The Headlines - Trump ‘Not Joking’ About Third Term, and the Myanmar Earthquake Toll

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Plus, trying the impossible at the Olympics. On Today’s Episode:Trump Says He’s ‘Not Joking’ About Seeking a Third Term in Defiance of Constitution, by Erica L. GreenGreenland’s Prime Minister Says the U.S. Will Not ‘Get’ the Island, by Yan ZhuangTrump’s U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Hobble Earthquake Response in Myanmar, by Hannah Beech and Edward WongHaiti Doesn’t Make Guns. So How Are Gangs Awash in Them?, by David C. Adams and Frances RoblesSkateboarders Are Defying Gravity Once Again, by Lindsey AdlerTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, March 31st. Here's what we're covering. Just hours ago, President Trump called me to tell me he is, quote, pissed off with Russia's President Putin. President Trump gave a sprawling phone interview this weekend to NBC's Kristen Walker. Walker described their conversation, which wasn't broadcast, on

Meet the Press. She said a major focus of the interview was Russia. Trump is growing impatient with how slowly ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine have been moving and said he's considering tariffs to force Russia to make a deal. Mr. Trump said 25 percent tariffs on Russian oil could happen any moment and told me he plans to speak with President Putin this week. The president also talked about the tariffs he's putting in place on foreign cars and car parts. Trump said he's not backing down from the plan, even as the stock market has plunged in response.

And on fears of foreign automakers raising prices, quote, I couldn't care less if they raise prices because people are going to start buying American made cars. Trump acknowledging that prices might go up was a rare admission that his economic policy could cause economic hardship for Americans. In the interview, the president also claimed that a lot of people want him to serve a third term, even though the Constitution says he can't. When Welker said that was something she heard him joke about a lot, the president said,

quote, No, no, I'm not joking. I'm not joking. Though he also said he was focused on his current term at the moment. Over the weekend, the Trump administration also doubled down on its insistence that the U.S. will take control of Greenland. Vice President J.D. Vance made a three-hour long visit to the island. A U.S. delegation was originally supposed to take a much longer trip that would have included stops at cultural sites and a dog sled race, but that was scrapped after local residents said they planned a protest. Instead, Vance

only visited a U.S. military base there. In a speech, he framed the region as critical for U.S. national security. We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways and Arctic naval routes. Vance also took aim at Denmark, which largely oversees Greenland. Our message to Denmark is very simple. You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have under invested in the people of Greenland. That has to change. In response to the Trump administration's repeated assertions that the U.S. will get

Greenland, the territory's prime minister said yesterday, quote, let me be clear, the United States will not get it. We do not belong to anyone else. We decide our own future. In Myanmar, rescue teams have been using sledgehammers and drills to dig through collapsed buildings and look for survivors after a powerful earthquake shook the country on Friday. More than 1,700 people have been killed, according to officials there, and the death toll is expected to rise significantly. In the aftermath of the quake, the country's military junta, which has avoided asking for

outside assistance in past disasters, made a rare appeal for help. Russia, China, and India quickly sent in rescue teams. But for the moment, the U.S., which used to be a leader in foreign aid, appears to have sent nothing. While the American Embassy in Myanmar said the U.S. plans to provide $2 million in assistance, many of the programs that would have helped actually distribute that aid have been disrupted by the Trump administration. And in Washington, a handful of USAID employees who were trying to coordinate a response to

the quake got emails as they were in the middle of their work telling them they were laid off. A former top official at USAID told the Times that the lack of support could undermine America's relationships in the region. He said, quote, "'If we don't show up and China shows up, that sends a pretty strong message.'"

In Haiti, for over a year now, gangs have been terrorizing the country's capital city. They've taken over whole neighborhoods, murdered hundreds of people with impunity, and Haiti's police force has been overwhelmed, in part because they're essentially outgunned. Experts say that there are up to half a million illegal firearms in the streets in Haiti. And the big question is, how do they get there? Francis Robles, along with her colleague David Adams, are part of the team covering Haiti for the Times. They've been reporting on how the country has been flooded with weapons, despite the fact that it's illegal to ship any there. flooded with weapons, despite the fact that it's illegal to ship any there. Frances says that experts they talk to say that most of the weapons are coming from the U.S.

One of the most common methods for smuggling guns is the use of straw buyers. And that's where a person in the United States goes to a gun store or a gun website and just buys them. And so a person who's illegally shipping guns to Haiti will get various straw buyers to make these purchases for them. They gather all the loot and then they send them by freighter to Haiti. The shipments are really hard to track

because they usually go out on these freighters that leave South Florida and they're packed with stuff. I mean, they're packed with used clothes and bicycles and all kinds of things. And in most countries, customs inspect the packages and shipments coming in. They don't really inspect very much of the ones going out. So very, very few of these shipments get caught. Francis says Haiti is not alone in being overrun by American weapons.

Many countries across Latin America are dealing with the same issue. In Mexico, for example, most of the guns recovered from crime scenes come from the United States. States. And finally, in 1999, Tony Hawk did what seemed impossible. The skateboarder launched himself up off the half pipe and completed a 900, a trick named for the number of degrees he spun around in the air. He turned his body a full two and a half times while off the ground, and then landed on his board smoothly. Now, almost 30 years later,

officials are set to decide whether people can try a trick like that in the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. Despite all the excitement back when Hawk pulled off the trick, the 900 belongs to vert skateboarding, a niche form of the sport which has fallen out of the spotlight as park and street-style skateboarding has become more popular. They're easier to learn, no giant ramps necessary. So while skateboarding has been featured in the last two Olympic Games, vert skateboarding,

with its big air moves has not been. But a younger crop of skaters wants to change that. They've been tackling the tricks faster than even Hawk can comprehend. The 900 was a lifelong goal for him, and there are now skaters who've landed the trick at age 12. Hawk told the Times that some of that's because skaters are now starting younger than ever. Where kids used to be told skateboarding was a bad influence, now they're encouraged. There's whole dedicated training facilities. Olympic officials will make their decision next week about whether there will be a vert event at the Summer Games. Hawk has even offered to supply the ramp.

Those are the headlines today on The Daily. How the Trump administration is targeting students on college campuses for deportation. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.