It's been a busy week in Washington, from foreign policy to congressional redistricting and another special election. NPR's Domenico Montanaro and Tamara Keith break down the week's top stories.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It's been another busy week in politics. The Supreme Court has approved controversial redistricting plans in Texas. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth finds himself in a difficult situation in part because of strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug ships in the Caribbean. Yes, and there was another snap election. So we asked senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro to join us today to take a step back and put it all in context. Hello to you both.
TAMARA KEITH, AUTHOR: Hello.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hello.
SUMMERS: Tam, I want to start with you and Secretary Hegseth, who this week found himself at the center of a really serious investigation. Tell us what happened.
KEITH: It all depends on Hegseth's leadership and judgment as Secretary of Defense. He had clearly been on edge all week. There was concern about a boat strike on September 2, in which there were survivors who were then struck a second time and died. Leading lawmakers on key committees went to closed hearings this week voicing bipartisan concerns. During this meeting, they saw full video of the strikes and were divided over how alarmed people should be about what had happened. And they were divided along party political lines.
And this briefing on the Hill came on the same day that the Defense Department's independent inspector general released a report finding that back in March, Hegseth violated policy and compromised the safety of U.S. military personnel by sharing sensitive military information in a group chat.
MONTANARO: Yes. And politically, I mean, we've clearly seen Republicans here clearly come to Hegseth's defense. You know, they point to former President Barack Obama for these twin missile drone fires in the war on terrorism, which were really controversial. They say he wrote a book about it. A Pentagon spokesman called the inspector general's report a “complete vindication,” but that's not entirely true. And you know, this is just another example in the Trump era of just saying something is true and then hoping that the base will support those talking points.
The same thing happened with Trump's recent racist remarks about Somalis and Afghan refugees. You know, it's part of Trump's strategy to look away from the worst news, like, frankly, negative opinions about his approach to the economy, and move on to xenophobia and immigration and other culture war issues. And his base generally agreed with this.
SUMMERS: And Hegseth is one part of that. But what will we learn this week about the Trump administration's approach to foreign policy and national defense?
MONTANARO: The White House has released a 33-page document on the country's national security strategy. This is quite remarkable in how Trump and his administration view the United States' role in the world. A few things really stood out to me. First, it exhibits real isolationist tendencies, noting, for example, the quote: “The affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests.” Secondly, there is a clear reduction in spending and focus on the Western Hemisphere, which we have already seen here. And thirdly, there is a very sharp, negative attitude towards Europe. The document describes Europe as a country experiencing economic decline and, quote, “civilizational erasure” associated with migration.
SUMMERS: But I have to say it's not entirely surprising given what we've already seen and known about President Trump.
KEITH: Yes. This is in keeping with the way he ruled. But the document lays it out clearly, and it is a real rift in the post-World War II alliance order that has now largely maintained peace and security in the West for more than half a century. And the question I have about this document is: Will this position be sustainable or will it change depending on who the president is talking to, as it often does under this president?
SUMMERS: But at the same time, Republicans are faced with a mountain of data showing voters are dissatisfied with Trump. Tell us what we see.
MONTANARO: Well, Trump really is at the political low point of his presidency. His approval rating is the lowest. Now his average is about 30 years. According to our surveys with independent experts, it is about 20 years old. And a lot of it has to do with economics. His approach to this issue is small because the cost of living has indeed been the dominant issue in people's minds. Yet this week, Trump again dismissed affordability as important.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, the Democrats are talking about a false narrative about affordability. They just say the word. It doesn't mean anything to anyone. They just say – availability. I inherited the worst inflation in history. There was no solvency. Nobody could afford anything.
MONTANARO: You know, this was definitely a key issue in the special election that we just saw this week in Tennessee, where the Democrats outperformed again. The Republican won there, but the Democrats did better. So obviously cost of living does matter to people.
SUMMERS: What does the White House say about all this?
KEITH: Well, first of all, they insist on not being outraged by what happened in Tennessee. Earlier this week, I spoke with a senior White House official who said the president's travel will actually increase later this year. The first stop, the only one announced so far, will be next Tuesday in Pennsylvania. The focus will be on accessibility. But I have to say that the same senior White House official told me almost the exact same thing almost a month ago. Then they told me that the message would be about sympathy for prices, like, you know, I feel your pain. We have done a lot, but we still have more to do.
But as we've seen, the president keeps returning to the idea of accessibility as a word that Democrats have coined as some sort of con against him. This lack of message discipline was difficult to break. And the problem with the cost of living is that people go to the grocery store all the time. They now go Christmas shopping, holiday shopping and can see for themselves how much things cost.
SUMMERS: Right. And we've also talked a lot about the structural advantages that Republicans have when it comes to the midterm elections next year. How are things now?
KEITH: The Supreme Court gave Republicans a big victory last night, saying the maps drawn in Texas stand up to scrutiny. This mid-decade redrawing of boundaries was intended to give Republicans up to five more seats in an already Republican-dominated state. President Trump was the driving force behind this because he is very openly concerned about what would happen if the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives.
MONTANARO: And yet, the Republicans, you know, are trying to win more seats, and they may well create more seats in Texas, for example, but they may not win as many seats as they were hoping for. And they are compensated by places like California and other places. And in a wave year, redistributing these seats and reducing the number of Republican ones could backfire. And that's one of the reasons, as well as accessibility, why we're seeing potentially so many Republicans leaving Congress, which is a real sign that the Republicans are very serious about what could be a wave year for the Democrats next year.
KEITH: Because no one likes to be in the minority.
SUMMERS: NPR's Tamara Keith and Domenico Montanaro, thank you both.
KEITH: Please.
MONTANARO: You're welcome.
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