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The Morning Meeting
Trump in Israel for Emotional Release of Hostages, Hails "Historic Dawn" of Gaza Peace Deal
01:02:44
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A
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B
At New Balance, we believe if you run, you're.
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A runner.
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B
However you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way.
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A
You'Re free to discover your way. And that's what running is all about. Run your way@newbalance.com Running foreign on this is workday. This is the morning meeting on the two way platform. Shawn, Dan and I'll run through the day. Happy to then take your questions. In fact, really more than happy, delighted. So if you're here in the two way platform, want to get in the conversation, please raise your hand. If you didn't watch the president's speech this morning, as well as the two speeches in the Knesset that preceded the president, you missed out. I recommend you go watch them all. Extraordinary in one way or another. Many ways, really. And the president is still on the ground in Israel, but we'll leave, we think, relatively soon for Egypt. He's behind schedule by a couple of hours. He could make it up on the ground in Egypt or he could fall further behind. At this pace, he'll get to the White House tonight well after midnight, having done two stops, which as Sean pointed out, without the benefit of an overnight anywhere. Vice president not on the trip, but Pete Hagseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of State and of course Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff, all on the trip, as well as the White House chief of staff and many other senior officials, Stephen Miller, I believe also. So, yeah, lots of, lots of people on this trip and we'll talk all about it. Michael Granoff is here and we'll get to him in a bit to talk as well. About what? How people in Israel are experiencing this shutdown continues. Speaker of the House is having another press conference at 10 o' clock today, but with the House and Senate both out, not just no, no end to the shutdown insight, but also no talks going on as far as we know. We're going to talk about the Middle east, we're going to talk about the shutdown, China, Ukraine, the president and the media, the president's health, the President talked about a lot of topics yesterday, yesterday on Air Force One on the way to Israel, and we'll show you some of that. It's kind of been overshadowed, but on some of these big things like China and Ukraine, there is much going on and, and the vice President had an extraordinary moment with George Stephanopoulos yesterday, which we'll show you and talk about, because it speaks to the continuing White House effort to own the liberal media. Sean, top line views on the Middle East.
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C
I mean, I think, look, this is a historic day, not just for, I mean, on three fronts politically, for President Trump, two for Israel and that region in terms of peace and security and safety. But I also think globally in terms of how we look at problems going forward. This was really a historic Rubik's Cube, if you will, of foreign policy with all of these. And the more that stories come out, the roles that different people played. The British Foreign Secretary, I believe his name is Jonathan, was instrumental in being a guidepost to Steve Witkoff. So I think when we look back on this day, it's not just the monumental piece that occurred, but the way in which it happened.
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A
Dan?
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B
Yeah, I think to Sean's point, I was struck just by the arc thinking about the arc of Donald Trump's 10 years and just all the ups and downs and where he was just a few years ago, the unconventional nature of kind of how he operates, the personnel around him. We hold him to account rightfully when they err, but this is an instance where it spectacularly worked and it's historic and he deserves all the credit and basting in everything today. You tip your hat to him.
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A
All right, so in the last five or six or plus hours in Israel, lots been going on, a lot of action in the Knesset. We'll show you some of that. President also met with, with Netanyahu with some of the hostage families. We'll show you a bit of that in a moment. And of course, the hostages have all been returned and those reunifications are extraordinary. You should eventually see them all. But here is one. Eitan Moore reunited with his family. 104, please. Looks pretty good. Here's the family and Prime Minister Netanya or the President. Prime Minister Netanyahu meeting with some of the hostages in their family. 103, please.
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D
Along with my friends, which were all murdered.
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C
One of them is still held.
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D
His body is still held in G. Later on, I was taken captive for 498 days, leaving my wife with just two girls up to them. She was pregnant in the bomb shelter for the whole period of time, I. What I thought is that they were all murdered.
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A
This one, she later on gave birth.
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D
And I got my life back thanks to you and your staff. I came back here, met my baby girl when she was already 14 months old. And now life is full.
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A
President gave a long speech in the Knesset after Benjamin Netanyahu gave a long speech. One of the best speeches I've seen. Netanyahu gave lots of. It was a ode to President Trump and his central role in making this happen. They both talked about the Iran military operation. They both talked about the history of the war. We could talk forever about all the subplots interwoven into both the Netanyahu speech and the Trump speech. But here's just a little bit of Netanyahu's long praise of President Trump. 105, please. And two weeks ago.
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D
You succeeded in doing something miraculous. You succeeded in doing something that no one believed was possible. You brought most of the Arab world.
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E
You brought most of the world behind.
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C
Your proposal to free the hostages and end the war.
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E
I want to thank Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ron Dermer for their great contribution to this effort.
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A
Amongst the brilliant things Netanyahu did in his speech was he singled out two Americans, one American Israelis, one in the room, a triple amputee, and then a mom, wife who was in Los Angeles for their contributions to the war effort. The President, probably the thing that surprised people, maybe spent a little bit of time in his speech saying that Netanyahu should be pardoned, which brought left in the chamber. Here's a little bit of that. 116, please.
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E
These two men are good men right here. Hey, I have an idea. Mr. President, why don't you give him a pardon? Give him a pardon.
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B
Come on.
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A
Okay, that's enough of that. It's. He went on at some length about it, and I showed you that at first because just gives you a sense of how freewheeling the President was. He told lots of stories about Raisin Kane and, you know, Marco Rubio compared Rubio, said Rubio is like Kissinger, but he doesn't leak. There was just a lot there. But mostly the President took a victory lap, although he gave credit to a lot of people. Here he is talking. Here's the. Here's the start of his speech. 106, please.
