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Quest Means Business
Trump Picks Rep. Matt Gaetz as Attorney General; Army Vet, Fox News Host, Pete Hegseth Chosen As Defense Secretary; CNN Projects Republicans Will Retain Control Of The House; Airlines, Passengers Adapt To Changing World Of Travel. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 13, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:08]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Hello, good evening to you.
A busy hour ahead. Breaking news across the board from the United States and as Donald Trump arrives in Washington and selects Congressman Matt
Gaetz to be the next United States Attorney General.
The president-elect describes the congressman from Florida as a tenacious lawyer suggesting that Gaetz would end partisan weaponization of our
justice system, he says.
Mr. Trump's critics have long warned that he would use the Justice Department to punish his enemies. It comes on a day when the President-
elect returned to Washington as the Republicans also secured what is known as the political trifecta. Donald Trump and the Republicans, well, the
Republicans, they will control the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, two of the three branches, if you will of government.
The current White House says Donald Trump arrived on a visit there today with a detailed set of questions. Ahead of their talks, President Biden
pledged to help the new administration get settled in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald, congratulations.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.
BIDEN: And looking forward to having a, like we said, a smooth transition. Do everything we can to make sure you're accommodated, what you need and
we're going to get a chance to talk about some of that today.
TRUMP: Good.
BIDEN: Welcome back.
TRUMP: Appreciate that. Thank you very much and politics is tough and it is -- in many cases, it is not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today
and I appreciate it very much a transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe.
BIDEN: You're welcome. Thank you all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Katelyn Polantz is in Washington. So I mean, where do we begin? Where do we begin?
Let's take the Matt Gaetz because it is the most recent. What do you make of it? I mean, here we have a man who, you know, he knows his way around
Washington, but he is very much a Trump loyalist. He has been very strong in terms of how he believes the Justice Department should change and one
way or another.
What do you make of the Matt Gaetz appointment?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE SENIOR REPORTER: Matt Gaetz, a far- right Trump loyalist who, in the previous Trump administration and then into the Biden years was under criminal investigation, ultimately was not
charged, but that was for sex trafficking and remains under investigation by the US House Ethics Commission on allegations of sexual misconduct,
something that that committee has said is worthy of continued investigation.
So this is a person who is polarizing, to say the least in Washington. On top of that, this is the Justice Department, this is one of those very
large organizations with a lot of prosecutors who are working in the American court system on cases. We may never hear much about in the public
sphere. Just having the ongoing bringing cases into court.
There has been a push in recent years from Attorney General Merrick Garland to stabilize that workforce, but already, Richard, just on this
announcement from Donald Trump that Matt Gaetz is who he wants to try and have confirmed as the attorney general, I have been hearing from people at
the Justice Department and those in touch with them, they are in absolute disbelief.
And one person I spoke with who is close or who was potentially one of the choices here for the attorney general position, someone that was in the
running implied that, well, we will see what happens next, implying that perhaps Gaetz may not make it through a confirmation process. He is not
widely beloved even across his own party, the Republicans in Congress.
QUEST: All right, stay with me, obviously, we have more. Lauren is with me, Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill.
Let's explore this idea that as of today, he has the trifecta. He has, you know, the White House, the Senate and the House is going to be there, but
it is not going to be a slam dunk for some of these appointees, such as Matt Gaetz and arguably, of course, the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth.
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, one of the key questions right now, are these nominees confirmable? You know, it really
matters if you have control of the Senate. Republicans have had that control. They also have some room to lose a couple of Republican members on
each of these nominations.
Now, I did just speak with Senator Marco Rubio, he was nominated to be the Secretary of State. He spoke to that moment in his own career, but then he
was asked very quickly because there was a bunch of nominees that were announced in short order.
[16:05:04]
He was asked about Matt Gaetz and Matt Gaetz served in the Florida Legislature with him and he was arguing that he thinks that he is a good
candidate for this job. When he was pushed on whether or not he was confirmable, he kept repeating the fact that Donald Trump is entitled to
have the people that he wants in the jobs that he has selected them for.
So that is not an answer of absolute yes, but what it does show is that Republicans may give a lot of deference to the president, and they have in
the past. So one key question is going to be, does he make it through the Judiciary Committee and then does he make it onto the floor? Does he have
the Republican votes he needs?
Again, there is room to lose a couple of moderate Republicans on that vote.
QUEST: Can we just talk about Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, because I don't think that there is a general, I mean, I've not heard a
view. This is, you know, one quote I heard is this isn't an entry level position to be Secretary of Defense and the man has no government or policy
experience at the highest levels.
Is he confirmable?
