A Big Wet Kiss. Lanhee Chen Talks to Armstrong & Getty

halls versus Trump getting grilled? Does that matter? The Trump's the flat delivery of a really good message yesterday, and then I thought a grievance leaden rally last night with not a lot with not enough reason to vote for him, and there's a lot of stuff out there. Well, let's join lan Hea Chen for the discussion. Long here's the David and Diane Stephy, fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution, and joins is, now, how are you, sir?

I'm fine, great to be with you. Thank you. So. I don't know if you've had a chance to observe the president lately, but he seems a little tired. Well, you know, here, here's what I think the president has a a certain comfort zone he likes to operate in, and he likes the environment where he can just kind of get out there, let a rip talk about whatever he wants to talk about. And the question is how that modus operandi works with the closing weeks of a campaign.

And I think one of the things that made him effective in sixteen at the end was his ability to focus on message and to just get out there and relentlessly deliver it. And generally speaking, candidates are successful when

they can do that. Right now, the president is not there yet, and I think until he can get there, and I think he probably will get there, the question is when, I do think some of these rallies and some of these events end up doing more harm than good, and that's something that they're going to have to con runt. I only took in fifteen minutes of last night, so

you know, it's anecdotal evidence. But instead of you know, we're gonna build the wall and nobody thought he was actually gonna build the wall in Mexico isn't gonna pay for it. But here's somebody that finally gives a crap about a legal immigration. Yeah, you know, I'm gonna bring your jobs back, that sort of stuff, reasons to vote for him. God, he was going on it was a perfect phone call. You're talking about the Ukraine phone call?

Oh my god. Yeah. Wow. Meanwhile, they're hurling soft softballs at Joe Biden. Do you catch any of the town hall last night? Uh? Yeah, I mean it was a big wet kiss, right. And I think it shouldn't be surprising because we have seen that over and over again. The media does treat the two people differently. It treats Trump and Biden differently. Uh. And you know, you guys asked the questions, do I think it's going to make

a difference, And the answer is I don't. I don't think it's going to make a difference because I think people have already weighed these issues in their vibes. They get the media likes Joe Biden one of the lifestyle Trump. They end stand that. You know, as a result, the two candidates are going to be treated differently. I'm not sure it affects how people view them, though. I think if you I said this a lot before, which is at this point in Donald Trump's presidency, You've figured out

how you feel about Donald Trump. Probably I still have. I mean, if you still have questions about, hey, what do I think of Donald Trump, you must have been living on another planet for the last couple of years. So all this stuff that's out there, you know, the Woodward Book and the media's treatment of them and all of the noise, you know, most Americans I think have tuned it out, and I think they figured out, you know, look,

this is what I think of Donald Trump. And by the way, just because you don't like him doesn't mean you're not going to vote for him. And I think that's an important factor to consider as well. Well, we're talking earlier. We think the best, you know, for people who like some Trump stuff, but when he bothers them so much, they just can't vote for him. The reluctant

Trumpers as a buddy of mine. Text of that, getting the sixteen nineteen project out of the schools and ending critical race theory training and the government agencies that could be huge. Well, it is because people sort of say, listen, uh, I'm you know, I think a lot of Americans would say that. They would say, look, I'm all for a society that's got people that look different from me and

sound different from me. That's fine, But I don't want to be told that the history of my country is so foul and so odious that I can't learn about it. I don't want to be told that everything America has done is wrong. I don't want to be told that, you know, everything that I've done as a non you know, non minority, non person of color, non whatever, uh is wrong. And I think people just say, look, I don't want

That's not the environment I want to be in. And so there are common sense things that the president does, and there's common sense things that people do when they say, look, you know, you're right. Not all of that is wrong. And we and there are things about our history and our culture that we should learn. And we should understand times when things went badly, but we should also understand that there are a heck of a lot of times in our history when things went well. And and that's

something that everybody and every child should learn country. I think, well, right, the idea of having wonderful ideals and sometimes falling short of them is not an ugly story. I mean, it's it's it's a it's worth telling. But again it's and and the lefty media is trying to like give you an inverse description of what's happening here, that he's trying

to eliminate any teaching of America's sins. The problem is and just as a personal note, lony, judging by our listeners, um and we hear from them by the hundreds and hundreds every day. This, the far left indoctrination from kindergarten through grad school is a huge issue among real people, and I credit the Trump administration for having their ear to the ground enough to realize it. I think the New York Times and and NPR they're so snyde anytime

they make reference it's a conspiracy theory. But I'm telling you it's big in the hinterlands. Well, here's the problem. The people that are reporters for these outlets, the people who are opinion itiers for the most part, for these outlets, they are far to the left of even many Democrats in this country. They make up a disproportionate percentage of you know, these sort of relatively far to the left

