nancy: when people ask are you

afraid of what might happen, i say no because of the goodness of the american people, the strength of our democracy, we will prevail. my motto is the flag is still there. francine: she has been the face of her party for a generation spending two decades as the top house democrat. nancy pelosi made history when she became the first female speaker in 2007. until recently the most powerful woman in u.s. politics, she has faced attacks from republicans, and escalation under donald trump. >> we have an aberration in our country right now but hopefully that will not last too much longer. nonetheless, we have to strive for unity. sometimes you achieve it, sometimes you don't but we have a responsibility to act in a unifying, transparent, accountable way. francine: in this episode of "leaders with lacqua," i traveled to vegas where nancy was championing leaders. i ask her about the democrats chances at the presidential

election, geopolitical threats and what she has learned in more than 35 years in public office. francine: speaker pelosi, thank you so much for speaking to bloomberg. you are one of the most recognizable and admired politicians. what did you learn in 40 years about leadership in politics? nancy: i learned a lot about

leadership observing it in others, recognizing what is needed to get the job done. and i always define it in this way, know your why, why you are doing this because you will be under attack. know what you're talking about. know how to get it done, think in a strategic way, and that is all up here and then also connect directly with people. if you can show them how important what you are advocating is so they trust your judgment and you have a plan, you will have followers, you will be a leader. francine: is it harder in 2023 because of the divisions in america? nancy: our goal is not inch by

inch, it is long-term and it is to bring people together. we have an aberration in our country right now but hopefully that will not last much longer. nonetheless, we have to strive for unity. sometimes you achieve it, sometimes you do not, but we have a responsibility to act in a transparent and accountable way. francine: how do you think president biden is doing? nancy: i think he's doing great, one of the best presidents in recent history, for decades. nobody has accomplished more since lyndon are franklin roosevelt, whether it is the rescue package to rescue our country from covid and the rest, whether it is our infrastructure bill with good paying jobs, whether it is the science and chips initiative to take us into the future. whether it is ira, which is just remarkable to recognize the challenge of the climate crisis and address it in a bigger way than we ever have but recognizing more needs to be done. at the same time recognizing men and women in uniform and our commitment to them. francine: is it frustrating that he has achieved a lot but does not seem to get recognition? nancy: it is hard to understand but we do not agonize, we organize. francine: but why? this is it, please understand what he has accomplished, what it means to you at your kitchen table. and most people i am realizing are not thinking about politics that much. they are thinking about their

own challenges and the rest and we have to relate to that. -- have him relate to that. no one is better than that then he is -- better at that than he is. joe biden is mr. empathy. he cares deeply about people, he truly does. he is a great president, he will be reelected. elections are hard, they are called campaigns, that is a war term. but we will be ready and as i said we do not agonize over what is not, but organize for what will be. francine: what has it been like for democrats to be the minority? nancy: not a good thing, i don't recommend minority at all. we are going to win it back, we have every confidence in that. they said we would lose 40 seats, 30 seat at a minimum, and cash seats at a minimum and -- seats at a minimum and we lost five. that was not good enough, i wanted the majority, but we can win five seats, more than five seats. francine: how have you changed as a politician? nancy: i have mellowed out, become gentle.

[laughter] francine: really? nancy: i don't know. no, i pretty much knew what i was getting into. i did not seek running for leadership, people encouraged me to do so and i knew why, i knew what was at stake in how to get the job done. -- and i knew how to get the job done. and i knew how to draw people , together. and the same advice i give others, i tell myself women have intuition. people don't talk about it so much but when i was young that was what people talked about. intuition is a very valuable thing in leadership. when people say they want to run -- say to me that they want to run for president, governor even , or mayor or even even leadership in the congress, i say understand, you're going from deductive reasoning, how do we get the legislation passed, too intuitive. there is a problem, you must act the more time you do not, the -- act. the more time you do not, the fewer your options are.

so be ready, know your subject, have good judgment, be wise. francine: speaker pelosi you , stood up against president trump many times and it has gotten you into spots of trouble. are people afraid of taking him -- our people more afraid now of taking him on? nancy: i stood up to him once and it lasted very long time. -- i did not stand up to him many times. i stood up to him once and it lasted very long time. yes, people are afraid of him now because as you see his desperation, in other words, it is one thing to say we have a disagreement on policy and we do. it's another thing to say that the truth is not prevailing. it is another thing to say there is recognition of all the violations of the rule of law that any person is above the law undermining the press, which is

