The World and Everything in It: November 13, 2024

PREROLL: Russia is making overtures to African countries... to what end? I'm Onize Oduah. In a moment our weekly international news roundup: World Tour. Stay with us.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

President-elect Trump is stocking his cabinet.

VIKE: This time they will have people that principally identified as loyalists, but also a little bit more inclined to understand how it works.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That’s ahead today on Washington Wednesday.

And naturalized American voters on why they chose as they did.

KAMBAFWILE: I can walk away saying, I did exercise my civil right. I'm just excited to have casted my vote. ha-ha

And WORLD Opinions writer Nathanael Blake on how political engagement can help, but we’ve got to keep first things first.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, November 13th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

MAST: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump appointments and nominations » President-elect Donald Trump is wasting no time whatsoever filling top jobs in his administration. He has just filled several more positions, including Secretary of Defense, nominating Pete Hegseth, known to many as a host on the Fox News network. Hegseth is a decorated combat veteran, having served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He’s heard here on Fox discussing his military service:

HEGSETH:  I'm a product of being in that moment where your country's at war, uh, and you can either go use the skill sets you have and be there with your brothers or not.

Trump has also reportedly picked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, though the president-elect has not confirmed that.

But he has confirmed that he is nominating South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for Homeland Security Secretary.

He has also tapped former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to head the CIA, as well as Congressman Mike Waltz for National Security Advisor.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is Trump’s choice to be Ambassador to Israel. And Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed that news.

DANON: I think he will be a great ambassador to Israel. He is very familiar with the facts on the ground.

Real estate executive Steven Witkoff will serve as special envoy to the Middle East.

William Joseph McGinley will serve as White House Counsel

And Trump says Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will work with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy … to lead what the president-elect calls the new Department of Government Efficiency.

Despite the title, that will not be a government department, but will instead provide “advice and guidance from outside government” on eliminating government waste.

Speaker Johnson remarks, election update » House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans are “ready to deliver” on President-elect Donald Trump’s mandate.

JOHNSON:  We believe we could be the most consequential Congress of the modern era and he, the most consequential president because we quite literally have to fix almost every metric of public policy. Everything is a mess. Everything.

Standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with the House GOP leadership, Johnson said Republicans won't make the mistakes of the first term and will be more prepared for a second-term Trump White House.

Trump is set to meet today with House Republicans on Capitol Hill right before meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office - at the president’s invitation.

And it appears quite likely that Republicans will keep their slim House majority and maybe even add a seat or two.

JOHNSON: We expect that the majority will be larger than last time. We still have a number of races outstanding, but we're very optimistic about those.

With ballots still being counted, the GOP needs to win at least four more seats to retain a majority. There are 15 races still undecided.

NYC Trump case ruling delay » A judge has delayed a decision on whether President-elect Donald Trump's convictions in his New York business fraud trial should be thrown out.

Judge Juan Merchan was originally scheduled to rule on the case this week, but he's agreed to delay that decision until next Monday.

Trump’s attorneys have argued in part that the convictions should be dismissed because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that presidents enjoy immunity for actions taken as part of their official duties.

George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin says if even if the judge rules that the sentencing should go forward

SOMIN: It's very unlikely that there will be a prison sentence for Trump, and if there is a sentence of some other kind—like probation, fine—it probably won't impede him very much.

A jury in May convicted the president-elect on nearly three-dozen felony counts of falsifying business records. It was a highly unusual case in that the alleged crimes normally would have been misdemeanors.

Trump maintains his innocence and that the case was politically motivated.

Pentagon leaker sentenced » A federal judge has sentenced a man convicted of leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine to 15 years in prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy:

LEVY: Today, Mr. Teixeira has paid a very heavy price for the laws he broke and for the incredible damage that he caused.

22-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act.

10 Commandments ruling » A federal judge has blocked a Louisiana law that requires The Ten Commandments to be displayed in school classrooms. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: U.S. District Judge John deGravelles issued a preliminary injunction … saying the law is “unconstitutional on its face.”

He said the law had an “overtly religious” purpose … and said opponents of the law are likely to win a lawsuit aimed at striking it down.

