Sound On: President Biden's Speech on Guns

I want. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. President Biden prepares to address the nation on gun violence. Tonight's welcome to the fastest hour in politics, as House Democrats get busy on crafting gun control legislation and talks continue on this same matter in the Senate following yet another mass shooting. We will discuss the nuances of this

debate and why compromise remains elusive. Coming up with our panel of course, Bloomberg Politics contributors Jeanie Chanzano and Rick Davis are back with us today for the Hour. Later. A critical jobs report looming tomorrow with more clues on inflation, and maybe the Fed will talk about that with Bloomberg economist Andrew Huspy a bit later on. We are casting into the future today to better understand the two most important stories of the next twenty four hours. So I'm

glad you joined us. Being President Biden right now is putting the finishing touches on an important speech and national address he will deliver tonight on gun violence. This was added to the schedule about halfway through the day. We did not know about this this morning. With a new sense of urgency following yet another shooting, this time in Tulsa, happened yesterday. Vice President Kamala Harris was asked about it

earlier today. The President will be talking more about this later um, but we have been monitoring the situation quite closely, and the latest report, of course, is that for innocent people lost their lives and many more were injured. The President will speak at seven thirty pm Washington time. I suspect he will be on time, as there's a bit of a dance here the choreography with the TV networks.

At that time of day, things get a little more sensitive, and it follows a long day for the House Judiciary Committee, as I mentioned, debating and voting today on a package of gun control proposals that include raising the minimum age to buy semi automatic rifles, a ban on high capacity magazines, would ban bump stocks. These are the same issues that we've been talking about for a couple of days now. The ranking member on that committee, Congressman Jim Jordan's, chastise

Democrats for moving too fast. No one wants another tragedy. No one wants this to happen again. That's why it's regretful that Democrats have rushed to a markup today and what seems more like political political theater than a real attempt at improving public safety or finding solutions. Chair Committee season very differently, as you might suspect New York Congressman Jerry Nadler with his response, too soon, my friends, what

the hell are you waiting for? All right? Then? There are of course questions about whether any of these would have stopped any of the recent shootings. Any of these ideas from red flags two expanded background checks. We know moving the age would have stopped one of them, But yesterday's shooting in Tulsa a whole new scenario. As you heard Kamala Harris just say four people were killed. Wendell

Franklin is the police chief in Tulsa. On June the one, Mr Lewis purchased a semi automatic rifle from a local gun store. That semi automatic rifle was an a R fifteen style rifle. He bought it the day before. Two doctors, including the shooters surgeon were killed, along with a receptionist and a patient. I want to assemble the panel to get the insights here, of course, at Jennie Chanzano and Rick Davis Bloombery politics contributors. Rick, I'm gonna start with you.

The president is set to speak in a little more than two hours from now. Was it Tulsa that brought him to this point? And you know, there's a pretty high bar for going to the networks at this point, you know, following the the Obama administration, when you need half an hour of airtime on a Thursday night, that's right, Joe. I mean, we've now seen an air where presidents can give these kinds of prime time speeches and not be covered by the network. So the fact that this is

now being covered is is a pretty excepting thing. Now, it's hard to tell what was the motivating factor. Obviously the Tulsa headlines is disturbing attack with an a R fifteen, Um, you know, matting, But I still think it might have as much to do with the national activity. You know, Rick, we're having a little bit of trouble with your line. Maybe we can reconnect with Rick and get the same question to Genie here and and we'll get back to Rick Davis and just to say, Congenie, uh, it's a

big job for this president. What does he do at the time that he's carved out for himself. Well, what he's doing, I think, and you rightly said, we didn't know about this this morning. We didn't even know about this halfway through the day until they confirmed it. Because this is quite a change for the White House. Let's recall this president said he was going to let Congress do its work. He was not going to get to too involved. Now we know he is getting very much involved.

