Closed captions transcript:

00:00:00
Estimated 70000 people are still in need
of immediate humanitarian relief and

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Bahamian officials say hundreds if not
thousands of people are still missing the

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U.S. Coast Guard working with

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a National Emergency Management
Agency in the Bahamas as

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a rescue to 295 people since Dorian hit
British forces are distributing clean water

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and hygiene kits the U.N. World
Food Program and the U.N.

00:00:25
International Office on migration has
airlifted ready to eat meals generators

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satellite equipment and tarps the Royal
Caribbean and Walt Disney cruise lines

00:00:36
which usually carry tourists to Bahamian
resorts are instead using their ships to

00:00:41
deliver food water flashlights and
other supplies Hampton University

00:00:46
a historically black college in the U.S.

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State of Virginia has offered free classes
and room and board to students from the

00:00:53
University of the Bahamas for the current
fall semester the death toll from the

00:00:58
disaster stands at 30 but Bahamian
officials expect that number to rise

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Britain's brags that dilemma intensified
on Friday as opposition parties are

00:01:09
refused to support Prime Minister Barak's
Johnson's call for an election until he

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secures

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a delay of Britain's exit from the European
Union something he vows he'll never do

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Johnson insists Britain
must leave the E.U.

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In $55.00 days and says an election is the
only way to break the deadlock that has

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seen lawmakers repeatedly rejected the
deal on offer but also block attempts to

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leave the E.U. Without one.
As Sudan awaits formation of

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a new government following

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a landmark political deal thousands of
houses across the country remain under water

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the rainy season hit particularly hard this
year and fuel shortages one of the main

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motivation behind the initial protests
last year which ousted longtime president

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Omar al Bashir have continued to exacerbate
the problem according to UN numbers 62

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people have been killed in

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a recent floods the state news agency
Suna has reported that 35000 homes in 17

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of Sudan's 18 states has been affected
the NATO led military alliance says

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an American soldier and

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a Romanian soldier have been killed in
action Thursday in Kabul raising the number

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of U.S. Military fatalities to 16
this year this just days after U.S.

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Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad announced that
United States had reached an agreement in

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principle with the Taliban from
Washington I'm Steve Karishma

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V.O.A.

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News. From

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Washington V.O.A.

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Exams issues in the news.
Welcome to you this is

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a new name on the panel this week the
policies the following years correspondent

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for Politico Jonathan Broder
contributing editor to these week

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a moderator is Michael Williams and
cities or he has Radio in Washington.

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Welcome everyone here are the issues
Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson

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suffered

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a series of damaging defeats over the
government's policy on leaving the European

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Union

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a coalition of opposition and conservative
lawmakers are attempting to pass legislation

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to prevent Britain from exiting the
European Union with no deal on October 31st

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Hong Kong chief executive Kerry Lam
withdrew an extradition bill that sparked 3

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months of pro-democracy protests

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a move that she said China understands
respects and supports the trumpet

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ministration is moving ahead with plans
to divert $3600000000.00 from military

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construction projects to build
or fortified portions of

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a wall along the US Mexico border while
Vice President Mike Pence arrived in

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Ireland this week where he raised some
eyebrows with his travel accommodations and

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his comments about bracket
and hurricane Dorian cut

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a path of destruction through the Bahamas
leaving the island nation desperate for

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international aid and intensifying concerns
over the effects of climate change

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welcome panelists today and let's start
off with break that and Boris Johnson for

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shots and came into office with

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a couple of what he thought were very
good chess moves if you will in terms of

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parliamentary procedure and those have
not advanced his cause and may have even

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caused him

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a setback Nala start with you his 1st couple
of weeks not really good weeks for the

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new prime minister Yeah in fact and the
other day I googled who is the shortest

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serving prime minister. In Britain just
because I'm honestly curious how long Boris

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is going to last yet he has tried to basically
suspend Parliament he's talked about

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getting a new election

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a snap election and everything is lining
up against him his own brother basically

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quit Parliament you know the rare politician
who will wants to do it to spend less

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time with his family out of protest or
what's happening so it's kind of incredible

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and it's kind of fascinating you know for
Britain to be going through this there

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are

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a lot of countries in the world who were
once under British colonial rule who are

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probably just watching this with some
pleasure perhaps indeed Jonathan as you

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assess the situation and look at it we
thought to recently had it better seems like

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portions really has it worse exactly I
mean he had 3 strikes against him he he

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tried to as you say suspend parliament
parliament basically fought back and did

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a lot to do that then
the parliament passed

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a bill that would prevent
Britain's exit from the E.U.

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With no deal that Bill is in lotion now
actually the House of Lords has to approve

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it but the feeling is that
they will and then he wanted

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a sample election and they stop that now I
think there will be an election probably

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leaders for November and we'll see who wins
things don't look good for him and when

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you look at the situation where
he's trying to negotiate

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a deal if he's trying to get some sort of
deal with the European Union is there an

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ally is there anyone even
to shake hands with on

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a deal is anyone at the European Union
even willing to negotiate at this point or

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is it pretty much Boris Johnson talking to
to no one there's no one to shake hands

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with the E.U. Has repeatedly
said that they've offered

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a deal and that's the best deal they're
going to get and that's it I mean this

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isn't the past 23 years where trees and
they are all about and she's probably one

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of those who's also watching thinking Ha
ha you thought you could do better than me

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and you know Boris he has an ego and he
comes in thinking I'll just smooth top

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people or whatever the same
way that he's smooth talked

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a lot of people into voting for

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a bad set and now he's finding out
oh here's the reality because in

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a new goes. And there's other people
involved I guess the question is does he

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really want to negotiate or is

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a hard exit something that he's
wanted from the beginning he has U.S.

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President Donald Trump on his side saying
that he will give him everything in terms

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of negotiation so is it really kind
of a political victory although

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a pale one for him just to have

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a hard break that you know I mean you do
get the sense that he would be fine with

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the hard drugs but I think

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a lot of breaks the tears actually like the
idea that they feel like let's just do

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it why should we go on any terms that have
to do with the Europeans but that just

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really opens Britain up to chaos and not
to mention the world economy and also

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Boris Yes he has Trump telling him oh
we'll support you no matter what you're

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really smart you'll get it done but at the
same time Trump's aides have been very

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clear that they're not going to
give British an easy time on

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a trade deal I mean there's already
arguments over everything from about

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chlorinated chicken to other types of
food standards and I just think if he's

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honestly thinking that the U.S.

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Is going to be easy on him in

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a trade deal like he's he's out of his
mind I mean this president is one who has

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slapped tariffs on allies already so there's
no reason to think he's actually going

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to be kind of British very good point as
we look for Pats forward so there is the

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hard exit from the European Union movie
look for other alternatives is there any

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sort of path

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a constitutional path to either resending
or redoing this referendum or having some

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other path to staying in the European Union
or extending it what are the pathways

00:08:16
to compromise here this is exactly the
question that they've been struggling with

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for the past 3 years basically British
politics have descended into a case

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a situation of political mayhem what Boris
Johnson is saying is I don't really want

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a no deal brags that but
neither does the E.U.

