 Welcome this evening to our Forrest Young Professions Network webinar after some a break. My name is Darren Moriarty. I'm a researcher and press officer at the IIA and I also chair the Institute's WIPN. We're delighted this evening to be joined by Suzanne Lynch. Suzanne is the Irish Times Washington correspondent and polling day in the United States is less than 50 days away and it has been described as one of the most crucial presidential elections in modern US history. Suzanne, we're going to touch on a lot of different issues tonight but in our initial remarks Suzanne is going to offer us her insights on the set of play of the campaign, the main issues that are being discussed and what either outcome might mean for the future of US politics. And added interest in the mention that we might touch upon later is the fact that UK Foreign Secretary Donald Grabb was visiting Washington only this week and he held high-level meetings on a range of issues including of course the protection of the good Friday agreement. Just in terms of format for this evening and I'll shortly hand over to Suzanne who's going to speak to us for about 20 minutes or so then I'll kick off with a couple of questions and then we'll move on to take questions from yourselves, the attendees. If you want to get involved please send in your questions using Zoom's Q&A function you should see it on your screen and also if you want to get involved in the conversation on Twitter you can do that using the handle at IIA. Before I hand over to Suzanne let me just give her a brief introduction. Suzanne has been watched and corresponded The Irish Times since February 2017. She leads the papers coverage of the White House, Capitol Hill and US politics more broadly as evidence but in fact tonight she's actually speaking to us from Minneapolis. She previously served as your correspondent leading The Irish Times coverage of the Arizona crisis, Brexit and refugee crisis. She began a career in journalism as a financial journalist with RTE and with The Irish Times. She holds a PhD in English from Cambridge University as well as a BA in English and music. Suzanne over to you. Thank you very much Dara and delighted to be participating in this event today and as you mentioned I am in Minneapolis. I've just kind of started going out on the campaign trail a bit. We're now less than seven weeks from the election so it's very good to get out of the Washington bubble and actually trying to figure out what real Americans are thinking as we head into this election season. So look I just thought I'd start by just giving an overview of where things stand. I know some people on this call might be avid election watchers and are US politics watchers others might not be as familiar with how it works here so just a few themes and ideas and then I did say we can open it out into questions. So the first thing to say is elections coming up on Tuesday, November the 3rd and at the moment Joe Biden, Democratic candidate, is in the lead according to virtually all polls. Biden was announced or became really the Democratic Party's nominee in April. Efficiently he was not sworn in if you like until the Democratic Convention in August but in April the Democratic Party got behind him and he became what they call the presumptive nominee. And this just to remind people this followed a very fractious and divisive primary campaign where dozens of one point or more than a dozen candidates were buying to become the Democratic nominee, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, etc. So for about a year we saw this very tightly fought campaign and Joe Biden did very poorly in the early primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire they're the first states to choose who their candidate is going to be. But he made one of the biggest political comebacks really frankly in election US election history and he scored the decisive win in South Carolina that's got a big black population and they really backed Biden. He came out on top there and in March on 3rd of March around 3rd of March and the other candidates gradually fell by the wayside and eventually they all went in behind Joe Biden. So that's kind of important because Joe Biden has his own battles to fight within the Democratic Party. There's some people in the Democratic Party who feel that he doesn't represent what they are now a modern diverse increasingly useful party. Here's another older white guy in his late 70s. But anyway they've gone with Biden and he is now facing Donald Trump in November. So the polls are putting Joe Biden ahead but what we've seen in the last month or so is that his lead has been tightening. Now a brief kind of oversight into the way the US system works just because you win the most number of votes does not mean you win the election although mostly the people who win the election do win the most votes. But there have been times in history where that did not happen. One of them was 2016 the last election when Hillary Clinton won more of the popular vote won more votes than Donald Trump. But here we have what's called the electoral college system whereby each state is given a number of electoral college votes. There are 538 votes altogether and in order to win the election you must get 270 so that's the golden number. So each state has a proportion of votes. So what happened is some states have more votes than others and you've got some of the bigger states like Florida has 29 electoral votes and Pennsylvania these bigger states are very important. The way it works here is there are a certain number of swing states maybe up to 10 or 11 and that are the most important because the reality of American politics is that New York is always going to vote for a Democrat. California is always going to vote for a Democrat. Alabama is always going to vote for Republican. Donald Trump doesn't need to go to Alabama. He's going to win it. But there are a core group of states in the middle swing states also called purple states that tend to swing either way and they're the ones that the candidates are focusing on. What happened in 2016 was that in many ways Donald Trump got very lucky and he won three states that had voted Democrat, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and he won them. He won them a very, very small margin but he won them and it gave him a strong advantage in the electoral college system and he won the election. He has caught Democrats completely unaware as people will remember. Famously, Hillary Clinton, I've just been to Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton never visited Wisconsin during the 2016 campaign. They thought they had it in the bag and then a vote for Trump. So Democrats are approaching this very differently this time around and they're trying not to take states for granted. So Joe Biden, since he's emerged as the Democratic candidate, he's kind of consolidated his lead and his support among the party. So he is ahead in national polls and throughout the summer he was quite well ahead. He was more ahead of Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton had ever been. But as I say, in the last month, this is tightened and also, crucially, it's in these swing states. That's important. Biden is still in the lead in a lot of these swing states, most of them. But his lead is quite small and maybe around 4% now with the latest figures. So this is within the margin of error. It's still going to be very, very tight. So what we're going to be seeing now in the next seven weeks is the two candidates heading to the state focusing on the swing vote on those states and trying to win. I'm in Minnesota, Minneapolis, the biggest city in Minnesota. That's quite interesting. Tomorrow, Friday, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are coming to Minnesota. So it's been a very different campaign. I should say that in the outset because of coronavirus. Donald Trump, I think, learned to lesson. People might remember earlier in the summer, he had a campaign in Tulsa in Oklahoma. And people may have seen this at the time there were rows of empty seats. Now, his campaign manager was basically fired soon after that. And we suspect that was the reason. But also, it was probably a sense that, you know, even among his core supporters in Oklahoma, they didn't. This was the height of the coronavirus pandemic. They weren't interested in going to a practical. Now, since then, Donald Trump more or less stopped campaigning. But the last week he started again. So we're seeing kind of bigger rallies, nothing like really of the scale we saw in 2016, or in 2018, but big rallies, you know, rallies nonetheless. Joe Biden had been very reluctant to come out publicly. People may have heard Donald Trump has been criticizing him as basement Joe, how he hasn't left his house in Delaware. A bit of truth in