Sound On: Trump Obstruction, Battle for Nation's Soul

Talking about Donald Trump is not going to help that construct. Bloomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. But water gets hotter around mar A Lago. Welcome to the Fastest Hour in politics, as the Justice Department reveals more information about the search and the documents they found, with new accusations that someone may have tried to conceal them from the FBI. We're joined by Donald Air, former US Deputy Attorney General, with his expertise on what we learned today.

President Biden heads back to Pennsylvania tomorrow for a primetime address to the nation. But can he help Democrats running in the state or around the country for that matter. Bloomberg opinion columnist Julianna Goldman says it may not matter. We'll talk about her piece today on the terminal, and we'll hear from our signature panel Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and Jennie Chanzano back together. You've probably seen the

picture by now. You've seen the photograph of classified documents strewn across the floor at Mara a Lago. Cover sheets on at least five sets of papers marked Top secret s c I Sensitive Compartmented Information filing makes the accusation that somebody may have tried to remove the papers are concealed them somehow before the FBI visited mar Lago in June. Former Assistant US Attorney Jeff Robbins telling ABC News Today

he believes the former president will face criminal charges. There's a locomotive heading toward Donald Trump, and it's called the Diepmond cannonball. Robin says it's not just Donald Trump, though, who could end up in trouble. The lawyers face suspicion by the Department of Justice of having uh engaged potentially in an instruction of justice conspiracy, violation of the Espionage

Act lying to the FBI. Okay, now, add the Bloomberg headline that broke midday today, d o J likely to wait past mid terms to reveal any Trump charges, which would be consistent with long standing department policy, as I understand, and let's get into it right now with an authority on this, Donald Air, former US Deputy Attorney General, former Deputy solicitor General now Georgetown Law School is with us

on Bloomberg Radio. Donald, thanks for being back. What is the d o J policy on not interfering with an election? Is it? Is it specifically written out? Well, each each administration has put out a memo on the subject, and they they're they're very similar, and they're they're not ironclad, and there's not a mechanical rule. But bos idea, uh is you try not to interfere with an election if you can. But there's a lot of other things you

have to think about. Seeing that photograph today brought this home for a lot of us in a way that reading about the documents in the affidavit on Friday could not. Uh. You saw that today the cover the cover sheets top secret, uh, some of them uh, potentially containing the most important secrets in in the United States. Arsenal here along with a Time magazine with Donald Trump's picture on the cover. Uh, it's just you know, kind of perfect the way the

whole thing played out. But what did you see in that photograph that got your attention? Well, what I mean clearly that these are these are classified documents of a very important sort of course, we're not able to know and can't know specifically what they're what they are, um, But the volume is incredible. I mean, we have criminal cases where Sandy Burger, for example, was procest you an

in connection with one or two documents. Um. So this is a high volume of very sensitive stuff and the idea that it could be the basis of a prosecution, I think is very real. The difficulty for those of us on the outside is that we don't know all the specifics. All we know are the are the things that the Justice Department has found it appropriate and necessary to say in ongoing interactions with the court that Donald

Trump ultimately stimulated. That's the great irony about it. We wouldn't be hearing any of this stuff if Donald Trump had announced the search and be brought this motion for a special Master that the Justice Departments now answering, and if yes, if it weren't for that attempt to get the special Master, we would not have had the response filing last night. Correct, this has really been directed by

Donald Trump's legalty. Well, it's been directed in the sense that they've made a request in the department has to answer it. So maybe not intentionally yet. So we heard from Trump today on Truth Social terrible. He writes, quote, this is a direct quote terrible. The way the FBI during the raid of Marlago through documents haphazardly all over the floor, perhaps pretending it was me that did it.

