Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound On,
Speaker 1: saying the equities we must avoid a strike. The last
Speaker 1: thing we need is an unforced error like this. I
Speaker 1: think it will pass, but it's unfortunate that this is
Speaker 1: how we're running our economy today. Bloomberg Sound On Politics,
Speaker 1: Policy and Perspective from DC's top names. If we do
Speaker 1: not stand up and speak up right now about the
Speaker 1: most dishonest elections in the history of Arizona, I truly
Speaker 1: fear for our future. That's unconsortable. Shame on her, Shame
Speaker 1: on her. The voters spoke, they decided. It just happened
Speaker 1: to not be her. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. Congress to the Rescue, What could go wrong?
Speaker 1: Welcome to the fastest hour in politics, as lawmakers prepared
Speaker 1: now to vote on legislation to avert a nationwide rail strike,
Speaker 1: as President Biden urges them to act now to intervene,
Speaker 1: and with an approaching deadline on government funding. We just
Speaker 1: discussed the agenda on Capitol Hill in an exclusive interview
Speaker 1: with Senator John Thune, the Republican whip in the Senate.
Speaker 1: Only here on Bloomberg Radio. Same sex marriage gets a
Speaker 1: vote in the Senate today and Carrie Lake makes it
Speaker 1: clear she will sue over results to the election in Arizona.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about it all with our signature panel Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Politics contributors Jeanie chantay No and Rick Davis with us
Speaker 1: for the hour. So it's it's been a busy day
Speaker 1: in Washington. We've got a much better idea of where
Speaker 1: things stand on a possible rail strike. When President Biden
Speaker 1: called on Congress to intervene, that's not a good sign.
Speaker 1: And he started the day by meeting with leaders from
Speaker 1: the House and Senate today at the White House. Tomorrow morning,
Speaker 1: we will have a bill on the floor stand, he said.
Speaker 1: We could come up as early as nine o'clock uh
Speaker 1: in the morning with the legislation that accepts the the
Speaker 1: original agreement plus the additional benefits that were gained in
Speaker 1: further discussion. Okay. Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the driveway outside
Speaker 1: the West Wing came outside with Chuck Schumer to talk
Speaker 1: to reporters after the meeting with the president. Minority Leader
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy also there. He spoke with reporters at the
Speaker 1: stakeout afternoon. This is I think it will pass, but
Speaker 1: it's unfortunate that this is how we're running our economy today.
Speaker 1: This has all got to stop and change. And we
Speaker 1: heard a short time later from Mitch McConnell, Republican leader
Speaker 1: in the Senate, the President indicated support for legislation on
Speaker 1: the rail strike issue, and I believe I heard Senator
Speaker 1: Schumer say, uh, we're likely to see that on the floor.
Speaker 1: This is where we begin our interview with Senator John Thune,
Speaker 1: the Republican from South Dakota Minority whip, sat down with
Speaker 1: us exclusively today on Bloomberg and I started by asking
Speaker 1: him about the rail strike legislation, whether Republicans will support it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think right now, first off, we'll be
Speaker 1: acting on the House and we'll see what the outcome
Speaker 1: is there. Um. But if it comes, and if it
Speaker 1: comes from the House, I'm sure Schumer puts it on
Speaker 1: the floor. Uh, And it would take some Republican votes
Speaker 1: for it to pass. Um. I would hope that it would.
Speaker 1: The administration could work this out. We've said that all along.
Speaker 1: They seem to have kind of thrown up their hands,
Speaker 1: but it's something that the President needs to own the
Speaker 1: Presidential Emergency Board, which he created, came up with a
Speaker 1: series of recommendations and uh, and that is what everybody
Speaker 1: sort of agreed upon, with the exception of one union. UM.
Speaker 1: So we would like to see them resolve it without
Speaker 1: having Congress have to act. Um. If in fact we do, UM,
Speaker 1: my guess is that Congress will do the responsible thing
Speaker 1: in that case that there is obviously congressional authority here. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's we've seen this happen before, even though it's been
Speaker 1: a long time. Why is it just the administration's responsibility? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think largely, first off, it should be
Speaker 1: negotiated between the railroads and the and the and the
Speaker 1: labor unions. And they worked at this, I think, going
Speaker 1: back to en and sort of hit an impass, at
Speaker 1: which point the Presidential Emergency Board gets triggered. But it
Speaker 1: is something in that this is a president who claims
Speaker 1: to be the most pro labor president ever in history,
Speaker 1: and you would think his relationships, you have enough influence
Speaker 1: with the unions to be able to get them to
Speaker 1: table and to get an agreement. Here. In fact, most
Speaker 1: of in most cases, the leadership of the unions agreed
Speaker 1: and a good member a good representation of their membership
Speaker 1: did as well. But in the end, um, they don't
Speaker 1: have everybody, and since they don't have everybody, they're kind
Speaker 1: of punting into Congress. I think it's very rare. Uh,
Speaker 1: it shouldn't happen. And um, I think the last time
Speaker 1: it did happen and that wasn't that wasn't kind of
Speaker 1: the sort of circumstance that we're talking about here. To
Speaker 1: be clear, though, a shutdown is unacceptable to you. We've
Speaker 1: got a big date coming December when government funding expires.
Speaker 1: What happens that thing? I think hopefully by then there
Speaker 1: will be an agreement on either a bill to fund
Speaker 1: the government through the rest of the fiscal year, whichould
Speaker 1: take us into next year septe or it will be
Speaker 1: probably some short term resolution that funds the government into
Speaker 1: some at to some point next year, which is not ideal.
