The Obama Administration. He spoke at the annual Aspen Institute security forum. Welcome back to the aspen security forum. Going to have a session with my friend tony blanken called foreignpolicy choices for 2021. Introduce both of our panelists. Tony doesnt need an introductionto most people for watching. We became friends and worked together long ago. President clinton at the National Security council had a very distinguished career in public service. As many of you know he was staff director for the Us Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Obama Administration and those eight years he was assistant to president obama and Principal Deputy National Security adviser. It was National Security advisor to Vice President biden and deputy secretary of state for president obama and Vice President biden. Is now senior Foreign Policy advisor to Vice President biden in the Biden Campaign and its great to have tony blanken with us and hes going to be interviewed by jerry side, executive editor of the wall street journal. He writes a weekly capital journal column which i read and all of us shouldread. Jerry has had an extraordinary career. He has reported from the middle east in the 1980s and 80s and 90s for the journal and coveredthe white house at the end of the reagan administration, the entire George Hw Bush administration and interviewed every american president since reagan. Hes part of the team at the wall street journal that won the Pulitzer Prize for their recording on 9 11 and has a book coming out which talks about briefly from august 21, jerrys book you we should have seen it coming, conservative movement in the republican party. Its a pleasure to have jerry here and tony, so great to hear see you atthe aspen security forum. Thank you. Tony, lets start with a scenario. Joe biden walkedout of the white house in january 2017. As Vice President. Lets say perhaps he walks back into the white house in january 2021 a president area and how will the world have changed in the intervening four years and how will he have changed in the intervening four years. First its great to bewith you, thanks so much for having me. So jerry, what has changed i think in a word pretty much everything. The Vice President s talk about this, he would inherit a divided country at home and a world in disarray. The two are inextricably linked to our own ability, to be a force for progress in the world and to advance our own prosperity depends on the strength and vitality of our democracy at home and thats very much challenged but globally we have time to state the obvious, extraordinarily obvious demographic and geopolitical change. Just over the past four Years Technology and information have accelerated the shifting of power and alignments among nationstates. The fusion of power away from nationstates and the growing challenges and Effective Governance within them so i think whats changed is the need to do 2 things. We have to approach this with equal doses of humility and confidence, humility because we face the most challenging and complex National Security landscape in decades and we cant just flip a switch and make everything right but confidence that it remains within our capacity to shape a Better Future in which our people are more secure and more prosperous and opportunity is safeguarded. I think the big thing though, the elephant in the room is covid19 and arguably jerry that is the greatest challenge the United States has faced since world war ii. Its killed more americans than died in world war i and more americans have perished and in every war the United States has fought since 1945 911 combined. The recession unleashed represents i think the deepest downturn since the great depression. Millions of americans unemployed threatening entire sections of our economy and of course theres so many tales that could wag the covid dog. Were looking looking at an emerging debt crisis, Food Insecurity , more protectionism, more nationalism, all of which can ricochet back on the United States so i think in a sense the biggest and most acute change driven by covid19 is a central dilemma. On the one hand this should be a wakeup call at our own fate, the United States is inextricably linked to events beyond our borders but the dilemma is this. When we have melting trans or national dangers, unprecedented interdependence , we have to find collective and sometimes even Global Response but we have rising nationalism, eroding faith in government, the diffusion of power i mentioned and resurgent Great Power Competition making that very cooperation increasingly difficult to achieve. So we have a lot of work to do if there is a biden presidency and very quickly i would just say a couple of quick things and thinking about this environment and how we address it. The Vice President believes true security for our people requires investing in them. Investing in our democracy and investing in our solidarity with the rest of the free world and investing once again in our world leadership so we have to start to rebuild the foundational rights of the United States promoting innovation, reinvigorating alliances and partnerships with other democratic nations and that in turn becomes the core for collective defense and high Standards International cooperation across the whole range of policy issues and it would give us a negotiating leverage attractive paul of a strengthened community of democracy she more collaborative responses to these very big challenges. Tony just to get in myway tony and i will talk for half an hour and then out to questions from the audience. As you suggested when the coronavirus is dealt with we will see china as the paramount strategic talent in our bilateral relationships and one that become more troubling is the will remind us endlessly over the next 90 days, many of these efforts stemmed from South China Sea problems happened on joe bidens previous watch in the senate and in the white house so the question is how will joe biden as a president view china . Parker, competitor, rival, enemy . Some combination of all the things you just said you had china poses achallenge across a multitude of dimensions, ecologically, technically, diplomatically. Arguably the biggest challenge we face from another nationstates writ large and as you suggested we have to contend with one dimension of this is an increase increasingly assertive china that uses its my course others and reap unfair advantage. It tends to ignore International Rules to advance its own interests. That asserts unfounded Maritime Claims that threaten freedom of navigation, represses its own people and a democracy in hong kong so this is a huge challenge but heres the, i think there is where we have to start. We have to put ourselves in a position of strength from which to engage china so the relationship moves forward more on our terms, not theirs and the problem is this. Right now by virtually every key metric chinas strategic position is stronger and ours is weaker as a result i believe of President Trumps failed leadership. Think about this, jerry. The president has in effect told china helped China Advanced key strategic goals. Rethinking american alliances, check. Leaving a vacuum in the world for china to fill, check. Abandoningour values and getting beijing a green light to travel human rights and democracy in hong kong, check. And then maybe worst of all debasing our own democracy by attacking its institutions, its people, values virtually every day and slowly reducing its appeal with regard to the competition with china and thats almost checkmate. So the problem is this, i think we have to think about it this way area in many ways the challenge posed by china is less about their strength than it is about some of our selfinflicted weaknesses. Another challenge is about us. The competitiveness of our own economy and workers, of our democracy and political system. The idea behind it is a good one. A High Standard race to the top agreement in which the rights of workers of the environment transparency are all front and center and by the way even in its original projection it involves china and that requires china to take steps to undo some of the management through state and the price of as positive and i think the other idea behind it that we have to again realize in a different way is china needs to face a choice. If 40 or 50 of world gdp is together in a High Standards raised to the top agreement effectively achieve than china has to decide whether wants to be part of that or left out and if i want to be part of it they would have to adhere to those High Standards but at this point given where we are even some of the deficiencies Something Like that would have to breathe renegotiating whether thats possible or not i dont know. Hes said if its going to be revived it would have to be renegotiated but thats not a commitment to do that rates thats correct. Its possible tpb vanishes forever but depends principles behind it might be resurrected and move forward and made better in some other warm and thats certainly possible that the larger point is this, if you are dealing with chinas excesses in commercial diplomacy in trade or for that Matter Technology which is obviously a vital chapter are you better off going it alone . Are you better off in inflicting a massive tariff war that does more damage to yourself than it does to china . At whats what happened in the case of President Trump he started to tear for it did terrible harm to our own farmers and consumers and if you look at some of the numbers and jerry you know this the numbers ive seen a 1200dollar lost an average American Real household income, canceling of the temporary benefits for American Families that they got from their tax cut. Farm bankruptcies were up 20 last year in farm income was down a multibilliondollar even after taxpayerfunded subsidies and the manufacturing recession that was wreaking havoc even before the pandemic. If you do that and at the same time you alienate the countries that should be with you because they are similarly starting terror force against them and by constantly insulting them or do you Work Together with other democracies and similarly agree with countries to set the highest possible standards and then take that wade and apply it to dealing with china . The think the answer is selfevident. One more china question and we will move on but in the middle east where he used to live and work people talked about creating facts on the ground in a way china has been trading facts on the seized territorial claims and artificial islands but is that a fait accompli or canals be rolled back and is there a way to roll that back . Back i dont think its but its a big challenge but again what you have to do is a few things have to reset the foundation to be able to approach china and as i said that requires in the first instance investing in ourselves reinvesting in our own alliances making sure we have the appropriate and by the way you will recall the rebalance to china under the obama by defenestration did those great things including for example deploying 60 of our naval assets to the region and then i think you have to be very clear and very direct and make your views and what you were going to be known. Let me give you a quick example. During the obama i did frustration china declared an identification cell basically requiring airplanes flying for International Airspace to identify themselves to the Chinese Government. Vice President Biden went to beijing he saw president xi jinping and said very matteroffactly we will not recognize the identification zone. We are going to fly airplanes. And thats what we proceeded to do slider flying our bombers there it into the South China Sea with the Vice President was a strong advocate of silky back up your words with deeds and you are clear and direct the government respects you. Lets turn to iran and the nuclear deal the jcpoa. So back on with the Biden Administration . Lets think about where we are first because theres a lot of digging out to do. When President Trump blocks away from