Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound on,
Speaker 1: Don't give in, don't give out, don't give up. This
Speaker 1: is now the fifth time my name has been on
Speaker 1: the ballot in less than two years for the same
Speaker 1: dog on dog I want to get to the reason
Speaker 1: I'm here and the reason you're gonna vote for me,
Speaker 1: because I'm gonna be your champion. Floomberg sound on Politics,
Speaker 1: Policy and Perspective from DC's top Names. Thousands of people
Speaker 1: facing off with hundreds of police. The White House supports
Speaker 1: the right of peaceful Purgas Bloomberg Sound On with Joe
Speaker 1: Matthew on Bloomberg Radio, the Lame Duck starts to quack.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the fastest hour in politics as lawmakers return
Speaker 1: to Washington with their to do lists, But will anything
Speaker 1: get done? We're joined this Monday after Thanksgiving by Greg Valier,
Speaker 1: the chief policy strategist at a g F Investment. Big
Speaker 1: questions about government funding as we move into the new year. Later,
Speaker 1: thousands of protesters take to the streets across China. Will
Speaker 1: discuss the political fallout and what it will mean for
Speaker 1: China's COVID zero policy with Craig Singleton. The Foundation of democracies.
Speaker 1: Our signature panelists here Bloomberg Politics contributors Rick Davis and
Speaker 1: Genie Chanzano with analysis on our top stories, including the
Speaker 1: Senate runoff in Georgia and Donald Trump's dinner date with
Speaker 1: a white supremacist. We got a lot to catch up
Speaker 1: on after the weekend, lawmakers coming back into town after
Speaker 1: the long Thanksgiving weekend, and I hope you had one
Speaker 1: with some important business to handle here. The lame Duck
Speaker 1: gets real starting now. And while everyone seems to have
Speaker 1: a list, it's funny right on both sides, a list
Speaker 1: of things likely not to happen. Let's start by circling
Speaker 1: December sixteen on our calendars. That's when government funding runs out, right,
Speaker 1: And that's where we start with Greg Valier, a g
Speaker 1: F Investments chief US policy strategist. It's great to have you, Craig. Greg.
Speaker 1: I hope you had a great holiday, and I'm wondering
Speaker 1: how this is going to work out here in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, if we're talking about a potential government shutdown,
Speaker 1: or if it's the opportunity for a deal. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, great to be with you, and I would
Speaker 1: say the next several weeks are going to be crazy,
Speaker 1: very hard to predict, maybe some uncertainty for the markets.
Speaker 1: I'd say the first thing that we're going to have
Speaker 1: to focus on is a railroad strike. It's possible by
Speaker 1: the end of next week some of the union's deadlines
Speaker 1: will be hit. So before we get into a budget
Speaker 1: showed out and all this other stuff, they have to
Speaker 1: find some way to finesse a railroad strike and then
Speaker 1: we get into all the big spending stories. Assuming they
Speaker 1: can avert this thing, Does Marty Walsh have one more
Speaker 1: in them? When you talk about, you know, the issues
Speaker 1: at hand that these rail workers are going through. We
Speaker 1: discussed it quite a bit on the show last week.
Speaker 1: This is not just as easy as throwing in, you know,
Speaker 1: another day off or something. It looks like absolutely it's
Speaker 1: over not money, but it's over time off, sickly things
Speaker 1: like that that has the unions very upset. Earlier in September,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden got involved. I don't think he's involved that
Speaker 1: much this time, so it'll be a cliffhanger. Well seen
Speaker 1: as a win then when we had a tentative deal,
Speaker 1: So look, he could certainly make that happen again, assuming
Speaker 1: that we don't have a rail strike on our hands.
Speaker 1: Which I realized as a game changer is government funding.
Speaker 1: A clean cr kicked into the next Congress. Everyone seems
Speaker 1: to be ready to pile on of this thing, but
Speaker 1: very few of the ideas seem realistic. Yeah, you hear that,
Speaker 1: But I think they will make a good faith effort.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's anything magical about December sixteenth. I
Speaker 1: think there'll be still another so called continuing resolution that
Speaker 1: could get us right up to Christmas Eve. It's happened before,
Speaker 1: and it could be Christmas Eve before we get a deal.
Speaker 1: I think there will be big parts of this bill
Speaker 1: that will have to be deferred until early twenty three.
Speaker 1: That includes defense spending here, right, Lloyd Austin is upset
Speaker 1: about the idea of a continuing resolution beyond you know,
Speaker 1: this quick thing. But if this goes in well in
Speaker 1: the next year, with the war in Ukraine underway, our
Speaker 1: own needs here in the United States to replenish our stockpiles.
Speaker 1: We can't just keep you know, printing the same budget. Right,
Speaker 1: you're right, And and the I think the biggest issue
Speaker 1: of all, as you say, is Ukraine. Uh, there are
Speaker 1: growing numbers of Republicans who are lukewarm at best of
Speaker 1: spending another thirty seven billion dollars that the White House
Speaker 1: wants to spend on Ukraine, so that could easily get
Speaker 1: punted into next year, along with several other issues, including
Speaker 1: as you say, the defense budget. I mean, the defense
Speaker 1: companies will get their money, but they won't get it
Speaker 1: right away. Well, there's the point of leadership here as well.
