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Four Weeks to Election Day · Balance of Power

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios.
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Speaker 4: News.
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Speaker 5: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
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Speaker 5: us live on YouTube.
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Speaker 6: Welcome to Balance of Power on this Tuesday. Joe and
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Speaker 6: I are glad to have you watching or listening. And
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Speaker 6: if you were watching or listening to us yesterday, you
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Speaker 6: probably heard us talking a lot about red dye diesel.
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Speaker 6: something that many of you probably hadn't heard about prior
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Speaker 6: to yesterday, and then announced moves from President Trump, at
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Speaker 6: least the intention now fulfilled with an executive order to
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Speaker 6: expand the use of this tax-exempt type of diesel, typically
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Speaker 6: reserved for the agricultural sector, things like tractors, now expanding
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Speaker 6: to on-road vehicles as well to provide a little bit
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Speaker 6: of relief in terms of the price, which, of course,
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Speaker 6: is coming down from record levels. But if you hadn't
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Speaker 6: heard of red-dyed diesel, you're in good company, as President
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Speaker 6: Trump apparently hadn't either. Our colleague Tyler Kendall asked him
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Speaker 6: about this as he was departing the White House for
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Speaker 6: Nebraska yesterday. He seemed slightly confused about what exactly she
1:13
Speaker 6: was asking. And then he also made it pretty clear
1:16
Speaker 6: that this was a new concept to him when he
1:18
Speaker 6: spoke at that rally in Nebraska yesterday.
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Speaker 2: Listen.
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Speaker 7: For many years, farm vehicles, construction equipment, and other off-road
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Speaker 7: vehicles have used what is known as.
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Speaker 1: Red dye diesel. Do you know what that is?
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Speaker 8: I don't know what the hell it is, but whatever
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Speaker 8: it is, it's supposed to be very good.
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Speaker 1: Does anybody want to explain that? Red dye diesel, everybody.
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Speaker 9: So tonight I'm going to sign a historic executive order
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Speaker 9: to officially.
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Speaker 2: Waive the off-road requirement and allow anyone to.
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Speaker 7: Purchase tax-free red dye diesel for any reason.
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Speaker 1: Does anyone know what the hell it is?
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Speaker 7: J.D.
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Speaker 3: Vance does. There's fascinating reporting in The Washington Post about
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Speaker 3: where this idea was born. It was only two weeks ago.
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Speaker 4: J.D.
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Speaker 3: Vance was in Iowa talking with Zach Lahn, the Republican
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Speaker 3: nominee for governor, and they got together backstage. He asked
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Speaker 3: Lahn what the administration could do to help farmers. knowing
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Speaker 3: that high fuel prices, poor market conditions had weighed down
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Speaker 3: Republican chances in the Midwest.
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Speaker 1: Lon had an answer ready.
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Speaker 3: Provide some relief from diesel costs by allowing farmers driving
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Speaker 3: up and down the roads during harvest to take advantage
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Speaker 3: of tax exempt diesel intended only for off road use
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Speaker 3: on farms and construction sites. He started making phone calls
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Speaker 3: from the motorcade and two weeks later was last night.
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Speaker 3: when the president signed that document there with Natalie on stage.
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Speaker 3: We go to the White House right now to talk
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Speaker 3: with Tyler Kendall, who Kayleigh mentioned. Our Washington correspondent brought
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Speaker 3: this up just as the president was leaving. They were
2:53
Speaker 3: in the driveway at the White House. President didn't seem
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Speaker 3: too sure what you were asking him about. Tyler, can
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Speaker 3: we tell our audience that this plan will work?
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Speaker 10: So, to some extent, Joe, the administration definitely thinks that
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Speaker 10: it will, because this red-dyed diesel, as you have outlined,
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Speaker 10: is tax-exempt from that federal excise tax, which runs just
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Speaker 10: above 24 cents a gallon. But much to your point
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Speaker 10: and to the story in The Washington Post about how
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Speaker 10: this came together, especially with the vice president, J.D. Vance,
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Speaker 10: is that farmers already use this product. That is in
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Speaker 10: part why it is tax-exempt. It goes into their equipment.
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Speaker 10: not into their cars. So instead, this is really about
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Speaker 10: curbing the costs to, say, drive a pickup truck rather
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Speaker 10: than broader diesel costs that farmers use on an everyday basis.
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Speaker 10: It also doesn't address the structural issue of supply of diesel,
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Speaker 10: with some economists pointing out that this could actually strain supply,
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Speaker 10: though it does appear that the administration has tried to
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Speaker 10: get ahead of that argument in particular. We had heard
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Speaker 10: from the president saying that they are working to ensure
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Speaker 10: that there is enough stockpile that everybody can tap it.
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Speaker 10: But I did want to bring up some recent data
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Speaker 10: that we got just this morning from research firm Kepler,
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Speaker 10: which shows that total flows through the Strait of Hormuz,
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Speaker 10: only 11 percent of that is refined product like diesel.
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Speaker 10: That number was at 20 percent.
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Speaker 2: Before the war.
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Speaker 10: So just for context here, we are still seeing those
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Speaker 10: critical supply disruptions. And as I'm sure you can hear
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Speaker 10: behind me, diesel likely in use right now at the
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Speaker 10: White House because it appears that lawnmowers are constantly going
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Speaker 10: every time that I join you guys on this program.
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Speaker 1: Very true.
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Speaker 6: The landscaping work on the North Lawn does never seem
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Speaker 6: to end. Tyler, of course, the president will be departing
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Speaker 6: the White House today, making tracks to Maryland, a rare
4:43
Speaker 6: blue state on the swing of red state visits that
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Speaker 6: he's been making in this final stretch into the midterms.
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Speaker 6: Talk to us about why he's in Maryland. The announcement
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Speaker 6: that Anderle is making just outside Baltimore around shipbuilding.
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Speaker 10: Yep, a $ 3. 7 billion investment coming from Anduril for this
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Speaker 10: massive new facility. The president's going to be at Sparrows
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Speaker 10: Point Shipyard with remarks at 4 p.m. Eastern, according to
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Speaker 10: the official schedule. The Navy has been really trying to
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Speaker 10: upgrade its class of nuclear submarines, and the idea has
5:15
Speaker 10: been that many of the traditional defense contractors and the
5:18
Speaker 10: current industrial base have been missing goals and benchmarks toward
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Speaker 10: that revitalization effort. And now you have the Pentagon trying
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Speaker 10: to work with some of these newer defense tech companies
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Speaker 10: to ramp up production and make some of these technological leaps.
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Speaker 11: And in comes Anduril.
