AUNT BETTY: Hey, y'all. This is Sam's Aunt Betty. This week on the show - CNN political reporter Juana Summers and Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep. All right. Let's start the show.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALRIGHT")
KENDRICK LAMAR: (Rapping) We gon' be alright.
SAM SANDERS, HOST:
Hey, y'all. From NPR, I'm Sam Sanders. IT'S BEEN A MINUTE here with two wonderful guests in person today because I'm in D.C. - Juana Summers, senior writer for CNN Politics. Hello.
JUANA SUMMERS: Hi there.
SANDERS: And Steve Inskeep, who I hear every morning...
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: Oh, thanks for listening. I appreciate that.
SANDERS: ...Host of two wonderful NPR shows - Morning Edition and Up First. So I am playing a song today from Kendrick Lamar - not just because I love Kendrick Lamar but because he made some news this week. But first, I want to play a little bit of this song. The song is called "Alright."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALRIGHT")
LAMAR: (Rapping) I can see the evil, I can tell it, I know it's illegal. I don't think about it, I deposit every other zero thinking of my partner, put the candy, paint it on the regal. Digging in my pocket ain't a profit big enough to feed you. Every day, my logic get another dollar just to keep you in the presence of your chico, ah.
SANDERS: I'm playing Kendrick Lamar today because he and his record label have been in this battle with Spotify. Have you guys heard about this?
INSKEEP: No. Go on.
SANDERS: So in May, Spotify announced a new hateful conduct policy. So basically, they said artists that have been accused of things like abuse - they might no longer show up in Spotify playlists.
INSKEEP: OK.
SANDERS: So artists like R. Kelly were affected by this.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: So after that happened, a lot of people said, well, the artists you're pulling off of Spotify all seem to be hip-hop and R&B artists. And they all seem to be black men. And if you really want to be fair, you got to take off a lot of other people, too. So there was a lot of pushback and ultimately - sorry.
INSKEEP: Where does Kendrick Lamar get into this?
SANDERS: Let me tell you. So his record label, Top Dawg Entertainment - they said, we'll take off Kendrick's music from Spotify. We'll take off our whole label's music off Spotify, unless you stop censoring...
INSKEEP: This is like a boycott of Spotify.
SANDERS: Yeah. So Spotify was about to lose Kendrick Lamar, which would not be good for their business.
INSKEEP: No.
SANDERS: So they quickly turned course, and they said, across all genres, our role is not to regulate artists. Therefore, we're moving away from implementing a policy around artist conduct. We don't aim to play judge and jury. Kendrick won.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALRIGHT")
LAMAR: (Rapping) And when I wake up, I recognize you're lookin' at me for the pay cut.
INSKEEP: So you can look at their art and think yourself about their life.
SANDERS: Right, make your own judgment. Make your own judgment.
INSKEEP: OK.
SUMMERS: Yeah. We see this across social media, where it's just not clear who our society wants to be the arbiter of what's appropriate and what's not, what's allowed and what's not. And I think it puts these publishers who would prefer to, in a lot of cases, stay out of the fray in a very uncomfortable position because they don't want to be making that call because they...
SANDERS: They want to make platforms, and that's it.
SUMMERS: Yeah, and they run the risk of alienating their audience. And their decision that they make could hurt their business.
SANDERS: All right. Juana and Steve are here with me today to look back on the week of news and culture and everything else. As always, we'll start by having all of us describe our week of news in only three words. Steve, you're up first. And you told me beforehand what your three words are. It's actually a quote from this week.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: You aren't listening. Who said that?
INSKEEP: This was said - or actually written by Malcolm Jenkins...
SANDERS: OK.
INSKEEP: ...Of the Philadelphia Eagles. This is one of the many, many, many, many, many, many news stories this week. It feels like it was several weeks ago already.
SANDERS: And it was a story that was kind of a non-story because all of the facts of it weren't facts.
INSKEEP: It was a made-up story. But what we do know is that the Philadelphia Eagles were scheduled to visit the White House, as Super Bowl champions...
SANDERS: Yes.
INSKEEP: ...Typically get to do at some point.
SANDERS: Yes.
INSKEEP: Meet the president of the United States. It appears that some or most of the Eagles didn't feel like meeting the president of the United States.
SANDERS: For many reasons.
INSKEEP: And so the president, not wanting to be canceled on, canceled first. But in any case, Jenkins met with reporters after this story came down. And he said - according to the video. You can find the video - not a word. But held up placards - signs.
SANDERS: "Love Actually" style.
INSKEEP: Yeah, exactly...
SUMMERS: (Laughter).
INSKEEP: ...Or a lot of other examples of that. But held them up. And they're statistics about people being put in prison and racial inequities in this country and things that he wanted to call attention to. And the reporters are asking him questions, trying to get him talking. Are you angry at President Trump? Are you resentful? Are - those signs, do they have something to do with this cancellation? How do you connect one thing to the other? And he did not have a word to say, except that, at least twice, he held up a giant card that said, you're not listening, meaning - I want you to pay attention to the facts of what's going on...
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: ...And not this circus that this story...
SANDERS: Because this whole fury around the event and the cancellation and the White House sub event...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: ...It distracts from the real issue, which has always been the way that our police and courts treat black people.
SUMMERS: And yet the president has made this a very simplistic argument about nationalism, about the flag, about the anthem. And that's - and anybody who's been listening - and maybe no one is listening...
SANDERS: Yeah.
SUMMERS: ...Knows that's not what it's about.
INSKEEP: You're not listening.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: But I felt like that phrase applied in a couple of other news stories this week. There are diplomats and nuclear security experts and negotiation experts who've been warning President Trump he needs to be really, really, really, really, really prepared for this upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un.
SANDERS: Which wasn't going to happen, like, a week and a half ago (laughter).
INSKEEP: No, no. It's on. It's off. It's on. Well, I mean, Trump did the same thing with the summit, actually, that he did with the Philadelphia Eagles.
SANDERS: (Laughter) Yeah.
INSKEEP: There was - and this is according - I mean...
SANDERS: Yeah. This is real.
INSKEEP: ...Real conversations I've had with real people.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: There was fear that Kim Jong Un was going to cancel on Trump, so he cancelled...
SANDERS: So Trump cancelled first.
