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U.S. Troops Pulling Out Of Syria, Russia And Turkey Are Supporting President Trump's Surprise Announcement, But Many In Washington And Around The World Remain Shocked And Concerned; Drone Chaos, Gatwick Airport Shut Down Disrupting Thousands Of Passengers Pre-Christmas Travel; Ride-Hailing Trouble, Taxi Drivers Protesting, One Even Taking His Own Life As Concerned Rose Over New Apps Forcing Taxis Off The Road. Aired: 8-9a ET

Aired December 20, 2018 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WILL RIPLEY, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: I'm Will Ripley in Hong Kong. Welcome to "News Stream." U.S. troops pulling out of Syria,

Russia and Turkey are supporting President Trump's surprise announcement, but many in Washington and around the world remain shocked and concerned.

Drone chaos, Gatwick Airport shut down disrupting thousands of passengers pre-Christmas travel. We've live in the U.K., and ride-hailing trouble,

taxi drivers protesting, one even taking his own life as concerned rose over new apps forcing taxis off the road.

We begin tonight with shock and indignation at home and from allies abroad after the U.S. President announced that ISIS has been defeated and

Americans troops are coming home from Syria. But we're hearing a different reaction from some other world leaders.

Just in the last hour, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in America's absence, his country will step up its military campaign in Syria

to prevent Iran from expanding its presence there. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he agrees with the move and he adds that

Donald Trump is right about ISIS's defeat in Syria. But back in Washington, some of the President's biggest allies slam the decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY GRAHAM, U.S. SENATOR, SOUTH CAROLINA, REPUBLICAN: To those who say we have defeated ISIS in Syria, that is an inaccurate statement. They have

been hurt, they have been degraded, and I give the President all the credit in the world for changing our policies regarding the fight against ISIS.

But I will not buy into the narrative that they have been defeated in Syria, Iraq, and I just got back from Afghanistan. Haven't slept in two

days. Really appreciate the chance to go visit our troops and talk to our generals, but they sure as hell, ISIS, okay, is not defeated in

Afghanistan. So to say they're defeated is an overstatement and it's fake news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: We're covering this story from every angle, like only CNN can. Our Moscow Bureau Chief Nathan Hodge is standing by. Senior producer Gul

Tuysuz will bring us reaction from Istanbul, senior international correspondent, Nima Elbagir is in London, but first I want to go to CNN

White House correspondent, Abby Phillip.

So Abby, what are your sources telling you about President Trump and how he made this decision? Did he consult with anyone or was it really as

impulsive as it looks?

ABBY PHILLIP, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Hi, Will, well, this decision really did come as a surprise to a lot of people, both in the

administration and here in Washington by and large. The President made this decision on Tuesday with a small group of advisers, including his

Defense Secretary and Secretary of State and National Security adviser. But all of those individuals appeared to disagree with his decision to

immediately withdraw troops from Syria. They preferred -would have preferred to continue with the strategy which had actually been recently

laid out by military officials in the last several days and weeks.

But President Trump, as he said in some tweets this morning, has wanted to do this for quite some time. He campaigned on the idea of withdrawing U.S.

troops from parts of the world and rededicating those resources back at home and so this morning, in a series of tweets, he said that it was no

surprise.

He said, "I've been campaigning on it for years." He also adds, "Russia, Iran, Syria and others are the local enemies of ISIS. We are doing their

work. Time to come home and build." I think, Will, that that really encapsulates how President Trump sees this decision as an effort to

withdraw the U.S. from conflicts abroad, forcing partners and in some cases adversaries in the Middle East to step up and engage in their own

conflicts.

But here, back at home, Republicans on the Hill in particular are incensed by this decision. It caught all of the chairmen of the related committees

on Capitol Hill by complete surprise. In fact, yesterday Senator Bob Corker was coming to the White House to meet with President Trump. He had

a meeting scheduled previously and was planning to talk to President Trump about the Syria decision.

That meeting was abruptly canceled, leaving Corker waiting at the White House with no one to meet with. He went back to Capitol Hill and denounced

the President's decision. So I think what we're seeing today in Washington is just a lot of backlash from this decision with President Trump.

[08:05:10]

PHILLIP: But then President Trump is pushing back, touting some of his allies like Senator Rand Paul who say it was a good idea for him to pull

out. How this shakes out is unclear. But he's getting a lot of pressure to pull back the decision or at least to explain in greater detail how

exactly it is going to work.

