SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And we turn now to NPR senior contributor Ron Elving. Ron, thanks so much for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: President Trump, of course, addressed the nation this week, more than a month into the conflict. And according to polls, the war is not popular. Did the president make a new case to the American people?
ELVING: He sounded more as though he was telling us the mission had been accomplished, almost, and he seemed to be calling for congratulations without quite closing the deal. On the morning after the speech, the markets slumped, oil prices spiked and Trump's polls have continued to slide. Now, the White House had hoped the war would be short and a smashing success. But while Iran has taken a terrible beating, they still seem to be striking back - and still strike - and still blocking the Strait of Hormuz. And we don't seem to have an answer for that other than Trump's threat to simply bomb them back to the Stone Age.
SIMON: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on President Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship. President was at the court watching - a first. What did you hear in many of the questions from the justices?
ELVING: We heard doubt. The questions from the justices, including the Trump appointees - three of them - were rather rough on the lawyer for the Trump administration. Lower courts have already affirmed that birthright citizenship is part of the Constitution. So you had to wonder whether or not the high court would have taken this case at all under any other circumstances. And when Trump left and got on his Truth Social account to say that, quote, the U.S. is "the only country in the world stupid enough" to have birthright citizenship, close quote, he was apparently too busy or impatient to do a Google search and see that there are more than 30 countries with such laws.
SIMON: Pam Bondi was let go as attorney general. She has been among the president's most outspoken defenders, notably calling him the greatest president in U.S. history. Ron, why do you think she was let go?
ELVING: It's hard to imagine anyone being a more forceful advocate, Scott, or a more aggressive defender of the president. But all the reporting on Bondi points at Trump's bitter disappointment with her for failing to contain the fallout from the Epstein files, which he had entrusted to her department. And then also his frustration that Bondi's team so far had not secured convictions against some of those officials who, as part of their jobs during the Biden administration, had investigated Trump while he was out of office. Now, that includes former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. And Bondi now says she has a thrilling opportunity in the private sector. And she could try to restart, perhaps, the promising career she had until recently in Florida politics.
SIMON: Department of Homeland Security is still not funded, even though a deal has seemed within reach at least a couple of times in recent weeks. Why is an agreement so elusive, even after President Trump weighed in with his support this week?
ELVING: He weighed in with his support, but the question has been what exactly he is doing to drive that home. So the deal's been on again and off again several times, falling short in the House - something of a surprise - because a hard-core group of conservatives known as the House Freedom Caucus just didn't want to make a deal. They saw it as caving to the Democrats. They didn't see they had gotten enough.
And Senate Republicans are seeking a workaround now to avoid the Democratic filibuster that's holding things up in the Senate. They're hoping to do this with a kind of budget bill later in the year that they could do without getting a supermajority, just getting it with 51 votes. And - but Democrats, meanwhile, refuse to be part of any fresh funding for ICE until there are reforms, and that's been the sticking point all along. Now, here again, Trump is the crucial factor. We shall see if he can sew up those last few holdouts in the House on his side.
SIMON: I hate to put you on the spot. How long has there been a partial government shutdown now, Ron?
ELVING: Well, it's been - well, a partial government shutdown, just talking about the Department of Homeland Security - that goes back better part of two months.
SIMON: Wow. All right. NPR's Ron Elving. Thanks so much for being with us.
ELVING: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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