al: i am al hunt. john: john heilemann. and with all due respect, life on mars isn't going to come down here. john: happy national drink beer day sports fans. i am absolutely serious. so are barack obama in vladimir putin. here is a picture of them clinking glasses at the u.n.. sure, it is not beer, but everyone knows it is impossible to get through the u.n. without a buzz.

putin is plunging into middle east affairs, with an intelligence sharing agreement. on top of that, he trashed obama's policy on syria and interview with charlie rose. here is what he said today about syria, speaking before the u.n.. >> with a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of the sun people, that is not just a matter of one nation's internal affairs. it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all. yes, realism dictates that compromise be required to end the fighting and ultimately stamp out isis, but it also requires a managed transition into a new leader. >> we think it is an enormous mistake to cooperate with armed forces rather than fighting terrorism face-to-face. president assad's

forces are truly fighting the islamic state and other terrorists organizations. john: this is chamber music today, the overture to the private meeting going on as we speak between president obama and vladimir putin. the u.s. and russia have not had great relations over the course of this term and is getting worse. my question is whether because of these moves by russia, is there a chance that there could be a thaw? al: there is not much of a chance, john. putin doesn't have our best interests in mind. as he said in his interview, one of the most tragic things he thinks has happened with the dissolution of the soviet union, he is trying to build back the soviet empire. trying to pop up assad is not the answer to syria. john: first of all, it is

obvious that they will not be in a great mood. they are -- putin is basically establishing a rival alliance to deal with the problem of isis. on the other hand, it is a big problem. you wonder -- president obama is in a difficult place, having to juice into to which priority matters more -- getting rid of isis.sad or fixing al: i don't think it is going to at th is the conundrumat -- th is the conundrum. john: there are some in the u.s. intelligence community that think the worst thing would be for assad to go right now because isis would flourish in syria. there might be a sequence here where you could back off. you can say say officially we are for assad, deal with isis,

focus on syria later. this morning, an aspiring wall called theald trump press to his eponymous tower with the big idea -- how americans should pay taxes. his plan would mean no income tax earning under $25,000 per year. they would limit income taxes for businesses at 15%, and eliminating the estate tax, or the ghoulish label death tax. here is how he described it. i wouldn't say populace at all. i would say i'm a man of common sense. i'm cutting taxes and will create a lot of jobs. i will get rid of a tremendous amount of waste. the waste that i get rid of, the ways that i get rid of is going to have a huge impact and i am not even putting that in my numbers. i think it is going to be terrific. john: al, the question as always is will a candidate put forward a policy proposal.

is this terrific policy? al: let's take the policy first. it is a fraud, a total fraud. he is talking about giving tax cuts to the middle class and helping the working poor. it is crumbs for them and caviar for the rich. he will say he is ending the loophole that he lowers the top rate to 25%. was close tox .5% -- john: this is where i think he gets to the politics question. populist,sturing as a "60 minutes" asked some questions about whether or not it is liberal. turns out it is a play to the right, of almost anyone's tax plan. it might therefore be ok politics, because the truth is a

with thestyle twinned real hard-core republican conventional policy -- that could be a winner. al: they could be, but he also said he is going to cut entitlements -- he will increase defense spending, a huge revenue losing tax plan. that is a lot of debt. john: i'm not sure i can imagine this revenue neutral. bush has invited his top investors to a pledge drive. zen because are they think the money game is there still is. al, a lot of talk about money on jeb's side. moneympaign manager -- is going to be the thing that can save bush despite his demonstrated defect? al: if he doesn't overcome those

defects -- let me give you one name, ada mills. she was the one delegate that john conolly, who spent $11 million -- one delegate. i think you'll do better than her, but if he doesn't win one of those first 45 contests the money will matter. john: the fish got a stay in the tank. i think they are right to argue that if this is an elongated nomination process that having resources matters, at bush, if he can catch on with voters, will be very well-positioned. the question is the big if. if he catches on with voters. so far, there have not been very many signs that jeb bush will be selling what voters want to buy. al: is it is a long process, there are three candidates and jeb is 1 -- it will matter. he has to win something. john: got to win something.

