NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with political strategist and former senior Republican congressional adviser Rina Shah about how President Trump's personal grievances and projects are affecting the chances of GOP candidates in the upcoming election. Rina Shah has been listening with us. She is a political strategist with experience as a GOP congressional adviser.
MARTIN: So Mara mentioned the president's complaints, and in some cases, moves against people like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, the media, the government of Norway. Is - does any of that motivate voters at this point, either in his base or independents? SHAH: Well, I think it's really important to see what this really is.
The diesel deal and the energy ceasefire announcement, I believe, are less about immediate relief and more about creating a permission structure for Republican candidates. The volumes are really too small to meaningfully move prices before November 3. I think most analysts are saying that plainly, and most of us kind of get that.
But the move lets candidates say that the president is trying something on cost instead of doing nothing. And that's really the narrow political utility here. The risk is that Zelenskyy's criticism and then the lack of clear details on the ceasefire turn it into another foreign policy story that down-ballot Republicans then have to explain rather than use.
MARTIN: But also it doesn't work. It doesn't seem to be working. He's saying one thing, and the facts prove to be otherwise.
And to that end, you know, the president's defending - he's aggressively defended his decision to launch trade wars with much of the world, his military war with Iran. Those are both things that have raised prices for Americans. The latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll indicates that independent voters favor Democrats by 19 points on the economy.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
