EYDER PERALTA, HOST:
And joining us now is NPR senior contributor Ron Elving. Good morning, Ron.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Eyder.
PERALTA: So, Ron, as we heard, there are problems with various aircraft carriers, and there's also a shortage of surface-to - surface munitions. Planning for this operation in Iran really seems to be in question. What's the administration been saying about this?
ELVING: The Pentagon has been insisting that they had everything they needed and that they can keep the munitions flowing without a problem. Anyone who tells the media anything to the contrary will be, quote, "hunted down," unquote, to quote the president. So this brings back what we heard in the spring when Iran was closing the Strait of Hormuz. We heard it reported then that the closing of the strait had taken the White House by surprise, and that, too, was angrily denied. We were told the strait had been front and center all along in the planning, and there were threats against those who talked to the media about it then, as now.
But here we are six months in, multiple sources pointing to a diminished U.S. capability in the war zone. The Strait of Hormuz is still constricted, as Tom told us a moment ago. So the reality is affecting economics all over the world, and it's affecting gas prices all over America, and it's affecting voters making choices for the midterms this fall.
PERALTA: Trump has always been very aware of optics and very reluctant to give up a fight, which brings us to his White House ballroom project. Yesterday, his administration asked the Supreme Court to let construction continue while it appeals a lower court order. But this project is not popular with the American public, is it?
ELVING: No, not hardly. People may be fine with the idea of greater security or upgraded facilities for public events on the White House grounds. But this project has entailed the destruction of a familiar part of the White House, the East Wing, for the sake of a ballroom and now a new secure bunker and other uses. It was to be paid for by private donors. Now, that's a questionable proposition in itself. But now we've seen the total cost of White House improvements balloon by hundreds of millions of dollars and approach a billion.
So all this has the approval of just 25% of Americans in an ABC News/Washington Post poll, with more than 60% opposed. And all this focus on what some would call vanity projects does not help Republicans who want to show voters evidence of concern about everyday economic challenges.
PERALTA: Let me ask you about primary results this week. There's been a lot of talk about the split in the Democratic Party between moderates and progressives, but a Democratic socialist candidate for governor in Wisconsin failed to win her primary in what many view as an upset. Was it an upset?
ELVING: Well, it was a surprise for many. Francesca Hong had a lead...
PERALTA: OK.
ELVING: ...In double digits over a large field earlier in the summer. She was a state legislator who never really quite closed the sale as the front-runner and never really overcame some of her more controversial stands in the past. Ideology mattered here, but so did candidate performance and the internal dynamics in the field of candidates, and that worked to boost the moderate winner. But it's not clear what implications it has elsewhere.
PERALTA: And it seems the Democratic primary voters want fresher faces, too. I'm thinking of the defeat of incumbent John Larson, who's represented Connecticut's 1st District for almost 30 years.
ELVING: Yes. And Larson is the seventh Democratic incumbent to lose in the primaries this year. So, sure, there's a split between centrists and progressives but there's also a contest, too, between party veterans and new faces, between traditionalists and disruptors. And that's happening in both parties. In this overall climate with the war and economic issues dominating, Democrats have a clear opportunity to make gains this fall in the states and in Congress. But that requires they overcome the divisions you mentioned, and not just over ideology but the need to unite behind whoever wins the primaries, no matter which party faction they come from.
PERALTA: That's NPR senior contributor Ron Elving. Ron, thank you so much.
ELVING: Thank you, Eyder. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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