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Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Balance of Power on Bloomberg Radio, on satellite radio and on YouTube. Where you can find us right now live search Bloomberg Business News Live. You'll see our live stream here from Washington and New York. We always reserve a seat for you in the studio. So, yeah, it's Tuesday. This is it, guys. One week. We're at the seven day mark with dueling speeches today from the
two candidates. We're going to be talking about both of them with Denver Riggleman in a moment as we survey the landscape here. President Biden, Yes, Joe Biden is still the president. We'll be in Baltimore today delivering remarks on his Investing in America agenda as the two candidates take different paths. Kamala Harris staying here in Washington. This is an idea that's generated some controversy. Why aren't you in
a swing state? She'll be on the ellipse, of course, conjuring images of January sixth, in a speech that seems to be pivoting into something more optimistic, talking about her overall agenda, drawing distinctions between herself and Donald Trump, Who's going to be in Allentown, which is very curious today. I believe the largest Latino population in Pennsylvania in Allentown. As remarks from Madison Square Garden catch fire, and the campaign finds itself playing defense again. Here we are with
a real contrast, but polls that are tied. Denver. Riggleman is with us in Washington, of course for congressman, former Republican congressman and also one of the forces behind Republicans for Harris. You're in town to see this thing unfold on the ellipse, aren't you welcome? I am in the studio. Well, thank you for having me. Yeah, I am.
It's what a I know we were talking a little bit beforehand, but what a full circle for me from.
The January sixth investigation.
Yeah, you know how it started on the ellipse right with Donald Trump, and here here I am going to be there with Republicans.
For Harris, it's just a so what's going through your mind? And what do you think about this argument over her choice of venue, the Optics. A week out when she could be talking about the economy in Michigan, she's here in Washington bringing people back to a dark moment in our history.
I think, after Madison Square Garden, what you saw at
the rally, I think this is a brilliant move. You know, I was thinking about this a little bit myself, but after the MSG debacle, if you want to call it that, I think what she's doing here, she's saying that American needs to come together and in a place right where the constitutions maybe it's strongest is right here at the seat of power of the United States and Washington, d C. So I think it's actually a master stroke after what happened in Madison Square Garden.
Interesting, this speech appears to be evolving. Maybe you can even speak to this with your sources and your partners. I guess in the campaign, worries that she would paint this dark picture and talk about Trump more than her own ideas as a potential president of the United States. Now this is shifting to Optics, to say, hey, but maybe people could picture her in this office instead of talking about Trump, she could talk optimistically about the economy,
her to do list versus his enemies list. That's not the narrative that we were hearing even a couple of days ago. Is it the right direction?
I think so? Again, you know, it seems that I think if you're a consultant, you look at the campaign again, after Basket Square going like well, one of the biggest cell phones and self inflicted October surprises ever might have happened at Madison Square Garden, why don't we present a vision of goodness right, a future, a message that says, hey, we can go forward from this. We are not this, And I think that's where she's going now. And again, you've got to be able to flex. You know, I've
been in a couple campaigns. Then you've got to be able to flex to what your opponent is doing. And if your opponent is destroying themselves, I think you start to present that positive message, your economic outlook and how you can differ entry differentiate yourself from somebody like Donald Trump.
It's really interesting. So you've watched this thing unfolded Madison Square Garden. It sounds like five plus hours jokes I can't tell on the air. Some of them have been told on the air and have have caused a real reaction in the Puerto Rican community, in the Latino community for good reason. We heard from JD. Vance though, that
people need to learn to take a joke essentially. And I wonder your thoughts on this idea of going too far with PC versus having respect for people in their backgrounds.
I think, you know, I was watching some comics actually debate this, and all of them said, what is this punching down racism stuff?
Right?
So I think I think racism is very difficult to joke around, especially when you're calling an entire an, entire people Puerto Rican's, you know, an island of garbage, right. I think that's that's something that's not really a joke. That's something that's been part of their DNA for some time. I never knew that David Duke would be the magim visionary right from the beginning, based on the jokes that you saw out there. And I think that's what bothers
people that were former Republicans or Republicans for Harris. They're saying a party that's completely I would say it's just been besieged and saturated with racism and nativism.
The campaign condemned the garbage Island, whatever line. Should they have gone further because there were a lot of other people up there saying a lot of other things.
Oh it was so I mean, I mean calling Kamala Harris the Antichrist is always one that was one which I have been called the tool of the Antichrist. I haven't gotten to Antichrist completely, but I've been called the tools once again.