State officials argue that the law is constitutional … because the commandments hold historical significance to the foundation of U.S. law.

Louisiana’s attorney general has vowed to appeal the decision.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Archbishop of Canterbury » Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned Tuesday, after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about an abuse scandal at summer camps.

The archbishop was the head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion.

An investigation found that Welby learned about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at summer camps, but did not report it to authorities. The abuse occurred both in England and in Africa.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: presidents are known for their policies, and the people they surround themselves with. President elect Trump has been busy this week announcing Cabinet positions, Washington Wednesday is next.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 13th of November.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday.

A week after his victory, President-elect Trump is choosing his cabinet.

But as he fills out his team, Trump is also creating vacancies in Congress.

Here’s WORLD Washington Bureau Reporter Carolina Lumetta.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: While Congress reconvenes for a lame duck session, President-elect Trump is working from Florida to staff the next administration. And the names he’s released so far are pretty different from his first cabinet.

NATHAN BRAND: I think he struck a pretty good balance here. I think these are individuals that are very loyal, first and foremost.

Nathan Brand is a Republican strategist based in Washington. He says that Trump arrived in 2016 as a political outsider with relatively few DC connections. This time around, he’s picking close contacts and allies.

BRAND: These picks reflect that loyalty is first and foremost. And the second is experience. These are not out of the blue picks. None of these people are like, oh shoot, they don't have a resume in an area that reflects the area in which they will be working in the admin.

Trump’s first formal cabinet member selection was New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik…to serve as ambassador to the United Nations. She currently chairs the House Republican conference, the first woman to hold the position. She was also the first member of Congress to endorse Trump’s reelection campaign. In his announcement, Trump cited Stefanik’s viral moment last year when she sharply questioned university presidents about antisemitic protests on campus. Here’s Stefanik talking about it during an address to Israeli lawmakers in May.

STEFANIK: And that question was, “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university's code of conduct on bullying and harassment?” And one after the other, after the other answered quote, “It depends on the context.” Let me tell you, it does not depend on the context.

Another early pick…Trump tapped former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan as the so-called “border czar.” This position does not require Senate confirmation and involves advising Trump on border management. In his announcement, Trump said Homan will—in his words— “be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin.”

Homan recently answered questions from 60 Minutes about what to expect:

REPORTER: If it's not going to be as you say massive sweeps and concentration camps, what is it?
HOMAN: There will be targeted arrests.

Another Trump ally on the list of appointees is former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin. In 2019 and 2020, Zeldin served on Trump’s House defense team during the former president’s first impeachment hearings. Here’s what he told reporters in the Capitol at the time:

ZELDIN: The president of the United States knows that this is a total sham. Many of my constituents, a lot of the American public knows that this is a total charade.

This week, Trump announced Zeldin as his choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency. He was on FOX News Tuesday.

ZELDIN: The president was talking about unleashing economic prosperity. Through the EPA we have the ability to pursue energy dominance.

Zeldin has also talked about cutting regulations to encourage businesses to stay in the U.S., and increasing energy production to meet the needs of companies producing artificial intelligence.

But not everyone on the short list has supported Trump from the start…

RUBIO: There is no way we are going to allow a con artist to take over the Conservative movement. And Donald Trump is a con artist.

Senator Marco Rubio condemned Trump as a rival presidential candidate in 2016…but later endorsed him as the GOP nominee. He has since become a Trump supporter and was considered an option for Vice President.

At the Republican National Convention this year, Rubio lauded foreign policy under Trump’s first administration.

RUBIO: Our borders were secure and our laws were enforced. Iran was broke. The Taliban stopped killing Americans, and Putin didn't invade anyone.

Now, many media outlets report he is likely to be Trump’s Secretary of State. Rubio could bring significant foreign policy experience to the White House…if Trump confirms the news.

VIKE: Oftentimes future administrations throw out some names to kind of do a little bit of vetting, a reaction vetting, as opposed to kind of announcing someone right off the bat.

Jim Vike is a professor of political science at Widener University. He says this wouldn’t be the first time Trump has floated names for cabinet positions before making a formal announcement.

