Transcripts For FBC Cavuto Coast To Coast 20240714

Are slowing down, the Manufacturing Sector in this Country Contracting a little bit. To the wall street journals Jillian Melchior who follows this very closely. Our own susan li as well. Susan, one thing surprised folks with the china data, this was not something to be expected and were seeing more and more data like that, less ominous than thought. Now stronger than thought. Reflation as well in the month of august. I love to remind people that china is no longer just a manufacturing hub. Services like here in the u. S. Account for more than 50 of the economy now. So it is not cheap factory floors. If you go to shanghai, beautiful skyscrapers, really fast train this is very positive, especially for an economy that saw the weakest growth in 2years. Neil one of the reasons why the futures was up. Hang seng was up 4 . It owed itself as well to the talk that they will meet some of the protesters demands. Well get into that in a second. Couldnt you flip it around, say Better Things look for china, less compelled they are to close a deal with donald trump . I think both of them need it. Trump is running on economy. He has tax reform, deregulation. He is not in the same position that xi xinping is. Xi xinping doesnt drive his legitimacy from consent of the governed, economic prosperity, delivering on the promise is only thing he has giving him legitimacy with his own people. Its a little bit more risky situation for him. What weve seen in the last month with the chinese economy that is something certainly got to keep him up at night. Coming from hong kong, talking to some of the big Money Managers and big ceos what about china, is china okay . Are they okay . It its slowing down. There are concerns that they will drag the rest of the world along with it . Look what happened in 2008. They launched 650 billion in stimulus. Cut interest rates. They havent done this time around. They dont feel like there is lot of panic with the Consumer Base still growing. Neil does that mean they sit tight . They feel no need to rush into a deal with a president they argue keeps badmouthing them . Jillian knows china thinks in various long terms, right . I think that is the same this time around, they will wait it out, at least until 2020, to see if there is a new to negotiate with. China can afford to take the long game. Maybe xi cant. He concentrated power under him. He has discontent with other ruling elites. I would say that hong kong thing has been a definite threat to his legitimacy as well. Got to be forward on economy. Neil this move made to mollify protesters take extradition order never to raise it again were told, protesters want other demands, is that a signal to china to get them to throw them a bone to stop protesting . I dont think that will be enough. That is what triggered protesters. Since then protesters are galvanized and energized because they are angry about the level of police force used against them. They are angry about the arrests. We saw prodemocracy lawmakers hauled of and arrested. Prodemocracy activists got 1100 arrests. Insane at of tear gas and serious injuries. Hong kong people feel like if they dont have basic democratic reforms. They feel like theyre in a police state. Youre already seeing encroachment on ability to peacefully protest. They would like the opportunity to elect the chief executive and lawmakers. Neil that has gone way beyond the extradition thing, susan . It is a host of other issues . This has been building since 2014. They had a chance, they missed their opportunity in 2014 to get some sort of democratic vote in hong kong. Neil right. In 2014 well let you vote for citys leader. The pan democrats shoved i dont want to blame local politics but they blame local politicians for missing the vote in 2014. It is not just about democracy. It is now about rich versus poor. Some of the biggest divides, income divides in the world by the way. When it is so expensive to live and own property in this city, i mean these young people graduating from college, they are afraid they cant find jobs, chinese main land individuals come in to take the jobs, even if they work hard they will never make enough money to own property. Neil they still have reason to protest . I think so. They have five they have one. Neil ladies thank you both very, very much. Bring you up to speed what hong kong did to ease that restriction, both these fine reporters were pointing out, carrie lam, the chief executive there went ahead and ripped up that extradition bill. She had tabled it before but apparently under chinese oversight here she took it out of the equation. No longer an issue, but to susans point there are other issues protest remembers raising they want resolved. Lets bring in china watcher, bestselling author gordon chang, on skype. Gordon, the protesters are saying not enough. What else . Certainly thats right, neil, because too little too late. Carrie lam had a chance i think to actually settle this but that was some time ago. Beijing of course did not letter. Now demands have escalated. There are just as you heard, five demands which are now the four demands but also there has been a growing sentiment here people want independence. It is still a small group but nonetheless it didnt exist two or three years ago and now it has actually become a viable force. Neil let me ask you, gordon, when push comes to shove, claudia rosette was here from wall street journal, that china will revert to military power it prefers being than the economic power it is. If these protesters dont get that message, china will force that message, what do you think of that . I dont now i guess the sentiment in hong kong, i think it is right, that china will not formally deploy the Peoples Armed police or Peoples Liberation army to the streets of hong kong but people are saying, and this is also correct, that mixed in with the Hong Kong Police force, in Hong Kong Police uniforms, are police or troops from the mainland. So, some people say there are as many as 3,000. I dont know if that number is really that high but nonetheless, china is trying to work behind the scenes. The Hong Kong Police force is not run by carrie lam or hong kong government. I think it is probably being controlled by beijing at this moment. Neil all right. Gordon, thank you very, very much. We will be asking the former defense secretary of the United States jim mattis who has a book out. He is on a book tour about the latest developments in china, what we should be aware of what were not aware of. Where all this goes. This is not just an economic issue over trade but wider ramifications about hong kong, how theyre handling hong kong. He is up in a couple minutes. Update on dorian and the storm surge coming with it. It is an Interesting Development here too, because it is spreading far and wide, now into the carolinas potentially. Accuweather meteorologist joins us out of pennsylvania. What are we looking here . Reporter just like you said, neil, were looking at the potential for this to bring impacts across the carolinas. Already seeing it making a bit more movement compared to just a day ago where it was stalled across the bahamas. Now moving northwestward here, northnorthwest at nine miles per hour. Even at 9 mileanhour adjustment is helping the storm finally getting improvements in dry air on the southern side. The northern side where we keep the impacts intact across jacksonville, florida, for today. If youre out towards savannah, continuing to see bands press into south and North Carolina as we move into the rest of next week. Winds associated with the storm at 105 miles per hour. We could definitely see some gusts higher than that. Still looking at hurricane warnings all the way into portions of North Carolina. If youre in elizabeth city, myrtle beach, new bern, elizabeth city, listen to the local officials. It will continue into category 2 by friday morning and then get a little further out to sea as a category 1. In this time we are a bit close to the coast. Storm surge, places like outer banks will be exponential especially in inland areas. For savannah, georgia, tonight worst conditions for running three to four feet for storm surge. As i mentioned portions of North Carolina, South Carolina into thursday and as well into your friday well deal with impacts. Neil thank you very, very much. When we come back as promised, the guy they called mad dog, every time he heard that term used the defense secretary jim mattis didnt really like. He got mad about it. But not too bad. Obviously had a very successful career. He has a very successful book but what he did in that book others didnt even think of doing, not trash the last guy he worked for, after this. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. Neil great thing about my job, whether youre on the right or left, republican or democrat, i say were not red or blue, we follow the money. Ive been following this gentlemans career for quite some time. You know him as mad dog. He hates that reference i learned that from the book. He has a book out right now, former secretary of defense of the United States, jim mattis. Call sign, chaos, learning to lead. I started with that premise im lucky to talk to people like him is that unlike almost every book that has come out of those who served this administration, if youre looking for dirt, looking for someone to trash the president of the United States, you will not find it here. Maybe that depends on your point of view, if you like the president , great. If you dont, not so great but he, it isnt a holds barred interview in depth about many stages of how he views the world, from the earliest days when he first joined the marines and obviously finishing with his defense secretary days he submitted his resignation. With me right now, is secretary jim mattis. Sir, good to have you. Neil, thanks for having me here. Neil i did mention at the outset, mr. Secretary, your refusal to trash the president. You referred very quickly at the outset to your experience. I think only reference after that is copying your twopage resignation letter. Why that approach . Im sure your publisher, might be representatives here, what is he doing, we need dirt . Neil, i come from the american west, there is a saying out there you ride for the brand and i swore an oath to uphold the constitution. The president is the president. We have only one president at a time. The french have a saying, a duty of reserve. When you leave an administration or a government over matters of policy, you state what they are, what those matters are, i did so with the president. He was straightforward with me. I was straightforward with him. Then you owe a period of sigh helps as the president , secretary