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Armstrong and Jetty show. This time will be the first one on one debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, and it's gonna be a little different than the previous debates due to concerns about coronavirus. There will be no live audience in attendance, which bets the philosophical question if Joe Biden makes a horrible gaff and no one's there to hear it, does it still make you cringe? I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm not going to be watching Kansas and Duke and whoever
played basketball? But I will see two old men. Are you in a n empty room? Yeah? The Masters is beyond my super Bowl, and I love baseball more than some family members, so you can imagine my frame of mind. Uh. Lanna e j Chen joins us Lon. He's the Dave and Diane Steffyr Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution, Director of Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University, among other Echo leids. Lon here, how are you, sir, boy? No hockey, no baseball? Uh?
No basketball. I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself for the next couple of weeks. What am I gonna do? Read we're talking earlier. If this continues for a while, If this continues for a while, and it's likely so, if my kids are out of school and everything's closed and there's nothing going on, that we're gonna it's gonna be kind of an interesting little period we go through here. Yeah. Yeah, well, just someone someone said
on Twitter, I thought it was very good. This will be the ultimate test for marriages and for relationships with family, that's for sure. Yeah. Indeed, So listen, let's talk a little politics. It is my opinion on He's that Bernie Sanders has essentially strapped himself in a suicide vest and is going to go into the debate with old man Biden the other night and maybe blow him up. Um am I nuts or what? No? I think he's made
pretty clear. I mean, he gave that speech with it yesterday the day before where he said, you know, I've got some questions for for Joe Biden, and and you know these are not questions that can be answered well by Joe Biden. And certainly I think it is Bernie Sanders strategy to use this debate to to take him down because he realizes, you know, he's desperate now. He realized if he cannot take Joe Biden down in this debate, the contest is overlooked. I think the contest is basically
over now. But Bernie Sanders believes this is his last best chance to impact the race. And a a desperate man is a dangerous man, right. We've all seen the scene in the movie where the hero is triumphed in the fight and then the bad guy I reaches up and stabs him with a knife nobody knew was there. And listen, bad guy might still lose the fight, but
he is really really damaged. You know. In this metaphor, Joe Biden Democratic Party allowing this to happen, well, I you know, I think they have to because if they don't, the Standard supporters are really gonna go nuts. They're gonna go nuts anyway, that's my my theories. You're not gonna win over the hardcore Bernie crowd anyway, you could. There's only downside to put Biden in a room with him Sunday.
But what's your opinion? Well, you know, I think I think they for optics sake, they feel like they have to. And and the debate was scheduled, and it's the opportunity for them to go one on one. Imagine the outcry, Imagine the amount of backlash the Democratic Party gets if they if they really look like they're trying to take this away from Bernie. And you know, some would argue that the rules that have been put in place, um, you know, make it harder for Bernie. Now, I think
for Bernie, those are rules he agreed to. And by the way, Willie insisted on him. Yeah, and and and and he was ahead of the delicate race. He was the one saying no, no, no, the person with a plurality you know that that that person will be then the nominee. So I look, I think they're doing it because they feel like they have to. But I think it's a very very risky proposition for Joe Biden, no question about it. I could I can talk about this the whole time we have you on, and maybe we will.
But this is breaking news. The president of Brazil has tested positive for coronavirus. He's the highest ranking world leader with coronavirus. Canada's trudeaut doesn't count, but he dined. He dined with Trump on the seventh, so that's fairly recently. If Trump tested positive, if he ends up with corona, how do you think that would play out politically? Oh my goodness, I mean that would be you know that there would be first of all, we'd see a market
shock like you've you've not seen already. Well it's hard, you know, I know, but but really yourself, don't say that a loud break, but don't say allowed. That's one thing. Um, you know, I think it will. I think it will create some serious, um, you know, political challenges because you know, he's not a young guy. I mean, he's actually pretty healthy and so it appears for a guy at his age,
but he's not a young guy. So you know, people are gonna have to keep an eye on him, and you know it's going to create it will change the political dynamic fundamentally, you know, all the bickering, all the partisanship. I actually think and I would hope that if he were to be ill in that way, it would go away, you know, at least for that period of time. But boy, that would be something. It's it's it's hard to imagine. It's hard to fathom. I I don't want to imagine
that that's the case. I mean, regardless of how one feels about a political leader, you never want them to be sick in that way. Right, Well, put up a lot chans on the line, Uh, a lot he putting aside the fact that it's a bilateral choice when it comes to an election, and be um, Donald j will be running against either an ancient borderline communist or Joe Biden who's really showing signs of weakening. Putting those things aside. Um, to what extent do you think Trump's reelection will rise
and fall on the response to the coronavirus. Yeah, I mean I think it's it's almost entirely. I shouldn't say that, because you know, we know that politics, the cycle's turnover, so quickly and and God God willing, if this is all kind of behind us by the time we get to the summer, there's still a whole another lifetime before the election. That having been said, I think this is going to be a formative part of people's opinions about
how Donald Trump has handled the job of president. Uh. It is a crisis, that is you know, here in California obviously we see it every day, but now I think people across the country are really starting to see this is a major, major, not just public health crisis, for human crisis, and how the president handles it I think will be influential in how people view him when
it comes time for re election in November. I think he has renewed his sense of caution about what he says and doesn't say, because there are a couple of missteps early well, there were missteps, I mean certainly in what he said. Look that there's no excuse for that speech the other night, having the errors that had in it. The reason you have prepared text is so that you
can vet it and avoid those errors. Having been involved in a lot of speech writing over the years, you know that that shouldn't happen, doesn't mean that it doesn't, but it shouldn't do. The thing I would say is, you know, every crisis has a moment that crystallizes public opinion about how the leader is doing. So Katrina for Bush, were the signs of people stuck in the flood saying please help us? Right, every crisis has a moment. The coronavirus crisis to me, at least that moment could be
this lack of testing. That really could be the thing that crystallizes in people's minds. Trump's handling of it, and and look, some of this is beyond his control, no question about it. But it is unconscionable that we still do not have access to testing for people who wanted in this country. It is unconscionable. Um, I just wanted to ask this. So it seems like part of the strategy from Republicans is going to be really hammer Biden on every gaff for you know, mental senior moment or whatever.
You think that's a good angle in thirty seconds or less port Well, you look, I think I think it's probably the the angle that they think is best at this point, given that Joe has shown that he's not the same in Canada, US several years ago. So you know, I think they'll perceive two angles. One will be corruption, Washington insider, swamp monster, and the second will be sort of mental confidence. And I think they're going to go up both of those very hard. Wow, it's always interesting
in in this one. Oh my gosh, I'm not sure I'm strong enough, but we'll live through it together. Lonie Chen of the Hoover Institution and Stanford University. Always informative, You're the best. Thank you take care of guys, great to talk. Is this like a full ninety minute debate Sunday night? Yes, two people, no crowd. That's going to
seem like a long debate. There's plenty of time for Biden's mind to want udern, for him to say something wacky, and Bernie's big applause lines and millionaires and billionaires in an empty room is gonna seem weird. You quit yelling at me, old man, I can hear you a fine. You know, if the dots are allowed, all right, Yellen, quit yell at the dynamics of that are gonna be so strange. Yeah, And I don't think either one is going to cover themselves in glory, as they say Art
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