the jcpoa an agreement that was verified we working he promised a better deal and he also said the pressure he would exert would make iran less dangerous. Unfortunately the opposite has happened that iran is Building Back its Nuclear Capability could President Trump effectively freed iran of its commitments and is enriching at higher levels and using more centrifuges than ever before and the breakout necessary for iran to have enough Nuclear Material for weapons decreased in more than a year under the deal to a handful of months now and it can get shorter but continue this way. All of this under President Trump swatch and at the same time in in and withdrawing from the deal the president has isolated us from our closest partners and encourage russian china to move closer to tehran this funding our own ability to work with the countries we need to check irans destabilizing action. The present as you will recall also promised pressuring iran with new sanctions that are allies oppose will stop its aggressive behavior in the region. What did we see . It became more aggressive and not lessen responded to President Trump sanctions by targeting oil tankers in the gulf infrastructure in saudi arabia u. S. Troops in iraq down to the american drone and as all of this was spiraling President Trump brought the United States close to a possible war with tehran on several occasions sent thousands of additional u. S. Forces to the middle east at a time we should be ending the socalled threat and youll remember this after iranian backed Saudi Oil Facilities under contract in iraq there was a retaliatory strike against sula money and no tears shed over his demise of passes has to be done in the context of international strategy. Dramatic brain injuries to 100 service personnel. The bottom line by walking away from diplomacy and acting erratically President Trumps made conflict more like the end the Nuclear Program is now advancing in the spots which brings us to something thats happening right now and this is important to come next january. Secretary pompeo asman talking about the u. S. Launching an effort to extend it indefinitely at the united nations. As best i know today and maybe this will change but as best i know today not a single ally is on board with that indefinite extension so russian china can keep their security housing and Administration May complain about the sunset on the embargo but it was the Main Elements or rather i should say a main element of that embargo was negotiated and put in place by the obamaBiden Administration through the hard work of discipline incompetent diplomacy and of course we insisted in the jcpoa itself on powerful sanctions on provisions. Theres only one catch snapback needs to be invoked by a participant to the Nuclear Agreement and in pulling out of the iran deal the administration literally headlined ending u. S. Participation in the jcpoa. Legally and itll make whatever argument wants to make that legally its on shaky ground and being able to use the snapback revisions we negotiated. So theres a lot of irony in hearing from the administration blaming the obama by demonstrations for the sunset of the conventional arms are stretched stretches because much of that was put in place by art ministries and the firstplace and we could have probably extended those prohibitions from inside the deal with our ally. Now we risk blowing up the knickers security and National Vital to our security. Thats the long backdrop and the foundation so the president has been very clear about this but he would keep the bill on the nuclear deal and make it longer and stronger if, if iran returns to strict compliance and then we would be in a position to use our renewed commitment to diplomacy to work with our allies to strengthen and link than it but also wed be in a much better to effectively push back against irans statewide activities because we would be united with their partners instead of isolated from them. More broadly if you look at the middle east in the truck demonstrations approach and President Trumps personal approaches seems very clear that his goal is to strengthen the american footprint to receive from the region not unreasonable logic that her americans are tired of what he refers to as endless wars. With the Biden Administration continue that trend line . President trumps doing that but if you look at the numbers he is increased our forces in the greater region. I think at last count 14 or 15,000 over what he inherited so its a strange way of saying you want to end these wars by increasing our troop presence significantly. The same time thereve been these almost schizophrenic erratic actions where seemingly on a whim or following a conversation with president erdogan the president unilaterally without consultation with their own Defense Department nevermind are allies in nevermind israel announces a withdrawal of forces from syria, a small number of worse is who are leveraging their presence in very important ways to make sure we not only defeat but keep it defeated. I think we are already in a sort of head position between what the president says and what he actually does. I think its fair to say if you look hard at our interest, if you look hard at where the world is going we are generally speaking overleveraged in the region and there are ways of achieving security and advancing our interest a lot less and for example we have to distinguish jerry between massive deployment of u. S. Forces without a strategy into conflicts that really arent about us in the first place to for example having a small presence of primarily special operators in very small numbers who are leveraging 10, 20, 100 times the numbers and local forces to take on the problem that make affect others and its a good example of that when we come to daish. We had a couple thousand special operators and support in the country. They were left with 60 or 70,000 Syrian Forces and that successfully took the fight to did age and eliminated the geographic caliphate. Lets turn to russia. Its still a