Yesterday, White House officials really couldn't give us concrete answers about the timeline here, about what the objectives are and about what would

happen once U.S. troops are brought back home -- Will.

RIPLEY: So many questions. Abby Phillip at the White House, thank you. Over to Gul Tuysuz in Istanbul now. Gul, this seems like a big win for

President Erdogan, but what happens to the U-backed Syrian-Kurdish fighters that Turkey obviously is fighting against themselves?

GUL TUYSUZ, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCER, CNN: Will, the fate of the Kurds is something that we just don't know. We know that they will

probably, once the U.S. troops pull out, be looking for other partners on the ground. Because even though the numbers of the U.S. troops in Northern

Syria was small, they were very effective and they were, to some degree, giving the Kurds a degree of security when it came to facing off against

Turkey.

Now, Turkey, over the last couple of weeks, have been threatening to carry out a cross border operation to expel those Kurdish fighters from the

Syrian border. Because Turkey views them as an extension of a terrorist group here in Turkey. That is Turkey's view of that Kurdish group. So

they've been very vocal. They've been saying Turkish President Rajip Tayyip Erdogan has been saying that Turkey could enter in at any moment and

carry out that operation.

So with such a large threat looming against them, we're going to be seeing the Kurds looking for different allies, and this may end up pushing them in

the direction of the Russians or the Iranians. But their first stop is probably going to be Damascus. They are really going to be looking at

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to maybe come to an agreement with them that gives them a certain amount of autonomy and allows for them to control

some territory -- Will.

RIPLEY: Gul Tuysuz with the view from Istanbul. Let's go to our senior international correspondent, Nima Elbagir, who is in London now. Nima, how

does suddenly pulling out of Syria square with President Trump's primary goal in the Middle East which is to contain Iran?

NIMA ELBAGIR, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, it doesn't. General Mattis, the U.S. Secretary of Defense has repeatedly said that this

fight in Syria is not only about routing out the last remnants of ISIS enclaves, it's also about not ceding territorial control, not ceding

regional control to Iran. This withdrawal would do just that. But it also more dangerously sends a bigger message, which is that the U.S. cannot be

relied upon in the longer term.

Senior administration officials, the Secretary of Defense, the U.S. envoy to the anti-ISIS fight, all of them have been in agreement with regional

allies, with global allies that this has to be about what they're calling an enduring victory, which is a victory that doesn't just route out ISIS

territorially, but routes out the ideology, and to do that, you need to engage in rebuilding, you need to engage in aid efforts and stabilization

effort because ISIS itself was in some ways a reconstitution of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The worry is that if the U.S. pulls out abruptly, that what we will see is a reconstitution of ISIS just a little bit further down the road. And in

all our conversations with diplomatic representatives of the key allies, their concern is that to the Kurds, to the U.K., to France, to other

nations that have fought alongside the U.S. in this fight, what it says is that like post the Iraq war when George Bush pulled out too early after he

announced a similar mission accomplished, that President Trump is sending a message to the world that you cannot count on the United States, Will.

RIPLEY: Nima Elbagir, live in London. Thank you. Now to Moscow and our bureau chief there, Nathan Hodge. Nathan, Russian President Vladimir

Putin, he has wanted the U.S. to pull out of Syria. So is there any talk or speculation there in Moscow about why President Trump is doing this now?

NATHAN HODGE, MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF, CNN: Will, President Trump's decision to pull out of Syria was one that caused a lot of consternation in

Washington and in other capitals, but it's certainly a welcome one here in Moscow and for the Kremlin. President Putin today during his marathon

nearly four-hour press conference said it was the correct one, the decision to withdraw U.S. troops.

Now, I think that the Russians are also very skeptical about whether and how expeditiously that will actually happen. Speaking in the press

conference today, Putin pointed out that U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan for 17 years now.

[08:10:04]

HODGE: And he expressed similar skepticism about how quickly they would, in fact, be withdrawing from Syria. He was speaking there today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: (Through a translator). That he would be withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria. As far as ISIS is concerned,

I agree more or less with the President of the U.S., and I have spoken this before, have really achieve substantial changes with regard to the

militants in Syria and have beaten the forces in Syria as far as the neighboring regions were concerned and in Afghanistan, in other countries

moreover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HODGE: And, Will, it's important to point out that this is not the first time that Putin has had kind words about Donald Trump and his policies. It

was back in 2015 in another marathon press conference when he called Donald Trump before his nomination a bright figure or a bright character, a

colorful character who was - he saw as the front-runner for the Presidential race of 2016 -- Will.

