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00:00From the world of politics to the world of business, this is balance of power with David Westin. From Bloomberg's Washington, D.C. studios to our TV and radio audiences worldwide. Welcome. It's a balance of power. I'm Joe Matthew, in for David Westin. Republican leaders from around the country gather in Las Vegas over the weekend to look ahead to 2020 for New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, saying the GOP should take a lesson from the disappointing midterm results. I got a great policy for the Republican Party. Let's stop supporting crazy unelectable candidates in our primaries and start getting behind winners that can close the deal in November. Not so crazy, according to the former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who pushes back on the conventional wisdom here on candidate quality, saying bad candidates were not to blame. But I disagree that our losses were due to one person. I also disagree that we had bad candidates. We fell short for a number of reasons. A number of reasons pointing to money has the biggest one. And joining us to walk through this shifting political landscape as we head for the new year now is former California Governor Gray Davis. Governor, welcome. It's great to have you with us today. On balance of power, which theory do you subscribe to as a Democrat? Of course. Was it candidate quality weighing on Republicans or was it money helping Democrats? Well, I think it was. It was both a candid quality, definitely suffered in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona, leading to a number of losses there and elsewhere. But I really believe, Joe, the primary motivation for turnout on the part of women and young people was the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court in June, which struck down a law providing reproductive freedom for women. Women voted in huge numbers. Young people, a particularly Generation Y, came G rather came out in big numbers. They didn't like that decision and they wanted to make their voices heard. So how do you rationalize the Los Angeles mayor's race and I have to talk about it because it's fresh here. Karen Bass becomes the first woman elected in the city's history, having been outspent by Rick Caruso by more than 11 to 1. It still looks like a typo to me when I see that, governor. How'd she do it? I think she'll be great. I think both candidates were very good people, I know them both. I respect them both. They've both done a lot to help the communities and Ross and us over the years. But Karen Bass has a very long relationship with the community. She was sharp as a social worker, took on a non-profit organizations to help the community. Was the speaker of the California Assembly and was responsible for helping us dig out of the recession, leading to 12 years of prosperity, and was one of three candidates on President Biden's shortlist to become the vice president. So everywhere she's on, she's been perceived as distinguished and effective, and she's gonna start on day one when she's sworn in. I believe it's December 12th signing a declaration of emergency on the homeless issue because there are serious problems, homelessness and crime. For two that we have to deal with in Los Angeles and we have to deal with it quickly. So holding that thought here, homelessness and crime. Governor, Republicans are pursuing a big rethink, obviously, on the approach here following the midterm elections. Did Democrats have to do the same knowing they outperformed expectations? Republicans seem to own issues like crime, for instance, and the economy, inflation. What's the what's the family conversation inside the Democratic tent? As we head for a general election. Well, here's the difference, Joe. The Democrats actually did something about problems that people are really concerned about. For example, people want to see inflation come down. They want to see the price of gas come down, which it has. They want to see reduction in the cost of prescription drugs and legislation to that will do that. But they want to see more. They want to see results. You can have an investigation. You can get into name calling. They don't really care about that. They want their lives to get better. And that only gets better when you do things in Washington to improve your constituents lives. And Republicans just don't seem to be interested in doing that. Well, when you talk about results, though, obviously we cannot deny that the highest inflation that we've seen in 40 years to start there. I realized Democrats have tried to do a number of things, releasing oil from the SPRO, behalf of the administration, lower gas prices. We have the Inflation Reduction Act that's been passed. But people are not really feeling that, at least to the extent that they'd like to in their pocketbooks. Governor, at what point did Democrats need to show better results on those issues? I think people understand the Democrats are trying to do things and it will take two or three years for it, say that the bipartisan infrastructure bill to really take hold and people see in their communities infrastructure being repaired, schools, dams, roads, bridges. The same thing with the Inflation Reduction Act. So I think starting January 1, Medicare and Medicaid, prescription drugs go down dramatically. All these things