hugely important bilateral relationship with an increasingly troubled one. One of the issues in that relationship is we need to renew the start agreement to the Trump Administration has argued at this point given the strategic importance of china and its advances of the strategic competitor those talks include not just russia but china as well. Do you agree . Thats an excuse for never getting to renewed agreement. There is an issue of china and its one infinitely smaller than ours and russia but if we tried to do that whatever the benefits would be it would take forever. Might get nowhere and meanwhile the new start in the bandages would expire but the first thing we should do well under a bite new deaths administration would do would be to extend new start. The strategic is positive and good for the United States. We should extend it. More broadly is a time for a reset with Vladimir Putin and if so how do you do it . I was doing some reading the other day and i was thinking russia might come up with it want to read you something very briefly quote and this will be a foundation following the question. At bottom of the kremlins terrific view of local affairs is traditional and if sense of insecurity. And their role was archaic. To this was added as russia came into contact with an economic he advanced risk of a more confident powerful highly organized society. For this reason russias rulers have always feared russians will participate officially in International Organizations where they see the opportunity of extending power or of inhibiting without losing the power of others. Efforts will be made to disrupt western national selfconfidence to hamstring measures of National Defense to increase social and industrial unrest poor will be set against rich black against white young against old and new comers against residents. That back is from george kennan. Against that dr. Up of what has been a constant threat in russias attitude toward the world that existed in some manifestation before Vladimir Putin and probably will continue after him but putin has added an accelerant to in many ways. We havent or chile tragic we and inexplicably President Trump standing with president putin on the world stage and saying that he took president putins word over that of our own Intelligence Agency when it comes to interference in the last election. We have the president taking a 2 x 4 on a regular basis to nato treating like you protection racket to the most vital and important of our alliances. And we have the most egregious behavior that ive seen and really cant explain which is when confronted with evidence from the Intelligence Community that russia was placing bounties on the heads of american shoulders in afghanistan the president ignored it and maybe even worse than doing nothing what did he do . Apparently he spoke to president putin that have the dozen or so times after this intelligence appeared in the president s Daily Briefing the most important intelligence the president receives in by the president s on the talisman did not raise the issue once and even invited president putin to washington and try to invite him back into the g7. So we have a big problem here that is almost inexplicable. What is to be done to coin a phrase . The think the Biden Administration would first of all confront mr. Putin for his egregious action and not embrace him as this president has repeatedly done. We would not trash nato. We would seek to strengthen its turns and six deal with all sorts of challenges in cyberspace in outer space under the sea Artificial Intelligence some of which comes from russia and others are more broad and of course provide robust Security Systems to countries like ukraine george and the western balkans. We would look to impose real meaningful cause with coordinate actions and sanctions exposing corruption and we need to be clear and specific with mr. Putin about the risk but there also might do some incentives as to what he could gain through trade and investments into a seat at the table if russia changes its actions. That would help relieve their dependence on china. We would need to build their own by hardening election in this truck sure and getting dark money of all it takes in pushing Tech Companies to deal effectively with disinformation. We need to focus on strategic stability and you start by sending comic standing new start and finally we have to look at new ways to engage peopletopeople ties and support this and its very complicated because russia begs is so hard. There needs to be a conference of approach that has much more clarity and a president who doesnt havent inexplicable relationship with Vladimir Putin. I have about 10 more questions i would love to ask you but we have you wont be surprise a lot of hands raised for questions from the audience so lets start with Ronald Segars and go to Laurie Garrett. Think you need to make sure your computer is unneeded and your video is on as you ask a question. I hope you can hear me. Hey get to see you. Good to see you. Thanks for your artwork and quite informative. Not a lot has been talked about on the african and continent and the emerging nations in africa. How important is that to our National Security and where has the Trump Administration failed in our Foreign Policy today . I think its usually important in ways that we tend not to unfortunately focus on. I think when you look at it this extraordinary growth of the youth population that in and of itself a quarter of the population in the coming decades is going to be from africa by definition. We have the need to engage more positively and more productively. The same time i worry deeply about the effect of covid19 particular and africa with less Resilient Health infrastructures although with the civilian population may be the consequences wont he is great or covid19 itself but i hope thats right we will see but we do need to think of ways that are very different from the way we are approaching it now because frankly the content is mostly being ignored to i know President