Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg's sound on
Speaker 1: Damn calling on Congress to suspend the trend of jazz
Speaker 1: tax for the next ninety days. Another band aid and
Speaker 1: something they know is dead on arrival up here in Congress.
Speaker 1: The holiday the American people need is a holiday from
Speaker 1: Joe Biden's terrible energy policy. Bloomberg sound On Politics, Policy
Speaker 1: and perspective from DC's top name. So when jazz prices
Speaker 1: go down as a result of your interest rate increase,
Speaker 1: I would not think so. Now did J Powell just
Speaker 1: predict a recession? As close as you can get if
Speaker 1: you're the chairman of the Fed. Bloomberg Sound On with
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. President Biden calls for a
Speaker 1: gas tax holiday without the support of Capitol Hill. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the fastest hour in politics, as the President speaks
Speaker 1: from the White House on this even as FED Chair J.
Speaker 1: Powell answers tough questions in the Senate about inflation. Will
Speaker 1: be seeking answers from Bloomberg International Economics and Policy correspondent
Speaker 1: Mike McKee in the Capitol today and with our panel
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Genie Chantano with us
Speaker 1: for the hour later. Another primary night in America cuts
Speaker 1: both ways for Donald Trump will look at the results
Speaker 1: from Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia with Bloomberg Elections reporter Greg Jarrow.
Speaker 1: President Biden is going for it. We talked about this
Speaker 1: quite a bit yesterday, so you were smarter than everyone
Speaker 1: else at the cocktail party. The gas tax holiday is
Speaker 1: now apparently in favor at the White House. But I
Speaker 1: will remind you the President cannot do this on his own,
Speaker 1: calling on Congress to suspend the eighteen cent to gallon
Speaker 1: tax for three months. The big concern here, of course,
Speaker 1: is that oil companies may or may not pass it on.
Speaker 1: By suspending the eighteen cent gas tax federal gas tax
Speaker 1: for the next ninety days, we can bring down the
Speaker 1: price of gas and give family. It's just a little
Speaker 1: bit of relief. I call on the company's to pass
Speaker 1: this along, every penny of this eighteenth cent reduction to
Speaker 1: the consumers. Okay, so let's see if that happens. As
Speaker 1: an important meeting tomorrow at the White House, the heads
Speaker 1: of the major oil companies will be asked, urged, prodded.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you describe this to start increasing production. Now,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, that's one side of Pennsylvania Avenue. On
Speaker 1: the other, J Powell, the FED share taking tough questions
Speaker 1: in a Senate committee about, of course, his plan to
Speaker 1: rein in inflation. And the big question is can you
Speaker 1: do that without causing a recession? Do you agree, with
Speaker 1: the respect of the if interest rates go too high,
Speaker 1: too fast, it could drive us into a recession. It's
Speaker 1: certainly a possibility. It's not our intended outcome at all,
Speaker 1: but it's certainly a possibility. And and frankly, the events
Speaker 1: of the last few months around the world have have
Speaker 1: have made it more difficult for us to achieve what
Speaker 1: we want, which is two percent inflation and still a
Speaker 1: strong labor market. That was John Tester, by the way,
Speaker 1: senator from Montana, asking the question, So we want to
Speaker 1: bring in Mike McKee for more on this, Bloomberg International
Speaker 1: Economics and Policy correspondent. It's great to have you back, Mike. Welcome,
Speaker 1: Thanks Joe. Did J Powell just predict a recession as
Speaker 1: close as you can get If you're the chairman of
Speaker 1: the FED, you can't really admit that there's going to
Speaker 1: be a recession? Because imagine what would happen in the
Speaker 1: markets if he said something like that. Would be like
Speaker 1: the skipper of a baseball team coming out and saying
Speaker 1: we're gonna lose every game, but hey, come watch anyway.
Speaker 1: So so yeah, he had he admitted the truth that
Speaker 1: it's going to be very difficult to stick the soft landing,
Speaker 1: as it were, and most economists are predicting that we
Speaker 1: will have a downturn. Some think it will be very mild,
Speaker 1: some think it will not be. But the history shows
Speaker 1: that when the Fed starts tightening significantly, that's going to
Speaker 1: the cases you're gonna end up with a recession. And
Speaker 1: the problem here is that there's so much the Fed
Speaker 1: can't do anything about. So you can't really bring down
Speaker 1: gasoline prices unless they really crushed demand, which set you
Speaker 1: up for a recession. All right. So that's where Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Warren came in today asking very similar questions to what
Speaker 1: we've been asking here on the broadcast. And I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure you asked J Powell himself in the news conference
Speaker 1: following the meeting last week. If you cannot fix food
Speaker 1: prices and oil prices, then what exactly is the point
Speaker 1: of this exercise? Here's Warren and Powell. Well, gas prices
Speaker 1: go down as a result of your interest rate increase.
Speaker 1: I would not think so. Now, Well, the Fed's interest
Speaker 1: rate increases bring food prices down for families, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say so now right now, the FED has no control
Speaker 1: over the main drivers of rising prices. You know what's
Speaker 1: worse than high inflation and low unemployment. It's high inflation
Speaker 1: and a recession with millions of people out of work.
