April 29, 2025 • 19 mins
Donald Trump's first 100 days back in the White House have been a whirlwind of executive orders and dramatic policy changes, but what else can we learn from Trump 2.0?
Plus, why do millennials feel the need to turn every hobby into a side hustle? From casual knitting to running an Etsy empire, we investigate why we can't just do things for fun anymore.
In today's headlines Three charges against alleged mushroom killer Erin Patterson have been dropped as the trial gets underway; Research shows Aussies who work from home are saving 3 hours a week and $5000 a year from not commuting; Amazon has denied they plan to include Trump's tariff import costs on its website for American customers after the White House criticised the idea; A historian is campaigning to heritage list three Australian pay phones, one that helped communities during the 2019/20 bushfires.
Check out Em's podcasts The Spill and BIZ.
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CREDITS
Hosts: Taylah Strano & Claire Murphy
Guests:
Amelia Lester, Deputy Editor Foreign Policy Magazine
Em Vernem, host of The Spill & BIZ.
Executive Producer: Taylah Strano
Audio Producer: Lu Hill
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
So you're listening to a Muma mea podcast. Mamma Mia
acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this
podcast is recorded on.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is Mma MIA's twice daily
news podcast, The Quickie. Donald Trump has reached his first
one hundred days back in the White House and it's
been a wild ride.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Plus, why can't.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Millennials just have a normal hobby anymore? We find out
the reason why we turn everything into a side hustle
before we get there. Here's Clamurphy with the latest from
The Quickie newsroom for Wednesday, April thirty.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Thanks Taylor. A jury of ten men and five women
were selected yesterday to hear the trial against accused mushroom
killer Aaron Patterson, with a trial officially getting underway. Felice
alleged Patterson intentionally killed her former in laws Dawn and
Gale Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson in July twenty
twenty three after serving them individual beef Wellington's face with
(01:09):
a deadly mushroom. She has been charged with three counts
of murder over their debts and one of attempted murder
for Gal's husband, Ian, who also ate the allegedly tainted
meal but survived the ordeal. Three accounts of attempted murder
police were pursuing over the alleged attempt to also poison
Miss Pattison's former husband in the past have been dropped.
He was invited to the lunch but did not attend.
(01:31):
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges and claims
she did not poison them deliberately. Research has found that
Australians who work from home have cut their commute time
by around three hours a week, saving them more than
five thousand dollars a year. Five years on from the
COVID pandemic that saw many of its set up shop
at home to work through the lockdowns, thirty six percent
of ossies still regularly work from home, including sixty percent
(01:55):
of professionals and managers. While those who do hybrid or
fully remote roles earn around five point eight percent less
than those who don't, there are significant savings from the
reduced time and money spent on commuting. The research which
saw the Committee for Economic Development of Australia analyzing data
from the household income and labour dynamics in Australia survey
found that people who work solely from home were able
(02:17):
to work nearly twenty percent more hours than those who didn't,
and that workforce participation has increased by four point four
percent compared to pre COVID trends, meaning more people are
able to get a job where they may have not
been able to before. Amazon has denied reports that it
planned to disclose to its customers on its website the
cost of US tariff's imposed by President Donald Trump after
(02:40):
the White House criticized the idea. Some Americans have been
posting online that when they buy from Chinese companies like Timu,
they're seeing the tariff listed as an extra charge on
their final invoices, often making the final purchase price more
expensive than the original before discounts. Amazon said on Tuesday
that it never considered doing something similar, but Whitehouse Press
(03:01):
Secretary Caroline Leavitt said she'd discussed the move with the President,
who said this was a hostile and political act by Amazon.
Said that their Amazon Hall store that was set up
to compete against Chinese founded rivals like Timo, and she
and considered listing the import charges, but that it was
never approved. A historian who found herself dealing with the
(03:22):
catastrophic bushfires around Naruma in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty,
is hoping to help Heritage list a local payphone. When
bushfires ravaged her community, Doctor Naomi Parry Duncan found herself,
alongside many others in the Naruma community, having to rely
on the local payphone to make contact with the outside
world when their mobile phones couldn't. This vital connection handled
(03:44):
nearly one thousand calls over that two month period. She's
now campaigning to have the phone heritage listed alongside two others,
one in Brunswick in Victoria, which is Australia's most called
from public phone to crisis support lines like Lifeline and
other essential services, and another in the remote community of
Dumage in Queensland, where the payphone is an essential connection
(04:05):
for locals, especially after it was equipped with free Wi
Fi in twenty twenty four. Doctor Parry Duncan says we
tend to think of Heritage listed things as nature based
or buildings, but that's not always the case.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Public phones have been part of everyday Australian life since
the eighteen eighties, as postal and telecommunications networks were rolled
out across Australia, and history and cultural heritage aren't just
about landmarks and fancy buildings and pretty places. That element
of the every day is really part of what heritage
should include an encompass. So this move is about acknowledging
(04:40):
the distinct cultural significance of keeping Australians connected through moments
big and small.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Well, many of us might think payphones are a relic
of the past. Nearly three thousand calls are made every
hour from them in the past year alone, with three
hundred thousand of those to services like Lifeline, Headspace and
Triple O. Telstra's Chief customer Advocate, Teresa Corbyn says they
aren't stopping at three phones either, calling on you to
share your stories on how a payphone helped you in
(05:07):
the past.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
If a public phone is never helped you during a
tough time, even during a disaster, or maybe you used
it once for something special, we'd love to hear it.
