Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
S2 Episode 16: US election results 2024
3 Plays6 months ago
In this episode, John and Dejan are discussing the results of the US election. Let us know your thoughts by emailing us at debatable.discussions1@gmail.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Trump's Win and Global Implications
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Debatable Discussions podcast.
00:00:04
Speaker
And today we've got a very exciting episode as probably one of the biggest developments in politics, well, of the 21st century has occurred.
00:00:13
Speaker
Today we're going to be discussing the recent US election and we're going to be discussing
00:00:20
Speaker
what does a Trump mean actually win for the world, what does it mean for America and we're also going to be delving on a surface level on the House of Reps and the Senate and what that win for the Republicans is going to mean at the White House.
00:00:37
Speaker
So John, first of all obviously Trump won.
00:00:42
Speaker
A lot of pollsters didn't expect it, you know there's all these videos right now going off Rory Stewart
00:00:49
Speaker
being sort of distraught as he sees his prediction gone wrong.
00:00:53
Speaker
You see Alan Lichtman basically crying almost when he finds that his prediction streak got broken.
00:01:03
Speaker
Why do you think Trump won?
00:01:06
Speaker
So yes, why do I think Trump won?
00:01:08
Speaker
Simply Trump's campaign was just far better.
00:01:12
Speaker
And really, in these last few days of the election before polling, you could really just see how Trump's campaign was so much better.
00:01:21
Speaker
He really did appeal to a young audience.
00:01:23
Speaker
You could see this with his podcasts.
00:01:27
Speaker
He came onto the Joe Rogan podcast.
00:01:30
Speaker
a podcast known in the podcast community to sort of be the top dog.
00:01:34
Speaker
You know, Joe Rogan really does dominate the podcasting industry with his- The Herod Grail.
00:01:40
Speaker
He is.
00:01:40
Speaker
I mean, he's got these hour long podcasts, which quite literally millions of people listens to.
00:01:46
Speaker
So by Trump going onto that podcast, it was publicity in an excellent way for him because he could get his message out to, in particular, a young audience.
Voter Connection: Trump vs. Harris
00:01:56
Speaker
And I mean, just as I said, that exceptional campaign strategy from him.
00:02:01
Speaker
Similarly, his rallies, his use of rallies were good.
00:02:05
Speaker
I think he manages to create this very, very sort of strong MAGA culture.
00:02:11
Speaker
And it almost makes a sort of MAGA army, which we see this very tribal sort of atmosphere.
00:02:17
Speaker
And I think people are attracted to that.
00:02:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:20
Speaker
And also part of his campaign was just focusing on why Kamala couldn't be president.
00:02:27
Speaker
He rightfully, well, rightfully, I don't know if that's the right word to use, but he did associate her with her president, Biden.
00:02:35
Speaker
And he did point out how Kamala hadn't really been that strong of vice president.
00:02:40
Speaker
He pointed out how one of his main things, something that attracts lots of American voters, immigration.
00:02:47
Speaker
He pointed out how Kamala hadn't really solved this, even though as a vice president, this was her big aim.
00:02:53
Speaker
This is what Biden tasked her to do.
00:02:56
Speaker
So overall, and I'll ask you how you think Trump won, Dan, but for me, his campaign was just very, very good.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think...
00:03:06
Speaker
Apart from his campaign being very good, as you've said, you know, you had McDonald's, you've had him being a garbage man in Wisconsin.
00:03:14
Speaker
I think that sort of connected with people because, you know, when you look at sort of billionaires generally, they quite, they do see him.
00:03:21
Speaker
I mean, make a point here, Kamala Harris, I don't know if you saw the interview with Mark Cuban.
00:03:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:03:29
Speaker
Another billionaire.
00:03:30
Speaker
Mark Cuban seemed arrogant.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:33
Speaker
Quite, you know, difficult to approach.
00:03:35
Speaker
On the other hand, you know, Trump is great, sort of seeming to be very approachable.
00:03:42
Speaker
So just a normal guy with a lot of money.
00:03:44
Speaker
He worked at McDonald's.
00:03:46
Speaker
He was like, I love this job.
00:03:48
Speaker
And...
00:03:50
Speaker
You know, I think he connected with the voters quite well.
00:03:53
Speaker
As well as this, I think, as you said, there were some very, very big problems with Kamala Harris.
