Diversity in government and Foreign Policy. Welcome to our new shavers road ahead series leading to the of ever election. I am coming to from my home in washington, d. C. I am our politics editor. Thanks to bank of america making these conversations possible and welcome to audiences on facebook, youtube, twitter, linked in and axios. Com. We hope you will follow along using the axios events and at axios on twitter. Over the next 30 minutes i will be joined by steph kyte and mike allen to unpack that news of the date, but her turnout and how National Security will play a key role in the member election. Now i would like to welcome our first guest, the ceo and president of photo op latino, Maria Teresa Kumar joins us from newark new jersey. Hello. Thank you for having me. How are you . I am tired. They election is a week away. We are not on the road. Are not on the road and i do not know about you but i could i get energy being on the road and there is an end to the day. There is no end to the date when zoom and your office is also your dining room table which is next to the kitchen. I know. That is i enjoy being on the road. For november 3 you do not want to see anything. I am grateful to be healthy and i know that you are current. We are one week away and there are Major Concerns we talk about and hear about in terms of ballots being counted. Mailin ballots being challenged. Problems at the polls on election day. Talk to us about what your group is doing right now in this final stretch, and what are you most concerned about . Are any of thest there is actually suppression efforts . How should we think about what we are hearing . Ms. Kumar so i think the most important pieces that we know that americans in general are really paying attention, but africanamerican and latinos are paying more attention when it comes to how to access the ballot box this time. The majority of African Americans and latinos do not really trust the mailin process , and they have a right not to do so. There have been study after study to show that sadly finger signature matching is the biggest impediment. If the signature does not match perfectly, this proportionally in black and latino communities, their vote simply gets thrown out compared to other zip codes. So what we are encouraging at voto latino, and so many folks are, is go and vote in person, if it is possible. So we are seeing a surge in texas, we are seeing a surge in florida, pennsylvania, and arizona. That is not by accident, margaret. That is a concerted effort by the civil rights organizations to ensure that people are confident in their vote spewed we are also encouraging, obviously, people to vote by mail. But they are not wrong when they fear that their vote may not be counted fully. Coming into the election, but i would predict as we will see not by allsurge of voting americans but the patients we will need post november 3 two ensure that every single ballot counted properly. Places like wisconsin and is of, for example, they will not counterbalance until november 3, so you can imagine this nailbiter of an election where these two key battleground states will not know, possibly, for a week or two. Margaret you are encouraging voters to put on protective masks ms. Kumar masks. Snack,mask, bring a bring water, and bring your favorite playlist, because, in some places, it is going to take you longer. But this should really be an alert for every single american. The fact that we are the country that exports democracy worldwide, we are the leaders and participation of democracy as a way to enfranchise our citizens, yet we have become almost immune to the idea that we have to wait sometimes 12 hours. Poll tax on disproportionately the working class of americans. One of the things we need to work on after this election is, how do we fix that . Because it does not make any sense. Margaret in the meantime, if you vote early, you are much less likely to find anything resembling a 12hour line, i think the right . Ms. Kumar you are seeing some cases of that, again, and some places that have removed polling places in general, but, no, for the most part, you wont. And you have a choice of more varied Polling Centers when you are voting early, whereas if you wait until november 3, you have to go to your precinct. You have to be a very patient person to want to engage in that. [laughs] margaret i have a lot of questions, so let me try to get some of these in. In what states are latino voters most likely to have the biggest impact, and why is the youth vote so important this year . Ms. Kumar so voto latino for the first time, we have been the leading Voter Registration since 2008, we registered 200,000. As of this morning, we have registered over 567,000 new voters in six key battleground states. Becometates have battleground for the most part arizona, texas, pennsylvania, North Carolina, georgia because florida is in there, but the five states ive mentioned before has seen an aging in of young latinos comingofage. Since 2016, 4 million more young latino voters are eligible to vote. Every 30 seconds a young latino becomes eligible to vote. That is why you see a shifting in our electoral map of what is now considered a talk up. I was having a conversation with in texas,ulian castro and he said texas is very much in play to we have registered roughly a quarter of a million new texans. Beto orourke lost by 216 thousand, to give your idea, and we will mobilize 1. 