Feb 17 2025

Sunday Talks: NEC Director Kevin Hassett Informs a Stunned Margaret Brennan that “Chickens Don’t Fly”

Posted originally on the CTH on February 16, 2025 | Sundance

I enjoy Kevin ‘Sid‘ Hassett very much. He was awesome in Trump’s first term as an economic advisor, and he’s even better in term two as the Director of the National Economic Council (NEC).

When the people who controlled Joe Biden lost the 2024 election, they were angry. They wanted to leave President Trump with as big a mess as possible and all actions were taken to create chaos that Trump would have to deal with. Intellectually honest people noticed.

Part of their chaos operation was to drive up the cost of food, intentionally create inflation that Trump would have to handle. The “bird flu” issue was part of the plan. After the 2020 election the U.S. Dept of Agriculture ordered millions of chickens to be killed. Simple quarantine process was dismissed in favor of a ridiculous slaughter.

During a CBS interview today, Margaret Brennan asked Kevin Hassett what the Trump administration was going to do about food inflation, and specifically the astronomical cost of eggs. Hassett outlined the plan by first reminding Brennan that regarding spread, chickens don’t fly; ducks and geese do. I almost spit out my coffee. I enjoy Kevin Hassett. Video and Transcript Below:

“Sid“

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We want to turn now to the economy and inflation, which, compared to last January, ticked up about 3% last week. Kevin Hassett is the director of the National Economic Council, and he joins us now. Good morning to you, Director.

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Good morning, Margaret, good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I don’t have to tell you, but the rest of the country saw their egg prices at the grocery store go up. We’re now at a record high due to that bird flu outbreak, but also labor costs, and that’s contributing to food costs overall. When will the administration get that outbreak under control?

HASSETT: Right, well, what’s going on, right, as you know, is that there is an inflation problem that’s very large. We saw the consumer price index come out, and we found out that the stagflation that was created by the policies of President Biden was way worse than we thought. Over the last three months, across all goods, including eggs, the average inflation rate was 4.6%, way above target, and an acceleration at the end of the Biden term. And, you know, this is really not just us. You could go look at Jason Furman, Larry Summers, economic advisers of President Biden kept saying, don’t do this. You’re going to cause massive inflation. In fact, Jason Furman has a very thought provoking peace in “Foreign Affairs” right now, calling the Biden economic record a tragedy. And this is them, not us, right? It’s- so, now we’ve got a lot of things that we’re doing to get ahold of it–

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re talking about fiscal spending there.

HASSETT: Excuse me? Yeah, that’s right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You were talking about fiscal spending there. But–

HASSETT: Well, where does inflation come from, right? And so what we’re doing now is, we’ve- we’ve got, really, a multi- multi-faceted plan to end inflation, and I’ll go quickly, because I want to end with what we’re doing with egg prices, but we’re going to have a macroeconomic change that has supply side tax cuts so we have more supply, and we’re going to reduce government spending, both through what DOGE is doing, and through congressional action. And so therefore, the macroeconomic forces that Jason Furman said were a tragedy are going to be reversed. That’s a good thing. Then we’re also going to have a lot of energy production, a lot of deregulation. And then finally, when needed, we’re going to focus on the individual thing-by-thing pieces. And so, for example, you mentioned avian flu. President Biden didn’t really have a plan for avian flu. Well, Brooke Rollins and I have been working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world, to have a plan ready for the president next week on what we’re going to do with avian flu. In fact, I was editing the thing with them tomorrow, but- but the final thing- and then I’ll give it back to you, I promise not to filibuster- that, the question is like, why did we do this? Why did we do this? That’s what everybody’s talking about. But the thing that I always start with when I’m looking at what we’re doing, what the President wants us to do, is, why did they do that? Why did they do that? And- and there are too many times where it feels like nobody thought about that in the press, or maybe–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Oh, gosh–

HASSET: –the left wing “Economist,” why did they do that? Why did Biden print so much money and cause so much inflation? Why did he do it?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Oh, Kevin–

HASSETT: That’s- that’s what I’m thinking about.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Kevin, you know, we talked about that on “Face the Nation” quite a lot. Quite a lot.

HASSETT: I don’t mean to criticize you. Okay, good for you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: No, no, no. So next week, we’ll see the plan on how to get avian flu- how to get bird flu, under–

HASSETT: I could talk about it right now if you’d like to, yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: –well, sure, what- what is the plan you’re going to- what are you going to do?

