Trump Midterm Pressure, Meta Settles In Social Media Case, Nepal & Tibet Flash Floods

**A Martínez** (0:02)
Some Republican candidates are having to distance themselves from President Trump's actions.

**Steve Inskeep** (0:06)
With midterm elections approaching, Trump picked new fights with Iran, China and Canada, highlighting inflation and an unpopular war.

**A Martínez** (0:14)
I'm A Martinez, that is Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News.
Meta agreed to settle a lawsuit. States said the company made its apps addictive for kids. The company denied the allegation, agreed to make changes and pay up to $17 billion. How could Facebook and Instagram be safer?

**Steve Inskeep** (0:33)
Also, a glacier collapsed on the border of Nepal and Tibet. Floodwaters swept away roads and bridges.

**Santa Tamang** (0:40)
So many people lost their lives. So many people lost their families.

**Steve Inskeep** (0:45)
The missing includes 65 Americans.
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**Steve Inskeep** (2:05)
Republicans facing reelection fights this fall are in the position they often face.

**A Martínez** (2:10)
They would like to appeal to voters but are chained to a president who does what he wants. So far this week, President Trump has clashed with Iran, China, Canada, and even some members of his own party, fights that emphasize inflation and war.

**Steve Inskeep** (2:22)
NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivram is covering all of this. Good morning.

**Deepa Shivram** (2:26)
Good morning, Steve.

**Steve Inskeep** (2:27)
OK, so what is the president trying to achieve on some of these issues that Ayesha mentioned?

**Deepa Shivram** (2:32)
Yeah, well, let's look at Iran, for example. This war is about to hit six months, right? And it was a conflict that when Trump started, said it would last about six weeks. This war continues to be unpopular among voters. It's weakened the economy, and Trump's threats against Iran haven't worked. There's no deal. There's no end in sight to this war. And this has led to a different approach the administration is trying to take, where Trump is now threatening sanctions against Iran and other countries that do business with Iran, which includes China. Trump's under a lot of pressure to end this war, and he's running out of time before the midterms. But what's unclear is how these sanction threats might get applied, and how seriously countries like China take them in the next couple of months. And then, you also mentioned Canada. There's a tariff fight going on with Canada this week.
A curious move from Trump when high prices are already top of mind for voters this year. Trump's tariff tactics aren't new, but it's reignited tensions with an ally, and it's likely to increase prices even more for Americans.

**Steve Inskeep** (3:35)
Okay, so then relate all of that to the midterm elections, which are coming in November, and early voting is not so far away, really.

**Deepa Shivram** (3:42)
You're right. So with the tariffs on Canada, that led to some Republicans who are running in some really tight elections, like Senator Susan Collins in Maine, to distance herself from Trump, say that these tariffs are a mistake. And Trump recently also announced that the US, this is a different move, would import more beef from abroad. That was an effort to try and lower the cost of beef, which has increased in part because of the war. And the White House is trying to say that this decision is a big win, but it got immediate pushback from Republican senators in states like Montana and Wyoming, saying that beef imports would hurt American farmers, many of whom support the president.

**Steve Inskeep** (4:19)
Are there other moves by the president recently that seem politically awkward?

**Deepa Shivram** (4:25)
Yeah, it's a good way of phrasing it. I think a good example of this is on AI data centers. This is something that has just blown up in the last few weeks. It's become a huge issue in the midterms. There are candidates now proposing moratoriums, attacking their opponents for being too soft on data centers. Just trying to put forward a stance that matches this public backlash. It's come up in races in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas. But the president is taking a different approach than a lot of members of his own party. He's saying that he wants the US to win the AI war against China. That's long been his stance. And he recently said that he thinks every town should have a data center because he says that it brings in jobs and tax benefits. But that puts him at odds, Steve, with the seven out of ten Americans who are opposed to a data center getting built in their area, according to Gallup.