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E
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker, esteemed members of the Knesset and cherished citizens of Israel. We gather on a day of profound joy, of soaring hope, of renewed faith, and above all, a day to give our deepest thanks to the almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After two harrowing years, after two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families. And it is glorious. 28 more precious loved ones are coming home at last to rest in this sacred soil for all of time. And after so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent. The sirens are still, and the sun rises on a holy land that is finally at peace. A land and a region that will live, God willing, in peace for all eternity.
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A
Okay, just one more. Again, the speech is kind of incredible. Both the ad libs and the, and the prompter prepared remarks. 109, please. But.
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E
But it will be the wealthiest and most powerful group of nations. So the group that we have assembled that's waiting for us is the wealthiest and most powerful group ever assembled at one time. There has never been a group like this. And they're only looking for good. They want good. They're going to do good. And as those commitments are made, I'm going to let the world know who's doing it, because they really deserve to get the credit. And some of them probably won't want the credit, but they deserve it. It's more obvious than ever that the productive and responsible nations of this region should not be enemies or adversaries. You should be partners and eventually even friends. And that's what's going to happen. I know it.
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A
Put up Fox together, you can stand.
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E
Against the forces of chaos.
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A
So again, very soaring rhetoric. Presence on the tarmac now in Jerusalem. And you can see there, Air Force One behind him with the delegation, the large delegation of American officials who are traveling with him onto Egypt. And we'll leave that up for a moment and we'll just watch that scene. Sean, what do you, what's your sense of what the goals deliver, potential deliverables are in Egypt? Well, will we learn more about financial contributions to rebuilding Gaza? Will we learn more about the military force and how that will be structured? What do you think will come out of Egypt?
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C
You know, it's interesting in, normally in a foreign visit, like if this was a normal thing, you would have all that kind of stuff. I think that what they're focused on right now, the visuals, they want to be seen as gathering all these folks that Netanyahu mentioned in that, in his comments. I, I don't know that this is going to be a big, you know, here's the financial commitments we got today. That may be next week, later this week we'll see. But I don't know that that's what they really care about today. They want the visual of the President being seen as the President of peace, bringing everyone together and then worry about dribbling out the financial security kind of contributions later down the road.
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B
I don't know.
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C
But that's what I would suggest might be happening today.
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A
Dan, give me one or two. Knowing we don't know the contours of where this is headed. Give me one or two short term implications of this for the US domestic situation. For instance, New York City mayor's race or the shutdown. Does this have any impact on us?
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B
I don't think it'll impact New York much. Maybe the shutdown, just because anytime you have a historic moment like this and a feel good moment, it strengthens your hand a little bit. But I think ultimately it, it doesn't have much of an impact on domestic politics at all.
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C
I agree with that.
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A
Okay, let's add Michael Granoff. And Michael, for those of you who don't know, is a staunch member of the two way community. I grew up in the United States and moved for a short term trip with his family to Israel where they have stayed. Now Michael, 12 years, decade, is that right?
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D
12 years now.
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A
Okay. And Michael has 12 years dozen years. And Michael has children who serve in the military there and lives in the Tel Aviv area. Michael, focus on the hostages because the US media so focused on the President's participation. But how, how are Israelis processing because you monitor the press so assiduously, how are Israelis processing the return of the 20 hostages?
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D
It is hard to describe the emotion of this day for many reasons, but the hostages are first and foremost among them. Mark, I think I sent you a picture the other day. I went to the ATM to get some cash for that. And you know, the first thing you see is the yellow ribbon and bring them home logo on the ATM machine. They're in the airports, they're on every bus stop, their pictures are everywhere. The yellow ribbons everyone wears. And this has been our national pain and our national obsession for two years. Just five doors down for me is the aunt and uncle of one of the hostages that was freed today. You know, their home has been adorned with his pictures for all of this time. And you know, there are two things that have happened that I honestly did not think were possible and it really feels miraculous. And those two things are obviously the return of all the living hostages. And we hope we'll eventually get all the, all the non living hostages as well. Although the Latest word is that we're not getting nearly as many as we were told we would today. But obviously the hostages are first and foremost and they're really. I hardly met anyone, at least in the last 612 months, that thought it was possible that we'd get them all. The other thing we're getting that I never thought we'd get is something as close as possible to a date certain of the end of the war. You know, we have had wars like the, the First Lebanon War and Second Intifada, which had no closure because they just sort of petered out. And in the case of Lebanon, we ended up staying in this security zone for 20 years and left. And that, you know, in retrospect was a mistake. So there was no finality, there was no conclusion. I never thought that we'd get that here, honestly, because I couldn't see how, how it's possible to do it, especially given the hostages. So those two things together are just miraculous. But like you said, the, you know, we've come to know these, these hostages very well. I remember as a 10, 11 year old kid in the US when American hostages were held in Iran and I, I kind of got obsessed with that and knew their names and that's been the case here for, for the whole country. So it's incredible. But at the same time it's very mixed. Right after this show, I will go get ready for our holiday of Simha Torah and I will go to synagogue and we will dance with the Torah because this is the time of year when we finish reading it and then begin again tomorrow with the, the story of Genesis, the beginning of the Torah. It's a joyous holiday. Simchator means the joy of the Torah. And it was literally simple Torah two years ago that I was dancing that night in synagogue with a neighbor of mine, Aria Ziran, 26 