Transcript

5.11.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, May eleventh. As a reminder,
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RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for today is Rod Brotherton. And finally,
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all good things come to an end. We've been reading
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the Sunday op ed piece by Paul Prather for decades,
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I guess, but Paul retired this last week and we
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read his last column. So we'll try to find something
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else to lead in, or we'll just read.
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Speaker 2: The news from the Washington Post.
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Speaker 1: This is what we're exactly going to do today, and
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our first story, Confident in China's Power Z is rated
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a host unpredictable Trump. President Trump is set to visit
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China this week for the first time since twenty seven,
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when he received a red carpet welcome from children waving
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American and Chinese flags and Chinese officials hoping to negotiate
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with the leader they viewed as a pragmatic businessman and
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deal maker. This time, Trump will return to a Beijing
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that is far more powerful confidence seat of global power
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than a decade ago. With the seasoned leader Xi Jinping
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now understands Trump weaponize his unpredictability and holds no illusions
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about making lasting deals with the American leader. Instead, Z
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wants to protect China as a more reliable and responsible
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counterweight to US volatility. US and Chinese expert c China's
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comprehensive national power has grown significantly since twenty seventeen, said
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William Klein, who arranged Trump's visit at the time as
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a senior official at the US Embassy in Beijing. The summit,
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which was delayed from March because of the war in Iran,
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comes as the US is mired in the Middle East
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conflict that shows no sign of winding down. Trump's standing
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domestically and worldwide has also been weakened because of the
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public's dissatisfaction with the war and severe damage to the
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global economy. As they met this week, Z and Trump,
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leaders of the world's two biggest economies, are looking to
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stabilize the bilateral relationships after tit for tat export controls
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and sweeping US sanctions on Chinese shipping firms and vessels
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suspected of doing business with the Iranian regime.
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Speaker 2: In more than.
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Speaker 1: Fifteen months since Trump's return to the White House, z
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has displayed confidence in going toe to toe with his
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American counterpart, refusing to blink a response to repeated tariff
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threats and instead negotiating what was largely viewed as a
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mutual de escalation. China, after almost a decade of dealing
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with the US, has more experience and confidence now and
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is more clear minded, said Wang Hu y'all, a government
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former policy advisor and the president of the Center for
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China and Globalization, a Beijing think tank ers are also
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growing among American allies and partners in the region that
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ZI may use the meeting this week to push for
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US concessions on Taiwan and weaken Taiwan's ability to defend
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itself in the case of a Chinese attack the Chinese
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He's Communist Party It's never ruled Taiwan, but claims it
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as a territory. The protracted war in Iran and the
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US shift of military assets to aid US Israeli efforts
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there already left Taiwan, Japan, and other US partners in
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the region worried about the readiness in America's capacity to
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intervene in case of a Chinese attack. Chinese Ana. Let's say,
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z hopes to convince Trump to go further than the
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US policy by recognizing Beijing's claim that Taiwan is part
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of China, rather than merely acknowledging it, noting that Trump
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has not confronted China over Taiwan compared to his predecessors.
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When Trump visited Beijing in twenty seventeen, Zi was in
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the midst of a sensitive leadership transition, solidated power within
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the Chinese Communist Party, and signaled his intent to dominate
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Chinese politics for decades to come. Since then, Ze has
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solidified his position, securing an unprecedented third term in twenty
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twenty three, investing in heavily in technology, artificial intelligence, manufacturing,
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and green energy measures that have made the Chinese economy
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a more formidable rival to the United States. These efforts
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have stoked to belief in Beijing that China won't make
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one sided compromises this time. It has all the means
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to fight back if the US bullies China again. Wyang
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said that willingness to fight back was on display late
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last year, when Beijing wielded its near monopoly on rare
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earth minerals in the face of mounting Trump tariffs, China
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retaliated with sweeping export controls that tightened the global access
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to critical law materials required for advanced technology, set the
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stage for the trade truce in October. The incident forced
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Beijing astray from its foremost desire for stability in the
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bilateral relationship, even when it resulted in some punitive measures
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that China had to accept. According to former Trump administration officials,
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who again spoke on the condition of anonymy in the
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second term, when Trump went so far, they sort of recalculated,
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recalibrated their approach to dealing with them.
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Speaker 2: When former official sit.
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Speaker 1: It seems like they understood that if you just keep
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kind of appeasing Trump or keep acquiescing to his threats
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and demands, that is just going to be never ending.
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Z's refusal to ben showed us that China not only
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holds all the cards on rare earths, he's willing to
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use that leverage. Second former official set, we cannot underestimate
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the rare earth's chokehold that China has over US as
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playing into every calculation. The second official set, describing the
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new US administration's view, they truly feel the potential impact
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they're asking themselves what would happen if China were to
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use that leverage again, what that would mean for the
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American economy. Then in February, the US Supreme Court struck
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down most of the import taxes Trump had imposed, including
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one hundred and forty five percent levee on Chinese imports,
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delivering another win to Beijing. In the latest sign of defiance,
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China's Ministry of Commerce issued an injunction earlier this month
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to block US sanctions imposed on five Chinese refiners accused
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of buying Iranian oil. China believes that it's such a
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powerhouse that it does not need to honor Trump's transactional policies.
