Most presidents want as much power as they can get. And it's not unusual to see them claim authority that they don't, in the end, actually have. We saw it just last term, when former President Biden tried to unilaterally forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in federal student loans. Or when he announced, days before leaving office that the 28th Amendment, on gender equality, was now the law of the land. So are the opening moves of Trump's presidency just a spicier version of the standard play...
Feb 02, 2025•12 min
Schools, corporations, even churches, are wrestling with how to approach issues of racial and social justice in a highly polarized U.S. But what happens when people with shared political views disagree on how much is too much? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jan 31, 2025•11 min
What went wrong in the midair collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet over Reagan National Airport, outside of D.C.? As officials search for clues the country mourns those lost. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jan 30, 2025•12 min
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced senators today in a contentious confirmation hearing to serve as Health and Human Services Secretary under President Trump. He's a former Democrat — turned independent presidential candidate — turned Trump loyalist. He's also someone who has pushed vaccine misinformation, something he was repeatedly questioned about during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. HHS is a massive system that oversees everything from the Food and Drug Administration to vaccine funding to...
Jan 29, 2025•11 min
Country music singer Charley Crockett was born and raised in Texas, grew up in a single-wide trailer with his mom and says his family lineage traces all the way back to the frontiersman Davy Crockett. This Sunday is the music industry's biggest night — the Grammy Awards. And Crockett is up for an award for the first time — Best Americana Album — for his record "$10 Cowboy." For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org Email us at c...
Jan 28, 2025•9 min
Susie Wiles is doing something no woman has done before. She is the first in history to hold the position of White House Chief of Staff. Now, we will find out if she can do something that no one — man or woman – has ever done before: Impose discipline and order on a Trump White House that was rife with leaks, drama, and by many accounts – chaos – during his first term. A chief of staff can be the difference between a ground-breaking presidency and chaos. Is Susie Wiles up to the task? For sponso...
Jan 27, 2025•10 min
Former President Joe Biden championed DEI programs–initiatives aimed at diversity, equity inclusion and accessibility in recruiting, hiring and retention of federal government employees. In a matter of days – and a few pen strokes – President Donald Trump brought it all to an end this week. NPR's Pien Huang speaks with Timothy Welbeck, the director of Temple University's Center for Anti-Racism, to understand more about the history of DEI and how it became targeted by President Trump, For sponsor...
Jan 26, 2025•10 min
As evacuation orders are lifted, people in Los Angeles are returning to their homes--if their homes survived. But the disaster doesn't end when the fire stops. A single block and a half separates the Altadena home of Jennifer and Ed Barguiarena from complete destruction. Just down the street lies charred, flattened debris. But for families like the Barguiarenas — the seemingly lucky ones, whose houses survived — an altogether different ordeal is just beginning. The water still isn't safe to drin...
Jan 24, 2025•9 min
What do Babygirl, Singing in the Rain and Apocalypse Now have in common? They've all been overlooked by Oscar voters. Some Oscar blunders fall into the category of snubs - others show a failure to recognize films that will endure. Now sometimes, these critiques are a matter of movie taste. Sometimes, they're a broader matter of representation – raising questions about who the movie industry chooses to celebrate or ignore. The Academy Awards have made some truly epic misses over their long histor...
Jan 23, 2025•12 min
When Donald Trump was sworn in on Monday, he was flanked by billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Also on the dais was Apple CEO Tim Cook, Open AI's CEO Sam Altman, and Bernard Arnault owner of L-V-M-H which owns luxury brands like Dior and Louis Vuitton. An American government closely aligned with money and power is something outgoing President Joe Biden warned about in his farewell address. Oligarchy – A word that once more commonly referred to the super wealthy of Eastern Eu...
Jan 22, 2025•11 min
President Donald J. Trump began taking decisive steps to implement his agenda hours after being sworn in. In the day since he's once again become President, Trump has signed more than 200 executive actions aimed at delivering on campaign promises such as lower energy prices, mass deportations and an end to birthright citizenship. There's been a deluge of actions, orders and pronouncements during the President's first day. From tariffs to immigration to the January 6th pardons – we breakdown ever...
Jan 21, 2025•18 min
Donald Trump returns to Washington newly empowered. The Republican party has remade itself in his image. The Supreme Court has granted him sweeping immunity for his official actions. And, unlike last time, he narrowly won the popular vote. And Trump is prepared to exercise his new power almost immediately. He's pledged to sign an unprecedented wave of executive actions – many of which will be challenged in court. These actions include one making it U.S. policy to recognize only two biologically ...
Jan 21, 2025•10 min
When he ran for office in 2020, President Joe Biden vowed to turn the page on then president Donald Trump. But it's Trump who is returning to the White House for a second term in office. We speak with NPR's Asma Khalid, who covered the Biden administration, on the legacy he leaves behind. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adc...
Jan 19, 2025•10 min
Will Rogers State Historic Park is a vast stretch of natural space in the Santa Monica Mountains. It's a treasure to Angelenos. People get married there, picnic there, and have kids' birthday parties on the great lawn. The park's namesake, Will Rogers, was a vaudeville performer, radio and movie star, and was known as America's "cowboy philosopher." His nearly century-old ranch house is the park's centerpiece. It's survived a near miss with wildfire before. Last week, as firestorm engulfed large...
