Trump Again Calls For Rate Cuts

Watch Joe and Kailey LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.

President Donald Trump warned the US economy may slow if the Federal Reserve does not move to immediately reduce interest rates, in his latest broadside against Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump said in a social media post Monday that “there is virtually No Inflation,” pointing to lower energy and food prices.

“But there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” Trump said, referring to Powell.

Economists widely expect Trump’s tariffs to boost inflation and slow growth, even if just temporarily. While inflation has cooled notably in recent years, it remains elevated. Powell, along with several of his colleagues, has underscored the central bank must ensure new levies don’t lead to a more persistent bout of inflation.

Trump has rattled Wall Street by repeatedly criticizing Powell and suggesting he had the ability to remove the Fed Chair before the end of his term. US equities sank on Monday as traders weighed the chances Powell gets axed, with the S&P 500 Index falling more than 3%.

Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including conversations with influential lawmakers and key figures in politics and policy. On this edition, Joe and Kailey speak with:

• Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall.
• Bloomberg Intelligence Chief Equity Strategist Gina Martin Adams.
• Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis of New York.
• Bloomberg Politics Contributors Rick Davis and Jeanne Sheehan Zaino.
• Bloomberg's Tony Capaccio.
• Beacon Global Strategies Managing Director Michael Allen.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. You're listening to the
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Speaker 2 (00:25):
Look at how markets are digesting the latest salvo from
President Trump when it comes to the Chair of the Fed,
Jerome Powell, the pressure he is filing on him not
going anywhere. In fact, amplifying it once again today on
true Social Of course, it's not unusual to see the
President weighing in on FED policy or this chairman in particular.
You can see examples of that going back as far
as his first administration in twenty eighteen, but maybe a

(00:45):
bit remarkable today, Joe, to see him directly suggesting there
could be a slow down in the US economy if
the Chair doesn't do as he wants and cut rates,
perhaps preemptively.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
In all caps.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
There can be a slowing, he says, of the economy
unless mister Chu late a major loser lower's interest rates. Now,
as Charlie Pellett mentioned, it's marathon Monday, Patriots Day, in
Boston at the White House. It's Easter egg roll Day,
Easter Monday, we'll call it. And that is where we
start right now with Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall. She's on the
north lawn of the White House. Tyler, I know the

(01:17):
President was with the Easter Bunny a little while ago.
He did make some remarks as he talked about these
markets at all.

Speaker 5 (01:23):
Yeah, Joe, at the moment, need yet to get any
indication on exactly if the White House is watching the
markets in reaction to his most recent criticism of drome
of Powell going as far as to say that the
US economy could slow if the Fed doesn't move to
cut rates and quickly. It does appear, as we see
growth forecast starting to be declined, in the decline across

(01:44):
the globe, that this White House could be potentially preparing
to shift some of the blame for the impacts of
his tariff policies onto the Federal Reserve. Now, Joe, of course,
the biggest question here is whether or not this White
House actually has the legal authority to remove Powell. And
if you ask the Fed Chair himself, you would say
that he doesn't think he can be fired. And that
he wouldn't step aside if he was asked to do so.

(02:05):
In theory, Powell is supposed to be shielded from being
fired without cause by the Federal Reserve Act of nineteen thirteen.
But there are some big questions, as you know here
in Washington about the future of the independent federal regulators.
We're watching very closely. One case that could be decided
by the Supreme Court within days that has to do
with another independent regulator when it comes to the National
Labor Relations Board, and this administration asking the courts to

(02:26):
overturn legal precedent known as Humphrey's Executor, which would shield
of independent agencies from political firings. We'll have to see
what ends up happening with that because it is considered
to be a test case as President Trump doesn't appear
to be letting up the pressure as he ties this
very closely to his tariff policies and as the tariff
negotiations get underway. You mentioned this at the top of

(02:47):
the hour, but Bloomberg News reporting there's going to be
a key meeting here at the White House later on
with some big retailers that includes home Deepol Walmart Lowe's
and target as the private sector also tries to get
into these talks as the White House cuts or attempts
to cut some deals when it comes to his tariff policies.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
All right, Bloomberg, Tyler Kendall live at the White House,
thank you so much. In the stock of some of
those retailers that Tyler was mentioning under pressure today as
we're seeing a wider sell off in the equity markets.
We're now down more than three full percentage points on
both the S and P five hundred and the Nasdaq
one hundred. And on that note, we turn to Gena
Martin Adams, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief Equity Strategists, joining us from
New York, Gina. When you look at the renewed selling

(03:26):
pressure once again today, is it so much that markets
are actively reacting to the news or the suggestions about
the future of the Fed chair jerown power, they just
don't see another compelling reason to be buying instead of selling.

Speaker 6 (03:40):
Yeah. I think that those are two very valid reasons
that are coming up all day to day. That the third,
i'd say, is earning season. So far, sixty five percent
of S and P five hundred companies that have reported
have reported much lower sales than expected by the analyst community,
and that was in the first quarter before we had
Liberation Day, really rock S and P five hundred company world,
So I do think that kind of earnings are playing

(04:03):
a role as well. The dollar is also playing a role.
The fact that the dollar is falling when the S
and P five hundred is falling is a very rare thing,
particularly when the SMP is this week. To have the
dollar also weakening is creating a lot of concern in
the form of financial markets concern that broadly investors are
losing a little bit of faith in the system itself.

(04:25):
So there's quite a few things, frankly that investors are
having to contend with. I think the other thing that
I would notice we're coming off of excessive overconfidence that
when we came into this year, markets were pricing for
greater than twenty percent earnings growth emerging. Now we're looking
at closer to zero as the potential run rate, if
not a contraction in earnings depending upon how this ninety

(04:46):
day reprieve plays out. So the markets have just been
really sideswiped and certainly taken by surprise so far this year.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
So where's the safe haven right now, Gene, I mean,
is it Gold's bit coin?

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Is that it?

Speaker 6 (05:01):
Yeah? I think that international equities also have already priced
significant amount of weakness. They didn't come into this world
to this year as overconfident as US equities did. International
equities priced at extreme discounts relative to US equities and
currencies they are generally rallying, would suggest a very alternative.
We did a note this morning talking about EM equities

(05:23):
as a potential safe haven, even where even the risk,
the downside risk in China is somewhat limited by even
a US recession in comparison to the downside risk to
the US market. Part of that is where stocks were
priced in each market coming into this year. Very similarly,
you see EM countries across the world less correlated to

(05:44):
the US markets than they had been in the past.
So low beta markets tend to offer some degree of
safe haven, certainly consumer staples and utility stocks, and as
the sectors that behave more defensively, low beta sectors tend
to perform a little bit better in selloffs like this.
There are relation to safe havens, but unfortunately most equities
are going to struggle in a climate like this one.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
Gene's great to have you, Geena Martin Adams, Bloomberg Intelligence
Chief Equity Strategists.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
As we follow stocks lower.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
We'll have an update from Charlie Pellett in just a
little bit more than ten minutes from right now, but
we are reaching to Low's for the day here three
percent plus losses for the S and P five hundred
and the NASDAK Right now, I'm Joe Matthew and Washington
alongside Kaylee Lines.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
This is ballots of power.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
The news coming out of Washington has so much to
do with what's happening right now on Wall Street, and
it's where we start our conversation with Congresswoman Nicole Malia Takis,
the Republican from New York's eleventh District, with us live
from World Headquarters in New York, and Congresswomen, we want
to welcome you back, as always to Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Do you worry about the intersection in this case of
Washington and Wall Street. The words of the President, or

(06:51):
at least as he posted on truth Social, appear to
be pulling us lower here referring to the Fed chair
as a major loser, even though he did appoint him
initially this is the pact of the rhetoric in American
politics now.

Speaker 7 (07:03):
No, Look, I think that we need to be focused
on governing with a confident, steady hand. Here. I think
the most important thing that we can be doing is
making sure that we pass this very important tax package,
that we prevent an expiration of the existing twenty seventeen
Tax Cutting Jobs Act, That in itself, I think is
something that can send a very strong message that we

(07:24):
get back to Washington next week and we see pieces
of this bills being furnished by the individual committees. I
think there's a question right now around the world whether
we can get the job done. I believe that we
can and we must or else it's a four trillion
dollar tax hike, and you'll see a lot of the
provisions that were so important to the American economy expire. Right,

(07:46):
we have so many things at stake here. You have
interest deductibility, R and D expensing, you have bonus appreciation,
you have the corporate tax rate that would go from
twenty one percent to thirty five percent if this were
to expire. And of course, the the provisions that lifted
millions of Americans out of poverty, that created seven million jobs.
There's a lot here, and we need to make sure

(08:08):
that we not only pass it, but that we expand
it in a way that we add more pro growth
policies so we can see the economy really prosper. And
reputation of manufacturing is another big component of this as
well that I've been working on well.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
And we know, Congressoman that any expansion of tax cuts
will require offsets based off of the kind of framework
that the House is working with here, so it becomes
a question of the spending cuts. I'm sure you're well
aware that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is going
to begin marking up it's portion of this massive reconciliation bill,
and that will be the medicaid question. Have you seen

(08:44):
a list of proposals or any kind of draft around
what exactly will be put forward when it comes to medicaid?
Knowing you have looked for assurances on that front, do
you expect you'll see one before the markup?

Speaker 7 (08:55):
Well, what we have seen is the menu of options, right,
and we're talking about the entire energy and healthcare portfolio,
so it's not just medicaid, and obviously and deals with regulations,
it deals with broadband spectrum sales. It deals with other components,
emission vehicles, things like that that could be offsets with
the Medicaid peace. We've made it very clear to the Speaker,

(09:18):
to the Chairman of this committee, as well as to
the President of the United States that there is a
group of US that will not support any package that
would diminish, meaning taking individuals who are legally eligible for
Medicaid off the roles. If they are eligible, they need
to be able to keep their eligibility. Now aside from that, specifically,

(09:41):
we're talking about our senior citizens, our people with disabilities,
children with developmental disabilities, pregnant women. These are people that
we are really laser focused on. Yes, we can implement
work requirements on people that are able bodied they should
be contributing in this economy and working. That would remove
them off of Medica and put them on most likely

(10:01):
private insurance, saving the government money as well, and of
course the fraud getting rid of it, which accounts for
roughly fifty billion dollars a year in Medicaid alone. That's
five hundred billion dollars over ten years. So when you're
looking for a savings of roughly eight hundred and eighty
billion dollars over ten years. That's a big chunk of
it right there that we're going to save. And so

(10:22):
we've just made very clear that in terms of reimbursement
rates for our states New York for example, fifty percent
federal reimbursement, we will not allow that to be lowered.
So that was one thing that we pushed back on,
as well as per capita caps on traditional medicaid. That's
something that we've also said is a red line for us,
and we've received positive feedback from the Speaker and a

(10:44):
commitment that they're not going to touch those things.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
That's really interesting.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
We saw your letter to House leadership on this last
week Congress. So when there's been a lot of talk
about a millionaire's tax, and I wonder if that's something
you might warm up to if it means not rating Medicaid, Well, it's.

Speaker 7 (10:59):
Certainly on the table. It's being considered. We have to
make sure that we have a tax structure that is fair. Obviously,
the President has a lot of priorities which we share.
We want to see working class, middle class communities get
some relief. We want to see the salt cap increase,
the deduction increase for people that I represent here in
New York who are struggling with high property taxes and

(11:22):
income taxes as well. We want to make sure that
we're protecting our seniors who are on Social Security and
that they're not having to pay taxes on their small
Social Security checks and so who want to do these things.
Then we need to find the money to offset it,
and so we're looking at every option on the table.
I think that we're having serious discussions about where this

(11:45):
money is going to come from, and that's one of
the options that is currently out there. But we also
want to make sure that we're preserving the other various
aspects of the TCJA that were so critical for our
economy that created jobs, allowed companies to expand and invest
and repatriate. Manufacturer is another big piece of this that
we're very much focused on. How do we give a

(12:07):
lower rate for new facilities that are built here or
expanded here to create and manufacture so we can repatriate
some of this stuff that's happening overseas, in particular pharmaceuticals
that we're relying on communist China for such a huge
portion of our medication here in the United States. That
has to end if we've learned anything from COVID must
be a priority in this package.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Congress, someone, as you talk about the various options here,
is one of the options being considered taxing carried interests
is ordinary income? Is that something you would support if
it's on the table.

Speaker 7 (12:40):
Well, that is one of the proposals that the White
House has put forward. They do want to address the
carried interest. This is something that we've heard a lot
from people in opposition. Obviously, the real estate industry, venture
capitalists very concerned about the carried interest proposal. It's on
the table, but we are still a valueating this and

(13:00):
other options. The other thing that has been on the table,
which we've met with many real estate industry individuals here
in New York today, actually was about the sea salt
corporate salt for property taxes for income taxes here in
the state. This one, in particular is very concerning because
the real estate industry cannot bear to have the sea

(13:24):
salt removed basically or imposed on the property portion. So
if they start seeing that they can't deduct this business
expense from their federal taxes, it will put really a
big burden on these real estate companies. These buildings, and
we'll see maybe foreclosures, we'll see property values decline, which

(13:46):
will then reduce the roles that our local government receives
on property taxes. So I think that's a big one
that I've been pushing back on. Just as a member
from New York City. It could be very detrimental to
our city, but it affects municipalities all across the country,
particularly those states that don't have an income tax. States
like Texas in Florida rely a lot on real estate taxes.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
Congresswoman, we only have a minute left. I'm curious, did
you pay a congestion tax to get to our studio
earlier today? I thought it was coming down on April
twentieth per order the Transportation Department.

Speaker 7 (14:19):
Well, unfortunately, our governor in the MTA want to continue
to violate federal law, and so I was forced to
pay that fee. But I hope not for long. And
I was very happy to hear President Trump and Secretary
Duffy today say that they're giving them just one more month.

Speaker 8 (14:31):
Russ.

Speaker 7 (14:32):
They're going to look at other measures to try to
penalize the state and the MTA for not complying with
federal law. The President was right to rescind that approval
from Joe Biden that was basically a rubber stamp without
the environmental impact statement required underneath that. That is why
I am among those who have sued the MTA and

(14:52):
the state. We hope that they comply because it's an
unfair cash grab on the people I represent.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
All Right, we'll leave it there. Congress Women, thank you,
as always for your time. That is Republican Congresswoman Nicole
Mallia Takis of New York joining us from our global
headquarters in New York. Meantime, we'll continue the conversation here
in Washington. Our political panel, Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzeno
are just ahead here on a sell off day on
Wall Street. On Bloomberg TV and Radio.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
us live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on
Apple Cocklay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App.
You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our
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Speaker 4 (15:38):
Thanks for being here on the fastest show in politics.
Bloomberg Radio is far reaching, you know not just Boston,
not just here in Washington on ninety nine to one,
but of of course nationwide on serious XM channel one
twenty one and on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
Find us as.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
Ever by searching Bloomberg Business News Live on Patriots Day
at least in some states in Washington, d C.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
Of course.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
Well, it's another day to be watching the markets here
with Charlie's help. Will keep doing that through the program
after Donald Trump took the truth social to call j
Powell a loser. But it's an interesting day here as
we consider the full Ginsburg I by the way, did
check they have already updated the full Ginsburg wiki page

(16:25):
to put Senator Chris van Holland there is the latest
to pull off this remarkable feat all the Sunday shows live.
Does anyone actually know who Ginsburg's William Ginsburg was Monica
Lewinsky's lawyer.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
Anyway, for the old people.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
The reason why he was out there is because he
actually got some time in El Salvador with mister Obrago Garcia.
You saw the images I'm sure over the weekend were
those Margarita's. Yeah, they were pretty close to the swimming
pool at Chris van Holland's hotel. But he said it
was a mission accomplished moment for him to simply get
time with mister Abrego Garcia. Over the weekend, the Supreme

(17:07):
Court issued a ruling by the way halting all Alien
Enemies Act based deportations. And it's interesting when you read
the writing the court indicating a deep skepticism. This is
a quote, a deep skepticism about whether the administration could
be trusted to live up to the key part of
an earlier ruling after the government had deported a different

(17:27):
group of migrants to a prison in El Salvador.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
So we'll see where this goes here.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
The administration is not budging and you don't need to
look any further than Sunday Morning TV to watch that.
The aforementioned Chris van Holland the Gentleman from Maryland on
ABC this Week.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Listen.

Speaker 8 (17:42):
What Donald Trump is trying to do here is change
the subject. The subject at hand is that he and
his administration are define a court order to people to
give a Brago Garcia his due process rights. They are
trying to litigate on social media what they should be
doing in the courts. They need to put up or

(18:04):
shut up in the courts.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
Let me two most important words. You just heard due
process right. He referred to due process rights. That's the
way Democrats are getting to this. The administration says, hey,
we're trying to get bad guys out of the country here.
Are you serious you want to bring this guy back
for due process. Tom Holman was asked about this. The
President's Borders Are was also out on Sunday morning television.

(18:26):
Here's Tom Holman on CNN.

Speaker 9 (18:28):
I stand by the fact.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
I think we did the right thing here.

Speaker 9 (18:31):
We removed the public safety threat, a national security threat,
a violent gang member for the United States ICE Intelligence
says MS thirteen game member. How Content Performance says he's
MS thirteen gang member. The country of Al Salvador says
he's an MS thirteen gang member. I think he's exactly
where he should be.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
Okay, get ready for the parade of lawmakers Democrats, specifically
in San Salvador, now that Van hall And has done so.
By the way, they're not all going to get full
Ginsburg's four House Democrats are on their way. Robert Garcia California,
Maxwell Frost, Florida, Maxine Dexter, Oregon. He hasn't been on

(19:12):
Sorry Arizona meeting with officials at the embassy in l Salvador,
receiving classified briefings. We read there was a request to
make these official delegations, and apparently that request was denied.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Let's assemble our panel. They're back with us on a Monday.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
Jeanie Shanzano and Rick Davis Bloomberg Politics contributors. He is
our Republican strategist and partner at Stone Court Capital. Genie
is our Democratic analyst and political science professor at Iona University. Genie,
I don't know your thoughts on Chris van Holland. The
administration says he was played, and he was even asked
about that in some of these interviews. He says, no,
I wasn't played. Yeah, they tried to get a nice

(19:50):
beauty shot of us out there by the pool. But
the fact is I went down there and meet with
him and I succeeded. Was it time well spent?

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Was it worth it?

Speaker 9 (19:59):
You know?

Speaker 10 (19:59):
I think it was. I do think that Gavin Newsom
is onto something, as is Richie Taurus, that the Democrats
have to be a little cautious here and they can't
get sidetracked. The reality is just what you talked about, Joe,
Is this not about Abrego Garcia. This is about due process
and following the rules and the orders of the Supreme

(20:21):
Court and the federal courts in the country and the law,
plain and simple. Beyond that, the real story of the
day and the year for Democrats has got to be
the chaos in our financial system and the impact it
is having on their constituents at home where they live. So,
you know, but that doesn't mean you can't do both.

(20:41):
So you know, I don't know if everybody needs to
go down there. You know, there's a little bit of
a cattle mentality. It is fine to go down there,
But the reality is follow the law, mister President and administration,
and please please fix the financial chaos in the markets
and don't contribute to it even though you set it off.

Speaker 6 (21:01):
We'll get back.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Does Chris van Holland look smart this morning or not?

Speaker 4 (21:07):
Rick Davis, And I ask you that having heard from
you last week, you described occasions when John McCain would
go visit a place where leadership may not want him
to be. Was this good politics or was he played
by the administration.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (21:22):
He did what John McCain exemplified, you know, throughout his career,
which is one man can make a difference. John McCain
showed up in a bunch of really threatening places demanded
to see political prisoners. You know, put Away talked about democracy.
I mean, he had a different reason for doing what
he was doing. But Chris van Holland showed that one

(21:43):
person getting on a plane and showing up can create
a controversy. And I think that's all he was trying
to do is keep that issue alive. Make the point
to the American public and to the media that regardless
of whether or not you know anything about mister Garths
he is, he has not gone through a process, a

(22:04):
due process, and and and that.

Speaker 12 (22:07):
Is the issue.

Speaker 11 (22:07):
And it was echoed by the courts, as you pointed
out earlier, even the Supreme Court halting Venezuelans from being deported.

Speaker 13 (22:15):
Uh.

Speaker 11 (22:16):
There needs to be a real conversation around the implementation
of these emergency powers that Donald Trump has done, UH,
as to whether or not they're appropriate in the world we.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Live in today.

Speaker 11 (22:28):
And to be able to say I can deport anybody
I want to, regardless of whether they've been convicted of
a crime or given due process, is just not you know,
what we think of as being lawful in a community
of people, and that's that's what Chris ad Holland plugged
into today this weekend.

Speaker 4 (22:46):
Gene, you mentioned the two causes here, this being one
of the economy essentially being the other the economic policies
or black thereof, according to depending on who you speak
with coming out of this White House. The reason why
the market is down sharply again today enter Haakim Jeffrey's
Cost of Living Week of Action. He also is on

(23:06):
Sunday Morning TV talking about this genie, a cost of
living week of action. We have to continue to talk
to the American people about our plans.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Who's listening.

Speaker 10 (23:16):
Well, Americans are And he's absolutely right. I am not.
I have to admit, Joe, I am not a huge
fan of these week designations because it always brings me
back to our infrastructure weeks and you know, his has
a bad feel, but he's absolutely right. That is what
the Democrats and Republicans, by the way, this is not
party oriented, need to focus on, which is what Americans

(23:41):
are experiencing right now. And the real message from Democrats
has got to be all of the chaos and all
of the craziness and all of the messiness that by
the way got Abrego Garcia down there and has gotten
us into this mess economy is because we have a
president who is completely undisciplined. So while Americans may have

(24:03):
voted for him and appreciate what he said he was
going to do, what he has done in just ninety
days is create chaos in almost every major department of
our government and every single issue people care about, whether
it's foreign policy, whether it is the economy, whether it
is social security, Medicare and Medicaid. That's what they need

(24:25):
to focus on. So Hakeem Jeffrey's instinct here is right.
Democrats need to show the American public that they hear
them when they say this kind of what some people
are calling a clown show cannot continue as it pertains
to the financial way in which the President seems to
be running the government, and the latest we hear, of course,

(24:48):
are absolutely insane things like one person is out of
the office, another person comes and talks to him and
he signs a ninety day reprieve on tariffs. That is
no way to implement serious policy.

Speaker 4 (25:02):
President was talking earlier at the White House Easter egg
roll Rick Davis about military enlistment going through the roof.
He was, I guess, making some reference to the Pentagon
on a day when Pete Hegseth is under attack, and
he talked about the economy doing so well under his watch.
You've got the Dow Industrial Average down a thousand points,

(25:23):
which is something that people actually talk about.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
When they go to work. Here.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
This is going to be the conversation right now at
lunches all around the country, whether people can afford to
go out, or they're eating.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
At their desks or whatever it is.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
This is the backdrop to everything else that we're talking
about here. I'm looking at you here on YouTube with
a big red headline across the bottom of the page.
Here s and P five hundred slumps as Trump reiterates
call for lower interest rates. The corrosive effect here of
what's happening in the stock market is hard to overstate,
and it makes us question everything else that we're looking at.

(25:57):
What does Donald Trump think about this as he's sitting
the over right now?

Speaker 11 (26:02):
You know, look, I mean, he's got a financial plan that,
even by his own description, was going to cause some pain.
I think that he probably hadn't anticipated as much pain
being inflicted on people who own stocks and bonds in
this country. Is that is that what's happened. The reality

(26:22):
is he really owes it to the American public to
use that bully pulpit to go on TV and explain
how all these things that he's doing in the financial
sector is going to somehow benefit them in the short, medium,
and long run. We've seen the collapse of consumer confidence
since he was elected president, collapse of the stock market.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
Collapse of the bond market.

Speaker 11 (26:45):
I mean, you know how many how many presidents have
ever been able to withstand this, you know, incredibly fast
change towards the negative on people's you know, four one
ks and other things without addressing that to the American public.
And there is a growing course that this is all
self inflicted. That we had a roaring economy coming into

(27:08):
Donald Trump. Everyone thought that would just be put on steroids,
and in fact we've had exactly the opposite. So I
think the guy's got to go have a conversation with
the American public. No more rallies sit behind that desk
and have a conversation as to how these terif regimes
and how his threats to remove ja power are somehow
good for our economy.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
Boy, imagine in Oval Office, a primetime Oval Office address
from the President on script. It actually would be quite
a moment for him as he calls the Fed chair
a major loser. If you're wondering why the markets are
tumbling today and what we're talking about this post on
truth Social by Donald Trump, there can be a slowing,
he says of the economy, essentially predicting an economic slow

(27:51):
down unless mister too late, a major loser lower's interest rates.
Now the President of the United States on the Easter Monday,
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
us live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on
Apple Coarcklay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App.
Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch
us live on YouTube day ninety.

Speaker 4 (28:22):
By the way, if you're playing along on your home
game of the second Trump administration, with another thousand point
drop in the dow after the President takes to truth
Social to call j Powell a loser. Now, if you're
trying to clean things up, say at the Pentagon following
a very difficult weekend a series of hit pieces, do

(28:45):
you go to the White House easter egg roll to
do it? Do you enlist the Easter bunny, because that
is essentially what happened today.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
A short time ago.

Speaker 4 (28:53):
Pete Hegseth rebounding from a couple of very difficult pieces
of reporting, one of the New York Times, the other
in Politico suggesting there's another signal chat that it's a
Pentagon in disarray. He's been pretty busy on the phone,
it turns out, unless you ask the Defense secretary who
denied that reporting a short time ago on the White

(29:15):
House lawn as the kids were rolling the easter eggs.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Watch it listen.

Speaker 12 (29:20):
This is what the media does.

Speaker 14 (29:22):
They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then
they try to slash.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
And burn people and ruin their reputations.

Speaker 14 (29:30):
Not gonna work with me because we're changing the Defense Department,
putting the Pentagon back in the hands of warfighters, and
anonymous smears from distruntle to former employees on old news
doesn't matter.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
I mean, I suspect he wouldn't have had the horn
plan if he was at the Pentagon, right, you get
full soundtrack over there. Everybody seemed to be in a
great mood at the Easter egg role. Even Don Junior
was there blowing the Golden whistle. First Lady was there
holding hands with Donald Trump. Not exactly the forum you
would expect to find the Defense secretary in today. Here's

(30:04):
a quote for you. There are very likely more shoes
to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories
coming this week. That's what a guy named John Elliott
left the Defense Department last week. Former Defense Department official.
He was responsible for one of the two hit pieces,
taking an opbed at Politico there to refer to a

(30:25):
Pentagon in disarray. Tony Capassio makes his living over there
the Pentagon and sees.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
All this stuff up close.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Was prolific with us about the first signal chat, and
he's back now with another here on the other side
of the river. Bloomberg Pentagon reporter Tony Capassio, you know
you've got a big following online. People always look forward
to you coming over here. Maybe it's because I'm usually
calling you about a very large and controversial story.

Speaker 12 (30:49):
It's flattering, but it doesn't go well ahead.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
And I don't know about that, but you wonder you
start hearing the questions, how long is he gonna last?
This is like a rerun here, and the White House
is digging. They say, he says basically that it's untrue,
it's fake news. The White House says they're going to
stand by their man. We just had four very important
departures at the Pentagon the end of last week.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
You can't deny that part. This is a big problem, right.

Speaker 12 (31:13):
And not only they were they happened Friday. So he
had three people. Two of them were very close to him.
They worked for him at the Concerned Concerned Veterans for America.
Excuse me, Dan Caldwell, not only were there. I didn't
realize this, but he actually helped VET people for HEXIT

(31:33):
when Hexit was confirmed. He was he was a handholder
and said who selected people who would work for hexit?
Very close, very close. So Friday they came out. He
came out with a twitter feed twitter feed criticizing their
removal of joint state, a judge statement for the three people.
Friday and midday or late afternoon, the New York Times

(31:55):
comes out with a story about the second signal channel,
and then it's seven pm. John Elliott's editorial was posted
at Political on Politico. Seemed pretty uh, pretty coordinated. Like
the Revenge of the Jedi if you're a Star Wars fan.

Speaker 4 (32:11):
But these guys were showing the door presumably for leaking already, right,
so they've.

Speaker 12 (32:15):
Got more to leak that you're saying that not me,
but they have been or they're alleged to have been leaking.
I'm not putting. I'm not going to put a co
two and two together in these stories. But your readers
are your viewers are smart.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Yeah, well you have to be careful who get fire sometimes?

Speaker 12 (32:31):
It all, it all comes. The seven PM political thing
was kind of that it shouldn't be. It was moderately coordinated.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
Dwell, Darren Selnick, Colin Carroll and the aforementioned John Elliott
talking about with more bombshells to drop this week?

Speaker 12 (32:50):
I kind of no, but I'm not going to say really, yeah,
I don't think it's this week long.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Does this barrage continue?

Speaker 6 (32:56):
Then?

Speaker 12 (32:56):
So I think here here's a couple of things. He's
at the Easter rig roll today. I think a lot
of Washington is going to be wondering what rolls next.
From the shoulder up. In two weeks will be before
the Senate Armed Services Committee on a Military posture hearing,
This will may be his make or break moment because
he's going to get shot at from various venues and

(33:19):
the President's chief of staff, Susan Willis or Susane Willis,
so skip pardon me, Susan Wilds. She's going to be
watching that closely because she's not kind of a key
from what I understand, to his survival. If she thinks
he's a liability, he could go the only thing. One
thing I want to make the point though to it's
a good thing. The United States doesn't have a national

(33:39):
security crisis at the moment. Panama and the Canal issues
not a military crisis. Going after the hoodies is not
a military crisis. It's a good thing. There's not a
major crisis where US troops are heavily involved.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Hexeth, before we heard the remarks we just heard on
the lawn, took to Twitter. This was on Easter Nights,
ten forty five pm.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
This is Easter.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
Your agenda is illegals, trans and DEI, all of which
are no longer allowed at DoD. He was responding to
a Democratic Party tweet suggesting that he stepped down. This
is not an administration that's looking to have a conversation
about this. He could survive for some time.

Speaker 12 (34:19):
He could survive for some time as long as he's
are similar allegations. If there's some new thing out of the.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Out of tilk, something classified, the White House says, still
not classified. He's putting out timing on F eighteens flying
to Yemen here, which is pretty remarkable. Not unlike we
saw in the chats that were shared with the Atlantic
flight schedules for the F eighteen Hornets targeting the hoo
thies in Yemen.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
That's not fireable.

Speaker 12 (34:46):
It's not fireable if you're this administration. But that's a
key piece of information if you're a more sophisticated adversary
than the hoodies, who could have intercepted that and cue
their air defenses to shoot down those non stealthy F eighteens.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Four guys are showing the door like this, several of them,
at least close to Pete. Hegseeth Until now, what does
that do for morale inside the Pentagon?

Speaker 12 (35:07):
My understanding that it's being the words I'm here. This
is a clown show.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
This is clown show. Yeah.

Speaker 12 (35:13):
This is one exact quote from a business standpoint from
a Bloomberg Audian standpoint, Colin Campbell's or Colin Carroll's demise
is particularly interesting because he was Stephen Feinberg's chief of staff,
his handholder, his scheduler, his funnel for information about a
building he knows nothing about. But I'm my understanding is

(35:35):
that mister Finerberg is being fire hosed with information and
so he's absorbing in learning, but he's going to be
out there on his own. From our the Bloomberg audience standpoint,
this is the key kind of appointment they should be
watching in terms of who the next chief of staff
is because mister Feinberg's policies could have major impact on
companies on procurement, procurement acquisition, the lash up with Silicon Valley.

(35:59):
This is a kind of key constituency for Bloomberg audience
in the business industrial the defense industrial base in general.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Fascinating.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
Are we on the verge of an announcement and I'm
not trying to change the subject here, but I wonder
if this could actually turn our focus at the Pentagon
the announcement of the next generation Navy fighter jet.

Speaker 12 (36:18):
Now, I don't think. I don't see there as a correlation.
My understanding I was following this pretty closely until about
a week ago. Is hell up at the os the
Pentagon level in terms of funding issues? Okay, how do
you spend? How do you pay for in the twenty
six through thirty budget. I don't think there's a connection between.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Mm it is the first trillion dollar defense budget by
the time they're done with this reconciliation buil, do you
see it happening?

Speaker 12 (36:39):
Yeah, I mean I wouldn't go too far overboard. It's
because Secretary of Austin on his way out, and the
story we broke suggested about a trillion dollars for FY
twenty six and hitting trillion by twenty seven star.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
A cry from Doge, you know, knocking the stuffing out
of the Pentagon. I thought defense stocks were falling out
of bed a couple of weeks ago because Elon Musk
was going to eliminate all these programs you suggest gonna
be bigger than ever Austin.

Speaker 12 (37:02):
It was Austin's idea and the Trumpies are following it.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
Okay, well, we'll see. I guess what Pete Hegseth has
to say about that. The testimony that you mentioned is important.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
It's two weeks.

Speaker 12 (37:12):
Away roughly two weeks away.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
You're either going to see some real bad stories between
now and then or something actually move, something change in
the leadership of the Pentagon.

Speaker 12 (37:20):
Now my senses, you may see more bad stories, but
this is going to be a theater. A chairman Wicker
is probably gonna have to show some tough love and
lay into him. He's there's gonna be all eyes on
his how how hexit performs, how defensive he gets, how
offensive he gets, how linear are his explanations. He's going

(37:42):
to take a lot of slings and arrows of out
rageous fortune. Is that what they said?

Speaker 4 (37:46):
Well, yeah, if you're getting poetic on us. Now, you
wonder where Donald Trump is with all of this. They
tend to have Caroline Leventh, Press secretary, somebody go out
and say something nice. He did speak today about enlistment
being at a record high level. Is standing there literally
with the Easter Bunny up on the balcony talking about this.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
He didn't mention Pete hag Seth, but.

Speaker 12 (38:06):
It's it's the numbers have gone up.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
Not a question as to why the numbers.

Speaker 12 (38:10):
Have gone up. It's pretty impressive, but they have gone up,
and so whether the retention though, whether they actually you
want to watch those numbers of retention numbers and how
many people leave the service over the next year.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
Is just the best thing that happened to Michael Watz recently,
because they're keeping him real quiet since the first.

Speaker 12 (38:27):
Signal because it diverts attention from his signal chat.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
Sure, I don't mean to get conspiratory on you here,
but he's been very quiet.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Haven't heard that name in a lot.

Speaker 12 (38:37):
He has not been on the talk shows. This is true.
You know, they had a flurry of EO executive orders
a couple of weeks ago that he had some hand in,
so I think they're still basking in that after glow.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
He was at the cabinet room table sitting next to
the boss for Georgia Maloney's visit. That was the first
time I've seen him kind of a place of prominence
today though it's Pete hag Seth and the Easter Bunny.
You imagine seeing Leon Panetta William Collen hanging around the
Easter Bunny doing something like that.

Speaker 12 (39:03):
I think I can't even imagine rumsfell In particularly, that'd
be word that would be an in Congress image.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
There are noble unknowables no enough.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Thanks for coming to talk to us.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
I can't imagine what you're gonna have next, but let
us know when you find out.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
With us from the Pentagon, he's nodding.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
If you're listening on the radio Tony Capasio, our great
Pentagon reporter, with the latest from what we're told as
a Pentagon in disarray.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power Podcast. Catch
us live weekdays at noon and five pm Eastern on
Apple Cocklay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App.
You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our
flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
White House Easter Egg Rule Day on this day after
the holiday, and it was interesting to see not only
the President doing the usual interacting with the Easter Bunny,
the first Lady. Of course there as well. There was
book reading, there was some coloring, but there was also
some talking with reporters for a President Trump who answered
a number of questions, of course in part defending his
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who we were just discussing, but

(40:14):
also was field in questions show about efforts toward ending
the war, in Ukraine. When he was asked specifically by
a reporter if he thought a deal between Russia and
Ukraine could be made this week, he says he thinks
there's a good chance.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Pretty remarkable stuff.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
We were talking about a minerals deal potentially being signed
this week. You were talking about the whole shebang now
and it follows reporting over the weekend, some reporting from
Bloomberg in fact, that there might be some particulars here
in a deal that Ukraine would have trouble with, including
codifying CRIMEA as the Russian homeland joining us to talk

(40:47):
about this and a lot of other stories that are
impacting today with a new look potentially at the State
Department coming from this administration. Michael Allen, Managing director Beacon
Global Strategies and of course, former Special assistant to President
George W. Bush in the national security space, It's always
great to have you, Michael, welcome. To see a deal
signed this week would be pretty remarkable. This, of course,
is the war that the President said that he would

(41:08):
bring to an end in his first day. This is
day ninety. That would mean he gets it done on
the first one hundred days.

Speaker 13 (41:14):
Is it possible, Well, it's been pending out here for
a while. Ukraine has said they will accept a thirty
day cease fire. The Russians, of course, except for the
Easter Day ceasefire, have not been willing to go that far.
But if the reporting is true, which is that the
White House is open to describing Crimea as Russian, and
maybe there are other inducements in there, perhaps as it

(41:36):
pertains to sanctions, maybe as it pertains to no Never
Ukraine cannot get it NATO. I think it's conceivable that
they could get there. But to me, remember there's a
long spectrum between ceasefire and peace agreement, and so all
these issues are going to have to be discussed again well.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
And I wonder if a resolution to these issues doesn't
happen this week, if you expect the administration will stay
on the table, because let's remind ourselves of the words
of the Secretary of State Marco Rubio just on Friday.

Speaker 15 (42:06):
Now, we've reached a point where we have other things
we have to focus on. We're prepared to be engaged
in this as long as it takes, but not indefinitely,
not without progress. If this is not possible, we're going
to need to move on. I think the President feels
strongly that we've dedicated a tremendous We've done more in
eighty days, and Biden never did to bring this war.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
To an end, not indefinitely. So if it's not this week,
is it not ever?

Speaker 13 (42:31):
It feels like he's leaving himself some room to continue
after it. But I think they badly need some sort
of points on the board this week, and I think
they're probably doubling down to get to the thirty day
ceasefire so that Trump can point to some progress in this. Otherwise,
I think what we're going to see is just continued
bloodshed on either side. I have my own doubts, by

(42:53):
the way, about whether the Russians are really going to
adhere to a ceasefire. I think it'll be sloppy, but
we're just going to have to see what they come
up with.

Speaker 4 (43:01):
Well, it's quite an evolution to go from Mike and
end this war in the first day to having still
really no clear path on day ninety did President Trump
miss read Vladimir Putin?

Speaker 12 (43:11):
Well?

Speaker 13 (43:11):
I think there's also got to be some sort of
recognition on the White House side that some of these
might be insoluble issues. After all, Putin wants to control Ukraine,
not just its territory, but to dominate its foreign and
national security policy. This is something, of course, that the
Ukrainians could never agree to. The Ukrainians cannot, by the way,

(43:33):
either agree to a formal recognition of some of their territories,
even those that the Russians don't actually control today as
formally part of Russia under some fiction that there are
Russian speakers there. So I think there are a lot
of fundamental issues that they are going to take months
to get to if ever.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
Bloomberg is reporting today Michael, that the US is likely
to hold talks in London on Wednesday with not just
Ukraine officials but European officials as well, from the UK, France,
and Germany. What role should we expect europe is going
to play as this moves forward.

Speaker 13 (44:09):
Well, they have felt locked out of the process so far,
so I'm glad that Secretary Rebo over the last few
days has begun to think of a role for them.
I think for those of us that kind of want
to see Ukraine's interests more represented, it's good to have
these European nations involved. After all, Trump is saying, this
is your security problem in the long term. So they

(44:31):
need to have some sort of role. They need to
be there on the takeoff if they want, if Trump
wants them to be there on the landing. So let's
figure out a way to get them involved, get them motivated,
because they're the ones that are going to have to
supply a lot of the security assurance.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
Iran talks will continue as long as there's another meeting.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
Is this progress I don't think so.

Speaker 13 (44:51):
I think there's a lot of delay inherent. And I
think what really has happened over the last couple of
weeks is that Steve Witkoff went in. I think he
was agreeable. I think some of the things that the
United States is willing to do was exaggerated. People came
back last week. I think they stiffened some spines, and
the United States is back to a tougher aron policy,

(45:16):
which is we don't want enrichment to continue, and we're
not going to just give up on inspections of weaponization.
We talked about this last week. You have to have
any time, anywhere inspections by the International Watchdog Agency, and
that has got to be part and parcel of anything
going forward.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
So if ultimately a deal is to be reached, Hawiken,
will it be to the original deal from twenty fifteen
that President Trump walked away from.

Speaker 13 (45:44):
That's what makes this so hard for the Trump team.
It would seemingly be easier to sign up to something
that just looks like what Barack Obama did and maybe
add a few years, but that will look terrible because
President Trump called that the worst deal ever negotiated in
the history of the world. And so they're going to
have to come up with something that's stronger. And when

(46:05):
the Hawks get involved, like Marco Rubio, like Mike Waltz,
they're saying, we shouldn't have any enrichment whatsoever, and we
ought to be able to have some assurances that you're
not thereby trying to weaponize resultant fissile material to fashion
it into a bomb. Those are big things we're asking for.
They're the right things, but that's something that Iron's not

(46:27):
going to be able to accept anytime soon. So we've
got to let maximum pressure play out over time. By
the way, I don't know why we're in such a rush.
I think there is some time to let Iran bake
in sort of the sanctions of them.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
For a while.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
Interesting we're having this conversation. I made another scandal at
the Pentagon. The White House is calling it fake news
now by NPR that the President is looking for a
new Defense secretary. But it's no wonder why we're having
reports like this today. Another signal chat is being reported
by The New York Times in which Pete hegg Seth
shared these too many attack plans with his wife and

(47:04):
some other folks in his personal life. Also follows the
departure of four officials at the Pentagon last week, fired
for alleged media leaks. One of them is John Elliott,
although I believe he also wanted to leave the Pentagon
here you can frame that as you want. Left the
department last week with an otbed over the weekend. Pentagon

(47:26):
is in disarray under Hegsath's leadership.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Is he right?

Speaker 12 (47:30):
He needs?

Speaker 13 (47:31):
I think Hegseth needs to come out and actually demonstrate
that he's in control of the department. I think one
way to do that might be to come out and
actually brief the Pentagon press corps talk about the things
that he's trying to do. He's often talking about increasing
the lethality of the force. Their big questions about doge.
There are big questions about where the Department is on

(47:52):
these foreign policy issues of the day.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
I think that would be.

Speaker 13 (47:55):
The best way for Hegseth to try and demonstrate that
he has control, that he has strength, that he has
some strong policy views, and then he's doing all these
things in service of the president. I think to just
totally dismiss everything as a hoax, it's sort of beyond
the point. He ought to come out and talk about, Hey,
here's what I'm trying to do, and sign.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Up to that.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
But even if he is trying to do all of
those things, is it not disqualifying to share the whereabouts
of American airmen the plans for F eighteen flights in Yemen,
with your wife, with your brother, with your personal attorney.
People who are not employed by the Defense Department not
entitled to receive that kind of information.

Speaker 13 (48:33):
I think so. I mean, there's no real way to
say this other than maybe he should just say, you
know what, I made a mistake. It wasn't classified, but
probably shouldn't have been sending it and move on instead.
I think there's a lot of attacks, there's impugning of
the motives of the people that are reporting this. I
think he'd be safer just to sort of say, hey,
you know what, some mistakes were made. There's an IG's

(48:54):
investigation going into this. But here's what I'm trying to
do is sect deaf, A, B and C.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
Well, you know, of course he's talking about anonymous leaks.
Here we saw four people shown the door. The mention
of the person I mentioned. John Elliott says that there
are more bombshells to come, likely in short order, even
bigger this week.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Does the Pentagon have a leak problem?

Speaker 13 (49:16):
It sounds like something is going on for sure, where
there are disaffected people across the department. I'm sure there's
been a lot of China broken as the new team
has taken over. So maybe what he's referring to is
that maybe some uniform military are going to resign or
be fired. Hard to say for sure, but it feels
quite rocky over there.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Well, and I'm wondering about the leaking coming out of
the State Department as well as the Secretary of Mark
Or Rubio pushes back also as fake news reporting that
there's this kind of draft executive order that is circulating
among diplomats that shows so dramatically the administration is considering
reshaping the Defense Department, and I wonder, Michael, your specific
thoughts on the idea that it could include the closing
of a vast number of embassies in Africa. Does that

(49:58):
not just seed to China.

Speaker 13 (50:00):
Well, I was going to say the same thing. That
is the battleground where we are competing with China for
influence the global South. I don't think it's a good
idea for us to be shutting down diplomatic offices in Africa.
Maybe there's something to be done in Western Europe and Canada,
some consulates here and there where the power has shifted
to Asia, or we need to get into Africa. So

(50:23):
I don't want to begrudge them. I'm glad they're taking
a big strategic look at the State Department. God knows
it needs some reform. But I wondered, like you did,
about whether Africa was the place where we should be
uprooting consulates.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
You're a communications specialist as well as a national security expert,
which is why we bring you on the program here.
If you were trying to clean up a mess here
with the Secretary of Defense, the situation like we have today,
two hit pieces over the weekend the signal story. You
suggested maybe briefing the press corps at the Pentagon. Would
that be as opposed to standing him on the south

(50:57):
lawn at the White House with a big horn playing
in the background, cartoon characters the Easter Bunny jumping around
to manage these questions.

Speaker 13 (51:05):
Today, Well you're mad, you're making it easy. Yes, I
think it would be better.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
What do you make of the optics.

Speaker 13 (51:11):
There's so much that the SEC deaf is in charge of.
There are so many things to be talking about, like
the reconstitution of the force, how he wants to shift
things to Asia and away from Europe. I think he's
mostly on the defensive about just showing up for the
Ukraine Contact Group via civets instead of being there in person.
He should start to explain his own actions and I

(51:34):
think people will understand that, and that, by the way,
is a way for him to try to get some
support from what he's doing. He needs support in Concress
in particular, so he should start explaining what the policy
is and I think people might come along all right.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
Michael Allen, always good to have you here in Washington,
d C Studio. He's managing director of Beacon Global Strategies,
also former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush.

Speaker 4 (52:01):
Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make
sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find
us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern
at Bloomberg dot com.