Jump to content
ClubAdventist is back!

Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 18, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, my colleague Jonathan Mahler analyzes Elon Musk’s political influence. We’re also covering Ukraine, Haiti and the unofficial liquor of Chicago. —David Leonhardt

 
 
 
Elon Musk holding a glass in a suit.
Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

The mogul

Author Headshot

By Jonathan Mahler

I’m a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine.

 

Over the course of the 2024 presidential campaign, Elon Musk went from dark-money donor to high-profile surrogate to unofficial chief of staff. He camped out at Mar-a-Lago after the election with the Trump family and hopped on Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president. He’s even played diplomat, meeting secretly in New York with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Last week, the president-elect named Musk to co-lead a department focused on government efficiency, a role that will put him in a position to recommend the hiring and firing of federal workers and the restructuring of entire agencies. But it’s clear that Musk’s influence could reach far beyond even this.

He and Trump are in sync on a lot of issues (immigration, trans rights). And although they diverge on some others (climate change and policies that push people toward electric vehicles), the world’s richest person has now allied himself with the leader of the free world whom he helped install in office, creating a political partnership unlike anything America has ever seen.

In today’s newsletter, we will look at Musk’s agenda and ideology — and at what his influence in the new administration could mean for both him and the country.

Big government deals

Musk previewed plans for his new job on the campaign trail.

He said that the federal government’s $6.8 trillion budget should be slashed by at least $2 trillion and acknowledged that such draconian cuts would “necessarily involve some temporary hardship.” Slashing and burning is certainly one of his hallmarks: He laid off 80 percent of X’s staff after buying the company — then called Twitter — in late 2022.

Musk has a lot to gain from a second Trump administration. His businesses are already entangled with the federal government, which awarded them $3 billion in contracts across numerous agencies last year. His rocket company, SpaceX, launches military satellites and shuttles astronauts to the International Space Station. Even before the election, Musk asked Trump to hire SpaceX employees at the Defense Department, presumably to further strengthen their ties.

A diagram of connecting lines between Tesla and SpaceX, two of Elon Musk’s companies, and many cabinet departments and federal agencies with whom the companies have contracts. The lines are sized proportionally to the size of the contracts, with the largest share overwhelmingly between NASA and the Defense Department.
Source: The New York Times’ analysis of transaction-level contract and grant data from usaspending.gov | By Jonathan Corum

Musk is also at war with federal regulators. He faces at least 20 investigations or reviews, including one into the software of Tesla’s self-driving cars and another into polluted water allegedly discharged from SpaceX’s launchpad in Texas. It’s safe to assume that Musk will try to quash these inquiries and also seek greater freedom from oversight in the future.

Musk views government regulation as more than just a drain on profits. He is a techno-utopian who sees his work — from trying to colonize Mars to implanting computer chips in people’s brains that will enable them to control devices with their thoughts — as vital to the long-term survival of the human race, and he doesn’t want bureaucracy to stand in his way. “The Department of Government Efficiency is the only path to extending life beyond Earth,” he wrote last month on X.

At the same time, some government regulations have proved enormously beneficial to him. Tesla generates billions of dollars selling zero-emission vehicle credits to carmakers that don’t make enough electric cars to earn them.

Cultivating Trump seems to be paying off. Trump was a harsh critic of electric vehicles; he accused them of hurting American autoworkers while helping China and Mexico. But on the campaign trail this year, Trump said that he was “for electric cars” because “Elon endorsed me very strongly.” And that was before Musk relocated to Pennsylvania during the homestretch and spent nearly $120 million to help Trump win.

Musk’s ideas

Musk is not just an entrepreneur. He is a new kind of media mogul, with ready access to the president and few rules governing how he uses his platform. And he wants a hands-off approach.

He considers himself a free-speech absolutist. After buying Twitter and renaming it X, Musk reinstated the accounts of hundreds of users barred for spreading misinformation or inciting violence. Trump’s was among them — he was kicked off the platform after the Jan. 6 attack out of concern that he might encourage more violence— and during the campaign Musk used his own account to promote Trump’s candidacy to his more than 200 million followers.

That could make X a new home for the MAGA movement as Trump seeks out friendly outlets to champion his policies. The platform is already a gathering place for Trump’s supporters. Once Trump is back in the White House, it’s easy to imagine it as the primary means through which he and his officials communicate with the public, bypassing an independent media that Trump considers hostile and Musk considers unnecessary and corrupt.

It would cement an unusual bond between two extraordinarily powerful, if famously impulsive, men. Provided that they don’t fall out, they stand to gain a great deal from each other.

Donald Trump, in a suit, sits with Elon Musk, who is wearing in a leather jacket.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Al Drago for The New York Times

For more

  • Trump has chosen Brendan Carr, a critic of Big Tech, to lead the Federal Communications Commission. Carr currently sits on the commission and wrote a chapter on the F.C.C. for the Project 2025 planning document.
  • Trump said he was standing by Pete Hegseth, his nominee for defense secretary who has been accused of sexual assault. Hegseth says the interaction was consensual. He previously entered into a financial settlement with the woman that had a confidentiality clause.
  • Trump is interviewing candidates for Treasury secretary, including the Wall Street billionaire Marc Rowan and the former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh.
 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

War in Ukraine

Two men walk by a bombed building.
In Luhansk, in Russia-controlled Ukraine. Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

Middle East

  • Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut, killing at least six people, Lebanese officials said. Attacks inside Beirut are rare, but Israel’s military has been targeting Hezbollah in areas nearby.
  • Families of American victims of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack and of those killed fighting in Gaza sued Iran. They accused Iran of supporting the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

More International News

Politics

President Biden, in a blue shirt, meets with three Indigenous people in a forest.
In Manaus, Brazil. Eric Lee/The New York Times

Homelessness

Tents near a road.
In Berkeley, Calif. Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times

Other Big Stories

Opinions

Trump’s decision to fill his cabinet with military hawks signals a return to “might makes right” rule. Decades of counterterrorism operations prove it’s not effective, Oona Hathaway writes.

Pete Hegseth of Fox News represents America’s dissatisfaction with our military leaders. But he doesn’t have the experience to be defense secretary, Jennifer Steinhauer writes.

Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss Trump’s appointments and Biden’s presidency.

Here are columns by David French on Trump’s demise, and Ezra Klein on what Colorado’s governor can teach Democrats.

 

MORNING READS

A stage with children clasping their hands under a cross and a sign that reads “truth.”
In Orlando, Fla. Zack Wittman for The New York Times

The National Bible Bee: See inside a competition where young Christians recite memorized verses.

Ask Vanessa: “Should socks be subtle, or should they stand out?”

Bluesky: People are turning to the upstart social media site as they seek alternatives to Facebook, X and Threads.

Test: How well do you know “Romeo and Juliet”? Take our quiz.

Object of desire: A $190 soap dispenser is all the rage in Downtown Manhattan.

Metropolitan Diary: A hypnotic city.

Lives Lived: In 1974, Celeste Caeiro, handed out red carnations to soldiers on their way to ending a 40-year right-wing dictatorship in Portugal. Her spontaneous patriotic act gave a largely bloodless coup its name: the Carnation Revolution. Caeiro died at 91.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 30-21, handing the defending Super Bowl champions their first loss of the season.

W.N.B.A.: The Dallas Wings won the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft and a chance to select UConn’s Paige Bueckers, considered to be the likely top choice.

N.B.A.: The Cleveland Cavaliers achieved a blowout victory over the Charlotte Hornets. The Cavaliers became only the fourth team in NBA history to start a season with 15 straight wins.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

Two glasses of light brown liquor.
Chona Kasinger for The New York Times

Malört — which is made from neutral spirits, wormwood and sugar — is the unofficial liquor of Chicago. The drink is bitter, herbaceous and citrusy, like sucking dandelion juice through a straw made of car tires or biting a grapefruit like an apple. In the last decade, Malört has gone from being sold exclusively in Illinois to populating bars across 33 states. Some fans worry it is losing its roots.

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Cheese puffs.
Christopher Simpson for The New York Times

Bake cacio e pepe cheese puffs, with a bite of black pepper and Parmesan.

Find the best travel credit card with these tips.

Bring a gift to Thanksgiving dinner.

Play PC games with a controller.

Take our news quiz.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were biplane and plebeian.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Replies 979
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • phkrause

    979

  • Hanseng

    1

  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 19, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, Emily Baumgaertner explores America’s childhood death rate. We’re also covering Donald Trump’s appointments, Hong Kong and a magician society.

 
 
 
An image of a woman and a child holding candles, taken from above.
A vigil for the victims of the Uvalde shooting. Mark Felix for The New York Times

Guns, drugs and children

Author Headshot

By Emily Baumgaertner

I cover public health issues affecting children.

 

If I drew you a graph that showed the death rate among American kids, you would see a backward check mark: Fewer kids died over the last several decades, thanks to everything from leukemia drugs to bicycle helmets. Then, suddenly, came a reversal.

A chart that shows a decrease in the child mortality rate from 1968 through 2015, followed by an increase from 2019 through 2021.
The chart shows the mortality rate for children ages one through 19 | Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database | By The New York Times

I first noticed this in 2021 while poking around in mortality data from the virus-ridden year before. It looked bad. I knew that kids who contracted Covid tended to fare better than older people, but was the virus killing them, too?

Nope. It wasn’t the virus. It was injuries — mostly from guns and drugs. From 2019 to 2021, the child death rate rose more steeply than it had in at least half a century. It stayed high after that. Despite all of the medical advances and public health gains, there are enough injuries to have changed the direction of the chart.

Horrified, I started making phone calls. It turned out that I was not the only one who wanted to understand what was happening to America’s children. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain what we now know.

Guns and drugs

When life expectancy in the United States plateaued around 2010, it was big news. Problems that grabbed people in midlife — chronic disease, depression, opioids and alcohol — were bringing down the average. Yet the survival rate for children kept improving, thanks to better neonatal care, vaccines and even swimming lessons.

The first real alarm bells coincided with the pandemic. That’s when the mortality rate among children and adolescents shot up by more than 10 percent in a single year. These children weren’t felled by some spreading contagion; their deaths were sudden and “almost always preventable,” as Dr. Coleen Cunningham, the pediatrician in chief at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, puts it. Deadly car accidents among tweens and teens climbed nearly 16 percent. Murders went up 39 percent. Fatal overdoses more than doubled.

An empty basketball court. A torn net is crumpled on the floor.
In Brooklyn, New York.  Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

New patterns emerged with race and gender, too. Black and Native American children were dying at much higher rates than white children. And the disparities — which had been narrowing — were now widening again. Black kids were mostly shot by other people. Native American kids mostly shot themselves.

There were harbingers before 2020. Suicides started to increase in 10- to 19-year-olds after the 2007 recession alongside the rise of social media and cyberbullying. Homicides climbed as access to firearms rose. Overdose deaths spiked shortly before the pandemic began as cartels laced their drugs with fentanyl.

