Meet the Press NOW — July 2

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Welcome to meet the press now. I'm Melanie's known it in Washington as the White House faces the prospect of a summer slowdown in the jobs market. With economic issues, top of mind for voters heading into the November midterms. The latest jobs numbers showing the U.S. economy added just 57,000 jobs in June. well below economist's expectations, and that the economy added 74,000 fewer jobs than thought in the prior two months. The unemployment rate remained fairly steady at 4.2%. The White House, though, downplaying the disappointing news,

saying, quote, the June jobs report reinforces that the American labor market remains solid thanks to President Trump's economic agenda. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett also trying to portray an optimistic outlook. I think that if you smooth through the ups and downs over the last three or four months, we're on a really steep upward trajectory. And I think the main story of the White House has been that all of these new factories, the ground-breakings that the president's talking about, the $19 trillion is flowing into the economy, is going to create a construction boom, followed by an employment boom, and the construction boom is very visible of the data as well. But if you look

at the Jolts data where they tell you job openings, there are millions and millions of job openings. And so if people are frustrated, they got frustrated maybe because of Joe Biden's economy and left the labor market, they should come back in because there are jobs everywhere. Despite the disappointing jobs report, we are seeing some positive signs for consumers struggling with high energy prices. The price of crude oil, now nearly back to pre-war levels, around $67 a barrel. The price of gas also falling from its highs during the war. And there are some hopeful signs that traffic through the Strait of Hermuz is starting to pick back up. with 45 vessels transiting the vital waterway yesterday, according to ship trackers at Kepler, though well below the pre-war average of 130 vessels a day.

Iran, however, still trying to exert its control over the street, urging all tankers and commercial vessels to use routes designated for safe passage by Tehran and warning that failure to comply will be met with an immediate and decisive response. In a post on social media last night, President Trump touting the plummeting oil prices, but saying gas prices are not dropping as fast as they should. Promising gas prices will soon be back to their pre-war levels. Joining me now is our all-star team of reporters, Kelly O'Donnell at the White House. Brian Chong is at the Big Board and Keir Starmer Simmons is in Tel Aviv.

Also with us is oil industry expert John Kilduff, who's also a partner at Again Capital LLC. Thank you all so much for joining us. A lot to dig into here. I want to start at the White House with you, Kelly. We saw the White House try to downplay those latest jobs reports numbers, but is there any concern behind the scenes about a summer slowdown before the midterm elections? Well, there's certainly a concern about the real world effects of what's happening with the economy. But as you note, the White House is not really addressing the concerns that are in those numbers and doing its best to find ways to talk about a broader picture, about a longer range trajectory.

And at the same time, this is a White House that often will tout any kind of positive. figures that work in the president's favor, in the administration's best interest. And so the absence of doing that with today's numbers has to be something that people factor in as they gather this information and try and put together how the White House is assessing this. Certainly if this had been a robust figure, if it had met or exceeded the jobs anticipated, there'd be a very different approach from the White House. They are asking the public to look at a longer term and to see is there an upswing over time, looking for the sort of repatriation of manufacturing in the country and looking at some instances of construction. But so much of the

picture of the jobs economy in our country is now more on service than on making things. So the White House is trying to put the best spin. On gas prices, they're also, of course, looking for anything that brings some relief, especially as we're into the holiday weekend and a time when many people are taking vacations and taking those road trips with family and are feeling the effects, as well as those whose jobs and employment are centered on the costs of fuel and how that has an impact on Americans in a very real way. If you ask the average citizen if they know if they're spending more on a given commodity, gasoline is often something they can specifically tell you about in terms of how much more it may cost to fill up their tank. So the White House is saying there are good things to see, but they are clearly having a more muted response based on these figures. Brian, take us through those latest jobs numbers. And what does it say about the state of the economy? Yeah, Mel, well, let's rehash those numbers we got from the government this morning.

57,000. That's how many jobs were added in the month of June. That was well below what economists were expecting. They were expecting about 115,000 jobs in the month. So that is a pretty huge miss. And it's a slowdown from what we saw in the three months prior, when we saw overall. 100,000 in the case of March, over 200,000 jobs added. Now, if we unpack this and take a look at where we've seen these job changes. You can see social assistance and construction, adding at a pretty healthy clip. Of course, leisure and hospitality. These are bars and restaurants contracting by over 60,000 in just the month. This is a trend that we've seen in the past few reports. These are jobs at bars and restaurants. Interestingly, this is the industry that drove a lot of

the job gains post-pandemic. This is the one I want to focus on here. Healthcare adding 22,000. This been the major driver over those really stellar three months of jobs reports we got prior to that, in part because of an aging workforce. We have an aging population here in the U.S. that has increased the need for doctors and nurses in our healthcare industry. That has been driving a lot of the gains as well. So these are kind of the threads that were watching. One economist at J.P. Morgan said this report does show the labor market continuing to chug along. It just seems like it's lost a little bit of a pep in its step because of that lower headline number. And Brian, oil prices are close to their pre-war levels.

