• President Joe Biden on Thursday wrapped up this week’s NATO summit in Washington by giving his first solo press conference since November. Despite more defections from House Democrats earlier in the day, Biden gave no indication that he would drop out of the presidential race. Some also praised Biden for his command of foreign policy issues during the one-hour Q&A session with reporters, though he did stumble a few times. Political reporter Abigail Tracy breaks down the reaction to Biden’s performance. Also, Illinois Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, one of the first House lawmakers to call on Biden to leave the race, explains why he still thinks it’s time for the party to move forward with a new nominee.
• And in headlines: China denied NATO members’ claims that it’s a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Donald Trump welcomed Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Mar-a-Lago, and inflation is coming down.

Show Notes:

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TRANSCRIPT

Tre’vell Anderson: It’s Friday, July 12th. I’m Tre’vell Anderson. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And I’m Priyanka Aribindi and this is What a Day, the pod that’s never rented a DVD from Red Box. But we’re still sad that it announced yesterday that it’s shutting down. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yes, you can still rent DVDs from your local library, but how long until Republicans shut all of those down too? 

Priyanka Aribindi: I hear that’s buried deep in project 2025, page 900. Uh. The vibes are not not good for the libraries. [music break]

Tre’vell Anderson: On today’s show, inflation’s cooling to the point that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates this fall. Plus, there are several hot sports finals to catch this weekend. 

Priyanka Aribindi: But first, yesterday, President Biden gave his first solo press conference since November of last year. He gave no indication that he would consider dropping out. But let’s talk about his performance since it was very closely watched. He gave his remarks in D.C. after the NATO summit, where he spoke at length about policy and did give some very thorough answers. But there were a few moments where he stumbled. Take a listen to this brief excerpt where he mixed up the names of his own Vice President, Kamala Harris, and his opponent, Donald Trump. 

[clip of President Joe Biden] Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, did I think she was not qualified to be president. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Ugh. 

Priyanka Aribindi: I don’t think anyone watching that in that moment was having a good time. That was not great. I should add that there were very few mix ups during the event, but obviously all eyes were on Biden. There was very little room for flubs, if at all. This has been the topic of conversation since the debate, so there were a lot of eyes here, and it almost seemed that like every flub, every pause, every cough, it was a moment of oh no, what’s happening? Many viewed yesterday’s press conference as a make or break moment for him after his struggles during last month’s debate, more and more lawmakers have joined calls for Biden to bow out of the presidential race. So this moment was a huge deal. To get an idea of folks’ immediate reaction to Biden’s remarks. I spoke earlier with Abigail Tracy. She is a political reporter whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Forbes, and Inc magazine. I started by asking her what stood out to her about the press conference, the good and the bad. 

Abigail Tracy: Earlier this week, I was speaking to a Democratic strategist who’s close to the White House and speaks with a number of members and lawmakers on the Hill who told me that they never believed that there would be one interview or one press conference that could kind of undo the debate performance. The reality is, is Joe Biden is 81 years old, and I really think it’s almost impossible to put the genie back in the bottle at this point. And when we were headed into this, you even saw defections leading up to the press conference itself. People weren’t really even waiting for the president to see his performance. Like–

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Abigail Tracy: Then we’re getting the reports regarding the fact that the Biden campaign is polling Harris in a Harris Trump matchup and, you know, advisers contemplating and strategizing the best ways to convince the president to step aside in this moment. So I think a little bit we’re kind of on a seesaw that has already hit the ground. And it’s very difficult at this point to see how you kind of change the weight of that seesaw back in a position that benefits Joe Biden at this stage. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Coming out of this, where do you think we go from here? Do you have any predictions or any idea of how the next few days, or even just today, will shake out? You know, there are reports that we will see more and more people that is expected to kind of come forward and say that Joe Biden should drop out of the race that was reported before this press conference. What do you think we’ll see in the next few days?

Abigail Tracy: Ahead of the press conference on Thursday, we saw a number of Democratic offices come out to say that they’ve already drafted press releases in either direction, calling for the president to stay in the race or calling for the president to drop out. And I really think when you boil that down like that is the essence of this moment, that shouldn’t be something that people are drafting press releases for. And one of the really interesting things is I spent earlier this week on the Hill, and it was almost more interesting what the senators were saying by what they weren’t saying. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Abigail Tracy: If that makes any sense at all. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Abigail Tracy: We saw it with Nancy Pelosi, right? Nancy Pelosi, she’s saying we all want Joe Biden to make this decision. It’s up to Joe Biden to make this decision. But Joe Biden has routinely come out–

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Abigail Tracy: As has his campaign to say, I already made the decision. 

