al: i am al hunt. john: john heilemann. and with all due respect, life on mars isn't going to come down here. we are going to build the most readable while stacy you have ever seen. space youul wall in have ever seen. john: happy national drink beer day sports fans. my favorite day of the year. i am absolutely serious. so are barack obama and vladimir putin. totally serious, that is. 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. speaking of mingling putin is , plunging into middle

east affairs, with an intelligence sharing agreement. i'm on russia, iraq, syria and iran. 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.. president obama: when a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own 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 -- refused. with thed to cooperate syrian forces rather than fighting terrorism face-to-face. we should acknowledge that no one but president assad's

armed forces are truly fighting the islamic state and other terrorist organizations in syria. 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 obama's term and it is seemingly worse and worse. my question is whether because of these moves by russia, is there a chance that there could be a thaw? or are things getting worse. 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. going into syria and trying to prop up assad is not the answer to syria. john: first of all, it is

obvious that they will not be in a great mood. so much of what russia has done has been unilateral, not any consultation with the u.s.. 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 choose between which priorities matter more, getting rid of assad or fixing isis. it's possible they can find some common ground, but it will be very difficult to get there. i write, because i don't think you can defeat isis if assad is in power. u.s. there are some in the 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 builder donald trump called the press to his eponymous tower with a big announcement. an idea for how americans should pay taxes. his plan would mean no income tax earning under $25,000 per year. reducing the tax brackets to four, limiting 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'm going to get rid of a tremendous amount of waste. the waste that i get rid of, the waste 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 lily getting quest -- candidate

that puts 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 interest loophole, but he lowers the topical rate of 25%. ae estate tax goes to one and half percent for the richest americans. this is traditional gop politics. john: this is where i think he gets to the politics question. trump's posturing as a populist, as a different kind of republican, last night "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

populist style twinned with the real hard-core republican conventional policy -- that could be a winner. al: it could be, but let's not forget -- he said he will not cut entitlements. he will massively increased defense spending, and have a huge revenue losing tax plan. that is a lot of debt. john: a lot of debt, i'm not sure i can imagine this is revenue neutral although he claims it will be. john ellis bush has invited his top investors to a pledge drive. even though he is pulling behind candidates who did not even make the cut for the first debate, his advisers are zen because they think the money game is there is to lose. al, a lot of talk about money on jeb's side. talking about how the tv ads will save him. campaign manager, super pac die, is money going to be that can save him despite his other defects? 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 dollars, he got one delegate. i think he can do better than her but if he doesn't win one ,one of those first contest 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 in the interim, will be very well positioned to be the established -- establishment candidate. 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: that is the key. it is a long process. aree go on the mic and three candidates and jeb is one of them, that will matter. he has to win something.

john: got to win something. not just john conolly, phil gramm learn you can raise a lot of money and not be the candidate. it may be the case that the happiest thing john boehner did as speaker of the house was meet the pope. he was clearly moved by it, because in his exit 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. meanwhile today, the odds on favorite to replace boehner, kevin mccarthy, announced 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. talk about not just whether -- that short-term stuff will get done, but more important 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] but other than that -- 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. there's no doubt about it. the underlying dynamics are what they are. the conservatives are emboldened by boehner's departure. they are going to go seeking new scalps. at the moment they don't have a speaker, so 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. trying to deal with this, all of the contents for a presidential campaign will exacerbate this. i think it is going to be an ugly session. al: and it may impact the presidential race. republicans say we are here to govern, and if they can't it will cause difficulties. john: cnn, it turns out, will 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.

-- by game day. in a moment, we will talk to a 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 secretary. 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. i have heard from the secretary, 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 -- the secretary? john: there has been a lot of outreach from the clinton campaign showing their love. that is fair to say. robert: i would like to say that there was always a good relationship. but i will let you say it how you want. john: have you heard anything more from vice president biden? robert: no. john: what is your gut right

