Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Ambassador Haiti, thank you very much for catching up with
Speaker 2: Bloomberg this morning. If Lenawmi, I'd like to go straight
Speaker 2: to some of the polls, because I think you find
Speaker 2: yourself in a really peculiar position. Head to head with
Speaker 2: a sitting president, you dominate him. Within your own party,
Speaker 2: you're struggling. The latest poll from the Washington Post Monmouth
Speaker 2: University shows fifty eight percent of South Carolina voter support
Speaker 2: Trump compared to thirty two percent for you. So my
Speaker 2: question would be how much daylight is there between what
Speaker 2: your party wants and what you think is.
Speaker 1: Good for it.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, first of all, I'm really proud of
Speaker 3: what we've done. We had fourteen people in the race.
Speaker 3: We've defeated a dozen of the fellas. I just got
Speaker 3: one more. I've got to catch up to. Everybody said
Speaker 3: we wouldn't be able to do it. We started with
Speaker 3: two percent in Iowa, we ended up with twenty percent.
Speaker 3: We went to New Hampshire we got forty three percent
Speaker 3: of the vote. We increased twenty five points in the
Speaker 3: last three weeks of New Hampshire. This race is still
Speaker 3: very much moving. We are going to continue to close
Speaker 3: that gap in South Carolina as we had to Michigan
Speaker 3: and Super Tuesday. Remember, seventy percent of Americans don't want
Speaker 3: to see a Trump Biden rematch.
Speaker 1: I am pushing.
Speaker 3: Through to make sure they have a voice. That's what
Speaker 3: we have to do. That's what matters. You've got, you know,
Speaker 3: a decision whether to keep more of the same or
Speaker 3: whether to go in a new direction, more of the
Speaker 3: same as not just Joe Biden, more of the same
Speaker 3: as Donald Trump. And we've got to stop the chaos.
Speaker 3: We've got to stop the division. But more importantly, we've
Speaker 3: got to get our domestic issues on track. We've got
Speaker 3: to get our national security on track, and we've got
Speaker 3: to get the American families back on track.
Speaker 2: Well, let's kick it off with some foreign policy. So
Speaker 2: you've voiced opposition clearly to Trump's remarks on NATO over
Speaker 2: the weekend. I'm struggling to find more than a handful
Speaker 2: of Republican senators who agree with you. Is that any
Speaker 2: evidence that Trump's thinking is unpopular with GOP voters.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, it's not to go and blame the voters,
Speaker 3: and it's not to go and blame the American people out.
Speaker 3: I've always said it's important for Joe Biden and Congress
Speaker 3: to tell the American people why they should care to
Speaker 3: give them the other side, And you don't hear that.
Speaker 3: The other side is that NATO's been a seventy five
Speaker 3: year success story.
Speaker 1: We have not had war in the region.
Speaker 3: And if you look, Russia has never invaded a NATO country.
Speaker 3: They've invaded Georgia, They've invaded Ukraine, they've invaded Moldova. So
Speaker 3: we want to make sure that, yes, do we want
Speaker 3: NATO to pay more, of course we do. But the
Speaker 3: last thing we're going to do is side with a thug.
Speaker 3: Keep in mind Putin kills his opponents. Keep in mind
Speaker 3: that he has arrested Evan Gersovitch, who's been sitting in
Speaker 3: jail just for doing journalism. Keep in mind that this
Speaker 3: is a man who has wanted to destroy America and
Speaker 3: defeat America for years. I dealt with Russia every single day.
Speaker 3: It is a mistake for Trump to side with Putin
Speaker 3: over our allies. We needed a lot of friends after
Speaker 3: nine to eleven. We better remember that. But it takes
Speaker 3: a friend to get a friend.
Speaker 4: Ambassador Haley, I'm sure you've seen the comments from the
Speaker 4: likes of Lyn Graham and Marco Rubio when it comes
Speaker 4: to NATO. Do you feel like you're potentially at a
Speaker 4: step with members of your own party.
Speaker 3: You know it's not. The goal is never to follow
Speaker 3: the polls. The goal is to make sure you communicate
Speaker 3: what's right. We need to make sure that we have
Speaker 3: an alliance that's strong. Our whole goal is to prevent war.
Speaker 3: That's the main thing. I mean, you look at Russia
Speaker 3: right now. The reason people should care about Ukraine is
Speaker 3: because one it's a pro American freedom loving country. But two,
Speaker 3: listen to what Putin said. Putin said, once he takes Ukraine,
Speaker 3: Poland and the Baltics are next. Those are NATO countries
Speaker 3: that immediately puts America at war. This is about preventing war.
Speaker 3: This is about keeping an alliance strong. This is about
Speaker 3: bringing more friends in, not pushing friends away. Donald Trump
Speaker 3: doesn't get that, and that's what will creep us into war.
Speaker 1: We can't have that.
Speaker 3: And so our goal is not to go and blame
Speaker 3: the American people for feeling the way they do. It's
Speaker 3: to make sure we get our message out on why
Speaker 3: they should care and how this is in the best
Speaker 3: centrists of America, and for those politicians who are refusing
Speaker 3: to say that, that's a disservice to the people that
Speaker 3: they serve.
Speaker 4: If the goal to bring more friends in would you
Speaker 4: agree that President Biden has done a good job in
Speaker 4: expanding the NATO alliance?
Speaker 3: Well, I think first of all, I think that he, yes,
Speaker 3: he understands the importance of NATO, but he doesn't understand
Speaker 3: the importance of preventing war. He could have prevented Putin
Speaker 3: going into Ukraine. All of this wouldn't have happened if
Speaker 3: we wouldn't have had the debacle in Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: I mean, think about the fact that we left boger.
Speaker 3: Mair Force Base in the middle of the night without
Speaker 3: telling our allies who stood shoulder to shoulder with us
Speaker 3: for decades because we asked them to be there. Think
Speaker 3: about what that told our friends. More importantly, think about
Speaker 3: what that said to our enemies. So there's no surprise
Speaker 3: that Putin went and invaded Ukraine. There's no surprise that
Speaker 3: we're seeing Aron push its terrorist proxies to do evil.
Speaker 1: Around the world.
Speaker 3: There's no surprise that Hamas has invaded Israel. There's no
Speaker 3: surprise that China is doing surveillance and intimidation over Taiwan.
Speaker 3: They see that the US is weak and they don't
Speaker 3: trust it. And the fact that we are watching Joe
Speaker 3: Biden in decline is not helping that Russia, China, and
Speaker 3: iron are watching every day the decline of Joe Biden.
Speaker 3: This is bigger about a bigger than a party. This
Speaker 3: is about the fact that we've got to look out
Speaker 3: for the national interests of our country. And that's when
Speaker 3: you put all of this aside and say, what do
Speaker 3: we need.
Speaker 1: We don't need.
Speaker 3: Two eighty year old candidates running for president. We need
Speaker 3: someone who can serve eight years. Discipline, strong, no volatility,
Speaker 3: no drama, no vindictiveness. Just get the job done for
Speaker 3: the American people. That's what I'm trying to do.
Speaker 4: Well. When it comes to mental acuity, I know you
Speaker 4: want to make a standard that they have to take
Speaker 4: these tests. You said you're willing to take these tests.
Speaker 4: Do you expect Biden or Trump to take a mental
Speaker 4: acuity test before November?
Speaker 3: I expect that if you look at the fact, this
Speaker 3: is just a fact. There's a reason pilots can't fly
Speaker 3: after the age of sixty five. There's a reason you
Speaker 3: have to get out of the military after a limited age.
Speaker 3: There are a lot of industries that do that because
Speaker 3: it is fact you are in decline. You look at
Speaker 3: Joe Biden two years ago, very different than what you
Speaker 3: see Joe Biden today. You look at Donald Trump in
Speaker 3: twenty sixteen, very different than what you see today. Donald
Speaker 3: Trump the other day went on three four times saying
Speaker 3: that I should have had security at the Capitol on
Speaker 3: January sixth. I didn't never had a job in DC,
Speaker 3: I never was in charge of security.
