- 2 days ago
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Our top story this hour then, President Donald Trump has blamed what he calls kamikaze Democrats
00:16for the longest US government shutdown ever as it topped the 35-day record set during his first
00:21term. Trump then telling Republican senators at the White House that the ongoing shutdown is
00:26impacting the stock market as well as airlines and food benefits for low-income Americans.
00:32Donald Trump speaking a day after US voters delivered a clean sweep of top contests to
00:38Democrats. Let's speak more about this. We have in the studio with us our international affairs
00:43editor, Philip Tell. Hello to you, Philip. We're also joined by Ian Rifovitz. He's a distinguished
00:49professor of history at the Sunny Empire State University and the co-author of Riling Up the
00:54Base, examining Trump's use of stereotypes through an interdisciplinary lens. Welcome
00:59to you both. Philip, if I start with you there, a lot of blame being levelled by Donald Trump
01:05at the Democrats, both for the shutdown, but equally for those losses in a top contest yesterday.
01:11Well, there are a couple of points which are important to underline here. First of all,
01:14that the speech that Donald Trump made just a few minutes ago in front of Republican leaders,
01:20it was typical Donald Trump. He will point the finger at the Democrats. Basically,
01:25the Democrats, as you were saying, are a group of kamikazes who are kamikaze pilots who are
01:30responsible for the shutdown, the longest shutdown in US history, 36 days today since it started.
01:37Still no end in sight. And then saying that basically, as far as the elections were concerned,
01:43insinuating over the past couple of days that what the Democrats want to do is to rig the election
01:48campaign so that it's going to be false and they will be cheating and saying basically that these
01:53people don't want things to go smoothly. What they want is to cheat. The second point is that
02:00there's no self-questioning. There's no looking in the mirror to wonder why things are going that way.
02:08Was it anything to do with Donald Trump's own policies? So it's the typical image of Donald Trump
02:13summed up by the fact that after the election victories of the Democrats, he was saying, well,
02:20there are two reasons that the Republicans didn't win last night. The first one is because
02:25there is this shutdown, which is now in its 36th day. And the second reason is because the name
02:32Donald Trump wasn't on the ballot, citing election officials, although we don't know
02:38which election officials he was talking about. I mean, Ian, if we bring you in here, we had a Trump
02:44that, you know, was keen to fire off in terms of critics towards the Democrats. A rather muted
02:51response, though, not the Trump perhaps as as jovial as we might always have. And he certainly didn't
02:57want to answer questions about those defeats to Democrats.
03:01I mean, it's hard to know exactly what's going through his mind at any given moment.
03:07I think these these results were worse, certainly than he expected. The Republicans expected to lose
03:14certainly the Virginia race. I think they had some hope in New Jersey, but they were blown out of the
03:19water in both of those states. The governors, the newly elected governors outperformed Kamala Harris
03:27in both of those states by around 10 points for elections only one year ago. That's a huge
03:32difference. And and to not to, you know, miss out on a few other places. Democrats flipped two seats
03:39in deep red Georgia on an important elected election commission, and they won those seats 60 to 40.
03:45Next year, there are U.S. Senate elections in Georgia. Democrat John Ossoff is running for
03:50reelection in a very tricky state for Democrats that are is a 50 50 state at best. Democrats won those
03:55races 60 40. So if Trump is muted, I think it's because his party did even worse than than he
04:02expected. I mean, Philip, all of these points to the fact that there's going to be, you know,
04:07very competitive midterm primaries coming up. And of course, you know, the pointing, if you will,
04:13to the 2028 presidential elections, ultimately. Well, I think the big question now is, can this
04:18momentum carry on? The most important thing for the Democrats is that the hard part starts now,
04:25the hard part starts on delivering those election pledges, particularly when it comes down to what
04:31we've heard in New York from Zoran Mamdani about free bus travel, giving greater child care and
04:39settling low budget rents for people. He's going to get the money going to have to get the money from
04:45somewhere to follow up on those pledges. There is visibly a thirst for change. The question is,
04:51can what we've seen in New York, which is a bit like a microstate within the United States,
04:56be transferred elsewhere in the US? Is this a sign of momentum that can go to other areas of the US
05:03to the detriment of the Republican Party and to the detriment of Donald Trump? Or are we just seeing
05:08a phenomenon in certain areas of the US where the stars are all aligned in the right manner for
05:15the Democrats? I think that is the important point right now. But this is certainly a huge win for the
05:19Democrats much more than they were expecting yesterday. Can they keep this momentum up
05:24between now and the midterm elections? In other words, can the populist left wing policies of what
05:31we've seen in New York act as a counterbalance to the populist right wing policies of Donald Trump
05:37and the Republican Party right now? I think you make an interesting point, Ian, if I can come back to you on
05:42that. I mean, supposedly, if Mandani is able to hold on to these promises, you know, this blueprint,
05:51as you will, that he's put forward with, you know, working for, you know, working class New Yorkers,
05:58it would be a great blueprint for other cities if he manages to keep those promises. If he doesn't,
06:04though, it could be a warning against progressives, no?
