Category: 3-DailySometimeCommentary

More than two dozen Christian and Jewish organizations sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its decision to let immigration agents make arrests at places of worship. Also Tuesday, Pope Francis issued a stinging rebuke of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan in a letter to U.S. Catholic Bishops. And he had some seemingly pointed words for Vice President J.D. Vance, who in recent weeks has used his Catholic faith to justify the White House’s immigration crackdown. Terence Sweeney, an assistant teaching professor at Villanova University, breaks down the holes in the Trump administration’s interpretation of Christianity and Catholicism. 

Later in the show, Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics and trade policy at the Cato Institute, explains why Trump’s threats to a trade loophole could blow up your online shopping habits.

And in headlines: Trump and Elon Musk defended the Department of Government Efficiency’s draconian cost-cutting actions during a joint press conference, DOGE said it cut $900 million in Department of Education contracts, and a federal judge blocked the administration’s order to cut billions in funding for medical research.

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• For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

Among his recent executive orders, Donald Trump moved to halt aid to South Africa over a land law and extended political asylum to South Africa’s white Afrikaner population.

Where does Trump’s seemingly spotty understanding of South Africa come from? How could having close advisors who grew up in apartheid-era South Africa, like Elon Musk, influence him?

Guest: Chris McGreal, writer for The Guardian US who reported from South Africa during the end of apartheid.

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

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has become the latest federal agency in the Trump administration's crosshairs. On Friday, unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his minions gained access to the CFPB's computer systems. That same day, the White House named Russell Vought, the newly confirmed head of the Office of Management and Budget and longtime opponent of the CFPB, as the agency's new acting director. The next day, Vought ordered CFPB staffers to halt all work and to close the office, effectively shuttering the independent agency created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Helaine Olen, managing editor at the American Economic Liberties Project and a contributing columnist at MSNBC, explains why shuttering the CFPB would be bad for average Americans.

And in headlines: Trump doubles down on his plan to kick Palestinians out of Gaza, a federal judge says the White House has defied his order to unfreeze billions in federal grants, and the president slaps a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports.

Show Notes:

• Check out Helaine Olen's piece – https://tinyurl.com/4h97vk99
• Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8
• Support victims of the fire – votesaveamerica.com/relief
• What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast
• Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/
• For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

As Donald Trump has demonstrated, losing an election is no reason to admit you lost an election. In fact, in North Carolina, the Republican challenger, who lost a race for the state’s Supreme Court, is testing a bold new strategy of disqualifying ballots until he gets the result he wants. And if he succeeds, it could start a trend.

Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, Slate senior writer covering courts and the law. 

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

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We're three weeks into President Donald Trump's second term, and already Democratic lawmakers are warning that we're in a constitutional crisis. They point to the fact that Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, is getting a major say in how government agencies operate; the Trump administration shuttering USAID – an independent agency created by Congress – without Congressional approval; and the push to block funding that's already been appropriated. While federal courts have helped Democrats slow down some of Trump's more brazen actions, Vice President J.D. Vance fueled fears of a deeper constitutional challenge Sunday when he tweeted, 'Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.' Kate Show, co-host of Crooked's legal podcast' Strict Scrutiny,' helps us make sense of the legal drama.

And in headlines: Trump sat down with Fox News' Bret Baier for the traditional pre-game Super Bowl interview, Hamas released three more Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners as the ceasefire continued to hold, and the Trump administration moved to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Show Notes:

• Check out Strict Scrutiny – crooked.com/podcast-series/strict-scrutiny/
• Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8
• Support victims of the fire – votesaveamerica.com/relief
• What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast
• Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/
• For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

Donald Trump has a lot of similarities—and something of a bromance—with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. And those who wish to resist Trump’s Orbán-like, right-wing strongman tendencies could learn something from the resistance in Hungary. 

Guest: Gábor Scheiring, former member of the Hungarian parliament and assistant professor of comparative politics at Georgetown University Qatar.

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

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Using Github, you can watch as government websites are brought into compliance with Donald Trump’s executive orders. Out goes the word “equity;” in comes “fair.” And health and science data, once publicly available, disappears.

Guest: Jason Koebler, cofounder of 404 Media.

Jeremy Prokop, data science advisor in the Midwest

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