Rich and exciting agenda this fall begin with todays discussion. Does for pulsing matter in the president ial year, or within the proximity whats going to happen in several hours to a debate . Should Foreign Policy matter . Will it matter . Are with this debate so unconventional, so we loaded with hot button issues from the Supreme Court to tax returns to pandemic that there will be little room for serious discussion either on Foreign Policy issues or domestication. That remains to be seen. Clearly back in the day Foreign Policy matters a lot more than it does now. The republican landslide in 1920 was a direct result of the uncertainties and challenges in the wake of the first world war. Fdr broke the twoterm president in 19401944, and gained legitimacy in response to impending war. In 1952 korea was the dominant issue. The stephenson i issue. Lbj was driven from the white house. As a consequence of it, although the humphreynixon election of vietnam did not play a singular role. And, of course, 1980 you have the iranian hostage crisis and afghanistan. Increasingly though after the war it seems Foreign Policy has more or less dropped out of the president ial electoral cycle in the debates. You have the iraq war and they figured prominently and 9 11. With an august 20 come just last month, a pupil on registered voters on 12 issues that americans said were very important to them, the economy pulled at 79 . . Healthcare, 60 , Supreme Court 64 , covid 62, Violent Crime 59, then Foreign Policy at 57 with climate and the abortion issue interestingly enough coming up at 42 and 40 respectively. And i would be remiss if i didnt point out that like so many other issues confronting the republic today, we are a divided nation. When we were not as much nearly so on Foreign Policy. So theres a lot to get through today, and we have a number of questions that i would like to pose before we start. Is Foreign Policy doomed to be a peripheral issue most of the time in shaping Voter Preferences . And is the lack of attention to Foreign Policy the result of a public that either is indifferent, not wellversed in National Security, or to quick tip oneill, simply flows from the fact that all politics are local . What would it take to get americans focus in an Election Year on events. The countries borders . And, of course, how will the issue of National Security and Foreign Policy plate in the debates and in this election . It is the specifically, in Chris Wallace agenda tonight although their record is on the agenda and it may well come up and finally might any Foreign Policy issue proof consequential as we move toward november 3 . Im glad itll have to answer any of these questions, but to answer, to unpack them we have an allstar panel. All of them are well known to you, abbreviated buyers should suffice. Amanda carpenter is a Political Columnist the bulwark, regular cnn contributor comment author of Gaslighting America why we love it when trump lies to us. Previously she served as a speechwriter to South Carolina senator jen demint attic indications directed at ted cruz. Charlie cook is the editor and publisher of the cook political report, and a political analyst for the National Journal group. Charlie is also a political analyst for nbc news. Jen psaki was the White House Communications director and former president Barack Obamas administration from 20152017 and spokesperson at the department of state under the of state under the secretary of state john kerry from 20132015. And above all, shes probably the most of two humans under the age of five, which i think is almost extraordinary identifications, ive heard come in a bio. Format, each will speak for roughly five minutes, moderated round with me the of annoying questions for about 20, and then q a with our twitter verse email and what else is listening. So jen, without further ado, let me turn it over to you. Well, thank you, aaron, and charlie and the men to come its going to joy for this post. Im sure i will lot from both of you. You had a lot of questions in their to unpack but maybe think about back in 2007 and 81 81 is what before then senator barack obama and as charlie and amanda and probably you to remember part of the reason why he became the nominee was because of his opposition to the iraq war. Very much a Foreign Policy issue the essential on that president ial race and was central in a different way in 2004 when i worked for john kerry. But as by the end of the campaign he won the election in part because of the financial crisis and because he presented an option to the American People of somebody who they felt would be fighting for them. And they use that example because it there are lines here in virginia almost every day where i live, but we have lifetime, even the people are voting and all sorts of things can happen. I say that because Foreign Policy as we all know is a fickle guy or gal, and events can happen that may impact how voters think. Later it is, the closer it is to november 3, many people have voted before then but its important to keep that in mind. I think some of the polling you added there is really important to touch on, and charlie follows this is very closely and im sure he will have some interesting ads to make your butt Foreign Policy something americans say they care about and i think they do care