Speaker 1: And I hope you'll reconsider that as you drive this
Speaker 1: before you drive this economy off a cliff. So I
Speaker 1: guess for starters, is she correct? And is this a
Speaker 1: case secondly of who wants to tell her that's actually
Speaker 1: what they're planning to do? Well, you notice it with
Speaker 1: Warren tends to be a little more dramatic in public hearings,
Speaker 1: and and and it's obvious that the FED doesn't have
Speaker 1: control over gasoline and food prices, except, as I said,
Speaker 1: if you really raise an interest rate high like Paul
Speaker 1: Volker did, crush demand, you get a recession, and then
Speaker 1: gasoline prices will come down because people won't be driving.
Speaker 1: But it is a difficult situation that the FED is in,
Speaker 1: and there are some people, and Warren seems to be
Speaker 1: in that camp. Uh. Danny Blanche Flower, who is a
Speaker 1: regular on BLUEBIRG radio and television, is a professor at
Speaker 1: Dartmouth College. Um has argued that we are in or
Speaker 1: very close to recession, and the FED should be thinking
Speaker 1: about cutting rates because of that, because by the time
Speaker 1: it becomes obvious, it's too late. So there's a small
Speaker 1: camp that argues there could be a recession, that the
Speaker 1: Fed could go too far and that they should back
Speaker 1: off from raising rates. But the Fed and the economists
Speaker 1: are focused on the idea that inflation is high enough
Speaker 1: that they need to keep going or it gets entrenched
Speaker 1: in inflation expectations, and then it's very hard to eradicate
Speaker 1: President Biden today announcing this suspension of the federal gas tacks.
Speaker 1: How is he doing this when no one in Washington
Speaker 1: seems to think that this is a good idea, well,
Speaker 1: including Nancy Pelos I would say that there's nothing special
Speaker 1: about Washington. No one around the country or around the
Speaker 1: world thinks he needs Yeah, he needs Congress to pass it,
Speaker 1: and Uh, Congress, from everything I understand, is not of
Speaker 1: a mind to do that. And maybe he knows that,
Speaker 1: and and and it's it's this is something you can
Speaker 1: throw out free everything. We thought about it, and we
Speaker 1: could have helped you. But any economists will tell you
Speaker 1: if you subsidize something, people are going to buy more
Speaker 1: of it. And if you could have people buy more
Speaker 1: gasoline and you don't have more gasoline, which is our
Speaker 1: situation now, then those people the price is going to
Speaker 1: go up, not down. That will require significant demand destruction.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't just keeping prices where they are caused that on
Speaker 1: their own. Well, here's the other thing that people aren't
Speaker 1: thinking about is trees don't grow to the sky. And
Speaker 1: gasoline prices and oil prices have been going up, but
Speaker 1: they're kind of topping out. I mean, we've had this
Speaker 1: volatility down sharply, but they've been going up and down
Speaker 1: in a certain range. And as long as on a
Speaker 1: percentage basis, they aren't still rising above their previous highs,
Speaker 1: then you're not going to have a percentage increase in
Speaker 1: gasoline and oil prices. Uh So the inflationary aspect of it,
Speaker 1: which inflation being a broad rise in the price level,
Speaker 1: isn't going to be taking place, and so they sort
Speaker 1: of fall out of the calculation just because oils at
Speaker 1: one twenty or you're paying five dollars a gallon for gasoline.
Speaker 1: If you don't get to six, then there's no more
Speaker 1: inflation in gasoline prices. There are just high prices. Is
Speaker 1: the trip to Saudi Arabia the closest thing this president
Speaker 1: will find actually impacting the global price of oil? If
Speaker 1: he gets the saudiast to pump more. Sure, if they
Speaker 1: pump more, the global price of oil will go down. Now,
Speaker 1: the question is does that show up in something that
Speaker 1: the consumer cares about, because refinery capacities at like right
Speaker 1: now and the rest are down for maintenance. So even
Speaker 1: if you get more, you can't really produce more oil
Speaker 1: given the situation, And none of the refiners want to
Speaker 1: reopen mothballed refineries or build new ones because Joe Biden
Speaker 1: says we're going to get rid of that gasolating powered cars.
Speaker 1: So there's I mean, why make a billion dollar investment.
Speaker 1: So at this point, yeah, he can bring down the
Speaker 1: price of oil and that will help on the margins,
Speaker 1: and it will help it makes the input costs to
Speaker 1: refiners lower, so prices could go down a little bit,
Speaker 1: but it isn't going to have the kind of impact
Speaker 1: on the consumer that might help him tremendously politically. It
Speaker 1: will help consumers a little bit because prices will go
Speaker 1: down in businesses, we'll see input costs for things like
Speaker 1: chemicals and raw materials. So the skeptic would say, this
Speaker 1: is the big wind up to the trip. You do
Speaker 1: what you can with the tax piece. You already released
Speaker 1: a million of barrels a day from the from the
Speaker 1: spr You have your meeting with executives on Thursday. Now
Speaker 1: you're in the clear to do the real job, which
Speaker 1: is to ask MBS to pump more. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: mean it'd be interesting to see how that goes over
Speaker 1: given the crown prince's history, political history, and to see
Speaker 1: if Biden gets more credit or more criticism for doing it.
