Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg's sound on
Speaker 1: inflation is much too high, and we understand the hardship
Speaker 1: at his causing singing down the depths. There is one
Speaker 1: way to ease inflationary pressures. I think deep down inside
Speaker 1: Jerome pal thinks, well, this is Anna Duke at least
Speaker 1: flo Bloomberg Sound on Politics, Policy and perspective from DC's
Speaker 1: top names. Yeah, the administration, the Biden administration is running
Speaker 1: out of their current draw down authority. That will get
Speaker 1: us till about the third week of this month. They
Speaker 1: are mobilizing people. They are now sending notices the people
Speaker 1: in the reserves. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. President Biden offers his plan to lower inflation
Speaker 1: just as gas prices hit a new high. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the fastest hour in politics, as we explore the most
Speaker 1: important issue of the mid terms. Of course, rising prices
Speaker 1: with details on the President's plan on veil today may
Speaker 1: sound familiar in many cases, along with what he calls
Speaker 1: the ultra maga alternative and reaction from the top ranking
Speaker 1: Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee will be
Speaker 1: joined in just a moment by Congressman Kevin Brady of
Speaker 1: Texas and from our panel Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeanie Chanzano
Speaker 1: and Rick Davis with analysis and an eye on the primaries.
Speaker 1: We're gonna look at the vote happening today in West
Speaker 1: Virginia and Nebraska with Bloomberg campaign specialist Greg Giro, and
Speaker 1: we'll have an eye on the House this evening. With
Speaker 1: a vote expected on a nearly forty billion dollar emergency
Speaker 1: Ukraine spending bill, above the number President Biden requested, it
Speaker 1: appears to have enough support to clear both chambers by
Speaker 1: early next week. If things go as planned. It's a
Speaker 1: clean bill, right. This is a pretty big development today. Actually,
Speaker 1: as the President backed off Democrats backed office idea of
Speaker 1: attaching COVID funding, he issued a statement suggesting that he
Speaker 1: understands it's gonna bog things down, and so here's your
Speaker 1: clean bill, and it's gonna be well timed. As we
Speaker 1: heard to day from Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby. Here
Speaker 1: he is between what the President just announced Friday and
Speaker 1: the hundred million that we still have left, and we're
Speaker 1: going to be working that in real time with the Ukrainians.
Speaker 1: Um that that will get us till about the third
Speaker 1: week of this month is what we're pretty much anticipating,
Speaker 1: which is why we uh. We continue to urge Congress
Speaker 1: to pass the President's supplemental request as soon as possible
Speaker 1: so that we can continue to provide aid to Ukraine uninterrupted.
Speaker 1: So next week and as lawmakers prepared to vote on
Speaker 1: more weapons and humanity Harry and aid for Ukraine. Inflation
Speaker 1: was the talk from Wall Street to Washington as President
Speaker 1: Biden addressed the nation again today, show work that's been done,
Speaker 1: plans for the future, to get prices down. Here's the President.
Speaker 1: Our economy is gone from being on the men on
Speaker 1: the move. But for every worker I met who has
Speaker 1: gained a little bit of breeding room to seek out
Speaker 1: a better pay job, for every entrepreneur who has gained
Speaker 1: the confidence to pursue their small business dreams, I know
Speaker 1: the families all across America are hurting because of inflation.
Speaker 1: He offered a number of familiar ideas from what we
Speaker 1: once called build back better think, expanded child tax credit,
Speaker 1: lowering the cost of prescription drugs. The President spent those
Speaker 1: much time talking about Republican economic policies, and so we
Speaker 1: wanted to get reaction from the top Republican on the
Speaker 1: House Ways and Means Committee. That would be Congressman Kevin
Speaker 1: Brady of Texas. He's with us now. Congressman, welcome back
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg, Joe, thanks for having me. President Biden addressed
Speaker 1: the American people today about the economy. He talked a
Speaker 1: lot about inflation, which you and I have talked a
Speaker 1: lot about the causes, the potential cures. I want to
Speaker 1: walk through some of the things that he said with you,
Speaker 1: as presented at the White House today, what he called
Speaker 1: to alternatives, his plans for future growth and to lower prices.
Speaker 1: And one as he framed from Congressional Republicans, it's actually
Speaker 1: from Senator Rick Scott. I realized you're in the House,
Speaker 1: but here's how he put it. And then I'd love
Speaker 1: to have your respond Senator Rick Scott, Wisconsin. Remember the
Speaker 1: Senate Republicanship laid it all out and the plan it's
Speaker 1: the Ultra Maga Agenda. Third plan is the raised taxes
Speaker 1: on seventy five million American families over pent of who
Speaker 1: make less than a hundred thousand dollars a year total income.
Speaker 1: The average tax increased would be about one thousand, five
Speaker 1: hundred dollars per family. They've got a backwards in mim Now,
Speaker 1: first congressman, we know Rick Scott is from Florida. But
Speaker 1: beyond that, it is President Biden wrong about this plan? Yeah?
Speaker 1: He is. In fact, he's been fact checked repeatedly. I
Speaker 1: think he was given three pinocchios for that claim that
Speaker 1: the Republican tax plan is Rick Scott's plan. It's not.
