Feb. 21, 2025

Having trouble keeping up with the news? We'll be recapping what you need to know every Friday morning for the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Listen to the Trump's Terms podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or in the NPR App for more updates.

The Big Picture: Politics of the Personal

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It’s now been a month since President Trump was sworn in, and the firehose of information coming from the administration continued this week, including:

Trump reshaping the U.S. position toward Ukraine, more civil service firings, more resignations amid allegations of a quid pro quo between Trump’s Justice Department and New York Mayor Eric Adams, confirmation of Kash Patel as FBI director, another handful of executive orders, the courts putting some speed bumps in the Trump administration’s way and the White House posting on X a fake Time magazine cover of Trump adorning a crown with the words, “LONG LIVE THE KING.”

Here is a closer look at three of the biggest themes of the week:

1. Trump blames Ukraine for Russia’s invasion: Ukraine President Zelenskyy expressed frustration about being left out of U.S. negotiations with Russia in Saudi Arabia about the war. He said Trump is living in a “disinformation bubble,” and Trump then lashed out, calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” and blamed the country for “starting” the war with Russia (when it was Russia that invaded Ukraine three years ago). All of Trump’s accusations echo Russian propaganda.

2. Who is the top DOGE? A court filing about Elon Musk’s informal Department of Government Efficiency did not acknowledge him as its head. But DOGE was Musk’s idea, and Trump said Musk is in charge of it: "I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge,” he said in Miami this week.

DOGE, now in its third week of finding drastic cuts to make to the federal government, continued to make abrupt firings, embedded itself at key agencies and signaled there’s more to come. (The head of the Social Security Administration resigned after a dispute with DOGE over access to recipient information.)

Musk has claimed big savings and even floated the idea of $5,000 “dividend” checks to people, but the math on Musk’s group’s claimed savings doesn’t add up, according to an NPR investigation. A lot of what DOGE is doing is provocative, and Trump is well aware of optics. Speaking of Trump’s attention to optics, that was highlighted earlier in the week when Trump did laps in the presidential limo at the Daytona 500 and flew Air Force One around the stadium.

3. The Eric Adams saga: The Justice Department cited in court that the New York mayor’s ability to curtail illegal immigration in the city would be hampered if he were to be prosecuted. Deputy Acting Attorney General Emil Bove said in a memo that letting Adams off the hook for now was not about the merits of the charges against him, but that the “pending prosecution unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior administration.”

Prosecutors at the department resigned last week over this. This week, four deputy mayors in Adams’ office also stepped down, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she will not use her powers to oust him from office, but will push for legislation to put more guardrails on the mayor’s independence.

— Domenico Montanaro, NPR’s senior political editor/correspondent

Catch up on what else happened

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ICYMI: Top Stories

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Two bills, or not two bills? That is the question: The Senate is moving ahead with a two-pronged approach to advancing Trump’s legislative agenda, first addressing military and border funding, then revisiting tax cuts later this year. But Trump this week endorsed the House GOP’s plan to tackle the entire agenda in one large bill, setting up a potential chamber vs. chamber showdown.

McConnell will retire: One of the most consequential and controversial legislators who helped redefine the modern Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Thursday that he will not seek reelection next year. The lasting legacy of his 40-year career in Congress will be his efforts to remake the federal judiciary, shifting the balance of the courts toward conservatives, likely for a generation.

Democrats look for leverage: House Democrats say the phones in their offices have been ringing off the hook with constituents and grassroots supporters demanding action against the Trump administration. But as Trump pushes ahead with his slash-and-burn remake of the federal government, Democrats have limited power to stop him. That leaves supporting lawsuits and ramping up messaging as their primary options.

Costlier cans? Earlier this month, President Trump announced that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on all imported steel and aluminum in a bid to boost American producers. That could mean a price hike on grocery store items, from soft drinks and beer to aerosols and soups.

— Lexie Schapitl, NPR Politics producer

The amount of news coming at you can feel overwhelming. But you can’t just ignore it when important, world-changing events are happening. That’s why we make the Up First podcast.

Every morning, in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories. So you can catch up on what’s happening while getting ready, making breakfast, or going to work.

It’s NPR’s signature storytelling, packaged for the morning rush.

Hear Today's Episode

Going Deeper: Post-Nixon Reforms on the Ropes

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In the mid-to-late 1970s, as the U.S. reeled from the Watergate scandal that ultimately drove President Nixon from office, Congress took sweeping steps to provide checks on the executive branch and prevent future overreach.

Now, President Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal government at a rapid clip -- firing government watchdogs, trying to shutter entire agencies and pausing spending on programs that don’t align with his agenda -- are putting him on a collision course with these legal guardrails.

Read more from NPR's Tamara Keith.

— Lexie Schapitl, NPR Politics producer

The Shot: A World Record Run

Lorena Sopena/Europa Press via Getty Images

Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda reclaimed the half marathon world record last weekend, finishing the Barcelona Half Marathon in 56:42.

That's an average speed of about 13.86 miles per hour, or a mile every 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

Kiplimo is the son of two farmers from Kween, a rural district in eastern Uganda. To get to school, Kiplimo would run over 3 miles at an altitude of 6,200 feet, World Athletics reported.

Read NPR's story on Kiplimo's record-breaking run.

— Lexie Schapitl, NPR Politics producer

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