So what they're saying he's going to do is he's going to press Congress on the need to pass common sense gun safety legislation. He's going to talk about this epidemic and what an epidemic it is. We're in the one and fifty third day of the year. This is the two and thirty third mass shooting, the one in Tulsa yesterday. Those numbers are outrageous. The twenty since you've

all the ten days ago. So it is an epidemic and the president now is doing the only thing the president can do is to try to use the bully pulpit to get the public to push their representatives in Congress to pass legislation. And of course the clip you played by Jim Jordan's just astounding. We're moving too fast. I don't know how many more people need to be heard, or injured or killed before Congress moves. They haven't moved fast at all. They haven't moved in years. Think Jerry

Nadler would agree with you on that, Rick Uh. If we don't get anything new here from the president, if he's simply urging Congress to act, then what is the point is it securing this particular audience. You have to have something to say when you interrupt, you know, jeopardy for people in their living room. That's right, And I think part of it is that the President wants to get ahead of what maybe some productive activity in the Senate.

Um I think the House is really just partisan noise. Uh. It's part of the story today, and I agree with Jennie. I mean, you know, it doesn't doesn't pretend any progress. But the real game is in the Senate, and there is a bipartisan effort being put together to try and find a bill that both Republicans and Democrats can sign

on too. And I think that's what the President is really trying to do, is create momentum around getting something done in the Senate um and all these things are being forced into the same timetable, and so the more pressure that he can put on the Senate to come up with something and not let people back off the table, I think is is his real primary objective here. How does he do this genie without isolating, for lack of

a better word, half of the country. He needs to speak in a way that cuts through the sort of partisan cliche that comes with gun control conversations. And this is a president who has been written off by many Americans when it comes to this, and that's the difficulty he faces. He ran promising to bring us together after

January six, in the midst of the pandemic. He said he was going to unite us, you know, go beyond this red blue divide, and this is a real test for him to see if he can do it, you know, reach something like a unification we saw potentially in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine or in response to nine eleven, but very tough to do. You know, one model he has, quite frankly is is the Senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, who's talked about the fact that following Sandy Hook he

was drawing a line in the sand. This is what had to happen, Go bigger, go home. Now he is saying he wants to show Republicans that if they do even small incremental steps on gun safety, that they will benefit from that and the country will as well, and they'll be rewarded. So I think he can use Chris

Murphy's smart tactic as a way to do that. But a really, really tough thing to do because of course, people have very strong concerns that the government is coming after their guns any time you talk about this issue. So how does he keep that from happening? Even if he says it right, people won't believe him. If you're sitting down here advising Joe Biden helping him to craft

this speech. How does he breakthrough with Republicans, with conservatives, with people who actually own gun who feel like they are the ones being targeted. Yeah, I think it is a high wire act. What the President's got to do tonight, as you describe Joe, is to push for some changes in the way we regulate firearms and and to incorporate other things that Republicans may want on things like mental

health and school safety. But he's got to do it in a way that you know, he's bigger than a piece of legislation, and he's really speaking for the American people that want action, because by and large, most people do want something to happen. They they agree with Genie that this is an epidemic, that it's out of control, that that that states and the federal government all have to work together to try and protect children and the

loss of life. Uh and and so he does have some winded is back in that regard, but it's it's ephemeral. It will go away soon if nothing is done on Capitol Hill. So he's got to leave enough of an opening. He can't demogogue it to the point where you know, Republicans a Senate feel like they've been trapped and now walk away from the negotiating table. He's been emotional at times talking about this publicly. Genie. I don't know if that works or not. I don't know if raising your

voice in an expressing frustration works. Those are two things that we've seen from Joe Biden. What's the posture the tone is it? Is it one of empathy for victims or or does he need to look into the camera and speak to law abiding gun owners self described and tell them that it's time for a new reality. I do think he's got to be empathetic. Nobody better able to do that than Joe Biden with the losses he has personally experienced in his life with his children and

his first wife. That said, I think he does need to reach across the aisle and to say that these are things that in some cases of American support. Let's start there. The danger here, of course, is that if they don't get anywhere, and we've talked about the fact I am not optimistic they will. If they don't get anywhere in Congress, he's going to end up looking weaker.