So now the Republicans with.
Harris, we're very close. So but you know, for me, I think looking at at what you're saying with the name calling, I think it's just something that has just happened over and over again to the point now they can be out and out racist. But Jadie Vance doesn't seem to be following the campaign's messaging about apologizing for it. It's like, can you just take a joke and think about the person that they had on there. That's somebody that liked to you know, just a just an awful
human being. And I think that's and somebody who's been a social with some bad folks.
I just don't get it. Hulk Hogan was part of the picture, the gentleman who they had up there to do. I guess a live art piece opened with a message to the art world, which was his middle finger. The contrast I go back to is great here. How is this tiede fifty to fifty? Is it simply the state of America tied fifty to fifty? I think it is. I mean I people are confused about these candidates.
They can't be confused about these candidates. And now it's to a point that when you're talking about the disassociation of reality from a lot of the people who are voting for Trump, you're also talking about a morality issue. Now, now it's not about the morality of Trump. Maybe again, it's about the morality of US as a nation. And at some point, when are we going to stop a nativist individual who said the things that he's done. But
let's cut to the chase here. Somebody that's been found guilty or been found liable for sexual abuse, somebody who's a felon, somebody who said he would pardon JA six individuals, which again is why I'm glad Kamala Harris is doing that tonight. How are we voting for somebody like this, And again it goes back to I think some more traditional old school Republicans don't understand it.
So Denver Riggleman just said it out loud. Right. We choose the people who represent us. This isn't the other way around here, and we need to remember that when we wonder why the nation is going in the direction it is on either side. I want to ask you about something that was said at Madison Square Garden that doesn't involve insults. Oh, oh my goodness, there were a couple of Look that, by the way, Donald Trump. Nobody talks about what Trump said that night. It was everyone
before him. He talked about the Speaker of the House who had a speaking role, Mike Johnson, and a secret he suggested they share. Let's bring everyone back to New York the other night with me.
We got to get the congressman elected, and we got to get the senators elected because we can take the Senate pretty easily.
And I think with our little secret, we're going to do really well with the House. Right our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a secret. We'll tell you what it is when the race is over.
Do you know what it is.
I guess the secret wasn't racism during a rally. That wasn't the secret, because that's out. But I think somebody who's looked at everything that could happen when you're talking about election probabilities or those trying to disenfranchise voters or at the state local county levels, what's happening right with the election, or what could happen in Congress with rejecting
the electors. I don't think there's really a lot of secrets left really that they could play unless it was a cell phone that you saw at Madison Square Gardens. So you know, everybody I think wants to conjecture, you know, or they want to a pine that maybe it's about, you know, trying to throw the actual election to the House of Representatives.
Is it as simple as that it might be?
But I do think that I wouldn't worry as much about the secret that he's talking about, with all the factors and all the courses of action or all the things that could happen anyway, based on what happened on January sixth, and what you've been hearing from people for the past four years in the MAGA wing of the GOP.
You might have seen the Siena College New York Times poll to put the race at a tie a couple of days ago. There was an important number in this circle that I suspect would resonate with you. Nearly half of all likely voters, forty six percent say the former president was acting within the bounds of his authority when he tried to overturn the results of the twenty twenty election forty six percent. That is an increase from the thirty nine percent of voters who said the same in
July of twenty twenty two. He has succeeded in standing down the edges on this narrative. A lot of people think that he was within his rights to do this and did not stoke the violence that we saw at the capitol. What do you make of that?
What I make of at first is I think the disinformation propaganda arm of social media and alternative media. Alternative media is so very strong. I think democrats, independents, center right individuals even I think they underestimate the power of the far right maggat ecosystem in a way that they can message. I also believe that there's some complicity here with individuals afraid to bluntly call out what happened on January six is coup like movements to take over our government.
And it is incredible to me that when you have two parties you do have to align. If you say, hey, I'm going to be a Republican no matter what, you're going to fall into that line that somehow this was just a peaceful day, a day of love, is that he's trying to present it now in January sixth, and it's absolutely ludicrous. And I think one of the things that we have to fight as we go forward is this massive disinformation surge from domestic and foreign sources.
But it's education.
I think ignorance is maybe one of our biggest threats to the United States right now. And I don't want to go so far as to say stupidity is our biggest threat, but I think it's getting there.
You're living on the road for the next couple of days.
Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean, well, I'm here for the Ellipse speech, and you know I've been asked to do something special. I think it's a bit of a secret.
I told you.
I think I got to keep that under the hood with somebody very funny what I might be.
Doing right, let me know when we can make that.
Yeah, I would love to do that, because you know, I've been asked to be with somebody incredibly talented and funny to make fun of some of the things that Juliani might have done in his past. If somebody wants to guess at that. But and it's going to be very bad for Donald Trump.
But you're going to do something.
H No, I wish stop it, Joe, So I think, but I think that you know, what we're talking about is me trying to be on as many media channels as I can be Listen. I don't know spinning facts at this point is the right thing, but I'm going to continue to do it because that's what we have to be as Americans and as somebody who's represented the United States. I have to make sure that I spit facts, make sure we support the person who's going to support the Constitution.
He's the founder of rig Security, former Republican congressman. I'll be thinking of you tonight while.
I watched that We're rigged technology now big technology technology and verrig in the flesh.
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Knowing that Kamala Harris has been spending a lot of time in swing states and most recently in Pennsylvania on Sunday while Donald Trump was at Madison Square Garden, appealing to young voters of color, This is something that we talked about with Mark Morriol in the late edition of
Balance of Power yesterday. This is in advance of a conversation we're going to have with Derek Johnson from the NAACP out with their final poll before the election, against the backdrop of a narrative that Kamala Harris is struggling to maintain and win over the support of young men of color. This is something that Mark Morreol took issue with, as we heard here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Let's listen.
There is no doubt, no doubt in this instance, many black men whose votes are competitive, who are up for grabs, and so Kamala Harris has got to earn those votes by educating people about both her platform, her stance, and her record.
So as we consider those votes, as Joe alluded to, we do have new pulling data out from the NAACP which actually finds that Donald Trump support among Black men under the age of fifty is dwindling, dropping from twenty seven percent when they asked the same question in a survey last month to now twenty one percent. In the meantime, Kamala Harris's support among this block has jumped from fifty one percent to fifty nine percent over that same timeframe.
So for more on what's really going on here with this important demographic, we turn to Derek Johnson, the president of the NAACP. Thank you so much for being with us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. There's just a week left to go to change the minds of black men and black voters in general. What are you seeing in real time.
Well, it is the trend of what happens during this stage of election cycle. After Labor Day, people slowly begin to pick more attention to average voter nicolas who we get to the election day. We are finding, as we've all Wag's found that as people pay attention to educate themselves around what's important. This election isn't about the individual candidates. It's not even about the political parties. It's about the public policy priorities.
And the more young.
African American voters, particularly those who are under fifty, get factual information about what's at stake, we're begin to see a shift, a gradual shift towards Vice President Harris. It was to be expected because during this period of time, this is what always happened. But it's really important that those voters are spoken with, they're listened to, and they as they understand the value in the portance.
Of their vote.
Director Johnson, it's good to have you back on Bloomberg
TV and radio. You know the narrative that we heard over the summer, to your point before Labor Day, although a little bit after the story was that young men of color were gravitating toward Donald Trump, that this is a Republican nominee that was accomplishing something that the GOP was not used to, making inroads with a community that was typically not favorable to the Republican candidate or the nominee in this case, Does he deserve some credit as
a Republican for crossing those lines to break through with young black men.
Well in Bendi, Your question is if that was a factual statement. I have heard over the.
Last five election cycles about this drifting of four Democratic voters in one direction as a result of some strategy from the Republican Party.
I recall hearing it in two thousand and two thousand and four.
It's the Latino community, or can recall hearing some of the same narratives around the aph American community broadly speaking, particularly twenty twelve and twenty sixteen, especially twenty sixteen.
And so that's a.
Narrative that's great for media consumption, but I have yet to find any factual basis for much of the narrative. The problem we did is a random sample, and originally it was a question around voters under fifty African Americans who failed. No one was speaking to them. They're not being heard in the pot of their vote. But as you close the timeline passed Labor Day, as voters are spoken to, they are being heard, and they understand the impact and importance of their vote as relates to the
public policy issues that are on the table. We begin to see the natural ship, as we have identified in our poll and opponent is only a snap shot in time.
This was early October.
Now we've analyzed the pole considering what happened last week and particularly Sunday, there's even a greater shift, I will predict.