of state, secretary of defense carry on the duty of preserving and protecting this country. Im not going to sit now what i considered to be the cheap seats having just left the administration and comment or make political assessments. Neil well you did say early on, im oldfashioned, i dont write about sitting president s but you did write about a former one. You didnt bash him but obviously barack obama relieved you of your duties as commander of centcom, Central Command but there i thought was very similar rationale for you leaving your post with donald trump. Concerns that both men were taking troops away at a time you didnt think was necessary. President obama in iraq and President Trump in syria. That was a common theme . Neil, as you know, you serve at the pleasure of the president , whether youre a cabinet secretary or a general. Those words have to mean something to you. When it is displeasure, when it is not to their satisfaction, i bear no rancor to President Trump or President Trump. The constitution makes very clear the authority. I believe in it. Neil he never called you about it. Who told you were you were relieved . In the case of president obama, what happened the pentagon announced my replacement early, that i was leaving the job early. Neil did you know that, that they were going to announce that . No, i did not, but it is not personal. Even from my side, it was a strategic disagreement. It was not a political assessment. The u. S. Military ranks the top year in, year out in Public Confidence of our institutions because were not political. Because we protect this democracy, not because we take political sides. And that is very, very important. President trumps recordbreaking budget for the Defense Department last year achieved, i think 87 republican and democrat support. We wouldnt have that if the military was a politicized instrument. Those of us who serve we have obligation to continue the George Washington, George Marshall tradition that the military stays apolitical. Neil again your reason for leaving the Trump White House was that he was drawing down troops, getting out of syria you thought too soon. The irony since then, either he is heeded what you warned about, just not doing it for the timebeing. Do you regret leaving then . I think issue is we have to have a strategic approach. It doesnt matter if it is a Republican Administration or democrat. I dont think weve had a sufficiently strategic approach for the last 15 years. That is not a statement about one party or the other. We have to decide what it is we stand for. Just as importantly, what do we stand against, what we will not stand for. This town was attacked on 9 11, attacked by maniacs who thought they could murder innocent citizens from 91 countries and scare us. We didnt scare. We went after those people and guess who was there with us, troops from canada and uk, norway and germany, jordan, turkey, new zealand, australia. I can go on. Neil you mentioned allies, having good relations. Theyre important, do you feel that is in peril given the acrimonious relationship . Winston churchill put it well. He said only thing fighting with allies is fighting without allies. It is hard. There are times when tensions rise. The issues right now, for example, 2 is what everyones committed to a nato to paying for the best defense in the world. The nato alliance, that has been an issue about paying their fair share going at least as far back that i have experienced, it is even deeper in history as president clinton, president bush, president obama. This is not a new issue. Now our president today is pushing it very, very hard not like neil you agree with him . I could not agree more strongly allies have to pay their fair share. They have parliament. They have their own politics. Every nations different. So we have to help them explain, to them, why it is necessary. But the western democracies have to get their act together. They have to have a vat give. They have to know what they stand for and they have to stand together. Neil you mentioned President Trump there when you submitted your resignation. He sped it up. You can go now. He since said when you left, i gave him a second chance, obviously referring to the moment that barack obama terminated you. Any thoughts on that . Well, it was, i was obligated not to just in a huff walk out the door. I needed to give him time. Neil were you in a huff . No, of course not. This is not personal to me. This is serving the country and its a privilege to serve this country. It is an honor. Im actually, im humbled by it. I took no part in the campaign. I had not met President Trump before he interviewed me. So it was not something i every aspired to but when it was time to go i owed him a certain period to make an adjustment, find someone to take my place, it was completely for his call to leave early. I bear him no ill will if that is what he thought best. Neil you did that. You leave. You talk about what is going on in the world today, obviously, very cognizant, you were there in the invasion of kuwait of course, later on, some incursions. The french president Emmanuel Macron proposing iran stick to the accord that the president ripped up, iran accord, offering them 15 billion as part of a bailout package to make them do that. What do you think . Well i dont know all the details more than just what youve told me, what i have read here in the news. I think that anything that keeps iran from getting a Nuclear Weapon is in our best interests. Neil so was that deal originally constructed in our best interests . The deal was working. It was not a deal i was especially fond of when it was fine. I thought the sun down provisions were too soon. Neil was it a mistake for the president to rip it up, start from scratch . Im not willing to say that once im out neil i understand. Emmanuel macron the brits are saying, italians, germans, it was a mistake, at least you had a structure a blueprint. Now you dont have that. It also worked, neil. We have to admit Nuclear Weapons program was not Going Forward by iran. And it was not a sufficient deal in the sense that the Ballistic Missile program was left basically unaddressed. So they could continue with the Ballistic Missile program. However i think right now the most important thing as we recognize the Iranian Regime does not speak for the iranian people. Keep that very firmly in mind. Neil only game in town, right . Well they are, but at the same time we know they sit on a very shaky foundation. So lets not do anything to get the people to rally around an unpopular regime. Iran remains the single biggest destablizing element in the middle east. Neil what about north korea, they seem to flaunting missile tests whatever theyre doing. The president says theyre not violating anything but it does make you wince a little bit. What are they up to . Are they throwing it back in the president s face . The president has a very Good Relationship with kim jongun. He is building on that, patient with that. Are you . Yeah i think, if we go back to when we were doing arms control, same subject but with russia, the soviet union days, what president reagan always called for was trust but verify. I think in light of north koreas background here i think we have to go with verify, then trust. Neil so they have done 10 i think, general, by last count of these tests, whether theyre medium or shortrange or whatever theyre calling them, that is pretty provocative. Very worrisome, very worrisome. Neil if were still talking about a beautiful relationship with kim jongun, is the president , in a pickle here . Well i think secretary pompeo has defined it pretty well as a continuing problem. Neil yeah. That it is one that well have to address. You know, god willing, it will be addressed diplomatically, well find a way forward. Well have, we have awful lot of nations in the world concerned about it, and hopeful and supportive of solving this, but china is really the key country here. Neil you mentioned china, you mentioned what is going on. We have the trade back and forth. A lot of people dont think well get a trade deal. Then this move in hong kong today to stop the extradition matter. Some protesters arent buying it as you know. Secretary, they are saying well still protest. Well do what we have to do. What do we do in response . How integral is how theyre treating hong kong to closing a deal, to you . I think it is even a broader issue than that but you used the right word, neil, it is integral. How will you take a country that treats its own citizens this way and have any misunderstanding how they intend to treat others . We generally treat our own people in any situation better than what we consider to be the other people, foreigners, or Something Like that. So china appears to try to dom ney the decisions of countries around its periphery and beyond and in their economic decisions, their diplomatic decisions, their security decisions. That is not in keeping with our view of the world where sovereignty and sovereign countries act in their own interests. We dont believe in bullies. We dont believe militarizing areas with freedom for all nations to travel through in the past. And when chinese president promises in the rose garden to president obama, that they would not militarize the spratly islands, they turn around and militarize the spratly islands, well have to recognize i think the thing about the Trump Administration here is finally america under this administration looks more honestly at what chinas actions are saying because for many, many years, we thought as they liberalize and economically get their economy going in a way that brings them more into the flow of nations trade, that there was going to be a political benefit, a liberalization there as well. We have seen quite the opposite, whether hong kong or out of western china with the uyghurs. Neil they keep lying. I believe this administration called it bluntly exactly that. Neil you know, the president also said of isis, switching gears a little bit, that it is defeated, theyre on the run, theyre gone. What do you think . Well the Intelligence Community sees isis perhaps more broadly than how the president defined it for that. The president is quite right that the isis geographic caliphate has been destroyed and it was destroyed in no small measure thanks to what the american troops who, they are valiant what they did but especially our allies and i think the Kurdish Forces lost over 10,000 killed in action alone. 