Meet the Press - March 12, 2023

Interview

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Great to be with you. Thank you.

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Yeah. Well, first of all, when you hear from Steve Liesman, you almost don't need to ask anybody else, because he really, he really is the guy that -- in the know, and the smart thinker, and all these things. So I'd probably call him for advice. I actually think he covered it very well. My sense of it, Chuck, is -- my sense is that it is a fairly localized issue. The problem is that we live in a very emotional time where markets are emotional -- the reference to social media as being an accelerator, if you will, of some of that emotion, I think is, can be problematic. But I hope that with the weekend came some calm and certainly some strategy as well. But there are so many unique things about Silicon Valley that aren't necessarily applicable systemically. So my hope is it's very localized and we can address it in that way.

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Yeah, I don't -- they certainly don't need any more regulation. That doesn't mean that you can be mismanaged. Now, we have to throw in the obvious -- and I think you talked about it in the first segment -- and that is the fact that we have seen a rather sharp increase, increase in interest rates, which have put some smaller banks at odds with their own balance sheet. And now, of course, we have the Federal Reserve trying to change its balance sheet at the same time. And perhaps we need to do a little more review of all of that. But I don't think smaller banks need more oversight and more regulation -- maybe better oversight, but certainly not more regulation.

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Yeah, no, it's a great point. We are living in, you know, pretty much a debt crisis right now. And it's not just about America's, the government's debt ceiling, but many individuals have hit their own debt ceiling, and their savings accounts are being drained. And so we have kind of a crisis, if you will, on our hands that requires lots of things. We don't need to have a fight on debt ceiling, but this is why I think it's foolish for the president to simply say, "I'm not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling." This is the time to have a negotiation.

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And do something in a --

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Sure, it is.

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Well, the problem with the old-fashioned way is that it has eluded us now for a decade. I've been in Congress over a decade and I've never seen the old-fashioned way. We've never had regular order, as they call it.

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So I agree with you. We need to get back to that. But I think the debt ceiling situation is one of the opportunities to demand that, and maybe all get together and work, work with one another.

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Sure. Well, first of all, Donald Trump's not going to take advice from the party or from me. But I think what will happen is if he's indicted, that becomes one of the factors in whether he wins the primaries or not. The other factor is who else is in the race and who can make the best case. Obviously, you've highlighted Governor DeSantis, who has certainly earned the right to be at the head of the class through -- not just through his political rhetoric, but through his successful governing of a very large state. And I think, you know, seeing him around the stump a little more now, doing the things that potential presidential candidates do, I think, will help that debate along. The challenge becomes if there are too many people in the race. And there are other good ones: Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo certainly, my friend Tim Scott would all be good candidates who understand the Trump doctrine but have a demeanor that's probably more suitable to the, to the swing voter. And at the end of the day, what's most important for primary voters to think about is not just who they love the most, but who can win for the country and who can win for the party. Because we're in desperate need of some new leadership at the top.

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Well, I think it should always matter for primary voters, certainly. There's no, there's no glory in losing spectacularly compared to winning humbly. So I'd rather see, I'd rather see a humble victory.

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Well, first of all, both sides can be right rhetorically, but the problem is, is a four-hour stroll through the Capitol that's marred by a half hour of rioting doesn't make it a peaceful protest. And nobody was supposed to be in the Capitol. So there's not a single person who's completely innocent of wrongdoing. But not everybody that day is at the same level of crime. Five hundred and eighteen, by the way, have confessed to committing crimes that day. Four hundred and twenty have been prosecuted and sentenced. So clearly, it wasn't a peaceful protest. That's not to say that the vast majority of them don't have regret, or they didn't understand the severity of what they were doing or the severity of what some other people are doing. I do think it's unfair to put them all in the same bucket. I've never felt like democracy is actually in trouble. We survived a Civil War. We're going to survive this as well. What frustrates me as much as anything, Chuck, is that we're talking about it again. Here we had the January 6th Commission wrap up its work --

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-- mostly people not caring or paying any attention. It was very partisan, to say the least. And here we were moving forward. We should be talking about the southern border, as you were discussing.

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We should be talking about China and the challenge it possesses. And talking about inflation and a budget that drives up deficits forever. And those are, those are winning arguments for Republicans. Not re-litigating January 6th, 2020 or 2021.

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Well, first of all, I don't confuse my job with anybody at Fox News, and least of all the entertainers in primetime. That's not to say they don't add some value. I don't confuse Tucker Carlson with Bret Baier, or Dana Perino, or Bill Hemmer any more than I confuse some of the MSNBC personalities with what you do on Sunday mornings. I just think that there's just way too much entertainment out there. What I do regret probably as much as anything about the release of the 41,000 hours is it was released to one person in primetime who is, you know, rather sensational in his approach. And rather than just releasing it to everybody. I think transparency absolutely is the best way to go. I think Kevin McCarthy's right to do it. I just wish he would've released it to everybody at the same time.

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Always my pleasure.

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Thank you.

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