Sound On: Russia Rockets Hit Poland, GOP Leadership Battle

If we care. Bloomberg sound on politics, policy and perspective from DC's top name, I will very very very probably do it again. Okay, that's a three time loser. I think that this selection was the funeral for the Republican Party. As we know, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night Bloomberg sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Russian rockets reportedly

hit Poland. So now what welcome to the fastest hour in politics is the U S and NATO allies meet to consider the path forward, waiting to learn more about what happened today. We'll have the nique perspective of the former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on the Pentagon's next steps, and as the Polish president calls for a National Security Council meeting, we will talk with Melinda Hrring of the

Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center on Ukraine. With the aftermath of the midterm elections now setting off a leadership battle in the Senate and Donald Trump preparing his big announcement for tonight, will discuss all of these stories with our signature panel Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Jeanie Schanzano. The Pentagon is treading very carefully around this story from Poland today, as the Associated Press reports two Russian missiles crossed the

Ukrainian border into Poland, killing two people. Pentagon spokes from Brigadier General pat ryder So, as I mentioned right now,

we are aware of the press reporting on this. We have no information at this time to corroborate those reports, but again are are taking them seriously and looking into them, and so um I will make sure that we provide you with any updates as soon as we have them, and we've been waiting the news prompted though an emergency meeting of leaders in Poland, with Warsaw now considering invoking Article four of a NATO Treaty, which brings consultation with

allies to raise concerns about national security, a step away, of course, from a part possible Article five response, which is what everyone today has been asking about when it comes to our security commitments UH and Article five. We've been crystal clear that we will defend every inch of

NATO territory. That's a Brigadier General pat Ryder once again echoing the words of the President right, President Biden just a couple of months ago, attack on one as an attack on all, and we will defend every inch of NATO territory. Or the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, it's President Biden may clear we will defend every inch of NATO territory. If require every inch. We're making good on that,

every inch. But what if it was an accident. What if NATO decides it's it's more dangerous to respond militarily. What if Poland doesn't ask for help. We are facing some big questions to nights, and that's why we're lucky to have former Secretary of Defense Mark Asper back with us on sound on, author of the books Sacred Oath. Mr Secretary, welcome back. We understand that President Biden has

spoken with President Duda. We also know National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has gotten on the phone with the chief of Poland's National Security Bureau. Bring us behind the scenes into what's happening right now, well, Joe, first of all, great to be with you on this important day. So I think you know behind the scenes, the Secretary of

Defense is having conversations with his counterpart as well. I think the critical thing is to understand what the polls know and what they don't know based on the forensics on the ground as they look at the wreckage of the of the missiles, UH, to compare radar tracks, if you will, to try and figure out the point of origination, and then to kind of getting their head with regard to where the government is thinking, what the government is

thinking as we weigh out responses. My suspicion is that this was an an accident until um firing caused by either poor targeting or a malfunctioned by one of the Russian missiles. But we need to go through a deliberate process, investigated out and come to the facts before we draw any conclusions. If we do conclude that it was an accident, does that mean no military response, or is is it not that easy? Well, I look, accidents happened. Uh, United

States has created accidents in the past. If you're called the shooting down of an Iranian jetliner a decades ago by U. S. Navy ship, and there's been other accidents in the past. I don't see it as a reason to go to war. But it's certainly a reason for us to demand a full explanation from the Russians, to demand some type of actions that they plan to take to make sure this doesn't happen again, and to continue to warn them that we will defend NATO territory from attack.

Should the President be saying every inch that that line that we've heard repeatedly, and and he's even said, you know, whether it's on purpose or nod or have have we gone too far to draw that red line without allowing for some flexibility over you know, a potential screw up like this one. Well, I think it's important to be resolute.

