Politics and views in the United States.

Former Speaker Paul Ryan weighs in on the 2024 Presidential election. President Biden condemns anti-semitism. And the House calls more college and university presidents to testify on handling pro-Palestine protests.

TRANSCRIPT

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Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Trump can't win, but Biden can lose.

Meaning Trump's polling at his peak, pretty much in all of his swing states.

He's basically polling at the best he has, at the best he can get, and Biden's underperforming everywhere.

Republican former Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, says he expects the presidential race to be close.

Ryan is criticizing his party as Trump-oriented and chaotic, noting that inter-party fights helped push him out of Congress.

The polls do show a tight race.

Former President Donald Trump was stuck in a New York court yesterday, while the porn star he's accused of paying off gave a detailed account of the sex Trump denies took place.

Meanwhile, federal judge Eileen Cannon is indefinitely delaying Trump's separate document trial.

It was set to begin later this month, but Cannon cited the complex legal rules around using classified evidence.

But President Joe Biden faces a different challenge, trying to strike a balance on the war in Gaza.

Yesterday, he condemned the rise in anti-Semitism during Israel's war against Hamas.

Speaking at a Holocaust Remembrance event on Capitol Hill, he said the ancient hatred of Jews didn't end after World War II.

This hatred continues to lie deep in the heart of too many people in the world, and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.

Negotiators from Israel have returned to the Cairo ceasefire negotiations, but tanks have also closed the Rafah border.

The sticking point seems to be the length of a pause in fighting.

Meanwhile, North Carolina Republican Representative, Virginia Foxx, says presidents of Yale, UCLA, and University of Michigan will be called to testify before Congress about their handling of anti-Semitism and pro-Palestine protests.

Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students.

American universities are officially put on notice that we have come to take our universities back.

But students may not be the issue.

The New York police say more than half of the 170 arrested at a city college protest weren't enrolled at the school.

A third of those arrested at Columbia weren't either.

Kaliah Ann Mendoza with anti-war group, Nonviolent Peace Force, faults administrators for bringing in the cops.

School administrators should be meeting with students and should not escalate to this point.

These students are unarmed.

They are engaged in practicing peaceful, nonviolent protest, which is a fundamental human right.

Proposed New York state equal rights amendment won't be on the ballot this November after a judge ruled that lawmakers missed a procedural step.

The legislature didn't get a legal opinion from the attorney general on the measure to protect trans and reproductive rights.

Supporters argue that step has been missed in past proposals.

South Dakota's primary next month will be the first national election since ballot drop boxes were banned there.

It's one of 12 states to ban drop boxes, though there's no proven connection between drop boxes and voter fraud or stolen ballots.

Member of the Rosebud Sioux and state Senator, Sean Bordeaux, says the ban's unfair to rural and tribal voters.

It was something that a lot of people utilized on our reservation communities where you might have to travel 70 miles to go vote.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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