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I Love You. Day two of the convention. Delegates recovering from a very late night in that hall as Joe Biden delivered his address that went late, described as emotional, he did wipe a tear during a very long standing ovation. Kayleie, that was the moment that many in this administration had been waiting for, and of course tease up Kamala Harris for her acceptance speech on Thursday night.
Yeah, and of course before we can get there, there's more speakers lined up this evening. We'll be hearing from both Obama's President Barack Obama and his wife, the former First Lady Michelle Obama, and the second Gentleman, Doug Mhoff will be speaking here in Chicago at the United Center this evening, but at the same time, Kamala Harrison Tim Walls will actually not even be in the state of Illinois.
They're heading to Milwaukee to Wisconsin and the Pfizer Forum, which of course was the scene of the Republican National Convention last month.
Yeah, a little interesting bit of programming. They are spending every night in Chicago, but leaving town for this one day two with the theme a bold Vision for America's future as the Democratic Party tries to deliver the message that they're turning the page.
Yeah, and the question is to what extent will they have success doing so in this pact convention week. Bloomberg's Hadrian Loan chron is here with us in Chicago covering it all along with our wonderful team of Bloomberg reporters, and she's joining us now here on set. So obviously there is a lot of pumped circumstance surrounding this. We will see that again this evening. What we will not see is Harrison Walls in the box where they were last night. Can you just walk us through the thinking
of the campaign here? To not be present on nighte two of the convention when so many members of the party are taking the Florida speak.
Right, it does seem a little odd, especially when you compare things to I was in the RNC in Milwaukee and Trump was there pretty much the whole week.
But again, I think this really.
Goes to the point where the Harris campaign really really feels they are the underdog. They're not taking anything for granted. And so yes, they're out campaigning. They were in Pennsylvania before the convention began, they're heading Milwaukee, they're hitting the swing stats.
And I think that also.
Comes as important to note that this comes as Trump will be doing a lot of counterprogramming this week, hitting several swing stats and making a visit to the border in Arizona. So again, the Trump campaign is trying to make that contrast. So the Harri's campaign is still saying, here, we're traveling, we're hitting the swing stats, swing states, we're not taking our voters for granted.
Well, it is also fair to say that in the past you might not see the nominee until the final night of the convention. But we'll see how this plays out this evening. Do you want to ask you about Joe Biden last night? There's been a lot of talk about run of show, the fact that he didn't get on TV sets on the East Coast or computer screens until eleven thirty at night. That was an interesting moment for him, a very emotional one. How come it went so late.
Well, that's a great question.
We know that a lot of the speeches did run pretty long. We know that a lot of it also came from the fans in the arena. I mean, you know, Hillary Clinton minutes three, four or five minutes before they were speaking, before she was set to speak, just roaring applause, and so the crowd is very energized. We also know that they were protests out kind of during the events that took place earlier on in the evening. We know that that was kind of cited as one of the
reasons for a bit of the delays. They did have to move some things around, and you know, people were nervous. Biden has tended to not do as well the later in the evening events have taken place. We know this is reminiscent of the late night debate. But you know, he was able to speak for nearly an hour.
I think he.
Did what he needed to do. He was tiery. You know, this is a very bittersweet moment for him. It's very non traditional. Passing the reins over to Harris and he spoke a bit about his record, but he also did say he was ready to be I think the quote was he's ready to be the best volunteer for the Harris Wolves campaign. And you know, to your point earlier about the weird kind of Harris Iman, Harris did actually make as a prize appearance on Tuesday. I'm on Monday,
and we are again excited. Everyone is ready to see her on Thursday. Tip to you know, formally accept the nomination.
But when we think about Harris being in that room with President Biden speaking last night, someone who wasn't physically in the room, but very much was, it felt like the center point of the majority of the speeches is the former president Donald Trump. Joe Biden mentioned him by name probably dozens of times. Realistically, Trump himself is counterprogramming this convention too. He's going to be in Michigan today.
What is the Trump campaign strategy as Democrats try to put on the show of unity Republicans were trying to put on in Milwaukee, list.
They're really trying to get Harris to do some more unscripted settings. We know that everyone speaking throughout the convention has a teleprompter. This is something that the Trump campaign is really hoping to kind of good Harris into taking more questions from reporters, doing a sit down interview, which she said she would do at the end of the month.
In addition to Trump himself counter programming throughout the week, he has surrogates who are here in Chicago every day holding a press conference where they themselves are taking questions. I wish they're on Monday. And I think the important kind of contrast here is again they're trying to say they acknowledge the polling that there has been a bump
and enthusiasm. The campaign is saying they expected that, they think that a plateau has been reached, and now they're thinking the more that voters will get a chance to see Harris, the more that enthusiasm will wane and they will start to see the Trump campagn will start see
those numbers go up. So they're hoping that the more opportunities there are for Harris to speak to the press, maybe trip up when discussing policy, that'll be the place where the Trump campaign then can jump in and make up some ground.
We're to be hearing from Donald Trump and Howell Michigan a little bit later on today talking about crime. This is one of the issues including the economy, a few others, the border that pull really well for Republicans. This is a message that's been sticking here in a place like Chicago. Are you hearing about that from Democrats? Are they acknowledging this?
Yes, excellent question.
I mean, crime is definitely something that the Trump campaign is working. They're actually using it as a way to say, this is their way to get women voters as well, which we know they are not having as much luck with compared to the Harris campaign. When asked just at the press conference the other day about appealing to women voters, they pointed to crime and they're focused on that, saying, well, women want to feel safe, they want a secure border.