You're sending a message to at least two audiences, one Russia and number two the allies, you know, reassure the frontline States, the Baltics, Poland, etcetera, that we will be there to defend them. But you you have to balance that out with a message to all the players and the American people that we need to get to the bottom this first, and we need to sort out whether

it was an accident or intentional. And intentionality makes a big difference here, particularly when you're talking about possibly escalating the conflict and injecting NATO into it. When you read actually read the article five, it refers to action as deemed necessary, Mr. Secretary, including the use of armed force to restore security, implying that that's an option one of potentially several options that UH the allies have to to do this, even if it was on purpose, that does

not guarantee a military response right now, That's right. A lot of people misread article to five to to believe that it's just an automatic reaction military response, And grantly, what it means is that the decision has to go back to UH national capitals for decision first and then consultation among the allies within the within NATO, So it's it's not automatic and they can consider a full range

of responses. And I believe that this was an accident that the appropriate response would be a diplomatic one, but on the other hand, we should consider what additional actions we should take NATO should take to safeguard from something similar happening in the future. So do we UH put more air defenses in along the Polish border, for example? Should we accelerate, as I've been arguing for some time now, accelerate the provision of air defense assets to Ukraine so

that this doesn't happen. Think about how far this Russian missile would have had to travel across Ukraine to pass into the Polish border, the renumerous opportunities to shoot this thing down, and so I think we it's a call to accelerate the provision of air defenses to Ukraine as well, not least of which because they've been suffering under air

missile attacks from the Russians now for months. You said a couple of important things there, and I do want to go back and point out the fact that you're right, President Biden would have to seek UH congressional approval to act on this militarily right as opposed to responding to an attack on our own country. So that's number one and two to your point about missile defenses. How does this impact the debate if we can call it a debate to be fair around Ukraine funding war funding going

into the new year with a new Congress. Well, uh, look, the air defenses are desperately needed. We've known this for months. I think we've moved too slowly and and with not enough, not just the United States but our allies as well.

We know at this point in time, given the tactical vitories on the ground being achieved by the Ukrainians, that the Russians are now resorting to these air missile attacks and drone attacks by the way, to provided by Iran to knock out the Ukrainian infrastructure so that it becomes a very tough winter for them, for the Ukrainians and they try to break their will. So this is why I've been arguing that we need to provide the Ukrainians

the means to defend themselves. And I just don't know why, uh, NATO, the United States are allies have been moving too slow on this front. We're spending time with Marks per former Defense Secretary Mark, When when the administration does know what actually happened here, does the president speak even if it's from the G twenty in Bali and this does this actually helped him being with all of these fellow leaders,

He's basically got a NATO meeting at breakfast today. Well, the United States is the clear leader of NATO, the clear leader of the free world. I think it's important for the President once he understands the facts and comes to a conclusion and consults, by the way with his his fell long leaders, particularly Poland and UM and of course a NATO sectary general, that he explains to the American people what we know and what it means. But it's we need to understand what's happening. We need to

know the way ahead. We need some reassurance that, uh, that Washington has this under control. We were asking questions earlier about force protection. Brigadier General pat Ryder, as I mentioned, was briefing reporters at the Pentagon earlier. Here's what he said. We always take the safety and security of our troops, no matter where they're serving, very seriously, and so we're very confident in any force protection measures that we take,

whether it be Poland or elsewhere. You made the point earlier here that this missile had to travel some distance, or these missiles to where they were going, do we need to have better countermeasures just to protect our own forces. Never mind the border of Poland. We've got tens of thousands of additional troops over there now, right, what force

protection do we have? Well, I assu you know what, where there are congregations of US forces, particularly on bases or Polish bases, that they are well protected from the ground um and and more importantly from the air with the US air defense systems supplemented complemented by Polish air defense systems. So I don't worry as much about the bases. What you have to worry about is is again these if it's an accident um missiles falling in in areas

that we wouldn't expect. In this case, from what we're told it was, it fell into a farming area community, a very small community, which which adds to the suspicion that it was an accident more than anything else. So but look, force protection always has to be taken into account.

