Up First from NPR - President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

President Trump declines to rule out the possibility of serving a third term in office as the Constitution stipulates a two-term limit. The executive order "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" seeks to influence the Smithsonian Institution and the monuments and memorials overseen by the Department of the Interior. And, the death toll in Myanmar is rising as the window to find survivors following Friday's earthquake closes. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadev Calamur, Clare Lombardo, Ryland Barton, Lisa Thomson and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Chris Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Will President Trump try to serve a third term? He won't rule it out. I'll tell you, I have had more people ask me to have a third term. The Constitution says he cannot, so how would he get around that? I'm E. Martinez, that's Michel Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. A new executive order aims to reshape how American history is told through research, monuments and museums. You can't turn an ugly history into a glorious one unless you're not telling the truth.

What changes does the Trump administration want to make? And rescue workers in Myanmar are searching through rubble following Friday's earthquake. As the window to find survivors closes, the death toll is rising. Stay with us, we'll give you the news you need to start your day. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Sending or spending money abroad? Hidden fees may be taking a cut. With WISE, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate. Visit Wyze.com. T&Cs apply.

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Could President Trump get elected to a third term in office? The Constitution says no. But President Trump has declined to rule out the possibility of serving a third term. Yesterday, Trump told NBC News' Kristen Welker in a phone call that he is quote, not joking about staying on as president and said there are ways he could although he did not elaborate. Joining us to talk about all this is NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith who was traveling with the president this weekend. Good morning Tam. Good morning. So Trump has talked about serving a third term many times. I think people assumed he was joking and based on the plain language of the 22nd Amendment that would Good morning. So Trump has talked about serving a third term many times. I think people assumed

he was joking and based on the plain language of the 22nd Amendment, that would not be constitutional. So what's going on here? You know, the way he talks about a third term, it's like he's keeping his options open. On Air Force One, I asked him about what he told NBC and asked if that means he's not planning to leave office. And here's what he said. I'm not looking at that, but I'll tell you, I have had more people ask me to have a third term. Later, I asked him again to clarify, are you planning to leave office on January 20th, 2029, or are you saying you might not?

And he looked to the other reporters and said, any other questions? He also said it is still quite early to be having these conversations and as you say the 22nd Amendment bars a president from being elected to a third term. But there are some novel legal theories that have been floated and while they are quite far-fetched, the fact that Trump isn't dismissing it out of hand means it can't be ignored. Is there support for a third

Trump term as he says? Trump's approval rating is underwater right now, but these are better poll numbers than he's seen before and there is something of a movement among his most ardent supporters to promote the idea of a third term. Earlier this month Steve Bannon, who served in Trump's first White House and is now an influential podcaster, said that he not only thinks Trump should run, but that he'd win. Separately, just three days into Trump's second term, a Republican congressman introduced a constitutional amendment to pave the way for a third Trump term. But just to go back to the Constitution, there are actually

two amendments that would stand in his way. The 22nd Amendment is one of those. It was put in place after FDR served four terms. Separately, the 12th Amendment prevents anyone disqualified constitutionally from being the president from being the vice president. Is there a political reason for Trump to be saying this? Yeah, you know, he's in his second and final term, unless something dramatic happens. And that means the clock is ticking on his power and relevance, because soon members of his own party will be running to replace him and he will be seen as a lame duck. So teasing a third term has the potential, at least, to extend his influence.

Before we let you go in his conversation with NBC's Kristen Welker, Trump also made news on tariffs. Tell us what he said there, please. He stood firm on the 25% tariffs on foreign automobile imports, including parts made outside of the US. He dismissed concerns that this could cause prices to rise for American consumers. He said, quote, I couldn't care less because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they're going to buy American

cars. But even cars assembled in the US often contain parts made in other countries. The president is promising additional tariffs later this week. He is calling Wednesday Liberation Day. Economists warn higher tariffs mean increased costs for consumers and polls show that voters just want the president to focus on bringing costs down. That is NPRF's Tamara Keith. Tam, thank you. You're welcome. President Trump has issued an executive order to try to make changes at the Smithsonian

Institution. The Smithsonian is the world's largest museum, and research complex and it's comprised of 21 museums and libraries each, 14 education centers and the National Zoo. The order also paves the way for the return of monuments that have been removed in recent years. NPR culture reporter Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento is with us now for more. Good morning Isabella. Good morning. So the order is called Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. Maybe start by telling us a bit more about what it says. A lot of this is about the people and stories that are highlighted at these museums and

sites and the language used to describe American history. The order directs Vice President J.D. Vance, who is on the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, to oversee the removal of, quote, improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian's museums and research centers Smithsonian's secretary Lonnie Bunch sent an email on Friday telling staff that the Smithsonian will continue to employ Internal review processes and that quote as always our work will be shaped by the best scholarship Free of partisanship to help the American public better understand the nation's history challenges and triumphs to help the American public better understand the nation's history, challenges, and triumphs. The Smithsonian spokesperson confirmed that email to NPR, and we should note here, Lonnie Bunch was previously the founding director

of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, one of the museums Trump singled out in the executive order. There's also a section of the executive order focused on monuments. What does that say? That's right. I mean, if we can rewind a little bit, there's been a growing movement in recent years to reflect on what history we honor in the US and what may have been left out. But there was a turning point when a white police officer killed George Floyd, who was black, in 2020. His death sparked wide protests, and for a lot of people, it was a re-examining of this country's racial history. Within a year and a half, 200 public Confederate symbols had been taken down,

relocated, or renamed. That included things like monuments, school names, even road names. Those are numbers provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a legal and advocacy group, which tracks Confederate iconography in the U.S. I should say, the executive order isn't specifically about Confederate symbols, but it instructs the Interior Secretary to review monuments, markers, and statues that may have been taken down or changed since January 2020, more than a year before Trump left office in his first term, and restore them.

It calls for a wholesale review to make sure that memorials under Interior Department jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living, including persons living in colonial times. Do we know what monuments could actually be put back up? That's the big question, and it's pretty unclear right now. Seth Levy of the Southern Poverty Law Center says many of the sites that did see changes were on land controlled by municipalities and state governments, not land controlled by the Department of the Interior

or any of the bureaus at overseas like the National Park Service. I'm not actually aware of any removals on National Park Service land. We reached out to the Department of the Interior and didn't hear back. So you know a lot of this executive order focuses on how the story of America is told. So what are historians saying about this? That's right. I spoke with art historian Erin Thompson. She's the author of a book called Smashing Statues, the Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments. And she says that Trump's executive order is trying to gloss over some of the darker aspects of American history.

But you can't turn an ugly history into a glorious one unless you're not telling the truth. Thompson says, it's important to grapple with mistakes from the past so we don't make them again. But ultimately, you can't control historical memory by controlling monuments. That's NPR culture reporter Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento. Isabella, thank you. Thank you.

Myanmar's military authorities say the death toll from Friday's earthquake has risen to more than 1,700, with thousands more wounded. Numbers that are expected to rise as the window for finding survivors closes. While some foreign assistance has started to arrive in the country, efforts to get the help to those who need it may have been stymied by buckled roads, collapsed bridges, and downed cell towers that make communication difficult. Reporter Michael Sullivan has been following the relief effort from neighboring Thailand. Hello Michael.

Good morning. So, what do we know about the damage so far? Well, the pictures we're seeing coming out of Mandalay are pretty awful. It's Myanmar's second largest city, about 10 miles from the epicenter, and those pictures show many parts of the city of 1.5 million in ruins. And efforts to free those trapped under the rubble have been hampered by a lack of heavy equipment and personnel. And time is running short for finding more survivors,

especially with the temperature hovering near 100 degrees. And the smell of death, rescue workers say, is overpowering. Here's a retired teacher from Mandalay. She doesn't want to be identified. She's afraid of the military. Say, I'm out of a land. I'm't want to be identified. She's afraid of the military. My house was badly damaged, she says. So now we're sleeping out here in the road. A hot pot shop near my house just disappeared into the earth,

she says. And many, many big buildings just collapsed. We cannot count how many have died. And this is just in Mandalay, Michelle. There's other area rescuers haven't been able to reach. What has been the military government's response? Have they reached out to other countries for help? They have, and that's unusual.

And maybe a sign they realize how bad things are. It's something they've been loathe to do in past crises, especially in 2008, when cyclone Nargis struck and left about 140,000 dead. Emergency response teams from China, India, and Russia, 2008, when Cyclone Nargis struck and left about 140,000 dead. Emergency response teams from China, India and Russia and some other countries have arrived in country, but the airport in Mandalay, it's still closed to large aircraft and that means much of the foreign assistance is being flown into the former capital Yangon, some 350 miles

to the south that's a long way from Mandalay. President Trump said on Friday, the US will be helping too, but we're still waiting to see just how USAID has played a large role in disaster relief in the past But it's been gutted by the Trump administration in recent weeks And you know you've reminded us that this is just the latest problem for the people of Myanmar because they're in the midst of a civil war That's right. I mean this war has been raging since the 2021 coup and it's crippled Myanmar's public health system. It's displaced millions and severely restricted the distribution of aid for those people and for others as well. The UN says nearly 20 million people were

in need of humanitarian assistance and roughly 15 million were facing acute food insecurity. That's before the quake. And there have been calls for a ceasefire from abroad and from some of the groups battling the military. So, is the conflict on hold to deal with this tragedy? No. In fact, just hours after the quake, the military launched airstrikes and drone attacks in Karen State, according to relief workers, and reportedly launched several more airstrikes on Sunday against another rebel-controlled area in neighboring

Shan State. The war goes on, even as the death toll from the quake continues to rise. That is reporter Michael Sullivan in Thailand. Michael, thank you. You're welcome. And that's Up First Monday, March 31st. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Ian Martinez. Make one of the next things you listen to, Consider This from NPR. We here at Up First give you the three big stories of the day.

Our Consider This colleagues take a different approach. They dive into a single new story and what it means to you, everything you need to know about that big story of the day in fewer than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get those podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadev Kalamur, Claire Lombardo, Rylan Barton, Lisa Thompson, and Ellis Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Bunch, Nia Dumas, and Chris Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hyness and our technical director, Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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