Good friend nick kristof and just one minute. Following that, we will have an interview with the ambassador of china. Missile, nbcdrea is our corporate strategic partner. Be5 30, our last event will beinterview who will interviewed by margaret rendon. A word about my friend nicholas kristof. Thee we can bring him up on screen. Hes a longtime friend and a member of the aspen strategy group. He writes a very important twiceweekly college for the column for the New York Times. When i read your column and read it avidly, you put people first. You dont put government first. He put human rights and dignity first. Because of his extraordinary repair extra ordinary career, hes won two pulitzer prizes, one for reporting on china and one for darfur. Hes just wrote a book with his wife which we will talk about. I think it has deep meaning for him personally. He has had an extra neri journalistic life full top he has lived on for continents. He has traveled to 160 countries and his biography says he has survived unpleasant encounters with mobs, malaria, and an african airplane crash. Before we get into our topic of hope and your recent book, im curious, ive known you for a long time but have never asked you, what got you interested in journalism as a young man . Journalism career was born and im here on the family farm in indian hill. There was an organizational meeting to organize a school newspaper. I hadnt really thought of journalism. I didnt go to the meeting, but a bunch of people did and they all wanted to be on the school paper, but none of them wanted to wanted the burden of editing yet. My journalism career was born and i loved it. In high school, i began working for the local community newspaper, and i loved the aesthetic leisure of writing and the sense of this is an outlet to bring about change. This was after woodward and bernstein and watergate. And when you are 16, theres no other way to impress other 16yearold girls and to be writing for the local newspaper. I came to really love journalism. Host the true motive comes out. You and i have a very good mutual friend. David sanger. Did you meet on the harvard crimson staff . Nicholas we met at the beginning of fall, freshman year. There was an organizational meeting to get on the crimson and there we were. We have been good friends ever since. He was best man at my wedding. Gentlemen, nick and i decided we wanted to have this session about hope. I was so intrigued when i read his july 19 column in the New York Times about hope. I think both of us leave in this radical notion that despite all the problems we are facing, the pandemic, the economic crisis, the political crisis, the leadership crisis, there are hopeful global trend lines. Multinationale classes, usually 16 to 20 different nationalities in one class of 50 or 60 students. I always pull the students at the end of the course and the course is about the u. S. China rivalry, nuclear weapons, were in the middle east. What are you hopeful about . What are the analytical trendlines that would lead us to believe we could actually improve the human condition. My millennial students never failed to give me inspiration that they believe they can cure cancer. They believe they can create a carbon free world. They say by 2050. You wrote this marvelous column in the New York Times. I will just read we interrupt this gloom to offer hope. What led you to that column . It was a couple of things. Sense a deep frustration that the u. S. For the last 50 years has taken a wrong path. We talk about american exceptionalism, but actually until the 1970s, the u. S. In many ways was fairly similar to europe and canada, our life expectancy, or Health Metrics high school, the Graduation Rate was best in the world. It was really since the 1970s that we began to underperform in health care, in education, inequality in equality. This has weighed on me because the town i come from in oregon has been indicative of that. Its a working class, farming community. A quarter of the kids on my Old School Bus are gone from these deaths of despair drugs, alcohol, and suicide. If they hadhought grown up in canada or somewhere in europe, they might well be alive today. Frustrated by the fact that we have, it seems to me, taken a wrong path. Yet just in the last year, ive begun to think that actually now there is hope of choosing a new and better path. Has made itd19 very apparent to people that when you dont have universal health care, there are real costs to everybody. In times of chronic disease, only the disease sufferers pay the toll. In a time of infectious disease, we all suffer. Country in the advanced world that doesnt have paid sick leave. In a time of infectious disease, the burdens are more apparent to everybody. Pulling on black lives matter and how much it has changed, the fact that a majority of white citizens say they agree with the aims of black lives matter than in the past. Struck thaten history moves in cycles. Arthurs lessons are talked about the cycles of history. I wonder if that cycle is not already in the process of shifting. When kansas voters rebel at tax cuts and kansas republicans said tax cuts more so we can invest in education, i cant help but wonder if thats not a turning point in that long cycle. I think we have a chance the way we did in the way we did in 1932 election. It may not quite be a new deal, but something in that direction that begins to address a lot of these inadequacies in our society. Host the book that you and cheryl wrote, you obviously had planned well before the pandemic, coincides with the pandemic stop if i could just ask you what a terrible thing for you and everybody associated with your unity that so many of your