Jan 17, 2025•9 min
At the time we publish this episode, Israel's government has yet to accept the terms of the long-negotiated and hard fought ceasefire deal announced yesterday. The deal is still on, but the quarreling over the details demonstrates how difficult it is to keep the agreement on track. On Thursday morning Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed a cabinet vote on the deal, accusing Hamas of "reneging" on parts of the agreement. A Hamas official said on social media that the group is committ...
Jan 16, 2025•10 min
Confirmation hearings for Trump's cabinet picks are in full swing on Capitol Hill with a number of them appearing before the Senate this week. Nominees including Pam Bondi, Trump's pick to run the Justice Department, John Ratcliffe, his pick to run the CIA, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio Trump's nominee for Secretary of State have all answered questions about what they'll do and what they won't do if confirmed. Rubio and Ratcliffe will play key foreign policy roles under the 47th president. Tho...
Jan 15, 2025•11 min
On a shelf in his office at CIA headquarters, Director Bill Burns keeps a tiny scaled model of a house. It's the house in Kabul, Afghanistan, where Al Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2022. When NPR went out to interview him last week, Burns pointed to the exact balcony on which Zawahiri was standing. There was pride in his voice. The CIA had never stopped looking for the guy even more than two decades after 9/11. But it was also a reminder of challenges, of ad...
Jan 14, 2025•16 min
"Wildfire" is the word we tend to use when we talk about what Los Angeles has been dealing with the past week. But Lori Moore-Merrell, the U.S. Fire Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency used a different word, when she spoke to NPR this morning. She described a "conflagration." Saying they're not wildland fires with trees burning. They're structure to structure fire spread. They may have started at the suburban fringe, but they didn't stay there. Which prompts a question: wha...
Jan 13, 2025•10 min
From handling crises in the rail and airline industries to overseeing the distribution of billions of dollars in infrastructure funding, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has taken on a lot over the last four years. Now, his tenure is coming to an end. Host Scott Detrow speaks with Buttigieg about what the Biden administration accomplished, what it didn't get done, and what he's taking away from an election where voters resoundingly called for something different. For sponsor-free episodes...
Jan 12, 2025•12 min
While the debate over homeless policy plays out across the country, Project HOME has offered resources to homeless people in Philadelphia for decades. We talk with the co-founder, who just retired after 35 years. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jan 10, 2025•11 min
Jimmy Carter's four years in the White House were largely defined by an event that took place halfway through his term. On November 4th, 1979 Iranian college students took over the US Embassy in Tehran, and took 52 Americans hostage. For the next 444 days, the Carter administration tried to secure the hostages' release. In April, 1980 they even commissioned a rescue mission that ended in failure. While Carter was trying to end the hostage crisis, he was also campaigning for a second term. A year...
Jan 09, 2025•12 min
Extremely dry conditions coupled with high winds have led to an explosive wildfire situation in southern California. Multiple fires have erupted across the Los Angeles area since Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate, and firefighters are struggling to contain the flames. Adria Kloke is one of the people who has had to flee. She packed up her belongings, along with her cat, and left her home in Pacific Palisades on Tuesday. Kloke shares her story with NPR. For sponsor-free ep...
Jan 08, 2025•9 min
In Washington, D.C., the federal government is closed – as are most of the schools in the area. That's because the first major snow storm in about three years barreled in Sunday night. Meanwhile, the Southern U.S. is preparing for another storm that could paralyze parts of Texas, Arkansas and Northern Louisiana. And Southern California is preparing for "life threatening, destructive gusts" driving wildfires. That's a lot of wild weather...so what's going on? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider...
Jan 07, 2025•8 min
What happened on January 6, 2021? There have been news reports, documentaries and witness testimonies all trying to put that question to rest. But despite an impeachment trial and a House Select Committee investigation, the fight over how that day will be remembered isn't over. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org Email us at [email protected] Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Pri...
Jan 06, 2025•16 min
Billionaire Elon Musk begins 2025 as one of the most influential people in the United States. He's developed a close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, and has been advising the incoming administration on policy and staffing. And Musk is now increasingly weighing in on European politics as well. Host Scott Detrow speaks with reporter Rebecca Collard about Musk wading into European politics. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Jan 05, 2025•9 min
As president, Jimmy Carter promised always to tell the American people the truth about what was happening in the country. We'll look at how that affected his presidency as we remember Carter's life and legacy. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Jan 03, 2025•13 min
New Orleans is still reeling from the New Year's Day attack that killed 14 people on Bourbon Street. We ask a counterterrorism expert how attacks like this can be prevented and hear the latest from New Orleans. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Jan 02, 2025•12 min
So much can happen in a year. While we all wish for a happy New Year, that's not always the case. We talk to author and podcaster Kelly Corrigan about the lessons she learned from a challenging year. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Jan 01, 2025•13 min
Most years bring both good and bad experiences. But sometimes, it's the challenges of a bad year that show us our hidden strengths. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Dec 31, 2024•12 min
Every year, more and more Americans embark on Dry January – a whole month of giving up alcohol. It's easy to imagine the benefits: no hangovers, better sleep, happier wallet. But like with any resolution for the new year, staying committed can be hard. Today, we're bringing you an episode from our friends at the "Life Kit" podcast that's all about how to get through Dry January – and reexamine your relationship with alcohol. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+...
Dec 31, 2024•20 min
