Leadership, caroline kelly, david layer, the Leadership Team of jews united for democracy of justice, and democracy advocates inc. , the creators of this series. Thank you to our many wonderful sponsors. Temple isaiah, Stephen Weiss temple, israelh Hollywood Jewish center for justice, the Holocaust Museum l. A. , the forward, and the pico union project. As it is thanksgiving eve, just a word on that topic. On october 3, 1863, at the height of a bloody war dividing our country, Abraham Lincoln issued a thanksgiving proclamation which officially established thanksgiving as a national holiday. He proclaimed that though the nation was at war with itself, there were still blessings for which both sides could experts gratitude. He also proclaimed despite the painful and divided times, all americans should be concerned about those suffering as a result of civil strife. He set for the last thursday of november as thanksgiving. He asked everyone to pray to heal the wounds of the nation, and restore it to the full enjoyment of peace, tranquility, and union. President elect biden spoke today to the American People, he similarly acknowledged the countrys deep divide, and he also urged unity. A statement that harkens back to lincolns thanksgiving day proclamation, president elect biden said, looking back over our history, you see that its been in the most difficult circumstances that our nation has been forged. I am inspired by the optimism and pray we can pick up our pieces in the nation and begin the process of healing. After all, our american forbearers held together in 1865, surely there is hope for us now. In that spirit, i want you to register for the december 15, tuesday night, program. We have gathered together the National Leaders of the muslim, jewish, hispanic, black, and asian committees for a discussion entitled after four years of bigotry, tension, and division, how do we heal . We will welcome Jonathan Greene bid, jarrett johnson, cindy of the league of united latin americans, Salaam Moriarty of the Republic Affairs council, and this is an Impressive Group of National Leaders, and the conversation is sure to be farreaching and important. We hope you will register tonight via the email you will get immediately after the program. And because all of the studies that prove those who feel gratitude enjoy a longer lifespan, i would like to express gratitude to our many incredible speakers and moderators, to our audience members, and my colleagues, especially to david, with whom i work on this series of every single day. Please welcome david, who will tell you about our Upcoming Program and introduce our speaker. David thank you. It is a pleasure to be here. I appreciate and share your feelings of thanksgiving. On behalf of the committee advocates, i pleased and welcome you all to another of our american crossroads virtual town hall, this the 32nd in our series. A line of influential speakers continues from tonight until the end of december. Next week, we have congressman adam schiff, and Madeleine Brand talking about plans for the next congress. We will have secretary leon panetta. It will be on the issues surrounding transition in government. On december 23, Pulitzer Prize winner, bret stephens, will return with Henry Weinstein of uc irvine. Tonight, we will be treated to analysis of what the past tumultuous four years and the head spinning past three weeks port and. Our guest is a man that many of us would like to hear from when it comes to events around us and what they mean, george will. He was with us five months ago for a memorable evening, as well. He is a columnist, television personality, and author. The wall street journal has described him as perhaps the most powerful journalist in america. Hes is a twiceweekly columnist at the washington post, and contributor to nbc news and and msnbc. He has won a Pulitzer Prize, and widespread commendations for his books, ranging from politics, diplomacy, baseball. His topic tonight is where do we go from here . The impact of the trump era. Only, thetor is worn host and executive producer of the podcast to the point, and the Climate Change update. Hes a recipient of 40 national, regional, local awards for broadcasting. Including his Lifetime Achievement award. I wish you all a happy thanksgiving, and welcome warren to this evenings conversation. Thank you very much. Thank you for the moving comment about thanksgiving. I also adhere to it, as david said he did. It is always great to host these programs. It is a special privilege for me to talk to george will, such a interesting and wonderful writer, a very creative thinker. A man who manages to still be a conservative, even though he is not a republican anymore and has not been for the past four years. We will hear about that. Your recent column about the census was sent out to those that registered to listen today, to watch today, and i will get to that. But first, the transition has begun. Think i propose we start there. Give us a couple of minutes on how you think it is going so far. Mr. Will i think it is going well. The institutions work well without much friction. We have heard an awful lot in the last four years about the threat to our institutions and our democracy. I think people lost sight of the fact that this country was not made by fragile people, and it is not a fragile country. So i dont think our institutions have ever been threatened. We had one great constitutional crisis in this country, the civil war. Even at watergate, i was just beginning to be a columnist during that. Even during watergate, the institutions, congress, the courts, journalists, and others performed well and got through it. So we will