And all of those things may not sound like national security to you, but if they pull the country apart, if they make Americans uncomfortable taking risks, growing new businesses, going to school, investing in the future, if we don’t have the dollars for infrastructure, for R&D, to create the economies of tomorrow, then we’re going to get weaker and weaker within. And that’s going to be much more damaging than anything we might do from a foreign policy perspective. And that’s what I want to see a Democrat talk about—how do we make America strong inside out?
Sargent: Well, and of course Donald Trump is the primary driver of all the forces that are exacerbating all those very things you’re talking about. Our society is much more divided thanks to Donald Trump. It’s more unequal thanks to Donald Trump. And it’s absolutely gutting—it’s essentially shooting itself in the foot when it comes to research and development, thanks to Donald Trump and of course Elon Musk.
Rothkopf: Yeah, and in the end, look, Donald Trump is also 79 years old. He’s going to be 80. You watch him give that speech—he was mush-mouthed, he was confused, he’s clearly on his way out. And I think one thing Democrats need to start thinking about is how do they lead in a post-Donald Trump environment? How do they formulate messages in a post-Donald Trump environment? And this is going to be a lot harder for certain people. How do they move on from the boomer-dominated Democratic Party that has very old school attitudes from everything from, sort of, AIPAC to, what our policies ought to be towards, sort of a Cold War-like continuation—that, the China hawks now are essentially saying, hey, let’s do what we did with Russia with China. It’s absurd.