-- the freedom of the press is the guardian of the gate of freedom, so he was clever. undermined the press, undermine the rule of law, i'm above the law. seeing the lengths to which he will go frightening. -- of course, is more frightening. he is a threat to democracy but we intend to win. francine: he is so popular. with the voters. nancy: well, he is popular among his group. francine: are you surprised at how popular? nancy: surprised is not a word i use. it is interesting to see how there is a certain element of the population who will just go for him. they are people we would probably never get. they don't share respect for the dignity and worth of every -- our values of the dignity and worth of every person and the rest, but there are some who are -- some supporting and who are just afraid. and that is to be respected, so i respect all the people of america and when people ask me are you afraid of what might happen? i say no because of the goodness of the american people, the

strength of our democracy. we will prevail. my motto is the flag is still there as we say in our national anthem. francine: is there a republican candidate that you could live with? nancy: i'm not into republicans. i'm into democrats. hopefully the republican party can find a candidate. that america can live with. i say to the republicans all the time, take back your party. the republican party is a great party. it has done great things for the country. you are not a cult to a thug, you are a great grand old party and recapture that because america needs a strong republican party. a strong democratic party, too, but a strong republican already, -- party. so hopefully as soon as we get to this shall we say cancerous -- through this, shall we say, cancerous situation we are in, the malignancy of donald trump, they will emerge in a strong way with the leadership that i know is there in the republican party.

francine: up next, nancy's harsh -- nancy pelosi's harsh assessment on china and why she things the world's two biggest -- thanks the world's two biggest economies must cooperate on climate change. nancy: we don't have shared values, but we have a shared planet, and we have to work with the chinese to save the planet, because they are now the biggest emitter if not us, second. and they are part of the solution in all of this. ♪

francine: from taiwan, human rights to covid, china's relationship with the u.s. has been rocky. in recent months washington has sent high-profile officials to beijing to improve ties. will anything change? i continue the conversation with nancy pelosi, a longtime critic of the chinese government. when you look at geopolitics, what scares you? nancy: there are three things, one is security. security, security, security. so important. security. secondly is economics, how do we relate economically, because that is the strength of all of our countries. and governance. governance. what is the strength of the democracy in your country? how do you treat and respect them? what is the integrity of your economic system? so those are how we relate as americans going abroad. on security, what is happening with ukraine is a challenge to democracy, not just there, not just to nato countries, but to the world. when a tribute that the courage -- what a tribute to democracy is the courage that the ukrainian people have.

to the chinese, putin does not share any values of justice and respect for the lives of people, concern for children or anything. and he is frightening but what is doubly frightening is a person like the former president who thinks that is ok. isn't that sad? it is so sad and so extreme that it is everything to me that is not frightening but is an opportunity. francine: when you look at what the u.s. has been doing with china and how they should treat china going forward? nancy: china is a big country and so are we. we have to find an accommodation on how we treat each other, but in terms of the three things i named, security, china has been a violator of transferring technology, weapons of mass destruction to rogue countries. in terms of economics, they have been violating almost every trade standard of access of piracy, wta rules and the rest. in terms of governance, the threat to taiwan and the rest, so we don't have shared values. but we have a shared planet, and we have to work with the chinese to save the planet. they are now, i think, the biggest emitter. if not us, they are second. they are part of the solution in

all of this. i have been to china as much as i have, since tiananmen, 34 years, have been a strong critic of china in so many respects. security, economics and governance. still we have to work together on certain areas and we have to find those. i'll pick we find those by rewarding them. i think we find them by a mutual discussion about how we can go forward. francine: is that bringing them closer? nancy: that is up to them. francine: closer in a relationship with the u.s. so it becomes a better working relationship? nancy: our deficit with china is immorality. when you see the fuss made about japan, it was 2:1, 3:1 sometimes, its into our country versus exports to theirs. with china it is more than double that and when i first started criticizing china about the three areas i said, the trade deficit was $5 billion per year. people said you cannot make a fuss over that because the peaceful evolution will lead to this, that and the other thing. now the trade deficit is not $5 billion a year, it is $5 billion a week. we gave it to them. they use that money for their foreign exchange to go into other countries, buy up support

and the rest of that and we were accomplices. i've always criticized our policy in that regard. francine: how often do you get asked about your trip to taiwan? nancy: not enough. i love talking about it, as a matter of fact. francine: do you think you change something in the way the u.s. and china speak to each other? nancy: well, president xi has always criticized my criticizing

him. my colleagues, senators and the rest, had been to taiwan right before me. did you know that? did you know that? he never said a word. but i have been sort of outspoken about u.s.-china relations. and with a love for china, a love for the chinese people. when i was little girl, they said if you dig a hole deep enough in the sand at the beach you will reach china. so we felt that we were all connected.

so it is not with any dislike for things chinese or people chinese, it is about what? a genocide of the uighurs, a suppression of democracy in hong kong while promising one country two systems. taking down the culture, the language, the religion, to tibet, the threat to taiwan, the threat to democracy. the threat to freedom of speech. francine: what do you think happens with taiwan? nancy: we recognize china. our visit did nothing to alter that. we have laws that govern our relationship with china and our relationship with taiwan, which are very specific, and we are committed to helping taiwan defend itself should they be attacked. we don't want any change in status unless it would be done

peacefully, but no aggression from either side. francine: we are seeing a downturn in terms of the economy in china which could impact the rest of the world. do think president xi is losing control of it? nancy: we and other countries decided to ride this tiger, and we poured money -- we just bought everything they had to sell, we increased it. and then when their economy is in trouble, we were, like, oh, it has an impact on us, surprise surprise, surprise surprise but it is not -- we don't want any country to suffer because people suffer economically. i understand this, it is a centralized economy. it is a one-man show. it is not anything about values, governance, integrity, certainly nothing to do with democratic freedom.

