Consider This from NPR

In red states and blue states, in suburbs and cities and in rural communities, officials from the Department of Homeland Security are scouting out real estate. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to significantly expand its detention capacity, to help support President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. NPR’s Jasmine Garsd and Kate Dario of New Hampshire Public Radio have been talking with peo...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has brought his Muslim faith to the center of his political life, but his effort has faced a backlash. During this Ramadan he’s hosted half a dozen public prayers and celebrations, the latest Monday night when he broke fast with incarcerated men at Rikers Island. NPR’s Brian Mann reports on how Mamdani’s efforts to celebrate his Muslim faith and the backlash that...

President Trump launched the war against Iran without building a coalition of U.S. allies. Only now is the president trying to enlist allies to help end Iran’s effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.  And many of the countries he’s asked – are rejecting Trump’s request. Can the U.S. get its allies to help after going to war with Iran, and if they do, can the Strait of Hormuz really be secured?...

For many Iranians living in the U.S., the war against Iran was initially greeted with hope. Hope that the current regime might fall. But as the war stretches on, the uncertainty around it has also given way to another feeling: fear. In a recent essay for the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-American writer Nick Mafi wrote about the myriad of emotions that he and millions of others in the Iranian diasp...

Experts say foreign conflict and online radicalization are accelerating threats of terrorism. Can anything slow it down? Even before the war in Iran, the terrorism threat in the U.S. has been evolving. So how do the attacks of the past week fit into that picture? Host Scott Detrow speaks with Domestic Extremism Correspondent Odette Yousef, who is tracking all of this closely.  For sponsor-free epi...

In the opening strike of their war on Iran, the US and Israel killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is an exceedingly rare instance of democracies killing a foreign head of state. It’s not the first time the United States has been involved in the killing of a foreign leader, but it’s something U.S. leaders and the American public have long wrestled with.  NPR’s R...

The Trump administration wants to increase domestic manufacturing. And in addition to tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation, it wants to increase the supply of skilled labor through apprenticeships – to train up workers on the job. The goal is to reach one million active apprentices.  Are the programs in place now doing enough to make that happen?  NPR’s Andrea Hsu reports. For sponsor-free episodes...

Russian planners and Western intelligence predicted the invasion of Ukraine would be quick and decisive. Of course, Kyiv did not fall quickly - and still hasn’t. In the four years since Russia first invaded, the Kremlin’s so-called “special military operation” has evolved into the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II. According to Western governments and think tanks, mor...

Americans are paying more for gas than they were a week ago. On Sunday, the price of oil hit $118 a barrel. It's since come down from those highs, but remains up sharply from the pre-war price of $70. The price is being pushed up by disruption to oil supply out of the Persian Gulf – The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, typically handles around 20 m...

The repercussions of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran continue to be felt across the Middle East. However, Lebanon has become the most active second front in the continued conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.  Israel began its military assault on Lebanon after the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel as a show of solidarity with Iran. The U.S. and Israel's war in Iran is n...

Reporters here at NPR noticed the name of a highly respected youth camp popping up repeatedly in the Epstein Files - Interlochen Center for the Arts. When intern Ava Berger and other reporters started combing through the documents, they learned how Jeffrey Epstein used his wealth to gain access to the campus and prey on girls. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+...

For the last week, Israeli and US bombs have devastated Iran. And the conflict has widened to include multiple countries in the Gulf.   How is the conflict reshaping the world order and impacting Trump’s popularity here in the United States? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episod...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using a variety of tools to surveil folks they want to intimidate and apprehend.  That web helps federal agents find people to deport. But it also allows them to identify U.S. citizens who criticize the federal government and its policies. NPR has compiled dozens of stories of people caught up in the surveillance web. Some were monitoring ICE activities and f...

This past weekend, the United States went to war. The president didn’t present his case in a primetime speech from the Oval Office or the White House’s East Room, but rather, in an edited video posted at 2:30 a.m. on the social media platform he owns. And that video post came between others where President Trump has falsely claimed that elections were rigged and stolen, called for the prosecution...

The future of Iran hangs on an important question: Who will be its next leader? We'll look at how succession could unfold. 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 contained reporting from NPR’s Ruth Sherlock. It was produced by Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Becky Brown...

Regime change, nuclear weapons, terrorism …Why is the U.S. at war with Iran? In the days since the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, the Trump administration has given a wide range of reasons why the US is now at war. On Saturday, Trump seemed to indicate the U.S. and Israel were trying to clear the way for regime change. On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the confli...

Senator Mark Warner tells NPR that the families of sailors in the conflict area that he has met with "have no idea why their sons and daughters are being put in harm's way." Warner says that the president should appear before Congress and ask for a declaration of war. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at  plus.npr.org .  Email us at  consi...

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khemenei is dead, according President Donald Trump. This comes after US and Israeli forces bombarded targets across Iran. Iran has retaliated, launching attacks throughout the Middle East. Given these historic events, we’re dropping our National Security Podcast “Sources & Methods” into the feed today. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+...

President Trump issued an executive order to increase domestic production of glyphosate, commonly used as a weedkiller. It’s the active ingredient in the weedkiller, Roundup. That order immediately ignited an uproar in the Make America Healthy Again movement. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his supporters have long believed glyphosate is a health risk. But now, Kennedy says he supports...

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...