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Trump Says US Will Strike Iran Hard as War Escalates Again · Balance of Power

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Speaker 2: So thanks for joining us here on the Wednesday edition.
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Speaker 3: Each day feeling slightly more important than the last, even
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Speaker 3: up by searching Bloomberg Business News Live, and we are
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Speaker 3: once again straddling both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue with our
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Speaker 3: eyes on the Middle East. The President will be speaking
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Speaker 3: later on today. There's an event at the White House
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Speaker 3: about three hours from now with the Treasury Secretary, and
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Speaker 3: they're going to be talking about one of our favorite
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Speaker 3: topics here in the Washington area, and that's how to
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Speaker 3: get rid of or somehow renovate Dulles Airport. They're getting
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Speaker 3: rid of the people movers, and if that's not something
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Speaker 3: we can all.
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Speaker 2: Agree on, I'm not sure what we have left.
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Speaker 3: But when the President talks to reporters about this, surely
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Speaker 3: he'll be asked about what's happening in Iran. Surprise attack
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Speaker 3: is the headline we wake up to this morning, Saudi
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Speaker 3: Arabia in the sub head And if you're like me
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Speaker 3: and you grew up in the nineteen eighties. That was
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Speaker 3: the recipe for World War III. Right, the US starts
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Speaker 3: bombing Iran and Saudi Arabia gets involved in the Middle East.
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Speaker 3: How do you get out of that? The President doesn't
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Speaker 3: have an answer yet, but he is pretty angry. Let's
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Speaker 3: just set the baseline. We heard from scentcom a while ago.
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Speaker 3: In fact, it was late last night when they told
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Speaker 3: us that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched multiple ballistic
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Speaker 3: missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on US
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Speaker 3: forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian missiles were
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Speaker 3: successfully intercepted. Pretty impressive. US forces remained vigilant, it says,
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Speaker 3: at a high state of readiness. Yeah, attempted surprise attack
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Speaker 3: is the language we're going with here.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 3: The US, of course pause the back and forth for
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Speaker 3: some time. I guess we have let go of the
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Speaker 3: pause button here because the President is promising something fierce
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Speaker 3: after the US and Saudi Arabia, in response to more
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Speaker 3: than thirty drone attacks directed by the IRGC, got in
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Speaker 3: the air together Saudi fighter jets alongside Americans pounding targets
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Speaker 3: in Iraq. These are Iranian backed militias or as sent
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Speaker 3: com put it Iran aligned terrorists doing the work for Tehran.
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Speaker 3: Presidents spoke with Fox News. Wow, can't read it on
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Speaker 3: the air. We'll be hitting them hard. We hear they're
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Speaker 3: going to be getting a beating, he said, We're going
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Speaker 3: to beat the fings out of them. The President of
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Speaker 3: the United States telling Fox News. It's right here in
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Speaker 3: black and white with lots of dots in between. So
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Speaker 3: what's about to happen at times like these? We turned
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Speaker 3: to Becke and I'm glad to say she's back in
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Speaker 3: our Washington bureau, leads our defense analysis at Bloomberg Economics,
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Speaker 3: and Becka, it's great to see you. I'm just curious,
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Speaker 3: were you modeling an event like this with Saudi Arabia's
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Speaker 3: involvement when you were at the Pentagon.
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Speaker 4: I mean, it is a long standing tradition of US
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Speaker 4: military war fighting to fight alongside allies and partners and coalitions.
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Speaker 4: In fact, this war actually stands apart in that it
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Speaker 4: was launched with only the United States and Israel. So
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Speaker 4: here the US has fought alongside Saudi Arabia in the past,
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Speaker 4: but the Saudis haven't been quite as active in previous
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Speaker 4: coalitions like the fight against the Islamic State, where they
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Speaker 4: have contributed some military and financial support, but not necessarily
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Speaker 4: flown sorties alongside the United States the.
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Speaker 2: First time we've seen it. So this is it's in
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Speaker 2: the air and fire.
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Speaker 4: Missiles, well at least in more recent memory, that's for sure,
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Speaker 4: and the US is trade them. They have US fighter jets,
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Speaker 4: they have US training, and they've also learned during the
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Speaker 4: campaign that they waged against the hu Thies in Yemen
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Speaker 4: during the Yemen Air War a little bit in like
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Speaker 4: twenty fifteen or so, so Saudi Arabia has learned on
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Speaker 4: the fly, But that doesn't necessarily mean that they are
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Speaker 4: at the same level of prowess as the US.
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Speaker 3: Most Okay, are they flying F fifteen's, is that the
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Speaker 3: most advanced aircraft?
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Speaker 2: They have a few generations behind what we've got.
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Speaker 4: For Yes, they've got their own specialized version the essay,
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Speaker 4: so that's what they've largely been flying.
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Speaker 2: And we're training them where we have trained them.
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Speaker 3: But I guess your point is these are not the
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Speaker 3: top guns who are flying for the United States in
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Speaker 3: the region. Are they helpful or is this more about
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Speaker 3: presenting the United front?
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Speaker 4: Whether they are helpful or not. Let's put that aside.
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Speaker 4: But the fact that they are entering the fray, they
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Speaker 4: are directly taking responsibility for their own security after being hit.
