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[00:00:45] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Impact Plus, here
[00:00:48] where we discuss the great democracies of the
[00:00:52] world, but also about countries that are in the process of
[00:00:55] democratization, about the dangers that threaten the fight
[00:00:59] for democracy, even for freedom. Today we go
[00:01:02] to the United States, which is also considered the most
[00:01:05] important democratic country in the world, the oldest, one of the oldest
[00:01:09] democracies in the world, which is now entering election
[00:01:13] fever, and what challenges lie ahead for these
[00:01:16] elections? Will the Trump administration manage to maintain political control
[00:01:20] over the country, and how do these
[00:01:24] elections influence the wars that are currently underway
[00:01:28] around the world? We are talking about the war
[00:01:30] in Iran, about the war in Yemen and, of course,
[00:01:33] about the war in Ukraine. Today we have a special
[00:01:38] we are talking about guest, Ms. Antonia Pup, doctoral
[00:01:40] researcher at the European
[00:01:44] University Institute. Ms. Pup, welcome to Impact Plus and thank you for being with
[00:01:48] us. I thank you very much for the
[00:01:50] invitation and I greet
[00:01:54] your viewers. I was saying
[00:01:57] about the world's largest democracy. Please
[00:02:00] tell me if I was right
[00:02:02] or not?
[00:02:05] Indeed, it is,
[00:02:09] in any case, the state that still
[00:02:12] exercises a certain hegemony on the international
[00:02:15] scene, it is the nation
[00:02:18] that, after all, sets the tone not only in
[00:02:22] terms of the alliance system of which
[00:02:26] both Romania and the Republic of Moldova are
[00:02:29] part, but also the champion
[00:02:31] and the
[00:02:34] nation that defines
[00:02:37] everything that currently means
[00:02:41] technological standard, so certainly,
[00:02:44] especially in the context in which, as you said,
[00:02:48] there are very many
[00:02:50] ongoing wars
[00:02:53] and NATO is undergoing
[00:02:57] a process of realignment, all the more so.
[00:03:00] I believe that these elections will be
[00:03:03] defining, the midterm elections that
[00:03:06] will conclude in
[00:03:09] the first days of November. They are very
[00:03:13] important, not only because we look more at
[00:03:17] foreign policy, not
[00:03:20] only from the perspective of the immediate levers that
[00:03:24] Congress could influence,
[00:03:26] because Congress still has limited powers
[00:03:30] when it comes to the diplomatic
[00:03:34] apparatus of the United States, but especially it is worth looking at,
[00:03:38] because it is, after all, a referendum
[00:03:40] on the Trump
[00:03:44] presidency and a moment when
[00:03:47] certain themes will be tested in preparation
[00:03:51] for 2028.
[00:03:55] Yes, I made a brief digression, but I would like you to
[00:03:58] explain what these midterm elections mean, because
[00:04:02] they are somewhat different from what we are used to here
[00:04:05] in Europe and in Romania or Moldova. Here we have
[00:04:09] elections in which we elect either the president, or local
[00:04:12] power, or parliamentary power. What
[00:04:15] do these elections mean and how do they take place, how does
[00:04:19] this process unfold in America? They are
[00:04:22] parliamentary elections, practically, if I were
[00:04:25] to draw a quick analogy
[00:04:29] to the European system, practically
[00:04:32] we are talking about elections that will influence how Congress
[00:04:36] looks. It is
[00:04:39] Some polls talk about very important to say that citizens will go to the
[00:04:42] polls to elect their representatives who will then go
[00:04:46] to Washington and will support
[00:04:49] that constituency to achieve certain
[00:04:53] projects. Obviously, there are certain states, for example,
[00:04:56] Texas, which we know clearly
[00:05:01] no matter what, vote for Republicans, or
[00:05:04] for example, New York. In New York and
[00:05:09] locomotive of even in the District of Columbia, Democrats are in power, so
[00:05:13] they are blue
[00:05:17] states, but these swing states are very important,
