Latest / Balance of Power / Trump Promises $5K Payment to US Adults if GOP Wins Midterms: Dallas Day Two

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Trump Promises $5K Payment to US Adults if GOP Wins Midterms: Dallas Day Two · Balance of Power

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Podcasts.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Radio.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: News.
• 0:09
  Speaker 4: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
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  Speaker 4: Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch
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  Speaker 4: us live on YouTube.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I am indeed in Dallas, Texas, where it's day two
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of the Republicans' first ever midterm convention. We will be
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: hearing from President Trump once again tonight as he is
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  Speaker 1: expected to give closing remarks, have the last word of
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  Speaker 1: this convention after the keynote address that will be delivered
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  Speaker 1: by Vice President J.D. Vance. The question is going to
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  Speaker 1: be whether he or anyone else makes more promises tonight
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  Speaker 1: as he did yesterday when he said if Republicans win
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in the midterms, every American citizen is getting a check. Listen.
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  Speaker 5: So if the Republicans win... You win with us and
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: you get $ 5, 000. It will be called the Trump dividend.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: The only caveat I have is that The dividend that
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: we're making must be spent in the United States of America.
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  Speaker 1: So let's get more on that promise and what else
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: we can expect to hear this evening as we turn
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to two of Bloomberg's best, Josh Wingrove, who, of course,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: covers the White House for us here at Bloomberg, and
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  Speaker 1: Bill Farias, who is helping lead our midterm coverage. He's
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  Speaker 1: Bloomberg News senior editor. Are here with me in the
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  Speaker 1: Dallas studio. Great to see you both. Of course, Josh,
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  Speaker 1: you were there in the convention hall last night when
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the president made this promise, a $ 50, 000 or $ 5, 000 promise.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: He says, we've heard similar things from him before. Everybody
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: was going to get a tariff rebate, for example. They
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  Speaker 1: didn't materialize. What would be different this time around?
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  Speaker 6: I mean, we'll see. If it materializes here, I would
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  Speaker 6: not particularly hold my breath. It might as well be
• 1:46
  Speaker 6: $ 50, 000 from some people's perspective, I suppose. Look, this is
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  Speaker 6: him trying to boost turnout. A lot of Republicans will
• 1:53
  Speaker 6: say that the glass-half-full case of their current landscape is
• 1:56
  Speaker 6: that if their voters come to the polls, they might
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: be able to buck historical trends here and either lose
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: by a smaller margin in the House or actually maybe
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: in a long-shot scenario perhaps keep the House. I think Trump, though,
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: nodded to the reality of that not necessarily being the case.
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: He asked voters last night to vote as if he
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: was on the ballot. This has been a problem in
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: the past. When Trump isn't on the ballot in 2018,
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  Speaker 6: they didn't show up. And he also said, look, when
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: the economy is rocking in five years, make sure you
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  Speaker 6: remember who set it up to do that way, which
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: was an unusual acknowledgement for him that the economy is
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: not rocking right now. And so you sort of saw
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: the sort of internal deliberations in the president's head playing
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: out in real time. You know, this is this payment
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: would be over a trillion dollars. The deficit is already
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: quite large. Vice President Vance will speak tonight. He was
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: on TV last night saying this would come from tariffs
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  Speaker 6: that are already paying down the debt. That, of course,
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  Speaker 6: is incorrect. The debt is growing every year. Tariffs are revenue,
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  Speaker 6: but they're not making a particular debt in that.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: And so, you know, we'll see.
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  Speaker 6: I don't think a lot of Republicans in Congress, who,
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  Speaker 6: of course, would have to vote on this, are going
• 2:55
  Speaker 6: to think it's a particularly great idea.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the other thing, Bill, is Republicans are in control
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: of Congress right now. Why would November have any impact
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: if the economy is doing so well that the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: can afford to send these out? Couldn't they arguably do
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  Speaker 1: this before voters head to the polls?
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  Speaker 7: Well, I think it is a sign of the concern
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: in the GOP right now. And when you're here in Dallas,
• 3:14
  Speaker 7: you're hearing a lot about the headwinds that the party
• 3:16
  Speaker 7: is facing.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Iran war. It was not over.
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: It did not end in two or three weeks, as
• 3:22
  Speaker 7: people were being told early this year. Gas prices are
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: still high. Mortgages are at a high level at this point.
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  Speaker 7: So The cost of living is really hitting a lot
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  Speaker 7: of Americans right now. It's something the GOP is acknowledging.
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  Speaker 1: And this is kind of an.
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  Speaker 7: Effort to say, let's get past the midterms and there
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  Speaker 7: are these other things on the flip side of that
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  Speaker 7: that we'll promise you. It's just that would be, that
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  Speaker 7: kind of proposal would be a hard sell at any time,
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  Speaker 7: especially with a narrow Republican majority. It's not going to
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  Speaker 7: be something that's going to happen if the Democrats win
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  Speaker 7: the House election.
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  Speaker 1: Or take the Senate in November.
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  Speaker 6: People should not go out and start spending their five
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  Speaker 6: grand now. In other words, I think I will hold
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  Speaker 6: fire on that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, while we heard that from the president, obviously, we
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  Speaker 1: also heard a lot, frankly, about the size of the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: attendance itself. Of course, before he even got here to Dallas,
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  Speaker 1: when he was on his way, he was getting ready
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  Speaker 1: to board Air Force One, slide issue aside, he suggested
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  Speaker 1: it was going to be sold out, 20,000 people.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Is that the reality last night? Do we expect it
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  Speaker 1: will be tonight, Josh?
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  Speaker 9: No.
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  Speaker 6: Look, I'm talking about this because the president keeps emphasizing it.
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  Speaker 6: So we're compelled to sort.
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  Speaker 1: Of talk about it. He was saying if anyone gets
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: up to go to the bathroom, don't do it.
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  Speaker 6: The arena was not full. And not only was it
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  Speaker 6: not full, the top sections were virtually entirely empty in
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  Speaker 6: many parts. The president just moments ago posted a video
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  Speaker 6: of the crowd. That crowd was taken from the section
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  Speaker 6: of the stadium that was empty. mostly empty and of
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  Speaker 6: course was shooting towards the state part that was very
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  Speaker 6: full so he he has always been fixated on crowd
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: size and you know it is it is what it
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  Speaker 6: is he also claimed there were crowds outside there weren't
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  Speaker 6: tons of videos and photos show that the question is
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  Speaker 6: what does that mean kaylee in the last week of
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  Speaker 6: the election in 2024 i was with the president he
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  Speaker 6: wasn't filling crowds out then either in fact nowhere near
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: and yet of course went off to sweep sweep the
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  Speaker 6: swing states in the election so we don't want to
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  Speaker 6: over index what this means but this is not It's
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  Speaker 6: sort of kind of in the middle. Democrats hope that
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  Speaker 6: this would be a real flop of some kind and
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  Speaker 6: that it would be a disaster. It hasn't been that.
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  Speaker 1: There were people there.
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  Speaker 6: The images and the photos show enthusiastic Republican sort of
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: like base hardcore folks celebrating the president. But like overall,
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: I think the president certainly wishes that there were maybe
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: more people in the seats and heading into tonight with
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: the vice president speech. capped by another speech by the president,
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: by the way, and previewed perhaps, I think, by a
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: Fox interview by the president and an event by the
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: president early on. So it's Vice President Vance's day, but
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: the president has three cameos in it. We'll see if
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: the attendance dips a little more as well. But organizers
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: had always said the crowds would look different, different people
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  Speaker 6: accredited for different days. So it could be bigger or
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: perhaps smaller as well today.
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  Speaker 1: I'll come back to Vance, but I also want to
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  Speaker 1: talk about some of the other speakers that are slated tonight.
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  Speaker 1: We'll hear, for example, from Mike Rogers, who, of course,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: is the Republican running in Michigan. He got a lot
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  Speaker 1: of shout out from the president in his speech last night,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: who also obviously had some sharp words about his opponent,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Abdul El-Sayed. But aside from Mike Rogers, Bill, who are
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: we going to be watching this evening? Yeah, Mike Rogers
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  Speaker 1: is a big one.
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  Speaker 7: He's gotten a pretty good slot in terms of the
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  Speaker 7: timing of the convention tonight.
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  Speaker 1: We're also going to hear from RFK Jr.
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  Speaker 7: the HHS secretary who, you know, his Maha movement was
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: a part of that Trump coalition in 2024. And there
• 6:24
  Speaker 7: are some people in that movement who have questions about
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: some of the deregulation policies that they've seen under President Trump.
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  Speaker 7: The GOP would really like to consolidate that group again,
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  Speaker 7: make sure they turn out in 2024. We're also going
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  Speaker 7: to hear from Mike Johnson today, the House speaker. I
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  Speaker 7: don't think he's going to get into the $ 5, 000 payment
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  Speaker 7: and how that would go. I think he's going to
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  Speaker 7: keep it a little more vague. Ted Cruz is also
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  Speaker 7: on there, too. So when you're looking at the 2028
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  Speaker 7: potential contenders list, you've got Ted Cruz coming up and
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  Speaker 7: you've got J.D.
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  Speaker 1: Vance later in the evening.
