Trump Goes on Offensive Against Democrats on "Affordability," as Kamala and Newsom Jockey for 2028

Summary

The Morning Meeting – Episode Summary

Podcast: The Morning Meeting
Host: Mark Halperin (2WAY)
Co-Hosts/Guests: Jaime Moore, Kristen Davison
Date: December 10, 2025
Episode Title: Trump Goes on Offensive Against Democrats on "Affordability," as Kamala and Newsom Jockey for 2028

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Episode Overview

Today's Morning Meeting dives deep into President Trump's recent rally in Pennsylvania, where he attempted to relaunch his economic messaging by focusing on "affordability"—though with his trademark colorful style and deviation from the script. The panel examines the Democratic response, especially the moves of Governor Shapiro and other rising Dems, as well as 2028 maneuvering by Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom. Later, the hosts analyze the ongoing Fed chair selection, health care battles on the Hill, recent election results like the Democratic win in Miami, and the unfolding Russia-Ukraine peace efforts. Notably, the episode is rich in tactical campaign talk, media analysis, and forward-looking speculation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Pennsylvania Rally: "Affordability" Reframed

• Main Event: President Trump's 90+ minute speech in Pennsylvania, officially billed as a tour kickoff on “affordability.”
• Media Reception:
  • Most reports highlighted Trump mocking the idea of an “affordability crisis,” calling it a "hoax," and blending the economic theme with tangents on immigration and gripes about the media (“fake news”).
  • Coverage focused little on any policy specifics and more on spectacle/controversial remarks.
• Panel Analysis:
  • Mark Halperin: Observed that even with “affordability” as the stated topic, Trump couldn’t avoid “weaves” (off-topic rants). Noted the absence of a focused, specific economic message and that even the crowd appeared restless.
    • “He didn’t offer anything new. There were no things saying, here's how we're going to go forward and address it.” [16:00]
  • Kristen Davison: Emphasized that Trump speeches operate as performance, not policy events, and that headlines—even critical ones—drive the campaign’s visibility.
    • “I think they are a rallying event... a performance. It's not necessarily a policy rollout.” [16:31]
  • Jaime Moore: Saw it as a missed opportunity for substance; criticized Trump for failing to outline clear steps on affordability after campaigning on that very issue.
    • “We have the right as American people to hold this president accountable to what he said. He campaigned on cost.” [18:00]

Notable Quote

• “They tell me not to say hoax, but I'm still going to say it.” — Mark Halperin, re-enacting Trump's defiance about message discipline [13:54]

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2. Democratic Response: Bracketing & Counter-Messaging

• Governor Shapiro and Pennsylvania Dems: Leveraged the visit for effective bracketing, with press events and sharp rebuttals before and after Trump's rally, focusing on real economic pain and portraying Trump as out of touch.

  • “It was a great day for bracketing for the Democrats of Pennsylvania.” — Jaime Moore [15:29]

• Sub-Theme: Shapiro, Beshear, and Shapiro’s focus on local politics seen as positioning for higher office.

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3. Fed Chair Succession and Economic Policy

• “A lot of focus in the financial press...” [21:50] — On Trump’s indecision about the next Fed chair.
• Consensus: Whether it’s Kevin Hassett, Kevin Warsh, or another, panel expects little real impact unless broader economic levers change.
• “I don't agree with the process by which the president got here but...it's provocative.” — Jaime Moore [22:05]

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4. Capitol Hill: Health Care and Legislative Fights

• Obamacare Subsidies: Looming expiration with no compromise in sight; politically risky for both parties.
• Republican & Democratic Tensions:
  • Kristen Davison: Republicans cannot just block subsidies without consequence; must address healthcare cost and fraud.
    • “There's a leak in the basement and no one is fixing it.” [24:14]
  • Jaime Moore: Urged real bipartisan negotiation, led by Senate moderates like Bill Cassidy, to reach practical compromise.
    • “At the end of the day we have to compromise. ...We can't be for waste, fraud and abuse.” [26:45]

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5. Recent Election Results & Party Strategy

• Special Elections (e.g., Miami Mayor): Democratic wins in traditionally challenging locales signal Republican turnout issues.
  • Kristen Davison: Recognizes deep concern in the GOP about turnout and ground game.
    • “We need to fully embrace that this election is one half turnout, one half persuasion. We have to do both.” [30:22]
  • Jaime Moore: Credits Democratic organization, especially under Nikki Fried in Florida, but also notes candidate recruitment challenges remain.
    • “Candidate recruitment perspective, it’s difficult to ...get their families eviscerated just for the sake of ‘saving democracy.’” [34:02]

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6. 2028 Jockeying: Kamala Harris vs. Gavin Newsom

• Kamala Harris gives a NYT interview signaling potential candidacy.
• Gavin Newsom releases a highly produced memoir book trailer, pushing a more personal, vulnerable narrative.
• Panel Analysis:
  • Jaime Moore: Sees Newsom as highly strategic but acknowledges Harris’s head start with the Democratic base.
    • “Kamala can say she's already gotten 75 million voters. That’s a big advantage.” [46:52]
  • Kristen Davison: Suggests Harris could attack Newsom for being “out of touch” given his privileged background.

Notable Moments

• “If they both run, it’s going to be a titanic battle for donors and strategists because they share a ton of advisors.” — Mark Halperin [46:14]
• Panel pokes fun at the “slickness” of Newsom’s memoir preview [43:24].

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7. Ukraine-Russia Peace Prospects

• Cited David Ignatius’s latest “must-read” column outlining new contours for a possible Ukraine peace deal.
  • Kristen Davison: Skeptical about a near-term deal, referencing low public and elite attention.
  • Mark Halperin: Slightly more bullish after reading insights from Ignatius.
    • “After reading David’s column ...I can see the possibility of a deal. ...It's a rising possibility.” [39:33]

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8. Other Political and Legislative Tidbits

• Sen. Wicker & Defense Oversight: Panel expects him to “slow-walk” responses on defense secretary controversies—waiting out the pre-holiday news cycle [41:07].

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9. Listener Q&A Highlights

Voter Concerns on Economy ([49:11]; [58:15])

• Listeners Bob & Mr. Pop:
  • Ask if Dems overplaying affordability risk a Reagan-like 1984 backlash if economy improves.
  • Share optimism as small business owners (e.g., doggy daycare doing better this holiday).
• Panel Response:
  • Jaime: Cautions not to “over-index” on cost messaging, notes many economic levers are outside direct government control but acknowledges issue dominance through next year.
  • Kristen: Stresses “populist anger” at inequality will likely persist even if macro numbers improve.

Why Not Run for Office? ([53:48])

• Both Jaime and Kristen are regularly encouraged to run but prefer behind-the-scenes or consulting roles: too much “bullcrap” in politics, prefer helping others, value family/privacy.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “He could talk owls down from the trees.” — Mark Halperin on Newsom’s charm [05:13]
• “If Democrats say we have to ignore the fraud... non starter.” — Kristen Davison [24:47]
• “This election is one half turnout, one half persuasion.” — Kristen Davison [30:22]
• “It's just not worth it... There's so much bullcrap in the middle.” — Jaime Moore on running for office [54:57]
• “Kamala can say she's already gotten 75 million American voters.” — Jaime Moore [46:52]

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Important Timestamps

• [02:01] Introduction and rundown of panelists
• [09:24] Transition to President Trump’s speech and main economic theme
• [13:06] Coverage of Governor Beshear and Democratic bracketing
• [16:31] Discussion about Trump’s lack of policy specifics
• [18:00] Jaime Moore on missed messaging opportunity
• [24:14] Health care gridlock and party risks
• [29:31] Erik Erickson’s take on Republican turnout woes
• [34:02] On the difficulty of candidate recruitment after Democratic wins
• [43:24] Newsom’s memoir trailer analysis
• [46:52] Harris vs. Newsom donor battle
• [49:11] Listener question: economic messaging risk
• [53:48] Listener asks: Why don’t the panelists run for office?
• [58:15] Business owner optimism and economic outlook

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Conclusion

This episode offers a dynamic, candid roundtable on the day’s top political narratives, especially Trump’s economic messaging reboot and the Democratic counter, all set against the backdrop of potential 2028 matchups. The panel provides sharp critiques on campaign tactics, legislative strategy (and gridlock), and emerging 2024/2028 campaign storylines. Listener questions draw out further insights on economic perceptions and the realities of running for office in today’s climate. The tone is frank, fast-paced, and often laced with humor and insider knowledge, making it an engaging listen for anyone seeking context beyond the political headlines.

