Latest news with #TrevorHughes
USA Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Curfew enacted for parts of LA as protests spread to other cities
Curfew enacted for parts of LA as protests spread to other cities | The Excerpt On Wednesday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes joins us again from Los Angeles as protests also spread to other cities. USA TODAY Pentagon Correspondent Tom Vanden Brook discusses President Donald Trump's push for 20,000 troops to help his immigration crackdown. Trump says he's restoring the names of military bases that honored Confederate soldiers. Water from the faucets of at least 42 million Americans is contaminated with unacceptable levels of 'forever chemicals." Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@ Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, June 11th, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, protests spread to other cities as a curfew is announced for Los Angeles. Plus a look at Trump's push for some 20,000 troops to aid his immigration crackdown. And as water in your neck of the woods contaminated with forever chemicals. ♦ A curfew was issued for parts of downtown Los Angeles yesterday, following days of protests over immigration enforcement raids. Mayor Karen Bass said the curfew was announced to stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the president's chaotic escalation. Meanwhile, defense officials said the Pentagon is spending $134 million to deploy National Guard troops and Marines to the area. Protests have also spread this week to a number of US cities, including New York, Austin, and Chicago. So as USA TODAY national correspondent Trevor Hughes told me as he prepared to depart Los Angeles yesterday, things have simmered down since erupting over the weekend. Thanks for joining me again, Trevor. Trevor Hughes: You bet. Taylor Wilson: We know Governor Gavin Newsom has now issued this emergency motion. Let's start here. What's the latest and do tensions kind of broadly continue between California and the federal government? Trevor Hughes: Honestly, right now the fight seems to be between the federal government and the state and local officials. There's not a lot of protests happening right now on the ground here in Los Angeles. Taylor Wilson: Tuesday out around Los Angeles, Trevor, what were some of the things you saw, some of the folks that you spoke with? Trevor Hughes: I was really struck by how different it smells. Sunday night, Monday night, it smelled like tear gas. It smelled like pepper spray. It smelled like people smoking marijuana, which is legal here in California. This morning, it smelled like citrus based cleaners because there are a whole bunch of people cleaning graffiti right now. You can hear pressure washers everywhere. Folks are really cleaning up the downtown area. Now, the reality is they do this almost every day already because of graffiti and gang signs that get painted. But right now, it's anti-Trump, anti-ICE stuff that they're removing. Taylor Wilson: All right, well, just to step back for a second, multiple journalists have been injured this week. Are we learning anything further about who was impacted and what happened to them? Trevor Hughes: Those are folks who put themselves between the protesters and the police, and that is always a dangerous place to be. Obviously the police targeted those folks and they were hurt and I hope they're okay. It is not always easy to know who is a journalist in the scrum of these protests or these disturbances or even these riots, the police often have complained that reporters actually make things worse because we tend to go to the front lines, which gives everyone else the confidence that they should do the same thing. And then it becomes this snowball effect in which the police respond in force. Taylor Wilson: As for folks whose status in the country might lead them to an ICE detention or even deportation, Trevor, how are they living in this moment? Have you had conversations with some of these folks? I guess many still need to go to work, for instance, even amid some of the protests we've seen this week. Trevor Hughes: Well, absolutely, and again, let's be clear, the protests have been relatively narrow. I mean, LA is a very, very big place and it has a large number of residents. And so the vast majority of people here are going to work during their normal lives. The media, ourselves included, have maybe done folks no service by showing the same cars burning over and over and over again. There haven't been that many cars burned down. There haven't really been buildings burned down. It has not been as widespread as perhaps the perception is. And the reality is for something like 18 million people, life goes on pretty normally and that means going to work, worrying about your family if they have been detained. But again, that's also still a relatively small number. Taylor Wilson: Trevor, as you leave Los Angeles, what was your biggest takeaway from your couple days on the ground there in Southern California? Trevor Hughes: This is one of those situations where the fight between President Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom has been going on for years. And this feels like a continuation and extension of that, to be honest. It's the kind of thing where what happened in downtown LA was pretty bad, and I saw rocks and bottles being thrown at police officers. I saw a police car set on fire. Just so we're clear here, but at the same time, it really feels like this may be a proxy war between these two very powerful leaders. Taylor Wilson: All right. Trevor Hughes is a national correspondent with USA TODAY joining us from Los Angeles. Thanks, Trevor. Trevor Hughes: You bet. ♦ Taylor Wilson: A number of potential moves would shift the military from its mission of defending the nation against foreign adversaries, toward policing its streets when it comes to immigration enforcement. I spoke with USA TODAY Pentagon correspondent Tom Vanden Brook for the latest. Tom, always a pleasure. Tom Vanden Brook: Thanks for having me, Taylor. Taylor Wilson: So let's start with this request for some, what? 20,000 National Guard troops as part of President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. What do we know as of now here? Tom Vanden Brook: For the first time in this memo that we have, it shows that they're going to be involved in domestic law enforcement. In other words, some of these guardsmen would be used to track down immigrants and arrest them. So that's a significant escalation in what the guard has typically done. They've been helping at the border, obviously guarding the border, but this would be inside the United States, in cities actively going after people suspected of being here illegally. Taylor Wilson: Well, Tom, this news comes as Trump has deployed National Guards and even Marines to Southern California this week. What's the bigger picture here? I know Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is indicating there will be a larger role for the National Guard writ large going forward. Is that correct? Tom Vanden Brook: Yeah, this is it. They sound as though they want to make this a much more widespread effort that won't take place just in California, but across the nation and using National Guard troops in large part to make it happen. Taylor Wilson: And how about new plans for detention on military bases? What can you tell us here? Tom Vanden Brook: We've learned that over the past few months, the Pentagon has been reviewing with customs border patrol, different sites around the country at bases where they could detain migrants suspected of being illegally. And they would be in bases everywhere from Fort Dix in New Jersey to California. They have actually set up some facilities at Fort Bliss in Texas, and they're building a larger facility there that could house as many as 5,000 migrants. Taylor Wilson: And Tom, really, what is the Trump administration's argument for expanding the military's immigration enforcement role in this way? Tom Vanden Brook: Well, that they need the help. They're overwhelmed. They don't have enough customs boarder patrol, DHS needs the added manpower to do this, and the guard is situated to be able to help them. So they see this as Trump has said before, an invasion, and that's the way they're viewing it. And they use some fairly novel legal justifications to do it, but so far they're being challenged in court, but nothing has come through on that front yet. Taylor Wilson: What are you seeing or hearing from critics on some of these issues, Tom? Tom Vanden Brook: Well, this is a militarization of a law enforcement function that is inappropriate. And Senator Jack Reed, who's the leading Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, thinks it's inappropriate, potentially illegal. And he's opposed to it and he's going