Quest to make america smart again. Innovation in science and technology, in this century are the engines of tomorrows economy. Americas favorite scientist will reveal just the secrets of the universe to all of you. But first heres my take. There has been much focus on Donald Trumps erratic Foreign Policy. The outlandish positions, the many flipflops, the outright mistakes. But far more damaging in the long run might be what some have termed the trump effect. The impact of donald trump on the domestic politics of other countries. That effect appears to be powerful, negative, and enduring. It could undermine decades of American Foreign policy successes. Look at mexico. For generations this was a country defined by fiery antiamericanism. Founded by a radical revolutionary movement, fueled by anger against american imperialism and highhandedness, mexico would rarely cooperate with washington. Since the 1990s, that landscape has been almost reversed. Thanks to intelligent leadership in mexico city and consistent bipartisan engagement by washington, the u. S. And mexico have become friendly neighbors, active trading partners and allies in national security. Mexico buys more u. S. Goods than does china. And is, in fact, the second largest destination for u. S. Exports after canada. Sales to mexico are up 455 since the passage of nafta. The Company Cooperates with the u. S. On Border Security helping to interdict drug shipments and deporting tens of thousands of Central American migrants who aim to enter the u. S. Illegally through mexico. All of this could change easily. Over the last year as candidate trump and now President Trump has attacked and demeaned mexico and its people, the Political Landscape there has shifted. President Enrique Pena Nietos already declining Approval Ratings have plummeted as he was seen as too conciliatory to trump. It is now quite possible, in fact likely, that the next president of mexico will be an antiamerican socialist populist similar to venezuelas hugo chavez. Andre yas Manuel Lopez Obrador was polling around 10 at the start of 2015. He is now over 30 . The frontrunner among the president ial candidates for next years election. A victory for him would be a disaster for mexico but also for the United States. It would likely take mexico back to its days of corrupt socialism, and dysfunctional economics, all sustained by populism and nationalism. Now consider south korea. Trumps demand to pay for the Missile Defense system threatening to overturn the existing agreement with washington hat fueled the forces in south korea that opposed that system in the first place, along with any aggressive military measures taken against north korea. Trump has casually delivered a number of slights to one of americas closest allies. Accepting wholesale chinas claim that korea once belonged to it, and threatening to tear up the u. S. south korea free trade agreement. South koreas facing a snap election for its presidency. And the candidate who is benefiting most from trumps antics is the left wing candidate. Antiamerican itch has returned to south korea in force, though not quite as strongly as in mexico where Donald Trumps favorability has been recorded at 3 . In Foreign Policy great statesmen always keep in mind one crucial reality. Every country has its own domestic politics. Crude rhetoric, outlandish demands, poorly thought through policies, cheap shots, all place foreign leaders in a box. They cannot be perceived as surrendering to america. And certainly not to an america led by someone who is determined to show that for america to win others must lose. Thats one big difference among many between doing a real estate deal and managing Foreign Policy. For more go to cnn. Com fareed and read my Washington Post column this week. And lets get started. Im not planning to get involved in many elections now that i dont have to run for office again but the French Election is very important to the future of france, and the values that we care so much about. A rested looking barack obama there in a video released thursday. This weekend, of course, the french go to the polls for the final round of voting in their president ial election. Obama went on the video to endorse centrist candidate emmanuel macron. His only opponent Marine Le Pen is a member of the populist right Wing National front party. She has had photoops with putin, demonizes islam, and wants france to leave the european union. Theres lots of other news to talk about, as well, but let us start with the French Election. Joining us in paris is natalie nougayrede. The former managing editor of frances le mond. Shes now a columnist and Foreign Affairs commentator for the guardian. Here in new york, Brett Stephens joins us. He has a new job as oped columnist at the new york times. Congratulations, brett, and Richard Haass is the president of the council on foreign relations, and the author of a terrific and timely new book, a world in disarray. Natalie, tell me what does it say that you have Marine Le Pens party the national front, which is polling in the 30s, it might actually end up even in the high 30s, this is a party with roots in fascism, with roots in antisemitism. Isnt that even if she doesnt win how disturbed should we be . Yes, it is very worrying. But the fact that shes reached this very level