Transcript

7.10.25 · Washington Post

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to today's reading of the Washington Post for Thursday,
0:05
July tenth of twenty twenty five. You reader Rizal Stainer,
0:12
with the understanding that radiois a service for those glind
0:15
or having difficulty reading and holding printed material. And I'll
0:20
start with the front page of Today's Washington Post to
0:24
the far left. In Texas, locating the missing becomes an
0:30
unceasing task. At least one hundred and seventy three people
0:36
are unaccounted for after catastrophic flooding by Joshua Partlow Rady,
0:43
Dennis Tom Craig, and Marie Ross Shinerman. And below that
0:51
is another part of the article Days after the River
0:55
ran over, A father's search is now for closure arles A. R.
1:02
Speaker 2: Hernandez.
1:04
Speaker 1: Dividing the front page articles are three pictures, one of
1:09
a river boat on the water passing the debris with
1:16
people on it searching. The second below it is of
1:20
people on the ground searching areas looking through the debris,
1:26
and the very bottom picture is of a back home
1:32
pulling up debris and sorting through it, and the article
1:40
says it's from the top members of the Texas Equus
1:44
search is the Guadalupe River in Texas on Monday, and
1:50
then the names of the two people clombing the river bank,
1:55
and then a cleanup crew clearing the debris to the
1:59
right of that, and on the far right of the
2:02
front page, Trump extends tariff's deadline. August first is new
2:08
goal for trade deals, reignites the accusation he chickens out
2:14
on policies back cat Zarazuski, and below that article we
2:22
are toast Feds grace for more layoffs after ruling Hannah
2:28
Nathanson and Meryl Kornsfield, and then below the article on
2:35
Texas relevations about decades of adoption fraud in South Korea
2:43
impel a dizzying quest for the truth by Kelly Cansul's Choe,
2:50
and then to the right of that, below the picture
2:56
of cleaning up the debris. Right Rebolt in the West
3:02
dooms GOP proposal to sell off public lands by Karen Brulliard.
3:13
I'll start with Trump combats taco reputation as White House
3:19
extends tariff deadline, as Wall Street traders repeated the accusations
3:25
that Trump always chickens out. The president falsely insisted that
3:31
he did not delay a deadline to collect tariffs by
3:37
cat Zarkazuski, and there's a big sheet sign in front
3:44
of the White House on a fence with cluck cluck Taco.
3:51
One cluck is in red, the other cluck is in
3:55
kind of an orange yellow, and taco is in big
3:59
big letters in yellow and outlined with black cluck cluck Coco.
4:07
After President Donald Trump paused his Liberation Day tariffs in April,
4:13
his traded by Zapete Navarro promise that the administration would
4:19
deliver ninety deals in ninety days, but that deadline came
4:25
and went Wednesday, with the White House eighty eight trade
4:29
deals short. Trump has now given his administration one hundred
4:34
and thirteen days to implement a worldwide tariff plan that
4:38
he says will reverse decades of globalization and usher in
4:43
a new era of domestic manufacturing. But CEO's investors and
4:49
foreign leaders appear skeptical that Trump will stick to that
4:52
August first deadline. After watching him punt the issue again
4:57
and Againisode has reanimated the taco debate, the Wall Street
5:04
accusation that Trump always chickens out t Trump a always
5:13
c chickens out out Thaco. The term coined about Financial
5:22
Times columnist Robert Armstrong describes a prevailing view in the
5:27
financial sector that the president talks tough about tariffs then
5:32
ultimately backs down. Trump has made it clear he doesn't
5:37
like the acronym. He falsely claimed that the deadline for
5:40
tariff's payment has always been August first, after signing an
5:46
executive at a Monday that extended the deadline from July ninth.
5:51
I didn't make a change, a terification, maybe, Trump said
5:56
during a wide ranging cabinet meeting.
6:00
Speaker 2: August first, they pay.
6:02
Speaker 1: Yet his repeated slow walk around actual implementation seems to
6:07
reflect his understanding of the political and economic peril of
6:11
his tariff strategy, which could impose steep levees on imports
6:16
from dozens of countries and which economists have warned could
6:20
send the planet tumbling into a recession. The action on
6:25
Wall Street on Tuesday layed bare the stakes. The deadline
6:29
delay was initially positive for Wall Street, but stocks began
6:33
to slide as Trump said there would be no extensions
6:36
on the tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial average stopped one
6:40
hundred and sixty six points, or zero point three seven percent.
6:45
The Standard and Poor five hundred fell zero point seven percent,
6:50
while the NASDAK Composite index closed up zero point three percent.
6:57
Trump has justified the new import tax was saying they
7:00
would correct years of US trade deficits, but he has
7:04
also used them for other purposes. On Wednesday, for example,
7:09
he sent a letter to Brazil saying the country would
7:13
face tariffs of fifty percent, a steep increase from the
7:17
ten percent tariffs he had announced in March. Trump cited
7:22
the countries sets as ship orders to the US social
7:26
media platforms after Brazil's Supreme Court in June ordered that
7:31
tech giants monitor and remove hate speech and other problematic
7:35
content from their platforms. Trump also objected to Brazil's effort
7:41
to prosecute former president Ayer Bolsonaro for allegedly plotting a coup.
7:49
In his letter, he called the prosecution at international disgrace.