FOX: Well, you know, we were asking Roger Wicker, who is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the United States Senate. That is where the
nomination would move through. He did not have any specific concerns that he voiced when he was asked about him, and I think that that is a very
clear indication of how much deference a lot of Republican chairmen, a lot of Republican senators may give to the incoming president when it comes to
the nominees that he wants to push for his Cabinet.
QUEST: Right. Thank you. I am going to let you go because you're in a difficult spot just over there, quickly back to Katelyn Polantz. I just
want to know, before we move on, Katelyn Polantz, is in your view, is Matt Gaetz qualified for the job?
Never mind whether he is, you know, the right man for the job because we are going to be moving on to talk about that with Jim Sciutto in a second
in terms of Defense, does he have the legal qualifications as a lawyer et cetera, et cetera to be AG.
POLANTZ: Well, he is a member of Congress, which is a little bit different than what most attorney generals are. Currently, the attorney general is a
former, very well respected appellate judge. Other attorney generals very often, and many people who were even looked at by Donald Trump often come
from private practice law. They are defense lawyers. They're former prosecutors. That's different than Gaetz's history coming out of Florida as
a politician.
And the other thing, Richard, to point out here, Gaetz has been quite vocal about opposing both criminal cases against Donald Trump in court, calling
January 6th not an insurrection and then cheering when a judge in Florida dismissed the Justice Department's work bringing that classified documents
case against Donald Trump, but the Justice Department still is trying to fight on appeals.
So if Gaetz comes into this job, it would be a sea change across the department that would shake up quite a lot of things.
QUEST: Grateful for you. I know we are throwing a lot of stuff at you while it is still coming in, and I am grateful that you're taking the bricks and
the bouquets as well.
Thank you very much.
All right, Jim Sciutto is with me. Jim, we have a lot to talk about. We are going to deal -- just to put some structure into our discussion, if I may.
Let's put Hegseth to one side for one second. I want to talk about the trifecta that that we are now in, because we are now forecasting that the
Republicans will have the House or they will hold the House. That's the House, the Senate, the White House.
Forget the Judiciary for one moment. They've got the trifecta. This is a slam dunk for Donald Trump. There is no, whatever one thinks about the way
this election went, to have all three.
JIM SCIUTTO CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is, not by enormous margins, we should be clear. It will be a relatively small
majority in the House as it was for the last couple of years and you saw the issues among House Republicans with a small majority like that in terms
of getting just a leader, right, and then getting legislative items passed, 53 to 47, most likely outcome in the senate is a bit more of a margin
there. And of course, you have the commander-in-chief. The three of them together is quite powerful as you say.
Will it be powerful enough for Trump's most extreme positions? That is an open question. Will it be powerful enough and big enough for Trump's most
extreme appointments? And I think we could put someone like a Matt Gaetz in that category. You're already seeing Republicans react to this saying
they're not on board for it.
So you can see some potentially, some of his decisions and choices not getting through with majorities of that size. But to your point, yes, he
has got all three branches and that gives the president a lot of power.
QUEST: All right now, his nominee for Secretary of Defense and the eyebrows that its raised, it is Pete Hegseth who has been picked to run the
Pentagon.
He is a military man. He certainly has served. But essentially, he is best known to Donald Trump because he is the anchor of "Fox & Friends" Weekend
since '17.
[16:10:14]
He served in the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan. A graduate of both Princeton and Harvard with a Masters in Public Policy, CEO of a veterans advocacy
group, but here let's be clear about this, he has no experience of running a large organization.
We tallied it up. There is 1.3 million men and women in uniform, and about another million or so civil servants. The budget is in the tens, if not
hundreds of billions and as best I can tell, and feel free to tell me I am wrong here, I cannot see well, you and I are both TV anchors as well and I
am not qualified to run the Defense Department and with great respect, Jim Sciutto, I am not suggesting you might be either, but is Pete Hegseth?
SCIUTTO: Listen, based on those who have preceded him, absolutely not. I mean, Lloyd Austin was a four-star general, right? Jim Mattis, Trump's own
first Defense Secretary was a retired four-star Marine General. Right?
I mean, that's the level experience and credibility and seniority that one has come to expect from both Republican and Democratic presidents. Pete
Hegseth is not that, let's be frank, 2.1 million people, enormous budget. And you have to, you know, walking around that building, the Pentagon,
which I've done for years, right, you're surrounded by folks covered in brass, right?
So they now have to look up to Hegseth, if he were to be confirmed, and that's -- listen, I spoke to folks in those positions last night as this
was announced, folks currently serving or recently serving under both Trump and Biden. And I want to give you a sample of what they said to me.
