Politics and views in the United States.

Family safety net programs could face axe in Trump budget cutting. JD Vance stands behind Pete Hegseth's nomination, and agriculture could face hits if tariffs spark a trade war.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

It's these public programs that are core to helping families meet the day-to-day needs of raising healthy kids.

These have been bipartisan programs that have helped our families thrive.

Mayra Alvarez with the Children's Partnership is one of many people concerned about the possible impact of President-elect Donald Trump's budget cuts.

Department of Government Efficiency co-chairs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are spearheading efforts to slice $2 trillion in federal spending, but this almost inevitably puts safety net programs like Medicaid, CHIP, and SNAP in the crosshairs.

Alvarez says these are some of the most widely used and popular federal programs.

Comments from Musk on an episode of Joe Rogan's popular podcast are being criticized as global warming misinformation.

The multi-billionaire claimed that how much beef people eat is irrelevant to climate change.

But cattle produce methane, a potent global warming gas, making cows the largest source of livestock climate emissions.

Boston University professor Michelle Amazin says Musk is repeating disinformation that started in the industry.

"That's essentially the playbook on deceiving people about the harmful impacts of certain products.

And so we see this again regarding climate change."

Some farmers also say they're worried about whether the incoming president's tariffs could spark a trade war with China and hurt agricultural exports.

USDA reports say commodity prices are already dropping, and soybean farmers in states like North Dakota say they're in no position to lose the Chinese market.

Ben Palin with the consulting firm Ag Management Partners says this comes at a time of global ag market instability and increasing export competition.

"I just don't think that you can have a coherent and consistent policy for agriculture if you go from one crisis to another."

Threats and pressure by Trump and his allies may be showing up support for Secretary of Defense Pete Hexeth with Senate Republicans, but the public opinion of the Fox News host continues to erode.

Hexeth has been accused of sexual misconduct, excessive alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement of two veteran charities.

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance says they're not abandoning the nomination.

"We're not abandoning this nomination.

We're not going to make it easy for people to allow the media to determine who our Secretary of Defense is.

Donald J. Trump, who just won an election by a very significant margin with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, that's who determines who the Secretary of Defense is."

Meanwhile, health care providers and legal experts are worried about how Trump's second term will impact reproductive rights.

In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal through 23 weeks.

Signy Espinoza with Planned Parenthood in the state says Trump's win won't change their work, but they will have to engage with state lawmakers to protect women's rights and health.

"We're going to continue to do the work that we've been doing, and that is advocating for sexual and reproductive health care policies in the state of Pennsylvania, ensuring that barriers are removed.

There are currently a lot of barriers pre-Doc, pre-Trump administration."

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.