Transcript

[Mark Halpern]

This is it.

[Jaime Moore]

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[Mark Halpern]

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[Jaime Moore]

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[Mark Halpern]

I was selling AI as a great thing for decades and I was wrong. I was wrong.

[Jaime Moore]

There's a longer term existential threat that will arise when we create digital beings that that are more intelligent than ourselves. We have no idea whether we can stay in control.

[Mark Halpern]

While others say that AI will usher in unfathomable abundance, I've always believed that.

[Jaime Moore]

It'S going to be the most important invention that humanity will ever make. This really will be a world of abundance.

[Mark Halpern]

And among these fears and these fantasies, we seek the story of our future. Listen to the last invention on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternal grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon, and this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacey Abrams. Yay. BJ Novak. Yay. Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad. And Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows? Maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, Grandma, for turning me into a hopeless, obsessive, compulsive. Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Jaime Moore]

Foreign.

[Mark Halpern]

Welcome to 9:00am Eastern Time. It's time for your morning meeting. I'm Mark Halpern. Here, two great guests, co hosts with us today, Jaime Moore and Kristen Davison. You've seen them both before. Kristen, welcome. Jaime will be here in just a moment. Very grateful to have you all be Part of this is based on the Network News Division's morning meetings. We'll run through the day, the day book, and then talk about some stuff, including the President's 90 minute plus speech last night in Pennsylvania in which he was laser focused on the economy the way I'm laser focused on Australian Rules Rugby. Which is to say he wasn't all that laser focused. But we'll look at some of the coverage and we'll talk about what it means going forward for at a time when pretty much every Republican I know thinks it would be good to focus on affordability and deal not just with the rhetoric of cost, but also the Reality. So we'll talk about that. We're going to talk about the Fed, healthcare, the election for the Miami mayor, Russia, Ukraine, and a developing subplot, ladies and gentlemen, which is Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris. Can they both run? Kamala Harris did a long interview with the New York Times, which has got people, at least in my world, thinking again. She's going to be a candidate for president, which some people doubt. It's a. We'll see. Jaime, welcome in. Thank you both for being here. Jaime, tell me your best Kamala Harris story. Tell us all. Not just me, but. Oh, man, like, not a super long one, but like, you know, there was the time you went fishing or.

[Jaime Moore]

No, this is, this is, this is. This is probably apropos of her personality. We were in New Orleans, I think, in 2018 or 2019. She was getting ready to meet the now current new mayor of New Orleans, L. Ray. She goes in the elevator. Tell me everything you know about her.

[Mark Halpern]

Right before the meeting. Right before the meeting, what you say?

[Jaime Moore]

I said the five things I knew about her and she was like, great, let's go. Now they're invest the buds.

[Mark Halpern]

Good staff work. All right, Kristen, what's your best Gavin Newsome story?

[Kristen Davison]

I don't know. I feel like there was a story of him during COVID where he was in, I mean, the. What's that really expensive restaurant?

[Mark Halpern]

French French Laundry.

[Kristen Davison]

Laundry, yeah, that story. And I, I just remember talking to Republican operatives. There was a whole effort to follow him the entire duration of COVID to find out where.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Kristen Davison]

And so you had.

[Mark Halpern]

That's a good research project.

So you've never, You've never met him, right?

[Kristen Davison]

No, no.

[Mark Halpern]

Do you think it's possible if you met him, you would find to be charming and authentic? Do you think that's possible?

[Kristen Davison]

I don't know about authentic, but I feel like he is pushing the boundary that he's so choreographed that that is his authenticity, if that makes sense. So it's kind of all the way around that now he's back there. I think, to be honest, I think he would be, you know, to sit down and talk. I, I think he's doing a. A decent job at distancing himself from the evil California, you know, far left policies that people try to paint him as. I don't know if voters in South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa will necessarily agree, but he's doing a decent job of humanizing himself. So.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. Interesting. Well, he watches the show on occasion, so perhaps he'll call you now and treat you like you're, you know, a right wing pundit and invite you on his podcast or whatever. Very grateful to have Kristen. Go ahead. I'm a go ahead. What are you gonna say?

[Jaime Moore]

He's more charming than you would even imagine, Kristen.

[Mark Halpern]

Yes, he is. He is. As we say in Arkansas, he could talk to owls down from the trees. Grateful to have you both here. And I'll run through the daybook and we'll, we'll, we'll get to it. And again, if you're here on the platform, want to ask questions, raise your hand if you're watching on YouTube. Just don't put smack in the chat. Think about peace, love, understanding. Put stuff in the chat that's consistent with the ethos of two way rather than the ethos of a sewer. There you go. No smack in the chat, as they say. All right, run through the day book. Here we go. The president's got a couple events on his schedule today about which we know very little. One is two o' clock close Press participates in a roundtable. And this goes back to if a tree falls in the woods and nobody's there. If the president does a roundtable on an unspecified topic and there's no media there, what happens? Maybe they'll open it up and then he's greeting pastors, unnamed pastors at five o'. Clock. I hope my pastor's there because he's leaks to me like a sieve. So that's the president's day. Don't know what the vice president's doing. Pete Hagseth is meeting today with.

Our ally, the defense minister from Australia and Britain. This is part of the Aukus Defense Alliance. Got to give credit to the Biden administration that started beefing up support and meet military capability in the region to help try to contain China. One of the big accomplishments on that front. And the president, the current president and administration have continued that the Hill is a hotbed of activity today. If I told you everything that's going on up there, we'd spend the whole hour. But just briefly, House Republicans and Democrats are holding their weekly separate meetings. House Republicans news conference attend Democratic House leaders news conference at 10:45. Chuck Schumer a health insurance press conference Press briefing at 10:15 in advance of tomorrow's expected vote on two bills, both of which will fail. We know what the Democratic bill is. The Republican bill is still, they're still working on that to exactly what it's going to look like. And tonight, this afternoon at three o', clock, a bipartisan event. What could bring Mike Johnson, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries together for a single event. Well, yes, you guessed it. It's the Congressional menorah lighting that takes place at 3 o'. Clock. Presumably Senator Schumer will take the lead on that. That's just a guess. And the House is moving towards final passage on the defense bill. The NDAA, they hope to do that at 4 o'. Clock. Fed expected to cut rates today. We'll hear from Chairman Powell after the 2 o' clock announcement on rates. We'll hear from him at 230. Supreme Court's here in a couple more cases. President Zelensky is supposed to unveil a new plan, a new vision for a peace plan today. And we'll see, we'll see what that yields. All right, quick word from a sponsor, then we're going to start talking about the President and the economy. This is from our friends at Cozy Earth who still are offering you 40% off. I don't know why they persist in giving you 40% off. It's because they're so damn nice and you're so lucky. 40% off everything. Towels, blankets, pillows, bubble cuddle, blanket, the shirts, the pants, everything. 40% off. Give the gift of softness, comfort, luxury and affordable at affordable price. 40% off. Go to cozy earth.com promo code 2 WMM to get 40% off everything on the site. If you haven't yet bought the pants, fellas, you're making a big mistake. Go right now. Cozyearth.com promo code 2w 40% off. If you order now, you'll get the full discount, but the discount's going down. Don't tell them I told you this. In two days, the discounts plummeting. So go now. If you want to say 40%, you got two days to do it. If you get the post purchase survey, tell them you heard about Cozy Earth right here in the morning meeting. Give the gift of comfort that lasts beyond the holidays and carries into a cozy new year. Thank you for your attention to that matter. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online and more personal info in more places that could expose you more to identity theft. But Lifelock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our US Based restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed your money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock.

[Jaime Moore]

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[Mark Halpern]

Visit LifeLock.com podcast terms apply. All right. Last night, the President spoke as widely expected he talked a little bit about affordability. As widely expected, the media chose to focus on the parts of the speech that weren't about affordability, including his attack on a member of Congress and starkly personal terms. And lots of weaves. Lots of weaves. Here's some headlines, all covered pretty much the same way. This is. Which one is this, Paul? This is the headlines. There you go. Philadelphia inquired Trump strays from script at Poconos rally calling affordability a hoax in Pennsylvania a dumping ground for immigrants. Not not on message there. Morning call paper in Pennsylvania. Trump savages rivals touts economic record at packed Mount Airy rally. Here's another one. This is the Pocono record. Trump slams stupid people defends economic record in Pennsylvania rally. Next.

