Trump Convention Speech, Missouri Contempt And Redistricting, Apple's Foldable iPhone

President Trump made an offer he hopes you can't refuse, $5,000 taxpayer dollars for every American adult. He promised that giveaway totaling more than a trillion dollars if Republicans keep Congress. Why didn't he say how it would work? I'm Michelle Martin, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Missouri's top election official could be held in contempt over which congressional map to use in November. A federal judge says use the Republican-drawn map that could help the GOP gain another seat. The state Supreme Court says don't. With less than two months until the midterms, how does this get resolved? Also, Apple has a new CEO and its first foldable iPhone. Opens like a book, costs about $2,000. Unfold your wallet. What's this say about the company's strategy? Stay with us. You've got the news you need to start your day. President Trump spoke for more than 90 years. 30 minutes at the Republican Party's midterm event. He covered a lot of ground. Some things were new. Some were untrue. But his campaign message was clear. So I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. And with the president's approval rating at an all-time low, Democrats are hoping Trump's strategy will backfire at the polls. NPR's Stephen Fowler was in the arena for the speech and has woken early to tell us about it. Stephen, good morning. Good morning. Tell me a little more about the president's pitch. Well, his pitch. His pitch was, it's all about Trump. He touted some of the signature initiatives of his second term, like sweeping tax cuts, repeated some go-to lines on how things are more expensive because of Democrats. He claimed the room was packed with thousands of people waiting outside, even though I could see a sea of empty sections in the arena, said he was going to campaign for about three dozen swing seats in the final weeks of the election, and promised American adults $5,000 each if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate. Okay, $5,000 for every American adult. When you do the math, it's more than $1 trillion in taxpayer money to taxpayers. How's that work? It wouldn't. That money would have to come from somewhere, also known as Congress. It's illegal to offer people money for their vote. Logistically, that amount is about 80% of all discretionary spending the federal government makes each year, which, by the way, the administration is trying to cut spending. The more obvious obstacle, though, is that public polls show, Republicans might lose both the House and the Senate this year. Yeah, I mean, Trump himself in his 90 minutes did acknowledge that Republicans face a tough job. Let's listen. But for some reason, when a president wins, even if he's really a good president or a great president, there aren't too many of them, they don't win the midterms, and nobody quite knows why. So what's the Republican plan to get around that? This unconventional convention is certainly part of the idea, but look at it this way. You have this unprecedented party centered around Trump, 18 months into the administration, dominated by decisions made by Trump that seem to be for Trump. Think about the ballroom construction, renaming landmarks on the map to spite allies, putting his face on a coin. Then look at what voters say they want the Republican-controlled federal government to focus on. Rising gas prices, the war in Iran, expensive everything. So the path is there if the Republican Party maybe changes its course a little. Okay. So what? What are some of the responses to the speech? And what are some of the other things you heard there? Well, aside from Trump, the longest time slots were given to comedian Adam Carolla and Texas Congressman Brandon Gill, who each eviscerated Democrats much to the audience's glee. The loudest applause came for Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. And many of the House and Senate nominees used their brief time to try and make the case for more support and resources, in some cases uphill battles against their Democratic opponents. You know, Michelle alluded to this at the beginning. Democrats seem perfectly happy with Trump to be the spokesman for the Republican Party in 2026. Absolutely. I mean, after getting shellacked in 2024, Democrats have seen a surge in voter enthusiasm and made gains with just about everybody. So they've got this scenario where they really could be competitive in a lot of Republican-held states. And they're not going to let Trump get in the way and just happy to let them carry that message with them into the election. NPR political correspondent Stephen Fowler, thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. So why is Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in court? So Denny Hoskins is a Republican Secretary of State, and he's telling local election officials to use districts drawn by the legislature last year. President Trump urged them to do it. And Hoskins says he's doing this because of a federal order this week. It ruled in favor of using the GOP-leaning map in November. And Hoskins cited that opinion from a judge named Stephen Clark when I talked to him Tuesday night as the conflict developed. Here's what Hoskins said. I think the message from Judge Clark was very clear that the Missouri First map is in effect. I mean, this is a fluid situation. Obviously, it's going to be appealed. But there's another case. Redistricting opponents, they won at the state Supreme Court last week. It ruled against the GOP map. And now Hoskins is supposed to appear today before the state Supreme Court to explain why he's telling people to use the other map. The state court says the new map has to be used. It has to go to voters in November before it can be used. And that Hoskins has purposely dragged out this process. Oh, that's right. There's supposed to be a referendum before the map is used. So you can't use the map for the referendum. How does this get resolved? It's a court battle right now between state and federal judges. And redistricting opponents have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. And the U.S. Supreme Court has already refused to weigh in once that with the state Supreme Court ruling, the one that tossed out the GOP-leaning map, Richard von Glahn is with the group People Not Politicians, which organized the campaign that got the redistricting on the ballot for a public vote. He said Republicans are ignoring the will of the voters. Here's what he told me last week. Elected officials have the right to propose bad ideas. But I think they should look at these things and say, do we really want to continue to position ourselves in opposition to what the public clearly wants? Meanwhile, election officials say, don't know which congressional districts voters should be in for the November election. And primaries have already been held under the Republican plan. It's a mess. Yeah, it's pretty late here. So how will it affect races for the U.S. House if the Republican plan ends up being used, say? Right. Trump called on Republican states to redraw their maps to improve the GOP's chances of holding control of the House. And across the country in places like Texas and Florida, Republicans tilted about. 