The current margin stands at 13,111 between the president and senator biden. Vice president biden. My office will continue to investigate each and every instance of illegal voting. Double voting, fallon voting, people voting out of state, if you are reported, we will investigate it. Every legal vote will count. We will be counting every single piece of paper, every single ballot, every single lawfully cast legal ballot. Anchor the deal was agreed during u. N. Backed political talks into mizzy a. Our talks will focus on a new Transitional Government to oversee the runup to the elections. A military operation in northern ethiopia is threatening to spill over the countrys borders. The Prime Minister order the offensive in the region last week accusing local forces of attacking a military base. Hundreds have been killed on several thousand people have fled to neighboring saddam. I mean he is parliament has agreed to discuss protesters demands that the Prime Minister step down. A ceasefire deal has been made regarding the disputed region of no core no karabakh but there is anger over the agreement which allows azerbaijan to keep it land captured during six weeks of fighting. Thousands of take to the streets in perus capital a day after the president was kicked out of office and replaced by the former head of congress. Demonstrators see the move as a coup. He was sworn in as interim president on tuesday and became perus third leader in four years. You can follow those stories on our website. Back with more news and halfanhour. Next is the bottom line. Stay with us. Im steve cmons. With the election hind us, will the republin party dump trump . . Lets get to the bottom line. Even though he was voted out of the white house, most agree donald trump and trumpism are not going away. The vote was close, the sun is still republicancontrolled on republican members of congress defeated democrats all over the country. Even though he lost the election, trump is still the Major Force Driving his base and his party. What does that mean for the future republicans over the next few years . What lessons is the party learning from the selection . How will they deal with the Incoming Democratic administration led by joe biden and Kamala Harris . Joining me as chuck hagel, who has served as defense secretary in the Obama Administration, a conservative senator from nebraska, well known as one of americas lead bipartisan voices. Thank you so much for joining us today. You are part of a group called the National Council on election integrity. We have just had this major election, more americans voted in the selection then voted in a century in this country. They are back added. A lot of people are saying the election is not over. You are a republican but one who does not support donald trump. What do we need to achieve at this point to get a sound, secure, trustable election result that more americans will believe in then are on the case right now . Thanks for having me on. I have always believed the instance of democracy is the trust and confidence in our free, fair, secure elections. And if most americans feel that this past election was fair and was secure and was honest, then that is a big thing. That is a big deal. That is where you start. If the citizenry of this country dont believe that the elections were fair or if they were stolen or they were fraudulent, they are. Not going to believe anything they are not going to believe in their leaders, they are not going to believe in what their leaders say. I think to a great extent, we have accomplished a good deal of that. I know there are lawsuits, there will be more. I know there are recounts. But we have always had recounts. It is in the law. You can have recounts. I think what we have got to do is try to find ways, and leaders have this responsibility, to reinsert, readjust americas confidence in its institutions again. You do that not by saying it or talking about it, but by showing that they can trust their institutions of governors. By the way, not just governors. The media, all institutions, higher education, religion, journalism, the law, congress, politics. No, it is not a perfect picture, but i think that is where you start. And i think if joe biden can accomplish that, in the first few years of his administration, he will have brought this country back a long way. And that is what we have to do. Weve got to trust the system. Then we can have our debates, then we can have our differences, then we can fight it out. But that trust and confidence is the number one baseline for a democracy. Steve secretary hagel, what failed . I remember covering you in the United States senate. You did not always like my coverage. Sometimes he would gut me. You were unpredictable to me on occasion. You were not a predictable vote in one column. Particularly in Foreign Policy issues. And im just wondering, one, are you bothered by how predictable votes have become . Votes on the supreme court, votes in the United States senate. Im just wondering where the thinking and introspection is . And i think secondly, what happened to that kind of republican . Why have you failed on your colleagues failed to keep the Republican Party a thoughtful party . Sec. Hagel well, obviously i cannot speak for my former colleagues or anybody in office now. But for me, steve, to answer your question, i always had a northstar. It did not mean i was always right or i had the right answer. But i had a northstar. I knew why i was there. And i use to say, and you heard me say it, i set it on the