Speaker 1: That's one member of the Senate. The chief manner is
Speaker 1: our Our tax plan is what you know, making permanent
Speaker 1: those lower tax rates for families, small businesses, doubling the
Speaker 1: child tax credit and making that permanent, in helping the
Speaker 1: standard deduction. So yeah, I'm surprised the President continues to
Speaker 1: make that claim because even the Washington Post fact sector
Speaker 1: is He also talks about Rick Scott's plan to sunset
Speaker 1: social programs. You've heard about this requiring things like Social
Speaker 1: Security to be renewed after five years. Is that wrong?
Speaker 1: You know, I think there's a better way to save
Speaker 1: so Security once and for all. I do think though,
Speaker 1: that many states do put sunset on their programs in
Speaker 1: agencies to hold them accountable to taxpayers. They normally do
Speaker 1: it on a decade or every twelve years. And that's
Speaker 1: just to make sure that again taxpayers have a saying
Speaker 1: whether these agencies go on into an eternity. I I
Speaker 1: in fact carried that legislation as a freshman and sophomore,
Speaker 1: passed down the House. But no, it it exempted so security, Medicare,
Speaker 1: and those entitlement programs. Is that something the President was
Speaker 1: passionate about this. He raised his voice last week. He
Speaker 1: said people have been paying into these programs for their
Speaker 1: entire lives. President is just is desperate throwing anything out there,
Speaker 1: including what many people believe is in the illegal cancelation
Speaker 1: of student dead And so I think he's doing his
Speaker 1: best to try to make just wild claims and hope
Speaker 1: the public believes it. But they don't. They've seen his presidency,
Speaker 1: they've seen this economy, they've seen the border, uh, and
Speaker 1: they've seen the crime. And so I don't think any
Speaker 1: of these desperation, you know, efforts are gonna work. Well,
Speaker 1: he's creating the two paths you you come with the Democrats,
Speaker 1: as he framed it, releasing oil from the strategic reserve,
Speaker 1: squaring away the supply chains, extending the child tax credit.
Speaker 1: One you mentioned lowering drug prices or go the ultra
Speaker 1: maga route. Do you does that name bother you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, not necessarily. But he obviously is trying to
Speaker 1: make this election about President Trump, when in fact everyone
Speaker 1: knows this. This election is about President Buy and Democrats
Speaker 1: in Congress. And if he wants to talk taxes, first,
Speaker 1: let's talk inflation. That is a huge tax and this
Speaker 1: year of the average family about five thousand dollars more
Speaker 1: to buy what they did the year before. It's just crushing.
Speaker 1: And secondly, he's still trying to push for a trillion
Speaker 1: a half tax take on main street businesses that will
Speaker 1: drive inflation even higher. Other countries are lowering their taxes
Speaker 1: to deal with inflation. This present is trying to heap
Speaker 1: more on main street businesses and families. So look, I
Speaker 1: don't think he can escape his own presidency. At this point,
Speaker 1: that gets awfully confusing. The President says, these components what
Speaker 1: we call build back better last year and may come
Speaker 1: up in some other form this year, is how to
Speaker 1: lower prices. Republicans say, no, that is actually why prices
Speaker 1: are higher. I guess my question for your congressman is
Speaker 1: can we beat inflation without going into a recession. Now
Speaker 1: that the FED is addressing this, you know, because here's
Speaker 1: my worry, Joe, because both the White House and the
Speaker 1: SAID was in denial and sort of dismissed this for
Speaker 1: all of last year. Now, the likelihood of the recession
Speaker 1: that's needed to break that that inflation cycle now is
Speaker 1: much higher, and I think that delay has hurt the
Speaker 1: country in a big way. So it's gonna be tough.
Speaker 1: Every wage by spiral like we're in today ends in
Speaker 1: a recession, and it's very painful, which is why all
Speaker 1: last year we were so you know, frustrated with Look,
Speaker 1: you've got to deal with these these issues, Mr President.
Speaker 1: So now I think it's very likely it it ends
Speaker 1: up in the recession. President outlined the causes of inflation today, pandemic,
Speaker 1: and the war in Ukraine. Of course, the pandemic comes
Speaker 1: with all kinds of stuff, the shifting demanded goods, the
Speaker 1: impact that COVID had on economies, shutting down the supply
Speaker 1: chain issues. But is that oversimplifying the matter. It is
Speaker 1: in a big way, and yes, those factors do matter.
Speaker 1: But but long before that was the president's own nearly
Speaker 1: two trillion dollar COVID stimulus that fueled inflation. You can
Speaker 1: look at every graph and watch it just take off. Right. Then, secondly,
Speaker 1: his own policies, besides just that two trillion dollars of
Speaker 1: stimulus and and other programs, is that same bill paid
Speaker 1: a lot of Americans to stay home rather than reconnect
Speaker 1: the work, which is why we still have a worker crisis,
Speaker 1: which is driving inflation. We don't have the people demand
Speaker 1: the production lines to symbol products, to deliver them, or
Speaker 1: even service them. And so these are his policies, This
Speaker 1: is his inflation. That's why so many people. Now I'm
Speaker 1: looking at my screen trending Biden inflation. You know, this
Speaker 1: is a this is a big issue for family. You
Speaker 1: and I have talked at length about energy prices. Are
Speaker 1: the administration's attempts to boost domestic drilling, and I know
Speaker 1: you disagree with the pre war policies when it comes
Speaker 1: to energy from this White House board, of these new
Speaker 1: efforts actually working to increase production, yeah, they're not, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: because on one hand, the presidents talking about need to
Speaker 1: do more production and releasing you know, strategic fuel from
Speaker 1: our reserves, but on the other hand, announced from new
Speaker 1: regulations that that lock off large parts of America from
Speaker 1: expiration and production. He still continues to block the pipelines
Speaker 1: that could get this this oil and gas to the
Speaker 1: refineries and back out to our communities. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's a sort of a bait and switch
Speaker 1: that Again, I think the public has seen so much
Speaker 1: in these past this past year and a half that
Speaker 1: I just Joe, I may be wrong, but I don't
Speaker 1: think they're buying it. Four dollars thirty seven cents a
Speaker 1: gallon an all time high when apparently not adjusted for inflation.
