We are here in devonport because on bush did an event today foreign policy. More on that in a bit. Jeb will be on the soapbox tomorrow. John, major week in iowa. No straw poll, but the fair has drawn most everybody to the state. Tell me one thing you are looking forward to. John i think the fact that there is no straw poll makes the fair even bigger. Im looking on the republican side forward to seeing scott walker at the fair. Cnn, now, according to slipped back to third place in iowa after having been in first place all year long. Hes taken a beating at the hands of donald trump and ben carson. Him coming in and trying to pick up ground, reconnect with iowa, i want to see how he does. Have a think walker does big challenge. He was too low key at the debate. Breaking through at the fair is hard to do. The thing im looking for is trump. Mr. Trump is going to the fair. John do you think he will break through . Mark hes bringing his helicopter in order to break through. Theres some question whether people are going to get free rides. Trump dominates no matter what. Two of the Republican Campaign said to me, of course, trump is going to dominate. My question is, does anyone try to get into the storyline, or do they say, if trump wrings his helicopter, surrender . John he is flying a helicopter into des moines. Hes going to stand with the butter cow. You are going to see the picture and footage of trump and that butter cow for 48 hours straight. There is no breaking through that. There is no way. On the democratic side, Hillary Clinton is going to be here, and we are going to see her at this wingding dinner in clearwater. Its weird, right . Iowa, the state that humbled her in 2008, is now the state she is counting on to stop Bernie Sanders. She still got a lead over sanders here. Shes flipping in new hampshire. Her firewall. Is who wouldve thought iowa would be Hillary Clintons firewall . Mark im also looking at Bernie Sanders. The last cattle call in cedar rapids, i sanders had a weak performance. I dont know if he was nervous. He was not at his best. If he comes in here and has headtohead with her and the other democrats speaking at this dinner, if he has a better night , i think he could start to do better in this state if he sends the message that the electricity and fire hes brought to other parts of the country he can bring here. John or on the other side of the coin, hes got an event in boone not too far from des moines before he goes to the fair saturday. After these huge events on the west coast, if he comes to iowa and only a few hundred show up, that could be a big blow to Bernie Sanders after having had 25,000 people. Mark ben carson drew a couple thousand people to a des moines rally. Pressure on sanders. John lets move on to our next topic. Its the soapbox. Of all the things at the iowa state fair, the thing we all prize most beyond the butter cow, the porkchops mark and the candidates wandering around aimlessly. John its the soapbox. It is speakers corner. You get up. You give a speech. In front of anyone who happens to come, you take some questions. Everyone subjects themselves to it except for a couple candidates. My cook up he is the first one to go. He went this morning. This is called q a. That means questions and answers. For me, it means questions and avoidance. I will try not to do anything that will end my president ial aspirations here at the soapbox. Huckabee. Was Martin Omalley is going to be number two. That is happening right around now. Is this a quaint iowa tradition that is cute, or can this have a real impact . Mark the Des Moines Register sponsors this. Huckabee didnt get hard questions. This is where mitt romney was asked about economics and said, corporations are people. John we were there. Mark the soapbox is a special thing. The register lets anyone ask questions, and it is one of the big testing grounds of how you handle hecklers and hostile questioners. I bet you democrats and a lot of hostile people two people arent doing this. Hillary clinton is not subjecting herself, and mr. Trump so far is not subjecting himself. John that is the key thing people forget about that romney event. The guy who got him to say that was a critic, a heckler, and most of these guys come even when they do town hall meetings, they are basically friendly crowds. Democrats go to democrat events. Republicans go to republican events. Leftwing socialists can walk by and go after the republican candidate. That is a different level of jeopardy. Mark if youre interested in how these candidates handle a tough testing ground, go to the Des Moines Register website. They are streaming these things live. It is like hyde park corner. It is right out there, not just tough questions, but every political reporter in the state is watching. John under the very hot sun with all the Political Press it is a unique state in our politics. Mark there is a big political issue brewing, because for the last three days, china has been devaluing its currency in relation to the dollar. Chinese currency has been lowered by 4. 