to be questioning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in all likelihood on Wednesday when he appears before a Senate committee. Taylor Wilson: Well, and as you're right, Tom, active-duty troops are generally prohibited from domestic policing under the Posse Comitatus Act. Just remind us what that law is and will it present any barrier to the Trump administration's expected actions here? Tom Vanden Brook: The Posse Comitatus Act prevents, generally speaking, active-duty military from law enforcement within the United States. There are certain circumstances in which they can do it, and one of them is if Trump were to evoke the 1807 law called the Insurrection Act, and that would be to put down a rebellion inside the United States. But there's no indication obviously that there's a rebellion and he has not done that yet. Although he does refer to the protesters in Los Angeles Insurrectionists. So it's possible that he could do that. There are other ways he could do it. He could be invited to bring in National Guard troops paid for by the federal government, by governors in states that want to have the National Guard do this sort of law enforcement. Taylor Wilson: Folks can find this full piece with a link in today's show notes. Tom Vanden Brook covers the Pentagon for USA TODAY. Thanks, Tom. Tom Vanden Brook: Thanks, Taylor. ♦ Taylor Wilson: President Trump says he's restoring the names of military bases that the U.S. changed because they paid tribute to Confederate soldiers, delivering remarks at Fort Bragg, which had been designated Fort Liberty before his administration reverted the installation to its previous name. Trump said the Pentagon planned to rename seven other bases. Trump has long sought to keep the original base names in place. He vetoed legislation at the end of his first term in 2020 that authorized the creation of an independent commission to recommend name changes. Congress repassed the bill which came in the wake of racial justice protests with bipartisan supports. During his Fort Bragg remarks, Trump also made some comments about his military parade set for Saturday. Donald Trump: Recently, other countries celebrated the victory of World War I. France was celebrating. Really, they were all celebrating. The only one that doesn't celebrate is the USA and we're the ones that won the war. Without us, you'd all be speaking German right now. Maybe a little Japanese thrown in, but we won the war. We don't celebrate, but we're going to celebrate on Saturday and we're going to celebrate from now on. We're going to celebrate our greatness and our achievements. Taylor Wilson: U.S. Army is marking its 250th anniversary with a palm-filled procession through the streets of the nation's capital. The date also coincides with Trump's 79th birthday. The parade, which will feature army equipment, flyovers, musical performances, and thousands of soldiers in uniform from the past and present caps off a week of programming designed to celebrate the country's military strength. You can read more with a link in today's show notes. ♦ Water pouring from the faucets of at least 42 million Americans is contaminated with unacceptable levels of forever chemicals. That's according to a USA TODAY analysis of records the Environmental Protection Agency released earlier this month. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS are a family of chemicals engineered to be nearly indestructible. Studies have shown they can accumulate over time in human bodies, leading to certain cancers and other health complications. Altogether, USA TODAY found 774 systems that do not meet the limits for forever chemicals. Those utilities probably will need to install advanced filtration systems or find other sources of drinking water by 2031. You can see which U.S. cities report forever chemicals with a link in today's show notes. ♦ And later today, can alligators help fight climate change? Any research points in that direction, according to Chris Murphy of Southeastern Louisiana University. Chris Murphy: What we found was a positive correlation between alligator abundance and carbon sequestration in specific habitats. So if alligators aren't there, my hypothesis is that carbon sequestration rates would lower, meaning more CO2 would be emitted into the atmosphere. Taylor Wilson: You can hear more about how America's largest reptile is playing a key role in reducing carbon emissions when my colleague Dana Taylor, sits down with Chris today beginning at 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time, right here on this feed. ♦ And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And as always, you can email us at podcasts@ I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump administration deploys Marines to Los Angeles
Trump administration deploys Marines to Los Angeles | The Excerpt On Tuesday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: 700 Marines have been deployed to Los Angeles. But California has sued the Trump administration to block deployment of the National Guard and the Marines. Plus, USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes reports from on the ground in Southern California. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all of a committee that advises the federal government on vaccine safety. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison discusses what's next for DOGE after the departure of Elon Musk and the recent collapse of the Trump-Musk alliance. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has been deported from Israel after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Funk pioneer Sly Stone has died at 82. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@ Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Tuesday, June 10th, 2025. This is the Excerpt. Today, the latest from Los Angeles as Marines move in. Plus what's next for the Department of Government Efficiency. And we remember Sly Stone. ♦ The Trump administration yesterday ordered hundreds of US Marines into Los Angeles to assist the National Guard. A tense standoff between California and the federal government continues. California sued the Trump administration to block deployment of the National Guard and the Marines yesterday arguing that it violates federal law and state sovereignty. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said the Marines are being sent due to increased threats to federal law enforcement officers and federal buildings. President Trump yesterday said folks causing problems in Los Angeles should be jailed. President Trump: The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They're insurrectionists. They're bad people. They should be in jail. Taylor Wilson: Protesters have taken to the streets over ICE detentions and other immigration policies they oppose. Protests have resulted in a few dozen arrests and property damage. For more on what things are like this week in Los Angeles, I rang up USA TODAY, national correspondent, Trevor Hughes. Trevor, thanks as always for joining me. Trevor Hughes: Absolutely. Taylor Wilson: So you're there in Los Angeles. Just set the scene for us here. What has the mood been like around the city? Trevor Hughes: The President and the White House have really been making a big deal about the protests and the unrest. And I've seen it myself. There have been car fires and pepper spray and tear gas, but the reality is Los Angeles is a very large area and these protests have so far been limited to very, very small areas. So the reality is most people are going about their day. Taylor Wilson: As for who you've spoken with, let's start with some of the protesters. What do they say they have been functionally protesting and how has their experience been, Trevor, over the last few days? Trevor Hughes: There is this really deep frustration that people have here in California over the President's immigration agenda. California is a very liberal place compared to most of the rest of the country, and the President swept into office with promises of major deportation efforts. People here are very, very opposed to that. And so some of the riots that we've seen, some of the protests we've seen, have really been sparked by community members trying to stop ICE agents from detaining people or taking them away into these detention centers. Taylor Wilson: Have you had chats with ICE agents or anyone on that side of the coin? Trevor Hughes: No. The federal agents on the ground here have not been talking to reporters. We've heard from the leadership about their goals and we've heard a lot from the President about his concerns. The President has really characterized what's been going on here as very violent, as very dangerous, out of control, and he's promising to bring order back. I will tell you that having been through many, many protests and riots over the years, I would say local