On "Forbes Newsroom," Steve Forbes spoke about the new economic messaging and focus of the RNC and how it is broadening the Republican Party.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We saw a historic first night of the RNC and this came less than 48 hours after President Trump survived an assassination attempt against him.
00:10So what are your thoughts of the first day of the convention?
00:13Well, first, to me it was a stark contrast to a previous convention in 2012 when Mitt Romney was nominated for president.
00:22That convention was dominated by appearances by entrepreneurs.
00:26Now, many of them were very inspiring and the like.
00:29But what Romney forgot is, yes, some entrepreneurs, yes, but people see these people as bosses and most people aren't bosses.
00:38By contrast, this convention had plenty of everyday people, typical Americans from all kinds of backgrounds.
00:46You had the Hispanic lady later in the convention confessing very, very shyly that she had not voted for Donald Trump in 2020,
00:55but she's seeing the light and gave the reasons why she's doing it, supporting him and speaking on his behalf in 2024.
01:03So it shows the difference in terms of the attitude of the candidate towards the base of the party, the evolving base of the party.
01:10So it was very impressive. You have Trump making an appearance, dramatic appearance, and people, he obviously was still shaken a bit by what happened.
01:21But the fact that he showed up, he climbed the stairs with no problem, he sat through the talks for over an hour,
01:29I think demonstrated that he's very much in the game and he didn't have to say anything.
01:34That'll come Thursday night. But I think that was a great capstone to an extraordinary convention evening where he had many interesting speeches,
01:44mostly short in length, but I think and with the band in between kept an audience that normally you'd quickly lose on these things.
01:53I want to touch on your point a little bit about the contrast to who the speakers we had last night opposed to the ones in 2012.
02:01Frank Luntz made this point on Twitter. We witnessed the realignment of American politics Trump style.
02:07A, do you think that's true? And B, what do you think this indicates about the future of the GOP?
02:13Well, I think it reflects what started with Trump's candidacy back in when he announced in 2015 a true broadening of the base of the Republican Party.
02:22Republican candidates in the past have done very well across the board among various American groups.
02:28As the Teamster president pointed out last night, in the past, they've endorsed Republican candidates going back to Richard Nixon.
02:35But I think there is a depth of support now. It's not just a one off, but a depth of support for the Republican Party,
02:41with the Republican Party seen as the party of not only entrepreneurs and business people and middle class professionals,
02:49upper middle class professionals, but also working Americans in a way that it had not done before while still emphasizing economic growth.
02:58That's the key. I don't think Trump is ready to sacrifice tax cuts. He's made that very clear.
03:05He's going for deregulation, which is critically important. Boring subject, but absolutely critical now with the regs that are now destroying the economy.
03:12So it's an effective broadening of the party in a way that you really haven't seen in that kind of depth, I don't think,
03:19since Franklin Roosevelt recreated the Democratic Party in the early 1930s.
03:25Everyone thinks the Democrats are always pro-labor, blah, blah, blah.
03:28But no, in the late 20s, it was a very different party than what Roosevelt created in the 30s.
03:33You touched on this briefly, but there was a historic first at the RNC last night,
03:38and that's Teamsters president Sean O'Brien was talking to the RNC.
03:42He addressed the RNC first time a Teamsters president has done that in over 120 years.
03:48What are your thoughts?
03:49Well, I think it's very indicative that he realizes he's no dope, obviously, recognizes the sentiments among many of his members
03:58that they don't feel they have a home in the Democratic Party anymore.
04:01They don't want to be taken for granted by the Democratic Party anymore.
04:05And so they're giving a very serious look to Republicans.
04:08So he's smart enough to know if you want to influence policy,
04:13you've got to show that you're willing to be there when they might need you.
04:18And so it's reciprocal.
04:20And the fact that he said, even though I know he's pounded tables, he said that's not the way you get things done.
04:25You try to sit down with various people.
04:28And he also had said on previous occasions nice things about J.D. Vance, the vice presidential nominee,
04:34as somebody who's a different cut than what you'd normally find in the Republican Party.
04:38What do you make of J.D. Vance?
04:40Because yesterday, probably the biggest news of the day was former President Donald Trump
04:45officially announced his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
04:49What are your thoughts?
04:50Well, Vance is, whatever you think of his positions, is a remarkably complex and interesting individual,
04:58the dysfunctional, very dysfunctional background he came from.
05:03He wrote a book called Hillbilly Elegy on it, a remarkable book.
05:07But thanks to a high school counselor, he then went into the Marines, straightened out his life,
05:12graduated from a college, summa cum laude, and then went on to Yale Law School,
05:18practiced in business for a while before he went into politics, a man trying to find himself.
05:25So a brilliant man, and I think that means that he brings a nuanced view of things
05:32that I think can bode well in the future.
05:36So he's not the cardboard caricature that you're going to read about,
05:41and I think he's a man who, as John Maynard Keynes said,
05:45when the facts change, he'll respond to changing circumstances.
05:49He's also a lot younger than Donald Trump.
05:52He's 39 years old.
05:54He's more appeals to the MAGA base than someone like Governor Doug Burgum,
05:59who was a top contender as well.
06:01So given his age, given his stances, what do you think the future of the GOP is
06:07under a Trump-vanced presidency and administration?
06:11Obviously, that's going to depend on the success of Trump's second term
06:16in terms of rebuilding a military that badly needs it.
06:20We live in a very dangerous world today, the most dangerous since the 1930s,
06:24and also, though, getting the economy growing again.
06:27So I think the Republican Party, in terms of its economics,
06:32in terms of other issues, is in a molding phase.
06:36And so that's going to depend on how that goes.
06:38As for his age, he is the youngest vice presidential candidate,
06:41I think, since Richard Nixon back in 1952 when he was chosen by Eisenhower.
06:46He was a national figure for a variety of reasons,
06:49including finding spies in the government, won national fame,
06:56and survived a huge scandal.
06:58It was a BS scandal, but he had on his own, Nixon, to go on national TV,
07:04convince the Republican National Committee to buy the time to make a case.
07:07The Republicans were ready to dump him.
07:09So he showed his toughness and survivability back then,
07:13even though he was only 39, first time on that kind of national stage.
07:17I think Vance is exhibiting, looking at his past,
07:21that kind of inner toughness that can get you through
07:24the inevitable turbulence of national politics, especially these days.