Politics and views in the United States

Vance warns the GOP about young peoples’ socialist sympathies. Texas abortion bans cause headaches for physicians and a judge tosses a government suit against Harvard.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

If we don't get this right, don't blame young people for being sympathetic to socialism.

We've got to blame ourselves.

You don't stop socialism by throwing slogans at people.

You stop socialism by making people's lives better.

Vice President J.D. Vance is warning Republicans about socialist candidates' success with young voters.

In the last election, President Donald Trump actually won with males under 30 and only narrowly lost the overall youth vote, doing better than the party has in decades.

But those voters are now helping fuel a surge for progressive Democrats across the country.

They were key to last week's narrow Michigan Senate primary victory by physician and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed.

Polls show a growing dissatisfaction with Trump's economic policies, with gas prices remaining high and little progress on other goods.

Most surveys say only a bit more than a third of voters view the president favorably.

Partisans hoping to win in rural areas will have to reconnect with an electorate that's deeply divided or totally cynical.

A new study suggests community volunteer projects like diaper drives or STEM summer camps can break through.

Meredith Dean with Community Works says they are seeing success by supporting Democrats and liberals who work with their neighbors on nonpartisan issues.

People in rural communities just really want to work together.

And we're tired of all the national division and nastiness.

We are neighbors who've raised our kids together and we just don't see each other as the devil.

Physicians in Texas say strict abortion restrictions are making it harder to do their job.

OBGYN Anitra Beasley says lawmakers have tried to legislate when an abortion is necessary to save the life of a mother.

But that's practically impossible and distracts doctors and hospitals to a dangerous point.

The focus should be completely on the patient, not whether I can lose my license, not whether there's going to be a huge fine that I have to pay, not whether I'm risking being sued or put into jail.

Maternal mortality rose in Texas after it imposed the ban with a narrow exception for the mother's life, even as it was declining in states that allowed the procedure.

New court documents allege the Trump administration conducted a months-long surveillance operation in Minnesota to crack down a resistance to last winter's immigration sweeps.

The filings came in a case against 15 people accused of conspiring to impede ICE agents.

In an effort to skirt a federal court ruling, the Kennedy Center Board, made up of Trump loyalists, voted to put the president's name on the building once again.

This time, instead of renaming the building, it will honor Trump's contributions to renovating the Performing Arts Center.

A D.C. judge has thrown out a federal case against Harvard University, claiming the school failed to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism.

The suit cited three instances, but the court found them too isolated to show a pattern of discrimination.

Ballots are being counted in the English parliamentary election, where the two leading candidates are the head of a far-right anti-immigrant party and a self-described space warrior with a garbage can on his head.

Nigel Farage of Reform UK is likely to win back the safe seat he quit to stop a bribery investigation by beating the comedian running as the parody candidate, Count Benface.

I'm Zamone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.