take time to kick in. But when people see changes in their real lives that are directly attributable to action Democrats took in Washington, then they're going to expect the Republicans to do the same thing. And if they don't do the same thing, they're not going to do very well in two years. Well, crime is another part of the conversation here. California and specifically Los Angeles and San Francisco, for that matter, are mentioned in this conversation frequently. Hear the smash and grabs. Crime and homelessness. We're getting to the point, Governor, and I'm sure you've seen this where major retailers like Target are writing about this in their quarterly reports, referring to shrinkage because of organized crime that they're having trouble keeping up with. How did Democrats get their arms around this story in time for the 2004 election? Well, there are many things we have to do. But I was very supportive of law enforcement when I was governor, I was in the military. I served as a captain in the Vietnam War. And I understand we need people to keep the peace. But what we're experiencing now was efforts in some parts of the country to defund the police is a discouragement on the part of police officer, and they're actually retiring in greater numbers than they can be recruited. So the first thing we have to say is if the police acts properly, we have your back. We know it's a tough job. We expect immediate results. If someone is kidnapped, burglarized, hurt, and we need to police respond immediately. If we do the right thing, we will stand behind you. We will give you the benefit of doubt. If you do not do the right thing, then we will hold you accountable, whether that civilly and criminally. But just sending the message, look, we understand you have a tough job. You volunteered to do it and you do a reasonable job. We will stand behind you. We'll be a we'll start a healing process instead of people resigning in droves. They'll start signing up. I think our police force is authorized for 96 or ninety seven hundred in Los Angeles. I think it's down to about 90 one. So step number one is to send a signal that we want to work. They have to do the right thing, but they do the right thing. We're going to stand behind them. Well, you know that that's going to come about, of course, in negotiations with police unions. Does the Democratic Party need to change its tune on the qualified immunity or some of the other issues that actually impact the lives of police officers and their families? I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of that, but clearly. Well, that's fine. I mean, when you talk about the messaging around this governor, if you don't want to get into qualified immunity, we heard about defund the police for the better part of the campaign. Very few Democrats, if any, are saying that still this was a messaging problem as much as it was a statistical problem when it comes to crime. Right. Joe Biden says in the State of the Union address, I want to fund the police, but it doesn't get through to the American people how to see drive that message home. We have to work with law enforcement. We have to work with all constituencies to make our communities safer. Los Angeles, we will have lots of problems. We have a chance for a new beginning, a risk with Karen Bass. And one thing I'm convinced, hope she's going to start moving on day one. And she understands the urgency of turning things around. L.A., they need a new beginning. And the more they stay positive, they need positive results. Let's get back to where we started on our conversation. Gray Davis, we saw the Republican nominees or if I shouldn't say that, the likely Republican candidates for president on display in Las Vegas. There are any number of them when it's whether we're talking about young Ken Haley DeSantis as far as Democrats go, knowing that Joe Biden has turned 80 now. This he needs to announce his intentions. And with that in mind, if he's not going to run for re-election, is Gavin Newsom is your governor. The best thing that Democrats can bring in 2024. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I'm a big fan of Governor Newsome. I think he's done a fantastic job. Given all the problems that were put on his desk, almost none of them of his making. But I think Biden has been one of the most successful presidents we've had since since JFK. I mean, look at all the stuff you got. There's tons of things he did during Covid to keep the economy alive. The Patient Protection Bill, so you can keep your employees online. All the things he's done to deal with inflation, to deal with prescription drugs, to deal with student debt. So why not run for re-election? That's totally up to him if he wants to. I'm 100 percent behind. But he would have your support. Absolutely. I mean, you can ask a president can be more successful in these difficult times. And at the end of the day, it's not rhetoric. It's not finger pointing. It's not investigations. It's making the people and your community better off by the work you did in Washington. If you've done that and you can point to what you've done. People re-elect you. If you haven't. They're going to kick you out. Former California Governor Gray Davis, and he knows a thing or two about that. I thank you for the insights today. Coming up, we're going to talk with General Keith Alexander, Iron Net cyber security CEO, about the weakening of Russia's military might and what that could mean for the future of the war in Ukraine. We've got some headlines coming from Ukraine. We want to let you know about next as well. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'm Jill Matthew Hynd for David Westin. Thanks for joining us. Concerns in Ukraine as the weather gets colder. And as we've told you, winter is coming, which means specific things for the military strategy. Presidents Lenski now accusing Russia of trying to wipe out power and heat for Ukrainians in time for the season. And we bring in General Keith Alexander for more on this iron net cybersecurity CEO and president, formerly commander of U.S. Cyber Command. General, it's great to have you here with this in mind. We've seen continued bombardment from Russia against civilian infrastructure, much like the mishap in Poland in Poland last week never happened. When you consider the threat to Ukraine right now, what can the U.S. do to prevent another humanitarian crisis? Well, I think first, I think the U.S. has really helped Ukraine and the region with all the supplies and munitions and everything that we've done. I think our nation should be proud of the fact that we stood up for a small country was being attacked by Russia. I think that's the right thing. And I think it sends a good signal around the world. So we've supplied them. I think we've helped out our allies and Poland as well. When you look at what they're going through with four million plus refugees and never once blinked, I was in Poland earlier this summer and one of them said, hey, we have this big burden. They did it because it was the right thing to do. So I think there are some good things. Joe, you bring out a key point. What Russia is doing is punishing Ukraine civilians by attacking the energy sector. I think what we can do and what others can do is help them rebuild it as fast as we can. I think Ukraine has shown tremendous perseverance in what they're doing. Think about this. Nobody would have thought that this war would have gone on this long and that Ukraine would be pushing Russia out of Kyrgyzstan and having the they have the upper hand right now. Russia rebuild an electrical grid, though, and Russia's throwing 90 missiles a day at Ukraine. How do you keep up with that, General? Well, I think adding in the air defense weapons and platforms that we're doing is going to help. I think it's going to help. But this is going to be a long war. And unfortunately, Russia is hitting those energy areas and they're going to keep doing it. And I think we've got to keep helping them rebuild it. It's going to be a war. The best thing we can do is the air defense systems that are going in the heart, the avenger, all those things will be a value. Just keep plugging that up. Shoot down as much as you can help Ukraine win at that. I think at the same time, while we're seeing what's going on, again, see energy. Look at what Ukraine is doing to pressure Russia in Crimea worth CAC sign and the and the advances that they've made. So they aren't slowing down. They know this is tough. But I think what President Selenski is doing is he's continuing to push to the advantage that they have tactically. And I think that's important for all of us to see that the shelling around this operation power plant, that nuclear power plant in Ukraine continues. We heard today from the International Atomic Energy Agency reporting powerful explosions from the area. Russia and Ukraine are trading blame on this, but this is a very dangerous situation here, obviously. How great is the risk level around Zap Russia right now? Well, I think whenever you have munitions going off around a nuclear power plant, that's crazy. Right. And we've got to stop at that. That's just crazy. You know, and I suspect that's more in Russia than on Ukraine, because I think Russia doesn't care if there's a nuclear accident in Ukraine. Ukraine does. We do. Others do. So I think we've got to help push that back. You know, this is where if you look back at it from a logical perspective, Putin is in a crisis mode. He's losing he's losing support in country. His forces are losing. He's running out of munitions. He has to go to Iran and North Korea for it. He's losing the advantage here. And as he loses the advantage, recall in 19 nineteen 1980s, that's what caused Gorbachev to lose the presidency there. Putin saw that and said that won't happen on my watch. And ironically, it's happening on his watch. So he's in a position where he's got to do something and that something is to make Ukraine pay a price and show his people that he's doing it the rest of the world. Pretty horrifying thought. You specialize in cyber. General Alexander, how much of a cyber threat is there now from Russia? We had heard warnings about them knocking out the lights and doing what they're actually using conventional weapons to do now. Have we helped to eliminate the cyber threat based on U.S. assistance? I think what the United States and other countries have done to help Ukraine in cyber has been amazing. Look at the fact that they've defended forward and help Ukraine in a number of areas. Ukraine has been hit with over thirteen hundred attacks in cyber. These are both destructive and other attacks. They were prepared for it. They had trained for it. They had support from the