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Speaker 10: But what this really means for President Trump and the
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Speaker 10: White House is that the president wants to continue to
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Speaker 10: tout some of his economic policies that have remained popular,
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Speaker 10: like onshoring manufacturing and boosting manufacturing jobs. We did hear
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Speaker 10: from Wes Moore's office. Our understanding is he's actually not
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Speaker 10: going to be at the event, but this is expected
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Speaker 10: to employ 3,100 people and be operational by 2030. So
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Speaker 10: I would expect that as this White House continues to
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Speaker 10: play defense on the economy, on higher costs, on diesel costs,
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Speaker 10: this is something that they're really looking to tout.
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Speaker 4: All right.
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Speaker 6: Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall at the White House for us, our
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Speaker 6: Washington correspondent. Thank you so much. And as Andrew makes
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Speaker 6: this announcement, pushing into subs and shipbuilding, Joe, of course,
6:20
Speaker 6: they're better known for their drone technology and have come
6:24
Speaker 6: into such sharp focus in recent years because of the
6:26
Speaker 6: changing face of warfare and drone warfare in particular. It
6:29
Speaker 6: has been evidenced by this conflict in the Middle East
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Speaker 6: in the six months since the war with Iran began.
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Speaker 6: Iranian drones have posed a real threat to U.S. interests,
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Speaker 6: not just in the Middle East, but potentially in the U.K.
6:41
Speaker 6: as well, as we have new reporting today in The
6:43
Speaker 6: Washington Post about the evacuation of a fleet of B-1
6:46
Speaker 6: bombers from a U.K. airbase due to what the post
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Speaker 6: says were spiked fears of a potential Iranian drone attack
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Speaker 6: against planes and personnel at the facility.
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Speaker 4: We spoke to.
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Speaker 6: The highest ranking Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee, the
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Speaker 6: vice chair, Senator Mark Warner, about this yesterday and asked
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Speaker 6: him whether or not he'd been briefed on this evacuation.
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Speaker 6: This is what he told us.
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Speaker 1: We have not been briefed.
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Speaker 4: But again, if you're going to start a war, wouldn't
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Speaker 4: you brief your closest allies? And it appears to me
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Speaker 4: that there are even parts of the U.S. government didn't
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Speaker 4: know that these planes were leaving. And let me be clear,
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Speaker 4: we have to protect our personnel first and foremost. But
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Speaker 4: this kind of hurried exit at least gives Iran a
7:35
Speaker 4: propaganda win. that they can claim, hey, we've chased the
7:39
Speaker 4: Americans out of their closest allies, the British, away from
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Speaker 4: the UK airbase. Where was their coordination on this? And
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Speaker 4: this has been kind of this ad hoc approach to
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Speaker 4: this war from day one.
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Speaker 12: And as we've gone through on.
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Speaker 4: Your show before, on every metric from the regime is worse,
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Speaker 4: they still have drones, we're not getting the rich uranium.
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Speaker 4: And I see no scenario where... The Iranians, whatever the
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Speaker 4: president decides to declare victory, won't be extracting a toll
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Speaker 4: on a permanent basis on both oil, diesel, aluminum, other
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Speaker 4: things that come out, and fertilizer, frankly. Some of the
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Speaker 4: components on fertilizer come out of that region as well.
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Speaker 4: This is not good for America.
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Speaker 3: There's more reporting on the removal of the B-1 bombers.
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Speaker 3: Kayleigh mentioned the Washington Post. The New York Times was
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Speaker 3: the first to report the drone swarm in ads. The
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Speaker 3: rushed order to withdraw the bombers was highly unusual. Such
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Speaker 3: moves rarely made so quickly from an allied air base
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Speaker 3: in a peacetime country thousands of miles from a combat zone.
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Speaker 3: The need to move the bombers from the base was
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Speaker 3: deemed so urgent, Cayley, some of the planes and their
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Speaker 3: flight crews left while aerial refueling aircraft were still being
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Speaker 3: deployed to support their flight.
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Speaker 1: To the United States.
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Speaker 3: It's unclear exactly where they went, but it's part of
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Speaker 3: the conversation that we want to have with Congressman Brad Knott,
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Speaker 3: the Republican from North Carolina's 13th District, is with us
9:05
Speaker 3: live on Bloomberg, a member of the House Judiciary, Transportation
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Speaker 3: and Infrastructure, Homeland Security, and Ethics Committee. So we check
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Speaker 3: a lot of boxes, Congressman. It's good to see you,
9:14
Speaker 3: and welcome to Bloomberg TV and radio. With your Homeland
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Speaker 3: Security hat on, I'm just wondering if there's anything you
9:20
Speaker 3: can add to this remarkable story on the B-1 bombers.
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Speaker 3: And if the UK is under this type of threat,
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Speaker 3: is the US homeland as well?
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Speaker 12: You know, it's a great question.
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Speaker 13: I do take issue with what Senator Warner just described
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Speaker 13: as somehow malfeasance from the United States. The new world
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Speaker 13: that we are operating in, it is one where low-cost
9:43
Speaker 13: weaponry can inflict tremendous cost.
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Speaker 12: In terms of the damage that it procures.
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Speaker 13: And we've seen this As an example, when Ukraine sent
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Speaker 13: $ 10, 000 drones and bombed a fleet of Russian bombers to
9:58
Speaker 13: the tune of billions of dollars. And, you know, that's
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Speaker 13: the first problem. The second problem is there are people
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Speaker 13: in Europe, just like there are people in the United States,
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Speaker 13: from abroad who have exploited the open.
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Speaker 12: Border policy of the left.
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Speaker 13: That's that control, and they are willing to do harm.
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Speaker 12: They work for pariah states.
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Speaker 13: So you combine those two realities, and the United States
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Speaker 13: obviously has intel that's real-time that merited the swift action
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Speaker 13: that it took to get those bombers.
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Speaker 12: Off of the base.
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Speaker 6: Well, but to return to Joe's question about threats that
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Speaker 6: could be posed to the homeland domestically, is there real
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Speaker 6: risk that you have been briefed on, Congressman, about a
10:46
Speaker 6: threat happening here? As the president yesterday was talking about
10:48
Speaker 6: having to go to war with Iran in the first
10:50
Speaker 6: place to make sure they couldn't destroy a city naming
10:53
Speaker 6: specifically Los Angeles and San Diego that you could, quote unquote,
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Speaker 6: let them take.
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Speaker 12: Hmm. Of course.
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Speaker 13: This is one of those things that has been an
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Speaker 13: obvious consequence of deliberate action from the previous administration. And
11:12
Speaker 13: when you have open borders, people will exploit that who
11:16
Speaker 13: want to harm the country.
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Speaker 12: We have arrested thousands of terrorists.
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Speaker 13: We have people who are international actors that are working
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Speaker 13: on behalf of foreign governments inside the country right now.
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Speaker 13: There are absolutely... terror cells in the United States. And
11:29
Speaker 13: we are doing a lion's share of the work right
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Speaker 13: now to prevent them from operating here. But that threat
11:36
Speaker 13: is very real, and it's very real in Europe. And
11:38
Speaker 13: it's something that we have to be on guard against
11:41
Speaker 13: at all times. But are there specific threats here?
