can afford to
Speaker 11: get to work, How do we make sure that you
Speaker 11: actually have a job to go to How do we
Speaker 11: make sure that you can afford your rent or your
Speaker 11: mortgage or putting groceries on the table, as I mentioned earlier. Second,
Speaker 11: we're going to focus on the emergent healthcare crisis in
Speaker 11: this country based on the big Ugly Bill and the
Speaker 11: fact that they're going to take away so much revenue
Speaker 11: from healthcare systems in this country. Three hundred hospitals are
Speaker 11: going to close a quarter and nursing homes are going
Speaker 11: to close. Healthcare premiums are rising on almost every American
Speaker 11: right now. Healthcare is an emergent crisis in this country.
Speaker 11: And the last thing we're going to focus on is
Speaker 11: fixing this corrupt and rig system that only benefits the wealthy,
Speaker 11: the well connected, and the powerful at the expense of
Speaker 11: everyone else in this country. And so that's what Democrats
Speaker 11: are focused on. We're going to focus on delivering real
Speaker 11: solutions to what's vexing the American people right now, focus
Speaker 11: just on fighting wars of choice around the world that
Speaker 11: are costing. The average American household is paying four hundred
Speaker 11: dollars more a month to litigate this war and Iran,
Speaker 11: and it's four hundred dollars a month they don't have
Speaker 11: based on this disastrous economy that Donald Trump has.
Speaker 5: Pushed with a gallon of gas at four dollars and
Speaker 5: ten cents today on average, according to Triple A Ken,
Speaker 5: we want to talk to you about resources. We had
Speaker 5: a conversation just last week on Bloomberg with Congresswoman Susan Delbenet,
Speaker 5: who chairs the D Triple C. They're targeting Trump plus
Speaker 5: eleven plus thirteen seats in some districts, making this a
Speaker 5: much wider effort. I realize you have history on your side,
Speaker 5: you might even have the message on your side. But
Speaker 5: how about money. The RNC has a nearly seven to
Speaker 5: one money advantage over the DNC right now. You pulled
Speaker 5: in ten point three million in February, the RNC eighteen
Speaker 5: and a half million. Do you have the money the
Speaker 5: resources to pursue that many seats.
Speaker 11: Well, absolutely, And in combination with the D Triple C,
Speaker 11: the DS and our other partners, of course, we do.
Speaker 7: Look, you know, we don't need to.
Speaker 11: Outraise the Republicans. We just need to raise enough money
Speaker 11: to be in the ring so we can compete and fight.
Speaker 11: And I'll give you an example on that. In Texas,
Speaker 11: we flipped a state Senate seat there. It was a
Speaker 11: plus seventeen percent Trump district. Our candidate won by fourteen
Speaker 11: percentage points, meaning it was a thirty one point swing,
Speaker 11: and the Republican opponent, they're raised two and a half
Speaker 11: million dollars to our candidate's three hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Again,
Speaker 11: we don't need to outraise the Republicans. We just need
Speaker 11: to have enough money to compete. And look, last year
Speaker 11: we raised a record amount of money for a first
Speaker 11: year chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Speaker 7: We raised a record.
Speaker 11: Amount of money and what was fueling that was the
Speaker 11: grassroots dollars, you know, the small donors averaging fifty one dollars,
Speaker 11: you know, that was what was fueling our effort, and
Speaker 11: we raised a record amount which allowed us to win
Speaker 11: a record amount of races. Of course, we've got win
Speaker 11: at our back. We've got momentum as you mentioned, we've
Speaker 11: got a message that's resonated, and we'll have the resources
Speaker 11: to make sure that we can compete. And as you mentioned,
Speaker 11: because of this historic overperformance, we've been able to expand
Speaker 11: out the map. We can now any Republican who sits
Speaker 11: in a fourteen percent or less district in this country
Speaker 11: is now targeted by the Democratic Party because they are vulnerable.
Speaker 11: And that's fifty Republicans who sit in those seats are
Speaker 11: now on our target list. We've got a great path
Speaker 11: to the US House, and as crazy as it sounds,
Speaker 11: there's an equal chance of us winning the US Senate
Speaker 11: back as well.