So he's really putting himself and I think quite frankly his presidency on the line, rightly so tonight and coming out and saying Congress, you must act, and and you know, let's just mention that Mitch McConnell twice now has talked about this issue and has not wanted to talk about weapons. He wants to talk safety and mental health, no weapons, movement on weapons. That's going to be a problem for the for the president. Well, but then that's gonna be

a problem for a lot of other people here. Rick. If if red flags and say banning bump stocks are not enough for Joe Biden, if he does not seem satisfied with that, then people may well think that he wants actual gun control, eliminating access to certain weapons. Yeah. I would be surprised if tonight's speech gets into specifics of legislation. I think he wants to leave the door

open for the Senate to work their will. And I would say that the point that Senator McConnell's making is it in addition to whatever comes out of this negotiation, he wants to focus on mental health and school safety. I think there will be some things like red flag laws and potentially bump stocks and uh uh in in any piece of legislation that would be considered by part Rick and Jeannie. Stay with us for the hour on sound on. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg, So On

with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. The House set to vote on gun control legislation next week. According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it includes raising the age to buy a semi automatic weapon from eighteen to twenty one, something a lot of people were calling for after Valdi remembering he bought those two rifles when he was eighteen years old. The House also to hold a hearing on banning assault weapons.

That wasn't so much the idea today though the as I mentioned a little bit earlier in the broadcast a package of legislation before the Judiciary Committee. It was a markup session and includes raising the minimum age, also banning bump stocks, and would also ban high pacity magazine. So they went back and forth on this. Democrats and Republicans could not agree, and the whole thing came to a crescendo,

if I can use that term. When Congressman Greg Steuby, a Republican from Florida, ended up speaking for a while he was at home. He's on zoom. And actually, if you listen to this program, you know Greg Stuby. He's an Army veteran. He served in Iraq. He's been on sound on. We've talked to him before. UH didn't know he was carrying a gun. It was apparently he does carry one every day, and well he's got a lot

of guns, as we learned today. We're gonna just let you hear what happened in the hearing and then we'll bring Rick and Genie back in UH for their take on this. Listen to Congressman Stuby when his turn came up to talk about this legislation. He was specifically referring to the elimination of these larger magazines for guns. So imagine he's looking at the zoom cam. He's he's behind his desk, and he's place holding a gun right up

to the camera. Here we go, right here in front of me, I have a six sour P two two six comes with a twenty one round magazine. This gun would be banned. Here's a here's a twelve round magazine. This magazine would be banned under this current bill. It doesn't fit. He's trying it. He's showing how the magazine goes in the gun for a twenty round twenty one round magazine. This gun would be banned, okay under this bill.

Different gun. Here's a six so hour three twenty takes a twenty round magazine, okay, takes a twenty round magazine, takes the magazine out. Here's a twelve round magazine banned because it would be banned. This gun would be banned under this bill. Okay. Here's a gun I carry every single day to protect myself. This is the family, my wife every day home. This is a Excel six hour. Here's a seven round magazine, which last. Then what would be lawful under this bill? If this bill would come off,

It doesn't fit. This gun would be banned. The gun is not loaded loaded. What I'm at my house, I can do whatever I want with Congressman Greg Stuby. This is the kind of stuff. I forget who it was. Aaron Rupert tweeted, read the room the kind of stuff that gets people talking, which is why he did it. And it gives you a good sense of where we are in this debate. As we bring Rick and Genie

back in here. Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis Jeannie Schanzano, did that advance the debate here, Genie, or remind you why we haven't gotten anywhere with any of this yet. Well, you know, I wonder did Jim Jordan's talk about political theater when his colleague was doing that? Yeah, not not in response to that. But let's just look at what

Lucy macbeth from Georgia talked about. She talked about the toll that this has taken not only in the country, but her her seventeen year old son was killed ten years ago by a gunman, and so you know that is the reality of this. You know, yes, you have a constitutional right under the Second Amendment to bear arms, but that doesn't mean that you can't take common sense steps and to wave your guns around on a zoom call as a congressman to what end beyond getting your

name in the headlines. And he will likely get money and attention from this, which is why they do this. And the wheel goes round. Rick, You've been through a lot of congressional hearings. Can you do whatever you want when you're at home, including swing guns around? Well, I must admit I've never been to a congressional hearing where they did it from home. This is all new fair enough, thank you COVID. Yes, it is the kind of thing that is a is a result of that. So yeah,

now this is really uh, it's not it's grandstanding. There's plenty of that at congressional hearings. And just certainly in the first time, it's the first time I think we've seen a member of Congress plane with a loaded pistol, several of them. Yeah, in a congressional hearing. So um, that that was breaking some new ground for me. But look, I mean it's it is that way the House of Representative been working. The Democrats put a you know, completely partisan bill on the floor, and so it's a free