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Speaker 12: Absolutely.
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Speaker 3: Do we know about specific terror cells in this country?
11:49
Speaker 3: Do we know where they are, who they are? We
12:00
Speaker 3: may have lost the Congress.
12:01
Speaker 12: Well, I certainly hope so.
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Speaker 13: And again, this administration has done a good job identifying,
12:08
Speaker 13: rooting out, deporting, arresting, and fighting that threat.
12:13
Speaker 12: We do. There are specific folks.
12:16
Speaker 13: If not thousands of terrorists who have already been apprehended
12:19
Speaker 13: who crossed into the country illegally. And the threat that
12:22
Speaker 13: I see are the cells that we don't know about.
12:26
Speaker 13: And I think we'd be foolish to assume that we
12:28
Speaker 13: have gotten every single one of them. And that's why
12:31
Speaker 13: it is imperative, again, that local, state, federal law enforcement
12:35
Speaker 13: work together to ensure that these operators are stopped before
12:39
Speaker 13: they can carry out an attack on this country.
12:43
Speaker 6: As we consider local and state issues, Congressman, we're having
12:46
Speaker 6: a little bit of a difficulty with your connection. So
12:48
Speaker 6: I hope that you can hear me in North Carolina
12:51
Speaker 6: in the statewide race for Senate. We are seeing the
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Speaker 6: Republican National Party and associated PACs like the Senate Leadership
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Speaker 6: Fund pulling money out. Of Michael Watley's coffers, if you will,
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Speaker 6: are not committing as much money to him as it
13:07
Speaker 6: looks like Roy Cooper is leading the polls by a
13:11
Speaker 6: decent margin in that state of North Carolina. What is
13:13
Speaker 6: going on in your state that makes this a difficult
13:17
Speaker 6: environment for a Republican like you or a Republican like Watley?
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Speaker 13: Well, I'll say this just to be sure that the
13:28
Speaker 13: message is clear. There are still tens of millions of
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Speaker 13: dollars that are being spent on behalf of Michael Watley.
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Speaker 13: Some of that money has been pulled out to go
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Speaker 13: to other states where it's a very competitive environment. And
13:39
Speaker 13: we will stipulate that, of course. Midterm elections are always
13:42
Speaker 13: very tough. And many of the problems that we are
13:45
Speaker 13: trying to fix started before we ever took power, whether
13:48
Speaker 13: we're talking about excessive regulations, the overhang of inflation.
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Speaker 12: Issues, All of these things started years ago.
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Speaker 13: And if the complaint is we're not fixing it fast enough,
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Speaker 13: I agree with that. We need to move faster. We're
14:01
Speaker 13: working hard to fix it. And Michael Watley is running
14:05
Speaker 13: a good race. He is closing the gap. And I
14:07
Speaker 13: expect it to close further as Election Day approaches. But
14:11
Speaker 13: he's running against a two-term governor, a two-term attorney general.
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Speaker 13: Roy Cooper was elected before I was even born. And
14:20
Speaker 13: so he has a lot of name ID, a lot
14:22
Speaker 13: of money behind him, and is a very tough candidate.
14:24
Speaker 13: But again, I think that we're going to close this
14:26
Speaker 13: gap in a meaningful way as Election Day approaches.
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Speaker 6: All right, Congressman, thanks for joining us on Bloomberg. That's
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Speaker 6: the Republican congressman representing North Carolina's 13th congressional district, Brad Knott,
14:39
Speaker 6: here with us on Balance of Power. And we should
14:41
Speaker 6: note as well, Joe, that his district, the 13th, has
14:44
Speaker 6: recently been added to the target list for the Democratic
14:47
Speaker 6: Congressional Campaign Committee. The Democrats who are looking to retake
14:51
Speaker 6: the House majority keep widening the map at which they
14:54
Speaker 6: think they have chances to do that. And his district
14:57
Speaker 6: is included.
14:58
Speaker 3: We're at Trump plus 21 now in the eyes of
15:01
Speaker 3: the DCCC. I believe Rick Davis predicted that.
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Speaker 1: And here we are.
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Speaker 3: I should note as well, the money that you refer
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Speaker 3: to being pulled out of North Carolina may be landing,
15:11
Speaker 3: to some extent, in South Carolina.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:13
Speaker 3: With fascinating, the Senate Leadership Fund putting $ 5 million into
15:16
Speaker 3: this race is what they're calling an insurance policy to
15:20
Speaker 3: back Darlene Graham. This is the late Senator Lindsey Graham's sister,
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Speaker 3: who appears to be in a statistical tie with one
15:26
Speaker 3: month to go.
15:27
Speaker 6: Yeah, interesting to see the crystal ball at the University
15:30
Speaker 6: of Virginia Center for Politics shifting this race from... likely
15:34
Speaker 6: to lean Republican is pretty remarkable. And of course, President
15:39
Speaker 6: Trump also taking to true social to defend Darlene Graham,
15:41
Speaker 6: or perhaps more accurately, assail her opponent.
15:45
Speaker 12: Correct.
15:45
Speaker 6: And we'll get into all of that with our political panel,
15:48
Speaker 6: who'll be joining us next.
15:49
Speaker 1: Got a debate tonight, too, in the state of Maine.
15:51
Speaker 10: Yeah.
15:52
Speaker 3: It's starting to get real here. Silly season, October surprises.
15:55
Speaker 3: We're ready for it all on our panel two next,
15:57
Speaker 3: right here on Bloomberg. Stay with us on Balance of Power.
16:00
Speaker 3: We'll have much more coming up after this.
16:05
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16:08
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16:24
Speaker 3: As we consider the timing today, one month out from
16:27
Speaker 3: the midterm elections, it makes an easy headline. It also
16:30
Speaker 3: is an opportunity to take out a little insurance money.
16:32
Speaker 3: Kayleigh Lyons, the Senate Leadership Fund, sending $ 5 million to
16:37
Speaker 3: South Carolina, bright red South Carolina for Darlene Graham. This
16:43
Speaker 3: is Axios reporting the insurance policy is how the SLF
16:47
Speaker 3: puts it in a race that is statistically tied.
16:52
Speaker 6: Keeping in mind, of course, that Darlene Graham came to
16:54
Speaker 6: this game pretty late. She's relatively new to politics. Of course,
16:58
Speaker 6: it was the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, who
17:00
Speaker 6: was running for reelection that saw her named to replace
17:04
Speaker 6: him on an interim basis in the United States Senate. Ultimately,
17:07
Speaker 6: she decided to run for reelection, survived the runoff that
17:11
Speaker 6: was involved in that, and is now the candidate supported
17:14
Speaker 6: by President Trump. And yet, it does not seem that
17:17
Speaker 6: many think that this seat is 100% safely hers. In fact,
17:21
Speaker 6: the crystal ball, as I was mentioning earlier, and I'll
17:24
Speaker 6: correct myself, has moved this seat in South Carolina, bright
17:27
Speaker 6: red as you say, Joe, from safe Republican to to
17:30
Speaker 6: likely Republican, as the crystal ball is also, interestingly, moving
17:33
Speaker 6: the Senate race in Alaska from a toss-up to lean Democratic.
