Trump's Trials - Trump carries out his 'flood the zone' strategy, creating a week of whiplash

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

This has been a wild week, with way more news coming out of the new administration than anyone can follow.And that's likely by design.Through this analysis, we will attempt to wade through the flood, identify and explain some of the biggest things that happened each week, and draw attention to some that have been overlooked. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detro and you're listening to Trump's terms from NPR. We're going to be doing all sorts of things nobody ever thought was even possible. It's going to be a very aggressive first hundred days of the new Congress. An unpredictable, transformative next four years. The United States is going to take off like a rocket ship. Each episode we bring you the latest news about the 47th president and the policy changes he is pursuing on his own terms. We know from experience that means challenging precedent, busting norms, and pushing against set ideas about what the federal government can and can't do.

It all raises questions about how much Washington and the country will change over the course of this term. NPR is covering it all in stories like the one you are about to hear, right after this. You're listening to Trump's terms from NPR is covering it all in stories like the one you are about to hear, right after this. You're listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. This is Tanya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. And I just talked to Pamela Anderson about her big career comeback after years in the tabloids and not being taken seriously. She's entered a new era on stage and screen.

Suzanne Somers had a great line. She said, you can't play a dumb blonde and be a dumb blonde. Find this interview with Pamela Anderson wherever you listen to fresh air. Technologist Paul Garcia is using AI to create photos of people's most precious memories. How her mother was dressed, the haircut that she remembered. We generated tens of images and then she saw two images that was like, that was it.

Ideas about the future of memory. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Hi, I'm Michelle Martin. We're going to start with a bird's eye view of President Trump's third week back in the White House. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don't want to be cute. I don't want to be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so magnificent. Besides the plan he revealed for Gaza, Trump is attempting to overhaul the federal workforce and end diversity, equity, and inclusion

programs and another thing or two or ten. Joining us now to talk about all this is NPR's senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, good morning. Good morning, Michelle. Domenico, you have a new analysis on npr.org this morning that breaks down by day everything that happened this week and it's incredible just how much did happen. But I take it this is not random. I take it that this is a strategy. Yeah, I mean, it's by design. It's been a philosophy of Trump's and the people around him for years.

Here's former Trump advisor Steve Bannon speaking to PBS's Frontline in 2019. All we have to do is flood the zone. Every day we hit them with three things. They'll bite on one and we'll get all of our stuff done. Pang, bang, bang. These guys will never be able to recover. But we got to start with muzzle velocities. So that's the idea.

Get it all out there as fast as possible so that some things maybe slide by. There's, you know, only so much of the media can cover and the public can consume. In the first three weeks of the Trump presidency, the second term have certainly lived up to that idea. Well, yeah, just to review, there have been dozens of executive orders and lots of cabinet appointees who are getting through, ready to carry, despite the fact that many of them are very controversial, despite, you know, and they're ready to carry out what Trump wants done. Yeah, I mean, he's getting his people in place, even Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's up for health secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. They look like they're on their way

to being confirmed to those positions, despite what have been bipartisan concerns. We also saw Pam Bondi confirmed for attorney general just hours after she was sworn in. She set up a group to review the work related to the cases that were brought up against President Trump. We also saw Trump announce tariffs against Canada and Mexico and then immediately delay them a month.

Yeah, 25% tariffs were supposed to go into effect on them this week, but Trump said he was delaying those to work out deals with them on immigration, fentanyl, and trade. 10% tariffs on China did go into effect, though. This whole thing, though, showed this new way that the U.S. is going to be operating on the world stage under Trump, you know, trying to get what he sees as the best deal in a short-term transactional way even with allies. And that's to say nothing of Trump's continued attempt to expand

America's footprint. This time, you know, saying he wants ownership of Gaza. Something that allies and stakeholders in the region, by the way, have said is a complete non-starter. And then there is what Trump and Elon Musk are trying to do with the federal workforce and shrink the size of government. What do we learn about Musk's efforts? Yeah, it's been a real whirlwind here in DC. Doge, this informal Department of Government efficiency has been at multiple agencies accessing records including sensitive payment information at the Treasury Department.

And there's this effort to get federal workers to resign by, quote, deferred resignation, essentially a buyout. Which a judge yesterday moved the deadline from yesterday at midnight to Monday. Right. And the administration has pushed very hard to shut down USAID, which is responsible for doling out about half of U.S. foreign aid. Finally, let me ask you about the administration's battle against DEI policies. What steps did it take this week?

Yeah, Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls and women's sports. The NCAA said that it'll adjust to the order, but I want to play this exchange between Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and NCAA President Charlie Baker, who's a former Republican governor from Massachusetts, from a hearing earlier this month for some context. How many athletes are there in the United States in NCAA schools? 510,000. How many transgender athletes are you aware of? Less than 10. So Durbin went on to stress that number less than 10 out of 510,000. Yet it's become in many ways a cultural

touchstone of the 2024 campaign. There were other efforts this week like photos of women and minorities at the National Cryptologic Museum that were covered up. Those were later removed after public outcry. It's really a push to systematically remove any idea that diversity and multiculturalism are good things in this country. Conservatives have long viewed the culture in the country as moving too far in a liberal direction and they're certainly trying to change all of that now. That is NPR's Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, thank you. You're welcome.

Thanks, Michelle. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the incoming Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks as always to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsored messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow.

Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR. NPR's Tiny Desk. And if you enter NPR's Tiny Desk Contest between now and February 10th, you could be next. Unsigned musicians can find out more and see the official rules at npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Matt Wilson spent years doing rounds at children's hospitals in New York City. I had a clip on tie. I wore Heelys, size 11. Matt was a medical clown. The whole of a medical clown is to reintroduce the sense of play and joy and hope and light into a space that doesn't normally inhabit.

Ideas about navigating uncertainty. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.