Yahoo Finance

We're continuing to monitor any reactions to the assassination attempt on former president Trump from over the weekend. Just hours after that incident, we had Elon Musk and Bill Ackman taking to X to declare their support for the former president, but otherwise the reaction has been somewhat muted outside of executives condemning the violence. So here to discuss, we've got William Cohen, Puck News founding partner. William, it's great to have you on here. Obviously, it's a muted reaction from executives who are sticking to the talking point of condemning the violence here, but I'm curious from your perspective, those who have spoken out and confirmed their support of the Trump campaign. Do you think they were just waiting for a moment to be able to speak openly about their support of Trump and this was kind of always in the cards for a Musk and an Ackman type?

Well, I think with regards to those two, uh, both Ackman and Musk, uh, they probably were looking for a way to, uh, declare their support for Trump, uh, without, uh, sort of being attacked for it, uh, on social media. And I think this unfortunate incident, uh, you know, we're we're in remain in an epidemic of gun violence that never seems to stop. Uh, you know, gave them the cover that they probably were looking for, yes.

Well, I do want to talk about what you're anticipating throughout the course of the week here as Trump is heading to the RNC. Do you think the events of the weekend are going to impact his VP pick at all?

Um, I I I I don't think it's going to impact the the VP pick. I mean, uh, I think at this moment the combination of, you know, Biden's poor, uh, uh, debate performance, his subsequent attempts to rectify that, and then this horrible incident over the weekend, uh, I think most people now seem to be, although, you know, there's still four months away from the election, I think most people at this point seem to be resigned to the fact that, uh, Trump is going to win, there's going to be a second Trump administration and there's not much Biden can do about it, unfortunately. Although again, there's still a lot of time, lots of things can happen. Uh, but I just think the combination of these two now is, uh, there's a resignation, uh, uh, amongst, uh, many Democrats, most people on Wall Street who are Democrats actually and would prefer not to see a second Trump administration. My reading of the situation now is that, um, this just seems like, uh, there's nothing much can be done anymore.

Well, Bill, why the resignation then? I mean, we had AOC, for example, over the weekend saying that if senior Democrats are resigned to a Trump presidency, then they themselves should retire. If you're in a position of power, why not take that power and do something if you're concerned about the future of the country?

Well, I'm not talking about the people, you know, in Congress or high-level Democrats or people who talk to to Biden. I'm just talking about rank and file Americans, you know, rank and file Democrats, people who, you know, were very hopeful before the debate that Biden would be reelected. I think between the combination of these two things, it's, uh, kind of a double whammy on an unprecedented scale and I'm not sure many people, at least at this moment, look, again, four months to go, but at this moment, I think there's suddenly widespread resignation that Trump will be returned to office. I mean, and you see that with, you know, people like Bill Ackman who have been supporting Democrats for the last year or consistently, now suddenly is coming out full-throated for Donald Trump. So, I mean, uh, you know, I think that's going unfortunately be happening more and more, uh, and it it just it does, I mean, not it'll still be close, but I think the electoral map seems to be shifting in Trump's favor and that's really where the rubber meets the road.