06:07Well, the thing is that Mandani and New York City is not most of America. Republicans would love for
06:15the next three years to be Donald Trump versus Zoran Mandani, right? But Zoran Mandani is only
06:22one person who was elected last night. He actually, and it's not exactly the same comparison, but he
06:27actually underperformed Kamala Harris in New York City compared to a year ago, whereas, as I said,
06:32the Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey overperformed. I think it's more the case that the
06:37candidates in New Jersey and Virginia represent where the Democrats are going to go across the
06:42country. Rahm Emanuel, a leading Democrat, actually said last night, I'm less interested in the upper
06:48west side, referring to New York City and Manhattan, a famously liberal area, and more interested in the
06:52upper peninsula, which is an important area in Michigan. It's just a swing state. And I think
06:57that's where Democrats are going to be focused. Mamdani is important because he needs to show that he can
07:03govern well in New York City, but he is not going to be the face of the Democratic Party heading into
07:08the midterms or the presidential election. All right, well, let's stay with Mamdani. We're going
07:13to watch a report looking back at his victory as, you know, the next mayor of New York, this clean
07:20sweep then that we've been talking about of top contests among several ballots nationwide, delivering,
07:26of course, a morale boost for Democrats and perhaps an early warning to President Trump.
07:33Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you. Turn the volume up.
07:47A victory speech made in New York, but with a target audience in Washington.
07:52Zoran Mamdani wasted no time taking on the U.S. president after he won the city's race for mayor.
07:58If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise
08:05to him. Mamdani's victory is historic. The 34-year-old son of immigrants had no name recognition
08:12when he joined the race. And even though he won the Democratic primary back in June, its establishment
08:17failed to fully embrace him. Mamdani was forced to rely on the party's progressive wing as he pledged
08:23to make New York more affordable. New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change.
08:32In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light.
08:38Uganda-born Mamdani has lived in New York most of his life. And on Tuesday, he celebrated the city's
08:44diversity with him poised to be the first Muslim and first person of South Asian descent to lead.
08:50New York will remain a city of immigrants. A city built by immigrants. Powered by immigrants.
09:03And as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
09:09Mamdani's victory was celebrated by New Yorkers young and old, many pointing to the fact that
09:13he's been able to do what mainstream politicians have failed at even before assuming office.
09:19He has directly addressed Trump and his abuse and power. Congress has failed to do so.
09:28Mamdani has now placed himself above Congress as a national leader. And he hasn't even taken office yet.
09:35His policies are great. He's energetic. He's not afraid to stand up to the system and the president.
09:41And I think that's really refreshing.
09:43As Mamdani's rise reverberates in New York and around the United States, the US president took to social media.
09:50Donald Trump writing, and so it begins, suggesting he's gearing up for a fight.
09:56If I bring you back in here just before that report, you pointed out that, you know, he may be the face currently of New York, but won't ultimately be the face of the Democratic Party.
10:07I just want to come back on his his rise for you.
10:11For you, what does what does Mamdani symbolize and where does that rise come from?
10:16Well, first of all, he is an exceptionally good politician.
10:21He is very good at listening and and responding to the needs of the people that he is courting that that's voters.
10:30And they were laser focused on affordability.
10:32And his campaign, although he did, you know, has in his lifetime talked about other issues, international issues, issues relating to race, gender, immigration, his campaign was really focused on affordability.
10:45Rent, rent reduction, rent freeze, free buses and other things that the government can do to make, including free childcare for those under the age of three, things that they can do to make the city more affordable.
10:59That was the issue that he ran on.
11:02And it was very successful.
11:03It that is that is an issue more broadly that can play throughout America, maybe not with the same exact solutions.
11:09Having said that, he had an Andrew, Andrew Cuomo, an incredibly flawed opponent, somebody who was strong enough to maybe knock out other mainstream Democrats.
11:20But because of his own background, his, you know, many credible accusations of sexual assault against him was strong enough to to strong enough to knock out opponents, but not strong enough to actually defeat somebody like Mamdani, who really is a better and more attractive politician.