Speaker 1: But this is one of those situations where you go
Speaker 1: back to the old saying that the countries have no friends,
Speaker 1: they just have interests and um, it is very difficult
Speaker 1: for presidents to do some of these things. But in
Speaker 1: the interests of the American people, maybe Biden feels he
Speaker 1: can swallow the US pride or whatever it is and
Speaker 1: ask for more. This is why he used to host
Speaker 1: his own political talk show, right here on Bloomberg not
Speaker 1: only covering the FED, but you're the best at that too,
Speaker 1: And that's why we always love spending some time with
Speaker 1: Mike McKee, especially when you're in Washington. Thank you, Mike,
Speaker 1: have a safe trip home to see Human Studio, much
Speaker 1: like Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributor, is with us in
Speaker 1: Washington today as well. Uh Rick, I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you about this gas tax holiday specifically because when you
Speaker 1: were running the McCain campaign in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: did something that you had proposed then as well. The
Speaker 1: reason for that, I can only assume, as we just discussed,
Speaker 1: is to be seen doing something right at least we
Speaker 1: tried everything we had. Was that. What was going through
Speaker 1: your your heads at the time, Yeah, you gotta have
Speaker 1: you gotta have something to give to the American people
Speaker 1: who are suffering from you know, high gas prices. I mean,
Speaker 1: you think about it. Back then, I think gas was like,
Speaker 1: you know, three eight and oil was over a hundred
Speaker 1: fourteen dollars a barrel, right, so like, and that was
Speaker 1: in two thousand eight, So those dollars go a long
Speaker 1: way today and and and so quite a bit higher
Speaker 1: arguably than they are now exactly, and and and and
Speaker 1: of course we're in a financial out down, you know,
Speaker 1: across the board. So, uh, but we knew it was
Speaker 1: bad policy, right, I mean, like taking nine billion dollars
Speaker 1: it's ten billion now, but nine billion dollars out of
Speaker 1: the Highway Trust Fund just to make people, you know,
Speaker 1: give them eighteen cents or whatever the number was back
Speaker 1: in in in two thousand eight, alleviation from the pump.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a gimmick. I mean, like we knew
Speaker 1: it was a gimmick at the time. Right. One of
Speaker 1: the other options we said, why don't we just give
Speaker 1: him the money? Well, right, said it Jack, Yes, and
Speaker 1: and and at least it's you're not have to worry
Speaker 1: about the oil company's taking it exactly. You're you're a
Speaker 1: little more earnest in the fact that you're just subsidizing
Speaker 1: the American don't spend it on whatever they want. To
Speaker 1: be clear, there's no support for this on either side
Speaker 1: of the aisle on Capitol Hill nor today. It's today,
Speaker 1: it's a it's seen as a gimmick. The reason the
Speaker 1: President is doing it is so that he has something
Speaker 1: to say to the American people, Well, we're gonna fold
Speaker 1: in Genie Chanzano, our panel coming up next, and we'll
Speaker 1: give you a sense of what they are saying on
Speaker 1: Capitol Hill, both d's and rs as we try to
Speaker 1: bring you both sides of this. Here the fastest hour
Speaker 1: in Paula Tix rolls on will update markets and traffic
Speaker 1: for you to so stay with us. I'm Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: in Washington. This he is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg sond
Speaker 1: On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. How speaker Nancy
Speaker 1: Pelosi called it show biz, reminding us of when Barack
Speaker 1: Obama called the gas tax holiday a gimmick back in
Speaker 1: two thousand eight. But listen to how Joe Mansion reacted
Speaker 1: to this idea today. The Senator from West Virginia was
Speaker 1: asked about it by a b C News. Which politician
Speaker 1: up here is going to be voting to put that
Speaker 1: eighteen cent tax back on a month before the November election.
Speaker 1: So we just dig the whole deeper and deeper and deeper.
Speaker 1: The timing is tough. Let's assemble the panel for more
Speaker 1: on all of this. Bloomberg Politics contributors Genie Chanzano and
Speaker 1: Rick Davis with us for the hour. Genie, we need
Speaker 1: to hear your voice here as the Democrats are apparently
Speaker 1: as opposed to this as a lot of Republicans on
Speaker 1: Capitol Hill. What's the motivation here at the White House today?
Speaker 1: You know, I think the motivation is they're trying to
Speaker 1: show that they're using all the tools and their tool belt,
Speaker 1: even if they you know, uh, and I say tools
Speaker 1: and their tool but they really don't have this one,
Speaker 1: but you know, just to show that they are trying
Speaker 1: to do what they can to push through anything. I
Speaker 1: think the danger here is number one, not just the
Speaker 1: fact Congress probably won't pass it and it may not
Speaker 1: get passed on to consumers, but this focus, uh, the
Speaker 1: president has doesn't seem to be sustained on addressing the
Speaker 1: energy problem. There's these one off policies like one hit,
Speaker 1: wonders one day, this one day that, and that's a
Speaker 1: problem for him politically, and I think many people, particularly
Speaker 1: on the left, are asking themselves, you know, essentially, who
Speaker 1: is Joe Biden. He could have used the challenge in
Speaker 1: Ukraine and the challenge with prices to push for renewables.
