NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-04-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

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Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. The NPR Politics podcast makes politics a breeze. Every episode will break down the day's headlines into totally normal language and make sure that you walk away understanding what the day's news might mean for you. Take a deep breath and give politics another chance with the NPR Politics podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.

President Trump was asked this weekend whether he should uphold the Constitution and responded by saying, I don't know. His comment came during a wide ranging interview and NBC's Meet the Press and PR's Luke Garrett reports. President Trump said he wants to deport millions and doesn't know if deportees deserve due process. When asked whether this violates the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, Trump responded by saying he was elected on the promise of mass deportation.

NBC's Kristen Welker then pressed the president on the issue. Given those numbers that you're talking about, don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president? I don't know. I have to respond by saying again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. In March, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law that allows a president to deport invading enemies without a court hearing. Recently, a court partially blocked

Trump's use of this act to deport Venezuelans. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. At a town hall outside of Atlanta today, Democratic Senator Rafael Warnock told voters he's disappointed in his Republican colleagues' unwillingness to push back on President Donald Trump. For Member Station WABE, Sam Gringlass has more. For nearly two hours inside Zion Hill Baptist Church, attendees were called to the mic by raffle ticket, unloading fears about Trump's tariffs and the mass firings of federal workers. But no matter the topic, most voters landed on a similar question. What are you doing about it?

Warnock said one thing he's doing is pressuring GOP senators. What I'm saying to them is that they ought to be concerned about this because like, I mean, it takes a lot of work to get to be a U.S. senator. Why would you go through all of that and then hand your power over to a wannabe autocrat? We could stop a lot of this if we could just get forwarded. Warnock told voters sometimes your voice is the only thing you've got. For NPR News, I'm Sam Greenglass in Atlanta. A hard-right nationalist politician has won the first round of Romania's presidential election. Terry Schultz reports that this is the second time Romanians cast their ballots

for president because the first vote was annulled over concerns about irregularities and foreign interference. With nearly all the votes counted, George Simeone is leading among the 11 candidates vying to be Romania's next president. Simeone heads the hard-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians party and aligns himself with President Trump, even wearing a MAGA cap. He's critical of the European Union, saying more power needs to remain with national governments, and he pledges to end Romania's aid to Ukraine.

When the now-annulled vote was held last year, far-right candidate Colin Gheorghezgu came out of nowhere to win the first round, with a largely online campaign Romanian intelligence has since concluded was propelled by Moscow. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz. And you're listening to NPR News. Thunderbolts, Marvel's latest team building exercise, is off to a decent start at box offices worldwide. NPR's Bob Mandelope has our details. For a film about decidedly minor Marvel characters, Thunderbolts did just fine. You feel fulfilled?

Yeah, so full. So fueled. By the end of the weekend, it will have taken in about $76 million in North America and another $86 million overseas, for a total of $162 million in three days. That's hardly huge for a Marvel movie, but Thunderbolts wasn't hugely expensive to produce. It's expected to play well for much of the summer. Also performing well, the third weekend of the blues-inflected vampire film Sinners. We're gonna kill every last one of you.

In three weeks, Sinners has now collected almost $180 million just in North America. Bob Mandello, NPR News. Star Wars fans held celebrations around the world today in an event known as May the Fourth Be With You. It's a nod to one of the movie's best known catchphrases and happens every year on May 4th. The day is known as Star Wars Day, and it's also celebrated by some businesses. The day has been marked by a number of events, including the release of special bobblehead dolls. Brazilian police say they've arrested two people they say were planning to explode a bomb at a concert by Lady Gaga on Saturday night.

It was the biggest concert of her career and brought some two and a half million people to the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. Police say the attempted bombing was organized by a group that spreads hate speech about the LGBTQ plus community. Lady Gaga has been an outspoken supporter of that group. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.