This year's Big Question: How do we make sense of Trump?

In conversation with Nick Bryant, award winning historian, author and former BBC foreign correspondent.

There are few more pressing or provocative questions right now, than how do we make sense of Trump?

This year's Big Questions event features internationally respected journalist and political commentator Nick Bryant, who brings decades of experience reporting from Washington for the BBC. A specialist in American politics, Bryant has covered the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

While many viewed Trump's first presidency as a historical accident – and the prospect of a second term as implausible – Bryant argues that it was historically inevitable. 

He is a compelling and engaging speaker. As broadcaster Emily Maitlis describes, "He is one of those rare things on television – a person who makes you want to turn up the sound. His eye for description is sublime, and he has a way of showing you what you've been missing from the whole story, whilst never leaving you feeling stupid." 

The session will open with a Q&A between Dr Julie McGonigle, Head of School, and our guest expert, Nick Bryant. It will feature the questions our students are asking and conclude with an opportunity for the wider audience to ask their own questions, following the presentation.

This evening is for students, parents and staff of St Andrew's Cathedral School. 

Note: the doors open at 5.40pm and refreshments will be provided on the way in

Our speaker:

During a distinguished career with the BBC, Nick Bryant came to be regarded as one of its finest foreign correspondents. He has covered many of the most momentous news events of our time, including the attacks of September 11th, the Asian tsunami, the Good Friday Agreement, the war in Afghanistan and the Coronavirus epidemic.

He has written for The Economist, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Statesman, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is a familiar voice as the presenter on Saturday Extra on ABC Radio National and a regular contributor to the BBC and ABC. His professional postings have included Washington, South Asia, Australia and New York.

He is the author of several critically acclaimed books including When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present, which Joe Biden kept in the Oval Office, and more recently, The Forever War: America's Unending Conflict with Itself. 

Nick studied history at Cambridge and has a doctorate in American politics from Oxford. He now lives in Sydney with his wife and children and is a parent at St Andrew's Cathedral School.

For enquiries please contact the Community Engagement Team:
community@sacs.nsw.edu.au