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President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)2025-05-04T13:08:45Z WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) President Donald Trump, in a new interview, was circumspect about his duties to uphold due process rights laid out in the Constitution.He also said he does not think military force will be needed to make Canada the 51st state and played down the possibility he would look to run for a third term in the White House.The comments in a wide-ranging, and at moments combative, interview with NBCs Meet the Press came as the Republican presidents efforts to quickly enact his agenda face sharper headwinds with Americans just as his second administration crossed the 100-day mark, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.Trump, however, made clear that he is not backing away from a to-do list that he insists the American electorate broadly supported when they elected him in November.Here are some of the highlights from the interview with NBCs Kristen Welker that was taped Friday at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and aired Sunday. Trump doesnt commit to due process Critics on the left have tried to make the case that Trump is chipping away at due process in the United States. Most notably, they cite the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and imprisoned without communication. Trump says Abrego Garcia is part of a violent transnational gang. The Republican president has sought to turn deportation into a test case for his campaign against illegal immigration despite a Supreme Court order saying the administration must work to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.Asked in the interview whether U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike deserve due process as laid out in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, Trump was noncommittal.I dont know. Im not, Im not a lawyer. I dont know, Trump said when pressed by Welker. The Fifth Amendment provides due process of law, meaning a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime. Also, the 14th Amendment says no state can deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.Trump said he has brilliant lawyers ... and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.He said he was pushing to deport some of the worst, most dangerous people on Earth, but that courts are getting in his way.I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it, Trump said.Military action against Canada is highly unlikelyThe president has repeatedly threatened that he intends to make Canada the 51st state.Before his White House meeting on Tuesday with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump is not backing away from the rhetoric that has angered Canadians. Trump, however, told NBC that it was highly unlikely that the U.S. would need to use military force to make Canada the 51st state. He offered less certainty about whether his repeated calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland from NATO-ally Denmark can be achieved without military action.Something could happen with Greenland, Trump said. Ill be honest, we need that for national and international security. ... I dont see it with Canada. I just dont see it, I have to be honest with you. President bristles at recession forecastsTrump said the U.S. economy is in a transition period but he expects it to do fantastically despite the economic turmoil sparked by his tariffs.He offered sharp pushback when Welker noted that some Wall Street analysts now say the chances of a recession are increasing.Well, you know, you say, some people on Wall Street say, Trump said. Well, I tell you something else. Some people on Wall Street say that were going to have the greatest economy in history.He also deflected blame for the 0.3% decline in the U.S. economy in the first quarter. He said he was not responsible for it. I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because hes done a terrible job, referring to his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.Trump doubled down on his recent comments at a Cabinet meeting that children might have to have two dolls instead of 30, denying that is an acknowledgment his tariffs will lead to supply shortages.Im just saying they dont need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They dont need to have 250 pencils. They can have five. Trump plays down third-term talkThe president has repeatedly suggested he could seek a third term in the White House even though the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution says that No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.Trump told NBC there is considerable support for him to run for a third term.But this is not something Im looking to do, Trump said. Im looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward. Trumps previous comments about a third term sometimes seem more about provoking outrage on the political left. The Trump Organization is even selling red caps with the words Trump 2028.But at moments, he has suggested he was seriously looking into a third term. In a late March phone interview with NBC, Trump said, Im not joking. There are methods which you could do it. So JD Vance in 2028? Marco Rubio? Not so fast.Trump said in the interview that Vice President JD Vance is doing a fantastic job and is brilliant. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom Trump last week tasked to simultaneously serve as acting national security adviser, is great, the president said.But Trump said it is far too early to begin talking about his potential successor.He is confident that his Make America Great Again movement will flourish beyond his time in the White House.You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, whos fantastic, Trump said. You look at I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think we have a tremendous party. And you know what I cant name? I cant name one Democrat. AAMER MADHANI Madhani covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington. twitter mailto