But guns were at the center of it all, replacing car crashes as the leading killer of kids. Gun deaths alone accounted for almost half of the increase in young people. They are now equivalent to 52 school buses of children crashing each year.

A line chart showing some of the leading causes of death for children between 1999 and 2022. In 2019, the rate of drug-related deaths surpassed drowning deaths. In 2020, the rate of child deaths from firearm-related causes surpassed the number of deaths from traffic-related causes, including car crashes.
The chart shows mortality rates for children ages one through 19 | Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database | By The New York Times

Seeking answers

Of course, how children die is not the same as why, and answering the latter question could prove increasingly difficult in the years ahead.

That’s because of politics. Three decades ago, major health studies began to reveal the danger of guns. The National Rifle Association took notice. That’s when Congress barred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from spending money to “advocate or promote gun control.” Grants from the agency ended. Without the funding, the research stopped.

But a researcher helped persuade Congress to restore the money in 2019, just before the children’s mortality rate spiked. Gun-violence research is now going through a sort of renaissance. Epidemiologists are gathering better data on what’s behind the rise in gun deaths and what could help prevent them, from expanded background checks to gun safes.

But politics change, and that means funding could, too.

For more

  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s nominee to run the health department, says American children face an epidemic of chronic diseases in part because of fluoride in water and vaccines. Medical experts agree there is a health crisis. They disagree on the source.
  • Kennedy could be in a position to undermine childhood immunizations if confirmed. See how.
 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Trump Administration

Several people marching in a protest as they hold a banner. One person holds up a sign that says, “Here To Stay.” Another sign reads, “We Are Home.”
Protesters in New York.  Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

More on Politics

International

Three police officers in front of a van with barred windows.
In Hong Kong.  Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Other Big Stories

Opinions

Animated images of children rehearsing for a music performance.
Ema Ryan Yamazaki

“We’re each a piece of a heart”: First graders at a Japanese school form an orchestra for a school ceremony. See what it reveals about the country’s education system.

Polls reflect the messiness of politics. We have to get used to that, Nate Silver writes.

Here is a column by Paul Krugman on how Musk runs X.

 
 

The Thanksgiving Sale is on. Time to subscribe to Cooking.

Cooking answers “What’s for dinner?” deliciously, every day. Explore thousands of easy five-star recipes. Save on your first year of Cooking.

 

MORNING READS

A side view of a two-story house with pink walls. The moon is visible through an aperture in the roof.
Sophie Park for The New York Times

By the sea: An old battered — and pink — house on the North Shore of Boston was going to be demolished. Artists and local residents fought to save it.

Daring deception: A British society of magicians expelled a woman who tricked her way into membership by disguising herself as a man. Three decades later, it wants her back.

Diet: How healthy are sweet potatoes?

Lives Lived: The critic, scholar and poet Sandra Gilbert co-wrote “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination,” a groundbreaking work of literary criticism that became a feminist classic. She died at 87.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Dallas Cowboys continued a misery-filled season with a 34-10 home loss against the Houston Texans. Before the game, pieces of the AT&T Stadium roof fell to the turf.

Baseball: Juan Soto, a free agent, will meet with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team he lost to in the World Series as a member of the New York Yankees.

Soccer: The U.S. men’s national team secured a 4-2 victory over Jamaica, sealing the Americans’ place in the Nations League semifinals.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A bartender wearing a black T-shirt prepares a cocktail behind a bar. In front of the bar are pink-and-brown bar seats.
One for the flight.  Jennifer Chase for The New York Times

José Andrés, a Michelin-starred chef and head of a disaster relief nonprofit, has a new venture: airport dining. Andrés is opening Landing, a 5,500-square-foot lounge-restaurant at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington. He hopes to elevate the airport dining experience with a menu of tapas, caviar cones and Basque cheesecake. Read more about the venture.

More on culture

  • The Grammy-winning artist Jon Batiste is returning to his classical music roots on his latest album. Hear him improvise on some of Beethoven’s classics.
  • On “Real Time,” Bill Maher chided Democrats for losing touch with average Americans. “Maybe take the clothespins off your noses and actually converse with the other half of the country,” he said.
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

A pile of three slices of cake bars made of layers of cranberry, lemon and pastry.
Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susan Spungen.

Make these two-tone cranberry lemon bars.

Try these expert tips on staying healthy while flying.

Improve the performance of your microwave.

Explore Walmart’s early Black Friday deals.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was pinewood.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 20, 2024

Ad

 
 
Author Headshot

By German Lopez

 

Good morning. Today, we’re covering the escalating war in Ukraine — as well as Trump’s appointments, Gaza’s wounded and Rafael Nadal’s retirement.

 
 
 
A missile is launched from the ground with a fiery trail across a blue sky.
An ATACMS missile. John Hamilton/White Sands Missile Range, via Associated Press

A new phase

The war in Ukraine is escalating quickly and unpredictably. Ukraine is now using U.S.-made missiles to strike inside Russia, with President Biden’s permission. Russia has raised the threat of nuclear weapons. It has also sacrificed thousands of troops to take more territory in eastern Ukraine, achieving its largest gains in more than two years.

At the same time, an end to the war seems closer than ever. Donald Trump has promised to negotiate a truce quickly once he takes office in January. Given how much Ukraine depends on the United States, Trump could force Ukraine to accept a deal.

These things — the recent escalations and a potential end to the war — are related. As Russia and Ukraine prepare for a potential peace deal, they are working to improve their negotiating positions. That reality has kicked off a dangerous and urgent phase of the war, although one that could last only a few months.

Today’s newsletter will explain the recent events and what could come next.

Ratcheting up

The recent events in Ukraine can be summarized as a series of escalations. After Ukraine lost territory on its eastern front, it opened a northern front this past summer in the Russian region of Kursk. It grabbed Russian territory for the first time in the war, and has managed to hold the land. Russia then recruited more than 10,000 soldiers from North Korea to try to reclaim the area.

Washington saw North Korea’s involvement as a big deal. After all, Russia has warned the West against sending any of its own troops in Ukraine’s defense. Yet Russia turned around and got outside help.

In response, the United States has allowed Ukraine to fire American-made long-range missiles into Russian territory. Ukraine did so for the first time yesterday, hitting an ammunition depot.

The specific missiles, known as ATACMS, do not have the range to hit Moscow. “U.S. officials do not want to see ATACMS flying at the Kremlin,” said my colleague Julian Barnes, who covers international security. “That’s not what this is about.” Instead, Ukraine can use the missiles to weaken Russian advances and hold territory in Kursk and elsewhere.

A map of Ukraine and the surrounding region shows the territory held by Russia and the territory held by Ukraine. The map also shows the range of the ATACMS missiles into Russia.
Source: The Institute for the Study of War With American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats | By Samuel Granados and Leanne Abraham

Why are U.S. officials so cautious about how Ukraine uses these weapons? Russia’s actions yesterday offer an explanation. It declared the right to respond with a nuclear weapon to an attack by a nonnuclear nation (Ukraine, presumably) that’s supported by a nuclear-armed country (the United States). Since the beginning of the war, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has used the threat of nukes to deter Western involvement. To some extent, the threat has worked. It previously kept Americans from supplying ATACMS and fighter jets, for instance.

Putin is not actually closer to using nukes, American officials say. But the consequences of a nuclear conflict are so large — potentially world-ending — that even a tiny or slightly growing risk is alarming.

Seeking the best deal

There’s another factor behind Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike inside Russia: the coming Trump administration.

Trump has indicated that he will not offer the same level of military support to Ukraine that Biden has. He wants to end the war as soon as possible. He will likely try to force both sides to negotiate some sort of truce, even if Ukraine doesn’t regain its territory in the process.

That means Ukraine is running out of time to improve its negotiating position. If it can hold on to parts of Kursk, maybe it can trade the area for more of its eastern territory held by Russia. In other words, Ukraine’s strength at the bargaining table depends on fending off Russian and North Korean troops in the coming months.

Russia is trying to improve its own hand, too. It has pushed farther into eastern Ukraine despite staggering losses. (As of last month, the war had left 600,000 to 700,000 Russian troops dead or wounded, Western officials estimate.) Russia continues its brutal campaign knowing that every inch of land it claims now could be kept for good.

All of this adds up to a bit of a paradox: Peace may be around the corner, but the fighting could get bloodier as both sides try to position themselves for a more favorable deal.

For more

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Trump Appointments

Linda McMahon, in a lavender dress, stands at a podium.
Linda McMahon Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

More on Trump

More on Politics

Israel-Hamas War

A portrait of a women, her face pitted with dark marks.
In Doha, Qatar. Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

More International News

Other Big Stories

Opinions

Trump needs someone on his team who shares his views on tariffs. His former U.S. trade representative is that person, Matthew Schmitz writes.

Right-wing influence over social media platforms won Republicans the election, Julia Angwin argues.

Here are columns by Bret Stephens on Gaetz and Republican morality, and Thomas Friedman on Trump’s plan for Israel and the Palestinians.

 
 

The Thanksgiving Sale is on. Time to subscribe to Cooking.

Cooking answers “What’s for dinner?” deliciously, every day. Explore thousands of easy five-star recipes. Save on your first year of Cooking.

 

MORNING READS

A tour guide holds up an old photo of a woman in elaborate headgear and gestures to a matching mosaic on white tiles inside a subway station.
A subway mosaic by the artist Keith Godard.  Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

I ❤️ NY: “I liked New York as a tourist. I fell in love with it as a tour guide.”

New tastes: Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are changing people’s appetite for junk food.

‘Airplane ear’: Here’s why your ears feel clogged while flying — and how to avoid it.

Lives Lived: Arthur Frommer’s “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day: A Guide to Inexpensive Travel,” first published in 1957 and annually updated (and adjusted for inflation) for the next 50 years, changed the idea that European travel was reserved for wealthy Americans. He died at 95.

 

SPORTS

Rafael Nadal in a red top and white shorts waves on court.
Rafael Nadal Jorge Guerrero/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Retirement: Rafael Nadal’s professional tennis career has ended. His final match was a 6-4, 6-4 defeat at the Davis Cup. “I lost my first match in the Davis Cup, and I lost my last one. So we close the circle,” he said.

N.B.A.: The Cleveland Cavaliers are no longer undefeated. They lost, 120-117, to the defending champion, the Boston Celtics.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

Rylee Arnold, left, and Stephen Nedoroscik hold a dance pose while in a cloud of colored smoke.
Rylee Arnold and Stephen Nedoroscik. Eric McCandless/Disney, via Getty Images

The format of “Dancing With the Stars” hasn’t changed much since the reality show premiered 20 years ago — a professional dancer teams up with a celebrity to perform each week. Its viewership, though, is starting to change. For years, the show was a hit with older audiences; in 2022, the average viewer was nearly 64 years old. But the past two seasons have finally grabbed hold of Gen Z viewers, thanks to TikTok and a younger crop of dancers.

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Dozens of oyster crackers marinated in seasoning.
David Malosh for The New York Times

Season oyster crackers with a ranch-inspired mix to make fire crackers, beloved in the South.

Improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Cut a crusty loaf with one of these knives.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was heavily.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —German

P.S. Have you ever ghosted someone? The Times wants to hear from you about why.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 21, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, we’re covering Trump’s tariff plan — as well as Matt Gaetz, the Middle East and banana art.

 
 
 
Stacks of shipping containers in the sun.
In San Pedro, Calif. Adam Amengual for The New York Times

TRUMP’S AGENDA

On tariffs

Author Headshot

By Ana Swanson

I cover trade.

 

President-elect Donald Trump calls tariffs “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” He has talked about them again and again as a fix for America’s economic relationship with the rest of the world.

Tariffs are a charge on foreign products when they are brought across the border. By making foreign goods more expensive, tariffs encourage Americans to buy products from U.S. factories instead.

For Trump, this is a way to spur American manufacturing, create new jobs and lower U.S. trade deficits. He used them liberally in his first term, taxing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of metals, solar panels and Chinese goods. While running for president this year, he proposed even larger tariffs — of 60 percent or more on China, and up to 20 percent on most goods from other countries.

Some doubt whether Trump will follow through with these plans. But I think it’s safe to assume he’s serious about moving forward with some of them. The Morning is running a series on the policies Trump and his congressional allies may implement next year. In today’s installment, I’ll talk about his promise to impose tariffs.

A chart showing that the share of U.S. imports has fallen from a high of over 20% of all imports between 2015 and 2018 to less than 15% in 2024. The E.U. and Mexico each now account for a greater share of U.S. imports than China at over 15%. Canada accounts for almost as much as China. Japan, South Korea and the U.K. each account for less than 5% of U.S. imports.
Note: Figures for 2024 are through September. Source: U.S. Census Bureau | By The New York Times

Do they work?

Trump advisers describe tariffs as a “core belief” for the president-elect. He has sung their praises for decades. Today he says they can also raise money to fund tax cuts and force other governments to make concessions on trade and immigration.

Can tariffs accomplish these goals? Perhaps in part. They can certainly encourage more factory production, at least in the specific industries they shield: When the United States put tariffs on steel, clothing and kitchen cabinets in Trump’s first term, companies here generally made more of those things.

The incoming president is right on a couple of points: First, tariffs do raise money for the government. The amount they generate has more than doubled since Trump first took office (though it is a tiny percentage of government revenue). Second, the United States has much lower tariffs than most other countries do. Both parties agree that some tariffs help protect industries against unfair competition from China.

But tariffs also have downsides, and those can outweigh the economic benefits. Companies charge Americans more to pay for them. And they are regressive, meaning they place a higher burden on poor families than on rich ones.

Tariffs can also backfire by hurting U.S. manufacturers. American factories use a lot of foreign parts and materials, and tariffs make it more expensive to get these. Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, for instance, got U.S. firms to make more metals — but because the price rose, other companies that use metals to make things, like industrial machinery and auto parts, ended up manufacturing less.

Imposing tariffs on foreign countries also encourages them to do the same thing to the United States. Suddenly, American exporters lose markets abroad. That costs jobs.

A powerful tool

Trump has several ways to impose new levies right away. He could use an existing trade investigation from his first term to slap more tariffs on China, as President Biden did earlier this year.

His advisers also argue he could quickly impose tariffs on other countries by declaring an economic emergency. This action might be vulnerable in court, but challenges often take years to unfold, and tariffs would probably continue in the meantime.

There are a few reasons Trump might hold back. One is that he might try to include tariffs in a big tax bill next year. Then they’d be clearly legal — and impossible to change without another act of Congress. Another factor could be opposition from pro-business advisers or a plunge in the stock and bond markets.

Would tariffs help or hurt the economy? It really depends on their size, and other countries’ reactions. Dani Rodrik, a Harvard University economist who has written about the harms of globalization, said that if tariffs were low, maybe 10 percent, Americans might just pay a bit more for their imports — not a huge deal. But if tariffs increase significantly beyond that, he said, it could lead to a 1930s-style trade war, in which countries keep retaliating against one another with higher and higher levies. The price of goods could rise quickly.

In that scenario, Trump’s tariffs would likely hurt rather than help American workers.

Trump’s Agenda

A Morning newsletter series on the policies Donald Trump may pursue next year.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz in a black suit and tie with a light blue shirt.
Matt Gaetz Kenny Holston/The New York Times
  • Federal investigators found a trail of payments from Matt Gaetz, Trump’s choice for attorney general, to women who testified that he had hired them for sex. See a map of the payments.
  • House Republicans blocked the release of a report about allegations against Gaetz. Senators weighing whether to confirm him could subpoena it.

Pete Hegseth

More on Trump’s Appointments

Congress

More on Politics

Middle East

  • The U.S. cast the sole vote against a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas because the resolution did not make the truce contingent on the release of hostages.
  • Bernie Sanders, a critic of U.S. support for Israel, proposed measures to block weapons transfers to the country. All Republicans and most Democrats in the Senate rejected it.
  • Israel’s military offers to freeze the sperm of soldiers killed in war. Some grieving widows and parents struggle with the ethics of the decision.

Business

Other Big Stories

A person walks along a paved area next to the sea as waves and debris crash in.
In British Columbia.  Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press
  • A powerful storm killed at least two people, downed trees and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.
  • A 26-year-old immigrant from Venezuela was convicted of killing Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student, and sentenced to life in prison. Trump has highlighted Riley’s murder as a failure of the immigration system.

Opinions

Public health officials hurt their cause when they describe everything from gun violence to loneliness as a “crisis” — if everything is a crisis, then nothing is, Jeneen Interlandi argues.

Logistics, not the law, will be the main check on Trump’s mass deportation plans, Dara Lind argues.

Here’s a column by Tressie McMillan Cottom on Trump’s cultural power.

 
 

The Thanksgiving Sale is on. Time to subscribe to Cooking.

Cooking answers “What’s for dinner?” deliciously, every day. Explore thousands of easy five-star recipes. Save on your first year of Cooking.

 

MORNING READS

Four pictures of wine production, with workers picking and packing grapes, handling bottles and walking among giant ceramic vats.
In Georgia. Emile Ducke for The New York Times

Looking westward: Some winemakers in Georgia, a former Soviet republic, want to end their dependence on Russia.

Health: Has menopause made you ache? There’s a name for that.

Social Q’s:A friend lied about her dying brother to cancel plans with me. Help!”

Bag charms: Dangly accessories hung from handbags are all the rage. Some cost more than the handbags themselves.

Lives Lived: A modern-day Icarus who popularized hang gliding, Bill Moyes set a world record for the longest unassisted flight, was arrested after soaring into the Grand Canyon and nearly killed himself several times. He died at 92.

 

SPORTS

Women’s college basketball: The Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma became the coach with the most wins in college basketball history.

M.L.B.: The league announced that the Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal had won the A.L. Cy Young Award, while the Atlanta Braves left-hander Chris Sale won the N.L. honor.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

On a wide stage with beige curtain, Johnny Carson sits on a stool with his feet pulled up to the highest rung. He’s wearing a dark blazer, red tie and brown pants.
Johnny Carson on his final show in 1992. Alice S. Hall/NBCU, via Getty Images

In a fractured media landscape, it can be hard to grasp just how big Johnny Carson was, Jason Zinoman writes. What was the source of his appeal? “There’s always been more of a subtext and strategy to his performance,” Jason writes, “a crowd-pleasing fantasy beneath the facade that speaks to deeper and darker strains in the American psyche.” Read his piece.

More on culture

A banana taped to a wall.
Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
  • Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian” — a banana duct-taped to a wall — sold at auction for $6.2 million. The buyer is a crypto entrepreneur.
  • Percival Everett won the National Book Award for fiction for his novel “James,” a retelling of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of an enslaved man.
  • Late-night hosts joked about Biden’s birthday. “We got you a cake, but Nancy Pelosi insisted you sacrifice it for the good of democracy,” Stephen Colbert said.
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

A wooden serving bowl holds lemon-garlic kale salad with slivered almonds and Parmesan. A silver spoon and fork are in the bowl. Additional almonds are in a small measuring cup nearby.
Craig Lee for The New York Times

Serve this light, snappy, lemon-garlic kale salad as the perfect holiday side.

Make your sofa look more inviting.

Tie the room together with an area rug.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was microcrack.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 22, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. We’re covering an affordability crisis in New York City — as well as Trump’s pick for attorney general, Russian missiles and bathing in oil.

 
 
 
mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
In New York City.  DeSean McClinton-Holland for The New York Times

Urban tweaks

Author Headshot

By Emma G. Fitzsimmons

I cover New York City’s government.

 

New York City faces an affordability crisis. Rents have soared. The century-old subway needs to be modernized, and buses are painfully slow. Piles of trash bags often line the sidewalks. The person tasked with fixing these problems, Mayor Eric Adams, faces a major corruption scandal.

His criminal case has obscured better news — that officials are advancing several ambitious proposals that hope to improve life in the city. The Democrats who run New York are crafting new policies because voters are concerned about their quality of life. The cost of living has become a campaign issue in Adams’s re-election next year, and his rivals are highlighting affordability.

Here are the proposals and how they could make things better for New Yorkers:

The proposals

Better transit: The streets of Manhattan are choked with traffic and double-parked delivery trucks. The nation’s first congestion pricing plan will charge vehicles entering Manhattan south of Central Park to reduce traffic and raise money for the struggling transit system. Drivers pay to enter the tolling zone using electronic passes on their windshields or photos of their license plates.

A map shows where congestion pricing will be in effect in Manhattan.
By Scott Reinhard

The plan has been decades in the making. It still requires federal approval, and the Biden administration is poised to sign off before leaving office. Donald Trump and suburban lawmakers have vowed to kill it, arguing that it could hurt the city’s economic recovery from the pandemic. But New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, recently lowered the toll to $9 to help rally public support.

Lower rental costs: Right now, if you rent an apartment in New York City, you have to pay thousands of dollars to a broker to secure a lease. A proposal in the City Council would shift that fee from renters to landlords. A progressive young lawmaker proposed the bill, which just passed despite opposition from the real estate industry. Critics argued that landlords would pass along the cost by raising rents. The law will probably take effect next summer.

Cleaner sidewalks: Foul-smelling heaps of trash bags appear on city sidewalks on pickup day. They take up a lot of space, and they often tear and ooze into the street. Now the Adams administration is creating new rules for trash as part of the mayor’s war on rats. Starting this month, residential buildings with nine units or fewer must put garbage in cans. Eventually, the city will remove parking spots in dense neighborhoods to make way for large on-street containers. Other major cities, like Barcelona and Buenos Aires, already do this.

A graphic shows New York City’s three-part plan for containing trash: Buildings that have one to nine units must use wheelie bins, buildings with 10 to 30 units have the option of wheelie bins or on-street containers, and buildings with 31 or more units must use on-street containers.
By Larry Buchanan

Some homeowners and building staffers oppose the new trash rules, complaining about the look of the bins and the requirement that garbage be kept indoors until closer to the pickup time.

The political stakes

The new proposals show how changes in local policy can have a major impact on the lives of the city’s eight million residents.

Here’s one example: I’m raising two little kids in Manhattan. The last mayor, Bill de Blasio, started a free preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds — one that helped my family afford to stay in the city. (My son is in a city-funded preschool that he loves, saving us more than $30,000 per year.)

The current proposals similarly aim to make it easier to live in the city. Supporters of the broker fee bill have argued that it will allow artists to keep living in New York so it doesn’t end up as a home only for the wealthy.

Yesterday, the City Council moved forward with a proposal that would build more affordable housing in neighborhoods and remove rules that require new buildings to create parking spaces. That has been contentious, and lobbying from neighborhood groups has weakened the plan. They don’t want high-rise apartments in less dense neighborhoods, and they want new homes to provide parking.

Although New Yorkers may disagree on tactics, most want to make the city more livable. More than half of voters here say the city is moving in the wrong direction. Even my 4-year-old wants to see some changes in our neighborhood. I was walking him home from preschool when we came across a mound of black trash bags lying in the crosswalk. As we veered around them, he scoffed and noted that they were not where they belonged.

Related: Why is it so hard to build more housing in New York City? The different fates of two affordable housing developments help explain the city’s housing shortage.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz in a suit.
Matt Gaetz Kenny Holston/The New York Times
  • Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration to lead the Justice Department. After meeting with Republican senators, Gaetz believed he lacked enough support to be confirmed.
  • Trump picked Pam Bondi, Florida’s former attorney general, to replace Gaetz. Bondi, who defended Trump during his first impeachment, leads a right-wing think tank.
  • Gaetz withdrew after CNN told him it planned to report that he had a second sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl in 2017, and after The Times reported that federal investigators had found payments Gaetz made to women he had allegedly hired for sex.
  • Trump, who had privately conceded that Gaetz might not be confirmed but had made calls on his behalf, praised Gaetz in a Truth Social post. Trump said that Gaetz withdrew to avoid becoming a distraction for the administration and that he “has a wonderful future.”
  • Gaetz resigned from the House ahead of the release of an ethics report about him.

Pete Hegseth

  • Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the Defense Department, denied that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 after a police report released this week detailed their encounter. “The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” he said.
  • Several Republican senators have stood by Hegseth, noting that no charges were filed. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee lamented “the media’s focus on personal attacks.”
  • Hegseth, as an Army lieutenant in 2005, criticized soldiers who committed war crimes. By 2018, embittered by military dysfunction, he was defending them as a Trump supporter on Fox News.

More on the Trump Administration

  • In a recount, Senator Bob Casey, a three-term Pennsylvania Democrat, conceded to Dave McCormick, a Republican. The Republicans have 53 Senate seats next year.
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican, will lead a House panel focused on cutting government waste, in concert with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
  • Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, was a registered lobbyist until early this year. Her clients included a tobacco company, a mining project and a cancer research foundation.
  • The House passed legislation that would let the government revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofit groups it accuses of supporting terrorism. Democrats warned that Trump could exploit it to target his political enemies.
  • Trump claims that his “landslide” victory gives him “an unprecedented and powerful mandate” to transform the country. In fact, he’s set to win the popular vote by a small margin.

Middle East

Two men in collared shirts.
Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Yoav Gallant. Amir Cohen/Reuters

International

Soldiers near military equipment.
Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
  • Vladimir Putin said Russia struck Ukraine with a new type of missile, one capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
  • The Brazilian police accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a coup.
  • China’s hacking of communications inside the U.S. was more widespread than previously reported. Hackers listened to phone calls and read texts by exploiting aging equipment.
  • U.S. officials warned American defense companies that Russia might try to sabotage them. They recommended increasing security for employees and watching for signs of surveillance.

Other Big Stories

Opinions

Biden should end the tradition of pardoning turkeys on Thanksgiving. They’ve committed no crime to deserve a pardon, Peter Singer writes.

Here are columns by Paul Krugman on how anti-immigrant sentiment affects the tech sector and Michelle Goldberg on Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a moderate Washington Democrat.

 
 

The Thanksgiving Sale. Subscribe to Cooking now, offer won’t last.

Less mess, less stress. Cooking provides easy recipes plus videos, community tips and more. Save on your first year of Cooking.

 

MORNING READS

A balding man in a bathtub, covered to his chest in oil that looks like melted chocolate. An attendant is using a shoehorn to remove oil from his raised right arm.
Bathing in oil in Naftalan, Azerbaijan. Emile Ducke for The New York Times

Dispatch: In Azerbaijan, host of COP29, people aren’t just proud of their oil — they soak in it.

Explore your roots: Take a family heritage trip.

Omen: Sea-dwelling oarfish are thought to be harbingers of disaster. Three have washed up in California in recent months. Researchers are excited to study them.

Lives Lived: Diane Coleman was a fierce disability-rights advocate born with muscular spinal atrophy who took on the right-to-die movement. She died at 71.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Cleveland Browns beat the division-rival Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-19, in a driving snowstorm.

N.H.L.: The Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin will miss four to six weeks with a fractured fibula. It will slow his pace toward the league’s all-time goals record, held by Wayne Gretzky.

College football: Michigan flipped Bryce Underwood, a top recruit. He was previously committed to L.S.U.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A man in a red suit sits on steps between two costume displays, one of a pink dress and one of black costume with green hands.
Paul Tazewell Tracy Nguyen for The New York Times

Paul Tazewell was 16 and in Ohio when he first designed costumes for a show about Oz. It was a high school production, and much of the work happened in his family’s dining room.

So he was ready when he got the call to design costumes for “Wicked,” the movie. Read more about him and the costumes.

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Linda Xiao for The New York Times

Sprinkle crema and queso fresco over this festive cornbread stuffing.

Improve mobility with six exercises.

Floss with water.

Roll pastry with this pin.

Take our news quiz.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was legalizing.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 23, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Understanding what’s “for you” or “not for you” is part of refining taste. But what if it’s also closing you off to pleasure and connection?

 
 
 
An illustration shows the main characters from "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" sitting at a table for a tea party.
María Jesús Contreras

Your heart’s desire

It’s “Glicked” weekend, if you’re up for it, an invitation to take in a double feature of two of the season’s most anticipated movies, both of which opened yesterday: “Wicked,” Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Broadway musical, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and “Gladiator II,” Ridley Scott’s return to the Colosseum 24 years after his original epic.

If this particular cinematic portmanteau is missing some of the multisyllabic whimsy of 2023’s “Barbenheimer,” the two films on offer this time are as unalike in subject as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” were, making for another dizzyingly dissonant mash-up, another chance for die-hards to dress up and spend five hours hunkered down in a multiplex.

When I first heard that some fans were planning to see “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” back to back, I thought, “Oh, that’s fun, but it’s not for me.” If I’m honest, neither of these films seemed, on its face, to be especially “for me.” I’m inclined to smaller movies over blockbusters. I’m not a huge fan of musicals, nor of action movies. I’m a cultural omnivore, personally and professionally, so I knew I would eventually see these movies. But I would be seeing them as a sociologist, a curious outsider rather than the ideal audience member. I wasn’t going to be mouthing every word to “Defying Gravity” or comparing Lucius’s performance in the arena to that of his father.

Understanding what’s “for you” or “not for you” is part of refining taste, of figuring out what you like and don’t so that your time is pleasurably spent. There’s a confidence in that: This is my kind of movie, this is the type of music I listen to, this is the food I like, this is what works for me. It’s the reward for a life discerningly lived — you know who you are.

I went to see “Wicked” this week and, if I didn’t feel like it was for me, I did understand after seeing it that it’s for a lot of people who are not me. I was tempted to leave it at that — different strokes for different folks! — but there seemed to be some possibility here. “Wicked” is going to be a huge movie, one that people will be talking about, debating, quoting and referencing, and I was, however tenuously, now connected to these people by dint of having seen it. A few hours in a theater and I could join the conversation.

The next day in the office, I ran into my colleague Louis, who’d just written a story about the costumes of “Wicked.” The movie, he confirmed, was definitely for him. He’d seen the stage musical several times, knew the soundtrack by heart. I told Louis that after having seen “Wicked,” I was interested in questioning what I think of as for me, in finding what happens when we deliberately explore something that we’ve consigned to others, assuming our tastes or tendencies are so established that there’s no way in for us. He’d gone to five Mets games that year, Louis told me, becoming in one season a baseball person, the type of fan who might be inclined to seek out a bar when the game was on. Just like that, a new community.

It seems like an irrefutable good to know oneself, the ultimate sign of maturity. Enough faffing about figuring out who you are, now you can just be that person. You’ve arrived at your destination. But there’s a finality to that arrival, a rigidity, an end to curiosity. You know who you are, so you know what’s going to happen.

What happens if you go see the movie that’s so clearly advertising itself as not for you? Yes, you might sit bored for a couple hours, but there’s a good story (and Milk Duds) even in that experience. Or you could discover something unexpected — an actor you’d never encounter otherwise, a soundtrack that’s actually kind of for you after all. What if you applied the same openness to a problem that’s been plaguing you, or a relationship that’s been challenging? You think you know who you are, how you will react, how things are going to go. What if you don’t know yourself as well as you think you do? What if the you that you think you know, with its taste and preferences and ways of reacting and relating, isn’t totally set in stone?

For more

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE WEEK IN CULTURE

Music

Two white horses with feathers on their heads pull a white hearse, steered by a man in a top hat.
Liam Payne’s funeral in Amersham, England, on Wednesday. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Film and TV

Theater

  • In the Broadway production of “Sunset Boulevard,” an actor dodges pedestrians and parked cars on West 44th Street while a camera operator captures the scene live. The brief scene takes 62 people to pull off.
  • “Tammy Faye,” a new musical about the televangelist, will close after less than a month. The show, which gained some good reviews in London, failed to find an audience on Broadway.
  • TKTS, the theater discounter that has been a Times Square mainstay for 51 years, is expanding to Philadelphia.
  • Someone driving a pickup truck stole props from a Michigan ballet company ahead of its annual production of “The Nutcracker.” The community has stepped up to help the show go on.

More Culture

  • A recent spate of celebrity look-alike contests has attracted everyday men who bear passing resemblances to stars like Timothée Chalamet and Jeremy Allen White.
  • In TikTok videos, women are sharing tongue-in-cheek stories about toxic dating behavior under #WomenInMaleFields.
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Trump’s Appointments

Scott Bessent, wearing a blue suit jacket, white shirt and blue and white striped tie, gestures as he stands behind a lectern with a Trump-Vance sign on it.
Scott Bessent Jonathan Drake/Reuters
  • Donald Trump will nominate Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager who has defended Trump’s proposed tariffs, to be his Treasury secretary.
  • Russell Vought is Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Vought, an architect of Project 2025, has supported strengthening presidential control over federal agencies.
  • In a surprising move, Trump picked Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon moderate and one of the few congressional Republicans to support pro-union legislation, as his labor secretary. The president of the Teamsters union had recommended her.
  • Sebastian Gorka, a right-wing commentator who backed barring entry to people from Muslim-majority countries in Trump’s first term, will return to the White House as an adviser.
  • Trump also filled several other roles, picking a former Florida congressman to lead the C.D.C. and a Johns Hopkins surgeon who frequently appears on Fox News to run the F.D.A.

