Speaker 1: He was there on August of seen we saw a
Speaker 1: klansman and white supremacist and neo Nazis come out in
Speaker 1: the opening through crazed faces, illuminated by tortures, veins, bog
Speaker 1: and burying the fangs of racism, chanting the same anti
Speaker 1: Semitic bile herd across Europe in the third. So Joe's
Speaker 1: takeaway was that racists have fangs. Who knew racism had fangs?
Speaker 1: I mean, now we don't have to like accuse anybody
Speaker 1: of racism. You just haven't undergoing dental exam. That's from
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's video that dropped today as he officially announces
Speaker 1: he's running for president UM and an interesting idea that
Speaker 1: he's at the very least he's saying the that Donald
Speaker 1: Trump is not morally fit to be president. You could
Speaker 1: assume that he's saying the president is a racist or
Speaker 1: at least willing to pander to racist. And that's that's
Speaker 1: a heck of a thing for an opening shot. Why
Speaker 1: don't we start there with lanh Chen, the host of
Speaker 1: the podcast Crossing Lines with lan Chen, David and Diane Stephy,
Speaker 1: research fellow with Hoover Institution and director of Domestic Policy
Speaker 1: Studies at the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. Lan
Speaker 1: He how are you, sir, I'm doing well. It's a
Speaker 1: big freaking day, guys, it is, indeed and well said.
Speaker 1: So I've heard a hundred times from Democratic strategists and
Speaker 1: thinkers that we can't make this about Trump. We've got
Speaker 1: to make it about kitchen table issues and swaying the
Speaker 1: middle class and the rest of it. This is obviously
Speaker 1: not running with that. Heard. What do you think of it? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, that's exactly right, And that's going to be
Speaker 1: the challenge for Joe Biden. He wants to position himself
Speaker 1: as a reasonable alternative to the rest of the progressive
Speaker 1: lot that's running for president of Democratic Party, and he
Speaker 1: starts off with an anti Trump message as opposed to
Speaker 1: one focus squarely on on Middle America and on the
Speaker 1: challenges that they may face in the economy and other
Speaker 1: issues that you know, arguably would be a sweet spot
Speaker 1: for him. And I think this is going to be
Speaker 1: the issue with Joe Biden. Can he run a general
Speaker 1: election campaign during a primary election cycle? And my guess
Speaker 1: is no, No one's been able to do it before.
Speaker 1: And I think he's going to fall into many of
Speaker 1: the same traps that his predecessors have fallen into and pass.
Speaker 1: You know, I just one caveat to my own thoughts though,
Speaker 1: pull after poll does say Democrats want more than anything
Speaker 1: someone who can beat Trump period. Yeah. Well, and I
Speaker 1: think that's right. Is trying to say, I guess, well,
Speaker 1: I I don't know that you demonstrate you can beat
Speaker 1: Trump by focusing on Trump. I guess that's the point.
Speaker 1: And and and it'll be interesting to see because at
Speaker 1: some level the Democrats, you know, they do have this
Speaker 1: fixation with Trump, and they do have this fixation with
Speaker 1: elements of Trump's history and Trump's record as president which
Speaker 1: are not policy based but more character based. And I
Speaker 1: just don't know if when we get to you know,
Speaker 1: August and September next year, if those are going to
Speaker 1: be the issues that voters care about. I'm not convinced
Speaker 1: they are. Butters also have a relatively short memory when
Speaker 1: it comes to these things. So, you know, Biden's strategy
Speaker 1: today could be very different from biden strategy a year
Speaker 1: from now, it plays out, I was going to go
Speaker 1: that direction. So you've been involved in a couple of campaigns.
Speaker 1: How big a deal is the announcement day anyway, in
Speaker 1: the overall scheme of things. I remember Bernie in his announcement,
Speaker 1: which was mocked on The Daily Show because it looked
Speaker 1: like it was something he threw together in between meetings,
Speaker 1: and he did great, as as good as you know
Speaker 1: campaign in modern history. So how big a deal is it? Well,
Speaker 1: it's you know, there's an old thing in campaign politics
Speaker 1: that you're the best day of your campaign is the
Speaker 1: first day of your campaign, because you know, from there
Speaker 1: the tendency is for particularly the media and for others
Speaker 1: to begin picking it at you. Now, this, of course
Speaker 1: is the experience from the Republican side. Democrats tend to
Speaker 1: have a very different experience in a very different relationship
Speaker 1: with the media. But I think it's fair to say
Speaker 1: that whatever happens at the beginning of the campaign probably
Speaker 1: does not a fundamentally doom the rest of the campaign,
Speaker 1: with one potential exception, I will say, in this year's campaign,
Speaker 1: and that's Elizabeth Warren. I think her start was so
Speaker 1: bad and and and and her initial foray into the
Speaker 1: contest by you know, doing that DNA test. I mean
Speaker 1: that that I think did fundamentally doom her. But more
Speaker 1: likely than not. What you do early on is not
Speaker 1: necessarily going to have a huge bearing on your likelihood
Speaker 1: of winning the nomination later on. Fundamentally doomed as the
Speaker 1: title of the first volume of my autobiography on he
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've gotten a chance that I've
Speaker 1: sent you several copies. Very good, Thank you. Yeah. Lan
Speaker 1: heat on the line, host of the podcast Crossing Lines,
Speaker 1: Lan Hea Chen, we're talking about Joe Biden getting in.