police officers clearly have this in hand when they choose to. Taylor Wilson: We know President Trump and California Governor, Gavin Newsom have been exchanging jabs over this, to say the least. That's maybe an understatement. What's the latest amid their tensions, including this lawsuit out of California? Trevor Hughes: Oh goodness. I mean, you have to bear in mind that this enmity between the two of them goes back a very long time. The two of them are very much opposite sides of the same coin in some ways. And this lawsuit where the governor has sued the President over the deployment of the National Guard over his objections is just ratcheting up the tension. And then of course, the President has said that he would consider arresting the governor. Taylor Wilson: Based on what you're hearing there on the ground, what's the expectation? What might we expect the rest of this week and beyond? Trevor Hughes: The President has said that the National Guard will be deployed here for 60 days. Frankly, we have not really seen them in the streets much. So far, it has really been the local law enforcement that has been deployed to the streets. But I will say talking to folks, a lot of young people are very frustrated, are very angry, and just want to show that in a powerful, strong way. I was talking to one guy earlier, he was like, "We don't have guns. We have prayers and feathers. We're not the side with guns and pepper balls and tear gas." "But," he said, "there are young people who want to fight with the police." And he said he can understand why they would feel that way. Taylor Wilson: Trevor Hughes is a national correspondent with USA TODAY joining us from Los Angeles. Thanks, Trevor. Trevor Hughes: Absolutely. ♦ Taylor Wilson: That last person Trevor mentioned was Jose Bear Gallegos, a retired teacher. He said authorities were looking for a reaction from protesters in recent days. Jose Bear Gallegos: They got a little crazy on Saturday, but not on our part. Every time we got a little close, they sprayed us. Taylor Wilson: While cars have been set on fire this week, tear gas has been released and the National Guard and Marines have now been deployed. Some local Angelenos told Trevor that things have not been necessarily out of control. Folks like Los Angeles pastor and retired teacher, Ira Long. Ira Long: It's never been totally out of control. It has its challenges, its issues. As a teacher for LA Unified for 37 years, I know that there's challenges in our community, but I also know that they're amazing and fantastic families who come here and make the city a great place to live. Taylor Wilson: Protests were seen in at least nine other US cities yesterday, according to local news outlets. You can stay with the latest on ♦ Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all 17 members of a committee that advises the federal government on vaccine safety, and will replace them with new members. At issue is the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy, and clinical need of vaccines to the CDC. It comprises medical and public health experts who develop recommendations on the use of vaccines in the civilian population of the country. And announcing the move, Kennedy said it was about prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro or anti-vaccine agenda. Kennedy himself has a history of controversial vaccine stances. Earlier this year, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said Kennedy had promised to maintain the advisory committee's current composition. The Biden administration appointed all 17 sitting committee members, with 13 of them taking their seats last year. ♦ What's next for the Department of Government Efficiency after the collapse of the Trump-Musk alliance? I spoke with USA TODAY, White House correspondent, Joey Garrison, for more. Hey there, Joey. Joey Garrison: Hey, Taylor. Thanks for having me on. Taylor Wilson: Thanks for hopping on, Joey. So President Trump says Doge will keep going without Elon Musk. What have we heard from Trump on this point in recent days? Joey Garrison: Since the big blow up with Elon Musk, President Trump has made clear that he intends for Doge to continue its cost-cutting, government-cutting work even without Musk there. Of course, Musk had actually already left the week before. The White House had made clear that it's going to continue to have Doge staff members on board to try to carry out its mission of reducing so-called waste, fraud, and abuse from the government. However, it's hard to say whether it's going to be able to pack the same punch and really aggressively cut the government wholesale like it's been doing for four months without Musk. In addition to Musk leaving, there was various other top Doge officials who signed off. And so there's really a leadership vacuum right now. If you think about all the efforts, particularly in terms of cutting the workforce of the federal government, how much of that was driven publicly by Musk, both with his social media attention that he gave the Doge work as well as the spotlight he took at the White House standing aside Donald Trump during events. That part is going to be missing, and I think a lot of folks have questions whether this is going to quietly go away now the Musk is out of the picture. Taylor Wilson: Well, Joey, considering this potential leadership vacuum, how does Russell Vought enter the picture? Joey Garrison: Yeah, so Russ Vought, who was the OMB director, that stands for Office of Budget and Management, he had that same position in the first Trump term. He's taken the spotlight more as the person who was talking about the swift cuts that Musk was embracing. We see this right now with the rescissions bill that he's trying to get passed through Congress that would codify some of the Doge cuts, particularly when it comes to eliminating government spending on NPR and PBS. So Vought is taking the stance that, hey, we're trying to implement some of these cuts that Elon Musk talked about. And so he's really and center right now. And what you got to remember about Vought is he doesn't sound too much different than Musk. I mean, when you see what he wrote with Project 2025, he talks about breaking the federal bureaucracy so that the Executive Branch, the President, has the full power across the federal government and not these independent agencies. Of course, where Musk though really embraced this very public role, Vought works more behind the scenes, somebody who has a lot more relationships with Congress than Elon Musk. So there's a lot of differences there. I will say that when you ask the White House, "Hey, who's replacing Elon Musk?" They don't point to anyone in particular. They say it's the cabinet secretaries themselves, the leaders of these departments of agencies that are taking on that Doge role. Taylor Wilson: Well, you mentioned Congress a moment ago. Some Republican lawmakers have said they want to codify Doge cuts. What's the latest here? What can you tell us? Joey Garrison: Well, there should be a vote we're expecting on Thursday in regards to that rescissions bill that I mentioned earlier, where they will look to codify that. And Russ Vought has also said, "Look, let's get this one passed with these initial cuts, and then we'll try to get some of these moving forward." But it remains to be seen how many of those cuts are actually enacted eventually. Taylor Wilson: And Joey, we should say, some agencies have been working to even bring back fired workers after this massive slashing that we saw under Musk. Is that still the case? What's happening there? Joey Garrison: That's been a trend that we saw right at the get-go when the haphazardly really issued blanket resignations to all sorts of probationary workers who had been working in less than a year or two within these agencies. After doing so, they either A, found out that they had done too many in certain places or didn't realize some of the folks they were firing, and that continues to be something that we're seeing now. And I think without Musk's presence, top Doge, you're going to see, I think a lot more of these cabinet secretaries feel like they're maybe more empowered to staff the departments to the degree they want to. Yes, Doge is still around, but I think you have a lot less of that pressure, so it'll be curious to see whether the federal government ends up getting a little bit. Taylor Wilson: All right, Joey Garrison is a White House correspondent with USA TODAY. Thanks as always, Joey. Joey Garrison: Yeah, thanks, Taylor. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel earlier today, a day after the Israeli Navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Israeli forces boarded the charity vessel as it neared Gaza early yesterday, trying to break through Israel's longstanding naval blockade. The activists have been carrying a small cargo of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula, and said they wanted to raise international awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel's foreign ministry said that the tiny amount of aid on the boat that was, as they put it, "not consumed by the celebrities," will be transferred to Gaza through, quote, "real humanitarian channels." Israel has imposed a naval blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control of the enclave in 2007. Israel says it aims to stop weapons from reaching Hamas. In March, Israel imposed a total blockade of all supplies reaching Gaza, which the UN says has pushed the population to the brink of famine. In recent weeks, Israel has allowed limited food supplies to be distributed by a new Israeli-backed group. ♦ Sly Stone, a one-time San Francisco DJ turned pop and funk music innovator, has died. Stone went on to see chart-topping success in the '60s and '70s, though he was later plagued by homelessness and health issues. He also went through financial problems amid management disputes, at one point, winning a five-million-dollar judgment for unpaid royalties that was later overturned. Reports at one stage of his life indicated he was living in a van in Los Angeles. And yet, he and his trendsetting, multiracial, multi-gendered Bay Area band, the Family Stone never stopped being a touchstone for generations of musicians. You can read more about Sly's life and legacy with a link in today's show notes. Sly Stone was 82. ♦ Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And as always, you can find us at podcasts@ if you want to shoot us an email, I'm Taylor Wilson, I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
USA Today
27-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
ICE agents deploy new tactic
ICE agents deploy new tactic | The Excerpt On Saturday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes discusses a new tactic from ICE - arresting people as they leave mandatory court hearings. President Donald Trump Friday threatened steep tariffs on European Union goods and targeted iPhones. A judge has halted a Trump administration action barring Harvard from enrolling foreign students. Trump also ordered changes to nuclear power regulations. Listen to our special episode on nuclear power here. Sunday marks five years since the murder of George Floyd. His legacy is under siege as racial justice efforts lose ground. IndyStar Motor Sports Reporter Nathan Brown talks about a cheating scandal ahead of Sunday's Indianapolis 500 car race. Here's a schedule and how to watch. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@ Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Saturday, May 24th, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today we take a closer look at a new tactic being used by ICE, plus Trump aims to overhaul regulation surrounding nuclear power, and we talk about a cheating scandal ahead of tomorrow's Indianapolis 500. ICE is now targeting people as they leave certain mandatory immigration court hearings. I spoke with USA TODAY national correspondent Trevor Hughes about the new tactic. Hiya, Trevor. Trevor Hughes: Hey, good to be here. Taylor Wilson: Good to have you as always. So just starting with the basics, what is ICE doing here? Tell us about really this new tactic showing up outside courthouses. Trevor Hughes: It's a little complicated to explain, but at the end of the day, it's really about scheduling more people for deportation quicker. There are many, many people who entered the country under Joe Biden's administration and they are following the process that existed under Biden. What the Trump administration has figured out is if they cancel that process, they can then schedule people immediately for deportation. So that's what's happening here. If someone has entered the country within the past two years using the CBP1 app, which allowed you to schedule an asylum claim, etc., etc., the Trump administration has basically decided that they will drop the prosecution of those cases and then that allows them to deport you immediately. Under normal circumstances, if you have a pending immigration case, you cannot be deported. Taylor Wilson: So Trevor, I mean just functionally, is this a case of migrants getting this decision from inside the courthouse, walking outside, and then ICE agents are awaiting them for detention right outside the courthouse? Trevor Hughes: Yes, that's exactly what's happening. There have actually been some confrontations in Arizona and a couple other places now where advocates or family members of these folks who are being taken into custody are actually pushing back or really getting a little bit aggressive with these ICE agents because they feel like this is a very unfair change that the Trump administration has made. Taylor Wilson: Well, some advocacy groups are suing to stop the process, Trevor. What's the latest there and what do many advocates argue as it pertains to the Constitution on this issue? Trevor Hughes: This is one of those situations where the Trump administration is sort of forging ahead despite a number of different court challenges on a bunch of different fronts. Advocates would argue that if you followed the rules that existed at the time, you shouldn't be punished because there's a new president who is changing those rules. Now, of course, the president has said it's practically impossible to hold hearings for more than a million people, two million people, three million people, and that there's no way that our court systems or the immigration court systems even could handle this. And so that's why they're moving to this expedited system. Taylor Wilson: Of course, this is really just part of a string of new tactics from the Trump administration. What else might be coming? What are you keeping an eye on in the coming weeks and months Trevor? Trevor Hughes: I mean, again, it's really important to remember the president ran on this platform. He's executing what he said he would do, and that we talked to hundreds of thousands of voters over the course of the who said this was the kind of thing they wanted to see. They wanted to see aggressive immigration enforcement. And I'll tell you the emails I've been getting from folks, people in this country, many of them are very happy with what's happening. I think you're going to continue to see the Trump administration really scaling up. They've set a goal of deporting a million people a year, which is a huge increase from existing practice. And as part of that, the congressional legislation that's being considered right now for the budget would include funding for 100,000 detention beds. Taylor Wilson: Trevor Hughes is a national correspondent with USA TODAY. Thanks as always, Trevor. Trevor Hughes: You bet. ♦ Taylor Wilson: President Donald Trump reignited trade tensions to end the week with back-to-back social media posts targeting Apple and the European Union. In a morning message on his platform Truth Social, Trump warned Apple CEO Tim Cook of a new 25% import tax if his company's trademark iPhones are not made in the United States. A half hour later, Trump wrote that he was recommending a 50% tariff on the European Union starting June 1st. The comments sent global markets into another round of turmoil after weeks of de-escalation had brought some relief from market chaos. Trump's warning to Apple came as the company is planning to shift production of iPhones sold in the U.S. from China to India by the end of 2026, Trump said he long ago informed Cook he expected these iPhones to be built in the U.S. Meanwhile, Trump said his administration's talks with the EU are going nowhere, and he said the tariffs on EU imports will go into effect if European companies don't relocate manufacturing bases to the U.S. That demand seemed improbable to be met with the June 1st date just over a week away. ♦ Hours after Harvard University sued the Trump administration for revoking its ability to enroll international students, a federal judge temporarily barred the Department of Homeland Security from allowing the change to take effect. U.S. District Judge Alison Burroughs, a Barack Obama appointee, granted the Ivy League School's request for a temporary restraining order yesterday. She wrote that the administration's new policy would bring immediate and irreparable injury to Harvard's campus. The ban took effect immediately and will remain in place until the judge decides whether to issue a broader pause while the two sides battle in court. A hearing to consider a preliminary injunction is set for next week. ♦ President Trump signed a series of executive orders yesterday intended to overhaul the regulation of commercial nuclear reactors and speed the process of building and deploying nuclear power. The move involves a long held Republican goal of deregulating nuclear power. According to a