Authorities arrest suspect after fire at Penn. Gov. Josh Shapiro's home | The Excerpt
On Monday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: A suspect is in custody after a suspected arson attempt on the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Paste BN White House Reporter Zac Anderson looks into the potential implications of tariffs on GOP political fortunes. President Donald Trump's approval rating falls in a new CBS poll, amid serious economic concerns. Paste BN Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter talks about how sacred sites are helping travelers reconnect. Rory McIlroy wins the Masters - and a career Grand Slam.
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Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, April 14th, 2025. This is the Excerpt. Today, the latest after a suspected arson attempt on the home of Pennsylvania's governor, plus how tariff tensions might hurt the GOP politically, and we discuss religious travel.
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A person has been taken into custody in connection with a suspected arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Authorities said a 38-year-old was arrested over the weekend. Shapiro said, he and his family woke up to bangs on the door from the Pennsylvania State Police around 02:00 am on Sunday. His family was safely evacuated from the residency by state troopers and no one was injured according to the governor. He added that another family in the house was also safely evacuated.
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What may tensions over President Donald Trump's tariffs mean for the GOP's political fortunes? I spoke with Paste BN White House reporter Zac Anderson for more. Hi Zac. Thanks for having on today.
Zac Anderson:
Great to talk to you.
Taylor Wilson:
So what are some of the concerns we're hearing from Republican lawmakers, Zac, about the potential political implications of Trump's tariff moves?
Zac Anderson:
He started to hear a growing chorus of lawmakers start to tentatively push back on some of President Trump's tariff plans. And these included people who are really staunch allies, people like Ted Cruz, people like Rand Paul, people like Chuck Grassley of Iowa, but Iowa farmers could get hit big if there's a trade war with China. Farmers export a lot of their product overseas. So you started to see some pushback. Cruz said on his podcast that there could be a bloodbath in the midterm elections in 2026 for Republicans if a trade war pushes the country into a recession. These voices started to get louder and louder and louder until Trump decided to pause some of these tariffs.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, as for Trump, I know we've heard a few different things from him on this, but how is he explaining, or I guess defending this tariff pause that you mentioned, and also really some turbulence in the market at the very least. What's he say on that front? And also, what do we hear from him about some of these political concerns, Zac?
Zac Anderson:
He hasn't addressed the political concerns explicitly, but he did say that when asked why he did this pause is that people were starting to get, "Yippy." People were starting to get scared. He didn't necessarily talk about Republican lawmakers, but maybe those are some of the people he might've been thinking about or others in the business world. So he concede, basically, that he was bowing to public pressure or pressure amongst people that he listens to. In terms of the market, he really celebrated the big increase in the stock market on the day that he announced this pause and was saying how great it was. The market has slid since then, and his treasury secretary was asked about it and sort of dismissed it and said, "Well, we had a big gain. It's just a small step back."
Taylor Wilson:
Trump clearly on the campaign trail leaned in on the economy and blaming Biden and his administration for inflation and some other issues surrounding that office. Can you put that in context now, fast-forward a few months when the economy is an issue for Trump himself?
Zac Anderson:
Yeah, you could argue that the economy is the reason that Trump won the election. I mean, you had very high inflation for a while under Biden, and inflation hits everybody. It's something that all voters are affected by. And I talked to one political analyst who said, it's really the worst thing that can happen to a president. So he rode that into office. He's very aware of how the economy can make or break political fortunes. And so, it's interesting that he's really having a big gamble with the economy. He can't run for re-election, although he's been hinting that he wants to. So maybe he doesn't care as much, but it certainly could impact his ability to get his agenda passed if he loses control of Congress in the midterms. And so, it's a big gamble for him politically and one that really could impact the future of his presidency.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, taking an early look toward the midterms and an early, early look at that, Zac. I mean, what kind of election math, I guess, are we expecting there at this point? Where could Democrats claw back some power, whether it be over economic issues or otherwise?
Zac Anderson:
Midterms always favor the party out of power. Voters tend to get disenchanted with the party in power. So, Democrats go into the midterm election with some momentum, but the Senate map really favors Republicans and the political handicapper that I talked to said that he didn't think that Democrats could win the Senate, but you never know. They do go in favor though to take over the house, but only by a small margin. Now, if there's a recession or just dramatic economic issues that take place because of these tariffs, that would favor Democrats most likely. People would tend to blame the party in power. Trump has really complained about the economy that he inherited from Joe Biden, but when you inject this much uncertainty into the economy with your policies, Trump has really owned the economy at this point according to Republican strategists. And Republican lawmakers have said as much. So whatever happens with the economy, Trump and the Republican Party own that going forward, and it would be huge in the midterm elections one way or the other, whether it's good or bad.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Zac Anderson covers the White House for Paste BN. Thanks, Zac.
Zac Anderson:
Thanks.
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Taylor Wilson:
President Donald Trump's approval ratings on the economy and inflation have fallen according to a new poll out yesterday. The CBS News survey found 44% approved of Trump's handling of the economy and 40% approved of his handling of inflation, both down 4% from late March. The President's overall approval rating dropped to 47% this month, down from 50% in March and 53% in February. Views on Trump's tariff plans varied depending on respondents political affiliations. At 91%, nearly all Republicans said, Trump has a clear plan on tariffs and trade. Only 43% of independents and 16% of Democrats said the same. And all 58% of respondents said, they oppose new US tariffs on imported goods. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.
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Sacred sites are helping travelers reconnect with themselves and each other. With a number of major religious holidays this spring, I caught up with Paste BN consumer travel reporter, Zach Wichter to hear more. Zach, thanks for stopping on today.
Zach Wichter:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's just start by talking about Wad Kalafala and her journey in the Middle East. What can you tell us about this?
Zach Wichter:
She was telling me about how, she is a Muslim woman, and when she was growing up, she never really felt this sense of connection to her faith. She described it as it was something that she had left in a box and was going to return to at some other time, and it always felt deep and dark and mysterious to her. And starting in around 2020, she had people in her life who started to encourage her to take a visit to Saudi Arabia, which is obviously the site of the most holy sites in the Islamic religion. And so, she said that over the years she was hearing from people, encouraging her to go, and in 2024 she went for the first time. And she said, it really changed her perspective on her faith. And she said, it allowed her the opportunity to come to her faith in her own way and in her own time, and it really renewed her relationship to her culture.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. And how about this Rabbi you spoke with Danya Ruttenberg who has written about having an encounter with the Divine in Italy, among other things. What can you tell us about her story?
Zach Wichter:
Full disclosure, Rabbi Ruttenberg was the rabbi at the Hillel where I went to college at Northwestern University. So, she and I know each other. I've known her since I was in college and one of her students. But Rabbi Ruttenberg has this really interesting story where she grew up Jewish but was a self-proclaimed atheist for much of her childhood and teenage years. And when she was in college, she started finding her way back to faith. So this excerpt that I pulled from her books, Surprised by God, talks about this spiritual experience that she had while she was on this journey. And this is something that's always really stuck with me, the idea that places where people direct their prayers, and places that are meant to be spiritual sites have this energy that permeates them.
As a result of being the focus of all of these people's spirituality and their energy from that over hundreds or thousands of years. And although, Rabbi Ruttenberg obviously is not herself Christian or Catholic, she just connected to that energy on this tour that she took in Italy, I believe, when she was in college. And that was just one of the many steps that she took on her journey to reconnecting with her faith.
Taylor Wilson:
Interesting. So you're right that we are seeing, I guess, a rise in religious travel similar to some of these stories we've heard about. Do we have any numbers on this? What are we seeing?
Zach Wichter:
So, we are definitely seeing that this is becoming a more popular thing that people are seeking out in their travels. And I saw a report from Grand View Research that I believe was released in 2023, and they said that the religious travel industry at that time was valued at $254.3 billion, and that was on an upward trajectory. So in the years leading up to 2023, it grew year over year. The researchers anticipated that that trend would continue, and at least through 2030, that we would continue to see year-on-year growth in how many people were taking these kinds of trips and how much money they were spending to go on them.
Taylor Wilson:
And Zach, you touched on this with Rabbi Ruttenberg, but just more broadly, can you help us understand really what visitors to religious sites say about just the power of this travel?
Zach Wichter:
My colleague, Bailey Schulz, who I co-wrote this piece with, we spoke to many travelers who had visited religious sites either in their own faith or in other people's faiths, and they all shared this sense of that. There's just a hard to put into words, but just this feeling that you get when you're in one of these sites surrounded by all of this energy that people have been directing at a specific location for generations, and that it really helps you, in some cases, connect to your own culture, but in many cases also just reflect on this idea of humanity and that we're all in the journey of life together. And that the things that may seem like differences on paper really shouldn't be dividing us in the way that they sometimes do.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Beautifully put folks. If you want more, you can check out Zach's full piece with a link in today's show notes. Zach Wichter covers consumer travel for Paste BN. Thanks, Zach.
Zach Wichter:
Great, thank you so much.
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Taylor Wilson:
Rory McIlroy has finally won a green jacket. The Northern Irish golfer had won just about everything else in his career, but the Masters Golf Tournament was always the one that got away. That was until yesterday. McIlroy outlasted England's Justin Rose in a playoff to win. Head over to Paste BN Sports, where our team is putting his big win in context.
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And later today, a new episode of Forum hosted by Michael McCarter.
Michael McCarter:
What do you think of President Trump's use of executive orders? You can hear what listeners and readers like you are feeling about this topic. Tune into Forum publishing today at 04:00 pm Eastern Time on this feed.
Taylor Wilson:
And we've dropped a link to the written version of Forum in today's show notes.
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Thanks for listening to the Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for the Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of the Excerpt from Paste BN.