7-16-24 - 8am - Lester Holt Interview with Biden

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
My question about JD. Vance isjust simply this, will he make a
good candidate in twenty twenty eight bingo? That is precisely right. So the
positive for the positives for JD.E. Vans our First and foremost,
he represents a loyal soldier for theTrump movement and the Trump agenda. He's

(00:26):
actually an aspen ideas skeptic that's turnedMaga rally convert. You know, he
was a never Trumper. He referredto Trump is Hitler at one point.
I like that. I like itbecause it shows his road to Damascus.

(00:49):
He had an epiphany somewhere his instinct. He has an instinct to punch back,
which is going to be really goodin a debate with Kamala Harris or
whomever the VP nominee might be.I would say that Vance's views on foreign
policy and the nationalist economic agenda arevery consistent with Trump, maybe even go

(01:17):
a little further in some instances.Now he's more socially conservative than Trump,
but he also shows pragmatism in allI would say, virtually everything when it
comes to navigating the current political environment, and his youth renders him completely unattached

(01:38):
from any of the biases of thosewith close ties to any past Republican administrations.
Carl Rove, I'm looking at you, Bucko. His geographic background means
that he can appear to voters inthe Midwest, and so that blue wall.

(02:05):
He will be an absolute dynamic individualin that blue wall. That Biden,
if he's the nominee, which we'lltalk about in the next hour,
he will be an absolute tour toforce in those Midwestern states. Now,
the negatives are also well apparent too, and I want you to think about
the negatives, not because we haveto agree with the negatives, but because

(02:29):
we have to be prepared to dealwith the negatives. He's inexperienced. He
as I said, he'd just run. He had just run and won just
one election in twenty twenty two.It ended up being more costly than expected
and in which he ran far behindother successful Republican candidates. Now he's been

(02:53):
in the Senate barely long enough todo anything a note, But with a
victory in November, he'll effectively beviewed as the presidential favorite for twenty twenty
eight, and his age will beperfect. That will be the generational change,
and it will also allow Republicans tohave a potential twelve year reign for

(03:17):
the Democrats, a reign of terrorfor US, a reign of victory.
Now, he does come across asvery ambitious, doubling down on the most
aggressive aspects of the Republican agenda asopposed to an approach designed to appeal directly
to independent voters or to make peace, for that matter, with the Nicki

(03:38):
Haley faction. It also remains,I think it remains to be seen if
Vance's presence on the national ticket hurtsor helps the hopes of incumbent Ohio Democrat
Senator Shared Brown, who is currentlyrunning several points ahead of his Republican challenger,

(04:00):
which could help determine control of theUS Senate. I think what the
Vance selection indicates, probably more thananything, is Trump's confidence. Trump knows
and believes that right now he's ahead. And if you believe that you're ahead
and your trend lines are such,then you don't need to go outside your

(04:25):
lane to make a choice. Andthat Trump believes he had the latitude to
choose whomever he likes, and quitefrankly, I think that's important. Generally,
liking your vice presidential candidate is notnecessarily important. Because you're running to

(04:46):
become the incumbent and to run asthe incumbent for the next four years,
so you don't really care about Imean, do you think Obama really liked
Joe Biden. No, he pickedJoe Biden for a very specific purpose,
and that was to help him withthe Congress, where he had very little

(05:06):
experience. Trump is picking Vance becausehe knows he only has four years and
he wants somebody that's going to beyouthful and that will carry on his agenda.
Now, there's an inherent risk inthis belief for an election where Democrats

(05:29):
are going to put abortion front andcenter. Vance hasn't really shown a lot
of grace in navigating that issue,and for an election which could hang on
Trump's appeal to black and Hispanic men. I don't know how Vance is an
asset in that regard. Although ifpeople kept pushing Doug Bergham or Glenn Youngkin,

(05:51):
I don't think that would have helpedeither. I think the only person
would have helpedhim that regard, buthave been Marco Rubio promising us a vice
presidential apprentice selection process. Even withthe collapse of Joe Biden in that debate
and the attempt assassination this past weekend, victory went to the favorite all along,

(06:15):
Vance was always the favorite. Theadage in politics is that deep choices
rarely help, but sometimes hurt thenominee. So Trump truly believes that he's
headed for victory. So he gave. He decided that he can pick whoever

