Trump Defends Affordability, SCOTUS & Presidential Power, Indiana Redistricting

0:00Today, we're hosting a Golden Globe-nominated podcast. I know. Did you know? I know. I can't wait for the very generous tuxedo budget that I'm sure NPR will allow me to go accept the award on NPR's behalf. I like that you're so confident that we're getting it. I need to be there in Hollywood with my people, Layla. Those are my people. Okay. Those are the people that I relate to. What was the word we learned the other day? Delulu? Famous. President Trump is headed to Pennsylvania to make his case on an issue that's hurting Republicans at the polls. The word affordability is a con job by the Democrats.

0:37Voters blame his policies for high prices, so what's the White House doing about it? I'm Martinez, that's Leila Foddle, and this is Up First from NPR News. The Supreme Court's conservative majority signaled a readiness to scrap a 90-year precedent that insulated independent agencies from White House pressure a ruling could let precedent from fire regulators for any reason. And in Indiana, Republicans are racing to pass a new congressional map, one that could wipe out the last two Democratic seats in the state. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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2:02But with your help, NRDC is making a difference. NRDC, backed by 3 million supporters and over 700 lawyers and scientists is taking on protecting the planet in the courts. To help make a difference, donate at nrdc.org slash first and your gift will be matched five times. President Trump travels to Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania today to talk about his administration's efforts to address a top concern for voters, affordability. At the White House on Monday, he gave a preview. You can call it affordability or anything you want, but the Democrats caused the affordability problem and we're the ones that are fixing it.

2:44So it's a very simple statement and they caused it, we're fixing it. This claim after he previously called affordability a, quote, hoax. The problem for Trump and Republicans is that recent polls show voters blame the president's policies for high prices. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith joins us now. Now, Tam, this sort of travel, going out and selling your policies, that's what presidents typically do, except not this year so far. Yeah. In his second term, President Trump has done very little domestic travel aimed at pitching his policies to the American people. In fact, he's done way more travel to sporting events than going out in the country and making his case.

3:25A senior White House official I spoke with who was not authorized to speak publicly readily acknowledged that this sort of messaging travel has been lacking and said the president would be ramping it up late this year and into next year, starting with today's trip to Pennsylvania, which is to a competitive congressional district. I'd rather go to sporting events, too, but that's just me. So what's this first-stop message going to be? Well, the senior White House official I spoke to said that the president will be balancing talking about what they see as real economic good news with an acknowledgement that there's more work to do.

4:00And just ask President Biden about the perils of telling people that, well, actually, the economy is fine when their cost of living is way up. Getting the tone right on the economy is something presidents have often struggled with. Trump himself has been a bit off message. Take this from a cabinet meeting last week. The word affordability is a con job by the Democrats. I watched the other day where some very low IQ congresswoman talked about affordability, affordability, affordability. She had no idea. Their prices were much higher. And inflation did get alarmingly high under Biden, but then it slowed down.

4:43The most recent inflation numbers show that the rate in September was the same as it was during Biden's last month in office. Okay, then will Trump's messaging be paired with any new policies that could actually bring prices down? It's a good question. And I'd say that you can never be certain what Trump will say until he says it. But in recent weeks, we've seen a lot of officials all the way up to the vice president asking for patience, saying it will take time for the president's policies to hit the economy. White House economist Kevin Hassett was on CNBC yesterday and said people with income from tips and overtime should get tax refunds next year.

5:21That kind of stuff is going to make it so that people are going to look at their wallets and say, oh boy, this guy's really making me better off. And in the end, that's more important than any poll. But the polls are a problem. Trying to turn that around before the midterms is part of what Trump's doing out on the road today. And yesterday, the president announced a$12 billion bailout for farmers who've been hurt by his tariffs. The administration is casting this as bridge money until the president's trade deals pay off. But it's also an acknowledgment that there are real economic pain points.

5:53All right, that's NPR's Tamara Key. Thanks a lot. You're welcome.

6:02The Supreme Court appears likely to hand President Trump another major victory. The court heard arguments Monday over whether the president should have the power to remove members of independent agencies despite laws that say he cannot. The conservative majority indicated they thought he should. NPR's Andrea Shue is listening to the arguments and joins us now. Good morning. Good morning. OK, so let's back up first and just talk about this case, which involved the firing of a federal trade commissioner who then sued the Trump administration to challenge her firing. But it's not about just that, right, Andrea?

6:38What's at stake here? Yeah, well, the FTC is one of a couple dozen government agencies that share a similar structure. You know, these are regulatory agencies, typically with three or more members representing both parties who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. and Congress dictated that the president can only fire members for cause for things like neglect of duty or malfeasance. And Amit Agarwal was representing the fired FTC commissioner in court. He argued the setup has a long history dating back to the beginning of the republic. Presidents have understood and appreciated that vital interests of the American people can be served by having constraints on the exercise of power.