Biden would do this, first we want to engage a multiplicity of african countries as partners in pursuing some of the interest that we have in common on the security front, Global Health, Climate Change freedom and democracy shared prosperity. The Vice President has talked about convening a summit with African Leaders as well as u. S. Africa Business Leaders regularly during his Administration Building on something we did during the obamaBiden Administration and if you do that regularly and have that connect 70 and have these meetings for deliverables thats one way of making progress. I suspect of Vice President biden would travel to africa early in Administration Try to reenergize some of these relationships but also we need to reenergize their own diplomatic course and fill key ambassador positions in the state department and make that a priority. There is a huge economic advantage. Africa has slipped into a recession for the first time in 25 years because of covid19 and that has stalled growth is threatening to roll back years of progress in terms of reducing extreme poverty. I think theres an imperative for us but also for other countries as well as the Relevant Financial Institution to work with government in africa and the u. S. Private sector to try to jumpstart growth across the continent so they can return to places in the world. Lastly i say this may come back to the first i think last i checked the population is Something Like 1. 3 billion people across the continent. The median age is 19 years old. There is an incredible resource there in the continents young people so that again is something that we try to engage in the last administration but i think we need to put those efforts on steroids including working with the public and the private sector and Civil Society partners to try to Jumpstart Initiative and Economic Opportunity to harness the innovation and energy. I remember being in nigeria a few times and i guess it was 2016 and one of the striking things there was a think they are Something Like at last count almost 70,000 registered ngos. There is an extraordinary talented young people and extraordinary minds and we have a huge incentive to try to channel some of those mines and that youth and that energy into moving the continent forward and moving relationships forward. Will go to Laurie Garrett and ambassador Deborah Mccarthy after that. Thank you. Its quite a lag time in getting to the unneeded. Sorry about that. Clearly there is no Strategic Plan for confronting covid19 in the Current Administration but ive also scoured every that a Biden Campaign literature and can find no evidence of a Strategic Plan on the biden side either although there are large shopping lists of tactics. Any strategy begins with what is the strategic role. With abided with the strategic goal of eradication of elimination containment, what would it be . Thank you. Thank you for the extraordinary work youve been doing for a long time on these issues. Im not sure i can fully describe to the premise of your question. Think there is clearly strategic folks there. Im going to stay true to the new web site and make sure its put there. You have forgotten more about this and than i will ever known i dont tend to be an expert but there are a few basic rentals that make some sense. First of all with regard to where we are now with covid19 we have utterly botched the initial response in the absence of therapeutics in the absence of vaccines for measures that need to be taken to protect populations and protect the economy have been woefully tragically absent. For the Biden Administration first of all it would depend on where we actually are come next january with regard to the virus. Do we have the vaccine and then if we do is the vaccine pleural . Do we have the right plan to manufacture distribute in the right way . In the absence of a vaccine hopefully by then hopefully they are therapeutics but then i think we have to see whether the various strategies with regard to testing to tracing in stockpiling all the things we need to do that we didnt do could still be put into effect. Stepping back in this thanks to some of the work that youve youve done in work that others have done on this previous administrations saw pandemics as a growing emerging threat to Global Health and to the United States and we work to put in place programs and people to prevent detect and deal with them as best we could including in china. Powered administration along with the Biden Administration had the strong cdc presence in china. We famously had a dedicated office within the National Security council lucas don pandemics. We had as you know very well a program literally called predict to detect the emergence of the pandemics i love obama here from President Trump this was unpredictable. I guess if you eliminate as he virtually did a program called predicts maybe thats right. The problem is the administration came along and underfunded or dismantled virtually all these efforts and im not saying because i will never know whether any of this would have actually helped us in some ways to deal with this particular pandemic but when you take down the defenses you put in place the early warnings to put in place in the mid mitigation you put in place then you have got a problem and of course we had one. Then when the virus struck and the Chinese Government withheld critical information that might after the international this is the moments to insist that china was up to its responsibility as a great nation and this virus but instead President Trump repeatedly praised their transparent zinc whoppers and for the better part of two months and they were doing exactly opposite. This gets us to a strategy point he walked away from the w. H. O. In the midst of the pandemic instead of looking to reform it from within seeding our relationship to china and making it less likely the w. H. O. Could be a vehicle for actually for example investigating what happened to make sure we can run from his pandemic and put in place measures and strategies to make sure if it happens again to quickly mitigate the outbreak. I think we would look and act on putting in place these people and these programs and the resources on prevention on mitigation and detection. We would look and this is the different area we would look at our own resourcing to make sure critical supplies and Critical Technology can be sourced in the United States in the event of a reemergence of the pandemic and we are dependent on anyone else for them and we would implement International Cooperation and leadership against something thats been totally awol. And let me end with this when we have had past crises and where we have large local challenges in the past the international, the United States whether it was the Republican Administration or Democratic Administration took the lead in working to forge International Cooperation. Im thinking of a jba and extraordinary work of the bush of administration saving i think millions of lives but am thinking of the financial crisis in 2009 where American Leadership and engagement bringing countries together in a coordinate response and the economic crisis significantly mitigated recovery more quickly. We have been totally awol internationally from dealing with covid19. That needs to change to and that has to be part of the strategy. I should note here that we were originally scheduled to end at 5 00 antonius agreed to stay on for an extra few minutes so we have time for few more questions. Ambassador mccarthy and then maxwell dunn. I think. Hello. Thank you. A few days ago you said that the biden of administration would oppose any effort to single out israel at the u. N. Through bds. On currys where you think President Biden would draw the line between the criticism of israel the west bank and an increase in settlements and where you would stand up against criticism that you made about the state of israel could thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate it. The Vice President starts from two propositions. One is that he resolutely supports the relationship between the United States and israel and has what he would call an ironclad commitment to security this been there through democratic and Republican Administrations. There has been until now a partisan coalition and i think its bad for the United States and for israel that someone try to turn it into one but the Vice President equally believes that the best way and maybe the only way to guarantee israels future as a and Democratic State and to make sure palestinians have states to which they are entitled is through the two state resolution as distant as that may appear. For him any unilateral action by either side that makes that difficult prospect even more difficult the something he opposes and hes been very clear in his opposition to annexation and his opposition to Settlement Expansion precisely for that reason as well as to his opposition to what the Palestinian Authority does or doesnt do to make the chances for two states more distant than they are and with regard to bds and actions he sees is unfairly singling out israel he opposes those two by the fundamentally respects the rights of americans to free speech. People should be able to say what they believe and he will say if he disagrees what he believes. He also believes that we should do our best to have our criticisms and conversations with our closest partners with israel between us and see if we can get change and move things in a better direction that way so thats how he would approach it. I think we have time for two more questions so we will do Michael Colin steven keenan. Michael. Am i on . I can hear you. Very briefly thank you very much. Quickly back to strengthening alliances and giving russia that troop withdrawals from germany. I wonder if he could say a few things about that and how the Vice President would handle that move. Hes been very clear on this. I think he sees the announcement of the troop withdrawals is incredibly shortsighted, incredibly counterproductive and ineffective to gated by President Trumps of Angela Merkel and germany not in the interest of the United States. It is going to undermine the Nato Alliance but its going to harm u. S. German relations and to give to Vladimir Putin so i dont think we could be named clear about that. Secretary asp or tried to do an ex post facto and put some strategic lipstick on a pig but its still what it is. The president was very clear moments after secretary asp or tried to rationalize what was being done the president came out and acknowledged and admitted that he did it because he believes that germanys quote not paying its dues to nato which i think everyone in this audience knows is a profoundly misguided statement one that the president has made repeatedly. Ultimately its part of a long continuum of actions that have undermined the alliance and basically the president tends to treat it as a protection. They pay or we dont stay nevermind the profound interest that we have in being there and strengthening sustaining the alliance. This is not a gift that we give to others. Its predominantly in our own selfinterest. One of the these, to me at least most profound tragedies of the last few years has been the dissing of our allies and closest partners in and embrace of autocrats throughout the world. Its particularly difficult at a time when democracy to some extent is in retreat. We have a deficit of the 40 or so countries that have been fully free. By freedom house, totally have are fighting back on various metrics of democracy so this is the very moment when countries democracies around the world are pulling out and looking to the United States to be a leader of the free world and at that very moment by constantly embarrassing and insulting allies and embracing adversaries honestly President Trumps seems to have suited up for the other team. On understand it but it weakens us dramatically and it also has taken the floor out of the perception of the United States and the world. Look at the survey that pew does on a regular basis and others. Right now the United States in terms of who you trust in which leader you trust to conduct World Affairs in responsible manner we are now on par with xi jinping of china and Vladimir Putin in russia and in terms of respect for leadership that has dropped by 60, 78 points among most of the worlds democracies work was under president obama to where it is now under President Trump. That is an egregious problem for one security in their own prosperity and our own values and it needs to be corrected. Ones vital final audience question from steven keenan. Thank you for very great conversation and once again the Aspen Institute has shown itself to be truly bipartisan but at this moment im not. Tony i wish you the best forgetting sanity back into the white house. I dont think that we need to look at the 2016 elections were russian involvement with President Trumps personal life goes way back and he is clearly in putins pocket in my opinion. Most likely be of the First Time Ever in the history of the United States where sitting president knows the Southern District of new york has an indictment waiting for him. That is the gritty dangerous situation but my question to you tony is i just. Recently, im in colorado and we are one of six states that have been successful mailin balloting. What im not seeing anything from the Vice President Biden Campaign and im a big supporter of susan rice being his selection. Susan ken patch up our international relations. President biden needs to heal our nation. My question to you is that it seems to me that unit to congressional races in new york and its been a long time and the voting is not finished yet, dont you think that the Campaign Needs to be, you are not knocking on doors. Its an excellent selection for your position that you are not knocking on doors. Dont you think, and i think thats a good idea. Dont you think that the campaign should be reaching out publicly encouraging all the states to gear up for a massive amount of mailin outlets. I like the idea of someone mentioned earlier in the forum that we know by 11 00 Election Night that we are going to have the same president again. Thank you. You didnt give this a chance to tell us who the Vice President ial nominee will be. If i knew i couldnt tell you but generically i can say susan rice, there is no one tougher minded or warmer and hard and susan. Shes a marketable person but i have no idea where this is going. The Vice President will make a decision in his time and i know given the people who are in contention its going to be a good one. To your point i couldnt agree more and hear is what i can tell you. Our campaign has the most comprehensive Voter Education and Protection Program of any campaign in modern history. We are spending more money into playing more people than ever including a 2008 or 2012 or 2016 with these very clear objectives making sure the American People have the opportunity to vote whether by mail or whether its early or whether its the day of and you will see an increasing manifestation of that effort including a very significant Information Campaign in the weeks ahead. The first bill is five or six weeks from now estates began early voting but you are right that there are incredibly unique pieces. We are at the had a fragile election infrastructure but that has been compounded by covid19. Normally you would think whoever the american president is he or she would be leading a National Effort working with governors working with states in his apologies localities to ensure that he can have a safe and democratic election in november. Thats what every past president would have done and thats what the president should be doing and of course that is not at all whats happening. There are significant efforts that are underway that will be more and more visible to register folks and educate folks about how to vote. We have vote by mail that is endangered in part to the failure to replenish the Postal Services budget. Democrats in congress are fighting to make sure that happens. Its unbelievable to me that the American People would accept the gutting of the u. S. Postal service and forget the election even. Its a lifeline that we have in the midst of covid19. We obviously have lots of interesting challenges. These primaries have been on full display. Small examples. One is in some jurisdiction the lack of candor so you get a huge complex of mailin ballots that the localities not prepared to deal with because you dont have enough people. That we would normally do it is to have scanners to rapidly move through but if you dont have enough scanners to have to counter thing by hand if you dont have the people to do that especially because covid19 makes it harder to attract seniors typically folks who work at home you have these problems. What im saying is i think not just us, not just the democratic hardy but a whole host of groups have identified these challenges and are putting resources to them. They should be a National Effort. Democrats and republicans and independents back should be working together to make sure the vote goes forward safely and democratically. It boggles the mind that there is not a National Effort led by the president of the United States to make sure that happens thank you for this illuminating conversation. I just want to say id audit was interesting he started with building america and when you talked about u. S. And china relations its not just the chinese but what are we doing at home to strengthen ourselves . Its probably and the most important National Security issue right now great thank you for explaining that and thank you for giving us a good sense of what Vice President joe biden stands for in this campaign and jerry thank you for being a great moderator. I hope everyone buys jerrys book that comes out august 25. We take you live to the white house were President Trump is holding a briefing on the federal governments response to the coronavirus pandemic. Live coverage now on cspan2
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