senior White House official, the four executive orders aim to expedite reactor research and development, streamline regulations to allow the Pentagon and other agencies to build reactors on federally owned land, they also changed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and set new timelines for its consideration of construction permits and expand domestic uranium and enrichment capabilities. The NRC has overseen commercial nuclear reactors since its creation in 1975. The U.S. has only two operational commercial reactors whose construction was approved since 1978. For a conversation on nuclear power and whether it's the solution, check out our special episode. There's a link in today's Show Notes. ♦ Tomorrow marks five years since the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The murder sparked a massive outpouring of grief and anger as protesters took to the streets with signs echoing some of his last words, "I can't breathe." Artists across the country adorned their cities with his image and the intersection where Floyd took his last breaths was transformed from a gas station and corner store into a living memorial. But the future of the square has been a subject of heated debate and across the nation, other memorials honoring Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement have been removed, vandalized, or fallen into disrepair. As symbols of Floyd's Place in history have faded, so to have hopes for federal police reform, commitments to DEI, and American optimism about the future of racial justice. You can read more on that ahead of tomorrow's anniversary with a link in today's show description. ♦ With Indianapolis 500 car race set for tomorrow, a cheating scandal has hit IndyCar. I spoke with Indianapolis Star Motor Sports reporter Nathan Brown for more on that and a look ahead to tomorrow's big race. Nathan, thanks for being on the show. Nathan Brown: Thanks for having me. Taylor Wilson: So starting with this, I mean what happened with this cheating scandal? Give us some basics here. Nathan Brown: Well, take us back to Sunday afternoon for the second day of Indy 500 qualifying here at IMS and two of the three cars for Team Penske, the cars of Josef Newgarden and Will Power, Josef being the driver who's won this race each of the last two years, were found to have had an illegally modified safety device on the back of their cars. That's probably the simplest way to put it. Every car before they go through each step in the qualifying process has their car go through tech inspection to make sure all of the competitive pieces on the car are within the legal limits and everything else on the car is safe and properly put together. These two pieces on the back of the cars called the Attenuator, it's essentially a piece that sticks out the lower portion of the back of the car that's used to help lessen the blow that ultimately gets to the drivers in the instance of a crash or some sort of a rearward impact, had been modified to basically just have two pieces that were sitting right next to each other have a seam in between them filled in, smoothed over, and ultimately that stood out to the tech inspectors on the IndyCar side. They were reminded that this was a part that is not supposed to be modified according to the rule book, and ultimately they were not allowed to make their runs on Sunday. Taylor Wilson: Okay. So Nathan, for those of us outside the motorsports community, just help us understand how big a deal this is and how this is landing with the motorsports world. Nathan Brown: There are two main aspects to this. One from a competition standpoint, Josef Newgarden has won this race each of the last two years. No one in the previous 108 runnings of the Indy 500 has ever won this race three times in a row, so Josef was coming into this year attempting to do something no one has ever done in what is considered the biggest race in the world, and he's had an incredibly fast car. No one has also ever won this race farther back than 28th place, and the last time that that happened was in 1936. The other big part to come out of this is the idea that there could be changes to the way in which the sport is governed in the future. I'd reported back last month in April that IndyCar had been considering and having talks about the creation of a third-party officiating body that would official the races, so that's hand-out penalties, make sure everything is up to snuff when cars are on track, as well as an independent crew that would manage and lead that tech inspection process. There are some concerns out there because it appears this modification with this car was missed for more than a year. It's just not something that IndyCar says it has checked all that often. This is something that had been apparently illegally on the cars since before last year's IndyCar 500 that Josef won, and so there has been a massive calling from folks throughout the paddock a lot more publicly than we've really ever seen that IndyCar needs an independent group to make sure that there are no conflicts of interest within the sport. No one has ever accused Roger Penske of exercising any sort of influence on the way this sport is officiated or in any attempt to give any special treatment to Team Penske. But it's just really the optics of this whole situation that continue to be a problem whenever his team or his drivers are in the news on the wrong side of things. And because this team is very successful, they're always fighting for race wins and championships, and it's just become something that's been a little bit too hard to ignore and something that I think we will see change here potentially in the next six months to a year. Taylor Wilson: Well, it's clear to me, Nathan, this cheating scandal will hang over the race this weekend at least a little bit. But what are some other storylines you're looking out for Sunday? And just help our listeners, Nathan, understand how big the Indy 500 is in motorsports. Nathan Brown: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will play host to roughly 350,000 people on Sunday. If you took stock of other cities throughout the state, this racetrack alone would be the second largest city in the state of Indiana. This is the first time that this race has sold out its grandstands since 2016. We've got lots of drivers, big names in this sport, hoping to go for their first ever Indy 500. You've got your two-time defending series champion Alex Palou, Championship contenders for years and years [inaudible 00:12:08] and Colton Herda, you've got that history that Josef Newgarden is going for. It's always a really crazy day here at the track. This race is the largest single-day sporting event in the world, and it's something really special, not only to watch on TV, but to experience in person. Taylor Wilson: All right, Nathan Brown covers motorsports for the Indianapolis Star part of the USA TODAY Network. Thank you, Nathan. Nathan Brown: Thank you. Taylor Wilson: You can tune into the Indy 500 tomorrow afternoon around 12:45 Eastern Time on Fox, and you can follow along with USA TODAY Sports and the Indy Star. ♦ What does it take to become a Pulitzer Prize winning humorist? Have a thick skin and don't take anything too seriously. Dave Barry: One of the things you learn if you write in any kind of column, but especially a humor column, is no matter what you write, somebody's going to be really angry at you and want you fired. There was a certain percentage of my readers, I called them the humor impaired, who never figured out that I was kidding. Taylor Wilson: Humor columnist Dave Barry is out with a memoir that chronicles his childhood through adulthood and finds the funny and even the darkest places. Hear his conversation with my colleague Dana Taylor tomorrow morning right here on this feed. ♦ And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. If you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, I'll be back Monday for Memorial Day right here on The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
USA Today
07-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Supreme Court allows ban on transgender troops to take effect
