Consider This from NPR

With the U.S. military amassing in the Middle East ahead of possible strikes in Iran, a Democratic lawmaker explains his effort to limit the president. The U.S. Constitution empowers Congress, not the president, to declare war. That hasn’t stopped plenty of presidents from commanding military combat. It didn’t stop President Trump from ordering airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last year — and bu...

Correctional officers are leaving their jobs at federal prisons.  And when these prisons are understaffed – psychologists and other staff are asked to act as guards.  Recent reporting from The Marshall Project says it’s pushing mental health professionals out of prisons.  For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at cons...

Gavin Newsom is in his final year as governor of California. He’s also widely considered a potential presidential candidate for 2028—a possibility he has not ruled out—and he sees himself as a leader of Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump, often mocking his brash style on social media.  The governor sat down with NPR for an interview ahead of the release of his new memoir, Young Man in...

AI CEOs talk a lot about the enormous potential of AI to cure diseases, generate enormous wealth and solve some of humanity’s most vexing problems. But they are surprisingly direct in talking about the potential downsides. A big one that we’re suddenly hearing a lot more about is what it could mean for our jobs. We'll unpack whether and how much you should be worried. For sponsor-free episodes of...

As congress debates voter ID laws, and the Supreme Court reconsiders provisions of the Voting Rights Act, Senator Raphael Warnock talks about where the movement Reverend Jesse Jackson helped build goes from here. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org. This episode was produced by Kai McNamee. I...

NPR investigative reporter Tom Dreisbach talks about how and why he led an ambitious team effort to preserve a comprehensive record of the events of January 6th, 2021. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.  This episode was produced by Linah Mohammad and Daniel Ofman. It was edited by Sarah Ro...

Nearly a year ago, Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, slapping high import taxes on goods from countries around the world. The sweeping tariffs hurt the New York-based wine importer VOS Selections, one of several plaintiffs that challenged the Trump administration in court, arguing the president lacked the ability to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers A...

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor turns 66 today. He’s also been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. For the first time in four centuries a member of the royal family has been arrested. What could this mean for the former Prince and the women and girls abused by Epstein and his associates? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at pl...

Of all the ways President Trump has pushed the bounds of executive power one stands out to lawyers and watchdogs. He wants the government he leads to pay him billions of dollars. Trump has filed multiple claims arguing he’s been hurt by Justice Department investigations and the leak of his tax returns years ago. What does that mean to be on both sides of these legal claims? For sponsor-free episod...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson died this week at the age of 84. The civil rights leader, minister, and protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped shape the modern Democratic Party. Abby Phillip is an anchor at CNN and the author of A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power . She says Jackson’s impact on politics can be traced back to his 1984 and 1988 failed presidenti...

President Trump banned transgender people from the military during his first term. But at the time, service members could continue with their service if they had received an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Citing military excellence and readiness, the second Trump administration is now forcibly removing nearly all remaining openly transgender troops – identifying them by their previous dia...

As lawmakers, and people around the country, grapple with what federal immigration enforcement should look like, Janet Napolitano, former DHS Secretary under President Obama, talks about the future - and the past - of ICE. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.  This episode was produced by Hen...

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy kicked off a decades-long effort to reduce the risk of nuclear war, when he signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty. Subsequent presidents forged new agreements, but now that global order to safeguard and reduce nuclear arms is deteriorating. This month the last bilateral nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States expired. Meanwhile, President Trump is pushin...

Congress is approaching yet another Friday funding deadline. So how can the parties find any common ground before DHS runs out of money? NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi of New York about a path forward. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at  plus.n...

The people of Gaza have faced the threat of hunger since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. But after a ceasefire agreement finally came in October last year, aid organizations were able to scale up their deliveries of desperately needed food aid. World Central Kitchen is one of the major organizations fighting hunger in Gaza. This week, it announced a milestone: It is now serving one...

Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where she’s likely to face questions about the Epstein Files, the Minnesota immigration crackdown and the attempt to prosecute several of President Trump’s perceived political enemies.  NPR’s Ailsa Chang talks with Pulitzer-Prize-winning investigative journalist Carol Leonnig about how Bondi has reshape...

The latest disclosure from the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein is threatening the U.K. ruling government. New documents have led Peter Mandelson, a former ambassador to the U.S., to resign from Britain’s House of Lords and from the Labour Party. The fallout has already claimed two key staff members close to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and some in his own party are ca...

The power to regulate federal elections rests with states and Congress, according to the Constitution. Yet President Trump repeatedly questioned the integrity of election systems, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and in recent days has urged Republicans to take over voting operations in a number of states. Wendy Weiser, the vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justi...

Reporting on the ICE surge in Minneapolis See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

NPR's Bob Mondello and the search for a voice lost to time. Each day on this podcast we bring you the context behind the headlines. Headlines about President Trump or foreign policy or what's playing out on America's streets. This story is smaller. More personal. About one person’s search for a voice he thought he’d never hear again. But it moved us. And we wanted to share it.  For sponsor-free ep...

The Trump administration is celebrating an American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommendation to delay gender-related surgeries, which are rare. So how much is changing? The American Society of Plastic Surgeons declared this week that it recommends surgeons delay gender-related surgeries until a patient is at least 19 years old. The Trump administration called the move "another victory for biolog...

Some people who say AI chatbots upended their lives and the lives of their loved ones, are now turning to each other for support.  Around the world, people are talking to AI chatbots, and these chats can sometimes lead to unhealthy emotional attachments or even breaks with reality. OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, is facing several lawsuits alleging the chatbot contributed to mental health crises and...

President Trump wants to close the Kennedy Center for two years. He says a massive renovation is coming. But so far, there are few details about what that renovation will look like, physically, and what it will mean to the nation’s performing arts center and its patrons. David Graham has been sifting through the clues, and he talks with NPR about what is known, and what could be lost in the upheav...

The Justice Department says their review into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is done, with the release of millions of documents and thousands of images and videos last Friday. Annie Farmer is one of many people who testified in court about Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. She says they sexually abused her when she was 16 years old.  She's also been a leading voice in calling on the DOJ to r...

Stephen Cook, the senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Memphis, has become friends with Latif Salar, the leader of the Christ Community Afghan Church - and since the Trump administration halted asylum processing for all immigrants from Afghanistan last Fall, the two have been working closely together to support members of Salar's congregation who fear deportation.  For sponsor-free episodes o...