4 , the biggest the country has let it drop in decades. Skeptics say this is meant to boost the countrys exports to help the sagging economy, and this can have an impact on america. President ial candidates are taking notice. This is the reaction a few of the candidates have had. Compete . Ow can we they devalue their currency. Ive been saying this for years. Theyre people have accepted a repressive, totalitarian regime in exchange for economic growth. Chinas ability to keep growing is at the core of their power. Mark a little later, we will show you what jeb bush had to say about this issue when we talked to him in davenport. What effect do you think this chinese currency devaluation can have on the race . John it is fodder for the populists of the left and right. Bernie sanders and donald trump will make common cause and accused china of doing bad things to the u. S. By devaluing their currency, and it puts anyone in the center, her content and jeb bush, and difficult place. Mark Hillary Clinton talked about trade issues in the last campaign aggressively. I think it can benefit the recurrent and maybe jeb bush, people who can talk about these issues in a sophisticated way. Most americans recognize we have an economic imbalance with china. This is the latest incarnation. What does it actually mean . That is the challenge. John it raises the bar for those guys. If they do it well, its a home run, but its tricky. You have to explain complex international economics, and its not a black and white issue. Right,can get the gray you can be in good shape. If not, you can be a model. Mark were going to have a lot more from our road trip in davenport, talking about jeb bush, as well. Former chairman of the state Republican Party mack strong is going to join us. Coming up, our conversation from earlier with jeb bush after this word from our sponsors. Welcome back to davenport, iowa we. Are here at Saint Ambrose University were jeb bush participated in a forum. Its a series of events a group is doing with former congressman mike rogers. We are going to show you a little bit of the Forum Jeb Bush did, answering questions, but after the event, john and i asked him about a couple topics, cuba and more. Can we ask you to clarify something on cuba . Do you think it would be too late for the next president to make the changes you want to see . Jeb congress is not going to lift the trade embargo, so i think there is leverage to advocate reforms inside of cuba to create a more free society. John what can happen in the interim you would be concerned about . Jeb i dont think congress is going to change this. The president cant unilaterally open up trade. , andu eliminate that youre taking all the leverage that exists for us to be able to create an environment where cuba moves towards freedom. We are legitimizing a regime that will allow it to continue to repress its people. Mark are you worried about the chinese motives . The motives of the Chinese Government and what they are doing . Jeb yeah, im worried. It wasnt an act of kindness to hack into the server that had 23 es, some ofls fil which at least were required for security clearances. Mark i mean on currency. Jeb i think we have to wait and see how that plays out. There are significant challenges in the economy for china that could be the motivation for this, but also, if its not, if you see continued growth, then this is a provocative act. Mark is it bad for American Workers . Jeb its not necessarily bad from work and workers if it relates to weakness in the chinese for American Workers if it relates to weakness in the chinese economy, and that is the part that has to be answered. John that is the kind of nuance from jeb bush, talking on the chinese currency issue. Donald trump says it is bad for American Workers. Mark populist versus establishment. Jeb bush, whose father was an envoy it to china, understands china is a complicated country. He understands the culture. At a time when populism is riding high, can you afford to be nuanced on china . John i bet you donald trump is going to punch him in the nose for that over the course of the next way for hours. Hes good to say, jeb bush think this could be good for america workers . Mark mr. Trump, over to you. John earlier, there was the event where jeb bush had a q and policyed about foreign at some length and in some detail. One of the things we found most striking was then talking about his brothers legacy in iraq. Lets take a listen. Isnt it also the case that if we hadnt invaded iraq, we wouldnt be dealing with isis . Jeb who knows . That is such a complicated hypothetical. I cant answer that. I will tell you that taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a pretty good deal, and the need t aside the faulty intelligence, the lack of commitment to secure iraq at the beginning, which wouldve been helpful, put that aside ive been critical, and i think people have every right to be critical decisions that were made. In 2009, iraq was fragile but secure. Its mission was accomplished in a way that there was security there, and it was because of the heroic efforts of the men and women in the United States military. That is a fact. John im not a big fan of gotchas, but that was a discussion over iraq and his brother. He used that phrase Mission Accomplished. I think that might leave a mark. Mark democrats are already jumping on what he said. Im not sure anybody highlighted the Mission Accomplished part. I think he was as strong today as ive seen him in talking about it in a nuanced way. Mistakes were made. Its an impossible case to make. The fact is, the less republican president engaged in an unpopular war was his brother. Today, i thought he was confident, and he said what he believes about every issue in a nonstuttering way. The Mission Accomplished thing, i wish he i bet he wish he hadnt said. John tonally, you are right. On the substance, hes going to get picked apart for saying things like, the provisional agreement shouldve been renegotiated, when in fact that was his brothers. The extant in 2011 was an agreement his brothers administration struck. Just in terms of not sounding queasy, like he was about to vomit in the middle of an answer about his brothers legacy, he did better. Mark a tough hand to play. Jeb bush was also asked about Civil Liberties, National Security, and enhanced interrogation techniques. Lets listen to that. Jeb i believe that it was a mistake to repeal the metadata provisions of the patriot act, which took place this last year. Theres not any evidence that i can find ive talked to a lot of people to ensure this is the case that Civil Liberties were violated, that privacy was finally did. I do think in general torture is not appropriate, is not as effective, and the change of policy that my brother did, and then was put into executive order form by the president , was the proper thing to do. I would also say after 9 11, we brother ed, and my im not saying this because im a bush, im saying this because im a person of this country look everyone in this room i am proud of what he did to create a secure environment. Mark Civil Liberties versus National Security is a debate in the party, not just Chris Christie and rand paul. This is another case he is the adult in the room. That is a nuanced, centerright position on how to balance these things. If that is what he is selling, i dont know if the voters will buy it, but that is what he is selling, nuance. John right now, rand paul is the most extreme proponent of the opposite position and is not getting traction. It doesnt seem like there is that big of a market in the Republican Party. We know theres some libertarian part of the party upset. I think he is on safer ground taking this position then he wouldve been. Mark he talked about Civil Liberties like something he truly values, not the way Chris Christie has taken to doing, like throwing Civil Liberties out the window. He mexico to the audience, this is a reasonable he makes good to the audience, this is reasonable. John on enhanced interrogation, he is in a place a lot of people are some pathetic. His argument is, i dont think we need it anymore. I dont think we should have it, that i wont rule out there could be some circumstance in the future in which it might be necessary. That is a big majority position. Mark the pushback on the questioner who suggested that the metadata gathering hasnt really stopped any terrorism, and he said, ive talked to people involved, and they say its a great tool to have. I do think if he ends up running against Hillary Clinton, hes good to have a tough time it will be a challenge for him, because she knows a lot. There is no one in the republican field with the exception of Lindsey Graham who can stand toe to toe with him on this stuff. John it is not clear that he and Hillary Quentin will be in a different position. She is not a civil libertarian dove on those issues. Up, we have a big discussion with the former chairman of the iowa Republican Party, when the organizers of this conference. We will talk to. We will talk iowa. We will talk all things election with matt strong. John our guest today here on set in devonport is former iowa gop chair and Security National visor for americans for peace, prosperity, and security, mac strong. This is your event in part. How do think jeb bush did . I thought he did great. He had a clear, crisp, concise answers on clear National Security at issues. While some of the atmospherics are of an entertaining friday, i think its an event that will talk about substance. I appreciate governor bush being the fifth one weve done. Mark all the campaigns weve talked to say it is like this in public polling, too National Security has been an enduring, important issue for voters to do what you think republicans in iowa want to hear , see in their nominee in terms of National Security ideas . Matt this goes back to the steve king Freedom Forum in january where applause lines werent immigration or social issues, but it was standing steadfast with israel, calling radical islam what it is, tools to prosecute the war on terrorism aggressively. John how do you prove that . Matt we are going to find that over the next couple months. Lets go beyond that. Do you want to support israel . How are you going to deal with china as an economic partner and also our next greatest national secured a threat . Lets do these forums and rolled on and make sure the next president is prepared. John taking off your National Security had and putting on your political hat, does it surprise you that jeb bush is down where he is right now according to recent polls, down around 5 in iowa . Matt it doesnt really surprise me. The race right now, three quarters of iowa caucusgoers, they havent studied who they are going to be going with. Four years ago when i was chair, we were talking about president bachman or president harry. Mark four years ago when trump was thinking of running, you dealt with him some. Do you think he can win the Iowa Caucuses . Is there a scenario where he wins . Matt when you have a field of 17, it is tough to write anybody with trump, and the fair is going to be a perfect example, watch what they do with the people who are drawn to him. Are they trying to sign them up as precinct supporters . I like that he is sticking it to the man. Its another thing to stand up in front of your neighbors and people go to church with and say, this is the guy i believe should be commander in chief. Mark you think you can win the caucasus . Matt i think he has good of a chance as anyone. Mark as good a chance as anyone . Hes currently ahead, got a lot of money. Id, he has 100 name arguably an Unlimited Bank account, but the question is, can they turn these political voyeurs into traditional caucusgoers . John the guy who had been the front runner for the entirety of 2015, scott walker, has now dropped to third place. What explains that . 9 matt that is a great question. Governor walkers rise most of from twowas drawn different groups, establishmentminded, business conservatives who love the fact he took it to the unions, but als