The Scotsman Bulletin Monday January 20 2024 #Trump

The Scotsman

Dale speaks to Martyn McLaughlin ahead of the Trump inauguration in Washington today

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's daily video bulletin for this Monday.

00:04My name is Dale Miller. I'm deputy editor of the Scotsman.

00:08I'm joined by our investigations correspondent, Martin McLaughlin.

00:12Marvin, brace yourself.

00:14It's inauguration day and we're strapped in for four years of Donald Trump

00:19back in charge in his second term.

00:22We're going to talk all about the inauguration shortly,

00:25but we'll touch on the front page of today's Scotsman.

00:28We have led on Donald Trump,

00:31a couple of figures talking the lead up to today,

00:34namely Scotland office minister, Kirsty McNeill was speaking,

00:39ex Scottish government minister and Scottish Greens co-leader,

00:42Lorna Slater speaking. Two different viewpoints there,

00:46Labor and Greens figures. Labor obviously saying, well,

00:50we need to work with Donald Trump, but we are concerned about tariffs.

00:53Lorna Slater saying she's terrified of the prospect of Trump in office for

00:58four years.

00:59What we know is we are expecting plenty to happen over the coming days.

01:02And then Marvin will touch on that,

01:04but also some fantastic photos there of Emily,

01:08the British hostage being released on Sunday and

01:12seeing her mother released after some 15 months.

01:18So that was incredibly touching moment,

01:20pictures there inside and the full story.

01:22You can also read that at scotsman.com. Martin,

01:26you've had the pleasure of writing a lot about Trump over recent years.

01:30And he's back as of today.

01:34It's been a lengthy buildup inauguration today. What do you expect?

01:38Is it going to be any different to other swearing in ceremonies we've seen in

01:42the past?

01:43Well, the US constitution provides very little specific guidance around

01:48what inauguration should be, Dale.

01:51It's just 30 or 40 words talking about the peaceful transfer of power.

01:56Four years ago,

01:57Biden's inauguration was a very kind of low key affair.

02:00It took place in the midst of the pandemic. But this time around,

02:04it seems that Trump is aiming more for a coronation as opposed to an

02:09inauguration.

02:11The ceremony itself is taking place inside the Capitol Rotunda building,

02:16which was designed by the Scottish architect,

02:18William Thornton for political geeks out there.

02:21But he's invited a host of foreign leaders,

02:24Chinese president Xi Jinping, Victor Orbán from Turkey.

02:30Whether they turn up or not, I'm not sure.

02:32But we're also going to have the heads of Facebook, Elon Musk,

02:36obviously TikTok.

02:38So it's going to be a real kind of visual representation of the

02:42nexus of power and influence that Trump and his team have coveted

02:47over the past year or so.

02:49And it seems that it's going to be a bit of a kind of party affair.

02:54We're going to have Billy Ray Cyrus. We're going to have the village people.

02:58We're going to have Nelly.

02:59So it sounds very much like the Spotify playlist for one of my kids' birthday

03:03parties.

03:06I like some colourful characters there.

03:08I already saw some images from Sunday,

03:11I think of Trump alongside the village people. A very different build up.

03:16I'm interested though, in just all the tech titans, for want of a better word.

03:20We know about Elon Musk. We know his close role and relationship.

03:25But it looks like people like Zuckerberg, et cetera.

03:27Is this an acknowledgement of where the power base in the US is at the

03:31moment?

03:32I think so. And I think we've seen that over the past couple of weeks.

03:36We've seen Facebook, Amazon,

03:39lots of other kind of big corporate titans in the US rolling back

03:44diversity programs, for example, because, you know,

03:47they can read the mid music.

03:49They know this is what Trump's going to look at here.

03:52That's going to be one of his policies and one of the many executive orders he's

03:56going to sign is going to be touching on that.

03:58So it's very much a brazen way of

04:03ingratiating themselves to the Trump administration, trying to curry favour.

04:07And I think it's going to be quite obvious, you know,

04:12who's going to kowtow to Trump when you look at the faces in the

04:16Capitol later this evening.

04:18And representatives have ticked up there as well. Interestingly,

04:21some key figures travelling across,

04:24not saying they'll be at the swearing in ceremony, but Nigel Farage, Liz Truss

04:28and Priti Patel will all be in Washington DC at the time the ceremonies are

04:33taking place.

04:34Martin, I know you've written a bit in the past couple of days,

04:37but the key thing for me is not the inauguration itself,

04:40but what happens next.

04:42We're expecting things could move quickly and there could be a number of

04:46decisions taken quickly.

04:47What are your expectations?

04:49What do you think might happen?

04:51Yeah, it's been reported today that immediately after he is

04:56sworn in, Trump is going to go to the president's room in the US Capitol,

05:01very ornate room in the complex.

05:04And it was ironically used as the office of the chief justice during

05:09Trump's first impeachment trial.

05:13But there Trump is going to start signing executive orders.

05:17I reported yesterday that he was expected to sign over 100 executive

05:22orders in his first day.

05:24Now the figure is being reported at 200 plus.

05:28So it's going to be completely unprecedented.

05:30There are some presidents who have never signed that many executive orders in

05:35their four years in office.

05:36So it looks at Trump's really going to double down on a lot of his

05:41campaign pledges.

05:42I expect a lot of the initial executive orders will focus on energy,

05:48repealing a lot of the renewable policies that the Biden administration put in

05:53place, opening up fracking and drilling, especially in Alaska.

05:58But we're also going to see a lot of mandates and directives around the

06:03border at Mexico.

06:05Trump's going to restart construction of the wall.

06:08He's going to put in place a much bolstered military presence there.

06:14So we're really going to see all his campaign promises starting to come to

06:19fruition very quickly.

06:22And it will be interesting from a Scottish and the UK perspective.

06:26I know a lot of focus has been on tariffs.

06:29Trump has signaled that countries like the US's neighbour Canada will be hit

06:35first. But I know there's been a lot of talk about from John Swinney and others

06:39about trying to influence Trump when it comes to whether these tariffs are

06:43brought in for the UK or not.

06:45I get the sense, Martin, that the decision may have already been made about that

06:51one way or another, and we may find out over the next couple of weeks.

06:54Do you think tariffs are likely?

06:56Do you think he'll follow through on that?

06:57I think so. And I think you can look at the symbolism of the fact that

07:01Sir Keir Starmer hasn't been invited to the inauguration as a sign of the UK's

07:07influence. Obviously, the UK is trying to maintain, as it did during Trump's

07:14first term, the focus on the special relationship, you know, the relationship

07:19between the nations as opposed to the heads of office.

07:23But I don't think there's anything, not even Trump's ties with Scotland, I don't

07:28think there's any kind of sentimental reason that he will cite in giving the UK

07:36any kind of exemption.

07:37You know, the Scottish whisky industry is obviously very apprehensive about it.

07:43But I think we can expect tariffs to be introduced very quickly.

07:47I think Trump's focus will be Mexico and Canada firstly, but globally, I can't see

07:52the UK or Scotland being exempt from anything.

07:57Over here, the feeling is very much hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

08:02Nobody's quite sure what Trump's going to do.

08:05But I think if you prepare for the worst case scenario, it gives you a bit of a head

08:09start. You can read all the latest about the inauguration and what happens in the hours

08:15and days afterwards at Scotsman.com.

08:18Obviously, we will be preparing for a Trump visit as president at some point this year

08:23to the UK and quite possibly as has been moved to Scotland as well.

08:28Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky for all the very latest and pick

08:34up a copy of tomorrow's Scotsman.

08:37You'll have a full wrap of what comes out of the inauguration, which, as we record, this

08:42is happening about 5pm UK time today.

08:45Martin, thanks to you and thanks to everyone else for joining us.

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