Supreme Court allows ban on transgender troops to take effect | The Excerpt On Wednesday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: There was some mixed news out of the courts Tuesday for President Donald Trump. The Supreme Court allowed his ban on transgender troops to take effect. Plus, a judge blocked him from shuttering an agency that funds museums and libraries. USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes tells us about a women's group that quilts for democracy. The Trump administration continues to suggest the Federal Emergency Management Agency could go away. USA TODAY Senior Reporter Jessica Guynn talks about the waning support from brands ahead of Pride Month. The REAL ID deadline is here. A papal conclave begins. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@ Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, May 7th, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, Trump gets some mixed news from the courts, plus we talk about quilting for democracy, and we're seeing waning support from national brands ahead of Pride Month in June. ♦ While there was some good news and bad news from the courts yesterday for President Donald Trump, in a win for him, the Supreme Court will allow his ban on transgender people serving in the military to take effect while court challenges continue. The court's three liberal members said they would've rejected the request, and the justices who backed the decision did not identify themselves or provide an explanation. Something typical for action the court takes on emergency appeals. White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt said the decision is a massive victory, and lawyers for the transgender service members challenging the ban called it a devastating blow. Meanwhile, a federal judge yesterday blocked the Trump administration from firing workers and taking other steps to shut down federal agencies that fund museums and libraries, mediate labor disputes and support minority-owned businesses. Trump's executive order targeting the agencies was part of his broader effort to cut the federal government's size and slash spending. Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, placed on leave or accepted buyouts. ♦ American women have long used quilts to send messages to lawmakers, and that's true in this political moment as well. I spoke with USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes about quilting for democracy. Hiya, Trevor. Trevor Hughes: Hey, good to be here. Taylor Wilson: Always good to have you. So just starting here, who are these quilters and I guess how did they get started? Trevor Hughes: This is a group of folks who feel like the political process in America has just gotten ugly and rude and dismissive and unpleasant, and they reject that. And so this is a group that was organized by Mormon Women for Ethical Government and Jewish Women and for Democracy, and their approach is, "Hey, can we listen to our better angels? Instead of being jerks, can we be nice to each other?" It's part of a broader efforts that, in fact, comes out of Utah, but is trying to spread across the country. Taylor Wilson: Is there anything tangible, I guess, they aim for with these projects? What's the end goal? Trevor Hughes: There are a number of efforts going on around the country right now, and I actually wrote about this last year during the election. It's this idea that we should be able to disagree better. That we are in a place in this country where people who disagree about the correct rate of taxation or how educational systems should be run, that we should be able to talk about those things instead of screaming at each other and assuming that every person on the other side of politics is just a horrendous, terrible, awful, no good, very bad person. Taylor Wilson: I know you spoke with a few folks for this piece. What did you hear from them specifically, Trevor, about really just what they get out of all this? Trevor Hughes: A lot of frustration. That's what I got. There are a lot of folks in this country who feel like our political system only listens to the loudest voices. But the reality is, when it comes to the voting box, every vote counts as much as the others. It's not just the loudest voice. And so this group of folks is really trying to tap into that sentiment. Folks who are disengaged from politics, frustrated by politics, frustrated by the tenor and the tone and the language that we use, and trying to say, "Hey, can we do things a little differently?" And so quilting is how they're approaching it. Taylor Wilson: Well, and I know there's some history around using quilting as a form of activism in the US. What can you tell us about that? Trevor Hughes: Right. I mean, quilting is as old as this country. Women in this country have quilted on behalf of enslaved people, the abolition movement. They quilted on behalf of themselves, the suffragettes who were trying to get the women's suffrage to vote themselves. And then more recently, who had the AIDS quilt and the trans quilt. I mean, quilting has a long history of political activism in this country, again, because it is done by small numbers of people, individuals who come together to build something bigger. Taylor Wilson: Great story, and folks can go find some images as well with a link in today's show notes. Trevor Hughes is a national correspondent with USA TODAY. Thanks Trevor. Trevor Hughes: You bet. ♦ Taylor Wilson: The Trump administration continues to suggest the Federal Emergency Management Agency could be coming to an end. Trump discussed eliminating FEMA in the wake of recent natural disasters in California and North Carolina, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers during a hearing yesterday that the President believes the Federal Disaster Relief Agency has failed. The top Democrat on the Appropriations committee, representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut questioned Trump's plan for the embattled agency after his budget proposed to cut $644 million in FEMA grants. She said federal disaster relief should be readily available across the United States, regardless of where you live. ♦ National brands used to celebrate pride month, then came the DEI backlash. I spoke with USA TODAY Senior Reporter Jessica Guynn for more. Hello, Jessica. Jessica Guynn: Hi, Taylor. Taylor Wilson: What have we previously seen really from companies supporting the nation's LGBTQ+ population? Jessica Guynn: Well, corporations have a long track record of supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and people. That wasn't always the case. For a long time they were indifferent or even hostile to the struggle for gay rights. But through activism from that community, national brands started to step up. They promoted LGBTQ+ equality internally with inclusive policies, and they publicly supported causes such as same-sex marriage. In recent years, we've really seen the rise of rainbow capitalism as a major market force. Taylor Wilson: Well, companies now appear to be downplaying Pride marketing as we speak here. What just weeks before Pride Month, Jessica, what are we seeing in this moment? Jessica Guynn: For years now, corporations have been loud and proud in celebrating Pride from special collections in stores, to marketing promotions. But last year with Target and Bud Light under fire from anti-trans activists, they got quieter. This year we're seeing corporations pulling support for Pride parades, shrinking marketing budgets, and associating their brands much less with Pride Month overall. According to Gravity Research about two in five corporations are decreasing their recognition of Pride. Taylor Wilson: In terms of why brands are doing this, Jessica, what really is the attention they're trying to avoid, and how does this current Trump era we're in factor in here? Jessica Guynn: Well, a couple of things have changed since last year, and they're significant. First anti-DEI activist, Robbie Starbuck has exacted concessions from corporations, and many of them are around Pride parades, celebrations, and other LGBTQ+ issues. Secondly, the second Trump administration, as you mentioned, has moved aggressively to crack down on DEI, and part of that crackdown involves transgender rights, which is even more of a culture war flashpoint than it was last year. Taylor Wilson: LGBTQ+ people represent strong purchasing power. How so, Jessica, and are companies willing to sacrifice some of that? Jessica Guynn: $1.4 trillion in annual purchasing power is the estimate for what those customers are collectively worth. At the same time that customer base is growing, almost one in 10 adults in the United States identifies as LGBTQ+, and that's double the share since 2017. At the same time, those numbers are the fastest growing among young people. Nearly one quarter of adults in Gen Z identify that way. Taylor Wilson: Certain corporations are actually increasing their support or leaning in, despite the current climate here ahead of Pride Month. Can you talk through some of those? Jessica Guynn: Well, traditionally Pride Month has been the occasion for brands to run major promotions to signal their support for LGBTQ+ people and win some of those dollars. Marketers who specialize in this demographic say those corporations that do show up for customers during Pride Month this year, despite the risks to their businesses, will be rewarded. Taylor Wilson: Consumers have a choice where to bring their business. How are some brand boycotts shaking out Jessica, as some choose companies that do