Things go wrong, you have to take the blame, there is nowhere else to share it. And i have been hearing from the china watchers that i respect the most murmurings that even as xi as consolidated power the chance he could have a misstep down the road may have actually increased. Rose we continue with roger altman writing about President Trump in the the Washington Post. The underlying cause of such voter anger that reflected itself in trumps election i think the economic. There are just some basic facts that frame that. Rose finally this evening, larry sabato of the university of virginia talking about the release of the documents about the kennedy assassination. Essentially, this guy stood out like a sore thumb. He was a misfit, he was a sociopath, and both the c. I. A. And the f. B. I. Knew it. They were tracking him in various ways. The shocker in this is that not only did the f. B. I. And the c. I. A. Not communicate regularly with one another and thats putting it mildly neither one of them ever told the secret service about Lee Harvey Oswald. This is assassination could definitely have been prevented. Rose mike allen, al hunt, david ignatius, roger altman and larry sabato when we continue. Rose funding for charlie rose has been provided by the following and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose turning to politics, President Trump is one step closer to getting his tax cut. The house voted thursday to pass the senates budget plan that allows republicans in congress to try and pass an overhaul of the tax code without the votes of the democrats. For more on this im joined from washington by al hunt of Bloomberg View and also mike allen, cofounder of axios. Mike, before we get to the tax reform, tell me whats happening within the Republican Party when you have some criticism of the president by jeff flake, john mccain, george bush without naming the president and of course bob corker. What does this mean, if anything, today in washington . Well, charlie, its the republican parties. And were seeing more clearly on the National Stage what we have been seeing in the house that we looked at so carefully during healthcare. Now were seeing the trump and bannon part of the party and were seeing the more traditional part of the party where so many senators now are saying publicly what others are saying privately behind the scenes. But, charlie, heres the twist and heres why a lot of the coverage this week has been very misleading, the twist is all those senators and republicans around the country that think privately the criticisms that mccain and corker and flake and bush and others are saying publicly, theyre going to keep it private. Trump is strong in their states, strong in their districts and, so, donald trump is now more commanding of the party than he has been at any time. Theres not going to be any sort of Tipping Point when these folks start to speak out against him. So, at the moment, trump very strong with the Republican Partys house and senate. Rose the Republican Party is how trumps party, al . Yeah, i think if anything mike understated the case. This is Donald Trumps party. Jeff flake gave a remarkable senate floor speech. I think you have to go to Margaret Smith in 1960 with a declaration against mccarthy to find Something Like it. He talked about how trump coarsened the political dialogue and integrity, it had almost no public effect, at least, because trump dominates the party in washington but particularly out there in the country so jeff flake and john mccain speak out. Then you look at someone who you used to think of as an independent like Lindsey Graham and hes become a trump poodle. So this is Donald Trumps party. Rose so he gets his tax cuts, he gets his tax reform . No well, they debt get the a tax cut. They wont get tax reform. This is where republicans and trump are on the same page, they desperately need a success, and this has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with politics. I think theyll get a tax cut, there will be almost no reform, and i would guess its not going to be popular. You dont pass big things on a strictly partisan basis and have it usually succeed. Rose mike . I think mr. Hunt is right about the diminished ambition of what they might pass. Al follows it so carefully, he should tell me if im wrong about this, but i think its going to be harder people think. The way one person expressed it to me is if healthcare is a sixth of the economy, tax reform is everything. So how do you pull off the specific cuts . And this is, i think, one of the downstream worries for trump is antagonizing the republican senators that we agree that hes strong now, hes strong in these states and districts, but if youve only got 52 republican senators, so you can only lose a couple, senator mccain, senator bob corker of tennessee already reluctant to vote for tax cuts that just add to the deficit. Now they have even more cover to that, the president this week saying that bob corker, whos the chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee, couldnt win an election for dog catcher, you lose a couple of them, and tax cuts, even modest ones, start to look shaky in the senate. Then over in the house where you have the math problem you had during healthcare, you have this divided republican conference, house members, if it starts to look shady or starts to look uncertain on the senate side, theyll say, am i going to take a tough vote where im going to vote to eliminate some tax breaks for interests that are important to me . Like, that could mean even tax cuts could go down. Rose also on capitol hill next week, i think, some of the giants of Silicon Valley are coming to