Attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime under international law. So when President Trump threatened to attack power plants and potentially all desalination plants in Iran earlier this week, it raised concerns among some legal experts. Kuwaiti officials also accused Iran of destroying one of its desalination plants earlier this week. If a war crime were to be committed during the conflict with Iran, what would accountability look like? Would there be any at all? For sponsor-free episodes...
Apr 02, 2026•11 min
The quest to reach the Moon has always been a key part of the American myth. So has the country's embrace of immigrants, and its vision of itself as a defender of democracy around the world. On a day all three are in play, we'll meet the crew headed out toward the moon. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . NPR’s Scott Neuman contributed to this episode. This episode was produced by Micha...
Apr 01, 2026•10 min
A series of Trump administration policy decisions – deportations, tariffs, and the Iran war – are ratcheting up the pressure on American farmers. It’s a group that tends to support the president, but persistent challenges may test their patience. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Christine Arrasmith, Alejandra Marquez Janse and Karen Zamora, with audio eng...
Mar 31, 2026•8 min
Israel’s invasion in Lebanon is rapidly widening and could outlast the war in Iran. People in southern Lebanon are living through a war within a war. The war is of course the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran. The war within Lebanon started with a series of strikes from the militant group Hezbollah. They launched rockets and drones from Lebanon into Israel. Israel responded with strikes in Lebanon. And with that, a conflict that has flared on and off for decades reignited. For sponsor-free epis...
Mar 30, 2026•7 min
At the heart of the war against Iran is a question about the fate of the Iranian government. Adrian Ma speaks with Ramtin Arablouei, host of the NPR podcast Throughline, about what Iranians in the United States want from regime change in Iran - and the history of why. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Henry Larson and Michael Levitt. It was edited by Tinbe...
Mar 29, 2026•9 min
Americans are keeping their driver’s licenses longer than ever and driving well into their old age. But how long is too long? And who decides when to take away the keys? NPR’s transportation correspondent, Joel Rose, has been looking into those questions and found that there is no single national standard when it comes to older adults and driving. And the laws vary greatly from state to state. Often, the decision on whether it is time to take away the keys is left to family members. And that can...
Mar 27, 2026•13 min
Anytime tensions are high in the Middle East, oil prices can be expected to spike. So a war in the region is pretty much guaranteed to mean higher prices at the pump. And that is particularly painful for anyone whose living depends on what it costs to fill up. Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR’s economics correspondent Scott Horsley about how the U.S. economy is faring, almost a month since the U.S. and Israel launched the first strikes against Iran. Plus, we hear from American business owners w...
Mar 26, 2026•11 min
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has a new book. Unlike much of his public speaking of late – like his record-breaking 25-hour Senate floor speech – it isn’t directly about the politics of the current moment. It’s an argument for civic ideals – for ten virtues he sees as critical to American life, like agency and patriotism, but also vulnerability and humility. What does that mean for his political future? Sen. Booker addresses that question among others in our interview. For sponsor-free episodes of C...
Mar 25, 2026•10 min
Airline travelers across the U.S. have been experiencing long wait times because of the partial government shutdown. TSA workers are calling off sick or quitting altogether because they haven’t been paid. Now, ICE agents have been deployed to some airports to mitigate wait times. What role could the agency play as officials in Washington continue to spar over government funding? And what could the next few weeks look like for travelers? A former TSA security chief weighs in. For sponsor-free epi...
Mar 24, 2026•8 min
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has voted to approve the design for a new commemorative gold coin. On one side, an eagle in flight – on the other, a portrait of President Trump, staring directly at the viewer. Federal law prohibits living people from being featured on U.S. coins – though the Trump administration believes the Treasury Department has authority here. Moreover, it breaks a norm that dates to the beginning of the country. Caroline Turco, a curator at the Money Museum of the American...
Mar 23, 2026•7 min
The Israeli government has said it has the ability to find and assassinate top leaders in the Iranian government. But that strategy may end up hurting any effort to actually end the war, says Yossi Melman, co-author of the book “Spies Against Armageddon.” For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Henry Larson and Daniel Ofman. It was edited by Tinbete Ermyas and S...
Mar 22, 2026•9 min
Emily Kwong talks with Camila Domonoske, who covers cars and energy for NPR, about how countries and companies that have bet big on electric vehicles are facing new, quickly moving variables in the market and the world. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Linah Mohammad and Gabriel Sanchez. It was edited by Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sami Yenig...
Mar 21, 2026•8 min
Dolores Huerta built a lasting movement with Cesar Chavez. And after waiting decades, she has decided to share the story of how Chavez abused her. Dolores Huerta told the New York Times that she felt pressured to have sex with Cesar Chavez, while on a work trip in 1960. Six years later — after they had founded the union for farmworkers– she says Chavez raped her. Shortly after the Times story came out, Huerta spoke to Latino USA host Maria Hinojosa. Hinojosa shared what she learned with NPR's Ai...
Mar 20, 2026•12 min
Three weeks into the US and Israel's war with Iran, the tensions continue to escalate. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the Pentagon would seek additional funding for the war -- to the tune of $200 billion. Despite mixed messaging on the aims of the war, President Trump says he will decide when the conflict is over. But not everyone thinks it will be that easy. Thomas Wright served as senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council under Presiden...
Mar 19, 2026•9 min
In red states and blue states, in suburbs and cities and in rural communities, officials from the Department of Homeland Security are scouting out real estate. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to significantly expand its detention capacity, to help support President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. NPR’s Jasmine Garsd and Kate Dario of New Hampshire Public Radio have been talking with people in communities slated to host mass detention facilities. They’ve found fierce, bipartisan opposi...
