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Speaker 4: On this Monday, after the news broke, we turned down
Speaker 4: to Seth Harris, former labor policy advisor to President Biden
Speaker 4: and senior fellow at the Burns Center. Seth, it's great
Speaker 4: to have you with us here at the table. Thank
Speaker 4: you for joining. You probably know Joe Biden better than
Speaker 4: anyone else. We're going to talk to you on the
Speaker 4: program today. And so I don't want to get too
Speaker 4: personal here, but I do. And what motivated him was
Speaker 4: the pressure too great for him to wait to speak
Speaker 4: to the American people, to do this in his own time,
Speaker 4: at his own pace from the Oval Office.
Speaker 5: All we still have is a piece of letterhead.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 6: The defining character trait of Joe Biden, at least in
Speaker 6: his public life, has been resilience. He has suffered unfathomable
Speaker 6: personal losses. He has suffered professional setbacks that would have
Speaker 6: caused a lot of other people to go and lie
Speaker 6: in the fetal position on their beds. But he has
Speaker 6: always persevered. He has always continued, and he's always gone
Speaker 6: to work for the people he grew up with in Claymont,
Speaker 6: Delaware and in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the middle class, working class
Speaker 6: families that he cares about so much, that he identifies with,
Speaker 6: and his family was that kind of a family. But
Speaker 6: there's an even more important trait about Joe Biden, and
Speaker 6: that is patriotism. He sees Donald Trump, I think correctly,
Speaker 6: and the Republican Party as an existential threat to democracy
Speaker 6: in the United States. And when he sat down with
Speaker 6: his top aides Steve Vershetty and Mike Donald, and they
Speaker 6: showed him the data that showed that it was going
Speaker 6: to be very difficult for him to stop Donald Trump.
Speaker 6: He chose country over party, country for self, which, as
Speaker 6: you all know from doing this television show here in Washington, DC,
Speaker 6: when you talk to a lot of politicians, that's not
Speaker 6: what politicians usually do. He chose to do the right
Speaker 6: thing for the country and for the working people of
Speaker 6: this country at great cost to himself. And I don't
Speaker 6: think it was that the pressure. I don't think it
Speaker 6: was the donor saying we're not going to give you
Speaker 6: any money. It was that he cares about winning for
Speaker 6: working people, he cares about winning for democracy. It was
Speaker 6: for me personally, a very deeply sad day. But I've
Speaker 6: never been prouder of the man, and it's been my
Speaker 6: privileged to work with him in two administrations. He's a
Speaker 6: remarkable human being and it's been my honor to be
Speaker 6: associated with him.
Speaker 7: Well, it's a great reminder to us, Aul Seth of
Speaker 7: just what Joe Biden has been as a public servant.
Speaker 7: We're talking half a century through surviving the loss of
Speaker 7: his wife, his daughter, eventually his son bow continuing to
Speaker 7: serve through it all.
Speaker 8: But of course, yesterday not.
Speaker 7: Just a decision to no longer continue that service, at
Speaker 7: least in the presidential capacity, but a second decision that
Speaker 7: quickly followed his announcement to endorse Kamala Harris as someone
Speaker 7: he thinks should take the helm.
Speaker 8: And be the Democratic nominee.
Speaker 7: How do you view that part of this decision making
Speaker 7: process for Joe Biden, Because we'd had a lot of
Speaker 7: conversation in the week since the debate about how he
Speaker 7: needed convincing that Kamala could beat Trump if he could not,
Speaker 7: So should we rule that the polling suggested that Kamala
Speaker 7: could do it, or just that Joe Biden thought it
Speaker 7: would be the right thing to do to back up
Speaker 7: his vice president.
Speaker 6: I think it's both. He saw polling that showed that
Speaker 6: not only that she can win, but that it's likely
Speaker 6: that she is going to be able to win. But
Speaker 6: also he is deeply loyal to her. He picked her
Speaker 6: when he didn't have to pick her, and he positioned
Speaker 6: himself as a transitional figure in the Democratic Party, ushering
Speaker 6: in a new generation of Democrats who are going to
Speaker 6: carry the progressive values that he's lived his entire life forward.
Speaker 6: He hasn't agen that he wants to see finished. He
Speaker 6: talks about finishing the job. He knows that she is
Speaker 6: the best situated person to do that.
Speaker 4: It's been noted that Joe Biden is a hugger, that
Speaker 4: he likes to surround himself with people, his friends, his coworkers,
Speaker 4: his staff in this case, but he's had COVID and
Speaker 4: has been dealing with a very difficult environment as he
Speaker 4: comes to this decision. Has this been a depressing experience,
Speaker 4: a dark time from him?
Speaker 5: How would you describe it.
Speaker 6: You know, I haven't spoken to him during this period,
Speaker 6: and I haven't spoken to the people immediately around him. Understandably,
Speaker 6: they're focused inward, not focused outward. But you know, having
Speaker 6: experienced COVID myself and sitting in a house alone without
Speaker 6: your family, although he does have a doctor Biden there
Speaker 6: with him, although she's in a separate bedroom to keep
Speaker 6: her safe. It is difficult, particularly when you're trying to
Speaker 6: do business and you're not feeling especially well. But he's
Speaker 6: an amazingly tough man. I mean, he's made it to
Speaker 6: the age of eighty one, at the very peak of
Speaker 6: his profession, and he has accomplished remarkable things for this country.
Speaker 6: He lifted us out of a pandemic. He drove the
Speaker 6: economy to the best economy we've seen since the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 6: He assembled a coalition to fight tyrants and to defend
Speaker 6: democracy all around the world. He's fighting democracy at home.
Speaker 6: He's been remarkably accomplished, even though he has experienced this
Speaker 6: illness now and he's experienced some physical setbacks. Otherwise, it's
Speaker 6: really an admirable record, and that's what he wanted to continue.
Speaker 6: And he was convinced that he could.
Speaker 7: Well, you talk about an admirable record on the economy,
Speaker 7: and yet polling does suggest that he has not gotten
Speaker 7: credit for that. Voters do not feel good about the
Speaker 7: Biden economy. Can Harris message that differently than Biden, make
Speaker 7: that a narrative that works for her, do something that
Speaker 7: the President could not.
Speaker 6: I think that there's going to be a lot of
Speaker 6: time and a lot of money spent making the case
Speaker 6: comparing the Biden economy now the Harris economy to the
Speaker 6: Trump economy. President Trump is the first president since Herbert
Speaker 6: Hoover to leave office with fewer jobs than when he
Speaker 6: entered office. President Biden has set records for the number
Speaker 6: of jobs that have been created under his watch. Unemployment
Speaker 6: set a fifty year record at a low level below
Speaker 6: four percent, real wages rising for working families, the bottom
Speaker 6: quarter of working families, the bottom quarter of incomes seeing
Speaker 6: a dramatic increase in their real wages as well. The
Speaker 6: big issue has been prices, even though inflation has come
Speaker 6: down dramatically and is barely hovering above what the Federal
Speaker 6: Reserve tells us is their policy target. Again not handed
Speaker 6: down from Sinai on tablets, but even though inflation has
Speaker 6: come down, prices are still too by. That's what the
Speaker 6: American people are reacting to. So I think that the
Speaker 6: Vice President will be able to talk about all of
Speaker 6: the accomplishments and the dramatic threat to our country that's
Speaker 6: posed by the Trump administration. The sales pitch will be
Speaker 6: very simply that the Vice President and President Biden care
Speaker 6: about working people and whether or not their lives come
Speaker 6: out well. The other side can't make the same case.
Speaker 4: Let's talk about the issue we associate you most closely with,
Speaker 4: and that's organized labor. Joe Biden professed to be the
Speaker 4: most union friendly president in American history.
Speaker 5: We know that he's struggled with.
Speaker 4: The rank and file to some extent, but won the
Speaker 4: endorsement of Sean Fain in the UAW.
Speaker 5: It's been a.
Speaker 4: Little bit of a different relationship with the teamsters. We
Speaker 4: just saw Sean O'Brien speaking in Milwaukee. As a matter
Speaker 4: of fact, Kamala Harris walked a picket line I think
Speaker 4: in twenty nineteen, what is her relationship with organized labor?
Speaker 4: Is this going to be the same campaign when it
Speaker 4: comes to unions.
Speaker 6: Let me say President Biden is the most pro union
Speaker 6: President would argue in history, and the labor movement understands that,
Speaker 6: and that's why the AFL CIO and a couple of
Speaker 6: dozen unions endorsed him earlier than they have ever endorsed
Speaker 6: any presidential candidate before. Vice President Harris doesn't have fifty
Speaker 6: years of history with organized labor in the way that
Speaker 6: President Biden does. She's newer to national politics, but during
Speaker 6: her time as Vice president she's been very deeply involved
Speaker 6: with organized labor. She chaired the White House Task Force
Speaker 6: on Worker Organizing and Worker Empowerment. That's where she and
Speaker 6: I work together most closely. She has spoken at conventions.
