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Speaker 2: I'm Joe Matthew Hayley.
Speaker 3: You've made it to Chicago, a month after the Republicans
Speaker 3: wrapped their convention in Milwaukee. It's day one here in Chicago,
Speaker 3: and we've got some great guests and important voices teed
Speaker 3: up for the next two hours to get us ready, Kayley, for.
Speaker 2: The first night.
Speaker 4: Indeed, it's going to be a big one.
Speaker 5: It also comes a month after President Joe Biden left
Speaker 5: this race, decided not to seek re election and hand
Speaker 5: the reins over to his Vice president, Kamala Harris, who
Speaker 5: already is officially the Democratic nominee after a virtual roll
Speaker 5: call earlier this month. The formalities and the pom pomp
Speaker 5: and circumstance happen here in Chicago this week, and of
Speaker 5: course she will wrap things up giving that acceptance speech
Speaker 5: on Thursday. It is President Biden we will hear from
Speaker 5: in the primetime tonight.
Speaker 2: That's the big one, President Biden here in town.
Speaker 3: The first Lady Joe Biden will also be speaking and
Speaker 3: the theme, Kaylie, We've got, of course a different theme
Speaker 3: for each night for the people, which is right up
Speaker 3: Joe Biden's alley when it comes to his own branding.
Speaker 3: Secretary of the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will
Speaker 3: also be at the podium tonight as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, many speeches to watch.
Speaker 5: We're also of course watching here in Chicago for potential protests.
Speaker 5: We've already seen some yesterday, and the question is going
Speaker 5: to be to what extent could they actually disrupt the
Speaker 5: activities today. Obviously much preparation has been done from a
Speaker 5: security standpoint, and of course Democrats are really going to
Speaker 5: be trying to project a message of unity, even if
Speaker 5: there are some divisions evident over the ongoing war.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're talking tens of thousands potentially. We've heard at
Speaker 3: least of protesters. We saw some gatherings last night around
Speaker 3: Michigan Avenue and some other areas close to where we're
Speaker 3: all staying. But unclear of the scale to which these
Speaker 3: protests will take. We know there are thirty uncomitted delegates
Speaker 3: on the floor, pro Palace, Daine and delegates sees fire
Speaker 3: delegates as they've been called. But the logistics, the security
Speaker 3: surrounding this event couldn't be more complicated. And that's where
Speaker 3: we start our conversation with Bloomberg's isis Almeta, who is
Speaker 3: our Chicago bureau chief here at Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: Isis great to see you, Thanks for having us in
Speaker 2: your hometown.
Speaker 6: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: This has been quite the operation to secure this convention.
Speaker 3: What are we in for the next several days.
Speaker 6: Yes, I think the city's being preparing for like over
Speaker 6: a year. Chicago police is getting help from about five
Speaker 6: hundred police officers from other parts of the country too.
Speaker 6: I think there's one hundred and fifty National Guard on standby.
Speaker 6: Pritzkerk confirmed that yesterday just in case we needed. We've
Speaker 6: saw the we've seen the first protests. There's at least
Speaker 6: seven schedule that we know of, and I'm sure many
Speaker 6: more will come and pop up once in a while,
Speaker 6: and you know, we'll just be interesting to see how
Speaker 6: how they can disrupt the mood or how the city
Speaker 6: of Chicago keeps everyone under control well.
Speaker 5: And it's been especially remarkable because the city of Chicago
Speaker 5: has hosted a convention before, including in nineteen sixty eight,
Speaker 5: and that's what everyone seems to be drawing and comparison
Speaker 5: to is we come in to this week. But obviously
Speaker 5: Chicago very much wanted to host this. This was a
Speaker 5: big effort on the part of Governor.
Speaker 4: Prisker, who you just mentioned.
Speaker 5: What does this mean for the city, especially if things
Speaker 5: potentially go awry or we start to actually see protest
Speaker 5: turning violent.
Speaker 6: Yes, I think for the governor really this convention is
Speaker 6: what propels them to the national stage. Right if you
Speaker 6: think about like a lot of people don't know who
Speaker 6: he is, and I think after this week everyone will
Speaker 6: know who he is. So keeping things under control and
Speaker 6: making sure that we don't look like nineteen sixty eight
Speaker 6: where we had severe classes between the police and protesters
Speaker 6: and the police pretty much crossed the protesters, I think
Speaker 6: that will be very very important for the governor and
Speaker 6: his image. So I think they will try everything they
Speaker 6: can to ensure that things go peacefully.
Speaker 3: Interesting that we've heard from police on that front that
Speaker 3: even non permitted protesters will not be rounded up, will
Speaker 3: not be arrested, as they try to avoid massive engagements
Speaker 3: with protesters. We're not going to see hundreds or thousands
Speaker 3: of people rounded up, Is that fair to say?
Speaker 6: I think if things remain peaceful, I definitely think we
Speaker 6: won't see that. But I think Chief Snelling, who is
Speaker 6: their chief of police are in Chicago, he made it
Speaker 6: clear he will not lack protesters destroy the city.
Speaker 5: And of course it's not just going to be protesters
Speaker 5: that are here in town. There are thousands of people
Speaker 5: who have descended for the convention. Obviously, this is a
Speaker 5: big event for a city hosting. What kind of economic
Speaker 5: impact do we expect that this is.
Speaker 4: Going to have for Chicago.
Speaker 6: I think this is a really interesting question because the
Speaker 6: economic impact that has been forecast is about one hundred
Speaker 6: and fifty to two hundred million. But when you start
Speaker 6: talking to restaurants and you see that maybe the number
Speaker 6: of like Chicago residents that have chosen to stay away
Speaker 6: from the city are actually impacting their reservation so they're
Speaker 6: not really seeing a boom and restaurant bookings as a result.
Speaker 6: It was funny when I drove in today there was
Speaker 6: no traffic and I was like, wow, this is the
Speaker 6: first day of you know, in weeks that there's no
Speaker 6: traffic on a highway.
Speaker 3: Not too used to that around here, but that is
Speaker 3: what this is all about, right, There's a reason why
Speaker 3: a city vies for an opportunity like this, to get
Speaker 3: the eyes of the nation, get the eyes of the
Speaker 3: world on Chicago, and maybe change the narrative. Donald Trump
Speaker 3: spent time in Milwaukee compairing Chicago to Afghanistan, referring to
Speaker 3: some of the crime statistics. This is a chance for
Speaker 3: Chicago to turn that story around, right, Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think Chicago, even before the convention already had issues
Speaker 6: with like persistently high crime. We've seen some high profile
Speaker 6: businesses leaving the city, and I think that has really
Speaker 6: created that, you know, national narrative and the way people
Speaker 6: perceive Chicago. So I think it's a chance for the
Speaker 6: city to try to turn that around, and it will
Speaker 6: be important for them to keep things under control. But
Speaker 6: I think long term, the city needs to continue to
Speaker 6: tackle crime if it is to attract businesses here well.
