FlyDubai Midair Attack, Trump Midterm Campaigning, Hegseth Reshaping Military

0:00Ayesha Rascoe:Good morning. A quick note before we get started. Today marks one year since federal funding for public media ended. Here at NPR, we are proud to continue to work to uphold your First Amendment rights. And your support empowers us to continue to stand up for those rights. It really takes all of us to protect the future of public media. You can join the community that makes this work possible at donate.npr.org. And thank you. A flight bound for Israel was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after a fight in a cockpit. Israeli officials say one pilot stabbed the other and tried to crash the plane.

0:36Ayesha Rascoe:But why? I'm Amy Martinez. That is Michelle Martin. And this is Up First from NPR News. President Trump promised to campaign in the toughest midterm races. Today, he's going to Oklahoma, the state where his party dominates. Would he help or hurt Republicans in the real battleground states? And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he wants to cut even more generals and admirals. He told junior officers he's remaking the military around what he calls a warrior ethos. What does his leadership purge mean for a military already seven months into a war with Iran? Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day.

1:17Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from Doubleday, publishers of The French Illusion by John Grisham. In his latest thriller, John Grisham takes you to Paris, where a young lawyer is recruited as bait in an elaborate espionage operation after newlyweds go missing on their honeymoon in the French countryside. The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA, and French intelligence working together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The French Illusion is in stores now, also available as an audiobook. This message comes from Capital One with the Capital One Saver Card.

1:55Earn unlimited 3 % cash back on dining and entertainment. Capital One. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. Details at CapitalOne.com.

2:05Ayesha Rascoe:This message comes from Schwab. Investing with Schwab is like a hike with endless trails. Go solo with self-directed investing, take stops along the way with trading, or choose a guide with full-service wealth management. Whatever trails you take, you can invest your way with Schwab. Passengers on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv are describing what happened on board a fly Dubai airplane that caused them to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The plane signaled a distress call on Wednesday after one of the pilots apparently stabbed the other pilot and seemed to be trying to crash the plane with everyone on board.

2:39Many of the passengers were Israelis, and officials in Israel are calling it an attempted terrorist attack, although the motive is still unknown.

2:46Ayesha Rascoe:NPR's Kat Lomstorff is with us now from Tel Aviv. Good morning, Kat. Hey, good morning. It sounds like a really harrowing situation on that plane. What can you tell us? So yeah, like you said, the plane was operated by Fly Dubai. That's an airline based in the UAE. There's still a lot we don't know, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a statement after speaking with some of the passengers who told him that the plane went into a spin and began to plunge as one of the pilots was trying to sabotage the aircraft systems after stabbing his co-pilot. He said some passengers sprang into action and were able to enter the cockpit after the pilot, who was stabbed, unlocked the cockpit door during the attack.

3:24Those passengers managed to subdue the attacker. Israeli officials released a video of Netanyahu talking to one of those passengers, a man named Yaniv Hayoun. Once he landed back in Israel, Hayoun's clothes were still covered in blood in the video. He described how he put the attacker in a chokehold and pulled the plane's controls up to try to right it. Hayoon says he's a plumber, but he thought to do that after seeing it in a TV show. He also said that there happened to be another flight crew on the plane who jumped in to help land it.

3:53Ayesha Rascoe:That's incredible. You were at the airport in Tel Aviv last night as the passengers arrived there. What was that like? Yeah, it was really hectic. The arrivals area was filled with journalists and family members. The passengers slowly emerged, dragging their suitcases behind them. Some were crying, some smiling, looking relieved, and some just looked really tired. There were also quite a few families with children. I talked to one passenger named Dan Zoller. He was traveling with his wife and two small children on the flight. He confirmed a lot of what Netanyahu said, that he saw three other passengers throw themselves on that co-pilot who was attacking his colleague and capture him.

4:29And he said he was trying to just distract his son during the incident to tell him that what was happening wasn't normal.