To share your story, visit any Taushra public phone and
dial hashtags story or call one eight hundred zero zero
seven four zero three for free from any landload or mobile.
(05:31):
You can also share your story on our website. Just
search for Heritage Phones.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Thanks Claire.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Next.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
One hundred days of Trump Take two In just over
three months, Donald Trump has managed to dramatically reshape the
American government. On his very first day back in off Firs,
he signed twenty six executive orders. That's more than any
(05:58):
other president in history. By April twenty four, that number
had grown to one hundred and thirty nine orders, thirty
nine proclamations, and forty two memorandums, and is wasted no
time dismantling Biden era policies, repealing seventy nine executive actions
from the previous administration in just his second day on
the job. Among the most significant changes the creation of
(06:20):
a new Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, if you will,
that's led by Elon Musk, plus his attempts to dismantle
the Department of Education entirely. On immigration, Trump has initiated
mass deportations, reinstated travel bands, and resumed construction of the
US Mexico border wall. He's also renamed the Gulf of
Mexico to the Gulf of America, but not everyone has
(06:42):
jumped on board for that change just yet. And on
the global stage, he's withdrawn from the World Health Organization
and the Paris Climate Accords, and he's kind of triggered
an international trade war when he introduced sweeping tariffs across
the globe, including to places like the Herd and McDonald Islands,
which are largely inhabited by well penguins. As always, any
(07:06):
good Trump date is marked with the wise words of
our US correspondent, Emelia Lester. Amelia, how would you characterize
these first one hundred days?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I think that the only word to use is historic.
These one hundred days really rival the legendary presidencies of
FDR LBJ Ronald Reagan just in terms of the sheer
scale of what Trump is undergoing. But the interesting way
of how he's doing it is that he's very much
governing from the oval office. He's issuing a lot of
(07:35):
executive orders were up to about one hundred and thirty nine,
rather than working with Congress, and it really is an
unprecedented exercise and executive power.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
That's something that I really wanted to explore with you.
One hundred and thirty nine executive orders is a lot
that feels actually quite excessive. Before Trump's time, it was
very rare that we actually would hear about a president
flexing their power to use an executive order for something
only in very specific circumstances. This feels like a real
disconnect from what government's actually supposed to be though, like
(08:05):
you said, working with the Congress to get things through
and across the line.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yes, And that's exactly why we're seeing so many challenges
in the courts, because the way the American system of
powers is meant to work is that Congress has the
power of the purse. Congress passes laws and then allocates
money to enact those laws.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Give us a bit of an update, Amelia. How has
DOGE gone? Has it done what it was set up
and designed to do well?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
When Elon must started Doge, he promised two trillion dollars
in savings. He finally settled on one hundred and fifty billion,
which still, to my ear sounds like a lot. But unfortunately,
even that's going to be very difficult to reach because
a big reason why government costs so much in America
is because you've got various programs that give financial assistance
to people that turn out to be very popular, things
like Social Security. We don't even know if he's going
(08:55):
to reach that downgraded figure. But the interesting thing is
he may not have that much more time left. There
is a one hundred and thirty day clock on his appointment.
He's a special government employee. That means he doesn't require
congressional approval to work. But the catch on those special
government employees is that they're only allowed to work for
one hundred and thirty days. Now. Of course, Trump has
(09:15):
broken all sorts of laws and precedents, and who's to
say he won't break this one, But that is one
deadline that's looming for him.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And what about Linda mcmoon's task of dismantling the Education Department?
How she fared in that?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
You know what's fascinating about that, Taylor, is that Trump
and Linda McMahon set out to dismantle the Department of Education.
What they're doing now is instead overreaching with the Department
of Education. So, for instance, federal judges ruled just last
week that the department cannot block funding to school districts
which have not stopped diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, that
(09:49):
is DEI programs. So basically, McMahon told school districts all
over the country that unless they stop putting up signs
saying everyone welcome here and making sure that students from
different racial backgrounds got the same opportunities. If they didn't
stop those programs, the Department of Education would stop their funding.
That's now been declared illegals. So it's the kind of
(10:09):
interesting paradox that you set out to close this department
and then you end up actually overreaching and what you're
trying to do with it.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Let's change pace and talk immigration. We've already seen mass
deportations happen in the US. Something that's really interesting to
me and quite concerning as well, is there's talk of
walking back birthright citizenship in the US for people who
essentially aren't just white Americans even though they were born there.
Can you talk to us a bit about what's going
(10:37):
on there.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Most countries do not have birthright citizenship. It's quite an
unusual feature in the US. The fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in
the United States. You may think that's fairly unambiguous, but
the Trump administration is going to argue in court that
this does not actually apply to everyone, and of course
(10:58):
the people that they're targeting there are there saying that
undocumented immigrants and those on temporary visas who have children
in the United States are not eligible. Just interestingly, for
Australian's the E three visa, which a lot of Australians
used to work in the US, is in fact a
temporary visa, So if an Australian now has a child
in the United States, this is the debate about whether
or not that child will be eligible for birthright citizenship.
(11:20):
The big court case to watch is that the Supreme
Court is going to hear arguments in May on this issue.
But it's worth noting that they're not actually hearing arguments
on birthright citizenship itself. They're hearing arguments on whether the
lower courts overstepped in blocking Trump's executive order, ending.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It and moving even further outward from the US. Domestically,
Trump has big noted himself about being very good with
the diplomacy, very good relationships with other world leaders. We
saw last week he was in conversation with the Ukrainian
President Vladi Miyszelenski. They shared a private moment in Rome
ahead of the pope's funeral proceedings. Has he gone in
(12:01):
brokering peace? That was a big talking point of his
he was going to stop the wars, he was going
to end the conflicts in Ukraine in Gaza. Has he
actually done it though, Yes.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So he did enter office promising that he was a
master of the art of the deal. But it's worth
reflecting on his record so far. At the one hundred
day mark, the war in Ukraine is continuing, the warre
in Gaza is continuing. There is no deal with Iran,
no nuclear deal, and there have been no deals on trade,
despite the fact that he's been talking about the need
(12:30):
to make those deals. Circling back to Ukraine, this week's
definitely an interesting week for that story. Trump's lately taken
a tougher time with Putin, especially following that meeting you
mentioned with Zelenski in Rome, so that suggested that the
two men will may be talking more than they have
in the past, followed by this tough tone adopted with
Putin by Trump on truth social and also there has
(12:53):
been talked from the Trump administration that they want to
see a peace deal wrapped up this week for Ukraine,
or at the very least get some clarity on whether
the US is going to continue supporting Ukraine in its
war against Russia. There is a US peace plan that's
been circulating. The Washington Post broke news about that last week.
It implicitly grants putin Crimea as a war spoil, a
(13:13):
fairly controversial part of the agreement for Ukraine. It says
that the US is going to recognize that Crimea is
part of Russia, but that Ukraine doesn't have to recognize
that crime Yea is part of Russia. It's unclear whether
that's going to work or not, but we can definitely
expect movement on that this week.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Emilia, I'd like to wrap up how all great like
leaders debates wrap up? Will they ask each person to
say something nice about the other. If we were to
look at the first days of Trump two point zero,
what successes has he had.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I think he succeeded in enacting the agenda that his
supporters wanted him to enact. So he made it very
clear going into the election and after he was elected
that his number one priority was tariff's I think that
the tariffs have taken effect in a way that no
one could have anticipated, in such a sweeping way. I
think he's made very clear that he wants America to
have a different place in the world, and he's definitely
(14:04):
established that. He's made it very clear to Europe and
to NATO that those member tes have to step up
and look after themselves now and that the US is
not going to look after them anymore. He has started
that trade war with China. He has ended US soft
power overseas, things that his supporters may have thought were
a waste of money, such as usaid, vaccines, food a,
(14:25):
the Fulbright Scholarship. And he's also created a chilling impact
on discourse within the United States in a remarkably short
period of time. So this is an extraordinarily effective presidency
in terms of fulfilling the goals that his supporters wanted
him to prioritize.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Have you ever had a friend who picked up knitting
last month and is suddenly running an Etsy store selling
handcrafted beanies with custom tags and perfectly curate Instagram aesthetics. Well,
welcome to millennial hobby energy, where we can't just do
something for fun anymore. We have to become it, to
master it, and to preferably monetize it. It's going from
(15:09):
growing four dahlias to growing five hundred. It's running couch
to five k and then suddenly planning to run two
marathons a year, and it's the reason why so many
of us are struggling to just well enjoy things. Mumam
a writer and podcast host, and Vernham has been exploring
this phenomenon and why can't we just have normal, cute,
(15:30):
casual hobbies anymore?