Speaker 1: Is it significant? Well, two things, uh. He he went
Speaker 1: with a slick video as opposed to a big rally
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris style. And let's talk a little fundraising. He's
Speaker 1: not a zillions of twenty contribution guys. He's a bundler,
Speaker 1: traditional money guy, isn't he He is? So there's gonna
Speaker 1: be two things. One, his money is still going to
Speaker 1: be very important. And I would argue it's I don't know.
Speaker 1: In my mind, I think it has less to do
Speaker 1: with where the money comes from than the fact that
Speaker 1: he's got money. Yet he's gonna get hit by some
Speaker 1: of his opponents if he's not raising a ton of
Speaker 1: low dollar money. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: money is money. It doesn't really matter where it comes from.
Speaker 1: So I think he's going to have to focus on
Speaker 1: really animating Democratic donors. In my senses, by the way,
Speaker 1: he can do that that in my conversations with Democratic donors,
Speaker 1: they've been waiting for Biden to get in. He's the
Speaker 1: guy that they want to get behind. So I think
Speaker 1: he'll be fine there. It'll be interesting to see how
Speaker 1: he does on the stump. And that's to your point
Speaker 1: about video versus having a big rally. You know he
Speaker 1: can do both in fact, so he can have his
Speaker 1: campaign announcement today and then go out and do big events.
Speaker 1: I think he's doing one in Pennsylvania this weekend, maybe
Speaker 1: recognizing the importance of that. So we'll have to see
Speaker 1: how he does when he gets out there. But but
Speaker 1: my thing about Biden has always been, you know, can
Speaker 1: this guy from the nineteen eighties and nine nineties run
Speaker 1: a twenty one century campaign? And I think that's going
Speaker 1: to be the big challenge Joe Biden is going to face,
Speaker 1: along with probably being a little bit out of step
Speaker 1: from where the progressive bass on some issues. Debates a
Speaker 1: little over a month away, so we're gonna be full
Speaker 1: on running here pretty soon. How quickly will the field
Speaker 1: start to narrow because there's not enough money to go
Speaker 1: around for everybody want there to be be a certain number
Speaker 1: of campaigns and just say I gotta quit. I got
Speaker 1: no money. Yeah, I mean Republican primary of any indication
Speaker 1: to us. We'll start to see people fold by the
Speaker 1: time we get to the middle to end of the
Speaker 1: summer because the money is not going to be there.
Speaker 1: They're not getting any traction. I mean, look, I think
Speaker 1: there's a few of these candidates who probably thought that
Speaker 1: they would be more closely in the mix, but aren't.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, I'm thinking of someone like Kirston Jillibrand,
Speaker 1: the senator from New York. She probably thought, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, send I just gave another hundred dollars to
Speaker 1: uh to uh what's my boy's name, Scott Walker? Now,
Speaker 1: just splint it out of my mind. It's funny. I
Speaker 1: had that joke already to go, and I forgot the
Speaker 1: guy's name mid joke. Swallowell swallow Well it's uh it's
Speaker 1: a swallowell or small ball, I don't know, um but
Speaker 1: but but anyway, it's it's the point is, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll have to see kind of how this all
Speaker 1: all carries out. But yeah, I would anticipate the field
Speaker 1: thinging out by the summer, and then by the time
Speaker 1: we get to UM Super Tuesday, which is March up
Speaker 1: next year, I bet we're down to two or three
Speaker 1: by then. Well, how much money do you need to
Speaker 1: just continue? If your only goal is to raise your
Speaker 1: name recognition, not all the people to get into a
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know that almost not all these people
Speaker 1: on the stage were given these speeches ever planned to
Speaker 1: be president. They want to get a show on MSS
Speaker 1: and be your file. Yeah, our book deal or whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Would you like to name any of names who is
Speaker 1: clearly a a a resume candidate, a climber candidate. Well,
Speaker 1: I think Swallwell is the perfect example of that. I
Speaker 1: mean he's on MSNBC every day now, every day. Back
Speaker 1: to the whole idea, I mean, maybe maybe you you
Speaker 1: find yourself a little bit of a constituency so that
Speaker 1: when you leave the Congress you have a nice little
Speaker 1: TV deal waiting. Maybe you do a little book deal.