Specialist Alex Weitzman works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)2025-05-04T12:40:39Z It felt much longer, but the U.S. stock market needed just a few weeks to roar all the way back to where it was on President Donald Trumps Liberation Day. Thats when he shocked Wall Street by announcing much steeper tariffs than expected on nearly all U.S. trading partners. Those tariffs unveiled on April 2 were so severe that they raised fears Trump did not worry about causing a recession in his attempt to reshape the global economy. Within just four days, the S&P 500 fell about 12%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 4,600 points, or about 11%. This past Friday, though, the S&P 500 rallied 1.5% for a ninth straight gain and pulled back to where it was on April 2. Of course, the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts is still more than 7% below its all-time high set earlier this year. And stocks could easily fall again as uncertainty remains high about what Trumps tariffs will ultimately do to the economy. But the run for U.S. stocks back upward has been just as wild and unexpected as its fall. Heres a look at what happened: The pauseOn April 9, Trump announced on social media a 90-day PAUSE for most of the tariffs hed announced a week earlier, except those against China. The S&P 500 soared 9.5% for one of its best days ever. Even that good news came with a bit of controversy, however: hours before he announced the pause, Trump proclaimed on Truth Social that this is a great time to buy. De-escalationThe weeks after the pause were a roller coaster. Trump talked about negotiating tariffs with the trading partners while also using tariffs to force companies to move manufacturing to the U.S., two goals seemingly at odds with one another. The market did find relief in what the Treasury secretary referred to as de-escalation between the U.S. and China. Investors also welcomed Trumps moves to ease tariffs on autos as well as smartphones and other electronics. Bonds and the buckThe severity of the U.S. stock markets fall after Liberation Day surprised some market watchers. They had assumed Trump would backtrack on policies that hurt the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This is a president, after all, who crowed repeatedly during his first term about how the Dow was doing. But it was fear in other financial markets that may have forced Trumps hand. Tumbling prices for U.S. government bonds raised worries that the U.S. Treasury market was losing its status as the worlds safest place to keep cash. The value of the U.S. dollar also sank in another signal of diminishing faith in the United States as a safe haven for investors.Trump himself said he had noticed how bond investors were getting a little queasy before he paused his tariffs. The economyEconomists and investors had to reconcile contradictory signals about the economy. Surveys of consumers showed declining confidence, largely due to the uncertainty created by the Trump trade policy. But what investors call hard data, such as employment numbers, indicated the economy was still doing OK. As of Friday, when the government said employers had added 177,000 jobs in April, the hard numbers appeared to have a advantage over the weak sentiment. The FedThe Federal Reserve cut rates three times at the end of 2024, but then implemented a pause of its own by keeping rates steady, in part to assess the impact of the Trump trade policy. The strong jobs report seemed to give the Fed clearance to keep rates where they are for now despite Trump repeating his call for cuts but the market is still looking for 3 cuts before the end of the year.Plenty of profitsThrough all the markets tumult, U.S. companies have continued to deliver profit reports for the start of the year that have topped analysts expectations. Stock prices tend to follow profits over the long term, and thats given the market a notable boost. Three out of every four companies in the S&P 500 have beaten analysts expectations for profits in recent weeks, including such market heavyweights as Microsoft and Meta Platforms. Theyre on track to deliver growth of nearly 13% from a year earlier, according to FactSet. To be sureEven as companies have delivered fatter profits than expected, many have also warned theyre unsure whether it can last. CEOs have been either lowering or withdrawing their financial forecasts for the year given all the uncertainty around how Trumps tariffs will end up. United Airlines even made the unusual move of offering two separate forecasts for the year: one if theres a recession, and one if not. Trumps off-again-on-again approach to tariffs had made this the most volatile period for the market since the onset of the pandemic. The pause is in its fourth week and the administration has yet to announce an agreement with any of the U.S.s trading partners. Based on his recent comments, Trump is still all-in on tariffs, so the pause could prove to be just that. Weve already seen how financial markets will react if the administration moves forward with their initial tariff plan, so unless they take a different tack in July when the 90-day pause expires, we will see market action similar to the first week of April, said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management.

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Tomatoes imported from Mexico are for sale in a supermarket in Miami as the United States imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, starting a trade war with its closest neighbors and allies Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)2025-05-04T12:00:06Z Guacamole has been spared from tariffs for now. But salsa may not be so lucky.While threatened tariffs on Mexican avocados have been put on pause, the U.S. government plans to put a nearly 21% duty on fresh Mexican tomatoes starting July 14. A duty like a tariff is a tax on imports, and this one will impact the 4 billion pounds of tomatoes the U.S. imports from Mexico each year.Proponents say the duty will help rebuild the shrinking U.S. tomato industry and ensure that produce eaten in the U.S. is also grown there. Mexico currently supplies around 70% of U.S. tomato market, up from 30% two decades ago, according to the Florida Tomato Exchange, a trade group.Unless we even the playing field in terms of fair pricing, youre not going to have a domestic industry for fresh tomatoes in the very near future, said Robert Guenther, the executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange. Florida and California are the top U.S. producers of tomatoes, but most of Californias crop is turned into sauces and other products. Opponents say the duty will make fresh tomatoes more expensive for U.S. buyers. NatureSweet, a San Antonio-based company that grows tomatoes in Mexico as well as the U.S., said it will be paying millions of dollars each month in duties if the decision isnt reversed. We will look for ways to adapt or streamline our operations, but the truth is, we are always doing that so we run an efficient business already, said Skip Hulett, NatureSweets chief legal officer. Produce is not a large-margin business. Were determining what portion of the cost we could absorb, but these added costs will most certainly need to be passed on to the consumer. Tim Richards, a professor at the Morrison School of Agribusiness