7:56
Major retailers have warned that the tariffs will push higher
8:00
is higher, and other countries have threatened to retaliate with
8:04
levies of their own on imports from the US. Trump
8:08
initially backed off his most sweeping tariffs in April after
8:12
a sell off in the bond market prompted investors, corporate
8:16
leaders in even some Trump allies to warrant of an
8:20
economic recession. Trump has loved tariffs and hated global trade
8:27
for decades, arguing since at least the late nineteen eighties
8:32
that nations that abused the United States should pay a
8:37
large tax on products they sell. Within the US voters,
8:41
but his lifelong ambition to implement a nineteenth century style
8:45
trade policy is at odds within the American public that
8:49
is deeply skeptical of this zero sum view of the
8:53
global economy. Consumers are feeling hesitant and spending less despite
8:59
stock market at rallies, a steady inflation rate, and low
9:03
employment unemployment low unemployment. A Fox News survey in June
9:09
found that fifty seven percent of Americans think tariffs hirt
9:13
the economy, double the number of Americans who say the
9:17
levees health the economy. Inflation is among voters' top concerns,
9:23
as eighty four percent report that they are extremely very
9:27
concerned about higher prices. Trump and his top advisors claimed
9:32
that the pause would give the United States sweeping leveraged
9:36
to negotiate trade deals that would lower other countries trade
9:40
barias on US exports.
9:44
Speaker 2: A lot of times, it's not.
9:45
Speaker 1: A negotiation until it is, and that happens. Trump said,
9:51
but ninety days later, there are few signs that Trump's
9:54
are of the deal strategy has produced results. The administration
9:59
has an unstone only two deals with Vietnam and Britain.
10:03
The deals are short on details and significantly shorter than
10:07
typical trade accords, which are traditionally hundreds of pages long.
10:13
Trump said over the weekend that he preferred to send
10:15
countries letters dictating new tariff rates rather than striking deals.
10:21
He sent letters to fourteen countries on Monday detailing the
10:25
higher tariffs their goods will face, but the letters indicated
10:29
he would be open to further negotiation. On Wednesday, he
10:34
sent at least eight additional letters, including the one to Brazil.
10:39
The letter said that if the countries removed their tariffs
10:43
on US goods and other trade mareas, Trump would consider
10:48
an adjustment to the rates. If countries call up and
10:54
say we'd like to do something a different way, we're
10:57
going to be open to that. Trump told reporters at
11:01
the White House. WHITEHEU spokesman Kushta Sai said other countries
11:06
remain interested in negotiating. The administration continues to receive overwhelming
11:14
interests from other countries who are eager to reduce their
11:17
tariff in non monetary trade barriers to maintain access to
11:22
the American economy, Desai said in a statement, adding President Trump, however,
11:28
has been cleared the United States, the world's biggest and
11:33
best consumer market, holds the cards and leverage in negotiations
11:38
to unilaterally set deals with appropriate tariff rates for our
11:42
trading partners. Trump also said he will probably send a
11:48
trade letter to the European Union in the coming days,
11:51
remarking that he has been in touch with EU President
11:54
Ursula vonder Lean, who has been very nice us very
12:01
badly until recently. Now they're treating us very nicely. Like
12:05
a different world, actually, Trump said to reporters. During Tuesday's
12:10
cabinet meeting, Trump complained about the EU's treatment of our companies,
12:16
noting lawsuits against Apple and Google that have resulted in
12:20
American companies being ordered by European courts to pay billions
12:25
of dollars in funds. The tariff plans also continue to
12:30
face legal uncertainty. A federal judge struck down the tariffs
12:34
in May, saying that Trump had overstepped his legal authority,
12:39
but the US Courts of Appeals in June ruled that
12:41
the administration could continue to collect tariffs as the case proceeds,
12:46
and that it would hear arguments July thirty. First, US
12:51
trading partners don't necessarily see the new deadline as a
12:55
stabilizing development. This move actually extends the period of uncertainty,
13:02
undermining long term investment and business contracts, and creating further
13:08
uncertainty and instability. Pamela Coke Hamilton, executive director of the
13:14
International Trade Center, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday below
13:21
that article it was federal workers Trump will fire them
13:26
after court ruling.
13:28
Speaker 2: We are toast.
13:30
Speaker 1: Next steps aren't clear, but the White House says it
13:33
plans to resume mass government layoffs. By Hannah Nattinson and
13:41
Meryll Cornfield, some federal workers crowd Some shook their heads
13:47
and began updating their resumes. Others, including union leaders, vowed
13:53
to fight, determined to hang on to the government jobs
13:56
that many took because they wanted to serve the American public.
14:01
After the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump on Tuesday
14:05
to resume firing government workers, federal employees rushed to signal
14:10
group chats and anxious phone calls, trying to figure out
14:15
what it meant for them. The court lifted a lower
14:18
court order that had temporarily blocked the administration's plans to
14:22
lay off thousands of federal workers, including at the State
14:26
Department and any Social Security and the Social Security Administration.
