 Hi, welcome back to another episode of Teens on Topic. I am your host, Hayden Talon, and I'm joined by three special guests today. First, Zoey Popingay, Ben Skinner, and Adam Brueger. Today we're going to be talking about some issues that are on a lot of people's minds, the election and COVID to start off. But before we get into that, I just wanna see if you guys have any updates about what's going on in your lives, off at college, that kind of thing. So Ben, you go first. Yeah, sure. I'm currently at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. And so far it's been going super well, most just because Tufts has done a fantastic job of preventing COVID cases from happening on campus. We've had very few cases. We've been being tested twice a week and there's a bunch of social distancing protocols in place, people are wearing masks. And so far the Tufts administration has just done a spectacular job of keeping all of the students and the faculty and the entire community safe. So fortunately, nothing too exciting to report in Tufts. All right, Zoey, what about you? Currently I'm at New York University and things are going pretty good, but there's always that risk of will we be sent home because the cases only keep going up and we get tested every week. And so they say after a certain quota, if a certain number of cases are positive, then we'll either be quarantined or we'll be sent home entirely. So there's always that risk, but so far things are going pretty well. All right, and Adam? Yeah, so I'm at UC Berkeley right now and things are going really well. Compared to other UCs, we are probably doing the best. And yeah, so we get tested twice a week. I got tested this morning, which was good. And yeah, things are smooth. All right, so yeah, obviously we very recently had two debates, first, the presidential debate with Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and second, the vice presidential between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence. At the time that we're recording this, the election is less than a month from now and this is something that is on people's minds. So first, with the presidential debate, I mean, you see Donald Trump going on the attack, Joe Biden maybe stumbling a bit, trying to get his voice point across directly to the American people. So Adam, I wanna give you the first chance to talk about what you saw in the presidential debate and how do you think voters will respond? Yeah, personally, I don't think this debate is gonna change very many people's opinions on the candidates because, I mean, Trump came out very aggressive, he did a lot of interruptions and he kind of showed the Trump that we all know that's shown in the media all the time as being kind of brash and he will completely insult his opponent as we saw with him insulting Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, which kind of caught Joe Biden off guard and I think Joe Biden did a pretty good job of responding to that with like saying that his son was in the military and that he's like a proud patriot and yeah, I think that Joe Biden did a pretty good job deflecting the direct attacks against him and Trump kind of showed what we all know which is that he is willing to kind of make a fool of himself on TV, but yeah. Yeah, what do you think the impact, like especially in swing states will be? I mean, you said, you don't think this is gonna change people's mind about the election but how do you think people will respond generally? Yeah, it's hard to say. I know that a lot of swing states are actually pulling in favor of Joe Biden right now. I don't know if that was directly as a result of that debate, but it's definitely gonna be interesting seeing where states like Florida and Iowa respond to these recent developments, especially with Trump getting COVID and yeah, we'll just see how the debate kind of switches those things up. Right, okay, and then similarly, Ben, if there's anything you want to add watching the debates, interesting things that you saw. Yeah, so as somebody who supports Joe Biden, I was a little bit worried coming into the debate. I think in a lot of the Democratic primary debates, Joe Biden looked pretty sloppy compared to a lot of the other candidates, but I think when he was debating Donald Trump, he did far better than I was expecting, which was very nice to see. Obviously, it's very challenging to debate somebody like Donald Trump because like Adam talked about all of the interruptions, all of the bravado, just personal attacks, things like that that can be very challenging to make comebacks to time and time again. I'm sure Joe Biden practiced a bunch and worked with some of the best debate preparing coaches in the world. So I think he did much better than I was hoping. There's a lot of talk about the mental capabilities of both leaders now, both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. People talk about dementia with both candidates. And I think that was kind of interesting to see both candidates up there looking relatively mentally well. Obviously, their personalities both did show through, I think like Adam said with Donald Trump's character, the Donald Trump we all know. And I think Joe Biden too really did a good job of, despite all of that stuff coming out of Donald Trump's mouth, Joe Biden did a good job of speaking to the American people