♪ ♪ ♪♪ we are really lucky today dan three debts. outstanding in helping us understand what is going on in our political discourse today. steve kettmann, anthony scaramucc and cynthia tucker. we obviously are coming to you via zoom today. i find it interesting to think that back in 19 oh three when this club started from the use of microphones was not even in our technological role. today we are presenting the commonwealth over zoom and hopefully a temporary condition

but certainly an effective way to keep the programming going. this programming is so valuable to forming our public discourse. and you can only occur if we get the philanthropic support of all of the listeners out there. so you will see a prompt during the program for how to donate to the club and texting the word donate to a phone number and we would really encourage you to do so. we'll have time for questions and since we are operating over zoom, the chat window is a way to submit them. they will be free distributed to me and i will try to get as any questions and as i can. we obviously are bringing give this program somewhat interesting time with the impeachment literally going on as we speak. but we are going to broaden our discussion far beyond that current event. and really the genesis of this expression is a book that was

put together by steve kettmann. he called the book "now what?", the voters has spoken essays on life after trump predictable we will do today is talk about the book somewhat but then go to an occult now, phase two which we might define us starting on january 6th but continuing into the foreseeable future. what i will do start by asking steve is a publisher of the book to describe it to us a bit because it's a really important contribution i think to freezing the psychology of our state of mind at or around the election and then we will move forward and discuss our psychology going forward. so see, let me throw it to you and tell us about the book. steve: thank you also to cynthia

and anthony for being here and thank you for the commonwealth club and this opportunity. if the thing that i would like to emphasize about this book is that we are talking about politics and i'm sure were going to talk about impeachment. we might even talk about donald trump. though i hope we can talk more about joe biden. the 38 essays in this book are personal essays. that was the idea. and to talk about this. i'm in involved in a book and pete impeachment and i'm following it closely with so much of the discussion ends up like a dog chasing its tail. reporters telling us that they need to vote on whether to convicted donald trump whether it's a pre- game or not. while soil alerts, they don't know. they are guessing. and so much of that talk leads to nothing. so the way that i'm going to speak for a few minutes here. i hope that is okay. i want to get to the heart of what i see the book as being

about. first of all its essays. and even though cynthia is one of the winners in the collection. we have a great line about 30 people. and anthony scaramucc to al sharpton as we like to say. and rosanna and dean baker and others. some of the wide variety of people. but these are personal essays. how do we talk about politics. let me read one paragraph and then will expend in the thought. so here is introduction to the book. they convey how so any of us felt is the end of the trump presidency neared. what we thought and what we saw and what we did. the hope is that putting out these glimpses, so quickly and giving them an immediacy in an unusual for publishing, we can help in the morning for all that is been done . help in the

healing of herself and our country. and help in the paint effort like moving limbs that have gone numb from inactivity to give new life to our democracy. we stared into the best. and we were on the edge and record setting surge of voting in activism delivered us from the very real threat of plunging into hypocrisy elliott to celebrate that deliverance and remember it. like blowing up the death star and we also have to keep searching for answers. and in the spirit, roy talks about phase one and phase two. and i'm still searching for answers. and i was just thinking about this. i point to three qualities. it is not that complicated, humanity, courage and passion. humanity courage and passion. and if we can have a little bit more of those things, and the

public discussion and into conversations that we have with people. it would be better off. i'll give an example of two friends of mine. one, i got to be friend with through this book. when he wrote his essay in the book which i highly recommend, he was a republican congressman from the state of virginia. and near charlottesville. and he performed a gay marriage for that, was basically thrown out of the leadership. it is not part of the house leadership but the freedom caucus and everyone and then went on to ask for speak out. and this man is that his life turned upside down, his own mother has called him a traitor to his country. and we speak every day. he will have zumba coming up. but he has shown humanity courage and passion.

