 My name is Caroline Sweeney. I'll be graduating next month with the master of public affairs from the Ford School My question is there's an ever-widening divide between media Public institutions and voters, which means information is getting lost in the space left behind How are we as future change makers leaders and public servants supposed to contend with an increasingly skeptical untrusting American public Yes, I'm the last one first. You've got this one Well, it's a good question. I mean, you know it it it is Astonishing to me when you see the percentage of Americans and I don't know if it's it's an a third is it 40 30 percent 25 percent for it's a large percentage who still don't believe that that the election in 2020 was fair and that I think that it's over a majority of Republicans don't believe that Joe Biden was the legitimately elected president and you know, that's What could be more Threatening to our democracy. I remember in the 2016 I moderated the final debate between Hillary Clinton and and Donald Trump and One of the questions that ended up being the big headline that came out was Trump at that time was saying that the election was rigged and I specifically asked him will you recognize the results of this election and he said and he said I'll keep you in suspense and I Responded to that by saying, you know, the idea of the peaceful transfer of power is is one of the basic tenants of our democracy and Are you will are you saying you're not going to commit to that and he repeated, you know, I'll let you know I'll keep you in suspense. Well You know that that's very I mean it strikes at the very core of our democracy when and and and When you have a wide section of the country, you know, it's so interesting. I was thinking about the 1960 election You say what the hell was he thinking about the 1960 election? but I was the other day and and and if you know, but this was the Kennedy Nixon election in 60 and there is real reason to believe that that election was was stolen because if you go back and look at it, there was Particularly in two states of Texas where Lyndon Johnson who was running for vice president but particularly in Illinois where Richard J. Daley was the mayor there's some reason to believe that he waited and saw how many downstate votes there were and Then he piled in some votes that maybe didn't exist in Chicago and ended up carrying the state for for Kennedy and There was a real move at that point because there was real concern about it to the people went to Nixon and Who was the vice president but was running for president and said to him, you know, you could contest this election and we could litigate What went on in Chicago in Illinois and Texas and he said look we're in the middle of the Cold War It would be too damaging for the country. It may well be true But I'm gonna accept the results of this election and I'm gonna concede the election to John F. Kennedy how far we have come from that today and And you know again, I don't know that I've got a direct answer for you But somehow I mean part of it is you've got some people in public life right now Who seem to be held bent in trying to to? destroy people's faith and confidence in Institutions like the news media like democracy like the people peaceful transfer of power It's a poison in our society and I'm not sure how you extract it But I'm sure that Governor Whitmer does know how you're gonna extract it This isn't the the gonna answer all the ills that we are confronting But I do think that education is really important whether it is the critical thinking skills that you were alluding to in your in your Response earlier to understanding social media and what you can take and how do we address the the gap? But also Civics right, you know, it's amazing to me when someone Immigrates to this country they know more about the United States Government than most people that were born here They can tell you more about our Institutions our history and I do think that that is a place where there is a real need for us to do more to Prepare the American public with critical thinking skills with a reverence for our history and understanding of our Civics in this country and also I you know, I think that it's We have to fight efforts to dumb down Curriculants that are happening across this country We're doing in the next generation a huge disservice that they don't get accurate Education about this country's history and who we are and what the challenge ours are in front of us and how our systems of government work There are people who get elected to office who don't understand how the system of government in the office They just ascended to work and that I think is Represents and an additional threat that is related to everything we've been talking about tonight So that's a part of what I think we need to do better as a country