{"id":393604,"date":"2026-01-07T18:37:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/393604\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T18:37:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:37:20","slug":"venezuela-gop-on-midterms-women-in-ground-combat-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/393604\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela; GOP on midterms; Women in ground combat : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter.\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>\u00a0here to get it delivered to your inbox, and\u00a0listen<\/a>\u00a0to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.<\/p>\n

Today’s top stories <\/p>\n

President Trump continues to suggest that the U.S. will have a lengthy and active role in Venezuela after capturing the ousted president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Trump has proposed several plans for Venezuela’s future government and economy. In those proposals, U.S. companies are expected to play a key role.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

\n President Trump dances as he departs after speaking during a House Republican retreat at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington, DC. House Republicans will discuss their 2026 legislative agenda at the meeting.<\/p>\n

Alex Wong\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Alex Wong\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa7 Trump and his aides are unclear about the future of Venezuela, NPR’s Franco Ordo\u00f1ez tells Up First. When the president says the U.S. will run the country, many eyes are on Stephen Miller<\/a>, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller, known for his stringent immigration policies, is one of the U.S. officials overseeing Venezuela. Ordo\u00f1ez also says Miller has more recently described ruling over the hemisphere by force.\u27a1\ufe0f Last night, Trump posted on social media that Venezuela will turn over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S. While seizing current oil production is one thing, overhauling Venezuela’s oil industry requires a far greater effort. Here’s why<\/a>. <\/p>\n

While meeting with House Republicans yesterday, Trump attempted to offer his party a roadmap to victory in this year’s midterm elections. The president acknowledged the possibility of his party losing the majority in the House this year. Trump said in his speech that the president’s party often loses the midterms. <\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa7 NPR’s Domenico Montanaro says that while it’s true the midterms are hard on the president’s party, it is even worse when a president’s approval rating is below 50%.\u00a0Trump is facing his lowest second-term approval ratings, largely due to the rising cost of living. During yesterday’s speech, the president didn’t offer much on the topic. When he did discuss the economy, it was about how the stock market is at historic highs. He also touted his tariffs, which have actively raised prices on many things. People have informed pollsters for months that they believe the president’s policies have harmed the economy<\/a>. Montanaro says one area where Trump and Republicans could take action is legislation on health care. <\/p>\n

The Pentagon is preparing a six-month review to evaluate what it calls the military “effectiveness” of women serving in ground combat roles. Undersecretary Anthony Tata requested that the Army and Marine Corps submit data on the readiness, training, performance, casualties and command climate of ground combat units and personnel by Jan. 15. The effort aims to determine how gender integration has influenced<\/a> operational success over the last decade.<\/p>\n

Special series <\/p>\n

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Trump has tried to bury the truth of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. NPR built a visual archive<\/a> of the attack on the Capitol, showing exactly what happened through the lenses of the people who were there. “Chapter 3: Assault on the Capitol,” lays out the timeline of key moments throughout the day as the riot unfolded.<\/p>\n

On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump held a “Save America” rally at the Ellipse, a site near the White House and U.S. Capitol. Multiple speakers promoted voter fraud myths and urged Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election. Meanwhile, a group of 200 Proud Boys marched toward the Capitol. Before Trump’s speech ended, violence erupted on Capitol grounds. The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol “was the most videotaped crime in American history, if not world history,” according to Greg Rosen, a former federal prosecutor who led the Justice Department unit that investigated the riot. But conspiracy theories still falsely label the assault a “normal tourist visit.” NPR’s review of thousands of court videos shows rioters assaulting officers with weapons, calling for executions and looting the building. These videos show the exact timing of events<\/a> as they occurred. Corresponding maps show the locations where the conflict took place.<\/p>\n

To learn more, explore NPR’s database<\/a> of federal criminal cases from Jan. 6. You can also see more of NPR’s reporting<\/a> on the topic.<\/p>\n

Picture show <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n The tin soldier, a marionette puppet made by Nicolas Coppola and the main character in “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” show at Puppetworks.<\/p>\n

Anh Nguyen for NPR<\/p>\n

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Anh Nguyen for NPR<\/p>\n

For more than 30 years, Puppetworks has staged classics like The Tortoise and the Hare, Pinocchio, Aladdin and more in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. Every weekend, children gather on foam mats and colored blocks to watch wooden renditions of the shows. The company’s founder and artistic director, 90-year-old Nicolas Coppola, has been a professional puppeteer since 1954. The theater has puppets of all types, including marionettes, swing, hand, and rod. They transport attendees back to the 1980s, when most of these puppets were made. Over the years, Coppola has updated the show’s repertoire to better meet the cultural moment. Step inside his world with these images<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3 things to know before you go <\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\n This tiny forest in Los Angeles, CA is one of many micro-forests around the world offering green space and contributing to local biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Demian Willette\/Loyola Marymount University<\/p>\n

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Demian Willette\/Loyola Marymount University<\/p>\n

Scientists are establishing micro-forests in big cities to boost biodiversity and rejuvenate compromised land. Short Wave producer Rachel Carlson visited California’s largest micro-forest. Tune in to hear her account of the experience<\/a>.The Hungarian arthouse director B\u00e9la Tarr has died at 70<\/a>. He’s best known for his bleak, existential, and challenging films, including S\u00e1t\u00e1ntang\u00f3.While we often associate serendipity with luck or happy accidents, its origin suggests it’s more than just happenstance. This week, NPR’s Word of the Week explores the historical impact of serendipity and offers tips on how to cultivate it<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter.\u00a0Subscribe\u00a0here to get it delivered to your inbox, and\u00a0listen\u00a0to the Up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-393604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}