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Speaker 1: When four friends from Washington, DC's most elite prep school

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Speaker 1: are hacked, They're thrust into a global conspiracy that threatens

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Speaker 1: to expose DC's most influential families. Meets the Daughters of

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Speaker 1: DC Listen to Daughters of d C on the I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts again.

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Speaker 1: At a Dallas rally in October, he told me he

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Speaker 1: would never run. Is there a scenario where you run

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Speaker 1: for president? Or beyond non equiventally, you will never run

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Speaker 1: the president. So he's a liar. Well that's so that's interesting. Uh,

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Speaker 1: that's interesting that he that he said, no, no way,

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Speaker 1: I'm running. Uh well, I'm sorry. When was that interview? October? Now,

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Speaker 1: so that was before you know, the election, when he's

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Speaker 1: running against Ted Cruz, Right, so maybe you had to

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Speaker 1: say that. I don't know, or did something change recently?

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Speaker 1: Did somebody get out or is there some polling or

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Speaker 1: something that made him change his mind? That's what I wonder.

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Speaker 1: That's what are we talking about. You're wondering, just turned

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Speaker 1: on your idea? That's better. A Rourke who announced today

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Speaker 1: he's running for president. The guy ran against Ted Cruz

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Speaker 1: in Texas. Who better to discuss Betto's path to the

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Speaker 1: nomination with then data Millbank, op ed calumnists covering national

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Speaker 1: politics for The Washington Post. Who joins us now, Mr Milbank,

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Speaker 1: are you sir? I'm well good to be with you. Well,

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Speaker 1: I saw in your biography that you attended Yale. We

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Speaker 1: could have been classmates if my parents loved me enough

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Speaker 1: to fake up a tennis application. And I just I'm

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Speaker 1: sorry we didn't get a chance to me in that way. Uh. Yeah, Well, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: back in the old days when I went to college

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Speaker 1: and you know, they were still wearing leather football helmet,

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Speaker 1: was quite as competitive. Yeah, it is insane. We had

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Speaker 1: to talk about that someday. But Betto was the man

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Speaker 1: of the hour. Let's talk about him so ur I.

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Speaker 1: I had become convinced that he wasn't running for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: and he announced today he was. Do you think something

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Speaker 1: changed with the landscape? And and what is his path? Well?

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Speaker 1: A few things. I uh, he was I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: I ever bought this whole notion if he was doing

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Speaker 1: this exploration thing. Uh, he drove around the country alone

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Speaker 1: in the rule maybe just want to get away from

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Speaker 1: his wife and kids. I'd go for a long drive

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Speaker 1: in the country. I'd love it, right although in the

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Speaker 1: in the in the documentary, if you know, a lot

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Speaker 1: of that was about how hard it was on his family,

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Speaker 1: So you know, I think he was just being sort

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Speaker 1: of a little precious there and trying to generate uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, this demand, this draft that will movement that

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Speaker 1: he presumably saw the the Iowa poles showing that he

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Speaker 1: was way behind huh, Biden and Bernie and said, okay,

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Speaker 1: but enough of the precious routine. Let's let's make this official,

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Speaker 1: which he did. Um. And I do think he's got

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Speaker 1: a possible chance there. Um. You know, look, if he

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Speaker 1: had beaten Ted Cruz, he would have basically been the

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Speaker 1: front runner, uh, the prohibitive front runner for this nomination.

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Speaker 1: And uh, he didn't win. He didn't come as close

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Speaker 1: as as people thought. But he has proven very good

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Speaker 1: at fundraising. He's proven that he's able to sort of

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Speaker 1: span the divide within the Democratic Party between the Centrists

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Speaker 1: and the progressives. Uh. And uh, you know, he's got

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Speaker 1: sort of that Kennedy kind of carisma. So he's got

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Speaker 1: you know, if there's a if there's a there there,

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Speaker 1: I think if there's some substance behind him. Uh, he

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Speaker 1: could uh be a very serious contender. Well, we've heard

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Speaker 1: various commentators say he really could fit the center lane

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Speaker 1: quite nicely, the centrist lane. But the guys in favor

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Speaker 1: of like tearing down existing barriers on the border or

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Speaker 1: so he said once. Um, but I guess he's an

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Speaker 1: empty enough vessel at this point in his career that

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Speaker 1: you know he'll assume the posture he needs to assume.