that, to be honest. But Joe Biden, as these polls have been tightening, we've seen him come out publicly much more, as I say, he's coming to Minnesota tomorrow. So I think he was facing calls for him to really get out and get out publicly, even though these aren't quite limited events, with very few members of the public there, quite a controlled, very hard for media to get there, get into the Joe Biden event. It's very controlled. So that's where the polls stand. Now, obviously, I'm sure people are saying, yes, polls, look what happened in 2016, we all remember Hillary Clinton was well ahead of the polls. And we all know how that story ends, and she didn't win. So look, there's been a lot of soul searching in this country for the last four years about that, about, and I think that the whole kind of intellectual debate to be had about how polling, determine voter, you know, outcomes of participation. So I spoke to lots of supporters who, who in 2016, you know, assumed Hillary Clinton was going to win. So that's why they didn't bother going out and voting. Whereas I don't think that's going to happen this time. I am there's an element for Joe Biden, that the anti Trump votes, Trump is such a divisive figure now, that Democrats are going to get out and vote for whoever their candidate is who is now Joe Biden. And they won't they've learned that lesson. And the other thing to say about polling, as I say, they're tight, it's tight at the moment. So at the moment, the real clear politics, that's a very good website, a very good resource, they have a kind of a poll of polls. And the latest one I just checked, and Biden is only ahead about, you know, between five and 6% nationally. And so the other thing to, to note about polls that traditionally, things can change, they really can change very, you know, very late in the day. And in 2016, a huge number of people, particularly in swing states, were undecided right up until the last week. And most of them went for Trump. I think it is undoubted that Hillary Clinton was a problematic candidate. I know anecdotally, totally from going around the country over the last few years, you know, I talked to lots of people who did not like Democrats, who did not like Clinton. I think one state Michigan, which is going to be really important in the election. I spoke to a congressman up there, and he said to me, look, so in November, voters would vote for president, but they'll also have other elections down ballot, as they called, you know, for the, for the members of Congress for their own state legends, the legislature, and other ones. So he made the point that on election day in 2016, lots of Democrats went out and voted, but they voted down the ballot, and they kept the presidential one blank. They could not bring themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton. So that's the reality. And that's, you know, that's debatable and people will have their own views. But I think that with the anti Clinton vote was one of the reasons you could argue that Trump got in the last time. So now, of course, that's gone. Biden isn't the most, you know, energetic of candidates. The argument is that he might not energize a lot of younger voters in particular, come out and vote. But as I say, I just think that the Trump election about Donald Trump really. So as I say, I think the fact that Biden is a kind of an anti Trump figure, he's kind of the polar opposite of Trump. He kind of presents as a big unifier. He's a great way of people with people. He's had a lot of personal tragedy in his own life. He lost his first wife and infant daughter in a car crash, brought up his two sons on his own. And then one of those sons went on to die of brain cancer in his forties a few years ago. And he's got this great, real genuine empathy with people, which I think everyone would agree, I don't think is Donald Trump's strong point. So, so look, big health warning with polls. And that's where it stands. But Democrats are not being complacent because that lead is not huge. As I say, it's been tightening. What we expect to see some of the teams that are coming up here and that I think are going to really kind of, you know, accelerate in the next few weeks. So COVID coronavirus, this has been the big, you know, surprise story of this year. And people would have seen the staggering numbers in the United States. And Donald Trump has been widely criticised in how he has handled that. And Joe Biden has been very keen to keep talking about COVID, being the responsible leader. He's always with his mask. And mask wearing has become so political here, to the point that I was talking to a voter in Wisconsin a few days ago. And a woman and her friend, she was about 60. And I was trying to gauge it was kind of, sometimes you can tell I'm like, I wonder where she is politically. And then I had my mask on and I realised she's not wearing a mask. And I knew then, so I said, are you Trump supporters? I said, Oh, yes, I am. Yeah. So that was kind of my signal. So that's how political it is here. You know, Donald Trump supporters, a lot of them are against the mask wearing. Democrats are for it. Coronavirus though, it's a huge dynamic in this campaign. I think Donald Trump in particular really suffered in the early months. People remember his comments about ingesting bleach, all of that kind of stuff. I mean, that was when Donald Trump was doing very badly in the polls. I think things have changed slightly. The numbers are coming back down in the United States. Infections are quite high, but Donald Trump has got, there is a grain of truth in what he says. Some of that is because of a lot of testing. I've been tested, there's a lot of testing available now in the United States. And the debt ratio is not as high. So I think Democrats are worried that there could be, you know, corona fatigue by the time November 3rd comes along. And I don't know how strong of a suit that's going to be for Joe Biden. But we'll see, perhaps the numbers might get worse as the weather starts changing, as we get into winter here. So that's one big team, but unclear it's going to pay, but generally a negative for Donald Trump. The other issue has been the racial protests and urban unrest we've seen over the summer. Again, a story that really came out of nowhere. That was the killing of George Floyd. I'm in Minneapolis, the city where that happened. And yesterday I went to the site where George Floyd was killed and it was pretty moving. I spoke to some people there. There's kind of a makeshift shrine and just this ordinary street corner. Anyway, that was very interesting. But that has been a huge scene and the issue of racial inequality in this country that continues to define and be a problem in America. But there has been a bit of a backlash to that. Now, it's very unclear from the polls how people are responding. But the reality was, as well as the peaceful protests, there was a lot of urban violence and looting. So where I am in Minneapolis, the buildings are boarded up still from a lot of that. So how that's going to play again in these swing states is going to be very interesting. Donald Trump, people may have seen as well in the last month, really tried to hit home in law and order. His message has been well, he hasn't even been subtle about this. He said it directly, you will not be safe in Joe Biden's America. Speaking to some people in the Biden campaign, I think they are a bit worried about this issue. That Joe Biden, you know, it's a very tricky one. Joe Biden is wants to talk about racial injustice and he was himself criticised because back in 1994, the very important crime bill that was introduced under Bill Clinton, very tough on crime policy and that is widely accepted to have led to huge incarceration rates for African American men. And Joe Biden was one of the architects of that. He was in the Senate at the time. And he saw Joe Biden has been on the back foot when it comes to issues of race. He's been trying to prove that he is, you know, he served as Vice President of Barack Obama. And, you know, so it's a kind of a tricky subject for him. But polls so far seem to suggest that Donald Trump thinks that this is going to be his winning line. But it's quite unclear. Most people still disapprove, you know, more approve of Joe Biden's handling of this issue of racial injustice and and the connected issue of police reform than they do Donald Trump. So it's difficult. But then I, again, this Republican woman I mentioned, I was, I went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where there was another shooting of Jacob Blake, an African American man. And I was, I've got, I'm writing about it at the weekend. But I arrived at this place with a sea of burnt out cars. It was this hellish scene. And I presumed, you know, all these cars that had been banned lights had