at Arizona State University, expects U.S. retail prices for tomatoes to rise by around 10.5% if the tariffs go through. Mexicos government said last month it was convinced it could negotiate over the issue. But if the duty goes into effect, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum hinted that Mexico could take similar action against imported chicken and pork legs from the U.S.The tug-of-war over tomatoes has a long history. In 1996, shortly after the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect, the U.S. Department of Commerce investigated allegations that Mexico was exporting tomatoes to the U.S. at artificially low prices, a practice known as dumping.The U.S. government agreed to suspend the investigation if Mexico met certain rules, including selling its tomatoes at a minimum price. Since then, the agreement has been subject to periodic reviews, but the two sides have always reached an agreement that avoided duties.But last month, the Commerce Department announced its withdrawal from the latest agreement, saying it has been flooded with comments from U.S. tomato growers who want better protection from Mexican imports.Guenther, of the Florida Tomato Exchange, said even though Mexican exporters are required to charge a minimum price, shipments are only spot-checked, so exporters can get around that. But more generally, Mexico hurts the U.S. industry because it costs 40% to 50% less to grow tomatoes there, Guenther said. Land is cheaper, labor is cheaper and inputs like seeds and fertilizer cost less, he said. Tomatoes are a labor-intensive crop, Guenther said, and the U.S. industry typically relies on immigrant workers through the H-2A visa program. That program required farmers to pay workers an average of $16.98 per hour last year, an amount that has jumped as labor has become harder to find. Richards estimates that workers on Mexican tomato farms earn about one-tenth that rate.NatureSweet acknowledges that its more cost-effective to grow tomatoes in Mexico, but says climate is one of the biggest reasons. The companys Mexican greenhouses dont need lighting, heating or cooling systems because of the year-round weather conditions.You can relocate some industries, but you cant relocate climate agriculture, Hulett said. Lance Jungmeyer, the president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, which represents importers of Mexican tomatoes, said Florida doesnt produce the vine-ripened tomatoes that U.S. consumers increasingly favor. Florida tomatoes are picked when theyre green and shipped to warehouses to ripen, he said.Florida doesnt grow the kinds of specialty tomatoes that have taken off, but they want to get protection, Jungmeyer said. Their market share is dropping for reasons of their own choice.Guenther disagrees. If you put a Florida tomato up against a Mexican tomato, I think it would do very well in taste test, he said.Adrian Burciaga, co-owner of Don Artemio, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, wouldnt want to switch to a U.S. producer. He compares it to fine wine; if he wants a good cabernet sauvignon, he gets it from Napa, California, but if he wants a good tomato that remind him of his childhood, he gets it from Mexico. We know the flavors they are going to bring to the salsas and moles. We dont want to compromise flavors, Burciaga said.Burciaga said his restaurant uses 300 to 400 pounds of Roma tomatoes from Mexico every week. He currently pays $19 for a 25-pound crate of tomatoes. He doesnt relish paying the additional cost, but he feels he has no choice.Burciaga said the tomato duty and the threat of other tariffs against Mexico which were put in place in February but then paused are making it difficult to run his business.The uncertainty part concerns us. A small or medium restaurant budgets things out. We know in advance that in six months things will increase, so were able to adjust, he said. But we dont know these things in advance. How do you plan and how do you react?___AP Reporter Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed. DEE-ANN DURBIN Durbin is an Associated Press business writer focusing on the food and beverage industry. She has also covered the auto industry and state and national politics in her nearly 30-year career with the AP. twitter mailto

Demonstrators hold a rally in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in front of the agency's headquarters in Atlanta, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, after layoffs were announced. (AP Photo/Ben Gray, File)2025-05-04T12:00:07Z NEW YORK (AP) U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedys motto is Make America Healthy Again, but government cuts could make it harder to know if thats happening.More than a dozen data-gathering programs that track deaths and disease appear to have been eliminated in the tornado of layoffs and proposed budget cuts rolled out in the Trump administrations first 100 days.The Associated Press examined draft and final budget proposals and spoke to more than a dozen current and former federal employees to determine the scope of the cuts to programs tracking basic facts about Americans health.Among those terminated at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were experts tracking abortions, pregnancies, job-related injuries, lead poisonings, sexual violence and youth smoking, the AP found.If you dont have staff, the program is gone, said Patrick Breysse, who used to oversee the CDCs environmental health programs. Federal officials have not given a public accounting of specific surveillance programs that are being eliminated. Instead, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman pointed the AP to a Trump administration budget proposal released Friday. It lacked specifics, but proposes to cut the CDCs core budget by more than half and vows to focus CDC surveillance only on emerging and infectious diseases. Kennedy has said some of the CDCs other work will be moved to a yet-to-be-created agency, the Administration for a Healthy America. He also has said that the cuts are designed to get rid of waste at a department that has seen its budget grow in recent years. Unfortunately, this extra spending and staff has not improved our nations health as a country, Kennedy wrote last month in The New York Post. Instead, it has only created more waste, administrative bloat and duplication.Yet some health experts say the eliminated programs are not duplicative, and erasing them will leave Americans in the dark. If the U.S. is interested in making itself healthier again, how is it going to know, if it cancels the programs that helps us understand these diseases? said Graham Mooney, a Johns Hopkins University public health historian.The