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Because this is the 2nd largest economy
in Europe and if we pull out with no deal

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they're going to get her to so that's my
leverage my leverage is to go into these

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negotiations and say hey I don't care.
Talking mutually assured destruction Yes

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exactly and we are willing to do that so
it's a game of chicken and he's also been

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a bit disingenuous he says that he has to
go shoot who's over in Brussels right now

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has put forward proposals and things moving
along swimmingly and in fact the people

00:09:05
over at the E.U.

00:09:06
Are saying we haven't heard the new
proposals and of course Germany CORBIN The

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leader of the Labor opposition has pointed
this out also has pointed out exactly

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what Know How is saying that Britain will
end up negotiating with the United States

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which will put America 1st and Britain

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a distant 2nd distant 2nd I think that most
would agree with that your thoughts on

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the whole to close it out as there is I do
have to say that you know Boris to some

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extent operates in this ambiguity right
and he likes that I don't think he would

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mind at all if else end up being

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a hard back that one thing I can tell you
is and I know this like businesses in

00:09:41
Britain and Europe they're
planning and have been for

00:09:44
a long time for hardbacks
that like they just don't see

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a deal does it's hard to see

00:09:47
a way of half or again if we don't see the
partners to compromise you have to have

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someone to shake hands
with in order to get

00:09:53
a compromise and even within his own
government he doesn't seem to have that also

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the date is October 31st it's Halloween
I don't know who came up with that idea

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I've been in London on how we night it
is terrifying people staggering around I

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can't imagine what it's going to be like
brags that they're takeaways are hollow we

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know

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a game of chlorinated chicken or. This
particular segment let's move on to Hong

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Kong protests again Hong Kong chief
executive Kerry Lam has rescinded this

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extradition bill that sparked the
democracy protests that seems like

00:10:27
a victory but the protesters themselves
are saying that it's too little too late

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John will start with you the actual
Bishan Bill do you see it as

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a victory for the protesters I think it's

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a partial victory for them but
they feel that they have got

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a carry limb sort of on the run and they
are going to push forward with their other

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demands which is

00:10:46
a police investigation investigation
into. The police handling of the

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demonstrations the protests themselves
have created issues on top of the issues

00:10:54
that are being protested originally
right and the 2nd one is they want more

00:10:59
democracy they want direct elections they
want to basically cut the genie out of

00:11:04
the process and Beijing is very angry about
this they do not like this so for now

00:11:10
the situation is calm the markets have
come up again in the head of the American

00:11:14
Chamber of Commerce says
that Hong Kong is now

00:11:17
a safe place to do business invest but
there's more to come so we're not done with

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this you know we'll talk a little bit
more about long term stability in

00:11:25
a minute only Back to you know how you
carry land made extraordinary statement I

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just want to read part of it for a chief
executive she's talking about herself for

00:11:32
a chief executive to have caused this huge
havoc to Hong Kong is unforgivable it's

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just unforgivable if I have a choice
the 1st thing is to quit having made

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a deep apology is to step down she made
this statement into tape recorders by the

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way and then denied having said it Beijing
said it was fake news obviously under

00:11:51
binds the credibility of that particular
chief executive I guess my thought is how

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important is Carrie Lee or any chief executive
how critical is that position to any

00:12:00
negotiation that goes forward or
is that person essentially just

00:12:03
a mouthpiece for what's
going on in Beijing that's

00:12:05
a tough one I mean you know it seems like
Harry land very much underestimated the

00:12:10
anger that this has
caused and it's not just

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a matter of like the fact that earlier she
suspended the bill which wasn't enough

00:12:18
for the protesters or not now she's worked
on it it's that she allowed it to be

00:12:22
introduced in the 1st place I mean the
question there is like why would you think

00:12:26
that this is going to go over well with
this population of yours that is used to

00:12:30
democracy and human rights and those types
of things and does not want to get under

00:12:35
the thumb of of Beijing and so is this
position important and I think that's one of

00:12:39
the reasons that the protesters want direct
elections because they feel like this

00:12:44
chief executive position is very much

00:12:45
a tool or can be one of Beijing in the
future. John King alluded to the fact that

00:12:50
the markets rebounding and what Hong Kong
has always had I lived there for 5 years

00:12:55
myself I know what it's had is that that
feeling of its stability and constancy you

00:13:00
know in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
and if you undermine that you really have

00:13:04
destroyed Hong Kong as a as

00:13:05
a market place and sort of the core of it
there's something called Lion rock spirit

00:13:09
which refers to perseverance solidarity
the possibility of improvement and

00:13:15
responsibility for maintaining that sense
of advancement is very much almost

00:13:19
American type of spirit there if that sort
of thing is broken say by an author just

00:13:23
either panelist want to comment when you
have things like Cathay Pacific being

00:13:27
forced to fire employees who are agreeing
with protests when you have Cathay

00:13:32
Pacific having pilots not being allowed to
land in Beijing when their planes if the

00:13:36
pilots have agreed with

00:13:38
a protest is this the economic version of
rolling tanks through Tiananmen Square

00:13:42
yes in a way it is I mean there is

00:13:45
a death in the way the resident Chen and
where thousands were killed I don't want

00:13:49
to underestimate that the seriousness of
the enemy by making that comparison for

00:13:53
sure but you know one of the tactics that
Xi Jinping is used is to mass security

00:13:59
forces on the border which is just over
the border on the mainland I mean that

00:14:04
right I was based in Beijing for 3 years
back in the eighty's and to go to Hong

00:14:10
Kong was like going to heaven but you're
absolutely right I mean the whole spirit

00:14:14
of the place who was much more capitalistic
than America was I mean it was totally

00:14:18
unfettered capitalism and that is the
the culture in gone to get back to

00:14:24
a point now Hala made which which is that
Kerry Lam should have known before issues

00:14:29
in this bill the sort of reception around
there were demonstrations several years

00:14:33
ago the the umbrella protests and the
whole idea of Beijing trying to rude this

00:14:40
agreement when they took possession and
in 1907 they were supposed to basically

00:14:45
operate under one state 2 systems for
I thing. Can till 2027 or something

00:14:51
like that around them I believe that's right
yeah and all the other Chinese leaders

00:14:56
preceding Xi Jinping honored that she
didn't ping is not it's not that it's

00:15:01
a great difference between them why don't
you get one more comment and after we

00:15:04
take

00:15:05
a break and we'll be back with more issues
in the news issues in the news is coming

00:15:09
to you from the Voice of America in
Washington if you would like to download the

00:15:13
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00:15:19
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00:15:19
a News dot com Also check out our other
programs press conferences USA and encounter

00:15:26
and to visit us on Facebook and to leave

00:15:28
a comment or 2 then like us at current
affairs with Carol Cassidy Yeah now back to

00:15:33
our panel the hall to the foreign affairs
correspondent Barbara and Jonathan Broder

00:15:39
contributing editor at Newsweek moderator
Michael Williams contributor to C.B.S.

