Balance of PowerWatch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.
Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition:
- Bloomberg's Annmarie Hordern about Donald Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday night.
- Democratic House candidate for Colorado's 3rd District Adam Frisch about his calls for Joe Biden to suspend his presidential campaign.
- Arbroath Group Managing Partner Christopher Smart about the "Trump Trade" and the economic policies laid out this week during the Republican National Convention.
- Bloomberg's Wendy Benjaminson about the status of Biden's presidential campaign.
- Arc Initiatives Partner Jonae Wartel and Claffey Communications President Lauren Tomlinson about reports that Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to speak with major democratic donors.
- European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders about the CrowdStrike IT outage and Trans-Atlantic data transfer efforts.
- Emory University Political Science Professor Andra Gillespie about the latest developments from the campaign trail.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Appo, CarPlay, and then Roudo with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Balance of Power continues Back we go to Washington.
Yes they are back, Kaylee lines Joe Matthew and I got to ask Joe Matthew and Kaylee the ride home last night, you guys said it was absolutely uneventful.
Well last night early this morning it was more like the wee hours of this morning, Charlie. But I will say we got lucky though, Kaylee. The Milwaukee airport looked like just to see of humanity. When we got there was a lot of confusion. The local news reporters are trying to get, you know, stories from people on waiting line, and they were just hearing about this Microsoft thing that went down.
Yeah, of course, this crowd strikeoutage, everything that was going down in the wee hours when Joe and I were awake post Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention, still feeling the ripple effects, and when we.
Landed here in Washington, DC.
That customer service line for American Airlines basically.
Stretched the length of the terminal.
Yes, I was glad to be getting off a plane, not trying to.
For sure get on one.
Wish I could say, Rick and Jenie, you're back with this in the nation's capital. But it depends you're on your carrier and your timing and all that. Either way, it's great to be back. That was quite a romp in Milwaukee for the Republican Party Donald Trump holding forth last night, and our special coverage went real late because it was, in fact, the longest acceptance speech in the history of political conventions. Kaylee, that is saying something. We topped an hour and a half.
Yeah, of course the previous record also held by Donald Trump, so he outdid himself in this ninety three minute speech. And here's a little taste. What the former president and now Republican nominee had to.
Say is a great people at great risk, I will tell you, and pounced on top of me so that I would be protected. There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet in a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side.
Divine intervention is something we heard a lot about, not only in the speech but across the course of the week. And then it was an interesting sort of bifurcated approach from Donald Trump last night. He started on the script, told the story of the attempted assassination, and then it turned into a stemwinder that sounded a lot more like one of his rallies, even invoking the name of Hannibal Lecter. Now still in Milwaukee, with a sense of the lasting message from this four day affair is Bloomberg's and Marie hor Dern, who was on the floor for Donald Trump's address last night at the Pfizer form She's with us right now in Milwaukee. What is the takeaway here? Days of messaging hemory?
Why is the takeaway? The Republicans are walking away and feeling like this was a convention that got their message across at the very end when the first thirty minutes, if you just tuned in from that hurt the former president one trying to talk about unifying the country, or that we could talk about the remainder of the speech, which to your point, Joe really sounded like similar tropes in what we hear in his campaign rallies, but also he was living to tell the tale of this bullet he dodged, and he took you behind the scenes. Would have felt like he said, it's such a painful moment that he's only going to tell it once. But for many in the room, they were absolutely gripped, some even into tears. And leading up to that, there was all this momentum. It felt very much Chismo in the room because you had, of course, not just kid Rock, but also whole Colgan calling him a hero and ripping open his shirt. So you had a lot of emotion in the room about this and a lot of things Trump was saying. You heard his supporters say, amen, Now what does this mean and how is it communicated? Writ large across the country, A lot of this will be slice and dice, So you know, if you want to hear about what it was like to potentially dodge a bullet, I think a lot of people are going to be tuning into those first thirty minutes. And in those thirty minutes, he talked about how he wants to be a president for all of America, and then, of course, throughout the speech, though he went off script a lot of times, and you can follow the prompter along with him on some of the big screens, and you can tell when he was off script and he meandered and maybe he was losing people. Then that's the Donald Trump that the public really knows. So you gotta got two sides of him yesterday.
Yeah, And it begs the question, how many people, say on the East Coast were up past midnight to watch the entire speech, or how many dipped out early? We were hearing ahead of the former president's re Mark Anne Marie that he wasn't going to mention President Biden by name, but a Biden.
Did slip in there. How should we look at that?
I think too Biden slipped in there because they had apologized for saying his name and said he wasn't going to do it again. I think part of this was strategic because look at this split screen we have today NBC reporting that Biden is talking to his family or his family is discussing with him what a graceful exit could potentially look like. He's under immense pressure from prominent Democrats to step aside, and then Donald Trump is embraced in this room after near death experience. You have Mark Zuckerberg saying he doesn't want to get involved in politics, but called that moment, that moment that Frank lun says every voter is going to take into the voting booth with them when he put up his hand and the Secret Service surrounding him with blood across his face. Mark Zuckerberg calling that badass. You have this moment, and they kept talking about under the current administration, under the current administration, And I think that was strategic because if Joe Biden does decide to step aside, one of the most likely candidates, obviously to the top of the ticket is Vice President Kamala Harris. So I think there was a strategic moment for them to potentially message if this were to happen, how the Republicans might message into November.
Anne Marie, thank you, Bloomberg's and Marie Hordern with us live from Milwaukee. Great to see you this day after, Anne Marie, as the Trump road Show begins now and we turn our attention back to what we were just discussing, and that's the future of Joe Biden's political career, Anne Marie, referring to I think you might have as well, Kayleie. This story from Jordan Fabian Biden More committed than ever, as allies see exit imminent, it doesn't feel like something is about to happen this weekend, even with additional calls now for him to drop out of the race.
Well, especially if you listen to Jen O'Malley Jeno Malle Dylan on Morning Joe earlier today. She's, of course the chairwoman of the campaign, and this is what she had to say about Joe Biden's reelection effort.
We are about to head into our convention. We're about to head into the delegates of this party who are there for Joe Biden. Those delegates are going to nominate the president as the candidate moving forward and as our nominee, and they're staying with the president. You have heard from the President directly time and again. He is in this race to win, and he is our nominee, and he's going to be our president for a second term.
