Up First from NPR - Harris and Trump in Michigan, Sinwar Death Aftermath, Cuba In The Dark

Episode Date: October 19, 2024

Both presidential candidates court swing state voters. With Hamas' leader dead, what does this mean for the militant group, and for the October 7th hostages believed held in Gaza? Also - Cuba's electrical system fails.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Harris and Trump court Michigan. Kamala and the Democrats have been wreaking havoc on this place. He has no plan for how he would address the needs of the American people. I'm Scott Simon. I'm Eric Westerville. And this is Up First from NPR News. As early voting starts in Michigan, we'll hear what Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are telling voters.

Also, the aftermath of the killing of Yaya Sinwar, the Hamas leader behind the October 7 attack on Israel. What does his death mean for the militant group and for the hostages believed to be held in Gaza? And entire nation goes dark. What's behind the collapse of Cuba's electrical system? Stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend. Hey, it's Susan Davis. Yes, there is more than one election happening this year. There are 34 Senate seats up for grabs, and in the House, Republicans are clinging to a single-digit

majority. Those races will determine what the next president can do with his or her power. We're covering it all this year, but we can't do it without your support. So help us out and sign up for NPR+. Go to plus.npr.org. Hey, it's Mike and Ian. We're the hosts of How to Do Everything from the team at Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Every week we take your questions and find someone much smarter than us to answer them. Questions like, how do I safely jump out of a moving vehicle? How do I dangerously jump out of a moving vehicle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can.

Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast from NPR. out of a moving vehicle. We can't help you, but we will find someone who can. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast from NPR. Swing states are in the spotlight with just 17 days to go before election day. Polls show the presidential race to be extremely close in those states and especially in Michigan. Both Harris and Trump made multiple stops there yesterday. And that's also where we find NPR National Political Correspondent Don Gagne. In Detroit, Don, thanks for being with us. Indeed, thank you.

Where did the candidates stop? Harris had an outdoor rally in Grand Rapids. That's one of those swing counties out there where for decades old school, traditional Republicans were dominant, but lately Democrats have been able to score victories there. There was a stop in Lansing, and then at night in the Detroit suburbs, all these places where she really needs a good turnout.

And where was Donald Trump? He started with a pretty low key business round table, a discussion up in those same suburbs in the late afternoon, but his big event was a rally in downtown Detroit in the evening. So he was big event was a rally in downtown Detroit in the evening. So he was in places where he's hoping to cut into democratic margins, especially in Detroit. The region is, of course, home to a large black and Arab American population. Again, typically groups that go very big for

Democrats, but Trump wants to make inroads there. And what was his message in Detroit? So he started his remarks with kind of a do-over from an event he did in Detroit last week. Back then, he said that if Kamala Harris wins, here's the quote, our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president. It was very ominous.

There was a ton of negative reaction to that from around the region. So last night, Trump opened with this. We love this place. We love Detroit. Thank you very much. And hello to Michigan. We win Michigan, we win the whole ball game.

Thank you very much. I'm thrilled to be back in this incredible state with thousands and thousands of proud, hardworking American patriots. Thank you very much, everybody. I will tell you though, Scott, that the big takeaway from the Detroit rally was that the event was plagued by technical issues. Barely 10 minutes into the speech, just when he started talking about huge tariffs, his mic cut off abruptly, and it took nearly 20 minutes to fix it. He stayed on stage that whole time

and just kind of walked around, but clearly getting frustrated. And when he did get going again, it took a bit to find his rhythm. Then 20 minutes later, in the middle of talking about the border crisis, he tossed in this. And when I get rid of this microphone, at the end of this speech, it's going to be Liberation

Day for Donald J. Trump because I'm blowing out my voice to get this sucker done. I'm blowing out my voice. What about Kamala Harris's events? She also talked about cars together. She did, and jobs, union jobs. But where Trump is very critical of the United Auto Workers Union, she of course has been endorsed by the UAW. She was at a union local near a GM plant in Lansing

where she highlighted 650 jobs saved thanks to a $500 million federal investment to help with the transition to electric vehicles. She also responded to Trump claims that things were far better for the industry when he was president. We know America lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs when he was president, okay?

