The NPR Politics Podcast - Trump Holds First Press Conference Since Election

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

The president-elect spoke to the media for more than an hour at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Topics of discussion included tariffs, vaccines and foreign policy, among others. This episode: political correspondent Sarah McCammon, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.The podcast is produced by Kelli Wessinger, and edited by Casey Morell. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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listening to me go on about it. Hey, this is Nikki from Fort Riley, Kansas. I'm on my way to pick up my DD-214, reflecting my honorable discharge from the United States Army. This podcast was recorded at 1.37 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, December 16th, 2024. Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but I'll already have embarked on my new civilian chapter. Okay, here's the show. time you hear this, but I'll already have embarked on my new civilian chapter. Okay, here's the show. Good luck, Nikki. Congratulations. Fort Riley, Kansas. Not too far from where I grew up. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics

Podcast. I'm Sarah McCammon. I cover politics. I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the White House. And I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent. Earlier today, President-elect Donald Trump held a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in South Florida, his first such event since winning the 2024 presidential race. We're going to talk about some of the big takeaways today. Franco, let's start with immigration. What did Trump say about what he has planned there?

Did we get any further insight? Yeah, I mean, he basically doubled down on threats to launch a trade war against Mexico and Canada, essentially over his claims of the number of migrants that are arriving from the South and northern borders. I mean, he said it before, and he said again, that he'd impose these huge tariffs on these two neighbors if they don't get a better handle on the migrants who are crossing their borders.

He continues to contend as well that the United States is subsidizing both countries to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. And just one other thing on immigration, he also actually threatened legal actions against the Biden administration for claiming they're selling off portions of the border wall. So really, we see here the intersection of two of Trump's signature issues, right? Immigration and tariffs. Mara, it seems like Trump's preferred foreign policy solution to almost everything is tariffs. Well, it's more than foreign policy.

Trump seems to say that tariffs is the solution to every problem that the United States has, both foreign policy and domestic. He has said that tariffs is the most beautiful word in the English language. He said, we're going to pay off the debt with tariffs and tax cuts. That's economically very hard to understand how that works. But at the very least, what Trump is trying to do is maintain the threat of tariffs. In his first term, he threatened

tariffs, but he never actually went through with most of the ones he threatened because he said that Mexico and Canada agreed to renegotiate NAFTA. And we'll see if that's what he wants to do this time, or does he actually want to start a trade war with big tariffs? You know, we talk a lot about tariffs as an economic policy measure, and we talk a lot about the risks of inflation from tariffs and so forth. But what about as a foreign policy tool? I mean, if the objective here is to get a handle on undocumented immigration, how effective is it likely to be? I mean, for Trump, what he sees using tariffs is a negotiating tactic to get other things

that he wants. Every time I actually talk to an ambassador or diplomat they're always kind of disappointed or frustrated that Trump kind of juggles different things. He uses tariffs, economic issues to address national security issues. They want to keep everything in its certain lane. For Trump though, he says this is a way to get things in the U.S. interest. I mean, he claims that he stopped wars using tariffs. He often refers to the Remain in Mexico program that required immigrants or migrants coming from other countries to stay in Mexico while their cases proceeded through the courts. He said that only happened because he threatened tariffs

against Mexico. Well see this is the great contradiction of Trump. If you believe that tariffs as he often says is an economic solution to everything that ails the United States including the deficit, then you have to go through with them and put the highest tariffs possible on all imported goods. But if you think it's merely a threat to get other countries to do certain things like stop fentanyl from coming across the border, stop illegal immigrants from coming across the border, then it's just a negotiating tool. And we don't know which one it is. Okay.

Another thing Trump said today, he again defended Pete Hegseth, his embattled pick to run the Department of Defense. Franco, remind us again, why is Hegseth's his embattled pick to run the Department of Defense. Franco, remind us again, why is Hegseth's nomination getting so much attention? Yeah, Hegseth is the former army major as well as a Fox News host, and he has just been facing an avalanche of negative headlines over allegations of sexual assault, abuse of alcohol. I mean so much so that his nomination really seemed to be kind of teetering on the edge just a few weeks ago.

They were talking about who could replace him, names like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis potentially. But in the recent weeks, Trump and his grassroots allies have really rallied around Hexeth and bolstered him in the running. I mean, Hexeth was Trump's guest at the Army-Navy football game this weekend. Many of the pictures of Trump included Hexeth. So he is looking to be in a much stronger position. Yeah.

