STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Former President Trump did not wait for news organizations to call his win overnight before saying that he would also be the future president.
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DONALD TRUMP: Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.
INSKEEP: Now, after that speech, The Associated Press did confirm Trump won Wisconsin and with it went beyond 270 electoral votes. We heard the news break live on MORNING EDITION today. In addition to the presidency, Republicans will, at least, control the United States Senate. They have a majority. It's not clear how large. The House of Representatives remains too close to call, Democrats still hoping to take control there. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith and NPR's Susan Davis are here to talk through what it all means. Good morning to you both.
TAMARA KEITH AND SUSAN DAVIS: Good morning.
INSKEEP: And thanks for all your work through this campaign season. I really appreciate it. And let's talk about substance, to the extent we can. Tamara Keith, how is Trump talking about a second term?
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: You know, he on the campaign trail has talked repeatedly about mass deportations. You had people waving signs that said mass deportations.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
KEITH: He has talked about that for people who are in the country illegally, but also people who are in the country legally, like the Haitians who are in Springfield, Ohio, for instance. I don't know practically how that's going to work. He hasn't detailed practically how a lot of his proposals are going to work. But certainly, this is something that he promised and that many of his supporters are going to expect him to try to deliver on. He's talked a lot about high tariffs, raising tariffs on imported goods from all over the world. Economists will tell you that high tariffs are actually attacks on consumers, that it ends up raising consumer prices. He's also talked about tax cuts. And he's talked recently about possibly revisiting the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare. He said he had concepts of a plan, but Speaker Mike Johnson has talked about it happening more concretely. We don't know exactly how that would work either.
And in terms of foreign policy, Trump has long been antagonistic towards NATO, has said that the war in Ukraine needs to end and would end if he was president - and would strongly back Netanyahu in Israel. In terms of other things, you know, personnel can be policy, and he has promised to include two high-profile people in his administration, RFK Jr., who he says he'll put in charge of health care in some way.
INSKEEP: Tell him to go wild was the quote from late in the campaign. Yeah.
KEITH: And RFK doesn't like vaccines and also doesn't seem to like fluoride in water. So, who knows? Elon Musk is another person. He has said that Elon Musk, the billionaire SpaceX founder and also man on Twitter, and now owning Twitter, would be in charge of government efficiency.
INSKEEP: Well, since you're mentioning personnel, let me talk about that. Susan Davis, I am thinking of a conversation that I had with a Republican who was generally supportive of Trump but also concerned about who Trump would bring into government, who said, well, we don't have to worry that much because key positions have to be confirmed by the United States Senate. They will provide a check on that. That was what the person was thinking last summer. What do we make of that now that we know the election results?
SUSAN DAVIS, HOST:
Well, I think the bigger the majority, the better it is for Trump. At this hour, he is certain to have a 52-seat Republican Senate majority, but there's five races outstanding. This could climb as high as 54, 55. I talked to Republicans about this very fact just last week, and they said, look, the bigger the majority, the easier it will be to get someone like an RFK Jr. through the Senate. I think the nominees become the first order of business. And remember this, Steve - this time around, this is a much more pliant Congress. The Republican Party is deeply unified behind Donald Trump. There's no more Mitt Romneys. There's no more Liz Cheneys. And remember, Senate leader Mitch McConnell is stepping down from leadership, and the next Senate leader is almost certainly going to be much more of a Trump ally.
KEITH: And I would say, take that also into positions that don't require confirmation. Trump in his first administration was surrounded by sort of traditional Republicans who wanted to constrain him or saw their job as being the adults in the room. Trump has learned from that. Trump and his closest allies have learned from that. He doesn't want adults in the room who are going to hold him back. He wants people who are going to allow him, enable him to enact the policies that he now believes he has a mandate to do. And if you look at the popular vote and you look at the Electoral College, he has a point.
INSKEEP: Haven't even talked about that much, the economic program here. You did mention tariffs. A bit of news overnight, Dow futures, which point to where the stock market is going, way up, perhaps because people are excited about tax cuts, perhaps because they're just relieved not to have massive uncertainty after the election. But also, bond interest shot up, meaning that people are anticipating this government to borrow a lot more money and possibly for inflation to come. You have a sense there, Susan Davis, of how much that these decisions could affect every part of American life.
DAVIS: I also think the most bankable thing that you can rely on right now is that the Trump tax cuts - the 2017 tax cuts - are pretty protected. Donald Trump not only wants them extended, but he wants to cut taxes further. Republicans on Capitol Hill are in lockstep behind that. They also, if they do take over the House, Steve, which is quite possible, though we won't probably know that for a couple of days - Republicans are going to have a tool in their pocket called reconciliation, which is what I call something boring but important. That means that they're going to be able to do a whole bunch of stuff in the Senate with a simple majority, which means that filibuster isn't going to stop Donald Trump in all things.
INSKEEP: Good point. Democrats will still have the filibuster in some cases, but not in all, if they can get to that point. NPR's Sue Davis and Tamara Keith, thanks to you both.
KEITH AND DAVIS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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