been brought to this area. And then I realised, no, it's a car, it's a car garage that was set alight with all these cars. So when I was there, these people came and one of them were these two women who were saying, look at this, this is what Democrats want. You know, we can't live, we can't live in this community. So those issues are very important in this election. That's number two. Number three is the economy, always important in every election, particularly in American elections. Although I would say again, I'm a big believer in thinking that this election is different. I think it's all about Donald Trump because he is just so divisive that I think, you know, people would say it's the economy's stupid. I wonder, you know, will people vote on economic grounds the way they did in prior elections and so much else going on, saying that this is kind of good news for Donald Trump. Obviously, the coronavirus has been a disaster for the US economy. I mean, the figures are huge, millions of people out of work, but the figures are improving and the unemployment figures earlier this month were better than had been expected by the markets. So again, the worry for Democrats is that the economy could be gradually getting better by the time November the third comes around. So, you know, and Democrats, Republicans traditionally are seen as a party, you know, that are better on the economy. So, you know, it's never really a strong point for Democrats. So that's one of the other teams who walked. And then finally, the other point I was going to make was that this year, very specifically, there's a huge there's a huge interest and anxiety about the issue of the actual election infrastructure and mail-in voting. So each state is predicting a sharp increase in postal voting this year because of coronavirus. Now America, I know an Ireland that's different in America and most countries, to be quite honest about another debate for another day about Ireland's electoral system, but your postal voting is used in a lot of states here, some more than others. So like so much in America, it goes state by state. So some states have a very sophisticated, very established system of postal voting, where you can request an absentee ballot, you send it, you send it in the mail, and it's all very organized Colorado with one state that has it, Washington state. Others are not, they're a bit behind. And earlier in the year, there were lots of primary campaigns, as I mentioned earlier, when people pick the Democratic or the Republican candidate. And there were huge problems. So there was delays to postal voting, New York primaries counting went on for weeks. Again, Wisconsin, which I've just come from Milwaukee, actually was the clearest example of this in April, they had a primary and instead of 180 polling booths around the city of Milwaukee, they had five open. So you can imagine what happened. Huge queues. It was a disaster. So I spoke to the mayor of Milwaukee, who I interviewed for my piece for Saturday, and he was all there saying, no, we're very organized now, we've been recruiting polling workers. The coronavirus pandemic is not so bad. And the NBA, the baseball place is giving their stadium over for a polling booth. So they're saying we're organized. But there is a worry about postal voting that Donald Trump has already questioned the legality and the trustworthiness of the whole system of mail in voting. And he saw doubts and divisions about that. And he always did back in 2016, he went on Twitter just after the election saying, I actually did win the popular vote. It's just that all these people in California voted twice. So he's always kind of had this issue. It's not a new thing, but he's really harming this home. It's very, very concerning, because what he seems to be setting up is distrust about the electoral system here, and that if he loses, he will argue that it was flawed, and it was rigged to use his words. So I think that's a big team to look out for. And that means that it's very, very likely that there will not be an election result on the night of November the third, because particularly the postal vote is going to take time to count those. So this will become a bigger issue if the election is quite tight. I mean, if Biden really runs away with them, starts winning states like Florida, you know, and Arizona, so there are some states, so Arizona and Texas and Georgia, they're Republicans, they tend to vote Republican. But the demographics have been changing there for the last year. You've got a lot more Hispanic votes. And Democrats, now they've been saying this for a long time, but Democrats are hopeful that this could be the year that they flip those states, that they win them over, that people will vote for a Democratic candidate. And there were signs that people may remember Beto Aurora. He was the Texas Senate candidate in 2018. He took on Ted Cruz, who was running for the Senate in Texas, and of the very tight race. Huge energy. I mean, I covered his campaign, huge energy around Beto Aurora did very well. But you know what? He didn't win. So that would suggest to me that, you know, Texas is not there yet, either. Because this was a candidate with a big anti-Trump feeling among a lot of women in Texas. Maybe in cities like Austin, Dallas and Houston. But you know, he didn't get there in the end. Same with Georgia. The talk they were going to win the Governor's Race in 2018 didn't happen. So, you know, let's see. But if something dramatic like that was to happen, and you know, Florida is always people will remember the Bush Gore race 20 years ago now, where it was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, that was so tight. You know, Florida is still an extremely tight state. So I think it's one of the most important states actually on Election Day. It's very hard to judge how that's going to go. And actually an interesting kind of team of this, which I'm hoping to get down there and report on this, is that Biden's support among the Hispanic community, which is a huge voting block, particularly in the Miami area in Cuba and Venezuela. He's actually relatively unpopular. A lot of the Hispanic Democratic voters voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary. And a lot of it, particularly in Florida, because of their own background in Cuba, they're very anti socialist. So, you know, this this language that you hear from Donald Trump, you know, Joe Biden is just a radical socialist, like that's probably going to resonate with a lot of the Hispanic voters in Florida, just be quite honest. So it's an interesting state to watch. And so look, that's where stand, I might finish up talking now. But that's kind of snapshot. The final thing is to say before we open it up, is that kind of date of your diary, if you like, I think a hugely important development the next few weeks will be the presidential debates. So there are three presidential debates between Biden and Trump, and one vice presidential, Mike Pence, the vice president, and Kamala Harris, who is Joe Biden's running mate. The first one is on the 29th of September. And traditionally, you know, it's like everything. It's like all of us, you know, a lot of Americans, although I do think it's different in Trump's America, but they tend to really focus in the last weeks of the campaign. It's natural. It's like the election in Ireland recently this year. You know, so that's when they people do tend to focus in on these debates. So there's quite low expectations for Joe Biden, who is not seen as a great speaker. But to be honest, I don't know, he could perform quite well. I think all he needs to do is kind of rise above us and play the statesman while Trump kind of insults him. And he might do OK. So but I think that's that could be if it was a disaster for Biden. You know, that could be a big problem. So, you know, I think that's one of the and the base will write up till the end. I can't remember now what the last date is, but it's quite close to the election day. So we do expect that to have some kind of impact on voter and voter its reaction. So I leave it at that, I think. Look, Suzanne, thanks very much for that. You know, right from the primaries right up to the present day and the couple of debates that are coming up, you know, between the president, between the president's debates and the VP debates. You've really covered an awful lot of brown there. There's already questions flowing in. I will just kick off myself with a couple because I did touch upon at the beginning that we did want to get the base of your insights on, you know, obviously, the campaign is, as you say, it's proving very divisive. It's it's it's about Trump. It's your fore against them. And people over here are watching to see, you know, is there going to be a change because we've been used to this sort of