it may be the case that the happiest thing john boehner did as speaker of the house was meet the pope. interview, he was talking about some people in the republican party, when he referred to the biblical verse that advises us to be wary of false prophets. kevin mccarthy announced that he is in fact running for speaker. here's my question. we will probably have a new speaker in kevin mccarthy. we have a bunch of stuff to get done in a very short-term. --k about not just whether in the long run, is life after boehner substantially different? al: not a bit. kevin mccarthy will be more cheery. he is an upbeat guy and doesn't drink as much merlot. [laughter] john: who does? al: that's true.

it doesn't change the caucus. they will get through the funding and the debt ceiling. boehner is willing to bite the bullet but i think kevin is going to have the same challenges. john: i totally agree. the underlying dynamics are what they are. the conservatives are emboldened by boehner's departure. at the moment they don't have a speaker who has got -- it looks like they are turning their fire on mitch mcconnell. those dynamics that have plagued the house playing the senate in the same way. mccarthy will be a new figure. anhink it is going to be ugly session. al: and it may impact the presidential race. republicans are saying we are here to govern and if they can't it will cause difficulties. will cnn, it turns out, allow joe biden to be in the first democratic debate of the season, if the vice president

decides to get in the race like a day. talk to at, we will major obama fundraiser who met recently with biden. we will talk to him about the democratic race when we come back. ♪

john: our guest tonight is robert wolfe, the former chairman of ubs america, founder of a new consulting firm, a longtime economic advisor, and bundler for barack obama. even though he is in hillary clinton's corner he met with joe biden a few weeks ago. robert, after that story came out, you heard from a lot of different people around the world on the democratic side,

from every possible camp. my question -- what have you heard from the clinton camp? robert: well, i am supporting the sectarian. i saw her when i was in the vineyard, and over the last few weeks i sat down with the chair of hillary for america. a lot of good exchanges. secretary,d from the who is going to be meeting with her, probably within the next week or so. john: it is the case that when you met with vice president biden, none of those things you described had occurred. robert: well, i just got back. john: i just want to place the vineyard thing in time. robert: how often do you get to see -- john: there has been a lot of outreach from the clinton campaign showing their love. robert: i would like to say that there was always a good relationship. john: have you heard anything more from vice president biden? robert: no. john: what is your gut right

now, as the go clock ticks, whether he will get in the race? robert: every day it seems like it is getting closer. draft is a large group of joe joe bidens. i saw the letter. andink he is very popular, if he hits a lot of people in a heartwarming way. people want to see a real democratic race between the secretary and sanders and biden. it feels like to me that he is leaning forward to eventually run. al: please stick with hillary if he does run -- will you stick with hillary if he does run? do you think will be good for the party if he gets in? robert: listen, i think it is good to have a real primary. if the vice president wants to go when, he is ready to go in,

yeah, i think it will be good for the debate, good to have people see different platforms. yeah, i think having a few more -- al: you think it will be good for her? robert: i think whoever the candidate is coming out of a tough primary is going to be better for the general. i think that would be better for the secretary or for vice president biden. john mentioned you were a policy advisor to obama. are you supportive of what he has done over these last six years? what is the next economic agenda, clinton, biden, someone else? robert: if you spoke to the president, he would feel good about the things he has started with health care and jobs coming to fruition, but to extend that -- in retrospect, one thing he really wanted was the idea of infrastructure.

he never got his national infrastructure bank. never got his financing authority forward. have $3 trillion worth of infrastructure. we are talking about next generation gts, fiber being laid out everywhere. way, as you mentioned before, the greatest multiplier of gdp is infrastructure. al: quick question about the fed. they didn't raise interest rates -- should they? robert: actually, i was not a supporter of the fed raising rates, because the volatility has been incredible. i think the global growth has been slowing. imf came out with a forecast of slower than normal. i would not be for raising in december -- i don't think it is good timing. they are going to raise but i would probably wait till 2016. i don't think going into the holiday season of fed raises a

good thing. you want consumers back at the table, spending. i am nervous about rates today. i know you guys are going to talk about china. they came out with slow manufacturing -- that is not a good sign for global growth. i don't think by waiting another few months it is going to change the direction. john: real quick, 20 seconds. what do you think about the trump tax plans? robert: i have seen the headlines. it seems like he is narrowing the base. my guess is simpson bowles would crush him, say that it is going to add trillions to the deficit. i have not yet seen it. it would be surprising to me that you can lower the highest rate from 40% to 25%, incorporates from 35% to 15%, think we will lower the deficit. john:, robber, we have to go i could talk to you all day. -- robert, we have to go.

