We look at where things are in the deal President Trump says he made to import Russian diesel, plus the reason why the Justice Department is suing California.
Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Trump last night signed an executive order that waived sweeping sanctions against Russia. This follows last week’s announcement of a deal to import Russian diesel. Ukraine resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries this week, following Russian strikes on Ukrainian power plants. These attacks came just a few days after President Trump announced the deal, which was to include an energy ceasefire. NPR’s Ron Elving joins us. Ron, thanks for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: President Trump blames high fuel prices in the U.S. on Ukraine’s targeting of Russian refineries and said if this deal goes through, it would lower prices for Americans.
ELVING: That was supposed to be the idea. It was supposed to do something about these escalating fuel prices, which actually have been with us back to March with the beginning of President Trump’s war on Iran. This was supposed to do something about it, but market experts say it can’t do much to lower prices in the near term. And as you pointed out, there is no energy ceasefire.
So what was the Russia diesel deal really all about? Why was it worth being seen as aiding the Russian invaders of Ukraine, worth being yoked with Vladimir Putin as a dictator seeking his own enrichment? Was it worth signing that executive order, abandoning the Lindsey Graham Act, a bipartisan set of sanctions on Russia that was intended to make Iran want to negotiate? All these things together seem to indicate a clear shift away from backing Ukraine to backing Putin and Russia in this, their latest aggression and land grab.
SIMON: As midterm elections loom, the U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of California to block the counting of ballots from people the government says are, quote, “likely noncitizens.” What do we know about this case?
ELVING: Trump is renewing his long-running assault on voting in California. He said when he lost the state in 2016, that there were millions of people voting illegally. He offered no proof, no evidence, just assertion. And here we are a decade later, and he’s still saying essentially the same thing. He has his Department of Justice making these claims elsewhere too. But when the thumb drives arrive full of names and then they are checked, they don’t prove illegal voting.
We should note that the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database of all sorts of voter violation cases, and over the last 40 years, it’s found 99 cases of ineligible alien voters nationwide. And a Fox News poll this past week showed people care about voter fraud but did not rank it among their most important concerns.
SIMON: That’s the economy, right?
ELVING: Oh, the economy – that’s the underlying message here. Higher prices for fuel help raise prices on a host of things, and they kick off another cycle of escalating inflation. So high prices across the board and an unpopular trade war with Canada and a still more unpopular war on Iran, and now corruption coming up to top the list for many voters.
SIMON: Finally, President Trump this week reversed the decision made by Secretary of Defense Hegseth to livestream the execution of the convicted Fort Hood shooter. Do we know what prompted that change?
ELVING: You know, it might just have been a dose of good sense or a sudden realization that the world would see a full firing squad opening fire on a man who’s been in a wheelchair for years. So when first asked about this, the president said he backed Hegseth and the public execution, absolutely. But was the president fully informed of the content of this spectacle and the likely fallout or the unintended consequences? And if not, do we have an example or a metaphor here for how things have happened?
In so many other ways in the administration, poorly prepped decisions, poorly prepared personnel of the kind of vetting of qualifications that we saw in the matter of the sad story of Trump’s latest press secretary, Katie Zacharia. It turns out not had not passed the bar. It’s a set of questions worth asking and waiting to have answered to.
SIMON: NPR’s Ron Elving. Thanks so much.
ELVING: Thank you, Scott.
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