Speaker 6: She most recently spoke at the convention of Unite here,
Speaker 6: which is the hospitality union. She spoke at the convention
Speaker 6: of the Service Employees International Union, which has already endorsed her.
Speaker 6: She has very effective and close working relationships with a
Speaker 6: number of national union leaders. They know her, they trust her,
Speaker 6: and my prediction is that every union that has endorsed
Speaker 6: President Biden will go forward through their democratic processes and
Speaker 6: ultimately endorse Vice President Harris. And the reason is they
Speaker 6: want this pro union, pro worker, bottom up, middle out
Speaker 6: economics strategy to continue and Vice President Harris is the
Speaker 6: most likely candidate to be able to do that.
Speaker 7: And yet when you listen to the Republicans, especially the
Speaker 7: vice presidential nominee on that side, JD. Vance and his
Speaker 7: acceptance speech, he specifically called out the working men in
Speaker 7: places like Pennsylvania and Michigan, Wisconsin, those ross belt states
Speaker 7: that he's trying to appeal to. In what way does
Speaker 7: the Harris and whomever campaign, assuming that she's the top
Speaker 7: of the ticket, need to counter that narrative that is
Speaker 7: also coming from the Republicans. They're competing for the same
Speaker 7: batch of voters here.
Speaker 6: Yeah, all they have to do is tell the truth
Speaker 6: about JD. Vance's record and Donald Trump's record. Donald Trump
Speaker 6: is the most anti union president in the modern history
Speaker 6: of the United States.
Speaker 2: JD.
Speaker 6: Vance has opposed every piece of legislation that would empower
Speaker 6: working people so that they can improve the quality of
Speaker 6: their lives that has been presented to him. They do
Speaker 6: not want working class populism. They don't want to put
Speaker 6: power in the hands of working people so that they
Speaker 6: can have a say in their workplaces and have a
Speaker 6: say in their communities. They want to make corporations bow
Speaker 6: down to government. That's their version of populism because they
Speaker 6: view themselves as speaking for the American people, a couple
Speaker 6: of guys out of the Ivy League trying to represent
Speaker 6: the working class. That's not the truth. Unless you are
Speaker 6: involved in putting forward an agenda that empowers workers by
Speaker 6: allowing them to build power through democratic organizations like unions,
Speaker 6: you're not for working class power in America.
Speaker 4: The narrative right now is that Donald Trump is more
Speaker 4: concerned about running against Kamala Harris than he was against
Speaker 4: Joe Biden. The narrative a minute ago, five minutes ago,
Speaker 4: maybe is Joe Biden's the only person who can beat
Speaker 4: Donald Trump. Does this actually change the calculus for Donald Trump?
Speaker 4: Can she beat him more easily than Joe Biden?
Speaker 5: In your view?
Speaker 6: Well, I think it does change the calculus. They have
Speaker 6: ordered and their entire campaign around running against President Biden
Speaker 6: and age was their best.
Speaker 5: Arguments on the age issue.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, and she is an extraordinarily effective campaigner. Let me say,
Speaker 6: as somebody who has been put in what we call
Speaker 6: the witness chair, when I was briefing her, when she
Speaker 6: would ask some really tough, formidable questions, when you were
Speaker 6: when you were briefing her on whatever topic it was.
Speaker 6: I'm happening to be labor for me, So he's going
Speaker 6: to encounter that if he has the courage to debate her.
Speaker 6: I think he's going to back out of the debates
Speaker 6: because at bottom, he's really quite cowardly, and he also
Speaker 6: doesn't let me. Also, just add one other piece to
Speaker 6: this this calculus, Donald Trump has a sort of difficult
Speaker 6: relationship with women, and the idea that he is going
Speaker 6: to go toe to toe with a former prosecutor who
Speaker 6: is a woman and a person of color, I think
Speaker 6: that he's pretty worried about that.
Speaker 7: All right, Seth, it's great to have you join us
Speaker 7: on this day of Dave Seth Harris, former labor policy
Speaker 7: advisor to President Biden and senior fellow at the Bird Center.
Speaker 7: Great to have you reflecting on the legacy of the
Speaker 7: president as well.
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Speaker 7: The World was Rocked yesterday with the announcement of Joe
Speaker 7: Biden that he is not seeking re election, instead endorsing
Speaker 7: his vice president Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee.
Speaker 7: We are watching history being made in real time, especially
Speaker 7: when we consider that in the endorsement of Kamala Harris,
Speaker 7: which many other high profile Democrats, including some of the
Speaker 7: governors we thought may toss their own hats into the
Speaker 7: ring for the nomination, that she is a woman and
Speaker 7: a woman of color who is now potentially going to
Speaker 7: be the top of the ticket for one of the
Speaker 7: major parties in this election cycle.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you've got an historic candidacy, at least on the
Speaker 4: verge of being made official here Kley, and as we
Speaker 4: were discussing with Seth a short time ago, potentially changed
Speaker 4: the calculus for Donald Trump, who did run.
Speaker 5: Against a woman in Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 4: But this is a very different case and a very
Speaker 4: different election against the backdrop of very different politics in America.
Speaker 7: Well, and I actually raised the parallel to twenty sixteen
Speaker 7: yesterday in our special coverage with former Congressmoman Jane Harmon
Speaker 7: and asked her if America wasn't necessarily ready for a
Speaker 7: female president, then are we ready for one now.
Speaker 9: Absolutely America was ready for a female president the last time.
Speaker 9: Hillary narrowly lost sadly, and I think some campaign choices
Speaker 9: that she made were responsible to that. She didn't go
Speaker 9: to the Midwest, she stayed on the coast. I don't
Speaker 9: think Kamala Harris will make those mistakes.
Speaker 4: This is something we're going to be talking about a
Speaker 4: lot over the course of the hour coming up with
Speaker 4: our panel. By the way, Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzano
Speaker 4: are with us as we try to pick through the
Speaker 4: pieces here. The endorsements though hard to argue with to
Speaker 4: your point, Kayley, and we're hearing from a number of
Speaker 4: state delegations to the Chicago convention. We can add Florida
Speaker 4: to the list, but none of this is official yet,
Speaker 4: and there are still a lot of questions about what
Speaker 4: process the party will follow in making this nomination real.
Speaker 8: Yeah, of course, we.
Speaker 7: Have four weeks to go until the actual convention, which
Speaker 7: begins August nineteenth in Chicago, and ninety nine percent of
Speaker 7: the pledge delegates were pledged to Joe Biden. Now, some
Speaker 7: of the delegations, including the likes of New Hampshire, Tennessee,
Speaker 7: North and South Carolina have chosen otherwise with Biden's distriction.
Speaker 4: Now, of course, there's going to be a big debate
Speaker 4: about the legal ramifications here. Some Republicans think that this
Speaker 4: could be blocked in court, and the idea that this
Speaker 4: was somehow a setup or an abandonment of fourteen million voters.
Speaker 4: It's interesting as the talking points come together on both sides.
Speaker 7: Of the aisle, certainly, but certainly the endorsements and the
Speaker 7: money are coming together on.
Speaker 8: The Democratic side of the isle.
Speaker 7: As we have been discussing more than fifty million dollars
Speaker 7: raised by Kamala Harrison just the seven hours after her
Speaker 7: announcement that she does intend to win and earn the
Speaker 7: Democratic nomination, and there could be more money thrown at her.
Speaker 7: Emily's List, which of course is a group that focuses
Speaker 7: on getting women into elected office. It's the largest pack
Speaker 7: that's focused on that effort. Yesterday pledged to spend at
Speaker 7: least twenty million dollars to support Harris's bid for the presidency.
Speaker 7: So let's turn now to Jessica Mackler. She is president
Speaker 7: of Emily's List, to have more on her reaction to
Speaker 7: the event. So obviously making a big financial commitment to
Speaker 7: Vice President Kamala Harris. Have you seen an influx in donations?
Speaker 7: Can you just describe what the last twenty four hours
Speaker 7: have been like for you, Jessica.
Speaker 10: Well, this is an incredible time and a real momentous
Speaker 10: moment for this country. And I think what we've seen
Speaker 10: in the last twenty four hours, not even twenty four hours,
Speaker 10: is a true outpouring of support all over the country,
Speaker 10: every region, leaders, at all levels of the ballot organizations.
Speaker 11: For us, this was an easy call.
Speaker 10: It wasn't just a day one endorsement, it was an
Speaker 10: hour one endorsement. We've been with Vice President Harris throughout
Speaker 10: her career and we are thrilled to stand with her.