Speaker 5: And tackling crime is obviously something that presidential candidates are
Speaker 5: talking about as well. Certainly Kamala Harris has been attacked
Speaker 5: by Donald Trump on the crime issue. In addition to
Speaker 5: the economy and the border. Can you just give us
Speaker 5: a sense of isis. Obviously we're sitting here in a
Speaker 5: deep blue state. This is not a swing state where
Speaker 5: this convention is being held as was the case in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Speaker 5: But what are the issues that resonate with mooiter But
Speaker 5: it's not just in Chicago but in Illinois.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think the biggest concerns that we see here,
Speaker 6: we see the propile is time concerns, and this is
Speaker 6: why you have the protests. You see a lot of
Speaker 6: like women's rights, reproductive rights, LGBT two plus rights, and
Speaker 6: that is something that a lot of people in the
Speaker 6: state are concerned about. I think the migration issue too. Immigration,
Speaker 6: and you've seen the number of like people, more than
Speaker 6: forty thousand people have arrived in Chicago from Texas and
Speaker 6: other parts of the country bust here, and I think
Speaker 6: there's a lot of tensions between the Chicago and black
Speaker 6: population and the immigrants that are coming and where the
Speaker 6: city spends its resources. And you know, there's a lot
Speaker 6: of money that's gone to sheltering the migrants while there's
Speaker 6: already a you know, a homeless black homeless population in
Speaker 6: the city. So those are the tensions that we've seen
Speaker 6: played out in City Hall.
Speaker 5: All right, ISOs Amina, It's going to be a busy
Speaker 5: week for you playing host to all of us this week.
Speaker 5: She is our Chicago beer chief. Thank you so much
Speaker 5: for joining us. And of course Joe and I are
Speaker 5: now here in Chicago. Both President Biden and Kamala Harris
Speaker 5: are now here as well as Obiden is going to
Speaker 5: be leaving after his speech tonight, heading out to California.
Speaker 4: He won't be staying through the week.
Speaker 5: But we also saw the presidential candidates, including Vice President Harris,
Speaker 5: on the move this weekend as they competed in swing states.
Speaker 5: Harris and Walls on a bus tour Pennsylvania yesterday. Of course,
Speaker 5: Donald Trump holding some rallies of his own.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not an accident where they're positioning themselves and we're
Speaker 3: going to see, actually Donald Trump and JD. Vance kind
Speaker 3: of counterprogramming what Democrats are doing throughout the week. Not
Speaker 3: exactly what we saw in Milwaukee, but this is what
Speaker 3: they're dealing with right now, with new polls showing once
Speaker 3: again that Kamala Harris has the momentum and you can't
Speaker 3: stay home if you're Donald Trump.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely trying to stall that momentum to the extent
Speaker 5: that he can. But we should just take a listen
Speaker 5: to some of the language we were hearing from both
Speaker 5: of these candidates this weekend as they looked ahead to
Speaker 5: this week.
Speaker 7: I very much consider us Sandrow Dog. We have a
Speaker 7: lot of work to do to earn the vote of
Speaker 7: the American people. That's why we're on this bus tour today,
Speaker 7: and we're going to be traveling this country as we've
Speaker 7: been and talking with folks, listening with folks, and hopefully
Speaker 7: earning their votes over the next seventy nine days.
Speaker 2: Who would believe this.
Speaker 3: Eighty days from now, we are going to defeat.
Speaker 8: A communist known as Kamala Howris.
Speaker 9: He's a comune, most radical left person ever to run
Speaker 9: for office.
Speaker 2: This is not what this country needs.
Speaker 10: We've had enough of them.
Speaker 9: We're going to win back the White House and we're
Speaker 9: going to take back to our country.
Speaker 7: Anybody who's about beating down other people is a coward.
Speaker 7: This is what strength looks like. So we know what
Speaker 7: we are about, we know what we stand for. And
Speaker 7: one of the beautiful things about these next seventy nine
Speaker 7: days is what the people in this room have already
Speaker 7: been doing and know, let's build community, let's reinforce community.
Speaker 3: I'm a better looking person than Kamala.
Speaker 11: No.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it, she said. You know, I had
Speaker 2: never heard that one.
Speaker 12: They said, No, her biggest advantage is that she's a
Speaker 12: beautiful woman.
Speaker 10: I'm gone, huh. I never thought of that. I'm better
Speaker 10: looking than she is.
Speaker 5: So that was a look back at this past weekend.
Speaker 5: Now we look forward to what's to come for the
Speaker 5: remainder of the week here at the Democratic National Convention.
Speaker 5: And as we do so, joining us here on set
Speaker 5: in Chicago is Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger of Virginia. Congresswoman, thank
Speaker 5: you so much for being with us. Happy convention week
Speaker 5: to you. Obviously, you and your party are coming into
Speaker 5: this week with I think can be fairly characterized as
Speaker 5: a great deal of enthusiasm over the new candidate.
Speaker 4: Four weeks in to her campaign.
Speaker 5: The question has been, how does that momentum be sustained
Speaker 5: after this week?
Speaker 4: What does the party need to do in.
Speaker 5: The coming days here in Chicago to keep this going
Speaker 5: until the election.
Speaker 13: Well, I think importantly what we're doing back home in
Speaker 13: Virginia is making a pitch to voters about what's on
Speaker 13: the line with this election, what matters, why people need
Speaker 13: to get out and vote, and what I expect to
Speaker 13: occur is coming out of this convention, the continued conversation
Speaker 13: about the stakes of this election, the choice that we have,
Speaker 13: certainly at the presidential and vice presidential level, but even
Speaker 13: at the Senate level in Virginia we have Senator Tim
Speaker 13: Kine for reelection and at the congressional level where we
Speaker 13: have some incumbents running for reelection as well as some challengers,
Speaker 13: and so that momentum I think will continue. We've had
Speaker 13: a more than a five hundred percent increase in volunteer
Speaker 13: sign ups back home in the Commonwealth. So it's an
Speaker 13: exciting time, but it's because people know what's at stake.
Speaker 3: Each member of the party, certainly lawmaker coming to town
Speaker 3: here is coming with a different set of issues, a
Speaker 3: different set of values.
Speaker 2: You might suggest it.
Speaker 3: In Virginia, it's interesting as you butt up against the
Speaker 3: capital city, you have a massive federal workforce working in
Speaker 3: your estate whose jobs could be on the line depending
Speaker 3: on the outcome of this election.
Speaker 13: That's exactly right, and we have singing through Agenda twenty
Speaker 13: twenty five, through Agenda forty seven or Project twenty twenty
Speaker 13: five and Agenda forty seven. We know that there are
Speaker 13: major shifts that President Trump and a vice president Vance
Speaker 13: would make to the federal workforce.
Speaker 4: Vance himself said that his advice.
Speaker 13: Would be to fire every federal worker and replace them
Speaker 13: with quote our people. So the stakes of this election
Speaker 13: are dire for so many Virginians and certainly the federal workforce,
Speaker 13: the very function of government, but the Virginia economy, and
Speaker 13: so it's something that we're talking about across the Commonwealth.
Speaker 13: The reality that when you have a presidential and vice
Speaker 13: presidential candidate who wants to do away with those jobs,
Speaker 13: those livelihoods, that's a major risk certainly to those individuals,
Speaker 13: to their lives, to their jobs, but also to our economy.