INSKEEP: ...First. And that just changed the dynamics and the...
SANDERS: You can't fire me. I quit.
INSKEEP: Exactly, exactly. So you're going to boycott my White House? My White House is going to boycott you.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: And there have been efforts to make sure that the president is fully, fully prepared for this because...
SANDERS: It's a big deal.
INSKEEP: ...The details matter. And they presume that the other guy's going to be really prepared.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: And you can do an amazing deal here that can really work out, or you can make big mistakes and make big concessions and not really know what you're doing. And this week, in a brief conversation with reporters, the president said, among other things, I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude.
SANDERS: Those are three words.
INSKEEP: There you go...
SANDERS: It's about attitude...
SUMMERS: It's about attitude...
INSKEEP: I thought about making that my three.
(LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: You know, I think it's not just about attitude.
SANDERS: It's about preparation.
INSKEEP: It's actually about substance.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: Are you listening to the substance?
SANDERS: Are you listening? Yeah.
INSKEEP: And some people are saying, you're not listening.
SANDERS: Yeah. I have three words for my week of news.
INSKEEP: Oh, go ahead.
SANDERS: They are look over there. Yeah. Over there, over there. And there have just been a series of stories this week that have made me think about the way that news headlines have distracted us from the real story and particularly how that kind of distraction affects people of color. You all have mentioned the Philadelphia Eagles story already. This was a story in which black men were all in the news all week. But we were looking past the real reasons why they were in the news. There were other stories like this, as well. You know, there was this story of Alice Johnson being pardoned - this 63-year-old black woman who was in jail serving a life sentence for a non-violent drug offense. After Kim Kardashian lobbied Jared Kushner, Donald Trump commuted her sentence this week. And there was much celebration about that. But there seems to be no further discussion of the thousands of people across the country in the same predicament.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: And there was no statement or movement from the White House to indicate any action on behalf of those people. You know, this is - so it just seemed, like, more distracting from the real issue.
INSKEEP: You're talking here about sentencing reform?
SANDERS: Sentencing reform.
INSKEEP: People getting massive sentences for what society would broadly agree is minor crimes.
SANDERS: Minor crime and mostly non-violent crimes.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: You know, these are common drug offenses that end up with people, who are usually of color, in prison or jail for a very, very long time. But then there was another story where people of color seemed to have been totally forgotten. There was a study out of Harvard that came out a few days ago that basically found that the real death toll in Puerto Rico...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: ...Post-Hurricane Maria was close to 5,000 people - some 4.6 thousand people are believed to have died in the aftermath of that storm. You didn't hear a lot about that.
INSKEEP: No.
SANDERS: In fact, President Trump visited FEMA headquarters this week. And at that visit, he did not mention Hurricane Maria or that death toll or Puerto Rico at all.
SUMMERS: That was what was so, I think, devastating about seeing that study and those numbers - is that it just made very clear, to me at least, that in a lot of ways, we don't still view Puerto Ricans as Americans.
SANDERS: Yeah.
SUMMERS: These are our brothers and sisters. These are our fellow countrymen who died at an alarming rate, who didn't have resources to stay alive, who have struggled to recover from a devastating disaster and who are still trying to climb their way up.
SANDERS: Yeah.
SUMMERS: And just to watch - as you see the lower thirds on cable news, they're talking about Puerto Ricans. These aren't just Puerto Ricans. They're Americans.
SANDERS: Exactly.
SUMMERS: And they deserve our help and our support and that we grieve with them for their losses just as we would if this happened in Maryland or New York or anywhere else.
INSKEEP: Now, I want to put an asterisk on that...
SANDERS: OK.
INSKEEP: ...Death toll. May I do that?
SANDERS: Yes.
INSKEEP: Because that was an estimate.
SANDERS: Yes.
INSKEEP: Because...
SANDERS: You don't know.
INSKEEP: ...The death figures were not there.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: The publication of that figure of 4,600 or something - whatever it was - caused Puerto Rico to put out more information about the number of people who had died...
SANDERS: Yes.
INSKEEP: ...In the months after the hurricane. And you do find there something like an extra 1,200 deaths.
SANDERS: This is...
INSKEEP: So maybe...
SANDERS: Crazy.
INSKEEP: ...It's not 4,600. That was a study. That was an estimate.
SANDERS: But it's more than what we thought.
INSKEEP: It's more than 64 - whatever it was.
SANDERS: Exactly.
INSKEEP: It's a lot of people dead.
SANDERS: Yeah. It's so sad. Juana, do you have three words for your week of news?
SUMMERS: I have a lot of words, but here's my three.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: OK.
SUMMERS: So my three words are stating the obvious. It's very obvious that any meaningful dialogue about how to keep our kids safe in the nation's schools should include a discussion about guns because we've been seeing this spate of school shootings. And yet the Education Department and the education secretary says that is not within the purview of the commission that she chairs that's focused on school safety.
SANDERS: Was that this week that happened?
SUMMERS: That was this week on Tuesday. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said that in a hearing before a Senate appropriations committee that deals with the funding for the Education Department. Let's keep in mind here - this was borne out of the school shooting in Parkland Florida that left 17 people dead. And it was created for that. And when the Trump administration announced it, they said one of the things they were going to look out of the myriad things they were going to look at was age restrictions on some types of firearms. The education secretary comes to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. And she says, that's not in my commission's purview. We're looking at school safety.
SANDERS: But the commission was established to...
SUMMERS: In the wake of a school shooting.
SANDERS: Yeah.
SUMMERS: But she says that's not their job. So they had their first public hearing this week here in Washington. And a slew of people came to talk about it. And we heard over and over again children who are in our nation's schools, including a number of people from here in the D.C. area, teachers, advocacy groups saying, please don't ignore this. So I think it's stating the obvious to say that's a big deal.
SANDERS: Yeah.
SUMMERS: And it applies to a lot of other stories, too. It's obvious that - and we were joking about this before the show - that it is inappropriate to have an aide that works for you if you are a cabinet secretary look for lotions from the Ritz Carlton or a used mattress from...
SANDERS: I want you to give me...
SUMMERS: ...The Trump hotel.
SANDERS: I want you to give me all the details on both of those really quickly because every time I hear the details...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: ...I crack up all over again.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: What happened with this?