progressive folks, and they are in very influential positions. And so I think when most Americans look at that, they say, you know what, that doesn't really sound like what you know what I think is right. Just at a gut level, people don't think that what they're reading and what they're seeing sounds right. So this disconnect between mainstream media and you know, many Americans that that's going to be a huge problem going forward. This is not a not a

campaign problem, it's not a political problem. It goes to the breakdown of our institutions, and the media is one

of them. I think, outside of a major event occurring, you know, uh, something international or whatever, I don't see what's going to change the trajectory of the election except for that first debate, particularly if Joe Biden is on the debate stage with the world watching and says something like he said last night that all two thousand people would still be alive if Trump had done his job, and Washington Post even says Biden is making this up?

How would that affect things? I mean, that's an extraordinary thing to say. How about the fact that Anderson Cooper didn't even follow up on that. Yeah, I mean, I think this first debate is going to be interesting to watch because you're going to see the ultimate prevent defense, uh in in Joe Biden's strategy. I mean, really, his job is to get up there and to not screw things up. I mean, there are many bland things he can say, and I think it'll be totally fine. But

you're right. I think where where the Biden campaign is concerned in all likelihood is they're concerned he's going to get up there and he's going to say something or say a few things that will really demonstrate kind of either that he's lost a few steps or that that you know, he just has positions that are fundamentally out of step with most Americans. And I think that's the worry for the Biden campaign. You know that the Trump team, they they kind of feel like, look, people are used

to the freewheeling style of the president. He's not gonna say things carefully. He's going to get up there and say what he's gonna say, and so I think they feel it's relatively lower risk, which is why you hear the President saying let's let's debate more. But but the Biden team, I think they are they're playing pre event and they really do not want people to to hear or see some of the things that Joe Biden could

say or that could pop out his mouth. Well, the question was asked to Joe Biden on the New Green Deal or the Green New Deal. Sorry, do you think it's too much? Anderson Cooper said no, I don't, said Vice President by no follow up, it's gonna cost sixty trillion dollars. We're gonna stop driving cars with gas within ten years year for that. Yeah, and it's going to require every single building to be retrofitted and change. I mean even ones that are historic and go back many,

you know, many centuries. I mean, it's it's the Green New Deal is crazy. And this is a point that I've started to make because I've been looking at Joe Biden's policy plans recently. He would be the most liberal president in modern history if he won. His ideas are far more progressive than any can date since McGovern. His budget, by the way, is double what Hillary Clinton proposed in twenty sixteen. Just just think about that for a minute.

Five trillion dollars in you spending double what Hillary Clinton proposed. His tax increases are going to hit every American household. This is not some moderate guy. I mean, if he if he's elected president, he's going to be an extreme liberal. And I think, look, that's just something people need to come to terms with They might be okay with that. They might say, look, I'm willing to have that over the chaos of Trump. I'll vote for Biden, doesn't matter.

But people need to go into this selection eyes wide open, understanding what the alternatives are. I think that's a very

important thing. My final question for Lonie Chen of the Hoover Institution, um, given the near certainty that there will be chaos and confusion during voting month, as mail and ballots are counted and rejected and the rest of it, how do you like the idea of some sort of bipartisan commission getting to work like today by noon on standards and messaging and and and bipartisan statements of solidarity, that sort of thing. Let's being pre about dealing with

the chaos. I would love that. I think that'd be a great idea to get respected, you know, respected Republican, respected Democrats, get people together and and and help us make our way through this vest We cannot have this be a partisan process. Regardless of how you feel who you're going to vote for, we all agree we want this election to be fairly decided, and we want to have confidence in the outcome of the election and the direction we're headed, and I really worry about because that's

not the direction we're headed in. And bringing this back to de politicize it as much as possible, I think that'd be great. So I I'd be all for it. I don't think it's gonna happen. Boy. Dan Coates OpEd in the New York Times yesterday. I don't know if you read it, but he said, Joe Biden or Donald Trump are not a death blow to the country, but losing faith in our elections could be. Yeah. That's good stuff. Yeah, well,

let's keep an eye on this one going forward. Lanh Chen David Diane Stiffy, Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Ober Institution. Lan, he thanks so much for the time. Good to talk to you. Oh boy, yeah, I worry way more about that. At the post election day chaos, hatred, angst conspiracy theories, Russian propaganda, trolls and bots and and the rest of it, not to mention Nancy Pelosi and Donald j saying irresponsible things. I'm more

worried about that than about anything. Yeah. Okay, that's interesting. Don't mean to freak you out. Everybody