0:02

Mr Vice President. I

0:05

look out over my Biden sign

0:07

in my front yard and I see

0:09

a sea of Trump flags and

0:12

yard signs. Is

0:14

that a question for Joe Biden during

0:17

the town hall? Why does nobody

0:19

have any enthusiasm for you?

0:23

It was a lead up to a different question. I was gonna

0:25

lay out just the things we've been talking about today

0:27

for lawn Hea Chen. We've talked about Biden's

0:30

softball UH press

0:32

conferences in town halls versus

0:34

Trump getting grilled? Does that matter? The

0:37

Trump's the flat delivery

0:39

of a really good message yesterday, and

0:42

then I thought a

0:44

grievance leaden rally

0:47

last night with not a lot with

0:49

not enough reason to vote for him, and there's a lot of stuff

0:51

out there. Well, let's join lan Hea Chen for

0:53

the discussion. Long here's the David and Diane Stephy,

0:56

fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover

0:58

Institution, and joins is, now, how

1:00

are you, sir? I'm fine, great to

1:02

be with you. Thank you. So. I don't

1:04

know if you've had a chance to observe the president

1:07

lately, but he seems a little tired.

1:11

Well, you know, here, here's what I think the president

1:13

has a a certain

1:15

comfort zone he likes to operate in, and

1:18

he likes the environment where he can just kind of

1:21

get out there, let a rip talk about whatever

1:23

he wants to talk about. And the question

1:25

is how that modus

1:27

operandi works with the

1:30

closing weeks of a campaign. And

1:33

I think one of the things that made him effective

1:35

in sixteen at the end was his ability

1:37

to focus on message and

1:40

to just get out there and relentlessly

1:42

deliver it. And generally speaking, candidates

1:45

are successful when they can do that. Right

1:47

now, the president is not there yet, and I think

1:49

until he can get there, and I think he probably

1:51

will get there, the question is when, I

1:54

do think some of these rallies and some of these events

1:56

end up doing more harm than good, and

1:58

that's something that they're going to have to con runt. I

2:00

only took in fifteen minutes of last night, so

2:02

you know, it's anecdotal evidence. But

2:06

instead of you know, we're gonna build the wall

2:08

and nobody thought he was actually gonna build the wall in Mexico

2:10

isn't gonna pay for it. But here's somebody that finally

2:13

gives a crap about a legal immigration. Yeah,

2:15

you know, I'm gonna bring your jobs back, that sort of stuff,

2:17

reasons to vote for him. God, he was going on it was

2:19

a perfect phone call. You're talking about

2:21

the Ukraine phone call? Oh

2:24

my god. Yeah. Wow.

2:27

Meanwhile, they're hurling soft softballs

2:29

at Joe Biden. Do you catch any of the town hall last

2:31

night? Uh? Yeah, I

2:33

mean it was a big wet kiss, right. And

2:36

I think it shouldn't be surprising

2:38

because we have seen that over and over again.

2:40

The media does treat the two people

2:42

differently. It treats Trump and Biden differently.

2:45

Uh. And you know, you guys asked the questions,

2:47

do I think it's going to make a difference, And the answer

2:50

is I don't. I don't think it's going to make a difference

2:52

because I think people have already weighed these

2:54

issues in their vibes. They get

2:56

the media likes Joe Biden one of the lifestyle

2:58

Trump. They end stand that. You know,

3:01

as a result, the two candidates are going to be treated

3:03

differently. I'm not sure it affects

3:05

how people view them, though. I think

3:07

if you I said this a lot before,

3:09

which is at this point in Donald Trump's presidency,

3:11

You've figured out how you feel about Donald Trump.