I mean, he went to bat just over a week ago on NBC's Meet the Press for Hegseth. And to be clear, Hegseth has denied these allegations. Does it look like this is going to work? Does this get Trump his nominee despite all the controversy? It looks like it very well might. What's so interesting about Trump's approach to these nominees is he started out by saying, take it or leave it, United States Senate. If you don't have the votes to confirm these guys, I'm going to push them through as recess appointments. And that would have caused

a kind of constitutional crisis where he was at war with his own Republican controlled Senate. But now he's doing something different. He's saying, I have a movement that's extremely powerful. If I use this movement to threaten sitting Republican senators with primary opponents, if they don't vote for my nominees, I can get them through that way. So he's flexing his muscles and so far it seems like it's working. It might get him his nominee, but it might just get his nominee to a confirmation hearing. I mean, even Republican senators have warned that if this confirmation hearing happens, it could be very ugly.

Talking about the sexual assault allegations, you know, there's going to be testimony. It could be a difficult confirmation process. So yes, I think it's likely, you know, if this momentum continues that he gets to the hearings, but I do feel like it could be another ball game once those start. Okay, it's time for a quick break. We'll have more in just a moment. You care about what's happening in the world. Let State of the World from NPR keep you informed. Each day we transport you to a different point on the globe

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Each day we transport you to a different point on the globe and introduce you to the people living world events. We don't just tell you world news. We take you there, and you can make this journey while you're doing the dishes or driving And we're back. So we've talked a lot about Trump's trade policy, foreign policy, at least one of his cabinet nominees. Is there anything else Trump had to say today that particularly jumped out at either of you? Well, the vaccines really jumped out at me. He was asked about vaccines and autism, and he seemed to suggest that he either was very open-minded or actually agreed with Robert F. Kennedy, who has said that there is a connection between vaccines and autism.

You know, if you look at autism, so 30 years ago we had, I've heard numbers of like one in 200,000, one in 100,000, and now I'm hearing numbers of one in 100. So something's wrong. There's something wrong. And we're going to find out about it. And we should just say that the scientific consensus among most experts is that vaccines do not cause autism. Yeah, I would just echo that on the vaccines. I think that it's really going to be talked about a lot for the next few weeks. I would just add that he was also said that he was open to pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who was indicted this fall

on corruption charges. Just to talk about the optics here for a second, I mean it's almost as if there are two competing White Houses during this transition period. Of course there's the one in Washington, D.C., where Joe Biden is still the president, but increasingly there's the one in Florida. You know, Trump is stepping into leadership roles, talking with foreign leaders. He just traveled to France for the rededication of the Notre Dame Cathedral. How much can we glean from what Trump is saying and doing right now about how he will govern starting in just over a month?

Well, we can glean a lot of what he wants to do. He's telling us almost every day, whether it's in a press conference or in a social media post. But what I think this is really about is the kind of unusual system that we have here in the United States, where we have this incredibly long interregnum between the two administrations. In England, somebody moves into 10 Downing Street, I think, the next day. So because we have this incredibly long archaic period, you know, it used to take a long time to come to Washington in a horse and buggy. Right. We have this weird situation and we've had it in most transitions, especially from one

party's president to another party's president, where you have in effect almost two presidents at a time. I do think it is pretty notable that Trump had this press conference, almost an hour and 15 minutes, talking to the press, so much attention on it, while Biden has yet to have an outgoing press conference. And so far, we haven't given him any indication that he will. Not to mention that Trump just loves this stuff.

He never accepted the 2020 election results. He's wanted to be president all this time, and he seems to be jumping at the chance to step back into the limelight in this way. You know, I want to close by asking you both about something else Trump said that caught my ear today. The first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know. My personality changed or something. There does seem to be a greater sense of conciliation and cooperation from

business leaders, certainly Silicon Valley, from other politicians, from world leaders than there was after Trump won in 2016. What do you make of that? First of all, one of the things I make of this is among business leaders, there's a great enthusiasm, as there would be for any Republican incoming president who promises to cut taxes and regulation. But there's also a whole different approach to Donald Trump. There's not going to be the same kind of resistance.

I think world leaders, business leaders feel that he can be lobbied. Look how he's changed his positions on TikTok, crypto. Donald Trump is starting his own crypto company. All of a sudden, he's very favorable to crypto. He used to be very negative. So I think there's just a different approach. He is seen as a more legitimate figure because he won the popular vote. But also I think world leaders and business leaders and other politicians think that there's a different way

of dealing with him than just blanket resistance. They're gonna try to work with him. It doesn't mean that they have grown any fonder of his policies or his approach, but they're just going to see if they can deal with him in a different way. All right. We will leave it there. I'm Sarah McCammon. I cover politics. I'm Frank Ordonez. I cover the White House. And I'm Mara Eliason, senior national political correspondent.

And thank you for listening to the NPR politics podcast.