Over Here, Over There

Citizen Dan: BBC Radio Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Interview, The Trump Inauguration

• Dan Harris and Claudia Koestler • Season 3 • Episode 7

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Summary

In this conversation, BBC Radio Gloucestershire and Wiltshire host Graham Rogers discusses with 'Over Here, Over There' podcast host Dan Harris the remarkable return of Donald Trump to the presidency, analyzing the factors that contributed to his election victory and the implications for the US-UK relationship. The discussion also covers Trump's expected actions in office and the strategies needed to engage with his administration effectively.

Takeaways

  • Donald Trump's return to the White House is unprecedented.
  • Many believed Trump could not recover from the January 6th events.
  • The Democrats' campaign strategy wasn't effective enough.
  • Trump's election victory was narrow, not a landslide.
  • Republicans effectively communicated with their base despite lower funding.
  • The US-UK relationship will endure regardless of leadership.
  • Engaging with Trump requires understanding his motivations.
  • Expect symbolic gestures from Trump in his first days.
  • Trump aims to deliver on campaign promises immediately.
  • The political landscape is shifting with Trump's return.

Sound Bites

  • "How did he win? Why did he win?"


#DonaldTrump #inauguration #USpolitics #election #US-UKrelationship #specialrelationship #executiveorders #politicalcomeback #podcast 

Graham Rogers (00:00.066)
Here's a date that will go down in history, Monday, 20th January 2025. Donald Trump has been inaugurated for the second time. He is now America's 47th president, eight years after he first entered the White House and four years since he lost the presidency to Joe Biden. It is the most, whatever your politics, the most extraordinary comeback for someone who was impeached twice and was convicted of falsifying business records relating to a payment made to an adult entertainment actress. Donald Trump has said he will reverse four years of American decline. Joining me to talk more on this is Dan Harris. Dan, who lives in Cheltenham, worked on Capitol Hill and at the White House itself during the Ronald Reagan era and in politics in the UK.

Dan is the host of the International Podcast 'Over Here, Over There'. An American, British and Italian citizen. Dan has worked on both sides of the Atlantic in politics and high technology. Dan, an extraordinary comeback. Did you ever think you'd see the day when Donald Trump would return to the White House? 

Dan Harris
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Graham. No, no, I did not, especially on January 6th. When I was watching, as we all were, the riot that was happening on January 6th in 2021, I just thought that was almost like a suicide note politically for Donald Trump. I just could not believe that that was happening. And I thought he could never recover from that alone, let alone the things you just mentioned about his legal difficulties and things like that. So it's just extraordinary that he's in this position. There was just court case after court case after court case that you think that one of these things is going to catch him out. Basically, he beat the clock. He extended it. He was very practiced at doing that in his business life. And he did that here. So, now he's swearing on the Bible and now president of the United States for a second time. 

Graham Rogers
Why is he so popular? Why do you think he's so popular in America? 

Dan Harris (02:24.696)
Well, I'm not sure if he's popular as such because his poll ratings are pretty poor still for someone coming in. I think it's at 40 or 41%, which is very low for a president. 

Graham Rogers
He still won the election result though. He was still voted in. 

Dan Harris
That's right. Yeah. So, you know, why did he win the election though? That is what the pundits and everyone across the world is trying to figure out. How did he win? Why did he win? And there's two things. One, I think that it was a bit of ineptitude on the Democrats as far as how that presidential campaign was administered with Joe Biden exiting so late and not giving Kamala Harris a chance to define herself and to reach out across the divide. The other thing that you have to say is that we have not elected a woman president, and that is something that we, we just are behind other nations in doing and getting past. And also she's a woman of color. So.

It's something that we really have to come to grips with. We did elect Barack Obama, but we didn't elect Kamala Harris. And she only lost by like one and a half percentage points. It wasn't a landslide. It was close, but still, as you say, Donald Trump won the election. And I think that one of the things that Republicans did, or several things that Republicans did very well, was their communication strategy was excellent. They had half the money that the Democrats did. They had like $500 million, which sounds like an enormous amount but the Democrats had over a billion in their war chest. But the Republicans really spent wisely and went to their communication channels to reach out to their base and to be on the base to the young people, a lot of different demographics, and they scored on those. And they just marginally put their noses in front of the Democrats and won. 

Graham Rogers
As we watch the inauguration in this country, it is on all the television news tonight, it's on all the news websites as well. We're wondering, how's this going to affect life in the UK? What do you think his return to the White House will mean to the country, it's an overused phrase, but the special US-UK relationship? 

Dan Harris (04:40.952)
Well, I've asked a lot of different politicians over here about what they think. And they say, the relationship is, whether it's Trump or if it was Kamala Harris, that it will still survive.


Well, I think in this case with Trump, you've got to handle it differently. And I was listening to David Smith earlier, a great colleague of mine over in the room when we spent time in Philadelphia. And I think that he was right. You really got to know how to handle Trump in order to get something out of the relationship. 

Graham Rogers
Flatter him. That's it, isn't it? Flatter him. 

Dan Harris
Well, yeah, flatter him. You don't really talk policy or trade deals. You just got to be on his good side.

Cause we're in more of an authoritarian regime over there now. It's somewhat anti-democratic. You really got to flatter the leader, look up to this person called Donald Trump and know how to play what really motivates him. And it's flattery. He's very concerned about himself and things like that. So, to say that we're going to, have a special relationship now, to be honest, I think that's kind of out the window. I think you've got to really focus on him and how to deal with him as best you can.

Graham Rogers
His first full day in office tomorrow, what do think he'll do first? 

Dan Harris
Well, there's a slew of things. He probably wants to make a statement, whether symbolic or not, about his campaign promises on immigration, deporting a lot of illegal and possibly illegal refugees that are here in the United States that are there. And that's one, certainly on energy. There's things that he's going after as far as opening up Alaska and certain public lands for oil exploration. Then David mentioned, that I heard him talk about the Gulf of Mexico, turning that into Gulf of America. I mean, that's window dressing, to be perfectly honest. I don't think, you know, whether that happens or not, who pays attention to that, who knows. But what he's doing is he wants to really throw red meat to his base and to show that he's keeping to his promises right away to show that he delivers. Now, whether they're effective or not, whether he actually gets back and starts building the wall or not, who knows, but he's gonna make something, some symbolic gesture with these executive orders to show that he's in charge and he's the guy. You can expect a slew of executive orders coming out right after this as soon as he can, sign them, and to show that he's the leader of the Western world.

Graham Rogers (07:00.706)
Dan Harris fascinating to talk to you. Thank you so much for being with us on the program this afternoon. Dan Harris who lives in Cheltenham worked on Capitol Hill and at the White House during the Reagan era. On the inauguration of President Donald Trump returned to the White House the 47th President of the United States of America.