Charlie Cook is one of the most authoritative analysts of US elections - an exceptionally trusted and respected voice on the American electorate for nearly four decades. Charlie discussed his overview of the race for the White House and where it stands today - trends, key states and voter demographics, and strengths and weaknesses of President Trump and Vice President Biden - and also the state of play for the Senate and overall House races. What is the state of the race to the White House? Who ...
Sep 28, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 63
Ensuring that elections are free and fair is far from a settled matter in the United States, with courts frequently asked to settle disputes about virtually every element of election administration. In 2020, President Trump and his supporters contend that vote by mail is rife with fraud (in an election cycle where COVID will help drive demand for mail balloting to record levels) and that an election loss would constitute evidence of a rigged election. The vacancy following the death of Justice R...
Sep 24, 2020•59 min•Ep. 62
BBC New York Correspondent Nick Bryant has studied US elections for decades and saw the election of President Trump in 2016 as inevitable, rather than a fluke. Growing executive overreach, shifting economic and cultural power, and ubiquitous distrust of media and government paved the way for a disruptor with promises of “greatness.” As a Brit in the United States, his observations translate the American experience through a lens Australian’s can understand. Who are the power-brokers and pawns in...
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 61
In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump made immigration a key campaign platform, warning of Mexican “rapists” and criminals coming to the United States. He pledged that a wall on the US-Mexico border would be erected and Mexico would pay for it. Four years later, the US and Mexican presidents have publicly praised each other while a naturalisation ceremony of immigrants to the United States was featured at the Republican National Convention. What has changed in US-Mexico relations? What has the po...
Sep 08, 2020•59 min•Ep. 60
The Perth USAsia Centre and United States Studies Centre host a monthly web series in which our CEOs review the latest in US politics with a focus on the upcoming US election and US-Indo-Pacific relations. This month's guest was Mark Textor, Co-Founder and Non-Executive Director of C|T Group and the political strategist behind John Howard, Boris Johnson and Tony Abbott. Mr Textor joined USSC CEO Simon Jackman and Perth USAC CEO Gordon Flake for their insights on the top stories in US politics fr...
Sep 04, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 59
Ambassador John Bolton served as National Security Advisor to President Trump for 453 days. One of America’s most experienced international relations advisors, Bolton has served every Republican president since Reagan. In his time with the Trump administration, he dealt with chemical attacks in Syria, G7 showdowns and the Kim Jong Un negotiations. As an unabashed national security hawk — and given his long and distinguished vita — Bolton's criticisms of Trump’s handling of US foreign policy are ...
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 58
Molly Ball is TIME magazine's national political correspondent and a political analyst for CNN. Her latest book, Pelosi , has been hailed by publishers from The Washington Post to O Magazine. She appears regularly on PBS's Washington Week , CBS's Face the Nation , ABC's This Week , and other television and radio programs. Ball is the winner of numerous awards for her coverage of American politics, including the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize and the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Repor...
Aug 27, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 57
Thomas L Friedman is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist; recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes; and author of seven best-selling books: From Beirut to Jerusalem; The Lexus and the Olive Tree; Longitudes and Attitudes; The World Is Flat; Hot, Flat, and Crowded; That Used to Be Us, which he co-wrote with Michael Mandelbaum and Thank you For Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, was updated and released 2017. Friedman’s foreign affairs column...
Aug 19, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 56
Courtney Kennedy is director of survey research at Pew Research Center. In this role, she serves as the chief survey methodologist for the Center, providing guidance on all of its research and leading its methodology work. Prior to joining Pew Research Center, Kennedy served as vice president of the advanced methods group at Abt SRBI. Her work has been published in Public Opinion Quarterly, the Journal of Statistics and Methodology and the Journal of Official Statistics. Courtney chaired the Ame...
Aug 18, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 55
James Carouso has been at the forefront of economic diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific for much of his career. Prior to joining BGA, he was the senior foreign policy advisor to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii. Earlier, Jim served as deputy chief of mission and chargé d’ affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia. He also worked as the chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia, in mid-2019. Alex Lynch manages Gove...
Aug 17, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 54
The Perth USAsia Centre and United States Studies Centre host a monthly web series in which our CEOs review the latest in US politics with a focus on the upcoming US election and US-Indo-Pacific relations. This month's special guest was Evelyn Farkas who was appointed by President Obama to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, where she was responsible for US policy toward Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. In 2020, Ms Farkas was a candidate to represent New York's 17th congressional district. Ms...
Aug 07, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 53
Anna Greenberg has over 15 years of experience polling in the political, non-profit and academic sectors. She joined GQR in 2001, after teaching public opinion and survey research methodology at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She was the lead pollster in many successful campaigns including for Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor Tom Wolf, Governor Ned Lamont and Congresswoman Lizzie Pannill Fletcher. Professor Simon Jackman commenced as CEO of the US Studies Cen...
Aug 04, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 52
Last month, Indian and Chinese troops were involved in the first clash involving the loss of life on both sides since 1975 in Eastern Ladakh. This latest clash between the two most populous nations in the world was preceded by Chinese troops gathering in multiple areas along the disputed border, the erection of new structures near the line of actual control, and ever more expansive Chinese territorial claims at India’s expense.While both sides are taking steps to de-escalate tensions, the ongoin...
Jul 31, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 51
Dr Mira Rapp-Hooper is the Stephen A. Schwarzman senior fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. Dr Rapp-Hooper’s academic writings have appeared in Political Science Quarterly, Security Studies, and Survival. Her policy writings have appeared in The National Interest, Foreign Affairs, and The Washington Quarterly, and her analysis has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on NPR,...
