Politics chat: Will Democrats use the war and high prices for their midterm strategy?

+ August 2, 20268:08 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday By Ayesha Rascoe , Mara Liasson Politics chat: Will Democrats use the war and high prices for their midterm strategy? Listen &middot; 4:57 4:57 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5911749/nx-s1-9872268" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript We look at how the Democratic party is approaching the midterms, and if they are using issues like the war in Iran and affordability, to their advantage. Sponsor Message Transcript AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: In a late-night post on social media, President Trump said that the U.S. would hold off on attacking Iran for now. He wrote on Truth Social that, quote, "the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to," unquote. We're joined now by NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Hi, Mara.

+ MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there. RASCOE: I mean, it seems like we've heard this before - you know, the U.S. and Iran are close to a deal. What's different now? LIASSON: We don't know what's different now. This sounds like deja vu all over again. He's said in the past that they're close to a deal. He's backed away from promising to hit Iran really hard. And it contradicts what Donald Trump has been saying in recent days, including at a Cabinet meeting on Friday at Camp David, where he said he was losing faith in Iran's ability to make a deal and getting ready for a major strike. So we don't know. RASCOE: OK. Well, in that same Cabinet meeting, President Trump talked about inflation. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This month, it was announced that inflation is dropping at the fastest rate in more than six years. Walmart, Sam's Club, Giant Eagle and others are slashing prices by - hundreds of grocery stores. And all of the stores - I mean, throughout the country, they're slashing prices. RASCOE: Are Americans actually feeling that relief? LIASSON: There's no evidence that they are right now. There have been lower prices at some stores this past month, but we're also seeing gas costs still over $4 a gallon. The rate of personal bankruptcies is starting to creep up again as people struggle to make ends meet. Credit card delinquencies, which is 90 days or more late on paying your bill - they're at a 15 year high. And inflation has contributed to mortgage rates going up to 6.66%. That's the highest in a year. That makes homes much harder to afford for many Americans. And what we know from the past is that when presidents try to tell voters that what they're experiencing is not true, voters get angry. This happened to Joe Biden also. And Donald Trump isn't the first president to tell voters, don't believe your lying eyes. And what we know from polls and from our own focus groups is that voters might not be very well-informed on the issues, but they do know exactly what gas costs at the pump today. They know what it cost last week, and they know what it cost the week before. RASCOE: Yes. I mean, it was over $75 to fill my tank. LIASSON: Yeah. RASCOE: (Laughter) And - but are Democrats leveraging the things like the war and the high prices to help them with their midterm campaigns? I mean, it seems like that could work in their favor. LIASSON: Well, they certainly are trying, but they have a lot of structural problems working against them. First of all, they have a real money deficit. The Republican Party has much, much more money. The Republican Party has succeeded in gerrymandering House districts to make more Republican-leaning districts. Also, the national Democratic Party is a shambles. The DNC has lost trust among Democrats nationwide, among Democratic donors. And really, the one-and-only task in an election year for a national party is to raise bazillions of dollars, and the DNC has failed at that. They are in debt. They have no money. And the chairman of the DNC, Ken Martin is considered to be a failure. So that's a real problem for Democrats, even though they want to take advantage of a bad economy and a very unpopular incumbent president. RASCOE: So - but all that said, there is a pretty major Senate primary this week in Michigan, right? LIASSON: That's right. This is a big example. The primary debate in Michigan is an example of the big battle that's playing out inside the Democratic Party. You've got an insurgent left wing, which has won a bunch of primaries in deep-blue districts. That's where the stakes are pretty low 'cause those districts are going to be represented by a Democratic candidate anyway. But then you have Michigan, which is a swing state. You have a left-wing populist, Abdul El-Sayed, running against a more pragmatic establishment candidate, Haley Stevens, and they agree on nearly all the economic issues. They want to make health care and housing and education easier to afford. Where they disagree are on issues like - well, I'd call them style and vibe. Who can fight Trump harder? They also disagree about Israel and abolishing ICE, defunding the police. So Michigan is a swing state. And we do have a new poll there that shows Abdul El-Sayed leading Stevens by double digits in the primary, but then losing the general election to the Republican also by double digits. So this is a big experiment on the part of Democrats. They're going to see which kind of candidate can not just win a primary but also win swing states like Michigan, and that is a must-win state for Democrats. They can't take back the Senate unless they hang on to that seat. RASCOE: That's NPR's Mara Liasson. Mara, thank you so much. LIASSON: You're welcome. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{310:function(e,n,o){o.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([o.e(1),o.e(2),o.e(3),o.e(4),o.e(80)]).then((e=>{o(15),o(769),o(155),o(176),o(93),o(447),o(254),o(128),o(130),o(754),o(175),o(755),o(255),o(78),o(773)}).bind(null,o)).catch(o.oe)},782:function(e,n,o){e.exports=o(310)}},[[782,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();