More on Politics

Other Big Stories

 
 

The Thanksgiving Sale. Subscribe to Cooking now, offer won’t last.

Less mess, less stress. Cooking provides easy recipes plus videos, community tips and more. Save on your first year of Cooking.

 

CULTURE CALENDAR

📺 “Get Millie Black” (Monday): A detective returns to her hometown to solve a terrible crime — that’s the plot of dozens of police procedurals. What sets this one apart is its creator, Marlon James, the winner of the 2015 Booker Prize for “A Brief History of Seven Killings” and author of the ongoing “Dark Star” fantasy trilogy. James forays into television with this tangy, tenebrous crime drama set in his native Jamaica. Tamara Lawrance stars as Millie, a former Scotland Yard detective who returns to Kingston, where her sister, Hibiscus (Chyna McQueen), still lives. If the story is familiar, the sense of place is exceptional.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Homemade chicken tikka with vegetables in a silver sheet pan.

Sheet-Pan Chicken Tikka

Turkey may be the foremost poultry on your mind right now, with Thanksgiving approaching and Christmas hard on its heels. But that doesn’t mean chicken should be off the menu. Zainab Shah’s fragrant sheet-pan chicken tikka is an easy, colorful meal that’s elegant enough for guests, and full of ginger, garlic and spices. If you marinate the chicken overnight, you’ll be rewarded with a deeper, richer character. But even a 30-minute stint will give you a heady and complex meal to kick off your holiday week.

 

REAL ESTATE

A woman in a pink houndstooth blazer smiles as she sits in a chair.
Gianna Licari Maansi Srivastava for The New York Times

The Hunt: A first-time buyer, excited to start a new government job, took her $300,000 budget to the Washington, D.C., area. Which home did she choose? Play our game.

What you get for $2.7 million: A stone mansion from 1906 in Minneapolis; a Spanish Colonial-style house in Santa Fe, N.M.; or a 19th-century rowhouse in Alexandria, Va.

 

LIVING

A split image, showing brightly colored sneakers along a wall on the left, and a concert on the right.
Scenes from ComplexCon in Las Vegas. Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times

Hypebeasts: See inside ComplexCon, a hybrid sneaker mall, fashion show and music festival.

Turkey and a side of politics: Tips to avoid a contentious family holiday after the big election.

An iconic venue: Want a wedding in Central Park? This planner can help.

Winter: Cases of the flu have begun to rise. Read about eight factors that put people at risk.

 

ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER

Clean your dishwasher filter

This holiday season, as you put your dishwasher to the test with more dirty pots, pans and dishes than usual, you might want to pay attention to one part of the machine in particular: the filter, which makes it possible to skip prerinsing your dishes by catching food particles and filtering water as the machine washes. To prevent congealed food from clogging it up, which can lead to a stench and dirtier dishes, clean the filter regularly. It should take you less than five minutes. Here’s how. — Andrea Barnes

 

GAME OF THE WEEK

Indiana’s quarterback hands off the football to the running back.
Michael Reaves/Getty Images

No. 5 Indiana vs. No. 2 Ohio State, college football: In 137 years of Indiana football, there’s never been a season quite like this. The team is 10-0 for the first time, and quarterback Kurtis Rourke is in the running for the Heisman Trophy. Yet Indiana is still an underdog this week against Ohio State, one of the most dominant teams of the past two decades (and one that Indiana hasn’t beaten since the 1980s). A win today likely gets Indiana in the College Football Playoff, with a chance to play for a national championship. 12 p.m. Eastern on Fox

 

NOW TIME TO PLAY

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were backlit, clickbait and tailback.

Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 24, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, we’ve got a selection of recipes for your Thanksgiving table. We’re also covering Trump’s appointments, the floods in Spain and the box office.

 
 
 
Mashed potatoes topped with melting butter, chopped herbs and thin slices of crispy garlic.
Linda Xiao for The New York Times

The new classics

Author Headshot

By Emily Weinstein

I’m the editor in chief of New York Times Cooking and Food.

 

The menus are being planned, grocery lists made, details finalized — it’s nearly go time for Thanksgiving, a time for epic feasting and the one day of the year on which even the most reluctant home cooks wander into the kitchen. Are you ready?

I’m here to help. We have Thanksgiving recipes for just about every dish you could think of, but today I’m sharing recipes that have become the new classics of the genre: holiday dishes from Cooking that are simple but imbued with intelligence and spark, recipes that are beloved by our readers and indisputably delicious.

The menu

A plate of carved roast turkey, its skin dark golden brown and scattered with salt.
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times

Buttermilk-Brined Roast Turkey

Samin Nosrat’s roast turkey is among the most popular and best we’ve ever published, a supersize riff on her justly famous buttermilk-brined roast chicken recipe. Her method calls for three ingredients and produces a turkey with golden brown skin and juicy meat. She did a version for turkey breast, too.

An overhead shot of cheesy Hasselback potato gratin shows packed, ruffly potatoes in a coat of browned, melted cheese.
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Cheesy Hasselback Potato Gratin

This dish is a Thanksgiving powerhouse with a key innovation: Kenji López-Alt, who wrote the recipe, stands the potato slices up vertically, rather than laying them flat, for a singular presentation that also gives you crisp potato edges in every bite.

A sliced pastry seen from above. One slice is on its side, showing a rich filling of finely chopped mushrooms.
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Vegetarian Mushroom Wellington

A project to be sure, but this dish is a stunner and one of the finest meatless centerpieces you could possibly make for the holiday.

A bowl of green beans speckled with ginger and garlic is shot overhead. Just behind it is a textured gray napkin and a marbled background.
David Malosh for The New York Times

Green Beans With Ginger and Garlic

There are a few dishes you need on the table to cut through the tan symphony that is the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Cranberry sauce, yes, but a fresh vegetable, too — something green that offers a satisfying crunch or snap to contrast with all those soft, sweet or creamy dishes.

A bright red cranberry tart is photographed from overhead. A bowl of cranberries and some hazelnuts sit just above.
Evan Sung for The New York Times

Cranberry Curd Tart

Jewel-toned and chic, this is a statement dessert — something eye-catching and not too sweet for the end of the meal. (Another one of my favorites in this bright realm: our mango pie.)

And new classics in the making

The recipes above are longstanding treasures of the Cooking catalog, but there are up-and-comers to consider when you’re drawing up your menu:

Eric Kim’s new dry-brined roast turkey with chiles, which zings with flavor; saag paneer lasagna (a.k.a. “lasaagna”), the classic but with a saag paneer-inspired filling; creamy double-garlic mashed potatoes, for a supremely garlicky side; caramelized onion, cranberry and rosemary tahchin, which infuses the Persian rice dish with Thanksgiving flavors; and for dessert, a coconut caramel tart and cranberry lemon bars.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Politics

International

A blue car abandoned in a muddy, flooded field as rowers in a canoe pass by along a nearby water channel.
In eastern Spain. Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Other Big Stories

A line of teenage girls in white basketball uniforms walks out of a red building.
Members of the Lady Jaguars in 2012. Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
 

THE SUNDAY DEBATE

Does the U.S. need a Department of Government Efficiency?

Yes. The federal government’s spending has likely put it on an unsustainable path. “There are more than 180,000 pages of federal regulations. Surely it’s worth taking a close look at them and retiring many,” The Washington Post’s Fareed Zakaria writes.

No. Cutting funding in the name of efficiency isn’t going to translate into a government that works. “The way to make the government more effective is no mystery — just fund it adequately so it can effectively do its job,” Bloomberg’s Kathryn Anne Edwards writes.

 

FROM OPINION

World leaders are flattering Trump. No one can quite tell what they are really thinking, Katherine Miller argues.

Controlled burns are the simplest way to prevent wildfires, M.R. O’Connor writes.

Here’s a column by Ross Douthat on the Trump cabinet.

 
 

The Thanksgiving Sale. Subscribe to Cooking now, offer won’t last.

Less mess, less stress. Cooking provides easy recipes plus videos, community tips and more. Save on your first year of Cooking.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

MORNING READS

Philicia Saunders, in a white dress, dances with Jordan Wilson, who is wearing a burgundy tuxedo, with a Regency-style coat.
Kristen Booth Photography

Vows: A “Star Wars” actress found the cool nerd she sought. Their wedding was inspired by “Bridgerton.”

Most clicked feature: How healthy are sweet potatoes? One of The Morning’s most popular stories this week looks at the science.

Tradition: How Thanksgiving lasagna, which first appeared in the late 1800s, became an American staple.

Long dinners and luxury shopping: How a pop pianist spends her Sundays.

Lives Lived: Fred Harris was a maverick Democratic senator from Oklahoma who ran for president from the left. He died at 94.

 

BOOK OF THE WEEK

The cover of “James” is black. The title is in yellow, and the author’s name is in white.

“James,” by Percival Everett: The winner of this year’s National Book Award for fiction is “James” by Percival Everett, whose 2001 novel “Erasure” landed on the big screen as “American Fiction” last year. In his latest book, he reimagines “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” through the eyes of Jim, the enslaved runaway who accompanies Huck on his escapades but remains slightly out of the spotlight in Twain’s tale. Here, James not only has a formal name, he has depth, gumption and — perhaps the ultimate key to freedom — an education. It’s the rare author who can breathe new life into a classic, but Everett pulls off the feat, earning “James” a spot in the modern literary canon and elevating his protagonist from trusty sidekick to star.

More on books

  • End-of-year lists are coming soon. In the meantime, let us help you find your next great read.
  • In her new memoir, Glory Edim, founder of the Well-Read Black Girl community, opens up about the books that saved her. For more about her reading habits — likes, dislikes, ideal literary dinner party — start here.
 

THE INTERVIEW

A black-and-white full-length portrait of Rosé, mid-dance move, in a pantsuit dark enough to appear like a silhouette.
Philip Montgomery for The New York Times

This week’s subject for The Interview is the K-pop star and Blackpink member Rosé, who is releasing her first full-length solo album in December. We spoke about her four years training to be a K-pop idol, about the genre’s intense fans and about her album, which was made away from the system that turned her into a global phenomenon.

One of the things that is unique about K-pop is that the fan culture is so specific and so enormous. Can you tell me a little bit about that relationship? How authentic did you feel you could be? How authentic did you want to be?

We were trained to always present ourselves in the most perfect, perfect way. And so even when we were interacting with fans online, it was when I was ready to give perfect answers and give them what they wanted — and making sure that I’m a perfect girl for everyone. That was the culture. And that’s why leading into this album, it was more of a personal want and need to be able to write an album like an album that I grew up with, music that I could relate to. In order for that, I’m sure artists had to be vulnerable, but we hadn’t trained to talk about our emotions and feelings and experiences.