Jul 29, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 50
To discuss these issues, please join us for a webinar event featuring many of the officials who created the landmark agreement, including: The Hon. John Howard OM AC – Prime Minister of Australia 1996 - 2007 The Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO – current Australian Ambassador to the United States The Hon. Joe Hockey – President and Founding Partner of Bondi Partners; former Australian Ambassador to the United States; former Federal Treasurer Robert Zoellick – Senior Counselor at Brunswick Group; former ...
Jul 24, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 49
Ashley Townshend is Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, where he works on strategic affairs with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region. Ashley is also founding convenor and co-chair of the US-Australia Indo-Pacific Deterrence Dialogue and a lecturer in the Centre’s postgraduate program. A frequent contributor to the Australian and international media, Ashley’s analysis has appeared in outlets such as the Financial Times , CNN, the ...
Jul 22, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 48
Richard Maude joined Asia Society Australia in January 2020 as the inaugural Executive Director, Policy, and Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute — the first senior executive role in the Institute outside the United States. Richard Maude most recently served as Deputy Secretary, Indo-Pacific Group, in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with a portfolio covering Australia’s bilateral relations with Asia and North America as well as regional political, security, economi...
Jul 16, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 47
Dr Jennifer L Lawless is the Commonwealth Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. She is the author or co-author of six books, including Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era (with Danny Hayes) and It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office (with Richard L Fox). She is an editor of the American Journal of Political Science, and holds an appointment as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Kim Hoggard is a Non...
Jul 14, 2020•59 min•Ep. 46
Christian Brose is currently Chief Strategy Officer of Anduril Industries, a technology start-up that develops national defence capabilities, and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He served as Staff Director of the Senate Armed Services Committee (2015-2018), where he was the youngest person to hold the position in the committee’s history. Before that, he served as Senator John McCain’s senior policy advisor (2009-2015). Brose was previously a speechwriter to two s...
Jul 07, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 45
Mia Love served as the US Representative for Utah's 4th district from 2015-2019. She was the first black female Republican elected to Congress. At the start of the 2015 Congress, she was appointed to the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. She also joined the Congressional Black Caucus after taking her seat.
Jul 03, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 44
Dr David Kilcullen is Professor of International and Political Studies at University of New South Wales, Canberra and also serves as Professor of Practice in global security at Arizona State University. Kilcullen is a former soldier and diplomat, and a scholar of guerrilla warfare, terrorism, urbanisation and the future of conflict, who served 25 years for the Australian and United States governments. During the Iraq War, he served in Baghdad as a member of the Joint Strategic Assessment Team, t...
Jun 30, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 43
Jonathan Swan is an Australian journalist and the National Political Reporter at Axios. He covers the White House and Republican Leaders on Capitol Hill. For the 2016 campaign, he followed Republican candidates and donors and had an insider’s view of the Trump campaign. He was first to break several major news stories including that the United States would pull out from the Paris Climate Treaty, that Jerusalem would be recognised as Israel’s capital and that Steve Bannon was being fired. Previou...
Jun 25, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 42
William Greenwalt is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council within the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security where he focuses on barriers to international industrial cooperation. Bill served in senior positions at the Pentagon, in Congress, and in the defence industry. As Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, he advised senior Pentagon officials on matters relating to the defence industrial base to include mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, technol...
Jun 23, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 41
Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster , U.S. Army (Ret.) is the inaugural holder of the Japan Chair at the Hudson Institute, Washington DC. He is also the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Lt. Gen. McMaster was the 26th assistant to the president for national security affairs. He served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a lieutenant general in June 2018. Lt. Gen. McMaster is author of Derelict...
Jun 19, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 40
Jonathan Holloway is President-designate of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Most recently, he served as Provost of Northwestern University. Before moving to Northwestern, he was the Dean of Yale College from 2014-2017. He is a professor of History and African American Studies. Holloway’s scholarship focuses on post-emancipation social and cultural American history. He is the author of Confronting the Veil: Abram Harris Jr., E. Franklin Frazier, and Ralph Bunche, 1919-1941 and Jim Cr...
Jun 16, 2020•59 min•Ep. 39
The Perth USAsia Centre and United States Studies Centre launched a monthly web series in which our CEOs review the latest in US politics with a focus on the upcoming US election and US-Indo-Pacific relations. USSC CEO Simon Jackman and Perth USAC CEO Gordon Flake discussed the top stories in US politics from an Australian perspective.
Jun 12, 2020•35 min•Ep. 38
Vikram Sharma is Founder and CEO of QuintessenceLabs, a quantum-enhanced cybersecurity firm. He has 20 years of experience in building and managing technology companies. He is a Sloan Fellow from Stanford University and also holds an MSc in computer science and a PhD in quantum physics from the Australian National University. Philip Campbell is a Cognitive Scientist and CEO of enigmaFIT as well as an AmCham Governor. Phillip has 25 years of corporate experience in developing and optimising execu...
Jun 09, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 37
Douglas Irwin is John French Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College. He is the author of numerous books, including Clashing over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy, which The Economist and Foreign Affairs selected as one of their Best Books of the Year. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He worked on trade policy issues while on the staff of President Ronald Reag...
Jun 05, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 36
Protesting during a pandemic is a dangerous political act. But in recent weeks, the world has watched as Americans, some armed, have gathered in state capitols to demand the easing of lockdown restrictions. After the death of a black man in Minnesota who was in police custody, the left is now reemerging on the streets. What motivated these protests? Were they grassroots movements or pushed from the top down? And what does this all tell us about the state of the American union beset by a virus an...
Jun 03, 2020•59 min•Ep. 35
Elizabeth Rosenberg is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Economics and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. In this capacity, she publishes and speaks on the national security and foreign policy implications of the use of sanctions and economic statecraft as well as energy market shifts. From May 2009 through September 2013, Ms Rosenberg served as senior advisor at the US Department of Treasury, to the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Cri...
May 28, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 34