But in contrast, the.
Biden Harris campaign, sorry the Harris Walls campaign now, but also the Biden Harris administration has also been pointing to the border. They've been their main thing. And Biden i think mentioned it mundane night, was that they had this border bill that's by partisan border bill, and that Trump then called up senators and that was why the border
bill was killed. So Biden pointed to that. The Democrats have been pointing to that, So that's kind of their you know, counter messaging on the border.
All right, bloomberg'shdrey On alone and Crown very busy here in Chicago. Thank you so much for joining us live on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Now, is hedred On talks about some of the messaging from President Biden last night and also was talking about women in particular. That is something that we heard from the incumbent president on the issue of diversity, not just for women, but all kinds of demographics across America.
In America where the fucking amount of created this nation, all of us are created equal, It's still very much alive and abroad. Coalition of Americas joined with me. Eighty one million voters voted for us. You are any time in all of history because of all of you in this room and others. We came together in twenty twenty
to save democracy. As your President, I've been determined to keep American moving forward, not going back to stand against Hayden violence in all its forms, to be a nation where we not only live with, but thrive on diversity, demonize you, no one, leave you, no one behind, and becoming a nation that we profess to be.
For more on that message and this convention as a whole. We're joined now by Congressman Catherine Clark of Massachusetts, the House Minority, which he's here with us in our studios in Chicago. Congressman, thank you so much for being here.
My pleasure.
Of course, we heard the President last night referring to diversity, talking as we heard many about the big tent in the Democratic Party. Is your job in the House to bring all those diverse forces together to be singing the same song. Can you just walk us through what it was like within the membership of the House to line everybody up behind what is now the Harris campaign, not the Biden campaign.
I have to say, out of all the tasks I've had as a whip in the House for the Democratic Party, this was perhaps the easiest. People immediately gravitated to Kamala Harris and saw her as our standard bearer for all the things that we have worked on with her as Vice President and her vision for the future. So whether that's lowering costs, whether it is growing the middle class, protecting our fundamental freedoms like reproductive freedom, Kamala Harris has
been our partner. And that was truly just almost instantaneous, that movement from President Joe Biden to her candidacy, because we knew she was the candidate for the the moment.
It's a very delicate thing we're witnessing though, and witnessed last night to see Joe Biden talking to the delegates there. I know it went very late into the evening, but the people in the room weren't concerned about the time. Obviously it had a rally feel to it, but there was a bittersweet emotional feel to this. It happened so fast. Congresswoman, how does he feel when you talk to him? What kind of emotions was he experiencing?
You know, I think we saw it on display, a true pride. And what has always been a hallmark for Joe Biden is his gratitude to be able to serve what an incredible quality and a politician and a leader, and it is what has made him a transformative president, that idea that there is a bigger calling here, that the American people are always at the center of his work, and it's at the center of this extremely patriotic decision.
And he deserved every minute of those accolades from the crowd, that genuine affection for him, respect for the job, and his service, and we look across the aisle at Donald Trump and you see.
The exact opposite.
He says, Democrats station, it's in one eighty because he cannot fathom giving up power for something bigger than himself. That is where Donald Trump is. It is always about how he will benefit, not how the American people will, not how the Democratic Party that is based on values will. So I'm sure he is wrestling with this moment, calling it a coup because he cannot understand it, because he could never do what Joe Biden did well.
Joe Biden has suggested his decision wasn't even as much about his ability to defeat Donald Trump, and instead the impact he could have, perhaps detrimentally on House and Senate races and the ability for other Democrats to win. What has changed for the Democrats' odds of retaking the majority in the House since Harris assumed her role as the Democratic nominee. How many seats, realistically do you think you can pick up?
You know, I have always been bullish on the Democrats retaking the House because what we've seen are do nothing at best and real extremism that the American people are rejecting. And so what we're seeing is this incredible energy and momentum that we are going to turn into action and in real time that is meaningful. Our candidates have seen a surge in volunteers of small, first time donors. When you get that ten to fifteen to twenty dollars donation, that's a boat.
That is a boat of that translate into ten to fifteen extra seats in the House.
Though, well, we certainly hope so. But my number is the whip and I like to keep tagging the numbers is to eighteen. That's our goal to win that majority and be able to bring the voices of everyday people back into the process. What we have seen from the GOP is this complete focus on their own power, their own civil war that they're engaging in, and the American
people feel like they're outside looking in. What we've continued to work with the Biden Harris administration to bring down the costs of healthcare, cap insulin at thirty five dollars a month, take on big pharma and say it is time that people be able to afford their life saving medication. Make those investments in climate change that also are great for the economy, and all of that work was done
and brought down our deficit at the same time. These are the kind of investments that we are going to build upon and continue to help families meet the very real challenges they're facing still in this economy. With Kamala Harris.
The issue of Israelness war against Times has been obviously a big one in this campaign in the primary cycle, and it's brought some fissures to the Democratic conference in the House. We've got tens of thousands of protesters here in Chicago that have been part of the story. You've also got a couple dozen delegates who are not committed for this reason. How important, congresswomen, will it be for the Biden administration, the Biden Harris administration to strike a ceasefire deal this week?
You know, it is all hands on deck and they are working so hard to make sure that we end this war, that we have a ceasefire, that we can bring those hostages home, and that we can surge aid to Palestinian civilians who, through no fault of their own, have suffered horrendously and continue to suffer. So we appreciate that there are protesters here, that's part of the democratic process. We respect their right to be here, and we hope that remains peaceful.
