Trump Announces 'Golden Fleet', Judge Rules Deportations Illegal, Heritage Exodus

Steve. Yes. Good morning. It's almost the end of the year. That's right. Yeah. And what's our favorite thing to talk about? Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta. All year. I don't know. How about if we talk about the value of public media? My favorite topic. There you go. It's what makes Up First and everything you love from NPR unique. Yeah. And the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 said that local public media stations should be responsive to their communities, and that's what NPR member stations do all the time. They're at town council meetings at the State House and in all of these city council meetings, county meetings where local newspapers aren't publishing anymore. It it's really been inspiring to me over the last few decades of being in public media to see how local coverage has expanded. And as digital paywalls rise elsewhere, NPR and its member stations provide news and information to everybody for free regardless of their ability to pay. Yeah. So everybody has access, and this is a commitment that will never change at NPR. But you all know federal funding was eliminated for public media. True. And so now we rely on your support more than ever to bring you up first and all of the other things that we do. It is really, inspiring also that people have stepped up. People like Ben in Texas who says, this is a quote, I listened up first every morning. This free resource was with me through my years as a student, and I'm giving back so that other students and young people have an approachable way to learn about the world and current events. I love this because I run into students more than one. Yeah. To set up first. And I love that Ben realizes it's a resource for him, but all these other people as well. And he's the one can help. Yeah. Yeah. And he's doing it. It's enlightened self interest, as they say. You can help keep this free public service available to everyone by signing up for NPR Plus. It's a simple recurring donation that gets you perks to NPR's podcast. Join us at +.npr.org. President Trump announced a new class of warships named after president Trump. He also issued a threat to the leader of Venezuela. If he plays tough, it'll be the last time he's ever able to play tough. What is The US plan if they force a regime change? I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Faudel, and this is up first from NPR News. A federal judge says the Trump administration illegally denied due process to a group of Venezuelans deported to El Salvador. What's next for the man whose rights were stripped? And what's driving an exodus from the conservative think tank behind project twenty twenty five. I think what's happening right now is that a movement that has oriented it around political personalities and specific political leaders …