The MeidasTouch Podcast - Interview with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Japan getting pissed off at Trump’s attacks on them and Meiselas interviews Ambassador Rahm Emanuel on the implications of Trump’s plans and the signal-gate scandal as Emanuel served as the former Ambassador to Japan, he was the former Mayor of Chicago, and former Chief of Staff to President Obama. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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announcement of tariffs on automobiles has absolutely pissed off the entire world, including Japan. Japan now says every option is on the table against Trump's 25% car tariffs. Japan's government warned on Thursday of a significant impact on its economic relations with the United States and on the global economy because of tariffs announced by Donald Trump. Quote, we believe that the current measures and other broad-based trade restrictions by the U.S. government could have a significant impact on the economic relationship between Japan and the U.S., as well as on the global economy and the multilateral trading system, a spokesperson for the government said. Also, now as you're watching Japanese TV news programs, certainly a pivot from how they were previously covering the United States and how they're dealing with U.S.-Japanese relations, which seems to be entering into a period now that does not rely on the U.S. And of course,

this is all happening as there is a coalition of the willing meeting in France with Emmanuel Macron and other leaders standing up with Ukraine. Then earlier this month, Donald Trump made the following aggressive statement towards Japan. Let's play this clip. But we have an interesting deal with Japan that we have to protect them, but they don't have to protect us. You know that? That's the way the deal reads. We have to protect Japan. And by the way, they make a fortune with us economically. There's another case, but we have to protect Japan. But under no circumstances do they have to protect us. I actually ask, who makes these deals?

You make those deals, by the way, in your previous administration. By the way, the Washington Post headline is Japan, a car-making giant mulls appropriate response to Trump tariffs. And they are thinking how they are going to retaliate. Why don't we call in the former ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, also former mayor of Chicago, also former chief of staff to former President Obama. Ambassador, what do you make of all of this? I mean, you know U.S.-Japanese relations better than anybody. What do you make of all this? I would take it at two points. First, Japan's the number one

foreign direct investor in the United States for the last four years consecutively. Over a million Americans or a million Americans work for Japanese companies and nearly half of their investment goes to manufacturing. So it's a kind of, you know, we're going to kind of be penny wise and dollar foolish here. Second, Japan hosts the largest military footprint the United States has anywhere in the world. It's the only country that has a permanent aircraft carrier. It is the long pole in our deterrence against China in the Indo-Pacific. And so, you know, nothing stays just in the economic lane. It's a relationship.

So that means national security, diplomatic support. It means political support and it means economic support and integration. Second, imagine this. When the United States wants to put further sanctions on China as it relates to export controls for high tech, the only way it's successful is Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Dutch stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States. They're going to think real hard about whether we should stand with the United States or allow our companies to continue to export to China. So, you know, relationships don't just have one lane. It's a series of things you weigh equities against each other.

So I think this is very short sighted in this approach. There's a way you could have approached as we did in years past, both when I worked for President Clinton, we did the five pillars on trade, etc. Japan now is the number one, as I said, number one foreign investor in the United States. Nearly a million Americans work for them. And of those, half are in the manufacturing industrial space. The exact job we want in the United States. So, Ambassador, as you see, it is Donald Trump just going around, let me attack Canada. Then let me go after the European Union. Then let me go after Japan. Let's try to destroy all one, the economic relations of the United States, as into all geopolitical security. Well, let me be clear. It's not like economic relations don't need to be

reformed, changed, altered. What we're successfully doing is breaking. Nobody has successfully in this administration yet built. We're very good at the breaking part. The building part, you have yet to see. And if the whole idea is that out of the zenith is going to come some new world, as he says, it's going to be liberation day. This is a country that has, as I said, is creating manufacturing industrial jobs in the United States. What are you looking at? Where is this zenith? Describe it. Who's coming? Outside of you say it's going to happen. In fact, give you an example. Japan has increased, gone from 1%

to 2% of their GDP will go to defense. It's going to become the third largest defense budget in the world, United States, China, Japan. 99.9% of that budget is going to go into purchasing equipment. We're going to be the largest. What if Japan decides to start partnering with Europe? That means we're going to lose manufacturing jobs inside the military industrial part of the United States. What if they decide to cut back on the F-35? The Patriot, the cruise missile. And they're going to say we're going to partner and do that with Europe. You're going to actually lose manufacturing jobs, not gain it. So this is I know it comes as a shock.

Sit down. I want to do this gently. This is not thought through. And other national security concerns as well from Donald Trump saying things like, maybe we'll give degraded versions of the F-35s to allies because they may not be allies. Two, of course, signal gain. And while I got you on the show, Is to allies, because they may not be allies, to, of course, signal gain. And while I got you on the show, I got to get your- Can I do one thing?