Speaker 1: But that's a big number. Does it go higher? It's huge, Yes,
Speaker 1: that likely does. UM, it does because demand continues to
Speaker 1: be strong. Uh, we're seeing, you know, the countries start
Speaker 1: to wean themselves off Russian oil. They're going to be
Speaker 1: relying on you know, countries like the US that does
Speaker 1: an export on natural gas and other issues. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, uh, I think the continued uncertainty in the
Speaker 1: world and in the US on production UM is going
Speaker 1: to drive prices. Lastly, Congressman aid for Ukraine, Does that
Speaker 1: forty billion passes a clean bill? You know? I think
Speaker 1: it does. I I this is so I think most
Speaker 1: members of Congress have not yet looked into that forty
Speaker 1: billion exactly how that breaks down. But I would say,
Speaker 1: you know, on the surface of those are valid lethal
Speaker 1: weapons and in other support we give them. I think
Speaker 1: it'll it'll, it'll pass. Congressman Kevin Brady, Republican from Texas,
Speaker 1: ranking member ways and means, it's great to have you
Speaker 1: back on Bloomberg. Thanks take care. Coming up, we assemble
Speaker 1: the panel with Bloomberg Politics contributors, Democratic analysts Genie Schanzano,
Speaker 1: and Republican strategist Rick Davis. As voters are presented as
Speaker 1: you just heard, with the Biden plan or the Ultra
Speaker 1: Naga version on the buffet of choices, we'll get into
Speaker 1: what with. The panel will check traffic and the markets
Speaker 1: for you after hours as well. On the fastest hour
Speaker 1: in politics. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg. You
Speaker 1: sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The headline
Speaker 1: on the terminal Biden nods to families, inflation, pain lashes
Speaker 1: out at GOP plans. Congressman Brady didn't seem to like
Speaker 1: what he heard, and well, I guess that's all by design.
Speaker 1: As the President went for the Ultra Maga yet again,
Speaker 1: we got a little peek behind the curtain last week
Speaker 1: at that the speech to the President was talking about
Speaker 1: deficit reduction and reeled into this, uh, this, uh, what
Speaker 1: I guess will be a permanent portion of the speech
Speaker 1: here about Rick Scott and his economic proposals ultra maga
Speaker 1: though I guess goes beyond just the economy. It's it's
Speaker 1: all political issues from that perspective, As we heard from
Speaker 1: Jensaki when she was asked about on the White House
Speaker 1: Press briefing, here's the press secretary. But he's also not
Speaker 1: going to stand by UH and not call out what
Speaker 1: he sees as ultra maga behavior, ultramaga policies UM that
Speaker 1: are out of the mainstream of the country and are
Speaker 1: not in the interests of the American people, whether that
Speaker 1: is efforts to prevent a woman from making choices about
Speaker 1: her own healthcare, or whether that is Chairman Scott's UH
Speaker 1: policy and proposals on that would raise taxes on people
Speaker 1: making less than a hundred thousand dollars a year. UM.
Speaker 1: He's going to continue to call that out, but he
Speaker 1: believes there are still a path to move forward on
Speaker 1: where we have agreement. All Right, let's assemble the panel
Speaker 1: to talk this out a little bit with Bloomberg Politics
Speaker 1: contributors Jeanie Schanzano and Rick Davis. Genie, was this successful
Speaker 1: today to kind of bring the two lanes at once here.
Speaker 1: This is what we're doing and hope to do with inflation.
Speaker 1: Here's what the ultra maga alternative is? Or is Joe
Speaker 1: Biden not the person to be telling that to voters.
Speaker 1: He's the person who has to be telling this to voters.
