Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20240712

As he signals his campaign ive heard these are people that love our country. Strategy. Im the only thing standing between the American Dream and total anarchy, madness and Kristen Welker, are there chaos. My guest this morning, trump folks behind the president . Campaign Senior Adviser jason miller and former democratic i think thats the right word for it, apluplectic. They want him to firmly denounce president ial candidate buttigieg this the next time it is brought of indiana. Up. The baseless attacks on mailin they point to the fact that Vice President mike pence was asked voting. This is just a way theyre about this and tried to put it to rest. But for a lot of people inside trying to steal will the the president s orbit, that is election. Dont pay any attention to what the president is saying not good enough. They want to hear it from the president himself. It underscores a pattern weve because it is all designed to seen from this president is they like me, so whats wrong with suppress the vote. Anda a Bipartisan Panel it . We heard him use similar details russia and the 2016 language in the early days when he was asked about vladimir Trump Campaign. Top democratted amount of putin, for example. This seems to be in line with the way which the president responds the these sorts of on the Senate Intel Committeein things. It is not really clear he understood what qanon was or how analysis are nbc news white dangerous some branches of house correspondent kristen government believe it is. There is an immense amount of welker gerald saeb of the wall pressure within the president s inner orbit to denounce this street journal and scott walker. Firmly the next time hes asked welcome to sunday. About it, chuck. Its interesting, ben sasse its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. Qanon is nuts. This is meet the press with and real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theories. Chuck todd. Good sunday morning. Liz cheney qanon is dangerous. The democrats came out of their firstever Virtual Convention making their case against President Trump both by looking scott, im aware that when to the past with luminaries like politics can attract some president obama and to the future with the woman they hope oddballs. Fringy on the left, fringy on will become the next vice the right. President Kamala Harris. Sometimes it does seem that the president is always a bit too joe biden delivered what may slow to denounce these fringy people. Have been the speech of his life well, conspiracy theories putting to rest the caricature have no place in the republican President Trump has painted of him as mentally and firmnd not party nor in american politics in general. Up to the job and democrats made but lets be clear the headway in uniting their often president s initial response where he said he didnt know divided party reaching out to about them is like most voters i talk to. Republicans and stretching their i have been traveling around wisconsin and i was on my tent without ripping it yet. Motorcycle yesterday in iowa and in short, theyre coming out of minnesota, as well as wisconsin their Convention Running the talking to voters. Same campaign they did four theyre not talking about this at all. Years ago, more on character and they dont know about this at all. Decency than on policy although something that is largely an this time against an uncompany obsession on the media and what bent president and with a they were talking about joe nominee with lower negatives. Bidens statements this weekend that if he was elected president now its the republicans tomorrow. He would shut the entire country President Trump will not have the tens of thousands of down by as early as january if supporters packed into an arena thats what advisors told him. That he so desperately wanted. The coronavirus settled that. Thats what people get worked up he will have four days to about, not things like this that rewrite the democrats po are largely a focus of the portrayal of him as the Great Washington public. Im not asking from a public. Threat to american democracy into one of a president who made America Great again is tougher on joe biden and more trusted on it seems as if the president , i the economy, but President Trump take your point. Enters his convention trailing maybe some people arent talking in the polls with the coronavirus still out of control about it. But a domestic Terror Threat and and the economy in tatters, and social media is the tool that hes sounding increasingly recruits these people. I want to make it clear, like i said, i dont think there is losing, describing a dystopian any place in the Republican Party nor in politics in general view of america if biden wins for these kind of conspiracy with the president as the only eo out there. Thing standing between us and but what i am saying in terms of the end of american the obsession of this, this is civilization. If our opponents prevail, no not something were hearing out talking to voters. What they are more worked up one will be safe in our country about is joe biden going to keep and no one will be spared. Us locked up in our homes for President Trump ratcheting up months and months and months his rhetoric after a week when next year or a way to be healthy democrats painted a bleak future and safe Going Forward . Scott walker, Kristen Welker, for the president if the president is reelected arguing a tremendous panel. The american democracy is at i appreciate all three of you today. Stake. Character is on the ballot. Terrific conversation. Enjoy the convention. Compassion is on the ballot, before we go, before we say decency, science, democracy, goodbye a quick programming theyre all on the ballot. Do not let them take away note. Please join lester holt, suvena your power. Guthrie and Andrea