The Excerpt podcast: Biden promises to hit Trump over southern border

On Saturday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: President Joe Biden promises to hit former President Donald Trump over the border. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison reports. The S&P 500 hits another milestone. USA TODAY Health Reporter Eduardo Cuevas talks about the link between plastic and preterm pregnancies. New reports highlight the urgency of climate change. A photo of a sleeping polar bear has won the Natural History Museum's 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Saturday, February 10th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, how Biden is going after Trump following failed border legislation. Plus, it was another big day for the markets. And we look at how plastics are linked to preterm births.

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President Joe Biden is hoping to go after former President Donald Trump for helping crash a bipartisan border deal that fell apart this week. But his strategy on the border has been overshadowed in recent days by a Special Counsel's claims that Biden suffers from memory loss. I caught up with USA Today White House correspondent, Joey Garrison, for the latest. Joey, thanks for making the time.

Joey Garrison:

Hey, thanks for having me on.

Taylor Wilson:

So, Joey, President Joe Biden is hoping to turn this week's legislative failure for Republicans into a win for him on the campaign trail. What is the strategy shaping up to look like?

Joey Garrison:

Well, typically and in recent years, the border has been something in which Democrats are playing defense on. It's something Trump especially has hammered the Democrats over for being supposedly soft on the border. Of course, Trump famously has wanted to build a full wall across the border, and right now he's campaigning on mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in the US.

But now, Biden is trying to flip the script here saying, "Hey, I was ready to act on border security measures, what would've been some of the biggest in the last three decades, but Republicans stood in the way. Trump stood in the way." And so really, it enables Biden to go on offense on this issue.

But I'm very skeptical whether it can succeed. Polling on the border is so weak historically for Democrats and it's an issue Republicans are usually able to make gains on, that it's going to be really hard, I think, for this issue to ultimately resonate on Biden's side in the campaign.

Taylor Wilson:

You mentioned Republicans, how are they responding to him finger pointing over the border in this way?

Joey Garrison:

Well, several of the Republicans... In my story, I quoted Senator Ted Cruz saying this was all just a political ploy for Democrats to say, "Hey, see, I did something on the border." The Republicans have... in terms of their stated argument, says, "Hey, these measures didn't go far enough." They've pushed for a more hard line border bill called HR 2 that passed the House. And so essentially, they're saying that this is a stunt politically in an election year by the Democrats.

But the argument... I think the Democrats, Biden kind of has a better one here saying, "Well..." I mean, a lot of these measures were pretty far-reaching that Biden agreed to. And the fact of the matter is they were urging that bill its passage, and Republicans did stand in the way from it.

Taylor Wilson:

Joey, is this a risky strategy, a risky move for his base? Does he risk alienating anyone there?

Joey Garrison:

Immigrant advocates, Latino voters. I mean, all of those could be turned off by this kind of new tougher rhetoric coming from Biden on the border, on immigration. But people close to the White House say, "Americans, by and large, they want to see immigration laws, border laws enforced. They just want to see it to be done in a fair way." And also unlike Trump, Biden hasn't adopted this kind of inflammatory rhetoric when discussing immigrants and border issues. And so that's a key distinction.

But yeah, I mean progressive voters, folks on the left, not all of them are going to be happy with what's kind of been a shift in the way he's been talking about the border and immigration issues.

Taylor Wilson:

Joey, I don't think we can talk about the president right now without mentioning this odd week he's just had. This report came out from Special Counsel Robert Hur, describing him as, "A well-meaning elderly man with poor memory." And that put him on the defensive. Let's take a listen.

Joe Biden:

I know there's some attention paid to some language in the report about my recollection of events. There's even reference that I don't remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, "Wasn't any of their business."

Taylor Wilson:

And Republicans, Joey, are now blasting him as well after this report. Is all this overshadowing Biden's pivot on the border?

Joey Garrison:

Well, I think it did kind of override what had been a very winning week for the president. I mean, this is a major issue, the Special Counsel report, because it elevates what was really one of Biden's biggest liabilities in the election campaign, and that's his age, 81 years old. We see it in poll after poll, voters concerned about his fitness for the job. And here you had a Special Counsel report. Now, albeit coming from a Republican Special Counsel, as Biden's allies note, but somebody who witnessed firsthand, according to him, Robert Hur, that Biden had trouble remembering the exact dates in which he served as vice president, when his son, Beau Biden, died. And so it has thrust this issue of age front and center now in the campaign.

Taylor Wilson:

Joey Garrison covers the White House for USA Today. Great insight as always. Thank you, Joey.

Joey Garrison:

Hey, thanks a lot.

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Taylor Wilson:

The S&P 500 has hit another milestone, ending above 5,000 for the first time. That comes just three weeks after the index saw its first record close since January of 2022. The market's performance has been strengthened by signs that the Federal Reserve has ended its rate hikes and may cut rates this year.

Excitement around artificial intelligence advancements has also pushed up company's stock prices. This is all good news for American's 401(k) retirement plans. The S&P 500 is considered one of the best gauges of Wall Street's health. When the benchmark index goes up, American's 401(k)s tend to go up as well. But while the 5,000 milestone is making headlines, experts say it may not keep that level for long.