00:15:45
Radio in Washington welcome back do you
want to make Wilmot last comment on the

00:15:49
whole Yeah I would just say that you know
on the one hand you could argue that

00:15:53
Beijing has evolved in its approach to
these things compared to Tiananmen Square

00:15:57
they seem to be approaching this knowing
the world is watching knowing that they

00:16:01
have to be more careful more sophisticated
on the other hand this is in some ways

00:16:06
you know if you're trying to hawk

00:16:07
a preview of the future of the world as
China gets more dominance and influence

00:16:13
over many other countries I mean there's

00:16:15
a strong possibility that you know even
if there's not an official government

00:16:19
relationship that they could have the sort
of influence on these other countries in

00:16:24
a way that erodes the freedoms of
the people there and I think for

00:16:26
a lot of china Hawks are watching
this and thinking this is not

00:16:29
a good sign I could only with you there
and agree with you John that there's much

00:16:33
to be done and much to be seen in the
future on the rest of these reforms as they

00:16:37
as they evolve over time let's move on to
the truck ministrations movie had with

00:16:40
plans to divert $3600000000.00 from
military construction projects to build

00:16:44
a fortified portion of the wall along the
US Mexico border power of the purse along

00:16:48
. Longs to Congress I believe that the
truck administration is doing this on the

00:16:53
authority of emergency powers that were
declared earlier in the year again you have

00:16:57
Republican senators Republican lawmakers
whose funds are being taken literally from

00:17:01
their constituencies to do this
thing and they go to Jonathan as

00:17:04
a policy move effective as

00:17:06
a political move effective I guess that
really depends on which constituency you're

00:17:11
trying to appeal to now it's absolutely
correct that normally the power of the

00:17:15
purse rest in the hands of Congress and
Congress appropriates money they authorized

00:17:20
and they appropriated and they give it to
the various branches of the ministration

00:17:26
within the departments they can decide where
they want that money to go but shifted

00:17:31
from one account to another but for
the president to basically defy

00:17:37
a decision by Congress would require

00:17:40
a marriage of the powers that in that case
the president can do that so they'll be

00:17:44
films as you say a policy have

00:17:46
a political question I mean it read some
of the senators some of the elected

00:17:49
officials who are losing money and
this one Senator Martha make Sally

00:17:53
a Republican senator from Arizona 30
$1000000.00 in funds are being diverted from

00:17:57
an Army base in her state other Republican
senators include Thom Tillis of North

00:18:02
Carolina $80000000.00 Mitch McConnell
of Kentucky are Senate majority leader

00:18:07
$62000000.00 JOHN CORNYN of Texas
48000000 Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

00:18:12
11000000 These are some of the president's
most staunch supporters will there be

00:18:16
any pushback from these people do you
think I think there might be some sort of

00:18:21
almost like

00:18:22
a pro forma I don't anticipate they'll do
anything significant although it's kind

00:18:26
of a mixed bag I mean there is

00:18:28
a lot of frustration in Congress with the
executive branch's constant attempts to

00:18:31
like reconfigure the way finding is supposed
to be appropriate and like that has

00:18:36
been a frustration and there
has been some fight back on

00:18:38
a bipartisan basis but I mean you know we
have an election year coming up are the

00:18:42
Republicans really going to try to pillory
the president would thus when they're

00:18:47
thinking about who's going to. When in
November next November I mean I just I don't

00:18:52
see this is becoming something they're
willing to go to not far and interesting

00:18:56
point to to discuss because as you say it's
next November each of the senators that

00:18:59
I mention is up for reelection
so typically a senator goes into

00:19:03
a district and or to

00:19:04
a state and says I managed to bring this
much money to our state and in this case

00:19:09
they have to defend this much
money leaving the state kind of

00:19:12
a delicate balance for anyone
who's running for office it's

00:19:14
a very delicate balance but you know
Trump ran on a campaign promising

00:19:20
a border wall biggest promise I think that
he made that Mexico was going to pay for

00:19:25
of course but nevertheless that you know
it's like the people have forgotten I mean

00:19:30
I think you know we as journalists remember
that and of course Democrats are very

00:19:34
that certain but I don't think his base
really cares I think that they want the

00:19:38
wall and Trump says that there's

00:19:41
a national emergency which the base agrees
with and I think that these senators who

00:19:45
are up for reelection and who are in
this difficult spot probably politically

00:19:49
prudent for them not to pillory the president
and to make the argument for the wall

00:19:55
on the basis of the campaign
money I'm going to shift

00:19:58
a little bit to Mike Pence vice president
might Pence's visit his stopover visit in

00:20:02
Ireland and sort of bring it back to the
current subject and watch me do this so he

00:20:07
stopped over and I went and stayed at
President Trump's resort doing bag which is I

00:20:12
can verify this 3 hours 3 and

00:20:14
a half hours driving away from the meetings
that he had in Dublin It's literally on

00:20:18
the other side of the island so of
course when you can't afford a 3 and

00:20:23
a half hour drive you fly so he flew
forced to from one side of the island to

00:20:28
another costing taxpayers millions of
dollars also just Tangentially I think Mike

00:20:33
Pence did sort of anger and upset his hosts
by saying that Ireland which is part of

00:20:38
the European Union had

00:20:39
a quote unquote responsibility to support
Bragg's it which it does not support

00:20:44
Irish prime minister of Iraq made that very
clear he does not support that with the

00:20:48
Irish. Northern Ireland border being

00:20:50
a major concern but I guess to bring it
back to the previous subject I grew up with

00:20:54
Republicans that were all about cutting
waste and they were all about the saving

00:20:58
money and small government and you would
think that would be an argument or

00:21:01
a pathway to say we're going to save enough
money to pay for the wall and yet you

00:21:06
have Mike Pence spending millions of
extra dollars in unnecessary travel the

00:21:10
president's golf travel
that sort of thing is there

00:21:12
a pathway really for the
Republicans to turn on its on

00:21:15
a dime and say we're going to save the
money to pay for the wall rather than pull

00:21:19
it from schools at military bases I would
argue no I mean as long as Trump is

00:21:24
president I mean this is an extraordinary
situation when you think about it because

00:21:29
why did pence stay at homes resort he
stayed because the president suggested that

00:21:34
he stay there now that is illegal
I mean let's call a spade

00:21:38
a spade here the Constitution
says that the president gets

00:21:41
a salary and that's all he gets that doesn't
change and he's not allowed to accept

00:21:46
emoluments which is gifts or

00:21:48
a more money another word for gifts writing
for either domestically or from foreign

00:21:54
governments and by suggesting this is
sort of something almost like you hear if

00:21:59
from Mafia mobs you know we would be in
your interests not how to make sure you

00:22:06
stay at my hotel nice family you got there
maybe you should stay at the hotel at

00:22:10
that yes exactly and Pence who is

00:22:14
a Christian fundamentalist but he does what
the president yes and the president by

00:22:19
the way has denied suggesting that Penn
State that I tell pence his own chief of

00:22:25
staff is the one who says yes suggested
they stay there now who do you believe the

00:22:32
chief of staff or you're going to believe
your lying eyes I've heard somewhere or

00:22:38
somewhere yes I did

00:22:41
a political question you know I think
one thing that Republicans seem to be

00:22:44
increasingly coming to the conclusion
of is that their base does not really.

