Era of MAGA: Americans 'questioning' if concentration of power in one man 'is really warranted'

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00:00Moving on to the U.S. now, the longest government shutdown in history is entering its 38th day.

00:06A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's plan to slash food assistance for millions of low-income Americans,

00:13saying the decision had been political.

00:16Meanwhile, air traffic controllers are working unpaid overtime.

00:20Transport Secretary Sean Duffy has ordered a 10% flight reduction at 40 major U.S. airports

00:26unless a deal to end the shutdown is reached.

00:30Lisa Kamenoff has more.

00:33Chaos in U.S. airports with delayed flights and endless queues at security control.

00:38The government shutdown has not just left severe staff shortages,

00:43but some 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 security agents working unpaid.

00:50The Federal Aviation Administration decided to stabilise the situation by cutting 10% of air traffic across 40 airports,

00:58which could further affect travellers.

01:01The traffic controllers having to work without pay all the time, I think, is just unreal.

01:06And that 10%, that's going to affect people, people like in my industry, because I do travel a fair amount.

01:13I'm okay flying out today. I'm supposed to come back on Monday, and I'm a little nervous about being able to get home.

01:21And why is that?

01:22Because it's possible that there will be a lot of cancellations and delays.

01:27Airlines have 36 hours to slash flights after the U.S. Transportation Secretary announced cuts to transport hubs across 24 states.

01:36Among them are the busiest airports like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas.

01:43There will be frustration.

01:45We are working with the airlines.

01:47They're going to work with passengers.

01:49But in the end, our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as possible.

01:55The FAA's reduction plan, which excludes international flights, will begin at a 4% cut on Friday, before escalating to a 10% cut next week.

02:06While airlines like Delta Air and American Airlines moved to reassure panicked passengers by offering refunds,

02:13the White House took a different approach.

02:15President Trump stated on Thursday that despite the reduced air traffic, it is still safe for Americans to fly.

02:22Well, for more on this story, we can welcome Sean Stafford,

02:26who's Associate Professor of Economic Sociology at Sciences Po University here in Paris.

02:31Thanks for speaking to us here on France 24.

02:34Thanks for having me.

02:36So perhaps just explain for viewers outside the U.S. why exactly this shutdown is happening

02:42and what these effects are that it's having.

02:44The federal government is funded through appropriations that are passed by the U.S. Congress.

02:54The U.S. Congress has, of course, two chambers and in the Senate that passed to pass by 60 votes.

03:01The Democrats are just under 50 votes in the U.S. Senate.

03:05But because of the way the rules work, they are in a position to basically block passage of the budget.

03:13What they're holding out for is in the current continuing resolution,

03:18that budget would basically result in a huge increase in health care premiums for people

03:24who get their health care through the Obamacare system.

03:29And so the Democrats are holding out to try to ensure that that doesn't happen.

03:33And it's already become the longest in history.

03:36How are ordinary Americans being affected by this shutdown?

03:43As you saw, as you just said in that report, you see that it has an effect on the air traffic controllers,

03:52but it has an effect on any number of things.

03:55And the SNAP program is the way that, you know, food aid is given to people who are near the poverty line in the United States.

04:05That is under threat right now.

04:07And just a whole range of, you know, government services and government data are in abeyance right now.

04:16So, for instance, you know, we don't know what the unemployment rate is.

04:22We don't know, you know, just a whole range of, you know, data is not coming out of the federal government.

04:29And so the information is just not getting out to where people need it.

04:34And as much as the Republicans are blaming the Democrats on this,

04:38it comes at a difficult time for Trump because his disapproval ratings are low.

04:43We're well into disapproval territory now.

04:45And since he came in, I think the net is down about 18%.

04:49Does this mean moderate Americans are turning away from MAGA?

04:58We'll see.

04:59You know, it comes at this difficult time, but the difficult time has been accumulating.

05:04President Trump, when he came in for his second term,

05:08took a number of moves that took everybody by surprise

05:11and really just captured a lot of political territory

05:15and, you know, has been accumulating more and more political power to himself over the last few months.

05:23But at the same time, we've seen, you know,

05:26just any number of elements chipping away at his popularity,

05:32at the sense that people have of chaos,

05:35starting, of course, with some really bizarre moves

05:39around trying to protect, it seems, himself and others

05:42with respect to the Epstein scandal.

05:45But not just that, demolishing the East Wing of the White House

05:48without any notice or sort of plan

05:52mentioned to the American people,

05:55sending troops into American cities.

05:57All of these things have created

05:59just a rolling sense of chaos and stress within the country

06:04so that, you know,

06:07it seems to finally just be accumulating to the point

06:10where people are stepping back and questioning, really,

06:12whether, you know,

06:15all of the power that's been accrued to this one person is really warranted.

06:19And can we read the Democrats' recent wins in elections,

06:24such as the one in New York City,

06:26as a kind of sign of the shifting mood

06:29and where things might be going in the future?

06:31Or is it too early to say that?

06:35I think certainly in New York City,

06:37there's no doubt that President Trump

06:39has not been popular for quite some time.

06:41What's more interesting in the elections that we saw,

06:44you know, on Tuesday,

06:46are that we've seen a significant shift in,

06:49you know, the suburbs of New Jersey

06:50and people coming out in Georgia

06:54and even Mississippi,

06:56which does suggest that there's been a softening

06:59among the people that President Trump really needs

07:02to maintain this incredible role of power

07:07that he's, you know, been on for the last several months.

07:10Will that translate into real political power

07:14in the elections that are upcoming next November,

07:17a year from this week?

07:19It's a year is a really long time in American politics.

07:23So many things can happen,

07:24but it's certainly not a good sign for President Trump.

07:29And something like this shutdown then,

07:31would you see it more as a sign

07:33of the kind of resilience of American democracy,

07:36showing that action can be done

07:38even by the minority party,

07:39or is it a dysfunctional aspect of American democracy

07:43where the whole system can just collapse

07:46and people can stop getting what they need

07:48from the government?

07:51I mean, I think the answer is both.

07:54The reason that President Trump

07:57has been able to accumulate so much power

08:00in the last year

08:01is because the Republicans control

08:04the House of Representatives,

08:06the Senate, the Supreme Court,

08:07and of course, the presidency.

08:09We've seen some of the states,

08:12particularly California, New York,

08:14some of the states that are led

08:15by Democratic governors trying to take some actions

08:17to uphold the separation of powers

08:21and the checks and balances system

08:23in the United States,

08:24but they're relatively weak.

08:27And so this action on the part

08:29of the Senate Democrats to stand up

08:32and take a stand on this one particular issue

08:34was a big gamble.

08:36And it's frankly not clear yet

08:38whether it's paid off,

08:40although I think at the beginning

08:43there was some pessimism.

08:44It was not clear

08:44that this was going to be enough.

08:45But I think as it's gone on

08:47and as people have started to pay attention

08:50or sort of incorporated this shutdown

08:53into the broader set of actions

08:57that the president has taken,

08:58it's contributed to a sense of chaos,

09:00a sense of drift.

09:03And I think that it's fair to say

09:08that at this point,

09:10you have Democrats who are feeling more confident

09:12that that strategy

09:14is potentially going to pay off politically.

09:16Now, Sean, in my memory,

09:19the last shutdown that we had,

09:21which was over the border wall back in 2018,

09:23this was a much bigger news story.

09:25Is it simply because there are so many big news stories

09:27at the moment surrounding Trump?

09:29Is this your sense as well?

09:31But this one is clearly more important

09:33because it's gone on for longer.

09:34Yeah, absolutely.

09:37Actually, my very first kind of professional moment in life

09:41back in the 1990s

09:42when I had moved to Washington, D.C.

09:46And that was the first sort of modern shutdown

09:49under President Clinton.

09:50And I remember at that time,

09:53led by the Senate,

09:55the House Republicans under Newt Gingrich.

09:57And at that time,

09:58this was absolutely the major story

10:01in the country for weeks

10:04and was really considered a big deal.

10:06And it is remarkable this time

10:08how just within the stream

10:11of things that come out of the White House,

10:15this seems in some ways

10:16like just another element,

10:18just another rope in the thread,

10:23thread in the rope.

10:24But the fact is that

10:27the nature of a government shutdown

10:30is at the beginning,

10:31people don't really necessarily notice

10:33or feel the impact of federal government

10:36sort of not doing its job

10:37on a day-to-day basis.

10:39But as a shutdown continues

10:41as long as it has,

10:42and more and more people

10:43start to feel real deprivation,

10:47people without benefits

10:50to get food for their families,

10:52people being stranded

10:53in different cities

10:56because they can't get their flights,

10:58businesses not getting the information

11:00that they need on the weather

11:01or on the economy

11:02or whatever it is,

11:03this has a real accumulative impact

11:05and the pressure starts to build.

11:08Now, in the past,

11:09that has not necessarily

11:11put pressure on the president.

11:13That has ended up putting pressure

11:14on the party in Congress

11:17that is sometimes seen to be

11:19the generator of the chaos.

11:22But in this case,

11:23because President Trump

11:24has been so uniformly

11:28or singularly identified

11:30with all of the actions

11:32that are coming out

11:32of the U.S. federal government,

11:34he's put himself

11:34in this interesting position

11:35where he takes the credit

11:39for some wins,

11:41but at the same time,

11:42he is maybe more vulnerable

11:44than other presidents

11:45have been in the past

11:46to the political pressure

11:48that comes from this kind of thing.

11:49Fascinating.

11:50Sean Stafford,

11:50thank you for that.

11:51Sorry for calling you Stafford

11:53earlier in my introduction.

11:54Forgive me on that one.

11:55Thanks very much

11:56for speaking to me.

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