GOP Tamara Keith and Amy Walter face midterm pressure over Department of Homeland Security shutdown, Iran war

Jeff Bennett:

Air travelers were met with long queues. For travelers looking to drive, they instead face rising fuel prices as the war with Iran continues.

There is a lot to discuss with the policy duo on Monday. This is Amy Walter from The Cook Policy Report with NPR’s Amy Walter and Tamara Keith.

Another Monday, another chance for me to welcome you to the show. Good to see you both.

Tamara Keith, NPR:

It’s good to see you.

Jeff Bennett:

So, we’re about to reach the 40th day of DHS funding closure. Today, we’re seeing something new: ICE agents helping solve TSA staffing shortages.

Amy, is this a practical solution to a real problem or does it raise more concerns than it solves?

Amy Walter, Cook Political Report:

Yeah, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to solve the real problem, which is getting people through the lines. What they need are people who can actually operate the machines and do the scanning and all that. This is not what ICE can do.

It’s as if they are trying to find a solution, but it won’t solve the problem. The real challenge — and I think Lisa presented it very well — is the fact that at one point, it seemed like we were so close to a solution to this, that Republicans came to the table saying, we’re going to separate this fight over ICE from DHS funding.

Republicans can agree, Democrats can agree, boom, bang, boom, we’re done. The president comes and says not without the voting law. And so what you’ve done now is basically put the shutdown issue immediately in the President’s lap. It is now closed. He says, unless the bill is passed I would like to see that everyone agrees that they will not be able to pass it, and this shutdown continues.

Jeff Bennett:

Tam, why is the President making this savings law a red line now?

Tamara Keith:

Well, this is — this goes back a very long time. He has raised false concerns about people who are not in the country legally, and people who are not citizens voting in elections dating back to at least the 2016 election.

This is a long-standing issue that he cares about a lot. Now he’s said he thinks this is something, the Save America Act, the Save America Act, as he’s renamed it, something Republicans can run on in the midterms.

But the problem is that it is a besieged valley. He’s taking a stand, making a really big deal, and now saying I’ll agree to a shutdown, more or less, all for legislation that simply doesn’t have enough Republican support to get it out of the Senate.

There are reasons for this. The legislation would require people to register to vote to show proof of citizenship. Well, in rural states, that means, first, finding the documents, and second, physically traveling. In Alaska, people may have to board a plane to prove they are citizens so they can register to vote.

He also wants to exclude most absentee voting. Well, Republicans love absentee voting. And there are definitely ways you can tighten it up and things like that. But he’s basically taking a stand on something, saying, stay for Easter, do this for Jesus, when – literally, he said that.

Jeff Bennett:

I was going to ask you. Yes.

Amy Walter:

Yes.

Tamara Keith:

Yes. He said that.

He’s doing it on an issue where he’s making it very difficult for members of his own party who don’t support it.

Jeff Bennett:

Let’s talk about the war with Iran. It’s not popular. The public does not support this. This is according to a number of polls. Americans are now feeling the rise in gas prices at gas stations.

How much political pressure, Amy, does this create on Republicans, especially in this election year?

Amy Walter:

Yes.

They already face the traditional headwinds of being party members, and then they face a public that is very frustrated with inflation, and now on top of that, there’s an unpopular war and rising gas prices. Not good.

However, the issue, ultimately, it seems to me, is about how unpopular this is and how long this becomes a political issue for Republicans, and how long we stay in Iran. I thought one of the most interesting questions was – CBS released a poll this weekend. They asked, What do you think should be the priority for success?

No more nuclear weapons for Iran. They do not bother their neighbors. That was popular. But the most popular by far at 92% is that it ends quickly. This is what Americans want above all else. The longer it drags on, the harder it will be for Republicans to put this fact in the rearview mirror, because it is true that by November we may not remember TSA lines and gas prices, but the longer the war drags on, the less popular it will become, even among people who might support it now.

Jeff Bennett:

And one of the ways we know that the president believes this is a political responsibility is that he was in Memphis today trying to shift the focus to issues like crime, right.

Tamara Keith:

Yes.

Amy Walter:

Yes.

Tamara Keith:

And I’ve spent a lot of time talking to swing voters the last few weeks, and no one talks about crime. They’ve talked a lot about the economy, about the cost of living, and then more recently about gas prices.

But President Trump certainly promised that he would take to the streets and campaign. And something like crime should be a winning issue for the president. The problem is that voters have other higher priorities now. And yes, he is trying to restore the crime issue, the immigration issue by getting rid of the Secretary of Homeland Security and appointing a new one.

He’s really trying to reset things and take back control of these issues that have helped propel him and Republicans in the past.

Amy Walter:

This is correct.

Jeff Bennett:

We should also, before we wrap up this conversation, talk about what happened over the weekend. We reported that the White House installed this statue of Christopher Columbus. It was an exact copy. You see it there. It is an exact copy of the one that was demolished in 2020.

He also approved a commemorative coin bearing his own image, that of President Trump. I’m not sure we have a picture of that.

But Amy, what is – strategy is not the right word. There may be no strategy. But what does this symbolism mean, what does this iconography mean, and what does it suggest?

Amy Walter:

This is the president who has long loved seeing his name on objects, buildings, etc. So this is not particularly new.

But it’s also a president who wants – who believes strongly in putting his stamp on Washington, not just figuratively, but literally, for this to stand the test of time.

It’s also — going back to Tam’s point, especially with the Christopher Columbus statue, it’s the return to the things that have traditionally worked in the president’s favor, especially when it comes to keeping his base engaged and motivated are the things that evoke what the Christopher Columbus statue looks like, which is that we’re in a battle for the identity of the United States. The left supports this woke ideology. We kind of support where real Americans are.

So it’s his comfortable place. And this is also where, when he talks about those things, his base comes together, even as they’re divided, at least in Congress, on this shutdown issue.

Jeff Bennett:

How do you read it, Tam? Is it symbolism like politics, a distraction from larger challenges, or both?

Tamara Keith:

It’s a powerful focus for the president. Whether it’s a distraction to others or not, he’s very focused on it.

This is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. President Trump has a very specific view about what should be part of American history. He is trying to distort American history, to remove any hints that America may not have always been perfect.

And this statement from Davis Engel, the White House spokesman, is just part of it here, I think it amounts to this: “President Trump has rightly praised Christopher Columbus as a Native American hero, a giant of Western civilization.”

This is completely in line with the way President Trump views America. He’s also working on American Heroes Park, statues removed from city squares because of the complicated history.

Jeff Bennett:

Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, thank you both.

Amy Walter:

You’re welcome.

Tamara Keith:

You’re welcome.