floor of the senate and in speeches when i was being ridiculed by some of my republican colleagues as a rhino, republican in name only, i was disloyal to the Republican Party, i used to say we take an oath of office to the constitution. We dont take an oath of office to a particular a Political Party or the president. It is the constitution. As long as you have that privilege of serving this country in some capacity, your focus, your northstar should be what you think is the right thing to do for your country. Obviously who you represent in your state. But for your country. I never got confused about that. It didnt mean i was any better than anybody else or i was right all the time. But i think we have lost some of that. And i think we have lusted over the years. I dont think it was just President Trump. I think he put a fine point on it the last four years. But this idea of youve got to be all republican or all democrat and support everything the democrat says or the republicans say or you are not a Good Party Member is nonsense. We have never been that way. There is no corner on the market on good ideas or honesty or the right thing. By one party and the other party is excluded. That is a democracy. That is the way democracies work. You come together. You listen to each other. You respect each other. You debate out your differences. You settle them. You compromise. And you move the country ahead for the good ethic country. Steve you are well known as a former policy realist. For those who want a quick dose of what realism means, it means you see the world as it is, another world you would like it to be. As you see other foreign leaders looking at our leadership right now, both in donald trump and this change to joe biden in the white house, from a realist perspective, . . What are they seeing do they see the United States as a pushover . . Do they see the United States as in Strategic Construction and not going to matter as much . Im interested how do you think they see us . Sec. Hagel well, i think the last four years, and ive talked to many ambassadors, foreign ministers, defense ministers, Prime Ministers, so this is not just my opinion. This is in talking with a lot of people. I think they see as in a way that is confusing to them. Certainly since world war ii. This country has engaged the world. We have engaged other countries. We lead in building up a new world order after world war ii. Liberal trade order that built institutions of common interest. The united nations. General agreement on terrorist and trade. World bank. Imf. Collective security. Nato. So on and so on. They have been confused as to who we really are the last four years, because we have pushed back, we have not engaged. We have essentially tariff and sanctioned our own allies. We have questioned their friendship. We have a president who said, im not sure we need nato. They lived off of us, we supported the world, we are not going to do that anymore. That is that has confused our allies, that has confused the world. And in biden, they see a whole different approach. Because first of all, they know biden. Biden was in the senate 36 years, Foreign Relations committee 36 years, eight years as vice president. There is hardly a leader in the world today he does not have a personal relationship with. They know him. They trust him. They dont always agree with him, but the coin of the realm in any business, especially in Foreign Policy, in politics, it is trust. Do you trust that persons word . You may disagree with them, but do you trust them . I think they trust joe biden. They know joe biden is an engagement. A person who as president will engage us again. Will bring america back. I think we have found ourselves the last four years on an island. And we have isolated ourselves. When america is isolated, when america is off balance, the world becomes more dangerous. Not that every problem in the world is our fault, or we need to deal with it, not at all. But we are the 1 and i know this is a trite expression, started by president reagan, but we are truly the one beacon in the world. There is no other country like ours. As many mistakes as we make and we are imperfect and do dumb things sometimes, but the world trusts that. When that is gone, there is no other begin. And people get lost. Get confused. And bad things happen. Steve when you are secretary of defense and again, just reporting on you at that time, there was not always a consensus in the Obama Administration about how to deal with a problematic country like syria or what to do in response to russia, or chinas growing influence in the south china sea, and globally. So im wondering what you think is going to be the case around joe biden when he comes in . Because there is a wing of Foreign Policy, and a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters who in their own view sound pretty similar to donald trump. That they do not see Global Engagement pays off. Is joe biden going to be caught in a vice between these same kinds of groups that often created some confusion in president obamas Foreign Policy . Sec. Hagel well, i dont know about caught in a vice. But there are differences. As you know. In the democratic party, there are differences in the Republican Party on Foreign Policy. Joe biden is going to have to navigate this very carefully. But i think based on his experience, based on people who know him, both International Leaders and leaders here in this country, and in his own party, they know who he is. They know what he represents. They know his