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Speaker 1: I think. So, yeah, he's sort of all over the lot,

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Speaker 1: and he doesn't fit very easily into one category or other.

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Speaker 1: You know, that's that's not a bad place to be,

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Speaker 1: h in a party that you know, sort of torn

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Speaker 1: between you know, the primary voters of the progressive instincts,

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Speaker 1: but also wanting a candidate who will import in the

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Speaker 1: voters in the middle and in the general election. So uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, if he can thread that needle, but you know,

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Speaker 1: you can't sort of get away with the ambiguity for

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Speaker 1: that long. Uh, you know, he's gonna have to you know,

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Speaker 1: flush things out, have some policies there, uh you know,

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Speaker 1: debates and and everything else. So uh, you know, clearly

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Speaker 1: if Trump has showed us that, uh, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: possible to defy your party's orthodoxy. Uh and and when

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Speaker 1: in fact, now Trump is the new orthodoxy of the

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Speaker 1: Republican Party. So uh, you know, if his force of

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Speaker 1: personality is strong enough, he can get it done. We're

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Speaker 1: talking on Danny mcdania Millbank of the Washington Post. Isn't

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Speaker 1: gonna have to get nasty at some point? You've got

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Speaker 1: a lot of heavyweights, you know, and looking to get

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Speaker 1: one job. Don't they have to turn on each other

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Speaker 1: and start taking each other down at some point? I

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Speaker 1: hope so well, I'm hoping part what what what what? What?

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Speaker 1: Whether you journals do are a year and a half

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Speaker 1: if m Yeah, at some point. I don't think that

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Speaker 1: point is now. Um, you know that sort of the

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Speaker 1: they're in sort of the silent primary now where they

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Speaker 1: see if they get you know, support uh from thought

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Speaker 1: leadership within the party, uh, from a certain activists, uh media.

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Speaker 1: You know. The big test is fundraising right now. So

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Speaker 1: really donors are are are a big question? Uh? Well

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Speaker 1: he was with the small dollar donations to his campaign,

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Speaker 1: but you know Bernie Sanders is also great at that,

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Speaker 1: So I don't know, you know, uh, you know, they

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Speaker 1: may with maybe fighting for that same pool of people.

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Speaker 1: But so eventually, uh, presurely, you know, things do turn negative.

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Speaker 1: But I suspect a lot of people will so of

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Speaker 1: be went out out of the contest by by pack

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Speaker 1: of funds or just an inability to to get any attention.

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Speaker 1: I was watching we were watching Betto at the coffee

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Speaker 1: shop in Iowa this morning, and some people just they're

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Speaker 1: so they're so good at that sort of thing. Him Obama,

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Speaker 1: w I mean just and the people that win tend

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Speaker 1: to be just they're so natural. They don't seem like

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Speaker 1: they're pretending the way Hilary or Elizabeth Warner a Romney

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Speaker 1: often came off, Yeah, no, that's true. And he definitely,

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Speaker 1: he definitely has that kind of a gift. Uh. You know,

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Speaker 1: people have compared him to Obama, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: think there's something to that. You know, similar uh you know,

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Speaker 1: fairly thin experience, uh in in federal government before running.

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Speaker 1: You know, a whole lot of style. Clearly he's very smart, um,

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Speaker 1: but you know, I don't think he has things flashed out. Now.

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Speaker 1: What we saw with Obama was that did work very

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Speaker 1: well as a candidate. I think that you know, the

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Speaker 1: critics of of Obama on the left would say he

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Speaker 1: didn't necessarily stick with things very well when he was president,

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Speaker 1: so his managerial style was a bit uh wishy washy.

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Speaker 1: So I you know, I I think some people want

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Speaker 1: to be careful not to get into that thing again,

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Speaker 1: uh with with Betto, and therefore maybe looking for somebody

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Speaker 1: who was much more clearly orthodox and uh sort of

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Speaker 1: the liberal positions. I don't know whether you want to

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Speaker 1: go with horse racing metaphors or letter grades or what.

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Speaker 1: But how strong is this candidacy overall as early as

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Speaker 1: it is? Oh yeah, I mean it's it's just way

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Speaker 1: too early. Top tier Uh yeah, but I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: they've got a dozen top tier candidates. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: and even the ones who you would really think of

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Speaker 1: as a top tier or you know, in in any

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Speaker 1: other year, you know, highly qualified for this sort of thing.