core of the nations health surveillance is done by the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics. Relying on birth and death certificates, it generates information on birth rates, death trends and life expectancy. It also operates longstanding health surveys that provide basic data on obesity, asthma and other health issues. The center has been barely touched in layoffs, and seems intact under current budget plans. But many other efforts were targeted by the cuts, the AP found. Some examples: Pregnancies and abortionThe Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, which surveys women across the country, lost its entire staff about 20 people.Its the most comprehensive collection of data on the health behaviors and outcomes before, during and after childbirth. Researchers have been using its data to investigate the nations maternal mortality problem.Recent layoffs also wiped out the staffs collecting data on in vitro fertilizations and abortions. Those cuts are especially surprising given that President Donald Trump said he wants to expand IVF access and that the Heritage Foundations Project 2025 playbook for his administration called for more abortion surveillance.Lead poisoningThe CDC eliminated its program on lead poisoning in children, which helped local health departments through funding and expertise investigate lead poisoning clusters and find where risk is greatest. Lead poisoning in kids typically stems from exposure to bits of old paint, contaminated dust or drinking water that passes through lead pipes. But the programs staff also played an important role in the investigation of lead-tainted applesauce that affected 500 kids.Last year, Milwaukee health officials became aware that peeling paint in aging local elementary schools was endangering kids. The city health department began working with CDC to test tens of thousands of students. That assistance stopped last month when the CDCs lead program staff was terminated. City officials are particularly concerned about losing expertise to help them track the long-term effects. We dont know what we dont know, said Mike Totoraitis, the citys health commissioner. Environmental investigationsAlso gone is the staff for the 23-year-old Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, which had information on concerns including possible cancer clusters and weather-related illnesses.The loss of that program is going to greatly diminish the ability to make linkages between what might be in the environment and what health might be affected by that, Breysse said. Transgender dataIn some cases, its not a matter of staffers leaving, but rather the end of specific types of data collection.Transgender status is no longer being recorded in health-tracking systems, including ones focused on violent deaths and on risky behaviors by kids.Experts know transgender people are more likely to be victims of violence, but now its going to be much more challenging to quantify the extent to which they are at higher risk, said Thomas Simon, the recently retired senior director for scientific programs at the CDCs Division of Violence Prevention. ViolenceThe staff and funding seems to have remained intact for a CDC data collection that provides insights into homicides, suicides and accidental deaths involving weapons. But CDC violence-prevention programs that acted on that information were halted. So, too, was work on a system that collects hospital data on nonfatal injuries from causes such as shootings, crashes and drownings.Also going away, apparently, is the CDCs National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey. The system is designed to pick up information thats not found in law enforcement statistics. Health officials see that work as important, because not all sexual violence victims go to police.Work injuriesThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which tracks job-related illnesses and deaths and makes recommendations on how to prevent them, was gutted by the cuts.Kennedy has said that 20% of the people laid off might be reinstated as the agency tries to correct mistakes. That appeared to happen last month, when the American Federation of Government Employees said that NIOSH workers involved in a black lung disease program for coal miners had been temporarily called back. But HHS officials did not answer questions about the reinstatement. The AFGEs Micah Niemeier-Walsh later said the workers continued to have June termination dates and we are concerned this is to give the appearance that the programs are still functioning, when effectively they are not.Theres been no talk of salvaging some other NIOSH programs, including one focused on workplace deaths in the oil and gas industries or a research project into how common hearing loss is in that industry.Smoking and drugsThe HHS cuts eliminated the 17-member team responsible for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, one of the main ways the government measures drug use. Also axed were the CDC staff working on the National Youth Tobacco Survey.There are other surveys that look at youth smoking and drug use, including the University of Michigans federally funded Monitoring the Future survey of schoolkids. But the federal studies looked at both adults and adolescents, and provided insights into drug use by high school dropouts. The CDC also delved into specific vaping and tobacco products in the ways that other surveys dont, and was a driver in the federal push to better regulate electronic cigarettes. There was overlap among the surveys, but each one had its own specific focus that the other ones didnt cover, said Richard Miech, who leads the Michigan study.Data modernization and predictionsWork to modernize data collection has been derailed. That includes an upgrade to a 22-year-old system that helps local public health departments track diseases and allows CDC to put together a national picture.Another casualty was the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, which tries to predict disease trends. The center, created during the COVID-19 pandemic, was working on forecasting the current multi-state measles outbreak. That forecast hasnt been published partly because of the layoffs, according to two CDC officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it and fear retribution for speaking to the press.Trump hasnt always supported widespread testing of health problems.In the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 diagnoses were exploding, the president groused that the nations ability to do more testing was making the U.S. look like it had a worse problem than other countries. He called testing a double-edged sword.Mooney, the Johns Hopkins historian, wonders how interested the new administration is in reporting on health problems.You could think its deliberate, he said. If you keep people from knowing, theyre less likely to be concerned.