00:22:48
Necessarily care about the financial stuff
that their base seems to be more driven

00:22:53
by cultural types of things by issues like
abortion or immigration and these other

00:22:58
things that have nothing to do with whether
the deficit is exploding under Trump or

00:23:02
not and I think for

00:23:03
a more moderate traditional establishment
Republicans maybe that matters more but

00:23:07
the base seems to have taken over so for
them electorally speaking I think they're

00:23:11
just realizing that's the financial stuff
it's not going to drive much and I think

00:23:15
you're exactly right the very astute
analysis of that it to try to base is

00:23:18
a series of or coalition of one vote
voters or maybe one or 2 votes who combine

00:23:23
together and really don't care about
anything else besides that those one or 2

00:23:27
things let's move on very quickly to
hurricane Dorian the Bahamas prime minister

00:23:30
she did Minutes is pledging to do whatever
is necessary to carry out rescue and

00:23:34
recovery efforts the hurricane devastated
the Caribbean archipelago it's focused

00:23:40
around the island of Abaco someplace and
again very very familiar with lots of aid

00:23:44
rushing there the metrics on the storm seem
to be one of the worst that we've ever

00:23:48
seen 180 mile an hour sustained winds
things like this I'll give you know how do

00:23:52
you have any idea of what we're looking
at in terms of damage on terms of

00:23:55
casualties or anything like that well
those 30 confirmed but there's tremendous

00:24:01
belief and fear that it's going to be much
higher than that the death toll I mean

00:24:05
at least hundreds possibly over

00:24:07
a 1000 and many thousands are missing right
now so they're just trying to right now

00:24:12
and do

00:24:12
a cleanup effort essential and you know
God knows what they're going to find and

00:24:16
it's going to be horrific no matter what
and you know what with climate change this

00:24:21
could stand to become the new normal and
so you have to ask yourself the question

00:24:25
of like are we going to just rebuild the
same way we did before if we're going to

00:24:28
have another storm like this next year and
I don't know I think there needs to be

00:24:31
a grander strategy and I don't see anyone
really stepping up to to deal with that

00:24:36
junk to give you your thought well it was

00:24:38
a horrific catastrophe down there if you
see the pictures of Abaco Island just

00:24:44
looks like every other building was destroyed
totally trying to set the Coast Guard

00:24:48
. In this big contrast at least in his
reaction to the disaster that just hit the

00:24:55
Bahamas and the one that hit Puerto Rico
he very much made every effort to not

00:25:01
give Puerto Rico the that it needed Yeah
but he was ready to give aid to the

00:25:07
Bahamas we apply that we hope that we see
as much as possible and I'll throw this

00:25:11
last question out there
really quick sort of

00:25:12
a 32nd answer for each one of you obviously
this turns to an issue of climate

00:25:17
change we have to look at this when we see
these ever intensifying storms that are

00:25:20
passing through and doing so much damage
is there any way for the climate change

00:25:25
issue to be turned into

00:25:27
a national security issue could be looked
at in that way the Obama administration

00:25:32
did look at climate change as

00:25:33
a national security issue and when you
talk to people from not administration

00:25:37
they'll tell you yeah they're worried about
things like terrorism etc But climate

00:25:40
is what keeps them up at
night I mean there is

00:25:43
a way but when you have one political party
that is completely unwilling to accept

00:25:47
the idea that climate change is even

00:25:49
a thing that it's hard to tell how
you're going to actually make that

00:25:52
a reality and it just may come down to
local governments and state governments to

00:25:56
really pick up the flock jumps in to give
you the last word What's interesting

00:25:59
about this climate change
question is that as

00:26:02
a security issue is that even though the
administration ignores it as an issue if

00:26:08
you look at various Pentagon studies of
national security strategy documents every

00:26:14
one of them mentions climate change as

00:26:16
a national security issue but again you
have to have people who believe as you say

00:26:20
it's

00:26:20
a thing in order to address it but it's
certainly real enough to the people in Abaco

00:26:25
and we send via slee you know all of
our best wishes for everyone there and

00:26:30
a speedy recovery to that area that is all
the time we have thanks to not all to

00:26:35
easy foreign affairs correspondent for
Politico and Jonathan Broder contributing

00:26:39
editor at Newsweek this
program is produced by V.O.A.

00:26:43
Is Kim Lewis our engineer is just inflates
And I'm Michael Williams thanks for

00:26:48
listening.

00:27:49
From V.O.A.

00:27:50
. USA Here is your host.

00:27:57
Welcome to Press Conference USA on The
Voice of America our special guest on this

00:28:02
edition of the program is the award winning
Washington bureau chief of USA Today

00:28:07
Susan Page She's the author of the recently
published book The matriarch Barbara

00:28:13
Bush and the Making of
an American dynasty It's

00:28:16
a biography of former 1st lady Barbara
Bush wife of President George H.W.

00:28:20
Bush and mother of President George W.

00:28:23
Bush

00:28:24
a veteran political journalist Susan Page
has covered 6 White House administrations

00:28:29
and 10 presidential elections she interviewed
the past 9 presidents from Richard

00:28:34
Nixon through Donald Trump and reported
from 6 continents and dozens of foreign

00:28:39
countries Susan bases her biography of
Barbara Bush on more than $100.00 interviews

00:28:45
with Bush family members friends and
hours of conversation. As with Mrs Bush

00:28:49
herself in the final 6 months of her life
she also had access to decades of Mrs

00:28:55
Bush's personal diaries the matriarch
examines not only bushes public persona but

00:29:01
also less well known aspects of her
extraordinary life Barbara Piers Bush was

00:29:06
a descendant of the pilgrims who came to
the new world in 1620 on the English ship

00:29:11
the Mayflower she was also related to
Franklin Pierce the 14th president of the

00:29:16
United States despite her distinguished
lineage Barbara dealt with much hardship

00:29:21
throughout her life her mother would often
criticize her for being overweight which

00:29:25
left lifelong scars on her self-esteem as

00:29:29
a young wife Barbara lost her 3 year old
daughter Robin to leukemia and in middle

00:29:34
age she struggled with depression that was
so serious that she contemplated suicide

00:29:39
according to Susan Page Barbara Bush was
only the 2nd woman in history to be both

00:29:44
the wife and mother of presidents and
the only woman to live to see both her

00:29:49
husband and

00:29:50
a son in that high office throughout
her life Barbara Bush was consistently

00:29:54
underestimated by her mother by her
teachers by her husband and by herself

00:29:59
nonetheless Susan Page tells us that the
traditional homemaker and mother went on

00:30:04
to be

00:30:04
a formidable political campaign strategist
and beloved 1st lady to talk more about

00:30:11
her biography of Barbara Bush and other
current political issues Susan Page joins

00:30:15
us here at the V.O.A.

00:30:17
Broadcast Center in Washington welcome to
the program I'm so glad to be here Carol

00:30:21
and always I'm delighted to welcome my
colleague Jim alone nice to see you well

00:30:26
Susan 1st of all congratulations on this
very moving and informative biography of

00:30:31
course it came out earlier this year
in April it would have marked the 1st

00:30:35
anniversary of the death of Barbara Bush
and reading it for me was like getting to

00:30:40
know this public figure in

00:30:42
a very intimate way Barbara Bush was
fascinating in that as we know she was both

00:30:47
1st lady and them. Other of the
subsequent President George W.

00:30:51
Bush and you said in the book that she
was the most underestimated 1st lady of

00:30:56
modern times did you sense that before you
embarked on the project what actually

00:31:01
drew you to Barbara Bush you know I had
covered Barbara Bush as the spouse of

00:31:06
candidates as the spouse of George H.W.

