WEBVTT - Biden’s Disastrous Debate Accelerates Doubts Over Candidacy 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:10.719 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. This is Bloomberg business 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.960 Week Inside from the reporters and editors who bring you 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:18.360 America's most trusted business magazine, plus global business, finance and 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.880 tech news. The Bloomberg Business Week Podcast with Carol Messer 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.800 and Tim Stenebeck from Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:27.200 Well. 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.400 Our most ret story on the Bloomberg this Friday is 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.519 about last night's debate. President Joe Biden bet that a 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.240 debate with Republican and former President Donald Trump would boost 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:39.440 his moribund reelection campaign. Tim his gamble, though many would say, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:40.000 has failed. 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:40.239 Yeah. 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.360 We continue Bloomberg's coverage of last night's debate here with 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.280 us as Bloomberg Radio and TV Political news director Jody 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.640 Schneider in our Washington DC bureau. Also with US Bloomberg 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.519 Opinion West Coast Politics and Policy course columnist Erica D. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.760 Smith in Los Angeles. Jody, Let's start with you. Carol 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.200 did a really scientific or not so science at the 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:04.319 pull on the website formerly known as X asking people 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.040 if they were voting today. Carol, what were the results 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:07.200 of that? 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:08.960 Yeah, I'm just pulling it up. So I asked if 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.319 you were voting today Biden got fifty percent, Trump got 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.840 thirty one percent, and undecided got nineteen percent. People might 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:18.679 be surprised by that. No standard deviations yet, I like 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:20.000 we said, not very scientific. 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:21.600 Yeah, exactly. 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.720 Listen, we all watched the debate last night, and we're 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.240 gonna dig a little bit deeper into President Biden's performance 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.479 in a moment. I know everybody's focusing on that simply though, 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.360 and maybe this is naive in our question is there 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.840 a winner? Is there a loser from last night? A 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:37.320 clear winner, clear loser? 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.000 Well, I think if you're looking at performance, Joe Biden 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:46.360 clearly lost. He seemed lost at times. He had First 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.480 of all, his voice was odd. They told us that 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.360 he had a cold, but they didn't kind of tell 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:54.400 us that beforehand. So when your your first impression of 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.360 Joe Biden, a question or so in was what's going 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.800 on here? His voice was bad, he seemed to be faltering. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.840 He was really put on the ropes early on by 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:09.600 Donald Trump and stayed there. Frankly, so, in terms of performance, 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.640 Donald Trump was clearly the winner. Now in terms of 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.440 policy issues, first of all, there wasn't a lot of 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.360 policy debate. They were each going on kind of in 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:22.800 their own way. But Donald Trump, you know, continued a 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:28.080 lot of misstatements, lies, attacks, the sort of ungrounded attacks. 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.520 So from that standpoint you're watching it, you know, you 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.359 don't exactly feel good about the grasp of the issues there. 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:39.680 But he did have a much stronger performance than President Biden, 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:44.720 and interestingly, President Biden today on a campaign event seemed robust, 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.280 so very very odd performance last night. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.960 Okay, go ahead, Carole, No, well that's let's just go 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.240 there for a moment because we were just watching too 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.919 where he was in Raleigh, North Carolina, and it seemed 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.160 much more like the President Biden of the state to 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:00.640 the Union. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:01.239 What gives? 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:01.440 What? 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:03.240 How do we reconcile that? 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:04.440 Yeah? 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:04.880 I don't know. 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.360 I mean that's the question of the day. I think 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.600 one thing is he didn't have a teleprompter in Raleigh 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.800 at that campaign event. He didn't last night, which is interesting. 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.400 There was no audience last night, which everyone seemed to 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.320 think was going to benefit the president rather than the 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.480 former President Trump because Trump loves the crowd, right, but 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:27.920 it really seemed to hurt President Biden. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.639 Okay, so let's look at a couple key aspects from 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.960 last night's debate, Jody. Here's CNN's Dana Bash and Donald 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.720 Trump at last night's CNN Presidential debate on Trump whether 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.400 or not he'd accept the next election outcome in November. 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:41.080 Check it out. 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.240 The question was, will you accept the results of the election, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.040 regardless of who wins? 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:47.120 Yes or no? Please? 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.640 If it's a fair and legal and good election, absolutely, 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.320 I would have much rather accepted these But the fraud 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.600 and everything else was ridiculous. That if you want, we'll 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:01.680 have a new conference ordered in a week. 