this is pretty complete in terms of xi. he is a step backwards from the previous president. francine: the economy is actually falling. how do we read that? nancy: we don't wish a failing economy on anyone but we don't say, oh my gosh. some people have an attitude, i profited for it, then not. but it was worth it to me to just go along with the whole china thing. money has been a sad factor in this because at the start corporate america, corporate america just said we don't care about human rights. i don't think they mostly ever

have. they don't care about human rights. the security pieces of it they have, but on the trade stuff most small businesses that would want to trade to china were completely cut out, because the chinese said if you want to sell, you must manufacture here. and if you manufacture here, we want to see your designs. and if we have your designs, we don't need you anymore. and by the way, you are not selling here, you can compete with us in the global market. francine: up next, nancy on why artificial intelligence cannot be a free-for-all. nancy: we need guard rails, standards and the rest so that this double edge sword does not do harm but instead does good. ♪ ♪ ♪

explore endless design possibilities. to find your personal style. endless hardie® siding colors. textures and styles. it's possible. with james hardie™.

francine: artificial intelligence, the buzzword creating a frenzy in the tech world. the dangers of misinformation and fears of threats to privacy, security and livelihoods have forced governments to regulate it. it is a task lawmakers in the u.s. are grappling with. i continue the conversation with nancy pelosi. how much time you spend thinking about elon musk? he is a force. nancy: none.

i do say he is a force in terms of technology relating to ukraine but i don't spend too much. we have a lot of strong leaders that come from an area that is very, shall we say, technologically on the move. and every year since i have been in office or even before, they said to me, you have not seen anything yet. so we don't know what is next but i don't spend too much time thinking about him. francine: in terms of ai? nancy: ai is a double-edged sword and that is in my district, to and from san francisco. and the people i know who care about our country care about our country and know that it is a double-edged sword that we need guardrails, we need standards and the rest so that the double-edged sword does not do harm, but instead does good and it can do some good.

but right now we have a strike in the creativity industry with writers and actors and the rest, and there has to be respect for the creativity that they have. and ai has an impact, could have an impact on that. and we have to recognize that. write laws to respect that. in our constitution we have respect for copyright. francine: do we need to regulate ai and social media? nancy: we need to regular that. it's been a double-edged sword doing tremendous damage and good. that is really sad, but who would want to reverse the ability to have health, technology and education and commerce and family communication and all the good things that spring from it? while at the same time seeing filthy, dirty stuff being presented to our children and the rest of that. so there has to be a way for families to know how to protect their children. i myself think that there is regulation in the law that could be changed protect children. that is an ongoing fight that we

have with the technology industry. francine: when we talk about leadership, it is also about the next generation. is there anyone you would support in the democratic field? nancy: for president? francine: for president or senator? nancy: adam schiff in california. we have 40 million people in our state. our center who is very revered, senator feinstein, has been a champion in california in the country, whether you're talking about assault weapons bands, she has been the leader in passing legislation or that, whether you're talking about protecting natural resources, whether it is water, forest, again, it's a big

state. the fourth economy in the world. and we need full strength in the senate. francine: there have been younger democrats saying a senior senator, criticizing her. nancy: welcome to my world, people criticize everybody. francine: should they not criticize? nancy: they can do whatever they want, it is a free world, and i can criticize them for criticizing her. the fact is she has been really so much a champion. to tell you the truth, over the years there have been many men who have had concern in their service, some of them young. but you never even heard about them and i'm not going to tell you who they are. francine: the big elephant in the room, we are in italy, there are rumors that you will end up as ambassador. nancy: we have an ambassador.

francine: will you serve your full as congresswoman? nancy: absolutely positively no question about that. the question is what do i do beyond that. francine: you're not going anywhere for now? nancy: i'm here. francine: thank you for joining us today. nancy: my pleasure, thank you. thank you so much. ♪ nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. so... i know you and george were struggling

with the possibility of having to move. how's that going? we found a way to make bathing safer with a kohler walk-in bath. a kohler walk-in bath provides a secure, spa-like bathing experience in the comfort of your own home. a kohler walk-in bath has one of the lowest step-ins of any walk-in bath for easy entry and exit. it features textured surfaces, convenient handrails for more stability, and a wide door for easier mobility. kohler® walk-in baths include two hydrotherapies— whirlpool jets and our patented bubblemassage™ to help soothe sore muscles in your feet, legs, and back. a kohler-certified installer will install everything quickly and conveniently in as little as a day. they made us feel completely comfortable in our home. and, yes, it's affordable. i wish we would have looked into it sooner. think i might look into one myself. stay in the home and life you've built for years to come. call... to receive 50% off installation of your kohler walk-in bath. and take advantage of our no interest

>> in five years we will legally own our own thoughts. that is