The United Nations Under Nikki Haley

Coming up on today’s show:

• On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump said he wanted to vastly change America’s role in the United Nations. That task has fallen to Nikki Haley. As the 2017 U.N. General Assembly kicks off, many are wondering how Ambassador Haley is doing in her role. Richard Gowan, a fellow at the Center on International Cooperation, and a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, discusses what has changed at the U.N. under Haley, and what she hopes to accomplish. 

• Demonstrators turned out for the fourth day in a row in St. Louis, Missouri yesterday to rally against the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stockley on first degree murder charges in the shooting death of Anthony Smith, a 24-year-old African-American man. For details on the marches, The Takeaway turns to Amy Hunter, manager of diversity and inclusion at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.  She was active in the protests in Ferguson, and has been participating in the recent rallies.  

• Yet another devastating storm is pounding the Caribbean: Hurricane Maria tore through the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe as a Category 4 storm last night, causing widespread devastation. Now, the storm is on track to make landfall in Puerto Rico. Dánica Coto, a reporter and editor for the Associated Press based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, weighs in. 

• Republicans in the Senate are making one last attempt to pass a healthcare bill before September 30th, when the power to pass legislation through a party line vote in the Senate expires. The bill would end the insurance mandate, scale back Medicaid expansion, and replace tax subsidies with block grants, among other things. Lisa Mascaro, Congressional correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, weighs in. 

• “Funny” isn’t in the job description for the president of the United States, but it’s a trait that helps U.S. leaders connect with voters. President Barack Obama’s comedic timing became something of a signature during his eight years in office, and many of the laughs the president got can be attributed to David Litt. In a new memoir called “Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years,” Litt shares the importance of humor in political messaging, and recalls the first joke he wrote that the president said aloud.

• Amanda Gorman was named the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate back in April. Currently a sophomore at Harvard University, this past weekend she read a poem at the “Social Good Summit” in New York, which is funded by the United Nations Foundation. She shares some of her poetry and discusses her mission for her newly created role.

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.