17:37
Speaker 6: Not great news for the incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.
17:40
Speaker 6: So let's get into all of this now as we
17:42
Speaker 6: assemble our political panel. Rick Davis and Jeanne Shanzano are
17:45
Speaker 6: with us. Both of them are Bloomberg Politics contributors. Jeanne,
17:48
Speaker 6: of course, a Democratic analyst and Democracy Visiting Fellow at
17:50
Speaker 6: Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center, while Rick is a Republican
17:53
Speaker 6: strategist and partner at Stonecourt Capital. And Rick, obviously, you
17:56
Speaker 6: know uh... the grams but very well and the state
17:59
Speaker 6: of south carolina are you surprised to see money flowing
18:02
Speaker 6: there on darling graham's behalf or to see a ratings
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Speaker 6: change that says the seat might not be fully safe.
18:08
Speaker 2: Yeah just the fact that it's uh... tightening this way
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Speaker 2: you would actually expected to be uh... actually coming home
18:14
Speaker 2: to the party coming home the republican uh... and seeing
18:18
Speaker 2: the margins go up not down uh... so this is
18:21
Speaker 2: inverse to what you would typically expect to see uh...
18:25
Speaker 2: You know, her brother, Lindsey Graham, used to have tens
18:29
Speaker 2: of millions of dollars spent against him in his re-elections,
18:32
Speaker 2: and he'd win by wide margins even when the polls
18:34
Speaker 2: had closed a little bit, but they'd by now start
18:37
Speaker 2: moving back out. So this is counter to what we
18:40
Speaker 2: expect to see in a place like South Carolina. So
18:43
Speaker 2: it is a warning sign, and I think the Senate
18:45
Speaker 2: Leadership Fund has done a smart job of taking out
18:48
Speaker 2: some insurance, $ 5 million worth, and I suspect it may
18:51
Speaker 2: not be the last time they invest in South Carolina.
18:55
Speaker 3: Jeannie, we always ask about Texas. Would it be different
18:58
Speaker 3: if John Cornyn had been the nominee? Would it be
19:01
Speaker 3: different if Ralph Norman was running against Danny Andrews in
19:06
Speaker 3: this case?
19:06
Speaker 1: How much does the candidate have to do with it?
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Speaker 14: The candidate has an awful lot to do with it.
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Speaker 14: Let's not forget, they plowed in, what, $ 800, 000 or more
19:16
Speaker 14: just to get Darlene Graham through the primary or the
19:19
Speaker 14: runoff to the primary. She then, in that process, went
19:23
Speaker 14: into a debate and said she doesn't really know about
19:27
Speaker 14: basic questions about foreign policy. She was put in there
19:31
Speaker 14: by most people's expectation to be a seat warmer when...
19:35
Speaker 14: Just like we're seeing in Texas, to your point, Joe,
19:37
Speaker 14: Donald Trump put his thumb on it and said she
19:40
Speaker 14: should be our nominee, and she decided to run. And
19:43
Speaker 14: this is what you get. I mean, we all talked
19:46
Speaker 14: about putting almost $ 900, 000 in a Republican campaign. in South Carolina.
19:51
Speaker 14: I'm surprised they're not plowing more than $ 5 million in
19:54
Speaker 14: at this point. And Donald Trump is not doing himself
19:58
Speaker 14: any favors when he is going on or doing her
20:01
Speaker 14: any favors when he is going on repeatedly using transphobic
20:05
Speaker 14: slurs to describe her opponents.
20:08
Speaker 10: Dr.
20:08
Speaker 14: Annie Andrews, who is keeping this race in a very
20:11
Speaker 14: red state within the margin of error, to her credit.
20:15
Speaker 6: Annie Andrews, of course, who is not herself transgender, just
20:18
Speaker 6: to be clear, as the president perhaps suggests otherwise with
20:22
Speaker 6: some of his language. Rick, that's South Carolina. Let's talk
20:25
Speaker 6: about Alaska as well, being moved to Leans Democratic by
20:29
Speaker 6: Crystal Ball, no longer a toss-up. What does that say
20:33
Speaker 6: to you?
20:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, that's trouble in River City.
20:37
Speaker 2: A state like Alaska is, you know, bright red by
20:41
Speaker 2: any stretch of the imagination. Now, Mary Pallotta, I mean,
20:45
Speaker 2: she got elected statewide. Remember, the House there has only
20:47
Speaker 2: got one member. And so, you know, people all across
20:52
Speaker 2: the state have been voting for her before, and so
20:56
Speaker 2: she's not an unknown quantity.
20:59
Speaker 1: But when I.
20:59
Speaker 2: Saw the New York Times-Siena poll recently with Mary over 50%
21:05
Speaker 2: or at 50%, that's a magic number even in a
21:08
Speaker 2: public poll that you don't trust. And so, you know,
21:11
Speaker 2: that's a real problem, and that's beyond the margin of
21:14
Speaker 2: error in that survey. So, yeah, I can see why
21:17
Speaker 2: the various rating groups have changed the ratings, and I
21:21
Speaker 2: can see why the president and the Senate Leadership Fund
21:24
Speaker 2: and others are headed to Alaska.
21:28
Speaker 1: Rick, you've been reminding us pretty regularly about early voting.
21:31
Speaker 3: The fact is, while we're a month out, it's actually
21:34
Speaker 3: Election Day for a lot of Americans today.
21:36
Speaker 1: We've re-added Ohio to the mix.
21:38
Speaker 3: Maine's already voting, even though that debate takes place tonight.
21:42
Speaker 3: That's how important that performance is going to be.
21:45
Speaker 1: Montana, Nebraska, Indiana, Wyoming, New Mexico, California.
21:50
Speaker 3: It's not just about those decisions that are going to
21:52
Speaker 3: be made four weeks from now. So I wonder, as
21:55
Speaker 3: a former campaign operative, how you look at this moment
21:59
Speaker 3: in the cycle and how important these debates are this week.
22:02
Speaker 3: We've not only got Maine, we've got Michigan as well
22:06
Speaker 3: to see El Sayed on stage tonight. This week with
22:08
Speaker 3: Mike Rogers is going to be awfully important. We've also
22:12
Speaker 3: got Ashley Henson and Josh Turek in Iowa. This is
22:15
Speaker 3: a big week, isn't it?
22:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a super big week.