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It's able to beat the US at its own game,
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said Shing ging Li, an independent international relations researcher in Shanghai.
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In a way, China may either be overestimating its own
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strength or greatly underestimating that of the US. By contrast,
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China had been very very careful to pick its fights
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with the United States. It tried to minimize any cost
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of pair itself as it responded to American pressure, said Klein.
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Was now a Berlin based partner at FGS Global, a
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consultancy that hasn't changed now, Klein said, China now believes
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that it can incur friction with the United States in
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certain fields add an acceptable cost to itself. While z
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has sought to project China's a rising superpower, Beijing officially
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refrains from endorsing the term G two, which Trump has used,
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with China reluctant to suggest that accepts the idea of
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dividing spheres of influence, But state affiliated scholars point to
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a tacit recognition that China and the US are a
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de facto G two, with China now viewing itself as
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a peer of the US in managing the affairs, said
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may Zin Yu, senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of
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International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think tank affiliated with
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the Ministry of Commerce. We are seeing a lot less
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talking tough on China's inn compared with eight years ago,
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because we now let the strength speak for itself, he said.
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During Trump's November seventeen visit, China went all out. It
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built the even as the state visit plus, meaning Beijang
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would go beyond the usual levels of hospitality for state.
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Trump hosted Zi and his wife at mar a lago
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earlier that year, and Z wanted to return the favor,
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and then some Z took the rare step closing down
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the Imperial Palace complex of the Forbidden City to host
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Trump and First Lady Millennia. Trump heavily secured private visit
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to the t Pey King opera performances, a state banquet
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that included group of file at Kung Powell, chicken, and
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Chinese wine. At the time, China had high expectations for
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a trade deal with the US, only to be shocked
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and humiliated. Trump announced a trade war almost immediately after
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his Beijing trip. Chinese analysts said, now Z is entering
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the summit with minimal expectations. Respective concrete deliverables are limited,
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and Trump is too engrossed in the war to ponder
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trade relations with China, said Wang Yewei, a former Chinese diplomat,
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was now a council member in the state affiliated Chinese
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People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. Chinese side also has expressed
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frustration a lack of official preparation for the summit compared
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to twenty seventeen. The White House, for instance, did not
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send senior officials to Beijing for planning meetings to hammer
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out the details of agreements ahead of time. This may
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also be tempering expectations in Beijing, which typically negotiates joint
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statements with fastidious attention. Nonetheless, a successful summit is as
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important to Z as it is to Trump, given that
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Z needs to maintain his grip on power, keep elites happy,
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and sustain domestic support, said Susan Shirk, a former senior
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US official on China. That points to lingering in security
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on Z's part, even how he has centralized power, she said,
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Underneath all that is Z jen Ping as an individual
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dictatorial leader, said Shirk, now Director emeritus of the Twenty
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first Century China Center at the University of California at
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San Diego. Preventing the downward spiral hostile adversarial competition matters
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to him. Policymakers in Beijing also face mounting pressure to
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prevent further deterioration in ties with Washington, as renewed trade
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frictions could undermine efforts to extricate the Chinese economy from
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a protracted down slow down. Despite growing tech prowess and
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booming exports, China in March cut its growth target to
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the lowest level since the early nineteen hundreds as it
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struggles to find a new growth engine amid a prolonged
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property slum, weaken the consumer spending, and uns certain these
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in global trade. The war in Iran is also complicated
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matters for Beijing, which has friendly relations throughout the Middle East,
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wants to maintain distance from the conflict. Beijing is increasingly
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anxious about the spillover effect of the war and the
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horror MoES blockade. In a Pollup Bureau meeting last month,
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Zi and other senior leaders stressed the need to tackle
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external impacts systematically, enhance the level of energy security, a
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hedge against the multitude of uncertainties. According to Chinese state
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media outd Xinghua News Agency, despite its concerns, Beijing sees
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twenty twenty six is a big year for US China relations,
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with Z and Trump expected to meet as many as
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four times. To Z, meeting Trump is a symbolic opportunity.
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Chinese experts say Z wants to show relations are on
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the mend. His government is working to approve the business environment,
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boost foreign trade, and revive the economy. Out of all
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the countries in the world, it is the US has
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the biggest impact on China's security interests and development. Whang
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ye Way said, so China has a stronger desire stabilize
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and improve relations with the United States. Back here domestically,
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why the Colorado River is once again facing a water crisis.
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The situation on the Colorado River has rarely been more
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dire than in this moment. The snowpacks that feed the
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river are the smallest on record. The reservoirs that hold
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the majority of its water are nearing historic loves. Either
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a stopgap proposal aimed at stabilizing the nation's largest reservoir
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nor a late season snowstorm are sufficient to avert a
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looming water crisis, experts say, but with Western states and
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an impass and negotiations over the river's future, recent short
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term winds may be at least temporarily holding off cuts
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to people's water supply in the lower part of the basin.