Times Tribune, another Pennsylvania paper. Trump savages rivals tout's economic record at Pacific rally. Here's one more. The BBC because the White House communication shop is obsessed with the BBC coverage. Chat Tom's upbeat message on economy as Americans feel the pinch. Here is a sampling of coverage. This is some cable news coverage, some broadcast coverage, some local TV coverage of how the president's speech was treated by the media.

Coming up, President Trump back on the road. More on his rally in Pennsylvania last night as he seeks to reset perceptions about the economy. All right, new this morning, the question that will confound metaphysicists for generations. Is it an affordability tour? If you don't like talking about affordability. Overnight, President Trump held a campaign style rally in Pennsylvania that was billed as the first stop on his tour to talk about affordability concerns among Americans. But he could not seem to do it without calling the entire notion a hoax.

[Kristen Davison]

Let's get to our top story. President Trump's speech last night in Pennsylvania that was supposed to be about affordability, but instead he mocked the term itself and over the course of 90 minutes delivered his usual campaign style rally. This morning, President Trump confronting the number one concern for voters, the rising cost of living. At a Tuesday night rally in Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump claimed the economy has drastically improved during his second term.

[Mark Halpern]

And this week, President Trump hit the campaign in Pennsylvania claiming his economic policies are working. But folks in one of the very states that helped put him back in the White House last year say that they're still feeling squeezed by higher prices. President Trump kickstarting his affordability push last night in Pennsylvania as his chief of staff says he's going to campaign for the midterms like 2024.

All right. I don't know why people tell me it's too early for Democrats to start running for president because Governor Beshear and Governor Shapiro, every day now, they're out there running for President. Here's Governor Beshear on Ms. Now. I said Ms. Now. I do not need to put $40,000 in the swear jar critiquing the president's speech. And this is a very similar message to what you heard from others, Governor Beshear. I tell you what, if Donald Trump wants to say that affordability is a hoax, if he wants to say that the economy is perfect, I hope he goes to every battleground state, every major campaign, that we've got a gubernatorial contest in next year, and he brings that big tariff board because people know it's not true. People know he's made life harder on them. And if he wants to get out there and be that out of touch with reality, I hope he'll do it.

Okay, so, Kristen, let's play act a little bit. You're Susie Wiles. And the president walks into your office now and he says, hey, Kristen, I didn't have time to sample the coverage. How'd we do? What would you tell the president? And what if he said, sorry, I'm revising and extending. How'd we do? And what can we do better? What would you tell him?

[Kristen Davison]

Well, we had headlines, wall to wall, everyone covered. Everyone's talking about it today, so great work. Everyone's talking about the speech today. No one's talking about the special elections in Miami or Georgia last night. We're all talking about the economy. That's great. Maybe, you know, next time let's just make sure we don't say the word hoax. We don't need it. It's not, it's not a good, not good to the message. But overall, brilliant evening. They loved you. The coverage is great. Excellent work.

[Mark Halpern]

All right. That's excellent. And if he says hoax, of course, now he does in a very meta way. He says, they tell me not to say hoax, but I'm still going to say it. Jaime, the president.

Is, is, is, is going to do what he's going to do. So my question, my question to you is, how do you feel your party did in responding not just Governor Beshear, but overall?

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, look, we talked about this a little bit last week on the bracketing. I thought the Pennsylvania Democrats did a fantastic job of bracketing the president. I mean, one. You know what, we would call this an unclean story because we're talking about everything but the president and his message directly. We talked about Governor Shapiro four times already this morning. And that's the intent of bracketing. And so Governor Shapiro put out some really scathing statements and did some press ahead of the president's visit. He did not meet him on the tarmac like Gavin Newsom did during the wildfires. But he, but what, what, what the governor said is, look, you, you may say whatever you want to say today in this speech, but the reality is people are hurting and people are hurting because, and that for some reason, this president can't admit things that are true. Costs are high. No one's necessarily blaming the president right now. He's, he still has a lot of time to take credit for fixing the economy and getting cost up and getting wages and getting costs down and wages up. But he won't admit that it is, it is a, it is a problem. And so Governor Shapiro hit right at that. And he had some backup from the mayor of Philadelphia. He had some backup from Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis. And so it was a great day for bracketing for the Democrats of Pennsylvania.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. You know, the sub theme of Governor Shapiro trying to show he can run Pennsylvania politics really well as a calling card. I totally agree, Hamid. They did a very good, very professional job.

[Jaime Moore]

The.

[Mark Halpern]

How do I phrase this? The president is undisciplined and nobody expected it. We talked yesterday about whether how long it would be. It was as long as anybody could imagine. It was 90 minutes. And as always, happens as entertaining as he can be. You could see it in the crowd. Robert's going to nod his head because he was there. The crowd was not fully engaged through the full 90 minutes. It's just too long. Robert disagrees. Maybe, I don't know, just watching it, watching on tv. Now, here's what, here's the thing that I was watching for. He didn't, he didn't offer anything new. There were no things saying, here's how we're going to go forward and address, like, again, Kristen, is this not just 101, like, say, here's what we're going to do on housing. Here's what we're going to do on energy with some specificity, or is that not necessary?

[Kristen Davison]

I don't think it's necessary for a Trump rally. Right. I mean, I, I've been to enough of these. I think they are a, they are a rallying event where people that, you know, even the most ardent supporters tend to, if they have something to do, they're going to leave before the 97 minutes is up. It is a performance. Right. So it's not necessarily a policy rollout. I think that the, the White House team and the advance team did a decent job of putting the message in the surrounding, you know, higher paychecks, lower cost, I think is what it said. And so I don't think they needed to unveil anything new. I think now taking all the focus on the speech and that he's, you know, every news organization is going to want to write that he's talking about it now. Maybe the White House can say, well, hey, we're also going to try this, this is new. Like, try to catapult off of the, the hook of the rally. I don't know, necessarily, people would even pay attention if Trump had unveiled something new because it's a performance. I mean, that's why people go to. And they love him and they enjoy.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, hi. But just to be clear, I'm not saying he should have, like, long paragraphs about, like, the details. But, but, but why not just some bullet points of, and maybe teeing up the State of the Union to say, you know, we're gonna, I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but it just, it just seemed to me if you're gonna, if you're gonna call it a hoax, if you're gonna talk about people should have no more than $2, if you're gonna attack a member of Congress, if you're gonna do all this weave stuff, you're gonna not get headlines that are specific. But if he had said, we're gonna, we're gonna make mortgages more affordable by doing acts or whatever, I feel like that might have gotten coverage. But maybe I'm wrong.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, no, I, no, I think you're right. I think it was actually a missed opportunity for, for the president to, I mean, he, when he ran for, for real, for, for a second term, he talked about bringing costs down on day one. I mean, we all knew that that was not possible, but he said it. And I think we have the right as American people to hold this president accountable to what he said. He campaigned on it. He campaigned on cost being too high, costs of going up. I mean, while inflation is starting to wane a little bit, rent is not going to go down, markets are not going to go down. And so I think we have to be honest with the American people and say we have a new economy, we're trying to usher in. AI is going to be a big deal, energy costs are going to want to rise, but the president is going to do everything he can to bring those costs down. And I think he's got to say every lever he can possibly pull to bring these costs down. He's going to do it. Now, what I do think the Republicans have that we did not have when Joe Biden was president. You guys know I love Joe Biden, but Joe Biden was never able to articulate a message on any day. And so, and Donald Trump's able to do that. And when he misses an opportunity like last night, it's sort of sad because he can really drive the message home in a way that we didn't have a president that was able to do. And so I, so I kind of envy that. But I also, you know, he didn't do it last night.