Speaker 1: It is a but it is a reminder of just
Speaker 1: the and I frankly I think this. I think that
Speaker 1: Schumer and the Democrats use us to their advantage because
Speaker 1: when you get to this point in the year, they
Speaker 1: have a tremendous amount of leverage and they usually use
Speaker 1: that leverage try and get more spending. But if we
Speaker 1: had been doing appropriations bills throughout the year, which is
Speaker 1: what Congress is supposed to do, we wouldn't be in
Speaker 1: this situation. Um. But then it's really uh, it is
Speaker 1: going to be a question of whether or not there
Speaker 1: is support for some some sort of a long term
Speaker 1: funding solution that would take us into the end of
Speaker 1: the fiscal year next year or a short term punt
Speaker 1: into next year. Problems with either of those right there.
Speaker 1: On terms CR would mean the Pentagon doesn't get, for instance,
Speaker 1: what it needs uh in renewing its budget. But a
Speaker 1: short term CR brings the end of the beginning of
Speaker 1: next year, could lead to a government shutdown. Do you
Speaker 1: worry about that? Well, I do worry about you know,
Speaker 1: when you do these sort of short term cr short
Speaker 1: term cr short term cr um, eventually, you know something's
Speaker 1: got to give push, you know, there's there's got be
Speaker 1: some final resolution to this and UM and I would
Speaker 1: hope that wouldn't result in a government shutdown, which is
Speaker 1: why I think it's advantageous for everyone to try and
Speaker 1: work this out now and hopefully there is a path
Speaker 1: forward to a funding solution that would that would go
Speaker 1: into you know the fiscal year next year, and there
Speaker 1: was some talk about dealing with the debt limit UH
Speaker 1: this year in this lame duck session. Are you waiting
Speaker 1: for a Republican lighthouse to manage that? I think it's
Speaker 1: in my view, at least right now, the likelihood is
Speaker 1: because we don't that doesn't get triggered until middle of
Speaker 1: next year, that it probably ends up being a next
Speaker 1: year exercise. There's some conversation around it, mostly among Democrats.
Speaker 1: Are trying to do it this year? Um, But I
Speaker 1: do think it's a It's a challenge under any circumstance,
Speaker 1: and will certainly be that next year. Well. And and
Speaker 1: of course in that case, you say debt limit next
Speaker 1: year and people say, well, fiscal cliff next year, How
Speaker 1: concerned are you about reliving this from what was? Yeah?
Speaker 1: There there are examples in the past where we've been
Speaker 1: kind of up against this, um and unfortunately, as is
Speaker 1: typically the case around here, there nothing really happens until
Speaker 1: you face a hard deadline. But that hard deadline it
Speaker 1: will be out there at some point. UM. I would
Speaker 1: hope we could avoid a crisis because I think you know,
Speaker 1: the markets get very rattled by that. By uncertainty. It
Speaker 1: creates a lot of volatility, and UM, and I think
Speaker 1: we ought to, if possible, try and come up with
Speaker 1: solutions in advance of these deadlines so we don't face
Speaker 1: that kind of a crisis same sex marriage. The Senate
Speaker 1: is apparently just about to vote on this. You're leaving
Speaker 1: here to go deal with votes? Will you be part
Speaker 1: of codifying this in the law. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be voting for it, but it will pass. UM. There
Speaker 1: are sufficient votes to pass it. There are several amendment
Speaker 1: votes this afternoon dealing with religious liberty protections and amendments
Speaker 1: that members of Republican members believe are essential, and there
Speaker 1: are there are more votes for UM the ultimate Bill.
Speaker 1: If any of these amendments is considered or adopted. If
Speaker 1: they're adopted, you're still known. Well, I'm likely to know,
Speaker 1: but UM, I think it. But I do think it
Speaker 1: expands the universe of votes that are available for it. UM,
Speaker 1: if there would be a willingness by the Democrats to
Speaker 1: at least accept or or vote for some of these amendments.
Speaker 1: We understand seventies seventy one percent of Americans approve of this.
Speaker 1: How come Uranova? Well, I mean I think it's a
Speaker 1: It did very state to state obviously, and in a
Speaker 1: different issue in my state than it would be in
Speaker 1: in perhaps you know, an area in this part of
Speaker 1: the country. UM, but I do think it's a settled issue.
Speaker 1: I think the courts did that. And my one of
Speaker 1: my arguments is that this isn't something again that Congress
Speaker 1: or the that we ought to have to intervene with. There's,
Speaker 1: in my view, no reason, there's no challenge out there
Speaker 1: in any state in the country. Uh, the old burgha
Speaker 1: Felt decision is people. I think except is the law
Speaker 1: of the land, and so the need to codify it
Speaker 1: to me, um, doesn't exist. But that's not you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have the vote. Um, I think it will pass.
Speaker 1: Are you comfortable with Donald Trump remaining the so called
Speaker 1: head of the Republican Party now that he is running
Speaker 1: for president? I think that. Um, We've got a lot
Speaker 1: of emerging leaders, and I think you'll start hearing and
Speaker 1: seeing more of them because you'd like to see a primary. Well,
Speaker 1: I think there's gonna be one, and I hope it's
Speaker 1: a robust one. I mean, I think we need Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we've got a new, younger generation, new generation
Speaker 1: of leaders that are starting to emerge, and I think
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people around the congry country
Speaker 1: that are hungry for that. Um and uh. And I
Speaker 1: think if we articulate the right vision for the future
Speaker 1: of the country, if some of these new leaders that
Speaker 1: are that are coming forward, I think we can be
Speaker 1: a majority governing party in the future. We just have to.