Well, as you allude to Sunday, there obviously were a number of racist remarks made at the Madison Square Garden rally for Donald Trump, not necessarily by the former president, but by many of those who spoke before him. What do you make of where we are rhetorically right now, Derek, and what the signals about the way the country can move forward toward the advancement of all people, colored people included.
Well, we've gone from the loss of stability in our public discourse around vible candidates to the loss of supporting the importance of democracy.
What we witnessed on Sunday was a show of fascists.
You know, I just completed Robert Caro's book on LBJ. He talks about the Nazi gathering in the thirties as a backlash of New Deal policies, and what he describes in his book and what I see that took place at Madison Square Gardens is very similar you talking about appealing to the lowest comedy nominator around the racial construct and ethnic background across the board. That has nothing to do with strengthening our democracy or the traditional debate around
the role of government and taxi. That is about creating a space of other rising whole communities and dehumanizing people in joke.
That's interesting. We heard from jd Vance, of course Donald Trump's running mate, on this, and he is obviously taking a different tact than you are in this case, Director Johnson. We're just getting this ready because he was asked about it and spoke to some of the offensive rhetoric that we heard at Madison Square Garden, remembering that he was there. He had a speaking role in this five hour rally, and even though he claims he didn't hear this joke, he reacted to the overall criticism here.
He is.
My own view on this is, Look again, I haven't seen the joke. You know, maybe it's a stupid racist joke, as you said, maybe it's not. I haven't seen it. I'm not going to comment on the specifics of the joke, but I think that we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America. I'm just I'm so over it.
Just want you to react to that, Derek Johnson, that were too easily offended at every little thing in the United States of America.
Deny its existence, diminish its impact, pivot back to the message, and then carry on with the message of other rising individuals, the meaning communities and trying to create a space where white supremacy exists. It was the same thing doing to debate that. You use three strategic tactics. You call out xenophobia, they're taking our jobs. You put a racialized liss on it, those Haitians, and then you create a reality where you say these individuals are not even human by saying they're
eating our dogs and cats. It's a strategy that's tried and true, where you otherise communities to try to prop up and motivate a base to vote against all of these impending, not sub human individuals who are taking something from us.
And then when you get caught in.
That, you deny it existing, you try to marginalize its impact, and then you pivot back to their message.
So that's the messaging we're hearing from one side, Derek. We'll hear more messaging the closing argument as it's being built from Kamala Harris tonight at the Ellipse here in Washington. What does she need to say to black voters.
Well, I don't think there's one side versus.
The other side of this tent is those who support democracy and celebrate the diversity that we have wrong into being. You know, I recall being in school that we talked about America is a mixing pot and it brings in ethnic groups and racial diversity from around the globe. Even President, former President Reagan talked about that we celebrate our diversity, that you could be Eastern European, you can be a Catholic or Jewish, but once you've become an American and citizens all Americans.
And that was nineteen eighty the nineteen eighty's Ronald Reagan, unlike.
Anyone else, they say, this is the leader of the party, he's the shining example, and they have the party so far from that example.
This evening, I would.
Only think that the Vice president would speak to all Americans to talk about the strength about democracy, the need to protect our democracy as we look forward to a future that's inclusive, productive, and continue to lead this globe as the leading democracy and doing so without tearing anybody down and maligning any particular individual or community.
We've only got about thirty seconds left, Sir will Kamala Harris enjoyed the same level of support from Black Americans that Joe Biden did in twenty twenty.
I believe that Americans would turn out to the polls, especially Black Americans, to support what could potentially be the first African and East Asian president female.
Of this country.
Appreciate your sharing the new polling info with us. Stay in touch with us. Derek Johnson, of course, President CEO of the NUBACP, in an important conversation here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. We'll assemble our panel next on the Fastest show in Politics. They're with us today, Rick Davis and Genie Shanzano. With one week to go, we'll look ahead at the dueling speeches, the closing arguments, and the stakes at hands in this election as you would expect. Right here on Bloomberg TV and Radio.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apocarplay and then Proud Oto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
I mean, look here on balance of power at the week ahead until election day on November fifth. As we know, the election already is well underway. Millions, tens of millions of ballots have already been cast in the states that ultimately could decide the outcome of this race. But November fifth is still the important day that at least Donald Trump is watching watching. He said this in Georgia yesterday.
We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. With your help, from now until election day, we will restore America's promise and we will.
Take back the nation that we love.
November fifth will be the most important day in the history of our country, and together we will make America powerful again.