contemporaries have not lived because the social safety net did not catch them or because the conditions of life in the United States. We have seen in the pandemic the gross income inequality in our country, that health care vanishes if attached to your job, not your person. And the pandemic have in a way overlapped and integrated. If you talk about the book, youve got reallife examples today of whats happening to americans. Nicholas thats right. And in many ways, the pandemic has magnified those inequities one ofnified the toll the families we write about was a family that grew up they got on the bus stop right after i did. The oldest was my year. Away before passed we wrote the book. Survivedsurvivor because he spent 13 years in the oregon state penitentiary. Died of ad began, he heroin overdose. Alive atmom is still 80 and all five kids are gone. He lost his job, he was certainly socially isolated as many people are, there are some indications drug abuse has been increasing. I think there may well be some connection between covid and i havess and so while some hope that we have a chance for correcting this, certainly in the short term, this is devastating in some any communities across the country and particularly ever stating to people of color and those at the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum. Have in your column, you this interesting notion of comparing our time now in 2020 21930 2, 33, the failure of herbert hoover, the triumph of franklin d roosevelt. Nobody really could have predicted roosevelt would become, in a way, for his time, a radical reformer. You quote to people about what could be possible in our time. She says trump is the perfect opposition to have. Ours,al friend of professor at harvard. It is possible, she said that the best thing that could have happened is the crass, self interested, ineffective policies of donald trump. If the president is to be repudiated, and we dont know that yet, on november 3, is there a possibility of a new progressive era pending on what happens in the congressional era . Could President Biden lead us forward to really Pay Attention to some of these major fault lines in American Society . I think it is possible. I would be reluctant to predict it. You and i both know vice President Biden. Hes not instinctively a revolutionary figure at all, but neither was roosevelt. At the end of the day, what happened in 1932 was that hoover had been such a disaster, he discredited his party, he the entire wing of the country. Because of that, the democrats in 1932 flips the senate and not only did fdr win, but they flips roosevelt,and then faced with this enormous governingapproached not in an ideological way, but in a practical, weve got to solve this crisis kind of way. He tried all kinds of things and some worked and some didnt work. In the end, economically, he was helped by the mobilization that came with world war ii. But vice President Biden has been saying things to the fact that he understands this may be a historic turning point. Some of at polling on these progressive economic issues, health care, childcare, bandwidth for all, raising the federal minimum wage, and there is a norma support for some of these there is enormous support for these measures. More than 80 of the public believes taxes should rise on the wealthy to fund more social programs stop 80 of americans dont agree on anything. They dont agree the world is round. So to get that kind of consensus on these kinds of things makes me think there is a fighting chance that we can correct this wrong turn of the last 50 years. Host speaking historically, after america us first gilded age and the robber baron capitalism of the gilded age, you have the muckrakers, journalists like you exposing social inequalities stop you had a great reformer in theodore roosevelt. With theow wilson income tax of 1913. You have the failure of hoover and the policies of the 1920s, the advent of the second aogressive era, are we as journalist, are we at such an Inflection Point that it calls for a time of extraordinary possibility for the upper limit of American Society, the extremely wealthy, but not for the middle class, certainly not for the low income americans. Are we at such a point . Nicholas i think that we may be in a sense that so much of the path we have been on has been completely discredited in the way that hoovers policies were discredited at the time. There is a poll that i quoted in that onlyn that noted 16 of americans said they felt in a countryu. S. Where patriotism and pride has always been something that has been central to this countrys ideology. In 2016, you saw both on the left and right, this support for Bernie Sanders and support for trump, this sense that the system is not working, that we have to do new things. Think a lot of the country recognizes something is profoundly wrong. That we have to try new policies. Boy, i hope we take advantage of this moment. I think its entirely possible if the senate doesnt go democratic then we will have paralysis stop there are all kinds of things that can go wrong, but do we have a chance as the u. S. Had in 1932, 33 . It, i think we just may and may be a better chance than weve had in recent years stop what do you think . Host i think you are right. You quote vice President Biden who said recently that i do think weve reached a point, real inflection in american history. I think a lot of us are trying to think back to earlier times when the American People rose up in a way and said we want a stronger and better and more inclusive government. We want social security. In the 1930s, we want civil rights, the Voting Rights act and the civil rights act. We want health