14:33
Because the administration did not first consult with Congress, a
14:37
few details were immediately available. Litigation will continue as the
14:43
layoffs proceed at nineteen agencies. According to the ruling, which
14:48
drew dissent from one liberal justice, it marks the latest
14:52
upheaval in a chaotic half year of Trump driven downsizings
14:57
of federal departments, which spurred lawlawsuits and court ordered halts,
15:02
followed by still other court or counter orders resuming the
15:07
federal dismissals. The ruling may also usher in a new
15:12
phase of more professionalized layoffs, as opposed to the rapid
15:17
error field slashing undertaken in the early months of the
15:20
Trump administration by often very young members of the US
15:25
Doze Service, a cost cutting teams set up by billionaire
15:29
Elon Musk. Musk has since departed government, and Dolager's influence
15:35
has waned. After the public group's public image tanked, Many
15:40
of its signature efforts have backfired. For example, over long
15:44
wait times at a diminished Social Security administration and have
15:49
drawn lawsuits. Tuesday Supreme Court ruling, though, paves the way
15:54
for agencies themselves to carry a Trump's executive order requiring
16:00
government to plan and execute mass dismissals and restructuries. A
16:05
key force behind that orto was Russell Vault, the White
16:09
House budget director and an architect of the Project twenty
16:13
twenty five conservative policy blueprint. Bot's power has grown as
16:18
Musks dimmed. Bot told Congress last month that he intends
16:22
for Doze in its post Monk's phrase, to become far
16:27
more institutionalized within the government, helping carry out his and
16:33
the Trump administration's vision of reducing staff and spending. It
16:38
is unclear exactly how many federal employees Trump officials are
16:42
hoping to expel. The Court's decision unfreezes at least forty
16:47
dismissal actions under weigh at seventeen agencies, according to a
16:52
May Court filing from the administration. Officials have reversed courts
16:57
on some of those planned firing then, though most recently
17:02
dropping a proposal to cut up to fifteen percent of
17:05
Veterans Affairs staff at the Labor department staffing has already
17:10
gone down twenty percent, due in part to voluntarily to
17:16
voluntary baryouts and natural attrition. According to a spokesperson at
17:22
the Department of Housing an urban Development, less than a
17:25
quarter of staff left through buyouts, and a spokesman person
17:30
said the agency is on track to meedi it's optimization
17:35
goals regarding personnel and modernization.
17:39
Speaker 2: The ruling does not answer the.
17:42
Speaker 1: Underlying question of whether the mass firing is illegal, which
17:46
a lower court will still need to address, so while
17:49
the dismissals can go forward, the lawsuit will too. His plaintiffs,
17:54
a mix of labor unions, eleven nonprofit organizations, and six
17:59
les local governments in California, Texas, and Illinois, among other places,
18:05
are vowing to continue the court battle. Plaintiffs asked the
18:09
lower court Wednesday for speedy discovery on the agency's RF plans,
18:17
and the judge told the government's attorneys Wednesday night to
18:21
provide a list of expected rfs.
18:25
Speaker 2: By Monday afternoon.
18:28
Speaker 1: Nearly all of the agencies affected either didn't respond or
18:32
decline to respond to questions. Department of Homeland Security spokesman
18:37
Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the agency is
18:42
actively identifying other wasteful positions and officers that do not
18:48
fulfill DHS mission, specifically referencing the Federal Emergency Management Agency
18:56
under Secretary Christy L. Nome and Acting Administrator David Richardson.
19:03
FEMA is shifting from bloated d C centric dead weight
19:08
to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors
19:13
to provide relief for their citizens.
19:15
Speaker 2: McLachlin said.
19:18
Speaker 1: The decision william peril federal services nationwide, said Everett Kelly,
19:25
president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the nation's
19:30
largest federal union, which helped bring the suit, This isn't
19:36
just some d C legal tussle. It's a life altering
19:40
decision for tens of thousands of American families. Federal employees
19:46
across the country will sit at their dinner tables tonight
19:50
with their layoff notice next to a pile of bills,
19:54
knowing the Supreme Court's action just changed their lives forever,
19:58
and they're wondering what they're going to do next to
20:01
make Ann's meet, Kelly said. Trump officials at some agencies
20:08
rushed to claim victory in the hours after the ruling.
20:11
Vowing to pursue layoffs as soon as possible. Today's near
20:17
unanimous decision from the Supreme Court further confirms that the
20:21
law was on our side throughout this entire process. Ready, too,
20:26
the ex post from the State Department, which has varied
20:30
a fifteen percent staff reduction, we will continue to move
20:35
forward with our historic reorganization plan. The White House also
20:40
hailed the ruling as a triumph. It marks another definitive
20:45
victory for the President and his administration, White House spokesman
20:50
Harrison Theo said in a statement. It clearly rebukes the
20:55
continued assaults on the President's constitutionally authorized executive by the
21:00
leftiff's judges who are trying to prevent the President from
21:04
achieving government efficiency.
21:06
Speaker 2: Across the federal government.
21:09
Speaker 1: Unions were already circulating calls to fight back by Tuesday evening.
21:15
One American Federation of Government Employees email, quickly passed among
21:20
workers in private chats and obtained by The Washington Post,
21:24
urged them to document their firings and share the evidence
21:28
with union members. The message read in the subject line,
21:33
please state your name and officialf standing for Reduction in
21:39
force R Reduction in f for force notification One federal
21:46
worker sharing the email with friends, wrote, just in case
21:50
anyone getsf'd and wants to join a class action appeal.
21:58
And government employees across the nation and the globe went
22:01
to bed Tuesday and awoke Wednesday with one dominant thought.
22:05
Will I be fired today, tomorrow, this week?
22:10
Speaker 2: This is sense.
22:12
Speaker 1: It's finally coming, said the staffer at the Interior Department,
22:16
who liked more than two dozen of the federal workers
22:19
interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity
22:23
for fear of reprisal. In an odd way, the employee added,
22:27
it was almost a relief. We don't want to play
22:30
the waiting game, the limbo anymore. Of course, no one
22:35
wants to be araft, but the anxiety has been terrible.
