Monday Morning Politics: Polls, Pending Shutdown & Foreign Policy

( Andrew Harnik / AP Photo )
Brigid Bergin: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom, filling in for Brian today. On today's show, we're going to talk about a huge surprise from last week's election in the Bronx. That's where city council member Marjorie Velázquez, a Democrat, lost her seat to a Republican, the first GOP member from the Bronx in over 40 years.
Plus, Dr. Rajiv Shah, he's currently head of the Rockefeller Foundation and was the USAID administrator in the mid-aughts. He will share his thoughts on how to help effectively during humanitarian crises, including right now in Gaza. Lastly, SAG members, we want to hear from you at the end of the show. We're going to talk to a labor studies professor about what's in both the SAG-AFTRA and UAW deals and hear his thoughts on the power of workers right now.
First, let's talk national politics, Monday morning politics, and national security with New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser, who writes a column there on life in Biden's Washington and co-anchors a weekly roundtable discussion on The Political Scene podcast. She's also co-author with Peter Baker of The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021. Susan, welcome back to the show.
Susan Glasser: Hey, it's great to be with you.
Brigid Bergin: Susan, let's jump right in with the latest development in the presidential race, South Carolina. Senator Tim Scott has suspended his campaign. Now, he never got a ton of traction, didn't make much of a dent in any of the polls for former President Trump who has been leading consistently throughout the campaign, but it does narrow the choices for Republican primary voters seeking a Trump alternative, right?
Susan Glasser: Well, that's right. Look, he really made very few waves. He's one of the examples of those senator candidates who are perhaps more popular with their colleagues on Capitol Hill than with the voters. I mentioned this to somebody and they said, "Oh, I didn't realize he was still running." He really didn't make much of an impact. Sadly, he'll probably be best remembered in this campaign for the bizarre spectacle of, "Did he or did he not have a girlfriend who did or did not come up to him at the end of the last debate that he participated in?"
Brigid Bergin: Well, let's shift gears to the polling that we saw last week that put the former president ahead of President Biden in several swing states, really causing quite an uproar, but then, of course, Democrats did better than expected in Tuesday's elections, and some of the panic seemed to subside a bit. In your latest column for The New Yorker, you write, "The data point overwhelmingly to Biden sitting at near-historic lows in popularity and being essentially tied with Trump, a man who was running on an explicit platform of revenge, retribution, and constitution termination." Wow, let's talk about the revenge and retribution part and start first with what you make of the polls and some of the election results. Is there some hope there?
Susan Glasser: Wow is right, right? Here we are, a little bit less than a year out from the 2024 election. Even if you take the Biden campaign and its word, they're expecting at a minimum, essentially, a dead heat, a too-close-to-call race. Whether you dismiss any particular poll like that New York Times battleground poll or not, overwhelmingly, the evidence at this point in time suggests that they are essentially tied. If not, in some places, Donald Trump's slightly ahead.
The real problem in our politics is not only the extreme polarization, but it's really not a national election anymore because of the way our electoral system works. Essentially, it's a very, very heated race in maybe six or seven or, at most, 10 battleground states. When you look at those, the picture is very worrisome, I think, for Democrats in part because you have a president who is running far behind what you might call generic Democrats in these races.
Democrats have racked up a long and impressive series of off-cycle election wins, including last week, as you pointed out, in a number of races, including in deep red Ohio, where you had a victory of an abortion rights, referendum in Virginia, which now has a Republican governor. Democrats managed to take both the State House and to keep the State Senate in a race that was also seen as sort of a referendum on abortion rights.
Kentucky and incumbent Democratic governor fought back a strong Republican challenge. To me, those are not incompatible with the worries about Biden's reelection campaign. If anything, they point to the fact that Democrats have a standard bearer about whom there's many questions that the party itself seems to be fairing stronger than the President right now. That's worrisome undoubtedly to Democrats publicly and privately.
Brigid Bergin: Susan, as you noted, there is some signs that things may not be clear for Democrats from this election, but how soon do you think voters really start focusing on the top of the ticket? Certainly, we've seen debates. We're seeing campaigning across the country. We're seeing a lot of analyses coming out of last week's results. Is this the point when voters really start engaging or is that a point further closer to their primary and to the general election next year?
