♪ >> trump tower offering no new announcements today, but there was one whopper of a headline. mitt romney will meet with president-elect donald trump this weekend about secretary of state. donald trump says he is serious. what do we make of all of this? >> donald trump is watching the coverage of the transition. i do not think he likes the way certain things have slowed. he wants a wow cabinet and i think mitt romney would take the job.

it would have a lot of people rethink what donald trump is about. mitt romney would be seen as qualified and because he was the staunchest of critics, or it would allow donald trump to say, politics is over. i am building the best government i can. democrats who praised mitt romney would have to say, bravo, donald trump. >> people have been waiting for his cabinet and i could not be more thrilled. at some point, somebody is [indiscernible] mitt romney would be a brilliant higher. as a ceo, i surrounded myself with more measured people. rudy giuliani, newt gingrich --

it is more donald trump. for him to reach across the aisle to the non-trumpers, it would be fantastic. >> it would be a governing pick, not a crony. it would not be picking somebody out of loyalty. it would give him a chance to start to build a cabinet. there is a theory that as donald trump is dealing with the transition, he is looking at the coverage and he is souring at the people pushing for jobs, like rudy giuliani. even people like laura ingram, the possible press secretary. >> it is a privilege to be considered. some folks who are watching, as a supreme court clerk, i was a litigator -- i have a broad

career in government as a speechwriter in the reagan administration. i worked in the white house in domestic policy. i understand there is a stereotype. >> john would be a very good choice. >> is there anybody better? >> me -- i don't know. [laughter] >> donald trump can ignore anything. he does not get caught up in the moment. it is not personal, it is business. the selection of mitt romney -- the reviews for the constituencies that he wants to please and get momentum from, would be positive. at this point, i am not prepared to say that mitt romney is the front runner but by the end of

the weekend, he may be. >> that would be fantastic. i'm going back to something that has kept me hopeful. if donald trump wants to win, it is not about his cronies, it is going to be, what is going to get us where we need to get to? in transition, it is important to analyze every pick. we cannot normalize the stuff that cannot be normalized. benin -- misogyny, anti-semitism, and racism has to be revisited. i am still encouraged, but i need more explanation about his first pick. >> there is no question that is still going to be out there. nancy pelosi has asked mike pence to take it back. the other thing they mitt romney pick would do is he would help recruit not just within the state department to bring in a lot of career diplomats -- i think he will recruit elsewhere in the cabinet. whether jamie dimon ends up being the treasury secretary -- mitt romney would send an important signal to the country and people around the world about what donald trump is trying to do. it does not wash away everything we cannot normalize the stuff that cannot be normalized. benin -- misogyny, anti-semitism, and racism has to be revisited.

i am still encouraged, but i need more explanation about his first pick. >> there is no question that is still going to be out there. nancy pelosi has asked mike pence to take it back. the other thing they mitt romney pick would do is he would help recruit not just within the state department to bring in a lot of career diplomats -- i think he will recruit elsewhere in the cabinet. whether jamie dimon ends up being the treasury secretary -- mitt romney would send an important signal to the country and people around the world about what donald trump is trying to do. it does not wash away everything

else but it would be a big message and the kind of pick compared to giuliani where people would say, donald trump is not rewarding loyalty to say the least. >> i have only said it is about donald trump. he is going to do what is best for him. i cannot tell you what that would mean. the statement that would make. everybody would take a sigh of relief. [indiscernible] >> the nikki haley thing was never serious. i said this morning, i thought there would be another large name. >> speed dating at trump tower, donald trump meeting with people

consider for top administrative positions. the comings and goings have caused a media frenzy in the skyscraper lobby. c-span has a live feed of the elevators and reporters are waiting for the midnight showing. the casting call included nikki haley, henry kissinger, jeb hensarling and janine. the transition team was out of the debt -- behind schedule. >> right before or after thanksgiving is more appropriate. we left it with the past administrations have been and we feel like we're on time. in 2000, the country went to thanksgiving before knowing who was president. >> the donald trump team is trying to get back into

controlling their message. >> i thought it was laughable and not surprising that they thought the transition would take care of itself. they left a vacuum filled by stories that is being cast in a negative light. they are making an effort to show themselves going 90 miles per hour. the stories are not going to be uniformly positive, but there is the notion of donald trump on a victory lap, meeting with world leaders. i think they want to create a sense of forward motion, activity, and victory. >> everybody in the media business has been on the tater -- a-titter because the transition is in disarray. in a matter of days, they have to make 4000 hires. it is not going to be a linear process.

