Economic recovery and Foreign Policy seems to be an inside the beltway issue and its likely not to figure prominently in Voter Preferences and choices in this election, results of the election, how the world evaluates the consequences of the actions. I think its pretty clear that were at a crossroads. Trump has played the role of disrupter, fundamentally altering the policies of his four postcold war predecesso predecessors. Embarking on what could only be described as a wholesale withdrawal or threat to withdraw from so many enterprises, the tpp, the paris climate, jcpoa, unesco and who. And not that disruption by definition is all the bad. Its bad if theres nothing else it replace it. If its bad if its followed by policies that dont serve the National Interest and its bad if its done for some sake tethered to political. Biden, on the other hand offers a much different approach, or we would expect he would, the return to more traditional. Whether it proves to be restoration of traditional americas role in the world or partial restoration, he wants to put the u. S. , to use his words, back at the head of the table. The problem and well talk to our distinguished panel about this, the table has changed. Covid is probably, without exaggerating, the most consequential event in the world since the Second World War and theres no going back easily to the way things were. China is probably emerging stronger economically. Putin is unchecked, north korea has more nukes. Youve got a u. S. Embassy in jerusalem. Israeli and arab states are making peace through normization and assad is in power and globalization has taken huge hits. One point fbiden is going to confront one of the most serious recoveries since Franklin Roosevelt without the benefit of what roosevelt had, a world war that left america stronger at home and more influence in the world abroad and i only raise the final issue, is it possible for the United States, given how badly and triballized and polarized we are again, concerns and america that is so many questions, the bad ayou nd ugly what are trumps accomplishments in . What about the last four years has most alienated and delighted allies and adversaries . How bad has the reputational hit been for the u. S. And who are our allies and adversaries really prefer as the next president. And finally, what are the expectations of those allies and adversaries for a Biden Administration should there be one . Fortunately, i dont have to answer these questions. We have three presenters, wellknown do you, christine amanpour. And amanpour and company on pbs. Steven for the new york times, hes spent a long career in overseas posting, including bangkok, belgium, berlin, rust sel brussels, yes, washington d. C. Christine and steve ive known for a long time and the beijing chief for the economist and author of the publications, wonderful column. So five minutes either we have a hard stop at 9 50. And there will be time for questions at the end. And well turn the virtual floor over to you. Maybe youll recognize it, but people being on how is that chaos been working out for you . It doesnt look really good from this side and adversaries and allies are clearly looking at what he is going to happen to them no matter who becomes the next president. I think we wake up today, sitting in london, we see a rise and a dramatic surge in covid cases filling our hospitals. We see in france what happened, a terrible terrorist attack that has left one woman beheaded in a church and two other people killed. People in many parts of the world because of covid, i think seeing, those in the polls, i see seeking not chaos and disruption, but confidence and competence, competence is a big word that suddenly has become, you know, necessary. And they say that covid is being mismanaged by so many countries around the world, but there are standouts where it is being managed. We hear the who chief says that this virus will not be defeated unless there is global coordination and cooperation. And thats what the world expects from the United States. We havent had it. Theres no coordinated plan to, you know, have a coalition, like they did with, whether it was ebola and before that, the financial crisis, that hasnt happened and this is what were faced with right now. And you mentioned some of the major treaties and agreements that have been disrupted and thrown out of the window and that most people in europe for sure believe were correct, whether it was the Iran Nuclear Deal or at least one set of pressures about Nuclear Breakout from iran, whether its the climate accord, which most of the rest of the world believes is a real major electoral issue and a major issue for most of the world. Whether its, you know, the nato alliance, seeming to embrace authoritarian leaders at a time when autocracy and seems to be moving further and further into the western democratic space, this is a big worry and especially in the middle east where you have much activity by President Trump, whether its moving the embassy to jerusalem, whether its out to engineer the between countries that israel, lets be honest, has not been at war with, neither the uae, either bah ran or to less extent issues with sudan. You have iran as you know, as a country that many people see needs to be dealt with in a way to contain it, but one of the recent polls that was taken about the middle east shows that an alarming 49 of people who were polled do not believe that either President Trump or biden would be good for the middle east. Of the remainder that they believed joe biden, but with what bro m had embraced. Anl only 20 believe that President Trump would be good for the middle east. Majority of those polled do not agree with moving the embassy, the biggest issue, the still unresolved major issue in that part of the world and thats the Israeli Palestinian state of accomplish. Thats a tour of resolve if you like, most people want to see an america thats perhaps destined to traditional role of leading coalitions to make the world a better place. Thank you so much. Steven, to you. After those few wonderful contributio contributions, i shall do my best. The problem uright, aaron, trump was a great disrupter, the problem is when the pieces fall down again, they never fall in the same place. The world has changed and whatever trump has done or not done, he hasnt had much effect on the rise in china which david, im sure, will talk eloquently about. He hasnt, you know, covid there was a lot of pat tronnizing of American Performance on covid by europe and now europe, infection worse than the United States. And no democratic government will come out of this unharmed or unblamed, even though what theyve all tried to do is balance Economic Growth versus health. Its not easy and i dont think anyone has done terribly well in a liberal democratic society, except perhaps japan. Maybe, maybe south korea. But europeans look at trump as a kind of nightmare, i have to say. I mean, Central Europeans polled very much appreciate that the despite complaining about nato, trump was the president that put more american troops and military effort into europe, into nato, particularly along the russian border to enhance the turrets. So theyre quite fond of trump, in support of authoritarian, poland and hungary is a separate case, but in terms of what hes actually done as opposed to what hes said, hes actually been good for natos deterrents. But i think he has seen europe as a competitor as a rival. He believes the European Union somehow was set up to confront the United States not to be an ally and he has supported, you know, brexit, which is essentially a breaking up of the European Union. He has always asked that heads of france and germany, when are you leaving the European Union. I think he actually stopped asking that question. But it is his unpredictability, his basic distaste for what europe does for its trade and economic power that has people very, very anxious. And at the same time, you know, a Biden Victory would feel like a return to civilization, but despite the warm words that will ensue and the happy summit meetings because after all biden is a kind of romantic transatlanticist, one that we havent really had for decades, i think, despite all that, there is this anxiety that american politics has become so polarized that Foreign Policy has become polarized and american Foreign Policy has lost consistency and biden who will be 78 if he becomes president would probably only be a one term president and a republican might very easily win again, who shares some of the same views as President Trump. So there will be contingencies constantly and a kind of wariness and the last point i would make, people are worried about biden asking a lot of them on china which makes them nervous and also, he would be a kind of end to european efforts at strategic autonomy and a Stronger Security and Foreign Policy in europe because it would be like putting ones head back in back into the comfortable sand. And ill leave it there. You know the point you raised steve, whether trump is a headline or a trendline is a fascinating one. At least from the european perspective that you could easily end up with maybe a moderated version of donald trump. And a more coherent one. And a more tactical one. Right. David, over to you. Well, im talking to you from beijing where ive been the last two half years, and in the context immediately before that i was six years in washington as bureau chief and before that in europe covering the European Union. And so before i got to china id like to sort of look why i think this election, even if joe biden wins isnt going to be like that elation that we saw in europe in 2008 when barack obama was elected. You know, barack obama for the west, for europe, certainly, even here in asia, even a bit in china, represented a reset. And a reset from what . It was the idea that under george w. Bush america had used its tremendous strength clumsily and without consulting, without listening, without empathy as it tried to impose simple American Solutions on complex places and had broken those places, whether it was iraq or afghanistan, and so obama offered what i think we may have lost david. Oh. Can you hear me . We can. Continue please. So, obama offered a reset because he was a global citizen, he was empathetic, he was going to consult. Why is this election not going to be the same . Because the problem with this america, the donald trump america, is not that its a strong country imposing Simple Solutions like democracy and breaking places. The problem with the world with donald trump, he seems to have revealed way too much america, itself, domestically is a broken country. Thats the lesson that people here in china draw from americas performance with covid. Is that america is that individualism that they know about america, is actually a self selfishness that takes america to the point they refuse to wear face masks and even if joe biden is an elected prison for europeans, i think aaron is right, to call their bluff and youve complained about the lack of coalitions and multilateral and to confront china, well, great, lets do some stuff to confront china. There will be a sense of accountability in europe that donald trump has paid at least part of the price