insurance. That lead you to barack obama and obama care. I do think there is something there. A lot of people and my next question, a lot of people say we are so divided red, blue, north, south, urban, rural how can we possibly get anything done . But you Say Something that Condoleezza Rice echoed this morning. We may have been much more divided in the 1960s. You and i were young boys, grammar schoolboys, Elementary School boys. Artan luther king killed. Robert kennedy killed. The vietnam war. The race riots. The incredible violence. The weatherman from the left. Was that a more difficult time for us . In 1968, i turned nine years old, so im not a great commentator. But certainly, in talking to the cohort thats just a little bit older than us, im struck by how toxic relations were between the boomers and their parents and how money boomers thought their murderersre vicious who were supporting massacres in vietnam and completely immoral. Meanwhile, the parents generation thought that their kids were utterly immoral and going to destroy the United States. Those divisions at the dinner table were toxic in a way that is not true now. 33, if you go back to 1932, i dont know that we fully appreciate how much hostility there was to roosevelt, both from the left, from the hue belongs of the world and from the right, the father coghlans of the world. The supreme court, the degree to which it blocked him early on. That was also a time of polarization. A lot of people thought roosevelt was a communist, etc. Spite that, we got an awful lot done. Host he certainly didnt i think most historians would say roosevelt is right up there with lincoln and washington, probably is our greatest resident because of what he did to help our parents generation through the Great Depression and the second world war. There has been this narrative it seems to me one of the big problems in the u. S. Is not that we dont have the tools, that we dont have the resources stop in many ways, it has been a narrative that government cant do anything right. Its been a narrative that its all about personal responsibility. That is fundamentally what determines outcomes. In a rural area that has been hurt so badly over the last few decades, im struck that it was transformed by progressive government policies. The whole reason people came here on the oregon trail was because of a program for the disadvantaged, the homestead act. It was a way of turning landless americans into middleclass families. The Rural Electrification completely transformed areas like this. The g. I. Bill of rights. Was programs like that that invested in the Human Capital of america to create a middle that had enormous returns. Yet now we seem to have forgotten the role of those programs and focus on personal responsibility in a way that to me seems myopic. To say to theant many people who are watching this, we are going to get to your questions. I already see three people, for people lining up to ask questions. Im got two more questions for you and then we will go to our i pull myp when students. Ive been doing this for five or six years these are students from all over the world, a majority american, but lots of different nationalities. They are remarkably consistent in what they tell me they are hopeful about. These are analytical trendlines. In the last poll in may, they say we have lifted more than a billion people out of poverty in the last 40 years, why cant we double that in the next four years . They say despite the pandemic, the extraordinary progress on polio. Its going to be eradicated. Bill gates says he thinks malaria can be eradicated in our lifetime. Half a Million People in africa died of malaria. Third, my students, men and women are passionate about the rise of women to gender equality , to being able to compete in anyway possible without the kind of restrictions their mothers and grandmothers had. And finally, my students are passionate about tech, broadly defined. Whether ai, biotech, quantum computing or the information revolution, they say it can really change lives for the better. I want to get you to react to that. I know youve looked at this for many years in your columns. Nicholas your students are exactly right. They are better students than the public as a whole. In polls come up to 90 of americans say Global Property is global poverty is either stuck or getting worse. World has been transformed. Born, a and i were majority of human beings had always been in extreme poverty, andalways been illiterate, about a quarter of kids died before age five. Now, we are down to fewer than 10 of People Living in extreme poverty. 4 of kids die by age five. Toward 90 ing literacy. Every day over the last couple of decades, another 325,000 people have gotten electricity for the first time. People eating electricity for the. For the first time. Another 600,000 people have gone online for the first time. Which goes to the tech transformation you mentioned. More people worldwide have mobile phones and have toilets. Mobile phones are important not just as comedic asians devices, but as a Banking System in many places. Its hard to get bank account, but you can store money on your phone. The only other alternative is to buy chickens and thats how you store money. Its a much more convenient to store money on a mobile phone. Suggest, covid is going to challenge these gains. We are going to go backward for a little bit. This dont think that fundamental narrative of progress is going to be reversed by long by covid19 or climate change, which will be another factor that will test it. Likewise, the rise of women. The host and you have written about that with your wife. Nicholas thats right. We wrote a book called half