WEBVTT - Airman Missing After US F-15 Fighter Jet Shot Down in Iran 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:10.160 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. Welcome to the Bloomberg 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:15.920 This Weekend Podcast with David Gura, Christina Raffini, and Lisa Matteo. 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.560 Thanks for joining us for today's selection of conversations from 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:20.959 the show. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.479 You can listen to our favorite discussions right here on 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.800 the podcast, but also make sure to join us live 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:28.960 every Saturday and Sunday morning starting at seven am Easter. 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.760 We're on Bloomberg Television, Radio and the Bloomberg Business app 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:38.240 bringing you unique takes and in depth interviews on news, politics, lifestyle, 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:39.120 and culture. 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.720 Some very troubling news with this fighter pilot down and 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.559 Iran still missing, the Iranian government, a provincial governor is 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.760 apparently offering a sixty six thousand dollars rewards of citizens 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:53.560 who quote capture the pilot alive. 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.200 Imagine the urgency of what's taking place on the ground 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.680 right now. And we'll remind everybody that when President Trump 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.000 delivered his primetime address to the nation just a couple 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.880 of nights ago, he said that Iran no longer had 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.600 any anti aircraft equipment, that we had won the skies, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.440 and this is a difficult reminder that we have more 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:12.840 wood to chop here with a lot of missiles and 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.280 a lot of launchers in Iran that are still left. 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.400 There were also increased strikes in the United Emirates overnight. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.400 UA said it detected sixty nine projectiles fight fired from 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.840 Iran Friday, including forty seven drones and eighteen ballistic missiles. 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:27.960 Well, well, we've got some great voices to talk to 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:29.280 us about this, all right. 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:31.479 We want to bring in Mark Apudo. He's AXIO senior 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.480 politics reporter. Ethan Brawner, He's Bloomberg News Israel Bureau chief 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.440 and Brigader General Mark Kimmitt, He's former Assistant Sectuary Estate 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.319 for Political Military affairs. Thank you all so much for 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:43.280 joining us. Mark, first, I want to start with you 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.680 because President Trump spoke to NBC very briefly and said 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.800 the situation with the down pilot doesn't alter negotiations with 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.360 Iran or the trajectory of this war. What's your take 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:54.600 on that. 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.080 Well, he's saying when he feels he has to, but 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.360 we have no fa and says to what's going to 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.880 happen if the pilot is killed or the crew member 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.240 I should say, if the crew member is held hostage, 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.400 or if the crew member is rescued three very different 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.799 scenarios that can affect very differently how Iran deals with 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.600 the United States and therefore how the United States deals 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:21.320 with Iran. Trump has benefited from these reporter calls where 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.480 he kind of says nothing or sort of delivers the 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.120 same message he says on truth social and there's not 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.120 much pushback, and so here he's sort of being given 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.400 that advantage. But the reality is this is that the 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.359 White House yesterday was expecting that it was good Friday, 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:37.400 people were going to be in and out of the 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:40.120 office pretty quickly and they'd be out by mid morning. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.079 And instead what wound up happening was this, and there 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.840 was an all day meetings in the White House in 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.360 the Situation Room. President was and rightfully so, very concerned, 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:52.920 and there's a lot of worry. There is some indications 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.639 that there might be some sort of special operators in 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:57.720 the United States on the ground assisting in the search, 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.960 but that's only an indication, we don't know. Nevertheless, this 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.720 marks a real major turning point in the way in 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.920 which this war has discussed for the reasons you just said. Namely, 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.240 while the United States does have a lot of air superiority, 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.680 over the skies of Iran, it doesn't have complete air superiority, 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.280 and in this case, thinking that the United States did 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:19.519 help lead to this pilot bank shot down. 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.760 General Kimmitt, we'd love to hear from you on both 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.080 ends of this search. First, the actual search and rescue 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.320 operation that's underway right now, whether it includes boots on 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.960 the ground or the C one thirties and helicopters that 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.040 we saw video. 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.360 Of over the weekend. But also what is this pilot 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:34.800 going through. 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.760 These are of course very well trained men and women 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.400 for an instance like this, talk to us about the 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.800 seer training that they are putting into place. 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.760 Now, let's first talk about the seer training. That's a 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.120 very very specialized course given of pilots and in some 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.160 cases other special operations forces. They go through a couple 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:58.680 of weeks of this exact type of scenario. You're on 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.320 the ground, your plane is crash, you're possibly injured, you 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.480 have nothing more than what you're carrying on yourself and 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:10.760 some communications. The first and most important thing is to, 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.160 as they say, learn to live like a bunny. In 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:19.359 other words, imagine you're a small, fragile, quiet little bunny. 