Letters from an American - May 23, 2025

Episode Date: May 24, 2025

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May 23rd, 2025. I want to record three things that jumped out to me today because they seem to tell a story. After S.V. Dutte of HuffPost noted last week that the White House had published fewer than 20% of Trump's speeches, the White House has stopped publishing a database of official transcripts of President Donald J. Trump's announcements, appearances, and speeches altogether, and has taken down those it had published.

Instead, it will just post videos. And yet, it is publishing just a few of the videos of the president's term, so far fewer than 50 videos of the first 120 days of his term, according to Brian Stelter of CNN. A presidential administration traditionally publishes the president's words promptly to establish a record. The Trump White House, in contrast, says removing the transcripts will enable people to get a better sense of Trump by watching his videos. But it's likely closer to the truth that Trump's appearances since he took office have been erratic,

and removing the transcripts will make it harder for people to read his nonsensical rambles. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said, the Trump White House is the most transparent in history. But of course, it's objectively not. White House officials have made it impossible to tell who is making decisions at the Department of Government Efficiency, for example, or who gave the order to render migrants to El Salvador. Now the President's words, too, will be hidden. Trump's erratic behavior was on full display this morning

when he announced that he will impose a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union on June 1st, suggesting he is frustrated because his promises of a new trade deal have failed to materialize. Trump had threatened to stop negotiating and simply dictate terms, and that's apparently the direction he's moving. I'm not looking for a deal, he said this afternoon.

We've set the deal. It's at 50%. Trump also threatened a 25% tariff on Apple products unless the company begins to make the iPhone in the U.S. Elizabeth Buchwald of CNN reported that three major European stock market indexes fell after Trump's threat. U.S. stock market indexes fell for the fourth day. They rose from their lowest point after the White House said Trump's tariff comments were not a formal statement of policy.

So the President of the United States can tank world markets only to have his own staff inform the media that his comments should not be taken seriously. The third story is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has denied North Carolina's request that it honor a commitment made by President Joe Biden to pay for 100% of the costs for removal of debris after Hurricane Helene devastated the western part

of the state in September 2024. That storm killed 107 people in western North Carolina and destroyed or damaged 75,000 homes, as well as destroying roads and leaving mounds of debris. As Zach Coleman of Politico reported yesterday, the storm hit in the last weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, and Trump undermined FEMA's response, lying that it was not present and telling North Carolinians that the Biden administration could not help them

because it had taken money from FEMA for undocumented immigrants. None of what he was saying was true, but maga-mouthpieces picked up his criticisms and exaggerated them, claiming that the federal government intended to steal people's land, that Biden had directed the to steal people's land, that Biden

had directed the storm to western North Carolina, and that 28 babies had frozen to death in FEMA tents. All lies, but lies that slowed recovery as riled-up people who believed them refused assistance, threatened officials, and demanded investigations. Trump suggested he would respond more effectively to voters in North Carolina, and two of the hardest hit counties there, Avery and Haywood, backed him in 2024

by margins of 75.7% and 61.8%, respectively, similar to those it had given him in 2016 and 2020. Once in office, though, Trump began to talk of eliminating FEMA. Now the White House has told North Carolina residents they're on their own as they try to dig out from Hurricane Helene. Taken together, these stories from today seem to provide a snapshot of this moment in American history. They show an erratic president whose own officials discount his orders even as power is concentrating in the executive office, and who won election through lies that are now being exposed as as his policies disproportionately hurt the very people who backed him most enthusiastically.

Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.