The Daily

In his recent address before Congress, President Trump talked once again about his big ambitions for Greenland. He told the icebound island’s “incredible people” that he supported their right to determine their future. But he ended his message with a threat, declaring, “One way or the other we are going to get it.” Jeffrey Gettleman, an international correspondent for The New York Times who recently traveled to the island, explains what Mr. Trump wants from Greenland, and whether he may actually get it.

Transcribed - Published: 11 March 2025

In the coming days, President Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would follow through on one of his major campaign promises: to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. The catch is that he still needs the department to impose his vision on American schools. Dana Goldstein, who covers education for The Times, explains how Mr. Trump is balancing his desire both to dismantle and to weaponize the Education Department.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

One thing I’ve learned from being married to my wife, Jess, who is a couples therapist, is how vast the distance is between the masks people show to the world and the messy realities that live behind them. Every couple knows its own drama, but we still fall prey to the illusion that all other couples have seamlessly satisfying relationships. The truth about marriage — including my own — is that even the most functional couples are merely doing the best they can with the lives that have been bestowed on them. This past spring, Jess and I had the first of eight sessions of couples therapy with Terry Real, a best-selling author and by far the most famous of the therapists we’ve seen during our marriage. Real, whose admirers include Gwyneth Paltrow and Bruce Springsteen, is one of a small number of thinkers who are actively shaping how the couples-therapy field is received by the public and practiced by other therapists. He is also the bluntest and most charismatic of the therapists I’ve seen, the New Jersey Jewish version of Robin Williams’s irascible Boston character in “Good Will Hunting” — profane, charismatic, open about his own life, forged in his own story of pain.

Transcribed - Published: 9 March 2025

The pop superstar reflects on her struggles with mental health, the pressures of the music industry and why she’s returned to the sound that made her famous.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcribed - Published: 8 March 2025

The pop superstar reflects on her struggles with mental health, the pressures of the music industry and why she’s returned to the sound that made her famous.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcribed - Published: 8 March 2025

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of child abuse and domestic abuse. Over the past few years, a celebrated filmmaker has tried to unlock the mysteries of the pop icon Prince. Sasha Weiss, a deputy editor at The New York Times Magazine, says that the result is a cinematic masterpiece. How is it possible that nobody will ever see it?

Transcribed - Published: 7 March 2025

For years, even as fentanyl has killed Americans at an astonishing rate, Mexico has claimed that it was doing everything possible to crack down on production of the drug. This week, President Trump began using punishing new tariffs to test that claim. Natalie Kitroeff, who is the Mexico City bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses the surprising result of his tactics.

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2025

In his first address to Congress on Tuesday night, President Trump took a highly partisan victory lap as Democratic lawmakers openly protested against him. Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The Times, walks us through the speech, including the reactions to it in the room.

Transcribed - Published: 5 March 2025

Since President Trump took office, Elon Musk and DOGE have wielded an unprecedented level of power to help the administration cut the U.S. government, and they claim to have stopped tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains why those claims are not what they seem — and what that tells us about Mr. Musk’s project to shrink the federal bureaucracy.

Transcribed - Published: 4 March 2025

On Friday, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in an explosive televised Oval Office meeting and abruptly cut short a visit that was meant to help coordinate a plan for peace. Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The Times, discusses the clash and its consequences.

Transcribed - Published: 3 March 2025

Jim Tucker could hardly believe what he was hearing. It sounded like fiction, a nightmare too outlandish for an unassuming town like his. It was July 2023, and Tucker was hosting a meeting of the board of Heartland Tri-State Bank, a community-owned business in a small Kansas town called Elkhart. Heartland was a beloved local institution and a source of Tucker family pride: Tucker served on the board with his elderly father, Bill, who founded the bank four decades earlier. All of the board members — the Tuckers and several other farmers and businesspeople — had known one another for years. That evening, however, they were gathering to discuss what seemed, on its face, an epic betrayal. Over the past few weeks, the bank’s longtime president, a popular local businessman named Shan Hanes, had ordered a series of unexplained wire transfers that drained tens of millions of dollars from the bank. Hanes converted the funds into cryptocurrencies. Then the money vanished.

Transcribed - Published: 2 March 2025

The Massachusetts leader, whose influence goes well beyond her state, discusses how the Democratic Party can pick its battles and rebuild its brand. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcribed - Published: 1 March 2025

This week, President Trump proposed two deals that would require allies to put his needs ahead of their own. Times’ Journalists Michael Barbaro, Catie Edmonson, Maggie Haberman, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs discuss how, in both cases, Trump got what he wanted.

