Margaret Hoover talks to two conservatives—Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy and Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez*—about the potential ramifications of another Donald Trump presidency.

This extended cut includes exclusive new material from a special Firing Line forum recorded before a student audience at Hofstra University, delving deeper into Trump’s agenda for a second term, its connections to Heritage’s Project 2025, and its impact on democracy.

Carpenter co-wrote “The Authoritarian Playbook,” which sounds an alarm about Trump’s dictatorial tendencies, and Gonzalez contributed to Project 2025, Heritage’s proposed agenda for the next conservative president that echoes many of Trump’s priorities.

As Trump issues promises and threats on the campaign trail, Carpenter warns the institutional guardrails that constrained him in the past would be weakened or eliminated in a new administration. However, Gonzalez maintains America and the world were better off during Trump’s first three years in office than in President Biden’s first three years.

Highlights of this expanded conversation:
(21:13) A detailed contrast of Trump and Biden’s immigration policies
(31:50) How seriously should we take Trump’s threats to prosecute his enemies?
(39:48) Assessing Trump’s stance on NATO and his record on foreign policy
(46:55) Responses to student questions about polarization and post-Trump GOP

*Mike Gonzalez serves as a Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation is listed for identification purposes only; no endorsement of a candidate by the organization is implied.


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FIRING LINE WITH MARGARET HOOVER airs on PBS. Launched in June 2018, Firing Line maintains the character of the original series by William F. Buckley Jr., providing a platform that is diligent in its commitment to a balanced exchange of opinion. In weekly 30-minute episodes, host Margaret Hoover engages in a rigorous exchange of ideas with political leaders, cultural luminaries, thought leaders and activists who represent a wide range of ideas and perspectives. New episodes are available Fridays here on YouTube at 8:30 pm ET.