emphasize Pride marketing and initiatives? Jessica Guynn: Well, unlike the DEI boycotts of Amazon and Target, we have not yet seen dedicated boycotts around pride from LGBTQ+ customers. But these customers told us they are starting to vote with their feet and their wallets. Of course, shoppers with anti-DEI views are doing the same. So in a nation polarized as ours is, marketers say corporations are wedged really between the proverbial rock and a hard place with no relief in sight. Taylor Wilson: Another great piece from you, Jessica. We have a link to the full version in today's show notes. Jessica Guynn is a senior reporter with USA TODAY. Thank you Jessica. Jessica Guynn: Thank you, Taylor. ♦ Taylor Wilson: After years of delays and deadline extensions, the real ID requirement officially takes effect today for real. Travelers flying within the United States will now need a real ID-compliant driver's license or an approved alternative like a passport to get through airport security. ♦ A conclave begins today in Vatican City. Roman Catholic Cardinals will gather to elect the next Pope following the death of Pope Francis last month. You can follow along throughout the week on ♦ Soft power in the United States has taken many forms over the decades, from entertainment to education, but perhaps nowhere has it been wielded more effectively than through journalism. That power took a big hit with a recent executive order signed by President Trump to dismantle the United States Agency for Global Media. Japhet Quitzon: Outlets like Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, have had a mission of giving unbiased, factual news, and especially now with all the noise on social media, it's crucial that we have a voice standing apart from this. Taylor Wilson: That's Japhet Quitzon from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He warns that losing the USAGM could have dire consequences for people living in countries that don't have a free press. My colleague Dana Taylor, sat down with Japhet to explore why Americans should care about losing these outlets. You can hear that conversation today, beginning at four P.M. Eastern Time, right here on this feed. ♦ Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. As always, you can write us at podcasts@ I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
USA Today
01-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
With 100 days now in the books, how are Americans feeling?
With 100 days now in the books, how are Americans feeling? | The Excerpt On a special episode (first released on April 30, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: As of today, President Donald Trump has been in office for 100 days. In that short span of time, he has transformed American government. From public health to the economy, immigration to education, the second Trump Administration has affected changes that are singular in their scope and the speed at which they were made. While some Americans are pleased with Trump's policies and executive orders, they've also thrust many Americans into uncertainty, anxiety and in some cases, detention. Listeners and viewers of The Excerpt should be very familiar with what Trump's done in the past 100 days because The Excerpt has been breathlessly covering every executive order, every firing, every cut. But what's been the impact to ordinary Americans? How are they feeling at Day 100? USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes joins The Excerpt to share reporting from across the network on how Americans are feeling. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Jennifer Miller: Eggs used to be under $3. Now the cheapest I've found them is six. Brenda Wilson: I just want to give some of the benefit of the doubt and more time to see where everything goes. Larry Mays: Unadulterated non-stop chaos is not an environment in which a small business can be successful. Jennifer Miller: I don't see how the tariffs' costs are going to not trickle down to consumers. Russell Johnson: I agree with President Trump's immigration policies and actions. Yes, I do. Andre Lewis: I really do wish you would get rid of all the criminals. I'm all for it. Dana Taylor: Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, April 30th, 2025. As of today, President Donald Trump has been in office for 100 days. In that short span of time, he's transformed American government, from public health to the economy, national security to education. The second Trump administration has affected changes that are singular in their scope and the speed at which they're made. While some Americans are pleased with Trump's policies and executive orders, they've also thrust many Americans into uncertainty, anxiety, and in some cases, detention. Our loyal listeners and viewers should be very familiar with what Trump's done in the past 100 days, because The Excerpt has been breathlessly covering every executive order, every firing, every cut. But what's been the impact to ordinary Americans? How are they feeling at day 100? Joining us to delve deeper into this is USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes. Thanks for joining me, Trevor. Trevor Hughes: You bet. Glad to be here. Dana Taylor: You spoke to several people across the nation about their impressions of Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. One of those individuals was Tracy Dixon. What's her story? Trevor Hughes: Tracy lives in Independence, Missouri with her wife. She's a certified nursing assistant. And she says that life has never been harder than it is today. Gas prices are still high, although they've come down a little bit. Food costs are still high, although they aren't rising quite as much as they were. And wages are not going up in a way that allows people to afford those things. And so she, like millions of us, are really feeling that pinch. She did not vote for President Trump. She felt like she couldn't get time off of work during the election to do that. But she was hopeful that he would bring a significant economic change to the country, especially rapidly as he had promised. Dana Taylor: Is her experience similar to others you spoke to? Trevor Hughes: Yeah. We've heard this from around the country. My colleagues and I have been doing interviews with hundreds and hundreds of Americans. We did this before the election and we're doing it now. And one of the things we're finding is that a lot of folks who really wanted to see President Trump swept into office, because he had what they believed was a better economic plan, they're still waiting to see it. Again, gas prices are down a little bit. Food costs haven't risen as much, but folks are really feeling the pinch. You see that in the increase in credit card debt. You see that in the increase in auto loan delinquencies. I mean, people are really, really feeling the pinch still. Dana Taylor: Trevor, how is Trump's second term impacting Americans differently than his first? Trevor Hughes: I covered President Trump's first term. And when you look back on it, he was still kind of a more traditional president in a traditional role. He had ideas about what he wanted to accomplish, but he tried to work through Congress. He tried to work through legislation. What we've seen in the second term is that they have come out of the gate far, far faster. They had a better plan and how to do this, and they understood the power of the executive. Now, the presidency is very powerful, especially when you think about how slow moving Congress can be and how remote the judiciary can be. And so, President Trump has really taken advantage of his ability to issue these executive orders and tell the government what to do. And that has allowed him to reshape the country very, very rapidly. Of course, a lot of courts have struck down some of those executive orders, but the lesson stands, the president has come out really with a very muscular approach to the presidency. Dana Taylor: Let's dig in deeper, starting with the economy. Donald Trump promised to change the economy, improve inflation, and bring down prices. So far that hasn't happened. The latest polling shows that six out of 10 Americans disapprove of the tariffs he's imposed. What's the general mood among Americans about the economy right now? Trevor Hughes: Well, I'll tell you, talking to folks who did not support the president for the White House, those folks are saying, "Well, we told you so." A lot of folks saying, "How could it be that Vice President Harris had economic plans that were endorsed by economists, that were widely supported by leading banks, and then you have President Trump come into office? And what he's done is not that. But he's done exactly what he said he would do. And so, a lot of his supporters, a lot of his very strongest supporters, they honestly don't care in the short term. They're telling me, and I heard from quite a lot of them over the weekend, that it's worth this pain to reshape the government, to reshape how we work as a society. And they're willing to accept that short-term pain. But again, there's a lot of folks who did not vote for the president who are saying, "We told you so and look where we're at." Dana Taylor: Tariffs were a key talking point for Trump on the campaign trail. And while he delivered on that front, the ping-ponging, as you write, has sent the market into turmoil. How did tariffs directly impacted Americans so far? Trevor Hughes: Well, I'll tell you, my wife works for a big American furniture manufacturer. I mean, they make furniture here in this country. And every day, I hear her on calls talking with her bosses, talking with her customers. What impact do the tariffs have? What are they going to have? How are we going to adapt? Do we pass these costs on to consumers? I think the honest truth is we have not really yet seen the full impact of the actual tariffs. We've seen the fear of the tariffs reflected in pricing and uncertainty, but I think Americans may discover shortly that things are going to get a lot more expensive. Dana Taylor: We've talked a lot on the show about DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk. Just recently, Musk said he would step back from spending time with the Trump administration. This comes after profits for his car company, Tesla, plummeted 71%. Elon Musk was appointed by Trump to address government bloat, which is something many Americans wanted, at least on paper. How do Americans feel about cuts to government budgets and jobs? Trevor Hughes: I think what we've been hearing from a lot of folks is this uncertainty has really rattled them. People are pulling back on their spending. People are canceling trips. People are not planning trips. When I talk to supporters of the president, again, they say the short-term pain, the short-term frustration is worth it. And frankly, the government was too big and it had its fingers in every little pie everywhere. And that wasn't really appropriate for a country like ours. But what I hear over and over again is, sure, no, I don't want my tax dollars wasted, but there's a difference between my tax dollars being wasted and my tax dollars no longer being able to support children getting free breakfast at schools anymore. I think it has also really shaken the faith of a lot of Americans who didn't realize that one president could make this kind of change this rapidly. Again, the courts have overturned a lot of the president's decisions or a lot of his efforts, but what we've seen is he's injected a lot of uncertainty. And I think that has shaken a lot of Americans, and how they saw the government, and thought it was consistent, and stable and predictable. And businesses find that very difficult to work in that environment. Dana Taylor: Let's shift from economics to education, where there've been many, many changes. In fact, shortly after taking office, Trump said he wanted Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "put herself out of a job." What have you heard from students and families on this front? Trevor Hughes: Again, a lot of uncertainty, because the president has issued these executive orders. The president has declared things to be, and then courts have stopped that. I have friends whose kids are on what are known as individualized educational plans. These are kids who need extra support in schools. And they are particularly worried because a lot of that kind of money comes from the federal government. There's this sense that we are not really sure what's happening. And that lack of certainty seems to have really frustrated a lot of folks. There are many, many Americans who are happy to see efforts that DEI rolled back to sort of get woke ideology, as they say, out of schools, but it's how much that will affect individual students' educations. And I think parents are a little concerned about that. Dana Taylor: Immigration has been on Trump's agenda since his first term when he promised to build a wall between the US and Mexico. This time around, he's empowered ICE agents to round up and deport just about anyone who fits a particular profile, US legal status notwithstanding. We've heard a lot about the Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. What have the Americans you spoke with said about Trump's actions on immigration? Trevor Hughes: I interviewed a young man who lives on Cape Cod, and he is happy that gas prices are down. He's happy that he's got a job that pays a little more than it was paying before. It means he's quit his second job, but he saw a friend of his deported. Cape Cod has a lot of Brazilians, because they have a strong Portuguese fishing heritage there. And this young man that I interviewed, he said, "I think there should've been a better process for weeding out the good people from the bad people. But overall, this is what it takes to get our country back." I've talked to a lot of people who are very happy to see what the president is doing to remove folks who are living in this country without permission. There is a lot of anger still about how Biden administered the border. On the flip side, we've seen a lot of folks in this country who are very, very worried about seeing their friends and their neighbors and their coworkers, their loved ones being deported, being removed, being detained. My colleague, Lauren, had a fascinating interview a few months ago with a woman who was picked up because she had overstayed her visa during COVID. Her husband was a Trump voter and the story of that, because her husband was saying, "I support stricter enforcement, but my wife? That doesn't make sense." Dana Taylor: Trump has pushed out over 120 executive orders since he took office. And I think, fair to say, expanded on executive power. What does the general public say about that? Trevor Hughes: President Trump has a very muscular approach to the presidency. I mean, he is operating like the businessman, CEO, he said he would. This is a man who's accustomed to being in charge of things and just telling people to do it. It's been interesting because the United States government isn't really set up to work that way. The presidency, and Congress, and the judiciary are three separate and equal branches of government. And so, there are plenty of Americans that we've talked to who have a lot of concerns about not necessarily what the President is doing, but that Congress hasn't stepped in to say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're the ones who decide how money gets spent. We're the ones who fund everything." And this criticism from the Trump administration over the judiciary. The Trump administration often criticizes the judiciary for being these left wing radical judges. And there are a lot of Americans that I've talked to who are very uncomfortable with this idea of attacking judges because you don't like the ruling that they have made. And I think that has raised a lot of concerns. We've seen this concern about a possible constitutional crisis if the Trump administration is ordered to do something by perhaps the Supreme Court and they refuse to do it. Dana Taylor: A recent Pew poll asked people to describe what they liked most about the new administration's actions. 30% of those surveyed replied nothing. What did Trump supporters tell you they liked about Trump's impact since taking office? Trevor Hughes: I mean, the folks I've talked to are happy because they say he's doing everything he said he would do. Those of us who covered the campaign, I pay attention to this every single day. It's my job. The president hasn't done anything that has taken me by surprise. I think there are a lot of Americans who are really shocked at how far he has taken some of these things, but he promised to do these things. He said, "I will cut the size of government. I will drain the swamp. I will close the border. I will really go after immigration. I will go after woke ideology and DEI." I mean, these are things that he has said he would do, and he is doing them. A lot of Americans I've talked to are alarmed that we have moved so far, so fast. And there's a lot of this, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, can we talk about this a little bit? But the Republicans that I've talked to that support the president, they say, "Elections have consequences. We won the election, and this is what we get." Dana Taylor: It's always good to hear your insights. Trevor, thank you for being on The Excerpt. Trevor Hughes: Absolutely. Dana Taylor: Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaylee Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer's Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcast@ Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor, Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