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.520 You just don't try to be brave, try to hide, 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.359 try to find the right time to contact your rescue team. 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.400 But first and foremost, get yourself in a place where 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:36.680 you can't be found and don't attract anything other than 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:38.760 those aircraft that are coming to save you. 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.240 In general, when they eject, they don't eject together. They're 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.800 on two different parachutes. What is the protocol? Are they 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.560 supposed to find each other? Does it depend on the situation. 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.240 I know the big impetus is survive. What do you do? 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:52.640 Do you look for your other guy or do you 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:53.200 run and hide? 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.680 Or does it just depend Yeah, it just depends, as 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:58.839 you say. I mean, for example, if you've seen the 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.920 other parachute go down and it's near where you are, 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.800 you might want to try to link up. But typically 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.440 your first focus is on yourself. You don't do anything 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.560 to expose yourself. You may get over to your buddy 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:12.839 to make sure that he or she is not injured, 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.920 but it's got to be an independent action that the 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.600 individuals are taken. Because more people just bring in more, 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:23.600 attract more, attract more. 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.719 Yeah, Ethan Brauner, we know that Tehran is offering a reward, 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.320 as Christine mentioned sixty six thousand dollars to citizens who 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.599 capture the pilot alive. To what extent might this American 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:39.919 pilot run into friendly people on the ground. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.680 Well, I wish I could really answer that with any authority. Look, 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.120 I mean, the Masaden has been offering beast rewards in 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.800 Iran two for a long time now, and some of 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.680 them are getting answered. I don't really know if the 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.719 sixty six thousand dollars is going to do it. I 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.640 think that this is a battle that isn't really fundamentally 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.720 about money, you know, it is about two cultures at 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.400 war with each other, and of course within around there's 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.920 a culture war as well, So I don't know. I mean, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.000 you know, I think I would say that also in 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.359 the history of wars, you know, one down a crew 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.600 member is not a huge tragedy. But it's just for us, 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.279 we don't really consider this to be a necessary war 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.920 most Americans, and therefore everything that happens seems like it's 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.240 going to knock the thing off over the edge, right. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.680 And also maybe you know, I don't what is in 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.560 south western Iran. I mean, it's it's pretty rural. The 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:36.440 provincial governor is one of the people who's called to 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.880 this bounty, what's out there, who's out there, and where 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:40.719 could the dangers be. 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.719 I mean, I don't have any greater granular knowledge than 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:46.640 you do Southwestern around. 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:48.960 I'm sorry, no, I'm sorry to put you on the spot. 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.680 I just yeah, it's it's interesting to me because we've 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.320 seen from these other pilots there was another aircraft that 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.160 went down as well, and the pilot was able to 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.920 punch out and get to I think Kuwait and so 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.719 so I'm assuming they're close to the water there, but 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.799 I don't know what the infrastructure is or even where 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:06.520 these pilots would be trying to go. 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.160 In Southwest around. Yeah. 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:08.320 Right. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.679 You know, we've barely talked about the A ten Warthog 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.640 because there is not a search and rescue operation underway. 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.240 But Mark, this is a pretty big deal too. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.880 We just added a number of these aircraft to the 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.520 region to help with strafing runs along the Strait and 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.280 be ready for whatever the President might be asking for. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.080 Do we have any information on what caused this plane 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:27.520 to go down? 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:30.360 No, we don't. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:32.680 One of the things that a lot of people point out, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.000 which you know, it's the general there can talk about 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.560 more than I can, is the Aten Warhog is a 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:41.240 very old plane. I mean, my father was in the 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:43.480 Vietnam War and they were in service at that time, 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:46.600 and there have been moves by the Air Force periodically 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:47.760 to get rid of it. But it's sort of an 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:52.000 iconic airplane, in part because it flies slow enough and 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.400 fire so many rounds that it has a lot of advantage. 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.000 But nevertheless, whether it's mechanical or whether it was brought 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.040 down by enemy fes, I'm not quite sure, but we 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.520 shouldn't rule out the mechanical reasons for the reason stated 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:06.080 that is that these are variable airplanes. 