Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome back to the Debatable Discussions podcast.
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.
Speaker: Today we're going to be discussing the recent US election and we're going to be discussing
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.
Speaker: So John, first of all obviously Trump won.
Speaker: A lot of pollsters didn't expect it, you know there's all these videos right now going off Rory Stewart
Speaker: being sort of distraught as he sees his prediction gone wrong.
Speaker: You see Alan Lichtman basically crying almost when he finds that his prediction streak got broken.
Speaker: Why do you think Trump won?
Speaker: So yes, why do I think Trump won?
Speaker: Simply Trump's campaign was just far better.
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.
Speaker: He really did appeal to a young audience.
Speaker: You could see this with his podcasts.
Speaker: He came onto the Joe Rogan podcast.
Speaker: a podcast known in the podcast community to sort of be the top dog.
Speaker: You know, Joe Rogan really does dominate the podcasting industry with his- The Herod Grail.
Speaker: He is.
Speaker: I mean, he's got these hour long podcasts, which quite literally millions of people listens to.
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.
Speaker: And I mean, just as I said, that exceptional campaign strategy from him.
Speaker: Similarly, his rallies, his use of rallies were good.
Speaker: I think he manages to create this very, very sort of strong MAGA culture.
Speaker: And it almost makes a sort of MAGA army, which we see this very tribal sort of atmosphere.
Speaker: And I think people are attracted to that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And also part of his campaign was just focusing on why Kamala couldn't be president.
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.
Speaker: And he did point out how Kamala hadn't really been that strong of vice president.
Speaker: He pointed out how one of his main things, something that attracts lots of American voters, immigration.
Speaker: He pointed out how Kamala hadn't really solved this, even though as a vice president, this was her big aim.
Speaker: This is what Biden tasked her to do.
Speaker: So overall, and I'll ask you how you think Trump won, Dan, but for me, his campaign was just very, very good.
Speaker: Yeah, I think...
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.
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.
Speaker: I mean, make a point here, Kamala Harris, I don't know if you saw the interview with Mark Cuban.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Another billionaire.
Speaker: Mark Cuban seemed arrogant.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Quite, you know, difficult to approach.
Speaker: On the other hand, you know, Trump is great, sort of seeming to be very approachable.
Speaker: So just a normal guy with a lot of money.
Speaker: He worked at McDonald's.
Speaker: He was like, I love this job.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: You know, I think he connected with the voters quite well.
Speaker: As well as this, I think, as you said, there were some very, very big problems with Kamala Harris.
Speaker: And we've said this on the podcast about Donald Trump's assassination, I think.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think that is when we said that Kamala has some big problems and that probably she should not be the Democratic nominee.
Speaker: Now, this was exacerbated, I think, by the fact that the Democratic Party was not democratic.
Speaker: They appointed her without going through a primary system.
Speaker: They circumvented democracy again in the nomination of a presidential candidate, and that really backfired.
Speaker: because the voters did not feel strongly about Kamala Harris.
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.
Speaker: So this is one of the few elections of the 21st century in which Democrats lost the popular vote.
Speaker: And that is because I don't think they strongly believe in their candidate.
Speaker: Also, again, there was some negligence, I think, on the side of the Democrats.
Speaker: I think they expected to get a super high percentage of the Latino vote.
Speaker: Didn't happen.
Speaker: It was about a 50, 50 split, 55 to 45, actually, but you know, quite close.
Speaker: And they expect to get a higher percentage of the black vote.
Speaker: I think they got about 80% and they expect about 95.
Speaker: And
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.
Speaker: That, in my view, is a capital mistake that they've made in this election that they haven't previously done.
Speaker: They've assumed that some people are going to vote for them no matter what.
Speaker: They didn't put any effort in trying to convince them.
Speaker: And it's really backfired.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree with you there.
Speaker: And I think there's two points that he made there which are really interesting.
Speaker: And the first is Trump's publicity stunt.