RIPLEY: Nathan Hodge in Moscow, please stick around because I want to get your take on another big story happening in your patch. It has been a busy

morning for the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. He made those comments on Syria at his annual marathon news conference.

These things are not short and they are also not short on controversy. Over the course of several hours, Putin addressed the military tensions

with Ukraine for which he blamed the Ukrainians. He spoke about the accusation that he is behind the poisoning or a former Russian double agent

in the U.K. for which he blamed British Russophobia. He even weighed in on Brexit.

So back now to our Moscow Bureau Chief, Nathan Hodge. This spectacle always fascinates me. You have 1,700 journalists accredited for this press

conference. But how does it actually work? Do they prescreen the questions or can people or ask whatever they want?

HODGE: Will, that's actually part of the spectacle that they create there. A lot of the - nearly everyone who goes there goes with a premade sign or a

placard waving and trying to get Putin's attention and their representatives from both the international media and from Russian media.

It's quite the media circus there.

And Putin actually uses this to showcase himself as sort of the man of the hour, the man who has the answers to everything. And we had spoken earlier

this week. We've been on conference calls with the Kremlin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov who told us you know that Putin had been cramming

for this appearance, mastering all the facts and figures for several days before he goes in and gives this nearly four-hour performance.

So this is an opportunity, again, for Putin to show himself, not just to a domestic audience, but to an international audience as a man who can

command the facts, the figures, who has the power to make decisions. And as someone was saying earlier, to contrast himself in a lot of ways with

the style of decision-making and foreign policy decisions in the U.S. as one, he's the reliable ally to his friends. He keeps his word. He's sort

of a steady and cool character.

So this is all part about building in a lot of ways and maintaining this sort of mythology of Putin as sort of the man of the hour, Will.

RIPLEY: And I think the record I was reading was almost five hours. President Trump gives some long press conferences, but I don't think he can

compare to what Putin does towards the ends of every year. Maybe he'll get some ideas from it. Nathan, thanks for the view there from Moscow.

Appreciate it.

RIPLEY: You're watching "News Stream" and coming up, we're going to take you to Britain where there is travel chaos right now. Thousands of people,

they are stranded and the reason, drones. They forced a shutdown of London's second busiest airport.

And six months after that Trump-Kim Summit, is North Korea changing force on its nuclear promise? There are some new lines from North Korean state

media, we'll break it down.

[08:15:00]

RIPLEY: Sixteen minutes past 9:00 on a Thursday night here in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream." We are following an unusual story in the

United Kingdom that is making already miserable holiday travel even more miserable for thousands of people. The United Kingdom's second biggest

airport remains closed at this hour. The reason? Drones being flown near the airfield. The last one spotted just within the last hour.

Gatwick airport located just outside of London has been closed since late Wednesday night local time and the chief operating office says he just

doesn't know when it will reopen. A hundred ten thousand people, 110,000 scheduled to depart and land from Gatwick today on more than 750 flights.

Police say the act of flying the drones to close to the airfield is a deliberate effort to disrupt those flights. What a mess. For the latest

on what's happening at Gatwick right now, CNN's Anna Stewart is off the Brexit beat and joining me live from the airport. Anna, we're entering one

of the busiest travel periods of the year. What are passengers telling you and what do we know about these drones?

ANNA STEWART, REPORTER, CNN: So what we know about the drones so far is, as you said, they were sighted fairly recently. They've been up there

since 9:00 yesterday and Gatwick now thinks this is a deliberate attempt to cause disruption and a successful one, I would say. The number of

passengers impacted has now climbed to 120,000; and passengers are understandably very frustrated. Here are some of the people I spoke to

earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you are doing, you're making everyone's life is a misery. I am sure that's what their intention was in the first place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't understand why. Why would they do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like it's just a prank. I feel like people just wanted to be cool and be on the news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Now, it is illegal to fly a drone in the U.K. above 120 meters off ground and also within a kilometer of the airport. You can face up to

five years in jail. But it's incredibly hard to regulate it, to catch the drone operators in question and that is the problem. The CEO says, he

doesn't know when they will solve this, when they will solve this, when they will reopen, and it is going to cost, not just frustration for the

poor passengers trying to get away for Christmas, but it's going the cost them in terms of money. It will cost the airport and the airlines, Will.

