Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2: Thanks for being with us on the Monday edition of
Speaker 2: Balance of Power, as we had the voice of Ashley Davis,
Speaker 2: the Republican strategist of course you've heard from many times
Speaker 2: on this program, with a slightly different take on things
Speaker 2: today as we consider the legacy of a democratic president.
Speaker 2: She's of course founding partner West Front Strategies. Great to
Speaker 2: see Ashley. I hope you're having a great holiday season,
Speaker 2: and we'll get to Jimmy Carter. I just wonder your
Speaker 2: thoughts on what's going on in the house here. Did
Speaker 2: Mike Johnson just close the deal? Is he a maid man?
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, Happy New Year, and I wish
Speaker 1: I was with you in person. I'm in cold weather
Speaker 1: right now. But I actually think it helps him a lot. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the President elect understands that if he wants to get
Speaker 1: his agenda done, or actually get anything done in the
Speaker 1: first hundred days of his administration, that we have to
Speaker 1: have a house in place right away. And Speaker Johnson
Speaker 1: is the one would do the best job in regards
Speaker 1: to not having chaos of an election. And I mean,
Speaker 1: how many times was did it take for McCarthy to
Speaker 1: get the first time eleven or thirteen, I forget the
Speaker 1: number right now. But the only other name is Stephanie
Speaker 1: was saying, names do pop up. The only other name
Speaker 1: that I think would kind of appease some of these
Speaker 1: conservatives on the right, which there aren't that many, but
Speaker 1: you don't need that many to upend his speakership is
Speaker 1: Jim Jordan, and he has said several times that he
Speaker 1: is not going to run against Speaker Johnson. So I
Speaker 1: do think that President Trump coming out today was a
Speaker 1: huge win for them, but I also think it's self
Speaker 1: serving because it's not going to help President Trump to
Speaker 1: have chaos going into his new administration.
Speaker 2: Well, Mike Lawler agrees with you. The Republican from New
Speaker 2: York was on ABC this week asked about this very matter, Ashley.
Speaker 2: Here's what he said.
Speaker 3: Mike Johnson inherited a disaster when Matt Gats and several
Speaker 3: of my cop He's teamed up with two hundred and
Speaker 3: eight Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy, which will go down
Speaker 3: as the single stupidest thing I've ever seen in politics.
Speaker 3: With that said, removing Mike Johnson would equally be as
Speaker 3: stupid that's.
Speaker 2: Quite a statement, I have to admit, Ashley. Do you
Speaker 2: agree with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would probably not use as extreme words. But
Speaker 1: it wasn't smart and it's not going to be smart again.
Speaker 1: I mean, and if you look at this, this is
Speaker 1: like Chip Roy this, I'll be interesting to hear what
Speaker 1: Congoerson Fleischmann says to you. You said he's coming up
Speaker 1: next because he's obviously considered a conservative member, but not
Speaker 1: a destructionist, so I'm assuming he thinks it's a good idea.
Speaker 1: Moving forward to Speaker Johnson, thing in place.
Speaker 2: Not a destructionist. Fascinating use of that word, Ashley. I
Speaker 2: want to ask you about the big debate that's broken
Speaker 2: out over immigration here, and I'm not referring to border security.
Speaker 2: I'm referring to actual legal immigration. People who watch this
Speaker 2: program know that you have a long history in the
Speaker 2: national security space and helped to bring about the Department
Speaker 2: of Homeland Security, and this idea of H one B
Speaker 2: visas suddenly being extremely controversial as a component of this
Speaker 2: border issue is really interesting. Elon Musk, of course, suggesting
Speaker 2: that we lift the cap on these H one b's
Speaker 2: bring in foreign based talent to help us, particularly in
Speaker 2: high tech. But that runs counter to what a lot
Speaker 2: of the MAGA world thinks ought to be happening when
Speaker 2: it comes to the border in America. First, how do
Speaker 2: you square this from where you're.
Speaker 1: Sitting, Yeah, I think that this is totally getting combined
Speaker 1: into one conversation that really shouldn't be because the visas
Speaker 1: that elon and the vaguer speaking about the HB one,
Speaker 1: they're actually legal visas that are sponsored by companies and
Speaker 1: corporations to bring talent in and the mega side of
Speaker 1: the party, that and many others not just MAGA that
Speaker 1: are concerned about border security, in my mind, are people
Speaker 1: that are coming over here illegally. So I really think
Speaker 1: it's important to split the topic up because one does
Speaker 1: not have anything to do with the other one. You
Speaker 1: have sixty five thousand available HB one visas every year
Speaker 1: to apply to and you get a three year That
Speaker 1: visa last three years, and you have actually one more
Speaker 1: chance to extend it another three years. But otherwise, it's
Speaker 1: not that people are coming across the border illegally, staying
Speaker 1: here and not being able to be found. Obviously, the
Speaker 1: ones that commit crimes that are here as well. So
Speaker 1: it's a different program. So I agree with Elon and
Speaker 1: the Vike on this, and I guess the president duly.