versus obama and the clinton campaign, there is going to be bumping. i think that is part of the process. donald trump is looking and poking and it is going to be a stumble but that is ok. what matters is the names he picks. >> they are not emphasizing this that much. mike pence is getting a ton of done to lay the groundwork for the legislative agenda and relationships around the world. again, with a president who has never done anything like this before. >> every time i listen to

kellyanne conway, i think she is still campaigning. there is no enemy at this point. graciousness, even under fire. >> when we come back, the donald trump family brand is under more scrutiny than ever. we will ask donnie about how that could change. ♪

♪

>> gary kushner has played an influential role in the trump campaign. yesterday, we talked about reports that security clearance was eventually going to be solved for gary kushner. it has been suggested that he is going to go inside the government even though he is the son-in-law of the president to be. he is very camera shy and does not do many interviews. since it is clear he doesn't want to shape his brand on his own, what could his allies due to put it in a better place? >> i used to live in the same building as them. his reputation, a lot of people

do not know a lot about this guy. his father wrote a check to get him into harvard. he has had unsuccessful splashes into their real estate business. he has been an effective member of the campaign. he is supposed to be a decent guy that only spends time with his family and work, a very serious guy. my question is, what is the credibility he has? i think he needs to be front and center so people can look and touch and smell that he is 35. >> i agree. bannon has a longer paper trail of negativity. the fact that they are not talking in public allows their

opponents to define them. if kerry kushner says, i need a better brand, what is the solution? ivanka? friends? >> he is a human being and we live in a media world. just like a television personality or a politician, you have to be front and center. there is no other solution. we have got to get to know you, pal. >> he is going to have a large role in the administration. he is not hiding from the media because he has anything to hide, it is just not his style. it is a reality of the age in which you live. if you want to we power, you have to be more visible. >> we know very little about them and that has to change. >> donald trump's own family

members played a starring role in the campaign. their sway over what he will be like as president will be strong. his eldest children are on the advisory board of the transition team despite the fact that they are taking over the family business. it is unclear what kind of influence they will have into the presidency. his plan was an asset, but they are now under fire. there are questions about their potential conflict of interest. donnie, how is donald trump's

relationship with his family going to play when we get to january? >> i have known those kids for years. great kids. there is a very active business here, and this is the first time we are seeing a don't family members in office. if these individuals are going to be involved, we need to know that this is what they are doing. for instance, if ivanka is involved, how is she involved? we have to stop looking at them as a three headed monster versus three individuals. let's get a little transparency in terms of what that means. >> i have said this several times. they are not going to stop advising him. i understand the concern that the trust cannot be blind. he knows what the assets are. i want a briefing from a lawyer. this is my complaint.

the legal advice that he got was abysmal. that cannot fly now. they should have a lawyer brief reporters in a careful way about how this is going to work. as for the family image, all three kids have their critics but they are going to be part of shaping a brand that a lot of americans are going to find appealing. >> there is a cloak we have to

get through. the other business -- we have a person that does not show their tax returns. we are not going to know if there is doubledealing going on. they could literally be doing anything. we could extrapolate for 10 hours. >> that is why a lawyer has to brief. they cannot adopt a standard of, we are not doing anything illegal. they are going to make plenty of money in it will have plenty of opportunities but they must take every precaution. coming up, we will check in on the democratic party and talk to one of the reporters who covers the transition. ♪

♪ >> our next guest is taking a

break from the transition. johnson covers donald trump for the washington post. she is in the confines of the washington post newsroom. you covered him as closely as anyone. what is surprising you so far about him? >> i guess the big thing would be that not much has changed. he is still the same sort of politician. a lot of reporters thought once he becomes the presumptive nominee there will be more formality and communication with reporters. it did not happen. we were wondering if if he became president-elect, he would change how he does things.