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Speaker 4: They are contributing to a fight I'll be a fight
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Speaker 4: against IRGC backed militias as opposed to against Iranian targets directly,
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Speaker 4: but they are contributing. And that is what we are
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Speaker 4: starting to see, which is a widening of this conflict.
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Speaker 4: There have been reports of other Gulf states contributing to
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Speaker 4: strikes on Iranian targets. We've also seen a broadening of geography.
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Speaker 4: The Red Sea is now in play, and now frankly,
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Speaker 4: you have parts of Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq that are
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Speaker 4: now party to this broader conflict.
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Speaker 3: Assuming the pause is off here, should we stop calling
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Speaker 3: this then the.
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Speaker 2: US war with Iran? This is the Middle East War,
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Speaker 2: isn't it.
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Speaker 4: We'll see where it goes, but right now it still
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Speaker 4: is the US Iran war. That those are the two
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Speaker 4: primary belligerents. But you know, I think our long standing
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Speaker 4: call at Bloomberg Economics is that this is a protracted conflict,
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Speaker 4: a long conflict that's going to ebb and flow in fluctuation,
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Speaker 4: and part of the histories of protracted conflicts is that
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Speaker 4: they almost always expand geographically and in the number of
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Speaker 4: parties involved. And that's what we're starting to see play
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Speaker 4: out here.
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Speaker 3: Fascinating the two primary belligerents. Someday I want to be
7:11
Speaker 3: able to talk in the lingo like the defense analysts
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Speaker 3: around here. Ben Jensen was hailing Kaylee Line's use of
7:18
Speaker 3: opportunity costs yesterday. You guys have your own glossary, which
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Speaker 3: I'm fascinated by.
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Speaker 5: So does the President with his terminology about structure. Glad
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Speaker 5: you brought me there. So when we talk about the
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Speaker 5: fing and the s and the rest of it, are
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Speaker 5: those are doctrinal? Are we hey, that's good? Are we
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Speaker 5: talking power plants bridges? What can we actually do to
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Speaker 5: inflict harm that has not been felt?
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Speaker 4: Well, it's a question of whether you want to inflict
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Speaker 4: that level of harm, right, because power plants, bridges, these
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Speaker 4: are they could be for military use, but they are
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Speaker 4: also for civilian use, and that puts the US in
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Speaker 4: very potentially dangerous footing. So yes, there are plenty of
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Speaker 4: different targets that the US could go after in terms
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Speaker 4: of continue its air and missile strikes that would ratchet
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Speaker 4: up the pain on Iran, but it would also ratchet
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Speaker 4: up pain on Iranian civilians, and it's an open question
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Speaker 4: whether the US wants to go down that route. Additionally,
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Speaker 4: the President has said before that you know, all options
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Speaker 4: are still on the table, and that includes other efforts
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Speaker 4: potentially trying to move towards escorting ships in the street,
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Speaker 4: potentially even a very big operation that would either be
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Speaker 4: you know, a strike, say on an Iranian nuclear facility,
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Speaker 4: or even an operation to reopen the straight by force,
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Speaker 4: which would put US boots on the ground and be
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Speaker 4: incredibly costly in times, in terms of blood and treasure.
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Speaker 3: Which we've discussed before. As these are the options, the
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Speaker 3: menu of options before him. When we spent time with
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Speaker 3: Mike Pence, the former Vice president, last evening, he kept saying,
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Speaker 3: you know that, don't come to the table, world, do
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Speaker 3: it the hard way, kind of like President Trump says,
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Speaker 3: and we'll finish this for them. But is that what
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Speaker 3: you're describing, Boots on the ground forcibly open straight, occupy
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Speaker 3: carg Island, that's the full effect.
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Speaker 4: I think that's right now probably the highest escalation option
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Speaker 4: on the table, But that doesn't mean that it's going
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Speaker 4: to you know, finish the job and bring around to
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Speaker 4: the table. It could actually backfire and put the US
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Speaker 4: on the path to this being a true forever war,
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Speaker 4: because when you see US ground forces often go into countries,
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Speaker 4: it's a long time before the US ends up coming out,
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Speaker 4: and we're sometimes looking at ears, if not decades.
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Speaker 2: If you want to look at Afghanistan, I love you,
9:36
Speaker 2: then that's the definition of quagmire.
9:38
Speaker 3: Becca Wasser does this for a living, and we're lucky
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Speaker 3: to have her in our bureau with Bloomberg Economics, leads
9:44
Speaker 3: our defense analysis and Beckett's great to have you back,
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Speaker 3: Thank you so much. With much more to discuss, and
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Speaker 3: we shall over the course of the program with the
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Speaker 3: impact of this war on energy, something that we're going
9:54
Speaker 3: to get into straight ahead with John Bozzella. As we
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Speaker 3: turn to the auto industry, the THEEO, the Alliance for
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Speaker 3: Automotive Innovation is coming up next.
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Speaker 2: Stay with us on Balance of Power. We'll have much
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Speaker 2: more coming up after this.
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Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington. It's
10:31
Speaker 3: interesting to see what's holding up in this market today.
10:34
Speaker 3: I mean this is brutal. You get the Dow down
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Speaker 3: nine hundred points, and you wonder if anybody's buying anything.
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Speaker 3: They are, and they've been buying the auto makers. GM
10:43
Speaker 3: was positive until, of course I mentioned this two seconds ago.