22:18
Speaker 2: And as you point out, with early voting, every day
22:20
Speaker 2: is Election Day. And in some of these states that
22:22
Speaker 2: we've just been talking about, more than 40, 50, 60
22:26
Speaker 2: percent of the voters will already have cast their ballot
22:28
Speaker 2: before Election Day. And during a period of time when
22:31
Speaker 2: maybe there's fewer debates happening in this election cycle than
22:35
Speaker 2: any other that I can remember— All focus is on
22:38
Speaker 2: when two candidates get on a stage, what's going to happen.
22:41
Speaker 2: And people literally will go out the next day based
22:43
Speaker 2: on what they see tonight in Iowa and in Maine
22:46
Speaker 2: and other places and say, I'm casting my ballot. So yeah,
22:50
Speaker 2: this is incredibly important. There's no more time for advocacy.
22:54
Speaker 2: This is all about turn out the vote right now.
22:57
Speaker 2: You're not going to convince anybody other than maybe in
22:59
Speaker 2: a debate where they can size up the two opponents
23:03
Speaker 2: and as to who's going to vote for who. But
23:06
Speaker 2: like right now, it's about getting your vote out. And
23:08
Speaker 2: today is election day.
23:11
Speaker 6: Well, and so if we focus on Maine in particular
23:14
Speaker 6: in that debate tonight, Jeannie, we should keep in mind
23:16
Speaker 6: that Troy Jackson is also entering this game a bit later,
23:19
Speaker 6: as Graham Plattner was the original Democratic Senate nominee in
23:22
Speaker 6: Maine until he ultimately dropped his race under pressure amid
23:27
Speaker 6: a series of scandals that unfolded, including sexual assault allegations.
23:32
Speaker 6: So if you're Troy Jackson and you may not have
23:35
Speaker 6: had the same time to build the recognition that a
23:38
Speaker 6: multi-term incumbent, Senator Susan Collins, has who has been able
23:41
Speaker 6: to fend off multiple challenges to her reelection bids, Jeannie,
23:46
Speaker 6: how high is the bar for you?
23:49
Speaker 14: Oh, the bar is very high. And can I just
23:51
Speaker 14: thank Rick for making a reference to the music man
23:54
Speaker 14: trouble in River City? I just love it. But the
23:58
Speaker 14: bar is very high. And I'm not sure who scheduled
24:01
Speaker 14: these four.
24:02
Speaker 1: They have four debates.
24:03
Speaker 14: But this is quite a day for Susan Collins to
24:06
Speaker 14: be voting to be debating. This is seven years to
24:10
Speaker 14: the day since she voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to
24:13
Speaker 14: the Supreme Court. And, of course, he then voted to
24:17
Speaker 14: strip American women of their right to choose. And that's
24:20
Speaker 14: something she's going to have to answer for. She's also
24:23
Speaker 14: going to have to answer in a way she hasn't,
24:25
Speaker 14: because you're right, Kayleigh, she's been wildly successful. She's also
24:29
Speaker 14: going to have to answer for what was this really
24:31
Speaker 14: incredible investigatory piece in ProPublica talking about how she accepted
24:37
Speaker 14: illegal campaign contributions. Now, she has, of course, denied that.
24:41
Speaker 14: And then, of course, she has to answer for her
24:43
Speaker 14: support continually of Donald Trump and the administration that has
24:48
Speaker 14: led the people of Maine to where they are economically,
24:51
Speaker 14: including these really devastating, terrifying this tariff policy in Maine
24:56
Speaker 14: or in, in Maine that is coming from his tariff
24:59
Speaker 14: war with Canada. So she has a lot to answer
25:02
Speaker 14: to here. And I think that Troy Jackson, while he
25:06
Speaker 14: came late, certainly he is somebody who's going to be
25:09
Speaker 14: able to hold her feet to the fire. She's got
25:13
Speaker 14: to defend what she has done in support of the
25:15
Speaker 14: Trump administration throughout these several years and particularly her vote
25:20
Speaker 14: for Brett Kavanaugh.
25:22
Speaker 3: You know, people have, uh, undervalued Susan Collins, underestimated Susan
25:27
Speaker 3: Collins many times, Rick. And I'm wondering your thoughts as
25:30
Speaker 3: she prepares to get on the stage this evening. Is
25:32
Speaker 3: her job tonight just to stick Graham Platner to Troy Jackson, or.
25:37
Speaker 2: Is it more complicated than that? Yeah, I think it's
25:39
Speaker 2: a little more complicated than that. Obviously, there's some attacks
25:43
Speaker 2: that she's going to have to make. And I know
25:47
Speaker 2: that a lot of the campaign has been talking about
25:49
Speaker 2: the difference between her and you know, opposing tax increases
25:53
Speaker 2: and Jackson, taxing Jackson's consistent tax increases that he's done
25:58
Speaker 2: throughout his career. But at the end of the day,
26:01
Speaker 2: part of what is the reason that Susan Collins always
26:04
Speaker 2: exceeds her polling is because she really does deliver for Mainers.
26:09
Speaker 2: I mean, the reality is she's been chairman of the
26:12
Speaker 2: very powerful Appropriations Committee, and she has brought home the
26:17
Speaker 2: bacon for Maine. And as much as I dislike that
26:21
Speaker 2: concept as a taxpayer, I think it has worked to
26:24
Speaker 2: her benefit politically.
26:28
Speaker 6: Well, finally then, Jeannie, let's talk about bringing money home
26:33
Speaker 6: or money being sent to you. We talked about the
26:36
Speaker 6: money that has to go into South Carolina, the insurance
26:39
Speaker 6: policy against Darlene Graham, but the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune,
26:42
Speaker 6: also gave an interview to Politico yesterday in which he
26:45
Speaker 6: was talking about the need for resources. 28 days out,
26:49
Speaker 6: how many more resources can we realistically expect to be
26:52
Speaker 6: dumped into a midterm cycle, and how effective can more
26:55
Speaker 6: money be?
26:57
Speaker 14: Well, the good news for Thune and the Republicans is
26:59
Speaker 14: they do have money. The difficult news is that money
27:03
Speaker 14: is not worth as much the later this goes. So
27:06
Speaker 14: if they were going to spend it, they arguably should
27:08
Speaker 14: have spent it sooner rather than later. The ad buys
27:11
Speaker 14: become more expensive. And as we were just talking about,
27:14
Speaker 14: people are already voting. So if people have already made
27:17
Speaker 14: their decision and cast their vote, Their vote, rather. This
27:21
Speaker 14: money is going to go for not.
27:22
Speaker 1: So it is tough.
27:24
Speaker 14: But he is right. They do need money. They need
27:27
Speaker 14: money specifically to try to get out the vote. The
27:30
Speaker 14: Republicans since the midterm, I mean, since the off year,
27:33
Speaker 14: have been suffering from a lack of enthusiasm. So they've
27:35
Speaker 14: got to drive up the vote.
