Category: News

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The Ezra Klein Show - Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force

ICE now has the biggest budget of any law enforcement agency in America.

“ICE and Customs and Border Protection have long been the most rogue, kind of renegade and certainly pro-Trump police agencies in the federal government,” explained Radley Balko, a journalist who’s covered policing for decades. “What I think we are seeing right now is Trump is attempting to build his own paramilitary force. They want people whose first, ultimate loyalty in this job is going to be to the president.”

Balko is the author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces.” And he’s been tracking the changes at ICE and the Trump administration’s escalating law-and-order tactics on his excellent newsletter, The Watch.

Mentioned:

“ICE’s Mind-Bogglingly Massive Blank Check” by Caitlin Dickerson

“The police militarization debate is over” by Radley Balko

Book Recommendations:

The Highest Law in the Land by Jessica Pishko

Unruly by David Mitchell

Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Will Peischel. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Mixing by Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Michelle Harris, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin, Aman Sahota, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Trump’s unprecedented attack on the Fed

Last night, President Donald Trump posted a letter firing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. The reason? She was accused of listing two properties as her primary residences, which potentially gave her more favorable lending terms. This marks another escalation in the president’s battle for control of America’s central bank. 

We’re publishing our conversation early about whether this is legal, what the Fed might do, and how the Fed’s independence is more fragile than we may think.  

Related episodes: 

Should presidents have more of a say in interest rates? 

Can the Federal Reserve stay independent? 

It's hard out there for a Fed chair

Patent Racism
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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Consider This from NPR - Can Trump call the National Guard into Chicago too?

For over two weeks, members of the National Guard have been walking the streets of Washington, D.C. -- alongside federal law enforcement and local police.

President Trump has said there is a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital -- and has openly hinted at taking similar actions in other Democratic-led cities like Chicago, New York and Baltimore.

But while the president has unique authorities over the District of Columbia, federalizing the National Guard in U.S. states will require a higher legal standard.

Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck breaks it down.


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 by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon. It features additional reporting by Frank Langfitt. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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The Commentary Magazine Podcast - Trump’s Constitutional Outrages

We can't overlook the wild swings at American norms being taken by the Trump administration over the past week, from firing someone the president cannot fire at the Federal Reserve Board to sending FBI agents to the home and office of a critic to announcing a new kind of federal police force. So we don't overlook them! Give a listen.


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Cato Podcast - TikTok: Free Speech or Security Threat?

Cato’s Jennifer Huddleston and Tommy Berry examine the 2024 TikTok divest-or-ban law and what it means for Americans. They explain how the law could reshape the app market, restrict free speech, and expand government power far beyond TikTok itself.


Jennifer Huddleston, “Could the Latest TikTok ‘Ban’ Pass Constitutional Muster?,” Cato at Liberty (blog) (March 12, 2024)

Jennifer Huddleston, “Competition and Content Moderation: How Section 230 Enables Increased Tech Marketplace Entry,” Policy Analysis no. 922 (January 31, 2022)

Jennifer Huddleston and Tommy Berry, “TikTok Users Await Looming US Ban; SCOTUS May Intervene,” Cato Daily Podcast (January 16, 2025)

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Three ways companies are getting around tariffs

Businesses are scrambling for ways to minimize the impact of the Trump administration’s global tariff policy. Today on the show, we go over some of the tricks and legal loopholes that companies are employing to get around these sudden import taxes.


Related episodes: 

The legal case for — and against — Trump's tariffs

The secret tariff-free zone

You told us how tariffs are affecting you


For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.  


Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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Pod Save America - First They Came for John Bolton

Trump's FBI raids the home of John Bolton—the former first-term Trump advisor turned vocal critic—as the President escalates his use of state power to target and threaten anyone who's criticized him, most recently Chris Christie, Wes Moore, ABC News, and NBC News. Jon, Lovett, and Tommy react to those threats and all of this week's fascist horrors, including the arming of the National Guard in D.C., the administration's pending deployment of troops to Chicago, and ICE's plan to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man they wrongly sent to CECOT, to Uganda unless he pleads guilty to a set of dubious charges brought against him in Tennessee. Then, economic writer James Surowiecki sits down with Lovett to talk about the Trump administration's unprecedented acquisition of Intel stock—and what it signals to other major companies.

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Chapo Trap House - 963 – Distractions feat. Prem Thakker (8/25/25)

Zeteo’s Prem Thakker joins us for a look at Trump’s takeover of Washington D.C. We talk about the impetus for the takeover, what day-to-day life in occupied D.C. looks and feels like for its immigrant communities, and the Democratic Party’s impotent response. We then look more broadly at Trump’s Fortress America, ICE’s country-wide renditions, and the continuing case of Kilmar Ábrego García. Finally, we talk about the destruction of Nasser Hospital in Gaza and the Democratic Party’s flip-flopping on the term “genocide.” Follow Prem on X/Twitter: https://x.com/prem_thakker?lang=en And be sure to check out his work at Zeteo: https://zeteo.com/s/subtext-with-prem
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Consider This from NPR - What a day in immigration court is like now

The Trump administration is deploying a new strategy to speed up deportations. Government lawyers are asking immigration judges to dismiss on-going cases. Then, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrest people as soon as they step out of the courtroom.


The process is often chaotic. And for immigrants without legal status, it's also very risky.

NPR immigration policy reporter Ximena Bustillo went to an immigration court in New York City to see how that process unfolds – and found herself experiencing some of the chaos firsthand.

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 by Sarah Ventre, Avery Keatley and Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Jimmy Keeley. It was edited by Anna Yukhananov and William Troop. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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Bad Faith - Episode 503 Promo – Labor is Complicit (w/ Christian Smalls)

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

The American labor organizer who founded the first independent, worker-led union at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse Chris Smalls recently made headlines when he was illegally detained by Israel after joining the recent Gaza Freedom Flotilla headed to Gaza to break Israel's illegal siege, and deliver food and medical supplies. Smalls explains how he and the one Arab member of the flotilla were treated differently from his fellow crew members, how he was assaulted & strip searched, and how he was abandoned by the US embassy (in contrast to how other governments supported their nationals). Moreover, he dives deep into his betrayal by labor leadership and leftists leaders like Bernie Sanders and AOC who remain silent on Small's capture and assault to date. Chris reveals plans to develop a new labor party that cannot be ignored by Dem-captured labor leadership, the need to leave the Democratic Party "plantation," and why he won't be supporting an AOC 2028 run. 

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Armand Aviram.

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).