HASSETT: Yeah, so- so again, the- the Biden plan was to just, you know, kill chickens, and they spent billions of dollars just randomly killing chickens within a perimeter where they found a sick chicken. And so you go- I just went to the grocery store. I shop for our family, in part because I love to look at prices. And there were no eggs at the store yesterday, just a few. And- and so that happened because they killed all the chickens. And so what we need to do is have better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on, to make sure that the perimeter doesn’t have to kill the chickens. Have a better, smarter perimeter. And so having a smart perimeter is what we’re working on, and we’re finalizing the ideas about how to do that with the best scientists in government. And that’s the kind of thing that should have happened a year ago, and if it had, then egg prices would be, you know, a lot better than they are now. But the avian flu is a real thing–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

HASSETT: –and by the way, it’s spread mostly by ducks and geese. And so- think about it, they’re killing chickens to stop the spread, but chickens don’t really fly. The- the spread is happening from the geese and the ducks. And so, why does it make any sense to have a big perimeter of dead chickens, when it’s the- the ducks and the geese that are spreading it?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the Department of Agriculture policy has been to kill those chickens, as you know, but we’ll watch the details of that.😂 But let’s get back to something the president said. Higher interest rates, as you know, are part of that battle against inflation that the Federal Reserve has been waging, but this past week, the President called for interest rates to be lowered. Why does he think that’s going to lower your grocery prices?

KEVIN HASSETT: Well, first of all, I- I want to say that- I, just this weekend, have arranged to begin, once again, regular lunches with Jay Powell at the Federal Reserve. And Jay and I have a long and collegial relationship, and I’m going to go over there with him and the other governors. So we’re going to talk about our views about what’s going on, and listen to his and that collegiality has been going on for four years when I was here before, and the President very much values that. I think that the- the thing about–

MARGARET BRENNAN: But that’s not to influence–

HASSETT: –lower interest rates, no, I’m going to talk about- well, Jay is going to- Jay is an independent person. The Fed- independence is respected. And- and the point is, the President’s opinion is also- can be heard. He’s the president of the United States. But here’s the thing that I think is interesting, that if we get inflation under control, then that takes the pressure off the Fed. And one way to tell whether markets think, are we getting inflation under control, is to look at longer term interest rates that the Fed doesn’t affect directly. And if you look at it, the 10 year treasury rate has dropped about 40 basis points over the last couple of weeks while we announced our plan to control inflation. That saved the American people about $40 billion, about $40 billion, just from talking about the stuff that we’re about to do.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.

HASSETT: It’s pretty good.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. But the President’s statement contradicts economic policy, as you know–

KEVIN HASSETT: No, inflation- no, inflation rates are already- I’m saying the interest rates are already lower by 40 basis points. So, in- interest rates are lower. The one that matters–

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re briefing the president on it. Okay–

HASSETT: –the most for the economy is maybe the 5 or 10, year rate. Those the ones that matter the most. So those are down already. So the President’s right about that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Before we run out of time, I really want to make sure I get to you on tariffs–

HASSETT: Okay, sure.

MARGARET BRENNAN: –because there’s concern that that will add to prices, because they’ll be added on to consumers and what they pay. How are these reciprocal tariffs going to work? The President was tweeting he wants to put them on, like 175 different countries that have a VAT tax, a value added tax.

KEVIN HASSETT: You know, we’re talking to leaders of other countries all the time. Last night into the wee hours of their morning and kind of a late night for me, I was talking to Minister Reynolds from the UK about this very matter. But here’s the way I’d like to think about it, that right now, U.S. companies are spending, are paying, foreign governments about $370 billion a year in tax, and foreign comp- companies are paying the U.S. government about $57 billion in tax, and a lot of it is because of the VAT. But if we didn’t have to pay the foreign government’s tax, over 10 years, it’d be about $5 trillion of tax that U.S. citizens don’t have to pay. That would more than pay for the tax cuts that we’re debating right now. And so if we get some of that money back, either through tariffs, or for, obviously, if they reduce the tariffs of that, that that’s good for Americans, it’s going to put more money in their pockets, and- and that’s what President Trump is trying to do.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Kevin Hassett, I’d like to have you come back, sit at the table and talk through this in- in more detail at another time. We have to leave it there for today.

HASSETT: Thanks. Happy, happy to be here.

[End Transcript]

Feb 17 2025

Team USA Hockey Beat the Snow Mexicans 3-1 After They Booed the USA National Anthem Again

Posted originally on the CTH on February 16, 2025 | Sundance

For the past two weeks, the Snow Mexicans have been booing the USA national anthem when played in Canada during sporting events. While we hold no animosity toward Canadians, last night the Team USA hockey team beat them 3-1 on the Snow Mexicans home turf.

