Trump's Trials - How Democrats & the tech industry are approaching Trump differently

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

The first time Donald Trump was elected president, blue state Democrats asserted themselves as the frontline of the resistance. Now, they say they're making an intentional decision to stay calm. Then, the tech industry is courting President-elect Donald Trump. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son pledged a $100 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years at an event at Mar-a-Lago. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's Trump's Terms from NPR. I'm Scott Deftree. We will have really great, strong people. Donald Trump is unstoppable. Make America healthy again. The future is going to be amazing. Each episode, we bring you NPR's latest coverage of the incoming Trump administration and the people who will run it.

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NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro. The first time Donald Trump was elected, Democrats in California asserted themselves as the front line of the resistance to his presidency. Now eight years later, they say they're making an intentional decision to start off calm.

From member station KQED in San Francisco, Marisa Lagos reports. California's newest US Senator, Adam Schiff, made a national name for himself in the years after Trump was first elected. As a congressman, he led the first impeachment trial of then President Trump. He sat on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th assault on the Capitol. And he regularly appeared on TV news as a spokesman for a defiant Democratic party,

like on CNN in 2022. I think that the evidence is there that Donald Trump committed criminal offenses in connection with his efforts to overturn the election. But as he begins his first term as a U.S. senator, Schiff says his focus is on what he can get done for his home state. How can I deliver for the state of California? We have a lot of serious challenges that people talk to me

up and down the state as I traveled California during the campaign. My first priority is solving those problems, meeting the needs of Californians. Schiff isn't alone. As blue state Democrats brace for the president-elect to be sworn in again, even those Trump has named as political enemies like Schiff and others on the January 6th committee, say they won't be picking a fight. At least not at first. Congresswoman Zoe Loughran, who's represented a California district that includes San Jose for three decades, was also a member of the January 6th committee. She says she hopes to continue working in a bipartisan manner and notes that Republicans

will likely need Democratic votes in the House. They've got a cadre of very right-wing Republican members who won't vote yes on anything. So they will, assuming they want to pass bills, and that may or may not be a good assumption, they will need Democratic votes and we will give those votes if we have

bills that also meet our priorities. Schiff says he's already struck up a relationship with Montana's incoming Republican Senator Tim Sheehy. The two met at an orientation for new members, Schiff says, and are talking about where they can work together on wildfire policy. What I did in the House and what I'm doing in the Senate is you seek out people, identify areas of common interest, and work on plans to address these problems. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries

is also striking a more restrained tone. He says while Democrats will, quote, draw a line in the sand when it comes to issues like protecting abortion access and social security, they'll also work hard to find bipartisan common ground. And in a sign of how things have changed since 2016, when Democrats were caught off guard by a Trump victory, Jeffries said earlier this month at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco that staying calm is a game plan for the left.

We can't fall into the trap of being outraged every day by the things that Donald Trump does because I'm convinced that it's part of an intentional strategy to keep us distracted. Blue state Democrats say they are ready to push back. Loughran says they'll turn to the courts, for example, if Trump tries to withhold disaster aid, as he did in his first term. The Democrats in California, the largest delegation, Democrats alone are bigger than the whole delegation of any other state. And so we have members on every committee.

We will have a say in everything that happens. And state leaders aren't waiting for Trump to act. Back in California, Governor Gavin Newsom already called the legislature into a special session earlier this month to create a $25 million legal fund to fight back in court if needed. Attorney General Rob Bonta says the state will only sue if Trump violates the law. We will only go where Trump's unlawful activities are. If he doesn't do anything unlawful, there's nothing for us to do.

So while Democrats say they aren't looking for a fight, they're also ready for one. For NPR News, I'm Marisa Lagos in San Francisco. You're listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detro. And what you just heard was not the only big news we have to share today about the incoming Trump administration. Here's another story from NPR's latest coverage. The tech industry is courting

President-elect Donald Trump. Today, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son pledged a $100 billion investment in the US over the next four years. He and Trump appeared together at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Other tech moguls have made trips there too. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman all donated to Trump's inaugural fund

to help us understand what the tech executives might want in return. We're joined by NPR's Bobby Allen. Hi there. Hey, Eric. Let's start with today's news. The chief executive of Japan-based SoftBank stood next to Trump and announced

this $100 billion investment. What more can you tell us about him? Yeah, Masayoshi San, he's known as Masa. He runs SoftBank, which is a very influential investor in the tech world. And like you mentioned, standing alongside President-elect Donald Trump, San said the $100 billion pledge to invest in artificial intelligence businesses and other ventures was according to him, an indication of how confident he feels about Trump's economic policies.

But pretty immediately Ari, there were skeptics and questions, right? Bloomberg pointed out that SoftBank has just about $25 billion in cash on its balance sheet, well short of the pledge. Now, SoftBank does have holdings in tech companies that far exceed the pledge amount, but how exactly Sun would find the additional capital for the $100 billion is unknown. But the important thing here is that he is the latest tech mogul, as you mentioned, Ari, to make a really big splash with his support for President-elect Donald Trump. What are some of the others doing? Yeah, many of them are writing checks for Trump's inaugural fund, which is kind of this slush

fund that pays for the swearing-in ceremony, inaugural balls, parties, dinners, and the like. So far, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos have each pledged a million dollars, Altman on behalf of himself and the others on behalf of their companies. Now, tech executives have donated to inaugural funds in the past, but what is really different this time is that the companies are trying to draw a lot of attention to the donations with public statements.

Whereas before ARIA, it was just happening kind of quietly behind closed doors. Why are they being more public this time? Yeah, well, it appears like an attempt to give the donations more prominence, perhaps with the hope of getting Trump's attention. That's what Margaret O'Meara thinks, at least. She's a Silicon Valley historian at the University of Washington. And she told me tech companies making a big deal about the inaugural donations is something new.

And she says it's motivated primarily by two things, right? First, trying to repair relationships with Trump. Remember, many of these CEOs, including Zuckerberg, have sparred with Trump over the years, and they don't want to be in the administration's crosshairs this time around. Secondly, O'Mara says currying favor with Trump could just mean fewer regulations. The opportunity to get the regulatory threat off of their backs and go back to being able to self-regulate, which is something that the internet industry generally has been enjoying by and large since the 1990s, is how these companies got so big.

Yeah, and she says tech company shareholders are hoping for fewer rules and regulations as well because that could of course translate into greater profits. Right, then there's the billionaire with Trump's ear, Elon Musk. How do the other tech execs see him? Yeah, some see Musk, you know,

of course another tech billionaire as an ally, a potential line into the White House. Others aren't so sure. Musk runs six companies of his own and Trump has tapped him to do these massive federal spending cuts. And the question really is, will Musk push the government to make changes that benefit the entire tech industry or will Musk push policies that are just tailored to give his own companies like Tesla and SpaceX a boost? So definitely some mixed opinions about how Musk might just play into tech policy under

Trump. NPR's Bobby Allen. Thank you. Thanks Ari. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters, who hear each show without sponsored messages and of course who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise,

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