Let's stop right there with what you understand, Donald, in terms of the way a field team like this would be conducting business. Is that normal to see evidence strewn on the floor. There's a two A card that they put there to identify the items. Well, I think you know, I don't. I don't know exactly how this occurred, but that the idea that they were laid out in a way they could all be saying doesn't strike me as

peculiar at all. And and and the idea that that there's anything that there's a raid here when you look at the basis for this affidavit and for this search, and it's perfectly clear that they were as as as patient as they could possibly be, and they finally reached the point where they felt they had to go in on the judge of greed or there was a risk

that the documents would be destroyed or diverted. He goes on to write that in that same post, thought that one of them kept secret even though we cannot seeing them. Lucky I declassified exclamation point. That last point there has been debunked many times on the air. Donald what's your view on the president's ability to declassify information well without

telling anyone about it. Well, there there's no way you can do that, and there's absolutely no indication that any process was ever set up that would allow him to do it. There's not a record of anything. It's complete nonsense. It's just one more lie by Donald Trump trying to spend the story in a way that's contrary to the facts.

And the facts are real clear at this point. And I think this interaction with the court has told all of us pretty clearly what's going on here, and and the Justice Department has done it totally appropriately because they had to make these filings in court. You do see, though, the base for a criminal case here. You said that earlier, Right, Well,

I said, yes, I do. I mean, I say, I think clearly the possession of these documents, if it's wilful, and it clearly appears to be willful, is a possible basis for a criminal action. Now, I think, you know, we all have to be patient and wait and see what the Justice Department decides to do, because bringing a prosecution is a judgment call um. And the thing is that we we don't know anything but the the broad outlines of the facts. We don't know what else is

going on there. We don't know about the interactions with other people at mar Lago in connection with it. We have a statement in the in the filing last night that appears that there was obstruction and and and the documents were moved. Um, well, there's a story there, and the story there, I think is an important part of whether they decide to go forward and on what schedule and likely would bring in other parties. Right, we're not just talking about Donald J. Trump. It could be his lawyers,

it could be staff from mar Lago. Well, they could be. It certainly could be others. And of course there's a story that's been well reported of his lawyer who signed an affiday, but who specifically saying I think after the January third visit, they gave it all to the documents, We gave it all to you, you've got it all. Well, they didn't have it all, not even close. In fact, they go back with the search for it and they find more than they have gotten up to date. So um, yeah,

I think there is that real possibility. Look, I do want to just restate to everyone that we do not know what is in the documents. We have to be honest about this. There's a lot we do not know. But after that story we started with uh, Donald air the idea that the d o J will not file charges if they could before the mid terms, that does

not mean they cannot after the mid terms. Do you have a sense though, of this type of case could go on for months and months if if not talk about this before November twenty four, Are we gonna be talking about this before the presidential election? I think we

will be. But I also think there's another big issue here, and the other big who is is the rest of what Donald Trump did, which, of course is the main thing that Donald Trump did, which was trying to steal the election, and so the Justice Department has got to be They are clearly focusing on that issue, which is really the big the biggest thing that he did. I think, although you can argue this is this is awfully big.

So they had a lot to think about in terms of putting cases together that are ready for trial, and also how you would combine charges like that, and also the timing on which they want to do it. I would say that there is getting to be a premium on moving with some dispatch because the process of trying a case like either one of these is going to

take a while. And I think, you know, I think we're at a point now with halfway through almost the administration where you know, we don't know where we're headed electorally, and the idea that it's getting to be somewhat urgent to proceed, I think is something that deserves a lot of consideration. Fascinating. Uh, you know, the the first name that came up when a lot of people heard the

headline today, it was James Comey. I wonder how much his actions regarding Hillary Clinton's emails ahead of a whole different presidential election informed the caution that we're seeing now with the d o J or was that a one off? Was Was that the exception to the to the rule? No? I think that was I think that was the exception to the rule. I think you know, many many people watching that at the time knew he was off the

reservation when he was doing that. That's not something that that the Attorney General, let alone ahead of the FBI, has any business doing talking about facts in a case where there are no charges being brought from But I think that, I mean, I think this Justice Department is proceeding in just the right way and I and I think the leader of this Justice Department, Merrick Garland, is totally clear about what's at stake here, and I think

he is. He is very concerned to proceed in a way that any reasonable person will view as even handed and fair, but to proceed vigorously and to deal with the fact that something has got to be done. Are we going to see him in front of a podigum again? Will will he hold a news conference when enough pressure builds, or have we heard what we're going to hear from the Attorney General? Well? I think I think when charges are filed, assuming charges are filed, at some point, I

suspect that he'll be in the middle of that. Whether there's going to be a reason for him to come forward before that, I think a lot depends upon this process that we're in the middle of with back and forth with the court in connection with this warrant. I mean he got involved in speaking about it because Donald Trump. Donald Trump decided to announce that his house had been searched, and so at that point this all became public and Merrick Garland came forward and explained what was going on.

