Kay Bailey Hutchison, former U.S. senator from Texas and NATO ambassador, spoke about the new presidential administration’s potential priorities in a discussion on Monday at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. 

LBJ School professor and journalist Evan Smith joined Hutchison for the public discussion as part of his Politics and Issues of the Moment course. Hutchison shared her insights on the likely goals of the Trump-Vance administration, identifying energy, national security and the economy as central focuses.

“Number one is the economy — it’s inflation,” Hutchison said. “They’re going to cut spending to try to bring inflation down.” 

Reflecting on her tenure as U.S. ambassador to NATO, Hutchison emphasized the importance of a strong, unified organization, noting that American leadership in the alliance is crucial to maintaining global economic security.

“When I look at all the adversaries that we have, I think our strongest position is that we have economic leverage when we’re all together and when we are unified,” Hutchison said. 

When asked about the potential for President-elect Donald Trump to withdraw the U.S. from NATO, Hutchison expressed confidence that Senate Republicans would reject any such move.

“Senate Republicans will speak truth to power, meaning the president,” Hutchison said. “The Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are 100% understanding of the importance of NATO. They’re supportive of NATO, and they’re supportive of our alliances.”

Cooper Slack, a public health graduate student, said the most striking aspect of the conversation was Hutchison’s civility toward politicians across the spectrum, including former U.S. Senate candidate and Rep. Colin Allred and former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, both Democrats.

“It definitely sticks out to you that she has respect for people that she might not agree with,” Slack said. “She’s willing to admit that they’re great candidates, maybe just not politically aligned.”

Natalia Boyd Garcia, a public affairs graduate student, also praised Hutchison’s call for unity but acknowledged the difficulty of achieving it given the current political climate.

“It’s easy enough to say that, and I think it can be a little idealistic to say, ‘Well, we all just need to come together,’” Boyd Garcia said. “But we also need to acknowledge that there’s this sort of division for a reason, and there needs to be deeper discussions on both sides of the (aisle).”