New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy talks US politics to RIAS group
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy gave a group of 14 German radio and TV journalists an interesting talk on the political landscape in his state and in the United States at the moment. Murphy, who was the former RIAS Berlin Commission honorary chairman during his term as US ambassador to Germany, was delighted to meet the German journalists at his office in Trenton, NJ, and talk openly and eloquently about the situation in the US as well as in Germany. He said he thought transatlantic institutions and ties remained strong.
“I’m honored that you would come to visit us in Trenton — Trenton makes and the world takes,” Murphy said with a big smile, quoting an old slogan from 1911 during the town’s industrial heyday that used to hang on a suspension bridge over the Delaware River. Murphy, a Democrat, talked in depth about tariffs and trade as well as environmental and immigration policies — candidly expressing his opposition to Republican President Donald Trump’s polices in those and other areas.
He said governors and local leaders in the U.S. were becoming more important as a counter balance to some federal government policies and predicted his Democratic party would defeat Republicans in upcoming elections.
“I think governors have never mattered more because of what’s going on at the federal level,” said Murphy. “Governors and local leaders will have never mattered more in our country’s history.” He also said he thinks President Trump may even face a challenge in 2020 from within his own Republican party during the primaries.
He said he was optimistic about the chances for the Democrats, noting that there are about 30 Democrats who have expressed interest in running in 2020 and calling that “a good thing” that there are so many in the field. “There are gobs of people on the horizon — and I’m not one of them,” he said, when asked if he would consider running. “We have our hands full here in New Jersey.”
Murphy, who just took office in January, expressed confidence that German-American relations as well as transatlantic institutions are in good shape but he also spoke out against tariffs and trade wars. “We need more enlightened trade policies,” he said. “We need to anticipate more the dislocation of our workers” and focus more on retraining workers in fading industries. Murphy said he was opposed to a plan recently floated by the Trump administration to give teachers guns as a way to counter mass shootings in schools. “That’s not a good idea,” he said.
The RIAS group also spent the afternoon visiting CNN in New York, meeting Richard Quest as well as Anderson Cooper.