Mitchell and do not let them take away your myself for coverage monday democracy. As he prepares to fight for through thursday eervening. Another term at his convention we begin on peacock and news now this week the president is at 8 00 p. M. Escalating his assault on biden dont miss that either. Who he has struggled to you next effectively attack. I am the only thing standing week because if its sunday, its the press. G with golf ce. Between the American Dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos. It is a darker version of a line from four years ago. Nobody knows the system better than me which is why i alone can fix it. But can the president make the case the election is a choice rather than a referendum on his own precedence. If you want a vision of your life under the biden presidency, think of the smoldering ruins of minneapolis, the violent anarchy of portland, the bloodstained sidewalks of chicago. But mr. Trump is president and those images have happened on his watch. More than 70 of americans say the country is on the wrong track. The Trump Campaign has struggled to come up with a tone and a message to counter with democrats focus on the pandemic. Donald trump hasnt grown into the job because he cant, and the consequences of that failure are severe. After all this time, the president still does not have a plan. Well, i do. This week the optics of the virus may be challenging as the president tries to draw a crowd with an audience on the White House South Lawn for his speech and President Trump appears to be growing more agitated. If we dont win its all gone, okay . Its all gone. Attacking the post office, and escalating his attacks on nbc sports, home of the mailin voting. I dont like this mailin olympic games, the nhl, the ballot deal. Indianapolis 500, the tour threatening to use Law Enforcement at the polls, something he cant legally do. Championship and prime times were going have sheriffs and number one show, sunday night were going to have Law Enforcement and were going have football, only on nbc. Hopefully u. S. Attorneys and were going to have everybody, an attorney general. And embracing qanon, a welcome to the u. S. Bank nbc Conspiracy Theory the fbi has called a domestic Terror Threat. Sports report. I dont know much about the hello, everyone. Movement other than i understand we have a huge day of sports they like me very much, which i ahead on nbc appreciate. Ive heard these are people that indy 500 comes your way at 1 00 love our country. Big mistake. Eastern and out to the aig these are a group of nuts and womens british open i cook kooks and he ought to disavow them. Joining me now is jason miller. Let me start with how you plan to present your convention, the partys convention. You have nearly 180,000 dead from this virus. Wo weve got 30 Million People receiving some sort of unemployment benefit, the initial jobless claims went back over a million last week as these benefits have gone away, so thats a tough thats a tough environment to present an upbeat convention and yet the president says so. How do you do an upbeat convention with those numbers . Well, chuck, good morning and thank you for having me on. Were going to see a very optimistic and upbeat convention this week from President Trump and our republican allies and from our democratic and independent allies as well. One of the things you will see this week is a complete change in the perception that i believe the media tries to tell what a trump supporter looks like or who a trump supporter is. We will talk about the american story and the accomplishments that weve had over the last four years with President Trump and what the secondterm vision is going to look like and this is a big difference, chuck, between President Trump and his convention this week and the democrats last week. Last week it was a massive grievancefest. We didnt hear about the vision for the future and how their policies would help people and theres a reason for that. The reason is they didnt want to talk about the 4 trillion in tax hikes and a Green New Deal and at a time when we couldnt stop our Economic Growth, they want toy there it to policies of the past. Youll hear an uplifting message from the president and when i tell you some of the stories youll hear, there will be braukobrau breakout stars and supporters of the president and it will be a beautiful story. When we hear about the unexpected about the president , we are hearing with somebody the unexpected with the last name of trump. I want to play a quote from the president s sister. This is from the president s sister recorded by his niece mary trump, mary ann trump, his older sister did not know she was being recorded, but it was a legally made recording according to new york state law. Heres what she said. His [ bleep ] tweet and the lying oh, my god, the change of stories and the lack of preparation and the lying and the holy [ bleep ]. You just made a case here that were going to hear from unusual people that you wouldnt normally hear from perhaps that are republican convention. These are the people that know the president best. They have the last name of trump. Are you concerned that this is going to have an impact on those swing voters who are, like, its confirmation that yeah, even his own relatives think he lies too much. No, chuck. Sibling rivalries are nothing new in the world. Its been going on since the beginning of time and we heard some pretty poignant commentary from malik obama and you have family members who sometimes decide to voice their sibling rivalries or frustrations. Nothing new, but its going into next week and its not something thats going to be an issue. But mary ann trump is no ordinary trump. Shes basically a retired federal judge, someone who has sort of been senate confirmed. She comes with credibility. Chuck, i can tell you that my conversations with