Are Trump’s firings legal?
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Donald Trump has fired dozens of government officials since he took office. The latest is the chair of the Federal Election Commission. But is any of this legal? We’ll get into it. Plus: A “Make Me Smart” alum shares the trauma of losing his home in the Los Angeles fires. Finally, we’ll wrap with a dose of uplifting news (thanks to you!) and a round of our favorite game, Half Full/Half Empty!
Here’s everything we talked about today:
- “Trump Illegally Attempts to Fire Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub” from Campaign Legal Center
- “How to Watch All the 2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films” by Town & Country magazine
- “2025 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!” by Erin in the Morning
- “The Trauma of Losing Your Home in the Eaton Fire” from The New York Times
Got a question or comment for the hosts? Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have we been having problems? Are we having any comment problems? |
| 0:04.5 | No, I see lots of comments. |
| 0:07.1 | All right. |
| 0:12.0 | Hi, everybody, I'm Kyle Rizdahl. Welcome back to Make Me Smart. Where we make today makes sense. |
| 0:16.4 | I think that sigh was warranted. It is February the 7th today, Friday. Yeah, I think everybody's sigh |
| 0:24.2 | is warranted. It's funny, like, walking around the city as I've been, like, running into people |
| 0:27.7 | and having meetings, everyone's like, how are you? People just trail off. Anyway, hi, I'm Kimberly |
| 0:36.9 | Adams. Thank you, everyone for joining us for our YouTube live |
| 0:40.1 | stream. We call it Economics on Tap. It's our weekly happy hour. And so pour yourself a drink, |
| 0:46.0 | non-alcoholic, alcoholic, water, coffee, whatever floats your boat and get comfortable. |
| 0:51.4 | We're going to hang out for a bit. We're going to do some news. We're going to play some games. |
| 0:55.1 | And, yeah, but the drink part first. |
| 0:57.8 | Kai, what are you drinking? |
| 0:58.9 | The drink part. I am having a beer because, hello, have you seen the news? |
| 1:04.9 | I'm having, it's my new go-to, actually. |
| 1:07.2 | Modern Times hazy, double IPA, modern times brewery out of San Diego. This one is |
| 1:13.6 | 8.0 ABV. Sadly, I only brought one of these into the shed with me. But I guess that's probably |
| 1:20.3 | for the best. What is the difference between a single IPA and a double IPA? |
| 1:26.4 | Doubles are higher in alcohol content, right? |
| 1:29.9 | A single IPA can go, you know, I mean, it can go like seven, seven and a half. |
| 1:33.5 | But once you get into the doubles, they get a little more oomph to them. |
| 1:38.5 | And today, you know, I kind of need that. |
... |
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