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That's SunriseChallenge CA this Sunday, the Biden Trump rematch. As President Biden prepares to announce his re election bid this week, our new NBC News poll finds voters don't want him to run again, including half of Democrats. We made a lot of progress. We just gotta keep it going.
And our poll also shows voters don't want to see former President Trump run again. There's no crime. I got indicted for no crime. And yet he has huge support within the GOP even after his arrest.
And he's the clear front runner. Is America ready for a Biden Trump sequel? I'll talk to New Hampshire's Republican governor Chris Meninu, who's considering his own presidential run in 2024. Plus trigger for this man to sit on his porch and fire at a car with no threat, it just angers me so badly.
The wrong driveway, the wrong doorbell and the wrong car. Simple mistakes that all ended in Americans being shot. Mr. Yara was fighting for his life.
In a nation full of guns and growing distrust, what will it take to make knocking on a stranger's door feel safe again? An epic scandal after reports revealing Justice Clearance Thomas failed to disclose real estate transactions from a wealthy Republican donor. Senate Democrats call on the chief justice to testify. They have to do something.
Why does the highest court of the land have the lowest ethical standards? I'll talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chairman Dick Durdle. Joining me for insight and analysis are Political playbook, co author Rachel Bates, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, Amy Walter, editor in chief of the Cook Political Report, and Mark Schorer, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Welcome to Sunday.
It's Meet the Press from NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Chuck Todd. It's Sunday morning. Americans are seething at their political leaders and at each other.
That's according to a brand new NBC News poll we're releasing right now. They're dissatisfied with what seems to be inevitable, a 2024 rematch between Jo Biden and Donald Trump as Biden prepares to formally announce his campaign for a second term earlier this week. Just 1 in 4Americans believe he should run for reelection. 70% say he shouldn't run.
By the way, only 35% believe Donald Trump should run again. 60% say no. Only 5% of Americans actually want both of these gentlemen to run. And let me show you even more.
This poll, 53% of 2020 Biden votes say he shouldn't run. 64% of Democrats who voted for Sanders are warned in the 2020 primary think he should run. And 76% of voters under 35 think he shouldn't run. And what's the top concern for that?
We asked voters, we didn't prompt them. We said, why don't you think you should run? Well, these were the responses. It almost is all about his age and his ability to do the job.
Again, these are among Democratic primary voters. Overall, the president's job rating is not in a good place when you're seeking reelection, sitting at just 41%, driven by the 58% Americans who disapprove of how he is handling the economy right now. Just 30% of independents approve of the job Biden is doing overall. B But his Biden is what I'm saying he is not to be judged by the Almighty, but judging by the alternative.
And guess what? The alternative is even more unpopular among the American public. Let me show you here. Here's the feelings about Donald Trump.
Just one in three Americans have positive feelings about him. A majority have negative feelings, sitting at 53% among voters overall, the majority believe that the charges in New York are serious enough because he should be held to the same standards. Anyone else? 43% believe he's being unfairly targeted.
And that's approximately the number that seems to stick behind Donald Trump on almost anything. And among Republican voters, it appears that the New York indictment only galvanized his support. We asked them whether this, these charges were politically motivated attack and it means they got to stand behind Donald Trump or do these charges indicate that he's got a lot of distractions in his way and it's important to nominate somebody else who can focus on being Joe Biden. Well, as you can see here, it's no contest.
Nearly 70% believe they got a rally around Donald Trump right now because of these indictments. Only one in four Republican voters believe it is time to move on. And that translates into the Republican primary match up here. Donald Trump with 46%.
Now, look, Robert says that's a healthy number for somebody that's never run for president before. It's about the same spot that Barack Obama started in against Hillary Clinton back in 2007. And when you combine first and second choice here, you see that Trump and Desensions could very well end up in a neck and neck race here. But that's the point.
Donald Trump seems to be as strong, if not stronger with the groups that matter the most when it comes to winning a Republican primary. Now there's one more major takeaway from this poll as the Supreme Court keeps the abortion pill personnel available for now. Putting a stay on the Texas ruling which revoked FDA approval for the drug abortion is energizing voters. Nearly 60% as you can see here of voters want abortion access to remain legal.
And among ready for this? Among the 43% of totals of abortion is the single issue that tries to the polls they believe it should be legal by a 65, 34% margin. This is another sign that the energy is on the Democratic side of this issue. After Dobbs when Roe v.
Wade was law, the lamb single issue abortion voters almost universally leaned Republican 2024 Republican polls met in the first Iowa call last night quoting the caucus's most important demographic religious voters. Donald Trump didn't appear at the event. He sent a video claiming credit for the Supreme Court justice to see appointment Former vice president took Donald Trump on On the issue of abortion, I face down vile attacks to confirm our three great Supreme Court justices. Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett.
