Is blocking the process that allows for a seamless transfer of power and that is unprecedented i bring golf in berlin this is the day. Not unusual should not be alarming it looks to me is not over far from the present crop its 100 percent what it is right to look at the allegations of irregularities what we are seeing is deeply alarming at some point here well find out finally. It was certified in each of the states. Conservative republicans. To intervene but just because theres no reason for alarm. Also coming up in the walk downs of the pandemic going shopping means going online it has been a boom for the online retailer amazon but the European Union says amazons growth comes with a price that consumers should not have to pay and we have now come to this preliminary conclusion that amazon illegally abused them in the situation as a Marketplace Service provider in germany and france the biggest market spaces for amazon in the European Union. Which you our viewers watching on p. B. S. In the United States and to all of you around the world welcome. We begin the day with a u. S. President elect preparing so that he can hit the ground running and the sitting u. S. President standing in the way in the weeks since the election joe biden has wasted no time with celebrating yesterday he appointed a coded 1000 commission to help develop a National Strategy for dealing with the pandemic World Leaders continue to congratulate by today the president elect spoke with the german chancellor and the british Prime Minister now in stark contrast president elect biden has spoken with very few republican members of congress they continue to be silent as President Trump continues to claim that democrats stole the election and offer no evidence to back those claims the false accusations have been so outrageous that u. S. Media have interrupted White House Press briefings in order to flag those untruths to the viewers this is just part of what the white house and the Republican Party said it yesterday. This election is not over far from it we have only begun the process of obtaining an accurate honest vote count we wanted honest accurate lawful count we want maximum sunlight we want maximum transparency we want every legal vote to be counted and we want every illegal vote to be discarded if the shoe were on the other foot if it were this close the other way president trampling on the lead and all the fates and the media be screaming this isnt over the race isnt over we mean more time to count to make sure its right because its biden and very slightly the media demands the race is over and theres nothing to see here if you republicans are talking publicly about the election my next guest he may be an exception joe watkins served as an aide to president george h. W. Bush he is also a pastor in philadelphia and that is where he is joining me from tonight mr watkins its good to have you on the day you worked for the 1st bush president his son he was president from 2002008 has congratulated joe biden on winning how do you explain this this relative silence among republicans in congress concerning the election. Well i think the senate is pretty much short term. And i think that if you consider what people d have to gain or lose in the short term you might better understand their silence i think that most members of the Senate Republican members of the senate certainly along with most members of the Republican House believe that joe biden has won the election fair and square as we say and that there is the president elect. For the most part theyre allowing the president to exercise is his right. As a candidate to to to question the votes and certainly to seek any legal redress that he might want to seek and just because hes seeking legal redress doesnt mean hes going to find that there were any irregularities doesnt mean that the courts going to find his favor as a matter of fact most people expect the courts not find anything in his favor that being sent there giving the president that latitude that freedom for them except for the next few days to exercise his right as president is a candidate for the presidency to to to to make legal challenges but i think that for most of the members of the u. S. Senate in the u. S. House they do believe that joe biden has won the election and is the president elect of the United States when we know that the president at least publicly in says he does not believe that we also know that he is starting a super pac which will allow him to raise money for political purposes now this tells us that mr trump is not planning to depart from politics any time soon do you think donald trump do you think he will run for president in 2024. Well thats what theres always the possibility that he could. Clearly theres nothing that would bar him constitutionally from seeking a 2nd term if he chooses to be a candidate in the primary and in 2024 there are a lot of other republicans as well who would like to have the chance to serve but this president did get 70 over 70000000 votes which is a substantial number of votes the question would be Going Forward is can he retained that base of support and win those people to a side when even as we head into 20212022 certainly well in advance of 2024 miss one because you know you mentioned this more than 70000000 people voted for donald trump and thats despite everything that he has said and done things that violate decency civility and some people would say even democracy how do you explain that to our global viewers when they ask what has happened to america well what i say is that this is the part of the democratic process that it allows for everybody to be heard even people who may not be civil gives them a chance to be heard to have their say in the Public Square and then for americans to vote you know for of yes yeah youre not a based on what they think and so while for many people in the United States and even throughout the world the lack of civility was a problem at the end of the day even people who arent similarly not states have a chance to be heard and if theyre able to be elected then they are and they have a chance to vote to to fashion laws in this country if youre elected to the house of the senate or if youre elected president but again its the peoples choice in the United States no matter what happens its the will of the American People and certainly in this cycle the will of the American People. Was to elect joe biden the next prez of the United States and so i suspect that in the coming days maybe by the weekend. He may have more republicans out front publicly that is elected republican senators and congressman acknowledging president elect bidens when congratulating him for that win and then hopefully the Movement Forward for transition do you do you think that there will be a group of republican members of congress who will go to the president and say mr president the time has come you have to admit that you lost this election. Likely not likely not and i say likely not because you have to consider whats at stake for republicans certainly in the senate in the senate remember right now we have something akin to a tie i think about 4848 there are still 3 races that are that are yet to be decided and so as long as you you dont know what the outcome of those races are going to be you have jockeying on the sony on the republican side as well as on the democratic side because Mitch Mcconnell was remain the majority leader hes got to have a majority of republicans in the senate so youve got 2 republican 2 republican senators in georgia who are going to be involved in a runoff races in the coming weeks and i think a senator in North Carolina has not yet been certified as the winner sells right hes got it hes got to consider all these things so what youre saying this is this is basically about power politics and after 4 years of trump ism in the g. O. P. Do you think that maybe the soul of the party. Needs to be checked or that does the g. O. P. Deserve a 2nd chance or a rebirth. Well weve got some wonderful people in the Republican Party and the hope for the party Going Forward is the same with the hope for the country that that the people in the party will listen to the better angels of our nature as leading voices in the party and that people that emerge to the top of the of the heat or are folks who are civil and who want to work with democrats and republicans to move the country forward and to understand all the challenges that we face and in the United States and around the world whether its our own economy of the Global Economy or climate these are all things that are important to all of us and so the hope is that Republican Party can can recoup after joe biden takes the oath of Office Republicans will have to work hard to put together a Winning Coalition still have to have to draw up on the existing base of the party but also build with the with with minorities with africanamericans with latino voters with women with with voters that they havent done particularly well within the past to build what they hope will be a majority for the midterm elections in 2022 i want to speak to you the joe watkins whos the pastor and not the republican strategist here for a moment President Trumps spiritual advisor paula white she has made a name for herself internationally shes known for her prosperity christianity if youre rich its because youre living right she has said that when she sees democrats she sees the devil and she has the ear of the president does that does that worry you. Well the. I know one thing having been around for a long time ministrations come and go advisers do it president s come and go this far as the gospel of christ is concerned its on changing it the same it has nothing to do with how much money you have it has everything to do with whether or not you surrender and follow christ in you a path that leads to eternal life and whether and thats based on whether or not youre willing to help to feed those were hungry and give drink to those who are thirsty and to not consider what their stance is with their core rich but to love them anyway because we believe that god loves all of us so im not worried paula white is there for the time being but but i work for u. S. President in the white house my daughter worked in the white house for another us president so the president s come in and they go into a very advisors so im not worried about the future im confident about the future but we certainly do appreciate and like your optimism mr Watkins Jay Walker is joining us tonight from pennsylvania scott havent you on the show we appreciate your insights tonight thank you i could be with thanks. But when a u. S. President wins a 2nd term it is not unusual for the president to rearrange reshuffle his cabinet when a u. S. President loses the election he usually leaves things as it is which makes transferring power to a new administration easier rules and traditions like this well they have been broken and busted often by President Trump yesterday he fired mark esper the secretary of defense and he did it with a tweet. And this is what trump tweeted he writes i am pleased to announce that christopher c. Miller the highly respected director of the National Counterterrorism center unanimously confirmed by the senate will be acting secretary of defense Effective Immediately he goes on to write chris will do a great job mark esper has been terminated i would like to thank him for his service and with that the secretary of defense was fired so im joined tonight by Bradley Bowman hes a senior director at the foundation for defense of democracies he has been a National Security adviser in the u. S. Senate he served in the u. S. Army fred its good to have you back here on the day what does firing mark immediately after an election and in the middle of a disputed election outcome what does that mean for u. S. Security and the morale of u. S. Servicemen and women i know thanks for the opportunity join you again its a pleasure and an honor i think morale of our servicemen and women will be ok i think our allies and im certain you know the u. S. Maintains a preeminent military capability in which means to defend our interests those are our allies but i must say that this firing of mark is unfortunate both in terms of the manner don and also its time. For was expected to be fired earlier this year he did not support trumps notion of deploying the military the u. S. Military to quell protests and riots within the u. S. Espers stance it is the stance that is taken by i would say all leaders at the pentagon can we say that the pentagon and the president right now are about as is strange because they have been. I wouldnt i would say there are real issues there and youve highlighted one of them you know i would say the pentagon right because thats kind of amorphous and most of the people serving in the pentagon are either Service Members or partner defense civilians and all of them have sworn no its not to our president the constitution but theres no doubt there were real issues between mark asked for whom i know and respect and the president and the irony here is one of my colleagues at my think tank has said is that you know the president President Trump kind of mocked mark as for calling them yes for funnies yes is a yes man and really and but the reality is it looks like he was fired because he was anything but i guess me and other were real area differences questions about that and naming of u. S. Bases and pick confederate generals where mark s. Or appeared to be taking action inconsistent with the president s view and then the subsequent statements by secretary asked for after the unfortunate incident in Lafayette Park on. You know what does all of this mean for those who are under just under the secretary of defense and they are the ones who would have to carry out an order from the president in a military conflict for example they would be held responsible can you imagine them carrying out an order from President Trump if that order word to be illegal or unconstitutional or maybe violate a treaty. Well its a great question one of the reasons why i said a moment ago i felt like the timing was unfortunate because you know were in a period of transition here to say the least in the United States and we really do need leadership in the pentagon right now in my view is willing to as appropriate pushback on bad ideas that may emanate from the white house right or might be weve had one or 2 of those in the last 3 and a half 4 years and its not a good time to have an acting secretary leading the department of defense so that is concerning i would also knows James Anderson the acting under secretary of defense for policy also resigned today so you really see this dramatic changes at the top of the pentagon so i am concerned but i do take some comfort in the following when i was serving in the army myself i was an assistant professor at west point its not a class american politics in the 1st class i would always remind the cadets future Army Officers that their oath was to the constitution and not to any individual not any president and i think i think our Service Members will remember that as they always have done felt will be faithful to that constitution our country is going to be ok but its going to be its going to be a rough couple months of fortunately i think but we got through you know you speak to the servicemen the people who make up the military you know the Defense Community in washington i mean the president firing his secretary of defense with a tweet or even in that tweet in a trunk succeeded in belittling mr asper just by the way he wrote it i mean is this a commander in chief that people in the military can they respect donald trump. Well you know its a good question i would want to pretend to speak and youre not asked me do you got to speak for all of them but you know there are the ports by the atlantic and others about what the president reportedly said obviously that doesnt sit well with a lot of people you want your commander in chief to have the best interests at heart of Service Members and their families here you know but you know i like i said i know mark as for from before he served in the pentagon lets remember him he served 20 years in the u. S. Army he served impressively in my view as secretary armitage and hes also served honorably as secretary of defense you know we can we can debate you know this policy is good that policy is bad note no man or woman is perfect but you know this is not how any human being should be treated particularly someone who served our country so honorably its unfortunate that weve arrived at this place in american domestic politics where we treat of political adversaries of people we disagree with as as enemies we have too many real enemies in the world to be treating our felt that way i think its unfortunate intentionally you know i think there are a lot of people on both sides of the atlantic who would agree with you 100 percent on that broad bowman senior director at the foundation for defense of democracies in washington fred its always its we appreciate you taking the time to talk wit