for his mismanagement and of covid and Everything Else that europeans hate so much. Steven is it right, but the rest of the world cant help, but think that maybe in four years time, the americans who never lost faith with donald trump the kind of disbelief as much of the rest of the world, that they wouldnt have gone away that this is still a tremendously divided america, almost kind of 5050 and they cant be wished away. Its not just donald trump its what he represents, its trumps america and trumps americans and then finally, how is this viewed in china . Clearly the Chinese Communist party is not interested in telling a story about accountability at the ballot box to its own people, so the propaganda here is all about chaos and money and corruption, and the fact that the voting that democracy is basically kind of cynical lie, that its a game in which the powerful and rich just ignore the real interests of the ordinary people and see their own selfish interests. The lesson from the Propaganda Machine says it doesnt matter who wins its the same oligarchy and the individualism and individual rates and claims of elective legitimacy that america use toss criticize places like china, that covid is not just a Public Health disaster, its a failure for democracy and as china tells us, its success for one party system that its performance legitimacy which gives you a mandate. The ability to keep your people safe, to mobilize and to organize. Now, we can talk about covid in china, but thats true, because to add to stevens list of liberal democracies that handled covid brilliant i would name the fantastic island of taiwan. 23 Million People and fewer than 10 deaths from covid and liberal democracy, theyve handled it fantastically. Theres nothing good about the communist party of landling covid, but americas handling of covid, no matter who wins on tuesday, there will not be a kind of barack obama style reset. There will be a lot of lingering unhappiness and questions about not just trump, but trumps america and what is that. Fascinating. The folks who study why certain authoritarian qualities and democratic qualities did better than others in covid argue that there are two or three factors. One is that respect for capacity and competence, the second is faith in government, the willingness to actually your point about individualism in america and our antiauthority past, and our refusal to accept comprehensive solutions to problems, its no wonder we dont have a sensible gun control policy here or health care. That is critically important, i think, in the way that other countries are going to look at the United States and the broken house metaphor i think is critically important. We are going to come back to this, david, on the issue of whether or not beijing is conflicted on who they really want as the next president. But let me ask a few questions. Steve, this one is for you, you referred to the fact that one of the more positive aspects of trumps years, at least among certain Central European states has been bolstering natos deterrents. Weve talked a lot here even in the brief 20 minutes weve been discussing about what the bad and the ugly is with respect to trumps policies. So let me ask the question on the cusp of this election. Other than deterrents with respect to nato, some would criticize the way hes gone about that as well, are there any redemptive aspects over the course of the last four years . Steve, well start with you, but i also want to ask david and christiane. One has to try to be cold about all of this and i think trump has drawn attention to chinas manipulation of trading regime, and misuse of the wto, and the Security Threat chinese scientific progress and Artificial Intelligence and technology and huawei presents to the western world, and this is something obama wasnt really very interested in, i have to say. And trump overstates things, as he does forever, but the fact is, he has gotten britain to pull out of huawei and germany and he has woken up europe, which now says in a policy paper it sees china as a systemic rival, which is stronger language than before. The german bbi and the sort of, you know, business groups in germany have a stronger voice in warning against china trade. They had to listen. So, i think on china, also, theres been a kind of wakeup call that trump has trumpeted maybe much too strongly and frankly pompeos offer borel, the Foreign Policy chief of an euu. S. Dialog on china i think is a very good thing. I think it might work better under a Biden Administration, but in principle its the way one should respond. So i think that is something and then, also, it failed, god knows, if you look obama left us worried to hell about north korea. Whatevers happened there, yes, theyre still building up stuff, but there hasnt been the war that obama was really worried about. Iran, i think, is a big problem. There are lots of things he hasnt done well, but youre asking me to look on the bright side of life. Right, i mean, and i didnt ask the question to suggest that theres a symmetrical handling of some of the policy seen. Ak, christiane to you. Look, i tend not to be cold as an analyst and as an observer and a reporter. I believe in values, i believe that the United States is unique amongst all the countries of the world, that its Foreign Policy is based on values. Values that are commonly shared amongst those who believe in human rights. Those who believe in coalitions and alliances and i remember distinctly when President Trump won to the shock of everybody in the United States and in the rest of the world, all the rest of the world, all the leaders did the