What are you seeing and should consumers expect gas prices to also come back to pre-war levels? Yeah, I'm going to flip through a few slides here and just get to the gas prices, as you mentioned, $3.84. That is the latest read that we have on gas prices according to AAA. And again, this is a significant slowdown for what we saw, the peak. So that was around $4.50 as recently as the middle of May. Now, of course, the question here is when we get back to those pre-war, war levels at $298. It was sub-3. And analysts that we've been hearing from have said, look, it's almost going to fall like a feather. And the reason why is because there's been months of

this prolonged conflict in the Middle East, that means that, yes, even if ships are going through the Strait of Hormuz, it's going to take a long time to plug the whole, the supply that we lost. And even to your point before the segment, we are still not back to pre-war volumes of ships going through the strait. Now, when we talk about barrels of oil, that is trading down $69. This is the lowest that we've seen essentially since the start of the Iran war. But again, just because barrels of crude oil are trading back to where we were at the start of the Iran war doesn't mean we've recovered all of that supply. That is the big story for why consumers are not seeing lower prices at the pump quite yet. Brian Chung, thank you.

Let's turn back now to the White House with Kelly O. I want to talk about the talks with Iran because we heard the president say yesterday they were going very well. What do you think gives him that optimism? Well, that's the president's sort of default position on these matters. We have seen him and heard him many, many times through the months of the conflict with Iran, talk about their desperation to make a deal, their willingness to agree to his terms. And yet we're still in a position where we don't have an outcome that really moves us to the next level. The hostilities have been reduced. But the president's optimism is often a part of his positioning. It is sort of his public megaphone with negotiations as officials will meet and have conversations about some of the specifics, the president tends to emphasize what his outcome, desired outcome is. And that is giving him that sense of it. So that is expected from the president, certainly. There are questions about the passageway through the Strait of Hormuz, questions about how that will work. Of course,

prior to this conflict, the Strait of Hormuz was open and there was no cost to those traveling through it, no penalty for using that thoroughfare. So the president is trying to put a positive spin on it as his team is continuing to try to work out details with the parties involved. Keir Starmer, I want to bring you into this conversation, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, both in the region, but they did not meet directly with the Iranians. So from the perspective of at least Iran and Gulf leaders, what is the status of the negotiations right now? Well, obviously they have very different perspectives, but certainly the Iranians, I think, are prepared to let the negotiation drag out.

I think they're also somewhat divided in Iran over exactly what they're trying to achieve. I think that they are facing real headwinds in terms of Iran's Iranian regime's desire to charge fees or tolls or whatever you want to call it for ships moving through the strait of moves because it's not just the US that's opposed to that, Europe is opposed to that, and countries here in the Middle East, particularly the Gulf nations, are opposed to that notion. So for the Iranians to manage to make that happen is going to, would be a huge challenge. But in the end, what I think you're seeing Iranian officials do is to try to play hardballing negotiations. They want billions of dollars worth of funds, some of which are Iran's money that have been frozen,

some, for example, held by Qatar, they also want to be able to reconstruct their country. And what they'll say openly is that they want assurances, for example, that they won't be attacked again, even to the point of suggesting that they don't want U.S. bases in countries that neighbor Iran. Of course, that's not going to be agreed to. So, look, I mean, the difference between the negotiating position of the Iranians and the U.S. It's as wider, frankly, than the strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the key questions. There are a number of others to get to.

We have 60 days to resolve all this. I suspect it's unlikely that that will be achieved in 60 days. I think that deadline will have to be extended. And Keir Starmer, you mentioned the Strait of Hormuz. We are seeing some traffic through the straight, but Iran has also threatened a decisive response if ships don't use the routes designated by Tehran. Is that in compliance with the memorandum of understanding?

this is what Vice President JD Vance suggested. Trump administration will return to war. So I think really what we're looking at is kind of a three-month horizon, sixth-month horizon, year-long horizon. For three months, I think we're going to be in these negotiations, or perhaps it will be not as long as that. Beyond that, I think it's difficult to know exactly where things are going. Kear Simmons, thank you.

Kelly, O, before I let you go, we do have some new images of the construction of an apparent helipad outside the White House. What more do we know here? Well, you recall there was the USFC championship that had a lot of construction on the South Lawn. That was all removed. And we knew that there was significant damage to the grass of the South Lawn and that there would be work done. But the images that we are seeing suggest, based on, this circular formation, what looks like cement, is perhaps a helipad. And the reason we know that, the president has talked about wanting a helipad. What is also interesting is the White House will not

engage on this issue. We have shown them, and other news organizations have shown them these images. It is up to a viewer to look at this and say, what's going on here. The White House is not telling us what the project is. So if the president wants to have a helipad on the South lawn, that may in fact be what is taking place. What is notable about that is that the public has not been involved in this. We don't know of any oversight that has been related to this project. And of course, the helipad or a space for landing a helicopter has long been an issue. What we have seen for decades on the South Lawn are some marking points where Marine One would land on the grass.