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  Speaker 7: So it'll be interesting to see if they try to
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  Speaker 7: distinguish themselves at all in that tonight.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you about, Josh.
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  Speaker 1: How much about the speech tonight may shape J.D. Vance's
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  Speaker 1: chance in 2028? Of course, it's not just the speech. Also,
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  Speaker 1: he's been trying to raise money here in Dallas, apparently
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  Speaker 1: doing so pretty successfully. How does this help shape his path?
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think tonight is in part one of an
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  Speaker 6: ongoing series of kickoff events for what everyone thinks will
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: be his bid for president. He hasn't announced it. He's
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  Speaker 6: raised $ 2 million today for the RNC, as source tells me.
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  Speaker 6: He did some of the breakfasts, which were all closed press.
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  Speaker 6: But look, Cruz is pretty obviously planning on running a president.
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  Speaker 6: If he isn't running already, others may run. We have
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  Speaker 6: a story on the terminal now about how things are
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  Speaker 6: shaping up for the vice president. The sort of upside
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  Speaker 6: case for him is he is— finance chair of the
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: RNC right now. So he has his money on the
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: purse strings. That's helped. He's, of course, the current vice president.
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  Speaker 6: That gives him a lot of advantages. And he's well-liked
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  Speaker 6: in the party. Kayleigh, I was talking to attendees in
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  Speaker 6: the hallways yesterday. They all like Vance. But I should note,
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  Speaker 6: Marco Rubio, whenever I asked about him, he's not speaking,
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  Speaker 6: by the way, at this convention, people said, well, that
• 8:01
  Speaker 6: would be a tough choice. So the Republican faithful truly
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: do see it as a kind of a jump ball
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  Speaker 6: in some cases, although many of them said that they
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  Speaker 6: would prefer Vance. And so the challenge for him is
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: to sort of continue to stake out this lane, not
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: anger the president, who has consistently declined to sort of
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: anoint him as the clear successor, and try to navigate
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  Speaker 6: in a way that doesn't bog his own political futures
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  Speaker 6: down by stuff that is starting to weigh on the president.
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: You concerns about affordability, President Trump's approvals are at or
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: near all-time lows, and the question for Vance is how
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: do you stay loyal to your principal, the president, while
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: pitching a different thing to voters? And so he's trying
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: to do that in a couple of different ways, but
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: I think we'll hear more about that tonight. But look,
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: all signs are that he's running for president, and all
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: signs are that he'll have an inside track, if not
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: a leg up.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: As you raise the issue of loyalty, Josh, Bill, I
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: want to ask you about Senator John Fetterman, who also
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: appeared last night, at least via a video cameo, to
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: praise President Trump and his Republican colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Dave McCormick, for their help for the steel industry. He's
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: a Democrat who appeared at the Republican midterm convention, released
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: a statement after saying he's staying a Democrat. But what
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: does that signal?
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it's the kind of thing that's going to infuriate
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: a lot of Democrats who have questions about Fetterman. It's
• 9:19
  Speaker 7: going to fuel those concerns that perhaps he might switch
• 9:23
  Speaker 7: and jump to the Republican Party or basically act as
• 9:26
  Speaker 7: a de facto Republican, even if the Senate goes to
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: the Democrats or we're in the situation of a tied
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: Senate after November. We do remember Joe Lieberman at one
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: point spoke as well at a Republican convention, so It's
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: not unprecedented, but it is going to fuel a lot
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: of concerns about, you know, if the Democrats do make
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: gains in the Senate, do they have to sort of
• 9:48
  Speaker 7: surrender one seat because they think Fetterman is going to
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: be a de facto Republican?
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: It's fascinating. All right, Bill Ferrys, Josh Wingrove, thank you
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: so much. Great coverage from here in Dallas.
• 9:57
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• 10:01
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• 10:07
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• 10:10
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• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Here in Dallas, of course, it has been quite the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: 24 hours as we saw a number of candidates take
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: the stage in the convention hall on night one, headlined
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: by President Trump himself, who once again called on voters
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: to pretend like he is on the ballot in this
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: midterm cycle and suggested that if they vote for Republicans
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: and if Republicans keep majorities in the House and Senate,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: every American could be getting a check. Listen.
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: So if the Republicans win. You win with us and
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: you get $ 5, 000. It will be called the Trump dividend.
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: The only caveat I have is that the dividend that
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: we're making must be spent in the United States of America.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: So for more on this notion, let's turn to a
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: member of Congress. In fact, the chair of the House
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Judiciary Committee, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio's 4th District,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: is joining us now live from the convention hall here
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: on Bloomberg TV and radio. Mr. Chairman, thanks for the time.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Balance of Power. When we consider this
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: $ 5, 000 dividend, your colleague Tom Massey said Congress has a
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: few more days— I' m quoting him directly— In session before the election,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: I should do a discharge petition to give out $ 5, 000
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: checks before the election. I wonder how many Republicans would
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: sign it. It begs the question, Mr. Chairman, why can't
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: you just do this now? You already have the majority.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Well, look, I want to see the proposal.
• 11:44
  Speaker 10: I'm always in favor of letting hardworking Americans, American families
• 11:47
  Speaker 10: keep more of their money, more of their money to
• 11:49
  Speaker 10: spend on their goals, their dreams, their kids, their grandkids,
• 11:51
  Speaker 10: their endeavors. So I'm always in favor of that. I
• 11:54
  Speaker 10: want to know how this program the president announced last
• 11:57
  Speaker 10: night might work. What I do know is the president
• 11:59
  Speaker 10: gave a great speech last night. There was a huge crowd,
• 12:01
  Speaker 10: a lot of energy, which I think we're going to
• 12:03
  Speaker 10: need as we go through this next 54 days in
• 12:06
  Speaker 10: this election period. I think we can keep the majority
• 12:08
  Speaker 10: because I think we can go remind the American people
• 12:11
  Speaker 10: just how radical the left has become, and they now
• 12:13
  Speaker 10: control the Democrat Party. And I think if we do that,
• 12:16
  Speaker 10: and we also remind the American voters about what we've
• 12:19
  Speaker 10: done in cutting taxes, what we've done in securing the border,
• 12:22
  Speaker 10: I think we can win.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Well, just to go back to the suggestion that you
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: need to see the details of this proposal, should we
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: understand then that the president hasn't actually talked to Republicans
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: in Congress about this idea before he announced it on
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: that stage?
• 12:40
  Speaker 10: Well, we heard it last night in his speech. Like
• 12:42
  Speaker 10: I said, I thought it was a great speech. A
• 12:43
  Speaker 10: lot of energy here in the arena. But we want
• 12:46
  Speaker 10: to see the details. What I do know is what
• 12:48
  Speaker 10: we did in the big, beautiful bill, largest tax cut
• 12:50
  Speaker 10: in American history, letting families, letting Americans keep their money
• 12:53
  Speaker 10: to spend on the things that they want to spend
• 12:55
  Speaker 10: it on.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: That's always better than government.
• 12:58
  Speaker 10: Deciding to spend it on some new crazy program. So
• 13:01
  Speaker 10: I think that that's good. Empowering people with their letting
• 13:05
  Speaker 10: them have more of their money. I think it's a
• 13:06
  Speaker 10: good idea. But let's see how the I don't know
• 13:08
  Speaker 10: all the details of this plan that he announced last
• 13:10
  Speaker 10: night in his speech.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Well, when you consider, then, the wider picture, which you
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: were just speaking to, on the government spending money, this
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: obviously is a program that could cost over a trillion dollars,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: at least by a rough calculation. You mentioned the one big,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: beautiful bill, which the Congressional Budget Office said could add
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: $ 4 trillion to the deficit over a decade. How is
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: any of this, frankly, Mr. Chairman, fiscally responsible? Is this
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: fiscally conservative?
• 13:39
  Speaker 10: Well, the tax cuts were one big beautiful build. I mean,
• 13:42
  Speaker 10: letting people keep more of their money, letting businesses keep
• 13:45
  Speaker 10: more of their money, doing things that are good for
• 13:47
  Speaker 10: our economy and promote economic growth. Those are all positive.
• 13:50
  Speaker 10: This idea that somehow that's creating the deficit. No, it's
• 13:53
  Speaker 10: the spending side of the equation that's creating the deficits
• 13:57
  Speaker 10: and piling up the huge debt. Now, that's a real problem.
• 14:00
  Speaker 10: We're going to have to address it. I remember the
• 14:02
  Speaker 10: headline in the headline in the journal back in January.
• 14:05
  Speaker 10: It said this United States Senate class will be the
• 14:08
  Speaker 10: first Senate class which will have to deal with the
• 14:11
  Speaker 10: Social Security question on because there's projected to be a shortfall.
• 14:15
  Speaker 10: So we've got to make sure we honor that commitment,
• 14:17
  Speaker 10: make sure Americans get their money. Social Security is sound.