23,000 wounded. Neil but isis doesnt look gone to me . The idea of isis is not gone, the sleeper cells, they have gone underground, this is im from the american west, neil, some of the worst forest fires when you pulled the forest firefighting crews off early, they break back out. When president obama pulled troops out of iraq, the Intelligence Community said they will come back stronger than ever. That is exactly what happened. We dont want to repeat that. The shot not heard round the world, promising consequences for clear weapons. It is understandable, neil. Political leaders dont want wars generally. They want peace and prosperity. Neil but you have to answer to the political leaders . Military leaders bring wars grim realities into the discussion. Tough play the ball where it lies. Neil how did you play President Trump saying i know more about isis than the generals do . I would have made a very good general. Im pretty good at this stuff . Well i dont make political assessments. Im going to frustrate you here, neil. Im not going to make political assessments. Neil do you think he would make a good general . He is very decisive . One thing that George Washington and George Marshall, general bradley taught all of us by their example, by their words, the military does not get into making political assessments. Were very fortunate in this country. We dont even think of the military stepping out, reversing an election that is not true in a lot of places. Neil youre right about that. There is a certain espirit decorps from others that led men and women in that battle. Former chief of staff kelly in that role in the administration. Lost a son obviously in battle. Yeah. Neil im wonder if you have a whole different perspective on that and being bellicose and exerting authority . Yeah. I think we all are shaped by our for mitttive experiences. Youre right, weve been shaped by a sobering experience. First time as a young officer, point one of your troops, point forward, they get up and go, you cant be anything humbled theyre putting their life on the line. Neil i notice you, general, are the most reluctant to pull the trigger quite literally. Im also reminded, youre voracious leader, you have thousands of books in your library. General kelly the same way. I think you argued who has more books. He more than me. Neil of the president s those you worked for, who had that sense of history or that depth or that reading or that knowledge base, book base, historical sense . Well i certainly say that john f. Kennedy had it. I didnt serve for him but when you look how he looked at the world, he really understood history, john f. Kennedy did. Another one who really understood it would be, would be president george bush in 1990, 91. Neil george bush, sr. . Senior. He saw what we could not stand for the invasion of kuwait. Neil he did not continue into iraq . He woo not allow mission creep. He put the coalition for this. Neil at the time you wanted him to continue. I thought he did exactly the right thing, exactly the right thing t was obviously if you looked at it, if you took Saddam Hussein out, one of the biggest tyrants of all time, there was still going to be a vacuum. In that vacuum in the middle east you could not expect something good to flow. Neil without talking politics, general, you do mention, the obama administration, working with joe biden, the Vice President. He would joke with you about being centcom commander. You are only guy at centcom that took the job. You had a personal relationship, not a fan of his in general though. If he were to become president , would you feel safe, would this country be in good hands . I am not going to make a political assessment. Neil i thought if i asked it that way you would. That was cunning. Neil i thought maybe they worn you down. I would say what happened by that point, would i come back from centcom from being supreme allied commander in europe the decision was made basically to pull out. There may have been discussions. They were more the appearance of consultation than anything else. They were going to go. So i enter the discussion very late at that point. Neil got it. I was, i was very convinced that by backing maliki, who had not won the majority of votes, by pulling our troops out, you would set us up as Intelligence Community accurately predicted we would have to come back in. Neil the president when he praises Vladmir Putin, even now, do you see Vladmir Putin as enemy of the United States . I do not think Vladmir Putin has one positive thought about the United States. Neil so would you praise him . I dont. I dont praise him. I was not elected by the American People so i dont presume to be speaking for the American People but no, i dont praise him one bit. Neil finally, john mccain, the comments the president made about john mccain in the campaign that he wasnt a hero, that i didnt like the guy, he always spoke his mind. You knew where he was coming from. What did you think of that back and forth . I think what we need to do in this country we need to be hard on issues where we need to disagree but we dont need to be hard on each other. John mccain obviously was a friend. I had known him for many years. Testified in front of his Committee Many times. He lit into me many times. Always in the best interests of our country. It was never personal. We would shake hands afterwards, say, boy i really got you that time. Always here on issues we didnt agree on, there werent many, but there were some, there was no need to personalize it. We need to get back in this country to a fundamental friendliness, respecting each other, accepting that i may disagree 100 with you, but you may also be right. We need to get back to an open discussion, then going out and having dinner together, enjoying each others company. We have to get away from these tribes that bring out bad comments about each other. Neil if we went out to dinner i would have you pick up the tab. No reservations. Neil james mattis, chaos, riveting for the cheap shots it doesnt take. More after this. Managingaudreys on it. S . Eating right . On it staying active . On it. Audrey thinks shes doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and Heart Disease but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk . [sfx crash of Football Players colliding offcamera. ] maybe not. 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The type 2 diabetes pill thats on it. Learn more at jardiance. Com everyone has something to say. But in a world full of talking, shouldnt somebody be listening . So. Lets talk. We are edward jones. With one Financial Advisor per office, were built for hearing whats important to you. One to one. Edward jones. Its time for investing to feel individual. Neil all right. A couple, a few u. S. Senators are coming back from having a meeting with the vice premier of china beijing. They are going to brief the president on all of this. Edward lawrence in washington with more on all of the above. Hey, edward. Reporter neil, two senators concluded the trip to china, steve daines from montana, david perdue from georgia went to beijing met with liu he, the vice premier among other meetings this is video of the meeting in beijing there. The senators encouraged the chinese to continue to negotiate with the u. S. When they get back both senator daines and perdue will brief the president on the trip what was said. Before they left, both senators said they talked not only to President Donald Trump but the top trade negotiators in the United States. The treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and u. S. Trade representative robert lighthizer. This was not part of the trade talks. This was a separate congressional trip. Still in a statement senator perdue says senator daines and i traveled to china with one goal, to help reinforce President Trumps efforts to level the Playing Field with our trading partners. We were there to emphasize that the president and his negotiating team have strong support from congress. Senator daines added, that they met with top level chinese officials to fully support President Trumps effort to level the Playing Field for american workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses. We must continue to hold china accountable. Also today, the chinese filed their official complaint with the wto. This is the letter that was circulated among wto members. In this letter it says that the chinese want the wto to facilitate consultations, talking about the 300 billion in chinese imports that are now under, that will be under a 15 tariff going up from 10 tariff, so 10 tariff. Chinese want wto. Officially a complaint was filed. They want their help, neil. Neil edward lawrence, thank you very much. Dow up 200 points. Well give you an update on dorian. Still a monster of a storm. Stay with us. All while helping you to and through retirement. Can you help with these . Were more of the plan, invest and protect kind of help. Voya. Helping you to and through retirement. Play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Tum tum tum tums with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Have you lost weight . Of course i have ever since i started renting from national. Because national lets me lose the wait at the counter. And choose any car in the aisle. And i dont wait when i return, thanks to drop go. At national, i can lose the wait. And keep it off. Looking good, patrick. I know. vo go national. Go like a pro. Every curve, every innovation, every feeling. A product of mastery. Lease the 2019 es 350 for 379 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Neil the slowmoving storm we call dorian is continuing to make its way up the coast. Right now just off the florida east coast, but extending moving on toward the carolinas. Joe bastardi where this is going, what we can expect. What do you think, joseph . Will brush cape romaine, North Carolina, over cape fear, cape lookout, west of cape hatteras, and out over the atlantic between duck, North Carolina and cape hatteras. It will go up towards nantucket, Marthas Vineyard we all know where that is more than nantucket that will bring Tropical Storm conditions in those islands. Washington, d. C. Is left. Tied water, virginia, six to 10 00 inches of rain. They may have Hurricane Force gusts. Natural per one city or number one port were most worried about is charleston. This is moving real slow as we all know. It is pushing water back in there. For a while this will be aimed at charleston. Looks like it will go 15 to 30 miles southeast of charleston. It is such a close pass, it will probably break the tidal records set during hurricane matthew. So interesting storm, no doubt about that. Neil thank you my friend. Joe bastardi, keeping a very close eye on the storm that is among the slower moving that weve seen certainly in the last century. Well keep an eye on it as well. The senator who wants Mark Zuckerberg prosecuted, if necessary to go to jail, after this. Their medicare options. Ere people go to learn about before theyre on medicare. Come on in. Youre turning 65 soon . Yep. And youre retiring at 67 . Thats the plan well, youve come to the right place. 