the sky. Rolls education in particular was something very secondary and nothing is more transformative than educating girls. Now, and Elementary Schools worldwide, there is virtually no gender gap in primary education. There still is in secondary and tertiary education, but in primary education, there isnt. Education,get an their influence on society, their capacity to earn money, their ability to look after vastlyhildren, is increased. Me ays frustrates extremists get this. Why does the taliban shoot malala in the head . Why does the Afghan Taliban throw acid in girls faces . What is boko haram kidnap schoolgirls . They understand the biggest threat to extremism is an educated girl. I wish we understood that as well and were willing to invest in Girls Education around the world precisely to help reap those benefits not just for those countries, but the world as a whole. Host its interesting you mention matt you mention afghanistan because weve been there almost two decades. When we look back at some points when our troops have left, it may be the most significant thing that we did was to build schools for girls and encourage girls to go back to school. Millions of girls in afghanistan and may that never be reversed at this perilous time when the taliban seems to be coming back. And a final question and for those people who want to ask a question, go down to the gray bar at the bottom of your screen and press the blue raised hand otten. We will call on as many people as we can. Were talking just before the government, i in would say 90 of the time of most people in government is to defend. We are defending the country against all the ills, political, military of our adversaries. You and i talked about the possibility we bite adjust that ratio. If there is tremendous possibility for women, for technology, for Public Health, for extreme poverty to alleviate it, shouldnt we be devoted devoting government, nonprofits, tensions by journalism in the attention by journalism in the New York Times, to push forward on these trendlines to make the world more better and just . Is that a great opportunity for us . Nicholas what was the Bobby Kennedy quote . I think he is quoting George Bernard shaw. Think the government could step into that a little more. Thinks about the steps that were most consequential for Human Development and human wellbeing in this country and preciselyey were those proactive steps Public Health and sanitation in the United States transformed americas cities, made them much more habitable. Efforts for disease, smallpox eradication. Pandemic effort management though they were not followed through this year in the United States, obviously. I think about malnutrition, almost a quarter of kids worldwide are stunted from malnutrition. That has consequences for their height, but it also has consequences for their mental development, for their cognitive bandwidth for the rest of their lives stop we know how cheap it is to address that, malnutrition. And yet we have been we havent treated that as a high priority issue. Early Childhood Development in this country. I think about what would have helped those quarter of kids who died on my school bus. There are no easy solutions, no silver bullets, but there is silver buckshot. One of those buckshot is Early Childhood education to help kids get on track so that they can have better outcomes. I said at the beginning and i meant it sincerely, you are one of the few people i know , you have a big voice at the New York Times with a column who are really putting people first. Lets go to questions. A good friend, king of the Rocky Mountains in utah. Tom, you are next. There will be a little bit of a delay between saying that and inviting tom. Are you with us . Do you hear me . Host we sure do. The leading experts on world wars and other issues. Im enjoying what you are saying. Voice to yes, there is a chance for progressive inside the government. Yes, biden could be a possible fdr. But Something Else that bothers out the liberal community over plays its hand. The the supreme court, and filibuster, new regulation, new i am out heres, in colorado outside of aspen, at 7800 feet. Are fracking machines around. Over some of the backlash to any of these im trying toat say is dont overplay your hand. I admit a lot of the things that overay, but i get nervous overdoing it on the progressive side. Im a republican, conservative fuss budget. Im not sure i know who to vote for, but thats my speech and thank you for what you are both doing. You are too neat guys and i like you. Much forve done so the United States. I saw you when you are ambassador to belgium. Thank you. Concern i share your about the capacity for progressives to bungle things. Frankly, i think they did in 2016 stop if those progressives who voted for jill stein had instead voted for hillary clinton, you would have 16 and we would be in a Clinton Presidency right now. Overreaching is something both parties do. I share your concern this may well happen. One of the things i worry about in the next few months to where the election is is so many are so disgusted by President Trump that they likewise feel nothing but outrage and disgust for any trumped motor and tend to label them all as bigots and racists. Its really hard to win votes from people who you are denouncing as racists and bigots. Its important to win some of those votes, not only for the president but also for senate seats. Voted8 Million People who for president obama in 2012 and then voted for trump in 2016, its important to win them back. I hope democratic voters will fight for those votes rather than scorn them or condescend to them. Host thank you. I hope im not mispronouncing