Imagine imagine if we still didn't know. Imagine if Donald Trump didn't tell us that day, would we still not know? Donald Ayre great conversation. Always, we learned a lot from the former US Deputy Attorney General, just like now he's with Georgetown Law School and giving us a clinic today on what we have learned. Will assemble the panel next. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg you sound on

with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Still no comment on any of this by the White House, and we keep asking one of the first questions at every news briefing at the White House since the FBI searched Tomorrow Lago Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre going through the motions again today. We're just not going to comment on the investigation, antything, any underlying pieces of the investigation, any content of the investigation.

This is an ongoing, as you all know, investigation that the Department of Justice and independent investigation of the Department of Justice is doing. We are not going to politically interfere. We are not going to comment on anything connected to the investigation. And uh, we're just going to keep it there. Do you think they're not going to comment. She'll be asked again tomorrow and the day after that as well.

The question an answer will likely remain the same. The only person who has answered questions about this Joe Biden. Actually right, Remember he said he was not tipped off zero when he was asked at a completely unrelated event. He also uh made a gesture that rolled his eyes. Thought it was absurd about declassifying all these documents without telling anybody. Let's assemble the panel. We haven't had a chance to talk to Rick and Jeanie since the filing

last night. Of course, our signature panel is back together. Rick Davis, Genie Chanzano, Bloomberg Politics contributors. Rick, when you saw that picture, it just seemed different than reading about it in the affidavit on Friday. Yeah. I mean I was lucky enough to serve in the White House where I got to see those covers from time to time, and the reality is that I kind of thought that's what they were looking at, and see that picture, I thought,

holy smokes, it's true. I mean, this guy literally just brought stuff home from the office and took it down to a resort. So, uh, he said he had it. He said he declassified it, which you know is the big question. But the fact that he's admitted to having something that doesn't belong to him is the basis for I think this entire investigation. He's admitted that he had

these documents. What's your take, Jennie, Having learned as much as we have over the last twelve hours or so, there was more information really in that photograph than we had read so far in in any other of the sort of news dumps, whether it was the War end or the affidavit that we had a chance to read. Even the Time magazine just adds the perfect cherry on top. That's right. You know, when Merritt Garland said some time ago in his press conference that he was going to

speak through his court filings. I don't think any of us did manage and how much he meant that and how well they were going to do that, and the fact that they asked for more pages. And this thing reads something more of like a you know, a story or a script or a narrative than it does a legal court filing. And they spoke through their words, they

spoke through the pictures. Certainly you can't get enough of that Time magazine framed covers um and it it speaks volumes and that the the you know, absurdity of this is that Donald Trump has once again done this to himself. And I seldom quote Steve Doocey from Fox News, but he said it when he said, you know what, why did he have all this stuff there? It can't be declassified and nobody knows about it. I mean, these are people who are supporters of Donald Trump saying this, so

you know, it is bad. He has stepped into it, and there's literally no defense. A private individual which the president is, cannot have these documents and he has no legal or factual defense for it, as this filing shows reaction from publicans. And granted we're here in the last week of August as nobody in town, but reaction has been pretty quiet. You know, we were Lindsay Graham has been doing his best to stand up for Donald Trump.