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We had to do something to ensure that the river
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systems didn't completely crash, come Bush Kasati, director of the
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Arizona Department of Water Resources, set in an interview on Wednesday. Arizona, California,
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and Nevada in recent days offered a short term water
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savings proposal The plan would create new incidives for conservation
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and pay some water users to give up their annual allotment,
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which officials from the lower three basin states say will
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save three point two million acre feet of water through
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twenty twenty eight. Those measures will hopefully be enough to
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help maintain safe water levels and Lake Mead, which powers
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the Hoover Dam and provides water to roughly twenty million people.
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That breakthrough comes as the US Bureau of Reclamation, which
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manages the dams that control the Colorado's flow, began to
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release billions of gallons into Lake Powell, the river's second
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biggest reservoir. The influx aims to prevent water levels from
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falling solo that the reservoir can no longer produce hydro power,
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something that the agency estimated might happen as soon as August.
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Without intervention, Lake Powell, one hundred and eighty nine miles long,
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is only at twenty two percent of total capacity. If
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the waterfall to sixteen percent of capacity, water will no
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longer be able to flow through the dam's electric power generators. Meanwhile,
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an unusual mastorm brought as much as thirty inches of
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snow to parts of the Rocky Mountains last week, helping
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to supplement the low snowpack after a record hot and
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dry winter. But none of these developments make enough of
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a dent in the larger crisis facing the Colorado, says
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Sarah Porter, director of the Keel Center for Water Policy
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at Arizona State University. States in the lower basin Arizonalifornia,
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and Nevada and the upper basin Colorado, New Mexico, Utah,
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and Wyoming have failed for years to reach a long
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term agreement on how to share the river supply water.
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With key guidelines for operating the river set to expire
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this autumn, the Bureau of Reclamation is in the process
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of developing a preferred plan for future management. The agency's decisions,
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expected to come this summer, will determine how cuts are
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allocated among the rivers forty million users.
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Speaker 2: But after decades.
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Speaker 1: Of overuse and a prolonged megadrought, scientists say is made
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worse by climate change, only a fundamental shift the way
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the Western US uses water can prevent the river from
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becoming catastrophically overdrawn.
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Speaker 2: According to Port.
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Speaker 1: Sort of shows how bad the impasse is, she said
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of the conservation proposal of the Lower basin states, it's
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not a solution, that's what they can agree on to
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try to stave off disaster.
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Speaker 2: Before last week's storm, the.
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Speaker 1: Snowpack that feeds the Colorado River was the lowest on record.
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According to the National Water and Climate Center, most streams
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in the basin were forecast to produce less than thirty
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percent of their average runoff. In the absence of a
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broader agreement on how to manage the shortfall, lower basin
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states feared the dwindling flows could cause the federal government
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to institute unilateral cuts. Because water into Colorado is allocated
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according to first come, first serve system, right holders, including
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major Arizona cities such as Phoenix and Tucson, could lose
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a significant fraction.
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Speaker 2: Of their water.
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Speaker 1: Under the proposal, the lower base and states agreed to
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reduce their water consumption by about one and a quarter
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million acre feet each year, equivalent to the water needs
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of roughly one point twenty five million to three point
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seven five million homes. They also suggested new rules for
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Lake Mead that would allow rights holders who don't use
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their annual full allotment from the reservoir to maintain the
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option to use that water in subsequent years. This approach
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provides a necessary bridge to stabilize the system in the
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face of deteriorating hydrology while preserving the opportunity. Bill Ford's
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a comprehensive seven state solution, both for the nurture and
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for the longer term. Lower base and water officials wrote
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a letter to the Interior Department on Friday, but the
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plan requires cooperation from the federal government. An email statement
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a Bureau of Reclamation spokesperson said the agency would review
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the proposal as it develops a strategy for the future
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of the Colorado, but the statement also emphasized the need
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for all seven states that rely on the river to
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find consensus. Even before human caused warming began disrupting Western
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snow and rainfall, Colorado River was dangerously over exploited, said
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Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies
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at Utah State University. Century old rules governing its use
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were developed during an unusually wet period for the region,
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leading officials to allocate rites to more water than the
23:03
actually the river actually contains. But the situation has grown
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increasingly dot dire as the regional climate shifts hotter and drier.
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Human consumption routinely outstrips inflows, drawing down the water stored
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in the reservoirs. Lakes Powell and Mean, the two biggest
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reservoirs in the river, have not been full since the
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nineteen nineties and now are approaching historically low levels. This year,
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Schmid said, the paltry snowpack will supply about six million
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acre feet of water to the river, far less than
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the roughly thirteen million acre feet that people typically.
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Speaker 2: Use each year.
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Speaker 1: Even the snow that fell last week won't do much
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to help. Warmer spring temperatures will cause it to melt quickly.
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Extraordinarily dry soils will absorb most of the runoff. Schmidt
24:11
compared the situation someone losing their job and then continuing
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to spend most of the money in their bank account.
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We basically have been spending more than our income throughout
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the twenty first century, he said, but really becomes a
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big crisis. We have a couple of years in a
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row that are very dry, and that's what we have
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now again.
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Speaker 2: Three years of.
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Speaker 1: Negotiations have deadlocked disagreement around how the pain of water
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cuts should be shared among the river's top forty million users.
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States in the upper Basin argue that they already use
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less than their fair share and naturally curb their consumption
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during years of low flow. They have resisted any agreement
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includes mandatory cuts to their use. Their conservation proposal, the
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Lower basin officials urge their Upper Basin counterparts to come
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up with their own verifiable water contributions keep water flowing
25:20
through the river. They also reserve the right to sue
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the Upper Basin and the federal government if they don't
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receive what they believe is they're legally required water a lot.
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I don't think there's much to this to address the
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impasse between the two basins, Order said the next story,
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The Iran war threatens the dream of a post oil
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economy in the Gulf. The war in Iran has become
25:53
a profound stress test long term economic futures of wealthy
25:58
Gulf monarchies that have built reputations as global financial centers
26:03
and increasingly tourist hubs and tech powerhouses. Even if the
26:09
United States in Iran are soon to strike a deal
26:12
that reopens the Straight of Four Moves, the contested narrow
26:16
waterway that is a joke point for one fifth of
26:18
the world's oil and gas economists worn conflict will have
26:24
profound effects on the region's plans. The official narrative in
26:29
these countries is that this economic crisis will be like COVID.
26:34
Climb out of it will be very quick, said Frederick Schneider,
26:37
a senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
26:42
But there are structural breaks that cannot be easily undone.
26:48
Both the oil and non oil sectors are getting hit
26:52
equally hard and are facing damage that is potentially long term.
26:59
The same structure rule security weaknesses that challenging geography can
27:03
have darkened the outlook for the region's fossil fuel economy
27:08
that now threaten its emerging sectors. The prospect that are
27:13
on can shut down the straight of hormones on a whim,
27:18
shake the confidence of foreign investors, unravel the reputation of
27:23
wealthy Gulf states safe harbors for business. Economies in Asia
27:29
are already in doing. Serious fuel shortages, factory shutdowns and
27:36
soaring prices for fertilizer as a result of the shutdown
27:40
of the Strait is pushing leaders there to rethink their
27:44
reliance on Gulf States for trade, driving up costs globally
27:50
and raising questions about whether Western firms will be able
27:54
to tap oil rich monarchies or investment the way that
27:57
they have done in the past. Financial companies are questioning
28:02
the wisdom expanding operations in a place where their office
28:06
space could become a drone strike, target tourists or canceling trips.
28:12
World Trade and Tourism Council estimating that the war cost
28:16
the region six hundred million dollars a day in lost
28:20
revenue during the first weeks of the conflict. Tech firms
28:25
are at risk of losing the government investment bank rolling
28:28
giant data center projects. The real estate sector is reeling
28:34
as the foreign workers driving its growth. Where we think
28:38
whether to move to the region. The outlook for restoring
28:43
the oil and gas revenue is that still badly needed
28:47
to run the area's economic makeup, where grows murkier every
28:50
day and the conflict is not resolved. Both United Arab
28:56
Emirates and Saudi Arabia pipelines allow them to avoid the
29:01
straight of Horn moves, but Kuwait, Cutter Bahrain find themselves
29:07
with no path out, said Andrew Lieber, a non resident
29:11
fellow at the Middle East Program of the Carnegie Endowment
29:15
for International Peace. They are economically under more pressure. Kuwait
29:22
and Bahrain have seen what was once billions of dollars
29:25
in monthly revenue evaporate. Bahrain was hit with a major
29:30
downgrade and its credit outlook by Moody dropping from stable
29:33
to negative. His key imports from the global economy grind
29:37
to a halt. Cutter's plan to use its immense natural
29:41
gas exporting infrastructure to buttress it's economy is in doubts.
29:46
Exports are blocked, the production facilities are badly damaged from
29:51
Iranian strikes. Even as Gulf nations have scrambled for solutions
29:57
to export their oil and other import other goods, including
30:02
via the pipelines in Saudi Arabia and the UEE and
30:07
trucking networks across Saudi Arabia and alman the war has
30:12
made clear how vulnerable these countries are, said Yuel Guzanski,
30:18
a senior researcher head of the golf Research field at
30:22
the Institute for National Security Studies, a research group at
30:27
Tel Aviv University. As it maintains control of the Strait
30:32
of Hormuz, Iran has also targeted both the East West
30:36
Pipeline and the Fallujah Port in the UAE, which caught
30:41
on fire Monday amid a barrage of attacks. Analysts warned
30:46
that such threats could be hanging over the region four
30:49
years as a durable peace deal that removes any risk
30:54
of hostilities reignites seems increasingly unlikely. At the same time,
31:02
countries reeling from the war's price shocks have scrambled for
31:06
alternative energy sources, which could be permanently suppressed the global
31:12
appetite for oil and gas. There is so much that
31:18
needs to going to need to get the region to
31:21
be rethought in the Golf Zanski Sid goth state leaders
31:26
are projecting confidence that they will be able to carry
31:29
out their blueprints for growth. A statement the UAE government
31:34
said the country has adopted forward looking economic strategies that
31:39
enhance its capacity to absorb any geopolitical and economic pressure.
31:45
In this regard, there's no change to investment plans or
31:49
long term economic priorities, it added, Yet pain is already
31:55
spreading through Golf economies. Millions of dollars in infrastructure damage,
32:03
heightened security threats from Iran, and loss of oil revenue
32:08
already have countries diverting funds that once would have gone
32:12
to foreign projects. Toward domestic needs, said Rebecca Patterson, a
32:18
senior fell with the Council on Foreign Relations.