Speaker 1: He was confused. That is what happens.
Speaker 3: What I am saying is I don't care if you
Speaker 3: do mental competency tests for fifty en up. But these
Speaker 3: are people making decisions on our national security. These are
Speaker 3: people making decisions on the future of our economy. We
Speaker 3: need to know they're at the top of their game.
Speaker 3: This is not about whether you like them or they
Speaker 3: hold a baby well. This is about the fact that
Speaker 3: we have serious issues in our country. Our country is
Speaker 3: in disarray and the world is on fire, and we
Speaker 3: can't go through four more years of chaos. We won't
Speaker 3: survive it.
Speaker 4: And Massad Haley, you point out a number of gaffes,
Speaker 4: not just from the former President Trump, but also current
Speaker 4: President Biden. At the same time, they're still beating you
Speaker 4: in polls when it comes to Trump, even the ft
Speaker 4: over the weekend, when it comes to handling of the economy,
Speaker 4: you're trailing Biden. Why is that?
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, if you look at the general
Speaker 3: election polls, you see that I do defeat Biden by
Speaker 3: almost seventeen points.
Speaker 1: You can look at the Marquete pole that just came
Speaker 1: out last week.
Speaker 3: I defeat Biden and Wisconsin by fifteen points. Trump doesn't
Speaker 3: defeat Biden. And we have to look at the fact
Speaker 3: that if we go in all the swing states, I
Speaker 3: defeat Biden and if I win by double digits.
Speaker 1: Do you know what that means?
Speaker 3: That means you go into DC with a mandate, A
Speaker 3: mandate to stop the wasteful spending and get our economy
Speaker 3: back on track, a mandate to get our kids reading
Speaker 3: again and go back to the basics and education.
Speaker 1: A mandate to.
Speaker 3: Secure our borders with no more excuses, a mandate for
Speaker 3: law and order back in our cities, and a mandate
Speaker 3: of a strong America that prevents wars that we can
Speaker 3: all be proud of That's the goal of where we're.
Speaker 1: Trying to go.
Speaker 3: We've got to get past this partisan it's got to
Speaker 3: be him or him. I think the problem is both
Speaker 3: of those men. You look at it, whether it's these
Speaker 3: court cases where they had national security documents they shouldn't
Speaker 3: have had. If you've ever had a job that dealt
Speaker 3: with any sort of security documents, you know that they
Speaker 3: are handled with extreme care. The fact that both of
Speaker 3: these gentlemen were so arrogant to have those documents, bragging
Speaker 3: around about them or having them in a garage tells
Speaker 3: you this is more about them than it is about
Speaker 3: the American people.
Speaker 1: That's the focus.
Speaker 3: We've got to get this back on the American people
Speaker 3: and stop getting it on these two men who are
Speaker 3: refusing to give up their power.
Speaker 2: We can focus on that right now. Bassidor Haley, you
Speaker 2: mentioned the economy, let's talk about it. Last summer, you
Speaker 2: spoke to this network about ways to combat rising debt.
Speaker 2: I've got the transcript in front of me. My colleague
Speaker 2: Joe Matthew asked you, how would you manage the entitlements
Speaker 2: to try and get our arms around soaring debt? Your answer?
Speaker 2: Any candidate that says they're not going to touch entitlements
Speaker 2: that basically going to go into office and leave America bankrupt.
Speaker 2: One option you offered, we change retirement age to reflect
Speaker 2: life expectancy. Your original answer is now part of Trump campaign.
Speaker 2: Ats is that still something you want to do?
Speaker 1: Well, First of all, that's not what I said.
Speaker 3: What I said is we should not ever take away
Speaker 3: from those who have invested in and those who have
Speaker 3: been promised America should always keep their promises. I said
Speaker 3: we should go and change the rules for those in
Speaker 3: their twenties. That's the problem those in their twenties, like
Speaker 3: my kids. For them, we should change the retirement age
Speaker 3: to life expectancy. Instead of cost of living increases, we
Speaker 3: should do increases based on inflation. We should cap the
Speaker 3: benefits on the megawealthy, and we should expand Medicare advantage plans.
