- Welcome to The 700 Club.
The nation is mourning the loss of
George Herbert Walker Bush.
He's being hailed as America's best
one-term president and one of the
humblest men ever to hold office.
- And Pat, you had manyencounters with President Bush.
- I did, he came here.
He was with us on The 700 Club.
Actually it was a road to victory meeting
of the Christian coalition,but the most important meeting.
His father and my fatherserved in the Senate together.
Yeah, his father was Prescott Bush.
My father was Willis Robertson.
And because of that joining together,
Bush always treated me as kindof a member of the family.
We were very close on those things.
But the most important meeting,
I had a number of times with him,
but just before what wascalled the Gulf War, I called.
There he is with Jim Baker who was--
- [Wendy] You guys werehaving a nice laugh there.
- It was about another matterwe were talking about here.
But anyhow, I called Johnson in there,
who at that time was chief of staff.
I said, "Look, I've got animportant message for your boss."
He said, "Okay, I canset it up Wednesday."
I said, "Okay, I'll come up."
He was in the oval officeand just that time,
his representative inGeneva had been meeting
with the representative of Saddam Hussein
and the talks had broken down.
I said, "Mr. President, I've got
"a word from the Lord for ya."
He said, "What is it?"
I said, "There's going to be a war.
"It's going to be enormously successful.
"You're gonna be hailedas a great military leader
"and your success is goingto go through the roof."
And he said, "Well, I appreciate that."
I said, "Well, whydon't we pray about it?"
So, we joined hands togetherand we asked for God's
anointing and His wisdom on this man.
And he went from thereinto the cabinet room
and they launched the Gulf War.
- Wow and did you knowthat was about to happen?
- Well, I told him that thiswas what was gonna happen.
And sure enough, itwas a sweeping victory.
He put together a coalition of nations.
They took the fieldagainst Saddam Hussein.
Norman Schwarzkopf wasthe general in charge.
It was an amazing--
They rolled up SaddamHussein in a matter of days.
And when it was over,just exactly what I said.
He was hailed as a great military leader.
Later on, he had some problems
on account of taxes and things like that,
but during that point, he was riding high.
His approval ratingswent through the roof.
But anyhow, he came downhere and he was at the
house with me and I rode with him
in Air Force Two whenhe was vice president.
He invited me to join himwhen they went to the Sudan
when a man named Nimeiry was president
before the Islamic peoplehad taken over the Sudan.
It was some fun.
We had good times there.
He's a great man and a good friend
and he always wrote letters.
Ya know, he would say, "WellI'm sitting here in the
"oval office and I just wantto thank you for dropping by."
He says if he hadnothing else in the world
to do except write me a letter.
And he's in the middle of all this stuff,
but he's a very, very thoughtful man.
- [Wendy] It's that generation.
- [Pat] Here he is withJim Baker and we're having
a laugh about politics,I forget what it was but.
- I only had the pleasure ofmeeting him one time, Pat.
I walked up to him and I said,
"Sir, I just wanna shake your hand."
He said, "How bout a hug?"
- [Pat] Yeah!(laughs)
- That spoke, that's thekind of person that he was.
- Anyhow, a lot of people loved him.
- Tributes are pouring inafter the former president
died peacefully at home, athis home in Houston at age 94.
All this week, he'll be honoredin the nation's capital.
Washington reporter Amber Strong begins
our coverage of his extraordinary life.
- President George H.W. Bushwill take flight once more.
The casket of the formerpresident will depart Houston
via Air Force One andarrive here in Washington
where he will lie in state in the
U.S. Capitol Rotunda until Wednesday.
Across the country and around the world,
a president mostremembered for his humility
is being honored with praise.
From his former colleagues--
- After Desert Storm, theAmerican people were so
overjoyed as to how quick the war went
and how well our soldiers and sailors
and airmen and marines performed that they
wanted to celebrate it with parades.
He wouldn't go.
He said, "This is something that
"belongs to the troops, to you."
- [Amber] To our nation'sallies, like Germany,
who tout his diplomacy andability to keep the peace
after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
- He's the father or one of the fathers
of the Germany reunificationand we will never forget that.
- [Amber] His predecessor,President Bill Clinton,
remembering their friendshipand sharing the letter
Bush, Sr. penned for himwhen he left office in 1993.
- "I wish you well.
"I wish your family well.
"Your success now isour country's success.
