Up First from NPR - Harris' Big TV Interview, Trump On IVF, Deadly Listeria Outbreak

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

In her first major interview as the presidential nominee Kamala Harris was forward-looking while also defending Biden's policies. Donald Trump has been speaking in more moderate terms about reproductive rights. A deadly food-borne bacteria linked to deli meat has killed at least nine people a hospitalized dozens more.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In a CNN interview, Vice President Harris said she would turn the page from a decade of bitter politics. The true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. But how did she answer questions about what her own policies would be? I'm Steve Inskeep with Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. At events in Michigan and Wisconsin, the other presidential candidate defended himself and his vice presidential candidate. He's not weird and I'm not weird. I mean, we're a lot of things. We're not weird. Donald Trump has also been adjusting the way he talks about reproductive rights. And an outbreak of bacteria in deli meat has killed at least nine people.

The size of the recall is also concerning because it suggests that there was an ongoing problem and we're still seeing cases. What can you do to stay safe? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. Listening to the news can feel like a journey, but the 1A podcast guides you beyond the headlines and cuts through the noise. Listen to 1A, where we celebrate your freedom to listen by getting to the heart of the story together. Only from NPR. Numbers that explain the economy. We love them at the Indicator from Planet Money. And on Fridays, we discuss indicators in the news, like job numbers, spending, the cost of food, sometimes all three. So my indicator is about why you might need to bring home more bacon to afford your eggs.

I'll be here all week. Wrap up your week and listen to the Indicator podcast from NPR. Every weekday, NPR's best political reporters come to you on the NPR Politics podcast to explain the big news coming out of Washington, the campaign trail, and beyond. We don't just want to tell you what happened. We tell you why it matters. Join the NPR Politics Podcast every single afternoon to understand the world through political eyes. Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with CNN for her first major interview as the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris said she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if elected, and she responded to questions about her policy shifts over the years. The most important and most significant aspect of my

policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. With Dana Bash, she worked through some of the policy changes running for president in 2019, she said she would ban fracking. But in the interview, she insisted she had changed her mind by a little bit later in that same campaign in 2020 that she's been in favor of fracking for years and would not ban it now. Republicans had criticized Harris for avoiding interviews up to now, which raised the stakes on this one. And here's Asma Khalid. Watch the interview. And she is with us now. Good morning, Asma. Good morning. And I want to mention here that you've also interviewed Kamala Harris a number of times, and you've been covering her. What was your major takeaway? Well, I think you see in this interview that she has grown. I mean, she's certainly more

practiced in how to interview and how to answer, I'm sorry, reporter questions than when I first interviewed her. But this was also a different format. It was a joint interview with her running mate, Tim Walz. You know, broadly, Michelle, this was not an earth shattering interview. Republicans and Democrats will take from it whatever they want that reinforces their own pre-existing perceptions of her. To some, she is seen as pragmatic. To others, she's long winded. And I think they could take whatever they want either way in that interpretation from last night's interview. You know, she was largely offering a continuation of President Biden's policies. One area that caught my attention was the economy, because it is one of the Democrats' biggest vulnerabilities. Many voters remain frustrated with high prices.

She acknowledged that, but also championed the work that the Biden administration has done on things like lowering Medicare drug prices and creating manufacturing jobs. What we have done to improve the supply chain so we're not relying on foreign governments to supply American families with their basic needs, I'll say that that's good work. There's more to do, but that's good work. Did she offer any, say, new proposals that one could point to as her own? Not much. I mean, she was asked to spell out about what she would do on day one as president, and she talked in vague terms about strengthening the middle class.

But, you know, I'd also say that detailed policy proposals are not central to how she's campaigning. She talks about herself as being a new way forward and turning the page on an era of negative politics that has dominated our culture this last decade. Where there is some suggestion, warped I believe it to be, that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of where I believe most Americans are,

which is to believe that the true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. That's what's at stake as much as any other detail that we could discuss in this election. So as you hear there, I mean, she sees this campaign about character. And it sounds obviously like she was alluding to former President Trump. Did she have more to say about her Republican opponent? Well, she critiqued his time in office and said that he mismanaged the COVID crisis. But when she was asked to respond to disparaging comments about her racial identity, she brushed off the question saying, quote, same old tired playbook. Next question, please. You know, it strikes me that in this race to define her, she does not want to play on Trump's

terms. What's interesting is that she and Trump have never really interacted in person before. They're expected to meet on the debate stage September 10th and that will perhaps be, I think, one of the most important moments of this truncated campaign, a chance to see how they respond to questions face-to-face in front of one another and to one another. That is NPR's Asma Khalid. Asma, thank you. Good to speak with you. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, meanwhile, worked to counter-program the vice president and her running mate Tim Walz. At that interview on CNN that we just talked about, the former president held a town hall in the key battleground state of Wisconsin. In two events Thursday, in fact, Trump tried out some new material mixed in with his usual talking points about

immigration and inflation. He traveled to Michigan as well as Wisconsin. Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters was at that event in La Crosse and he's with us now. Good morning, Clay. Good morning. So Trump started his town hall with a question about IVF, in vitro fertilization, a bit of a different topic for him. This came after he told a reporter earlier in the day that he wanted IVF to be covered by the federal government or mandated with private insurance. Did he talk about this later Thursday? Yeah, the question at this, what the campaign called a town hall, came from former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who was the moderator of this event that put on by the campaign. She told a story about how she and her husband tried for years to get pregnant with IVF and were unsuccessful.