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:08.880 General to that point. I was asking some military folks 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:10.760 about that yesterday. I was asking, you know, why we're 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:12.960 still using the F fifteen, Why we're still using the Aten? 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.000 Maybe you can explain it a little bit, But I 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.160 was told that the F fifteen, excuse me, has almost 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.960 a perfect airframe, and there was actually an incident where 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.080 one of the wings was shot off and the plane 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:27.680 could still land. Is it because these planes are just workhorses. 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.280 They're around and they do get the job done. Why 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.480 are we still using these and what are they really 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:32.960 good at? 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:35.800 Well, first of all, I think you're referring to the 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.720 A ten, not to the F fifteen. The F fifteen 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:43.400 is a high performance aircraft, flies high flies fast, drops 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:48.960 precision munitions. The A ten came into use in the eighties. 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.640 It's a tank killer, has thirty millimeter gun on it, 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.520 which has depleted uranium rounds on it, and it was 0:08:55.600 --> 0:09:00.080 built to stop the Soviet assault into Western Europe. It 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:04.480 is essentially a plane built around a gun, and as 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.040 you said, it is so sturdy you can brow a 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:11.479 wing off and still rand it. Very slow, very vulnerable. 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:15.800 But the pilot actually sits in a titanium bathtub because 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.400 he is expecting or she is expecting to get hit 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:19.240 by ground fire. 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.600 That thirty millimeter gun is about the size of a 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.880 Volkswagen bug inside the front of that airplane. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:27.120 It's pretty remarkable, Ethan. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:31.200 I'd like to ask you about Iran's offensive capabilities Beyond 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.839 what we saw in the shooting down of this airplane. 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.319 Iran is launching about twenty missiles a day at Israel, 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.199 firing one or two at a time. How long can 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:41.560 it continue this cadence? 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:43.520 Right? 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:45.960 This is a great question. I mean, the Israelis have 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.680 been saying for weeks now that they've taken out seventy 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.160 percent of the launchers and the vast majority of their 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.200 missiles ballistic missiles, and then of course every day we 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.400 see more of them still coming, and in smaller amounts, 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.640 as you said, one or two per volley, and therefore 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:06.079 eminently gettable with Israel's defense systems, but they don't seem 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.240 to be able to stop them at all, and there's 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.719 a growing sense that they're able to repair them more 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.000 quickly than has been allegend. As we know, of course, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.120 President Trump one day says one thing and one day 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.760 another thing, and it's very difficult for us to know exactly. 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.720 It's a enormous country, a ninety million people, and the 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:27.400 idea that somehow we are able to know exactly what's 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.520 going on across the entire region and all the launchers 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.840 seems unlikely. And this is a country that's been at 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.920 war on and off, you know, plenty, and is clearly 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.000 ready to suffer while it takes down in that asymmetrical 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.880 way against a bunch of a Western country that really 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.360 isn't entirely sure why it's there. 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.320 And speaking of that flip flopping mark, we have some 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.440 sound from the President over about how the objectives of 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.839 this warm we've heard from the administration. The messaging has 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:58.959 changed throughout the conflict. We're going to play that for. 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.880 You, going to hit them extremely hard over the next 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.480 two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.080 to the stone ages where they belong in the meantime. 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:14.640 Discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.880 never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:24.840 of all of their original leader's death. They're all dead. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.800 The new group is less radical and much more reasonable. 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.360 Right, it's not regime change, but we got regime change. 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.560 The new group is less radical, which I think is 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.400 a source of quite vigorous debate on that. And we're 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.360 also hearing this familiar two week timeframe we were seeing earlier. 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.439 It's almost like when the airlines tell you, oh, twenty 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:45.680 more minutes, twenty more minutes. The White House just keeps saying, oh, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.040 two more weeks, two more weeks. What's your take on 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.280 all this and how the messaging is impacting operations and 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:53.200 how people feel about this conflict. 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:58.240 Well, colleing Barackravine, myself in access we had written about 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:03.040 the complications of kind of understanding what the actual signal 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:05.200 versus the noises coming from the president, because it has 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:07.600 lots of things, some of them are contradictory to his 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:09.600 opponents and his critics, and this is just sort of 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:13.600 madness to his supporters and people in the White House. 