Consider This from NPR

Imagine standing in water shallow enough to just barely hit the soles of your feet. And then it rises so fast that in just about ten minutes, it's up to your neck. That's how fast the Guadalupe River in Texas rose last week, according to state officials. Twenty-six feet in less than an hour. That flooding left dozens dead, devastated homes and businesses. Officials, emergency crews and volunteers are hoping more survivors will be found. But in a press conference today, officials warned the death toll will continue to rise.In the Texas Hill Country, climate change and geography conspired to create one of the worst floods in generations. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

If you're a parent, decisions about vaccines have gotten a lot more confusing recently. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s health department is walking back longstanding recommendations. NPR's Pien Huang speaks with a pediatrician and a vaccine researcher to discuss how the changes may affect public health - and how frontline conversations are going between pediatricians and families.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.nprth.org.Email us at considerthis@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Independence Day means different things to each of us. On this 249th birthday for America, we spend some time looking at different definitions of America by revisiting NPR's 2018 series: American Anthem — which had the simple goal of telling 50 stories about 50 songs that have become galvanizing forces in American culture.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump put essentially his entire domestic agenda in one bill.It would significantly cut clean energy incentives, Medicaid and food assistance programs — and double down on tax cuts, immigration enforcement and national defense.Despite opposition from Democrats, and divides within the Republican Party, it passed through Congress.How did that happen? And what does it mean for American taxpayers? NPR correspondents explain.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.nprth.org.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This summer marks 80 years since the end of World War II when Allied forces liberated Nazi-occupied Europe, and also began to discover the horrific scale of the Holocaust. An estimated six million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime.With the passage of time, there are fewer and fewer survivors who can tell the stories of what they witnessed and endured. Once fringe ideas of Holocaust denial are spreading. Multiple members of President Donald Trump's administration have expressed support for Nazi sympathizers and people who promote antisemitism.The stories of those who lived through the Holocaust are in danger of being forgotten. And there's a race against time to record as many as possible.In this episode, the story of a Jewish man who survived Buchenwald and an American soldier, who helped liberate the concentration camp.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The massive tax and spending bill central to President Trump's agenda is one step closer to reality.After weeks of negotiations and 49 consecutive votes that started Monday morning, the senate approved President Trump's signature domestic policy bill around lunch time Tuesday. It now goes back to the House of Representatives where Republican Speaker Mike Johnson will have to reconcile the senate changes with his members' competing priorities.Michael Ricci has had a long career in republican politics, including working as Speaker Paul Ryan's communications director and Speaker John Boehner's Chief Speech writer. We talked with him about the stakes, and the bill's prospects in the House.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The massive budget bill that Senate Republicans are debating pays for some of its tax cuts by slashing hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending. The latest report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates nearly 12 million people will lose health insurance if the Senate version of the bill becomes law. Trump insists the cuts come from eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Democrats have said they break Trump's promise not to touch Medicaid — and over the weekend, Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina agreed. "What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding's not there anymore?" We asked Sarah Jane Tribble, the chief rural correspondent for KFF Health News, what the cuts will mean for rural residents of states like North Carolina — and the hospitals that serve them.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A number of Supreme Court decisions handed down this term have expanded the power of the president while limiting the power of the courts. How has this term changed the relationship of the judicial and the executive branches?NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Greg Stohr from Bloomberg about what we've learned about the makeup and direction of the court from this year's rulings. 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. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Although President Trump launched air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, the administration has chosen a different path when dealing with Kim Jong Un, the leader of nuclear-armed North Korea. For our Reporter's Notebook series, host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR correspondent Anthony Kuhn about covering Trump and Kim's past negotiations and the difficulties of reporting on North Korea. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Three different federal judges have issued nationwide blocks to President Trump's executive order to deny U.S. citizenship to some babies born to immigrants in the U.S.These court orders are called universal injunctions.But when the case reached the Supreme Court, the administration didn't focus on the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.Instead, government lawyers put most of their energy into arguing that universal injunctions themselves are unconstitutional.And on Friday, in a 6-3 decision on ideological lines, the Supreme Court agreed — limiting the power of lower courts and lifting a key restraint on the Trump administration.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has spent years spreading doubt about the safety of vaccines and linking them to autism. Dozens of studies have debunked the theory, but it has nevertheless persisted for years. Part of the reason why may be that autism diagnoses have soared over the last few decades.Dr. Allen Frances is psychiatrist who led the task force that created the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which expanded the definition of Autism. Frances says that expanded definition played a role in the increase.Rates of autism have exploded in recent decades. Could the clinical definition of autism itself be partly to blame? 