22:40
Many employees have been waiting to learn their faith since February,
22:44
when Trump first ordered the firings in what he called
22:47
a needed measure to eliminate waste, bloat and insolerity. Mass
22:54
dismissals soon began across the government, but they were quickly
22:58
paused by a flurry of la lawsuits and court orders.
23:02
Some workers who had been laid off were invited back
23:05
to the office, while others were placed on paid leave
23:09
with an unclear end date. Late Tuesday, some learned they
23:13
were still to be spared for now after the New
23:17
York Attorney General's Office said the court's ruling would not
23:20
affect a preliminary injunction in a separate lawsuit that halted
23:24
mass determinations at some sub agencies within the Department of
23:29
Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control
23:34
and Prevention, a center within the Food and Drug Administration,
23:38
and head started, but elsewhere uncertainty and fear ruled. One
23:44
employee at HUT arrived at the office Wednesday to find
23:47
colleagues walking around with their heads down, speaking in hushed voices,
23:52
looking and acting as if someone had died. The employee said,
23:56
all expect to lose their jobs at any moment. Employee added,
24:02
a researcher at the US Geological Survey spent most of
24:05
the hours following the Court's decision wondering how workers would
24:10
be laid off at his agency by seniority, by region,
24:15
or research center by focus. Maybe all the ecological and
24:21
climate scientists get canned the researcher, adding that the near
24:25
unanimous nature of the Supreme Court's ruling surprised him. So
24:30
many of us think this is going to allow the
24:32
administration to just lay off squaths of highly capable scientists.
24:39
Anxiety was especially acute at the State Department, where employees
24:43
traded dismal messages in group chats expressing worry for their
24:47
families and the security of the nation. Many predicted that
24:52
America's foreign policy objectives were crumbled, according to chat records
24:57
obtained by The Post, Others into the decades they had
25:01
spent working in often dangerous sites for the US government.
25:05
They decried the agency's intended downsizing as a poor repayment
25:10
for their work in loyalty. A State official told the
25:14
Post that she was informed that conference rooms are booked
25:18
for Friday, with the expectation that the rooms will be
25:21
used for our announcements. The official said she has been
25:26
told that multiple State Department bureaus are scheduling all hands
25:30
meetings for Friday. One State Department employees said that after
25:37
months of anxiety and anticipation, she spent the hours after
25:41
the court's ruling in a state of unexpected numbness. She
25:45
went through the motions at work, exchanging updates with colleagues
25:49
on various projects.
25:50
Speaker 2: They were pursuing.
25:52
Speaker 1: She attended meetings, every one of which led to a
25:55
discussion of the LUMEN firings. Nobody had any idea what
26:00
happens next, she said. Each conversation, she said, ended with
26:06
an I'm sad but acknowledged shrug, because they were all
26:10
wondering does any of what we're doing even matter now
26:14
tomorrow when we might have lost their jobs. At the
26:18
Federal Financial Protection Bureau, the target of especially sharp cuts,
26:23
many workers began posting on LinkedIn seeking new employment almost
26:28
immediately Tuesday night. One staff of there said she feels
26:32
grateful that she may be in a slightly better position
26:35
than some colleagues. She started applying for other jobs months ago,
26:40
and a few options are effect to materialize. She thinks,
26:44
although every role would represent a pay cut, still she
26:49
is mourning for her federal job, for her co workers,
26:52
for her agency. We are toast, she said. The ruling
26:58
struck hard for one Department of Health and Human Services
27:01
employee who spent more than a decade working in it
27:05
for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. He loved
27:10
and believed in his job helping coordinate America's response to
27:14
disasters and public health emergencies worldwide, for example, supporting staff
27:20
who traveled to Haiti to help that country recover from
27:23
a twenty ten earthquake. He earned top performance reviews in
27:27
several awards, according to records he shared with the Post,
27:31
and as salaries helped support his mother, her husband, and
27:34
his two adult siblings. But on April first, he was
27:38
abruptly fired, alongside thousands of others, then put on administratively
27:43
pending the outcome of the lawsuit challenging the dismissals. I
27:48
was the pride and joy of the family, the first
27:50
one to go to college, the oldest, the most successful,
27:54
one who is going to continue to be there for them.
27:58
All of that was removed from me, he said. For
28:02
three months, as the case round its way through the
28:05
Supreme Court, he applied to and was rejected from of
28:09
the jobs.
28:10
Speaker 2: He hung on to the.
28:11
Speaker 1: Hope that he might get called back to work. On Tuesday,
28:16
he was sitting at home when his boss the court
28:21
had ruled. How many paychecks do I have left? Do
28:25
I have to get on Obamacare? He recalled, asking the
28:29
empty room. At some point, golden sunlight poured through the window,
28:34
and he noticed that it was nearly evening, he checked
28:37
his watch. He began sitting there for two hours. There
28:42
is no hope, he told himself. There is no Hail Mary.
28:47
Speaker 2: Wake up.
28:50
Speaker 1: And at the bottom right of the front page, how
28:53
conservative was beat back a Republican sell off a public
28:59
land When a GOP senator proposed using federal land for
29:05
affordable housing, right wing forces revolted to protect what they
29:10
see as a symbol of American greatness. And there's a
29:15
picture of an aerial view of federal land near nine
29:19
Mile Canyon, Utah. And it's a very deserted looking land
29:24
with sun shining on the left half and shadows on
29:28
the right. Hosse So, I guess it's the sun setting
29:32
in the afternoon on the west by Karen Breuliard. To
29:38
his surprise, Patrick Payne had ended up in a group
29:42
text with Mike Lee. Payne is a conservative Idaho outdoorsman
29:49
who voted for President Donald Trump. Lee is a Republican
29:54
Senata from Utah.
