Global News Podcast - What next for Trump as Harris concedes defeat

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

Kamala Harris concedes defeat in the US presidential elections. We look at why she lost. We explore Donald Trump's policy priorities and how his leadership could impact Europe. Also: Who voted for Trump?

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and in the early hours of Thursday the 7th of November, these are our main stories. Kamala Harris concedes defeat in the US presidential elections. We look at why she lost. We also ask what next for Donald Trump. He's going to continue giving aid to Ukraine. That's not going to stop.

He will probably reach out to the Russians in any event. I think he's going to come in here with a positive thought. Also in this podcast, we look at who voted for President Trump and the surge in Latino voters and how Mr Trump's leadership could impact Europe. It's been described as the most dramatic comeback in US political history. The 45th president is now the 47th. Donald Trump will be only the second candidate in American history to win two non-consecutive terms and the first convicted criminal to occupy the Oval Office. Now in our continuing coverage

of the US presidential election we'll bring you more reaction to his win and the impact of the results on the rest of the world. First though let's start with what comes next for the US when Donald Trump becomes its new leader. Here's our North America editor Sarah Smith. Donald Trump laid out many bold and radical ideas during this campaign. Plans that were derided as dangerous and extreme by Democrats. But with his decisive victory, he has a clear mandate to pursue his proudly controversial agenda. On day one, he promised, he will take drastic action to close the southern border and end illegal immigration, as well as vastly expanding domestic oil production.

He's also been explicit about his plan to expel up to 15 million undocumented migrants living in the US, which may involve building large camps to detain people before they're deported. People were not always sure how seriously to take some of the outlandish things he said at his campaign rallies, but there are proposals about which he was very clear. Imposing tariffs of 20% on all imported goods, more on some, is one of his favorite policies, although it could raise prices for American consumers and also impact all major exporters to the US. And he's often said he intends to use the justice system to target his opponents, having people investigated, prosecuted and even imprisoned.

And he's suggested using the military to tackle what he calls the enemy within, while also pardoning the hundreds of people who have been jailed for their part in the January the 6th riots. In his first term, Donald Trump was constrained by his lack of experience and reliance on aides and officials who resisted his wilder ideas many of whom have since said they think he is unfit to be president. This time he will make sure he is surrounded by loyal like-minded staff. Thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling he can govern secure in the knowledge he has total immunity from prosecution for any official acts he undertakes as president. And he has the support of the American

voters who elected him in order to see these plans put into practice. Sarah Smith and we'll hear more of Donald Trump's possible plans later in the podcast. But first we can hear from Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Donald Trump gave his victory speech overnight. A couple of hours before we recorded this podcast, Kamala Harris conceded defeat. While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation. The ideals that reflect America at our best.

That is a fight I will never give up. Our correspondent, Will Grant, was listening to the speech and told me more about it. As you can imagine, she was addressing a group of supporters who were by equal measure heartbroken and keen to hear solace from her. And I think she tried to deliver that. She said, for example, that she was full of gratitude. Her heart was full of gratitude and love for her country and resolve. She said specifically, of course, she informed that she'd called

President-elect Trump. And she said, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fuels this campaign. And said that essentially she and her supporters had to remain, as it were, on the front foot in terms of defending their values, defending the things that formed the basis of her campaign, particularly on, for example, women's reproductive rights. She tried to reach out to the younger people in the audience and assure them that things would be okay, that the return of Donald

Trump doesn't signify the end of their opportunities and she put that in quite poetic language trying to say only when it's dark enough can you see the stars. And what is the feeling amongst the Democrats about what went wrong with her campaign? I mean, look, this has been a real day of soul-searching and introspection for the Democrats, and they will have a long, long way to go before they come up with any clear answers on what exactly went wrong, how they could have done it better. But ultimately, I think she was just running against a very, very formidable candidate in Donald Trump who isn't really the pariah that he once was for many people in the United States. They feel a lot prouder to say they are going to vote for him and clearly did in their droves

in states across the country. Will Grant. Despite a surge of support at the start of Kamala Harris's campaign, exit polls from the BBC's partner, CBS, suggest she underperformed with a number of key groups, including women. Our correspondent in Washington, Tom Bateman, considers what went wrong for Ms Harris. Harris's ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket was the result of an unprecedented gamble by her party. Ousting their ailing and faltering candidate Joe Biden just three months before the election.

Ms Harris took the nomination unchallenged and had to turn around a growing opinion poll lead by Donald Trump. Initially, the first woman of color running for the White House electrified the Democratic base. The campaign pitched itself especially at women targeting Mr. Trump's record on abortion rights and on the future of democracy. But she failed to uncouple herself from her boss amid deep anger over inflation and what was seen as unmanaged migration, as shown during this appearance on ABC's talk show, The View. Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years? There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of, and I've been a part of, of most of the

decisions that have had impact. In the end, the runway was too short for the Harris campaign. Opinion polls remained deadlocked, especially in the vital swing states. Celebrity endorsements, including Taylor Swift and Beyonce, failed to budge the needle, and Mr Trump ultimately solidified his support among young men, working class and Latino voters. Ms Harris failed to make enough of a dent among suburban women, crucially in the Rust Belt states. Her start focusing on joy and a so-called vibes election was by the end calling Mr Trump a dictator. Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?

Yes I do. Yes I do. Kamala Harris's defeat as the second Democratic female candidate to lose to Donald Trump will inevitably raise the question again about whether America is ready to elect a woman president. But on the campaign trail, voters repeatedly referred to the economy and migration and it seems likely that she was simply unable to disentangle herself from the issues that plagued the Biden administration. Tom Bateman. Caitlin Joshua has been on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris in Louisiana. She was speaking to James Kumaris-Army.

Where do I think it went wrong? I definitely feel like a great deal of women who have stated that they formerly were voting conservative or once voted conservative or always aligned with the Republican Party had flipped their vote due to our work with the Reproductive Freedom Tour with the work on abortion rights and helping people understand the stories coming out of the Deep South, out of the states with abortion bans where women have been denied care in their most, you know, in the most pivotal moment of their pregnancy. And I really thought that issue was certainly one that, you know, most white women, most white conservatives were voting on,

and the numbers are showing that did not happen. And I'm just wondering where we went wrong and what other conversations could have been had or what other ground game we could have considered, but I was very hopeful and confident that we had secured the vote around abortion rights. I was under the impression that everyone was well aware of what was at stake

when it comes to reproductive freedom and having my own lived experience two years ago right after the overturn of Roe v Wade and seeing firsthand what it's like to be denied care. You know, I was 11 weeks pregnant, miscarrying in my state and was not able to get the care that I deserved because of my state's abortion ban and the very real possibility that that may be a lot of people's realities as you know as Trump goes into office and in January I mean it's it's very harring and scary it's frightening and I'm just really disappointed that we did not consider that issue top of line like I really would have thought a week ago you know well men young men in particular did turn out they turned out for Donald Trump is there a gender divide?

You sense that amongst your friends, your colleagues? There is, yeah. There's certainly a gender divide and I did not want to believe it but numbers don't lie. We've got a lot of work to do. This country is still fundamentally racist and fundamentally sexist and we've got to have those hard conversations around what it means to support women, what it means to put women first and respect women leadership. We still have a really big problem, an inherent issue with women leadership.

Kaitlin Joshua. So what was the major factor behind Donald Trump's victory? Stephen Moore is a former economic advisor to Mr. Trump and visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington DC. Trump was able to capitalize on what I call the three I issues. One was obviously illegal immigration and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris just never fixed the problem and Americans were incredibly indignant and angry about that.

Second of all was obviously inflation. And even though inflation had come down a lot since 2022, people still felt the financial stress that was imposed upon them by runaway government spending that unleashed this inflation. And then finally was incomes. The average American family was poorer today than they were three and a half or four years ago. And Americans were really taken to this message that we're going to save American jobs, that

we're going to put American workers first. His theme at the end was, look, we're going to lower taxes on things that are produced in America, and we're going to raise taxes on things that are coming in from countries like China. And I think he could, if he can bring prosperity to America, you can spread that around the world and we will see. But he's a lame duck, you know, because he only has one term left. He cannot serve another term. So he's got to race out of the gate, do as much in terms of policy. For example, we will produce more American energy. We will be energy independent again. We will get control of the border. I guarantee you that.

Stephen Moore, economic adviser to Donald Trump. And my colleague, James Kumarasami, also caught up with Chris Ruddy, CEO of the conservative news organisation Newsmax. He's a longtime friend of Donald Trump and spoke to him about the president-elect's plans. At about 3am in the morning we had a phone call. We spoke for about five minutes. He was really excited.

He was tired he told me but he was very excited about the plans that he has for the country and he thinks he has a really important job and he referenced in the conversation the assassination attempt and that he had survived it and in that it gave him a lot of meaning to what he needed to do. What can you share about those plans? Well you should ask him what his plans are. I don't think he's going to talk to me today Chris, you are though. But I can tell you that in the conversations I've had with him he's very concerned about the international situation.