Speaker 2: And almost every time I have a Democrat honor talked
Speaker 2: to a Democrat, I ask them two questions, who is
Speaker 2: the leader of the Democratic Party? And if you actually
Speaker 2: take back the House and or the Senate, is there
Speaker 2: anything you can actually do to stop the legislatorship a
Speaker 2: gender of a president who seems not to care whether
Speaker 2: he has congressional approval for most of the things he does.
Speaker 11: Well, let me answer the first thing. You know, look,
Speaker 11: there's many leaders of the Democratic Party. I happen to
Speaker 11: be one of them. I'm the chair.
Speaker 2: Is that part of the problem?
Speaker 11: Yeah, well no, Look, this is always the problem for
Speaker 11: either party when they're out of power.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 11: The reality is is that you know, the president and
Speaker 11: the party in power has a much bigger megaphone. That's
Speaker 11: just always the case. And so we've got great governors
Speaker 11: out there, We've got great some mayors out there, We've
Speaker 11: got wonderful members of Congress. So there are many leaders,
Speaker 11: and of course we're a big ten party. That means
Speaker 11: we've got lots of different ideas out there, right, And
Speaker 11: as we come into this presidential race in twenty eight
Speaker 11: and we get a nominee. Of course, then you know,
Speaker 11: it will start to come into focus who the leader
Speaker 11: of the Democratic Party is. But until that time, right,
Speaker 11: we have many leaders who are delivering for the American people,
Speaker 11: who are actually standing up. I've been very proud of
Speaker 11: watching what our governors have done during this last year
Speaker 11: to actually deliver on promises that they've made to the
Speaker 11: American people. I've been proud of watching our mayors use
Speaker 11: the power they have to protect communities in this country
Speaker 11: from this administration. I've been really proud of our members
Speaker 11: of Congress using their platforms to actually speak out and
Speaker 11: hold this president accountable. And so, look, there are a
Speaker 11: lot of leaders of the Democratic Party, and you know, look,
Speaker 11: I get that question a lot. I'm very proud of
Speaker 11: the fact that we have so many great leaders in
Speaker 11: this party who are standing up, delivering on the promises
Speaker 11: they made to the American people, and actually fighting to
Speaker 11: make a difference in their lives. And on the second piece,
Speaker 11: you know, look, I think when we win back control
Speaker 11: of the Congress and hopefully the Senate, our job is
Speaker 11: to pass legislation to actually stand up and do what
Speaker 11: we said we were going to do, and you know,
Speaker 11: put it on Donald Trump's desk and you know, make
Speaker 11: him make a choice if he's going to actually sign
Speaker 11: legislation that's going to bring down the costs for American
Speaker 11: people and actually help create jobs, and actually restore health
Speaker 11: care access in this country and help, you know, families
Speaker 11: that are struggling with childcare and finding jobs. At the
Speaker 11: end of the day, if we do those things and
Speaker 11: the President still refuses to sign them, the Republicans will
Speaker 11: have no chance of winning in twenty twenty eight. So
Speaker 11: what we're going to do is we're going to focus
Speaker 11: on doing our jobs and delivering on the promises that
Speaker 11: we made to the American people. It will be up
Speaker 11: to the President to decide whether or not he wants
Speaker 11: to join Democrats at that point.
Speaker 5: When we consider what primary voters are looking for here
Speaker 5: in this midterm cycle, there was fascinating research out recently
Speaker 5: from the group Third Way, of course famously moderate according
Speaker 5: to some dangerously moderate depending on the progressive you might
Speaker 5: be speaking with.
Speaker 7: They talked about.
Speaker 5: What primary voters' lives are like, what primary voters are
Speaker 5: looking for, and it came down to basically a question
Speaker 5: or an argument of pragmatism versus progressivism. Seventy five percent
Speaker 5: of Democratic self identified Democratic primary voters said they prefer
Speaker 5: pragmatism to twenty five percent progressivism. Is that going to
Speaker 5: be an important theme to follow in this campaign cycle?
Speaker 11: Well, look, I mean, I don't like to put a
Speaker 11: label on any of this. I do agree that what
Speaker 11: Americans want right now is results. They're sick and tired
Speaker 11: of watching parties, politicians from both parties say one thing
Speaker 11: and then get into office and do another. They want
Speaker 11: people to stand up and fight for them and deliver.
Speaker 11: And you know, it's one of the challenges both for
Speaker 11: the Republican Party and it has been for the Democratic Party.
