Podcast: The Daily

The once-fringe writer has long argued for an American monarchy. His ideas have found an audience in the incoming administration and Silicon Valley.

Five years ago, we interviewed a woman who asked that we call her Herminia. It was the summer of 2019, just as former President Donald J. Trump — then in his first term — ordered nationwide raids to round up and deport undocumented immigrants. Herminia feared she was on the list. In the end, she was never arrested. A few days ago, we called Herminia back. We asked what has happened to her since Trump left office, and how she is preparing for a second Trump term — in which he has pledged to put the deportation of people like her at the center of his presidency.

After 15 months of war, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a temporary cease-fire. The deal prompted hope that the war could end soon, but also caused worry that the tentative terms could easily fall apart. Patrick Kingsley, the Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, explains why the agreement finally happened — and what it means for Gaza, Israel and the broader Middle East.

On Tuesday, the confirmation process for President-elect Donald J. Trump’s cabinet picks kicked off with Pete Hegseth, for the position of defense secretary. Eric Schmitt, who covers U.S. national security, explains how the four-hour hearing unfolded, and what the odds are that Mr. Hegseth will soon be leading the Pentagon.

A week after fires broke out in the Los Angeles area, Californians are grappling with the widespread destruction.
They’re also seeking answers from their leaders about why so much has been lost. Mike Baker and Christopher Flavelle, who have been covering the fires, discuss the authorities’ response and whether some of the devastation could have been avoided.

Big Tech’s biggest names are throwing their weight behind Donald J. Trump in the biggest possible way, first as candidate and now as president-elect. Erin Griffith, who covers tech companies and Silicon Valley for The Times, charts the tech billionaire Marc Andreessen’s journey from top-tier democratic donor to Trump adviser, and explains what it reveals about the growing MAGA-fication of Silicon Valley.

“My life has gone rosy, again,” Alice Munro told a friend in a buoyant letter of March 1975. For Munro, who was then emerging as one of her generation’s leading writers, the previous few years had been blighted by heartbreak and upheaval: a painful separation from her husband of two decades; a retreat from British Columbia back to her native Ontario; a series of brief but bruising love affairs, in which, it seems, Munro could never quite make out the writing on the wall. “This time it’s real,” she wrote, speaking of a new romantic partner, Gerald Fremlin, the emphasis acknowledging that her friend had heard these words before. “He’s 50, free, a good man if I ever saw one, tough and gentle like in the old tire ads, and this is the big thing — grown-up.”

The judgment would prove premature. In July 2024, two months after Munro’s death at age 92, Andrea Skinner, the youngest of her three daughters, revealed in an essay in The Toronto Star that Fremlin had sexually abused her.

The actor-director discusses the long-awaited return of the hit series, the comedies that made him a star and growing up with his famous parents.

This week, President-elect Donald J. Trump asked the Supreme Court to prevent him from being sentenced in a New York criminal case and implied that he could use military force to seize control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, while President Biden did his best to try to Trump-proof his legacy. The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Maggie Haberman, David E. Sanger and Zolan Kanno-Youngs discuss the latest in the presidential transition.

Over the past 48 hours, wildfires have consumed acre after acre and building after building across greater Los Angeles. More than 100,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, and at least five people have died. The Times’s L.A. bureau chief, Corina Knoll, and our staff meteorologist, Judson Jones, explain the paths of the fires and the conditions that have made them so hard to contain.

This week, Justin Trudeau said he would step down as prime minister of Canada — a stunning downfall for a man who was once seen as a global icon of progressive politics.

Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Canada bureau chief for The New York Times, explains the forces that led to Trudeau’s collapse, and discusses the populist leader who could replace him.

During their first few days in power, the Republican-controlled House and Senate vowed to put aside their furious intraparty battles to make Donald J. Trump’s sweeping agenda the law of the land. Catie Edmonson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times, discusses how likely that actually is.

Since the riot on Capitol Hill four years ago, President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have set out to sanitize the events of that day, changing it from a day of violence into, in Mr. Trump’s words, a day of love. As he prepares to take office for his second term, Mr. Trump said he plans to issue pardons to some of those responsible, throwing hundreds of criminal cases into doubt. Alan Feuer, a reporter covering extremism and political violence for The New York Times, talks to one of those rioters and explains how the pardons could help rewrite the story of what happened on Jan. 6.

At the end of a tenure marked by war and division, the outgoing secretary of state defends his legacy on Gaza and Ukraine and says he’s made America stronger.

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence and death.

A mere three hours into 2025, terrorism struck in downtown New Orleans.

The Times journalists Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Mike Baker, and Christina Morales discuss what we know about the attack, the man who carried it out and the victims.

Guests:

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, a reporter at The New York Times covering criminal justice.
Mike Baker, a national reporter for The New York Times.
Christina Morales, a reporter for The New York Times.

Warning: this episode contains strong language.

Over the past five years, one sports league has gained popularity faster than any other: Ultimate Fighting Championship, or U.F.C.

Matt Flegenheimer, a correspondent for The Times, discusses the man behind the league and how his longtime friendship with President-elect Donald J. Trump has transformed what once was a fringe sport into a culture and political powerhouse.

Guest: Matt Flegenheimer, a correspondent at The New York Times who focuses on in-depth profiles of powerful figures.

As 2024 comes to a close, critics, reporters and editors at The New York Times are reflecting on the year in arts and culture, including books.

The deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, Melissa Kirsch, speaks with the editor of The New York Times Book Review, Gilbert Cruz, about the best books of 2024 — and of the century. Also, The Times’s book critics detail their favorite reads of the year.

To end the year, Melissa Kirsch, The New York Times’s deputy editor of Culture and Lifestyle, talks with Times reporters, editors and columnists whose jobs involve thinking about how we live, and how we might live better.

First, she speaks with Philip Galanes, who writes the Social Q’s column, on what makes good advice. Then, Jancee Dunn, a reporter on the Well desk, shares some of the most useful tips she has gleaned this year. Finally, Daniel Jones, who has edited the Modern Love column for more than 20 years, reflects on the lessons he has learned about love.

And we hear from listeners about the best advice they received this year.

In 1976, after the Watergate scandal and the country’s withdrawal from the Vietnam War, American voters elected Jimmy Carter, a Washington outsider who had served one term as governor of Georgia, to the presidency. Mr. Carter brought a new humility to the Oval Office but, by 1980, many Americans had tired of his modest sensibility and chose not to re-elect him. As it would turn out, the qualities that hurt Mr. Carter in the White House formed the foundation of a post-presidential period that helped redefine, and redeem, his legacy in the final decades of his life.

Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, explains the life, death and legacy of former President Jimmy Carter.

For decades, Big Food has been marketing products to people who can’t seem to stop eating, and now, suddenly, they can. The active ingredient in new drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound mimics a natural hormone that slows digestion and signals fullness to the brain.

Around seven million Americans take these drugs, but estimates from Morgan Stanley suggest that number could increase to 24 million within the next decade. More than 100 million American adults are obese, and the drugs may eventually be rolled out to people who don’t have diabetes or obesity, as they seem to tame addictions beyond food — appearing to make cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes more resistible. Research is at an early stage, but the drugs may also cut the risk of stroke, heart and kidney disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Major food companies are scrambling to research the impact of the drugs on their brands — and figure out how to adjust. But for Mattson, which has invented products for the nation’s biggest food conglomerates for nearly 50 years, the Ozempic threat could be a boon.