The Trump Administration Defangs the Endangered Species Act

About this episode

<p>In its second term, the Trump administration has increased its efforts to undo environmental regulations. Last week, it became clear that the Endangered Species Act, one of America’s bedrock environmental laws, would be losing some of its most important protections.</p><p>Catrin Einhorn, who covers biodiversity, explains what is changing and what impact that could have on the country’s most vulnerable animals and ecosystems.&nbsp;</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/catrin-einhorn" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Catrin Einhorn</strong></a>, a reporter covering biodiversity, climate and the environment for The New York Times.</p><p>Background reading:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>The Trump administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/climate/endangered-species-act-change.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">moved to gut a core protection of the Endangered Species Act</a> last week.</li></ul><p>Photo: Tom Gallagher/Associated Press</p><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>nytimes.com/thedaily</strong></a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.&nbsp;</p> <p><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily"><strong>nytimes.com/thedaily</strong></a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p><p> </p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>