Mayor Pete’s Funding, the Democratic Debate, and the Role of Capitalism

Will and Brian begin by discussing Mayor Peter as a Democratic candidate this week given his last quarter fundraising showing. While Will argues that Mayor Pete is an intriguing candidate—even for someone who leans right—he also suggests his polling numbers with African-American voters could be problematic in the primaries. Brian suggests Mayor Pete may be quick to collapse in the race given that other candidates—namely Biden—actually brought in more per day during the cycle. Further, Brian is not convinced he is ready for continued primetime pressure, which he didn’t face in the first debate.

Next, Will and Brian discuss the upcoming second Democratic debate. Both believe the field remains too large to allow for nuanced policy discussions. Having the debates over two nights, Will asserts, prevents voters from seeing interactions and discussions they may need to see to differentiate between candidates. Thus, donations will possibly split and general uncertainty will continue to rise to the surface. Brian worries about the longer-term impact given that all demographic data suggests Democrats should be looking to stronghold a long-term gain rather than in-fighting for the next two years.

Lastly, Will and Brian discuss the role of capitalism in the United States today. This discussion was brought on by Abigail Disney’s undercover trip to Disneyland and comments regarding Bob Iger’s wages compared to the average worker at the park. Will advocates strongly for the system as it is today while Brian ponders whether it’d be possible to change the economic infrastructure of society even if we decided we wanted to.

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