history. As long as he deals with everybody directly and honestly, he listens to everybody, listens to Bernie Sanders, listens to everybody, then he is president. He has got to decide. He has to make the decisions. He is 20 have to do what he thinks is the right thing for this country. And i know he will do that. It is not always easy. The world is different, certainly than it was 12 years ago when joe and barack obama became the president and vice president. Some problems are still the same, and they are worse. I think the middle east is in more chaos. Other parts of the world, a little better maybe. North korea. China has risen over the last 12 years. So it is going to take, i think, a new evaluation, a new review. I think you will see in biden an effort to review our interests in the world. Review our policies in the world. I think that is probably underway now. He will bring inexperienced people. He will bring in the best people. He will feel the team of people who the world can trust. The United States contrast. And that will be his foreignpolicy. But based on what certainly is good for the United States, and good for the world, those are not mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, all of those institutions weve built, led in building after world war ii, where mutual consensus institutions. Common interest interest institutions. If the world was more peaceful, that was good news for everybody. For trade, education, more freedom, more opportunities, more hope. This is not a oneway street. I think President Trump somehow has gotten confused over the years about what Foreign Policy is and engagement. It is not a oneway street. It is a twoway street. We can all, as global citizens, as part of a global community, benefit from a study, prosperous, peaceful world. I think that will be joe bidens approach. Steve one of your other Close Friends was a, who was secretary of defense. So you know his thoughts and views well. He has put them out there. Another person that got terminated in that position is mark esper. He was fired by tweet, secretary of defense, really remarkable moment. Secretary esper went out and said if donald trump gets a yesman in that position, god help all of us. What do you think our devcon level should be regarding concern over what mark esper shared . Sec. Hagel well, first, i have great confidence in our National Security enterprise, our institutions, and our leaders. Our uniform military leaders. The chairman of the joint chiefs all the way down through the joint chiefs of staff, all of our leaders. They will follow the law. They will protect the constitution. Regardless who the secretary of defense is. Regardless of who the president is. They are schooled in how to do that. And if they object to an order, what is the process . Im not too concerned about any of that. I think espers comments are comments that should be taken seriously. As a matter of fact, mark esper worked for me in the senate. But i think any secretary of defense would probably approach it the same way esper did and what he said yesterday with those remarks. But i have confidence in our system, our people, the enterprise that we will be ok regardless of who the president is. It might be messy. It could be messy. It could result in a constitutional crisis. But our military leaders will not let anything happen in this country. Steve one of the other things that occurs to me, someone has just died from covid, and so it puts the spotlight back on the fact that nothing has been achieved in terms of the Palestinian Statehood issue or autonomy issue in quite a long time. Do you think that issue is one that can be ignored forever, brushed under the rug . Or do you think fundamentally for stability in the region in the middle east, that palestineisrael problems have to be solved in a way that we are not attending to right now . Sec. Hagel i think we are going to have to Pay Attention to it. Obviously the last four years, we did everything we could to shove it out of the way. And make it more difficult. And more complicated. But it is going to have to be dealt with. If you look at the middle east today, i think the middle east today is more volatile, more explosive, more out of balance. Probably since the 1973 yom kippur war. That is dangerous. Because you look at the nonfunctioning governments in the middle east, syria, libya, yemen, iraq has still have still has deep problems, lebanon essentially has no government, that is not going to get better. That is not going to get better. I dont lay it all at the feet of the palestinianisraeli issue. But that is part of the larger framework of issues. And i think biden has always been a leader in this area. And he has always been smart about it. And he is tough. I would suspect he is going to probably address this in his first four years. I know everybody every president sees it as a nowin situation. Why would i want to get involved in it . Why would i want to go there . But i dont think you can walk away from it. The United States has to take some responsibility in helping facilitate an agreement there. My guess is that biden will do that. I think the priorities in his Strategic Thinking and his foreignpolicy as it develops is not going to necessarily put the palestinian issue at the top. But i think it is going to be on the agenda. Steve right. Presuming President Trump does finally leave the white house, reluctant as he may be, do you think that your friends in the Republican Party establishment are going to have an opportunity to do an autopsy