• 14:20
  Speaker 10: That is coming. So we have to deal with this
• 14:22
  Speaker 10: debt problem. But cutting taxes, letting Americans keep their money,
• 14:26
  Speaker 10: that doesn't add to the deficit. It's the spending side
• 14:29
  Speaker 10: of the equation that adds to the deficit. And that's
• 14:31
  Speaker 10: what we've got to work on with some of the
• 14:32
  Speaker 10: fraud that's going on, some of the other things that
• 14:35
  Speaker 10: we see government spending on. And President Trump and his
• 14:37
  Speaker 10: team have done good work in that area, particularly in
• 14:41
  Speaker 10: the fraud area.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Well, when we consider that President Trump and his team,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: of course, were speaking at the convention, including the Treasury secretary,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: who has been trying to address the challenges arising in
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the bond market because of this fiscal situation as well, and, sir,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the attorney general of the United States, Todd Blanch. I
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: ask you this as the chair of the Judiciary Committee.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Should the attorney general have had any business speaking at
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a political convention like he did last night?
• 15:09
  Speaker 10: Todd Blanch is doing good work. I've been in Congress
• 15:12
  Speaker 10: 19 years. He's the best Attorney General I've ever worked with.
• 15:14
  Speaker 10: I've been very impressed with Attorney General Blanch and his team.
• 15:19
  Speaker 10: Colin McDonald, the guy that they put as the point
• 15:23
  Speaker 10: person for dealing with fraud and going after people, the
• 15:26
  Speaker 10: guy who got the indictments on these folks up in
• 15:29
  Speaker 10: Minnesota who were ripping off taxpayers.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Todd Blanch is doing good work.
• 15:32
  Speaker 10: I think it's very, very appropriate, completely fine for him
• 15:36
  Speaker 10: to address the crowd like he did last night. He
• 15:38
  Speaker 10: did a good job, and he's doing good work as
• 15:40
  Speaker 10: the attorney general, giving us information that we never got
• 15:43
  Speaker 10: from Merrick Garland, doing things, exposing some of that, helping.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Us understand completely what the previous administration was doing.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: But if Merrick Garland had taken the stage at a political.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Convention, would you not have had a problem with that, Mr. Chairman?
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: What of the Hatch Act?
• 15:59
  Speaker 10: My problem with Merrick Garland was the fact that he
• 16:02
  Speaker 10: did the memorandum saying if you're showing up at a
• 16:05
  Speaker 10: school board meeting as a parent, somehow you're a bad
• 16:08
  Speaker 10: person and we need to.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Spy on you.
• 16:09
  Speaker 10: My problem with Merrick Garland was when the FBI, under
• 16:12
  Speaker 10: his leadership, did the memorandum saying if you're a pro-life Catholic,
• 16:15
  Speaker 10: you're an extremist for goodness sake. Those were my problems
• 16:18
  Speaker 10: with Merrick Garland. I think Todd Blanch is cleaning up
• 16:21
  Speaker 10: the place. He's doing the work that you need to
• 16:23
  Speaker 10: do as Attorney General. And I've really enjoyed working with Mr.
• 16:27
  Speaker 10: Blanch and the work that they're doing. in our Justice Department.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about some of that work from the DOJ.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: The DOJ, of course, has now made repeated asks to
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court to allow mail-in ballot changes at the U.S.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Postal Service that the administration has pushed for to go forward.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: We're 54 days out from an election, Mr. Chairman. The
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: fact that this remains an open legal question, what is
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: that going to do to Americans' confidence in our voting
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: system and in this method of voting that the president
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: himself has used repeatedly?
• 17:01
  Speaker 10: Well, I mean, President Trump is trying to make sure
• 17:04
  Speaker 10: we have confidence in our voting.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, come on, Haley.
• 17:07
  Speaker 10: Everyone knows when you when you see what happens in
• 17:09
  Speaker 10: California now, every election, like we don't know the winner
• 17:12
  Speaker 10: in some of these races.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: For two or three weeks. You've got to be kidding me.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: That's how they're just trying to make sure.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: That the elections are fair. They are.
• 17:19
  Speaker 10: They are accurate that that people can have confidence in
• 17:22
  Speaker 10: how our system.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: I know in Ohio.
• 17:25
  Speaker 10: We get results when the polls close. We get results
• 17:27
  Speaker 10: within an hour and a half, two hours. It's done, finished.
• 17:29
  Speaker 10: We know who won the way it's supposed to be.
• 17:31
  Speaker 10: So this idea that somehow in Nevada and California, it
• 17:35
  Speaker 10: takes for New York. It's always seems to be these
• 17:37
  Speaker 10: blue states. It takes forever to figure out who won
• 17:39
  Speaker 10: a congressional race, who won a governor.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: That's ridiculous.
• 17:43
  Speaker 10: That undermines confidence. And President Trump is just trying to
• 17:45
  Speaker 10: make sure only citizens are voting. You got to have
• 17:47
  Speaker 10: a photo ID. Only people who are supposed to be
• 17:49
  Speaker 10: on the on the voting voter registration list are actually
• 17:53
  Speaker 10: there and participating in our elections. I think Americans want
• 17:56
  Speaker 10: that to be the situation. That's what he's trying to do.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Are you privy as the chair of the Judiciary Committee
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: to the actual data around how much mail in ballot
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: fraud is actually happening in states across the country? What
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: are the figures actually look like?
• 18:13
  Speaker 10: Well, we're doing an investigation led by one of our
• 18:15
  Speaker 10: subcommittee chairmen, Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey. And we
• 18:19
  Speaker 10: know in New Jersey, Mikey Sherrill come out and told
• 18:21
  Speaker 10: us 6,000 people, almost 7,000 people were on their voter
• 18:25
  Speaker 10: registration rolls who weren't citizens. And some of them actually
• 18:28
  Speaker 10: voted in an election. I don't think Americans appreciate that fact.
• 18:31
  Speaker 10: And what President Trump is trying to do is make
• 18:32
  Speaker 10: sure that that is not happening. That phenomenon is not
• 18:35
  Speaker 10: happening in other states. I think that's just... something government
• 18:39
  Speaker 10: should be concerned about and government should deal with, which
• 18:42
  Speaker 10: is exactly what President Trump and his team are looking at.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Well, and you mentioned leading that investigation, given your current
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: gavel on the Judiciary Committee. Do you intend to keep that, Mr. Chairman,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: in the committee? Or should we expect you to be
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: running for a leadership position, whether or not it's in
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the majority or the minority?
• 19:00
  Speaker 10: I am focused on one thing. We got 54 days
• 19:05
  Speaker 10: to make sure Republicans keep the House and keep the Senate.
• 19:08
  Speaker 10: If the party that now is being controlled by the
• 19:11
  Speaker 10: Democrat Socialists, the Mamdani crowd, if they get in power,
• 19:15
  Speaker 10: where they will take this great nation is frightening. Remember
• 19:18
  Speaker 10: what Mamdani said nine months and ten days ago. He said,
• 19:21
  Speaker 10: I was elected as a Democrat Socialist, I will govern
• 19:24
  Speaker 10: as a Democrat Socialist. Where they want to go, They
• 19:27
  Speaker 10: will undermine what this country has always given its citizens.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: It's a simple idea. You got a goal. You got
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: a dream. You work hard. Good things happen.
• 19:33
  Speaker 10: They will undermine the look at their crazy principles that
• 19:36
  Speaker 10: they're they're they're trying to do objectives that you're trying
• 19:40
  Speaker 10: to accomplish. It's really bad for the country. That's the
• 19:43
  Speaker 10: main message I think we've got to take to the
• 19:44
  Speaker 10: voters over the next seven and a half weeks.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Well, that may be where you think Democrats want to go,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: but where do you want to go, Mr. Chairman? Will
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you run for leadership is the question.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: I'm focused on one thing. I want us to win.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: I want us to win.
• 20:02
  Speaker 10: To me, what the left is up to, the once
• 20:05
  Speaker 10: great party of FDR and JFK is now controlled by
• 20:08
  Speaker 10: the anti-Israel, socialist, crazy crowd. That's who's running the Democrat Party.
• 20:15
  Speaker 10: And frankly, the leadership of the Democrat Party, I am
• 20:17
  Speaker 10: focused on one thing, helping candidates. I've been traveling all
• 20:20
  Speaker 10: over the country helping candidates and colleagues so that we
• 20:22
  Speaker 10: win and.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Keep the majority.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Max Miller included? Will he win, sir?
• 20:29
  Speaker 10: I'm helping Republican candidates across the board. Just helped one
• 20:33
  Speaker 10: today here in Texas, J.C.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Arborough.
• 20:34
  Speaker 10: Find a wonderful new candidate running in one of the
• 20:38
  Speaker 10: open seats here. Going to be a great lawyer. I
• 20:40
  Speaker 10: think hopefully be a great member of the Judiciary Committee
• 20:43
  Speaker 10: or whatever committees it gets on. But we were helping
• 20:45
  Speaker 10: him today. We helped another colleague yesterday, Keith Self, here
• 20:47
  Speaker 10: in the Texas area. We're helping Monica De La Cruz
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: tomorrow going up to Oklahoma to help Mr. Tedford in
• 20:53
  Speaker 10: Tulsa on Saturday. So we're helping candidates all over the place.