Speaker 1: You know, from a perspective of the Honomy policy proposals,
Speaker 1: there was nothing new here. As you talked about with
Speaker 1: Representative Brady, there was not one new proposal from a
Speaker 1: political perspective. He got to underscore his major argument, ultra maga,
Speaker 1: this is not your father's Republican Party. These kinds of
Speaker 1: lines they keep throwing out. You know, they want to
Speaker 1: talk about Rick Scott as much as they possibly can,
Speaker 1: But the reality of this situation is it is a
Speaker 1: desperate situation for the White House. I was looking back
Speaker 1: when Gerald Ford took the White House. He went before
Speaker 1: Congress and he asked people to carpool, turned down their
Speaker 1: thermostats and plant a wind garden. This is how desperate
Speaker 1: presidents get Alan Greensband later said it was incredibly stupid,
Speaker 1: but he had no alternatives. Same position Joe Biden is
Speaker 1: in right now. That's why he's going to talk about
Speaker 1: mega Trumps and Rick Scott as much as he can. Well,
Speaker 1: that's a tough position to be in here, Rick. I
Speaker 1: think I'm just curious from a scientific messaging standpoint, if
Speaker 1: you're preparing the president to address the nation about the
Speaker 1: number one issue that could likely derail Democrats here in
Speaker 1: the mid terms, does it cloud the message? Does it
Speaker 1: do you get in your own way when you start
Speaker 1: spending as much time on ultra maga as you do
Speaker 1: your own ideas well? Joe, I only wish there was
Speaker 1: something scientific about messaging. Maybe I made that up. Oh no,
Speaker 1: it's all right. You look at the polls, you try
Speaker 1: and test words and phrases, and at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it just depends upon what's backing them up.
Speaker 1: And in this case, I think that the the challenge
Speaker 1: Biden has is he really doesn't have anything new to offers,
Speaker 1: as as Kevin Brady said, and and I think that
Speaker 1: that's that's gotten painted into a corner. I don't know
Speaker 1: why he doesn't take a leaf out of what Congressman
Speaker 1: Brady was suggesting, and and and throw in some gas
Speaker 1: tax holidays, do something to lower taxes, Do something that
Speaker 1: will actually take some of the financial burden away from
Speaker 1: households and businesses, rather than thinking about ways of sustaining
Speaker 1: an economic agenda that maybe seemed fine to him at
Speaker 1: the beginning of his administration when there was no inflation.
Speaker 1: But but he's just not shown the ability to pivot
Speaker 1: now that the economy has changed and he's got a
Speaker 1: new burden to bear, and and and at least today
Speaker 1: was his first attempt, you know, months months into this
Speaker 1: to actually address it head on. I mean we rarely
Speaker 1: heard him even say the word inflation, you know, for
Speaker 1: the last six months, while it has built up into
Speaker 1: this crescendo. Yeah, this is the day, as you well know, Genie,
Speaker 1: that we hit a new high four dollars thirty seven
Speaker 1: cents a gallon. It's just in the air. You look
Speaker 1: at the stock market, you get a sense of what
Speaker 1: everyone's talking about on Bloomberg, for instance, and you kind
Speaker 1: of look at the conversation that's happening here in Washington.
Speaker 1: The President is also going out of his way to
Speaker 1: talk about. Look, this was two causes, right for it
Speaker 1: wasn't all the spending, It was COVID, it was a pandemic,
Speaker 1: and it's the war in Ukraine. Are people going to
Speaker 1: believe that in November? Yeah, I filled up mike today
Speaker 1: was four Someone reminded me it was around two nine
Speaker 1: a year ago. And so it is stunning as we
Speaker 1: all go to the you know, fill up our gas
Speaker 1: and get groceries and everything else. Um, you know, whether
Speaker 1: people believe it or not, you know, there is truth
Speaker 1: to the fact that COVID and the Russian invasion did
Speaker 1: have an impact on the price of oil and food
Speaker 1: and everything else. But the fact is neither COVID nor
Speaker 1: nor Putin are going to be on that ballot in November.
Speaker 1: The president knows this is a referendum on who's in power.
Speaker 1: They are in power, Democrats are in power, so they're
Speaker 1: going to take the heat, which is why he is
Speaker 1: trying desperately to turn the conversation around. We heard it
Speaker 1: over and over today. He wants to say that, yes,
Speaker 1: we're in control, but if you let the Republicans, these
Speaker 1: ultramaga people come in, you know what they're gonna do.
Speaker 1: They're gonna cut Social Security, cut Medicare, cut medicaid, increase
Speaker 1: your cost of living. So don't put them back in
Speaker 1: power because it will be worse. I mean, we you
Speaker 1: know he's really talking about it's bad now, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna get worse. It's a warning and we're going to
Speaker 1: keep hearing it until November. It is a warning. Obviously.
Speaker 1: The question is whether it's too late, Rick Davis, you know, look,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's never too late because each
Speaker 1: of these races have a certain tolerance, right they they
Speaker 1: they some of them are gonna be closer than others,
Speaker 1: and you want to try to win the close ones.
Speaker 1: There's a whole triage that happens, and I'm sure this
Speaker 1: administration is looking at that. Going we have to save
Speaker 1: as many seats as we can with at least some
Speaker 1: of these proposals. We're going to dig into a couple
Speaker 1: of them, a couple of primaries coming up as they
Speaker 1: vote in West Virginia and Nebraska. Greg Borrow, our politics
Speaker 1: campaign guru, will be here along with the panel. On
Speaker 1: sound on. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg broadcasting live
Speaker 1: from our nation's capital. Bloomberg to New York, Bloomberg eleven
Speaker 1: Frio to Boston, Bloomberg one oh six one does San Francisco,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg nine sixty to the Country, serious x m General
Speaker 1: one nine and around the globe the Bloomberg Business app
Speaker 1: and Bloomberg Radio dot Com. This is Bloomberg Sound On
Speaker 1: with Joe Matthew. It's the first incumbent versus incumbent matchup
Speaker 1: in the cycle. I feel like a boxing announcer now.