Speaker 6 (15:32):
That is such a good question. Social media has really
impacted how we look at hobbies, because before, when we
had hobbies, it would be just kind of like a
fun fact you would tell people, like, I don't know,
like an icebreaker. And now it's turned into a thing
where people are so loud about their hobbies. They don't
only want to monetize their hobbies and make it into
(15:52):
a side hustle, but they have to be the very
best at it. My hobby and I don't even know
this is a hobby. It's more like a calming down mechanism.
It's like coloring in essentially, Okay, And I found a
TikTok on how to color in if you don't know
where to start, and it made me so confused because
I was like, oh my god, I'm an idiot. I
(16:14):
just started. I didn't even know I didn't even know
the law behind these markers and which books to use,
and then they do shading. What the hell is shading?
I thought we just stick between the lines.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
It's meant to be fun.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
It became the most stressful thing in my life and
I haven't colored him since.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
So you've fallen victim then to millennial hobby energy.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Yeah, in the opposite way of what it's meant to do.
So instead of being completely obsessed with my hobby to
the point where I want to make money from it
or become an expert at it, I've just been completely
turned off by those who do want to do that
with their hobby because it's making me feel like I
shouldn't be doing it if I'm not going to strive
for these two things.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Okay, so we're not going to see an epsy store
from you anytime soon? Howking coloring ways? But why do
people in our generation feel this pressure to excel at everything?
So if you pick up a cute hobby like you,
I don't know, Nick crochet or whatever, why do we
then go Okay, but now I have to start a
store and beat the markets every weekend.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
I feel like millennials, in particular, especially older millennials, they
have that kind of frame of mind when it comes
to work, that you always have to be the best
at everything, And I think that's seeped in into their
everyday lives, Like what's the point of doing something if
you're not going to constantly try to improve and be better.
It's just something that's kind of ingrained in them. And
also this generation has been through a few recessions and
(17:27):
recessions I meant to be once in a lifetime kind
of thing. So at the same time, they're like also
thinking about how much money they constantly need to be
making to live a lifestyle that they want to live.
So also, what's the point of doing an activity if
you're not going to monetize it?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
What's the impact of that? I mean, you spoke about
it a little bit there is that it completely turned
you off doing extracurriculars.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
One hundred percent. And I have noticed it in myself
as well, Like I used to play piano when I
was younger, and I decided to take it up as
a hobby again, and then I'd really enjoy playing piano
because I think it's one of those hobbies that you
physically can't do anything else, Like you can't check your phone.
You can't let your mind wander because you'll stuff up.
But then I've noticed when I'm not playing piano, I'm
like listening to the songs that I'm learning, I'm like
(18:08):
looking up little strategy on YouTube, to the point where
I'm like, oh God, i haven't had time to actually
like rehearse my piano rehearsal, and it's just getting to
the point where I'm like, I'm actually not enjoying this anymore.
And hobbies are meant to be something you enjoy. We
talk about the different types of rest, and hobbies is
one big one of that. I know Holly Waynwright talks
about gardening and how much meditation and love she has
(18:30):
for that and how it just puts her in a
sense of mind where she's completely at peace. And I
feel like so many people lose that with their hobbies
and it just turns into something that they don't even
like anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So how do we get back on track? Then? What's
the advice for people who maybe have taken up a
hobby in the last twelve months and they've thought, oh,
it's actually becoming a bit too much or I'm not
enjoying it anymore. How do we break out of it.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
Okay. The first thing you have to do is stay
off social media completely. Do not look up other people
doing your hobby. You will feel like shit. And the
second thing is, which is actually quite a hard thing
to do, especially if you're a millennial born in this
like hustle girl boss culture, is to embrace being mediocre.