Fast forward to today, with seven days to the election, one week out dueling speeches. Right around seven pm Eastern time, Donald Trump will be in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is expected to be greeted by protesters Puerto Rican voters who are still sore about some of the language that was used. We were just discussing it with Derek Johnson from the
NAACP at Madison's Square Garden on Sunday night. Allentown happens to be a majority Latino city where Donald Trump will be landing a bit later on Kamala Harris again on the Ellipse here in Washington, DC, with what appears to be an evolving speech. We're going to talk about this with our signature panel.
Now.
Rick Davis and Genie Shanzo are with this Bloomberg Politics contributor. She is political science professor at Iona University. He is partner at Stone Court Capital and Republican strategist. Genie, what do you make of what seems to be the late hour reframing of this address, one that was aimed at calling out Donald Trump as a threat to democracy, to bring people back to those visceral feelings they had on January sixth, now being framed as a speech about optimism.
She'll be talking about her to do list and contrasting that with Donald Trump's enemies list. Is that a better tact?
You know?
I think it is when we think about it in the most basic terms. She has to appear to this four or five percent of undecided voters in seven swing states. So these are people who, for whatever reason, are uncomfortable with Donald Trump, and Sunday gave them a lot more to be uncomfortable with, but are not quite sold on
Kamala Harris. So she's got to do exactly what you just said, Joe, which is remind them why they are uncomfortable with Donald Trump and don't want to go back to that, and also give them that permission structure to support her. And I think of it as more than permission.
I think of it as reminding ourselves. She's only been at the top of this ticket for about one hundred days, So it's not just giving them permission, but giving them a reason to vote for her, which is that she is competent, she is able, and they can picture her in the White House managing the economy and in a way that makes sense and also protecting their rights and liberties,
including the right to choose. So she's got to walk both of those lines for that small sliver that's still undecided and get them out to vote for her, at least some of them.
Well, so, Rick, what is your degree of confidence on her ability to do that and to strike the right messaging tone not necessarily all the dark doom gloom threats to democracy fascism, unfitness for office, but to also be a voice of positivity this evening, as it does seem the campaign is trying to spin us forward into saying this will be a different speech than perhaps we thought.
Difficult to produce a great contrast ad where you talk positively about your message and negatively about your opponent in the same thirty seconds. She's going to have an hour to do it, and it's still a difficult path to perform. The reality is that I think it's somewhat challenged to to do it in a place that hearkens back such
memories as January sixth and overcoming this. The idea that you're going to be there in Washington on the mall, at the site where Donald Trump launched an insurrection against the democracy and attack the capital and then not make that about the speech actually doesn't make any sense to me.
If you want to talk about your plans going forward, what you're going to do on day one, how you're going to improve the lives of Americans, who sixty four percent of which say the country is on the wrong track during her administration, then why would you do it in a place that actually isn't going to appeal physically to that same message. Why don't you go to a state that has actually been reeling from economic downturn that's occurred in your administration and talk about how you're different
than this administration. I mean, it just doesn't really make much sense to me.
But it's a tough task.
And all Donald Trump's got to do in Allentown after dodging the Puerto Rican protesters is to say they broke it.
You all agree with that.
I'm going to fix it, and I fix it in twenty sixteen, and I'll do it again in twenty twenty four. So he's got a much easier closed task and he couldn't even get that right, you know, at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Wow. I wonder if this helps to justify the choice of venue for Kamala Harris this evening Genie. It's pulling from Siena College, and a carryover number that we got out of The New York Times Today jumped off the page. Nearly half of all likely voters forty six percent said Donald Trump was acting within bounds when he tried to overturn the results of the twenty twenty election. That is an increase from the thirty nine percent of voters who
said the same in July of twenty twenty two. The normalizing of January sixth, Is that enough reason for her to be there?
You know?
I think that's part of it. I also think the campaign feels that they want to put before voters a reminder of visual reminder, if you will, choosing this venue, of the seriousness of what they have to do when they go in the voting boot those who still have to vote, And this is a helpful reminder of that. And I would also just note Donald Trump was in mar A Lago today giving a pre buddle to Kamala Harris's speech tonight. And what did he say? He said,
Madison Square Garden was beautiful. It was full of love, far from the apology some people are expecting. And it's a reminder again of January sixth, a day when people were attacked, including police officers who eventually died, including people in the protest. Another day he described as a day of love. So it's not just Kamala Harris reminding people
of this, it is Donald Trump himself. He is doing himself and his campaign a disservice by not focusing on what his ads are focusing on, quite frankly, which are these policies that people are not happy about. His undisciplined nature is getting to caught up with him, essentially, and this is a reminder of that as they go to the Ellipse today.
