Worries over Biden and Trump cast shadow at NATO summit | The Excerpt

On Wednesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Worries over the U.S. presidential election cast a shadow over the start of the NATO summit Tuesday. USA TODAY Senior National News Reporter Rebecca Morin breaks down what Democratic lawmakers discussed about President Joe Biden during closed-door meetings. More than 160 million Americans were under some kind of excessive heat alert Tuesday. Social conservatives rattle former President Donald Trump on abortion ahead of the Republican convention. The Federal Reserve is waiting on rate cuts for more evidence inflation is easing. USA TODAY Personal Finance Reporter Daniel de Visé has the latest on the housing market, and how it may be shifting toward buyers.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, July 10th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, a NATO summit has begun in Washington. Plus, Democratic leaders huddle to discuss Biden's future. And, is the housing market shifting toward buyers?

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NATO leaders gathered in Washington yesterday for the start of a summit marking the 75th anniversary of the military defense pact.

Joe Biden:

And when the United States was attacked on September 11th, our NATO allies, all of you stood with us, invoking Article 5 for the first time in NATO history, treating an attack on us as an attack on all of us. A breathtaking display of friendship that the American people will never, ever, ever forget.

Taylor Wilson:

Hanging over the summit this week, the US presidential election. President Joe Biden's physical and mental fitness after last month's calamitous debate and former President Donald Trump's possible return to the White House following the November election are cause for alarm among European allies. And fueling the fears are Trump's dismissive attitude toward. He has mocked its defense pact as obsolete and threatened to let Russia "do whatever" it wants to member nations that do not carry their weight.

As we discussed on the show earlier this week, Ukraine will also be front and center at the remainder of this week's summit. And President Joe Biden yesterday announced new commitments from the US and several NATO allies to strengthen war-torn Ukraine's air defenses. The announcement comes on the heels of a Monday attack by Russia, whose missiles hit targets across Ukraine, including a children's hospital, killing dozens in a daylight attack. You can read more on this week's NATO summit with a link in today's show notes.

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It wasn't Biden's leadership, though, at the NATO summit that obsessed Washington political circles yesterday. Instead, it was whether closed door meetings with Congressional Democrats showed that support for him to remain in the presidential race would hold. I spoke with USA TODAY Senior National News reporter, Rebecca Morin, for more.

Rebecca, thanks for hopping on.

Rebecca Morin:

Yeah. No, thank you so much for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Rebecca, let's just start here. Democratic House lawmakers met yesterday amid ongoing concern over, really, whether there's a path forward with President Joe Biden as nominee. What were some of the major takeaways from this meeting?

Rebecca Morin:

One is to ensure Trump does not win the election. The other is to make sure that Democrats get control of the House. Those were the two main takeaways from the House meeting that leadership laid out. Chair of the House, Democratic Caucus Representative Pete Aguilar said that President Biden is a nominee and that they're going to support the nominee, but Biden still needs to prove himself, that he can rally voters, that he can gain the support. I think there's a bit of concern about what that looks like for him at the moment.

Taylor Wilson:

And Senate Democrats held their own meeting. What's the overall tone from that chamber surrounding Biden?

Rebecca Morin:

They were a little more tightlipped coming out of the meeting, but I think the consensus is, overall, a bit of the same takeaway, that they need to defeat Donald Trump. Democrats want to defeat Donald Trump in November, and that is their main priority. Something that Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters afterwards, after the meeting, was that Joe Biden is the candidate and he's the only person who can decide whether or not he does not want to be the candidate. There are other congressional leaders saying that Biden has this week to showcase why he's best suited to continue to be the Democratic nominee.

Taylor Wilson:

So there are concerns from some Democratic lawmakers that all this focus on Biden and his debate performance and the conversation afterwards really takes attention away from Trump. What are we hearing from lawmakers on that?