Any president would come in and leave from there. this would have a far more established location for a helicopter. And there has been a new helicopter, so it may accommodate that. But we have more questions than we have answers. But those images are telling. Kelly O'Don reporting on all the things for us today. Thank you. Don Kilduff, I want to bring you back into this conversation and turn to that conversation about oil prices.

Because as we mentioned, oil prices are essentially back to their pre-war levels. But how durable is this decline? I think it's fairly durable. I think the thing the market's not afraid of any longer is really persistent disruption of the Strait of Hormuz and a lack of supply of crude oil to the global market. As a matter of fact, there is a push on by Saudi Arabia, by the Iranians themselves, to sell oil on the spot markets of various buyers in Asia who are now all of a sudden turning out to be a bit choosy. the Chinese especially. The saving grace in all of this situation was that the Chinese step back from the market.

They curtail their refining production in their country. The Japanese did too, to a lesser extent. So that eased the crude oil problem. The knock-on effect of that, though, is that supplies of gasoline, jet fuel, and other refined products are very tight and aren't being replenished because we're not seeing those refineries come back on mine, and you have the Ukraine-Russia war rearing its ugly head again. And the Russians are now importing gasoline from India. So that's also feeding into this higher gasoline price relative to the crude oil price you're seeing. Yeah, on that subject, I mean, gas prices are still about a dollar

per gallon higher than they were when the war in Iran began. So why are those two prices not falling exactly in tandem? Right. I'd like to use the analogy that the crude oil is the flour, the gasoline's the cake. They got to make that flour into cake. And we just don't have the bakeries going full tilt right now to be able to bring that product to market. So those prices are staying elevated. We're seeing terrific demand here United States for gasoline. We got a report this morning that showed really robust gasoline demand. This is the peak, though. This week, the next week, this is the peak gasoline demand period here in the U.S. It'll fall off from here. I suspect by Labor Day you will see a considerable price drop at the pump as well here in the U.S.

I don't know about the president's aspirational 250 a gallon, but certainly down around 325 is a realistic target for that time period. The war has also illustrated how much leverage Iran really has over global oil prices. Do you think its ability to control the Strait of Hermuz will create a more volatile energy market for the foreseeable future? In the near term, absolutely. They've shown their willingness to lash out at ship traffic through the straight. Every weekend, when we're not trading, it seems like there's verbiage from the Iranians about doing just that or being angry about some ship that went through or didn't go through. So we're going to have to deal with that.

But I will tell you, this market has taken a lot of these, we call them tape bombs or bad headlines in stride. So the Iranians aren't getting the reaction price-wise that they, I think, hope for. So their rhetoric is sort of losing some of its effect. But look, that's their ace in the hole. We're ready for this. And we know that they are going to try to be disruptive and use the straight as they're really their sole point of leverage. So it's going to keep prices higher than the otherwise would have, not just for gasoline, but also for crude oil. We could be a lot lower if it wasn't for the Israeli antics that we're continuing to deal with.

John Kilduff, thank you for your expertise. Coming up, cruel hot summer. More than 160 million Americans face dangerously high temperatures and record heat. That's nearly half the country, pushing electric grids and key travel hubs to their limit. We're tracking the latest forecast and the fallout. Plus, a new normal? We're following a major surge in ice arrests after the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration appears to enter an intense new phase heading until July 4th.

You're watching. Meet the Press now. Hey everyone, it's me, Morgan Stewart, and I have a new podcast called The Morgan Stewart Show. Join me each week as I talk about pop culture, fashion, my personal life, and just a warning, I'm going to be giving my opinion on everything. I'll also have some really fun guests to join in on the fun. The Morgan Stewart Show is out now. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcast or watch full video on YouTube. Here's what happened when one journalist reported on DEI programs.

I decided to just focus on. on the University of Michigan, I obtained internal documents that showed that the school had spent about a quarter of a billion dollars on DEI programs. I spent two weeks in Ann Arbor talking to everybody I could find. The unintended consequences of these programs, they had sort of left everybody dissatisfied. And this expensive machinery the school had built just imploded. If you're a journalist, you are not on anyone's team. All you're trying to do is figure out as many of the facts as you can gather. The facts are going to guide you to where the story lands. You're not taking sides. I'm Nick Confessori. I'm an investigations reporter for the New York Times.