SUMMERS: So I cover federal agencies. And I joke with my colleagues at CNN that there's never a day that passes that there's not a Scott Pruitt headline.
SANDERS: Yeah. He's the (unintelligible) secretary.
SUMMERS: And this week's have really taken the cake. This week we learned that Scott Pruitt has used aides who work for him...
SANDERS: You should say who he is.
SUMMERS: He is the EPA administrator - has used aides that worked for him, according to the Washington Post, to pick up his dry cleaning, to help him track down a particular moisturizer that he favors from the Ritz Carlton.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
SUMMERS: He also had an aide reach out to Dan Cathy, who heads up Chick-Fil-A. And while I have no hate for their chicken nuggets...
SANDERS: I love their chicken sandwich.
SUMMERS: ...He had reached out about a job for his wife being a franchisee. Now, it's important to note she never went through with the application. She does not work for Chick-Fil-A but had an aide reach out with regard to that. And he has a dozen-plus investigations into his conduct as EPA administrator. And yet he still has a job.
SANDERS: He's still there.
SUMMERS: The president has spoken about him favorably. And I have to say, when we heard the president speak out about him this week, he had a lot of great things to say about Scott Pruitt. Scott Pruitt's doing a great job. He mentioned all the great things he's done - not a lot to say about Jeff Sessions but a whole lot to say about how great...
SANDERS: (Laughter).
SUMMERS: ...Scott Pruitt is. I should also point out The Washington Post reported those same aides are also picking up Scott Pruitt's drycleaning.
SANDERS: Oh, my God. Can somebody have Scott Pruitt's staff go walk my dog when I'm in the office?
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: I would love that.
SUMMERS: You might want to call and see. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: OK. So on a more serious note, something else that made me say stating the obvious - it's obvious that suicide is a problem in America and across the world. But this week, it was made even more clear. You know, we saw the suicide deaths of Kate Spade. And we just found out Friday morning that Anthony Bourdain, the world famous chef and CNN host - he took his own life. And it's just a sad reminder about how crazy the stats are around suicide. You know, there was a new study from the CDC this week that said that the rate of suicide has increased in nearly every state over the past two decades. And half of those states have seen suicide rates go up by more than 30 percent.
INSKEEP: Does anybody know why that would be? We don't.
SANDERS: Yeah. We don't. I mean, there's talk about access to guns. But there's a lot of other unknowns. And it's just a sad reminder and another instance of us stating the obvious. This is a serious, serious problem across the country for all types of people.
INSKEEP: Yeah. The impression from television of Anthony Bourdain...
SANDERS: Yeah - seemed like a very happy man.
INSKEEP: He was the ultimate happy guy. He's going - traveling around the world. He's incredibly curious. He's incredibly energetic. I never met Anthony Bourdain but often discovered in my travels that I was following in his footsteps.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: I would go to Israel, or I would go to Iran. And someone would ask me if I'd seen the Anthony Bourdain program from there where he did this amazing thing and hung out in Hebron and discovered...
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: ...These incredible things about Palestinians and Israelis and so forth - seemed like an incredibly energetic guy.
SUMMERS: It's heartbreaking. You never know what demons someone's fighting. But I think that the one thing that's been made very clear is that the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade struck a nerve. And a lot of people just from speaking among friends and looking what people have said online - I think that while these were two people who, in a lot of ways, were larger than life, it hit home for a lot of people and was incredibly personal and touched a nerve. If you or someone you know are considering suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is there for you. That number is 1-800-273-8255. There's also the Crisis Text Line, which is at texting 741741. There are support systems. There are things there for you if you need help. There are people in your corner who will have your back.
SANDERS: Yeah. Yeah. It's also a reminder for us just to try our best to be good to people and be nice to people, regardless of what we see on the outside, because you don't know what they're going through.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SANDERS: Just a reminder to our listeners, those numbers again - if you or someone you know may be considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. That number is 1-800-273-8255. There's also the Crisis Text Line. You can text 741741. It's time for a break. Coming up, we are going to talk about whether or not America is in a full-on trade war. We'll also discuss why insulin prices have gotten so high and why that's a life-or-death issue for a lot of people. You're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR. I'm Sam Sanders. We'll be right back.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLEVANS' "FLICKER")
SANDERS: We're back. You're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR, the show where we catch up on the week that was. I'm Sam Sanders here with two guests at NPR headquarters in D.C. - Juana Summers, senior writer for CNN Politics, thanks for being here.
SUMMERS: Happy to do it.
SANDERS: All right. And Steve Inskeep, host of two NPR shows, Morning Edition and Up First, thank you for being here.
INSKEEP: Big fan.
SANDERS: Appreciate it. Before we get back into the news, I have a quick question for you all. Would you move to Vermont?
SUMMERS: Yes. It's beautiful.
SANDERS: So you say yes - Steve?
INSKEEP: I'm just going to say no to be, you know...
SANDERS: OK.
INSKEEP: ...Contrarian.
SANDERS: Would you move to Vermont for $10,000?
INSKEEP: Per what? (Laughter).
SANDERS: Well, I'm going to tell you why...
INSKEEP: (Laughter) No, Vermont's a beautiful state.
SANDERS: All of our Vermont listeners...
INSKEEP: It's a beautiful state, a beautiful state.
SANDERS: ...Don't hold it against me. So the reason I bring this up is because, beginning in 2019, Vermont's actually going to pay people to move there.
INSKEEP: OK, wow.
SANDERS: Because...
INSKEEP: Ten thousand dollars?
SANDERS: Ten thousand dollars if you move there and you work there remotely from out-of-state employer.
INSKEEP: Is it, like, a one-time bonus?
SANDERS: It's $10,000 to cover relocation expenses, co-working memberships, computers, Internet and other work-related expenses.
INSKEEP: See. Now, this makes me want to, like, look up home prices in Vermont...
SANDERS: Right?
INSKEEP: See, is that like a lot of money?
SUMMERS: See, Sam. You're going to announce to my husband that we're moving to Vermont in a couple years.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: But they're doing this kind of for a sad reason. There is a shrinking tax base and an aging population in Vermont. And they need more people.
INSKEEP: OK.
SUMMERS: I'm here for you.
