Politics and views in the United States

President Trump says Spain’s 'border invasion' will be a midterm talking point. Kamala Harris calls for real conversations to repair democracy and a new poll finds climate change still matters to Democratic voters.

Transcript

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

When you look at what happened to Spain, they don't know what to do.

And it's happening again today.

They're coming in by the tens of thousands and just invading the country.

And what that is, is weak law, bad management, but very liberal law.

President Donald Trump says a brief migration crisis for Spain will be a midterm election talking point. 50,000 migrants crossed into a small Spanish territory on the North African coast after social media whipped up a court ruling saying swimmers couldn't be sent back.

Nearly all voluntarily returned to Morocco within two days.

Trump says the same could happen here if Democrats regained Congress or the White House.

New polling shows the Democratic presidential field for 28 is wide open.

Among others, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and California Governor Gavin Newsom are positioning themselves, but an Emerson College survey finds most Democratic voters are undecided.

Vice President J.D.

Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio lead on the Republican side.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris hasn't ruled out another run.

For now, she's talking about threats to fair elections, including the way the Voting Rights Act has been undermined.

She's calling for real conversations about reforming and strengthening American democracy.

We need to revisit the Electoral College.

We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 district courts.

The leader of Senate Democrats is backing legislation to limit presidential power and create a federal anti-corruption agency.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer is critical of the often questionable ways Trump made more than $2 billion in a single year back in office and says the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act would empower unified anti-corruption action without partisan interference.

It replaces a broken patchwork of watchdogs, none of which were built for this moment, with one powerful anti-corruption agency, ready to act anywhere, anytime corruption strikes.

In the lead-up to the midterms, public news service is highlighting important polls and the people they represent.

New data from the 2035 initiative reveals that while climate change may not be a top priority for voters, ignoring the issue could backfire for Democratic candidates.

Suzanne Potter reports.

After the 2024 election, many Democratic candidates stopped campaigning on global warming.

But new polling from the 2035 initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara, finds the so-called climate hush is actually counterproductive.

Dr. Gabriel DeRoche says people who support action to combat climate change are highly motivated to vote.

We found prioritizing climate change actually did increase the likelihood that a voter would vote for that candidate.

That's among voters who are open to voting for Democrats.

Polling did not show the same results for committed Republican voters.

President Trump is blaming Minnesota governor and former Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz for a rash of cyber attacks on water systems in that state and others.

Intelligence officials say Iran is most likely responsible.

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

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