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.560 Okay, Jody, Not exactly a yes or a no answer there. 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.160 I'm curious if Trump's reticence is going to alienate people, 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:12.000 or perhaps alienate swing voters. I mean, they can think 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.520 of January sixth, just four years ago, and the way 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.440 the president at the time responded to the twenty twenty election. 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.320 Yeah, I think if something was going to hurt him 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:23.680 with swing state voters, it would be that timp He 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.280 not only did he not answer yes or no, he 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.680 made up things, you know, saying it was not a 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.960 free and fair election. Every single court seemed to, you know, 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:37.880 said that right. He would not be Joe Biden wouldn't 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.520 be standing there. If this was something that was litigated. 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:47.560 It wasn't so not accepting the legal outcome of an election, 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.480 I think is something that does disturb swing state voters 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.440 and it's that kind of answer that gives them possible. 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.159 All right, and let's get to something that you certainly 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.400 talked about before, Jody, and was disturbing to a lot 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.200 of folks who were watching, and what many would say 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.680 was a key concerned Democrats, and that is President Biden's 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:02.640 performance last night. 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.880 Here he is at the CNN presidential debate. 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.960 Making sure that we continue to suppend strength in our 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.799 healthcare system, making sure that we're able to make every 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:16.479 single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:21.680 do with with the COVID, I should be with dealing 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:28.919 with everything we have to do with Look if we 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:30.400 finally beat Medicare. 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.760 All right, That, of course was President Biden at the 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:35.839 debate last night. I want to bring in Erica D. 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:39.200 Smith West Coast Politics and policy columnists at Bloomberg Opinion, 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:43.080 because Erica, you write that of the many prominent Democrats 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:47.080 with aspirations for higher office, California, Gavin Newsom is arguably 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:49.760 the best equipped to pick up the baton from President Biden. 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.120 We wouldn't have had this conversation necessarily twenty four hours ago, 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.000 but because of the performance last night, we are having 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:01.640 this conversation. How is Governor some the right person to 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:03.359 maybe pick up that baton? 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:04.640 Yeah? 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:06.600 I agree, we wouldn't be having this conversation, and I 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:08.880 actually don't think that Governor Newsom actually wants to have 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.200 this conversation either right now. But you know, he has 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.000 been you know a lot of people have thought that 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.359 he's been kind of running the shadow campaign for several 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.480 months now, particularly people in California who were voters of his. 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.320 You know, he's been traveling the country, traveling the world, 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.680 building his national profile. He has you know, socked a 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.000 lot of his campaign cash into helping Democrats in other 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:29.480 states and networking. 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.880 Obviously, he's a top surrogate for for. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.440 Joe Biden and has been on the campaign trail almost 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.360 no stop for several months. He's emerged as probably one 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.960 of his best surrogates because he's really nimble in debates 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.280 and he goes on Fox News and on the right 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:48.000 wing media without hesitation. He we all remember the debate 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.320 that he did last year with Florida. Florida Governor Ron 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:54.560 DeSantis when DeSantis was still a presidential candidate for Republicans, 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.880 and you know, he got a lot of applause for 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.760 that though it was you know, I don't know much 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:01.800 as he came out of that debate either, but he 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.960 has really served as as somebody who's kind of ready 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.279 to kind of take into that next step as a backup. 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.200 And so now we're having this discussion. 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.440 Why Gavin Newsome over Vice President Kamala Harris, also from California, 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.360 and also another California petition politician, Erica. 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:18.440 Yeah. 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.200 I mean I think that those are the two, you know, 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.160 candidates I think most people are going to be talking about, 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.200 obviously Kamala Harris because she's the vice president and as 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:27.720 I write my column, I mean, vice President Harris is 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.080 more than capable I think of taking over this job 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.840 if necessary and running at the top of the TI 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:34.720 ticket if that's what voters want. 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:36.640 I think her biggest problem is for polling. 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.000 You know, you can argue about why people don't like 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.480 her as much as you know, the various different reasons 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:42.920 what it you know, has to do it sexism or 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.720 racism or what, but you know, her polling numbers have 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.160 never been that great, and I think that you know, 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.320 Gavin Newsom probably is going to do better with voters 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.000 right now than than Vice President Harris Well. 