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What WIll Trump's Foreign Policy Look Like, Is It Already Yielding Results? · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This hour please to have with us. Ambassador Francis Rooney
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: represented Florida's nineteenth Congressional District in the House of Representatives
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one. Previously served as
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  Speaker 1: Ambassador to the Holy See, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ambassador,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: good to have you on the program. How are you, sir?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I'm great, Thank you for having me on my pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious, I commented earlier in the show. I can't
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: remember a time when a president coming into office was
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in essence the de facto president as we're seeing right
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  Speaker 1: now with Donald Trump and George You know, I mean
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  Speaker 1: Joe Biden. Basically, we don't know where he is. It's
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: not that different from the previous four years. But have
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  Speaker 1: you ever seen a time like this where the incoming
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  Speaker 1: president in fact started running things.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's highly unusual. But Obama's been running the country
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  Speaker 2: for three years, so now Trump is what's the big deal?
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  Speaker 2: I agree with you, Biden doesn't know worries he mean,
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  Speaker 2: I have know who he is.
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  Speaker 1: It's so funny you say that, because I've been referring
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  Speaker 1: to it as the Obiden administration. Are you you seemingly
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  Speaker 1: are convinced that this really has been orchestrated the last
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  Speaker 1: four years by Barack Obama.
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  Speaker 2: I am yeah. You look at all the people that
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: have been dominating the executive branch. It's all of Obama's
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  Speaker 2: old radical people. And that's Biden's cave to every one
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  Speaker 2: of them on everything they want to do. There's nothing
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  Speaker 2: to Biden except the bag of bones.
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  Speaker 1: We have seen dramatic changes in Canada obviously with Justin
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  Speaker 1: Trudeau stepping down or about to, and you know, southern
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  Speaker 1: border policy with Mexico dispersing the caravans. Give us a
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  Speaker 1: broad sense. You've been involved in US foreign policy, what
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  Speaker 1: you see happening now and what you expect as Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump takes office.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we're already seeing some positive results of
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  Speaker 2: the election, with Iran keeping quiet and the uprising in
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  Speaker 2: Syria and the outreach of the Sunni Arab countries to
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  Speaker 2: Israel like started under the Abraham of Courts on the
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  Speaker 2: Trump's first term, and now a little renewed focused on
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  Speaker 2: Latin America, which is healthy because we don't pay enough
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  Speaker 2: attention to Latin America and we've got some problems down
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  Speaker 2: there with a lot of authoritarian rulers.
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  Speaker 1: What do you expect the agenda to be for Donald
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  Speaker 1: Trump first and foremost when he takes office officially on
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  Speaker 1: January twentieth.
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  Speaker 2: I think NATO and China. You know, he's the same
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  Speaker 2: things he was focused on before. Now the Israel thing
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  Speaker 2: is kind of under taking on a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: forward momentum. I think China is the big buggaboo. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: they seem to be able to outstart us at every step,
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  Speaker 2: and we've got to do something about it. Do you
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  Speaker 2: know that they make most all of the cranes that
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  Speaker 2: are used in our ports and the cameras that are
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: on top of them. I mean, they're gathering so much
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  Speaker 2: information about us every day in so many ways, and
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  Speaker 2: we have no clue. Well, there are people that have
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  Speaker 2: a clue, but they're not talking about it, and we're
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  Speaker 2: not doing anything about it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and we've had a president subservent to China because
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  Speaker 1: he was in the pocket of China when he was
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  Speaker 1: vice president of the United States, and so as a
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  Speaker 1: direct result, it appears to me that China has kind
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  Speaker 1: of allowed us to be well, has encouraged us to
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  Speaker 1: be bullied into the EV market. We're China controls virtually
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  Speaker 1: every part of that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, they're taking over the car industry here, and
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  Speaker 2: looks like we're taking over everything else. You know, this
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  Speaker 2: whole thing about Biden. If a Republican administration had tried
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  Speaker 2: to pull a coup like that and hide the president
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  Speaker 2: for three years, it would have been a revolution in
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  Speaker 2: this country. The fact that they pull that off, I
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  Speaker 2: think the American people need to continue to attack the
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  Speaker 2: Democrats from what they did here.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious if you had a seat at the table
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  Speaker 1: with Donald Trump, and perhaps you do. You know, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how frequently you might encounter the incoming president
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  Speaker 1: the returning president, But what would you be saying to
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  Speaker 1: him about from from your chair as a former ambassador, I.
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  Speaker 2: Would say, don't try to inhibit the sale required sale
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  Speaker 2: of TikTok. Let's get the Chinese out of our media
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  Speaker 2: and out of our influencing people. I would get rid
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  Speaker 2: of the Confucius centers that are on every campus that
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  Speaker 2: are basically Chinese intelligence stations. I tried to get rid
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  Speaker 2: of him the Congress and couldn't get it done. I
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  Speaker 2: think China is the biggest enemy, and I would I would,
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  Speaker 2: I would move for reshoring, leveraging the countries that we
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  Speaker 2: do have stable relationships with, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines obviously, Japan,
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  Speaker 2: and Latin America where we can reshore things to change
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  Speaker 2: supply chains to avoid being the dependent on China.
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  Speaker 1: Joining US is former US Ambassador Francis Rooney for US Congressman,
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  Speaker 1: Do you miss it? Do you miss being part of
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  Speaker 1: that mess in DC?