allies, including in ISE states, but others in Europe. And I think what we're not you know, we don't see that war. That's an invisible war. There's not an explosion, but there is an awful lot going on right now by the United States, Ukraine and other countries to stop Russia in this area. It's not all seeing there's going to be further attacks. I would add to this crisis since you brought it up. You always think about what's going on with Iran. Remember, Iran attacked our financial sector in 2012 after they hit Saudi Aramco. And we now see all the threats coming out of Iran and we see the nexus between Iran and Russia. And I would be worried about them coming together in cyber and you can add now in North Korea. So I am worried about that. I think that's the most logical and the easiest way to hurt our country. You're not going to throw in this order. Our country, to be clear, you're talking about an attack against the US. Now, if Putin is in crisis mode, as you put it. Does that mean for America, where is the vulnerability? Well, I think Putin would attack a number of areas if he could get into the issue is I think this is where our nation is and others are working to block their offense. I think that's been incredibly successful. And I think there's been reports out on that. So my hat's off to U.S. Cyber Command and others for doing it. Having said that, as you look at the whole world, they can't block the whole world. And this is the issue that we now face. And I think remember back to the not petty attacks and things like that, I'm worried about the unintended consequences and follow on to actions that some of those would have. You know, we are prepared for that kind of conflict as a nation. You know, we're predominantly look at this as fighting a physical war. And when in reality, if you look at and we map out what's going on in Ukraine, it's both a cyber and physical war together. And where this could get back us is that cyber war can actually spill over in Europe and the United States. And I think you see that in the Middle East from from Iran. Remember that Iran blames us for the riots that are going on right now in Iran and then they blame Saudi Arabia. So we've got all of that action. And, you know, with with the potential recession or the downturn in our economy, these are things that I know the administration, the military is all looking at. But those are things that concern me. Lastly, then, General. Well, before we say goodbye, if this ends at the negotiating table and presidents Alinsky is on one side, is Vladimir Putin on the other side or will it be someone else? Will it need to be someone else? Well, I think first you hit it right. This has got to be President Selenski at the at the table because it's his country. It's not ours. And I think since Putin is the one that's attacked them. I think he needs to be on the other side. I think the question becomes is how do you get this to closure in such a way that we don't force the Ukrainians to give up land? I think that would be wrong. You know, you think somebody attacks you and you have to give up land to get to the negotiating table. I think that yeah, that sounds like a non-starter to me. It sounds like Vladimir Putin on the ropes is the only way we get to your table. General, I'd love to continue that conversation when that actually happens. General Keith Alexander ISE Net Cybersecurity CEO and president, thanks for the insights today. Coming up, Disney making big news as it cuts its CEO and brings back Bob Iger. We'll check in on how the markets are responding. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'm Joe Matthew. Thanks for joining us. As we turn to Bloomberg's credo. GUPTA For an update on the markets here and pretty we've got an eye on oil now with some confusing headlines about whether Saudi Arabia will or will not consider hiking production levels. What can you tell us? Yes. So we do have an open meeting coming up December 4th. And the rumor on the street, at least some reporting done by colleagues over at The Wall Street Journal basically saying that they 500000 barrel increase a rate, essentially a hike into oil production is slated for the December fourth meeting of forces and the base case. But is it something that's being widely considered on the table? This comes in the country in the context of the Saudis specifically wanting to perhaps heal the rift with the Biden administration, but also kind of blunt some of the issues that are happening in the Russian oil industry. Remember, in the last couple of months, you start to see Russia specifically be a little alienated by its allies, China, India and OPEC as well. And this seemed to be a report, nevertheless, completely pared back as Saudi, of course, declines that or denies, I should say, those reports. Disney has been a big part of the story today, creating all on its own remarkable news from over the weekend. As we go back to the future, if I can say that just about right, I wish I had a Disney reference for you, too, Joe of a basically the story here is all about confidence in their CEO, Bob Iger, replacing his own successor, Bob Chase back. And this did actually drive Disney shares higher to the tune of as much as 10 percent earlier in the session. The idea that Disney is really turning their story around and Bob Iger may be the way to do that, as, of course, Disney plus in the subscriber story does decline. That's a universal movie anyway. I can only go so far. Pretty good to thank you. Catch Christie again in the 1:00 p.m. Eastern hour, 1:00 p.