[00:05:20] for example, Michigan, for example,
[00:05:23] Pennsylvania,
[00:05:27] because there Democrats and Republicans
[00:05:30] fight directly. Even though we will have
[00:05:34] the actual elections now in November,
[00:05:37] given that it is known that, for example, Illinois
[00:05:40] will in any case send Democratic
[00:05:44] senators, the winner has practically already
[00:05:47] been decided, because the real
[00:05:50] race was when the primaries
[00:05:54] took place, in which only
[00:05:55] people from
[00:05:58] the Democratic Party fought among themselves. So I think
[00:06:02] these elections are important not only to see how Congress will look,
[00:06:06] and a victory for the Democrats is emerging,
[00:06:09] at least to take over
[00:06:13] power in the House of Representatives,
[00:06:16] which is the equivalent of the Chamber of Deputies
[00:06:20] here, and also the
[00:06:23] Senate. They being fewer in the Senate, only
[00:06:26] 100, and they are
[00:06:29] much more seen as a more
[00:06:32] select chamber. They are important not only from the perspective of how
[00:06:35] the actual governance will look,
[00:06:39] parliamentary power, but also to see
[00:06:42] what kind
[00:06:45] of directions the two parties will actually go in, because
[00:06:49] within these two large parties there are also many
[00:06:52] factions, and perhaps on this occasion it is worth
[00:06:55] mentioning that the European Council on Foreign
[00:06:59] Relations just launched this week
[00:07:02] a fairly comprehensive study that talks about three camps that
[00:07:06] currently exist in the Democratic
[00:07:09] Party, so even though the
[00:07:13] hard core of the Democratic Party is still an
[00:07:16] internationalist one, one closer to the
[00:07:19] bipartisan foreign policy consensus with the US, which
[00:07:23] must maintain a robust military presence in
[00:07:27] Europe, for example, at least two
[00:07:30] other factions are emerging: on one hand, we are talking about
[00:07:33] the reformist faction, which is somewhat
[00:07:37] between the extreme and this
[00:07:40] hard internationalist core, which only seeks to
[00:07:44] modify American governance in certain
[00:07:48] points, to reform the state more
[00:07:51] to offer social benefits to
[00:07:54] citizens, and it will be very interesting to
[00:07:58] see how the revolutionaries
[00:08:02] will emerge, because it is
[00:08:05] a wave, I would say that they are certainly
[00:08:09] very far from being
[00:08:12] truly influential in the Democratic Party, but we are talking
[00:08:16] about politicians like
[00:08:20] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
[00:08:22] politicians supported by the progressive wave with Zoran
[00:08:26] Mandami, the mayor of New York, Jim
[00:08:29] Crow, Ro Khanna from
[00:08:32] California, those who are much
[00:08:35] more, much more skeptical about
[00:08:39] the military engagement of the United States
[00:08:42] across the globe,
[00:08:46] so it's not just important for how Congress
[00:08:50] will look and how the 2028 election year will look,
[00:08:53] but also to challenge us Europeans to think about
[00:08:57] whether, indeed, with Democrats,
[00:09:00] we would return to that romantic period of transatlantic
[00:09:03] partnership as we knew it, with very few
[00:09:06] costs, with shared common values that could
[00:09:10] mobilize various efforts
[00:09:12] on the external front with aid for
[00:09:14] Ukraine. After all,
[00:09:18] I know that even this summer,
[00:09:21] the emeritus president of the progressive group in
[00:09:25] the House of Representatives was
[00:09:28] on a visit to Brussels, because they too are looking, just as
[00:09:32] MAGA was looking for transnational allies, they are
[00:09:36] doing so among progressives, and
[00:09:38] they are quite skeptical about continuing
[00:09:43] to support NATO merely as a military
[00:09:46] alliance. Let's remember the pacifist
[00:09:50] rhetoric of Senator Bernie Sanders
[00:09:52] and let's go back to talking
[00:09:56] less about war and more about
[00:09:59] peace, about human rights as the foundation
[00:10:03] of American foreign policy. Ms.