32:22
Speaker 2: Those needs including.
32:24
Speaker 1: Repairing oil and gas production the facilities, building expansive new
32:30
pipelines that diminished reliance on the straight of hore moves,
32:34
and boosting military spending. There are not short term projects.
32:41
These are fundamental and potentially permanent shifting of priorities. Saudi
32:49
Arabia has already scaled back its Vision twenty thirty initiative,
32:54
which was an elaborate investment plan linked to twenty sixteen
32:58
to spur the transition to a more diverse economy. Optional
33:03
investments are getting cut, including a two hundred million dollar
33:07
gift to the Metropolitan Opera in New York that was
33:11
withdrawn last month. The Saudis also planning to stop funding
33:17
the liv golf tournament. More Consequently, Patterson said big tech
33:23
companies they relied on the Saudis to help bankrow their
33:27
multi billion dollar data center projects in the Middle East
33:32
in the US they need to start looking elsewhere for cash.
33:37
It's not just foreign companies that fill the squeeze. Kuwait
33:43
fallout from the war is underscoring how the practically free
33:47
electricity that citizens and businesses take for granted may be
33:50
unsustainable outages take it hold as demand for power outstrip supply,
33:58
With the government reluctant to build more plants because it
34:02
costs so much to subsidize them. They lose money on
34:08
every kill a wa of electricity they sell, said Jim Crane,
34:12
an energy scholar at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
34:19
Now the world is in an energy crisis. Citizens in
34:22
Kuwait are shielded from those price signals, said some Gulf
34:28
states are going to need to rethink the extravagant subsidies
34:32
and free services that are a hallmark of the region.
34:36
At the same time, the burgeoning tourism and real estate
34:40
sectors that are the pride of the Gulf state leaders
34:44
are under serious strain. We are all feeling it, said
34:50
Raza and Anzani, a restaurant or on food critic in Dubai.
34:55
There's pretty much no one coming in terms of tourists,
34:59
he said, every everyone in the area, especially in the
35:01
hospitality sector. He is really struggling. Hotels that were once
35:09
buzzing with ex pats vacationers that are being mothballed. Restaurants
35:14
are closing those able to stay afloat or having to
35:18
remove from their menu's foreign sounding ingredients Immorati. Residents and
35:24
foreigners who have remained in Dubai are trying to step
35:28
up their spending locally to fill the void. There's a
35:33
concerted effort by residents to spend, even if they are
35:36
not spending what they once were. Said now, Masi, there's
35:41
a spirit of resilience that.
35:43
Speaker 2: I love seeing.
35:45
Speaker 1: The region relies heavily on tourists and a massive immigrant workforce,
35:50
their risks quickly eroding, with opportunities for blue collar employment diminish,
35:55
and white collar executives from abroad contemplate say to live
36:00
and work there. Asad Zangana, leads macro economic analysis of
36:09
the Gulf for the research firm Oxford Economies, said this
36:13
could be causing a real estate crash that may ultimately
36:18
rattle the UAE's banking sector. There is a lot of
36:22
concern about the real estate situation, he said. They don't
36:27
see growth and immigrants who will buy all these properties.
36:34
After the US and Israel attack to Ron in late February,
36:38
the number of people searching on a property finder a
36:41
company Akendazillo in the US dropped by seventy percent, said
36:48
Sheriff Sleeman, the company's chief revenue officer. While searches have
36:54
since bounced back to eighty percent of pre war levels,
36:58
the number of transactions is of out sixty what it
37:02
had been before the conflict.
37:05
Speaker 2: Demand did not.
37:05
Speaker 1: Go away, but people are sitting on the bench waiting
37:09
to see what happens, he said. Still some argue the
37:15
region has already cemented its place as a key global
37:18
economic hub. It's become too big to fail. People are
37:23
hungry to be there, Sleeman said, whether it's because of
37:27
the weather, of the taxation platform or the stability in
37:32
day to day live Patterson points to another factor. If
37:37
you need capital to make new investments, where else do
37:41
you go?
37:42
Speaker 2: She said.
37:43
Speaker 1: For decades, investments firms looks to China back big projects
37:51
such as office complexes, golf courses, and data centers. At
37:56
mid today's political tensions, of that kind is less attractive
38:01
in many cases, and companies in the West seeking cash,
38:06
Patterson said, are aware that sovereign wealth funds and the
38:10
Middle East still control trillions of dollars in assets. They
38:15
need the money, she said. And the next story Republicans
38:22
who denied twenty twenty election results could be governors next year.
38:30
Political figures who took leading roles and trying to overturn
38:34
the twenty twenty presidential election appear on track to win
38:39
the Republican Party's nomination for governor in several of the
38:43
country's biggest battleground states, including Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Their
38:50
prominence shows how President Trump's claims that the election was
38:54
stolen become an article of faith with the Republican Party
38:58
in more than five years after Joe Biden was elected,
39:03
and it means victories in this year's midterms elections will
39:06
give Trump supporters who were central in his efforts to
39:09
overturn the election key oversight roles in the twenty twenty
39:13
eight presidential election, over which states hold main authority. The
39:20
GOP feels for governor include activists who took vocal, sometimes
39:25
official actions and support of Trump's claims to get victory
39:29
in twenty twenty, a sheriff who recently seized ballots in California.