he really has not. he has been continuing as he has, doing things completely differently than anyone before him. >> we talked earlier about how we think the selection of mitt romney would shake things up in a positive way for the transition. explain how it is possible that donald trump could pick somebody who called him a con man. >> there is a lot of -- not apologies, but mending bridges. a lot of things were set on both sides during the election. now donald trump is the president-elect, the leader of the party, and people are coming to terms with that.

they are trying to see if there is a way to work with him. we saw with the selection of his chief of staff, the party leader was a sign of working with the party. putting mitt romney in the cabinet would be huge. there has not been any love between these two men. they has been back and forth against each other. mitt romney went after donald trump, attacking how he ran his businesses. he pointed out examples of his failure. donald trump used one of his primary press conferences just to refute mitt romney. just to prove that mitt romney was wrong. if the two of them are able to find a way to work together, that would send a signal that donald trump is willing to work with a lot of people who have criticized him.

>> it is an interesting point. i remember on the rosa -- omarosa. [indiscernible] it was not a growing response. it is going to be interesting. the mitt romney thing will be a real test as far as will he be looking bigger? i hope it is not just a beauty pageant. have you heard anything more about the people that have gone against him? >> not yet. the election was a little over a week ago.

everybody's feeling each other out. they are looking to see who else gets positions of power. i was at trump tower on tuesday night and ted cruz was there. we chased after him. i mean, donald trump tweeted about the looks of ted cruz's wife, suggesting his dad may have been involved in the assassination of jfk. he made the pilgrimage to trump tower and talked to the president-elect. he would not tell us what they talked about. he would not explain how he felt about things. he told us that he was following the voters. that is the attitude a lot of republicans have right now. no matter what happens, they are giving him a second chance. if something else happens, it is

over. people are willing to give him a second chance. >> there was a harbinger of things to come. one example that he does not seem to realize or care about a lot of behavior that will be coming his way. do we have a guy, day-to-day, who will not care to the real behavioral givens of a president? >> he is not legally required to have a protected press pool or put out tax returns. we will see. ♪ ♪ >> as a shattered democratic

♪ >> as a shattered democratic party tries to pick up the pieces, hillary clinton made her first public appearance at the children's defense fund in

washington dc, after acknowledging the painful week, urging her supporters to press on. >> i know that over the past week a lot of people have asked themselves whether america is the country we thought it was. the decisions laid bare by this election run deep but please listen to me when i say this: america is worth it. our children are worth it. believe in our country. fight for our values and never give up. >> mike pence met with democratic leaders on capitol hill. the new york times reports democrats are looking at policy issues. that is a vastly different tone than we keep hearing from harry reid who gave an interview to

msnbc. >> we as democrats have to stand for something to show the difference between him and us. if we are just going to be dancing with donald trump, we might as well have the donald trump already. >> joe crowley has emerged as a challenger to nancy pelosi for house minority leader while tim ryan said he is officially seeking the job. in the senate, there are 10 income the democrats. some of the states were close contests. where does the democratic party recovery process stand?

>> it could be worse in this sense that they have their poker faces up. i think they have a decent balance between saying, let's look to the future and let's mourn. the back of a strong leader or two -- the lack of a strong leader or policy descriptions is a vulnerability for them. once the new government begins, eight will be harder for them to break through because a lot of the attention will be on republicans getting stuff done. >> i always believe a party is dead -- it happened with clinton, and reagan. i think there needs to be a fresh face that comes at some point during the administration. i concerned that the democrats

will run far to the left with elizabeth warren and i do not think that is the answer. it is not necessarily going to take policy issues. the harry reid point of view, that is the wrong answer. let's take the issues -- jump on them. it is going to take a human being to galvanize the party. >> watch trump do what ronald reagan did on these early bills including tax reform, going after the senate democrats and try to pick off enough for them to say, five votes, called the bills bipartisan. he is going to be able to do that. dana vollmer republican president would face greatest -- a normal republican president would face criticism but he is not going to care. >> there are vulnerable

democrats coming up in 2018 that will be extremely vulnerable. >> even tax reform which could be tax cuts to the wealthy. donald trump and his supporters are going to say that it stimulates economic growth. we will talk to two west coast strategists when we come back. ♪