Transcribed - Published: 28 February 2025

During his decades-long path to become America’s highest-ranking military officer, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. won the crucial support of President Trump. That all changed when Mr. Brown publicly talked about a subject that is taboo in Mr. Trump’s government. Helene Cooper, who covers national security for The Times, explains why General Brown was fired and why it has rocked the military.

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2025

Today, as the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas enters its most fragile phase, no one knows who will control the future of Gaza. Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times, talks through this delicate moment — as the first part of the deal nears its end — and the questions that hover over it.

Transcribed - Published: 26 February 2025

Warning: This episode discusses sexual themes. Artificial intelligence has changed how millions of people write emails, conduct research and seek advice. Kashmir Hill, who covers technology and privacy, tells the story of a woman whose relationship with a chatbot when much further than that.

Transcribed - Published: 25 February 2025

Since President Trump took office, his plan to deport millions of undocumented people has kept running into barriers. That has forced the White House to come up with ever more creative, and controversial, tactics. The Times journalists Julie Turkewitz and Hamed Aleaziz explain why some migrants are being held in a hotel in Panama.

Transcribed - Published: 24 February 2025

When David Muhammad was 15, his mother moved from Oakland, Calif., to Philadelphia with her boyfriend, leaving Muhammad in the care of his brothers, ages 20 and 21, both of whom were involved in the drug scene. Over the next two years, Muhammad was arrested three times — for selling drugs, attempted murder and illegal gun possession. For Muhammad, life turned around. He wound up graduating from Howard University, running a nonprofit in Oakland called the Mentoring Center and serving in the leadership of the District of Columbia’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. Then he returned to Oakland for a two-year stint as chief probation officer for Alameda County, in the same system that once supervised him. Muhammad’s unlikely elevation came during a remarkable, if largely overlooked, era in the history of America’s juvenile justice system. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of young people incarcerated in the United States declined by an astonishing 77 percent. Can that progress be sustained — or is America about to reverse course and embark on another juvenile incarceration binge?

Transcribed - Published: 23 February 2025

The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer talks about burnout from covering the pandemic and how bird-watching gave him a new sense of hope.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcribed - Published: 22 February 2025

This week, President Trump falsely claimed that Ukraine started the war against Russia, ordered federal agencies created by Congress to answer directly to him and installed himself as the leader of Washington’s premiere cultural institution. The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Charlie Savage and Elisabeth Bumiller sit down to make sense of it all.

Transcribed - Published: 21 February 2025

The sweeping federal corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams seemed to spell the end of his career. Then he got a sudden reprieve from President Trump — but as the terms of that support became public, an extraordinary blowback ensued. Nicholas Fandos, who covers New York politics and government for The Times, walks us through the saga.

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2025

On the campaign trail, Donald J. Trump and his allies left little doubt that, if they returned to power, federal workers would face layoffs, buyouts and agency closures. Now that President Trump’s plan has become a reality, dozens of federal workers explain what it’s been like to live through it.

Transcribed - Published: 19 February 2025

During less than a month in office, President Trump has pursued more trade actions against adversaries and allies than all the trade measures he took in his entire first four-year term. There is one man guiding it all: his trade adviser Peter Navarro. Ana Swanson, who covers trade and international economics for The Times, explains why Mr. Navarro thinks tariffs will usher in a new age of American prosperity.

Transcribed - Published: 18 February 2025

A few days ago, the Trump administration began blowing up America’s existing approach to ending the war in Europe by embracing Russia and snubbing Ukraine. The shift has quickly turned into a broader assault on America’s relationship with Europe. Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief of The Times, explains how it’s all adding up to a stunning victory for Vladimir V. Putin.

Transcribed - Published: 17 February 2025

The Arizona lawmaker diagnoses what he thinks needs to change in the way his party communicates with men, Latinos and Trump voters.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcribed - Published: 15 February 2025

Over the past week, President Donald J. Trump dramatically ceded the stage to Elon Musk in the Oval Office, turned the Democratic mayor of New York City into a political pawn and ensured that Vladimir Putin begins peace talks with Ukraine on Russia’s terms. The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Maggie Haberman, David E. Sanger and Zolan Kanno-Youngs sit down and discuss the latest week in the Trump administration.

