This year, the United States faces what will likely be its most important presidential election in generations. The current polling gap between the two candidates in within the margin of error. As what the current President has described as the "battle for the soul of America" heats up, what are the implications of this year for the rest of the world, and for our region in particular? The US has claimed that it has “no greater ally than Australia”. What will that mean on the morning of the 6th November? What are the risks, and the rewards, of waltzing in step with the world’s greatest superpower, no matter who is in charge?

Join Zoe Daniel, Independent Member for Goldstein, and Dr Emma Shortis, Senior Researcher in the Australia Institute's International & Security Affairs Program, in conversation for this Politics in the Pub.

SPEAKERS:

Zoe Daniel MP - Independent Member for Goldstein

At the 2022 election, Zoe Daniel became the first woman elected to the federal seat of Goldstein.

Zoe spent almost three decades on the front line of news and current events, in Australia and internationally as a three-time foreign correspondent and former ABC News United States Bureau chief. She is the author of three books, including Storyteller, an insight into her life as a foreign correspondent, and Greetings from Trumpland, an account of fragmenting trust in democracy in the United States.

Dr Emma Shortis - Senior Researcher, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute

Dr Emma Shortis is Senior Researcher in the International & Security Affairs Program. Emma is historian and writer, focused on the history and politics of the United States and its role in the world. She uses her expertise in history to interpret and explain what is happening in the world today, and what it means for Australia, in a compassionate and accessible way. In a conversation often dominated by the same voices, Emma offers a fresh perspective on international relations grounded in moral questions about how we might imagine a post-American future.

Emma’s first book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, was published by Hardie Grant in 2021. She writes regularly for Australian and international outlets, and appears regularly on Australian radio and television.