But it is the goal of.
The Democratic Party to bring peace and security not only to Israel but to the region.
And of course we know those conversations are ongoing. We'll still wait to hear more from hamass to whether or not it will agree. I'm also curious the conversations you're having related to your everyday job in Washington. Obviously still on the August recess, but when you come back in September, it's going to be a race against the clock to
avoid a government shutdown. Are you in conversations already with leadership and Republican leadership about how that's going to be avoided when you return to Washington in a few weeks, What exactly are you going to have to whip you.
Know, I'm so glad you brought that out because one thing we realize from the very start, when we were in the fifteen rounds of Kevin McCarthy be trying to become a speaker, that we are in the minority. So we have reached our hand out to them at every turn to say, work with us, help us prevent shutdowns, help us get to a budget process that matters. What we have seen from them is a rejection of that and a move to try and coddle the most extreme
members of their extreme party. And so it is really like such a basic fundamental job and responsibility of the House of Representatives to pass our budgets and they have utterly failed to do that. So once again, it will be Democrats, as we have done repeatedly, who will keep government functioning, who will come to the table forge a compromise. Because we work for the American people. They are working to try and hold their own coalitions together. And that's
the fundamental difference. We're seeing it play out around reproductive freedom for women. We're seeing it play out and bringing down the cost of groceries and housing, these issues that I hear about as I not only travel my district but travel the country. That is what people are worried about. That is what they want to see in Congress. It's why we're going to win the majority back.
Meet us back in Washington so we can continue this conversation. Congresswoman, it's great to see you. Love to thanks for the time today. I'm Bloomberg TV and Radio. The House Minority Whip, Congresswoman Catherine Clark in an important conversation on day two of the Democratic National Convention. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines with much more to follow.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and Enroid Oro with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa, play Bloomberg eleven thirty, and.
She continues here in Chicago, and it'll be interesting to see the tone shift that happens on this evening night two after night one, it was dedicated to the current president, Joe Biden, by and large, with signs of I Love Joe on the convention floor. He's now out of town and now it becomes much more about Kamala haha, Gers and Tim Walls.
That's true. It's a good place to start with the panel here, Kaylee, because it was an important moment and frankly, not a lot of Americans saw this live. Joe Biden didn't get on stage till eleven thirty last night, and as we said, the ovation might have lasted till midnight. Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzano are with us right now. Bloomberg Politics contributors. Rick Partner at Stone Core Capital, Genie of course, political science professor at Iona University. Welcome to
day two. Rick. Were you getting adjuta as someone who ran a convention watching this thing go over time last night?
Yeah, I was on a group chat with a bunch of guys who helped me organize the two thousand and eight convention, and we're all talking by about nine or ten o'clock.
This thing is really off the rails.
It's way late.
What is it any when you're canceling speakers in primetime?
It's a real embarrassment to the campaign organization, to the program committee of the convention. This thing is supposed to be accounted for. Every second of the schedule is written down, debated and rehearsed, and the fact that they were off by forty five to minutes to an hour and a half is just like a criminal offense in politics.
So I think that there was.
Probably a lot of come to Jesus meetings this morning around the program for tonight, and it'll be interesting if they can make their marks tonight get past it. But if they can't, this could be like the twenty or the nineteen ninety two convention for Republicans in Houston where Ron Reagan was pushed into midnight out of the primetime slot which was supposed to be his last, or off.
Well, I don't know how much of this can be contributed to or blamed on overstuffing the schedule perhaps, or just not when you're doing those calculations on time accounting for how many chants of thank you Joe you might have to get through before the President actually were to start speaking. Gene, I'd love for you to just reflect on the reception he got in that room last night and whether it makes it frankly better or worse from him knowing that he is on his way out.
Yeah, it was an amazing reception. But first of all, they bumped sweet Baby James for Jamie Raskin and I don't know Chris Coons and I love them both, but you know, let's get James Taylor back. I think tonight we will see a tighter schedule.
Let's hope.
To your point, there was a lot of applause for Joe Biden, but it wasn't only that some of not only do they have a lot of speakers, But some of these speeches went so long, and they were saying sort of perfunctory things sometimes like you know, help me elect Kamala Harris.
Well, we all know we're doing that.
So there's some nitpicking I could do on the way that this rolled out, But overall, a really warm reception for Joe Biden. These are all his delegates. You know, he's done something quite extraordinary, and stepping aside for Kamala Harris, it was not the speech I thought I was gonna get. I thought I was gonna get more. Here's what it's like to work with Kamala Harris.
Who here's versus here's what I've done.
Here's who I am, and here's what I've done.
But besides that, he's.
Done an extraordinary thing. It was his moment. But you just see when she came out like a rock star last night.
That's where the energy is.
And I was saying to Rick earlier, imagine if that had been Joe Biden still at the top of the ticket Thursday night. The difference in terms of the reception.
Woll how true, A lot of things have changed, and one of the more enduring images of last evening beyond what Genie just described, Sean Fame, who runs the United Auto Workers tearing his shirt open allah Hulk Hogan to show a T shirt that says Trump is a scab, and that apparently is going to be a refrain that we hear a lot in this campaign. Is it effective? Yeah?
I don't think the ripping off the blue blazer to show a T shirt intact was exactly h emotional Hulk Hogan. But there's only one Hulk Hogan.
Yeah.
Look, I think that last night actually echoed all the basic themes of the Democratic Party. You had a lot about union labor, right as if there is no other kind of labor in America union labor, And I think that's a dangerous place for the Democrats to go to say that it's only union labor that we speak to.
