AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Funding for the Department of Homeland Security ran out yesterday morning, and we're now in a shutdown. If it keeps going, the shutdown could upset travel plans, immigration enforcement and disaster relief. This all happened after Democrats demanded a range of new restrictions on immigration agents, and Republicans resisted. NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson is with us now to talk about that and more. Good morning, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So even though DHS is technically in a shutdown, the work is ongoing because 90% of its employees are considered essential and have to keep working. So this whole thing, in many ways, is, like, symbolic, right? Like, it's a standoff on immigration policies.
LIASSON: That's right. ICE itself has a lot of appropriated money already, so it can continue its work, but it's become very unpopular, including with some of Donald Trump's own supporters. People tell pollsters they like the idea of a secure border. They like the idea of deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records. But they don't like watching American citizens be killed or children be detained or law enforcement going into people's homes without warrants. And Democrats have pushed back and are asking for a set of reforms that include needing a warrant or having a badge with an ID number on it. And those reforms are pretty common for police departments all over the country.
RASCOE: It sounds like Trump is maybe getting a bit of pushback from his own base. Is he losing a grip on his party?
LIASSON: I wouldn't go that far, but he certainly is getting pushback from a number of areas. Six Republicans in the House joined Democrats to vote against his tariffs on Canada. A number of grand juries are refusing to indict, as Trump's prosecutors have asked them to. He had to back down on the Epstein files, where when Republicans joined Democrats to vote for them to be released, he got a lot of criticism, even from Republicans, about a racist tweet that he posted. So - and his approval ratings are dropping, and it's a midterm year. So even Donald Trump is not immune from the laws of political gravity, and he is seen as a liability by some Republicans in swing districts.
RASCOE: Well, speaking of the midterms, Trump says he wants to nationalize the midterms this year and change the way they're run. Here he is on the Dan Bongino podcast earlier this month.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE DAN BONGINO SHOW")
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The Republicans should say, we want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least many - 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.
RASCOE: Now, I mean, constitutionally, though, that is not allowed, right? Am I wrong on that?
LIASSON: That's right. I mean, Donald Trump has said they should cancel the elections. He has said we shouldn't even have elections. But the Constitution gives states the power to conduct elections. So election experts say canceling the elections would be pretty hard, but there are a lot of things they worry that he can do to undermine the voting. He's already commandeered voter rolls in a bunch of states. He, in the past, has said he wouldn't honor results of an election unless he wins. That's what January 6 was all about when he sent his supporters to the Capitol to try to decertify the election results. But he could challenge voters. He could try to disqualify them, claim that they're not U.S. citizens. So election experts are worried that Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to challenge the results of future elections.
RASCOE: Well, switching gears a little bit. Some U.S. lawmakers are in Munich for the Munich Security Conference this weekend, where Europeans are making it clear that U.S. values are becoming increasingly distant from their own values, especially when it comes to NATO, which Trump has threatened to leave. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he struck a different tone yesterday, right?
LIASSON: That's right. Unlike JD - Vice President Vance's speech at the last Munich conference, where he scolded Europeans for sidelining far-right parties and limiting free speech, Rubio had a slightly different message. He said that the U.S. and Europe belong together. He said the U.S. wants a strong Europe, even though he also criticized Europe's immigration policies. So I would say Rubio came to Munich with a different tone, if not difference in substance.
RASCOE: That's NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you, Mara.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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