Yeah, the love in that room was breathtaking. One quote from Donald Trump's media appearance I will say or speech Rick, because while it was billed as a press conference, he did not in fact take any questions in mar A Lago. But he will be in Pennsylvania this evening at the same time Harris is speaking. Does he need to have a better answer to what happened in Madison Square Garden when he speaks in a heavily Puerto Rican area.
Yeah. Look, I totally agree with Genie's assessment. This is maybe the worst run presidential campaign in the general election that we've ever seen. We used to applaud their efforts in the primary because they were pretty good at offsetting their opponents, but ever since they merged into the presumptive nominee perspective, Donald Trump and his campaign has done everything humanly possible to stop him from being president. Frankly, I think he's done more damage to his own campaign than
the Harris Biden campaigns have done to him. And the reality is it's an easy giveaway. Right he gets up on the speech, he says, anything that happened in mar A Lago that fomented racism or division in our community, I'm opposed to. Now, let me get on with my regular speech. But he doesn't do that, right, I mean,
like we've never seen him do that. He called January sixth a day of love recently, so I guess anything that is a negative attack on institutions that we care about and people that are part of our community is an act of love. I don't get it. This should actually be the easiest campaign to win. Biden administration is horribly unpopular. People have not set aside the impact of inflation, and any Republican with a grain of salt should be
winning by ten points in this election. The fact that it's this close is a testament to Donald Trump's inability to close the deal and actually act like a mature adult on the campaign trail.
Well, Donald Trump is referring to something called the soft foul genie. We mentioned this a little bit earlier, speaking yesterday, said sometimes he is a little bit not hard foul, but soft foul to emphasize something about somebody's capabilities or whatever I might be talking about. He does believe that the insult plays a role in political discourse, and that's why he's not going to apologize later.
Right, Uh, you know, I guess so. But he's really not reading the room. The reality is is that he you know, he is not a comedian in a comic store. He is running for president of the United States, and that takes a degree of seriousness and discipline that he simply is not exhibiting. And that is what is making even his supporters frustrated. Because if this election is about policy, he has a winning hand. But to Rick's point, he
does everything to make it about everything but policy. You know, MSNBC got hit for talking about this rally that he had Sunday and you know, sort of the affinity to Nazi rallies. All he had to do was go into MSG and say I am not a Nazi?
Are you know?
We are not that? And he did anything, but as did his campaign, which has really gone off the rails at this point, and it is doing him an enormous disservice. And so if he can contain himself for a week. He might have a shot here, but this is getting from bad to worse at this point, and the only thing that can help him is if Kamala Harris can't close this deal tonight and as we go forward.
All right, Genie Shanzano and Rick Davis, our signature political panel, thank you both so much for joining us on the Nazi comment. We did hear about that from Donald Trump earlier today saying he is the opposite of a Nazi, and Malania Trump, his wife, in an appearance on Fox, also said her husband is not a Nazi. I guess it raises the question of if you actually have to say that.
What that Well, that's a good point. Reminded me of Gary Busey on Celebrity Apprentice one of the first seasons, when he explained that an enemy is a friend in reverse. He was palaced with Donald Trump, Right, if you have to explain that, it does say something about where you are.
Yeah, well, we're going to take a look at where we are in one of the key states that matters coming up next, North Carolina Secretary of State is going to be joining us in just a few minutes here on balance of power. So stay with us for Kaylee Lines. I'm Kaylee Lines. That's Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg TV and Radio.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens Just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and enroun Oo 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 seven days to election day, But of course a lot of people have already voted, roughly a third so far. As we watch early voting take place in swing states and others around the country here and as of yesterday, we've had a close eye Kyley on North Carolina, of course, suffered enormous damage from Hurricane Helena, and there
were a lot of concerns about ballot access. Some rules had to be changed, whether people would even be paying attention to the election knowing that they had such devastation to deal with. Nearly three million people have voted in North Carolina. It's quite remarkable, more than a third of the state's registered voters. The twenty five counties that FEMA declared as disaster areas in western North Carolina are also
holding up at a pretty healthy clip. It seems the state is doing a really good job.
