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knowing that this took place before the events of last weekend.
Give us a sense of his demeanor and what he was interested in when he sat down.
So I sat down with him and a few of my colleagues from Businessweek at Mar-a-Lago.
We were there for about 90 minutes.
We got 90 minutes with him and we had a very wide ranging conversation about the business the U.S. economy.
We talked about Taiwan Russia his legal cases.
This was before the shooting and two days before the debate.
Just to give you a sense of his mindset.
But he was in a great mood.
He had just come back from a Louisiana fundraiser.
The fundraising numbers were starting to pick up much faster than they had anticipated.
The polling was showing him doing really well and starting to expand the map.
And so he was in a great mood.
And that was even before the debate two days later.
It's pretty incredible stuff that's in this article that everyone should read.
You can find it on the terminal now and and online.
The idea on foreign policy is we all get ready to hear Nikki Haley speak this evening who focused so much of her primary campaign on foreign policy that Trump suggested to you that the U.S. may not actually have a duty to defend Taiwan that Taiwan maybe should actually pay the United States for protection.
What should we make of that.
I thought it was a remarkable moment in the interview.
You know we ended up asking a lot of economic questions about sanctions against Russia and we asked about Taiwan sort of as a throwaway question.
And he he basically came out and said what has Taiwan done for us.
You know we have been Taiwan's insurance policy for years.
They stole our chips business.
I'm just not sure it makes sense for us to keep defending them when China wants them so badly.
It was it was a really remarkable moment.
Well there he has gone through and for you to talk to him on the eve of the debate and the weekend that we just had is quite remarkable.
Kate talking about fundraising here through the incredible reversal that we've seen I suspect we'll talk to Laura Trump about this a bit later on in fundraising.
It was two to one for Joe Biden and the way things have turned in Donald Trump's favor has been quite remarkable.
Well you have seen some really big you know Silicon Valley billionaires and you know big money people have thrown their support behind the.
Now what is now the Trump Vance ticket.
So it's they were at it long before J.D.
Vance even got involved though.
There seemed to be a turning point when you follow the money.
There has been.
And you know I talk to people who I sort of like to call them mini donors.
Many big donors.
People on K Street lobbyists who represent big corporations.
They don't necessarily give the billions but they're the ones who are there at those you know routine fundraisers giving giving the money directly to the candidate campaigns which you know you get more bang for your buck if you will on those.
And I think even there there has started to be a plug in in support of Trump as a candidate.
And now you have a lot more.
Well also we should consider here the reports including Bloomberg reporting today.
Elon Musk is committing 45 million dollars per month to a pro Trump PAC America PAC.
He of course in the aftermath of the announcement of J.D.
Vance as the vice presidential pick expressed pleasure with that selection.
He liked it.
We know this means more of the same.
Certainly that is what President Biden tried to suggest in an NBC News interview with Lester Holt that aired last night.
It's not unusual.
He's going to surround himself with people who agree completely with him.
I'm voting record.
I support him even though if you go back and listen to the things J.D.
Vance said about Trump.
Some of those things that J.D.
Vance have said about Trump as we've all become very familiar with at least in the last 24 hours America's Hitler cultural heroine.
He called him noxious.
He says he changed his mind when he was actually President Nancy.
But is that essentially what Donald Trump has done here for everything he outlined to you policy wise when you sat down with him.
He expects that J.D.
Vance will follow him on all of that.
Well I think that he has made it very clear that he wants J.D.
Vance to be the MAGA era parent.
And I think that there is huge implications on foreign policy but also implications of who they want to kind of bring into the Republican tent.
I think that part of the logic in bringing him on is really to shore up support in the Rust Belt states and also into the states.
They really need to win Michigan Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
And I think that they he sees Vance as someone who is a great sort of warrior and defender of him on TV.
I think they're salivating over the idea of a Vance Harris vice presidential debate in the late summer early fall.
And so I think that that's a lot of the reasons why they picked him.
That's going to be something to behold.
Assuming that debate happens a big breaker today in the midst of our coverage in Milwaukee and that is Bob Menendez convicted of bribery 16 charges following a two month trial in New York.
He pleaded not guilty.
He's going to appeal.
What does this mean if anything politically for the Democratic Party.
Well I think Democrats are going to still probably hold that state.
But this is you know when you're looking at the news you've got the people you know the Democratic divisions over President Biden.
And is he going to be at the top of the ticket.
It's kind of like more bad news this week for Democrats.
They're just having a it's it's political money.
It's for an agent.
I mean we're talking about you know foreign agents registration act you know and foreign sort of influence that that that he's been now convicted of.
So it's it's certainly a troubling story.
And it's it's been a string of headlines that I think Democrats would have rather not see.
Chuck Schumer is calling on him to step down.
Well those calls roll out or no.
And I've seen outside groups you know Democratic and you know aligned with you know the Democratic side of the aisle also call on him to step down.
Other other lawmakers have as well.