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This occurs on the same day french president Emmanuel Macron apparently offered iran 15 billion in a bailout package, one that was dismissed out of hand former secretary jim mattis on this very show, to get iran back to the deal, the one President Trump ripped up, an one jim mattis made clear to me regrets ripping it up because it was structured deal. The back and forth goes on. President talking about meeting rouhani at the u. N. General assembly this month. He says anything is possible. To another guy for whom anything is possible, he will cover the story, exhaustively so, today kicking off with all the attorneys general piling in on google. By the way you and trump. Neil idiot couldnt cover it, but what is going on with google . [inaudible]. Well get into that later. Neil you cant get an irs audit. Theyre coming after me too. Neil please. The Washington Post wrote an interesting story today about, as many as 30 state attorneys general will launch a major crackdown on tech, in particular google. We were open pining who these, who these ags might be. We, we scoured our tech sources and it is kind of interesting the group. It is not, new york, what we understand, at least as of now, james usually at the forefront of sort of these things, california. The names were hearing mississippi, utah, nebraska, texas. Texas we should point out is a, is a republican state ag but you know, interestingly enough at t is located in texas and at t considers neil what is the issue with them . Well they think theyre basically antitrust violations, too big. But the political aspect here is with at t is very interesting because theyre all fighting over the same turf in terms of content and delivery of content. At t views google as a competitor. The other interesting name is mississippi, just for the, just catches my eye because the mississippi ags office has had a long record in being an activist ag. Remember, they, mississippi ag, his name is michael moore, led crackdown on big tobacco. You remember the movie, the insider . He was part and parcel. This office does have a record and a history of cracking down on tech. So, we have calls out to all of them. They have not denied it. It will be interesting to see exactly how this plays out. Theyre planning some big tech press conference according to the Washington Post next monday i believe it is of the those are names were hearing. It is not neil you were one of the first to report that the federal left, they were looking at, theyre circling the wagons. In the beginning of the year, we reported, we were first to report, beginning of the year, bob barr, when he was getting announced as attorney general for the usa he would crack down on tech. I mean trump, i think what we have here is a battle of, this is so political and i think these companies, ags and the administration see so much voter angst at big tech right now, that they, that they see Political Capital in these investigations. That is a lot of what youre seeing here. If you own the stock, expect some turbulence, google, facebook, apple. Speaking about facebook, some congressman want to put neil ron wyden, right . What is that all about . Neil i dont know. The guy should go to jail if he is invading the privacy of cavuto should go to jail if he did rob that bank over there. Neil in that case if i did. These people are crazy. It is so, this is, this is so stupid that these politicians are playing people like a fiddle. Listen, tech, im sure steps over the line. It does a lot of good. It employs a lot of people. Neil you cant claim theyre guilty before being charged. This is so political. And ill tell you if youre a shareholder in any of these companies you have to worry about this. Your stock is being targeted. Okay . Neil i, well by the way, i was on vacation last week. Neil right. All right . And all, my twitter feed was lighting up. Your friend cavuto this, your friend cavuto that. Neil this is a family show. What did you do . Neil i dont know what youre talking about. Youre a hater. I want you to know that i admire you so much. Im just saying, you are, you are the reason why i came here. Neil i better be the reason why you stay here. Well who knows. Neil dunkin donuts. Or starbucks with the pumpkin latte. I have no problem being a franchisee. Neil its a good living. Not a bad living. Neil you are the best, my friend. Charlie gasparino. Here is the good news. China and the u. S. Are talking, set to continue talking. Here is the bad news. Chinas economy is revving up. Why would that be bad news . Because there may be less inclined to want to do a deal, after this. Ive always been excited for whats next. Im still going for my best. Even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin, ill go for that. Eliquis. Eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. Plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Whats next . Sharing my roots. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis, the number one cardiologistprescribed blood thinner. Ask your doctor if eliquis is whats next for you. past them because she didnt sknow they were talking to her. G and she would just walk right deborah i just could not hear. I was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair, but nobody even sees them. avo our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason weve been the brand leader for over 70 years. deborah when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. I could hear everything. avo get special anniversary savings and your chance to win a seven day hawaiian cruise. Call 1800miracle today. Neil all right. Stocks are up across the board, optimism about china and a possible trade deal, at least theyre not cursing at each other. We do want to update you on whats going on at the white house. Some new channels have come on this tape of the president s playback of conversations hes having regarding a dorian update. We figure they are up to date on that. If you are interested about the federal approach to handling dorian, thats where its happening. We will go into that tape when he starts taking questions from reporters, specifically on the issues that have already been telegraphed to us. He talks about iran, the overtures the french are making to get them back to the negotiating table by way of a 15 billion emergency cash infusion to help them out, an opportunity for the president to respond to that, also to the ongoing backandforth on china. Speaking of china, thats why we are waiting for that portion to replay that, they had some very good news on their Services Sector which continues to expand but now strongest rate in more than three months, just as our Manufacturing Sector is contracting. The reason why that could be an Interesting Development, it cuts both ways. Its obviously very good for china, but it could also mean here that they are less compelled to come to the negotiating table, the ultimate possible irony being that maybe we are going to ironically be in the position of needing a deal more than the chinese. Thats a big leap here. Most seem to think the fact the two sides are talking or planning to talk and that senators are coming back from beijing where they met with the vice premier of china, all thats to the good. It all seems to point the way to progress on trade. Thats why we are up about 214 points on the dow, and a lot of the stocks that would benefit from a trade deal are picking up steam, caterpillar, intel, micron technology. I believe they are all up in excess of 2 . Those issues that again, benefit from all of this. Lets get the read from the wall street Journal Editorial Board member James Freeman, and the New York Post editorial page assistant Brooke Rogers. Brooke, that kind of flip read on china, if its doing well, things are improving, suddenly its not so desperate for a deal, right . Absolutely. I think that china has always been in a good place to negotiate, even better than the u. S. I think that these tariffs affect consumers and american businesses more than they affect china. So if you look at it, they have always been in the stronger position. Neil the president says just the opposite, they need a deal more than we need a deal, our economys on fire. Collectively its still doing quite well but not as well as thei theirs. Might have come out of its funk. Absolutely. It definitely benefits the president to say that we are neil we say that a lot. It is his trade war. I think we have to see how the negotiations play out but at this point, the tariffs are affecting americans far more than the chinese. Neil i notice that while our overall trade deficit improved with china, it got worse. What to make of that . Theres pain on both sides of it. The new data from china may be marginally less pressure on them but overall, its got a big cost on both sides and even the tariffs, the decline in their currency, they are paying for a lot of those so far effectively because their manufacturers are accepting less in return for goods. But to me, if you want to look at a silver lining, hope for this trade fight getting resolved, i think the action on hong kong is encouraging because we have seen really just a long discouraging trend from the chinese regime of sort of moving back toward old style communist tighter control of the economy, less openness, and this decision which i think has to be made in beijing to not violate the Civil Liberties of people in hong kong i think is very positive. Neil this was the extradition order, you know, they want to get you for a crime or anything and send you back to mainland china, that started the protest to begin with. Chief executive carrie lam has indicated that that bill has been withdrawn and wont be redrawn. Can we say redrawn . By the way, on this issue, it was something i spoke with former defense secretary jim mattis who has a book out on the china threat. Heres what he had to say about that. America under this administration looks more honestly at what chinas actions are saying because for many, many years, we thought as they liberalize and economically get their economy going in a way that brings them more into the flow of nations trade that there was going to be a political benefit, a liberalization there as well. We have seen quite the opposite, whether it be hong kong or out of western china with the uighurs. Neil they keep lying. And i believe this administration has called it bluntly exactly that. Neil what happens if each side sticks to its plan and we dont get a deal by the election, then what . Well, first of all, we promised about 25 billion in subsidies