Speaker: And this is part of his campaign strategy.
Speaker: And you can sort of draw parallels between that and the campaign of Nigel Farage.
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.
Speaker: People like to them, people like them, and they also appeal to them in a way.
Speaker: They appeal to the voter.
Speaker: by almost making them seem more relatable and almost mocking the other candidates.
Speaker: And as you said there, another part of the vote which Kamala thought she was guaranteed was the Latino voters.
Speaker: However, we saw, I think it was the majority of second generation Latino immigrants decided to vote for Trump.
Speaker: And that was really because Trump...
Speaker: put at the forefront of his campaign this issue of immigration.
Speaker: And he said to the second generation immigrants, well, you're not getting jobs because there are first generation immigrants coming in.
Speaker: And even though this does seem slightly hypocritical, these voters really did appeal, Trump appealed to these voters in that manner.
Speaker: So I think, as we've said, Trump's campaign was just very strong.
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.
Speaker: I mean, he had an assassination attempt, one that grazed his ear, and then he had another attempt.
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
Speaker: in a way that hasn't really been seen before.
Speaker: As you said, he's won the popular vote.
Speaker: He's won about four million more votes than Kamala overall.
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.
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?
Speaker: Because I think in 2020, if you look at it, I don't think that was a pro-Biden vote.
Speaker: I wouldn't classify it as the people really like Biden.
Speaker: I would say it's more of an anti-Trump vote.
Speaker: And I think there's actually an important question to be answered here.
Speaker: Do the people genuinely want Donald Trump in office?
Speaker: Or do they just...
Speaker: despise Hamler Harris so much that they would actually switch and vote for Donald Trump.
Speaker: What do you think, John?
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.
Speaker: I think...
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 of his presidency.
Speaker: I think he just appeared to be a longstanding man of public service.
Speaker: He had been, you know, fairly average, decent president under Obama, a man that all Democrats decisively very much like.
Speaker: Um,
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
Speaker: I wouldn't say it was too anti-Trump, the pro-Biden vote.
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.
Speaker: And they thought, I don't really want that again.
Speaker: And as Trump said a lot of times, he was better on the borders.
Speaker: it was better for the economy.
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.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree with you there, but I think, I think there's definitely also an element of,
Speaker: You know, we've talked about this previously, but I think it's really important to bring it back.
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.
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.
Speaker: I think if Josh Shapiro ran against Trump,
Speaker: Josh Shapiro didn't have any of the sort of stain that the Biden organization had.
Speaker: He wasn't involved with anything on the sort of national level.
Speaker: He had the great track record in Pennsylvania, sort of centrist Democrat.
Speaker: You know, one could say he was even a bit right wing.
Speaker: I think he would have done extremely well.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, at the very least, as you said, he should have at least been her running mate.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: But at the same time, I think he did hurt her campaign a little bit.
Speaker: I thought, although initially it seemed that he was really helping her and JD Vance was...
Speaker: destroying Trump's campaign.
Speaker: I think actually in the VP debate, everything kind of shifted because everyone saw JD Vance be really calm, really nice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But very, very, you know, articulate.
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.
Speaker: I think
Speaker: Maybe this is, again, one of the reasons they lost Pennsylvania.
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...
Speaker: the Democrat either nominee or at least vice presidential pick.
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?
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know if it'd be as strong as that, that she didn't choose him based on his religion.
Speaker: But I, yeah, and I think with the with the vice president, as this election progressed,
Speaker: People saw that whilst he is a little bit crazy, you could say J.D.
Speaker: Vance is a very intelligent man.
Speaker: He also embodies this American sort of dream that Trump likes to refer to.
Speaker: He's from Ohio.
Speaker: His mother struggled with addiction.
Speaker: Vance joined the Marines as a journalist, went to Yale, had a very successful time there.
Speaker: And so he really does embody this sort of American dream, rising from very tough circumstances to being vice president now.
