Im Kerry Johnson in doha, the top stories on al jazeera ukrainians, or celebrates in the Southern City of his son, off the retreat russian forces. Its one of the most significant victories, fought ukrainian troops since russia invaded in february president polymers. Lensky held it as an historic day phantom nazi which has still a mobile on us. As of these evening, the Defense Forces have established control over more than 60 settlements in care, sorry him. The police have thought establishes ation measures everywhere in liberated territory. Our expert technicians have lots of work to do. Almost 2000 explosion items have already been removed and if your peers, government and rebel forces have come to an agreement to facilitate the amount of time and access to water to grow and other regions in the north, the pledge was signed in nairobi were carried in his era is a member of ethiopia, parliament, he says, the agreement will benefit africa as a whole disagreement to me, it been for the facility to deliver it, not only for on, not only to the to get our region, but also the note that i me, but in my apologies that we can reach out, orders will be picked up by the company. So now confidence is being used by as a day between the 2 parties. So this is a big news for us in the bigness, not only, not on all of your goodness, what africa, the west africa, to be a soldier, to its own problems. And then its significant spot beyond the top. Yeah. In the us, the democrats have one key mid term race in arizona. Kelly is a victory of the use them one seat away from keeping control. And democrats and republicans have each secured 49 senate seats in tuesdays, mid term elections, or the counting of votes just along the way in nevada. The state of georgia will also hold a run off in december. And in the house of representatives, the republicans are leading with 211 seats. Thats just 7 short of the 218 needed for majority. Democrats are still expecting more winds in western states like california, as the counting continues behind with 201 seats. A pacifier that Us Intelligence reports is set to expose efforts by United Arab Emirates to manipulate the american political system. 3 people who read the reports, told the washington post, it outlines emeralds. He attempts to steer us Foreign Policy by both legal and illegal means. Un climate talks in egypt are reaching their halfway point. But negotiators are still working to address key issues. A 2 week meeting in at sharp l shake started with appeals and warnings from well leaders calling for greater efforts to curb emissions us climate. And boy, john kerry emphasized that all nations have a responsibility to find solutions. So ive said again and again that the Climate Crisis is not a bilateral issue. And no country should, you know, so do a ship come to the table to help us solve a global crisis, an existential issue that evolves every nation in the world, including an inquiry, our friends, china. So i mean, we need to make this happen and were just sitting tight. And well see where we go. Canyon troops deployed as part of an east African Regional force have arrived in eastern democratic republic of congo. Soldiers will provide assistance to Congolese Forces at battling the m. 23 rebel group. A pair of world war 2. Aeroplanes have collided. An air show in dallas, texas. Witnesses say the planes hit each other before crashing to the ground. Theres no confirmation yet. Of any casualties and its not known how many people are on board. Thousands of our banyon opposition support is happy protesting in the capital to honor. But the rising cost of living many the protest, his name high prices on corruption within the really socialist partys government. The cato Currency Exchange estie x is investigating unauthorized transactions. After analysts said, millions of dollars worth of assets have been moved from the platform staff at f t x, which file for bankruptcy on friday. A trying to keep hold of a digital tokens, so they can be used to pay back creditors. Those are the headlines when he continues hearing out there. Thats after the bottom line. I hi, im Steve Clements and i have a question. The American People have spoken, but what exactly did they say . Lets get to the bottom line. Ah, the American People went to the ballot boxes this week and it sounds like they want the political temperature in this country to go down a lot. Tens of millions of votes have been counted and many more still being counted, but its likely that the Republican Party will win a razor thin majority in the house of representatives. They might have been hoping for a big red tidal wave, but it seems more like a pink splash. The Democratic Party avoided its worst fears. They were bracing for a knockout punch due to the rising cost of living across the United States. But it was more like a slap on the wrist if this was a referendum on president joe biden, he didnt do too badly. Still, he is going to have a hard time running the country his way with a big part of congress against him. So now that the votes are being counted which way is america going and what lessons are both parties taking away from this election . Today were talking to janelle king, former deputy state director of the Republican Party in georgia and host of the podcast. Lets talk about it. And robin johnson, Democratic Party analyst, and host of the podcast, heartland politics. He teaches Political Science at Monmouth College in illinois. Let me start with you robin, and thank you both for joining us. Robin. I, you know, theres a lot of different spots of, you know, whats happened in the country and ive got my own views. I love to kind of hear what is heartland america see in this. What do you, you