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Speaker 1: I'm Rick Davis along with Bloomberg Politics contributor Jennie Shawn Zano,

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Speaker 1: and we're joined today by Lester months in a principle

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Speaker 1: at b GR Group, but also someone who's had a

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Speaker 1: lifelong time experience in UH foreign policy national security affairs.

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Speaker 1: We've been listening to President Joe Biden's first summit press

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Speaker 1: conference with Prime Minister Yoshi Suga from Japan UH. This

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Speaker 1: is the first bilateral meeting of a president and a

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Speaker 1: Prime minister in this White House in the first hundred

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Speaker 1: days of Joe Biden's office. He's made this a number

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Speaker 1: one priority and we can tell why. The statements by

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Speaker 1: both heads of state indicated a lengthy conversation about China

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Speaker 1: UH and the security and human rights aspects to that.

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Speaker 1: And so maybe I'd like to pick up where we

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Speaker 1: left off Lester right before the press conference took place,

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Speaker 1: to pick up on this China issue. It seemed to

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Speaker 1: me that that Prime Minister Shuga Suga actually went a

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Speaker 1: little bit further than President Biden and talking about the

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Speaker 1: fact that the United States was reaffirming its defensive Japan

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Speaker 1: and talked literally about the intimidation of China in the

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Speaker 1: in the South China Sea. Are you not surprised by

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Speaker 1: this or do you think that this was really pretty

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Speaker 1: consistent with policy. Yeah, I I think he definitely gave

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Speaker 1: some more granularity than President Biden did on his concerns.

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Speaker 1: Of course, Japan is much closer to China than we are,

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Speaker 1: so he went deeper on South China see East China,

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Speaker 1: see North Korea, on some of the other issues with

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Speaker 1: islands in the region. There's a lot of disputes between

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Speaker 1: Japan and China, and he uh, the Prime minister. Prime

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Speaker 1: Minister Cigat rightly reasserted the areas where the US and

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Speaker 1: Japan gree uh and that's sends an important message to Beijing.

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Speaker 1: It sends an important message to the rest of the

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Speaker 1: region that this partnership between the US and Japan, the

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Speaker 1: first the largest economy in the world, and the third

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Speaker 1: largest economy in the world, are remains resolute in the

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Speaker 1: face of the challenge from China. Servant he he had

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Speaker 1: to go. It's like watching figure skating in the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: You know, they mentioned the Olympics, UH coming up in

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Speaker 1: the next few months. In the Olympics, in figure skating,

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Speaker 1: before you get to the fancy stuff, you have to

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Speaker 1: do these kind of mandatory UH figure eights and things

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Speaker 1: like that. That's what those guys were doing today. They

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Speaker 1: were going over the issues where the US and Japan agree,

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Speaker 1: touching on all those important things, kind of mandatory issues

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Speaker 1: that we have to revisit every so often to remind

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Speaker 1: everyone else, and the things that we agree with. You know,

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Speaker 1: unlessa you mentioned the Olympics. You know, we've had such

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Speaker 1: a run on Olympic dialogue on this show for the

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Speaker 1: last month. A number of members of Congress have been

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Speaker 1: talking to us about the Chinese Olympics and why should

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Speaker 1: we be going to the Chinese Olympics and participating in that,

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Speaker 1: especially because of one of the other topics that they raised,

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Speaker 1: and that is the Shinjen Weiger issue. UH and and

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Speaker 1: and I want to turn to Genie because you know,

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Speaker 1: we've been involved in these conversations with elected officials who

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Speaker 1: are really outraged about the notion that we're going to

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Speaker 1: go to China with the Olympics. But we haven't really

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Speaker 1: heard that much. And when the press conference took place, UH,

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Speaker 1: the President and the primus reacted to uh COVID concerns

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Speaker 1: that people have raised about the Tokyo Olympics. What's your

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Speaker 1: what's your read on that? I was interested. I think

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Speaker 1: it was the question from the the reporter from writers,

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Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, who asked the question to President

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Speaker 1: Biden about Iran and then followed up by asking the

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister if he thinks, and I think the word

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Speaker 1: he used it was irresponsible to move forward with the

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Speaker 1: Olympics due to the COVID situation in his country. Now,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately I did not hear, and I don't know if

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Speaker 1: you were Lester did. I did not hear the Prime

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Speaker 1: Minister respond to that question. But the fact is, and

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Speaker 1: he might have I missed, just may have missed it.