29:56
Speaker 2: The group was.
29:57
Speaker 1: Organized by an acquaintance pain met online and the topic
30:01
was homeschooling. But Payne saw an opportunity to directly challenge
30:07
Lee on his proposal to sell up to three point
30:11
three million acres of federal land in eleven Western states
30:17
for the construction of affordable housing. He texted the Senator
30:23
that Washington was better than black Rock.
30:26
Speaker 2: The global investment firm.
30:29
Speaker 1: Lee's response that he'd trust anyone owning that land more
30:34
than the US government floored Payne. Several days later, he
30:38
posted a screenshot of the exchange on x I thought
30:43
it was important to let people know where he really stood,
30:47
said Payne, who spends much of his free time camping
30:51
and hunting on federal back country in Idaho. That screenshop,
30:57
posted by a self described regular said with few online followers,
31:03
racked up half Armenian views and became a flashpoint in
31:07
a conservative revolt against Lee's proposal, one powered by hunters
31:13
but also prominent podcasters and far right activists. When Lee
31:20
scaled back his amendment to the One Big Beautiful Bill
31:24
in late June, he said he had listened to hunters
31:28
when he fully withdrew it. Days later, he said he
31:31
had been unable to guarantee the lands would go to
31:34
American families, not to China, not to Black Rock, and
31:38
not to any in foreign interest. The end was met
31:43
with celebration across the political landscape by Americans who treasure
31:47
public parks, forest and open spaces. Yet, even as some
31:51
liberal advocates acknowledge the victory was one carried over the
31:56
finish line by MAGA, Republicans and others on the right,
32:01
they embraced big government when it came to public lands
32:05
in the West, where the federal government owns nearly half
32:08
the terrain. Steve Rinella, a Montana hunting influencer who runs
32:14
the mid Eater media company, said Lee was surprised by
32:18
the primary combatants who proved pivotal. It was like, Oh,
32:25
all these people that might otherwise agree with me on
32:28
a broad spectrum of political questions and considerations are really
32:32
pissed about this. The conservative's defense of federal terrain is
32:37
threaded with references not to see our Club founder John Mirror,
32:42
but to former President Theodore Roosevelt, an ardent hunter who
32:46
designated millions of Acus's public Their emphasis is on wild
32:51
land as an American birthright and embodiment of freedom, held
32:56
in trust by the government but owned by the people,
33:00
is a point long made by liberals. In some ways,
33:04
such widespread resistance should not have been surprising. A more
33:09
modest host proposal to sell federal land in Nevada and
33:13
Utah had already been schedtled after opposition led by Montana
33:17
Representative Ryan Zinki Republican, a former Interior secretary who called
33:24
public lands his San Juan Hill. Eight years later, earlier,
33:30
public outcraft forced Utah Representative Jason Chavette's Republican to withdraw
33:37
a bill that would have transferred three million acres of
33:40
land from federal's estate ownership. On the other hand, resentment
33:45
against federal landlords from both Western ranchers and Western politicians
33:51
has been simmering since the Sage Bruce Rebellion of the
33:54
seventies and eighties. Trump himself as advocatings in federal land,
34:01
and in what was a clear effort to secure the
34:03
boats of lawmakers in Montana, where sales are a political
34:07
third rail, Lee's proposal exempted public lands there. Betting on
34:13
those dynamics was a profound misreading of Trump era conservatism,
34:19
said Christopher Rufo, a right wing culture warrior in Washington
34:23
State who campaigned against the Cell off, which you described
34:27
as a vestige of libertarianism that today is waning among Republicans.
34:34
Speaker 2: Pray twenty sixteen.
34:36
Speaker 1: You'd have the small government argument against a kind of
34:39
federal domination over the land. But Trump and Mega is
34:44
a nationalist movement, Rufo said, I think many conservatives are
34:51
now reassessing these questions, and many of us in the
34:54
West understand that part of a great nation is the
34:58
preservation of its nation. Trolle Beauty. Trump just signed an
35:03
executive order seeking to make America beautiful again and establishing
35:08
a council task with, among other things, preserving public lands.
35:14
The order was pushed by a conservative environmentalist who heads
35:18
Nature is Non Potterson, a newly formed advocacy group. Many
35:24
people saw Lee's proposal as selling off public lands to
35:28
the highest biddom, noted Chris Bernard of the American Conservation Coalition,
35:34
a right of semi advocacy group which is kind of
35:38
like a new form of economic royalty in America that
35:42
most people just see as an American Idaho horseman and
35:48
meat salesman. Braxton McCoy, who became a star of the
35:52
online Rights Uprising, made a similar point about the origins
35:57
of western land in a recent interview with Sean Ryan,
36:01
a former Navy seal who hosts a Top twenty podcast
36:06
featuring interviews with veterans, conquest, war treaties, perch and purchase.
36:14
That's how we did it, said McCoy, an Iraq war veteran,
36:18
extolling the freedom to hunt, fish, recreate, admire the scenery,
36:23
and go looking at the freaking stars on public lands.
36:28
They are, he told Ryan, a place where the everyday
36:32
American can go live like a king used to. Ryan
36:36
shared excerpts from the interview on social media on June
36:39
twenty eighth, along with exhortations that followers call their senators
36:44
to oppose public land sales. Lee withdrew his proposal that night.