Speaker 11: She takes the helm at the top of the ticket.
Speaker 10: There is no one who is more stronger on the
Speaker 10: issue of reproductive freedom and abortion rights.
Speaker 11: That is what is going to decide this election.
Speaker 10: So what we are seeing is truly that enthusiasm and
Speaker 10: excitement for Vice President Harris's candidacy, and we're thrilled to
Speaker 10: stand with her.
Speaker 4: Jessica, How important will it be to get Nancy Pelosi
Speaker 4: behind this effort?
Speaker 5: How soon does that need to happen?
Speaker 10: Well, look, I think, like I said, what we have
Speaker 10: seen is an outpouring of support for the Vice president
Speaker 10: from all over the kinds of well, you know, I'm
Speaker 10: not going to speak, no one's going to speak for
Speaker 10: Nancy Pelosi, But like I said, you could see that
Speaker 10: there is an outpouring of support across this country for
Speaker 10: Vice President Harris. There is no one who is more
Speaker 10: ready to win this campaign against Donald Trump, and there
Speaker 10: is no one who is more prepared to lead this
Speaker 10: country than Vice President Harris.
Speaker 7: Well, Jessica, I'd like to ask you the same question
Speaker 7: I asked Jane Harmon last evening, which is that we
Speaker 7: have seen, specifically Donald Trump run against a female candidate
Speaker 7: before Hillary Clinton did that in twenty sixteen. What does
Speaker 7: Kamala Harris need to do to make sure that this
Speaker 7: election ultimately doesn't end up like twenty sixteen with a
Speaker 7: victory for Donald Trump.
Speaker 10: Well, look, I think one of the things we have
Speaker 10: to understand, and we've been doing at Emily's List research
Speaker 10: on the Vice president for this past year and have
Speaker 10: been with her for many years.
Speaker 11: So I'm going to take this on looking forward.
Speaker 10: And what I know based on that research, based on
Speaker 10: the work that we've done for the Vice President is
Speaker 10: that she is well equipped to litigate this case against
Speaker 10: Donald Trump. And the research that we have done shows
Speaker 10: that when we talk about the Vice president's record on
Speaker 10: issues like reproductive freedom, she is so compelling to voters,
Speaker 10: the voters that we need to turn out and win
Speaker 10: in November, young voters, women, voters of color. When we
Speaker 10: talk to them about her record and the work that
Speaker 10: she has done over the course of her career in
Speaker 10: standing up on reproductive freedom and other issues, they come
Speaker 10: to this ticket, and we expect that.
Speaker 11: That's what's going to happen in November.
Speaker 10: I will also say that we know we've seen since
Speaker 10: the Dobbs decision that when we put a clear choice
Speaker 10: in front of voters around the stakes on abortion rights,
Speaker 10: when we talk to them about what is in front
Speaker 10: of them in these elections, Democrats win.
Speaker 11: And we're going to do that again with.
Speaker 10: Our best messenger on abortion rights and Vice President Harris.
Speaker 4: Jessica, I wonder what you make of some of the
Speaker 4: rhetoric that we're already hearing surrounding a potential Kamala Harris candidacy.
Speaker 5: Here a Harris campaign.
Speaker 4: You know that it's been sport here in Washington to
Speaker 4: mispronounce her name on a regular basis, which Donald Trump
Speaker 4: continues to do. Chris las Savita, the co manager of
Speaker 4: the campaign, issued a statement saying that Trump survived in
Speaker 4: assassin's bullet. The last thing we're worrying about is laughin' Kamala.
Speaker 4: That's apparently going to be the nickname that Donald Trump
Speaker 4: uses going forward. Here there's another one that I heard
Speaker 4: that isn't worth repeating. I just wonder to what extent
Speaker 4: she should acknowledge this.
Speaker 10: Well, look, as you've just outlined, there are going to
Speaker 10: be some really gross, gross, racist and sexist attacks against
Speaker 10: the vice president. We've already seen that. We know that
Speaker 10: Republicans are going to do that, and so that is
Speaker 10: something that at Emily's List we have fought back against
Speaker 10: for a long time. The disinformation, the misinformation that we
Speaker 10: know women of color candidates in particular are targets of.
Speaker 10: I have to tell you that Republicans are doing this
Speaker 10: because they are terrified about Kamala Harris. They are terrified
Speaker 10: to face such an accomplished and prepared candidate who is
Speaker 10: going to be able to effectively litigate a case on
Speaker 10: an issue that we know is going to win this
Speaker 10: election abortion rights, but not just that. They are terrified
Speaker 10: of a candidate who is ready to lead on day one.
Speaker 10: For the past three years, she has been on a
Speaker 10: national stage. She has cultivated relationships with world leaders. She
Speaker 10: has de livered economic relief for people across this country.
Speaker 10: She's an incredible record throughout her career of fighting for people.
Speaker 10: So they're scared and they are going to resort to
Speaker 10: the tactics that they always resort to in these times,
Speaker 10: and they are going to resort to these racists and
Speaker 10: sexist attacks. We are going to push back against those,
Speaker 10: and we're going to do the work of amplifying her voice.
Speaker 11: And we know that when we do that, voters will
Speaker 11: be compelled to vote for her and we will win.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 7: Jessica, of course, at Emily's List, while you are going
Speaker 7: to be throwing your support behind Kamala Harris's presidential ambitions,
Speaker 7: your wider mission is to get democratic women elected into
Speaker 7: office at all levels of the US government. Knowing what
Speaker 7: we have learned in the last twenty four hours, the
Speaker 7: notion that concern about Democrats being able to retain control
Speaker 7: of the Senate or get control of the House, the
Speaker 7: down ballot implications had a factor in Joe Biden's decision.
Speaker 7: What Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket actually
Speaker 7: helps some of those vulnerable Democrats that we're watching, like
Speaker 7: Senator Tammy Baldwin or Senator Jackie Rosen.
Speaker 8: How do you view that.
Speaker 10: Well, First of all, I'll say that the electric energy
Speaker 10: that we're feeling in the Democratic Party right now is
Speaker 10: incredibly helpful. It is the jolt that we need to
Speaker 10: get back to a conversation that we know is is
Speaker 10: what is going to decide this election. That we need
Speaker 10: to have a conversation with voters that is consistent and
Speaker 10: clear about the choice that they are facing in this election,
Speaker 10: and that is true at every.
Speaker 11: Level of the ballot.
Speaker 10: We talk to voters about the stakes on abortion rights
Speaker 10: and reproductive freedom, the choice that they have between a
Speaker 10: ticket that is going to defend and restore those rights
Speaker 10: and Donald Trump and jd Vance, who would enact a
Speaker 10: national abortion ban, who've signed on for these awful state
Speaker 10: abortion bans that are in place right now, and for
Speaker 10: the most dangerous elements of Project twenty twenty five. Voters
Speaker 10: are clear that they will stand with us and that
Speaker 10: choice when we put it in front of voters. Whether
Speaker 10: we're talking about a state legislative race, a US Senate race,
Speaker 10: or the race for the presidency, we know Democrats will
Speaker 10: be successful if that's the conversation we're having, and that's
Speaker 10: exactly what we're going to do between now and November.
Speaker 4: And it appears that Marian Williamson is going to take
Speaker 4: a swing at the nomination if given the opportunity. Jessica
Speaker 4: says she will compete for the spot after previously leaving
Speaker 4: the race and getting back into the race should she
Speaker 4: be given that chance.
Speaker 10: Well, look, I think this is a democracy, but what
Speaker 10: we've seen from in the last twenty four hours is
Speaker 10: just an incredible show of support for Vice President Harris.
Speaker 10: We have seen that from, as I've said, every region
Speaker 10: of the country elected officials at all levels of the ballot.
Speaker 10: We've seen it from organizations that are a whole wide
Speaker 10: range of issues and they all know what I know,
Speaker 10: which is that there is no one more prepared to
Speaker 10: win this election against Donald Trump. There was no one
Speaker 10: who is more prepared to lead this country on day
Speaker 10: one than Kamala Harris. So I fully expect that Kamala
Speaker 10: Harris is going to be our democratic nominee, and she
Speaker 10: is going to win in November and will be in
Speaker 10: the White House at this time next year.
Speaker 7: Well, Jessica, of course, if she is the top of
Speaker 7: the ticket, needs to be on that ticket with her.
Speaker 7: I've heard suggestions in the last twenty four hours that
Speaker 7: if it is to be Kamala Harris, a woman of
Speaker 7: color who is leading the Democratic ticket, that it's going
Speaker 7: to need to be a white man on it with
Speaker 7: her to balance things out.
Speaker 8: What do you think of that notion?
Speaker 7: Should she be considering a woman like Governor Gretchen Whitmer
Speaker 7: to be her vice president if she wins the nomination.