now, as the clock ticks, whether he will get in the race? robert: every day it seems like it is getting closer. there is a large group of draft joe bidens. over the weekend i heard different people joining it. i saw the letter. i think he is very popular, and the colbert thing hit 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: you are going to stick with hillary if he does run? robert: yes. d think it would be good for the party and good for hillary 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. so yes, i think i would probably be better for the secretary or vice president biden or whoever else. al: let me turn to policy. john mentioned you were a policy advisor to obama. i think you are pretty supportive of what he has done over these six years. what is the next economic agenda, clinton, biden, someone else? robert: if you spoke to the president, he would feel good things, at the beginning he started with health care and jobs, coming to fruition every day. but to extend that, if you address respect -- 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. truth is, we have $3 trillion worth of infrastructure. i don't just mean roads and bridges. we are talking about next-generation gts, fiber being laid out everywhere. al: that would be the top of any agenda. robert: yes. and as you mentioned before, the greatest multiplier of gdp is infrastructure. al: let's talk about the fed. they did not raise interest rates. did they handle it? robert: 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 actually would not be for raising in -- i don't think it december 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. china came out 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. and lowering the rate. my guess is simpson bowles would crushed this, and say 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%, 10% one-time tax and then think we will lower the deficit. doesn't make sense to me. john: we have to go, i could talk to you all day. thank you for coming.

when i come back, detroit and david mariner. ♪

john: recently, i had a chance to talk with the pulitzer gilded 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. i was actually- in new york super bowl sunday, watching my green bay packers. at halftime, not paying too much attention, i looked up at the screen, and there was a freeway sign that said detroit. all these iconic images. the joe louis this the diego , rivera mural, the theater, and the hypnotic motor city.

through theng streets, saying this is the motor city. i chokedy priceless, up watching and it 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. the period i took was 1962 to 1964, because motown went off, an incredible collection of marvin gaye and stevie wonder, smokey robinson. the supremes singing backup. i wanted to capture that period of early motown, which minute had to be around their. -- there. cars were selling more than ever

before at the 1962 auto show. i wanted to write about the mustang. i comes out at the end of my book. in the middle of all this, in 1963, 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. ben king comes to detroit, two months before the march on washington, june 23, 1963, with 150,000 people. the middle of my book. people tend to blame detroit's demise on the riots in 1967, the penchant for government workers, -- pensions for government workers and the municipal corruption of mayors and labor leaders. to one degree you could debate any of those, but the structure problems come before. the population of the city had already been going on since the 50's. a sociologist predicts that they

will lose half a million people every decade from then on. and he was right. 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. their political saga. you have known them, written about them, covered them through much of their public life. in what ways has what we have seen from hillary clinton as a candidate in this first six months of her candidacy -- in what ways has it's a price you, -- surprise you, and what ways has it completely conformed to your expectations of her? david: the main thing about mrs. clinton i would say, we all know she is really intelligent 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. but she has suffered more than him because of it. i see it two ways. one is just in comparison, and terms of political campaigning abilities. i 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 one i would say, the negative, is 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. they believe 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 cliched, why do you think that is? what is the root of that? from what does that spring, the sense of we can play by a different set of rules? 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 rigged against them in the first place. convincedboth bee

themselves against that. when mrs. clinton said, it was a right wing conspiracy, they have always felt that. they always tell politics was a war in some sense. i think that mentality has always sort of defined their sensibility. it is hard to rid oneself of fat that after you have been doing it that way for so long. john: thank you to the great david, we will be right back sacks i haveest ever seen in my entire life. ♪

john: not that there was doubt about it, but we have conclusive evidence the washington nationals are just the worst. their closer human wobble lamp choked the best players, bryce harper, in the dugout toward the end of yesterday's game. today, pat levine, after being n,lowed to finish, -- papelbo what is wrong with your closer

and coach? al: we had the most dysfunctional team of all, the washington redskins. but if the nationals don't get rid of this guy, i just had a horrible nightmare. my company's entire network went down, and i was home in bed, unaware. but that would never happen. comcast business monitors my company's network 24 hours a day and calls and e-mails me if something, like this scary storm, takes it offline. so i can rest easy. what. you don't have a desk bed? don't be left in the dark. get proactive alerts 24/7. comcast business. built for business.

brendan: the tech industry rolled out the red carpet this weekend for india's prime minister. ♪ i am brendan greeley. i am not emily chang. she is out today. this is "bloomberg west." apple sells 13 million of its new iphone. this time, the numbers include china. plus, let's stay on apple. ceo tim crook -- cook and screenwriter aaron sorkin