Politics and views in the United States

President Trump announces a new program to help veterans become truckers. Election security remains a concern less than 100 days from the midterms and experts say proportional representation could improve American democracy.

Transcript

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

American highways and roadways have been terrorized by unqualified illegal aliens dangerously driving big rigs.

You have to have a knowledge, you have to have a talent for it, and these people don't have that.

President Donald Trump announced the new Freedom Haulers Initiative, a program to help veterans become truck drivers.

It comes in response to an administration rule which terminated more than 200,000 commercial driver's licenses for immigrants with temporary status like refugees and asylum seekers and DACA recipients.

Trump cites a series of high-profile crashes involving foreign-born drivers, though these make up less than 1% of total yearly accidents.

The Department of Transportation will give eligible veterans expedited CDLs and vets without experience will be eligible to receive training.

While some companies and states are joining the program, it's uncertain if it can fill all the lost jobs.

DACA recipients made up a fifth of the drivers impacted, more than 40,000 nationally.

The administration is using unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and non-citizen voting to demand passage of the Save America Act, a national voter ID law currently stalled in the Senate.

President Donald Trump says he might try to push Senate Majority Leader John Thune out of that job for failing to get it passed.

Don Palmer with the Conservative Heritage Foundation think tank agrees with Trump that the bill would preserve election integrity.

These are very good recommendations and reforms to strengthen the registration process and the accuracy of our voter rolls.

It also allows for audits and increasing the integrity of voter registration databases, for example.

The SAVE Act only allows people to register or vote by presenting a passport or birth certificate.

While some states require proof of citizenship to get a ballot, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes says the problem of documentation could unfairly disenfranchise many, notably Native Americans.

Do those tribal IDs count?

They do in Arizona, but we've seen federal legislation introduced that would bar any of those first Americans from having their right to vote, if that's the proof that they have that they are U.S. citizens.

Trump might pull acting AG Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general because of Republican holdouts.

Retiring Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn says he'd support Blanche if changes are made to the immunity deal Trump got by settling a lawsuit against the IRS.

Many Americans feel trapped by the current party system.

A Gallup poll finds a record 45% of adults identify as political independents.

That, even though the Cook Political Report finds nearly 370 midterm House races are uncompetitive, often gerrymandered to benefit party incumbents.

Dustin Wall with Fix Our House argues for proportional representation, the system often used in other countries.

There, the number of seats won by each party reflects their respective vote totals.

Wall points to New England, home to a sizable number of Republican voters, but with no GOP members in Congress.

Even though about 30 to 40 percent of New England is Republican, In a proportional system, Republicans would have real representation in New England.

And it might be a different type of Republican.

It'd be more like the kind of Mitt Romneys and Charlie Bakers that come from that area, a little more moderate.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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