Of course, not all Democrats are thrilled with that idea, and Joe, we're about to speak with one of them.
One of the first actually to call for President Biden to withdraw from the race. Here as a Democratic House candidate in Colorado, Adam Frish Kaylee. This is interesting. He was going to be running against Lauren Bobert until she decided to go to a different district that would be easier for her to win. So now we have these tandem storylines and yet another Democratic House candidate just obviously worried about the down ballot impact.
Absolutely, of course, this is just one voice in what is a growing course of Democrats now a third Democratic Senator, for other members of the Democratic Caucus in the House, including members of the Hispanic Caucus, the Black Caucus, Progressive Caucus. Today it does feel like perhaps the dam has finally broken.
Let's bring him in. Adam Frish, Democratic House candidate from Colorado's third district. Mister Fish, it's great to have you with us here on Bloomberg's TV and radio. This was, I believe, right before the fourth or July that you made your call for Joe Biden to drop out, and that call has grown a lot louder since then. We're hearing from the likes, at least through media leaks of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Hakim Jeffreys, more voices now from the Senate. But it seems like the more calls are made, the more dug in Joe Biden gets does he need space to make up his mind?
Listen, it is great to be here with you, you know.
I woke up Friday morning after that disastrous debate, which I certainly don't think and most of the country doesn't think, was a one bad night incident in southwestern Colorado. And for every one person I speak to in DC, I speak to a good four or five hundred people in this district bigger than the state of Pennsylvania. I've driven fifty eight thousand miles in the past couple of years, you know, and I would say the vast majority of people boots on the ground ten dollars donors, Independence, Republicans and Democrats. I speak to everybody in our district, and they saw the writing on the wall back then, and they just didn't think this was good for the country. And so I spent a couple more days driving around our district, which I will make the cases the most beautiful district of the four hundred and thirty five in western and southern Colorado. Had a conversation with a couple of people, and yes, we came out July second, middle of the day on Tuesday, and later on that evening we had an opbed in the Washington Post calling for the president too kind of hand passed the baton, pass the torch.
Well, as you compete for this district against Jeff heard, we obviously have asked him to join the program as well, sir.
We appreciate you doing so today.
It's also worth keeping in mind that it's one thing to call for President Biden to leave the race. It's another to figure out what happens if he does. Are you supportive of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the top of the ticket, or does this need to be an open convention?
You know, open convention, I suggested two years ago, I was one of the seventy five percent of the people in the country, regardless of party or an affiliation, that did not want to rematch. A year ago, I again emphasized that we need to figure out how to open up and have listen. I am pro competition, and I think that's really important. And it's certainly disheartening that until a couple months ago there was one party that was being accused of a cult party, but that cult party, so to speak, actually had a competitive multi month spicy and sporty, and I would say good for the country competitive primary, and what did the Democratic machine do? They decided to shut down Florida's primary and a bunch of other states. I'm not sure why they wanted to do that. It wasn't good for the party, but again, it wasn't good for the country, and I'm focused on that. A year ago, I said, let's just see who's on the top of the ticket by the time the convention rolls around. And I got a lot of grief from a lot of people, And you know, I think sometimes the fruition is playing out. You don't always want to be right. But I feel pretty confident that we're going to have someone else in the Chicago convention at the end, whether it's the vice president, whether it's the other five or six senators or governors that you guys are all been bantering.
About for the past year.
I'm very of the mind that there is a deep and diverse bench, and I think we need to figure out how to pass that torch.
I am not for.
Just anointing anybody, whether it's the vice president, which would be the most likely candidate, or someone else.
I think there's still enough time.
I'llah James Carvell and some other people to have some type of things having a conversation leading into Chicago and go on from there. I'm not going to Chicago again. I spend my time talking to the voters in our district. Democrats, Independence and Republican building what I've been calling a pro normal party coalition for a long time.
Well, fourteen million people, of course, voted for the Biden Harris ticket in the primaries, and there are a lot of folks in the Democratic Party who say, what are we talking about here? Joe Biden has a vice president for this very reason. Does she not deserve the first writer of refusal on this? As the vice president of the United States? If Joe Biden stepped down now, for instance, she'd have the job.
So I think you asked three questions. I'm not asking for the president to resign. I am asking for him to stop his campaign and try to get a competitive albeit short.
And understand well. Two.
You know, I just think it's beyond incrediblius to say that it's Joe Brian Biden of now was running during when there was supposed to be a real primary, he would not have received fourteen million. He would have come in fourth, or fifth or sixth.
I just think that is. I think that's a slap in the face to.
The Democratic voters to say that the Joe Biden now where Joe Biden was a year ago, and I just don't buy that. I fully support the vice president deserves the ability to be one of a handful of people. How those other people besides the Vice president get put into some type of competitive conversation that's way above my pay grade.
I'm not a political analyst. I'm just a candidate, a father.
And a husband, a small businessmanner, trying to do the thing for the country.
Well, you are a candidate trying to trip turn what is a red seat Lauren Bobert's seat currently blue? Do you believe that you can do that even if Biden remains at the top of the ticket.
Of course, from day one, when I entered this race in February of twenty two, you know, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the political policy wants were saying that we were going to lose by forty thousand votes given the registration and what the what the voting map looks like. And instead of losing by forty thousand votes, we lost by fewer than five hundred and fifty we're the closest race in the country. In December, Representative Bobart did some polling, and we know what was asked because we have those questions, we don't know what the results were. Yeah, obviously, I believe the first person in twenty five.
Years to pack up.
All right, well sir, we'll be watching your race. Thank you for joining us here on Bloomberg. Adam Frisch from Colorado.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apple car Play and then Rodoo with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
That means two things in day one, right, Drill, Baby, Drill, and close our borders.
Donald J. Trump, the former president, speaking last night accepting the Republican nomination in Milwaukee. We were there for it and brought it to you, of course, live on our special coverage here on Bloomberg TV and radio. The question is where do we go from here in a race that is still shrouded in uncertainty, Not so much about the Republican side, but of course, what is happening with Joe Biden. I'm alongside Kaylee Lines, Joe Matthew here back in Washington, d C. We're peeking out of one eye and somewhat punched drunk after a very night with very little sleep here, but we're glad we could be here to dissect all of this today. So glad there's nowhere else we would rather be. It's really fascinating to think that a month from now we'll be in Chicago and we don't know who the nominee is going to be.
