columnist from "the washington post," david ignatius. we'll bring in our reporters, mike memoli is covering the biden transition. he is live in wilmington, delaware, and covering the trump white house, nbc news white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. mike memoli, how are they coping with the unnecessary and quite frankly dangerous roadblocks? >> reporter: well, i think what you're seeing is joe biden setting the tone that he has set throughout his career. the way he used to legislate late in the senate, the way he used to conduct foreign policy as the foreign relations chairman and as the vice president, was to try to understand the political pressure points of the other side, to try not to cut off a path for them to get where they need to be in the end. in this case, we're seeing him try to do that with republican senators with the trump administration as well. biden this week saying he was not concerned, he was trying not to make this situation worse. on the part of his team we see it beginning to take shape with ron klain being ann

david ignatius joins me now.avid, you are attempting to answer the question of why this whole shakeup at the pentagon, a lot of people went into darker, more nefarious places with the shake-up, but you get at something. when you look at some of the people that were put into certain jobs at the pentagon, the russia explanation certainly does look more and more convincing. >> chuck, we don't know. i was trying to explore some of the possibilities in my column this morning. it is a fact that the new team at the pentagon is filled largely with people who have been fighting the battle of 2016, if you will, who were former aides of congressman devin nunes, who was the head of the house intelligence committee, who had been making the argument that the russia investigation has been a hoax, the basic trump argument, been making that for almost four years now. they're now in all the top positions at the pentagon and also at the national security agency. so it's certainly possible that there's a new effort under way to decl

and columnist from "the washington post" david ignatius joins us and haste historian jo meachham who advises president-elect joe biden. >> so john, let me ask you. you were the first while i was developing and i was writing the book and while i was sort of developi developing my thoughts, you were the first to draw parallels between hair y truman and joe biden. saying if joe biden were elected there would be some parallels between the two that were too hard to miss? >> yeah. it is a coming to power at a moment where the infrastructure of the world is either under stress and strain or is fully broken. it's a moment of global consciousness, not simply intellectually but in a very tactile sense. the most tactile sense because the pandemic is a global phenomenon. fdr was very articulate in the way that bill clinton and barack obama were articulate and george w. bush too on globalization as an idea and an emerging fact. but what we're living through right now is that this is no longer a subject of kind of blue sky conversations but the world has, in fact, become so interconnected that our

columnist and associated editor for "the washington post," david ignatius.istorian and rogers chair and the american presidency at vanderbilt university, jon meacham, who unofficially advises president-elect joe biden. >> so, jon, let me ask you, you were the first while i was writing the book and sort of developing my thoughts, you were the first to draw parallels between harry truman and joe biden and saying at the time if joe biden ended up being elected, there would be some parallels between the two that were too hard to miss. >> yeah, you know, coming to power at a moment where the infrastructure of the world is either under stress and strain or is fully broken. it's a moment of global consciousness not simply intellectually but in a very tactile sense. the most tactile sense because the pandemic is a global phenomena. fdr was very articulate in the way that bill clinton and barack obama were arctic late and george w. bush too in an emerging fact. but the -- what we're living through right now is that this is no longer a subject of kind of blue sky conv

now it is my pleasure to turn this over to the oldest of the children, david ignatius. >> i'm david ignatius, columnist for the "washington post." on behalf of all of the family and with thanks to this wonderful cathedral, i would like to welcome you to a special discussion of the topic the nation and the world are thinking about more thanhe any other, covid-19 and where do we go from here. we have have some hopeful news in the past week with the announcement ofst a vaccine whoe phase three test results the keynote speaker not a man given to hyperbole described as really quite good. i mean, extraordinary. and we have had the chilling news of what appears to be a surge of the virus with infections totals rising every day and hospitals around the country straining to treat patients. we are blessed tonight to have three of the wisest doctors in america and of the world to help us think about where we are going and how to protect our families, our country and the world from this scourge of a pandemic. we will open with a conversation between my brother, audi, editor-in-chief for the review and d

fallout of the american election and the dangers of a delayed transition, i want to bring in david ignatiuse editor and foreign affairs columnist for the "washington post" and fellow with the harvard kennedy school of government. david, thank for joining us on this. really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> we have been in this country historically -- absolutely -- we have been a country historically that has promoted democracy around the world. we have invaded countries in order to put our own politics in place and our own leaders in place in some of those countries, many of which those countries resisted. you can agree with this policy decision or not to do this, right, to spread democracy around the world, whether or not that's the role of americans. but now you have the secretary of state, mike pompeo, on this week-long tour, essentially, around the world, trying to push some of the president's agenda while he still has time in office, and this is on the heels of him at the state department essentially saying, we are ready -- whether he was joking or not, who knows -- we are rea