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg Markets. This is Bloomberg. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'm Joe Matthew in for David Westin. Now keeping you up to date with news from around the world. We turn to first word with Mark Crumpton Mark. Joe, thank you. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelinsky accused Russia of trying to, quote, kill power and heating for millions at the onset of winter. Meantime, Poland's defense minister says he would make the proposal following a German offer to deploy Patriot missiles in Poland. This comes less than a week after an explosion killed two people in a village near the Ukrainian border. Prime Minister Ricci's soon ISE says the UK isn't prepared to align itself with European Union laws as part of their post Brexit relationship. Following reports, his government is open to Switzerland style ties with the bloc under my leadership. The United Kingdom will not pursue any relationship with Europe that relies on alignment with EU laws. Having the regulatory freedom to do that is an important opportunity of Brexit. And that's my agenda. And I'm confident that that agenda is not only right for the country, but can deliver enormous benefit for people up and down the UK in the years to come. Prime Minister Soon CAC spoke today at the Confederation of British Industry's annual conference in Birmingham. Chinese stocks listed in the United States are retreating in response to a string of reported Covid deaths in China, a reminder that the path to any reopening will be tough. A city near Beijing that was rumored to be a test case for revolt removing virus was frictions across. China has asked residents to stay at home for five days, a potential sign officials are reverting to tighter Covid zero curbs. Meantime, the country's first Covid related death in almost six months has sparked concern that Beijing could see a return of restrictions. Iran's World Cup team refused to sing the national anthem during the first World Cup appearance today against England. It's a gesture widely seen as a pledge of support for anti-government protests gripping the country. Team Melli is caught between young supporters that backed protests against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran as his warning the team should not, quote, disrespect the country. The team faced England today in their first match. Global news 24 hours a day on air and on Bloomberg Quicktake, powered by more than twenty seven hundred journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. I Mark Crumpton. This is Bloomberg joke. Mark, thank you and thanks for being with us. On balance of power, I'm Joe Matthew in Washington as we're joined by Dr. Ash-Har Shah, director of infectious diseases at Stanford Health. And Doctor, I want to welcome you as we prepare to sit down at the Thanksgiving table this week. A lot of people are asking. Number 1, is it safe to go back to the table following a couple of years of changing our habits due to Kobe? And my question for you is, what's the greater risk this holiday, getting Covid or getting the flu? Yeah, great question. We're certainly seeing all sorts of respiratory viruses circulate and this trend has started a couple of months ago. And it's something that we expected to see because of the relaxation of mitigation measures in the community. No one's right masses anymore. Kids are in school. Back to kind of pre pandemic practices. But what I can say is I do think it's important for people to get together for the holidays, including this Thanksgiving holiday. It's good for everyone's mental health. It's good to spend time with family. But it's just important to know that there are things you can do to stay safe. First and foremost is staying home when you're sick. So if you have a tickle in your throat or if you have a cough, maybe not as to go. Opening windows for ventilation. And if there are high risk people at the Thanksgiving dinner table, they can most certainly wear masks. And then, of course, making sure everyone gets up to date with their vaccines. That's what I want to ask you about if you have nothing boosted. Doctor, is there a point in getting boosted today or tomorrow in time for Thanksgiving? Would it make a difference or provide any protection? We typically say that it can take one to two weeks for the full effect of the of the vaccine to kind of take hold. That being said, if if you have time off this week from work because of the holiday and it is a convenient time to get vaccinated, you should go ahead and get vaccinated. The best time to get it is when it's convenient for you and when you're able to get an appointment. So there's no need to wait. We've heard warnings about a tri Demick here. Right, it's RSV and a combination of Covid and flu that we're potentially facing as we go into the winter months here. Is that still a concern of yours now? The combination of the three, the one two, three punch, if you will, this winter? Yes, it's a trend. We're already starting to see where the flu season has definitely begun. Here locally, we are seeing, you know, over 50, 60 cases of flu each week. Not all of them in the hospital, but we're also seeing