The Texas Aggie Democrats and the Young Americans for Freedom held their third annual debate on Thursday night, focusing on President Trump’s first sixty days in office.
History and political science junior and vice president Zach Spanhak led the Aggie Democrats. Spanhak was joined by computer science junior Jacquelyn Dedhia and Texas A&M Engineering at Blinn freshman Mitchel Cepale.
Young Americans for Freedom was represented by multidisciplinary engineering technology senior and president Carson Bethell, economics senior Wyatt Mayhugh and chemical engineering senior Jamie Lincoln. The debate was monitored by political science junior Benjamin Charley, who also serves as the recruitment officer for Texas Aggie Democrats.
Despite areas of contention, both teams found common ground on many issues. The most significant point of unity was their disappointment in Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz.
On March 13, Waltz allegedly added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, to a group chat used to coordinate attacks on the Houthis in Yemen. Waltz later suggested that Goldberg’s phone number may have been “sucked in” to the chat.
Bethell said Waltz’s actions made him upset and he was disappointed in the security advisor’s verbal fumbling on Fox News.
“Give me a break,” Bethell said. “He needs to resign immediately. I think it’s insane. I think he’s at huge fault and Trump’s an idiot for keeping him in the administration.”
Trump’s erratic policy implementation was another point of agreement between the two groups, as both agreed there seemed to be no clear vision of a structured plan.
“I will also agree there needs to be a better plan,” Bethell said. “However, sometimes, your goal as a president is to get your agenda done, and sometimes, it can’t be super pretty.”
Lincoln added that Trump’s tariffs are likely being used as bargaining chips to increase the American economy.
“If he is using it as a bargaining tool, I don’t think he’s doing it very well, might be indicative of his skills as a businessman,” Spanhak replied. “I think he went bankrupt like seven times, that would just be my guess there.”
Trump’s companies have filed six total bankruptcies since 1991. The economy became a point of contention between the two teams during the debate. Texas Aggie Democrats pinned the current issues on the Trump administration, while Young Americans for Freedom blamed former president Joe Biden.
“That is something he inherited, not something he caused,” Lincoln said.
Spanhak was critical of Trump’s economic policy, but he also admitted that some expectations were unrealistic and said many of Trump’s campaign promises were impossible to deliver, such as lowering grocery prices on day one.
Other points of contention throughout the debate included Trump’s ignorance of a judge’s order regarding deportation, Elon Musk’s planned $400 million defense contract for armored Teslas and the alienation of European allies.
Texas Aggie Democrats was also critical of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, saying that unelected teenagers and engineering interns have been granted unwarranted security clearance, despite Musk’s business acumen.
“Right now, what we’re seeing is a lot of bureaucrats that just don’t really do anything,” Lincoln said, citing a controversial email sent by Musk’s team to federal employees that requested a five-point list of job accomplishments from their last week.
After the debate, audience members asked questions to both groups.
Bethell cited Congress as one of the biggest underlying issues facing American politics and advocated for term limits or age restrictions on members of Congress.
“We’re generally entering the first conservative moment of American politics since Reagan,” Dedhia said. “I don’t know necessarily if there’s any sort of like party switching or serious differences in alignment … Trump has taken real command of the GOP, [but] I think the Democratic Party is marginally the same.”