After Canada again booed the USA national anthem again last night, the game began with three fights in the first nine seconds: Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Hagel, then Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett and finally J.T. Miller and Colton Parayko.

USA Today – […] The negative reactions to “The Star-Spangled Banner” came even after the Bell Centre public address announcer asked fans to show respect for the anthems.

Canadian sports fans have been booing the U.S. national anthem since U.S. President Donald Trump made threats regarding import tariffs earlier in February. The Trump administration paused the threat for 30 days for Canada, as well as Mexico, to be hit with 25% tariffs, but the concern over the economic impact remains. (link)

With the win last night, team USA clinched a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game on Thursday in Boston. Canada could fill the other spot if it beats Finland in regulation on Monday or with an overtime win if Sweden doesn’t beat the U.S. in regulation.

Feb 17 2025

Sunday Talks: Secretary of State Marco Rubio Discusses Mid-East, Gaza, Ukraine -v- Russia and Pending Discussions in Saudi Arabia

Posted originally on the CTH on February 16, 2025 | Sundance

“Peace is not a noun, it’s a verb. Peace takes action, not words.” That is a message carried by Secretary of State Marco Rubio today during his interview with CBS Margaret Brennan that pertains to both the Israel -v- Hamas conflict and the Russia -v- Ukraine conflict.

Brennan used the interview to push the MSM narrative that JD Vance was lecturing European leaders at the Munich Security Conference. Rubio defended the remarks by Vice President Vance and told Ms. Brennan that certain uncomfortable truths need to be said regardless of the reception to them. The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to “Face the Nation.” We want to begin today with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in Jerusalem on the second leg of his trip through Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Secretary, I know it’s the evening hours there, and you’ve had a long day. We appreciate your time. You’ve got quite a busy schedule. You met earlier with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He said he’s lock step with the Trump administration, but he can’t share details on, quote, “when the gates of hell will be open…if all our hostages are not released.” Did he tell you he wants to keep talks going to get to phase two of this hostage deal?

SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think we share a common goal. We want to see every hostage released. Frankly, I think, and the President has said this, we want to see them out as soon as we possibly can. And- and certainly, you know, the world has watched these images of people, and it’s just heartbreaking to remember that some of them have been now almost two years there. It’s a horrifying situation. So we coordinate and work very close with them. We share the goal that every hostage needs to come home, every single one, without delay. Obviously, the- there are details of how we’re pursuing that and coordinating that we’re not going to share publicly because we don’t want to endanger the hostages and we don’t want to endanger this process. But suffice it to say that if it was up to us, every one of these hostages would be home right now, and we want it to happen as soon as possible.

MARGARET BRENNAN: OK, so the deal stands?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Again, we want every hostage out as soon as possible, and- and we want to see them home. There are some that are supposed to- under the deal, there are some that are supposed to be released coming up next weekend. We expect that to happen, but we’d like to see them all come out. We’re not going to- we’re not in favor of waiting weeks and weeks. Now, that may be the process that’s in place because of the deal, but we would like to see them all out as soon as possible, and we continue to coordinate. That- that’s what we’d like to see as the outcome. Who wouldn’t want all these hostages to be home and with their families?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. I want to ask you about Iran as well. President Trump has said he wants a diplomatic deal with Iran. Are you reaching out to them? And alongside that, does the U.S. support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran to take out its nuclear program?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, first of all, Israel will always have to act in what they believe is their national interest and their national defense. And so I’m not going to speak about whatever strategies they may have on this or any other topic. I will say that we don’t have any outreach from Iran. We haven’t seen any, and ultimately, we’ve seen in the past that efforts that Iran has undertaken diplomatically have been only about how to extend the time frame that- but continue to enrich and rep- and- and in addition to sponsored terrorism, in addition to build these long range weapons, in addition to sow instability throughout the region. But let’s be clear, there’s been zero outreach or interest to date from Iran about any negotiated deal. Ideally, yeah, I would love to wake up one day and hear the news that Iran has decided not to pursue a nuclear weapon, not to sponsor terrorism, and re-engage in the world as a- as a- as a normal government. We’ve had no indication of any of that, not just now, but for 30 years.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you head from Israel to Saudi Arabia next, I know you’ll be talking about Gaza, but we’ve also learned that Saudi Arabia is trying to facilitate this diplomacy with Russia about Ukraine. Which Russian officials do you expect to be meeting with, and what will the focus of your talks there be? Do you actually believe Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate and make concessions?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, here’s what I know. I know President Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin last week, and in it, Vladimir Putin expressed his interest in peace, and the President expressed his desire to see an end to this conflict in a way that was enduring and that protected Ukrainian sovereignty, and that was an enduring peace, not that we’re going to have another invasion in three or four years. That’s a good call. Now, obviously it has to be followed up by action, so the next few weeks and days will determine whether it’s serious or not. Ultimately, one phone call does not make peace. One phone call does not solve a war as complex as this one. But I can tell you that Donald Trump is the only leader in the world that could potentially begin that process. Other leaders have tried, they have not been able to do so. When he ran in his campaign and he was elected as president, one of his promises was, he would work to bring an end to this conflict in a way that’s sustainable and fair. And obviously, you know, this is the first step in that process, but we have a long ways to go. Again, one call doesn’t make it, one meeting wouldn’t make it. This- there’s a lot of work to be done. But I- I thought it has- you know, even the longest journey begins with the first step. So we’ll see what happens from here, hopefully good things.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Who will you be meeting with?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, nothing’s been finalized yet. I was scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia anyways, we invited- we announced that trip a week ago, and- a week and a half ago. So ultimately, look, if at any point in time there’s an opportunity to continue the work that President Trump started last week, to begin to create an opening for a broader conversation, that it would involve Ukraine and would involve the end of the war, and would involve our allies all over the world, particularly in Europe, we’re going to explore it, if that opportunity presents itself. I don’t have any details for you this morning, other than to say that we stand ready to follow the president’s lead on this and begin to explore ways, if those opportunities present itself, to begin a process towards peace. Now, a process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing. This war has been going on for a while. It’s difficult, it’s complicated. It’s been bloody, it’s been costly, so it will not be easy to end a conflict- and there are other parties at stake that have opinions on this as well. The European Union has sanctions as well. The Ukrainians are obviously fighting this war. It’s their country, and they’re on the front lines. So, one meeting isn’t going to solve it, but I want to reiterate, the President made clear he wants to end this war, and if opportunities present themselves to further that, we’re going to take them if they present themselves. We’ll see what happens over the next few days.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But to be clear, Keith Kellogg, who is the envoy appointed to help with these talks, says these are going to be parallel negotiations, meaning the Ukrainians and Russians aren’t talking to each other yet. When you meet with your Russian counterpart, whoever that is, are you going to be sitting there arguing Ukraine’s position?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, first of all, I think the- we have to understand is, right now there is no process. What- what we have right now is a call between Putin and President Trump in which both sides expressed an interest in ending this conflict. I imagine there will be follow up conversations to figure out what a process to talk about that would look like, and then at that point, perhaps we can begin to share more details. So it’s a bit premature. I know there’s been a lot of reaction to it, because there’s been no conversation about it, any serious conversation, but I want to go back to the point I made. President Trump ran, he was very clear, he thinks this war needs to end, and if he sees an opportunity to end it, which is what he’s looking for, whether there is an opportunity or not, we’re going to pursue it. Ultimately, it will reach a point when you are- if it’s real negotiations, and we’re not there yet, but if that were to happen, Ukraine will have to be involved, because they’re the one that were invaded, and the Europeans will have to be involved because the oth- they have sanctions on Putin and Russia as well, and- and they’ve contributed to this effort. We’re just not there yet. We really aren’t, but hopefully we will be, because we’d all like to see this war end.

MARGARET BRENNAN: No doubt, the last administration did have contact through the intelligence agencies with Russia, but they didn’t believe there was any proof that Vladimir Putin was interested in talks. You know the history with Vladimir Putin. He likes to use diplomacy as a cover to distract while he continues to wage war. Do you trust that this time is different?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I don’t think in geopolitics, anyone should trust anyone. I think these things have to be verified through actions. I said yesterday that peace is not a noun, it’s a verb. It’s an action. You have to take concrete steps towards it. What I can tell you is, I know of no better negotiator in American politics than President Trump. I don’t- I think President Trump will know very quickly whether they say- is this a real thing, or whether this is an effort to buy time. But I don’t want to prejudge that. I don’t want to foreclose the opportunity to end a conflict that’s already cost the lives of hundreds of thousands and continues every single day to be, increasingly, a war of attrition on both sides. I think everyone should be celebrating the fact that we have an American president that is seeking to promote peace in the world, not start wars, but end them, in a way that’s enduring. That’s something we should be happy about. Whether it’s possible or not, we’re certainly willing, but it’s not entirely up to us, obviously, but we’ll find out.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you did speak in a phone call with Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov. The Russian side claimed that you discussed restoring trade, which seemed to be a nod to sanctions, easing restrictions on diplomats, and other gestures like a high level leaders meeting. Are you actually considering- is the Trump administration considering lifting sanctions on Russia?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, the phone call was to establish communications that are consistent with the call the President made last week with Vladimir Putin. Because if- we are- if there is going to be the possibility of- of progress here towards peace, we are going to need to talk to the Russians. I mean, that is going to have to happen, and we’re going to have to be able to be able to do it across our channels–

MARGARET BRENNAN: About lifting sanctions, though?