I do think it's more likely that this issue is resolved at the state level. But I don't agree with the former president who says this is a state's only issue. And joining me now is Republican governor of New Hampshire is Chris Sunu, who himself is considering a run for president. Governor Sunanu, welcome back to the press.
Thanks, Kevin. Look, the last time you were on an Maya program, you have made one declaration almost universal about 2024. Let me play a montage. Look, Donald Trump is not gonna be the nominee.
Right? We're just moving on as a party, as a country. He's not gonna be the nominee. That's just not going to happen.
Here's the good news. I'm gonna give you the good news. Ready? I love you.
I'm a big fan. Thanks. But you're dead. Run.
He's got to be the nominee. All those quotes were from February and March, none of them from April. You've seen the numbers. You've seen this shift.
You've seen the energy. We've watched Governor DeSantis, what's saying now? Yeah, there's definitely a shift, but I still don't think he's necessarily gonna be the nominee. Look, I think your poll is spot on in all these areas, by the way.
I think that's actually a great poll. I hope folks listen to it. I'll say this, Republicans are ral President Trump over these indictments. Right?
And there's a lot of support there. Now, does it actually translate into a vote? We will see. I mean, most folks don't decide who they're voting for until about three weeks before the election.
So there's a lot of politics to play out. There's not even a single debate has been had. Other candidates are gonna get raised. So I just think it's so far away.
And at the end of the day, we want a winner, right? Republicans want someone who can win. In November of 24, Donald Trump is a loser. He has not just lost once.
He lost us in our House seat in 2018. He lost everything in 20. We should have 54 U.S. senators right now.
We don't because of his message. So Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four time loser in 2024. We need candidate that can win. Is it the problem though that a majority of Republicans don't believe what you just said, that he lost in 2020 because the loser message should work?
Unless you don't believe he lost. Well, it's not just 2020, right? We got crushed in 2022. We should have 54 U.S.
senate seats. We don't because he is part of that message. We lost in 2018. So it's not just about whether he or I lost in 2020, which he did, of course, but it's really about we can complain about things or we can make sure that, you know, you can't govern if you don't win.
And again, so he drags that ticket down. I think that that reality is going to really come to bear in through the primary process. So I understand folks are supporting him. They think that a lot of this stuff for the DA is political, which I believe it is too, by the way.
It's creating a lot of sympathy. Playing the victim card, right? Believe it or not, former President Trump is now playing the victim card and he's making some headway with it. But the end of the day, it has to turn into votes.
Look, I talked all the time about, you know, we want a fighter, right? Republican Party that's going to fight for them, but we also want a fighter that can win. He said he's going to go to Washington and join the swamp. He didn't do it.
Said he's going to build a wall and secure things. He didn't do it. He said he's taking his health care reform and be F not at 8 trillion so to the debt. He didn't do any of those things.
And so we want fighters that can actually win and take accountability. Look, I will put, I will bring up the good news for you in your potential candidacy. The Republican voters who don't want Trump to run look like voters that would be inclined to support you. They look like New Hampshire Republicans, if you will.
They're more educated, wealthier, they're more likely to identify as moderates. But here's the problem. They only represent 26% of all Republicans. Do you, how do you appeal to that Trump supporter who's a bit motivated by greedups?
Sure. Well, look, I'm a very principled free market conservative. Right. When you look at whether the second Amendment with the best in the country and personal freedoms, we need to remind ourselves as Republicans what we're really good at.
Limited government, local control, low taxes, individual responsibility. That's something that everybody can rally around in frankly, New Hampshire, as we say, we're wicked good at. Wicked good at. So when you look at the candidates that are on the ground and results driven, I'll put my record of success by again with any other candidate that would potentially step on the stage.
And so results driven winners is really what is going to drive the voter. We're still a long way away again from what the issues of the vote are going to be. But if you pull this off, if you became the nominee, you would defy a conventional wisdom that has been true now for, frankly for 50 years. And that is, if you're an abortion rights supporter, you don't have much of a chance to win a Republican nomination.
I want to show you something here. Among Republican voters, 68% believe abortion should be illegal most of the time. Only 28% believe there should be illegal access to it. How do you convince those that would that believe abortion?
There shouldn't be much access to abortion to support your candidacy. Yeah. So that's where I'll really challenge it. Look, the next generation of Republican, right, if you look at the polls from about 45 and under, when you look at their priorities, you know, banning abortion is not one of their priorities.
It's not, you know, they care about all these other kind of things in a conservative, fiscally conservative way. They want kind of that new generation Republican to step up. It's not kind of the old school way. And so kind of talking about those issues that are important to them, not just us and how we're traditional.
If we stay in our traditional language, we're going to lose. There's no doubt about it. So whether it's me or another candidate that really connects with folks, that kind of inspires that next generation Republican to get into that voting booth, that's what's going to be successful. Do you think at this point, considering the chaos of the states and the confusion on abortion access at the federal government needs to come up with a minimum access number, a floor for abortion access?
Look, every time Republicans are talking about abortion, we're losing. We are. Because it is a state's issue. That's effectively what Jobs has allowed to happen.
Should it be when it is a statistic, the voters have direct accountability. I'm sorry, doesn't have to be. Congress can step in here and in your opinion, what do you think it should be standardized at the federal level? No, it should be at the state issue.
And every time Republican talks about banning this or this many weeks here and there, we are losing. We are every Republican potential. Take a piece of paper and write this down. It's a state issue.
Let the voters in the states figure it out. We shouldn't be talking about it on a national level. We're moving on. That's it.
That's the new way. I don't think 50 years of President should have been broken with Roe v. Wade. I don't.
I mean this miffle. Chris, don't stuff 20 years of precedent. One judge that no one even knows the name of is going to try to ban all that. That sends a lot of insecurity because the system, in terms of our messaging.
As a Republican, let's get back to what we do best. Limited government, local control. Look at that. Literally your die thing we have here in New Hampshire that is a, a record to actually cross the finish line and have winners in November.
Let me ask you about a larger societal problem. These stories of gun, of people pulling guns on everyday mistakes. Knocking on, pulling into a driveway, knocking on somebody's door. You have said you believe this gun violence issue is a mental health problem.
How do we get to a point where we don't think we have to pull a gun in order to answer the door or have a gun in order to knock on some neighbor's door? Yeah, look, those are absolute tragedies and unfortunately they're happening more often than we'd like. To see the mass shootings are real, they're happening at an increased rate. But if you, if the idea is, well, we should just pass more laws, if that was the answer, then why did Democrats, when they ran the House, they control the Senate, they control the presidency over the last few years, why did they do anything?
Because they know it's not about passing more laws. They know that places like Chicago that have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country still have some of the worst crime in the irresponsibility with the mass shootings and all this, I'm gonna believe that. You gotta get to the crux of the issue, right? I'm the governor of one of the safest states in the country.
We also have the most flexible pro second Amendment rules and laws in the country because we take those, those things very responsibly. We harden schools, we deal with mental health, especially in kids. We go after the core of the issue instead of saying, well, we should just pass more laws in it. If it were that easy, people would do it.
But it's not. If it is, even Democrats would do it. They didn't. So stop trying to take these tragedies, these human tragedies, and they can try to make political fire out of them if they're real.
Losing the premise that frankly, New Hampshire's not like most of America. And I say this, it's a little more rural, it's a little more smaller state, a smaller population. It's a different situation than ever been in suburban America. And so why you think, why do you think that that what works in New Hampshire is going to work in urban America?
And let me ask this. All we've done over the last 20 years is loosened gun laws in this country. And where has it gotten us? Well, I would say that in urban, in urban environments, they find that they're gun laws, right?
They're trying these red flag laws. Look at the red flag laws in Chicago, just as an example. Over the past two or three years, you've had nearly 2,000 deaths by firearms and murders. I think the red flag laws have been actually implemented less than a dozen times.
Right? So as they try these new things, as they try these more restrictive laws in those urban areas that you're talking about, it's not working, Right. So I guess I would just have to work. Well, doesn't that tell you that maybe a red flag law isn't the answer?
Well, that's right. That's right. More laws aren't the answer. More laws actually having.
I'm Sorry, Yeah. No, I'm just saying holding police, securing your streets, holding people accountable enough. This bail reform nonsense. Holding folks accountable so they don't feel like they can get away with everything.
There's a lot of that going. Going on across the country, a whole variety of ways. Specifically in those urban areas you're talking about, what is your timeline in deciding whether or not to run for president? Probably by lunch, something like that.
By 4th of July? Publicly, Yes. I think everybody will have to make a decision by 4th of July at their exploratory committee. I think there's a lot of new candidates that are stepping up saying, hey, wait, there's lanes here.
There's a lot of opportunity here. There's a lot of. Whether it's money to get your exploratory stuff done. A lot of folks want to get on that stage.
I think the thresholds for the debate are gonna be very low to start in terms of polling numbers and donors. So I think you'll have a very crowded stage early on, potentially the last month of issues that have impacted the Republican Party. Has that made you more inclined to run? Neither.
