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Protesters repeatedly interrupted Donald Trump's Texas rally for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton in San Antonio, Texas.
Lewis Goodall joins Shelagh Fogarty to discuss why the midterms 'really do matter' for Trump.
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0:00
I'll get back to your calls in a moment, but Lewis is here
0:02
Lewis Goodall of the News Agents. We're going to talk about Donald Trump
0:06
And Sundays with Lewis Goodall. And Sundays with Lewis Goodall. We've been through this. Every time. I'm wearing my LBC hat now, Sheila
0:11
Do I have to say it every time? Sundays with Lewis Goodall from 10 to 12. OK. OK. Yeah
0:16
10 to 12. All right. That's me told. I do have to say it every time. And it's with me. And it's with you, Lewis O'Goodall
0:21
Correct. Donald Trump, Texas. I mean, he's faced worse, but it was pretty hairy for him last night, wasn't it
0:27
Well, we are into the homestretch now, Sheila, of the midterm elections
0:31
Just for my listeners and viewers, midterm elections happen, unsurprisingly enough, in the middle of the presidential cycle
0:37
So two years in now to the second Trump presidency. All the House of Representatives up for grabs
0:42
A third of the Senate up for grabs. And loads of gubernatorial and state legislature races as well
0:48
And it matters because so far Donald Trump has enjoyed almost complete power in Washington over his first two years
0:57
Republicans have held the House. They've had the Senate, albeit in both cases by narrowish majorities
1:04
They've got the presidency, self-evidently, and they've got a six to three majority on the Supreme Court
1:09
This is the Democrats' first real opportunity to stymie Donald Trump's power
1:16
And if they are able to take control of either the House or the Senate, ideally both, then the domestic agenda of the Trump presidency is all but over because the Democrats will basically stop anything that will have a basically a right of veto over any legislation
1:32
And they will have the power as well, which we might come back to, to investigate and subpoena and launch investigations into the Trump administration
1:40
So these midterm elections really do matter. And Donald Trump has been campaigning around the country
1:46
And indeed, he has personalised it. He has said, you need to pretend as if my name were on the ballot
1:53
And the voters are responding in kind. Let's not forget he's also offered money, hasn't he
1:57
Well, yes, he's done the small matter of offering each vote of $5,000 if they are to return Republicans to the House and Senate in the election, which would cost over a trillion dollars in a country that still has a $40 trillion budget debt, accumulated debt
2:15
In any case, what we see is a president who is deeply, deeply unpopular, and that is affecting Republican chances up and down the ballot
2:25
And we saw in Texas, Ruby Red Texas hasn't voted for Democrats for a nationwide office since the 1990s
2:33
He hasn't had a Democratic senator there since Lloyd Benson. And just to give a flavour of how long ago that is, he ran as the vice presidential candidate in 1988 with Michael Dukakis
2:45
People might remember him and that. That name had gone into the mists of time for me
2:49
What, Dukakis? No, no, no, Lloyd Benson. Lloyd Benson Well he the famous one do you remember he was up against Dan Quayle in the 1988 presidential vice presidential debate And he famously said Quayle invoked Jack Kennedy JFK
3:01
because he said he was just as young as he was. And Benson famously said, you know
3:05
Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy. I worked with Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine
3:10
Senator, you'll know Jack Kennedy. And it was a great line, but it didn't do them much good
3:13
Anyway, the point is, is that it's ruby red, Texas. And yet James Tallarico is a young
3:19
very interesting, charismatic Democratic candidate is currently polling five points ahead of the Republicans
3:26
And that's not all she lit. If you look across the board, and I'm talking about states that are even more Republican than Texas
3:33
Alaska, Democrats currently polling ahead. Ohio, which has been trending Republican, Democrats polling ahead
3:40
Even in Kansas, Kansas, a state that last voted for a Democrat for the Senate in 1932
3:47
when FDR was limbering up for his first term, Democrat currently polling ahead
3:53
It looks like this could be a blue wave come November, which would have serious ramifications for Trump's presidency
3:59
And he faced quite a lot of protests, didn't he, at this event last night
4:03
Is that increasing or is that unremarkable these days? No, it is increasing
4:07
I mean, it's happened obviously in the past, but it is increasing. And as I say, I think it is reflective of
4:13
and Trump used to have very good political instincts, right? And I think to some extent still does
4:17
I just think he's not much interested in using them these days. I think, frankly, Trump isn't much interested in having much of a domestic agenda
4:25
I think we are entering the Louis XIV period of Donald Trump
4:30
You know, the sort of blonde haired Bourbon King sat in his own increasingly gaudy Versailles in the White House
4:36
which actually increasingly looks like a best Western gone wrong. And it's it's it's just increasingly, you know, he has spent I mean, just and voters are hearing this
4:46
Because, of course, when I was in Washington for the 2024 presidential election and we were looking at the results as they were coming in and we were all amazed because Trump, despite all the investigations, despite the accusations of criminality, despite the accusations of being a fascist by his own top general
5:03
untouchable, despite all of it, he had managed to assemble a genuinely multi-ethnic working class coalition that the Democrats had been dreaming of for years
5:15
He had done well with Latinos. He'd done well with young men. He'd done well with black voters, all of it
5:19
There was a real opportunity, it was said, for him to realign the electorate permanently
5:23
In two years, all of that has gone. Latinos now voting for Democrats in record numbers
5:29
Young men turning back to Democrats. Black voters turning back to Democrats
5:35
Independents turning back to Democrats. And why is that, Sheila? Why? It's because Trump, I think, over-interpreted
5:41
as he always does, his own success. He thought he had remade the American electorate in his own image In fact they had turned to him out of desperation for around the principal driving issue of American politics in 2024 which is the same in 2026