JIM VIKE: During the 2016 transition into 2017 Mitt Romney kind of came in and kind of talked to him about potentially being secretary of state.

The role went to former Senator Jeff Sessions.

If Trump does name Rubio to lead the State Department, he’ll be one of several members of congress leaving key holes on Capitol Hill. That includes the Vice President-elect.

VANCE: I felt good about my own race a couple of years ago, when i voted in this exact same spot. Hopefully it goes as well for president Trump and me as it went for me a couple of years ago in the state of Ohio.

With Ohio Senator J.D. Vance heading to the White House, Governor Mike DeWine is compiling a list of possible appointees to complete Vance’s term. And if Rubio is confirmed, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis must do the same. Their replacements are unlikely to affect the balance of power. But Rubio will leave a coveted leadership seat on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, as well as positions on the Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees.

Over in the House, Stefanik’s departure leaves a vacuum in Republican leadership, where internal elections to fill top slots are happening today. Trump also tapped Florida Congressman Mike Waltz as his national security adviser, a role that does not require Senate confirmation…but would require a special election in Florida to fill his seat. With narrow margins, that could make things challenging for House Republicans. Speaker Mike Johnson addressed those concerns at the Capitol on Tuesday.

JOHNSON : President Trump fully understands and appreciates the math here. I don't expect that we will have more members leaving, but, um, I'll leave that up to him. But yes, are we talking about it all the time, and he fully appreciates that.

Confirmation hearings will begin in the new year after Republicans officially claim the majority in the Senate. With that majority, most if not all of Trump’s picks are likely to be installed before he is inaugurated on January 20th.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.

AUDIO: [Camera shutters, conference]

ONIZE ODUAH: Russia-African ministers — We start today in the Russian city of Sochi, where officials wrapped up the first-ever conference with African political ministers.

The Russia-Africa Partnership Forum builds on last year’s Russia-Africa summit and comes after Russia hosted the BRICS summit of emerging economies last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is deepening ties with African nations and other emerging economies—signaling that Western sanctions over the Ukraine war have failed to isolate Russia.

During the weekend conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov read a statement from Putin.

PUTIN: [Speaking Russian]

He says that Russia will continue to support African nations in sustainable development and in fighting terrorism, epidemics, food shortages, and natural disasters.

Russia has also become a primary ally for many of the West African nations that have faced military coups in recent years.

Countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger severed ties with France and have now deepened their partnership with Russia.

Here’s Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré:

TRAORE: [Speaking French]

He says here that cooperation with Russia is better suited to the people of Burkina Faso.

He called Russia a partner with whom Burkina Faso can make progress—adding he has no fear relying on Moscow for military support.

AUDIO: [Chanting protesters]

Amsterdam protest ban — Over in the Netherlands’ capital of Amsterdam, riot police detained dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators Sunday for defying a protest ban.

Authorities instituted the ban after Israeli soccer team supporters were attacked as they left a stadium where Israeli and Dutch soccer clubs competed.

The emergency measures also include increased police deployment and a ban on face masks.

Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands said some 2,000 Israelis left Amsterdam on special flights in the aftermath of the violence.

Here’s Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.

VELDKAMP: A full investigation will take place in the Netherlands on the question if the Dutch authorities, if we, as Dutch authorities, acted properly. So we will evaluate the situation and what happened.

Meanwhile, French and Israeli soccer teams are scheduled to face off in a Thursday match in Paris. French authorities have said they will deploy about 4,000 officers to ensure security around the stadium and on public transportation.

AUDIO: [Ongoing rescue]

Philippines typhoon — In the Philippines, yet another typhoon made landfall on Monday in the country’s northeast.

Typhoon Toraji is the fourth major storm to hit the country in a month.

It brought strong winds and heavy rains to the agricultural region.

Authorities evacuated people from 2,500 villages ahead of the storm.

The past storms have killed more than 160 people and affected more than 9 million others.

AUDIO: [Mariachi singing]

Mariachi record — We wrap up in Mexico, with more than one thousand musicians singing and strumming their guitars in Mexico City’s main square.

