WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In addition to
the protests over immigration,
it was another wild day
in Washington.
Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran
said he will resign on April
1 because of poor health.
The 80-year-old Republican
chairs the powerful
Appropriations Committee.
And a former Trump
campaign aide announced
he will defy a subpoena
from the special counsel
in the Russia probe.
Sam Nunberg left the
campaign in its early days.
Today, he rejected any
suggestion that the Trump
team colluded with Russia.
But he also said he thinks the
special prosecutor may have
evidence against the president.
It's a perfect time for Politics
Monday with Tamara Keith of
NPR and Susan Page, Washington
bureau chief for USA Today.
Welcome to you both.
TAMARA KEITH, National
Public Radio: Thank you.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So we
can all agree it really
was a wild day, officially.
But let's go back to DACA.
Lisa set up, very nicely, Tam, I
think, how we got to this point.
Where do we go from here?
There is so much grassroots
effort and enthusiasm
to get this solved.
And I would point out
this was also -- there
was some bipartisan
agreement at one point
that DACA should be addressed.
How do we go from here?
TAMARA KEITH: So, President
Trump today tweeted,
hey, let's make a deal.
But the White House is also
saying that the president has
laid out his four principles,
the things he wants.
What happened is that the
president had met with
bipartisan members of Congress.
He said send me with
whatever you can come
up with, I will sign it.
Then, next thing you know, he is
saying, actually, I have these
four principles, I need these
four things, and without these
four things, I won't do it.
The Senate voted on the
president's principles,
and of all the things
the Senate voted on
a few weeks ago related
to immigration, that
got the least support.
It had something
like 39 yes votes.
It had a majority who
opposed it, and that
included Republicans.
So it's not clear where
it goes from here.
And without that really firm,
pressing deadline, Congress
just doesn't move quickly.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Susan, you
were saying before that, when
it comes to immigration, we have
seen this movie before.
SUSAN PAGE, Washington Bureau
Chief, USA Today: That's right.
We saw President George W. Bush
pursue an immigration package,
and then President Obama
did, and then President Trump
said he wanted to pursue one.
But the fact is, when the Senate
was moving toward a bipartisan
deal, the president undercut
that movement by tying
new limits on legal
immigration to the effort
to protect the so-called
dreamers.
The fact is there is a national
consensus that the dreamers
should be allowed to stay
legally in this country.
There's no political
consensus in Washington.
The country's made
a judgment on this.
In that way, it's
like a guns debate.
You take a poll, Americans
agree on this by a
pretty sizable number.
It's just that Washington
can't seem to make a deal.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Well,
take up this point, Tam,
that Susan mentions.
On the issue of guns, we
saw the president last week
following the Parkland shootings
say -- he brought a
bunch of bipartisan group
of lawmakers together,
indicated that he wanted
to have a big, omnibus,
comprehensive gun control piece
of legislation, harden schools.
And then he meets with the NRA
and it seems like now in the
Senate and Congress that nothing
is going to happen.
What happened to that momentum?
TAMARA KEITH: I think
that what we have learned
is that when President
Trump has a big bipartisan
meeting of members of
Congress that's televised,
it's like throwing
spaghetti against a wall
and whatever the president
says isn't necessarily
what the president
believes or, more to the
point, what the president
is going to push for.
And the president has shown with
both of those - - in both those
cases that he's not actually
willing to expend political
capital to make the deal.
SUSAN PAGE: It's always safe to
vote against action, especially
when it comes to limits
on guns.
The one thing that might
shake up this paralysis
are the marches that
students are leading
on March 24.
And the question we
have had is, is this a
moment that terrifies
politicians enough that
they actually pass something
that Americans support?
I mean, support for things like
universal background checks
or limits on assault weapons,
they are all but
universal in this country.
A majority by big margins of
big gun owners support them.
So I wonder if these very
articulate students with their
heartbreaking stories about what
happened at their schools
might move this debate at last.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We will
obviously be watching
how that one goes.
Tam, we also saw today
a cleavage within the
GOP over President
Trump's proposed tariffs
on steel and aluminum.
He came out very forcefully
and has been for several days
now tweeting very strongly why
he thinks that this
is important to do.
But within his own GOP all the
way up to Paul Ryan saying,
no, trade wars are bad ideas.
They don't get won.
Don't do this.
How do they resolve that?
TAMARA KEITH: President Trump
has found a way to drive a
wedge within his own party,
which is a relatively
impressive thing to do.
All along, he's been
sort of governing -- he
talks like a populist
and he has been governing
like sort of an
establishment Republican.
Here's a case where he has
been literally saying the same
things about trade and America
getting a bad deal for, like,
30 years, that you know,
guns, immigration, taxes.
There's nothing that he believes
more fundamentally in his core
that he has been more consistent
on than this trade issue.
And now, all of a sudden,
he's being told by members of
his own party and members of
his own administration,
no, this is not a great
idea, you can't do this.
The president clearly
doesn't want to hear that.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Susan, we
have a couple of these little
that are elections coming
up.
We have got Texas, we
have got Illinois, we
have got Pennsylvania,
all possibly different
little barometers of how the
president is doing, how much
his message is resonating
or is being used to
support Democrats.
Democrats think they are
riding an enormous blue wave.
What does your
reporting tell you?
SUSAN PAGE: There are red flags
for Republicans everywhere, and
I don't mean because it looks
so good for the
Republican Party.
I mean signs of trouble.
You look at this Pennsylvania
special House election, which
is next week, it's a district
that President Trump carried
by 19 percentage points.
It is really tied up now.
It's entirely possible
that the Democrat will win.
You look at Texas, which
has its primary tomorrow.
And they have
concluded early voting.
If you look at the early
voting, the early voting by
Republicans is up by 11 percent.
Early voting by Democrats
is up 24 percent.
And that is a sign of energy
and enthusiasm among Democrats,
even in a state like Texas,
which has not elected a
Democrat statewide in almost
a quarter of a century.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lastly,
quickly to you, do you think
there is a blue wave coming?
TAMARA KEITH: Well, just
another sign of that enthusiasm,
Democrats in Texas have fielded
candidates in every single
congressional district.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In Texas.
TAMARA KEITH: This is
the first time that has
happened in 25 years.
Democrats -- and this is
happening not just in Texas, but
all the over the country, that
in districts where Democrats
typically haven't even tried
to play, they are now playing.
So if there is a wave, and
it's more like a tsunami, all
of a sudden, we're going to
be learning about Democrats
we didn't even know existed.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tamara
Keith, Susan Page, thank
you both very much.
TAMARA KEITH: Thank you.