know, being an informed political observer . See, are the biggest lessons to take away from what happened this week in the elections for the 4th election and a role. The American People divide the pundents and the experts and had their own say, on the future, the country which i like. As you said, this election went kind of opposite of the way that a lot of the pundents were saying. It was a big surprise as the evening went on and what happened. And i just think theres a lot of layers to uncover here on what happened and why. And i think its going to be interesting when all the data gets in, when all the number numbers get into look at. Because for example, florida went heavily democratic or im sorry, republican and really cannot be regarded anymore, i think is, is a swing state iowa next door to me where my show errors with saudi republican, upstate new york as well. But in a lot of other places, the democrats one and its going to be interesting to look the broader themes is we look at the numbers in and look more and more data on what exactly happened and why. Let me ask the same thing of eugene now, and i should tell everybody. I went to parties, you know, before the count had begun both a republican oriented party and a Democratic Party. Let me say the Republican Party or party was rather buoyant. They expected to win about 40 governorships, about 240 seats in the house of representatives, and at least 54 senate seats. So, janelle, what, what happened . What, what is your take on all that . I think we were celebrating a little too early. You know, i know i mentioned this to you before, but i absolutely didnt feel the momentum that i felt like my party was projecting on that because i talked to people outside of the political bubble that we all live in. I talk to people who are outside of the echo chambers that most, that we see a lot of People Living in. And when you get to people more than simply just trying to live their lives, take care, their families paid their bills. They dont have the time to put into the into that the political space. They rely on People Like Us and thats the people i talked to because i feel like thats who im representing every time i have this platform. And when i talk to them, i heard that there was continuously ticket and i her and she are in georgia. And i also her that this, that the abortion topic was more of the wild card. And i think people thought, wow, it may not may not have been the number one issue coming out in polls. There were a lot of people on both sides of the aisle that really felt strongly about. Is there a lot of pro choice republicans that i spoke to were feeling torn . So you know, you take that, you throw in the fact that we had some candidate quality issues and you grow in the climate and you kind of shake it all up and you really dont know how is going to fall out. But i, i agree with robin on this when i love it, when i see the people decide ga, may not have a winner in the United States senate. As of this week, you may see a situation in which the 2 contenders, the incumbent, the democrat rafael warnock, whos in the United States senate, challenged by football star and trumpet doors. Herschel walker with a lot of complexity, may have to go to another run off in about a month. Can you tell us a little bit about what that feels like and did you expect that . Yeah, so the polls showed us that that was more than likely going to happen. So we were not too surprised that were looking at a runoff. But for those who are watching, who dont now in georgia, in the, in particularly in georgia, you have to get the last one extra vote, 50 percent plus one bow in order to outright when. So i actually liked that method because to me it basically said that over half of those who have voted have to support you rather than it be, you know, we have low turn out and it just so happens. And the other side or our side, you know, gets a majority and then it determines everything. So i liked the way we have it because it puts extra pressure will turn out and he also put pressure on the motors. But i do think that, you know, because we were anticipating this is not some of them a surprise, but we didnt want it. We did not want to run our situation primarily because of the fact that, you know, Herschel Walker has been really kind of battling through with it. Were not, is the incumbent, he does have record a record to run on. And they continue to pull things out of mr. Walkers past that you know, kind of throws this up in the air once again. So now we havent declared in a rob as of right now as were recording this, but i will say that its looking like its gonna go in that direction. I know theyre counting some absentee ballot and some of the uncounted boats that came in early. So were going to see what theyre really neck and neck. Well, let me ask you to someone to point my phone here, folks, and this is on purpose. I reached out at about 5 this morning to the white house, chief of staff, ron clain, and i got because i know i woke him up the 1st response of the chief of staff this morning to day as were taping this to ah, the elections and i published on the record in a and, and i asked, i said, what are your takeaways, ron clane and he writes a strong night for the president and his party, a rejection of you turn and make America Great again, extremism. Robin, im just me stayed in your take on ron clain steak and you know, when you step away historically, when we were expecting the incumbent party, the controller of the white house that you know, be delivered a knockout punch as usually happens. Did it happened to brock obama had happened . Ah, to president clinton. But if this holds, i mean right now, President Biden had the