5 million folks. We have invested close to 33 million in six key battleground states, because we recognize all of this is about closing the Voter Registration gap and providing people with key motivation to mobilize and engage. Young latino voters turned out at the polls as much as they could, as much as eligible registration is allowed, there would be an overwhelming impact in the election, no doubt. But there is some evidence that latino voters, although there is a clear majority in favor of voting for democrats and joe biden, there is some evidence that some latino voters like trump more now than they did four years ago. And we saw some lagging enthusiasm for biden over the summer among some latino voters. I am wondering how you will explain the trends, and you think biden has done enough since the summer to improve assurances or excitement among latino voters . Ms. Kumar lets tackle the first question. What the Trump Campaign has done effectively, since 2016, is that he has not stopped talking to latino voters, particularly in florida. Sadly, the way he has peppered and spoken to the peopl latino people in florida is false information, and the challenge is that they are getting messages that are very much blown out of socialism, communism, and the reason why you would not want to elect a democrat who is a man like joe biden, who is very much more of the centerfold, right . So combating a lot of that disinformation, in florida particularly, has been challenging. You will always have a center, though, of latinos, around 25 verytino voters who are conservative, and choice is something that is very important to them. And there are also a lot of veterans within the latino community. So that is where we see that. However, when you shifted to places like texas and arizona and even georgia and North Carolina where you have seen local leadership that is, you t, trump with a small where they have done a lot of racial profiling, a lot of immigration laws that have created hostility, you do not see that kind of misinformation. And people are voting for different reasons. They are voting absolutely for health care. They are also voting for but this is my very first time in my 15 years of doing this inequitiesracial that exist in black and latino households are the top three issues. And that speaks everything to what i shared before, is not only are trump policies at the National Level attacking latino communities interpersonally, but you have great advocates in we really see a lot of this mobilization. Our biggest challenge is there are 15 million of us were eligible to vote who are simply not registered. That is the biggest challenge in the latino community, closing that registeration gap. Close to 10 million of us are younger than 33 years old. With biden, one of his challenges is that for a long time he could not get on the ground, he could not knock on doors, and he was very dependent on zoom conversations. Who conversations, people participate in them are already on your team. What you are going to see now over the weekend, you will see hooley and castro hit nevada, arizona, and head back to texas. He needs more of that communication in order for folks to better understand what he is about because they dont know what he is about quite yet. My hope is that they are going to be able to use this time wisely. Watchet we have a lot to in the closing week of the elections. Maria teresa kumar, i want to thank you for joining axios today. Ms. Kumar thank you for the conversation. Margaret and thanks to bank of america for making this program possible. After a video from our sponsor, stay tuned for a segment with congresswoman karen bass. The racial and economic disparities that have long existed in this country have only been widened by the coronavirus and amplified by the most recent acts of injustice. People around the world are coming together with greater urgency to demand action. At bank of america, we know we all have a role to play to overcome very real consequences of systemic racism and inequity. This includes individuals, governments, nonprofits, and the private sector. Equality is deeply needed. That is why bank of america has committed 1 million for four years to address affordable housing, access to health care, employment and a counseling, and resources people need to succeed. We need to do more now to further advance racial inequality and Economic Opportunity for us all. Again to ournk you sponsor, bank of america. I am the politics are part of her axios. Our next guest is a representative of congresswoman karen bass joining us from los angeles. Thank you so much for joining us. Rep. Bass thanks for having me on. Stef this has already been an Election Year with like no other. California has already broken state records for mailin voting. How do you see this impacting voter turnout in los angeles, particularly among people of color . Rep. Bass i think the turnout has been historic, and i believe it is going to continue. Here inery fortunate california and in los angeles especially. We are not concerned about some of the Voter Suppression tactics that have happened around the country. There have been a couple incidences, but i would not call it Voter Suppression. Stef has the Biden Administration approach to about cabinet positions . Rep. Bass im talking to the Biden Campaign about november 3. Stef we have been hearing from americans there anxious about how this election will play out. Processes, what can you say to them . Rep. Bass first of all, i think that is sad. The main reason people are distrustful is because that is what they hear out of the president s mouth. The idea that a president of the United States would south that type of division and dissension sow that type of division and dissension is a tragedy. I cannot wait until we are past this time in our history. I can tell them the most important thing for people to do this time, you cannot view the election is november 3, that is when the election ends. We have to view the election right now. If you are fortunate to be in one of those states where you can mail in your vote or vote early. Here is the thing. All of us need to have a plan to vote. Website i will vote. Com, where you can put in your personal information and find out how, when, where to vote in your particular location. In order to deal with all of the negativity, have a plan. The other thing is, i am worried about november 4, frankly. Because the president has been so divisive, i am worried about all of those militias and proud boys and all of those white supremacist groups that support the premises support the president. He does not use a dog whistle, he has a bullhorn and he is telling them all to come out. I am worried the president