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Lady Gaga performs during her free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)2025-05-04T15:18:55Z RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Police in Brazil said on Sunday that two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate a bomb at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro.The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop stars career that sent more than 2 million fans flooding Copacabana Beach. Rio de Janeiros state police and Brazils Justice Ministry presented the bare outlines of a plot that they said involved a group that promoted hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community, among others, and planned to detonate homemade explosive devices at the event.The plan was treated as a collective challenge with the aim of gaining notoriety on social media, the police said. The group, it added, disseminated violent content to teenagers online as a form of belonging.Authorities arrested two people in connection with the alleged plot a man described as the groups leader in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on illegal weapons possession charges, and a teenager in Rio on child pornography charges. Police did not elaborate on their exact roles in the plot or on how the group came to target Lady Gagas beach concert. Those involved were recruiting participants, including teenagers, to carry out integrated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails, police said. The Justice Ministry said that it determined the group posed a risk to public order. It said the group falsely presented themselves online as Little Monsters Lady Gagas nickname for her fans in order to reach teenagers and lure them into networks with violent and self-destructive content. During a series of raids on the homes of 15 suspects across several Brazilian states, authorities confiscated phones and other electronic devices. Even as police said they believed homemade bombs were intended for use in the planned attack, there was no mention of the raids turning up any weapons or explosive material. Lady Gagas publicists and concert promoters did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Police said they carried out the raids quietly Saturday in the hours leading up to the concert while avoiding panic or distortion of information among the population. The ministry said there was no impact on those attending the free concert. RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

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Cuban-Americans chant pro-Trump slogans as they show their support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Miami, Oct. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)2025-05-03T13:15:13Z For years, President Donald Trump blamed communists for his legal and political troubles. Now, the second Trump administration is deploying that same historically loaded label to cast his opponents from judges to educators as threats to American identity, culture and values.Why? Trump himself explained the strategy last year when he described how he planned to defeat his Democratic opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, in the White House election.All we have to do is define our opponent as being a communist or a socialist or somebody who is going to destroy our country, he told reporters at his New Jersey golf club in August.Trump did just that branding Harris comrade Kamala and he won in November. With the assent of more than 77 million Americans who cast ballots 49.9% of the vote Trump is carrying that strategy into his second term. What hes talking about is not actually communismIn 2025, communism wields big influence in countries such as China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba. But not the United States.The core of communism is the belief that governments can do better than markets in providing goods and services. There are very, very few people in the West who seriously believe that, said Raymond Robertson of the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government & Public Service. Unless they are arguing that the government should run U.S. Steel and Tesla, they are simply not communists. The word communist, on the other hand, can carry great emotional power as a rhetorical tool, even now. Its all the more potent as a pejorative though frequently inaccurate, even dangerous amid the contemporary flash of social media and misinformation. After all, the fear and paranoia of the Russian Revolution, the Red Scare, World War II, McCarthyism and the Cold War are fading into the 20th century past. But Trump, 78 and famous for labeling people he views as obstacles, remembers. We cannot allow a handful of communist radical-left judges to obstruct the enforcement of our laws, Trump said Tuesday in Michigan while celebrating his first 100 days in office. The White House did not reply to a request for what Trump means when he calls someone a communist.The timing of his use of communist is worth noting. Trumps Michigan speech came during a week of dicey economic and political news. Days earlier, The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs published a poll showing that more Americans disagree with Trumps priorities so far than agree with them, and that many Republicans are ambivalent about his choices of focus. After the speech, the government reported that the economy shrank during the first quarter of 2025 as Trumps tariffs disrupted business.On Thursday, senior presidential aide Stephen Miller stepped to the White House podium and uttered the same c-word four times in about 35 minutes during a denunciation of past policies on transgender, diversity and immigration issues. These are a few of the areas in which President Trump has fought the cancerous, communist woke culture that was destroying this country, Miller told reporters. His collection of words offered a selection of clickbait for social media users, as well as terms that could catch the attention of older Americans. Voters over age 45 narrowly voted for Trump over his Democratic rivals in 2020 and 2024. Smack in the middle of Millers sentence: communist. It tends to be a term that is loaded with negative affect, particularly for older Americans who grew up during the Cold War, said Jacob Neiheisel, a political communications expert at the University at Buffalo. Appending emotionally laden terms to political adversaries is a way to minimize their legitimacy in the eyes of the public and paint them in a negative