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Download today. Welcome back. Right now, nearly half of all Americans are under extreme heat warnings or advisories, with forecasters predicting record-breaking or near-record-breaking temperatures for much of the eastern half of the country. Heat alerts now in effect for 163 million Americans, from Missouri to Massachusetts, with conditions potentially deteriorating even further for the holiday weekend. It has local officials on high alert as the temperatures push power grids to their limits. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declaring a heat emergency,

opening additional cooling centers, urging residents to conserve power, and extending pool hours as temperatures in the nation's largest city hover near triple digits. We are expecting incredibly hot temperatures. We are talking about a level of heat that this city has not seen in more than a decade. Ryan Hanahan is a meteorologist for NBC, Connecticut, and he joins me now. Ryan, what areas are facing record-breaking temperatures today and tomorrow? Well, it really is a large area that is dealing with this heat, stretching from Maine all the way down at the mid-Atlantic and back into the Midwest. Right now in New York City, it's 98 degrees, but we got to 100, early.

earlier, and that is the first time we've gotten to 100 degrees since 2012. So it's been nearly 14 years. Boston got to 100 today. Hartford got to 100. Baltimore right now is at 100. And even far the west, Detroit, 95. You factor in the humidity feels even warmer than that. Now, tomorrow, not a lot of improvement here. We're talking about a temperature in Washington of 103. Factor in the humidity feels more like 101. Rhone Oak tomorrow, 100. Athens, looking at mid-90s. there and across the northeast and New England tomorrow 99 degrees. The record is 102 will probably fall just short of that. And New York City 101 Philadelphia 104. Now, the heat is not the only issue here that we have to contend with. We've got this big heat dome across the eastern half of the country.

And it's what we call the ring of fire. Typically on the periphery of these heat domes, you can get some storms to develop. And there are some severe storms now across portions of the Midwest, moving through Wisconsin and portions of Iowa. These should stay, of Chicago, but there is a slight risk for severe weather from Milwaukee on westward Madison and a greater risk for some severe weather later on today across portions of South Dakota and Minnesota. Now, by tomorrow, that severe weather risk begins to shift to the east, and it looks like that severe weather risk will start from none near Iowa all the way east into Chicago, then continuing toward New York City, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. And on Saturday for the

fourth, we're going to have to watch for some storms across the mid-Atlantic on West toward Pittsburgh. There is a risk for some severe weather from New York City down through Philadelphia and Washington. So obviously that would have some issues with a 4th of July celebrations and any fireworks festivities. There's many of them going on. So the fireworks forecast storms likely across the Midwest. They'll be fairly scattered. It's not going to be the whole time on Saturday for the 4th that we will see some storms. So there will be at least scattered storms. A risk for a couple thunderstorms across the northeast out west, probably the best weather for the fourth in your fireworks warm and dry from the Rockies on west toward the Pacific Northwest.

Mel? Ryan, thank you for that reporting, and please stay cool. Turning now to some developing news when it comes to deportations here in the U.S. NBC News is learning ICE has ramped up arrest to about 2,000 per day over the last five days, more than tripling recent daily averages. A source familiar with the operations told NBC News that the high number of arrests represent part of a, quote, new normal that ice hopes to maintain. Joining me now is NBC News, senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley, who is behind this new reporting.

Thank you, Julia, for joining us. Excellent reporting, as always. Start with just breaking down what more we know about these ICE arrests. Yeah, well, the surge is back. You know, we heard about high numbers last summer in places like Minneapolis earlier this year. And that was because there were other agencies like Border Patrol, roving the streets, being told basically, to stop anyone who might be an illegal immigrant and find out later exactly what their status was. Now it's actually just ice. They don't have other law enforcement agencies helping them out.

And it's in part because of that one big, beautiful bill money is really coming to fruition. They've hired 10,000 more agents or out of the street. The people are now trained and getting out. That and then there's more pressure coming from the White House now. There was a little bit of a cooling off period after the protest, of course, the fatal shootings in Minneapolis in January, where Trump felt like politically they needed a softer touch. those were the words he used with our Tom Yamis. Now, though, Stephen Miller is back on the phone with ICE saying he wants to see 2,000

arrests a day, and that's exactly what they started delivering on Friday. Compare that to a normal weekend, a normal Saturday, would be about 600 arrested day. And I want to play something that Secretary Mullen said about all of this yesterday. We're not necessarily surging. We're going after the worst of the worst every single day, and we work in conjunction with the White House and the president's policies and deliver on that. We're seeing our arrest numbers come up. We're seeing our deportation numbers continue to increase.

You heard Secretary Mullen describe them as the worst of the worst, but what do we actually know about who is being arrested here? Well, it's not always the worst of the worst. In fact, one of our affiliates in Milwaukee had a story just today about a father with no criminal record who was arrested. And many people who are languishing in detention have pending asylum claim. So it's not always the worst of the worst. But it's not quite as broad as we were seeing earlier this year when people were being stopped simply because they might be in a Home Depot parking lot. Oftentimes they are having

information intelligence as they go out. But it remains to be seen what ICE will look like under a new leader. Just this weekend, the president announcing on True Social, he's going to tap Lance Schroyer, who comes from Oklahoma, Mullins' home state. And as we understand it, is a close ally of Mullins to take over the agency, although he does not have experience in this agency. So it'll be interesting to see what ICE looks like under him and how he responds to that White House pressure from Stephen Miller. And Julia, I also want to ask you about an exclusive story that you just broke on a different subject, which is the Alaska Senate race and the saga of the two Dan Sullivan's. What's the latest there? Yeah, a little off my normal beep, but I found out about