Stephen Suttmeier, Bank of America's chief equity technical strategist, told USA today that, "The first few months of an election year are pretty choppy for markets. Similar milestones in the past have been followed by dips." You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

Plastics have been linked to thousands of preterm births. My colleague, Sarah Ganim, sat down with USA Today health reporter, Eduardo Cuevas, to learn more.

Sara Ganim:

Eduardo, thank you so much for joining The Excerpt today.

Eduardo Cuevas:

Glad to be here.

Sara Ganim:

So, what exactly is preterm birth and how dangerous is it for newborns?

Eduardo Cuevas:

Yeah. Generally speaking, preterm birth is when a baby's born too early, and that's about 37 weeks of pregnancy. There's all sorts of complications that arise when a baby is born too early and that can go from breathing problems to issues with vision to developmental delays, and there's a lot of evidence down the line on health effects as children grow up.

Sara Ganim:

That it can follow them for their lifetime?

Eduardo Cuevas:

Correct.

Sara Ganim:

What are these chemicals and where do we encounter them in our lives?

Eduardo Cuevas:

This study looked at what are called phthalates. Short answer, Sarah, they're everywhere. These are basically used in plastics to make them more durable, bendable, shinier. From things like Tupperware, toys made from plastic, but also things like certain lotions and cosmetic products. Millions of tons are produced annually in the United States, and the United States is a big consumer of them.

Sara Ganim:

And how do they hurt us?

Eduardo Cuevas:

Phthalates are what scientists call it endocrine disruptors. So, that affects hormones, and those are those signals that travel through the bloodstream to give us messages. But when it comes to babies in the womb, to fetuses, that's as the baby develops, right?

Sara Ganim:

So, the effect is exaggerated on a baby that's growing inside of its mother.

Eduardo Cuevas:

Yeah.

Sara Ganim:

Some of the researchers actually blame the regulation of one of these phthalates, which I found to be really interesting and surprising. Can you explain how they say that that made things worse, in their opinion?

Eduardo Cuevas:

Yeah. So, as that's faced regulation, researchers say the industry has looked to other types of chemicals to skirt regulation. This study is unique because they were able to start to get at some of those different replacement chemicals.

Sara Ganim:

One pediatrician who you interviewed said, "We need a fundamental revamping of chemical regulation to protect people." How did the chemical companies respond to this report?

Eduardo Cuevas:

The industry disputed the findings, and they said, "Just because there's an association between plastics and these outcomes, it's not proof that plastic directly caused them." And that's true. This is an observational study. However, outside researchers we spoke with, point out this builds on growing evidence, and really what's unique about this study is it's quite a large sample size, 5,000 mothers, and it's also pretty diverse.

Sara Ganim:

What can new parents do? What's a single change that we can all make today to better protect ourselves?

Eduardo Cuevas:

That's a great question. Let's be very clear. Plastic is not going to go out of our lives anytime soon. That being said, the lead author pointed out one thing is maybe try to replace your plastic Tupperware to glass. That's one option. Another thing is, consider wooden toys as opposed to a plastic toy for your child. Try to think about what's on the labeling and packages you buy. When things are microwaved, we inhale that way as well.

Sara Ganim:

Eduardo, thank you so much for this reporting and for talking to me about it.

Eduardo Cuevas:

Thank you for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

Climate change is melting ice at an alarming rate, and a pair of studies are warning of potentially dire consequences. In one study, scientists say, "The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, also known as AMOC, is on the path toward collapse." The ocean current was also at the center of the fictional climate disaster movie, The Day After Tomorrow.

The study published in the Journal Science Advances and out of Utrecht University in the Netherlands is based on a computer model simulation. It renews fears about the stability of the current that fuels weather and climate patterns in the US, Europe, and Africa. Previous studies have found that a collapse of the AMOC is possible at some point this century.

Meanwhile, another study published this week in the Journal Nature Geoscience, warns of how suddenly ice can melt in Antarctica, and its scientists announced the first direct evidence that, "The West Antarctic Ice Sheet shrunk suddenly at the end of the last Ice Age, around 8,000 years ago." That's according to a statement from the University of Cambridge. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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And speaking of melting ice, a photo of a polar bear sleeping on a bed of ice has won the Natural History Museum's 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award. Photographer Nima Sarikhani was named the winner on Tuesday of the Grand Title Award for Ice Bed, which captures, "A dreamy image of a young polar bear drifting to sleep," according to a press release. The picture brings attention to the plight of polar bears whose homelands in the Arctic have been eroded by climate change at a startling pace. You can check out the photo with a link in today's show notes.

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And Happy Lunar New Year. It's the most important holiday in China where the Year of the Dragon will be celebrated, and many other Asian countries also mark the New Year at this time, including Korea and Vietnam.

Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. I'll be back tomorrow with a special Super Bowl Sunday edition of the show, looking at the state of sports betting in America. I'll be joined by Richard Morin, editor of Sports Betting Partnerships at USA Today. You can find the episode right here on this feed.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Excerpt podcast: Joe Biden to hit Donald Trump on immigration