about. Its just where they care about in a rank order of things. Healthcare and the economy are consistently higher and has been the case for some time. It was sort of the case in 2018. Democrats won back the house and part of the check on trump but in part because people were afraid of having their healthcare taken away. It didnt mean the were not as we all know many, Many International and Foreign Policy events happening but its all about how it impacts come how you meet people where they are. And i think that is a lesson for a lot of people are trying to communicate about how important Foreign Policy issues are and the differences. How are these issues impacting peoples daily lives. I will take over. I dont know how long ive been talking so stop a minute or two. People dont think of covid as a foreign as a Foreign Policy issue. It is absolutely a Foreign Policy issue, and what it is done effectively when joe biden is president , i think i can be, you know, it will be very much coordinated between the domestic at a National Security teams. Thats how it should be. And helping solve this crisis in the United States requires a strong Foreign Policy and National Security approach. People dont always see it that way and we are sitting at home, when youre trying to do zoom school with your kids or try to figure out when life will go back to normal people dont think about it that way. But it should be talked about in that way. Climate change is a Foreign Policy issue, very much so. The United States needs to do a lot to get our house in order but needs to continue to lead on that front in order to address climate change. Its not just about whats happening in our states and cities are in the United States. Thats part of it but very much its an international issue. These are issues that impact people domestically and at home. The last thing i will say is just having served in a white house, what people dont always realize or digest is that Foreign Policy and National Security is one of the ways that any president can operate through their own vision of what leadership should be, and what their own vision of what policy should be in in a way that many times is unchecked by congress, by the public because theres so much power that every command in chief has. I think its become solely a National Security and terrorism issue in the minds of voters but that said, some of our most important political events during the Trump Presidency have been firmly in the foreignpolicy wheelhouse. Lets not forget he was impeached this year for inappropriate conversations with the ukraine. Theres a years long investigation led by Robert Mueller based on undisclosed acts with russia so those are major events in the Trump Presidency and i think we always and asking matter, will it move Republican Voters whats interesting from my Vantage Point as a never trump republican is the only times that his supporters on capitol hill are also responsive to constituents and voters, the only times theyve broken with him have been on foreignpolicy and election issues. I think people look past that because theres only one republican vote against impeachment but look at the times there have been sent resolutions led by Mitch Mcconnell to draw a line in the sand. They had a Senate Resolution eating out after that disastrous Helsinki Press Conference saying that no, we must refuse any suggestion that we will extradite us soldiers. They could have gone further, democrats pushed back butthat was a significant point where they said this is an intolerable and tolerable line. Opposes declaration of emergency to offer the sale of billions to saudiarabia. He later overrode that senate veto still was a significant point of foreignpolicy. The Senate Passed a resolution to get that whistleblower complaints in the fall 2019 from the Intelligence Community which did provide the basis for impeachment and after he issued the drone strike and in iran to kill the top military commander there was also legislation to limit his work hours. And then just this summer that republicans had spoken out pretty fleshly against him when he talked about possibly delaying the election and then once again, when he is talking aboutnot having a peaceful transition of power. For this discussion it doesnt matter to voters, i think the intersection of foreignpolicy and elections is incredibly important because remember for this to matter the only has to lose a small percentage of Republican Voters for this to be a landslide left interesting and is not only contained within voters and capitol hill, the most prominent members of his white house that spoke out against him represents foreignpolicy communities invoices like former defense secretary jim matus and john kelly, both retired fourstar generals. The list goes on, and so i do think that doeshave an effect. Even though it gets missed in this broader foreignpolicy discussion because we dont have the language to distill that but these are going to be voters issues for people on the fence thats an excellent point. It almost reaffirms something that ive felt very important for many years and that is that politics on many issues, critical issues, the image of the nation shouldnt stop at the waters edge and we point out that a fascinating construct. Its the kind of backdoor analysis of why foreignpolicy