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Tens of millions of people across the US are currently under a heat advisory. And the extreme heat isn't just affecting people. You may have seen videos online of the heat causing asphalt roads to buckle. It is impacting rail travel too. Amtrak has been running some trains more slowly, as have the public transit systems of Washington and Philadelphia.Mikhail Chester, an engineering professor at Arizona State University, talks through the intersection of extreme heat and transportation.And NPR's Julia Simon shares advice on how people can keep themselves cool.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Three years ago, the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion in the United States.As the legal landscape shifted, the medical landscape of reproductive care was faced with a serious question. Where would people turn for abortions?Abby Wendle, from NPR's Embedded podcast team, has been reporting on self-managed abortions, and how the medical community's views on it have changed in recent years. The podcast has just released a new series about the history of self-managed abortion called The Network. It was produced with Futuro Media. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Monday, Iran struck back against the United States, firing missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar. The retaliatory strikes come two days after the U.S. attacked nuclear sites in Iran.In a twist, President Trump thanked Iran on social media for giving advance notice of the attacks, "which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured."Host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with NPR correspondents Aya Batrawy, who is on the ground in Dubai, and Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, reporting from Washington. Editor's note: This conversation was recorded prior to President Trump announcing that Iran and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. joined Israel's war on Iran and over the weekend bombed three of the country's nuclear sites, including Fordo, located deep inside a mountain. In the aftermath of the bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the attack. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi tweeted that the U.S.'s attack would have "everlasting consequences." The move by the Trump administration is a massive escalation, and brings the U.S. into direct conflict with Iran. How will Iran respond and what are the wider repercussions? NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with journalist Robin Wright, author of "The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran." 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Frank Langfitt has covered the world. Now he reports for NPR as a roving correspondent, focusing on stories that help us understand a changing America. Recently, he covered both the military parade that brought tanks and armored personnel carriers rolling through the nation's capital, as well as the No Kings protests where people in dozens of cities across the country rallied against politicization of the armed forces by someone they called a would-be autocrat. Many have dubbed the day as a split-screen moment - and for Frank, going to two events on the same day gave him the sense of looking at America with a lens he had often examined other countries in the past. There are events that become a Rorschach test that brings out America's political and cultural divisions in bold relief. You could look at that day as an example of a divided America — a moment where our differences were placed in pretty stark relief. But perhaps by being in both places on the same day you see something different. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Last weekend, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed at their home by a man impersonating a police officer.The attack comes amid a rise in political violence. Last year alone, Capitol Police investigated more than 9,000 threats against members of the U.S. Congress. Former U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords knows the horrors of gun violence only too well. The Arizona Democrat was shot at a constituent event in Tucson in 2011.Now a leading gun safety advocate, Giffords speaks with host Mary Louise Kelly about how she is handling this moment and her thoughts on addressing the problem of gun violence. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Many Afghans who helped the US military or who were persecuted by the Taliban for other reasons found refuge in the United States. They were granted Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, by the US government. Now the Trump administration has revoked TPS for Afghans. So what happens now?NPR's Monika Evstatieva reports that for thousands of Afghans in the United States, and many stuck in limbo abroad, the available options are dwindling.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In 2003, the U.S. launched a war in Iraq based on what turned out to be bad intelligence about weapons programs, then spent years mired in a conflict with no clear end.Today, President Trump is threatening to bring the U.S. military into another Middle East conflict. As with Iraq, the justification for a potential attack on Iran is the alleged threat of a nuclear weapon. We talk to journalist Steve Coll, author of The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq about how this moment echoes the run-up to the war in Iraq and how it differs.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The United States has worked for decades to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Now Israel says it is attacking Iran to remove that threat. What are the stakes in this conflict, not only for the two nations directly involved, but for the US and the world?Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Aaron Stein, the President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute about those stakes and the history of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Around this time every year, the U.S. Supreme Court ends its term with a bang. The Justices typically save their biggest rulings for June.Outstanding cases include the president's birthright citizenship executive order, a Tennessee law blocking gender-affirming care and a Texas law requiring age verification for porn sites.NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg walks through the cases that may define this term.