SECRETARY RUBIO: –I also raised in that conversation concerns that- well, we didn’t go into any details. I mean, what we just discussed is basically the ability to begin communicating. I’d never spoken to Mr. Lavrov in my life, so it was an opportunity for us to begin to open that channel of communication, which, again, if there’s the potential for peace here, that’s a channel that has to exist. But let me add one more thing. I also raised the issue of our embassy in Moscow, which operates under very difficult conditions. I raised that because it’s important, it’s going to be very difficult to engage in communication with Russia about anything if our embassy is not functioning. And he raised concerns about his diplomatic mission in the United States. So at a very basic level, if, in fact, there is going to be an opportunity here to pursue peace by engaging with the Russians, we’re going to need to have functional embassies in Moscow and in Washington, D.C., and that’s certainly something foreign ministers would talk about as a matter of normal course.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about what happened in Munich, Germany, at the Security Conference. Vice President Vance gave a speech, and he told U.S. allies that the threat he worries about the most is not Russia, it is not China. He called it the “threat from within,” and he lectured about what he described as censorship, mainly focusing, though, on including more views from the right. He also met with the leader of a far-right party known as the AfD, which, as you know, is under investigation and monitoring by German intelligence because of extremism. What did all of this accomplish, other than irritating our allies?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech and by someone giving their opinion? We are, after all, democracies. The Munich- Munich Security Conference is largely a conference of democracies in which one of the things that we cherish and value is the ability to speak freely and provide your opinions. And so, I think if anyone’s angry about his words, they don’t have to agree with him, but to be angry about it, I think actually makes his point. I thought it was actually a pretty historic speech, whether you agree with him or not. I think the valid points he’s making to Europe is, we are concerned that the true values that we share, the values that bind us together with Europe, are things like free speech and democracy and our shared history in winning two world wars and defeating Soviet communism and the like. These are the values that we shared in common, and in that cold war we fought against things like censorship and oppression and so forth, and when you see backsliding, and you raise that, that’s a very valid concern. We can’t tell them how to run their countries. We are- he simply expressed in a speech his view of it, which a lot of people, frankly, share. And I thought he said a lot of things in that speech that needed to be said. And honestly, I don’t know why anybody would be upset about it. People are- you know, you don’t have to agree on someone’s speech. I happen to agree with a lot of what he said, but you don’t have to agree with someone’s speech to- to at least appreciate the fact they have a right to say it and that you should listen to it and see whether those criticisms are valid. I assure you, the United States has come under withering criticism on many occasions from many leaders in Europe, and we don’t go around throwing temper tantrums about it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups. The context of that was changing the tone of it. And you know that. That the censorship was specifically about the right–

SECRETARY RUBIO: — Well I have to disagree with you. No- I have- I have to disagree with you. Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those that they- they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany, they were a sole and only party that governed that country. So that’s not an accurate reflection of history. I also think it’s wrong- again, I go back to the point of his speech. The point of his speech was basically that there is an erosion in free speech and intolerance or opposing points of view within Europe, and that’s of concern because that is eroding. That’s not an erosion of your military capabilities, that’s not an erosion of your economic standing, that’s an erosion of the actual values that bind us together in this transatlantic union that everybody talks about, and I think allies and friends and partners that have worked together now for 80 years, should be able to speak frankly to one another in open forums without being offended, insulted, or upset. And I spoke to Foreign Ministers from multiple countries throughout Europe. Many of them probably didn’t like the speech or didn’t agree with it, but they were continuing to engage with us on all sorts of issues that unite us. So again, at the end of the day, I think that, you know, people give all- that is a forum in which you’re supposed to be inviting people to give speeches, not basically a chorus where everyone is saying the exact same thing. That’s not always going to be the case when it’s a collection of democracies where leaders have the right and the privilege to speak their minds in forums such as these.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Secretary, I’m told that we are out of time. A lot to get through with you. We appreciate you making time today. We’ll be back in a minute. [End Transcript]