The Trump administration infrequently backs down, but it did this week

NPR | By Linah Mohammad,

Scott Detrow, Patrick Jarenwattananon

Published June 4, 2026 at 4:02 PM EDT

NPR's Scott Detrow talks to The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum about why the Trump administration appears to be backing off some of its actions and what that means for concerns about democratic backsliding.

Linah Mohammad

Prior to joining NPR in 2022, Mohammad was a producer on The Washington Post's daily flagship podcast Post Reports, where her work was recognized by multiple awards. She was honored with a Peabody award for her work on an episode on the life of George Floyd.

Scott Detrow

Scott Detrow is a White House correspondent for NPR and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

See stories by Scott Detrow

Patrick Jarenwattananon

See stories by Patrick Jarenwattananon

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