Speaker 1: It came up on all the Sunday shows. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is a worthwhile conversation because there really
Speaker 1: isn't anyone to run against Kevin McCarthy. But listen to
Speaker 1: Congressman Mike McColl he'sn't in the Republican leadership here, will
Speaker 1: will be as part of the new majority on ABC
Speaker 1: this week. What's the alternative here? You know, Kevin has
Speaker 1: proven to be the leader of the Republican House, and
Speaker 1: I do think he will get the votes to eighteen
Speaker 1: on January three. There's quite a bit that happens between
Speaker 1: now and then, thought, what does it look like? What
Speaker 1: kind of a deal does he need to cut with
Speaker 1: the Matt Gates, ETCeteras of the world. Well, Joe, I
Speaker 1: hopefully you know, I try to be in the middle
Speaker 1: of the road. I'm not an I D logue, but
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Kevin McCarthy is not a real leader if
Speaker 1: he doesn't speak out about Donald Trump having a meal
Speaker 1: with a Holocaust denying racist, anti semi and if we
Speaker 1: can't see Kevin McCarthy stand up on that one, I
Speaker 1: think he loses a lot of credibility. How about that
Speaker 1: this is the dinner with the Fuentes, right, Nick Fuentes
Speaker 1: and Kanye. Donald Trump claims at least he didn't know
Speaker 1: who Kanye had brought with him to dinner. You don't
Speaker 1: believe that, Well, is either ignorance or just a total
Speaker 1: lack of any kind of oversight. I mean, the former
Speaker 1: president has to have his screen Maybe he wasn't screened,
Speaker 1: but at the least there has to be an apology.
Speaker 1: And whether it's McCarthy or Trump himself, there has been
Speaker 1: no expression of regret over what they did. Well, it's
Speaker 1: been noted that a lot of Republican senators as well
Speaker 1: have been pretty silent about the whole thing. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: this came up on Meet the Press with Representative James Comber,
Speaker 1: which will have more about later in what you know?
Speaker 1: What was his line? He doesn't have very good taste
Speaker 1: or a very good judgment and dinner guests, you might
Speaker 1: need to say a little more than that is your point. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: Let's see how strong a leader Kevin McCarthy really is. Well,
Speaker 1: So do you think he gets it to eighteen or
Speaker 1: do you think this will determine that? I think by
Speaker 1: default he probably does, because there's no there's no one
Speaker 1: else who would be a logical house speaker right now.
Speaker 1: But he's he's going to be on thin ice all
Speaker 1: through the spring. And there are so many big issues,
Speaker 1: as we talked about earlier, a real move against spending, uh,
Speaker 1: an attempt to maybe look at such security and trim
Speaker 1: that a little bit. I mean, there's some big, big issues,
Speaker 1: and uh, I don't see anybody, frankly, who's going to
Speaker 1: take to take the reins. Interesting. Uh. The idea of
Speaker 1: an assault weapons ban was banded about quite a bit
Speaker 1: on the Sunday morning talk shows, and it has been
Speaker 1: quite a bit lately because the President has been promising
Speaker 1: saying once I did it once before, I'm going to
Speaker 1: do it again in this new Congress. We're going to
Speaker 1: reinstate the assault weapons ban. But you know, when you're
Speaker 1: hearing from Senator Chris Murphy that there's still are not
Speaker 1: sixty votes for such a thing. He talked about this
Speaker 1: on CNN, I believe, and he actually had a lot
Speaker 1: to say about this particular issue, suggesting that states are
Speaker 1: not enforcing the laws that are already on the books.
Speaker 1: Here's what he said. I think we have to have
Speaker 1: a conversation about whether we can continue to fund uh
Speaker 1: law enforcement in states where they are refusing to implement
Speaker 1: these gun laws. I'll talk to my colleagues about what
Speaker 1: our approach should be this problem. But six of counties
Speaker 1: in this country are refusing to implement the nation's gun laws.
Speaker 1: We've got to do something about that. And he's suggesting
Speaker 1: limiting or somehow changing funding for these police departments that
Speaker 1: are not enforcing laws on the books. Greg Val, you're
Speaker 1: coming off of the defund the police movement, the confusion
Speaker 1: that that LEDs to in the case of many Democrats
Speaker 1: who actually didn't believe that, including the president, is this
Speaker 1: the direction we're really going in here with an incoming
Speaker 1: Republican majority in the House. I'd say two things very quickly. Joe.
Speaker 1: Number one, it's unlikely will get anything, but Joe Biden
Speaker 1: has had a pretty good stretch the last eight or
Speaker 1: nine months. He's gotten a lot done. You can't totally
Speaker 1: rule him out and getting something on this, you know.
Speaker 1: The other thing I'd say is that this could be
Speaker 1: the lame duck before you go on though, Greg, is
Speaker 1: that in the lame duck session, perhaps I don't think
Speaker 1: you'll get it. I think it's it's too complicated to
Speaker 1: get right before Christmas. But I think he's going to
Speaker 1: go after it later in the winter. And the other
Speaker 1: point Joe I'd make is I think this is going
Speaker 1: to become more of a state and local issue. I
Speaker 1: think a lot of states will throw up their hands
Speaker 1: and say, we're not going to get a federal bill,
Speaker 1: so we're going to move on our own. Uh. I
Speaker 1: mentioned Representative James Coomer. He was asked about this unmeat
Speaker 1: the press and was shown statistics UH from Chuck Todd
Speaker 1: that debunks this claim that states that have stricter gun
Speaker 1: laws have more gun deaths UH, and his reaction was fascinated.
Speaker 1: Listen to James Coomer, if you have more gun laws
Speaker 1: on the books as a state, you have fewer gun
Speaker 1: related crimes, gun related deaths. That has been proven statistically well.