Priyanka Aribindi: That he’s made his decision. Yes, they would like him to keep–

Abigail Tracy: Exactly. 

Priyanka Aribindi: –deciding. 

Abigail Tracy: Exactly. And that is the crux of it, is the fact that you have a Nancy Pelosi, notoriously to the chagrin of Democrats, at times, measured in her words, when you look back at, you know, her announcing an impeachment inquiry, for instance, against Trump, like, here’s an individual who is parsing her words, choosing them carefully, and she is coming out to say, Joe Biden, you know, this is ultimately going to be his decision to make when ostensibly Biden has already made the decision. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Abigail Tracy: And you saw that from a lot of senators, and nobody is saying Joe Biden needs to run. Joe Biden does not have a full throated like backing from so many of these individuals. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah. 

Abigail Tracy: Even in the Senate, where you do find, like typically more measured and pragmatic voices. So I think next week is going to be a little messy, and we’re going to see kind of how it shakes out. 

Priyanka Aribindi: That was my conversation with political reporter Abigail Tracy. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Thanks for that. Priyanka. As of our recording time at 9:30 p.m. eastern Thursday night, more than a dozen sitting Democrats have publicly called on President Biden to leave the race. One of the first to do so was Illinois Representative Mike Quigley, who I had the chance to interview. He’s been in Congress for 15 years and represents parts of Chicago where next month’s debate cratic National Convention will be held, as well as some of the city’s northwest suburbs. I started by asking Quigley whether Thursday’s press conference changed anything for him. 

Mike Quigley: It doesn’t, but it reinforces one of my concerns in that he’s talking and that the only thing people are focused on is how is he performing? How is he doing? That’s been that way ever since the debate. People are how is the president functioning? Instead of talking about Donald Trump. It’s all about Biden, not about Trump. And that’s hard to change people’s minds when they’re just looking for it. I think he’s done fine in this press conference, but my impression is that people are saying, okay, he did fine now, what about tomorrow? And I think that uncertainty is what’s hurting him. You know, I think he’d have to have a long string of masterful performances before people would say, oh, it’s okay. This is a race that’s going to be decided, as they all are by a handful of votes in a few states. It’s hard to win them all back. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. You were among the first lawmakers to publicly ask President Biden to leave the race after the debate. Could you walk us through how you came to that decision? 

Mike Quigley: I was looking at the pre-debate polls, and they were not good. Afterwards, they’re only going in the opposite direction of where they need to be. In fact, he’s being outperformed by down ballot races, raises very legitimate concerns. The top of the ticket in all these races is dragging people down. As you know, the House and the Senate are controlled by a handful of votes, handful of seats. Those front line races are really, really close. So I thought the first thing I would do is raise my concerns, which I did about a week ago. Show the greatest I I’d like to think respect and thoughtfulness and appreciation for the president and his legacy that he brought us from the depths of January 6th and Covid and did so many other great things. Maybe he needs to consider what this race might mean, not just for the White House, but for the House and the Senate. And then I saw the reaction. I saw the continued polling and the interview, and it was time to be more direct. I guess you’d call it tough love. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. Did you have any concerns about Biden’s ability to run for another term before the debate? 

Mike Quigley: Absolutely. But I think the concerns that the public had are being reflected in how people view how things have changed for the president over a relatively short period of time. So if anything, those concerns were accelerated. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Now, based on media reports, it seems like most of the Democratic lawmakers agree with you that President Biden should not stay in the race. But they are so far not willing to say so publicly like yourself. Is that a fair characterization? And if so, why do you think that’s the case? 

Mike Quigley: There is grave concern about the president’s ability to win and how it will affect the House and the Senate. You know, I hear things like, hey, it’s not you know, we can’t clear this up in 2028. There’s a real concern about how it’ll affect the possibility of future free and fair elections. So this is the ballgame. First, I think they’re processing this, thinking about how to handle it the best way. Second, I do think there’s a lot of members that can’t bring themselves to do this just because of how much they like and respect the president and appreciate what he’s done in four years. The final concern I’ve heard is fear of the unknown. Unprecedented change and mid-course, so dramatic like this. Does it come off as chaotic? Does it make it any better? How do we look. Who would be the best? So I think there’s a lot of questions about that that make people hesitate. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Are you frustrated at all that so many of your colleagues won’t go that extra step and say that Biden needs to step down publicly at this critical juncture in the race? 

Mike Quigley: I don’t want to judge how they decide to do this. I would just stress in my mind they really need to do this. The future of our country, our democracy, democracy across the world, the fact that this is first, second, and third about Trump and the specter of a Trump second presidency. This isn’t about loyalty. This isn’t about uh fear of temporary change in the chaos that you may think come from this. This is about where we’re going to be for all time. So whatever the risks that anyone believes are involved. You got to do it. 

