Mary Katharine Ham: What's Trump's Agenda?

Just Asking Questions

Where does former President Donald Trump want to take this country?

As the Republican Party coronates Trump as its presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, there will be a lot of talk about Trump's vice presidential pick, his dominance in the polls, and the decline of President Joe Biden. But what about policy? What is the Trump agenda? Trump's opponents implore us to fear Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation proposal that they characterize as a vengeful, authoritarian power grab. Trump himself waves that away and tends to focus more on his plans to levy tariffs on foreign goods, deport illegal immigrants, and yes, finally build that wall. Neither Trump nor the Democrats seem interested in talking much at all about our soon-to-be $35 trillion national debt, which has eclipsed our total national gross domestic product for the first time since World War II.

To help us anticipate what an increasingly likely second Trump term might look like, and help explain how Trump 2024 is even possible all things considered, we've invited Mary Katharine Ham, a conservative political journalist and commentator at Fox News and on her own podcast Getting Hammered. We wanted to talk with her because she's Trump-critical, but also understands the conservative mind and movement as someone who's been immersed in it for years.

Note that this episode was recorded on Friday, July 12, 2024. A new introduction by Zach Weissmueller was recorded on Tuesday, July 16, contextualizing this conversation in light of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher.

Sourced referenced in this conversation:

1. Project 2025's Official Site
2. Joe Biden's campaign website page on the project
3. Understanding the National Debt | U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data
4. Brookings Institute: Data on how the suburbs voted in 2020
5. St. Louis Federal Reserve: Gross Federal Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
6. The U.S. Justice Department Is Not Independent | The Center for Renewing America
7. Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts on the War Room, July 2, 2024
8. Steve Bannon on Tucker Carlson's podcast, June 11, 2024
9. Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) on Just Asking Questions

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Context for this pre-recorded episode
• 02:11 Setting the Tone for the Episode
• 03:08 Analyzing Trump's 2024 Agenda
• 05:41 Key Issues for the Suburban Vote
• 09:03 Trump's Vice Presidential Pick
• 14:04 Abortion and the 2024 Election
• 20:58 Libertarian Appeal and Trump's Strategy
• 28:58 National Debt Concerns
• 33:24 Navigating the Political Spectrum
• 36:29 Project 2025
• 42:45 Concerns Over Expanding Executive Power
• 47:26 Vengeance vs. Accountability in Politics
• 01:01:35 The State of the 2024 Election
• 01:04:22 Final Thoughts and Reflections

• Producer: John Osterhoudt

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