What A Day - Trump’s Cabinet, A Hodge-Podge Of Loyalists

It’s been just three weeks since the election, and President-elect Donald Trump has already named most of his cabinet picks, including all of the big ones to head executive departments. They are, in a word, eclectic. A mix of traditional Republican establishment types, MAGA diehard and… former Democrats? It’s an open question whether Trump’s picks will find common cause beyond just wanting a seat at Trump’s table. Burgess Everett, Congressional bureau chief for Semafor, talks about how Trump Administration 2.0 could work.

And in headlines: Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped both of his criminal cases against Trump, California says it found bird flu in raw milk that’s available in stores, and Drake uses the courts to get petty.

Show Notes:

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - A New Strategy for Banning Abortion

The Supreme Court threw out the last attempt to ban mifepristone, the “abortion pill,” because they couldn’t figure out who in the case was being injured. Now three states are claiming they are being harmed, because abortion access is preventing population growth for them 


Guest: Linda Greenhouse, Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times from 1978 to 2008, author and winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. 


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.


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What A Day - Can Trump Deport Millions Of People?

President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to declare a national emergency – and maybe even use the military – to deport around 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The consequences could be dire: millions of families separated, livelihoods upended, an even bigger backlog of immigration court cases, and a bill that could top $350 billion. Dara Lind, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, helps us separate facts from fears when it comes to Trump’s plan.

And in headlines: Trump announces a flurry of final cabinet picks, Israel’s Defense Forces traded more fire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and the annual U.N. climate summit wraps up with a controversial $300 billion deal.

Show Notes:

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - When Jesus Is on the Curriculum

New curriculum for Texas public schools teaches vocabulary and reading through stories from the Bible and takes a noticeably Christian point of view towards history. When does teaching stop and preaching begin—and isn’t this a pretty clear violation of the First Amendment?


Guest: Jaden Edison, public education reporter for the Texas Tribune.


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - TBD | Is Sickle Cell Anemia…Cured?

Last May, a 12-year-old with sickle cell anemia was the first person to receive a new gene therapy to treat the disease. The process is painful, expensive, and still frightening and uncertain, but biomedical researchers are cautiously calling it a “cure.”


Guests:

Gina Kolata, medical reporter for the New York Times

Deb and Keith Cromer, parents to Kendric Cromer, the first person in the world to go through a commercially approved gene therapy for sickle cell anemia.


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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth.

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What A Day - How Sexual Misconduct Became Part of the MAGA Cause

If there’s something that many of Trump’s cabinet nominees have in common, it is being credibly accused of sexual assault. Why is Trump—and MAGA world more widely—so enthusiastic about not just tolerating but elevating men with sordid, even criminal, pasts? There’s Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for US Attorney General, who withdraw from consideration on Thursday after yet another allegation of sex trafficking Then there’s Pete Hegseth, Trump’s slimy nominee for Secretary of Defense—not to mention Trump himself! Kavanaugh, RFK Jr., Herbster…the list goes on. This week on How We Got Here, Erin and Max interrogate why MAGA is appealing to sexually abusive men, and to what extent voters pulled the lever for Trump despite his rampant misogyny, versus because of it.