years old. And the following morning we went synagogue about an hour after we had the first siren and no one really knew what was going on. And you know, those of us who observe the holiday don't use devices, so we had very limited understanding that this was anything other than just, you know, a random rocket from Gaza. And. But by the time something I was over, everyone understood that we were in a very serious situation. And that same person, Aria Zarian, who lives around the corner from the, you know, actually was called up and he was actually, I was dancing with his family in the synagogue on that morning, but he wasn't there. He was supposed to come later, but he didn't. And then it Turned out that he had been called up and went down to Gaza. And then late that evening, early next morning, it's hard to know. There was not a lot of sleeping in that time. We got word that he was killed. And that was the first funeral that I went to. It took several days. Jewish buried as quickly as possible, but there was so much, had chaos and so many people dead that it took until, I think three days later until the funeral was held. And so tonight I will go to that same synagogue, I will dance with his family, and on Wednesday morning, we will go to his grave and observe the anniversary of his death. And there have been nearly a thousand soldiers lost in combat in this, which I did the calculations a little bit more than half on a proportionate basis, what America lost in Vietnam. So it's a lot. And I'll also say one more thing that reminds us of how even this victory, and I think it is a victory, as President Trump said, comes with a lot of clouds around it as well. Another very close friend of mine who lives in the neighborhood here, his 18 year old nephew who actually lived in Boston but was visiting Israel in 2016, was on a bus and was shot by Palestinian terrorists and killed. And he called me yesterday to tell me that his family had been notified by the government of Israel that the murderer of his nephew is one of the 2,000 Palestinian prisoners who's going free in this deal. And he's a patron who said he's very happy that the deal was done. He's very happy for the families of hostages, very happy that the war is over. He had a son in the war. Also his, his daughter actually lost her fiance in the war. But, you know, you know, he has to live with the fact that the person that shot his nephew to death is free as. So there are, you know, there's a lot of pain and like I said, a lot of emotions. But I, I think on the whole, the country is going to process all of this. And I think something that President Trump surprised me in saying, that many things surprised me about speech, but one of the things that I was surprised he said and that Jared also said in Hostage Square the other night, which I've been saying, but I didn't think they would, is that Israel is going to come out of this and be stronger, bigger and more successful than ever. And the, the reason I'm sure, I don't know how they're sure of it, the reason I'm sure of it is because every Shabbat we have families around our table and I see my kids, peers and I see this generation which has been called Israel's greatest generation, and they are really something else. And they had, they, you know, everyone thought this was the generation of screens and TikTok and all of that. And they were put into this position and they not only stood up and served with valor and courage, but with ingenuity and with incredible passion. And I can see it that they now want to go and apply that to productive things and to solve problems, to cure cancer and do all these other things. And so, you know, President, I think, was it, was it he or someone said if Israel was a stock, it would be the biggest buy in the world? Now I think, I really think that's true. So anyway, maybe longer than I should.
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A
Have gone on, but beautiful and really helpful and, and we say conversations like no other. And I've been watching media for sick, consuming media for six hours and I've not heard a report that good. So thank you for that. Sean, comment on what Michael said or.
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C
Question for Michael Yeah, obviously a lot to unpack. So I'm just going to keep this brief because there was something politically that caught my eye this morning. A reporter was doing a live hit from Tel Aviv and he noted that President Trump's speech was being broadcast to the entire crowd there. And he made the observation that they had not broadcast Prime Minister Netanyahu because he wasn't close to as popular. Does this deal give President a. Whether that's true or not, I guess is irrelevant to my point, which is does this raise the stock of Netanyahu within Israel or is he still on shaky ground for a lot of other issues?
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D
Sean, the parallels actually between these leaders are absolutely stunning. And what I have been actually saying to some of my friends who are in the, the BDS camp, and that's not boycott, divestment, sanction, that's the DB derangement syndrome camp. What I've been saying to some of them actually in last week is like, give him the victory. Because really I, you know, I happen to, I'll, I'll be honest with you, Sean. I am a former never Trumper myself. And, and, and, and I think, you know, that Trump derangement syndrome contributed enormously the success and his victory last year, which now I'm very grateful for. But I can see the same pattern repeating itself here, actually, because there is a, and, and, and I'll also be honest that I've had five opportunities and I've actually never voted for Bibi. But I'm also not in, I'VE never been a never Bibi person. I've always seen him as incredibly talented and a great leader. But I also think that it's not healthy for democracy to have same guy for so long. And I think there are, there are others that could bring us new things. There's a lot that needs to be done. A lot has been neglected in this country and that will get litigated in the next 12 months because there will be election not later than a year from now, and I think probably much sooner than that, actually. But I can't imagine even in this kind of sometimes cynical country that he will not get a bounce from this. He should get a bounce. But I think we all know that bounces out of successful wars can be short lived. Certainly George H.W. bush figured that out. And I don't think, I think elections are about the future. I think that the most important issue by far in the coming election is going to be the conscription issue. Because there are segments of the population that do not serve. And those of us. I had three kids in this war and you know, like I said, my whole neighborhood was in this war and most of the country was. But those that were not are not going to get a, get a free pass anymore. And that's, I think. And Bibi right now in his coalition is on the wrong side of that issue. He's such an amazing politician. I wouldn't be surprised if he finds some way to get on the right side of that issue. Someone told me yesterday they thought, no, he's gonna, he's gonna just play with the cards that he's got and, and, and try to ride on the success of the war. But I don't think that'll work, honestly, because I think that'll be the most important issue as we watch, as we.
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A
Thank you, as we watch Air Force One. Uh, taxi. Uh, Dan. Uh, question. Question for Michael, if you have one.
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F
Sure.
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B
Michael, the history of peace and stability in the region is, you know, fleeting. How confident are people that this is going to hold?