to farmers at this point. Thats already a loss that we have to factor in. I think that those voters who may otherwise have gone to trump might be angry about that. We see a lot of protectionism on the other side as well. The left tends to, officially the far left tends to be more protectionist when it comes to trade policies so they may not see it as a viable alternative but i think people will be upset if they dont see a positive improvement by the election. Neil you know whats interesting about this whole thing, who pays for these tariffs, we know its americans, either American Distributors, retailers, whether they pass that along to average american folks, thats their call and a lot of them try to absorb it. The latest wave of tariffs, thats going to be a little tougher to do, right . Yeah. I think the history is that its going to be pain thats shared by a lot of people. The owner of the business, the employees, the consumers, that tax has to be paid and its going to be borne by the u. S. Economy. I think if we are going to continue this chinese negotiation and were not going to get that resolution that i think a lot of people are hoping for and waiting for, its really critical i think that the president makes some progress on his other trade fights, in other words, ends them and go to zero tariffs wherever he can. If he wants us to dig in with a fight, for a fight with china, i think to really encourage businesses to start investing again the way they havent been lately so much, i think hes got to have some good news on some other trade deal. Neil all right. The president talking about this and other issues, on iran as well. Lets dip into this. We thought this was going to be a direct originally this was going to be a direct hit into miami, and we would have been satisfied anyway. We need help on the border. The numbers are really good. I want to thank again the country of mexico. They have 25,000 soldiers right now protecting our border. And they have done a fantastic job so we appreciate that very much. Mexico has never helped us on the border and they are now, 25,000 soldiers and you may want to talk about the numbers are down in half, i guess. You want to mention that . Yeah, were compiling the august numbers now. We will be releasing those early next week but we are looking at a reduction of over 50 from may to today, continued partnership with mexico, i just got back, mr. President , from el salvador last week where we signed a new agreement to continue to Work Together on a regular migration so we are getting a lot of partnership from countries in the region and with your leadership and again, applying those resources at the border to enhance our security. The wall is being built. Its going up rapidly. I guess most of you have been able to see were building very large sections of wall. Its a big factor was we just won the Big Supreme Court case as you know and we have were building in different sections, were building different sections simultaneously and we think by the end of next year which will be sometime right after the election actually but we think we will have close to 500 miles of wall which will be complete. That will be what we wanted to do is about 500 miles. That will take care of all of the areas that we wanted including some of the marginal areas that we didnt necessarily need but we could have gotten it done, we were looking to do about a 500 mile stretch. We should have it almost complete, if not complete, by the end of next year. Reporter members of congress about [ inaudible ] . Yes, we have. Reporter can i ask what you told the members of congress . I didnt tell anything. Secretary of defense spoke with members of congress and explained it to them and i think he felt very good about it. He feels its a National Security problem. I do, too. It is, when you have thousands of people trying to rush our country, i think thats National Security. When you have drugs pouring into our country, i view that as National Security. And we had very good conversations with various members of congress. Reporter if this storm keeps on track [ inaudible ]. What do you have in place to help them with its impact . We are very well prepared for that. Last time, if you remember, when it hit mexico beach, we wiped out a large, a large farm areas in not only florida but in alabama and georgia. What we did is we were able to help the farmers a lot. As you know, we sent aid to the farmers. They lost their crops, they lost, in some cases they lost almost everything. We were able to help them get back on their feet. We will be doing the same thing now. You will have probably some farms up along the coast and we will be able to go in, where secretary of agriculture, we have a lot of money because of the tariffs we have taken in. We have taken in tremendous, many millions of dollars of tariffs from china and we will have a lot of money to be helping our farmers along the coast, if they get hit. They may not get hit. Theres a real chance that this could be the other way but theres also a chance it goes straight or it goes left. If it goes left, thats an even different subject. But our farmers will be helped. We are going to help our farmers. Reporter [ inaudible ]. It depends. It depends what youre talking about. It depends whos hit, which state is hit. Right now we dont know. We can predict a path but so far the predicting has been very tough with this particular hurricane. But we have a lot of we have taken in tens of billions of dollars in tariffs from china. Prices have not gone up or they have gone up very little. Chinas paid for most of that and i say paid for all of it. China has now had the worst year theyve had in 57 years. This is the worst year theyve had in 57 years. And they want to make a deal. Well see what happens. In the meantime were taking a lot of money. We havent taken ten cent is in from china. If you look back, they take from us, we never take from them. Now were taking from them. Well see what happens. We have a lot of money to help our farmers. Last year i gave the farmers 16 billion out of tariffs. The year before that, because they were targeted by china, the year before that i gave our farmers 12 billion. The way we figured that, i said how badly have our farmers been hit by targeting from china and i was told they were hit to the tune of 16 billion, and i made up that 16 dollar for dollar to the farmers. So the farmers are extremely happy. They also know, they are warriors, they also know we have to do this with china. We cant let this go on. They were taking out 500 billion a year out of this country, including intellectual property theft which was rampant. So our farmers will be helped. Nobody that weve done more for than our farmers. And they understand you have to win the war with this is a trade war, trade battle, you can call it anything you want, but and this should have been done by president s before me, not just president obama. This should have been done by president bush and president clinton, this should have been done a long time ago. China has been absolutely the World Trade Organization has been a disaster for the United States. China has taken advantage of it and us, and thats not happening anymore. But the farmers have been taken care of. 16 billion and 12 billion each year. Okay . Thank you. Reporter the United States of trying to infiltrate companies who is . Who . Reporter huawei. Do you have any comment on that . No. Its a National Security concern. Huawei is a big concern of our military, of our intelligence agencies, and we are not doing business with huawei. That will stop almost completely in a very short period of time and well see what happens with respect to china, but huawei has been not a player that we want to discuss, we want to talk about right now. Were not going to be doing business with huawei. We will do our own business. You know the oldfashioned way. We will do it from right within the United States which is what i have been saying for a long time. By the way, speaking of tariffs, there are no tariffs if you want to build or make these products in the United States. There are no tariffs whatsoever. And people are coming back now to the United States. In large numbers. Reporter the senators went to china to meet with vice premier liu he. Did you approve that meeting . I approved it, my people approved it. China asked for the meeting. They have a lot of respect for senator daines and senator perdue. So do i, theyre friends of mine and great senators, doing a fantastic job. I knew about the meeting. I approved of the meeting. And all they did is say that we really have bipartisan support. If you look at it, and the support is very serious. Were not playing games. That was the message that was given by senator perdue and senator daines and was given very strongly. They absolutely had my permission. They also spoke to ambassador lighthizer and secretary mnuchin about the trip before they went there. Reporter [ inaudible ]. They told me the attitude of china. Basically they said china would like to do something. I know they would like to do something. Look, they are having their worst year in, you know, many, many decades, as i said. They are having a supply chain thats being absolutely fractured and broken which is very bad for them. They have lost three million jobs. And the jobs are moving to vietnam and other places, including the United States, by the way. Some people are just making the product here. But they are moving all over asia and some here, and you know, if i were china, i would want to make a deal. I can tell you they do want to make a deal. We will see if we can do a real deal, not a fake deal. Like the fake media. A real deal. Okay . What else . Reporter [ inaudible ]. Well, again, i guess you would call it a british protectorate but i will do a lot. We just have a call. Were waiting for the call. Theyre having a lot of trouble with the telephones over there as you can imagine from the Prime Minister, and were helping a lot, and the admiral just said we are sending a lot of resources over there to help people on a humanitarian basis. But i would do that if we think its appropriate. Reporter the Prime Minister on board [ inaudible ]. We couldnt access parts but we are working very closely with the commonwealth of the bahamas to help them understand the extent of the damage. Theyve got a situation in the bahamas like few have seen before. Tough, tough thing. Reporter we know the actions taken against the irgc and quds forces dealing particularly with syria. There is some thought this may be part of a precursor to talks between you and president rouhani. Whats your thinking on that . Well, we will see what happens. They want to talk. They want to make a deal. Iran is not