Two.
I thought that actually they did an amazing job talking about abortion, putting a public face on it. Republicans didn't talk about abortion at all at the Milwaukee convention, and you would have thought that was something that would get Republicans excited.
So what we saw last night was.
The base politics. You know what is going to get our people excited, not a lot of crossover appeal. There at all last night.
Well, something else we heard a lot about in addition to those themes Brick was Project twenty twenty five. We've heard a lot about this on the campaign trail thus far, but certainly it was a common theme in some of these convention speeches. Here's a little taste.
Donald Trump appointed the Supreme Court justices who got us into this mess. His Project twenty twenty five goes even further. Here's the thing Trump advance. Simply, don't believe in your freedom.
While Trump falsely please ignorance of Project twenty five, which in my opinion is Jim Crow two point zero KAMA has been offering the American people in enlightening proposals and visionary leadership.
Donald Trump and the Republican friends and I only can't think they can't read very well. Seriously think about it, look at their Project twenty twenty five. Why do way the part of education?
Rick. I want to come to you on this first, because obviously Donald Trump has now taken pains to distance himself from Project twenty twenty five. But given the messaging we're getting out of this convention, is it too late for him to create that separation? Knowing many of the authors of this project do have close ties to him.
Yeah, it's really quite a phenomenon because you wouldn't think something like this would actually go mainstream, right. It's kind of a club issue. Right, Republicans and Democrats and high places talk about these policy things and very rarely seeps out into the electorate. But in this case, Polster after Polster I've talked to says twenty twenty five is showing up in their verbatims. You know that people are worried
about this plan. They're afraid of it, and they couldn't articulate anything that was in it, but they know it's a bad thing. And so it's actually become a mainstream issue. And I think by virtue of that, Trump's already behind the curve.
And do you really want.
To debate twenty twenty five a plan that people think is a negative plan. So I think that it's going to hurt Republicans. I wouldn't suggest that anybody invests heavily in that. But I think the funniest part is there's a big Trump tower in Chicago and they were broadcasting in lights. Yeah, headquarters of twenty twenty five on the front of it.
Yes, it's amassing projections on the buildings walking around Chicago at night. But wait, Rick makes a great point, this is pretty esoteric stuff, and we're hearing people talk about it on a level. Janie, I would suggest, Kayleie, that every reference to Project twenty twenty five on the air gets a more vitriolic response on social media, for instance, from both sides of the aisle. How did Democrats make this a thing?
Yeah, it's fascinating.
I just wrote a piece on this, and the reason why was because when I was in Europe this summer, the number one question, to Rick's point, that I was asked from just people in the street, friends, colleagues, what do you think about Project twenty twenty five? And to your point, I couldn't get over how this had spread. And you know, my view of this is that it
is quite an opportunity for Democrats. I have read through this and it is long, and what you find in there are disagreements, fundamental disagreements amongst the Republican Party about critical issues. I wrote about Ukraine, for instance, which divides about twelve ways at this point. So I think of it as an opportunity for Democrats, not just to keep raising it in the way they are, but to try to pull over some folks who might otherwise, if they
care about these issues, might go a Republican. But they care so much about an issue like Ukraine that they're willing to think about voting the other side, whether it's Senate, House or the presidency. So it is an opportunity and Donald Trump knows this, which is why he's trying to walk away from it. But Democrats are saying this week, not so fast, we shall broadcast on Trump Tower.
Well, Genieus, you talk about drawing people over, and I raised this conversation with another one of our Democratic strategist We speak to you frequently, christ and Hahn yesterday. This notion that the people who are here in Chicago are the hardcore Democrats. They were going to vote for the Democratic ticket no matter who it was, if it was Biden or Harris. It is not their enthusiasm that you need.
So as everybody comes in confidence saying, look at how enthusiastic and energized we all are, those aren't the people you need energized? Right? You need to reach out to the people who aren't making the trip to sh Cogo necessarily, who are still on the fence. Do Democrats risk being too celebratory this week and not doing enough reaching out to those who still may not have their minds made up?
Absolutely, And this is where I felt so nitpicky last night, because they were speaking, in my view, many of them, And I would pull Alexandro Casio Cortez as an exception to this. I think, whatever you think of her, she gave a great speech. Not substantive necessarily, but in terms of speaking to the audience at home, because a lot of what happens is like we're watching in the room.
You can hear what the crowd is saying and all that stuff, and the speakers are talking to these folks and it's all of the delegates for Biden and Harris and now Waltz. But at home, people can't hear what's going on on the floor. You've got to speak to the people at home.
To your point.
I didn't find that happened enough last night. I think that's why it dragged on and on and on. They've got to ride that applause, speak over it and speak to the people at home. And they can't make this about an Excello cord or speech. It's got to be we're in Chicago. It's got to be to the folks who are going to decide this thing, the independence moderates in the seven Swing States. So I thought Alexandro Casio
Cortes coach her very Kurk. Did I just say her Kurt very very effective last night in terms of the way that they.
Spoke good placement. Well, that's the crossover that you were talking about earlier, Rick, You've had to strike that balance. Tonight it's Barack Obama. Ironically, as I sit here with Brick Davis, is he the one for that job?
You know?
Probably not.
And Monday nights are usually like that insurnal speak, that's not a surprise. But I think tonight is a really important point that Genie's making. I think they really need to open it up. Remember in twenty twenty, Barack Obama leveled a heavy attack on Donald Trump as being you know, the end of democracy, and a lot of people at the time thought, wow, that's really over the top. I mean, like this was quite a leveling of an attack on him.
And and the question for me tonight is does he reprise his role as a tack dog on Donald Trump? The visionary who has been there done that, and can you know, sort of guide the American public, this group that's still trying to make up its mind, who will determine the outcome of the election, not the people in that convention hall. And how will he speak to them about the perils of Donald Trump.
What's interesting is that as he speaks, as Michelle Obama speaks, as the second Gentleman speaks, Kamala Harrison, Tim Walls will not actually be in the convention hall to hear it. They will kind of be counter programming as they also speak in prime time at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you were running this campaign, Rick, would you not have staggered these events? So you get the coverage of the rally in the afternoon, and then you get the
primetime network coverage of the speeches. What do you make of this call?
I think this is really strange. You know, your counterprogramming. That means you don't like the programming in your hall, so you're.
Going somewhere else to get it.
That's usually what Republicans do at a convention for Democrats, and it's a crowd event. Eighteen thousand people are going to fill that stadium in Milwaukee, just like the report. Look convention and I think it's a very strange thing. Bad use of money, Right, you got a convention hall full of people, you want to go talk to somebody there they are right across the river. But the bottom line is she's going to get a moment of her
time tonight without actually being in the convention hall. And that's unusual, and I can see the value of that. She's still trying to introduce herself to the American public, and this way she gets to talk to the people. Genie's talking about, the undecided voters in a targeted state.
Well, to Kaylee's point, she's supposed to talk at nine pm Eastern. Who are we watching tonight?
We're gonna split that screen, Joe Matthew. Yeah, I think it's very street like. It would have made total sense if it was in the afternoon or maybe on Friday.
She leaves Thursday. It goes there.
She does need to be in Wisconsin, obviously, she needs to be making these speeches. She needs to take it to Donald Trump. Nothing drives them crazy like her getting a crowd where he just at his convention. But the timing is very, very odd, and the fact that her husband is speaking here that you know you've got the former president.
It's strange. Now do you think maybe they change the time.
I don't know how, but at this point it's a strange way to schedule.
Things, is all I can say. Unless they're counting on the schedule here running lately Primetime, see you work and.
Actually thoughts here breakfast with Obama.
Who knows, Rick Davis, and Jeanie Shanzino here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us. Basically, we are all spending all of our time together here in Chicago as we broadcast live from.
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A two, which is also night too, which of course is when we're going to hear from former President Barack Obama, the former First Leady Michelle Obama, and the current second Gentleman of the United States, Doug M. Hoff, who will be head tonight after the headliner of the first night, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who has now left the town and is on vacation in California.
Yeah, Joe Biden has left the building. It went late last night. He left the city and the state as well. Kayley to allow the proceedings now to begin in a wind up that will bring Kamala Harris Thursday night to her acceptance speech. Her formal acceptance speech. Barack Obama will be holding forth later the former president, who might have some stern words for Donald Trump. Although, by the way,
counter programming this convention throughout the week. Today he is back in Michigan, something that we'll be talking about later. He's got an event on crime, of course, with Chicago in mind.
Yes, something the Republicans are hitting very hard. But Democrats were taking a fair number of shots at their own about the Republican Party in general and specifically the former president. We got a lot of those from President Biden last night, including some pretty powerful emotional words about what Donald Trump has said about veterans.
Yes, you do at it and done respect our veterans. We know from his own chief of staff and four star General John Kelly that Trump went in Europe, would not go to the grave sites in one of the France The brave service members who gave their lives of this country. He called them suckers and losers. Who in the hell does he think he is? Who does he think he is? There's no words for a person. They're not the words of persons not worthy of being the commander in chief period, not then.
Not now, and not ever. I mean that.
I mean that in the bottom of my heart.
President Biden last evening in one of the more dramatic moments of his address, and it's where we start our conversation now with Congressman Seth Moulton, the Democrat from Massachusetts, has arrived in Chicago, and of course, if you've been with us before, you're aware of his time as a Marine combat veteran, serving four tours in Iraq, so a unique perspective that we always enjoy sharing. Congressman, it's great to see you in Chicago. Thanks for being here. This
clearly made Joe Biden angry. How does it make you feel? Well?
I mean, we all know how important Bo Biden's service is to Joe Biden as a father, as a commander in chief, as an American, and it is really remarkable that you have a major party candidate in Donald Trump, who just truly hates veterans, and that's not an exaggeration. He has shown time and time and again he's called them. He's called us losers and suckers, and there was losers
for signing up, suckers if you get killed. He was walking around Arlington Cemetery with his own chief of stabmarine veteran John Kelly, when he said, I just don't understand why they did it, what was in it for them? And this while John Kelly was there in part to see his own son's grave, Lieutenant Kelly, who died in Afghanistan.
Well, whatever you may think about his attitude toward veterans, he does have a veteran running with him in jd Vance. Kama Harris also has a veteran running with her in Tim Walls, and yet his service record has come under immense scrutiny since his selection. It has framed it as stolen valor.
Well, because Jade Vance is following Donald Trump's playbook of denigrating veterans, and we should be celebrating the fact that, you know, for the first time in a long time, we have two veterans on the major party candidates, the first time that we've had veterans really from these most recent wars, and that's something that we should be celebrating. And you know, both Jadie Vance and Tim Waltz have service records that should be lifted up and used as
an examples. Instead JD. Vance is just going down the same path as Donald Trump and attacking the service record of Tim Walls, who, by all accounts was a great soldier in the army.