Tre’vell Anderson: If Biden were to drop out, would you support Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee? And if not Harris, then who?

Mike Quigley: I have the greatest respect for the vice president. I think she’d be a great candidate, I think, I know she’d be a great president. But I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, A.) Out of respect for the president. B.) I think how that change takes place is very important, because I think it has to be viewed as legitimate to the American people because they’ve talked about, well, we had primaries and that’s Democratic. But we also have rules that were democratically put together and a process to make a change here. If we just leap ahead and pretend that that isn’t there and that other people don’t have a right to have some input. I’m just a little concerned that that sounds like it’s [?]. We don’t care what you think. Maybe it loses some degree of legitimacy. All that being said, she would be the favorite to move forward. And I think President Biden has a lot to say about that. The greatest respect for her, I think she’d do a great job. I’d be proud to support her. Whoever the nominee is, I’m all in. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And an open convention we’re hearing more and more is a possibility in your home city no less. We know you represent parts of Chicago and an open convention could be extremely messy. It could further fracture the party. Does that worry or concern you at all about that possibility? 

Mike Quigley: The Republican Party kept a nominee who is a convicted felon, an abuser, a president who incited an insurrection, a coup, and an extraordinary long list of evil deeds. And if he denies being anything near Project 2025, I think his first term shows that he’d be right in line with Project 2025. Look, it’s not going to be easy. We’re in uncharted territory. It’ll be a mess. But I think we can get through it because I think back to the strength of the Democrats is we wouldn’t tolerate that. And we have concerns here, and we want to move forward in a positive way. I think as soon as there’s a change, it’s all about Trump again and his cognitive issues. Speaker Pelosi pointed that out as well. She thought it was an issue for both. It’s absolutely an issue for Trump. But then again, it gets back. We’re not talking about whether our nominee had a good press conference or not. We’re talking about Trump all the time. There’s plenty of talk about him and it’s all bad. 

Tre’vell Anderson: You just said as soon as there’s a change, does that mean you think this is inevitable, that Biden will absolutely step down? 

Mike Quigley: I can’t tell you what’s going to happen. I know a lot of my colleagues agree with me. You know, what are the factors in a decision like that? It’s truly up to the president. He’s deserve that, right. What will factor into that? I don’t know. Family, friends, polling, donors, where the unions stay with them. And, you know, does another shoe drop? Any number of factors. But I’d like to think that the decision is made very, very soon. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Picking a new nominee, even just the idea is being considered a risky decision, especially with just roughly four months to go until the election. Why do you think those risks outweigh the benefits of sticking with Biden as the nominee? 

Mike Quigley: I’m not a pundit, and I won’t get into the polls. A lot of the smartest pollsters I know are telling me just how serious this is. There’s a lot of really smart people who understand these numbers, who are the ones who are strongest, and encouraging the president to step down as a nominee. So there’s some uncertainty there. There’s some risk. But I think the greater risk is the status quo. I think the way we were going, we are going, we lose the House, we lose the Senate, we lose the White House with the green light from the Supreme Court. It’s an unabated autocrat. Let’s appreciate that and uh just how dire the circumstances are. You got to do something. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Biden won the Democratic primary in 2020, and while the names being floated to replace him now are somewhat different, they’re not so different as to not raise concerns that they may not fare much better than the president in a race against Donald Trump. But I want to end on a hopeful note for my last question for you. What gives you hope that a new nominee could be the person to beat Trump and and push back on what we see him and the Republicans putting forward? 

Mike Quigley: Day one it’s a horse race, and it’s a fight we can win because it’s about Donald Trump. I think you can combine it with the Biden legacy, which is a strong one. I think he’s got a great four years as president of the United States, one he should be proud of. So I’m optimistic. With a strong nominee we’re in a horse race. And for all the things we’re talking about with President Biden, we’re talking about in spades with Donald Trump. His abilities, his age. Fair or not, talking about age singularly. It will be the issue for him. And he couldn’t say, I don’t want another debate. I’d love that opportunity, because the great tragedy of that first debate wasn’t just that it went so poorly for our president, but it let Donald Trump off the hook. He couldn’t get past all the lies he told. If we’ve got a sharp nominee. They can hammer him to the wall on that. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Representative Quigley of Illinois, thanks so much for giving us some of your time today. 

Mike Quigley: Thank you. Take care. 

Tre’vell Anderson: That was my conversation with Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. As we’ve been saying for weeks now, this story continues to move quickly and evolve, but we’re keeping an eye on all the twists and turns for you, and we’ll continue to keep you updated. 