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Since the start of his second term, President Trump has been at odds with the federal courts.The protests in Los Angeles are just the latest series of events to raise huge questions about presidential power: in this case, whether the president can use military force to control protests.NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with J. Michael Luttig, a former federal judge who has a stark warning: that Trump's actions signal of the end of the rule of law in America.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Kentucky is one of the poorest states and is likely to see billions of dollars cut from Medicaid and other government benefits if Trump's spending bill becomes law. For our weekly Reporter's Notebook series we hear from Kentucky Public Radio's Sylvia Goodman and Joe Sonka. The two reporters traveled through rural eastern Kentucky to gauge how cuts could impact people who rely on federal assistance and what that means for the health clinics that serve them. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Early Friday local time, Israel finally did what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening to do for years: It launched a massive attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, killing top military commanders, nuclear scientists and — according to Iran — dozens of Iranian civilians. The attacks have once again plunged the volatile region into uncharted waters. NPR correspondent Hadeel al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv and NPR's National Security Correspondent Greg Myre discuss what this could mean for the region and for U.S. hopes of a deal limiting Iran's nuclear program.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. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Kilmar Abrego Garcia: a name that's become near-synonymous with the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown.Abrego Garcia was arrested by ICE agents on March 12th, as he was leaving his job in Baltimore. In the days and months that followed, the fate of the 29-year-old father of three was in the hands of the Trump administration and El Salvador's President. At the time of his arrest the administration alleged he was an active member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13. His family and his legal team deny this. He was deported to a supermax prison in El Salvador despite a protective order that he should remain in the U.S. But then – less than a month after his arrest, a federal judge and then the Supreme Court ruled the government should facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. Now nearly three months after Abrego Garcia was sent to a prison in another country... he's back on US soil. What happens now?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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The White House's message on what's happening in Los Angeles is simple: this is what President Trump was elected to do.It is true that polls have found people trust the Republican Party more to handle immigration. A CBS poll taken last week found that 54% approve of Trump's deportation policies. Trump is making a big bet on how far Americans want him to go. He mobilized National Guard and active-duty troops that the mayor and governor say they don't need. The administration says its immigration efforts are focused on criminals. But California Governor Gavin Newsom highlighted other people swept up in workplace raids."A U.S. citizen, nine months pregnant, was arrested; a 4-year-old girl, taken; families separated; friends, quite literally, disappearing." Trump is doubling down in Los Angeles. We hear from a conservative immigration analyst who thinks it will work.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Fentanyl and other street drugs killed more than 230,000 people under the age of 35 in the U.S. over the last decade. But now new federal data shows drug deaths among young people are plummeting at an unprecedented rate – saving thousands of lives each year. What's driving the drop, and with federal funding cuts on the horizon, will it continue?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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The last time a President deployed the National Guard over a governor's objections was more than 50 years ago.Over the weekend, President Trump did just that — in California. He ordered 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles, where people are protesting federal immigration raids. Today, governor Gavin Newsom said California is suing the Trump administration for what the governor called an unlawful action.Trump called the protesters "insurrectionists"; Vice President JD Vance suggested they constituted an "invasion." What does that signal about where the situation in California is headed? We ask Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Citing a rarely used law, President Trump bypassed California's governor Gavin Newsom, and ordered two thousand national guard troops to Los Angeles for sixty days.It's the first time in 60 years a president has used federal power to deploy national guard troops without the agreement of the state's governor. NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and hears how people in the city are reacting. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In March, NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson reported on problems with the way federal courts police sexual harassment and bullying. A culture of secrecy made reporting the story particularly difficult. With few protections, many who alleged mistreatment were afraid to speak out. For our weekly Reporter's Notebook series, Johnson takes us inside her investigation – and speaks with Consider This host Scott Detrow about the challenge of using anonymous sources to bring accountability to the courts.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