this and thought this was a fascinating story. There's a man named Dan Sullivan, who is a Republican challenger on the ballot challenging Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan. We have to use those middle initials so you can understand who we're talking about. Dan J. Dan Sullivan had no prior political experience. And in fact, a lower court said that he was not eligible to run, but Alaska Supreme Court just said he is. Now we're reporting exclusively that there are two probes, a state probe and a federal probe, looking into whether or not there's a conspiracy that's behind this campaign in order to confuse Alaskan voters. That could be a civil rights violation if they deprive Alaskan voters from a free and fair election by confusing them with

two men from the same party with the same names. And Alaska is a key battleground Senate this fall. You know that well. Julie, thank you for all your scots of reporting. Up next, just four months to Election Day. And we have brand new polling and forecasting on the state of some of the most consequential races that will decide the balance of power in Congress and the fate of President Trump's agenda. The panel breaks it down. Stay with us on Meet the Press Now.

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Welcome back. We have a new look at some of the most closely contested Senate races this midterm cycle. As Democrats need to flip a number of. of Republican held seats in their quest to retake the Senate. Polling shows that path remains treacherous. In Maine, a Fox News poll shows Senator Susan Collins leading Democratic candidate, Graham Platner, while a recent New York Times-Syanna poll shows Graham Platner leading in that race. In Iowa, Democratic candidate Josh Turrick facing the same uncertainty,

leading in one poll while trailing the Republican candidate Ashley Hinson in the other. Meanwhile, other key races also all over the map, both literally and figuratively, with the Democrat leading in Georgia, a seat that they're defending, and North Carolina, Republicans with the edge in Ohio and Alaska. And perhaps the most watched race this cycle in Texas, tied. It comes as our friends at the Cook Political Report moved Alaska from Leans Republican to toss up. And remember, Democrats need to very nearly run the table on these races to retake the majority. Join me now is our panel, Tia Mitchell, Washington Bureau Chief for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Democratic strategist Joel Payne and Republican strategist Malik Abdul. Thank you all so much for joining us. Tia, I do want to start with you on this racing as I just laid out there kind of all over the map. But between now and November, do you see any chance that there could be some big changes in these races or do you think it's just going to be tight until the very end? Well, I think they're going to be tight, especially in these swing states. But, you know, so much can happen between now and November. Things are always popping up. Issues are popping up that could affect. Trump's popularity and therefore how these candidates fare in the down ballot races, but also there could be, you know, controversies with the candidates. Graham Platner continues to surprise us. So I just think, yes, the polling means something for now and yes, it will be close, but things are likely to continue to change and shift. Yeah, and Joel, the onus is really on Democrats at this point if they want to retake the Senate,

just given the way the map is. Do you see a scenario, though, where they start to cut some people loose in certain states to refocus on other seeds that look more winnable to them? I think you always have to reprioritize in a moment like this. And look, Democrats are not as cash rich quite as Republicans. But I'll tell you, the national environment is very favorable for Democrats. And these toss-up races in particular, the ones that you highlight it, the national mood is going to impact those. If Donald Trump continues to be unpopular and goes even lower, it's going to drag the favorability and the opportunity to those Republicans, even further. So those races, I think, are highly dependent upon a national environment combined

with what's going on in those states. And most of these races are neck-neck. But Malik, one race that stood out to me was in Georgia with Jon Ossoff leading Mike Collins, 13 points, Jon Ossoff, the Democratic Senator incumbent. Does that surprise you at all? No, it really doesn't, because he's been a senator now for a full term. And it's interesting because Jon Ossoff himself, he kind of won on the coattails of Raphael Warnock. So he's in a much different position. and you see the Democrats now looking at him in a much different way. But that is a race that we're not looking. You know, there are other races that we're looking at that we could possibly win,

but I think Georgia and Carolina, Republicans have some concerns that we're not going to be able to get those. But the other ones, Texas, even Texas. Ken Paxton is now in general election mode. And so we're going to see more from Ken Paxton just on the local level because most of them have been running national races. They're going to have to localize it, whether Democrat or Republicans. Let me assuage any Democrat who's looking at Jon Ossoff up at 13 points.

His win number is not 13 points. I think that shows directionally that Jon Ossoff is doing very well. His win number is probably like three to five points. And if he wins by three to five points, that's a blowout in Georgia. Joel, you also mentioned the cash advantage that Republicans have. There was also this really significant Supreme Court ruling in favor of the NRSC when it comes to campaign finance restrictions. How much Malik, do you think that's going to matter for Republicans? Well, we've seen in the past that, yes, money matters, but not necessarily. Remember Bloomberg?

He had plenty of money and he didn't do anything with it. This is about structure. This is about to get out the vote operation. It isn't just about campaign ads or things like that. Voters have to be moved to the polls. And so it depends on who's more motivated come November. I think that's going to determine the election. At this point, Democrats are more motivated, but maybe that's the whole reason that Donald Trump is now having the midterm, like the midterm, convention in Dallas to kind of get the Republican vote out there. And, yeah, I want to talk about another race. That's Michigan. We don't know who the Democratic candidate is going to be. We do know Mike Collins, or sorry, Mike Rogers is going to be the Republican. That is an interesting race because you have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just throwing

her support behind the progressive candidate, Abdul El-Sayed. Do you think this is going to be the biggest test for progressive momentum that we'll see all year? I think it's like the latest test. I don't know if it's the biggest test because Michigan, you talked about. Malik talked about localizing these races. At the end of the day, Michigan has a very specific electorate that is different than other states. So this is a Michigan test. And I think we also need to zero in on what are people's problem with the candidates other than the fact that he's a brown candidate who's a Muslim? Like what of his policies do people think are objectionable?

Is it his position towards Israel? Okay. Well, where is he with the base on this? because the base might say we actually like his position on Israel. So I think these are the conversations that Democrats nationally will be watching, but we shouldn't take anything too much. You know, we can't make a national decision or a national implication on something that's still going to be very specific to Michigan.

Yeah, such a great point. Can I have something about that? Look, I think the Michigan race is such a microcosmo of what's going on a Democratic Party right now. You've got three lanes. Haley Stevens kind of in that moderate dim lane. Mallory McMorrow basically center-left, and then you've got Abdul El-Sayed, who was holding down the progressive lane. And you're going to see that mimicked in 2028. Those lanes will be represented in the 2028 Democratic primary. But this is a test of where is the energy and where's the

organizing muscle in the Democratic Party right now? And I think that's actually what Abdul El-Sayed's strength is showing. The organizing muscle and the energy in the party, it's in that part of the party and that part of the coalition. And Malik, do Republicans want to run against El-Syad versus someone like Haley Stevens? What? Is that a trick question? Absolutely. And to piggyback off of what Joel said, Republicans are looking at this. You said the progressive wing, we're going to run against Democratic socialism, because that seems to be where their energy is, where the muscle is in the Democratic Party, whether that's here in Washington, D.C. or a place like Colorado or New York.

The Democratic Party at this point is returning to the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez days of the squad, where they were the very far left wing of the Republican, of the Democratic Party. and we will be happy to run against them. The other fascinating storyline is that it's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez versus Chuck Schumer in the endorsements in that race. I do want to turn to another story on Capitol Hill, though, with you, Tia. Mitch McConnell, we know he was hospitalized earlier last month. We don't know if he's still in the hospital.

We don't know why he was hospitalized. But we are reporting here at NBC that paramedics responded to a cardiac arrest at someone at his address. Just talk to me more broadly here about what is the obligation for lawmakers to be more true? transparent about their health conditions because it's not just Mitch McConnell. Yeah, because, I mean, you think about Neil Dunn. The only reason we know he's terminally ill is because Donald Trump kind of spilled the beans.

His office, he has never really talked about what's ailing him, but he's missed votes for several weeks now. Yeah, the Florida Republican, yeah. Yeah, the Florida Republican. Of course, the New Jersey Republican Keene just returned and kind of explained his month-long absence. At the end of the day, it's a delicate balance because there's something. still people, they still have privacy, they still have family and people they want to maybe protect or their own just personal proclivities of how much they want to share, but they are members of Congress. They have people who they are sent to Washington to represent. They're being

paid during these absences. And I think they do owe the people a level of transparency that we're just not seeing. Yeah, Malik, do you think? No, I absolutely agree with that. And we're seeing that, and this is a political. And it would be different. if it were, you know, someone worked at a company or something like that, these are elected officials, and we should protect their privacy, their health concerns, but at the end of the day, when you represent the people, you owe it to the people to be transparent. You don't have to tell us what the condition is, but they should be more transparent about things because it seems as if these things have been known for a very long time, it's just that they've been swept under the road.

Let's not cross-reference their record against how they voted on paid lead, any of these folks. because I'm sure if any of these folks have looked at how they vote on paid leave, how they vote on supporting working families with people with illnesses, I'm sure those records will come back very consistent. Well, to that point, Tom Kane, he's a Republican who had been out for four months. He says it's because of depression. There have been some Democrats who have said his positions have not been always supportive of mental health services. He voted for the big beautiful bill last year, which cut Medicaid. Do you think this could be a liability? Yeah, and it underscores the divide between what people in D.C., how they think about power. and how it's experienced by people out in the country who do not understand why the divide

exist that way. These folks in D.C. do not understand how angry and how frustrated people are out in the country with how far away it seems like their experience is from theirs. And Tia, do you think there is a chance that Congress potentially reforms the way they're required to disclose information like when they're out for long periods of time? I mean, I think so, especially if people start getting angry about it, that they'll want to show that they're doing something to address the concerns. I think there may also be, you know, more discussion about absences and proxy voting and what types of medical conditions would allow someone to designate someone. You know, we talked about for pregnant women, for example, should they be