RIPLEY: So are there any steps being taken to prevent this from happening both at Gatwick but also other airports?

STEWART: It was interesting. I just spoke to the chief operating officer of Gatwick Airport, and he said, all they can do is rely on industry and

government and they do work closely with him trying to find solutions. There are some suggestions that all drones should be registered with

people's names and details, that there should be some way of tracking them, that data should be sent by blockchain technology. There are some really

clever solutions out there, but actually implementing it is incredibly difficult.

And things like geo-fencing can work in small areas like prisons, and if the drone operates by Wi-Fi. But in this situation, we don't know what

this drone is. It could operate for instance by AI, it may have no signal that you could detect. It may also not even need a drone operator, so

there are serious challenges for all airports in regards to this sort of situation -- Will.

RIPLEY: Just incredible how something so small could cause such huge problems. Anna Stewart live in London, thank you. With each passing day

in the U.K., a no deal Brexit once unthinkable now seems increasingly likely. And one area that could be hardest hit, healthcare.

[08:20:04]

RIPLEY: The U.K. medical community has been warned, drugs could be delayed at the border, possibly for months. CNN's Samuel Burke reports that could

have devastating consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go, so it's routine.

SAMUEL BURKE, BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Routines that are part of the fabric of the U.K.'s National Health Service. The supply

chain for prescription drugs for conditions like these anchored in the European Union for more than 40 years. Now that arrangement is at risk

under a no deal Brexit.

The Brexit Health Alliance, a nonpolitical group representing the health sector says 37 million patient packs, including prescriptions, are imported

from the E.U. every month; 45 million are exported to the E.U.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But if you look at the insulin, you can see it's being made in Denmark.

BURKE: The devalued pound then makes that much more expensive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: Pharmacists are also facing uncertainty over future drug supplies from the E.U. Now Britain's Health Ministry advices that in the unlikely

event of a shortage, pharmacists can provide an appropriate alternative medicine to their patients.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITRA AZIMI, PHARMACIST: We've got a lot of people coming in with prescriptions where we turn them away and say, "Look, I can't get hold of

this item," but we fear we're going to get a lot more shortages. The medicines that we are worried about are mainly the anti-diabetics, the

inhalers, they tend to be out of stock."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: The Health Ministry says it's planning for the worst. Five hundred companies that supply medicines and medical supplies told to increase

stockpiles by another six weeks, to expect delays of up to six months at the borders due to new customs checks, to seek alternate routes of

shipments for drugs, including air freight, and increase additional warehouse capacity for drugs at ports. That also includes increasing

refrigerator capacities at warehouses to stockpile medicines like insulin that must be kept at low temperatures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: And what about people who say that we are scare mongering talking about stockpiling drugs.

LAYLA MCCAY, BREXIT HEALTH ALLIANCE: I think that having pharmaceutical companies stockpiling is in order to reduce the risk of scare mongering.

We need to know that in the worst case scenario, if there is no deal and there's lots of disruption at the borders, then we have put the right plans

in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: The fear is real, but the Brexit health alliance says if Theresa May Gets her plans through, it would meet the major concerns of the health

industry, medicines and medical supplies would continue to cross borders without customs checks during a transition period. Still, for James Moore

who also takes multiple injections of insulin every day, he is planning his own contingencies while Britain is still in the E.U.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MOORE, DIABETIC PATIENT: I can my prescription, go into a French pharmacy and cash it. It is possible to conceive of hopping across the

channel and doing it like that or flying across to Ireland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: This holiday season, the one gift James and many others desire above all, an end to uncertainty for what comes after Brexit. Samuel

Burke, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

RIPLEY: Now, a story we're watching very closely here in Asia. More cracks may be forming in the already fragile diplomacy between North Korea

and the United States. Pyongyang says it will not denuclearize until the U.S. eliminates its own nuclear threat first. according to a commentary

published by state-run media. It suggests that one obstacle in negotiations could be American military assets based in South Korea and of

course, the American nuclear umbrella also protects that country.

