Politics and views in the United States

The Supreme Court won’t lift injunctions stopping mail-in-voting restrictions, a House Subcommittee blames Obamacare for healthcare costs and new polls show Americans tie government corruption to higher prices.

Transcript

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

The cheating on mail-in voting is legendary.

It's horrible what's going on.

And it's very clearly covered.

So I think this will help a lot with elections.

President Donald Trump claimed a March executive order would make elections more secure by limiting mail-in voting.

But the U.S. Supreme Court is letting stand federal injunctions blocking those restrictions, noting the limits could disenfranchise millions.

A Postal Service whistleblower warned the untested White House rules would throw the election into chaos.

And the Conservative Heritage Foundation has recorded only 200 confirmed cases of mail-in ballot fraud in the last quarter century.

Vice President J.D.

Vance says nearly a million people possibly defrauded the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program.

If you screwed the American taxpayer, the federal government is now going to say, you're cut off, no more, you shouldn't be applying anymore, and if you do apply, you're no longer able to get those benefits.

Vance is leading a White House task force on fraud and abuse, which has often targeted blue states, including California and Minnesota.

He says the task force has uncovered nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in federal program waste.

But watchdogs note Trump has pardoned people who've defrauded American taxpayers of billions, including one former nursing home executive who committed what the Justice Department calls one of the largest Medicare frauds in history.

A new General Accountability Office report finds structural problems with Obamacare marketplaces, which are letting consumers be enrolled in plans without their permission.

At a House subcommittee hearing, Wisconsin Republican Scott Fitzgerald blamed the Affordable Care Act for high health care costs.

The price of Obamacare plans has increased at twice the rate of employer-sponsored plans.

Instead of doing something about the artificially inflated prices, the Biden administration just handed out more subsidies.

With 50 days before the midterms, PNS is highlighting important polls.

A new Navigator research poll finds more than four out of five Americans say government corruption raises prices with almost half of people across party lines identifying Trump and his family as deeply corrupt.

But Tina Tang with Navigator Research says most Americans also believe the grift in D.C. is bipartisan.

About 70% of Americans felt that Washington had a major corruption problem.

So this wasn't confined necessarily to Democrats or to Republicans.

They really did see this as a Washington problem, a bipartisan problem, as opposed to just one party or just Trump.

The poll also notes more than half say corruption under Trump outweighs past presidencies. and a Groundwork Collaborative report finds the, quote, pay-to-play administration is driving up working families' costs.

Trump and his family have made more than a billion dollars in crypto since returning to office.

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal says the president is backing permissive cryptocurrency legislation, even as he's profiting from it, and taking donations from dangerous people.

This is an industry that was facing criminal and civil investigations for enabling terrorists, drug traffickers, market manipulation, and human trafficking.

It turns out the shadiest people were more than willing to cut checks to literally get out of jail.

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

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.