Speaker 1: You know, the old saying, don't let a good crisis
Speaker 1: go to waste. Why hasn't he pushed for something that
Speaker 1: people on the Democratic side believe in. This is not it,
Speaker 1: and he's going to talk about it. It won't get through,
Speaker 1: and I fear politically it does him. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't think it doesn't much damage, but I don't think
Speaker 1: it doesn't much good either. Wouldn't bring down the price
Speaker 1: of gas now, though, Rick, which is what the White
Speaker 1: House needs. Yeah, and they need a summer of driving
Speaker 1: that has some relief to the consumer. And and the
Speaker 1: reality is, but between congressional recesses coming up and the
Speaker 1: inability to get something like this pass, I mean, they're
Speaker 1: just never going to see any kind of relief. So
Speaker 1: people are gonna hit the road for their summer vacations,
Speaker 1: packed the kids and the dogs in the car, and
Speaker 1: they're gonna pay full price at the pump. Reaction from
Speaker 1: Republicans today in the Senate Senator John Thune, what the administration,
Speaker 1: of course is coming up with is yet another gimmick,
Speaker 1: another band aid, and something they know is dead on
Speaker 1: arrival up here in Congress, which apparently everyone agrees with.
Speaker 1: I Look, things could change, I guess Senator John Barrasso
Speaker 1: had a bit more poetry to spend. Joe Biden, the
Speaker 1: president of painfully high prices, is throwing another desperate Hail
Speaker 1: Mary pass. It's the so called gas tax holiday. The
Speaker 1: holiday the American people need is a holiday from Joe
Speaker 1: Biden's terrible energy policies. My god, Genie, did he just
Speaker 1: make it worse. The President was supposed to give people
Speaker 1: something good to talk about. Yeah, he was, And this
Speaker 1: again is the fear. And I think this is what
Speaker 1: we've seen with the Biden presidency. He hasn't been able
Speaker 1: to show the American public who he is, in part
Speaker 1: because the constituency he ran on was trying to stitch
Speaker 1: together these progressives and these moderates, and I don't think
Speaker 1: he's gotten to express who he really is. And again,
Speaker 1: if he's committed to renewables, if he's committed to a
Speaker 1: long term solution, it may not immediately bring down gas prices,
Speaker 1: but at least it would be an authentic version. If
Speaker 1: that is what it is of who he is and
Speaker 1: who the administration is. This is a losing proposition. And
Speaker 1: you know, my question has been why take the time
Speaker 1: in the days to think about this. He comes on
Speaker 1: board and says this today, by my account, we have
Speaker 1: no more congressmen or women supporting it than we did
Speaker 1: certainly not mention and by the way, no more states
Speaker 1: saying they would go along with it at this point
Speaker 1: other than the nineteen And if you don't get the states,
Speaker 1: the consumers don't feel that what's really supposed to be
Speaker 1: felt here. So I'm not sure why they took the
Speaker 1: time if they didn't bring people along. Today he dumps
Speaker 1: this and we don't see more support for it in
Speaker 1: Congress or the states. Strike you as just a strange decision, Rick,
Speaker 1: Or is the point just to get the get the
Speaker 1: sound cut on the air? President's given you wants at
Speaker 1: least a gas tax holiday, uh? As opposed to you know,
Speaker 1: spending time whipping votes trying to get a coalition together here.
Speaker 1: Sure you could, you could make the argument that he's
Speaker 1: just trying to put Congress on the defense. Right, Oh,
Speaker 1: I wanted to give you there gas tack holiday. But
Speaker 1: the problem is half of those are his guys. I mean,
Speaker 1: half of those are Democrats. And what are they going
Speaker 1: to say about this? I mean, you've heard Joe Manchin
Speaker 1: is just a gimmick. The as a joke, It's not
Speaker 1: gonna happen then on arrival. I mean, but like he's
Speaker 1: putting his own party who's on the ballot. He's not
Speaker 1: on the ballot in in six months, his party is,
Speaker 1: and his party's got to go and explain why this
Speaker 1: administration isn't doing much to alleviate their pain at the pump.
Speaker 1: And and so I I really think it's a mistake.
Speaker 1: I mean, he also got caught today in a you know,
Speaker 1: sort of an effort to try and pick on the
Speaker 1: oil industry again, Like the CEO of of Chevron sent
Speaker 1: a letter out saying, hey, quit picking on is just
Speaker 1: in skin. But it's all these permits to drill, you
Speaker 1: should be drilling. I mean, like it's not helpful in
Speaker 1: this conversation to keep bringing up things that actually aren't
Speaker 1: gonna make any difference. You know, we started this hour
Speaker 1: talking about J. Powell today his testimony. You had a
Speaker 1: recession to all of this, which might actually be the
Speaker 1: only way they can get rid of the inflation problem
Speaker 1: right now. And boy, I don't know what kind of
Speaker 1: a final chapter we can write here to make it
Speaker 1: more depressing. But does President Biden need to start preparing
Speaker 1: people for that or is that just not the job
Speaker 1: of the commander in chief. He has to talk up
Speaker 1: the economy when in public. Yeah, I guess he could
Speaker 1: just rely on Powell to do it for him, as
Speaker 1: he did today. And you know it's speaking of you know,
Speaker 1: not much of an affinity between the two um to
Speaker 1: my mind. You know, when Powell was asked if inflation
Speaker 1: was high, you know, in terms of the war, if
Speaker 1: you know this putin price hike, is has any you know, realistic,
Speaker 1: if there's any truth to that, he basically sold Joe
Speaker 1: Biden down the river, saying nope, no truth to Daday either.
Speaker 1: So bad news or Biden all around. Today. What a day.
