The courts are balking, Macron is correcting, the vote on Ukraine was shameful, and appointing a podcaster to be #2 at the FBI is dumb. It's 35 days in; maybe the president needs to start focusing on doing things well? Give a listen.
Trump's FBI Director Kash Patel picks a Deputy Director even less qualified than he is: MAGA podcaster Dan Bongino. Trump and Pete Hegseth purge the Pentagon's leadership and lawyers. Elon Musk replies all to the federal government asking what staff have accomplished lately. And, on the three-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Trump declines to call Vladimir Putin a dictator. Jon, Jon, and Tommy discuss the potential for full-blown autocracy at home, Ukraine's predicament, and the latest swing of Musk's bureaucratic chainsaw. Then, Jon talks with NOTUS congressional reporter Daniella Diaz about Trump's legislative agenda, squirmy Republicans, and mounting public anger at Trump's budget cuts.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
The personal story of how an energetic lawyer got knocked off from her dream career and what she thinks that might mean for whether the government can attract talented people in the future.
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On Friday, Donald Trump fired Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff CQ Brown, along with several other top Pentagon officials.
Now, Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, has a question for the man tapped to succeed him, Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine.
Quote — "will he have the ability to speak truth to power?" Senator Reed is the top democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
The Trump administration says it wants a military built on meritocracy. Critics say it's building one governed by political loyalty.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
On Friday, Donald Trump fired Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff CQ Brown, along with several other top Pentagon officials.
Now, Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, has a question for the man tapped to succeed him, Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine.
Quote — "will he have the ability to speak truth to power?" Senator Reed is the top democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
The Trump administration says it wants a military built on meritocracy. Critics say it's building one governed by political loyalty.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
On Friday, Donald Trump fired Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff CQ Brown, along with several other top Pentagon officials.
Now, Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, has a question for the man tapped to succeed him, Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan Caine.
Quote — "will he have the ability to speak truth to power?" Senator Reed is the top democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
The Trump administration says it wants a military built on meritocracy. Critics say it's building one governed by political loyalty.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
There are many examples of governments using racial categories in nefarious ways, and the upside for cataloging people by race seems vanishingly small. Cato's John Early explains.
MintPress News reporter Alan MacLeod returns to Bad Faith to tell the story of how Elon Musk was mentored by his CIA handler to become the ultimate insider: a defense contractor for the US government who is now involved in a project to double the number of nuclear bombs in existence, and build an "iron dome" for America which would end the era of "mutually assured destruction" and nuclear peace. How did Mike Griffin, the COO of In-Q-Tel, a private enterprise funded by the CIA, come to have such a close relationship with Musk that Musk named his favorite child Griffin? What is the end goal of Musk's involvement in the defense sector? And how are conservatives like Musk and Tulsi Gabbard negotiating the "America First" anti-interventionism of the base now that they've gone full insider?
Today's podcast asks: Are Trump officials finding it necessary to echo the boss's "Ukraine started the war" in the same way Trump officials in the first month of the first administration were forced to say his inaugural crowd size was the biggest in history? And is Elon Musk off the chain? Give a listen.
We are back to answer YOUR listener questions. This time, we answer why bananas can be considered the 'unbothered fruit', what a flat income tax would actually look like, and how extended-hours stock trading works. If you have your own question about the economy, please email us at indicator@npr.org.
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For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.