Consider This from NPR

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The hosts of NPR's All Things Considered help you make sense of a major news story and what it means for you, in 15 minutes. New episodes six days a week, Sunday through Friday.<br><br><em>Support NPR and get your news sponsor-free with Consider This+. Learn more at plus.npr.org/considerthis</em>

  • 12 minutes 6 seconds
    Tensions escalate in in Minnesota after another killing

    Tensions escalate in Minneapolis after a second U.S. citizen is killed by immigration officers.


    It was a deadly weekend in Minneapolis. 

    On Saturday, federal immigration officers fatally shot a 37-year-old ICU nurse and U.S. citizen — Alex Pretti.

    Multiple videos captured the moments before, during and after the shooting.

    Federal officials claim Pretti “brandished” a weapon and tried to assault officers as they conducted an immigration enforcement operation.

    There is no evidence in the videos, which NPR has verified, that Pretti was ever brandishing his handgun. 

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected].

    This episode was produced by Henry Larson, Vincent Acovino and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Ted Mebane and Damian Herring.

    It was edited by Justine Kenin, Rebekah Metzler, Patrick Jarenwattananon and Courtney Dorning.

    Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    26 January 2026, 11:19 pm
  • 7 minutes 31 seconds
    How to de-escalate in Minneapolis
    The third Minneapolis shooting in three weeks has renewed questions about immigration agents’ role, training, and use of force. Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, says the border patrol and ICE agents operating in Minneapolis aren’t using the kinds of de-escalating tactics that local police have been using for at least a decade.


    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. 


    Email us at [email protected]. This episode was produced by Henry Larson. It was edited by Ahmad Damen. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    25 January 2026, 10:32 pm
  • 10 minutes 35 seconds
    Miles and worlds apart: two NPR reporters on covering the war in Gaza

    Even before this latest war in Gaza, NPR’s Jerusalem-based Correspondent Daniel Estrin and Gaza reporter Anas Baba had spent years working together in challenging circumstances. Once war broke out, they had to adapt to a situation that made reporting together even more difficult.


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    Email us at [email protected]

    This episode was produced by Linah Mohammed.. It was edited by Adam Raney and James Hider. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    24 January 2026, 11:24 pm
  • 8 minutes 51 seconds
    What's really happening in Minnesota?

    So much has happened since ICE ramped up efforts in Minneapolis. It can be hard to get a sense of the big picture. Two NPR reporters on the ground do just that.

    It’s been nearly two months since ICE descended on the streets of Minneapolis.  In that time, Renee Macklin Good has been shot and killed, children have been detained, and the federal government’s campaign to arrest undocumented immigrants has only grown bigger, more aggressive, and more intense.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected].

    Each step of the way, Minnesotans have protested what’s been happening in their state.

    This episode was produced by Michael Levitt, with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro.

    It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Eric Westervelt.

    Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.









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    23 January 2026, 10:20 pm
  • 10 minutes 34 seconds
    How HIV researchers overcame setbacks and kept a vaccine trial going

    Scientists say research into a vaccine for HIV is further along than it’s ever been.

    But Trump administration cuts to scientific research have set that effort back.



    Including a promising trial for an HIV vaccine in Africa – which was shut down altogether.

    NPR’s Ari Daniel has the story of how researchers there refused to give up.

    Ari’s reporting for this story was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center. The Gates Foundation is a financial supporter of NPR. 

    This episode was produced by Mallory Yu and Kira Wakeam.

    It was edited by Rebecca Davis and Courtney Dorning.

    Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    22 January 2026, 10:10 pm
  • 7 minutes 58 seconds
    How Trump moves political norms – both slowly and suddenly

    In the first year of his second term, President Trump has repeatedly said and done things that were previously assumed to be unacceptable to voters.

    Whether on Greenland or Gaza, federal prosecutions or federal spending, immigration enforcement or sending the U.S. military to protests of immigration enforcement, the Trump administration appears undeterred on almost all of its agenda.

    As Ashley Parker wrote in The Atlantic this week — the Trump administration has pushed the window of what’s possible in American politics so far that his opposition seems exhausted.

    She discusses her essay, “Trump Exhaustion Syndrome.”

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org

    Email us at [email protected].

    This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Janse, with audio engineering by Tiffany Vera Castro. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    22 January 2026, 12:07 am
  • 12 minutes 49 seconds
    Trump is escalating European tensions. What are the consequences?

    President Trump’s insistence that the U.S. acquire Greenland could become a major international crisis.

    He's now threatened tariffs on eight NATO allies who have expressed their opposition to the idea, and that is shaking up the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week. 



    And more tariffs would increase costs for American businesses at a time when American voters are talking about affordability at home.

    Willem Marx reports from Davos, and NPR’s Scott Horsley and Mara Liasson recap the economic and political fallout.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org

    Email us at [email protected].

    This episode was produced by Marc Rivers and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Ted Mebane and Hannah Gluvna. It was edited by Kelsey Snell, Rafael Nam, Nick Spicer and Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    21 January 2026, 2:27 pm
  • 7 minutes 16 seconds
    Trump is rewriting the rules of the economy…is it ‘crony capitalism’?

    President Trump has spent his first year back in office blurring the lines between business and government. 


    The administration has bought shares in private companies like Intel, NVIDIA, and others involved in mining and energy. President Trump has also publicly pressured CEOs, and forced the restructuring of social media giants like TikTok.

    NPR financial correspondent Maria Aspan says that’s generating a lot of questions, and worries, about the future of the U.S. economy. 

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.  Email us at [email protected].


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    19 January 2026, 9:50 pm
  • 10 minutes 15 seconds
    Beth Israel Congregation rebuilds after arson, saying "there's healing that comes"

    A week after an arson fire at Mississippi's oldest synagogue, Rachel Myers, a leader of the congregation's religious school, talks about how the congregation is doing and how it will rebuild. It’s not the first time the congregation has been attacked. In the late 1960s, the synagogue and the rabbi’s home were bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in retaliation for the congregation’s work on behalf of civil rights.


    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. 

    Email us at [email protected]

    This episode was produced by Avery Keatley and Henry Larson, with additional reporting from Shamira Muhammad of Mississippi Public Broadcasting. It was edited by Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    18 January 2026, 10:31 pm
  • 10 minutes 19 seconds
    How the Trump Justice Department is targeting his perceived opponents

    Under the Trump administration, federal prosecutors have been sent to investigate federal lawmakers, the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the widow of Renee Macklin Good.



    The Department of Justice is once again at the center of the news.

    At least five federal lawmakers say they have been contacted for questioning from federal prosecutors. So has the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

    And in Minnesota, career federal prosecutors resigned after being asked to investigate not the shooting that killed Renee Macklin Good, but her widow’s potential ties to activist groups.

    NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro and NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson break down the week in Justice Department news.


    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.  Email us at [email protected].

    This episode was produced by Megan Lim and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Kelsey Snell, John Ketchum and Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    16 January 2026, 9:28 pm
  • 7 minutes 33 seconds
    Do federal agents have 'absolute immunity?'

    Vice President J.D. Vance says the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Macklin Good last week has "absolute immunity." Some legal experts have pushed back.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.  Email us at [email protected].

    This episode was produced by Kathryn Fink. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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    15 January 2026, 8:59 pm
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