Speaker 1: We've got to come up with a way of articulating
Speaker 1: a message that attracts a lot of those middle independent voters,
Speaker 1: particularly in swing states that you need to win general elections.
Speaker 1: You were considered the giant slayer when you beat Tom
Speaker 1: dash Well, how about John Do you remember that? Well,
Speaker 1: it was a long time ago. Um. Now, I've got
Speaker 1: my hands full of where I am. But I am,
Speaker 1: but I am excited about the field, and I think
Speaker 1: there are some really some really highly qualified and very
Speaker 1: effective leaders out there. Were you upset to see this
Speaker 1: dinner that took place at marral Lago? Do you have
Speaker 1: thoughts on this dining with a white supremacist. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean there's no place for that. I don't know how
Speaker 1: that went slipped through the in. All you can say
Speaker 1: is I mean this is I Actually I don't know
Speaker 1: what you can say, you can't defend it UM and
Speaker 1: uh in our party. If if that's the kind of
Speaker 1: UM leadership that our party can expect into the future,
Speaker 1: we're going to be a minority party and uh. And
Speaker 1: so that's that kind of behavior, that kind of UM
Speaker 1: tolerance for those sorts of use is this is not
Speaker 1: acceptable speaking of the majority party, I'll end on this.
Speaker 1: What happens if herschel Walker wins next week? How does
Speaker 1: that impact Republican plans for the Senate? I think to
Speaker 1: two things, one near term, one long term. Obviously long
Speaker 1: term sets us up better for four that that one
Speaker 1: seat matters a lot. But I also think in the
Speaker 1: near term there's a big difference between A and cent
Speaker 1: and a lot of it has to do with the
Speaker 1: way committees are composed and equal representation there and UM.
Speaker 1: So I think that we're in a much better place
Speaker 1: at than than to be at forty nine. And so
Speaker 1: we're hoping hersh will come through. So that's a difference
Speaker 1: maker for you. It is, Yeah, it is. And thanks
Speaker 1: to Senator John Thune, the Republican from South Dakota, minority
Speaker 1: whip in the Senate and speaking exclusively with us here
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg. That was a wide ranging conversation, of course,
Speaker 1: and we have a lot to unpack ahead with our panel,
Speaker 1: which we will do. I do want to mention though,
Speaker 1: because it was he was called out on the program yesterday.
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader likely to be speaker, was
Speaker 1: asked about this dinner at Marlago against they at the
Speaker 1: White House. Don't think anybody should be spending any time
Speaker 1: with Nick Flinch as he has no place in this
Speaker 1: Republican Party. I think President Trump uh came out four
Speaker 1: times and condemned him and didn't know who he was. Well,
Speaker 1: I condemn his ideology. It has no place in society.
Speaker 1: So Kevin McCarthy condemns that we haven't heard yet from
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. Of course, the man who was at the table,
Speaker 1: well to saddle the panel next. Rick and Genie are
Speaker 1: on the way. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The
Speaker 1: fastest hour in politics, of course, could not exist without
Speaker 1: our panel, and we want to tick through some of
Speaker 1: the highlights of our conversation are exclusive sit down with
Speaker 1: Senator John Thune today, Rick Davis and Jeannie Chanzano Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Politics contributors and there with us. Now it's great to have,
Speaker 1: of course, both of you here, and I'm curious your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this. Why don't we just do this in order? Here?
Speaker 1: Remembering that this rail, this looming rail strike will likely
Speaker 1: be stopped by Congress. John Thune doesn't, however, think that
Speaker 1: it should be the responsibility of the House and the Senate.
Speaker 1: It's something that the president needs to own. The Presidential
Speaker 1: Emergency Board, which he created, came up with a series
Speaker 1: of recommendations and uh, and that is what everybody sort
Speaker 1: of agreed upon, with the exception of one union. Um.
Speaker 1: So we would like to see them resolve it without
Speaker 1: having Congress have to act. Um if in fact we do, UM,
Speaker 1: my guess is that Congress will do the responsible thing.