I think if you stay mediocre at hobbies, you will
(19:11):
have the best time. That is exactly what I found
when I first started coloring it. I wasn't even staying
within the lines like a five year old look at
my drawing and be like that is shit. I was
like so bad at it, But I was just having
so much fun at just not thinking about anything. It
was such a great form of relaxation. And it's really
hard to not constantly try to get better because you
automatically will. The more you do it, you will get better,
(19:32):
and you can start to get addicted to that. But
just really embrace being mediocre.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with
us today. Hey, before you go, make sure you check
out m Vernum's pod projects. She joins Laura Brodnick for
your daily pop culture fix over on the Spill and
is also delving into the world of our working lives
with Biuz. I'll make sure to link both her shows
in our show notes. The Quickie is produced by me,
Taylor Strano, and Cleare Murphy, with audio production by Lou Hill.
So you're listening to a Muma mea podcast. Mamma Mia
acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this
podcast is recorded on.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is Mma MIA's twice daily
news podcast, The Quickie. Donald Trump has reached his first
one hundred days back in the White House and it's
been a wild ride.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Plus, why can't.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Millennials just have a normal hobby anymore? We find out
the reason why we turn everything into a side hustle
before we get there. Here's Clamurphy with the latest from
The Quickie newsroom for Wednesday, April thirty.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Thanks Taylor. A jury of ten men and five women
were selected yesterday to hear the trial against accused mushroom
killer Aaron Patterson, with a trial officially getting underway. Felice
alleged Patterson intentionally killed her former in laws Dawn and
Gale Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson in July twenty
twenty three after serving them individual beef Wellington's face with
(01:09):
a deadly mushroom. She has been charged with three counts
of murder over their debts and one of attempted murder
for Gal's husband, Ian, who also ate the allegedly tainted
meal but survived the ordeal. Three accounts of attempted murder
police were pursuing over the alleged attempt to also poison
Miss Pattison's former husband in the past have been dropped.
He was invited to the lunch but did not attend.
(01:31):
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges and claims
she did not poison them deliberately. Research has found that
Australians who work from home have cut their commute time
by around three hours a week, saving them more than
five thousand dollars a year. Five years on from the
COVID pandemic that saw many of its set up shop
at home to work through the lockdowns, thirty six percent
of ossies still regularly work from home, including sixty percent
(01:55):
of professionals and managers. While those who do hybrid or
fully remote roles earn around five point eight percent less
than those who don't, there are significant savings from the
reduced time and money spent on commuting. The research which
saw the Committee for Economic Development of Australia analyzing data
from the household income and labour dynamics in Australia survey
found that people who work solely from home were able
(02:17):
to work nearly twenty percent more hours than those who didn't,
and that workforce participation has increased by four point four
percent compared to pre COVID trends, meaning more people are
able to get a job where they may have not
been able to before. Amazon has denied reports that it
planned to disclose to its customers on its website the
cost of US tariff's imposed by President Donald Trump after
(02:40):
the White House criticized the idea. Some Americans have been
posting online that when they buy from Chinese companies like Timu,
they're seeing the tariff listed as an extra charge on
their final invoices, often making the final purchase price more
expensive than the original before discounts. Amazon said on Tuesday
that it never considered doing something similar, but Whitehouse Press
(03:01):
Secretary Caroline Leavitt said she'd discussed the move with the President,
who said this was a hostile and political act by Amazon.
Said that their Amazon Hall store that was set up
to compete against Chinese founded rivals like Timo, and she
and considered listing the import charges, but that it was
never approved. A historian who found herself dealing with the
(03:22):
catastrophic bushfires around Naruma in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty,
is hoping to help Heritage list a local payphone. When
bushfires ravaged her community, Doctor Naomi Parry Duncan found herself,
alongside many others in the Naruma community, having to rely
on the local payphone to make contact with the outside
world when their mobile phones couldn't. This vital connection handled
(03:44):
nearly one thousand calls over that two month period. She's
now campaigning to have the phone heritage listed alongside two others,
one in Brunswick in Victoria, which is Australia's most called
from public phone to crisis support lines like Lifeline and
other essential services, and another in the remote community of
Dumage in Queensland, where the payphone is an essential connection
(04:05):
for locals, especially after it was equipped with free Wi
Fi in twenty twenty four. Doctor Parry Duncan says we
tend to think of Heritage listed things as nature based
or buildings, but that's not always the case.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Public phones have been part of everyday Australian life since
the eighteen eighties, as postal and telecommunications networks were rolled
out across Australia, and history and cultural heritage aren't just
about landmarks and fancy buildings and pretty places. That element
of the every day is really part of what heritage
should include an encompass. So this move is about acknowledging
(04:40):
the distinct cultural significance of keeping Australians connected through moments
big and small.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Well, many of us might think payphones are a relic
of the past. Nearly three thousand calls are made every
hour from them in the past year alone, with three
hundred thousand of those to services like Lifeline, Headspace and
Triple O. Telstra's Chief customer Advocate, Teresa Corbyn says they
aren't stopping at three phones either, calling on you to
share your stories on how a payphone helped you in
(05:07):
the past.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
If a public phone is never helped you during a
tough time, even during a disaster, or maybe you used
it once for something special, we'd love to hear it.