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D
Well, Dan, you know, obviously we've just gotten used to the fact that President Trump will always be kind of over the top with the hyperbole. And the notion that 3,000 years of conflict in this region has now been solved by him is certainly an exaggeration, to say the least. I think for the near term, I think we're in pretty good shape because I think to whatever degree Hamas still exists, it is not a danger to Israel. And as long as that's the case, we're certainly not going to resume the war. The longer and more important answer to your question depends entirely on the following binary. If you look at two different peace processes that have happened in my lifetime, you see actually day and night, and one of those is the Oslo peace process that began in 1993 when, frankly, President Clinton was surprised to find out that the Israeli government, led mostly by Shimon Peres and Yesi Bayon, and then agreed to, somewhat begrudgingly, by the Prime Minister Yusuf Rabim, were negotiating with Yasser Arakat, who Congress actually had to come into session and pass a law to permit him to come to the Oslo signing ceremony at the White House in September of 93, because it was against US law for him to enter at that time, because he was an arch terrorist. And I like to say the godfather of 9 11, having pioneered suicide bombings and hijackings, which were the ingredients in 9 11. And he won the Nobel Peace Prize, by the way, which is why I don't think that it's just something that people should necessarily aspire to. But so there's that. And what happened as a result of the Oslo process is that Palestinians got pretty large autonomy over everything outside of security and even security within certain areas that they fully controlled, but they certainly, you know, controlled their own school systems and media. And what happened particularly in Gaza, where after 2005, there wasn't a single Jew. What happened was that they created a culture of hate, a death cult, and their kids are told that Jews are subhuman and that the highest value is to kill Jews. That's frankly what happened. Contrast that with what happened generation earlier, when Anwar Sadat, who in 1973 led a surprise attack on Israel that very nearly destroyed the country in the Yom Kippur War, by the way, 50 years to the day before October 7th and a few years after that, Sadat indicated that he wanted to make peace with Israel. And what did he do? He came, just like President Trump did today, to Jerusalem. He addressed the Knesset, and he recognized the Jewish historical connection to the land. He recognized that it was time to lay down arms and live in peace. And he said in the most elegant, articulate way. And what's more important, he went back to Cairo and he said the same thing to his people in Arabic. And that is what we need in the Palestinian community. We need an Anwar Sadat said for two decades that the solution to the Arab, to the Palestinian Israeli conflict is a Palestinian. Anwar Sadat, I hope that this group of nations that is taking responsibility for rebuilding Gaza will not just Think about the reconstruction of infrastructure and everything else. But I hope that what will come out is a governance. That is what we've seen in the last generation in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and other Arab countries where, you know, the education is, you know, de. Radicalized and in fact, a true telling of history that embraces the Jewish story and embraces the Jewish presence in the region. If we get that, then President Trump is right. We can actually put an end to thousands of years of conflict. But not so soon.
- [31:41]
A
Michael, thank you. Stay with us if you can, because we'll get to questions in a minute. You may be able to help us with some of those. Here's what we're going to do. We're just going to run through very rapidly one sentence answers on.
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B
I think Mark just froze.
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A
Five other topics. I'll go to your questions. I'm sure a lot of them will be about that. Then give me the date, then we'll end. Please.
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B
Mark, you just froze a bunch of times. I think you said give me the date that this will end. I will say the end of next week.
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A
Give me the date. The shut. The shutdown. The shutdown will end.
- [32:18]
B
Yeah. So that would be the shutdown end like the 25th, 24th of October.
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A
Okay, Sean, when will the shutdown?
- [32:29]
C
I'm gonna guess 22, 23. They got to get by their no Kings rally for their talking point. And then so probably mid 22, 23, somewhere in there.
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A
Okay. The president spoke pretty optimistically about working things out with Xi yesterday on Air Force One. Sean, our relations with China on an upswing or downswing today?
- [32:51]
C
Well, relation. Look, that's an interesting. I think the bigger, the bigger takeaway is they need this APEC meeting. They need to get progress. And so the relationship, I think, is tenuous at best. And it's, it's like an ekg. I mean, I think he was pissed off about this rare earth thing he tried to slap the tariffs on. Realized this was going to escalate real, real quick. So I don't know how to answer that question. I'll say it's, it's, it's needs attention and they need to have this sideline meeting ASAP and then schedule an in person, a bigger in person one.
- [33:26]
A
Dan, Upswing or downswing?
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B
Neither. No one. They both have leverage on each other and nobody seems to be able to get the upper hand. Question is, who wants to deal more?
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A
Yeah. The president had mixed remarks over the weekend about Ukraine and about Putin. Dan, are we headed more towards Pete's or are we still at stalemate after the weekend?
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B
Stalemate. I would just look at Israel. You only got the upper hand because you decimated Hamas and Iran. So the only thing Putin's going to respect.
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C
Well, I think the early signs that he was going to send the Tomahawks after the Zelensky call was a huge sign, a positive. And then when he said on the plane, I'm going to let. I need to make sure I talk to Putin first, was Gave a little bit of pause. So I, I mean, you know, I, I think it'll be interesting after that conversation with Putin, whether he feels like Putin's willing to, to lean in a little bit more to peace or at least fake it better. But right now, Well, I think it's a push.
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A
Okay, Dan, the health report came out on Friday about the president's visit to Walter Reed. Uh, said he got a Covid shot. Not really clear.
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B
And a flu shot. Flu shot?
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A
Yeah. What, What's. There's the letter. What's the, what's the lesson or the, the, the upshot for the. What they said about the president's mid. Mid. Semiannual physical for you, Dan?
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B
Well, I don't think there is an upshot. I mean, they did it on Friday night, and that thing says, you know, it. There's a lot in there, but it says nothing. And I, I just think it's. It's opaque intentionally to state the obvious and just, you know, at his age, it's just something we're gonna have to monitor. I mean, you're not in a hospital for five hours for a flu shot and a Covid shot.
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C
Sometimes the wait times are horrible.
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B
You gotta get a number.