When you had to sit down with yourself and write this album, what was that like to have to dig deep?

To be honest, that was like breathing. All the stories in there are stories that anyone around me has heard more than 20 times. It was about time I wrote it in a song. I had moments where I was like, Wait, can we say this? Wait, maybe we shouldn’t put that word in there. Maybe this is too much. Should we not?

The themes are heartache, lost love, anger sometimes — the range of human emotions.

Yeah, romance. But even that — it’s scary for me. I could see the faces of the producers and songwriters, they were like, So interesting, Rosie! Why are you so nervous about this? And I’m like, You guys, you don’t know.”

Read more of the interview here.

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

In a black-and-white photo, a person holds an American flag. In the background is a street lined with homes. The caption reads: "Becoming Trump Country."
Philip Montgomery for The New York Times.

Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine.

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

At the left, a scene from "Wicked" with the two stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. At right, Paul Mescal in "Gladiator II."
“Wicked,” left, and “Gladiator II,” right.  Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures; Aidan Monaghan, via Paramount Pictures

Watch “Wicked” or “Gladiator II,” the movies that are helping reverse a box office slump.

Test your mobility.

Wear a more comfortable bra.

 

NOW TIME TO PLAY

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was unquoted.

Can you put eight historical events — including the Salem witch trials, the domestication of corn, and the debut of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 25, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, we’re covering Trump’s climate agenda — as well as the Democratic base, Lebanon and an I.V.F. mix-up.

 
 
 
An oil derrick among a wind farm.
In Oklahoma.  Reto Sterchi for The New York Times

TRUMP’S AGENDA

A climate change

Author Headshot

By Lisa Friedman

I cover climate politics.

 

Some of Donald Trump’s first steps on climate change when he enters the White House will send a message that the federal government no longer cares about the issue. He will pull out of the Paris Agreement. Allies say he’ll strip the phrases “climate change,” “clean energy” and “environmental justice” from every agency website.

But the most significant policy moves will come later. They include repealing pollution limits on automobiles, power plants and factories. Agencies will give oil and gas companies easier access to federal lands for drilling. And Trump will work with a Republican-controlled Congress to repeal as much as possible of President Biden’s signature climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act.

The result of all this: The United States will emit more greenhouse gases.

The Morning is running a series on the policies Trump and his congressional allies may implement next year. In today’s installment, I’ll walk through their climate agenda.

Undoing regulations

Trump’s victory will bring changes to almost every aspect of environmental policy.

Biden accepts the established science that the burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet. He tried to do a lot about it. To reduce demand for those fuels, he signed a law to pump billions of dollars into clean energy. He also forced power plant owners, automobile manufacturers and operators of oil and gas wells to keep carbon dioxide emissions down.

Trump mocks all of that. “You know, they used to call it, remember, global warming. But then that didn’t work. Had many different names,” he said in a 2022 speech. “Now their great name is climate change.”

Donald Trump walks onto a stage.
Donald Trump  Doug Mills/The New York Times

He said during the race that he’d bring down electricity costs and boost the economy. To achieve that, he wants tax cuts, tariffs and unfettered access for oil companies to extract what he calls the “liquid gold” below. Lee Zeldin, his choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency, is a MAGA loyalist and former New York congressman. While Zeldin took some environmentally friendly positions when he represented Long Island, he has embraced Trump’s approach, and it’s safe to assume he’ll reverse Biden’s regulatory moves.

Some rules will be especially easy to repeal. The agency only recently finalized a fee paid by energy companies that spew excess methane gas. Lawmakers can overturn any rule finished within the last 60 days, and Republicans are eager to do so here.

Trump’s transition team also wants to hollow out the E.P.A. itself. It would like to move the agency’s headquarters outside Washington, push out civil servants who thwarted Trump’s policies during his first administration and put political appointees in roles traditionally reserved for nonpartisan experts.

Drill, baby, drill

Trump’s team also has big plans for the Interior Department, which oversees nearly 500 million acres of federal land, and for the Energy Department. Soon they will become almost entirely focused on aiding fossil fuel companies.

Trump tapped Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, to be his interior secretary and to lead a new White House energy council. Burgum is close to fossil fuel companies. Trump picked Chris Wright, who runs a fracking company, to lead the Energy Department.

The truth about the Biden administration is that oil and gas drilling hit record levels under its watch. But Biden also tried to limit drilling, particularly in fragile wilderness like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Trump promises to end those protections, approve all pending drilling permits and relax regulations against pollution and harming wildlife.

Gutting a climate law

In the background, a man leans on a car with a large American flag behind him. In the foreground a lectern with a sign reading  “President Joe Biden Accelerating America.”
In Washington, D.C.  Pete Kiehart for The New York Times

Trump and the new Republican majority will face their biggest test when it comes to repealing the Inflation Reduction Act. The 2022 law offers $390 billion over 10 years to reduce emissions. It funds wind and solar power, electric vehicle battery factories and nuclear reactors.

Trump calls the law wasteful, and many Republicans are eager to dump its clean energy provisions to help pay for tax cuts that Trump has promised. He would ditch a $7,500 tax credit for people who purchase electric vehicles. Trump also dislikes offshore wind turbines, which he has falsely claimed are causing whales to wash ashore dead. He wants to end a tax break for building them.

But roughly 80 percent of the law’s clean-energy money spent in the first two years has flowed to Republican congressional districts, making a repeal politically challenging.

Even corporations aren’t sure about all of Trump’s plans. The country’s top automakers spent billions to transition to electric vehicles. Now they don’t want the incoming president to eliminate emissions rules. Utilities want to keep subsidies for wind and solar energy.

The test of how far Trump goes won’t rest on opposition from the left. It’ll be about how unified he keeps the right.

Trump’s Agenda

A Morning newsletter series on the policies Donald Trump may pursue next year.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

More on the Trump Administration

  • Trump’s cabinet picks fall into three factions: They’re focused on revenge, calming the markets or shrinking the government, David Sanger writes.
  • Investors have swung from elation to confusion after Trump’s victory. They are trying to figure out how to place their bets.
  • Justice Antonin Scalia is Trump’s judicial hero. He would have hated Trump’s proposal to circumvent the Senate’s responsibility to vet appointments, Adam Liptak writes.
  • Some Latino immigrants in California support Trump’s border stance. Many believe his attacks were directed at recent asylum seekers, not at them.

More on Politics

Political pins on an Democratic National Convention attendee’s hat.
At the Democratic National Convention.  Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Middle East

Two men stand in front of a damaged house next to the ruins of a destroyed house.
The site of a rocket strike on a house in central Israel. Abir Sultan/EPA, via Shutterstock

More International News

Other Big Stories

People standing in a circle holding hands.
In Fairfax, Va. Moriah Ratner for The New York Times

Opinions

To attract voters, Democrats can’t just promise higher incomes. They also need to promise a more equal society, Daniel Chandler writes.

After Vladimir Putin became president, many Russians who opposed him tuned out of politics. What happened next should be a warning to Trump’s critics, Miriam Elder writes.

Here is a column by David French on recess appointments and Gail Collins on a female president.

 
 

The Thanksgiving Sale. Subscribe to Cooking now, offer won’t last.

Less mess, less stress. Cooking provides easy recipes plus videos, community tips and more. Save on your first year of Cooking.

 

MORNING READS

Zoë and May facing away from the camera.
Zoë and May, both 5, were born to each other’s genetic parents. Holly Andres for The New York Times

I.V.F. mix-up: Two couples in California discovered they were raising each other’s genetic children. Should they switch their girls?

Flight trauma: Everyone thought we were going to die.”

History: For generations, scholars argued that white women were rarely involved in the business of slavery. Research shows otherwise.

Holiday cards: Remember these grammar rules.

Wellness: Do you need to take magnesium supplements?

Metropolitan Diary: Never trust a mustache.

Lives Lived: Chuck Woolery was the affable host of “Love Connection” and “Wheel of Fortune.” He later criticized liberal values as the co-host of a popular right-wing podcast. He died at 83.

 

SPORTS

An animation showing the first 70 or so yards of KaVontae Turpin’s touchdown run.
KaVontae Turpin Dallas Cowboys

N.F.L.: The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Washington Commanders, 34-24. KaVontae Turpin ran a 99-yard return.

The Eagles: The team moved to 9-2 with a 37-20 rout over the Rams in Los Angeles. It was a fitting nightcap for a wild Week 12.

Women’s college basketball: U.C.L.A. upset top-ranked South Carolina, 77-62, ending a 43-game winning streak. Read a recap.

N.H.L.: The St. Louis Blues fired their coach, Drew Bannister, 22 games into the season. They replaced him with Jim Montgomery, whom the Boston Bruins fired last week.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

Two interiors containing artworks and furniture.
William Jess Laird; Genevieve Lutkin

Artists and curators are tired of cold, white gallery rooms. So they’re opening exhibits in homes.

“I had all these ideas of things I wanted to make in my head, but there was no space for them,” one artist who is renovating a New York apartment to both live in and show his work. “I think it’ll teach me a lot about designing for real living,” he says.

More on culture

  • Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have been holding hands on the “Wicked” press tour. That’s gone viral, The Cut reports.
  • A debate is raging in Colombia over “+57,” a reggaeton hit that’s named after the country’s international dialing code. The song is explicit, and some say it reinforces negative stereotypes.
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Bake these cheese dreams, which one reader called “very elevated grilled cheese.”

Travel with a small, fast-charging power bank.

Upgrade your guest bathroom with these (on-sale) waffle towels.

Stay off your phone with this chic reading light.

Take our news quiz.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was adapting.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 26, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. We’re covering an analysis of the 2024 election — as well as Jack Smith, Pakistan and mashed potatoes.

 
 
 
Barack Obama is smiling and shaking hands with someone as a small crowd looks on.
Barack Obama in 2007. Keith Bedford for The New York Times

‘I’m one of them’

It remains Barack Obama’s most underrated political skill: his appeal to working-class voters, including those who are white.

Obama won most voters without a four-year college degree in his two presidential campaigns. Those majorities helped him win Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in both campaigns. He even won Indiana and North Carolina once.

He did so by both speaking to the economic frustration that resulted from years of slow-growing wages and signaling that he, like most Americans, was moderate on social issues. He made clear that he understood people’s anxiety about the speed of cultural change.

He talked about “an awesome God” in the 2004 speech that made him a national figure. He rejected sweeping new policies like single-payer health care. He traveled to the University of Notre Dame as president and said he wanted to reduce the number of abortions. He supported civil unions rather than same-sex marriage when most voters felt similarly.

He went on MTV and complained about people who wore their pants too low. (“Some people might not want to see your underwear — I’m one of them,” Obama said.) He took a middle ground on immigration, criticizing both family separations and companies that undercut “American wages by hiring illegal workers.”