[Kristen Davison]

Well, I think the biggest thing, Trump's on the ballot, right. So it was good to drive to the people who are on the ballot. So, like Congressman Bresnahan, that's his district, the mayor of Scranton, where they were. She's running against him. I think that's going to be a top, probably the, if not the top congressional race, one of the top five in the country. And, and I, I think that they now both candidates. I didn't see the mayor of Scranton do anything to really make her case. If I were running her campaign, I would have had people out in front of the rally with news cameras, having them explain why they couldn't afford to buy Christmas gifts this year or why they had to work a second shift on Thanksgiving. I didn't see, see that from her. I saw a few tweets. So that was a missed opportunity from the Democrat candidate there. But likewise, I also didn't see the Republican incumbent. I don't even think he tweeted from his campaign account that he was there.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. Okay. One more thing about the president distracting from his own message last night after the rally, I think after he got home, he did this post on Truth Social. I wish I could read the whole thing to you, but I would be tuckered out. 202A. Paul, can we blow that up? I ain't going to be able to read it. It's a really long post and it's about. There's. Here's. He writes about the eight wars that he's. That he's. Well, the first line. There's never been a president that has worked as hard as me, exclamation point. So that's the thesis statement of the, of the post. He works hard. He solved eight wars. Next slide. Then he writes about got out of my way to do long, thorough and very boring medical examination. So he complains that in order to satisfy the American public's interest in his health and he goes to Walter Reed and he takes long medical exams. Another, another off, off message thing. Next. He does talk about the economy in here, but then he says the New York Times and others to consistently do fake reports in order to libel and demean the President of the United States. They are true enemies of the people. So now he's on that. Is that the last one or is there one more? I think there's at least one more. It's a very long post, ladies and gentlemen. You got one more slide. Maybe not. Anyway, the point is, you know, he gets home and he doesn't, he doesn't post on the economy posts, or at least not exclusively on the economy. All right, the Fed, the Wall Street Journal told everybody last week, or maybe the week before, Kevin Hassett's going to be chair of the Fed. I think this whole thing is an overrated factor because whoever the chair of the Fed's going to be is probably going to cut interest rates and whether they do or not is not going to make or break anything. But in any event, a lot of focus in the financial press about this. Today. The Journal shifts course a little bit and says Trump plans final interviews with Fed chair candidates in coming days. The president said it would be looking at a couple of different people for Fed chair. This is after he previously said he already knew he was going to pick Kevin Warsh. The other. Kevin is supposedly one of the people he's interviewing. It remains the case, according to my reporting, that the sweet spot is someone who Scott Besson thinks has the stature to be Fed chair and the ability to do the job, and someone who the president trusts. And finding that person has proven to be very difficult. So, Jaime, do you think it's going to be Kevin Hassett or is it now all totally up in the air?

[Jaime Moore]

I still think it's gonna be Kevin Hasset. You know, I think the, the, I don't agree with the process by which the president got here and the reason for him trying to unseat the chair. But this is, it's provocative. You know, he, he, he appointed the chair, the current chair, five, five, six years ago. He has the right to do it. So I'm not going to spend time, you know, wasting time beating, broadbeating the president for exercising, exercising his duty. But it's gonna look, like you said, it's not gonna do much. You know, the rates may go down a little bit, but that is not the thing that we need lever that we need to pull to change the economic outlook. For Americans right now.

[Kristen Davison]

Are Democrats, are they gonna hit, if you were, you know, advising them, are they gonna hit Trump for changing horses there and appointing something, you could paint it as he's pointing someone who's gonna do what he says. So I don't think Democrats should take the bait. Do you think they will and make a stick about it?

[Jaime Moore]

Chris? You know they will. You know they will. And, and look, I, fortunately, I'm not advising them on that. Hopefully they're listening right now. They're going to take debate on that. They're going to continue to take debate on headset, and they're going to continue to lose a narrative on, on cost and affordability and health care.

[Mark Halpern]

All right, let's talk about health care again. There's going to be a Senate vote tomorrow probably on this provision that is not going to pass. And then the House Republicans at this hour are ostensibly hearing from the leadership about a plan that's going to be voted on. But nothing will be, nothing will become law because nothing that passes the House is going to be considered in the Senate. And so the, the subsidies, the Obamacare subsidies will expire. Here's the Washington Post headline. Senate Republicans disappeared. Anyway, they're going to offer their. Here it comes back. Senate Republicans offer counter proposal and Obamacare. They're both expected to fail, as I said. So, Kristen, your party will be left with the Democrats voting unanimously for extending the subsidies.

Not passing anything to extend the subsidies in either chamber. Some Democrats think from a political point of view that's a great outcome. Are you worried if assuming this is the outcome and we head into the new year with the Obamacare subsidies expiring, are you worried that that's going to hurt your party politically?

[Kristen Davison]

I mean, 100%. I feel like I have voiced my heartburn over healthcare for months. Like, it. And it's not just me. I mean, I talked to members, I talked to other consultants. Like, everyone is kind of saying we need to figure this out. Like, you know, there's a leak in the basement and no one is fixing it. And I mean, right now we have four different proposals in the Senate and none of them are going to get to 60. I mean, we have no one is. I think that the, the best sign of cohesion is probably the House bill that Congresswoman Kiggins and the Democrat, I'm going to mispronounce his last name, Goth Meyer, I think.

Because here, I mean, for Republicans, we, you know, I really think we can't just say we can't extend anything. Right? That's a non starter. We're not going to get the votes on that. We can't just say we can't extend anything. We can't leave, you know, millions of, I mean Josh Hawley last night I think did a, did a press conference or interview and was said probably one of the best I've heard on this, basically saying there's a human cost to this and as Republicans we can't forget it. Meanwhile, Democrats also can't just say, you know, we have to ignore the fraud. I mean the watchdog report that came out last week that saw how many people, you know, I think it was like thousands of Social Security numbers were used on multiple different, you know, applications for it. Like we all have to find something to come together on it. If Republicans say we're not going to extend it non starter. If Democrats say we're not going to touch fraud, like non starter. So I think the House bill with Kagans and Gothmyer is probably the most optimistic one I see right now because it addresses both of those concerns. But I mean, but, but, but is.

[Mark Halpern]

The leadership going to put that on the floor? That's going to be a discharge petition.

[Kristen Davison]

I, I, I don't know. We'll see. Right. Well, I, I hope they put it to the floor. I think there is a lot of pressure, not publicly but I, I, I, from talking to different folks up there, there is a lot of pressure being put to do something that shows, you know, that takes a vote there. I think, you know, we will get tripped up on some of the pro life pushes, you know, that started for Democrats. I think we need to figure out another way to achieve those goals without being in this bill.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Kristen Davison]

So no, I'm very nervous about it.

[Mark Halpern]

Hi my, if, if the majority, minority leaders, if Schumer and Jeffrey said to you, you're, you're in charge of the war room. We want a bill, figure out how to get a bill, the president's death that extends the subsidies and we're willing to have some of these conditions to deal with allegations of fraud and the caps and all that. Would you start in the House or would you start in the Senate and would you look for one of these mini gangs to do it? How would you, how would you do it?

[Jaime Moore]

Look, I was starting in the Senate for sure but look my hometown senator, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is facing a almost insurmountable reelection because the Republicans and the president have decided to not support him in the way that he should be supported and he's been screaming at the top of the mountain to fix health care since he's been in, since he's been in the Senate. And so I would bring Bill Cassidy to the table with some Democrats, Patty Murray and people like that who have, who have reasonable interests in getting this across the finish line. And I will put together a package. I think I like Josh got him. I don't, I don't know. Rep. HIGGINS well, I think Josh Gottimer has, you know, emerged as a really smart centrist, no BS sort of member. But I was starting in the Senate and I and I think Chuck Schumer has the moxie right now to get his, his caucus in a place present a bill that will have some compromise. You know, at the end of the day we have to compromise. And to Kristen's point, we're not going to be able to if Democrats, Democrats have got to continue to prove that they are for health care, for lowering costs. But Kristen's point, they can't be for waste, fraud and abuse. And that's, and that's the fine line that we've got to walk.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, I would say two more things on healthier than we're going to talk to the Miami Marist rates. One is Senator Cassidy has said when president hasn't endorsed against him and Senator Cassidy said the other day he doesn't think the President is going to endorse against him. So maybe it's not full on love but given that he supported conviction in the Senate, pretty pretty I think notable that the President hasn't endorsed against him yet. And number two, you know, this is going to be hard this hard to do. The notion that it was going to happen with a bunch of ad hoc mini gangs was ridiculous. I don't understand why the White House is passive because now what they're going to do is they're going to go into January with Democrats for the rest of the year and into the new year saying this is Republicans fault and the press is going to talk to more and more people whose premiums are skyrocketing and whose health care coverage is being taken away. It's just, it just, it just does seem like political malpractice. And every consultant I know said what Kristen said. Another thing every Republican consultant I know is saying is these election results are not good. You can sugarcoat them all you want, but what happened on election day in November, what happened in the special election in Tennessee and then what happened yesterday, first time in almost 30 years Miami elected a Democratic mayor. It's an area that's been trending Red on some levels, but it's always and it's a blue stronghold. But Miami itself has been a long time. Ellen Hay, Eileen Higgins. She had the support of Pete Buttigieg, Rahm Emanuel, a bunch of national Democrats, and the president tried to get the Republican over the finish line and failed. Here is what, here's an honest Republican, an honest conservative, I should say.

