bush, the massive deportations to central america and that brought the problem to central america. the obama administration also dealt with it, but it was not a central point of its narrative. it has become a central point of the trump administration. become a way in which the trump administration, not just the president but some of his officials like attorney general tosions have equated ms-13 both migration and the latino community. that in thess report, that is really dangerous because the words that we just heard, i understand part of those words not to be true. for, that mainly and foremost, ms-13 has strengthened itself because of loose loopholes in immigration. ms-13 has been strong in some areas of the united states for decades now. membership, and we found that out during these three years of research. a lot of that membership is formed by u.s. citizens. they are not migrants. most of the leadership of ms-13 iques formed anywhere from 10 to 50 members, most of the -- the in the east coast west coast are u.s. born citizens. they did not just come from central america. recen

bush, the massive deportations to central america and that brought the problem to central america. the obama administration also dealt with it, but it was not a central point of its narrative. it has become a central point of the trump administration. become a way in which the trump administration, not just the president but some of his officials like attorney general tosions have equated ms-13 both migration and the latino community. that in thess report, that is really dangerous because the words that we just heard, i understand part of those words not to be true. for, that mainly and foremost, ms-13 has strengthened itself because of loose loopholes in immigration. ms-13 has been strong in some areas of the united states for decades now. membership, and we found that out during these three years of research. a lot of that membership is formed by u.s. citizens. they are not migrants. most of the leadership of ms-13 iques formed anywhere from 10 to 50 members, most of the -- the in the east coast west coast are u.s. born citizens. they did not just come from central america. recen

in central america the poverty and violence in central america that motivates women and children to comee in the first place. we started on that in the congress two years ago and i hope congress continues on that road. >> chris: will get to that a little bit later but obviously you are not going to solve the problems quickly, which are pretty systemic in guatemala and honduras and el salvador. >> secretary johnson: without a doubt. >> chris: i want to talk to about some specifics. i'm not playing the political blame game, i'm talking about issues and one of them the president says in the trump administration part of the problem is a measure that was written by dianne feinstein in 2008 that became law. if a minor, an unaccompanied minor comes across the border from mexico or canada we can send them immediately back to their country, but under the feinstein amendment if it's a noncontiguous country like central america, not right on our border, they can't be sent back immediately. hasn't that contributed especially to the spike in unaccompanied minors coming into this country over the last

>> right. >> in fact, before the program this morning james and i were talking about going to central america's been there a couple of times. >> right. >> and trying to figure out what n we do to stabilize those regimes so people don't feel they have tofoun their lives to america. >> i'm curious, considering what happened in 2014 when the obama administration wastackling essentially the same surge of folks coming from central america. the obama administration didn't exactly welcome those folks with open arms either. the goal was, while they didn't separate, the goal was to get hethem back toome country as quickly as possible. hindsight?mistake in >> i think they were overwhelmed. if you go back and read aatut period, and i went with a couple of other senators to mcallen, texas, during that period to see these kids were being treated. the difference between then andt now,ee years ago they were unaccompanied kids.'s whappened this time is kids are coming with their families, with their parents and they're bein that's what i think caused this firestorm, but there clearly has to be a better way t

they have destabilized central america.ou also have all established political elites that are unable to exercise democratic authority. so they have been sequestered by corruption practices in such a way that the citizens are not able to really trust their governments from protecting them. the official figure is about 60,000 gangs. a country of 6 million people. that means 1 in 100 people is a gang member. that means there is a gang member in at least -- in the vicinity of my block. if you include to that extortion, the official figure of extortion amounts to about 6,000 a year. the numbers are far greater than that. el salvador published a report that showed that 60% of small businesses that comprise 90% of all businesses have suffered from extortion. so, you know, the facts are that you live in an ecosystem of organized crime and in a context of fear within the context where you have migrants in the united states who see on a day-to-day basis the news that someone was killed, someone was extorted, that your president is go

did the united fruit company introduce capitalism to central america. it certainly had a specific vision of development and progress from the start. i've the railway laid the foundation for mine a cooper case huge well. for the young bank sions of central america it was synonymous with modernity. guatemala wanted it found railway but the country was in debt and when the price of coffee in its primary resource. elapsed it became insolvent plans to build a railway were put on ice. in one thousand and three. approached the one person who could help miner cooper. he agreed to build a railway in return as usual he demanded land for banana plantations have the right to operate the railway for his own needs he also acquired control over the country's main ports and the telegraph network. in other words guatemala gave away to the united fruit company its infrastructure its economy and its future in exchange for a railway. the company's empire grew to the detriment of the young nations in search of progress but with numerous sources and inject. all the money tha

you've got over 1000 migrants crossing the border a day in central america.ven if you emptied it out completely, it would fill back up in a matter of days. there you are.this is not an easy problem which is why we need to invest and address the underlying causes. >>chris: secretary johnson, thank you. always good to talk with you. up next, we will bring in our sunday group to discuss the policy and politics of illegal immigration. plus, what would you like to ask the panel about president trump and advising republicans to put off immigration reform until after the midterms? until after the midterms? go to twitter, @foxnewssunda man: i got scar tissue there. same thing with any dent or dings on this truck. they all got a story about what happened to 'em. man 2: it was raining, there was only one way out. i could feel the barb wire was just digging into the paint. man: two bulls were fighting, (thud) bam hit the truck. try explaining that to your insurance company. woman: another ding, another scratch. it'll just be another chapter in the story. every scar tell

you've got over 1000 migrants crossing the border a day in central america.if you emptied it out completely, it would fill back up in a matter of days. there you are.this is not an easy problem which is why we need to invest and address the underlying causes. >>chris: secretary johnson, thank you. always good to talk with you. up next, we will bring in our sunday group to discuss the policy and politics of illegal immigration. plus, what would you like to ask the panel about president trump and advising republicans to put off immigration reform until after the midterms? i like chillaxin. the new united explorer card makes things easy. traveling lighter. taking a shortcut. (woooo) taking a breather. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your busine

you know, having a different type of developing strategy in central america. so the strategies exist, and the fourth one is very important p relief. it's not just the mantra that this is a nation of immigrants, but there has been a consistent approach to how to deal with humanitarian issues. the fact is, however, that there is a big difference today that as we move from the security station of immigration to the criminalization of immigration, and that's where the core of the problem is. the current rhetoric is dominating the narrative that immigration is a criminal -- >> [inaudible] >> so that's what one needs to basically make an argument that that assumption is morally and politically indefensible. and legally, as sandra was pointing. >> great, thank you. let's open it up further. yes, we had a question back there, and then we'll go to the ambassador. yes, please. go ahead, we'll start with you. just tell us -- >> hi. my name -- [inaudible] my name is maria, i'm around ard general tin grab, i'm -- argentinean, and i'm a student. think of what this administr

, central america has to agree to take them back. have to put them on it's ame very ured process. so the tv pra in 2008 was put in place make certain that we treaunaccompanied children, where talk about unaccn panied childra fairway. >> chris: i understand that. let's ok, because you mentioned it, and how the obama administration and u.s. secretary of homeland security handle this back in 2014 when there was also a spike inil unaccompanied coming across the border. you started jaili entire families. in some cases, not lot, but in some you s caratedldren from their parents in these pictureti that we areng up, from 2014, show pictures of unaccompanied minors in effect jail situations. you handle it so well?at, did >> secretary johubon: without reality from 2014 just like 2018 are not pretty so we expanded the family detention. we had then started 4,000 beds for family detention, only of 34,000 equipped to deal with families. so we extended it. i freely admit it was controversial. we believed itas necessary at the time. i still believe

you've got over 1000 migrants crossing the border a day in central america.ptied it out completely, it would fill back up in a matter of days. there you are.this is not an easy problem which is why we need to invest and address the underlying causes. >>chris: secretary johnson, thank you. always good to talk with you. up next, we will bring in our sunday group to discuss the policy and politics of illegal immigration. plus, what would you like to ask the panel about president trump and advising republicans to put off immigration reform until after the midterms? go to twitter, @foxnewssunday, and we may use your question on the air. you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed?m let's get someone to say it with a really low voice. carl? lowest price guaranteed. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea. just say, badda book. badda boom. badda book. badda boom. nice. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com that i served. of the fact i was a c130 mechanic in the corps

we started down the road of investing in central america in 2016, $750 million. but those ameounts have been going down. needs to go in the opposite direction. >> i remember when you were at the helm in 2014 and we saw that surge of undocumented my grants that were crossing the border, and there were images then had people questioning the current administration's practices and immigration policies at that time, images like this, children being held in cages at processing centers. and i remember there were military facilities, i visited one of them along the border that had been set up temporarily to house some of the children coming across. how do you think this situation we're seeing right now compares to that? >> i freely admit that some of the things we had to do in 2014 were unpopular in certain quarters. and controversial. we expanded family detention. we actually did the opposite of what is going on now by keeping families together. a lot of people objected to holding families in detention facilities. we had in 2014 only 95 beds out of 34,000 equipped for f

ago i was selected to be representing the united states in a minister defense conversation in central america. during which time two central american countries said to us we have a problem that's going to end up with crime becoming a national security issue. it's going to result in the return of gangs and groups out of your prison system who have been radicalized in american prisons, ms 13 and others who will take over territory ness our countries that will force law abiding central americans to the north. guess what? they were exactly right. a lot of people don't want to talk about america's contribution to that by returning these hardened criminals to their countries, but we had a role in this migration problem that's not only having an impact on the southern border states, but american at large. i sat last year in an eu summit to which a man spoke about the threat of migrants out of africa that were being preyed upon by organization contributing to in a -- narcotic trafficking and sex trafficking and they were contributing to deterioration of yem yemen, syria and other nations where we'll

according to amnesty international, mexico exports more refugees to central america than the united statestwo thirds of the central americans that go through mexico have been victims of some type of violence. women have been sexually attacked in our country. one third going through our country. i think this is a very important thing we need to -- we have to treat them well. they are losing that humanity in our governments. if we stop just looking northward, we also need to look southward. if we turn into another , we can contain immigration in a humane manner. dignity. do it with understand need to and allow people -- people are going to the united states because they have jobs that pay better, better living conditions . >> i think you are right. we are not going to have any ask thethority if we united states to treat our immigrants well, how can we do that if we are not treating the central americans coming to our country with dignity? we need to set an example. we need to cooperate with central american countries and peso invested one in cooperation is worth more than a peso invested in

what specifically they're fleeing in central america. because i think people here don't understand the picture they're facing. >> violence basically. actually, the violence that many of them are fleeing in central america is violence perpetrated by gangs that actually started in places like my hometown los angeles. when you hear about ms-13 from president trump or the 18th street gang. in fact, stood here maybe a couple months ago and met families that came here to seek asylum and one of them said they had been terrorized. those are los angeles street gangs where the original members were undocumented immigrants and were deported. those gangs exploded in those countries. it's literally something that was exported from the streets of los angeles down to central america and the violence that's happening down there now is in large part due to gangs that first roamed the streets not of central america but of the city of los angeles. and so it is incorrect to hear the president say or at least the attorney general that those are -- the violen

why they would make that trick from central america for mexico to the u.s. border knowing they could be apprehended, paying thousands of dollars to a coyote ? guest: it is not the best public policy for adults to send their children north. many of those now in centers are unaccompanied children. have a responsibility to adjudicate those situations as quickly as possible. caller isent of the that parents should not have sent their children north unaccompanied. i agree with that. if you are about to be 91, i calculate you may have been born in 1927. happy birthday is you approach your 91st birthday. i hohat i ve the same type of genes that you have. i commend you for your wonderful life. host: bob in tyler. good morning. i have two quick questions. defendtake an oath to the constitution every two years? guest: yes, sir. caller: what is your interpretation of article four, section four regarding our border? we have ahink responsibility to make sure our border is secure. i try to defend all aspects of the american constitution. americanhe constitution is the gre

-- minor from central america have been released into the united states since 2014 at unbelievably great taxpayer expense. nobody knows how much we're paying for this monstrosity that's been created over the years. legislation that nobody has any idea what they're doing. they don't even know what it means. and you have to see this. it's a mile high. child smugglers exploit the loopholes and they gain illegal entry into the united states, putting countless children in danger on the perilous trek to the united states. they come up through mexico, mexico does nothing for us. you hear it here, they do nothing for us. they could stop it. they have very, very strong laws. try staying in mexico for a couple of days, see how long that lasts. [laughter] ok? [applause] they do nothing for us and i see it through nafta. i see with $100 billion-plus that they make on trade through nafta. one of the worst deals ever made by this country. dafter. and we're trying to equalize it and it's not easy but we're getting there. not easy. and we're going to take care of our american farmers and we're goi

braz sill not even in central america. is closer to central america than brazil. like there's no issue with immigrants coming from brazil illegally. brazilians done even speak spanish. like brazil is just kind of similar to them. like what does that mean. it's like going to a star trek convention and being like, i've gt a message for chewbacca. but i guess for pence it's close enough. i feel like he give this speech whenever he is around any latinos. he will be at chilis, i have a message straight from my heart. don't risk your lives. like sir, please, my hand is starting to burn, starting to burn, sir. and the way pence delivered that speech was no joke. like he sowfnedded like, you flow this those movies when a villain is showing up on every single tv screen around the world. >> to the people of central america. >> shh, nobody say anything. >> i have a megsage for you. >> don't risk your lives or the lives of your children by trying to come to the yooptded states on a road run by drug smugglers and human traffickers. if

. >> our interdiction in mexico and columbia caused the rerouting of the drugs through central americand created this horrific environment. i know where you are headed because you have been on this a long time. >> yeah. >> the nation is getting ready for the conversation you want to have because of opioids and heroin. >> right. >> heroin is something you used to see on television. now everybody is within one degree of separation and having a person at risk. >> i want to know what you think. this is a provocative question at smerconish.com. if the drug trade is partly to blame for the migration crisis from central america, should drugs be decriminalizeed? should drugs be decriminalizeed? i spoke with ohio governor, john kasich. welcome back. did the border issue cost republicans control of the house? >> well, i don't know about that, michael. i think that, you know, this one has been very, very difficult. i think people understand this, when you have children who are separated from their family and crying and wailing, this one gets kind of to the heart of things, as to whether there can

according to amnesty international, mexico experts more refugees back to central america than the united states, tornado of the central americans have been victim offered some type of violence. a third are women have been sexually attacked and raped in our country. a third. going through our country. go ahead, rodriguez calderon. >> well issue think there's a very important thing we need to mention. we have to treat them well. we have been losing that humanity in our government because with these three political parties they provoke all of the problems that mexico is facing. if we stop just looking north wedderword, we also need to look southwards if if we churn it into another california, that potential is huge and then we can contain the immigration but in a humane manner. all those that cross mexico should be able to do it with dignity. that the authorities are not per cutting people, the authorities need to have -- be able to understand and listen and to allow people to cross. they're going to the united states because you said they have jobs that pay bet, better living conditions. >

with central america, the unhcr toere is for the go in and solve problems and provide global solutions -- is not for the unhcr to go in and solve problems and provide global solutions. there are problems central american governments are facing with nonstate pilot actors like ms 13 and the others, and to -- violent actors like ms 13 and the others. , international finance, the private sector coming in with investments. we had a couple of pilots we are looking at in places like mexico. mexico is a member as well. players,s other important players, in particular with central america the nonstate is important through the alliance for prosperity which is providing security assistance and the kind of humanitarian and society building kind of programs that are important. most of the forcibly displaced individuals from central america don't want to leave home. they are not -- who wants to take the risk of going through dangerous gang territories to make it to a u.s. border to be stuck in a backlog for asylum which now has 700,000 case backlog. america is generous but it has a lot to handle. so

according to amnesty international, mexico exports more refugees to central america than the united statestwo thirds of the central americans that go through mexico have been victims of some type of violence. one third of women have been sexually attacked in our country. one third going through our country. >> i think this is very important to mention -- we have to treat them well. we have been losing that humanity in our governments. with these three political parties, they have proposed all of these problems that mexico is facing. if we stop just looking northward, we also need to look southward. if we turn into another california, the potential is huge, and we can contain immigration in a humane manner. all those that go across mexico should be able to do it with dignity. authorities should stop persecuting people. they should understand and to go and allow people into the united states. they go to the united states because they have jobs that pay better, better living conditions. >> thank you, candidate. >> i think you are right. we are not going to have any moral authority if we ask t