It really is. It's about family, it's about what's best. You know, I still have a safety. I got a 24, seven jobs governor.
So I gotta make sure we're maintaining that what we can bring to the table, not overcrowding the field. Where I can be most effective for my party, not just a person who knew. I want Republicans who win as a teen in November 24if I can be effective and as a candidate or not, well, that'll help make a decision. All right.
Governor Christine Republican from New Hampshire. Governor, while we await your decision and we expect you to come here and tell us first. Thank you, sir. You bet, Bud.
When we come back, an overwhelming majority of Americans, including half of Democrats do not want to see President Biden seek a second term. I asked the number two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Dirk for his reaction to those polling respects. Welcome back. It is not an easy time to be Senate Democrat.
Right now they are stuck defending an unpopular president. More than half a Democrat say by should not run again. According to poll they have precarious Senate Majority A Senator 9 Find signs Absence has left some judicial nominees in the boat. And now the wait reports that Justice C.L.
thomas may have violated the law never disclosed a real estate deal and expense paid luxury trips from billionaire Donna Harlan Crowe. Judiciary committee chairman McDurban has asked the Chief justice of the Supreme Court and head of the judiciary branch of government John Roberts to appear before his committee, citing a, quote, steady stream of revelations regarding justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges. And Democratic Senator Durham joins me now. Senator Durbin, welcome back to the press.
Good to be with you, Chuck. I want to start with this issue involving trying to create formal ethics standards for Supreme Court justices. You invited Chief Justice Roberts. He appears to have responded by saying, thank you.
Go ask the judicial reform folks for somebody. Have you. Do you believe he has turned your invitation down? Some of us are debating whether that response is unofficial decline of your invite.
Well, I don't view that as an official response. And we're still waiting for the Chief justice to answer my invitation. I think that's the first step that ought to be taken with the Supreme Court itself, with its leader, the Chief justice, make it clear that they're going to bring reform when it comes to ethics to the court and spell out what they're going to do. I asked The Chief Justice 10 years ago the very question we're asking today.
What is the Court going to do to bring its standards of ethics up to the level even of other courts in this country? I'm going to talk about the specifics of Justice Thomas here and ask you this question. The sale of Thomas's mother's house and the adjacent locks without disclosure on an annual financial filing. Would it be a violation of law if he were just on the circuit?
Because in Section 5 of the US Code, it reads, it shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly and willfully falsify any information that such person's required under section 102, fail to file a report, any information that such persons require to report. Point is, if this were a Judge Thomas, this is perhaps a crime. Now, it's not clear this would apply to Justice Thomas. Is that your understanding?
That's exactly the point, Chuck. If this were another judge, if this were a member of Congress and it happened that some Texas billionaire came in and said, I'm gonna buy your mom's house and the house is nearby and own this so she doesn't have to pay rent or mortgage payment, you'd say yourself, well, that's obvious. That's the sort of thing that needs to be disclosed. That's a clear indication of a conflict of interest.
Is there a question that should be raised? So, yes, there's no question in my mind that the Supreme Court has exempted itself from standards that applied to the executive and legislative branch and even to other judges. So what could. I mean, look, we have a separation of powers issue.
We could talk about that. Right. The Supreme Court have to decide whether a law Congress passed apply. The justices pass that test of separation of powers.
That's a tough test to pass. What would legislation look like that would enforce an ethical code of conduct on justices? Well, the code of conduct would look an awful lot like the code that applies to the rest of federal government and other judges and basically would have disclosures, timely disclosures of transactions like this purchase of the Justice's mother's home. It would also give standards for recusal so that if there's going to be conflict before the court and recusal, it'd be explained publicly and investigations of questions that are raised.
It is the same standard that's being used across the board. Code of conduct, ethics laws applied to the court. Why the Supreme Court, these nine justices believe they are exempt from the basic standards of disclosure I cannot explain. And I think Chief justice should appear before our committee and explain something or explain the changes that he's going to make.
Why not invite Justice Thomas? I think I know what would happen to that invitation. It would be ignored. It is far better from my point of view to have the chief justice here listen, this is John Roberts Court.
We are dealing with a situation where history will remembered as such. I was there when he went through his confirmation hearing. He's an articulate, well school man when it comes to presenting his point of view. I'm sure he'll do well before the committee.
But history is going to judge the Roberts Court by his decision as to reform. And I think this is an invitation on May 2 for him to present it to the American people. We move to some politics here. A super majority on our poll.