Speaker 1: We're only halfway through the hour, Genie, Thank you. Rick
Speaker 1: Davis will be back as we turned to primary night
Speaker 1: and we'll run through the results with Bloomberg Elections reporter
Speaker 1: Greg Jarrow. Very interesting turnout in Georgia and not good
Speaker 1: for Donald Trump left. More on that next, This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: Remember when Moe Brooks was calling himself Maga Mo American
Speaker 1: Patriots start taking down names and kicking ass. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was on January six. Mo Brooks, the Trump loyalists indeed
Speaker 1: spoke at the rally on the ellipse when he urged
Speaker 1: the crowd to start taking down names. American patriots start
Speaker 1: taking down names and taking as well. He went a
Speaker 1: lot further than that at that rally. If you listen
Speaker 1: to our ancestors sacrifice their blood, their sweat, their tears,
Speaker 1: their fortunes, and sometimes their lives to give us their
Speaker 1: descendants in America, that is the greatest nation in world history.
Speaker 1: So I have a question for you. Are you willing
Speaker 1: to do the same? My answer is yes, Louder, are
Speaker 1: you willing to do what it takes to fight for America?
Speaker 1: Just hours before the attack on the capitol of your louder,
Speaker 1: will you fight for America? Now, imagine a world in
Speaker 1: which Trump endorsed someone else. Yeah, this was the Trump
Speaker 1: loyalist Maga Mo. But when things weren't going great in
Speaker 1: his campaign for Senate in Alabama, Donald Trump rescinded his
Speaker 1: endorsement and gave it to Katie Britt And she won
Speaker 1: by a lot last night. So that's a score for Trump.
Speaker 1: It didn't go quite so well for Trump and Georgia.
Speaker 1: As we bring in Bloomberg's Gregg Jarrow, it's kind of
Speaker 1: like the day after Christmas when Gregg comes over the house.
Speaker 1: We do this every Wednesday, almost Greg, Thanks for being here,
Speaker 1: welcome back. I'd like to ask you about a couple
Speaker 1: of these, starting with Alabama that wasn't just a loss,
Speaker 1: that was a wipeout for Mo Brooks. Yeah, Mo Brooks
Speaker 1: lost by more than points to Katie Britt. And yes,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump did initially endorsed Moe Brooks and then Mo
Speaker 1: Brooks last August told a crowd at a Trump rally
Speaker 1: they should move on from the election and that didn't
Speaker 1: sit well crowd, but Trump did. But Trump did not
Speaker 1: rescind his endorsement of Brooks until March, seven months later,
Speaker 1: when it was clear that Brooks was fading in the polls,
Speaker 1: and actually after Trump resented his endorsement, Brooks qualified for
Speaker 1: the runoff, and then Trump endorsed Katie Britt eleven days
Speaker 1: before the runoff when it was clear She's going to win.
Speaker 1: So Trump and his team are very mindful of his
Speaker 1: win loss record and endorsements endorsements in primaries, and Katie
Speaker 1: Britt would have won without Trump's backing for sure. I'm
Speaker 1: glad you pointed that out. By the way, that this
Speaker 1: was less than two weeks before the primary or this
Speaker 1: final runoff here that Donald Trump actually endorsed Katie Britt.
Speaker 1: That's despite, by the way, my goodness, those who still
Speaker 1: supported Moe Brooks, Marjorie Taylor Green. Uh, it was Hannish,
Speaker 1: Sean Hannity, a lot of folks who would normally be
Speaker 1: in line with Donald Trump, remembering January six. I mean,
Speaker 1: what an evolution, Greg, How do we explain it other
Speaker 1: than the influence of Trump. Yeah, Well, Brooks as um,
Speaker 1: Brooks never been a great state wide candy actually ran
Speaker 1: for the Senate before. Remember our listeners, remember that seventeen
Speaker 1: special Senate election after Jeff Sessions resigned to become Trump's
Speaker 1: first Attorney General. There was a special sent election held
Speaker 1: and Mo Brooks ran for that Senate seat and finished
Speaker 1: a distant third behind Curtis I'm sorry, Luther Strange and
Speaker 1: um Roy Moore remember him, and uh, um so he's
Speaker 1: Mo Brooks has never been a strong statewide candidate. His
Speaker 1: appeal has always been kind of sectional to his to
Speaker 1: his part of northern Alabama. And um, the you know,
Speaker 1: certainly the quote unquote establishment led by you know, Richard Shelby,
Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce, some other allied Republican groups made clear
Speaker 1: that they were going in all in for Katie Britt
Speaker 1: over Mo Brooks. We should not that Katie Britt worked
Speaker 1: for Shelby, was his chief of staff. Uh in Georgia. Meantime, Uh,
Speaker 1: not good for Donald Trump. I mean this has just
Speaker 1: been one after the other here both of his endorsed
Speaker 1: congressional candidates lost. Did you see that coming? Was that
Speaker 1: in the cards? Yes? I thought that both of them
Speaker 1: would lose, maybe not by the overwhelming margins by which
Speaker 1: they lost. So, Jake Evans was Trump's back candidate in
Speaker 1: a suburban Atlanta district that's open. He lost by a
Speaker 1: two to one margin to a surgeon named Rich McCormick,
Speaker 1: who um is still a very pro Trump candidate, and
Speaker 1: even in the tenth district. The other one, Vernon Jones,
Speaker 1: a former Democratic state representative who ran for Congress as
Speaker 1: a Republican UM. Basically, he won Trump's endorsement because he
Speaker 1: decided not to run for governor because that would have
Speaker 1: siphoned votes away from David Purdue, who Trump endorsed against
Speaker 1: Brian Brian Kemp. Vernon Jones only got about a quarter
Speaker 1: of the vote there. He lost overwhelmingly to a trucking
Speaker 1: company executive named Mike Collins, who, even though he didn't
Speaker 1: have Trump's endorsements, said he was quote unapologetically pro Trump.