Speaker 10: Well, I'm not going to put my own parameters out
Speaker 10: there for the vice president. I trust her to make
Speaker 10: the decision that's right for her to choose a partner.
Speaker 11: Who is going to serve.
Speaker 10: Admirably with her and is going to be the right
Speaker 10: partner for her in this ticket. But I will say
Speaker 10: that regardless of who she chooses, we know that that
Speaker 10: ticket is going to provide a really clear contrast with
Speaker 10: Donald Trump and JD. Vance, who embraced the most extreme
Speaker 10: elements of the Republican Party and the MAGA movement.
Speaker 11: And this is going to be a clear choice between
Speaker 11: a ticket that is going.
Speaker 10: To stand up and defend our rights and our freedoms,
Speaker 10: that is going to be for a better economic future
Speaker 10: for our country, and the choice between Donald Trump and
Speaker 10: jd Vance, who, as I said, embrace the most dangerous
Speaker 10: elements of Project twenty twenty five and are going to
Speaker 10: take this country down a really dark path. That's the
Speaker 10: choice voters you are going to have in front of them,
Speaker 10: regardless of who is on this ticket with us.
Speaker 11: That is going to be the choice in November.
Speaker 4: Jessica, I want to get back to something that we
Speaker 4: were talking about a bit earlier, and that's just the
Speaker 4: change in stakes for Donald Trump to be debating a woman,
Speaker 4: and in this case, a woman of color and lessons
Speaker 4: learned from the twenty sixteen race in which Donald Trump
Speaker 4: shared a stage with Hillary Clinton. What do you expect
Speaker 4: to see if Donald Trump actually makes good on this
Speaker 4: debate appointment that he had with Joe Biden. I realized
Speaker 4: that he might want a different venue at this point.
Speaker 4: But if something takes place in a debate between these
Speaker 4: two candidates, how does this change the game for Donald Trump.
Speaker 10: Well, I am sure that Donald Trump and his team
Speaker 10: have seen what I've seen, and that is a life
Speaker 10: time at a record of achievement from Kamala Harris and
Speaker 10: just an incredible litigator.
Speaker 11: Her background as a prosecutor.
Speaker 10: We saw it in the US Senate on display and
Speaker 10: the Judiciary Committee. No one wants to be in her
Speaker 10: line of sight when it comes to having to defend
Speaker 10: a record that the American people are clear that they
Speaker 10: don't want, and.
Speaker 11: So I expect that they have to be pretty scared
Speaker 11: of that moment.
Speaker 10: She's an incredibly effective messenger on issues including reproductive freedom,
Speaker 10: but certainly not limited to that, and it is going
Speaker 10: to be a daunting task for them. She's going to
Speaker 10: litigate this case incredibly effectively against Donald Trump.
Speaker 7: Well, Jessica, you've mentioned reproductive freedom a few times during
Speaker 7: this conversation. It was a conversation that notably wasn't really
Speaker 7: being had in Milwaukee, where Joe and I were last week,
Speaker 7: and a lot of the discussions we were having with
Speaker 7: people gathered there and strategists was this notion that the
Speaker 7: Republican Party and especially Donald Trump and selecting Jade Vance
Speaker 7: as his vice presidential nominee, seems to have decided not
Speaker 7: to go for suburban women in this election cycle to
Speaker 7: focus on rural areas, working classmen in particular. Do you
Speaker 7: think Havin Harris at the top of the ticket may
Speaker 7: actually change that strategy and you have to counter what
Speaker 7: could be a more concerted effort with the Republicans and
Speaker 7: the Trump campaign to go after that same base of voters.
Speaker 10: Well, I will say, I mean watching the RNC last week,
Speaker 10: I know that Republicans like Donald Trump, Jadevance, they can
Speaker 10: read polls and they don't want to talk about this issue.
Speaker 10: But unfortunately for them, this is not a branding problem
Speaker 10: for them, it's an agenda problem.
Speaker 11: And it doesn't matter where you are in this country.
Speaker 10: We have seen since the DABS decision in Red States,
Speaker 10: Purple states, all over this country, people believe overwhelmingly that
Speaker 10: these are decisions that belong with individuals, that they should
Speaker 10: be able to make them themselves their private medical choices,
Speaker 10: and that these are decisions that the government, bureaucracy courts
Speaker 10: should not be involved in. They are very clear on
Speaker 10: thatvoters are very clear on that. And so the problem
Speaker 10: for Donald Trump and JD Vance and Republicans like them
Speaker 10: up and down the ticket is that you can run,
Speaker 10: but you cannot hide from this.
Speaker 11: We know their records.
Speaker 10: We're going to put that in front of voters and
Speaker 10: wherever you are again around the country, they're on the
Speaker 10: wrong side of this issue.
Speaker 5: Jessica, it's great to have you.
Speaker 4: Jessica Mackler, the president of Emily's List, America's largest pack
Speaker 4: devoted to electing Democratic women and in this case, devoting
Speaker 4: twenty million dollars to the Kamala Harris for President campaign.
Speaker 5: It's great to have you here.
Speaker 4: I'm Joe Matthew and Washington alongside Kaylee Lines where we
Speaker 4: have two major endorsements dropping in our lapse here from
Speaker 4: the Senate. Kamala Harris already had a majority of Senate
Speaker 4: Senate Democrats, and she adds two more.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the list is getting longer, including the Senator from Maryland,
Speaker 7: Chris van Holland, out with an endorsement, and also, interestingly,
Speaker 7: Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who had been one of
Speaker 7: the most vocal advocates for Joe Biden the President, staying
Speaker 7: in the now, out with a post on x that
Speaker 7: he is proud to support and be all in for
Speaker 7: the next president, he says. Kamala Harris, attached to a
Speaker 7: picture that says, let's win this Harris for President.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
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Speaker 7: Hold Sir Franklins, founder and president of fil Inc. Who
Speaker 7: is here with us in our Washington, d C. Studio. Frank,
Speaker 7: great to see you. You were on with us months
Speaker 7: ago talking about how Joe Biden was not going to
Speaker 7: be able to win this election because he is too old.
Speaker 7: The age issue potentially taken away if Harris is at
Speaker 7: the top of the ticket. She's only fifty nine. Can
Speaker 7: she beat Donald Trump? As the data suggests right now
Speaker 7: that she can.
Speaker 12: Yes, she can. I've already done a not ed for
Speaker 12: the Financial Times, for the Times of London. This campaign
Speaker 12: for me, anyway, has begun twenty four eighteen hours ago.
Speaker 12: The age issue is now a Trump issue. It's not
Speaker 12: that it's been taken away. Now. Trump has to defend
Speaker 12: some of the things that he spoke of because he
Speaker 12: would be the oldest person ever elected if he were
Speaker 12: to serve four years. She changes the entire equation. She
Speaker 12: brings young women to the table who had no interest
Speaker 12: in voting for Joe Biden and were not attracted to
Speaker 12: Donald Trump. She brings African Americans who are completely disinterested
Speaker 12: in this campaign. And these matter in states across the country.
Speaker 12: I wrote just seventy two hours ago that unless things
Speaker 12: dramatically changed, it was going to be Trump. That you
Speaker 12: can now pretty well declare him, because not only was
Speaker 12: he winning the swing state, but he had the passion,
Speaker 12: the energy, the intensity of vote. Every Trump supporter is
Speaker 12: going to be a Trump voter for sure. And that
Speaker 12: not to say with Biden. Now that it's Harris, everything
Speaker 12: changes and I can't call it, and I can't wait
Speaker 12: for that debate. And by the way, I will pay money.
Speaker 12: I will seriously donate ten thousand dollars right now if
Speaker 12: ABC News host that debate and you let me sit
Speaker 12: in the studio, I will pay ten thousand dollars to
Speaker 12: ABC News is or Bloomberg.
Speaker 7: I was gonna say, I'd like to host that debate, Frank,
Speaker 7: what about me and Joe?
Speaker 12: Yes, I'd love you guys to do it, because at
Speaker 12: least I could get into the building, because that would
Speaker 12: be the most just contentious debate ever. These two candidates
Speaker 12: don't like each other, don't respect each other, and have
Speaker 12: no hesitation to express it. We're gonna have the most
Speaker 12: negative campaign in the history of American politics, and I
Speaker 12: want a front row seat.
Speaker 4: So this turns the race completely here in your view,
Speaker 4: Kamala Harris has been beset with low favorability ratings. She
Speaker 4: has been laden with a difficult portfolio, and until recently,
Speaker 4: the abortion issue has played in her favor. Based on
Speaker 4: some of our polling as opposed to the border, Americans
Speaker 4: think they know Kamala Harris, do they actually What will
Speaker 4: they learn about her in the week'sa.
