Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:45Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Impact Plus, here
00:00:48where we discuss the great democracies of the
00:00:52world, but also about countries that are in the process of
00:00:55democratization, about the dangers that threaten the fight
00:00:59for democracy, even for freedom. Today we go
00:01:02to the United States, which is also considered the most
00:01:05important democratic country in the world, the oldest, one of the oldest
00:01:09democracies in the world, which is now entering election
00:01:13fever, and what challenges lie ahead for these
00:01:16elections? Will the Trump administration manage to maintain political control
00:01:20over the country, and how do these
00:01:24elections influence the wars that are currently underway
00:01:28around the world? We are talking about the war
00:01:30in Iran, about the war in Yemen and, of course,
00:01:33about the war in Ukraine. Today we have a special
00:01:38we are talking about guest, Ms. Antonia Pup, doctoral
00:01:40researcher at the European
00:01:44University Institute. Ms. Pup, welcome to Impact Plus and thank you for being with
00:01:48us. I thank you very much for the
00:01:50invitation and I greet
00:01:54your viewers. I was saying
00:01:57about the world's largest democracy. Please
00:02:00tell me if I was right
00:02:02or not?
00:02:05Indeed, it is,
00:02:09in any case, the state that still
00:02:12exercises a certain hegemony on the international
00:02:15scene, it is the nation
00:02:18that, after all, sets the tone not only in
00:02:22terms of the alliance system of which
00:02:26both Romania and the Republic of Moldova are
00:02:29part, but also the champion
00:02:31and the
00:02:34nation that defines
00:02:37everything that currently means
00:02:41technological standard, so certainly,
00:02:44especially in the context in which, as you said,
00:02:48there are very many
00:02:50ongoing wars
00:02:53and NATO is undergoing
00:02:57a process of realignment, all the more so.
00:03:00I believe that these elections will be
00:03:03defining, the midterm elections that
00:03:06will conclude in
00:03:09the first days of November. They are very
00:03:13important, not only because we look more at
00:03:17foreign policy, not
00:03:20only from the perspective of the immediate levers that
00:03:24Congress could influence,
00:03:26because Congress still has limited powers
00:03:30when it comes to the diplomatic
00:03:34apparatus of the United States, but especially it is worth looking at,
00:03:38because it is, after all, a referendum
00:03:40on the Trump
00:03:44presidency and a moment when
00:03:47certain themes will be tested in preparation
00:03:51for 2028.
00:03:55Yes, I made a brief digression, but I would like you to
00:03:58explain what these midterm elections mean, because
00:04:02they are somewhat different from what we are used to here
00:04:05in Europe and in Romania or Moldova. Here we have
00:04:09elections in which we elect either the president, or local
00:04:12power, or parliamentary power. What
00:04:15do these elections mean and how do they take place, how does
00:04:19this process unfold in America? They are
00:04:22parliamentary elections, practically, if I were
00:04:25to draw a quick analogy
00:04:29to the European system, practically
00:04:32we are talking about elections that will influence how Congress
00:04:36looks. It is
00:04:39Some polls talk about very important to say that citizens will go to the
00:04:42polls to elect their representatives who will then go
00:04:46to Washington and will support
00:04:49that constituency to achieve certain
00:04:53projects. Obviously, there are certain states, for example,
00:04:56Texas, which we know clearly
00:05:01no matter what, vote for Republicans, or
00:05:04for example, New York. In New York and
00:05:09locomotive of even in the District of Columbia, Democrats are in power, so
00:05:13they are blue
00:05:17states, but these swing states are very important,
00:05:20for example, Michigan, for example,
00:05:23Pennsylvania,
00:05:27because there Democrats and Republicans
00:05:30fight directly. Even though we will have
00:05:34the actual elections now in November,
00:05:37given that it is known that, for example, Illinois
00:05:40will in any case send Democratic
00:05:44senators, the winner has practically already
00:05:47been decided, because the real
00:05:50race was when the primaries
00:05:54took place, in which only
00:05:55people from
00:05:58the Democratic Party fought among themselves. So I think
00:06:02these elections are important not only to see how Congress will look,
00:06:06and a victory for the Democrats is emerging,
00:06:09at least to take over
00:06:13power in the House of Representatives,
00:06:16which is the equivalent of the Chamber of Deputies
00:06:20here, and also the
00:06:23Senate. They being fewer in the Senate, only
00:06:26100, and they are
00:06:29much more seen as a more
00:06:32select chamber. They are important not only from the perspective of how
00:06:35the actual governance will look,
00:06:39parliamentary power, but also to see
00:06:42what kind
00:06:45of directions the two parties will actually go in, because
00:06:49within these two large parties there are also many