I don't mean to interrupt, but having been a person on the ground helped create the trilateral between the United States, Japan, and Korea. And it was historic because it showed a united front and a clear, credible deterrent against China. China was very nervous. Now that we have decided to pull back, step back and beat our allies like their adversaries, China is in the middle of having now had two meetings, both with Japan and Korea jointly, on both the foreign policy diplomatic front and also on the trade front. So they're going to reap all the advantages that we had built between the United States, Japan and Korea.

And so we're literally hurting not only our allies, but hurting the credibility of our deterrence against our number one threat. China. Sorry about that. Because you negotiated that. Speak to that. Because people I talk about it on the show a lot, how china's moving in and filling the void both in terms of bricks and also reaching out outside of bricks with people and with countries that formerly allied with the us here's what you should note ever since the united states in ukraine showed a weakness and a vulnerability towards putin that very week or two week later, China did an unprecedented naval exercise against Australia, our ally. They had to shut down civilian air traffic near Sydney. They did an

unprecedented move against Japan in the Sea of Japan. They did it against Vietnam. They did it in the Philippine area. And they did it on Taiwan Straits. So they see weakness. Weakness invites aggression. You have to be smart about your deterrence. But it is not an accident that both while China is talking to Japan and Korea, which are very important allies, they project our power. They reinforce the basic message of the United States that we are a permanent Pacific power and presence. You can bet long on us versus China's

theory. We're the rising power. The United States is declining power. You either get in line or you're going to get coercion. And in this situation, we built something that is a fundamental restructuring the strategic landscape of the region, enhancing America's credibility of its deterrence. China took note of it. Now, all of a sudden, the administration's walked away from it. And China is stepping into that void and taking all the benefits and all the fruits of our hard work. I got to ask you about Signalgate. Of course, you were a former chief of staff to former President Obama.

What do you make of all of this and what would have happened? Well, that would never have happened with you there. But what do you make of it? Because your perspective here... Actually, watching this unfold in the last 48 hours, I think the Trump administration's national, the moniker on their national security will be dumb and dumber. It will be the reissuing of an old classic. And I can't – I look at this and think about other instances. Did you think this was happening when we were planning and preparing for Osama bin Laden? I was in the situation room with the president in the first seven weeks of his administration. We had a meeting in the small situation room, not the big one, on how to handle the pirate situation, which the U.S. ship was taken. And we dealt with it. It was

four of us, the president, myself, Tom Donilon, deputy national security advisor, and the national security advisor, Mr. Jones. He made a decision on Friday night. That was the execution in a secure area. If you had done this when we were preparing to put our men and women's boots on the ground in Pakistan, in the preparation for the exercise of the president's plan for capturing or eliminating Osama bin Laden, there was six months of preparation. Nothing leaked. It was not on a public diet. There was a security. There's six months of preparation. Nothing leaked. It was not on a public diet. There was a security. There's a reason you have these plans secure. A, the element of surprise, the ability for our men and women in uniform, Air Force, Navy, otherwise Marines, to execute the mission that the commander in chief details them with.

That surprise is a piece of your security. If what they're saying is true, that Jeff Goldberg figured out how to get on there on his own, that means China, Russia and all our adversaries that are trying to harm the United States can get on there. So that's crap. So they have earned a reputation as the Keystonestone cops of the reissuing of the movie. The moniker on the national security team will be dumb and dumber, and you can figure out who plays dumb and who plays dumber. What do you make of the cover-up where now they're saying there's nothing on there that was classified? This is normally what happens. No classified information. You've seen classified information you can say

with 100 certainty that was classified right one of the things that we dealt with a lot on during president obama's time and there are different moments of different things with president clinton as it relates to bosnia etc but on president obama when we were picking or selecting targets, leaders in terrorist organizations, there was a process, a very secure process run by the national security that had intel, military, you know, collateral type of data weighing different equities. There's not ever none of it leaked because, you know, God forbid the heads up was, you know, given to the terrorist to change their patterns, to change how they move, to change the way they communicate. If this had been picked up by Iran. They would change. And obviously, if it was successful and it looks like it was successful operation, they would have notified the individuals we were trying to target the missile. The person for the Houthis that operates their missile program, which is

what we're trying to degrade, if not eliminate. And this gets back to something I also said. They talk pathetically, using their term, about our allies who actually, the UK, Canada, the 51st state, Denmark, the colonial power of Greenland, the Dutch, Aussies, Kiwis, and Bahrain have all been part of an operation since January 12th. Those are our allies, standing shoulder to shoulder. The people that are freeloading are President Trump's allies, Russia, China, Belarus, and North Korea. They're the ones that the ships haven't been hit. And if you think that's an accident, I got a bridge over the Tigers for every you can buy. This administration doesn't know who an ally and adversary is. The freeloaders are President Trump's allies. The allies of the United States of America

are the ones that are not pathetic, but actually are risking their own servicemen and women on behalf of the freedom of cease. So the freeloaders are our adversaries. Those defending the freedom of navigation are our allies. Gotta ask you about your thoughts on this Doge, Elon Musk wrecking ball to the federal government, attacking veterans. Well, what do you make of it? One of the things, I mean, look,

all we know right now is what's broken. And I'm surprised none of the Republicans have said, whoa, if I was in leadership like I used to be in Congress, they have grandmothers sitting on the phone for five hours with nobody to answer that for their social security check. They are breaking. That is, if your husband dies, you're trying to secure your benefits and your check. They have ruined the system. Now, I think this is going to be a you. It has a potential.

There's both a political standpoint and a policy. Politically, the Republicans are going to own this. If I were the Democrats, I would press this issue right now on the floor. And there's plenty of time to do it. Well, there's stuff about Signalgate, et cetera. But I would prepare an attack on the way they have heard our grandparents and their retirement security that they earned. They're sitting on call centers for five hours with nobody picking up the phone. That's also true at IRS. So all they know how to do, and remember, I think Colin Powell told George Bush, you break it, you own it. That's going to be true here, too.

So all we know is what they know how to break. You have yet to tell me where the savings are and what they've actually is a better service before. Whether that's the veterans benefits, whether that's going to today, you're asking me the day in which we're going to lay off all these people on health care. There's going to be massive impacts on cancer drugs, HIV drugs, other types of things, and also delivering services to seniors that rely on Medicare. Seniors and poor people that rely on Medicaid. And so breaking is easy. Building, very difficult. And you're going to see that. And the Republicans are going to own it. Also, in the midst of what is a desire by the president for a recession and his economic theme. You think he actually has a desire for, does he want a recession?

I don't know why he said it, but well, first of all, I don't know if he wants it, but I worked for President Obama when we inherited what's called the Great Recession, and it was this close to going and tipping into a depression. We stopped it, pulled the economy back. I worked for President Clinton, who inherited a recession. We worked as an administration, the presidents led them, to pull the country out of a recession and to then build an economy that became, in both cases, examples of great growth and job creation. This administration, through their tariffs and chaos, are driving a healthy, and we just got today, you're asking me, today they showed the report, the economy was doing well and had forward momentum. Tariffs go up, 401ks go down. Consumers have pulled back.

And when the consumers pull back, the economy tips over. That's right. And he said, well, there could be a recession. I've never seen anybody be so cavalier with people's own personal economy and economic security for the working middle class of this country. But he said it. I'm using his words. And his treasury secretary, he said, they basically, well, that could be the consequence.

I don't know. I worked for two administrations tirelessly that worked every day, 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year to get out of a recession and to build the economy. You have an administration that shrugs their shoulders and says, well, there could be a little pain here. Well, if you have 11 billionaires in your cabinet, what do they know about pain? For a family that can't make it to the 31st of the month on their paycheck and is trying to get it to Walmart or to Target, and they are buying less and less and less, as noted by the Walmart CEO, this is real economics.

And I think one of the things that's missed in the past is those who are doing well were actually healthy as consumers. The rest of the consumers in our society were actually living in a recession. Our job is to help them economically, not hurt them. Finally, what should Democrats do? I mean, if you were in leadership. Finally, the last question. The last question, the easy one.

Yeah, well, look, here's my thing. America today is less safe. The economy is less stable and our future is less secure. Our obligation, because the middle class have been betrayed, not just now, but in the past, and the American dream is unaffordable to the American people, it's inaccessible to the American people, and for us, that is unacceptable. We're going to work tirelessly. We didn't get here overnight, but we're going to work tirelessly to get us out. And this is an administration not only that has betrayed you, but is corrupt to its core.

And that's what I would do. And I would start with things like Social Security. I would start with things like Medicare. And I do think we should remember, while there's a lot of focus and energy on Washington, it's kind of a tale of two parties. What's happening in the rest of the country, you can see by these special elections, Democrats at the ballot are strong, vibrant, and aggressive. Washington needs to understand that and be strategic in its direction of the demarcation between the Trump administration, the Republicans who are blindly falling in line versus a party that offers not just anti-Trump, but an alternative of what we're going to do for the working middle class of this country. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, thank you for joining us. First time on the Midas Touch Network, and I think we covered it all in 20 minutes,

but we got to get you back on soon. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you, everybody. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas Plus sub stack for ad-free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, and more. Sign up for free now at MidasPlus.com.