Speaker 12: She has the chance to redefine herself. Everything starts to
Speaker 12: start from scratch. You start from scratch, and how she
Speaker 12: presents herself. I brought this up yesterday, the laughter that
Speaker 12: she would use, and I was criticized for saying it.
Speaker 12: Why is it that women get yelled at for laughing? Well,
Speaker 12: the fact is, in so many interviews, back to back
Speaker 12: to back, you can see it on YouTube. This is
Speaker 12: what she does when she gets asked a tough question.
Speaker 12: That's number one. Number two is she wouldn't go to
Speaker 12: the border for month after month after month, as Republican
Speaker 12: House members, Republican senators were going down to making an issue,
Speaker 12: she stayed away because she knew that it was toxic
Speaker 12: for her. Number three, She never she never created a
Speaker 12: separate identity from Joe Biden at number four. Quite frankly,
Speaker 12: she went through staff pretty darn fast, and that tells
Speaker 12: you something about the care to of an individual. None
Speaker 12: of that matters now, it's all from this point forward.
Speaker 12: She has the chance to redo herself. And you can
Speaker 12: see by the fifty million dollars raised in one day
Speaker 12: in small donations how significant this this decision was. This
Speaker 12: race is on Monday, whatever date this is, the race
Speaker 12: begins again with one hundred days to go.
Speaker 7: Well, I wonder here how high the bar is for
Speaker 7: her Because we've talked so much during the cycle about
Speaker 7: double haters who didn't want Trump or Biden, or the
Speaker 7: Nicky Haley primary voters who were decidedly not voting for
Speaker 7: Donald Trump even after she had abandoned her presidential campaign.
Speaker 7: How easy is the conversion from a double hater or
Speaker 7: Nicki Haley voter to potentially a Kamala Harris voter.
Speaker 12: It's not easy, but it can happen. And what's particularly
Speaker 12: important in this is that the numbers are so small.
Speaker 12: There was only four percent undecided before Harris became the Democrat,
Speaker 12: the likely Democratic nominee. Now it's probably up to six
Speaker 12: or seven percentage. People take a look at her. You
Speaker 12: don't have to swing that many voters to create the
Speaker 12: two hundred and seventy electoral votes. And the states that
Speaker 12: mattered before matter now. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. Those are the
Speaker 12: street states that are truly in play. And those states
Speaker 12: this is why I think that that Governor Shapiro from
Speaker 12: Pennsylvania would be, in my mind, the obvious choice for
Speaker 12: the Democrats, because that takes Pennsylvania off the map, and
Speaker 12: that gives potentially Joe Biden the election.
Speaker 5: I want to ask you.
Speaker 12: Sorry, Kamala Harris. And by the way, how many times
Speaker 12: will people make that mistake?
Speaker 5: Send me upuscle.
Speaker 8: Memory is a hard thing.
Speaker 5: This is so true.
Speaker 4: We'll keep dating our checks here with Frank Luntz. The
Speaker 4: question about process I want to ask you about because
Speaker 4: there's already this idea of a smoke filled back room,
Speaker 4: even though it's the vice president of the United States,
Speaker 4: and whether the Democrats should have have some sort of
Speaker 4: mini primary or some sort of nominating contest that makes
Speaker 4: it feel like she was vetted Donald Trump on truth
Speaker 4: social They stole the race from Biden after he wanted
Speaker 4: in the primaries a first. These people are the real
Speaker 4: threat to democracy. He's saying that Democrats have rigged the
Speaker 4: race again. How do they make this appear like this
Speaker 4: was not some sort of.
Speaker 12: A deal, because it's a coronation. It is a deal,
Speaker 12: but it requires someone to say I want to run.
Speaker 12: It requires a Wes Moore who came out in favor
Speaker 12: of her right, It requires a Corey Book I've not
Speaker 12: heard from him yet. It requires some of these other
Speaker 12: potential candidates. Gavin Newsom came out for Harris. Someone needs
Speaker 12: to stand up and say we need this vote. The
Speaker 12: only one who's done so at this point is Joe Manchin,
Speaker 12: and it's unclear whether or not he will run, and
Speaker 12: Mansion is too conservative for the average Democratic.
Speaker 4: Now he tell the CBS today he's not running. Then
Speaker 4: it's just Mary.
Speaker 5: Anne Williams and I guess no one else at this point.
Speaker 12: And she got what one percent of the vote in
Speaker 12: the primaries, so this would have been an argument twenty
Speaker 12: four hours ago. But if there's no candidate, then there's
Speaker 12: no election, and this issue goes.
Speaker 7: Away as we consider the other side of the aisle here,
Speaker 7: Donald Trump and now a Trump Dvance ticket because he
Speaker 7: had to make this selection of who was vice presidential
Speaker 7: nominee was going to be before all of this went down.
Speaker 7: What is to change for two white men as they
Speaker 7: compete against potentially a woman of color. How can they
Speaker 7: attack Kamala Harris without being vilified for it?
Speaker 12: In some say they will be, but that doesn't mean
Speaker 12: it matters.
Speaker 7: So they just treat her like they treated Hillary Clinton
Speaker 7: in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 12: It worked for Trump. We forget that when Trump was elected,
Speaker 12: she was not, even though she got more popular votes.
Speaker 12: I think that people are aware of it. But in
Speaker 12: the end, if you're a working class voter, and more specifically,
Speaker 12: if you live paycheck to paycheck, you're going to ask yourself,
Speaker 12: which one of these people know my circumstance and which
Speaker 12: one of these people can fix my circumstance. Is twenty
Speaker 12: five percent of the electorate working paycheck to paycheck. The
Speaker 12: candidate that has the best agenda for those people and
Speaker 12: seems to empathize with him and understands them. JD. Vans
Speaker 12: comes from them, That's who he was, and his language
Speaker 12: is actually better than Donald Trump's in speaking to them.
Speaker 12: It's not necessarily inspiring to the corporate community and particularly
Speaker 12: the people who watch this show. This is a very
Speaker 12: educated and a wealthy audience that you have. This is
Speaker 12: not a JD. Van's audience. This is not a Donald
Speaker 12: Trump audience, but the people who do care. Does she
Speaker 12: come across as being flippant, Does she come across as
Speaker 12: truly understanding and empathizing, or is she trying to score
Speaker 12: political points? And this is the one thing that the
Speaker 12: Democrats have gotten wrong in times of economic distress. They
Speaker 12: hear the Democratic message, but they hate it if they
Speaker 12: think that they're being taken advantage of, if they think
Speaker 12: it's just a political ploy or partisan trick. And she
Speaker 12: in the past has communicated that a less than forthcoming
Speaker 12: persona I remind you she raised tens of millions of
Speaker 12: dollars as a candidate in twenty twenty. She didn't even
Speaker 12: make it to Iowa, so she's had the chance before
Speaker 12: she didn't succeed, But she's this is a new game,
Speaker 12: a new day, a new office, a new electorate, so
Speaker 12: I would not hold I would say to you that
Speaker 12: everything begins fresh right now.
Speaker 7: Well, as you were talking about who's going to appeal
Speaker 7: to the working class votor that lives paycheck to paycheck,
Speaker 7: which Jagievans obviously tried to do when accepting the nomination.
Speaker 7: He of course grew up in Ohio, but his family
Speaker 7: was from Kentucky. And we heard from the Kentucky Governor,
Speaker 7: Andy Basheer about that notion when he spoke on MSNBC
Speaker 7: Morning MSNBC's Morning Joe earlier today.
Speaker 8: This is what he said.
Speaker 5: Let me just tell you that jd.
Speaker 13: Vance ain't from here now in the nerve that he
Speaker 13: has to call the people of Kentucky, of eastern Kentucky lazy. Listen,
Speaker 13: these are the hard working coal miners that towered the
Speaker 13: industrial revolution, that created the strongest middle class the world
Speaker 13: has ever seen, powered us through two World wars. We
Speaker 13: should be thanking them, not calling them lazy.
Speaker 7: He of course, is a democratic governor in what is
Speaker 7: a deep red state. Some have suggested he too would
Speaker 7: be a good compliment to Kamala Harris as a vice president.
Speaker 7: But I know you said Shapiro earlier, would Basher be
Speaker 7: just as good of a choice.
Speaker 12: No, because he can bring Kentucky. He barely won his reelection.
Speaker 12: He is not bringing that state over. Kentucky is solidly Republican.
Speaker 12: He's been successful in winning that state for himself, but
Speaker 12: he will not win it for the Harris ticket. But
Speaker 12: he makes a really good point electorally, not in what
Speaker 12: Vance said, but in how quick people are to respond,
Speaker 12: to take things out of a context, to really jump
Speaker 12: on in some cases badly spoken words, in other cases
Speaker 12: twisted words. That's what's going to happen every single day
Speaker 12: for the next one hundred days. And so what are
Speaker 12: we going to have and the electorate that trusts no one?