and getting his point across about as well as I think he possibly could have hoped for to be debating a candidate like Donald Trump. Right, okay, so Zoe, I wanna move over to you now. So you watched the vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence sparring it off. How do you think that was different than the presidential debate? How do you think people will respond to that one? Well, it was certainly a lot less dramatic. And I know that, and I feel like our generation specifically, like 99% of us are picking apart the fly in Mike Pence's head rather than the stuff that he said. I do not personally support him. And I think Kamala Harris did a very good job. Whenever he was interrupting her, she very firmly said I wasn't unspeaking and I feel like that was, that's a very hard thing to do because, and especially from the perspective of a woman because people will then say that she's being annoying or she's being rash or she's being irrational. So personally, I applaud her for that because I know how difficult, like just like as a debater and as a politician that is especially, but I feel like I definitely got a discussion out of it. I could hear what they had to say because even though Mike Pence was a way over speaking his time, there was still more of a discussion than there was in the original presidential debate or the presidential debate or as they so heard. Again, I didn't see it, but I got what, from what I've got from most of social media, the first one was just like an objective mess, but you could definitely pull a, I feel like you could pull relatively like standard debate from the vice presidential one. Yeah, so like generally in a presidential election, most of the voters are looking at the issues, specifically that the president who's gonna be leaving the country supports and doesn't support what actions they would take, that kind of thing. And the vice president is considered more of a symbolic role rather than an active one. What do you think is like the role of a vice presidential debate and like getting introducing voters to vice presidential candidates? Well, personally, I think it like, I feel like it's definitely very important even if they are like quote unquote symbol, it does, they do, because they're chosen by the candidate, it does represent their beliefs. So I feel like they, I feel like it is a very important debate to listen to because when worse comes to worse or the most extreme situations, president's not in office anymore than the vice president takes over. So it is very important. And they, I don't, I can't say that I know very in-depth about the political system, but they are in some ways an advisor. They do hold power. And just like they're in, yeah, exactly what they believe in is connected to the president directly because the president shows them. So it is very important. Yeah, okay. So moving on to another topic, obviously one of the big things that people are thinking about in this time is COVID as it continues to rage. We saw early on a few months into it's role in the United States that we were able to flatten the curve at least a little bit. And then during the summer, especially in July, it leaped up dramatically and we had this huge surge of cases that slowly started to fall. But recently we've been seeing that climb again as we head into October and towards the election. So Ben, I wanna go back to you. What are you thinking? Why do you think this new spike has come back? And based on other trends, what do you think we should be doing in the future? There, yeah. So I'm no epidemiologist, but for my personal experience, I really think it comes down to the idea of complacency. COVID has kind of become the new norm in some ways. And at first, when the pandemic was first becoming a major problem in the United States, it was such a new thing and people were so scared of it that by and large, people were pretty good about taking preventative measures, wearing masks, washing hands, using hand sanitizer, social distancing, things like that. But as we get into like more and more and more months of COVID, it just becomes increasingly challenging for people to continue putting in that same amount of energy to keep themselves and people they interact with safe. So I think people are just tired and they're fed up and they're sick of their lives being totally controlled by COVID. And as a result of that, even though they still do care and are still trying to not get sick, they're less willing to put in all of those significant amounts of energy it takes to like sterilize things that come into your house or people are becoming more willing to attend social gatherings or spend time with people. People are becoming more careless about mask wearing or social distancing. So I think it's just as time progresses, people lose that sense of urgency and the sense of importance that they originally had when COVID was first becoming a thing. So I think it's really just, the sooner we can get a vaccine, the better. Most people, again, are doing a good job, I think, or a relatively good job of trying to keep themselves safe. But the more time passes by, the more complacent people are going to be in the less effort, I think, we'll see people being willing to put in to keep themselves and others safe, even if it's not necessarily a conscious choice, it just becomes very like much