the president over the years have only hear him say positive things about his sister and hes very proud of what she has accomplished. I want to point out this past week the president and mary ann trump lost their brother, robert trump and he was just laid to rest and had services for him at the white house on friday and i really do think that its shameful that the Washington Post came and ran the story yesterday, literally the day af robert trump just in an attempt to tear down the president and right after they laid their brother to rest i think is shameful. I want to ask you about another development that happened late this week involving another member of the president s 2016 campaign. Its somebody that youve worked quite closely with. Its steve bannon. I think folks are quite familiar, hes been indicted on what appears to be perhaps he misled a charity and may have taken some money that wasnt meant for salaries and things like that for we build the wall. First thing i want to ask since you did a podcast with him, have you been interviewed at all by the Justice Department in this investigation, jason . I have not, and from public reports it looks like this investigation was going long before the podcast even started. The podcast and radio show they cohosted with steve. These allegations are very serious and i hope he has good answers for thecued of. Its not something ive worked on and i dont know anything about the financial dealings of this organization and how it worked and i hope steve has the opportunity to tell his side of the story. I want to put up this image. Quite a few people who worked in 2016 have had indictments and conventions, steve bannon, paul flynn, papadopoulos, roger stone, all people involved with the 2016 Campaign Team and somehow or another found themselves on the wrong side of the law, and why shouldnt voters look at this and say the president seems to surround himself with people with shady instincts. I disagree with that. I think you take a look at some of the brilliant women and brilliant leaders that we have within this administration and the cabinet members and overall the president has had a good track record of hiring excellent people. There are a number of folks wo have made serious mistakes in their life that have nothing to do with President Trump and theyll have to be accountable for all of that. When you take a look at the president and the people that hes brought onboard and take a look at his senior staff at the white house, whether it be chief of staff meadows and kellyanne conway, these are solid people who i think work very hard for the American People every day. Im proud to call them teammates in this broader protrump efforts and the president is proud, as well. You were brought back into the campaign i want to say its about four weeks time and the pandemic sometimes are a little off. Maybe it was a little bit longer, i may have that wrong, but before you got there the Trump Campaign had a massive fundraising lead, advantage over the Biden Campaign. They began this campaign in the spring with 182 million cash advantage. That is now gone and now the Biden Campaign is outspending your campaign on television. What happened . Was there money that just disappeared . Did you guys waste this money in the summer . Is this why theres a new Campaign Team . No, not at all. Were conserving money right now and focusing a little more smartly and effectively on the states voting early and the important thing for folks to keep in mind is the calendar looks differently. The calendar starts differently in different states and we are smartly targeting our efforts here. We have reserved 200 million in Television Advertising from labor day to election day. The Biden Campaign said theyll reserve 20 million and theyve only placed 8 million of that, but chuck, you look at the polls over the last couple of weeks and the 51 approval and were gaining four points over the ia advantage is two to one over the biden camp and this is because you like to look at the numbers and the pathway to victories and we only need to win the upper midwest with minnesota, wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania to reelect the president and we have many more pathways to victories than democrats do and i would rather be in our shoes than theirs right now. Your pathway there assumes you carry florida. We will. Floridas trump country. Every single night of the convention President Trump will speak. You will have President Trump speaking at various parts through each of the nights and we have some big surprises lined up and make sure youre tuning in, chuck. I will be there as all of nbc will. Jason miller, Senior Adviser with the Trump Campaign. I appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And joining me now on behalf of the Biden Campaign is former president ial candidate Pete Buttigieg of indiana. Mayor buttigieg, welcome back to meet the press. Let me start with the following sort of assumption here which it certainly appears to me that the Democratic Campaign coming out of this convention in some ways is very similar to the Democratic Campaign thats out of 2016 and its a campaign thats focused on Donald Trumps character, donald trump the person, less on policies that the Democratic Party is going to be pushing. Why do you think youll win a Character Campaign this time when the democratic ticket did not win that campaign four years ago . Well, its simple. Donald trump has been president for four years and america is very obviously not better off than we were four years ago. Yes, there is about character, but its also about the failed leadership of this president and the fact that our country is doing the worst of any developed nation when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus, that some of our economic numbers are the worst theyve been since 1876 and for all that