and as for democracy, yes we need a reckoning. i believe we need a truth commission but we also need to focus on personal qualities. this fight for like a digression but i want to check whether the conversation i had six days ago with a friend of mine who i wanted to contribute to the book hitler to save it and partially he works for espn and is not allowed to talk about politics. and we were talking about anthony scaramucc. this is my friend. and we were talking about anthony and how again, you can say what you want about anthony. he helped donald trump. so that less find that offensive but anthony, worked very hard against the reelection of donald trump. and pedro and i were talking about it. we'll talk about how did they remember you later. this the conversation that i had with pedro. what will they remember you for. humanity, courage and passion are qualities that anthony has

shown . to think that we can all agree. and pedro of course shows those qualities. i will go on long the talk briefly. 1999, pedro was conceived in cuba was that his mother and father flew to havana once his mother was eight months pregnant. he was a sportswriter but he was in havana for a game and again game arranged by the between the orioles national human gay . very big deal also in cuban u.s. relations and pedro was there. he went to the neighborhood where his family had lived. in the recognized him hurt. if that up to 62 in the recognized him . low among the things of pedro did while he was there was divided open letter to bill clinton calling for the end of the economic embargo of cuba. from a miami cuban to do that, it's like he lost friends of

that. but he showed courage. so the baseball world, there's been an outpouring for pedro on the and i just wanted to honor him as well. but it's a heart always speaking with passion and what you stand for and knowing what you stand for and not being afraid to talk about that. even when it's a difficult situation. these are qualities i would point to anthony and pedro have certainly for a lot of years but it's on the level of values that i believe this essay collection really has importance. and it will move on to other matters. with that so with that, he set it up. if you can't talk at people to each other people. then we can't get anywhere . by the, i'm not just talking about meat try to talk to someone who believes that joe biden did not really plan. in talking even about subtle

miss of worldviews were in the last four years, even people who know like they're all democrats. they all voted for you know, joe biden. they still don't want to talk politics because it's become so toxic and so difficult, it becomes easier and of course were all in our shells because of covid-19. it becomes so much easier not to top-rated symphonies of last week when anthony and mary were on another event we did, and he got edgy at one point. i wasn't sure where it would go but by the end, slightly almost had a hug. via zoom. and i felt great about that. i hope this book and help accomplish that. so thank you for letting me speak about my fin hundred . pedro. roy: thank you and i agreed that we will go to topics but underlying qualities topics so that the concepts that they

entered the you put forward i would probably add the word empathy to your list but that may be in abolishment. as you said, that's a perfect lead-in to cynthia because cynthia let me lay a foundation for this. any of the essays in the book are basically people clicking up from what they perceived as a nightmare. in describing the feelings of euphoria on november 7th when the election was called. some like anthony was a very interesting insight into a human story about donald trump. there was a third and very important category of people winning that just because the election had been resolved, does not mean that the issues that led us to experiencing those

four years were suddenly expunged from our culture. and so cynthia, i would turn into you and ask you to summarize for us and l sharpens is a tight onion. because he addresses the same point about the concern about where that you had in thinking about how we go forward from the november 7th date. cynthia: : steve contacted me and asked me to make a contribution, i warned him that might take was somewhat pessimistic. that while most of my friend this, any of the people that i knew are long national nightmare is over. i was not so sure. because i have always struggled with the number of people who

supported donald trump. let's remember that he got more votes the second time he ran and he did the first time. so i wrote in my essay that donald trump lost but trump is him still with us. and i think you're seeing it play out every day in our politics, using it play out in our personal relationships. steve just made reference to the fact is very difficult to discuss politics. it will i struggle read five at 12 -year-old daughter. struggled with the kind of country that she will inherit as an adult. i have college age nieces, both as seniors in college. they're very bright and thoughtful young women.

they voted of course. they voted for joe biden . bobo kind of country will they inherit. i frequently talk about i came of age when the civil rights movement had changed the country profoundly in marvelously wonderful ways read so it was easy for me to believe in the quote that martin luther quaint king use of frequently. the universe bends long but towards justice . these days much more skeptical about that. when we have so any americans seem committed to another vision. and traveling democracy is just find them as long as they get the result they want . and believing outrageous lies is

fine with them. quite frankly, so any of them seem unfazed by the death of more than 400,000 americans for covid-19. [inaudible].