And at this point in time, given that this seems to be the resort of the Russians to fire drones and missiles and artillery and in many cases randomly to terrorize the Ukrainian people, we have to be doubly on guard with regard to force protection and and and where the spillover could occur. I think I know what your answer is going to be. But does this and the argument about whether they should send the MiGs, do you rane? Uh,

we should have sent the mixed months ago. We should be pushing the Germans and others to provide tanks, that we should accelerate air defenses and and anti ship missiles. All this stuff should have been provided. We could foresee all this happening, and so I don't know why we continued to hesitate to do these things. And so yes, by this time we could have trained, uh, the Ukrainian pilots and they would have been ready to go and they could have shot down these systems. What a thought,

What a thought? Mark, thank you for sharing your insights with us. To your point on a very important day, Mark asked for the former Secretary of Defense, getting things moving on the fastest hour in politics. Will assemble the panel next to here from Genie and Rick, I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on

with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Reports coming in from Poland today that as you were just hearing on Bloomberg wound on a couple of Russian missiles hit NATO territory, landed in Poland, killed two people. May reframe the debate surrounding funding for Ukraine. It certainly came up today in a newly awakened Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are back in town. Senator Mitch McConnell, still minority leader, was sasked about it.

I'm a robust supporter of Ukraine. We need to get them what they need to continue to fight this war. I think they have the capacity to win it, particularly we give them what they need. We have more later on a test to his leadership this hour, but let's assemble our panel or Genie Schanzano and Rick Davis are

with us, our signature panel Bloomberg Politics contributors. Genie doesn't reframe the argument around funding here with some Republicans primarily, and but also some progressive Democrats as well, making some noise becoming a little more restless as we approached the end of the year when it comes to sending tens of billions more to Ukraine. Yeah, it should reframe the argument, but the reality is it really shouldn't have to reframe it. The biggest surprise about what happened today is that it

didn't happen before. The Russians have been shooting missiles in this area, and they had what ninety missiles that came in aimed towards the infrastructure, the electrical infrastructure in Ukraine. And regardless of whether this was an accident or whether it was on purpose, the shock here is it didn't happen before. Anybody in Congress who doesn't realize that and is prepared to maybe cut funding or have a discussion about that at this point really hasn't been paying attention

to what's been going on. So it shouldn't reframe it, but it probably will. The nightly address from President Zelenski rick was, you can imagine, fairly draumatic. He asked how many times as Ukraine said that the terrorist state will not stop on our country. It's only a matter of time, he said, before Russian terror goes further. Is that true or is this just a dumb move, a mistake by

Vladimir Putin? Well, I think there's a legit intimate concerned that Putin's brandishing all these weapons across you know, Ukraine. One has the potential of causing an accent. This is the problem when you put on a war like Putin has, with the lack of lethality that he's been able to do, he has no idea half the time probably where these missiles are going. So the idea that they somehow can deny this without you know, UH being found to be UH at risk at fault UM is nuts. UM. Ninety

missiles were launched yesterday. This is one of two of those missiles all the way across the country. UM. Ukraine was successful at shooting down seventy of them. But UH, Vladimir Putin doesn't have control of his troops. He doesn't really know what's happening on the ground. UH. And the idea that somehow this doesn't spread UH to a broader war is I think naive on people's part, because Uh, I think there's a part of Putin's political calculus that

says he's to be even tougher than he's been. You know, he's got he doesn't have problems on the left, he knows those. He has problems on the right. There are right wing advisors and leaders in Russia who don't think Putin is doing enough, and to some degree, maybe This mollifies them because Putin will be able to say, potentially, hey, I shot these two missiles into into Poland and NATO did nothing. It sounds to me like a response might

be necessary, whether or not it was an accident. Is at your point, Yeah, I don't think we can tolerate Russia is shooting ninety missiles in the Ukraine one right, that is absolutely inappropriate. He's what he's doing is what you mentioned earlier. He's knocking out all the powers so he can freeze the Ukrainian population. That is not war uh in in a traditional sense. So what's the what's the response? I think the response has got to be beef up everything that we're doing in the Ukraine and

and increase the global pressure on Russia. And that means secondary sanctions, that means, you know, targeting new industries within Russia. I mean, there are a lot more we can do, and I think we've kind of taken our foot off the gas pedal. How close are we to World War three? Then here, Jeanie, you know, a response could be interpreted in a lot of different ways by Vladimir Putin. Obviously it could. I mean Vladimir Putin is threatened at home.

There there is a school of thought which says that, you know, we need to be thinking about providing him some kind of face saving off ramp, because otherwise he could feel threatened internally and maybe do something like launch a nuclear attack. So that's reality. The other reality is the United States and NATO. We've been trying to limit this wor to Ukraine. We see that that's going to be a lot tougher to do at this point, and that's where this concern about say, World War three comes about.