7:17That is a really important part of our constitutional tradition. Okay, but it sounds like the conservative justices didn't buy that historical argument. That's right. They seem concerned that the separation of powers has gotten murky. You know, it seems like everyone agreed that independent agencies like the FTC and many others are not purely executive in function. Their board members and commissioners make rules and decide cases. Their actions affect people and businesses all over the country. And And Solicitor General John Sauer, who was representing the Trump administration, argued that's why it's a problem that they're not accountable to the president.

7:51That's a power vacuum. The president is answerable to the voters. They have no boss. The point is that power vacuum should not exist in our constitutional structure. What did the liberal justices have to say about this? Well, Leila, they took the opposite view of pretty much the same facts. Let's listen to Justice Kagan. Isn't it problematic that what this is going to amount to is putting not only all executive power in the president, but an incredible amount of legislative slash rulemaking power and judging? And Justice Sotomayor said that the administration is asking the court to destroy the very structure of government and take away from Congress this idea that some agencies are better off independent.

8:34Of course, Leila, you know, with the current makeup of the court, it's hard to see how that independence will stand. And in fact, Thomas Berry with the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, says he is really confident the court will overturn the 90-year-old precedent that limited the president's power of removal. And he spoke with NPR just after the arguments. The only real question left is how are they going to write this opinion? How broad is it going to be? What reasoning are they going to use? And to what extent, if any, will they address other contested issues? And I know one of those issues is the Federal Reserve, right?

9:06Yeah, and the court is going to be tackling a whole different case about that next month. But yesterday, Solicitor General Sauer did quote the court's own shadow docket order that called the Fed a quasi-private, uniquely structured entity with a distinct history. You know, whether the conservative majority shifts their thinking on that after next month's arguments, that remains to be seen. But for the moment, the Fed aside, it seems the court is prepared to give the president a lot more control over agencies that traditionally were independent. NPR's Andrea Hsu, thank you for your reporting, Andrea.

9:39Thanks for having me.

9:44Now to Indiana, where the state Senate is convening in a special session this week. Senators plan to vote on new political maps that would help Republicans capture all nine of Indiana's seats in Congress. It's the latest in an unprecedented wave of mid-cycle redistricting spurred by President Trump's demands to boost his party's chances in next year's midterms. NPR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass joins us now from Indianapolis. Hi, Sam. Hey, Layla. So lots of states, right, are doing this mid-cycle redistricting in this kind of tit for tat. Why is Indiana so notable? Well, first, it is high drama.

10:24We do not know what's going to happen here. Currently, Indiana is represented by seven Republicans and two Democrats. The proposed map would dismantle those two heavily Democratic districts. Even many Republican lawmakers have pushed back despite a lot of pressure from Trump and his allies. So if this effort fails, it's a huge rebuke. And if it passes, Democrats could be wiped out from Indiana's delegation. So a lot at stake here. You're there in Indianapolis. What are you seeing at stake? Hundreds of protesters with handmade signs packed the hall outside the Senate yesterday. The protesters opposed to redistricting were chanting so loudly that senators could hear it inside the chamber.

11:09127 people signed up for public comment. I met one of them, Leon Bates. Franklin said democracy is a wonderful thing if you can keep it. And here we are. We may be watching it slip away right before our eyes. Bates told me his predominantly black community will be chopped up. The new map will divide Indianapolis into four. So a voter in the city could soon be in a district that stretches 150 miles to Kentucky. Wow. So remind us why this redistricting push is happening now. Normally new maps are drawn after a census, but Trump has pushed Republican-run states to redraw before the midterms. Voter Gregory Cantor told lawmakers that Republicans have to do what they can to keep the House.

11:55It's a choice between the president, your voters elected, 60 to 40, having a full term or being a lame duck fighting endless nonsense impeachments and investigations. So now some Democratic-controlled states are trying to redistrict, too. Now, Republicans control Indiana's legislature. So why is passing this new map not a sure thing? A lot of Republicans have heard from constituents that they do not want this. The top Senate Republican initially rebuffed holding a session saying the votes just weren't there. But Trump amped up the pressure, even calling out undecided members by name. Some Republican senators like Greg Walker faced threats of violence.

12:36Last night, he said relenting in his opposition would have been like accepting a bribe and said the stakes really crystallized for him recently as he held a constituent's baby. As I thought about the future for that child, where we accept that intimidation is normal, and I shall refuse the offer for the sake of that child and the future of the state. You can really hear the emotion in his voice. Does it seem like this new map will become law? The map already passed the House and advanced out of a Senate committee last night, but the Indiana Senate Majority Leader told us we're all going to find out what will happen when the Senate votes later this week.

13:19NPR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass in Indianapolis. Thank you, Sam. Thanks, Layla. And that's Up First for Tuesday, December 9th. I'm Layla Faldin. And I'm me, Martinez. If you enjoy starting your day with Up First and our radio show, Morning Edition, and I know that you do, please consider donating to your local NPR station because it all goes to supporting reporters in your communities and around the world. So keep the NPR network strong. Visit donate.npr.org slash upburst to contribute. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Krishnadaw Kalamer, Kelsey Snell, Mohamed Elbradisi, and Alice Wolfley.

13:57It was produced by Katie Klein, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our senior supervising producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow.

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