Speaker 11: But what I think you're seeing right now, which is
Speaker 11: why Donald Trump's numbers are so low and the Republican
Speaker 11: Party is in jeopardy right now, losing both chambers of
Speaker 11: Congress and has been losing throughout the country right now,
Speaker 11: is you have one party that's actually delivering. Look at
Speaker 11: what Abigail Spanberger and Mikey Cheryl did on day one
Speaker 11: after they were elected governor. Look at what other Democratic
Speaker 11: elected officials are doing throughout the country to stand up
Speaker 11: and deliver on those promises. And the Republicans continue to
Speaker 11: ignore the pleas of this country to focus on the
Speaker 11: issues that matter most of the Americans. And so look,
Speaker 11: I think at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 11: you can call it pragmatism, or you can just you know,
Speaker 11: call it look delivering on your promises. You know, one
Speaker 11: of my first bosses said that you should never separate
Speaker 11: the life you lead from the words you speak. And
Speaker 11: it's critical right now because most Americans are just sick
Speaker 11: and tired of politics as usual. They want someone who's
Speaker 11: going to stand up, be their champion and help them
Speaker 11: actually get ahead and not just get by.
Speaker 2: All right, that out. Americans are sick and tired of politics.
Speaker 2: They are frustrated with Congress members in both parties, and
Speaker 2: they have a new accountability buddy making its presence known,
Speaker 2: and that is TMZ, the site we usually think of
Speaker 2: as gossip. We spoke to Harvey Levin on that site
Speaker 2: about why they are now going after members of Congress
Speaker 2: who are seen on vacation while the government is shut down.
Speaker 2: We're gonna play some sound for you when.
Speaker 12: You look at what we're doing with these photographs and videos.
Speaker 12: It's really the big thing we're doing, because what we're
Speaker 12: doing is we're showing how the public feels about them,
Speaker 12: and I think they've lost that big view of it
Speaker 12: and started looking at it, you know, the blame game
Speaker 12: that the Republicans didn't vote on this, so the Democrats
Speaker 12: didn't do that, and they're not stepping back and looking
Speaker 12: at Congress as a whole.
Speaker 2: We've only got about thirty seconds here, but I'm curious
Speaker 2: what your reaction to this is because it does tap
Speaker 2: into a broader spectrum of the American public really annoyed
Speaker 2: that Congress is not doing what they sent there to do.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I've always said sunlight is the best disinfectant. You know,
Speaker 11: it's important for folks to hold elected officials and leaders
Speaker 11: in Congress and throughout the country accountable. And you know,
Speaker 11: during a time when government shut down and you see
Speaker 11: you know, politicians taking vacations, politicians, you know, not doing
Speaker 11: their job while people are suffering, of course, people are
Speaker 11: going to be frustrated. And so again there should be
Speaker 11: a wake up call to every politician in each party
Speaker 11: to make sure that in times of crisis like this
Speaker 11: in this country, it requires people to stand up, do
Speaker 11: their job and deliver for the American people. And again,
Speaker 11: Democrats are doing that Republicans are sitting on their asses
Speaker 11: while people are suffering in this country.
Speaker 5: Ken Martin, Chair of the DNC. We thank you for
Speaker 5: a great conversation. Ken. Happy Easter to you and thanks
Speaker 5: for joining us. I just want to know why Lindsey
Speaker 5: Graham was at Shaye Mickey and what he ate while
Speaker 5: he was there with.
Speaker 2: The bubble ones. Stay with us for more on Bloomberg
Speaker 2: this weekend. Right after this this year's Easter baskets might
Speaker 2: be missing some go to suites as consumers pull back
Speaker 2: from some of those items due to higher prices and
Speaker 2: economic pressures. A new report from Bloomberg Intelligence finds Easter
Speaker 2: candy sales are down five percent so far this year.
Speaker 2: Equity research analyst Diana Roseo Paynat joins us, now, thank
Speaker 2: you for coming in. I don't know if this is
Speaker 2: sad news or good news that, but Easter candy sales
Speaker 2: are down. But where are you noticing that most.
Speaker 13: Well, it's pretty much on chocolate people, see. I know,
Speaker 13: it's one of the biggest share compared to non candy
Speaker 13: non chocolate, so obviously the hit is mostly on them,
Speaker 13: and it's mostly on volumes. People are pushing back on
Speaker 13: price increases. That has been happening for the past eighteen months,
Speaker 13: and they're being strategic about their spending.