Well, look, we saw this with your former colleague John Kerry from Massachusetts the swift Boats. Of course, we've got some of the same people involved in the messaging in this campaign in Chris Losovita, who was part of the Swift Boats campaign back in two thousand and four. I was compelled by Mark Kelly's response to all of this. Clearly was not happy with this stolen valor accusation, but he said, both of you should be thanked for your
service JD. Vance's and Tim Walls. Is that the way we should approach.
Exactly, And then that's what I just said. I mean, we should be lifting up the fact that both of them have served the country in different and important ways. And you know what veterans really hate is other veterans who misrepresent their service who make their record out to be more than it is. And that fundamentally is what jd Vance is trying to accuse Tim Walls. But it
just doesn't. It doesn't hold water. It doesn't hold water at all, and it's not really the way that veterans respect youself serving in Congress, I have a lot of veterans on the other side of the aisle and I disagree with on a lot of policy ischusing, yet they're often the first people I go to work with, like if I have to do, you know, work on a piece of bipartisan legislation like the nine eight eight National Mental Health Hotline now it's part of the Veterans Crisis
Line as well. I co authored that bill with an Air Force veteran from Utah. There are a lot of issues we disagreed on, but he was one of the first people I went to to work with on that legislation because I knew, as a result of our shared service, we had something in common. We had some trust that we shared some common experience, even though we did very different things as an infray auser in the Marines, as
a world record holding pilot in the Air Force. So you know, Chris was an amazing Chris Stewart was an amazing partner in many ways, much more distinguished military record than mine. I'm not in againest book of World Records for anything from.
My time in the Marines.
But the point is that we found that common and you would like to see that happening on the presidential stage. But of course Jade Vance is just going down in the gutter with with Donald Trump. He's much more interested in following Donald Trump's playbook than upholding the values that he should.
Have learned in the Marines.
Well, Congressman, obviously, we thank you for your service and all those who have served or currently serving. And in recent weeks, Joe and I have had to ask some pretty tough questions about those who are currently serving and whether or not they may have to become active in combat in the Middle East once again, as we cast an eye on Iran, which still has yet to retaliate against Israel, and wait for a progress on a potential
ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. That of course, is something Joe Biden wants to achieve with the remaining time as president. He spoke about that on the convention floor last night. Just take a listen briefly to his words.
Oh, keep working to bring hostages home and end the war and gossm and bring pieces of carters in the life. We're working around the clock. My Secretary of State, rent a wider war re and I hoste to their families, and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza.
Now the.
Civilian suffering of the Palace Indian people, and finally, finally, finally deliver a cease firing in this war.
Now.
Israel, of course has accepted this bridge cease file proposal from the US Hamas at this time has not. Are you confident that it can be done or are you still worried that potentially the US could get involved in a deeper conflict in the Middle East.
No, look, I'm very concerned, and let's just be clear, not in our national security interests to be drawn into another massive war in the Middle East. It's not in our interests in terms of our big picture problems around the globe, like focusing on China, where the real focus should be for US national security. Right now, of course, there's already a hot war in Ukraine that could spill over into Europe. Last thing we need is to get
bogged down in the Middle East. That would be a gift the sieging thing in China and Vladimir Putin in Europe. We also we also want to make sure by the way that in the Middle East we reach a resolution that enables us to truly have peace for Israelis and Palestinians. And we should agree on some common points here. First of all, Israel needs to not just end this war,
but actually win it, actually defeat Hamas. You can't have a terrorist organization running Gaza, but they need to do that in a way that has a political endgame that both sides can buy into, that can truly bring peace. Prime Minister, Yet Yaho hasn't articulated that yet. So this is a complicated situation in some ways because the players have made it so complicated.
But it shouldn't be.
We should be able to find a lot of common ground here. Let's defeat Hamas, Let's stop killing civilians, Let's have a durable peace plan that it is politically acceptable to both Palestinians and Israelis, and ultimately that not only brings peace to them in the least it make sure that the United States doesn't have to have troops on the ground.
Well, there is a fear of, not an expectation, that Iran is going to retaliate militarily against Israel for the killings of the leader of Hamas and the official from Hesbolah. That means that, once again, after what we saw in April, American airmen sailors could actually be in a direct head to head combat, essentially knocking down missiles out of the air, shooting at drones. We're getting very close to a direct engagement in that world with Iran. How nervous does that make you?
That's right, and the Republicans have attacked President Biden for trying to de escalate the situation. Let me just be clear, de escalating the situation is exactly in our interests right now because we do not want to be in a shooting war with Iran. We do not want to be
putting us lives at risk here now. Does Iran need to be deterred from further action, Yes, absolutely, But this is a complex negotiation going on here, and we want to have fundamentally peace between Israelis and Palestinians so that Iran doesn't have the motive to continue these attacks. Let's also not forget that Israel has a serious problem on its northern border with Hesbola, and I think that's a
particularly complex situation. There's not an easy answer there. Israel has already seen one hundred thousand of its citizens displaced. They need to be able to go back to their homes in peace. So you know, there's a reason why the United States is having a role in the peace process here and why we're trying to stay out of a direct conflict that would fundamentally draw us into a war.
Congressman, it's great to have your expertise as a member of the Armed Services Committee, of course, given your own experience in the region. Congressman Seth Milton of Massachusetts, enjoy your time in Chicago, sir, We appreciate having you.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then roud Oro with the Bloomberg Business Ad. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York State Joe Say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven.