One said "effing nightmare." And I am using a euphemism there deliberately. One said "ridiculous." Another said that the one commonality here is
loyalty and loyalty while essential, this recently retired four-star general told me, he said that it is a problem when it becomes slavish
fealty.
So these are folks, by the way, who are not partisans, who have served both Republican and Democratic presidents in Biden and Trump with loyalty and
commitment.
So, you know, the reaction has not been good, let's be frank and that befits the other choices. We had mentioned Tulsi Gabbard as the director of
National Intelligence, America's senior most intelligence official, right, let me just -- you know, it is not just personality with her, right? She
has public positions that contradict US positions and intelligence assessments.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, that same month, she blamed it on Ukraine and NATO. Right? So you are putting people into senior positions who contradict
long standing bipartisan US policy in this country. It is significant.
QUEST: On this point, the positions that these people have taken, whether or not they are qualified, it is almost like it is a -- you know, you have
to sort of go ticking down the box.
First of all, are you qualified? Then what are your previous positions that you've taken that the president will have found. Now you've got a DNI who
is probably not qualified. Youve got a border czar, you've got a Secretary of Defense. The security team with the exception of Marco Rubio, who is
eminently qualified because he has been on Foreign Affairs and all the big committees, but the rest of them have taken very public positions for
instance, on Hegseth, his position on diversity in the military, his very position on the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He said publicly, he would fire him.
SCIUTTO: Well, he has also said that women shouldn't serve in combat roles, right? I mean, there are female senators currently sitting in both parties
who served in the US military, who would now be in a position of voting to approve or not approve, you know, someone who says they should not serve in
combat roles, women in the military.
But, you know, I just want to highlight this point more clearly. You're talking about people in some of these positions whose public positions
contradict this nation's positions, not just on, say, quite significantly, women serving in combat roles, but on who America's adversaries and enemies
are and who their friends are. That's significant.
QUEST: In fact, it is so significant, tomorrow, Jim, if you can, we are going to put together a list. We are going to put together a list that will
have on the left side the US position and on the right side, and you and I will talk about it. I am already planning tomorrow's program so that we can
get to grips.
SCIUTTO: I will be there for you.
QUEST: Thank you. And likewise, thank you. Jim Sciutto, we will talk about that.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
QUEST: The reason we are doing this at such detail is because it is so extraordinary. The reason we are doing it is because the rest of the world
needs to see exactly where this is going to go? How is it going to play out? Not that the president-elect doesn't have the right to do this. Of
course, he does. It is his job.
But there is -- we all have to understand and make of it what we can, which is why the retired US Army General Wesley Clark is with me and is going to
make sense of this appointment at Defense.
Please go ahead, sir.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think that first of all, you do have to acknowledge that the president has a right to appoint
whomever he wants for this position. Secondly, the president is going to have unparalleled power. There has never been a president in the history of
the United States who has had as much power going in as President Trump will have, with the court, the Senate, the House and his appointees that he
is putting in, loyalists.
So it is going to be his government, and I think what he wants in the Pentagon is someone who is going to serve up options and to give him some
advice that supports his positions, and I agree with what Jim just said about fealty and so forth.
But when you look at this, nobody, almost nobody who goes into the Defense Department is actually prepared to run it unless they've been through it
before. Even Don Rumsfeld, who was former Secretary of Defense came back in 25 years later and he found everything had changed.
So, it is a huge organization. Hegseth, he has been to Harvard. He has been around Washington. He has got strong opinions. He has got to have qualified
people working for him and, and I think, you know, he is going to have resentment from some of the senior officers that are there and maybe even
the junior officers.
But it depends on how he conducts himself and if he conducts himself with maturity, with wisdom, with some grace. But if he goes at it in such a way
that it is a vendetta against certain generals, because they supported a diversity programs, or they are part of a diversity program, then he is
going to have a real upheaval in the Defense Department.
QUEST: So let's take that aspect to it, because you nail it, as always, General, and it depends how he goes about it. But this idea, first of all,
of who is the various undersecretaries, the deputy secretaries, the assistant under deputy secretaries and thereby, if you will, the people who
execute the various commands, right the way down to this warrior board that is going to be appointed, we believe that well look at getting rid of those
generals that maybe don't follow the right views in it.
It is almost as if the pieces of the jigsaw are being put on the table to dominate the organization.
CLARK: Well, this is what President Trump said he wanted, and he was elected by the American people, so they've given him this power.
So, you know, we can talk about it, but if you're an officer in the Armed Forces and the order that comes down the chain of command is lawful, and
you can go to your lawyer who is with the command, and he can check and say, it is a legal order, you're going to follow that order or you're going
to either disobey it and suffer military justice or put in your resignation, which may or may not be accepted.