"I'm rooting hard for you."
- [Amber] Bush spent his final hours
on the phone with his children
and in the presence of friends like former
Chief of Staff Jim Baker.
- He opened both eyes,he looked at me and said,
"Hey Bake, where are we going today?"
And I said, "Well, Heffy."
I said, "We're going to Heaven."
He said, "Good, that's where I wanna go."
- His final words to GeorgeW. Bush, "I love you."
President Bush will be buried in Texas
at the Presidential Libraryalongside Mrs. Bush.
CBN News correspondentJennifer Wishon now,
with a look at his lifeand marriage of 73 years.
- I, George Herbert WalkerBush, do solemnly swear--
- [Jennifer] The 41st Commanderin Chief left his mark
on nearly every area of government.
As president, vice president, ambassador,
director of the CIA,and member of Congress.
Later in life, he evenaffected fashion trends
by sporting his trademark funky socks
and endeared himself to Americans
by pulling stunts like this.
- How do you feel?
- Cold.
- Did they have to push you out?
- [Jennifer] Jumping out ofplanes came natural to Bush.
On his 18th birthday heenlisted in the military
and when he received his wings
he was the youngest pilot in the Navy.
During World War II heflew 58 combat missions.
On his last, he was shotdown by Japanese fighters.
He ejected, crashedinto the Pacific ocean,
and was rescued by a U.S. submarine.
(cheering)
In 1980, he lost the nomination for
president to Ronald Reagan,who made him vice president,
a position that gave Bush an intimate look
at the rise of conservatism in America.
- His presidency in manyways was overshadowed
by his predecessor andthat's understandable.
- [Jennifer] It's hardto forget these words,
which helped catapult himto the White House in 1988.
- Read my lips.
No new taxes.(cheering)
- [Jennifer] But breaking that pledge led
to his loss to Bill Clinton in 1992.
In his inaugural address,he painted himself
as a traditional man who valued hard work,
discipline, and goodness.
- My first act as president is a prayer.
I ask you to bow your heads.
Heavenly Father, we bow our heads
and thank you for your love.
- [Jennifer] In 1996, hecrossed paths with CBN,
helping to commission theministry's flying hospital.
- [Announcer] He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live.
- [Jennifer] In April, Bushlost his beloved Barbara.
Their union of 73 years is the longest
presidential marriage in history.
The couple had six childrenand throughout hardship
and triumph, the Bushesmade family their priority.
Jennifer Wishon, CBN News, Washington.
- Well, I congratulate President Trump
for declaring a day of holiday.
We didn't do that for Reagan.
He had Alzheimer's and hispassing was a few years.
But with Bush, we've gota special day Wednesday.
The federal government will close down.
The stock market is going to close.
It's going to be a full day of mourning
for this great man who was a good friend
and a very humble, humble, humble man.
Amazing what he had accomplished and yet,
he'd been taught by his mother
to always be humble and he was.
Humility wins you an awful lot.
(chuckling)
The Bible says God resists the proud
but he gives grace to the humble.
And I think he's hada great deal of grace.
Well I have told you onthis program a few days ago
the politics of selfdestruction going on in Israel.
It saddens me to see what they're doing.
But the police over inIsrael are claiming that
President BenjaminNetanyahu should be indicted
for receiving gifts and for gaining favor
with Bezeq, which istheir telecom company.
That he'd get a preferredposition on Bezeq.
That's the bribe he got.
That they were gonna givehim nice mention on the air.
It's just absurd what they're doing.
But Efrem Graham has more on that.
- Pat, Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu
is dismissing police recommendations
he'd be indicted for bribery.
Netanyahu and his wife,Sarah, could face bribery,
fraud, and breach of trust charges
in a corruption case known as Case 4,000.
- In a way, it harms Israel as a country
that our prime ministerhas to be distracted
from running the countryin order to answer
question about what kind of coverage
he was receiving from somemarginal website in Israel.
- The case accuses Netanyahu of using his
political influence togive favorable treatment
to a news organization inexchange for positive coverage.
Some believe the charges area coup by Netanyahu's enemies
in Israel's bureaucracy tobring down his government.
The case accuses him of usingthat political influence.
In other news, we'regonna go back to you, Pat.
- Ehud Olmert was a good friend.
He was on our program.
We did a broadcasttogether from Jerusalem.
He was a terrific guy.
So they put him in jail.
