Joining me now, Democratic strategist and former advisor to the
Obama campaign,
Amisha Cross, and MSNBC political analyst Brendan Buck,
who previously served as press secretary to former VP candidate
Paul Ryan.
Good to have you guys back.
We're making a habit of this,
Amisha, with these poll numbers showing a tight race no
matter what,
how do you gauge the risk factor of changing the
ticket?
Now, has the president over these last few days,
has he bolstered his case to stay 'cause he also
has quite a few events planned this week?
I think the president has ultimately showcased that not only
is he not leaving the ticket,
but he's the one best served to actually compete against
and dominate Donald J Trump come November.
We know that his campaign is putting a very high,
a very high quotient as it relates to getting on
the campaign trail in these battleground states.
I think that the the event he held just last
night in Detroit was huge.
We heard the chants. They were resounding of Don't Quit
and all of the people there,
specifically those who are representing unions,
specifically those who are representatives of the black community,
those who are representatives of the brown community,
those who feel the feel the impetus here of why
it's so important.
Joe Biden is carrying the weight of the world on
him right now.
We're talking about all eyes being on him,
but also the fate of our democracy being on him.
The fate of not only the United States democracy,
but the protection of democracies abroad.
The legacy that this president has in terms of job
creation,
in terms of fighting for civil rights and equity across
this country,
in terms of reducing student loan debt,
fighting against Project 2025 in real time,
and the forcefulness he was able to exhibit last night,
I think that those things are going to continue out
throughout this campaign trail.
We know in the coming week he's going to be
in Vegas for the N Double ACP conference.
This is a president who understands what's at stake for
multiple communities across this country,
specifically vulnerable communities, and those communities understand it as well.
Yeah. You know, Britain, Amisha brings up a good point
there,
and she talks about the forcefulness with which he delivered
the rally yesterday in in Detroit.
You look at the vast breadth of knowledge that he
displayed on Thursday night after the NATO summit.
I mean, he was in the Senate for 36 years,
chair of the Foreign Relations Committee.
He showed he has a level of context and perspective
on that that is pretty extraordinary.
Does that at all change the dynamic that we were
discussing last weekend?
Not a ton. I mean,
I think that the the the press conference
this week was objectively OK.
I mean, it was not
an impressive performance. He definitely did better than he did
in the debate.
And it probably left Democrats
searching a little bit. He clearly didn't fall on his
face.
And then they can't clearly just,
you know, yank him right now.
But there's still a lot of people in the House
and Senate who are all getting back their own polls
in their own districts right now and are probably seeing
him underwater, polling
underwater with more people disapproving,
and it's scaring them now.
Look, the race is close.
You just showed polls.
Nobody can look at these polls and say these numbers
are so bad that he must leave.
I think what people are concerned about is does he
have the capacity to do the things necessary to make
up the little ground that he has in
in the important swing states.
Now the conventional wisdom is he needs to get out
there more.
He needs to do some earned media.
He needs to, you know,
talk to voters. I, I actually disagree with that.
I don't think that's actually going to work.
I think what he did
last night is exactly what he needs to be doing,
which is stay on teleprompter,
read a really good teleprompter speech,
have some good crowds that that'll cheer for you.
And, and try to move past this and,
and, and just get your party up together with you
and return the focus to Donald Trump.
That is the path ahead.
If he's not going to win by convincing people that
he's not actually that old,
I think he just needs to change the conversation.
And maybe Democrats will get this out of their system
enough over the last few weeks that they can finally
do that.
Yeah, interesting point you make there.
Let me ask you, Brendan,
about the Bernie Sanders op-ed,
though, because he says Mr.
Biden may not be the ideal candidate,
but he will be the candidate and should be the
candidate.
And with an effective campaign that speaks to the needs
of working families,
he will not only defeat Mr.
Trump, but beat him badly.
How significant is this given Sanders prominence as a progressive?
Yeah, it's been interesting. You would expect perhaps that progressives,
maybe the squad in the in the House would be
the ones pushing him out the most.
But that has definitely not been the case.
What you're seeing I think a lot more of the
the moderate,
the swing voters who potentially their own districts
are at risk. But I think this,
I think this is a a huge lifeline for him.
And what it really comes down to at this point
is not ideology.
It's whether or not you believe
Joe Biden that he's not stepping away.
If you believe him that he's in this until the
end,
that is the obvious right thing to do.
Circle the wagons, go forward,
return focus to to Donald Trump.
Now, obviously, Bernie Sanders is asking for a little more
than return to focus.