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.360 Jody, give us the view from from Washington, DC on this. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.920 I'm curious if Gavin Newso, in your opinion and you 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.280 and given in the circles that you report from, has 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.880 what it takes nationally to have that national appeal. Certainly 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.640 well known in California. But is he known well enough nationally? 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.760 Yeah, I think he's well known, Tim. I think the 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.400 question is a California you know, is that is that 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.760 who's going to kind of be able to take on 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.160 Donald Trump if Joe Biden were to step out a 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.920 step away. Uh, there's a lot of you know, Monday morning, 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.840 I guess, Friday morning quarterbacking here today and a lot 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:28.720 of people are talking. 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:28.960 You know. 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:33.440 You hear Gretchen Whitmer, Whitmere's name out there from Michigan. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.480 You hear Wes Moore from Maryland, who's only been in office, 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:39.960 you know, a couple of years. We're hearing a lot 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.160 of names, and of course Kevin Newsimp's name comes up. 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.000 He has been you know, out there on the national stage. 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.319 But I think at this point, it's still just kind 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.160 of a parlor game. But we are hearing some prominent 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.720 Democrats and some people who had worked with uh, you know, 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.880 certainly for Obama's campaign, uh some even honor ly Biden campaigns, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:05.000 who are questioning whether the president should step aside for someone. 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.080 But there really has to be a conversation that Joe 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.800 Biden accepts, and that seems to be certainly from his 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:17.080 campaign performance today for his at that rally, he does 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:21.080 not want to step aside. So until that happens, kind 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:22.800 of the parlor game is just a parlor game. 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:23.240 Erica. 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.040 For those who are listening and watching right now on 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.719 Bloomberg Radio and TV and across our platforms, I mean, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.520 you understand California politics, you understand Governor Newsom for our 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.600 national and really global audiences, because Bloomberg has put out 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:39.760 some reports about around the world, how people watched political leaders. 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:43.720 Global leaders watch that debate very closely and are nervous. 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:45.160 What do they need to know and. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.360 Understand about Gavin Newsom because he's been playing too on 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:48.559 the international stage. 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.640 Oh yeah, he has. I mean, he is a big thinker. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.280 I mean, I know he kind of comes across as 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:54.839 kind of this. You know, he has this Hollywood kind 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.600 of stereotype, but he's really a policy wonk and he 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.880 knows this stuff. He is very cares I think is 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:02.960 pretty clear from all the interviews that he's done. But 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:04.800 I do think he has a really. 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:06.439 Good mind for policy and for politics. 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.040 He's managed to get himself out of jams that I 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.480 think would have you know, taken other politicians out here 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.880 in California. And but you know, to the broader point 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.640 about California, right, I mean, California is so far left 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.440 on the political spectrum that it's hard for I think 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:25.480 a lot of Americans to understand California at all, much 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:27.880 less California politics. And I think that's going to be 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.079 his challenge. He's a very likable person. He can move 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.760 around in different crowds and different groups of people. The 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.560 question is whether or not that will I guess fly 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.040 if it even comes to that. Again, if if Biden 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.600 actually decides to set aside, which there's a lot of 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.280 ifs that get to to get through before we get 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.679 to whether I Knewsom is gonna potentially run for. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:49.960 Presidents well Erica. 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:51.840 Again, it is a parlor game, but we are we 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.040 are playing it today, and you do have a column 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.160 that he's among the most read all about it. I 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.400 do so potentially potentially step again. So we're gonna I'm 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:01.200 going to continue with my line of questioning to you 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.720 about this because I am wondering about the California element, 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.960 whether it helps or hurts Gavin Newsom. You mentioned it's 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.840 a liberal state. However, it does have an incredibly huge economy, 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.880 among the biggest economies in the entire world. But the 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.200 view of California, and I can say this is a Californian. 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.440 What is outside of California is I think for a 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.960 lot of people very confusing. Perhaps they see problems with 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.360 crime in Los Angeles and San Francisco, they see reports 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:31.080 of people moving to less expensive states like Arizona and Texas. 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.120 They hear about the high cost of living in the state. 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.400 Does it help or hurt a potential presidential candidate from 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:37.800 the state. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:40.880 I think on the most basic level, I think it 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.080 hurts because people see those headlines and they think, you know, 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.440 California is a mess. I think there's a story to 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.040 be told about how California grapples with those issues and 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.640 about how oftentimes those issues don't say, contained California, but 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.280 the California is the first one to experience them. And 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.880 I think when we think about homosis in particular, I mean, 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.240 California has had a homosis problem for quite some time, 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.080 but we've seen seeing that as a problem spread to 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.320 cities all over the country, you know, big and small, 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:06.800 and people are now looking into California about how do 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.040 you actually deal with this problem? Which should we do? 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.480 And so I think there's a story to be told about, 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:14.400 you know, the mess that is California, but I think 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.120 there's also a story to be told about how we 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.040 deal with it. And then there's just the broader story 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.040 of innovation, right. You know, Gavin Newsom gave his State 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.200 of the State address much later than usually planned, but 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.760 he did it online and it was very kind of 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:31.320 national Suite kind of putting California as this, you know, 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.960 the face of liberalism is the model of liberalism and 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.679 democracy in the face of you know, mega republicanism and 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.880 how we embrace equity and all of these things that 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.400 you know, he's gone and stumped about. And so I 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.440 think there are a lot of things that democrats in 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.120 this country want our country to be and to be 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:51.080 more accepting and to be more open and inclusive. And 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.680 I think California does represent that, but there is there's 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:55.480 some mess to get through before you understand what. 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:56.200 That actually looks like. 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:57.760 And I gotta say, when it comes to governor knew 0:12:57.800 --> 0:12:59.440 some I just go back to COVID. I mean, that 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:00.960 was one of the big voices that you know, it 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:03.520 wasn't just a California governor, but on a national scale. 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:05.720 I feel like the nation was watching what he was 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:07.400 doing and what he was saying in a big way. 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:10.080 Having covered that day in day out, Jody, come on 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.600 back in. I want to know what you are hearing 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.840 those specifically from the Democratic power brokers, from the big 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:21.760 fundraisers that have been backing President Biden, what they need 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.000 to would they want to happen next? 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.720 Are they pushing for change? Are they pushing for him 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:27.600 to step down? 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.000 Well, I think there's a lot of conversations going on 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.960 at different levels, and one of them is to where 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.040 to put your money. And one thing I think hasn't 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.520 gotten so much attention yet, and certainly something we're hearing 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:44.319 a lot today is the so called down ballot candidates 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:47.640 Democrats in the House, in the Senate where you know, 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.439 the Democrats could very well win the House this year, 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.520 and how Keem Jefferies could become, you know, the Speaker 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.920 of the House and very much wants to be the 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:58.800 Speaker of the House. So I think there's a lot 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.120 of concern there they not be dragged down that if 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.360 the ticket, you know that if Biden at the top 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.880 of the ticket is not as you know, is going 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.280 to have issues and going to have increasing issues, that 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.640 they don't want that to reflect on them. Same thing 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.400 with Senate candidates. So I think there is a fair 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.200 amount of concern there, and frankly, we may see some 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.240 donors if they decide they don't really want to back Biden, 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.680 they could go instead go to back house and Senate 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.400 candidates instead. I think that's something we're going to have 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.800 to see with the money where the money flows in 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.960 coming weeks. Both campaigns, both Trump's and Biden's campaigns, have 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.920 said they had very good fundraising calls last night with 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:38.480 the debate. 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.440 Okay, So, so, Jody, what's the next vocal point for 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.440 you if we think about the roadmap to November. We 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.160 see President Biden in North Carolina today, President Trump, I 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:51.240 saw a video of him hitting the links and making 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:55.800 some comments after making a drive. What's your focal point? 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:57.200 And great if you could do it in thirty because 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:58.720 we'd love to get Erica's view on that as well. 0:14:58.760 --> 0:14:59.400 Go ahead, Jody. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.120 Well, first of all, in two weeks we have a 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:08.800 sentencing on the eleventh of former President Trump in New 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.120 York on the thirty four cants of which she was 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.160 found guilty, and then we have the R and C 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.520 convention in Milwaukee just days later, So those will be 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.960 big moments for the former president. And of course we 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.840 have the Democratic Convention in August for President Biden. 