i am david ignatius and we want to thank the national book festival.e theme this year is american ingenuity. i think we have a pretty good dose of the techno version of that as our authors helped us walk through some of the biggest issues of 2020 so thanks very much and we hope to continue with you. ♪

david: i am david ignatius, a columnist for "the washington post." on behalf of all of the ignatius family, my thanks to this wonderful cathedral, i would like to welcome you to a special discussion of the topic that our nation and the world are thinking about more than any other, covid-19, where do we go from here. we have had some hopeful news in the past week with the announcement of the vaccine, whose phase 3 test results our givene speaker, not a man to hyperbole, it is really quite good -- i mean, extraordinary. and we have had chilling news from what appears to be a winter surge of the virus come with everyion totals rising day and hospitals around the country straining to treat patients. we are blessed tonight to have three of the wisest doctors in america and indeed in the world help us think about where we are going and how to protect our families, and the world from this scourge of the pandemic. a word about our foreman tonight. we will open with a conversation between my brother, the editor-in-chief of harvard business review, and dr. ant

let's bring in the columnist from the associated press, david ignatius. the author of the book, "the world, a brief introduction" richard haass. david, let me begin on the first story that mika walked us through about the troop withdrawals. this is something that you and others and nbc news has been reporting for some time that president was looking at this, drawing down to about 3,000 in afghanistan and about 2,500 in iraq. we heard protests from several members of congress, including mitch mcconnell saying this is a bad idea, especially in the middle of negotiations with the taliban. what's your assessment of the news? >> my assessment is that this is an argument that's been going on for several months. departing defense secretary mark esper wrote a memo to the president urging him not to make additional cuts below the 4,500 u.s. troops now in afghanistan because the conditions simply didn't warrant that reduction. president trump demanded the promise that he'd end the endless wars. clearly wants to go forward despite that advice. he's gotten similar adv

associate editor from "the washington post," david ignatius. in a moment we'll be talking to david about the president's move yesterday to fire the secretary of defense fired via twitter. while the nation is in transition what it means for national security. this is where you look for concern about what is happening here. but first, the coronavirus and the united states reporting yet another record high for daily cases yesterday. according to an nbc news tally, there were nearly 134,000 new infections and the first -- it's the first time that cases have crossed 130,000 in one day. and it marked the sixth day in a row that the u.s. recorded more than 100,000 in a day. the country also reported 729 deaths yesterday. willie? >> meanwhile, the donald trump administration is trying to take credit for pfizer's success in vaccine trials and mike pence tweeted yesterday, claiming it was thanks to the public/private partnership, but pfizer made clear they did not take money from the operation warp speed. pfizer has agreed to sell the united states 100,00

jon meacham and david ignatius, thank you very much.cussions on joe's new book with historians and pulitzer prize-winning authors. joe, congratulations on the new book. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." among my patients, i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend. here? nah. ♪ introducing the all new chevy trailblazer. here? nope. ♪ here. ♪ when the middle of nowhere, is somewhere. the all new chevy trailblazer. making life's journey, just better. the all new chevy trailblazer. to customizes yourcan gocar insurancetual.com so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i wanted my hepatitis c gone. i put off treating mine. epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. wh

it supported something first suggested by aristotle and later recapitulated by david ignatius which is that before the age of seven, learning is well described as a practice much of what is learned at this time becomes the cognitive substrate of the subconscious mind and it's also a guide to thinking largely. it presents a small opportunity to construct the architectures that mediate behavior in a way that is nearly as automatic as genetically encoded behavior. beyond the age of seven, the window starts to close as learning increasingly switches to the mode of more conscious commitment. but here is the big point. the opening and closing of this window allows the system thinking of the adults in the present generation as shaped in the system number one thinking of the adults of the next generation. this comports while in the views on the importance. and the society that makes heavy cultural investment this can produce good or bad depending on which kind of beliefs and practices are learned. everyone already knows this which is why all societies work hard to indoctrinate their children.