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Speaker 1: So I mean it's really uh, you know, they're getting

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Speaker 1: the best and the brightest of the Democrats party out there,

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Speaker 1: so um uh, you know, it's really hard to you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's hard to say whether he takes off or not.

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Speaker 1: I mean there's a lot of really worthy candidates, you know,

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Speaker 1: sitting there at you know, asterisk to two points in

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Speaker 1: the in the island. Well, and it was all about

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Speaker 1: Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. Not too long m My

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Speaker 1: final President Juliani, Yeah, exactly. My final question is, Um,

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Speaker 1: like I I think Biden would be a pretty tough

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Speaker 1: candidate against Donald Trump, but I don't think you can

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Speaker 1: get the nomination. Is the person that's going to get

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Speaker 1: the nomination in the Democratic Party gonna be the best

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Speaker 1: person to run against Donald Trump? Or not? Well, that's

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Speaker 1: the real question. Um, you know, do they go with

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Speaker 1: somebody who just fires up the progressive base or somebody

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Speaker 1: who you know, if Democrats, beyond anything one policy want

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Speaker 1: to win, they want to beat Donald Trump. That is

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Speaker 1: a single unifying features. So they are in theory open

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Speaker 1: to a candidate they see, Now, is there somebody, as

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Speaker 1: I was saying earlier than the needle, uh and be

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Speaker 1: both a you know, somebody who's perceived as being able

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Speaker 1: to beat Donald Trump, but who also has uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: strong progressive values. They would be the sweet spot. Uh

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know Betto has a shot at doing that.

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Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think Biden's out of the running

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Speaker 1: for that. You know, certainly it becomes a uh you

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Speaker 1: know Bernie versus Biden competition. Biden is not going to

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Speaker 1: uh you know, uh compete with Bernie socialism, so uh

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Speaker 1: you know, ideally they'll find a way to have somebody

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Speaker 1: who feels So what I'd say is both the head

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Speaker 1: of the Democratic cardy in their hearts. Boy, Bernie versus

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Speaker 1: Biden would mean an exciting race in ninety eight. They're

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Speaker 1: both highly energetic. They are you know what, They're more

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Speaker 1: energetic than me and Trump. There's a bunch of these

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Speaker 1: seven year olds. I wish I got that kind of

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Speaker 1: energy someday when I'm seventy. I know, how do they

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Speaker 1: do that? I don't know. They've got a general, They've

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Speaker 1: got generation on me. And I I look at them

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Speaker 1: and I want to take a napp. We do a

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Speaker 1: business trip and it's one day, and I need to

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Speaker 1: take like a month off and and and this presidential

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Speaker 1: race would kill you. And they're in the seventies. It's amazing.

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Speaker 1: You have to want it so bad. Yeah, No, it's

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Speaker 1: it's there's there's has There has to be some fire

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Speaker 1: in the belly that that does it. But I you know,

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Speaker 1: I cure mine with antacid and that's fine. Dana mill

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Speaker 1: Bank OpEd column Discovering National Politics for The Washington Post.

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Speaker 1: We know you're a busy fellow. We really appreciate the time,

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Speaker 1: enjoyed it. Thanks my pleasure. Thank you. I don't know

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Speaker 1: how you get that reality show together, but that'd be

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Speaker 1: a good one. Can you keep up with the presidential candidate?

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Speaker 1: And I'll bet most people could not, because you gotta

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Speaker 1: get up at like five in the morning, You're gonna

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Speaker 1: go to bed at like one in the next morning.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna sleep a couple hours, you're gonna wake up

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Speaker 1: in a different town. You're gonna give another speech. You

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Speaker 1: need crap. Yeah, I guess maybe it's possible to get

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Speaker 1: into some sort of groove. Can you're gonna do it

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Speaker 1: for two years? No, I'm not. It's one of the

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Speaker 1: reasons a lot of people get reelected is you have

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Speaker 1: such advantage when you're putting the president flying on Air

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Speaker 1: Force one, getting on the traffic block for you, all

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Speaker 1: the different stuff everywhere you go, right as opposed to

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Speaker 1: shelving from hotel to hotel, sometimes coach on planes the

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Speaker 1: way McCann was doing it before you had any money,

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Speaker 1: showing up to some coffee shops that you heard would

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Speaker 1: be a hotbed of support. And there's two people, yeah,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, top tier candidate Jeff Bush. There