Politics and views in the United States

Trump justifies his Iran war policy as support among his base plummets. The SCOTUS appears unlikely to narrow birthright citizenship and advocates call universities to not use charter flight companies involved in deportations.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

For these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat.

The most violent and thuggish regime on Earth would be free to carry out their campaigns of terror, coercion, conquest, and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield.

President Donald Trump describes the Iran war as a huge success, vital for American interests.

With a primetime White House address, he said the conflict will end in two to three weeks, saying it is up to other countries to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Since the U.S. began airstrikes, more than a dozen U.S. service members and an estimated 1,600 Iranian civilians have died.

The war has shaken markets and sent the average price of gas over $4.

In an open letter, Iran's president called on the U.S. to negotiate, calling the confrontation costly and futile.

With the war, a declining stock market, and a partial government shutdown, a poll by the economists find slightly more than a third of Americans now view Trump favorably.

During oral arguments, even conservative Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism on his executive order narrowing birthright citizenship.

The administration argued other countries exclude children born to undocumented immigrants or short-term visa holders.

Opponents say that runs counter to a century of legal precedent and the 14th Amendment.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh was appointed by Trump.

We try to interpret American law with American precedent based on American in history.

Why should we be thinking about, gee, European countries don't have this, or most other countries, many other countries in the world don't have this?

Retired Lieutenant Colonel and former White House National Security Staffer Alexander Vindman has raised more than $8 million in a bid to replace Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Senate.

Vindman testified against Trump during his first impeachment and hopes to follow several Democrats who have flipped seats in Florida this year.

Residents of rural downstate Illinois are joining those in other states resisting local data center projects, questioning their environmental impacts and energy usage.

Lori McKiernan, with the Coalition for Springfield's Utility Future, says they have a lot more questions than answers.

I'm not against data centers, but I must say the more I learn about them, the more concerned I am.

And I want our county board to do their due diligence to address all of these concerns.

Illinois state lawmakers are debating a suite of new regulations on data centers this legislative session.

That includes the Power Act, which would require them to use clean energy, cover infrastructure costs, and disclose water or environmental impacts.

As colleges compete in March Madness, a union is calling on the NCAA to end partnerships with charter flight companies that also transport detained immigrants.

Casey Helton with SEIU says last fall, the service employees launched the De-Ice These Flights campaign to pressure universities.

The way that you answer these corporations that are profiting off of hate and suffering is you hit them in their wallets.

You go after this invisible hand of capital that is like driving this whole profit framework around these deportations.

I'm Zamone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.