4:35Ayesha Rascoe:I told him that it's something that happened like once in 25 years. I want him to be calm. And we are happy to come back. That seemed like the overwhelming feeling from people, just happy to have two feet back on solid ground. Yeah, I hear people, I think, singing in the background, I think, sort of to welcome people back. Do we know anything about the co-pilot who carried out this attack? We don't know much. Both the pilot and the co-pilot are alive. They're being interviewed by investigators in Saudi Arabia. The UAE has also opened an investigation, and Netanyahu has said Israel will be involved.

5:12The pilot who was stabbed is from India. Both Netanyahu and India's prime minister have commended him. And the co-pilot who did the attacking is from Oman. It's still unclear if he was acting alone. And what's been the response in Israel to all of this? This is the top story here, with the four passengers who entered the cockpit being hailed as heroes, who saved the lives of 175 people on board, according to Israeli officials. You know, it comes at a particularly political time here in Israel as national elections, which will determine whether Netanyahu remains prime minister, are less than a month away.

5:44He's been campaigning on this idea that he alone can protect Israelis from the threats that Israel faces. So this incident on the plane will almost certainly be a talking point in the coming weeks. That is. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv. Kat, thank you. Thank you.

6:06Ayesha Rascoe:President Trump promised earlier this month that he would campaign to support Republicans in 35 of the most competitive races. I'm going to go to every one of those 35 places and we're going to see if we can get everyone elected. However, instead of going to battleground states such as New Hampshire, Maine or Michigan, Trump is first heading today to the more reliably red state of Oklahoma. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez will be traveling with the president, but he's stopped by to talk to us first. Good morning, Franco. How are you? Why Oklahoma? Well, I mean, in some ways, it's just likely knocking some rust off and workshopping his campaign speech in front of a more friendly environment before heading to other states.

6:46I mean, it's certainly a place where he can get an enthusiastic response to this week's announcements for, for example, a$15 billion steel plant being built in Iowa, as well as a $54 billion investment by South Korea into a project to export natural gas from Alaska. And both of those are battleground states. Now, Alex Conant, a Republican strategist who worked in the George W. Bush White House, told me that the trip to Oklahoma and then actually to Alabama next, you know, reminds him of the 2006 midterms when Bush campaigned almost exclusively in red states. You can't go to a district or a state where there's just as many Democrats as Republicans or where there's a lot of independent voters because you're going to do more harm than good when your favorability numbers are this low.

7:34And that's because in a swing state, Trump's as likely and perhaps more likely to stir up Democrats and independent voters who are not happy with him to go out and vote against Republicans.

7:43Ayesha Rascoe:Now, we mentioned that Oklahoma is comfortably red, but could this also be about making sure it stays that way, sort of stabilizing the base, as it were? Yeah, for sure. I mean, Trump endorsed the Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Mazze, for example, and he barely won his primary. This is partly making sure that his supporters show up, Trump supporters. The challenge that Republicans have long had, and we've talked about this, is turning out low propensity voters when Trump is not on the ballot. And this trip to Oklahoma and Alabama is part of an effort to make sure those voters do come out next month for the midterms.

8:20Ayesha Rascoe:But Trump's message to the base has been, and we've heard him say this explicitly, to pretend that he is on the ballot. But isn't that a risky message considering how poorly he's doing in the polls? Yeah, but I'm not really sure Republicans have much of a choice. I mean, there is no question that some Republicans are trying to distance themselves, as we saw many skip the midterm convention. But I was talking with John McHenry, a veteran Republican pollster, and he told me that Trump is so tied to the Republican Party right now that lawmakers really have to tread carefully. And the thing that we've learned over the last couple of years is that it's impossible to run away from the president.

8:59This president has a way of throwing his arms around you. And you can't turn too far away from President Trump without turning off his voters.

9:09Ayesha Rascoe:So what is the White House or the Republican National Committee, which is helping to lead the campaign, what do they have to say about this? Yeah, an RNC official who asked for anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly told me the president is holding his rally in Durant, Oklahoma, at least in part because it's also near the Texas border and the Dallas-Fort Worth media market. The idea is to help turn out base voters in Texas as well. Now, that goes for Alabama also. The visit to Mobile, Alabama, is near Florida's panhandle. And they assured me that Trump will later visit battleground states like Florida, like Texas, Ohio, and also Michigan.