The remark comes just six months after President Trump met North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un at a historic summit in Singapore with the U.S.

President later declaring that North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat. Well, despite the ongoing diplomatic obstacles, North Korea is continuing a

year-long suspension of nuclear tests and missile launches and President Trump has said that the world is a safer place because of that. But some

military analysts have a different take.

So let's take a closer look at where North Korea's nuclear program stands right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: It's been more than a year since North Korea test fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. A year of dramatic change. North

Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he was freezing missile and nuclear tests. He began a diplomatic thaw. Several summits with South Korean President

Moon Jae-in, blowing up tunnels and buildings at North Korea's only known nuclear test site, and this, an unprecedented meeting with U.S. President

Donald Trump. Both leaders pledged to work towards a nuclear free Korea, but with no timeline or specifics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: We were here in Pyongyang. You couldn't turn a corner without seeing ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: When I visited Pyongyang after the Singapore Summit, anti-American propaganda was gone along with the ICBMS at this military parade. Then a

dose of reality.

[08:25:06]

RIPLEY: Satellite images showing work continuing at North Korean missile sites, weapons factories and its main nuclear reactor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEON SEONG-WHUN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL ADVISOR: There are many ways North Korea can continue to upgrade their knowledge about nuclear

weapons and ballistic missiles, and they will do that, invisibly or visibly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: President Trump often points to the pause in missile and nuclear tests as evidence his diplomacy is working. But even North Korean state

media has not ruled out a possible return to the tensions of a year ago.

In November, Pyongyang abruptly canceled working level talks with the U.S., talks aimed at paving the way for a second summit between Trump and Kim.

The main sticking point, sanctions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: If you are Kim Jong-un right now, what is your strategy?

SHIN BEOM-CHUL, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR SECURITY AND REUNIFICATION: My strategy is delay the negotiation, take some time, so make President Trump

nervous.

RIPLEY: Why would North Korea delay the process and not start denuclearization immediately to speed up the easing of sanctions?

BEOM-CHUL: Because Kim Jong-un needs the safety of regime first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: There is no written agreement with the U.S. requiring North Kore to give up nuclear weapons. South Korean intelligence estimates, they

could be producing six to eight nuclear warheads every years, which means even during this period of diplomacy, North Korea's nuclear arsenal is

likely growing, albeit quietly.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

RIPLEY: Well, you know who is not staying quiet? The family of an American college student who died just days after being released from

detention in North Korea. They are suing Kim Jong-un's government. The mother of Otto Warmbier described North Korea as evil in the first hearing

of a wrongful death lawsuit. The action is more symbolic for the family. They say their son was stolen from them. The Warmbiers say they are taking

legal action because they want closure and justice for Otto, who was just 22 when he died after suffering severe brain damage.

China showing no signs of backing off its territorial claims in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy says there have been 18 unsafe or unprofessional

encounters with the Chinese Navy and just that's since 2016. They're also saying the Chinese control thousands of those islands and that puts

trillions of dollars of trade, travel and communications under Beijing's thumb. So as tensions threaten to ramp up in the new year, you can read

CNN's Brad Lendon's analysis on this flash point. It breaks everything down for you at cnn.com.

Now to Japan and an update on the scandal rocking carmaker Nissan. You may remember the company's CEO, Carlos Ghosn was arrested for alleged financial

misconduct. The company's director, Greg Kelly, was also arrested at the same time. Now Kelly's wife is claiming Nissan lured her husband from the

U.S. to Japan in order to arrest him.

But Nissan told CNN, quote, "We cannot comment on the sequence of events leading to Kelly's detention by the prosecutor's office who acted at their

discretion, and that the cause of this chain of events is the misconduct led by Mr. Ghosn and Mr. Kelly during the internal investigation into this

misconduct, the prosecutor's office began its own investigation and took action."

But there is a new video that has been released by "The Wall Street Journal" showing Dee Kelly talking about her husband's health. She says it

was deteriorated while in prison. The prosecutors are quotes as saying "Kelly is receiving proper care."

You're watching "News Stream" and after the break, it is a chaotic time in the White House right now, but that has not stopped President Trump from

looking ahead to 2020. So could any Republican challenge him? Would they even have a shot? We take a look at his competition.