Their performance topped off the city’s first Mariachi congress. It also attempted to break a previous Guinness World Record of 700 mariachi musicians, performing together in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in 2013.

Jesús Morales traveled to Mexico City to join the performers. He began playing with his uncles at the age of 13.

MORALES: [Speaking Spanish]

He says here that his father instilled in him a deep respect for music.

Guinness World Records can take up to 12 weeks to confirm or reject a record attempt.

AUDIO: [Mariachi music]

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, November 13th

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Voting after becoming an American citizen.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people gain the right to vote by going through the legal process to become naturalized U-S citizens.

MAST: WORLD’s Bekah McCallum and I spent time on election day talking to voters in the Atlanta area. We ended up speaking to a few about what issues drove their decisions at the polls this year.

AUDIO: [Sound of voters at the polls]

An estimated 150 million American voters headed to the polls last week. The Pew Center estimates 10 percent of those eligible to vote are naturalized citizens.

KAMBAFWILE: Originally Zambia. That’s my nationality.

AZIZ: Yes, I was born in Afghanistan.

VO: I’m Vietnamese.

Since the last Presidential election, US Citizenship and Immigration Services reports more than 3 million people have become naturalized citizens.

CEREMONY: Are you ready to take the oath?

Audio of new citizens taking the Oath of Allegiance at a ceremony in New Jersey from NJ.com.

CEREMONY: Repeat after me, without my accent. [Laughter] I hereby declare … an oath…

These Americans weren’t born here, but went through a lengthy process to gain the rights of citizenship—including the right to vote.

JAMES CULP: For a lot of them, they want to be a part of that sort of American dream, a culture.

That’s James Culp with Learning Empowered, a group that helps immigrants through the process of becoming citizens. Culp says he saw a spike in citizenship applications in the last 18 months—many of them from people hoping to vote in the 2024 Presidential election.

CULP: They want to know they're in a country where the vote actually counts. Because I think a lot of them have such a poor view of voting, because they do come from pseudo-ish democracies where they're just happy to know that even if they vote for someone and they lose, just that it's it's a good system. Your vote counts.

For first-time voters, it’s an exciting moment.

NAVISIMO CHIFUNDO KAMBAFWILE: I got naturalized after last election so I couldn't of course vote but this year I was able to. Yay!

Navisimo Chifundo Kambafwile is a hospital patient advocate who lives in Forsyth County, Georgia. She’s originally from Zambia. There, citizens cast ballots regularly in multi-party elections but opposition parties sometimes face legal obstacles and sometimes speech is limited.

KAMBAFWILE: For me, the excitement is just that I did it, you know? And the piece that I can walk away saying, I did exercise my civil right. I'm just excited to have casted my vote, okay? Like, that's it.

Kambafwile voted for Kamala Harris. She explains why.

KAMBAFWILE: You know, being female. Just, you know, I celebrate a person of color, like just, um, the difference that she brings and then for me she just exudes love for me love and peace.

Outside a church in Gwinnett County, Anisa Aziz walked to the car with her son after they voted. This wasn’t their first election. The family came here from Afghanistan in the 1980s. Women there were granted the right to vote in 1919.

But since the Taliban regained power in 2021, the UN says they have increasingly limited women’s freedoms. Anisa said she was thinking of Afghanistan when she voted for Donald Trump.

ANISA AZIZ: Maybe he's so nice he was helpful all all of country he was helpful my country maybe he's nice I'm thinking maybe.

Sardar Aziz, Anisa’s son, is a realtor now, but says he served in the US Army for 12 years. The political instability in the world prompted him to vote for Trump as well—the first time he’s done so.

SARDAR AZIZ: I like his policies. I guess we can't afford to have four more years of war and economical issues. So that's why I voted for him. I think he'll do much better than his last term.

Twenty miles away, in Berkeley Lake, Georgia, T Vo was excited about voting for Trump.

VO: I cannot speak English good. But I love Trump because he love America. I'm American citizen. I am not Republican. I'm not Democrat. I love my country. My country is America.