00:03:58
Speaker
And we've said this on the podcast about Donald Trump's assassination, I think.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:08
Speaker
I think that is when we said that Kamala has some big problems and that probably she should not be the Democratic nominee.
Election Analysis: Pro-Trump or Anti-Kamala?
00:04:17
Speaker
Now, this was exacerbated, I think, by the fact that the Democratic Party was not democratic.
00:04:24
Speaker
They appointed her without going through a primary system.
00:04:29
Speaker
They circumvented democracy again in the nomination of a presidential candidate, and that really backfired.
00:04:35
Speaker
because the voters did not feel strongly about Kamala Harris.
00:04:40
Speaker
This is an election in which Democrats lost the popular vote, and that hasn't happened in quite a while, because they won the popular vote with Biden, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Obama won it twice.
00:04:52
Speaker
So this is one of the few elections of the 21st century in which Democrats lost the popular vote.
00:04:59
Speaker
And that is because I don't think they strongly believe in their candidate.
00:05:04
Speaker
Also, again, there was some negligence, I think, on the side of the Democrats.
00:05:09
Speaker
I think they expected to get a super high percentage of the Latino vote.
00:05:13
Speaker
Didn't happen.
00:05:14
Speaker
It was about a 50, 50 split, 55 to 45, actually, but you know, quite close.
00:05:19
Speaker
And they expect to get a higher percentage of the black vote.
00:05:21
Speaker
I think they got about 80% and they expect about 95.
00:05:23
Speaker
And
00:05:27
Speaker
That percentage, those percentage of votes in which the Democrats actually didn't really pay much attention because they thought, well, all the minorities are just going to vote for us.
00:05:36
Speaker
That, in my view, is a capital mistake that they've made in this election that they haven't previously done.
00:05:43
Speaker
They've assumed that some people are going to vote for them no matter what.
00:05:46
Speaker
They didn't put any effort in trying to convince them.
00:05:49
Speaker
And it's really backfired.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you there.
00:05:52
Speaker
And I think there's two points that he made there which are really interesting.
00:05:56
Speaker
And the first is Trump's publicity stunt.
00:05:59
Speaker
And this is part of his campaign strategy.
00:06:01
Speaker
And you can sort of draw parallels between that and the campaign of Nigel Farage.
00:06:08
Speaker
with Reform UK, both of them used publicity stunts and it has proved time and time again that these publicity stunts are actually just quite effective.
00:06:18
Speaker
People like to them, people like them, and they also appeal to them in a way.
00:06:22
Speaker
They appeal to the voter.
00:06:25
Speaker
by almost making them seem more relatable and almost mocking the other candidates.
00:06:31
Speaker
And as you said there, another part of the vote which Kamala thought she was guaranteed was the Latino voters.
00:06:37
Speaker
However, we saw, I think it was the majority of second generation Latino immigrants decided to vote for Trump.
00:06:44
Speaker
And that was really because Trump...
00:06:46
Speaker
put at the forefront of his campaign this issue of immigration.
00:06:50
Speaker
And he said to the second generation immigrants, well, you're not getting jobs because there are first generation immigrants coming in.
00:06:57
Speaker
And even though this does seem slightly hypocritical, these voters really did appeal, Trump appealed to these voters in that manner.
00:07:07
Speaker
So I think, as we've said, Trump's campaign was just very strong.
00:07:11
Speaker
But also, I think zooming out of it and looking at it overall, he's had probably the craziest presidential campaign, I'd say, of anyone definitely we can remember.
Election Comparisons: Trump and Biden's Successes
00:07:22
Speaker
I mean, he had an assassination attempt, one that grazed his ear, and then he had another attempt.
00:07:29
Speaker
um he's a man with 34 felony counts one conviction he's had two impeachment hearings six bankruptcies and he's got two cases currently pending in the courts i mean he's got quite a quite a resume of um sort of criminal or judicial charges and he still managed to appeal to the american people um
00:07:56
Speaker
in a way that hasn't really been seen before.
00:07:58
Speaker
As you said, he's won the popular vote.
00:08:00
Speaker
He's won about four million more votes than Kamala overall.
00:08:05
Speaker
So it is really amazing how a man who's come through all of this has managed to quite decisively win the US election.
00:08:16
Speaker
I think it's also something that we probably should answer is, was this actually a pro-Trump vote or was it an anti-Kamala vote?