Speaker 5: Well, certainly we've all paid attention to what the Trump
Speaker 5: Vance ticket broadly have outlined in terms of what they'd
Speaker 5: like to see with their domestic agenda. There's also the
Speaker 5: foreign policy agenda. We know, for example, Senator Vance is
Speaker 5: highly skeptical of continuing to help fund Ukraine and its
Speaker 5: effort against Russia. Certainly, there is some contrast between these
Speaker 5: two tickets when it comes to the issue of Israel
Speaker 5: in Gaza, something we expect to be fully on display
Speaker 5: here in Chicago with protests. Given your seat on the
Speaker 5: Intelligence Committee or background at the CIA, how should we
Speaker 5: be thinking about the foreign policy implications of this election.
Speaker 13: The foreign policy implications of this election are extraordinary. And
Speaker 13: I say that as a current member of Congress, as
Speaker 13: you mentioned, a member of the Intelligence Committee, but also
Speaker 13: as a former national security professional as a CIA officer.
Speaker 13: The things that that JD. Vance has said about our
Speaker 13: support to the Ukrainians, I think discounts the entire importance
Speaker 13: and value of American global leadership, of our commitment to
Speaker 13: our NATO allies.
Speaker 4: Certainly, we saw.
Speaker 13: Under President Trump's first presidential term his constant alienating of
Speaker 13: our allies, his efforts to pull us away from NATO,
Speaker 13: which is an extraordinarily important alliance. And the contrast is clear,
Speaker 13: and Trump vance administration would imperil our national security, would
Speaker 13: imperil our position of global leadership, and from a national
Speaker 13: security perspective, I think would be a dire, dire circumstance,
Speaker 13: particularly as we see on the ground in the Ukrainians
Speaker 13: fighting for their freedom, and we see commitment to the
Speaker 13: cause of democracy worldwide under threat.
Speaker 3: Remember the race in two thousand and eight, Hillary Clinton
Speaker 3: famously had the three am call, ad is your commander
Speaker 3: in chief going to be ready when the phone rings
Speaker 3: at three am? She was referring to her experience at
Speaker 3: the time, and of course then became Secretary of State
Speaker 3: in another career. When we consider the stakes in this election,
Speaker 3: after everything that you just said, why is Kamala Harris
Speaker 3: ready for that phone call at three am? What experience
Speaker 3: brings her to that point?
Speaker 13: Well, importantly, she spent time as a member of the
Speaker 13: United States Senate on the Senate Intelligence Committee, So recognizing
Speaker 13: the breath and the scope of information coming in from
Speaker 13: the intelligence community, from the extraordinary individuals working the world
Speaker 13: over to help policymakers make informed decisions. I'm proud I
Speaker 13: used to be one of those folks, and now I'm
Speaker 13: on the policymaking side. So in that role, she knows
Speaker 13: the full scope of what comes before policymakers. As Vice President,
Speaker 13: she has had a seat in the room at every
Speaker 13: major decision, whether it was sharing initial intelligence related to
Speaker 13: the hour knowledge that the Russians were going to invade Ukraine,
Speaker 13: or anything across the board. Since that war began, she
Speaker 13: has been part of the decisions being made. She has
Speaker 13: been in the room, and she knows the reality and
Speaker 13: the dire consequences of each situation and what the American
Speaker 13: response needs to be and has been.
Speaker 5: And finally, Congresswoman, before we let you go, this election
Speaker 5: also will of course mark the last one you are
Speaker 5: in as a sitting member of Congress. You were not
Speaker 5: seeking reelection to that body, instead pursuing the governor of Virginia.
Speaker 5: Before you go, though, knowing we're going to be in
Speaker 5: full election cycle mode, maybe not a lot's going to
Speaker 5: happen between now, maybe the lame duck session. I know
Speaker 5: there's some things you want to get done, including the
Speaker 5: Stock Act restrictions on trading for members. Are you confident
Speaker 5: you can get that done before you leave the chamber?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 4: So it's a busy time on Capitol Hill, sure. And the.
Speaker 13: The Trust in Congress Act, which is the one that
Speaker 13: would put restrictions on members of Congress from being able
Speaker 13: to buy or sell individual stocks, right, is so vitally
Speaker 13: important because when we think over the past number of years,
Speaker 13: the degradation of trust that people have had, the low
Speaker 13: approval rating of Congress our ability to say when we
Speaker 13: are here. Every decision we make is a decision we
Speaker 13: are making because it is one that is informed by information,
Speaker 13: by intelligence, by conversations we're having with experts in certain fields,
Speaker 13: and not by how we might benefit or our stock
Speaker 13: portfolio might benefit. In terms of how confident I am
Speaker 13: the bill is wholly bipartisan. We've got folks across the
Speaker 13: political spectrum supporting it because it just makes sense. It's
Speaker 13: wildly popular with the American people, and I ultimately will
Speaker 13: continue to push for Speaker Johnson to bring that bill
Speaker 13: for a vote. But I am tempering my my enthusiasm
Speaker 13: on our ability to get it through. But I will
Speaker 13: say that I have already lined up my successor to
Speaker 13: carry it on. If we do not get it this Congress,
Speaker 13: I promise you we will continue to have an aggressive
Speaker 13: effort to get.
Speaker 3: It done, and it would stand a better chance in
Speaker 3: the Democratic House.
Speaker 2: I would hope.
Speaker 3: So I'm had been great to see you in Chicago.
Speaker 3: Thanks for starting your day with us here on Bloomberg.
Speaker 3: Abigail Spanberger Up, Virginia.
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Speaker 4: Of course, four days, four nights.
Speaker 5: Joe a pomp and circumstance enthusiasm in the Democratic Party
Speaker 5: and it begins tonight primetime speech from President Joe Biden, who,
Speaker 5: of course, just four weeks ago, decided this would not
Speaker 5: be his convention. Instead it's the convention of his vice
Speaker 5: president Kamala Harrer.
Speaker 3: That's right, He's the headliner instead of on the fourth night.
Speaker 3: On the first night, the first Lady, Joe Biden will
Speaker 3: be speaking as well.
Speaker 2: Kayleie.
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of references to passing the baton,
Speaker 3: and that's actually what is going to happen. We saw
Speaker 3: Kamala Harris and Joe Biden on stage for the first
Speaker 3: time last week as we brought to our listeners and
Speaker 3: viewers live for the first time since Joe Biden dropped out.
Speaker 3: But this is the big moment tonight as he looks
Speaker 3: ahead to the future in a theme for the people
Speaker 3: on Night one of the DNC and joining us now
Speaker 3: is Congressman Jonathan Jackson of Illinois. We thought we'd bring
Speaker 3: someone actually from Chicago. It's great to see you, sir,
Speaker 3: Thanks for being here at the table.
Speaker 2: Nice to see in your hometown.
Speaker 10: Great to see her again.
Speaker 2: Is this a good night or a bad night for
Speaker 2: Joe Biden.
Speaker 10: It's a great night, Joe. President Biden has so much
Speaker 10: to be proud of. He's honored his word to the
Speaker 10: African American community. He was the first president to actually
Speaker 10: interview an African American woman to go to the Supreme Court.
Speaker 10: He's put an African American woman on the Supreme Court.
Speaker 10: He also had an African American as his vice president
Speaker 10: and he is now made her his successor that he
Speaker 10: has endorsed. President Joe Biden has fully funded the EPA.