Speaker 1: And it looks like that will happen. I don't know
Speaker 1: how many Republicans end up voting for this genie. But
Speaker 1: is he right? He's echoing Kevin McCarthy that this was
Speaker 1: the White House's job to get this done, not Congress. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean we are hearing this from Republicans, and you know, Thune,
Speaker 1: I was, you know, really interesting to hear him say that,
Speaker 1: Marco Rubio coming out and saying he's not going to
Speaker 1: impose a deal that doesn't support rail workers, sounding a
Speaker 1: bit more potentially like Bernie Sanders than a Republican. So
Speaker 1: you know, you do hear you know, when I was
Speaker 1: listening to them come out of the White House, there
Speaker 1: seemed to be some optimism this gets done. I still
Speaker 1: think it will, but we're going to have a strange
Speaker 1: bedfellows between progressives and potentially people like Thune and maybe
Speaker 1: Marco Rubio who decide they don't want to act or
Speaker 1: they think the White House has this responsibility. Of course,
Speaker 1: that's not what the law says. And I think another
Speaker 1: really interesting facet of this is say echoes very much
Speaker 1: what Joe Biden himself said as a senator in the
Speaker 1: early nineteen nineties. So you know, you you it's a
Speaker 1: little bit easier to be senator and say you're not
Speaker 1: going to do something than to be president with high
Speaker 1: inflation in the holiday season saying you're gonna let the
Speaker 1: economy go one billion per week if that's what this
Speaker 1: would be if there is a strike. Rick Senator Thune
Speaker 1: sounding a lot like Kevin McCarthy and his comments to
Speaker 1: reporters when he emerged from that meeting today with the President,
Speaker 1: Are they right? And and where did the White House
Speaker 1: go wrong here? If that's the case, should they have
Speaker 1: not pushed this as far as they did before getting
Speaker 1: Congress involved? Well, I think that it is surprising, as
Speaker 1: Senator Thune said that the President United States, who fashions
Speaker 1: themselves as the greatest defender of unions in America, couldn't
Speaker 1: have gotten something done with the unions that that really
Speaker 1: haven't voted for it. And he pointed out it's really
Speaker 1: one union out of the group of I think a
Speaker 1: dozen unions now it's a big one. It's half the
Speaker 1: members uh involved in this thing. But you would have
Speaker 1: thought that this administration really had the chops to get
Speaker 1: something done here and then just a to to Congress
Speaker 1: at the eleventh hour. You know, look, it is what
Speaker 1: it is. I can't imagine they're going to be anybody
Speaker 1: really opposed to doing something in Congress to avert the strike.
Speaker 1: But you do have to scratch your head and say,
Speaker 1: like so, the debate is over these union members not
Speaker 1: getting any sick leave. So you're you have COVID, you
Speaker 1: gotta show one day, right, they go one day out
Speaker 1: of this one day and and so I honestly think
Speaker 1: there's more to this story than I think our top line,
Speaker 1: you know, media discussion has and and the missing element
Speaker 1: here is the railroads. I mean, where are those guys?
Speaker 1: Why why aren't they at the table saying yes, we
Speaker 1: can a fashion an option, right, Maybe give him a
Speaker 1: couple of days, maybe give him a week, uh, Senator
Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer. Interesting, This is important for our listeners here, Genie,
Speaker 1: making clear that you keep hearing about this deadline the
Speaker 1: end of next week. That's actually not the timetable that
Speaker 1: we're dealing with. In reality, our real deadline is sooner
Speaker 1: than that, because, as the speaker mentioned, many of the
Speaker 1: people who many of the supply ires, if they believe
Speaker 1: they're well may well be a shutdown, will then UM
Speaker 1: not send their goods chlorine desperately needed perishable UM and
Speaker 1: cities and towns throughout America need that chlorine for their
Speaker 1: water supplies to keep them safe. So so the real
Speaker 1: deadline is sooner, and we're going to try to solve
Speaker 1: this a S A P. The point here, Genie, is
Speaker 1: that this involves a lot more than your Amazon packages
Speaker 1: that you might be waiting for at the front step.
Speaker 1: Does this need to be dealt with this week, no
Speaker 1: matter what it really does? And I thought Senator Schumer
Speaker 1: made a really important point. They're saying, we can't afford
Speaker 1: to wait until the deadline, and of course this likely
Speaker 1: passes the House pretty quickly. The problem is Schumer's own Senate,
Speaker 1: where one senator one or two can object enough to
Speaker 1: drag this out. And again we are coming up in
Speaker 1: a very short deadline, and he's right, you can't wait
Speaker 1: till the eighth or the ninth. That's got to be
Speaker 1: done before. And one or two senators, whether it's Sanders, Rubio,
Speaker 1: maybe John Thun, although I don't suspect he would dry
Speaker 1: this out by objection, we could go into a strike
Speaker 1: and that would have devastating economic consequences where the unforced
Speaker 1: errors or potentially going to happen, and certainly something the
Speaker 1: White House is aware of. Let's get to the issue
Speaker 1: of government funding. Senator John Thune a short time ago
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg recognizing we've got the funding expiration on the
Speaker 1: sixteenth of December. So then what well I do worry about?
Speaker 1: You know, when you do these sort of short term CR,
Speaker 1: short term CR, short term CR. UM. Eventually, you know,
Speaker 1: something's got to give pushing, you know, there's there's got
Speaker 1: to be some final resolution to this and um, and
Speaker 1: I would hope that that wouldn't result in a government shutdown,
Speaker 1: which is why I think it's advantageous for everyone to
Speaker 1: try and work this out now and hopefully there is
Speaker 1: a path forward to a funding solution that would that
Speaker 1: would go into the end of the fiscal year next.
Speaker 1: The big question here, Rick, is do we do a
Speaker 1: short term CR, do they find an omnibus that or
Speaker 1: maybe it's a long term cigar gets us through the year.
Speaker 1: What's what's the what's the real outcome here? Um, Look,
Speaker 1: what I've been hearing is they'll they'll do a short
Speaker 1: term CR from the sixteenth of December to sometime around
Speaker 1: the twenty three The back'll be up against the wall
Speaker 1: because I want to get out for Christmas holidays and
Speaker 1: that's usually when good things happen. Uh, So my guests
Speaker 1: would be that they do an omnibus. They've been working
Speaker 1: hard on getting this omnibus done. I'm not sure they've
Speaker 1: actually come to final agreement on top line numbers. That
Speaker 1: will then just flow down through this massive from and budget.