To share your story, visit any Taushra public phone and
dial hashtags story or call one eight hundred zero zero
seven four zero three for free from any landload or mobile.
(05:31):
You can also share your story on our website. Just
search for Heritage Phones.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Thanks Claire.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Next.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
One hundred days of Trump Take two In just over
three months, Donald Trump has managed to dramatically reshape the
American government. On his very first day back in off Firs,
he signed twenty six executive orders. That's more than any
(05:58):
other president in history. By April twenty four, that number
had grown to one hundred and thirty nine orders, thirty
nine proclamations, and forty two memorandums, and is wasted no
time dismantling Biden era policies, repealing seventy nine executive actions
from the previous administration in just his second day on
the job. Among the most significant changes the creation of
(06:20):
a new Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, if you will,
that's led by Elon Musk, plus his attempts to dismantle
the Department of Education entirely. On immigration, Trump has initiated
mass deportations, reinstated travel bands, and resumed construction of the
US Mexico border wall. He's also renamed the Gulf of
Mexico to the Gulf of America, but not everyone has
(06:42):
jumped on board for that change just yet. And on
the global stage, he's withdrawn from the World Health Organization
and the Paris Climate Accords, and he's kind of triggered
an international trade war when he introduced sweeping tariffs across
the globe, including to places like the Herd and McDonald Islands,
which are largely inhabited by well penguins. As always, any
(07:06):
good Trump date is marked with the wise words of
our US correspondent, Emelia Lester. Amelia, how would you characterize
these first one hundred days?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I think that the only word to use is historic.
These one hundred days really rival the legendary presidencies of
FDR LBJ Ronald Reagan just in terms of the sheer
scale of what Trump is undergoing. But the interesting way
of how he's doing it is that he's very much
governing from the oval office. He's issuing a lot of
(07:35):
executive orders were up to about one hundred and thirty nine,
rather than working with Congress, and it really is an
unprecedented exercise and executive power.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
That's something that I really wanted to explore with you.
One hundred and thirty nine executive orders is a lot
that feels actually quite excessive. Before Trump's time, it was
very rare that we actually would hear about a president
flexing their power to use an executive order for something
only in very specific circumstances. This feels like a real
disconnect from what government's actually supposed to be though, like
(08:05):
you said, working with the Congress to get things through
and across the line.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yes, And that's exactly why we're seeing so many challenges
in the courts, because the way the American system of
powers is meant to work is that Congress has the
power of the purse. Congress passes laws and then allocates
money to enact those laws.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Give us a bit of an update, Amelia. How has
DOGE gone? Has it done what it was set up
and designed to do well?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
When Elon must started Doge, he promised two trillion dollars
in savings. He finally settled on one hundred and fifty billion,
which still, to my ear sounds like a lot. But unfortunately,
even that's going to be very difficult to reach because
a big reason why government costs so much in America
is because you've got various programs that give financial assistance
to people that turn out to be very popular, things
like Social Security. We don't even know if he's going
(08:55):
to reach that downgraded figure. But the interesting thing is
he may not have that much more time left. There
is a one hundred and thirty day clock on his appointment.
He's a special government employee. That means he doesn't require
congressional approval to work. But the catch on those special
government employees is that they're only allowed to work for
one hundred and thirty days. Now. Of course, Trump has
(09:15):
broken all sorts of laws and precedents, and who's to
say he won't break this one, But that is one
deadline that's looming for him.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And what about Linda mcmoon's task of dismantling the Education Department?
How she fared in that?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
You know what's fascinating about that, Taylor, is that Trump
and Linda McMahon set out to dismantle the Department of Education.
What they're doing now is instead overreaching with the Department
of Education. So, for instance, federal judges ruled just last
week that the department cannot block funding to school districts
which have not stopped diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, that
(09:49):
is DEI programs. So basically, McMahon told school districts all
over the country that unless they stop putting up signs
saying everyone welcome here and making sure that students from
different racial backgrounds got the same opportunities. If they didn't
stop those programs, the Department of Education would stop their funding.
That's now been declared illegals. So it's the kind of
(10:09):
interesting paradox that you set out to close this department
and then you end up actually overreaching and what you're
trying to do with it.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Let's change pace and talk immigration. We've already seen mass
deportations happen in the US. Something that's really interesting to
me and quite concerning as well, is there's talk of
walking back birthright citizenship in the US for people who
essentially aren't just white Americans even though they were born there.
Can you talk to us a bit about what's going
(10:37):
on there.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Most countries do not have birthright citizenship. It's quite an
unusual feature in the US. The fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in
the United States. You may think that's fairly unambiguous, but
the Trump administration is going to argue in court that
this does not actually apply to everyone, and of course
(10:58):
the people that they're targeting there are there saying that
undocumented immigrants and those on temporary visas who have children
in the United States are not eligible. Just interestingly, for
Australian's the E three visa, which a lot of Australians
used to work in the US, is in fact a
temporary visa, So if an Australian now has a child
in the United States, this is the debate about whether
or not that child will be eligible for birthright citizenship.
(11:20):
The big court case to watch is that the Supreme
Court is going to hear arguments in May on this issue.
But it's worth noting that they're not actually hearing arguments
on birthright citizenship itself. They're hearing arguments on whether the
lower courts overstepped in blocking Trump's executive order, ending.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It and moving even further outward from the US. Domestically,
Trump has big noted himself about being very good with
the diplomacy, very good relationships with other world leaders. We
saw last week he was in conversation with the Ukrainian
President Vladi Miyszelenski. They shared a private moment in Rome
ahead of the pope's funeral proceedings. Has he gone in
(12:01):
brokering peace? That was a big talking point of his
he was going to stop the wars, he was going
to end the conflicts in Ukraine in Gaza. Has he
actually done it though, Yes.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
So he did enter office promising that he was a
master of the art of the deal. But it's worth
reflecting on his record so far. At the one hundred
day mark, the war in Ukraine is continuing, the warre
in Gaza is continuing. There is no deal with Iran,
no nuclear deal, and there have been no deals on trade,
despite the fact that he's been talking about the need
(12:30):
to make those deals. Circling back to Ukraine, this week's
definitely an interesting week for that story. Trump's lately taken
a tougher time with Putin, especially following that meeting you
mentioned with Zelenski in Rome, so that suggested that the
two men will may be talking more than they have
in the past, followed by this tough tone adopted with
Putin by Trump on truth social and also there has
(12:53):
been talked from the Trump administration that they want to
see a peace deal wrapped up this week for Ukraine,
or at the very least get some clarity on whether
the US is going to continue supporting Ukraine in its
war against Russia. There is a US peace plan that's
been circulating. The Washington Post broke news about that last week.
It implicitly grants putin Crimea as a war spoil, a
(13:13):
fairly controversial part of the agreement for Ukraine. It says
that the US is going to recognize that Crimea is
part of Russia, but that Ukraine doesn't have to recognize
that crime Yea is part of Russia. It's unclear whether
that's going to work or not, but we can definitely
expect movement on that this week.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Emilia, I'd like to wrap up how all great like
leaders debates wrap up? Will they ask each person to
say something nice about the other. If we were to
look at the first days of Trump two point zero,
what successes has he had.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I think he succeeded in enacting the agenda that his
supporters wanted him to enact. So he made it very
clear going into the election and after he was elected
that his number one priority was tariff's I think that
the tariffs have taken effect in a way that no
one could have anticipated, in such a sweeping way. I
think he's made very clear that he wants America to
have a different place in the world, and he's definitely
(14:04):
established that. He's made it very clear to Europe and
to NATO that those member tes have to step up
and look after themselves now and that the US is
not going to look after them anymore. He has started
that trade war with China. He has ended US soft
power overseas, things that his supporters may have thought were
a waste of money, such as usaid, vaccines, food a,
(14:25):
the Fulbright Scholarship. And he's also created a chilling impact
on discourse within the United States in a remarkably short
period of time. So this is an extraordinarily effective presidency
in terms of fulfilling the goals that his supporters wanted
him to prioritize.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Have you ever had a friend who picked up knitting
last month and is suddenly running an Etsy store selling
handcrafted beanies with custom tags and perfectly curate Instagram aesthetics. Well,
welcome to millennial hobby energy, where we can't just do
something for fun anymore. We have to become it, to
master it, and to preferably monetize it. It's going from
(15:09):
growing four dahlias to growing five hundred. It's running couch
to five k and then suddenly planning to run two
marathons a year, and it's the reason why so many
of us are struggling to just well enjoy things. Mumam
a writer and podcast host, and Vernham has been exploring
this phenomenon and why can't we just have normal, cute,
(15:30):
casual hobbies anymore?
Speaker 6 (15:32):
That is such a good question. Social media has really
impacted how we look at hobbies, because before, when we
had hobbies, it would be just kind of like a
fun fact you would tell people, like, I don't know,
like an icebreaker. And now it's turned into a thing
where people are so loud about their hobbies. They don't
only want to monetize their hobbies and make it into
(15:52):
a side hustle, but they have to be the very
best at it. My hobby and I don't even know
this is a hobby. It's more like a calming down mechanism.
It's like coloring in essentially, Okay, And I found a
TikTok on how to color in if you don't know
where to start, and it made me so confused because
I was like, oh my god, I'm an idiot. I
(16:14):
just started. I didn't even know I didn't even know
the law behind these markers and which books to use,
and then they do shading. What the hell is shading?
I thought we just stick between the lines.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
It's meant to be fun.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
It became the most stressful thing in my life and
I haven't colored him since.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
So you've fallen victim then to millennial hobby energy.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Yeah, in the opposite way of what it's meant to do.
So instead of being completely obsessed with my hobby to
the point where I want to make money from it
or become an expert at it, I've just been completely
turned off by those who do want to do that
with their hobby because it's making me feel like I
shouldn't be doing it if I'm not going to strive
for these two things.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Okay, so we're not going to see an epsy store
from you anytime soon? Howking coloring ways? But why do
people in our generation feel this pressure to excel at everything?
So if you pick up a cute hobby like you,
I don't know, Nick crochet or whatever, why do we
then go Okay, but now I have to start a
store and beat the markets every weekend.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
I feel like millennials, in particular, especially older millennials, they
have that kind of frame of mind when it comes
to work, that you always have to be the best
at everything, And I think that's seeped in into their
everyday lives, Like what's the point of doing something if
you're not going to constantly try to improve and be better.
It's just something that's kind of ingrained in them. And
also this generation has been through a few recessions and
(17:27):
recessions I meant to be once in a lifetime kind
of thing. So at the same time, they're like also
thinking about how much money they constantly need to be
making to live a lifestyle that they want to live.
So also, what's the point of doing an activity if
you're not going to monetize it?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
What's the impact of that? I mean, you spoke about
it a little bit there is that it completely turned
you off doing extracurriculars.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
One hundred percent. And I have noticed it in myself
as well, Like I used to play piano when I
was younger, and I decided to take it up as
a hobby again, and then I'd really enjoy playing piano
because I think it's one of those hobbies that you
physically can't do anything else, Like you can't check your phone.
You can't let your mind wander because you'll stuff up.
But then I've noticed when I'm not playing piano, I'm
like listening to the songs that I'm learning, I'm like
(18:08):
looking up little strategy on YouTube, to the point where
I'm like, oh God, i haven't had time to actually
like rehearse my piano rehearsal, and it's just getting to
the point where I'm like, I'm actually not enjoying this anymore.
And hobbies are meant to be something you enjoy. We
talk about the different types of rest, and hobbies is
one big one of that. I know Holly Waynwright talks
about gardening and how much meditation and love she has
(18:30):
for that and how it just puts her in a
sense of mind where she's completely at peace. And I
feel like so many people lose that with their hobbies
and it just turns into something that they don't even
like anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
So how do we get back on track? Then? What's
the advice for people who maybe have taken up a
hobby in the last twelve months and they've thought, oh,
it's actually becoming a bit too much or I'm not
enjoying it anymore. How do we break out of it.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
Okay. The first thing you have to do is stay
off social media completely. Do not look up other people
doing your hobby. You will feel like shit. And the
second thing is, which is actually quite a hard thing
to do, especially if you're a millennial born in this
like hustle girl boss culture, is to embrace being mediocre.
I think if you stay mediocre at hobbies, you will
(19:11):
have the best time. That is exactly what I found
when I first started coloring it. I wasn't even staying
within the lines like a five year old look at
my drawing and be like that is shit. I was
like so bad at it, But I was just having
so much fun at just not thinking about anything. It
was such a great form of relaxation. And it's really
hard to not constantly try to get better because you
automatically will. The more you do it, you will get better,
(19:32):
and you can start to get addicted to that. But
just really embrace being mediocre.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with
us today. Hey, before you go, make sure you check
out m Vernum's pod projects. She joins Laura Brodnick for
your daily pop culture fix over on the Spill and
is also delving into the world of our working lives
with Biuz. I'll make sure to link both her shows
in our show notes. The Quickie is produced by me,
Taylor Strano, and Cleare Murphy, with audio production by Lou Hill.
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