GEOFF BENNETT: We turn now to the political fallout from the stakes in South Carolina and the November elections to new reporting about a private meeting involving the president's son-in-law and the top House Democrat.

Let's welcome in our Politics Monday duo.

That's Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

It's always great to see you both.

We are going to work our way to this South Carolina Senate race.

But I want to start with this Supreme Court ruling today, Amy, allowing President Trump to begin carrying out parts of his executive order restricting mail-in balloting.

There are, as we sit here, more questions than answers at the moment.

But based on what we know, what does this mean for voters heading into November?

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Yes, I mean I think it sows some confusion, because it is true there are other injunctions that still need to be worked through.

Now, I've talked with somebody who does a lot of work with election administration, who, at least up until this most recent ruling, had said, I just don't think that the federal government is going to be as engaged in the running of elections as it seems to be at this moment.

But if you are a voter and you hear all of this information coming back and forth for you, you may be concerned about whether or not your ballot is actually going to be counted.

And that is a major issue.

GEOFF BENNETT: Absolutely.

All right, so let's talk about the South Carolina Senate race.

President Trump's pick, Darlene Graham, she faces a real fight tomorrow.

Tam, you've been reporting on this.

What can you tell us?

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Well, I can tell you that President Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., just dropped more than $800,000 to help get out the vote for Darlene Graham.

This is notable.

MAGA Inc.

has something like $400 million cash on hand.

They have not spent it on pretty much anything all year long.

One of the big questions of this midterm is, will MAGA Inc.

ever spend any money?

And now we have an answer.

They're spending a large sum of money for Darlene Graham.

And that is just another indication that she needs the help and that the president had this rally on Friday night where he said, just pretend I'm on the ballot.

Just act like you're voting for me, which I think is basically his midterm message to Republican base voters.

But, in a way, he is on the ballot because his endorsement, his -- the power of his endorsement is on the line.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

And what's so interesting about this race is that Ralph Norman, he's not running some anti-Trump campaign.

What he's saying is, hey, look, I'm MAGA too.

I'm with Donald Trump too, but you don't have to take Donald Trump's choice.

AMY WALTER: Well, he has two arguments.

That's fair.

If you are Trump, your argument against that would be, well, really?

How loyal are you to me, Mr.

Norman?

You endorsed a candidate, Nikki Haley, who was the former governor of South Carolina, over me.

GEOFF BENNETT: And they go way back, yes.

AMY WALTER: Yes, they go way back -- over me in 2024.

So, if you're looking for the loyalty piece of this, and that's -- let's be really clear.

When the president is giving an endorsement, it's more than just he wants to show how much sway he has over voters in these races.

What he's really suggesting is, I want somebody who's going to be loyal, not necessarily to the party, but to me, the person, and I know a lot -- that Darline Graham, even though it's not Lindsey Graham, would be personally loyal to me in a way that I can't guarantee that Congressman Ralph Norman would be, who is famous for, Norman during his time in Congress, being sort of a contrarian, voting against leadership, being part of the House Freedom Caucus.

So if that's what you are looking for, as the president, which he's always looking for somebody who's going to be loyal to the man, President Trump, then Darline Graham would be the easier and better choice for him.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, in an unusual bit of midterm maneuvering, you have got the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, meeting with Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, informal adviser.

They met privately in New York in recent weeks.

This was first reported by The New York Times.

And the meeting raises many questions.

The obvious one to me is, is the White House starting to hedge against a Democratic majority next year?

TAMARA KEITH: What I find so fascinating about this is late last week I spoke to a senior White House official and asked, what is your agenda?

What is your legislative agenda?

What do you want to be able to do if you if you, if Republicans maintain control of Congress?

And the answer was like, well, the SAVE America Act maybe.

This is the voting-related legislation.

There isn't this big, bold series of laws that the president is running on.

There isn't this big, bold series of actions that they want Congress to take.

This is a president who has done most of his governing through executive order and has done the bare minimum that he has to do with Congress.

So the idea that the president himself is trying to forge a path forward with Democrats is kind of hard to believe that he personally would really want that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

And there are those on the left, certainly people on social media who seem to be, for whatever reason, upset with Hakeem Jeffries for taking this meeting, in part because he spent months presenting Democrats as a check on Trump.

AMY WALTER: Right.

GEOFF BENNETT: Does privately meeting with Jared Kushner complicate that message?

AMY WALTER: Well, it could for some members of that coalition on the left, which says, if the argument that Democrats are running on this midterm is about corruption and the ways in which the Trump family has benefited from the presidency, Jared Kushner obviously falls into that category.

And there are many who believe on the left that what the Democrats should do if they take control of the House is spend most of their oversight power on President Trump and the deals that he and his family have cut.

So that sort of undercut that message by sitting down with Kushner versus, say, sitting down with somebody who actually works in the White House or in the legislative staff.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that's the thing.

Jared Kushner does not hold a formal government position, and yet he's the key guy the top House Democrat, potential House speaker is sent to meet with?

What does that say?

TAMARA KEITH: I think it says that they have a little tiny bit of a prior relationship... AMY WALTER: That's right.

That's right.

Yes.

TAMARA KEITH: ... and that President Trump has virtually no relationship with Hakeem Jeffries, which we saw when we had these government shutdowns and there were basically no negotiations, and then the White House spent weeks trolling Jeffries with memes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk about these Canada tariffs, shall we?

AMY WALTER: Shall we?

GEOFF BENNETT: The politics of it doesn't seem to make sense on the face of it.

What's your take?

AMY WALTER: Especially if you are, I don't know, a senator in a very tight race in a state that borders Canada, known as Maine.

Senator Susan Collins this weekend was campaigning - - out campaigning and saying I just don't think this is a great idea for the state of Maine, given the relationship that we have.

Michigan, also a very important state in the United States Senate race, also borders Canada.

A lot of auto parts go back and forth between those two states.

So the mixed messaging from the White House on tariffs has become really a problem for Republican candidates who want to make a -- who want to drive a message about affordability and we're going to bring prices down, we're cutting your taxes, while at the same time voters in these states are filling up their gas takes with gas that's more expensive, but also are seeing the impacts of tariffs.

Whether you're in Iowa and you're a farmer, whether you're in Michigan working in the auto industry, or whether you're in Maine and in lumber or blueberries or lobsters or anything else that is going back and forth over the border.

GEOFF BENNETT: And based on your reporting, why is the president picking this fight now?

TAMARA KEITH: It is not clear why exactly he is picking this fight now.

However, as the war with Iran has dragged on, he is looking for new and -- or old, new old ways to assert himself on the world stage.

And some of this is that some of the tariff stuff has ripened again after the Supreme Court case.

And so the White House and the Trump administration really do see this as a policy that is pro-worker, pro-America.

Almost everyone disagrees with them, including economists and many Republicans.

But this is -- this is something that is a firmly held belief for the president, and so they are forging ahead on all of this.

GEOFF BENNETT: Tamara Keith and Amy Walter, thanks, as always.

We appreciate it.

AMY WALTER: You're welcome.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.