and votes about joe biden. knowing him and working with him . over any any years. and what a decent any is. dangerous about the fact that biden has been shaped by the pain and tragedy in his own personal life. you've talked about roy, and steve talked about passion.

and i would use the word compassion. in addition to passion. empathy and compassion are very similar traits prayed and joe biden has those in spades. and sharpton talked about the fact that he is a man for this moment . roy: which is something that i think has been puzzlingly missing from our national policy in the last four years. i use the incarceration of children at the border just as an example of that. anthony, that brings me to a question that maybe you could lay a foundation for us and moving forward. because any of the behaviors that we see now, the intolerance and the anti- intellectual reference the just like. etc. it existed long before trump

came on the scene but in my words, somehow the trump administration normalized and allowed people to openly manifest a lot of these behaviors. what is in your judgment because you are close to this for a while. what was the power and allowed this capitalization of somebody behaviors that we didn't realize existed. sue and i don't want to dramatize it. there's something psychologically wrong with him in a result of which he got power. in the manifestation of his nothingness was like a ripple effect through a lot of people. so we all have heard this single man theory of history or woman theory of history. i think there's also a group theory history known to be two examples. there was a great group of

people came together and formed a foundational principle of our constitution. they left the original saver in it and i'm not saying they were perfect. they were obviously very flawed but there were trying to set up foundational principle for republic from the appropriate checks and balances that would brought in freedom at least started it but in perfect union but it led to great human progress of you study global history. the flipside was a very bad group of people in the 1930s the hijacked a sovereign nation read bad group theory and became the national socialist party in germany. direct that nation they murdered millions of people. and what happens is that you have a group of people who are in the middle to see themselves as good people but they're generally apathetic. so one person said about people can do things, it's good people

if they remain inactive or do not review their actions. it's a donald trump is crazy . don't have to be a psychiatrist to say that is crazy. everybody knows this blocking of clinical psychology evaluating him because they haven't met him. but some of us may have remembered when lawrence taylor bypassed the left tackle and took out heat practice i . didn't have to be his orthopedic surgeon to know that he broke his leg in the play so there is something wrong with president trump targeted and permeated. in the travesty of it, is that a lot of people can perform work behavior to him. by the way, myself included . i supported him. and i'm going to explain to you why i supported him. you may not like what i employ disabled you have to hear it because if you want, you can

carve out 74 million people influence them into the atlantic ocean. if you think that solution. we could do that . reagan here when i'm about to say that we can try to build a bridge to those people and safely can walk them back into our society and normalizes any of them as possible. this choices. but i will tell you that my family origin moved me to believe certain things about donald trump were not true. dispute very brief. i landed in albuquerque new mexico. there were 9000 people and has march 2016. and across the security perimeter and my intellectual curiosity to because people. i took my secret serviceman off and i started to doctor this people. and that economy was talking to my dad. and those are people that were blue-collar uneducated. and my father was born in 1935. and when he went to work as a

crane operator in the early 60s, had a very high post-world war ii middle-class blue-collar weight. but it was an hourly wage. he was able to put his kids into a reasonably good public school system within the single-family albeit small house but i would never dishonor might have a by saying that we grow apart. we were decidedly middle-class. with those people that i met in albuquerque new mexico, they were not. in the same skill set as my father. any of them were eager to work read and we throw and i'm not blaming anybody. i'm just making an economic observation. we transformed a group of blue-collar americans from aspirational working-class families like my father, to do aspirational working-class families 35 years later. then not blaming anybody. just making an observation. so i really did think and you can call me stupid or say whatever you want about me.

there's a lot of hindsight now because of the behavior of the last two years. i really thought okay, we need a policy solution for these people. the political establishment has left a vacuum for these people for three decades. they were tied to lyndon johnson and the grandparents were tied to franklin roosevelt but tied to nobody today. it's a week to figure this out. and when i eventually broke from donald trump, it was in a came with death threats and threats of physical violence . and i'm a former white house person. i had an fbi agent assigned to me and i had turnover legitimate death threats to myself and my family. i had police officers stationed outside of my house on any nights. i've had people interviewed by the fbi and some of which were charged with physical threat of violence to my safety.

