We were joined by Republican strategist Kristin Davison.
Matt Frei: He’s said it’s all about day one, he’s promised a lot of stuff on day one. Mass deportations, tariffs, 20 per cent tariffs across the board. Is that actually going to be happening?
Kristin Davison: I believe it will. The one thing, and I think why you saw such a large victory for President Trump on Tuesday night, is because he usually does when he says he’s going to do. He doesn’t hedge. He doesn’t hide it. He’s very clear about what he says he is going to do. Also, we didn’t just win the White House. We also won a majority in the Senate. And I think we’re on our way to win a majority in the House.
Matt Frei: Clean sweep?
Kristin Davison: Clean sweep, I think we’re going to have a clean sweep. The House will be close, I think we’ll see how some of those California seats shake out, but I think we’ll get there. And if that ends up holding, he’s going to have a clear three branches of government all to help him get this done very quickly. I think day one is definitely metaphorical, we’ll see what procedurally-wise gets done that way. But the first hundred days, I think, we’ll see massive movement on all of these fronts.
Matt Frei: But we talk about mass deportations. Such an easy word to pronounce, but the implications of that. The fear and loathing that that could create in huge communities around this country, including those who voted for him, is not to be underestimated, is it?
Kristin Davison: I don’t know if I necessarily agree that there’s a fear and loathing. One of the final polls on that procedure, calling it mass deportation, had a majority of Democrats who support him, majority of Hispanic voters that support it. So I think there’s a process in place to make sure all of those individuals have their proper time in court and all that before…
Matt Frei: It’s a relatively popular policy, but think of the practical implications. You’re going into a shop and saying, ‘where are your papers? Are you legal? Come with me. You go to a camp’. How is it going to work? And for how many people?
Kristin Davison: Well, if I knew that, I’d probably be working at Homeland Security, right? But I don’t know…
Matt Frei: But doesn’t some of that frighten you slightly?
Kristin Davison: No, it doesn’t. What frightens me is the fact that for years we’ve allowed criminals to come into the country. We’re not talking about the average person. They need to go through the process. They need to be put into the line e to get the immigration process put together. We’re talking about cartel members that are coming over the border every single day that the last administration frankly ignored and allowed to exacerbate. That’s really what we’re talking about and that fear is greater than the fear of the process of how it’s actually done.
Matt Frei: Do you think some people, especially in the border states like Arizona, like the Minutemen, will be inclined to take the law into their own hands and say, ‘if the feds can’t sort this out, I’m going to help?’
Kristin Davison: No, I don’t think so at all. I think they have great trust that President Trump will get it done, just like I think as we’ve seen most Americans do, considering that he’s going to be the first Republican since I believe 2000 or 1980 that won the popular vote. So this is a clear mandate. Here’s the thing, the Democrat Party and frankly some of the media underestimate what this country believes and wants, and President Trump didn’t. And so he has a clear mandate to do it. He has not been shy about what he wants to do. He has not said one thing and done another. He has put it all out there and he won the popular vote, likely 312 electoral college votes, the Senate and the House. It’s a clear sweep for President Trump and what he said he wants to do.
Matt Frei: Actually there are quite a few Democrats who agree with the policies that he advocated during the campaign, but they don’t agree with much of the tone that they saw coming from him. And then when you criticise them for criticising Trump, people say ‘well, don’t take it all too seriously’. But that tone was abrasive and it matters in politics. Do you think he’ll lower it?
Kristin Davison: I don’t think he has a reason to. I think Democrats need to go look at their own tone. Frankly, the Democrat Party needs to have a walk in the woods with themselves, at a family dinner, and talk through what the issue is. They clearly are out of touch with the American people. They’re more worried about people’s feelings than actually what gets done, and Americans are tired of it. Americans are tired of every time that Trump says something it’s a headline in the news. They don’t care. They want results. Democrats have have not heard what the average working man is saying for so long that now they are now the party of the elites and the ruling class that have zero idea what the average person… So the Democrats really need to worry about their own tone and their own message and who they’re talking to because they have a long way to go to get back.
