Episodes

  • The Trump administration's attacks on oversight of executive power

    The Trump administration's attacks on oversight of executive power
    Mar 12 2025
    The Trump administration continues to fire, shut down or defund independent elements of the federal government that traditionally work as a check on presidential power.

    Supporters of President Trump say: That's exactly the point.

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    11 mins
  • Fentanyl deaths are plunging, but it's just the first step

    Fentanyl deaths are plunging, but it's just the first step
    Mar 11 2025
    The deadliest phase of the U.S. fentanyl crisis appears to be over. That's according to new research showing fatal overdoses from fentanyl and other street drugs continue to plunge and have now dropped from their peak in all 50 states.

    But with that good news comes with challenges including caring for a larger population of people, who are surviving, but may be deeply unwell.

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    12 mins
  • Republicans say Medicaid is safe. But budget math says otherwise

    Republicans say Medicaid is safe. But budget math says otherwise
    Mar 10 2025
    House Republicans have to get their spending bill passed by Friday to avoid a government shutdown. They can likely afford to lose just one vote.

    And that's the easy part.

    Then they'll have to get working on their plan to extend 4.5 trillion dollars in tax cuts passed under the Trump administration — a plan that will require huge cuts in government spending.

    Republicans are adamant that cuts to Medicaid are a non-starter. But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released a report last week that said Republicans' budget likely would require cuts to Medicaid or Medicare.

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    12 mins
  • Riding 'La Bestia' with migrants in Mexico

    Riding 'La Bestia' with migrants in Mexico
    Mar 9 2025
    Many migrants in Mexico journey north to the U.S. border by riding on top of freight trains. It's a dangerous trip: migrants have been kidnapped by cartels or killed by falling onto the tracks. And now, with the Trump administration suspending asylum applications at the border, the chances of crossing into the U.S. are even smaller than they were a few months ago.

    NPR's Eyder Peralta recently rode along with migrants through a frigid night to try to answer a simple question: why do so many still take the risk?

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    15 mins
  • Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy

    Marco Rubio pivots to America First diplomacy
    Mar 7 2025
    It's been a little more than a week since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

    Vice President JD Vance was in the meeting too. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, sat on an Oval Office couch, mostly silent, as Trump and Vance berated the Ukrainian leader.

    Along the way, the president and vice president made it clear just how much of the established global order they are ready to upend. An order that for most of his career, Rubio has defended, and worked to help hold up.

    So what changed ...and what do those changes mean?

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    10 mins
  • When it comes to the economy, it's all about uncertainty

    When it comes to the economy, it's all about uncertainty
    Mar 6 2025
    Like a lot of economists, Mark Zandi, with Moody's Analytics, thinks President Trump's across-the-board tariffs are a bad idea. Saying, "Tariffs, broad-based tariffs, are a real problem for the economy."

    But Zandi says – it's not just the tariffs themselves that are the problem, it's the uncertainty created by Trump's rollout.

    Trump threatened 25% Tariffs on Canada and Mexico would start in February. They were paused at the 11th hour, only to eventually go into effect this week.

    On Thursday Trump announced the new tariffs would be paused for most products, but potentially only until April 2.

    Meanwhile tariffs on China snapped into place in February, and then doubled, to 20%.What happens next is anyone's guess.

    Businesses have been optimistic about the economy under Trump. His chaotic tariff rollout threatens that.

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    8 mins
  • Can democrats find their way out of the wilderness?

    Can democrats find their way out of the wilderness?
    Mar 5 2025
    A hundred minutes — that's how long President Trump had the floor — literally — last night.

    A hundred minutes he used to lay out his agenda, his grievances and what he argued are the accomplishments of his first six weeks in office.

    This all came during his "joint address" to Congress — the State of the Union that's not a State of the Union.

    Since Trump returned to office in January, there's been little room left for democrats to make their case to the American people.

    Democratic moderates think they have an answer for Trump 2.0. What does their playbook look like?

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    10 mins
  • How Trump's foreign policy is reshaping the world order

    How Trump's foreign policy is reshaping the world order
    Mar 4 2025
    After the Trump-Zelenskyy blow-up on Friday, European leaders held emergency talks in London to put together a roadmap to peace.

    Then, on Tuesday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced a proposal called ReArm Europe. The roughly $840 billion plan would quickly build up defense budgets in Europe.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. seems to continue to align itself with Russia.

    President Trump is upending the U.S.-led order that has dominated global politics for the better part of a century. What does that mean for Ukraine – and for America?

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    11 mins