As time has passed, I think some people have forgotten how conservative Obama could sound. This approach sometimes angered progressives. They called him a sellout, a neoliberal and “the deporter in chief.” But Obama was genuinely moderate in some ways. He also hated treating political disagreements as existential and opponents as the enemy.

“This idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff — you should get over that quickly,” Obama told young activists after leaving office. “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”

Perhaps above all, Obama liked winning. He understood that a Democratic Party that treated the country’s working-class majority as backward or hateful would probably lose those voters. He recognized that sounding like an economic populist, as Obama often did, was not enough. Many people — rich, middle-class and poor — vote on social issues and values at least as much as on taxes and spending.

Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, yesterday published an analysis of how voting patterns have shifted since Obama’s 2012 re-election. And those numbers demonstrate just how badly the Democratic Party’s post-Obama strategy has fared.

What Obama and Trump share

After Obama, the party moved left on one big issue after another — Medicare, gender, border security, policing and more. It’s true that Kamala Harris tried to move back to the center this year, but her moderation never had the self-assurance that Obama’s did. It could seem tactical and reluctant. She refused to explain why she had changed her mind about fracking, border security and “Medicare for all.” When asked whether she supported any abortion restrictions, she avoided the question.

The Democrats’ post-Obama leftward turn was based on a specific theory of the electorate: that the country’s growing number of voters of color would cover the loss of working-class whites. Under this race-centric theory, Donald Trump looked like a gift to Democrats. He made racist and sexist comments. He resembled a caricature of the backward voters Democrats were happy to leave behind.

But the Democrats’ theory was wrong. As they moved away from Obama’s approach and toward the purer progressivism that’s popular among college professors, pundits and activists, the party didn’t win over more voters of color. Instead, Democrats have lost ground with every major racial group except white voters, as Nate’s analysis shows:

A chart with red and blue arrows shows the Democratic margin in the 2012 and 2024 presidential elections among voters of different races and ethnicities.

A key reason is that Trump’s anti-establishment populism appealed to working-class voters across racial groups. Trump also helped himself by adopting a mirror image of Obamaism and seeming to reject Republican orthodoxy on subjects like Social Security, Medicare, abortion and foreign wars.

Different though they are, both Obama and Trump approach politics as if class matters more than race. Sure enough, Trump’s biggest gains have come among the nonwhite working-class voters who were Obama’s strongest supporters:

A chart with red and blue arrows shows the Democratic margin in the 2012 and 2024 presidential elections among voters with different racial and education backgrounds.

Not simple moderation

As the Democratic Party tries to figure out a way forward, it can’t merely mimic Obama. The country has changed, partly because of Trump. Nor can the party assume that the answer is simply to moderate its position on everything. The Democrats who won tough races this year were more heterodox. They sometimes sounded like Bernie Sanders when talking about foreign trade or corporate America and Joe Manchin when talking about government regulation or social issues. They also sounded authentic.

Still, Obama’s success remains relevant. It highlights the importance of treating working-class voters’ opinions respectfully rather than talking down to those voters. And it’s a reminder that no Democrat since Obama has come up with an approach that works as well as his did.

Related: Democrats in Georgia and North Carolina are dissecting their 2024 losses in a hurry. Both states will have competitive Senate races in 2026, and Georgia will elect a governor.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Special Counsel Investigation

Jack Smith wearing a blue suit and carrying a portfolio in his left hand.
Jack Smith Doug Mills/The New York Times
  • Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to investigate Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and his handling of classified documents, moved to dismiss both cases. Hours later, the judge overseeing the Jan. 6 case dismissed it.
  • Smith said he ended the cases not because of their merits but because Justice Department policy forbids prosecuting sitting presidents.
  • Smith asked to leave open the option of refiling the charges after Trump leaves office. But the statute of limitations — five years for most federal offenses — could prevent that.
  • Trump, who had vowed to fire Smith if he won, plans to fire the entire team that worked for him, The Washington Post reports.
  • Smith plans to pursue charges against Mar-a-Lago workers accused of obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve the documents. Trump could pardon them.
  • Trump will re-enter the White House with legal questions — about presidential immunity and the power of special counsels — still unanswered by courts.

Trump Appointments

More on the Administration

More on Politics

A close-up of a turkey’s head and upper body. Behind it, the White House appears out of focus.
Phew! Eric Lee/The New York Times

Middle East

More International News

Protesters on a road.
In Islamabad, Pakistan.  Irtisham Ahmed/Associated Press

Other Big Stories

Opinions

Doctors persisted with the hope that Sarah Wildman’s daughter Orli could survive her cancer. Such hope prevents sick children from receiving essential end-of-life care, she argues.

Here are columns by Paul Krugman on Trump’s crony capitalism and Michelle Goldberg on Representative-elect Sarah McBride.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Eli Durst, Brian Kaiser, Brandon Watson for The New York Times

Team spirit: The New York Times for Kids goes inside the sweaty and heartfelt world of high school mascots.

World-class looks: Competitive tablescapers can teach us something about setting the perfect table.

Ask A&L: Should I sit through the movie’s closing credits?

Lives Lived: Barbara Taylor Bradford’s best-selling novels captivated readers with chronicles of buried secrets, raging ambitions and strong women of humble origins rising to wealth and power. She died at 91.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Baltimore Ravens, coached by John Harbaugh, beat the Los Angeles Chargers — coached by his brother, Jim Harbaugh — 30-23.

N.H.L.: Several men attacked Paul Bissonnette, a popular hockey personality and former player, at a restaurant in Arizona.

Soccer: The goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher announced her retirement from the U.S. women’s national team.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A hand grasps a few handwritten envelopes, with other papers scattered on a desk near a keyboard.
Submissions from singles.  Alec Jacobson for The New York Times

Feeling fatigued by dating apps? In Vermont, they are using an old method to look for love. For decades, singles in the state have placed earnest and sometimes quirky personal ads in Seven Days, a small weekly newspaper. (In a recent entry, a man in his 70s boasts about his several hundred maple sugar taps.)

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Butter melting into a dish of mashed potato, with a few flecks of pepper on top of it.
David Malosh for The New York Times

Save Martha Stewart’s ultra-creamy mashed potatoes.

Dress in this fits-any-body jumpsuit.

Upgrade to an (on-sale) electric toothbrush.

Browse these deals on great host gifts.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was handbill.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 27, 2024

Ad

 
 
Author Headshot

By German Lopez

 

Good morning. We’re covering Donald Trump’s deportation plans, as well as the Israel-Lebanon cease-fire, assisted dying and 100 notable books of 2024.

 
 
 
A queue of men stand in front of a jet.
Boarding an ICE jet.  John Moore/Getty Images

TRUMP’S AGENDA

Pushing people out

Imagine the population of Chicago. Then quadruple it. That’s about how many unauthorized immigrants Donald Trump hopes to remove from the country: 11 million people in all.

It won’t be easy. How will the government find all of these people? Where will they be held as officials process their cases? Will migrants’ home countries take them back? And will lawmakers approve all the funding required for this?

The Morning is running a series on the policies that Trump and his congressional allies will try to implement next year. Today’s installment will look at his mass deportation goals.

A huge operation

We already know the broad contours of Trump’s plan. He wants to use the military and law enforcement to detain the millions of people who are in the United States illegally. The government will hold them in detention facilities while it inspects the facts of each case. Finally, it will fly undocumented migrants to their home countries or other places that agree to take them.

We know less about more specific details. Here are six lingering questions:

1. Who are the targets? Trump aides say they will prioritize migrants with criminal records and previous removal orders, who number in the hundreds of thousands. The federal government already knows where to find most of these people, thanks to their previous contact with law enforcement, and can quickly deport many.

The question is who comes next. Trump also wants to deport undocumented migrants with clean records (aside from the blemish of breaking the law to enter the United States). And he has said he’ll go after people with Temporary Protected Status, a program that allows some migrants from specific countries to stay in the United States legally. These migrants could be harder to find and detain, especially in cities and states that call themselves sanctuaries for the undocumented. Those places have refused to cooperate with most federal deportation efforts.

2. Will courts sign off? Undocumented migrants have due process rights, so their cases typically have to work through the courts. But immigration courts have yearslong backlogs. Trump officials want to use arcane laws, like the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to bypass this process. That will likely lead to lawsuits — similar to those that stifled Trump’s first-term immigration policies.

Trump has two advantages. The courts, especially the Supreme Court, are friendlier to conservatives than they were in his first term. The Supreme Court has also ruled that the president has broad powers over immigration.

3. Where will migrants be held? Right now, officials don’t have anywhere to put tens of thousands more migrants, let alone hundreds of thousands. The government will have to build, buy or lease more detention centers.

A migrant in a hoodie, covers her mouth, her elbows on a desk.
At an airport repatriation center in Guatemala.  Toya Sarno Jordan for The New York Times

4. Will other nations cooperate? Some countries, such as Venezuela, don’t take deportation flights from the United States. Others might resist taking in a sudden surge of migrants, especially those with criminal records. The administration could persuade nations to cooperate with a mix of favors and threats — trade deals and tariffs — but that would require careful diplomacy.

5. Will Congress pay up? Trump’s plan will cost $88 billion a year, the American Immigration Council estimates. That’s nearly twice the budget of the National Institutes of Health and four times NASA’s budget. Trump has suggested he’ll declare an emergency to use military funds for deportations. But the plan is expensive enough that Congress will likely have to approve more spending for it, and a bill might require Democratic support to pass the Senate.

6. Will immigrants self-deport? A goal of mass deportations is to create a climate of fear among migrants, leading some to leave America on their own. We don’t know how many people will do this.

Given these hurdles, Trump might not sustain the millions of deportations a year he wants. Still, he’ll almost certainly succeed in deporting more people than President Biden did. After all, the country has done it before, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows:

A chart shows deportations from the U.S. per year. During the Bush and Obama administrations, an average of about 300,000 people were deported per year. During the first three years of the Biden administration, an average of 105,000 people were deported per year.
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University | By The New York Times

The Bush and Obama administrations managed to remove 400,000 people a year at their peaks. Biden has deported fewer than 200,000 most years.

The consequences

Trump and his allies say that their plan will revitalize the economy and prioritize the rule of law. American workers “will now be offered higher wages with better benefits to fill these jobs,” Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s top immigration advisers, told The Times last year.

Critics say that mass deportations will cause chaos in Latino communities, as well as labor shortages in industries like agriculture, food processing and construction, leading to higher prices. They also question if the cost of mass deportations is worth it. For the same price as deporting every undocumented migrant, the American Immigration Council estimated, the United States could build almost three million homes.