best performance in the mid term election. Of all, i mean, i find myself surprised saying that by b as in your take well, its interesting. He mentioned talking about the accomplishments because my criticism was the democrats were taught. Were not talking about her accomplishments. I think they had a compelling case to make that some of the legislation they passed in the last 2 years were, were designed to address the problems people are facing. And i didnt hear a lot of that. We had a lot of ads about abortion, which i think did play a big role in this. There were other ads more centrally focused on issues and in different regional locales. But i didnt seal out based on the accomplishments of the last 2 years, which i thought was a surprise. And i think it could of perhaps help them help democrats even more so that that is somebody who considers himself more moderate when to the party. I was a little exasperated that they were not talking about Economic Issues more and i think it did serve to kind of hold down summer post possibilities of success, the wind up not being there. So im just sort of interested does this change the dynamic now were now there is a private we now have had reports from politico that have said its very senior levels that now joe biden will run, that this is the, this is the validation of joe biden. And theyre saying he will now run, but i mean, is that what they should be feeling . Oh, there were a lot of factors involved here. And i certainly think abortion wound up playing a big role. The numbers i saw last night on young people voting and participating and they voted overwhelmingly democratic regardless of your party, youve got to feel good about that, that young people are engaged. Did they vote because of abortion climate or student loan forgiveness . I dont know, but they did vote there were there was video of wives of people, mostly students waiting to vote like up in madison, wisconsin arbor, michigan. So i think that was heartening, but again, i think bidens well served to talk more about his accomplishments in terms not in terms of the details of legislation in these obscure names. They call these bills. But in terms of the difference, its going to make for people at the, at the human level. And i think theres a story that can be told there the infrastructure built, the chips act, the inflation reduction act, all have elements to them that i think are going to really make a big difference to the local level. But people havent been told that they havent been, it hasnt been explained to them. How that will make a difference. I think thats a big opportunity leading into 2024 for democrats to do that. You know, when i mentioned ron claims comments about the economy and you know, dealing with inflation and the cost of living i, i saw you cringe a little your thought. Yeah, i felt like democrats didnt want to touch this issue because the fact is the inflation reduction ag did not reduce inflation in the didnt plan to, i mean, it was more so of a Climate Change act. But i dont think they wanted to touch this issue because of the fact that there they know that theyre kind of, they would have to answer a lot of questions to the American People. So i was surprised, i am surprised at that some in their tally because i like robin, i didnt hear one democrat, you know, using President Biden as a, as a resource to help her guard garnish a boat in garnished support. So no, i dont know, i just, i definitely think that that was more of a political thing. More so than every at reality. I think that the 2 issues that really stood out, like i said, was, was if the place for republican and abortion for democrats now, the increased turn out and none people definitely, i believe, balanced it out a little bit and helped democrats or didnt. What it did in jordan did by seeing us for run off because i said we did see some minorities leave the Democratic Party. And i think these new Younger Voters kind of made up the difference. But the, probably, the Democratic Party is going to have is keeping them engage because these Younger Voters are coming with a very, very progressive mentality. A very progressive agenda. We were, we were speaking to students at a university here in georgia, one of the current one. The questions was that was proposed to us was, how is it that capitalism is something and so good when communism is good as well . And i and i, in my mind, i was kind of like, wow, this is interesting because i havent seen in my lifetime, anyone who made a case, a positive case for communism. But im here in america. Although i, so this is a new group. This is definitely a new group is coming into the Democratic Party. And janelle, i me mentioned nothing out of just audience that, you know, i happen to know that, that youve had encounters with President Trump. Hes, ive seen him call you out from the stage. Your husband out from the stage, you know, so theres some sort of relationship there. Vice President Trump as basically trying to clobber a lot of rivals within the Republican Party. And he spent a lot of time trying to take ron de santis, the, the governor of florida, the successful governor, florida who just ran again for reelection there called him ron. D sanctimonious for not being gracious enough for present trumps endorsement in the past. And lo and behold, Rhonda Santas basically beat his rival by nearly 20 points, which is extraordinary performance or robin to share to saying the red wave really did hit florida. Marco rubio did an extraordinary job, i guess a very good candidate. Val. Deming said black, former Orlando Police chief who had served in the house with a distinguished record. And so i guess my question is, what does that do within