We've been recapping what you need to know each week for the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Look for next week's newsletter on Wednesday to mark Trump's 100th day. And also find Trump's Terms podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or in the NPR App.
The Big Picture: Money Moves
Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
After weeks of volatility because of Trump’s trade war, the stock markets this week responded positively to Trump softening his tone toward China and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, meanwhile, has been wading in hot water; Trump looks to live up to the dealmaker reputation he has sought to project, trying for a nuclear deal with Iran, while also growing irritated with the inability to get a peace plan agreed to between Russia and Ukraine; and he continues to mix politics and money.
Here are five takeaways from week 14 in our continued look at Trump’s first 100 days in office:
1. A softening toward China and Powell. for Trump, money talks. And when the markets move, he responds. Forget public opinion. The stock market volatility is most responsible for why he appears to be seeking a deal with China on trade and saying he won’t fire the Fed chair.
2. Hegseth in hot water. The number of stories in the past week about problems in Hegseth’s Defense Department has been extraordinary, including that he had a second Signal group chat with family, where he copied in sensitive details about a military operation. Can Hegseth hang on? So far, the White House says it is standing by their man. But that can change quickly if the president changes his mind — or things get even worse.
3. Trump really wants to make international deals, but so far, they’ve been elusive. The man who wrote The Art of the Deal really wants them made to end the Russia-Ukraine war and with Iran over its nuclear program. But that hasn’t proved to be so easy so far. Trump continues to place more blame — and onus — on Ukraine than Russia and is now promising a deal within two weeks. If he doesn’t get one, the U.S. is threatening to walk away from the table. As for an Iran deal, it’s not the first time Trump has tried to get a deal done — despite having been critical of the one struck under President Obama that Trump pulled the country out of in his first term in office.
4. The commodification of politics. Unlike any past president, Trump is mixing money and the White House. He sold lots of tchotchkes during the campaign, from boots to Bibles. That’s continued into his presidency. This week, he held the Easter Egg Roll at the White House, which, for the first time, included corporate sponsors other than the American Egg Board, which has traditionally backed the event. And he was also promoting his crypto meme coin with a contest for the top 220 holders of it to win a dinner with the president next month. The top 25 would get “VIP access.” Value of his meme coin jumped after announcing the contest. It’s just the latest example of Trump doing something that is far outside the norm for president — and raises all kinds of questions about conflict of interest and ethics.
Democrats visit El Salvador: House Democrats traveled to El Salvador this week to demand the release and return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who lived in Maryland and was deported due to what the Trump administration called an "administrative error." Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., met with Abrego Garcia last week, but the administration has, so far, refused to bring him back, despite a Supreme Court order to "facilitate" his return.
Immigration judges fired: Another round of firings has hit immigration courts in Massachusetts, California and Louisiana, as the Trump administration continues its twin efforts of downsizing the government and increasing immigration-related arrests. The firings come as courts face a backlog of millions of cases and add to concerns about due process in immigration proceedings.
Who should decide school curriculum? That was the question before the Supreme Court this week. The case involves public schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, where some parents have objected to books with LGBTQ+ characters being taught in elementary school classes. They argue that the books conflict with their religious beliefs and have sued the school board. The conservative supermajority seemed poised to side with the objecting parents, raising more thorny questions about how to accommodate “opt outs” and where to draw the line when it comes to religious exemptions.
The next AOC? Challenging an incumbent can sometimes seem like a fool's errand given they generally have a big cash and name ID advantage over any same-party primary challengers. But a growing group of young Democrats are launching bids to do just that. Five candidates under 40 have announced their campaigns to unseat incumbent House Democrats in solidly blue districts. It’s a trend that highlights the generational divides within the party and the dissatisfaction many young voters feel toward their sitting representatives. But Democratic leaders fear it could strain resources and spur infighting.
For most people around the world, Pope Francis was a religious leader seen on video or read about in the news.
But for the congregation of a tiny Catholic church in Gaza, he was the voice on the other end of the phone or the face on the other end of a video call as he checked in on them in wartime.
"He used to call us at 7 p.m. every night. No matter how busy he was, no matter where he was, he always called," George Anton, spokesperson for the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza, told NPR on Monday, the day that Francis died at age 88.
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