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  Speaker 2: No? I didn't run for reelection because the things I
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  Speaker 2: was interested in doing I had done, and I really
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  Speaker 2: did not enjoy being cooped up right down there and
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  Speaker 2: just talking about meaningless things all the time.
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  Speaker 1: I would imagine there's equal frustration because you're dealing with
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  Speaker 1: people in your own party that seemingly have drunk the
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  Speaker 1: kool aid of Washington, DC.
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  Speaker 2: Inside the Beltway, Well, it becomes a self sustaining prophecy.
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  Speaker 2: The people want to stay there above all else, so
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  Speaker 2: they've got to make everybody look like they're accomplishing a
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  Speaker 2: lot of things. But as you can see from the
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  Speaker 2: way the executive branch has grown and the way Congress
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  Speaker 2: can't seem to get much done that it's kind of
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  Speaker 2: a hauled out job.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we have a regular guest ambassador Kat Camick,
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  Speaker 1: congresswoman from Florida's third district, and she is a very
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  Speaker 1: candid member of Congress, very frustrated with what's going on,
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  Speaker 1: and speaks openly about the behind the scenes stuff that
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  Speaker 1: takes place. I'm just curious, what are your thoughts on
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  Speaker 1: what the Republican Caucus is going to do over these
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  Speaker 1: next four years and maybe even more importantly, over these
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  Speaker 1: first one hundred days.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think they'll be able to do very much
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  Speaker 2: with the two or three seat majority. The way the
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  Speaker 2: system is, you know, you've got to have a majority
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  Speaker 2: to get something done in the House, and that's going
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  Speaker 2: to be very difficult to keep everybody corral. There are
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  Speaker 2: a lot of different views in the House, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: we have Republicans from fifty to fifty districts, and then
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  Speaker 2: we have Republicans from a lot of the districts in
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  Speaker 2: Florida that are highly partisan, either a Democrat on the
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  Speaker 2: East Coast in Orlando or Republican everywhere else.
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  Speaker 1: But the American people not only gave him an electoral win,
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  Speaker 1: meaning Donald Trump, but they gave him the popular vote
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  Speaker 1: win by a significant margin. And I'm just curious if that.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that carries any weight with the Republicans
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  Speaker 1: that that are kind of wishy washy.
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  Speaker 2: No. I think the only thing that carries weight is
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  Speaker 2: raising enough money to keep their job, raising enough money,
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  Speaker 2: build your amid that people feel you're doing a good job,
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  Speaker 2: and we'll vote for you. That's the syllogism.
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  Speaker 1: So what are your What do you think is realistic
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  Speaker 1: for Donald Trump to get done? Because you know, we
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: had Tommy Tubberville on the program yesterday, I remember the
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  Speaker 1: US Senate from Alabama. He said, we've got to get
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  Speaker 1: some things done by law, not by executive order, because
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  Speaker 1: if not the next president, that's the Democrats going to
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  Speaker 1: roll it all off.
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  Speaker 2: He's exactly correct. And when I was there in Trump's
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  Speaker 2: first term, we did the same thing. We'd used the
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: reconciliation process to pass a lot of things that he
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  Speaker 2: could execute that we knew we couldn't get sixty votes
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  Speaker 2: in the Senate to make a law, and but what happened.
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  Speaker 2: Biden reversed them all. Now Trump's in the commander to
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  Speaker 2: reverse them all again. I feel like we're in a
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  Speaker 2: banana republic. The only way to meaningfully enact change is
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  Speaker 2: to pass a law but you've got the sixty vote
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  Speaker 2: thing in the Senate.
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  Speaker 1: How hard is it going to be for Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: to follow what Joe Biden has done for four years,
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  Speaker 1: and let's say what it was Barack Obama for the
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  Speaker 1: last four years, really damaging this country from an economic perspective,
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  Speaker 1: from an energy perspective, from a regulatory perspective, from an
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  Speaker 1: infrastructure perspective. How difficult is the job ahead?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think you can accomplish a lot through the
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  Speaker 2: reconciliation process without having to go to a Senate sixty
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  Speaker 2: vote majority, But to get that, it's going to be
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  Speaker 2: very difficult. So that's the conundrum that we face, is
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  Speaker 2: this ying and yang of partisan views of how the
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  Speaker 2: country ought to be every four years, instead of passing
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  Speaker 2: substantive reforms that would stop all the ridiculous spending, the
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  Speaker 2: absurd extra regulations. I'm just reading the paper this morning,
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  Speaker 2: several billion dollars of cost to American businesses to Biden
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  Speaker 2: is basic regulations. We just can't keep doing that.
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  Speaker 1: Rest here, Ambassador, thank you for your time, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your service to our country and to our state
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  Speaker 1: as a member of Congress, and I appreciate your visit
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 1: I thank you. Ambassador Francis Rooney, our guest. Kind of
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  Speaker 1: a no nonsense guy, as you can tell. He's written
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: a book, The Global Vatican, if you're interested in learning
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: more about his time as ambassador to the Holy See.
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  Speaker 1: I had to look up to better understand that Holy
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  Speaker 1: See thing. It's like, hey, you know my thoughts on
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  Speaker 1: the Pope. I think he's a heretic. But anyway, seventeen
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  Speaker 1: passed the hour