allowed to have a proxy because they can't come to D.C. if they're nursing or have complications or just want to be with their newborn who can't travel. So I think these are conversations that should be held, but we got to have these conversations in good faith. And it starts with being honest about what members of Congress are going through and how that affects their ability to carry out their job day to day. We'll have to leave it there, but that was an excellent conversation. Joel, Malik and Tia, thank you very much. After the break, behind the effort to overhaul how many primary elections are run around the country

and how it could reshape Congress and the state of U.S. politics. Keep it here on Meet the Press Now. Welcome back. As we pass the halfway mark of the midterm primaries, advocates of election reform are warning that Congress could soon become even more polarized than it already is. In the past several months, Republican primary voters in places like Texas, Kentucky, and Louisiana have forced out incumbent lawmakers who crossed President Trump and didn't have a endorsement. And on the Democratic side, left-wing candidates have ousted incumbent and more moderate candidates in states like New York and Colorado. The advocates of primary reform say closed single-party primaries, which often exclude independent voters, are a major factor that can feed polarization in our politics, resulting in less governing and more vitriol. Joining me now is one of

those leading voices advocating for this type of reform, founder and president of the group Open primaries, John Opdyke. John, thank you so much for joining us. This is one of those fascinating, but sort of under the radar storylines. But talk to me about how this process would work, what kind of primary you're advocating for, and what that would actually look like on a practical level. Sure. And, you know, a number of states have eliminated party primaries and gone to people's primaries where everybody gets to vote for whoever they want, just like in the general election. We see that in California, in Nebraska, Washington, and Alaska. And it creates a whole different dynamic that I think is much more in tune with where the country is going. Because if you

look at the stats, Melanie, every single week, 10,000 Americans change their voter registration from Democrat or Republican to independent. It's now 48% of the country, fastest growing set of the segment of the electorate. And yet our election system is set up where kind of independents are more, they're seen as interlopers and outsiders and they don't quite fit in the structure of the existing

system. And that's something that's got to change if we want our democratic experiment to keep moving in a positive direction. I want to read for you a quote from the conservative Lincoln Institute arguing against open primaries. They said, as I registered Republican and one who has been active in the Republican Party,

my entire adult life, I do not want Democrats or anyone, not a member of the Republican Party, deciding our standard bearer. Open primaries would, in fact, deprive us of the ability to select candidates who adhere to the principles and policies for which our party stands. How do you respond to that? Well, in two ways. First of all, the closed primary system, which we have in 16 states, actually creates what he's talking about. We just did a poll, for example, in New York City. we found that 40% of registered Democrats are actually independents and Republicans. People join a party only to gain the right to vote. So if you want your party to be made up of only members,

you definitely have to have an open system so people don't have to join your party even though they don't believe in it. Secondly, there is no contradiction between, party rights and a system that allows voters, all voters, to participate. Parties are free. They're private organizations. They're free to have conventions, nominate, endorse as they see fit. But if you're talking about a publicly funded election system, then everybody should be able to participate. That's how I see it. What do you say to the argument that anyone can already vote in a closed primary, just join the party?

Well, some independents do that. But a lot of independents. aren't willing to join an organization that they don't support. They have moral, political, ideological objections to. And I don't think in a functioning democracy that you should require, you know, joining a private organization in order to vote. I mean, that's more, you know, Brezhnev would be in favor of that, but I don't see why we would embrace that here in the United States. California holds a top two primary in the governor's race, we saw Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton advanced the general election. Do you think open primaries have led to different kinds of candidates advancing to the general

election? Absolutely. Top two open nonpartisan primaries has been in place in California for now 16 years. And it has been transformative. First of all, look at the results of this primary season. We're only halfway through. By far, the highest turnout of any state in the country is California, over 40% of people vote in the primary because they get to choose among all the candidates. They're not locked in to a party silo. The other thing is that you're seeing this in very liberal areas, in very conservative areas. You see two candidates from the same party advanced to the general election. And that creates a whole other set of opportunities for voters to have a real choice.

I mean, one of the scandals about all the gerrymandering that's been going on around the country in red states and blue, is that come November, most congressional races, the latest estimates are as high as 90%. They're already done. Everyone knows who's going to win. The primary is the only election that counts. But when you create a nonpartisan primary and you move the most popular candidates, regardless of party from the primary to the general, you create real competition in November. And we see that in California and other states. Yeah. Thank you so much. We really appreciate all your reporting. Still to come. A miraculous moment against a brackdrop of absolute devastation.

A man pulled from the rubble alive eight days after last week's catastrophic earthquakes in Venezuela. We'll get the view from a humanitarian worker on the ground in Caracas as the nation faces a long road to recovery. This is Meet the Press Now.