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.800 This is part of a strategic genius keeping things ambiguous 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.679 and keeping everyone off balance. But I think it helps 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.520 to go back to the original February twenty eighth announcement 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:24.640 with the beginning of the war that Trump had made. 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.720 He laid out four goals that the US military would accomplish, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.840 which is destroying the nuclear, missile, naval and terrorist proxy 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:35.480 funding capabilities of Iran. He then added another one, saying 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:37.480 that he hoped, essentially that the people of Ron rose 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.839 up and shook off the regime. So while he didn't 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.240 say we are going to do regime change, he made 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.480 it clear that the United States would like the. 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:45.880 Running people to do that. 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:50.960 Now, contrast that with the clip you just played, which 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.480 is the President of the United States is saying that 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.199 we're going to bomb them back to the Stone Age. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.760 And that's a little different from sort of suggesting that 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.480 we want to help liberate the people of Iran. Originally, 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.280 we want to help liberate them from Prussian and now 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:05.120 we're possibly going to plunge them in a darkness and 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.040 destroy all their infrastructure and the electricity. Now it's not 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.120 that quite clear and simple, but it has heard that way, 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.880 and that speech caused the markets to plunge, which is 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:15.480 a nightmare scenario for the president. 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:16.959 It's something you didn't want to have happened. 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.000 Be watching the markets of course when they reopen after 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.319 this long weekend. And big thanks to our panel of 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.560 getting things started here, Marco Puto. Great to have you, 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.000 Ethan Bronner and retired General Mark Kimmitt. Just part of 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.320 our conversation today on Bloomberg this weekend. 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.440 Stay with us for more on Bloomberg this weekend. 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:50.000 Right after this, the White House is asking Congress for 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.760 one point five trillion dollars for defense for the twenty 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.160 twenty seven fiscal year. That would be the highest level 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.199 in modern history, any forty percent increase from what the 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.440 US spent on the Pentagon this year. 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.480 We're already at a trillion dollars this year. You see 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.479 what the President said on Wednesday, Christina. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.400 The President has said a lot of things on Wednesday, Joe, 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:08.360 which which thing are. 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.240 We talking about it's not possible for us to take 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.560 care of daycare, medicaid, medicare all these individual things. We 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.319 have to take care of one thing, military protection. 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:19.840 We have to guard the country. He says, Well, I 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.320 know one individual who might have something to say about that, 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:23.680 and he is our next guest. 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.280 Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is with us to 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:28.640 top our nine o'clock hour here on the East Coast 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.520 on Bloomberg this weekend. It's great to see you, mister Martin. 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.840 Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. I want to 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:37.400 ask you about a lot of things here, including the midterms, 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.120 but your thoughts on this when it comes to messaging 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.400 and Democrats who are on the campaign trail as we 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.520 speak with a Congress that is not in Washington. Is 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.160 this an ad that's already been written for you by 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:49.720 the president? 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.080 Well, certainly, I mean, of course, we've already started playing it. 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.680 We've already been pushing it out all throughout the country. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.560 Because what a remarkable statement from a president of the 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.960 United States to suggest that the only thing that federal 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:06.280 government should be focused in on is of course, fighting 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:09.640 wars of choice around the world at an enormous expense, 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.400 at the expense of hard working Americans right now, who 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.720 are really struggling based on this disastrous economic policy that 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.000 Donald Trump has pushed over the course of this last year, 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:23.600 which is making it harder for people to already afford 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.200 their lives, and this war now of course making it 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.400 even more difficult. Look, the reality is is he's made 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.480 it very clear what his values are, and these are choices, 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.360 of course, and he's decided to pick fights around the 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:41.280 world and again to make it clear that people who 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.120 need child care in this country, people who are concerned 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.200 about the rising costs of groceries and the lack of 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.640 affordable housing, and the fact that they can barely afford 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:56.960 their utility costs or fill up their gas. You know, 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.400 the reality is is right now people are struggling. Donald 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:02.840 Trump is ignoring their cries for help. 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.800 When it comes to the midterms, what is the priority 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:08.520 for Democrats? Are you going to try to wrap this 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.920 all into one? I mean, the president ran on affordability, 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.320 gas prices are going up. How are Democrats planning to 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.080 capitalize and message on that? Because sometimes the messaging is 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.440 not your party's forte, but there is a lot there 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.600 to do. How are you going to make this happen 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:24.200 for your party. 