Senator Durbin, 70%. You can't get 70% of Americans agree on much but 70% of Americans don't think President Biden should seek a second term. Does that give you cause for concern? Especially when you look at the numbers inside the Democratic coalition, particularly younger voters are very skeptical of whether he should run again.
It's about 19 months before there's an election. Most people make their decision with the candidate 19 days before the election. So we're far in advance of any decision making. Here's what we do know.
This president has shown extraordinary leadership on the foreign policy side. He has mobilized NATO and expanded NATO to respond to a threat by Vladimir Putin and Ukraine and beyond. He's moving forward when it comes to relationship with China, which is much better for the American economy. I think in the short term and I think establishes long term standards.
Then when you look at the domestic front, Governor Snooder doesn't want to talk about it. But let me tell you, there's a realignment of American voters over this issue of choice and women's reproductive rights. The Republican Party is on the wrong side of history by a long shot. And we're seeing this realignment in elections.
But the recent mayoral election in the city of Chicago several weeks ago, one of the major questions what's your position of choice? That would not have been a question raised in most mayoral contests before it. We also have the kind of leadership when it comes to climate change, which the American people are wanting, and we have a position that actually makes sense when it comes to gun safety. I listen to Governor Sununu and it's mindless to think that we have a kind of death rate going on.
It's the leading cause of death, gun violence, the leading cause of death of young people under the age of 21 in America. For goodness sakes, doesn't it tell the story? He says we want to have limited government. Well, I can just tell you people want to be safe from assault weapons and the kind of profligate gun ownership that is not responsible.
I'm going to get you a response to this morning's New York Times, though, on this issue of President Biden. They believe he hasn't done enough to reassure Americans that he's up to the job. They note this his standard line is the only thing I can say is watch me about the ability to be president, serve a second term in his 80s. But Mr.
Biden, the Times writes, has given voters very few chances to do just that, to, quote, watch him. And his refusal to engage the public regularly raises questions about his age and health. Again, this comes from New York Times, not some right wing blog about this. Should President Biden be doing more to show American cities up to the job?
I think his schedule reflects an active person, mentally and physically, who is engaging with American people on a regular basis. I don't know what more they're asking for, but I've been in meetings with him time after time. His performance tells me he's up to the job and does it well. Let's concede the obvious, what his age is, but let's look at the obvious.
He's an active president who is meeting the challenges of America. Every day Coalition, more than 60 California progressive groups are calling on Senator Dianne Feinstein to resign. Now, I know you have not made that call. At what point does her absence make you rethink Whether you should publicly also add your voice to the calls of asking her to resign her sentencing.
Dianne Feinstein is my friend. She's my colleague. We sit next to one another on the Judiciary Committee. She's done extraordinary things in her public career.
Let's face it. She's gone through several weeks of real travail over this shingles issue that she's obviously dealing with. She wants to come back. She said to check Schumer on the phone last week.
I want to get on that plane next Monday and be there. I want her to come back too. But her future is in her own hands and her family's consultation. I wish her the best and I hope she can return very soon.
What's the last time have you personally spoken with her by phone or any other means since she got out of the hospital? No, it's been several weeks. Schumer has. Yes.
And when you guys organized with a 50, 50 Senate, you had a mechanism that allowed for any sort of any tie committee vote to be where you could move that nomination to the floor for a full vote. You didn't include that when you guys ended up with a one seat majority. Was that a mistake? No, I think we reflected the reality of 50, 50 Senate said that if you have a tie vote, you can discharge it to the floor.
When you have a 51, 49 Senate, we have a nominal majority and the rules reflect that reality. We have to have majority vote coming out of the committee. If we don't have a majority vote, if it's a tie vote in the committee, then the nomination does not move forward. So that's the reality of the composition of the Senate today.
Okay. And any regrets on keeping Senator Fine sign on the district committee. At the beginning this was not news to folks that she had some challenges. Listen, she served on this committee for decades and served with distinction.
And she stepped aside from the chairmanship and gave me an opportunity to serve as chairman and want to remain on the committee for other issues that were important to her. It made sense and I think was the right decision at the time. President Biden said he's not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling at all. Is there a point where that more Democrats are starting to question whether a no talk, a no negotiation stance is whether that's really a good idea?
Do you think that's a good idea? Listen, we don't need to default in this country. If we default on our national debt, it's going to cost our economy dearly. We're going to find businesses unable to proceed.
And people losing their jobs. Right, left, that is a terrible outcome. So let's do the responsible thing and not default, move forward on the debt ceiling. Now we can have a full sum debate on the budget, and we will, and I understand it, on the spending levels, but not at the expense of jeopardizing jobs and economic growth in America.