(06:35):
he likes most, and in thiscase, he picked a combative, loyal
warrior for his twenty twenty four effort. And I think that's why he got
chosen. And I think that inthe long run, particularly if think about
this, I wanted to hold offon some of this the next hour,

(07:00):
but here's a segue. Surprisingly you'vehad two segways today. Think about what's
happened with Biden over the past twoweeks. He gets hit with the op
ed from George Clooney, with theapproval of Barack Obama. The donors freeze

(07:21):
or cancel up to ninety million dollarsworth of donations. Private conversations are continuing
to be held, although much lesspublicly. The private conversations are continuing trying
to get him out of the race. But you haven't heard anything anything at

(07:43):
all, No one step forward,no names being mentioned, including the current
Vice President Kamala Harris, which leadsme to believe that maybe I might be
wrong about something. Theory has alwaysbeen that Biden would not be the nominee.
I think the attempted assassination on DonaldTrump changed everything. Everything about the

(08:11):
race got turned upside down inside out, and Biden saw it lets his little
pee pick and heart. Biden sawit as an opportunity that he could hang
in there, and that's what he'sgoing to do. Biden went on and
did an interview with Lester Holt.It was absolutely fascinating. Listen to this

(08:41):
part. Oops there, Sorry aboutthat about language, what we say out
loud and the consequences of those Youcalled your opponent an existential threat. On
a call a week ago, hesaid it's time to put Trump in the
bullseye. There's some dispute about thecontext, but I think you appreciate.

(09:01):
Why did you see the crosshairs Iwas talking to focus on. Look,
the truth of the matter was,but I guess I was talking about as
the time was, there was verylittle focus on Trump's agenda. Yeah,
the term was bullseye. It wasa mistake to use the word. I
didn't I didn't say crosshairs. I'vebeen bulls. I'm mean, focus on

(09:22):
why why does it keep referring tothe term crosshairs? Where's that coming from?
Bole? I didn't mention that atall. It was Biden that brought
that up. Yeah, I hateto break in here, but I got
to jump in prior to that.I mean because I just heard about this
interview and I just perused a littlebit of it earlier this morning, and

(09:43):
they were talking about have you talkedwith Trump? And you know, things
like that, and that Biden koreemedthat towards the reason I got into the
twenty twenty election was because of whatTrump said in Charlottesville. You know,
very fine people on both sides.Holt said nothing, and then moved on
to this question, no challenge him, because even Snope said, hey,

(10:07):
in the same breath, Trump saidneo Nazis should be condemned wholeheartedly. Nothing
nothing, nothing. I know,it's my own personal bugaboo here about that
damn comment. But challenging back thatis not true. Yes, he said
there are fine people on both sides, but not even thirty seconds prior he

(10:28):
said neo Nazis and white supremacists shouldbe condemned wholeheartedly. What's wrong with your
plug? I don't know. Don'ttouch it. It's not right now,
I keep moving alone. I thinkit's stopped. Don't touch it. I
think it's I won't touch anything.I agree wholeheartedly. But remember, this

(10:48):
is the cabal, this is lefterHolt. I get it. He has
his list of questions, but youare not listening to the president's And how
many times have I said people neverlisten. They don't listen. He's focused,
but he's focused on the bulls eye. And I'm frantically thinking to him

(11:11):
through my head how to say this, which is a question that needed to
be at Yes, And I thinkthat the whole point of this is,
oh my good, I'm gonna soundlike conspiracy theorists. Lester Holt is doing
the job of all of those whowant Biden out of the race. He's

(11:37):
trying to tie the attempted assassination andhang it around Joe Biden's neck. That's
why he keeps going back to thebullseye comment. That's lester Holt's agenda.
You said bullseye. Now, whatI find interesting is he keeps talking about,

(11:58):
uh, what what? What's thephrase that Biden uses. It's what
we say out loud and the consequencesof those You called your opponent an existential
threat, an existential threat call.A week ago he said it's time to
put Trump in the bullseye. There'ssome dispute about the context, but I
think you appreciate. Why did thecrosshairs I'm talking him cross here now,

