Trump's Trials - Analyzing Trump's influence in key primaries this week

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of Inside Elections about Tuesday's primaries in four states and how President Trump could affect the odds for his party.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. The president has both an ability and a willingness to use the power of his office, to think outside the box. Nobody makes a better deal than President Trump. We're going to do better and better and better. Nobody can believe what they're watching. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power.

Here's the latest from NPR. I'm Michelle Martin in Washington, D.C. Four states are holding their primaries tomorrow. Here to give us a rundown on some key races to watch and to analyze how President Trump is helping or hurting the GOP in these races is Nathan Gonzalez. He's the editor and publisher of Inside Elections. That's a nonpartisan campaign analysis publication. He was kind of just stopped by your studios.

Thanks so much. Good morning. So Nathan, the president once again is claiming election fraud, as we heard on Meet the Press. He's pointing the finger at California as voice. votes from last Tuesday's primary are still being counted. It's four days, and they aren't even close to coming up with it. You know why they're doing that?

Because they're cheating on the election. Do you have evidence to support that? All I have to do is look. Okay, I think a lot of us have flashbacks with that. But does this, I don't know, how do you read that? Is that maybe a preview of a narrative for the midterms of things don't go well for the GOP? Well, maybe it's a preview and it's a recap of where we've been on the messaging.

I mean, President Trump has been complaining about elections, even since the 2016. election that he won. He was complaining about California and complaining how the pop he didn't, he felt like he was being disenfranchised because he didn't win the popular vote. But we have to, first of all, we have to remember that a vote cast by mail before or counts the same as a vote cast on election day and a vote counted on election night, or counts the same as a vote counted after election day. I think this is something that the base, Republicans are behind President Trump in almost everything, but they also realize that there are more important issues. such as the economy. And I think the risk for the president is that he continues to make news

and he continues to be the focus of attention at a time when he's incredibly unpopular nationwide, about a 39% job approval rating. And that is not good for Republicans heading into the midterm elections. The president also asked for patience on the Iran war. He defended this anti-weaponization fund. You also noted, as have others just how strongly the president's core supporters stick with him no matter what. But are these messages landing, first with his supporters, and then with anybody else. Well, in order to be successful, in order for Republicans to hold the majorities, holding the Republican base isn't enough, right?

You need an inspired base that turns out to vote, but you also have to have independent voters. And right now, the situation is you have an excited Democratic base against Republicans and the president. You have independent voters flipping from Republicans to Democrats based on the economy and the direction of the country. And then there's a question of what do those Trump-first Republicans do in the midterms? Do they turn out to vote when he is not on the ballot? Republicans haven't been successful over the last year and a half.

So let's dig into a couple of specific races in Maine. The presumptive Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is dealing with yet more allegations about his personal conduct. This time after three ex-girlfriends painted a picture of him as kind of a volatile character. They talked to the New York Times about this. Do we have a sense of how Democratic voters in Maine are feeling about this as they head to the polls? Conflicted? I mean, they don't like the... but they also, Maine is a must-win state to get to the majority.

Republican Susan Collins running for re-election in a Democratic state. Platner's campaign was so successful that he was able to push out the sitting governor, Janet Mills, and now there's more things coming out as the primary comes on Tuesday. I think this comes down to focus. If voters are focused on, do you like Graham Platner's texts or Reddit posts or his relationships with women? If you're focused on that, Susan Collins is going to win. going to be tough for Democrats to win the majority. But if you, voters are focused on President Trump in saying, do you like the direction of the country? Do you like what President Trump is doing?

Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee, can still win this race. And let's go to South Carolina where the president has endorsed the lieutenant governor, Pamela Yvette, for governor over. Over other loyal Republicans in the state, does Trump's endorsement matter here? Do you think this is enough to take her over? It still does matter. I mean, the president, his record was dinged a little bit last week in Iowa when Randy Feinster, the congressman fell short. But I wouldn't even blame that on President Trump. It looks like this race is going to go to a runoff. You have the lieutenant governor who has Trump's support. You also have two members of Congress, Nancy Mason, Ralph Norman, the state attorney general. I expect this to go to runoff. And I expect President Trump's influence in the primary to continue.

Whatever Republican primaries were, he is still the most important and most powerful person in the Republican Party. So overall, what have the primaries told us thus far about what voters in each party seem to want? a candidate. President, on the Republican side, it's fairly easy. Whoever President Trump, you know, endorses, that is still key. You want that. The Democratic side, I think Democrats are focused on winning. I think that they're still wrestling with that larger conversation about 2028, who they nominate for president. I don't think Democratic primary voters have wrestled with that. But right now, it's about winning. It's about taking over the majorities and trying to have either a House or a Senate that stands up to the president, you know, in two years.

That is Nathan Gonzalez, editor and publisher of Inside Elections. Nathan, thank you so much. Thank you. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and, of course, who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visitplus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows,

like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise and more. Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's Terms from NPR.