Well, and we wanted to speak with someone from the state on this as this is ultimately one of the seven that could decide the electoral College and therefore the outcome of the presidential election. Joining us now on Bloomberg TV in radio as North Carolina's Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall, Madam Secretary, thank you for being here on balance of powers. Joe mentions that we are seeing relatively strong turnout early in some of these areas that were devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Are there still problem areas that we should be aware of people who are having difficulty in figuring out how they can vote in this election. Knowing that the deadline for absentee ballots to be requested in North Carolina is today.
Well, thank you so much for having me on and thank you very much for your interest in North Carolina. Indeed, Western North Carolina was devastated. There are some things about western North Carolina that are heartbreaking and there are others that are heartwarming. The fact that the voting is not appreciably off in Western North Carolina, considering four years ago. That's very heartwarming. What is heartbreaking is some misinformation about
voting and about female relief out there. To update your numbers a little bit more. As of last night, it was over three point one million North Carolinians who had voted. So we are on a very good pathway to have an excellent turnout, and we've got up until Saturday at two o'clock or three o'clock in the afternoon and until everybody can vote, now until the early voting, and then we go to election day. There have been some changes that help improve the access in western North Carolina. The
General Assembly did a couple of things. They added some early vote sites in two different counties that were pretty hard hit to make it easier for folks to reach an early vote site. Another thing that they did regards absent tee ballots. Previously, the law was that you had to return your absentee ballot to the county that issued it. They've changed that so that the absentee ballot can be returned to any county in North Carolina and it will
be counted. Folks that may have lost their absentee ballot because of the flood washing it away, or it was in the mail and the mail was washed away, they can get a new one. Of course, only one can be voted. If someone attempts to file a second one, that would be a campaign violation. But they're bar coded and so we track ballots. Anybody, whether they're in the disaster area or not, can see that their vote has
been counted. I voted the very first day of early voting, and it shows that I have voted and that my ballot was accepted, so it's in there to be read when they start reading the absentee ballots. So we've done several things here in North Carolina to help make it easier for folks. That doesn't mean the roads are great up there in some places, but certainly we want everybody who's possible to come to North Carolina and spend money because so much of western North Carolina is based upon
its beauty and its hospitality industry. So please come back soon and be with us.
Well, that was quite an update on the ground view in real time, Secretary, You've had a lot of tough stuff thrown at you here, and I wonder what has been the greater challenge for you, the storm damage itself or the miss and disinformation that followed the hurricane that you referred to.
Well, pretty hard to balance it out. But this and disinformation is always a threat to democracy, and that is becoming a pattern. Whereas this natural disaster, we hope that we never see anything more like it again to that extent of damage. But mis and disinformation and how it changes people's mind and how people don't really use their good thinking brain to think through some things that they
hear about out there is just pretty disturbing. And the fact that some people don't really haven't really studied civics and understand the different branches of government and who can do what. And you know, people can make outrageous statements when certain people have no authority over that particular thing at all. So you've got to look for trusted voices to give reliable, good information, and we hope that people will do a little research to figure out who is a trusted voice.
Well, let's talk about one voice and a statement that has been mead. Congressman Andy Harris of North Carolina, a member of the US House of Representatives, has said because of Hurricane Helene, the state legislature should consider awarding all of North Carolina's electoral votes to Donald Trump before the votes are counted. What is your response to that, Madam secretariz me.
I hate to be making a correction here, but it has gotten out. Representative Harris is a Maryland representative. He is the head of the Freedom Caucus. He is not a North Carolina representative.
You're right, I apologize. Thank you for correcting me.
That got twisted. Well, what he is saying, in essence is that because of the disaster that affects about a million a million plus people, that we should disenfranchise the other six and a half million voters in North Carolina. Now, that is an idea who does not have anywhere to go?
That's a terrible idea, is very anti democratic. And fortunately Representative Patrick mc henry, who is from the Mountains and was on the higher leadership teams of the Republican leadership in the House, has debunked what this person has said.
What is kind of bad about some of the disinformation is that even though our Western leaders who are predominantly Republican have said that these things are not correct, whether it's FEMA other issues, they're not really calling out the voices that have amplified it, such as the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the Republican ticket, and I'm just very sorry that they're harming our people through this disinformation and negligent speaking campaign.
We should note that Harris has since then he was having a theoretical conversation. For what it's worth, it doesn't seem that's going to be happening. Secretary. I wonder your thoughts on an important visit to Ashville from Tim Walls and whether Ashville is prepared, whether logistically this might present challenges to voters trying to get to the polls, never mind rebuild from the storm.
