Brexit ... but make it American
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We can start the show. We can start the show. Can we? I guess we can. I guess we can. Hey everyone, I'm Kyle Rosdahl. Welcome back to Make Me Smart, where we make today make sense.

I'm Kimberly Adams. Thank you for joining us on this Monday, April the 14th. Another adventure of a week in the new America. We've got news and some smiles on deck today. Let's start with the news. And we have to start with yours because I literally went into the rundown to change my news item. And I saw that you had already changed your news item to be this story, which is unbelievable. So is that what we're calling it, by the way, the new America? Is that where we are?

I mean, I feel like we are. I mean, I kind of kind of kind of kind of. So how to how to frame this. So what happened today is that President Bukele of El Salvador is in Washington to visit with the president. And as happens when foreign leaders come to visit with President Trump, they usually spend a whole lot of time in front of the cameras visiting.

in the Oval Office, which in normal times is just a quickie pool spray for pictures, and then everybody gets ushered out. But this president likes to chit-chat with press, and so those pool sprays, as they are known, have become quite the thing. And the cameras are running even before the two dignitaries get in there. And today, as the cameras were running and the live feed was going, the two walked in,

And the cameras and the microphones picked up Trump, President Trump saying to President Bukele, talking about clearly the criminals that President Trump wants to send down there. And let's be clear, we're not at all sure who he has sent down there already. They're just people who the administration didn't like and claim were gag members. Nothing having to do with criminal records at all. Anyway, Trump says to Bukele, homegrowns are next. You're going to have to build about five more places down there.

Homegrown is, of course, in this context, being American citizens that the president of the United States wants to deport to El Salvador mega prisons. I don't even I don't even know what to say.

Deport to El Salvador mega prisons and with no recourse of coming back, as we're seeing, because what also came up in this pool spray is Trump and Bukele basically coordinating to refuse to adhere to the Supreme Court's ruling that they needed to bring back the Maryland man who was mistakenly deported.

Because Trump is saying, well, we can't do anything about it. It's up to El Salvador. And El Salvador is saying, well, we would never do that. Why would we do that? And clearly, as evidenced by what you just said, Kai, Trump has some influence here and could do it if he wanted to. But now that they're saying that.

Clearly, the administration feels no responsibility to adhere to the court's ruling on this. It is saying out loud that this administration believes it is within its rights to deport whomever they want, American citizen or no, without due process, with no recourse. That's what's happening. I'm no lawyer, but this sure sounds like a constitutional crisis to me.

Yeah. Yeah, it is. I don't know where we go from here. I truly don't know. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of gets back to this conversation we've had over and over again about sort of where we draw our lines and what we change once that line is crossed. Yeah.

when do we change our day-to-day lives? When do we meaningfully do something different when it has gone so far? I posted this in Slack in our, like, you know, kind of, hey, this is what we're reading channel. But The Hollywood Reporter has this article about how Fox Nation is

has a game show about people who've been isolated the last 90 days. And they're basically going to quiz them on stuff that happened in the last 90 days. Like they haven't had phone or TV or internet or anything. And they're going to be quizzing them about like what's real versus what isn't. And,

I don't imagine that anybody who's been out of it for 90 days is going to be able to differentiate reality from made up scenarios. And to be perfectly honest, I don't think they're going to keep the show going or at least keep it honest because I can't imagine the reactions are going to be good to people coming out of that. Yeah, this is extraordinarily serious. This is extraordinarily serious. I think we're at that moment, right? This is now the moment.

Yeah. You know, and I don't, I don't know, truly. My news items really pale in comparison, but I'm going to bring them up anyway because they're

They matter. The continuing cuts that are being made throughout the federal government. And we have a deep dive tomorrow on like this reconciliation package that Congress is working on because this kind of ties into that, too. But among the cuts that are being made are these cuts to a Medicaid program fund.

That allowed states to use Medicaid grants to offset like individual programs. And this has kind of gone back and forth, like Trump didn't like it the first time around or his administration didn't like it. And so they pulled it back. Biden reinstated it. And it gets used for things like making sure doctors have access to high speed Internet in rural areas or using Medicaid funds to maybe.

supplement, like housekeeping services for people who have limited mobility or need some support to maintain their health. And one of the things that Republicans in the Trump administration have said over and over and over again is that they're not going to cut Medicare or Social Security, right? But Medicaid is also a very important program that supports a lot of people's health. And

Yeah.

Yeah.

you know, if you or someone you love relies on Medicaid for maybe something that you were like, oh, I'm surprised that Medicaid covers this, might want to double check because it may not be covered in the foreseeable future. Did you have any thoughts on that before I go to the other one? No, no, no. Go ahead. Go ahead. Keep going. So the other one is very relevant to you and I and our feelings about cruises.

All right. Let's be clear here. I'm the one who doesn't go on cruises. You're the one who... I've gone on many, but it is not my favorite thing to do. I understand. And I particularly... Anyway, let's not get into my feelings about cruises. Let's talk about the Department of Health and Human Services, which has laid off all full-time cruise ship health inspectors. Now...