disastrous leadership were seeing now also a very hopeful vision about what we could get to. The really amazing thing about watching the Democratic Convention last week was that were also being in touch with the kind of country we could be, the kind of country that joe biden and Kamala Harris will lead us toward where everyone has a place, where the Big Coalition that were building can move us past this moment of chaos and cruelty, and i think all of that adds up to the simple fact that the center of gravity of the American People is very much on our side right now. Well, look, where this ticket is right now and the messaging of it. Heres what candidate Pete Buttigieg said nine months ago. Take a listen. This is no time to get caught up in reliving arguments from before. The laess 2020 resembles 2016 te better. We cant afford to take a risk on somebody new, but i believe history has shown us that we cant afford to take the risk on falling back on the familiar. Well, i know one of your answers is going to be simply the voters spoke, and i get that, but do you believe yo analysisw better . Well, first of all, joe biden won the nomination and all of us who were competing against them are on the same page now, but also think about how much the world has changed just in the few months since i was on the campaign trail as a candidate, and you know, if you told me then that the stakes would have gone up through the course of 2020 i would have asked how thats even possible and yet here we are with a very clear choice between the kind of chaos and the failures that were seeing, that are destroying any chance of a good future under this president and a chance for something completely different and so much better under a preside biden. Buthis issue of not sort of putting forth more detailed policy prescriptions. That didnt happen four years ago and theres some in the democratic side that are concerned that not talking about look, i get it. The more you talk policy the harder it is to keep john kasich in the tent. So what is that line that democrats should walk this fall . Lets be clear. The policies of the Democratic Party and the policies of joe biden are abundantly clear, if anybody wants to look up detail you can find all kinds of it on the website at joe biden. Com, but its not the finer points of exactly how were going to get to defeat Climate Change or exactly how well deliver health care to every american and thats in the plan and its there in great detail, but the question were about to settle in november is whether well do those things. We have a president thats dismantling American Healthcare and joe biden who wants to expand it. We have a president who thinks that covid will magically disappear and something he told us will happen in april and keeps telling us from time to time it will happen again and we have joe biden who thinks that major issue. The difference is so stark and its punching us in the face and we also need to talk about the simple question of who we are going to be. This is not just a question of what the federal government is going to do. This is a question of who americans are and what america is, and if you believe that america is defined by democrat, america has to be a country that makes room for everybody and the choice couldnt be clearer. I get the messaging youre trying to do. A lot of times the economy can speak can end up overpowering all of those other on the econo points. Does joe biden have to close that gap to win this election or do you think that the future of democracy issue that i think you guys have made a very compelling case about can trump that . Well, i think all of these issues are live, but lets look at the economy. Look, the president is not good at much, but he is very good for taking credit for having rode the tail end of the obamabiden economic recovery, but even prepandemic we were having a lot of trouble especially in my part of the country, the industrial midwest, manufacturing was going into recession. Now we are where we are. The economy is in such precarious shape, unprecedented unemployment numbers, unbelievable pain that people are experiencing and because of the inaction of this white house, but thats likely to get so if they want to battle on the economy, lets have that battle, but lets also remember that our democracy, our National Character and our ability to fight a deadly pandemic are all on the line, not to mention the fact that the United States also needs to restore our credibility around the world. Something thats very important both for our security and in my view, for democracy and other shared priorities around the world. Very quickly as the former mayor of south bend, im curious. I know youre a visiting fellow at the university of yonotre dames campus. If you were the mayor would you want classes to be inperson o would you want students on campus . The university worked out a plan and already theyre adapting and adjusting because of the reality on the ground. Around the country because there has not been leadership in washington from the white house, individual universities and individual school districts, counties and cities have been left to figure out their own gamegheir best, but the reality is return anything like normal until we have a national strategy, a real one for testing and actual leadership from washington, and im afraid were unlikely to get that as long as donald trump is in office. Pete buttigieg, the former mayor of south bend and the person who won the Iowa Caucuses when all things started and that happened at the start of 2020 and i know this year feels like hard to believe it was this year. It is unbelievable. Thanks for having and sharing the campa same here. Great to be with you. When we come back, that Senate Report on russian involvement with the trump 2016 campaign. Ll talk to the ec find a stock based on your interests or