27:38
Speaker 3: Jeanne Shanzano and Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributors with great analysis.
27:42
Speaker 1: Thank you both.
27:43
Speaker 3: And I heard you, Rick. Trouble in River City with
27:45
Speaker 3: a capital T. That rhymes with P. And that stands
27:48
Speaker 3: for pool. Around here, TV pool.
27:51
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. Stay with us on Balance of Power.
27:53
Speaker 1: We'll have much more coming up after this.
28:00
Speaker 5: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
28:03
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28:06
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28:10
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28:13
Speaker 5: us live on YouTube.
28:16
Speaker 3: The AI trade back in favor all of a sudden
28:18
Speaker 3: and lower oil prices and lower interest rates will probably help.
28:22
Speaker 3: It's pretty remarkable to see a new all time high
28:25
Speaker 3: for NVIDIA. But of course, this comes after With the
28:28
Speaker 3: cross-current of concern over data centers, the nimbyism, the political
28:33
Speaker 3: aspect of this debate has been pronounced and many consider
28:37
Speaker 3: it to be an investment risk. It's something that we
28:39
Speaker 3: talked about today in an important conversation with none other
28:42
Speaker 3: than Jamie Dimon, Chairman, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, sitting down
28:45
Speaker 3: with Bloomberg's Tom McKenzie in London.
28:47
Speaker 10: Listen.
28:48
Speaker 9: Data centers.
28:49
Speaker 1: Look, most of them get built.
28:51
Speaker 9: They'll probably be built where people want them as opposed
28:52
Speaker 9: to where people don't want them.
28:54
Speaker 12: They'll be used.
28:55
Speaker 9: You know, AI itself, I think, creates a lot of value.
28:58
Speaker 9: And so I'm not really worried about it. But you
29:01
Speaker 9: do point out it is a lot of additional borrowing.
29:03
Speaker 9: So there's normal CapEx borrowing. I don't know if the
29:06
Speaker 9: borrowing is a trillion because it's more like the commitments,
29:08
Speaker 9: but there's a lot of borrowing. And then the government's
29:10
Speaker 9: borrowing $ 2 trillion again. And this is a global phenomenon.
29:13
Speaker 9: It's not just the United States. And, yeah, there's a
29:15
Speaker 9: supply and demand of capital. If you thought there was
29:17
Speaker 9: a savings glut years ago, now there's not. And, you know,
29:21
Speaker 9: it could be a good thing if rates are going
29:23
Speaker 9: up because of demand for capital and the capital is
29:25
Speaker 9: used productively. The problem part is the government, its consumption.
29:30
Speaker 9: That's a whole different thing. And then, of course, government
29:33
Speaker 9: spending can drive inflation. So there could be a flip
29:35
Speaker 9: side of how this plays out.
29:37
Speaker 1: I want to get on to that.
29:38
Speaker 11: But you mentioned the politics of it.
29:40
Speaker 10: AI.
29:40
Speaker 11: What would your advice be to the Frontier Lab founders
29:43
Speaker 11: and to governments in terms of how to resolve the
29:45
Speaker 11: politics of AI and address those tail risks?
29:49
Speaker 9: These are different issues. Data centers, build them where they're wanted.
29:53
Speaker 9: You know, and half of them, half the new ones
29:56
Speaker 9: in America, Texas and Virginia. And, you know, people don't
29:59
Speaker 9: want them there. You're not going to win. You get lawsuits.
30:01
Speaker 9: But there are a lot of states who would take
30:03
Speaker 9: it that have access to power. And, of course, you know,
30:06
Speaker 9: any big company has to be a good community citizen.
30:09
Speaker 9: So I think a lot of these people are doing it.
30:10
Speaker 9: They're going into town. You know, they're being part of
30:12
Speaker 9: the community. They're helping the community to get the rights. They,
30:15
Speaker 9: you know, make commitments that won't raise consumer electricity costs.
30:18
Speaker 9: It's just things like that. And that will be worked
30:20
Speaker 9: through in the future. AI has these huge positive effects.
30:23
Speaker 9: I mean, I do think it'll cure a lot of
30:25
Speaker 9: diseases and it'll save accidents in the roads and composite materials.
30:30
Speaker 9: It'll make life unbelievable for people. The downside is obviously
30:35
Speaker 9: what you read about with the agents and mythos and
30:39
Speaker 9: all these things that can cause trouble. And that's a
30:41
Speaker 9: legitimate concern. It's a real thing. I'm not going to
30:43
Speaker 9: get hysterical over is it existential or not. What we're
30:47
Speaker 9: doing is rolling up our sleeves and going to work
30:50
Speaker 9: to fix it. So the banks have always had a
30:52
Speaker 9: system in place where we help each other. We also
30:54
Speaker 9: started this thing called the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure. It's
30:57
Speaker 9: starting with 50 companies. It's starting in the U.S. It's
31:00
Speaker 9: across six industries, you know, tech, financial services, water, transport.
31:06
Speaker 9: These are industries that the government pointed out as lifeline.
31:09
Speaker 9: But eventually, it should probably expand to health care, pharma, agricultural.
31:13
Speaker 9: I mean, every industry is kind of critical. And it
31:16
Speaker 9: should also, we need to help the smaller companies too,
31:18
Speaker 9: because they have different vendors and different needs. And so
31:21
Speaker 9: it's a lot of work. We simply have to do it.
31:23
Speaker 9: AI created vulnerabilities that we didn't know about. And we
31:27
Speaker 9: always worried about cyber before these things.
31:29
Speaker 11: And you've thought about cyber risks for a long time.
31:32
Speaker 11: I know that.
31:32
Speaker 9: It's our biggest risk.
31:33
Speaker 8: It's your biggest risk.
31:35
Speaker 11: Does AI make cyber... systemic risks more likely?
31:39
Speaker 10: Oh, yeah.
31:40
Speaker 9: That's what I'm saying, that mythos, whatever you thought it
31:42
Speaker 9: was before. I mean, I published my chairman's letter. I
31:45
Speaker 9: said cyber's our biggest risk, and they didn't publish mythos yet.
31:49
Speaker 4: Huh.
31:50
Speaker 1: That's something. Cyber is our biggest risk.
31:54
Speaker 3: And Kayleigh, we remember that it's the big banks that
31:56
Speaker 3: got their hands on these AI models first. They've seen
31:58
Speaker 3: them firsthand by way of testing and their own integration.
32:01
Speaker 3: I could argue the banking sector is more than any
32:04
Speaker 3: other industry has embraced AI and has been exposed to
32:07
Speaker 3: its risks more than any other, which is why we
32:10
Speaker 3: continue to hear from him. But it is remarkable to
32:12
Speaker 3: see the AI trade kick back into gear here. We
32:15
Speaker 3: know that this can change on a dime, but any
32:17
Speaker 3: attempt to slow this down, even the Ratepayer Protection Act,
32:20
Speaker 3: which some called toothless here in Washington, failed. So it's
32:24
Speaker 3: still off to the races for the hyperscalers.