House Republicans' reconciliation bill, which includes a first-of-its-kind national private school voucher program, is now in the hands of the Senate.The proposal would use the federal tax code to offer vouchers that students could use to attend private secular or religious schools, even in states where voters have opposed such efforts.Debates about voucher programs have raged on throughout the years. But what does the research say? NPR education correspondent Cory Turner unpacks it. 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. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump has signed a new travel ban. Travelers from 12 countries will be barred from entering the US, and people from an additional seven countries will face partial travel restrictions. The proclamation goes into effect June 9 — and fulfills something Trump has long-promised: to bring back the travel ban from his first term. But that ban was the subject of many legal challenges. Some legal scholars say President Trump has learned a lot since then.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Whether it was her history making win in 2017.Or the history she made as only the second woman elected to lead a country to give birth while IN office.Or her decision to step away from power after leading New Zealand through crisis after crisis.Jacinda Ardern could never be described as a TYPICAL politician. But perhaps the most norm-busting feature of her time as Prime Minister was her rejection of the old ways of leadership.Now as she reflects on her time as Prime Minister of New Zealand Ardern is emphasizing the need to lead with kindness and empathy. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Tuesday morning brought another shooting near a food distribution site in Gaza — the third in as many days. This time, more than two dozen people were killed as they tried to collect emergency food aid, according to Gaza health officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Israeli military acknowledged firing warning shots at "several suspects" moving toward their position, and fired additional shots at individual suspects who, they said, did not retreat. The violence may have something to do with the way Israel is now managing food distribution in Gaza. It's not how aid is typically given out in war zones.Avril Benoit, CEO of Doctors Without Borders within the U.S., explains what she sees is wrong with the new aid plan in Gaza.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the past, most military parades in the U.S. were staged to signal the end of a war and welcome home of those who fought. The last major military parade in the nation's capitol was in 1991. It marked the end of the Gulf War.The capital has not seen a military parade like the one planned by President Trump for June 14th in decades - a parade estimated to cost $45 million.NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with historian Joshua Zeitz. He's a contributing editor for Politico Magazine and has written about where Trump's parade fits into the American tradition.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump wants to make a deal with Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Putin says Russia wants to engage in peace talks, but Putin has also been ordering the most widespread and violent aerial attacks on Ukraine in years. This has led Trump to criticize Putin more and more in public — a step that's been rare over the course of Trump's two terms in office.Three years into his war on Ukraine, what does Putin really want? It's a question leaders around the world are trying to figure out.To learn more, NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Angela Stent, Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University, Senior Fellow at the Brookings institution — a nonpartisan policy organization in Washington DC — and author of the book "Putin's World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Trump administration has thrown so many curveballs at colleges and universities, it can be hard to keep track. But there's logic behind the many efforts, from cutting research grants to detaining international students involved in activism.NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben and education correspondent Elissa Nadworny about what's at stake in the federal government's multi-pronged assault on higher education and what the administration hopes to accomplish.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced new COVID recommendations this week, it raised questions among clinicians and patients:Will those shots still be available to people who want them — and will insurance cover it?NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, about the CDC's new guidelines for healthy children and pregnant women — and whether they could make it more difficult for these patients to get shots if they want them.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When ISIS was at its height, its ranks included several hundred Americans. They were often young men radicalized online by savvy marketing that promised free housing and the chance to meet a wife. When the Islamic State collapsed, some of them ended up in huge detention camps in Syria, and the U.S. has been trying to bring them home. NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer reports on one American family coping with the aftermath of the child they lost, and the children they found.What happened to the families of the Americans who joined ISIS? Not just the families they left behind in the U.S., but the ones they formed overseas? 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

NPR and three public radio stations in Colorado sued President Trump on Tuesday over his executive order that seeks to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik breaks down the suit, and NPR CEO Katherine Maher answers Mary Louise Kelly's answers about the lawsuit, potential fall out, and future of NPR and public media. And a reminder about how NPR covers news about NPR: All Things Considered host Kelly and media correspondent Folkenflik, as well as the editors and other journalists working on stories about NPR all operate without involvement from corporate officials or news executives.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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's a classic Washington power move — the late-on-Friday news dump. This past Friday, at 4:30pm, start of a long holiday weekend, about half the staff of the National Security Council got emails asking them to leave by 5pm. Dozens of people abruptly dismissed.The restructuring of the NSC as Secretary of State and National Security advisor Marco Rubio has characterized it — continues a trend in this second term for President Trump, of radical downsizing. The Trump administration plans to cut thousands of intelligence and national security jobs across the government.The US Government has long relied on scores of intelligence officials across the government to keep America safe. Trump wants many of them gone – what could that mean for security at home and abroad? 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President Trump's spreading of the false claim that South Africa is perpetrating a genocide against its white inhabitants is just the latest example of misinformation making its way from corners of the internet into presidential statements or even policy. This isn't the first time that a falsehood that began on the fringes of the right-wing made its way to the Trump White House. NPR's Scott Detrow and Lisa Hagen examine how these beliefs have been able to reach the Oval Office. 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy