Trump is scheduled to land in San Diego at 11:30 a.m. today, in his first ever presidential visit to the golden state. The whirlwind, 24-hour visit includes an official review of a border wall prototype and a Republican National Committee roundtable. We analyze his agenda and the response from California residents.
Looking ahead to President Trump’s CA visit today
President Trump makes his first visit as president to California Tuesday.
The President is expected to speak to troops, attend a fundraiser and inspect recently constructed prototypes for a border wall with Mexico. The visit comes amid tension between the two governments, President Trump’s administration has been at odds with California Democrats over policies from immigration to tax reform.
Meanwhile, advocacy groups were expected to begin protesting before Air Force One lands today in a state where voters supported Hillary Clinton by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in 2016.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Scott Shafer, senior editor for the Politics and Government Desk at KQED, our sister NPR affiliate in San Francisco; host of the the new show Political Breakdown on KQED
Erik Anderson, reporter at KPBS, our sister NPR affiliate in San Diego; he’s at Otay Mesa, a community just north of the US-Mexico border covering a pro-Trump rally
John Sepulvado, host of the show "California Report" on KQED, our sister NPR affiliate in San Francisco; he’s at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near the border covering President Trump’s visit; he tweets
Rexit: Tillerson out, Pompeo in. The future of the State Department and CIA
On Tuesday, President Trump announced via tweet that Rex Tillerson is no longer Secretary of State and that he will be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
Pompeo is seen as having a closer relationship with Trump and being more in step with the President’s “America first” rhetoric.
The ousting of Tillerson follows a period of tension between him and the president. It’s been reported that Trump decided to transition ahead of talks with North Korea and trade negotiations. According to reports, Tillerson did not know the reason for his firing.
CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel will take over as the head of the CIA. She has had a long career within the CIA, and will be the first woman to lead the agency. There has been some controversy surrounding her name, regarding her charge of CIA “black site” prisons, where there was use of violent interrogation techniques that some have condemned as torture.
Why did Trump fire Tillerson and what will the State Department look like under Pompeo? Who is Gina Haspel and what does her leadership portend for the CIA?
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Steven Feldstein, former deputy assistant secretary on the U.S. State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (2014-2017) and an associate professor of public affairs at Boise State University; he tweets
John Woodward, former Central Intelligence Agency officer (1985-1997, 2006-2015); he has served in the directorate of operations in the CIA; he is a professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University
State bill to create pilot programs for congestion pricing in CA could mean ‘go zones’ are coming to a city near you
It’s no secret that many Californians spend countless hours sitting in traffic every year, and Los Angeles is a city that is constantly balancing its long-standing car culture with the desire of most Angelenos to not have to spend so much time sitting in soul-crushing traffic on Southern California’s massive network of freeways.
Congestion pricing, a system that would require drivers to pay a toll or fee to enter specific areas of a city like downtown with the intent of reducing congestion, is one option that has been tossed around as a way to cut down on congestion in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, where California sees some of its worst traffic. Now, there’s movement in Sacramento to look at the feasibility of implementing the system here.
Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) is co-sponsoring a bill with State Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) that would create pilot programs in Northern and Southern California to assess how congestion pricing, sometimes referred to as “Go Zones.” In addition to creating the programs, it creates a carve out to a state law that allows jurisdictions running the pilot programs to charge the kind of permit fees that would be levied in a congestion pricing system, when state law would otherwise prohibit it. Other major cities like Stockholm, Sweden and London have had varying levels of success with their own congestion pricing programs, but it’s unclear whether and how it would affect the number of cars on the road in California.
So how does congestion pricing actually work when applied? What are the arguments for and against? What have other cities who have implemented similar systems learned? And would it realistically work in a place like Los Angeles or San Francisco?
An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated that Asm. Bloom's office did not respond to our request for comment. We did receive a timely response saying that Asm. Bloom was unable to join the discussion but the email was somehow funneled to an unchecked inbox and our producers did not see it until after the airing of the segment. We have made a correction and regret the error.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Amanda Eaken, director of transportation and climate with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Urban Solutions Program; she tweets
Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation
New global trend: rule forever? Xi Jinping’s term limits removed, plus Russia’s upcoming presidential election
On Sunday, China’s national legislature voted 2,958 to 2 to nix the presidential term limit, effectively allowing President Xi Jinping to rule for life.
The vote was not surprising. Xi has removed much of his opposition from his party, while also beefing up his own leadership roles. He would have had to step down in 2023, but has now ensured that he will stay in power for a substantial length of time.
Meanwhile, Russia is gearing for its election on March 18, which is almost without question going to go to current president Vladimir Putin, whose opposition is less worrisome than the possibility of a low voter turnout. Putin has been in power for almost 18 years. In 2008, the Russian constitution was amended to extend presidential terms from four years to six. Could Putin pull a Xi Jinping and extend the limits beyond his 2024 expiration date?
We get the latest on the legislature’s vote in China and what it portends, plus a preview of the Russian election.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations; her forthcoming book is “The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State” (Oxford University Press, April 2018)
Yuval Weber, expert on Russian domestic politics and international security; global fellow at the Wilson Center and Daniel Morgan Graduate School; his forthcoming book is "Designed to Fail: Patterns in Russian Economic Reform, 1860-2018" (Fall 2018, Agenda/Columbia University Press)
Will risk-enhanced playgrounds help build your child’s resilience?
Playgrounds are an important setting to a child’s development, from providing opportunities for physical activities to contributing to cognitive learning.
For decades educators invested in minimizing risks for children in playgrounds. Sand, for instance, has been used more sparingly in public playgrounds in recent decades because of the danger of hidden glass or animal feces, part of the “sterilization” of play that risk advocates complain about.
But this notion is being challenged today. Researchers are working on bringing that element of risk back into a child’s everyday environment. Bringing in risk, some researchers say, helps build resilience in children. Do you think a risk-enhanced playground will do more good than harm?
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guest:
Barbara Sarnecka, associate professor of cognitive sciences at University of California in Irvine, specializing in cognitive development; she authored a study on how people overestimate the risks children face if left alone.
Live coverage: Trump’s California visit
AirTalk guest host Libby Denkmann checks in with reporters after President Trump lands in Miramar.
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
John Sepulvado, host of the show “California Report” on KQED, our sister NPR affiliate in San Francisco; he’s at Otay Mesa in San Diego County covering President Trump’s visit; he tweets
Susan Murphy, multimedia reporter for our sister affiliate KPBS in San Diego; she is at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar where President Trump is slated to deliver a speech to members of the military at 2 p.m. PST
Rebecca Plevin, immigration reporter for the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs, part of the USA Today Network; she is in Tijuana by the U.S.-Mexico border; she tweets