Susan Glasser: Well, to be honest, voters have made up their minds to a large extent. How many people after seven years of this are undecided about Donald Trump? How many people? I think that is also another consequence of our calcified and polarized political system is that when you play politics as team sports, individual data points around the public officials matter less and less because it's about party identification more and more.
I think, unfortunately, that's even more true in these big national contests where people process the information that they want to process. Again, it does come down to a relatively small number of undecided and persuadable voters in a small number of American states. It's a little bit hard to talk in broad sweeping terms, but I think it's not so much that people are undecided about Donald Trump as that small segments in key areas of the country seem to not have made up their mind. Those folks are not in a good mood when it comes to Joe Biden right now.
Brigid Bergin: Listeners, if you're just joining us, this is The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin filling in for Brian today. My guest is Susan Glasser, columnist for The New Yorker, and we are talking about national politics, national security, and what's really captured your attention as we head toward 2024 and the elections next year. Are you paying attention to global issues like climate change, international conflicts, crime inflation, all of the above? We want to hear from you. Give us a call. The number is 212-433 WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. If you can't get through on the phone, you can always text at that number or tweet us @BrianLehrer.
Susan, I think one of the things that is confounding to Democrats nationally is this disconnect between economic indicators that the White House points to and public opinion about the economy, particularly as you mentioned in those states, that are going to play such a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the election. Is that something that the President has to answer for and is there a way back? Is there a messaging problem or something else going on there?
Susan Glasser: I'm glad you brought that up because I do think that's one of the main drivers of concerns in addition to probably the biggest driver being Biden's age, but he can't do anything about that. He certainly has the possibility to do more when it comes to the economy and both communicating about it and actually taking actions. There is a lot of frustration coming out of the White House, right?
They think, "Look, a year ago, everybody was predicting a recession and they were wrong. They were predicting a gloom and doomy scenario that didn't pan out with the economy, which has made a strong recovery, arguably stronger than that of other comparable countries coming out of the pandemic. Inflation has eased its rate of increase. Jobs remain very strong." They have a lot that they can point to. There's the major investments in infrastructure beginning to come online as a result of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that Biden championed in his first year in office.
They want to run on their record, but I've heard even from very, very senior Democrats here in Washington, including senior officials in Biden's own government, Brigid, great concerns about the Biden White House and campaign's decision to embrace this label of Bidenomics to try to convince people. There's a lot of frustration with that that I hear from even senior Democrats saying that was a mistake, that you can't push people into believing something they don't believe about the economy.
I have to say as the person who does the shopping in the family at the grocery store, it makes me sick in the stomach when I see some of these prices. The rate of increase in the prices has slowed. I don't see any sign that they're taking back some of these enormous increases. It looks to me, in some cases, that these companies have-- It's not like that they took, "Okay. Well, we've had 10% or 15% overall inflation." Some of these things are 30% or more higher than they were before the pandemic.
Brigid Bergin: Absolutely. Is it the $7 half gallon of milk that was raising your eyebrows, Susan? I know it was when we ordered our groceries recently and then--
Susan Glasser: There is this separate olive oil shortage. I don't know if you know about this, which, again, you can't pin this on the Biden White House, but this bottle of olive oil that I've been ordering for years, they were trying to charge me $18.79 for it from the giant here, and I just thought, "Oh, my gosh. Of course, this is going to be driving voters' anger."
Brigid Bergin: Sure. I hope that it was extra virgin and I hope it was I imported from Italy.
Susan Glasser: It wasn't. That's not a super fancy bottle of olive oil. I'm telling you.
Brigid Bergin: [chuckles] Then, of course, the notion that the branding of these supposed economic wins, attaching Biden's name to it, to your point, certainly, is not something I think that is resonating well with voters, but I want to bring in one of our callers, Allan in Brooklyn. Allan, thanks for calling. Welcome to WNYC.
Allan: Yes, good morning. I'm totally frustrated of the fact that the media goes along with the convention of always reciting these polling results based upon likely voters from the last election. If you have discouraged and customarily low-turnout voters only showing what happened based on low turnouts last time will not encourage them to show up. This seems to be a kind of a practice condoned by sponsors of the media that are just as happy keeping low turnout because that maintains their power.
I think the media ought to have a general rule that you should always at least report actual results if all eligible voters did turn out and then the result, given the low turnout of the last election. Let people know what's possible. If they only see and hear quotes in the shorthand based on the unstated premise, if there are only likely voters reported, you're going to maintain a vicious cycle here.
Brigid Bergin: Allan, thanks for your call and for raising, I think, one of the issues that will probably dog this presidential cycle as it has in cycles past, which is how we conduct polling and how we report on the results. Any reaction to some of the issues that Allan raised, Susan?
Susan Glasser: Well, thanks, Brigid. First, just a little fact-check here because It's actually quite interesting. The 2020 general election actually had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century according to census.gov, which I'm looking at right now. 66.8% of citizens 18 years and older voting in that election, that was a significant uptick. There's also been upticks in recent midterm elections in part because voters are mobilized and motivated by what they perceive to be much more significant, even existential threats in some cases to our democracy in the Trump era.
That's still low, by the way, by the standards of some other Western countries, so there's a lot of room for growth. Obviously, in that turnout of two-thirds of Americans who are eligible are voting, that means that one-third are not, but it is notable that turnout has actually been going up in correlation with the stakes arguably in our voting. Certainly, I would argue that Trump poses a unique kind of challenge and threat to some of our democratic institutions when you look at what he has been seeing recently.
I do think there is a concern and a reluctance to rely too heavily on the polls. That's a good thing. You've certainly heard this strong pushback from Biden and his advisors saying that voters vote and polls don't. Certainly, expectations shaped by polling can actually shape outcomes. We've seen that happen before. Again, I think even by the campaign's own accounts, this is going to be a very, very close election.
Whether you accept any particular data point this far out or not, the nature of the country right now is such that we're looking at almost a 50/50 country. That means that small differences on the margins can end up being decisive in our politics. It's a moment of great frustration. Media bashing is a big part of it. We can do better in our coverage, but in the end, my guess is that it's not the frustration of anti-Trump voters. This one is not in the end because the media is not covering the threat posed by Trump, but who is that coverage reaching?
Brigid Bergin: Well, let's talk some more about what you wrote about former President Trump and, again, that "platform of revenge, retribution, and constitution termination." One of the things you were referring to, I believe, is what he said on Univision. Let's play a little clip from that.
Donald Trump: If I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them. Mostly, what that would be, they would be out of business. They'd be out. They'd be out of the election.
Brigid Bergin: Ooh, okay. Susan, now, is this a new stance for the former president, given all the indictments he's facing, or is this really just the newest version of his "lock her up" chant like he said during the 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton?
Susan Glasser: That's right. What's old is new with Donald Trump. There's a tactic that he has deployed with a certain amount of success over his seven years in politics. That is overwhelming us with so many different outrageous statements that it's hard to focus on any one of them. He actually does have, as you just pointed out, Brigid, a long history of threatening legal retribution and attacks on his opponents.
He did that with Hillary Clinton in 2016. It gets forgotten. In 2020, during the 2020 campaign, he publicly called for the Justice Department to investigate and charge Joe Biden with what, it wasn't even clear. That was one of the preludes to the public rift that he ended up having with Bill Barr, his attorney general. That actually happened before the 2020 election. Trump was publicly calling to use the machinery of the Justice Department against his political opponent.
Of course, that's really, in many ways, what his first impeachment was about when he was president. It was essentially seeking to blackmail Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky using $500 million in American security assistance for Ukraine and trying to hold that up in order to get Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden. Trump, of course, has a long history of wanting to see the federal government as his own personal weapon, if you will. He shouldn't surprise anybody with these calls. Again, it's still shocking. It has to be covered.
I think we are still faced with this conundrum of how to break through with this. Many of the outrageous things that Trump has been saying on the campaign trail in 2024 haven't been covered in my view with the seriousness that they should be. I noticed that the other day, that clip you played on Univision did not get a ton of attention, but then Trump, over the weekend on Veteran's Day, used some really extraordinary dehumanizing rhetoric that really echoed that of dictators like Joseph Stalin and Hitler. That did get coverage.
I would point out, even there, it's not new for Donald Trump to call his opponents human scum and the like. In fact, that was something that I always found one of the most shocking things that he did while the incumbent president of the United States, and I remember writing about that when he was president. Everything that's shocking is not necessarily new from Donald Trump, but yet preserving one's ability to think, "Wow, this is something truly, truly extreme and out of the ordinary." That's very important for us all and we've got a whole year of this campaign to look ahead to.
Brigid Bergin: Indeed we do. Let's bring in another caller. Maggie in Port Ewen, New York. Maggie, welcome to WNYC.
Maggie: Hi, thanks. I wanted to say that I think what Biden needs to do is either get Kamala Harris out there so that people can see that she's competent and capable of taking over for him if and when he dies in office, or my preference would be to find a different Democratic woman who is more popular. I would suggest maybe Elizabeth Warren. Maybe Tammy Duckworth, who's a vet who can hate that, but somebody who's competent, who's well-known, and who's likable to run with him because there's some chance that he's not going to make it through his second term and that's, I think, the issue.
Brigid Bergin: Maggie, would you say for you as a voter, your concerns about President Biden's age are really the driving concerns or are there other issues that you're going to be focused on throughout the 2024 cycle?
Maggie: I'm watching his foreign policy, which I think is on again, off again, and I don't know what he's doing. The militarism, sending more munitions to all the places where there are huge fights, and I don't know what the diplomacy that's going on there. I think Blinken is not very competent guy. Then also his policies on the environment are also good and bad in turn. I'm watching both of those, but it's not like I'm going to vote for Trump instead. [chuckles]
Brigid Bergin: Maggie, thank you so much for your call. I think she encapsulates the conundrum that a lot of potentially Democratic-leaning voters are facing. Susan, any reaction and any notion to the idea if there were another running mate for Biden, would that help bolster some of his chances, or at least his poll numbers at this point?
Susan Glasser: I thought that was a very interesting call. As you said, it sums up a lot of what we are all hearing from Democratic voters these days. Number one, when it comes to Kamala Harris, I saw Jonathan Martin in Politico. He had a very interesting column today with advice from Democrats on what Biden could do to turn things around. He said, and I got to agree here, "We got to just give up the idea that Biden is going to dump Harris. It's not going to happen."
I think Jonathan called it something like West Wing cosplay. It's a fantasy basically. It would be saying, on the part of Biden, that, essentially, his first decision that he made as a presidential nominee picking a vice president was a mistake. It would also alienate, potentially, a crucial constituency for Democrats. First of all, African-American women are literally the most loyal voting constituency of the Democrats.
At a time when you're very worried about turnout, looking ahead to 2024, it doesn't seem like it would make political sense to get rid of a historic figure, the very first African-American woman ever to be vice president. Democrats, I think, are still in the bemoaning-the-situation phase. We're very rapidly moving into the reality phase of the campaign, which is, for Democrats, got to be focused on beating Trump.
Brigid Bergin: Just to Maggie's second point with some of her concerns around the foreign policy of this administration. From your view and from all of your reporting, do you think foreign policy wins or losses really can make the difference for a presidential candidate when it comes to an election? Do you think enough voters will be evaluating both what President Biden has done and potentially what the likely Republican nominee, former President Trump would do when making their decision, or do you think that that's a fact that's something that is probably lower in people's decision-making scale?
Susan Glasser: No, good point. Absolutely a good point. Historically, foreign policy really, in recent decades, just hasn't rated when it comes to an actual concern that mobilizes and motivates voters. That's been true. It's just not even, in recent years, been in the top 10 concerns of voters, Democrats or Republicans. Now, that being said, I think because we're talking about a different era in our politics when mobilization and motivation of one's own voters matters, Democrats need to be hyper-attuned to any kind of softening of the support within their own base.
We all know, Donald Trump is a base-obsessed politician. He doesn't care so much what Democrats think. Both parties have significant internal divisions right now. Actually, over foreign policy, they do. This is a moment when Republicans, it almost goes without saying, are deeply divided among themselves. Look at the spectacle that we just saw on Capitol Hill. Republicans essentially eating their own in a kind of fit of revolutionary zeal, dumping their own House speaker and immobilizing the House of Representatives for weeks because of their internal divisions.
One of the key fault lines among Republicans right now is versus this sort of what you might call the traditionalist Republican hawkish foreign policy establishment and the kind of America first or isolationist Trumpian new wing of the party, which is gaining adherence by the day. They have made issues like holding up aid. Further aid for Ukraine has been the key debate that we see start to play out this fall among Republicans. For Democrats, they haven't really broken with each other as much over Ukraine.
This war, of course, that has occurred in the Middle East since the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, what we're seeing every day in Gaza, these just terrible, horrible images of civilian casualties being inflicted as part of Israel's military response to Hamas, this is a real division within the Democratic Party. I think especially in some key states like Michigan, it could end up being a factor next year in terms of the motivation of Democratic voters to come out and vote for President Biden.
Brigid Bergin: Listeners, if you're just joining us, I'm Brigid Bergin in today for Brian Lehrer. I'm talking with The New Yorker's Susan Glasser. We need to take a short break. When we come back, a little bit more on Trump. Then also, we'll shift to what's happening with the pending government shutdown, plus more of your calls just after this. Stick around.
[MUSIC - Marden Hill: Hijack]
Brigid Bergin: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everybody. I'm Brigid Bergin in for Brian Lehrer. We continue now with Susan Glasser, New Yorker staff writer and columnist. Susan, before we shift to talking about the government shutdown, let's talk for a minute about the defense portion of the fraud trial here in New York against the former president gets underway today. This trial should be finished before the primary start. Do you think that any of this legal jeopardy surrounding the President, all of these potential trials, will impact his support among primary voters?
Susan Glasser: [laughs] That is a good question, isn't it? It just reinforces how oft any previous script we are for a presidential campaign in the United States. The four criminal trials, of course, upcoming in 2024 along with the full roster of primaries and then the conventions, and then the general election, not to mention this civil proceeding in New York. In a short answer, no, right? Donald Trump appears to be careening toward the Republican nomination the more he's been challenged legally.
His numbers have gone up and up among Republican primary voters. The rest of the field seems to be competing for second place. I think there is a small percentage chance that somebody puts together some real momentum in Iowa, New Hampshire, capitalizes on that with some possibly well-timed courtroom developments that underscore Trump's vulnerability. Maybe you're looking at a different situation. Maybe Trump has a health issue. Maybe he has some more brain malfunctions on the campaign trail, to which he is very prone, by the way.
I don't rule it out at all. Again, the overall situation suggests that he is rapidly heading towards the Republican nomination with these criminal cases against him at least not being wrapped up. I would point out that in the New York State case, essentially, he and The Trump Organization have already lost the overall case. This proceeding right now is about what the penalty is going to be for running what the judge has already found to be a fraudulent business in New York State.
Brigid Bergin: Before we shift now to all of the chaos in Congress, I want to bring in another caller. We have lots of people calling in with essentially advice for President Biden. I want to speak with Maria in Brooklyn. Maria, welcome to WNYC.
Maria: Hi. Do you hear me?
Brigid Bergin: Go ahead. We can hear you. You're on the air.
Maria: Okay, just shifting back to Biden being the candidate for the Democrats. My concern is the younger vote. I'm hearing from my daughters and from other people that they are starting not to see a difference between Biden's policies and Trump's policies like on the migrant issue, this war, for example. Also, they say that he's doing a good job getting inflation down and jobs are up, but the kids aren't feeling it. I don't think they're going to come out for him like they did before. They're either going to vote third party or not vote at all. That is really my concern. The younger vote are going to get very disillusioned. Thank you.
Brigid Bergin: Thank you for your call, Maria. Before I ask you to respond to that, Susan, I want to bring in one more caller who piggybacks on the point Maria's making related to what will energize voters, what will bring them out. Rochelle, in Jackson Heights. Rochelle, thanks so much for calling WNYC.
Raquel: Hi, it's Raquel. Thank you so much. Now, my question is I'm really concerned about the impact of third-party candidates on Biden's ability to win. I'm so curious to hear your thoughts about who Kennedy and/or Stein might be drawing both away from in the election.
Brigid Bergin: Well, thank you. Sorry about the mispronunciation and thank you for clarifying.
Raquel: You're welcome.
Brigid Bergin: Susan, some thoughts and reactions to those two callers, both the concern about younger voters not being energized, and then the threat posed by these potential third-party candidates and who they might be pulling votes away from.
Susan Glasser: If you have a tendency toward anxiety around national politics, there's a lot to be off-the-chart concerned about right now. Those are two important ones, I think, headed into 2024. As far as younger voter goes in this, this question of mobilization. It's interesting we haven't talked that much in this conversation today about abortion rights. Ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Trump-appointed majority, I should point out on the Supreme Court, this has been a very effective campaign mobilizer for Democrats around the country, including in red areas as well as blue areas. I think that you're going to see a lot of that campaigning.
Democrats haven't really focused yet on the 2024 general election, but Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, he was quoted recently as telling a private event that the Democrat's strategy for Biden's reelection was going to boil down to two Ds next year. Dobbs and democracy. I think certainly Dobbs, you would think, would be a big motivator for young voters around the country. We'll see how that plays out, but I agree. I'm hearing it too. We're all hearing it. A distinct lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden among young voters who historically have not just been somewhat in the Democratic campaign but have been hugely in the Democratic camp.
Brigid Bergin: Lots more to watch in terms of voter engagement and voter enthusiasm. One of the other big issues we'll be watching this week, Susan, of course, is the fact that we're on the brink yet again of a federal government shutdown. New House Speaker Mike Johnson has tried to come up with a short-term extension to fund decisions. He's offered a two-step plan over the weekend. Can you talk about how that would work?
Susan Glasser: [chuckles] Nobody knows how that would work. It seems amazing that he wants to have more cliffs for the federal government to careen over rather than just solving it one time once and for all. There's nothing that is more infuriating to me than this incredible, almost built-in now dysfunction in our system where Congress in the White House basically create this artificial crisis again and again and again because Congress doesn't get this basic work of appropriating money to keep the federal government open by its annual deadline every year of the end of September. It's really amazing. Here we are. Once again, it's Monday morning.
At Friday at midnight, the current temporary emergency funding for the federal government runs out. There's no clear path forward at all. The least-experienced Speaker of the House in 140 years, Mike Johnson. This is his first big test in office. He seems to be proposing a complicated scheme that even members of his own party don't understand what it would be. The Senate Republicans don't seem, in any way, excited to go along with this. Once again, it actually appears to be a situation where it's the House Republicans versus both the Senate and the White House on this. I can't tell you how the week will end, but it's not a big victory for good governments. That's for sure.
Brigid Bergin: Again, as you mentioned, once again, the issue of funding for Israel in Ukraine don't appear to be part of his proposed solutions, which it looks like would extend funding until January 19th for military construction, Veterans Affairs, transportation, housing in the Energy Department. Then as you said, another cliff coming February 2nd. Is that Groundhog's Day, which would be perfectly timed?
Susan Glasser: It should be.
Brigid Bergin: That would include funding for the rest of the government. A big test coming towards the end of the week. I think one of the issues that I'm also very curious, what your thoughts are about, also coming this week is President Biden's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco.
Susan Glasser: Well, that's right.
Brigid Bergin: Go ahead.
Susan Glasser: No, that's a big moment. It's interesting. It's gotten overshadowed because we're now in this moment of, once again, metastasizing political and international crises, but the real hostility in relations between the United States and China is one of the big macro trends of the last few years beginning really during the Trump administration and continuing through during the Biden administration.
I think it's a significant moment that the prelude leading up to it has been some meetings where you've seen a number of senior officials in Biden's administration go to Beijing and have meetings with their counterparts to pave the way for this. Look, jaw-jaw is better than war-war, especially at a moment like this, but expectations have to be fairly low for what kind of an outcome you can have here. Certainly, it's important to remember. Biden has a long history with Xi.
In fact, he was his counter-pardon, and met with him repeatedly when he was Obama's vice president. He's aware of who is this guy who's looking at him across the table, but the context here is very different. Xi has made what he calls a no-limits partnership with Vladimir Putin. There's a sense that there is a new access between Russia and China looking to seek advantage as the US-led international order is challenged on many different fronts right now.
Brigid Bergin: Well, we're going to have to leave it there for now, Susan. So much to watch this week. My guest has been New Yorker writer Susan Glasser. She writes a column there on life in Biden's Washington and co-anchors a weekly roundtable discussion, The Political Scene podcast. She's also co-author with Peter Baker of The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021. Susan, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Susan Glasser: Hey, great to be with you. Thank you.
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