10:45
Speaker 3: It's down a fraction right now, but looking forward after
10:47
Speaker 3: earnings up three and a half percent in a market
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Speaker 3: like this, and it has a lot to do with
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Speaker 3: the SUVs as opposed to the evs. Similar arrative coming
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Speaker 3: from both companies. Remembering that President Trump was actually out
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Speaker 3: at GM at the testing facility there last week. Remember
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Speaker 3: we talked about the proving ground. Pretty cool by the way.
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Speaker 3: You know, they did a drag race for the President.
11:14
Speaker 3: Must have loved this stuff. We saw images of him there.
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Speaker 3: They put a hummer up against an escalade. What's more
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Speaker 3: fun than that? Actually, they put a corvette up against
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Speaker 3: a hummer. I'd show up for that too. Maybe we'll
11:28
Speaker 3: have some results for you on this drag race, But
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Speaker 3: the President was making the point that this is a
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Speaker 3: business that America is invested in and is growing in
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Speaker 3: this environment.
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Speaker 2: Here's what you said.
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Speaker 6: We were building more auto factories and more plants than
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Speaker 6: at any time in the history of our country. Today,
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Speaker 6: I'm proud to say that the Yodo industry is back,
11:51
Speaker 6: and America is back, and it's pulling Detroit and Michigan
11:54
Speaker 6: along with it. I placed historic tariffs on foreign producers
11:58
Speaker 6: and manufacturers, including a twenty five percent tariff on Forign Automobile,
12:05
Speaker 6: something that no other president had the courage to ever.
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Speaker 3: Do, remembering that that gave automakers some heartburn, the idea
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Speaker 3: of retooling factories, moving production lines. Of course, a lot
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Speaker 3: of this runs into the USMCA, which makes it a
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Speaker 3: little bit easier for a General Motors or a Ford.
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Speaker 3: But we want to talk about some of these issues
12:27
Speaker 3: in the new effort to keep Chinese made cars out
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Speaker 3: of the country, which is something that's been cooking on
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Speaker 3: Capitol Hill. The bill just cleared committee last week. As
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Speaker 3: we told you, John Bizilla is with us, the president
12:37
Speaker 3: and CEO Alliance for Automotive Innovation. John, It's great to
12:41
Speaker 3: see you. Welcome back. Good to be here, John, I'm great.
12:44
Speaker 3: I got to tell you so I looked this up
12:46
Speaker 3: because we covered this the day it happened. James, I
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Speaker 3: don't know if you saw this, but the twelve hundred
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Speaker 3: and fifty horsepower Corvette, this is ZR one X, decisively
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Speaker 3: beat the Hummer. I guess maybe we shouldn't be surprised,
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Speaker 3: but the Hummer easily outperformed the Escalate. I'm not sure
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Speaker 3: if there's a life lesson in there, but I kind
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Speaker 3: of wish I was at the drag race where you
13:10
Speaker 3: at the drag that rate.
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Speaker 7: I was not the track that day, but I would love.
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Speaker 2: Super cool facility. This is like where the first rollover
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Speaker 2: tests took place.
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Speaker 3: I got one hundred and fifty miles to drive whatever
13:17
Speaker 3: they want to do out there, and the President did
13:19
Speaker 3: have a pretty good story to tell. How are these
13:21
Speaker 3: companies putting up numbers like this in an environment like this?
13:24
Speaker 3: Were a year ago we were talking about the potential
13:27
Speaker 3: for a catastrophe beginning with the teriff regime.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 7: I think there's one word to describe it, and it's resiliency.
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Speaker 7: I think the companies are resilient. I think the customer
13:38
Speaker 7: is resilient, and so what's happening is companies like General
13:42
Speaker 7: Motors and Ford and Toyota and others are having to
13:46
Speaker 7: navigate a challenging and complex industry and they're doing it
13:49
Speaker 7: really well because they have products that customers want and need,
13:53
Speaker 7: and the market's holding up pretty well.
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Speaker 2: And they're answering demand.
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Speaker 3: We're told by turning back to the old old fashioned
14:01
Speaker 3: ice product like an suv, we're at four dollars in
14:07
Speaker 3: something a gallon and people can't seem to fill the
14:09
Speaker 3: tank fast enough.
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Speaker 2: What do you make of this? Yeah, I think, well,
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Speaker 2: that's certainly not true. That's part of the top line.
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Speaker 2: But let's unpack it a little bit.
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Speaker 7: Sure, there is no question that SUVs and pickup trucks
14:19
Speaker 7: are selling, but what we're also seeing is compact SUVs
14:24
Speaker 7: and small pickup trucks are out selling large SUVs and
14:28
Speaker 7: large pickup trucks. What we're also seeing this year so
14:31
Speaker 7: far is a downward trend in the sale of ice
14:35
Speaker 7: vehicles and an upward trend in the sale of hybrids
14:38
Speaker 7: and a little bit of BEVs. But like we're at
14:40
Speaker 7: a historic low with regard to the sales of internal
14:44
Speaker 7: hybrid is what is filling the gap. Hybrids are filling
14:47
Speaker 7: the gap. Interesting, Yeah, does that play into the price
14:51
Speaker 7: of gas? I'm just calling up triple A here. We're
14:53
Speaker 7: at four dollars and nine cents today. We've seen worse,
14:55
Speaker 7: but this is historically an issue, and you've got diesel
14:58
Speaker 7: over five dollars, which is a completely different conversation.