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Speaker 1: But the fact is that they are they have if

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Speaker 1: I have these numbers right, only about one percent of

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Speaker 1: the population vaccinated at this point. They are going through

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Speaker 1: another resurgence of COVID in Japan. So it is a

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Speaker 1: critically important question and what we understand from the Olympics

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Speaker 1: in Japan at this point, no spectators. It's going to

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Speaker 1: be small, it's going to be truncated, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be televised. But again that's if it goes forward. Genie,

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Speaker 1: I think it's a really good point. I mean, one

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Speaker 1: percent of the population. And UH, and yet they're moving

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Speaker 1: ahead with a massive event. And and as you point out,

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Speaker 1: I mean it's likely to be only athletes and local

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Speaker 1: residents in Japan, but with only one percent inoculated, you'd

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Speaker 1: have to see these things as potential spread er events. UH.

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Speaker 1: We'll be taking up more of this conversation related to

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Speaker 1: the press conference between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime

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Speaker 1: Minister Yoshi Suga. UH, first one of its kind in

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Speaker 1: this administration. And I'd say a distinct difference between the

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Speaker 1: America First policies that Donald Trump had put forth UH

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Speaker 1: and versus the very much UH engaging and multilateral relationship

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Speaker 1: building that we saw today UM as a part of

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Speaker 1: this press conference. And we'll bring this back up after

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Speaker 1: the break. UH. And we'll be joined after that by

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Speaker 1: UM Lester Munson from b GR Group and our own

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Speaker 1: Genie shawn Zano. UH. This is Rick Davis, and this

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Speaker 1: is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg Sound On on Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 1: I'm Rick Davis along with Bloomberg Politics contributor Jennie Shawn Zano,

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Speaker 1: and we have with a Lester months in a principle

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Speaker 1: at b GR Group Lester has joined us at the

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Speaker 1: top of the hour, and we've been talking about an

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Speaker 1: important event today at the White House where President Joe

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Speaker 1: Biden held a press conference and a full day of

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Speaker 1: summiteering with Prime Minister Yoshi Suga from Japan. Uh. Much

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Speaker 1: of that conversation centered on China when we were talking

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Speaker 1: about this early in the program. But I wondered, Lester,

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Speaker 1: if we could transition a little bit because one of

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Speaker 1: the other topics that was discussed was really on developing

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Speaker 1: much more robust capability to support Japan and US supply chain.

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Speaker 1: And we've talked a lot about this program related to

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Speaker 1: supply chain issues, especially related to the infrastructure bill that's

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Speaker 1: coming up on the Capitol Hill, and I was wondering

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Speaker 1: if you could react to that um. Japan obviously has

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Speaker 1: an enormous technology infrastructure. They've talked about reaching agreements on

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Speaker 1: research and and AI and quantum computing and five g

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Speaker 1: Uh does this bud for a big technology revolution between

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Speaker 1: Japan and the US. Well, I think it's a great question. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're we're looking at the sea change in

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Speaker 1: the way the US does business. I think we've been

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Speaker 1: we've embraced China. For for the last several decades, we

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Speaker 1: wanted to trade with China, kind of built part of

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Speaker 1: our economy on cheap manufacturing coming out of China. That's

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Speaker 1: all changing now. We're looking to pull apart our supply

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Speaker 1: chains um in critical areas medical equipment, high technology, so

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Speaker 1: that we're not relying on China and its authoritarian government.

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Speaker 1: Japan is going to be a big part of that solution.

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Speaker 1: The Biden administration has has directed its departments and agencies

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Speaker 1: to look in the sectors of the economy they deal

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Speaker 1: with for opportunities to change things. Uh. Congress is marking

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Speaker 1: up legislation as early as next week that's going to

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Speaker 1: really challenge the way we've done business in the past.

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Speaker 1: I think there's there's gonna be huge changes. Whether all

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Speaker 1: of them will work or not, I don't know, but

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Speaker 1: it does seem like the Biden administration is making a

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Speaker 1: huge effort here to reorient our our economy in these

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Speaker 1: critical areas in a new direction. A lot of it's

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Speaker 1: going to be based on climate change and some more

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Speaker 1: green technology approaches, that's clear, But what it really is

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Speaker 1: is a more of a managed economy than we've had

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Speaker 1: in the past. We're kind of turning away from free

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Speaker 1: markets and just trading with anyone to more of a

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Speaker 1: deliberate approach. I'm not sure that's our strength, but we're

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Speaker 1: going to find out. You know, today White House Press

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Speaker 1: Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about infrastructure spending in the

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Speaker 1: talks up on Capitol Hill, and we have sound on that.