5:57
Prices, inflation, cost of living. Voters were furious with Biden for appearing indifferent to that
6:04
concern. And Trump has shown even greater indifference than Joe Biden has done. And goes on the
6:10
international stage talking constantly about how America's economy is the best. And has made it worse because
6:16
There's the Iran war, has destabilised gasoline prices, which destabilises all other markets
6:21
And, of course, he's imposed tariffs, which have raised prices. And so what has he done
6:26
He's not only made it worse, but he's spent much of his time. If reporting is to believe, Sheila, and this comes from the New York Times, very, very well-respected journalists, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman
6:34
In their recent book, they estimated that Trump was spending about 70% of his time and energy on rebuilding efforts of the White House and Washington more generally
6:44
And bear in mind as well that the budget for reconstruction at the White House has gone up in Biden's administration from, I think, in the tens of millions of dollars to seven hundred million dollars
6:55
Trump has gone back to basics. He's kind of forgotten being a president and he's back to being what he loves, which is a real estate entrepreneur
7:03
Lining everything with gold. Yes. I mean, I think it's fair to say it's not understated, is it, the White House these days, the gold house
7:11
Let me ask you before I do want to ask you about the emerging story about Prince Andrew with Thames Valley Police
7:18
But before I get to that, if the Republicans lose Texas, we then enter the slow, but it will happen soon enough, I guess, run in into the next election
7:29
in America. How quickly, and it might not even be dependent on the result in Texas, but how
7:35
quickly will we start to see both of those parties lining up their prospective
7:41
candidates? Or am I late for the parties that already started? It'll take, I think, about
7:47
60 seconds after election night is concluded, Sheila. The race for 2028
7:54
will begin as soon as the midterm elections is over. And if that depresses people, well
7:57
That's American politics. And that will obviously have lots of interesting ramifications
8:02
Of course, to some extent, it has already started, but it will start properly. Fundraising will begin immediately. And of course, these midterms will affect the dynamics of that race
8:11
certainly on the Republican side, at least, because who are the two frontrunners as we sit here today for the Republican nomination in 2028
8:19
Well, it will be J.D. Vance, the vice president, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state
8:23
Now, if it is seen to be that the electorate has profoundly rejected Trump and Trumpism
8:30
and MAGA in these elections, it poses a difficult task and challenge for both of those men who
8:37
are very closely involved and related to this Trump presidency if they want to run to find a way as Kamala Harris found this of course in 2024 to find a way of both not alienating that base which is so important not alienating Trump himself because believe me
8:53
Trump is not going to obviously, self-evidently, he will hate the limelight turning away from him
8:58
and he will do absolutely everything in his power to restore it to him
9:02
and he's going to run the Republican nomination like an episode or a series of The Apprentice
9:06
He's going to be giving them tasks. He's going to be toying with them. And they are going to have to find a way of both keeping his favour and getting him to confer his favour
9:17
whilst at the same time proving that they have their own agenda and they are their own men
9:20
And how could anyone not enjoy that, I say? Now, this Thames Valley police story that's emerged in the last 15, 20 minutes or so
9:27
they've admitted they didn't have proper permission to enter Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's homes earlier this year
9:34
the former prince took the force to court following his arrest on his 66th birthday in February
9:42
Remember that? Yes. So a small victory for a man who's kind of lost everything
9:48
Yes, I suppose. And you've got to take these wins where they come, I suppose, if you're in that situation, Sheila
9:52
And of course, if the police have behaved improperly, which they clearly appear to have done
9:56
then even to whomever that happens, that's clearly wrong and should be corrected
10:01
I'm sure the police will do so. Of course, it raises an interesting, again, I'm sure the palace will not welcome in particular any attempt from the former prince to fight his corner
10:14
Because, of course, every time he does fight his corner, whether it's successful or not. And of course, we can say to show that they're not
10:19
They have to show that they're not and they have to show that they're distancing themselves from him
10:23
And of course, we saw those stories earlier in the week, didn't we? About the palace denying that the king's money in any way was being used to to fund Andrew's efforts
10:32
And of course it raises questions about just how we're constantly told, aren't we, that he's a kind of a strange figure, that he's a banished figure, that he's a goat
10:40
He's like Banquo's ghost. He's just sort of, you know, barely to be seen. But a bit like Banquo's ghost, if Andrew Lowney is to be believed, his biographer, Andrew's biographer, he's everywhere
10:48
He's turning up constantly. I mean, Lowney claims, according to his reporting, that actually relations between many senior figures of the palace of the royal family and Andrew are not nearly so frosty
10:57
not nearly have so much foie d'oeuvre as we're led to believe
11:01
that actually he's still sort of turning up to events privately and all those sorts of things
11:06
Well, I suppose privately that he's family and therefore it's for family members to decide
11:12
whether they believe that the allegations against him, he denies them, or whether
11:15
they wish to support him. But we are briefed constantly that he's
11:19
adrift and estranged and gone. So again, as ever with the palace, it's that
11:23
mismatch between what we're talking about. Duality, shall we say. I think that's a nice way of putting it
11:27
Nice way of putting it. Thank you very much, Lewis. Lewis Goodall, host of the News Agents
11:32
And what was that other programme called? Sunday with Lewis Goodall from 10 till 12
11:36
That's the one. 10 till 12. It's an eponymous programme. It's a very good programme. I listen to it most weekends
11:41
Why not every weekend? Well, sometimes I'm having fun
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