whats trending. Get realtime insights in your customized view of the market. Its smarter Trading Technology for smarter trading decisions. Fidelity. Almost lost in all the attention paid to the Democratic Convention last week was the Senate Intelligence committees fifth and final report laying out the extensive contacts between russia and members of the trump 2016 campaign. The 1,000page bipartisan report concluded that russia wanted donald trump to win, that his campaign was eager to accept russias help and that the russians saw Campaign Members as inexperienced and easy to manipulate, but the committee stopped short of concluding that there was a coordinated conspiracy. Republicans says that proved there was no collusion. Joining me now is the top democrat on the panel, senator mark warner of virginia. Senator warner, welcome back to meet the press and we should note not a single republican on the Intelligence Committee agreed to come on this broadcast. We wanted to have somebody from each side of the aisle to ask these questions to, but s we wi. So i want to start with simply, i know youve said you think americans should read this entire report, but im curious, is there a part of the report that you think singularly deserves the publics attention more than any other part . Well, chuck, first of all, im very proud of the committees work. Three and a half years, five volumes, all bipartisanly endorsed in a time when theres not a lot of that bipartisanship going around, and as the report laid out in exquisite detail, much more detail than mueller and we were a counterintelligence report, not a criminal report. Unprecedented contacts between russians and folks on the Trump Campaign and the Trump Campaign officials welcomed that help and maybe one of the most stunning was the level of detail of the thencampaign manager Paul Manafort sharing very specific Campaign Information with a russian agent. We never know wel campaign sharing with a known russian agent during the middle of a campaign and as you showed earlier with that kind of rogue gallery of all these individuals that were part of the Trump Campaign who have been indicted, i think there have been repercussions from those efforts. You guys named constantine kohl imnick as a russian intelligence, and it went fueler and it was that specific piece of information that i want to ask you about regarding this statement from the current acting chair of the Intelligence Committee marco rubio. Let me play that statement. After interviewing over 200 witnesses and reviewing over 1 million pages of documents, we can now say three things without any hesitation. First, we found absolutely no evidence whatsoever that donald trump or his campaign colluded with russia to meddle in our elections. Its that specific there, he said, that its definitive. How does an active emplcampaign chair sharing information with a known russian agent definitively erase the idea that there was no collusion . Listen, respectfully, i disagree with marco on that. You will see a whole series of other democrats who wrote a separate opinion where they drew a different conclusion. Richard burr was chairman for most of the investigation as i was vice chair. We decided that we would not join any other comments that we would let the report stand as it is. This is a report that was passed 14 to 1. Its the fifth volume and the other reports were all virtually unanimous where we showed russian interference and the media. Chuck, one of the things that i think would be really important. You saw that put up where you did earlier with all these folks who have been indicted from the Trump Campaign. Yes. What we should have also listed were all of the trump intelligence officials from dan coates, the director of National Intelligence and the joe maguire, the director of National Intelligence and the deputies and michael atkinson, trump intel officials who all told the truth about the russian Ongoing Investigation and they were all fired because this president and this white house doesnt want to hear the truth. You also seemed to indicate that the president may have lied to Robert Mueller in the print interview when he claimed to have no recollection about conversations about wikileaks with roger stone. Despite trumps recollection, the committee assesses that trump did, in fact, speak with stone and stones access to wikileaks on multiple occasions. However, theres a frustrated amount of redactions in the report whenever wikileaks comes up. Is this all because of this see . The Intelligence Community chose what to redact, but i think anyone who would review the report and see the amount of contacts between stone and wikileaks and the timing of the release of the wikileaks hacked information, i would ask any american to read that and draw their own conclusions. And finally, there is a footnote in here that i want to ask you about because it was an intriguing footnote depending on how you read it. When asked about Donald Trumps juniors commune kagds with wikileaks on this topic, bannon said i think trump junior is a guy who believes everything on breitbart is true. Number one, why is that footnote in the report and how do you interpret that quote . Im not going to speak to that footnote, but i am going to speak to the fact that the Intelligence Community ten days ago said that the russians are back trying to interfere in our elections again, that they have a disinformation, Misinformation Campaign targeted against Vice President biden. I think its incumbent upon the Intelligence Community to lay out more of the facts of what we know about that Disinformation Campaign and my fear is that there may be americans that are unwittingly promoting that russian Disinformation Campaign, and i think they need to be briefed so they dont become, frankly. Gotcha agents, in effect, of this Disinformation Campaign. Has the Senate Intel