Speaker 1: In places like rural America, where just about every other
Speaker 1: household uh exercises their Second Amendment rights, there aren't a
Speaker 1: lot of crimes in these areas, And I think one
Speaker 1: reason is because potential criminals know that these people are
Speaker 1: exercising their Second Amendment rights, suggesting that rural America is
Speaker 1: almost its own state, uh, greg and one that you
Speaker 1: know clearly the the people of Washington don't know about
Speaker 1: where where is this argument right now? It's it's difficult
Speaker 1: to tell who's being serious, who's having a serious conversation
Speaker 1: when you hear answers like that in the face of data. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's actually inaccurate to to make the assertion
Speaker 1: that we just heard. But it's going to be awfully
Speaker 1: hard to get done. I mean, one of the things
Speaker 1: that Democrats are going to regret for decades maybe is
Speaker 1: the fact that they got stuck with a label of
Speaker 1: defund the police. I understand that Biden didn't believe in it,
Speaker 1: and a lot of Democrats didn't, but they can't shake
Speaker 1: the label. And because of that, it's going to be
Speaker 1: really hard to get a bill done. So when we
Speaker 1: step back and look at this time period, you see
Speaker 1: likely as cr moving us in the next year. Maybe
Speaker 1: there's a hiccup around Christmas Eve, you see Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 1: uh most likely being elected to be the next speaker,
Speaker 1: and then what happens next two years? Greg? Nothing, Probably nothing.
Speaker 1: I'm in a minority that says that Georgia race is
Speaker 1: really important because if herschel Walker loses, and it looks
Speaker 1: like he is going to lose, that that sort of
Speaker 1: neutralizes Joe Mansion, if that makes any sense at all,
Speaker 1: because the Democrats won't have an absolute tie, they'll have
Speaker 1: a majority of one and that could make a difference.
Speaker 1: Let's see how Kirsten Cinema feels about that, right, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: there were a couple of turns. Though one senator would
Speaker 1: have made the difference. Two would have made all of
Speaker 1: the difference, and we'd be talking about this build Back
Speaker 1: Better law right now, wouldn't we. Well, that's right, absolutely,
Speaker 1: But I think I think Mansion is going to get
Speaker 1: checkmated here and he's gonna face a really tough re
Speaker 1: election fight in West Virginia. Fascinating, Greg, It's great to
Speaker 1: talk to you and and come back soon. Greg Valier
Speaker 1: of a g F investments to get us started here
Speaker 1: the view from the chief US policy strategist at a GF,
Speaker 1: which means we need to bring the panel in next.
Speaker 1: We'll do that with Rick Davis and Genie Chanzano, both
Speaker 1: coming off a long Thanksgiving weekend and a lot to
Speaker 1: talk about here, not just Congress coming together for the
Speaker 1: lame duck session, but also, as Greg said, that race
Speaker 1: in Georgia, we're gonna zero in with a lot more said,
Speaker 1: a lot more time and money spent on the campaign
Speaker 1: trail over the weekend. Senator Raphael Warnock and herschel Walker
Speaker 1: will do that next with Rick and Genie on the
Speaker 1: Fastest Hour in Politics. I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg. You sound on with Joe Matthew
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. Fascinating numbers to see early voting from
Speaker 1: over the weekend in Georgia, and it's always interesting to
Speaker 1: look back and get a sense of where things were
Speaker 1: in the last runoff, because you know, we've done this
Speaker 1: a couple of times already. Here. Uh, there actually was
Speaker 1: a legal fight over whether they'd be allowed to do
Speaker 1: early voting on Saturday. Well, seventy thousand Georgians turned out
Speaker 1: to vote Saturday. Uh. They came out in force again
Speaker 1: on Sunday, another eighties six thousand, eighties seven thousand people voted.
Speaker 1: You add in the fifteen thousand mail ballots accepted so far,
Speaker 1: and it's almost a hundred and eighty two thousand voters
Speaker 1: cast ballots by the end of the weekend. By comparison,
Speaker 1: more than two hundred thousand people are already submitted a
Speaker 1: mail ballot on the first day of really voting in
Speaker 1: Georgia's last one off elections last time we went through this.
Speaker 1: Let's assemble our panel here. Rick and Jeannie are with
Speaker 1: us off the long weekend. It's great to see Rick
Speaker 1: Davis and Jeannie Chantino, Bloomberg Politics contributors who make up
Speaker 1: our signature panel Rick Georgia right now. Interesting, Raphael Warnock
Speaker 1: did not even uh, I'm sorry herschel Walker did not
Speaker 1: campaign over the weekend. Raphael Warnock was out in force,
Speaker 1: And I wonder what that tells us about the strategies
Speaker 1: on the ground for each campaign. Yeah, my guess is
Speaker 1: that hurt blockers trying to figure out how to campaign
Speaker 1: for the next couple of weeks. Um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: had a lot of I would say self inflicted wounds
Speaker 1: over the last and since the since the election was over,
Speaker 1: and so I'm my suspicion is that he's sort of
Speaker 1: hunkered down trying to figure out like how is he
Speaker 1: going to sprint to the finish And and and kudos
Speaker 1: to Warnock for getting out ahead of him and using
Speaker 1: a good weekend. Um, you know where some people would think, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, campaigning on Thanksgiving weekend is uh inappropriate, But
Speaker 1: the reality is people are voting, as you pointed out,
Speaker 1: and in large numbers, and so why not be out
Speaker 1: there among them, you know, stoking it up? What do
Speaker 1: you think about this genie? At the the incumbent is
Speaker 1: working harder on the campaign trail, it seems right now
Speaker 1: than this challenger. That's right, you know. And and there
Speaker 1: is a school thought which says, and I agree with
Speaker 1: your last guest, and this race matters a good deal.