00:08:25
Speaker
Because I think in 2020, if you look at it, I don't think that was a pro-Biden vote.
00:08:29
Speaker
I wouldn't classify it as the people really like Biden.
00:08:33
Speaker
I would say it's more of an anti-Trump vote.
00:08:35
Speaker
And I think there's actually an important question to be answered here.
00:08:39
Speaker
Do the people genuinely want Donald Trump in office?
00:08:41
Speaker
Or do they just...
00:08:44
Speaker
despise Hamler Harris so much that they would actually switch and vote for Donald Trump.
00:08:50
Speaker
What do you think, John?
00:08:51
Speaker
I think that's interesting because I don't know how necessarily, how strongly I would say 2020 was an anti-Trump vote by voting for Biden.
00:08:59
Speaker
I think...
00:09:01
Speaker
I think when Biden was a candidate in 2020, he seems a lot more promising than he does, than he has in the last four years
Future Democratic Candidates: Shapiro's Potential
00:09:10
Speaker
of his presidency.
00:09:11
Speaker
I think he just appeared to be a longstanding man of public service.
00:09:16
Speaker
He had been, you know, fairly average, decent president under Obama, a man that all Democrats decisively very much like.
00:09:26
Speaker
Um,
00:09:27
Speaker
and it was his third election campaign biden and biden managed to do a decent campaign he he managed to sort of chip away at trump a bit he was a lot sharper in his debates against trump something that biden couldn't really at all match with alongside with trump at this election so i think i would say and he did win the popular vote as well biden so i would say
00:09:53
Speaker
I wouldn't say it was too anti-Trump, the pro-Biden vote.
00:09:58
Speaker
But then at this election, I do feel that there could have been an anti-Harris vote just because people looked at Biden's presidency and they associated Harris with that.
00:10:10
Speaker
And they thought, I don't really want that again.
00:10:13
Speaker
And as Trump said a lot of times, he was better on the borders.
00:10:18
Speaker
it was better for the economy.
00:10:19
Speaker
And so that does appeal quite a lot to Americans as, as you know, time and time again, the economy is the biggest issue in the election and Trump performed better than Biden at it.
00:10:31
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you there, but I think, I think there's definitely also an element of,
00:10:37
Speaker
You know, we've talked about this previously, but I think it's really important to bring it back.
00:10:40
Speaker
Kamala Harris's sort of name wasn't... I thought, and we've said this before, that probably Josh Shapiro should have been the candidate for the Democrats.
00:10:51
Speaker
Because I genuinely think that a moderate Democrat with a good track record in Pennsylvania, which is a swing state, a very important swing state, actually, would have done extremely well.
00:11:03
Speaker
I think if Josh Shapiro ran against Trump,
00:11:05
Speaker
Josh Shapiro didn't have any of the sort of stain that the Biden organization had.
00:11:12
Speaker
He wasn't involved with anything on the sort of national level.
00:11:16
Speaker
He had the great track record in Pennsylvania, sort of centrist Democrat.
00:11:21
Speaker
You know, one could say he was even a bit right wing.
00:11:26
Speaker
I think he would have done extremely well.
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:29
Speaker
I mean, at the very least, as you said, he should have at least been her running mate.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:36
Speaker
Because Tim Walz, although good, I think the sort of idea behind Tim Walz is good because Tim Walz is this football coach, classic American dad, drinks Mountain Dew.
00:11:50
Speaker
But at the same time, I think he did hurt her campaign a little bit.
00:11:55
Speaker
I thought, although initially it seemed that he was really helping her and JD Vance was...
00:12:02
Speaker
destroying Trump's campaign.
00:12:04
Speaker
I think actually in the VP debate, everything kind of shifted because everyone saw JD Vance be really calm, really nice.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:12
Speaker
But very, very, you know, articulate.
00:12:14
Speaker
And I think Tim Wilds was just a bit, you know, there's all these memes on the internet with his face being like this, not knowing what's happening, being a bit lost, not being able to capitalize on some mistakes made by JD Vance, whilst JD could do this.
00:12:30
Speaker
I think
00:12:32
Speaker
Maybe this is, again, one of the reasons they lost Pennsylvania.
00:12:36
Speaker
Because maybe, I don't know this, I can't make a clear statement, but some people in Pennsylvania may have felt that Josh Shapiro should have been...