But in the meantime, civilian populations in the Ukraine are under attack. I mean Rick was just talking about it. They're attempting to completely disable the electrical grid as they head into winter. They are destroying an entire civilization. And that is a really, really something that's got to be addressed. And you know, these were two, you know, two deaths, really unfortunate. Look at the number in Ukraine. Do you worry You're absolutely right, Do you worry about drawing red

lines here? Uh? Jeannie, This term has come up a number of times, remembering Barack Obama and Syria. When you think about Joe Biden, every inch, no matter what is that good or or bad geopolitics right now. It's dangerous because he has been unequivocal. You have played all the equips, all the equips, all the clips rather and he has said that as his advisers. And the question is now, did he mean every single inch only if it wasn't an accident. If it is an accident, is it still

every single Yeah, it's a dangerous game to play. He's right, he should be unequivocal in that. But they've got to mean it. And that's you know what we're waiting to hear. How do we respond and do they feel that, you know, accident means that this is excused in some way a redline? Dangerous here, Rick or necessary? I like redlines as long

as you back them up. Yeah, well, that's a whole different conversation, Rick Davis, Jennie Chanzano stay with us for the hour our signature panel as we continue our conversation about some of the very difficult decisions that are coming. Wellnda Herring of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center on Ukraine

is here. Next. This is Bloomberg. So at six thirty in the morning right now in Bali, where, of course President Biden is waking up along with the heads of the other G twenty nations there for the big summit this week, where the war in Ukraine has been a massive topic. It was a topic yesterday when President Biden met with President she from China. It was a topic today when Bloomberg News spoke with John Kirby, spokesman of course for the White House National Security Council, while talking

about China, you cannot avoid the war in Ukraine. China hasn't condemned the war. They haven't stopped buying oil, they haven't provided any military equipment. But but clearly they haven't come out as forcefully as the rest of the international community in really condemning this war. That by the way, it was just a couple of hours before the headlines broke from Poland about the apparently stray missiles is that what we're calling them that killed two people in Poland?

Were joined by Melinda Herring Glad to say, the deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasias Center on Ukraine, back with us here on Bloomberg's sound On. Melinda, it's great to have you with us. How likely do you think this is a mistake at this play. We don't know, and it's it's early days. Everyone's trying to figure out what happened. So it may have the Russians may have

overshot and they may have intended to hit Poland. Or it's possible that that the Ukrainians tried to shoot this these Russian UH missiles down and their air defenses landed in Poland. We simply don't know, and everyone's trying to gather information right now, So we're trying to be careful as well. When you consider though, the environment that President Biden is in right now, Uh, is this not the best possible scenario for him to be surrounded by Arnato

allies at this very moment. Look, it's not bad. I don't think anyone expects anything monumental to come out of the G twenty. I certainly don't. The big themes that the G twenty were energy security and food security, and Vladimir Putin did even bother to show up, and both of those issues revolve around him, and he is the decision maker in Russia. So you know, it's good that he's nearer some of our allies and he can make

phone calls and have conversations easily. But but you know, I don't see any headlines coming out of the g T, any real ones. So he needs to come home, meet with military officials and so on. Is that your point? We know Jake Sullivan was speaking with his counterpart in Poland. The Pentagon, though, is being very careful about what comes next. We're not we're not at Article five yet, we're technically not even an Article four as Poland considers opening the conversation.

That's right. So we know that President Biden just got off the phone with President Duda in Poland, and the polls are supposed to put out a statement very soon. But I think you're right that that everyone is looking at Article for for consultations to sit down and talk about what the proper response is right now, uh, and

hopefully a meeting will be forthcoming. The Ukrainians, Dmitri Kala, the foreign minister, has put some statements out on social media and he's asking he's asking for a NATO conference that would include Ukraine, and he's urging the West to send air defense systems and to send S sixteens and S fifteens as soon as possible. Do you think that

will happen? No? No, I don't think so. Look, the White House, our White House is not willing to give long range rockets that there's no way that they're going to agree to greenland jets. They already poop poo this idea, you know, months and months, never mind the megs that they already know how to fly. When you hear when you hear Moscow using the term deliberate provocation, when you're done chuckling, do you assume that that means the opposite