00:31:09
Bush she was in fact the 1st presidential
candidate I ever interviewed that was in

00:31:13
1900 and as of course
the mother of George W.

00:31:16
Bush those are all campaigns
that I covered as

00:31:19
a reporter and I knew that she was interesting
she was caustic She was funny she

00:31:25
was outspoken but it was not until I did
research for this book that I understood

00:31:31
how influential she also had been but you
said she became an indispensable adviser

00:31:37
to George Bush something that we wouldn't
know you know from just watching her on

00:31:42
the public stage and you know she didn't
start out that way when they were 1st

00:31:46
married right after World War 2 They had

00:31:50
a very traditional marriage where he called
the shots he had just graduated from

00:31:54
Yale University in Connecticut and he came
home one day and told her that they were

00:31:59
going to move to Texas for him to take

00:32:01
a job now he didn't ask her if they should
move to Texas he didn't ask her what she

00:32:05
would think about

00:32:06
a move to Texas he just made that decision
and she went along with it in the most

00:32:10
traditional arrangements between spouses
in those days but over time she became

00:32:15
increasingly confident herself he became
increasingly reliant on her judgment about

00:32:21
things and by the time he was
running for president purse was

00:32:24
a voice that in some ways he listened to
most and there were some occasions in 1988

00:32:29
where he ran for president and won the
presidency that she was the critical voice

00:32:35
on how to proceed with that campaign
let me let my colleague Jim in for

00:32:39
a question what kind of advice was she adept
at for President Bush her husband and

00:32:46
then you know would it be

00:32:47
a different sort of. Type of
advice for her son who was also

00:32:51
a president it's interesting one of the
things she did in the 1988 campaign for her

00:32:55
husband was she urged him to be tougher
he was reluctant to do some negative T.V.

00:33:00
Ads against his opponents in that
campaign against Bob Dole who was

00:33:04
a now the Republican running for the
nomination and later against Michael Dukakis

00:33:08
who was the Democratic nominee
running against George H.W.

00:33:12
Bush in 1980 and she urged him to air
tougher ads to make tougher statements that

00:33:17
turned out to be crucial in his victory
both in getting that Republican nomination

00:33:22
for president and in winning the White
House and his her role with her son was

00:33:27
different she was very supportive of her
son natural you'd expect that of any

00:33:31
mother but she was also willing to raise
issues with him when she thought he was

00:33:37
wrong and that was different
from her husband George H.W.

00:33:40
Bush had said when George W.

00:33:42
Bush was inaugurated as president that he
was going to give his son advice unless

00:33:47
his son asked for it and his son almost
never asked for his advice but Barbara Bush

00:33:52
did not make that kind of promise and in
fact she felt free to go in and talk to

00:33:56
her son when she thought he was doing the
right thing in doing the wrong thing and

00:34:00
on one notable example she had real concerns
about the course of the Iraq war she

00:34:05
went to her son said he was listening too
much to Vice President Cheney to the

00:34:09
defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld that
he should be listening to other more

00:34:13
moderate voices so much so that he finally
said that she needed to stop it that he

00:34:18
was the president that he knew what he was
doing and that she had to trust him did

00:34:22
she have do you think

00:34:23
a good sense on say public opinion or where
the country was on certain things and

00:34:28
she could bring that to bear
on some of his advice she had

00:34:31
a sense of people you know she was

00:34:34
a woman of great privilege she had
fantastic social bloodlines the bushes she

00:34:39
married into a wealthy family
the bushes but she had

00:34:42
a sense of how people live their lives and
what was important to them and I think

00:34:47
one thing that helped her do that was she
had. This tragic experience with her

00:34:51
daughter when Barbara Bush
was just 28 years old and

00:34:54
a young mother in Midland Texas her
daughter was diagnosed with leukemia

00:34:59
a disease she had never heard of 6 months
later after 6 brutal months of treatment

00:35:03
Robin died and it was that experience I
think when Barbara Bush and George Bush

00:35:08
discovered that all their money and their
position and their power could do nothing

00:35:13
to save Robin they got to know parents of
much less fortunate circumstances in the

00:35:19
same boat with children with leukemia
and I think that was an experience that

00:35:23
really left

00:35:24
a mark on Barbara Bush I'd like to pick up
on that point Susan because as you said

00:35:28
the death of Robin influenced her deeply
as well it's George Bush one thing you

00:35:33
associated with her death was that
Barbara Bush's views visa vi abortion

00:35:40
evolved perhaps that experience informed
them could you talk about that farmer was

00:35:45
she gave me this extraordinary gift it was
really the last time we talked although

00:35:49
we didn't know if the last time we were
going to talk are supposed to have

00:35:51
a 6 interview with her she became ill and
hospitalized before that could happen at

00:35:56
the end of the 5th interview she told me
I could read her diaries which she had

00:36:00
said in the 1st interview not to even ask
about it because I was never going to see

00:36:03
or diaries which I understood because you're
diaries are very personal thing so she

00:36:08
gave me this permission to go and look at
these decades and decades of diaries and

00:36:12
I was going through her diary from 1980
this is when George Bush her husband made

00:36:17
his 1st bid for the presidency he didn't
get the nomination he did become vice

00:36:22
president for President Reagan that
year and in her diary was talked

00:36:26
a 4 page letter she had written to herself
at the top of this letter it said

00:36:31
thoughts about abortion because she knew
with their husband running for president

00:36:35
she was going to be asked about that
difficult and controversial issue and she

00:36:39
wanted to think about what she believed
and in this letter she said that I was

00:36:45
there when Robin was born and I felt her.
Soul into her body and I was there with

00:36:51
Robin the instant she died and I felt her
soul leave her body and if you're so

00:36:57
interested body at the moment of your birth
that abortion is murder and it ought to

00:37:02
be left up to

00:37:03
a mother and her doctor and that was the
view she held for the rest of her life I

00:37:07
wonder how she was seen by others in the
family because her legend seemed to grow

00:37:13
over the decades and of course you know
with 2 presidents in the family in some

00:37:17
sense you can look at the Bush family as

00:37:19
a counterpart to the Kennedys on the
Republican side but you know sometimes you

00:37:23
would hear her sons whether it's George W.

00:37:25
Bush the former president or Jeb Bush former
governor of Florida or others and they

00:37:31
almost talk

00:37:32
a little bit of fear and trepidation
about her but she has seemed to have an

00:37:37
outsized influence within the family you
know Jim when I covered these campaigns

00:37:41
that involved Barbara Bush voters
would think of her as this very sweet

00:37:45
grandmotherly figure because she had this
cloud of gray hair and she always wore

00:37:49
pearls and people would often say you know
you're just like my grandmother or she's

00:37:54
so sweet she must be

00:37:55
a wonderful cookies this was not at all
who Barbara Bush was and people in her

00:37:59
family understood that now why she looked
very grandmotherly and washy was in fact

00:38:04
a grandmother who loved her grandchildren
loved her children she was tough and her

00:38:09
nickname within the family was the enforcer
because the fact is she enforce the

00:38:15
rules she ruled on what SWAT she sometimes
hurt people's feelings she could be not

00:38:20
reserved about saying what she thought and
sometimes even for members of her family

00:38:25
that would leave a little bit of

00:38:27
a sting I can tell you always knew where
you stood with Barbara Bush and it seems

00:38:32
like her sons were always aware of that
and they would comment about it often in

00:38:37
jest in

00:38:38
a way but often there's an element of
truth when people try to make light of

00:38:42
a situation like that and just her influence
on their lives seem quite large Well

00:38:47
here's an example when. Her son Jeb Bush
was running for president in 2016 for the

00:38:53
Republican nomination so we knew he was
thinking about it we didn't think he had

00:38:57
decided she would and did an interview
on The Today Show where she said he

00:39:01
shouldn't run that the country had had
enough Bushes there were other people in the

00:39:06
bushes in the Clintons who ought to run
and the fact is Jeb Bush at that point

00:39:11
already decided he was going to run he
just had announced it he watches this

00:39:14
interview on T.V.

00:39:16
Appalled here his mother

00:39:18
a national icon is saying he should run
so he called her and said What are you

00:39:21
doing why did you do that
and she said they asked me

00:39:24
a question I answered it and you know
if you look at the perspective of some

00:39:27
hindsight as it turned out in 2016 Americans
maybe had had no bushes and enough

00:39:32
Clintons and were ready for somebody
new We'll have more in just

00:39:36
a moment but 1st you're listening to Press
Conference USA on The Voice of America

00:39:41
our guest is USA Today bureau chief
Susan Page She's also the author of the

00:39:46
recently published book The matriarch
Barbara Bush and the Making of an American

00:39:50
dynasty I'm Carol Costello along with senior
national correspondent Jim alone this

00:39:57
is a reminder that our peace USA podcast
is available on our website at V.O.A.

00:40:02
News dot com slash P.C.
USA and a new V.O.A.

00:40:06
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00:40:10
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00:40:15
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00:40:18
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00:40:19
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00:40:25
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00:40:28
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00:40:30
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to our guest Susan Page and Susan is

00:40:35
speaking of frankness with regard to
Barbara Bush there's one thing I'll never

00:40:39
forget and that is the way she referred to
Geraldine Ferraro the vice presidential

00:40:45
candidate of Walter Mondale who ran against
Ronald. Again right in 1984 when she

00:40:51
referred to Ms Ferraro as that name that
rhymes with witch that is the very What is

00:40:56
rich or sorry rhymes with write it and
the reason it's important is because of

00:41:00
course everyone thought of

00:41:02
a certain word when she said that and
when she tried to recover when she was

00:41:06
apologizing she said the word she meant was
which although that was in fact not the

00:41:12
word she had in mind you know
this is a story with kind of

00:41:14
a press side to it and she made that comment
to 2 reporters who were on Air Force 2

00:41:20
who were covering the campaign a
reporter for The Associated Press and

00:41:24
a reporter for United Press International
and she came back and made this quip

00:41:27
which was delicious and she then left and
the 2 reporters I interviewed both of

00:41:33
them for the book had

00:41:34
a debate about whether it was on or
off the record because typically in

00:41:39
a situation like that things that are said
on the plane are off the record and the

00:41:44
U.P.I.

00:41:44
Reporter said we can't have the wife of
the vice president the 2nd lady refer to

00:41:50
the wife of his opponent for president by

00:41:53
a word like that and not
reported and then if the U.P.I.

00:41:57
Reporter was going to reported the A.P.

00:41:58
Reporter said he was going to report it
too so they did and one thing that was

00:42:02
interesting about Mrs Bush I thought she
told me that she had thought her comment

00:42:08
was off the record but she made no complaints
about it she understood that she had

00:42:11
said it that the furor that followed
was not the fault of the reporters who

00:42:15
reported it it was her responsibility
another little juicy detail that you write

00:42:20
about something that we wouldn't
know about perhaps but you wrote

00:42:23
a lot about the tensions between Barbara
Bush she was the wife of Vice President

00:42:28
George Bush and then of course 1st lady
Nancy Reagan and Ronald Reagan what was the

00:42:33
story behind that contentious relationship
to what do you attribute the friction so

00:42:38
friction doesn't really convey the full
meaning of her relationship and I covered

00:42:42
the Reagan White House working then for
Newsday newspaper in New York and we knew

00:42:47
that Barbara Bush and Nancy. Reagan were
not great friends but we did not realize

00:42:52
that they were in fact mortal enemies and
there was years and years of slights and

00:42:58
offenses behind the 2 of them here's just
one example you know one of the biggest

00:43:03
social events of the Reagan White House
was the dinner for Princess Diana and

00:43:07
Prince Charles it was

00:43:10
a very hotly sought after ticket and the
proposed guest list for this dinner went

00:43:14
from the social secretary to Mrs Reagan she
was the 1st lady she got to decide who

00:43:19
went to these dinners and the memo from
the social secretary had guests for this

00:43:24
dinner President and Mrs Reagan on the 1st
line vice president Mrs Bush on the 2nd

00:43:28
line and then other ideas Nancy Reagan
picked up her pen and marked out the Bush's

00:43:33
name and later Michael Deaver who was the
deputy White House chief of staff or

00:43:38
a husband in the person who was kind of
kept in charge of Nancy the person who

00:43:41
dealt with Nancy Reagan called her and
said Nancy you can't not invite the vice

00:43:48
president and Nancy Reagan said Just
watch me and the night of the dinner the

00:43:54
bushes were not invited that's really
extraordinary I don't even know how she got

00:43:59
away with Nancy Reagan Yes and Nancy
Reagan had grievances of her own against

00:44:04
Barbara Bush you know some ways they
were so much alike they were just

00:44:06
a couple years apart in age they both
had gone to Smith College they both had

00:44:11
married men they adored they were both
important political advisors to their

00:44:15
husbands but they did not get along they
had different styles they had different

00:44:21
priorities and the friction as I said
friction of the understatement action on

00:44:27
steroids to death in any way affect the
relationship between Vice President Bush

00:44:32
and President Reagan you know I don't
think so and Nancy Reagan also didn't get

00:44:37
along very well with George Bush they had
some disputes when she wanted him to do

00:44:41
things in the White House weigh in with her
husband on things and he declined to do

00:44:45
so the fact is both of the bushes got along
pretty well with President Reagan. And

00:44:49
neither of them got along very well with
Nancy Reagan I wonder too you know toward

00:44:53
the end of her life Mrs Bush what kind
of sense did she have of view the Bush

00:44:59
family legacy the contributions of you
know her husband and her son who have been

00:45:04
presidents and others as well and also what
if anything she thought about her place

00:45:10
and that legacy so I can tell you she hated
the word legacy because she thought it

00:45:15
sounded kind of like you thought you were

00:45:17
a big shot and in fact she hated the title
of my book the title My book is the

00:45:21
matriarch she didn't like the word
matriarch she didn't like being called

00:45:24
a matriarch although she was

00:45:25
a matriarch Barbara Bush in the making
of American dynasty she hated the word

00:45:29
dynasty because again it sounded like
something that was very intitled So I asked

00:45:35
her what she thought I should title my
book and she said the fat lady sings again

00:45:41
she certainly had

00:45:42
a sense of humor she did what in your
conversations with her do you most remember

00:45:48
you know there was what surprised you were
delighted you were amazed you the most

00:45:53
from all the conversations you had before
I started the book I knew that she was

00:45:56
interesting but I would not say I really
knew whether I liked or because she had

