Scott Simon

Our commitment to those principles will never change at NPR.

But with federal funding for public media eliminated, we now rely on your support to bring you up first more than ever.

And that includes listeners like Stephanie in California.

And she says, and I'm reading here,

People need access to trustworthy news sources.

I listen to Up First almost every morning on the way to work.

I've been meaning to donate for a while now.

Finally getting it done.

And you, yes, you listening right now can cross something off your end of year to do list.

and support public media by signing up for NPR+.

What will 2026 bring for the Trump administration?

I'm Scott Simon.

And I'm Daniel Estrin.

And this is Up First from NPR News.

A political shift to the right and an increase in U.S.

actions in the region.

We'll play the highlight reel.

Well, my bet, Scott, is you'll say fear the deer one more time.

This time last year, we were taking stock of an extraordinary election, and now we're reflecting on the first year of the second Trump administration.

Several countries in South America elected conservative and even far-right leaders in 2025.