Well, Joe Biden would tell you still it's going to be him, and those close to him, including in his campaign today, are saying that remains the plan. But of course we have this growing list of Democrats, sitting lawmakers, pcuting candidates as well, like Godham for issue. We just spoke with now three senators, former members of the House. And it's only a little afternoon on this Friday, Joe, and the question is whether or not this reelection effort is going to be able to last the weekend.
It could be a significant weekend. Obviously, he's still recovering from COVID. Is the matter of recovering if he is going to be exiting the race as the matter of stagecraft to some extent, someone who is obviously trying to preserve a legacy here to write the perfect speech, to have the right moment, choose the venue, talk to the family, Caley, these are all things that could take some time.
Yeah, well, we just got a headline from the President who says he will be returning to the campaign trail next week. Of course returning because he's currently isolating in Delaware to your point, recovering from COVID, but he says he's getting back on the wagon, pushing ahead with this reelection effort.
It's part of our conversation with Christopher Smart, the managing partner at Arbroth Group and former Special Assistant to the President for International Economics under the Biden administration, with the idea of a truck trade and how elusive or real that may be. Christopher, it's great to have you on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Welcome. We talk about even the JD trade. Kaylee, I think it was the first reference I heard from Abigail while we were in Milwaukee. Rising stocks, as you point out in your research, falling treasuries, weeker dollar drill, baby drill. Is this something real that investors can get their arms around or something that will be fleeting this summer.
I think it's hard to really get your arms around it. I mean, as you just described, we've lived it's really three weeks now since the presidential debate, and you think of all of the assumptions we had going into that debate and all of the ones that have changed and shifted today as we look through the weekend and into next week, and as you say, a month away from the Democratic Convention, the Trump trade that I think people were talking about coming into view, I guess my thinking is that a lot of that has much more to do with a strong economy, a decent earning season, and a FED that looks likely to be cutting rates maybe at the next meeting and continue to cut through next year. That gives you a big boost to the stock market. It gives you a steeper a steeper treasury curve, and a weaker dollar. A lot of those things you know would be happening with or without rising prospects for President Trump coming back into office. It's a long time between.
Now and the election.
A lot could change.
But I guess even if you believe that he's going to be the next president. There's a lot of uncertainty between the rhetoric we heard last night and the bills he might actually sign once he gets back into the Oval Office.
Well, yeah, Christopher, let's talk more about the rhetoric that we heard last night. He says that he is going to cut taxes even further after delivering what he incorationally described as the largest tax cut in the country's history. He talked about immediately getting rid of inflation and lowering interest rates, something that isn't within the power of the presidents, within the power of Federal Reserve. What actually is something that Donald Trump could immediately deliver on just from the Oval Office, assuming that he could take it in January of twenty twenty five.
Well, I think it's really the clip that you played at the beginning of this segment, you know, where he said on day one, you know, drill, baby, drill, and we're gonna we're going to close the border. That I think a lot of that is within his purview. Although you know you you also know that there's been a lot of increase in oil production in the US in the last few years under the Biden administration.
Uh, and there's been a lot of more more restrictions imposed on border crossings.
But having said all of that, there are some fundamental contradictions in the things that he is promising. He would like to cut taxes some more, but also talks about, you know, bringing the deficit, the debt under control. Not a lot of talk about that, but he did mention that he keeps talking. He and his advisors keep talking about a weeker dollar, which you know, if you also believe you're going to have a strong economy and strong demand in the US, and that's that's probably not going to happen. And the third part of what he talks about repeatedly is of course higher tariffs, which is likely to lead to higher interest rates or at least a slower fed cutting cycle, which again will make the dollar stronger. So there are a lot of different moving parts in what he's promised that you know, certainly my economics textbooks told me tell me that things work a little bit differently.
Well.
Points just to crypto, which loves the idea, I guess of a Donald Trump presidency. We've been watching bitcoin enjoy the ride here since the tide seem to have turned after the debate, Donald Trump says he wants to be the crypto president, the first American crypto president. But what does that mean beyond blocking regulations? If anything, it's.
A great question.
I think it actually interesting if you read the Republican platform, which is mercifully reads like a long tweet from President Trump in terms of capitalization and punctuation.
But there are.
Three very specific economic priorities, or at least industrial policy elements. One is space, one is artificial intelligence, and one is crypto. You might think Elon Musk has something to do with it, but I don't know if that's true or not. But in any case, it's a very interesting pivot from the President who had said bitcoin is a scam earlier on. It seems like he has embraced that. Having said that, he is also not embracing the idea of a central bank digital currency of the Fed issuing its own digital dollars. So there's a lot of mixed messages going on here. But I know that a lot of the crypto industry is hoping that at least they will be slower or less regulation headed their way under a Republican White House than they currently fear.
Right now, with Democrats in charge.
Well, as you mentioned the FED when it comes to the response ability to issue a digital dollar CBDC, which of course the Fed maintains they are nowhere close to realistically doing. It also raises the question of how you think Donald Trump will approach the FED. Knowing we just saw Jerome Palell testifying before the House and the Senate were lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and making a big heyday about FED independence.
He told our colleagues in a Bloomberg.
Business Week interview that was published earlier this week that he would allow Jerome Powell to stay out his term as FED chair through twenty twenty six. How do you think he really is likely to approach the central Bank?
Well, it was a very interesting interview.
It was, if anything, a kinder and gentler economic policy. Then he talks about sometimes to larger crowds. I think, you know, as long as the Fed is cutting rates, which it seems likely to do next year, it would be hard for him to start complaining too much about Jerome Powell about the direction of the FED. You know, if you do get a blowback and tariffs lead to inflation, less immigration leads to inflation and the FED Reversu's course, then I think you could come into a clash of wills, and then the president would have to figure out, you know, what is in it with what is within his legal rights to do about a sitting FED chair, and then what that would do to markets and to confidence in monetary policy. So that would be a big change of things. I think right now, if your base case is rates are headed down in any case, then it seems unlikely he needs to pick this fight and allow J. Powell to serve out his term through twenty twenty six.
Well, Christopher Smart, when you connect all the dots here, at least the elements that we have that I guess we're going to call trump banomics now, from the tariffs to the making permanent of the Trump tax cuts, increased defense spending. Will this be the administration that resumes the rise in prices? This will be the inflationary president see of Donald Trump.