Speaker 2: Is it because chocolate is getting more expensive faster than
Speaker 2: some of the other items are. I mean, it's one
Speaker 2: of the few candies I let my have, well, my goodness,
Speaker 2: the few candies I have myself. And I noticed I
Speaker 2: bought it yesterday and I said to the women, so
Speaker 2: this is like nine dollars and she's like, yeah, it's
Speaker 2: getting really expensive even for us to buy.
Speaker 13: Yes, exactly, I mean it's it's because of cocoa prices
Speaker 13: I have been very high, so chocolate tears have had
Speaker 13: to pass through those price increases. But obviously the demand
Speaker 13: seems to be a little bit on the weaker side
Speaker 13: because of it. So we project that, you know, throughout
Speaker 13: the season, Eastern candy sales is probably they're going to
Speaker 13: probably fall about five percent.
Speaker 2: So we were talking before we started, and you said,
Speaker 2: this is the week that people buy the most of
Speaker 2: their Eastern candy. This is not like Christmas where people
Speaker 2: plan ahead. People go, oh, shoot, it's Easter, I gotta
Speaker 2: buy some stuff.
Speaker 14: Exactly.
Speaker 13: Yeah, so this week actually is the third of the
Speaker 13: purchase of Eastern candy that is going to happen this season. Yes,
Speaker 13: so this is I guess the make or break week
Speaker 13: for the holiday. But you know, sixty four percent of
Speaker 13: shoppers actually wait until the next day to get the
Speaker 13: candy for half a price.
Speaker 2: You're buying that discount.
Speaker 13: It's terrifying at the discount, which obviously affects sales overall.
Speaker 2: We've also got some breakdowns of what people's favorite chocolate
Speaker 2: brands and non chocolate brands are for Easter. Okay, so
Speaker 2: it's Cadbury. Really people really like Cadbury eggs.
Speaker 13: They absolutely do you like them? Well a little bit,
Speaker 13: I mean, I honest, be honest.
Speaker 14: So it's funny.
Speaker 13: Because I actually brought some, you know, Cadberry eggs for
Speaker 13: the associates here in the department and those who are
Speaker 13: the first ones to really ze.
Speaker 14: So apparently they're very famous.
Speaker 2: All right, America. I mean, not my favorite, but to
Speaker 2: each his own. Next is Reese's Hershey Dove, Eminem's Jeered Delly,
Speaker 2: which is like, I'm kind of fancy chocolate. Oh, and
Speaker 2: Kinder Eggs. We used to live in Germany where those
Speaker 2: are from Kinder Eggs are really popular. And then for
Speaker 2: non chocolate brands, we've got jelly belly. Now, those are
Speaker 2: my favorite. Those like they come out once a year.
Speaker 2: They have those carrots full of tangerine jelly bellies. If
Speaker 2: you have those, oh yes, yes, they're good. They're the best.
Speaker 2: I can't stop eating them. Peeps. I'm not convinced anybody.
Speaker 14: Really likes peeps. Peeps, well not really.
Speaker 2: No, They're like one of those things you feel like
Speaker 2: you have to put in the easter basket.
Speaker 14: But then they but they're a forty one percent of
Speaker 14: the market share.
Speaker 2: I think it's an aesthetics thing. I think they're just
Speaker 2: like cute and people want to like them, and then
Speaker 2: they just taste like sugar. Sorry, peeps, I know I'm
Speaker 2: going to get like canceled for my candy. Hate so
Speaker 2: our patch kids. I didn't know that. I don't with
Speaker 2: an easter candy. Star Wars. How do you feel about
Speaker 2: Star Wars?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 14: Well, I mean they're good. Some of them are. I
Speaker 14: like the cherry.
Speaker 2: Are you're pro Star Wars? Well, let's just say it's okay. Skittle,
Speaker 2: Swedish fish and nerds. Oh that's really interesting. And then
Speaker 2: when it comes to overall what people are going to
Speaker 2: buy this Easter candies at the top ninety two percent,
Speaker 2: so they're gonna buy candy. Food is at ninety percent.
Speaker 2: What are the other things that people are going to buy?