Speaker 1: It doesn't decide power in the Senate, but it's critically
Speaker 1: important for Democrats and that may be reflected here. And
Speaker 1: also I think Rick has a point that you know,
Speaker 1: Walker is how a lot of self inflicted wounds, probably
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to go out, and Warnock
Speaker 1: has a really focused message here, which is a message
Speaker 1: about the lack of competence on Walker's side and the
Speaker 1: fact that character does matter, and he has gone out
Speaker 1: on that message and he is sticking with it. And
Speaker 1: we also should remember that they are fighting for a
Speaker 1: very narrow pool of voters. Most voters minds are made up.
Speaker 1: It's about those two hundred thousand voters who split their
Speaker 1: ticket that the Walker campaign and the Warnock campaign need
Speaker 1: to go after. And we see, you know, as a
Speaker 1: surrogate KEMP trying to pull them back to his side.
Speaker 1: And we're not making a concerted effort to say. You
Speaker 1: may be a Republican and you may be attracted to
Speaker 1: to a Kemp, but you certainly can't believe that Walker
Speaker 1: is fit to serve in this office. I know you
Speaker 1: liked Raphael Warnos focus group add UH that came out
Speaker 1: for the weekend and certainly was shared quite a bit
Speaker 1: on social media. Whether this is I'm assuming it's a
Speaker 1: real focus group, but that you know, you've got people
Speaker 1: here are sitting you see them one by one sitting
Speaker 1: with headphones on UH and re acting to the things
Speaker 1: they're hearing. If you listen to this broadcast every day,
Speaker 1: you heard everything from herschel Walker that ended up in
Speaker 1: this ad, you know, beginning with the vampires and the
Speaker 1: werewolves and all that. Listen, What the hell is he
Speaker 1: talking about? Is he's serious? Is for real? I'll tell
Speaker 1: you something that I found out where I wolf to
Speaker 1: kill a vampire. Did you know? How is he talking about?
Speaker 1: I don't want to be a vampire and more I
Speaker 1: want to be a wetwolf? Oh my god, he's talking
Speaker 1: about vampires and werewolves right now? Yeah? Yeah, serious about this? Right? Okay?
Speaker 1: So look, we could have kept on going. It's like
Speaker 1: three minutes long, lot of material there, Rick. Uh if
Speaker 1: this stuff isn't already making up people's minds though, is
Speaker 1: this is this just for fun? Is it a fun
Speaker 1: campaign stunt? Or does this get to the two thousand
Speaker 1: people that Genie mentioned? Well? Uh, yeah, certainly that's a
Speaker 1: target group. And these are uh, you know Governor Kemp
Speaker 1: voters who did not vote for herschel Walker um and
Speaker 1: and and likely didn't vote for Warnick either, So yeah,
Speaker 1: they would be in play, probably for Republicans only. So
Speaker 1: can you get them out? And where can you convince them?
Speaker 1: To vote for herschel Walker is the attempt. But look,
Speaker 1: as I said, you know, these are the kinds of
Speaker 1: things that were tested in that ad tested. I use
Speaker 1: that in quotation marks um, you know we're we're pretty
Speaker 1: bad faux pause, right, I mean like and and and
Speaker 1: what's really interesting is their vote pause to all of us.
Speaker 1: But I don't think herschel Walker thought they were vote paused.
Speaker 1: I mean maybe there was some deep meaning in being Awarewolf.
Speaker 1: I don't know. But well, that's when he was really
Speaker 1: starting to really come out in in full character on
Speaker 1: at the an ad lib at the podium, right, Genie,
Speaker 1: this was he I think Rick is right here. He
Speaker 1: thought he was starting to hit his stride at this point.
Speaker 1: And now it's the target of you know, quite a
Speaker 1: quite a little advertisement here. Well, as you know, Joe,
Speaker 1: I loved this ad because you know, we had been
Speaker 1: on the ERIC a few weeks ago, and every once
Speaker 1: in a while you would say, hey, Jeanie, can you
Speaker 1: interpret what what Walker is sick? And I was at
Speaker 1: a loss of words. I could have been in that
Speaker 1: focus group saying what the heck? I wan't say the
Speaker 1: other word, what the heck is he talking about? Because
Speaker 1: I could not make any sense of it. So I
Speaker 1: think the ad is incredibly not just funny, but it's
Speaker 1: it's incredibly effective because it's where many voters find themselves
Speaker 1: because you're hard pressed to understand what he is talking about.
Speaker 1: And again it underscores the issue. He is not fit
Speaker 1: for this office, as Obama said, he may be a
Speaker 1: great football player, but being great at football doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you would be a great U. S. Senator for the
Speaker 1: state of Georgia. I don't know if we have enough
Speaker 1: time for this next one. Herschel Walker on the Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick Show. Sometimes it's not funny the things that he's saying.
Speaker 1: Listen to this. I talked about the Russian roulette people,
Speaker 1: you're trying to kill yourself. No, that's not no, because
Speaker 1: that's against what I believe in. I said what it
Speaker 1: was if you came to my house and say you
Speaker 1: want to challenge me at something, and you know everybody
Speaker 1: everybody always want to challenge me. Everybody want to challenge me.