You know, I think that's a big question.
I think that's the thing we need to you know, he has promised obviously to bring down inflation and to do it by drilling for more oil. Having said that, as you say, and as I think others have said a lot of these other elements in terms of tariffs, limiting, immigration, deregulation, a lot of these things feel a little bit more inflationary. Maybe not so much in the deregulation front, but a lot of these things do feel inflationary. That combined with a lot of these global forces that I think I and others believe will keep inflationary pressures running hotter than they did before. COVID, government spending, defense, supply chain.
Reorganization, a lot of those things.
So I think, you know, markets are going to start looking at that, and that's why it's unlikely that you're the long end of the curve is going to come down very much.
And this steepening trade makes sense.
Frankly, it makes sense regardless of the outcome of the presidential election.
All right, Well, of course, it'll be another four months or so before we know that outcome. Christopher Smart, thank you so much for joining us. Always appreciate your time. He is managing partner at ab Roath Group and former Special Assistant to the President for International Economics under the Obama administration. Of course, when Joe Biden was Vice president. Interesting to consider how the markets should be looking at this race, especially looking at the language of saying jd Vance, who during his acceptance speech talked about not being for Wall Street or big business, and it makes us question how Wall Street and big business are watching the Republican ticket.
I feel like those two might need to talk about some of these things.
Yes, Indeed, your listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Appo, car Play and then broun Otto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Back We are from Milwaukee, Charlie and lucky we are to be so it might be one of the only flights that got off basically without a hitch this morning in the aftermass four people.
I hope they got off the ground. Yeah, it was the same humanity.
The finger's crossed well and it was a sea of humanity in Milwaukee this week as tens of thousands gathered for the Republican National Convention, it was quite a show Republicans really trying to play up unity. Certainly, we saw a little bit of that in Donald Trump's speech last night. We saw a lot else in Donald Trump's ninety three minute long speech as well. There were a few off teleprompter moments, to say the least. But of course, as we were watching Donald Trump on the stage, we were also all paying attention to Twitter and the newswires to see how many more it was going to be. When we're counting the Democrats who have now called for Joe Biden to abandon his re election effort, I believe we're now at nine in a twenty four hour period, and that's an addition to what the well more than a dozen leads.
Well sure, and it's not just the numbers too, it's the names. In this case Zoelofren, we're hearing on the heels of Adam Schiff. Then there was reporting, of course about how King Jeffreys, Chuck Schumer and behind it all maybe Nancy Pelosi, which is kind of interesting to think about pulling the strings. Wendy Benjaminson is with us. She's got a view of all this stuff behind the scenes as Bloomberg's Washington senior editor. Great to see you, Wendy. We've got a lot to catch up on after the Republican National Convention, and I really do want your take on Donald Trump. Hulk Hogan and Dana White. But this is breaking before our eyes, and the campaign just issued a statement saying he's going back on the trail next week after he recovers from COVID. Is this just a matter of sounding sure of yourself till you're not.
I think that's exactly what's going on. And one of my smart colleagues said he didn't say he would be campaigning for himself next week, that he would be resuming the campaign trail. I mean, the guy just can't catch a break this week, right with the COVID. So this whole time, they were supposed to be counter programming against this very macho, very full you show from Donald Trump, as you mentioned with Hulk Cogan and all that. You know, he's an eighty one year old sick man. Has to go home, you know, and all that's very sad. So we'll see, we'll see this weekend. I think there's a lot of very difficult conversations happening. There's a lot of family talk happening, and advisors who may still be urging him to stay In general. Mally Dylan was on MSNBC this morning saying that you know, she was still fully confident that he would be reelected, so we'll see.
Well, it really is just a matter of time. Of course, what may make this so difficult for the president is the amount of time that he is dedicated in his life to public service. We're talking decades, frankly half a century. As Jade Vance pointed out in his acceptance speech at the RNC this past week, he has been a public servant for the majority of his life. And that's probably a hard way to go out as members of your own party are calling for you to do so. But there's a clock running, Wendy. We're done with one convention, another is coming up. Realistically, how much time does Biden have to make this decision?
Days?
I mean, I think it's really days. The DNC has already put off its plan to do the virtual nomination to beat the ballot laws, the ballot deadlines that are going on across the country where ballots will be printed. So they've put that off at the behest of members of Congress who want Biden to step out of the race. And while it is a very very sad tableau to think of this guy who has given his entire life to public service to being pushed off the stage However, the Biden campaign was showing us for months and months and months telling us everything was fine, telling us that it was going to be okay, while they kept him to very scripted events. And then in the first unscripted event, the debate, you know, everyone saw what was going on, and you know, it's a choice that they apparently have made.
It sounds like you see this says very likely, certainly within the realm, if that's the case, does Joe Biden actually have to put the next ticket together? Is that part of the calculation right now, or is it, Hey, I'm out, you guys have a good time in Chicago.
Yeah.
No, I don't think it's going to be like that. I think he wants to say in it. I think the reason that we've seen reporting that he's been asking for polling that shows how Kamala Harris does against Trump is very telling. On the other hand, on the terminal now as a story, the top donors are saying, don't just give it to Kamala Harris. Let's have a real conversation at the convention about who it could be. And that would be the first open convention certainly in my lifetime. And I think we have to go back to the fifties or even.
Before Chicago, though, come on, movie, no, no one would.
But so I think Biden very much wants to be the elder statesman who picks his successor whether that's still in his hands by August nineteenth, I don't know, all.
Right, Wendy Benjaminson here counting down the days potentially.
We never got to hold. Yeah, we'll follow up on that.
Matter, to do that with our political panel next.
Wendy, thank you, senior Washington editor for us here at Bloomberg.
We appreciate the time.
But of course we're having this conversation less than twenty four hours after Hulk Cogan, Kid Rock White, and Donald Trump all shared the stage in Milwaukee last night. So on that note, let's bring in our political panel. Joana Wartel is with us. She is Democratic strategist and partner at Art Initiatives. And Lauren Tomlinson, Republican strategist and president at Claffy Communications. So Lauren, obviously, Donald Trump spoke last night, and he did so at length. He talked for ninety three minutes about what he'd like to see in a second term, his thoughts on Holt Hogan and his.
Shirt ripping that we all saw on the stage.
