Consider This from NPR Consider This

When President Biden heard that Donald Trump had picked J.D. Vance to be his running mate, he called the Ohio senator "a clone" of Trump. But when Vance first gained national attention, he was one of Trump's loudest critics.

Vance first drew the national spotlight in 2016 with the publication of his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy." The book served as a biography of his upbringing in America's Rust Belt and social commentary on the white working class at a time when many were trying to understand those voting for Donald Trump.

On the press tour for that book Vance had a lot of negative things to say about Donald Trump. He said Trump was unfit for the nation's highest office, and in unearthed private messages, he compared Trump to Adolf Hitler.

J.D Vance went from New York Times bestselling author, to state senator, to Vice Presidential candidate. That political journey has brought him closer and closer to a presidential candidate he once professed to despise.

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In the days after the assassination attempt, Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination, announced his VP pick and had a legal case dismissed.

Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the entire federal case against the former president involving his handling of classified documents.

Consider This host Ailsa Chang spoke with NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson about the legal issues in the ruling and its implications.

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Shortly after 6pm on Saturday, a would-be assassin took aim at former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump and two others were injured and one person was killed before the Secret Service shot and killed the alleged gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Crooks was a registered Republican but gave $15 to a progressive Political Action Committee in 2021. Law enforcement has yet to identify a motive or an ideology.

For the first time in decades, a presidential candidate has been the target of an assassination plot. How might Saturday's events affect an already divided America?

Author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses what history can teach us about this moment.

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In the weeks since Biden's disastrous performance in the presidential debate, a steady drip of high-profile supporters – everyone from members of Congress, to big donors like George Clooney – has urged him to step aside.

They're worried he's too old for a second term, and too vulnerable to losing to Trump.

President Biden rejects those calls. He believes he can withstand a bruising campaign, win re-election, and lead the country for four more years.

Last fall, Consider This host Scott Detrow traveled to western Pennsylvania — a key swing state — where he gathered a group of voters all around the same age as Biden and Trump, to talk about how they viewed age in the race.

This week, Detrow checked back in with some of them to see if recent events have changed how this group of key voters are thinking about President Biden.

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Palmer Luckey launched his first tech company as a teenager. That was Oculus, the virtual reality headset for gaming. Soon after, he sold it to Facebook for $2 billion.

Now 31, Luckey has a new company called Anduril that's making Artificial Intelligence weapons. The Pentagon is buying them – keeping some for itself and sending others to Ukraine.

The weapons could be instrumental in helping Ukraine stand up to Russia.

Ukraine needs more weapons – and better weapons – to fight against Russia. Could AI weapons made by a billionaire tech entrepreneur's company hold the answer?

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Four years after World War II, leaders from Europe and North America formed an alliance largely aimed at deterring Soviet expansion — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — NATO.

Seventy-five years later the member states of that organization have come together in Washington to celebrate NATO and plan for its future.

As they did in 1949, the NATO allies believe Russia presents the largest security threat to their world order. The immediate threat is Russia's war with Ukraine, but the allies also worry about the future of America's leadership.

Eight diplomats from the nations closest to Russia weigh in on the threat the country poses to them and the world order.

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