Examining Trump's 2024 Agenda: "This is How We Move Away From a Democracy" | Pivot

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   We have to talk about Trump, which we should. The National Republican Convention gets underway, uh, next week. The party approved its 2024 platform on Monday, giving us a glimpse at what Trump's second term might look like. It sounds awful in every single way. The platform reads like a Trump rally speech, and features a list of 20 promises, including stop the migrant invasion, which we're still waiting for that caravan. Cancel the electrical, electric vehicle mandate and prevent World War III. Okay. The language on abortion and same-sex marriage has also been pared down and softened. Gays can stay married apparently, according to Donald Trump. Thanks, Donald, you fucking asshole. Um, y- y- you know, it's, he has had a rally recently where he was loony as a l- you know, it's all baked in, but he was loonier than ever. Still talking about sharks and Hannibal Lecter and all kinds of this and that. I, speaking of cognitive disabilities. Um, uh, and I know people say we should say more about it. He is crazy, everybody. We have said it over and over again, and he's vicious. He's crazy and vicious and corrupt and a criminal. Um, so there, hope that's enough. Um, w- what do you think about this vision that they've laid out? They're certainly trying to soften. We've been hearing a lot, thankfully, about Project 2025 in recent weeks, a proposal for a massive overhaul of the federal government should... meaning cutting out, getting rid of NOA is one of their, is o- is on their list. Um, the project backed by Trump allies, very close Trump allies, includes an expansion of executive powers, disbanding the Department of Education, shredding climate protections. Trump has recently distanced himself from the plan, uh, claiming he know nothing about it, which is nonsense. He also was like, "I wish them good luck." It was very similar to a statement he gave about Ghislaine Maxwell, of the famous Epstein, saying, "I don't really know her and, uh, but I wish her good luck." And of course there's 90 pictures of him with her. Um, so what do you think about this?

2. SGScott Galloway1:47

   I think that they're... So as frightening as Biden's performance has been, we don't wanna talk about this, but Trump has actually been very on message. He's been much more disciplined this time, and he realizes that he's, he's basically said we, if we just pivot a little bit to the metal and we're not as terribly frightening... What, what's going on here is we've seen before, and that's Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, uh, in their Senate testimony confirmation hearings, pretending to be reasonable. And then once they're on the court, they decide to overturn Roe v. Wade, which they said under oath in front of the Senate was established precedent.

3. KSKara Swisher2:25

   Mm-hmm.

4. SGScott Galloway2:26

   Uh, my sense is Trump is very on message. I forget the name of the woman, Scaramucci said there's a-

5. KSKara Swisher2:32

   Susie Wiles.

6. SGScott Galloway2:32

   He said she's the most powerful woman in, uh, Washington right now.

7. KSKara Swisher2:35

   She is. There's a good piece by Tim Alberta who did the Chris Licht piece about the Trump campaign. It's, it's, it's a must read by the way, but go ahead. She's in it.

8. SGScott Galloway2:43

   But think about it. He's gone totally quiet around the debate.

9. KSKara Swisher2:47

   Mm-hmm.

10. SGScott Galloway2:47

    He's softening the stuff around bodily autonomy. But be clear, folks, it's now one in five women have to leave their state to terminate a pregnancy. It's gonna go to two in five, three in five, and maybe more, uh-

11. KSKara Swisher3:01

    Yeah.

12. SGScott Galloway3:01

    ... in this whole 20, whatever they're calling it, 20 f- what are they calling it? 20-

13. KSKara Swisher3:04

    2025. Project 2025.

14. SGScott Galloway3:06

    I mean, it's you're, you read through it and it's-

15. KSKara Swisher3:09

    Oh, it's a Handmaiden's Tale booklet.

16. SGScott Galloway3:11

    Be clear folks. The thing about these things is-

17. KSKara Swisher3:13

    Mm-hmm. Yeah.

18. SGScott Galloway3:13

    ... we make the mistake of believing they're so fucking crazy, that could never happen. No, they can happen. It can happen. So, uh, i- i- from a messaging standpoint, Trump's trying to distance himself, but it is a looking glass into what some of the most powerful people who will have the greatest audience voice and sway on the White House are thinking.

19. KSKara Swisher3:30

    Yeah, absolutely. And, and as I mentioned, Trump has softened the GOP stance on abortion and marriage equality. Um, new platforms does not reference a national abortion ban, the first time it's been omitted in 40 years of these platforms. Leave it to the states, which is almost even worse. There's no longer a reference to traditional marriage as between one man and one woman. That's been in there for a long time. Um, bad marketing for them. Um, you know, I think it's... You're right, he's softening, he's softening the stance. "Oh, I'm reasonable," but he is not reasonable people. Let us be absolutely fucking clear. He will also has, have people in there like Stephen Miller, who are absolutely... They want to build giant camps and deport people. They wanna put millions of people under, under arrest for, for existing essentially. Um, there's also major implications for tech in all of this. The plan calls for fewer restrictions on cryptocurrency, th- all their pals and that, repealing Biden's executive order on AI, which is quite a good one actually. And bolstering commercial, uh, space exploration. Um, this is all E- uh, this must be the Elon Musk, must have called them and put them in. It signals a laissez-faire, if not outright cozy approach to emerging sectors as the Washington Post put it. It's, it's, that's all Elon Musk, so you know, just FYI. Tech regulation is already a struggle. It, there won't be any tech regulation, and uh, government investment in commercial space exploration, of course would be a boon for Musk. Um, and also Jeff Bezos, by the way. Um, now it's interesting that s- some tech leaders are playing nice, some aren't. Like Reid Hoffman isn't, and what's was really frightening, and I know you don't like Mark Zuckerberg, but Trump threatened him-

20. SGScott Galloway5:02

    I agree.

21. KSKara Swisher5:02

    ... in a way that sounded-

22. SGScott Galloway5:03

    I was just gonna say that.

23. KSKara Swisher5:03

    ... like a ti- tin horn dictator.

24. SGScott Galloway5:05

    Yeah.

25. KSKara Swisher5:05

    Um, he said, uh, he said, uh, posted on Truth Social, "The election fraudsters will be imprisoned" if he gets elected in November. And he name-checked Zuckerberg. Um, (laughs) Mark Zuckerberg is a lot of things, but he's not an election fraudster. And the fact that he's threatened imprisonment over, over his stupid election denial lies is, is really... I had to defend Mark. That's just... Look, if we wanna take, put Mark in prison, let's bring him to trial, prove the case, do the things, like what, what a, what a legal democracy does. That's different than what Trump did here, which is, which is heinous. Absolutely heinous.

26. SGScott Galloway5:42

    There's a clear, thick, indelible line between a democracy and fascism. And one of those lines, I mean, that there's sharp relief between an autocracy and a democracy, is that we have decided that when people are elected to power, they can't use federal agencies to go after their political enemies.And when you start threatening to put your political enemies in prison, and what he referenced was that Zuckerberg donated $400 million to non-profits helping election offices with mail-in voting, getting falsely accused- Mm-hmm. ... of violating campaign finance laws, um, by the way, he was cleared by the Federal Election Commission, this is stepping over that line into fascism. Mm-hmm. And it's not about Mark Zuckerberg. It's about... P- President Biden has never said, "I hate Elon Musk." Mm-hmm. "I think he's a threat to democracy, I hate what he's doing in Ukraine. I'm siccing my DOJ on him." Anyways, when you directly say, "I'm gonna try and put someone in prison if I'm elected," this is what- And, uh, what you're dealing with here is what happens in these societies, and unfortunately we're so entitled and we've enjoyed so many freedoms of which we're not in touch with the sacrifice and the commitment and the expense to maintain these freedoms, that we don't realize that when you're living in an autocracy, everyone goes quiet because, it- it's like, okay, if you come out against Trump... If you come out against Biden, there's very little downside. He wins, he forgives you, he loses, he forgives you, whatever. Mm-hmm. When you come out against Trump and say, "This is a, this is a fascist, this is a misogynist, this is a convicted felon," you, you risk something. And so people stop engaging- Mm-hmm. ... in a democracy which includes open, honest debate because they're like, "What's..." The, the downside to being open and honest around what you think of Trump is much greater than the downside to being open and honest about what you think about the true Democrat because he's not gonna, he's not gonna pursue you as a political enemy using the full power of the federal government. So just w- just threatening to weaponize our agencies and the government, that should be disqualifying, and everyone uses the word disqualifying. But this is what it's like to live in Iran or Russia where people do the math and go, "I don't even wanna have an open conversation. I'm gonna tell my children and my friends never to speak out against this person because the downside is greater." Whereas there's someone who's a democrat, "Oh yeah, speak out against them 'cause there's no downside if you, to speaking your mind." This is, this is what it's like to live in an autocracy. I mean, I have a r- I'm not... I'm, I wanna be clear. I'm not scared but the thought has crossed my mind that if Donald Trump is elected, it's not, uh, th- the threat of some sort of government regulation or something- Mm-hmm. ... I'm not s- uh, I'm not saying we'd be put in jail. But do they pass legislation that is damaging to you and your family? I, I, uh, this isn't... This is how we move away from a democracy.

Episode duration: 9:01