They said well, he was stealing money.
There's something rather strange
when a nation wants todestroy its leaders.
We're having that here in America.
We need these leadersleading and we need them
not to be distracted by minor charges.
For example, as Caroline Glick said,
I mean, he's gonna get favorable treatment
on a minor website and for that
they're gonna say that he'sguilty of breach of trust?
I mean, the whole thing is nonsense.
But Bibi is so strong over there.
I hope he can prevail.
If he doesn't, it'll be thesad moment for all of us.
But he doesn't, to my way of thinking,
make a country look goodto put its leaders in jail,
and to have charges and counter charges
being made against their leaders.
If there really is corruption, of course,
you need to get rid of the corruption,
but in the case of Bibi Netanyahu,
so he gets some obscurewebsite says he's a nice man.
So, big deal.
Efrem.
- Pat, the streets ofParis filled with smoke
and tear gas this weekendas protests turned violent.
The so-called YellowJackets angry over rising
gas prices and high living expenses
began looting shops andsetting cars on fire.
They even defaced thefamous Arc de Triomphe.
Police opened up withwater cannons and tear gas.
More than 130 people were injured
and hundreds more arrested.
French President Macron could
declare a state of emergency.
The protestors say his gas tax
is a huge burden on the working class.
Macron says it's necessaryto fight global warming, Pat?
- I think those French arelike a bunch of children.
It's just unbelievable.
They have been so coddled.
Their work rules are soextraordinarily generous
and they have all kinds ofbenefits they shouldn't have.
And anything that causes them to
lose anything brings out this violence.
It's just incredible.
I mean, how can they be a leading country
in Europe if they act like children?
Efrem.
- Pat, the stock market is set to get a
big boost today after a truce in the
trade battle between the U.S. and China.
President Trump agreedSaturday with Xi Jinping
at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires,
to hold off on raisingtariffs on Chinese goods.
The U.S. was set to raisetariffs on $200 billion
in Chinese products starting January 1st.
But the 90-day trucewill give the two sides
time to try to settle their differences.
And some U.S. politicians willbe very interested to know
what the final deal will look like.
- We need to see some realspecific figures here.
This has hurt a lot ofMissouri farm families
and farm families all over the country.
But the president's goalto get China in a better
and fairer place intrade is the right goal.
- Many investors have said thetrade tensions between China,
along with the possibility of higher
interest rates from the Federal Reserve,
have been major factorsin the stock market
shock correction in recent weeks, Pat.
- Well, the book is called Trumponomics.
Stephen Moore and ArtLaffer have collaborated.
Inside America's FirstPlan to Revive our Economy.
There it is and he's here with us.
So good to see you.
Thanks for being with us.
- Thank you so much for that
great tribute to President Bush.
I really enjoyed that.
- Well ya know, our fathersserved together in the Senate
and he always remembered that.
- [Stephen] That's amazing.
- He's a good guy.
- Especially in a time when we need great
American heroes and he was one of them.
- Well he was, indeed.
Talking about heroes though,
when Trump came on the scene,
you were not initially in favor of him
because you didn't appreciate the trade.
You were for free trade.
- Yeah, ya know, it's funny.
We talked about this in the book.
The first chapter is meeting Trump
but remember, two and a half years ago,
there were what, 15 republicansrunning for president.
- And I think I knew 14 of the 15.
The only one I had nevermet was Donald Trump.
Larry Kudlow who isnow the chief economist
for Donald Trump and I wentto see Trump in Trump Tower.
And I remember not havinga positive opinion of him
when we walked into thatroom and after spending about
an hour with him, I justhad stars in my eyes.
He's just a very charismatic guy.
You remind me of him in that way.
(laughing)
You have a winning way, both of you.
And so we started working with him.
I saw the president just afew weeks ago and I just said,
"Mr. President, this is working better
"than I even thought it would."
He smiled and said, "Youain't seen nothin' yet."
So ya know, can youbelieve this economy today?
Pat, I mean--
- We were having, underObama, it was gonna be
permanent two percent growth.
That was the goal we could hope for maybe.
And now he's talking four percent.
Are we gonna get three or four percent?
That's attainable, nobodythought that was possible.
- Yeah, for the last sixmonths, the U.S. economy's
grown just almost exactlyfour percent, you're right.
I used to debate the economists for Obama
and for Hillary Clintonduring the campaign.
And they'd say, "Oh, Donald Trump
"is lying to the American people.
"We can't grow at three or four percent."
Well, we're doing it.
They also said rememberBarack Obama a few weeks
before the election said, ya know,
Trump says he's gonna bring back all these
manufacturing jobs and he's gonna get
the three to four percent growth.
How is he gonna dothat, with a magic wand?
Maybe Pat, he has a magic wandbecause those jobs are back.
- What are the numbers now, Steve?
- Pardon?
- What are the numbersof manufacturing jobs?
- So, just since the election,
we've created just short of one million
manufacturing, construction jobs.
One million blue collar working class.
Those were the good jobs thatwere leaving the United States
and people said oh the manufacturing
jobs aren't coming back.
Now, we saw unfortunately last week that
the GM announced they'regonna close a couple plants.
I hate to see that.
Heart goes out to the familiesthat are affected by that.
But we're not losing manufacturingjobs in this country.
We're gaining them.
For every factory that's been closed down,
there's probably 10 new ones.
In fact, when I talk toemployers today, Pat,
what they tell me istheir biggest problem,
you know what it is?
- [Pat] What's that?
- Getting workers.
Finding workers to fill the jobs.
- Well you know, I was interviewinghim before the election
and I mentioned the factthat taxes were important
but regulations, theregulatory burden was so strong
and he said that's whateverybody tells me.
The regulations are worse than the taxes.
- You know, the big themeof this book Trumponomics
people ask, you knowwhat single thing is it
that Trump did thatturned around the economy.
- [Pat] Yeah.
- I don't think you canreally point to any one thing.
I mean look, I think the taxcut was really important.
- [Pat] Yeah, sure.
But I think it was really--
Look what happened andremember what happened
just a couple of daysafter the election in 2016.
All of a sudden you had aspurt of consumer confidence
and business confidencethat we were actually
putting a man in office whoknew something about business.
And was a successful--
What a concept right?
To have a businessman as president.
- It was almost like Obama hated success
and hate free enterpriseand Trump applauds
free enterprise and wants people
to make money and be successful.
- Well that's what AmericaFirst is really all about.
People say oh this is a racist concept
or it's putting aside other countries.
No, I mean it's about basically--
Every decision he makes Pat,
and I've talk to him a lot about this,
people say oh he just caresabout the rich people, no.
Every time we wouldtalk about policy to him
he would say how is this gonna affect
that coal mine over inCharleston, West Virginia.
Or how is this gonna affect that
steel worker in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Or how is this gonna affectthe auto worker in Michigan.
He cares deeply about middle class work--
He said look the rich can takecare of themselves, right?
He said it's the middleclass that's really
not had a pay raise in 20 years.
And it's great to see, isn't it?
That wages are starting to rise.
- It was those peoplewho put him in office.
- [Stephen] Exactly.
- They really did.
- What's the old saying?
"You dance with the one who brung you?"
And he knows it was Reagan democrats
who put Donald Trump into office.
- When they were talkingabout there was no path
to victory and we beganto add up the states.
But when you starttalking about Pennsylvania
and Ohio and Wisconsin and Michigan
that's blue collar workerswho were coming up for him.
- It's really interestinghow the Republican Party's
actually changed under Donald Trump.
If you look at thedistricts that the Democrats
won in these midterms they tend to be
the very wealthy districtsor the inner cities.
The counties that were won by Republicans
tended to be working class towns.
And it's just interesting to me that
Democrats always accuse the Republicans
of being the party of the rich.
Now they're the part of the rich.
(laughing)
Look I think he's in great shape for 2020.
If this economy continues anywhere near
as strong as it is twoyears from now as is today,
he's gonna win a 40 state reelection.
- We were talking withBush, you remember that,
you remember the mantra for Clinton,
"It's the economy, stupid."
You remember?
And they beat him up--
Of course they mousetrapped him.
Peggy Noonan wrote that speech,you know, "Read my lips."
I was in the convention,everybody cheered,
it was a wonderful line, "No new taxes."
And then they trapped him and forced him.
The thought is Pelosi will force Trump--
- No.
- To play the same game.
(laughing)
- I don't think Donald Trumpis gonna make that mistake.
He knows that the key to economic success,
keeping taxes low, gettinggovernment off the back
of our businesses, reducingthe regulatory burden.
So he understands that.