when 1,500 children unaccompanied from central america placed with sponsors here in the united states who are not american citizens, are not even family members, and were not -- did not have criminal background checks, when 1,500 of those children were unaccounted for and reported in "the new york times" recently, that is the result of the flawed policies in the past in dealing with this humanitarian crisis. so we do agree on one thing, and that is families ought to be kept together. the president has said as much. but what every single democrat across the aisle has agreed to is a bill by our friend from california, senator feinstein, which simply goes from zero tolerance when it comes to violating immigration laws to zero enforcement. what that bill would result in is a return to the flawed catch and release policies of the past because we simply, if you can't enforce the law, if you don't have the immigration judges, if you don't prioritize these family cases, then you have to give people a notice to appear at some time in the future. and of course most of them do not show up for th

reporter: and taking fresh aim at mexico blaming them for the influx of immigrants from south central america. >> they walk through mexico like it's walking through central park. >> reporter: tonight there is new fallout. in an interview with the christian broadcast network, attorney general jeff sessions acknowledging the political damage. >> it hasn't been good and the american people don't like the idea that we're separating families. >> reporter: on capitol hill, protesters wrapped in thermal blankets imtatding the images from the border demanded action has the bill failed on the house floor with another bill on life support postponed until next week. tonight the first lady is facing scrutiny for the jacket she wore today. the back of it reads, i really don't care, do you? her spokesperson saying it's just a jacket. there's no hidden message but the president tweeting tonight it refers to the fake news media. melania has learned how dishonest they are and she truly no longer cares. lester? >> kristen welker at the white house, thank you. >>> one of the most heart-wrenching parts of this s

>> we need a marshall plan for central america. central america has a wealth of potential.of what is happening in all of latin america, that's the last area of latin america that needs to be stabilized from an economic and political sense. also, we can do minimal steps. the trump administration forgets they shut down opportunity for people to seek asylum in their home countries, so they're now doing the travel up here, and then the administration itself is trying to force them from even crossing the border to seek asylum. there's a lot of other things this admintration could be doing to stem this flow. instead, what they want to do is use human flow of people running away from violence, seeking shelter here, they want to use it as leverage, as hostage to again fulfill this stupid border wall which was supposed to be paid for by mexico. now they're holding thousands of families hostage so the american taxpayer can pay for this mistake. >> want to veer off topic before i let you go on north korea. the president said he may call kim jong-un this weekend. let's listen to that.

they're happy and rather avail themselves to what is going on in america than to stay in central or latin america to where they're being raped or pillaged and trafficked >> why they're leaving their country. >> exactly right, we treat them better and they want to be detained here. while they go through judicial process and due process. all of the women that i represent, which are mostly women and children, rather avail themselves of american laws, they understand they will be protected, to undergo the asylum process. unfortunately, takes many years. that's why ted cruz's legislation is wonderful. he's proposing making it morey, expeditious and making it more rapid so the families aren't detained and/or separated. >> but ted cruz's legislation -- >> laura: michael, the frustrating thing here -- >> sorry, go ahead. >> laura: i just want to say one thing. the frustrating thing here is that there were family detainmenter centers, however, they were delicensed by court order. this is happening in texas, and there were two major detention centers that were for family units. border activists, in

things haven't been stable in central america it seems my entire lifetime.ou look at daniel ortega and you are like i thought he was gone, now he is back again. i read there is one city trying to secede, to cover themselves. how unstable are these countries? start with guatemala. >> first of all three countries. guatemala had a civil war for over 30 years. you mentioned going back to 1954 and the united fruit company. and that civil war, 200,000 died. it didn't end until the 199 0s. >> a definition of a war torn country. >> that's recent. definition of a war torn country. el salvador. from 1989 to 1992. significant deaths, peace accord is not signed until the 1990s. again, el salvador is reeling from recuperating from that decade-plus of civil war. >> then there is honduras which i guess of the three feels the most stable right now? >> honduras -- yes, but honduras also had an incredibly contested election late last year where the oas questioned the election results and it took quite some time until the president hernandez was actually designated to be the n

rerouting all of the drugs into central america.t is the drug trade and the violence resulting from it causing the families to want to flee where they are coming from. you might have said the same thing if i said ten years ago isn't it time to decriminalize marijuana. you would have called me a left wing socialist then. so far i think it is working out. up ahead new cnn poll shows robert muller is losing favor with americans and over 90% of republicans approve of president trump. but is that because of the growing number abandoning the party all together and george will is calling for a vote against the gop to quarantine trump. ♪ introducing e*trade personalized investments professionally managed portfolios customized to help meet your financial goals. you'll know what you're invested in and how it's performing. so you can spend more time floating about on your inflatable swan. [ding] a few problems actually. we've got aging roadways, aging power grids, ...aging everything. we also have the age-old problem of bias in the workplace.