00:46:00
been a little crisper with me when I was

00:46:03
a reporter at the White House and she
was 1st lady and I didn't exactly take

00:46:08
offense at that but I wasn't sure whether
I liked her not I thought she was going

00:46:11
to be interesting whether I liked or
not but I can tell you after these 5

00:46:15
interviews in the last 6 months of her
life I liked her so much she was funny she

00:46:20
was incredibly candid she
had no regrets she had

00:46:23
a very clear eyed view of her life and
what she had done she was proud of her

00:46:28
children her grandchildren and she was
proud of them not because they had become

00:46:32
powerful or rich although some of them had
she expressed pride in them because they

00:46:37
had done things for other people and I
think if you talk about Barbara Bush's

00:46:41
legacy that may be the legacy you look at
her grandchildren how the grandchildren

00:46:45
of the rich and powerful often go
astray it can be a. Hard to be in

00:46:50
a family situation when your parents
and your grandparents have been very

00:46:53
accomplished but you look at the Bush
grandchildren and one of them left

00:46:57
a corporate job to run Big Brothers Big
Sisters of greater Texas one of them helped

00:47:03
found a global feeding
program one of them was

00:47:05
a co-founder of the Global
Health Corps they do have

00:47:10
a record of doing things that vote helping
people other than themselves I mean

00:47:14
there were some notable confidants for
President Bush the 1st President Bush James

00:47:20
Baker Brant Scowcroft on national security
issues how would you rank Mrs Bush in

00:47:26
terms of importance as

00:47:27
a counselor as an advisor Barbara Bush would
not usually go to her husband and say

00:47:32
this is what you ought to do about health
care but she would go to him and say AIDS

00:47:35
is

00:47:35
a big problem you should try to do something
more about AIDS when it came to the negotiations

00:47:40
to end the Cold War which was a
great part of President George H.W.

00:47:44
Bush's legacy she did not go to him and
say let's do this about throw weights on

00:47:48
nuclear weapons but she did do was
say I can make razor Gorbachev

00:47:53
a friend of mine and that will make you
negotiations easier and she did exactly

00:47:57
that was a fascinating part of
the book she wasn't out front in

00:48:00
a sense like Hillary Clinton but she was
possibly equally influential would you say

00:48:05
so it was actually in different ways you
know you think about for instance aids

00:48:10
when the AIDS crisis was emerging during
the Reagan administration President Reagan

00:48:15
almost never mentioned the issue he almost
never said the word AIDS while he was

00:48:19
president and this was distressing to
Barbara Bush although she didn't say that

00:48:23
publicly but what she did do was as soon
as she was 1st lady in her 1st 100 days as

00:48:28
1st lady she visited
grandma's house which is

00:48:32
a home in Washington for infants with AIDS
it's still here it's still run by the 2

00:48:37
women who founded it way back then and
she took photographers with her children

00:48:42
make a big speech but she had
her picture taken holding

00:48:45
a baby with AIDS Donovan just 6
months old he. Be dead within

00:48:49
a few months and just the simple fact of
doing that and having her picture taken

00:48:54
and cuddling him and holding him against
her cheek and rubbing his back sent this

00:49:00
enormously powerful message the whole
world is speaking of that I remember that

00:49:04
distinctly and I think that sent
an important message very symbolic

00:49:09
a simple gesture like that in probably the
death of her daughter had something to

00:49:14
do with that her sympathy or empathy and
her understanding about how the stigma

00:49:19
about AIDS was hurting human beings you
know she told me that when Robin Robin went

00:49:25
to Sloan Kettering

00:49:26
a famous cancer hospital in New York for
treatment and it was clear that she was

00:49:31
going to survive and they took Robin back
to Texas for one last visit so that she

00:49:37
could see her 2 big brothers George W.

00:49:40
And Jeb Bush so that she could see her
neighbors and friends before she passed away

00:49:45
and Barbara Bush told me with tears in
her eyes that some of her best friends

00:49:51
refused to visit because they were afraid
that you could catch leukemia which you

00:49:57
cannot and she saw people with days facing
similar circumstances and that is one

00:50:02
reason I think she felt so deeply about
what was happening to them it seems like

00:50:07
from the portrait she could be an intense
person especially behind the scenes I

00:50:11
wonder and an instant how she was able
to cope with the 1902 loss of her

00:50:18
husband in the reelection bed to
Bill Clinton but then we have

00:50:22
a later chapter about Bill Clinton who's
almost seen as an honorary bore sibling

00:50:28
because of how he gets close to the family
particularly the man he defeated and I

00:50:34
wondered what she thought of Bill Clinton
and that sort of evolution on all of that

00:50:39
what

00:50:39
a turnaround that was right in 1902 Bill
Clinton defeated George Bush for reelection

00:50:46
both Bushes George Bush and Barbara
Bush felt the. He had been defeated by

00:50:50
a lesser man that they had questions about
how honorable Bill Clinton was and so

00:50:55
there was hard feeling about that campaign
for some time but as you say George Bush

00:51:00
and Bill Clinton began to do a project
together at the request of George W.

00:51:04
Bush to raise money for tsunami victims
that was the beginning of what amounted to

00:51:09
a beautiful friendship booklet was very
deferential to George Bush which George

00:51:13
Bush appreciated and Bill Clinton as you
know is very loquacious funny talkative

00:51:17
guy he's engaging and the 2 men
became friends Barbara Bush was

00:51:22
a lot harder to win over I interviewed
Bill Clinton for this book and he

00:51:26
acknowledged that it took

00:51:27
a lot longer to win over Barbara than
it did to went over her husband but

00:51:32
eventually she saw the relationship that
her husband had with Bill Clinton she knew

00:51:36
it meant

00:51:36
a lot to him and so therefore it was OK
with her and it was her children who

00:51:40
started to call Bill Clinton their brother
from another mother although I would

00:51:44
note that under that construct she would
be Bill Clinton's stepmother not his

00:51:49
mother and interestingly in the book you
said that Bill Clinton said that George

00:51:53
would not have become president without
Barbara so well while she maybe had some

00:51:58
skeptical view of him initially he certainly
acknowledged her strength and her

00:52:02
contribution Bill Clinton had

00:52:04
a very I think perceptive insights into the
strengths of Barbara Bush and also the

00:52:10
way in which Barbara Bush had made her
life accommodate George Bush's ambitions

00:52:16
Susan look you've covered so many presidents
and you've seen the Republican Party

00:52:21
the Democratic Party as they've evolved
speaking of the Republican Party Nixon to

00:52:25
Reagan to Bush 4143 and now of course
Trump How surprised were dismayed are you

00:52:31
about the apparent add to geisha of the
bedrock principles of the Republican Party

00:52:36
free trade you know aversion
to deficit spending the U.S.

