We have the best-trained military in the world.

If we engage in a conflict that we know this is a threat to America, we should make it so one-sided that it gets over very quickly.

The best thing for the American public is that we do our job. That Washington changes. That the Senate and the House get together and fix their differences and find common ground.

I think it's undignified if you don't do your job.

So when I write characters and situations and relationships, I try to sort of utilize what I know about the world, limited as it is, and what I hear from my friends and see with my relatives.

Everyone desires relationships and community. Most people want to belong to a cohesive, like-minded group. It staves off loneliness. It promotes identity. These are natural and very human instincts.

After Victor Paz's government, I was still in politics, but I personally spent a lot of time consulting and working with Argentina, with Peru, and in Brazil.

Politics is always antagonistic and tribalistic. But social media puts us in isolated information bubbles. We're not just disagreeing on politics. We're disagreeing on reality in very fundamental ways.