Mar 18, 2026•10 min
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has brought his Muslim faith to the center of his political life, but his effort has faced a backlash. During this Ramadan he’s hosted half a dozen public prayers and celebrations, the latest Monday night when he broke fast with incarcerated men at Rikers Island. NPR’s Brian Mann reports on how Mamdani’s efforts to celebrate his Muslim faith and the backlash that has accompanied those efforts. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider Th...
Mar 17, 2026•10 min
President Trump launched the war against Iran without building a coalition of U.S. allies. Only now is the president trying to enlist allies to help end Iran’s effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. And many of the countries he’s asked – are rejecting Trump’s request. Can the U.S. get its allies to help after going to war with Iran, and if they do, can the Strait of Hormuz really be secured? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plu...
Mar 16, 2026•8 min
For many Iranians living in the U.S., the war against Iran was initially greeted with hope. Hope that the current regime might fall. But as the war stretches on, the uncertainty around it has also given way to another feeling: fear. In a recent essay for the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-American writer Nick Mafi wrote about the myriad of emotions that he and millions of others in the Iranian diaspora are feeling as the war continues. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsi...
Mar 15, 2026•12 min
Experts say foreign conflict and online radicalization are accelerating threats of terrorism. Can anything slow it down? Even before the war in Iran, the terrorism threat in the U.S. has been evolving. So how do the attacks of the past week fit into that picture? Host Scott Detrow speaks with Domestic Extremism Correspondent Odette Yousef, who is tracking all of this closely. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us ...
Mar 13, 2026•9 min
In the opening strike of their war on Iran, the US and Israel killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is an exceedingly rare instance of democracies killing a foreign head of state. It’s not the first time the United States has been involved in the killing of a foreign leader, but it’s something U.S. leaders and the American public have long wrestled with. NPR’s Ryan Lucas reports. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple ...
Mar 12, 2026•8 min
The Trump administration wants to increase domestic manufacturing. And in addition to tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation, it wants to increase the supply of skilled labor through apprenticeships – to train up workers on the job. The goal is to reach one million active apprentices. Are the programs in place now doing enough to make that happen? NPR’s Andrea Hsu reports. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at cons...
Mar 11, 2026•8 min
Russian planners and Western intelligence predicted the invasion of Ukraine would be quick and decisive. Of course, Kyiv did not fall quickly - and still hasn’t. In the four years since Russia first invaded, the Kremlin’s so-called “special military operation” has evolved into the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II. According to Western governments and think tanks, more than 1.5 million people are dead. And throughout the war, one of the biggest questions has been, i...
Mar 10, 2026•11 min
Americans are paying more for gas than they were a week ago. On Sunday, the price of oil hit $118 a barrel. It's since come down from those highs, but remains up sharply from the pre-war price of $70. The price is being pushed up by disruption to oil supply out of the Persian Gulf – The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, typically handles around 20 million barrels of oil a day – close to a fifth of global oil consumption. But the war has brought ta...
Mar 09, 2026•9 min
The repercussions of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran continue to be felt across the Middle East. However, Lebanon has become the most active second front in the continued conflict between the US, Israel and Iran. Israel began its military assault on Lebanon after the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel as a show of solidarity with Iran. The U.S. and Israel's war in Iran is not just a regional crisis. It’s reshaping political dynamics across the Middle East, with global repe...
Mar 08, 2026•9 min
Reporters here at NPR noticed the name of a highly respected youth camp popping up repeatedly in the Epstein Files - Interlochen Center for the Arts. When intern Ava Berger and other reporters started combing through the documents, they learned how Jeffrey Epstein used his wealth to gain access to the campus and prey on girls. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced...
Mar 08, 2026•10 min
For the last week, Israeli and US bombs have devastated Iran. And the conflict has widened to include multiple countries in the Gulf. How is the conflict reshaping the world order and impacting Trump’s popularity here in the United States? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Connor Donevan, Elena Burnett, Alejandra Marquez Janse and Erika Ryan. It was edited...
Mar 06, 2026•12 min
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using a variety of tools to surveil folks they want to intimidate and apprehend. That web helps federal agents find people to deport. But it also allows them to identify U.S. citizens who criticize the federal government and its policies. NPR has compiled dozens of stories of people caught up in the surveillance web. Some were monitoring ICE activities and found themselves in interactions with agents who identify them by their names and home addresses. NPR’...
Mar 05, 2026•8 min
This past weekend, the United States went to war. The president didn’t present his case in a primetime speech from the Oval Office or the White House’s East Room, but rather, in an edited video posted at 2:30 a.m. on the social media platform he owns. And that video post came between others where President Trump has falsely claimed that elections were rigged and stolen, called for the prosecution of people who have opposed him, and lobbied to put his face on U.S. currency. The New Yorker’s Susan...
Mar 04, 2026•7 min
The future of Iran hangs on an important question: Who will be its next leader? We'll look at how succession could unfold. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode contained reporting from NPR’s Ruth Sherlock. It was produced by Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Becky Brown. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. See pcm.adswizz.com for...
Mar 03, 2026•10 min
Regime change, nuclear weapons, terrorism …Why is the U.S. at war with Iran? In the days since the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, the Trump administration has given a wide range of reasons why the US is now at war. On Saturday, Trump seemed to indicate the U.S. and Israel were trying to clear the way for regime change. On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the conflict in Iran was not about regime change. A couple of hours later in Trump's first public comments, no...
Mar 02, 2026•11 min