thus offering just speaking my mind in explaining and exercising my first amendment right of the systemic danger of donald trump. as i love these media hosts. they want to call me an opportunist relocatable opportunism does not go in that direction. it doesn't say that this is completely wrong. let me put my family and my self and personal safety risk to speak out against this disgrace of a person. so we are here now. we still have that problem. we still have a separation of society between the elites and people that are really economically desperate and are struggling. and they're all colors in their part of the beautiful of my of america but we need policies to sell their dilemma . don't get to the policies, there will be more social unrest. cynthia: i may disagree with

anthony here. first of all, anthony, i want to say how much i appreciate the fact that you did it come forward and change your mind and you are very public about what you had observed of clothes and working closely with donald trump and you were very hard. but i think the premise of your support in the beginning were flawed. after donald trump was elected, surprising all people including my 72016. most journalists went out of the way to learn more about the white working class . were absolutely persuaded. by the elected trump was working class economic anxiety read i

never did believed that the now there been so any studies by political scientists that show that most trump supporters are doing okay financially. novelty necessarily. but doing okay. and there's several facts of the matter is these are people who were troubled by demographics and cultural change. there troubled by saying the black and asian woman is a vice president of the united states. there troubled by gay marriage. and steve talked about the congresswoman earlier, they are troubled that quite are becoming a smaller percentage of the american population.

i would love to be able to reach out to those folks. but i don't know what to say to the voters who are troubled by the fact that my daughter may one day be a major political figure in the united states. i don't know how to respond to that. roy: get a word in your essay actually that i thought was powerful. white lash. is that what you're talking about. cynthia: absolutely. from the moment the time started. luckily, remember that donald trump came onto the national political stage and prominent supporter. that barack obama was an illegitimate president of the united states because it was not really born here.

how did he run his first campaign. moving all, talking about banning muslims from the country and talking about mexicans as criminal. drug dealers and rapists . yes he also talked about how bad trade deals work. he promised that he would return manufacturing to the united states. he did very little in terms of returning manufacturing. but he did a lot in terms of showing his hostility to margaret targeted and is cozying up to the white supremacist . i saw the election of donald trump as white lash. and response in the first black president of the united states.

steve: so the first time that i heard the term, i think dan jones actually used it on cnn. so i did a little research. in this book called these truths. it's one of the national book award a few years ago. she is a historian and chief went out a university and i would encourage people to read the will support what cynthia is saying. in every moment where the african-american community advance, and some level of progress, they were met with a white lash violence. they were met with lynching, the kkk, hangings. anything about through the 400 years in any moment in time particularly right after the reconstruction. there was significant violence and economic suppression of the

african-american community. and it happened again in the 20s. some of you may or may not remember but there were italian americans that were hung in louisiana. from teddy roosevelt and my grandfather the first liked him because he signed immigration. he signed legislation and treated italian americans as non- outpatient when they entered onto the island. ... ...

. >> that i do think it is part of the algebraic equation to where we are. >> i have to make my job very easy because we set up the question that stayed positive at the very beginning and there will have to be a dialogue to bridge the gap and those that live in their separate bubbles. and all of you are in the question on - - in the career of journalism how do we have some form of dialogue not just people who agree with each

other but people who don't? i will start with the media because we have ended up, i'm interrupting myself that go back to the vietnam war if you wanted to talk about the vietnam war generally you watch walter cronkite that was it. today you choose your television station depending on which one comes close to your preconceptions im as guilty of it as anybody and everybody listening is guilty. the media has evolved but i will ask any and all of you to come up with a way that we can address this because without developing discourse we can continue to foment each other's concerns and reinforce each other's opinions.

