Political benefits. He also frequently attended comedies at fords theater and he was known for telling jokes, for his witty stories and selfdeprecation. The ability for a leader or politician to laugh at oneself and at politics more broadly is a hallmark of our democracy. In humor we not only have a to callvalve but a way attention to ideological differences while still maintaining the balance of democratic discourse. Today in these polarized times and as we head toward a president ial election we bring together a panel known for their ability to laugh about the business of leadership and politics. I am pleased to welcome our distinguished guest today. Log before Stephen Colbert and jon stewart mark russell dared to joke and sing about the often absurd political process. Though he actually knew little about politics when he first began performing russells ability to find humor in anything made him an immediate hit. His career spanned from a piano is mark0 years working russell comedy s
Susan Harold Holzers is our second hour about your new book the president s versus press. While i invite people to find the first hour, for those who havent seen it, whats that the jist of your new book . Mr. Holzer the thesis is we may believe we are living through the most chaotic and unpleasant confrontational era ever between a president and the media. But in fact, its a long tradition in American Government and American Media history that president s and the press do not share the same interests and have been out war, and a sense, ever since george washington. Susan from the time you started this project, was it always it versus the press . Mr. Holzer im glad you asked. No. Originally it was the president s and the press. In my research about president kennedy, i found that he gave a very defensive speech in 1961 for the American Publishers Association in new york city. And during the speech he said, i wanted to call this speech the president versus the press because you are not a
Standoff, a weekend a day after the election. What is the Trump Campaigns strategy in all of this . Guest the Campaign Strategy is to mount legal challenges. And the republican strategy is to stand with President Trump. It was evident on monday at the capital that Mitch Mcconnell, senator roy blunt and other members of the Republican Leadership stand in lockstep with President Trump as he pursues different recounts and litigation across the political map. Its an example of the solidarity of the gop despite President Trumps defeat, and also a challenge for Vice President elect biden who is trying to mount a transition at this point but he doesnt have formal backing from the current administration. Host what are you hearing is the mood inside the white house, officials and sources you talk to . Guest President Trump is unlikely to concede this election. He may walk away from the white the electionary if is certified formally for president elect biden. He becomes president of the united s
Cspan2. Cspan2. Hi, everybody, im david, welcome to the National Book festival in the difficult time of the pandemic. One single they think we can do and i know youre loving it as i am, is to read good books. I wrote a book that was published this summer, the paladin, about a cia officer whos struggling with one of the central problems of our times, which is knowing whats true and what isnt. And its my great pleasure to have with me today two people who wrote two of the very best books of this summer about issues related to our new technologically sophisticated world and the dangers. First, i want to introduce bart gellman, my former colleague at the Washington Post who wrote an extraordinary memoirs and his dealings with Edward Snowden and the technology and surveillance and the title of the book says, the american surveillance state. And another outstanding office, thomas rid who teaches at Johns Hopkins and his accurate measure of history what weve come to call disinformation, the w
Perspectives. Jonathan darman was a journalist before, maybe still is, before becoming a book author. He was a correspondent for newsweek, and he covered, among other things, National President ial campaigns in 2004 and in 2008. He most recently has turned his attention to another Political Campaign in the 1960s. His new book is landslide lbj and Ronald Reagan at the dawn of a new america, so jonathan will be talking about that and anything we can talk him into speaking on. On my left is chase untermeyer, who has been a practitioner of politics. He served in the president ial administrations of Ronald Reagan, george h. W. Bush, and george w. Bush. His book, when things went right, is drawn from his diary of the first years of the first Reagan Administration. Please help me give a hand to our two authors and we will get started. [applause] jonathan, since your book comes chronologically before chases, im going to ask you a question that is kind of a twofold question. Number one is, how