39:37
Members of Congress voted to reverse the tw twenty results
39:40
and back to lawsuits heeking to do the same.
39:45
Speaker 2: Only a few of.
39:46
Speaker 1: The candidates explicitly raised out about the validity of the
39:49
twenty twenty election.
39:51
Speaker 2: On their campaign.
39:51
Speaker 1: Websites, at least thirty embraced overhauling election policies. Some promised
39:59
to fight voter fraud and cheating, while other's reference what
40:03
they call election integrity policies, such as mandatory voter ID
40:08
and limitations on mail in ballots. Washington Post analysis one
40:14
hundred and forty five Republican gubernatorial candidates webshites sows this.
40:20
Democracy advocates and Democratic Party leaders say they're alarmed by
40:27
the denial is let's say that the issue is likely
40:30
to take a backseat to other voter concerns, such as affordability.
40:35
Democrats are making a concerted effort connect denial of the
40:39
twenty twenty outcome to broader themes such as corruption, economic anxiety,
40:44
and insider dealing.
40:46
Speaker 2: This is an important.
40:48
Speaker 1: Issue, it's not the only issue, and it shouldn't necessarily
40:52
be a lead thing, said Kentucky Governor Basheer, chair of
40:56
the Democratic Governors Association, a group paring to make Republican's
41:00
history and election denialism a key issue in twenty twenty six.
41:05
Most everyone in the economy is struggling because of Trump
41:08
and these folks are running. These election deniers were willing
41:12
to do anything for the president, so they passed attempts
41:16
to take an election and work to steal it. For
41:19
a guy that made life tougher, he's certainly not going
41:22
to stand up to him to try to make life easier.
41:26
The races are underway as Trump and his administration seek
41:30
changes on how the midterm elections will be run and
41:35
continue to relegate how the twenty twenty election was conducted
41:41
and relitigate that as well. Trump last month signed in
41:46
executive orders subsequently challenged the Court of Course seeking to
41:50
limit who can vote by mail. The Justice Department has
41:55
seized twenty twenty ballots in Georgia taken possession of betrove
42:00
of twenty twenty election data in Arizona. The Post contacted
42:06
Republican candidates questioned the twenty twenty election results in seven
42:11
states and asked how their views on that election would
42:14
inform the possible terms as governor. None agreed to be interviewed,
42:19
other than Mike Lindell, the My Pillow founder and Minnesota
42:22
candidate who spent years promoting claims about stolen elections. We
42:28
can't use computers in our elections, said Lindale, with long
42:33
advocated hand counting paper ballots. He disputed the notion and
42:39
focusing on elections was bad politics, saying he has a
42:43
broad based platform aimed at reducing taxes, streamlining regulations, helping
42:49
the homeless, identifying fraud and benefits programs. Others considered strong
42:56
election candidates have been more circumspect about their views and
43:02
previous actions as they came paying to win over general
43:05
election voters. In Arizona, Representative Andy Biggs, the overwhelming favorite
43:13
to win the Republican nomination for governor, was central to
43:18
the Republican efforts in twenty twenty to block certification of
43:21
the election results. Biggs, who was running with Trump's endorsement,
43:26
joined a Friend of the Court brief and the Texas
43:28
lawsuit aimed at voiding the election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan,
43:35
and Wisconsin, all states Trump won in twenty sixteen that
43:41
Biden carried four years later. The spokesperson for Biggs said
43:48
the congressman's focus from day one the campaign has been
43:54
to make the consistent case to voters that Arizonas cannot
43:58
afford Governor. Katie Hobbs, the Democrat, unless so the twenty
44:05
twenty election. Biggs, in an interview with the radio show
44:09
in Phoenix last week, declined to say whether Biden legitimately
44:13
won the twenty twenty election. Top candidates in Georgia, Pennsylvania,
44:19
and Wisconsin also played integral roles in Trump's twenty twenty
44:23
efforts to sow doubt about his loss. Georgia Lieutenant Governor
44:29
Burt Jones, Republican presidential elector in the state, in twenty twenty,
44:35
signed an official looking certificate to claimed Trump won in
44:39
Georgia and pushed for a special session aimed at making
44:43
it a reality. Jones is in a competitive race to
44:47
win the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Georgia. Stacy Garrity, Pennsylvania's
44:54
Republican treasurer, who was Trump's endorsement for the gubernatorial nomination,
45:00
told the crowd gathered state Capitol on January fifth, twenty
45:04
twenty one, that the election from this November is tarnished forever.
