The Armstrong and Getty Show. Jim Crow laws are just anothetical to who we are. This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle. Most people don't know. You walk into a store and you buy a gun, you have a background check, but you go to a gun show you can buy whatever you want, no background check. Yeah, it's just not true. Um, And they walked that back later in the day, which leads to a number of questions. Anyway,
thanks for joining us today. Yeah, the Jim Crow tweets are not only untrue, but they're utterly repugnant to say. Let's discuss that in a number of different topics with Lan he Chen. My computer has frozen, so I'm gonna try to do this from memory. Lan he is the David and Diane Stephy Research Fellow in American Public Policy and the Uver. It's it's the proud son of David
and Diane Steffie. They don't leave, that's correct, and also the the director of Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University. How did I do, Lony? You? You know, you got about there and then and then you and then you said this thing about being the kid of thee that was Jack. Did please see what I have to deal with every day. So hey, first good, First of all, thank you very much for being here. We really look
forward to these chats. So the Biden quotes whether it's the Jim Crow stuff, which again is repugnant and totally inaccurate, or or deciding in kneed your fashion to support a boycott of Atlanta, heavily black city, the stuff about the gun show, is Joe Biden confused? Is he misinformed or has he embraced really hardcore rhetoric? Be it true or not? Do you have any idea? I think it is the classic example of you do what you get away with, and there is very very little effort to hold the
president accountable when he says things that are false. Now, look, the reality is we all know politicians have a tendency to try to stretch the truth a little bit. But in this case, you guys have played just a couple of examples of when he just he just says things that aren't that just flat aren't true. Um, you know, nowhere has that been more apparent than when he's talking
about this Georgia elections law. You know, he keeps repeating this example that he says, look, it's people can't even get water when they're waiting in line and it's a hot day to vote. Uh you know which, multiple establishments, both left and right, have said looking, actually, that's not really true. As it turns out, if you're a poll worker, you can give someone in line water, But if you're an employee of a union, let's say, or you're a member of Q and on, you can't walk up and
hand someone water when they're in line. That makes a lot of sense. We don't have electioneering in California. We don't have it. They don't have it in New York and now they don't have it enjoy So these are the kinds of things where I just think he does it because he can get away with it. You know that the the renaissance with Joe Biden has not ended, and he's gonna take advantage of that. And that's really what this is. Just to to focus on the All
Star Game thing for a bit. We're talking earlier about that. There are now, i mean top to bottom Democrats in Georgia are a ghast that the All Star Game got yanked. They're piste off. Do you think that was just an in artful move or it seems to me he's just he's slowed down to the point he doesn't even have the ability to punt anymore. He just spews out an answer. Yeah, I mean, I don't I don't think there's a lot of thought necessarily given to what he's going to say
before he says it. Uh, you know, the All Star Game thing. Look, I think that is a classic example of quick trigger reaction that we see from corporate America, I include Major League Baseball and corporate America. They feel like they were under a tremendous and out of pressure and so they did something which you know, in retrospect, I think they probably I don't know that they'll regret it, but I think there's elements of it that they regret.
And also, by the way, the folks in Georgia, Democrats and Republicans, they realize that when the All Star Game goes, that means a lot of revenue for local businesses and the local economy. They mean the tension for Atlanta and for for the ballpark they've got there. So you know,
the people in Georgia have reason to be upset. Is there any chance he's playing three dimensional chess like the people are always talking about with Trump in that he's thinking, you know, if people are talking about the All Star Game, if people are talking about, you know, what I said or didn't say about guns, but they aren't discussing this couple trillion dollar change in the way we structure society. I'm fine with that. Call me stupid on guns all
day long. Will pass the two trillion dollar completely change America into France thing, and then I'll be happy. Yeah. You know, I'm not sure if it's three dimensional chess, but I do think it's clever in the sense that he recognizes he is going to get about as as long as a leash from the media as any president ever has in history of this country. And so he's
gonna take advantage of that. He's going to do everything he can to make sure that, you know, he tells his story and he gets his point of view out there, and if there is something that's potentially a bad story, he's going to figure out how he can distract people from it. And he has that, and he has that opportunity, uh and and he takes advantage of it. So in that sense, I don't know about three dimensional chess. I just think he knows what he has, and he's using
the assets that he has. Let's have pivot just a little bit, although it has a great deal to do with the giant Restructuring America plan. Uh. Joe Manchin with some strong statements about never ending or altering the filibuster. Uh. There are more and more noises that well Democrats are willing to compromise on some of the aspects of this plan. How does this Senate feel to you right now? The Senate feels to me to be completely bogged out oun Uh.