Erik Erickson. Here's what he says about these midterm results, 114 in his excellent subset, which you subscribe to if you don't. Now, we can all go through the litany of excuses both sides use in these special elections, but the pattern is consistent from Mississippi to, to Miami to Georgia to New York. Republicans are not motivated to show up. You saw that also in a special House state legislative race in Georgia in a very red area where the Democrat won. So Eric Erickson's saying publicly what Republican consultants would say privately. Chris, and again, I'll start with you, because it's your party. People are, I mean, it's not quite panic, but I would say deep concern. What are people looking for besides the president, to talk effectively about the economy? What, what else do Republicans say? You need to stave off what is currently going to be a very bad midterm under these current conditions.

[Kristen Davison]

Right. Well, you know, when I talk to other consultants, one of the biggest frustrations is we have these special elections. We know they're going to be low turnout for the most part. I mean, only 36,000 people voted in Miami last night or, you know, in yesterday's election.

[Mark Halpern]

36,000 total.

[Kristen Davison]

Total.

[Mark Halpern]

Wow. That's nuts.

[Kristen Davison]

It's crazy when you have all.

[Mark Halpern]

That's like a student council election.

[Kristen Davison]

I think more people probably voted in my senior year, you know, class president.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Wow. Okay.

[Kristen Davison]

We know that. And yet we line up leaders like Governor DeSantis, President Trump, everyone to go to bat for the candidate. But then we don't go the next step and, and get people on the ground. We tweet about it, we put things out again. It's the biggest frustration when you see, I mean, the same thing with, with the House seat in Georgia, talking to folks there. I mean, there really wasn't a boost on the ground effort to get the folks to turn out. So of course that's going to happen. And again, it comes back to we need to fully embrace this idea that this election is going to be, you know, one half turnout, get people out and one half persuasion. And we have to do both. Well, and we have to walk and chew gum. And so tactically, that's a frustrating thing to watch as, as a strategist. And, you know, my old boss, Carl Grove, last week at his column wrote, we can't do that in every race. Next year, that's going to be our to so Tennessee we're able to, we were able to pull off because we went all in, outspent Democrats by a million bucks, had, you know, tons of people on the ground knocking doors. We won't be able to have the bandwidth to do that.

[Mark Halpern]

But why, but why isn't that happening? Your party has money. You've got party committees. Like, why isn't it happening?

[Kristen Davison]

Oh, I don't. I mean, I could think that, you know, I think sometimes people just, they assume it's going to be okay. People get complacent. I think some races there's a little bit of complacency, and some, there's a genuine.

Shock that, you know, it's not going to turn. But, but ultimately, you know, you have to prioritize. And I, I think, you know, maybe a special election is not in the top of the priority list, which is totally understandable.

[Mark Halpern]

Jaime, we've said here, and it's conventional wisdom that one of the benefits in theory, of these, these types of victories is candidate recruitment and fundraising. So where, where, where and when will we see that are like, I've not heard of any new recruits. I've not heard of anybody boasting about major fundraising off of these. So is that happening and we just don't know about it?

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, look, I think when. I completely agree with Kristen, I think the MAGA party does really well. The Republican Party doesn't do as well. That's going to be something we have. The Republicans have to contend with next year. But on the Democratic side, look, you look at Florida, Nikki Freed, who is the new or she's. Well, she's been there for a few years now, but she's the state party chair. She was the agriculture secretary. She ran against DeSantis for governor. She's a firecracker. She is well organized. She's very smart. And whenever Janie Harrison and I went down there a few years ago to have her onboarding meeting with her, she said she's going to run somebody in every election in Florida, every time.

[Mark Halpern]

But I got to stop you there, because there's no Senate candidate in Florida.

[Jaime Moore]

Well, they're working on it.

[Mark Halpern]

Well, but, but, but again, there's no Senate candidate in Florida. There's no Senate candidate in Kansas. Are those Are those easily winnable? No, but if there's a blue wave, you could win those two states. There's a Democratic, been a Democratic governor. So, but, but I'm just saying, shouldn't the DNC be putting out a press release saying in the wake of these dramatic victories, we've just recruited this, you know, you know, football coach, veteran, da, da, da to run in race X, Y and Z? Maybe that's happening, but I've not heard about any of that. Or they should be putting out a press release that says we just raised $20 million online after the special election.

[Jaime Moore]

You know. Yeah, no, I do think some of that's happening, but I think from, from a candidate recruitment perspective, you guys know this, it's very difficult to recruit those, those sort of candidates who, who have money, who have name id, who want to put themselves out there and get their, their families eviscerated just for the sake of, quote, unquote, saving democracy. And so you will. So we look qualifying for a lot of these states won't be into January, February, some in March. And so there's still a lot. Chuck Schumer is still trying to recruit a bunch of, a bunch of folks from Florida and Kansas. And so you will see some things roll out in the next couple of weeks, I believe. But I think you're right. I think the DNC probably should do a little bit more to tout this. But I think what they don't want to do, Mark, is they don't want to, they don't want to. Ken Martin doesn't want to come on TV and say, you know, we figured everything out and we're winning all the elections now and the Democratic Party is back.

[Mark Halpern]

He's kind of, he is putting out press releases that, that rhyme with what you just said.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, but not, but not quite fully that, because I think we got to both inspire people and say the party is in a better place. And so if you are a Democrat and you have voted for us traditionally, come back home and do that. But to Kristen's point, there's got to be some persuasion that we, that we're trying to do as well. There's still that, that, that small sliver of people that both parties are trying to persuade and it's getting a little bit bigger as we see these elections progress.

[Mark Halpern]

Dip into cnn.

[Jaime Moore]

What?

[Mark Halpern]

Chris, go ahead, but dip into cnn. Rahm's talking about banning social media for children. Go ahead, Kristen.

[Kristen Davison]

Iowa is one that you should watch just in terms of, you know, I think the Democrat candidate there for Governor, I believe is is pretty solid. That's what I'm going to.

[Mark Halpern]

If it's a blue year, Iowa Democrats could win both governor and Senate potentially. Can we listen to Rahm for a second or not?

I just find it interesting. Rahm's paid by CNN and now he's on there touting something he'd run for president on. I find that a little unorthodox. Everyday social media or you're gonna help parents do the job of being a parent. Right now there's every parent feels hopeless in the fight against something that is more addictive than the homework, which is.

[Kristen Davison]

The telephone.

Regulating tech taking on, you know, regulating the Internet. I mean, you know, it takes that is not where Congress is on the.

[Mark Halpern]

Forefront or Washington has really ever been on the forefront. If you that's that's the understatement of.

[Kristen Davison]

The well, at least today if you were from the basis that the ban will do good politically. I'm curious what you think about it. Is this a reaching across the aisle type of issue where you think there is consensus on this or do you see this as a space where Democrats can carve out like is running against big tech a winner today and in future elections?

[Mark Halpern]

I love when they treat him like a strategist. The first part of the question all right, dump out of this thing. Let me both ask you a question. Tomorrow on Next up, I'm doing my 8 for 28 the top possible Democratic presidential campaign nominees in order most likely to least likely. And here's the question I want to ask you guys to help me do some of my final reporting here. Who's more likely to be the Democratic nominee? I'm not asking about the general who's more likely to be nominee Rahm or Governor Pritzker?

[Jaime Moore]

Hi, Governor Pritz. Governor Pritzker, I hope but I love Rome Emanuel, but I understand.

[Mark Halpern]

But you think Governor Pritzker.

[Jaime Moore]

I, I, he's, he's a great governor. He has a, a, a, a wonderful sort of personal story on how he approaches even though he's a billionaire, he approaches democracy and capitalism in a way that I've never seen a billionaire do. And I, and I really love him.

[Mark Halpern]

Kristen Brahm or Governor Pritzker?

