Trump Freezes Trillions. Chaos Ensues.

In one of his most audacious moves since taking office, President Trump ordered a freeze on Tuesday on trillions of dollars in federal money — from anti-poverty programs to foreign aid — in order to purge the government of what he called woke ideology.

Michael D. Shear, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, discusses the order, the chaos it prompted and whether it is likely to survive in court.

Guests: Michael D. Shear, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

A judge stayed President Trump’s freeze, but disruption to the Medicaid funding system caused fear.Uncertainty around the freeze also caused chaos in education.

Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.