Speaker 13: So they're actually going to buy greening carts and decorations,
Speaker 13: so those are like, yes, they want to be on
Speaker 13: the unaffestive mode. And you know, like I said, like
Speaker 13: I said on the note is you know, ninety percent
Speaker 13: of people are going to celebrate Easter, so it's a
Speaker 13: significant holiday for it.
Speaker 2: But you say flowers are only forty six percent. I
Speaker 2: know we're not buying flowers. I don't you have to
Speaker 2: give Grandma flowers at Easter?
Speaker 13: Well, I guess it's because they die soon enough, so
Speaker 13: and they're expensive.
Speaker 2: I mean, flowers are also one of the things that
Speaker 2: I've noticed, I've really gone up, all right. I was
Speaker 2: reading through this essay of yours here and it also
Speaker 2: says that it's not just kids getting to enjoy Easter baskets.
Speaker 2: A Ferrero survey I'm assuming that's for a Rochet that
Speaker 2: again in Fancy Chocolates found that sixty six percent of
Speaker 2: respondents think adults deserve an Easter basket as much as
Speaker 2: kids twenty eight percent. By Easter candy specifically for themselves
Speaker 2: guilty as charge, and sixty four percent, as you already mentioned,
Speaker 2: planned to buy candy on sale the day after Easter.
Speaker 2: I mean, adulthood is hard. Kids have it easy. Don't
Speaker 2: we deserve an Easter basket?
Speaker 14: That's what sixty six percent of people of saying. And
Speaker 14: I agree.
Speaker 13: You know, you have to celebrate as much as possible,
Speaker 13: bring some joy to your life. But uh, and this,
Speaker 13: you know, going back to the sales forecast, is actually
Speaker 13: it is a tail wind for sales because there's obviously
Speaker 13: more demand for the candy, but again they are probably
Speaker 13: a lot of them are waiting for the next day
Speaker 13: to to get it in promotions, and even right now,
Speaker 13: if you walk the aisles, which I tend to do
Speaker 13: when I visit a grocery store, I don't know how
Speaker 13: sad that makes me, but.
Speaker 2: I don't think that makes you said at all. I'm
Speaker 2: looking for sales, we're looking for good things.
Speaker 13: Well, and I also, you know, I channel checks, so
Speaker 13: that is I noticed that, you know, there's more promotions
Speaker 13: for the Eastern candy, so you know, there seems to
Speaker 13: be a lot of eagerness to move inventory, and that
Speaker 13: is obviously going to be the headwind for the season.
Speaker 2: So when you look at the industry as a whole,
Speaker 2: I mean sales are down, are they down a concerning amount?
Speaker 2: Is this really a problem? Do you think it's a
Speaker 2: bell weather for the industry or I.
Speaker 13: Would say, actually, you know, basically our base case in
Speaker 13: area calls for a five percent you know drop. But
Speaker 13: if things are, if people pull back more than what
Speaker 13: they used to what they normally do, we're probably going
Speaker 13: to see a nine percent decreasing Easter candy sale.
Speaker 14: And that is significant.
Speaker 2: That's pretty significant. That is I mean, I would imagine
Speaker 2: there are other holidays. It's Christmas is big. I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess Halloween is like the big candy time. So
Speaker 2: we have to wait until then to see if they
Speaker 2: can rebound from this.
Speaker 13: Well, I mean Eastern will be I will call it
Speaker 13: about weather for the you know, at least the summer
Speaker 13: months and how you know, the industry will will you know,
Speaker 13: will behave in terms of candy sales as overall. But yeah,
Speaker 13: this is a significant you know, it's holiday for the season.
Speaker 13: It's about ten percent of candy cells for the US.
Speaker 2: So they'll tell you it will help you industry out.
Speaker 2: I'll get you an easter basket. You can get me
Speaker 2: an easter basket. Sounds good and will be participating. That's
Speaker 2: I agree, you know, for the good of the economy, Yes, exactly,
Speaker 2: we have to do it for the economy. Dana, thank
Speaker 2: you so much for coming and we really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Of course, you could read more of this awesome analysis
Speaker 2: on the Terminal and Bloomberg dot com. I have jelly bean.
Speaker 7: Wow, jelly bean. Yeah, well, Jellybelly, as you said, were
Speaker 7: among your favorites right now.