Mitch McConnell was asked about it today in Kentucky. How about short and sweet here, I don't have any observations about that, all right. Uh. Ken Buck is the other extreme Republican from Colorado. He's on Fox News. Listen to the way he gets to this. I don't have any observations about that. Here's ken Buck. I understand that that former president's former Secretary of States may very well have classified information. He may be writing a memoir, he may

be writing an autobiography. Uh. And the fact that he had documents in and of itself isn't a concern. How he treated those documents, um and what negotiations occurred with the archivist, we just don't know at this point. The Congressman doesn't think it's it's even a concern, uh Rick to have these documents in his possession. The cover sheets would argue with that, Yeah, this is a fact that is not debatable. Trump had national defense intelligence material in

his home. It is criminal to have national defense intelligence material in a non federal facility period. That's the law. So he maybe ought to take a civics course before he runs for office. He is in possession of these documents, that's a fact. That's illegal. He put them into the hands of people potentially who are not authorized to hold them. That's illegal. So I mean, like, when you start really peeling back this layer, it's really not as complicated as

its as it seems. And and one of the documents, potentially more may have the identity of foreign agents in it. That's like the crown jewel of government secrets. That's illegal. Right, So, um, do we hear nothing to Republicans just stop talking about this because there was a chorus defending Donald Trump about a week ago. Yeah. Look, I think that Mitch McConnell represents the vast majority of Republicans who actually have their head screwed on, right. I mean, ken Buck Christie know

him today? All the fetes planted this material. I mean, it's it's insane. Nobody's gonna believe them. They're gonna lose their credibility and it makes the party look bad. So if you have those kinds of views. Just shut up. So how about how about democrats Genne do they shut up too, because we still don't know what these documents are? And is it better just to keep your hands off this? Yeah? And can I just add to what Rick said, that's

all true. Even if you want to write a book, you can't use that as a memoir, not not a defense. And you know, I think democrats the White House are right to stay out of it. When your enemy is clearly shooting themselves in the foot, you don't step into it. So I think they should be quiet. The most important thing I think that this filing did last night was it completely demolished what were Trump's only real defenses, which was the defensive privilege and declassification. Both have been shown

to be untrue. Boy, that's the take from Rick and Jennie here on Bloomberg. Sound on. We're going to bring in Julianna Goldman as Joe Biden heads back to Philadelphia tomorrow. It's next. This is Bloomberg. We were all of course on data here at Bloomberg. It's Bloomberg, and so polling is part of our coverage when it comes to politics. So there might be one number though that just may not be worth obsessing over any longer. It's not like

it doesn't matter. But as Julianna Goldman points out today, Democrats in Congress and the one in the White House for that matter, would love to see the president's approval ratings break back above water right heading into the midterms. Then again, she says, it might not matter. Is this the new normal? Is the question, and she joins us now Bloomberg opinion columnist Julianna Goldman, welcome back. Your point, I guess is that this country is so divided that

it's impossible to get a real read on that number. Yeah, I mean that's structurally present. We may be in a period or an error now where presidential approval ratings are just going to be underwater. They're going to be low because the country is so divided. And we love data.

So in this piece, UM, I dug into a lot of data, both looking at historical trends and UM presidential approval UH poll polls showing Biden's approval ratings you know, over the past several months, UM interesting poll recently from Gallup. So on the one hand, Biden's approval rating, UM, you know has ticked up. It's now at forty. I think it was at thirty nine percent or below forty earlier

in the summer. You know, that's still historically you know, not that's bad territory for president to be in with his party heading into midterm elections. Um. But that was the increase was driven by independence so of Democrats. Um. Uh, you know that was from of Democrats. Four percent of Republicans approved. That was unchanged from June. So when we're talking about Biden's approval ratings kicking up, it's coming from

independent voters. Democrats are not going to say you know, Democrats might say that they disapprove of Biden, but it doesn't mean they're going to go and vote for a Republicans um down ballot and Republicans UM. It's pretty rare um like four percent as we see here, that they're going to say that they approve of the job of

the Democratic president. Right. Well, this is fascinating because the narrative recently has been about this shifting landscape right going into the mid terms that it's been advantage Democrats most recently, and while Dems may lose the House, it won't be by as much and they likely stand a chance to actually add to their majority in the Senate. So what are you learning about the Democratic brand in your research

here democratic candidates versus looking at that presidential approval number. Well, so the important thing for for Democrats right if you if you look at what why the president's party tends to lose in mid trim elections, it's because there's damp and enthusiasm um the party, the president. Voters of the party and power just aren't as keen and excited to

