BREAKING: Steve Forbes Reacts To RNC So Far As Trump-Vance 2024 Becomes Official GOP Ticket

Forbes Breaking News

On "Forbes Newsroom," Steve Forbes gave his take on the first night of the RNC, how the GOP is leading a major political realignment that is seeing working class voters pouring in, the assassination attempt on former President Trump, and more.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News. Joining me now is a man who

00:07needs no introduction, Steve Forbes. Steve, thank you so much for coming on in.

00:12Good to be with you, Brittany. Thank you.

00:14Of course, we saw a historic first night of the RNC, and this came less than 48 hours

00:20after President Trump survived an assassination attempt against him. So what are your thoughts

00:25of the first day of the convention?

00:27Well, first, to me, it was a stark contrast to a previous convention in 2012 when Mitt

00:33Romney was nominated for president. That convention was dominated by appearances by entrepreneurs.

00:40Now, many of them were very inspiring and the like, but what Romney forgot is, yes,

00:46some entrepreneurs, yes, but people see these people as bosses, and most people aren't bosses.

00:53By contrast, this convention had plenty of everyday people, typical Americans from all

00:59kinds of backgrounds. You had the Hispanic lady later in the convention confessing very,

01:06very shyly that she had not voted for Donald Trump in 2020, but she's seeing the light

01:12and gave the reasons why she's doing it, supporting him, and speaking on his behalf in 2024.

01:17So it shows the difference in terms of the attitude of the candidate towards the base

01:22of the party, the evolving base of the party. So it was very impressive. You have Trump

01:27making an appearance, dramatic appearance, and people, he obviously was still shaken

01:34a bit by what happened, but the fact that he showed up, he climbed the stairs with no

01:39problem, that he sat through the talks for over an hour, I think demonstrated that he's

01:46very much in the game, and he didn't have to say anything. That'll come Thursday night,

01:50but I think that was a great capstone to an extraordinary convention evening where

01:56he had many interesting speeches, mostly short in length, but I think, and with the band

02:02in between, kept an audience that normally you'd quickly lose on these things.

02:08I want to touch on your point a little bit about the contrast to who the speakers we

02:12had last night opposed to the ones in 2012. Frank Luntz made this point on Twitter. We

02:18witnessed the realignment of American politics Trump-style. A, do you think that's true,

02:23and B, what do you think this indicates about the future of the GOP?

02:27Well, I think it reflects what started with Trump's candidacy back when he announced in

02:332015, a true broadening of the base of the Republican Party. Republican candidates in

02:38the past have done very well across the board among various American groups. As the Teamster

02:43president pointed out last night, in the past they've endorsed Republican candidates, going

02:48back to Richard Nixon. But I think there's a depth of support now. It's not just a one-off,

02:54but a depth of support for the Republican Party, with the Republican Party seen as the

02:58party of not only entrepreneurs and business people and middle class professionals, upper

03:03middle class professionals, but also working Americans, in a way that it had not done before,

03:09while still emphasizing economic growth. That's the key. I don't think Trump is ready to sacrifice

03:16tax cuts. He's made that very clear. He's going for deregulation, which is critically

03:21important. Boring subject, but absolutely critical now, with the regs that are now destroying

03:26the economy. So it's an effective broadening of the party in a way that you really haven't

03:32seen in that kind of depth, I don't think, since Franklin Roosevelt recreated the Democratic

03:37Party in the early 1930s. Everyone thinks the Democrats are always pro-labor, blah,

03:42blah, blah. But no, in the late 20s, it was a very different party than what Roosevelt

03:46created in the 30s. You touched on this briefly, but there was a historic first at the RNC

03:52last night, and that's Teamsters President Sean O'Brien was talking to the RNC. He addressed

03:58the RNC, first time a Teamsters president has done that in over 120 years. What are

04:03your thoughts? Well, I think it's very indicative that he realizes he's no dope, obviously,

04:09recognizes the sentiments among many of his members, that they don't feel they have a

04:14home in the Democratic Party anymore. They don't want to be taken for granted by the

04:18Democratic Party anymore. And so they're giving a very serious look to Republicans. So he's

04:24smart enough to know if you want to influence policy, you've got to show that you're willing

04:29to be there when they might need you. And so it's reciprocal. And the fact that he said,

04:36even though I know he's pounded tables, he said, that's not the way you get things done.

04:40You try to sit down with various people. And he also had said in previous cases, nice

04:44things about J.D. Vance, the vice presidential nominee, as somebody who's a different cut

04:50than what you'd normally find in the Republican Party. What do you make of J.D. Vance? Because

04:55yesterday, probably the biggest news of the day was former President Donald Trump officially

05:00announced his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. What are your thoughts? Well, Vance

05:06is, whatever you think of his positions, is a remarkably complex and interesting individual.

05:13The dysfunctional, very dysfunctional background he came from, he wrote a book called Hillbilly

05:18Elegy on it. Remarkable book. But thanks to a high school counselor, he then went in the

05:24Marines, straightened out his life, graduated from a college, summa cum laude, and then

05:31went on to Yale Law School, practiced in business for a while before he went into politics.

05:37A man trying to find himself. So a brilliant man, and I think that means that he brings

05:43a nuanced view of things that I think can bode well in the future. So I don't, he's

05:52not the cardboard caricature that you're going to read about, and I think he's a man who,

05:58as John Maynard Keynes said, when the facts change, he'll respond to changing circumstances.

06:03He's also a lot younger than Donald Trump. He's 39 years old. He's more appeals to the

06:10MAGA base than someone like a Governor Doug Burgum, who was a top contender as well. So

06:16given his age, given his stances, what do you think the future of the GOP is under a

06:22Trump-Vance presidency and administration?

06:25Obviously, that's going to depend on the success of Trump's second term, in terms of rebuilding

06:32a military that badly needs it. We live in a very dangerous world today, the most dangerous

06:37since the 1930s. And also, though, getting the economy growing again. So I think the

06:43Republican Party, in terms of its economics, in terms of other issues, is in a molding

06:49phase. And so that's going to depend on how that goes. As for his age, he is the youngest

06:54vice presidential candidate, I think, since Richard Nixon, back in 1952, when he was chosen

06:59by Eisenhower. He was a national figure for a variety of reasons, including finding spies

07:05in the government, won national fame, and survived a huge scandal. It was a BS scandal,

07:14but he had, on his own, Nixon to go on national TV, convince the Republican National Committee

07:20to buy the time to make a case. The Republicans were ready to dump him. So he showed his toughness

07:25and survivability back then, even though he was only 39, first time on that kind of national

07:31stage. I think Vance is exhibiting, looking at his past, that kind of inner toughness

07:37that can get you through the inevitable turbulence of national politics, especially these days.

07:44I want to switch gears a little bit, talk about Democrats, President Biden in particular.

07:49He has made increased calls for unity in the wake of the assassination attempt against

07:53President Trump. What do you make of President Biden's response to the situation on Saturday?

07:58Well, he gave a national speech on Sunday night. There were the flubs there. There was

08:05still the occasional vacant stare. And it did not come across as the kind of thing that

08:11you would have expected from, say, a Ronald Reagan, especially after the Challenger disaster,

08:17a very different thing. But it did not have the kind of gravitas. And then he goes on

08:23and does an interview with NBC, where he is back again using the same old rhetoric against

08:31Trump. And they did the same thing with Vance, oh, against the working people. So you expect

08:37some of that. But for a guy who's just coming off of what could have been a huge disaster

08:43for the United States, saying we must have unity and calm, he didn't exhibit much of

08:48that in that testing interview he had with Lester Holt. So I think that gets to a very

08:54real question. Will he be the Democratic nominee? The pundits are now saying he survived the

08:59crisis. I think events are going to eventually force him off. Don't ask me what they'll be.

09:06You can't predict these things. But I think the Democrats are going to realize you cannot

09:11have a man in his condition leading, thinking you can do another four years, much less getting

09:17through the next six months, especially when you have Donald Trump with what he did surviving

09:22on Saturday and how he quickly responded to it. And the young, vigorous J.D. Vance, who

09:28I think will do very well in a debate against Kamala Harris, a man of real substance. So

09:35I think people are going to say, where do we want to take a chance? Every vote in a

09:39presidential is taking a chance, like Reagan in 1980. Hard to believe he was portrayed

09:44as this kook from California, even though he successfully managed the largest state

09:48in the union. People have very real doubts about him. And we had that one debate with

09:55Carter, and people said, the country's troubled. We'll take a chance on him. I think people

10:01are going to now take a chance. Trump showed he could manage the presidency, so he's not

10:06going in as a rookie. And people are going to want to have something different, more

10:10positive. And one thing that got overlooked was a rally that Trump had previously in Florida,

10:15where he gave a very real pro-growth economic message. And people are looking, not just

10:21for specifics, you know, 10-point position paper and that kind of stuff. They're looking

10:25for, can we get this country moving in the right direction? They want to have a positive

10:31attitude. They're sick and tired of this name calling and the apocalyptic view that the

10:37world is coming to an end. It is not coming to an end. But this election has very, very

10:42real impact on what direction we're going to take, profound impact. And people want

10:48a positive approach, not the negative end-of-the-world approach.

10:53Steve, you've been calling that President Biden is going to drop out. He's not going

10:56to be the Democratic presidential nominee for well over a year now. After that presidential

11:02debate at the end of June, I mean, those calls were loud for two weeks. An assassination

11:07attempt against President Trump was the only thing that has quieted those. So you're saying

11:12you think those calls are going to be renewed?

11:14Yes. And I had to do a little laughing when some people said, well, it'll take Bill Clinton

11:21and Barack Obama to sit down with Joe Biden to get him to withdraw. Those are the last

11:26two people you want to go and just give you one little thing. When you had that op-ed

11:30in New York, the New York Times, by the famous actor George Clooney, producer, movie producer,

11:37saying, oh, Biden must withdraw. Everyone knew that was Barack Obama speaking. And I

11:45think that hardened Biden's resolve, certainly hardened the first lady, Joe Biden's resolve

11:52that they're going to stay in. Those are the last two. And Clinton worked against Joe Biden

11:57in 2016 when he wanted his wife Hillary to be the Democratic nominee. Biden's haven't

12:02forgotten those slights and those behind-the-scenes clashes. And so those are the last two you

12:08would send in. But I think circumstance, not pleadings, are going to force a change.

12:15Steve, before I let you go, we are now sitting in day two of the RNC. Former President Donald

12:21Trump is expected to speak on Thursday. He told a reporter he ripped up his speech that was largely

12:28critical of Joe Biden. He's going to be speaking on a message more of unity.

12:34What are you looking for between now and the end of the RNC?

12:38I think what we saw last night was a positive outlook from all parts of the nation. And on

12:45Thursday night, I think the tone is probably going to matter more than the words themselves.

12:51And what the unity shouldn't mean, we don't have debate. But what people want is a substantive,

12:57vigorous debate about the direction of this country on a whole slew of issues,

13:02national security to the economy, regulation, and the things that concern people. What direction

13:09are we going to take? Character of the American nation. That's what they want a substantive

13:13discussion of. And so they want it done in a civil tone. And so if Trump can lead the way on that,

13:20then the Democrats saying, oh, this is the end of democracy. We've got Hitler coming in and all that

13:25kind of stuff. They're not going to be able to play the scare card. They're going to have to

13:30respond with substance. And what's amazing, and I'll sound partisan, but so what, in terms of

13:37things like the electronic vehicle, EVs, that getting rid of the internal combustion engine

13:44has never been debated in the public square. It's been done by diktat, by regulatory decree.

13:53And if so, if you're going to make a fundamental change in transportation like that,

13:59that should be done with the consent, with the knowledge and consent of the governed. And that's

14:05what the Democrats have skirted, trying to do things through regulations in the old days,

14:11through court decisions, instead of appealing to the governed. And so I think that's going

14:17to put them in an awkward position, especially now that the Republicans have, I think,

14:24effectively taken the abortion issue off the table by not putting it in the platform.

14:29Even J.D. Vance, who's very pro-life, said, as an interim, you accept 15 weeks. You got to bring

14:36people along. Win people over. You can't do it by diktat. And so I think the Democrats are going to

14:42go for substance. And I think a lot of the substance people are going to say that's not

14:46the direction we want to go. Steve Forbes, I certainly appreciate your insights always. I

14:52know our viewers do as well. Thank you so much for coming on in.

14:55Good to be with you. Thank you very much for your time, Brittany.

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