ArchiveFM

Duration
19m
Broadcast on
27 Dec 2025
Audio Format
other

NPR’s Ron Elving has been thinking about the state of U.S. politics since President Donald Trump returned to power. Also, several countries in South America elected conservative and even far right leaders in 2025, marking a political and ideological shift in the region. And, we’ll have the highlight reel from the year in sports. 

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Good morning, Daniel. Morning, Scott. Before we begin the show today, I want to take a moment to reflect on the value of public media. Yeah, public media is what makes up first and all the podcasts you love from NPR so unique. From its founding in the United States, public media has been meant to educate listeners and illuminate the stories from underrepresented communities to provide cultural insight that expands your perspective. More commitment to those principles will never change at NPR. But with federal funding for public media eliminated, we now rely on your support to bring you up first more than ever. That's why we're especially grateful this holiday season and we want to pause to appreciate the generosity of NPR+ supporters and all of our listeners who've already stepped up to donate. And that includes listeners like Stephanie in California. And she says, and I'm reading here, "People need access to trustworthy news sources. I listen to up first almost every morning on the way to work, I've been meaning to donate for a while now, finally getting it done." Ah, well, thank you, Stephanie. Thank you from all of us. And you, yes, you, listening right now, can cross something off your end-of-year-to-do list and support public media by signing up for NPR+. It's a simple, recurring donation that gets you perks to a whole lot of NPR podcasts including Up First. You can join us at plus.npr.org. And now, should we do the podcast? Why not? NPR senior contributor Ron Elvin's New Year's resolution catches breaths before taking on another year in political news. What will 2026 bring for the Trump administration? I'm Scott Simon. And I'm Daniel Estrin, and this is Up First from NPR News. In South America, socialist rule in Bolivia came to an end and Chileans voted in an ultra-conservative president. A political shift to the right and an increase in U.S. actions in the region. The goal here is to bring security and stability to the hemisphere. What a year for sports. Well, play the highlight reel. Also, quite a year for sports gambling scandals. Well, my bet, Scott, is you'll say "fear the deer" one more time. Fair the! The odds are good. Please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend. Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from Prolon. Want a look and feel your best this fall? Prolon's five-day fasting mimicking diet is a clinically developed nutrition program with the goal of promoting fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Built at USC's Longevity Institute, it aims to assist the body in entering a fasting-like

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