36:50
The senator, whose office declined to comment, accused the left
36:54
of trying to du conservatives with misinformation about a plan
36:59
he said would address hosing shortages in the West. While
37:02
the initial version would have mandated the sale of millions
37:06
of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management acres, Lee
37:10
said those would not include the stunning visitors of Western
37:14
tourism brochures. His approach is not a fringe ideal. Some
37:19
of the region's democratic governors also support the acquisition of
37:23
federal land near cities, but critics on both the right
37:27
and left dissected the plan, noting that it gave sole
37:31
discretion over sales to the Interior and Agriculture secretaries, didn't
37:36
require that land being used for housing, and left open
37:40
the possibility of sales to private buyers who could outbid
37:44
local governments. One other point, the measure did, in fact,
37:49
maked eligible for sale some wilderness sacred to outdoors enthusiasts.
37:56
Randy Newburg, a Montanan who owns the Hunt Talk form
38:01
and podcast, said the proposal was all the hunting committee
38:05
he talked about once it surfaced. He told the Republican
38:09
lobbyist and advises in Washington as much when they called
38:13
for his take on the backlash, new Burg said, I said,
38:19
if you people continue down this path, the pressure you
38:22
guys are going to expose yourselves to is immense because
38:26
a lot of the people advising elected officials politicians don't
38:30
live it, breathe it, eat it like we do. New
38:34
Burg said, Westerners, He added, live here because of what
38:39
those lands provide them, the opportunity of real freedom. Joining
38:44
the chorus of opposition with Trump's supporter and number one
38:48
podcast Joe Rogan and White Ring commentator Mike Sernovich, Montana's
38:55
Republican senators were against the proposal, Idaho eventually joined them.
39:03
In interviews, some conservatives said they support the idea of
39:07
reforms to improve in speed existing processes for federaland swaps
39:12
of transfers. Increased extraction in logging on those lands which
39:17
the Trump administration wants doesn't trouble them. Affordable housing is different, though,
39:24
they say the better solution is to turn away or
39:27
deport immigrants and revitalize vacant properties in cities such as Detroit.
39:34
Speaker 2: Lee's scant back version took forest.
39:36
Speaker 1: Land out of the equation and limited sales to within
39:39
five miles of population centers. Still, it didn't assuage their concerns.
39:47
Common sense tells you, we don't sell one acre, not one,
39:51
said Terry Zinc, a Marian, Montana resident who owns an
39:56
archery business and mount hunts mountain lions and bobcats with
40:01
his team of homes. Zinc, fifty nine, was a teen
40:06
when his father moved the family from southern New York
40:09
to Montana for the hunting, fishing, and landscape. He wants
40:14
his children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy the
40:17
land as he did, and he is watched with worry
40:20
as more property has been bought by rich out of
40:24
status and developers who do not allow hunting. He wrote
40:29
half a dozen times to his Republican senators, telling them
40:33
the party needed to get the public lands issue right.
40:38
We've got to stick up for everybody in the West,
40:42
not just Montana. Singh said, it's only fair that everybody
40:47
gets to use these lands, people from all over the
40:50
United States. Payne, a sales representative who co hosts a
40:56
podcast on Mountain West topics with fellow Iowa McCoy, said
41:01
he spent the past few weeks registering his discontent by
41:05
calling lawmakers in Washington, tagging them online, sending emails and letters,
41:11
and encouraging everyone he knew to do the same. He
41:15
also found himself tussling with Lee online. Payne calls himself
41:21
a son of the Mountain West with roots in Utah
41:25
and cherished memories shaped on public land.
41:28
Speaker 2: He also lived.
41:29
Speaker 1: For a time in Texas in more than ninety six
41:33
percent of the land as private. It was tough, he said,
41:37
there was just no place to go recreate outdoors without
41:41
getting permission. Hopeful liberals and some conservatives have positive that
41:48
the right's rebellion of a public land sales could make
41:51
Trump vulnerable. Lee's pitch was political poison for the GOP.
41:58
Speaker 2: Far right.
41:58
Speaker 1: Publisher Jonathan Keeperman wrote on Substack recently, which risks inflicting
42:06
serious collateral damage on the broader Trump agenda. The public
42:11
lands battle has not shifted Pain's political affiliation. I don't
42:17
think it's going to change my views on transgender surgeries
42:21
for kids or anything. But I do think there's some
42:24
common grounds we can find.
42:26
Speaker 2: When you're in the.
42:28
Speaker 1: Back country, you'll see people who are a little more
42:31
granola type. They've got cameras around their neck instead of rifles,
42:36
and that's fine. You know, this lands for everybody, he said,
42:43
going into the front section. Trump's Noah NOAA pick stands
42:51
by budget cuts, called staffing a top priority. Neil Jacobs
42:57
was not asked to weigh in on the text this
43:00
flooding disaster, but he stressed to desire to see the
43:04
nation's more than one hundred and twenty Weather Service forecast
43:07
offices be fully staffed by Scott Dance. President Donald Trump's
43:15
pick to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Noah,
43:22
told a panel of US senators on Wednesday that he
43:24
would make it a top priority to fill staffing shortages
43:29
created by recent firings and biotes across the National Weather Service,
43:34
while also standing by the administration's proposal to make drastic
43:39
cuts to weather and climate research budgets. In a confirmation
43:44
hearing imbued with concern over how to prevent disasters like
43:48
the deadly Texas floods, Neil Jacobs shared ideas such as
43:52
using satellites to improve severe weather warnings and modernizing Noah's
43:59
weather rados, which use radio signals to broadcast emergency information.
44:05
Speaker 2: Jacobs was not asked to.