00:06:52factions, and perhaps on this occasion it is worth
00:06:55mentioning that the European Council on Foreign
00:06:59Relations just launched this week
00:07:02a fairly comprehensive study that talks about three camps that
00:07:06currently exist in the Democratic
00:07:09Party, so even though the
00:07:13hard core of the Democratic Party is still an
00:07:16internationalist one, one closer to the
00:07:19bipartisan foreign policy consensus with the US, which
00:07:23must maintain a robust military presence in
00:07:27Europe, for example, at least two
00:07:30other factions are emerging: on one hand, we are talking about
00:07:33the reformist faction, which is somewhat
00:07:37between the extreme and this
00:07:40hard internationalist core, which only seeks to
00:07:44modify American governance in certain
00:07:48points, to reform the state more
00:07:51to offer social benefits to
00:07:54citizens, and it will be very interesting to
00:07:58see how the revolutionaries
00:08:02will emerge, because it is
00:08:05a wave, I would say that they are certainly
00:08:09very far from being
00:08:12truly influential in the Democratic Party, but we are talking
00:08:16about politicians like
00:08:20Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
00:08:22politicians supported by the progressive wave with Zoran
00:08:26Mandami, the mayor of New York, Jim
00:08:29Crow, Ro Khanna from
00:08:32California, those who are much
00:08:35more, much more skeptical about
00:08:39the military engagement of the United States
00:08:42across the globe,
00:08:46so it's not just important for how Congress
00:08:50will look and how the 2028 election year will look,
00:08:53but also to challenge us Europeans to think about
00:08:57whether, indeed, with Democrats,
00:09:00we would return to that romantic period of transatlantic
00:09:03partnership as we knew it, with very few
00:09:06costs, with shared common values that could
00:09:10mobilize various efforts
00:09:12on the external front with aid for
00:09:14Ukraine. After all,
00:09:18I know that even this summer,
00:09:21the emeritus president of the progressive group in
00:09:25the House of Representatives was
00:09:28on a visit to Brussels, because they too are looking, just as
00:09:32MAGA was looking for transnational allies, they are
00:09:36doing so among progressives, and
00:09:38they are quite skeptical about continuing
00:09:43to support NATO merely as a military
00:09:46alliance. Let's remember the pacifist
00:09:50rhetoric of Senator Bernie Sanders
00:09:52and let's go back to talking
00:09:56less about war and more about
00:09:59peace, about human rights as the foundation
00:10:03of American foreign policy. Ms.
00:10:06Pup, you said that these elections are also a poll for the
00:10:10Trump administration. "In
00:10:13the last presidential elections, when there was also
00:10:16a vote for part of Congress and Senate, Donald
00:10:20Trump was the the Republicans. What
00:10:24does Donald Trump represent at this moment? Because we saw statements by
00:10:27the President of the United States promising money,
00:10:31promising to vote for him, meaning by voting Republican, they
00:10:34vote for him. What does Donald Trump represent at this moment? Is
00:10:38he a locomotive or is he a stone that hangs from the Republican
00:10:42Party?
00:10:45That's a very good question.
00:10:47I would add to the examples you already
00:10:51mentioned the fact that recently Vice President J.D.
00:10:55appeared with a message in which he says that he is
00:10:59addressing his electorate, saying that we still need
00:11:02time, that
00:11:05we need you to give us another vote of confidence, a blank
00:11:09check, if possible,
00:11:11to carry out the reforms we proposed. He is also
00:11:15the one who has now been
00:11:17appointed by President Trump to
00:11:21be the president of an intergovernmental
00:11:25commission to combat
00:11:27corruption. Somehow, again, we see many
00:11:31efforts, almost
00:11:33populist,
00:11:36to address an
00:11:39electorate that is left behind. We are talking about
00:11:43the electorate in rural areas, in socially
00:11:46disadvantaged areas, who
00:11:50do not understand how it was possible for President
00:11:53Trump to let what happened with
00:11:57the war in Iran happen. I would tend to believe that
00:12:00indeed
00:12:03a rapid
00:12:06decrease in the popularity
00:12:10of the incumbent president. I think that
00:12:13I am skeptical, we must be
00:12:16skeptical about what the future
00:12:20of MAGA means. If we can talk about a MAGA future in Trump's
00:12:23absence, I don't think so, honestly, because MAGA
00:12:27was a political coalition
00:12:30so intimately linked to the figure of President
00:12:33Trump that
00:12:36I would not see
00:12:40a possible successor who could
00:12:43attract the same level of popularity. However,
00:12:46I believe that locally there will
00:12:49already be
00:12:52people trying to position themselves for
00:12:552028. Nevertheless, I don't think
00:12:58the congressional elections will prevent
00:13:01Donald Trump from continuing to be that
00:13:04very active president on the international
00:13:08stage,
00:13:12willing to address certain issues head-on.