Rebecca Morin:

Lawmakers right now are trying to move the focus back to Donald Trump and what a Donald Trump presidency would look like. Yesterday, after the meeting, there was a lot of discussion on Project 2025 coming from lawmakers where they were voicing their concerns of, "This is what a President Trump would look like." One of Biden's close allies from Delaware, Senator Chris Coons said that Biden, he misspeaks occasionally, he stutters, but he said, quote, "He's been the most consequential President in my lifetime. That his record speaks for the kind of President he would be." Something that is being discussed right now is trying to move the lens back to, "What does a Donald Trump presidency look like?" And that's what Democrats are trying to do, is shift the focus on what Biden's record looks like and what a Donald Trump presidency would look like.

Taylor Wilson:

We've heard a lot about concerned Democrats, worried Democrats in Washington. I'm curious, Rebecca, are concerns among Democrats right now more about Biden's chances against Trump or his general ability to run the country if he wins four more years, or are concerns more about what Biden's struggles might mean for other Democrats down the ballot?

Rebecca Morin:

It's a bit of a mixed bag. There's largely concerns about whether President Biden can beat Donald Trump in November. One House Democrat, for example, Representative Mike Quigley of Illinois has been vocal for Biden to step aside because he believes that the President will drag down the ticket for Democrats. So it goes a little bit both ways. I think right now what Democrats are concerned about is whether or not they can defeat Donald Trump and still also get control of the House, get control of the Senate. That's the goal for the Democrats right now, is to make sure that they have control of these chambers so they can pass legislation.

Taylor Wilson:

This has been the talk of Washington, the talk of the country really, since Biden's debate disaster last month. But is there a Plan B? I mean, what names are being mentioned in Washington this week as a potential Biden replacement on the ticket?

Rebecca Morin:

Yeah. I think the top name that comes to mind is Vice President Kamala Harris. She's in the line of succession if there was anything to ever happen to the President. I think that is something that people are talking about, if this did happen. Though, right now, the President has again emphasized that he is not stepping aside. Vice President Kamala Harris has said that she supports the President, that she's on the ticket as his running mate. So there's a lot of coming from the White House, coming from the President and the Vice President that President Joe Biden will stay on track. The big name that's being mentioned though is Vice President Kamala Harris, and there was a recent poll that showed that she could beat Donald Trump in November if she did become the nominee rather than President Biden. And so, there's a lot of talk surrounding that.

Taylor Wilson:

Rebecca Morin is a senior national news reporter with USA TODAY. Thank you, Rebecca.

Rebecca Morin:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

More than 160 million Americans were under some kind of excessive heat alert yesterday, according to heat.gov. Oppressive heat is being felt across the Western US and large parts of the South, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern New England. Indexes in parts of New Jersey this week could hit 105 degrees, and temperatures are expected between 10 and 30 degrees above average in much of the West. Officials say that western heat has claimed at least five lives in recent days. Meanwhile, Beryl slammed Texas this week and left millions without power. And yesterday, forecasters from Colorado State University upped their already record hurricane forecast. They now expect an additional hurricane, a total of 12 for the season, and two more named storms, a total of 25 for the season.

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As Republicans head to Milwaukee for their 2024 convention next week, evangelicals and other social conservatives are jittery about their waning influence and could end up spoiling Donald Trump's party. That's because for the first time in four decades since the GOP agenda aligned with the so-called Moral Majority, the party's commitment to opposing abortion and its national platform just got slimmed down. And falling short on abortion in the eyes of right-leaning voters of faith, Trump risked creating a gap with evangelical Christians, who are essential to his electoral success and who have long had an uneasy relationship with his character. Trump's judicial appointment silenced most of those concerns when he ushered in a Conservative majority on the Supreme Court as President.

Still, seeing a new Republican platform that leaves out language on banning abortion and makes no mention of pursuing personhood for embryos or fetuses has alarmed some. Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life Action, told USA TODAY this week, "First and foremost, they need to be as loyal to this issue of ending abortion as they are to other issues. Do not relegate the pro-life movement to the kiddie table." And Lila Rose, founder and president of the anti-abortion group Live Action said the new Republican platform wording represents a downgrade. For more on that wording, check out our Tuesday episode of The Excerpt.