Speaker 1: It's like why I said, Okay, if you want to
Speaker 1: challenge me, you're tough enough. Let me see you pull
Speaker 1: this here, pull this trigger here, put a bullet in
Speaker 1: and spending people are you're crazy. I would take it
Speaker 1: and put it to my head to snapping people. You're
Speaker 1: trying to kill yourselfn No, And I don't know whether
Speaker 1: I'm just blessed, and but I am. I've been blessed,
Speaker 1: and it's just hanging out there as we head for
Speaker 1: the election. This is bloomberg, a rare display of public
Speaker 1: anger over COVID zero. People taking to the streets thousands
Speaker 1: and cities across China in recent days to demonstrate against
Speaker 1: the strict lockdowns, the mass testing, clashing with police, in
Speaker 1: some cases, some calling for President She to step down,
Speaker 1: and while some of them arrested, authorities have not yet
Speaker 1: responded with you know there's any sort of widespread violent crackdown,
Speaker 1: people think Tneman when this stuff starts. Of course in China,
Speaker 1: and boy, they were careful today at the White House.
Speaker 1: Great story about it on the terminal. China protests draw
Speaker 1: cautious US response following Bali meeting. Remember, Joe Biden was
Speaker 1: just with President She. We felt like things were going well.
Speaker 1: But it's one of the most frequently asked questions today.
Speaker 1: Uh In the news briefing at the White House, John
Speaker 1: Kirby was there and so that's why you know that
Speaker 1: frequently brings up national security issues. The spokesman for the
Speaker 1: National Security Council at the White House. Here's how he responded.
Speaker 1: Our message to peaceful protesters around the world is the
Speaker 1: same and consistent. People should be allowed the right to
Speaker 1: assemble and to peacefully protests. Policies or laws or dictates
Speaker 1: that that they take issue with. White support their efforts
Speaker 1: to sort of regain their personal freedoms and lockdowns. Because
Speaker 1: White House supports the right of peaceful protest. That's all
Speaker 1: I would say. And they came back around a lot
Speaker 1: of times. So where's this going? We wanted to speak
Speaker 1: with Craig Singleton about a senior China fellow at the
Speaker 1: Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Are we still talking
Speaker 1: about this in a couple of weeks, Craig? What does
Speaker 1: President she do now? Yeah? Thanks for having me. I mean,
Speaker 1: the scale and the intensity of these protests I would
Speaker 1: say here are simply too great to ignore. I suspect
Speaker 1: over to see the mix of sort of announcements aimed
Speaker 1: at mollifying some of the protesters demands about zero COVID
Speaker 1: this morning, for example, People's Daily, the CCP's official newspaper
Speaker 1: ran a front page story about the need to make
Speaker 1: COVID controls more targeted and effective, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: right Chinese security services will be keen to clamp down
Speaker 1: on the future protests. We've seen some fenses erector erected
Speaker 1: around sites of some of this weekend's protests and demonstrations.
Speaker 1: I suspect going forward, though, the big problem is going
Speaker 1: to be that the CCP has not articulated a clear
Speaker 1: path out of zero COVID, and Sheping has so closely
Speaker 1: staked his legacy on the notion that China's pandemic response
Speaker 1: has been better than the West, and that narrative would
Speaker 1: be really damaged. I think if China lifted these controls
Speaker 1: too quickly and Chinese hospitals were overrun, do you think
Speaker 1: that's the president she actually wants to do. I mean
Speaker 1: he's he tends not to be moved by his people historically.
Speaker 1: Why lift the policy now? I'm not sure that they're
Speaker 1: going to because I think the Chinese Communist Party has
Speaker 1: enjoyed certain benefits uh stemming from zero COVID, particularity the
Speaker 1: draconian surveillance technologies that has been able to deploy over
Speaker 1: the last three years in real time to sort of
Speaker 1: track descent and track the movement of people. At the
Speaker 1: same time, though, it's impossible to ignore the economic side
Speaker 1: effects here. China's economy is rapidly cooling. There's no chance
Speaker 1: that they're going to hit their growth targets this year,
Speaker 1: and so once again, I think the biggest challenge they're
Speaker 1: facing is that the policy of zero COVID is so
Speaker 1: tied to She's personal legacy, and he just hasn't articulated
Speaker 1: any path out that makes sense, particularly at the time
Speaker 1: when most Chinese nationals are not inoculated against the virus.
Speaker 1: There is no herd immunity. Uh. It really is a
Speaker 1: trap of She's on making. John Kirby was asked about
Speaker 1: supply chain disruptions. He said, you know, nothing really to
Speaker 1: speak of, but we did see what happened at the
Speaker 1: apple plant, uh and Sanju were workers pushed back against
Speaker 1: pay and quarantine. Uh. You know that that turned into
Speaker 1: a very ugly scene. Apple will inevitably feel that in
Speaker 1: its production. In fact, they're moving a lot of production
Speaker 1: because of this. At what point is this an economic
Speaker 1: story that we cannot deny? I mean, I think it
Speaker 1: already is there widespread factory closures. Closures will further snarls
Speaker 1: supply chains. It will absolutely have a negative impact on
Speaker 1: US shoppers and companies at the height of the holiday season. Uh.
Speaker 1: The effects of today's factory and port closures are going
Speaker 1: to be felt into three as well. And I think
Speaker 1: that leads a lot of US and foreign companies to
Speaker 1: accelerate Mason plans to ship supply chains away from China
Speaker 1: to other countries in Asia. It's interesting to hear from
Speaker 1: John Kirby on the vaccine and this is something I
Speaker 1: keep wondering, like, you know, how come how come they're
Speaker 1: not asking for our It's not just that we're not
Speaker 1: giving if they're not asking for it. Here's John Kirby again.
