MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There's been a strong reaction in a number of places over President Trump's aggressive immigration policy. There have been protests in several cities, and more are expected around the country this weekend. There will also be a military parade in Washington, D.C., that happens to fall on President Trump's birthday. We wanted to talk more about how all these events taken together are affecting the public mood. So we've asked NPR's senior political editor and correspondent, Domenico Montanaro, to weigh in. Domenico, good morning.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Good morning. Great to be with you.
MARTIN: So we've had this paused court ruling saying Trump's deployment of the National Guard in LA was illegal, and then this handcuffing of Senator Padilla, which we just heard about. How are you thinking about the politics of all this?
MONTANARO: Well, on the ruling, you know, it's another example of a lower court trying to put a check on the Trump administration, though this case, like so many others, is ongoing. On Senator Padilla, some on the right will see what he did as a stunt. That's essentially what House Speaker Mike Johnson said there. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said if Padilla wanted to talk, there were other ways to do it. Dan Bongino, who's deputy director of the FBI, praised the FBI's work, but the manhandling of a U.S. senator, handcuffing him, putting him on the floor certainly stands out in recent U.S. history and is in line with this narrative of appearing tough that Trump has tried to project.
MARTIN: Do you see this as a possible tipping point, or is there something else that you're looking at that could be?
MONTANARO: Well, up to this point in the Trump presidency, Democrats have really struggled to figure out a message opposing him. You know, they've seemed not quite sure what to focus on given the deluge in this first - in those first few months. But Democrats I've spoken to this week told me that they think that the harshness that Trump has displayed with people beyond hardened criminals being rounded up is helping them to coalesce around an immigration message. One told me that no one wants to see a mom picked up by plainclothes agents in unmarked cars, for example. But I also spoke to Ramzi Kassem, who teaches at - who teaches law at the City University of New York. He worked on immigration policy in the last couple of years of the Biden White House, and he said the Democratic response so far is just not enough.
RAMZI KASSEM: The Democrats haven't yet figured out how to tell a compelling affirmative story around immigration. And I think that's been the downfall of the Democratic Party on this issue.
MONTANARO: You know, he went on to say that there's simply been a, quote, "narrative vacuum" on this issue that's allowed Republicans to tell a simple and negative story on immigration.
MARTIN: You mentioned President Trump's commitment to seeming tough. I mean, isn't that what people voted him into office for, that toughness? I mean, is that really a liability for him in any way?
MONTANARO: Well, some people certainly did, and he certainly wants to look tough, but that's part of why he's holding this military parade this weekend, for example. And it definitely plays well, again, with his base. We can quibble, though, about what people wanted when they crossed over to vote for him and weren't part of his base, necessarily. When we talked to them during the election, they mostly told us they wanted to see prices go down and that that was the most important thing.
But immigration, you know, no doubt about it, was certainly key to Trump's election. People thought that the high number of border crossings were a problem. They trusted Republicans and Trump to handle it more than Democrats. Some Republicans, though, are now warning - especially those Republicans from key swing districts - against targeting people with no criminal record. That may be why we heard yesterday Trump dial it back a bit and say, ICE - Immigration and Customs Enforcement - shouldn't be going after farmworkers. Once again, though, this is an issue that Trump said he had simple solutions to that turned out to be far more complicated, Michel.
MARTIN: That is NPR's senior political editor and correspondent, Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, thank you.
MONTANARO: Great to be with you as always.
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