of politics shes managed to establish her party as an important player in todays france, and shes managed to spread its ideas way beyond the initial core circles that were, you know, at its base. Shes basically turned it into a fairly Mainstream Party and shes tried to detoxify her party by moving it away from overtly or extremist racist statements towards statements that talk about globalization, the negative impact of globalization. The talk about the defense of lower and middle classes. And even the talk about the defense of secularism as she sees it in france. And thats a message that, of course, the way she reads it, targets muslim minorities. Richard haass, when you listen to this, do you think that if macron wins it is a it is the end of the kind of populist wave . Or is it a check on it . Because theres going to be elections in germany and it does seem as though even Angela Merkel will win or even a more proeuropean social democrat will win . Not the end of the populist wave but might mean its cresting for now. It gives governments in places like france and germany an opportunity to get it right. By get it right i mean such things as modernize the european union. Maybe rebalance the relationship between brussels and national capitals. It might mean not having a one size fits all european union. But something with a little bit of tailoring. And theyve got to get their domestic economy going, particularly france. So its an opportunity. Its almost a breathing space. But if after several years president macron cannot deliver, and the French Economy is drifting and millions of people are unemployed and you have continuing violence then i dont think weve seen the end of populism or nationalism in france. Its juftd its just that, it is a respite. But i really hope that the french take advantage of it. I think we should also point out that assuming macron wins, and my fingers are all my fingers are crossed there, thats also a revolution. France is going to elect or should elect an investment banker. This is he worked for the rothchilds. Worked for the rothschilds and is speaking about the need to cut Corporate Tax rates, to reform the social pension system, to cut the size of government, Something Like 57 of french gdp last i checked go to is Government Spending by far the most in the oecd. And so the fact that france is actually prepared to go for this kind of fast right, then blair right treatment of the economy shows some maturity on the part of the french. Natalie let me ask you what this says about the very strange but very warm relationship between le pen and putin. Because that how does that play . Do the french like the idea that le pen was that pally with Vladimir Putin . I dont think so. Putin is not a popular figure in france. His regime does not have a positive image at all in france. I think what le pen was trying to play on was the kind of image of a strong man to try to benefit herself from that image of a strong leader and to show that she did have some kind of of International Dimension to her. Not that many foreign leaders wanted to appear publicly with her during this campaign. She went to one african country and she went to moscow. But remember, when she went to trump tower she did not get a meeting with donald trump during that campaign. When we come back, much to talk about, trumps Foreign Policy, but also, the dustup Bret Stephens caused with his first column for the times on Climate Change. Tired of paying hundreds more a year in taxes and fees on your wireless bill . Only tmobile one gives you unlimited data with taxes and fees included. Thatll save you hundreds. Get two lines of unlimited data for a hundred dollars. Thats right. Two lines. A hundred bucks. All in. And now, the brand new Samsung Galaxy s8 is here. So what are you waiting for . Get the new galaxy s8. Plus get 2 lines of unlimted data for a hundred bucks. Taxes and fees included. Only at tmobile. At panera, a good salad is so this smuch . More than a bowl of something green. More than an obligation to be good. More than just something you have on the side. More than just one flavor, or texture, or color. A good clean salad is so much more than green. And with panera catering, more for your event. Panera. Food as it should be. Fmy doctor recommended ibgard. Abdominal pain and bloating. Now im in control of my ibs. Nonprescription ibgard calms the angry gut. And we are back with natalie nougayrede, Bret Stephens and Richard Haass. On to other news, richard. Donald trump said he met with Mahmoud Abbas the president of the Palestinian Authority and he said hes going to do middle east peace and its not very hard. Youve been trying to do it for 30 years. Clearly. Not just me but people like Henry Kissinger and jim baker and a few others. Two things surprise me. One is the sense that its not that hard. The seduction of the middle east Peace Process seems to have lost very little of its allure. And the other is the prominence, the Trump Administrations giving it. I mean, i say two things. One is i think theyre extremely unlikely to make progress. You dont have leadership on either side thats willing and able to make the sort of necessary compromises you need. But imagine im wrong. Imagine they could make significant progress, it wouldnt affect whats going on in syria. In libya. In