light. A Red Scare-era figure influenced a young TrumpThe threat that communists could influence or even obliterate the United States hovered over the country for decades and drove some of the countrys ugliest chapters.The years after World War I and the Russian Revolution in 1917, along with a wave of immigrants, led to whats known as the Red Scare of 1920, a period of intense paranoia about the potential for a communist-led revolution in America. McCarthyism after World War II meant the hunt for supposed communists. Its named for Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin Republican who conducted televised hearings at the dawn of the Cold War that drove anti-communist fears to new heights with a series of threats, innuendos and untruths. Culturally, the merest suggestion that someone was soft on communism could end careers and ruin lives. Blacklists of suspected communists proliferated in Hollywood and beyond. McCarthy fell into disgrace and died in 1957. The senators chief counsel during the hearings, Roy Cohn, became Trumps mentor and fixer in the 1980s and 1990s, when Trump rose as a real estate mogul in New York. The Cold War was more than three decades old. The threat of nuclear war was pervasive. Communism started to collapse in 1989 and the Soviet Union was dissolved two years later. Its now Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin.But communism at least in one form lives on in China, with which Trump is waging a trade war that could result in fewer and costlier products in the United States. By weeks end, Trump was acknowledging the potential consequences of his government stepping in: Americans might soon not be able to buy what they want, or they might be forced to pay more. He insisted China would be hurt more by the tariffs.The real modern debate, Robertson says, is not between capitalism and communism, but about how much the government needs to step in and when. He suggests that Trump is not really debating communism vs. capitalism anyway.Calling people who advocate for slightly more government involvement communists is typical misleading political rhetoric that, unfortunately, works really well with busy voters who do not have a lot of time to think about technical definitions and economic paradigms, he said in an email. It is also really helpful (to Trump) because it is inflammatory, making people angry, which can be addictive. LAURIE KELLMAN Kellman has covered U.S. politics and foreign affairs for the Associated Press, including 23 years reporting from Washington and three from Jerusalem. She is based in London. twitter facebook mailto

The main building of the UNESCO headquarters is seen through the Globe in Paris, France, Friday, Oct. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, file)2025-05-04T13:36:22Z PARIS (AP) The United Nations agency that promotes education, science and culture and also works for the preservation of outstanding cultural and natural heritage around the world is abruptly losing one of its 194 member states. It marks a blow to the Paris-based body that is also in U.S. President Donald Trump s crosshairs.Nicaragua angrily announced its withdrawal from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in a letter that UNESCOs director general, Audrey Azoulay, said she received Sunday morning.In the letter seen by The Associated Press, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke denounced the awarding of a UNESCO press freedom prize to a Nicaraguan newspaper, La Prensa.The prize jury hailed the newspapers work in the face of severe repression and reporting from exile that courageously keeps the flame of press freedom alive in the Central American country. Nicaraguas government, led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, has been cracking down on dissent since it violently repressed protests in 2018, claiming they were backed by foreign powers that sought his overthrow. In his letter to UNESCO, Jaentschke claimed La Prensa is a pro-U.S. media and represents the vile betrayal against our Motherland. Heres a look at the dispute: UNESCOs Guillermo Cano PrizeUNESCO member states created the World Press Freedom Prize in 1997. The only U.N. prize awarded to journalists, it is named after Colombian newspaper journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, who was assassinated in Colombias capital, Bogota, in 1986. An international jury of media professionals that recommended La Prensa for the 2025 award on Saturday said through its chairman that the newspaper, founded almost a century ago in 1926, has made courageous efforts to report the truth to the people of Nicaragua.UNESCO said that since 2021, following the imprisonment and expulsion of its leaders from the country as well as the confiscation of its assets, La Prensa has continued to inform the Nicaraguan population online, with most of its team in exile and operating from Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico, Germany and the United States. Some other recent laureates included Belarus top independent journalists organization, recognized in 2022, and, in 2019, journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone who were jailed in Myanmar for their reporting on the militarys brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. Nicaraguas furyJaentschkes letter said UNESCO recognition for La Prensa was undeserved and that the agencys actions were unacceptable and inadmissible.The minister alleged, without offering evidence, that La Prensa has promoted U.S. military and political intervention in Nicaragua.It is deeply shameful that UNESCO appears as the promoter, and obviously as an accomplice, of an action that offends and attacks the deepest Values of Nicaraguas National Identity and Culture, his signed and stamped letter said.UNESCOs regretIn a statement announcing Nicaraguas decision to leave, Azoulay said UNESCO is fully within its mandate when it defends freedom of expression and press freedom around the world. I regret this decision, which will deprive the people of Nicaragua of the benefits of cooperation, particularly in the fields of education and culture, she said. Trumps UNESCO review In his first presidency, Trump looked dimly on Ortegas rule. In 2018, Trump signed into law a bill to cut off resources to the government of Nicaragua.But hes also not been much of a fan of UNESCO. In an executive order in February, Trump called for a review of American involvement in the agency. In his first presidency, Trumps administration in 2017 announced that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. That decision took effect a year later.The United States formally rejoined UNESCO in 2023 after a five-year absence, under the presidency of Joe Biden.