Don't default, avoid default on our national debt. You didn't say don't talk. I did grab that. Of course you should talk.
Okay. No, no. The conversation should be underway between the budget resolution and on the appropriations process and entitlement reform. That's part of the agenda.
That should all be separate from the question of the debt ceiling. Don't default, avoid default. Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat from Illinois. Senator, thanks for coming out, sharing your perspective.
And before we go to break, I MEET the PRESS minute this week. Back in 1991, then Republican Senator John Danford was Clarence Thomas's Sherpa, as we call it around here, the chief supporter in the Senate for Clarence Thomas's nomination. And he shepherded Clarence Thomas through that contentious confirmation process. And he appeared on this program to discuss the new justice's judicial philosophy.
Don't you have some concerns that you may be back here in the future seeking legislation to undo what Clarence Thomas has come to court? No concern whatsoever. No, I really don't because I think that Clarence Thomas's view of judicial restraint is that judges should not be imposing their own philosophical views on the country from the bench. And therefore, I think that Clarence Thomas is going to be a judge who does not try to use the Supreme Court as a way of fostering his own political philosophy.
Clarence Thomas was one of two justices to publicly disclose they opposed what the Supreme Court did on Friday night. Up next, our new Emmy sequel shows voters don't want another Trump Biden rematch. The panel is here ready to discuss the impact of this poll next. Welcome back, panelists here, Amy Walter, editor chief of the Cookbook Report, Union Robinson columns of the Washington Post, Mark Shore, former chief staff vice president Mike Benson, Rachel Bain, co author of Politico Playbook.
Amy, let me start with the fact that we've seen these numbers. 70% don't want Biden running again, 60% Donald Trump. My favorite number is when you put it all together. There is 5% of Americans that actually do want to see the sequel.
It is America doesn't want this. And both parties are about to hand us a rematch that's going to lead to unintended consequences. What vacuums are there that this creates it creates a vacuum, certainly for a third party candidate. I mean, there's the great fear among many Democrats is the encouragement for other candidates to try to get down the ball.
We know there's already the no labels effort, which Democrats have come out against vociferously. If you think about how close 2016, 2020 were, it doesn't take much for a third party candidate to pull to push this to one candidate or the other win in Arizona or Georgia. So that's the vacuum for other candidates to come in and say to America, really, you know, you don't want this. Come vote for me.
Yeah. You know, Rachel, we've been talking about negative partisanships as a definer or politics. Now we're about to basically get negative partisanship nominees if we're not careful. Right.
We're essentially, we're nominating people because, you know, that's just all there is. Yeah, I mean. Yeah. I mean, obviously, I mean, Trump's numbers right now, he seems to be solidifying things on the base right now.
To see him, since he's, you know, the top person to potentially take him out, his numbers are slipping. And this week we're gonna see Biden announce that he's running again. And I mean, just to go back to the no labels point, I mean, if you look at the no labels map and who they'll be targeting in this next election, a lot of these voters are Biden voters. And so, you know, with the marches being that close as they are, this is something why, this is why Democrats are thinking about this right now, because let's go to the Democrat side.
Like, this is obviously driven by physical concerns with Joe Biden. What's he gonna do to fix this? Well, number one, announce and number two, keep moving forward. I mean, there were a lot of people didn't want to Joe Biden to run the last time.
Right. And really until Jim Clyburn endorsed him in South Carolina and he won that he was not doing well. He was fourth or fifth. The only part of the Democratic coalition where majority Democrats wanted to run again.
Exactly. And so I think the party probably, and I think quite likely both parties kind of go home to their nominees in the end. Right. And so the question is whether the anti Trump vote is more substantial than the anti Biden vote, which I think it probably is.
Mark. I spent years being told by many Republicans, don't try and electability argument for Republican voters. It never works. I'm not sure if it does, Jock.
I think there are principal arguments that also work. But you know, I think it's important data point for this moment. But polls are a good reflection today, not necessarily the future. And I don't think there's any doubt that there's a lot of Republicans who rally around President Trump because of the perceived political prosecution in New York.
But you know, if we go by polls today in 2008, Rudy Giant winner nominated in 2012, Michelle Bachman, 2016 Scott Walker and we've been burning Sanders on the Democrat side. So there's a lot of headwinds to still face president. Well, I want to remind people, Barack Obama never trailed Hillary Clinton in every single poll in 27 calendar year. Every single one.
He did not overtake her in the contest in the national polls until after he won aisle. And so Ron DeSantis is anyways is starting as strong as any non experienced presidential candidate. So I can't help but wonder we catching Ron DeSantis on the way up or on the way down? Well, I think he caught the wave after the midterms because it was a self own by Donald Trump.