Speaker 2: Jellybean.
Speaker 5: That's great, But the peeps people are being a little
Speaker 5: weird about the peeps.
Speaker 7: It's like it's the candy corn of Easter.
Speaker 2: Yes, that is a good anouncer.
Speaker 7: They get no respect, but they're mandatory.
Speaker 2: About me.
Speaker 7: Lisa.
Speaker 2: You were just saying, how old are your kids?
Speaker 4: And you got them mine eighteen and twenty three, and
Speaker 4: I still get them easter baskets.
Speaker 7: You know, it's different. They wake up and they wake up.
Speaker 4: It's there, but it's like now it's like beauty products,
Speaker 4: shaved kids, tattoo cream like all that kind of like
Speaker 4: that's what it's transitioned. To stay with us for more
Speaker 4: on Bloomberg. This weekend.
Speaker 15: Right after this, Welcome back to Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: This week it is time for Pointed the Pointed News Quiz,
Speaker 2: where I try to defend my title, but Joe Matthew
Speaker 2: knows everything, so I don't know.
Speaker 7: You're about to learn otherwise.
Speaker 2: All right, we're gonna learn how to do this because
Speaker 2: you're new. So Lisa's gonna run.
Speaker 4: Okay, So let me explain it. This is a game
Speaker 4: for risk takers, are you right?
Speaker 7: Absolutely, I'm known as one.
Speaker 2: Okay, good, good, good, okay.
Speaker 14: So you're going to join it.
Speaker 7: Okay.
Speaker 4: So there are three categories I'm going to give you.
Speaker 4: You have thirty chips in front of you. They're in
Speaker 4: three different you know sections here. You place your bets
Speaker 4: on each category, thinking, you know what, I feel confident
Speaker 4: in this one. I'm gonna stay with ten or maybe
Speaker 4: on you invent No, I did not. It's on Bloomberg
Speaker 4: dot com.
Speaker 14: You have to go check it out.
Speaker 2: Well, you can play along at home.
Speaker 7: Okay, I thought you invented it for Bloomberg. I did not.
Speaker 2: I'm not that gifted. We crip it from our brilliant
Speaker 2: colleagues over in the Games department.
Speaker 4: LISTA what are the top all right, So let's get
Speaker 4: to the categories first.
Speaker 14: Okay.
Speaker 4: So the first category is resignations. The second category is wearables.
Speaker 4: The third category is food and beverage. If we need,
Speaker 4: we have a bonus. But we'll see to that it does,
Speaker 4: it has, but we still tied.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so place your bets.
Speaker 4: Are you going ten each? What do you?
Speaker 2: What do you Okay, I'm going to do five on
Speaker 2: resignations because there's been a lot of names in that
Speaker 2: category recently, and I'm splitting. I'm not okay, well, slip,
Speaker 2: I won't.
Speaker 7: What do we want to make this? Okay, I'm here
Speaker 7: spread it out. Ten on all three?
Speaker 4: Okay, ten on all three.
Speaker 15: Take those we have here for.
Speaker 4: For you to write your your your answer. Okay, let
Speaker 4: me give you your first question for our first category,
Speaker 4: which is resignations.
Speaker 2: Okay, here's your question. Okay.
Speaker 4: Air Canada CEO stepping down after his response lea.
Speaker 7: I'm not gonna okay, hold on, hold.
Speaker 4: On, give you give yourself some credit, stepping down after
Speaker 4: his response to a deadly runway collision which faux.
Speaker 2: Pop did he commit?
Speaker 4: What did he do wrong that caused him to step down?
Speaker 7: Really?
Speaker 4: What did you think?
Speaker 14: What do you think I.
Speaker 2: Thought it was gonna be a Pam BONDI question.
Speaker 4: And then you like how we have the music to
Speaker 4: soothe you as as you go along there. Joe, Oh,
Speaker 4: he's writing furiously.
Speaker 2: I have a good feeling about I don't know what
Speaker 2: he's writing his vernie hand.
Speaker 4: Rightfully, You folks at home have got it. It's okay, Joe,
Speaker 4: we only have like re read flip it, Joe, what
Speaker 4: do you got? He moved his what his seat back?
Speaker 2: About tweet on Twitter?
Speaker 4: He made his statement in mostly English, so think about
Speaker 4: French as well. So okay, so what was this major?