your name can you guys hear me . Host we hear you fine. Inthank you for your work social justice. Thanks also for encouraging local, sustainable eating. I appreciate you thinking about chicken abuse. Given the current pandemic which came from animal stock and shouldforced to work we promote a Healthy Lifestyle to [indiscernible] and support social justice. Again, thank you for your work. You were a little garbled there and i got bits of it. Same partssed the you did. I know he talked about the virtues of plantbased cultures and food. To reduce Disease Burden and reduce the greenhouse footprint. As a kid who grew up on the farm, i think the industrial agriculture has been extraordinary successful at some things like reducing the cost of food, but it has been extraordinarily costly in terms of the treatment of animals in terms of the use of toxic canada toxic chemicals that have ripple effects throughout the we wouldnt and i wish put in place more regulatory systems for that. Also say i think consumers are way ahead of the government on this. You look at the public and the degree to which it has passed animalrights measures in many cage freearding chickens, for example or veal calves being treated better and so on, these issues, the public to actuallylling for food that is not only more healthy but raised in a more Sustainable Way and pays more attention to the rights of animals. As long as we are on a theme of hope, that gives me a certain dollop of hope. Ts go to [indiscernible] please. Can you hear me . Host yes, we can. Thank you very much. Thank you nick and nick for sharing your thoughts with us. I share your hope a lot because traveling through the country, talking to people, having reported on the better Angels Foundation where they tried to bring together the red and the blue, we met people who really are longing for change, for forms for finding the better angels are being the better angels. But being german, i have a question which is somehow more pessimistic. What happens if trump wins a second term . Biden, if hens if wins the presidency cannot deliver within four years because another disappointment for many people might have a huge impact on the political scenery in the United States . When john bolton interviewed for the aspen security form i think he said he feared if President Trump was reelected that he might take us out of nato. As a former ambassador to nato, and im a great it would be a historical blunder. Theres no question about it. Next, how would you answer that question . Would you answer that question . If President Trump is elected for second term you will not see me doing a hopeful column. And frankly, i worry about a war , and conflict. Whether its in the south china , between us and iran, there are all kinds of angst that can trigger a crisis. Confidenceve full while President Trump is in office. Ways,d say that in some President Trump is most costly in terms of his erosion of norms and institutions. Those norms have been damaged to the core. Of impressed by how well the american institutions have withstood the constant barrage of attacks. If you look at the courts, journalism, civil service, the intelligence community, there really has been an effort to stand for historic norms and institutions. For four years they. Much years it could be deeper challenge. I think it would be a catastrophe. I worry about some of our institutions and the abuse of the Justice Department and state department, where i served for 27 years and the president calling the state department the deep state, what could be more crippling to morale in that. I let lets go to chris. Thank you for an engaging discussion. While the is that progressive improvements of the opposition,a lot of they at least seems to have come with an agreement on both sides as to what the facts were. Today in a world where people fundamentally disagree about whether covid numbers are going up or down, and whether the russians were supporting trump and how many people are actually in an inauguration crowd. As a journalist, how do you see the nation returning to a setting where we can at least agree on what reality is and have a debate on the policies we need to address . Question,s a good share your concern. I would note that although we tend to think of the past as a time when we did not have a shared set of acts, sometimes that shared set of facts was completely wrong. If you think of the run up to world war ii and there was broad agreement that isolationism was the best approach to take, and certainly in the 1960s i dont think there was that shared set of facts about civil rights issues, vietnam, or social policy more broadly. , certainly fort there has been the morning ham prescription that you are entitled to your views but not to facts. Ago i have to mention another nicholas here he said that with the internet we would develop a platform that we would me, where people would get information that would reinforce their own prejudices. And that has come to pass and we do get a form of the daily me in some way and we are all more segregated by politics. Clearly thats a huge obstacle to policy formation, both domestically and abroad. I go back and forth about whether thats because of the way we consume news come or we. Ave a chance to get over developed a more common understanding of reality and maybe there is hope that we can as well. We take you live now to the white house where President Trump is about to hold a news. Onference [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations] we are just waiting for President Trump who has called for a news conference. The 2020 look at how president ial race is shaping up from todays washington journal. We represent