00:12:46
Speaker
the Democrat either nominee or at least vice presidential pick.
00:12:51
Speaker
And they felt that if Kamala's not going to choose him because he's from Pennsylvania because he's Jewish, why should they choose her?
State Shifts: Implications for Future Elections
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if it'd be as strong as that, that she didn't choose him based on his religion.
00:13:04
Speaker
But I, yeah, and I think with the with the vice president, as this election progressed,
00:13:10
Speaker
People saw that whilst he is a little bit crazy, you could say J.D.
00:13:13
Speaker
Vance is a very intelligent man.
00:13:16
Speaker
He also embodies this American sort of dream that Trump likes to refer to.
00:13:21
Speaker
He's from Ohio.
00:13:23
Speaker
His mother struggled with addiction.
00:13:26
Speaker
Vance joined the Marines as a journalist, went to Yale, had a very successful time there.
00:13:34
Speaker
And so he really does embody this sort of American dream, rising from very tough circumstances to being vice president now.
00:13:43
Speaker
So I think Vance is a very interesting figure.
00:13:46
Speaker
And at the start, when he was announced, I mean...
00:13:49
Speaker
he was associated just with hurting Trump's campaign, especially as I think some of his past comments and past actions did come to light.
00:14:01
Speaker
But as you said, that vice president's debate was a great turning point in our perspective of the vice president.
00:14:09
Speaker
Yes.
00:14:10
Speaker
So should we quickly also look at the results?
00:14:13
Speaker
And obviously these are the results at the time of recording on Sunday.
00:14:18
Speaker
Go ahead, John.
00:14:20
Speaker
So the presidential Trump has won 312 Electoral College votes.
00:14:25
Speaker
So he's obviously passed the important 270.
00:14:28
Speaker
And Harris is at 226 Electoral College votes.
00:14:33
Speaker
In the popular vote as well, Trump is around 4 million ahead of Harris.
00:14:39
Speaker
So obviously he's ticked both boxes, won the Electoral College votes, and will also won the less significant popular votes.
00:14:48
Speaker
Brian, do you have any comments on the results of the presidential election?
00:14:53
Speaker
Yes, I think also if you look at, so Trump won 312 votes this time, Biden in 2020 only won 306.
00:15:02
Speaker
If you look at the sort of popular vote, Biden won it by a bigger margin than Trump did this year.
00:15:09
Speaker
But what's very interesting in my opinion is that you look at the number of states that have flipped in the election.
00:15:16
Speaker
Six states have flipped for Trump in the election this time around, whilst zero states have flipped for Kamala.
Congressional Control: Republican Dominance?
00:15:23
Speaker
She could not win a single state that Biden did not win.
00:15:27
Speaker
I think that is heavily concerning.
00:15:30
Speaker
I mean, if you've got a candidate who cannot win a single state...
00:15:34
Speaker
that her sort of predecessor couldn't win.
00:15:38
Speaker
I think that is actually the most important number because you look at some of these states and they're clearly going to be blue.
00:15:43
Speaker
There's no point in actually, you know, running, even if the Democrats nominated a 10 year old child, California would be a blue state.
00:15:51
Speaker
Right.
00:15:52
Speaker
Just like how Texas would be a red state or just how like, you know, nowadays Florida would be a red state.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:59
Speaker
Yeah, and Trump really did do well in these swing states, which are the six states that he gained at this election.
00:16:07
Speaker
These are places like Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
00:16:12
Speaker
These were all Democrat, as you said, and Trump's campaign was really focused on these states as he knew that you'd have to win Pennsylvania and places like Georgia, Arizona and Nevada in order to win the election.
00:16:26
Speaker
um and obviously you look at the at his sort of publicity stunts the biggest two ones which are uh the mcdonald's campaign and the garbage man campaign the mcdonald's was in pennsylvania garbage sort of campaign was in wisconsin yeah he was shot in pennsylvania so it's it's all you know it's all very focused i felt i felt he knew where he needed to sort of
00:16:54
Speaker
play hard in a way.
00:16:57
Speaker
I think... Yeah.
00:16:59
Speaker
As I say, and I just don't think Harris as well focused enough on the swing states.
00:17:03
Speaker
When you look at how much attention Trump diverted, she just didn't do the same sort of thing.