actually does matter and could in reshaping voter attitudes. Thats a fascinating point. Charlie, on to you. Thank you erin and i want to thank you and bill burns for the invitation to be on such a Prestigious Panel with these other folks that know so much more about this stuff than i do. I just a political hack but let me put up a slightly different construct. Its not disagreeing at all with anything that and i said but to me when youve got two people running for president and neither one is an incumbent thats a choice election and partisanship and other things come into play, thats a choice but when you have an incumbent president running its a referendum. You want to extend this president s contract for another four years old at the fundamental question and then you say what feeds into that . Sadly foreignpolicy at least directly because you guys have brought up waste their drug policy and immigration and these other things but foreignpolicy perse , i wish americans thought more about it. I wish every american read the economist cover tocover every week. And reads foreignpolicy and Foreign Affairs and goes to watch carnegie but thats not where were living. Thats not what, thats not a major ingredient when they decide who they want to extend thispresident s contract or not. And so i dont think to the extent that it convinces people that this person is not cut out to be president for this is someone there proud of her that they would like to continue with. Thats where it comes into play. Thinking about in terms of foreignpolicy, in some ways it comes down to the question of are there americans killed or maimed or not . Thats the big thing. And the threshold for other things influencing Public Opinion in a president ial election is pretty limited and its a pretty Esoteric Group but in an election where weve got, its very stable and there are few undecided voters and this is an election like it always is. Do you want to renew President Trumps contract another four years, yes, sir no and its always like that with an incumbent but with someone whos aspolarizing as he is with 75 percent of americans either strongly approving or strongly disapproving him , and that was pretty much truebefore he took the oath of office. Theres just been very little change so the odds of something tonight or the next debates related to foreignpolicy moving people because they agree or disagree withsomething said , i think thats pretty unlikely. But does this lead into, is this one of those three or four or five percent, thats all were looking at here that would peel some of them towards, that would resonate withthem in a special way. And im count me as pretty skeptical that thats going to happen. So im a little, im embarrassed when i meet with people from foreign governments, or in ministries, that sort of thing. I always have an apologetic thing and this seed President Trump. Americans, it is like we are an island in the middle of an ocean with nothing else for 10,000 miles away. And i know for people in europe that border lots of countries, they just find this absolutely bizarre. Mindboggling. But only having two borders with canada and mexico and not being an island and but being so much larger than our two neighbors in terms of population, its a little inevitable but we are pretty self focused as a country so im a little skeptical about how much it would affect unless it just said this person is who i want to lead us for this person is unfit for the job and anything outside of thatparadigm , in these debates or anything else, i dont think the New York Times story will affect. I mean, trump space is 42 percent and i dont know which is harder or granite but those people are not going anywhere. And the 45, 50 percent, theyre not going anywhere. And the people that are actually in the playing field, i wonder whether they are going to vote anyway as i dont know how you cant have an opinion on this. One way or the other. So ill be the stump at the picnic so to speak of saying it probably wont but undecided voters, they dont watch debates, are you kidding . If they paid attention to stuff they would have made an opinion one way or the other by now. There might be other skeptics. I think your point isgrim but let me push all three of you on a point. The organizing principle of any nations foreignpolicy and primary responsibility of a president is to protect the American People and guarantee our security and prosperity. What if, and this is picking up on point that jen made, if i ask this question to you. Youve got the most serious threat to Public Health since the great influenza of 1917, 1918 killed 675,000 americans. You have floods, you have wires that are affecting the daily lives of americans. In fact in theory this crisis, thepandemic on paper , its if not in practice theoretically threatens the health and wellbeing of every single one of us, all 330 million. So its a backdoor approach to the importance of foreignpolicy and employment. Its not as american, obviously its a pandemic but would that not have an impact on reshaping Voter Perception . In this election or isnt the way, or people dont seeit that way . Climate was literally 40 percent. The last issue on the 12th. So what you think . You raise that issue because i think itscompelling. It looks forward to be sure. My view on that is it can