Priyanka Aribindi: We’ll get to some headlines in just a moment, but if you like our show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends. We’ll be right back after some ads. [music break] 

Tre’vell Anderson: [AD BREAK]

Tre’vell Anderson: Let’s get to some headlines. 

[sung] Headlines. 

Tre’vell Anderson: As we mentioned earlier, the three day NATO summit wrapped up on Thursday in Washington, DC. And while Biden’s Post summit press conference got most of the attention, there were plenty of other notable developments, particularly with Ukraine. On Wednesday, NATO members released a statement condemning China as a, quote, “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine. The statement also called on China to end its support of the Russian war effort. In response, a spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to the EU denied many of the claims made by NATO, saying the organization’s statement was, quote, “provocative with obvious lies and smears.” NATO leaders also committed more than $40 billion in security assistance to Ukraine over the next year, and said that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to NATO membership, a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin opposes. Meanwhile, reporting Thursday from CNN revealed that NATO members are also on alert after the US and Germany uncovered a Russian plan to assassinate the head of a German arms manufacturer that has been sending weapons to Ukraine. A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council told CNN that, quote, “Russia’s actions will not deter allies from continuing to support Ukraine.” 

Priyanka Aribindi: Okay, Tre’vell, this is not meant to throw you under the bus. But I will say, as we were reading this through, we did stumble on the names Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, they almost have the same first name. So I it’s it’s a– 

Tre’vell Anderson: Listen. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Becoming more and more understandable where that flub came from. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Listen, I’m understanding Biden more and more day by day. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Putting the spotlight back on Biden’s opponent, former president and convicted felon Donald Trump welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Mar-A-Lago on Thursday night. This is the second time that the two men have met at Mar-A-Lago this year. Orban, like Trump, is known for making racist and xenophobic statements and supporting rollbacks of LGBTQ rights. Earlier this month, Orban met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He was also just in China for a sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia for a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Orban is calling these talks a, quote, “peace mission.” But the U.S. and other NATO members have expressed skepticism that Orban actually has Ukraine’s best interests in mind, considering his close ties to Putin. Thursday’s meeting with Trump is also a sign that Orban is looking ahead to November and making plans to further his right wing agenda in the event of a second Trump presidency. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Inflation is coming down. That’s according to new data from the Consumer Price Index. Prices only rose by about 3% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down from 3.3% from that time last year, and overall prices went down by 0.1% between May and June. Now, that might not sound like much, but this is the first time that prices have meaningfully declined since May 2020. The new data suggests that the Federal Reserve could lower interest rates as early as September. 

Priyanka Aribindi: More price declines please. Let’s keep them coming. And y’all we know it’s been a very heavy few weeks in the news. So we here at WAD want to encourage you to take a little break from doomscrolling this weekend. And if you’re a sports fan you are in luck because there are a lot of big events happening. In tennis, we’ve got the Wimbledon finals. I will be tuning in for those, very excited. The women’s singles final is on Saturday and the men’s final is on Sunday. There are also two massive soccer games happening on Sunday. Spain takes on England in the Euro Cup final and then Colombia plays reigning World Cup champions Argentina in the Copa America final. Sadly, the US men’s team crashed out of that tournament and subsequently fired their head coach, Gregg Berhalter, on Wednesday. It leaves the team without a head coach with less than two years to get ready for the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the US. That’s okay. I mean, like, we only have like four months left to the election. Do we have a nominee? I don’t know, crazier things have happened. [laughter] We know when it comes to soccer in America, the women’s national team tends to get a little more love and a lot more gold medals than the men’s team. But shout out to the men, we are rooting for you too! Apparently, this has turned into a uh podcast that wants to promote men’s sports. So [laugh] great, love that for us.

Tre’vell Anderson: Listen. We are living in unprecedented times in more ways than one Priyanka. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Yeah. While you’re watching all those women’s sports, take a break and um, please save some attention for the men, I guess maybe. [laughter] And those are the headlines. 

[AD BREAK]

Tre’vell Anderson: That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review, give yourself a doomscrolling break this weekend and tell your friends to listen. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And if you are into reading and not just ebooks for my parents’ local library like me. God I’m being called out, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Priyanka Aribindi. 

Tre’vell Anderson: I’m Tre’vell Anderson. 

[spoken together] And rent everything from your library. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Or your parents library. Just whatever has uh the smaller waitlist. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Listen, get you a library card. Because I know a lot of you ain’t got one. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf. We had production help today from Leo Duran, Michell Eloy, Ethan Oberman, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.