Speaker 1: But once they do that, this should put this to rest.
Speaker 1: We'll have a lot more on this with our panel.
Speaker 1: Rick and Jeanie stay with us as we also turned
Speaker 1: to the issue of same sex marriage getting a vote
Speaker 1: today in the Senate. The fastest hour in politics. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. We've got an eye and an ear on
Speaker 1: the U. S. Senate floor right now. They're voting on
Speaker 1: Senator Rubio's amendment on religious protections for faith based institutions
Speaker 1: to this marriage equality bill that is going to pass.
Speaker 1: Just a question what the vote is going to be
Speaker 1: and who decides to take a stand here. Marco Rubio's
Speaker 1: amendment to strike language allowing someone to bring a civil
Speaker 1: lawsuit if they were denied the bills protections being considered
Speaker 1: along with Senator Mike Lee, He's got one where bar
Speaker 1: the federal government from taking discriminatory action against individuals or
Speaker 1: organizations who act based on a quote sincerely held religious
Speaker 1: belief unquote. And then Senator James langfordy he's got one
Speaker 1: involving Native American tribes. It would include tribes under the
Speaker 1: bills provisions requiring recognition of legal marriages performed in States.
Speaker 1: The debate has been something now, as I mentioned with
Speaker 1: Senator Thune, more than seventy Americans polled say they support this.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always sound that way when you're on the
Speaker 1: floor of the Senate. Here's Senator Cynthia Alumus. The Bible
Speaker 1: teach us that marriage is between one man and one woman.
Speaker 1: I accept God's word, including God's word as to the
Speaker 1: definition of marriage, but not all Republicans feel that way.
Speaker 1: Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, American people want us to
Speaker 1: settle this issue, and millions of them, couples who are married,
Speaker 1: including many in Ohio, are counting on us to recognize
Speaker 1: and protect their marriage and give them the peace of
Speaker 1: mind that they deserve. It's reassembled the handle, Rick Davis,
Speaker 1: Genie Schanzano or with us Bloomberg Politics contributors. Genie, this
Speaker 1: is expected to pass. Just a question of how many
Speaker 1: Republicans vote. Yes, that's right. And this is all complicated
Speaker 1: because of course Raphael Warnock is you know, competing in
Speaker 1: his election, so he can't be there. They need all
Speaker 1: twelve of those senators. Um And you know it's interesting
Speaker 1: you just played the clip by Loomas she received some
Speaker 1: blowback from Christian leaders who asked her or requested that
Speaker 1: she reversed her vote, change her vote unless it includes
Speaker 1: Lee's amendment the final version of the bills. So this
Speaker 1: is why this is such a tough vote for some
Speaker 1: of these Republicans. As Senator through noted, depending on where
Speaker 1: you live and depending on your constituents and their views.
Speaker 1: While seventy plus percent of Americans can support that can
Speaker 1: be narrowed in certain sectors of the country, and there
Speaker 1: are interests that are pushing against this bill unless it
Speaker 1: includes these amendments. Recall John Thune's comment on this Rick
Speaker 1: before I hear from you, here's again the Senator from
Speaker 1: South Dakota. Well, I mean, I think it's a It
Speaker 1: did very state to state obviously, and in a different
Speaker 1: issue in my state than it would be in in
Speaker 1: perhaps you know, an area in this part of the country. Um,
Speaker 1: but I do think it's a settled issue. I think
Speaker 1: the courts did that, and my one of my arguments
Speaker 1: is that this isn't something again the Congress or the
Speaker 1: that we ought to have to intervene with. There's, in
Speaker 1: my view, no reason there's no challenge out there in
Speaker 1: any state in the Country's no challenge out there, Rick.
Speaker 1: But of course when people here settled issue, they think
Speaker 1: Rov Wade talk to us about the politics here inside
Speaker 1: the Republican Party. For those of us who are in
Speaker 1: the so called bubble who think of this as kind
Speaker 1: of a layup culturally speaking, what does this mean for
Speaker 1: Republicans having a hard time on this vote? Look, I
Speaker 1: mean all this was triggered by the Supreme Court decision
Speaker 1: on row and and we wouldn't be having this conversation
Speaker 1: if if that had not occurred. This was not on
Speaker 1: anybody's right oar screen until last summer when when the
Speaker 1: Court overturned and made the Dobbs decision. So the reality
Speaker 1: is it's kind of self inflicted if you if you
Speaker 1: call the Supreme Court you know, sort of right leaning.
Speaker 1: The reality too, is that most people really don't understand
Speaker 1: how the game is played on this. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: almost all states recognize marriage same sex marriage licenses, but
Speaker 1: only fifteen give them, so it doesn't change that. So
Speaker 1: for people like you know, uh, John Tune who from
Speaker 1: South Dakota, highly unlikely they'll ever change their statute in
Speaker 1: South Dakota. It really doesn't force them to do anything.
Speaker 1: They otherwise don't already do. And so I think it
Speaker 1: is symbolic though, and I think that this is a
Speaker 1: reaction and maybe not a uh too much of a
Speaker 1: reaction to to the Dobbs decision, and and people who
Speaker 1: feel threatened with what they thought were, as John Thune said,
Speaker 1: settled issues. Right. Remember Barney Frank at one point the
Speaker 1: come just s been from Massachusetts the first openly gay
Speaker 1: member of Commerce, Genie. He said, if you have a
Speaker 1: problem with gay marriage, then don't gay Mary, which I
Speaker 1: thought was actually a pretty smart line. But the fact is,
Speaker 1: as Rick points out, you cannot gay marry in a
Speaker 1: lot of states in this country, and this legislation won't
Speaker 1: change that. That's right. But you know, I have to
Speaker 1: say and and gosh, I remember, Bernie, you just reminded me.