We've had a meltdown with China and the Taiwan situation. Korea seems to be right on the edge. Then you have the Ukraine war, the first major war in Europe, the Middle East with Iran. So the world is on fire. And I think he feels this is where he can make a difference. He's supportive of Ukraine, this thing that he's against Ukraine is nonsense. He supports President Zelensky. They had a very good meeting in New York.

He liked him when he was President of the United States. Previously, he liked Zelensky. So he understands, but he also wants to get a peace agreement. Yeah. Well, does he have a plan? Well, in his mind, he has a plan and he's laid out the rough edges of that, which is to let both sides know they have to come to the table and the side that doesn't come to the table gets penalized and he wants a discussion and a negotiation and he thinks there needs to be a settlement.

So I foresee, now he hasn't told me this, I foresee that he's going to continue arming the Ukrainians pretty significantly. That's not going to stop. He's going to continue giving aid to Ukraine. That's not going to stop. He will probably reach out to the Russians by the way I think it was not true that he had all these conversations that was just made up stuff He did not have yeah, I believe that is not true and for a number of reasons I believe it's not true in any event. I think he's gonna come in here with a positive thought

I know some people think that he's gonna be on some some vengeance tour or something. I don't see that. I think he will be trying to get his agenda. He only has four years. Well, he has Chris. He has talked about retribution. I saw posters here in Wisconsin, Revenge 2024. I mean, it was part of the pitch, wasn't it? Well, he also says, let's fight these people, let's knock them out. He uses rhetoric that's a little hyper. I think there's a very significant judicial system we have in the country that's not going to allow the targeting.

I do think most people agree, and I think it was one of the reasons he won, especially black men, felt like he was targeted by the justice system as they believe they have been, and that it was judicial overreach. I don't think he wants to do the same thing. I could be wrong. I don't believe that we'll have that same issue.

I know you have believed from the start that he would A, be the candidate for the Republicans when others doubted it and would win. This though is an extraordinary comeback, isn't it? Put this into some kind of historical context. Well, it's funny. Last night I said this wasn't the comeback of in US history, which J.D. Vance remarked in his statement last night that this is the biggest comeback in the history of the United States. I said to President Trump that this is the biggest comeback in

the history of the world. And he laughed and he said, well, I'm not really coming back, he said to me, and it's not a comeback. And I said, no, no, it's a comeback. And you're coming back big. And I definitely think it's a historical thing. And I think that it's amazing what he has done and what he has continued to do. Chris Ruddy, CEO of the conservative news organization Newsmax and a longtime friend of Donald Trump's.

Coming up in this podcast... I think I'm going to go with surprising. Unsurprising. Uncertain. Turning point. How our listeners feel Donald Trump's victory will impact them. impact them. My talent as an athlete is swimming long halls over the curvature of the earth. Life's Less Ordinary is the podcast with astonishing personal stories from across the globe.

My past is very bad and I survived it. You have to tell the globe. My past is very bad and I survived. You have to tell the story. Expect the unexpected. All of a sudden the car exploded. Life's Less Ordinary from the BBC World Service. Here's a thing that happened to me. Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts. At this point, as we record this podcast, Donald Trump has won almost

51% of the popular vote to Kamala Harris's 47.5. Trump has also won five of the seven swing states and he is ahead in the other two in his acceptance speech. This is what Donald Trump had to say about those who voted for him. His campaign has been so historic in so many ways. We've built the biggest, the broadest, the most unified coalition. They've never seen anything like it in all of American history. They've never seen any young and old men and women, rural and urban. And we

had them all helping us tonight, when you think. I mean, I was looking at it. I was watching it. They had some great analysis of the people that voted for us. Nobody's ever seen anything like that. It came from — they came from all quarters — union, non-union, African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Arab American, Muslim American. We had everybody and it was beautiful. It was a historic realignment, uniting citizens of all backgrounds around a common core of common sense. Well, black voters traditionally vote Democrat, but some support has trickled away compared

with the 2020 election. Cameron Llewellyn voted in the swing state of Georgia. He's an African American, father of three, and has voted Democrat and Republican in the past. He was unhappy that Kamala Harris had not been chosen as leader in the usual manner. I would like to say that it was something I actually believed in, but to be honest it was somewhat of a protest vote. I believe in the meritocracy that the primaries offer and I also didn't hear enough from Kamala

Harris to really believe that she would be distinct from Joe Biden. There was a lot of talk in recent times around how great the economy is doing, but all my neighbours really are still complaining about the price of milk. And past that, when I really thought about what Kamala Harris represented, there was too much that it seemed at stake. What's becoming clear is that Mr Trump did very well with the Hispanic vote. Will Grant has been gauging opinion within the Hispanic community in Palm Beach, Florida.

All the pre-vote predictions that his anti-immigrant rhetoric would put them off proved wide of the mark. Instead he affected a much bigger than expected swing among Hispanic voters, particularly Latino men. Frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. One of the first indications that it would go his way came from the state he was speaking in, Florida. A resident of the state, through his luxurious Mar-a-Lago resort, Floridians now see him as one of their own and handed him the state's 30 electoral votes early in the night.

The last four years, everybody's been hurting. One of those firmly casting his vote in Mr Trump's favour was Sergio Ramirez. Originally from El Salvador, he is a small business owner who says the economy was the lead factor in swaying his decision. All the food prices, everything is up, you know, taxes is up. I can't imagine, you know, for blue collar workers, you know, what they're going through. The American people have woken up and they're seeing through the lies that the Democrat Party constantly give us.

One puzzle is why so many of the Latinos voted for Trump at the same time that he was threatening to deport millions of Latin Americans. Michael Shifter is an adjunct professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University. For Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and even some Colombians, they are traumatized by the specter of socialism in their countries. And these people heard Trump's message that Kamala Harris was a socialist, was a communist. They called her comrade Kamala. There does appear to have been a seismic shift in opinions towards Donald Trump among the

Latino electorate. A revision perhaps between 2016, when he first came down the golden escalator in New York, talking of some Mexicans as rapists and murderers, and today... Will Grant reporting. European leaders have been among those congratulating Donald Trump on his victory, but some, including the right-wing prime ministers of Italy and Hungary, Georgia Maloney and Viktor Orban, have sounded more effusive than others. Danny Aberhard reports on some of their concerns. A Trump presidency was a result that few European leaders wanted. Some have barely concealed

their disappointment behind diplomatic niceties, stressing that their strategic alliances outweighed any political differences. President Macron, France and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz both emphasised their willingness to work with President-elect Trump to promote prosperity. Mr Macron also said he'd spoken to Mr Scholz of the need for a stronger, more sovereign Europe. The sentiments were echoed by Germany's Foreign Minister Anna-Elena Baerbock. It's clear to us that we Europeans will now have to take on even more responsibility for security policy. Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, for ourselves, for our children. We are prepared for this."

Mr Trump in his first term cajoled many NATO allies into spending more on defence. That trend looks set to continue. Were Mr Trump to severely cut funding to Ukraine, it'll pose European leaders a major headache. The US has given Ukraine about as much military aid as all other allies combined since Russia's full-scale invasion. Another challenge for European leaders will be trade, if Mr Trump makes good on promises to introduce a universal tariff of at least 10% on imported goods. Europe's largest economy, Germany, is already flatlining and its car

industry would suffer if Donald Trump rolls out much higher threatened tariffs on vehicles. Europeans hope it's a negotiating tactic that can be headed off, but it would probably come at the cost of further opening market access to US exports. Then there's climate change, a major schism, with Mr Trump a climate skeptic who says he'll pull the US out again from the international Paris agreement. A European Commission spokesman Tim McPhee urged the US not to abandon its climate policies. He said they offered opportunities for both Europe and the US but were also important to ensure security.

Both Europe and America have suffered in recent weeks and months from the devastating impacts of climate change. We need to protect our citizens from climate risks while working to keep them to a minimum. The road ahead promises to be bumpy, very bumpy. Danny Eberhard, Europe is not the only continent expecting change under Donald Trump's leadership. Our international editor Jeremy Bowen told Nick Miles what the impact could be on global politics. I think this is a really big moment. I think for once Trump's own hyperbole about the extent consequences of his victory is actually justified. It is

without doubt the beginning of a new kind of an era because he's going to bring a different approach. We had a lot of inklings of it in his first term, but you know, a lot of presidents, they feel their way in their first term. In the second term, they might try and do things that he's had a four years in between. But I think that he has got some and the people around him have got some strong ideas about the kind of actions they want to take and clearly he's going to concentrate on domestic stuff. But coming out from that, the reason why the rest of the world cares so much about what happens in this country, in the United States and who becomes the president is because the way it affects the world that we also have to live in.