00:17:09
Speaker
Yeah, I agree.
00:17:11
Speaker
And also looking at the Senate and the House.
00:17:15
Speaker
So there was actually at the time of recording one state still pending results.
00:17:19
Speaker
This is Arizona, but it is predicted to be Democrat in the Senate.
00:17:24
Speaker
However, Trump has also won the Senate.
00:17:26
Speaker
So there were 34 seats up for grabs.
00:17:29
Speaker
and Trump has 52 seats in the House, in the Senate, and the Democrats are on 46.
00:17:35
Speaker
However, they obviously have the two independent senators on their side, these being Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
00:17:44
Speaker
So Trump's also done well in the Senate.
00:17:46
Speaker
He's managed to take back control of that, which will obviously help him in the legislative process.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yes, I definitely agree.
00:17:55
Speaker
I think if you look at sort of the first two years of the Biden presidency was a bit the same.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:01
Speaker
Biden had control of both houses.
00:18:03
Speaker
Trump now does.
00:18:04
Speaker
I think this is sort of how American politics works.
00:18:08
Speaker
It's like a vicious cycle, which is that a new president comes in from a different party.
00:18:13
Speaker
And the first two years, probably they're going to have both houses, most likely nowadays, at least.
00:18:19
Speaker
And after that,
00:18:21
Speaker
there is a very real possibility that in two years the houses will switch.
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:27
Speaker
And I mean, Trump does not yet have control of the House.
00:18:30
Speaker
He needs 218 seats for control and he's got 213 at the moment.
00:18:36
Speaker
The Democrats are on 205.
00:18:38
Speaker
So it's far more realistic that Trump will win the House.
00:18:42
Speaker
And at the time of recording, there are 40, about 40 seats in the House, which have not yet been called.
00:18:51
Speaker
These are main,
00:18:53
Speaker
Similarly, Maine was actually one of the last states to be called in the US presidential election.
00:18:58
Speaker
So I think they need to get the votes there a bit quicker.
00:19:01
Speaker
Also, California and Arizona, similarly to the Senate, they haven't called a few districts.
00:19:08
Speaker
So it is predicted that Trump will win the House.
00:19:11
Speaker
And this obviously will be massively beneficial for him because he has plans and he wants to put these into law.
Trump's Economic Plans: Tariffs and Their Impact
00:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think now going into that, about his sort of policy, I think the policy that has gotten the most sort of publicity is either...
00:19:32
Speaker
the tariffs, which we're going to talk about, or is sort of this, it's a bit, you know, up in the air policy on abortion that no one actually knows.
00:19:43
Speaker
He claims that he doesn't want to do anything to it.
00:19:46
Speaker
I actually do believe that this is the case.
00:19:48
Speaker
I don't think there will be a national abortion ban in post because I think that is too hard for him to do.
00:19:54
Speaker
But let's talk a bit about the tariffs.
00:19:56
Speaker
John, could you explain what they are and perhaps what they're going to mean?
00:20:00
Speaker
So, yes, I don't know the most about this, but it's obviously been on the news and many will have seen.
00:20:04
Speaker
And Donald Trump, he would like to put a blanket 20% tariff on all imports into the US.
00:20:13
Speaker
And this is largely just coming from an analysis of
00:20:17
Speaker
and insights into what he fancies.
00:20:20
Speaker
These will also include tariffs, a significant tariff on goods coming from China.
00:20:26
Speaker
And we've had companies such as Steve Madden, it's just been reported, announced that it would rapidly halve its Chinese production to avoid these tariffs.
00:20:36
Speaker
Obviously, I am far more for free trade than all these tariffs.
00:20:44
Speaker
I think free trade would achieve a far better, far more beneficial relationship with countries.
00:20:49
Speaker
But Trump does not see the same.
00:20:51
Speaker
He wants tariffs and I think he wants them mainly for more of a geopolitical thing, sort of exert his influence on other countries by using tariffs.
00:21:01
Speaker
Diane, what do you think about these tariffs?
00:21:03
Speaker
I definitely agree.
00:21:03
Speaker
I think, you know, that's a great point there, John.
00:21:07
Speaker
I do think his main sort of outcome here is the economy.
00:21:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:12
Speaker
I think this is sort of him because whether we like it or not, there is a sort of ground-level trade war between China and the United States that has been happening at a very low level, at a very sort of, you know, non-combative level.
00:21:30
Speaker
There is definitely a sort of race that
00:21:33
Speaker
for the country's, for the world's best economy.
00:21:36
Speaker
And Trump wants to combat the Chinese.
00:21:39
Speaker
This is his main goal.
00:21:40
Speaker
He does not want the Chinese to keep all manufacturing like they do have now.
00:21:45
Speaker
And this is his way of doing it.
00:21:47
Speaker
He's going to impose these tariffs, which at the moment, no one actually knows on who they're going to be imposed apart from China.
00:21:58
Speaker
I think if he imposes tariffs on Europe, I think that could backfire a little bit.
00:22:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:04
Speaker
Obviously, because the European economy and the American economy, they're sort of very related generally.
00:22:09
Speaker
If one does well, so will the other, most likely.
00:22:13
Speaker
Because, you know, the strategic alliances between countries nowadays.
00:22:17
Speaker
But I think this is definitely something that needs to be sort of monitored very, very, very carefully.
Social Policies: Abortion and Public Sentiment
00:22:24
Speaker
Because...
00:22:26
Speaker
It could be a good idea, in theory, the tariffs on China, if they are sort of reasonable.
00:22:32
Speaker
But with Trump, you never know that.
00:22:35
Speaker
Yeah, and as you said about that, with him trying to sort of harm the Chinese economy, these tariffs will...
00:22:41
Speaker
further derail the Chinese economy.
00:22:43
Speaker
We've seen the Chinese economy sort of stagnate recently.
00:22:46
Speaker
It's taken a bit of a dip.
00:22:49
Speaker
I think there was a housing market issue there as well.
00:22:53
Speaker
So this will really derail China's efforts to face their economy.
00:22:57
Speaker
However, for the UK, where we are, I don't think it'll be too beneficial for us.
00:23:01
Speaker
I mean, his tariffs are predicted to cost us 22 billion in exports.
00:23:07
Speaker
So not too pleasant.
00:23:09
Speaker
No.
00:23:10
Speaker
Diane, the other big issue, as you mentioned, was abortion.
00:23:14
Speaker
What do you think Trump will do about abortion and how do you think it was sort of portrayed or how was it used in Trump's election campaign and in Harris as well?
00:23:24
Speaker
I actually don't think he will do anything.
00:23:27
Speaker
I think he got his sort of goal, which is to, quote, unquote, destroy Roe v Wade.
00:23:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:38
Speaker
And get it as a state decision.
00:23:41
Speaker
I don't think he will do anything federally against him because I think, number one, it'll be too difficult.
00:23:46
Speaker
Although he does have the Supreme Court, it will be too difficult.
00:23:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:50
Speaker
There will be riots everywhere.
00:23:53
Speaker
it's just not gonna work.
00:23:54
Speaker
I don't think he will do anything on abortion anymore.
00:23:58
Speaker
I do think, however, he will try and push sort of an underlying agenda in which he's going to try and convince as many people in the states to vote against the ban on abortion.
00:24:10
Speaker
I mean, to get vote for a ban on abortion, so against abortion.
00:24:14
Speaker
I think he will try and do that.
00:24:16
Speaker
But I don't think federally he will do anything because I don't think it's feasible.
00:24:20
Speaker
I think in the campaign, though, that was a very, very, very big point for Harris, which I didn't think was fully sort of grasped.
00:24:28
Speaker
I think it's to make a sort of tennis comparison.
00:24:32
Speaker
Like she was at the net and had the ball in her racket.
00:24:36
Speaker
And then when it came the moment to strike and hit the winner, she just couldn't.
00:24:42
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you there.
00:24:43
Speaker
Exactly.
00:24:44
Speaker
She had the opportunity to capitalise on this abortion debate.
00:24:48
Speaker
This is obviously a vicious debate in America.
00:24:51
Speaker
It is hugely divisive and she could have capitalised on this quite massively, but she didn't for some reason.
00:24:59
Speaker
And Trump deliberately sort of ignored the issue.
00:25:02
Speaker
And that's why I don't think he will do too much federally surrounding it, because he knows it's divisive and he knows it will only really lose him votes.
00:25:12
Speaker
In terms of the constitution as well, he doesn't have the power to do anything towards that.