Speaker 1: And it's a great, great quote. Um. You know the
Speaker 1: reality though, you know, John Thune says it's a settled issue,
Speaker 1: it's certainly not a settled issue. Um. And you know
Speaker 1: there's a reason we're here. It's because justices on the
Speaker 1: Republican side in the Supreme Court raised this issue, and
Speaker 1: of course it raised the specter that this could be
Speaker 1: overturned in Congress. So you know, the idea where in
Speaker 1: a settled, settled territory is not the case. But I
Speaker 1: will tell you there's a large group of women in
Speaker 1: the country are saying, hey, what about us. We're talking
Speaker 1: about this issue of same sex marriage, rightly, so what
Speaker 1: about the issue of women's health care which isn't set
Speaker 1: to be codified in the Senate or Congress or in
Speaker 1: any in the in the you know, near off thing.
Speaker 1: So you know, there's a group of of you know
Speaker 1: people who are saying, there's you know, some question here
Speaker 1: as to why women are getting equal treatment on this issue.
Speaker 1: Are you talking contraception or we're talking reproductive rights? What
Speaker 1: do you mean reproductive rights, contraception, all of the above.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a large group of women saying, hey,
Speaker 1: what about us? This all started with the Dabb's decision,
Speaker 1: and rightly so we're having it about same sex marriage,
Speaker 1: but what about what about the issues of health care
Speaker 1: for women? That's not come up and it's not going
Speaker 1: to come up as far as we can tell, in
Speaker 1: any near in the near future. How come that is? Rick? Uh?
Speaker 1: Do we need more female lawmakers? That as simple as that. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, look, the politics is a much more complicated,
Speaker 1: you know when it comes to reproductive rights. Uh and
Speaker 1: and right now, probably the divisions that are in place
Speaker 1: are going to exist for some time. You know. We've
Speaker 1: just been through an election cycle where this issue played
Speaker 1: out in incredible importance, and I think lawmakers are gonna
Speaker 1: gonna have to let that it'll in and figure out
Speaker 1: what they're gonna do about in the future. Whether I
Speaker 1: doubt if they can put something together this quickly, but
Speaker 1: this issue is not going away, No, it's not. And
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, we'll be impressed if they can put
Speaker 1: a budget together at this point. So just hang on
Speaker 1: with that. Rick and Jenie are gonna hang on. They
Speaker 1: come back. We've got a few other boxes to check here,
Speaker 1: including Senator Thune's statement on Donald Trump's dinner with Nick
Speaker 1: Fuentes at mar Lago. We're also going to turn to
Speaker 1: what's happening in Arizona. Rick Davis will surely weigh in
Speaker 1: on this. Carrie l says she's gonna sue she's lawyered
Speaker 1: up in Wow, if you were in the room for
Speaker 1: the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors listening to people complain
Speaker 1: about the way the election was conducted, can't let your
Speaker 1: kid listen to half of it. We'll have more next.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. So,
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell denounced the dinner at Mara a Lago, the
Speaker 1: dinner with a white supremacist Nick Fuentist. This is the
Speaker 1: Trump Kanye thing, Kevin McCarthy, as he heard earlier this hour.
Speaker 1: He denounced it in the White House driveway today. You
Speaker 1: can add Senator John Thune, who didn't waste any time
Speaker 1: when I asked him about it earlier this hour. I actually,
Speaker 1: I don't know what you can say. You can't defend
Speaker 1: it um and uh in our party. If if that's
Speaker 1: the kind of um leadership that our party can expect
Speaker 1: into the future, we're going to be a minority party
Speaker 1: and uh. And so that's that kind of behavior, that
Speaker 1: kind of um tolerance for those sorts of us. Is
Speaker 1: this is not acceptable? A more convincing answer you might
Speaker 1: suggest than meet the prescott from Representative James Comer on Sunday. Well,
Speaker 1: he certainly needs better judgment and who he dines with.
Speaker 1: I know that he's issued a statement and said he
Speaker 1: didn't know who those people were. But at any rate,
Speaker 1: you know, my focus is gonna be on investigating the
Speaker 1: current administration forty or fifty investigations. Let's reassemble the panel.
Speaker 1: Rick Davis, Jennie Janzano here, Bloomberg Politics contributors. Uh Rick
Speaker 1: John Thune has never been a Trump guy, right, that
Speaker 1: I'm assuming was not too difficult for him to come
Speaker 1: together on. No, But I don't think this is very
Speaker 1: difficult for anybody within the Party of these days. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, there was a whole raft of folks today
Speaker 1: coming out even you know, his boss Mitch McConnell condemned
Speaker 1: it pretty widely and and made the point that, uh,
Speaker 1: he doubts if anybody can become president if they take
Speaker 1: this kind of approach, So a direct shot at Donald
Speaker 1: Trump and uh and and what I was really impressed
Speaker 1: by is a number of the Jewish leaders who served
Speaker 1: in the Trump administration, including his ambassador at Israel, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, encouraged Donald Trump to throw the bums out.
