We had you on just a few days ago
talk to you about how you saw the campaign now
after this solo press conference,
the president out there in the spotlight for quite a
while.
Did that change your opinion of the president's campaign or
any other part of this?
Right? What a seesaw this week has been.
And I think that we started off this week with
Biden with momentum to stay in the race.
A OK interview with George Stephanopoulos with ABC News and
going on Morning Joe letters to congressional Democrats.
But then really swung back once Pelosi came out and
started questioning whether or not Joe Biden had to make
a decision,
almost saying that the decision he's made is not OK.
The press conference last night was probably good enough for
him to stay in the race for now.
It was an hour long unscripted event,
something that people were concerned he wasn't able to do.
Supporters of him will say his answers to questions,
especially on foreign policy were strong.
But detractors are going to point out to exactly what
you pointed out,
calling Zelensky, Putin, Kamala Harris,
Donald Trump and I know a number of members were
asked,
wait until after this NATO summit before you call for
him to withdraw.
And so later today, throughout this weekend,
I expect the numbers to grow in terms of how
many members of Congress
ask him to step aside.
But the Joe Biden I saw last night seemed very
convinced in his ability to stay in this race.
And ultimately, this is up to Joe Biden if he
wants to stay in.
He has the delegates. You know,
you mentioned Joe Biden kind of pushed back on some
of the questions from his Democratic colleagues.
He's also pushing back on the Trump campaign pretty hard,
bringing up Project 2025 and a lot of the key
policy differences,
including tariffs. In your mind,
do those, do those jabs,
they really land with his constituents?
It's a start. So, you know,
this was part foreign policy press conference,
but probably even more a campaign speech.
What Democrats have wanted to see from Joe Biden is
for him to go directly after Donald Trump,
make the contrast in terms of what his policies would
look like versus Donald Trump's policies.
So bringing up Project 2025,
when you go and have to defend some of the
issues in there,
one of the true lessons I always learn in DC
is that in politics,
when you're explaining you're losing,
what the Biden campaign wants to do is look to
Project
2025, take out the most controversial things that do not
pull well with swing voters and say this is the
format that you will get.
This is the policy, you will get it.
Donald Trump goes back into the White House trying to
shift this because if this is a referendum on Joe
Biden,
Joe Biden loses. But if the Biden campaign can shift
it to a referendum on Donald Trump,
Joe Biden has a shot.
That's why they're doing this.
So obviously, a lot of eyes on Joe Biden.
You mentioned we might hear from more Democrats in the
coming days,
almost like out of mind right now.
The fact that the RNC starts next week,
a lot of implications there for investors,
especially the president expected to announce a vice president.
Give us a sense for investors as the president looks
at a vice president,
what factor should they be considering?
Are there, are there different vice presidential picks that have
different market implications?
Yeah, Frank. So it is.
It's almost remarkable that we have the
Republican National Convention next week because it's almost been 100%
Joe Biden all the time in the political conversation.
But as early as next Monday,
we could get Donald Trump's vice presidential pick.
When I talk to former Trump officials,
they tell me the vice president under Donald Trump is
more important than almost any other president,
that the pick for vice president is in there on
all policy decisions.
So if it ends up being JD Vance,
the senator from Ohio, expect a much more tough stance
on trade.
That's where we have to start worrying about those tariffs
a little bit more.
If it's Marco Rubio, man alive,
is that going to be tough on China?
If it's Doug Burgum, the North Dakota governor,
maybe there is a a little bit more probusiness tilt
to this.
He had a tech company that he sold to Microsoft.
That's how he made money as the governor of North
Dakota.
Is that really positive for energy policy?
So look to who Donald Trump selects for vice president
to get a true signal of what the day-to-day policy
in the White House would be if he's elected in
November.