Speaker 1: You know, my my six weeks on the campaign trail. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know whatever it might sound, Yeah, i mean I'm
Speaker 1: sure it'll sell, you know, five copies. But but the
Speaker 1: point is you're you're you guys are absolutely right. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is what these contests have become is an exercise
Speaker 1: in profile raising. And if you think back to think
Speaker 1: about how many Republican names we know now because they
Speaker 1: got in and they didn't stay in for all that long,
Speaker 1: but we but we know the names because they decided
Speaker 1: to get in. And in some cases, you a guy
Speaker 1: like Ben Carson for example, you know he became a
Speaker 1: cabinet secretary out of it. So that's the thing. These
Speaker 1: guys were in the contest. Maybe they want a book deal,
Speaker 1: maybe they're looking for money, but maybe they're looking for
Speaker 1: a potential influence in a future Democratic administration. So a
Speaker 1: big picture of you from line he Chan of Joe
Speaker 1: Biden's candidacy, if you were a Biden fan, I mean
Speaker 1: really thought he'd be a great president. You hope he wins.
Speaker 1: How nervous and or confidence? Are confident? Are you about
Speaker 1: his long term prospects? Well, I think it's it's a
Speaker 1: little early to tell, because you know, we haven't seen
Speaker 1: how he performs once he gets out once once he
Speaker 1: gets out there, I mean I think the it's it's
Speaker 1: like the car. You know, you know all the specs,
Speaker 1: you know what it looks like. You think it's going
Speaker 1: to perform decently well, but then it gets out there
Speaker 1: and it's just not. In the second you turn the key,
Speaker 1: it sniff somebody's hair. Yeah, I mean exactly exactly. So
Speaker 1: so we'll have to see. But well let's tell you
Speaker 1: should say that because he's he's run for president more
Speaker 1: than anybody in the race. But you just think, different times,
Speaker 1: different age, and so it's it's a completely new go round,
Speaker 1: different age, different time, very different Democratic Party by the
Speaker 1: way that he went. He ran in the last time
Speaker 1: he ran for president in two thousand and eight, very
Speaker 1: different Democratic Party. I mean ran for president, not not
Speaker 1: not as part of a ticket, or ran as not
Speaker 1: as part of a ticket. It was it was it
Speaker 1: was a different Democratic Party in a different Joe Biden.
Speaker 1: And you know, eleven years makes a lot of difference
Speaker 1: on on on the on the time clock, just in
Speaker 1: terms of his ability to connect. And we'll see whether
Speaker 1: he's got the endurance to make it. I mean, you
Speaker 1: already kind of see Trump framing this up. I guess
Speaker 1: see the sleepy Joe tweets morning. Uh, he's trying to
Speaker 1: frame this up already in terms of the the old
Speaker 1: Knox against Joe Biden that that you know, uh, he's
Speaker 1: the intelligence thing and the plagiarism thing. I mean, all
Speaker 1: that stuff is gonna come back. We'll see how he
Speaker 1: performs in the spotlight, sleepy. Is he narcoleptic or does
Speaker 1: he just mean low energy or I don't think I've
Speaker 1: heard that one. Yeah, you know, I think maybe it's
Speaker 1: just I think it might be an effort to try
Speaker 1: and poke him on his age, which is a little
Speaker 1: like ron given that that the president's no spring chicken
Speaker 1: either year old makes fun of seven year old for
Speaker 1: their age. But you know, the thing is Trump doesn't
Speaker 1: He doesn't behave like a sepy something. Definitely not. He's
Speaker 1: got a lot of energy, uh into And so I
Speaker 1: think I think it'll be an interesting contract. I think
Speaker 1: that's what he's trying to set up. Lan Hea Chen,
Speaker 1: host of the podcast Crossing Lines with lan Hea Chen,
Speaker 1: his intelligence is not in Dowdies, uh, domestic policies, study
Speaker 1: guy at Stanford University, etcetera. Lan he great to talk
Speaker 1: to you, thank you, great to do with you, guys.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Bernie was asked, taking off my glasses.
Speaker 1: There it is, Director of Domestic Policy Studies. That's it.
Speaker 1: Bernie was asked the other day are you tooled during
Speaker 1: for Besnie said, follow me around on the campaign trial
Speaker 1: for a while. That's true for all of them. If
Speaker 1: you if you can physically do a campaign, well, then
Speaker 1: you're physically okay. Now, whether your mind's all right or not,
Speaker 1: I don't know. But being president is much less tiring
Speaker 1: than running for president, no doubt, according to all of them.
Speaker 1: Very few of us right now listening could keep up
Speaker 1: the schedule of these people keep up or would keep
Speaker 1: it up. Um, so that's something. Sleepy sleep and Joe
Speaker 1: Budden half way when he's a sleep you can't tell
Speaker 1: how stupid he is. Wait till he wakes up.