Speaker 3: What Donald Trump wants to do is he doesn't want
Speaker 3: to touch it, so that when Social Security goes bankrupt
Speaker 3: in ten ures, everybody gets a twenty four percent cut
Speaker 3: across the board.
Speaker 1: That's not how you handle a problem. I'm going to
Speaker 1: count it. The thing you do is you get in
Speaker 1: front of the problem.
Speaker 3: When we make those changes, that's when you start focusing
Speaker 3: on what it takes to make sure not only does
Speaker 3: everybody who've paid and keep what they get, but you
Speaker 3: make sure that our kids will actually have something when
Speaker 3: the time comes for them as well. We have to
Speaker 3: take that seriously, and we have to stop having Congress
Speaker 3: raid the Social Security accounts. Right now they're rating all
Speaker 3: of those accounts. Instead of stopping the wasteful spending, we'll
Speaker 3: stop the spending, stop the borrowing, eliminate the pet projects,
Speaker 3: and al Vito any spending bill that doesn't take us
Speaker 3: back to pre COVID levels.
Speaker 4: Ambasso, do you still think sixty five is way too
Speaker 4: low when it comes to retirement.
Speaker 1: I think it depends.
Speaker 3: We need to go and look at the numbers and
Speaker 3: see exactly where it should be. I think right now
Speaker 3: we do know that people are living longer. What the
Speaker 3: age should be depends. But for everybody that's paid in
Speaker 3: the system, the age is sixty five. That will stay
Speaker 3: sixty five for those in their twenties. That's where we're
Speaker 3: going to have to go and look and say what's
Speaker 3: the right age for us To do that we can
Speaker 3: solve this problem. People don't have to live in fear
Speaker 3: the they're going to lose their social Security, but we
Speaker 3: need to be honest with them. Communicate to them that
Speaker 3: social Security will go bankrupt in ten years, Communicate to
Speaker 3: them that Medicare will go bankrupt in eight and let
Speaker 3: them know that we're going to find a way to
Speaker 3: make sure they keep what they have.
Speaker 1: But we're going to have to make changes.
Speaker 3: Going forward so that we can start to make sure
Speaker 3: these things are solvent.
Speaker 1: In ten years.
Speaker 5: Just changing some of the respect to twenty year olds
Speaker 5: isn't going to necessarily change the equation financially in terms
Speaker 5: of making Social Security more sustainable. So what else could
Speaker 5: you do in the near term to make the sustainable.
Speaker 3: Well, right now, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are saying
Speaker 3: they're not going to do anything, which means you're going
Speaker 3: to have a twenty four percent cap twenty four percent
Speaker 3: cut in ten years. At least I'm willing to do
Speaker 3: something about it. At least I'm willing to tell the
Speaker 3: American people the truth that there is a problem and
Speaker 3: that we're going.
Speaker 1: To fix it.
Speaker 3: So the thing is you start with that, you also
Speaker 3: start with cutting out the wasteful spending that's happened from
Speaker 3: Republicans and Democrats. We saw that two point two trillion
Speaker 3: dollar COVID Stace simulus bill that passed with no accountability.
Speaker 1: That's now expanded welfare.
Speaker 3: That's left us with eighty million Americans on Medicaid, forty
Speaker 3: two million Americans on food stamps.
Speaker 1: That's a third of our country.
Speaker 3: And instead of Republicans doubling down and trying to make
Speaker 3: something right, they opened up pet projects and earmarks for
Speaker 3: the first time in ten years, pushing through seven thousand
Speaker 3: of them last year.
Speaker 1: You've got to stop that.
Speaker 3: The other ways we're going to do it is we're
Speaker 3: going to take as many programs in the federal government
Speaker 3: as we can and pass them down to the state level.