Speaker: So I think Vance is a very interesting figure.
Speaker: And at the start, when he was announced, I mean...
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.
Speaker: But as you said, that vice president's debate was a great turning point in our perspective of the vice president.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So should we quickly also look at the results?
Speaker: And obviously these are the results at the time of recording on Sunday.
Speaker: Go ahead, John.
Speaker: So the presidential Trump has won 312 Electoral College votes.
Speaker: So he's obviously passed the important 270.
Speaker: And Harris is at 226 Electoral College votes.
Speaker: In the popular vote as well, Trump is around 4 million ahead of Harris.
Speaker: So obviously he's ticked both boxes, won the Electoral College votes, and will also won the less significant popular votes.
Speaker: Brian, do you have any comments on the results of the presidential election?
Speaker: Yes, I think also if you look at, so Trump won 312 votes this time, Biden in 2020 only won 306.
Speaker: If you look at the sort of popular vote, Biden won it by a bigger margin than Trump did this year.
Speaker: But what's very interesting in my opinion is that you look at the number of states that have flipped in the election.
Speaker: Six states have flipped for Trump in the election this time around, whilst zero states have flipped for Kamala.
Speaker: She could not win a single state that Biden did not win.
Speaker: I think that is heavily concerning.
Speaker: I mean, if you've got a candidate who cannot win a single state...
Speaker: that her sort of predecessor couldn't win.
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.
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.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Just like how Texas would be a red state or just how like, you know, nowadays Florida would be a red state.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, and Trump really did do well in these swing states, which are the six states that he gained at this election.
Speaker: These are places like Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
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.
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
Speaker: play hard in a way.
Speaker: I think... Yeah.
Speaker: As I say, and I just don't think Harris as well focused enough on the swing states.
Speaker: When you look at how much attention Trump diverted, she just didn't do the same sort of thing.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: And also looking at the Senate and the House.
Speaker: So there was actually at the time of recording one state still pending results.
Speaker: This is Arizona, but it is predicted to be Democrat in the Senate.
Speaker: However, Trump has also won the Senate.
Speaker: So there were 34 seats up for grabs.
Speaker: and Trump has 52 seats in the House, in the Senate, and the Democrats are on 46.
Speaker: However, they obviously have the two independent senators on their side, these being Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Speaker: So Trump's also done well in the Senate.
Speaker: He's managed to take back control of that, which will obviously help him in the legislative process.
Speaker: Yes, I definitely agree.
Speaker: I think if you look at sort of the first two years of the Biden presidency was a bit the same.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Biden had control of both houses.
Speaker: Trump now does.
Speaker: I think this is sort of how American politics works.
Speaker: It's like a vicious cycle, which is that a new president comes in from a different party.
Speaker: And the first two years, probably they're going to have both houses, most likely nowadays, at least.
Speaker: And after that,
Speaker: there is a very real possibility that in two years the houses will switch.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I mean, Trump does not yet have control of the House.
Speaker: He needs 218 seats for control and he's got 213 at the moment.
Speaker: The Democrats are on 205.
Speaker: So it's far more realistic that Trump will win the House.
Speaker: And at the time of recording, there are 40, about 40 seats in the House, which have not yet been called.
Speaker: These are main,
Speaker: Similarly, Maine was actually one of the last states to be called in the US presidential election.
Speaker: So I think they need to get the votes there a bit quicker.
Speaker: Also, California and Arizona, similarly to the Senate, they haven't called a few districts.
Speaker: So it is predicted that Trump will win the House.
Speaker: And this obviously will be massively beneficial for him because he has plans and he wants to put these into law.
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...
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.
Speaker: He claims that he doesn't want to do anything to it.
Speaker: I actually do believe that this is the case.
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.
Speaker: But let's talk a bit about the tariffs.
Speaker: John, could you explain what they are and perhaps what they're going to mean?
Speaker: So, yes, I don't know the most about this, but it's obviously been on the news and many will have seen.