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C
A 42. A 42. I mean, my guess is, look, I think there's a lot of imagery being done I have no basis for. I mean, I'm just saying, like, certain things take time in terms of the machines and what have you. So I have a feeling there's a lot of imagery going on.
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B
I mean, based on what they put in there, it sure sounds like heart scanning, right? You scan, you do images of the arteries, images of blockages and stuff. Again, there's a lot of unanswered questions in that statement.
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C
I'm surprised by the way I know Mark wanted all of the health reporters there, but they have had an opportunity to question the president at least twice now. I mean, once on Air Force One, once on the departure. Not one question on health. Now, I know there's a lot going on, but it's fascinating to see how little interest there was from the press corps.
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A
Yes, a lot of questions from George Stephanopoulos, but knowing that we're going to save a couple of media clips, maybe we'll play them tomorrow, maybe we'll play them tonight on two way tonight. But let's get to your questions now. Again, if you want in on the conversation, please raise your hand. You'll unmute. Tell us where you are, what's on your mind. Start with Erica. Erica, welcome in.
- [36:33]
B
Oh, you're muted, Eric.
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D
Okay.
- [36:35]
F
Yes, can you hear me? Yeah, okay, yeah. Yes, ma', am, this is my first time calling. I am calling from Starbase, Texas. You can see there's a rocket behind me, I think.
- [36:47]
A
Yeah, yes, welcome, welcome and thank you for sharing.
- [36:50]
F
We, we are down here for the launch this evening and if you ever get a chance, 10 out of 10 recommend. Coolest experience I've ever had in my life. So this is our fourth launch. So I was calling mostly because I have a question that I really kind of, I have a lot of skepticism about the like much vaunted media or meeting that's going on in Egypt soon. Like there seems like there's still a lot of loosens to tie up and, and you know, I guess I'm worried that some of the people that are involved partners are, you know, like with the Qataris, how much do they actually have any control? Because it seems like there's a lot of chaos on the ground still in Gaza and it seems like a really big lift. So I'm glad that they got the hostages back, but I just have, I have a lot of, yeah. Skepticism that like there's a lot of steps to go forward from here.
- [37:49]
C
No question, Sean, you're absolutely right. I mean there's even reports right now that there are hostages that are not fully accounted for and we'll see how they answer for that. I am just goes without saying I am a little intrigued or disappointed, probably more so on the ratio of hostages to some of these criminals that were let out. Obviously no one consulted me, but I think there's a lot that people how the next 24 hours goes is going to be, I mean I think the first test of the accountability, especially on the Hamas side.
- [38:26]
A
Dan?
- [38:27]
F
Yeah, yeah, that, that agreed. Like that sounds right to me.
- [38:32]
B
I think it's really interesting. I mean I, I get, you know, Trump is all about strength and, and determination and, but I am a little surprised at how much he is saying this is over, like this is, there is peace, like the certainty with which he is speaking reminds me a little of, like, the George W. Bush mission accomplished banner. Like, again.
- [38:54]
F
Yes, exactly.
- [38:55]
B
The history of that region. I mean, look, the Arabs are great business partners, but I don't think anyone would kid themselves that they are just that business is business to them. And will they 100% be with Trump and enforce this deal, or are they always open for business with anyone and everyone? We'll see.
- [39:19]
F
I hadn't. I hadn't thought about it as, like, business partners versus partners for peace, but that's a really great framing.
- [39:24]
C
Oh, this is business, baby. I mean, this is all business.
- [39:27]
A
Erica, thank you.
- [39:28]
B
And.
- [39:28]
A
And I will say on the topic of business, it's pretty clear now that the Jared Kushner model of doing well by doing good and establishing relationships by being in commerce is the Trump model. And it. It's going to be harder for people to criticize that as open as openly as people have, because Jared. Jared was able to be in a position to help contribute because of all this business stuff that he's done. And. And I'll say, finally, it's a day to be thankful that Ivanka did not marry Tom Brady. Okay, Alexandra, welcome in Unmute. Tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind for Sean and Dan.
- [40:04]
F
Hey, guys, I'm in Miami. Isn't it funny that the guy they called a fascist for so long just made peace in the Middle East? Did y' all see when Putin said that he. He should get the Nobel Prize?
- [40:23]
B
Flattery goes a long way.
- [40:25]
F
I know. And. And then on the plane, he praised G. The President of China. But I was gonna ask y' all about the 100 tariffs. Do you think they're going to go into effect on September 1st, or do you think he's going to go to APAC and negotiate with xi? Is this a negotiation tactic, or is he really going to go through with it?
- [40:47]
A
Great question. Let's play the president on this topic on Air Force One last night, because I think you'll see from his body language and. And what he says, that it's an open question. Go ahead and play that, Paul.
- [41:00]
F
Now, when you go to Asia in.
- [41:02]
C
A couple of weeks, when you saw.
- [41:03]
E
The statement I put out that he had a bad day, and I think we're going to be fine with China. Look, I have a great relationship with President Xi. He's a very tough man. He's a very smart man. He's a great leader for their country. He's a great leader, and I have a great relationship with him, I think we'll get it set. I know what happened. I really understand what happened. And I'm not even saying he's wrong. But then we met him with something much tougher than what he did to us. Again, because of the tariffs. It's much tougher.
- [41:35]
F
November 1, 100% tariffs on China is what you said. Is that still the plan?
- [41:39]
E
Yeah, right now it is.
- [41:41]
G
Yeah.
- [41:41]
E
Let's see what happens. You know, for me, you know what, November 1st is an eternity. November 1st is an eternity for me.
- [41:51]
A
I would say the totality of that suggests a bet against the 100% tariffs taking effect. Dan.