i'm david ignatius "the paladin", we want to thank the book festival, in american ingenuity.nk we got a pretty good dose of the techno version of that as our two authors helped us walk our way through some of the biggest issues of 2020. so, thanks very much, ladies and gentlemen, and hope to continue with you. ♪ ♪ you're watching book tv on c-span2, every weekend with the latest nonfiction books and authors. c-span2, created by america's cable television company as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. week nights this month, we're featuring book tv programs as a preview of what's available every weekend on c-span2. and tonight, we focus on history. first, johns hopkins university professor martha jones explores the right of black women to vote. and david davis the first wheelchair basketball teams comprised of world war ii veterans. later, a book about the federal government's forced migration of native americans

carl june discussing cancer research and david ignatius on friday at 1:00. a conversation with alexander hardy. you can always head to washington post live online to find out information about upcoming programs, washingtonpostlive.com. for now, i appreciate you coming all theseternoon for election daily conversations. we made it through the election. let's carry him. -- let's carry on. i'm bob costa. all the best. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: watch american history tv in primetime on veterans day starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. patrick o'donnell, on his book, unknowns," about the decorated heroes who brought him home. at 11:20 p.m. eastern, the 1945 film, "the army nurse." watch american history tv tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. president-elect joe biden and his wife marked veterans day by attending a ceremony at the korean war memorial in philadelphia.

carl june, discussing cancer research david ignatius on friday at 1:00 will have a conversation with alexander hardy. and you can always head to washingtonpostlive.com to register and find more information about upcoming programs. that is washingtonpostlive.com. register and find our whole there.ed for now, i really appreciate you coming by this afternoon for all these election daily conversations. we have made it through the election. let's carry on. i'm bob costa. all the best. devices,ur mobile laptop or phone, and go to c-span.org/election for easy access to election 2020 results, the balance of power in congress. our latest video live and on-demand on the transition of power. c-span.org/election. ♪ >> c-span's "washington journal." everyday we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discuss policy issues that impact you. coming up tomorrow morning, an election on the trump campaign with the director of the honest elections project. and we talk with the national council on election integrity member and a former democratic congressman about the validity of the 2

carl june, discussing cancer research and david ignatius, on friday at 1:00.have a conversation with alexander hardy. you can always head to washingtonpostlive.com to register and find more information about upcoming programs. washingtonpostlive.com. register and find our whole schedule. for now, i appreciate you coming by this afternoon for all these election daily conversations. we made it through the election. let's carry on. i'm bob costa. all the best. announcer: use your mobile devices, laptop or phone, and go to c-span.org/election for election results, the balance of power in congress, our latest videos on the transition of power. go to c-span.org/election. ♪ announcer: c-span's washington journal. every day we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discuss policy issues. coming up thursday morning, a discussion of trump campaign election challenges with the executive director of the honest elections project. and we will talk with the not -- with a former democratic congressman about the validity of the 2020 election. watch c-span's

it was david ignatius paradigm a super fan of his. and i thought it was just such an engaging, really involved interview. and i just appreciated it so much. >> you still read him in the "washington post"? >> i do. every time i get a little lonely egg on the archives and watch the interview on in-depth again. i have read and think all but one of his books. and i follow him wherever i can. i think he is such an amazing, careful, precise author. whether it is fiction or reporting. >> host: is the topic of national security that interests you? >> yes. i'm interested in intelligence in the work of the cia. i don't have any professional background in it. i am a retired lawyer. i've always been fascinated by it. i think he does a job of dispassionately but respectfully relating what the work of the cia and other intelligence agencies are in terms of protecting us nationally. >> and shaping our foreign policy. >> thank you for calling in. we will look at some of those fiction authors that we did. i believe it was in 2008 team did a full year

at the "washington post" tonight, david ignatius reports there's a fierce battle underway inside the administration over declassifying intelligence about, what else, russia. in this version of events, trump is installing loyalists across the national security apparatus because he wants help releasing information that he thinks will undermine the conclusion that russia interfered in the 2016 election to help him because trump is still obsessed with that even in the waning days of his presidency. whatever the reason, none of this is good. the question seems to be is it just bad or is it really, really bad? at least one person is professing not to be concerned at all about what the trump administration is up to right now. and that person is joe biden. >> we are already beginning the transition. we're well underway. and the ability for the administration in any way by failure to recognize our win does not change the dynamic at all and what we're able to do. we announced yesterday, as you know, the health group we put together. we're going to be going, moving along in a consistent manner,

you know, these are people -- david ignatius had a column in "the washington post" that was about a kind of backdoor fight with gina haspel at cia. basically that it's their last chance to pull intelligence out from behind, you know, classification to make whatever cases they want to make about the corrupt russia hoax, yadda yadda yadda, and that there's maybe a backdoor fight happening with gina haspel over at cia. when you look at particularly patel and cohen-watnick, these are very sort of infamous committee to re-elect the president, plumber-style guys who have been sort of doing this sort of stuff for devin nunes and others around intelligence for a while, which suggests maybe that's part of it? >> yeah. ezra cohen-watnick worked for mike flynn at dia as well. these are guys you go to to manufacture scandals, particularly to misrepresent intelligence and try and gin up controversies in order to distract from the agenda that you're actually pulling off. and given their histories, i would expect that's exactly why they're put into these exceptionally powerful positions. they're put in