Speaker: And Donald Trump, he would like to put a blanket 20% tariff on all imports into the US.
Speaker: And this is largely just coming from an analysis of
Speaker: and insights into what he fancies.
Speaker: These will also include tariffs, a significant tariff on goods coming from China.
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.
Speaker: Obviously, I am far more for free trade than all these tariffs.
Speaker: I think free trade would achieve a far better, far more beneficial relationship with countries.
Speaker: But Trump does not see the same.
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.
Speaker: Diane, what do you think about these tariffs?
Speaker: I definitely agree.
Speaker: I think, you know, that's a great point there, John.
Speaker: I do think his main sort of outcome here is the economy.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
Speaker: There is definitely a sort of race that
Speaker: for the country's, for the world's best economy.
Speaker: And Trump wants to combat the Chinese.
Speaker: This is his main goal.
Speaker: He does not want the Chinese to keep all manufacturing like they do have now.
Speaker: And this is his way of doing it.
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.
Speaker: I think if he imposes tariffs on Europe, I think that could backfire a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Obviously, because the European economy and the American economy, they're sort of very related generally.
Speaker: If one does well, so will the other, most likely.
Speaker: Because, you know, the strategic alliances between countries nowadays.
Speaker: But I think this is definitely something that needs to be sort of monitored very, very, very carefully.
Speaker: Because...
Speaker: It could be a good idea, in theory, the tariffs on China, if they are sort of reasonable.
Speaker: But with Trump, you never know that.
Speaker: Yeah, and as you said about that, with him trying to sort of harm the Chinese economy, these tariffs will...
Speaker: further derail the Chinese economy.
Speaker: We've seen the Chinese economy sort of stagnate recently.
Speaker: It's taken a bit of a dip.
Speaker: I think there was a housing market issue there as well.
Speaker: So this will really derail China's efforts to face their economy.
Speaker: However, for the UK, where we are, I don't think it'll be too beneficial for us.
Speaker: I mean, his tariffs are predicted to cost us 22 billion in exports.
Speaker: So not too pleasant.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Diane, the other big issue, as you mentioned, was abortion.
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?
Speaker: I actually don't think he will do anything.
Speaker: I think he got his sort of goal, which is to, quote, unquote, destroy Roe v Wade.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And get it as a state decision.
Speaker: I don't think he will do anything federally against him because I think, number one, it'll be too difficult.
Speaker: Although he does have the Supreme Court, it will be too difficult.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: There will be riots everywhere.
Speaker: it's just not gonna work.
Speaker: I don't think he will do anything on abortion anymore.
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.
Speaker: I mean, to get vote for a ban on abortion, so against abortion.
Speaker: I think he will try and do that.
Speaker: But I don't think federally he will do anything because I don't think it's feasible.
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.
Speaker: I think it's to make a sort of tennis comparison.
Speaker: Like she was at the net and had the ball in her racket.
Speaker: And then when it came the moment to strike and hit the winner, she just couldn't.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree with you there.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: She had the opportunity to capitalise on this abortion debate.
Speaker: This is obviously a vicious debate in America.
Speaker: It is hugely divisive and she could have capitalised on this quite massively, but she didn't for some reason.
Speaker: And Trump deliberately sort of ignored the issue.
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.
Speaker: In terms of the constitution as well, he doesn't have the power to do anything towards that.
Speaker: So I think...
Speaker: I think as you said that, I think he's done what he wanted to do, overturn Roe v Wade.
Speaker: And now it's up to states.
Speaker: And he will simply say that, I think.
Speaker: He'll say, it's up to you now, the American people.
Speaker: If you want abortion, you can keep it.
Speaker: If you don't want it, no.
Speaker: I mean, I think it's very problematic because you do see with different states having different abortion policies, lots of issues arise.
Speaker: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker: I think, you know, it's a bit...
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
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.
Speaker: That's why...