Speaker 1: So even Trump's endorsed candidates. When when when Trump's endorsed
Speaker 1: candidates don't win, pro Trump candidates are winning. It's incredible
Speaker 1: Collins was endorsed by Governor Brian Kemp, right just to
Speaker 1: rub a little bit assault in the wound. Who was yeah,
Speaker 1: quite a quite another proxy fight, and Trump was I
Speaker 1: think looking for a uh you know, a face saving
Speaker 1: win after his resoundingly unsuccessful efforts to ou It's not
Speaker 1: only Brian Kemp in the primary, which failed overwhelmingly, but
Speaker 1: also the Attorney General of Georgia and of course Secretary
Speaker 1: of State Brad Raefensberger, who won his primary over a
Speaker 1: trumped back to congressman on the same day he was
Speaker 1: testifying before the January six committee. Uh that Vernon Jones
Speaker 1: Mike Collins race got pretty ugly, Greg that we I
Speaker 1: was reading reports of Collins was was actually sending out
Speaker 1: rape whistles, uh to remind people that Vernon Jones have
Speaker 1: been accused of sexual assaults. I mean, this got this
Speaker 1: got pretty tough. It really did. I watched a debate
Speaker 1: between the two candidates. While that issue didn't come up, um,
Speaker 1: it certainly did um in in Mailer's and in other communications,
Speaker 1: and it really got pretty bad um vernon Jones. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: a lot of really uh, you know, it's a really
Speaker 1: really tough, nasty race, one of the one of the
Speaker 1: toughest ones I've I've seen, certainly in Georgia politics in
Speaker 1: some time. But yeah, Collins won that race overwhelmingly, And
Speaker 1: even though he didn't have Trump's endorsement, He's still going
Speaker 1: to be a strongly conservative Republican congressman who will promote
Speaker 1: Trump's views. So the Trump endorsement is obviously not going
Speaker 1: very far in Georgia. We get that when you factor
Speaker 1: in results from North Carolina and South Carolina. The primaries
Speaker 1: we've had so far for Trump backed House candidates have
Speaker 1: now lost their primaries. When you step back, Greg, how's
Speaker 1: the Trump brand doing overall? Is this? Is this a
Speaker 1: mixed record at best? Yeah, mixed on even at best.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of hard to gauge the power of
Speaker 1: his endorsement how many votes that actually brings. UM. I mean,
Speaker 1: typically his endorsements come in the form of press releases
Speaker 1: and earned media. He doesn't do that many in person rallies.
Speaker 1: It's pretty rare. Um and his superpack and his kind
Speaker 1: of political apparatus, even though it's very flush with cash,
Speaker 1: has really spent a lot of money, uh at all
Speaker 1: against candidates the opposes, so um, you know, and like
Speaker 1: I said, he likes to, you know, cherry picks some
Speaker 1: of his endorsements when he really wants to use up
Speaker 1: that win loss record. Greg Drel, Bloomberg's elections expert, Thanks
Speaker 1: for coming over the house again. Maybe we'll do this
Speaker 1: after the next primary. As we reassemble the panel. Next,
Speaker 1: we want to hear from Rick and Genie on this
Speaker 1: on sound On. This is Bloomberg, This is Bloomberg Sound
Speaker 1: On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. He did say
Speaker 1: this today to political By the way, the aforementioned Moe
Speaker 1: Brooks says he's retiring from politics. I think Rick Davis
Speaker 1: said no, he was retired from politics. But in an
Speaker 1: incredible evolution from the ellipse on January six, to see
Speaker 1: him on Facebook last night standing and would appear to
Speaker 1: be a cafeteria delivering a concession speech and can we
Speaker 1: call it a concession speech. Well, I guess he did concede,
Speaker 1: but he was not happy about it. We are sending
Speaker 1: to Washington, DC, assuming that there's a victory from my
Speaker 1: opponent in the general action. We are sitting to Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. He's that opposite. And while we in the
Speaker 1: United States Senate. But the voters have spoken. They might
Speaker 1: not have spoken wisely. They may have been they may
Speaker 1: have been seduced by brazingly false advertising, but nonetheless they
Speaker 1: have spoken, and I respect their will. So they may
Speaker 1: not have chosen wisely, Rick Davis, but I respect their will.
Speaker 1: We're reassembling the panel. Rick is here, and Genie Chanzano.
Speaker 1: You've been around Moe Brooks. You worked in Alabama politics. Uh,
Speaker 1: you heard Greg ros say he was not a very
Speaker 1: good statewide candidate. But it's it's in many ways the
Speaker 1: story of betrayal. Well. Yeah, first of all, most people
Speaker 1: in Alabama think anybody north the Huntsville is a Yankee,
Speaker 1: so that is probably fundamentally his problem down state. Um,
Speaker 1: but but yeah, I'm uh, you know, he was. He was.