- [41:57]
B
Yeah, I absolutely. Look, I think, again, Trump is all about strength and machismo. They were. The White House was incensed that China is reneging on the rare earths and the soybeans. So he wanted to smack back. And then, you know, he realized the insanity of this, and Trump wants to back, you know, back out of it. We can't get leverage on the Chinese right now because they have so much leverage on us. And that's the thing that when you look at this battle between the two, again, who is more desperate for a deal? And what are the contours? Would we give Taiwan in exchange for some sort of economic headline? We don't have China by the. You know what?
- [42:40]
F
We don't even know that we buy pretty much all of. They buy. They sell pretty much everything they sell to United States.
- [42:48]
B
No, they don't. They sell it all over the world. The Europe to South America and. But look, we are dependent upon them for a lot of stuff. We just are.
- [43:00]
F
Yeah. I think we need. Sean, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
- [43:02]
A
That's okay.
- [43:03]
C
No, I. Look, I don't think the tariffs are going to go into effect. They're going to find. They need. They can't. Right. We cannot go to a full trade war with them. We need to have this meeting. They need to start down a path. But I think the broader takeaway is this. No matter how many times, whether it's Covid and the result post Covid of buying all of our PPE and pharma from them, like, at some point, we have to recognize that this idea, and this is where I think the Trump model needs to get employed again. This idea since Nixon, that we felt like somehow if they become what they call in diplomatic circles as a responsible stakeholder, somehow they'll see the light and come over to capitalism and democracy is nuts. We cannot be dependent on China. We need to decouple from China. We need to Understand the existential threat that they pose to us. And until we get that, I think we've got a bigger and broader problems. And so this is just another example. The idea that literally, you know, we talked about this before, rare earth minerals are critical to everything, our cars, our computers, everything that we're doing in the future. And that they have got us, as Dan pointed out, like literally they're holding us and saying, yeah, we'll decide what, how much you get, you know, like a peasant. This is. So at some point we need a bigger, broader national wake up call about what's going on.
- [44:16]
B
But by the way, who's one of China's biggest financial partners now? The Middle East.
- [44:22]
D
Yeah.
- [44:23]
A
Alexandra, thank you. Grateful to you. Let's welcome Max back. Max, welcome in. Tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind for Sean and Dan.
- [44:30]
G
Hi. Good to be here. Really inspired by what I saw, but just wanted to talk about what Dan just brought up and Sean, you all should read a book, How Globalization Gamble Went Wrong the World's Worst Bet by David Lynch. Fantastic book. It talks about what people like myself and I guess accolades of Ross Perot, one of the first Make America Great Again profits spoke about. Everyone said that opening up China and letting China into the World Trade Organization was going to usher in democracy. Joe Biden famously said that at the time, China's economy was the size of the Netherlands. How could they ever, ever, ever impact what we're doing? We have a big problem with China. But I think that we're going to have to take a 25 year look at, at, at this. And everyone that talks about, well, you're not going to onshore jobs or you're not going to onshore manufacturing. You're not going to do that in a year, you're not going to do that in five, but you are going to do that in 25 and 50 years. And if we don't start looking at it that way, what is the other side of that bet? And that's my question. If we're not going to commit to that, then what are we going to commit to? Are we going to commit to just being slaves to Chinese and cheap labor? And finally, from a Democratic and Republican agreement point, the only reason why these CEOs did this is to make money. They did not do this to help America. They did this to make more money. They, they took American manufacturing jobs and shipped them out for their own greed. And with that I'll question goes to, I guess Sean first. What, what say you and what is, what is the other side of that bet?
- [46:26]
C
So look, this is one of those issues where I do think that there could be a great bipartisan effort to say, guys, we're too dependent on China and we need to sort of not just onshore, but really think about a national security. What are the things that we need? There were some announcements over the weekend, the Defense Department, some private sector stuff with JP Morgan about reinvesting in the United States, which is critical. But to your point, see here's the deal. This is where I think we miss the boat, Max. In the short term, it's not just about dependence on stuff like we need their, their goods and services. They are hooking us for a reason. The goal isn't to make us just dependent, it's to dominate eventually. Like this is the short term is the dependence. Once you get the dependence, then you go, great, I own you, you are now ours. This is not a we just want you to buy our stuff and help our labor market and help our economy. It's a means to an end and that end is dominance. And the Chinese have been very clear about what their long term strategic goals are. They tell you them this isn't a hidden secret. And somehow we kind of get confused every time.
- [47:31]
A
Dan?
- [47:31]
B
Well, I think that, I think the challenge is the world free trade system. I mean, you're right, Max. Their fiduciary is to their shareholders. And a lot of these companies make significant amounts of their profits overseas. So they may not go to China. The problem is you have some companies coming back, but a lot more are going to Vietnam, they're going to other low cost areas. So it is possible that we will incentivize such that people bring it all back. But the problem becomes the more you put up the barriers to do business overseas, the more other countries do it. And then all the companies that trade and you know, Boeing sells planes all over the world. Yeah, it's not that black and white is the problem.
- [48:15]
G
The problem is when we let China into the WTO in the year 2000, I believe, or 2001.
- [48:21]
B
2000.
- [48:22]
G
Yeah, 2000. That our national debt I think stood, stood at about 5 trillion. Today we're at 40, 38 and a half with 1.9 trillion in debt a year. I don't think that, I don't think that experiment about they, they're making money overseas. The companies are making profit by making things overseas and selling it back to, to us.
- [48:45]
B
No, no, no, no. I mean a lot of these companies make significant amounts selling Overseas. I mean, that's just not true. Go look at Starbucks.
- [48:52]
C
But there's a difference. I don't mind us selling overseas. That's part of the global trading system. The difference is we need to incentivize people to build and to invest here in America so that we're not dependent on others.