i could talk to you all day. ♪

john: recently, i had a chance to talk with the washington post associate editor. he has a new book out. he is the only guy who could write it. he has covered politics, sports, and every other aspect of american culture. when i asked him what inspired to write this book, his answer wasn't surprising. david: it was -- i was in new york on super bowl sunday, watching the green bay packers. i looked up at the screen, and there was a freeway sign that said detroit. all these iconic images. thediego rivera mural, hypnotic goin motor

city. i choked up watching it, and he got me thinking about why. was i falling for the car? no, i was falling for the city. i started thinking about why those images hit me so powerfully. then i thought -- what can i do about that? i write narrative books. i wanted to write a book that somehow honored detroit. took was 1962 to 1964, because motown went off, an incredible collection of marvin gaye and stevie wonder, smokey robinson. i wanted to capture that period of early motown, which minute had to be around their. cars were selling more than ever before.

i wanted to write about the mustang. i comes out at the end of my book. ,n the middle of all this labour was very powerfully helping the civil rights movement. the president of united auto workers in detroit was essentially bankrolling martin luther king during the birmingham demonstrations. twoking comes to detroit, months before the march on 1963, with june 23, 150,000 people. people tend to blame detroit's demise on the riots in 1967, the penchant for government workers, and the missable corruption of labor leaders. to one degree you could debate any of those, but the structure problems come before. city hadation of the already been going on since the 1960's. predicts that they

will lose half a million people every decade from then on. john: sitting back behind me on this shelf with all these books, there is a book you wrote about bill clinton. david: first edition! john: but to make book for a lot of people who followed the clintons. you have known them, written about them, covered them through much of their public life. what we havehas seen from hillary clinton as a candidate in this first six months of her candidacy -- in what ways has it's a price you, completely conform to your expectations? david: the main thing about mrs. clinton is that we'll know she is brilliant, very experienced, knows the political game, and she has benefited from it, as

did her husband, from their relationship. they got places together they couldn't have gotten to a part. which he suffered more because of it. one is just in terms of political campaigning abilities. was talking about political theater, and he is a good actor. she is not. that is part of it. in comparison with him in terms of her ability to be charismatic, to move people, she doesn't have it in the same way. the other negative is that largely because of his history and the way he has moved through the years, she became part of his defense mechanism very early on. she has never been able to rid herself of that. she has always been defensive first. john: people look at the way she handled her e-mail, the way they

conducted their business, many people come to what is i think a true but nevertheless hackneyed conclusion, which is that they play by their own rules. that they are not subject to the normal standard operating procedures other public figures have to operate under. if you accept that that is true, however, why do you think that is wha? what is the root of that? david: ok, assuming i accept it, which to some degree i do, i would say, one, that they have always survived and always prevailed. they can plow through anything, particularly bill, but hillary as well. another one is that they think the game is right in the first -- the game is rigged in the first place. the mrs. clinton said

left-wing conspiracy -- they have always felt that people were out to get them, and they have always felt politics was a war. that has always defined their sensibility. it is hard to rid oneself of fat after you have been doing it that way for so long. john: our thanks. we will be right back with the saddest facts i have ever seen in my entire life. ♪

john: boy, the washington nationals are just the worst. their closer human wobble lamp bryce the best players, harper, in the dugout toward the end of yesterday's game. today, he was suspended for the

rest of the season. what is going on with this team? al: we had the most dysfunctional team of all, the washington redskins. if they don't get rid of him, they will be the most dysfunctional. ♪

>> we are moments away from the closing bell. i'm alix steel. ♪ alix: u.s. stocks tumbling, the s&p down over 8% this quarter. joe: the question is, "what'd you miss?" equity markets hurtled towards their worst quarter since 2011. something's rotten in biotech, the sector getting slammed.