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Speaker 2: But it is it changing people's bind behavior?
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Speaker 7: I think it is. I think that's partly like this
15:07
Speaker 7: trend of more hybrids has been going on for some time, sure,
15:11
Speaker 7: but it's clearly there's a lot of opportunity for customers
15:15
Speaker 7: to get what they want with a more efficient powertrain.
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Speaker 3: Okay, I want to ask you about this move to
15:22
Speaker 3: keep Chinese made vehicles out of the country. I went
15:24
Speaker 3: to Capitol Hill last week to talk with Senator Alissa Slockin,
15:27
Speaker 3: who was the Democrat on the bill, along with Senator
15:29
Speaker 3: Moreno was the Republican. They both joined us initially when
15:32
Speaker 3: the bill dropped. We spoke with her the day at
15:34
Speaker 3: cleared committee.
15:35
Speaker 2: Here's what she had to say.
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Speaker 8: This wasn't targeted at any one car company. We want
15:40
Speaker 8: them to continue selling cars in the United States of America.
15:44
Speaker 8: We really just say, like you can't have a serious
15:47
Speaker 8: influence from the Chinese Communist Party and what you do
15:50
Speaker 8: in America interesting, and those cars are driving surveillance collectors.
15:54
Speaker 8: I can't, as a former CIA officer and as a
15:57
Speaker 8: Michigan or in good faith say that should.
16:00
Speaker 2: Be sold in the United States.
16:03
Speaker 3: All right, So she's talking about more than you know byds.
16:07
Speaker 3: There are cars that people might not be thinking of,
16:09
Speaker 3: like Volvo have a majority ownership by a Chinese entity Mercedes.
16:16
Speaker 3: Do there need to be waivers for companies like this
16:19
Speaker 3: or do they need to start moving things around in
16:22
Speaker 3: their ownership structure.
16:23
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's a good question, and it's a little bit
16:25
Speaker 7: different for Volvo versus Mercedes. So Volvo was already subject
16:30
Speaker 7: to current regulation related to connected vehicle technology and potential
16:37
Speaker 7: influence from China, and what the regulator did is provided
16:43
Speaker 7: Volvo with permission to stay in the market. Right, So
16:45
Speaker 7: they analyze the situation and they negotiated and drew a
16:49
Speaker 7: conclusion that Volvo was okay to operate in the market.
16:52
Speaker 7: What the bill that Senator slock In and Senator Marino
16:56
Speaker 7: Marino we're sponsoring would add, in addition to the regulation,
17:01
Speaker 7: a new ownership threshold, and that threshold would be said
17:04
Speaker 7: about fifteen percent, and that's what would bring Mercedes in.
17:08
Speaker 7: And in that case they would be regulated just like
17:11
Speaker 7: Volvo is and they would have to go through that
17:13
Speaker 7: process with the regulator. Could they achieve a waiver? I
17:16
Speaker 7: would imagine they could.
17:17
Speaker 3: That is a possibility according to both senators. Of course,
17:20
Speaker 3: would you like to see that happen. They're all part
17:22
Speaker 3: of the alliance, right, yes, they are all part of
17:25
Speaker 3: the alliance. This is a very challenging set of issues.
17:28
Speaker 3: We have companies on all sides of this, companies that
17:31
Speaker 3: think there should be a threshold, companies that think there
17:33
Speaker 3: shouldn't be a threshold. Because the agency is capable of
17:36
Speaker 3: making these decisions on a case by case basis. This
17:39
Speaker 3: is why we have policymakers, and this is why we
17:41
Speaker 3: depend on the leadership of Senator Slotckin and Senator Marino
17:44
Speaker 3: to make the right political decision based on the equities
17:48
Speaker 3: as they see them. There are questions about what it
17:52
Speaker 3: is we're trying to keep from happening because you can't
17:55
Speaker 3: buy a Chinese car in this country. Is there a
17:57
Speaker 3: belief that if this bill were not passed, that someday
18:00
Speaker 3: will have a by D lot in northern Virginia.
18:03
Speaker 2: I think that's part of it. We have strong tariff
18:07
Speaker 2: protection right now.
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Speaker 7: Right the US government has concluded that vehicles from China
18:13
Speaker 7: are represent unfair and discriminatory competition, so that's the three
18:18
Speaker 7: oh one tariff. The agency is concluded, the Commerce Department
18:22
Speaker 7: that this technology is a surveillance and national security threat.
18:26
Speaker 7: So that's what creates the market as it is today.
18:29
Speaker 7: What the legislation does is tighten those regulations up and
18:33
Speaker 7: maybe reduce some of the flexibilities and loopholes that might
18:37
Speaker 7: be available to a future administry.
18:39
Speaker 3: Because your fear is having a Chinese made car like
18:42
Speaker 3: a BYD or having a Chinese part in a seemingly
18:47
Speaker 3: non Chinese car that might be a listening device.
18:50
Speaker 7: There's two concerns here. One is competition's got to be
18:53
Speaker 7: fair and reciprocal. When it's fair and reciprocal, companies here
18:57
Speaker 7: can compete with companies anywhere. So that's the first point.
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Speaker 7: Second point is, yes, this national security and surveillance concern
19:04
Speaker 7: must be addressed. And by the way, the Chinese have
19:07
Speaker 7: similar rules.
