Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

When Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker asked to speak to former President Donald Trump about his last year in office, he agreed, surprising them all. He hosted them for a lavish dinner at Mar-A-Lago, his hotel and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., just 10 weeks after his term ended. During their two-and-a-half-hour conversation, Trump was fixed on “The Big Lie” that he won the 2020 election. He also said he believes he’s America’s greatest president, that “not even George Washington” could beat him.

The braggadocio is not unexpected from Trump, and it marks Leonnig and Rucker’s new book, “I Alone Can Fix It,” a follow-up to their Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “A Very Stable Genius.” Their latest release details the final 12 months of the Trump presidency.

It’s packed with revelations about the former president’s mishandling of the pandemic (he wouldn’t do anything differently) to the racial justice protests after George Floyd’s murder (he wishes he’d called out the military). But the stories grabbing the most headlines are those that describe Trump’s obsession with self over country, with the health of his poll numbers above all.

Wednesday morning, host Kerri Miller talked to Leonnig about the book, how she and Rucker managed to research it, and how she believes history will look back at the tumultuous year of 2020.

Guest:

• Carol Leonnig is a reporter for the Washington Post and the co-author of the newly released “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

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Businesses are preparing to call workers back to the office, and universities are ready to welcome students back to campus — in the midst of a resurgent wave of COVID-19 infections.

Rochelle Walensky, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the pandemic is now a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” More than 99 percent of deaths from COVID-19 this month can be traced back to people who hadn’t gotten immunized against the disease.

Because of that, some corporations — most notably, hospitals — are starting to require the COVID-19 vaccine for its workforce. A coalition of health care organizations last week called on all medical facilities in the U.S. to demand vaccinations for health care personnel. A new report found that about 1 in 4 people who work directly with patients in hospitals are not vaccinated.

Universities are also entering the fray, with some mandating that students returning to campus get vaccinated or stay home.

Leading infectious disease experts applaud the moves. Dr. Anthony Fauci said that while a nationwide vaccine mandate is unlikely, he would like to see more localized attempts to require the vaccine. He also called on the Food and Drug Administration to give final authorization to the COVID-19 vaccines.

That’s a step some organizations, like the military, say they are waiting for before they make a final decision about requiring the vaccines.

Is this the right idea, at the right time? Or is requiring vaccines a step too far? Monday morning, host Kerri Miller talked about the pros and cons of vaccine mandates with two experts — including Minnesota’s leading infectious disease expert and a doctor who co-authored the recommendation that health care workers be required to get vaccinated.

Guests:

• Dr. Hilary M. Babcock is an infectious disease expert at Washington University School of Medicine who specializes in the prevention of infection transmission in health care settings.

• Mike Osterholm is an epidemiologist and the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS

Shocking fact: The average American home has more than 300,000 items in it. And that was before the pandemic, when many of us used Amazon as retail therapy.

While Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus certainly understand the impulse, they encourage a different path. When they were kids growing up in poverty in Ohio, they equated stuff with success. But as they got older and were able to acquire more, they discovered that material goods didn’t grow their happiness.

That’s when The Minimalists was born. Both Millburn and Nicodemus embarked on a journey to get rid of clutter. To their surprise, they found that decluttering their space led to a decluttering of their minds — and that gave them the mental and emotional space to reorder their relationships.

Since that time, they’ve launched a website, a podcast, two Netflix documentaries (“Minimalism” and “Less is Now”) and now a book that details their passion for finding more in less.

Friday, they talked with host Kerri Miller about their written blueprint, “Love People, Use Things” and share lessons learned.

Guests:

• Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus are lifelong friends, authors and speakers. Together, they are The Minimalists. Their new book is “Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works.”

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Before George Floyd was killed, before there was a national reckoning on race, there was The Race Card Project.

It started in 2010, when journalist Michele Norris was on a book tour, promoting her deeply personal memoir “The Grace of Silence.” Norris began asking people who would show up at her events to think of the word “race,” and then write down just six words to capture their most honest and intimate expressions.

What she heard astounded her.

“Native Americans, America’s invisible invisible invisible.”

“With kids, I’m Dad. Alone … thug.

“I’m ashamed for my ancestors’ race.”

“I am not an exotic creature.”

The simple question quickly took on a life of its own. Norris began by leaving blank postcards in cities she visited. Eventually, the project became a website where anyone could submit their stories.

At this point, Norris has now received more than half a million answers to her question, from all 50 states and around a hundred countries and territories.

“I had no idea there were so many people who were so eager to talk about race and identity that they would share their thoughts with a stranger, knowing that their stories could be posted on a website for anyone to see,” she wrote.

Thursday, Norris joined host Kerri Miller to talk about what she’s learned about America and the fluid notion of identity from The Race Card Project.

Guest:

• Michele Norris is an award-winning journalist and the founder of The Race Card Project.

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.