pass for Republicans to you know, demagogue against it. It's not productive, it doesn't move the process forward. Uh. And as as you point out, you know, it's just it's just entertainment value. And if it wasn't for such an important topic. Does he have a point though that? I mean, I'm assuming the real message he was trying to send, other than that he has lots of big guns, uh, is that Democrats don't understand what they're talking about, that

they don't know enough about guns to regulate them. Yeah, I think there's some of that. That's partially the message, but but I think it also points to UH a fact that where do you stop? Right? I mean, the point he's trying to make is, Okay, if this magazine fits into the law that you've just you know, voted on, then then what's to stop you from then changing that

to another magazine? And and and that is the sort of constant Republican UH dialogue about banning assault weapons and things like that, is that it's just that, you know, the nose under the camel's nose under the tent, and and just keeps going from there. I would say he's kind of making a point that's helping the Democrats, which is when he holds up an assault rifle and say, see, you know this, this kind of magazine won't fit in this. I think the Democrats heads were not going, yeah, that's

exactly exactly. I don't know, and they were all pistols. For what it's worth, Genie, is there something to democrats own knowledge? Could they learn a little more about the item they're trying to regulator? Am I missing the point? Well? No,

I think that's an important point. And you know, I think. Adam, kissing her over the weekend, said something I think is really important, which is that people who support gun rights and the right to bear arms are the ones who should focus on common sense steps towards securing them, because otherwise, if this continues at this rate, those rights can be severely restricted. And gun owners don't want that, they should step up and regulate. Rick and Jennie stay with us.

This is Bloomberg broadcasting live from our nation's capital, Bloomberg to Knew You, Bloomberg eleven, trio to Boston, Bloomberg one O six one to San Francisco, Bloomberg nine six to the country, Serious XM Channel one, and around the globe, the Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Radio dot Com. This is Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew. The smallest gain in job growth since April of last year. That is what we expect to see tomorrow morning when the Labor

Department drops the granddaddy of all economic reports. We're gonna talk about May jobs Ahead with Andrew Huspy of Bloomberg Economics. That did not take long for the Fed the headline on our Job's Day Preview Here on the terminal may jobs to show early impact of FED tightening. Wow. And indeed, if you look at the numbers here, we're not expecting what we have been getting three hundred thousand increased non farm payrolls expected following four D twenty eight thousand a

month earlier. And we're joining to talk about an because people are gonna be reading tea leaves, maybe too many tea leaves when this comes out for insights into inflation and indeed the impacts of the FED joining us to talk about it. One of the authors of that column, Andrew Husby, is here from Bloomberg Economics. Andrew, we're gonna start seeing this slow down in hiring as you write the early impact of FED tightening, Will we also see a slowdown in wages? Well? That uh, well, thanks Joe.

That that really is the question here, So slow down and hiring. Um. It could be, um, that it's just simply still very hard to find workers. Um. It could also be that demand for labor is actually cooling, and that's something that FED is kind of trying to pull off at the hikes rates. It wants to realigned demand for labor, realigned demand for a whole range of goods, downward in line with the supply, which is still pretty restricted right now. So we do think we're gonna see

a downshift in wage growth. Actually, we've seen that over the last three months. The pace of average hourly earning his growth, that's one of the numbers we get in this report, has downshifted over really since February. So, um, you know, early signs that labor demand is cooling. But certainly there's nothing in this report that's going to shake the head off of tightening moves of at least fifty

basis points in the next couple of meetings. Okay, so they're going to continue this and I guess the comments from Lele Brainerd really hit that home earlier today. I'm really struck by the range though, and they've been wide lately. This might not be as wide as what we had last month, but two hundred and forty k to four hundred and fifty k UH is the you know, the median is three five. But it's it's interesting to gauge the uncertainty that economists have right now. Yeah, and that's

been certainly true throughout much of the pandemic. Economists, uh, many months have not been the best guide to the actual number, and it's really just a function of a few things. Of course, the pandemic itself, um, and uh creating swings and jobs. And also you know, the statistical agencies just have trouble um, you know, figuring out what exactly is going on, and that's been sort of notable in a in a lot of revisions to the data.

