Post-Election Calls

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Brian Lehrer: To end the show today, we'll take more of your post-election calls. Specifically, right now, we invite you to weigh in on one of two questions with the second Trump presidency now imminent. One, if you voted for Trump, what policies do you want him to implement? Let's be really policy specific here. Two, if you stand opposed to Trump, what will your opposition or resistance look like this time around, to the extent that you can imagine it right now in what might be your state of shock? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692.

Again, if you voted for Trump, what policies do you want him to implement? Let's get policy specific. We know it's not just about owning the libs, as they say. What do you want him to actually do? Two, if you stand opposed to Trump, what will your resistance or opposition look like this time around? 212-433-WNYC, at least on first blush, 212-433-9692, call or text.

Remember January 2017, when Trump took office for the first time and just a few days in office, he signed what was referred to back then as the Muslim ban, Executive Order 13769? Looked it up. Meanwhile, in response to the alarming rhetoric and policy positions coming from Trump on Twitter and on TV at the time and the Access Hollywood tape, organizers led a women's march the day after Trump's inauguration. Remember that?

With respect to the Muslim ban, people showed up at airports to protest the looming deportation or the looming blockage of people from coming into the country. Now, he's promising mass deportation. I don't know if there's a similar symbolic or any other kind of protest that takes shape early. In response to the George Floyd demonstrations-- I should say, until the George Floyd demonstrations, the women's march was the largest single-day protest in American history. 200,000 people marched in Washington, according to the media estimates, and as many as 5 million participated in cities across the country.

That's just in case you needed a reminder of where we were the last time Trump entered the White House. On either side of it, if you voted for Trump, what specific policies are you most excited for him to enact? If you voted against Trump, what are you specifically looking to oppose or resist? 212-433-WNYC, call or text. 212-433-9692 and we'll take those calls and texts right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to Your calls. If you voted for Donald Trump, what policies, most specifically do you want him to implement? If you were opposed to Trump, what will your opposition or resistance look like this time around, as far as you can tell now. 212-433-WNYC, call or text. Jane in White Plains, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jane, thank you for calling.

Jane: Hi. Thank you so much. I think it's not about specific policies for me, and it's not about real opposition. It's about staying firm in what it means to be an American, and really valuing our public education and our freedom of speech, and making sure that as the adults and the caregivers to young people, that we teach them how important their right to speech is and not allow these infractions to take place at a political level. I'm very, very concerned about the fragility of our democracy.

Yesterday I was concerned about setting text messages because I'm at the point where I'm concerned that the government is watching and we could wind up in prisons for things that we say. I think we're in a very, very frightening position right now as a country. Unless those of us who remember what it was to be an American get out there and use our voices and educate our young people, we're really in danger as a nation.

Brian Lehrer: Jane, thank you very much. Here's a Trump voter, Jude in Newark. Jude, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

Jude: Brian, good morning. I'm so excited. What a big victory for all the Trump supporter. I'm looking forward to a secure border and also looking forward to a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas and also Ukraine and Russia. I believe Trump presidency is going-

Brian Lehrer: How do you think-

Jude: Go ahead.

Brian Lehrer: No, you go ahead.

Jude: I believe Trump being in power is going to help eliminate and stop the war.

Brian Lehrer: I think people have an idea of how he might pressure Ukraine into a ceasefire with Russia. Do you have an idea of why or how you think he could create a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas?

Jude: The reason why I would say is that Ukraine, first of all, they started-- I'm not going to say they started the war. The war that is ongoing is something that they cannot win. It's something that they cannot fought for by themselves. Ukraine is not a NATO member. US Is just supporting financially.

Brian Lehrer: My question was about Israel, Hamas. You said he could bring an end to that war.

Jude: Oh, Israel and Hamas, okay. The reason why I'm saying that is that Trump himself, he knows what he stands for. During when Trump was in power, none of this escalated. None of this happened under him. All Trump has to say, one instruction to Benjamin Netanyahu, he's going to listen to Trump than Biden and they all understand what Trump stands for.

Brian Lehrer: All right, we will see. So far, Trump stands for supporting Netanyahu, so we'll see. Jude, thank you very much, appreciate it. Listener texts, "I'm looking to oppose everything. I think the challenge in front of us is how to do that strategically, having an impact without burning out. Another one, Kylie in Northern Virginia. Hi, Kylie, you're on WNYC.

Kylie: Oh, my goodness. Hi, Brian. Good morning. I voted for Kamala Harris. My resistance is actually clearly in response to the person who just called, I think that Trump policies need to be enacted the way that he promised. I think that Democrats and people who supported Kamala Harris and who were anti-Trump need to be really thoughtful about the guardrails that we erected.

People bought this rhetoric and then they love to say, "Oh, he didn't mean that, he didn't mean that." No, you bought this rhetoric, so you should receive the impact of that rhetoric. I know that that's going to be far-reaching for everybody in this country, which is really sad and scary, but I think that Trump supporters need to experience the policies that this man ran on.

The person who just called and said that he-

Brian Lehrer: So you're saying let him be as radical and destructive as he promises to be because then people won't want to have things like that again?

Kylie: I'm reluctant to say that, but I also feel like that's the only way that we ever really understand the gravity of what happened, and the person who just called illustrated that. Trump has never promised a ceasefire between Gaza and Netanyahu. He has promised that he told Netanyahu to finish it. That's why I think we need to experience his promises. It's hard for me to say that as somebody who believes in this country and obviously still lives here, but people keep saying, "Oh, he's not going to do that, he's not going to do that," but that's what he said he was going to do and I think [unintelligible 00:08:35] to experience some realism.

Brian Lehrer: Kylie, thank you very much. Here's a text, Shayna from the Bronx. "When he was elected the first time, I was 15 in high school and we were skipping midterm tests to make it to the women's march. Today, I'm 23, facing down a second Trump presidency and woke up this morning to a text message from a high school friend asking if this is what our teacher meant when he told us the day after Stoneman Douglas shooting, one of us is going to have to get angry enough to run for something. I think now that we're old enough resistance looks like getting involved and running for office. We have to do the work ourselves now."

Remember that name, listeners, Shayna from the Bronx, currently 23, when she runs for something. Shayna, thank you for that text. Robert in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi, Robert?

Robert: Hi, Brian. I'm very interested in the environment. I support various NGOs. I don't know what effect we're going to have on stopping Trump and his Sharpie, but I guess we'll have to work through the courts and state governments to resist his worst impulses in overturning the Biden administration's progressive policies on the environment.

Brian Lehrer: Working through the courts and state government primarily. Robert, got you. Let me sneak one more in here. Deborah in Jersey City, you're on WNYC. Hi, Deborah?

Deborah: Hi, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. I was in a state of shock yesterday. After doing some physical labor, what I did is I ran into a couple of workers, let's say, from Jersey City, and we started talking and I found out they were registered, but they hadn't voted. They were father, son. I was trying to encourage them, and explain to them, give them a little history and explain to them and tell them that if they want their voice to be heard, they need to vote. I've also been doing that on my Facebook page. I've been telling people to resist, tyranny peacefully, and then I've been engaging in conversation with other people, respectful conversation, why they voted for Trump or why they voted for Kamala.

I'm trying to encourage people because we're having local elections here next year-- mayor, everything, in Jersey City, and I our mayor is running for governor, our city council, everything.

Brian Lehrer: I have to jump in because we're out of time, but I hear you. You're encouraging people to register to vote after that distressing conversation with people who didn't even vote in this election. Deborah, thank you. Keep calling us. That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today. Thank you for all your calls on this segment and, of course, the previous ones all morning. Stay tuned for Allison. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

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