Speaker 12: All this is going to be is point counterpoint, attack
Speaker 12: counterattack for one hundred days. And the states in play
Speaker 12: are going to see this on their computers, on their laptops,
Speaker 12: on their iPads, on their phones, on the billboards, on
Speaker 12: the TV ads, on everything. I would not want to
Speaker 12: be from Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Wisconsin because you will hate
Speaker 12: politics by the time this.
Speaker 5: Is done thirty seconds. I don't want to cut you off.
Speaker 4: How important is it for Nancy Pelosi to bless us today?
Speaker 12: She's going to do it, and Hakeem Jeffreys is going
Speaker 12: to do it. The timing it doesn't matter. It's not
Speaker 12: that they're holding out. He said. People just go quickly
Speaker 12: and some people go a little bit more slowly. She's
Speaker 12: a nominee. There is no contest, there is no vote,
Speaker 12: there is no debate, there's nothing. It's Harris versus Trump,
Speaker 12: and God help us all.
Speaker 4: God help us all, says Frank Lunce the voice we
Speaker 4: wanted today. Thank you so much, Frank for being with us.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Can
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Speaker 2: Oh my.
Speaker 7: Get the statement from Speaker America Nancy Pelosi endorsing Vice
Speaker 7: President Kamala Harris.
Speaker 4: Frank Lunz told it was done, just a matter of time,
Speaker 4: and then he said would be the case for all parties.
Speaker 4: Here Nancy Pelosi now makes it official.
Speaker 7: In part of her statement, she says Kamala Harris, as
Speaker 7: a woman in politics, is brilliantly astute, and I have
Speaker 7: full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November.
Speaker 7: She says, in the Democratic Party, our diversity is our
Speaker 7: strength and our unity is our power. We must now
Speaker 7: unify and charge forward to resoundingly defeat Donald Trump and
Speaker 7: enthusiastically elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the
Speaker 7: United States. She ends the statement Joe with onward to victory.
Speaker 4: Keeping in mind it was Nancy Pelosi who orchestrated the
Speaker 4: pressure campaign to get Joe Biden to drop out of
Speaker 4: this cycle. She may not be the Speaker of the
Speaker 4: House any longer, but she has been driving this conversation
Speaker 4: from her own corner. Of course, her protege, Jakim Jeffreys,
Speaker 4: I suspect will be soon to follow.
Speaker 5: Then the questions again about Chuck Schumer.
Speaker 4: With a majority, now we should note of Democratic senators
Speaker 4: backing Kamala Harris. The Obamas remain an interesting question mark here,
Speaker 4: following what some would suggest is a challenged relationship with
Speaker 4: the Biden family. Will be curious to see what this
Speaker 4: means for Kamala Harris. But Kaylee, the idea at this
Speaker 4: point of a contested convention or a mini primary is
Speaker 4: starting to sound highly unlikely with names like these coming
Speaker 4: behind the Harris campaign.
Speaker 7: Yeah, especially considering that all of those who may have
Speaker 7: been willing to throw their hats in the race for
Speaker 7: the nomination, including a number of high profile Democratic governors,
Speaker 7: have come out and endorse Harris. And of course, now
Speaker 7: Independent Senator Joe Manchin, who we understood yesterday was teasing
Speaker 7: the notion of reregistering as a Democrat and throwing his
Speaker 7: hat in the ring, said this morning he would not
Speaker 7: so even if there were to be a contested convention,
Speaker 7: it's not clear who exactly wants a contest.
Speaker 4: That's correct. Let's bring it to our political panel now.
Speaker 4: Great to have Rick Davis with us a Stone Court Capital,
Speaker 4: of course. Bloomberg contributor Jeanie Shanzo at Iona University our
Speaker 4: signature panel. Great to have you both here, Genie, what's
Speaker 4: your thought? Nancy Pelosi has spoken. You may not be
Speaker 4: surprised by what she said, but sometimes it feels differently
Speaker 4: when it happens.
Speaker 5: Is this over? Kamala Harris is the nominee.
Speaker 14: It is looking closer and closer to being over. I
Speaker 14: love the fact that Nancy Pelosi listened to you and Kaylee,
Speaker 14: and the minute you called for it, she delivered. They
Speaker 14: are all going to be following suit. You know, I
Speaker 14: don't think this is out of character for Barack Obama
Speaker 14: and Michelle Obama. They have not wanted to get ahead
Speaker 14: of the delegates traditionally in this kind of thing, but
Speaker 14: they too will follow suit. I think the bigger question
Speaker 14: here is going to be do any donors hold back.
Speaker 14: We've already heard from a few who haven't been forthcoming yet,
Speaker 14: and they may follow suit as it's clearer and clearer
Speaker 14: that she is going to be the nominee. But I
Speaker 14: think as it pertains to elected officials, to your point, Hakm, Jeffreys,
Speaker 14: Chuck Schumer, eventually the Obamas, they will all follow suit
Speaker 14: because one thing the Democrats don't have an appetite for
Speaker 14: is more chaos. They want this result and they want
Speaker 14: to go forward and try to beat Donald Trump, who
Speaker 14: they still feel is a threat to democracy. So I
Speaker 14: think that sort of explains why we're seeing this lineup
Speaker 14: so quickly. And of course, to Frank's point earlier, you
Speaker 14: can't beat somebody with nobody, and nobody has stepped forward
Speaker 14: to challenge Roblin Harris.
Speaker 7: Rick does this risk backfiring on the Democrats. Could this
Speaker 7: be seen in the eyes of some voters who are
Speaker 7: already not pleased with the choices that were laid before
Speaker 7: them in this election, now to have effectively the third choice,
Speaker 7: the alternate choice decided for them, Could this be a problem.
Speaker 15: No, I think we all need to sort of just
Speaker 15: check our temperature here. I mean, the reality is, this
Speaker 15: is summer. This is when these kinds of things happen.
Speaker 15: Usually it's August, not July high. But the bottom line is,
Speaker 15: very few people are paying any attention to this presidential
Speaker 15: campaign at this stage. They now know that Donald Trump's
Speaker 15: become the nominee of the Republican Party, and because of
Speaker 15: the blitzkreak over the weekend, I'd say half the people
Speaker 15: probably now realize that Joe Biden is not running. It'll
Speaker 15: take a while for this to sink in. And the
Speaker 15: reality is people weren't expecting a competition. They weren't baited
Speaker 15: breath like us, waiting for Joe Biden to withdraw his
Speaker 15: candidacy and open it up to a convention. I mean,
Speaker 15: you know, these are things we care a lot about,
Speaker 15: but regular voters don't. They they want to offer up.
Speaker 15: You know, give us your candidates. Come after a labor day.
Speaker 15: They'll focus in and they'll they'll see what's going on. Remember,
Speaker 15: I mean, only a little over twenty million people watch
Speaker 15: Donald Trump's speech at the convention. I mean, this was
Speaker 15: herald It is the biggest thing. He had just had
Speaker 15: an assassination attempt. He was going to describe it for
Speaker 15: the first time on the stage. When John McCain got
Speaker 15: the nomination in two thousand and eight, eighty million people
Speaker 15: focused in, fifty five sixty million more than Trump. Nobody
Speaker 15: is paying attention to this campaign because they didn't like
Speaker 15: either of the candidates. They don't like Trump and they
Speaker 15: don't like Biden. Now they're going to have to figure
Speaker 15: out do they like Kamala so much?
Speaker 5: For the hul Cogan draw genie.
Speaker 4: Now that we do have Milwaukee behind us, no one's
Speaker 4: talking about it today, whether they watched it or not,
Speaker 4: because this is the story right now, whether you call
Speaker 4: it a coronation or something else. Kamala Harris has to
Speaker 4: get on the road and to Rick's point, start identifying
Speaker 4: herself and attempting, I guess to identify her opponent. Even
Speaker 4: though people know a lot about Donald Trump at this point,
Speaker 4: how does she turn the age issue on him? Starting now?
Speaker 14: First of all, I'm very sad to hear Rick David
Speaker 14: say nobody's paying attention to this. He may be right,
Speaker 14: but gosh, it's all I'm living and breathing. So it's
Speaker 14: troubling at Bill very least, you know. I think what
Speaker 14: she's got to do is she's got to reintroduce herself
Speaker 14: to the American people. As vice president. She was handed
Speaker 14: initially a couple of really difficult tasks, number one being
Speaker 14: the border, number two being the Voting Rights Act, the
Speaker 14: John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and that has not voted
Speaker 14: very well for her on both areas. So she needs to,
Speaker 14: now that she is going to be on the top
Speaker 14: of this ticket, potentially reintroduce herself. And we already hear
Speaker 14: what her campaign wants to focus on, reproductive rights and
Speaker 14: her prosecutorial background, and those are two critically important issues crime,
Speaker 14: the issue of security, and the issue of freedom and
Speaker 14: liberty to do with our bodies what we want. Those
Speaker 14: are amongst if you set aside the all important issue
Speaker 14: of the economy and inflation, the most important issue on
Speaker 14: the minds of many voters and so she needs to
Speaker 14: focus on those and she needs to prove her bona
Speaker 14: fides there, and she needs to distinguish herself from Donald Trump.