(12:22):
I said earlier. Why why doeshe keep coming back to the term crosshairs?
Remember therapuland and the use of theterm crosshairs. Why does he keep
going back to that? Focus onit? Look, the truth of the
matter was that I guess I wastalking about it as the time was there's

(12:45):
very little focus on Trump. Yeah, the term is bullseye. It was
a mistake to use I didn't.I didn't say crosshairs. I've been bullseye
and focus on him. Focus onwhat he's doing. Tell me the district
cross hairs and bullseye. You useyour crosshairs in your scope hoping that your

(13:07):
shot hits the bullseye. It's allpart of the same process. It's all
part of the same Now. Look, is this nitpicking? Yes, But
I think it really is about LesterHolt trying to nail Biden to the attempted

(13:30):
assassination. He's doing the bidding ofthe donor class. He's doing the bidding
of the Shumers and the Obamas andeverybody else. Weaken him, weaken him.
Focus on as on his policies,Focus on the number of lies he
told of the bed, Focus onI mean, there's there's a whole range

(13:52):
of things. Look, I'm notthe guy that said I don't want to
be a dictator on day one.I'm not the guy that refused except the
outcoming the election. I'm not theguy who said that one except the outcome
of this election. Automatically, youcan't only love your country when you win.
And so the focus was on whathe's saying, and I mean the

(14:15):
idea. Have you taken a stepback and done a little soul searching on
things that you may have said thatcould incite people who are not balanced?
Well, no, no, Idon't think. How do you talk about
the threat to democracy? And hegoes right back to it, He goes

(14:37):
right back to it. Trump isa threat to democracy? How do you
talk about this is real? Whenthe president says things like he says,
you're just not saying he's a manin site. Somebody, Look, I'm
not engaged in that rhetoric. Now, yes you are. You're absolutely engaged

(15:03):
in that. Reverend. They're stilltrying to push him out, but can
they now kileman Michael. I'm notgonna lie. I'm more than a slightly
disappointed that Trump didn't come out withan American flag year patch. I think

(15:28):
there are rules as to how youare allowed to wear the flag, so
I don't think that would qualify.He could have done like a red,
white, and blue patch instead ofjust that white gouze patch. Yeah,
or he could have had like youknow, the have you seen a tattoo

(15:50):
online about the assassination attempt? There'sa tattoo. Yeah, there's some guy
that got a tattoo. I thinkit was on his arm about it shows
Trump just fisted up in that photo. Yes, it's that photo. So
you could have put that photo onthere, sands the American fly. Are
you going to put a photo ofyourself on yourself? Are you gonna put

(16:11):
a photo of yourself on yourself?It's Trump? Of course, he does
like to be smacked with his faceon a magazine, right, Yeah,
So it's Trump, Thanks Jarring.But then I wonder what is the market
for an ear patch? How manytimes have you worn an ear patch?

(16:32):
No? I don't think I've everworn Yeah, I know. Yeah,
But clever idea, because even thoughwe say there's no market in this little
group of two, correct, andthe thousands of people at the at the
Milwaukee I bet you could sell something, you know, the seven or eight
people that are listening to us rightnow, maybe one of them. We

(16:53):
know, we got to twenty four. That was last week. Oh are
we back down to seven again?Yeah? Okay, well shoot, well
I'm tired. Might as well justgo home then, I mean, why
might keep for seven or eight?They could do their own show. Just
open just you know, open up, just tell them to call in open
and they can just talk among themselves. And I need to go over to

(17:15):
QC Kinetics this morning, so I'lljust go do that. They can talk
among themselves and you can start sellingear patches or whatever you want to sell,
and you know, just be whatit is. Back to these sound
bites, because he hasn't done anythingto improve his his standing, to improve

(17:45):
his showing that he's capable of doingit. Remember when he gave the speech
from the Oval office about the attemptedassassination. Remember when he said this in
America from the resolver difference at thebattle box. Now that's how we do
it at the battle box, notwith bullets America. I'm pretty damn sure

(18:08):
he's reading from the teleprompter, becauseI remember watching this speech and commenting on
Twitter that, hey, buckoh yougot he has a horrible staff. Move
the teleprompter or put the teleprompter onthe camera, telling him to look into
the camera, because most modern teleprompters, when you're reading from the teleprompter,

