Vladimir Putin declared winner in election with no credible opposition | The Excerpt

On Monday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Russian President Vladimir Putin wins another election. USA TODAY National Political Correspondent David Jackson looks into whether the presidential candidates could drop out of the race. Is the Great Resignation over? Not entirely. Turnover remains high in some industries. USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub examines why health care isn't a bigger issue on the campaign trail. March Madness is here! Enter USA TODAY's NCAA Tournament bracket contest.

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, March 18th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today, the expected result of Russia's election. Plus, could either US presidential candidate drop out even if they wanted to? And why healthcare isn't a bigger issue on the campaign trail.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has won reelection again. He won his fifth term with 87% of the vote according to the country's central election commission. Putin hailed his electoral victory as a sign of the country's trust and hope in him. Still, critics and activists have called the election a sham. Putin faced no credible opposition and cracked down on free speech. The name of Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, was at the center of elections this weekend. He mysteriously died at a Russian prison last month and long lines formed at some polling places in apparent support of a protest formed by the opposition.

Russians abroad have also joined demonstrations outside Russian embassies around the world. Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya, joined a line at the embassy in Berlin as a crowd applauded and chanted her name. She said she wrote in her late husband's name on the ballot. In a post-election news conference, Putin surprisingly acknowledged being presented an offer of a prisoner swap that would've freed Navalny. He claims he was in favor of the deal while many in the international community have pointed to Putin for Navalny's death.

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Some voters may still be hoping that Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or both drop out of this year's presidential race. Could either do what Lyndon B. Johnson did nearly 56 years ago? I spoke with USA Today national political correspondent David Jackson for more. David, thanks for hopping on.

David Jackson:

Hey, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So David, can you just remind us what happened when Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out back in the '60s and what led to his decision?

David Jackson:

On March 31st, 1968, Lyndon Johnson at the end of a speech on the Vietnam War made the announcement that he would not be seeking reelection even though he was the favorite that particular year. So, immediate consequence was that he wasn't on the ballot that year. Vice President Hubert Humphrey replaced him, and that's the election that Richard Nixon won.

But he did it because he was under so much pressure over Vietnam and other issues. The country was quite divided back then. There was a lot of polarization and Johnson contributed to a lot of it. And he was concerned about his health and his age and some other things that we still hear about, and he decided that it just wasn't worth it. So, he sprung it on a nation that was really unprepared for it. And the end result is that that probably will never happen again.

Taylor Wilson:

David, how did LBJ dropping out influence elections in the years since?

David Jackson:

In the short term it did because it allowed Vice President Hubert Humphrey to be nominated for president, even though he didn't run in a single primary that year. The primaries were less important at that point in time. There were only 15 of them that actually picked convention delegates. So, Humphrey was allowed to run for president without entering a primary, and yet, he still wound up with the nomination. And a lot of Democrats were very upset about that, especially after he lost the general election that year to Nixon.

So, after 1968, the Democratic Party organized the committee to reexamine the way that they picked their presidential candidates, and they came up with the system that we have today, the primaries and the caucuses. At that point, voters had more power to pick presidential candidate than party power brokers. It was a system that the Republicans also picked up, and it's the same deal that we have today. So, basically LBJ's decision to drop out of the race is what led to the current primary system that we have today.

Taylor Wilson:

And fast forwarding to today, David, is there any chance Biden or Trump would follow LBJ's lead? And could they even do so if they wanted to?

David Jackson:

No, they couldn't. And the reason we wrote this story was because there are a lot of members of both parties who hope that their candidates do drop out. There are people who are concerned about Biden's age, people who are concerned about Trump's criminal liability and other factors, but the fact is that they aren't going to do it and there's really no way that they could do it, because they've already nailed down the nomination and it's the primary process that helped them do this.

I mean, the way it's evolved, primaries provide special advantages to incumbents and to well-financed candidates. And Biden and Trump both fit those qualifications. So, they were basically able to use their money and their fame and their name identification to win primaries, rack up delegates. And so, they're now in an impregnable position, and as you say, they couldn't drop out if they wanted to.

Taylor Wilson:

David Jackson is a national political correspondent with USA Today. Great info as always. Thanks, David.

David Jackson:

Thank you, sir.

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Taylor Wilson:

The great resignation appears to have fizzled out in parts of the economy. At its peak in the spring of 2022, a record 4.5 million workers a month or 3% of all US employees were leaving jobs. The pandemic spawned unprecedented labor shortages, forcing employers to beef up pay and benefits, and spurring workers to leave for other opportunities.