He had a lot to say, and yet we just spent the first nine minutes of this hour talking instead about Joe Biden. Is this capping what was a good week for Donald Trump in a negative way in that he doesn't seem to be making as much noise as the person that at least is understood now at this time he's up against in November.
No, I think this is great.
The longer that the media is focused on Joe Biden and his illness and the calls for Democrats for him to step down, and his inability for people to serve and questioning his leadership. I mean, that's that's a campaign ad. I mean, how can you know? So much free advertising there? So I think the fear actually was that with all of this programming coming out of the RNC convention, that we would lose momentum on that negative news cycle. However, because of the Democrats, what I think is, you know, a forced coup is essentially happening right now with all of the leagues coming out. They decided that they want him to resign this weekend, and they're going to force him to resign this weekend. I think that this is actually a great thing, because we switched right back from a pretty positive message of unity and everyday Americans from the RNC all week, and then we go straight back into the negative aspects of Joe Biden's campaign.
Janey, I'd love your take on what we saw on the stage last night in Milwaukee, with questions about unity and how big the tent is for Republicans. It was one macho man after another. Tucker Carlson was up there, Hulk Hogan himself. He ripped off his shirt as everyone's describing, and crowd went wild. That Dana White, the guy behind the UFC thing, and he was the one who introduced Joe Biden to a chant of fight, Fight, Fight, Sorry, Donald Trump, Thank you, Kayley. I'll sleep at some point this weekend. I guess the question is, Jenny, what's the appeal to suburban women who were told will likely choose the next president of the United States. Was there an opportunity missed?
Well, certainly, when you think about a big tent, that's not exactly what you saw in that stage, right You saw the patriarchy on display, where you saw men who do not represent the diverse coalition of voters that you're going to need to win this election on stage and listen, what we saw on the in former President Trump's speech was just more of this rhetoric that is empty and that does not lay out a plan for America. And so that contrast between what he's laying out as his as his plan for his you know, for his next presidency should he be elected, and Donald and Joe Biden and Vice President Harris's vision for America, there's a clear contrast there. And so no no place was that more evident than at the convention and during the President's former President Trump's very very lengthy speech. And in terms of unifying, I mean, we can see from former President Trump's track record on the campaign trail and as president of the United States in his first term that there is not he does not have the ability to be a unifying figure. There is policies, his rhetoric, those he has brought in as allies to his campaign and to his administration are not unifying figures. There are folks who sow division. There are folks whose beliefs and views and policies are tremendously unpopular with the American people. Suburban women who are who who are very much concerned, as polls show, with reproductive freedom and reproductive justice. We saw that former President Trump and Senator Vance don't have a plan that supports women's bodily autonomy and ability to make decisions about their bodies. It does just the opposite.
Well, Janey, it's a great point, and this is a conversation we were having during our special coverage last night. The idea that the messaging from this convention, in many of the figures that spoke didn't as necessarily seemed to be reaching out to say suburban women or suburban women rather plural. If you listen to Jade Vance, he kept talking about the working man. Obviously, as Joe and I have described, a lot of the people who were on that stage last night were also men. Lauren, is this a mistake for the Trump Vance campaign and the Republican Party as a whole. Are they just abandoning these women in the suburbs.
I think that there's been a decision to not do as much outreach to suburban women this time around. I think that over the past four years, suburban women who were a huge opportunity in twenty twenty considered swing voters.
You know, were.
Economically conservative but socially liberal on things. They didn't like the way that Trump spoke. You know, there was a bunch of pulling that showed that they could still be persuaded. They have moved more solidly into the Democratic camp over the past four years. So I think what you're seeing is a new Republican Party and a new strategy for outreach. They're not going after college educated suburban women anymore because they think that those people are basically lost to them. There's more opportunity with black Americans, Hispanics, working class Americans than there are in some of the college educated blocks.
Spending time with our great panel on this Friday, after Donald Trump's acceptance speech in Milwaukee, Jane Wartel, Democratic strategist and Republican strategist Lauren Tomlinson Janey, It's going to be an interesting weekend, it seems for Joe Biden and his family. We've had reporting here just in the last forty eight hours that in fact, a decision could be made this weekend. I know now he says that he's going back on the campaign trail next week. Would there be a world in which he's on the campaign trail for another candidate named Kamala Harris. If he does in fact make this decision.
Well, from what we've heard from the campaign publicly there the President will be back on the campaign trail next week, talking to voters, engaging that coalition, that broad coalition of folks who propelled his victory in twenty twenty, him and Vice President Harris. And so I think what you'll see is the campaign continuing to move full steam ahead. And I think what's important here is again that contrast that they're going to draw between what we saw during the RNC and the vision that President Biden and Vice President Harris have for America. So I think that's what we can expect in the coming days is more of that very clear and very sharp contrast between now this newly minted Republican ticket and Vice President Harrison President Biden.
Well, I'll tell you, Jenny, the news that we got today from zoel offbren that does ring a bell, right. This is Nancy Pelosi, as they say, her allies are turning on Joe Biden. How significant in the wake of Adam Shift's call for him to step down. Is this One.
Think that the conversations that have been happening privately and between the President, Biden and Democratic leaders have been important ones, right. We want to make sure that the voices and our party are heard, that folks concerns are addressed. But you know, publicly, what we've heard from the campaign is that the campaign moves full steam ahead. And the hope is that for those who have voiced their opinions their concerns, that they are also having these same private conversations with the President about the future of this campaign, talking about the pact victory, talking about these very tight poles and battleground states that show that the landscape is still shifting and is not you know, fully solidified, but will now with this, with this ticket now in place on the Republican side, I think you're going to see a lot of that gap closing that was previously that that we've seen widen a bit in the what everyone could agree have been tumultuous a couple of weeks on the campaign trail on both sides. I think what's also important to know here is that you know, the campaign is doing the work on the ground to make sure that the coalition of voters who are in fact the most important part of this process are being reached and are being engaged. And you know, the campaign and the Democratic circle, certainly the ones that I run in, we know that there's work to do to make sure that that coalition of folks who voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in twenty twenty feel like they have their being heard, that they're being engaged, that the outreach is happening, and so that's why the campaign has stay narily focused there today.