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A woman adjusts a photo of the late Pope Francis in cafe in front of San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)2025-05-04T19:31:46Z ROME (AP) At Masses in Romes housing projects and in the heart of its tourist district, the faithful prayed Sunday for the upcoming conclave that will elect Pope Francis successor.Whether in the squat 1980s concrete church of San Paolo della Croce, next to a notorious public housing project, or facing millennium-old golden mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere, Catholics shared two main hopes for the churchs future.Young and old, Romans and migrants alike said they would like the next pontiff to make faith accessible to those on the margins and help bring peace to a world they see as teeming with dangers.Next pope should focus on poorMichele Cufaro said he prays the next pope will focus on the poor, poverty, eliminate hatred, meanness and wars, and re-educate the youth who are getting totally lost.The glass and metalworker first lived in the Corviale projects across the street a multistory grey public housing block that snakes on a hilltop for more than 3,100 feet (1 km) when it was built in the early 1980s. He said he knows firsthand the reality of poverty, addiction and exclusion that continues to plague many of its residents. I come to entrust myself to a higher power, for the things that I cant solve myself, Cufaro said after Mass at San Paolo as tears welled in his eyes remembering Francis outreach.The pontiff, who died on April 21 at age 88, visited the parish in 2018, and comforted a child worried about whether his recently deceased atheist father would be in in heaven. We need a pope who comes to visit usWe need a pope who comes to visit us, to see the situation, said Ida Di Giovannantonio, who recalled meeting Francis on that visit.She said she cried every day when she moved to the projects four decades ago, when she was in her 40s, and only felt safe going to the parish.Its been a place of refuge. The poor need welcoming and love, said Di Giovannantonio, whos also volunteered with the churchs food bank. On Sunday, a shopping cart stood by the churchs entrance with a sign encouraging the faithful to leave food donations. Continuing Francis legacyLess than 10 kilometers (6 miles) away but in a different socioeconomic world, at Santa Maria in the riverside neighborhood of Trastevere, Lisa Remondino said she hopes the next pope will continue Francis legacy, especially in helping migrants.I hope it will be a welcoming pope, and also a pope who has the courage to fight for peace. He was the only voice we had against war, the powerful, and arms, said the kindergarten teacher, who belongs to the Catholic charity SantEgidio that has worked closely with Francis to help migrants and refugees.One of the cardinals considered top contenders to succeed him, the Rev. Matteo Zuppi of Rome, has served in various capacities both at SantEgidio and close-by Santa Maria, whose foundation dates to the 3rd century.In the outside portico decorated with ancient marble inscriptions and swarming with tourists, Marta Finati said she hoped that the church would continue to respect dogmas, but also be open to the wider society.The next pope should embrace a moral and political leadership for peace that would provide a reference point for non-Catholics too, she added. Rushing to change into an altar server robes at Sunday afternoons Mass at Santa Maria, Mathieu Dansoko, who came to Italy from Mali a decade ago, said coming to church is like being with your family.The next pope should have the basic courage to bring the neediest from the peripheries to the center, he said.Losing Francis a big blowBack on the periphery of Corviale, the parish priest, the Rev. Roberto Cassano, said losing Francis was a big blow for his congregation because Pope Francis visit had interrupted for a moment the marginalization of these people.We need to get back a bit to God, he added in the tidy rose garden between the church and the housing block that packs in more than 1,500 families. So much meanness, so much egoism, so much selfishness is the fruit also of the lack of Gods presence in peoples lives. Different social problems would still exist, but a little less acute. At Sunday morning Mass, several faithful stopped by the last pew to greet an occasional visitor Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India, who was in Rome for the conclave gatherings, though having turned 80 at the end of last year, he can no longer cast a vote.Upon election, each cardinal gets a titular parish in Rome, and on Sunday many celebrated Mass at theirs. In his homily, Gracias mentioned the different legacies of the last three popes St. John Paul IIs world-changing geopolitical impacts, Benedict XVIs scholarship, and Francis pastoral care. He urged the more than 100 faithful to pray that the Holy Spirit may give us a pope who meets the needs of the times. Elisabetta Bonifazi, who finds in San Paolo her point of reference, said in a world rife with wars and contradictions, the new pope will need all the divine guidance and prayers. He will have to keep carrying this burden forward, she said. Were in an extremely difficult moment.