Speaker 1: We have not offered any to to China at this time.
Speaker 1: As you know, we are the largest supplier of COVID
Speaker 1: vaccines around the world. UH, and we have not received
Speaker 1: any requests or any interest by China to receive our vaccines.
Speaker 1: When not fix this whole problem? Correct, they had the
Speaker 1: good stuff potentially, I mean, you wonder what would happen
Speaker 1: in China. CCP had spent the last three years investing
Speaker 1: in advanced therapeutics and hospitals. I don't think it would
Speaker 1: be facing the current situation that it is. At the
Speaker 1: same time, it's politically unpalatable for cheating pain to accept
Speaker 1: Western assistance. He has spent the last two and a
Speaker 1: half years railing against the US response, constantly pointing out
Speaker 1: that more than a million Americans have died of COVID.
Speaker 1: We don't want to be like those guys over there
Speaker 1: sort of stuff, and so I suspect that for China. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just it's politically untenable to ask for the United
Speaker 1: States support, Craig, Thanks for coming to see us, Craig Singleton,
Speaker 1: always a pleasure from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy.
Speaker 1: Is quick around with our panel on this. Rick Davis
Speaker 1: and Jeanie Schanzino are here. Rick, do you see this
Speaker 1: impacting in eventual dropping of the COVID policy and should
Speaker 1: we start sending the vaccine over there? It's gonna help
Speaker 1: everybody in the end want Yeah. Look, I mean there's
Speaker 1: no indication at this stage that they're going to change
Speaker 1: anything they're doing. If anything, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: little things that people are paying attention to is Chinese
Speaker 1: coverage of the World Cup and they're not showing people
Speaker 1: who aren't wearing masks. Right, the last thing they want
Speaker 1: their population to do is think you can go out
Speaker 1: and party with the masses. And they're convincing everybody that
Speaker 1: they're they're taking their medicine. So uh, and I agree.
Speaker 1: I think that China to agree to take US technology
Speaker 1: in the form of a vaccine or a booster would
Speaker 1: be a massive defeat for this administration in Beijing because
Speaker 1: they're they're used to telling everybody we had all of
Speaker 1: this stuff first in the US is actually behind us.
Speaker 1: We have secretly set him the recipe, Genie, how do
Speaker 1: you do this? Well, you know, it's just devastating and
Speaker 1: and there's no way for us to do anything. The
Speaker 1: vaccine is available, they will not ask for it apparently.
Speaker 1: And let's remember what started this an apartment fire. Ten
Speaker 1: people did locked into their apartments because of this COVID
Speaker 1: zero policy. And we've seen this in authoritarian regimes beyond China.
Speaker 1: We're seeing it in Iran, We've seen it in Russia
Speaker 1: where post the pandemic or in the end of the pandemic.
Speaker 1: For many of us, we are seeing populations emboldened to
Speaker 1: respond to what they see as enormous exertions of state
Speaker 1: power in the wake of the pandemic. We've seen it
Speaker 1: here to a certain extent, obviously democratic state, but in
Speaker 1: these authoritarian states we are seeing it. And I don't
Speaker 1: see this ending in a way that you know is
Speaker 1: going to allow j Ping to save face on this one.
Speaker 1: John Kirby handled it the right way today. Rick, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean I think that you don't have
Speaker 1: very many options when it comes to, you know, sort
Speaker 1: of influencing China, and especially during a crackdown against protesters.
Speaker 1: Let's say as little as possible, Rick and Jennie up next,
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg Sound On with
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. So it's looking like the
Speaker 1: Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals is going to be the
Speaker 1: center of some important action here and any well shut
Speaker 1: down Donald Trump's Special Master, as the three judges on
Speaker 1: the panel express skepticism that Judge Eileen Cannon had jurisdiction
Speaker 1: to take action before an indictment take action by applying
Speaker 1: this special Master to the process, which means potentially an
Speaker 1: indictment comes anytime. Let's reassemble the panel, Rick Davis and
Speaker 1: Jeannie Chanzano were here. Is that how you see this happening? Rick?