Committee been briefed on qanon or not . We have not received an official brief that i can recall on kwashgqanon, but the communi fairly clear that this is a fringe group and they feel like they are potentially a threat and the idea that the president of the United States is embracing these folks and say just because they like him and they love our country is very bizarre. I mean, i dont always agree with karl rove, but karl rove was right. These guys are whack jobs and the president ought to disavow them. Mark warner being the vice chair of the Senate Intel Committee and the democrat of virginia i appreciate you c on and sharing your perspective on this. Thank you, sir. When we come back, democrats worked hard to appeal to moderates and disaffected republicans. Will President Trump try to use his convention to expand his electorate or will he just target his base . The panel is next. Come on in, were open. All we do is hand you the bag. Simple. Done. We adapt and we change. You know, you just figure it out. Weve just been finding a way to keep on pushing. The panel is with us. Executive washington editor of the wall street journal and my longtime partner at the poll, jerry saeb, author of we should have seen it coming. Nbc White House Correspondent Kristen Welker and the former republican governor of wisconsin, scott walker. Welcome to our panel there. I want to start with what we could expect tonewise and the difference between the two conventions. Kristen welker, the democrats made made a bet on how to make their convention about basically the virus and character. The tone that the republicans are aiming for here, we heard jason miller say upbeat. What will this contrast look like to the public . Well, those who have been planning the convention, chuck, tell me they do want to have more live elements and they want this to be upbeat and forwardlooking to your point, how can it upbeat given a those who speak at the convention is really laying out how they see the future. The challenge, though, i think with the convention, one, you have some republicans who are jittery about it. There have been so many lastminute changes and the president speaking at north carolina, and now the white house. This will go off without a hitch . Republicans say look, democrats did a good job of not having any major technical difficulties and second of all, to the point that youve been raising throughout the show, a lot of these speaker seem to be tailored to the base and this is a strategy that worked for President Trump in 2016, will it work this time around . Well have to see. Scott walker, theres a lot of people who think there are two ways to look at wisconsin, that its totally polarized and really, you do have to activate your political base. Thats the only way to win, but there are some who say no, there are swing voters here and if there are swing voters, do you fear this Convention Wont be talking to them . Think they will. I think the president will clearly lay out his plans for the future talking about how we get america working again and how we keep america healthy again and how to keep america safe. You will hear from people who benefitted from criminal Justice Reform and from democrats who walked away from decades of mismanagement and once upon a time obamawalker voters who went for trump as well, they have to show how they can get things going in the right direction and contrast with joe biden who has outsourced his agenda to the radical left of his party including his running mate who according to newsweek has a more liberal case than Bernie Sanders and make the case that joe biden has become radical. Jerry saeb, we heard scott walker saying what the republican goal is, the democrats present a very moderate picture of themselves on this and it seems to me that the more i hear talking points from the right that say oh, thats not what they really are, thats also translation for the democrats must have been successful . One thing that democrats agreed on last week were the two words they wanted americans to hear was chaos and crisis and thats what we want to Counter Program the republicans this week, but to your point, the question whether the democrats talked enough about policies to offset these charges which well hear all week from the republicans this week that joe biden has been pulled way by the left of the progressive wing of the party and way more to talk about policies and plans and there was enough talk about policies and plans to offset the charge on what a Biden Administration will do and hes going to be pauled w pulled way left. Kristen welker . Chuck, one top democrat told me it was a big bet by the democrats to do exactly what he was just talking about. The fact that there was so much focus character, but the reason why they feel as though that was the right strategy, if you look at joe bidens favorability ratings, they are higher than Hillary Clintons were at this point. Right. For example, and so they really wanted to reintroduce him to the American Public to some of those swing voters noti where he did lay out some details in his speech was on the issue of covid, and so they believe thats what Americans Care most about. Right now they believe the covid crisis is going to be covid central and the question is can they keep their momentum going. This is not a typical campaign and the democrats believe this is typical, and they will be engaged in very aggressive Counter Programming, though, including with a number of top surrogates, chuck. You know, one thing i dont know if were going to have this week they think in a convention that had been inperson we would have is a debate about where is the Republican Party headed . And i say this in part because of your book, jerry saeb, and because i have you on here, scott walker. I want to remind folks what you said when you dropped out of the president ial race