david ignatius, "the washington post" well-sourced affairs columnist based on his reporting, he writes, trump's ceaseless attempts to argue the russia investigation was a hoax and force the intelligence community to declassify information he believes would support this view may animate some of his otherwise inexplicable moves. mark esper's resistance to those moves may have led to his firing. he also points to the position left vacant, christopher miller, after letting intelligence officials brief congress on russian support of this election. and new cnn reporting adds to it. multiple former and current officials telling us the president believes this classified material will undermine the intelligence community's unanimous finding that russia interfered on his behalf in 2016. they say he thinks it will expose so-called deep-state plots against his campaign and transition during the obama administration. now, if the reporting is right, the president of the united states, commander-in-chief, is willing to put others at risk. and what must our allies make of a president, who so petty, th

"washington post" columnist david ignatius writes when the history books are written, a hero of this election will be christopher krebs. he posted regular rumor control warnings and malicious election claims and retweeted claims. krebs may have infuriated the white house but he spoke for a task force that included representatives of secretaries of state and state election directors in all 50 states. the people who administered the election. it's difficult to sabotage an election result in the united states, as president trump and his supporters are discovering, end quote. difficult, yes. impossible? well, trump and his supporters are trying to find that out. we don't know yet what, if any, practical effects trump's firing of krebs is going to have. installing a new cyber security chief after the election seems unlikely to do trump much good at this point beyond giving him the thrill of revenge. but trump's continued insistence that the election was fraudulent, his willingness to fire a top official who dared contradict him on it, it gives encouragement and cover to his supporters who

there was the list that we had on, david ignatius, colton whitehead, jeff shirer, walter mosley, david, jacqueline woodson, geraldine brooks, cody pico, brad meltzer, those are the 12 we had on and jodi pico, the best-selling author, here she goes from her booktv program in 2018. >> i do love the concept of the novel as a way to educate about social justice because i think that, for example, when i wrote this book i sat down and read countless guttmacher institute studies about reproductive rights and about abortion statistics and things like that stop most dpeople don't sit dow and do that on a daily basis but they might pick up a novel. you think you are picking up a book to be entertained, you think you are picking up a book that's gonna whisk you away for a few hours but if i had done my job right, by the end of the book you wind up thinking hard about a topic you might otherwise not have approached. in that way i think fiction is so wonderfully sneaky wbecause it really gets people's minds to crack wide open. >> calliope in wallingford pennsylvania, high calliope. >> how are you?

>> my favorite interview on in-depth it was the year you did your affection and it was david ignatius i am a super fan of his it was such an engaging and involved interview i appreciated it so much. host: do follow him on the "washington post"? >> i will go on the archives and watch the interview again i have read his books and follow him whenever i can i think is an amazing and careful and precise and thorough author whether fiction or reporting. >> is at the topic of national security that interest you? >> yes i am particularly interested in intelligence and the work of the cia. i have any professional background. i am a retired lawyer. but i have always been fascinated by it. i keep the job dispassionately but respectfully related to the work of cia and other intelligence agencies are in terms of protecting us nationally and protecting foreign-policy. >> thank you for calling and we look at those fiction authors and 2018 a full year of fiction authors and we look at those as we go. shall be for it was one of the authors who appeared 2001 and in facted we visited his home in memphis

david ignatius, colson whitehead, jeff shower rah, walter mosley, david baldacci, brad thor, cory doctorow e, geraldine brooks, jodi by colt, those -- jodi pico, those were the 12 that we had on, and jodi p if icoult, here she is from her "in depth" program in 2018. >> guest: i do love the concept of a novel as a way to educate about social justice because i think that, for example, when i wrote this book, i sat down and i read countless studies about reproductive rights and about abortion statistics and things like that. most people don't sit down to do it, you know, on a daily basis. but theyt might pick up a nove. and you think you're picking up a book to be entertained. you think you'ring picking up a book that is going to whisk you away for a few hours. but if i've done my job right, at the end of the book you wind up thinking very hard about a topic you might otherwise not c have approached. and in that way, i think fiction is so wonderfully sneaky because it really gets people's minds to crack wide open. >> host: ca lie by in pennsylvania. huh. >> caller: hi, how are you? >> host: h