Speaker 1: He was an incredible story about being on the back
Speaker 1: of the ellipse with the President United States and and
Speaker 1: and and a confidante of a very world's most powerful
Speaker 1: man to the point where you know, he's he's he's
Speaker 1: basically telling in his concession speech the voters that they
Speaker 1: didn't know what they were doing there. It's never a
Speaker 1: very good way to say goodbye. Uh and Uh. But
Speaker 1: but his career is over right, I mean by the
Speaker 1: time Trump dumped him and then he gets beat two
Speaker 1: to one. Uh, not even a close race. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty much curtains for him. And I think
Speaker 1: he'll be He'll be a It's kind of a metaphor
Speaker 1: for a lot of the people who are around Trump
Speaker 1: at the time of January six, who have fallen out
Speaker 1: of grace, both within the Republican Party and the legal system.
Speaker 1: He congratulated the Democratic Party, Genie uh, suggesting that the
Speaker 1: Alabama Democratic Party in fact got his rival elected, that
Speaker 1: his opposition was the chair of the Democratic Party. You
Speaker 1: know about that. I'm still reflecting on is quote unquote
Speaker 1: concession speech last retirement, and I've got more. I love it.
Speaker 1: You know, it's stunning to me that Alabama Republicans overlooked
Speaker 1: him for Katie Britt at this point. Um, but you know,
Speaker 1: I think this does speak to where the Republican Party
Speaker 1: finds itself, and you know, Donald Trump endorsing her sort
Speaker 1: of at the last minute. I totally agree with Greg
Speaker 1: had very little to do with with obviously with her win,
Speaker 1: you had most of the MAGA supporters, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: supporting Brooks and he got you know, about what Donald
Speaker 1: Trump has been getting in a lot of these races,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, between about five to thirty plus
Speaker 1: or minus per cent. So I don't think he can
Speaker 1: even blame Donald Trump on this one. Here is how
Speaker 1: Moe Brooks put it last night. Congratulate the winners, and
Speaker 1: some of these weirds might be a little bit unexpected.
Speaker 1: But if I'd not congratulate the Alabama Democratic Party, you know,
Speaker 1: it says congratulated the Democratic Party. Rick I realized it's
Speaker 1: it's tongue in cheek. He's on his way out, but
Speaker 1: it it is. It's a look. I guess the Trump
Speaker 1: concession speech might have been uh even more bitter. I
Speaker 1: guess there if if there's a measuring stick, well at
Speaker 1: least he actually conceded. I mean, we're still waiting for
Speaker 1: the Trump concessions. Katie Britts, forty years old, could be
Speaker 1: the youngest woman in the Senate. Is this a slam
Speaker 1: dunk from here? Oh? Yeah, slam dunk. I mean, first
Speaker 1: of all, to congratulate the Democratic Party of Alabama would
Speaker 1: be actually two people, Okay, so it's not a big group.
Speaker 1: And and and yeah, Katie's a lock. I mean they're
Speaker 1: gonna send her to the Senate. Uh. She actually has
Speaker 1: a lot of great experience. I mean, probably a quarter
Speaker 1: of the members of Congress and Senators are former staffers.
Speaker 1: So this is not unusual to be inspired by a
Speaker 1: boss like you know, Richard Shelby. Uh, and go back
Speaker 1: and fill his shoes and show up knowing everybody. And
Speaker 1: you show up knowing everybody and you know the system inside. Now,
Speaker 1: so she'll she'll be a great contribution to the Republican
Speaker 1: caucus and whether they're in the majority of the minority,
Speaker 1: she'll she'll make herself useful to people of Alabama. What
Speaker 1: do you guys make of these races in Georgia? I
Speaker 1: mean Donald Trump just should probably stay out of Georgia.
Speaker 1: Is that kind of the message here? His both of
Speaker 1: his endorsed House candidates failed last night, and buy a
Speaker 1: lot and Jennie, as we discussed with greg Or Row
Speaker 1: that Vernon Jones Mike Collins race got really ugly and
Speaker 1: a boy that the Trump endorsement did not help. No,
Speaker 1: it didn't. You know, You've got to wonder what Donald
Speaker 1: Trump is thinking about Georgia at this point. It has
Speaker 1: been a disaster for him, and by the way, it's
Speaker 1: a state that also may very well indict him um
Speaker 1: for trying to steal their electoral votes. So if I
Speaker 1: was Donald Trump, I'd stay out of there. But this
Speaker 1: again was another big loser for Donald Trump. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think we should be clear. You know, the Republicans,
Speaker 1: they still say they like his policies. Their problem is
Speaker 1: with his temperament, the way he comports himself. I don't
Speaker 1: think the January six hearings have really had an impact yet.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if they will. But it does speak
Speaker 1: to what we saw with Georgia voters in November, which
Speaker 1: is that they like Republicans they put send them to
Speaker 1: the Congress. They just don't like Donald Trump necessarily enough
Speaker 1: to put him back in the White House. We're looking
Speaker 1: for trends constantly here, Rick, and I know that sometimes
Speaker 1: that's dangerous. It's what journalists do but when you do
Speaker 1: uh factor in North and South Carolina, as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: for Trump backed House candidates have now lost, is the
Speaker 1: shine off at this point? Well, you know, sort of.
Speaker 1: I do think Georgia is a good example of why
Speaker 1: did Trump even bother endorsing anybody, because they're all the
Speaker 1: candidates are for him. Yeah, he could have declared victory
Speaker 1: with Mike Collins and Rich McCormick. Uh, they're both Trump type, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and Mike Collins says the election was stolen, right and
Speaker 1: we and we can go through a whole laundry list
Speaker 1: of people he didn't indorse who will say the same thing.