Transcribed - Published: 14 February 2025

An outbreak of bird flu has been tearing through the nation’s dairy farms and infecting more and more people. Now there are troubling signs that the United States may be closer to another pandemic, even as President Trump dismantles the country’s public health system. Apoorva Mandavilli, who covers science and global health for The Times, explains how the virus has changed and why our government might be ill-equipped to respond.

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2025

As President Trump issues executive orders that encroach on the powers of Congress — and in some cases fly in the face of established law — a debate has begun about whether he’s merely testing the boundaries of his power or triggering a full-blown constitutional crisis. Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, walks us through the debate.

Transcribed - Published: 12 February 2025

Warning: This episode contains strong language. As President Trump demolishes the government’ s biggest provider of foreign aid, the United States Agency for International Development, he is ending a 60-year bipartisan consensus about the best way to keep America safe from its enemies. Michael Crowley, who covers U.S. foreign policy, and Stephanie Nolen, a global health reporter for The New York Times, discuss the rise and fall of U.S.A.I.D. — and American soft power.

Transcribed - Published: 11 February 2025

Over the past week, President Trump avoided a trade war with Canada and Mexico. But he escalated a trade war with China. His reasoning? China has become more powerful in domestic manufacturing than the United States, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Britain combined. Keith Bradsher, the Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times, explains why China’s dominance as a trading partner has become a threat to Trump’s agenda — and asks whether America will ever be able to catch up.

Transcribed - Published: 10 February 2025

Thousands of years ago, after domesticating cows and other ruminants, humans did something remarkable: They began to consume the milk from these animals. But living closely with animals and drinking their milk also presents risks, chief among them the increased likelihood that infections will jump from animals to people. Some of humanity’s nastiest scourges, including smallpox and measles, probably originated in domesticated animals. In the 19th century, health authorities began pushing for milk to be treated by heating it; this simple practice of pasteurizing milk would come to be considered one of the great public-health triumphs of the modern era. Today, however, a small but growing number of Americans prefer to drink their milk raw. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, now stands at the vanguard of this movement.

Transcribed - Published: 9 February 2025

The legendary actor discusses the prophecy that changed his life, his Oscar snub and his upcoming role starring alongside a “complicated” Jake Gyllenhaal in “Othello” on Broadway.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcribed - Published: 8 February 2025

A battle between two major artists has been dominating the world of music. It’s a fight over one song — a song that may get its biggest stage ever at this weekend’s Super Bowl. Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times, explains the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, how Lamar’s “Not Like Us” ripped the music world apart, and why so many fell in love with a song about hate.

Transcribed - Published: 7 February 2025

How is the Democratic Party navigating the dominance of President Trump — and reckoning with the reality that more and more voters have been souring on its message? The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Shane Goldmacher, Reid J. Epstein and Annie Karni discuss the state of the Democrats. Guests: Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times; Reid J. Epstein, a New York Times reporter covering politics; Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent at The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 6 February 2025

Elon Musk and his team have taken a hacksaw to the federal bureaucracy one agency at a time, and the question has become whether he’s on a crusade that will leave the government paralyzed or deliver a shake-up it has needed for years. Jonathan Swan, a White House reporter for The New York Times, takes us inside this hostile takeover of Washington.

Transcribed - Published: 5 February 2025

North America came within hours of a multibillion dollar trade war that was poised to hobble the economies of Mexico and Canada. The Times journalists Ana Swanson, Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Simon Romero discuss the last-minute negotiations that headed off the crisis — for now.

Transcribed - Published: 4 February 2025

North America came within hours of a multibillion dollar trade war that was poised to hobble the economies of Mexico and Canada. The Times journalists Ana Swanson, Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Simon Romero discuss the last-minute negotiations that headed off the crisis — for now.

Transcribed - Published: 4 February 2025

Financial markets went into a panic last week over an obscure Chinese tech start-up called DeepSeek. The company now threatens to upend the world of artificial intelligence and the race for who will dominate it. Kevin Roose, a tech columnist at The Times, discusses how DeepSeek caught us all off guard.