Speaker 14: The more she can make this about Donald Trump, who
Speaker 14: is now the oldest nominee ever to run for president,
Speaker 14: the better off for her, because many of his issues
Speaker 14: are not attractive and he has never broken through that
Speaker 14: ceiling of about forty five percent.
Speaker 7: Well, Genie, as you talk about Kamala Harris as a prosecutor,
Speaker 7: can she not only make age an issue in a
Speaker 7: way that it hasn't been for Donald Trump as much
Speaker 7: as it was for Joe Biden, but also Donald Trump's
Speaker 7: conviction on thirty four felon accounts in the hush money
Speaker 7: case in New York. We saw Joe Biden attempting to
Speaker 7: do that in the debate. I think we all know
Speaker 7: how that went down. By and large, it doesn't seem
Speaker 7: to have dented Trump's appeal for American voters at all.
Speaker 7: Can Kamala Harris change that?
Speaker 11: She absolutely can.
Speaker 14: We need to remember the reason she is vice president
Speaker 14: is because her strong debate against Joe Biden. She is
Speaker 14: a very good prosecutor and a very good debater. And
Speaker 14: you could even just go back and look at the
Speaker 14: clips of her questioning somebody like Brett Kathanot from her
Speaker 14: perch in the Senate.
Speaker 11: She knows how.
Speaker 14: To prosecute these cases. She does so effectively, and she
Speaker 14: can do it against Donald Trump. It's going to be
Speaker 14: fascinating if we get them in the same room and
Speaker 14: that debate goes forward, hopefully on Bloomberg as opposed to ABC,
Speaker 14: but if it goes forward on ABC, I'll be watching.
Speaker 14: But it is going to be fascinating because let's not
Speaker 14: forget Donald Trump has had a track record of difficulty
Speaker 14: against women, and she is a woman who is a
Speaker 14: formidable debater. She hasn't proven herself to be as great
Speaker 14: as campaigning, but a very good prosecutor and debater.
Speaker 4: Rick, if you were advising Donald Trump's campaign, then with
Speaker 4: that said, would you allow him on stage with Kamala
Speaker 4: Harris or is it imperative that he debate?
Speaker 15: Yeah, I would probably tell him not to debate. He's
Speaker 15: not a great debater to begin with. If not for
Speaker 15: the you know, complete disaster which was the Joe Biden performance,
Speaker 15: we'd all be talking about, you know, almost thirty untruths
Speaker 15: told by Donald Trump at the debate is aggressive style.
Speaker 15: I mean, you know, I think that anytime Donald Trump
Speaker 15: gets in front of another candidate, he can't help himself
Speaker 15: but go right for the throat. And doing that to
Speaker 15: Vice President Harris, I think would be very dangerous. The
Speaker 15: reality is they're playing from a lead. He's already said
Speaker 15: he doesn't want a debate ABC in that George Stephanopolis guy,
Speaker 15: he'd much rather have now this debate than Fox. Sounds
Speaker 15: to me like a great exit door to kicking the
Speaker 15: can on a debate. If I were Kamala Harris's team,
Speaker 15: I'd say, yeah, Fox is great. We'd love to go
Speaker 15: into your house and you show us, show you up.
Speaker 11: I'd call their cards on it.
Speaker 15: Like today.
Speaker 7: Wow, well, Rick, as you pointed out, we did get
Speaker 7: a truth social post from Donald Trump yesterday, who talked
Speaker 7: about how he was slated to debate Joe Biden on
Speaker 7: what he calls fake news ABC, the home of George
Speaker 7: slop Adopolis sometime in September. He said, now that Joe
Speaker 7: has not surprisingly quit the race, I think the debate
Speaker 7: with whoever the radical left Democrats jew should be held
Speaker 7: on Fox News rather than the very biased ABC.
Speaker 8: I guess we'll see where that goes.
Speaker 7: But while we're talking about other news outlets, it's worth
Speaker 7: noting that, according to Politico, they have just scooped the
Speaker 7: future forward. The flagship Superpack blessed by Joe Biden, received
Speaker 7: one hundred and fifty million dollars and new commitments from
Speaker 7: major Democratic donors in the twenty four hours since Biden
Speaker 7: announced he would step aside. If we're following the money, genie,
Speaker 7: what does that tell you?
Speaker 14: That tells us that this thing is pretty much over
Speaker 14: in terms of her being the nominee. Those are incredibly
Speaker 14: strong numbers for her and the way in which Joe
Speaker 14: Biden engineered this endorsement, So they the Democrats have to
Speaker 14: got to be feeling good. They can't get over their
Speaker 14: skis on this. Of course, there's a lot of round
Speaker 14: cover here, but the money issue and the fact that
Speaker 14: it looks like she can move into this campaign fairly
Speaker 14: smoothly and take over the campaign apparatus, that vodes very
Speaker 14: well for Kamala Harris and the Democrats, And so I
Speaker 14: think they've got to be looking at that and the
Speaker 14: fifty million we heard about earlier in the day as
Speaker 14: a strong endorsement, particularly the small donor money.
Speaker 4: All right, Rick Davis and Genie Shanzano are great panel
Speaker 4: with us here our signature panel on the Monday edition
Speaker 4: of Balance of Power. I just want to wrap with
Speaker 4: this Rick big picture here. It's something that came from
Speaker 4: the Florida delegation meeting a bit earlier on today, as
Speaker 4: they coalesced behind Kamala Harris. There was a statement that
Speaker 4: emerged following their endorsement, and it said that we're running
Speaker 4: a prosecutor against a convicted felon. Is that, in the end,
Speaker 4: how you would frame this contest?
Speaker 5: Well, it's one of the ways.
Speaker 15: I think it's a nice contrast, and it brings back
Speaker 15: up the low point of Donald Trump's campaign so far
Speaker 15: was the week after his conviction. So I think Democrats
Speaker 15: want to get back to having that conversation, and I
Speaker 15: think that's right. I think this prosecutor's role has multiple values.
Speaker 15: If she was thinking about it, she'd go down the
Speaker 15: border and give a speech about how as a prosecutor
Speaker 15: she learned how to get on top of crime and
Speaker 15: wouldn't allow us single criminal, whether they're human traffickers or
Speaker 15: cartels or coming from other countries, not one criminal is
Speaker 15: going to cross this border. If I'm president, I mean
Speaker 15: she can change the tone of this thing with that
Speaker 15: one credential in a way that nobody else could.
Speaker 7: All Right, Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzino, Bloomberg Politics contributors,
Speaker 7: thank you so much for joining us as we try
Speaker 7: to parse through exactly how this race has been upended
Speaker 7: in the last twenty four hours and what all of
Speaker 7: this meaning means. Certainly financial markets are trying to get
Speaker 7: their heads around that as well.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens
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Speaker 4: I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines with great questions. Now, Kaylee,
Speaker 4: assuming this is the case, and boy it sure seems
Speaker 4: like it today, Kamala Harris has no challenges. She has
Speaker 4: the bulk of the Democratic Party behind her, with a
Speaker 4: couple of key exceptions we're waiting to hear from the Obamas,
Speaker 4: for instance, and Chuck Schumer, but remarkable number of endorsements
Speaker 4: just today alone, including state delegations. So the question becomes
Speaker 4: the messaging that she will pose against Donald Trump, the
Speaker 4: narrative that she could turn on the age.
Speaker 5: Issue, but also on the race issue.
Speaker 4: With Donald Trump showing in polls that he's been attracting
Speaker 4: many young black voters, black men, for instance, away from
Speaker 4: Joe Biden, which has been confounding for the Biden campaign,
Speaker 4: and you wonder if it stops that narrative dead in
Speaker 4: its tracks.
Speaker 7: Well, this is something I actually asked a polster for
Speaker 7: the Biden what was the Biden Harris campaign? So Linda
Speaker 7: Lake about last night whether or not Kamala Harris is
Speaker 7: the candidate who can bring back some of that coalition
Speaker 7: young voters, voters of color back into the Democratic Party
Speaker 7: where they had straight away, And this was her response.
Speaker 16: She is exactly the person to bring that coalition together.