- [49:03]
B
Oh, no, I hear you. But it's all interconnected, right? It is all interconnected about the ability to trade overseas and then also manufacture overseas. Look, I agree, ultimately you want America to do well. But you're right. 2000, ask Al Gore, he may be president if that didn't go through. I mean, he was under. Bill Clinton struggled over that. I mean, Ohio was talking about Clinton.
- [49:27]
G
Bill Clinton is, was a prophet. If you read the book, Bill Clinton in 1991 said, we're going to leave these people behind. Meaning. Meaning people who were left behind. He actually, I got to give him credit on that.
- [49:39]
D
A lot of credit.
- [49:40]
A
Yeah. Max, thank you. Grateful to you. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate it. Okay, Matt, welcome in. Tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind for Sean and Dan.
- [49:52]
H
Hey, guys, I'm on the north side of Chicago about a 1 mile west of Wrigley Mark.
- [49:58]
B
Oh, nice sports.
- [50:00]
H
Wanted to touch on immigration.
- [50:03]
B
He's going to rub it in your face.
- [50:07]
A
Sorry about that, Ben.
- [50:09]
D
Big day.
- [50:09]
A
Big day for Wisconsin on Saturday night.
- [50:11]
H
You guys flew the L after the win. You guys live rent free in your head. Milwaukee's just a subway winds a win. So I wanted to talk about immigration and just some of like, you know, obviously Chicago's ground zero right now as it relates to the ICE raids. I mean, Obama was doing lots of raids of this sort even in 2015, 2016. And the footage is heartbreaking when you see, you know, especially families, you know, in school lines and things like that. But there's a lot of, you know, good to be done in the city as it relates to crime and, you know, getting criminals out. I'm curious, get your guys thoughts on where this goes. How long can Trump push it? Because everything's being filmed. You know, unlike 10, 15 years ago, we didn't see the footage like we do now. Because you talk to the restaurants. He hasn't, he's not coming for the restaurants in Chicago. If he does that, you've got real problems. You've got Trump supporters as part of restaurant groups are going to Washington now saying, hey, don't come, don't come for us. But you know, you can make the argument there's still A lot to be good to be done with ICE as it relates to, you know, tracking down criminals and gangs. So will Trump consider mass amnesty program.
- [51:25]
D
Like a regular.
- [51:28]
C
Never.
- [51:29]
H
Well, Sean, talk about it like, politically, like when, when does the juice run out as a, as a positive political. As it relates to the midterms and in 2028?
- [51:42]
C
I don't know is the answer. I mean, look, I think there's some obvious targets that he's hitting right now. Portland, Chicago, Memphis, probably new. I mean, New Orleans a little at some point. Like, you know, the juice does run out, but I think for now they're playing it out. But immigration, safety is still a huge, huge issue. I think he gets a lot of credit on it, especially in light of the contrast that exists between this administration, how the last one did it. So, I mean, I don't know the time on this, but for right now it's still a net positive because, Dan.
- [52:13]
H
It'S a lot of resources and a lot of money. Like, you know, so curious.
- [52:16]
B
Yeah, yeah, it's a fantastic question. And I think Sean hit something that's important, which is the Democratic Party. We are not trusted on this issue yet. I do think he's crossed over the line. Joe Rogan keeps going off about this, about how outrageous this is. He's not the only one. I think Theo Vaughn had something to say the other day. He's beginning to lose the public. And we've always said this is the million dollar question. What do you do with the 14 million people that are here legally? But as long as we're not trusted, and I think what you're going to hear in the midterms is if you elect Democrats, they are going to try to defund ice. They are going to try to go back to the way it was. So something is better than nothing. Even if you don't necessarily like all my tactics and you think I've gone a little too far. If we can regain some trust, I think he's in trouble. But for now, he's not.
- [53:12]
A
Matt, thank you. Grateful to you. Okay, Lawrence, welcome. And tell folks who don't know where you are what's on your mind for Sean and Dan.
- [53:23]
D
Hi, I'm calling from the uk I.
- [53:25]
G
Just wanted to follow up what the.
- [53:27]
A
Last person was saying.
- [53:30]
D
I think there's two issues. One's the bad hombres and the other is people that are here illegally. And the idea that I think amnesty is the wrong word. I think guest workers or something is a better word.
- [53:46]
G
There's probably 10 million people working and.
- [53:49]
D
We can't pull 10 million people out of the economy. We'll go from, we'll bypass recession, go straight into depression. So I just don't think we can do that. So we shouldn't act as if that's what we want to do.
- [54:07]
A
JOHN in terms of, okay, Dan, hold on.
- [54:11]
B
DAN and then SEAN yeah, I mean, I think this is the big question. And I think when we think about the midterms and 2028, I don't think J.D. vance, immigration will have a different form in 2028 because I think this is going to be the topic and I would be surprised if JD Vance just says we're getting all 15 million out to hell or high water. I think the issue is going to become how do we do this? Because it's not just restaurant workers. The ag community continues to be very vocal. We cannot keep doing this. And Trump seems to be saying to his friends, okay, like you're last in line. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Let me find targets that, you know, get my base excited. So we'll see.
- [54:59]
C
I think there's a two step process, Lawrence that can be done because, because Dan's right on the ad community. There's a huge dependence on this. But I think that we need to have a long term plan. What is the goal to make sure that we are looking at Americans trying to make sure that we create more opportunities, more jobs for them, especially in the area of like H1B instead of just saying we'll go pull them and outsource people from other countries. But then like you look at an H2 visa, which is like an AG1, there could be a way to do this that gets us sort of through the next 10 years. But that's, that's the, that's sort of to me, the bigger issue is that it's in a lot of cases black and white. We kick everyone out, we let them stay. And it's not always that simple. And I think we need, especially on some key industries, ag being obviously the most obvious is, and again, it's not even a blanket one, are sort of different crops needs differently in terms of seasonally, for how long. What is the ability of Americans to maybe take some of those jobs? There's a bigger discussion and a more holistic approach that needs to get taken to this instead of just being black and white.