of the United States is going to agitate violence during and after the election. He is even calling for people to go watch the polls and i have talked to colleagues around the country and they are watching the polls for one reason and that is to intimidate and dissuade people from voting. Stef given the president s remarks on these things, and given the concerns about unrest and violence after november 3, what role do democrats like yourself play . How should democrats be preparing to respond, after election day . Rep. Bass we need to be extremely vigilant. We need to know what is going on in our districts. Some of my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus describe situations where there are white constituents, either in or outside their districts, who are making a clear are going to be armed. Par make it clear theyre going to be prepared. This is the kind of thing we see another countries. Never in the United States like this. It is such a tragedy. It is really because things are rotten at the top. Stef yes. So you are also a member of that today sherry and Foreign Affairs committees. Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees. Do these committees plan there e of it that needs to continue. One of the things and this will be so sad, although i will be rema happy in january extremely happy to see President Biden being sworn in, would be a glorious, historic day. On the other hand, i would have tremendous input the because they will have to go in and look at every single federal agency because the level of corruption, scandal, and controversy, they are going to have to go in and essentially clean up. I think it is going to take them their first term to clean up the damage, the wreckage that has been done by this administration. Stef as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and as we look forward to a Biden Administration that is expected to be one of the most diverse administrations if you wins in november, if he wins in november, how do you see rep. Bass i think it will be so critical, considering the administration we have now is one of the least diverse administrations we have ever seen, and then the idea that President Biden will come in and actually create an administration that reflects america i think is going to send a wonderful signal. Part of the stress that is going on is because we have a president that has created so much anxiety amongst people about the fact that america is getting browner and browner. Decades,xt couple america is going to be a majority minority country, very much like california. That is what california is like right now. I think the diversity in my state i love and i look forward to the country being as diverse, and we need a president like President Biden who i believe will help americans understand that this does not mean someone is going to take something from them. They are not going to lose by diversity, they are actually going to gain. And we will be much better internationally when our country in terms of leadership does reflect the population. That will send a wonderful signal to the world. President biden and Vice President harris, they are going to have to clean up our image around the world as well now because people are laughing at us and the entire world is watching us to find out what happens. Stef thank you so much. So sorry we have to wrap up. We are out of time. I really appreciate your time in your response to that question, so thank you, karen bass. And thank you to bank of america, our sponsor. Reporter thank you to the bank of america for making these conversations possible. Our next guest is army general h. R. Mcmaster, most recently President Trumps National Security advisor. Before that, general mcmaster led soldiers and organizations for 34 years, including in iraq and afghanistan, on top of being a west point graduate. He has a phd in military history from chapel hill. General mcmaster, welcome to act axios. Mr. Mcmaster it is a pleasure to be with you. Mike you are out on the battlegrounds, and this is not your typical book. This is a scholarly book, 70 bibliography, recommended reading, index. You took it very seriously. What was it like to switch hats in such a big way. It was a bit predictable for an army officer. I transitioned to only my second career in my life, one third if you count my time working at a restaurant named mcdonalds before going to west point. What i wanted to do is help deepen americas understanding of the most crucial challenges we face so we can Work Together to build a Better Future for generations to come. This book is foundational to that effort in my second career here at the institution and at stanford university. Mike you talk in battlegrounds about being on the other end of what you call russias firehose of falsehood. What did you learn about what they are up to . Mr. Mcmaster i think it is important to understand that russia has engaged in a sustained campaign of political subversion against us, and they do employ this approach of disruption, disrupting the effectiveness of our government. That was part of the attack on firemcmas socalled ter campaign. It is to gum up the functioning of our government, particularly in the area of policy and National Security. The broad effort is to disrupt us and use disinformation to shake our confidence in who we are as a people, to polarize our society, pit us against each other. In to shake our confidence democratic principles and institutions and processes. What i write about in the book is this president denies the most brazen efforts. It is important to counter this pernicious effort to bring us down. Russia knows it cannot compete with us. Putin knows he cannot compete with us on our own terms. Russia is operating under the theory that they can be the last man standing because he will be successful in his view of shaking confidence within his democratic societies, in europe and the United States in particular. Mike this week, we saw the director of National Security and the fbi say they have caught russia and iran already meddling in the