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress yesterday that the labor market "has cooled really significantly across so many measures." A development economists say could make the central bank more likely to lower interest rates soon. But Powell added, "I'm today not going to be sending any signal about the timing of future action." Powell, speaking before the Senate Banking Committee, noted several times the central bank faces risks between slicing rates too soon and reigniting inflation, and waiting too long and weakening the economy and job market. The Fed's mandates are to achieve stable prices and maximum employment.

In his prepared testimony, Powell struck a cautious tone, repeating that officials don't expect to cut interest rates until they've gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward the central bank's 2% goal. Still, in a note to clients, Ryan Sweet, Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics said the testimony provides further evidence that the central bank is moving closer to cutting interest rates. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Homes are selling below list price at the peak of housing season; a sign that the market is getting better for buyers and worse for sellers. I spoke with USA TODAY Personal Finance reporter, Daniel de Visé, for the latest.

Hello, Daniel.

Daniel de Visé:

Hey. It's a pleasure to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

Pleasure to have you, as always. So let's just start with this. What do the numbers tell us about homes selling below their list price in this market right now?

Daniel de Visé:

Redfin says that during the four-week peak of the market in May and June, homes sold for a bit less than list price, on average, which is a big deal because that's the peak. That's when homes are supposed to fly off the shelves, so to speak. And in the last few years, sellers have done very well. They've gotten generally more than their asking price. So this is a change.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So where does housing inventory stand right now?

Daniel de Visé:

Well, it's growing. And all this, mind you, is to the advantage of the buyer. The last couple of years there have been very few homes on the market. This is a combination of not many homes getting built and owners not wanting to sell their homes because most of them have a really good mortgage rate. But in the last several months, it's really loosened up. There's more homes on the market, and more affordable homes, and that's been just a great development for the potential buyer.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. Do home buyers actually have the urgency to really take advantage of some of these factors swinging back their way, or are they going to stand pat for a bit?

Daniel de Visé:

So in order to have these escalating prices; prices rising, rising, rising. For that to happen, you need to have this kind of stampede of offers when a house comes on the market. And I interviewed several realtors, and they told me they're not feeling that right now. The potential buyers are much more casual. They're even kind of blase. They're not as excited about snatching up a house that comes on the market, so you're not getting these bidding wars. It's more of a collective meh. Again, this is all to the favor of the buyer and to the disfavor of the seller, because the seller needs these bidding wars for prices to keep rising.

Taylor Wilson:

You touched on this a bit, Daniel, but can you just help us understand why the timing of these pricing shifts right now is significant at this point of the summer?

Daniel de Visé:

Yeah. Because I think May and June is when you're most likely to sell a house. And in the last few years, it's been kind of a bonanza for home sellers. They've been getting their asking prices, and then some. And mind you, each year over the last two years, year-over-year the prices have been a little bit higher. These have been record prices, and this in spite of the fact of really high mortgage rates. So the fact that it sort of skidded to a halt this May and June, and this is houses staying on the market longer, languishing on the market and a lot of sellers lowering their price, it's a significant development.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So then, what's the expectation for the next few months? I mean, if we're talking in September, will we be definitively calling this a buyer's market?

Daniel de Visé:

People are starting to call it that now. The economist for Redfin, Daryl Fairweather, told me that if this trend continues the next several months where sellers have to keep lowering their prices a tad and not getting their asking price and there are no bidding wars, eventually we will actually see housing prices fall.

Taylor Wilson:

Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA TODAY. Always here to help us digest all things money. Thank you, Daniel.

Daniel de Visé:

Thank you, sir.

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Taylor Wilson:

Picture the devastation left behind in the path of a tornado; crumpled mobile homes, roofs ripped off, broken and shredded trees. Now imagine that multiplied by 1,000. And that's just in the US just this year. How can people protect themselves better from tornadoes? Tune into this feed beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern Time today to learn more about these risks as my co-host Dana Taylor speaks with severe weather expert, Stephen Strader.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Worries over Biden and Trump cast shadow at NATO summit | The Excerpt