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Speaker 1: What we're waiting for is a counterproposal from Republicans in Congress,

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Speaker 1: and they've indicated that they're working through that. You know,

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Speaker 1: Jennie um U, Infrastructure has been a dominant theme in

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Speaker 1: our conversation since Joe Biden has been elected, and we

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Speaker 1: know that the Republicans are unhappy with his proposal, especially

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Speaker 1: the corporate tax levels that are existing today in his

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Speaker 1: current proposal. But today, I mean, the themes around this

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Speaker 1: press conference and the summit seemed to really reflect the

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Speaker 1: importance of building out, especially our technical technology infrastructure. Do

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Speaker 1: you think this will add any momentum to the effort

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Speaker 1: by the administration of push their infrastructure bill. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if this particular summit will. I have to tell you, Rick,

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Speaker 1: I was struck and I wrote it down and highlighted

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Speaker 1: it with my orange highlighter right here when I was

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Speaker 1: keeping notes, Biden said, democracies can still compete and win,

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Speaker 1: and they can still deliver for our people. That's what

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Speaker 1: he said. He wanted this summit to showcase for the world,

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Speaker 1: and this has been a common theme with him in

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Speaker 1: this first eight five days, that democracies over autocracies can

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Speaker 1: compete when and deliver. So as I'm listening to you

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Speaker 1: and Lester talk about this infrastructure bill, which is you

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Speaker 1: mentioned is a key part of what we need to

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Speaker 1: do to secure our own supply chain, deliver on AI,

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Speaker 1: quantum computing, five G and everything else. And then I

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Speaker 1: look over at Capitol Hill and you see that the

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Speaker 1: moderates in the Senate met this week couldn't decide if

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Speaker 1: they were going to work together to come up with

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Speaker 1: a bill. You've got the Press Secretary saying they're waiting

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Speaker 1: for a proposal by the Republicans. You've got Chris Coon's

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Speaker 1: floating ideas about, you know, maybe breaking this thing into

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Speaker 1: and you've got Republicans shrinking from that because they don't

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Speaker 1: want to agree on a first bill, and Dems passed

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Speaker 1: a second on reconciliation. And then you've got them saying

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Speaker 1: I'm not agreeing to the first because we'll never get

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Speaker 1: to the second then. So I keep coming back to

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Speaker 1: the President's promised that democracies can deliver, and I sure

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Speaker 1: hope they can. But as you look at Capitol Hill

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Speaker 1: on this infrastructure bill, I cannot imagine it's going to

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Speaker 1: be at two point two trillion. And at this point

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Speaker 1: I can see the only way forward is reconciliation. And

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Speaker 1: I don't know how much happens if the Dems are

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Speaker 1: able to do that after that for this administer ration.

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Speaker 1: Let's say there's another topic that was raised today during

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Speaker 1: the press conference by Routers reporter about Iran. And we

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Speaker 1: know Iran is another area where Republicans and Democrats on

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Speaker 1: Capitol Hill have split. The Trump administration, UH did not

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Speaker 1: want to abide by the the treaty that was established

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Speaker 1: in the Obama administration on Iran. Um, where do you

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Speaker 1: think we go from here? Iran is now enriching to

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Speaker 1: a higher level. Do you think the Europeans will come

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Speaker 1: in to help us, you know, try to try to

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Speaker 1: get some kind of a deal out of Iran. Rick,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna make a faux past here and

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Speaker 1: correct you a little bit. It was. It's not a treaty.

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Speaker 1: It was not a treaty, but j C p o A.

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Speaker 1: The Iran nuclear deal was. It was an agreement between

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Speaker 1: the Obama administration. Uh. And and let's or that's why

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Speaker 1: we have experts like you on the phone. Thank you

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Speaker 1: very much, and I apologize. It was never submitted to

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Speaker 1: the Senate as a treaty, in part because President Obama

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Speaker 1: knew it would never be radically, would never be a

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Speaker 1: proved and then ratified by the U. S. Senate. What

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Speaker 1: one of the things that President Biden can do, if

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Speaker 1: he's a little imaginative and if he takes a tough

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Speaker 1: line here, is get a much better deal than President

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Speaker 1: Obama got. Get longer boodlines, give up a fewer concessions

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Speaker 1: to the Iranians, bring the Europeans along with him, to

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Speaker 1: put pressure on the run and get a deal that

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Speaker 1: could be submitted to the Senate and be approved as

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Speaker 1: a treaty which would have the force of law in

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Speaker 1: the United States. The Obama administration's deal, I would argue,

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Speaker 1: was pretty weak. Obama has a chance here to make

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Speaker 1: a strong deal. UH, if he's willing to be tough

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Speaker 1: and willing to kind of ride this thing out a

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Speaker 1: little bit longer, maybe than he wants. He's will. If

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Speaker 1: he's willing to do that and push for that, he'll

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Speaker 1: find some Republicans who will support him, and he could

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Speaker 1: actually make this thing a treat. You know, that's interesting, Lester.