traditional, you know, the telegrams and whatever the messages congratulating the people of the United States and new president of the United States. The only person who stood up for values was a woman by the name of chancellor Angela Merkel who congratulated the president , but said that our relationship will be dependent on our joint adherence to our common values to our alliances and to everything that we have stood for since the defeat of fascism and that terrible world war ii. I thought it was very, very brave that she stood up for what we expect from the United States. We foreigners, im a foreigner, expect to believe in what America Sells around the world, which is unique set of values and i think those have had a very, very, very, you know theyve suffered over the last four years for sure and i think that, you know, i also believe that, you know, germany is concerned. Yes, maybe trump has put some troops near the russian border, but pulled 12,000 out of germany. What does that say to europe when they look at the United States coming up . I think, you know, president obama said it better than i can, but it was written about in the washington post, that, you know, President Trump is going around on his rallies saying you know, kim jongun wants me to win, president xi wants me to win, president putin wants me to win. Obama says, yeah, but thats nothing to brag about because you have given them just about everything they want over the last four years, strategically sound, is it you know, north korea, yeah, they had these great i covered them, i with an in singapore, in vietnam, those summits, it was exciting, it was a reality show, yes, we havent had a war. Were we ever going to have to war . But we also havent had a retraction of north koreas scary nuclear buildup. In fact, its the opposite. Its building up, building up, building up. I think, i remember during the height of the unpopularity of the george w. Bush regime, administration, when the world really did not like the United States because of the iraq war. And now youre seeing, certainly, polls that shown that the United States is as unpopular around the world as it was at the height of the unpopularity during 2000. We saw that its bounced back after the election of barack obama. As it can bounce back again i do agree with you, that the landscape changed and nobody quite knows whether america will want to be or be able to be a force for Effective Governance and Coalition Building and keeping the world on a basic even keel. The world has changed. I think that people are asking right now to be able to go back to that kind of trust in america, certainly americas allies. Our adversaries know exactly where the red lines are . And is america still the country to be counted on . Right, were going to get to that question. David, so, just to followup before we move on, what has trump gotten right about china or from your perspective, any of the issues in asia . So i would like to half agree with Stevens Point that there was something about the obamachina policy that its helpful to do the opposite. So theres been a tremendous debate, a lot of people read pieces was it naive us trying to engage with china, did believable that china would be a jeffersonian if we traded it it. It implied that there was a choice. If china was willing to engage growing so fast, we would engage. I dont focus on engagement, when i look back at whats wrong with the obama era policy. Unfortunately it did attach quite often to things then vicepresident biden said about china is complacency. Biden was a champion of being democracy, being america gives awe head start that china will never catch, that china so fast, because never bet against america, america has the kind of secret sauce of freedom and free speech and sort of freedom of thought at the universities which gives you an innovation edge and i think that complacency, as obama complacency looking at China Building out in the South China Sea was a big mistake about that. And President Trump is not complacent about china. And sometimes the opposite of this is another and there we need to be careful about breaking the Trump Administration china policy apart from the president s china policy. One of the things that makes it so hard and makes it really hard for beijing to read this four years of the trump term theres such a gap between the agenda of the genuine hawk who really do want to become at least, you know, if not decoupled from china, stop assisting chinas rise and theyre in the pentagon, mike pompeo, theyre the china hawks, have a problem with the way china conducts policies towards states like taiwan and the crushing of freedoms in hong kong, there are real hawks in the Trump Administration who want to confront that. The problem is that President Trumps agenda only sometimes overlaps with theirs and he has over the last four years unleashed the hawks as a kind of tactical negotiating move to set the chinese back on their heels, but the chinese worked out eventually the deal they could do with donald trump would not involve changing their ways or really arguing about principles at all. Basically donald trump sees the world like a real estate tycoon, and america is a valuable piece of real estate. Foreigners should pay rent to access it and in his view his predecessor did not charge a high enough rent. So he has a renter view and china is going to pay more then and frank ly donald trump as an individual did not care about hong kong or and made it unprecedent lly aggressive and it has forced china by provoking china and poking china, you know, the dragon has basically growled and spat fire and chinas incredibly aggressive behavior toward americas allies, chinese doesnt want to directly confront america just yet. Its too strong. You look at their treatment of australia, canada, britain, sweden, the European Union, south korea, you know, the list goes on and on their crime is americas lieutenant and a few of the world and unfortunately maybe somewhat Donald Trumps view of the world you want to go, you break the knees of their underboss toss send a message. Donald trump has at least forced xi jinping talking about harmonious future, in the end of the day hes going break your knees if you dont do what he says. Fascinating. So lets move onto the question, not of Voter Preferences with respect to trump or biden, but allies and adversary preferences. So, id like each you to you have discretion here. Pick your favorite ally and adversary and tell me who you think the particular country prefers. I mean, i could ask specific questions of each of you, but well see how this goes. So, steven, lets start with you. Pick an ally and adversary. Who do they want to win and why . Well, ill well, germany, which i think remains the most important country in europe, even if it to put a ludicrous degree, is desperate for a biden win, i mean, Angela Merkel was never trumps kind of girl, right. And as shes coming to the end of her long period of power and behavior, well say that about the woman chancellor, she is leaving a germany thats really at the cusp of things, and i think germans love democratic president s. If you watch the polls. So theyre very eager for biden. Right. As an adversary, lets say putin. I do think very much putin still wants trump to win, partly because i dont know if he has anything on trump, but trump certainly behaves as if he does, and putins interest is dividing europe and creating more power for russian influence in the balkans, in serbia, in estonia, all of these places. The czech republic, hes doing a reasonably good job of it, but a Trump Presidency would create further fissures that i think would keep putin happy. Makes sense. Christiane to you, ally and adversary. [inaudible] have we lost you . Sorry. I guess. Ally i would consider Benjamin Netanyahu of israel and also, nbs as known in saudi arabia, they would have obvious reasons to want President Trump to be reelected. I think those are really are what has actually happened in that region might have satisfied both countries certainly, now, this administrations interaction with them. And most particularly around the coalescing issue of building up an antiiran to that part of the world. But what has it actually done, President Trump giving pretty much everything to benjamin na netanyahu, the peace accord deal, hasnt really gone anything. What does it mean to israel who have an american leader to keep pushing an equitable twostate solution. And what does it mean for israel, its democratic status . I think we should ask ourselves a very serious question both in terms of fossil fuels i was going to use a qualifier, but fossil fuel adoration and authoritarian and strategic direction. The United States keeps bolstering and propping up the saudi regime. Now, is it possible, seriously, in the world that we live in now, that you can have an unfettered, unconditional relationship with saudi arabia that has shown itself even now in the giese, prince bin salman has no qualms, and cia believes that he ordered not just the murder, but dismemberment of a human being, our colleagues, a american resident working with the post. And while hes still putting womens rights activists in jail. Does that make sense . So they might want President Trump to win again, but maybe all american leaders now have to decide how they act toward that part of the region and i would say as an adversary, iran. Iran has been the target more than any other country of President Trumps direct action and certainly his wrath. So far over four years, youve had breaking out of the Iran Nuclear Deal of the United States and maximum pressure sanctions. Well, if the aim was to topple the Iranian Regime which they say it is, even though they say it isnt, it hasnt happened and hasnt happened in 40 years. Iranian Islamic Republic is 40 years old. So, what does that mean . And they have kept their powder d dry better than i do, sat on their hands and have tried to do Everything Possible not to provoke the United States at this moment leading up to the election, so as not to give any excuse to any action against them. But clearly, thats a massive, massive country where american policy needs to figure out how to deal with it and so far, you know, the same old action of maximum pressure has simply not worked for 40 years. Right. One quick question, christianne before i move on to david. Can you give your assessment how Boris Johnson is looking at this election. Sill will i silly me, im sitting here in london. This is full of idealogues. Theyve been judged harshly on Covid Response and Boris Johnson won a convincing election about a year ago, an overwhelming victory election a year ago, hes below 30 of the because of handling of covid. And while macron and merkel are coming up with a coordinated new second wave lockdown, we havent had that here, but at the same time, this brexit thing, which is pretty much been given short shrift and i think theyre hoping that people forget about brexit in the midst of dying and trying to survive the pandemic, its a real problem. They have, i dont know what the latest negotiations with europe have done, but theyve gotten nowhere close yet to warming a deal, which would be a trade deal with their biggest trading partner, which is the eu. And thats worrying the british people. How, what does it mean to the u. S. . Boris johnson hopes that President Trump would win and keep winning and give the most Wonderful World beating trade deal and theyre worried now, so, clearly, as you know in the United States youve got british officials going over to, you know, enter into some kind of informational call with the biden camp to see, and to cement relations there. Who knows what will happen. I might say though, again, you all know this better than i do. No matter who is president , both the Trump White House and the democrats have said if Boris Johnsons government does anything in its brexit measure nations to threaten the piece accords, the congress would not vote tore a preferential free trade agreement. Nancy pelosi has said that to me many times and as i say, even the Trump Administrations Northern Ireland official has made that clear to the british governme government. Thanks, david, you wrote a fascinating piece which i read on chinas conflict with respect to trump and biden. You used the phrase two devi devils are the chinese conflicted . Let me get a trump doing around the world, since the korean war 70 years ago, there are an incredibly important force not just to keep north korea bottled up, but in asia. And donald trump pay four times more than they do at the privilege of having american troops on their soil as if american troops areners mercenaries paid to be there. And theyre not as the humiliation driving up antiamericanism, always a force in south korea politics, why any American Government would do this because its not a lot of money, extraordinary damage. China, and people said theres two camps in china they dont know which they prefer, they dont think much of either of them. And the leader here knows both well. And vicepresident biden was his counterpart he was vicepresident and he knows trump well. The truth, who you are matters. If you speak to chinese whose job to worry about Economic Growth then they can sound tense to return the kind of status quo that allowed american hightech companies to sell components to huawei and cooperation with america. The people that worry about gdp numbers if joe biden meant a return to the previous smoother sailing for globalization, they would take that. If you talk about people whose worried about national security, darker side of the chinese machine ive heard people say frankly four more years of trump would be great destroying alliances not only in asia, but nato and around the world. If he would want four more years, why would china get in the way. Final thing, america is fundamentally, china is so cynical about america, particularly now, and is so convinced that americas bent on containing chinas rise, that america is declining that doesnt want to share the top table so theyre convincing themselves and telling their public ultimately it doesnt matter who the american president is, because america has shown its hand, a declining, old, doesnt want to share the table. And chinas only to struggle and fight. Almost like a if you can squeeze a few more years out of america, you might want to have time with biden or a fight now, bring on trump and let him weaken the west a little bit more. Thank you. We have a few more minutes left. I want to ask a question on behalf of sara, who is asked, ill ask steve to answer this one because i know time is short. Its a really good question. Youre all foreign correspondents during the course of your careers. How do you interpret the increasingly hostile attacks by the Trump Administration on the media and on the press . The longer term implications of th that, damaging and dangerous, but can any of you, steven in the beginning, offer a comment or two on that. Yes, i find it deeply depressing. I mean, i have a little button that says enemy of the people that i used to wear because trump called us the enemy of the people. I dont find it very funny anymore. I mean, trump has used us, particularly my newspaper which he actually loves, which he grew up with, i mean, were the puppets in his puppet show. And i mean, he does his rallies, he does his demagoguery, we are, you know, fake, nothing we do can be believed, so everything we do that harms him is obviously fake. Even the other day he said the polls are all fake, and that the real polls, which are the ones in his own head, right, have him going i think hes done a lot there always has been mistrust of the media just to be brief. Clearly, thats all true, but the way if you combine trumps attacks on the Mainstream Media with facebook destroying local media, you have a very difficult situation i think going forward, ill stop there. Yeah, anybody else briefly . Yeah, i mean i would add to that in all the places that ive covered and all the wars and the authoritarian parts of the world, i mean, this is just fabulous fodder for all of those people who have no respect and no desire to know anything about the truth or whats real, all of these leaders who want to tell their people lies and keep them in the dark and have politically or otherwise on them now have inspiration from the home of the free and the land of the brave and the land of the first amendment. This is one of the most troubling developments and you can see it all over. Even in, you know, in europe, on the eastern parts of the europe weve talked about hungary and other places. Every day people out there in terms of leaders and those who have no respect for free or independent press, you know, raised the issue of fake news. You know what fake news means, its stuff i dont like you saying about me, okay, so we need to carry on being who we are and fulfilling our mission, certainly in the United States, you call yourselves, we all ourselves the fourth estate, that implies a certain responsibility and a certain weight in the pillars of civil society. And i just think we need to socalled drop the mic. I dont know why we give endless air to whatever leader, whenever, who just spouts lies, and who attacks attacks, attacks. And its not okay. Its not balanced, its not real, its not objective, its not neutral. Its just degrading the sense of you believe about discourse, public debate and most importantly, in the most evolved democracy in the world, degrading peoples faith in the power of democracy and as the legitimacy of democracy and free and fair information for which i have risked my life. Thats really brilliantly and eloquently expressed and going forward, one of the problems that were going to face in repairing americas broken house, is what the Rand Corporation calls truth decay. Truth decay is, i mean, its a structural problem in restoring confidence in the most basic of our institutions, the post office, the u. S. Congress, the fbi, i mean, people just dont know what to believe and theyre easily led to believe things which are untethered from critical thinking. And i its incredibly frustrating. Weve almost come to the end of the hour, i want to ask one additional question. Assuming joe biden wins, and im all for the notion that when youre in a hole, the most important element is to stop digging. There will be an improvement with respect to a more rational, logical conduct of american Foreign Policy. Whether biden can restore its not the 90s and not even 2008 anymore, i dont know. But i guess the question is, if biden wins and we go into transition, lets assume theres no contesttation. You dont have a period of litigation, rival electoral slates, compromised elections, just hopefully assume thats not the case, do any of you have concerns with respect to the transition of what a Trump Administration might do within the period of between an election and an inauguration in an effort to constrain an incoming president or i cant imagine whether their motives might drive it. Maybe you dont. I was just thinking i do, i do. Steve. And i worry hell bomb iran. Thats what really worries me. Hell bomb naton. Bomb places where construction is obviously going on now that the americans have pulled out of Irans Nuclear deal. Thats my big worry. Thats your concern. David, could i just put you on the spot and ask whether or not theres a taiwan issue . I dont think taiwan the main island of taiwan, but you can imagine theres a scenario where donald trump if he leaves pardoning everyone in the white house so he doesnt have time for Foreign Policy adventures, headed to the airport with the gold bars and and theres a contested result which makes america look completely hopeless and distracted and you can imagine china and others pulling off little adventures trying to show others in the region that they dont have a friend in america and that could be a very daunting task. Christianne, a thought on this . Okay. No, no. Weve come to the end of the hour and i have to say, i mean, i learned a ton. I think its extraordinary that were talking, christianne, youre in london, steven, youre in brussels and david, youre in beijing, youre bringing a kind of ground truth to us which is not only fascinating, but incredibly authortative and authentic and i want to thank each of you and sorry to our lessners that we listeners that we didnt have more time for questions. Next time for sure. So, stay tuned, stay healthy and as happy as you can be in the runup with respect to the next five days or so. Thank you, aaron. Take care. Thanks, everybody. Theres more Live Programming later today on a discussion what to expect on election day, including how long it could take to get results from states and other possible counting and reporting challenges. Its from the bipartisan policy center, live coverage at 2 p. M. Eastern here on cspan2. Online at cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. With five days left until election day, on november 3rd. When Voters Decide who will control congress and occupy the white house next year, stay with cspan. Match campaign 2020 coverage every day on cspan. Stream or on demand at cspan. Org or listen on the cspan radio app. Your place for unfiltered view of politics. Thats what gives us the confidence to sit here and describe the first 10 seconds of the universe like we were there. It all started with a big bang. Is there a song in there . I wouldnt give a reporter an interview unless they read, why not the best first. They had to read the book. They had to read the book before i did the interview. For 20 years, book tvs in depth hosted americas top nonfiction authors for an indepth conversation with cspan viewers. Join us for our live 20th answer anniversary special, more book talk with authors, your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets and a look back to memorable indepth moments. The picture on the back of you, do you remember those days . No, but conceivably. Whats in the book . Well, the book is an examination of life at yale. Watch in depth sunday live at noon eastern, on book tv. On cspan2. National institutes of Health Director dr. Francis cullens gave an update on covid19 vaccine trials and the current increase of coronavirus cases across the country. This is an hour. Welcome to the National Press club, the worlds leading professional organization for journalists. Im michael friedman, the 113th president of the National Press club. Im the former general manager of cbs radio network. No