Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: Joining us now here in Chicago is Senate Majority Whip
Speaker 2: and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin of Illinois.
Speaker 2: We are here in his home state for this Democratic
Speaker 2: National Convention. Sir, thank you so much for joining us
Speaker 2: on Bloomberg TV and radio. It's great to see you.
Speaker 1: Good to be here.
Speaker 2: And this is, as we've been remarking upon all week,
Speaker 2: a very different convention than maybe some expected just four
Speaker 2: weeks ago. Certainly we have a different candidate, but it
Speaker 2: also feels like we have a bit of a different message.
Speaker 2: Joe Biden was making his campaign very much about democracy,
Speaker 2: talking about January sixth, as we heard Nancy Pelosi do
Speaker 2: last night. Certainly Donald Trump hasn't shied away from that.
Speaker 2: Either he's calling them patriots or prisoners in the case
Speaker 2: of some of those who have been convicted. It feels
Speaker 2: like that's not getting focused on as much now that
Speaker 2: Harris is at the top of the ticket, And I
Speaker 2: wonder what you think about that. Is that actually still
Speaker 2: the winning message for Democrats?
Speaker 1: I think the message is freedom and so many different
Speaker 1: aspects of it. Certainly when it comes to reproductive choice.
Speaker 1: We've found all across the United States, so called safe
Speaker 1: red states are voting for women's rights, women's right to
Speaker 1: have the freedom to decide the future of their bodies
Speaker 1: and their families. I think that is an underlying thing
Speaker 1: you continue to hear. So freedom is in the heart
Speaker 1: of the issue of this campaign.
Speaker 3: Freedom is pretty broad, and I'd like to stay at
Speaker 3: a thirty thousand foot level with you here because you've
Speaker 3: been doing this longer than some of the people in
Speaker 3: this hall, where it told the economy is the number
Speaker 3: one issue. We're told that people are very concerned about
Speaker 3: the border. But when you look at this broadly, this election,
Speaker 3: what is the choice beyond freedom when it comes to
Speaker 3: the actual issues that people will make their decisions.
Speaker 1: On here, well, I think the choice spoils down to
Speaker 1: a very simple phrase. Do we want to go back
Speaker 1: to the era of Donald Trump as president? And all
Speaker 1: of that brought us, you know, we kind of laughing
Speaker 1: off now when he suggested somehow another bleach was going
Speaker 1: to be the answer to the COVID crisis that had
Speaker 1: just disappear, and some of the other things that he
Speaker 1: did as president, we really destrugged our shoulders and said
Speaker 1: that may not be normal for the rest of the world,
Speaker 1: but it's normal for Donald Trump. I think the American people,
Speaker 1: if they watched this convention, understand there's going to be
Speaker 1: a clear choice here whether we're moving forward with a
Speaker 1: new outlook that's more positive towards relationships of Americans are
Speaker 1: returning to.
Speaker 2: That Trump era well, and part of the Trump era
Speaker 2: was marked by his ability to appoint a number of
Speaker 2: conservative justices to the Supreme Court, some of whom, of course,
Speaker 2: have come under fire or have been looked into by
Speaker 2: the Judiciary Committee within the last years. There's been concerns
Speaker 2: raised about ethics. How much of this election is also
Speaker 2: about the next president's ability to potentially change the shape
Speaker 2: of the Court. Knowing that one of the things Joe
Speaker 2: Biden wants to do before leaving officer has suggested seeing
Speaker 2: done is Supreme Court reformed.
Speaker 1: Dobbs decision was a grammary mind to the American people
Speaker 1: that the selection of a Streme Court justice can affect
Speaker 1: their lives personally. I mean, just look at the reaction
Speaker 1: across the United States of repealing Roe versus. Wade. Donald
Speaker 1: Trump brags about that, but I can tell you most
Speaker 1: Americans don't brag with him. They think this is a
Speaker 1: serious problem, and it is a serious problem for women
Speaker 1: and their families all across the country. So it's a
Speaker 1: reminder too that that basic freedom needs to have someone
Speaker 1: to protect it, and Kama Heiras will do that.
Speaker 3: When I think Dick Durbin, I think Chicago, and I'd
Speaker 3: like to hear from you on what this convention means
Speaker 3: for the image of this city, maybe the economy as well.
Speaker 3: You've got thousands, tens of thousands of people from around
Speaker 3: the country in town here, and Donald Trump is comparing
Speaker 3: Chicago to Afghanistan. He says it's more dangerous than Afghanistan,
Speaker 3: pointing to one hundred and seventeen shootings on the fourth
Speaker 3: of July. What do you want people to take away?
Speaker 3: People are watching this from all over the country about
Speaker 3: Chicago that they might not know this week.
Speaker 1: Well, crime and gun violence is an American problem. It
Speaker 1: is just a Chicago problem. And they can try all
Speaker 1: I wish to blame this administration or the Democrats because
Speaker 1: of the political makeup in Illinois. The bottom line I'm
Speaker 1: hearing from conventioneers is they've been dazzled by this city. Luckily,
Speaker 1: the weather couldn't be better for in August in Chicago.