go uh to go to the polls. But what's happening here is that in many ways we're seeing the same choice that voters faced in UM when there was when we saw historic numbers going to the polls. So if Democrats have enthusiasm, if they can get more more of their voters uh to turn out, that is good for Democrats and it helps UM. You know, it bucks the historical trend that we've seen tying presidential approval ratings to

how Democrats, how the president's party is going to do. UM. You know, beyond the structural challenges and the divisions that we just talked about, you've got criminal investigations into a former president. Um, you got far right and extreme extreamist candidates on the Republican side. Abortion is a major major driver pat for Democrats right now. And guns and so as long as Democrats can be having a conversation about this and these issues that drive the choice rather than

this being a referendum on the president. And you see this the coupling between the presidential approval rating UM and and how Democrats are doing very clearly in some of the key Senate races. So, for example, you mentioned Pennsylvania were Bating is heading tomorrow. Um. You know he's he's not great there, He's at thirty nine all um. But John Fetterman is at Fort mement Oz is at for um. So that that historical correlation is not there. You can

see that in Wisconsin and in North Carolina. And so this is why John Federman doesn't show up in Wilkes Barry, right. It's not going to help him to have Joe Biden rub off on them on a stage. He's already doing better than Joe Biden, that's right. Yea. How much is that going to be the case across the country based on the numbers you're looking at, is that going to be a trend where Democratic candidates just would really prefer

the president's stay at the White House. I mean, I think that's probably fair to say, Um, you know, they don't need Biden there to be you know, to be generating support from UM support from Democratic voters. Right, Democratic voters aren't looking to Biden to turn out. It's not the same way that like, um, uh, you know, a Bill Clinton in uh in. But he's the one with the big list of accomplishments. I thought Joe Biden had a story to tell. Infrastructure, the ship Bill we got done,

where my goodness, the Inflation Reduction Act. He's the one to take the victory lap, right he does. But you know what, he's not on the ballot this year, and

we're still talking about these um, these deep, deep seated divisions. UM. I thought it's interesting also, uh few research just came out with a report really showing that Biden isn't a factor UM for for voters in particular, like he has a sixty disapproval rating UM but Republican voters of Republican voters say Biden is not a factor and that's up from March eleven points. So yeah, I mean, I think I think you'll be seeing UM in in areas where

there's strong Democrats support UM. Sure be great for the president to come and tout the accomplishments. The exception. Yeah, I think that's exception, not the rule. It's great work, Juliana, thank you so much for sharing it with us. I'll point everyone again to the column on the terminal. Biden is unpopular, but Democrats aren't. You can put O P I N go in the terminal and you'll find and the list of columns, including Julianna's Bloomberg opinion columnist with

us on the Fastest Hour in Politics. Helps a lot to add a bit of data, and it will help more to add the panel as we reassemble our signature panel next Rick Davis and Genie Chanzano or with us, we'll check traffic and markets on the way. This is sound On. I'm Joe Matthew and Washington. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg sound On on Bloomberg Radio. Just got details on President Biden's speech for tomorrow. When we say primetime,

we mean it. He's gonna be talking at eight pm Eastern Time, a primetime speech on what the White House is calling the continued Battle for the soul of the Nation Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia. It's not his first time speaking there. It'll be quite a backdrop, and apparently the networks are going to be taking uh this address. Bloomberg certainly will at a certain point. You know, presidents can run out of favor, but there haven't been too

many prime timers. Let's reassemble the panel. Jennie Schanzano is back with us Rick Davis our signature panel on sound On. We heard President Biden yesterday in Wilkes Barry Genie. We talked about it as a potential dry run or address rehearsal for what we're going to see tomorrow. How does he best use this time in a primetime address. It's just different. People are not used to sitting down at eight o'clock necessarily listening uh to Joe Biden go on and on. How efficient does he need to be and

how bipartisan will his message be? You know, I thought his speech yesterday was particularly strong for Joe Biden. I think the message is an important one as we you know, transition to the general election. UM. I do think he is going to try, just like he did yesterday, to make case that is um something that is, you know, not directed at one sort of group in the Democratic Party, say the Progressives, but to try to make a a