a tremendous amount of RSV in children as we get more into the winter months and people are more indoors. We have many holidays coming up with gatherings, and the expectation is that we will see more of this. And so it's something that we're actively monitoring and preparing for at the hospital. A lot of us, Dr. Associate RSV with children, as you just referred. Is that the case or is this a risk for adults as well? We do see in adults as well. I'd say here about 75 percent of the cases we diagnosed are in the pediatric age group, but adults can get RSV as well, especially adults that are exposed to children or to grandchildren. And it's particularly troublesome in adults who have chronic underlying diseases that put them at risk for more severe disease like chronic lung disease or heart disease, which may make those issues exacerbate more because of an RSV infection. Well, Dr. Scholl, how worried are you about winter? We've grown used to seeing obviously an increase in cases, in some cases an increase in hospitalizations and deaths based on the seasonality, but also the potential for a new strain. Give us your view. My hope about Covid is that as these new some variants emerge, the hope is that, yes, they may become more contagious. But the hope is that they will become less and less severe. So, yes, we are expecting to see Covid ongoing in the community. It's not going to go away. As I've said before, but I think that the challenges this year is going to be the coast circulation with other respiratory viruses and kind of handling that volume both in the community as well as at the hospital. That doesn't sound like a scenario in which businesses are closing, though, in which protocols are changing. Would you agree? I would hope not. I think we're beyond that stage of the pandemic. I feel that we are getting more into an endemic phase where Covid-19 becomes a circulating respiratory virus like all of these other viruses we're seeing now. And it's just something that we're gonna have to work through, like we worked through previous flu seasons before the pandemic. This just adds another virus into the mix, while certainly a well-timed conversation. And I thank you, Dr. Asha Shah, director of infectious diseases at Stanford Health. Happy Thanksgiving, by the way. We'll think of you as we gather on Thursday. Coming up, Donald Trump's legal battles continue amid his 20 24 race announcement. An important conversation coming up next with our political panel. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. What we now know, it's pretty clear, is with Trump, we lose. So I don't mean this personally. It's just it's just evidence. We lost the house in 18. We lost the presidency in 20, we lost the Senate in 20. And now in 2022, we should have and could have won the Senate. We didn't. And we have a much lower majority in the House because of that Trump factor. The former speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, speaking with ABC News. It's just business. It's never personal. As we assemble our panel here with Paul Ryan representing a good chunk of the Republican Party that has turned away from or is in the process of turning away from the former president, Donald Trump. Genie Shen Zeno and Rick Davis are both with us. Bloomberg political contributors Rick Davis of St. Court Capital, Jihye Lee Zeno of Iona University. It's great to have both of you with us, Rick. You're joining us from London. I'm going to start with you. Are the walls closing in at Mar a Lago? Look, I certainly think that there's an isolation that's happening, certainly something that's unusual for Donald Trump, where he's used to sort of Republican sycophants coming down and Mar a Lago and begging for his support couldn't be any more different. Now everyone seems running for the exits. And certainly Paul Ryan's declaration that he's be a never again Trump R is one of the loudest shouts that we've heard from the core of the Republican Party, the Chamber of Commerce, Republicans who are now saying, you know, let's not make this mistake again. Jeanie, it's not lost on us that it's only been hours since Donald Trump was reinstated on Twitter. What does it mean for him to have access if he chooses to use his access to those millions of followers who helped him get elected in the first place? You know, it means a lot. He has said publicly he is going to stick with truth social. But we know that he may very well decide to do something other than what he said publicly. And it's going to be a question of can he resist the much bigger audience on Twitter. But, you know, just back to your previous point, I would just say elites are turning away from Donald Trump in the Republican Party. But the reality is we haven't seen the same movement in the base yet. And as he knows, we choose our candidates based on primaries. So if the primary base sticks with him and you've got 16 Republicans in this thing, he could very well win the nomination in 24 again. And that's a big problem for Republicans, as we've heard over the weekend. And so watch for the Republican Party to try to change the rules. So there's a one on one contest and somebody can take him on directly versus have me go against the 16 that he did last time, knocking him out. You know, one, you know, name, call it a time and ending up the winner with 32 percent. Each candidate got their own