Speaker 1: Now it's primary day in Nebraska and in West Virginia.
Speaker 1: Were redistricting left to lawmakers in the same district to
Speaker 1: fight it out in a game of political musical chairs,
Speaker 1: and you better believe Donald Trump is involved. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about it all in a moment with Bloomberg campaign guru
Speaker 1: Greg Giro. Voters out today in two states on this
Speaker 1: primary Tuesday. It's Nebraska and in West Virginia as well,
Speaker 1: where we have two incumbents left to fight over one
Speaker 1: congressional district because the lines were redrawn. When the music stops,
Speaker 1: there will be either Representative Alex Mooney endorsed by Donald
Speaker 1: Trump or Representative David McKinley endorsed by Joe Mansion, among others.
Speaker 1: So far the music has come from a string of
Speaker 1: really over the top, but I have to admit kind
Speaker 1: of fun political ads have a taste. Stand by for
Speaker 1: a Trump alert. President Trump has endorsed Alex Mooney for Congress,
Speaker 1: committed to beating Biden inflation. Alex Mooney is the official
Speaker 1: Trump Republican choice for Congress, who broke with Republicans and
Speaker 1: voted for Joe Biden's spending spree that's driving up inflation?
Speaker 1: Who did that? David McKinley, Republican back him? Good question.
Speaker 1: Mooney wins Trump's quote, complete and total endorsement. Alex Mooney
Speaker 1: endorsed by Trump, a fighter for Congress to move to
Speaker 1: West Virginia just to watch the ads. Bloomberg's Gragged you
Speaker 1: out puts a finger on it. Trump's endorsement tested in
Speaker 1: West Virginia incumbent matchup Greg Welcome back, Happy primary day.
Speaker 1: Alex Mooney and David McKinley have been fairly similar creatures,
Speaker 1: voted along similar lines in Washington. Right. So is this
Speaker 1: a personal vendetta by Trump against David McKinley. Yeah, in
Speaker 1: a sense, it is because while David McKinley is a
Speaker 1: pretty strongly conservative voting record. He did antagonize Donald Trump
Speaker 1: on two big votes. One was the infrastructure package. Thirteen
Speaker 1: Republicans voted for Joe Biden's infrastructure law. And then McKinley
Speaker 1: was one of thirty five Republicans who voted for what
Speaker 1: would have been a bipartisan commission to investigate the January
Speaker 1: attack on the capital that never became law. A different
Speaker 1: commission did McKinley opposed, But those two votes alone really
Speaker 1: angered Uh, Donald Trump, and that led him to endorse
Speaker 1: Alex Moody Alex Mooney over McKinley in this very rare
Speaker 1: member versus member primary. All right, so here we are.
Speaker 1: Mooney also enjoys support of the Club for Growth, right
Speaker 1: uh Lauren Bobert among others, and Representative McKinley has the
Speaker 1: backing of Joe Mansion is, of course, also voted for
Speaker 1: the bill and actually helped to craft it along with
Speaker 1: the Chamber of Commerce, which backed the bill. Joe Managine
Speaker 1: even made an ad for McKinley. I'm sure you've seen it. Greg.
Speaker 1: To try to set the record straight on all this,
Speaker 1: take a listen to Joe Mansion for Alex Mooney and
Speaker 1: his out of state supporters. To suggest David McKinley supported
Speaker 1: Bill back better is an outright lie. David McKinley has
Speaker 1: always opposed reckless spending because it doesn't make sense for
Speaker 1: West Virginia. So who means more in West Virginia, Greg
Speaker 1: Trump or Mansion? Yeah, I guess we'll find out later tonight.
Speaker 1: But Trump's certainly. Trump's endorsements certainly carries a fair amount
Speaker 1: of weight as we've seen in previous races, but it does,
Speaker 1: um you know, Joe Manson's intervention this race is very
Speaker 1: unusual in that he's obviously a Democrat waiting into a
Speaker 1: Republican primary here. But as Joe Manson has shown, he
Speaker 1: has one plenty of Republican votes in West Virginia as well.
Speaker 1: But McKinley does have the geographic advantage. He represents more
Speaker 1: of the merged district and Alex Mooney. However, Alex Mooney
Speaker 1: did enter the home stretch of the campaign with more
Speaker 1: money left to wait and see who's gonna win this one?