11:38So Mamdani benefited from that. Having said that, he did come out of nowhere and his win is very impressive.
11:44The real question is, how much can he get done economically?
11:48Because he with the rules and the laws of New York State, he has to go through the state legislature for funding for a lot of his programs.
11:54Not going to be easy.
11:55An uphill battle there in terms of getting some of those policies or promises, as you will, into play.
12:02One of the things that Mamdani was able to do was to kind of highlight the internal divisions within the Democratic Party.
12:09So those who are kind of more centrist, those who are looking towards a more leftist future for the Democrats.
12:14There were lukewarm endorsements, it has to be said, from some very high profile national figures.
12:19What do you make of that?
12:21Well, it makes sense if you think about people who have a national role to play.
12:26Let's focus on Chuck Schumer, senator from New York, yes, but also leader of the Democrats in the Senate.
12:33So if he's going to endorse Mamdani, you know, then he's and then he has to try to recruit, let's say, a Senate candidate to challenge Republicans in a difficult state like, let's say, Texas or Florida.
12:47It's a lot harder for him to do that if he's somebody who endorsed Zoran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist.
12:54So in the end, I think they're all trying to walk that fine line.
12:57Mamdani, it looked like he was going to win this election.
13:01He did win this election, maybe not by as much as the polls showed, but still impressively, nine, ten points.
13:06But his name and his policies don't play well in the rest of America.
13:11It was not an easy decision, I think, for some of these leading Democrats to make.
13:15Governor Hochul of New York did endorse him and did appear with him because I think she realized she needs his help or at least the support of his voters next year when she's running for reelection in New York.
13:27Whether not endorsing Mamdani will hurt Schumer in an election campaign in New York next year against a Democrat in a primary, that remains to be seen.
13:34We'll have to see if Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tries to run against him.
13:40I want to think about Trump for a second because, of course, it's no secret.
13:44Trump has called Mamdani a communist.
13:47He's also said, look, you know, this could impact some of the funding that we're able to offer to New York City.
13:53At the there was this kind of somber mood yesterday at Cuomo's results party.
14:00Some they're suggesting that, you know, perhaps Trump might send the National Guard in.
14:04Perhaps that's a bit far fetched.
14:06However, he could ultimately decide to be to retaliate or be quite problematic when it comes to the New York mayor.
14:16Absolutely. I mean, he shut down this gateway tunnel project and he used which was designed to rebuild tunnels that go between New York and New Jersey.
14:26And that became a factor in the New Jersey governor's race.
14:29Look, we know that that this president will exercise as much power as he thinks he can get away with and wait for the courts to catch up to him.
14:38And now, having said that, he was relatively aggressive towards New York, even under Eric Adams, who was, you know, supposedly a kind of ally to him.
14:48He pushed to undo New York's congestion pricing plan.
14:52Having said that, they didn't actually undo it.
14:55So maybe, you know, you could argue that they could have done more.
14:57Donald Trump is always going to be a wild card.
15:00At the end of the day, I don't think Mamdani, you know, wants Trump to punish New York.
15:07But if he does try to punish New York, that will only help Mamdani because he will be seen as standing up to this president who is deeply unpopular at this point with New Yorkers.
15:17Yeah, just a final question for you.
15:18You know, we can look at Mamdani's win.
15:20We can also look at those victories that we made reference to in both Virginia and New Jersey.
15:25There's clearly a political mood shift, if you will, in the country just ahead of these upcoming midterms.
15:31What should we be looking out for?
15:33Well, obviously, Democrats need to flip the house.
15:38It's very important that they do that.
15:40They are facing a headwind because of redistricting efforts all across the country where Democrats are trying to counter the efforts of Republicans.
15:49Republicans in Texas are changing the district lines to give themselves more seats in the House of Representatives.
15:56Last night, California voted.
15:59They had to ask their voters to do it.
16:01But they, in a huge victory, almost two to one, supported Democratic efforts to redistrict.
16:06Virginia is also a place where redistricting is on the table in favor of Democrats.
16:13And they won huge elections, not only for governor, but in the state legislature.
16:17So it looks like Democratic voters want this to happen.
16:21At the end of the day, the Senate is a bigger climb.
16:24I don't know that they have enough winnable seats in the Senate.
16:27But that's what we're looking at next year, really, is House and Senate races.
16:31All right, Ian Refovitz.
16:32Thanks very much for speaking to us today.
16:34You're a distinguished professor of history at the Sunny Empire State University and the co-author of Riling Up the Base.
16:41Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts with us today.
Be the first to comment