and i want to butt it with something jerry saeb wrote about in his book, take a listen. Today, i believe that i am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race of the deposited, conservative message can rise to the top of the field. I encourage other republican president ial candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to therner. And scott walker, this is what jerry saeb write, by 2016, conservatives were united more by what they were against, progressive and liberals than what they were poor, the door had been swung open and donald trump walked through it. Im curious if you agree with jerry saebs analysis there, one, and two, how you have evolved from being essentially antitrump to supportive of trump. Five years ago i didnt know donald trump would govern as a conservative. The record is clear this president has been put through some of the largest tax cuts in American History and theya the nominees for the judiciary and the regulatory reforms that help Small Businesses and other employers that brought about the unprecedented Economic Growth to the point before the pandemic had the lowest Unemployment Rate in 50 years. I look at that and say wish w h washington is filled with politicians that dont get anything done. In the end he actually gets things done and i think here in the midwest we want to have people who dont just talk, but do. Ill take a doer over a talker any day of the week. Jerry saeb, im sneaking in a break and then i will get more on your book on the other side, i promise, sir. Up next, youre going hear many times this week that President Trump was handed a broken economy and that then its easy to get lost in the economic uncertainty. The volatility. The ambiguity. The moment calls for more. And Northern Trust delivers more. With specialized expertise. Proven strategies rooted in data and analytics. And insights borne from over 130 years of successfully navigating economic turbulence. Giving you clarity. Inspiring confidence. And helping you uncover new paths forward. Northern trust. Wealth management. Were all doing our best to keep each other safe. At walmart, despite everything thats changed, one thing hasnt, and thats our dedication to you and our communities. Were working together, instore and online, through pickup and delivery, to safely get you the essentials you need. Welcome back. Data download time. President trump has repeatedly claimed as he did again last week that president obama handed him a crippled economy and he built the greatest economy ever. So we decided to fact check that ending before the covid19 pandemic hit. Well start with the broadest measure of Economic Health and the countrys gross domestic product, how much did it grow . Mr. Obamas second term the average quarterly growth rate was 2. 4 . For mr. Trump, it was roughly the same, 2. 5 , then theres job creation, on average, there were more jobs added monthly in rack obamas second term. 215,000, than there were in mr. Trumps first three years before the pandemic hit, 152,000. Again, both numbers are good, but theyre also quite consistent. Until the pandemic hit there was nothing draft take changed from one president to the next. What about unemployment . Has President Trump changed that trajectory . In the beginning of the second term unemployment was down 8 and over the next four years it fell almost in half duown to 4. and yes it continued to drop to the end of 2019, the lowest in 50 years, again, thats before covid hit and then theres the stock market. The indicator President Trump cites most often. The dow reacts to elections so well start with election day 2012. Itwent from 13,245 to 18,3n election day 2016. A 38 increase in obamas second term. Again, the rise continued for mr. Trump increasing another 56 to 28,538 on the last day of 2019, again, precovid. Look, President Trump did preside over strong and growing Economic News and like any president , he took the credit, but the idea that mr. Trump somehow rescued a nation that was struggling economically when he arrived isnt borne out in the data. We had a robust xhuk recovery we had a robust xhuk recovery and it just keptmoney managers. Because our way works great for us but not for your clients. Thats why were a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. So, what do you provide . Cookie cutter portfolios . Nope. We tailor portfolios to our clients needs. But you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right . We dont have those. So, whats in it for you . But what if you could stdo better than that . K. At Fisher Investments we like adapt. Discover. Deliver. In new ways. To new customers. What if you could come back stronger . Faster. Better. At comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back. But bounce forward. Thats why were helping you stay ahead and adapt with a network you can count on, 24 7 support and Flexible Solutions that work wherever you are. Call or go online today. These days, businesses are adapting to new ways of working. And innovation is at the heart of it. Verizon 5g ultra wideband is the fastest 5g in the world, with speeds up to 25 times todays 4g networks. Its massive capacity and ultralow lag time is already available in parts of select cities around the country. Which means businesses both large and small can innovate like never before. Welcome back. A conversation interrupted, so we had a few minutes. Jerry, i want you to sort of react to what we saw and it feels as if, in your book, you make the case that what the part, that it feels like the party is trying to design an ideology to meet the group of voters that they have the best chance at winning, not the other way the book is that donald trump didnt come out of the blue. There was a long four decades from Ronald Reagan that by the Republican Party by that i mean the people out in the country that are republican became more