AUSTIN, Texas — “Hook ‘em Horns!” The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken knew just how to get the crowd hyped during his visit to the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday. Students burst out in cheers at the supportive gesture from the secretary.
President Jay Hartzell invited Blinken the week the undefeated Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners face off. Hartzell praised Blinken for making the smart choice to visit “the preferred side of the Red River.”
Continuing to rile the audience up ahead of the Longhorns' Big 12 farewell game, Blinken followed with a call and response. “And let me help you: Beat…” to which they screamed “OU!”
Former senator and U.S. ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is also a UT alumna, hosted Blinken in front of rows of students in the 90-year-old Hogg Auditorium. They conversed about a range of topics including mass migration, opioids and artificial intelligence.
While Blinken explained America is at a turning point, similar to the end of World War II and the Cold War, he said the country has a load of issues to overcome. People everywhere are struggling with food security, money, new technologies and so on.
“We’re having extraordinary transnational challenges, issues that are affecting people in every corner of the globe, including here in the United States," he said.
Blinken spoke about how much influence the U.S. has compared to other countries, and the nation’s ability to organize collective action around the world. However, as powerful as the U.S. is, its strength alone cannot bear the weight of transnational problems, including its own.
When discussing illegal immigration at the Southwest border with Hutchison, Blinken said Mexican officials are engrossed in a crisis solution. He has a meeting with them later this week.
“The other huge challenge we face [at the border] is the scourge of synthetic opioids. Devastating, destroying families, communities. Fentanyl is the No. 1 killer of Americans age 18 to 49,” Blinken replied to Hutchison. “Of everything else that’s out there — disease, guns, car accidents, you name it — the No. 1 killer is fentanyl. So we have an obligation, and here too we have a global challenge.” Other countries are now privy to the crisis as fentanyl is distributed globally, since the U.S. market is overwhelmed.
On the subject of artificial intelligence, Blinken seemed hopeful given its great potential to do some worldwide good. He said the priority has been to reduce AI’s drawbacks. Blinken shared he’d like to “get other countries to sign on so that we create a foundation of understanding about how AI can be used and how it should be used. This is just the dawn of that effort, and more than anything else, that’s going to shape the future we all live in.”
UT students sent in questions for Blinken to answer before the presentation began. He encouraged students interested in serving their country and the world to seek out the Foreign Service.
As Blinken’s visit came to an end, Hutchison rewarded him with a Longhorn football jersey with his name in capital letters on the back.
Also, while in Austin, Blinken couldn't pass up on some tacos, stopping by Nixta Taqueria to give into his craving and spotlight the food spot.