And, you know, I'd say there's in terms of the war in Ukraine, the wars in the Middle East, in terms of relations with China, there's a lot that might change now. And what about for the future of organisations like NATO and even the United Nations, its role as an international peacekeeper, what impact could there be on those? Well Donald Trump shows every sign of returning to a much older American tradition. America has only been involved in the world as a global power since the end of the Second World War. Before that, one of the things that really drove their attitude to the outside world was the farewell address of the first president, George Washington,

when he stood down and he warned against entangling alliances. He said that America should have temporary alliances as needed. And that's something which actually the transactional Donald Trump probably would get and understand. But longer term, no entangling alliances. That was his warning. And that's something which actually for, well, getting on for 150 years was the mark of America's attitude towards the world in those years of isolation between the two world wars in

the 20th century. And while I don't think America will be isolated like it was then, the world's a very, very different place. Trump has said it's America first. He will put America first. Alliances are only going to be useful if they help America, according to his calculations. If Donald Trump does turn the tide diplomatically like that,

to what extent is it difficult for future administrations to turn it back? Well, they can always do other things, but I think that the world is changing and America is changing. You know, when it comes to alliances, the big, big one, the big one is NATO and the North Atlantic Treaty and the fact that there is Article 5, which is the clause which commits each country to come to the aid of the other if they're attacked. Now that's something which the Europeans have relied upon for well since NATO was formed just after the Second World War and Trump in his first term said very vociferously and I think the message did get through, you

guys have been freeloading off us for years. And while some European countries are spending more on defense, led by Poland, that is a proportion of their national income, they spend more than the US does, but there are many others that haven't. And if Donald Trump, and he talked about this, whether he'd do it is another matter. If he actually said, look, this isn't good, it's not working for America anymore, we're getting out of this, then suddenly Western Europe, Central Europe feels very exposed. The BBC's international editor, Jeremy Bowen.

To end this podcast, as always, we love to hear from you. Four students studying advanced strategic management from the French city of Toulouse got in touch to share their thoughts on Mr Trump's America First policy. They've been speaking to the BBC's Ella Bicknell. Hi, I'm Emily. I'm from Toulouse Falls. Hi, I'm Jonathan. I'm from Durban, South Africa.

Hi, I'm Galen. I'm from Alaska in the US. Hi, I'm Maggie. I'm from Michigan in the U.S. Hi, I'm Maggie. I'm from Michigan in the U.S. It is a bit difficult to understand for many of the people that I know. A strong candidate like Kamala Harris and given some of the convictions that Trump has had and his general volatility, I think people are very, very divided. I know that many people, frankly, shy away from talking about politics nowadays back home.

I know that a lot of people will be really uncertain about what this is going to mean. And Gaylen, I'd like to ask you a similar question about what is it like talking to people at home about the election, about politics, and whether or not such a clear result today do you think will help heal that division that Maggie was talking about? Most of the people that I have spoken with are surprised, but as to whether or not the country can heal, I guess that depends on how President Trump decides to lead and how the Democrats react to that.

So I guess it remains to be seen. Having lived abroad now for a while, I'm aware of how the impacts from this election will spread around the world. And the isolationism that Trump has been very upfront about will affect people that I've come to know and love in their countries and like tariffs and pulling out of NATO and these things. But we don't know if he will really be able to do that, if he has the mandate to do that.

I just think about how this could affect not only people at home, but around the world. Let's go to you, Jonathan. You're from South Africa, but you're studying in Europe. How do you think this will impact the rest of the world? For me, I'm more playing a wait and see game because it's hard to know really, but obviously if he does go through with pulling out on NATO, that could seriously weaken it and we'll have to see if that causes Russia to react in any way.

If you could describe today's result in one word, what would that word be for each of you? I think I'm going to go with surprising. Unsurprising. Uncertain. Turning point. And lastly, if you had two minutes with Donald Trump, and you've heard of the things that he said throughout the election campaign, the things that he's

promised, what would be one thing you'd like to say to him? That's an interesting question. I would say just be aware that the policies you make and the things you do impact a lot of people around the world and you have to be careful in what you do. I agree with that. I'd like him to have more perspective that we are all connected in this world and America first, America first, America first seems to be his message. But I think in the long run, it's not the way we need to be going in the world to solve

the bigger problems that we face, such as climate change and geopolitics. And I think if each country just decides to go solo, we're really missing opportunities to move forward in important ways. Hello Bichnil speaking to Amelie, Maggie, Jonathan and Galen in Toulouse. And if you want to comment on the US election or ask us a question, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. Even better, you can send us a voice note. And that's all from us for now. But there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. This edition was mixed by Chris Hansen.

The producer was Marion Straughan. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright. Until next time, goodbye. Bye! largest tropical wetland full of extraordinary animals and birds, including its apex predator, the jaguar. Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.