Where's the Beef? Lanhee Chen talks to Armstrong & Getty

it's happening. Basically, they've started the campaign, so the campaign begins, but the campaigns actually their campaign has been going on for the last two and a half years. So it's a shame. And the people understand it. When they look at it, they just say presidential harassment. But that's okay, No, Well, is that what people are gonna see. That's why he's looking forward to talking to Lanhe because he knows, he's been in war rooms, He's looked at poll numbers, he

knows how to read the mood. I just wonder how people are going to react to are you, referring to Mr longheat Chen, host of the podcast Crossing Lines with lanha Chen, David and Diane Stephy, research fellow at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University, Loan he how are you, sir, Good morning? How are you, gentlemen.

We're excellent. So we got the sense. I think everybody's got the sense that the Mueller Report must be a dud, and word must have gotten out to everybody as the Democrats have decided, it's not the Muller Reports, not the important thing. The important thing is this tax situation. And you even got Eric Trump saying the Mueller Report needs to be put out in its entirety. So I think that nails that down, that that's gonna be a nothing. So so we're moving on to all this other stuff.

Trump's taxes is business. All that sort of stuff is. As Trump just said, American going to react to that with what the hell You're just You're just doing anything you can to get rid of this guy. Is that going to backfire or not? Yeah? I do think it's going to be a challenge for Democrats because the shifting of the goal posts as it were is not going to work in their favor. I mean the Muller Report. Yes,

I think the Muller Report. Because Mueller's charge is so specific, it's charges specifically the question of Russian intervention in the two six and sixteen election. I think under that very narrow premise, it's going to be tough to nail too much more down on the president. The question then becomes, yeah, can they shift the uh, can they shift the focus elsewhere? And is that going to really play in the election. I think the answer that depends on what the elsewhere is.

But by and large, based on what we've seen so far, I do think people are going to be like, look, um, you got to assess this guy based on his performance, and yes, there are things about him we don't like, but let's talk about his performance instead. I think that's got to be the focus for Democrats going into Listen, I loan he, I don't know if you know this about me, Joe Getty, but I have the gift of being able to see deep within the soul of America.

And yeah, and Frank be happy to assist on future campaigns and lend you that. But um, it strikes me that the baked in Trump supporters and the baked in Trump haters are what they are. Um, the rest of America is going to see what amounts to an investigation of his entire pre presidential financial life as irrelevant and as a mean spirited and in a distraction. That's my sense of it. Um, do you think that's Well, you've

already said you think that maybe the risk? Yeah, I mean the again, I think the goal here for a lot of Democrats is to find something or anything they can use to support an impeachment charge. And if they want to go to his life pre presidency, I have a very difficult time seeing how most Americans are going

to see that as relevant. Now. Of course, what they're gonna say is there are things that started pre presidency that has leaked into the presidency, that have leaked into his conduct as president, that have caused him to I don't know, obstruct justice, let's say, is to then we're talking about a very similar set of questions to what hampered Bill Clinton. Now, Bill Clinton his problems were more directly related to things he did while he was president.

So the question will be how much leakage, as it were, is there, and how much are people willing to say, like, yeah, that that's actually a problem. Uh, that is supportive of impeachment and peep is a very serious political charge. And I just don't know that people are going to look at it and say, oh, yeah, you know, like this is a worthwhile endeavor for Democrats to be engaging and I think it's going to end up haunting them. Yeah, I just I wonder where this is gonna go. Uh,

Quinnipiac poll that just came out. I mean, Trump has been president for a while now, America has had a good chance to take a look at his act and his life and what he's all about. And Quinnipiac pole has of people say they don't want to go out down the impeachment road at this moment. Huh. It seems like there would have to be something really new to move those numbers significantly. With mere Yeah, there would be.

I mean, here's the reality, right, You've got thirty percent of people who feel that Donald Trump can do no wrong and and and it's it's a group of people proverbially that the president said I could go to the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone wouldn't matter. So that's that's his base. That's pretty baked. And then you've probably got another twenty or thirty percent on the other side who will dislike Trump and will hate him regardless of what he does. Even if he goes out and

saves puppies and and unicorns, they're gonna hate him. The question really comes down to this fort you know, give or take, what's going to move those numbers? And I'm not convinced that impeachment for the Democrats is going to move those numbers. Now, a bad economy could move those numbers,

a global catastrophe could move those numbers. The president's failing to uh to get anything done on his stated policy priorities, including by the way, immigration, that could impact that forty But impeachment is not going to move that forty percent. So Democrats have to be very careful to hear what they're doing. He's speaking of leaders a long he's guest on Crossing Lines with Line he chan his podcast is a Mitt Romney this time around, So I can't wait

to listen to that myself. That's a good one. So let's talk a little bit about um the other side of the aisle, the Democrats in Congress, where the brief but almost immediately uneasy infatuation with the freshman class A O. C. Among others has turned to real concern. Um, you've got the gal from Minnesota whose name I can never remember, accused of making anti Semitic statements. What's your sense of

which way that's going? Yeah? I mean this is like one of those times when you go to McDonald's and you get the at the Hamburger and you're like, what where was it be for? Is the patty? And I think we're seeing a very similar thing with this freshman class, which is, you know, they come in with the splash

