Edwardsson: Trumps signalpolitik visar att den gamla ordningen är över

Anders Edvardsson political scientist welcome Thank you Much is happening in and around the USA right now We have a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas on the table Hamas is reluctant to sign What do you think about this peace agreement Yes it's just What potential peace agreement is this in the order It's different you know The setup is different A international leadership is to be formed with Tony Blair and Trump themselves It suggests that this is more serious It is not just another senseless attempt in a row Men we do need to be cautious about what you're saying Hamas is reluctant after all I would think that suspicion also exists on the Israeli side It is firmly rooted for good reasons after everything that has happened So this is going to be a long uphill march To get this to work and get everyone on board Unfortunately Hamas is playing a decisive role The question is now whether Such a peace would be Hamas is after all a terrorist organization a war organization War has little to gain in the long term for such people It's perverse but that's just how it is So the question is now which forces within the broader Palestinian community Those who can grasp it so to speak on the Palestinian side Because it is If it only comes down to Hamas I'm afraid it will go badly They have been so decimated in this war against Israel So there aren't really that many left in any case not the leading ones It's also the time when there are other forces within the Palestinian movement Now it's up to them to try to neutralize it or force Hamas to agree to this plan Then Yes as they say only time will tell It's just What the long-term goal is whether it becomes a formal two-state solution or an informal one remains to be seen I think the Trump administration got it right To get this to work you have to get quite fast things that star so that Palestine in general can see that things are finally starting to get better Economic social cultural development Simple things like starting repairs and building new buildings will have a huge psychological impact I my turn will also put pressure on what remains of Hamas and actually accept that we cannot continue like this They are talking with Israel and representatives of the Israeli government they say there is no negotiating party at the moment The Swedish government hopes for the Palestinian authorities The West Bank authorities are still supported by the Palestinians Who could possibly be there Who could possibly step forward and take this role in Palestine Yes that's exactly what you said That's precisely the key point As mentioned Hamas is decimated and a terrorist organization Nothing that a civilized person actually wants to have anything to do with So I would say they are excluded The Palestinian Authority it's just a corruption nest in square I have trouble seeing but on the other hand that was the alternative Maybe if they could get a new leader a new president to shake things up a bit I always think that in such matters it ultimately comes down to personalities If anyone new could emerge or be brought forward on the Palestinian side I think it would have been incredibly beneficial I must admit that I know too little about the internal circumstances Inside the Palestinian Authority What there is in terms of potential heirs and such We simply have to see how it goes Right now I don't see any alternative to the sitting president He's quite old and politically worn out so it's probably possible tha If the Palestinians understand their own best interests maybe it's best that he has to make us step aside To ensure that this process can function in the long term But who knows Nowadays a lot is also happening in the US and within the country It is the first government shutdown in seven years Why is it happening like this Yes such shutdowns are When we talked before here I said that the big news about this shutdown is that it's not such a big news anymore It's as you said it's been a few years since last time It was 2018 or something like that Such shutdowns have become increasingly common over the last 20-30 years It's everyday food but they've gone from being something incredibly rare to something common at least for ordinary people For ordinary people it's not really about the federal government What many people have to do with especially pension payments is set aside and is not affected Only those who work directly for the federal government The biggest thing is actually whether you want to visit a federal national park For they are usually the first to close because so to speak they are the least important So it becomes a minor irritation for up to 80-90 percent of the population If we take two steps back and look at this it has to be placed in this broader context of American politics In the last 30 to 40 years it has become increasingly what shall we call it unpleasant and harsh Shutdowns were very rare before this The same thing was practically unknown before the end of the 90s There have been impeachments of sitting presidents There had only been one before plus a threat against Nixon in the 70s Since 1998 we have now had three plus one vote of dozens of others Two against Trump and one against Clinton Politicians have hardened to such an extent that even the largest constitutionally speaking Most grave clubs have begun to be used more or less in everyday life Shutdowns impeachments there will soon be nothing left If you really want to mean business in American politics there are almost no weapons left Both sides have worn down these two major very serious threats that existed Impeachment and shutdown It's not the least the Democrats who were first after Trump became president They almost never go a week without looking for a reason to impeach Trump Now it's this shutdown that It's a different dynamic this time I can say For the most part even though ordinary people don't care much about this The Democrats have been very good at blaming the Republicans for this It often happens under democratic presidents because the Republicans have tried to balance the budget and such things Even when the latest shutdown occurred under Trump in 2018 the Democrats managed to blame the entire situation on the Republicans in general and Trump in particular This time well Trump makes mistakes sometimes but he's a quick learner and he almost never makes the same mistake twice Oh it's obvious he's learned his lesson this time now the Democrats are in the position of having to deal with the dog's head so to speak For them whatever we call it it was smart enough to make two demands to avoid shutting down the government It was about starting to give money again to so-called public service radio and TV which is not officially the case in Sweden There's NPR and PBS and whatever they're called It's something that ordinary people don't really care about The second requirement was that they would have to withdraw a savings proposal that was read out on healthcare and health costs And yet they were reckless enough to choose a type of money that would mostly go to free healthcare for illegal aliens Oh that's what Trump and the White House have both these things have now been used to say tha Watch now this is what the Democrats want the federal government to do free healthcare for illegal aliens and more money to left-wing media So far it seems that this time the majority is blaming the Democrats for what happened And it has as far as I can remember never happened before and they have been incredibly skilled at blaming it on the Republicans Now we will see how this changes the dynamics in the long term it has only been going on for three days so far and such things can take a week Before the situation becomes so serious that both sides try to ease it so to speak This time it seems the Democrats have made a strategic mistake and we'll see if they are now forced to retreat or the most likely scenario is that for them they were not even united from the start if this happened there were a few dissenters In the Democratic Party there are those who did not want this shutdown The Republicans have 53 this is going to hurt the Senate they need 60 votes The Republicans have 53 and two have already signaled they don't support this So now only five Democrats remain who might waver So we can break this deadlock and reopen the federal government But we'll have to see how this develops over the coming week Cutbacks are having a major impact on public finances and the growing national debt in the US Money is running out and decisions cannot be made New measures for public administration The consequence will be that the entire public administration will be shut down in practice Besides pension payments and similar things These two points that the Democrats have gotten stuck on are ideologically very important for many Democrats Can this shutdown last longer than previous ones Yes and no As you said it's ideological I actually don't think Chuck Schumer and many leading more experienced Democrats were that excited For this has been pushed from within the democratic party There are still many who have trouble accepting last year's election loss And those who want to try to solve the party's problems with more of the same Which has proven that they selected these two high-profile issues to try to put pressure on the White House A political novice might have calculated that of all the issues they could have chosen these two are the worst both in terms of getting the change through and the most dangerous from the PR perspective I'm sorry but it's starting to really hurt when they start getting a lot of phone calls and emails Why in the world are you shutting down the entire government just for free healthcare for illegal immigrants I think that those responsible for this will make sure it ends one way or another if ordinary people start reacting that way and in turn put pressure from the center If the Democrats get a lot of bad press here now and mess up so to speak it could have ripple effects next year They have a chance to regain at least the House You've misunderstood the real point of this sentence It was precisely to send out a signal and show that new times are here For the background of this it is that the Democrats at least since Obama's presidency especially the second term have systematically tried to change the American defense in what we can call a liberal direction Since at least Obama's presidential term the Democrats have systematically tried to hire and favor more liberal forces within the officer corps People have also forced the Pentagon and the military to implement a long series of so-called woke programs on diversity equity and inclusion as well as rights for transgender individuals and being military personnel etc But it was also almost humorous things like that so many of you need to lose weight and such we don't want fat generals But it was also that was probably just for media consumption so to speak The real point here is that the woke era is over and this huge meeting was a way to clearly mark that as much as possible Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump have renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War which is quite historically significant The aim is to make the US more prepared for a large-scale future conflict with China Critics of this argue that the meeting in Kontika and this type of action instead risk causing the military to lose members What do you think about this rhetoric and its consequences Pushar man det för långt så finns ju förstås den risken men vad jag vet är att armén i synnerhet har haft svårt att få nya rekryter USA är ju en professionell armé och inte verkligen Again this name change has no practical significance just like the meeting we just talked about But again this is a signal that new times are coming a new sheriff in town so to speak This should be seen more metaphorically as just a signal Trump hates war he has made that clear but on the other hand he isn't afraid to take out the big hammer if and when it's needed You now get the magazine delivered to your mailbox and unlimited web access for just 49 kronor the first month