Rep. Jake Auchincloss on Trump’s win: Biden, Democrats need to put guardrails in place

Mark Herz: This is GBH Radio. Democrats are figuring out why their candidate lost and what path they will take in the incoming Trump administration. I can now talk about this with Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss and his perspective. Welcome, Congressman.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss: Good morning

Heart: Thank you for being with us this morning. Let’s start with the big cap. Kamala Harris failed to hold together the coalition that Joe Biden delivered four years ago. And Donald Trump has built a more determined coalition than ever before. What do you think about how this happened and how do you feel the day after?

Alsoincloss: It’s devastating how I feel. It’s a beating, and there’s little silver lining or way to sugarcoat it. And we must be on guard and put up guardrails to protect the integrity of our institutions and our democracy, especially the politicization of our military that he has promised, undermining our allies abroad and causing attacks on civil rights. It will be much easier if Democrats ultimately take back the House, which remains a path, albeit challenging.

Heart: Yeah, I mean, let’s talk about these guardrails and the House of Representatives. The control is still unclear. A few days ago you thought it would be close, but your party had a good chance of taking it back. I mean, what kind of guardrails can be put in place when you’re in the minority or even the majority while Republicans hold the White House and the Senate?

Alsoincloss: So it’s going to lean in some ways on what I call the Reagan remnants of the Republican Party, people along the lines of Mitt Romney, particularly in the Senate. And there are senators on the GOP side who I think would oppose overt politicization of the military, who would defend the need to arm Ukraine, who would oppose the confirmation attempt of Robert F. Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services would fight back, for example. These are three areas where it can cause immediate and profound damage. And we must build a bipartisan adult caucus to prevent these worst impulses from being put into action. Without a majority in the House of Representatives, it is very difficult to reject his proposed tariffs and taxes, since these things can be passed with a simple majority. And he will be extremely effective at bringing his party into line.

Heart: And you mentioned Ukraine. This is a big concern for you. Let’s explain this a little more. I mean, what do you see there? What do you think can be done?

Alsoincloss: He has made it clear that he believes in peace through Putin. He will give Putin everything he asks for. He has this weird complex where he seems to seek Putin’s approval of him. It underscores the need for Joe Biden to immediately put Ukraine on a stronger footing. And he can do that. Unlike in the Middle East, where there are so many objectives at play that even a US president is locked up in his office, here in Ukraine a US president has enormous writing skills. Joe Biden may allow Ukraine to use US-made weapons, particularly the F-16 [inaudible] to attack Russian oil refining capacity around Moscow. He can increase the $6 billion in earmarked aid to Ukraine and convert it into ammunition and materials. There must be an absolutely overwhelming sense of urgency to help Ukraine change the facts on the battlefield before Donald Trump takes office in January. Because Trump is, I mean, he’s just pro-Putin. There is no other way to say it.

Heart: OK. And you mentioned the Middle East. Another big worry for everyone, including you. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly among the first to call President-elect Donald Trump yesterday. I mean, what do you see for the future of the Gaza war under a Trump administration? And in particular, you know, I wonder whether Trump’s relationship with Netanyahu might actually be helpful? What do you think?

Alsoincloss: There are so many structural dynamics at play in the Middle East that I actually think there is less difference between a Trump administration and a Biden administration than there is in Ukraine or the South China Sea or certainly in domestic politics. [Clears throat] Forgiveness. It’s in some ways a testament to how frightening a second Trump administration is that the Middle East isn’t much of a problem right now, considering how much things have changed due to Israel’s coercions and Iran’s insane campaign against Israel as well Hezbollah and Hamas will change In the barbaric death cult, all of these things are structural and remain. And I actually don’t see much change in US policy in the Middle East. You know, we’re talking about Donald Trump here, so maybe we’ll all be surprised.

Heart: That’s correct. I mean, there were a lot of surprises here. And that’s what we started with. You know, you called it a spanking. You know, what are the lessons learned from this? I mean that you were in the military. You’re a veteran. That’s one of the hallmarks, one of the strengths of this great institution is the absolutely clear mission, no matter what, to go back and take a look and say, OK, what do we need to do going forward? What do we learn? Let’s take a look, warts and all. So I’m assuming you’re well familiar with it. After that, what do you do for us, for your party, the Democratic Party?

Alsoincloss: I think there’s a short term and a long term. In the short term, the cost of living is clearly inflated, basically everything else, compounded by concerns about border security. Americans – the majority of Americans who voted had never experienced inflation in their adult lives. This has been the case since the 1970s. And for two years we all experienced inflation together, which was deeply destabilizing and demoralizing. And voters reacted violently at the ballot box. So I know there are tons of experts who talk about different demographics, geographies, psychographics and explain, Oh, it was young men, or it was Hispanic men, it was women without college degrees, or it was this county. You can shape the data to tell you any kind of micro-narrative you want. But the macroeconomic narrative here is that we had two years of inflation. Voters absolutely hated it. And the incumbent and the person associated with him were punished for it. However, I think that at a meta level we are clearly in the process of realigning ourselves in our political parties. This has only happened about six times in U.S. history, but this is the seventh time. And the Republicans are becoming a multi-ethnic working-class coalition. And Democrats need to reshape and refocus on how we build sustainable majorities against this very electorally efficient opposition.

Heart: Yeah, I mean, historically, what you just mentioned, this multi-ethnic working class, has been the Democrats’ claim to fame. Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thank you. Appreciate it.

Alsoincloss: Good morning