How young CPAC-goers feel about the war in Iran

March 27, 2026·29 min·2 clips

Trump called Mueller's death 'good' and said he's glad he's dead, sparking tension over the Russia investigation legacy.

1. NPR Politics Podcast covers the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, CPAC outside Dallas, and week-end news from the Iran war. 2. Hosts Miles Parks (voting), Tamara Keith (White House), and Elena Moore (politics, reporting from CPAC) present the episode. 3. The episode asks how the deaths of key Russia-investigation figures and the ongoing Iran war are shaping Republican politics heading into a midterm year. 4. Carrie Johnson provides Mueller's biography: a decorated Vietnam veteran and long-tenured federal prosecutor who was sworn in as FBI director seven days before September 11, 2001, and served through two administrations with unanimous Senate reconfirmation. 5. Johnson explains that Mueller's mandate from President Bush was to transform the FBI into an intelligence-gathering agency capable of connecting dots to prevent future terror plots. 6. Mueller was then appointed special counsel in 2017 by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. 7. Mueller's investigation indicted 37 people and entities, including campaign chair Paul Manafort and national security advisor Michael Flynn; it found Russia interfered 'in a sweeping and systematic way' in 2016 and documented numerous links between the campaign and Russia. 8. Trump posted on True Social after Mueller's death: 'Just died. Good. I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people' — in contrast to Obama calling Mueller 'one of the most respected public servants of our time.' 9. Tamara Keith notes that Trump's objection to Mueller's decision not to exonerate him — combined with Mueller's conclusion that he 'could not' charge a sitting president — has left Trump referring to the investigation as 'the Russia hoax' to this day. 10. Elena Moore reports from CPAC, held outside Dallas for the first time; Trump is absent — his first CPAC absence in about a decade — as he manages the ongoing Iran conflict from Washington. 11. Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Marjorie Taylor Greene — all of whom have publicly broken with Trump on the Iran war — are also absent from CPAC, though their names and faces are not mentioned from the stage. 12. CPAC attendees interviewed by Moore support Trump's Iran stance: one voter, Jeff Hadley of Raleigh, North Carolina, argues Trump is 'the only president that had the guts' to confront Iran's longstanding threat. 13. Andrew Belcher, a college Republican from Miami University in Ohio, says Trump 'understands the political risk' and that a failed Iran campaign 'will be the nail in the coffin for the rest of his presidency.' 14. A new Pew Research Center poll shows that while more than 80% of Republicans support the Iran war, that support drops to just under 50% among Republicans under 30 — a gap that could affect midterm turnout. 15. Tamara Keith describes Trump's Cabinet meeting since launching Operation Epic Fury: she asked him about pursuing Iran's uranium, and Trump deflected; then returned half an hour later to apologize to her by name, something multiple observers told her they had never seen him do. 16. Keith and her co-hosts note the apology was unusual enough to make news, with Trump calling Keith 'a friendly person' and saying 'I don't want to embarrass her.' 17. Miles Parks' 'Can't Let It Go': Idaho passed a law allowing some citizens to substitute poll-working for jury duty — swapping one civic obligation for another — which Parks finds an unusually creative civic-engagement idea. 18. Elena Moore's 'Can't Let It Go': ABC canceled the upcoming season of The Bachelorette, which was set to star influencer Taylor Frankie Paul, after video emerged of her in a violent altercation with an ex-boyfriend just days before the premiere. 19. Listeners interested in the Mueller legacy, CPAC dynamics, and Republican fractures over the Iran war will find detailed context and original reporting from the scene. 20. Listeners with no interest in either the Russia investigation or Conservative Political Action Conference dynamics may find the first two-thirds of the episode slow.

As heard by us

A brisk NPR Politics read on Mueller's legacy and a CPAC where Trump's absence still shapes the room.

The NPR Politics Podcast pairs a look back at Robert Mueller's career with a sharper reading of this year's CPAC dynamics. The Mueller segment reaches beyond his special counsel years, emphasizing his long Justice Department career and the way 9/11 reshaped his FBI tenure into a…

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Want the temperature check on a CPAC that feels different without Trump and the usual MAGA names?

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