00:52:39
Role in the world they're standing by
democracies and our allies these have been

00:52:43
traditional underpinnings of the party
and we're seeing that go by the wayside

00:52:47
under Trump. Sam dismayed I'm a
reporter I cover things I'm not

00:52:51
a commentator making judgments about them
but I will say that the Republican Party

00:52:55
has changed in some fundamental way since
2016 on some of the issues that used to

00:53:00
be the pillars of pillars of the
Republican Party used to be

00:53:03
a strong military free trade concern about
budget deficits and these are not the

00:53:09
characteristics these are the founding
principles of the Republican Party which is

00:53:13
now I think been largely defined by
President Trump This is President Trump's

00:53:17
Republican Party it's got

00:53:18
a much more populist tone it's much more
skeptical of free trade it is less likely

00:53:23
to project American power
around the world it sees

00:53:26
a different role for the United States not
so much as the leader of the world in

00:53:32
terms of keeping military troops in
places like Germany and South Korea or

00:53:37
asserting itself as

00:53:39
a leader when there are pro-democracy
demonstrations in Hong Kong it sees

00:53:42
a different role for the United States
and so this party has changed parties to

00:53:47
change the Democratic Party has changed
as well even just since President Obama

00:53:52
left office we see that with the
campaign that is now underway it is

00:53:56
a more liberal Democratic Party and it's

00:53:58
a Democratic Party that has more open
skepticism about some aspects of capitalism

00:54:04
so both parties I think in the midst
of some big changes will back to the

00:54:07
Republican Party though circling back to
Barbara Bush she certainly made no secret

00:54:13
of her dismay though with the direction of
the Republican Party under trump the 1st

00:54:18
time I interviewed Barbara Bush for this
book I asked her President Trump as

00:54:22
President are you still a Republican
and she said yes I'm still

00:54:25
a Republican the last time I interviewed
her which was 5 months later I said you

00:54:28
know the 1st time I interviewed
Reid for this book I said Are you

00:54:31
a Republican you said yes just to feel
that way and she said No I think now I'd

00:54:34
have to say I'm not a Republican
now that doesn't mean she was

00:54:37
a Democrat it meant she
felt she didn't have

00:54:39
a party and in that way she
was speaking for I think

00:54:42
a lot of more moderate traditional
Republicans when they look at the political

00:54:46
scene in the United States
now and trumps. hives to

00:54:49
a degree he wasn't just attacking obama
he often would go after george w.

00:54:54
Bush's policies on the economy on the
wars in afghanistan and iraq and i had to

00:55:01
wonder the that must not of sat very well
with her or in terms of trying to use

00:55:06
them as a punching bag and

00:55:07
a sense and is campaign and of course he
was fiercely critical of jeb bush who is

00:55:11
running against him for the nomination
called him low energy jab she didn't like

00:55:15
that

00:55:16
a bit but is very true he has nicknames for
for many people well back to barbara of

00:55:21
once again as we close citizen what about
her relationship with what we would call

00:55:26
today the feminists you convey in the
major ike that she had somewhat of an

00:55:30
ambivalent view of the feminist
movement because instead of pursuing

00:55:33
a career she chose to say home with her
children focus on her husband's career and

00:55:38
she seemed ok with that but over
time it looked like she felt

00:55:41
a little bit you know heard or the chee
internalize this message of that the

00:55:45
women's movement you know with basically
favoring women who chose careers you know

00:55:50
she had i think no regrets about the
course or a life in of course she'd had

00:55:53
a very interesting life with influence that
extent and well beyond the children she

00:55:57
stayed home to raise she did have some
resentments toward the women's movement

00:56:02
because i think she felt that especially
in the early days of the women's movement

00:56:06
that it destroy him unlike earth that it
didn't respect the contributions that they

00:56:10
were making that was one of the
factors that contributed to

00:56:12
a spate of depression that she had in
the 1970 he's in my view of she was

00:56:16
a feminist in my view she walk the walk

00:56:19
a feminism she was confident an outspoken
she did thing she was active she asserted

00:56:25
herself but she didn't talk the talk of
feminist and it one interview i tried to

00:56:29
make her say she was a feminist because
the i she seemed like a feminist

00:56:33
a me and we went around in around and
around and i finally gave up like you said

00:56:38
more important was that she walk the walk
she did do that and she was very proud of

00:56:42
her granddaughters and very accepting of
the idea that even the ones who had young

00:56:47
children were choosing to
work outside The whole making

00:56:49
a choice different than the choice she had
made the book is the matriarch Barbara

00:56:53
Bush and the Making of an American dynasty
the author Susan Page Washington bureau

00:56:58
chief for USA Today Susan congratulations
once again on this very moving book and

00:57:03
thanks for coming in thank you for having
me Press Conference USA on The Voice of

00:57:07
America it was produced in Washington joining
me on the program was senior national

00:57:11
correspondent Jim alone our engineer was
just in quites I'm Carol Castillo join me

00:57:17
again next week for another press
conference USA on The Voice of America.

00:57:51
This is V.O.A.

00:57:52
News I'm Steve carriage former Zimbabwe
and leader Robert Mugabe leaves behind

00:57:58
a complicated legacy to some he was

00:58:00
a liberation hero others say he ruined his
country and hurt his own people resident

00:58:06
Michael expresses this duality I think
is a quick loss to Zimbabwe this is

00:58:12
a great loss to off the cut but particularly
to Zimbabwe I also I mean he's been

00:58:17
God is someone who is put disease
and also his not because he's

00:58:23
a short falls if I may say they have
contributed to the misfortune of me as

00:58:27
a young person. If I may put it
saying I think they are quite

00:58:33
a number of put this is the lead is as

00:58:36
a president of Zimbabwe but unfortunately.
Many of my peers don't have jobs my

00:58:43
peers educated but spread all over the world
Mugabe was 95 years old he died Friday

00:58:50
in

00:58:50
a hospital in Singapore the United States
along with the international community have

00:58:55
ramped up efforts to assist residents in
the Bahamas after the devastation caused

00:59:00
by Hurricane Dorian an estimated 70000
people are in need of immediate humanitarian

00:59:05
relief and Bahamian officials say hundreds
if not thousands of people are still

00:59:10
missing the U.S.

00:59:11
Coast Guard working with rescue cute rescue
crews in the Bahamas have rescued 295

00:59:17
people British forces are distributing
clean water and hygiene kits the Royal

00:59:22
Caribbean and Walt Disney cruise lines
which usually carry Tarus to Bahamian

00:59:26
resorts are instead using their ships to
deliver food water flashlights and other

00:59:32
supplies the death toll from the disaster
stood at 30 on Thursday but Bahamian

00:59:37
officials say they expect the number
to rise For more visit us at V.O.A.

00:59:42
News dot com from
Washington this is V.O.A.

00:59:46
News. Hong Kong Leader Kerry Lamb said on
Friday that measures announced this week

00:59:53
to help restore order in the
Chinese rolled city were

00:59:56
a 1st step this as Protests continued in
Hong Kong with protesters taking over

01:00:02
streets and lighting fires
around the city A.B.C.

01:00:06
Correspondent Charles Della
does my reports was.

01:00:12
Protesters have continued to gather outside
moment called police station in Khan

01:00:18
building but I am pointing lays at the
police and students and graduates them in

01:00:24
these 5 schools the full chains to raise
awareness of the 4 remaining Dumond's of

01:00:30
protest the months of demonstrations the
fresh round of protests comes off to Hong

01:00:35
Kong lead to tell you I'm sick the
state the government the jewel in the

01:00:39
extradition deal the spall months of
demonstrations I'm chose to live as my. Pope

01:00:45
Francis African tour continues in Mozambique
as he visited with AIDS patients he

01:00:50
spoke of hope peace and.

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