- Thank you for this opportunity and thank you Judy and Evan.

So, my question has to do with the other day I read a Washington Post article about Steve Bannon and his plan and Steven Miller.

And what I wonder about is why do media outlets not focus more on Steve Bannon and Steven Miller and that whole plan versus we hear everything that Trump does every day, but it seems like he is really just sort of being, they're the puppeteers.

And I really am curious as to why.

Is it fear?

- Thank you.

- It is a good question.

I would say that for one thing, former President Trump himself goes in front of the cameras often daily, time after time.

It's very easy to, I mean, it's easy to assume he's gonna be available to saying something.

Doesn't mean he is gonna be doing interviews, but he's out there talking.

They are not out there talking as much.

Reporters have to work harder to get access to them, to get them to talk to us, to give us time.

Time to ask questions, press them for answers.

And by the way, they're not the only, they are working with him, for him, but there are others who are working to influence him and his administration.

I think this is something that's gonna unfold between now and November.

We'll see what happens in the election.

I know reporters are working on these kinds of stories.

But you're right, they're not out there every single day, because it takes more work.

And at a time when journalism takes time and money to do, news outlets have to say, "Okay, we're gonna let this reporter go and spend seven days, two weeks, a month or two, working on a deeply reported piece,-" - [Evan] It's harder these days.

- "about what they're up to."

That's harder to do.

- Can I take the question though, and just ask a little bit of a follow up, which is, do you think that the coverage of the former president to date has improved upon the coverage of him four years ago and eight years ago?

That was the existential question going into this election.

Would we do the thing differently than we did the thing before?

Are we doing the thing differently?

- Are we asking the right questions?

Is that what you're asking?

- And are we taking the.

- Pushing?

- Are we approaching the challenge of covering someone who is so unprecedented as a candidate again?

Right, which seems contradictory, but like he's not a normal candidate in terms of how he lives in the world.

Is there a different set of strategies that we needed to apply and have we applied them or do you reject that premise?

- I think that, you know, in some respects, Donald Trump has shifted shapes.

I mean, he was one thing when he ran for president in 2015 and 2016.

He became something a little bit different as president, and certainly, in the three years since he's been in office.

So there's, what we're covering is changing.

His experiences have changed.

The kind of things he says have changed.

We in the media have learned, - [Evan] Have changed, yes.

- We are doing I think a somewhat better job.

But you're talking about a political phenomenon in the likes of which we've never seen.

At least not in my lifetime in American politics.

Who is someone who was a reality show host.

You know, when he is on television, he fills the screen.

He says things that make news.

Every other word out of his mouth makes news.

And we, I think in the press, need to be more judicious in how we cover that, because it's just not every word is news.

And so, I think to answer your question and be abbreviated, be quicker about it.

I think we're doing a better job, but I think we still haven't completely figured it out.

- More to do.

- No.

- Yes, hi.

- Okay, easy question.

Michelle Goldberg had a article in The Times Sunday where she was breaking down the people that are supportive of Kennedy.

- This is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?

- Robert F. Kennedy.

- The third party candidate, yeah.

And you know, if you read the.

- I'm sorry, I didn't see that article, so you're gonna have to tell me what's in it.

- Okay.

All right, if you read the article, you would sort of, you could be on either side and think there's good, you know, it's gonna help either side.

The Kennedy candidacy, in other words,- - Yeah.

- Right.

- you know, there's the Kennedy name.

Obviously, there'll be a bunch of Democrats that maybe don't know anything about it, and they'll vote for 'em, 'cause they love the name.

But then there's a whole lot of people that, oh, they're a real populist and you know, the Trump people promise everything that Democrats promise, but they don't really deliver it.

But, you know, Kennedy's doing sort of the same thing and the anti-vax deal.

So, her key takeaway, I couldn't tell what it was, because it was like either side could go.

So, do you have a opinion,- - Do you ever thought about that?

- you know, where that vote goes?

- I think right now it's a jump ball.

I think everybody in the world, everybody in the campaign world, is trying to figure out who does he help, who does he hurt.

I will say that both campaigns are worried.

Neither campaign is comfortable with his candidacy.

And that's very clear to me.

And the question is, as we get closer to November, how many states is he on the ballot?

That's a critical question.

He can't be a factor, if he's only on the ballot in one or two.

I understand, and I haven't followed this in minute detail, but I understand he's got the ability.

- Well, his running mate is very wealthy and the thought is that part of the argument- - She has that's right.

- with picking her is that she could fund the campaign necessary to get on the ballot in the states that would matter.

- Exactly.

So, if he gets on enough ballots, that's why both campaigns are unsure, worried.

And nobody can say right now.

I mean, I know initially people were saying, "Well, this hurts Biden more."

And then others are, "No, it hurts Trump more."

And now honestly, I think no one knows.

So, that's probably why Michelle Goldberg.

- When you go back to 1992, Ross Perot- - And Ross Perot.

- senior as a third party candidate, the theory is that hurt the incumbent.

- It definitely hurt the incumbent, the people all around, including the family of George H.W.

Bush felt that he was hurt.

- [Evan] Felt strongly about that.

- Very strongly.

- It's not unreasonable to think that a third party candidate would hurt the incumbent in the sense that it would take potentially votes that would never go to Trump, but might go away from Biden.

- And you could say, okay, Robert F. Kennedy comes from a Democratic family.

So, he's gonna take away from the Democrat.

There are positions of his, vaccine, which are closer to the Republican side.

- Right, we just don't know.

- I think it remains to be seen.

It remains to be seen.

- Okay, I don't know where to put my money.

- Everybody gives Judy Woodruff a big hand.

Thank her for being here.

- Thank you.

(audience applauding) We'll see y'all again soon.

Thanks a lot.

Okay.

- Thank you.