Speaker 1: But uh, yeah, it's seen more than five million dollars
Speaker 1: in television advertising in which goes a long way in
Speaker 1: northern West Virginia. Club for Growth was responsible. I think
Speaker 1: for one of those millions, which is a heck of
Speaker 1: a lot of money. To your point, In West Virginia,
Speaker 1: how how's the polling look, Greg? Is there enough to
Speaker 1: draw conclusions? That's been pretty scarce. I think it's a
Speaker 1: tough state to poll, and um, there hasn't been much
Speaker 1: independent polling. I believe there's one independent survey there was
Speaker 1: released in the last couple of days that had Mooney
Speaker 1: ahead of McKinley. How about Nebraska, We're also watching how
Speaker 1: the Trump brand plays tonight in Nebraska the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Speaker 1: Charles Herbster Mr. Herbster, backed by Trump, largely self financed,
Speaker 1: facing off with Jim Pillen, veterinarian and I love self
Speaker 1: described pig farmer. You've got to know we're not in
Speaker 1: Washington anymore. Pillen was endoored us by the sitting governor,
Speaker 1: who I believe, because of limits, is leaving. Greg. How
Speaker 1: does this one look? Yeah, so Pete Ricketts, the current
Speaker 1: Nebraska Republican governor, could not seek re election because of
Speaker 1: turn limits, and he's endorsed the pilling. As you mentioned
Speaker 1: Charles Herbster, he's a interesting guy who is always wearing
Speaker 1: cowboy hats, and uh, I believe like a vest in
Speaker 1: a tie every time he's uh goes in campaigns, and
Speaker 1: he's a campaigning with the enthusiastics enthusiastic support of Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: It's an open seat, as we've talked about, and a
Speaker 1: very very Republican state, and given how strongly Republican the
Speaker 1: state is, whoever wins the primary will be strongly favored
Speaker 1: to be elected governor in November. Do you have a
Speaker 1: sense what drew Donald Trump into this one or is
Speaker 1: he just he just needs to plant the flag everywhere? Uh.
Speaker 1: He definitely likes to intervene in races where he has
Speaker 1: a kind of a I think maybe a personal liking
Speaker 1: to the candidate, maybe the candidates style in this case,
Speaker 1: maybe Herbster's uh um, you know, anti anti establishment, anti
Speaker 1: Washington rhetoric appealed to Donald Trump in his cames. You
Speaker 1: point out the fact that Joe Manchion is a Democrat
Speaker 1: making an ad for a Republican here in this case
Speaker 1: reminds me of when Ray Flynn made an ad for
Speaker 1: for Scott Brown. That kind of stuff gets attention. But
Speaker 1: Joe mansion is also has this sort of grandfatherly role
Speaker 1: that he plays in West Virginia politics, right, I suspect
Speaker 1: that that got some attention. It really did, and I
Speaker 1: think in and I'm hard pressed I did. I had
Speaker 1: forgotten almost about that. Scott Brown uh Win the head there.
Speaker 1: It's a good pull there. But you know, in most cases,
Speaker 1: it's very very risky, if not politically suicidal, to you know,
Speaker 1: announce an endorsement in a primary election from a politician
Speaker 1: from the opposite party. But in this case, it just
Speaker 1: kind of speaks to how just how well liked that
Speaker 1: Joe Mansion is in you know, some Republican circles that
Speaker 1: David McKinley felt they would have helped his campaign rather
Speaker 1: than hurt it to have mansions and premature for this primary,
Speaker 1: you expect a late night. What are you watching for
Speaker 1: the next few hours, Greg, after the polls closed, Well,
Speaker 1: seven thirty PM is when the voting is supposed to
Speaker 1: end in West Virginia. Sometimes the county can be a
Speaker 1: little bit slow. But you know what I have is
Speaker 1: the have a map of the twenty seven counties in
Speaker 1: the McKinley Mooney merged district. Nineteen of them are held
Speaker 1: by McKinley and eight of them by Mooney and I'll
Speaker 1: watch the returns that they come in. And if Mooney
Speaker 1: starts doing quite well in counties that McKinley is winning,
Speaker 1: that's going to be obviously good night for Mooney. But
Speaker 1: if McKinlay can hold his own and his in his
Speaker 1: home turf and kind of parlay that geographic advantage to
Speaker 1: uh to his to his edge, then it'll be good
Speaker 1: night for him. I always love to spending time with
Speaker 1: Dreg Arrow on a primary day, isn't you can? You
Speaker 1: can just get the enthusiasm through the phone, right, I
Speaker 1: love it. Thank you great reporting. We'll be watching for
Speaker 1: you on the terminal. Reassemble the panel. Next, this is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. So is it Mansion versus Trump in
Speaker 1: West Virginia? Is your sounds? Get speaking with Greg indirectly?
Speaker 1: Of course, you know, with Mansion backing McKinley, Trump going
Speaker 1: with Mooney because McKinley voted for the infrastructure bill, which
Speaker 1: of course Joe Mansion was a big part of. And
Speaker 1: we've got an interesting primary here. Of course, again one
Speaker 1: district lost because of redistricting, redrawing the lines, which means
Speaker 1: you have incumbent on incumbent. And here we are again
Speaker 1: with the panel curious to hear what they think. Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Politics contributors Jeanie Chanzano and Rick Davis Rick. This is
Speaker 1: another example of Donald Trump making a decision to endorse somebody,
Speaker 1: largely for sort of personal reasons. In this case, he
Speaker 1: was offended by the vote on infrastructure, by the vote
Speaker 1: on January six. Uh what kind of a way to
Speaker 1: pick a horse is that? Well, it's not the first
Speaker 1: time that Donald Trump has retribution as a primary political
Speaker 1: motivating tool. In fact, that's kind of his whole m o.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna if you do anything that cross with me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: ask Liz Cheney. So uh so, this is pretty standard
Speaker 1: operating procedure for Donald Trump. And and and in this case,
Speaker 1: if he is successful, it's kind of a double victory lap, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, not only does he get the guy he picked,
Speaker 1: but he's dispatching someone who actually did something he didn't like.