impact some pockets but its not as many of us who support joe biden think it should be area its just like tax story and theres not a lot of discussion about that im not a believer thats going to move the public even though when youre ready its shocking, the tax story how little trump paid in taxes. Ill say if you look at covid as an issue, its heavy on the minds of everybody, there are pockets. Like support among seniors for joe biden was higher than it has been for Democratic Candidates for president in some time. You know, it seems to show up in themishandling as a reason for that. But across the board, one would think that given where the economy is the direction of the recession and the fact that people are out of a job, support for donald trump would have dropped dramatically and it has not. So i think it has impacted in some pockets and not others. I will say one of the points charlie raised about how elections especially reelections are referendums. More so now but certainly for barack obama it was to and at that point the economy was not fully recovered. But part of our objectives and goals was to show mitt romney as somebody who was not qualified. Not not qualified but not suited to be standing up for people who are still struggling. By painting him as somebody who was disconnected and very wealthy and kind of only of that world and also to ask people to give us more time. Part of what i think any president does and part of what trump and his team are trying to do on the economy and they have managed or just i dont know, by inertia i have no idea keep support for him on the economy at a higher rate and so would expect and what were looking at but i dont think we should underestimate that as a factor even though joe biden would win if the election were tomorrow. Any thoughts western mark. Obviously when youve got five percent of the World Population and everybody points to the 25 percent of the cases that i think are far more compelling, 20 percent of the world get due to the pandemic. Thats pretty embarrassing. Our our americans aware of that . Not really. Our americans aware or are Many Americans aware that we are the present preeminent leader of the free world for three quarters of the century and now were not trusted . I think its shockingly you people that even crossed their minds. So these are the things that get me down. Part of it is what is talked about but a lot of this is whats not talk about. And whether its this or whether its, yeah, were going to have a National Debt thats going to equal our gdp next year. But is that a topic in this debate . Not really. So i kind of get down on this and yes, any referendum up or down, is that incumbent is in danger and certainly, the economy was Getting Better by 2012, but it was doing it , it had gone into a deepditch. And it was slow. So to me anytime you have an endangered incumbent, the incumbents campaign tries to either disqualify the opponent or to change the subject. And in the disqualification, i think what was unique about president obama situation was that because it was the economy that was holding him back and the opponent was a very successful business person, this required a heck of a lot of delicacy cause you was coming at you in a way that virtually noneof the other republicans could have. And so if you try to disqualify or change the subject with President Trump, its actually, youre doing some mix of both but ultimately its going to be up or down on him and if you think about it the last 3 and a half years everything in American Public politics has revolved aroundhim. Good or bad, everything thats happened and ultimately i think that thumbs up, thumbs down is what is all about but have we taken ahead around the world . Oh yeah. But if we elected god as our next president , how long would it take god to restore american ses and position around the world . I think it would take a few years. Thats not a metaphor i should use but i think its going to take a while to fix where we are in termsof our allies. And forget the skeptics, the people who say thesepeople are incompetent. Theyve done worse than a lot of third world countries have in terms of dealing with the pandemic. I want to get to the issue of our standing. If you want to ask the question, im reading here, use the live chat feature in youtube and email us at press office cip. Org or to it, to us at carnegie connects. You raise the issue of the incumbent shirley and i want to ask a question to the three of you. How powerful a card or advantage is the incumbent . Weve now had three twoterm president s in a row. The last time we had three twoterm president s ina row , minus the fdr exception was jefferson, madison and monroe. So im kind of thinking that americans get forgetful, forgiving. They bring all kinds of rationalizations to the vote, at least in modern times. How important is the incumbent either with respect to Foreign Policy comes to an election or just generally . Mandy, what to take a crackat that . I would say donald trump is going to have foreignpolicy achievements to drive about brag about and its surprising he hasnt done more of that. If i were giving him advice going into this debate i would urge him to find ways to highlight that. The normalization of relations between the arab states and israel is a big deal primarily because