And so this is what President Trump promised the American people, and this is what he is preparing to deliver. Now, the history of purging generals is
not a good history for any military. It didn't work for Joseph Stalin before World War Two. It didn't work for Hitler in World War Two . And,
traditionally, we've never done it in the US military, that's why men like Mark Milley were so forthright in saying that the loyalty is to the
Constitution.
But you know, he has got the Supreme Court. If he does this, you're going to see a drop off for some time in military effectiveness. It is
inevitable.
QUEST: Can I ask briefly, of all the world hotspots at the moment for the new administration, which one gives you most concern bearing in mind what
we are now seeing in terms of the positioning?
CLARK: Ukraine, and I say this because Mr. Putin wants to win. He is not going to give up his strategic interests to make Donald Trump look good.
Now, President Trump may say he has a good relationship with Putin.
[16:20:10]
Fine. But when Putin says, no, I am not going to renounce my aim to take over Ukraine. No, I am not going to renounce policy. I am not going to do
it for you, Donald. When he does that, where does that leave President Trump and the United States of America and Ukraine and NATO?
So I think it is going to be a very tough set of negotiations and I hope that President Trump will see it in such a way that he realizes he can't
simply accommodate Mr. Putin's wishes. No matter what he thinks of him, if he doesn't stand up for America's interests, he is going to result in a
weakening of American credibility and influence worldwide.
So, it is not just about Ukraine and that is why this is the most important issue.
QUEST: General, our morning meeting, I said I wanted to hear from Wesley Clark, and we are very grateful that you stayed up late tonight to talk to
us. Thank you, sir.
CLARK: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: It is an honor to have you on the program, as always.
CLARK: Thank you.
QUEST: We will be back in just a moment. There is so much more to talk about, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. There you are, two men, two entrepreneurs.
What are they going to do?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: It is called the Department of Government Efficiency, the DOGE as Donald Trump is asking Elon Musk and the businessman, Vivek Ramaswamy to
lead this department. It is not a department as such. Instead, it is going to be some adjunct, some adjacent who knows what, that the two will suggest
ways to slash regulation and spending.
Musk himself set ambitious goals during the campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD LUTNICK, CEO, CANTOR FITZGERALD: How much do you think we can rip out of this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: Well, I think we can do at least $2 trillion.
LUTNICK: Yes.
MUSK: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Don Kettl is with me. You're the Professor Emeritus of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.
There is a huge difference between government and private organizations. You know that, people don't really understand that government has a certain
level of inefficiency built into it by necessity because of minority rights, special interests, the need for transparency blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
You can't run government like a private company. Explain.
DON KETTL, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY: You can't in part because and we keep trying and we keep failing
and keep demonstrating the fact, Congress really isn't like a board of directors. It is a co-equal branch in the United States to begin with.
[16:25:08]
And then on top of that, there is the enormous complication of the federal programs, because the federal government tends to get stuck with all of the
issues and the problems that the private sector either cannot do or will not do.
And then beyond that, on top of that, we have lots of guarantees that we built into the system to try to prevent it from being just run by one
person according to one whim and one direction for one time.
QUEST: But that is going to change because the reality is now, after this election and the people being appointed towards it, if you've got Elon Musk
at the side saying, get rid of this rule, change that rule, do this rule. And by the way, Mr. President, you can do all of this with executive order
or executive fiat and the president does it. What happens?
KETTL: Well, what is going to happen is that we are going to have an enormous struggle between Congress and the president over just how far the
president can go, and then in addition to that, we are also going to be seeing just what it is that Congress means.
The Senate has always been very jealous of its prerogatives. In the House, we never know exactly what it is that the Congress is going to be, because
there are so many different factions on the inside, and then there is also the fundamental divide within the conservatives at this point between the
libertarians who just simply want to shrink the government down as much as possible and other conservatives who want to try to use government power to
try to drive their agenda as much as they could.
QUEST: So that is the political side in a sense. That is the sort of the making of the sausages, if you will, but what about the practical effect
further down?
As cuts are made, as programs are terminated, I read -- you know, a comment on Elon Musk's own Twitter feed basically says, what happens for instance,
when you find that you've cut something in Special Education for those with needs gets cut? Isn't that the reality? Government has responsibilities
that no one else has.
KETTL: Well that's right. Government does a lot of things that people want and expect and that if they -- if it doesn't happen, bad things will happen
politically. There is not only, for example, the special needs students and what happens if they can't get the educational programs that they need.