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2025

Here’s a strange story: One day two summers ago, Jennifer Khan woke up because her arms, — both of them — hurt. Not the way they do when you’ve slept in a funny position, but as if the tendons in her forearms and hands were moving through mud. What felt like sharp electric shocks kept sparking in her fingers and sometimes up the inside of her biceps and across her chest. Holding anything was excruciating: a cup, a toothbrush, her phone. Even doing nothing was miserable. It hurt when she sat with her hands in her lap, when she stood, when she lay flat on the bed or on her side. The slightest pressure — a bedsheet, a watch band, a bra strap — was intolerable. Our understanding of pain, and especially chronic pain, is far behind where it should be. We don’t know what causes a person with an injury to develop chronic pain, or why it happens in some people and not others, or why it happens more often in women. At a genetic and cellular level, we don’t know which systems get out of whack, or why, or how to fix them.

Transcribed - Published: 2 February 2025

The psychiatrist and author of “Dopamine Nation” wants us to find balance in a world of temptation and abundance.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Transcribed - Published: 1 February 2025

Since his inauguration, President Trump has exercised a level of power that has directly challenged the checks and balances that, on paper, define the U.S. government. The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Charlie Savage discuss Mr. Trump’s plan to institute a more powerful presidency.

Transcribed - Published: 31 January 2025

The midair collision between a passenger jet and a helicopter over Washington on Wednesday night was the deadliest plane crash in the United States in more than 20 years. Emily Steel, a Times investigative reporter who has been covering the crash, explains what happened. Guests: Emily Steel, an investigative reporter for the business desk of The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 31 January 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a crucial nomination hearing on Wednesday where a panel of skeptical senators probed his past, often contentious remarks. Sheryl Gay Stolberg, who covers health policy for The Times, explains how someone who’s considered on the fringe in a lot of his beliefs came to be picked for health secretary to begin with. Guests: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, a correspondent based in Washington covering health policy for The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 30 January 2025

In one of his most audacious moves since taking office, President Trump ordered a freeze on Tuesday on trillions of dollars in federal money — from anti-poverty programs to foreign aid — in order to purge the government of what he called woke ideology. Michael D. Shear, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, discusses the order, the chaos it prompted and whether it is likely to survive in court. Guests: Michael D. Shear, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 29 January 2025

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of alleged sexual harassment, and a fictional portrayal of domestic violence. Over the last few weeks, the Hollywood stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have gone to battle over exactly what happened during the making and promotion of their latest film. It’s a dispute that has pulled back the curtain on an alleged smear campaign and the new set of tools that celebrities can use to defend themselves and redefine their enemies in the court of public opinion. Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter at The New York Times, discusses the legal complaint that started it all. Guests: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter at The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 28 January 2025

At the center of President Trump’s aggressive first week back in office is a 39-year-old adviser, Stephen Miller. His ideas and ideology have animated the blitz of executive orders. Jonathan Swan, a White House reporter for The New York Times, explains Mr. Miller’s dramatic return to the White House, and why his power has never been greater. Guests: Jonathan Swan, a White House reporter for The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 27 January 2025

As soon as Camille Bromley got Ellie, a black-eyed, bat-eared German shepherd puppy, she trained her to be a good dog. And so she was. Two years on, Ms. Bromley started to think she was a little too obedient. Ellie was hesitant, whining when she was unsure of herself, in a way that clashed with her big muscles and pointy canines. The solution, maybe, was buttons. Around this time, Ms. Bromley started to see dogs on social media seeming to express their desires by the most absurdly simple, low-tech means possible: stepping on multicolored plastic buttons on the floor, each disc emitting a word when the dog pressed it. Ms. Bromley scrolled through videos on her phone of dogs pawing FOOD and MORE and NOW, sometimes in that order.

Transcribed - Published: 26 January 2025

This week, President Trump has banned diversity, equity and inclusion programming in the federal government, punished former aides by taking away their security detail and celebrated the release of hundreds of Jan. 6, 2021, rioters and planners. The New York Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Maggie Haberman, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and David E. Sanger try to make sense of it all. Guests: Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. David E. Sanger, a White House and National Security Correspondent for The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 24 January 2025

Among the many plans that President Trump laid out on his first day back in office was a directive to abandon the shift toward clean energy and double down on oil. Coral Davenport, who covers energy and environmental policy for The Times, discusses whether Mr. Trump could pull it off, and what it would mean for the country if he did. Guest: Coral Davenport, a reporter covering energy and environmental policy, with a focus on climate change, for The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 23 January 2025

At the heart of President Trump’s flurry of executive orders was a systematic dismantling of the United States’ approach to immigration. Hamed Aleaziz, who covers immigration policy for The Times, explains what the orders do and the message they send. Guest: Hamed Aleaziz, who covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy in the United States for The New York Times.

Transcribed - Published: 22 January 2025