Don Watson - American politics in the time of Trump

Experience ANU

Don Watson joins Professor Bates Gill in conversation to discuss his new Quarterly Essay, 'Enemy Within. American Politics in the Time of Trump' which takes the reader on a journey into the heart of the United States in the year 2016. Watson, with characteristic wit and acuity, places Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in a larger frame. He considers the irresistible pull - for Americans - of American exceptionalism, and asks whether this creed is reaching its limit. He explores alternative paths the United States could have taken, and asks where its present course might lead Australia as a dutiful ally. "The best book by an outsider about America since - forever," David Sedaris, on Don Watson's American Journeys. Don Watson is a historian, author and public speaker. After writing political satire for Max Gillies and speeches for the Victorian premier John Cain, he became Paul Keating's speechwriter in 1992 and wrote the award winning biography Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister (2002). His Quarterly Essay, Rabbit Syndrome - Australia and America, won the inaugural Alfred Deakin essay prize in the Victorian Premier's literary awards. His other books include Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language, American Journeys and Bendable Learnings: The Wisdom of Modern Management. Dr Bates Gill is Professor of Asia-Pacific Strategic Studies, Coral Bell School of Asia and Pacific Affairs, ANU. From 2012 to 2015 he was CEO of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and from 2007 to 2012 served as the Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Dr Gill has also led major research programs at US public policy think tanks, Brookings Institution and Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC and the Monterey Institute of International Studies.