What happens to Air Traffic Control if we don't have enough air traffic controllers in the towers? What happens to the safety of the food supply
and the baby formula if it turns out we don't have enough inspectors to make sure that is safe? And what happens if people are taking drugs that
might very well injure or kill them?
So there are things that people expect that government will do for them and by the time you start adding all of that up, it turns out to be very hard
to cut it back.
QUEST: One final question, have you ever seen anything like this before?
KETTL: Never anything quite like this. Back in the beginning of the Reagan administration, there was a commission created to try to privatize as much
as possible and Reagan, in fact, pulled a lot of that off. But it turns out that at the end of his administration, he had more federal employees than
he had at the very beginning. So it turns out to be really hard to make this stuff stick, and most of these commissions end up treading water,
creating some headlines; in the end, not really getting done what they want to do.
QUEST: Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. I am grateful. Now --
KETTL: Good to be talking.
QUEST: Good.
In my pocket, if you want to know where something is, I have to -- it's actually this is a posh one. I got this at a CNN event, but what it is
hiding inside is, of course, an AirTag. I love them. I use them all the time to find lost luggage, lost wallets, lost everything, even losing my
mind.
Now, there is a new feature in the AirTag, so users can locate lost luggage with their airlines directly. Is this an innovation or is it a horror?
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:51]
QUEST: Donald Trump's picked the Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general. The President-elect wrote on his Truth Social
platform Gaetz would, quote, end weaponized government, protect our borders and dismantle criminal organizations. The Florida lawmakers said on X, it
would be an honor to serve.
Our legal analyst Michael Moore is with me. Well, this has really put the cat among the patrons, doesn't it, to use that age old phrase. What is
essentially the -- the -- the issue where Matt Gaetz is concerned?
MICHAEL MOORE, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I'm glad to be with you. I'm sorry that we're talking about this kind of thing. You know, the issue is really
competence, frankly, whether or not he has the experience and the character to serve in this office. For a long time, you saw people of distinction,
people who had some amount of legal experience, some proven record as jurists or otherwise, who served in an office to make these decisions that
affect the country and frankly can affect the world.
But in this case, it's taken a full week to realize, a full short week to realize if there was any hope of seriousness in the Trump administration's
appointments or him surrounding himself with anyone skillful, that he's going to do that sparingly.
You see some people he's named for his cabinet, perhaps his secretary of state and such, who may be serious people, but then you see other folks who
clearly are an indication at least that he's much more worried about loyalty and fealty to him than he is about the competence or the ability to
do the job with some -- some level of professionalism and -- and dignity.
QUEST: It doesn't seem to matter, though, because in the -- I mean, first of all, we have this interesting prospect. I'm just reading some co -- some
-- some comments from other members of Congress. If he can't get it through or it looks like it's a bit dodgy, then the recess appointment, which looks
like it's going to be coming back in some shape or form, the Congress will go into recess, Bish Bash Bosh a Ronnie and Donald Trump will just appoint
him.
MOORE: Well, and I -- I think that's right. And you know, let me say this. You know, this is a consequence of elections. And so when people vote a
certain way and the -- and the country has chosen who will be the president, then this -- this -- this is one of the things that happens, is
that you get people who may be appointed to important positions who are less qualified than others.
I think that, you know, when, you know, you can check. But I think Mr. Gaetz probably has some continuing issues with ethics committees and such.
And, you know, there have been issues raised in the House. Those -- those are -- those are concerns. But whether or not that would allow them to pass
through confirmation, we don't know. But as you say, with a recess appointment, that becomes almost irrelevant. One of the reasons that I
think you saw to have his Senate majority leader agree that -- that -- that he would allow recess for.
QUEST: So one final point, and we're -- we're talking today about the Donald Trump having the trifecta of the -- the House, the Senate and the
White House. Now, he doesn't officially have the judiciary, which of course is the other branch of government. But bearing in mind that he's had
conservatives appointed to the Supreme Court, de facto does he have all branches of government and separation of powers per se is weakened.
[16:35:10]
MOORE: I think -- I think that's probably true. But remember, it's not just the Supreme Court. He did a remarkable job of pushing through appointees
and nominees to the district courts, which are the trial courts, and to the various courts of appeal throughout the country. That's where the cases get
decided to get heard -- to get heard. There are very few people with more power than a district court judge in the United States, a federal district
court judge, which is a local judge. They have the power to stop legislation. They have the power to stop things in their tracks that affect
the entire country.