Speaker 1: But in addition to that, the mayor has done a
Speaker 1: great job and cleaning up the city and a terrific
Speaker 1: job with law enforcement to make sure that we give
Speaker 1: people their First Amendment rights, but to stop them short
Speaker 1: of violence and vandalism. It really makes me sick to
Speaker 1: my stomach when I hear JD. Van's going up to
Speaker 1: Wisconsin and talking about the terrible situation with crime in Chicago.
Speaker 1: It was Jad advanced personally stop the appointment of a
Speaker 1: permanent US Attorney to the City of Chicago. Jdevans personally.
Speaker 1: I confronted him on the floor of the Senate several
Speaker 1: times over that decision. He said he wanted to grind
Speaker 1: the Department of Justice to halt. You tell me that's
Speaker 1: a law and art of candidate. I think it's a
Speaker 1: weird candidate, to be honest with you, who suggests that
Speaker 1: closing down the Department of Justice is the right thing
Speaker 1: to do, and he did it.
Speaker 2: Senator, you just alluded to some of the protests we
Speaker 2: have seen since being here in Chicago. Though they have
Speaker 2: been I think is fair to say smaller in scale
Speaker 2: than many expected or even feared coming into this week
Speaker 2: when it comes to the protest over the war ongoing
Speaker 2: in Gaza, has it surprised you the degree to which
Speaker 2: they haven't been as disruptive or as robust, and do
Speaker 2: you think that may be attributable to the change in candidate.
Speaker 2: This isn't Biden's convention, it's Harry.
Speaker 1: I think that's it. I think you put your finger
Speaker 1: on it. Plus, there was a conscious effort by the
Speaker 1: mayor and other leaders to work with the demonstrators and say,
Speaker 1: we will protect your First Amendment rights, but we're not
Speaker 1: going to condone violence and vandalism. We just not accept it.
Speaker 1: We're not going to accept that. And so the police
Speaker 1: have done a good job here, I think, and when
Speaker 1: you consider past conventions, that is a very positive thing
Speaker 1: to say. But the bottom line, as far as I'm
Speaker 1: concerned is we understand and they understand if the alternative
Speaker 1: is Donald Trump and making these foreign policy decisions, they're
Speaker 1: willing to work with Kamala Harris to see if there's
Speaker 1: a reasonable way to resolve these Is that right?
Speaker 3: Joe Biden has struggles to reach a ceasefire here. It
Speaker 3: was back in May when you rolled out that initial
Speaker 3: six point plan and he says he's going to make
Speaker 3: this the priority for the rest of his term. If
Speaker 3: he cannot secure a cease fire, is Kamala Harris going
Speaker 3: to have an easier time doing well.
Speaker 1: It's a big challenge for whoever as coming up with
Speaker 1: the agreement and then enforcing it. We all know, at
Speaker 1: least I feel I was with first senators say so
Speaker 1: that there should be a cease fire and stop military
Speaker 1: operations and release the hostages. That I think is the
Speaker 1: starting point to eventually finding some solution in the Middle East.
Speaker 1: I've been disappointed with mister Nettyahoo when it comes to
Speaker 1: a two state solution. I believe in it. I think
Speaker 1: that's been a policy in the past and should be again.
Speaker 2: Obviously, he wants to see that done, as I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 2: he also would like to see reforms to the Supreme Court,
Speaker 2: something that would take congressional cooperation, and I'm not sure, sir,
Speaker 2: how realistic you think that may be, Which brings us
Speaker 2: to the point of whether or not you have more
Speaker 2: faith now than you would have maybe four weeks ago,
Speaker 2: for your party to retain control of the Senate. For
Speaker 2: you to be able to retain your place as the majority,
Speaker 2: there is.
Speaker 1: No question, there is a new spirit and energy in
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party for this election. It started when the
Speaker 1: decision was made by Joe Biden to step aside, a
Speaker 1: selfless decision that I respect him for very much. And
Speaker 1: that new attitude and approach is something that Donald Trump's
Speaker 1: been unable to match. He just can't do it, and
Speaker 1: he's frustrated by it. That's why he says these bizarre
Speaker 1: things about We'll have one election, this will be the
Speaker 1: last one. What in the hell is he talking about.
Speaker 1: This is America. He doesn't get to dictated. The Constitution
Speaker 1: makes it clear what the law is. And he's reaching
Speaker 1: out in every direction, flailing away because this is a
Speaker 1: new candidate he didn't anticipate.
Speaker 3: I suspect that you've had a chance to talk with
Speaker 3: your old colleague from the Senate about his decision to
Speaker 3: drop out of the presidential race. Did you give Joe
Speaker 3: Biden any advice? Did he have words for you?
Speaker 1: We did not, And I made a point, after thirty
Speaker 1: years of friendship, not to make a public statement, but
Speaker 1: to be in contact with him and talked to him.
Speaker 1: And I've done that since after he made that decision.
Speaker 1: But what it boiled down to her two sentences in
Speaker 1: his speech to this convention, I love this job, but
Speaker 1: I love this country even more. And I think that
Speaker 1: really spelled out his resignation to the fact that he
Speaker 1: is now going to be moving on and has to
Speaker 1: live with his record, which I think has been one
Speaker 1: of the best in history.
Speaker 3: It's great for you to come and see us in Chicago.
Speaker 3: Thanks for showing us around.
Speaker 1: So good here. Come back sometime when there's no absolutely