Speaker: I'm, you know, I was, I was against the man to make the COVID vaccine mandatory, although I'm vaccinated twice.
Speaker: I heavily believe in the vaccine.
Speaker: I think it's, you know, a very important thing for people to do, especially in sort of cases like that.
Speaker: But I don't think forcing people is the right choice.
Speaker: I don't think forcing people to not have abortion is also the right choice.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree with you there.
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.
Speaker: As we sort of wrap up the episode, perhaps it would also be good to talk about Trump's cabinet as well.
Speaker: He's name-dropped a few individuals who are likely to be in here.
Speaker: Susie Wiles, this rather impressive figure he's portrayed.
Speaker: He portrayed her at his victory speech to almost be the key to his electoral win.
Speaker: She's been announced as his chief of staff.
Speaker: Quite a collective, I can imagine, because...
Speaker: she does seem to be the key to his election success.
Speaker: What else do you think about his cabinet?
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.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: Which is quite a big milestone.
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.
Speaker: As health secretary of all things, I think this can be really dangerous.
Speaker: It will be, because he is, as many of our listeners will know, he is basically a conspiracy theorist.
Speaker: To say the least.
Speaker: I mean, he believes in, like...
Speaker: I don't know what he believes in, frankly.
Speaker: He doesn't believe in anything.
Speaker: He believes in not vaccine.
Speaker: He doesn't believe in vaccines.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: He doesn't believe in food.
Speaker: Food, yeah.
Speaker: I think, you know, there's that viral video of him saying that he's skinned and eaten a bear.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
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.
Speaker: I think he could be very good at that.
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.
Speaker: That's like his life's mission.
Speaker: Yeah.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Speaker: So, as you said there, Diane, no one's really sure what he's going to do.
Speaker: No one's really sure what he believes.
Speaker: I think the fact that the last statement you've made there is the most believable one says quite a lot of things.
Speaker: I mean, you know, his opinions on sort of health are not based on anything.
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.
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.
Speaker: I feel like he's motivated enough.
Speaker: And I feel like also he does kind of, for some reason, just...
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.
Speaker: I think he could be good at that.
Speaker: I think, however, if we put him on a policymaking position, I think that could potentially be disastrous, frankly.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I agree with you there.
Speaker: I've just also read that he doesn't believe in HIV and AIDS.
Speaker: So I think he would be pretty cataclysmic in a policymaking role in to do with health.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So with that, perhaps we should wrap up this episode of Debatable Discussions.
Speaker: We hope you've enjoyed hearing from us about our opinions on the US election.
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.
Speaker: Yeah, I fully agree with that, John.
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.
Speaker: But also, sort of as a quick summary, we've discussed Trump's win.
Speaker: We looked at the numbers in his win, him winning the popular vote, what states were flipped, what states were not flipped.
Speaker: We looked at his campaign, why it was a lot better than Kamala Harris's, some of Kamala Harris's sort of
Speaker: missed opportunities, places where she could have scored big, but she didn't.
Speaker: And some of the mistakes made by the Democrats in the run up to the election.
Speaker: At the end, of course, we've talked about sort of the future.
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.
Speaker: Vance.
Speaker: I think Trump has sort of named him as his successor.
Speaker: And I think, you know, unless something cataclysmic happens, I think that's going to be that's going to be reality.
Speaker: Yeah, I can only agree with you there, Dan, because there's basically no one else on the Republican horizon who has emerged.
Speaker: J.D.
Speaker: Vance is the big name in the up and coming Republican Party.
Speaker: Obviously, his sort of counterpart would be Josh Shapiro.
Speaker: So perhaps a J.D.
Speaker: Vance, Josh Shapiro run.
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
Speaker: Thank you everyone for listening.
Speaker: And as always, if you would like us to address specific topic in the future, please do leave a comment down below.
Speaker: We're more than happy to adapt to the public desire and we'll see you all next week.
Speaker: Good to see you then.