• 20:56
  Speaker 10: The goal is to win, because if they win, they're
• 20:59
  Speaker 10: going to take the country in a bad.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Bad direction.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Well, that is certainly a very busy schedule. Do you plan, Mr. Chairman,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to help any Republican specifically get the gavel next on
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the Judiciary Committee? Is there someone you would like to
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: see replace you?
• 21:16
  Speaker 10: We've got a lot of good candidates. That's up to
• 21:17
  Speaker 10: the steering committee and the conference. We'll let that process
• 21:21
  Speaker 10: play out. But we've got a lot of good candidates
• 21:22
  Speaker 10: who are interested in being the next sheriff.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough. Finally, night two here in Dallas. Obviously,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: it's the vice president who will be giving the keynote speech.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Is it your expectation that he will be your party's
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: nominee in 2028? Would you like to see him be?
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I think J.D.
• 21:41
  Speaker 10: 's done an outstanding job when he was a senator
• 21:43
  Speaker 10: of our great state. I think he's done an outstanding
• 21:44
  Speaker 10: job as vice president. I think he's certainly in the mix.
• 21:47
  Speaker 10: He'd be great, but I think there's Secretary Rubio. I
• 21:49
  Speaker 10: think there's Governor Youngkin. I think there's Senator Cruz. I
• 21:52
  Speaker 10: think there's a lot of people who may run. One
• 21:54
  Speaker 10: thing I know is we've got a lot of great
• 21:55
  Speaker 10: candidates on our side that I think would be great presidents.
• 21:59
  Speaker 10: They've got AOC and whoever else they're going to, Gavin Newsom,
• 22:04
  Speaker 10: whoever else they're going to, they may nominate. I thought
• 22:06
  Speaker 10: Senator McCormick. Last night did an amazing job. I really
• 22:11
  Speaker 10: appreciate Senator McCormick and what he's done. I think he's
• 22:14
  Speaker 10: in that mix as well. So we got a number
• 22:16
  Speaker 10: of great candidates. And of course, the vice president from
• 22:18
  Speaker 10: our great state is right at the top.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. McCormick introduced by Democratic Senator John Fetterman. I got
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: to say, Mr. Chairman, I don't think many people were
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: expecting that one. Thank you for joining Bloomberg TV and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Radio Live from the convention hall here in Dallas. The
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: chair of the Judiciary Committee. I'm out of time, Mr. Chairman.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Come back to Bloomberg and we'll talk further. I appreciate
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: your time.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Stay with us on Balance of Power.
• 22:40
  Speaker 11: We'll have much more coming up after this.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: us live weekdays at noon and 5 p.m. Eastern on
• 22:51
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• 22:55
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• 22:58
  Speaker 4: flagship New York station. Just say Alexa, play Bloomberg 1130.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Affordability is something that we know voters will be thinking about,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: at least according to polls, as they decide who to
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: cast their votes for on the ballots come November. The
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: president yesterday repeated his claim that the affordability issue is
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: a fake one, but did talk about some of the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: economic progress he feels his administration has made. In fact,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: he says the economy is doing so well that if
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Republicans are reelected to majorities in the House and Senate,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: that he'll send every American adult citizen a $ 5, 000 check
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: in the form of what he says is is a
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Trump dividend. So as we consider that, that we heard
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: from President Trump last night, what else we might hear tonight,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: how Democrats should respond and how all of this shapes
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: not just 2026, but 2028 as well. I'm pleased to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: say joining us now here on Bloomberg TV and radio
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: is Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: former mayor of Chicago, and of course, former U.S. ambassador
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: to Japan as well. Ambassador, welcome back to Bloomberg TV
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: and radio. I appreciate the time, sir. I would love
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: first just your reaction to what we heard from the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: president last night and this notion of a five thousand
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: dollar dividend paid out to Americans. If that's what Republicans
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: are promising, what should Democrats be promising?
• 24:15
  Speaker 9: Well, let me back up here. The two things that
• 24:19
  Speaker 9: Democrats and President Trump agree on is that President Trump
• 24:23
  Speaker 9: should make this election about himself. So there's bipartisanship for you.
• 24:28
  Speaker 9: We want this to be a referendum on Trump and
• 24:30
  Speaker 9: the Republican and their stewardship of the country over the
• 24:32
  Speaker 9: last 12, rather the last 18 months. And it's clear
• 24:36
  Speaker 9: that Donald Trump and the Republicans want this to be
• 24:38
  Speaker 9: a referendum on Donald Trump. Second, I think the American
• 24:41
  Speaker 9: people are going to see right through this gimmick like
• 24:43
  Speaker 9: they've seen through everything Donald Trump's gimmicks in the past.
• 24:46
  Speaker 9: As we like to say in Chicago, this dog won't hunt.
• 24:50
  Speaker 9: It won't work in convincing people. And what we went
• 24:52
  Speaker 9: to offer is a one-time $ 5, 000. It's actually a permanent
• 24:56
  Speaker 9: tax cut. And it's also a permanent alleviation to your
• 25:00
  Speaker 9: health care. And that $ 5, 000 doesn't make up for all
• 25:03
  Speaker 9: the cuts the president made in health care costs. Energy prices,
• 25:08
  Speaker 9: as you well know, are about $ 1. 25 more a gallon
• 25:12
  Speaker 9: than they were just a year ago before the president
• 25:14
  Speaker 9: went into a aimless and endless war with no purpose
• 25:18
  Speaker 9: and no clear strategy. So I think the American people,
• 25:21
  Speaker 9: I give them a lot of credit. They're common sense folks.
• 25:23
  Speaker 9: They're going to see right through this gimmick and right
• 25:25
  Speaker 9: through the politics of this. And the good news is
• 25:28
  Speaker 9: you finally have bipartisanship. This will be a referendum election
• 25:32
  Speaker 9: on Donald Trump.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Well, if you have bipartisanship there, it's hard to find
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: it in other places, certainly. The president also talked last
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: night a lot.
• 25:44
  Speaker 9: I hope you picked up on the cynicism and sarcasm there.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: That it did go over. Yes, it was well understood.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I'd like to ask you as well about some of
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: the other comments that not just the president, but frankly,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of the speakers on the stage last night,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: and I would imagine we'll get more of the same tonight,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: had about Democrats specifically casting them as far left extremists,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: as socialists or communists, even if that obviously is not
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: universally true. Does the rise of DSA, either backed or
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: member candidates, create a major problem for your party in
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: this cycle and the cycles to come?
• 26:20
  Speaker 9: Well, I mean, you've heard I've said this before. So one,
• 26:23
  Speaker 9: you have a progressive wing of the party and a
• 26:25
  Speaker 9: pragmatic wing of the party. We'll battle out things like
• 26:28
  Speaker 9: we have. Progressives want Medicare for all, I believe, and
• 26:32
  Speaker 9: I've advocated for early retirees buying into Medicare. We'll have
• 26:35
  Speaker 9: a good health care debate about how to expand health
• 26:38
  Speaker 9: care coverage, which is core to the Democrats.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: The Democratic Socialists are a separate party. They're not Democrats.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: They're an extreme wing.
• 26:45
  Speaker 12: They had a convention in Chicago.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: But they're winning Democratic primaries is the thing.
• 26:49
  Speaker 9: No, let's just finish. No, and they're also losing them,
• 26:53
  Speaker 9: which you also have to cover. They are also losing them.
• 26:56
  Speaker 9: And they are losing them across the country. And the
• 26:58
  Speaker 9: fact is that they had a separate party. You're going
• 27:01
  Speaker 9: to run in November. That's where you should run. The
• 27:03
  Speaker 9: party's not a vehicle for you. You believe in defunding
• 27:07
  Speaker 9: the police. We don't believe that as Democrats. You believe
• 27:09
  Speaker 9: in open borders. We don't believe that as Democrats. You
• 27:12
  Speaker 9: believe in letting people out of prisons. We believe violent
• 27:16
  Speaker 9: criminals should be behind bars. We don't believe that.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: So run in November.
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: We'll see you.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Now, that's the extreme.
• 27:22
  Speaker 9: What Democrats want to talk about is what Republicans have
• 27:24
  Speaker 9: made mainstream. The corruption that has become normalized in this
• 27:28
  Speaker 9: White House that is robbing the American people. That's the
• 27:31
  Speaker 9: mainstream of the Republican Party, where you have to pay
• 27:35
  Speaker 9: for the access and you get contracts based on your
• 27:37
  Speaker 9: contribution to the president's account. That's mainstream in the Republican Party.
• 27:41
  Speaker 9: What's also mainstream in the Republican Party is a war
• 27:44
  Speaker 9: and an endless war without purpose or design or area.
• 27:48
  Speaker 9: You have a president of the United States who's thought
• 27:50
  Speaker 9: about redistricting. A president of the United States who's thought
• 27:53
  Speaker 9: about mail-in ballots and how to prevent them. A president
• 27:56
  Speaker 9: of the United States who's thought about dark money in elections.
• 27:59
  Speaker 9: He never spent the time to think like that strategically
• 28:02
  Speaker 9: before he decided to go, yes, into war in Iran
• 28:04
  Speaker 9: without a strategy for the Strait of Hormuz.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: So what is.