- [56:10]
A
Lawrence, thank you. Grateful to you. All right, lots to preview for you. So let's get to that, including my show. Sean show, but noon today. Citizen McCain, Megan Will of course have all the latest, including on what's what's happening? The President flying to to Egypt now. Her guest Yisi egbw, former Biden White House advisor. And Megan will have that at noon eastern two way tonight special time today live on the two way platform, 4pm Eastern time. It'll stream on YouTube at 6 as normal. But 4pm if you want to join the conversation, John Por and AJ Adelman will join us to talk about the latest from the Middle east and Dr. Patrick Soon Young will join us to talk about everything in his life, including what's going on at the LA Times. So three great guests joining us at 4 Eastern Time today on the two way platform and then stream live on YouTube at 6. Sean, what do you have tonight?
- [57:04]
C
Well, first, happy birthday US Navy 250 years strong today. Second, there was a clip, I know we didn't have time to get it today. CNN's I mean of ABC, George Stephanopoulos and J.D.
- [57:15]
A
Vance.
- [57:15]
C
We'll play that tonight at 6 and really analyze it. And then new polling out in Virginia and New Jersey. We'll be joined by Winston Earl Sears, the current lieutenant governor of Virginia who is the nominee for Virginia. A lot of movement in her direction and the entire ticket. We're going to find out how much support she's picked up, how much money she's raising, where she thinks she is in the race.
- [57:35]
A
So and don't forget tomorrow 4 Eastern time, I'll be with David Bonson on a special two way for two way community members only to talk about how AI is impacting the economy and everything else going on in the economy. Chance, that's David. Questions go to 2way TV TBG to join us for that. I am here in Green Bay, folks. If you've never been to Lambeau Field, I recommend it. Incredible game yesterday and I was wearing some fairway and green merch yesterday at the game. And Sean, you'd be unsurprised to hear that many people came up to me and talked about how handsome this stuff looked and I couldn't help but notice how great you look today. Sean, trying to.
- [58:14]
C
Oh Mark, that's Mark. There's a reason because not only am I wearing one of the polos, but I'm also wearing the Dale pullover in size large color Marine. Yeah, it looks a little navy, but this is marine color. And Mark, the great thing is whether or not you're looking for a great pullover, a polo, a vest like you have, it doesn't matter. You can get anything you want, logos, no logos, site wide. If you go to twoway tv fairway and use code two two way 2020 off. Anything, anything on the entire site.
- [58:47]
A
Yeah, and don't forget you can get our catchphrases on your stuff. I'm wearing this great polar golf shirt. Says no smack in the chat right there on the sleeve. @blinds.com it's not just about window treatments. It's about you.
- [59:03]
C
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- [59:07]
A
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- [59:20]
C
Than windows is you.
- [59:22]
A
Visit blinds.com now for up to 45 off with minimum purchase plus a professional measure at no cost. Rules and restrictions apply. And as I said, very comfortable here in, in Wisconsin over weekend saw the, saw the Braves, I mean the brokers win on Saturday night and then the packers win yesterday. All is right here in Wisconsin basically. Except the University of Wisconsin football team is horrendous. But the pro teams are doing great and I'll be head back to New York shortly and I'll see you again 4 o' clock Eastern Time for 28 tonight. If you want to join the conversation with with our great guests Dan and A.J. edelman and Patrick soon Shion. Grateful to y' all for being part of the two way community. Would be fascinating to see what happens in Egypt. And as Sean said, we didn't get to the Stephanopoulos clip but he's playing it tonight and we may still play it tomorrow. Because I'm eager.
- [60:10]
C
It's, it's playworthy, it's, it's timeless.
- [60:13]
A
I'm eager to hear what everybody thinks, uh, about including uh, I know uh, Dan didn't get a chance to win, but I'm eager to hear what Dan thinks.
- [60:19]
B
Oh, I got thoughts.
- [60:20]
C
Yeah, yeah, I want to hear that. Oh, now we got to.
- [60:23]
A
Yeah. Uh, Dan, uh, lastly, uh, how's training going?
- [60:28]
B
Ah, thank God the storm didn't come as early. Ah, it's going. I finally had a good long run. This has been a horrific training year. Just things have hurt and it, that's.
- [60:38]
C
Why I didn't do it. I didn't, that's why I didn't run it.
- [60:41]
A
What's, what's the longest you like to run to train for a marathon?
- [60:44]
B
What I did yesterday, 23 or 24 is, is I personally a lot of people don't like to go that far before but I'm like I want to know how bad it is. Like everything starts to hurt about that.
- [60:56]
A
Point and, and did you listen to anything while you ran?
- [60:59]
B
No, I, I don't do that partly for safety reasons so I can hear stuff around me. I listen to the, the leaves falling and it turns out by the way Larry o' Connor was running in the park at the same time. We must have crossed like 20 times.
- [61:11]
C
Well, in fairness, Larry's not really running. He's kind of, it's a, it's a jog, Dan.
- [61:17]
A
What I'm told is you practice your one liners to get Z Sean while you're running. Is that true?
- [61:22]
B
I, I, I do think about stuff. Yeah, I, I do think about stuff. Yep.
- [61:26]
D
Yep.
- [61:27]
A
Okay. Thank you all for watching for being part of the two way community. We'll see in 23 hours and I'll see you at four and Sean will see you at six. Have a great day everybody.
- [61:34]
B
Take care.
- [61:46]
A
Sa.