JD Vance wades into the immigration thicket: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
Happy first day of summer! In today's edition, Jonathan Allen explores the challenges awaiting Vice President JD Vance as he lands in Los Angeles. Plus, we dive into President Donald Trump's penchant for a giving a two-week timetable on big issues. And Dylan Ebs answers this week's reader question on ranked choice voting.
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— Adam Wollner
Vice President JD Vance is wading into the immigration thicket today by traveling to Los Angeles, where Marines and National Guard forces have been deployed to provide backup for federal agents executing raids.
For Vance, it's tricky territory because President Donald Trump keeps changing his mind — or at least his rhetoric — on immigration enforcement.
On one hand, Trump is anxious to fulfill a campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The MAGA base demands it. And Vance, who hopes to inherit the MAGA base, seldom strays far from its orthodoxy.
But on the other hand, Trump has wavered on parts of his own mass deportation plan. After Trump said that workers in certain sectors — farming, hotels and restaurants — would not be targeted in raids, he quickly reversed that policy.
Vance finds himself taking on a more visible role just as the MAGA movement is feeling the strain of a president torn between ideology and popularity.
It's nothing new for a vice president to land in the middle of a vexing issue. Kamala Harris had the border portfolio in Joe Biden's administration.
If Trump's immigration policies end up being a success, Vance will no doubt profit from it. But if they don't, he may suffer.
Read more: Appeals court says Trump can keep control of California National Guard troops, by Dennis Romero
President Donald Trump's two-week timeline to decide on whether the U.S. will strike Iran's nuclear sites is a familiar one.
'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' he said in a statement issued through White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Since the beginning of May, Trump has promised action on questions or decisions in 'two weeks' around 10 times — and he used the same timeline repeatedly during his first term in office.
'We're going to be announcing something, I would say over the next two or three weeks, that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure,' Trump said of tax overhaul plans on Feb. 9, 2017.
He released a one-page outline of the plan 11 weeks later, according to a Bloomberg review that year.
He went on to repeatedly cite the time frame for impending actions on health care and infrastructure that never materialized during his first four years in office.
Trump's use of the timing prediction has accelerated in recent weeks — and he's used it on items ranging from trade deals and tariffs to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Much of what he's predicted hasn't come to pass, with questions he's said he'd answer remaining unanswered.
Read more on Trump's frequent two-week timeline →
Catch up on our latest reporting on the Israel-Iran conflict:
Trump is relying on a small circle of advisers as he weighs Iran strikes, by Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee, Garrett Haake and Dan De Luce
What could happen if Trump does decide to bomb Iran's main nuclear site, by Alexander Smith
Iran not sure it can trust America after Israeli attack, Iran's foreign minister tells NBC News, by Dan De Luce
'She's wrong': Trump breaks with Gabbard on Iran assessment, by Vaughn Hillyard
Follow live updates →
Thanks to everyone who emailed us! This week's question comes from Thomas Gysegem:
'Will there be ranked voting in the New York City mayoral primary? Please explain how ranked voting works.'
To answer that, we turned to our intern, Dylan Ebs, who just put together a helpful explainer on the process.
Ranked choice voting, which New York is utilizing for next week's mayoral primary election, is a system that lets voters rank candidates in order of preference rather than pick just one. The number of candidates voters can rank depends on the specific rules in an area. In New York City, voters can rank up to five in one race.
Voters don't have to fill their ballots, though. A voter whose heart is set on only one candidate can pick just one. But if that candidate doesn't get the most votes, that voter won't have a say in later rounds of counting.
After the votes are tabulated, the last-place candidate is eliminated. Ballots from voters who supported that candidate then have the next choice counted. If no candidate has hit 50%, then counting continues, eliminating another last-place candidate and counting the next-ranked choices on all those ballots in the next round.
The process continues until a candidate reaches majority support and wins.
⚖️ In the courts: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to release pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil from immigration custody. Read more →
⚖️ In the courts, cont.: A federal judge in Massachusetts again blocked the government's attempt to revoke Harvard's ability to enroll international students. Read more →
⚖️ SCOTUS watch: The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that victims of terrorism can sue Palestinian entities in U.S. courts. Read more →
⚖️ SCOTUS watch, cont.: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized her colleagues in a scathing dissent in a case involving vehicle emissions regulations. Read more →
🚗 Road rage arrest: An Ohio man who allegedly ran GOP Rep. Max Miller off the road while waving a Palestinian flag and hurling antisemitic threats has been arrested. Read more →
🗽 Big Apple showdown: Progressive candidates in New York City's mayoral election are banding together in an effort to stop former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's comeback tour. Read more →
➡️ Split screen: Trump did not formally mark Juneteenth yesterday and said the U.S. has 'too many non-working holidays,' while his predecessor, Joe Biden, celebrated the occasion at a Black church in Texas. Read more →
🗳️ Running it back: Trump called for a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden more than four years ago. Read more →
That's all From the Politics Desk for now. Today's newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Dylan Ebs.
If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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