Damian Paletta

And so I think that era of lawmaker is something that this country's not going to see again.

The challenge there, whether it's a conservative version of Barney Frank or a liberal version of Barney Frank, is that there's going to be a moment when Congress is going to have to pass a law on a crisis, right?

We had the CARES Act during COVID.

We obviously had the Biden administration pass the rescue plan at the beginning.

There's going to be moments when you need people who are smart to do things that are hard.

And Barney Frank was a smart person who could do things that were hard.

Now, not everyone agreed with him and he ticked a lot of people off and he took things personally and he could be super mean.

But when it was really important to get something done or, you know, the economy could hang on the brink, Barney Frank was there.

Is someone willing to be that person now?

I don't know if that person exists right now and it's only a matter of time before we find out if they do.

If he has a good meeting and he comes away with some tangible things from Beijing, he could sell that to the American people that his brand of 2026 diplomacy is still effective.

Well, he's had a real moment here in his presidency, and he has a lot to gain because the U.S.

and China are the two biggest economic global superpowers.

And if he has a good meeting and he comes away with some tangible things from Beijing, he could sell that to the American people that his brand of 2026 diplomacy is still effective and can get results.

So does he get investment in the United States from China?

Does he get some kind of agreement on artificial intelligence, which has been something the U.S.

and the Chinese have been squaring off about for months?

If it's a summit where there's a lot of pomp and circumstance and he comes back and gas prices are still really high and there's still a lot of problems in Iran and around the world, it might be harder for him to sell this as a victory.

The Chinese dynamic is fascinating.

In fact, I went to China many years ago when Xi Jinping had first become the leader.