32:26
Speaker 6: Yep, of course, did not advance in the United States
32:29
Speaker 6: Senate before they left town for recess. And we won't
32:32
Speaker 6: see them again to try to act on anything regarding
32:35
Speaker 6: reining in artificial intelligence or data centers or anything like
32:39
Speaker 6: that until after the elections have taken place. And of course,
32:42
Speaker 6: as we've been reminding you all hour, they are exactly
32:45
Speaker 6: four weeks away, 28 days from midterm election day on
32:49
Speaker 6: November 3rd. But already, voters are voting in a number
32:53
Speaker 6: of states across the country. Joe, you mentioned what, it's
32:55
Speaker 6: Ohio that starts voting early today. There are a number
32:59
Speaker 6: of states who have done this already. By the end
33:00
Speaker 6: of the week, I believe about a third of states
33:02
Speaker 6: across the country will have voters able to make their
33:05
Speaker 6: decisions and cast their votes, which just goes to show
33:08
Speaker 6: you that The time is already upon us, even as
33:11
Speaker 6: the campaigns stretch on for a few more weeks. And
33:14
Speaker 6: it's with that in mind that we turn now to
33:16
Speaker 6: the ranking member of the House Administration Committee, Congressman Joe Morelli.
33:20
Speaker 13: Of New York.
33:20
Speaker 6: New York's 25th congressional district is back with us on
33:24
Speaker 6: Bloomberg TV and radio. Congressman, it's good to have you
33:26
Speaker 6: once again on Balance of Power. Nice to have you
33:30
Speaker 6: in our world headquarters in New York City today. Apologies
33:33
Speaker 6: that we can't be there with you in person. But
33:35
Speaker 6: as we consider the votes that are already being cast
33:38
Speaker 6: today in a number of states, how concerned are you
33:41
Speaker 6: about the security of those votes and the notion that
33:45
Speaker 6: those votes will not be contested when they're all tallied?
33:48
Speaker 8: Well, look, I have great confidence in the system.
33:51
Speaker 7: Local and state election administrators do an amazing job, Democrats
33:55
Speaker 7: and Republicans.
33:56
Speaker 8: Now, we have 50 different systems.
33:57
Speaker 7: I'm not sure everybody fully appreciates that, but that's how
34:00
Speaker 7: the founders set it up. So every state has slightly
34:03
Speaker 7: different rules, different procedures. Some have early voting at one time.
34:07
Speaker 7: Many use mail-in.
34:08
Speaker 8: Voting more than others.
34:10
Speaker 7: But no matter where I go around the country, and
34:12
Speaker 7: I've been everywhere, talking to local administrators, they are confident,
34:15
Speaker 7: they know what they're doing.
34:17
Speaker 8: So I have great confidence.
34:18
Speaker 7: And you're right, over 1.2 million Americans have already voted.
34:21
Speaker 7: We're 28 days out from election day. I think 52
34:24
Speaker 7: million ballots have been requested by mail. So people are voting.
34:28
Speaker 7: I think there is confidence. But look, my job as
34:31
Speaker 7: the leader of the House Democratic election protection efforts is
34:37
Speaker 7: to make sure that every potential contingency we're prepared to
34:40
Speaker 7: deal with and we have literally.
34:42
Speaker 8: Thousands of people around this country.
34:44
Speaker 7: Someday they'll write a book about this, all the heroes,
34:46
Speaker 7: the unsung heroes who worked so hard to make sure
34:49
Speaker 7: we protected our democracy.
34:50
Speaker 8: So it's what we're doing.
34:51
Speaker 7: It's what Hakeem Jeffries has charged me with, and I
34:54
Speaker 7: think we're doing a great job right now.
34:56
Speaker 3: Well, for all of those reasons, I guess I should
34:58
Speaker 3: say happy Election Day, Congressman, after voting in so many
35:02
Speaker 3: swaths of the country right now. Even President Trump said
35:04
Speaker 3: vote by mail the other night when he was in Oklahoma,
35:07
Speaker 3: which is noteworthy because he seems to think it is
35:09
Speaker 3: rife with fraud. But I'm just curious if DOJ is
35:14
Speaker 3: working with you. You've been writing letters to the Attorney General,
35:17
Speaker 3: Todd Blanch, over the threat of monitors.
35:19
Speaker 1: What is he telling you?
35:21
Speaker 8: Well, we have asked. We haven't received a response back.
35:23
Speaker 7: But look, the Department of Justice has been sending monitors
35:26
Speaker 7: out in elections for decades, primarily to make sure that
35:30
Speaker 7: there weren't civil rights abuses, that people, particularly people of color,
35:34
Speaker 7: weren't denied the access to the ballot. Unfortunately, what we've
35:37
Speaker 7: seen this year in some of the early primaries is
35:40
Speaker 7: is Department of Justice officials who are acting as monitors
35:43
Speaker 7: getting much more involved than they ought to be, than
35:45
Speaker 7: the law allows them to be. Even the governor of Wyoming,
35:48
Speaker 7: a Republican, said he was very concerned during the primary
35:51
Speaker 7: of the activities of the Department of Justice. So we
35:54
Speaker 7: have asked the attorney general to clarify what those monitors
35:57
Speaker 7: will be doing, make sure that they're within the law.
36:00
Speaker 7: And if not, we're going to make sure that they
36:02
Speaker 7: stay within law. We're going to continue to push back
36:04
Speaker 7: on any activities which intimidates or interferes with a person's
36:08
Speaker 7: right to get to the ballot.
36:11
Speaker 6: Well, and pushing back often takes the form of challenging
36:14
Speaker 6: things in court. Congressman, do you already have the lawyers
36:17
Speaker 6: on retainer? How litigious do you expect the aftermath of
36:20
Speaker 6: this election is going to get?
36:22
Speaker 7: Well, look, I'm hopeful, Kayleigh, that we don't have to
36:25
Speaker 7: resort to that. Yes, we do have literally thousands of
36:28
Speaker 7: attorneys around the country, many of whom are working pro bono,
36:31
Speaker 7: preparing draft pleadings. We'll be, and we will, basically push
36:37
Speaker 7: back against any effort by the Department of Justice, by
36:40
Speaker 7: the president, by the Department of Homeland Security to impair anyone's.
36:43
Speaker 8: Right to vote. And look, we've been successful.
36:45
Speaker 7: The great thing is the Department of Justice has now
36:47
Speaker 7: tried 26 times to give voter information from various states.
36:52
Speaker 7: They are 0 in 26. The president tried to impose
36:55
Speaker 7: a rule at the United States Postal Service. Again, we
36:58
Speaker 7: defeated that in court, the Supreme Court ruling on their behalf.
