Politicking on larry king it was announced this week that u. S. Health and Human Services secretary alex a czar will soon lead a delegation to taiwan the announce one has angered china which considers taiwan a rogue province so whats behind the timing of this trip and whats his impact on american chinese relations lets start there were joel rubin former Deputy Assistant secretary of state in the Obama Administration and a democratic strategist he joins us from maryland hi larry its great to be with you ok joe whats behind this trip of Human Services secretary alexanders are going to taiwan. The delegation visit to taiwan is significant because its part of a trend right now that we see from the Trump Administration of provoking china in many regards and we are watching the slow to move towards a cold war now with china which is very dangerous for our National Security and deeply problematic but its also very political in certainly heading into the 2020 election where President Trump is trying to define himself as dance i cant im a candidate and joe biden is the pro china candidate and how do you see that playing out. I think that the American People are very wise about understanding that china while the source of the krona virus there in china is not the cause of the catastrophe we have here at home in terms of managing the coronavirus and President Trump is trying to tell you that together but its not working and so hes getting more desperate in his rhetoric quite frankly about china continually using ethnic slurs about the virus and now facing pressure internally to break a trade agreement that he had made with china probe a preliminary one so he seems to be very much grasping at straws to try to find a way to stick a negative argument on joe biden about china and nothing is work and i think thats because the American People understand that thats thats a bit farfetched to blame china for everything and joe biden as a result. Didnt play i do you think it will play in the election. No i think that what we saw in 2016 was President Trump effectively talking about trade which is a real concern for American Voters and unfair trade practices coming from china theft of intellectual property real meaning to take issues that did win him a lot of votes in 2016 people arent talking about that right now and so where President Trump is trying to take us on china is unclear its not as if hes laying out a vision for what to do about china he and his administration are just ratcheting up negative rhetoric and i dont hear the american body politic we dont hear it clamoring for a new cold war with china but we see it on capitol hill monks hocks not however amongst the left and so its its to me its a peculiar strategy quite frankly in terms of galvanizing voters its very different now from 2016 its way via in the coronavirus as an issue right. Yeah i agree with that and i think the administration it does does have some space to argue that china was not transparent with the coronavirus at the beginning and and it essentially created a slow start for us in terms of our response but that was months ago and weve had it here now for nearly half a year and at this stage in the game its the American Government that has to be responsible for what happens here in the United States related to the spread of the virus and thats why President Trumps handling of the virus in terms of his poll numbers are very low like a 3rd approval so blaming china time and again as he has has not stuck in the is a winning political issue. Elsewhere on wednesday former Deputy Attorney general sally yates told lawmakers that lie the barack obama nor joe biden attempted to influence the f. B. I. s investigation of incoming National Security adviser michael flem during a january 2017 Oval Office Meeting with National Security officials is this the end of that battle as a go from here is Michael Flynn still a story well were watching it in the process in ill get to the substance but in the process we have a Senate Committee in the midst of a pendant an economic meltdown holding oversight hearings about an issue that has been litigated for years and settled and so we see ron johnson leading this charge along with Lindsey Graham the senate trying to tag a scandal to joe biden theyre using their perch in the congress as an electoral advantage maker and sally its today pop the balloon of the theory that there was some nefarious plot by barack obama and joe biden to undermine donald trump and she essentially said no there was not that the investigation into Michael Flynn was conducted by Law Enforcement in the intelligence apparatus and it was not directed by biden and and obama and thats the theory they want to make but she shot that down and she was a direct witness to those those discussions a new u. N. Report joe says that north korea is still working on a sooky a program several countries think that jim yong has made gains in producing Ballistic Missiles with Nuclear Devices attached what do you make of that. Yeah it were in a deeply dangerous phase right now with north korea weve taken our eye off the ball of diplomacy with north korea its not to say that were to blame for the failure completely by any stretch north korea is is being very. Obstinate they did not want to meet with our diplomats time and again but our policy is not figured out how to get around that blockage which has been the traditional north korea position kim is doing what he intends to do prior to election season which is flexing his muscles and reminding the world and