SANDERS: So listeners, if you want to go, Juana's in.
SUMMERS: I'm ready. You can hang out with me. I'm here for you.
INSKEEP: It is a beautiful, scenic state.
SANDERS: How much would they pay me to move to Hawaii? - is what I want to know.
INSKEEP: I think you got to pay them.
SANDERS: That's probably the case.
INSKEEP: You got to pay them.
SANDERS: Yeah, yeah, perhaps. Now it's time for a segment that we call Long Distance...
(SOUNDBITE OF DRAKE SONG, "HOTLINE BLING")
SANDERS: ...Where we call up somebody from around the country or around the world and talk to them about what's going on where they live. So we know that this week there were some primary elections across the country. The midterms are just a few months away. But one of the things we've heard from folks all over the country - one of the things my NPR colleagues keep hearing when they're out in the field - is that the top issue for voters coming up on this fall is not Russia. It's health care. It is health care.
And so this week, we actually heard from several listeners and people. They reached out to the show and said they're very concerned about one particular issue regarding health care - insulin and the cost of insulin. I did not know this until this week. But the price of insulin, which is the drug that controls blood sugar - it has gone up astronomically over the last several years, sometimes costing people thousands of dollars a month. The why is very complicated. Technology has changed in certain ways to make it more expensive. Cheaper, older varieties of insulin are harder to find now in the States. And some say that those versions don't work as well.
But there's also some lawsuits pending that accuse drug companies of price-fixing the cost of insulin. Advocates want more price transparency, too. So I wanted to hear about what insulin costs mean for somebody with diabetes. We called up Hattie Saltzman. She's a college student in Kansas City, Mo.
SUMMERS: My hometown.
SANDERS: Really?
SUMMERS: It is, indeed.
SANDERS: Oh, my goodness. OK. Well, Hattie, you might know Juana. Hattie, you there?
SUMMERS: (Laughter).
HATTIE SALTZMAN: Yeah, I'm here.
SANDERS: Hi, Hattie. You're on the...
SALTZMAN: How are you guys doing?
SANDERS: Good. You're on the phone with two friends of mine - Juana Summers and Steve Inskeep. Say hi, guys.
INSKEEP: Hi.
SUMMERS: Hey, Hattie.
SALTZMAN: Hi.
SANDERS: So Hattie, you're in college there now?
SALTZMAN: Yeah. I attend University of Missouri-Kansas City.
SANDERS: Very cool. What are you studying?
SALTZMAN: Public health, actually.
SANDERS: OK. Yeah...
INSKEEP: OK. That's relevant here.
SUMMERS: Yeah...
SANDERS: It is. So we're talking to you today about insulin. We should point out that you have diabetes.
SALTZMAN: Yes, I do.
SANDERS: What kind of diabetes?
SALTZMAN: I have Type 1, which means my pancreas doesn't produce any insulin whatsoever, as opposed to Type 2, where they - it produces it, but their body's resistant to the effects.
SANDERS: Got you, got you. So what happens if you don't have insulin?
SALTZMAN: In the simple terms, I'll die. I'll basically enter diabetic ketoacidosis because my body won't be able to use any of the sugar that I'm eating. And I'll burn all my fat on my body. I'll lose all my weight. And I'll eventually go into a coma and pass away.
SANDERS: Wow. So now you get your insulin through a pump. How does that work, and what does a pump look like? And where does it - what does it do?
SALTZMAN: My pump actually looks a lot like a pager. In fact...
SANDERS: Love it.
SALTZMAN: ...Most people think it's a pager when they first see it...
SANDERS: OK.
SALTZMAN: ...I wear it on my waist the same way...
INSKEEP: And you seem really old-fashioned, I guess, with a pager on your belt...
SANDERS: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SALTZMAN: Yeah. And then I've got about 23 inches of tubing that connects to a little cannula that I have under my skin at all times. And I change that every few days.
SANDERS: Now, you had a situation - was it about a year ago? - where your insulin was so expensive that you had to ration it. How expensive was it, and what were you doing to ration it?
SALTZMAN: So in January 2017, when I got on a new insurance policy, I went to the pharmacy like normal to see - like, to pick up insulin because I was out. And the costs were less the year before. It was about $200. This year, it was over $500.
SANDERS: For how much supply?
SALTZMAN: And - for about a month's worth...
SANDERS: Wow.
SALTZMAN: Yeah. It was two vials of insulin, which would last me about a month.
SANDERS: Huh.
SALTZMAN: So - and I have a crazy-high deductible on that insurance policy. So out-of-pocket, before I hit my deductible, I was going to spend about $6,000 through the year.
INSKEEP: Wow.
SALTZMAN: So we didn't purchase any at all the entire year because I could not afford it.
SANDERS: Wow.
SALTZMAN: And my father's actually Type 1, so I started out sort of siphoning off the top of my father's supply. But he's on Medicare, and they only let you refill that prescription after a certain amount of time has lapsed. So that wasn't going to be sustainable, not to mention I couldn't get enough insulin out of that because he had to use it, as well.
SANDERS: Yeah.
SALTZMAN: So my doctor ended up - he had a supply of free samples that he ended up giving to me and...
SANDERS: Just to be kind.
SALTZMAN: Yeah. And - which lasted me maybe six months. And I was rationing so extensively that I ended up in the ER because it had expired while I was using it.
SANDERS: Oh, my goodness.
SALTZMAN: Yeah. And then...
SANDERS: And then - go ahead.
SALTZMAN: Well, as far as the girl who donated her insulin to me posthumously, she died from complications of cystic fibrosis, but she happened to be Type 1. And her mom was friends with my mother. And out of the kindness of her heart, she donated all of her daughter's prescriptions to me. Pump supplies, insulin, test strips, everything. And I still have a good portion of that. The insulin's long gone. But if she hadn't done that the last few months of 2017, I don't know where I would've gotten more insulin because my doctor was out.
SUMMERS: How did it make you feel having to go to such lengths to get the health care you need to stay alive, as you put it?
SANDERS: Yeah.
SALTZMAN: I was extremely frustrated. I thought that this was a ridiculous problem for somebody, especially in the United States, to be having. Pharmaceutical companies say that the problem is solved with coupons. But I tried to use those coupons, and I was denied because I have insurance. And I would've been better off if I hadn't had any insurance that year and...