Speaker 10: He's done something record in historic and putting money into
Speaker 10: human infrastructure. The city of Chicago on the South and
Speaker 10: West sides has the largest amount of lead service lines
Speaker 10: in the nation. There is no safe amount of lead
Speaker 10: that you can have in your water that's fully funded.
Speaker 10: So he's done so many remarkable things and I think
Speaker 10: that that's going to be a hallmark of his legacy
Speaker 10: and the foundation that he's laid for a future generation.
Speaker 5: Well, Congressman, you talk about ways in which he has
Speaker 5: elevated Black Americans to some of the most senior levels
Speaker 5: of the US government across all of its branches. Yet
Speaker 5: what we saw was in his candidacy, at least this
Speaker 5: time around, he was struggling to galvanize that base of
Speaker 5: voters that had supported him in twenty twenty. We're starting
Speaker 5: to see that change, at least polling indicates. With Vice
Speaker 5: President Harris, what do you expect that her candidacy is
Speaker 5: going to be able to do when it comes to
Speaker 5: black voters or just voters of color in general in
Speaker 5: this election.
Speaker 4: How have things changed over the last four weeks.
Speaker 10: Well, I think that earlier, I believe that was a
Speaker 10: bit of fake news and people saying African American men
Speaker 10: were looking at Donald Trump. Donald Trump is entertaining. He's
Speaker 10: like P. T. Barnum, So you'll listen to him, you'll
Speaker 10: cackle with him, but you don't take anything serious about him.
Speaker 10: African American males know this is the same man that
Speaker 10: asks for the death the execution of the Central Park
Speaker 10: five young teenagers, and after they were found guilty, he
Speaker 10: still is not apologized to them like something is very
Speaker 10: depraved about this man. This man is also accusing convictive
Speaker 10: of sexual assault that we know better than that. Mister
Speaker 10: Biden has done is offered a clear alternative. He has
Speaker 10: for decency. He has restored that. And now what you're
Speaker 10: see in missus Harris, she knows the culture, she's been
Speaker 10: a part of it. She's a product. She's going to
Speaker 10: historically black college. She has made clear on her investments
Speaker 10: that she wants to make in the community, and she
Speaker 10: has galvanized it. We see continuity, we see legacy, we
Speaker 10: see tradition, and for that we want to honor her
Speaker 10: and keep up the great work of the Biden Harris administration.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Congressman Donald Trump continues to question Kamala Harris's racial identity,
Speaker 3: suggesting that she's somehow not actually part of the black community.
Speaker 10: What do you say to that, Well, that's very much ignorant.
Speaker 10: That he should first look at American Law eighteen ninety
Speaker 10: six and Plessy versus Ferguson. There was a test on
Speaker 10: that and it came out to say that if you
Speaker 10: have one drop of blood, you're the negro. By definition,
Speaker 10: it's the negro rule. So he's very ignorant of a
Speaker 10: lot of things, and that's one thing that he should
Speaker 10: be ashamed of. She has her father is of African descent,
Speaker 10: he's Jamaican, her mother is of Indian descent. Like, I
Speaker 10: don't know what this guy gets off of it, and
Speaker 10: nobody ever pushes back on him for the man outrageous
Speaker 10: thing that he says. Let's talk about something else he said.
Speaker 10: He says he's beautiful. When he was out at Tomorrow Largo.
Speaker 2: Round, he's still looking at He.
Speaker 10: Says that he's better looking than Vice President Harris. Who
Speaker 10: would ever believe that? Okay, we should at least give
Speaker 10: the man a dog so that a dog can have
Speaker 10: an objective test. Like, nobody's ever called this man attractive.
Speaker 10: And from his behavior with women, he's been very aggressive.
Speaker 10: So no, there's something fundamentally wrong. What man compares himself
Speaker 10: beauty wise to a female. I think he's very misogynistic.
Speaker 10: You're going to see racism come out as he gets
Speaker 10: ready for this debate on September tenth. He's going to
Speaker 10: have blooming over his head. A September eighteenth trial date,
Speaker 10: if you will, a sentencing date. He's under enormous pressure
Speaker 10: at eighty years of age for things that he's done,
Speaker 10: and I think all this is going to make him
Speaker 10: have even more erratic behavior.
Speaker 5: Well, certainly we have seen a great number of personal
Speaker 5: attacks from Trump against Kamala Harris, but we also have
Speaker 5: seen some more targeted attacks when it comes to specific
Speaker 5: issues like the border or the economy. He has been
Speaker 5: along with Jady Vance, suggesting that if she was really
Speaker 5: going to do something to be able to fight inflation
Speaker 5: on day one, her day one was three and a
Speaker 5: half years ago.
Speaker 4: We've heard this repeatedly. Now, what is the answer to that?
Speaker 5: Why has she not been able to have more influence
Speaker 5: over that as vice president?
Speaker 10: Well, I don't have the answer for that at this moment,
Speaker 10: but it's a very complex issue. One thing you have
Speaker 10: to do is stop what he was gearing up for
Speaker 10: on this massive deportation. That's inhumane, that's not who we are.
Speaker 10: And then his outrageous idea of building this border wall
Speaker 10: that also hurts the ecosystem. Animals and other things have
Speaker 10: to go around their winds, and birds have to go
Speaker 10: over there. What is ailing South America should be the
Speaker 10: question that he should be focused on. President Trump is
Speaker 10: a chronic complainer, whiner, as opposed to fixing the blame.
Speaker 10: He had to be more mature and fix the problem.
Speaker 10: The problem is not at the Mexican border. The problem
Speaker 10: is in South and Central America. When we end up
Speaker 10: putting additional sanctions south on Cuba saying that they're a
Speaker 10: terrorist state where there is no credible evidence for that,
Speaker 10: that drove five hundred thousand people off of the island
Speaker 10: that then have to migrate. When they put additional sanctions
Speaker 10: on Venezuela, that took out another three to five million
Speaker 10: people that they had to migrate. So people are coming
Speaker 10: up the Pan American Corridor to the city of Chicago.
Speaker 10: It's two four hundred and ninety nine miles from Caracas
Speaker 10: Venezuela to Chicago, Leonorith. You don't have to fly to
Speaker 10: Caracas Venezuela, you don't have to take a boat to Karakas, Venezuela.
Speaker 10: People are walking up that corridor because we put sanctions.
Speaker 10: We need to normalize some of the relationships, not be
Speaker 10: so punitive. It is growing. Two thirds of our hemisphere
Speaker 10: as non English speaking in South America, they're poor and
Speaker 10: they're trying to have economic stability. The new Era of
Speaker 10: America should be looking at something fundamentally that transforms a
Speaker 10: Marshall plant, where we're helping these countries invest in their
Speaker 10: water systems, helping them invest in their roads way. That's
Speaker 10: something America has proprietary technology, technology, and we can make
Speaker 10: and expand our markets, same thing we did after World
Speaker 10: War Two. When we're into Europe, we can have that
Speaker 10: same formula, same formula and do that in South and
Speaker 10: Central America and in Africa. I want to put Africa
Speaker 10: on there just for a moment because in the year
Speaker 10: twenty fifty, just twenty five years from now, which is
Speaker 10: something we should be talking about. In twenty five years
Speaker 10: from now, one in four persons on planet Earth will
Speaker 10: be Africans. How are we aligning our interest and our
Speaker 10: future towards what's going to be twenty five percent of
Speaker 10: the world's population.