00:25:17
Speaker
So I think...
00:25:19
Speaker
I think as you said that, I think he's done what he wanted to do, overturn Roe v Wade.
00:25:24
Speaker
And now it's up to states.
00:25:27
Speaker
And he will simply say that, I think.
00:25:28
Speaker
He'll say, it's up to you now, the American people.
00:25:31
Speaker
If you want abortion, you can keep it.
00:25:33
Speaker
If you don't want it, no.
00:25:35
Speaker
I mean, I think it's very problematic because you do see with different states having different abortion policies, lots of issues arise.
00:25:42
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:25:45
Speaker
I think, you know, it's a bit...
00:25:48
Speaker
stupid frankly for someone that lives sort of on the boundary of two states if you live a hundred miles into a state that doesn't have abortion and someone 101 mile away from you does have abortion i think that's a bit stupid i think it makes people travel unnecessary distances to get abortions yeah to get an abortion i don't think that's you know i i i think
00:26:13
Speaker
I am one of the big advocates for the right to choose because, you know, even if I don't agree with some issues with other people, I think everyone should have the right to choose.
00:26:25
Speaker
That's why...
00:26:27
Speaker
I'm, you know, I was, I was against the man to make the COVID vaccine mandatory, although I'm vaccinated twice.
00:26:33
Speaker
I heavily believe in the vaccine.
00:26:35
Speaker
I think it's, you know, a very important thing for people to do, especially in sort of cases like that.
00:26:41
Speaker
But I don't think forcing people is the right choice.
00:26:45
Speaker
I don't think forcing people to not have abortion is also the right choice.
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you there.
00:26:52
Speaker
And I think if you look at history as well, forcing people to do things doesn't usually have the best outcomes as well.
Trump's Cabinet: Key Figures and Controversies
00:26:59
Speaker
As we sort of wrap up the episode, perhaps it would also be good to talk about Trump's cabinet as well.
00:27:04
Speaker
He's name-dropped a few individuals who are likely to be in here.
00:27:09
Speaker
Susie Wiles, this rather impressive figure he's portrayed.
00:27:13
Speaker
He portrayed her at his victory speech to almost be the key to his electoral win.
00:27:22
Speaker
She's been announced as his chief of staff.
00:27:25
Speaker
Quite a collective, I can imagine, because...
00:27:28
Speaker
she does seem to be the key to his election success.
00:27:31
Speaker
What else do you think about his cabinet?
00:27:33
Speaker
I think, you know, going back on that, I think, you know, we've got the first female chief of staff in history now.
00:27:38
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:27:39
Speaker
Which is quite a big milestone.
00:27:41
Speaker
And I think, you know, another name that has to be sort of name dropped, frankly, is the potential for Bobby Kennedy to have a role in the Trump administration.
00:27:53
Speaker
As health secretary of all things, I think this can be really dangerous.
00:28:00
Speaker
It will be, because he is, as many of our listeners will know, he is basically a conspiracy theorist.
00:28:06
Speaker
To say the least.
00:28:08
Speaker
I mean, he believes in, like...
00:28:10
Speaker
I don't know what he believes in, frankly.
00:28:12
Speaker
He doesn't believe in anything.
00:28:13
Speaker
He believes in not vaccine.
00:28:17
Speaker
He doesn't believe in vaccines.
00:28:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:20
Speaker
He doesn't believe in food.
00:28:25
Speaker
Food, yeah.
00:28:26
Speaker
I think, you know, there's that viral video of him saying that he's skinned and eaten a bear.
00:28:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker
I think it's a bit sort of, I don't know how much power Bobby Kennedy will have, but hopefully not too much.
00:28:42
Speaker
I don't think his appointment in a specific position would be a bad thing because I do think he is quite motivated to clean up the corruption that happens in the state departments, in the medical system.
00:28:59
Speaker
I think he could be very good at that.
00:29:00
Speaker
I think if his whole job is to sort of go from level to level and make sure that the system runs properly and without corruption and according to the law, I think Bobby Kennedy will do a tremendous job because I feel he's just very motivated.
00:29:13
Speaker
That's like his life's mission.
00:29:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:15
Speaker
And as I was going to say, as I just said there about water, he does have this aim as well to clean Americans tap water.
00:29:23
Speaker
I mean, there's no scientific basis for this, but I mean, if he wants to clean tap water, I don't think it can be bad.
00:29:31
Speaker
Also about Kennedy, about RFK, no one really knows what his sort of anti-vax conspiracy theories are, but a few things he said in the past, he's linked to vaccines directly to autism.
00:29:45
Speaker
He's also said that vaccinations are the Holocaust and there were just numerous other examples in which he believes that the COVID-19 pandemic was invented to benefit the world's billionaires.
00:29:59
Speaker
So, as you said there, Diane, no one's really sure what he's going to do.
00:30:04
Speaker
No one's really sure what he believes.
00:30:06
Speaker
I think the fact that the last statement you've made there is the most believable one says quite a lot of things.
00:30:15
Speaker
I mean, you know, his opinions on sort of health are not based on anything.
00:30:21
Speaker
I think, you know, you look at some of the other sectors of health and, you know, they haven't actually been that efficient.
00:30:27
Speaker
But I think if Bobby Kennedy's role is a sort of zero policymaking, 100% sort of policing, I think he could do a good job.
00:30:36
Speaker
I feel like he's motivated enough.
00:30:38
Speaker
And I feel like also he does kind of, for some reason, just...
00:30:43
Speaker
give the impression that he does have the competency in order to be able to sort of clean up the state agencies and make sure that everyone's actions are in line with the law.
00:30:54
Speaker
I think he could be good at that.
00:30:55
Speaker
I think, however, if we put him on a policymaking position, I think that could potentially be disastrous, frankly.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I agree with you there.
00:31:03
Speaker
I've just also read that he doesn't believe in HIV and AIDS.
Conclusion: Future Predictions and Listener Feedback
00:31:06
Speaker
So I think he would be pretty cataclysmic in a policymaking role in to do with health.
00:31:15
Speaker
Yes.
00:31:16
Speaker
So with that, perhaps we should wrap up this episode of Debatable Discussions.
00:31:20
Speaker
We hope you've enjoyed hearing from us about our opinions on the US election.
00:31:25
Speaker
It's four more years of a Trump presidency, so I'm sure there'll be many more podcast episodes on the many things that Trump, RFK and Elon Musk even will get up to.
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, I fully agree with that, John.
00:31:39
Speaker
I think this is, you know, this presidency, for better or for worse, has given us a lot of content and will give us a lot more content in the future.
00:31:47
Speaker
But also, sort of as a quick summary, we've discussed Trump's win.
00:31:53
Speaker
We looked at the numbers in his win, him winning the popular vote, what states were flipped, what states were not flipped.
00:31:59
Speaker
We looked at his campaign, why it was a lot better than Kamala Harris's, some of Kamala Harris's sort of
00:32:06
Speaker
missed opportunities, places where she could have scored big, but she didn't.
00:32:10
Speaker
And some of the mistakes made by the Democrats in the run up to the election.
00:32:18
Speaker
At the end, of course, we've talked about sort of the future.
00:32:21
Speaker
And before we end, I think this is my prediction for now in four years, but I think that Republican candidate for the presidential election in 2028 will be J.D.
00:32:32
Speaker
Vance.
00:32:32
Speaker
I think Trump has sort of named him as his successor.
00:32:34
Speaker
And I think, you know, unless something cataclysmic happens, I think that's going to be that's going to be reality.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah, I can only agree with you there, Dan, because there's basically no one else on the Republican horizon who has emerged.
00:32:48
Speaker
J.D.
00:32:48
Speaker
Vance is the big name in the up and coming Republican Party.
00:32:54
Speaker
Obviously, his sort of counterpart would be Josh Shapiro.
00:32:58
Speaker
So perhaps a J.D.
00:32:59
Speaker
Vance, Josh Shapiro run.
00:33:01
Speaker
runoff could occur yeah but it's four years away and i think one thing you can learn from american politics and politics in general is that a lot can happen in four years let alone less alone a year itself anyway thank you everyone for listening to this episode of debatable discussions do give us a follow five star review perhaps go back and listen to also some of our past episodes as well
00:33:27
Speaker
Thank you everyone for listening.
00:33:28
Speaker
And as always, if you would like us to address specific topic in the future, please do leave a comment down below.
00:33:35
Speaker
We're more than happy to adapt to the public desire and we'll see you all next week.
00:33:43
Speaker
Good to see you then.