‘CBS This Morning’ Crew Plead with Guest to Be Hillary’s Treasury Secretary, Attack Trump

June 30th, 2016 2:28 PM

Thursday’s CBS This Morning was already on a roll as they dismissed Attorney General Loretta Lynch “innocent” meeting with former President Bill Clinton when they dug themselves further into the hole of liberal media bias as they giggled in pleading with an investment company guest to be Hillary Clinton’s Treasury Secretary under the assumption she becomes president. 

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink originally appeared to discuss the financial implications of the June 23 Brexit vote, but the latter portions shifted towards Trump and the hosts going to bat for Fink’s Treasury Secretary prospects that started when co-host Norah O’Donnell brought up “the conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.”    

Fink laughed at the mention of the paper but O’Donnell nonetheless continued by quoting an excerpt of their lead editorial in Thursday’s print edition hitting Trump’s economic speech on Tuesday: 

They write that Trump's economic policies are “the most detailed assault on trade by a presidential candidate since—well, we can't remember” and says “we will find out soon enough if this works politically, but as economics, it's nonsense.”

The BlackRock head agreed that Trump’s policies on economics and trade are “inappropriate” because “[w]e are the largest exporter in the world” but “also the largest importer in the world, so we depend on global trade.”

As a New York City-based financier would typically conclude, Fink spun the decline in American manufacturing as not necessarily a bad thing and even touted a “silver lining” in it all:

If we have digital printing, this is going to even further reduce the amount of human labor, but there’s a silver lining to this and we have not focused on this. The silver lining is if the cost of the human input in manufacturing is so reduced, we’re going to see more onshoring so we will see manufacturing slowly coming back. Many U.S. companies are bringing manufacturing back, but maybe 15, 20 years ago, that plant — that plant had 2,000 employees, that plant today may only have 300.

Upon finishing that point, co-host and Obama friend Gayle King jumped in to proclaim Fink as possibly the next Treasury Secretary if he’s interested: “Do you know if Larry Fink is interested in Treasury Secretary? His name is being floated. Have you talked to him about it?”

Fink initially struggled to find the words to respond and so co-host Charlie Rose made sure to make clear that “if Hillary Clinton wins, I think it's an assumption.”

The guest in question then finally responded: “I have a great job. I love living in New York City and I intend I'll be living in New York City a long time in the coming years.”

King responded that “[t]hat is what they all say” and concluded the segment by sarcastically declaring: “I say it's still open for a debate is what I say. Yes, I love this city and my children and my wife. Okay, we’ll see, Larry.”

The relevant portions of the transcript from CBS This Morning on June 30 can be found below.

CBS This Morning
June 30, 2016
8:36 p.m. Eastern

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Taking Stock; BlackRock CEO on Brexit, the Markets & Your Money]

NORAH O’DONNELL: I want to ask you about the conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal

LARRY FINK [LAUGHING]: Yes. 

O’DONNELL: They write that Trump's economic policies are “the most detailed assault on trade by a presidential candidate since—well, we can't remember” and says “we will find out soon enough if this works politically, but as economics, it's nonsense.”

FINK: Well, I think it's inappropriate. 

O’DONNELL: His comments? 

GAYLE KING: Yeah.

FINK: We are the largest exporter in the world. We are also the largest importer in the world, so we depend on global trade. We have enriched a major component of our society with global trade. 

(....)

FINK: If we have digital printing, this is going to even further reduce the amount of human labor, but there’s a silver lining to this and we have not focused on this. The silver lining is if the cost of the human input in manufacturing is so reduced, we’re going to see more onshoring so we will see manufacturing slowly coming back. Many U.S. companies are bringing manufacturing back, but maybe 15, 20 years ago, that plant — that plant had 2,000 employees, that plant today may only have 300. 

KING: Do you know if Larry Fink is interested in Treasury Secretary? His name is being floated. 

FINK: Oh gosh.

KING: Have you talked to him about it? 

FINK: I have —

ROSE: I think if Hillary Clinton wins, I think it's an assumption. 

KING: Yes. Yes.

FINK: I have a great job. I love living in New York City and I intend I'll be living in New York City a long time in the coming years. 

KING: That is what they all say. 

ROSE: Would you consider if you heard that an evasive answer? 

KING: I say it's still open for a debate is what I say. Yes, I love this city and my children and my wife. Okay, we’ll see, Larry.