womens issues, and we believe all issues are womens issues. We come from a conservative leaning orientation, but we put women in the center and we are not affiliated or politically aligned, because i think the issues are very often bipartisan. Host you are with us for the next 45 minutes, can you define feminism for us. Guest i think the ideas that women should be able to make decisions for themselves. I think over the past few decades we have seen them in is him hijacked by those who have an agenda that want to narrowly define womens issues as just pertaining to their body, or advocating for policies that have unintended consequences of harming women in the workplace, of reducing the opportunities they have. People asked me if im a feminist. I believe in womens empowerment and i want you to make the best choices for your education,areer, paycheck, pocketbook and every aspect of your life. If thats what feminism is, sure. If its just about reproductive rights, then no. Host can conservatives be feminist . Guest absolutely, theres a younger jamming generation reclaiming the idea feminism, and laying it out in the terms of the issues i mentioned. Or they are very happy to be single moms, raising kids, because they believe that is the most optimal life for them. Either of those is fine. In a free market and free country thats what we should celebrate, i think there are some feminists who will look down on that. St host what do you think the impact of the feminist movement has been . Guest we have seen vice President Biden say that his candidate must be a woman. I think this idea that because we have not had a first female president , there is an onus on the democratic side for to be a woman on the ticket because biden may not survive his first term, i think we can celebrate the historic nature of picking a female candidate. But at the end of the day its about issues and its about the best person for the job. I would hope that feminism has moved beyond it has to be a woman to moving into being a right person for the position. And theres a great number of qualified women to fit that role. That is what i think is concerning. We will see. In our organization we are looking to have the issues, squarely, regardless of whether its a man or woman and we want policies that will release the stranglehold of government regulations on individual lives and businesses, and expand opportunities, ensure that individuals can take their passion to the marketplace and a business friendly environment. Thats what we are looking for, School Choice options, with more freedom and Less Government entanglement. Host when it comes to the senate and the state record of Kamala Harris. What issues concerning the most . , and workers rights unfortunately her criminal justice record. I think everyone can look at the fact that she has promoted being a top cop. Thats great, law order is important. We want to ensure that if you are breaking the law you are held accountable. But when you look at her record, the question is whether she has certain cases withheld evidence people being prosecuted, whether shes prosecuting individuals for crimes they did not commit. Prosecuting parents for come for truancy, i guess she wants to keep kids in school. Black and brown people will be targeted by that policy. From a workers a standpoint she supported a californian law which gets at independent contractors, eliminating thousands, potentially millions of this is may federal policy, people like some of the guess that we were talking about, landscapers, people who have their own small businesses, manicurist, translators. It runs the gamut of vocations of regular middleclass americans trying to build their own lives, but suddenly because of laws like that that Kamala Harris supported would see those opportunities disappear. Those are two examples of things about find concerning Kamala Harris, and if she were president the type of policy she would push forward on. We are taking your phone calls with the line split up as usual. For democrats 202 7488000. For republicans 202 7488001. For independents 202 7488002. Is criticizing Kamala Harris as being nasty a sexist criticism . Guest i think its inappropriate. I dont think we need to name call. We can absolutely point out her record and her policies. I think thats where the criticism needs to focus on. We hear a lot about race and whether she is black. And because of this campaign, particularly because the democratic side has framed this about race, suddenly her race and origins come into play. , because at the end of the day her race does not matter when it comes to the daily policies that Americans Care about. Ist they should care about will their kids have choice if they dont want to be all virtual this fall. People care about that, whether they will have fulltime hours, like the previous caller working at a Grocery Store supermarket. That is what matters, things like race and gender should not come into the equation. Callers, mentioned the we have our first on the line out of providence, rhode island. This is call and come ive been away for a while, im the german guy. Women and campaign 2020. Caller its going to be interesting. Roe lied rhode island is in bidens bag. Is deep blue like wyoming deep red. The battleground states will decide it. They say trump is narrowing the pence isthat mike looking forward to debating Kamala Harris. Therestudy mike pence a quiet courage about him. Hes a gentleman. But if you study him he is fearless. I think is going to be a formidable opponent. But i think on the others, dont underestimate joe biden, hes a tough irish pug and when it comes to a fight hes ready. Afraid of that guy. Our guest from rhode