the same country it was two and a half years ago. That, i can tell you. Getting to be three years. Hard to believe. I have been saying two and a half years and its almost three years. Getting very close. But iran is not the same country when i came into office, iran was absolutely a terrorist organization, from 14 to 18 sites of confliction and they were behind every one of them. Now youre not hearing so much about that. Well see what happens. Look, iran is a country with tremendous potential. Were not looking for regime change. They have tremendous potential and i think they are going to want to take advantage of their potential. I really believe that. I think north koreas a country with tremendous potential. I think they are going to want to take advantage of it. So well see what happens. But iran has tremendous potential and i cant imagine they are going to want to go through what they are going to have to go through if they want to do it the hard way. Well see what happens. Reporter do you think president rouhani and macron will be at the u. N. Assembly later this month, could it have potential i dont know. I very much appreciate president macron, his involvement, but were not dealing through president macron. People are dealing with us directly. We dont have to go through another country. We have actually, weve had a lot of help, if we want it from japan. Japan is one of their biggest, possibly their biggest buyer of oil. They have a big relationship. Thats Prime Minister abe. So we dont need anybody to deal. We can deal directly if we want. But other countries are offering help. They would like to see it straightened out. But they also agree with me, we had a great g7 and they all agreed no Nuclear Weapons for iran. They all agree. No Nuclear Weapons for iran. Reporter the iranians have said they dont want to talk to the u. S. Until the u. S. Rejoins the jcpoa. How do you square thats not their last statement, actually. But they did say it in a different forum. They said that until we do certain other things like drop sanctions and thats not happening. Okay . That wont be happening. They didnt say quite the way you said it, but they said it with the same end result. That wont happen. Reporter is it possible there could be a meeting between you and rouhani . Sure. Anythings possible. They would like to be able to solve their problem. They got a big problem. They are getting killed financially. Their inflation is at a number that few people have ever seen inflation at. Its a very sad situation. They could solve it very quickly. We could solve it in 24 hours. But well see what happens. Reporter [ inaudible ]. I can only say this. When you hear they had their worst year in over half a century. This is the worst year they had that anybody can even remember, over 50 years, over half a century, i would think they want to solve the problem. People have no idea. You know, weve created tremendous wealth in this country, in our country, since have been elected. Well over 12 trillion. They lost probably 20 trillion. When i assumed office, had my opponent won, within two years in my opinion, maybe less, china would have been a bigger economy than the United States, would have been bigger. Now we arere so far ahead, it take years to catch. If we have competent people sitting here they will never be able to catch. Let me tell you, if i wanted to do nothing with china, my stock market, our stock market would be 10,000 points higher than it is right now. But somebody had to do this. To me, this is much more important than the economy. Somebody had to do this. We had to do it with china. Had to be done. Im not even talking about purely economically. Im talking about in other ways also. It was out of control. They were out of control. So well see what happens. If they want to make a deal, theyll make a deal. If they dont want the make a deal, thats fine. I can tell you theyre having one of the i guess the worst on record and they want to make a deal. If i were them i would want to make a deal, too, but well see what happens. Okay . Anything else . Reporter the situation in london with boris johnson. Well, boris is a friend of mine. Hes going at it, theres no question about it. Hes in there. I watched him this morning. Hes in there fighting. He knows how to win. Boris knows how to win. Dont worry about him. Hes going to be okay. Hes also got, you know, they have a big stake in the bahamas. When you mention that, they have a very big stake in the bahamas. I know they have one ship on its way, had a hard time getting there with the weather but its on its way. They have a lot of people over there. They have a big stake. Okay . Reporter what was the rationale for rolling back the regulations on Energy Efficient light bulbs . We will give you a report of that. We are doing a report on all of that. But theres a very good rationale when you hear it. Whats saved is not worth it. For the little they save and what people were going through, it is not worth it. And price was another thing. Okay . Same thing with cars. In california, they have a standard where the cars are going to have to be much more expensive and wont be as good. So we are giving an option to Car Companies to create a better car from less money, meaning less money to the consumer. So if the consumer can save 3,000 on a car and have a very Energy Efficient car, but not Energy Efficient so that the car doesnt work well, which is happening, we are giving them a tremendous option if they want the option. We are giving it to the consumer but we are giving it to the car company to companies to pass along, and well see how that one works out. We are doing that, we are doing a lot of that. We want to make it good for the consumer. If we can build a less expensive car thats better, we like that. Reporter do you think this 2 billion in opioid [ inaudible ] . So we have done a great job with drugs, generally, but its a tremendous worldwide problem. But we have done a very good job with opioids and getting fewer people to use them and prescribe them and were about 17 down from a little more than a year ago. Thats a big number, when you think 17 . But were about 17 down and one of the things we are doing is were funding different projects where we come up with a painkiller thats not addictive. You have people go in a hospital with a broken arm, they come out, theyre drug addicts after three days. The opioid stuff is bad. When they get used to it, once they get hooked its a very hard thing to get off of. So were down 17 . We are going to be doing a conference today, as you know, and we will talk a little about it but we have worked very very hard on opioids and all of the problems that they are causing, tremendous problems. Okay . Reporter [ inaudible ]. Okay . Thank you. Thank you, everybody. See you later. See you all later. Neil all right. We have been monitoring that. Lot of ground to cover here. I do want the make a couple things clear. When the president referred to the fact he had not come into office, china would be the dom na dominant World Economic power, china is still growing three times the rate we are here so i dont know mathematically where he gets that. Secondly, he was talking about taking good care of the farmers, i have been paying and helping them 16 billion this year, 14 billion last year. Of course, he has not directly been helping them. You have. You pay those tariffs, whether you are footing that bill at the register or not, american retailers and American Distributors that do business in china are. A lot of that is buffeted by the fact that china devalues its currency to make it difficult to pass all those costs along, but American Distributors, those retailers, are responsible for paying that. So american entities pay those tariffs, i. E. , americans, i. E. , you. That is something i just wanted to make very clear here. So when hes talking about the money hes getting from china, essentially what hes saying is its money im getting from you. Also on iran, he poohpoohed this thought that the president of france asked iran for a bailout measure to get iran to honor the agreement, get back to the agreement. Macron and other european leaders have been very keen on getting the president to revisit that deal that he ripped up, even his former defense secretary jim mattis who was here earlier in the last hour was telling me at least it was a construct of something. He avoided criticizing President Trump directly, but said that that deal was the blueprint and means by which we could extract concessions from the iranians. Without it right now, its anything goes. Just want to get all that out there. Back with James Freeman and Brooke Rogers. Brooke, on the china thing first off, what he is saying, they are in tatters, were not, they are suffering, were not, we have data we said at the outset that seems to indicate way too early to jims point this is a big turnaround going on in china but things might have bottomed out there. Services sector picking up, Manufacturing Sector picking up, while some of our numbers, not all but some, like manufacturing, turned south and lowest level in three years. What do you make of that . I think that he has a talent for pushing the same rhetoric over and over and over again. What he does is he kind of has this package thing he always says, we are doing great, they are declining, they will come to the negotiation table eventually, we just have to keep doing this. I think it sort of validates his approach but ultimately, as you said, we are seeing numbers where their economy is getting stronger, as you said, maybe too early to know for sure what the impetus is, but we have to watch and wait. Im not sure if we can trust his rhetoric at this point just because the numbers arent showing what hes saying. Neil right. We are looking at the numbers here, folks. This isnt a red or blue call. We just look at the green, the data, to get a sense of the numbers. On that point, to follow up on what brooke said, one of the things that i didnt quite understand when the president made a reference to the chinese had clinton won, they would be the worlds economic number one power, not us. But even allowing for their slower growth, and again, even allowing that they lie with some of their numbers in china, they are still growing at three times our rate. How would that mathematically have been possible . I dont think in two years they would have become the largest economy in the world but obviously, they have gone from nowhere to number two very quickly. And i think if were wondering how long is he going to play this out, those comments would suggest that hes in this for a good deal, not just a deal, as he suggested. He was talking about how this is beyond economics. He talks a lot about the