9:45Ayesha Rascoe:That is White House correspondent Franco Ordenas Franco. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle.

9:55Ayesha Rascoe:Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to continue thinning the ranks of generals and admirals even as the war with Iran continues. Yeah, that is what he told hundreds of junior military leaders in a speech Wednesday at Quantico in Virginia. Leading into culture war flashpoints, Hegseth says he has revived a warrior ethos in the military. The ideological clowns are out. the patriotic cowboys are in with testosterone testing on top. Here to tell us more is NPR's Quill Lawrence. Quill, good morning. Good morning. So what exactly does Hegseth want to do with the military leadership? Well, he says he's cut 10 % of these flag officers already and would like to try to reach 20%.

10:39And he smiled when he said in the past year these generals or admirals who disagreed with him aren't there anymore. It's pretty unusual. Well, Hegseth has been reaching way down into the promotion list to prevent some colonels from becoming generals and just not giving any explanation.

10:53Ayesha Rascoe:You know, some of these generals were highly regarded. I mean, they had vocal support from Democrats and Republicans. And so this has been controversial. So is it the number of positions he's cutting that critics object to or who he seems to be going after? No, I mean, a lot of people agree that there might be some bloat at the top of the military ranks. But it's these inferred reasons or lack of any explanation for the names that he is cutting. Air Force General C.Q. Brown, Army Generals Randy George and Chris Donahue, who are widely considered among the best. And he's fired a number of senior black and female officers.

11:29And Hexeth has implied in the past that women or non-white generals are DEI hires. He said in his speech that recruitment is up, although that often has a lot to do with the economy as much as anything else.

11:41Ayesha Rascoe:Did he have anything else to say about the war with Iran? Well, he said Iran's conventional forces are destroyed, and so is their nuclear program. He spent just as much time railing against the press corps for reporting things like low morale on these long deployments to Iran and damage to bases overseas, depleted munition stocks. Here's what he said. A free press is, of course, important. but partisan activism that intentionally smears the troops and the historic mission that they're undertaking is fundamentally anti-American. It's sick. It's a national betrayal. It's treason, actually. It's worth noting that the Pentagon hasn't had a news briefing since May, which is also very unusual.

12:24Nothing like this during 20 years of sometimes very intense war in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's also unusual, though I think we're getting used to it, It's just how partisan this speech was to a military that really prides itself on avoiding politics.

12:38Ayesha Rascoe:And I'll just note here that he seems to be objecting to reporting that is true. Did he have anything to say about actual Pentagon policy? Yes. He said he's going to elevate the chaplain corps. And he said that faith was a core strength of the U.S. military. And this week he also was announcing that he's going to be cutting civilian tenure track jobs at the U.S. military academies, all within his idea of focusing on lethality. But he also announced a new relationship with five colleges, including one historically black college to help promote military enlistment. But the biggest news is the creation of a four-star command of autonomous warfare, essentially a drone command, and a project to study innovations on the battlefield, much of which we've seen in Ukraine, and also an effort to disrupt and supercharge the Pentagon's really glacial procurement process.

13:31And that is going to involve a couple of names you'll recognize. Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, and then two tech billionaires, Palmer Luckey and Elon Musk, who led the president's project, Doge, to reform U.S. government spending last year.

13:47Ayesha Rascoe:That is NPR's Quill Lawrence. Quill, thank you. Thank you.

13:54Ayesha Rascoe:And that's Up First for Thursday, October 1st. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Martinez. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Tina Crya, Rebecca Metzler, Andrew Sussman, Mohamed Elbardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines and Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Join us again tomorrow.

14:38Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from Doubleday, publishers of The French Illusion by John Grisham. In his latest thriller, John Grisham takes you to Paris, where a young lawyer is recruited as bait in an elaborate espionage operation after newlyweds go missing on their honeymoon in the French countryside. The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA, and French intelligence working together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The French Illusion is in stores now, also available as an audiobook.

15:12Ayesha Rascoe:Support for this podcast and the following message come from Allianz Travel Insurance. A flat tire made you miss your plane to Paris. How unromantic. Trip change protection can reimburse the fees to switch your flight. Love does conquer all. Learn more at AllianzTravelInsurance.com.