And so he -- he -- he did that in his first term. So he has all these people now, you know, that who he's put in -- put in these positions, and
whether or not they again will believe in the Constitution or they believe he should be just loyal to him, I don't know. But this is a lot like
watching, you know, the godfather appoint his sons to various positions. And he's -- he, again, has looked for loyalty. But this is what happens in
elections. This is why, you know, arguments about the importance and sort of the ongoing effect of -- of an election in the United States has -- has
real meaning and people should -- should heed it.
QUEST: And you and I'll talk many more times over the next four years. I'm grateful for your help and guidance tonight, sir. Thank you.
Inflation was higher last month for the first time since March, CPI 2.6 percent ending in October. And that's raised the worries that the policies
of the next administration could reignite them. Larry Summers, for example, the former Treasury Secretary, has said that inflation fight is far from
over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: The Fed has been in too much of a hurry to cut interest rates and much -- too much of a hurry to promise
future interest rate cuts. They keep giving signals that they're going to cut them a lot and then having to walk those signals back. That's what's
happened in the last two or three months. And I think the biggest lesson in all of this is for President Trump. If he carries through on what he said
during his campaign, there will be an inflation shock significantly greater than the one the country suffered in 2021.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Larry Summers talking there to the world of -- of aviation. The AirTag is the latest rate. I'm afraid my AirTag is stuck in this thing. You
see -- you can see in there is an AirTag in there. I use it all the time. I put it on all my luggage. Now, Apple is letting those of us who have
AirTags in our luggage share the location with the airline. It's a new feature available 15 carriers. It includes United and Delta, 5 percent of
bags are lost or stolen in 2023.
Most of those are recovered in some shape or form. But if you could say to the AirTag -- to the airline, I know where it is. Here's my AirTag details.
Brian Kelly is The Points Guy. Brian, it's good to talk to you as always, so thank you. I'm grateful. And Brian, what do you make of this idea of
sharing AirTags with the -- the airline?
BRIAN KELLY, FOUNDER, THE POINTS GUY: Well, the AirTag invention has been incredible for travelers. You know, especially two summers ago when there
was the luggage mayhem going on in Heathrow with thousands of bags. You know, passengers who had AirTags were able to say to the airlines, my bag
is here. This is what it looks like. And I know countless people who have coached the airlines into finding their bags. This new update from Apple is
going to make it so much easier where you can share with the airline exactly where the bag is and they can hopefully get it back to you much
quicker.
QUEST: Spirit Airlines might go bankrupt. And I guess JetBlue will be turning around and saying, told you so. This is exactly what we said was
going to happen. Now, to be clear, if it goes into chapter 11, that doesn't mean it's stopping flying. It just reorganizes. But why? What's gone wrong
with Spirit?
KELLY: You know, Spirit, most of the major airlines in America are making tons of money off of their loyalty program, credit card high end flyers.
And Spirit is not equipped really for any of that. They never invested in loyalty. They just now announced a plan to have premium seating and -- and
frankly, they're just lagging behind their competitors. And fares are cheap even with the full service carrier. So why would you fly Spirit when you
can earn your Delta miles for roughly the same price?
QUEST: If you look at the way travel has come back, we now know that business travel, a larger, I mean, a lot of it's come back, leisure travel
is very strong. The economic environment, what are you seeing in terms of travel, where people are going, how people are traveling, what the priority
is?
KELLY: Yes, luxury travel still continues to boom and that's where all the major carriers are making money. You know, United is trying to inch up on
Delta for that premium market. We're seeing huge numbers in luxury travel, safaris, a lot of intergenerational family trips. So across the board,
cruising. And, you know, consumers are feeling pretty confident with the economy not crashing into recession like many people thought. This new
Trump administration, at least in the short term, has, you know, swelled people's bank -- bank accounts and stock market accounts. So I suspect that
trend of the upper crust of travelers, those who make the most money for the industry, are going to be spending as much as ever on travel.
[16:40:21]
QUEST: OK. I've got a confession. I wish I didn't care, but I do, Brian. I wish I didn't care, but we're at that time of the year where we find out
what are the limits for next year's elite requalification at the airlines. And the amount you've got to spend has gone up. Sometimes the perks have
gone down. There are more golds and platinums and Uber elites than before. As I say, I wish I didn't care, but I do.
KELLY: Well, you're on the elite status hamster wheel as I call it. We get stuck in this game of chasing status. But you're exactly right. The
airlines have whittled down the perks for those middle and lower tiers. And I tell people all the time, just because you've gotten it in the past, you
know, spending so much on an airline co-brand to earn just that airline miles. What a lot of people are doing now is getting loyal to credit cards.