u. S. Elections. How worried are you about their actual success in disrupting this election of a lifetime . Mr. Mcmaster i am not worried about it at all, and the reason is because i think we have really improved. This is largely an untold story, and of course i was response in 2017 ast in part National Security advisor and into 2018. Mike general, what is the biggest thing you personally did to shake that up . Mr. Mcmaster i think the most important thing we did was focus our intelligence and collection efforts on this pernicious campaign, then we took the gloves off of our cyber forces in the recognition that a good Cyber Defense with this cyber enabled against us deserves offense. Effort to protect our infrastructure broadly and our election infrastructure in particular. We have a very decentralized system, but our federal government is working very closely with the states to make sure that we could have confidence in the sanctity of our election process. Ine i know you have stayed close touch with what is going on. Thatis the biggest thing russia has changed in what they are up to in the 2020 cycle from back when you really delved into it back in 2016 . Mr. Mcmaster they are continuously adapting from a tactical point of view. Initially, it was quite obvious what this Research Agency was doing. You can quickly identify the false personas. Ony were coming to work moscow business hours, so you could see that that is when the traffic would spike. What they are doing his doubling down on this effort to divide us. Bots16, about 80 of the was on issues of race, to polarize us on issues of race. Second was on gun control, and then immigration as well. Russia does not create the divisions in our society, but they do their best to widen those divisions and pit us against each other. It reduces our confidence in who we are. That is why i think education about this problem is so important. We will be less susceptible to this sustained campaign of disinformation. Mike in the book, you say all president s get things wrong. Mr. Mcmaster this is our tendency of strategic narcissism, to define the world only in relation to us and think that the course of events depends on what we do. If we could get a better relationship with putin, he will change. He will be like the grinch at christmas. We can stop this Disruptive Campaign against us. We have president george w. Bush who went to visit putin and said, i looked into his soul. Lary clinton brought the president obama leaned over and said, we have more flex ability after the election in the hopes that they will see we want to welcome them back into the western community. Then of course, President Trump finds it difficult to criticize putin for some reason, under the belief he keeps saying, wouldnt it be great if we had a great relationship with putin . What i write about is it will not get better with putin and the reason it will not is the ideology and emotion that drives him. He is driven by a sense of honor lost associated with the breakup of the soviet union and the loss of the cold war, and also this drive to restore russia to national greatness, as i mentioned. He cant do that on his own terms because he does not have the resources to do it. He is determined to drag us all down like the kgb operator he is. He is quite adept at it. He is one of the greatest deceivers in the world. Lets stoplessons, being chumps about this. Lets recognize putin for who he is and compete more effectively, by imposing additional costs on the kremlin beyond those that factor into their decisionmaking when they take these aggressive actions, whether it is the annexation of of sergeie poisoning skripal and his daughter. Continued to has be emboldened because we and europe havent together imposed costs on him. Think about the nord stream 2 gas pipeline. That could be powerful. There are real economic losses for this campaign of aggression against us. Mike general mcmaster, you mentioned that the president has been reluctant to criticize putin. It is funny, you and other former Administration Officials are reluctant to criticize him. How do you think the criticize him why do you think the criticism of the president is so muted . Mr. Mcmaster i have not hesitated to criticize President Trump at all. I think you can find with a quick Google Search 30 times what i have said. The president is wrong to give putin his space, to aid in his efforts and deny what is completely obvious. This is what my friend and National Security advisor used to say putins implausible deniability. I think it is very important to criticize the failures of policy and actions by the president , by others, giving putin his space. I criticize both Political Parties because what we see is a tendency for Leaders Within these parties to compromise our principles as americans for partisan political advantage. That is one of the ways putin plays us. We have to start doing this, but i think President Trump has not helped are caused by raising doubts about what is super obvious. What i described in the book is President Trumps tendency to conflate three related questions , but distinct questions. Did they metal in the election . Heck yes, they did. I think what they wanted to do in 2016 is what they want to do in 2020, which is no matter who wins raise doubts among us about the legitimacy of the results, and to have dirt on whoever comes in so they can weaponize it against them. In 2016, it is really important to recognize that russia, they were ready to launch a campaign saying, Hillary Clinton won the election because the election was rigged. I think they were as surprised as most americans, and maybe donald trump was, that he won the election in 2016. They shifted that campaign to he would have won the popular vote if it wasnt raked. They want us to think the elections are rigged. The points he brings up about the attempts to secure are counterproductive and play right into the kremlins hands. General, you have been inside the west wing, you have seen it up close in a way very few people have. You have spent your life studying and practicing