That op-ed also suggests that Biden should be running on
some pretty progressive,
expansive ideas that probably are not very popular,
but that's that's very Bernie Sanders.
But I think what Sanders realized is,
look, we're hurting our own nominee every day we're out
here doing this.
We are hurting him. And if he's not going to
go,
we need to get our act together and move forward
against Donald Trump.
You know, Amisha, Senator Sanders said Americans should learn a
lesson from progressive and centrist voters in France who came
together to defeat the far right party.
Now, unlike France, Americans do not get a first round
of voting to scare them into going to the polls.
But is there a lesson there?
I think there's definitely a lesson there.
We saw it in France,
we saw it in the UKI think it's very important
to understand what an authoritarian slide looks like,
what it looks like to have a very far right,
very far right policies that not only shutter the working
class but also make it extremely hard for a nation
to continue to be competitive.
And I think that these are lessons that we can
take not only from Europe,
but also an understanding, again,
what is at stake, what is at stake,
home and abroad. They understood it and they were able
to give resounding victory,
victories to, to, to. They're more left-leaning flank here.
Bernie Sanders does what I think was necessary.
When people think of Bernie Sanders,
when they think of AOC,
when they think of a little bit more of the
far left,
what they consider the socialist wing of the party,
they think of people who are fighting against the Democratic
Party,
consider them sometimes outsiders. That is not the case.
What we're seeing is that,
yes, you may not always agree on certain levels of
progressivism,
but even within that flank,
you have to understand what is at stake and what
could be taken away.
And they think that within that op-ed,
what we saw was Senator Sanders be able to lay
it there.
And him and Biden don't agree on all things.
They don't see all things similarly.
But we see the pathway to America's future and we
understand what is it threat with the Donald J Trump,
Donald J Trump presidency. And that's what matters the most.
We need to circle the wagons.
Democrats need to get on board.
We need to stop acting like this is a Bachelorette
style presidency where everybody gets a rose.
We're going to see who's standing last.
That's not what this is.
Joe Biden has shown that he is in this to
win it and he's not going anywhere.
It's time Democrats understand that as well.
And then, Amisha, there was this written by Tim Alberta
in The Atlantic that the Trump campaign has been very
optimistic about running against Biden but does not have much
of A plan if it's somebody else.
And he says, quote, privately,
they are all praying that he remains their opponent.
We also haven't seen congressional Republicans taking this opportunity to
slam Biden.
So if they are hoping he stays in,
does that signal that he shouldn't?
Absolutely not. I think that Republicans are playing a little
bit of reverse psychology here.
They've become a lot smarter.
At least Trump's campaign has become a lot smarter this
go round than they were four years ago.
But with that being said,
they think that it would unleash an onslaught of not
only sexism,
but racism to to the lengths we have not seen
in modern history against Kamala Harris,
who would be honestly the only person who could take
up this seat if it was not Joe Biden.
But in addition to that,
there would also have to be a
rapid restructure for Democrats. Let's be real here,
there's a calendar and there are rules.
There would not be anyone else who has chosen whose
name isn't Kamala Harris.
But with that being said,
a lot of the apparatus would have to change immediately
and within the time frame that we currently have.
That is much too short,
I believe, to be able to large something that is
successful.
And again, we know at this point that the only
person who's running one against Donald Trump is Joe Biden.
Go with your winning horse,
right? And, and so Brendan,
real quickly with the New York Times editorial board,
their piece on Thursday, Donald Trump is unfit to lead.
How can Democrats harness that
as their message going forward?
Yeah, I mean, the the editorial I think is is
funny in itself.
There's this wing of the Democratic Party that seems to
think that all of the problem with the Biden is
that people are not critical enough of Donald Trump.
At the same time, if Joe Biden can create a
bit of an enemy,
put a little chip on his shoulder
that people are out to get him and and take
up that sort of populist message that Donald Trump has
used actually quite successfully,
it could. I think he could use it to his
advantage.
Umm, look, I, I, I really do believe that once
people get this sort of out of their system in
the Democratic Party,
they will be able to return focus.
Donald Trump, Joe Biden is very clearly an underdog.
I, I, I expect him today to lose If,
if we were going ahead and I had to bet,
but Donald Trump is very beatable.
He is one of the most flawed candidates we have
ever seen run for president.
And if the if the conversation is about him,
Joe Biden has a fighting chance.
He just needs to get it away from his age
and on to Donald Trump.
OK, Brendan Buck, Alicia Cross.
Good to see you both.