Trump reveals how he would govern if reelected to another term in the White House – PBS NewsHour
Lisa Desjardins Lisa Desjardins
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We have learned more this week about how former President Trump would govern if reelected. Wednesday in Wisconsin, he again pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. And a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine sparked headlines with some of his most strident words yet about what he would do in a second term. Lisa Desjardins reports.
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Geoff Bennett:
Donald Trump was out of the courtroom and back on the campaign trail today in Wisconsin with a familiar refrain about undocumented immigrants.
Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country. We have no choice.
(Cheering and applause)
Geoff Bennett:
It was the latest example of the policies he would like to implement if reelected. And it follows a wide-ranging interview with “TIME” magazine that sparked headlines about what he would do in a second term.
Lisa Desjardins joins us now.
So, Lisa, there’s a lot in this interview. But let’s start with how Donald Trump would staff his administration and what sounds like a litmus test about the 2020 election.
Lisa Desjardins:
Yes, “TIME” magazine said, overall, this was a picture of a man who wants an imperial presidency, someone who plans to ramp up and intensify, not soften, what he’s doing.
And that’s where we get to 2020. He again repeated the idea that the election was stolen from him. He said there was proof. We know the proof goes the other way, that the 2020 election was one of the most well-regarded and well-monitored elections in U.S. history.
But “TIME” magazine asked him specifically about something Republicans elsewhere are doing. They are asking people who apply for jobs if they think that Joe Biden won the election. So “TIME” magazine asked former President Trump what he thought about that idea.
And “TIME”‘s Eric Cortellessa said his response to that gave him a very sharp impression.
Eric Cortellessa, “TIME”:
He wants to go into a second term and consolidate power into the office of the presidency, so that he can remove the guardrails that stood in his way from implementing his agenda the last time he was in office.
What Donald Trump was conveying to me was that he would not be inclined to hire anyone who has come out and admitted that Donald Trump lost the last election. And so I think he is planning to fill the most important offices in the executive branch with true believers of the MAGA doctrine.
Lisa Desjardins:
There’s a reason that that’s called the big lie, because that goes to our democracy itself. And, here, former President Trump is saying, no, I might not hire anyone who thinks otherwise. I need people to support that idea that only I can win, only I ever have won when I ran.
Geoff Bennett:
Another topic, immigration and the border, this has been the cornerstone of his campaign. What’s he saying in this interview?
Lisa Desjardins:
Right. This gets to migrants.
He is becoming more militant and more martial in what he is talking about here. He is calling for nothing less than the largest deportation in American history. He gave some more details. He specifically used these numbers; 15 to 20 million people is what the former president told “TIME” magazine.
How would he do that? He said he would use local law enforcement and the military, National Guard, didn’t really get into too many details about that. But he was asked specifically about how that comports with U.S. law, which says the military cannot, in fact, be used to be deployed against civilians.
I want to read you the quote from what he told “TIME” magazine about that. He said of migrants: “These aren’t civilians. These are people that aren’t legally in our country. This is an invasion of our country. I can see myself using the National Guard. And, if necessary, I would have to go a step further.”
This is invoking, obviously, martial powers in a way that we haven’t really seen in this issue at all. Now, as for would he have mass detention camps, he said possibly, but he doesn’t think they’re needed. I will say, right now, the U.S. is actually allowing for more bed space for migrant detention.
That’s something that this Congress and president are doing. But that’s the tune of a few thousand migrants. What he is talking about is millions. This is deportation that really almost has no comparison point in terms of forced movement of people on a global scale.
Geoff Bennett:
On abortion, we have seen Donald Trump shift his stance seemingly to match with the kinds of voters he is trying to win over. He has, in the past, taken credit for overturning Roe. Now he says he disagrees with Florida’s six-week abortion ban, which took effect today.
What’s he saying to “TIME” magazine now in this interview?
Lisa Desjardins:
Yes, you’re so right. This is a tricky issue for this president. He’s someone who wants to run the Republican Party on every other issue, but, on this one, he is consistently saying, and he did again in this interview, he wants to leave it to the states.
That is because his own personal view that he’s expressed that a six-week ban is too far is something that’s a problem with those on the right. So, he was asked some specific questions that I think were interesting, and I want to get into a few of those questions that stood out in this interview.
One, he was asked, should states monitor pregnancies to determine if an abortion happened in a state where it is illegal? Trump responded: “I think they might do that.”
Then, should states process women for abortions? He said: “The states are going to say. It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not.”
Now, again, this is a consistent “states will do what they should do” policy from the former president. It is a policy proposal. It is also political. But this idea that states monitoring pregnancy is something that he could accept is incredibly notable. Whether he’s a president who vetoes legislation or not, he’s the leader of the Republican Party making these statements.
Geoff Bennett:
And what’s the picture that this gives overall, Lisa?
Lisa Desjardins:
Right.
This is a picture, as I said, of a president who is ramping up his aggression. He is — or his aggressive tactics as a president, trying to really consolidate executive power before he even comes into office. Now, I will say, it was a wide-ranging interview. He went into details on economic policy, his ideas on tariffs.
This wasn’t all just about these cultural hot spots. And it’s really worth people looking at this interview to understand what he says he would do as president. But, overall, this is someone who wants to take the Republican Party even further into this direction where it must do exactly what he says and be more aggressive about it.
I spoke to Republican consultant Kevin Madden, who we have on this show. And he said this could mean more of a stress test for Republicans, especially those in office.
Kevin Madden, Republican Strategist:
Trump blocks out the sun on all of the other voices inside the party. He expects that the party is going to adopt his view, his language, his approach. And he very much demands, fealty from leaders inside the party.
One of the challenges for a Trump presidency will be that the idea of an executive equal to a legislative branch is going to be challenged on a day-to-day basis.
Lisa Desjardins:
Bigger stress test for Republicans means a bigger stress test for the U.S. government is also what Kevin Madden’s saying.
Geoff Bennett:
Meantime, we have some new polling results that look at how and which Americans believe what Donald Trump says.
Lisa Desjardins:
Truth is such a core part of this. And we wanted to ask voters and Americans what they think about how Donald Trump speaks.
So let’s look at this. When Donald Trump speaks, 31 percent of people that we polled who are definitely planning to vote, 31 percent said they believe he’s speaking mostly the truth; 34 percent say he’s speaking mostly falsehoods. Now, that — you’re doing the math.
Those in the middle that we don’t put there are those who say sometimes it’s some of each. But this is interesting on the two polls, that we think a third of Americans from this who are voting believe he speaks mostly the truth.
If you look at this more in depth, you see a gender gap. Men are the ones who are most likely to believe what former President Trump says. And look at that. Women, 45 percent of women overall believe he speaks mostly falsehoods, that he does tell lies.
Now, one other thing, how about strengthening democracy or not? Look at this. We asked voters — these are definite voters — what they think about President Trump and President Biden. They felt, 38 percent, that former President Trump is someone who would strengthen democracy if he’s reelected. Look at that, President Biden, 35 percent would likely strengthen democracy.
This is a tricky number because a lot of voters who answered this poll believe that President Biden would keep things as it was. But we wanted to raise this because it shows many voters, definite voters, believe that Trump would strengthen democracy. More believe he would weaken it. But there is a significant core out there that believes he would strengthen it.
Geoff Bennett:
All right, Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much for walking us through all this. We appreciate it.
Lisa Desjardins:
You’re welcome.
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Lisa Desjardins Lisa Desjardins
Lisa Desjardins is a correspondent for PBS NewsHour, where she covers news from the U.S. Capitol while also traveling across the country to report on how decisions in Washington affect people where they live and work.
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