So it's not only are you trying to get the current month's number, but you're trying to account for the fact that data may have been shifts in the in the prime months. So we talked about the evening outs. Yeah, we've talked about some wild statistics in terms of job openings as well. Andrew, I'm sorry to interrupt, Just like you know, there are two jobs for every job seeker in this country right now, where we're going to see participation move exactly. Yeah, so, um, you know, the the

incentives should be there. Wage growth is high and still rising, even though you know, potentially the growth sequentially is kind of slowing. Um, So we do expect to see a pickup in participation. It kind of dropped sort of quirkily last month, but we do think certainly primage workers, you know, the one caveat, of course, is we have seen in May and now into June there is a bit of a pickup in sake COVID case counts that's been less of a factor, and we think it will be less

of a factor. But as you're thinking about a sixty thou jobs here, hundred thousand there um, that that could be a stealth reason to think that we might get a soft number in May as well. I have to ask you about the R word and and specifically with regard to the comments from Jamie Diamond. I don't know if you heard this yesterday. I'm sure you did. The hurricane uh line that that really spooked a lot of investors. He was speaking at the Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in

New York. Here's Jamie Diamond. It's a hurricane. It's right now, it's kind of sunny. Things are doing fine. You know, everyone thinks that the Fed can handle this. That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way. We just don't know if it's a minor one or superstorm Sandy or ye Sandy or or Andrew or something like that. And it's you. You better brace yourself, brace yourself. Andrew. Those comments really spooked a lot of people. This is

someone who has unique insights into what's happening in the economy. Uh, is it sunny right now? We can be in the midst of a storm in a couple of months. Yeah. Our our team's view is, um, it's not a very near term problem, being a recession that is. But certainly as you think about you know, the FED is marching rates higher, You're seeing the housing market respond a bit, um,

you're seeing the good sector respond a bit. So I think for some sectors it may start to feel that way, but I think for the the economy as a whole. And you pointed that statistic earlier about how strong job openings are um and and that's going to be tough to reverse in in the matter of a few months. But certainly looking out in h two three and and certainly into is of course, the FED is really signaling

it's going to be moving rates into restricted territory. That's really when our team is is eyeing a higher recession risks. So we're still monitoring that, but certainly not the next few months issue for us barring him at a shock. So with that said that Lal Brainerds has has turned us away from this idea of a September pause. Is that how you feel exactly? Yeah, that that's what our team puts a pretty short shrift on those remarks about

a pause. Those came up last week from the Atlanta Fed's Bostick, and really there we're just thinking it is a high bar there is. Bostick is among the more devish leaning officials, and even here I don't think he's saying it's it's a definite um. And certainly the rest of the committee is not is not going to see the evidence that we think they're given. We'll get a new inflation number next week, and then that's probably gonna be running quite hot. Unemployment rate holds at three point

six per uh. That's just a hair above the the immediate pre pandemic low of three and a half. As you point out, that's a victory lap for the White House, right. I mean, most people don't talk about the participation rate. You know, over dinner here Andrew, the President will be able to say, we've still got one of the lowest unemployment rates in history. Yeah, that they certainly can um.

And unemployment is quite low. UM. But of course consumers are are feeling the pinch of the high inflation, and that's showing up in uh him in surveys which which normally track the labor market pretty well. Normally you'd think sentiment would be pretty high right now, but it's it's quite low, just again because of because of inflation. But as certainly as we head towards the election, that sort of the mix of those two factors is going to h help determine the balance of power after mid terms.

Andrew Husby, when for an expert like you, what's the first number you look at in this report in the morning. I'm assuming it's not the headline. Uh No, it's uh, it's certainly the headline is one of those numbers we do, uh, we do take a look at, but it's it's much more of a holistic report. You're looking at participation. You're looking to see whether the unemployment rates moved up there down for the right reasons. And I think for this report,

we really are buying that wage number. If we do see some cooling, that will take potentially some pressure off the Fed to really have to crush the economy with rate hikes later this year. And it's next great prim er there, Andrew Husby. We do appreciate it. Find his work on the terminal Bloomberg Economics and now you know what number to look for first thing in the morning. Reassembled the panel next with Rick and Jennie. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg, This is Bloomberg. So no with Joe

Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. They reportedly would not take President Biden's call in riyadd a couple of months back, and while the White House says those reports are untrue, it now appears the President will be making a trip to Saudi Arabia, which Joe Biden vowed remember as a candidate, to make a pariah on the world stage following the Kashogi murder. New York Times now following Bloomberg's reporting, we

told you it was likely going to happen. Peter Baker now reports that the President's will in fact travel to Ridd this month to rebuild relations with the oil rich kingdom at a time when he's seeking the lower gas prices at home and isolate Russia abroad. We reassembled the panel from more on this Rick, They of us in Genie Chanzano or Bloomberg Politics contributors this is a good idea, Rick to show up in riyadd Is that better than, say,

going to Venezuela. It's yes, it's better than going to Venezuela because the Saudis can actually impact the price of gas if they increase their production, and Venezuela can't. So I think they've at least picked the right outcome if they're looking for change. But this has been a confused process. They, as you point out, reached out early and got rebuked. Uh, not only rebuked, but there's some indications that you know, MBS wouldn't take Biden's call, but he would take Vladimir

Putin's call. So not to get on the wrong side of history. It sounds like they're getting it back to where it needs to be. Well, how do you not get on the wrong side of history with this move, Genie? How do you how do you handle the optics here? We're not going to get an apology from MBS. No, he's not. And you know, we started this week with the op ed on inflation, the op ed on Ukraine

and this you know, announcement today. Finally, as you talked about earlier this week that he was gonna go Biden is going to go meet with MBS is very much tied into those two things. He is getting killed on inflation, there's not much he can do about that. This war in Ukraine looks like it's going to go on and on for a long period of time. Both of those

things terribly impacting oil. So this I think is really a recognition by the White House that they are in a very precarious domestic political and geopolitical state at this point. So they are now forced to go do something they did not want to do. Saudi Arabia is in a power position, and speaking of Venezuela, we did try to go pressure, you know, go release those sanctions or ease them up, get their oil. We've tried to push OPEC. The announcement from OPEC plus today, it's not going to

impact consumer prices at the pump that much. That's the reality that Biden is dealing with. So he's gonna have to swallow what he said about the Pariahis state and go over there. And it's gonna be fa sscinating to see how they try to sell this because it's their own constituents, particularly reporters, frustrated rightly so, by the horrific murder who are pressuring him not to do this, and they're gonna do it now, And this is going to

be big news for this trip. It will a great line from Peter Baker Rick, the visit represents the triumph of real politic over moral outrage. And it really does come down to that. Right. So, if we've decided that MBS is someone we need to deal with because we don't like five dollar regallon gas, what are the optics of this trip? Does he does? Does he do a photo op with him? I mean, is this is going to happen behind the scenes? How would you handle it? Yeah?

First of all, it's going to play out publicly because there's just no way to avoid it. That plane is gonna land to get the big rivals ceremony is gonna come out, right, and so and Peter Baker is right in the sense that it is a it is a debate of real politic, which is which is void of uh those values, but but but but it's it's about our values, and our values are our interests, and so to compromise on those in order to try and solve an economic problem at home is nothing but an elixir

for for failure in the future. I mean, NBS, the leader of Saudi Arabia is going to be in the crown position for the next fifty years and we are going to have to deal with that as a key strategic player in this region. But when you then start saying one of those things that's valuable to us is the price of gasoline and we're willing to you know, uh cow taw to him because of that, I think

you've put it on a very uneven keel. And our values are at risk here and it never works well for a president who sets his values aside for real politics. During his stop in Riya Jinih, we understand the president will meet as well after MBS with leaders of other Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the U a E. Do do we try to make this look more like a regional summit than to sit down with a bad guy.

That's what they're going to try to do. And early on this with Couched as you know, a preparation for a visit to Israel. Um that has now changed very much, you know, And and let's look at what's happening. You know, the president has pressed Venezuela, has pressed OPEC, plus now he's turning to Saudi Arabia. These are some of the worst regimes in the world for human rights, but he's turning to them. But what he's not doing is something that Rick talked about, I think it was earlier this

week or last week, pushing for more domestic production. So you know, it really really shows you what he is willing to do and what he's not willing to do. And I think a real question that has to be

asked at this point is was it possible. Was it a mistake for them to conflate the issue of the murder and the need for for oil quite frankly could they had not have dealt with these as two separate issues, But they did that several years ago before he was in office, and they haven't been willing to step back from it. And now he finds himself in a really, really difficult position, but he won't go against the Green folks on his on his party and push for more

domestic production. At this point, it's not yet so what happened. He's gonna get killed for this though, by a human rights activists, by progressive Democrats in Washington. Does he not care anymore? Is more important to get gas prices down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just really quickly. You know, he is going to get killed on it. And let's remember, for a president, this is the worst case scenario. This is not just members of his you know, progressive wing or his own party.