Speaker 3: Congress been the border is a huge issue. So is
Speaker 3: the economy. We talked a lot about inflation. We've talked
Speaker 3: a lot about the plans that we've at least been
Speaker 3: able to understand. I know that we need some details
Speaker 3: from both campaigns. Well, one of your most passionate issues
Speaker 3: has been expanding the child tax credit. On Capitol Hill,
Speaker 3: that is something that Kamala Harris wants to expand to
Speaker 3: six thousand dollars to the number we hear. But jd
Speaker 3: Vance is also calling for an expanded child tax credit.
Speaker 3: Do you worry that Democrats in Chicago vote for the
Speaker 3: Trump Dvance ticket because of what they're talking about here
Speaker 3: what are essentially democratic issues?
Speaker 10: No, because what Missus Harris is doing is authentic. What
Speaker 10: jd Vance is doing is following. He's not leading the issue.
Speaker 10: The second part. What jd Vance is doing he doesn't
Speaker 10: think that every woman should have an equal right to vote.
Speaker 10: He thinks that women that have more children should have
Speaker 10: a higher level of writing to vote versus women that
Speaker 10: have fewer votes. We've already been through that with African
Speaker 10: Americans being called three fifths of a human being who
Speaker 10: should have which level of proportionality to vote? His ideas
Speaker 10: are antiquated, their stale, They simply don't work. Missus Harris
Speaker 10: is an authentic description of a child text credit that
Speaker 10: which was passed by Congresman Dol Sarrio ended up moving
Speaker 10: a half of me, fifty percent of our children out
Speaker 10: of poverty. It never should have been cut under the
Speaker 10: Trump administration.
Speaker 5: I'd like to ask you as well, Congressman, because we
Speaker 5: are here in your hometown. There has been a lot
Speaker 5: of talk about nineteen sixty eight also in Chicago. I
Speaker 5: think we all know how that went at a convention,
Speaker 5: and there are planned protests here for basically the duration
Speaker 5: of this week over the war Israel is still conducting
Speaker 5: against Hamas in Gaza. How concerned are you that we
Speaker 5: may see images like we saw sixty years ago?
Speaker 10: Almost I don't think we'll see that. I think we
Speaker 10: have a mayor that came out of the organizing community
Speaker 10: and activists and I have been on many marches and
Speaker 10: demonstrations together. I'm glad that he's opened the city Hall
Speaker 10: Mayor's office to talk to them. There are routes that
Speaker 10: are established in very high visible levels, so I am
Speaker 10: glad that he has opened the door. He's talked to them,
Speaker 10: he's not shunned them, he's not turned his back on them.
Speaker 10: And I also encouraged demonstrations. I think it's a healthy
Speaker 10: part of our democracy. Young people are out there, they
Speaker 10: have a point of view, they're trying to build a
Speaker 10: future for their future together, and to the degree they
Speaker 10: raised their voice peacefully, that's a good thing. Unlike what
Speaker 10: you saw with mister Donald J. Trump going into the Capitol,
Speaker 10: not wanting to have a clear transfer of power and
Speaker 10: killing officers Sycknick, and not having the decency to call
Speaker 10: Officer Sicknick's name, not having the decency to call the
Speaker 10: officers on Capitol Hill and apologize for those that have
Speaker 10: lost their lives and others that have committed suicide and
Speaker 10: others that have been beaten down. He's shown no respect
Speaker 10: and all the way up until the time of the
Speaker 10: Golden the Congressional Gold Medal, saying it doesn't have any merit,
Speaker 10: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, they're comparable medals. Something's wrong
Speaker 10: with the man. As he gets more, we're desperate. As
Speaker 10: he sees the polling number goes away, he's concerned if
Speaker 10: somebody has called him, well, well you are weird. You
Speaker 10: never laugh, You wake up mad all day long. Probably
Speaker 10: sleep with a finch cliffs cliff, you know, a clinch fist.
Speaker 10: Something is fundamentally wrong with this man.
Speaker 3: You're bringing a lot today, Congressman. The protesters outside are
Speaker 3: one thing. What do you tell the thirty or so delegates,
Speaker 3: I know it's not a very high number who are
Speaker 3: calling themselves ceasefire delegates who want to try to disrupt
Speaker 3: the proceedings on the floor of this convention.
Speaker 10: I wouldn't know if they would be disruptors, but if
Speaker 10: they are dissenters and want to maintain that position, I
Speaker 10: can respect it. It's going to be over two thousand delegates,
Speaker 10: if thirties people that have applied and gotten on, and
Speaker 10: this is their their petition. I think our ten is
Speaker 10: big enough to hold together. Even you have never Trumpers.
Speaker 10: Some of them came around, and some of them have
Speaker 10: not come around. We've got some of them in here,
Speaker 10: and some of those never Trumpers are here, so it
Speaker 10: will never be a part of that has everyone singing
Speaker 10: at the same page at the same time. But out
Speaker 10: of that I respect their creativity and their differences, even
Speaker 10: if I don't necessarily agree with it.
Speaker 5: Surely there is a right to freedom of speech in
Speaker 5: this country. There's also right, of course, to freedom of
Speaker 5: the press, something Joe and I enjoy very much.
Speaker 4: We get to interview people like you.
Speaker 5: We have not yet though, and many people haven't had
Speaker 5: the pleasure of interviewing the vice president since she became
Speaker 5: the Democratic nominee. This is something that the Trump Vance
Speaker 5: campaign is criticizing her heavily for is it time for
Speaker 5: her to do that? Should she be answering questions from
Speaker 5: the press, Should she be doing a sit down interview,
Speaker 5: or is just doing these rallies and reading the teleprompter
Speaker 5: and giving the speech in Chicago this weekend.
Speaker 10: Well, I think she's done so much more than that.
Speaker 10: A she had a body of work that's very well recognized,
Speaker 10: and that was with the Biden Harris administration. This was
Speaker 10: unprecedented and that the president decides to step out. First
Speaker 10: thing she had to do is go through all the
Speaker 10: mechanics and the legal work to transfer documents to be
Speaker 10: the nominee. Then she'll add to gather all the votes
Speaker 10: to secure the nomin nation. Same time she had to
Speaker 10: vet out presidential a vice president. They had to map
Speaker 10: out of strategy, get ready to culminate at the convention.
Speaker 10: Then I believe it's the time for her to articulate
Speaker 10: all of her positions. But right now she's very much
Speaker 10: in sync withy Biden Harris administration. There will be some changes,
Speaker 10: but fundamentally she has a great platform. It'll have some
Speaker 10: more of her personality, but she has a great platform
Speaker 10: to run on.
Speaker 3: That timeline you mentioned will culminate with a debate on
Speaker 3: September tenth. Will that debate decide the outcome of the selection?
Speaker 10: No, I don't think so. I expect this to get
Speaker 10: much more dirty, nastier. All that coming from Trump. He's
Speaker 10: talking about attacks. He's not talking about the agenda that
Speaker 10: he wants to go forward. He's pinning this very morose
Speaker 10: and dark cloud. We're going to have the nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 10: You're going back into the Great Depression. If I don't win.