19:10
Speaker 3: Let's talk a little bit about the rest of the
19:12
Speaker 3: industry here, because we're in an environment with high gas prices.
19:16
Speaker 3: As we're mentioning high oil prices and a trade agreement
19:20
Speaker 3: with Mexico and Canada that's up for renewal, White House
19:24
Speaker 3: doesn't seem too eager to renew it. This will keep
19:27
Speaker 3: extending and rolling year after year if we don't do
19:29
Speaker 3: something about it. How important is it to the auto
19:30
Speaker 3: sector that we renegotiate and renew the USMC.
19:33
Speaker 7: It is absolutely critical that we conclude a new trilateral
19:40
Speaker 7: agreement between the US, Mexico, and Canada. Absolutely, think of
19:44
Speaker 7: it not just as a trade agreement, think about it
19:46
Speaker 7: as a competitiveness platform. This is critical to create fortress
19:50
Speaker 7: North America to be able to compete against China and
19:53
Speaker 7: to be more competitive visa v. China. And so it's
19:57
Speaker 7: that important.
19:58
Speaker 3: Does that keep automaker is protected otherwise from tariffs that
20:02
Speaker 3: might force them to move manufacturing lines.
20:05
Speaker 7: I think it's critical because right now, what we've had
20:08
Speaker 7: over the last twenty six or twenty seven years is
20:11
Speaker 7: is duty free, seamless trade that has allowed the companies
20:15
Speaker 7: to optimize labor, energy production, and innovation to create affordability
20:21
Speaker 7: and choice for consumers in the US. That's a wonderful thing.
20:25
Speaker 7: We need more of that. And that's what the trade
20:27
Speaker 7: agreement does. What's it like when you go to buy
20:30
Speaker 7: a car? You're like, I'm not getting the undercoating. I
20:33
Speaker 7: know this game you guys. Yeah, you must be the
20:35
Speaker 7: best guy to go car shopping with. Maybe the second
20:38
Speaker 7: or third best.
20:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. I do enjoy it. You know.
20:41
Speaker 7: I learn a lot from our dealer partners every time
20:45
Speaker 7: I go into it to.
20:46
Speaker 3: Go knock on don buyer's door to talk about it.
20:48
Speaker 3: What do you think about buying a car online?
20:50
Speaker 2: Would you ever do it?
20:51
Speaker 3: I certainly we can't imagine that's research. Sure, but people
20:55
Speaker 3: are ordering a car online. It shows up in the driveway.
20:57
Speaker 3: You know, I'm gonna kick the tires.
20:58
Speaker 2: Guy. You want to go take it off a test drive? Right?
21:01
Speaker 2: Do you take the guy with you on the test drive?
21:02
Speaker 2: Or you demand the car? Always you don't want to
21:05
Speaker 2: be alone in the car. No, really, well, it's not
21:07
Speaker 2: that I don't want to be alone.
21:08
Speaker 7: I want to I don't want this guy breathe and
21:09
Speaker 7: I want to give a running commentary.
21:11
Speaker 2: Okay, really well, I'll give the feedback. Would you come
21:13
Speaker 2: with me when I buy my next car? Are delighting?
21:15
Speaker 9: All right?
21:15
Speaker 2: This is a deal. We have this on the air.
21:17
Speaker 2: You got the date, James, This is great.
21:18
Speaker 3: I'm glad you came to see us once again because
21:21
Speaker 3: we have a lot of important issues to talk about.
21:23
Speaker 3: When it comes to USMCA, the impact of energy prices,
21:27
Speaker 3: they all converge on your business. It's really something no doubt.
21:30
Speaker 3: Cars are America. I guess indeed something like that. John Bozilla,
21:34
Speaker 3: you can steal that if you want. Alliance for Automotive
21:36
Speaker 3: Innovation is great to see you. Thank you, sir for
21:38
Speaker 3: coming with us. You never know who you're going to
21:40
Speaker 3: beet Here in the Washington Bureau at Bloomberg. We will
21:42
Speaker 3: assemble our political panel next. We've got a lot more
21:44
Speaker 3: to talk about, including two important confirmations.
21:46
Speaker 2: One of them's already done.
21:47
Speaker 3: Jay Clayton has the keys to the intelligence apparatus.
21:51
Speaker 2: We'll have that next. Right here, Stay with us on
21:52
Speaker 2: Balance of Power. We'll have much more coming up after this.
22:00
Speaker 1: Listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us
22:03
Speaker 1: live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on Apple,
22:06
Speaker 1: Cocklay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen
22:10
Speaker 1: on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us
22:13
Speaker 1: live on YouTube.
22:16
Speaker 2: I've told people Charlie before a batgie.
22:18
Speaker 3: You travel around the world as a daring not tourist,
22:22
Speaker 3: but traveler with a deep interest in aviation, and have
22:25
Speaker 3: flown into some of the most wild airports, in fact,
22:28
Speaker 3: the most dangerous airport in the world.
22:30
Speaker 9: Absolutely right, that Charla nepal One, that fantastic trip. I'm
22:36
Speaker 9: big on infrastructure too. I seek out the station that
22:39
Speaker 9: the trains, the sewage plants, the city halls.
22:42
Speaker 2: I love seeing stuff like that.
22:43
Speaker 3: That's right, see a sewage plant with Charlie Pellett. But no,
22:47
Speaker 3: I'm just wondering. I bet you're one of the guys
22:49
Speaker 3: who likes Dulles Airport.