(18:29):
the camera lens is right behind thetele prompt. It used the same technology
that newsrooms have had for fifty plusyears. But did you pick up the
language? Dragon? Listen again inAmerica with the resolver difference at the battle
box. Now, that's how wedo it at the battle box, not
with bullets. Do you hear whatI hear? Okay, I'm not sure

(18:55):
I do in America. F resolverdifference at the battle box. You know,
that's how we do it at thebattle box, not at the battle
box. Yeah, that could justbe old man's stammer, though. Yeah,
you listen again and in America.We resolve our difference at the battle

(19:17):
box. Now, that's how wedo it, at the battle box,
not with bullets. I just choppedthat up to biden isms, Biden speak,
old man mouth, flubb battle.It's battle. We resolve our differences
at the battle box. Go backonce again, It's really about language,

(19:41):
what we say out loud and theconsequences of those You called your opponent an
existential threat. On a call aweek ago, you said it's time to
put Trump in the bull's eye.There's some dispute about the context, but
I think you appreciate crosshairs. That'show we focus on. Look, the
truth of the matter was that Iguess I was talking about as the time

(20:03):
was there's very little focus on Trump'sagenda. Yeah, the term is bullseye.
It was a mistake to use theword. I didn't. I didn't
say crosshairs. I've been bulls.I'm then focus on him, Focus on
what he's doing, Focus on onas on his policies, Focus on the
number of lives he told the debate, Focus on I mean, there's there's
a whole range of things that Look, I'm not the guy that said I

(20:27):
want to be a dictator on dayone. I'm not the guy that refused
to accept the outcome of the election. I'm not the guy who said that
one accept the outcome of this electionautomatically. You can't only love your country
when you win. And so thefocus was on what he's saying, and
I mean the idea. But haveyou taken a step back and done a

(20:51):
little soul searching on things that youmay have said that could incite people who
are not balanced? Well, no, no, I don't think. How
do you talk about the threat todemocracy which is real when the president says
things like he says, He's justnot say anthing, He's a man incite

(21:11):
somebody. Look, I'm not engagedin that rhetoric. Now, my opponent's
engaging in that rhetoric. He talksabout to be a blood bat that he
loses, talking about how he's goingto forgive all the actually I guess to
spend the sentences of all those whowere arrested and sentenced to go to jail

(21:36):
because of what happened is in thecapitol. I'm not out there making fun
of like when I remember the pictureof Donald Trump, when Nancy Pelosi's husbands
hip for the hammer going talking aboutjoking about it. He has no clue
what he's talking about. He isdesperately trying to come up with something to

(21:56):
justify or to answer I uster holdsquestion, and he simply cannot do it.
He's in it to stay your allies. James Clyburn Nancy Pelosi have kind
of put it out there that they'rewaiting for your decision, giving you time
to make your decision. What Ihear from you is that you made your

(22:19):
decision. Are you still comfortable inthat decision? Does anything changed in the
last several days. No, Doyou feel like you've weathered the storm on
this issue of whether you should beon the ticket or not. Fourteen million
people voted for me to be thenominee the Democratic Party. Okay to them,

(22:42):
I'll to them, Okay, he'sin it. So now they're going
to have to do something if theif the political class that runs the Democrat
Party once Biden off the ticket,they're really going to have to do something

(23:03):
dramatic. Invoked the twenty fifth Amendmentcut off all funding to the DNC,
something dramatic. I personally don't thinkthat post assassination attempt I don't know that
they're willing to do that. Ithink what's happening is twofold one. The

(23:26):
assassination attempt interrupted their momentum to focuson Biden and get him off the ticket.
At the same time, the assassinationattempt vaulted Donald Trump into the stratosphere,
and the trend lines are now prettymuch entrenched and probably not going to

(23:52):
change much. So a lot ofthose donors and those insiders the leadership of
the Democrat Party are saying, maybewhat we do here is we refocus our
efforts on the down ballot, tryto either preserve the Senate and or take
over the House or both, becausewe don't see him beating Donald Trump.