Speaker 1: That's what's so unique about these two incumbents. You know,
Speaker 1: they have track records in the House, and and Donald
Speaker 1: Trump could actually uh beat back an opponent at the
Speaker 1: same time, putting someone in there who will basically endorse
Speaker 1: whatever his point of view is. What do you make
Speaker 1: of the Joe Mansion endorsement. I'd like to hear from
Speaker 1: both of you on this. But Rick as a Republican
Speaker 1: having the Democrat come in, or was that the other
Speaker 1: way around? The Republicans called the Democrat and said, hey,
Speaker 1: we really would love for you to make an ad.
Speaker 1: You know, I grew up in Virginia politics, you know,
Speaker 1: and we had this classic guy, uh, Senator Harry Bird,
Speaker 1: who was an independent, and and everybody wanted his endorsement, right,
Speaker 1: I mean Republicans wanted his endorsement, Democrats wanted his endorsement. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I think this is the same kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I think that Joe Manchin is kind of the Harry
Speaker 1: Bird of West Virginia, you know, brought up to speed
Speaker 1: on on the current political scene. And and he's just
Speaker 1: a guy who Democrats want, Republicans want. He's extremely popular
Speaker 1: amongst both constituencies in um West Virginia. And it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how much, if he doesn't pull this off,
Speaker 1: how much that made me affects his his his power base,
Speaker 1: because right now, I mean, he's playing some pretty hard
Speaker 1: political shots with the Democrats, you know, with the understanding
Speaker 1: that he can get away with it, and and if
Speaker 1: he looks like he's failed here, it might chip away
Speaker 1: at some of that armor. That's an interesting way of
Speaker 1: looking at it here. What do you make of this genie?
Speaker 1: If if, if, if Joe Manchin has that kind of
Speaker 1: grandfatherly presence in West Virginia politics, how does Donald Trump
Speaker 1: come close to that? Well, he comes close to it
Speaker 1: because he won every county in West Virginia in he
Speaker 1: it's his second best state in the country. He wins
Speaker 1: by six to me. This is Donald Trump versus infrastructure.
Speaker 1: And if Donald Trump wins, that speaks volumes to how
Speaker 1: he controls this party. Because West Virginia desperately needs infrastructure money.
Speaker 1: Forty five bridges in that state rated in poor condition,
Speaker 1: the highest in the country. They have the second highest
Speaker 1: rate of power outages. You can just go on and on.
Speaker 1: They need the money. You have McKinley saying, hey, look it,
Speaker 1: I didn't play politics. I voted for what we need.
Speaker 1: And yet he could very well lose. And by the way,
Speaker 1: in this new district, he is in much more representative
Speaker 1: of the new district than Mooney so this is a
Speaker 1: big win for Donald Trump if he pulls this off
Speaker 1: pretty incredible quickly. On the Nebraska gubernatorial it's just interesting.
Speaker 1: Uh in this case, you've got a pig farmer veterinarian
Speaker 1: versus a pretty rich guy has been financing his own
Speaker 1: campaign largely walking around in cowboy hats. Rick, what's a
Speaker 1: better story for the Republican Party. You know, it's kind
Speaker 1: of a win win. Whoever wins this is gonna win
Speaker 1: the election. I have to be for the veterinarian. My
Speaker 1: wife's a veterinarian. I can't oppose a veterinarian. But uh,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, I'd really side
Speaker 1: with the pig farmer because what what Washington, d c.
Speaker 1: Needs Is some much better barbecue. And maybe if this guy,
Speaker 1: you know, could have some influence in Washington, we get
Speaker 1: some decent barbecue. But this is a win win. Republicans
Speaker 1: are gonna win this seat. Um Uh. The governor's wildly
Speaker 1: popular there. He can't run because he's term limited. So
Speaker 1: I think this has much less controversy associated other than
Speaker 1: you know, maybe some of the piccadillos that have been
Speaker 1: uh talked about regarding one of the candidates. Um, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a little bit of a foregone conclusion.
Speaker 1: He's pulling for the pig farmer Regina. That means Donald
Speaker 1: Trump would lose in Nebraska. That's right. And you know
Speaker 1: I am pulling for the pig farmer as well. There's
Speaker 1: also we th Canada in this race. But you know,
Speaker 1: it is important to say that the Trump endorsed candidate
Speaker 1: is facing serious allegations of misconduct with eight to nine
Speaker 1: women who have accused him, um of sexual misconduct, and
Speaker 1: so he is somebody who is controversial from the start.
Speaker 1: He has been endorsed by Donald Trump, and once again
Speaker 1: you have him versus the more establishment These are all
Speaker 1: conservative conservatives, but the establishment wing if you have anything
Speaker 1: like that of the Nebraska Republican Party and in the
Speaker 1: candidate that's endorsed by the governor of the sitting governor
Speaker 1: of Nebraska. So it is a big, big, another sort
Speaker 1: of notch in Trump's belt, if you will. If he
Speaker 1: pulls these off against people who live there, who work there,
Speaker 1: and who know these people. Well, if we're talking Trump,
Speaker 1: we need to we need to talk about Elon making
Speaker 1: news today at what was the Financial Times future of
Speaker 1: the car summit, and of course Mr Tesla was there,
Speaker 1: but it was Twitter that made the news. Listen to
Speaker 1: what Elon Musk says about reinstating Donald Trump. He says
Speaker 1: he will do that assuming this deal goes through and
Speaker 1: he's actually running Twitter. Listen to Elon Musk. He has
Speaker 1: publicly stated that he will not be coming back to
Speaker 1: Twitter um and that he will only be on truth Social.