Of course, IVF is a surprise political issue in the post-Roe reproductive rights landscape. Trump reiterated what he said earlier in the day to an NBC News reporter in Michigan that he supports IVF and wants it to be widely available. We are going, the government is going to pay for it or we're going to get or mandate your insurance company to pay for it, which is going to be great. And I should note, Trump did not provide any specific details whatsoever. And of course, this is part of a bigger change in rhetoric around reproductive rights that Trump has been trying out. And, you know, abortion being a primary issue here. Did he talk about that? Well, in that same NBC News interview

earlier Thursday, Trump indicated he would vote in favor of abortion rights in Florida's ballot measure. The campaign was quick to push back after the interview saying President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida. He simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short. Florida has a six-week abortion ban in effect right now. But abortion is clearly still an issue Trump is wrestling with. He didn't last night, but he regularly touts being the one who, you know, appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. In Wisconsin last night, he he regularly touts being the one who appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. In Wisconsin last night, he used the issue to criticize Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He accused Walz of supporting abortions into the third trimester of pregnancy, though

he did not back that up with any evidence. So you just said that he's been using abortion as a way of he's trying out this attack line against Tim Walz. With Rawls new to the ticket, what are his storylines like? How are his attacks shaping up? La Crosse, Wisconsin, right across the Mississippi River from Minnesota. So there were a lot of people in the audience from the neighboring state. A woman from Minnesota got up to ask a question about crime and just mentioning the home of Harris's running mate just riled up Trump. Pivoting quickly to a label that Walls has given Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance,

Trump is kind of working to flip the script. He's not weird and I'm not weird. I mean, we're a lot of things. We're not weird, I will tell you. But that guy is weird, don't you think? So Trump went on to talk about a bill Walls signed in Minnesota that made tampons available in school bathrooms. Walls is giving Trump a lot to work with, but Trump is clearly still unsure what his line of attack is going to be against the Democratic vice presidential nominee. That is Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters. Clay, thank you.

You're welcome. We're in the middle of the worst listeria outbreak since 2011. Yeah, nine people have died from this foodborne bacteria and more have gotten sick or been hospitalized, all of which stems from contamination traced to a boar's head factory that recalled millions of pounds of deli meats. Joining us to tell us more about this is NPR Consumer Health Correspondent Yuki Noguchi. Yuki, welcome. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. So some of these products that were already recalled earlier this month were made back in June or early July. So why are we still seeing this get worse? Yeah, several reasons. The products themselves have long shelf lives. You know, they might still be in people's refrigerators. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says some of the recalled meats

have sell-by dates into October. Also, as we mentioned, it's a massive amount of potentially infected meat, you know, over 7 million pounds. Barbara Kowalczyk is at George Washington University. She directs the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security there. The size of the recall is also concerning because it suggests that there was an ongoing problem and we're still seeing cases. Also, the incubation period for listeria is long, meaning it can take up to 10 weeks for someone who ate the bad meat to get sick in some cases. So that's why we're seeing hospitalizations still increasing and now at about 57 patients. So how can this be contained?

You know, it's difficult because listeria is hard to get rid of and spreads really easily. You know, just think about the specifics of this case. The original contamination has been traced back to a liverwurst product made at a Boar's Head factory in Jarrett, Virginia. But that factory also made 70 other meat products that processed through some of the same machines. Then those were sent to groceries in every corner of the country. And in fact, the recent deaths have been in New York, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico, you know, very, very widespread. And once it's in those communities, it can spread through hands or countertops or meat slicers themselves or within people's refrigerators.

So as you mentioned, some of these products are probably still around, meaning this outbreak could continue to sicken people for months. So what should people do? You know, first check your refrigerator. You're looking for a specific number, 12612 on the inspection label. And that information is also on the CDC's food safety recall list. If your food was recalled, then clean your refrigerator, you know, kitchen countertops, anything that might have come into contact with it. But if you're pregnant or over age 65, then the precautions are stronger. Avoid even eating the deli meats at all. You know,

don't buy items at groceries where those meats have been handled. Okay. I'm going to say that again. A specific number, 12612, on the inspection label. That's important. That's right. Okay, so finally, what are some of the symptoms that people could be watching for? Well, fever, aching muscles, tiredness that can turn into stiff neck or seizures, or for severe cases, the treatment will be antibiotics. Okay, that is NPR's Yuki Noguchi. Yuki, thank you so much. Thank you. And that's Up First for Friday, August 30th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Up First is with you this weekend. Ayesha Roscoe and Scott Simon have the news in this feed, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Megan Pratt, Dana Farrington, Diane Weber, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice episode of Up First was edited by Megan Pratt, Dana Farrington,

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