was selected to be representing the united states many in minister of defense conversations in central america, during which time to a man every central american country said to us, we have a problem that's going to end up with crime becoming a national security issue, and that problem is migration that's going to result in the return of gangs and groups out of your prison system who have been radicalized in american prisons. ms-13 and others who are literal going to take other territory in our countries that are is going to force law-abiding central americans to the north. guess what? they were exactly right. a lot of people don't want to talk about that contribution by returning these hardened criminals to their countries, but we had a role in this may immigration problem that is now having an impact not only on our southern border states but in america writ large. number two, i sat last year in an eu sponsored meeting in which, to a man, our nato allies talked about the real threat of migrants coming out of northern africa that were being preyed upon by criminal organizations contributing t

obvious is the story of a fruit that changed the destiny of central america and gave its name to republics it became notorious it became the symbol of all that's wrong with american capitalism. this is a tale of economics and politics

yet, just a few hours ago, president trump threatened to cut off aid to central america and mexico because, quote, they are not sending their best. they are not sending their best. in other words, he would have the policy of the united states be to make the dire conditions in central america even worse, driving even more families to flee their homes in search of assume lum -- asylum. let's be clear. these individuals are fleeing of their own accord. they are not being sent. they are fleeing. their choice is stark. stay and die or live and have -- or leave andav a shot to live. we know that usaid initiatives that support economic development and good governance make a difference. we heard from young people who found hope and safety through these programs. now is not the time so reckless abandon these programs. it's a time to invest in them. the administration claims to be for law and order, but it deals in kay -- it deals in chaos. president trump lies with such frequency and such confidence because he knows that the muddier the waters, the harder is it -- it is for the rays of truth to shi

tell you is when i travel the world like to vietnam and middle east and to australia and even to central america and places like that, people say welcome back, america. i mean, i used to go there in the previous administrations time and everybody would say what is wrong with america? we are seeing a big difference that i see from a global, economic upturn. steve: because of trump. >> i would say. so because he has removed so many legislative. steve: red tape. >> shackles that were put on this country. now why are starting to see money flow back into this country. see money coming back into the country. brian: real quickly are you worried about trade and what's going on right now because you are international. >> i am. i think he is on the right path. quite honestly. america from what i have seen and heard and read and what you report on all the time i think it should be reciprocal trade. why not? when did you go to a business meeting like i'm going right from here, did you go to a business meeting. when you get up from that table, everybody has got to feel like they got up from the table equal.

forcibly displaced individuals from central america do not want to leave home. who wants to take the risk of going through dangerous gang territories to make it to the u.s. border to be stuck in a backlog for asylum which now houses 700,000 cases backlogs? america is generous, but that is a lot to handle. and recognizing that some of the countries within central america can help themselves. is helping build mexico's asylum system. mexico is not only a country of origin and the transit, but it is a country of asylum, vulnerable from salvador in honduras can find safety before they return home. it is trying to bring these different stovepipes together to the a catalyst to build strengthening of society, and the strengthening of those helpizations, ngo's, that recognizing amongst people who want to stay safely home. that's help them do that as a movement. same routine in africa, and we hope that using these examples have brought some governments along to recognize, on the global angle, you are not demanding x, y, and z, it's actually a form of burden sharing. where

it's to go to the source of the lem in central america. what has been happening the last five years in the united states isur not a sy crisis. the security on the southwestern border has never been greater. what you have is a humanitarians crn central america that is pushing these people north.ed you o attack the problem -- providing additional financial aid, provide law-enforcement assistance in central america, and workingo with mex secure their southern border to stop the flow before it gets to the u.s. jane: thank you for joining me. >> thank you. jane: in just two days, turkey will go to the polls to choose its next president and parliament. a lot is riding on the vote, including the political future of president erdogan. he brought the ballot forward by more than year and called snap elections in hopes of cementing his position with the beefed-u economic slump, and he faces strong opposition. for more on what is riding on the outcome, i spoke with a fellow at the washington institute. thank you for joining me. why is this election so