demands of the Trump administration over the last couple of years? And will there be a reset? And, you know, what what do you think, you know, an outcome that sees Biden in the White House would mean for transatlantic relations, for relations between Ireland, you know, we've always seen a lot of the Trump rhetoric about, you know, on shoring some of the the U.S. companies based in Ireland, you know, do you think there'd be a change in that if Biden's in the White House or what do you what do you think? Yeah, and it's a good point. So if Biden is in the White the issue is so Biden was the Vice President under Obama. So people kind of feel they know what they're getting with Joe Biden. But I think that's not quite true because the world has changed in four years. And so think of some of the things that Trump did follow through on, which a lot of his supporters like the Iran deal, the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate accord, the Middle East moving the embassy from the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which was extremely politically provocative. You know, Joe Biden is not going to well, maybe it's not going to move the embassy back to Tel Aviv. There's the facts on the ground now on a lot of these things. You know, so that's one example. Now, he has said that he's going to bring America back into Paris climate accord. But the Iran deal, like that's already kind of unraveled. The EU tried to keep that going as long as possible. Like it's they still are. But I mean, you know, I can't see it going back to the JCPOA that Iran deal, for example. So and also I think the biggest and this is kind of getting to your point China, like the conflict in the trade war since it's happening between America and China. And I think that is about one of the only policy areas where Democrats are in agreement with Donald Trump. So, you know, Chuck Schumer, who's the top Senate Democrat, you know, has cheered on Donald Trump, saying, well done, Mr. President, for taking on China. He clashes with him on everything else. So I think and the campaign, the Trump campaign is trying to say, you know, Joe was buddies with China. They're kind of, I don't know how well that's working with supporters. And so I think Joe Biden is going to continue that and on your issue on off-shoring and, you know, companies about two weeks ago now, Joe Biden gave a speech in Michigan. And I mean, it was very worrying for a country like Ireland. He talked about bringing American jobs home. He talked about introducing tax incentives for US companies that are going to bring back jobs to America. He specifically mentioned pharmaceutical companies, which completely, you know, refers to Ireland. Obviously, we've got a few more of US companies. And he said, who are making products abroad and shipping them back to America? And that is what's happening with the US pharmaceuticals in Ireland. Now, the Irish government will want to, you know, they'll say, well, it's actually China they're getting at. And it is true, a lot of the pharmaceuticals are coming from China and India as well. But, you know, obviously Ireland is one of those places. So I don't think those pressures in terms of investments in the tax regime are going to go away. Although, one positive for the Irish FDI model is that Biden will probably increase the corporate tax rate here, Trump cut it. So that would maybe, you know, be less than incentive then for US companies to come back and recuperate. Then just maybe to move on to the Ireland team. As you mentioned there, Dara, in your introduction, you know, the last few days people have seen this last couple of weeks. This has really come to the fore. Dominic Raab was in Washington this week. So look, this is very interesting. I mean, the US-UK trade deal has been, and it is important to emphasize, and I think sometimes on Twitter, everybody gets carried away, you know, the UK is not to be dismissed in any shape or form when it comes to its relationship with the US. You know, the special relationship between Washington and London is very important. They are a huge, they're a big military power, a big defense ally of the United States which is obviously something Ireland doesn't have. You know, their embassy in Washington is huge. You know, they might have 500 people working there. You know, it's on a different level than the Irish. So it's not to be underestimated. But there is no doubt that the issue of Brexit has been picked up by senior people in Capitol Hill and they have put their foot down. Richard Neal is the chair of the Ways and Committees Committee. He said there would be no US-UK trade deal if the Good Friday Agreement is undermined and they hold all the cards. The way it works is that the executive branch, the president's trade representative, does negotiate trade deals. So that's been happening between the US and the UK. But Congress needs to sign off on it. It starts in the committee called the Ways and Means Committee. And what happened was, I think it's fair to say that Britain was kind of caught, got a shock because after the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats won control of the House of Representatives and Richard Neal, who they didn't really know much about, was made the chairman of the committee. And all of a sudden the Britain are like, oh no, there's a big Irish, he's the co-chair of the Friends of Ireland Caucus. Richard Neal is very into his Irish heritage. And they're like, oh no, it's a big Irish American who is now in charge of trade. What are we gonna do? So they've been trying to lobby him. But you will have seen in the last few days that Richard Neal, who's close to Nancy Pelosi, they have both said a trade deal will not happen if they're not happy with how Northern Ireland is being treated in the Brexit and Cold Station. And that is what's gonna happen. There will be no trade deal without that. So if Joe Biden gets it in November, that's another positive for Ireland. Joe Biden is a very proud Irish American, very into his Irish roots. Also, unlike Trump, he was at Obama and Biden were anti-Brexit. They're internationalists, they're pro-European. So it's gonna be a win, I suppose, for Ireland if Joe Biden gets in from that point of view. In saying that, as I just made the point, it really doesn't really matter who's in the White House. It's all about Congress, because they get signed off. So what's more worrying for Britain is that Nancy Pelosi will most likely be, so there is the Congressional elections also over November 3rd. Democrats are probably gonna get back into the majority there. Nancy Pelosi is probably gonna be back as Speaker and Richard Neil is probably gonna be back as Chair of the Ways and Means. So that's really the big issue for Britain. But no, it's very, I think through the sense that, and this is why it was so damaging what happened to Britain this week. Through the sense that the British officials were telling people like Richard Neil, look, don't worry, there will be no border. It's not gonna happen, we're gonna strike a deal. But with the break of trust this week, that now means that Richard Neil and those guys are gonna be like, no, until this is done on Brexit and we know exactly what's happening. You're not going any further on the trade deal. So I think when I came here first, it was 20 years since Good Friday agreement. And this issue, the whole Irish-American Northern Ireland thing was not a big issue. And then when Brexit happened, it's like everybody tuned back in again. And Ireland and Northern Ireland again became, not top of the agenda, but very high up the agenda. So yeah, and it's serious. I mean, they had the power to block it and I think they were. So that's a bit of a mixed bag down for it in terms of what you're saying about some of Biden's rhetoric on bringing this up for us. It's not like Joe Biden is going to be this, oh, happy, clappy, it'll all be fine. I mean, I think particularly on tax and investment, he is singing from the same hymn sheet as a lot of the Republicans. Because a lot of the Democrats who deserted Clinton, were working-class Democrats who feel like their jobs, which is true in a lot of the ways, did go abroad. And so Democrats and Joe Biden need to tell those people and connect with those people and say, look, we are going to try and keep American jobs in America and listen to your concerns. So yeah, that's gonna continue to be a theme. And kind of the anti-globalization, not as strong under Trump, but it's still gonna exist under Biden when. William, look, thanks very much for addressing those two issues. I know it's very topical. It only happened this week in the case of Dominic Brad being there. So great theater insights on the US side of things from that. Lots of questions coming in. One, you've kind of touched on this a little bit in your