reminding the United States in this case that our capabilities and quite likely Nuclear Missiles and thats a real threat to japan and and our allies in asia will trump what shaking hands with the leader and saying with all the positive things he said he might go to north korea what happened although i was a supporter of President Trump meeting with kim and i felt like that was the kind for that could open up a dialogue but we didnt see the follow through and it was always the caviar people like myself and others who were saying its good to meet but you have to have a program and you have to have a dialogue and in many ways the team that President Trump appointed to lead in this negotiation led by mike pump halo and then as secretary of state might pump a row and the previous National Security advisor john bolton they had a program that was diametrically opposed to diplomacy and a program that has failed and the President Trump tried to change but President Trump hes the ultimate decider here hes the commander in chief and he just didnt have to run the diplomacy on making can the sions on bring the system working with our allies in the region and getting china on board all of the complicated pieces that it takes he didnt have that follow through and so kim is acting as kim has acted before is really no behavior change for kim except maybe a home testing but he can now claim that he has succeeded in bringing legitimacy to see to his worst fear of people who support diplomacy which is to give something at the table and get nothing in return and that seems to be where we are right now. A so when you say that our relationship with north korea has deteriorated and weve lost in that battle it dont think its deteriorated by having the president of the United States meet in person with the leader of north korea one would expect to get more benefits but we didnt and so weve lost that diplomatic card that sort of carrot of a meeting in a legitimization of north korea where we would get something in return and so we have less chips to play quite frankly and we have to really step back and reassess how to put the pressure on how to continue to engage and how to come up with a different Diplomatic Program and set of asks than we currently have because what were doing right now is not leading to any conclusion which ultimately benefits north koreas ability to take unilateral actions as it appears that they enjoy doing once the tech talks are storing a thank you. Well ive got 3 daughters who love tick tock so i have to be very careful about what i say because i know its their new world and now that theyre in quarantine here at home tick tock amongst the youth they tend to say that donald trump is opposed to it because they were effective at sabotaging his toast a rally and so theres a lot of suspicion a months tick tock users and then when one becomes valley and recent hearings that have Mark Zuckerberg at it he made an allusion to competition coming from china and trying to get the white house to weigh in to block that competition which is the kind of behavior that dr berg likes to to engage and i think that you have dynamic Competition Online and have social media platform bring out activism has to talk does and engage people to talk is very popular but it does have to be safe and we have to have security protocol and if an American Company microsoft in this case is talking about it can demonstrate that they can provide security protocol it should be allowed to buy it without interference from the Political Leadership at the white house which is the order of trying to guide this if not kill it and that would a shame for america as the men and free speech. Lets turn to politics. Are you surprised at how far joe biden is ahead in the polls. Its its its a moment where the American People seem to be looking for a change and that is certainly supporting him but youre saying the growth in we in the lead for joe biden and the direct one to one person to person contest if there was ideal conditions from a year ago that were for donald trump maybe we have different scenario but one doesnt determine what the reality is of the moment and the reality of the moment is that americans are suffering and they look at joe biden as an alternative got a track record that they can count on and i think thats why we see in swing states in particular biden up by one or 2 points across the board in addition to states that recently turned blue he has a much more significant lead and they feel comfortable with him they know who he is now and know what he has done and the person in the white house is not giving them confidence that he can turn it around hoping youd like to see him pick as his running mate. Well i think that he has great choices ill put it that way and clearly the campaign and the Vice President are taking their time inventing there are so many good Leaders GroupNational Security leaders like susan rice politically eaters what is between war and ecomil harris and karen bass and valdez. Really from a democratic perspective which is where i said any of them are going to be the kind of value add to a ticket thats going to excite people and i dont mean that to sound generic but weve got such a strong crop of people there that its going to be a great team joel rubin as always thanks for your time today thanks larry well be right back with more politicking. As the u. S. Economy was booming growing numbers of people made homeless. You can work 40 hours d in a week and still not have enough to get housing everybody