Speaker 1: For sure, Jack Smith already has some momentum. People wondered
Speaker 1: whether he's going to take some time to get started,
Speaker 1: and he didn't even take Thanksgiving off. So this is
Speaker 1: the new special counsel, the new special counsel and uh
Speaker 1: and and and the person in charge of these prosecutions
Speaker 1: from the Department of Justice point of view. And so
Speaker 1: if the Eleventh Circuit throws out the arguments by Cannon
Speaker 1: that you needed a special Master, which it seemed to
Speaker 1: be leading in that direction as early as this week, Um,
Speaker 1: that really opens the door for a prosecution for an
Speaker 1: indictment of Donald Trump on the charges that have been
Speaker 1: enumerated in in in this debate. So, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't think we have long to find out what
Speaker 1: mysteries will unfold as it relates to the Special Counsel's uh,
Speaker 1: Jack Smith's intent to potentially indict Donald Trump. How does
Speaker 1: that impact this campaign for the White House that he
Speaker 1: has formally launched, Genie if at all? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we believe that there were a couple of reasons that
Speaker 1: he decided to announce so early, and one of was
Speaker 1: one of them was to scare other people in the
Speaker 1: Republican Party out of running. The other was to put
Speaker 1: the Justice Department in a position where it would have
Speaker 1: a hard time of prosecuting a candidate because it's the
Speaker 1: Justice Department of Joe Biden. But of course the appointment
Speaker 1: of a special counsel has you know, removed it from
Speaker 1: essentially the Justice Department's control. And the Eleventh Circuit hearing was,
Speaker 1: you know, just really an awful legal moment for the
Speaker 1: Trump team because as bad as it was, the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court that last week also ordered him to turn over
Speaker 1: his taxes. This essentially gave the Justice Department, well the
Speaker 1: special Counsel now the ability to really delve into this
Speaker 1: issue of these classified documents at marl Lago without having
Speaker 1: to deal with this special Master. And we know that
Speaker 1: traditionally Donald Trump has used the court to delay, delay, delay,
Speaker 1: and in this case, they are getting a boost if
Speaker 1: this they rule in the way we think they will,
Speaker 1: they are going to get a boost in terms of
Speaker 1: being able to delve into those documents and what happened
Speaker 1: there without having to deal with a Special Master. And
Speaker 1: so that will help move this along much more quickly
Speaker 1: than we thought, and potentially we could see a decision
Speaker 1: to indict, you know, in early if they decide to
Speaker 1: do that. Well, this is a big deal and one
Speaker 1: that all of our listeners should keep an eye on
Speaker 1: here as we discuss a few remaining topics here on
Speaker 1: sound On, because it's that's not what everybody was talking
Speaker 1: about with Donald Trump over the weekend. It's it's of
Speaker 1: course probably the most important development. But after that dinner
Speaker 1: at mar Lago, that's what we're here ring about here, right,
Speaker 1: Kanye West shows up at marl Lago with this guy,
Speaker 1: Nick Fuentes. This country wouldn't exist without white people. There
Speaker 1: you go, Yeah, and white people are done being bullied.
Speaker 1: As an expert on bullies, it's take issue with that,
Speaker 1: So I'm supposed to call him a white supremacist, a
Speaker 1: Holocaust denier. What's the deal? Nick Flentes now has has
Speaker 1: broken bread with Donald Trump thanks to yea. That would
Speaker 1: be Kanye who discussed uh the uh the dinner or
Speaker 1: whatever on video after it was done. So Trump is
Speaker 1: really impressed with Nick Fluentz. And Nick Fluentz, unlike so
Speaker 1: many of the lawyers, as so many people that he
Speaker 1: was left with on his twenty campaign. He's actually a
Speaker 1: loyalist when he didn't know what the lawyers is, you'll
Speaker 1: still have your lawyer list, Okay, And there's your loyalist,
Speaker 1: Nick fluent As. I guess he's got because everyone's got
Speaker 1: their own TV network. It's like he's with the America
Speaker 1: First Foundation. And he was on online talking about this
Speaker 1: at the full of the anchor desk in the suit
Speaker 1: and everything, and he just he clearly had a great
Speaker 1: time here. He is the president. I don't think he
Speaker 1: does know who I am, or rather, he didn't know
Speaker 1: that I was me. Let me put it that way.
Speaker 1: I don't think he knew that I was me at
Speaker 1: the dinner. Let's put it that way. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna say he didn't know me, but I
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that. But certainly he didn't know
Speaker 1: that I was me. But he's gonna wink and a smile.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump writes on truth Social because and I know
Speaker 1: this because Genie told me that he dined with Yea
Speaker 1: and the rapper quote unexpectedly showed up with three of
Speaker 1: his friends whom I knew nothing about. Unquote, he can't
Speaker 1: believe people are blown away by this one, Jennie. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing because he's been posting ever since. He has been posting,
Speaker 1: and I spent my Thanksgiving Joe Matthew for you tracking
Speaker 1: what was going on. Yep. He he called Yea a
Speaker 1: seriously troubled man whose business was decimated, and said he
Speaker 1: showed up with three people he didn't know. But of
Speaker 1: course we know that that's not the case. We know
Speaker 1: one of them ran his campaign in Florida, and she
Speaker 1: certainly knew Donald Trump. He certainly knew her. And you're
Speaker 1: hard to press to imagine Donald Trump didn't know Fuentes
Speaker 1: because everybody else in the Republican leadership does, including of
Speaker 1: course Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gossar, amongst others who
Speaker 1: spoke at his group. And so even if you believed
Speaker 1: he didn't know him, for him not to come out,
Speaker 1: and as his former US ambassador said, to condemn them
Speaker 1: and to throw these bums out is deplorable and vile
Speaker 1: and human scum and all the words that have been
Speaker 1: used described them. And if people look up what Nick
Speaker 1: Fanta's has had to say. In addition to Yea, the
Speaker 1: anti Semitism is disgusting and should be condemned. And we've
Speaker 1: seen Republicans Asa Hudginson the most recent, do that, but
Speaker 1: it has been slow, and it's been a slow drip
Speaker 1: so far. We heard Greg Valier weigh in on this
Speaker 1: earlier in the hour here, Rick, I know you're not
Speaker 1: surprised probably by a story like this, But does Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy need to condemn this before he can hold the gavel? Well,
Speaker 1: I think Kevin McCarthy can't condemn it if he wants
Speaker 1: to hold the gavel. That's really the pinch he's in
Speaker 1: because you know, he needs these supportive people like Marjorie
Speaker 1: Taylor Green and Paul Gossar who attended white nationalist conferences
Speaker 1: with Nick flint Is. I mean, you know, they're on
Speaker 1: his side and and so he's he's basically in the
Speaker 1: position where he doesn't have a vote to spare and
Speaker 1: and he's just gonna stay silent because that's the bargain
Speaker 1: with the devil, and the devil in this case is
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. And just to reiterate it, it's not about
Speaker 1: Nick Pointez. I mean, Donald Trump is talking about meeting
Speaker 1: with his friend kind West Ye who by the way
Speaker 1: has just shown us the stripes that he had, and
Speaker 1: that's as an anti semit and the rest of the
Speaker 1: entertainment world, in the business world of oster sizing, but
Speaker 1: not Donald Trump. Well look, and that's that's important here.