[Kristen Davison]

I agree. I think Governor Pritzker, I really think Rahm should go and run the campaign of whoever the nominee is.

[Mark Halpern]

Spoiler alert. Governor Pritzker is not currently in my top eight. Just so you know.

[Jaime Moore]

You got to change that, Mark. You got to change that.

[Mark Halpern]

Some people say I have to change it, but some people Don't. We'll see. Maybe I will. Thank you for your input. All right, Russia, Ukraine. This is like the fifth day in a row. I cannot believe that this is not the top story in the world. There's just, it's just such high stakes. I just want everybody to go read David Ignatius's column. Outsmart the Washington Post paywall if you need to. I interviewed David on NextUp yesterday, and he said he couldn't tell me everything he was working on because he hadn't quite nailed it down between the time I interviewed him. It's a great interview. He said a lot of interesting things. But between the time I interviewed and had to file, here's his column. The outlines of sustainable Ukraine peace deal inch into view. Trump's tilt toward Russia isn't helping, but there's still a path to a reasonable endgame. David, you know, buried in his column is better reporting than you see anywhere else literally in the world about the current state of things. Zelensky's, in theory, coming back with another counteroffer today, but David lays out more clearly than I've seen anywhere else what's in it that actually makes it a decent deal for Ukraine. There's still this sticking point about, about territory. But read David's comment. It shows you all the things are getting, in terms of economics, in terms of some security guarantees, in terms of how the, the, the, the, the buffer zones will exist within the country. Absolutely. Must read it. Just a daily temperature here on this. Kristen. Bullish or bearish on a deal by the end of the year? Bullish or bearish?

[Kristen Davison]

I'm, I'm still pretty skeptical. I, I just don't, the article was very good and I, I, it shows a path. I just, to your point, it's not in the news every day. I don't know if this is top priority every day for the people who need to get it done.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, I was bullish, but now I get more bearish every day.

[Mark Halpern]

After reading David's calm, I went from bearish to bullish. I'm now bullish again. I, I now can see the possibility of dealing Zelensky, despite the President chopping him off in the political interview. Zelensky is being pretty, still being pretty accommodating, at least rhetorically. We'll see. Still still less likely than not, but I think it's a rising possibility. All right.

Two more topics and then to your question. So again, please raise your hand. The second, this last, second to last one's very short one. Chairman Wicker, again, I want A countdown clock of number of days. We still haven't heard from Chairman Wicker. Chairman Wicker is the chairman, powerful chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee Chairman. He has not still not said what he wants to do in terms of the second tap. He hasn't said what he wants to do in terms of investigating it or what his point of view about it is. He's been a headset skeptic publicly and privately for a long time. His counterpart in the House, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said we're done. We don't need to investigate the second tab. Wicker is quiet. Kristen or Jaime, you first. Is, Is, is Wicker going to come out and say something ever or you think he's just kind of slow walk it and he'll never stop speak out again? Tag said, which one?

[Jaime Moore]

I think a slow walking. I think he's trying to see what, what else comes out if the president and secretary will release this, this video. I don't think he, he, he's been very clear on how he feels about Secretary Hecak even during the confirmation process. I don't think he's going to beat a dead horse. And he's a, he's a good Republican and a good, a good party member. So I don't think he's going to have an undue statement on this. But I think once, once things start to, once the video comes out and once there starts to be a groundswell around that, then I think he may say something. But I don't think he's going to say something right now. It doesn't move him to.

[Kristen Davison]

Kristen, I agree. If, if I'm in his office, I'm waiting to see where this goes. It's Christmas. There's a lot of news. Is this going to stay on the front page every day? If it's not, then why do I have to rock the boat? Right. We can handle this another way. I don't have to cause the party or the president undue heartburn. But you know, I do think if it gets to the point where it continues to be heated and he is pushed, he's not going to be shy about what he believes on it.

[Mark Halpern]

My spidey sense continues to be he's going to say something. That's my spidey sense because I'm the body language is screaming to me.

[Jaime Moore]

Mark, you were correct. I think Chris and I both were saying that we would stop talking about this over the weekend.

[Mark Halpern]

I was too polite to remind you guys. We've been talking about it all Week, but yes. All right, last topic. People have assumed in the Gang of 500 that Kamala Harris wasn't going to run for president. And so Gavin Newsom wasn't going to have to deal with all the complexities if they both ran. But this interview she did with the New York Times has people delusionally with not just questions about it, but also saying they think she's going to run. And she talked about Gavin Newsom in the interview. It's again, it's a couple days old, but if you haven't read it, you should. Here's what she said about Gavin Newsom. Governor Newsom, in her interview with the New York Times, can she envision a President Newsom? She was asked, quote, he has to make that decision if he wants to first. I think Gavin is very talented. I really do. And I think we have many talented people. Now, Gavin Newsom did a very, like I said earlier, Gavin Newsom and Governor Shapiro are both out there, like, a lot. Governor Beshear, too, and he did an interview with Ezra Klein of the New York Times for his podcast. It's so wonky and boring. We looked like, it's like an hour. We looked for like an interesting sound bite to play. Literally nothing because they just walked out on, on abundancy or whatever that thing is called. That what it's called called abundance. Is that what it is?

[Jaime Moore]

Abundance, Abundance, abundance.

[Mark Halpern]

Anyway, forget that, but we played this entire video last night on two Way tonight, but because some of you didn't see it, this is Gavin Newsome. It's a slickly produced, slickly produced two minute video about his memoir that's coming out next year. Here's a little bit of it just to give you a sense of, of this. And, and again, I, I find the irony here. A guy who's trying to convince people this book is. Will convince you he's not slick. Is telling you that in a slickly produced video with slick music. Roll that, please.

This, this is not the book you'd expect me to write. It's a story about the people that, for well, better or worse, make us who we are. Made me who I am. The hopes that drive us forward, the failures that send us reeling and the immense burden of grief and regret. Nobody's family is easy. Nobody's story is tidy. And I'm no different. A lot of people look at me, the stark white shirt, the blue suit and, yeah, the gelled hair, and they think, oh, I know this guy. I know this guy better than I'd ever want to know him, I get it. This is a story of a kid who always felt like he wasn't quite enough. This is a truly vulnerable book. It was incredibly hard, even painful to write. It's a story about living between two worlds, one of wealth and privilege and the other. If you were his top political aid, would you have approved that cut or would you have asked it to be redone?

[Jaime Moore]

You know, I, I don't know. There's, there's some, some cognitive dissonance that I think Gavin Newsom is starting to ironically use. And I think he, I think he, look, he's, he's very astute, he's very smart. I think he knows what he's doing. So he wouldn't have done this not understanding the intention behind it. He's just a brilliant guy. So I think he, he's like, look, you know, I'm going to say these things, but I'm going to look like this. And people are going to be more interested in buying the book because they want to see if, if I'm actually being honest and I'm being truth about, true about my, my background. So I thought it was, I think maybe it was probably well done. I would have advised him to go ahead and hit, you know, click send and get it out there and see what people say.

[Mark Halpern]

Kristen, if you were Kamala Harris's top fundraiser and you were pitching wealthy California donors who, who'd raised money and given money to both Newsom and, and, and Harris in the past, and you wanted to convince them not just to give to Harris if she runs for president, but to be exclusively for Harris and not write checks to both. What's the pitch you would make to say why they should support Harris over Newsome wealthy California Democratic donors?

[Kristen Davison]

I mean, there's a whole pitch deck you could put together. Her name id, her infrastructure. You know, there's a number of different things like that, but looking at this video, I probably put together a few examples of, you know, middle class voters watching it and saying, wow, you had a tough life, like, really, like, I, I can't afford to pay my rent this month. And I would show them those examples and be like, look, he's so out of touch that going into the holidays when people are struggling to pay their rising heating bills and deciding whether they buy 37 dolls or two dolls for their kid, he's putting out there saying that he's had a tough life. When he comes across as this guy who lives more comfortably than most, he's out of touch.

[Mark Halpern]

I totally appreciate that answer Truly. And I just want to make sure I'm not naive. Is that something that someone would actually do in a meeting like that? Like something that hardball?

[Kristen Davison]

Oh, yeah.

[Jaime Moore]

The good one. Yeah.

The good ones, like. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[Mark Halpern]

If they both run, it's going to be a titanic battle for donors and for strategists and advisors because they share a ton of advisors.

[Jaime Moore]

Well, this is. This is a bit. Yeah, this has been happening for a long time. I mean, they've been. They've been operating in this sphere and.

[Mark Halpern]

Pretending and pretending to really like each other a lot.

[Jaime Moore]

So we've been incredible. Govern general.

[Mark Halpern]

So it's an incredible story. I'll say. And then. And we'll get to your questions. I'll say is if they both run, the subplot of their rivalry, and as Jaime said, it's been going on for decades, is going to be a massive story. Massive story. And again, people now think she may well run. All right, quick word from sponsor.

[Jaime Moore]

Can I say one thing? One thing she can say that Gavin cannot say is she's already gotten 75 million American voters.

[Mark Halpern]

That's right. That's right. And he, he's gotten a lot, but not that many. All right, quick word from a sponsor then. To your questions. Please raise your hand if you want to get in. If you're looking for comfortable clothes, poncho has you covered. Get $10 off your first order and free shipping. Go to ponchooutdoors.com 2wmm ponchooutdoors.com2wmm for denim jeans that feel broken in from day one and great shirts, flannels that are not bulky or stiff. Right out of the box, you'll feel like you're ready to put it on. It feels light, but they still keep you warm. Again, it's like a magical cloak. That's why Hoagie Gidley, the clothes horse of this century, wears their clothes. The western polos, premium Pima cotton songstroth and breathable. All tough fabric, but again, very comfortable, lightweight, quick drying, built to stretch with the same poncho fit. And you get all this, besides the great clothes, free shipping, free returns, free exchanges to make sure you get the right fit. The sizing chart, it's worked for me every time. But if you get it wrong, they'll send it back. They stand by every shirt. They'll make it right. If it's not your favorite again, poncho.com or ponchooutdoors.com 2wmm thank you for your attention to this matter I'm James Patterson. I write way too many books. Welcome to Hungry Dogs. The title comes from my maternal grandmother, Isabel Zelvis Morris. Nan used to always say, hungry dogs run faster, James. And I've been running fast ever since. Here's what will be coming your way soon. And this is a really terrific list. I think you'll hear from some incredible people like Stacey Abrams. Yay. BJ Novak. Yay. Kathy Bates, Dolly Parton, Josh Gad. And Pope Leo. Okay, maybe not Pope Leo, but who knows? Maybe he'll show up. Hungry dogs run faster. Thank you, Grandma, for turning me into a hopeless, obsessive, compulsive. Listen to Hungry Dogs with James Patterson. That'd be me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Bob. Welcome in. Tell folks who don't know where you are and what's on your mind. For Kristen and for Heimer.

[Jaime Moore]

Good morning all. Good morning.

[Mark Halpern]

Thanks for having me on.

[Jaime Moore]

I'm in Northern Illinois, on the border with the Wisconsin. Hey, I've got a question. And I was, I'm old enough to remember, though. I was a kid, but I guess I, I was a political geek from way back, Right. So I remember when, when Reagan won in 1980 and it was a big victory and a kind of a rebuke to the Democrats at that time, even though I think the polling a week out or so it was reflected that it was kind of a neck and neck race. But then the, the, the economy kind of went into a recession, Right. Because Paul Volcker had cranked the interest rates way up to deal with the inflation that had been a problem throughout the 70s. So in 1982, the Democrats won a bunch of seats, but by 1984, the economy had turned around and Reagan won a huge landslide election. Right. So all I'm saying is, is that.

[Mark Halpern]

Is there a possibility that if the.

[Jaime Moore]

Democrats are going to focus on affordability, prices, et cetera, and I don't blame him for doing that, but I truly believe that some things have been put in motion that are going to address these things moving forward. I know Trump's language about, you know, fixing inflation and be so easy and you know, he tends to speak like that and it sets expectations. But I'm just saying aren't potentially the Democrats setting themselves up for if this stuff turns around and what else have they got? Because that's going to bury them just, just as it did 1984. At least it has the potential to. Just curious what your thoughts are on something like that.

[Mark Halpern]

Great. Question. Bob Heimer.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, Bob, great question. And looks like the, the packers pulled out a really tight game on Sunday. That was fun.

[Mark Halpern]

It was spectacular game.

[Jaime Moore]

Spectacular, Spectacular. I'm no, I'm no Bears fan, so good job. But nevertheless, I think you're, I think you're, I think you're right, Bob. I think these are sort of political calculus. You've got to take into account if you're a consultant or if you are sort of a potential candidate. But what we've seen, you know, based on what happened with Joe Biden as president and over the last couple years, we don't think that these things are going to subside enough. Costs are not going to go. The levers by which to bring costs down in this economy don't have a lot to do with the government. It's a lot to do with the private sector. And the president and the Congress can't do much to change that. So we don't think that's going to happen in the next year. As we get to the midterms, one, and then two, as we get to the 2028 presidential election, the agenda sort of broadens a little bit wider than just affordability and cost. And you get to talk about the vision for America, talk about what the next 250 years will look like for America. We're just 250 years old, you know, just next year. So I think the 2028 contenders will have a lot more to work with and talk about than I think next year. So for the next 12 months is going to be affordability, it's going to be cost. But I think for the next three years is going to expand to some more vision for America, you know, how do we bring people back together, how do we, you know, build a great society, you know, all over again in those ways? So, so I, so I think you're right. But you know what I've heard from Neiman Jeffries in this team, they've been saying, you know, trickle down economics does not work. So I do think there may be some conversation around, you know, how we, how we talk about economics and, and how we build out. You know, Joe Biden always say from the, the middle out, top down, you know, so I think you'll hear some of those things come out again. But I don't, I think you're absolutely right that we have to be careful not to over index.

[Kristen Davison]

CHRISTIAN well, I, I think I agree with some of your points. Democrats do need to be careful not to cheer on when, when things look like you Know, like gas prices are down. They probably shouldn't too much on that right now. I will say the trick with affordability and cost of living is that everyone's situation is different. And so it's really hard to blanket and say things are great when I don't know what my neighbor's going through and I don't know what someone else is going through. And also that populist anger doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And so there's a constant feeling that the richest people in the world are doing fine and they're getting better and they're doing well. And still the person working, you know, five floors down can't pay their mortgage. And so we need to be very, we as Republicans have to be very cognizant of that because I don't see that sentiment going away. Even if the economy turns around tomorrow and everything's fine, there's still going to be that populist movement is. Well, this is working for a lot of, you know, really wealthy, well off people, but it's not working for me and my friends. So we kind of really focused on that in the next four years.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah, very brilliant, Bob. Thank you for that. Mike, just to be clear, I called on you despite the sweater, not because of it, but thank you for being here. Happy holidays. Tell everybody where you, where you are, what's on your mind.

[Jaime Moore]

I'm in Denver, Colorado.

[Mark Halpern]

Yes, sir. Just to just to be clear, I love the sweater. Thank you.

[Jaime Moore]

Mark. Yeah, Just curious, what prevents Kristen or Jaime from running for office? Is it attractive possibility for them or.

[Mark Halpern]

No, you mean just, you mean the abstractor. Because they're both so well spoken and clearly care about America.

[Jaime Moore]

Like why do you what both could.

[Kristen Davison]

Yeah, they're extremely well spoken.

[Jaime Moore]

I feel like they understand obviously their political side, but they also have a good understanding of the other.

[Kristen Davison]

Seems like they would understand how things work.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. All right, Mike, it's a great.

[Jaime Moore]

There's other people that you have on that I would also be curious about.

[Mark Halpern]

But yes, it's a great question, Mike. Let me ask you both a question before you answer. Mike, Kristen, have you ever thought about running for office?

Okay. Has anybody but someone you're related to recommended it except Mike? They have, they have. Jaime, same question. Have you ever thought about it?

[Jaime Moore]

I've thought about it.

[Mark Halpern]

Okay. And it's anybody but your family ever recommended it?

[Jaime Moore]

Yes, and I've said no.

[Mark Halpern]

Okay. All right. Well, so now Jaime, you first address what Mike asked. You know, why not like it seems like it seems like you're a lot better than most members of Congress, Mike. And I agree.