Speaker 10: Every time the market goes up, it's because of me.
Speaker 10: Anytime we went down because of him, He's just blamed.
Speaker 10: And I think people are tired of his pettiness. They're
Speaker 10: tired of his whining. People want to go forward with
Speaker 10: a vision. I think America is much better than that.
Speaker 10: And I am so excited when I see women standing up,
Speaker 10: when I see mister Walls coming from being a teacher
Speaker 10: and a coach. These are people that we recognize. Not
Speaker 10: all the power and people have to go to the
Speaker 10: most pristige, pristige or prestigious and elite schools. There are
Speaker 10: great American schools all over the country. This reaffirms that
Speaker 10: wherever you go you get a good education, you can
Speaker 10: rise up to the highest levels of our office and
Speaker 10: lead the American people.
Speaker 4: All right, Congressman, great to see you here in Chicago.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having us. Thank you in town.
Speaker 5: Congressman Jonathan Jackson, Jackson of Illinois, we appreciate your time, sir.
Speaker 4: Joining us here on Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
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Speaker 3: Joining us from just outside the United Center, it's California
Speaker 3: Senator Lafonsa Butler. Senator. We want to welcome you to
Speaker 3: Bloomberg TV and Radio. It's great to be with you
Speaker 3: today in Chicago. I think it's safe to say that
Speaker 3: you know Kamala Harris better than most Americans ever will.
Speaker 3: And as we consider what she's going through right now,
Speaker 3: being shot out of a cannon here at a Democratic
Speaker 3: National Convention that she could not have planned for even
Speaker 3: two months ago, tell us what she's going through emotionally.
Speaker 11: Look, I don't thank you so much for having me
Speaker 11: for covering this for offering this experience to folks who
Speaker 11: are watching and listening on Bloomberg. You know, I couldn't
Speaker 11: pretend to know what Vice President Harris is is feeling.
Speaker 10: None of us could you know?
Speaker 11: She was so committed to being a loyal governing partner
Speaker 11: to President Biden, and today begins the convention that is
Speaker 11: the process of nominating her as the Democratic presidential nominee
Speaker 11: for this country, And so it is an exciting experience
Speaker 11: I could imagine.
Speaker 4: I have spoken to her.
Speaker 11: She feels and sounds incredibly determined to be a leader
Speaker 11: that offers a vision forward for our country and for
Speaker 11: the American people, a way to unify us behind not
Speaker 11: just our fears and the things that we are are
Speaker 11: concerned about, but also about our hopes and our dreams
Speaker 11: and the things that we can accomplish together. And so
Speaker 11: it must be incredibly exciting for her for her family.
Speaker 11: But I know this is a moment that she is
Speaker 11: determined to meet and one that she I think will
Speaker 11: we'll meet with great grace.
Speaker 5: Well, Senator, of course, none of us can actually get
Speaker 5: inside the Democratic nominees had at this time, but could
Speaker 5: you take us inside yours knowing that before you were
Speaker 5: a senator, you ran Emily's List. It is a group
Speaker 5: literally dedicated to get women elected into office. Have not
Speaker 5: just a woman, but a woman of color getting ready
Speaker 5: to formally accept the Democratic nomination for president.
Speaker 4: What does this week mean to you?
Speaker 11: You know, I'm not sure that I know exactly what
Speaker 11: it will mean. I am so focused on making sure
Speaker 11: that I do everything I can to make this moment
Speaker 11: not just a moment that happens as a nominating experience,
Speaker 11: but an experience that actually leads to victory for the
Speaker 11: country in November. But you're right, I have worked to
Speaker 11: help to elect Democratic, pro choice women up and down
Speaker 11: the ballot at all levels of government. And to again
Speaker 11: be able to say that the United States, at least
Speaker 11: one party is putting forth a woman and a woman
Speaker 11: of color for the American people to consider for a
Speaker 11: presidency is quite powerful, not just for my daughter, but
Speaker 11: truly for America's daughters to be able to see themselves
Speaker 11: once and for all in the highest position possible in
Speaker 11: our country. It is a moment of pride for me,
Speaker 11: and I think it will be a moment of great
Speaker 11: pride for the American people.
Speaker 3: Senator, what is Joe Biden going to tell the room
Speaker 3: tonight as he passes the baton, the cliche that we
Speaker 3: keep using for this inflection point in the campaign. There's
Speaker 3: been reporting that he's very upset about what has happened,
Speaker 3: But of course it's his job to strike a positive tone.
Speaker 2: What should be his message? What are we going to
Speaker 2: hear from Joe Biden?
Speaker 11: Look, I expect that we're going to hear the words
Speaker 11: of a proud statesman who has served his country for
Speaker 11: the last fifty two years, made sacrifice after sacrifice to
Speaker 11: help us win back the soul of our very nation.
Speaker 11: He said that was why he was running in twenty twenty.
Speaker 11: This is a president who will have accomplished by the
Speaker 11: end of his term some of the most historic legislation ever,
Speaker 11: changing the trajectory of so many industry opportunities for the
Speaker 11: American people, whether we're talking about the cancelation of student
Speaker 11: loan debt, to the inaction of the Chips and Science Act,
Speaker 11: the biggest investments in climate change in our nation's history,
Speaker 11: doing the work of the Pact Act, and taking care
Speaker 11: of our veterans and their health care. So, look, this
Speaker 11: is a moment I think where President Biden will have
Speaker 11: the opportunity to not only talk about what he's accomplished,
Speaker 11: but to thank the American people for trusting him to
Speaker 11: lead in such a hard, tough moment. And I think
Speaker 11: he's going to commit to continue to finish the job
Speaker 11: that we have a lot more work to do. He
Speaker 11: has another five months left in his term. He's going
Speaker 11: to be focused on continuing to run through the tape,
Speaker 11: but he's going to be exciting us and imploring us
Speaker 11: to continue to fight for the democracy that future generations
Speaker 11: in this country truly deserve.
Speaker 5: Well and of course that fight will become Kamala Harris
Speaker 5: throughout the remainder of this campaign, and then, of course,
Speaker 5: if she ultimately wins when she takes office in January
Speaker 5: of twenty twenty five. We are starting, Senator to get
Speaker 5: at least the outlines of the kind of policy that
Speaker 5: she would like to pursue when it comes to the economy.
Speaker 5: And I ask you this knowing that you sit on
Speaker 5: the Senate Banking Committee. Some of the policies she put
Speaker 5: forward last week have been described as potentially inflationary. Donald
Speaker 5: Trump has suggested they borderline on communism, calling her now
Speaker 5: Comrade Kamala, are the ideas that she put forward really realistic?
Speaker 11: Look, I think the former president has tried his attempt
Speaker 11: at name calling against everyone who dare to take him on.