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:26.920 All right, save thirty seconds for you, Eric as well. 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:28.840 What's the next thing on your focal point or on 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:29.280 your radar? 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:30.840 Yeah, I'm looking at. 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.160 The down ballot race is obviously Arizona, Nevada, a big 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:36.080 swing states. You know there's a primary, not presidential primary, 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.360 but there's a primary coming up in Arizona at the 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:39.000 end of July. 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.880 Obviously looking at the rn C and what happens. 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.680 In court for Donald Trump, but also you know there's 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:48.520 a Supreme Court ruling hanging out there about community which 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.760 hasn't landed yet, which I guess will land on Monday. 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.680 So there's a lot of different ways that could go, 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.560 so just kind of cred to keep up. 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.960 And we're only halfway through twenty twenty four. All right, guys, 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.160 thank you so much. Bloomberg Radio and TV Political News 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.520 director Jody Schneider and our DC bureau and on the 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.520 West Coast Bloomberg Opinion West Coast Politics and policy columnist 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:08.280 Erica D. 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:08.680 Smith. 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.360 You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week podcast. Catch us 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.640 Live weekday afternoons from two to five pm Eastern Listen 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:18.840 on Apple car Play and then brought auto with a 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:23.040 Bloomberg Business app or want us Live on YouTube. 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:24.560 One of the focal points. 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:26.960 Certainly, we've been talking about it all week. How's to 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.040 do with the feds preferred inflation gauge, the measure of 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.200 underlying use inflation decelerating in the month of May, bolstering 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.520 the case for lower interest rates later on this year. 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:38.480 At the same time, household spending rebounded after a pullback 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.600 in April, and income showed solid growth, offering some hope 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.400 that price pressures can be tamed without lasting damage to consumers. 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:46.440 All right, so let's get to it. 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.960 Our Economics and Rates round table back with us Molly Smith, 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.760 Bloomberg News Economics editor, and Bloomberg News rates reporter Michael mackenzie, 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.800 both here in our studio. All right, Molly, first up 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.760 the data, the inflation print. The data confirms essentially what. 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.640 That it's easing. Correct. Yes, good stuff, good news. 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:05.760 We're not surprised, right. We knew a lot of the 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:07.240 components that go into this correct. 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:08.159 Yeah, So we knew. 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.119 We had a strong feeling that that point one monthly 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.479 increase in the core was coming. So that came in 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:15.679 as expected, and then you know, for all of our 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.320 fantasy like to look at it out to two decimal places, 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.000 it was actually a point zero eight increase, So looking 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.240 at it on the unrounded basis, that's the smallest rise 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:29.359 since late twenty twenty, so that's definitely a great sign 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.280 as well. And also looking at the spending data, this 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:36.200 was encouraging in the sense that services spending really. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:37.080 Slowed down in the month. 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.280 This has been the part of spending has kept inflation 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:43.960 so elevated that if we are going to hopefully see 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:47.359 some more slowing in services spending, that's hopefully going to 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.359 translate into the stickiest part of inflation ebbing as well. 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.239 Any surprises whatsoever. Everything was pretty much. 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:56.359 I was surprised to see the savings rate go up. 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:59.359 Yeah, I mean that's just because you hear about excess savings. 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.120 Being right and that people are. 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.320 You know, you're stretching more for like where you're going 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.600 to find money to support spending. So to see the 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.520 savings rate go up, I was surprised by that. And 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.720 also to see inflation adjusted disposable income rise by the 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.639 most since early last year, that was certainly surprising. I 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:19.439 feel like I struggle with this a lot to know, 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.360 and we talked about a lot on this show too. 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.959 What is the truest measure of the labor market right now? 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.440 There's so many mixed signals wages especially, I really struggle 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.280 with that one. There's so many different metrics of what 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.119 is going on with earnings growth and this one, I 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.119 feel like, you know whether you're going to take signal 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.119 from this report. Within the PCE, we get average hourly 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.760 earnings next week, you have also the Employment Cost Index 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.679 that's quarterly. There's so many different measures out there to 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:46.840 describe the state of wage growth, and they can be 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:47.920 conflicting at times. 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:50.160 This is why it makes it tricky speaking of maybe 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:51.119 a little bit of a conflict. 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:51.440 I don't know. 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:53.760