Insights & Commentaries

Insights & Commentaries

Video: Analysis of President Obama’s Speech in Montreal

Interview with CTV News,

In his speech in Montreal, President Obama never once mentioned Donald Trump. He didn't have to. His speech was "vintage Obama"--a call to reject a politics based on fear and bigotry and an affirmation of the institutions, norms and values at the heart of our diverse democracies.

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Insights & Commentaries

Video: Previewing President Obama’s Speech in Montreal

Interview with CTV News,

What Canadians can expect to hear from President Obama on his first visit to Canada since leaving the White House, and what it was like to be a White House speechwriter for Barack Obama...

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Insights & Commentaries

Video: Making Sense of Trump’s First Foreign Trip

Interview with CBC News,

Why the investigations into Trump and Russia won't go away, why $100 billion in weapons for Saudi Arabia won't address the Middle East's real problems, and what we can learn from 40 million Iranians...

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Insights & Commentaries

Audio: A Speechwriter’s Perspective on Trump’s First Foreign Trip

Interview with Minnesota Public Radio,

MPR News host Kerri Miller speaks with former Obama foreign policy speechwriter Terence Szuplat on Trump's first trip abroad, his "America First" foreign policy and the international fallout from controversy in the White House.

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Insights & Commentaries

Video: Why Trump’s Embrace of Dictators is Dangerous for the U.S.

Interview on Fox News,

"Real estate diplomacy" -- lavishing compliments on an opponent -- may have worked for Trump when negotiating in business, but heaping praise on tyrants risks aiding and abetting their oppression and is a tragic betrayal of American interests and values.

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Insights & Commentaries

What President Trump Will Say if Terrorists Strike in the U.S.

Op-Ed for The Washington Post,

Demagogues only succeed when their audiences surrender their agency over their own minds and hearts; when we allow the heated emotions of the moment to overwhelm the facts and enduring values we know to be true. We’ve been put on guard. Whether we succumb to Trump’s fear-mongering or rise above it is entirely up to us.

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Insights & Commentaries

Video: A Conversation on Presidential Rhetoric & Foreign Policy

Interview at the Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas

Reflections on how to correct a speech after the President has started speaking (minute 25); when President Obama said a speech was "fine" (1 hour, 10 min); why there's no such thing as the "deep state" (1 hour, 18); and three basic facts about Trump and Russia (1 hour, 22).

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Insights & Commentaries

Video: Former Presidential Speechwriters on Trump’s Address to Congress

TV interview with CBC News,

Szuplat: We saw “a tale of two Trumps. He gives the appearance of moderation while his agenda is as extreme as ever. I have to think that presidents and prime ministers all over the world – our closest allies, from Asia to Europe – were scratching their heads.”

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Insights & Commentaries

What Should Trump Tell Congress?

Comment for Politico Magazine,

“If he hopes to succeed as president, Trump will at some point need to appeal to people’s better angels, rather than their darkest impulses.”

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Insights & Commentaries

Trump’s First Weeks and America’s Role in the Asia Pacific

Interview with Australia’s Chifley Research Centre,

“There’s strong bipartisan support in Washington for a more stabilizing approach—continued broad-based U.S. political, economic and security engagement in the Asia Pacific. We’re not under any illusions that we can stop everything Trump is planning. But we’re seeing an unprecedented explosion of progressive activism and it will only get stronger.”

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