argument that is more appealing across the board. And that's going to be one that makes the case that democracy is under threat from many quarters, which is appealing to Democrats, um, but also to some moderates and independents who are very very scared about what we're seeing across the country as you move from January six, some of these Mari Lago searches and in otherwise he is going to have to be careful to not you know, cross too far into

the attacks. But he was strong yesterday and I think we'll see more of that in you can't talk about the battle for the soul of the nation without essentially criticizing the other party here right. I don't know if you saw this speech yesterday, Rick, He's really he seems like he's really gearing up for this thing. And it was a side of Joe Biden where he starts raising his voice that we haven't really mean or heard a

lot since the campaign trail. In this case, he's talking about the victims of families from you've all remembering he went down to meet with them when I was recently in you've all d me almost as they just say that some of the kids are there, you know, some of the parents had to do supply DNA. Supply DNA is there a fifty just rips the body apart, could not identify, could not identify the body a twenty year old. Ka, you can walk in and buy one DNA to say

that's my baby? What the hell is the matter with us? You can hear a pin drop there, Rick. You know that Joe Biden, you've worked with him over the years. Does that play at a national audience tomorrow? Yeah? I look, I think if he can um connect with that kind of passion and spirit, um, he can't go wrong. Right. The biggest gripe about Joe Biden as a speechmaker is that he kind of, you know, just babbles along and gets off script and you know, you lose your way

along the path of the speech. And this was really clear and really forceful and and and even the rhetoric, as grizzly as it was, it did leave an impact. As you say, not a not a you can hear a pin drop, so um, it'll be interesting to see if he can muster that the last guy who gave this speech was Barack Obama at his nominating conference convention when he said that our democracy was at risk in

this election. And I suspect he'll take some of the themes that Barack Obama had at the time when when I think most commentators thought, wow, that's kind of over the top, is it really? And we've learned yeah, maybe it is so um so, I I think it'll be interesting. It's it's obviously a different venue. It's hard to have that kind of passion, you know, speaking from the White House. It's usually much more formal and uh, and yet I think that's probably Joe Biden as best. Yeah, wow, Jennie.

To Rick's point, a lot of people have made fun of this president, criticized him for the sort of you know, the low tones in which he speaks. Sometimes the microphones have trouble picking him up. Sometimes he gets lost in his own words. Uh, he goes off script with the ad libbings, coughing. It brings up questions about his age

and his competency. Who's this guy? I mean, is this a matter of napping or is it a matter of actually being passionate about what he's talking about you know, I think it's it's a matter of being the authentic Joe Biden, who we you know, many people saw in the election, who seemed to sort of, you know, be a little bit off track in that first year to a certain extent. And because these are things that Joe

Biden has long talked about and actually believes in. And so I think it's, you know, it's an issue of passion here, right, he does get off track, he goes along, he you know, he banters, and he's got to be careful about that. But he's also got to rely on his team for that. And I think this is a

big test for him. This is going to be a peek into the closing argument that the Democrats are going to be making as they move into this really, really tough election year in which they're likely going to lose the House and may in fact lose the Senate, but they're you know, giving it a really good try. And he's going to be leading that charge. Did I say the wrong thing with napping? I could use a nap, but you know, I mean like a good nice rest rick.

I mean, I'm not kidding, I mean, don't you He's getting up there in age, we can Okay, Look, it's always hard on the president to keep his stamming up because he's always over scheduled, and he's always in demand, and and and and it's and it's it's hard. I mean, it's hard to be president. Nited states absolutely. That being said, these are big moments. They tend to be scripted well in advance. You know, the schedule running up to them

will ensure that he's a maximum performance. Right. I mean that's the job of the staff to know, don't overpack his schedule that they before and so forth. Right, Yeah, And I think the performance side of this, you know, we're gonna we're gonna know soon you know whether or not he was up for this. But I think what's really interesting about this is he's stepping away from the accomplishments. Right, What ran up his numbers in the last couple of months.

It's the successes that his administration has had legislatively, by and large, And the reality is he's kind of stepping away from that and picking a fight with the MAGA agenda by saying, you know, there's a better way to do public safety my way, there's a better way to do democracy my way. I mean, you know, there's a way to maintain the rule of law, and and MAGA

isn't it. And so if this is gonna be a big contrast between the Soul of the Nation and MAGA, I really I'm curious how he'll weave in what has actually been successful. I think if you want a speech to give on the eve of the fall election, you you talk about what you've been able to accomplished that people actually are giving you credit for. I'm guessing we're not going to hear in the Battle for the Soul of the Nation about the ship acts tomorrow. Genie, Am

I wrong? No, You're right, And it's a really important point Rick makes. I mean, it doesn't sound at least what we're hearing like they're going to be stressing this list of of really important accomplishments. That said, I think what has struck me is the fact that he, you know, at for a long time he was sort of trying to ignore Donald Trump. Now we see Joe Biden in the administration saying, Okay, he's taking up the oxygen. We're benefiting from it, and we're going to use it to

our advantage. We're going to tell you how extreme he and his followers are, and how we represent the all important middle. And I think we're seeing the Biden administration embrace Trump, much to the dismay of Republicans who want to win in these purple districts. And so I'm curious to see how they keep making that case. We saw it last night. I think we see it in Philadelphia again over you know on Monday, is primetime a good move here? Rick? Just in general? Eight o'clock at night.

Is that the way you talk to the American people these days? We asked the same question ahead of the prime time January six hearings. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean it's still the best way to get you know, an act of odd without the filter of the media, right. I mean you give a speech during the day, and the media filters it, and by the time anybody sees it, you're reading about what the media thought about the speech,

not the speech itself. And so, yeah, he wants to go direct to the public, and and it's a way to create some excitement. In the past, a lot of networks haven't carried these speeches, and so there hasn't been a reason to do it, because, you know, if you're not gonna go on TV and do it then then maybe not. But I guess what I'm hearing is he's gonna get coverage. He's gonna get coverage from the networks. Indeed, I have to admit, Jennie, I was surprised to hear that.

I thought this would be a cable news event tomorrow night. But he hasn't worn out his welcome yet. I don't know how many of these you get before they start pushing back on the White House. But with that in mind, you don't want to wear out your welcome. Does this need to be half an hour or less? How does he deal with the time has been given. I think he needs to make his point. I need to think he needs to, you know, be very careful about the time.

That is the staff's issue. And you're right, you know, there's also the line that that he has to be careful that this is a presidential address and not a campaign speech. Um, you know, yeah, And I just also have concerned you know, we just started the semester. I speak to students, Um, you have a son. These young

people don't watch a lot of TV. So in the past, you know, primetime speech has got tons of eyeballs I'm not so certain if you're trying to reach younger people in particular, they're watching that much TV anymore, even worse than what Rick said. You know, instead of having the media talk about it and sound sound bites for us old people, they're gonna have it cut up on TikTok

by the time Uh. He's back in Washington. Rick. That's a whole other problem for campaigns to deal with, not that this is a campaign speech, but that's part of the issue when you're trying to communicate. Yeah, it's create the event and reprogram it for every audience, son of the son. Most people will actually see this on their phone. And yes, and and so those moments within the speech

are really critical, right. And then the moments are what he's going to have to deliver on like he did with that clip that you just played a little while ago on Vivaldi. So uh, that's all part of this performance. Uh. And the technicians will you know, cutting paces thing and breys social media. Uh. Forum in the world. And and by the way, the world is going to be listening to this speech because they see crazy stuff happening here

in the United States. I mean, Donald Trump claims you're gonna retake the presidency next week, and and foreign leader scratch her head and go, what the heck is going on over there? And so it's not just a political audience that he's trying to address, but he wants to make sure that when he shows up at the G twenty, people don't like get close to him and say, hey, have you guys gone completely crazy? Wow? These are incredible times we're living in. Wouldn't you be wanting something without

Rick and Genie. They help us make sense of it all. Our signature panel on sound On. We'll meet back here tomorrow right before the speech. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg