A Trump critic on his worst fears -- and a way forward

Diane Rehm: On My Mind

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Artists And Thinkers Right Here As Diane Transitions This Podcast To Weekly Episodes That We’ll Be Calling “On My Mind.”, News, Writers, Fans Of The Diane Rehm Show Can Continue To Listen To Its Trademark Conversations With Newsmakers

4.7 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

In the weeks preceding President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, the administration was busy – taking an axe to federal agencies, imposing tariffs on neighboring countries, and reversing course on U.S. support for Ukraine. But we heard little about these issues from the president in this speech.

What the president did do was tick off a list of accomplishments, including money saved through contracts cancelled and fraud exposed – many of these examples exaggerated or simply untrue.

Norman Ornstein is a political scientist and co-author of several books on our politics, including the 2012 New York Times bestseller It’s Even Worse Than It Looks. He says that many Trump voters couldn’t see the ways that government impacted their lives. But, he adds, “If Trump succeeds as he’s already doing in disrupting so many of these areas, Americans are going to be jolted by what they missed.”

Norman Ornstein joins Diane on today’s episode of On My Mind to offer his take on what he sees coming and the Democrats’ response.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Diane. On my mind, Norman Ornstein on Donald Trump. If he succeeds, as he's already doing in
0:14.5	disrupting so many of these areas, Americans are going to be jolted when they realize what they have missed.
0:22.6	In the week's preceding, Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday, the administration was busy dismantling federal agencies, imposing tariffs on neighbors and withdrawing support for Ukraine.
0:39.7	But we heard little about these issues from the president.
0:44.4	Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this capital
0:48.7	and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America?
0:55.3	What we did here was a catalog of accomplishments,
1:00.9	contracts canceled and fraud exposed.
1:04.9	Many of these exaggerated or simply untrue.
1:09.5	Norman Ornstein is a political scientist and emeritus scholar at AEI.
1:16.6	He joined me Thursday morning to give his take on what he sees coming and the Democrats' response.
1:25.8	Norm Ornstein, tell me how you would compare what you saw after Trump's first election with what you
1:38.9	see now.
1:39.8	It is much, much worse, Diane, and it was really, really bad then.
1:45.8	And that's true for a variety of reasons.
1:48.9	The first and most significant is that Trump had around him a group of people in his first term
1:56.8	that included many who believed in the rule of law and who had some rational basis for
2:06.0	actions that would benefit the United States or harm the United States.
2:11.3	And they put constraints around Trump.
2:14.1	And that includes people in the military like General Millie. We know that there were
2:19.7	many who were at the top levels of the military when Trump said to them with demonstrations
2:25.9	in Portland and out west, why don't we just shoot them in the legs? Why that was not a good idea?
	...

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