22:51
Speaker 2: Am I wrong?
22:52
Speaker 9: Without a doubt? Absolutely? Absolutely right? And I'll tell you why.
22:55
Speaker 9: And I know exactly where you're going with this. Want
22:58
Speaker 9: to say a few places where you can run a
23:00
Speaker 9: people mover.
23:01
Speaker 3: We used to have those, by the way, So look,
23:05
Speaker 3: if they had actually fulfilled their original purpose in design.
23:08
Speaker 3: The idea was to have a mobile lounge, right, you
23:11
Speaker 3: would get into this thing after you left the terminal,
23:13
Speaker 3: it would drive you to your plane. They were going
23:16
Speaker 3: to rise up you walk on the plane. It would
23:18
Speaker 3: be super cool. But they never did that. Charlie and
23:19
Speaker 3: now all they do is drive around in circles, sometimes
23:22
Speaker 3: bump into each other. Well, let me and the President
23:25
Speaker 3: today is announcing a renovation to finally get rid of.
23:27
Speaker 9: Them and let me up the ante. Do you ever
23:29
Speaker 9: think we'll have a day? And I don't think we
23:31
Speaker 9: will for a number of reasons. But how cool would
23:33
Speaker 9: it be to have the nose of the aircraft actually
23:36
Speaker 9: pull into the terminal so you can get out with
23:40
Speaker 9: the jetway or a bridge. Think about that. And another
23:43
Speaker 9: innovation happening in your old stomping ground of Massachusetts getting
23:47
Speaker 9: you from the middle of Massachusetts out to Logan. You
23:51
Speaker 9: handle your tsa ahead of time, get on a bus,
23:55
Speaker 9: and then you've already cleared security. Just amazing.
23:58
Speaker 3: Listen, I'll meet you on the Lone Express anytime you want.
24:01
Speaker 3: If they can do that for me. That's a deal
24:02
Speaker 3: because I have to go like an hour outside of
24:04
Speaker 3: Boston visit. So if you're free this weekend, we could
24:06
Speaker 3: do a sewage plan together. He's the last of the romantics.
24:11
Speaker 3: Everybody Charlie Palette with thank you. He'll take you out
24:14
Speaker 3: on a people mover my pleasure. Sewage plan, I don't
24:18
Speaker 3: know's I So here's the plan by the way. CBS
24:22
Speaker 3: was the first to report this. Washington Post did some
24:24
Speaker 3: other reporting as well. A new Dolls. This is a
24:27
Speaker 3: twenty five twenty two billion dollar renovation. Refurbish the interior.
24:32
Speaker 3: He wants to keep the slanted roof, you know, the
24:34
Speaker 3: sloped roof main terminal. It is pretty cool, sort of
24:37
Speaker 3: Jetson's architecture. Scrap the mobile lounges and install a new
24:43
Speaker 3: underground you shaped arrow train. I don't know why it's
24:47
Speaker 3: not just a train, an arrow train to bring travelers
24:51
Speaker 3: to their terminals, along with moving sidewalks. I'll go to
24:54
Speaker 3: Dolls anytime. If you guys work all this stuff out.
24:58
Speaker 3: If you're with us on ninety here in Washington, we
25:02
Speaker 3: see you.
25:05
Speaker 2: Now.
25:05
Speaker 3: The President's going to be rolling this out at three o'clock.
25:07
Speaker 3: He's got an event in the Oval with Sean Duffy.
25:09
Speaker 3: They're going to have I'm sure schematics and artistic renderings
25:13
Speaker 3: talking about the airport, and I suspect they'll be talking
25:17
Speaker 3: about Jay Clayton. Assuming reporters get questions and Todd Blanche
25:21
Speaker 3: This is getting interesting. It seems dullest airport and the
25:25
Speaker 3: people movers are not the only thing President Trump needs
25:27
Speaker 3: to worry about. He may have messed with the wrong
25:31
Speaker 3: Texan enter. John Cornyn quote. Maybe they think I'm just
25:36
Speaker 3: gonna give up or you know, go along, but they
25:41
Speaker 3: are mistaken. The outgoing Republican senator from Texas, the man
25:46
Speaker 3: who could have been majority leader, is the reason why
25:49
Speaker 3: the president cannot get Todd Blanche confirmed as Attorney General.
25:53
Speaker 3: Maybe Tom Tillis would say the same thing, but John
25:55
Speaker 3: Cornyn is in the lead here. These are the two
25:57
Speaker 3: Yolo senators who have nothing to lose. Cornn saying less
26:02
Speaker 3: than twenty four hours before a critical committee vote for
26:05
Speaker 3: Blanche to become full on attorney General that he is
26:11
Speaker 3: not prepared to support this confirmation until he gets paper
26:15
Speaker 3: he wants it in, writing that there is no anti
26:18
Speaker 3: weaponization fund.
26:20
Speaker 2: And this is where we start with our political panel.
26:23
Speaker 3: Bloomberg Politics contributor Jeanie Shanzano is with us or Democratic
26:26
Speaker 3: Analyst democracy visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center,
26:30
Speaker 3: and Katie Frost is back Republican strategist political director at
26:34
Speaker 3: the American Principles Project. Great to see you, ladies both,
26:37
Speaker 3: and thank you for being with us. Genie, I don't
26:39
Speaker 3: know if you've ever been stuck on these people and
26:41
Speaker 3: they'll drive you around all day if you don't, and
26:44
Speaker 3: they slam on the brakes, everybody goes falling down. Is
26:47
Speaker 3: this not the bipartisan move that the President needs to
26:50
Speaker 3: make right now?
