Chris Spear

How and what impacts will that have on democracy more broadly?

Chas Lichardello is the host of ABC's Planet America and he joins me now.

Welcome back to The Briefing.

I feel like it's been a little while, but now seems to be the time that we start getting interested more deeply in US politics again because the midterms are happening this year.

Start off, please, by explaining to us what they actually are and what the gravity of the midterms is.

It's a little bit more complicated than Australia's system, but you've explained what the parallels are.

Can you explain why they matter in the grand scheme of who's in charge of America and who's making the rules and decisions?

And so right now, the Republicans have control of both, don't they?

So what are we expecting then at this early stage?

We are still five months out from the midterms, but the talk has started.

What are we hearing people talking about and why is that chatter happening right now?

How much of an impact is it expected that the war in Iran is going to have on the midterms, which, keep in mind, are still a while away?

Can we expect there to be a huge impact on the midterms based on Donald Trump's performance in Iran?

So can we expect then Donald Trump to be wanting or to have a bit more impetus to get a deal done in Iran because of the looming midterms?

Because I've heard both sides in terms of commentary.

I've heard people saying, oh, well, he'll be rushing a deal through.

He'll want something to be done and soon.

And then I've heard the other side where people are saying, no, he doesn't care about the midterm results.

He doesn't think that Iran's going to have an impact.

What's your take on both those sides?