Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Jonathan Allen shares what he learned after spending a day talking to voters at a Pennsylvania gas station. Plus, our Capitol Hill team provides an update on the talks to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
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— Adam Wollner
What a day at a gas station in Pennsylvania revealed about the midterms
By Jonathan Allen
In just a couple of days, tens of millions of viewers have seen Amanda Robbins giving President Donald Trump a piece of her mind on NBC News, social media, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Daily Show,” among other platforms.
The 35-year-old resident of Millersburg, Pennsylvania, is upset with Trump about the price of gas and the war in Iran. So, I asked her what she would say to him if she knew he would see it.
“You are a worthless pile of s—,” Robbins said, looking straight into our video camera. I knew she had voted for him. How many times, I asked.
“Three times,” she said. “That was my bad. Apparently, I’m an idiot.”
Since then, I’ve been asked by friends, colleagues and others how I found myself in Millersburg, 25 miles north of Harrisburg, talking to voters — including the one with the big, bold opinion of Trump, his handling of his job and how she came to turn on him.
In the run-up to any midterm election, reporters fan out across the country and talk to swing voters in swing districts and swing states. I wanted to shake up that model a little bit and talk specifically to MAGA voters in a swing district in a swing state.
When the GOP has been at its strongest in the Trump era, those voters have flocked to the polls to help him, and his party, win control of the White House, the House and the Senate.
Millersburg, one of a series of MAGA enclaves in battleground Pennsylvania’s highly competitive 10th District, looked like a perfect place to find out how Trump voters assess his performance and think about November’s elections.
The local congressman, Republican Rep. Scott Perry, has been a vocal advocate for the MAGA agenda and narrowly kept his seat in 2024. Harrisburg leans heavily Democratic, but much of the rest of the district, including Millersburg, is ruby red. Perry’s race is widely viewed as a toss-up this time.
I figured a gas station was a good place to talk to folks about the war and the price of fuel — it would be fresh in their minds as they pumped and there would be time as the tanks filled to chat with a reporter.
So I met up with photographer Hannah Beier and jack-of-all-trades producer and cameraman Kevin Portilla in Millersburg. We went to the gas station with the lowest prices — because we figured it would be busy and because the manager allowed us to interview customers.
What we found, as expected, was a lot of voters who cast ballots for Trump. Some of them are pleased with the war in Iran and willing to pay more at the pump in service of it. Some didn’t love the war or the higher prices but are still with Trump and the GOP. Others said they aren’t likely to vote in the midterms.
And one — Robbins — hit a political nerve center with her conclusion that her own votes are the reason for the war, the surging gas prices and the economic squeeze she feels. She won’t vote for a Democrat in the midterms, but she won’t vote for a Republican, either, she said.
Republicans will spend much of the next several months trying to make sure Trump voters come to the polls. Their greatest fear is that there are too many Trump voters like Robbins — who aren’t inclined to help him maintain power — across the country to hold control of the House and the Senate.
Bipartisan talks to end Homeland Security standoff get serious as shutdown drags on
By Scott Wong, Frank Thorp V and Brennan Leach
Top Republicans and Democrats trying to end the monthlong Department of Homeland Security shutdown huddled with White House border czar Tom Homan in the Capitol today.
The in-person talks come as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., threatened to nix the upcoming two-week Easter recess unless negotiators can strike a deal.
Since DHS funding lapsed on Feb. 14, lawmakers have shown little interest in ending the standoff. But with recent suspected terror attacks around the country, thousands of federal employees working without pay and major disruptions at some airports as TSA agents miss paychecks, urgency now appears to be growing on Capitol Hill.
“We’ve been encouraging this for a while, and glad to see both sides sitting down and having Homan up here,” Thune said.
“Being a part of that is, I think, a pretty big deal, and a recognition that we need to get this resolved,” the leader continued. “And it needs to get resolved by the end of next week. I can’t see us taking a break if the government is still shut down.”
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are slated to depart for a two-week recess beginning on March 27.
Today’s gathering marked a rare formal sit-down meeting between Republicans and Democrats since the shutdown began 33 days ago. And Homan’s presence in the Capitol is a sign that bipartisan talks are getting more serious.
“I’m glad that the White House was here, but we are a long ways apart,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
Still, others who had participated in the talks characterized the gathering as productive.
“We’re just working, trying to figure out how to get DHS funded. We got TSA agents out there that aren’t getting paid, and we need to come up with a solution,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., who serves on the Appropriations Committee. “I think we made some progress. [Homan’s] gonna stay engaged. His expertise is very helpful.”
Read more →
Today’s other top stories
- Iran war: Israel launched a widespread strike on the world-largest gas field, triggering retaliation from Tehran against key energy sites across the Gulf Arab states. Read more →
- History dept.: Trump invoked Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor when speaking about recent U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran during a bilateral meeting at the White House with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Read more →
- Exclusive: Some Department of Homeland Security contractors told White House officials they were asked to pay Corey Lewandowski when he was a top adviser to Secretary Kristi Noem. Read more →
- The ayes have it: The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to advance the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace Noem at DHS. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against him, while Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., voted for him. Read more →
- New probe: Former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent, who resigned in protest over the Iran war, is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly leaking classified information. Read more →
- Epstein saga: House Democrats walked out of a closed-door hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi yesterday while she was briefing lawmakers on the Epstein files after being subpoenaed to testify in mid-April. Read more →
- Kornacketology: The men’s NCAA Tournament kicked off today. Check out Steve Kornacki’s March Madness guide here →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Owen Auston-Babcock.
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