trade relationship. But hes saying this is bigger than that and i think if hes saying until theres reform there, we do not want this economy with a communist regime on top of it becoming the largest economy in the world. I think thats a very reasonable goal and neil how did they actually manage to build that trade surplus with us, in the latest month, with all this stuff going on . How did china manage to grow to where they are . Neil in the latest period, if this is supposed to wallop their bottom line and they ended up selling a lot more goods to us than we sold to them in the latest period, they are doing hunkydory. Well, i dont think they are doing hunkydory. Their growth is slower and of course, in terms of shortterm numbers, you never are clear on exactly how well theyre doing because they have a very active effort to turn the dials on their economy and given that it is a dictatorship, they can affect ways in which the president cant, you know, he can criticize jay powell but you have more direct control in the chinese economy so i think over the long term, its clear this is not a plus for them, it is imposing economic costs on both sides, and i think if you take away from that, this may take awhile, again, hes not looking for the quick deal he can tout. Hes looking for a fundamental change in the relationship. I think that just underlines the need to improve trade opportunities elsewhere, because right now, with this china cloud, there is a reluctance of u. S. Executives to invest. Neil it can affect a lot of ceo plans Going Forward. Just a reminder, when it comes to the White House Events here on fox business, we focus on those that are going to be directly related to you and your money and directly related to in this case, taxpayer dough and trade dough and tariff dough. Thats why we really focused on those remarks which the president was addressing the situation with china and the situation with iran. Were not oblivious to obviously the fallout on what the federal government is doing with regard to dorian handling Hurricane Dorian but we thought the news channel covered that very nicely, always does. We are focused on that, updating that as well, but we thought right now given whats going on at the corner of wall and broad, you want to get right to this other stuff. So we did. More after this. Thats why, your cash automatically goes into a Money Market Fund when you open a new account. And fidelitys rate is higher than etrades, td ameritrades, even 10 times more than schwabs. 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[narrator] to get your free, no obligation quote and see how much you could save, call the hartford at the number on your screen thats the number on your screen. Or go to the website on your screen. The bucks got your back. I think the thing may catch up with biden over time, even among democrats who would otherwise be for him, is the feeling that senility is overtaking him and i think it is. Neil well, that was brit hume saying joe bidens senile fears are real and palpable and those in the Democrat Party are getting increasingly concerned about it, his performance on the stump but at some of these debates who some have chastised him for being more of an onlooker than participant. Democratic fundraiser don peebles here as well as Brooke Rogers and jim freeman. Let me ask you a little about that, this notion that hes not ready. Look, hes 76 years old. You might have lost his fastball here. Now theyre getting concerned that hes not up to the job. Thats not a widespread fear, its not affected his overall poll numbers but it will. Thats the gist i think of what he was saying. I think the gist, look, bidens up for the job. Hes extremely experienced. Hes been in government basically almost all of his adult life, from his early 30s on. I mean, hes also been through a lot. Lost his wife and daughter, 30 some odd years ago, just lost his son. He had brain cancer, had surgery for that. So hes had a tough 76 years. I mean, so neil is it showing, though . All that and the age . George w. Bush was in great shape, great health, but he was always stumbling over his words, too. Didnt make him incompetent to run the country. So i dont think thats the case. I dont see another democrat being elected, those who are out here now, the only one who had a shot at it would have been booker. I think harris, people have to like you to vote for you and i think her likability is so low, thats why warren has picked up more steam because shes a little more likeable. Neil Elizabeth Warren is more likeable than kamala harris. Yes, she is. Neil you agree with that . Absolutely, yeah. I think warren has a very warm presence on screen and i think that looking at how she behaves in town halls, people connect with her, she grabs their hands and its very personable. I think kamala neil youre saying the same thing. Absolutely. But you know, she does, to brookes point, theres an app for that, a paper and position for that, she does her homework, shes smart, and apparently that is where the attention of the party is moving right now, to her. What do you think . I think the Warren Sanders extremism is not a general election strategy. I think theres also going to be a reckoning about warrens, even her current story on the long falsehood about native american status is really not believable. Neil so donald trump would raise it, pound it, be aggressive . Yeah. I would like to say on Vice President bidens behalf, he does seem at times to struggle for words but i think its really unfair for nondoctors to make Long Distance diagnoses. I think its probably annoying for people in the president s camp when this guy on cnn is constantly doing this, inviting people who have no medical training to opine on neil i think the one thing that came up, again, seeing him flub more than a few lines and the stream of consciousness, i just wonder if that extra scrutiny, democrats need it. You know what i mean . If that becomes the issue, even if its maybe not as severe an issue but everyone is talking about, almost prompts more flubs, more confusion. Doesnt it . I think also, youve got to think about joe biden was Vice President for eight years. Very insulated. No one engaged him except during the debates for the first president ial election, and obamas reelection, he had some debates. They were very controlled. It was one person. Hes never been in a freeforall like this, nor should he have been. I think he should have bypassed these debates. Neil it was a freeforall in 2008 when he ran for president. But that was a short campaign. But look, i think at the end of the day, trump has changed the standard for everyone. So i dont think stumbling on your words are going to be the i think if its biden and trump, i think the president is in a lot of trouble. I think if its Elizabeth Warren and trump, its going to be socialism versus capitalism. Capitalism is going to win because its one of the pillars of our democracy. Neil i know, you reminded me, too, the polls are meaningless at this stage of the game but if you wanted to look at the polls just for the snapshot they are at this stage and youre looking at a very strong economy, maybe not as strong as it was, and a strong market, maybe not as strong as it was, but still within 2 or 3 of highs reached in july, they shouldnt be showing double digit gaps between the president and all the major democrats. They shouldnt be that bad. Investor business daily which has the most accurate polling in 2016, put biden 12 points over trump and warren, three. So of course, as i said before, its really early. We shouldnt rely solely on these polls. But the fact that they are showing such a wide margin should be concerning to the president and i think may be an indicator he needs to change his tune. What that looks like, im not exactly sure. I think they are showing strong leads in the polls. Neil james . Yeah, its funny, in some ways if you look at our journal nbc poll, people express more positive feelings toward him than they did in october 2016 before they elected him president. So its all about the opponent. In 2016, his opponent was unacceptable to most of the count country. Will that happen this time . I tend to think if its a warren or sanders, yes. I think biden makes it a tougher matchup. Neil im old enough to remember, talk about aging and all that, when Michael Dukakis had a 24 point lead over george bush senior. Things change, i grant you that, but how much do you think the economy will save the day for this president . The hiccups lately notwithstanding . Im not minimizing whats been happening in manufacturing and whathave you but collectively, its still pretty strong. Oh, weve got a very strong economy. We are as close to full employment as we have ever been in a very long time. And the president s style and the constant attacks of the liberal media, i mean, the distortion of and amplification of anything he does, and he plays into it, by the way, because he is who he is, hes a new york developer who is brash and aggressive. But i dont see any democrat other than biden, harris, potentially booker, beating him. Booker is an extreme long shot, highly unlikely. And harris is not going to get the nomination. Elizabeth warren will not beat donald trump. I could end up eating my words here but i dont see that happening. Bernie sanders should never, ever get to be president of the United States, yet alone a democratic nominee because hes not a democrat. Hes a socialist slash communist. Elizabeth warren is treading on that same line. America will reject them and hold their nose and vote for trump if they have to but theyre not voting they will vote for democracy over socialism. Neil are you speaking as a democrat or someone just concerned that they are too far . By the way, before im anything, im an american. Our democracy, one of the pillars of it is capitalism. Without it, we become something totally different and we dont become america anymore. So the idea that we can rile up some people because we are telling them hey, this great economy isnt good enough and we can do better is pathetic. Theyre not going to win, that message is not going to be heard by enough people to get them the nomination, god willing, and certainly not the presidency. Neil are you running for mayor . No. Not right now. But anythings possible. After hearing that, im inspired. Maybe we will have to discuss it. A new york City Real Estate developer named don will have a real tough time getting elected mayor. Thats a little bit of a challenge. Neil that is very good. We will take a quick break. Just letting you know, in case you thought the debt was localized to the federal government, now you know corporations have a lot of it. You know students have a lot of it. A trillion