of what you're reading? Normally? Yes, normally, normally you do. Yeah, but you know what the Russians are also saying. Now, you know, I don't think the Russians want to go to war with the NATO. They realize that they're going to get their butts kicked. So Russia's official line is that it's Ukrainian air defense. Since it's too far for Russians three hundreds, let's let's wait and see. Uh. You know,

we don't know yet. Uh. And we need to be judicious because if the Russians did indeed intend to hit Poland, Uh, this conflict between Russia and Ukraine will get out of hand and no one wants that. But Linda, what should the administration be telling lawmakers or maybe already telegraphing to Chuck Schumer, and I guess at some point it will be to to the speaker, and it looks like that will be Kevin McCarthy. We need more money? How much

more well we need this year? I don't have a figure for you, but I can tell you what needs to be sent. Ukraine needs air defense systems as soon as possible. And Ukraine's infrastructure is very, very vulnerable. We saw this today. Russia sent a hundred missiles and hit a number of targets across the country. In Ukraine is very cold and very dark tonight, and if the situation is only going to get worse if the United States and our western allies, Ukraine's western allies don't provide these

air defense systems. So that's one. Another point though, is long range rockets would make a big difference, and we've seen the high mar systems have a huge influence on the battlefield already. So let's do it now. Everyone wants peace. No one wants this war to continue, least of all Ukrainians. The best way to end this war is to send all of the heavy equipment and the arms that the Ukraine's are sending are requesting now, but that's not enough. Uh.

We also need to talk about budget support. Our Congress has been amazing, Joe. Our Congress has sent a point five billion with a B to Ukraine to provide budget support, which sounds so boring and unsexy. What does this means. It's money for pensions, it's money for schools, it's for hospitals, and it's for railways and that's what's keeping the state of floats. And the EU is a lagger. The EU promised nine billion with a B and only since three the Germans are sitting on their hands and they won't

authorize more money. So that's a big, big problem. But we also need to be thinking about winter and authorizing additional assistance packages so that people don't freeze the death because it's really cold. I love talking to you. Come in here and talk to us in the studio next time we Linda Herring your well. You do really important work there and I appreciate your bringing it to our listeners. The deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Your Agias Center

on Ukraine, who could say it better. She's actually sounding a little bit like Rick Davis with only thirty seconds left. Rick, it's time to send the kitchen sink. Yeah, go beggar, go home. And I think the point making his right. Let's get NATO into this, Let's get Europe backing them as much as we are. We've got friends, Let's take them to work. Rick Davis and Jennie Chanzano will be back. We'll reassemble the panel and look ahead to a big

night at Mara Lago. Yeah, Trump's going forward. Apparently, we also have to talk about the leadership struggle on Capitol Hill. It's been dicey today inside the bubble. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg who sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. It appears Kevin McCarthy will be the person to hold the gavel if Republicans closed the deal, and that could happen any minute, one seat away from calling the House for the GOP, and indeed,

House Republicans reelected Kevin McCarthy as their leader today. This sets up the full vote. But this sent him on Conservatives remains a hurdle. As I read on the terminal for him, claiming the gavel when the GOP takes charge. As expected, he got votes from a hundred eighty eight Republicans in what was a closed party leadership election. According to two people in the room, a conservative who challenged him, we talked about Andy Biggs. He got thirty one votes.

Just don't tell Matt Gates right now there are a lot of the establishment Republicans in denial believing that Kevin McCarthy can somehow still become speaker. What I'm here to tell you is there are definitely at least five people, actually a lot more than that, who would rather be water boarded by Liz Cheney than vote for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House. And I'm one of them. Okay, Matt Gates of Florida, he spent time rehearsing that one right,

water boarded by Liz Cheney. So it didn't turn out quite well. Maybe look, maybe five did vote no after all. Any Biggs got thirty one. So that's done now. At least we put that on the back burner as we wait for the House to be old. On the Senate side, we've got a little leadership battle there too. As I read on the terminal GPS. Scott's the challenge McConnell amid mid term blame game. Yeah, Senator Rick Scott. Of course. Mitch McConnell was asked about it the minute he walked