45:11
Campaign event with Trump in twenty twenty two, she said,
45:15
we all know he won. And Wisconsin Representative Tom Tiffany,
45:22
another Trump back candidate favored to win the GOP nomination
45:25
for governor, voted to overturn Biden's win in Pennsylvania and
45:30
Arizona said he would have done the same for Wisconsin
45:34
if such a vote had been held. Tiffany, like Biggs,
45:39
joined the unsuccessful Supreme Court filing that sought to reverse
45:44
the results in swing states. The fallow twenty twenty five,
45:48
Tiffany appeared at a GOP event with Michael Flynn, who
45:52
briefly served as Trump's first national security advisor and has
45:57
spent years amplifying election cannspiracy theories. Michigan has two elections
46:04
skeptics mind for votes, one of them Representative John James,
46:09
a Republican, ask a crowd last month if they believe
46:14
Democratic state officials screwed Trump at twenty twenty and promised
46:18
on his website to take citizens off the voter rolls,
46:24
and state Senate Minority leader Eric Nesbitt told The Midland
46:28
Daily News he believed Trump won the state in twenty twenty.
46:33
Republicans usually have a tough time in deep blue California,
46:38
but there is a chance the state's unusual primary system
46:43
could leave two Republicans as the only candidates in the
46:46
gubernatorial general election. One of the two leading Republicans. Chad Bianco,
46:53
the sheriff of Riverside County, has drawn attention by seizing
46:57
about six hundred and fifty thousands they were cast into
47:01
November twenty twenty five election to redraw the state's congressional map.
47:07
Bianco is acting on a complaint from a local group.
47:11
Said in an interview last month that he would consider
47:14
seizing ballots again after the June primary if he receives
47:18
a similar complaint. In recent months, Republicans nationwide rallied behind
47:26
the Save America Act, which would require Americans to provide
47:31
proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The House has
47:36
passed the measure, the backing of Biggs, James, and Tiffany
47:41
and remain installed in the Senate. Support for measures like
47:46
that will help inoculate Republicans who question the twenty twenty elections,
47:51
said Jason Cable, Row of Republican Strategists in Michigan. But
47:57
he said some of the Canada's comments about the twenty
48:00
twenty election aren't helpful. Oh, it's silly because they know better,
48:04
said Roe, the former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.
48:10
But you know, it's still what the base wants to hear.
48:14
He said he didn't expect the issue to gain much
48:17
traction in the election, especially Democrats focus on the economy
48:22
and the price of gas. There's enough buddying of what
48:27
everybody's feeling or about the election integer at this point.
48:32
It may be a little even exasperation and exhaustion with
48:36
re litigating an election that was six years ago that
48:40
I don't know what it really matters that much to
48:43
voters now, he said. An NBC News poll conducted in
48:48
March found that inflation the cost of living with top
48:52
issues on voter's minds at twenty twenty six. Threats to
48:56
democracy coming in second elections focused on arguments about protecting
49:02
democracy can present Democrats with a quagmire as well. In
49:08
twenty twenty four, Democrats sought to counter Trump's rise by
49:13
focusing on his role in undermining the election and the
49:17
need to protect democratic norms. Those arguments largely proved unpersuasive,
49:23
with voters far more focused on issues like prices, leading
49:29
to Trump to win a second term with a unified
49:32
power in Congress. Brian Limick, the president of Defend the Vote,
49:38
a group focused on expanding access to voting, said Democrats
49:43
and focus on both the economy and democracy, but not
49:48
in a way that sounds out of touch with voters
49:50
basic economic needs. As they did in twenty four Democrats
49:56
learned a really valuable lesson that you need to be
50:00
out there seeking and seeing and hearing from the voters
50:05
what they want, what they need at a very human level.
50:09
They said, Democracy protection is a huge priority for us.
50:15
This election of nihilism is a real problem. Rather than
50:20
focusing on institutional democracy, we need to connect corruption and
50:25
democracy to the lives of voters and kitchen table issues
50:29
to win this thing.
50:31
Speaker 2: For the Democrats and our next story.
50:35
Speaker 1: The anti woke vivic Ravaswami confronts racism in his run
50:41
for the Ohio governorship. Vivik Ravaswami didn't mention the racist
50:49
taunts that follow him online with the GOP primary opponent
50:54
who said he's not a real American, but the Ohio
50:58
gubernatorial candidate who clinched his party's nomination this week alluded.
51:04
Speaker 2: To bigotry on the right.
51:06
Speaker 1: In his opening message to a town hall full of
51:08
young Republicans, Ramaswami, a Hindu son of Indian immigrants, warned
51:15
the crowd against adopting the same victim mentality that he
51:20
said had afflicted the left. The number one factor that
51:25
determines whether you achieve your goals in life is actually you,
51:29
he said to May first event. It's not the Jews,
51:34
it's not white people, it's not the patriarchy, it's not
51:37
the black people, it's not the foreigners. It was a
51:41
striking message from a candidate who has long cast racism
51:45
as an obsession of Democrats, has more recently confronted it
51:50
on the right. After building his political career denouncing wokeness
51:55
on the left, at one point dismissing the myth of
51:58
white supremacy. In his twenty twenty four presidential campaign, he
52:03
is trying to steer his party away from the extremist
52:06
fringes flared up in his own race. Ramaswami, who is forty,
52:13
won the GOP nomination easily on Tuesday, but an obscure
52:18
primary opponent, Casey Putch, secured about eighteen percent of the vote.