get through this, also. What about the fact that the president has so far refused to acknowledge the vote and has cast doubt on the integrity of the whole elective process . Isnt that a threat to the institutions of the u. S. . Mr. Will i dont think so. I think the vast majority of americans are not subscribing to this, even his supporters are skeptical. There comes a point in the life of information where worse is better. Worse he behaves, the better it is. People will see now a sore loser. The part of his supporters. The most alarming thing about this election is 4 million more people voted for him after watching him for four years then did in 2016. We should try and understand what their grievances are, and their anxieties and fears. With that said, we also have to draw a line and say theres no obligation for us to indulge these kind of fantasies. But the fact that his legal team the game that ldnt shoot straight, it worse is better at times. The worse they look, the better it is for the country overall. Grief of his the supporters over the failure of his campaign, but isnt there anger goingt their to be something we have to deal with, or at least be a stronger impulse, or more troubling, then grief . Mr. Will i dont think the American People as a whole are angry. I think they are exhausted. They want restoration of stability, Something Like normality. The Cable Television audience on both sides is kind of angry. They are at a perpetual rolling boil, because i think they enjoy that. 330 Million People in this country, and at any given time, about 322 million listen to talk radio, not watching Cable Television, they are watching the clock, fixing the screen doors, raising children, getting on with life. I think thats what americans voted for with mr. Biden. In the primaries, only one third of the primary voters voted for Bernie Sanders or elizabeth warren, the angry side of the Democratic Party. That means two thirds didnt. The people who voted for mr. Biden voted for his demeanor. Just as mr. Trumps demeanor was part of his selling point, so, too, was mr. Bidens demeanor. With that Jack Nicholson smile of his, and the contrast of personas was very telling. The president elect has introduced the six potential cabinet members, all involved in National Security in one way or another. You thought president trump, i think, was dangerous to the country. Do you feel safer already . Mr. Will i dont think government is a foreign country or the adversary. I think they are experienced people. Mr. Trump selected some good people early, but he ran through them a mile a minute. I think what mr. Biden is trying to do is communicate and produce stability, calm adult supervision has come back to washington. How do you feel about john kerry being introduced as the you are not a climate denier, but you are skeptical about the whole idea, on the change, the havoc that it might wreak. And what your take is on the importance of climate to john kerrys appointment and this cabinet. Mr. Will the Democratic Party is deeply concerned about this, and the president is responding to that. Im not a Climate Change denier. The one thing we can all agree on, this is where the tape begins, not ends, it never is not changing. It is a very complicated, dynamic system. And the idea that the carbonusing activities can make a difference. It is hardly controversial. The question then becomes, what do we know for sure . How certain are the scientific predictions . How much should we wager on these predictions in terms of our freedom, trillions of dollars spent . And does it make more sense in terms of economic efficiency to change the dynamic of Climate Change, or accommodate it, with measures of adaptation to say, rising sea levels . See levels have been rising since the middle of the 19th century. This is not new. This is the sort of thing i think we can all cope with. Again, the important thing is for everybody to calm down take , a deep breath and cope. We really have to cope when we are thinking. You mentioned the possibility of spending a lot of money with regard to Climate Change. I know youre concerned about the deficit. You said medicare and Social Security are not sustainable, partly because when they become unsustainable, the people in charge will not be around anymore. Is that same thing true with regard to Climate Change . Is it important to deal with it now so that it does not ruin the lives of our children and grandchildren . Mr. Will it is indeed important to do that, but again, we have to understand, we are talking about the rise of sea levels, you are talking about an increase of 12 degrees celsius 100 years from now. Most predictions from 100 years out are going to be wrong, or certainly, inaccurate. So yes, indeed, prophylactic measures are in order at this point, but again, no more should be invested in science than the science itself has invested. And really good scientists are among the first to say, its a tentative business, particularly climate science, which is a swirling cyclone of very complicated variables. You wrote in june, not only should trump be removed, but that voters must dispatch his congressional enablers, especially the senators who still gambol around his ankles with a canine hunger [laughter] i love that phrase. But it didnt happen. The enablers are still there. How concerned are you about that . Mr. Will i think they feel chastened. You need a spine of steel in dealing with the president. Teddy roosevelt once said in criticizing someone that that person had a backbone like chocolate eclair. Some of these people in the senate are like that im afraid. , but understand this, there is zero, and i mean zero affection