♪ >> we are joined by two democratic strategists.

bob, you were no chance for trump. we have had about nine days to sit with this. bob, what i have learned is blank? >> be careful about predictions. we had a wonderful event with john heilemann and i said, there was no way that donald trump should be elected. now it is time for me to eat crow. i believe the data. the on the data, although i thought donald trump could be the republican nominee, i never

thought he could pass the threshold as president. i was wrong. the turnout patterns changed. james comey's announcement did have an impact that hurt clinton. when you look it the whole thing, hillary clinton was the first democratic candidate in my lifetime who ran without an economic message. out of 12 million votes in michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, and she had 307 electoral votes. >> fred, what i have learned is blank? >> nobody knows nothing, donnie. i live in california. i am from oklahoma. when i was in oklahoma, you could not find one person who was on voting for donald trump. in santa barbara, you cannot find one person who would admit voting for donald trump. i do not believe the data.

i felt a visceral urge not for donald trump but against anybody normal, the politics of the past. who more than hillary clinton? >> you are both pretty familiar with mitt romney. starting with fred, what do you think mitt romney would have on the donald trump administration? >> that is a great question. first of all, it would bring the establishment backed president trump. i am not sure how much he wants to do that. i am not sure if that is a good thing or not.

>> what do you think about mitt romney for secretary of state? >> i would feel a lot better for the country. it would indicate that he is doing a half-pivot. he could do a half-pivot and peter would feel better about the future of foreign policy to deal with russia. i was against mitt romney in 2012 but i did not fear for the future of the country if he got elected. he is an honorable guy with whom i happen to disagree but he would bring some clout to the administration. >> i have made in my personal agenda to say, no, he brought in steve bannon and we cannot one week later talk about mitt romney. had you feel about that guy? -- how do you feel about that guy?

>> he did a pretty good job on the campaign. he identified that angst around the country. i think the fear issue is based on taking everything donald trump says literally and i do not think he means everything literally. >> i am talking about what steve bannon said. >> there is a lot of people of your faith who also think that is making a mountain out of a mole hill. he said some rather antagonistic things but i think they are going to settle in. whoever he ends up with -- i am not here as a donald trump supporter. the fear in the streets is misplaced. >> i want to focus -- kellyanne conway.

we cannot normalize this behavior. steve bannon has had a litany of misogynistic, racist things. >> it was a mistake for donald trump to pick him. it tells us something about donald trump that loyalty comes first. i do not think that the headlines are colorful -- i think they are hateful. they have been hateful toward women and people of color and jews. i do not think he belongs in the administration. maybe mitt romney is going to be secretary of state. who else is going to come into this cabinet? donald trump went around the country denouncing wall street and it appears that a lot of the people in his initiation in the cabinet are people from wall street. >> you guys are sitting around.

don't go anywhere, more when we come back. ♪

♪ >> welcome back. we back with the southern california dynamic duo. bob, if you were the strategist first chuck schumer, would you look for opportunities to work with president trump? or would you say, oppose him across the board? >> i do not think that will happen.

if there is an infrastructure bill that will do something to rebuild the crumbling bridges, to modernize the rail system, democrats will cooperate with. it will also be a very big jobs bill. he would create a huge number of jobs. because he cannot create jobs by tinkering around with trade agreements, he has to find another way to do it over his constituency will be unhappy. there are other areas where you have to oppose and. it is the right thing to do politically. it is going to be interesting to

see what he does on economics and taxes because if he adopts the paul ryan bill plan wholesale and there is a privatization of medicare, social security, massive tax cuts for people of the top, you will give the democratic party a message that will be portable. -- powerful. >> fred, should they be doing things they know they can pass with only republican votes or they should adjust ticket bipartisan bills through? -- to get bipartisan bills through? >> everything he just said saturday exactly like a politician, what people are rebelling against. i anticipate him calming down from the rhetoric on the campaign trail, but doing some unusual things that people have been aping for four long time. -- for a long time. i think that is a mistake. if he does not do that, he is

handing the silver platter to the democrats. >> beyond specific policy issues, democratic party, you have thought of them as the blue-collar party, their coalition extended to minorities and working classes. what is the democratic party now? >> the democratic party doesn't stand for anything if not working people, economic justice, social justice. that is with the party is about. we thought there was a rising electorate but it was not sufficient in this election. democrats ought to go forward on the basis of principle not just trying to figure out tactically what to do, but arguing their values. we should have had an economic argument in this election.