3:14

Probably I still have. I mean, if you still

3:16

have questions about, hey, what do I think of Donald

3:18

Trump, you must have been living on another planet for the

3:20

last couple of years. So all this stuff

3:22

that's out there, you know, the Woodward Book and

3:25

the media's treatment of them and

3:27

all of the noise, you know, most Americans

3:29

I think have tuned it out, and I think they figured out,

3:31

you know, look, this is what I think of Donald Trump. And

3:33

by the way, just because you don't like him

3:36

doesn't mean you're not going to vote for him. And I think that's

3:38

an important factor to consider as well. Well, we're talking

3:40

earlier. We think the best, you know, for

3:42

people who like some Trump stuff,

3:45

but when he bothers them so much, they just can't vote

3:47

for him. The reluctant Trumpers

3:49

as a buddy of mine. Text of that, getting

3:52

the sixteen nineteen project out

3:54

of the schools and ending critical race theory

3:56

training and the government agencies that could

3:58

be huge. Well,

4:01

it is because people sort of say, listen,

4:03

uh, I'm you know, I think

4:05

a lot of Americans would say that. They would say, look, I'm

4:07

all for a

4:10

society that's got people that look different

4:12

from me and sound different from me. That's fine, But

4:14

I don't want to be told that the

4:16

history of my country is

4:19

so foul and so odious that

4:21

I can't learn about it. I don't want to be told

4:23

that everything America has done is wrong. I

4:25

don't want to be told that, you know, everything

4:27

that I've done as a non you know, non

4:30

minority, non person of color, non whatever,

4:32

uh is wrong. And I think people just say, look,

4:34

I don't want That's not the environment I want

4:36

to be in. And so there are common

4:39

sense things that the president does, and there's common

4:41

sense things that people do when they say, look,

4:44

you know, you're right. Not all of that is wrong.

4:46

And we and there are things about our history and our

4:48

culture that we should learn. And we should understand times

4:51

when things went badly, but we should also

4:53

understand that there are a heck of a lot of times in our history

4:55

when things went well. And and that's

4:57

something that everybody and every child should

4:59

learn country. I think, well, right, the

5:02

idea of having wonderful

5:04

ideals and sometimes falling short of

5:06

them is not an ugly story.

5:08

I mean, it's it's it's a it's worth telling.

5:11

But again it's and and the lefty

5:13

media is trying to like give you

5:16

an inverse description of what's happening

5:18

here, that he's trying to eliminate any

5:20

teaching of America's sins. The problem

5:22

is and just as a personal

5:25

note, lony, judging by

5:27

our listeners, um and

5:29

we hear from them by the hundreds and

5:31

hundreds every day. This, the far

5:34

left indoctrination from kindergarten

5:36

through grad school is a huge

5:38

issue among real people, and

5:41

I credit the Trump administration for having their ear

5:43

to the ground enough to realize it. I think the

5:45

New York Times and and NPR they're

5:47

so snyde anytime they make reference it's

5:49

a conspiracy theory. But I'm

5:51

telling you it's big in the hinterlands. Well,

5:54

here's the problem. The people that are

5:57

reporters for these outlets, the people

5:59

who are opinion itiers for the most part, for these

6:01

outlets, they are far to the

6:03

left of even many Democrats

6:05

in this country. They make up

6:08

a disproportionate percentage

6:10

of you know, these sort of relatively

6:12

far to the left progressive folks, and

6:15

they are in very influential positions. And so

6:17

I think when most Americans look at that, they say,

6:20

you know what, that doesn't really sound like

6:22

what you know what I think is right. Just at

6:24

a gut level, people don't think

6:26

that what they're reading and what they're seeing sounds

6:28

right. So this disconnect between mainstream

6:31

media and you know, many Americans

6:34

that that's going to be a huge problem going forward.

6:37

This is not a not a campaign problem, it's not a political

6:39

problem. It goes to the breakdown of our institutions,

6:41

and the media is one of them.

6:45

I think, outside of a major event

6:47

occurring, you know, uh, something

6:49

international or whatever, I don't

6:51

see what's going to change the trajectory of the election

6:54

except for that first debate, particularly

6:56

if Joe Biden is on the debate stage

6:58

with the world watching and says something

7:00

like he said last night that all two

7:03

thousand people would still be alive if

7:05

Trump had done his job, and Washington

7:08

Post even says Biden is making

7:10

this up? How would that affect things?

