Donald Trump will be sitting down with NBC News, Kristen Welker, this Sunday,

as she takes over the venerable Sunday Public Affairs show, Meet the Press.

She is a very capable journalist.

But the interview raises a question.

What is it that you asked Donald Trump?

What should the interview be about?

What is the election about?

What is this moment in America about?

What is the issue that the country is facing?

Let's think about it like this. Is America in a crisis?

Is that crisis more severe than other periods of turbulence in our politics?

There is something that has not been adequately expressed by leaders of the

Democratic Party about this moment in time that is essential for framing the next election and its stakes.

And it's this. The American way of life is absolutely and wholly dependent on the

elections process. Our entire civilization is constructed and built around what was a revolutionary concept that everybody got a chance to vote.

Today in America, everybody means everybody. And that's a good thing because the right to vote has expanded. The franchise

has grown. We have elections and those elections offer a choice. I've spent a good deal of my

career working around political campaigns and being involved in elections.

I've been involved in winning elections and I've been involved in losing elections.

In fact, I was the person who placed the phone call for John McCain to concede the election to President-elect Barack Obama.

And in that moment, the first person who mattered in America, who addressed Barack Obama as Mr. President

elect wasn't his staff, and it wasn't his supporters. It was his

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