Tariffs, Trump, and Al Gore on the Future of Democracy: What on earth is happening?
Outrage + Optimism
Persephonica
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What happens when the US tears up the rulebook on global trade? And what does that mean for the planet? Plus: what on earth is happening in Greenland? And does it really signal an unlikely MAGA embrace of climate science?
In this urgent and wide-ranging episode, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore the fallout from Trump’s new global tariffs, reflect on the environmental movement’s complex relationship with free trade, and ask what this moment tells us about democracy, power and inequality.
Later, Christiana shares highlights from a timely conversation she recently had in Paris, with former US Vice President Al Gore and France’s Special Representative for COP21 Laurence Tubiana. Together, they consider the impact of money in politics, the poly-solutions to our state of polycrisis, and the importance of staying (stubbornly) optimistic.
Learn more
⚖️ The New Civil Liberties Alliance Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief
📉 Rebecca Schneid’s article for Time, ‘Is the U.S. Heading Into a Recession Amid Trump’s Tariffs? ‘Liberation Day’ Fallout Sparks Fresh Fears’
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Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks
Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan
Exec Producer: Dino Sofos
Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas
This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay. Hello and what... |
| 0:02.0 | Sorry. |
| 0:03.7 | There's a countdown. How official. |
| 0:08.0 | Hello and welcome to outrage and optimism. I'm Tom Rivikarnik. |
| 0:10.9 | I'm still Christiana Figueres. |
| 0:12.5 | And I'm still Baldikinson. |
| 0:13.9 | This week we discussed the tariffs that Trump announced last week what the impact of them will be on our ability to deal with the climate crisis. |
| 0:20.9 | We'll say touch on Greenland and the potential annexation, and we bring you Christiana's |
| 0:25.3 | in-person event with Lawrence Tubiana and Al Gore. Thanks for being here. |
| 0:31.7 | Wait, did you say the potential annexation, Tom? Yeah. Okay. I'm not sure. |
| 0:39.9 | But anyway, let's carry on. |
| 0:40.8 | How about just... And all the narrative around Greenland. |
| 0:44.7 | There's nothing funnier than watching you two trying to self-censor. |
| 0:47.9 | I mean, good luck. |
| 0:48.8 | Good luck. |
| 0:50.0 | It's going to last about a minute at best. |
| 0:53.2 | Try not to mention the enormous flying source that's landed in Hyde Park. |
| 0:57.2 | I know the aliens are walking around, but try not to make a big thing about it. |
| 0:59.8 | Make it a story about spraying daffodils, creatures from another world, and, you know, just try and sort of weave them together. |
| 1:07.3 | Okay, so we are recording this on Monday the 7th of April, and we're beginning the podcast. |
| 1:12.8 | You'd like everyone else in the world with a question about what the hell is going on. |
| 1:16.5 | We've seen this is the third day of precipitous stock market dips in one of the world's greatest acts of economic self-harm that we've ever seen. |
... |
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