Mass government firings leave workers 'disappointed,' 'heartbroken,' 'afraid'

Here & Now Anytime

WBUR

News

4.6 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Trump administration has fired thousands of federal workers in recent days. We speak to one of them: Nina Emlemdi, who worked in a division of the Department of Education. And, Lizz Wright always dreamed of performing at the Kennedy Center. But just as she was about to take the stage this week, she learned of President Trump's takeover of the famed arts institution. She explains how she approached the performance. Then, a poll shows that for about 30% of Americans, voice notes are a crucial and intimate way of connecting with other people. Colorado State University's Natalie Pennington joins us to explain the allure of the voice note.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Donald Trump is back in the White House and making a lot of moves very quickly.
0:05.0	Keep track of everything going on in Washington with the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:09.6	Every day, we break down the latest news and explain why it matters to you.
0:14.4	The NPR Politics Podcast, listen every day.
0:17.2	Quite frankly, I become sort of afraid of my own government.
0:21.0	And, boy, that's a scary position to be in as a citizen.
0:26.5	Former federal employees are speaking out after President Trump fired them from their jobs.
0:46.8	It's February 18th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston.
0:59.7	I'm Kalyani Saxena. Today on the show, some artists are canceling their appearances at the Kennedy Center in the continued fallout from President Trump's takeover of the famed arts institution.
1:09.6	We'll take a moment to rewind the day Trump orchestrated his appointment as chairman, just as jazz and gospel singer Liz Wright was set to take the stage. I didn't anticipate, again, this feeling of confrontation and almost this feeling of like,
1:14.7	it felt a lot like rushing into a gate that was closing.
1:18.0	It was a very odd feeling.
1:19.5	And?
1:20.1	We want to be able to know as much about a person as possible.
1:23.1	So using voice notes can be a great way to get more information.
1:27.3	You hear the voice. It gives you just a to get more information. You hear the voice.
1:28.5	It gives you just a little bit more sense of who that person is.
1:32.0	We'll hear about how the humble voice note can be a pretty powerful social connector.
1:37.9	But first, former federal employees are picking up the pieces of their lives this week.
1:43.0	After a tornado of mass layoff
1:45.3	spearheaded by President Trump and his billionaire ally, Elon Musk. Thousands of workers were
1:51.1	fired from their government jobs last week. The cuts were sweeping and wide ranging. They affected
	...

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