of the party . Or do you think the party, where it is, the base, is firmly going to carry on with this trump list track . Is there a chance for folks like you and your ilk to come back and play a role in rebuilding and resuscitating the Republican Party . Sec. Hagel well, i know this is difficult for the trump supporters. After all, mr. Trump received over 71 million voters. Support. So i know it is tough to lose. And these people strongly supported him. Right now, it is still inflammatory, it charges of fraud and all the rest that we see everyday playing out in lawsuits, that will ease, that will stabilize once we get certification of a new president and the confirmation of that when the electors meet december 14. And then we can move on. But to your point, i think the Republican Party is going to have to take a look at itself. What happened here . Especially youve got the republicans picking up seats in the house. It appears theyve got a good shot at continuing to control the senate, depending on where georgia is. But yet they lost an incoming president by over 4 million votes. So what happened . Are we on the wrong track . There is another factor that the republicans have to look at. And let his demography. Look at texas. Look what happened in georgia. Arizona. Nevada. Those demographics shifts are not in favor of republicans. They are moving toward the democrats. I remember when i was the lead sponsor of president president george w. Bushs Immigration Reform bill in the senate, in fact, i took president bush out to omaha and we kicked off his Immigration Reform initiative in south omaha, and i remember in 2004 and our tuesday Republican Caucus luncheon, there was a big debate about it. There was a big debate all the time about it. I remember Kay Bailey Hutchinson from texas said if the Republican Party does not get right on Immigration Reform, we will be a Minority Party in texas in the nottoodistant future. Well, her words rang true. Her words rang true. Republican party has got some real soulsearching to do. And i think they will have to go through that. I hope they will go through that. I hope they will bring in some other voices. To take a look. But that is the only way you can understand what went wrong and what you have to do to get right, and where . . Is the steve steve future going right. Final question. I know you have probably already written a letter to president elect biden. I know that president elect biden, if he has not already, will reach out to you by phone and talk to you. I just know that to be true. What is the top piece of advice you would offer a president like joe biden coming into this time in history . One is the most important thing . What is the northstar he has to have . Sec. Hagel well, i would start with the northstar. Which in all my time around joe biden, and ive known him and worked with them in different capacities for over 25 years, ive been all over the world with him, been in situations with leaders with him. He has always stayed true to his northstar. That is where i would start. The other advice i would give him, and he knows this too, but we all need to be reminded sometimes of things. Listen. Be inclusive. And reach out. I think those are very important qualities in a president. He has already said it. I intend to be a president for all of america. Republicans, democrats, and i believe he will do that. He needs to stay true to that. And the humanity that joe biden represents, the dignity, the decency, dont ever allow that to go away. You are angered by the decency and the dignity. And we need a new and clear infusion of dignity and decency in the white house. I think that may be his biggest challenge and the biggest accomplishment that he can make in four years. If you can do that, he will have gone a long way in putting this country back on track and having confidence in each other and in our institutions. Because a country cannot survive if we lose confidence in our institutions. The very governing institutions in our society that holds us together. If that is not there, we are doomed. If you can do that, then i think along with other things that he will do, he will have had a very, very productive and successful four years. That would be my advice. Steve secretary chuck, thank you for spending time with us today and sharing these thoughts. Thank you. Sec. Hagel thanks, steve. Steve so what is the bottom line . The genius of donald trump was to turn his back on the rest of the world, shout about how he was fighting for the hardworking men and women of america, and pander to the fears of the white majority as u. S. Demographics keep shifting. This makes for a formula that almost won the selection. There is nothing to indicate now that republicans are suddenly going to dump trump. The opposite seems true. As many senators and house members are trying to prove their loyalty to him out thereby supporting the possibility that fraud gave the wind to joe biden. Even a President Joe Biden will have to make compromises with trumpism as part of his daily diet when he moves to the white house next january. And that is the bottom line. Hey im darius rucker, coming up onreel south. Collses brndead, s ate lathat kee herlive. Thpain of tchingwhat w goingo shes p. [dars] a famy ghts forhis younmothersight to die. This time in 62 days, onreel south. [female narrator] support for this program is provided by south arts, sponsors of the southern circuit tour of independent filmmakers, with funding from the National Endowment for the arts. [bluesy guitar rock]