more challenging for people to keep doing that when they feel like they've been doing it for months and months and months. Right, so Adam, going back over to you, recently the president contracted the virus, which obviously is incredibly significant. He was hospitalized for the weekend, but he did recover and he came back to the White House. So at the same time, as like the American people are seeing this recovery from somebody who through several categories is considered at risk, also he was receiving some of the top medical care in the nation. So it was like, there's both sides to this, but in general, how do you think the American people are going to change their frame of mind or not change their frame of mind based on what they saw the president go through? Yeah, so I definitely think the president getting COVID was like something I never would have expected. Like the most tested man, the leader of the free world, getting COVID-19 before like my family or like people that I know or me, it's just crazy to think about. And I think the American people are seeing that for what it is like. He obviously is not taking the proper precautions. He doesn't wear a mask around like events and meetings and stuff. And I mean, it's clearly come to bite him. And I think his response after getting it has almost been worse than him getting it in the first place because of the way he has downplayed COVID. He kept saying, don't let it control your life, which is really insensitive to the almost 210,000 American lives lost to COVID due in some part to his reaction and policies set around the virus. And just not advocating for the proper PPE, the proper testing, he doesn't really see it as something that is serious, that is affecting people in the way that it is. And I think the American people for the most part can kind of see that, at least I would hope. I personally hope that his followers are now kind of realizing that if Donald Trump can get COVID-19, so can they. It's not just something that affects just normal Americans. It can also affect the very wealthiest, the very most elite, our own leaders of our country. So they should be taking it justice seriously as everyone else. That's my personal thoughts. Yeah. And then Zoe, to bring you into this and kind of going off of the last answer as well, there's a lot of talk that this outbreak that's been going on through the White House, that is how Trump contracted the virus, started at one event in which there's very little mask use, no social distancing. How do you think in terms of accusations of hypocrisy in terms of what the administration is asking Americans to do while not following themselves, how do you think Americans are gonna respond to that? Is there anything else that you wanna add? Personally, I already think the White House before, but even before like any of the contracted COVID, they were already a very bad example, which encouraged a lot of other Americans to say, if the absolute hierarchy of this country doesn't follow these rules, then why should we? And so I really hope it makes them like step back and think, and yeah, like Adam said, I really hope it makes Trump supporters think about this whole virus. It was already weird enough that like a virus, like a pandemic became political in America. And so I really, yeah, I'm hoping that now seeing that the coronavirus doesn't just affect liberals, it doesn't just affect like statistics in the news, it affects real people, it affects real people of any demographic that it really makes them think because a lot of people who don't believe in scientists and don't believe in this pandemic, they just like, it's such an alien concept to them. And now that the president has it, the president of all people, at the very least, I hope they begin to just rethink their previous beliefs. Yeah, okay, so on this last topic, and Zoe, I wanna give you the first saying this one. Last month in September, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. She had been a very strong progressive voice, a fighter for women's rights, among other things on the Supreme Court. And now, I mean, we're very close to an election in the last final throws. And you see Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying that they're going to push through a nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, who's rather conservative onto the court to make sure that come an election time, there is not an eight-eight split and that they have that conservative majority. So what are you thinking about that? One part about it that really upsets me is that when Obama was president in 2016, if I remember correctly, there was a Supreme Court Justice that passed away over 200 days before the election. And then the Republicans were like, hold it, don't do anything about it. Like, and then they restricted Obama from electing anyone because they wanted to wait until the 2016 election for the chance that Trump could put someone in that position, which he was elected for and which he did. And so it's really upsetting that what? 45 days before the election, 40-something days, they were just so ready to go with that. And it kind of feels insulting that they were so quick about it. Like Trump gave a statement, he paid respects to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, however formal they were. But then, yeah, just the speediness of