Speaker 1: And this is the point that I'm trying to make,
Speaker 1: which is perhaps not getting across, is that there is
Speaker 1: that banning Trump from Twitter didn't end Trump voice. It
Speaker 1: will amplify it among the rights. And this is why
Speaker 1: it is molly wrung and flat out stupid spoken like
Speaker 1: Elon Musk, Rick Davis is their truth to that? Does
Speaker 1: that create the martyrdom that allows Donald Trump to last?
Speaker 1: You know, it hasn't um You would have thought that
Speaker 1: had been implemented before. True Social has been kind of
Speaker 1: a dismal failure so far. Maybe it's technology that's limiting it,
Speaker 1: but certain people will still be listening to Trump if
Speaker 1: he were still on Twitter. I think the same people
Speaker 1: who were probably on True Social would be on Twitter
Speaker 1: and and and they probably already are and so it's
Speaker 1: really up to Trump. Uh, he's trying to now feather
Speaker 1: bed his own economics by promoting true social Uh. It
Speaker 1: would be a huge blow to them if he went
Speaker 1: back onto Twitter. So he's he's the one who's created
Speaker 1: a kind of jam for himself. Whereas economic interests aren't
Speaker 1: aligned with his political interests. The stock has been hammered
Speaker 1: this back that will eventually lead to to this being
Speaker 1: public genie. Uh, to hear Elon Musk, though, it will
Speaker 1: amplify it among the right, which is why it is
Speaker 1: morally wrong and flat out stupid. Should Twitter have bumped
Speaker 1: Donald Trump to begin with? It's morally wrong, he says, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and there's a really interesting theory which says that,
Speaker 1: you know, these right wing social media platforms, if you will,
Speaker 1: don't work because they don't have the foil of people
Speaker 1: on the left and progressives there to lash out against
Speaker 1: and so truth social you know, not only has Trump
Speaker 1: not used it, not only is it the dismal failure
Speaker 1: that Rick was just talking about, but you know, it
Speaker 1: just doesn't have the reach of something like Twitter because
Speaker 1: it doesn't have liberals and progressives on it. So, you know,
Speaker 1: I keep thinking every time I hear Elon Musk say
Speaker 1: this about it being morally wrong and getting Trump back
Speaker 1: on there, that he's working for the Democrats quite frankly,
Speaker 1: because there's nothing they want more than Donald Trump everywhere
Speaker 1: he could possibly be. Keep Joe Biden quiet, keep Donald
Speaker 1: Trump there, and they have you know, I wouldn't even
Speaker 1: say a fighting chance, but they have a better chance
Speaker 1: than they do in a dismal year right now. That
Speaker 1: cuts both ways though, with millions of followers. Rick, I've
Speaker 1: heard that that logic as well. The Republicans hope Donald
Speaker 1: Trump does not come back on Twitter. Well, it depends
Speaker 1: on which Republicans are talking about. I'm I'm afraid Jeanie's right.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of Republicans who breathed a sigh
Speaker 1: of relief when he was banned because they were sick
Speaker 1: and tired of having to respond to his comments as
Speaker 1: a member of the Republican Party every day. Uh. And
Speaker 1: it would start early in the morning and last till
Speaker 1: late at night. And so when you have thirty news cycles,
Speaker 1: you know, while the guys in his waking hours, it's
Speaker 1: it's exhausting. And so sure, I think there was a
Speaker 1: side relief there. I do want to make sure everybody
Speaker 1: has pointed out that the reason that he was banned
Speaker 1: Umu wasn't because of just general incendiary UH language, is
Speaker 1: because he was promoting a soft coup uh, you know,
Speaker 1: during the January six insurrection into Capital. So I don't
Speaker 1: know exactly what you have to do to break the
Speaker 1: rules enough to get banned if you're in the um
Speaker 1: Elon Musk world, but that's pretty hard to top. How
Speaker 1: does this end then, Jennie, he has Elon Musk begging
Speaker 1: to come back. Maybe another you know, there's another couple
Speaker 1: of news conferences they closed. The deal is just you know,
Speaker 1: has to has to be there for his followers when
Speaker 1: they need him, and Bingo were back on Twitter. I
Speaker 1: think it could end that way. You know, I think
Speaker 1: this is a no win proposition for Elon Musk if
Speaker 1: this Twitter deal goes through, Moderation is a requirement, there
Speaker 1: is no way around it, and it is a no
Speaker 1: win prospect. So how he's going to do this? You know,
Speaker 1: he could talk morally wrong and all everything he wants,
Speaker 1: but really really tough to do. Great talk with both
Speaker 1: of you, guys, Jennie Chantino and Rick Davis. Our signature
Speaker 1: panel on Sound on Thinks as well. So Greg, you'rero
Speaker 1: for being with us and Congressman Kevin Brady with the
Speaker 1: latest on everything here inside the Bubble. I'll meet you
Speaker 1: back here tomorrow the fastest hour in politics. I'm Joe Matthew.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg.