Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting / Brookings Institution
Senior advisor at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and nonresident senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution; author of Imperial Gamble: Putin, Ukraine and the New Cold War
The State of America's Foreign Relations President Obama's final State of the Union address tomorrow night is expected to be heavy on foreign affairs. Likely highlights: the Iran nuclear deal, the climate change summit, the free trade pact in Asia and renewed relations with Cuba. But all those are still works in progress — and critics call Mr. Obama an uncertain leader, who's let America's allies get weaker while enemies have grown stronger. We review seven years of victories, compromises and setbacks in a complex world that's often beyond even a US president's control.
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.