>> i will answer the first one first. we have been talking about dialogue with a dialogue there are not a lot of ways to get people talking and what needs to happen is what we are talking about needs to change in the way that happens is by government in washington taking action that benefits people moving the country forward. i don't think enough has been written or understood about part of the republican project to disable government are not even filled jobs and those of government agencies and you

turn the whole thing into a joke were nothing happens it's like a rudderless ship if it's not moving forward it doesn't matter anyway. only when you set a course and move through the water that you can chart the course the media is busy busy on inauguration day joe biden was walking down the street toward the white house ready to go in as president for the first time and the cnn reporter was yelling at him. can't we unite the country mr. president and this is supposed to be tough journalism. it is ridiculous. there is no uniting the country but what they are is is amassing a number of executive orders, legislation.

showing people a lot of the's conversations left versus right or liberal versus conservative are illusory. the large percentage of the people support the biden administration. i don't care about labels are you getting the working getting something done? i always call trump the autocorrect when you try to type something in a take gibberish and putting into a coherent idea. so what we need is less interference from washington media and the way to do that is not to have high-minded discussions but to and to do

things that impact people and show the government can work for them. but one thing the bill clinton administration tried to do whether he was being impeached is that he tried to get things done on a daily basis that sometimes they did not work out well. so the fact was they were acting in doing things with energetic dynamic people in that is a story what we had before was the reality tv show spending her time arguing about what we should argue about.

i would be interested to hear other comments on it. >> i very much agree with what steve has said that polls show that the vast majority of americans support biden's proposal for fighting the coronavirus and getting the vaccine moving and also economic aid for people who are hurting. and what we have in common in terms of our need is a very important step in the right direction. i teach at university of alabama and the time that you may think time is with a

legitimate source of information is. coming up in a social media age. >> sean hannity? >> i have to explain sean hannity and tucker carlson and quite frankly some of those on the left with the best sources of information. what is the difference between news and opinion? and i word urge all of you who have young folks to have access to model that for them to understand that. because i think that's also important.

>> i would say three things i would encourage everybody to read my friends book it's all a lie. >> yes. >> it's very very factual what he is saying about the republican strategy and the republicans decided there are more whites than brown's to hold the majority and when that flipped over they word exercise the tyranny of the minority. and they figured out a way to do that at the state level that made it easy for them to gerrymander and push things around so they can take advantage of the constitution. one inherent point in the constitution that's why rhode island has the same number of senators as california. republicans use that to their advantage and with the

fairness doctrine that led to the rise of rush limbaugh. so it's very bad news to be open and honest what's going on in our society. the demographics are turning against white people and there is a very large group of white people that are angry about that. people will be offended by what i'm saying that they are saying for dramatic effect, they are offended by the drinking transvestites that are brown and black coming up over to take over the gun from on - - the government. i said it that way for a reason because you have to understand how they think. you will not get 25 percent of these people very bad news you could have 100 seminars like this and smoke peace pipes you are not getting that.

and this would likely lead to the acquittal and chris cuomo said to me last night on his show 80 percent of republicans are supporting this. i said the registration is down 30 percent 80 percent of 30 is 20 percent. so we will break up the republican party and part of a movement and with a large group of people where eight or ten or 12 percent of that party will splinter to liquidate the radical extremism abuse are represented on january 6th. you can smoke as many peace pipes as you want you will not reach those people and that's the fact. the goal is to reach the

children and grandchildren. i am hoping we can liquidate that stupidity and ignorance and we had 400 years of it is not likely will liquidate tomorrow. it will not happen. >> and drinking and to be colorful with that terminology and then to think about it and made the point we are trying to make.

and then leading up to what is going on so that they don't allow the sensitivity where the sensory adaptation to be offended to look at it for what it is so we can treat the disease if you well. >> and a baseball manager but a very wise man a lot of people remember a moment when his young son almost got run over in the middle of the game. and then to graduate soon but the essay is called darren's generation. but i absolutely agree that so much of what we need to do is take a longer view that we will not fix this or solve it or even be able to move the needle in some ways.