00:13:15So I don't think it would hinder him.
00:13:18So perhaps, in a way, he is a
00:13:21millstone around the Republican Party's neck at the moment.
00:13:25However, the Republican Party will not be a millstone around
00:13:29Donald Trump's neck. But I think it's important
00:13:33for Europe, for European leaders, to think about how
00:13:36they will be able to create some ties
00:13:40with the current Democratic Party, which is no longer
00:13:44that internationalist
00:13:46Democrat across
00:13:50the entire spectrum of its leaders, as we were used to
00:13:54until President Biden. And I would say
00:13:57that the last, the last truly
00:14:00transatlantic presidency
00:14:04in the White House. In other words, we must understand that
00:14:08that, that isolation that Donald
00:14:11Trump brought to the White House is at this moment,
00:14:15it is a kind of cross-party slogan for the entire
00:14:18American establishment and for the American
00:14:21population. For the establishment, no.
00:14:25I don't think so, because I
00:14:28am convinced that in American institutions, especially
00:14:32those in the national security and foreign
00:14:35policy ecosystem, the role of alliances is still seen.
00:14:39There are people who realize that when it comes, for example, to strategic
00:14:43competition with China, on the technology side, on the
00:14:47rare minerals side, the US
00:14:50cannot win this competition without
00:14:53allies who are not just a burden,
00:14:56as we often hear, who
00:14:59are tempted to free ride on the defense
00:15:03budget of the United States, which is an
00:15:06impressive one at the
00:15:09Pentagon, but we are talking about the role
00:15:12that allies play in
00:15:16multiplying the United States' objectives
00:15:19in their own regions and in ensuring a certain order, so
00:15:23I think the establishment continues to cling
00:15:27to these alliances, including
00:15:29NATO. I think the analysis environment
00:15:32as well clings to
00:15:35maintaining these international cooperation
00:15:39mechanisms. However, I think political
00:15:41elites are increasingly less
00:15:45willing to focus on an
00:15:49international hegemony agenda
00:15:52and much more willing
00:15:56to try to
00:15:59solve domestic problems
00:16:01and to have an approach on the international
00:16:05scene that is rather reactive.
00:16:09On the other hand, I think it's very interesting to
00:16:12see that for the first
00:16:15time this bipartisan
00:16:17consensus does not only affect Europe,
00:16:21NATO, whether we support Ukraine or not.
00:16:24We are talking about
00:16:27another sensitive topic which is
00:16:31contested in the American political environment, namely
00:16:34support for Israel. There are very many,
00:16:37both people
00:16:41from the more extreme,
00:16:45more radical wing of the Republican Party, as well
00:16:47as from the very radical wing of the Democratic Party,
00:16:51the ultra-progressives, pacifists,
00:16:55who believe that the United States was drawn into
00:16:59this war by the
00:17:02government led by
00:17:05Mr. Netanyahu, for example.
00:17:08For example, one
00:17:09of the presidents
00:17:12in the Senate, yes, we are talking about the commission that oversees the American
00:17:15intelligence community, Tom
00:17:18Cotton, who is a prominent Republican leader and also
00:17:22had messages from this "America First" area,
00:17:25is challenged by his own
00:17:29party colleagues because he introduced a law
00:17:32as part of the NDA through which
00:17:35to ensure that no American president
00:17:39could limit or no political
00:17:42power temporarily in the
00:17:46decision-making spectrum could limit
00:17:49the exchange of information that takes place between
00:17:53the United States and Israel, which after all
00:17:57is at a very intimate level, but not as intimate
00:18:00as perhaps exists at the level
00:18:03of the alliance,
00:18:05and Israel, as I said, is a subject
00:18:09that divides both parties at the moment,
00:18:12given the prolongation of the war
00:18:15in Iran and the high cost
00:18:18of living, which are the secondary
00:18:21effects of US involvement in
00:18:24another war in the Middle East.
00:18:28Ms. Pup, we know that in the previous elections, President Trump,
00:18:32one of the most important topics
00:18:35discussed in the election campaign, was
00:18:38the war in Ukraine, the problem of migration.
00:18:41What issues are currently concerning the
00:18:45American electorate and what are on
00:18:49the agenda of every candidate who is now
00:18:52running for these midterm elections?
00:18:55The big, big theme is still the cost
00:18:59of living, economic
00:19:01issues, the price at the
00:19:04pump, the price of
00:19:07food, which have increased quite a
00:19:10lot, given the
00:19:13disruptions that have occurred
00:19:16in the energy market, along
00:19:19with the war in Iran. However,
00:19:23the question is whether Europe and our region,
00:19:26Ukraine, for example, are on
00:19:30the agenda. The same
00:19:33study I was telling you about,
00:19:36but also a personal analysis
00:19:39shows that
00:19:42we are not talking about Europe, about Ukraine, as being a
00:19:45subject on the midterm election agenda
00:19:48at the moment, by no means.
00:19:52But more than that, the topic that
00:19:55is emerging to be central both
00:19:59in these elections and in
00:20:01the 2028
00:20:05elections also has an economic component
00:20:08for American society, and for us
00:20:11it even has a
00:20:13geopolitical component, a component that
00:20:17relates to the strategic partnership with the United States, because you
00:20:21heard the President of Romania
00:20:25saying that he wants to attract more
00:20:28American investments in our country. We know
00:20:31that President Maia
00:20:35Sandu also wants to develop
00:20:38the economic partnership with Washington,
00:20:41but the topic that, as I said, is the most
00:20:45sensitive is artificial
00:20:48intelligence. There are many
00:20:51states, around 15,
00:20:54so we are talking about a representative
00:20:57number of states
00:20:59that want
00:21:03to organize
00:21:06these referendums
00:21:09and to have moratoriums
00:21:13to stop
00:21:15the establishment of new data centers
00:21:19in those communities,
00:21:22local communities in the United States are very
00:21:25concerned about the environmental costs that come with
00:21:29these technological projects. I
00:21:32remember that a congresswoman from the House
00:21:36of Representatives during a hearing
00:21:39came with a jar full of black
00:21:42water, which was
00:21:46meant to show how water
00:21:49sources are affected by the existence of these
00:21:53data centers. New York State, for instance,
00:21:56has new legislation, legislation
00:22:00that says stop building new
00:22:03data centers, and that is
00:22:06one issue, the environmental cost, but there is also
00:22:10how the economy will look
00:22:13with the integration of these advanced
00:22:16artificial intelligence models into the labor market,
00:22:20which will result
00:22:23in automation, in an increase in productivity for those
00:22:27companies, but also an unprecedented layoff
00:22:29of the workforce, and this especially affects
00:22:33young people who today
00:22:36have no horizon of professional integration, and
00:22:40this, for sure, this
00:22:43issue will reach Europe in the coming
00:22:47years. Europe is now looking to
00:22:50attract hyperscalers
00:22:53to our states,
00:22:57and to catch up with this artificial
00:23:00intelligence revolution, which has the United
00:23:04States and China as its main protagonists.
00:23:07But I think our political elites need to think,
00:23:10to learn from what is happening across the ocean, and to
00:23:14communicate with the population in advance
00:23:17about what such
00:23:20a technological project with large capital entails. You mentioned
00:23:23the 2028 election year,
00:23:26when new presidential elections will take place.
00:23:30Donald Trump, we understand, can no longer run because he is at
00:23:33the end, he will be at the end of his second term. In
00:23:372027, the internal elections are supposed to begin,
00:23:40right? Those called Primaries. What do
00:23:43the polls say? Who starts as the favorite
00:23:46in the Democratic camp and who starts as the favorite in the Republican
00:23:50camp?
00:23:52In the Republican camp, I believe at the moment
00:23:56that it is common knowledge
00:23:58that we have
00:24:01two possible candidates with a
00:24:05presidential profile, but neither of whom at the moment
00:24:08has enough national
00:24:11notoriety to say whether they
00:24:14could indeed be Donald Trump's successor, who, after
00:24:18all, in his Hollywood style, was known
00:24:21by many people. The two
00:24:24contenders would
00:24:27be, according to the most recent analyses,
00:24:30Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State
00:24:34Marco Rubio. J.D. Vance being considered
00:24:38a hardliner MAGA,
00:24:41while Marco Rubio is seen as a more
00:24:44moderate leader, one who could cooperate with
00:24:47the leaders of the Democratic
00:24:51Party, but it is still very early. I think this
00:24:54discussion can be held more calmly after we
00:24:58see exactly who the
00:25:01potential
00:25:03leaders with a national profile will be as a result
00:25:07of these congressional elections. In the Democratic
00:25:11Party, I believe that at the moment,
00:25:14when it
00:25:17comes to the three camps, I believe
00:25:20that the Democratic Party currently lacks
00:25:24coherent leadership.
00:25:29a possible return of Kamala
00:25:32Harris, who after all did not have a
00:25:36negligible performance in the elections
00:25:40against Donald Trump, especially since she also had limited
00:25:44time and financial resources
00:25:46that prevented her from
00:25:50going throughout the nation
00:25:54and addressing the country with a speech,
00:25:57but besides that we also have
00:26:00certain leaders who could
00:26:04be
00:26:07those who give a new breath to the Democratic Party.
00:26:10I already mentioned
00:26:13Ms. Ocasio-Cortez from New York,
00:26:17who participated in the Munich Security Conference,
00:26:20and is trying to address some more
00:26:24national,
00:26:26more foreign policy and security issues, more
00:26:29presidential, if you will.
00:26:33If we take it
00:26:35that way, the governor of Michigan
00:26:38is also a potential
00:26:42figure to watch, and Ro Khanna, who is
00:26:46currently a representative of
00:26:48California, who just a few days ago
00:26:50spoke about the importance
00:26:54for the United States to win the strategic
00:26:58competition with China, but not by investing
00:27:02in... defense policy and in the
00:27:05military system, but by investing in education, in
00:27:08health, in science, so somehow we see a combination between
00:27:12the need to lead on the international stage with the need to have a decent
00:27:16living and I believe that
00:27:19such a profile that
00:27:22somehow tries to create synergies between
00:27:25the major dilemmas that
00:27:28concern America at the moment is worth following. Mrs. Antonia P',
00:27:32thank you very much for these explanations, unfortunately the time
00:27:35allocated to this
00:27:38show is coming to an end, I bid you
00:27:41farewell not before promising us that immediately after
00:27:44the elections you will come back to us to analyze
00:27:48these elections and the projection for the primaries
00:27:52that follow in 2027.
00:27:54Thank you very much, I promise I will gladly return
00:27:58and I greet you with much affection.
00:28:02Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being with us today on Impact
00:28:06Plus, as you could follow the interview with
00:28:09Mrs. Antonia Pup, you see that even great democracies have
00:28:13their battles, and the fight for democracy takes place every
00:28:17second, I wish you all the best, goodbye.
00:28:42Soul books preserve the symbols and
00:28:45greatness of a
00:28:47nation.
00:28:50From there we draw the strength to move forward
00:28:54and the belief that we can be better.
00:28:56Page by page we relearn
00:29:00Pagină cu pagină reînvăț.
00:29:02what honor, duty, and
00:29:05respect mean. The King's hour, the hour of
00:29:08rediscovered
00:29:09values.
00:29:12Our energy is part of your heart.
00:29:16The joy of being together again week after week
00:29:19means responsibility and love for that job well
00:29:23done. We have histories, diverse generations, youth and
00:29:26legends. We have good music, smiles and a touch of
00:29:30madness, elegance and positive
00:29:32energy, I am Paul Surugiu Fuego and it's a blessing to
00:29:36have you with me again at the "Drag
00:29:39de România" galas.
00:29:43Wherever life takes them, Romanians want to know, to
00:29:47understand what is happening. I'm
00:29:50Angela Avram and I'm waiting for you at Info Diaspora,
00:29:53the show dedicated to you, the TVR
00:29:56International audience. At Info Diaspora you will always
00:29:59find essential information and advice from
00:30:03the best specialists.
00:30:05Info Diaspora, as many Romanians as answers.
00:30:08On TVR International.
00:30:43Welcome back to Exclusive in Romania, in 2027,
00:30:47Harghita will be a European gastronomic region. What does that mean?
00:30:50It means, in principle, more tourists for perhaps one of the most beautiful counties
00:30:54in Romania. Of course, interested in food, but not only, there are
00:30:58many things to see, to learn, to know.