It's great to have you back, Lauren too. Our panel today, Jane Wartel, Democratic Strategist ARC Initiatives, Laura Tomlinson, Republican strategist Claffee Communications. We're going to have a lot more to talk about with both of you going forward. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines. Will update the crowd strike situation next down eleven percent. Following this morning, This is Bloomberg.
Your listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then royd Otto with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven.
Thirty taking a look at how markets are reacting to the crowd strike outage we saw across the globe this morning, and we're also keeping track here in Washington of the government reaction. Congress Foman Nancy Mace from South Carolina, a member of the House Oversite Committee, has just posted on x that the committee has requested briefings from both CrowdStrike and Microsoft, trying to determine the breadth of impact, especially across the federal government. This is in the Subcommittee on Oversight for Cybersecurity and Tech. Joe, She says, stay tuned.
But did you reboot? Did you see the supdate? This is the solution. Apparently all Windows computers affected by the failure will need to be manual rebooted. Did you try that before you called it? We've been here before. Maybe whack it on the side. I don't know. Look, Kayley, this has turned it off.
Turn it on.
That's right. It's something that said sweeping effects through Obviously corporate America travel. We saw a lot of people and know a few we are still stuck in Milwaukee. I know number of members of your family are and that means most Americans probably have some kind of a connection to this.
Yep.
I've got family members right now stranded in the Virgin Islands and it's Scotland. Because this really rippled across the world, started in Australia, and because we were up in the wee hours, we probably knew about it a bit earlier than most.
But it is Yeah, I guess I love that you wake up the headlines of a global internet outage and you wonder what's happening. But of course we've learned a lot since then, and it's part of our conversation today. With a unique voice here in balance of power, that's why you join us always did. Hey eight rangers European Commissioner for Justice with an eye on the transatlantic relationship between these technological powers, including the United States Commissioner. It's great to see you here in the nation's capital. Welcome to Bloomberg.
Thank you, it's a pleasure to come.
I don't know your thoughts on this or if this has impacted your life at all today, but this failure on behalf of CrowdStrike is renewing a conversation about something that you talk a lot about and that strong trends. Atlantic regulations would they prevent something.
Like this it's possible.
The first impact today is the delay of three hours to go back to Brussels. I went in Washington be for a plane today, so that's a real issue. The second element that proved that we have an interconnected world and the World Wide Web, it's not new. It's a very clear signal. We are working with the same tools and we are working with the same kind of approach with those tools. So we need to try to implement more and more the same approach. It's the same rules. It's the reason why we try to work on common rules. This morning I had with the Sound Have Commercial Arraymundo the possiblity to organize the first review after one year of a new so called Data Private Privacy framework, so the exchange of data between the you in the US, and we need to continue to work on many other technological issues to be sure that we have the same approach. And that prove again that also as we have a failure, we need.
To work together well.
I also wonder if this raises a question of whether there needs to be more competition in the cybersecurity space. The fact that an outage that emanates from one company in CrowdStrike could have these kind of global ramifications. Is that not problematic in and of itself that one company could be such a lynch plan for so many.
It's also a problem, and you know that we have a competition policy and you're applying you have in the US to try to find against that. But we have tried to do more. We have no new regulations about the digital world, and we have the DSA Digital Services Act but also a Digital Market Act to open the market to give an access to more players. It's a real challenge to be sure that it's impossible for the big text to block the entire system and to reserve different kinds of activities for them with alto real possible access for mids size or small size companies. You know when there is a startup, immediately after you will have a news in your on your channel that the startup is takeover by a big tax. So we try to organize a better competition in that, but again we need to do that in a good cooperation with all the actors sharing the same values and the same approaches the like minded matters. We are doing that with many partners like Canada, like UK, like Japan and soltcare of course, between the US and AU and you spoke about the transatlantic relation. It's what we try to do. I'm impressed by the acceleration of the common approach. We're discussing two years to organize a new process about the data exchanges, about privacy in fact, what kind of balance between privacy and security, individual approach in GI general rights and collective security and all the time it's a real difficult issue. But at the end one year ago it was possible to conclude the negotiations. And this morning I was looking on television to have some information about Milwaukee, and the discussion.
Yesterday can tell you a little bit about that.
But I saw for the first time and advertising about the iPhone and to say, with suffering you are protecting your privacy.
I don't know if it's true.
But what's very interesting to me is to see a big tech organizing a communication with a reference to the privacy.
It's quite new.
I'm sure that there are many citizens in the US, many consumers more and more concern about their privacy, like a sola. You said, more consernerable competition was It's how it's possible to have such a huge failure at the worldwide level with one company.
Well, it's worth noting in this case this was not an attack. This was born of an update, and I wonder if from your view that makes it easier or more difficult to control if there were stronger transatlantic regularly.
No, I'm sure that it's a technical failure, of course when you are looking to that, but was it's very impressive is to see that with one company at work in different kinds of sectors. We have so many difficulties that we were in the world. So maybe competing will be a real reaction. But more than that, we need to work more together to try to have common rules. What we have tried to do about privacy and to protect the personal data is one thing, but we need a sort of work together to open the market. What you said about a sort of monopoly of one company or a very small number of companies at work in such a sector of high tech, it's impossible to continue with that. We need to open more and more the market, and this is what we try to do at the open level. It's very recent the new regulations into force in some months in fact, and now we try to move more and more with a better competition in this in this field, well.
We, of course just came from Milwaukee. Would you did a little bit catching up on that. I was there on the floor when Jade Vance accepted the vice presidential nomination. He talked about big tech. He's for little tech. He has a Silicon Valley background. He has had praise in the past for the chair of the FTC here in the US, Lena Khan, and efforts around anti trust. So as you talk about working together, what it be just as easy for Europe to work with a tru advanced administration as this Biden Harris administration. What do you see changing depending on the outcome of this election.
We've had to do that some years ago. I was more at the national level at the time, but we had many bilateral meetings with the Term administration. So, of course it will be a choice of the American voter, so we'll work with one of the other administrations. I know that it will be quite difficult, but to be concrete what we have tried to organize about the privacy, I start the discussions with the former administration, the Term administration before to go to an agreement with the new one. It will be difficult, but I'm sure that what will be important is to learn more about the Union and Europe. I've seen some declarations of a possible vice president. I'm sure that we will be very happy to receive him and to try to explain what is it the open Union? What is a single market? A huge market of lots of faith. You don't think he understands, but is a question of knowledge about the real situation. We have a huge market. You need to understand we have a real competition on such a market, and we have a huge democratic process. Yesterday it was the reelection of the President of the up Commission. But to be elected as President of the Upan Commission, you need to be proposed by the twenty seven member states the government, but then you need to reach a majority in European Parliament with seven hundred and twenty members of the parliament. So it's a real democratic process and we need to explain that maybe more to some leaders or possible leaders in the US. But for the moment, we are in discussion with the Biden administration and we will continue to do that.