in the senate for the president. He has no friends, no admirers. When he is gone, as soon he shall be, many are going to snap back into a position of recognizable dignity. Some of them deserve to lose, they did not lose, but the American People must like divided government, because they produce it often. My guess is that joe biden will probably be just as happy to have a republican senate, because then he can turn to some of his critics on the left and say statehood for puerto rico, abolish the electoral college. You cant do that with the senate. So lets get on with the things the American People are actually worried about. You said biden would benefit from republican control of the senate, and that Mitch Mcconnell could modulate senatorial strife and go down as a consequential conservative. Which i assume is high praise. How likely is that to happen . Mr. Will i think it is more likely than you might think. To me, the biggest problem in our country, institutionally, is that the presidency has become untethered from constitutional restraint. Im talking about all president s. The imperial presidency in the last 80 years has formally theundamentally disrupted madisonian equilibrium of the three branches of government. So, it is very important that congress reestablish itself , quit vesting president s with enormous discretion, do its job, and again establish, as it is, article 1 of the constitution, congressional primacy in our democracy. It is very important. Joe biden and Mitch Mcconnell are institutionalists from the senate. Joe biden has 36 years of senate experience. He has 54 more congressional experience in any other prior president. And this is the 36 year of the senate for Mitch Mcconnell. These men respect the senate. Everyone wants to have a more dignified, consequential, deliberative congress. I think we are apt to see that. I think, for example, you will see a much less promiscuous use of the filibusters they now have. I think you will see this when Mitch Mcconnell begins to speak through many of the nominees through joe biden. By the way, mr. Schumer has done to the trump nominees sort of civil wars over assistant secretaries of this and that. Why, though, should Mitch Mcconnell try to modulate senatorial strife, when hes got all these senators who are running for president in 2024 . And all of them are going to want to appeal to those 72 people, or however many there million were that voted for donald trump . Theyre going to want to maintain or reach out to those voters. Art they liable to be doing the same kind of things they have done during the presidency of donald trump . Mr. Will theres no question ted cruz, josh hawley, lindsey graham, marco rubio, and all the rest every time a senator looks in the mirror to put on her makeup or for him to shave they see a president. Transactional cost of being in the senate. Remember, Mitch Mcconnell is not sympathetic to these people. Mitch mcconnell has never entertained president ial aspirations. One of the reasons is, Mitch Mcconnell cannot run for senate because he has the tightlipped, owlish demeanor of george will. Rather harsh, but not unfair. [laughter] congratulations for getting rid of that image. At least for this program. Senators who want to run for president you said the party is a cult and has become a cult. That is what you said when you resigned from it, when the nomination for trump occurred. Is it still a cult, or do you think there will be an effort to try to persuade those 72 Million People that have Something Better to do than the kinds of things that they wanted trump to do . Mr. Will it is too soon to say. The truth of the matter is, we dont know. Some, tom cotton for did two stints in the u. S. Military, a very intelligent man. You would call it the thinking persons trumpism. I think there will be others in the republican primaries in 2024 saying, look, we want to go back to what we had with ronald reagan, who said, i dont want to go back to the past, i want to go back to the past way of facing the future. There is going to be a serious argument about free trade. When this Republican Party began to dally with protectionism, what is protectionism . Government telling people what they can buy, in what quantities, and at what prices. It is managed trade. If that is not the essence of large government, industrial policy, what is . So the Republican Party has a bit of free thinking to do. My hunch is if they say we are , simply going to be trump without the messenger, they are going to find out that trump was mostly the messenger, mostly the manner, mostly the demeanor, mostly the pug man city. City. Gna 1968, you and i are old enough to remember this, the president won 46 electoral votes. One of his mantras as he campaigned was, theres too much dignity in government. The people liked that. Just as mr. Trumps lack of dignity was part of his appeal. So the republican has to decide is it a party of governance, or , is it a party of theatrics . Is it a party of inflammatory gestures . Too soon to say. We are going to find out fairly quickly. Let me ask you this. You are an advocate of libertarianism and individualism. American individualism. What about that concept when it is used as an argument for not wearing a mask in the interest of Public Health . No government can tell me what to put on my face. We see that again and again. People are putting on using weapons when they are marching in the streets, advocating that theyre simply not going to tolerate that kind of thing. When they do that, of course, we are all subject to the spread of disease. What do you say to people who have that position . Mr. Will i say the following, i am, as you