Speaker 1: So there's there's really no opening here in the Republican
Speaker 1: Party for this kind of conduct. And Donald Trump's finding
Speaker 1: himself completely isolated on this issue, and it's all of
Speaker 1: his own doing. Kevin McCarthy had spoken earlier, Genie, I
Speaker 1: asked you that because was on this program last evening
Speaker 1: that that he was being called out for it, and
Speaker 1: and it was just today, this is a full week
Speaker 1: later that it happened. Yeah, I mean, I think he
Speaker 1: should have spoken out earlier, but better late than never.
Speaker 1: And I think it was very interesting that Senator Thune
Speaker 1: said to you that he sees a robust primary and
Speaker 1: the Republicans future. I think he may be right about that.
Speaker 1: I think the big question in my mind is how
Speaker 1: long do they let a robust primary go, because of
Speaker 1: course the problem for Republicans, the more people in the race,
Speaker 1: the more likely it is that Donald Trump could keep
Speaker 1: his thirty and squeak his way through. So are they
Speaker 1: going to coalesce behind somebody at some point and when
Speaker 1: is that going to be? Or are they gonna have
Speaker 1: another on their hands where he knocks people out one
Speaker 1: at a time. So I was very interested to hear
Speaker 1: him say he sees that. But how long he's gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, they want that to continue is going to
Speaker 1: be the question? Were you surprised that. You know, he's
Speaker 1: frequently mentioned as a potential candidate himself, not only a
Speaker 1: potential Senate leader, Rick, but his name comes up every
Speaker 1: four years, is a potential Republican nominee or candidate for president.
Speaker 1: He wasn't going near that when I asked him, and
Speaker 1: I suppose you you wouldn't expect him to, But is
Speaker 1: he actually do you think looking at it is his
Speaker 1: future in the Senate. Everybody in the United States Senate
Speaker 1: thinks they can be president United States. And uh, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, I mean, I I'm sure there are days
Speaker 1: when he's you know, sitting around home and thinking, God,
Speaker 1: I could do that, and and he could. He's very
Speaker 1: talented guy, and as John McCain said, probably the best
Speaker 1: looking senator in the United States Senate. So if looks
Speaker 1: have anything to do with it, that man is in
Speaker 1: the top ten and so so at the end of
Speaker 1: the stage, Uh, it's probably not his place. He's had
Speaker 1: his eye on Senate leadership for a long time. He's
Speaker 1: made a lot of sacrifices. He was not even going
Speaker 1: to run for re election, and you know, got talked into,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to be a part of a new coalition.
Speaker 1: I'm sure, he's more disappointed than anybody. You know that
Speaker 1: we were not going to have the votes to get
Speaker 1: the majority in the United States Senate this year. So
Speaker 1: I think he's a he's going to stay in the
Speaker 1: Senate and he's gonna and he's gonna buy for leadership
Speaker 1: at some point in time and uh maybe four. You know,
Speaker 1: he sees some window of opportunity there. But I would
Speaker 1: doubt if he's one of the folks who is going
Speaker 1: to throw their heat in the ring. Carry Lake thinks
Speaker 1: the window of opportunity is still open for her bid
Speaker 1: to be the next governor of Arizona. And I have
Speaker 1: to I have to bring you up to date on this.
Speaker 1: We've heard a lot too. She went online and you know,
Speaker 1: with the fuzzy background and all that stuff, to address
Speaker 1: her supporters today because it's been a minute. If we
Speaker 1: do not stand up and speak up right now about
Speaker 1: the most dishonest elections in the history of Arizona, I
Speaker 1: truly fear for our future. And I'm working with the
Speaker 1: team a patriotic talented lawyers on a legal case to
Speaker 1: challenge the botch elections. Okay, so now this all comes
Speaker 1: after a difficult couple of weeks for the Amercopa County
Speaker 1: Board of Supervisors. We talked to Bill Gates here a
Speaker 1: few weeks back. He described the death threats that his
Speaker 1: family has been receiving. I believe he had to relocate
Speaker 1: his family. But still a couple of a couple of
Speaker 1: days worth of hearings. It's the stream of people coming
Speaker 1: in to scream about the way the election was handled
Speaker 1: before the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. One of those supervisors,
Speaker 1: Steve Gallardo, has had it and he opened up on
Speaker 1: carry Lake today. You look at the Twitter feed of
Speaker 1: carry Lake and the carry Lake war Room. They put
Speaker 1: up twenty eight posts on Twitter of eight people speaking
Speaker 1: with concerns and comments and yelling at us. But when
Speaker 1: it came down to answering every one of those questions,
Speaker 1: not one tweet from carry Lake. Just the tweet we
Speaker 1: saw today actually saying she's gonna fight this. When you
Speaker 1: have folks that are throwing rocks at the system but
Speaker 1: not wanting to tell the voters the truth, that's unconscionable.
Speaker 1: Shame on her, Shame on her. The voters spoke, they decided.
Speaker 1: It just happened to not be her or some of
Speaker 1: the other candidates. It is what it is. The voters
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to have their voices heard, ballots were counted,
Speaker 1: and this election was safe, secure and accurate, and then
Speaker 1: they had their voices heard again. Now, imagine again, We've
Speaker 1: played some of the stuff for you's been going on
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks. People screaming into the microphone,
Speaker 1: wearing crazy clothes, doing crazy stuff. You get you two
Speaker 1: minutes and they say thank you next. When you don't,
Speaker 1: you can say anything about thank you next. And the
Speaker 1: last twenty four hours were wild. I came here today
Speaker 1: to get an up close and personal look at the
Speaker 1: seven Traders to the United States contints pleading at that desk.