Speaker 2: Yes, Quebec.
Speaker 4: They were not happy because you's a French ongoing political issue.
Speaker 2: So yeah, exactly what they know? This you have to
Speaker 2: say in both language.
Speaker 7: Everyone else?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so lisagains.
Speaker 4: So I get you have to pass them over to me.
Speaker 14: I get your chips.
Speaker 2: See all right, I'm gonna get some, Okay, next one.
Speaker 4: The next one is Warrible's Google developing a fitness band
Speaker 4: to compete with Aura, and which other brand that's on
Speaker 4: its way to an IPO. So Google is developing a
Speaker 4: fitness band, It's going to compete with Aura, and which
Speaker 4: other brand that's on its way to an I p O.
Speaker 7: I knew this would be my week spot here. I
Speaker 7: don't think either of us are another brand, whole other brand.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's on its way to an I p O.
Speaker 2: Thirty seconds.
Speaker 7: Oh, I don't think any I only know one. I'm
Speaker 7: putting the only one I know. Yeah, same, What are
Speaker 7: they around anymore?
Speaker 15: You're both wrong? The garment is what is a wolf?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, they plan to release it later this year,
Speaker 4: but who no, they they're going for an I p
Speaker 4: O pretty soon. And the reason why it's so big
Speaker 4: is because Chase credit Card did like a rebate with
Speaker 4: their fitness band, so so many people started to get
Speaker 4: so you could get into these Yes, so that was
Speaker 4: a big drawing.
Speaker 2: All right, we've had a long going okay, well, food
Speaker 2: and beverage, man, we got this.
Speaker 7: Got I was going to go all in on this one.
Speaker 2: You got em. That's what we're doing, both of those
Speaker 2: things Togetherlast night before about that.
Speaker 4: Food and beverage, Unilabor agreed to sell its food business
Speaker 4: to which company in a forty four point eight billion
Speaker 4: dollars deal.
Speaker 1: Do you yes?
Speaker 6: I know what?
Speaker 14: This was a good story.
Speaker 15: Yes, well now I think I know I think I
Speaker 15: know it.
Speaker 7: I think I even read it on the air. I
Speaker 7: don't remember the headline.
Speaker 15: Though, the big corporate food giants think about it.
Speaker 7: Okay, food business. I'm just putting this to be funny
Speaker 7: because we had chocolate.
Speaker 4: You did, Okay, you said her, she's Sancisco. No McCormick,
Speaker 4: all right, well yes, yes, yes, it's the spice maker with.
Speaker 2: You many other mccormy. No one else is merging with Cisco.
Speaker 2: That you, guys, thank you, was restaurant depot was merging
Speaker 2: with Cisco. Thank you, Patrick, and our control room for
Speaker 2: you guys.
Speaker 14: You know you have zero points.
Speaker 2: You know what's on the holiday. Here's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2: We're gonna go for a bonus.
Speaker 4: Okay, and whoever guess it gets all the chips, I'm
Speaker 4: going for it. Okay, that's what we're doing already at
Speaker 4: least rules Now you're both losersdy, we're going to try
Speaker 4: to redeem ourselves.
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay.
Speaker 4: The bonus question is candy okay, which Hershey brand was
Speaker 4: called out by its namesake founder's band son for skimping
Speaker 4: on ingredients. Yes, wait, what happens if there's a tie,
Speaker 4: then then you get candy to both of you.
Speaker 15: Seconds ready, yes, all right?
Speaker 7: Do I get to come back tomorrow?
Speaker 4: You you get to come back to Wind and you
Speaker 4: get all your chips back and you get and don't
Speaker 4: you don't have to eat one because you did not lose,
Speaker 4: So that was going to be the thing we're.
Speaker 16: Gonna have to eat, all right, guys, Joe Matthew Yah,
Speaker 16: So tomorrow we'll have multiple choice correct no, but play
Speaker 16: at home.
Speaker 4: Bloomberg dot Com slash pointed.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on today's Bloomberg This Weekend podcast.
Speaker 2: Don't forget to tune in live for the show every
Speaker 2: Saturday and Sunday morning, starting at seven am Eastern.
Speaker 3: We're on Bloomberg Television Radio and the Bloomberg Business App,
Speaker 3: bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle,
Speaker 3: and culture.