Speaker 1: So so I'm left scratching my head wondering, like, why
Speaker 1: in the world who's telling him he's got to get
Speaker 1: involved in these race to be relevant when what's relevant
Speaker 1: is the fact that all these people on their own
Speaker 1: are saying there for his brand of politics. What do
Speaker 1: you think of that, Genie? This would feed the ego
Speaker 1: either way? Why why make it formal? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: that's always been the question. This is why former presidents
Speaker 1: never endorse our party leaders, that they don't take a
Speaker 1: role in these primaries because to Rick's point, they can
Speaker 1: just you know tag on at the end, and Donald
Speaker 1: Trump has moved this party in his direction, There's no
Speaker 1: question about that. So I think it has to do
Speaker 1: a lot with his you know, ego, as it always does.
Speaker 1: And I don't think he takes advice from advisors or
Speaker 1: smart people like Rick about what he should be doing.
Speaker 1: And that's partly why he's in the mess he's in
Speaker 1: because there's a lot he could have done towards the
Speaker 1: end of November or the beginning of November to be
Speaker 1: in the White House again, and he just couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: If you didn't hire Rick Davis, that's your problem. What
Speaker 1: can we say. I have to ask you both about
Speaker 1: Eric Grayden's and and what this is saying about the
Speaker 1: Republican Party and just the state of America right now
Speaker 1: is the Senate celebrates, even Mitch McConnell celebrating compromise on
Speaker 1: a gun safety bill that apparently is going to be forthcoming.
Speaker 1: They could have is done by the weekend. Well, this
Speaker 1: former governor of Missouri who is now running for US
Speaker 1: Senate puts up a new ad uh that some might
Speaker 1: think glorifies gun violence. It's just a thirty second ad.
Speaker 1: It's already been taken down from Facebook. Eric Brighten's walking
Speaker 1: down the street. He's going past in a rural neighborhood.
Speaker 1: He's walking past a mailbox with a with a big
Speaker 1: old shotgun or don't ask me what kind of a
Speaker 1: gun this is he's holding. And he starts the rap
Speaker 1: from there, I'm Eric Brighton's navy seal and today we're
Speaker 1: going rhino hunting. Rhino coxt corruption and is marked by
Speaker 1: the stripes of cowardice. That now he's joined by a
Speaker 1: bunch of guys and fatigues and they break down the
Speaker 1: door of a house, set off smoke bombs, joined the
Speaker 1: MAGA crew, get a rhino hunting permit. There's no bagging limit,
Speaker 1: no tagging limit, and it doesn't expire until we save
Speaker 1: our country. Wow, all right? And then they show the
Speaker 1: rhino hunting permit. Uh, it's been flagged by Twitter. They
Speaker 1: did not take it down. Facebook did. And Rick, I'm
Speaker 1: assuming that's the whole point of this. Do you make
Speaker 1: a crazy act like that with any intention other than
Speaker 1: having it be banned so you can raise money and
Speaker 1: talk about, Yeah, there's a headline grabbing off color kind
Speaker 1: of effort to be extreme right and and extreme is
Speaker 1: what sells these days in politics. But but Graydon's you know,
Speaker 1: he's just he's he's got a litany of problem right,
Speaker 1: and he was run out of the governorship, you know,
Speaker 1: with assault charges, he's had legal problems. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I think the people who see this aren't actually going
Speaker 1: to be entertained by it, right, I mean he claims, now, oh,
Speaker 1: it was just sort of tongue in cheek, right. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, let's see how tongue and cheek the voters
Speaker 1: are when he's giving an opportunity, perfectly good Senate seat,
Speaker 1: giving an opportunity that Democrats to win, and in this case,
Speaker 1: Democrats probably will win it because he continues to do
Speaker 1: these kinds of demagoguery. Uh. And an Atlantish sinks he's
Speaker 1: going to be seen as a joke. Well, King Castro,
Speaker 1: a Democrat from Texas, of course, Democrat Genie uh said
Speaker 1: this is sociopathic. You're going to get someone killed. Adam Kinzinger,
Speaker 1: Republican of course from Illinois. You're a very bad man,
Speaker 1: he said, Uh, considering the political climate, the shootings recently, Jeannie,
Speaker 1: who's he trying to target? Yeah, the timing of this,
Speaker 1: I mean, the ad itself is outrageous. You know, listen,
Speaker 1: in American politics, people have historically, including many Democrats, used
Speaker 1: firearms in their ads, but they haven't used them to invasion,
Speaker 1: hunt down yes elected or officials or governmental officials. And
Speaker 1: this is coming just after Brett Kavanaugh. Um, this is
Speaker 1: coming just after you'valdi. This is coming after the congressional
Speaker 1: baseball game. Maybe there there is so much wrong with this,
Speaker 1: particularly Graightens with his past as being accused of violence
Speaker 1: to put this out, Um, so you know, from all
Speaker 1: of those perspectives, you know, TV networks probably wouldn't run
Speaker 1: something like the social media outlets do, and that's the problem.
Speaker 1: We need regulation in this area. He is incidentally one
Speaker 1: of twenty one Republicans running to replace the retiring Senator
Speaker 1: Roy Blunt. Uh. Not looking too good on the odds there,
Speaker 1: ay Rick Davis. Yeah, I think he's got a slim
Speaker 1: chance of playing it to the fastest hour in politics.
Speaker 1: If you showed up late, subscribe to the podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg