Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Bloomberg's Oliver Crook now standing by with Senator Alyssa Slotkin. The Democrat from Michigan has just arrived in Munich as part of a CODEL with some very important topics to discuss. Oliver, thanks for bringing us this conversation. Over to you.
Absolutely. Yeah, we're very pleased to be joined by Alyssa Slotkin, the Democratic Senator from Michigan today, joining us from the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. I'd like to talk about foreign policy, America standing on the global stage. You know, I've been here for the last 12 months covering Europe ever since J.D. Vance's speech.
It has been a conversation completely monopolized by this sort of MAGA foreign policy. That is the America that Europe has got. There is another America. You are here as an emissary of that America. What does that America say to your European partners?
Well, I think there's a lot of us who are here, certainly from the Senate and the House, to send the message that not everyone agrees with the approach that this president is taking, right? That my president is taking, which is kick your allies in the teeth and cozy up to your adversaries. It's the opposite of what many of us were taught and how we lived.
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Chapter 2: What does Senator Slotkin say about America's standing on the global stage?
What are they trying to... The minute they get you in the room and close the door, they're just like, what is going on in America, right? I mean, sort of not believing it themselves. And I think, again, I try to explain. It's not that anyone's missing it. What is happening and how I think we come out of it, which is, like, I still believe that the American public...
does not want an authoritarian leader. We don't want a king. Our whole country is based on that. And there are certain barometers we have for authoritarianism, and we're going to come out of it. It's just going to take a bite. And on the other side of that fight, obviously Trump will not be president forever, even if for some of the people in this room that may feel that way.
In what ways do you think that American stature on the global stage has been permanently damaged? Because I can tell you that over the last 12 months, the Europeans really wanted to take a sort of optimistic view of kind of how things could materialize. Then there was the Greenland episode, and it feels that a sort of moment of trust there has been broken in a severe way.
Yeah, I think, look, I think it takes a long time to build trust and an instant to lose it. You know, I'm someone who my father came on the beaches of Normandy with the American troops. Like, I believe deeply that America has a good role to play, that we are in a long-term relationship with Europe, and that's to the benefit of all of us.
But when you start acting erratically, when you act like a madman and no one knows what you're going to do next, they can't trust to make a deal with you, to sign up for something. You know, when you insult the soldiers of the countries that have been in coalition with us in Iraq and Afghanistan, places that I've served, You understand why people say, well, wait a minute, what did we do this for?
And the United States needs friends. This is a globalized world. We need as many friends as we can have. And alienating our friends is actually bad for our national security. There's another side of the Trump foreign policy that has actually been quite effective. And actually, if you speak to some of the peoples in the room, they said that, yes, it's true, Europe has not been paying its way.
And we should say that that's something that the United States has put pressure on since Obama, but it has never really delivered a change.
until this sort of very aggressive policy do you think that there is something to that that you needed a sort of trump level event in order to get that out of europe well look i wish it wasn't done in the way it was done but i used to come here as a pentagon official and a cia officer come to munich and say please do more please invest more in your own defense the russians aren't just a threat to us they're a threat to you they're your neighbors
And we got the like, well, it's nice to see you, very diplomatic.
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Chapter 3: How does Senator Slotkin describe the relationship between the US and Europe?
And unfortunately, the lesson that's been taught is if you club your allies over the head, they will eventually give you something more. I don't want that to be the lesson, but I have to admit that's what's happened. I mean, Putin has helped too, but I think that's not the way we want to proceed. We want people to pay their way.
And a place that potentially the Trump administration does need help from the Europeans is on this question of China, potentially a collective approach. There have been some high-level meetings on critical raw materials that have been underway at the moment. Do you see a sort of scope for cooperation with the Europeans on the question of China?
Do you think there's more sort of space that they could occupy sort of together with the United States? I think there's a ton of room for cooperation with the Europeans vis-a-vis China, but we have to have our house in order in the United States on what we want out of China. And as someone who's from a car manufacturing state, every day I'm confused, right?
We have more tariffs right now on Canada than we do on China. One day we're all about Buy America, the next day Donald Trump's talking about letting in Chinese electric vehicles into the United States. So we got to get our house in order, and I understand why Europeans would be hedging on making a deal, even though that's absolutely in our best interest for both sides.
And on the question of tariffs, you had this vote in the House, bipartisan, basically saying that they were not in favor of these tariffs with Canada. How do you interpret that as a sort of referendum on Trump economic policy? And do you think it changes anything? It was a big deal. I mean, look, bravery sometimes comes in millimeters.
We had six Republicans who broke with their party and voted with Democrats to say the president's sloppy tariff policy isn't good and should be repealed and looked at. That opens the door to a bunch more votes on tariffs. That is a big deal. I'll take it, right? Do I wish people were stronger and spoke up for their local state economies? Yeah. But will I take this? Yes.
And it's definitely, I think, people looking ahead to the midterms and saying he's a boat anchor. These tariffs certainly are a boat anchor for their reelection. And what do you think it tells us about what we can expect in the midterms? I know we're still some distance away. Yeah, I think people are upset. They're upset because he said he was going to do something about the economy.
He's focused more, much more, on foreign policy. He said he was going to bring back jobs. Michigan has lost almost more jobs than any other state in the country. He just hasn't lived up to the things that he campaigned on and has been focused abroad. And I think that people want to know what he's going to do for them and their lives, and he's just not made that his priority.
And I also wanted to talk about the sort of things more squarely on the domestic side, the indictment that was attempted against you and a number of fellow Democrats that they've obviously elected not to move forward on. Just your reaction to that.
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Chapter 4: What message does Senator Slotkin want to convey to European partners?
Do you consider the matter to be closed at this stage? I don't think anyone considers it closed, and we're already hearing rumors that they're going to try again to indict us for, I guess, sedition. And just to review the bidding, it's a 90-second video that just restates current military law, that you have a responsibility to refuse illegal orders. All of us are service or veteran folks.
We all served in some capacity. And I think the president is weaponizing the federal government against his perceived adversaries. It's right out of an authoritarian playbook. Many Europeans understand that better than most Americans. And I think this is where we've come to in the United States. And if they can do it to a sitting senator, what can they do to a business leader
community leaders that we see the sort of next uh... the next line of that sort of progress or is it a flood the zone tactic or do you consider something much no i think intimidation is the point it's physical intimidation like a month long threats you know to my home bomb threats my parents were went after And then it's legal intimidation, right?
Make me pay lots and lots of money to have a lawyer and be in this legal limbo. You do that to the average person, they say, you know what, I'm just going to go quiet. I'm not going to speak up anymore. I'm not going to shout from the rooftops. And I'm just not going to do that because I know that he is trying to intimidate people to be quiet.
And you've had some sort of words of support from a number of Republicans, perhaps not actions of support. How do you interpret that? Is there more you think that needs to be done? Yeah, again, five or six Republicans said, I think, the right thing, which is, look, you can't go after someone out of their freedom of speech, even if they didn't agree with the video.
And I would never want that for them. You know, the tide can turn. Democrats could win again. I don't want Democrats saying, oh, we should go after Republican senators for a 90-second video. I don't want that for anybody. So I appreciate those who stood up. I would like there to be more joining them. And just a sort of final question for you. We obviously had the speech 12 months ago from J.D.
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Chapter 5: How are US tariffs impacting relationships with allies?
Vance that kicked off the sort of MAGA foreign policy that crystallized through the year. What do you expect to hear from Marco Rubio tomorrow? You know, my sense is they have brought in Marco Rubio to kind of smooth the edges. Vance is not here. A lot of the hardcore folks, you know, Pete Hegseth isn't here.
They brought in the diplomat to try and explain what the MAGA foreign policy is in terms that foreign policy people understand. So I'm not expecting fireworks the way we, I mean I remember sitting there listening to J.D. Vance's speech last year just with shock. And I don't think we're gonna hear that.
And just actually one more final question in terms of the sort of U-turn that we did see on Greenland. Obviously it's an issue that doesn't have a huge amount of domestic support. does not have a huge amount of support, even in the government of the United States, certainly not among allies. What do you think really prompted that U-turn?
What was the thing that really made Trump sort of change his mind and kind of step back from that? You know, your guess may be as good as mine. I don't understand what affects him and in the dark of night how he decides. And that's, I think, part of it, right? It's really hard to predict what he's going to do and say.
So being friends with him, being an ally of his is really, really difficult at this moment. It's why we're here. Well, Alyssa Slotkin, thank you so much for your time. Greatly appreciate it. From the great state of Michigan, the senator there today from the Munich Security Conference.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Trump's foreign policy according to Senator Slotkin?
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