AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
And we're joined now by NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Good morning, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: So Meg touched on the long and mournful history of political violence in this country. There is a long history of political assassinations. And that seems like that's something that has been front and center for you, considering your beat.
LIASSON: Well, absolutely, and it seems like it's getting worse. Meg mentioned some of the recent attempts - attempted assassination of President Trump, the firebombing of the Pennsylvania governor's mansion, you know, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was viciously beaten in an attack that was clearly meant for her. And members of Congress and local elected officials will tell you that they get many, many more death threats now than they did, say, 10 years ago.
And, you know, Trump did issue the statement about the Minnesota assassinations saying, such horrific violence will not be tolerated. But his critics accuse him of sending a message that political violence conducted on his behalf is OK because he pardoned people over 1,500 people convicted of crimes on January 6, including those who beat police on the steps of the Capitol. So this is a problem that's continuing and both parties are being targeted, although it seems like there are more violent acts against Democrats right now.
RASCOE: Demonstrators gathered around the country yesterday to voice opposition to President Trump's policies. There have been separate, sporadic protests against immigration raids, most notably in and around Los Angeles. Do you see these two movements converging?
LIASSON: I do. The immigration raids and the handcuffing of California Senator Alex Padilla were the catalysts for the protests in LA. But I think the bigger No Kings protests around the country were much broader. They were planned to coincide with Trump's military parade in Washington on Saturday, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Army. It also happened to be Trump's birthday.
But protesters saw that parade as an example of how Trump is politicizing the military. He's threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. He dispatched Marines and National Guard troops to LA over the objection of the California governor. And he gave a very partisan speech at Fort Bragg, where he encouraged the troops in the audience to boo Joe Biden, to boo the media, to boo California Governor Gavin Newsom. He's also threatened to use force against, quote, "any person" who turned out in Washington to protest, not just violent protesters.
So I do think it's possible that the various strands of opposition to Trump - people concerned about undermining the rule of law, about immigration, about the domestic use of military - all those might be converging into something like mass resistance to Donald Trump's administration.
RASCOE: On the ICE raids, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that ICE is pausing its efforts on farms and in hotels and restaurants. Did politics drive that decision, or was it economics?
LIASSON: Well, it's both, but politics certainly was involved. This isn't the first time that Trump has reversed himself or contradicted his aides. But he was getting pushback from agriculture companies. Farmers are a part of Trump's base. It really shows you how complicated the politics of immigration are. Trump's immigration policies in general are very popular, especially border security and deporting people in the country illegally who have committed crimes. But when you start mass deportations of construction workers and garment workers and landscapers and farmworkers, those efforts are not popular at all, especially when you're using the Marines to help do that.
So Trump issued a post that said he was hearing from agriculture companies and hotel owners, quote, our aggressive policies on immigration are taking "good, longtime workers away" and they are "impossible to replace." Now, that was a recognition of reality. Forty percent of agriculture workers don't have legal status to work in the United States, and it shows you how dependent our economy is on people here without status. If there weren't jobs here, they wouldn't come. And that fact runs smack up against the White House goal of arresting 3,000 immigrants a day.
RASCOE: Israel has expanded its attacks on Iran to include oil and gas facilities. The meeting between U.S. and Iranian negotiators scheduled in Oman is not happening. How is the Trump administration handling this situation, this escalating situation, between Israel and Iran?
LIASSON: Well, America is Israel's most important military ally, and that hasn't changed. But the Trump administration is conducting a kind of balancing act on the Israeli-Iran conflict. Trump called the Israeli strikes excellent, but he also said earlier that he didn't want Israel to attack. He wanted to see if he could negotiate a deal with Iran. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made the point that the U.S. was not involved in the initial attack. He has called it a unilateral action. Clearly, Trump doesn't want the U.S. to be dragged into a regional war. But I also think the conflict shows you how difficult it's been for Trump to make deals to end the war in Ukraine, to make a nuclear deal with Iran, to end the war in Gaza - I mean, deals that he had said earlier would be very, very easy to make.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Mara Liasson. Mara, thank you so much.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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