SANDERS: Really?
SALTZMAN: ...I think that's - yeah. I would've been able to actually afford insulin. It would've been cheaper if I hadn't had insurance.
INSKEEP: So, Hattie, this is what your 2017 was like. How are things going in 2018?
SALTZMAN: I am having a really lucky year. I managed to switch policies, and I got a more expensive policy. I'm actually paying for it - paying for the premium, that is - using tax credit because I made less than $15,000 last year...
INSKEEP: So just stating the obvious. You're telling us you're on Obamacare now.
SALTZMAN: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah...
INSKEEP: OK.
SALTZMAN: I went to the marketplace, and I got it. And if it wasn't for that, I would not be able to afford insulin because now the same amount of insulin that was $500 last year is $25.
INSKEEP: All right.
SUMMERS: Wow.
SANDERS: Yeah. You know...
SALTZMAN: So I'm stocking up.
SANDERS: Yeah. Now, you have a part-time job besides going to school that helps you pay for your insurance. What's your job?
SALTZMAN: I'm a server at Texas Roadhouse.
SANDERS: Oh, now, stop it. You know, I love Texas Roadhouse.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: No, wait. Listen; let me tell you what. The free peanuts in the front...
SALTZMAN: Oh, yeah.
SANDERS: I - sometimes I'll just go in there and ask for a bag or two of peanuts to take home with me. And the rolls are great and the sweet butter - the sweet butter.
SALTZMAN: Yes, that honey cinnamon butter.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: So besides working, what are you going to do for fun this weekend?
SALTZMAN: Oh, man. I don't know. I just turned 21, so I'm enjoying that.
SANDERS: Happy birthday.
SALTZMAN: (Laughter) I had a headache all day yesterday for the very first time.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: Get ready for more of those.
INSKEEP: There you go.
SALTZMAN: Yeah.
SANDERS: They get worse the older you get.
SUMMERS: Amen.
(LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Not that we would know anything about that.
SALTZMAN: That's what I've heard.
SUMMERS: We know nothing.
SANDERS: Yeah, yeah. Well, Hattie, I am sure that a bunch of our listeners can identify with your story. Thank you for talking to me today. I didn't know that this problem existed until this week, and I'm glad to know about it now. I hope that you're able to keep affording your insulin. And I will see you at a Texas Roadhouse at some point soon.
SALTZMAN: That's right. Thank you so much for bringing attention to the issue.
SANDERS: All right. Thank you.
SALTZMAN: Thanks.
SUMMERS: Thanks, Hattie.
INSKEEP: Yeah, thanks.
SANDERS: Bye-bye.
SALTZMAN: Bye.
SANDERS: As an update, there are some reports that next week, the Department of Health and Human Services might take some concrete steps to lower the price of insulin. So we shall see.
INSKEEP: Well, let's watch on that because the president, President Trump, has been accused of making promises about lowering drug prices and then doing nothing.
SANDERS: On a lighter note, listeners, Texas Roadhouse is really good.
(LAUGHTER)
SUMMERS: Go visit Hattie in Kansas City.
SANDERS: Yes, yes.
INSKEEP: I guess I know where we're going after that.
SANDERS: Yes. Oh, yeah. Listeners, if you want to talk with me about how you're processing the news, drop me a line at any time - samsanders@npr.org, samsanders@npr.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLEVANS' "FLICKER")
SANDERS: So this weekend is the G-7 summit in Canada, which brings together American leaders and leaders from six other democracies - Canada, Japan, Italy, France, Germany and the U.K. There has been drama before this summit even began because Trump has been involved in a Twitter war with the leaders of France and Canada over tariffs. There has been a lot of movement with tariffs over the last week or so. There's talk of a trade war. And this is all happening at the same time that the U.S. is trying to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, with Canada and Mexico. So I wanted to call up an economist to talk to me about it and what it all means. Her name is Soumaya Keynes, economist and editor at The Economist magazine. She also hosts a podcast called "Trade Talks." Yeah. So she talked to me more about what Trump is doing with these tariffs, what his strategy might be. But my first question for her was a very simple one. With all that's going on and the back-and-forth with our own allies over tariffs, are we now officially in a trade war?
(SOUNDBITE OF FLEVANS' "FLICKER")
SOUMAYA KEYNES: Yeah. That term has been bandied around a lot. And the point in which we're in a trade war for me would be one where the Trump administration put on tariffs, which we've had; America's trading partners retaliate. That is partially in effect, and there's more coming over the next few weeks. But then we're in real trade war territory when America starts retaliating. And basically, it looks like we're not there yet, but we're quite close.
SANDERS: So we kind of have two steps of a three-step process. First, the U.S. put these tariffs out. Then Canada and Mexico have responded. If the U.S. responds again, then we could call it a trade war.
KEYNES: Yeah. I think at that stage, my sleepless nights would just turn into full-on panic.
SANDERS: (Laughter) OK. OK. So let's break down what these tariffs are actually about. The first round of tariffs from the U.S. were on imported steel and aluminum. What is Canada taxing now, and what is Mexico taxing now to respond?
KEYNES: So you're right. So America put tariffs on steel and aluminium back in March on some countries.
SANDERS: Yes.
KEYNES: So it didn't initially put them on Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
SANDERS: Because they were exempt because they're allies.
KEYNES: Yeah. There was a second round last week where the Trump administration said, oh, actually, we are going to include these three massive trading partners and - many thought - allies. In terms of the retaliation, the big ones to pay attention to now are the European Union, Mexico and Canada. Mexico has imposed its retaliatory tariffs. Canada and the European have not yet.
SANDERS: But Canada's mentioned some possibilities, right?
KEYNES: Exactly. So both the EU and Canada have published these lists of tariffs that they're proposing to hit back with. The Mexicans have gone with tariffs on a lot of agricultural products. So they've hit pork, and they've also hit apples, grapes, sausages. They've also hit steel, right? And there, I think the logic is that, you know, if it's the steel interests that are benefiting from this first round of tariffs, then you want to essentially communicate to them that there are costs to doing this.
SANDERS: So my next question is Donald Trump's strategy and rationale with these tariffs. One of the things he's arguing is that he needs to do it for America's national security, and I still don't quite understand that. What is that argument? And what does that about how other countries are going to respond to these tariffs?