I know a lot of business travelers saying, hey, look, I'm going to take the best flight, use the best credit cards and then I'm just going to upgrade
or pay for -- for first in business class versus trying to hope for upgrades because business class prices have come down that especially
domestic first class, it's cheaper than it was pre pandemic. So why hope for an upgrade and spend all this money on a credit card when you can just
pay a little bit extra and secure the first class suit?
QUEST: Believe me, London is still offensively expensive at the front. I've never done anything like it. And it probably will. Brian, it is good to see
you. We'll talk more about it in the future. Thank you. Grateful as always.
That's Quest Means Business tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, hope it's profitable. Marketplace
Asia is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARC STEWART, CNN HOST: This month on Marketplace Asia, we're in Vietnam as the country ushers in a new era of tourism.
Plus, we meet a Japanese couple who learn to make cheese on YouTube and now run a $60 million pizza empire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[16:45:02]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We learn from the YouTube.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: I'm Marc Stewart in Ho Chi Minh City here in Vietnam, and this is Marketplace Asia.
STEWART (voice-over): This year, tourism bounced back. In the first seven months of 2024, global travel returned to pre pandemic levels. That's
according to U.N. Tourism. Asian markets are playing a key role. The World Economic Forum expects global tourism to be reinforced by pent up demand
and growth here in Asia. Vietnam is one example of that. Tourism numbers here haven't just returned to pre pandemic levels, they've surpassed them.
STEWART: I talked to the nation's tourism minister about the country's ambitious plans for the future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN VAN HUN, MINISTER OF CULTURE, SPORTS, AND TOURISM, VIETNAM (through translator): In the first seven months of the year, Vietnam welcomed over
10 million international tourists. If we look closely at the figures, China continues to hold a steady position among the top 10 markets, right behind
South Korea.
STEWART: Where are the new markets? What parts of the world are you trying to get more tourists from that you may not have reached out to in the past?
VAN HUN (through translator): In developing tourism, Vietnam, like other countries, tends to maintain traditional customer bases and markets.
However, the real progress lies in expanding to potential new markets. We're also tapping into the tourism industry through film. Hollywood is the
biggest film industry in the world, so we're collaborating with them.
STEWART (voice-over): Vietnam's travel sector could grow further. The country has focused on easing visa requirements for inbound travelers and
plans to have three airports by 2030, up from its current 22. A different picture to a couple of years ago.
GARY BOWERMAN, DIRECTOR, CHECK-IN ASIA: What happened in Vietnam, it had a slow recovery in terms of tourism inbound after the pandemic. There was a
lot of criticism about the slow recovery in terms of visa free access. You know, look at countries around the region like Thailand, Singapore,
Malaysia, they were very, very quick to reactivate visa free access for key markets like India, from China, from other destinations and markets around
Asia Pacific.
Vietnam was much slower to do that. But since then you've seen the recovery of the demand for visiting to Vietnam. And two reasons for that. One, I
think it is has really strong destination appeal, particularly in the post pandemic era. A bit like Thailand, it has this really intangible appeal
tourists. And you've also seen the airlines particularly low cost carriers like Viet Jet have been very aggressive in recovering their capacity,
meeting new market.
STEWART: During the pandemic there were visa restrictions and it hurt the number of tourists coming to Vietnam. As you look back, do you think those
restrictions hurt tourism numbers as we are in the current environment now?
VAN HUN (through translator): In my opinion, each country should look back to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic to learn valuable lessons.
However, I share the same viewpoint as other countries. Since effective vaccines or optimal medical treatments had not yet been discovered,
restricting visas to mitigate the spread of disease was understandable.
STEWART: How important is visa-free travel in attracting tourists to come to Vietnam?
VAN HUN (through translator): The Vietnamese government has been researching to remove barriers related to visa policies and this is also a
measurement to stimulate tourism. The 15-day visa has increasingly been adjusted to 30 days. And the 30-day visa has extended to be 90 days and
could be renewed multiple times. In fact, visa is just one aspect of attracting tourists, but it holds an important position. It is not the only
facet. The key to a successful strategy for attracting visitors lies in creating unique tourism products that are highly competitive, affordable,
and appealing to travelers. This combination is what truly makes a destination attractive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[16:50:45]
STEWART (voice-over): Vietnam is a world class destination for dining. From piping hot bowls of pho, the country's ubiquitous soup with rice noodles
and meat, to cha ca, a grilled fish with turmeric and dill, it's everywhere. Fancy restaurants on the street add in markets like this one in
Ho Chi Minh City where I discovered this icy dessert made of beans, jelly and coconut.
STEWART: Oh, thank you. Thank you. I was cold.
Vietnam is a foodies paradise. You can get something sweet, you can find something savory. We also found the unexpected.