in the hallway. Well, look, I don't know him this job. Um, anybody in the conference is certainly entitled to challenge me, and uh welcome the contost. By the way, Rick Scott was on Bloomberg News earlier today when he was asked about you know, Donald Trump was the big story. He's gonna be announcing the big campaign for the nights. He's only got one focus, right, Well, first off, I focused on making sure we win in Georgia. I'm focused on

make sure that we solve the problems out here. And there's I think it looks like there's gonna be a lot of people interested in running in four Um. I don't know if President Trump will announced today he's running, but it seems like a lot of people will will watch it as it happens. But you know, my belief is voters are gonna choose. Well, it turns out Rick Scott is running for the leadership. Will challenge Mitch McConnell in a closed door meeting tomorrow. Let's reassemble the panel.

Rick Davis and Jeannie Chanzano are here Bloomberg Politics contributors. This is part of the joy of coming off this election for Democrats. Genie is watching this leadership fight, even if we know or think we know how it's gonna end. McConnell says he's got the votes, but this wouldn't be happening right now if things didn't go the way they did last Tuesday. Right. Yeah, we've got a few senators who who, like Matt Gates, would apparently rather be waterboarded

than support the meeting Canada. And among them not just Rick Scott, but Josh Holly, Ted Cruz, all coming out and making statements saying what we've been doing hasn't been working. We need new leadership, and so hence, you know, Rick Scott making this run. You know, it looks like McConnell will withstand the fight, but it does set up, you know, a really really tough Thanksgiving family meal for the Republicans

as they head into the holidays. Mitch McConnell, though, saying that he has the votes to get this, to pull this through, and I'm sure you know he would say that if he didn't write Rick, you know Mitch McConnell pretty well, and he's there's a reason why he has been the leader for so long. Josh Holly is probably not going to be the one to change that, or Rick s good for that matter. Yeah, you could tell even by the clip you played as he said, yeah,

anybody can run against me. You know, he almost enjoys killing off other Republicans, um Cook, I mean, like you take yourself out of the moment. I mean, Rick Scott's job was to elect a majority, right, and and he started by saying he was going to cut Medicare and Social Security. Brilliant move that didn't slow us down a bit. And then he says today on bloom Workers, I think this is the most important quote of the week, which is it wasn't that we had bad candidates, it was

that we had bad intensity. So blame the voters for the mistakes you made on recruitment. I mean, I just, I mean, anybody who watches this play out knows that. You know, it's like Gene he said, if you're at Thanksgiving and you've got your family all around, these are the crazy cousins you put at the end. Of the table talks to them. That's saying a lot about Rick Scott. Listen to Josh Holly. By the way, this is Holly pulled aside by a couple of reporters in the corridor.

He said he will not it was specific, will not vote for Mitch McConnell, and he went on, I think that this election was the funeral for the Republican Party as we know it. The Republican Party is as we have known it is dead, and voters have made that clear. And in particular, the folks who did not vote for Republicans in this last election were independent voters, working class independent voters, Folks who voted for President Obama once upon a time, Folks who then voted for President Trump but

stayed home this time. We are not a majority party unless we can appeal to those voters. So he's having a funeral for your Republican Party, Rick, Does that mean that he would be the one to rebuild it? Yeah, But the people who lost were Josh Holly's guys. I mean, like, this is the maga wing of the party that he represents. It's a fringe element, and I think the voters made that selection loud and clear, we do not want people

like this in the United States Senate. And so I think Josh Holly ought to look in the mirror and say, yeah, maybe we aren't picking the right kind of candidates that part of the party. If you believe Josh Holly is dead, great, then you can have a new part of the party that maybe represents a broader majority that can win elections. Or maybe tonight at Mara a Lago, Genie will be like that hand that comes out of the water at

the end of the horror movie. In order to make our country successful and safe and glorious, I will very, very very probably do it again. Okay, he may have had a fourth ferry in one of those lines. Genie, this is happening apparently, regardless of what Republicans around him are saying, which is, at least wait until the Georgia runoff. Yeah, they're begging for him to wait. But I like what Ken Griffin said. He called him a three time loser. He was, yeah, and he is. He can very very