it should have been rooted in the differences in their economic plans, and we should have executed at in the rust belt states. we have to remember that lessened in we have to go back after -- we have to remember that lesson in we have to go back after the blue-collar workers. >> donald trump said that post-thanksgiving, he is going to visit the states that he won. i would say, you have to go to the other states in that he needs to give a speech to a lot of constituents who are frightened, muslims, the gay communities, the nontraditional communities. his first thing out of the bad is the opposite.

>> first of all, who would everything that donald trump turned republican party into the blue-collar party elites for this election? and hillary became the elite party. there was a unusual conflict going on. i think he has a magically strange way of communicating with people and he is going to get even more press coverage then he got before. i do not think it matters where he goes, it is what he says. i hope he implies that he is going to work with people. some of his announcements have been rolling back the rhetoric from the campaign. some of them, he is sticking with them. right now, i think he is straddling the fence pretty well. >> bob, we saw hillary clinton last night. i am wondering what your appetite is to have hillary

clinton the part of the dialogue going forward about rebuilding the party? >> i think she will be part of the dialogue but i do not think she will think about running again. the democratic party has to go to a new generation of leadership, to find somebody who can galvanize the party in the way that bernie sanders did. i did not agree with him but he moved people. who would have thought that a 74-year-old curmudgeon would be the most charismatic figure in american politics? democrats have to look to the kind of leadership, younger, that can touch people in a way that they will respond? that is critical, alongside a policy. if either the policy is important and i think that donald trump's choice of policy will be critical in defining his

administration. >> what are the biggest threats to his legislative agenda? >> well, maybe steve bannon to some extent, although i think reince -- even bob probably likes him and he will be able to smooth these people together. long ago, i suggested that you asked me -- what is the first thing that barack obama should do? i said, he should knock on mitch mcconnell's door and said, let's figure out how to make the country work together. if donald trump can do that, he is in great shape. his biggest threat is if he

falls back into politics as usual because there is going to be 10,000 people around him telling him to do that and that is where steve bannon might be helpful, reminding him that people voted for him because they wanted something different. >> in one sentence, what does donald trump need to accomplish? >> he needs to reach out to democrats, democratic members of the senate and house, and all the people in the country who were literally afraid of him. >> i agree. he needs to calm the dear. >> that is going to show his presidency. people are actually afraid. policy aside, nobody should be afraid. had hillary won, there would be a lot of people afraid, also.

>> yeah, not like this with hillary, because it would have been more of the same. now, it is the great unknown. >> it is more, in my part of this country? because i was told that i wasn't. >> i think he will calm that down. >> thank you so much. we will be right back. ♪

♪ >> still a lot of buzz about the prospect of mitt romney as secretary of state. >> it has been a tease. to not pick him and go back to rudy giuliani would actually be

worse. he has wet our appetite for a smart, unexpected choice. i think he is setting a new bar. >> donald trump is heading out to new jersey for the weekend. it will be interesting to see what the coverage is like. it will be hysterical. not in a funny way, but in a hysteric way. bloomberg technology is up next. we'll be back tomorrow, same time, same channel. sayonara. ♪

♪ almost 10:00 a.m. in singapore, 1:00 in sydney. i am rishaad salamat. this is "bloomberg markets: asia."

it is a record straight. the-pacific shares on the, topix headed for a bull market. on the way up for a seven session. let's find out more. quite extraordinary, the gains on the nikkei and the topix. still the story of the yen weakening. we have seen the dollar hold on to those highs, positive momentum from japanese export stocks. holdingei and the topix onto those highs they reached earlier in the week. elsewhere, stronger gains across the asian equity market. had and china, we just china property prices data coming through, pretty weak