but darren's generation understands this is on them. and what is going on and i completely agree is something we all need to find ways and then people trying to get involved talking to young people but how do you explain the difference between a news column and opinion : when if you are regular reader of "the new york times" or "washington post" you don't have questions. [laughter] >> definitely taking the long view. >> you mentioned the republican party and where it's going. and that will be important.

and the republicans have a bigger challenge on their hands. and then like liz cheney and my good friend mitt romney but i am pessimistic because you have so much political expediency and those political consultants that they take that lane and that you will object. it will be a mild objection to all the trump base come 2024. of course that backfired on those two lunatics.

now it's happening in society a hate to say this was cynicism but i did get the 11 day phd in washington nonsense. and the preservation of my power and what's in it for me personally is more important than the contrary. they call it public service but i'm not here to serve anybody but rollover people so we have a very large group of those in the republican party. i cannot speak for the democratic party. but this is why i am so optimistic. donald trump exposed all of those viable quotations marco rubio puts on his twitter feed are an absolute joke.

the guy is a coward. he is an intellectual lightweight and he is miserable. we have to get rid of people like him. we cannot do that because there is more than a not party than stevens or mitt romney. so because of this exposure what i think would happen the party is liquidated. there is a chance that mitch mcconnell who signaled this morning he is undecided on his vote there is a chance you could get leadership but i doubt it and that shed make you laugh a little that i am with mccarthy a fellow californian seven years ago and at a congressional luncheon that day up on the hill. and he is saying to me with great sanctimony that we only have thermostats up here in a

sense the weather and report the weather back to people i'm sorry thermometers. but we need thermostats they set the coordinates on the wall and they bring the temperature of the country they lead people they show people the way. but we only have thermometers. is kevin mccarthy a thermometer? he is disgusting he probably does have a low iq because there's no way he can operate the way he is operating if you have a high iq. the bad news is we will go into a nuclear winter with the republican party. that's not good for democrats because we learned in our system is you need a two-party system and check and balance what the radical extremist on the left that will be able to get more power as the

republican party is liquidated there is between seven and 10 percent of the people in ronnie's camp that will say no problem we need to form a new party and we can prevent that we use to be members of from destroying our democracy. cynthia is right you have a group of people in this party, the white man or a woman will not rule any more? then get rid of the democracy and storm that capital. we cannot let that happen. or dusty baker's children or grandchildren how can we let that happen? how could good men and women in our society not call that out for what it is despite the death threats and allow that to happen? >> all of us on the panel performing on the panel we may

not agree but every one of us loves the country and once it to be a democracy. is that the higher order of principle? we can argue over taxation and security regulation and minimum wage later. we have to fix democracy. that's the number one thing we have to do together and for this reason if donald trump is the great unifier, he happens to be unifying all of us against him. that is 20 percent of the people that are not jobs and that's my point. >> let me throw out a proposition on the speculation that we could all agree on a lot. imagine as a country we are not as divided we are told that we are that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. if there's 25 percent on the left and on the right that do not want to accommodate any

kind of a consensus of policy but that leaves 50 percent in the middle. right now that statistic seems ignored. i am curious your thoughts on whether or maybe we are sold more dissension and divisiveness than is really the case? >> i think we all know there are lots of media outlets that capitalize on dissension. so there is some amplification of the differences among us the let me throw out something i keep reading in the newspapers. that there are a lot of thoughtful republican

officeholders in the house, in the senate who know better with the nonsense they are going along with. in private they were to agree on the principles that i support but they lack courage so they won't say out loud in public that they agree with those things and they won't vote in a way that shows that they support those things. and the courage to show the principles if in fact they stand on those principles. >> courage means not getting primary to every two years. >> so i ready to go into

political retirement i don't care about it. that is the unfortunate thing many of my mistakes in my life were born from ego bases and ultimately that hates trump almost as much as milania. she is in the primary position but my wife told me not to go warp i grew up in a blue-collar family building to successful businesses and now working for the american president the fact that it was a social path using positive dissidence hitting the override switch because of my pride and ego have to on that for the rest of my life and

