In his first interview with an International News outlet since taking office. Jason it is showtime the , brewing battle for dominance in the video industry. And why 2020 will be the hunger games of the media industry. We begin with editor joel weber. How do you put an issue like this together . Joel our goal was to program conversations at backyard summer barbecues. A little bit of everything for everyone in this streaming will one. Be a conversation that unfolds over the next year. Media and Tech Companies will go to the mattresses and spend billions warring with each other. Taylor another big story i like rands. L about l b joel victorias secret, a huge business rising for years, and now it is starting to fall. The Jeffrey Epstein scandal continues to unfold, so we step ped back and said, epstein aside, this business is about to go through a lot of changes it is not ready for. Jason Lance Armstrong is back. Joel this inspired me for the Tour De France season. Lance is a name you dont hear much about anymore. He was brought down by another scandal. Is there a chance at redemption . He has amassed a huge audience in podcasts. He got back into selling stuff. The question is, what happens to a name that gets tarnished, and is there a chance at a second act . Jason it really is amazing. Who took usth lance inside his head. Interesting place. Joel weber, thank you so much. Taylor i want to take a look at the democratic debates. The politics editor joins us. Give us your key takeaway. We saw both nights, tuesday and wednesday, it was the moderates versus the progressives. The progressives getting more attention in the election cycle, and some folks making a last ditch attempt to get into the race. Jason the first night it was really progressives, progressives. Everybody else literally on the wings trying to get the attention away from Bernie Sanders and elizabeth warren. Exactly. They were together in the middle of the stage. They are each others chief rivals. Instead of going at each other, they teamed up and beat back these moderate arguments against what some would say are their extreme policies. Taylor joe biden, all eyes were on him the second night. But then he said take it easy on me, kid. Sort of a put down, maybe not. What was that . That was an eyebrow raiser. It points out a number of things he has gone against him, namely race relations. He said this to kamala harris, a black woman. It did not look at for him to say that right away. Jason so fascinating to unpack all of that. A great story by josh green online that everyone should check out. Thank you so much. President trumps currency policy is hard to get a handle on. Taylor sending mixed messages on a strong dollar policy last week, President Trump told reporters it is a beautiful thing, but he would not rule out taking action to weaken the currency. President trump the dollar is strong, the country is strong. The dollar is a beautiful thing in one way, but it makes it harder to compete. I did not say i would not do something. Taylor he did not get what he wanted after jay powell sent the dollar much stronger after the fmoc meeting on wednesday. Jason we were watching it on realtime on our radio show. Here is more on what trump wants for the dollar. Mixed signals is how i would describe it. The past few weeks, we have had secretary mnuchin say we have a strong dollar policy. Larry kudlow said we will not intervene. And then, trump said he had not ruled out that option. It is a confusing time, a lot of people are raising the question, is the u. S. Committed to the strong dollar policy . Taylor to understand why this is so important, take us back to the 1990s where this began when we instituted a strong dollar policy. The u. S. Is unique in that it is the only nation that prefers to have its currency be strong. That was the policy put in place in 1995 by then secretary treasury secretary robert rubin. Left then, the u. S. Has dollar policy to the treasury, which is obviously not the case now. It was introduced as a commitment that the u. S. Would not devalue its currency, and that in turn boosted demand for u. S. Treasuries, which has been very important to the way the u. S. Finances itself. Jason also important to the rest of the world. Something the rest of the world can look to, that investors can look to, an area of certainty in a volatile world. Absolutely. We have this deep liquid bond market where Foreign Investors can rest assured that the country is not going to debase its currency. That is why we have seen the dollar emerge as the haven currency of choice and is the treasuries are the worlds haven asset. Taylor we talk about dollar policy, rates, and you fold that over into a much discussed topic, foreign inflows, and how a strong dollar does attract foreign inflows. Tie those dynamics together for us. It would be a bad time for everyone if the u. S. Shifts away from a strong dollar policy. You have the u. S. Borrowing a record amount of treasuries to plug its deficit. At the same time, Foreign Investors, in a world where 13 trillion of debt is negative yielding, they do not have a lot of options. The moment, Foreign Holdings of treasuries are at a record high. Awayve not seen ebbing demand yet. The u. S. Is more dependent than ever on foreign inflows, it is a crucial time. Taylor up next, bloombergs exclusive interview with mexican president lopezobrador. Jason he sat down with John Micklethwait for his first interview with an International News outfit since taking office. Taylor this is Bloomberg Businessweek. Taylor welcome back to Bloomberg Businessweek. I am taylor riggs. Jason i am jason kelly. Join us for Bloomberg