If you've heard stories about big cruise ships, you often hear about like norovirus outbreaks and other diseases that can spread like wildfire in confined spaces like a cruise ship. Right. There were and I'm reading here from the Huff Post. Only a dozen public health service officers have reportedly been left to handle current and future ship inspections, which totaled nearly 200 last year. And this is the federal team tasked with protecting

preventing, investigating, and responding to public health illnesses on cruise ships. And all the full-time employees for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program have been laid off, leaving just 12 public health service officers left to handle the current and future ship inspections. And this is first reported by CBS News. Now then, think about how many cruise ships there are. Yes. And think about how big they are.

And think about 12 people doing all the checks necessary or responding to any and all outbreaks. So just something to keep in mind as you plan your next vacation. All right, Jake, let's go.

I'll go first because yours is actually the smile. Mine is the what is the matter with you people? I had this thought the day that all this tariff mishegas started, like back even before, air quotes here, Liberation Day. What the Trump administration is doing to the American economy is exactly what Brexit did to the British economy. And I will just, this came to mind today because there's an article in the New York Times. I would just read you some random statistics from the newspaper of record.

The British government's Office of Budget Responsibility estimates that Britain's overall trade volume is about 15% lower than it would have been had it remained in the EU. Gross domestic product is 5.5% lower. That's not five percentage points, but 5.5% lower, according to a think tank over there. Trade in goods, 7% lower. I mean, all of this stuff, the Brits did it to themselves, and everybody who voted for Donald Trump did it to us.

That's not a smile. It's a, come on, man, really? I just, I couldn't. I couldn't.

This is a very apt comparison for a much less serious reason, because one of the things that came out of Brexit was a tweet at the time that has become a well-established meme in the new Trump era. And so this guy named Adrian Bott was like responding to a

flipping out about like the actual consequences of Brexit, particularly the people who had voted for it. And this was a tweet on October the 16th, 2015. And he said, it was like in quotes, I never thought the leopards would eat my face. Sobs woman who voted for the leopards eating people's faces party. Right. And...

Right. So very funny. And it gets used a lot in terms of like people kind of making fun of people who voted for Trump and then are surprised at the outcome of voting for Trump. And this has become incredibly popularized by a comedian named Francesca Ramsey, who has literally written a song about.

About leopards eating people's faces. And every time, not every time, but often when there's like an article about something like that, she brings out her little ukulele and sings this leopards eating faces song. Can't make this stuff up, people. All because of Brexit and a funny tweet. Yep. All right. Okay. You, of course, have seen The Martian, the movie. I have. Yes. Many a time. Many a time. Read the book, too. Yes.

And there is a, you know, interesting scene in that movie and in that book where the astronaut has to take the poop from all of the other astronauts that had left him behind or, you know, and turn it into fertilizer to try to survive on Mars. Right. So.

In science fiction becoming reality, there's a story in UPI talking about NASA offering $3 million in a competition to recycle human poop in space. No joke? I'm just going to read here.

Wow. Wow.

Currently, I'm reading here, 96 bags of human waste that were left behind on the moon by astronauts from the Apollo missions. And the aim of the Luna Recycle Challenge is to prevent adding to the stinky space stash. Didn't know there were 96 bags of poop on the moon. I did know that. But also, I'm kind of amazed that this is a complicated problem. I mean, we've been dealing with feces for as long as there's been humans.

But you often need oxygen to kick off the processes that help break that down. That's true. I should also point out that I saw an article earlier about cuts at NASA to the programs for getting people to the moon and Mars. So, you know, smile with the caveat. Yeah.

We're leaving on the proof. We're going to get out on the proof. We're going to leave it on the proof. That's so appropriate. All right. That is it for today. Join us tomorrow for our weekly deep dive. So last week, House Republicans passed this multi trillion dollar budget framework, although some of them are trying to say it doesn't cost anything. But that's a whole other thing. It's one of the first steps to making President Trump's domestic policy agenda a reality. And it is a big part of the tax cuts that they're trying to extend.

So very appropriate for tax day tomorrow. We are going to unpack where the budget process goes from here, what the tax provisions that are in there are going to do, and all of the super wonky details that are super important to pay attention to. So tune in. Can't wait for some super wonky budget details. Come on, this is my wheelhouse. Let me be excited. You go, girl. You go. Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergseger. Our intern is Ola Malek. Today's program is engineered by Jake Cherry.

Marissa Cabrera is our senior producer. Bridget Bodner is the director of podcasts. And Francesca Levy is the executive director of digital. I actually printed out the whole thing. It's 68 pages long. You did not. I know it's killed a lot of trees, but it's fascinating. If there's one thing we know about social media, it's that misinformation is everywhere, especially when it comes to personal finance.

Financially Inclined from Marketplace is a podcast you can trust to help you get serious about your money so you can build a life you've always dreamed of. I'm the host, Janelia Espinal, and each week I ask experts important money questions, like how to negotiate job offers, how to choose a college that you can afford, and how to talk about money with friends and family. Listen to Financially Inclined wherever you get your podcasts.