[00:10:06] Pup, you said that these elections are also a poll for the
[00:10:10] Trump administration. "In
[00:10:13] the last presidential elections, when there was also
[00:10:16] a vote for part of Congress and Senate, Donald
[00:10:20] Trump was the the Republicans. What
[00:10:24] does Donald Trump represent at this moment? Because we saw statements by
[00:10:27] the President of the United States promising money,
[00:10:31] promising to vote for him, meaning by voting Republican, they
[00:10:34] vote for him. What does Donald Trump represent at this moment? Is
[00:10:38] he a locomotive or is he a stone that hangs from the Republican
[00:10:42] Party?
[00:10:45] That's a very good question.
[00:10:47] I would add to the examples you already
[00:10:51] mentioned the fact that recently Vice President J.D.
[00:10:55] appeared with a message in which he says that he is
[00:10:59] addressing his electorate, saying that we still need
[00:11:02] time, that
[00:11:05] we need you to give us another vote of confidence, a blank
[00:11:09] check, if possible,
[00:11:11] to carry out the reforms we proposed. He is also
[00:11:15] the one who has now been
[00:11:17] appointed by President Trump to
[00:11:21] be the president of an intergovernmental
[00:11:25] commission to combat
[00:11:27] corruption. Somehow, again, we see many
[00:11:31] efforts, almost
[00:11:33] populist,
[00:11:36] to address an
[00:11:39] electorate that is left behind. We are talking about
[00:11:43] the electorate in rural areas, in socially
[00:11:46] disadvantaged areas, who
[00:11:50] do not understand how it was possible for President
[00:11:53] Trump to let what happened with
[00:11:57] the war in Iran happen. I would tend to believe that
[00:12:00] indeed
[00:12:03] a rapid
[00:12:06] decrease in the popularity
[00:12:10] of the incumbent president. I think that
[00:12:13] I am skeptical, we must be
[00:12:16] skeptical about what the future
[00:12:20] of MAGA means. If we can talk about a MAGA future in Trump's
[00:12:23] absence, I don't think so, honestly, because MAGA
[00:12:27] was a political coalition
[00:12:30] so intimately linked to the figure of President
[00:12:33] Trump that
[00:12:36] I would not see
[00:12:40] a possible successor who could
[00:12:43] attract the same level of popularity. However,
[00:12:46] I believe that locally there will
[00:12:49] already be
[00:12:52] people trying to position themselves for
[00:12:55] 2028. Nevertheless, I don't think
[00:12:58] the congressional elections will prevent
[00:13:01] Donald Trump from continuing to be that
[00:13:04] very active president on the international
[00:13:08] stage,
[00:13:12] willing to address certain issues head-on.
[00:13:15] So I don't think it would hinder him.
[00:13:18] So perhaps, in a way, he is a
[00:13:21] millstone around the Republican Party's neck at the moment.
[00:13:25] However, the Republican Party will not be a millstone around
[00:13:29] Donald Trump's neck. But I think it's important
[00:13:33] for Europe, for European leaders, to think about how
[00:13:36] they will be able to create some ties
[00:13:40] with the current Democratic Party, which is no longer
[00:13:44] that internationalist
[00:13:46] Democrat across
[00:13:50] the entire spectrum of its leaders, as we were used to
[00:13:54] until President Biden. And I would say
[00:13:57] that the last, the last truly
[00:14:00] transatlantic presidency
[00:14:04] in the White House. In other words, we must understand that
[00:14:08] that, that isolation that Donald
[00:14:11] Trump brought to the White House is at this moment,
[00:14:15] it is a kind of cross-party slogan for the entire
[00:14:18] American establishment and for the American
[00:14:21] population. For the establishment, no.
[00:14:25] I don't think so, because I
[00:14:28] am convinced that in American institutions, especially
[00:14:32] those in the national security and foreign
[00:14:35] policy ecosystem, the role of alliances is still seen.
[00:14:39] There are people who realize that when it comes, for example, to strategic
[00:14:43] competition with China, on the technology side, on the
[00:14:47] rare minerals side, the US
[00:14:50] cannot win this competition without
[00:14:53] allies who are not just a burden,
[00:14:56] as we often hear, who
[00:14:59] are tempted to free ride on the defense
[00:15:03] budget of the United States, which is an
[00:15:06] impressive one at the
[00:15:09] Pentagon, but we are talking about the role
[00:15:12] that allies play in
[00:15:16] multiplying the United States' objectives
[00:15:19] in their own regions and in ensuring a certain order, so
[00:15:23] I think the establishment continues to cling
[00:15:27] to these alliances, including
[00:15:29] NATO. I think the analysis environment
[00:15:32] as well clings to
[00:15:35] maintaining these international cooperation
[00:15:39] mechanisms. However, I think political
[00:15:41] elites are increasingly less
[00:15:45] willing to focus on an
[00:15:49] international hegemony agenda
[00:15:52] and much more willing
[00:15:56] to try to
[00:15:59] solve domestic problems
[00:16:01] and to have an approach on the international
[00:16:05] scene that is rather reactive.
[00:16:09] On the other hand, I think it's very interesting to
[00:16:12] see that for the first
[00:16:15] time this bipartisan
[00:16:17] consensus does not only affect Europe,
[00:16:21] NATO, whether we support Ukraine or not.
[00:16:24] We are talking about
[00:16:27] another sensitive topic which is
[00:16:31] contested in the American political environment, namely
[00:16:34] support for Israel. There are very many,
[00:16:37] both people
[00:16:41] from the more extreme,
[00:16:45] more radical wing of the Republican Party, as well
[00:16:47] as from the very radical wing of the Democratic Party,
[00:16:51] the ultra-progressives, pacifists,
[00:16:55] who believe that the United States was drawn into
[00:16:59] this war by the
[00:17:02] government led by
[00:17:05] Mr. Netanyahu, for example.
[00:17:08] For example, one
[00:17:09] of the presidents
[00:17:12] in the Senate, yes, we are talking about the commission that oversees the American
[00:17:15] intelligence community, Tom
[00:17:18] Cotton, who is a prominent Republican leader and also
[00:17:22] had messages from this "America First" area,
[00:17:25] is challenged by his own
[00:17:29] party colleagues because he introduced a law
[00:17:32] as part of the NDA through which
[00:17:35] to ensure that no American president
[00:17:39] could limit or no political
[00:17:42] power temporarily in the
[00:17:46] decision-making spectrum could limit
[00:17:49] the exchange of information that takes place between
[00:17:53] the United States and Israel, which after all
[00:17:57] is at a very intimate level, but not as intimate
[00:18:00] as perhaps exists at the level
[00:18:03] of the alliance,
[00:18:05] and Israel, as I said, is a subject
[00:18:09] that divides both parties at the moment,
[00:18:12] given the prolongation of the war
[00:18:15] in Iran and the high cost
[00:18:18] of living, which are the secondary
[00:18:21] effects of US involvement in
[00:18:24] another war in the Middle East.
[00:18:28] Ms. Pup, we know that in the previous elections, President Trump,
[00:18:32] one of the most important topics
[00:18:35] discussed in the election campaign, was
[00:18:38] the war in Ukraine, the problem of migration.
[00:18:41] What issues are currently concerning the
[00:18:45] American electorate and what are on
[00:18:49] the agenda of every candidate who is now
[00:18:52] running for these midterm elections?
[00:18:55] The big, big theme is still the cost
[00:18:59] of living, economic
[00:19:01] issues, the price at the
[00:19:04] pump, the price of
[00:19:07] food, which have increased quite a
[00:19:10] lot, given the
[00:19:13] disruptions that have occurred
[00:19:16] in the energy market, along
[00:19:19] with the war in Iran. However,
[00:19:23] the question is whether Europe and our region,
[00:19:26] Ukraine, for example, are on
[00:19:30] the agenda. The same
[00:19:33] study I was telling you about,
[00:19:36] but also a personal analysis
[00:19:39] shows that
[00:19:42] we are not talking about Europe, about Ukraine, as being a
[00:19:45] subject on the midterm election agenda
[00:19:48] at the moment, by no means.
[00:19:52] But more than that, the topic that
[00:19:55] is emerging to be central both
[00:19:59] in these elections and in
[00:20:01] the 2028
[00:20:05] elections also has an economic component
[00:20:08] for American society, and for us
[00:20:11] it even has a
[00:20:13] geopolitical component, a component that
[00:20:17] relates to the strategic partnership with the United States, because you
[00:20:21] heard the President of Romania
[00:20:25] saying that he wants to attract more
[00:20:28] American investments in our country. We know
[00:20:31] that President Maia
[00:20:35] Sandu also wants to develop
[00:20:38] the economic partnership with Washington,
[00:20:41] but the topic that, as I said, is the most
[00:20:45] sensitive is artificial
[00:20:48] intelligence. There are many
[00:20:51] states, around 15,
[00:20:54] so we are talking about a representative
[00:20:57] number of states
[00:20:59] that want
[00:21:03] to organize
[00:21:06] these referendums
[00:21:09] and to have moratoriums
[00:21:13] to stop
[00:21:15] the establishment of new data centers
[00:21:19] in those communities,
[00:21:22] local communities in the United States are very
[00:21:25] concerned about the environmental costs that come with
[00:21:29] these technological projects. I
[00:21:32] remember that a congresswoman from the House
[00:21:36] of Representatives during a hearing
[00:21:39] came with a jar full of black
[00:21:42] water, which was
[00:21:46] meant to show how water
[00:21:49] sources are affected by the existence of these
[00:21:53] data centers. New York State, for instance,
[00:21:56] has new legislation, legislation
[00:22:00] that says stop building new
[00:22:03] data centers, and that is
[00:22:06] one issue, the environmental cost, but there is also
[00:22:10] how the economy will look
[00:22:13] with the integration of these advanced
[00:22:16] artificial intelligence models into the labor market,
[00:22:20] which will result
[00:22:23] in automation, in an increase in productivity for those
[00:22:27] companies, but also an unprecedented layoff
[00:22:29] of the workforce, and this especially affects
[00:22:33] young people who today
[00:22:36] have no horizon of professional integration, and
[00:22:40] this, for sure, this
[00:22:43] issue will reach Europe in the coming
[00:22:47] years. Europe is now looking to
[00:22:50] attract hyperscalers
[00:22:53] to our states,
[00:22:57] and to catch up with this artificial
[00:23:00] intelligence revolution, which has the United
[00:23:04] States and China as its main protagonists.
[00:23:07] But I think our political elites need to think,
[00:23:10] to learn from what is happening across the ocean, and to
[00:23:14] communicate with the population in advance
[00:23:17] about what such
[00:23:20] a technological project with large capital entails. You mentioned
[00:23:23] the 2028 election year,
[00:23:26] when new presidential elections will take place.
[00:23:30] Donald Trump, we understand, can no longer run because he is at
[00:23:33] the end, he will be at the end of his second term. In
[00:23:37] 2027, the internal elections are supposed to begin,
[00:23:40] right? Those called Primaries. What do
[00:23:43] the polls say? Who starts as the favorite
[00:23:46] in the Democratic camp and who starts as the favorite in the Republican
[00:23:50] camp?
[00:23:52] In the Republican camp, I believe at the moment
[00:23:56] that it is common knowledge
[00:23:58] that we have
[00:24:01] two possible candidates with a
[00:24:05] presidential profile, but neither of whom at the moment
[00:24:08] has enough national
[00:24:11] notoriety to say whether they
[00:24:14] could indeed be Donald Trump's successor, who, after
[00:24:18] all, in his Hollywood style, was known
[00:24:21] by many people. The two
[00:24:24] contenders would
[00:24:27] be, according to the most recent analyses,
[00:24:30] Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State
[00:24:34] Marco Rubio. J.D. Vance being considered
[00:24:38] a hardliner MAGA,
[00:24:41] while Marco Rubio is seen as a more
[00:24:44] moderate leader, one who could cooperate with
[00:24:47] the leaders of the Democratic
[00:24:51] Party, but it is still very early. I think this
[00:24:54] discussion can be held more calmly after we
[00:24:58] see exactly who the
[00:25:01] potential
[00:25:03] leaders with a national profile will be as a result
[00:25:07] of these congressional elections. In the Democratic
[00:25:11] Party, I believe that at the moment,
[00:25:14] when it
[00:25:17] comes to the three camps, I believe
[00:25:20] that the Democratic Party currently lacks
[00:25:24] coherent leadership.
[00:25:29] a possible return of Kamala
[00:25:32] Harris, who after all did not have a
[00:25:36] negligible performance in the elections
[00:25:40] against Donald Trump, especially since she also had limited
[00:25:44] time and financial resources
[00:25:46] that prevented her from
[00:25:50] going throughout the nation
[00:25:54] and addressing the country with a speech,
[00:25:57] but besides that we also have
[00:26:00] certain leaders who could
[00:26:04] be
[00:26:07] those who give a new breath to the Democratic Party.
[00:26:10] I already mentioned
[00:26:13] Ms. Ocasio-Cortez from New York,
[00:26:17] who participated in the Munich Security Conference,
[00:26:20] and is trying to address some more
[00:26:24] national,
[00:26:26] more foreign policy and security issues, more
[00:26:29] presidential, if you will.
[00:26:33] If we take it
[00:26:35] that way, the governor of Michigan
[00:26:38] is also a potential
[00:26:42] figure to watch, and Ro Khanna, who is
[00:26:46] currently a representative of
[00:26:48] California, who just a few days ago
[00:26:50] spoke about the importance
[00:26:54] for the United States to win the strategic
[00:26:58] competition with China, but not by investing
[00:27:02] in... defense policy and in the
[00:27:05] military system, but by investing in education, in
[00:27:08] health, in science, so somehow we see a combination between
[00:27:12] the need to lead on the international stage with the need to have a decent
[00:27:16] living and I believe that
[00:27:19] such a profile that
[00:27:22] somehow tries to create synergies between
[00:27:25] the major dilemmas that
[00:27:28] concern America at the moment is worth following. Mrs. Antonia P',
[00:27:32] thank you very much for these explanations, unfortunately the time
[00:27:35] allocated to this
[00:27:38] show is coming to an end, I bid you
[00:27:41] farewell not before promising us that immediately after
[00:27:44] the elections you will come back to us to analyze
[00:27:48] these elections and the projection for the primaries
[00:27:52] that follow in 2027.
[00:27:54] Thank you very much, I promise I will gladly return
[00:27:58] and I greet you with much affection.
[00:28:02] Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being with us today on Impact
[00:28:06] Plus, as you could follow the interview with
[00:28:09] Mrs. Antonia Pup, you see that even great democracies have
[00:28:13] their battles, and the fight for democracy takes place every
[00:28:17] second, I wish you all the best, goodbye.
[00:28:42] Soul books preserve the symbols and
[00:28:45] greatness of a
[00:28:47] nation.
[00:28:50] From there we draw the strength to move forward
[00:28:54] and the belief that we can be better.
[00:28:56] Page by page we relearn
[00:29:00] Pagină cu pagină reînvăț.
[00:29:02] what honor, duty, and
[00:29:05] respect mean. The King's hour, the hour of
[00:29:08] rediscovered
[00:29:09] values.
[00:29:12] Our energy is part of your heart.
[00:29:16] The joy of being together again week after week
[00:29:19] means responsibility and love for that job well
[00:29:23] done. We have histories, diverse generations, youth and
[00:29:26] legends. We have good music, smiles and a touch of
[00:29:30] madness, elegance and positive
[00:29:32] energy, I am Paul Surugiu Fuego and it's a blessing to
[00:29:36] have you with me again at the "Drag
[00:29:39] de România" galas.
[00:29:43] Wherever life takes them, Romanians want to know, to
[00:29:47] understand what is happening. I'm
[00:29:50] Angela Avram and I'm waiting for you at Info Diaspora,
[00:29:53] the show dedicated to you, the TVR
[00:29:56] International audience. At Info Diaspora you will always
[00:29:59] find essential information and advice from
[00:30:03] the best specialists.
[00:30:05] Info Diaspora, as many Romanians as answers.
[00:30:08] On TVR International.
[00:30:43] Welcome back to Exclusive in Romania, in 2027,
[00:30:47] Harghita will be a European gastronomic region. What does that mean?
[00:30:50] It means, in principle, more tourists for perhaps one of the most beautiful counties
[00:30:54] in Romania. Of course, interested in food, but not only, there are
[00:30:58] many things to see, to learn, to know.