Ashley Roque hosts a Washington Journal segment analyzing the uncertainty of potential war with Iran as President Trump extends negotiations until tomorrow, risking infrastructure collapse. Chuck Rocha argues economic anxieties over gas and utilities outweigh war fears for midterms, highlighting rising "double haters" and Latino voter shifts from 48% support to 22% approval. Addressing Joan's concerns on racial resentment within the Democratic Party regarding affirmative action, Rocha counters that his minority-owned consulting firm reveals white men still dominate power brokers despite minorities driving the electorate. Ultimately, the discussion underscores how economic instability and internal party fractures are reshaping American political loyalty beyond traditional partisan lines. [Automatically generated summary]
Let's hear what President Trump said yesterday at that press conference when he was asked about the deadline for ending the war in Iraq, and then I'll get your response in Iran.
unidentified
Your messaging on the war has moved from the war is coming to an end to war going to be bombing Iran to the Stone Ages.
And we've heard a range of those kind of messages.
Well, I think if you care about the Iran war, if that's your number one issue, you want to hear a solution.
And he's saying he's negotiating, he's giving days.
But what I'm finding with voters, with folks who plan on voting in the upcoming election, this war is not one of their priorities.
And the only thing that they see in reflection to this war is the price of the gasoline that they're paying for and that they're reminded of each week when they go to the gas station or the price of their utility bills.
I keep going back to that because I run campaigns for a living.
And when I talk to voters, the Iran war or what's going on with negotiations or if they have a nuclear bomb or not is not the number one thing on their agenda.
The number one thing on most working families is, what am I going to pay for things this week and what am I going to have to that Gallup poll cut off or not eat today to make sure that my kids eat?
They probably have the biggest impact because what we just spoke about is this is a turnout election for the midterms.
We know the people who love Donald Trump.
We know the people that are Democrats who hate Donald Trump.
But there's a group of folks in the middle who just want their government to work.
They want their government to get out of their way.
And they want prices to come down.
Those are the people that will really determine the number of congressional seats either party would need either to retain power or to pick up power.
So I'm most focused on them.
And that universe is getting bitter, bigger.
And let me finally say this.
Of registrations right now, especially with young people, especially with young Latinos, more folks are registering as independents than either party because they are frustrated with both parties.
The Latino vote may be the most consequential vote in the U.S. right now because they're swinging back and forth.
It used to be we talked about soccer moms or these blue-collar hard hat steel workers.
Right now, because Latinos becoming such a growing part of the electorate, and this is mainly second and third generation English speakers, my grandparents came here as immigrants.
These folks were looking for an outlet because they're not tied to either party.
And you saw them swing dramatically for Donald Trump.
But now in the last four or five elections, you've seen them swing back.
And I'm talking about elections in Virginia, New Jersey, the Miami Mayor, and what just happened in this Texas primary in March.
All right, let's talk to callers and start with Joan in New Jersey, Independent Line.
Joan, you're on the air.
unidentified
Hi, good morning.
How are you?
Thank you for coming on this morning.
The one thing I want to talk about, and I've called here before and I feel like I get cut off every time I try to have this conversation.
And I heard another caller call in on Sunday with the same topic around racial resentment and the Democratic Party having this stigma of being a party that's sort of the giveaway party.
Like the Democrats are the one that gave away affirmative action, gave away food stamps, gave away equality, DEI, all these different things.
I don't think the Democrats are allowing and giving the other half of the country the grace and the acknowledgement to talk about these issues and letting them know it's okay because it does come across as racist when there are folks that feel that way,
that they don't like DEI, that they don't like to see the advancement of black people, that they don't like to know that, you know, they're black women or black men that have jobs that were historically a white man's job, right?
And there's a lot of hate and resentment in this country around that.
And if the Democrats do not start having that conversation and making it okay for white people who are resentful for the different type of programs that came about to make to kind of level this country out and also remind them this country is no way leveled.
There is still a lot of people that have not that are minorities and people of color that are still one or two percent of doing better than we were in the 60s.
But for some reason, there is a temperament in this country that's willing to support white nationalism to bring back the days of when they felt they were supreme.
But it's this hidden sort of like we can hide behind MAGA and Donald Trump and Stephen Miller and all these people with these hateful policies because they're pushing that agenda for us because we're too ashamed.
And if you're listening, nobody talks about this on TV very often, is the folks who actually are the strategists behind these campaigns or the power brokers.
And that is a white male and white female dominated area to where my firm, which is one of the only 100% minority owned and operated, is less than 1%.
So we've been trying to make space for people of color in consulting as the, we just talked about this Latino diaspora is becoming such a huge part.
The black diaspora has been such a historic part.
So I've been saying if you want to reach black and Latino