Brookings Institution
Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution and the Director of its Center for Effective Public Management; author of Primary Politics: Everything You Need to Know about How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates and Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again; Hillary Clinton superdelegate
Post primary wrap, what’s the takeaway? California’s billed as the heart of “resistance” to President Trump. But in this month’s Golden State primary, young and Latino voters stayed home. That’s produced a clash of voices between Progressive Democrats and Clinton-era Centrists. What will that mean come November with control of the Congress at stake?
Are too many Democrats are vying for House seats? Democrats see this year’s midterm elections as a way to take back some control and many are running for House seats. At the same time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is pressuring some progressive Democrats to drop out. Is that a winning strategy?
Are millennials embracing democratic socialism? Millennials helped Democrats to a major upset in Alabama’s Senate race. Will their growing preference for socialism be a threat to party unity in this year’s Congressional elections? Idealists and realists disagree. Added Attraction: Robin Wright on the background and the future of instability in Iran.
The Democrats in Philadelphia: Looking for Brotherly Love Bernie Sanders will address the convention tonight, along with Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Warren. But even before tonight's opening session, the Democratic Convention has seen its first casualty. National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz took the fall for some 20,000 leaked emails showing some staff members favored Hillary Clinton and wanted to sabotage Bernie Sanders.
Will Party Concessions Put Out "The Bern?" Hillary Clinton calls Donald Trump "a divider, not a uniter." But it's Bernie Sanders who's dividing her own Party. Hoping to make peace, the Democrats have given him a big voice in the party platform…only to have him promise to make the process "messy." His appointees include a supporter of Palestinian rights and one of President Obama's harshest African-American critics. So, as the campaign heats up in California, the battle continues — despite Clinton supporters who warn that it's making life easier for Donald Trump.
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.