KEYNES: Yeah. If you don't understand it, then you are in pretty good company, I would say.
SANDERS: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
KEYNES: OK. So how this law has typically worked in the past is that what you would do is you would look to see whether the U.S. is overly reliant on essentially hostile countries to supply its army or whatever. So in steel, that's quite a difficult argument to make. The Department of Defense said that it only consumed around 3 percent of U.S. steel output. In aluminium, there's maybe a stronger case. So there are certain kinds of very high-purity aluminium which can only be made in one smelter in Hawesville, Ky., where I have actually been. And so, you know, there, maybe you could argue that the U.S. is a bit more vulnerable to that capacity going away completely. But then the problem is that, you know, you have to look at where the U.S. is getting its imports from. And it's getting its imports from Canada, Mexico, the European Union. It seems fairly outlandish, you know, the idea that the U.S. would be at war with any of these countries.
SANDERS: Yeah.
KEYNES: You know, when people ask me - what's Donald Trump's strategy? What's the big picture? What's he trying to do? - my warning at the moment is that people have been spending the last year and a half or so trying to come up with a coherent strategy. And if you put too much weight on any individual strategy, you're going to make mistakes because it just changes all the time, right? And so...
SANDERS: Yeah.
KEYNES: You know, just as plausible as the idea that there's a really coherent strategy is the idea that there's no strategy at all.
SANDERS: So how much of this has to do with NAFTA? You know, thinking about these tariffs going back and forth between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, the three countries that are in NAFTA, we do know that NAFTA is still being renegotiated right now. Does Trump possibly want some leverage in that negotiation and is trying to do that with these tariffs?
KEYNES: Yeah. So it seemed to be that in the few days before these tariffs finally were imposed, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said, OK, let's wrap this NAFTA thing up. The Trump administration said, if you want to meet and try to, you know, finalize NAFTA, you have to agree to this thing called a sunset clause, where NAFTA would expire every five years. This was a red line for the Canadians. A deal didn't get agreed, and then tariffs went on.
So my theory with all of this is that now these tariffs are imposed, it actually makes a NAFTA deal much more difficult. I think that, you know, supposing we had a NAFTA deal tomorrow - right? - that would just play horribly in Mexican and Canadian politics because it would look like, you know, they'd caved to the Trump administration, right? You need to be able to sell these trade deals at home.
SANDERS: So now we have a situation where Canada and Mexico have to look tough in response.
KEYNES: Yeah, exactly. They don't - you know, it's exactly why they've said, we don't want to negotiate with a gun to our heads. You know, it just makes things much more complicated for them. The second reason I think this has made a NAFTA deal harder to sign is, you've just got to think about what the point of NAFTA is. So the idea of NAFTA is that it should be difficult for countries within the trade deal to put tariffs on the other ones. So what the Trump administration has done by including Mexico and Canada in these broad tariffs is - they've essentially signaled to Mexico and Canada that the original deal didn't matter; it wasn't protection for them when considering who to put these steel and aluminium tariffs on.
SANDERS: Yeah.
KEYNES: And so, essentially, by putting on these tariffs, Trump is signaling to the Mexicans and the Canadians that, you know, we can arrange a new deal, and it's not going to protect you from the next round of whatever product we decide to put tariffs on.
SANDERS: Gotcha. Last question - we've talked a lot about what has happened up until this point. But there could be a lot of news this weekend at the G-7 summit, where a lot of world leaders get together and talk about things like trade and tariffs. Tell our listeners quickly what we should be looking for as that goes down.
KEYNES: So this weekend, there are going to be some difficult discussions, where, essentially, all of these countries are going to, I think, you know, align, and they're going to show Donald Trump what it means to be in a truly, you know, power-based system. So by doing this, by putting on these tariffs, essentially, Trump is saying, you know, I want to be back in a system where power wins - right? - where it's the powerful countries negotiating one-on-one, extracting leverage from its trading partners, being tough and getting concessions. But that doesn't work when you've united every single other country against you.
SANDERS: Against you. So it's basically...
KEYNES: Right.
SANDERS: ...Would be the G-6 plus one this weekend.
KEYNES: Yeah. So that's what was being said I think by a finance minister last week. So, you know, it's going to be fairly awkward, I think. And, you know, the big question is how Donald Trump responds to that. You know, does he recognize the fact that America is isolated on this particular issue? Or does he double down and get frustrated and say, OK, well, you know, we can inflict more damage on you, so you have to give me what I want? And the things to watch are - you know, we've got this aluminium and steel action, but the Trump administration has launched an investigation into whether imports of cars and car parts are a threat to America's national security. So, you know, if we've got that, that's, like...
SANDERS: That's - wow.
KEYNES: You know, this really could escalate.
SANDERS: Yeah.
KEYNES: And so everyone should be watching the president's timeline on Twitter.
SANDERS: Most definitely. And, you know, what I find the most interesting is that Trump can be very, very tough on Twitter and in statements, but there have been several instances where as soon as he is around these world leaders and they're wining and dining and the cameras are flashing, he's really, really nice.
KEYNES: I mean, I guess in the past, I think those leaders have also probably been trying to be fairly nice to him. And I think...
SANDERS: Yeah.
KEYNES: ...This is, you know, maybe the first time when, actually, the tone from these other leaders is going to be much less friendly.
SANDERS: OK.
KEYNES: And then that, I think, will feed into what Donald Trump does.
SANDERS: Well, thank you so much for your time. You broke this down perfectly for me. I feel like I understand it a lot more now.
KEYNES: OK. Great. I aim to do that.
SANDERS: I appreciate it.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLEVANS' "FLICKER')
SANDERS: Thanks to Soumaya. By the time you hear this, listeners, the G-7 may be going on or over. There should be more drama and updates from that. All right, listeners. Time for a break. When we come back, Who Said That.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLEVANS' "FLICKER")
SANDERS: You're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR, the show where we catch up on the week that was. I'm Sam Sanders here with two amazing guests - Juana Summers, senior writer for CNN Politics, and Steve Inskeep, hardest-working man in show business. I know I've said that a lot, but it's true.
INSKEEP: Thank you.
