U.S. political scientist "Trump's position in U.S. Republican Party gets stronger because of 'election irregularities'...Similar situation in Korea"

[News FM Lee Ik-seon Choi Soo-young Issue & People]

□ Broadcast date and time: January 21, 2025 (Tue)
□ Host: Lee Ik-seon, Choi Soo-young
□ Starring: Kook Seung-min, professor of political science at Michigan State University

<National Seung-min, professor of political science at Michigan State University>
- 'Western District Court incident, 2020 U.S. Capitol invasion deja vu? 70% of U.S. Republican supporters believe in 'election irregularities' vs. very similar to ruling party situation in South Korea
- Trump's position in the U.S. Republican Party gets stronger because of 'election irregularities'..Similar situation in Korea
- Trump's inauguration 'pardoning 1,500 people involved in the 1.6 U.S. Capitol riot' symbol...It can be repeated in South Korea
-Party supporters who lost the election filled their grievances with 'fraudulent elections'

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.


◇ Interest line: Trump is said to be very sensitive about fraudulent elections. Fraudulent elections are being talked about in the population amid a series of events in Korea. In fact, I wonder how Trump considers himself a victim of fraudulent elections and judges that about Korea.

★ Kook Seung-min: First of all, Trump's interest in fraudulent elections is basically his style of not admitting his defeat, so if he doesn't want to admit his defeat, he has no choice but to talk about fraudulent elections. However, it can be said that it is an attitude that appears not only because of the election, but also because he does not admit that he has lost or failed even when looking back on his entire life. Nevertheless, it's hard to know what Trump personally thinks about what's going on in Korea, but it's true that he's very friendly to people who tell similar stories to him. As I mentioned President Milley earlier, I think that will be something to watch in the future because if we hear that we are similar to you, we won't hate it, just like expressing favor to far-right figures.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: Emergency martial law this time. Among the reasons for emergency martial law mentioned by President Yoon is fraudulent elections. This seems to be a similar situation to the time when fraudulent elections became a hot topic during the 2020 Trump presidential election. In addition, there is a strange phenomenon in which conservative support is on the rise and even the maintenance is getting higher when the regime is changed, which seems to be similar to Trump's. What do you think?

★ Kook Seung-min: The first impression of Trump's first career as a wild man after he lost the 2020 election was the storming of the Capitol on January 6th. After that, many people thought it would be difficult to judge Trump as an enemy of democracy that there was no future for him, but after four years, Trump's position in the Republican Party became stronger, paradoxically, because of election fraud. In fact, if you look at the overall trend, only about 30% in the United States believe in election fraud, but if you look at Republican supporters, 65% to 70% believe there is election fraud. What's interesting is that this figure is surprising in that Korea and the United States are very similar, and in a way, Trump said whether he believes in election fraud or not, but in a way, he speculates that this will be a very big issue in Korean politics. I'm watching with great interest, not just because the president said this, but because voters reacted similarly.

◆ Choi Soo-young: As you said, Trump won reelection four years ago, overcoming his image as the enemy of democracy. Then, would the professor analyze that the comeback of Etrump gives implications for the domestic conservatives?

★ In a way, Trump took office for the first time today and issued various executive orders, and the other thing was that he was convicted of the January 6th Capitol storm and pardoned all those in prison. I don't know all of them, but they gave me a pardon for about 1500 people, and I think it's very symbolic. In a way, he set a precedent that he could make a political comeback despite doing something that caused such a democratic retreat, and I think it can be repeated if conservative politicians think that's a model and think that it should be followed. It seems that many conservative politicians are already showing that. The phenomenon occurring in the United States may be repeated similarly in Korea. In a way, I thought it was important to understand that it was repeated.

◆ Choi Soo-young: In Korea, President Yoon's approval rating was low right after his impeachment, but his approval rating is higher than ever before in office. A fierce supporter of President Yoon stormed the court early in the morning on the day he issued an arrest warrant, which is causing a great controversy. President Trump's unsuccessful election in 2020 led to the invasion of the Capitol by his supporters, and there are many rumors that this is becoming a "deja vu", so I wonder what you think.

★ Kook Seung-min: After watching martial law while writing in the past, I thought that something like January 6th shouldn't happen in Korea, but it was a little surprising and very sad that it actually happened. In a way, the same thing is inevitable because elections are the flower of democracy, so if you think that there is corruption, it can be a factor for people to act more justicefully and actively. Another difficult thing about election corruption is that it is difficult to break faith in election corruption once you believe that there is an election corruption, and the other thing that we study a lot in politics is the people who won and lost the election. So, it is said that there is a great satisfaction with democracy and satisfaction with the election among the winning and losing voters. Basically, voters of political parties who lost the election are very dissatisfied, and in a way, election denial plays a role in filling those complaints well, so I think these things are unfolding in a way. It can be said that the court intrusion was a predictable situation, and there are many things left to be done. President Yoon's supporters think election fraud is very important, so it is difficult to predict what kind of behavior they will take in the future. In a way, how to reduce the difference between the supporters over election fraud has been concluded in a very sad form in the United States, but in Korea, what to do not repeat it is a point that many people, not only ruling and opposition politicians, have to think about.

◆ Choi Soo-young: If you could give some advice to the domestic politics dealing with the second Trump period?

★ Kook Seung-min: I don't think I'm in a position to give advice. Nevertheless, the new policies introduced by Trump will have a great impact on Korea's future, and Trump's style values transactions, so I think it's important to think carefully about how to prepare for the transaction, and one of the things I've often talked about is that both the Korean government and companies were very defenseless when the IRA was enacted. Republicans are preparing big legislation like the IRA this spring and summer, so we'll have to be thoroughly prepared for it. I think it's important for companies to lobby and the Korean government to take a good look at the trend.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: Even though it's early in the morning, you connected me like this and I enjoyed your long time. Thank you.

★ Kook Seungmin: Yes, thank you.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: Today, I had a phone interview with National Seung-min, a political science professor at Michigan State University, about the second Trump administration that ended. Please understand that there was a slight gap between the questions and answers due to the time difference with the local area.