it and the hypocrisy is what makes me really upset. Yeah, so Ben kind of going off of that. I mean, you see if Merrick Garland is the justice that Obama was trying to nominate and Mitch McConnell blocked him from going to the Senate, now this time around, they're trying to reverse the precedent that he set. Do you think that this is like a popular decision? Do you think this is something that will go well for them in the election? Do you think they will lose support, gain support? What are you thinking? Sure, yeah. So a couple of things. First, I think Mitch McConnell and the Republicans are well aware that what they're doing is not going to be interpreted very well by a substantial number of Americans. I view it as kind of a sacrifice they're willing to make. So Mitch McConnell is willing to like pressure certain Republican senators who are running for reelection to a vote in this potentially unpopular vote to get a Republican or a conservative, a Supreme Court justice on to the court. So basically he's willing to make that sacrifice hurt the Republicans odds of maintaining their Senate majority in exchange for getting that justice on the court. I think in my mind, one of the problems with the United States Supreme Court is that the justice serves for their entire life. So by getting this justice approved, this is decades worth of political power that the conservatives are getting. So I think the Republicans view it as a sacrifice that they're willing to make in order to get one more justice on the court. Second though, I think what's interesting is kind of Mitch McConnell's justification for why he thinks it's okay that even though Republicans would not allow Obama to seat Merrick Garland on the court, why he feels it's okay for Republicans to try and push through their nominee. And my understanding is that his explanation is essentially that Republicans have the political power to be able to do that. So they control the presidency and they control the Senate and they have the ability, they have hard power basically to just force that nominee through, whereas Obama did not have the same levels of support in the Senate with his party to be able to get that nominee approved. So I think in some ways it definitely is hypocritical on the part of the Republicans, but at the same time, I do kind of see what Mitch McConnell's saying, which is that if Americans were willing to elect a Republican president and a Republican majority in the Senate, then they should maybe have the opportunity to be able to get that nominee through. So personally, I don't agree with it, and I think it's wrong what the Republicans are trying to do, but I think it is important to acknowledge the opposite point of view and that it's not just a case of Republicans being evil, it's a case of kind of a disagreement among political values and how we should interpret the responsibility and role of government in the United States. Right, okay. So Adam, I want to give you the final word on this. One of the big things that's been discussed regarding this issue, if Amy Coney-Barre is confirmed, she will be Trump's third nominee to the Supreme Court. And as we were talking about, it would cement a conservative majority onto the court. And so different issues that Democrats have been fighting for, abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, Obamacare and healthcare, all those issues are threatened by this potential conservative majority. So what do you think would be a lot of, there's been a lot of discussion about what Democrats should do, what they shouldn't do, kind of talking about what Ben was saying about like what's politically acceptable, packing the core of the suggestions that have been made. So what are you thinking about that in terms of like the stability of the system versus protecting what are seen as very important rights? Yeah, so I definitely think that Americans at this current point in time are kind of having a shift in the pendulum of thinking. We currently have a Republican executive branch and Congress and they're trying to push through their judge so that they can have more power in the third pedestal of American politics. And I think that it's not really reflecting how Americans see these issues at this current point in time. I would say that a majority are in favor of women's choice and the right to get an abortion. And the destruction of these principles that have been established throughout previous courts such as Roe v. Wade, I don't think it's time for that to be taken away. So I do think that if Biden was to be elected in this upcoming election, he would have to make the choice to pack the courts or not to and to let some of these core values kind of slip away from American grasp. But I'm not sure what is the right decision. Obviously it is a matter of political ethics. And I think that American people see what Trump is doing right now with this newest appointment as kind of low. It's definitely not on the up and up. But I also think that packing the courts can have some bad reactions from people too. So we'll just have to see what Biden chooses to do if he is elected or how the people respond to Trump's choice. All right. All right. Well, thank all of you so much. I think we had a great discussion today. This has been another episode of Teens On Topic. I have been your host, Tayden Talon. Thanks so much.