26:52
Speaker 1: Yeah?
26:52
Speaker 10: You know, infrastructure is always popular.
26:55
Speaker 11: But Joe, what is a you train? That is an
26:58
Speaker 11: aero t I'm confused by that.
27:00
Speaker 2: I don't know that.
27:02
Speaker 10: So I don't know. But I'm with Charlie Pella all
27:05
Speaker 10: the way. I Charlie is the best. So if Charlie says.
27:09
Speaker 11: We go to Logan, we go to Logan and they
27:11
Speaker 11: keep the people movers.
27:12
Speaker 2: A fella's all right, fine done?
27:15
Speaker 3: How do you make Todd Blanche attorney general while you're
27:18
Speaker 3: out of the president has the airport figured out?
27:20
Speaker 2: I think.
27:22
Speaker 10: Yeah, that he's got a tougher job with Todd Blanche.
27:25
Speaker 6: No, you know.
27:26
Speaker 11: So what I understand now is the meeting they were
27:29
Speaker 11: supposed to have today, which was supposed to wrap this
27:31
Speaker 11: thing up because we know that the committee needs to
27:35
Speaker 11: know by four o'clock if the markup is on for tomorrow,
27:38
Speaker 11: has now been canceled.
27:40
Speaker 10: And John Cornyn seems.
27:41
Speaker 11: To be telling reporters on the Hill at this moment
27:45
Speaker 11: that the DOJ Todd Blanche had not done enough to
27:48
Speaker 11: assuage his concerns about this one point eight billion dollar
27:52
Speaker 11: fund and the fact that it is clearly and unofficient
27:56
Speaker 11: and officially rather dead. And so we also, I understand,
28:00
Speaker 11: have Todd Blanche on the hill right now.
28:01
Speaker 10: So I don't know, Joe. Maybe this goes forward.
28:04
Speaker 11: This meeting and they get what they want, but we
28:07
Speaker 11: are down to the wire now because they need to
28:10
Speaker 11: know by four o'clock, and I think the ball is
28:12
Speaker 11: now in Todd Blanche and the DOJ's court. Do they
28:15
Speaker 11: put this in writing or not?
28:17
Speaker 3: Yep, you know, Katie's got Hartfield Jackson down there.
28:21
Speaker 2: You get on that tram.
28:22
Speaker 3: I've spent more time on that tram than the amtrack
28:24
Speaker 3: in New York. I'm riding around. How many terminals are
28:27
Speaker 3: in this thing? Weigh in if you want, Katie. But
28:30
Speaker 3: I'm wondering what would keep the DOJ from presenting this
28:35
Speaker 3: in writing, if nothing other than the president.
28:39
Speaker 12: Well, I mean, you have a bunch of attorneys in
28:41
Speaker 12: a room, so you're going to make sure it be
28:42
Speaker 12: very careful what they put in writing. But look, this
28:45
Speaker 12: meeting needs to go forward. And obviously they want to
28:47
Speaker 12: move the nomination, and hopefully they'll be more efficient to
28:50
Speaker 12: move the domination through the Senate than the people movers
28:53
Speaker 12: are at dullest I say this, I'm a Reagan girl.
28:55
Speaker 12: That's my airport, a choice for DC. But yes, I
28:58
Speaker 12: was pretty much raised at Hartsville Jackson. So whenever people
29:02
Speaker 12: complain about the airports, we have the busiest airport in
29:04
Speaker 12: the world in Atlanta, and we still figure out a
29:07
Speaker 12: way to make it efficient. Once you learn the map,
29:10
Speaker 12: it's super easy. My record is seven minutes from the
29:12
Speaker 12: curve to the jetway.
29:14
Speaker 2: Atlanta's all right, I need a lesson.
29:17
Speaker 3: Take take Katie through the air the old people, and
29:19
Speaker 3: we still call it National Airport. But that's a whole
29:21
Speaker 3: other conversation. I want to ask you about Jay Clayton.
29:26
Speaker 3: This is interesting. He got the keys Genie, and maybe
29:29
Speaker 3: we shouldn't be surprised. It was a party line vote
29:32
Speaker 3: fifty one forty seven. But now there's talk of delaying
29:36
Speaker 3: his swearing in. If we believe that the reporting by
29:40
Speaker 3: Politico Bill Poulty, this is the acting the mortgage, the
29:45
Speaker 3: housing guy is urging the president to delay clayton swearing
29:49
Speaker 3: in or at least try to stay in the job
29:51
Speaker 3: longer so he can finish the job of firing people
29:55
Speaker 3: or I guess reorganizing the department. He's laid off a
29:59
Speaker 3: significant number of folks in the intelligence community, Genie.
30:03
Speaker 2: Should he be allowed to continue, Well, it's really up.