That's when Trump is the weakest one. It's not that the forces that dislike him are against him like we're seeing with the rally around the indictment. It's when he himself got himself into a precarious position, either with his tweets or in this case endorsing candidates in the 2022 election who were unelectable. It was a reminder that even though Biden may look really vulnerable and even though the economy was really bad, Republicans can still lose if they put up candidates like Donald Trump.
So he rode that wave. Now that we're not talking about the midterms anymore, we're talking about the enemies of Donald Trump going after him. We're also talking about DeSantis himself though. It's not like Republicans suddenly don't like Ron DeSantis.
Approvals are as high as they were five months ago. But there are more bad signs. I mean him coming to Washington D.C. it's supposed to be a big moment for him to come to D.C.
connect with his old colleagues, get a whole bunch of endorsements. And yet Donald Trump won more endorsements this week from Mar a Lago to report Republicans in the scene. Let me throw up these quotes. These are stunning, especially when you look at the Republicans that are commenting about their lack of basically basic relationship with Ron DeSantis.
Both Florida senators claim they don't talk to the governor. Rick Scott DeSantis doesn't talk to me. So I don't know about DeSantis Marco Rubio. I haven't spoken to him in a number of months besides South Florida being underwater.
Great stupid Floyd Republican this day I've heard from Governor DeSantis he fell off the roof and Donald Trump called him first and then this is extraordinary Rachel a former member of Congress from Michigan, David Trott this I called up to go on the record to use I'm not going to repeat the word but basically said Desantis not a likable guy and used a more colorful word. What the pattern is developing here. Yeah, I mean look self inflicted wound here. Be nice say hi to people.
Sorry. I do think Chuck, I do think these endorsements are grossly overvalued. I mean in 2016 when Donald Trump was on his way to the nation were Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins who both ended up in jail. But here's the problem though if you can't connect with your own delegation.
I mean Stevie told me, Greg St told me that he had numerous times over the past five years in Congress reached out to DeSantis to try to meet him talk policy ignored every time actually you know told to show off that campaign events or and then told you can't take the stage with the census. This is a problem for him. He's an alienated lawmakers who understand the electability argument and why that is significant. How is he going to connect with GOP voters?
Mark, let me ask you just this way. You know how reticent people are to talk about people. The fact that there's a comfort now coming out of census what does that tell you about Stanislava? I think it tells you really you need to know.
I think it's where a lot of Republicans view that he's an easier target. I guess my concerns are dangerous place to be. We were talking about Clinton Obama. Clinton was easier target.
Now Obama you would think it should be Trump is easier target in this state. It's not that I think that's right but I think at the same time I mean I wouldn't be worried about the endorsement. I think for people with principals are very concerned about what's happening in these big government. Republican going after private sector industries and I think that's a big concern is really crazy.
The two of you should be a producer because you just segue into a terrific cheese. For my next segment when we come back for the rod Desensitis system penal fight with this the state's second largest private employer we're going to show you how important Disney is to the overall Florida economy and why this battle could back up. Welcome back to Download Time. The feud between Ron DeSantis and Disney escalated yet again this week when the Florida governor proposed developing the land near the amusement park into a state park.
Or even more sparkly, he suggested a state prison. Was the latest volley in a battle that began last year when Disney executives criticized the Santa's Parental Rights in education bill. It was dubbed the don't say gay bill by many opponents, but it's turned into somewhat of an all out personal feud between a city governor and a business that is very crucial to much of the state's economy. Let me just show you how important Disney is to the state of Florida.
This is Disney's annual visitors to the Disney World amusement park. Over 36 million people in 2021. And just so you know, that's actually kind of low right now. Pre pandemic, close to 60 million visitors.
Just go. It works out about one in five of all Americans. Of course there's some global visitors there. How about in tax revenue that Disney World generates?
Well, Disney itself claims they collected over $1 billion in taxes in the calendar year 2022. That amount of money is more than the entire budget for many of Florida's state agencies. That's how crucial this is to the state of Florida. Let me go to the number of employees.
It's the second largest private employer, over 75,000. This is Central Florida's economy, if you will. 75,000 people employed. Dis.
The only private company to employ more people in the state of Florida is the public's grocery store chain. And then there's just the overall economic impact that it does for the entire central border region. One estimate that biotechnic economics put it out. Over $75 billion in economic impact to the state of Florida thanks to Disney World.
This isn't just a mouse that roars politically. It could become a mouse that bites as well. When we come back this week we saw how simple mistakes could end in gun violence. In a nation full of firearms and fear.