• 28:08
  Speaker 9: Normalized and become mainstream in the Republican Party? Let's talk
• 28:12
  Speaker 9: about it. What's extreme, which is the GSA, they are
• 28:15
  Speaker 9: not part of the Democratic Party. And I could not
• 28:17
  Speaker 9: and other Democratic leaders could not be clear about that.
• 28:19
  Speaker 9: So I have no problem talking about that. I've been
• 28:22
  Speaker 9: absolutely clear. It's a separate party. What we need to
• 28:24
  Speaker 9: talk about is what has become mainstream in the Republican Party.
• 28:28
  Speaker 9: And that's their acceptance of a culture of corruption, which
• 28:31
  Speaker 9: is antithetical to everything that capitalism is built on. which
• 28:34
  Speaker 9: is about the rule of law, not about corruption around
• 28:37
  Speaker 9: the opinion of one man.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Well, if that's what the Republican Party stands for at
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: a Republican convention, did a Democratic senator have any business appearing?
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: What did you make of John Fetterman's video cameo last night?
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Where does he fit in the Democratic Party?
• 28:54
  Speaker 9: Look, I didn't make much of it. I mean, going
• 28:57
  Speaker 9: way back, I was a supporter of Conor Lamb in
• 29:00
  Speaker 9: the primary. I thought Conor was exactly what the party
• 29:03
  Speaker 9: needed to do. There was a lot of other elements
• 29:05
  Speaker 9: of the party that thought Fetterman was the future, got
• 29:08
  Speaker 9: all excited like they did about a candidate up in Maine.
• 29:12
  Speaker 9: That is what has happened. And he'll have a primary
• 29:14
  Speaker 9: and he'll figure it out. I have no problem around bipartisanship.
• 29:18
  Speaker 9: I worked many times, like on passing children's health insurance program.
• 29:22
  Speaker 9: I worked with Senator Hatch and Senator Kennedy when I
• 29:25
  Speaker 9: was in the White House negotiating so 10 million kids
• 29:28
  Speaker 9: could get health care. I did that also around other
• 29:31
  Speaker 9: issues in my tenure. The assault weapon ban, where I
• 29:34
  Speaker 9: fought against the NRA to pass that with bipartisan support.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: That I don't mind.
• 29:40
  Speaker 9: As it relates to a Republican Party that is campaigning
• 29:44
  Speaker 9: in a different way and has accepted a culture of
• 29:46
  Speaker 9: corruption as a norm, we in the Republican Party's mainstream
• 29:51
  Speaker 9: has created a normalization around a level of corruption.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: And I'm from Chicago.
• 29:56
  Speaker 9: I know everything you need to know around corruption. I
• 29:59
  Speaker 9: have a high bar about it. This is something we
• 30:01
  Speaker 9: have never seen in our country. That has become mainstream
• 30:05
  Speaker 9: and mainlined in the Republican Party. As it relates to
• 30:08
  Speaker 9: Senator Fetterman, he'll have a moment with the Democratic primary
• 30:12
  Speaker 9: voters and decide that.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I think it's not right.
• 30:15
  Speaker 12: But he made that decision. That's on him.
• 30:17
  Speaker 9: And he'll pay or not pay the electoral consequences for that.
• 30:21
  Speaker 9: I think the key thing is to believe in your
• 30:23
  Speaker 9: principles and what you're fighting for. Republicans are fighting against
• 30:26
  Speaker 9: people in Pennsylvania and their health care and their access.
• 30:29
  Speaker 9: And that's core to what Democrats believe in. We believe
• 30:32
  Speaker 9: that health care should be a peace of mind, not
• 30:34
  Speaker 9: a nightmare. And that's a big difference between us and
• 30:37
  Speaker 9: the Republican Party.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Well, I'd like to look ahead, if we can, to
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: beyond just this 2026 cycle to the differences that may
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: be on display in 2028. Obviously, the primary map for
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Democrats is going to look a little different in terms
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: of sequencing. We have already seen a number of candidates
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: making it seem at least optically like they are considering running.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: in 2028, if you look at Newsom or Buttigieg, maybe
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: even John Ossoff, how do you see this picture coming together?
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: How will it be formed by what candidates did in
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: this midterm cycle as well in terms of working for
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: other Democrats or not working with them? In the case
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: of Harris, who we understand has been asked to step
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: away in some cases or not get involved.
• 31:20
  Speaker 9: Well, as I go way back when I was chair
• 31:23
  Speaker 9: of the apparatus for the House that allowed Nancy Pelosi
• 31:27
  Speaker 9: to become and enabled her to become speaker, I'm spending
• 31:30
  Speaker 9: my time helping Democrats throughout the country. I was just
• 31:34
  Speaker 9: in Reno, Nevada, helping both the party there, the congressional
• 31:38
  Speaker 9: candidate there. I was in Western Michigan and then in
• 31:41
  Speaker 9: New Jersey with Rebecca Bennett, who's running for Congress there.
• 31:45
  Speaker 9: They have great candidates across the country. And that is
• 31:50
  Speaker 9: part of making sure that people know that you were part,
• 31:53
  Speaker 9: like in history, this has happened in the interim, where
• 31:57
  Speaker 9: you help the party get the majority. And I say
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: that not just to get the party the majority and
• 32:03
  Speaker 9: put political capital in and get some loyalty that way,
• 32:06
  Speaker 9: but also having served both as President Obama's chief of
• 32:11
  Speaker 9: staff and then also as President Clinton's senior advisor. I
• 32:15
  Speaker 9: know the difference between a party in the other hand
• 32:19
  Speaker 9: versus when you're in the Oval Office, a party of
• 32:21
  Speaker 9: your own, and what you can get done from universal
• 32:25
  Speaker 9: health care legislation. Kids, 10 million kids with working parents
• 32:28
  Speaker 9: who didn't have health care are getting health care. Making
• 32:31
  Speaker 9: sure that there's financial reform so the banks and insurance
• 32:33
  Speaker 9: companies don't run right over homeowners and small businesses and
• 32:38
  Speaker 9: make sure there's protections in there for people that are
• 32:41
  Speaker 9: borrowing to send their kids to college. There is a
• 32:44
  Speaker 9: difference that way. And so while it's one thing on
• 32:47
  Speaker 9: the political ledger, it's also another thing that we're going
• 32:50
  Speaker 9: to have to deal up front with the fiscal bomb
• 32:54
  Speaker 9: that's been set off over the last 25 years. Social Security,
• 32:57
  Speaker 9: making sure college education is affordable, making sure that health
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: care is not actually become something where it's literally become
• 33:06
  Speaker 9: a nightmare. I can't tell you how many times I
• 33:08
  Speaker 9: run into doctors and nurses. And I come from a family,
• 33:11
  Speaker 9: my dad was a pediatrician, my mom was a technician
• 33:15
  Speaker 9: in a hospital. They spend 50% of their time on
• 33:19
  Speaker 9: the phone with insurance companies who know one word in
• 33:21
  Speaker 9: the English language.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: No.
• 33:23
  Speaker 9: And that's not the second opinion you're looking for. And
• 33:26
  Speaker 9: so we have to do something to fix a system
• 33:29
  Speaker 9: that has so much money and so much anger and
• 33:32
  Speaker 9: frustration associated with it.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Ambassador, I want to try to fit this in. We
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: just have 30 seconds left. As a former ambassador to Japan,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: what do you make of the Treasury Secretary's involvement in
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the yen, suggesting he's the house? Is he the house
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the yen? No, he's not.
• 33:49
  Speaker 9: I thought the rhetoric was way like he was claiming
• 33:52
  Speaker 9: this is D-Day against Iran. I don't think General Eisenhower
• 33:55
  Speaker 9: would ever hire Scott Besson. I think the notion that
• 33:57
  Speaker 9: he's the house, this bravado, and he's, you know, you know,
• 34:02
  Speaker 9: basically talk with a lower voice and carry a big stick.
• 34:05
  Speaker 9: And the rhetoric overshoots the capacity. And each time, not
• 34:09
  Speaker 9: just here, but in other actions, the Secretary of Treasurer
• 34:12
  Speaker 9: has found out that his rhetoric is hotter than his
• 34:14
  Speaker 9: actions and actually overshoots it.
• 34:16
  Speaker 12: And he degrades the credibility of America.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 34:19
  Speaker 10: All right.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: The former ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, thanks for joining
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: us on Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and radio.
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: us live weekdays at noon and 5 p.m. Eastern on
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: flagship New York station. Just say Alexa, play Bloomberg 1130.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: And here with me in our Dallas studio, now I'm
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: pleased to say, is Republican Congresswoman Beth Van Dyne, who
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: represents Texas' 24th district. She's also a member of the
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: House Ways and Means, Small Business Committees, and is the
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: former mayor of Irving, Texas. Thanks for being here, Congresswoman.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: It's great to see you in person. Great to have
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: you all here. It's nice to be in Texas. I
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: would like to begin, just as you said on Ways
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: and Means, with the president's suggestion. last night that if
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: indeed you and your colleagues retain the House majority and
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: the Senate majority is retained too, that every American is
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: getting a $ 5, 000 check. Has that come through the Ways
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: and Means Committee before he said it on the stage? No,
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: it has not come through the Ways and Means Committee.