believes america still is the land of opportunity and the reality of it is that were not financially quality and im not comfortable housing or living minimum wage many people neutralise you know thats been a problem with the city and always turn their backs on a whole new stay way out almost all of this is thats the sort of that is the answer because you know its the records at least the. Most vulnerable were abandoned on the streets to become the invisible class. And illegal takeover of the government by a small group. Rather than revolutionaries or soldiers of that small group the whole formation when you have a tiny group of people who have all the power you must have some means to make sure the rest of us dont get together and talk about. These are sacrificing. Places that capitalism exploited and destroyed for profit and left behind misery poverty environmental devastation and so you see things like Voter Suppression building more prisons you seem gerrymandering all sorts of undemocratic practices for wealth in that world for well its focused world and theres no question that the coup detat. Ah no team no crowd. No shots no. Actually theres a cult speak. Well its true no 1st. Point should your thirst for action. Welcome back to politicking continue the conversation now with chris welsh he was director of research and Digital Strategy for ted cruzs 2016 campaign hes c. E. O. Of w. P. A. Intelligence hes in Oklahoma City course thanks for joining us is the president in trouble. You know i think any incumbent president is having to deal with governing in the middle of a pandemic is going to have challenges and thats current clearly what were seeing right now we went from having the best economy in American History to the worst economy of American History in a matter of months if not days and yet it creates challenges so i think no matter who the incumbent is and having to govern under this scenario is creates problems and creates trouble so yes its be be foolish of me to say anything other than that. We got more primaries this week in kansas kris kobach lost his bid that helps trump me. I dont know that helps trump but it helps republicans keep the senate i think kris kobach he was a republican nominee for governor 2 years ago and lost and its very rare for republican to lose an election in kansas you know home of bob dole and so if he had been the nominee i think it would have it would have probably put that seat into jeopardy and so they missed mcconnell in the republican majority in the senate as a lot safer today i dont really think it would have had any impact on the Trump Campaign though d and so it was from a standpoint what it does help though is its clear that the president was Roger Marshall and it. Probably had gotten close to endorsement didnt it never did make one it was the 1st phone call that marshall made last night when he was declared the winner was to the president. What do you make of the senate can the republicans keep it. If the election were held today i think it be bad for republicans but its a good thing as elections are held in august theyre held in november and so theres plenty of time for campaigns to be run and i think there are a lot of races ill give you some statistics larry when a incumbent is running for reelection and the president wins his state and there are the same party that incumbent wins 90 percent of the time its president loses his or her state an incumbent only wins 65 percent of the time thats a pretty big difference so you look at it its likely that the president loses maine in colorado its not a done deal but its likely and so that makes you know a couple of uphill races there for cory gardner and Susan Collins but i will say if there are 2 people you would want having to fight an uphill battle would be. It would be Susan Collins in maine and cory gardner in colorado they are both very well liked they are strong indefatigable campaigners and i think theyll both end up winning on election day so you take that and then you look at its likely that the president s trying to get wins in North Carolina where youve got it could suffer a surfer thom tillis but i think that helps him win like of 7 of the 9 percent number and then its likely the president wins in arizona or martha my sound is going to tough with tough race but again remember that 90 percent number and its likely the president wins in iowa where youve got in montana hes certainly going to win where theres also tough races so i think over. All the senate they may lose come out a seat or so behind on those races i just went through but youve got to factor in alabama were talking tougher bills republican nominee running is incumbent Democrat Doug Jones whos doug jones is not going to get reelected thats just the bottom line i dont care how much democrats want to spend that theyre going to spend they have a chance or they dont and so timing cover bill is going excellent seat there and it gives republicans won seats and is an extra seat to play with in terms of the scenario. No as its going to be close it will definitely be club. President spent a lot of time up the road in the capitol casting votes in the 2021 but a recent interview the president gave with Jonathan Swann of actually owes news discussing the cone of horror of virus did you think the president equated himself well. You know i think theres a lot that you can unpack from that interview and i think jonathan proved himself over and over again to the you know the budding larry king hes just a phenomenal intern and we get the most o