7:13

I mean, that's an extraordinary thing to say. How

7:15

about the fact that Anderson Cooper didn't even follow up

7:17

on that. Yeah,

7:19

I mean, I think this first debate is going

7:21

to be interesting to watch because you're going to see

7:23

the ultimate prevent defense, uh

7:25

in in Joe Biden's strategy. I mean,

7:27

really, his job is to get up there and to not

7:30

screw things up. I mean, there

7:32

are many bland things he can say,

7:34

and I think it'll be totally fine. But

7:36

you're right. I think where where the Biden campaign

7:39

is concerned in all likelihood is they're concerned he's

7:41

going to get up there and he's going to say something or say a

7:43

few things that will really demonstrate

7:46

kind of either that he's lost a few

7:48

steps or that that you know, he just

7:50

has positions that are fundamentally out of

7:52

step with most Americans. And I think that's

7:54

the worry for the Biden campaign. You know

7:56

that the Trump team, they they

7:58

kind of feel like, look, people are used to the freewheeling

8:01

style of the president. He's not gonna say things

8:03

carefully. He's going to get up there and say what he's gonna say,

8:05

and so I think they feel it's relatively lower risk,

8:08

which is why you hear the President saying let's let's

8:10

debate more. But but the Biden

8:12

team, I think they are they're playing pre event and

8:14

they really do not want people to

8:16

to hear or see some of the things

8:18

that Joe Biden could say or that could pop out

8:20

his mouth. Well, the question was asked to Joe Biden

8:22

on the New Green Deal or the Green New

8:24

Deal. Sorry, do you think it's too much?

8:26

Anderson Cooper said no, I don't, said Vice

8:29

President by no follow up, it's gonna

8:31

cost sixty trillion dollars. We're

8:34

gonna stop driving cars with gas within

8:36

ten years year for that. Yeah,

8:38

and it's going to require every single building to be

8:40

retrofitted and change. I mean even ones

8:42

that are historic and go back many, you know, many

8:45

centuries. I mean, it's it's the Green New

8:47

Deal is crazy. And this is a point

8:49

that I've started to make because I've been looking

8:51

at Joe Biden's policy plans recently.

8:54

He would be the most liberal president in modern

8:56

history if he won. His ideas are

8:58

far more progressive than any can date since McGovern.

9:01

His budget, by the way, is double

9:03

what Hillary Clinton proposed in twenty sixteen. Just

9:05

just think about that for a minute. Five trillion

9:07

dollars in you spending double what Hillary

9:09

Clinton proposed. His tax increases are

9:11

going to hit every American household. This

9:14

is not some moderate guy. I mean, if

9:16

he if he's elected president, he's going to

9:18

be an extreme liberal. And I think, look,

9:20

that's just something people need to come to terms with They

9:22

might be okay with that. They might say, look, I'm willing

9:24

to have that over the chaos of Trump. I'll

9:27

vote for Biden, doesn't matter. But people need

9:29

to go into this selection eyes wide open, understanding

9:31

what the alternatives are. I think that's a very important

9:34

thing. My final question for Lonie Chen of the Hoover

9:36

Institution, um, given the near certainty

9:38

that there will be chaos and confusion

9:41

during voting month, as mail

9:43

and ballots are counted and rejected and the rest

9:45

of it, how do you like the idea of some

9:47

sort of bipartisan commission getting to

9:49

work like today by noon on

9:52

standards and messaging and

9:55

and and bipartisan statements of solidarity,

9:58

that sort of thing. Let's being pre about

10:01

dealing with the chaos. I would

10:03

love that. I think that'd be a great idea to get

10:05

respected, you know, respected Republican, respected

10:07

Democrats, get people together and

10:10

and and help us make our way

10:12

through this vest We cannot have this

10:14

be a partisan process. Regardless

10:16

of how you feel who you're going to vote for, we all agree

10:19

we want this election to be fairly decided,

10:21

and we want to have confidence in the outcome of the

10:23

election and the direction we're headed, and I

10:25

really worry about because that's not the direction we're headed

10:27

in. And bringing this back to de politicize

10:30

it as much as possible, I think

10:32

that'd be great. So I I'd be all for it. I

10:34

don't think it's gonna happen. Boy.

10:36

Dan Coates OpEd in the New York Times yesterday.

10:39

I don't know if you read it, but he said, Joe Biden or

10:41

Donald Trump are not a death blow to the country, but

10:43

losing faith in our elections could be. Yeah.

10:46

That's good stuff. Yeah, well, let's keep an eye on

10:48

this one going forward. Lanh Chen David

10:50

Diane Stiffy, Fellow in American Public Policy

10:52

Studies at the Ober Institution. Lan, he thanks so much

10:54

for the time. Good to talk to you. Oh

10:57

boy, yeah, I worry way more about

10:59

that. At the post

11:01

election day chaos, hatred,

11:04

angst conspiracy theories,

11:06

Russian propaganda, trolls

11:09

and bots and and the rest of it, not

11:11

to mention Nancy Pelosi

11:14

and Donald j saying irresponsible

11:16

things. I'm more worried about that than about

11:18

anything. Yeah. Okay,

11:21

that's interesting. Don't mean to freak you out. Everybody