Speaker 11: And this is a presidential candidate vice president in Kamala
Speaker 11: Harris that is doing just that, taking him on and
Speaker 11: putting forward visions and plans that actually bring our country
Speaker 11: together that address some of our highest cost driving issues
Speaker 11: that working families face today. The cost of housing whether
Speaker 11: they want to own or rent, the cost of prescription drugs,
Speaker 11: whether they're taking cancer medication, or an elderly who's just
Speaker 11: trying to manage their diabetes or just trying to make
Speaker 11: it every single day in the grocery store buying bread
Speaker 11: and eggs and chicken to make sure that their family
Speaker 11: has food to eat. Yes, she has put forth an ambitious,
Speaker 11: I believe, practical approach that is about how do we
Speaker 11: listen to what the American people need from government and
Speaker 11: actually make plans to act. Are the plans going to
Speaker 11: turn out exactly the way that she put forth in
Speaker 11: her proposal in North Carolina? This is all going to
Speaker 11: be a process, she said herself. What she wants to
Speaker 11: do is bring stakeholders together. She wants to bring industry
Speaker 11: and legislators and unions together to figure out how we
Speaker 11: try to solve some of these problems. I don't know
Speaker 11: what President former President's Trump is to do any of that.
Speaker 11: He hasn't said. He just says that he wants to
Speaker 11: create a what is in essence is a tax for
Speaker 11: the American people to raise their costs. So I'd rather
Speaker 11: be a part of a process to find a solid
Speaker 11: solution for the American people than some pipe dream tax
Speaker 11: that's going to raise the cost for every American person.
Speaker 11: And I think every day about my mother, on a
Speaker 11: fixed income, seventy one years old, how she I know
Speaker 11: she can't afford Donald Trump's tax.
Speaker 3: Senator Butler, we have breaking news on the terminal with
Speaker 3: regard to Israel, and this is going to be important
Speaker 3: for the delegates on the floor of this convention. Anthony Blincoln,
Speaker 3: the Secretary of State, says Benjamin net Yahoo has accepted
Speaker 3: a ceasefire proposal that they've been working on for days now.
Speaker 3: This just crossed the terminal. Net Yahoo accepting latest Gaza proposal.
Speaker 3: He's speaking with reporters right now talking about this US
Speaker 3: backed bridging proposal for a ceasefire, calling on Hamas to
Speaker 3: do the same your party platform. Senator also calls for
Speaker 3: it quote immediate and lasting cease fire deal unquote if
Speaker 3: this comes to fruition, if we do have a ceasefire deal,
Speaker 3: are those thirty uncommitted delegates on the floor going to
Speaker 3: become committed to Kamala Harris?
Speaker 11: You know, I don't know. I surely hope, so I
Speaker 11: wouldn't venture to speak for them, But let me just
Speaker 11: first say thank God the tragedy that we have been
Speaker 11: seeing that began on October seventh and has continued in
Speaker 11: the lives of Palestinian, innocent Palestinian families. I am glad
Speaker 11: that Joe Biden has remained on the case and has
Speaker 11: not let a night go by where he wasn't working
Speaker 11: towards accomplishing this ceasefire. If that is the case, this
Speaker 11: is a great and important day for the presidency of
Speaker 11: President Biden and a great moment of I think relief
Speaker 11: for so many families Israeli and Palestinian families alike.
Speaker 5: Well, and certainly it could be a moment of relief
Speaker 5: if you are actively campaigning for president knowing that this
Speaker 5: is an issue. Senator that has divided your party, and
Speaker 5: we've seen that on display with the delegates that Joe
Speaker 5: is alluding to you with the protests that will be
Speaker 5: here in Chicago. If a ceasefire can be accomplished, what's
Speaker 5: the biggest hurdle for your party to get over and
Speaker 5: when it comes to voter turnout or to ensuring a
Speaker 5: victory for Kamala Harris.
Speaker 11: Yeah, Look, this is a war and a conflict that
Speaker 11: is beyond ply party politics. Both sides have taken their
Speaker 11: own positions. What we have seen President Biden and Vice
Speaker 11: President Harris work towards is that lasting ceasepire, the return
Speaker 11: of those hostages, and hopefully as the deal the details
Speaker 11: of this deal becomes more clear that we would have
Speaker 11: accomplished those things, And like, let's focus on these are
Speaker 11: lives that have been lost here, ends of thousands of lives,
Speaker 11: the rape and torture of Israeli families on October seventh.
Speaker 11: I'm not going to jump into a conversation about politics
Speaker 11: when we're talking about people's lives. Yes, there has been
Speaker 11: disagreement in our country about this, but let's celebrate what
Speaker 11: is happening here. There are hundreds of Americans and Israelis
Speaker 11: and others that are actually going to be able to
Speaker 11: come home after nearly a year. Let's celebrate what we're
Speaker 11: accomplishing and recognize the diplomacy and the committed leadership that
Speaker 11: President Biden and Vice President Harris have brought, and all
Speaker 11: of the global leaders who have leaned in here to
Speaker 11: help make this happen.
Speaker 5: Fair Enough, Senator, thank you so much for joining us
Speaker 5: outside the United Center here in Chicago. That is California's
Speaker 5: Democratic Senator Lafonza Butler. We appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast Ken
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Speaker 5: The headline crossing this hour from the Bloomberg terminal, Secretary
Speaker 5: of State Anthony Blincoln saying that Israel has accepted a
Speaker 5: ceasefire agreement and now we wait for Hamas.
Speaker 12: In a very constructive meeting with Prime mistery Innit Yahoo today,
Speaker 12: he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal
Speaker 12: that he supports it. It's now incumbent on Hamas to
Speaker 12: do the same. And then the parties, with the help
Speaker 12: of the mediators the United States, Egypt and Cutter, have
Speaker 12: to come together and complete the process of reaching clear
Speaker 12: understandings about how they'll implement the commitments that they've made.
Speaker 5: So let's bring back now our political panel here in Chicago,
Speaker 5: Rick Davis, partner at Stone Court Capital, and Jeanie shanzay No,
Speaker 5: political science professor at Io University and Senior Democracy Fellow
Speaker 5: at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.
Speaker 5: So incredible to get this news is we're sitting here
Speaker 5: in Chicago waiting for President Biden to speak this evening,
Speaker 5: knowing that he has said a ceasefire agreement is one
Speaker 5: of the things he wants to make sure he accomplishes
Speaker 5: before leaving office. Obviously, there are massive humanitarian implications here
Speaker 5: for the people living in Gaza, for the families of
Speaker 5: the hostages, for the hostages themselves, Genie, that cannot go unsaid.
Speaker 5: But politically this is significant as well.
Speaker 8: This is and I think, you know, we can be
Speaker 8: cautiously optimistic about what Anthony Blincoln has said, but of
Speaker 8: course I think we have to be cautious because at
Speaker 8: the same time Hamas has said it's dissatisfied with what
Speaker 8: it describes as some of Israel's demands in this, and
Speaker 8: so I think we do, to your point, have to
Speaker 8: wait and see if this comes to fruition. The timing
Speaker 8: is critically important for all of the reasons you mentioned,
Speaker 8: which are the most important, but also politically because if
Speaker 8: it came together today, afford President Biden speaks, that would
Speaker 8: be enormously important for his legacy, which he is attached
Speaker 8: to this in a profound way. And of course issues
Speaker 8: involving the Middle East have had an enormously negative impact
Speaker 8: on presidents going back several decades in the US, so
Speaker 8: for him to be thinking about leaving office in January
Speaker 8: and to have a win like this, if it happens,
Speaker 8: would be enormously important.
