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Understanding the crowded GOP presidential primary · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, June 7th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, new details about a growing immigration controversy, understanding the increasingly crowded 2024 Republican primary field, and a heart transplant recipient who was denied life-saving medication in jail.
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  But first, let's take a brief look at other major stories in the news. Air quality is at dangerous levels in multiple U.S. states, with smoke from widespread Canadian wildfires clouding the air. At times, roughly 100 million people in the U.S. have been under air-quality advisories. It's especially bad in the Northeast, but bad air stretches as far as the Midwest and Texas. This is an unusually intense wildfire season in Canada, with about 13 times the usual amount of land burned. While smoky skies are common out West, this might be new for lots of people on the East Coast. Officials are advising people in the areas with the worst-quality air to stay indoors. That's especially true for the very old and young, as well as anyone with respiratory issues.
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  The leader of "CNN" is stepping down. CEO Chris Licht is leaving after just over a year in the role. His time running the network was rocky. Licht was criticized for a number of moves, including the network's recent live town hall with Donald Trump.
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  In Richmond, Virginia, two people are dead and five others wounded after a man armed with four handguns opened fire outside a high-school graduation yesterday. Police arrested the suspect. The latest killings come as a new Johns Hopkins study shows that American gun deaths reached an all-time high in 2021. The data adds up to one gun death every 11 minutes. The study also shows that gun violence was the single leading cause of death for children and young adults.
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  And the state of Florida now says that it set up the recent flights to Sacramento carrying dozens of migrants who crossed the U.S. border. Florida officials say the migrants got on the flights voluntarily. California officials say they were misled. The Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, threatened to bring kidnapping charges against Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
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  The latest controversy involving DeSantis comes as he's getting more and more competition in the 2024 Republican primary race.
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  The highest-profile candidates entering the race this week are former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. We could soon be looking at a field of around a dozen candidates. Joining me to talk about the lay of the GOP land is my colleague Gideon Resnick.
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  Basu: Hey, Gideon.
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  Gideon Resnick: Hey, Shumita. How's it going?
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  Basu: Good. So, lots of names are getting tossed into the hat. Fair to say, this feels a little familiar?
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  Resnick: Yeah, it feels a lot like 2016 already. At that point, Trump was among around 17 or so candidates, and really, right now already, a lot of Republican circles are having a conversation about what happens if there are too many candidates in this race like 2016 again. And you're already hearing some of these worries manifest now. You know, earlier this week, New Hampshire's Republican governor, Chris Sununu, said that he would not run outta this very fear, being worried that it could possibly give the nomination to Trump. And on paper, it's interesting 'cause Trump has never faced this kind of investigative and legal pressure. He's historically widely unpopular in national polling. He's lost once already to the candidate he presumably would face in President Joe Biden. And yet, he maintains this really significant popularity among Republican voters in this primary that make him a formidable candidate.
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  Basu: Sure. I mean if you look at "FiveThirtyEight" polling numbers right now, Trump is leading by anywhere from 20 to 30 points, and second to him is Ron DeSantis. So, where does DeSantis stand at the moment?
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  Resnick: Yeah, DeSantis is really a critical part of the conversation now, and I think going forward. You know, one thing that's interesting is that I think that if Republicans really kind of broadly thought that DeSantis was definitely gonna be the one to defeat Trump, you wouldn't really have so many other people jumping into the race. Right? And going forward, I think in order for DeSantis to ultimately succeed, he's gonna have to find some way to consolidate votes that could end up being splintered across this really, really big field of people.
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  Basu: Mm. And how is DeSantis trying to distinguish himself from Trump on policy?
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  Resnick: He signed a six-week abortion ban that Trump has called "too harsh." DeSantis has also really leaned into this fight with Disney within the state of Florida as a kind of proxy culture-war battle that has really kind of characterized the campaign thus far. Trump has talked about that feud as unnecessary. And you're also seeing a little bit of a back and forth between them on pandemic policy, you know, in terms of vaccinations and lockdowns and all the policy attached there.
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  Basu: And how about some of the other GOP candidates? How are they trying to reach Trump voters but also stand out themselves?
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  Resnick: Yeah, it's really gonna be a big challenge to try to do that delicate dance. Particularly when you look at someone like Christie, for example. He is much more willing to criticize Trump directly. He said that Trump is unfit to serve after what happened on January 6th. Pence kind of finds himself in a slightly similar position. He said that his family was put in danger that way. Got a lot more harsh talking about that day and the insurrection in recent months. So, it's gonna be interesting to see if the people in this race who criticize Trump and that day specifically find any sort of ground among Republican voters, right, and who those voters really are. But in DeSantis, the person who sort of seems the most likely to try and pull some of these Trump voters away, he's trying to tow this line a little bit more in an effort to get those voters. For example, he recently said that he would consider pardons for some January 6th rioters.
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  Basu: Gideon Resnick, thank you so much.
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  Resnick: Yeah, thank you.
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  Our final story in today's show is about a man named Dexter Barry, a Black father from Florida. He waited 12 years for a heart transplant, and he finally got one in 2020. His doctor prescribed a vital daily medication so his immune system wouldn't reject the new heart. But now, Barry is dead. He had a cardiac arrest just days after being released from jail on a misdemeanor charge. He repeatedly asked police and jail staff for his heart medication, but medical records show that he never got it. "NPR" obtained police body camera footage where you can hear him explain the critical medical issue.
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  Dexter Barry: I take rejection meds for my heart transplant.
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  Officer: Okay.
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  Barry: I can't miss those doses.
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  According to a private autopsy ordered by his family, his death was caused by his body rejecting his heart. Family members say he'd be alive today if someone in the system had given him the medicine to prevent rejection.
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  They're remembering him as someone with a sense of humor, who loved talking about cars and the occasional vacation in the Caribbean. Someone who didn't take his new heart for granted and was careful with his medication. And now, they're out for justice. Barry's daughter told "NPR" what happened to her dad is especially disturbing because he made so many people aware of his health condition, and yet they still failed to provide his medication.
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  The family plans to sue the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. It declined to comment on "NPR's" story, citing pending litigation. The ACLU in Florida is calling on state officials to open an investigation.
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  You can find "NPR's" full story on Dexter Barry, and much more, in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, don't go anywhere. We've got a narrated article coming up next. Actor Elliot Page sat down with the "Los Angeles Times" to talk about his new memoir, "Pageboy." He goes into what it's been like to be one of the most visible transgender men in Hollywood.
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  That's cued up for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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