dollars plus in loan debt. They want it paid off. Theres a lot of medical debt. Heaven forbid, did you hear about this, the pope has a lot of debt. Hes urging the vatican, this is the infallible one, saying get this under control. Hes never wrong. After this. Introducing the first of its kind lexus ux and ux f sport. Also available in hybrid all wheel drive. Lease the 2019 ux 200 for 329 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. From the 5am wakers, to the 6am sleepers. Everyone uses their phone differently and in different places. Thats why Xfinity Mobile created a Wireless Network that auto connects you to millions of secure wifi hot spots. And the best lte everywhere else. Xfinity mobile is a different kind of Wireless Network designed to save you money. Save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 250 back when you buy an eligible phone. Click, call or visit a store today. Neil all right. The pope is at a holy war with debt. Concerned that the vaticans spending is out of control, that it runs 80 million plus deficits and he is sending the word out here, get a handle on this. But if you are seeing a pattern with student loan debt, medical debt and corporate debt and of course, Government Debt at all levels, its across the board. The former reagan economist art laffer. Art, he wants by edict here, the vatican to say all right, we have a problem, were going to fix it. Hes been there for five or six years. Hes not been able to fix it. That is another familiar theme when i look across the world at other entities that have the same problem. Whats going to happen . Isnt it lovely . Just amazing. It shows the banal nature of all of us when it comes to money. If you remember, money is the root of all evil. Even for those who lock their eyes in the stars in search of higher purpose, it still comes down to dollars and cents and budgets and balances. My dad put it very beautifully, neil, a long time ago. He said those who have their eyes to the stars trip on the roots. The vatican is a perfect example. I mean, everyone has financial problems, including the vatican, including religious leaders, including murderers, including the whole range of human existence. Finances are indiscriminate as to who they go after. Neil no one can seem to get a handle on this, if you think about it. All the levels of debt at all parts of society. Im wondering what you make of the fact that they cant. You know, you well neil we will get to you, art. Sorry. Neil thats all right. Brooke. The vatican has the same problem that the u. S. Government does, overspending, it seems. I think its indicative of a human problem. I think maybe they can send rand paul over. I know hes a deficit hawk. But i think its one of those things that People Struggle with, its a huge debt problem, huge medical debt problem, and hopefully the lord forgives peoples debts. Maybe they can underline that a little more. Neil you can argue about riches and artwork and i remember visiting the vatican, seeing all these beautiful oriental rugs lined up like soldiers along the pathway to the chapel. They have stuff they can sell if they needed it but they cant, they dont, they wont. If youve got assets you could deal with this right now, what do we say about all the other entities that dont and they try to hit up the rich or just ignore the problem all together and keep spending . You know t vatican of course is serving a higher purpose. So serving a higher purpose, the power of the dollar is not as great i guess one could argue, the power to absolve debt but the reality is they serve a greater purpose. New york city neil but you have to be aware that purpose comes with a cost. Yeah, you do, but also, they can rely upon the worlds tl philanthropic efforts to support the higher purpose. They need to make sure they spend their dollars based on serving that higher purpose and controlling spending to some degree. Again, they should spend every dollar they take in. Charities should spend every dollar that they take in for the purpose that they tell the parties that give money to them they are going to use it for. I think if they have to sell an asset, they should, because again, its a higher purpose. Neil james . I think if you are going to continue that revenue stream and encourage people on sunday to put money in the collection plate, they really want to know that its not funding a large vatican bureaucracy to continue brookes analogy to our own federal government, it was really hoped that this pope as an outsider was going to be the swamp drainer, if you will, that he was going to take on the vatican bureaucracy. Neil are you comparing pope francis to donald trump . [ speaking simultaneously ] your government doesnt have a higher purpose. It should, but the u. S. Government has a broad purpose in cutting out the waste and the inefficiency is a different story. I mean, look, the vatican should, you know, get its finances in order but they can do that. Also, theyve had a lot of stress over the past two decades with the lawsuits around the globe. Taxes are involuntary. Donations to this church are involuntary. I think they have even more of a pressure, if you will, to demonstrate they are using the money wisely. In that theory, it only works for the federal government. New york city taxes are voluntary but they are losing 300 people a week here right now, and neil you are so running for mayor. No, i mean, they are running everybody out. Dont move to new york city. They will tax you to death. Neil art, i would like to switch gears, if you dont mind, and talk a little about china. There was an interesting comment at the white house, that its a good thing he was elected president because by now, china would be the biggest economic power on the planet. Where did he get that . Well, sure it would be a bigger power relative to us because frankly, we would be a lot weaker power. I mean, what hes done with the tax bills, what hes done with deregulation, even monetary policy, has really stimulated Economic Growth and we are performing extremely well, which would not have happened had he not been elected. It really wouldnt. We are outperforming europe. Neil they were growing at five times our rate and now are growing at three times our rate, they still would be growing at a much faster rate than we are, right . Yeah, but its much easier to grow when you are way, way, way behind. Its much harder to grow when you are the leader. Thats whats happening. Touch on this growth rate just like japans after world war ii, Phenomenal Growth rate. It was japan taking over the world, if you remember, then all of a sudden it stopped. This china thing is very much the same thing. They are catching up fast and have been for 49 years. Neil then you kind of liken, you liken [ speaking simultaneously ] thats going to taper off a lot. Neil all right. I think what hes saying my guess, its going to go much lower over the next five or ten years than ours. Look, by the way, i think the tariffs on china, they have a big effect on my business, real estate and construction, but its a cost of the goods, of Building Materials to produce the buildings. Thats now run up between 10 and 25 . Neil the president says the chinese are paying that. Well, they are paying it but its costing us money, too. The real estate industry. But i think that probably is a sacrifice for the greater good because we want to have manufacturing in this country and in order to keep it in this country, we need to support our industries. So while we pay more for our goods and materials to buy them here, that money will go into providing higher paying jobs and more neil you think this is a fight worth advantage the end will justify the pain. Thats what hes saying. I think you can say that you make the sacrifice for the greater good. This next round of tariffs, part of it will go this month and part will go into effect in december, will likely affect lower and middle income people the most. I think that ultimately, they are the ones who have to decide whether or not the sacrifice is worth it. Neil its your generation that will come up short as a result. Guys, i want to thank you all very much. Art laffer, always a pleasure. We are up 172 points on the dow, not that far away from the fed minutes, latest meeting. More after this. Im really into this car, but how do i know if im getting a good deal . I tell truecar my zip and which car i want and truecar shows the range of prices people in my area actually paid for the same car so i know if im getting a great price. This is how car buying was always meant to be. This is truecar. Neil you know you mentioned President Trump there when you submitted your resignation and, then he sped it up. You can go now. He has since said when you left that, well, i gave him a second chance, obviously referring to the moment that barack obama had terminated you. Any thoughts on that . Well, i was obligated not to just in a huff walk out the door. I needed to give him time. Neil were you in a huff . No of course, not. This is not personal to me. This is serving the country and it is a privilege to serve this country. It is an honor. Im actually, im humbled by it. I took no part in the campaign. I had not met President Trump before he interviewed me so it was not something i ever aspired to. Neil all right. That was general jim mattis a little earlier. His book is out now reflecting on his two years plus serving as defense secretary of the United States. Worries still concern him and concerns we as a superpower need to watch. He is watching our economic strength and military strength are inextricably intertwined, a point well expound on a little bit at 4 00 p. M. Eastern time on your world, we replay a big chunk of that interview. Get reaction to what he said as well. That is coupling up couple hours. Deirdre bolton filling in for charles payne. Deirdre im Deirdre Bolton in for charles payne. Big news out of hong kong. Its leader withdrawing the china extradition bill, the last straw for protesters. Well take you right now. Jennifer schoenberger is standing by. She is is at the fed with the beige book report. Jennifer, what stands out to you. Reporter Manufacturing Activity declined around most of the 12 Federal Reserve banks in august. There was a little bit of softening around the edges in a couple of districts. With the exception of four districts philly, chicago, new york, dallas we saw manufacturing decline across this country. Manufacturers are grappling of course with trade uncertainty, tariffs and slowing global growth. Some are choosing to cut capex, some are not. Its a little bit of a mixed picture. In st. Louis, production, new hires, new orders actually declined across the board for manufacturers. That is the first time they saw