month, as I remember. That was the recipe for success for Donald Trump in 2016. Rick Davis, what do you think about Jeannie's idea here to Republicans, zero win on a single candidate? You could argue they did. Actually, it was too late, though, with Ted Cruz in 2016. So they don't water things down and re-elect Donald Trump by default. Yeah, actually, they never did get down to a one on one with Ted Cruz. He had. Yeah. Hi, Governor. At the same time on the ballot and they continue to split the vote. Trump never got really any more than 35 percent. A one on one would have had him losing. So, look, we had 10 presidential polls show up at the Republican Jewish conference this weekend in Las Vegas. They were all sounding like presidential candidates to me. And winnowing that field to a one on one is usually the job of Iowa and New Hampshire. So we'll see if the process works its will. And in that, we return to a place where by South Carolina and Florida, you have a one on one. Well, Jack Smith is waking up in a new world this morning, that's the special counsel announced on Friday by Attorney General Merrick Garland. He wakes up now as the overseer of the Department of Justice's two most high profile cases against Donald Trump. Will it actually serve to strengthen Donald Trump? In the meantime, Jeannie, his base, 30 percent or not, loves this part, loves Trump. The victim loves Trump. The outsider is is there not an upside here for him? There is. I mean, this is what he was banking on. This is why we we believe that he announced for the presidency, which is to protect himself legally. And so he was saying many times over the weekend that this is a political witch hunt. He was accusing the newly named special prosecutor of being a far left person, none of which is true. But, of course, he is facing two investigations by the DOJ that the special prosecutor will lead and then multiple investigations from other quarters, including the Manhattan district attorney's office in Georgia, New York. He is now, you know, facing at the end of the January 6th investigation. So he's got a number of investigations to contend with. And, you know, I think the belief is that because the special prosecutor was named, that is likely that at least they have the evidence to charge him in at least one of those probes. Whether they do, in fact, pursue a charge is another question. That's an interesting scenario here, Rick. This special counsel would likely not have been appointed if it weren't for Donald Trump's decision to jump in the race, even though he jumped in thinking it might protect him. How do you square the two? Yeah, I wouldn't be the first time that Donald Trump misjudged a legal outcome and reasoning as so many all the time against him and have is entire career, I would say. I'm not a big fan of special counsels because they tend to burn up a couple of years of investigation, even though this one's well along on its way. And they don't tend to result in anything. They tend to result in a indictment and no convictions. So I'm a little skeptical whether this will actually see the light of day and become a real problem for Donald Trump. Even between now and Election Day 2024. Well, so I guess I'll ask you the same thing I asked Jimmy Rick if that's the case. You heard Trump over the weekend. He says Russia, Russia, Russia, Robert Mueller. It's not going to be any different this time. It sounds like you might agree. Yeah, look, I mean, the guy slipped a knot on his legal problems for years, and there isn't any evidence right now that the approach that the government is taking is going to bear any more fruit than anybody else's. I mean, we've been listening to the Justice Forum and talk about these confidential documents that he's spirited away to to Mara Lago. But we haven't really seen any action. We've heard a lot of people getting convicted of, you know, the attack on the capital, but we haven't really seen their cards as it relates to Donald Trump and a sedition conspiracy indictment. And so, you know, I think you have to be skeptical until you actually see this agency put their cards on the table. And of course, Donald Trump will use anything the government does in his sort of conspiracy machine to sort of crank up his troops. So, Jeannie, does does Joe Biden prefer to run against a Donald Trump who's under indictment? This is a speculation. Obviously, this is a hypothetical or not, because Donald Trump's going to say that that Joe Biden is weaponized by the Department of Justice and thumbing the scale right here in the middle of a presidential election. He is. That's argument he's been making. And I think Joe Biden prefers to run against Donald Trump, period. I think all Democrats do. So while he is pardoning chocolate and chip today, he is probably relishing in the fact that if he decides to run, Donald Trump seems to be, at least at this point, in the lead of Republican potential nominees. That's subject to change. And of course, Democrats polling wise have said they want Biden to run. If it's against Trump, they're not so certain they want him to run. If there is another nominee. Thanks to Rick Davis of St. Cort Capital and Jenny Shan Zeno, a great conversation of Iona University, our political panel here on balance of power. Coming up online fashion giant. She's under scrutiny as Bloomberg reports links to a region in China known