your party with the popularity, with a lot of basically conservative commentators right now our not expressing great admiration for President Trumps behavior. You know how to add, i gotta get put together again or is it now were going to see Humpty Dumpty not be able to put back together . You know, i think its important to add that in when you look at this, if you have you, paul, my party and you asked the question, how many of you supported President Trump is, of course is policy versus the question. How many of you think President Trump should run again . Youre going to get 2 totally different answers. That is what were dealing with right now. The reason why youre going to get totally different answers because we all saw the benefits of having President Trump in the white house as the results to a policy and being able to deliver good strong policy. And on the flip side, i think hes his own worst enemy, because he continues to make comment. That puts us in a position where when were talking to people and dinner at events and doing everyday things, you feel like you almost have to defend him because youre really defending his policies and youre really ending what he has produced for this country. But you dont want to defend the person because you dont agree with the personality that youre getting. And thats what were running into. The reason why i believe governor de santis did so well is because he brings the hammer, you bring strong policy. But he also brings the era of compassion. He also brings a connectivity with people. And i cant let this moment pass without acknowledging my governor, governor brian kin brandt. Governor kemp took so many hits from governor me from President Trump when it came to opening up our state early was the 1st to do it even before governor de santis when it came to appointing. Senator leffler, i know President Trump was not happy about that. On down to running a david, purdue against him, and really backing him in back and can this a try to push a governor camp out what he defeated all of that . He defeated the narrative and he the be the space, the abrams. And i thought, i think he needs to definitely get his flowers and get his recognition for being able to do that. Thats a huge thing. But i do think that me personally, i had to make a prediction. I think theres going to be a struggle getting uh, President Trump out of the primary in 2024 if he chooses to run because governor to stance is definitely coming. And real quick, you know, next tuesday, this can be a big announcement, a allegedly by President Trump. Are you in favor of a big announcement . You know, personally, i will love to see fresh new blood. I think that president , trump would be better as a king maker than the king, and i really would love to see that personally. And when i say maker, i dont mean hand picking candidate. I bet your friend i mean picking, getting behind strong candidates that you know when i think he can death righty. Strong in that area robin. One of the things i candidly had a few doubts about were President Bidens to speeches about this election being one where the fate of democracy was on the line. Because i felt as if those people who were reasonable republicans, pragmatic republicans, were being told that they were empowering somebody. So i didnt know how it would come out, but id love to learn from you and get your perspective, particularly heartland perspective on that. You know, fate of democracy messaging because they sort of feel like we got democracy in this race. Whether it was from president brightons encouragement or not because people who thought they knew the outcome have been surprised. The outcome is a way democracy. Suppose work. You all accept the process, you dont now its going to come out, but love to get your sense of whether that rhetoric was helpful or, or was it potentially hurtful . You know, its like Everything Else its, its seen through the lens of polarization and depends on your party. I do think theres enough people on the republican side on and i think, i think from janelles territory, brad ration burgers, one of them. I think the governor of georgia kemp is another, there are enough republicans down the why and especially in suburban areas, women who, who of agree that that democracy was to some degree on the line perhaps. And i think theyre the ones that shifted and made biden president , but they also keep in mind 2 years ago, i elected quite a few republicans. 2 years ago we were talking about democrats not fulfilling expectations. So i mean, i think that, that talk of democracy. Im like you, i saw a lot of people kind of rolling their eyes about that, but perhaps it had some kind of impact with folks that are concerned about that. Including those in the middle. There are still independent voters out there. Theres not as many as there used to be, but theyre still the ones deciding elections in georgia. You had a significant number that voted for brian camp, but then of voted for raphael, warnock. So, and we saw this and other places like in wisconsin. So they are, theyre not gone, theyre still around and they still do decide elections. And it will be less interesting to look at data coming up to see if that did have a role in what, how they felt, again out here in the midwest, things are so polarized. What i see is it just depends on your party affiliation. Whether you agree with this threat to democracy or not, i think its really important for our audience. Understand what you just said. That millions and millions of americans split their ticket, meaning they, they voted for, you know, brian camp a republican for governor. They voted for a democrat for senator that is something that, that many people look