Obviously, to your point, you've already lived through a Trump presidency. We all did, so there might not be that many surprises. But does the isolationist bent in this Republican party, which has evolved a bit since Donald Trump served his first term. Does that bring different challenges for Europe.
But we need to continue to work on a strategic autonomy of the European Union. So we have a very strong relationship between the US and the U. But that doesn't mean that we don't have to invest more in defense, in all old security and so on. But then we need to convince our partners that we have common interest. If you look to the situation in Ukraine, it's not only a war of Russia against Ukraine. It's against our values or share values democracy, freedom. It's very important to be concerned by that. And when you look to the recent news and that you see that the US journalists can thend to sixteen years in jail, it's quite important to understand that it's not only a war against Ukraine. Of course, it's first of all that, but it's a war against our values in THEU but also in the free world, I will say. And if you look to the situation and the replication in the US, it's very important to continue to support Ukraine. What we are doing with the huge financial support. You know that from THEAU and the Member States. It's more than one hundred and sixty billions dollars that we have provided since the beginning of the war for military support, financial support, humanitarian but also the refugees, and will continue to do that, and we will continue to see if it's possible one day to go to a peace process, but on the base of the request of Ukraine, and I'm hoping that it'll be possible with the next US administration, one of an author We need to understand that we have the same concerns. And again, the coldination of a US journalist is maybe a good reminder for many US citizens that is not only AU or Ukrainian situation. It's a situation for a large but last part.
Of the world.
Yes, sir, I'm glad you raised that. Evan girshkch course from the Wall Street Journal sentenced to sixteen years in prison in Russia today. Thank you so much for stopping by Bloomberg service your timeline.
I will stay some more orders in Washington. The problem is that US company, but it will be a pleasure.
European Commissioner for Justice, did he a reindeers appreciate your time, sir, If you're.
Listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast five weekdays at noon Eastern on Appocarplay and then Roudoro with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Welcome to the Friday edition of Balance and Power. We glad you're with us on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Fresh off the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, we're back in the Capitol here and we have breaking news on a story that we have been talking about Frankly Kayley more than the Republican National Convention this week, and that is what in the world is going to happen with Joe Biden, with increasing calls now for him to drop out of the presidential race. We added several more today. The New York Times is now reporting that Vice President Kamala Harris is set to speak with major Democratic donors. This would be an important step if in fact this is the decision or the direction that Democrats are going in.
Yeah.
The Times citing two people who have been invited to this call, which they say is taking place on short notice this afternoon, on this Friday, and the call is endorsed in part by Reid Hoffman, who of course is one of the biggest donors within the Democratic Party, who, in an email that The Times got a look at, said we continue to find ourselves in a rapidly evolving environment and says with the stakes acide, they are the cycle. We have to remain focused on the critical work that needs to be done to protect our democracy. And that is what we're hearing from so many Democrats, this idea that they are growing increasingly concerned that for democracy to be protected, Joe Biden cannot lead the Democratic ticket.
Well, that's right, and if it's not going to be Joe Biden, someone else needs time to get a new campaign up and running here and get ready for a convention in Chicago, Kayley. That's why this is happening pretty quickly here, and there are reports that it could actually turn over this weekend. If that is the case, you can expect special coverage here on Bloomberg TV and radio.
Indeed, of course we've heard on TV, radio and elsewhere from a lot of voices this week in Milwaukee and other places. Now that we're back in Washington, and it's worth pointing out that while Joe Biden has been sidelined in Delaware recovering from COVID. Vice President Harris has been out there. She actually spoke yesterday about Donald Trump specifically, and she had this to say, in.
Part, donald Trump were to win in November, he will continue to sell out working families, he will continue to attack reproductive freedom, and he will continue to undermine our democracy.
The Vice president yesterday. So on this Friday, we add another voice to this conversation. Andre Gillspie is here with us in Washington. She is associate professor at political science at Emory University.
Andre, what a week. Thank you for joining us.
As we try to wrap things up, we'll see if we're all going to be having a working weekend. We heard Vice President Harris. They're talking in particular about reproductive rates. That is one of the issues that she has owned as Vice president. Is that an issue that could actually make her one of the most viable candidates for the Democrat Party if Joe Biden does indeed step aside, let alone the fact that she is Vice President of the United States right now as we speak.
Well, it's an.
Issue that Democrats have been honing in on since the Dobbs decision because they've noticed that Democratic voters in particular have increasingly said that reproductive issues are salient issues to them. So they're saying that abortion as an important issue for them in the way that pro life voters might have said that in the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, and so Democrats have had success with that issue, and so they're going to continue to try to find success with it. The question is how many single issue pro choice voters are there and what other issues do you need to hit on in order to put the type of coalition together that can win enough states to win the electoral college.
Joe Biden's campaign says he's going back on the campaign trail next week, and I guess you have to project that kind of confidence until you're no longer able to. Kamala Harris is of course also hearing calls for an open convention or a mini primary or series of town halls. This is a lot of this is going to be Joe Biden's choice. To what extent can she help to affect the outcome? Is it meetings like this with donors.
Well, you know, we don't know what they're discussing in the meeting, so we don't know if Harris is there to try to assuage the concerns of these high level donors so that they release the money that they're withholding right now from the Democrats, because they're not just withholding it from Biden, they're threatening to withhold it from down ballot.
Panada's capital right now, knowing that he could be out of the race within days.
Well, you know, I think she has to project that, but she also might have to make people comfortable with her if other Democrats are able to convince President Biden that he should drop out of the race, she can't be seen, as you know, striking him while he's down, especially given the fact that he has COVID. So she has to be a loyal team player. She has to demonstrate that she can be the leader of the Democratic Party to make voters comfortable with her. And then if it turns out that Biden does drop out of the race, then they're going to have to very quickly settle on who the nominee should be. And she's going to have to be able to project leadership and strength in a way that could help her clear the field if it looks like she's the heir apparent.