Speaker 1: Every single one of us use a pull center right
Speaker 1: networker right now is making fun of you, every single
Speaker 1: one of us. You are the butt of our jokes.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure they can represent evil good versus evil.
Speaker 1: All you've God fearing men and women out here need
Speaker 1: to understand that and get up every day and start
Speaker 1: donning your body armor before you step on this battlefield.
Speaker 1: Body armor. I don't know if that you guys don't
Speaker 1: or you are purposely disenfranchising the whole world with this
Speaker 1: gas lighting this stuff. Okay, the word of the year
Speaker 1: from Miriam Webster gaslight. Uh the world, disenfranchising the world. Rick,
Speaker 1: You've spent some time in Arizona politics, You've helped to
Speaker 1: run elections in Arizona. Where's this going with Kerry Lake? Well,
Speaker 1: all I can say is welcome to Arizona. Look, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, even Bill Gates, you know, chairman of the
Speaker 1: Americo PA County Supervisor, says, you know, look, if you
Speaker 1: want to sue, sue, you know, present your facts in
Speaker 1: the court of law and Mericopa County will do whatever
Speaker 1: you want the court the court instructs it to do.
Speaker 1: But he's got facts on his side, so he doesn't
Speaker 1: have to sort of demagogue it and and and say
Speaker 1: all these crazy things. He can just say, sue me.
Speaker 1: We've already certified the election. So uh. You know, look,
Speaker 1: I think this is again a lot of smoke, uh
Speaker 1: no fire. Um, We've we've already spent two years here
Speaker 1: and from Donald Trump about his election loss being stolen
Speaker 1: and not a shred of evidence of Is this going
Speaker 1: to lead to some audit or something all over again,
Speaker 1: or does Arizona have the goods to shut this down? Well?
Speaker 1: Just remember the audit was a political audit that came
Speaker 1: out of the legislature. Uh, there doesn't seem to be
Speaker 1: any real desire by folks in the legislature today to
Speaker 1: try to do what they did and failed last time.
Speaker 1: I mean they audited the elections in and Joe Biden
Speaker 1: got a few extra VOTs. I mean it was like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's really helpful. So look at this stage, really the
Speaker 1: big game is Coaches County. They are the only county
Speaker 1: in Arizona that did not certify its results as required
Speaker 1: by law, and even they are on the record have saying, oh, well,
Speaker 1: you know, we're just posturing on this thing. So the
Speaker 1: Secretary of State, who happens to be the governor elect
Speaker 1: h is suing Coaches County. What I find incredibly ironic
Speaker 1: is it's an all red state. So if the Coaches County,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, gets thrown out, the attorney who's only
Speaker 1: behind by five votes has no chance of getting elected
Speaker 1: because there will be thousands and thousands of votes for
Speaker 1: him in Coaches County. So this is a This is
Speaker 1: a problem that we have where people try to undermine
Speaker 1: the integrity of perfectly normal elections, and even the supervisors
Speaker 1: met in Coaches. Oh, we had a normal vote, but
Speaker 1: we're doing this in solidarity to the people in the
Speaker 1: Copa County who got this enfranchised. So, Jeannie, what's next
Speaker 1: for carry Lake? Then? I mean, we're gonna watch this
Speaker 1: unfold for the next two years? Or does she become
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's shoeing for a VP candidate. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a bit disappointed she's on Twitter and not on truth.
Speaker 1: But I hope she gets her I don't know where
Speaker 1: to find her, but I just want to follow up
Speaker 1: and ricks does you you guys talking about Coaches County.
Speaker 1: The irony and the absurdity of that is if they
Speaker 1: failed to certify by Arizona law, then we could very
Speaker 1: well see a Democrat win the House seat in the
Speaker 1: sixth congressional district because they the fourteen thousand votes that
Speaker 1: the Republican won would not be counted and Kristin Ingle
Speaker 1: may well take that six district. So they are protesting.
Speaker 1: They say they did nothing wrong, it's in solidarity with Maricopa,
Speaker 1: and yet they may push a Democrat into that House.
Speaker 1: So it's utterly absurd. And you know, carry Lake will continue,
Speaker 1: but I think you know, kudos to these election workers
Speaker 1: in Georgia and Arizona who are fighting this fight and
Speaker 1: doing the right thing. Leadership does matter. Carry Lake is
Speaker 1: absolutely wrong, and you know, got you know, let's all
Speaker 1: hope that there aren't some crazy people out there who
Speaker 1: act violently. It hasn't happened yet, but this kind of
Speaker 1: incitement is the real danger here. And you know, she
Speaker 1: and Donald Trump they have to be very careful what
Speaker 1: they say. But did you hear the US beat Iran?
Speaker 1: I spoke to the coach and the players as said
Speaker 1: you can do this. They they did it. God love them. Anyway.
Speaker 1: I just thought you might want to hear. Yeah, Joe
Speaker 1: Biden runs back to the podium as the USA beats Iran.
Speaker 1: One zip. That's the football, the soccer, you know, Rick
Speaker 1: and Genie, thank you. We need more time on this thing.
Speaker 1: The fastest hour in politics, Go USA. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: H