it offended the conventional wisdom that you have to deal with israel first and these arab powerbrokers and he got done. And i comfortable with the fact that Jared Kushner is buddies with mds . Yes that doesnt mean the Trump Administration doesnt have Something Big to talk about and possibly grow in Joe Biden Space has a lot of conventional wisdom was that you cant do this. There will be deadly horrible consequences this the only achievement he could talk about was in this framework and he can talk about moving the embassy to jerusalem. His withdrawal from the iran treaty that legal strike against soleimani. People said bad things will happen and that still make him but he can say joe biden you are wrong. Hed be silly not topresent that framework. That would be what a horror healthy foreignpolicy would look like when a president with the powers of incumbency and achievements to talk about. Thats a very goodpoint, whos got the better story to tell. Theres always a better story to tell, almost always. Maybe not in the case of bush in 2004 but he still won the election by reassuring the public that he would continue tofight against terrorism. But i think to amanda and nobodys calling me from the Trump Administration but i do think the benefit of the incumbency in being president as you have all of the positive circumstances of the president behind you and that includes your ability to be the commanderinchief and engage with the military and use all the incredible resources and assets at the us disposal. Ill say theres one piece that i think Many Democrats including myself but would be more powerful which is knowing that donald trump is buddies with dictators and people who have questionable moral high ground diplomatically. Thats not effective. Its been shown and ive watched focus groupsand polling , knowing donald trump is house with all these dictators and moral figures around the world, people still support him and people on the border think it should be done with thosethings differently and hes a strong man. So it doesnt have the intended effect that i think Many Democrats might and in fact i think they viewed it as to kind of show that he does think differently and hes willing to take chances even if most foreignpolicy and National Security experts from all political stripes will say some of the steps taken have been ill advised and put us in a poor position worldwide. Hes a disruptor, go ahead. I feel selfconscious talking about the power of the presidency in front of a former white house medications director. She can school me in her sleep on this but theres no question the presidency is a powerful instrument and its got a lot, there are a lot of tools in the toolbox. And what a focused discipline president can get in a deep jam and find ways to get out. But if someone isnt focused and if they arent disciplined, thats a different story. I talked to all kinds of groups and all kinds of people and people agree of the american policy i would say the one thing i could get more people to agree on and anything else regardless of their party affiliation, regardless of their ideology is President Trump is often his own worst enemy. That would get heads nodding no matter whereyou are on the spectrum. And thats why i think as were sitting here and hes 8 to 10 points behind nationally. Hes behind in the three states that matter most by five, six points. Michigan, wisconsin and the clock is ticking and more people are voting everymoment then earlier. Could he get out of this jam using the tools of the presidency . Of course they could but the question is could he . Is a fascinating question, it really is. And i have the luxury of being now with three people all of whom have probably provided consultation and advice to candidates of one kind or another in debates so i want to ask you a question. Its a does it matterquestion and ive fought about it a lot. Im old enough of course to remember when in the 76 parter for debate when the New York Times reporter asked jerry ford whether or not Eastern Europe was under soviet domination and president , i understand what he was trying to do he said at least three times that eastern bloc states were not under soviet domination though my question is a very narrow tactical one focused on the debate. Is there any stumble, bumble or tumble that could actually change one policy or otherwise, that could change Voter Perceptions to create a serious jerry ford moment. I think for lots of president s you think of the pardon ofnixon but clearly that statement in the second debate did not help him. But are we beyond the point where anything that is said is going to matter . At least by the president. I think the stakes are definitely higher area if you look at the Trump Campaign is doing a been laying the foundation for joe biden to get caught making a mistake. They were shocked by the fact that he performed so well during the convention but theyre still betting is going to have a senior moment because joe biden does have those area so if joe biden is asked the question and he kind of blanks out, even if he takes a second to speak and respond is that going to play into the existing narrative that may be unfair but will be repeated at nausea throughout the internet. When it comes to donald trump , i think he has the risk of going too hard at joe biden on the family issue. Clearly thats something that donald trump wants to do. Throughout the 2016 republican primary, he kind of made a name for himself after the family members of his republican opponents guarding with jim bushes wife had cruises like riyadh that kind of his thing to do the thing that is so beyond the norm that otherpeople are too shocked to think he will actually do it. Im almost afraid that its not going to be under biden, it will be no biden because he wants to go for that emotional knife into joe bidens heart and make him cry area that would have even if people thought it was unfair, people would say wow, joe biden should have really handle that or they may look at donald trump and say we are so familiar with his family story and thelove that biden has for hisfamily we cant believe he would do that. That was an ugly moment. So really thats an out of bounds moment that i could see moving things in an emotional way for voters. Those are two vulnerabilities, one for each candidate. Jen or charlie, any other thoughts on this . I was going to throw in that were talking about 60 years of debate in modern history , modern political history and arguably only two of them had any importance really in terms of 1960 Kennedy Nixon 1976, the second debate with jerry ford. And arguably as you pointed out , the errands that apartment probably got into there a little bit. The economy had been in awful shape so there were lots of moving parts in the election beyond that but this is being very generous to say that it was really just those two and thats what some President Trump or president ford. But i just think that because this is, that biden would have to pretty massively throughout in a debate for an election thats not really about him to change the trajectory of a race thats not very close at thismoment and has very few undecideds. I would just add i think biden got like a b, even a c , its clear what the strategy is for the trump team. They are waiting for biden to have a moment where he doesntfinish an answer , where he says the name and accurately and im sure they will push back on this massive social media apparatus but at the same time, joe biden, i watched all the democratic debate primaries, those were not his finalmoments and he still won the primary. So sometimes, while were all sitting here watching in our homes tonight, which we will be doing this evening as well as, we are political animals of different stripes but it may not be what people are divesting or what matters to them in the same way and i think we saw that through the primaries. I will say on the democrats the reason trump and his team have anaggressive strategy it is because they need to change the dynamic in this race. Even though its not the same as it has been in the past where everybody does it in five or six events as it has been in the past. And he needs a different narrative here to make it not about covid or a referendum on him riyadh the Supreme Court fight is certainly good for him, im sure that will come up 1 million times but i would predict theres some pressure on him to and thats why i think hes done some pretty aggressive tactics. We have a question from john rasch on the minneapolis star tribune. I think charlietouched on. Voters care about americas standing in the world and what are the risks and benefits of biden emphasizing our global standing and the remainder of the campaign . Whether inside the beltway or outside the beltway answer to this and im very much reminded when we go to maine partly in the summers, my own head is very much stuck. I could be very careful. There are americans who care about that theres also the americans watched the eds news hour and they read the economist. Their reading two or three newspapers a day. And its a pretty elite group but for the average person outthere , i dont think that matters so much. Its their job to get along with us, not our job to get along with them. Thats the mentality with a lot of people which is horrifying but i cant say its entirely wrong. Theres got to be a balance in their to be reciprocity. Amanda, any thoughts on americas image as a resident issue . I think the easier way to talk about this with voters is that does america need friends in the world . Does that benefit americawhen we have friends we can rely on in times of need . I think theres a lost opportunity to talk about the importance of organizations like the World Health Organization which is backing out easy trump was able to walk away from that and demonize that organization when we should have been able to explain this is why we need to strengthen our relationship so that theres nothing odd when the pandemic happens we can go into action and have scientists on the ground everywhere in the world with whom we can share information. The fact that other countries got reliable testing from private labs in places like germany , they much faster than our own cdc which is so wellfunded and so well staffed, somehow that mismatch should have been a conversation with voters, how come these longer smaller countries were able to do it so quickly and we were able to deploy it here . Effects are standing in the world and when i talk to republicans who have been working inside the administration theyre very worried that donald trump in a second term will walk away from