10 more seats their way than Democrats did in response. So here in Missouri, the Trump-backed map is aimed at flipping one seat. And that's held by Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. And so with Republicans holding just a slim House majority, every seat could make a difference. But the state Supreme Court is asking Hoskins to answer for how he's sticking with the GOP plan. OK, we'll just keep following this and see how it gets resolved, if at all. Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio. Thanks so much. Thank you for having me. A new era is unfolding at Apple with an iPhone that is foldable. The company announced the device yesterday at an event led by Apple's new CEO, John Ternes. NPR tech correspondent John Rewich has been following the transition. Hey there, John. Hey. OK, so how did Ternes introduce this new phone? Yeah, it was interesting. You know, Ternes, he's been in this job for about a week and he has some big shoes to fill. This is a company that grew a lot under Tim Cook, but Apple has faced criticism for losing a little bit of that wow factor that it had in the Steve Jobs era with the introduction of iconic products like the iPod, the iPad, the original iPhone. And at this event, Ternes seemed to be borrowing some moves from Jobs. He waited until the end of the presentation to get to the foldable iPhone. And he used a phrase that Jobs often did to set things up. But actually, there is one more thing. Just one more thing, right? The new foldable iPhone called the iPhone Duo is about the size of a passport. It has a smaller screen on the front when it's closed and you open it to a much bigger screen. It gives you the largest display ever on an iPhone while still fitting easily in your pocket. This is the first major redesign of the iPhone in the nearly 20 years since it's existed. The launch was almost certainly timed for this change in leadership. Ternes is a longtime Apple hardware guy. OK, so what do independent watchers of this say of the redesign? Well, people point out that foldable phones have been around for a long time. But analysts say, you know, Apple has had an advantage of being able to see what's worked and what hasn't in the market. And that's the thing Apple's been good at over the years, you know, coming late to the market, but with well-designed, user-friendly products. But there are certainly risks in launching a new form factor like this. Here's Jason Snell who writes about Apple at the website Six Colors. The idea that you open it up and it's almost like a little iPad is a pretty cool idea. Whether that will appeal to a broad, um, number of people, it's unclear. He says foldable phones are only about 2% of the global smartphone market. Then there's the. price, which I did notice they kept it under $2,000, $1,999. Will people pay that much? Apple certainly thinks so. But by the way, Steve, the high-end model is $3,200. Look, the price of iPhones has gone up over the years, and people keep buying them. This phone is not going to be for everybody, but it will be a test, particularly at this time. Here's freelance tech writer Philip Michaels, who follows Apple. Basically, the challenge for Apple is going to be the same challenge for a lot of companies, both in the consumer tech space and companies overall. Prices are rising, wages are flat, things cost more. And if you're tightening your belt, you may be less inclined to drop $2,000 on a phone. We just noted it's a new CEO as well as a new phone. What does this launch tell you about Apple's strategy? Well, it all fits into Apple's plan for artificial intelligence. The company has been criticized for its slow entrance into the AI fray, but its plans are coming into focus now. It wants to make AI central to how people use iPhones. So rather than going to an external chatbot, the AI will be on the device. You'll tap into it through a new version of the digital assistant Siri that they say is coming out this fall. Apple thinks it's going to transform what iPhones can do for people. So for instance, Siri will be able to dive into your email, your calendar to find addresses or book dinner reservations at a spot you like. So this is the direction that John Ternus seems to be taking Apple and his vision, to some extent now, hinges on a foldable phone. Hinges on the phone. John, thanks so much. You're welcome. That's NPR's John Ruich, and we'll know that Apple is a financial supporter of NPR. We're also following this news from music lovers, specifically people, the millions, who follow the NPR tiny desk concerts that you can find online. NPR is holding a tiny desk giveaway. Not giving away the desk, but flying one lucky person and a guest to see a tiny desk concert right here in Washington, D.C. Entering is free at npr.org slash tiny desk giveaway. No purchase or donation required. You just have to be 18 years or older to enter. Now, if you should make a donation to NPR News, you'll be automatically entered in the contest, which gives you a chance to win and help to power public media across this country. For official rules and to enter, go to npr.org slash tiny desk giveaway. The contest ends on Saturday, September 12. Good luck. And that's a first for this Thursday, September 10th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Megan Pratt, Larry Kapla, Cara Platoni, Mohamed El Mardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zia Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines and Robert Rodriguez. Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow. We'll see you then.