These are reporters who have been lobbying against a visit like this because of course it was a horrible, gruesome murder and he is going to have to stand up to that kind of pressure. But he's made the decision that as president, he has to relieve the pressure at the pump for Americans. But again, you go back several years on this. It's the United States. It's Europe's policies towards Audi Arabia that got us into this position in the first place. He's not gonna make his his own

party happy, here is he? Rick, No, he's not gonna make his own party happy. And he's not gonna make the oil patch happy. I mean, like, here's an interesting unification of liberal Democrats and and and and oil executives, all of whom basically are opposed to this one solution. And I would just remind everybody that for the nineteen

eighties and nineteen nineties. We basically the Republican Party used the fact that we were buying all this oil from despotic regimes as a national security threat and it allowed us to then you know, open up the taps for fracking and the oil patch. That will led us to one of the greatest economic revivals of our time. We need to find new sources of energy that are not hydrocarbons.

But in the meantime, if he wants a solution and he's not looking domestically, he's making a huge mistake, you know, to think and Genie mentioned this. We started this week with the notp ed from President Biden on inflation. This was supposed to be the troops are out here, all hands on deck. We spoke earlier this week with Genes Spurling. Uh, Brian Deese has been out, members of the Economic Counsel, the President himself trying to get ahead of that story

has been very difficult for this administration here, Jeanie. Every time they want to pivot to the economy, Ukraine happens, or in this case, Vivaldi happens. Yeah, and we've heard a number of reports, you know, NBC had won the Washington Post about frustration not unusual in any White House, but in this White House with aids who are you know, a lot of infighting as to what they can do because his numbers are not moving at all, so their effort.

You know, we're still early in June. This is gonna be a whole month on inflation apparently, um so, maybe they'll have some luck, but it's going to be an uphill battle. And one of the things that we're hearing, of course, is that much of what this president does is sort of old fashion. If you will make a speech, do a not ed, do a photo op. You know,

does he need to do something different? Does he need to sort of break out of the traditional block of the way presidents have, you know, address things, you know, social media, you know, I I don't know, maybe he should come on the podcast. I don't know. I don't know, but you know, there because this is not breaking through and of course, you know, communications are not going to end inflation, but certainly the president is feeling very frustrated. At least so far. This June focus is you know,

not move the needle at all. I'll tell you what, President Biden has a standing invitation here at Bloomberg. I'm not sure that that's happened. You want to speak directly to the markets, Mr President, I know you love this program already. We'd love to have you here to do that. Rick, is Genie onto something there is that? Does President need to go live on Twitter? Stand on his head? What does he do to to approach us in a different way from the sort of analog concept of a primetime

address in writing an op ed in a newspaper. Yeah, I mean, look the bully pulp. It's a good thing to have. It's part of the best aspect of the presidency is that you can speak directly to the American people without much of a press filter. That being said, I mean, he himself has said we've got to take action as an administration on various elements of both legislative and executive action in order to curb inflation. And so instead of doing that, he's hopping on a plane and

going to Saudi Arabia to beg for lower oil prices. So, I mean, like, where's the initiative from his administration? I mean, I've read those same articles Dannie did about, you know, discontent in the White House, and and it seems to me they're just pencils down, and you know, taking a trip to Saudi Arabia is bad optics for a president who already is very unpopular, and it's only gonna get worse for him. And if he loses his credibility with the American people on this issue, it won't matter what

what measures he takes. Every time he speaks, people will turn off the set pencils down, says Rick Genie. I'm wondering is it gonna be until after the mid terms before we start to see uh more departures from the White House? And we had Jen Saki obviously a high profile one, but these advisers who have left the president upset. How how many more months does this go on? You know?

I think we will start to see more more again, not unusual departures from the White House, people seeing they have to focus on their family, go back to the private sector whatever. It will be not unusual, but the frustration makes that worse. And I think we're starting to see some of that breakage already. Rick and Jeanne, great conversation, as always our signature panel on Bloomberg Sound On. We'll meet you back here tomorrow, the fastest hour in politics,

and will distill the address from President Biden. See where we are. Then it starts seven thirty. This is Bloomberg