remarks, Suzanne, in terms of how the campaign is just completely different because of COVID. There's a question there from Colin Bergen. We know the role that money plays in American politics, but what are the things important when it comes to campaigning? And he just asks in terms of the actual mechanics of it. I mean, do you have people going door-to-door, canvassing, clowning leaflets, the same as you do here? Or is it a bit or...? No, interesting. Yeah. Yeah, so number one, just to... That's a very good point, question. Like money still is very, very important here. I mean, there's rules about what individuals can donate, but it's huge. And actually, again, one of the changes that are worrying for the Trump campaign is that Biden's fundraising has gone through the roof. Since they all coalesced behind him, the fundraising has really gone up. But the Republicans, you're saying about campaigning, there's been a door-to-door, but that's more kind of for... As I say, in November, it's not just the president they're electing. It's like they're representatives in Congress. So that's where you get the more local people going around door-to-door. So here in Minnesota, there are pollsters for Trump and Pence, but they're also pollsters for a random person who's running for Congress or for the state. So that's where you get more door-to-door. But advertising is where money comes in. The TV ads and everything are huge. So for example, again, Minnesota, where I'm in, Trump wants to win this. I haven't voted Democrats since 1972. He thinks he could win here. They announced like a $14 million ad buy on TV just in this state before election. They're very targeted in it's local affiliate TV programs and that kind of thing, the stations. But I think what I'm trying to actually say though, is online advertising is now very important at online outreach. And the Trump campaign are very strong on this. They're strong. You know, this happened in 2016. I mean, obviously Donald Trump himself is a maestro when it comes to social media. And that trickles down to his campaigns and very targeted at, particularly on Facebook. I think, and I don't have the figures here, but one would be surprised, you know, we all, I think, or a lot of us tend to live in a Twitter bubble. The proportion of Americans on Twitter is quite small. The proportion of Facebook is much bigger, particularly among an older cohort people. So Facebook ads, of course, that's got very political and there's a lot more talk about regulation are going to be very important. And I think the Republicans are ahead. You're just a bit more sophisticated on that. A good sign though, for Biden, is that in the last like two months, there's been a real uptick in the small individual online contributions, which suggests that you obviously make money that way, but also there's more of a connection between individual voters and online and Biden. So that's very good for him. But yeah, the problem is, I mean, I remember realising myself in the early days here, going to, it was actually with Kamala Harris. And I went to her, she and I, she was running for president for the Democratic candidate, and I went to an event with her in South Carolina. And I was really surprised. I didn't think she was that great. She was pretty underwhelming. She didn't seem to connect with people. Then after, I was talking to people after an interview, and then I said to myself, you know what, it doesn't really matter, because most people are not going to ever come near Kamala Harris. I've come to 300 million people. They're going to see her on telly. That's how they're going to see her. They're going to see her online. So really, so it doesn't, the retail politics, you know, it just doesn't, because the scale doesn't have the same effect. But in terms of coronavirus, it has absolutely changed the campaign, particularly on Biden's side, to the point that like, you know, and Biden's strength is connecting with people. And we'll see it like in the debates, there'll probably be no audience at that debate. So, you know, how do speakers respond when there's no laughs, when there's no thought, all of that kind of thing. So it really is different. And it means that it's going to be less, you know, there are going to be fewer events. Trump will probably do more, because he's kind of into talking about coronavirus and he'll just go to wherever. But there will definitely be fewer events. And already, like Trump has run into problems because states are banning indoor events. So in Nevada, he had this big riot with the governor because the governor said, you can't have rallies here, it's in breach of rights. So all that kind of thing. But I think at TV, you mentioned Kamala Harris there, the question is just how visible has she been in the campaign since she was announced as VP nomination. And then just a follow-up question from the same person. Just you mentioned that Biden said he will bring America back into the Paris Climate Court. How prominent has climate change been in the campaign, you know, especially in the context of the fires raging in Western states? You mentioned Biden's trying to connect with younger voters, maybe, to get the vote out. Is that an issue that he's active on, or is it something that's just getting lost? So, Kamala Harris and the environment. Yeah, I was just talking about Harris one. Yeah, actually, it's a good question. This is very personal, but I think she's been a bit absent actually. And again, this is the problem for Biden. They're trying to do minimal number of events. So there's a lot of online with Kamala, where they're doing fundraising, but that's not really breaking through. Like the TV don't cover that. So you don't see her. So I would have to say it's been quite disappointing. I mean, she's a formidable politician. I think she was the right choice. I'm not saying I kind of, I'm sorry, an action was a little bit, but I think she was the right choice for Biden. I really do. I mean, for lots of reasons. Most importantly is that he's so elderly, that's very possible she could end up as president. And, you know, she's gonna be able to take on Putin and she's gonna be able to run, you know, people, I think that people know that about her. She's very impressive. And, you know, she's a woman, she's non-white, all those things the Democratic Party needs. Although she's a centrist candidate. She's not to the left wing as a lot of the younger, more progressive members would like. But no, that's a very good question. I think she's been a bit absent. And I think that's a problem. And I think it may be because, as I say, the Biden campaign are just starting to ramp it up now, where he's coming to Minnesota tomorrow. She's been in Florida. But, you know, Trump tends to take a lot of the oxygen, really, you know, that's so dramatic every day. Like today's another story, but a former model accused him of saying, it's always something. So it's hard for her to break through. So I would agree that I think she's been a little bit disappointed with lots of fun, you know, fanfare when she's announced and she's been slipped off the news agenda. That may change. Her debate with Mike Pence is on, I think the 7th of October. That would be a huge focus. She's excellent. But Mike Pence is very good to, you know, he'd be able to hold his own too. So that's one to watch. And there will be a lot of focus on her. But yeah, I'd agree. I think she's been a bit absent. That might change. And the climate change. Look, oh God, what to say about that? I mean, it is, you know, it's not, I don't think it's a huge issue for voters, unfortunately, in America. You're right, though. It does a generation gap. And a lot of the younger Democrats, people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who announced Green New Deal, you know, she does really represent a huge part of the Democratic Party that's then expanding parts, the Democratic Party who support climate change. So Joe Biden has been quite vocal on it, actually. But I just feel like, again, getting back to what I said at the beginning, okay, he may win over more young Democrats in New York or California, but that's not what he needs to win the election. He actually needs to win over people in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. He probably don't really care about climate change. I know that's harsh, but it's true. So I don't know strategically if it's worth them kind of, it might actually, and this is the problem with the Democratic Party. They're trying to be true to their values, but to win the election, they have to win over some undecided, centrist people, you know, who would maybe tend to vote Republican, but maybe don't like Trump and they want to vote Democrat. So if Joe Biden starts talking about fracking and not have an oil, you know, it's gonna put those people