Businessweek every day on the radio and catch up on our daily show on podcast, get that at itunes or soundcloud. Or bloomberg. Com. Taylor you can find us online at business week. Com. Now to bloombergs exclusive interview with mexicos president Andres ManuelLopez Obrador. Jason he is known as amlo, and he sat down with editorinchief John Micklethwait in mexico city, for his first interview with an International News outlet since taking office. They began with a discussion about their neighbor to the north. President Lopez Obrador we are neighbors, and this neighbor hood makes it mandatory for us to understand each other. John as you know, guatemala agreed to a Safe Third Country Agreement to do with those people what you were talking about. People from honduras or el salvador seek asylum they have , to seek asylum in guatemala rather than going to america. Firstwould you ever let mexico agree to the same . President Lopez Obrador we would not. We are enforcing a program to reduce the number of migrants. With protection for those coming into mexico, migrants have been murdered. We have had some cases like that. And that is something we do not want. And yet, we have mobilized the National Guard because it was a necessity. We already had that plan since before the threat of tariffs, and the results have been good. Although, i insist the best is to look into the causes of this. John when you were interviewed by bloomberg in 2017, you accused donald trump, the quotation was, having a campaign of hatred against immigrants. He does not want mexican immigrants in america. Do you still believe that . President Lopez Obrador i think that, as we normally say, he has been doing a lot less of that now. When i was in the United States, this was a different discourse. It was more of an antimexican discourse. But now, President Trump is more moderate. John more moderate with mexican immigrants, do you think . President Lopez Obrador yes, yes. This is something noteworthy. And we are grateful to him for that. John when we look at the when we looknly at the mexican economy, you were hoping for it to grow 4 , and this week, there are worries it may go into recession. Consumer spending is not high and industrial output is not high. Do you think mexico will go into recession this year . President Lopez Obrador no, no. We are doing fine. We are doing fine and doing well. The economy is not growing as we would want it to grow, but on the other hand, there are no risks of recession. We are saying 4 in this sixyear administration. And technicians may say, how can you go from 2 to 4 in mexico . Well, before the neoliberal years, before 1983, since the mexican revolution until 1983, we grew 6 per year. 5 or 6 a year. There was a period which growth was 6 with no devaluation, without inflation. The mexican miracle in the economy, that is what we want. John can you have a mexican miracle with Interest Rates at 8. 25 . I know you have been good at not interfering in the central bank. President Lopez Obrador it is important to lower the rates to encourage growth. This is an issue i am leaving for the central bank to decide. Because we trust we are not just going to be able to grow, but also to develop. Jason for more on that interview, some of the behindthescenes, we caught up with John Micklethwait while he was in mexico city. John the last time we spoke to him in 2017, he did a formal interview with us and he complained that trump was creating an atmosphere of hatred towards mexicans and mexican americans. Ever since he has become president , he has been remarkably calm no matter what trump says. He sometimes stands up to trump, but on the whole, he is resolutely polite back. But even in our interview he , talked about trump becoming more moderate, which i am relatively surprised. He has many friends across the border. He sits there and takes it. He does fight back on some things. Amlo probably will not agree to do the safe third country status, which is where you say, anyone looking for asylum has to get asylum with me first before they come to america. I think mexico is likely to say no to that. But the rhetoric is incredibly calm. Whether that survives the issue of the freetrade bill, someone that is the plowed on the one horizon, there is a possibility the democrats might hold that up, and mexico is counting on that going through. Jason he notably did not attend the g20 summit and has not been as engaged with the broader cadre of World Leaders. What do you make of that, and what does that say about his stature in the world . John he is very clear. He wants to focus on mexico and does not want to travel. You can talk to him about whether you would come and meet trump. I think the answer is he would rather trump goes to meet him. He has told the mexican people he will spend the first year here focusing on what he needs to do for the country. Also that is his style. , you could see from the interview that he talks slowly and very deliberately. On the campaign trail, he does rallies a little like trump but with a different style. He goes to all corners of mexico and tells them he is fighting for them and doing things for them. It is a big change from his predecessor, a much more technocratic person and allegedly involved in the corruption scandals circling his regime. That could also be an issue. Jason put him in the pantheon of World Leaders that you have talked to over the past couple of years. I am thinking of putin, erdogan, may, merkel where does he fit in . How does he compare to his peers around the world . John he has one similarity with erdogan, he believes in what might be described as unorthodox