President Trump is under pressure internationally and domestically as the year's primary elections near an end.
Republicans facing reelection fights this fall are in the position they often face.
They would like to appeal to voters but are chained to a president who does what he wants. Now, so far this week, President Trump has clashed with Iran, China, Canada and even some members of his own party, fights that emphasize inflation and war.
INSKEEP: NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is covering all of this. Good morning.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So what is the president trying to achieve on some of these issues that A just mentioned?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. Well, let's look at Iran, for example. This war is about to hit six months, right? And it was a conflict that when Trump started, said it would last about six weeks. This war continues to be unpopular among voters. It's weakened the economy. And Trump's threats against Iran haven't worked. There's no deal. There's no end in sight to this war. And this has led to a different approach the administration is trying to take, where Trump is now threatening sanctions against Iran and other countries that do business with Iran, which includes China.
Trump's under a lot of pressure to end this war. And he's running out of time before the midterms. But what's unclear is how these sanction threats might get applied and how seriously countries like China take them in the next couple of months. And then, you know, you also mentioned Canada. There's a tariff fight going on with Canada this week, a curious move from Trump when high prices are already top of mind for voters this year. Trump's tariff tactics aren't new, but it's reignited tensions with an ally and it's likely to increase prices even more for Americans.
INSKEEP: OK. So then relate all of that to the midterm elections, which are coming in November. And early voting is not so far away, really.
SHIVARAM: You're right. So with the tariffs on Canada, that led to some Republicans who are running in some really tight elections, like Senator Susan Collins in Maine, to distance herself from Trump, say that these tariffs are a mistake. And Trump recently also announced that the U.S. – this is a different move – would import more beef from abroad. That was an effort to try and lower the cost of beef, which has increased in part because of the war. And the White House is trying to say that this decision is a big win. But it got immediate pushback from Republican senators in states like Montana and Wyoming, saying that beef imports would hurt American farmers, many of whom support the president.
INSKEEP: Are there other moves by the president recently that seem politically awkward?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. That's a good way of phrasing it. I think a good example of this is on AI data centers. This is something that has just blown up in the last few weeks. It's become a huge issue in the midterms. There are candidates now proposing moratoriums, attacking their opponents for being too soft on data centers, just trying to put forward a stance that matches this public backlash. It's come up in races in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas.
But the president is taking a different approach than a lot of members of his own party. He's saying that he wants the U.S. to win the AI war against China. That's long been his stance. And he recently said that he thinks every town should have a data center because he says that it brings in jobs and tax benefits. But that puts him at odds, Steve, with the 7 out of 10 Americans who are opposed to a data center getting built in their area, according to Gallup.
INSKEEP: OK. So is the president responding at all to this feedback?
SHIVARAM: You know, when Trump's on the road in front of voters, he usually falls back on his favorite campaign lines. He attacks Democrats, say that they're bringing back communism. When it comes to lowering costs, Trump just points to how he lowered the price of eggs, which happened a year and a half ago. And when he says that the war with Iran, when it does end, he says the oil prices will come down.