off. So it's just a very tricky, you know, issue for him. But look, I think it's like the rest of the world. I think the younger, the generation gap over this. I think the younger people really are feeding it. And of course, now in saying that this week it really came to the fore because the wildfires in California, I was shocked here in the Midwest where I am. The other day I was like, God, this is really weird in the sky and it's kind of hazy. And then I said to myself, it's not. And then I read it, it is. It's the, I mean, it's over a thousand miles away, but the air has actually been affected now because it's been burning so long on the West Coast. That's the problem. Obviously the people in the West Coast are gonna be very exiled by climate change. They're gonna vote Democrat anyway. So there's not many votes in it. I know that's very cynical. So, but I think going forward, it's gonna become a big issue for the Democratic Party if they wanna keep their younger people, you know, together and cohesive as a party. And there's a certain sympathy among ordinary voters who say with the opposition, but I don't expect it to be a huge issue. Although again, interesting, Florida is very interesting one because I've said hugely important state, they've had a lot of problems with flooding there at the moment, flooding and climate change. And actually what's interesting, not to be so cynical, actually voters showing the people in Florida sent with voters are beginning to really now take climate change. Even someone like Donald Trump has to kind of say, I understand the issues around climate change in this state. So I think it's just gonna be tailored to the state basically as far as I suppose it. Okay, so this bit is hardening, you know, in terms of... Sorry. Just a side note, I mean, it's shocking the use of energy in this country, like just living here, it's absolutely shocking. There's no hard end recycling, you know, the noise, the trucks, everybody has air, you know, machines on all the time. I lived in Brussels for four years in Europe, it's just unbelievable. So it's quite disheartening about America. It's quite behind I think when it comes to climate change generally. Yeah. Interesting question here from Geodotterty. Trump has been the voice of figure, he's also catalyzed all of the visions in the country. Even if Biden wins, do you think American elections are likely to continue to see more obviously populist candidates? Has Trump sort of tapped into something and left the genie out of the bottle? Yeah, that's a really good question. I think he has actually. And this is again a part of, you know, Biden is almost running as the restoration candidate. It'll be all fine. And like there's an element of truth in that, he knows what he's doing, he was in the White House for eight years with Obama. But that is an ideal that I don't think is going to happen. That question was after he arrived in the genie is out of the bottle. Trump may lose, he may not, but if Trump loses, his supporters are not just going to go away, you know, they're still going to be there. And it, well, it'd be interesting is where that energy goes next. So I hope the debate will be what happens to the Republican Party. One thing that I find fascinating, and I've tried to write about before, but it's one of the teams I picked up here now after nearly four years. The Democratic Party is a much more diverse party. It's a much more diffuse. So it's more difficult. They've all kinds of people in the Democratic Party. The people more on the left, they centrist, you know, people that are seen as too moderate and too in with big business. Whereas Republicans have become more cohesive of the block and they've become more motivated by cultural issues. It's like abortion is a huge issue for so many voters in this country, like just the issue. Trump's promise to appoint conservative justices on the Supreme Court and at federal level. Another big issue. So thousands of Republicans held their nose and voted for Donald Trump because of that. So that Republican Party is going to continue in that vein and he's made it even more so like that. So people are always asking me, I was down in rural Minnesota yesterday, oh, what about the farmers and the trade war? You know what, like number one, he's given a lot of bay lives to farmers, but number two is a lot of those voters don't vote on economic rights, but like Brexit. You don't always vote about economics. I think people forget about Brexit. You know, people, that is not why people didn't vote for Brexit because that's how they'd be better off. People voted for Brexit if you like or not because they just wanted their independence from Brussels and they want, you know, they want their sovereignty. And it's the same here with Trump. Like farmers here are voting for different reasons. They're voting for cultural and religious issues like abortion, like law and order, those kind of issues. And I think like that's not gonna go away after Trump. Now, there is a more moderate wing in the Republican party, people like Mitt Romney, people believe they're not, Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney's daughter, who would be, you know, stereotype Republican. She's actually one of the people who's spoken out a bit about Trump. And then you've got speculation that members of his family might run in the future, Ivanka or Donald Trump Jr. And that is very possible, I think. And so their person's right. The divisions here are just so intense. And it's extenuated and cemented by the division of media, which is a whole other conversation, but it's unbelievable. You know, you either tune it to Fox or you tune it to CNN or MSNBC. And the fact that there's no kind of balanced media here, I think it's a major issue. It's just serving to underline those divisions that will continue. Really, look, there's a good few questions here. I'm trying to take through them. One you've pointed out, you've already touched on the mail, the mail in votes. There's a question here just more broadly around voter suppression. And you mentioned the big lines in Milwaukee. And there is a targeted nature of this. It is aimed at specific voters to try and stop them from coming out. The Republicans don't want certain voters out. The Democrats are trying their best to get them voters out. Can you just speak a little bit about that? Yeah, this is a really interesting team in America, again, which I've learned more about since living here. I mean, people, a lot of most people in the call probably are from Ireland, but you remember learning, well, I do a long time ago at school about gerrymandering in the North. Gerrymandering is a massive issue in the United States. It's reached Supreme Court level on numerous occasions. So you've got places like actually Wisconsin was one of the North Carolina, where you look at the map and there's little squiggles where all the Democrats are shoved into one section. So one problem is that, unlike in other countries, so each state, whoever's in power politically, actually has a lot of authority over drawing the boundaries. So it becomes inherently political. Now there are moves to change that and some people are going towards it. Some states are going towards like an independent electoral commission, but I was pretty shocked that it still exists like that. So ironically, when Donald Trump is talking about, oh, you can vote twice, it's all rigged, you can vote twice, people who are dead are still on the register. Ironically, the exact opposite is the problem, which is people who should be on the register are not on the register, are not able to vote. So it's actually a problem. So what happens is, and as I say, like Supreme Court at state level and federal level has rolled in on this, there are a lot of this racially motivated, and it's linked back to Jim Crow period, to the period after the Civil War and Reconstruction where black people were disenfranchised. So for example, in Georgia, very interesting state, huge history of racial injustice, obviously they're in the deep south. I report from there in May, and a big African-American population. But so things for example, like, if you arrive to your voting booth and your signature isn't exactly the same or your middle name is on the vote and yours isn't, you won't be able to vote. Or think of that, or you need, in certain places, you need three forms of ID. And then a lot of poorer people won't have all the ID. They might have the driver license. So there are all these mechanisms that effectively reduce the vote. And they are usually targeted, or the people who suffer from that are usually non-white and poorer. Or things like restrictions on when you can vote on voting day, you know, very tight hours. So people who are poorer or working two jobs can't get to vote. So all these kind of things, that's happened all over the country. It's particularly prevalent in places like Texas. So for example, this is a slightly different point, but with the mail-in voting that's happening, Texas just recently ruled that only people over 65 can vote mail-in. So why? And actually, most people over 65 are going to vote Republicans. So that's going to benefit that, you know. So that's a little example. So that is a really good point. And it's a big issue here. And the Obama, who has stayed out of the public spotlight since Donald Trump's victory, it's one of the areas that he has kind of got involved with since he stepped down, since his term came to an end, is this issue of voter participation. And there's quite a bit of work on that going on. And of course, it's going to benefit Democrats. So it's not in Republicans' interest to expand the register anymore. So then that's the issue about Hispanics. So, you know, very fast-growing population in this country, particularly in places like Texas. And now, like in the next two elections or so, but a whole cohort of teenagers are going to be coming in and, you know, joining the electoral register, but by getting them on the register, it's quite difficult sometimes to register. It's a different system. You have to register. Like when I went for my driving license and watching, they asked me if I registered Democrat or Republican. It's a different system in certain states to kind of register. Now you can change. So that allows you to vote in your Democratic primary rather than Republican. So basically, there's a lot more hoops to go through. So in essence, it's very complicated, but yes, it's a big problem. And linked with the issue of voter post-evolving, I think it could become a big issue in this election. To fight again. Yeah, something to watch out for. Just to change the topic slightly, question here just on migration. I mean, it was one of the big issues that Trump was sort of campaigning on in 2016. You know, the wall, Mexico, all of that. You know, has that been forgotten now or is it still something that he bangs on about? I mean, we've seen, I think the economist was in, sort of in the Rostal Dairy talking to people and was one voter they were talking to. He said, you know, we built the wall. That's done. You know, how is that still discussed and talked about in the campaign? Yeah, really good point. It has kind of gone to the, you know, it isn't featuring. Do you know, the reason why, though, I think, is that because of COVID, the numbers coming through the border have plummeted. Okay. It's really plummeted. I mean, I don't have to know much about it to me, but it's had a hugely material impact on it. So as a result, it's kind of not on the agenda. So what's happened during the first term of Donald Trump is that at various points, he has quipped up, you know, fervor about it. So I wonder, people might remember, I just came across it recently, before the midterm elections in 2018, two years ago, he talked about this caravan coming up through Central America and this went on and Fox News was down with the caravan. You know, it was purely political. It's a riot or, you know, sentiment about it. So because there's no Mike and Freedy coming in, I think that's why it's off the agenda. It's still a big issue for certain voters, I think. But yeah, unfortunately, it has kind of got off the agenda, I have to say, with the change. I mean, let's see. Look, with the wall, I mean, there's all this thing about what is the wall? Like, so there's already bits of fence places. Some of them are more constructed and like it's not an actual wall. And then bits of it, he has built bits of it. But what's happened is he's come into funding difficulty. So the Mexico paying for the wall has not happened period, period at all. But what's happened is, like, he's wanted to get money from Congress and he's been able to tap different sources of money to build bits of the wall and that kind of thing. But look, no, it's not, it just isn't, it's not featuring in the same way as it did at the last time. But maybe that's fine. A couple of other ones here. Some of, some other questions coming in on, you know, how to avoid the Americas or I don't think we'll go back into that if you've touched on that in detail. One interesting question here is, you know, those two European media just paint Trump as this monster and not really guess where Republicans are coming from. You know, you mentioned in your, in your analysis yourself, you know, people just pick a couple of things they like about him and then forget the rest. They just say, you know, the economy, Supreme Court, abortion, and they're happy out and they forget everything else. I mean, do we not explain that well enough for European audience? Yeah, it's a really good point and something I think about a lot. I mean, I'm, you know, a straight reporter, you know, in the Irish times, we very much differentiate between news and then if I write an opinion, whereas, you know, I sometimes write an opinion piece, I can say my opinion, but analysis, I try to be kind of just analyze it objectively if I can. And I better be careful that I answer this, but to be honest with you, yeah, I think there is two, you know, people, there's a simplification about Donald Trump a lot in the media. Oh, look what he's done again. And, you know, the problem is, I don't, my own opinions that I don't like Donald Trump, but I, and I don't respect him as a leader, but I do respect some of the support, the 60 million people who voted for him. And there's a tendency to find, you know, for example, I would probably go to a Trump rally if I hopefully won't get coronavirus out of, but anyway, I hope to go to a Trump rally in the next few weeks, which I can go to. I've been to some before, but I mean, I can tell you now what's going to happen to the coronavirus at that rally. You're going to have actually die hard Trump supporters, you know, the stereotype with the red hats and everything. And that's only a certain slice of the Trump support. So again, these two women I interviewed, and I could not, the other day, in front of these burnt out cars. I mean, this woman, her name is Anna, she was 60 from Milwaukee, and she was just like a normal person. Like I was thinking, I'm from County Meads. She's like somebody I would meet, you know, my parents' friends that, you know, absolutely normal, completely rational, former teacher, and she likes Donald Trump. So you kind of say, well, why? And so what they will all say is, he talks a lot, we wish he wouldn't say tweet, we wish he wouldn't, it wouldn't be so offensive in his language, but they're willing to put that aside and they believe that they all say the same thing, which is they like that he didn't have to do the job. They keep saying this. There's a real sense, it links back to an earlier question about cynicism about American politics and money, and that they're all in somebody's pocket. They like that about Donald Trump, that he had his own money, that he had no agenda except himself, and that he wasn't from a part of a dynasty or anything. So people seem to really like that here. And they also feel, really, that he's followed through with a lot of the things, you know, that he did put out of the Paris climate change. And so even though half the country is appalled at him and embarrassed by him, you know, another half are not, and they feel that he does represent their views, and they do feel that they don't all fit the stereotype of the Trump supporter. So yeah, I think I suppose I would. I suppose it's important for us all, you know, to try and understand why people voted for Donald Trump. And one of the reasons, one of the big themes of the early 21st century, I think, has been an awareness of the limitations of globalization. I think we all need to accept that. And I remember being in Davos just after Trump got elected, and I was covering it, I was still in Brussels just before I came here, and Christine Lagarde stood on stage, at the time she was the head of the IMF and said, there's a problem with globalization. The middle class in America and Britain and the Western countries have not really improved a lot since their parents. And that's what Trump tapped into. And, you know, people can pretend that, I mean, Ireland is a country that's obviously completely benefited from globalization. But I think the reality is that a lot of Americans feel that they have, and they have been economically left behind, that's a fact. So, but again, I'm probably constricting myself because I do think that more and more people are voting here on cultural issues, not economic issues. So abortion is just a hugely- Yeah, that's what I mean. Thanks for your most interesting question. And I think, you know, you just touched upon all of the different issues that I've played when you tried to answer it, but I mean, it's a very interesting topic. The couple that I do come to the point I want to wrap up, there was one question that came in there, I just said, do you think the Democrats will hold this energy, kind of answering your remarks already? So another question then, this is probably a bit of a grim question that we're finishing up on or coming towards the end of anyway, is, you know, regardless of the outcome in November, do you expect some sort of civil unrest with the outcome either way? Do you think that's, you know, the distance you have, that you thought for the Rachel Mentions that they've raised themselves for four years of Trump and then the opposite way, you know, if Trump loses somehow and he cries foul about how it was rigged, I mean, you know, maybe it's been over a long, a little bit, but I mean, do you think there's potential there for unrest? I think there probably is potential for unrest, yeah. I do, you know, I mean, we're living in a country here where like one team that didn't come up during the George Floyd protest, I think it's that everybody's so heavily armed here, that, you know, it just makes protests much more dangerous. We've seen the incident of protest has been shot for, you know, vigilantes. And then of course, then you've got armed civilian, armed people coming out on streets protesting. So, you know, it's just, I mean, whole gun crime, actually, if somebody's saying about immigration, gun crime, like, I've had cover mass shootings here, horrific, not featuring in the presidential debate. At all. I mean, it's just gone. But anyway, so I suppose I'd have to say, yes, I mean, it's, it sounds a bit dramatic to say, you know, this country did have a civil war in the 1860s, but like it is so divided, that's the problem with Trump, you know, you either are forum against him and, you know, there's no middle ground. People just, you know, that's very, very worrying. And yeah, I think, again, I think what's going to come down to it is the margin of his defeat or victory. And I think if Democrats don't win, they'll accept that. I think if Trump does win, he won't accept that. So I'd blame it on the Republican side there, but it depends on the win. If it's close, it's going to be very, it's going to be very difficult. You could, I mean, the Supreme Court had to weigh in 20 years, gone Bush and Gore. I could absolutely see that again. Absolutely. So yeah, I suppose. And just to, on that question, something to say about the Senate. So I said about the Democrats are probably going to keep control of the House. On the Senate, I think they're going to win some of the seats in the Senate. It's very important, very tight at the moment. Republicans are in the control, but I think Dan and Kraft probably will. And what's happening is in certain states to see, it depends on your state. Trump is either, if you're running for Senate as a Republican, if Trump is popular in states, you want to be like Trump. But somebody like Susan Collins, she represents Maine and she's Republican. But a lot of people up in Maine don't really like Trump. So she's trying to kind of distance herself from him. It's very tricky. So it's not one size fits all. It depends where you're running in the country. But I think Democrats would probably, it would be a big achievement. If Democrats to win the Senate and to win the presidency, they're going to control all three, House to Senate and Epimages. And just a last one before we finish up. I mentioned at the very start that you have been watching the correspondent since February, 2017. So all you've known is the madness of this Trump administration. What's it been like? Well, just sort of, personal level as a journalist out and about covering us. Just what's it been like? You mentioned that somebody there, basically, you're a correspondent. Economics and so on. What's this been like? Well, in a way, Washington is quite like, for anybody, it's quite like Brussels in the sense that, you know, they're big. And when I was in Brussels, it was all about as a journalist, we were trying to work out where the, where the center of power was. Was it the parliament? Was it the council? Was it the commission? And at various times, you know, it was somewhere else. So one of those places, it's a bit like that in Washington. It's the White House. It's a Congress. It's the State Department. Now under Trump, it's all the White House. I think that I have had a very White House-centered experience because it's just been so frenetic. But I've been, this sounds, people would be shocked when I say this with all the talk by Trump and the media. But I was pleasantly surprised before COVID. They have to go to the White House press briefings when they still have them, you know, and sit there with everybody else. It was quite open, actually. And maybe just the First Amendment. I mean, they, you know, enshrined the constitution. But I've been very happy with the access, actually. And actually being Irish has been a huge advantage because you have the link in with, you know, the Irish-American congressman in Capitol Hill. I know from other foreign journalists, the British journalists, like, they don't really have that. That, you know, they don't have that thing connection with some of the members of Congress. So it's been really good that way. But it is very different as a journalist because I'm reporting on someone else's country where when you were in the EU, you know, Ireland's part of the EU and some of the stuff happening there is actually affecting us. It's different. But here you're an outsider. But there's a lot of being very disappointed about in America, to be quite honest. And one, it's a climate change stuff. And I'm not particularly, you know, not a bit greeny, but that's pretty shocking. Actually here, I find. The other, of course, it's a gun crime, gun culture, which seems to be just so out of culture with the rest of the world and, you know. I mean, on that particular issue, I mean, look, we could be here all night after that. But I mean, public opinion is in favor of some sort of control. So it's just a constant block for like, what is that? I mean, how's Australia view being as an outsider watching us, you know? Yeah, so some of it. Yeah, so the public opinion is in favor of more controls. But public opinion is not for abolishing guns. You know, so even Hillary Clinton's pro-gun or Joe Biden, you know, the Democrats, they want more controls. But you know, what's that really? Nobody's ever going to get rid of the right to bear arms here. So I just think it begets more and more violence and we can see this as an outsider. But I have never come across an issue that's so, you know, there's a wall here in America. Very few people really want to engage by changing that fundamentally, which I just think is such an outlier, I mean, or even like the death penalty, it's not an issue that's come up. Trump has taken all the oxygen. So it's not an issue that I've had to cover up here in four years. It actually has not once come up with a, came up once in execution, I think, in Alabama. But, you know, that's been happening and no one's talking about it and no one's covering it. And, you know, you can't join the European Union if you've got death penalty, for example. Rest of the world has moved, you know, and even with gun crime, I mean, Australia had a very similar, it's a very similar country in a way, and they brought in a van, a weapon from Databake shooting, but it's like, it's just nobody wants to go there here. So I think that's disappointing. So there's a lot to be honest with you, I find a little bit disillusioned, but look, it's great as well. I mean, Americans, one good thing about being a journalist that Americans love the media and they want to talk to you all the time and Trump supporters are not, the idea of the shy Trump supporter, I think, actually, I find they just can't wait to tell you how much they love him and why they love him and how the media is painting him the wrong light. So in that sense, it's easier than trying to talk to Irish people about a political issue if you have to doorstep them and speak much easier to do it in America. Okay, okay, well, look, I think, you know, a little bit of a positive note to end a bit of a depressing enough section in terms of the campaign and what's being covered and what's not being covered in the priorities and what aren't the priorities. And thanks very much, Shazam for joining us and sharing our insights. We might maybe get back in touch again once the election's finished and maybe get you in the new year. Tell us, you know, whether things have settled down or they haven't. Well, best of luck for the rest of the campaign. Thanks for putting those days and priorities about the debates and we'll be sure to keep reading it. So thanks very much for joining us.