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- [00:05]
Shemitah Basu
Good morning. It's Friday, March 14th. I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, politicians on the left are testing out different resistance messages against Trump. Senator Chuck Schumer gets on board with Republicans funding bill and a giant of the fashion industry steps away. Foreign let's start with a pulse check on Democratic Party leadership and opposition to President Trump. Seven weeks into the new administration, in the flurry of early actions by Trump, Democratic voices were largely sidelined by a barrage of daily headlines. But in the past few weeks and days, we've seen a number of Democrats and at least one independent step forward and position themselves as messengers for voters who are feeling disillusioned with Trump. For more on what the opposition looks like and how it's taking shape, I called up Dave Weigel, national political reporter at Semaphore, and I asked him if it feels like the Democratic response to Trump is only starting to gel in the past few days.
- [01:13]
Dave Weigel
It does. Yes, Democrats came together a bit more over the last week, but their fate was not entirely in their hands. They've had a message, really, since they lost the election. I'd say right before it, they were a little more muddled on the the role of Elon Musk and the idea that Trump is going to hand the country over to billionaires and cut things you love, to give tax cuts to the rich. They actually have been saying that for months and months and months. But did it click until recently? I don't really think it did. And we've seen polling this week from CNN that shows while Trump's more popular on immigration policy than ever, this is the lowest approval he's had on the economy. And that's good for Democrats.
- [01:51]
Shemitah Basu
So. So it sounds like you're saying message is consistent, circumstances have changed, which has made the message more effective.
- [01:57]
Dave Weigel
Yes, but by people who sometimes disagree with each other. I don't think, for example, James Carville and Bernie Sanders think they agree with each other that much. But the Carville case, which he made in the New York Times, is that Democrats should play dead, should not try to work with Trump or take credit for anything over the next couple years.
- [02:13]
Shemitah Basu
Right. Kind of let Republicans squabble it out.
- [02:15]
Dave Weigel
Yeah. The Sanders view articulated at his rallies is that there is a looting going on by the billionaire class, by the oligarchy. Democrats should oppose that. Then people should come out and vote against it in 2026.
- [02:28]
Shemitah Basu
Well, so let's actually stay with Bernie Sanders for a moment and talk a little bit about him. I mean, he's been holding these major rallies, pulling significant crowds. Most of his appearances have been in swing districts represented by Republicans. What is his message to voters and how is it resonating?
- [02:45]
Dave Weigel
It's the speech he's been giving for decades, which is that the billionaires and the oligarchs are manipulating everybody to get their taxes cut, to get government contracts to benefit at the expense of everybody else.
- [03:00]
Bernie Sanders
So we are here to say loudly and clearly that in our great nation, we will not accept oligarchy.
- [03:13]
Dave Weigel
What Democrats expect, Sanders certainly is. These Doge cuts are inefficient. They're going to lead to some pain that affects people. And they need, as Democrats or as independents who work with Democrats to say, if you're angry at the call time for Social Security, that's Trump. If you're angry about not getting health care, that's Trump. If you're angry about prices, that's Trump. They, they're pinning everything to him on economics, which they're all pretty happy doing. It's just they don't sound happy because they're not winning right now. They think they might, it might take them a long time to win.
- [03:46]
Shemitah Basu
Yeah. Yeah. Well. So, I mean, tell me though, is Sanders message resonating with people? Obviously he's drawing huge crowds, but what does it all mean? What's the effect that he's having?
- [03:54]
Dave Weigel
It definitely has inspired Democrats. There was a little bit of embarrassment, I would say, from Democratic politicians because they lost the election. Their base was very demotivated. But the, the Sanders message is, let's ignore all that. This is about economics. And if you get to a situation where people associate doge with things being broken and not working, boom, that's the election. Then you can say, hey, we're the Democratic Party. We're the party that want to fix this stuff. It's hard right now because there is a lot of work to do to rehabilitate what they stand for and they believe, I'd say, led by Sanders, fairly. That starts with saying this idea that the billionaires are going to come in, cut waste, and you're all going to benefit is crazy. Come back to us and we'll give you something better when you get tired of that.
- [04:39]
Shemitah Basu
Hmm. And it sounds like, as you've mentioned, Sanders is very much sticking to his long running message, but maybe it's an effective time to be hearing and receiving that message for voters. Let's turn now and talk about Gavin Newsom and what he's been up to. I mean, he just launched a new podcast, so Far, he's had on some pretty hard right leaning guests, people like Steve Bannon, former Trump advisor, had on Charlie Kirk. He himself, Newsom drew some backlash for some of his comments about transgender athletes on his podcast. What is Newsom's strategy right now?
- [05:13]
Dave Weigel
He's really only had conservative guests on this podcast. And my understanding, just from covering Newsom and talking to him during the campaign last time, is he, yes, he's the governor of California. He is the most famous liberal, I'd say, avatar of liberalism in America. And he also signed off on a lot of progressive ideas over his career in San Francisco as mayor and as, as governor, and he watched those become less popular. So he, he mentioned to Charlie Kirk that he has four kids and one of his sons is into Charlie Kirk.
- [05:44]
Bernie Sanders
Last night, trying to put my son to bed, he's like, no, Dad, I just. What time? What time's Charlie gonna be here? What time? And I'm like, dude, you're in school tomorrow. He's 13. He's like, no, no, this morning, wakes up at six something. He's like, I'm coming. I'm like, he literally would not leave the house.
- [06:00]
Dave Weigel
That really has sat within Newsom. He's talked about this before. How come I can't even convince my family that what I'm doing is correct? And how come culturally my ideas are not winning the next generation? And so the long term goal, you could argue, oh, this is about how he's positioning himself for president. But that's part of it is he really is trying to figure out, I think sincerely, why it is that conservatives don't, don't take people like him seriously, or liberals seriously, or I'd say pluralists. Just people who think immigration is good and diversity is good and LGBT rights are good. How can we reach them? And one thing he's clearly doing with these interviews is saying, hey, I'm in your space now. And this is what I really think. I'm willing to concede some mistakes I made, but here's why I believe what I believe. Let's talk it out. So he is experimenting.
- [06:49]
Shemitah Basu
Hmm, interesting. Well, maybe we should talk about what might be seen as the sort of Democratic Party establishment choice to elevate in this moment. We saw Senator Alyssa Slotkin was tapped to give the party's official response after Trump's joint speech to Congress. How does she fit into all of this? Or just maybe where more broadly is the party establishment in this moment?
- [07:11]
Dave Weigel
Well, they do agree with Sanders that the people have left the Democratic coalition over the sense that they are not working for them and they are not quite sure what to do about the tension. The chair. But Slotkin was angered that she said, you know, that she praised, basically, Ronald Reagan.
- [07:30]
Alyssa Slotkin
President Trump loves to say peace through strength. That's actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave. We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.
- [07:54]
Dave Weigel
And you saw people on the left saying, if you're saying Reagan was good in any way, you don't understand what's going on. But she is trying to just turn the clock back. As badly as Democrats were doing under Ronald Reagan, they still were doing much better with working class voters. They still were, were the party of labor unions, the party of trade protectionism, the party of good wages for hard work. And they lost that. And so how do you restore that without selling out all the other people in your coalition? That's what she's trying to do. But it is in a different tone. The way Democrats have been talking in the last, I'd say, year, you could see Democrats moving away from not just identity politics, but the idea that it was good. If America's identity was changing, it was a little bit less white, working class. And Slotkin speech was one of a couple of examples, I think, of suddenly not doing that.
- [08:46]
Shemitah Basu
Are there any other Democrats you're watching right now who seem to also be emerging as people who can rally the opposition with a particularly strong message? I'm thinking of people like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Tim Walls has been speaking out. Pete Buttigieg, who has had something effective to share right now.
