richard haass was director of policy planning in george w.ush's state department, now the president of the council on foreign relations. sam, you did it both ways. you transitioned in from bush to obama and then you transitioned out as u.s. ambassador to the u.n. handing over the reigns to nikki haley. how damage somethiis this where president is refusing to initiate any transition at all? >> it's thoroughly unprecedented and it is reckless in the extreme. i cannot tell you how useful the briefings were that we in the incoming obama administration, that we received from the out going bush administration. we learned about, for example, what the status of conditions on the ground were in afghanistan. that helped inform incoming president obama as he thought about how to launch his afghan troop review, which was one of the first things he had to do alongside with dealing with the global economic crisis. we learned about threats to u.s. embassies and diplomatic facilities around the world. that's something the incoming president absolutely has to

>>> we are back with samantha power and richard haass.ave a terrific essay in foreign affairs in which you talk about the sub title of the section which i particularly like is called "america the incompetent." and what you're talking about is how difficult it is going to be for the united states to corral others when what they are witnessing is a kind of an extraordinary display of america's incompetence at being able to handle the pandemic. how deep do you think that problem is? it seems unlikely you can turn a switch and make people think america is the city on the hill again. >> well, it will take time of course to restore the valuation of expertise within government agencies, to recruit people who bring, let's say in the state department, language expertise and regional expertise, since so many diplomats have fled in the environmental agencies and science-based community within the government. but there is a lot that the commander in chief can do. and what i highlight, for example, is what can be done in the realm of global vaccine di

richard haass published a foreign affairs piece called repairing the world in which he lays out the issues that will be in president biden's inbox the day he walks into the oval office. welcome. great to have you with us. china is in the inbox but is not the first thing. the first thing is covid-19. richard: i agree. china is in the inbox and will be for president as for the eye can see your the brain can imagine. it is one of the structural challenges, conceivably an opportunity of the 21st century. as a result there is no urgency to get it right the first couple of months. the contrast is with covid we may not think of a pandemic as a national security priority but it is exactly that. unless we get it under control at home we will not have the bandwidth to do much of anything else. it will hold back the economy. i think that becomes the priority. it also has real foreign policy dimensions, the question of the u.s. getting back in the world health organization, i think that makes sense, even though it is flawed is the only way to gradually improve it. there is a question about participati

ambassador richard haass, thanks so much. >> thank you, jim. >>> all right. for us, why did president obama choose joe biden to be his running mate? we have new details this morning from president obama's new memoire "a promised land." you will hear them back. if you're on medicare, remember, the annual enrollment period is here. the time to choose your coverage... ends december 7th. so talk to unitedhealthcare and take advantage of a wide choice of plans... including an aarp medicare advantage plan from unitedhealthcare. it can combine your hospital and doctor coverage with prescription drug coverage, and more, all for a low monthly premium or in some areas, no plan premium at all. take advantage of $0 copays on all primary care doctor visits, all virtual visits, and preventive dental care. plus $0 copays on hundreds of prescriptions. and with renew active, enjoy a free gym membership. so call unitedhealthcare and take advantage of the range of plans we offer, including ppo plans that let you see any doctor who accepts medicare, without a referral. enrollmen

hope richard haass later on we've got lots pomp. anyone else seems wrong. why don't we just don't. let me. get to see powell does this come down to. and in detroit equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. some control for a middle. of the night most of our very hardworking people that want to get ahead that is either have some some health issues or have some had a streak of bad luck a full time job is plenty for a place to live and missing just a month's rent can get you a victim to gunpoint if anything bad happens to any thing that just throws your budget off slightly. better catch up real quick or you're going to have a judgment of possession against you and get addicted i anyone that's homeless is treated like garbage the polls.

richard haass, mr. drezner.coming up, abigail spanberger she had some tough words for her caucus. she joins the conversation next. >>> knowyourvalue.com is marking the historic election of the united states. we sat down with the incoming vp at one of the national events in san francisco where she shared her own know your value moment as well as whether or not she was going to jump into the race. we also connected with her always outspoke up niece mena harris about the life lessons she has learned and we'll look at the gains that the women have gained nationwide. look at the 50 over 50 series only at know your boundaries.com. >> dr. dave interviewed her also. >> we should do that. health is a huge part of knowing your value. we'll be right back. ight back. ♪ (children laughing) ♪ (music swells) (dog barking) ♪ (music fades) (exhales) experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's pay

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 advice from general mark milley the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff w

but richard haass, for me, one of the most extraordinary things is how he was underestimated in his ownthe mid '80s, if i'm remembering correctly, that historians start today take a second look at look at truman and saying he was a near great or a great president. it's extraordinary what this man from missouri accomplished in two or three years. >> that's exactly right, joe. he wasn't a national figure when he got chosen as vice president. he then became president early on, given fdr's death. and at the time almost like rodney dangerfield, he didn't get a whole lot of respect. as every decade bose on he is seen as one of the great foreign policy presidents in history. i would argue the greatest of the post-world war ii presidents when it came to foreign policy. my question for you is going back to mark twain, that history doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes. what rhyming do you see betweha truman what he did and the rest of the post-world war ii order, what if any rhyming do you see between that and today? >> i see a lot. first of all, 12 presidents between harry truman and barack obama

joining us ambassador richard haass. author of "the world, a brief introduction". good to have you on. >> good to be with you. so wh >> so when you look at the list, nominees include candidates that held positions in previous administrations. i wonder if you see president-elect biden looking to avoid early fights with the senate that could be controlled by the gop? >> that's clearly one thing. i don't see anyone who has a confirmation issue unless there's something we don't know. but more important let's assume they all get through. this is not a team of rivals, this is a team of colleagues, it's a team of veterans. it's a team of safe hands. and this administration is going to inherit a world, to use one of my favorite words, of considerable disarray in part for historic reasons and in part because of what mr. trump did. so when you have capable safe hands that can get along with one another sounds good to me. >> you wrote in your foreign policy piece a little over a week ago about the inescapable fact that presidents only have a limited time to do big things, esp

richard haass, thank you so much, always appreciate your insights. good to talk to you. >> thank you, sir. >>> all right. we want to switch gears back to some politics here in the united states. we have breaking news to share with you coming out of north carolina. democratic senate candidate cal cunningham tweeted a few minutes ago that he called republican senator thom tillis to concede the race. pre-election polls actually showed cunningham in the lead despite admitting to an extramarital affair. the north carolina senate race had not been called on election night. as officials were waiting for outstanding ballots. tillis once considered the most endangered incumbent will get a second term back on capitol hill. we'll be right back. nologies, we started by making the cloud easier to manage. but we didn't stop there. we made a cloud flexible enough to adapt to any size business. no matter what it does, or how it changes. and we kept going. so you only pay for what you use. because at dell technologies, we stop...at nothing. ♪ ♪ birds flyin' high, you

haass up later, richard on "bounds of power -- on "balance of power." this is bloomberg. check in on the bloomberg first word news now. the race for the white house may be too close to call for days. there are still millions of ballots to be counted, and there are close contests in five key states. 270biden has 238 of the electoral votes needed to win. president trump has 213. that did not stop the president from claiming victory and threatening to challenge the results in the nation's highest court. pres. trump: we will be going to the u.s. supreme court. we want all voting to stop. we don't want them to find any ballots at 4:00 in the morning and add them to the list. we will win this. ritika: the president didn't offer any evidence that wrongdoing had occurred. the democrats had hopes of recapturing the senate, but those chances have diminished after republican victories in iowa and montana. republicans now hold a 53-47 senate advantage, and all most everything would have to go right for the democrats in the undecided seats for them to win a majority. british prime min