testify. Mike, we have been hearing about the idea that these companies are so powerful, and theyre so engrained into who we are today that they need some supervision, some monitoring, perhaps some regulation, maybe even breaking up. Does that idea have legs . Well, it does and its getting increasing legs because it appeals to both republicans and democrats for different reasons. Charlie, this could be a remarkable scene. Tuesday and wednesday on capitol hill, something that we havent seen in years, its been years since facebook has testified, representatives of facebook, google and twitter testifying before the Senate Judiciary committee and next day before the senate and house intelligence committees, looking into what happened in the 2016 election, whats done preemptively in 2020 and the subtext of that as you rightly say, what else is going to be done to rein in these companies . On the left, democrats concerned about the concentration of wealth and power, wondering if the companies should be broken up in some way or regulated more as a utility. Then as we talked about on the right, among republicans, so much suspicion of these platforms. A little ironically, perhaps, russian ads had on the social platforms, they seem to have, if anything, helped donald trump, but republicans look at these companies as political actors, they look at them as advocates for the other side. People want open borders, more Progressive Social policies, so republicans also would love to take the big tech down a notch. Rose al . Well, mike, as always is on to something. He said tell me earlier if im wrong. I have been trying for 20 years now and never have been able to. I agree theres a right and Left Coalition angry at big tech, i think the coalition will break down when it comes to what can you do about it. For all the concerns and anxiety, this is an enormously powerful group. Remember their fight against the Hollywood Studios who they clobbered four or five years ago. So my guess is a lot of sound and thunder but in the end not a whole lot will happen. Rose there is also the issue of sexual harassment, which is happening and lots of conversation, lots of women coming forward. Were seeing a lot of talk about what it means and where its going. Is this touching washington . Where is it in the Nations Capital . Well, charlie, what were seeing is that industry by industry, this is becoming a subject of conversation, of investigation, an whats fascinating about it, whats so instructive for your viewers, how quickly this has happened. It was three weeks ago plus a day or two that the New York Times broke its story about harvey weinstein, and look at the industries its touched since then, including media and, charlie, i think next is government, and you were right to bring in washington. One of the fascinating sort of leadingedge stories of this week, Associated Press correspondents and a couple of state houses asked around and with just a few state houses involved, came up with hundreds of people saying that, when it comes to lobbying, when it comes to legislation, that some of these issues that arose in hollywood also are issues in state capitals. So, charlie, there youre going to see investigations, accusations. So this is going to be if not the story of the year, one of the stories of the year, because every industry has their list. Every industry has targets. There are a lot of men who are rightly worried that theyre next. Rose al . Charlie, i agree, the California State Legislature already has taken action and i think congress will be the next target. Rose let me turn to the president. Notwithstanding what weve said about the senators and the former president who spoke to them, two former president s who spoke about the president , hes getting ready to go to china, and i want to talk about that, but what are the difficulties that he faces right now in this fall season, as he tries to get some legislative victory on the board and he has steve bannon now attacking the republican establishment. Where is he in terms of his own presidency . Whats the moment for donald trump . Charlie, he starts off with historically low popularity and, as weve said earlier, hes got great strength in the Republican Party which means he has none among democrats and is really weak among independents. Thats not a good political position. Might help you with your own party caucus but i dont think he engenders a lot of fear among very Many Democrats around the country. There is a whole question about whether he can govern. I think that was implicit in some of the stuff george w. Bush said, and theres a question of i mean, general kelly was going to bring order to the white house and hes had a miserable week im not sure hell ever quite recover from. So i think for all the successes we alluded to earlier, and i would add the opioid speech which i think was a rare moment of looking president ial, i still think this is still a very troubled presidency. Rose mike . And, charlie, you mentioned the china trip, and i know that has been on your mind for a while. This fascinating asia swing, the choreography of a president ial trip abroad, always so vital, but this is going to be one of the most fascinating president ial trips that weve ever covered, because hes going to be going to japan where hes going to see the emperor, hes going to be going to south korea where so Many American citizens are worried about what might be happening on the other side of the border, and hes going to china where president xi has never looked stronger, his name written into the constitution. President trump will probably ask him for tips on how to get that done. laughter but all of this is designed to bring