Well, of course, where all of the dropout calls are coming from are from Democrats who have expressed concern that they do not believe Joe Biden is capable of defeating Donald Trump in November. The question is whether or not there is convincing data out there that shows any other Democrat could defeat Donald Trump easily in November. Have you seen any figures that have convinced you of that.
Andre, So, the public figures don't suggest that at all. Vice President Harris has pulled in some surveys about at the same rate that President Biden has and the other contenders, especially right after the debate, we're actually pulling lower than President Biden or Vice President Harris. So I think that's part of the reason why people are looking at her, in addition to the fact that she is Vice president of the United States, so she would be the obvious first person that you would look at. One of the things that I would caution as a professor is I would actually want to see this in an experimental matchup where you split the sample and you randomly put people in different groups and then pose one question. You know, is it Biden as the Democratic nominee or Harris or Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer, and then we can see kind of in the head to head matchup sort of how people would make one particular choice. I imagine that maybe some of the internal polls have that, but that's certainly something that I would want to see in a public poll.
We heard Republicans and Donald Trump testing out nicknames for Kamala Harris in Milwaukee. I believe Cacklin co pilot Kamala was one that I heard the most. Does that mean you're winning when Trump is coining your nickname?
You know, I don't focus on the winning. I mean, first of all, I focus on the maturity of that, and I focus on what that says about the toxicity of our culture. When I'm also listening to that, I'm listening for race and gendered language in there. And so the idea of talking about a woman as cackling referring to her laugh is something that is certainly problematic and that, you know, if Harris is the nominee, she's going to have to.
You would face that. Yeah, for the rest of the cycle.
Well, as we talk about race and gender, A lot of conversation we had in Milwaukee is the extent to which it does seem that the Republican Party, or at least Trump and Vance, seem to have narrow their focus to a very specific type of voter, and it's not necessarily a female voter. Let's say that Jdvance talks about the working man, it does seem like they're looking at the rest belt and male rural voters, especially within it has the Republican Party, in your eyes, completely abandoned the reach out to suburban women. This is a conversation we've had continually in the last few.
Days, well not exactly, and it's important for us to recognize that gender operates differently than race in terms of outreach. So in particular, Republican women might actually be impervious to perhaps some of these perceived slights, if you will, or lack of attention in these issues. I would not expect Republican women to be defecting to vote for the Democratic ticket because you know of the fact that JD. Vance might be a champion of working men, or because Donald Trump uses masculinus language. And in fact, if we look at his vote share amongst women in the twenty twenty twenty sixteen elections, he loses college educated white women but working class white women certainly voted for Donald Trump, so I wouldn't expect that there would would be a change there. I do expect that they are going to reach out to women. It doesn't necessarily have to be about abortion, and so that's something that I would caution Democrats to not make everything solely about abortion. You know, the outreach in terms of talking about education and the content of students' education. Right, they thanked basically Moms for Liberty without actually directly naming them during the convention, and so there are ways that activist women really do see themselves as being sort of, you know, front and center and the MAGA movement.
There's a conventional wisdom out there, and I guess it's based on some polling, But the fact of the matter is people have not seen Kamala Harris do a heck of a lot of campaigning. Let's live in California, paid real close attention to the primary race between herself, Joe Biden, and others. The conventional wisdom that she is just not a gifted campaigner. What do you make of that? Is it true?
Well, I mean, I think that this is something that's going to be a liability if Vice President Harris turns out to be the Democratic nominee, so we know where she's pulling. Now that's a hypothetical situation. Things change when you are, in fact the real candidate. Because she's run before and she is a national figure, you also have to consider what her liabilities are. And so some of those narratives from the twenty twenty election about poor management or about staff turnover in her White House staff are certainly going to come up, and she's going to have to provide a ready response for that. She's also going to bear the weight of all of the criticisms of the Biden administration. So one challenge is how to figure out how to tout the successes of the Biden administration in ways that heretofore this campaign has been unable to do. But then also how to inoculate yourself from having to take full responsibility for anything that could be perceived as a blunder. And one of the challenges and the risks of somebody like Vice President Harris coming in and filling in is that she's tied to the administration. There's no way she's going to say that she wasn't a part of some of these things. And so that allows her to take credit for the good things, but that also means she's got to be ready to respond to the bad things.
Well, of course, she also had a career as a prosecutor that we've heard could actually be part of her problem with specifically Black voters, a group that we know are becoming more disaffected with Joe Biden pivoting to Donald Trump in numbers that we haven't really seen in modern political history, to say the least. How should we think about her appeal within that demographic and whether or not she needs to be included in the ticket, either at the top or continue on as the vice president in order to keep them within the family.
Well, I think it's more dangerous to exclude her from the ticket. So I don't think there's any discussion at all that Democrats are having. African American women in particular, are the most Democratic voting bloc in the United States. They're voting upwards of ninety percent for Democratic candidates, including Joe Biden. To take Kamala Harris off of that ticket is to risk them not showing up, and that is going to be fatal to a Democratic WAKA any.
Different if she we're simply not at the top of the ticket, though, isn't that an insult to a vice president who got fourteen million votes one heartbeat away?
Well, I mean, yes, I think it will be, which is why I think there is some behind the scenes discussion of if it is not Joe Biden, how can we get everybody within the Democratic circle to coalesce around Kamala Harris. So, even if you have to go through having town hall meetings and having debates and having an open delegate vote at the floor of the DNC or in any virtual votes that would happen ahead of time, there has to be some consensus that Kamala Harris has to be given the sort of opportunity to decline the seat, and it has to be very clear that she's making this decision of her own volition and she's not being coerced into not being a part of any ticket or not being at the top of it.
Well, the convention is getting closer every minute that we speak. So finally, Andre and I know it's impossible to predict, but knowing we are working on a deadline here, how much longer do you think Joe Biden can go before he decides one way or another.
I would say probably no more than a week, because if he has to drop out, then Democrats have to come up with the contingency plan for how to govern the replacement and make democratic voters in general feel comfortable that this was democratically decided and that it wasn't some type of coronation.
If he doesn't decide in a week, then we roll into another one talking about this very same story. This is quite a remarkable moment in American politics, Undra Gillespie or treat to have you in the nation's capital and with us today at the table. Thank you so much for coming to see us. Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com.
