The Current - Why did voters choose four more years of Trump?

Episode Date: November 6, 2024

Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States, and in the end it wasn’t even close. Matt Galloway talks to political analysts about why voters weren’t put off by Trump’s criminal convictions and inflammatory rhetoric — and what Democrats misread about the mood of the electorate.

In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news, so I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with Season 3 of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy.

On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is The Current Podcast. America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. Frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There's never been anything like this in this country and maybe beyond. And now it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal, help our country heal. We're going to help our country heal.

We have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We're going to fix our borders. We're going to fix everything about our country. Donald Trump may have declared victory before the vast majority of U.S. news outlets called the election for him, but in the end, the results were clear and swift, a surprise after weeks and months of this election looking like it was on a knife's edge. Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States, a remarkable comeback after leaving as the 45th president four years ago. The Republicans have also reclaimed control of

the Senate. House results are not yet in. Joining us now to talk about what happened and what it means are John Fund, columnist for the National Review and senior fellow at Unleash Prosperity, and Craig Varoga, who is a Democratic strategist based in Washington, D.C. Good morning to you both. Hey, good morning. John, are you surprised by the result and how decisive that result was? John, are you surprised by the result and how decisive that result was? Yes. I think that anyone who doubted that pollsters had difficulty finding silent or bashful Trump voters has now gotten a dose of reality. They're there.

They're not intimidated in the privacy of the polling booth. And they came out last night. Who are they, do you think? People who are fed up. And this is a worldwide phenomenon. Let's look back at early 2020 when COVID hit and almost all governments in the world, except for Sweden, locked down their economies and unleashed inflation through earning money.

The United Kingdom, Italy, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Belgium. And then there were countries where the majority government was almost toppled and lost power. South Korea, India, Japan. All of those countries have seen a populist revolt. Now the United States joins them. And I will tell you right now, if you look at the polls in Canada, you're next. Craig Varoga, as a Democrat, are you surprised that Kamala Harris did not do better? The way the polls were a week ago, I thought if the polls had remained the way they were,

that Trump would win. I did not think it would be quite as decisive as it is. In the last week, there were a lot of atmospherics that seemed to favor Harris over Trump, beginning with the rally and various other things in Trump's behavior in public. But I mean, the race was structurally tied. I hear what John is saying about the silent or the shy I hear what John is saying about the silent or the shy voters for Trump, but it was structurally tied. And if it was structurally tied, that was an advantage to Trump. It's been clear for a couple of months that the Republicans were going to win the Senate. They won it more decisively than most people thought that they were going to do.

But one of the things that some people are saying this morning, and I agree with it, is that 2016, to many people, felt like it was an accident. This feels like it's a realignment. I'm not one to agree with J.D. Vance very often, but when he said that this is the greatest political comeback in American history, for good or for ill, that is absolutely correct. There's a House Democrat who spoke this morning to the Washington Post saying that the party has had problems with the working class for some time. It started out with white voters that is now spread across racial lines. Is that in part what lost this for Kamala Harris? I think that's absolutely, you know, what has happened. I think that the Democratic Party, you know, traditionally for

close to a century was the party of working class voters because of, you know, some, you know, I would argue some difficulties within the Republican Party. The Democrats made gains among college educated voters across the board. But in the process of doing that, they also, you know, in many ways lost their voice in terms of how to talk to working class voters. Despite, you know, what I continued to think, despite his unpopularity, you know, it was a pretty good record on the economy and on, you know, working class issues of Joe Biden. The one thing, the one thing I do want to add, and I think John alluded to this, but it's like the Democrats never really showed enough sensitivity to the pain people were suffering because of inflation. And that's a

worldwide problem, yes. But in the United States, it was an American problem and the Democrats didn't really address it adequately. John Fund, how do you understand why the behaviors of Donald Trump, who he was as a person, who he is as a person, what he has done, the fact that he is a convicted felon, how those were not disqualifying characteristics for many millions of voters. How do you understand that? The vast majority of the American people do not trust any political party. They don't believe there is a monopoly on virtue residing in one party versus the other. I'll just give you one example.

Of course Donald Trump lies. Of course, Donald Trump is outrageous. Of course, Donald Trump has done things no decent person should do. But we just went through a year in which the dominant media in the United States basically ignored the fact that the president of the United States was slipping into cognitive senility. And there was evidence that was obvious to people, but it was covered up by the White House with, frankly, the willing accomplices of the media. And then, once that was discovered, and only because of a national debate, the media immediately joined hands with the Democratic Party, of a national debate, the media immediately joined hands with the Democratic Party, proceeded to force out the incumbent president and install, without a primary or without any

consultation with the delegates, the vice president, who turned out, frankly, to be what everyone in Washington knows, someone who is not adequately able to articulate her own sense of vision and where she wanted to take the country. This was known for years. But if I go back to Trump, I mean, the people who— The point is the media did not accurately describe reality. Therefore, when they talked about and reported on Trump, they lacked credibility and trust. It's not the media.

It's people who were closest to Donald Trump when he was the president who have said that he is not qualified to be in office. People saying that he's a fascist. I just wonder why you think that didn't stick with voters. Well, frankly, an awful lot of people who were close to Joe Biden knew that he was not capable of taking on the job of president anymore. And let's just put it this way. They didn't speak out publicly, but if they had, they might not even have been believed either. People do not believe politicians anymore. And increasingly, they don't believe the media. That's why this is the year of the podcast, not the year of broadcast or other media. Craig Varoga, speaking on broadcast media, what do you make of the fact that some of the accusations, many of the accusations around Donald Trump's character did not seem to sway the electorate in the way that perhaps Democrats had thought? seem to sway the electorate in the way that perhaps Democrats have done?

One of the things, and I agree with some of what John said, but I have a somewhat different take on it. And I want to introduce what I think is, you know, something that, you know, that stylistically maybe addresses, you know, or answers, you know, part of your question. 10 years ago, neither Donald Trump nor J.D. Vance were elected officials. They weren't politicians. Ten years ago, both Tim Walz and Kamala Harris were elected officials and were politicians. political class in the United States. Harris and Walls, again, for good or for ill, have the virtues and the negative perceptions that the public holds of people who are politicians. J.D. Vance and Donald Trump don't talk like typical politicians. They may have learned that game in their own way. And after nine years of being a candidate, Donald Trump certainly is a politician. After being elected to the Senate, J.D. Vance certainly is a politician. J.D. Vance has changed many of his positions and his public opinions, which is very typical of politicians.

However, stylistically, those two guys don't come across like the typical Washington politician because that's not who they were 10 years ago. In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news. So I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with season three of On Drugs.

And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. John, Americans voted for change. What do you think that change is going to look like? Well, first of all, I'll also point out one of the reasons why Donald Trump's outrageous behavior did not register with voters is the four prosecutions that were launched against him. A lot of Americans came to believe that those were selective prosecutions and frankly would not have held

up in court and increasingly we're going to find out that's the case as for what change is going to happen uh i think there will be a negotiated settlement ukraine war it will not be on the terms that the ukrainians, but it will mean peace. There will be further efforts to safeguard Israel's security. There will be increased energy production, a decrease in regulation, an extension of the Trump tax cuts, a very tough position regarding the Mexico border, especially in negotiating with the Mexican government about having them cooperating in controlling the border and a lot of social policies that will mean a lot of nonprofit groups and NGOs in the United States will be losing their government funding. Craig what do you think that change is going to look like? Donald Trump has said a lot of the things that John just hinted at that he

would do from he's talked about sealing the borders, talked about deporting somewhere around 11 million undocumented Americans or undocumented people in America. The tariffs on goods coming into the United States, but also to John's point, international issues looking at – he says he could end the war in Ukraine within a couple of weeks' time. The war in Ukraine within a couple of weeks' time has talked about Benjamin Netanyahu finishing the job when it comes to the conflict in Gaza. What do you think that change is going to look like? I think that there's going to be a lot of inward-looking policies. I think that he's going to redirect. I think internationally he's going to redirect. I think internationally he's going to be weak. I think that, you know, if I look to what people in the Kremlin must be thinking this morning, you know, Vladimir Putin has to be happy.

President Xi in China has to be happy. I think in terms of the international order, that's, you know, I think pretty disturbing. I think that it's something where, you know, he doesn't have the capability or really the interest in doing a good job in protecting America's interests or the Western world's interests, you know, throughout the globe. Now, in terms of what happens internally, what he has said, I think we should believe him. John is correct that, you know, he will have, you know, a very hard policy toward the border. But I do think, you know, despite all of his rhetoric about weaponizing the Department of Justice, I do think that we're going to see a very political orientation to, you know, all of the institutions that he can control. He, you know, unlike eight years ago, the Supreme Court is much more conservative than it used to be. He's going

to have a commanding majority in the Senate. I think it will be very difficult for the Democrats to win control of the House, even though, you know, that count is officially not over. So I take him at his word when he says that, you know, that he is going to have a very aggressive and punitive policy toward a lot of Americans who have opposed him in the past. We just have a few seconds left. Let me ask you both very briefly. We have talked, the word polarization has been used over the course of this election, but beyond when it comes to the state of the United States. How concerned are you, John, about the division in the country in the wake of this election?

Well, Donald Trump now has to step up and show whether or not he is capable of exercising leadership that tries to unite the country. He has not shown that to date, but this is the last election he's ever going to be appearing on the ballot for. And it would be in his self-interest to try to unite the country, as he mentioned last night in his speech. We will find in the next few months whether or not he's capable of that. Craig, briefly to you.

He's not capable of that. He's never proven himself to be. And I think that the person he was in the past, he will become even more extreme in that behavior. It's good to talk to you both. We will perhaps talk again as, I mean, the story is not over, certainly, by any stretch of the imagination. In the meantime, thank you for this morning. Okay, thank you so much. John Fund is a columnist for the National Review and Senior Fellow at Unleash Prosperity. Craig Varoga is a Democratic strategist. He's in Washington, D.C.

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