Biden’s Big Moment

So, what’s the second-term agenda?

I’m not going to get ahead of the president. But I think you’re going to see a tribute to America as we talk about the greatness of this country, a tribute to our history, our heroes, and it will be very aspirational.

Is there a central message Republicans want voters to take away from next week?

Democrats are featuring Hollywood celebrities who play real people, and the Republican convention will be about real people. We don’t need to hire actors to play real people. The Trump administration has always been about average everyday working Americans and their story. We don’t need screenwriters. We don’t need fiction. We’ll talk about real America and celebrate that.

So no celebrities, it sounds like.

We’re not about the Hollywood elite telling us how we should live our lives. We’re about talking about the fabric of America, the greatness of America, and the American people. That’s the great story.

There have been plenty of real people featured on the Democratic stage, though.

There’s not a lot of interaction. It’s all Zoom. I don’t think those stories are penetrating at the same level as the parade of politicians from the past. Powell, Hagel. I don’t know if most of America knows Chuck Hagel. I’m really not getting a sense that this is a convention about average Americans.

As you point out, a notable number of Republicans spoke on the Democratic stage. What do you make of that?

Former Republicans. I mean, Colin Powell has not voted Republican since what, 2004? I don’t think we can call him a Republican.

What about John Kasich, the former Ohio governor who ran for the Republican nomination in 2016?

Kasich has classic Trump derangement syndrome. He’s not liked this president since the minute he was the nominee, even to the degree of not even coming onstage in his own state when it hosted the convention in 2016.