--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: I'm Ayesha Rascoe, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Scott Simon: I'm Scott Simon.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: President Trump wants to close the U.S. Agency for International Development. But yesterday, another judge blocked his administration from reducing the agency's workforce.
--:-- Scott Simon: This pause is also temporary, and in a moment, the latest on what's happening to USAID.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: And get your chips, get your guac, get your superb owls. Or your Philadelphia Eagles, or your Kansas City Chiefs. We have a preview of the Super Bowl.
--:-- Scott Simon: So please stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: This message comes from BetterHelp. It's only human to ask others for advice, like turning to your barista, hairdresser, or a taxi driver for life advice. But when you're looking for help about relationships, anxiety, depression, or other clinical issues, they may not have all the right answers. Instead, get guidance from a licensed therapist online with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
--:-- Scott Simon: This message comes from Lisa. Lisa mattresses are meticulously designed and assembled in the USA for exceptional quality. And each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind. Plus, they back it all up with free shipping, easy returns, and a 100-night sleep trial. Visit Lisa.com for 25% off mattresses. Plus, get an extra $50 off with promo code NPR. That's L-E-E-S-A dot com, promo code NPR.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: This message comes from the NPR Wine Club, which has generated over $1.75 million to support NPR programming. Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, you can learn more at nprwineclub.org slash podcast. Must be 21 or older to purchase.
--:-- Scott Simon: The moves of the second Trump administration just keep coming, and some are now being met with judicial countermoves. A federal judge has halted Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from getting access to some Treasury Department records, those containing sensitive personal data for millions of Americans.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: Another judge blocked the effort to slash the workforce of USAID. More on that in a bit. And a couple of days ago, a different judge blocked the federal employee buyout effort. All three rulings are temporary.
--:-- Scott Simon: This news, on top of tariff threats and Trump's call to take over Gaza. We're joined now by NPR national political correspondent Don Gagne from Detroit. Don, thanks for being with us.
--:-- Don Gagne: I am glad to be here. Hi.
--:-- Scott Simon: Where to start? You first.
--:-- Don Gagne: We expected a lot of aggressive action from the Trump administration right from the jump, because that's what they told us they would do. And we really are in a place where the fire hose turned on. And every day, as you said, it is multiple big things.
--:-- Scott Simon: It's been less than two weeks since over 2 million federal employees received an email telling them they could resign by February 6th or stay in those positions without any assurances they would have a job. That deadline's been pushed to Monday.
--:-- Don Gagne: But where do things seem to stand now? Now we get the legal battles. A judge ruled that the White House could not do what it did, that there are so many questions unresolved about who has the authority to cut these jobs, where the funding to pay workers through September, as proposed for some, would come from.
--:-- Scott Simon: So look for direction from the courts, but that may not stop the administration. And now on top of this comes the judge's order regarding Treasury Department data, overnight data on individual citizens.
--:-- Don Gagne: We are going to see a lot of this, and we still don't know if or how the White House will view orders that they comply with the courts.
--:-- Scott Simon: Of course, in Detroit, you are on the Canadian border. How have President Trump's threats to place steep tariffs on Canadian goods being received in Canada, even as talks continue? And those tariffs were set to go in place this past week.
--:-- Don Gagne: The White House called a 30 pause on all of that But yes the threat really does still exist And economists will tell you that the tariffs would be very destructive to economies on both sides of the border Detroit, Windsor, that's the city right across the Detroit River, is the nation's busiest border crossing.
--:-- Scott Simon: Automobile parts flow across that border. Production schedules depend on that. Tens of thousands of jobs depend on that. There are civic and business partnerships of all kinds across the Detroit River.
--:-- Don Gagne: And all of that's just the start of it. So nobody has relaxed at all.
--:-- Scott Simon: Tuesday, while meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump had this to say about the future of the Gaza Strip. 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 bad. This could be so magnificent.
--:-- Don Gagne: Don, you, of course, have been reporting in the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan. What reaction has there been there? Dearborn is a majority Arab American city. Biden won big there in 2020. But this last election, it was close. but it went for Trump largely because of anger over the war in Gaza and the Biden administration's support for Israel.
--:-- Scott Simon: Again, it's not that these voters had great hopes for Trump, but they did seem caught off guard by remarks like what we just heard. People, to me, expressed offense no matter how they voted. Offended Trump saying Gaza would be taken over by the U.S. Offended at the call to relocate Gaza's population. offended at the reference to it as a future Riviera.
--:-- Don Gagne: And there has been, Scott, some finger pointing and blaming those who voted for Trump, but also even toward those who abstained, maybe stayed uncommitted. So it has been a difficult week in places like Dearborn, Michigan.
--:-- Scott Simon: And Piers John Gagné, thanks so much for being with us. It's a pleasure.
--:-- Don Gagne: Thanks, Scott.
--:-- Scott Simon: For 60 years, USAID has managed most of America's foreign aid programs. But the Trump administration paused all foreign assistance and put the agency's 13,000 employees on administrative leave. Yesterday, a federal judge stepped in to temporarily block that leave order for more than 2,000 of USAID's employees.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: NPR Global Health correspondent Fatma Tanis joins us. Fatma, thanks so much for being with us.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: Thank you, Scott.
--:-- Scott Simon: You've been speaking to many USAID employees. How do they react?
--:-- Fatma Tanis: Well, Scott, people are distraught. Since the inauguration, I've been talking to senior officials, agency staff both here and overseas, and they didn't want to reveal their names because they're not authorized to speak to the press, and some were afraid of being targeted by the administration.
--:-- Scott Simon: They say that effectively one of the biggest aid agencies in the world doesn't exist anymore. They're shocked at the dizzying speed in which things have unraveled, and they say the way that they are being treated by the administration has also been shocking.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: Many people have lost access to their government accounts and emails. The ones staffed overseas have been ordered back to the U.S. in 30 days, and they say they feel completely abandoned by their government.
--:-- Scott Simon: Many are in conflict zones. They're concerned about their personal security. They're told to come back, but they don't have homes in the U.S. or jobs or insurance, and some are pregnant close to their due date, so their delivery plans have also been appended.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: So last night, a federal judge issued a temporary pause on the administration's move to put 2,200 people on administrative leave. Now, those are union foreign service officers who filed the suit. The judge also reinstated 500 people who were already put on leave.
--:-- Scott Simon: And he paused the accelerated return of overseas staff that was supposed to happen this weekend. Now, this was all pushed back until next Friday. And in the meantime, there will be a hearing next week on the legality of the administration's overall moves to dismantle the agency.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: What is the administration focusing on USAID? Well, President Trump is accusing the agency of corruption and fraud. No evidence has been provided to the public on that.
--:-- Scott Simon: And he and his advisor, Elon Musk, say that they want to shrink the federal government and the budget. Analysts say USAID is an easy target because it works overseas. Americans are less aware of what it does.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: And I'll say what's happening here is a playbook for the administration plans for other agencies But USAID has typically enjoyed bipartisan support for its projects and some Republicans I talked to are saying that there will be cascading consequences from all of this.
--:-- Scott Simon: Andrew Natsios is a former administrator of USAID who served under George W. Bush, and he said Americans don't realize how influential USAID was. Its logo, for example, had the American flag on aid packages distributed all over the world, and it said, from the American people.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: I see foreign aid as an essential instrument of American national power to protect our country and people who are allies and friends in the developing world. It's in both of our interests to do that.
--:-- Scott Simon: Now, one of the agency's key functions was helping with disease control. You'll remember the Ebola outbreak in 2014, so USAID worked to contain that. And they also supported programs curbing migration in Latin American countries, for example, which is one of this administration's key goals.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: Where does this leave many of the aid groups who work with USAID? You know, Scott, the entire humanitarian aid industry is totally shaken by this. USAID partnered with NGOs, contractors to do the work that Congress allocated money for.
--:-- Scott Simon: And since the foreign aid freeze, no one's been getting paid by the U.S., not even for work that they already did back in December and January before all of this. So they're owed millions of dollars.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: Now, this has put everyone in a really bad spot. Thousands of people have lost their jobs in the past couple of weeks. And many of these companies, including some of the big aid groups, don't know if they will survive if the U.S. doesn't fulfill its contractual duties.
--:-- Scott Simon: So it's really not looking good for aid groups right now and for the people around the world who depended on their help.
--:-- Fatma Tanis: And Piers Vot-Mitanis, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you for having me.
--:-- Scott Simon: It's time now for sports. Yes, we are stealing that theme from your show, Aisha. The Chiefs are playing for history. The Eagles, revenge. Also a chaotic week in the NBA.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: Meadowluck Media's Howard Bryant joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
--:-- Howard Bryant: Good morning, Scott. How are you?
--:-- Scott Simon: I'm fine, thanks, my friend. Super Bowl, of course, tomorrow. New Orleans, Kansas City Chiefs going for their third straight title. No team in NFL history has been able to win three Super Bowls in a row.
--:-- Howard Bryant: In fact, they began that string two years ago by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles, who they coincidentally play tomorrow. Revenge time. What will be the key to the game?
--:-- Scott Simon: Well, I think the key to the game is going to be what all football games come down to, especially in the playoffs, injuries and turnovers. And that's always the battle.
--:-- Howard Bryant: And if you protect the football and you play your game, you've got a really good shot to win. But games really steamroll when you go out there and you make a ton of mistakes and then all of a sudden you're wondering why you're in the bad situation you're in.
--:-- Scott Simon: But obviously the Chiefs are a great, great football team. They haven't even really been that good this year. You've watched them all year and wondered why they've been this. And then here they are at the Super Bowl again.
--:-- Howard Bryant: So this is going to be a great battle. Both teams heavily motivated to come out on top. I mean, maybe it's a cliche, but that defines a great team, doesn't it? They can play not up to their best and still win.
--:-- Scott Simon: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's true. And part of it is the difficulty of repeating and then repeating and then obviously repeating again. We've never seen it before.
--:-- Howard Bryant: There are so many other things that get in the way, egos and money and boredom and pain and all of the things. But this team just has – they've got the best quarterback. They've got the best coach. And they've got a really, really good defense as well.
--:-- Scott Simon: I have to ask, what do you make of this what I'll call conspiracy theory that seems to have taken hold of so many NFL fans that the league is tipping the scales in favor of the Chiefs?
--:-- Howard Bryant: I think it's extremely dangerous, and I think there's a lot of truth to it. When you look at the statistics, the NFL has come out and said it was ridiculous. The NFL Referee Association said it was ridiculous.
--:-- Scott Simon: But you look at the disparity of the penalties, you look at the timeliness of some of these things, and I get it. But I really think, Scott, the biggest thing here is we know across the board this is a very cynical time in this country.
--:-- Howard Bryant: It a very cynical time in every element of our lives And I think that this is also one of the great byproducts the unintended consequences of these professional sports especially football went in 1000 on gambling And when you give your sport away to speculation, people don't trust what they're watching anymore.
--:-- Scott Simon: And every other commercial is a gambling commercial. Every other statistic is to sort of get you to make some sort of prop bet. And obviously the end result of that is people questioning the end result.
--:-- Howard Bryant: Sports is all we have when it comes to the unscripted competition. If it's not real, if it doesn't feel real, the game has a huge problem. And that is what's happening now.
--:-- Scott Simon: I have to ask you about the NBA this week. Trade deadline, a triple team trade between the LA Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and Utah Jazz. Being called one of the most shocking trades in NBA history. How so?
--:-- Howard Bryant: Oh, you don't see superstars at that level get traded for each other. And certainly when one of them is a 25-year-old Luka Tonshitz, who's considered one of the great, great players in the NBA and one of the great cornerstones of the Dallas franchise.
--:-- Scott Simon: And I think that when you have that, especially Luka, who took his team to the NBA finals less than a year ago, then the Dallas Mavericks are sending a message that they don't like what they see in terms of his work they didn't like what they see in terms of his defense, they certainly didn't like what they saw, that you would take a cornerstone player and say, we don't think we can win with you, even though we were at the NBA Finals last year.
--:-- Howard Bryant: Yeah.
--:-- Scott Simon: Howard, one last question. Tomorrow, nachos, pizza, or tofu cubes? Always take pizza over everything. It's just the way it has to be, even at Super Bowl parties.
--:-- Howard Bryant: All right. With your advice, Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media, thanks so much. Happy Super Bowl. Good to be with you, my friend.
--:-- Scott Simon: And that's up first for Saturday, February 8th. I'm Ayesha Roscoe. And I'm Scott Simon.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: This podcast was produced by Martin Patience with help from a dynamic duo, Michael Radcliffe and Gabe O'Connor. Our director is the mighty Andrew Craig.
--:-- Scott Simon: Editing this podcast, The Magnificent Five. Rebecca Davis, Dee Parvaz, Fernando Naro, Shannon Rhodes, and Melissa Gray.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: And there's more star power this Super Bowl weekend. Our technical director is Andy Huther.
--:-- Scott Simon: Blinding. Engineering support from David Greenberg, Zach Coleman, and Arthur. Eladay Laurent.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: I need sunglasses. For them and for Evie Stone, our senior supervising editor. Mercy.
--:-- Scott Simon: For Sarah Lucy Oliver, our executive producer. Heavens to Sarah Lucy.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: And for Jim Kane, our deputy managing editor. Zoinks, zoinks, zoinks. Okay, okay, okay, we got a little bit of Scooby-Doo in that. Enough of that, okay.
--:-- Scott Simon: Tomorrow on the Sunday Story, chatbots that sound and look more human, with faces, names, and personalities. Some in the tech world say it's a way for companies to boost engagement. but what's good for their bottom line might not be what's good for you.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: And for more news, interviews, sports, and music, you can tune into Weekend Edition on your radio. Saturday and Sunday, go to stations.npr.org and find your local NPR station. Track it down. Exactly.
--:-- Scott Simon: And you'll get lots of sound effects that AI cannot do. They cannot do what we do. I think they don't want to do what we do. Exactly. We probably have better things to do.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: This message comes from Grainger. For the ones who get it done, Grainger offers access to over a million products and the scale to deliver when and where you need them. The right tools and supplies are never far away. Call, click Grainger.com, or just stop by.
--:-- Scott Simon: This comes from NPR sponsor Sierra. How businesses connect with customers defines their brand. Sierra is the platform for building better, more human customer experiences with AI. No stock answers, no Holt music, just real solutions fast. Visit sierra.ai to learn more.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: This message comes from the Nature Conservancy. Nature is common ground for everyone, and uniting to protect nature can help solve today's challenges and create a thriving tomorrow for future generations. Discover why at nature.org slash NPR.