And by the way, what happened--
I'm really pretty excited about--
We're just learning about what happened
this weekend in Buenos Aries, Argentina.
But it looks Pat, to me,like it was a pretty big
victory for Donald Trumpin terms of getting
some real concessions from China.
- Well what is the deal now?
Have you got the inside on it?
- Well I'm still figuring it out.
And my buddy Larry Kudlow was over there
advising the president on this.
But the preliminary prognosisis that China has agreed
to reduce some of its tariffs on America.
By the way, I'm a free trade guy.
I always told Donald Trump, you know,
that I disagreed with him onsome of his trade policies.
But I think he's right on China.
We cannot move forward with these abusive
trade practices that China's engaged in.
- [Pat] It's not just the trade though.
It's the theft of ourintellectual property.
If you're gonna do a deal in China
you've gotta turn over all ofyour intellectual property.
That's where the theft is.
- Yeah and that's why Ithought, we estimate--
By the way that's 300billion, not 300 million,
$300 billion a year is basically stolen,
it's thievery, by the Chinese.
- Is Xi gonna go along with that?
- See this is the thing and Ithink Donald Trump knows this.
Remember the old Reagan doctrine
when he used to negotiatewith the Soviets?
Trust, but verify.
That's what you haveto do with the Chinese
because they will say one thing Pat,
and they will do another thing.
We know that from the last 25 years.
So he's got a great agreement right now.
I think, by the way, the financial markets
are gonna love this.
I think you're gonna see a nice opening
in the stock market because it looks like
the trade war isn't gonna happen.
But he has to verify andenforce this agreement.
And, by the way, thisis just the first step
because you mentioned theintellectual property,
that was not covered in this agreement.
- I didn't think so.
What he's done with tariffs though,
I mean the Chinese saywell we won't put tariff
on American automobiles, for example.
That's a pretty good deal.
- That's a good dealand that's a good start.
And I always said whatI want out of this is
a deal to make a deal and Ithink that's what we got here.
By the way, if you wannaunderstand Donald Trump
you have to read hisbook The Art of the Deal.
This guy's one of the greatnegotiators of all time.
And he used to say lookwe can do so much better
in our negotiations with Chinaor what ever country it is.
Mexico or Canada, we've got a great new
free trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
- Well he's battling NAFTAas of today isn't he?
I mean he said I'm walking away from NAFTA
and this is a new deal with Mexico.
- And it's better.- Yeah.
- In a lot of ways it's abetter deal than we had before.
Look, if he can get this--
If this is real what happenedthis weekend and China
is gonna actually open uptheir markets to U.S. products.
They should do not justautos but also, you know,
you mentioned our agriculture.
We have the most productivefarmers in the world.
China has high tariffs on those.
Think about what this wouldmean for the American economy
and our ability to sell things.
There's a billion Chinese.
- Soy beans.(laughing)
- Exactly.
I'm from Illinois.
Corn, soy beans, wheat,all of these things.
We have the best farmers in the world.
So I'm really optimistic about the future.
- I think Obama and otherswho lead this country
don't understand that we'rethe big player in the world
and when we move they'vegot to move with us or else.
Trump realizes that.
- You know what that's called?
You're exactly right andit's called leverage.
(laughing)
We have leverage overthe rest of the world
because every country that we trade with,
they have to be able to--
We have the biggest consumermarket in the world.
So if they can't trade,and Trump realized that.
Look, we have an advantageover these countries,
we can get better deals.
And that's what he always said
to me when we'd talk about this.
"I can get a better deal for America."
And so far so good.
- You've got to believeyour company's the strongest
and if you believe thatand he believes it.
The others, they didn't trust America.
- If you get a level playing field,
which is all Trump ever said,
I just wanna make sure they're playing
by the rules and we have look--
American companies, ourmanufacturers, our farmers,
our workers can out-competeanybody in the world.
No question about it.
- Well amen.
Well listen, thanks for yourinsights and Trumponomics.
Is the book out now?
- It is out.
And by the way, I gota big lift on Thursday.
Donald Trump tweeted it outto his 25 million followers.
So that's one of the great advertisements.
But you know, people say I don'tknow how to read that book.
I don't like economics.
It really isn't an economics books.
It's really aboutunderstanding Donald Trump
and how he rebuilt the American economy.
- Alright folks it's availablewherever books are sold.
We appreciate Stephen being here with us
and I hope you enjoy it.
