5 burning questions on today's political climate
ABC News chief political analyst Matthew Dowd has the answers.
— -- ABC News chief political analyst Matthew Dowd answered viewers' questions on this week's episode of "Common Sense with Matt Dowd."
1. Katie, in Dalton, Pennsylvania asked: How do we get back to a respect for facts in government? Dowd responded, "We have to do it. We have to start that, we have to do that in our own lives." He emphasized personal responsibility, saying "do it yourself first, so tune into diverse sources of information, gather from many different sources of information. If you're a liberal or a progressive, look at conservative or moderate websites or television channels ... If you're a conservative, look at more progressive or liberal platforms or dynamics, or more moderate platforms or dynamics. Don't just stay in your bias."
Dowd went on to speak directly about political elections, saying "vote for people who want to get to the truth." Rather than voting based on an ideology, he recommended supporting candidates that put the facts before their party.
2. Steven in Fairfax, Virginia, asked about the U.S.'s current isolationist course. Dowd acknowledged that historically, nations that isolated themselves have suffered economically and culturally, and become much more inward-looking. "If you are just a nation that doesn't function on the global stage, then you're not going to do ass well."
"In the end," Dowd said, "every single country that has become more isolationist has suffered."
3. Charlie in New York City asked if one can both loathe unauthorized leaks and be against Donald Trump. Dowd replied that "yes, you can believe both."
"It's important for us to realize," Dowd said, "just because something is moral doesn't mean it's legal, and just because something is illegal doesn't necessarily mean it's immoral." He gave examples of slavery as an immoral institution, and civil rights protests against immoral laws, acknowledging that Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King and others have written extensively on civil disobedience.
"You have to be willing to make the action based on moral grounds, ethical grounds, but you have to also be willing to take the consequences of those actions," Dowd said. "That's a debate, that's a conversation I'd love to have, that I'd love our leaders to have."
4. Amy in Cleveland, Ohio asked when the GOP might turn against President Trump. Dowd gave some examples of possible signals that the tide is turning, one being that if Republicans' approval ratings of Donald Trump fall significantly to 80, 75 or even 70 percent, Republicans may start to hold Donald Trump accountable.
"If things start really turning bad for the administration, and there's more evidence and more things come out, then I think it's going to really get bad in a general election." Dowd pointed out the Democrats' surprising over-performance in recent special elections as a sign that some may have already started to stray from the party.
5. Michael in Akron, Ohio asked if the diminishing power of the presidency is a good thing, referring to a recent tweet of Dowd's. "I think our country needs more exertion by not only the judicial branch to hold us to the constitution and what those values are, but more importantly from the legislative branch." Dowd referenced Richard Nixon's presidency as an example of a time when the presidency gained so much power that the legislature had to push back.
"In the last 25 years there has been more of a sense of gathering more power at the White House and taking it away from the other branches of government, Dowd said. "I think over time if we can reduce the power of the executive branch, and increase the power of the judiciary and the legislative branch, all of us will benefit from that."
Do you have a question for Matt Dowd? Tweet it with the hashtag #AskMattDowd and maybe you'll see it on the next episode of "Common Sense with Matt Dowd."
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