We are joined now by Danny Wurtsch, Chairman and CEO of the Chicago Blackhawks, alongside Michael Ryan Soto are a president and CEO of the Chicago Bulls. They are both here with us on set in Chicago. Welcome to you both. Thank you so much for being Yes, it is a power team that's so sure about that. I don't know indeed. Well, obviously it's a big week for you guys. I'm sure one that has had probably a year or so of
preparation leading up to it. Michael, if we could just start with you talk to us about the decision to host this convention at the United Center and what all has gone into it and whether or not this is the most lucrative thing you could have done with a building of itself.
Oh, I mean, clearly, it's not the most lucrative thing we could do because we've shut down our buildings since the end of our season, so we've had no we haven't booked any events for the last couple of months.
But to us, this was kind of a no brainer.
When Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lifefoot came to us, we were on board from the very beginning.
The convention kind of kicked off.
I think that a lot of the redevelopment on the West Side in ninety six, so the United Centers opened up in nineteen ninety four. This's our thirtieth year, and the ninety six convention was a complete success, and now it's many years later and we want to do our part of supporting the city of Chicago that we love so much.
Fascinating, I'm really taken by the logistics behind something of this scale. You can throw a concert, you can host a game, but this is on a much larger level. You have fifty thousand people attending, and I'm just curious what goes into that type of a transformation.
Tremendous planning. And the good thing is our team kind of at the United Center are used to these, you know, one hundred and fifty nights a year working games, concerts, et cetera, big events like All Star Games. But this is another level, and I know our team at the United Center kind of like the challenge of really rising to the occasion. And then of course it's partnerships. It's partnerships with all the city agencies and all the people
that have to make at all work. And it's an impressive experience to go walk through and just walking through last night and see all the pieces come together to make the event is it public.
Service though also Kaylee references the fact that you could be making a lot more money doing something else.
Yeah, I think it's kind of in our DNA to step up and to do the right thing for the city, because when the city does well, we do well as a business. And these conventions are big opportunities to put the spotlight on our great city, to showcase what we do so well, and to bring people and bring business to Chicago.
Well, as we think about the work you're doing in Chicago, obviously you announced a few weeks ago, as Tyler mentioned, the nineteen oh one project, you're besting more than seven billion dollars to basically the area where now the area that surrounds the United Center. How do you fund that? As we're having a conversation here about money.
Well, we're going to fund it privately.
You know, We're lucky because the United Center is kind of the anchor tenant, so we have a chance to redevelop the land, the parking lots. So when we opened the building, we had six thousand parking spaces available, and we never we didn't want to make it a sea of parking. But what happened with a lot of people bought parking, you know, vacant lots and made additional parking, so we actually became kind of a sea of parking. And now we have this opportunity to reimagine this neighborhood.
It's not We're not Danny, I've talked. This isn't It is not an entertainment district that you see in a lot of other cities with their buildings, their arenas and stadiums. This is an opportunity to do something different for the West Side. So it will be privately financed, and you know we're talking we're talking a lot of development, whether it's we're building a music hall, we're building hotels, affordable housing, open park space. I mean, it's it's kind of like
Chicago's West Side. It's it's their time, it's our time.
There's a big conversation about crime in this campaign that you hear a lot about. I'm sure the former president Donald Trump has been criticizing Chicago of using crime statistics in some of his speeches, and we have to acknowledge the reality of the matter. But when you consider an investment of that scale and you look at the geography, is it you build it and they will come the timing is what I'm curious about considering the backdrop of your investment here when it comes to crime in Chicago.
Well, we have a long term view, Danny. How long has your family been.
Been here for almost one hundred years and tell you, you know, crime has always been something that we've had to contend with and work with. But we also know that when when we invest in the neighborhoods and when you invest in economic development, that is one way to help create opportunities that gets to sort of the root cause of some of the crime issues you see today.
So I think Chicago has a history of really rolling up our sleeves and trying to be part of the solution, try to partner, you know, with the public sector to figure out how do how do we create those opportunities to help, you know, stem some of those problems from violence.
Yeah, you have to understand one thing. When the United Center opened, there was no one went west of the business district. Yes, and units in open ninety four. Mayor Daily wanted to bring the convention to you know, make up for what happened in sixty eight.
Ninety six.
Convention went off perfectly, and then all the developments started happening. I don't think Fulton Market, which is just to the east of US, I don't think that naturally happens without the Uniteds that are kickstarting all of this. So for us, we're not worried about the timing. We think the timing is right right now.
Well, the timing for having the public cooperation with investing in things like stadiums, as we've seen evidence by say the Chicago Bears, for example, doesn't seem to be great. There's been a lot of pushback in that. And I know you just said that you're planning to finance this privately, but what do you think about the dynamic surrounding the financing mechanism of these investments into sports facilities of Frinkley
the facilities around them. If, as you say, this is about helping to invest economically, that could help with things like crimet I.
Think every situation is very different. Every you know, wherever you're looking to do your development, has different opportunities, and I think it is that partnership, you know, with the public to figure out where that benefit lies. We know in our situation, you know, we own our land, We've
owned our land for a long time. We've been part of this community for almost one hundred years, so you have a good feel of what the neighborhood needs, how to how to find those nice trade offs and those important trade offs between our commerce and what we need from the community, and then you build it together. And I think other developments are going to obviously are putting that more at the forefront than ever before.
When you consider public private partnership and just the role that you play in this city. You're no strangers to politics, which is what we talk about every day here on this program. Are politics making it more difficult to do business or the conduit for your success?