As the health crisis has faded, quitting and job switching have waned too. In January, 3.4 million or 2.1% of US workers left their jobs, slightly below the pre-COVID mark according to a labor department report this month. Experts have pointed to a cooling job market and that many have now already switched to jobs that better match their skills, interests, and salary requirements. But turnover has remained high in some industries. That includes in transportation and warehousing where truck driver shortages have intensified. And workers are still switching jobs at a high rate in other services like barbershops and car repair. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Patients hate American healthcare, so why isn't it a bigger issue on the campaign trail? I spoke with USA Today health reporter Karen Weintraub, for more. Karen, thanks for making the time.

Karen Weintraub:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Karen, how worried are Americans about healthcare and what are some of their biggest concerns?

Karen Weintraub:

The vast majority of Americans are concerned about healthcare, particularly the cost of healthcare. Medical debt is the leading cause of debt in America, and a lot of people are concerned. Anybody who's had serious medical issues knows how crazy it is, really, how much time you have to spend on the phone, making appointments, dealing with appointments, dealing with insurance companies, fighting insurance companies. It's quite the catch 22 situation.

So, one example of the goofiness of our current system is this woman who I talked to, preventive medicine is covered under the current system, so she gets her mammogram for free, but because she has dense breasts, she always needs a follow-up ultrasound. And that ultrasound she has to pay for herself $200 out of pocket. And so, she can get the preventive care sort of, but not entirely. That's the system that we have right now. Same with colonoscopy. If it's a screening tool, you can get it, but once you have a hint that you might have a problem, a colonoscopy then is a diagnostic, it's not a screening tool and then you have to pay for it. So, our system really just doesn't work for a lot of people and it turns people off.

Taylor Wilson:

In terms of where the presidential candidates stand on healthcare, let's just start with President Joe Biden. What are we hearing from him and what have we seen from him while in office?

Karen Weintraub:

So, he has spoken a lot about healthcare over the years. He's very committed to cancer care in particular. His son, Beau Biden died of brain cancer and he's talked about the cancer moonshot. He has talked a lot also about prescription drug prices. So, that's been his main target as president is lowering the price of drugs. The way he's negotiated it is these prices will come down starting mostly in 2026, although the price of insulin has come down already. But what he hasn't done, what the concern has been is that the healthcare system itself is not being changed by this.

Taylor Wilson:

And Karen, how about challenger, former President Donald Trump. Has he made healthcare a part of his campaign strategy at all?

Karen Weintraub:

It hasn't been a big topic for him, no. He has talked recently about cuts to Medicare. He talks about waste in these federal programs. Biden says he's cutting the programs. He says he's cutting waste. I guess it's a question of what you define as wasteful spending.

Taylor Wilson:

I'm curious, Karen, why experts believe candidates are not making healthcare a bigger player in this year's election? As you outlined, Americans really care about this issue a lot.

Karen Weintraub:

It's kind of a no-win situation, frankly. Obama put a ton of his political capital on changing the healthcare system, what we now call Obamacare, officially called the Affordable Care Act. And it really was basically the only major thing he was able to accomplish in his eight years in office because it cost him so much. It's a losing issue for politicians. If Obama hadn't accomplished that, he might not have accomplished anything at all, frankly, in his administration. Healthcare is one fifth of our economy, and there are a lot of people with a lot of money at stake in healthcare.

Taylor Wilson:

Karen, there will be tons of campaigning over the next few months. What will it take to push healthcare to the forefront on the campaign trail? Could patient activism help here?

Karen Weintraub:

Yeah, I think that people mentioning it to the candidates, people bringing it up, patient advocacy typically does bring it up. Again, I think it's not an issue that a lot of candidates want to bring up on their own, so they need to be forced to bring it up, but it is an issue of high importance to a lot of the public, and so that's why we wanted to highlight it in our coverage.

Taylor Wilson:

Karen Weintraub covers health for USA Today. Thanks as always, Karen.

Karen Weintraub:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

March Madness is here. The men's and women's college basketball tournament fields were announced yesterday. On the men's side, last year's national champion, UConn enters this year's tournament as the number one overall seed. The Huskies will be joined by Houston, Purdue, and North Carolina as the other regional one seeds in the tournament. And on the women's side, undefeated South Carolina are in the top overall seed. And the other regional one seeds will be USC, Texas and Iowa with superstar Caitlin Clark amid her record-breaking season. If you're thinking of doing a tournament bracket pool, be sure to sign up for USA Today's tournament contest. We have a link in today's show notes.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Putin wins election with no credible opposition | The Excerpt podcast