All it takes to make knocking on a stranger's door feel safe. Welcome back. More than a quarter of Americans, 28% say a family member, friend, co worker, or they themselves have been a victim of gun violence. It outnumbers self identified political independence.
In a poll by 2 as more Americans become part of a shared experience that they never wanted. I'm not interested in how to debate about loss. It's more of like we have a societal and cultural problem. And it seems like it's now bigger than just a simple Fight over laws, Rachel.
I mean, this feeling that you can't go to some neighbor's house and you end up in the wrong door and get shot. Yeah, yeah. I mean, talk about parents being afraid to send their kids to school. I mean, it is a fear that everyone has right now.
And I take it back to laws because, you know, here in Washington, this was story number like 25. I mean, we're talking about everything else and not about this issue President Biden was asked about. He said, look, I can't do anything. Democrats, you know, pointed out they didn't pass laws on this when they had majorities in Congress.
And now Republicans control the House. Nobody's talking about up there, and yet everybody's talking about it everywhere else. It seems that there needs to be some leadership to sort of change the culture that says, mark, you don't need to pull a gun first. Like, that's where we are.
Like why people are in a. I gotta my gun first. That seems to be the uneasiness. Well, I think that there's a devaluation of life, honestly, in our society.
I think there needs to be a greater appreciation for the value of life. But I also think that there's a lot of me focus, and rightly there should be, on these mass shootings, but respecting everyone who lost a life, and we warned them the reality, there's been 12,800 deaths by guns this year, 169 of mass shootings. There's a crime problem in our inner cities that we're not addressing. We focus a lot on the mass shootings now.
Focus on the real problem, crime in our cities. There needs to be a bigger focus there. Well, it's not just crime in your cities. It's crime in suburbs.
It's crime in rural areas. I mean, the guns are being used everywhere. It's a gun problem everywhere. And so again, getting back to laws, I mean, Florida, after Parkland passed a red flag law, and that has been used thousands of times, like probably 10,000 times by now, to take guns out of the hands of people who are deemed through process to be a danger to themselves or others.
And who knows how many shootings that has stopped, but I'll bet it's some. It's not. The number is not zero. So how else do we attack this cultural issue other than through law?
And I don't even know if we have a shared North Star in this, which is the goal, you would think a minimum goal that everybody could agree on is we should kick guns out of those who mentally are capable of having it or who could be trigger happy for whatever reason. But we don't agree on how to judge that. How do you do either? How do you judge it?
I don't know if these Red flag laws are constitutional. We have yet to see it tested for what it's worth. So that's an issue. But it's also, we don't seem to agree that, okay, we gotta get rid of mentally challenged people from getting guns.
We don't know how to do it well and we don't. I do think also what does mentally challenge mean when so many of these shootings are literally, as you pointed out, spur of the moment, heat of the moment. If you have a gun nearby, suicides are also one on that list that you put forward. Of the number of suicides that are aided by guns, how many of those would have been prevented if it wasn't as easy to pick up?
Here's what I'm uncomfortable with is that I would have had to say yes. And I've had a family member and a work colleague touched by gun violence. I'm guessing everybody here knows somebody or somebody knows. I mean, that's the part of this that I feel like our politicians are addressing this shared reality.
Rachel, on mental health, on all of it. Yeah. I mean, you talk about trying to get some sort of united Joint Star, united North Star that people can go to. I mean, you would think that, you know, Republicans always want to talk about mental health, Democrats always want to talk about gun control.
I mean, there has to be some sort of overlapping area here. I mean, like, you know, red flag laws have been successful in parts of the country. They do something more at a national level here in terms of making sure that guns are not finding, falling into the hand of the wrong people. One thing that every gun crime, every gun issue incident has in common, it's a gun.
I mean, we have more guns than people in this country. That's the bottom line. And now how we address that is a difficult problem. We also live in a truth.
Yeah. And we live in a society where 10 I win, tails you lose. There's no such thing as compromise on any issues because somehow if there's compromise, I'm going to lose out. But I don't want to apological reality here, Mark.
We've yet to see somebody who is seen as a second amendment supporter loser because of that issue. Well, sure, because I think that as many as we talked about families that have been touched by gun violence, we also have family members of people we know who have also been protected because they had a gun, too. And so it's a complicated issue. I think you're right.
It is a bigger societal issue than saying let's grab everybody's gun. Right. Politically, I mean, you talk about, you know, there hasn't been a Republican voter who hasn't served houses because of this. And until you start to see Republican candidate, Republican lawmaker, until you see something like that, you're not going to see abortion.
It's definitely failing. Right. Swing voters, it's not clear yet that gun policy, that's all we have today. Thanks for watching.
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