30:07
Speaker 11: To the president and when this swearing in occurs, you know,
30:10
Speaker 11: And that political story was just fascinating. They're talking about
30:14
Speaker 11: this romance between Donald Trump and Bill Poulty, which we
30:17
Speaker 11: know has been going on for a long time, and
30:20
Speaker 11: that Bill Poulty really wants to stay there so he
30:24
Speaker 11: can finish the job that Donald Trump gave him, which
30:27
Speaker 11: includes the firings that you mentioned, the social media post
30:30
Speaker 11: declassifying material. And even when Clayton is sworn in, we
30:35
Speaker 11: are hearing that Bill Poulty doesn't want to go too far,
30:38
Speaker 11: and I don't think he's going to. He also would
30:41
Speaker 11: like a cabinet position at some point, so he's angling
30:45
Speaker 11: for that, and he is the sort of darling of
30:49
Speaker 11: the MAGA right at this point, and so I don't
30:51
Speaker 11: think he's going anywhere. But what's fascinating in both of
30:54
Speaker 11: these nominations, Joe, is the fact that it is the
30:57
Speaker 11: twenty twenty election that has sort of held up certainly
31:02
Speaker 11: still holding up Blanches and made it difficult for Clayton
31:06
Speaker 11: to get his nomination forward. So we are still talking
31:09
Speaker 11: about an election six years ago and that is still.
31:12
Speaker 10: Impacting these nominees for the president.
31:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of wild to think.
31:17
Speaker 3: Is there a cabinet position for Bill Poulty that you
31:21
Speaker 3: can imagine, Katie?
31:22
Speaker 2: What are they keeping him on ice for?
31:24
Speaker 12: Well, it'll be interesting to see, because it's not uncommon
31:27
Speaker 12: that you see people there's some turnover after a midterm election.
31:30
Speaker 12: That's not to be unexpected. We've already seen two members
31:33
Speaker 12: of cabinet leave for various reasons, and I would interested
31:36
Speaker 12: in three, and I would anticipate potentially a couple more
31:38
Speaker 12: after the midterms. So we'll have to see. But if
31:41
Speaker 12: you think about it from a perspective of being a businessman,
31:44
Speaker 12: I understand why Polty would want to finish the job,
31:46
Speaker 12: so to speak. He goes, look, I came in here,
31:48
Speaker 12: I reorganizing this agency, and I want to finish what
31:51
Speaker 12: I started. And when you realize that the Director of
31:54
Speaker 12: National Intelligence's job is to oversee eighteen intelligence agencies, I'm
31:58
Speaker 12: sure there are plenty of redundancies there that could definitely
32:00
Speaker 12: be eliminated, and that's what he's been focused on. But
32:03
Speaker 12: let's pay attention. Who wants to go back home to
32:05
Speaker 12: their state that's currently in the administration, who potentially sees
32:10
Speaker 12: maybe a Senate opening or a gubernatorial race that they
32:12
Speaker 12: want to run for and leave the cabinet, then that
32:16
Speaker 12: might be an opportunity for Pulty to slaught right in.
32:18
Speaker 12: He already has the relationship to the president, he already
32:20
Speaker 12: has a relationship to the cabinet members. It would be
32:22
Speaker 12: an obvious choice.
32:23
Speaker 2: Ye, just keeping him in the orbit. Katie, that makes
32:26
Speaker 2: a lot of sense.
32:27
Speaker 3: How about Chief of Staff Genie Susie Wild's on be
32:30
Speaker 3: around forever in this post midterm world that the president
32:35
Speaker 3: will be living in.
32:35
Speaker 2: I don't know I could envision this. How about you?
32:39
Speaker 11: I could certainly envision it, particularly after the midterm election.
32:43
Speaker 11: I don't think it would make I don't think it
32:45
Speaker 11: makes much sense to begin with, but I could see
32:47
Speaker 11: it after the mid term election. But let's remember, you know,
32:52
Speaker 11: Bill Poulti is in there, as Katie mentioned rightly, so
32:55
Speaker 11: eighteen intelligence agencies and zero intelligence experience, and that is
33:01
Speaker 11: the real concern for all of US at a time
33:04
Speaker 11: when the United States is at war. He wants to
33:07
Speaker 11: finish a job that deals with an election six years ago,
33:10
Speaker 11: in reorganizations and firing, and we are in war, and
33:13
Speaker 11: the president needs the best intelligence. He doesn't need somebody
33:17
Speaker 11: who's going to tell him what he wants to hear.
33:19
Speaker 11: He needs to hear the truth, and he needs it
33:22
Speaker 11: from somebody with experience and somebody with a background in intelligence.
33:27
Speaker 11: Bill Polte has none of that. He is a friend
33:30
Speaker 11: of Donald Trump's. He has engendered himself to Donald Trump, certainly,
33:34
Speaker 11: but that doesn't make you qualified to lead US intelligence.
33:39
Speaker 3: Well, certainly a loyalist, and we'll see what comes of this.
33:43
Speaker 3: You guys are great. I'll meet you both at the airport.
33:45
Speaker 3: We've got a lot to figure out here. The President
33:47
Speaker 3: will be talking about Dellis coming up at three pm Eastern.
33:50
Speaker 3: That's Katie Frost, our Republican strategist, Genie Shanzano, our Democratic
33:55
Speaker 3: strategist in Bloomberg Politics contributors, Thanks for listening to the
34:00
Speaker 3: Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you
34:03
Speaker 3: haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts,
34:07
Speaker 3: and you can find us live every weekday from Washington,
34:09
Speaker 3: DC at Noontimeeastern at bloomberg dot com