Speaker 3: Well, caution is the important word I think in your
Speaker 3: setup there, Genie, because we've seen this before. Joe Biden
Speaker 3: made an address to the nation from a White House
Speaker 3: about this plan back around Memorial Day, and it was
Speaker 3: not signed off on at the time, apparently by the
Speaker 3: net and Yahoo government and Hamas went back and forth
Speaker 3: for weeks on this ended with nothing. We just asked
Speaker 3: Sean Caston, who made clear that his constituents represent one
Speaker 3: of the largest blocks of pro Palestinian voters in the country.
Speaker 3: He was very careful when we asked him about this.
Speaker 3: He didn't want to see this move in too quickly
Speaker 3: this week a long term deal. He said, How careful
Speaker 3: should Democrats be right now with such a hot issue
Speaker 3: around this convention?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you have to be very careful.
Speaker 9: I'm pessimistic that if your peace is rely upon relying
Speaker 9: upon Hamas, you're going to have to wait. Hamas wants
Speaker 9: a permanent ceasefire, they don't want a situational one, and
Speaker 9: for that reason alone, they will probably reject this offer.
Speaker 9: They've rejected previous offers that were similar in nature to
Speaker 9: this one. As you say, they've been talking about this
Speaker 9: for a long time. I don't think there's any reason
Speaker 9: to believe that Hamas is going to see this as anything.
Speaker 3: This is smart politically to do this in public, then
Speaker 3: to go them to well.
Speaker 9: Look, I mean, I think it's good to have government transparency, right,
Speaker 9: I mean, like this is an important issue, as Genie says,
Speaker 9: to a lot of people, it's not just politics, and
Speaker 9: I think it's good that this is being aired out.
Speaker 9: We don't normally get to see sausage being made in
Speaker 9: these kinds of negotiations. But I think it's too soon
Speaker 9: to tell whether or not Hamas is prepared to come
Speaker 9: to the table and actually be a part of a
Speaker 9: community that wants to see peace. It's not been their history,
Speaker 9: and they've been very clear that they want a permanent
Speaker 9: cease fire, they just don't want to pay for it.
Speaker 5: Well, it's also worth noting Hamas operates as a proxy
Speaker 5: of Iran. We are still waiting Irani in retaliation against
Speaker 5: Israel for the assassination of leaders of Hesbola and of
Speaker 5: course Hamas in Tehran earlier this summer, so that maybe
Speaker 5: is a complicating factor in all of this as well.
Speaker 5: But it was described to us as by our political
Speaker 5: editor Laura Davison earlier this hour. Genie is really something
Speaker 5: that actually can create some separation between President Biden, who
Speaker 5: is president and therefore is the one that really has
Speaker 5: to deal with is and Kamala Harris, who can speak
Speaker 5: about it, who can try to frame it to her benefit,
Speaker 5: but doesn't necessarily have that commander in chief title at
Speaker 5: this time where this is incumbent upon her to deal
Speaker 5: with So to what extent, regardless of whether or not
Speaker 5: Hamas accepts or the negotiations are still ongoing, should Harris
Speaker 5: be talking about this issue or others like economy and
Speaker 5: the border at the convention this week?
Speaker 8: You know, I think the convention, we're not going to
Speaker 8: hear a lot of policy specifics. I think we're going
Speaker 8: to hear an introduction of Kamala Harris because a lot
Speaker 8: of people are not intimately familiar with her, even though
Speaker 8: she's been in our lives as vice president for almost
Speaker 8: four years now. So that's going to be what she
Speaker 8: does this week. We will hear more about policy going forward,
Speaker 8: But to your point, I don't think we're going to
Speaker 8: hear a lot on the specifics of something like this,
Speaker 8: And so you know, she is going to try to
Speaker 8: get some of that separation from President Biden on things
Speaker 8: that he is not particularly popular on and try to
Speaker 8: embrace those things he is. So if there was a
Speaker 8: win on this, if that would be enormously helpful, but
Speaker 8: most importantly for the families of the hostages and you know,
Speaker 8: all the people affected by this. Regardless of the politics
Speaker 8: of this thing.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, if you're running a convention, though, and
Speaker 3: you've got thirty uncommitted delegates on the floor, is this
Speaker 3: an opportunity. There may not be a deal here, but
Speaker 3: this week in Chicago, there might be a sit down
Speaker 3: conversation between the Harris campaign and those delegates to say, look,
Speaker 3: we're trying to move the ball right.
Speaker 9: I think anything you can do to sort of knock
Speaker 9: your late the convention to delegates who aren't looking at
Speaker 9: the same success you are is important.
Speaker 4: You're going to do that.
Speaker 2: Any wouldn't just they've been doing it. You wouldn't just
Speaker 2: ignore it.
Speaker 9: Maybe their bus breaks down on the way to the
Speaker 9: convention on Thursday night. But another thing, But the reality
Speaker 9: is you don't usually get hard to use at a convention.
Speaker 9: And it would be really a kudo for Biden to
Speaker 9: be able to talk about this tonight. Now with Israel
Speaker 9: signing on, maybe that's enough for him, But to get
Speaker 9: a cease fire the night of your last speech to
Speaker 9: the convention as president, it would be a really special
Speaker 9: moment for him. And suffice it to say, I doubt
Speaker 9: if Hamas is really caring whether or not sure Joe
Speaker 9: Biden has a good.
Speaker 5: Night or not well fair enough, but it will be
Speaker 5: a night for Joe Biden, the only one, frankly, he's
Speaker 5: going to get at this convention. Genie, We've talked at
Speaker 5: length about how difficult this moment may may be emotionally,
Speaker 5: given his long career in public service, but he has
Speaker 5: made the decision to pass that the autonom will do
Speaker 5: so in a very real way. This evening, we're also
Speaker 5: going to be hearing from members of his family. Joe
Speaker 5: Biden is speaking tonight, Ashley Biden is introducing him. According
Speaker 5: to the speaker's list, what tone do you expect to hear,
Speaker 5: not just from the President, but from those closest to him.
Speaker 8: I think we're going to hear the closeness of their
Speaker 8: relationship with their husband and their father. You know, this
Speaker 8: is a family who has gone through so much trauma,
Speaker 8: especially in the last few years, and so I think
Speaker 8: we're going to hear a lot of love and respect
Speaker 8: from them. And I think they're going to be celebrating
Speaker 8: his work. I mean, nineteen seventy two, he enters Congress
Speaker 8: at twenty nine, and he departs today the convention, and
Speaker 8: or tonight the convention, and in a few months the presidency,
Speaker 8: so it's a big, big moment for him. But I
Speaker 8: think most important, they're all going to agree we want
Speaker 8: Kamala Harris to succeed and beat Donald Trump.
Speaker 3: So prepare for a lot of young photos of Joe
Speaker 3: Biden with Dark Harris.
Speaker 2: What you saying?
Speaker 3: That's right, great conversation with our signature panel. As always,
Speaker 3: Rick Davis Genie Shanzano are going to be with us
Speaker 3: for the week here in Chicage, with a lot more
Speaker 3: to follow as the DNC gets underway.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast.
Speaker 3: Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 3: or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find
Speaker 3: us live every weekday from Washington, DC at Noontimeeastern at
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