Welcome back. Overnight, Russia launched a massive, large-scale attack on Ukraine's capital Kiev. At least 21 people are dead and dozens more are injured, according to the country's interior ministry. Waves of explosion sent civilians scrambling underground, taking shelter in the city's metro stations. Residents emerged in the early morning to heavy smoke and the smell of fire filling the air. Ukraine says Russia launched nearly 500 drones and 94 missiles, hitting mainly residential buildings across the capital. In recent weeks, Russia has ramped up its attacks on Kiev amid Ukraine's long-range drone campaign

on Russian energy sites. The latest attacks come just ahead of next week's NATO summit in Turkey. And turning now to Venezuela, where the search for survivors has largely become a recovery effort as authorities face the additional challenge of recovering, identifying, and burying thousands of victims. At least 2,000 people are dead according to the government and more than 50,000 are missing after last week's massive back-to-back earthquakes. Still, families and rescue teams are digging day and night to find their loved ones and clinging to moments of hope. Today, eight days after the earthquake struck, a security guard was rescued from the rubble of

the seven-story building where he worked. Rescue teams were able to keep the man alive by passing him water and food through a hose. But public anger is growing, as critics say the Venezuelan government's response to the disaster has been too slow. Many countries, including the U.S., and international aid organizations, have deployed resources to assist with the disaster. Joining me now from Caracas is Claudia Manresa, the regional manager in Venezuela for the International Aid Organization Project Hope. Claudia, thank you again for joining us and thank you for all of your efforts there on the ground. Tell me about Project Hope and the work that you're doing right now in Venezuela. Thank you for having me, for giving me this space to speak about what's going on in Venezuela.

Project Hope is a humanitarian organization with more of 70 years of experience in implementation of health program, emergency response program, and humanitarian programs. We've been in Venezuela since 2019, supporting over 55 health care facilities around eight different states of the country. Our medical staff has been working non-stop since the earthquakes. Last week, we have delivered pallets of medical equipment supplies and medicines to the main emergency networks in the most affected states, the district capital, Miranda and La Guaira. We have also provided first aid, psychological first aid to the survivors and to all the persons, the people affected by these earthquakes. And we have also distributed aquataps to secure safe drinking water for over 250 families.

And Claudia, what sorts of challenges or limitations are aid workers like yourself on the ground experiencing when it comes to delivering or providing it? need. It's heartbreaking what we're seeing on the streets. So as a Venezuelan, it's really hard to see your own people suffering. We have been able to coordinate with the health authorities in Distrito Capital, Miranda in La Guaira, which were the most affected states by these earthquakes. But we are running short of supplies, and we will run out of supplies very soon. So we need the support of the international community. And, of course, So everyone who can donate to Project Hope, you can visit ProjectHope.org and make your donation to help us support the persons that are affected by these earthquakes. I know Project Hope conducted a rapid needs assessment following the earthquakes.

Can you tell us what the key findings were from that assessment and what are the biggest needs in Venezuela right now? Yes, hospitals and basically all the healthcare facilities remain overwhelmed. at least 57% of the health care facility that we have visited are facing power and water outage. We also have been able to coordinate relief hubs with our team continuously. The priority needs are clearly identified. We originally required medicines and medical supplies for primary health care facilities, IV solutions, surgical supply. There is also a critical shortage of pain medication, anti-hypertensive,

glucometers, hygiene kits, and safe drinking water to also prevent secondary health prices. The report also details pre-existing vulnerabilities in Venezuela prior to the earthquake. What are those and how do they complicate ongoing efforts? Yeah, so as I already said, Venezuela already faced an overwhelmed health system. So of course, these prices, it's really critical. We have more than thousands of people that are still looking for their loved ones and their family members, and we're still seeing thousands and hundreds of people looking to receive medical attention. So this tragedy joins to an already overwhelmed health care system,

And we have been trying to support the primary health care facilities since 2019, but it is a major crisis and it is devastating what we're seeing. And the disaster has also had an especially hard impact on vulnerable groups of people, including pregnant women, children, people with disabilities. What specific challenges are those groups facing in the wake of this disaster? We have seen a lot of pregnant women starting to deliver their kids on the street. So we're trying to respond to that also with kids for the women. It is really hard for them to receive medical attention at the moment. And that's why we're also providing mobile medical units to support the people in need and to support also not only kids that have survived.

this tragedy and pregnant woman as well. And lastly, if people would like to donate, where can they do so? You can visit Project Hope.org. That's the website of the organization. There you can find the campaign where raising funds to keep providing medical assistance, NFI kids, and medication to those in need. So please visit Project Hope.org, and you can make your donation now. Claudia, Manresa, thank you again for your time, for all of your efforts,

stay safe. Thank you very much. Hey everyone, it's me, Morgan Stewart, and I have a new podcast called The Morgan Stewart Show. Join me each week as I talk about pop culture, fashion, my personal life, and just a warning, I'm going to be giving my opinion on everything. I'll also have some really fun guests to join in on the fun. The Morgan Stewart Show is out now. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcast or watch full video on YouTube.