leadership. Would you say President Trump is a good leader . He is theer i think elected president of the United States, mike. What i have tried to do as National Security advisor in serving the fifth commander in chief that i have served since i entered west point at 17 is help the elected president to succeed. Decision people made through our Electoral College and our constitutional system. Americant is for the people to decide who should be the next president. I think my role as a retired military officer is to maybe help americans make that decision, and what i try to do in the book is described more fully these challenges we are facing, challenges that arent going away while we are at each others throats politically. What i hope that readers might be able to do is use that description as criteria for both candidates on Foreign Policy. Sadly, no one is talking about Foreign Policy. No one is talking about these challenges because we are so enmeshed in this partisanship and the personalization of politics these days. We ought to celebrate the fact that we are not a monarchy. So everything is about President Trump, vice President Biden, we can demand better from all of our leaders. And our leaders in congress as well. The queue. E getting this series is called the road ahead. If joe biden were to win the election, would americans secrets be safe with vice President Biden . Mr. Mcmaster yes. I think we should have confidence in whoever the American People elect, and we should all try to help that president succeed. I think that is what we are missing these days. I think we have to break this tendency of an administration coming in, especially in the area of foreignpolicy and National Security, and defined their policies mainly as an opposition to the predecessor. In battlegrounds, i wrote about challenges that it should not matter if you are a democrat or a republican. Theyal qaeda attacked us, didnt attacked republicans or democrats, they attacked americans. I think we need to come back together as a country. I am hoping we can come together initially around these issues of Foreign Policy and National Security. You the last question, knew vice President Biden when he was on the hill. You interacted with him more since then. Who around vice President Biden in a potential Biden Cabinet and white house would you feel safe and secure about having in a leadership role . Mr. Mcmaster there are a number of people. The person i probably know the best is shall 49 michelle for noy. She is extreme good. She has taken a lot of positions and she was the secretary of defense for policy that ran counter to the obama administrations approach to Jihadist Terrorism broadly, but especially in iraq and afghanistan. Where our premature withdrawal gave space to isis on one hand and the taliban on the other. I think President Trump in many ways has obligated the efficiencies of those obama policies. So i am hoping that if michelle is nominated and does become secretary of defense, she becomes a strong voice for sustained engagement. What is something specific about joe biden that would make you feel safe and secure in this fight . Mr. Mcmaster i think they both i think he brings a number of experiences. I dont know him well enough, but i do think what i would like to see if he comes in is a fundamentally different approach to Foreign Policy. I think that successive administrations now have seen the middle east mainly as a mess to be avoided, and not that we should have large numbers of troops there or take on the problems in the middle east ourselves, but whenever we assume that things couldnt get worse in the middle east that they actually do. And i think i would like to see a fundamentally different approach to policy there, and policy toward iran. I think the orion nuclear deal was in retrospect a mistake because it failed to consider the ideology that drives the Islamic Republic of iran, and to place that deal in context of irans 40 year long proxy war israel. The little satan it is a Biden Administration that this Biden Administration will take an approach to Foreign Policy that is in many ways fundamentally different from the obama administrations foreign policies. On china as well. Dont try to turn the clock back to 2016 again. No administration should define their policy mainly as an opposition to their predecessor. Take the good and amplify it. General of savvy i tell people to follow you on twitter. You have said in the past you did not vote, but i encourage everybody to vote. The reason i did not vote was to follow the example of general George Marshall who organized the victory in world war ii, he plan,p with the marshall a response to soviet aggression in the cold war. I have respect for him. He kept the line between military and politics by never voting. That is what i did for most of my career. I just voted my first time. It is important for political leaders not to drag the military into partisan politics. Our founders were concerned about that. This is the important element and strength of our democracy, and we have to be careful to preserve that line. The best of americans to join our military. We do not care what your race, religion, Sexual Orientation or political party. Nobody is checking registration cards when bullets are coming in the direction. It is important to preserve the apolitical nature of our military. Why did you vote for the first time . Now i am retired. As aout of the army, but retired officer, i should do my part to preserve that line. I choose not to add my name to dueling lists of admiral and general endorsements. I respect my former colleagues decisions to do that and to opeds. Ask, did you vote for your old boss, President Trump . About of the great things our democracy is the secret ballot. I am determined not to share how i vote. Thank you for all you have done for this country, and the honor of this conversation. Thank you, the honor is mine. Thank you very much general mcmaster and bank of america for making these conversations possible. Thank you for joining us, and hopefully you will join us soon. Go