(24:22):
So take the loss and come backto fight another day in twenty twenty eight.
And that also solves the problem ofKamala Harris because now if they let
him stay on the ticket and heloses, that means Kamala Harris loses,
so she would have to compete witheverybody else. It would essentially be an

(24:47):
open primary for the Democrat Party intwenty twenty eight, and they would be
facing a presumptive nominee in JD Vance, assuming, of course, the JD
Vance does a good job as vicepresident, doesn't you know, commit a
Biden blunder. Well, then he'sthe presumptive nominee, and so he would

(25:07):
be forty three years old, SoKamala Harris actually would be much older than
that. So now what does theDemocrat Party do? I actually begin beginning
to believe that they are going topull back on their attempts to getting out
of the race, because I thinkthat and if you believe the conspiracy theories,

(25:33):
and this was an attempt truly totake out Trump, well I guess
at backfire, didn't it, becausenow I think they realize, oh they
you know, and Bruce Bartlett,who's actually a friend of mine, but
is just so hard core anti Trumpand is so hardcore lefty for a guy

(25:57):
that used to be a main conservativerepublic and he's just gone off the total
deep end. Anyway, he postedon Facebook the other day, just right
after the attempt at assassination, thatthey've now made a martyr of Donald Trump
and that he is now unbeatable.And that's coming from a political expert.

(26:19):
So is that true. Well,let's look at the trend lines. Hey,
Michael, I'm gonna have to agreewith dragon on that one. I
heard ballot box too, but yes, I could see how you could hear
battle. It's that old man syndrometold you what some friend of yours you

(26:41):
got to call in and say that? Is that? What's going on back?
Then? Oh damn, well Idon't have any friends. Well well
that's true, I suppose, butyou probably just reached out to some random
number, some goober and just calledhim and said, hey, would you
leave a talk back that says this? And they gladly complied because they all
hate me as much as you do. There's a nice Shaney fire dollar doing
it for you. So let let'sgo back for just a little bit to

(27:06):
that. Remember the press conference thatwe were all so excited about that,
you know, is he going tofall off the stage? Is he going
to say something stupid? Is hegonna you know, whatever's going to happen.
I think during that press conference thatDemocrats were actually rooting for Biden to
flood, for him to goof itup, for him to just fall flat

(27:26):
or something. Now he didn't exactlygo great, but he actually delivered somewhat
detailed and somewhat coherent remarks about foreignpolicy. That's what he well, because
it was NATO, that's what hefocused on. But with the world's eyes
on him, the press conference startedan hour at least an hour late,

(27:48):
and of course you recall that Bidenreferred to Vice President Harris's Vice President Trump
and of course Ukrainian President Zelenski hasPresident Putin was that though it was prior,
that was prior to the press conference. Oh, the Putin thing was
right, but it was all partof the same as this same day,
you know, several hours, allpart of the same events. And quite

(28:11):
frankly, nobody knows what the hourlong delay was. But I've often wondered
if the hour long delay was becausehe referred to his lynzk yes Putin that
the staff wasn't you want to takesome time, You want to have some
pudding? Can we get you amilkshake, something that would you know,
kind of calm your nerves or something. I guarantee you I will be totally

(28:33):
transparent in terms of my health andall aspects of my health, and tell
us why you were an hour late, tell us why it was an hour
late. But the theory for whythis is or that was a worst of
all world's outcome for Democrats is thatBiden did just enough to please his backers

(28:56):
while doing nothing to assuage the meaningthat the fight over his remaining at the
top of the ticket was likely tobe prolonged. And then along comes the
assassination. And now we see inthe real clear politics average, the trend

(29:17):
line continues solidly for Donald Trump inthe battleground states and in states where you
would not expect him to win,like New York for example. Now,
I'm not entirely sure that I believethe theory about they will continue to try

(29:38):
to push him out. Rather therewas there was already a tunda momentum against
Biden, but that momentum got interrupted. It's now Tuesday, seventy two hours.
So just like the momentum that wasbuilding for Biden out of here,

(30:03):
that's all the media focuses on.Now the momentum has changed, and you
have the attempt at assassination. Justprior to actually, let me back up
one step, you were going tohave the sentencing of Donald Trump that went
away. Then he almost gets assassinated, and now the convention has started and

(30:27):
the momentum has completely shifted in favorof Donald Trump. Hey, do we
have a sentencing date for a hunteryet No, now that you mentioned it,
I haven't seen anything about it.Maybe they're you know, maybe they
forgot about it.