Speaker 3: That will dramatically reduce the size of the federal government,
Speaker 3: but it will empower people on the ground. Think education,
Speaker 3: think welfare, think healthcare, think mental health. When you go
Speaker 3: and cut those strengths and allow that to go down
Speaker 3: to the people, you're reducing the size of the bloated
Speaker 3: government we have. Everybody loves to talk about how great
Speaker 3: the economy was under Donald Trump. Well, yet seemed great,
Speaker 3: but at what costs? Well, he put US eight trillion
Speaker 3: dollars in debt in just four years Joe Biden went
Speaker 3: and doubled down and put us even more in debt.
Speaker 1: That's not how you fix the economy.
Speaker 3: That's how you go and leave younger generations in a
Speaker 3: situation they'll never be able to pull out of.
Speaker 5: Meanwhile, Donald Trump is talking about heavily taroffing Chinese goods,
Speaker 5: potentially up to forty percent. Do you see this as
Speaker 5: one viable way to raise money.
Speaker 1: Absolutely not.
Speaker 3: All that does is raise taxes on the American families
Speaker 3: and our small businesses that we need to be taken
Speaker 3: care of.
Speaker 1: It is ludicrous that.
Speaker 3: He wants to go and raise those tariffs to everything
Speaker 3: that we import that's going to affect American families on
Speaker 3: anything from baby strollers to appliances. Every American family will
Speaker 3: see at least a twenty eight hundred dollars increase in
Speaker 3: their taxes. Not only that, Not only does he want
Speaker 3: to cut Social Security by twenty four percent ten years,
Speaker 3: he wanted to raise the gas tax by twenty five
Speaker 3: cents per gallon in twenty eighteen. He doesn't understand the
Speaker 3: value of a taxpayer dollar. He doesn't understand that you
Speaker 3: don't go in debt, you don't tax the American people.
Speaker 3: You don't go and take away big take care of
Speaker 3: big corporations. You take care of small businesses and American
Speaker 3: families by making sure they have more cash that they
Speaker 3: can spend. That's been what's lost not only in Donald Trump,
Speaker 3: but in Joe Biden and in every member of Congress.
Speaker 2: And Masiba Haiti. Given that, given that you seemingly consider,
Speaker 2: and many of us do too, that a tariff on
Speaker 2: China is a tax on American consumers, would you consider
Speaker 2: repealing existing tariffs on Chinese imports.
Speaker 3: China's different now when you talk about Trump wants to
Speaker 3: do tariffs across the board from every country, China we
Speaker 3: have to deal with differently. We have to understand China
Speaker 3: has been preparing for war with US for years.
Speaker 1: That's not an exaggeration. They're already here.
Speaker 3: We know that they bought four hundred thousand acres of
Speaker 3: US soil, most recently near Grand Forks Air Force Base,
Speaker 3: where our most.
Speaker 1: Sensitive drone technology is.
Speaker 3: They're putting millions of dollars into our universities, stealing our
Speaker 3: research and spreading Chinese propaganda. They've got Chinese police stations
Speaker 3: throughout our country. We know they had the Chinese by
Speaker 3: balloon that was doing surveillance over a country that now
Speaker 3: connected with a US Internet company and sent that surveillance
Speaker 3: to China. They're building up their military threatening America. What
Speaker 3: we need to do is when we look at China,
Speaker 3: you look at it through a national security lens. You
Speaker 3: look at it and say, if China pulled the rug
Speaker 3: out from under us tomorrow, would we be ready? Think
Speaker 3: about what happened during COVID. Everybody was told to wear
Speaker 3: a mask? Who made the masks China did? Everybody was
Speaker 3: told to take a COVID test.
Speaker 1: You turned it over.
Speaker 3: It was made in China. Go into your drug stores
Speaker 3: right now. All of those medications are made in China.
Speaker 3: We've got to focus on what do we do to
Speaker 3: change that narrative, to make sure that the American.
Speaker 1: People are not dependent on China.
Speaker 3: But we move that trade either to where we make
Speaker 3: it in South make it in America, or we go
Speaker 3: and we make it with our allies and our friends.