37:02
Speaker 7: The president tried to stop ballots from being counted if
37:05
Speaker 7: they arrived after Election Day. The Supreme Court knocked that down.
37:08
Speaker 7: So we have people prepared. We are talking to local
37:11
Speaker 7: election administrators. We're working with law enforcement. We're working with
37:15
Speaker 7: whoever and whomever can provide some benefit in this effort.
37:20
Speaker 8: And yes, we have attorneys. We're working. Hopefully it won't
37:23
Speaker 8: come to that.
37:23
Speaker 7: I really have confidence that this is going to work out,
37:26
Speaker 7: that people will have their say, their ballots will be
37:28
Speaker 7: counted fairly, and the will of the American people will
37:31
Speaker 7: be reflected on January 3rd of 2027 when the House reconvenes.
37:36
Speaker 12: Wow.
37:36
Speaker 1: This is fascinating, Congressman.
37:38
Speaker 3: I don't know if you're buying into the conventional wisdom now,
37:41
Speaker 3: but just about everybody who thinks they know about politics
37:43
Speaker 3: is predicting the House will flip to Democratic control, and
37:45
Speaker 3: that would put you in line to be the next
37:48
Speaker 3: chair of the administration committee. The current chairman, Brian Stile,
37:53
Speaker 3: has been on Bloomberg TV and radio quite often, and
37:56
Speaker 3: we've talked a lot about security for House members. Would
37:59
Speaker 3: that be a priority for yours if you became chairman,
38:02
Speaker 3: and would you take a different action than we've seen yet?
38:06
Speaker 7: Well, look, my first priority is going to make sure
38:08
Speaker 7: that we a deal with the Voting Rights Act that
38:10
Speaker 7: the Supreme Court has literally eviscerated. We're also going to
38:14
Speaker 7: make a priority getting to election finance reform so we
38:17
Speaker 7: can deal with the fact that there have been billions
38:20
Speaker 7: and billions of dollars invested, and the average American doesn't
38:23
Speaker 7: have a voice. But we're certainly going to deal with
38:25
Speaker 7: making sure that members are protected, something we've worked on
38:28
Speaker 7: on a bipartisan basis.
38:30
Speaker 8: We'll continue that effort as well.
38:33
Speaker 6: Well, in addition to your work on the administration committee,
38:35
Speaker 6: you also sit on the appropriations committee. And there's been
38:38
Speaker 6: a conversation, as I'm sure you well know, Congressman, over
38:40
Speaker 6: the course of the last week or so about money
38:42
Speaker 6: that had been appropriated to the Department of Homeland Security
38:44
Speaker 6: that was being spent on campaign style ads put out
38:48
Speaker 6: by the White House that they were saying were public
38:51
Speaker 6: service announcements. President Trump took note of some of that
38:55
Speaker 6: criticism and actually on True Social last night announced that
38:59
Speaker 6: Due to the radical left, to quote him, being upset
39:01
Speaker 6: with the fact that he's taking ads, which I consider
39:03
Speaker 6: to be positive promotion for a great USA and paying
39:05
Speaker 6: for them with USA money. I have decided to do
39:08
Speaker 6: the patriotic ads among others and pay for them myself
39:12
Speaker 6: and with money I raised for MAGA Inc. Is that
39:15
Speaker 6: enough for you?
39:16
Speaker 7: Well, look, we certainly don't want the president using taxpayer money.
39:20
Speaker 7: Rosa DeLauro, who will be the new chair of the
39:22
Speaker 7: Appropriations Committee if we win the House, and I and
39:24
Speaker 7: Robert Garcia, who will be chairman of the Oversight Committee,
39:26
Speaker 7: wrote to the president We told him this was a,
39:30
Speaker 7: use of the money.
39:31
Speaker 8: We urged him to stop.
39:32
Speaker 7: But I think at the end of the day, he's
39:33
Speaker 7: responding not only to the public's anger about this, and
39:37
Speaker 7: that was pretty... pretty clear and pretty immediate that people
39:41
Speaker 7: didn't like this. My guess is he's also hearing from
39:43
Speaker 7: Republican members of Congress who may not be saying it publicly,
39:47
Speaker 7: but I'm sure are privately saying this is completely out
39:49
Speaker 7: of bounds. You cannot do this. And as a result,
39:51
Speaker 7: he stepped back. So I'm pleased by that. But just
39:54
Speaker 7: the fact that we even have to have this conversation
39:56
Speaker 7: to me is just surreal. I mean, any president should
40:01
Speaker 7: know taking a campaign ad and paying for its airing
40:04
Speaker 7: with public dollars is just simply unacceptable.
40:08
Speaker 3: Well, I'm confused, Congressman, because we've had a number of
40:10
Speaker 3: Republican lawmakers tell us this is what happens. The Biden
40:12
Speaker 3: administration did the same. Obama administration did the same thing.
40:16
Speaker 3: The White House called these PSAs initially. The president calls
40:19
Speaker 3: them ads in his truth social post. Is this par
40:23
Speaker 3: for the course or not?
40:25
Speaker 7: No, this is completely. I mean, there are public service announcements.
40:28
Speaker 7: But they are made by various departments, and they are
40:31
Speaker 7: done by career people who have legitimate public service announcements
40:35
Speaker 7: that the government pays for, taxpayer-funded. But you've never seen
40:38
Speaker 7: anything like this. Any suggestion of the contrary.
40:40
Speaker 8: Is simply false.
40:41
Speaker 7: The president took political ads that he used in the
40:44
Speaker 7: 2024 campaign, essentially wiped out the Trump 2024 logo. and
40:50
Speaker 7: put paid for by the United States government. No one
40:52
Speaker 7: has ever done this in modern era. As long as
40:55
Speaker 7: we've had broadcasting, no president of the United States, Republican
40:58
Speaker 7: or Democrat, has ever done it.
41:00
Speaker 1: Well, listen, it's good to have you with us one
41:02
Speaker 1: month out.
41:02
Speaker 3: Although, as we've noted, there are voting already in a
41:05
Speaker 3: lot of states around the country, Congressman, so it's good
41:07
Speaker 3: to spend some time with you.
41:08
Speaker 1: He's the Democrat from New York's 25th.
41:10
Speaker 3: Joe Morelli, live in the Fishbowl at World Headquarters in
41:13
Speaker 3: New York. He's sitting right next to Charlie Pellett, Congressman.
41:15
Speaker 3: That is the voice of the New York subway you're
41:17
Speaker 3: rubbing elbows with in there. Come back and see us
41:20
Speaker 3: when you're back in Washington. Thanks for listening to the
41:24
Speaker 3: Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe, if you
41:27
Speaker 3: haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
41:31
Speaker 3: And you can find us live every weekday from Washington, D.C.
41:34
Speaker 3: at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg.com.