I mean, for us, I think that there seems to be a lot of interest in our development. When we went to the Mayor's office, we talked to people you know that surround him, all the men Walter Burnette.
And seem to be on board. Like to me, this was almost like a no brainer. I mean, you have a group of people that want to spend seven billion.
Dollars, they might want to take that meeting. Yeah, Night's relationships are long and important to you.
Of course. I mean we have.
You know, we have friendships going back many many years. Now we have a new mayor here who just became mayor of last year, and we're developing a relationship with him. But like I said earlier, our families go back a long long time. We're about Chicago, not about the politics. It's what can we do to make Chicago a better place.
Well, a lot of the politics today, or at least the political issues that seem to be dominating in there. I certainly we're seeing this week and in this election surround the economy as well. We've seen such a change in the economy over the last four years from the pandemic, which obviously shut down facilities like the United Center for an extended period of time, to this resurgence and demand for that experience economy people wanted to go to live
of events like sports games and concerts. Now we're all asking this question of whether or not the softening is finally upon us in the labor market and potentially in consumption as a result. Are you seeing any any signs of that in a waning of demand or is there still demand to go?
I think for some expensive things for sports and entertainment, I think it seems like every year is bigger than the last year. I think we had a record year for other events outside of our two teams. Last season, we obviously here across the board Lollapalooza had record attendance this year for live music and festivals. So again, I think that desire to be connected, that desire for experience and people willing to pay for it is still there.
So at least in that part of the business, for sure, we see some nice tailwinds, whereas you know, other parts of the business definitely see some of those.
I think it's helped that in the music industry changed so much over the years that before putting out albums was really made the money.
Now it's tory.
So now you have all these acts, and so every year seems like we're getting more and more acts. And how many different concerts did we do last year?
I mean, I think we're almost eighty different content.
It's kind of crazy.
And so now we're building this music hall, which is a six thousand seat venue, and that's going to get some of the smaller acts.
And we don't see a softening.
Right now, and especially in the markets like Chicago, which seems to be able to absorb a tremendous amount of live events and entertainment.
Sure Chicago loves Yeah, Chicago loves is sports. So we feel pretty good about where we're at here.
But it's an interesting take that you have just broadly beyond even spending on events, sports and concerts, you don't see a consumer prepared to slow down or more wary about conditions.
I think.
I think what we see is that you better make sure that you are delivering a special experience from the time that someone gets into their car or takes the train or takes their ride sharing to you know, get parking the car, going to the building, getting their food, getting their drinks. We better make sure that it is a top quality experience. And that's some of the biggest challenges we have because we don't control the traffic, we don't control certain things. We don't control when it's a
blizzard in the middle of winter. Probably one of the great things about this DNC is that it's in the summer right above that not here in the winter.
I have to say, the weather right now is certainly preferable.
We ordered up for you guys, thank you.
I want to ask as well because something we just saw happen in Washington last year was the purchase of a sports team for a pretty rich valuation in the Commanders. We've seen the valuations seem to go up in general, and I wonder if you think this is something that is sustainable. How you're considering your own valuation for the black Hawks at this time, If you've been having any conversations with private equity about these kind of things, can you just shed some.
Light on that, Danny, I'm fourth generation owner of our family, I think, one of the longest contiguous owners of a major sports franchise in all of sports, and for us, it's something we just hold really dear to our family. So we're sort of in a very unique situation from an ownership standpoint, which, of course the interests in these
very coveted licenses are driving those values up. So we love the valuation, but it doesn't necessarily change our strategy to continue to hold and develop and grow our family asset for another few generations.
And what about for the Bulls, for the Bulls, I mean for the Chicago Bulls. Why would we want to get out being part of the Chicago Bulls. I mean, we were the first, probably the first global sports franchise in the world thanks to Michael Jordan. So for our family and for our investors, our partners, we're not interested in being a seller. Is it nice that the valuations
of these teams are going up. Sure, but at the same time we're not going to realize any of that because it's the bulls aren't going anywhere.
Well, we have another big sports deal in Washington, d C. And that was Ted Leonsen's teams deciding to stay in Washington and a massive deal to kind of of rebuild the neighborhood. He talked to us about the challenges of moving buildings, changing spaces that allow people to flow into a new area that they might not be going to otherwise. You're facing something similar here when you've got a river in the way, You've got a couple of things. How do you envision this project in western Chicago in a
way that will actually bring the flow of people to Europe. Actually, think the hardest.
Part was thirty years ago, as Michael said, you know, crossing that threshold to come to the West Side to see an event. And you know, over seventy years, you know, people got used to coming to the Chicago Stadium, but it didn't offer a lot on the way where we're at now. The growth happening on the west side of Chicago is tremendous. Fulton Market is the most explosive neighborhood in the city of Chicago. That's right at our doorstep. The growth of the Illinois Medical District just south of us.
So there's momentum here and there's a lot of other things happening around this development that I think gave us the confidence that the energy is coming, and the energy is here, and the infant ructures.
In the infrastructure.
Now that's an area where I think I think the city is very interested in really understanding what the infrastructure needs are to make sure we can continue to bring people here through the various forms of transportation that we have, all the things we need for this to be continued by our neighborhood.
What a treat to have this much time. Thank you both for being so generous, A great conversation here. Yeah, this is why we came to Chicago. Denny Words, Michael Reinstorff. Great to see both of you and thank you for being with us on Balance of Power. Thanks for listening
to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC, at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com