• 35:21
  Speaker 8: I think what the president is trying to explain is
• 35:23
  Speaker 8: that everybody has an opportunity right now to benefit from
• 35:27
  Speaker 8: the economy. whether or not you're looking at what we
• 35:28
  Speaker 8: were able to do with the Working Families Tax Cuts bill.
• 35:30
  Speaker 8: You know, you have, what, $ 82 billion of tax refund
• 35:34
  Speaker 8: checks that have been written. Seniors got more money, you know,
• 35:37
  Speaker 8: back on their taxes. They were able to set up
• 35:40
  Speaker 8: the Trump accounts, you know, for children now so that
• 35:43
  Speaker 8: when they actually, you know, become adults, they are invested
• 35:46
  Speaker 8: in what's going on with the economy of our country.
• 35:48
  Speaker 8: They're invested in the stock market. They're invested in businesses.
• 35:51
  Speaker 8: So I think, you know, this president has gone out
• 35:53
  Speaker 8: of his way to make sure that there is something
• 35:55
  Speaker 8: for everyone. It's not for the Bill Gates of the world.
• 35:59
  Speaker 8: It's for working families. It's for the middle class. And
• 36:02
  Speaker 8: I just look at all of the work that we
• 36:03
  Speaker 8: have done so far on Ways and Means. I would
• 36:05
  Speaker 8: love to be able to come back. and pass another
• 36:08
  Speaker 8: reconciliation bill. I don't know that the $ 5, 000 checks will
• 36:11
  Speaker 8: be a part of that, but there's a lot that
• 36:13
  Speaker 8: we can do as far as tax cuts to make
• 36:16
  Speaker 8: sure that people are getting to keep a lot more
• 36:18
  Speaker 8: of what they make.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: So you automatically, wouldn't be an automatic yes on a
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: $ 5, 000 check?
• 36:22
  Speaker 8: Look, everything has to go through a negotiation to figure
• 36:26
  Speaker 8: out how much it costs. We're not just going to
• 36:28
  Speaker 8: blindly say this is what we're going to, we have
• 36:29
  Speaker 8: to look at the budget. We've got to make sure
• 36:31
  Speaker 8: where those dollars are coming from. But again, I think
• 36:33
  Speaker 8: the point that the president is trying to make is
• 36:36
  Speaker 8: that everyday Americans are being able to take advantage of
• 36:39
  Speaker 8: this economy. Look, just the no tax on tips alone.
• 36:42
  Speaker 8: The average person who works on tips is making an
• 36:46
  Speaker 8: additional $ 7, 000 a year. That is material, and that makes
• 36:51
  Speaker 8: a lot of difference in a lot of people's lives.
• 36:53
  Speaker 8: People who are working overtime and not having to pay
• 36:55
  Speaker 8: taxes on that, those are making a difference. I think
• 36:57
  Speaker 8: what this president is really saying is, look, we have
• 37:01
  Speaker 8: something for everybody in this economy.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Well, to your point on costs, we, of course, just
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: in recent weeks saw the national debt top $ 40 trillion.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: We pay close attention to the bond market here. The
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: long end in terms of long-term borrowing costs are indicating
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: that that is not something that the market is very
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: comfortable with, in part because they aren't confident that that
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: trajectory is likely to change. anytime soon. Can you say
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: it will? How would that happen? Well, I would say
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: it would depend.
• 37:25
  Speaker 8: If you have Republicans in office who've already shown that
• 37:27
  Speaker 8: they are willing to cut regulations, that they're going after waste, fraud,
• 37:30
  Speaker 8: and abuse, that they are actually doing what job creators
• 37:34
  Speaker 8: need to be able to continue to invest in their
• 37:36
  Speaker 8: employees and continue to invest in growth. If you've got
• 37:39
  Speaker 8: these trade deals that are coming out of this administration
• 37:41
  Speaker 8: that's having all of these foreign investment dollars in our country, yes,
• 37:44
  Speaker 8: if we're able to go on that trajectory, I think
• 37:48
  Speaker 8: Scott Besson said it best yesterday. He's like, you know,
• 37:50
  Speaker 8: the way that you get out of debt in your
• 37:54
  Speaker 8: country is to be able to increase your economy. And
• 37:56
  Speaker 8: they've shown that.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at the jobs market last month alone.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: They created 162,000 jobs last.
• 38:03
  Speaker 8: Just last month in this country, on the private sector,
• 38:05
  Speaker 8: not on the public sector. In Dallas, just a few
• 38:09
  Speaker 8: weeks ago, we were able to have a job fair.
• 38:12
  Speaker 8: We had 670 businesses that represented, they were hiring for
• 38:16
  Speaker 8: 68,000 jobs. This is not accidental. I think, you know,
• 38:19
  Speaker 8: people are very supportive of what's going on in the
• 38:23
  Speaker 8: economy right now. They want to continue it. But to
• 38:25
  Speaker 8: your point, will it continue? It's going to depend on
• 38:27
  Speaker 8: whether or not you've got Republicans in there who are
• 38:29
  Speaker 8: serious about going after the waste, fraud, and abuse, serious
• 38:32
  Speaker 8: about cutting regulations, serious about tax cuts.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: And cutting taxes, too, which has a revenue impact. That
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: factors into this. It always cracks me up when we
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: say that.
• 38:39
  Speaker 8: Okay, so a company that is, they're already counting on
• 38:43
  Speaker 8: future income, and they say it's a loss. When we
• 38:46
  Speaker 8: actually cut taxes for seniors. They're like, oh, that's a cost.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Well, no, I think what we do is- Well, it's
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: just less money coming in.
• 38:56
  Speaker 8: They get used to taking people's money and then they
• 38:59
  Speaker 8: act as if it's theirs. And when you actually don't
• 39:01
  Speaker 8: take as much, it's all of a sudden, it's a
• 39:03
  Speaker 8: costly bill. No, you're letting people choose how they're going
• 39:07
  Speaker 8: to spend their own money.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: They work for it, let them keep it.
• 39:10
  Speaker 8: And when you see confidence like that, you're seeing businesses
• 39:12
  Speaker 8: that are growing because the businesses feel confident. You see
• 39:15
  Speaker 8: people who are spending more in the economy.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: They're making more. They're spending more.
• 39:19
  Speaker 8: And this is how you get the economy growing. And
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: that's one way out of debt. You've got to increase
• 39:24
  Speaker 8: your revenue. How do you increase revenue? Part of that
• 39:26
  Speaker 8: is making sure that your businesses are growing. And when
• 39:29
  Speaker 8: we look at tax cuts, while the percentage might be decreasing,
• 39:34
  Speaker 8: what we found though is the checks that they're writing
• 39:36
  Speaker 8: to the government are larger because they're making more money.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Well, as we talk about one of the things that's
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: fueling the economy, you mentioned the jobs figures. Where we're
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: seeing that in part is in construction because there is
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: a massive investment being made into building out data centers.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: This is a big issue in Texas. I don't have
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: to tell you that Governor Abbott has now suggested new
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: data centers should move forward until audits are completed. Ken
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Paxton is now— I would argue it's not just data centers.
• 39:58
  Speaker 8: I mean, I'm looking at Texas and all around. We're
• 40:01
  Speaker 8: seeing investments in our infrastructure. We're seeing investments— in buildings.
• 40:04
  Speaker 8: We're seeing investments in housing and in building new housing.
• 40:08
  Speaker 8: And so I think construction is a great indicator of
• 40:12
  Speaker 8: the growth that we're seeing in this state.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Just on data centers, though, what is the right answer
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: for Texas? Well, the right answer, quite honestly, look, I
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: used to be a council member. I was a mayor.
• 40:22
  Speaker 8: Those are issues that you decide at the local level.
• 40:26
  Speaker 8: Only they can decide if those make sense in their communities.
• 40:31
  Speaker 8: You know, some people are very, you know, some of
• 40:33
  Speaker 8: the cities, some of the towns that we have seen
• 40:34
  Speaker 8: these data centers be located in are experiencing phenomenal economic growth.
• 40:40
  Speaker 8: And as a result, their taxes have been, you know,
• 40:43
  Speaker 8: wiped down by almost 50%. And while they're giving bonuses
• 40:46
  Speaker 8: to teachers.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, those are some of the things that are happening.
• 40:48
  Speaker 8: But, you know, if you've got constituents who've got questions
• 40:52
  Speaker 8: about it, I think it would be in the best
• 40:53
  Speaker 8: interest of the developers.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: To Have those conversations. Be transparent.
• 40:58
  Speaker 8: Talk about what it's going to look like, what it's
• 40:59
  Speaker 8: going to sound like. Are you going to listen to
• 41:02
  Speaker 8: the concerns of the constituents? And I think city councils
• 41:05
  Speaker 8: and mayors need to do the same thing. Now, I
• 41:07
  Speaker 8: am all supportive of the governor and the president's ideas
• 41:10
  Speaker 8: that if you are building a data center, you've got
• 41:13
  Speaker 8: to bring your own power. It cannot increase the cost
• 41:16
  Speaker 8: of energy. You've got to make sure on the water
• 41:19
  Speaker 8: side it's either a closed water loop and it doesn't
• 41:21
  Speaker 8: affect the local water supply.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: I think those are great ideas.
