On April 15, the USC Political Student Assembly facilitated a political debate between the Trojan Democrats and the USC Republicans. The debate featured three rounds, discussing immigration policy, tariffs and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Before the debate started, USC Republicans’ social chair Ben Sheyman said he prepared to debate and defeat the Trojan Democrats using hard data and concrete evidence.
“I think [USC Republicans] are going to be, obviously, bringing a lot more statistics, a lot more facts,” Sheyman said.
On the other side, Shwetha Rajmohan, a junior political science major and member of the Trojan Democrats, felt her team was prepared for whatever the Republicans would throw at them.
“We’re feeling very confident,” Rajmohan said.
The debate began with a discussion on immigration policy. Dhyuthi Chegu, a junior majoring in public policy, started the debate for the Republicans, stating that Trump’s policies are not only solid but necessary.
“Trump’s policies are rooted in absolute fairness,” Chegu said. “Why would we be focusing on people coming in from another country illegally when we have our own citizens to take care of, and the health and wealth of our nation focuses on our citizens? We need to prioritize them and not the illegal immigrants.”
Sara Xio Stienecker, a senior majoring in political science, countered on behalf of the Trojan Democrats, accusing Trump’s immigration policies of causing nationwide havoc.
“Trump’s broad painting of undocumented immigrants, immigrants with legal status, and even naturalized citizens as criminals, harms them, harms us and harms America,” Stienecker said. “His dismantling of checks and balances and disregard for principles of justice in the immigration system do not improve the system. They make it inhumane and ineffective.”
The next round focused on Trump’s recent tariffs, which are currently under a 90-day pause with some exceptions, most notably in China. Kenleonard Oparaji, a sophomore studying public relations and advertising who represented the Trojan Democrats, opened the round by discussing the potential impact of Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” policies on students’ lives.
“These tariffs will even affect how we use our free time, affecting Nintendo Switch prices and other video game devices, as well as our relations with China when it comes to the movie industry,” Oparaji said. “We’ll be watching as our bank accounts continue to shrink while our administration and Republican congressional representatives profit off of our now-failing economy. So really, the question becomes, ‘Was it all worth it?’”
Sheyman found that these tariffs were indeed worth it, stating that U.S. trade policy is broken and needs restructuring following the Biden administration.
“We had four years of their leadership. Food prices rose by 25%, housing prices surged 60% and global conflicts erupted.” Sheyman said. “How much more repression, how big a trade deficit and a loss of jobs for the American worker, before we say enough is enough?”
For the final round, which discussed the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, the debate began with the USC Republicans’ Dakota Driemeyer. Driemeyer, a senior majoring in law, history, and culture, came up with a new way to describe DOGE.
“It stands [for] Democrats Officially Getting Exposed,” Driemeyer said. “We were transgendering [sic] mice for whatever reason. I have no idea why, but these are the things that’s actually very true. Just look it up, and they’re very transparent about that.”
Driemeyer’s claim that the government was “transgendering mice” relates to a series of experiments on mice that totaled about $8.3 million in government spending. The experiments gave mice treatments that can be used for gender-affirming care. The studies were meant to test the potential health effects on humans, not specifically to make mice transgender.
River Muench, a senior majoring in political science and a member of the Trojan Democrats, strongly disagreed with Driemeyer on DOGE’s efficacy in rooting out governmental problems.
“Instead of promoting the reforms that are so badly needed for our own budget, it’s endangering public health, causing chaos among federal agencies and enabling corruption — all without even making a dent in federal spending,” Muench said. “The biggest problem with DOGE is that it is an entirely undemocratic institution. It has always been the role of Congress to hold the power of the purse, and we now see that power being wielded by a single unelected billionaire.”
Leyah Bazile, a freshman majoring in international relations, attended the event. She gave a mixed review of the night’s proceedings.
“I thought that some people who were debating had really strong arguments, while other people just kept repeating things,” Bazile said.
There was no named winner of the debate.