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Speaker 1: I think that, you know, that kind of optimism around

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Speaker 1: an issue that I think has kept everybody on their

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Speaker 1: toes on Capitol Hill and any previous administrations, because you know,

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Speaker 1: when you're talking about Iran and destabilizing you know, the

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Speaker 1: mid least, and if not the entire region or the world. UH.

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Speaker 1: Stakes couldn't be any higher. But I was wondering if

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Speaker 1: we could flex over into another part of the world,

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Speaker 1: North Korea. It was brought up by both Prime Minister

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Speaker 1: and the President. UH that didn't seem to articulate any

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Speaker 1: particular strategy around North Korea, only that they've discussed it

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Speaker 1: and and and they're working on it. Do you think

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Speaker 1: there will be an approach that the Biden administration articulates soon?

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Speaker 1: You know, I think there was the hint of a

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Speaker 1: strategy there. Prime Minister Siga mentioned the Japanese detainees in

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Speaker 1: North Korea as something he wants to focus on. That's it.

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Speaker 1: That's the kind of small. It's not small for the

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Speaker 1: people who are the poor Japanese folks who are being

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Speaker 1: detained in North Korea. It's not small for them. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of small in the big picture of nuclear weapons

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Speaker 1: and that kind of thing. But that the focus on

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Speaker 1: that kind of small, relatively small confidence building measure indicates

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Speaker 1: a very different approach rather than kind of going all in.

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Speaker 1: Were a big, splashy summit with Kim John m in

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Speaker 1: some place where you know it's really not going to

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Speaker 1: lead too much. Let's take some small steps, Let's build

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Speaker 1: some confidence with the North Koreans, and let's sure that

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Speaker 1: we can get agreement on some smaller things, and then

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Speaker 1: maybe use that as a build up to these bigger questions. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: I remain very skeptical whether it's possible to do a

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Speaker 1: deal with Pang at all. But I think the Biden

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Speaker 1: administration approach, and I say this as a Republican, might

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Speaker 1: be a better one than President Trump took Jenny. The

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Speaker 1: first question to the President after his prepared remarks at

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Speaker 1: the press conference today at the White House was from

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Speaker 1: a p and they asked him about why he isn't

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Speaker 1: doing more on gun control and police reform as promised

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Speaker 1: during the campaign. Uh and is on the front page

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Speaker 1: of every newspaper today. Uh and uh and instead spending

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Speaker 1: all this time on infrastructure. And the President reacted almost angrily,

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Speaker 1: What do you think that the administration should be doing

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Speaker 1: more in prioritizing this? Obviously a tough issue to discuss

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Speaker 1: the day you're standing there in front of Prime Minister

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Speaker 1: uh suga it is. And I think Biden said he's

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Speaker 1: he's never not prioritize gun control, except that gun control

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Speaker 1: supporters would take real and have taken real exception to that.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I'm looking at a map right now

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Speaker 1: of recent mass shootings in the United States, the latest

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Speaker 1: just obviously overnight in Indianapolis. I mean, it is a deadly,

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Speaker 1: deadly embarrassment for this country. The president is right about that,

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Speaker 1: But once again, what is he doing. Congress has got

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Speaker 1: to act. We just heard Lester saying that they might

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Speaker 1: be able to act on the Iron Treaty. This all

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Speaker 1: gets stepped down to this question he raised at the beginning.

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Speaker 1: Can the US Congress deliver on any of these issues?

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Speaker 1: And that remains the real sticking point here. But I

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Speaker 1: agree with you, Rick, he was absolutely seemed angry and

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Speaker 1: emotional and with good reason. I mean, this is truly

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Speaker 1: a national embarrassment if we can't pass common sense gun control.

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Speaker 1: And I am not as optimistic, I think as less

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Speaker 1: or or some people that they can at this point,

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Speaker 1: and it's got to be executive order. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: a great point, and I want to thank both Eugenie

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Speaker 1: UH for the work that we've done together this week,

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Speaker 1: and Lester Munson from the b GR group. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's a historic day today in a White House for

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Speaker 1: the first in person UH press conference and summit between

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Speaker 1: President Joe Biden and UH Prime Minister from Japan, Yoshi Suga.

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Speaker 1: I think that it was especially helpful that they did

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Speaker 1: that during our show so that we could bring our

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Speaker 1: listeners directly UH the sound on from the President's press conference.

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Speaker 1: I want to thank everybody for listening in this week.

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Speaker 1: I'm Rick Davis. Have a great weekend.