pressure on north korea, and thats why this is so delicate, fascinating reporting this week, a split in the white house, do you take the president to the dimilitaryized zone. Rose right. Such a frequent stop for president s that they decide not to do that, concerns about both the look and the physical danger that might be involved. Rose north korea will be clearly one of the topics there, and we had this week from the director of the c. I. A. Sort of an alarming assessment of where the North Koreans were, and we have an interesting piece coming up on 60 minutes this weekend about the same subject. Al, north korea, where are we . No, i think there is certainly more talk about a possible military solution now. Its not to say its going to happen, but its a serious situation and, you know what . Nothings going to be accomplished without the chinese, and xi jinping right now, not only in china, i imagine donald trump in the american constitution, james madison, thomas jefferson, and trump, somehow doesnt come together, i think around much of the world there is a feeling hat the chinese leader is a more formidable and enduring figure than the american leader. And you know, nothing good can happen in north korea im not sure any good can happen anyway but it cant happen without the chinese. Rose mike allen, al hunt, thank you so much. Have a good weekend, charlie. Rose have a great weekend. Rose turning to further elaboration of events in china, Chinas Communist Party held its congress this week, its 19th congress. President xi jinping was officially enshrined in the Party Charter during the ranks of Deng Xiaoping and mao zedong. David ignatius, set up for me how xi jinping became what he, is, what he wants to do and why in the seeds of that may be a threat to his power . This weeks Party Congress was a kind of coronation of xi as a Supreme Leader that china hasnt seen since mao zedong. We can see from the beginning it was a decisive attempt to change the nature of what had been a collected shared, fairly cautious leadership after mao, after Deng Xiaoping. He was correct in seeing as china grew rich, the bribes paid to party officials, to generals in the army were beginning to weaken china, to eat out the core of the system and make people doubt the parties fitness to rule. So as i noted in my column this morning, in the last five years under xis leadership, 1. 5 million members of the communist party have been disciplined. 270,000 have been prosecut. 11 of the Central Committee has been prosecuted for corruption or other crimes. The same thing has happened in the military. 13,000 officers have been sacked. 50 generals will be replaced. So during the last five years of xis reign, you have basically a complete turnover in the leadership of china and the new people are his people. So what that means is that he now owns china. He is responsible for every bit of its economic, foreign, security policy, theyre all his people. There is nowhere else to turn. Once upon a time, it was collective, blame and correct were shared, not anymore. The point of my column this morning was, thats a little bit dangerous. When you own responsibility for a country as big as china, if things go wrong, you have to take the blame, theres nowhere else to share it. And i have been hearing from the china watchers that i respect the most, murmurings that even as xi has consolidated power, the chance he could have a misstep down the road may have actually increased. Rose what happened to xi shong who was no longer on the Standing Committee . Some thought that if he was, it would give xi an opportunity to say we are no longer honoring the 65year rule. Theres a lot of speculation about the chief enforcer of xi jinpings anticorruption campaign, heading the socalled discipline inspection committee, and was thought his tenure in that post, his tenure and senior positions might be extended as a kind of forerunner of a similar extension for xi when he finishes his second term as general secretary. Typically theres been a ten year term limit. And it was thought he might break that. There are rumors in the west that there may be issues involving won ke shawn and his family. I think the most likely theory is he wanted to save the mold breaking for himself. That he didnt want to use that unusual tool too early, for his ally wong, but said maybe its time for him to continue as leader. Theres no one else in the wings. This is the first time in decades that there hasnt been a next Generation Leader pre selected. So well head to the end of the tenyear period without an obvious successor in place. Rose most of the people in the Standing Committee are over 60 themselves. Theyre older people, xis contemporaries. There were thoughts there might be some younger people, in their 50s. The Party Secretary was one thought. That didnt happen. Theres speculation xi didnt want it to happen, the younger guy beginning to jockey for position. But hes going to have a group of contemporaries and essentially unchallenged rule. His faction now dominates both the bureau itself, 17 to 25 members, and the Standing Committee which is the key ruling body, four of the seven members, so hes really in the drivers seat in every way possible. Rose now that hes consolidated the power and stands alone, will china be different, more aggressive . Does it have ambition for greater influence around the world . I think, charlie, that may be the most important corollary of the Party Congress that weve just seen. China, under xi, is now being more explicit and direct about its ambitions, not simply to be a Regional Power that exercises more authority in the south china sea, but to be a global power. Xi talked a lot in