• 41:24
  Speaker 8: And you've got to make sure that the taxes that
• 41:26
  Speaker 8: are being, you know, accumulated are actually going to help people.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: I think it is not a federal issue. I don't
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: want D.C.
• 41:33
  Speaker 8: Coming in when I was mayor and telling me what
• 41:35
  Speaker 8: I have to put or what I can't put in
• 41:37
  Speaker 8: my city. I think that they need to listen to
• 41:39
  Speaker 8: the constituents in each of those communities.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Well, I'd like to ask you, before we let you go,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: about the other racists here in Texas, aside from your own.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: We heard a lot from President Trump last night about
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: Ken Paxton, including repeating some criticism about his appearance. You
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: might not like the way he dresses or his suits
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: or the way he speaks. Is he doing Ken Paxton
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: any favors with that kind of rhetoric?
• 42:01
  Speaker 8: I think, you know, look, you have the president who
• 42:03
  Speaker 8: came out and endorsed Ken Paxton during the runoff, and
• 42:06
  Speaker 8: I think as a result— you know, Ken had a
• 42:09
  Speaker 8: splurge in support and a splurge of voters that came out.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: I think you're going to see the same thing.
• 42:13
  Speaker 8: I mean, President Trump did not just kind of just
• 42:16
  Speaker 8: recklessly decide where they were going to have this first
• 42:18
  Speaker 8: midterm convention. They decided to do it in the heart
• 42:21
  Speaker 8: of the country, in the heart of Texas. And I
• 42:23
  Speaker 8: think he's getting out and he's campaigning for Ken. And
• 42:25
  Speaker 8: I think Ken Paxton will definitely benefit from that. But
• 42:27
  Speaker 8: I mean, the economy is also one of the things
• 42:30
  Speaker 8: that he can tell. When we talk about affordability, I mean,
• 42:33
  Speaker 8: there's a reason why Housing prices have decreased. When we
• 42:37
  Speaker 8: are enforcing our immigration laws, what we found during the
• 42:39
  Speaker 8: Biden administration is housing went up 20%. Now that we're
• 42:42
  Speaker 8: actually having people who are being deported, housing costs are
• 42:45
  Speaker 8: going down. We talk about affordability of gas. Under the
• 42:49
  Speaker 8: Biden administration, you had all these regulatory wars. And then
• 42:58
  Speaker 8: they were even having to release from our reserves to
• 43:00
  Speaker 8: try to decrease costs. What we're doing under the Trump administration,
• 43:04
  Speaker 8: even though you've got what's happening in the Middle East,
• 43:08
  Speaker 8: even though you have that, we are actually– the deal
• 43:10
  Speaker 8: that we did with Venezuela, Texas is benefiting from that
• 43:12
  Speaker 8: because that crude is coming into.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Our refineries in Texas. Well, not yet.
• 43:16
  Speaker 8: You're seeing– But plans are being made to be able
• 43:19
  Speaker 8: to do that. And yes, those plans are moving forward.
• 43:22
  Speaker 8: And the market is responding. And you don't have the
• 43:26
  Speaker 8: gas prices that you had under the Biden administration, even
• 43:28
  Speaker 8: though we do have the conflict that's going on in
• 43:31
  Speaker 8: the Middle East, because there are plans. Part of our
• 43:33
  Speaker 8: Working Families Tax Cut Bill that chopped down the unnecessary war.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Of unregulations against our American producers, all of those things.
• 43:42
  Speaker 8: This isn't just like a one strategy. This is a
• 43:46
  Speaker 8: multiple prong approach. And I think you're seeing it in
• 43:49
  Speaker 8: the economy. It hasn't even been two years, by the way.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Fair enough. I've got 30 seconds left. I ask you,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: this is the finance chair of the NRCC. Are you
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: expecting that Trump via MAGA Inc. is going to be
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: pouring even more money into Texas? Do you hope he will?
• 44:01
  Speaker 8: I do.
• 44:02
  Speaker 10: I do.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: I don't think anybody wants to see. How much time
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: does he have to do that? It's September 10th as
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: we speak right now.
• 44:06
  Speaker 8: Well, you know, that's almost two months before the election,
• 44:09
  Speaker 8: and that could be a lifetime.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: And we all know what can happen in just a
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: few weeks.
• 44:12
  Speaker 8: But I think, you know, you look at Tallarico and
• 44:14
  Speaker 8: just the stark difference between what he has voted against
• 44:20
  Speaker 8: and how Texas has been able to just prove themselves
• 44:23
  Speaker 8: a stronghold in the rest of the country.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: So I think they're going to support it. I think
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: they're going to put their money in it. Republican Congressman
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: Beth Van Dyne of Texas, thanks for joining us live
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: from Dallas on Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and radio.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: Stay with us on Balance of Power.
• 44:38
  Speaker 11: We'll have much more coming up after this.
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
• 44:46
  Speaker 4: us live weekdays at noon and 5 p.m. Eastern on
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app.
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: us live on YouTube.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: This convention, of course, and this entire midterm environment, 54
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: days from Election Day on November 3rd, is being shaped
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: by some of what Charlie was just talking about. The
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: economic reality of higher gasoline prices and higher prices in
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: a lot of different arenas, but gas especially with oil
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: above $ 100 a barrel on both Brent and WTI. Brent
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: now just around $ 107 is incredible. to behold. And it's
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: these economic factors and voter sentiment around them that, in part,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: are fueling Democratic optimism in this cycle. Of course, that
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: optimism Republicans are trying to counter with the convention. But
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: Democrats feel that there are unique forces forming for them
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: in this 2026 cycle. Democrats, including Beto O'Rourke, who, of course,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: ran for Senate here in Texas against Ted Cruz back
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: in 2018 and almost won. He fell short by just
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: two point six percentage points. He joined myself and our
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Texas bureau chief, Julie Fine, in studio earlier today. And
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: I asked him what he feels is different this time
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: than in 2018.
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: Listen.
• 45:59
  Speaker 13: You know, that 2018 race, no one expected a result
• 46:03
  Speaker 13: like that. Largest voter turnout in the midterm in Texas history.
• 46:06
  Speaker 13: We had gotten closer than any Democrat in decades. And
• 46:10
  Speaker 13: there was a sea change in Texas. Though I did
• 46:12
  Speaker 13: not win, we saw a change in power in the
• 46:15
  Speaker 13: state house and county commissioner's courts. And we saw new
• 46:18
  Speaker 13: leaders emerge, one of whom was James Tallarico, who was
• 46:22
  Speaker 13: an insurgent Democrat taking on a well-funded incumbent Republican for
• 46:25
  Speaker 13: the State House. That really began his career. What we
• 46:29
  Speaker 13: have right now is someone who's extraordinarily gifted in communicating
• 46:34
  Speaker 13: and connecting with the Texans that he wants to serve,
• 46:36
  Speaker 13: not just Democrats, importantly. but independents and Republicans who are
• 46:40
  Speaker 13: disaffected from the MAGA movement and.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Today's Republican Party.
• 46:43
  Speaker 13: And in addition, we have 150 Democrats running for 150
• 46:47
  Speaker 13: state house seats. We haven't seen that since 1972, the
• 46:50
  Speaker 13: year that I was born. So this is very different
• 46:53
  Speaker 13: from 2018 in the best possible way for Democrats. I
• 46:57
  Speaker 13: strongly believe that we are going to win and it
• 46:59
  Speaker 13: will not just be for Senate. We have a chance
• 47:01
  Speaker 13: for governor, for these state House seats, and changing control
• 47:04
  Speaker 13: of Congress through the contested congressional elections in the state
• 47:08
  Speaker 13: of Texas.
• 47:08
  Speaker 14: Representative, one thing you do know a lot about is fundraising.
• 47:11
  Speaker 14: You greatly outraised Ted Cruz, and right now James Tallarico
• 47:15
  Speaker 14: is greatly outraising his opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton. However,
• 47:19
  Speaker 14: Attorney General Ken Paxton just got an influx of money
• 47:22
  Speaker 14: from the president. And basically, if the money is there
• 47:26
  Speaker 14: and they're even, what else does James Tallarico have to
• 47:29
  Speaker 14: do to reverse the tides for Democrats in Texas?
• 47:32
  Speaker 13: He's already doing it. He's traveling to meet voters where
• 47:35
  Speaker 13: they are. He's going to the Rio Grande Valley in
• 47:37
  Speaker 13: South Texas that almost no candidate from either party will
• 47:40
  Speaker 13: visit because it's so hard to get to. He's about
• 47:42
  Speaker 13: to start talking to Texans in rural, smaller communities that
• 47:46
  Speaker 13: get written off by one party, left behind by the other.
• 47:50
  Speaker 13: Money cannot make up that difference. So no matter how
• 47:53
  Speaker 13: much Elon Musk or Donald Trump or any other billionaire
• 47:56
  Speaker 13: or corporation pour into this behind Republicans... James Tallarico has
• 48:00
  Speaker 13: the people and the power of the people of Texas
• 48:03
  Speaker 13: is greater than all of those oligarchs or billionaires or corporations.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Who want to come in.