at this as, as, as a healthy with sort of interesting that you raised that. But very quickly to both of you and ill go to you 1st robin before the election ran, there were a number of very famous democratic analysts and said, woke, nist has destroyed the Democratic Party that the woke agenda has really mortally wounded Democratic Party, i think. And we have to now go back and say, hey, was that right . What are your thoughts on it, robin and then janelle, in the map midwest here a lot of the democrats, when, because im, im from an area that obama trop county. I have been voted for obama twice than from twice and there is a feeling that things have gone a little too far with wellness, i think with a lot of voters that decide elections out here. So i would just caution democrats to not do an ends on dance just yet over these results. I think number one, i think a lot depends on if, if, if the republicans were able to win the senate and that a seat is going to be critical. And that i think of georgia goes to run off as long as trump stays out of it. I think it will probably favorite Herschel Walker. But what im seeing out here in the results so far is a continued just estimation of the democratic vote in rural counties. Republicans just pile up big margins and rural counties. And also in some of the old factory towns used to be democratic, used to be heavily union. You work along the Mississippi River and iowa, all those counties up and down used to be reliably democratic. The republican now the same as in a lot of places in michigan and across the heartland, pennsylvania, ohio. Its the key is still being able to win majorities within states and, and the world and factory town type vote is still going to be critical. And i think federal been a good job in pennsylvania, reaching out to world voters to reduce those overwhelming margins. The democrats were losing by the floors dropping up. They used to be, democrats will get maybe 40 percent of the vote, rural counties, then 35. 30. Now theres a lot of counties by didnt even get 20 percent. You cant keep doing that and expect to win and get an overwhelming boat out of urban and suburban areas. So i would, you know, its a, its a victory for the democrats last night. No question about that. But i wouldnt, i wouldnt be in the end zone, danced just you have to now let me get your thoughts on the politics of woke this, but i want to add on to it because you and i have spoken about it before about the proliferation of identity politics, particularly around race and inequality, these kind of divides that are out there and your uh, provocations on that front when it comes to woke this, i am 100 percent against that. And the reason why is because i just dont believe in any system that creates winners and losers and determines who those winners and losers are outside of meritocracy, outside of hard work, and just being excellent. I think that while there are outliers, there obviously individuals who are going to shoes and play the identity politics game and even play the i did any game, even in corporate america. I do know, and i do think that those are outliers. My husband likes to say, lets live within the standard deviation. I think that when you look at the majority of people, we live in the standard deviation. When it comes to my business and our company, we are not looking to hire people by based on the color of their skin. Were looking to hire people based on their ability to get the job done and do it well. So i think if we continue to make that the focus, we will see the diversity were looking for. We had College Students on Mercer College campus in the college republicans. The Mercer University told us that they believe that meritocracy is diversity. Weve got to get back to that or fascinating conversation, were gonna leave with their republican analyst janelle king and democratic analyst. Robin johnson, thanks so much for your candor. And for being with us today, ask you thank you for having me. So whats the bottom line . Democracy is way bigger than elections. Its about fair courts and about minorities who have rights and checks and balances on power. But a big part of it is having no idea what the outcome of an election will be and then accepting whatever the results are. And that just happened this week in the United States. There was not one big issue that moved all americans. Some were moved by abortion, right. Somebody inflation, somebody, crime and racism in the environment or drugs, guns, even Foreign Policy. So american politics are still really a patchwork. No one party has a definitive hold on the course. Americans want to take, its kinda like the said biden isnt so bad. But trumps not the answer. Now the hard part is all sides are going to have to have a conversation or deal with each other at least, and figure out together which direction the country goes. And that from my view is an excellent thing. And thats the bottom line. The overflowing with passion, but desperately under resourced charge, National Football team has never qualified for the africa cup of nations. All the world cup Al Jazeera World asks, what will it take for the squad to find success or will the team be for ever sidelined and chads football dream. On al jazeera generation football hosts for the french captain military server. You never content because you keep chasing, winning, winning, winning, winning for an illuminating, open conversation. There are very few for all of that thinking about child abuse issues that i am a human being and i think we need to help each other and also show cases. The incredible story of the football is in flood afghan has done to escape the taliban generation. Football episode one on al jazeera was