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Rapper Sean "Puffy" Combs, center, speaks to the media outside of court in New York after his assault case was postponed on June 24, 1999. (AP Photo/Lynsey Addario, File)2025-05-04T11:50:49Z For more than two decades, Sean Diddy Combs was one of hip-hops most opportunistic entrepreneurs, spinning his hitmaking talents into a broad business empire that included a record label, a fashion brand, a TV network, deals with liquor companies and a key role in a reality TV show.But U.S. prosecutors say that behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing women with help from a network of associates who helped silence victims through blackmail and violence.Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations. Jury selection for his trial starts Monday.Here is a timeline of major events in his rise and fall:1990: Combs, then a student at Howard University, gets his start in the music business with an internship at Uptown Records in New York.Dec. 28, 1991: Nine people die at a celebrity basketball game promoted by Combs and the rapper Heavy D when thousands of fans try to get into a gym at the City College of New York. A mayoral report lays part of the blame for the catastrophe on poor planning by Combs. 1992: Combs is one of the executive producers on Whats the 411?, the debut album by Mary J. Blige. 1993: After being fired by Uptown, Combs establishes his own label, Bad Boy, which quickly cuts a lucrative deal with Arista Records.1994: Bad Boy releases Notorious B.I.G.s album Ready to Die. Two months later, Tupac Shakur survives a shooting in New York and accuses Combs and Biggie of having prior knowledge of the attack, which they deny. Shakur was later killed in a 1996 shooting in Las Vegas. 1996: Combs is convicted of criminal mischief after he allegedly threatened a photographer with a gun.1997: Biggie is killed in Los Angeles. Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, releases Ill be Missing You in honor of his slain star.1998: Combs wins two Grammys, one for best rap album for his debut No Way Out and another for best rap performance by a duo or group for Ill Be Missing You with Faith Evans. Also that year, Combs Sean John fashion line is founded. April 16, 1999: Combs and his bodyguards are charged with attacking Interscope Records music executive Steve Stoute in his New York office in a dispute over a music video. Combs is sentenced to an anger management course.Dec. 27, 1999: Combs is arrested on gun possession charges after he and his girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lopez, fled a shooting that wounded three people at a New York City nightclub. Some witnesses tell police Combs was among the people shooting in the club. He is later charged with offering his driver $50,000 to claim ownership of the 9 mm handgun found in his car.March 17, 2001: Combs is acquitted of all charges related to the nightclub shooting. One of his rap proteges, Jamal Shyne Barrows, is convicted in the shooting and serves nearly nine years in prison. Two weeks after the trial, Combs announces he wants to be known as P. Diddy.2002: Combs becomes the producer and star of Making the Band, a talent-search TV show.Feb. 1, 2004: Combs performs at the Super Bowl halftime show along with Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake and others. A week later, Combs, Nelly and Murphy Lee win a Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group for Shake Ya Tailfeather. April, 2004: Combs makes his Broadway acting debut in A Raisin in the Sun.2005: Combs announces he is changing his stage name to Diddy, getting rid of the P.March, 2008: Combs settles a lawsuit brought by a man who claims Combs punched him after a post-Oscar party outside a Hollywood hotel the previous year. In May, Combs is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.2015: Combs is arrested after a confrontation at UCLA in Los Angeles, where one of his sons played football. Assault charges are later dropped.2016: Combs launches the Capital Preparatory School charter school in Harlem. Also that year, he announces he is donating $1 million to Howard University.2017: Combs is named the top earner on Forbes list of the 100 highest-paid celebrities, which says he brought in $130 million in a single year. 2018: Kim Porter, Combs former girlfriend and mother of three of his children, dies from pneumonia at age 47.2022: Combs receives a lifetime honor at the BET Awards.September, 2023: Combs releases The Love Album Off the Grid, his first solo studio project since 2006s chart-topping Press Play.Nov. 16, 2023: R&B singer Cassie sues Combs, alleging he subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape. A day later, the lawsuit is settled under undisclosed terms. Combs, through his attorney, denies the accusations.Nov. 23, 2023: Two more women accuse Combs of sexual abuse in lawsuits. Combs attorneys call the allegations false. Dozens of additional lawsuits follow by women and men who accuse Combs of rape, sexual assault and other attacks. Plaintiffs include singer Dawn Richard, a Making the Band contestant who alleged years of psychological and physical abuse. Combs denies all the allegations. March 25, 2024: Federal agents search Combs homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Florida.May 17, 2024: CNN airs video that shows Combs attacking and beating Cassie in a hotel hallway in Los Angeles in 2016. Two days later, Combs posts videos on social media apologizing for the assault.Sept. 16, 2024: Combs is arrested at his Manhattan hotel. A sex trafficking and racketeering indictment unsealed the next day accuses him of using his business empire to coerce women into participating in sexual performances. Combs denies the allegations. His attorney calls it an unjust prosecution of an imperfect person.May 5, 2025: Jury selection is scheduled to begin for Combs trial.

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