Amna Nawaz:

Let's delve further now into the day's political headlines, Congressman Swalwell's resignation, the feud between the president and the pope, and, of course, the war in Iran.

For that, we turn to our Politics Monday duo. That's Tamara Keith of NPR and Jasmine Wright, White House correspondent for NOTUS. Amy Walter is away.

It's great to see you both.

Tamara Keith, National Public Radio:

Good to be here.

Amna Nawaz:

Let's pick up where Lisa left off there.

And, Tam, I will start with you. Your reaction to the news of Eric Swalwell's resignation, under growing pressure from his own fellow Democrats? What it means for the California governor's race too. What do you make of it?

Tamara Keith:

Well, in terms of the California governor's race, that race had been sort of stuck. It's a huge field of Democrats, two major Republican names, and it was -- it just hadn't really moved much at all.

And then in the past week, we got President Trump endorsing Steve Hilton, one of the Republican candidates, and then Eric Swalwell dropping out. Swalwell had in some polls been the leading Democrat. That really scrambles that race. Some Democrats had been concerned that -- it's a top two primary.

Democrats and Republicans all compete against each other to find out who will go on to the general election. There had been some concern among Democrats that two Republicans would emerge from that primary. Now, with Trump endorsing Hilton and with Swalwell dropping out, there's some -- there's more movement in this race than we have seen in a long time.

And it seems likely that it will end up being a Democrat and a Republican that makes it out.

Amna Nawaz:

Jazz, what do you make of how quickly this all moved with Eric Swalwell, and also the pressure he was under from his own fellow Democrats?

Jasmine Wright, NOTUS:

I mean, it showed that it had momentum.

And I think, to Lisa's point, it showed that he at least believed that there could have been a vote to expel him, something that, again, is a high bar and doesn't often happen. I will say that, if you take a step back, Democrats for the last eight months have really been focused on this idea of accountability.

We have seen them push forward on the Epstein files, wanting to see more people brought in, in front of the House, Oversight Committee wanting to see more people be deposed, wanting to see the Department of Justice do more, show more files. That's really been a charging message of their own.

And so it would have looked pretty hypocritical if for their own party they didn't say, hey, you have these really horrid and tragic allegations against you. You can stay in the House. And I think that the key mark that we saw earlier today was Senator Ruben Gallego, a close friend of Eric Swalwell's, come out and say that I support expelling him because of these allegations.

That kind of was a canary in the coal mine. And then, afterwards, we saw that message from Eric Swalwell.

Amna Nawaz:

Of course, we're now also following the back-and-forth between President Trump and the pope. Pope Leo last week condemned the president's rhetoric towards Iran. Trump has criticized him over the weekend. The pope said today he has no fear of the Trump administration.

Tam, it is not the first time that the president has criticized the pope. But I also want to point out, as we reported earlier, the president posted this picture of himself as Jesus, it looks like in the photo, before deleting it today. When he was asked about it, he said he did post it. He thought it was an image of him as a doctor.

From the president's perspective, someone you have covered for years, what's going on here?

Tamara Keith:

The president probably saw something on TV about the pope and got upset at things that the pope was saying. The pope has been subtle, but not entirely subtle.

He's made it clear that he believes that the war in Iran is problematic and that he has offered some shade about the war. And then you have the president. He frequently posts A.I. images that put him in a glowing light, quite literally a glowing light in this one as Jesus.

And there was that previous post where he had himself in papal gear. He is just a sucker for A.I. images that show him doing something awesome. And so these posts happen late at night, and it's just incredibly common.

The president also has a view that he was saved in Butler, that he is in office to do God's will. He really has...

(Crosstalk)

Amna Nawaz:

The assassination attempt against him, we should say.

Tamara Keith:

Yes.

Jasmine Wright:

Yes.

Tamara Keith:

Yes, after the assassination attempt.

Amna Nawaz:

But that he is there because of divine intervention.

Tamara Keith:

He is there because of -- yes, exactly.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, Jazz, pick up where Tam is leaving off here. And we should also point out that he's seen a bit of a dip in support from groups that might care about these kinds of issues.

The latest numbers from Pew show less than half of white Catholics now support his agenda. It's a five-point drop from last year, eight-point drop in white evangelicals, 13-point drop among white Protestants. How do you look at that?

Jasmine Wright:

I mean, I think you have to take a look back to 2024, which is the coalition that he put together to win going back into the White House.

It was kind of a handshake deal from the Christian right, from the Catholic right, who may not like everything about President Donald Trump, who may not like part of his personality, the brashness, but like fundamentally what he has decided to do on abortion, has decided to do on other issues that they really care about, expanding the rights of the church in America, something that perhaps maybe a Democratic president wouldn't have done so quickly.

And so they made that agreement, in essence, to kind of vote for President Trump, and not only white Christians and white Catholics, but also Hispanic Christians and Hispanic Catholics. So that was that kind of armchair deal with them.

And so now you're looking at it, and the question is whether or not they're feeling that that's fulfilled. I think that your -- those polls are concerning, and that's why you saw J.D. Vance just a few minutes ago on FOX basically trying to downplay it, say the president likes to post jokes, and he took it down because people did not -- he felt that people did not understand his humor.

But when we go back to the midterms in November, the question is going to be whether or not they can pull some of that coalition that put President Trump back at the White House in November. And numbers like that don't show -- or don't provide a sense of confidence.

And things like this obviously don't grow numbers like that.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, Vice President Vance is just back from Pakistan, Tam, as you know, where he was in those first round of talks to actually get an end to the war in Iran. They failed to get that deal. We're now in a world, Tam, as you know, where gas prices are going up. The national average is now over $4 a gallon. The president said they could be even potentially higher by midterms.

Is this president incentivized to make a deal with Iran?

Tamara Keith:

The president has given every indication that he wants to make a deal, though he does have red lines, as J.D. Vance talked about in that FOX News interview, the red lines involving nuclear weapons or the ability to make nuclear weapons, the president wanting to get that enriched uranium that is currently buried deep under the earth.

So -- but the president wants a deal and needs a deal. And his action related to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is another acknowledgement of that, that he's trying to find a way to get an upper hand, he's trying to find a way out, because every voter I talk to these days -- and I have been talking to a lot of swing voters who voted for President Trump -- they all mention gas prices.

It is a very real and present problem in people's lives, which makes it a very real and present problem for the politicians.

Amna Nawaz:

Jazz, how do you look at it?

Jasmine Wright:

Yes, I think the president is trying to create leverage.

And they want Iran to come back to the table. Now, there are reports that there are negotiations going on. There are reports that there could perhaps be another set of talks, although it seems like it'd be on a lower level than what we saw, Vance in Pakistan, over the weekend.

But, fundamentally, I think you are seeing two notable things. One, you're saying -- you're seeing President Trump say, I think that they will come back and make a deal. Now, this is obviously something that he said before, but we know that he really wants to find a solution so that they can move on.

When I talked to White House officials last week, they talked about things in the future, looking past Iran. So the White House wants to get past this conflict. And then, secondly, you're not hearing him go back to the language of combat or strikes. Yes, he says that it could happen, but you're not hearing him full-throatedly endorse it.

And so it's very clear that the White House wants to make some sort of diplomatic deal, no matter how difficult that may seem at the moment.

Amna Nawaz:

Jasmine Wright, Tamara Keith, great to start the week off with you both. Thank you so much.

Jasmine Wright:

Thank you.