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.680 Well, listen, I would say if you look at the 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.160 last year, we have had tremendous success. We've won over 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.960 ninety percent of the elections on the ballot, historic over 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.480 performance which was just about fourteen percentage points on average, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.760 which is an all time high. And the through line 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.640 on that is that all of our Canada that's focused 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:47.080 almost exclusively on affordability, making sure that we address the 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.720 anxiety of this nation right now, which is really around 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.320 the economy. Many Americans are falling behind and no one 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:56.760 feels like this economy is working for them right now. 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:58.920 And so as we go into these last two hundred 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.920 and fourteen days left until the midterm election, we're going 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.840 to focus on three really important things. One is, of course, affordability. 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.359 How do we make sure that you can afford to 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.000 get to work, How do we make sure that you 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.320 actually have a job to go to How do we 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:15.960 make sure that you can afford your rent or your 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.560 mortgage or putting groceries on the table, as I mentioned earlier. Second, 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.720 we're going to focus on the emergent healthcare crisis in 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.919 this country based on the big Ugly Bill and the 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.760 fact that they're going to take away so much revenue 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.919 from healthcare systems in this country. Three hundred hospitals are 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:34.679 going to close a quarter and nursing homes are going 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.240 to close. Healthcare premiums are rising on almost every American 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.560 right now. Healthcare is an emergent crisis in this country. 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.199 And the last thing we're going to focus on is 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.160 fixing this corrupt and rig system that only benefits the wealthy, 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.879 the well connected, and the powerful at the expense of 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.800 everyone else in this country. And so that's what Democrats 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.280 are focused on. We're going to focus on delivering real 0:17:55.320 --> 0:18:00.399 solutions to what's vexing the American people right now, focus 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.840 just on fighting wars of choice around the world that 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:06.440 are costing. The average American household is paying four hundred 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.520 dollars more a month to litigate this war and Iran, 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:11.840 and it's four hundred dollars a month they don't have 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.639 based on this disastrous economy that Donald Trump has. 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.280 Pushed with a gallon of gas at four dollars and 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.160 ten cents today on average, according to Triple A Ken, 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.359 we want to talk to you about resources. We had 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:26.120 a conversation just last week on Bloomberg with Congresswoman Susan Delbenet, 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.560 who chairs the D Triple C. They're targeting Trump plus 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.960 eleven plus thirteen seats in some districts, making this a 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.120 much wider effort. I realize you have history on your side, 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.159 you might even have the message on your side. But 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.400 how about money. The RNC has a nearly seven to 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.040 one money advantage over the DNC right now. You pulled 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.240 in ten point three million in February, the RNC eighteen 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.639 and a half million. Do you have the money the 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:53.840 resources to pursue that many seats. 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.480 Well, absolutely, And in combination with the D Triple C, 0:18:57.640 --> 0:18:59.800 the DS and our other partners, of course, we do. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:01.560 Look, you know, we don't need to. 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.600 Outraise the Republicans. We just need to raise enough money 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:06.640 to be in the ring so we can compete and fight. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:09.080 And I'll give you an example on that. In Texas, 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.760 we flipped a state Senate seat there. It was a 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:15.920 plus seventeen percent Trump district. Our candidate won by fourteen 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.560 percentage points, meaning it was a thirty one point swing, 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.440 and the Republican opponent, they're raised two and a half 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:25.359 million dollars to our candidate's three hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Again, 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.880 we don't need to outraise the Republicans. We just need 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.040 to have enough money to compete. And look, last year 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.119 we raised a record amount of money for a first 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.440 year chair of the Democratic National Committee. 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:37.639 We raised a record. 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.240 Amount of money and what was fueling that was the 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:44.199 grassroots dollars, you know, the small donors averaging fifty one dollars, 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:46.840 you know, that was what was fueling our effort, and 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.000 we raised a record amount which allowed us to win 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:51.400 a record amount of races. Of course, we've got win 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.000 at our back. We've got momentum as you mentioned, we've 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:57.240 got a message that's resonated, and we'll have the resources 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:59.600 to make sure that we can compete. And as you mentioned, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.080 because of this historic overperformance, we've been able to expand 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.040 out the map. We can now any Republican who sits 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.600