[Jaime Moore]

Well, I mean, I don't know, you guys, I thought about the, I talked about this earlier. It's, it's tough. You know, you put yourself out there and you think you're being the most earnest, you know, person possible and trying to present an agenda that brings people together and, you know, and sort of makes people's lives a little bit better. But there's so much bull crap in the middle of that that it's almost some. You know, I have a lot of friends that are running right now, but in some cases, it's just, it's just not worth it. You can do some good work. Kristen and I do really good work in, in helping candidates, you know, get in a place to win and all of that. So, I don't know, maybe one day. But right now I think it's, it's too difficult for, for a family to do.

[Mark Halpern]

Congresswoman Davison, Governor Davis, I vote for. Yeah.

[Kristen Davison]

Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. No, I, I mean, I got into this business to help people who can actually make change. And I, I, I feel like, I mean, first, I'm probably way too honest and way too blunt to run for office.

[Mark Halpern]

You're like, you're like a modern day Bulworth.

[Kristen Davison]

I don't, Yeah, I don't know. That's good. I don't know. This business is so crazy that there's so many people who latch onto campaigns and just sink candidates because they're trying to like, make $5 on it, that I just, I feel like my calling in life is to go out there and help people run their races and do well. And I don't think, I think if I were to run for office, I would try to manage my own campaign and it would be a disaster.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, same.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. Mike, it's a great question. And there are people like Josh gottheimer were meant was mentioned earlier. Josh was a speechwriter in the Clinton White House. He was, he was a staff person and he chose to run. So people do do it. But that's all right. You can come on over. But it's a great question. And I personally, I have such great regard for Kristen and Jaime. I couldn't agree with you more that it'd be fabulous if they are more people like them were. Were in elective office. Mike, thank you so much. Grateful to you. All right, let me just conscious of the clock. I got to sneak in one more message here. The folks@chef IQ.com would like to help you cook your Christmas holiday meals across the board. And they'll do that through their wireless cooking thermometer that takes all the guesswork out of cooking holiday meals or regular meals. You take the wireless thermometer, shove it into a piece of protein, take out your app, set it, and it's all done. It'll tell you how long to cook it for, when to take it, when to turn it, when to take it out, how long to leave it after it's out of the oven and it all works. I won't say it's voodoo. I won't say it's saucery, but it works very well. And right now, it's available to you at a massive discount. 30% off everything on the site, including that Core Chef IQ Sense wireless thermometer you can give it to as a gift, of course, or buy it for yourself. Promo code 2WMM. 2WMM. Save 30% off. Get all your shopping done right now. Chef iq.com, promo code 2WMM. Again, chefiq.com. promo code 2WMM. Go buy a bunch right now. All right, let's go right here.

Mr. Pop. Welcome back. Unmute. Tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind. For Kristen and for Jaime.

No, you're unmuted, but we can't hear you. Try one more time. Your headphones aren't working. Try one more time. Can you. Can you hear me now? Yes, sir.

[Jaime Moore]

There we go.

[Mark Halpern]

Welcome in. Thank you for being here.

So I was. I had it all in my head. We'll see if I can say, all right, take your time. Relax. No pressure. You're amongst friends and community members. So Trump and I, we. We're similar. We both run a business. I mean, he's run a business. I run a business. Doggy daycare is what I do. And this year for Thanksgiving, it looked. It looked better. Looked better. I believe, as. As a. As a business owner, that he's put stuff that is just going to get better. It's just not enough time yet. And so as a business owner, I'm like, well, you know what? By next summer, if it's still this bad, then. Then I'll. Then I'll worry. Yep, this Thanksgiving was better than last Thanksgiving.

This Christmas, it looks like it's going to be better, too. For my business.

People are also going places. Instead of just going to Phoenix, they're actually going traveling. Actually, what I'm noticing.

Super, super interesting. And I hate to have to cut you off, but if You've got a question? I just conscious. Oh, oh, oh. I just want, I just wanted to share with the guy who. Up front, front. The first guy who made a comment that I, I really, as a business owner, I really feel like it's gonna get better. Yeah, but prices at the supermarket, I'm noticing, I mean, they're, they're, they're higher. They just. And you live in Arizona, right? Yes, I do. In Verde Valley. Right. Right outside of Sedona. Beautiful place. Thank you for sharing that. Grateful to you. And I will get better at my. Am I speaking? I just think. Camera goes on. No, you did great. Grateful to you and grateful to you for coming on and for sharing that. And, you know, I, I'll ask, I'll ask Kristen and then Jaime. I hear from business people and all sorts of businesses. It's mixed. Some people more optimistic, some pessimistic, but definitely mixed. Kristen, what's your experience?

[Kristen Davison]

Well, I, I hope some of the White House is watching. They could call him up and have them do that testimonial. Right. I mean, to say that my business is doing better. Yeah, that's what people need to hear. I mean, last night there was a woman at the rally, I think her name was Donna. And she said things are kind of going great, but right now all my money is going to my bills. So it was kind of a, A mixed thing.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah.

[Kristen Davison]

No, I think getting that out there, to have people like we just heard say things are looking better, they are going to get better, that would be such an effective thing to push out, to get out, particularly these, these congressional districts that are going to be tough next year.

[Mark Halpern]

Yeah. Hi, Mom.

[Jaime Moore]

Yeah, look, and I saw Mr. Pop's dog earlier when I was, I was looking at the screen, so love that big dog fan look. I agree. I mean, I think Kristen made a point earlier that is different for every neighbor. And I think it's different for every business, too. I think there's some sectors that are doing better than others. I think, as Mr. Pop said, people are traveling and so a doggy daycare business will do better. And I think there are some trends that are inconsistent on which, which businesses are doing better. But I do think what I've heard, and I was just on the Hill maybe a couple weeks ago with 10,000 small businesses. Goldman Sachs, they were all doing. During the shutdown, they were doing a big lobbying effort. And what we heard from most of these businesses is healthcare is still a big, a big deal for these small businesses. And they ended to Kristen's point. They're spending so much of their capital on bills and covering their, their responsibilities that they are nervous that any little thing that shifts their health care costs will tank their business. And so that's what I'm nervous about. Things are, I hope, and we want things to get better, we really do, but we want to make sure that our business can thrive and there's going to be some prosperity that they can pass on to their employees and to their communities.

[Mark Halpern]

Well said. One business is doing very well is Two Way, including our sponsorships from our friends at Fairway and Green. See this beautiful patch on my arm that says the morning meeting. Paul, tell everybody about what I'm wearing. Mark's wardrobe is brought to you not by botany 500, but by fairway and Green. This sartorial excellence can be found [e-mail] fairway and be sure to use the code twoway20 for 20% off. That code again, two way 20, 20% off. Thank you to our friends at Fairway Green and thank you to our announcer, Paul Wilkie. Later today on Two Way Noon, Megan McCain's guest is the George Santos. George Santos and Megan will be talking about everything. And then six o'. Clock. I'll be here for two Way tonight. And then right after two Way tonight, our friend Bridget Fedesy is on tackling a big question. Is America over medicated? Here's Bridget.

[Kristen Davison]

America is medicated. Many me would say over medicated. Antidepressants are all the rage now, so much so that influencers are promoting them on TikTok. Are you on meds? Do you wish you weren't? To be clear, I'm not advocating that anybody suddenly stops taking their meds. But this week our conversation is with Laura Delano, author of Of Unshrunk A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance, which chronicles her haphazard diagnosis with bipolar disorder at the age of 14 and the 13 year saga of unending treatments, various diagnoses and a cornucopia of medications that she went through and how she got to the other side to living med free. Join me, Bridget Fattesty on Real America. Wednesday, December 11th at 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central. We will be live discussing this. You can register to join the conversation at 2way TV BridgetZoom, or you can simply watch the episode at Real America Fantasy on YouTube. I'll see you then.

[Mark Halpern]

No greater hosts. No greater hosts. Maybe I should call them hostesses in America than my friends Megan and Bridget. So please watch them at noon and 7. I'll see you at 6 breaking news as we go off the air. The federal judge granted the Justice Department request to unseal the redacted transcripts, grand jury transcripts from the Maxwell prosecution. So look for that tomorrow. We bid farewell for tenant for now to Kristen and Hyman. Thanks to you both for joining tomorrow in their chairs. Our guest host, co host tomorrow will be radio host Larry o' Connor and Democratic strategist Kevin Walling. They will be here tomorrow and I'll be here, too. See you tomorrow morning. I'll see you at 6 tonight. Thanks again. Kristen and Jaime, you thank. Have a great day, everybody.

[Jaime Moore]

Thank you. See you.