island this morning. A recent washington post, gop warning of eroding support among female voters. Women now favor presented democratic nominee joe biden by 23 Percentage Points compared to National Polls in late june, and white women, a majority of whom trump are starting to abandon the president. Gop have a women problem . Guest thats the perennial question. Theres the rhetoric and the issues. Very often i hear people here rhetoric, namecalling and things like that and they say thats not where politics needs to be. But they go into the voting booth and they think about their children and their husbands and themselves and what they want to be in the kind of futures they want to craft and i think they start to look at the policies and who will have the policy to give me the freedom im looking for. Thats where i think you might , maybe it comes down to a much smaller percentage. We will have to what comes out of the polling in november. I think theres this idea that all gop women are going to abandon the president because they dont support him anymore. They really support the policies of this administration going forward, particularly around religious freedom, and school when wehich is critical look at the pandemic and how many Public Schools have failed thinkn successfully i there are a lot of women who consider the issues and they may not tell you that in polling right now, but it might show up in the way they vote. Host we spent time yesterday focusing on black women in campaign 2020 emerging as a voting block and the role that they are going to play. I wonder how do you think President Trump will appeal to black women specifically and dig into the support that usually goes to democrats. Guest number one, support for the Democratic Party among black women is eroding. There was a poll conducted by a couple of different black female atups, looking every year how many black women identifies democrats and we have seen an 11 percentage point drop for the last year were two, and its not necessarily that they are going to republicans but they are being independent. That means that conservatives have an opportunity to reach out to independent black women, what issue do they care about, education for their kid, School Choice in particular. And we look at states like florida where Governor Desantis has been successful in vocalizing mobilizing black female support around School Choice. Because black women, many of them are mothers and they want the best Educational Opportunities their children. They dont want their kids to be held back by their zip code. Giving them the choice of where to send their kids is a powerful tool that those on the left side of the aisle are not willing to see. They want all kids to be in the Public School model. And we do find some hypocrisy where the very elected officials send their kids to private schools because they have choice. Thats an issue that i think will be important and criminal Justice Reform. We have seen the first stepped first step pushed through with the president s help at the end of the line. Black men, over 2000 were released early. They had their sentences reduced because of this. Thatis a bipartisan effort was finally achieved by a conservative president. I think black women will get some of those issues which are really important. Other issues are certainly important, certainly the ability to get jobs and also health care. There is an opportunity there. When i look on my social media feed im seeing a lot of the young black conservative women saying im not ashamed to say that i believe in what i believe in and who i support. You can join the conversations on our usual phone lines. For republicans 202 7488001. For democrats 202 7488000. For independents 202 7488002. Edna, out of aurora, colorado. A democrat. Good morning. , im sorryning theres so much that has been said that is so disturbing that i dont even know where to begin. Number one, kemal is a woman of is a woman ofa color. I dont care if you are brown, black, or yellow, you are a woman of color and thats an exceptional change in who is standing up to be possible president of this United States two. Erica number i dont care what color you are, if you cannot dictate what happens to your own body, you have an essence no rights. Give me one policy that dictates what happens to a mans body that is an equivalent to what can happen to a womans body and i will change my mind. Number three, the criminal Justice System is now a very privatized area. And we are talking about exceptional money that is dictated by how long you stay in , the is running the jail places to which our criminals or not criminals are sent after i donte served time know how she could possibly have of freedom concepts or being. Im sorry, im just so angry that i cant even speak host . Your chance to reply. Guest good morning. Youve hit on a number of issues, youve hit on criminal justice and i think you have made an interesting point, there are Many Americans being locked longd spending quite prison sentences, regardless of whether they are in private or public prisons, the fact is, many prison sentences are disproportionate based upon the crime committed. When we talk about criminal Justice Reform i think you are right that part of that discussion is about mandatory sentence saying. Its about whether the punishment fits the crime. And i think the First Step Act is one of those bipartisan areas where you are talking about reducing sentences so that there so that some sort the sentence fits the crime. And sometimes that does not mean jail time, maybe someone needs ability and. Number two, i will not get into reproductive rights. I will not limit myself and all of the issues that i