Lay of the Land
with the ultimate political insiders
Susan Glasser, Peter Baker, and David Frum
and Norm Ornstein, Moderator
Wednesday March 15th, 5:00 -6:00 via Zoom
How has our democracy and the two parties changed – given the turn to the radical right in the Republican Party even after Trump’s 2020 defeat and Biden’s sometimes rocky two years in office? The Common Good has brought together renowned journalists Susan Glasser, Peter Baker, and David Frum lead in discussion by Norm Ornstein..
Join us on Zoom to discuss the changes of our democracy during the upheaval of the last few years, the shifting balance of power in the GOP today, and the near future of 2024’s election season. Be sure to check out Susan Glasser and Peter Baker’s latest book The Divider: Trump in the Whitehouse, 2017-2021 also available for purchase.
Susan Glasser, renowned staff writer and star political journalist at the New Yorker. She was previously at the Washington Post starting in 1998 where she edited the Post's Sunday Outlook and national news sections, helped oversee coverage of Bill Clinton's impeachment, covered the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and served as Moscow bureau co-chief with her husband, Peter Baker. She was editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy until 2013. Glasser then joined Politico, and served as editor during the 2016 election cycle. She also was the founding editor of Politico Magazine. Now, she writes the online column "Letter from Biden’s Washington" in The New Yorker, where she is a staff writer. Glasser has also written three important books with her husband Peter Baker.
Peter Baker is an award-winning author, journalist at the New York Times, and political analyst for MSNBC. He has also written for the Washington Times and the Washington Post. He won the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2007. Baker also served as Moscow Bureau co-chief with his wife Susan Glasser, and has published numerous books with her as well as other political books including Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, a detailed narrative account of the two-term presidency of George W. Bush, Obama: The Call of History, and Impeachment: An American History. He has also served as the Jerusalem bureau chief for the Times until 2016 where he returned to cover the Trump presidency.
David Frum is a writer for The Atlantic, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, and the author or co-author of now ten books. Frum has been active in Republican politics since the first Reagan campaign of 1980. From 2001-2002, he served as a speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush. He is credited with helping to create the phrase "axis of evil” in Bush's 2002 State of the Union address. In recent years, Frum has been one of many prominent Republicans to openly criticize Donald Trump as not representing Republican or foundational democracy values. He is a frequent commentator on MSNBC, CNN, and BBC. From 2014 through 2017, Frum served as chairman of the board of trustees of the leading UK center-right think tank, Policy Exchange. The Common Good was proud to host Frum as a member in January of 2018 as a participant in our Town Hall at Hunter College, “Trump – Year One” Panel, alongside historian Douglas Brinkley, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, and political strategist Edward Rollins. Frum currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board,
Norman Ornstein (Moderator) is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies politics, elections, and the US Congress. He is a co-host of AEI’s Election Watch series, a contributing editor and columnist for the National Journal and The Atlantic, a BBC News election analyst, and the chairman of the Campaign Legal Center. Dr. Ornstein previously served as co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project and senior counselor to the Continuity of Government Commission. A longtime observer and analyst of American politics and the US Congress, he has been involved in political reform for decades, particularly campaign finance reform and the reform of Senate committees. He has also played a part in creating the Congressional Office of Compliance and the House Office of Congressional Ethics. Ornstein also serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board,
