geoff: For analysis on the
president's trip abroad and
presidential campaign politics,
we turn now to our politics
Monday team.
That is Amy Walter of "The cook
political report with Amy
Walter" and Tamara Keith of NPR.
Happy Monday, as they say.
President Biden is in Europe
attending to alliances, some of
which have been tested by
Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
What is on the agenda and what
is at stake?
>> President Biden is once again
trying to make the case that
America is back and a trusted
partner and that this alliance
that Putin's invasion of Ukraine
made a stronger is holding tight
and there is discussion of
Sweden being allowed to join
nato.
It appears there has been a
breakthrough in that.
President Biden had a call with
president erdogan of Turkey on
the flight over.
So what is at stake is the shape
and size of the alliance but
also domestically the perception
of the war in Ukraine and the
U.S. Role in it.
Geoff: There is a chorus on the
right, people say the U.S. Has
given Ukraine too much at this
point and even on the left there
are some Progressive voices
finding issue with Bidens
decision to give cluster
munitions to Ukraine.
Distill these politics.
>> I think a lot of it is the
dividing line is if you identify
more as a Republican or Democrat
rather than intraparty fights.
There are some bubbling on the
presidential side, you have
Republicans like Donald Trump
and Ron Desantis being less
supportive of more aid to
Ukraine versus more old-school
Republicans like Nikki Haley or
Mike pence but fundamentally
what we saw at the very
beginning when the invasion
happens, support among Democrats
and Republicans from the U.S.
Doing more was equal.
It took about six months for
partisanship to take hold.
It's a long time these days.
>> This is what is remarkable.
If you think back to what could
be a unifier for Americans at a
time of deep polarization,
invasion of a sovereign country
by Vladimir Putin would probably
be a unifying events and it
truly was, until it became about
Biden and then it became much
less about Putin and more about
do you really support this
president.
Geoff: President Biden has been
trying to persuade Americans
that the economy is better than
they think and that he deserves
credit for turning it around.
But it is tough going when the
white house is faced with polls
that show a 55% disapproval.
How is this effort going?
>> I would not say it is
yielding results.
Views of the economy or
polarized just like everything
else which is to say Republicans
say the economy is terrible
because Joe Biden is president.
The same Republicans thought the
economy was incredible under
trump and the reality is aside
from the pandemic, the economy,
the Biden economy has basically
recovered to where the trump
economy was pretty pandemic but
there is a divide --
pre-pandemic but there is a
divide where there are Americans
who think the economy is great
and others who say it is
terrible.
That is the influence
polarization.
Geoff: I remember talking with a
democratic poster who said
people will be asked how the
economy is doing and they will
say I'm not crazy about their
job and not crazy about their
boss which means the economy is
doing poorly.
>> I spoke with a democratic
strategist who said something
similar.
He said I do not trust that data
to tell us how people really
feel about the economy.
Asking people about the economy
or about a lot of other things.
At the same time, there is no
doubt that inflation is still
taking a bite out of people's
wallets and that is what a lot
of the frustration is.
We are not quite back to a place
where the fed feels comfortable
enough to say we have inflation
under control and I think there
is a bit of a messenger problem.
The other poem number you will
see -- pull number -- poll
number you will see is what do
you think about Biden's mental
and physical fitness and age and
there is a lot of concern about
it across the board.
As a messenger being able to
sell, it also is people having
to see you as an incredible
person doing that and those two
things you cannot necessarily
separate, worries about his age
and worries about how he is
handling the economy and how he
would if reelected.
Geoff: We only have a couple of
minutes left.
Ron Desantis, his poll numbers
have slid.
He was asked about this on fox
News and this is what he said.
Desantis: [Laughter]
These are narratives.
The media does not want me to be
the nominee.
This is not something I ever
expected to snap fingers and all
of a sudden you win seven months
before anything happens.
You have to earn it.
You got to work.
And it requires a lot of toil
and tears and sweat.
And we're going to do that.
Geoff: He is saying give our
campaign time.
That sounds risible.
-- Reasonable.
>> Plenty of people who had been
written off ended up winning but
this is -- this difference is
that trump is essentially an a
convent.
-- Incumbent.
There is a party that is more
trump centric than it was then
and he is much more popular
among Republicans so the way to
beat trump, you think about it
as a narrow gap, how do you find
a way through that, Desantis is
trying to figure out the way,
going to the right of him on
cultural issues and other
candidates are going to the
right of him on security issues.
Chris Christie going right at
him on indictments.
None of it seems to penetrate
his popularity.
Geoff: So is this a two-person
race between trump and Desantis,
like Desantis says?
>> Desantis would like it to be.
[Laughter]
Desantis said don't look at
national polls, look at how I am
doing on the early states.
We don't know yet because there
is not great pulling.
A lot of candidates have that
same strategy.
Let's just win Iowa.
It's Iowa.
It's New Hampshire.
Geoff: Before we go, I have to
mention the congressional
women's softball game.
I hear that you are on the D.C.
Press corps team.
>> We are.
Pitcher and catcher.
Geoff: People can donate online.
It is a fundraiser.
>> It raises money for breast
cancer.
We have raised over $3 million
since we started this game over
15 years ago.
Geoff: Thank you so much.
I will be watching.
♪♪