Speaker 16: And it's not just bringing it together, which is a
Speaker 16: very good question, it's also energizing it. A lot of
Speaker 16: young people and people of color are thinking, I can
Speaker 16: stay home on the couch here, I don't have to
Speaker 16: go to the polls. So energize them, unite them and
Speaker 16: energizing you, not our side, litigate the case, make a
Speaker 16: strong case for our accomplishments. She's a great candidate at
Speaker 16: just the right moment.
Speaker 4: Let's add the voice now if Glinda Carr, President, CEO
Speaker 4: and co founder of Higher Heights for America. Glinda is
Speaker 4: great to have you with us today on Bloomberg TV
Speaker 4: and Radio.
Speaker 5: What is your thought on this?
Speaker 17: I mean, this is a pivotal election cycle.
Speaker 18: We said this before yesterday, and so I think I
Speaker 18: would say that we're in her first full day as
Speaker 18: candidate or president Kamala Harris, and so we can have
Speaker 18: multiple feelings, right, I think people know the direction of
Speaker 18: where the Democrats are going. We can obviously thank Joe
Speaker 18: Biden for his service and mourn the loss of his suspension. Right,
Speaker 18: we also can celebrate Higher Heights is the political home
Speaker 18: for black women.
Speaker 17: We help blackmen to vote, run, win.
Speaker 11: And lead.
Speaker 18: And over the last twenty four hours, it's an opportunity
Speaker 18: to be excited about the historic nature of a Kamala
Speaker 18: Harris presidency. But also we know that as we celebrate,
Speaker 18: we're going to prepare to support, defend, mobilize, and organize.
Speaker 7: Well, Glinda, I'm glad you point out the historic nature
Speaker 7: of this. Obviously, the United States of America has never
Speaker 7: had a woman as president, let alone a woman of color.
Speaker 7: Are you convinced the country is ready for it?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 18: I need America to believe in the possibilities of a
Speaker 18: Kamala Harris presidency, not just because it's a historic because
Speaker 18: she sits at the intersection of race and gender. But
Speaker 18: here is a woman who has run and won and
Speaker 18: governed on every level of government. She was a local
Speaker 18: elected official, She was a statewide executive as Attorney General
Speaker 18: for California. She was a federal elected leader in the
Speaker 18: US Senate, and now is governing as Vice president. She
Speaker 18: is duly qualified for this moment. But listening to my
Speaker 18: colleague Celinda Lake, I believe that her multiple identities is
Speaker 18: her superpower in this moment of a divided country. I
Speaker 18: believe her candidacy, in the way she will organize her campaign,
Speaker 18: will build a coalition of voters looking to move this
Speaker 18: country to higher heights in a moment where we're concerned
Speaker 18: about rolling back the very rights that my grandmother and
Speaker 18: mother have bought for on women's rights, human rights, voting rights,
Speaker 18: and on reproductive rights.
Speaker 4: There could be more endorsements coming in the next couple
Speaker 4: of hours. Here as CNN reports, essentially what we were
Speaker 4: just talking about here, Chuck Schumer HAKM jeffries to endorse
Speaker 4: Harris as soon as today, unlocked potentially by Nancy Pelosi's endorsement,
Speaker 4: that will likely lead the way to more Glinda. I'm
Speaker 4: taken by the language, the rhetoric we're already hearing in
Speaker 4: this campaign, and I know that this is nothing new
Speaker 4: for Kamala Harris. Donald Trump specifically mispronounces her name on purpose,
Speaker 4: and his campaign is now referring to her. This is
Speaker 4: from a co manager of the campaign, not even Donald
Speaker 4: Trump himself referring to her as laughin' Kamala. We heard
Speaker 4: cacklin Kamala coming from Donald Trump on the podium.
Speaker 5: These tropes. Does she acknowledge them or move on?
Speaker 18: I think that's the work of organizations like Higher Heights
Speaker 18: on two fronts calling out the racism and sexism in
Speaker 18: this moment, but also the missing disinformation that has swirled
Speaker 18: around Kamala Harris. Particularly, there is a portion of this
Speaker 18: country that has created it politically toxic and racially divisive times.
Speaker 18: I think most Americans want an election where we are
Speaker 18: fighting and debating on values, on policies, and on the
Speaker 18: direction of this country, and I think you're going to
Speaker 18: see a growing course of not only just Black women,
Speaker 18: but Americans who are going to call out Trump and
Speaker 18: his supporters on creating unnecessary, you know, negative attack on
Speaker 18: Vice President Harris.
Speaker 7: Well, Glinda, as you talk about the values of this
Speaker 7: group of voters in particular, what we've been talking about
Speaker 7: for this entire election cycle is how ultimately the outcome
Speaker 7: could be just about turnout, about whether voters in key
Speaker 7: swing states actually show up and cast a vote. What
Speaker 7: are the values, what are the issues that drive turn
Speaker 7: out this cycle?
Speaker 18: For this group, voters are concerned about the direction of
Speaker 18: this country first and foremost people are ready for a
Speaker 18: new direction in this country as it relates to the
Speaker 18: work of higher heights organizing black women. Black women when
Speaker 18: they're fired up, which given what we've seen over the
Speaker 18: last twenty four hours, black women do not organize themselves
Speaker 18: to the polls. They also bring their house, their block,
Speaker 18: their church, their sorority, and their union.
Speaker 8: I believe that.
Speaker 18: A Kamala Harris presidency will also ignite the possibilities of
Speaker 18: leadership of young voters and a coalition of voters that
Speaker 18: come from different parts of this country, social economic backgrounds
Speaker 18: that have a common goal about making sure that we
Speaker 18: are creating economically thriving, educated, healthy and safe community for
Speaker 18: all Americans. And in this moment, I believe in the
Speaker 18: possibilities of black women leading America. We need to have
Speaker 18: direct conversations with those that we live with in our
Speaker 18: neighbors about the direction of this country and what the
Speaker 18: work will need to be done to ensure that we
Speaker 18: are having a free, fair election where voters can vote
Speaker 18: for the candidate that they believe is best suited in
Speaker 18: this moment, well.
Speaker 4: Her record as a prosecutor hurt or help her with
Speaker 4: the Black community and with the electorate at large.
Speaker 18: I think it's important to say the first thing that
Speaker 18: Vice President Harris said yesterday in her statement was she
Speaker 18: wants to earn the vote of Americans and that is
Speaker 18: her work.
Speaker 17: To talk about her record, which is broad.
Speaker 18: Again, I said, this is a woman who has run
Speaker 18: one and governed on all levels of government, and she's
Speaker 18: going to make the case that her portfolio of work,
Speaker 18: her portfolio of accomplishments, and her vision for this country
Speaker 18: will create.
Speaker 17: Create a value based case of how she's going to
Speaker 17: earn the votes of Americans. Across this country.
Speaker 7: Glinda, Obviously, we focused pretty much all of our conversation
Speaker 7: today on Kamala Harris being a presidential candidate, but I
Speaker 7: know a higher heights. You're focused on elevating black women
Speaker 7: in all areas of government. What do you expect the
Speaker 7: trickle down effect of her candidacy or potentially we could
Speaker 7: be talking about her presidency one day. We'll have for
Speaker 7: others to follow her.
Speaker 18: The late Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to serve
Speaker 18: in Congress, once said, I have faith in America. I
Speaker 18: certainly believe that my fellow Americans have wavered in that
Speaker 18: in the last couple of years, giving the turmoil of
Speaker 18: our democracy. Kamala Harris's candidacy will energize not only black
Speaker 18: voters and black women, but a coalition of voters that
Speaker 18: will create a wave to elect a very diverse group
Speaker 18: of candidates that are running across this country, including her
Speaker 18: ability to support electing.
Speaker 17: Two black women to the US Senate.
Speaker 18: Currently, there have only been two black women serving elected
Speaker 18: and serving in the United States House of Representative in
Speaker 18: nineteen ninety two, Carol Moseley bron being the first black
Speaker 18: woman to serve and it almost took twenty years to
Speaker 18: have the second, which was Kamala Harris in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 18: We currently have la Fonda Butler from California serving. She
Speaker 18: was appointed earlier this year. We've never had a black
Speaker 18: woman two black women serving at the same time. And
Speaker 18: we have two candidates, current Congresswoman Lisa Block Rochester in
Speaker 18: Delaware and Prince George's executive Angela Ousinbrooks and Maryland running
Speaker 18: and they're both two competitive races that have an opportunity
Speaker 18: to cattle pult two black women to the US in
Speaker 18: it at the same time.
Speaker 5: Well, Glinda, we're glad you could join us today.
Speaker 4: Glenda Carr of Higher Heights for America Pack, thank you
Speaker 4: for the insights and what is clearly the best backdrop
Speaker 4: we're going to get all day here on Bloomberg TV.
Speaker 4: It's great to have you as part of our conversation.
Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast.
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