'Here & Now' Highlights: McCoshen & Ross, Tom Haupt
Here's what guests on the Jan. 3, 2025 episode said about expectations for the upcoming year in national state politics and tracking avian influenza in Wisconsin.
By Frederica Freyberg | Here & Now
January 6, 2025
Here & Now political panelists Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross talked about what the first days of the incoming Trump administration are expected to look like. Bird flu outbreaks in poultry flocks pose risks for potential human infections — Wisconsin Department of Health Services scientist Thomas Haupt updated the status of outbreaks across the state.
Bill McCoshen and Scot Ross
Republican and Democratic political panelists
- With just days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, Here & Now‘s political panelists previewed the first hours of his second term. McCoshen spoke to what Republicans are expecting from the White House.
- McCoshen: “I would say this is going to be the NASCAR start: all gas, no brakes. I expect more than maybe several hundred executive orders on day one. I expect them to come forward with a reconciliation package, probably in February, that includes immigration and energy — a second one later in the year on government reform and taxes. … I think there will be a fast and furious start for the Trump administration. I think the four years between his terms — they’ve learned a lot. They knew what they did wrong in the first term, and they’ll be more prepared this time.”
- Ross spoke to whether Democrats will be inclined to work with the Trump administration.
- Ross: “I really hope not, because the things that they’re going to do are going to just dismantle the social safety net, attack the rights of people. We’re going to have mass deportations. We’re going to have trans people bullied into suicide. I mean, it’s going to be a bloodbath. And also that they can raze our treasury and give billionaires even more money. You know, and so I think — so I hope Democrats are not up to it and they shouldn’t be, because I’ll tell you, I got an A, B, C rule and I’m giving you the B, which is bipartisanship is BS. Donald Trump, you know, in 2016, he said — you know, hinted he might prosecute his political enemies. In 2020, he got a little bit more aggressive. In 2024, he went all in on attacking Democrats.”
Tom Haupt
Research scientist and epidemiologist, Wisconsin Department of Health Services
- Highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as bird flu, is breaking out among commercial and even backyard poultry flocks in Wisconsin, with cases confirmed in Barron County, Kenosha County and Burnett County just in December. The end of 2024 also saw one presumptive human case reported in Barron County. As seasonal influenza starts to peak in early 2025, there are concerns about co-infections with bird flu in people that could result in new more transmissible strains. Haupt described the danger.
- Haupt: “Anytime you have co-infections, it’s always a concern, whether they be avian influenza and seasonal influenza, COVID, RSV. Whatever the case may be, the more pathogens that actually are infecting a person, the more severe the outcome could be, which could lead to hospitalization and unfortunately, deaths. That’s what we’re trying to prevent, making sure we’re getting people tested in a timely manner and a proper laboratory — which now is the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene — to get that information and to get those tests run as quickly as possible. But, yes, it definitely could be a concern.”
Watch new episodes of Here & Now at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays.
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