STEWART (voice-over): Spicy seafood with smoked cheese, soy beef garlic, burrata and zucchini basil. These are the award winning toppings that
helped launch a $60 million pizza empire taking this continent by storm and the YouTube blogging community.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At a restaurant called Pizza 4P's.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The famous Pizza 4P's.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, let's go.
STEWART (voice-over): If you're hungry for pizza in Asia, there's a chance you'll be directed here, Pizza 4P's. It's taking Italian traditions and
kneading them in with the flavors and cultural nuances of each country they launch it. I'm here where it all began, Vietnam's capital, Ho Chi Minh
City, to grab a slice with the Japanese husband wife duo behind it all.
STEWART: Hey.
SANAE TAKASUGI, FOUDER, PIZZA 4P'S: Hi. How are you?
STEWART: It's good to see you. How are you?
YOSUKE MASUKO, FOUDER, PIZZA 4P'S: Nice to see you.
STEWART: Nice to see you.
STEWART (voice-over): Yosuke Masuko and Sanae Takasugi quit their corporate jobs in Tokyo to move to Vietnam together. And in 2011 used their savings
to open the first restaurant. They had almost zero experience in the business, but instead an infectious passion for spreading joy through food,
a passion that started out as a hobby.
MASUKO: In 2005, we -- I -- I made a pizza oven in my garden in Tokyo, in backyard in Tokyo. So that was the start.
TAKASUGI: His picks girlfriends after this.
STEWART (voice-over): He found solace in pizza making after the death of his best friend.
MASUKO: I realized that making people happy or making people enjoy makes me really happy. Pizza is quite like diverse but inclusive.
TAKASUGI: I bring it this, and you bring it that and we share. That makes a super primitive activity.
STEWART (voice-over): His experience inspired the core philosophy behind the restaurant and its name, 4P's is a play on 4P's.
TAKASUGI: 4P's makes the world smile. 4P's is our ultimate gold.
STEWART: And what is the economic potential you see from being in Vietnam?
MASUKO: We were kind of fascinated by Vietnam, the country itself and people in Vietnam.
TAKASUGI: We saw surprise of how fast they are growing.
MASUKO: Vietnam is a really potential market compared to Japan, and people are younger.
STEWART (voice-over): Their mission to create pizza and spread peace seems to have resonated. They've opened 32 locations across Vietnam, expanded
into Cambodia, Japan and India, and have plans for Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. They say they're just shy of 3,500 employees. Their
restaurants are also quite simply cool. Some designed by local architects, others aimed at being zero waste.
The couple has attracted several rounds of funding, including from the Japanese government. In 2023, the company's total revenue jumped 30 percent
from the previous year to $60 million. The couple credit their success to their values and cheese. They even opened their own dairy farm.
STEWART: You make this in Vietnam?
TAKASUGI: Yes, we have a cheese factory in Thailand.
MASUKO: When we started in 2011, there's no local cheese and only import from Italy, but only once a week. The only option is make by ourselves. But
we didn't know how to make it, so we learned from the YouTube.
[16:55:10]
TAKASUGI: Go to YouTube how to make.
MASUKO: We -- we run motorbike to visit and knock the door of the farmer. Can I have like 10 liter of the milk?
STEWART (voice-over): One tough choice perfecting the menu.
MASUKO: Vietnamese people really like the salmon, raw salmon. But India they don't eat raw salmon. You know, one of the most difficult things to
launch in different country is the menu arrangement. Like 70 percent of the menu India is different from --
TAKASUGI: Vietnam.
MASUKO: -- Vietnam. Every country we need to change and create our different recipes.
TAKASUGI: Apply work also culture, religion based is different. We go to the Indonesia and the most Israeli country, no pork and beef like India. We
-- we never use beef like sweet spice Indonesia but India it's spicy but more complicated.
STEWART: Do you have someone help you with venue inspiration?
MASUKO: We appoint some of the consultants from Japan and some consultants from the local people.
STEWART: Would you expand into Europe or North America? I mean would you go to Italy?
TAKASUGI: Milano maybe here. We are so here about the Nepal.
STEWART: Is people drawn to the pizza for the whole -- this whole experience of -- of wellness and happiness?
TAKASUGI: There actually no secret.
MASUKO: We don't know. But -- we don't know to believe that is the whole experience.
STEWART (voice-over): The couple hopes 4P's will grow into a billion dollar global brand, giving other countries a slice of their specialties.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEWART: And that's our program for now. For more on these stories and others, just go to our website, CNN.com/MarketplaceAsia. I'm Marc Stewart
in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I'll see you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