44:07
Speaker 1: Weigh in on what may or may not have contributed
44:10
to the disaster in Texas, but he stressed a desire
44:14
to see the more than one hundred and twenty Weather
44:16
Service forecast offices across the country be fully staffed. As
44:23
Jacobs answered senator's questions, he signaled a future in which
44:28
the agency's sprawling whether and climate research enterprise could be
44:32
diminished and more closely tied to the process of weather forecasting,
44:38
and he repeatedly hinted at opportunities for government scientists to
44:42
collaborate with the private sector, something that Republican strategist emphasized
44:48
in the policy plan known as Project twenty twenty five.
44:52
But when Senator Ben ray Lewan, Democrat of New Mexico,
44:57
asked whether Jacobs believed Americans should have to pay for
45:01
access to the best forecasting data, he answered no. I
45:06
think that that's an essential service that all Americans deserve,
45:11
Jacob said, And the contradicting statements Trump is made calling
45:16
human caused climate change a hoax, Jacobs told Senator Andy Kim,
45:21
Democrat of New Jersey that he agreed that humans are.
45:25
Speaker 2: Influencing Earth's climate.
45:27
Speaker 1: Scientists say fossil fuel emissions are by far the primary
45:32
driver of a nearly one point five degrees celsius, which
45:36
is a two point seven degree fahrenheit rise in average
45:40
global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. There's a lot of
45:45
natural signals that are mixed in there, too, Jacob said,
45:50
but when accounting for those, he said, this human influence.
45:54
Speaker 2: Certainly there, Yes, there's influence.
45:58
Speaker 1: The hearing, coming five months after Trump chose Jacobs to
46:02
serve as Noah administrator, gave the agencies roughly nine thousand
46:07
employees and the countless users of its Earth science and
46:11
fisheries data some of their first insights as to how
46:15
it's presumed Next leader could shape programs that have already
46:20
faced significant shakeups since Trump retook the White House.
46:25
Speaker 2: NOAH, hosed within.
46:26
Speaker 1: The Commerce Department, is responsible not just for the Weather Service,
46:32
but also for research offices studying Earth science and climate change,
46:36
and divisions that monitor and manage key aquatic life and
46:41
valuable commercial fisheries. Its buoys, weather stations, and satellites provided
46:49
a detailed picture of the planet that is seen as
46:52
essential to keep in various industries running the agency's more
46:58
than six billion dollars budget, but Trump has proposed cutting
47:03
it by more than one fourth in a budget document
47:06
recently sent to Congress. I support the President's budget, Jacob said,
47:12
in response to a question from Senator Edward J.
47:15
Speaker 2: Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts.
47:19
Speaker 1: Jacobs previously served as acting NOAH administrator from February twenty
47:23
nineteen until the end of Trump's first term in January
47:28
twenty twenty one. Trump had in twenty seventeen nominated Barry Myers,
47:33
former CEO of private weather forecasting company Acuweather, to lead NOAH,
47:39
but Myers withdrew his nomination citing health concerns. A Senate
47:45
committee approved Jacob's previous nomination as the no administration in
47:50
twenty twenty, but the full Chamber did not confirm him
47:53
before Trump's term ended. Since January, roughly two thousand NOAH
47:59
scientists and media urologists have left the agency through firings, buyouts,
48:03
and retirements. The departures hit some National Weather Services office
48:08
so hard they could no longer maintain twenty four to
48:11
seven operations. As the deadly floods hit Texas Hill Country.
48:18
The staff losses meant the nearest weather forecasting offices was
48:23
without a veteran meteorologists responsible for training local authorities, emergency managers,
48:30
and news media and how to respond to its severe
48:33
weather warnings. The Weather Service is faced bipartisan scrutiny since
48:38
the floods hit, with Texas officials asking why its forecast
48:43
didn't predict the historic deluge and Senate Minority Leader Charles C. Schuma,
48:48
Democrat of New York calling for an inspected general investigation
48:53
into the role staffing shortages may have played. In addition
48:58
to supporting fully staffed forecast offices, Jacob said, they can
49:02
be even more embedded in their communities than they already are.
49:07
If confirmed, I will ensure that staffing the Weather Service's
49:11
offices is a top priority. It's really important for the
49:15
people to be there because they have relationships with the
49:18
people in the local community, he said. Former National Weather
49:23
Service Director Elbert W. Joe Friday, who led the agency
49:29
from nineteen eighty eight to nineteen ninety seven, said he
49:32
watched the hearing and was disappointed at Jacob's statements about
49:37
research funding. Jacob said the administration plans to move much
49:41
of the research efforts proposed to be cut from NOAH
49:45
into the Weather Service and National Ocean Service, though it
49:50
has not proposed increasing budgets for those divisions to a
49:54
cut for the shift.
49:57
Speaker 2: Jacob said, if anything.
49:59
Speaker 1: He supported the increasing funding for research, but Friday said
50:03
it's more likely the research spending could be whittled away
50:07
before any cuts are made to by the forecasting. When
50:12
push comes to shove, you're going to take the resources
50:15
away from things that aren't quite as timely, Friday said.
50:20
Jacobs faced a single pointed question from Luhan over his
50:24
involvement in an episode from Trump's first term that became
50:29
known as Sharpigate when in twenty nineteen Oval office briefing,
50:35
Trump displayed a NOAH forecast map that appeared to have
50:38
been altered with the marker to depict Hurricane Dorian threatening Alabama.
50:44
An investigation found that Jacobs violated the agency's scientific and
50:49
integrity policy when he oversaw the release of a statement
50:53
that facked Trump's claim about the hurricane's path and contradicted
50:58
meteorologist at a Weather Service forecast office in Birmingham, Alabama.
