Loading summary
Transcript8 lines
- [00:03]
A
One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead. Our country was ready to fail, totally failed. Now we're the hottest country anywhere in the world.
- [00:16]
B
Trump delivered a combative address to the nation. That's where we're starting the Seven. From the Washington Post, I'm Reni Svirnofsky in for Hannah jewell. It's Thursday, December 18th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. Last night, the President crammed his usual 90 minute rally routine into 18 minutes of primetime television. His goal had been to ease concerns about the economy and to persuade Americans that he gets it. Instead, he bashed his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and praised his own policies on immigration and inflation.
- [00:57]
A
Tonight, after 11 months, our border is secure, inflation has stopped, wages are up, prices are down, our nation is strong, America is respected, and our country is back stronger than ever before. We're poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen.
- [01:18]
B
Afterward, even some of Trump's own allies puzzled over whether the President did more harm than good with the address. Trump read much of his speech at an unusually rapid pace, quickly jumping from one topic to the next.
- [01:33]
A
We had men playing in women's sports, transgender for everybody, crime at record levels with law enforcement and words such as that just absolutely forbidden. We had the worst trade deals ever made and our country was laughed at from all over the world, but they're not laughing anymore.
- [01:55]
B
And his tone was loud and sharp, without any of his usual playful riffs or digressions. But at one point, Trump did deliver a line with a message White House officials have urged him to lean into, that his administration has more work to do to get costs down.
- [02:13]
A
And it's not done yet. But, boy, are we making progress. Nobody can believe what's going on.
- [02:18]
B
Trump has faced declining poll numbers on the economy as inflation has remained stubborn. And we've got more on Trump for number two. He trolled former presidents with new plaques on a Presidential Walk of Fame. In September, a display of former presidents was installed at the White House. It was intended as a bit of a troll. For example, instead of featuring a photo of Joe Biden, it showed an auto pen. Now that trolling has reached new heights, a series of plaques have been added to the display. In bronze hued trim and gold lettered type, they describe each president's achievements, written in the style of Trump's truth Social posts, for example, Biden's sign describes him as by far the worst president in American history who brought our nation to the brink of destruction. Bill Clinton's sign states In 2016, President Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton lost the presidency to Donald J. Trump, exclamation point the wall of photos is one of the latest changes that Trump has made to the White House. It sits next to the Rose Garden that Trump has remade and is near the East Wing, which he destroyed to make way for a planned ballroom. Senators froze a Coast Guard admiral's promotion A new swastika policy that's number three this week, a new workplace harassment policy went into effect at the Coast Guard. As part of the policy, swastikas and nooses have been downgraded from hate symbols to potentially divisive. In response, at least two Democratic senators put holds on the nomination of Admiral Kevin Lunde to lead the Coast Guard, accusing Lunday of backtracking in his commitments to combat antisemitism and hate crimes. Last month, Lunde had forcefully denounced such symbols and declared a wholesale prohibition on them. The move upends Lunde's confirmation, which the Senate was due to vote on this week. Number four, the Trump administration is preparing a sweeping crackdown on leftist networks. Today marks a deadline set earlier this month by Attorney General Pam Bondi. It calls for all federal law enforcement agencies to coordinate delivery of their files on antifa and antifa related activities to the FBI. Bondi had tasked the agency with using those files to draw up lists of Americans and foreigners to investigate. It's part of a campaign directed by Trump against what his administration views as a growing threat of political violence by the American left. But the plan is raising alarm among some security experts. They fear that broad categories of political speech could come under surveillance. Critics say the effort could land large numbers of liberal activists on government watch lists and potentially weaken Americans First Amendment right to protest government policies. Number five is a washing. Washington Post exclusive the American Academy of Pediatrics abruptly lost millions in federal funding this week. The American Academy of Pediatrics, or the aap, has been one of the biggest critics of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's changes to federal vaccine policy. And now the organization has lost seven grants worth millions of dollars. That money was going to be used for initiatives including reducing sudden infant deaths and improving adoles. The Department of Health and Human Services said it cut the funding for a number of reasons, including the AAP's use of identity based language. AAP's chief executive, Mark Del Monte, told the Post that the sudden loss of grants could potentially harm children and their families. U.S. and Chinese satellites are dogfighting in space. That's number six. Traditionally, satellites in orbit have stayed on a fixed path. Their operators haven't wanted to waste precious fuel. But in recent years, things have changed. The Pentagon and its adversaries, China and Russia, have been launching satellites designed to fly in more dynamic ways, banking hard, slowing down, speeding up, flying in tandem. In 2022, two satellites skirmish some 22,000 miles above the Earth, whizzing by each other at close range and maneuvering to gain strategic advantage, a move called dogfighting. Much of the activity is for spying, according to defense analysts, as countries try to gauge each other's capabilities and fight for military supremacy. And scientists are racing to develop simple blood tests to detect Alzheimer's. For years, Alzheimer's detection came late through brain scans or spinal taps to understand how the disease had already changed a person's brain. But researchers have been working on blood tests to sound the alarm before memory problems appear and then potentially prevent the development of those problems. There's been a boom in blood biomarkers testing, which in combination with other diagnostic measures, could aid in early detection. Recent research suggests continued advancements in the technology being developed to detect Alzheimer's. However, the tests are not yet primed for widespread diagnostic use. If you'd like to know what you can do to reduce your risk of developing dementia, click on the link to our newsletter. You can find that in our show Notes. All right, you are all caught up. But before you go, I'd like to point you to yesterday's episode of Post Reports. On it, investigative reporter Beth Reinhard talks about how billionaires have driven up campaign costs and how they may be reshaping American democracy. I'm Rennie Srinofsky. We'll meet you back here tomorrow.