[08:30:00]

RIPLEY: I'm Will Ripley in Hong Kong, you're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines. The U.K.'s second biggest airport remains

closed at this hour due to drones being flown near the airfield, and the Gatwick Airport chief says he won't reopen the airport until it's safe to

do so. Police say it looks like a deliberate act to disrupt flights.

North Korea says it will not denuclearize until the U.S. eliminates its own nuclear threat first. That's according to commentary published by state-

run media. It suggests one obstacle in negotiations could be American military assets based in South Korea. Washington and Pyongyang are

currently deadlocked in negotiations.

Leaders around the world are reacting with shock and indignation to the U.S. President's announcement to pull all American troops out of Syria.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his military will step up its military campaign in Syria to prevent Iran from expanding its

presence there. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he agrees with President Trump's move, but he also adds Trump is right about his

claim that ISIS has been defeated in Syria.

President Trump's decision on Syria is happening as there's an ongoing conversation of who will be the Republican candidate for President in 2020.

So given all of the chaos in Washington, where does President Trump stand with his own party when it comes to a re-election bid? Let's break down

the latest numbers with CNN senior politics writer and analyst, Harry Enten joining me live from New York. Harry, good to have you on "News Stream."

HARRY ENTEN, SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

RIPLEY: So the U.S. State of South Carolina could forego their 2020 Republican Presidential primary to help Trump's chances of being the

nominee. Based on the numbers that you're seeing, does he even need that kind of support?

ENTEN: I don't understand exactly what they're doing because he's not going to get defeated in a primary given where his numbers are right now.

His approval rating in the latest monthly Gallup numbers among Republicans, his approval rating was 89 percent. That is a very, very high number.

Indeed, all of the Presidents going all the way back since the 1950s who had approval ratings amongst their own Party members of 80 percent or more,

really didn't face a credible primary challenge and Trump is well above that 80 percent threshold.

So I am not quite sure what's going on. Trump's approval rating would have to probably fall into the low 70s or high 60s for Republicans for them

really to be in any sort of danger for re-nomination, so Trump right now is safe for re-nomination. So I don't really understand what those

Republicans are doing down there.

RIPLEY: So when you look at past Presidents who did face serious primary challenges, their numbers were much lower, obviously?

ENTEN: Their numbers were much lower. You know, if you look for instance at Jimmy Carter in 1980 or you look at Gerald Ford in 1976, both of their

approval ratings were right around 66 percent. And obviously, Donald Trump at 89 percent is not anywhere near there. And remember, both Ford and

Carter were re-nominated. You'd have to go all the way back to 1968 or 1952 to see Presidents who may have thought about running for re-election

and when they decided to get out, they were not re-nominated and their approval ratings were their own parties were down either in the mid-50s or

down at mid-50s or even below that.

So you know, Donald Trump at 89 percent is just not anywhere near that. He's just not in danger right now.

RIPLEY: And I know he's doing pretty well amongst overall voters when it comes to the U.S. economy. So if the economy stays strong, no matter what

else is going on, do you think Trump can lose in 2020?

ENTEN: I mean, he could lose. I mean, right now, his economic approval rating is above his overall approval rating. If you were to calculate

something that was a net approval rating minus this approval rating, his overall net approval rating is negative. His overall net economic approval

rating is positive.

[08:35:00]

ENTEN: But if you were to go back and look at re-election campaigns since after the Second World War and you are basically going to plot out job

growth versus how well a President did in his re-election campaign, you would see there's a very strong relationship.

If President Trump was able to have an economy that kept up the job growth that has occurred over the first two years of his presidency, he would be a

favorite based upon where the economy was, but given that his economic approval rating has tended to run ahead of its overall approval rating,

it's not clear whether that relationship will hold for this President.

RIPLEY: Well, I know you'll keep watching all the numbers. Harry Enten in New York, thank you very much for being here.

ENTEN: Thank you.

RIPLEY: We're live in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and coming up, South Korean taxi drivers, they are outraged over a new ride hailing

service, one driver even set himself on fire. A look at the controversy and what it might take to strike a compromise.

It sure was an expensive bag of nuts for a former Korean Air executive. He's been ordered to pay almost $18,000.00, and you probably remember why.