care about to just reproductive rights. I think there is so much that we all care about, and i think the first issue that was mentioned and it escapes me now and i apologize, host the idea of women of color and what that means. Guest thank you. Color, im, woman of a woman of color in a nationalized citizen, meaning im an immigrant. And as i have said before, i hope you did not miss what i have said, its historic. It is, so was the election of president obama. But celebrating the history does not necessarily mean that thats how you need to vote or should vote. But every black person should not vote for a candidate because they are black and every female should not vote because she is a woman, you vote based on your issues and conscience and i hope you will respect my conscience as i respect yours. The in houston, texas, on republican line. Good morning. Thomas . Are you with us . Alan, in durham, north carolina, independent. Caller good morning. The concern i have with the women is that we have 45, the president now, he is already displayed a lot of sexism towards women and a lot of racism, a person of color is automatically angry or mad. There was a recent Congress Lady who had some things going on and in georgia and she nobodynancy pelosi a b, referenced her anger, but with Kamala Harris running shes apparently mean and nasty but nobody says anything about her being mean and nasty. President i will give 45, is the criminal Justice System. He did well in that, but that also could have been done we have to understand that we have a senate and a congress. Mcconnell said the president will do nothing and will help us with nothing. Thats why when brock was in office it wasnt done. I dont hear you all bringing that up. Cspan, we have a lot of race stuff coming on. Id like you to have a program where we identified biracial individuals dealing with people of color as far as black culture. Have white people and other people callin about how inclusive we are as a culture and how we invite all cultures in our community. Because men of color, women of color, they marry chinese, white, hispanic. We are very inclusive and loving people. Should not have a program how many biracial people were forced to become like barack obama host i think i got your suggestion, i always appreciate your suggestions. Guest thank you allen. Interesting stuff that you have mentioned, but thank you forgiving President Trump credit for the criminal justice First Step Act that was passed. To i will give credit president obama for trying to push for criminal justice as well. Lets not make this a one side versus the other. It took a bipartisan lift to get it done. And thats just the first step. We are talking about mandatory sentencing reform and we are also talking about i should say recidivism. How do you ensure that somebody gets another chance and doesnt go back into the system. Unfortunately, i disagree that there could be some unwelcoming elements in the black community toward people that they dont vote the same way they do or think the same way they do. As a black conservative, i face vitriol on a daily basis because i dont espouse the same political views or vote the same way they do. That is something that we can work on. Understanding that at the end of the day, i want what you want. Want my family to be healthy and safe. I want to be able to work and find opportunity. Brings that that is what us together from a common perspective. There are lots of different avenues, some better than others. A conversation that says lets embrace one anothers differences is great. Next caller. Good morning. I am happy that you have your own independent views and that is good. To me, your views are a little bit disjointed. Saidyou say freedom, you freedom and then you said about religious liberty. I am christian. Nobody has ever stopped me from going to church. I have always been able to say Merry Christmas which trump said we couldnt say until he got into office. Been able to say happy holidays and happy kwanzaa. You also set about businesses and free markets, the government wasnt set up with business in lent. It was for the people. Thats where the breakdown comes for me. I owned a business before. I didnt get anything from the government, i started it from the beginning. Businesses want the government to do what they want to do and they shouldnt. People, you do your business and also go about your business. I dont care about what the lgbtq people do. If people want an abortion, they will do it if its legal or not. Leave them alone. Kamala harris and joe, when somebody asks them about personal how do you feel about the lgbtq community, i hope they say i am happy and i want them to do with the losses you can do and thats what they should do. What the law says you can do and thats what they should do. You bring up a lot and i want to give our guests a chance to respond. Thank you. Saying isat you are very libertarian leaning. I find some commonality with you on that. Maybe if the government wasnt in bed with business very often, we call that crony capitalism. Its not what a free market system is supposed to be where corporations are of it able that smallntages businesses cannot. Whether you are an individual entrepreneur or you have two people and you are a coffee shop owner or youre a tech company with 5000 employees. To your point about people and their personal lives, that is where the libertarian streak comes out in may, i agree with you. There are some things that the government needs to mind its own business about. Forgive me, i forgot your first issue. Do you remember . There were a few but you covered several of them. We have several more callers. Is a republican. Good morning