Speaker 2: Noted duly noted. But now that Elon Musk and the
Speaker 2: Veke Ramaswami have kicked the nest on this, we have
Speaker 2: an active debate going on over work visas, whether they're
Speaker 2: skilled or not. And Donald Trump was talking about dreamers
Speaker 2: in the only he's done since being elected is something
Speaker 2: that he would work with Democrats on. So it sounds
Speaker 2: to me actually like just shutting down the border is
Speaker 2: not enough. Is the answer not comprehensive immigration reform.
Speaker 1: I think the comprehensive immigration reform, I mean, in two
Speaker 1: thousand and seven was the closest that that ever was
Speaker 1: becoming true to reality when when Senator Kennedy then President
Speaker 1: Bush almost did strike a deal. I think that a
Speaker 1: win for President Trump is in this first year right away,
Speaker 1: which is why I think reconciliation will happen. I think
Speaker 1: there's two buckets that will happen. Per or earlier conversation
Speaker 1: with Stephanie. I think they'll do border first, along with energy.
Speaker 1: But the reason why is if you get the million
Speaker 1: illegal immigrants that are in this country out of the
Speaker 1: country the first year that have committed a crime or
Speaker 1: have completely exhausted the appeal process. That's a million people
Speaker 1: that can go out right away, which is a huge
Speaker 1: win for Trump. So if he does that, then works
Speaker 1: slowly over the next three years trying to find and
Speaker 1: round up all these other people that have come over
Speaker 1: here illegally. I think that's going to be phase two.
Speaker 1: But if you deal with h B one visas, or
Speaker 1: if you deal with Dreamers, I mean, that's a whole
Speaker 1: that's in my mind is stage three, four five. You've
Speaker 1: got to get rid of these top ones first and
Speaker 1: second that have committed crimes in this country.
Speaker 2: Rick Davis's ears are burning after I said comprehensive immigration reform.
Speaker 2: As we spend time with Ashley Davis, I haven't asked
Speaker 2: you about Jimmy Carter. Ashley, what do you make of
Speaker 2: the constant comparisons, by the way, not just today, but
Speaker 2: for the balance of Joe Biden's administration being compared to
Speaker 2: Jimmy Carter. Is that fair?
Speaker 1: Now? I think listen, and I said this before in
Speaker 1: my show President Bush. My boss used to always say,
Speaker 1: let history make this decision on what I've done. And
Speaker 1: I think that Jimmy Carter will go down in history
Speaker 1: as do and even today yesterday when he passed away,
Speaker 1: there's many people that believe in many things that he did.
Speaker 1: I think during the campaign, when people were criticizing President Biden,
Speaker 1: they were giving him, obviously an insult saying that President
Speaker 1: Carter never did anything to this country. What you said
Speaker 1: earlier in what Stephanie said in regards to President Trump
Speaker 1: giving his condolences, being part of this club is a
Speaker 1: very lonely club, and I think that there are many
Speaker 1: country that do respect this. You see that the funeral
Speaker 1: will be on January ninth, Obviously the stock market will
Speaker 1: be closed. Does that mean you get off on the ninth,
Speaker 1: Joe Market.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. We're going to call you to join.
Speaker 1: Us, actually, but I think that it was more of
Speaker 1: an insult to President Biden than it was, to go
Speaker 1: back to your question, than it actually was about Jimmy Carter.
Speaker 1: He'll go down in the history of maybe making some mistakes,
Speaker 1: but also doing some good things.
Speaker 2: Huh. Do you think that Trump's statement about Jimmy Carter
Speaker 2: was more of an insult to Joe Biden? Is that
Speaker 2: what you're saying.
Speaker 1: During the campaign when he was being when he was
Speaker 1: being compared to Jimmy Carr. The statement that he made
Speaker 1: yesterday I thought was very appropriate.
Speaker 2: Well, so what's the lesson here? And you know, I
Speaker 2: always save the easy question for last when we're out
Speaker 2: of time, Ashley, But I keep hearing from people, Democrats
Speaker 2: and Republicans who say, you know what, the lasting impression
Speaker 2: is that he had dignity, that people trusted his word,
Speaker 2: that he was a nice guy. What am I supposed
Speaker 2: to take from that in this age in Washington?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, obviously there's lots of criticism, but I'm
Speaker 1: reading this book right now actually talking about all the
Speaker 1: various presidents that have gone down and saying there was
Speaker 1: an integrity or there wasn't they weren't patriotic enough. I mean,
Speaker 1: how many people hated run Ronald Reagan that now the
Speaker 1: entire Republican Party runs on being Ronald Reagan? Asked, So
Speaker 1: I think again, this to me goes back on time.
Speaker 1: Heals a lot of wounds and a lot of memories
Speaker 1: are short.
Speaker 2: How true? Joining us live from the Matter Horn Ashley
Speaker 2: Davis founding partner West Front Strategies. It's great to see you, Ashley.
Speaker 2: Happy new year. We'll see you in twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: because we're going to have a lot to talk about