it's important for people to hear this and others that come around i know general kelly is they are now and jim matus who are friends of mine for graft to come to grips with the fact that i work for somebody and as a result of that may contribute to a lot of pain in our society to a person i was racially charging the society it is inconsequential and the fact was we were accomplices and we have to acknowledge that pain and if we don't do that in my opinion is almost the way a drug addict has to turn to his family member and save my actions caused a lot of pain and i'm sorry about it. if we don't do that we will not heal tonight to talk to somebody like general kelly i did it for country and did it for this and that but we did contribute and i start

speaking out right after the congressional midterms but i needed to speak out earlier than that frankly and i will never the rest of my life. we have to get more people to own it and those on the side of the republican democracy. >> in the time that we have left and date stamp our talk today to say this is the second day of the impeachment hearing. want to get everybody's thoughts about it but if you have a secret ballot what you think the result would be? >> probably 90 / ten in the senate and those that secretly but i love what's going on

because they are laying out the facts normal people and good people more good than bad and the good people of the united states will realize how abnormal and sick this is. and i'm very optimistic about that i love the fact they are doing this and a number two. >> your take on the impeachment? >> in the very beginning right after the riot some democrats start talking about a second impeachment and i was skeptical. and then it gets in joe biden's way.

and the house impeachment managers to lay out the case before the american public is crucial. he will be convicted so many americans will completely understand the role and that's what matters. >> and to be distracted by the quality of the legal representation. you started this off you created the book i will let you have the last word on the impeachment on and if it helps your long-range goal to think and communicate and look at facts.

but we have to be storytellers. that is what journalists need to be and that's what a good prosecutor is. i know this team is that a very good job presenting a narrative because in a way it is a battle of narratives. and talking about courage but imagination. as we know when things mitch mcconnell is sitting around his boy scout leader would suggest what to do as the right thing. mitch mcconnell is thinking about his own power and future and political power. so what if mitch mcconnell makes the calculation that voting to convict donald trump and bringing along enough votes to do that. if he really wanted to do that he could get us there.

that's why i find it laughable to read repeated references to a preordained result nobody even knows that mitch mcconnell will do. and then to have it all figured out which is opposed in washington but we are both baseball men. do you go to the stadium and you don't know what would happen. and i for one think if we can all tell stories and the contributors and to tell compelling stories to bring alive issues in a way that makes them relatable and gives them a permanence that will be

resonating. if we can tell a story about an america that is appalled by the crimes of donald trump that has staying power and it is a majority of the country. "the new york times" refers nearly. and the numbers are pretty strong. and joe biden's approval rating is significantly better than donald trump's ever was they are behind this new president and they are in favor of impeaching donald trump. we have a few twists and turns and it will be a lively week. >> you will have to put a volume two of your book in 12 months. thank you to all of you and each of you.

maybe just a drop of sand on the beach but conversations like this aggregate and and something to think about wine kernel of thought we think the commonwealth club for hosting this and also for great participation thank you to our audience and this session at the commonwealth club is adjourned.

>> the reason i wrote my book was to expose these myths. one of the reasons it succeeds is it hijacks one of the best impulses as humans that is the impulse to be compassionate to side with those who need our help. however these ideas do not come from the grassroots they are very open and that they rejected to be seen marginalized are members of minorities as victims. they want to access the american dream individually to their own agency. often times they were aware they were discriminated against but yet they believe they could improve their life

individually but it was imposed by ideologues and activist you have the idea of changing america and mind and so to say we should be very aware the best impulses are hijacked the other is a demography of the immigration law necessitated the groups. that's not the case. the demography has been changing since the 16 hundreds with the advent with the arrival of germans and scots irish and scandinavians and the irish because of the potato famine and ellis island a profusion of groups from armenia and syria and sicily and hungary so the demography

has always been changing there's nothing about the wave those that. >> we are very excited to host our guest for a book conversation and the author of nomad land. they co-authored last year trump and age of surveillance. a little bit about the bookstore and myself quickly i am the events manager