Vo is 61. He came to America 40 years ago from Vietnam—a one-party Communist country. Freedom House says elections there technically allow other candidates, but in practice there isn’t much choice. Vo raised his family here, and they’ve thrived. His worries about the future of education. That’s what drove his choice this year.

VO: I have five children. But the education right now is very, very bad. And sometimes I want to send all my kids back to my country and study over there. It's better than America. But this is my country. I love my country. I want the education, you know, go up, cannot go down. I love children and that's it.

The Pew Center says that historically, naturalized citizens turn out to vote at a lower rate than US-born voters. In 2016, 54 percent of foreign-born citizens said they voted, compared to 62 percent of those born in America. James Culp says he wishes there were more programs to help inform new citizens about how to register to vote and where to go.

CULP: But if they don't have that, then they're just kind of in the weeds. And unfortunately, a lot of people, if they feel it's a certain degree sort of insurmountable, they tend to shut down.

He says for those who do register and vote, casting a ballot can be the final step in feeling that they’re truly an American.

VO: America is a freedom country, and I live here over 40 years. And this is my country.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, November 13th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Election results come and go, but WORLD Opinions commentator Nathanael Blake says family, church, and community should always come first.

NATHANEL BLAKE: If you’re not gaining, you’re losing. As Christians, we should remember that if we are not strengthening our families, churches, and ministries, then it does not matter much who wins elections. And if we are faithfully laboring for Christ, we may prevail…even if our enemies triumph on Election Day.

Politics matter, but our hope is in the gospel, not the government. Our reliance is not on the powers of this world but on the divine power, the Creator, who made the world. Politics cannot save us, either individually or nationally. We cannot vote our way into righteousness and out of judgment. Seeking justice in law and governance is part of righteousness, but we know that this requires more than politicians and policies. It will not matter that our preferred politicians win if church attendance and family formation continue to collapse.

Though the evils of a depraved people and decadent culture can be partially contained by good government, they can only be cured by the gospel. Without redemption and sanctification, there will only be two different flavors of evil to choose from, and even the lesser will be foul indeed. Something better than this requires a revival of virtue and faith, not just political calculation.

There can be no Christian culture or politics without Christianity, and so our tactics will not always be those of the world. The devil fears our prayers more than our votes, let alone our tweets.

The enemies of the gospel seek to mislead and seduce. They advance their goals by filling education with inane and alienating ideologies; by filling social life with social media shallowness, and by filling entertainment with promises that selfish indulgence brings happiness. They rely on glamor but offer little substance or even real beauty. This spiritual emptiness results in a way of life and a culture that are destructive of both self and society.

But sustaining that substance requires persistent effort. Families, churches, and ministries need renewal and rebuilding in the face of attrition and entropy. People leave or are swamped by other obligations or die. And, of course, there is the work of raising the next generation in the faith, as well as reaching those who are outside the Church. And so, like Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen, churches and ministries often have to run hard just to stay in the same place.

This work—teaching Sunday school, fixing a leaky faucet for a widow in the church, hosting a Bible study—is rarely glamorous, but it is often fulfilling. In this, we see a demonstration of Jesus’ saying that those who seek to gain their life will lose it, but those who lose it will gain it. The truth of Christianity is not just about how to get to heaven but also about how to live here and now. A life of love and relationship in accord with God’s law is self-sacrificial but better than a life of selfish indulgence. This is because we are meant for love and relationships and will find deeper joys and satisfactions through them than by seeking only our own pleasure.

We should cheerfully join the work of building up our families, churches, and other Christian ministries and communities. And as we do so, we will often find increased confidence in Christ, His gospel, and Christian witness. Politicians pander, but we should preach. And this is a time to do so boldly, for the self-destruction of our selfish, decadent culture is apparent and gives Christians a great opportunity to proclaim Christ to the world. We may serve Him and advance His kingdom even when our political allies are faithless or when those who oppose us are in power.

I’m Nathanael Blake.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Congress is back in session with leadership elections coming up fast. We’ll have a report.

And, an injured soldier’s journey from the front lines to finding a new purpose.

That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

A special thanks to Mary Muncy for her help with today’s voter story.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Apostle Paul wrote: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” II Corinthians 4:16-18.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.