She sparked that infamous nut rage incident on a flight at New York's JFK Airport. Remember, it was back in 2014, Heather Cho, she is now an ex-Vice

President of Korean Air and also, the daughter of the company's CEO, she took exception to the fact that the attendant serving her nuts served them

in a bag rather than bowl.

She demanded that the flight attendant be removed from the flight. Well, on top of the settlement, Cho served a prison sentence in Korea, she was

fired by her own father and the outburst led to the South Korean government increasing penalties for unruly air travelers.

Also in South Korea, tens of thousands of taxi drivers protested nationwide against a new carpool service that they will say threaten their

livelihoods. And these had been huge demonstrations coming just days after a taxi driver set himself on fire to protest Kakao Mobility, saying it will

slash his income in half. Kakao actually postponed the official launch of this service after that driver's suicide. Just a horrible incident.

Let's bring in Dominique Bonte, who joins us live from Brussels, Belgium. You are the Managing Director and Vice President of ABI Research and

Dominique, I know car pool services have faced a lot of pushback from taxi drivers really in cities all over the world. But for someone to set

himself on fire, have you ever seen a reaction like this?

DOMINIQUE BONTE, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND VICE PRESIDENT, ABI RESEARCH: Thanks for having me. No, I haven't seen this, but it shows, again, how

disruptive that new smart mobility will be. We still seem to underestimate how fundamental this transition is from what I would call traditional taxi

remnant from the 20th Century, very much a dead man walking and at the same time, we see a whole range of new smart mobility services, ride sharing.

In the future, we will see driverless car sharing.

So clearly, that new economy is a threat for the old economy and I think we will see more of this. This is just the first example. I think we will

see more of that. We will see more of that with driverless car sharing, especially, but in the meantime, I think governments need to find a way to

reconcile both the old and the new economy going forward, I think.

RIPLEY: So I was going to ask you, because I know in Seoul, they've set up a task force. They're trying to find a compromise. They haven't been able

to do so. Any suggestions for them?

[08:40:07]

BONTE: Well, again, as I said, it's hard to imagine how legacy taxi operation can survive. You need to imagine that it's really impossible for

them to compete against the convenience, the availability and the lower prices that can be made available through ride sharing and other forms of

smart mobility.

So I think it really is more about transitioning that old economy and the people that still work in that old economy either to that new smart

mobility economy or for those that are unable to make that transition. Maybe the government needs to step in with, you know, social welfare,

pension schemes or things like that.

Because these people are typically older taxi drivers with probably not a lot of education. So it's going on be very hard I think to pull them in

into the new economy going forward.

RIPLEY: So what you're saying is these taxi drivers' concerns really are legitimate. Have you seen any example in the world right now of a

successful solution? I know you mentioned some things that the government can do. Is that actually happening anywhere?

BONTE: Well, no, it's either one or the other. The one extreme is just banning the ride sharing as we have seen in Germany, in Brussels where I

live and many other parts of the world. Or the other extreme is just letting it go in a fully, you know, free market forces. As, for example,

in Silicon Valley, I think you would be hard pressed to still find a normal taxi in Silicon Valley nowadays.

But I haven't really seen, although there is some thinking happening to kind of create a more level playing field, putting more regulation, more

registration on the ride sharing side of things. While maybe at the same time modernize the regular legacy taxi drivers.

But it's - you know, they are so different that I'm not sure there is a good compromise to be found there. I am little pessimistic about it. The

reality is that that new economy will dominate in the next couple of years.

RIPLEY: Dominique Bonte, you spell out really, a grim possibility for so many taxi drivers around the world. You're talking about unions, huge

established industries. It's going to be quite a challenge in the years to come and we're already seeing it right now play out in Seoul. Thanks for

your time live in Brussels for us.

BONTE: Thank you very much.

RIPLEY: It took 22 artists, 852,000 liters of paint for South Korea to set a new world Guinness World Record. A once uninspiring grain silo

transformed into the largest mural in the world, measuring, get this, 23,688 meters. The painting covers giant storage containers in the port

city of Incheon and it depicts a young boy's journey into adult hood. It topples previous record holder, the Pueblo Levee Project in the U.S. State

of Colorado and just extraordinary to see the transformation there.

That is "News Stream" on a Thursday night here in Hong Kong. I'm Will Ripley. Connect with me anytime, @WillRipleyCNN, and don't go anywhere.

"World Sport" with Kate Riley coming up next.

(SPORTS)

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