- [09:06]
Dave Weigel
Well, everyone you mentioned, the Democratic governors who we all expect to be running soon, like J.B. pritzker, Wes Moore, Gretchen Whitmer, they've made a couple of big stands against what Trump is doing. But I think it's interesting what they're not emphasizing quite as much. They are letting the attorneys general lead on suing the administration over federal job cuts, firings. The administration is trying to shut down, congressionally create agencies. They're kind of letting them do that. They're letting the congressional party do that. The governors are focused more on this economic message that I was talking about. There are some Democrats who say you need to comprehensively challenge the way this administration is using its power to deport people, to arrest people, to silence people. And there are some Democrats saying That's great. That's not how we win. We're going to focus on economics instead. The left of the party is getting more invested and in these issues. And the, the other side of the party, if I can not characterize all their thinking, but because Trump won, and because Trump won more non white voters and because Trump's polling on immigration is so good, there is a worry that the Trump vision of, of who deserves to be in the country is quite popular. I think this is an interesting tension in the party and that is, that is a tension to watch as people start running for higher office. Let's say AOC jumped into the presidential race and Pete Buttigieg jumped in the presidential race. Well, one of them has been talking about immigration and whether this is a new red scare, and one of them has been saying we need to focus on jobs. That is a fight in the party. You can see which, which one thinks you need a comprehensive destroy the Trump ideology, even at its strongest. And one of them saying beat Trump, but attack at the weak points. Don't, don't attack where he's strong because we've done that before and we lose.
- [10:51]
Shemitah Basu
That's Dave Weigel, national political reporter at Semaph.
- [10:56]
Dave Weigel
Foreign.
- [11:02]
Shemitah Basu
Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he believes enough Democrats will back a budget resolution passed by House Republicans earlier this week, potentially averting a government shutdown. Schumer had initially said Democrats would block the bill in a show of resistance against Trump, but changed his mind, saying he thinks the bill is a terrible option, but believes a government shutdown would give President Trump more power, which would be a, quote, far worse option. A critical procedural vote is scheduled to take place this afternoon. An American Airlines plane caught fire while on the tarmac at Denver's airport yesterday, prompting passengers to evacuate on the plane's wing. The flight was diverted shortly after taking off from Colorado Springs on its way to Dallas after experiencing what American Airlines called an engine related issue. It landed safely, but caught fire while taxiing to the gate. ABC News reports there were only a few minor injuries. The FAA is investigating. President Trump's efforts to end birthright citizenship has reached the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the administration filed a series of emergency appeals asking the high court to limit lower court rulings that have blocked his efforts. If the justices decline to take up the case or reject Trump's efforts, the court could still take up the central question of whether birthright citizenship is guaranteed in the Constitution. Once lawsuits make their way through appeals process. A landmark case in 1898 affirmed birthright citizenship. And CNN notes the modern court hasn't signaled a desire to revisit the issue. And finally, it's the end of an era for one of fashion's most storied houses. Donatella Versace is stepping down as creative director of the brand after 28 years. She took over after her brother Gianni, who founded Versace, was murdered in 1997. Versace posted on social media, quote, it's been the greatest honor of my life to carry on my brother Gianni's legacy. It's the first time a Versace will not be in charge of the label's designs in nearly 50 years. Dario Vitale, a former executive at Miu Miu, will replace her. Bloomberg reports it's a crucial time for Versace as it's being eyed for sale to rival brand Prada for $1.6 billion, a deal that could close this month. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app and check out our interview show. In conversation this week, we look at the US Military's recruitment crisis. New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Dexter Filkins tells me why fewer people are joining the armed forces today and what it could mean for military preparedness in the future.
- [13:46]
Dexter Filkins
When, for instance, you hear that the Navy is deploying ships that don't have enough sailors on them, or, you know, the army came up 15,000 recruits short of its quota in 2023. Those things are concerning because what if terrible prospect. But what if we had to go to war? What if we were attacked? Could we defend the country?
- [14:10]
Shemitah Basu
If you're listening in the Apple News app right now, that episode is queued up to play for you next. Enjoy the weekend and we'll be back with the news on Monday.