52:23
While the sailing Third Worlders, provoking blood and soil language
52:28
used by Nazis and attacking Ramaswami as an Indian boy
52:33
who co plays as an American, many Republicans dismissed people
52:39
like Punch as an online agitator and who are best ignored.
52:44
Some are still unnerved by the attractions they've gotten despite
52:47
their embrace of open vigotory. The ugliness has made the
52:52
Ohio governor's race one front and a broader GOP debate
52:57
over extremism what to do about it. Stoked by the
53:01
rise of white supremacist influencer Nick Fluentes and other like
53:06
minded commentators, some Republicans want to draw a harder line
53:10
against them. The racial resentments that others on the right
53:15
have stoked win elections and cultural influence. In an op
53:19
ed last year in The New York Times, Ramaswami raised
53:23
alarms about the rise of gropers Fuente's molde limiting real
53:29
reluctance from any former anti woke peers to criticize the
53:32
new identity politics on the right. But many Republicans are
53:38
also wary of giving any attention to the right's most
53:41
extreme figures. These people live off the OxyS and that
53:45
we give them, said Alex trinafflu, chair of the Ohio
53:49
Republican Party. Similar tensions are playing out in other races,
53:55
most notably in Florida or GOP gubernatorial candidate James Fishback
54:02
calls his black opponent represented a Byron Donald's. By Ron
54:07
recently told a black critic that should be lynched. Fishback
54:12
is stuck in the single digits and public polling, but
54:14
still seized attention with his ability to draw an enthusiastic
54:19
young crowd. Ramaswamy opponents on the right say they're not
54:24
going away. Push cast his showing on Tuesday as a victory.
54:30
His campaign raised about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars,
54:33
far less the Ramaswamy's and like the institutional support of
54:37
the GOP and President Trump indorsed Ramaswami early. It really
54:42
doesn't matter if we're fringe, said Joel Webbin, Christian nationalist
54:47
pastor with more than one hundred thousand followers on x.
54:51
He joined Push in Ohio this past week for a
54:54
conference where speakers railed against a Jewish influence third world immigration.
55:01
But she said doesn't have to win in order to
55:04
prove the legitimacy of our movement. He suggested that movement
55:09
could withhold support for Ramaswamy in November send a warning
55:14
to the GOP. Squeaky will actually has a lot of power,
55:18
weapon said. A right wing feud over who belongs in
55:23
the GOP tent erupted last year when Tucker Carlson, the
55:28
prominent ex Fox News host, brought Fluentes on his show
55:33
for a friendly interview. It intensified. The president of the
55:38
Conservative Heritage Foundation gave a vehement defense of Carlson, prompting
55:44
others in the GOP to urge the party to denounce
55:47
Fluentes and his allies. Any GOP politicians tried to stay
55:52
out of the fighting. Ramaswami jumped in the conference last
55:58
year the Conservative Youth Group Turning Point in USA. He
56:02
used his speech to draw a hard line. If you
56:06
believe in normalizing hatred towards any ethnic group, towards Whites,
56:12
towards Blacks, towards Hispanics, towards Jews, toward Indians, you have
56:21
no place in the confuture of conservative movement.
56:24
Speaker 2: He said.
56:26
Speaker 1: If you believe that Hitler was pretty ah and cool
56:31
as Fluentis has said, you have no place in the
56:34
future of the conservative movement. He also took aim at
56:39
the aerage at the idea of heritage Americans that he
56:44
saw gaining traction and corners on the right, the belief
56:48
that people with long US ancestry have a greater claim
56:51
to the country, which Ramaswami is called as loony as
56:55
anything the woke and the left has put up in
57:01
his New York Times up had published the same week,
57:03
he said his social media feeds were littered with slurs
57:07
and demands that he returned to India despite being born
57:10
in Cincinnati. Soon he said he was quitting Instagram and
57:14
x though his team would keep posting for him.
57:18
Speaker 2: The races he's.
57:19
Speaker 1: Seen online, he said at the time, was unrepresentative of
57:23
real life, said has not heard a single bigoted remark
57:26
from the voters he met in a year in touring Ohio.
57:30
The ugin leand in this would continue to flare up
57:33
in his own campaign. Oswami's team declined to make him
57:36
available for an interview, butch built himself as a true
57:39
American alternative Ramaswami launching a long shot campaign that personified
57:46
the issues Ramaswami has raised. During the Turning Point conference,
57:50
embraced followers of twentes he shares mocking decryption of Ramaswami
57:55
is a blue Hindu deity, posted a gun wielding video
58:00
in which he asked Grama Swam if he wanted to
58:01
play Cowboys and Indians bad painter, He said, let an
58:06
independent journalist asked him to say something negative about Hitler.
58:11
He was obscure enough for Republican officials to dismiss him
58:14
as a non factor in the race. Winches himself urged
58:18
his followers to back Democrats over Republicans he dislikes, including Ramaswamy, said, do.
58:23
Speaker 2: You even think push can win?
58:24
Speaker 1: And this concludes the reading of the Washington Post for today, Monday,
58:27
May eleven. Your reader's been Rod Brotherton, give me questions.
58:31
Please let us know call us at eight five nine
58:34
four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for listening,
58:37
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
58:41
on Radio I