very whatever he wants. But this is a disaster for Republicans. And you know, all Democrats have to do is just imagine that. You know, Josh Holly Ted Cruz, Donald Trump. They seem to be working for the Democratic Party because it's hard to imagine that somebody like Katie Hobbs wins in a place like Arizona unless they are nominating the

craziest among them. And so this has been a boon for Democrats, not because Democrats were incredibly successful or voters were very happy with what was happening in the country, but because Republicans are nominating crazy candidates. And McConnell was right on that. And I'm no big fan of Mitch McConnell, but you got to give him credit. Early on he said candidates mattered. They do. Donald Trump endorse these candidates,

and it's been a disaster for Republicans ever since. That line from Ken Griffin was something Rick that, of course, the CEO of Citadel who moved from Chicago to Florida. Listen, he lost, We lost Georgia because of his behavior in the Senate race. In that's the second loss. And then this year the Republicans lost the Senate because the Trump back candidates in the Senate races were rejected by American voters.

That's a three time loser. And I'd like to think that the Republican Party is ready to move on from somebody who's been for this party, a three time loser, Rick. Most of us would have, you know, gone back to bed if they were talking about us. But I hear that three time loser, and that's that's just the kind of thing that energizes Donald Trump, that makes him want

to announce tonight, doesn't it It doesn't dissuade him. I don't think he really cares about anybody else but himself, right in the sense of like, what am I gonna do? Oh yeah, Ken Griffin says, I'm a loser. That's gonna stop me from running for president? No? No, probably not likely they want to do it more. I do think he loves the media. He loves to be seen in

the media, and even sometimes you know, angrily. But when things like the New York Post, in the Wall Street Journal and and Fox turn against him, that I think does have an impact because that is how he gets his message out. Uh, And he doesn't have to pay for it. You can use their budgets and and without that available and I think basically Rupert Murdoch has said

the same thing, which is we're done with you Trump. Um, I think he's gonna have a lot of trouble and if anything will slow him down and make him think that will well. This other this other guy he was observing with in the White House. Name is Mike Pence. Out with not one but two televised interviews last night, the first ABC than did any wanted to talk to Hannity? By the way, if you look at the contrast of those sets, you know, they're like this dark, smoky room

on ABC, you hardly see each other. Hannity is like a seven eleven that all the lights are on the fluorescent line. Anyway, Mike Pence asked the big question by David Muir. Did I get that right on the rules? David? Yeah, David, Given all that you witnessed in the capital on that day, this is a pretty straightforward question. Yes or no? Do you believe that Donald Trump should ever be president? Again? Plain and simple? Here you go, David. I think that's

up to the American people. But I think have better choices in the future. Okay, better choices. But why not just say no about the guy who wanted to have you killed? Rick? Yeah? Why not just say no? I mean, like why finesset? Uh? You know, I couldn't understand that interview because it's almost like he wanted to, you know, make a definitive statement, but he just couldn't bring himself to doing it, you know, and so we are left to fill in the blanks, and you know, it's it's

not the profile of courage I was looking for. Then we heard from Rhonda Santas today, Jinny. He actually responded to some of the stuff he's been hearing from Donald Trump, who claims to have rescued his political career and coming off the elections last week. Here's how the governor of Florida put it all. That's just noise and really what matters is are you leading, are you getting in front of issues, are you delivering results for people? And are you standing up for folks? And if you do that,

then none of that stuff matters. And that's what we've done. We focused on results and leadership, and uh, you know, at the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night. Check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night. We just put Katie Hobbs on that scoreboard as well, Jennie. Donald Trump must be climbing the walls today. He's got to be. But you notice their rhondescant is still not calling out

Trump directly. And you know, we have to remember what compels Trump to run in in large part that attacked by Barack Obama on him at the White House Correspondensider, those attacks matter to him, Ken Griffin will matter a lot to him. It's just he can't take it. Rick Davis, thank you, Gennie, Thank you as well, Jennie Chanzano. They make up our signature panel on the fastest hour in politics, the speeches at nine. We'll watch it together virtually. Pop

your corn. I'll meet you back here tomorrow. This is bloomber