AOC especially. Everyone loves to talk about her, everyone loves to talk about her colleagues in this class, and then they realize it's not a lot of there there, and there's there that is there is actually quite controversial, whether it's the Green New Deal or the activities of other members here who who make controversial comments. I think it's just the demonstration of the battle that's going on within

the Democratic Party. The question of rich side of the Democratic Party is going to exert more control as we go towards It's going to be the traditional mainstream wing led by people like Joe Biden and and yeah, Hillary Clinton verses this sort of new insurgent Democrat wing, and right after the election, everyone has said, Okay, it's gonna be AOC, it's going to be her politics, and now

you're seeing the establishment strike back to a certain degree. Now, it doesn't mean that her side of the party isn't going to control the discussion. In fact, Mike Bloomberg's decision not to run, if anything, is demonstrative of the fact that the progressives are still rising and ascended in the party. That into I thought, I thought, wow, Bloomberg just doesn't even think a guy like him can run exactly. But

you know, but but here's what it does mean. It does mean that AOC is not going to get a free ride anymore. She's not gonna get a free pass. Well, she's been called out on her realtor eyes for instance. Have you ever noticed long he she has realtor you know what, I don't even know what realtor eyes are. But I have to agree that that maybe if if the characterization is whether one can trust AOC or not,

I tend to agree that she's probably not trustworthy. That having been said, she's not going to get a free pass. You know people are going to question her ideas, but it doesn't mean that her brand of progressivism is not going to be something that primary voters in aren't looking for. So, you know, it's an interesting balance the Democratic Party is going through right now. Hill, are you announced She's not?

I guess she didn't announce. She off handedly said, look, I'm not running, and then the New York Times is trying to clear that up today, saying that she didn't close the door on So I don't know where we are. And Hillary, well, if she knows what's best for her and what's best for the party, she'll move on. He's the Seers of Politicians. We've dubbed her the Series of Politicians.

You think it's gone, it just keeps coming back. So so wh he We keep getting emails from Coloradden's saying old John Hassan Sepper is actually a really likable and

effective politician. What do you think of hicken Looper. Yeah, aside from the fact that it's very difficult to get his name out without stumbling over it, I think it's he does have a record of accomplishment as a governor, and that's the thing about being a governor, and and this is why for a long time I think Republicans tended to like governors rather than senators as as their as their candidates, because because there is this notion that

being an executive, you've actually done something, you've had to work together with people from the other side of the aisle. And hick and Looper does have this record, and I think he will be the more moderate guy, uh in this race. The question is going to be, how do you get air in an environment where the emphasis is on doing things that are outrageous and doing things that are just completely over the top. That's not John hick and Looper, and so can he work in this environment?

I I teach a class at Stanford where uh, we're talking about the campaign, and actually one of my guests is today a very social Republican, very well known Republicans that he thought hickan Luper would be in the final three. I understand that point of view. I just don't know how he gets air time. I don't know how he gets list off in this environment. Question back to my

ability to see deep into the American soul. Um, we are very close to peaking and and cresting and going down the curve of how much hyperbole, and I hope your excitement well, yeah, I fear it too. I'm just thinking a calming presence. I've often said all all politics, presidential politics, in particular reaction to what's just happened. You know, Ford was was calm and plexidity after Nixon, and Carter was even calmer than that. But I could see the

appeal of Hey, listen, I'm a pretty nice guy. I'm reasonable. I don't hate Republicans like Biden. Yeah, except he Looper is not, you know, older than the Hills, so I don't know, it will be an interesting guy to keep an eye on. Hey, Lannie, you have Mitt Romney on the day. You and him are friends, But on your podcast, are you gonna poke him trying to get him to say bad things about Trump? Because he hates Trump? Right?

We we did talk a little bit about about his policy's views about a few issues and how they might differ from Trump, But overall it was I just wanted to get a froth of whether he's likeing what he's doing now. I think a lot of people just wondering. You know, he's made this transition back into public life. He's in the Senate now after having been a chief executive and governor. What's that like? And so we had

a nice conversation. It was great to see him. And for the record, I think he's really enjoying this chapter of life. And I think you guys talking about policy about personality is where it's at. Please. Mitt Romney says he's like to punch you Donald Trump in the face. Listen to it on Lani Chan's hit podcast, Crossing Lines with Lani chen uh Lani. It's always enlightening and fun. Thanks a million, and we appreciate it it talk to thanks and we'll have a link at Armstrong and getty

dot com so you can dig his podcast. You want to get attention, you gotta set yourself on fire on a tight rope, right, that's the only way to go about it, right, Intelligent and measure discussion, apology, another kick in the guts. This is a tight rope, inflammable in this situation because it's complicated. You got to put a special coating on it. I hope you're right. You think there's a limit, right, You can only go so far

down the there's a reason. You know, you play a big song and then you bring it back down and you kind of play a quieter song there in the concert. You can't just be over the top the whole time, right, Yeah, People fatigue and I my feeling is people are getting a little fatigue. We'll see now when you're ready to ride Metro. We want you to know we're ready for you. Here are just a few of the people at Metro to tell you how we're doing our hard to keep

riders safe. We're cleaning like novel before you found hass out of suns of stakes us all over the Metro, no mask, no Metro need one. We have a few extras at Metro. We're doing our part to keep the DC area moving. Find out more at will mata dot com slash doing our part