SANDERS: He hosts two NPR shows - Morning Edition and Up First. You guys, it is time for the favorite part of my week, just about every week. My favorite game, Who Said That.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA")
KANDI BURRUSS: Who had been saying that?
SANDERS: You ready for it?
INSKEEP: I'm ready.
SANDERS: So I share a quote from the week. You guys have to guess who said that or at least get close to the story it refers to, a key word. I'm not a stickler. It's not "Jeopardy!" Here's the catch, though. The winner gets absolutely nothing.
INSKEEP: All right.
SANDERS: Oh, yeah.
SUMMERS: I'm leaving. I'm out.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: Wow.
INSKEEP: I was promised swag.
SUMMERS: I want my participation trophy.
SANDERS: Quickest game ever.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: Steve, you win.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: Ready for the first quote?
INSKEEP: The first quote is, I'm out. And it was Juana Summers.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
INSKEEP: No, no. I'm sorry. Go on. Go on.
SANDERS: All right. First quote is, "He saw me. And then I saw the cans. And it was almost like they were meant to be there." Who said that?
INSKEEP: I am stumped. But you're making, like, lip movements.
SANDERS: It was a story about...
INSKEEP: Tuna fish shopping?
SANDERS: It was a food. What's another food that might be in a can?
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: What's another food that might be in a can?
SUMMERS: Peas.
SANDERS: Close. So close.
SUMMERS: Green beans. Corn.
SANDERS: Cut out the green.
SUMMERS: Beans.
(SOUNDBITE OF VICTORY TUNE)
SANDERS: Yes.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: Yeah. We're going to give that to you, Juana.
SUMMERS: This is not great, guys. This is not great.
SANDERS: This is a story about canned beans out of Florida because Florida. So that quote was from Bay County Sheriff Major Jimmy Stanford. He was talking about how he threw Bush's extra brown sugar baked beans at a suspect in a hostage situation last week at a Florida grocery store.
INSKEEP: Oh, awesome. Did it work?
SANDERS: It worked. So here's the deal.
SUMMERS: I have so many questions.
SANDERS: This man was believed to be holding hostages in a grocery store. And he was wielding a hammer instead of a gun, pointing a hammer like a gun. And sheriff and forces show up, got to figure stuff out. And the suspect keeps swinging his hammer. And then the sheriff, with his quick thinking, throws two cans of baked beans at the suspect. And then after that, law enforcement was able to apprehend the suspect. The baked beans saved lives.
INSKEEP: Did the beans strike the suspect, or the suspect ducked and then, you know...
SANDERS: I believe the beans struck the suspect.
INSKEEP: OK. This is...
SUMMERS: Apprehension by baked beans.
SANDERS: Well...
INSKEEP: I don't want to get too serious here. This is supposed to be fun.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: But this is kind of great because you can imagine the other thing that law enforcement officer could have done in that situation.
SANDERS: Oh, yeah. And I mean, like, as the schoolyard rhyme says, beans, beans, the weaponized fruit.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: You throw the can, you ain't got to shoot. I'll let myself out.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: I'll let myself out.
SUMMERS: I think Sam wins this round.
INSKEEP: There you go.
SANDERS: Juana's up 1-zip. Ready for the next quote?
INSKEEP: Yes.
SANDERS: All right. "There are already several dark horse candidates for '20. How about a dark roast candidate?"
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: Who said that?
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SANDERS: Where do you get dark roast? Come on. Where do you get dark roast coffee?
INSKEEP: I don't - what are you talking about? Oh, dark roast coffee. I was thinking about - oh, so...
SANDERS: What were you thinking about?
INSKEEP: ...You're talking about Starbucks. Starbucks.
(SOUNDBITE OF VICTORY TUNE)
SANDERS: OK, there we go. What were you thinking about, Steve?
INSKEEP: I don't know, like some kind of meat or something like that.
SUMMERS: I was thinking about chicken (laughter).
SANDERS: What?
INSKEEP: Like dark meat.
SUMMERS: I mean, I'm always thinking about chicken.
INSKEEP: White meat, dark meat, you know?
SANDERS: (Laughter) I was thinking about chicken.
SUMMERS: It made sense in my head.
SANDERS: So this was a quote about Howard Schultz.
INSKEEP: Howard Schultz. Oh, that's right.
SANDERS: He stepped down this week.
INSKEEP: He's thinking of running for president.
SANDERS: Yes.
INSKEEP: No. Well, maybe not.
SUMMERS: Public office.
INSKEEP: We don't know.
SANDERS: Yeah.
INSKEEP: People are talking about him.
SANDERS: He said he's going - he said he's considering a range of future options, including public service and philanthropy. But that quote actually comes from David Axelrod, former White House staffer for President Obama.
INSKEEP: A fine, fine phrase maker, that David Axelrod.
SANDERS: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
STEVE INSKEEP AND SAM SANDERS: The dark roast candidate.
INSKEEP: Yeah. That's good.
SANDERS: I bet he's going to run. Everyone's going to run in 2020.
SUMMERS: The question I have about him as a 2020 contender is whether or not this country will nominate another CEO with no political experience.
SANDERS: No government experience.
SUMMERS: However, that said, there is a CEO with no governing experience who is now the president of the United States, so anything can happen.
INSKEEP: That is so, like - we were talking with a political professional some months ago who said, why would you think Trump would be the last person? Like, this is going to inspire...
SANDERS: It's a new normal.
INSKEEP: ...A number of rich and famous people to just go for it.
SANDERS: Well, I hope that, should Howard Schultz become president, his first executive order is to mandate that Starbucks stop burning all their coffee.
INSKEEP: Ooh, ooh.
SANDERS: I said it. And I hope it stays in. I said it. This one's for all the marbles. You guys are tied 1-1.
INSKEEP: Wow.
SANDERS: This will pick a winner. Final quote - ready?
INSKEEP: We haven't even been close...
SUMMERS: This has not been great.
SANDERS: It's OK. I'm happy to help. I'm happy to help. Final quote - "Good deeds come back to help you, and bad deeds come back to haunt you."
INSKEEP: Ooh. Wow. I just assume Oprah said that.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUZZER)
SANDERS: Yeah, yeah. That's probably...
INSKEEP: I have no idea what the story is, actually.
SANDERS: Yes. I can see that.