Well, there's gonna be difficulty getting around Ashville. That's one of the worst hit areas, and it's going to take some time for the state to go back and re stake in county to rebuild the infrastructure. But folks are hardy. The schools in western North Carolina are all open or one last one will be coming on the week of election, so you know we're back to normal. Appalachian State and Western Carolina had football games last weekend, sadly only one of the two one, but you know, life is getting
back to normal. Mountain people are incredibly resilient. You have to be to live in the mountains. That's just one of the inevitabilities. It's beautiful, but at times it's harsh. And so I've done economic development work for the state and I have found leaders when I've talked to them about why did you pick North Carolina or the mountains because there's not a lot of flat land in the mountains to build plants on, no work to have agricultural fields.
And this one particular company leader told me it was because of the resiliency of the people. Their work ethic was high, they were determined to do a good job, and they did a good job. This is a parts company for electrical switches and things like that. So our reputation for resiliency is well earned. And the people up there are determined they're going to rebuild, and we're determined here in the eastern part of the state and the government that we're going to facilitate that rebuilding.
Well.
And we certainly wish you and everyone in the state, all those affected, luck with that rebuild as we consider ultimately what we're going to see in North Carolina on a shorter term timeline. On next Tuesday election day, we have a lot of questions about how long it will take to figure out who won that state and a number of other states as well. I know your role is specifically to convene the state electors to a old time certify those results. That will happen weeks after election day.
But how long do you think it will be before North Carolina knows who those electoral votes are going to be committed to.
Well, it's not going to be that night, I don't think. I don't think we've had any early nights in North Carolina in the last several years. And with more poll watchers who have been approved by the General Assembly, and in my opinion, more gotcha kind of things where there can be errors or negligent negligent errors on the envelope for absentee ballots, there may be some more challenges than we've ever seen to voting. I pray that that's not
the case. I hope that I know that democracy will prevail, but that the poll watchers will do what they're supposed to do, which is stay out of the way of the voters, not watching the voting, and not chill voters. Because pole watchers can do that, people feel intimidated if there are more people hanging around inside the voting area,
and that's just inevitable. So pole watchers used to have some very strict restrictions about where they could be and how long they could be there and those kind of things, but those have been lifted, and unfortunately, we think that there is training going on in this state to try to pick issues about people and report to the election officials in the effort to challenge certain voters. You know, intimidation of voters should never be a part of the American electorate.
Nor should intimidation of election workers. Secretariat has become a pretty dangerous job in some places. Being an election worker is certainly one fraught with risk physically, if not socially, as we experienced following the twenty twenty elections. How's morale on your team.
Well, it's not really my team, since it's a state Board of Elections rather than my office, but I do know from anecdotal information that folks are two things. Number One, they're mindful because of what they're hearing in other states happening, and so they're taking special precautions for their own safety. The other is that election workers do it not for the pleasure of sitting there. For twelve hours a day and then more work later, and it's a hard job.
They do it because they're dedicated to their fellow citizens and they're dedicated to democracy. So we don't need to do anything to impact that. We need to lift these people up, protect them in all ways that we can, and our Board of Elections has multiple points of security, multiple engagements with the various levels of law enforcement in
case that's needed. Hopefully it will not be, but I think the public needs to know that the machines have been certified, they've been calibrated and reevaluated right before this election. They will be reevaluated at the end of the election to make sure that the machines are counting us right. And we have paper here in North Carolina so that we can go back and rebuild the vote if any
machine for some reason malfunction. And our machines are not connected to the Internet at all, so that type of interference, that's all a bogus coin.
So you have it from the source, North Carolina's Secretary of State, Lane Marshall's secretary, thank you so much for being with us here in good luck surviving the next seven days. There's a lot of course that the folks in North Carolina and the other swing states are going to be going through here in preparing to not only count the votes seven days from now, Kayley, but get
into the absentee ballots the early voting. As the secretary just made some news here, more than three point one million voters in North Carolina have already had.
Their say it's incredible, and of course millions more across some of these other battleground states we're watching, which does raise the questions we look ahead this evening to Donald Trump and Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Kamala Harris here in Washington speaking at the Ellipse so called closing Arguments. It's not a huge group of people that might be open to changing their mind.
Based on usermak, 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 Noontimeeastern at Bloomberg dot com.