51:04
Ywon cited statements by Jacobs made during that investigation, standing
51:10
by his decisions, saying that he and other NOAH officials
51:14
felt as if their jobs were on the line. Lewon
51:17
asked Jacobs whether today he would make the same decisions.
51:23
There's probably some things I would do differently, Jacob said,
51:27
adding that he took steps after the fact to prevent
51:29
such a scenario from repeating before he could explain them.
51:34
Luhan asked, would you sign often in any accurate statement
51:38
due to political pressure in the same event, Yes or no, no,
51:43
Jacob said. Jacobs has emphasized a need for the United
51:48
States to improve the accuracy of its weather forecasting models,
51:52
which routinely perform worse than models operated in Europe and
51:56
at times Canada. He has most recently served as Chief
52:00
Science Adviser for the Unified Forecast System an initiative he
52:06
is spearheaded to improve US weather and climate forecasting accuracy
52:10
using government, academic, and private sector data. The most contentious
52:16
questioning at the hearing perhaps was directed toward Taylor Jordan,
52:22
Trump's nominee for Noah. Deputy Administrator Marky asked Jordan why
52:27
he had used a social media handle that referenced a
52:30
book by former Senator James n Enhoff, Republican of Oklahoma
52:35
called The Greatest Hopes, How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens
52:40
Your Future. It was a young man's attempt at wit.
52:45
Jordan said, there is really no deeper meaning. If you
52:49
want to be a comedian, you should maybe go to
52:52
open mic night. Marky replied, Trump has in recent days
52:58
defended his administration's change to Noah and the Brother's Service.
53:03
When asked by reporters whether the floods in Texas suggest
53:06
a need to hire fact some Weather Service meteorologists who
53:10
have recently left, he said, I wouldn't know that.
53:13
Speaker 2: I really wouldn't.
53:14
Speaker 1: I would think not, and Trump said he doesn't blame
53:17
meteorologists for the large death till in Texas, nor does
53:22
he blame local officials, summer camp organ assors, or even
53:26
President Joe Biden, whose administration, he said was responsible for
53:30
the setup of the Weather Service office. I would just say,
53:35
this is one hundred year, one hundred year catastrophe, and
53:39
it's just so horrible to watch, he told reporters in
53:43
a virtual Noah town hall health Tuesday. Commerce Secretary Howard
53:49
Lutnick praised the Weather Service at one point, reassuring workers
53:53
that Trump appreciates them and thinks they saved lives, but
53:57
downplayed any effects of staffing at the agency's regional offices
54:03
across the country. But Nick suggested that Weather Service meteorologists
54:08
should be able to work from anywhere to produce forecasts
54:11
because of their access to what he described as the
54:15
world's best data. According to DO employees who attended the
54:19
town hall and described it to The Washington Post on
54:23
the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
54:27
speak publicly and feared retaliation. But in a letter Monday
54:33
to the Commerce Department's Acting Inspector General, Schemer suggested that
54:38
the Weather Service positions left vacant are critical and help
54:43
save lives. To honor the lives of those lost, we
54:49
have a responsibility to the American people to determine whether
54:54
preventable failures contributed to this tragedy, and to ensure that
55:00
and it never happens again. Shimer wrote, I don't have
55:06
time to read the whole article, but there's one that
55:09
continues about the floodings in Texas and New Mexico. But
55:14
it continues by saying late Tuesday evening, a slow moving
55:19
thunderstorm complex formed over Chicago, dropping a radar estimated six
55:26
inches on the west side of town in a matter
55:29
of hours. According to reports sent to the National Weather Service,
55:34
there was several water rescues, as well as flooded basements, viaducts,
55:39
and roads for parts of Chicago. The downpour may have
55:44
surpassed levels usually seen only once every hundred years, with
55:49
more than five inches of rain falling in just ninety minutes.
55:55
Extremely moist air funneling northwestward from the Gulf of Meca, Mexico,
56:01
red temperatures of running warmer than average, was harnessed by
56:04
a thunderstorm complex to cause the deluge. Weak winds in
56:10
the middle atmosphere prevented the storm from quickly moving away,
56:14
instead lingering over the city of Chicago for hours. Since Friday,
56:20
there have been more than three hundred foots of flooding
56:24
across the United States on Wednesday. Areas of heavy rain
56:29
and thunderstorms are expected to stretch from Texas to the
56:33
mid Atlantic and the Great States. A slighter moderate risk
56:38
level two or three out of four for excessive rainfall
56:43
covers parts of the Carolinas, Appalachians, and mid Atlantic, including
56:49
d C, where vigorous and heavy afternoon thunderstorms are expected,
56:54
fueled by tropical moisture. Places in central North Carolina hit
56:59
by destructive flooding from Chantal face a risk for more
57:04
flooding downpours in the days ahead. On Thursday, that's today,
57:10
there's a slight risk for excessive rainfall in the Carolinas, Virginia,
57:16
and central Plains. A risk for localized flooding will continue
57:21
throughout the weekend, particularly in the plains.
57:25
Speaker 2: And mid West.
57:27
Speaker 1: And with that, I end the reading for today, the
57:31
tenth of July of twenty twenty five, reminding you that
57:38
please stay cool, stay hydrated. I hope you are not
57:44
experiencing bad flooding. Please continue listening to Radio I throughout
57:50
the day and I will be back on Saturday.
57:55
Speaker 2: Take care. By