Consider This from NPR

Consider This from NPR

The hosts of NPR's All Things Considered help you make sense of a major news story and what it means for you, in 15 minutes. New episodes six days a week, Sunday through Friday. Support NPR and get your news sponsor-free with Consider This+. Learn more at plus.npr.org/considerthis

Episodes

August 31, 2025 9 mins

The Trump Administration has made significant changes to the departments in charge of public health. So what does that mean for the health of average Americans and to the future of public health research?

NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician who also teaches public health policy at Brown University.

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Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans twenty years ago this week, leaving a trail of destruction across the city and the Gulf Coast. NPR journalists were on the ground covering the developing story of what became the costliest storm in U.S. history. 

NPR’s Greg Allen reflects on covering the catastrophe and digs into the archives to remember the feel of the city after the storm.

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August 29, 2025 8 mins

Before he entered politics, most Americans knew Donald Trump as an entertainer.

As the host of the hit show “The Apprentice” he was catapulted to a new level of fame. 

That persona has carried over to Trump’s political life as he embraces his role as entertainer-in-chief. 

In this term, unlike the first, Trump has taken aim at cultural institutions. <...

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The war in Gaza is approaching the 2 year mark. As it does, Israel continues to launch new attacks on a territory that is already in ruins. And the humanitarian situation for Gaza’s Palestinian residents continues to worsen.

A team of NPR reporters has been focusing on one question: how did we get here? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr....

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What happens when the federal government owns part of a company?

That’s one of MANY questions about federal policy right now, as the Trump Administration aggressively pushes for stakes — and oversight — of major private companies.


This week, the White House announced it was taking a ten percent stake in the str...

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For over two weeks, members of the National Guard have been walking the streets of Washington, D.C. -- alongside federal law enforcement and local police.

President Trump has said there is a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital -- and has openly hinted at taking similar actions in other Democratic-led cities like Chicago, New York and Baltimore.

But while the president has unique authorities over the District...
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The Trump administration is deploying a new strategy to speed up deportations. Government lawyers are asking immigration judges to dismiss on-going cases. Then, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrest people as soon as they step out of the courtroom.


The process is often chaotic. And for immigrants without legal status, it's also very risky.

NPR immigration policy reporter Ximena Bustillo went to ...
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OpenAI founder Sam Altman floated the idea of an AI bubble, an MIT report found that 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing and tech stocks took a dip.

With the AI sector is expected to become a trillion dollar industry within the next decade, what impact might slowing progress have on the economy? ...

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Normally, foreign policy summits between world leaders involve painstaking planning and organization days and weeks in advance. The hectic and last minute nature of the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska provided a window into how so much of what’s happening to try and end a brutal war in Ukraine, is being made up on the fly.

NPR’...

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The people of Northern Gaza are starving. That’s according to an official declaration by a United Nations-backed group of experts, who comprise the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC. They say that famine has officially reached Gaza city and could soon reach other areas of the territory.


Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has says there is no famine in Gaza, ...

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In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, leaving more than 1300 people dead and becoming the most expensive hurricane in history with overall economic losses estimated at $125 billion. 

It was also a harbinger of what would happen to hurricanes in the years to follow, as climate change would make them an increasingly powerful and a regular threat.

NPR Alejandra Borunda explains how the devas...
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August 20, 2025 9 mins

President Trump says the administration’s takeover of DC is making life safer. But many of the city’s residents and business owners are questioning the administration’s moves?  So what exactly is the goal of the federal takeover in DC?
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.

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Anna Corrigan grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She thought she was an only child, until she was in her 50s and discovered a family secret. Corrigan found documents showing her mother had spent time in one of Ireland’s so-called mother and baby homes — places where single women went to give birth. And that she had given birth to two sons there. Two brothers that Corrigan never knew she had.

It's part of a sad history in Ireland ...
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August 18, 2025 12 mins
In the last few days, President Trump has met separately with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, in an attempt to break the deadlock and end the war. 

Today’s meeting at the White House between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seemed to go much better than last time, when Zelenskyy left early after a heated argument in the Oval Office. In fact, Zelenskyy hailed today’s meeting as “the best one” yet. 
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President Trump turned to the Heritage Foundation help pick his appointee to lead a traditionally non-partisan agency. NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with political science professor E.J. Fagan, author of “The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics” to understand why Trump’s close relationship with the conservative think tank matters.

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Paris has increasingly found itself on the frontline of the climate crisis and covering the city and the rest of France now means regularly reporting on deadly climate events. NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with Eleanor Beardsley about how climate has become core to the Paris beat.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or atpl...

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August 15, 2025 9 mins

This summer, the island of Puerto Rico has been under the thrall of Bad Bunny.

His 30-concert residency at a stadium in San Juan is a homecoming for the global superstar.

It's also a homecoming for many thousands of people who left home – but are flocking back for the shows.

NPR’s Adrian Florido reports on how the concerts are resonating with Puerto Ricans on and off the island.

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August 14, 2025 9 mins

American Presidents have been trying to manage Russian President Vladimir Putin since the beginning of this century.

There was George W. Bush, who met with Putin 28 times.

Barack Obama and Putin sat down together 9 times.

Joe Biden met with Putin only once.

Past presidents had hoped to strike deals and push Russia toward a more democratic society.

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”The global trading system as we have known it is dead.”

Those are the words of former US Trade Representative Michael Froman.

He’s now President of the Council on Foreign Relations.

If the era of global free trade is over, the question is…what comes next? 

 For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts...

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Two minutes — that’s how long President Trump says it will take him to figure out whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about finding a way to end his war with Ukraine.

Details are still scarce — but Putin and Trump are set to meet Friday in Alaska.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasn’t invited.

What does Trump hope to achieve, and can he get it from Putin?  Ambassador John Bolton, ...
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