SUMMERS: I have no knowledge of this. But did - this is something Kanye would tweet.
(SOUNDBITE OF BUZZER)
SUMMERS: Kanye's been tweeting everything lately.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: Inspo-Kanye (ph) - you know, that possibly could be it. You know, I probably got to just tell you guys what this is because there's no way you're going to guess. It's another kind of feel-good story from Kansas. This quote is from Kal Patel. Kal Patel's parents own a Pit Stop convenience store in Salina, Kan. And he recently returned a $1 million winning lottery ticket to a customer who forgot it on the store counter.
INSKEEP: Yes, yes. I did see the story. This is an amazing tale.
SANDERS: It's an amazing story.
INSKEEP: It's an amazing tale.
SANDERS: And he's a better man than me. I'll tell you that.
SUMMERS: (Laughter).
SANDERS: But a local law firm has since given Kal Patel a check for $1,200 to honor him for being a nice guy.
INSKEEP: OK - 1,200 bucks.
SANDERS: I think he deserves more.
INSKEEP: Well, I was going to say, it's possible you get that check, and you think, wait a minute. What about half? How come I don't get half?
SANDERS: Yeah, exactly.
SUMMERS: That's a lot of mortgage payments in Salina, though. That's a good chunk of cash.
SANDERS: (Laughter) Yeah. So we're going to give this point to the universe.
INSKEEP: That's good.
SANDERS: You guys have tied. Is this our first tie? This is our first tie.
INSKEEP: Ever? - fist pump - all right. There we go. Yeah, it's a tie.
SANDERS: I love it. All right. Now it's time to end the show as we do every week. We ask our listeners to share with us the best thing that happened to them all week. We encourage folks to brag. They always do. Brent, hit the tape. We'll take a listen.
CHICA: Hi, Sam. This is Chica (ph) from Converse, Texas. The best thing happened to me this week was my mother-in-law bought a brand new car. She's 85 years old. And this is her very first brand new car. And we're so happy that she is so unbelievably happy. I love your show. Have a great week.
ALEX: Hey, Sam. The best part of my week was celebrating my second wedding anniversary and staying home so I can make my wife Bolognese sauce.
AYESHA: I finally made it to Paris.
MELLIE: I passed the California Bar exam.
BETHANY: My web series is finally live.
STEPH: It was my first full week as an NSF - National Science Foundation - graduate research fellow.
PATRICK: Hey, Sam. The best thing happened to me this week was bringing home my newborn son Jonah (ph) to see his two older sisters.
JOHN PORTER: Hey, Sam. This is John Porter (ph) from Austin, Texas. What's making me happy this week is my daughter, who's a freshman in college and wants to be a professional writer. This week, she sold her very first professional piece and got paid for it. Way to go.
JEFF: Hey, Sam. It's Jeff (ph). I'm a music teacher from Champaign, Ill. And the best part of my week is going to happen in three, two, one.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELEVATOR DINGING)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Cheering).
JEFF: It's summer vacation.
(LAUGHTER)
SAVITA: Hey, Sam. This is Savita (ph) from Hayward, Calif. The best thing that happened to me this week was taking my 2-and-a-half-year-old on a bus ride. It was so much fun to sit beside him on the bus and have him sit up top and look at all the things below and get excited at everything he saw - ooh, a mail truck - ooh, another bus - ooh, a dog - ooh, a gente with a dog. It was just so much fun to spend a few minutes seeing the world through his eyes. And it reminded me that I need to do it more often. I love your show, Sam. Keep up the great work.
PATRICK: Love what you're doing.
ALEX: Have a great weekend.
STEPH: And thank you. Bye.
SANDERS: Well, look at that.
INSKEEP: All right.
SANDERS: That was super sweet this week.
INSKEEP: That was great.
SANDERS: And I got to say I think we had at least two Texans in that mix. Chica, I believe, said she was from - or is from Converse, Texas. I went to high school in Converse, Texas.
INSKEEP: Did you really?
SUMMERS: Wow.
SANDERS: Shout-out to the Judson Rockets. Yeah, that was great.
INSKEEP: Why is it called Converse, Texas?
SANDERS: I have no idea.
INSKEEP: It's not the shoes?
SANDERS: No, no. I have no idea. Special thanks to all the voices you heard there - Chica from Converse, Texas - nice to hear from you - Alex (ph), Ayesha (ph), Mellie (ph), Bethany (ph), Steph (ph), Patrick (ph), John, Jeff and Savita. We listen to all of these that come in every week. We get a lot, but we love them all. Keep sharing them. You can send me your best thing of your week any week at any time. Just email me at samsanders@npr.org. Record your voice. Send the file to me at samsanders@npr.org.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALRIGHT")
PHARRELL WILLIAMS: (Rapping) We gon' be alright...
SANDERS: With that, thanks to my guests. This was truly a delight. Juana Summers, senior writer for CNN Politics, Steve Inskeep, host of NPR's Morning Edition and Up First - I appreciate you and your time.
INSKEEP: You too.
SANDERS: Thank you.
SUMMERS: Thank you.
SANDERS: And thanks to Kendrick, per always.
SUMMERS: Always thank him.
SANDERS: I like that man. This week, the show was produced by Brent Baughman and Anjuli Sastry. Our director of programming is Steve Nelson. The show was edited by Jeff Rogers. And our big boss, the one who signs my paychecks, is NPR's VP of programming, Anya Grundmann. And our newest member of the team, giving us production help, this week - Kumari Devarajan - we're glad you're here. Also, special thanks this week to Angela Lautner of KOI Insulin4All. That group's members helped us learn a lot about how many people across the country struggle with the cost of insulin. Listeners, refresh your feeds Tuesday morning. I had a really fun chat with two up-and-coming stars of a really cool show on the network called Starz. The show is called "Vida." The actors are Melissa Barrera and Mishel Prada. And this show is all about gentrification and sexual identity from a Latino lens. And they don't dumb it down for anyone who's not. But the chat was super fun. They taught me some Spanglish, and I appreciated that. So check your feeds on Tuesday. With that, thanks for listening. I'm Sam Sanders. Talk soon.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALRIGHT")
WILLIAMS: (Rapping) We gon' be alright. Huh - we gon' be alright. We gon' be alright...
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