yemen. Whats so interesting is how the Israeli Palestinian issue has evolved into something of a local dispute. Obviously of great importance to israelis and palestinians. But the old phrase, the middle east Peace Process. It is not the middle east Peace Process. It is the Israeli PalestinianPeace Process and i simply dont think its ripe, i simply dont think its poised to make real progress. I actually think theyll be lucky if we avoid back tracking. Avoiding say a major piece of violence around the holy places of jerusalem. Indeed its going to be a big issue for mr. Trump whether he goes ahead with his Campaign Pledge of moving the American Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem because that could risk being a spark that could make a bad situation worse. And theres a lesson here for some of my friends on the proisrael right who supported trump during the election and who imagined that he would be the best thing that ever happened to israel with promises to move the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem and take a radically different approach from the obama administration. So far what weve been hearing from this administration isnt so different from its predecessors, at least in this respect. The other thing trump has been, richard, hes been palling around and inviting and cozying up to lots of real dictators. He invited duterte. He said it would be an honor to meet kim jongun. Do you think this is kind of, you know, as John Friedman put it, is he crazy like a fox . Or just crazy . Personally its a little disorienting. I used to think i was the realist in the room and now we have hyperrealism. You have him doing these invitations to erdogan and duterte. Sisi and so forth. And then you have the secretary of state essentially giving remarks to the state Department Employees saying that were going to deemphasize issues of american values, were no longer going to put that at the forefront of American Foreign policy. The real question is, you know, i understand we need to have priorities and with china we need to say work with them on north korea rather than on human rights. I get that. But if you take this off the table what kind of a message does that send . Are we not encouraging, particularly our socalled friends, to follow policies that will actually polarize the situation like in egypt which actually could make egypt less stable. In a funny sort of way by not pushing at all, we may be permitting them or encouraging them to follow policies that will work against their own selfinterests and as a result ours. Natalie, how does this debate sound to you . Do you think in paris you expect the United States to stand up for certain values and not just have a real politic Foreign Policy . I mean, trumps election was, you know, very, very bad news for anybody in europe, or anywhere in the world who cares about human rights and fundamental values. I do think that one of the outcomes of this French Election, if macron wins, is that there will be a stronger, i believe, stronger european voice central focused essentially on the francogerman couple, stronger european voice on some of the International Crises that do affect europe. All right. We have to go. But, bret, ive got to ask you. Your column on Climate Change caused a, you know, a twitter storm, maybe, a real storm. So, you know, basically saying we shouldnt be so overconfident and act as though there is absolutely no debate to be had on Climate Change. Liberals should be willing to imagine that they could be wrong. And what a scientist said to me in response was, look, that would be like saying, you know, when you turn a light switch on maybe the light will go, maybe it wont, its still up in the air. That there is so much overwhelming science in this direction. So, thats the pushback i heard from one very intelligent, liberal scientist. Well i dont deny Global Warming or Climate Change. And i dont deny that we need to address it. Seriously. The point of the article was to say that there is a risk in any predictive science of hubris. There was an ipcc, a global unireport, at one point said that the himalayan glaciers were going to melt within our lifetime. This turned out not to be true. The skeptics, or the genuine deniers, obviously, pounced on this detail. So, the column was an attempt to be was a warning against intellectual hubris. Not an effort to deny facts about climate that have been agreed by the scientific community. And i think thats a distinction that im afraid was lost in some of the more intemperate criticism. But people who read the column can see i said nothing outrageous or beyond the pale of normal discussion. As always certainly the best answer to these kind of things is not to try to silence people or drum them out but to answer them. To have a vigorous response and a vigorous debate which is what you provoked i think in that. So i was very grateful for it. Next on gps, why in the world are so many paying passengers getting kicked off planes in america . It is all about the fine print, the economics, and laws. Ill explain when we come back. You might not ever just stand there, looking at it. You may never even sit in the back seat. Yeah, but maybe you should. laughter i am totally blind. I lost my sight in afghanistan. 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