And I think one of the things, and one of the reasons why Joe Mansion made the statement he did, is because he's trying to figure out how can we make things more functional? Now. He's not some you know, patron saint of policymaking. He's just doing this because he realizes that for West Virginia, for his home constituency, he's elected by a relatively conservative state and he's a Democrat, and if he's going to get re elected, he needs
to show that he's going to get something done. He needs to be able to bring something back to the people of West Virginia the show that he's been productive, and he cannot do that with the Senate being the way that it is now, which is completely partisan, completely uh in apt, and unable to really move legislation unless it's done on a party line basis. And he's saying, look, that's not good for the Senate, and frankly, it's not
good for him. So I'm glad Mansion said it because he actually has some sway in terms of how these things are going to go. But look, at the end of the day, it's very difficult for me to envision the Senate getting anything done at all in a productive fashion.
And some of that is because of the Senate, but some of that, frankly, is because Biden's made the decision, Hey, look, if I don't have to work with Republicans, why would I. I'll just do whatever I need to do and and toward my agenda, as I see said, And and that's basically the decision he's made. To some states politics. The biggest state in the country, California, gonna have the first
ever trans governor in Caitlyn Jenner. Well, you know, it's funny that a lot of Republicans have been saying, oh gosh, you know what, what what what Republicans need to win in this recall race is like another Arnold. I'm not sure Caitlyn Jenner is another Arnold, but I think it responds to the reality that this recall race it's such a jump ball guys that I think you've got a bunch of people who think, why don't I just get in?
You never know what's going to happen, and I think that's one of the things that's driving you know, whether it's Caitlin Jenner or anybody else is thinking about this race. So I think the first interesting moment, of course, will be when a Democrat decides to get in. That will be the moment to pay attention to. And that moment may never come, but if it does, that's when the race really gets interesting. Well, if a Democrat gets in, they better sleep with one eye open, I mean, because
the knives are going to be out for him. Literally, really, yeah, you know, I mean, it's it's yeah, it's And that's why all the Democrats so far have been, you know, very nicely nodding and saying we support Gave and Jessom, we support Gave Jes. But look, the reality is they
can wead Poles as well as anybody else can. If they see that Gavin Newsom for some reason begins to sink and his numbers, you know, continue to fall, then the natural political marketplace will take over, and you know, folks with decide all of a sudden they have an interest in it. I think interesting. So we'll finish up with a little fill in the blank, lony, with your indulgence, with all the respect of the to the tragedy and sadness of the couple of recent shooting incidents. Uh fulfill
in the finished the sentence. The current discussion about gun laws will uh not lead to any significant changes anytime soon. Yeah, it's it's it's you know, I mean, it's just there's both both sides of the argument try to posture in their own way, and it really prohibits us from having a bigger conversation about what we need to do. Well, do you what do you think we need to do? What? Because when when there are shootings, I'm horrified. I wish
there were less of them. Um, But then I hear people propose gun laws that I don't think either they're either not constitutional or they wouldn't help. Do you have an idea of anything that could bring us to less of these shootings. Well, what I would say is, you know, I do think that there is targeted legislation to your point that is constitutional, that you know, things that need to be looked at that Congress has talked about. Even President Trump talked about some of these things when he
was in office. But beyond that, one thing I'll say is, I do think we need to address some of the mental health issues that we have in this country. And we don't do nearly enough to fund mental health. We don't do nearly enough to identify situations before they get to the point where people are unfortunately doing things because
they're they're not in their right mind. I'm not proposing, by the way that all of these situations are described by people not in their right mind, but I will tell you I believe there's a significant correlation between those who have mental health issues and those who are, you know, unfortunately engaging in some of these kinds of crimes. And I do think it's important for us to take a good hard look at how we can improve and better
address mental health issues in this country. There's no doubt. Lani Chen David and Diane Stiffy, fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Over Institution, Director Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford Lani. Great to talk to you, Thanks a million, thanks guys. All right, you got it.