nato. This is something hes been talking about doing here or there and republicans ive been trying to push back but given a second term where hes free to do what with whatever he likes, i would expect him to eagerly walk away from more organizations which wereenacted to help americans and keep americans safe. There are some academics who argue that Foreign Policy while not substantively of much interest to voters, describe Foreign Policy as a gateway issue. That is to say, through a commanderinchiefs poise, prudence, dignity, knowledge, competency, toughness. That this is somehowimportant. So i mean, again its another backdoor to the foreignpolicyquestion. But is that likely to matter . I think a lot of times you could have something that is technically speaking an issue but its not being used as an issue. Its more of a means to an end. Take china for example. A lot of times ill talk with people who say well, is china an issue in this campaign and i will ask wait a minute, which is the prochina and which is the antichina candidate in thisrace . I would argue china, its more like a cudgel that each side is using to beat the daylights out of the other one area its a weapon riyadh its not an issue thats being debated in any serious way. Its a way to inflict harm on the other one because each one has some at least theoretical exposure whether its there or not on that and they want to draw blood from the other and keep it on the other end of the field from them. I guess it gets to the question and the core issue, what does leadership mean to a large segments of the American Public. What does it mean, if the president is the National Repository still of our greatest hopes and aspirations, where access with this, with who the president marries, the dogs they have. Exactly, we cant get enough of them. So the opposite side, even with trump the disruptor, is there a downside that a company that. I would argue perhaps among independents, certainly among democrats thats the case. But id hate to put that in a doesnt matter been because it trucks out a lot of issues that dont seem to matter. As charlie said, people may not say im quitting on Donald TrumpsNational Security qualifications or for or against it but there is a line of questioning that you would hear among oka strips, independents interviewed or people who may have been trump voters in 16 but maybe reconsidering where they question whether hes up for the job. Whether hes up to the task. And thats not saying sometimes i wish i didnt vote for him sometimes theyre not even criticizing his personal life whereas democrats might be careful because its not as effective as people think it is but its questioning should we give him for more mark he doesnt appear to be up for the job and i think that was in part of the messaging from joe biden. It was part of Barack Obamas speech, it was part of Michelle Obamas speech and i think thats away you could see no lighting in the debate trying to get under Donald Trumps skin. I will say that rick large the question of Foreign Policy and how you engage in it is always when you have a income running, less so for joebiden , hes been working foreignpolicy for years but when barack obama ran we went on this foreign trip which was insane, i was on itif anybody remembers. We had no real, we had a couple people with us who were parttime experts but he did that to jump over peoples shorthand of the commanderinchief test. Is this a person you can see being that the president of the United States and the leader of the country but navigating foreign leaders navigating 40 National Security issues. That is a hurdle that historically some people have to overcome. What jens saying is its like you look at a dining room table and you see a cake and you just see okay. But there are lots of ingredients in that case. And its whether you want to renew the contract for another four years or not or is this person up to the job or not, there are lots of things that go into that that are important and you cant leave out but you cant wrote everything in area i think thats one of the big challenges for democrats is there so many things that you could attach, you could attack President Trump on. And in a High School Debate sometimes you do the spread you give them 1 million attacks and there is no way you can answer but that generally doesnt work that well and you got to focus on whats important and you got to let the otherones go by. Justin asks on youtube, i havent seen any polling on this but im sure you all have bought, do American Voters care about foreign intervention . Into our electoral process and tampering with our institutions . Is there any data on that . I think they care some about when a lot of their tax dollars are going on things, wars that dont seem to be going well or things they would like to have more spending on that are going to Something Else but it gets down to casualties. Over my shoulder is our son who served in the 82nd airborne in afghanistan. You can that we working attention. It was really important and that was while you were in the white house and we were watching it like a hawk in 2012 but thats what people really care about so to the extent that intervention costs lives or maines americans or displaces money, sucks up money that could be used for things people really would like, thats important but just on another level, i dont see that. Amanda, jen, any thoughts. I would read that . Is for an interference in the election. More of an issue to voters and i think its because the trump universe it is such masterful job of convincing people that wasnt real until the molar report came out years later look at charts the russians but more broadly , and really matter to them. Why does interference matter to you . So what what happened with the Trump Campaign, we still want there has been a good education on how when these actors temperament election it really impacts their ability to vote and when i talk about this, there are regular republicans who sort of didnt understand this but what i would say to them is listen, when they were interfering in the election through their social media campaigns they were impersonating you. They were mocking kristin Second Amendment supporting voters and getting this aura of support to try naomi not have existed. They were impersonating your demographic profile to do that and i just think thats something worth thinking about when talking about why that kind of intervention does matter it is a form of Identity Theft in my mind. We have a few minutes left and i have two questions. Can dispense with them quicklyunless you want to add something to them. One question looks backward and the other one looks forward. We will save the forwardone for last. Its now going to be october very soon. Does, will impeachment factor in any way shape or form into this, into Voter Preferences, attitudes or had it basically gone theway of the dodo . Its on the way of the dodo. I think democrats are lucky that people have largely moved on and forgot about. And were not talking about the merits, were talking about something that was going to put the country through a whole lot that never have the slightest chance in the world of being successful. So theyve moved on its kind of like when you have the democrats oppose the first iraqi war and it was hugely successful and it looked like wow, that may have been a big mistake but then other things happened and moved on and so they got past for having been on the wrongside. And i think democrats are pretty much getting a pass on impeachment even though i thought that from their standpoint i would have thought that anything that distracted from trying to win an election in november 2020 and certainly impeachment would get there was less than. When i looked at republicanpolling , when things started to get away from front wasnt after impeachment in february. It was a combination of the pandemic that he wasnt taking seriously, the protests that were breaking out and aftermath of george floyd and his reaction to that and also the fact that the democrats did not nominate Bernie Sanders as many republicans here but instead elected joe lighting is perceived as a more moderate alternative donald trump. So those three things really gave people permission to start looking beyond trump from what ive seen. Ill add one more to that list, the loss of the economic tailwind. It was the most compelling argument to reelect him. And unlike what you would expect there is no economic headwind. Its the loss of the tailwind, the loss of the most compelling argument that canbe made for. I would add that amandas reckless. Finally i watch the other night and ill wait in and give you my answerfirst. I know theres days left before an election. I find it hard to imagine a president whose preternaturally reversed when it comes to the use of military force with an effort to create another surprise, i just dont understand how it would play or help him area push, provoke most likely in the us iranian theater. I say no, what do you the three of you say or any other october surprises that would create a sense of real risk readiness. Amanda . I dont think the october surprise will happen in Foreign Policy because it happened in september with the unexpected death of rdd and now were going into Supreme Court confirmations so thats his new vp for the next month. That was the unexpected factor that came into play at the last minute. I also think nobody should underestimate how democrats have become a little bit more passionate about the issues that they were in 2016 and 2012 and i think it could be a motivating incident for people who might not be super jazzed about joe biden but are concerned. I will say that in the october surprise category weve already seen this, resting on a vaccine before its ready and trying to push that out on themarketplace. Thats a place where i would be watching and its alarming to me hugely and should be to many people. I think the october surprise would have been better had it been in september given how many people will be voting early so it will be awfully futile unless its in really early october because otherwise its, oh well. I want to thank you. Its been accessible. Its facilitative commentary, you guys are terrific truly. On behalf of everybody whos listening let me thank amanda, charlie and jen and we will see you figuratively tonight i suspect as will scores of viewing americans. Stay tuned for the next debate, take care. Thank you aaron andcharlie. Supreme court Court Nominee amy barrett is meeting with senators. This morning she had a chance to see Mitch Mcconnell and others thats what that looked like