economics. He has a theory if he cuts spending, everything will be fine. There are bits where he lashes out at neoliberals. Now that the gdp number is not advancing as he hoped, he makes comments like that. It is a very different style than earned one, much more gentle. Imagine you spent all your life waiting to become Prime Minister of ireland or president of america, and through that time , you sat on the left wing talking about doing this and that. Then you come into power, and you do the opposite. You clamp down on spending because you think there is too much corruption but also because you want to be clear mexico will not be badly run. That is a novel way of looking at it. I think that is a very different thing. Whether he can keep pulling it off, we will see. Taylor up next, a troubling reality at victorias secret. Jason plus raising capital and raising standards. This is Bloomberg Businessweek. Jason welcome back to Bloomberg Businessweek. I am jason kelly. Taylor i am taylor riggs. You can also listen to us on the radio. Jason and in the bay area and in london on dab digital. And through the Bloomberg Business acpp. Taylor time is not being kind to victorias secret. Jason Jeffrey Epsteins decadelong relationship is weighing on the company, but not the only issue for the lingerie brand. Victorias secret has struggled to find its footing in a changing consumer environment. Taylor that is exactly what i wanted to look at in this chart. Taking a look at annual revenue. There are two ways to look at this. One, it is off its highs from 2017. The last two years, sales have fallen. Except you are still above 7 billion in annual revenue. They have a dominant market position. It is hard to see how you topple that. , some of the worries are mounting. Is not a great moment for victorias secret for multiple reasons. Their ceo, who also runs bath and body works, he has a long time friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. At one point, Jeffrey Epstein was the power of attorney for wexner. Ner less they severed ties a dozen years ago, but the skeletons in that closet caused more issues for the company in terms of their modeling agencies and responding to consumer demand. Jason beyond the relationship between these two men, it is safe to say, more to come on that. It feels like there is more to be revealed. This is coming at a time when victorias secret does not feel very 2019. Not at all. In the past few years victorias , secret has gotten a lot of criticism for not being body positive, more inclusive with advertising and in the fashion shows. At the same time, they have had a lot of competitors come into the space and say, we want to make lingerie for women and not just men to look at. Victorias secret has not quickly shifted to that trend. Jason it is fair to say, no one has essentially used sex and more specifically sexiness to better effect or more profitable effect than victorias secret. As you point out in your story, the word sexy finds itself into the names of the products. Literally, they have trademarked dozens of products with the name sexy in it. History, it, some was created more than 40 years ago by a man who went into a store to buy lingerie, did not love the experience, and said, i will create a store where men feel comfortable buying womens underwear. They were founded with men in mind. Taylor it is not just businesses behind the times. We turn now to Venture Capital in silicon valley. Jason when she joined Sequoia Capital as its first female partner, she had a reputation as a superstar. She knew how to close a deal but still faced challenges. Here is Sarah Mcbride in san francisco. She is the first u. S. Investing partner at Sequoia Capital who is a woman. The firm was founded in 1972, and for decades, there were no women partners in the u. S. Then a couple of years ago, the firm hired the former product manager at google and ceo of a startup. It was a big deal, and everybody was looking to see how she did, especially since sequoia had been in the news a couple times over some of the things its partners had done that people thought were not female friendly. There was a lot riding on her shoulders. Jason specifically on this network, i am quoting here, he said, we are not prepared to lower our standards, when asked about bringing in women partners. That is tough, to say the least. And yet, she persevered, takes the partnership. What has her experience been like . A lot of people thought she was brought in as a direct result of those comments. They had been trying to recruit her before that, but the timing was unfortunate. She told me this crazy experience she had after she joined sequoia. Normally, partners from a big, Prestigious Firm have to be careful when they go out into the world, they get mobbed. Every entrepreneur wants to pitch them thier startup idea. Down to abed going conference for upfront ventures in l a. Entrepreneurss of and people who normally would have getting their eye teeth to talk to Sequoia Capital. She was a new partner so people did not know who she was. But she described Walking Around the room and people just looked at her, saw a young face, an asian woman, and did not look at her name tag to see who she was. They just assumed she was in marketing or not an important person. That they did not even need to look at her name tag. That would not happen now because she is a more recognizable figure. I think that was a devastating anecdote that shows the subconscious mindset that people in technology have. Taylor ahead on Bloomberg Businessweek, taking on netflix and why 2020 will be the hunger games of immediate industry. Jason Lance Armstrong has