Including tens of thousands of jobs right here in Michigan. And those losses, we know and will note, started before the pandemic, okay? Making Donald Trump one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history. Notice the emphasis on losers there. Donald Trump and Vice President Harris are both making a particular appeal for the votes of black men, aren't they? They are. Democrats carry the black vote by huge margins.

Joe Biden won 90% of the black vote in 2020. Polls today put Harris's support around 80%. Donald Trump, and again, we saw this with his appearance in Detroit, thinks he is on track to do better than any Republican ever with the black vote. Don Gagne in Detroit, thanks so much. My pleasure. The Israeli military in Hamas have confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was killed earlier this week by Israeli forces. He was Israel's most wanted man in Gaza. We're joined now from Tel Aviv by Hadil El-Shalchi. Hadil, thanks so much for being with us.

Good morning. Thank you. We're learning more about the circumstances around the killing of Sinwar, aren't we? Yeah, exactly. So I'll just let you know that Israeli military has actually been chasing Sinwar for more than a year now and they finally got him, but by chance. So what happened is the military said on Wednesday that they were shooting at some Hamas militants running into a building in southern Gaza. And then a drone video showed a wounded man sitting inside the building, his face covered, and then he threw a stick at the drone and the military shelled that building, destroying it. Then troops found a body in a bulletproof vest with grenades surrounded by $10,000 in cash.

And then after that, DNA tests and dental records later identified that the body was Sinwar's. You know, Hamas came out on Friday calling his killing, quote, painful and distressing, but the militant group was defiant. It said, however many of our leaders you kill, it won't sway us and we'll get right back on our feet. And then Iran's supreme leader also chimed in this morning. He said on X, quote, Hamas is alive and will stay alive. What might Sinwar's death mean for Hamas? So like on the political side of things, some names like Hamas's political chairman, Khalid

Mishal or Sinwar's deputy Khalil al-Hayyeh have been mentioned to take his place. They've been representing Hamas outside Gaza for years in Qatar and are known as more willing to compromise. Militarily, things may not change so much. Sinwar's brother, Mohammed, has been running field operations, so if he is still alive, we may see some of those same guerrilla tactics Hamas has been using. But you know, Hamas is a group that fights to become martyrs and some Palestinians blame Sinwar for inviting war and destruction of their homes. But now others are claiming him as a hero, someone who was killed fighting the Israelis above ground and not in fact hiding in a tunnel at the time of his death. The hostagesages taken on October 7th, 101 I guess are still held in Gaza,

dozens of them might be alive. What would Sidmore's death mean for them? Right, so this week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he'd guarantee the safety of anyone who returns the hostages. And then of course the relatives of these hostages, they just want to see an immediate deal to secure their release. They want action now. But there's also serious worries that Sinwar's killing could actually backfire on the hostages. You know, they could be killed as revenge. So it's possible that also with Sinwar's death, any real knowledge of who might be holding

these hostages and where becomes more vague and uncertain. Ultimately, a deal of ceasefire talks to end the war more likely now. I mean, so with Sinwar gone, there could be some flexibility. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on his way to the region this week, but both Hamas and Israel will have to come to serious compromises if they want to make it happen. But let's not forget there's a whole other conflict to consider. Up north, Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon are trading fire. But let's not forget, there's a whole other conflict to consider. Up north, Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon are trading fire. Israel struck Beirut and launched a ground incursion.

It says that it wants to root out Hezbollah. And then it also seems like Senor's killing has made Hezbollah more defiant. It said it's entered a new escalatory phase in its war against Israel and that it even has some new types of weapons. You know, so far today, the Israeli military says at least 180 projectile rockets have been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.

And then police also said that a drone was launched directly at Netanyahu's home in Caesarea. The government did say that Netanyahu was not in the house and no one was hurt. And Piers, Hadid El-Shelchi in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much for being with us. You're welcome. Cubans are in the dark. Their power grid shut down Friday. It's a massive outage that's left 10 million people without electricity. Reporter Emily Green in Mexico City has been following the story. Emily, thanks for being with us.

Thanks so much for having me. What's the latest we know? Well, there was a trickle of power returning this morning, but the grid has collapsed again in the last few hours. The night before the blackout, the Prime Minister declared a, quote, energy emergency. He introduced measures to reduce power use across the country as state workers were told to stay at home.

Schools have been closed as well as non-essential industries. And he also sought to assuage concerns saying he expects an influx of fuel from Cuba's state-owned oil company. But the truth is that for now, many residents are using candles and lanterns. It's difficult to cook. Thousands are left without water because the infrastructure is crippled. The truth is that for now, many residents are using candles and lanterns. It's difficult to cook. Thousands are left without water because the infrastructure is crippled. A lucky few are using generators.

The last time there was a complete collapse of the power grid was after Hurricane Ian in 2022. Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel has said that everything possible is being done to fix a problem. Quote, there will be no rest until power is restored, he said. But there's still no timeframe for when the crisis is going to be resolved. Emily, what caused it? Well, according to Cuban government officials,

it was triggered shortly after the failure of one of the country's largest power plants near the capital of Havana. That, in turn, prompted a total breakdown of Cuba's electrical system. Cuba's prime minister blamed the problem on deteriorating infrastructure as well as fuel shortages exacerbated by Hurricane Milton, which has made it difficult for deliveries of much-needed fuel to reach the island. This could not have come as a total surprise to Cuban officials then, did it? I don't think so. Cuba's electrical grid and power plants are old.

They're falling apart. And because Cuba produces very little fuel of its own, it relies on imports to keep the electrical grid afloat. The big problem is that Venezuela, a political ally that for decades was Cuba's principal provider of fuel, it has slashed shipments amid its own economic crisis. Mexico and Russia have also cut exports, leaving Cuba in a very vulnerable position. For months, there have been rolling blackouts across the island, and the situation came to a head with the failure of the power plant on Friday. But this is really a crisis that's years in the making.

Help us understand the range of consequences for the Cuban people. Well, back in March, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Cuba's second largest city, furious over the lack of electricity and food. Food is a big issue. Cuba's communist government, which uses a rationing system to provide a certain amount of food per household, it started limiting its allocations of bread only to children and pregnant women. Some analysts say conditions are worse than the economic crisis that followed the collapse of

the Soviet Union in 1991, a time known as the special period. And there might be political consequences now. The Cuban government has long blamed its woes on U.S. sanctions that have complicated the island's purchase of fuel and food. And while the causes of this crisis are multifaceted, there's no doubt this is a new low for the government. You know, people are desperate. And amid this desperation, we're seeing an unprecedented number of Cubans trying to flee the island by any means possible.

The island has lost an estimated 10% of its population over the last three years. So it is a very, very precarious situation. Reporter Emily Green in Mexico City, thanks so much for being with us. Emily Green Thank you. Scott Simon. Eric Westervelt, Fernando Naro, produced today's podcast with help from Martin Patience and Elena Turek. Our director is Andrew Craig.

Our editors, Swift of keyboard and mouse are Hannah Block, Krishna Dave, Calamore, Tara Neal, and the ever delightful Shannon Rhodes and Melissa Gray. I'll Venmo them. Hannah Gloven is our technical director with engineering support from Andy Huther and Arthur Halliday-Lorant. Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor. Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer. With help this week from Julia Redpath. Thanks so much Julia. The Mighty Louise Clements is our deputy managing editor. Tomorrow on the Sunday story, staying single, NPR's Megan Keene might be able to help you learn to love your own company.

Aisha talked with her about her new book, Party of One, and about why so many people have become frustrated with dating. And while you're waiting for that episode to drop, go old school for more news, interviews, sports, music, you know, sometimes just fun. We can be guilty of that. Listen to the radio or go to stations.npr.org to find your local NPR station. You won't forget it. Arizona is a swing state with a booming Latino population.

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