June 21, 2025

This week, we followed President Trump's shifting responses to the conflict between Israel and Iran. Plus, the state of political violence in America, and how the farming industry is dealing with Trump's immigration crackdown.

The Big Picture: Violence in Minnesota

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Two Minnesota politicians and their spouses were targeted in shootings last weekend that killed Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and wounded Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.

Investigators are still examining possible motives for the shootings, but the attacks come at a time when violence against elected officials is on the rise. In 2023, the Brennan Center for Justice — a progressive law and policy organization — did a survey of hundreds of state legislators to ask if they were experiencing harassment and abuse. And they found that across both parties, there was a reported increase in threats and intimidation and harassment.

Authorities indicate that the suspect in the shooting, Vance Luther Boelter, had a "hit list " that included Democratic officials, reproductive rights advocates and some women's health clinics. Scholars say it is reasonable to consider the rampage in Minnesota within the well-established pattern of anti-abortion violence that has taken place over many decades in the U.S., and its ties to parts of the conservative Evangelical Christian movement.

“That apocalyptic narrative says that we're in a battle between good Christian forces and evil demonic forces and that we must do something now, lest we deal with the wrath of God,” said Carol Mason, a University of Kentucky professor whose work focuses on the rise of the right since the 1960s and anti-abortion violence.

Mason said there is evident frustration being felt within the far right that, since the Dobbs decision, estimates of abortion actually went up. The movement that had long seen the overturning Roe v. Wade as an important step toward achieving the elimination of elective abortion has been contending with a more complicated result. This has increased concern over escalating rhetoric and the possibility that individual actors will feel compelled to take matters into their own hands.

Boelter appears to be linked to the New Apostolic Reformation, a fast-growing movement within Evangelicalism that frequently invokes the terminology and imagery of war when discussing political and spiritual enemies, including those who support abortion rights. In religious speeches he delivered while living in Africa, Boelter railed against abortion and said that “God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America to correct his church.” According to an investigator’s affidavit filed in relation to the federal complaint against Boelter, he allegedly sent a group text message to his wife and other family members in the hours after the rampage that read, “Dad went to war last night.”

— Odette Yousef, NPR domestic extremism correspondent

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ICYMI: Top Stories

Al Drago/Getty Images

Decision on Iran strike coming in “two weeks”: President Trump will make a decision on whether the U.S. will strike Iran "within two weeks ," the White House said Thursday. The statement tamped down speculation that the U.S. was poised to strike an Iranian nuclear facility following days of Trump escalating his rhetoric about the conflict between Iran and Israel (more on this story below).

Immigration crackdown hits U.S. farming: Following a string of immigration enforcement raids at farming and meatpacking facilities, President Trump said that “changes” would be coming to protect U.S. farmers. But this week, Homeland Security officials confirmed that worksite enforcement would continue, and there would be “no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts.” We examined what that might mean for the U.S. food supply, and how it illustrates Trump’s conflicting priorities.

A House vs. Senate clash on Trump’s legislative package: Senate Republicans are considering changes to the bill that's a cornerstone of President Trump's second-term agenda, setting up a potential collision course with the House. Among the major points of contention are deduction of state and local taxes (a BFD for House blue-state Republicans), the debt ceiling and changes to Medicaid funding mechanisms.

Dealmaker-in-chief? President Trump loves to boast about his deal-making prowess. He promised to end the war in Ukraine on “Day One.” A top advisor promised 90 trade deals in 90 days. And so on. But so far this term, the author of The Art of the Deal has yet to live up to his lofty deal-making expectations, NPR’s Mara Liasson reports.

MAHA rhetoric vs. Trump cuts: Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made fighting the health risks of chemical exposure a hallmark of his “Make America Healthy Again” platform. But while Kennedy talks about toxins in our food, water and air, firings and downsizing in his department have disrupted teams that investigate toxic substances and pollutants. Broad cuts to research funding have imperiled relevant scientific work, and regulators are weakening safeguards that limit pollution. NPR health correspondent Will Stone has more.

— Lexie Schapitl, NPR Politics producer

Embedded Podcast - The Network series out now

Meet the women shaping the future of abortion

In the last few years, abortion restrictions in the U.S. have grown. In response, women are finding ways to end their pregnancies without a clinic.

On The Network, a new three-part series from NPR’s Embedded podcast and Futuro Media, witness how a network of activists and midwives, grandmothers and friends changed abortion access as we know it.

Hear the series ➔

Going Deeper: Middle East Tensions Escalate

Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

All eyes were on Israel and Iran this week, as the two countries continued to trade strikes. Read on to learn more from our NPR reporters:

How this moment echoes — and differs from — the run-up to the Iraq War.
Israeli and U.S. intelligence differ on the status of Iran's nuclear program. Who's right?
Trump’s openness to engaging in Iran is dividing the MAGA base and right-wing media
The U.S. could use 'bunker buster' bombs on Iran’s nuclear facility. Here's what to know about them.
Why one House Republican would support a U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear program

— Lexie Schapitl, NPR Politics producer

The Shot: Quilting for Juneteenth

Amy Edmunds

99-year-old Edith Edmunds has been making quilts since she was seven, when she first learned to sew on a pedal-powered treadle machine using scraps of fabric.

But it wasn't until 50 years ago, after reading a magazine article, that she learned that runaway enslaved people in the South may have used encoded messages in quilts to make their way north along the Underground Railroad.

That’s why Edmunds planned to spend this Juneteenth — the day when, 160 years ago, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, on to spread the news that slavery had been outlawed two years earlier — quilting.

She told NPR how she saw the art of quilt making as inextricably linked to the Black struggle for freedom: "The younger generations don't know what really happened back then — with the Underground Railroad. So I hope I'm opening somebody's eyes and their minds."

— Lexie Schapitl, NPR Politics producer

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