for using forced labor. It's our big take and it's next on balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. This is balance of power on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'm Joe Matthew, in for David Westin. The U.S. has tried to ban cotton imported from forced labor camps in China's Shin Jiang region. But Bloomberg senior writer for investigation Sharon Impressed reports a major online retailer is taking advantage of a major loophole in this case. And she's here now with the story. Sheridan, great to see you. Thanks for joining us here today. It's our big take. I learned a lot from this because I don't get a lot of shipments from Sheen. Apparently, I am. I'm a weird person that way because there are tick tock videos, social media videos of people unpacking stuff and trying on clothes and so forth. But this is the very company that seems to have found this loophole by shipping direct to consumer. Is that the point here, that it goes directly to shoppers? That's right. So if you were a 13 year old girl, you would know all about she. Yeah, I would. I guess it's. It took off hugely during the pandemic. It's big, big, big on social media to talk, in particular people in order, you know, dozens of items of clothing, hold them up and say, this is my Shery Ahn Hall, try them all. It's very trendy. It's fast fashion. It actually is is kind of meant to be sort of keeping up with the trends. So it's not super high quality might fall apart after a year or so. But the idea is you you keep up with the trends and you order if you were a teenage girl, you were definitely ordering for the most part from Shanna. Is it lower quality cotton? Is that why it's going into clothing that aren't meant to last? Or is this just a unique company specific issue that we're talking about here? So the U.S. banned cotton from Shin Jang in the United States last year, saying it is the product of forced labor because of the way that China treats the weaker people who are predominantly Muslim in the western part of China, which is the Shin Jang region. And so the reason is because of the forced labor camps, people are in the camps. They're put in the camps. Shin gets around that restriction that actually retailers like Wal-Mart and others, a gap also have to adhere to because they're sending bulk imports into the United States. And she ends by shipping directly to consumers, gets under the de minimis exemption. So if an item if the package is valued at under eight hundred dollars, they don't have to have any reporting requirements to U.S. Customs. So if I did order more than a hundred dollars of clothing from this company, apparently there'd be a lot of clothes. Then actually this would be stopped potentially at the border. I think it wouldn't all come in the same envelope. Okay. So they have ways around this, which brings us to your experiment, your mailbox or your your stoop. Your lobby has been full of packages. You actually have been ordering a clothing from this company and testing the material. Tell us about that. So I decided because people have suspected for a long time that she and Cotton comes from Shin Jang. Nobody has ever approved it before. So I decided to order some and send it to a lab for testing in Germany. And so I ordered the cotton. We sent it to a lab. The lab said, we can tested for you, but you're gonna have to provide a sample of cotton from Shin Jang. We can do a matching test. And so that's what I did. How easy was that to get? It was with the help of a U.S. retailer. I was able to obtain cotton directly from changing and we sent it for testing. And it did. It did match. So it does indicate that this cotton does come from Shenzhen. So how do you act on the big take here? Who is who needs to read this to stop it from happening? So there are people in Congress who have proposed tightening the loophole so that any packages that are sent from China would be subject to subject to formal customs declarations, and that would stop potentially a lot of the cotton. The irony of this law is that U.S. retailers are abiding by it, but actually the Chinese companies that send directly to consumers are getting around it. Fascinating story here. You're one of the first, I'm assuming, if not the first person to conduct tests like this. Is this going to be can this go mainstream? How do you get this to 13 year olds and tell them what they're buying? So we hope that consumer awareness will spread. It does seem that there is some backlash already against Sheen's fast fashion, the fact that their clothes are kind of more or less disposable and end up potentially harming the environment Shery Ahn. So more and more people are becoming aware of their labor practices as well. Thank you. Bloomberg's Sheridan Press. So a great story. Senior writer for investigations. Find it on the terminal and I'll meet you for the second hour. A balance of power on Bloomberg Radio, I'm sure, Matthew.

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Balance of Power Full Show (11/21/2022)

Bloomberg: Balance of Power" focuses on the intersection of politics and global business. On today's show: Gray Davis, former California Governor. Gen. Keith Alexander, Ironnet Cybersecurity CEO and president. Dr. Asha Shah, director of Infectious diseases at Stamford Health. (Source: Bloomberg)

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