Speaker 1: Nick Fuentes is so outrageous and so offensive, Genie. The
Speaker 1: people forget in some cases at least that Kanye was
Speaker 1: just fired by Adidas and a couple of other companies
Speaker 1: right there, that wasn't the only one for being uh
Speaker 1: a full throated anti semit That's right. And let's not
Speaker 1: forget Donald Donald Trump himself has recently spewed anti Semitic remarks.
Speaker 1: So you know, this is what Donald Trump has trafficked in.
Speaker 1: And it has been Donald Trump's approach all along. If
Speaker 1: people like me, if they'll vote for me, if they
Speaker 1: support me, then I'm all in for them. I don't
Speaker 1: care who or what they are. And that's the case here.
Speaker 1: You know. The the best part of this dinner, apparently
Speaker 1: in my mind at least, was when Kanye West decided
Speaker 1: to ask Donald Trump if you wanted to serve as
Speaker 1: as vice president, and that apparently threw Donald Trump into
Speaker 1: a rage, and then he attacked his his ex wife,
Speaker 1: So you know, you know that that was that was
Speaker 1: the most absurd but the best part of the whole
Speaker 1: dinner by reports, I can't tell if they're even friends
Speaker 1: or not. I guess this is just you're you're in
Speaker 1: this sort of fringe circle and you want publicity to
Speaker 1: see you show up at mar Lago. Rick. But but
Speaker 1: that means anybody can get into mar A Lago now
Speaker 1: hang out with the former president current candidate. I think
Speaker 1: after Nick Flinn does at dinner with him, it shows
Speaker 1: anybody can go to Marra Lago and have dinner with
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. It's incredible. Uh, you know, we'll see if
Speaker 1: I guess the Oval Office works like that there there
Speaker 1: of course he's he's been there. There's a big conversation
Speaker 1: as well about what's happening at the r n C
Speaker 1: right now. This is all part of the the stuff
Speaker 1: that follows a difficult midterm election cycle. Rona McDaniel, the
Speaker 1: chair is now being officially challenged by none other then
Speaker 1: the my pillow guy here he is, I am one
Speaker 1: running for the RNC chairman against Rona McDaniel. H I'm
Speaker 1: all in, Steve, and uh. One of the things that
Speaker 1: one of the big donors said to me. He said, Mike,
Speaker 1: he said, everybody wants you to be head of the RNC.
Speaker 1: Some of them just don't know it yet. That's that
Speaker 1: happens to the best of us. He's talking to Steve Bannon.
Speaker 1: I believe they're Uh, look, I'm assuming that you guys
Speaker 1: don't think Mike Lindell, the my pillow guy, is going
Speaker 1: to be the next chair of the r n C.
Speaker 1: But it's not just him. Listen to to Christie Nome
Speaker 1: from over the weekend talking about this issue on Fox
Speaker 1: and we need to win. I mean, that's just the
Speaker 1: fact our kids's future depends on it. So, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we really all have a responsibility to message what Republican
Speaker 1: policies bring to this country. And I don't know a
Speaker 1: party that can continue to lose like we have and
Speaker 1: keep their jobs. The governor South Dakota sometimes talked about
Speaker 1: a potential running mate, Donald Trump is certainly a you know,
Speaker 1: a loyal Trumper. Uh, Rick, what's happening at your old
Speaker 1: r n C. Well, Uh, we used to have people
Speaker 1: who actually experienced electoral victories, either in their own races
Speaker 1: or are working for other people who could then replicate
Speaker 1: some of that successful formulation for the rest of the party.
Speaker 1: Now we have people who have never really run for anything,
Speaker 1: who are just Sinka fans for Donald Trump, who think
Speaker 1: that the Treasury Department at the Republican National Committee is
Speaker 1: Trump slush fund and and that's why they're running to
Speaker 1: be r n C chair, not to win elections, but
Speaker 1: to make sure Donald Trump's lawyers get fed. So I
Speaker 1: scratched my head all the time because we keep losing.
Speaker 1: We lost in twenty we lost in twenty one, we
Speaker 1: lost in twenty two. I mean, like Daniel out cut
Speaker 1: the line and say, you know, we need people who
Speaker 1: actually know how to you know, actually had to run
Speaker 1: an election. Is Rona McDaniel out, well, if ron Daniels out,
Speaker 1: Mike Lindell is in, I mean, like what we need
Speaker 1: or some candidates so I actually know what they're doing. Wow,
Speaker 1: the Genie's just sitting over there smiling, aren't you. I
Speaker 1: am waiting for my free pillows and free slippers from
Speaker 1: the pillow man. Well done, Genie, Rick I missed you
Speaker 1: on a long weekend. Boy, we covered a lot of ground.
Speaker 1: We could keep going here. This is the fastest hour
Speaker 1: in politics. Somehow we move on I'll meet you back
Speaker 1: here tomorrow. This is Bloomberg