• 48:08
  Speaker 13: So that's why you see the desperation of holding a
• 48:11
  Speaker 13: mid-cycle convention in Dallas, Texas. That's why you see the
• 48:14
  Speaker 13: gerrymandering of five seats. That's why you see Trump trying
• 48:17
  Speaker 13: to stop vote by mail. Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth,
• 48:20
  Speaker 13: just closed 92 polling locations. It's the third fastest growing
• 48:23
  Speaker 13: county ever. In the state of Texas, one of them
• 48:25
  Speaker 13: at UTA, which is home to 42,000 students. These are
• 48:29
  Speaker 13: all signs of desperation and panic from that party because
• 48:32
  Speaker 13: they know this guy is going to win. So I
• 48:34
  Speaker 13: feel very good about this, but it doesn't mean our
• 48:37
  Speaker 13: work is over. 54 days left to go and we
• 48:39
  Speaker 13: have to make the most out of every single one
• 48:41
  Speaker 13: of them.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: President Trump, on the stage night one of the convention
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: last night, promised that if the House and Senate are
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: won by Republicans, he'll send every adult American citizen a
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: $ 5, 000 Trump dividend. How do Democrats compete with that? What
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: do you promise voters if the president is literally handing
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: out money or says he will?
• 49:00
  Speaker 13: I want you to be able to see a doctor
• 49:02
  Speaker 13: or afford medication or take your child to a therapist
• 49:04
  Speaker 13: so they're healthy enough and well enough to go to
• 49:06
  Speaker 13: school and do whatever they were placed on this planet
• 49:09
  Speaker 13: to perform in the first place. I want you to
• 49:11
  Speaker 13: earn more than $ 7. 25, which is the minimum wage in Texas,
• 49:14
  Speaker 13: which means if you work one of those jobs, you're
• 49:16
  Speaker 13: working three of those jobs to make ends meet. I
• 49:19
  Speaker 13: want to see your son or daughter who is serving
• 49:22
  Speaker 13: this country in the Navy or the Air Force, the
• 49:25
  Speaker 13: Marines or the Army. be able to come back home
• 49:27
  Speaker 13: from another one of these endless wars that we're fighting
• 49:30
  Speaker 13: in the Middle East. In other words, I want to
• 49:32
  Speaker 13: deliver change for you and your family that allows you
• 49:35
  Speaker 13: to believe in the promise of America. Again, these gimmicks
• 49:38
  Speaker 13: of the $ 5, 000, which will never get paid out because
• 49:41
  Speaker 13: he's offered this before and he's never delivered. They're just
• 49:44
  Speaker 13: not going to find hold with the American people right now.
• 49:47
  Speaker 13: They want real change from real leaders. And there's only
• 49:49
  Speaker 13: one party who's offering that right now, and it's the Democrats.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: So let's get a Republican point of view now as
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: we turn to the former Republican congressman from North Carolina
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: and the former chair of the House Financial Services Committee,
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: who's now a Bloomberg politics contributor. Patrick McHenry.
• 50:08
  Speaker 8: Mr.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: Chairman, welcome back. It's good to see you, at least remotely,
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: as I'm in Dallas and you yourself are not here
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: with me. I wonder what you make, first and foremost,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: of what I just asked Beto O'Rourke about. He obviously
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: thinks Democrats have other things to offer other than suggesting
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: that every American should get a $ 5, 000 check, a so-called
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: Trump dividend.
• 50:29
  Speaker 13: Mr.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Chairman, is what the president is offering a bribe?
• 50:33
  Speaker 12: No, no. This has been tried before.
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: In fact, the first Trump administration, as well as Obama
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: and Bush, all.
• 50:43
  Speaker 12: Had stimulus checks.
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: There's a mechanism to put money back into.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: But they weren't predicated on making sure Republicans won their
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: races in the midterms.
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: But it's implicit in every campaign pledge that Republicans will
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: cut taxes and Democrats will enhance spending. These are the
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: tradeoffs made in every election. The president just makes it
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: very explicit in his own style of doing this. Now,
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: the question is the impact of those stimulus checks. There's
• 51:09
  Speaker 3: a great debate among economists on the net impact to
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: inflation and on the pocketbooks of the American people and
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: whether or not that's a net positive. This will raise
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: further questions about that, but also a question of whether
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: or not Republicans can deliver on a legislative agenda to
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: enact much of what the president pledged last night in
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: his 100 minute speech.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, an hour and 45 minutes. It was a it
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: was quite impressive. And of course, we'll hear more from
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: him tonight. He'll follow, though, the vice president, J.D. Vance.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: How much does Vance have writing on his speech tonight?
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Do you see it that way?
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: Well, I think this is an opportunity, a further opportunity
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: for him to define himself, for the American people to
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: understand who he is. Each one of these speeches, the
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: national speeches for the vice president, become more and more
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: important as we get closer to next year when presidential
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: campaigns will start kicking off. So there are a lot
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: of eyes on J.D. Vance this week, obviously. He's worked
• 52:11
  Speaker 3: the delegation's very intently, like every vice president who has
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: further ambitions has done. And I think he's got a
• 52:19
  Speaker 3: great rapport among Republican activists, and I think that'll be
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: on show tonight.
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I do wonder if he'll echo the president's suggestion
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: of these $ 5, 000 checks. Consider the political implications of that aside, Mr. Chairman,
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: I do wonder about how that makes sense fiscally for
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: the U.S. at a time when already we see a
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: Treasury secretary who is struggling to rein in the long
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: end of the bond market. Yields are on the march
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: higher once again today because oil prices are higher. Now
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: we're talking about potentially spending even more money. How do
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: you see all these factors working together from a financial
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: markets perspective?
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: Well, I think there's a great deal of skepticism about
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: the approach at Treasury and Fed right now by the markets.
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: And the markets are trying to indicate to the Treasury
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: and the Fed that they want a different set of policy.
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: I think inevitably, given the strength and control and I
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: think coordination between the Treasury and the Fed, that the
• 53:15
  Speaker 3: Fed wins. When Secretary Besant said literally, I am the
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: House now, it is showing that he took his capacity
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: from the private sector and he's applying it And he's
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: going to ensure that the Treasury wins. So there's a
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: lot going on here. And more spending or more deficit
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: spending is going to be of grave concern to the
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: bond market, as it should be. And I think there
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: will be an inflection point since we've surpassed $ 40 trillion
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: in national debt. I think this becomes more and more
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: of a focus by voters. and limiting growth opportunities for
• 53:57
  Speaker 3: the United States and our economy.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you specifically about voters in
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: North Carolina, because Michael Whatley, who, of course, is the
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: Republican nominee for Senate in your state, got a shout-out
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: from President Trump during his speech. He talked a lot
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: about him, also trying to contrast him with Roy Cooper, who,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: of course, was a very popular Democratic governor. in the state,
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: even as obviously Trump won it in 2024. How do
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: you see Whatley is positioned right now relative to Cooper?
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: How much does he need a boost from the president
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: from this convention?
• 54:29
  Speaker 12: He certainly needs a boost and he needs money.
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: North Carolina, just like Texas, is a very expensive proposition
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: to win statewide. That's the challenge for Democrats in Texas.
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: That is the challenge for Republicans in North Carolina. Michael
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: Watley is ill-defined at the state level. Statewide media attention
• 54:50
  Speaker 3: is not focused on the race. Roy Cooper is a
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: four-time statewide elected official, first from attorney general to being
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: elected governor twice. And what I would say is, you know,
• 55:04
  Speaker 3: in the state of North Carolina, we will see this
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: race tightened. but it becomes a question of money and
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: capacity to tell the story. That is the example of
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: Senator Budd, Tillis, and Burr. And what we've seen over
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: the last 20 years is that money becomes the determining
• 55:25
  Speaker 3: factor on your ability to win in North Carolina. So
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: if Whatley gets the money, this race will certainly tighten
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: in North Carolina.
• 55:32
  Speaker 12: But at this point, Cooper is advantaged.
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: Well, and even if the money does materialize, would you
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: put your bet on a Wadley win in North Carolina?
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: No, because the money is on Cooper's side and a
• 55:49
  Speaker 3: generic favorability for Roy Cooper that is undescribed because it's
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: very generic. He has a very sort of broad generalized
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: view that he is okay, but there's not deep moral
• 56:04
  Speaker 3: conviction that he is fantastic, not among the activists, not
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: among the base in the Democratic Party, and certainly not
• 56:11
  Speaker 3: among moderate voters in the state. So absent more action here,
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: absent a lot more money for Michael Watley, you're going
• 56:21
  Speaker 3: to see a race where Cooper remains advantaged. So it
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: really comes down to the money.
• 56:26
  Speaker 12: I see it like North Carolina for sure.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: It always comes down to the money.
• 56:30
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: Chairman Patrick McHenry, thanks for joining us on Balance of
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: Power here on Bloomberg.
• 56:44
  Speaker 11: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make
• 56:47
  Speaker 11: sure to subscribe if you haven't already at Apple, Spotify,
• 56:50
  Speaker 11: or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can find
• 56:52
  Speaker 11: us live every weekday from Washington, D.C. at noontime Eastern
• 56:56
  Speaker 11: at Bloomberg.com.