For more

Trump’s Agenda

A Morning newsletter series on the policies Donald Trump may pursue next year.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Israel-Lebanon Cease-Fire

A family filled in a car.
South of Beirut, Lebanon. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
  • Biden announced a 60-day cease-fire agreement to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. It took effect at 4 a.m. local time.
  • Israeli forces will withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah will move its fighters north, letting hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians in both countries return home. These maps show how it will work.
  • Benjamin Netanyahu said the truce would let Israel focus on Iran and Hamas.
  • Thousands of displaced people have started returning to southern and eastern Lebanon. The Lebanese and Israeli militaries warned people not to return immediately to the south, where Israeli troops are still deployed.
  • Biden, announcing the truce, pledged to keep working toward a cease-fire in Gaza and a separate agreement to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Trump’s Tariffs

More on the Trump Administration

More on Politics

Roy Cooper giving a speech at a lectern and gesturing with his right hand.
Roy Cooper Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Other Big Stories

Sarah Tarlow standing in a snow-covered field, the sun glinting through the trees above her.
Sarah Tarlow. Her husband, who suffered from a neurological illness, took his own life in central England. Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Opinions

Biden needs to confirm as many judges as possible before Trump assumes office to prevent him from carrying out his most extreme plans, the Editorial Board writes.

The Trump administration needs to be prepared for a bird flu pandemic, David Kessler, a former head of the F.D.A., writes.

Here’s a column by Thomas Friedman on the world Trump inherits.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

A black-and-white slow motion video of a hummingbird in flight.
Bret Tobalske, University of Montana Flight Laboratory.

Wings of war: Scientists are studying hummingbirds to improve the flying abilities of combat drones.

Superbugs: Drug-resistant pathogens are prevalent in the war-torn nations of the Middle East. Researchers are trying to understand why.

New York: He was among the city’s busiest shoplifters. His mother was a cop.

Lives Lived: Paul Caponigro, a renowned nature photographer, captured landscapes, deer, sunflowers and still lifes. “I knew that the forces of nature were a language,” he once said. Caponigro died at 91.

 

SPORTS

M.L.B.: The pitcher Blake Snell, a free agent, agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract with the defending champion Dodgers.

College football: The playoff committee released its latest rankings, which solidified Boise State’s place in the field and spelled trouble for the S.E.C. See the projected 12-team bracket.

N.F.L.: The Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield sued a private equity firm managed by his father and brother, accusing it of breaching a settlement deal.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

The Times asked big names in culture to share Thanksgiving memories, opinions and recipes. The “Today” anchor Hoda Kotb drowns her turkey in gravy; Gwyneth Paltrow prefers her stuffing to be traditional; and Dolly Parton shares a cranberry mold recipe. See more from others including Gayle King, David Chang and Elmo.

More on culture

  • The staff of the Times Book Review has collated 100 notable books from 2024. See the list.
  • The late night hosts joked about Trump’s proposed tariffs. “And poor Canada is like, ‘What did we do? I mean, be honest: Is this because of Drake?’” Jimmy Kimmel said.
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Two servings of white chicken chili are served in white bowls and topped with shredded cheese, slivered red onion, avocado slices, crushed tortilla chips and limes for squeezing.
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Make white chicken chili, or browse more easy recipes to cook the night before Thanksgiving.

Read a mood-based guide on what to watch over Thanksgiving.

Save on these tiny stocking stuffers.

Consider this cushiony (on-sale) mattress.

Sleep better with a silky eye mask.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was chlorophyll.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —German

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 28, 2024

Ad

 
 

Happy Thanksgiving. We’re covering the holiday tradition of arguing about politics — as well as Lebanon, Trump and turkey farming.

 
 
 
A family in the 1960s sits at a table with a man in a suit and tie standing and carving a turkey.
Harold Lambert/Getty Images

Gobbling and squabbling

Author Headshot

By Ian Prasad Philbrick

I’m a writer on The Morning.

 

Things have gotten so bad, we are told, that the Thanksgiving table is now a battlefield. Advice columnists, psychologists, therapists, podcasters and philosophers counsel us how to avoid or defuse arguments about politics.

But sparring at (or about) Thanksgiving isn’t new. It is, in fact, a very old tradition — no less American than pumpkin pie. Debates were on the menu even before Congress formally declared the federal holiday in 1941.

Here, from The Times’s archive, is a sample of what we’ve been arguing about.

An old newspaper page with the headline, "Shift in Thanksgiving Date Arouses the Whole Country."
The New York Times

1. Thanksgiving itself. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt moved up the traditional Thanksgiving Day by a week to stimulate holiday shopping and boost the economy. The move prompted a national debate. Retailers were pleased and plenty of Americans didn’t seem to mind. But traditionalists gnashed their teeth. “We here in Plymouth consider the day sacred,” said a local official in the birthplace of the Thanksgiving dinner.

“Who,” asked a letter to the editor published by The Times, “wants a turkey one week thinner?” Some governors proclaimed separate Thanksgivings on the original day, inviting chaos that lasted until, in 1941, Congress standardized the date for the whole country. (Roosevelt, folding, signed the change into law.)

Even some who stood to benefit from Roosevelt’s move mocked it. In early November, a shopkeeper in Kokomo, Ind., put a sign in his store window that read: “Do your shopping now. Who knows, tomorrow may be Christmas.”

An old newspaper page with the headline, "Turkey Scouts and Mr. Franklin."
The New York Times

2. American iconography. A Times editorial in 1987 dinged Benjamin Franklin for (apocryphally) proposing the turkey to be the fledgling country’s national symbol. “Who would thrill to a turkey clutching the arrows of war in its right talon and the olive branch of peace in its left?” The Times wrote. “The banners of the Caesars, Charlemagne and Napoleon were emblazoned with eagles.”

Soon, a reader shot back: “That the eagle was the symbol of these mischief makers was precisely why Franklin objected to it.”

3. The Middle East. A Thanksgiving debate may be indirectly responsible for the existence of Israel. Ahead of the 1947 holiday, the United Nations was debating a plan to divide Palestine, a British-administered territory, into two sovereign states — one for Jews, one for Palestinian Arabs. The proposal seemed likely to fail. Arab and Muslim-majority countries opposed it, and much of Europe and Latin America was ambivalent.

But when the U.N.’s American hosts called a Thanksgiving recess, advocates for Israel began a furious lobbying campaign. They won over Haiti, the Philippines, Liberia and France, and the partition plan passed on Saturday. “On what remote, and often irrelevant, factors historical decisions may sometimes depend,” one negotiator later marveled about the holiday’s role. (Ultimately, Arab states rejected partition, and Palestinian statehood is still debated today.)

An old newspaper page with the headline "The Woman Cooks, the Man Carves ... Right? Wrong!"
The New York Times

4. Gender equality. In 1973, Joyce Slayton Mitchell, a 40-year-old woman from Vermont who worked for the National Organization for Women, urged women to share the burden of prepping Thanksgiving dinner with their families. One year, Mitchell let her daughter carve a turkey cooked by her husband. Her father was having none of it. “He had a fit,” she said. As The Times put it: “Poor grandfather. Instead of a proper New England Thanksgiving, he got his fill of feminism.”

5. Vietnam. In 1965, a youth group in Rye, N.Y., invited high school students to spend the holiday debating sex, underage drinking and the Vietnam War. One boy burned a symbolic draft card, and a blond girl with braces said, “I guess if you really believe the war’s wrong, maybe it’s O.K. to burn it.”

Another boy retorted: “I’d rather be dead and buried than to be that selfish. The draft-card burners ought to be thrown in jail.”

An old newspaper page with the headline, "Turning Your Slow-Lane Turkey Into a Roadrunner."
The New York Times

6. Food. The pages of The Times have filled over the years with debate-inducing pieces about whether the food even matters, what should be served, which foods are healthy, which wines to pair and how to speed up the cooking of a turkey.

More on Thanksgiving

Marchers in colorful costumes fill a street littered with confetti. A float in the background has a giant turkey and two star-shape balloons with “Macy’s” written on them.
In Manhattan.  Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
  • The “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” is beloved — and unifying. In recent years, it has drawn more viewers than the Oscars or New Year’s Eve telecasts.
  • Why do the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys play on Thanksgiving every year? The short answer: tradition.
  • On a special episode of “The Daily,” Ina Garten shares tips on the art of hosting.
 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Middle East

Armed security personnel on a bombed-out street.
In central Beirut, Lebanon. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

More International News

Trump Administration

Donald Trump Jr. raises his right hand while speaking at a lectern that bears a “Trump Vance” sign.
Donald Trump Jr. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Other Big Stories

  • Ohio banned trans students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, joining at least a dozen states with such laws.
  • China and the United States swapped prisoners. The Biden administration released a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for three Americans, including an F.B.I. informant.
  • A judge said New York City had failed to limit violence and protect prisoners at Rikers Island, and threatened to put an outside official in charge of the city’s jails.
  • A pastor was charged with nearly 200 counts of sexual abuse crimes involving children, many of them his relatives, dating back more than three decades.

Opinions

Before her daughter was born, Daniela Lamas was indecisive about becoming a mother. She is “almost embarrassed to admit” how much she loves parenthood, she writes.

Here are columns by Maureen Dowd’s brother, Kevin, celebrating Trump’s win, and Pamela Paul on grandma food.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

Two restaurants with outdoor dining areas in side-by-side pictures.
In New York. Lila Barth for The New York Times

Dining sheds: Outdoor structures helped keep New York’s restaurants afloat during the pandemic. They’re coming down.

Gobble it up: This pasture-raised turkey costs $90. A farmer explains what goes into that price.

Colombia or Venezuela: Who makes the best arepa?

Mark up: This 74-year-old fruit vendor sold the banana that was eventually auctioned for $6.2 million. When he learned the price, he began to cry.

Lives Lived: Helen Gallagher won two Tonys for roles in “Pal Joey” and “No, No, Nanette” and three Emmys for her work on “Ryan’s Hope.” She died at 98.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Minnesota Vikings are to sign quarterback Daniel Jones to a one-year contract after the New York Giants released him.

Men’s college basketball: Auburn center Johni Broome starred in a 90-76 win over Memphis at the Maui Invitational championship.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A giant fiberglass turkey against a gray sky.
In Minnesota. Graham Dickie/The New York Times

The most celebrated resident of Frazee, Minn., is Big Tom, a 22-foot turkey with fiberglass feathers. Such supersize statues are common across the Midwest, forging identities for towns and, hopefully, enticing visitors who wish to glimpse the largest watermelon slice or Holstein cow.

More on culture

  • The filmmaker Ken Burns has slept in the same bedroom for over four decades. He credits his home with playing a role in his success.
  • Sean Combs, who has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, was again denied bail.
  • Seth Meyers pitched catchphrases for a frozen Thanksgiving pizza. “Because some years, Dad gets the kids on Thanksgiving,” he joked.
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Two stemmed glasses of espresso martini with coffee beans floating on top.
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Shake together vodka, espresso, coffee liqueur and simple syrup for the best homemade espresso martini.

Browse these Wirecutter-approved deals on non-junky toys.

Consider a cheap pair of blue-light blocking glasses.

Bring the best white elephant gift.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was pedagogy.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —Ian

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 29, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, my colleague Sam Sifton helps you make the most of your Thanksgiving leftovers. We’re also covering Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a social media ban and Black Friday. —David Leonhardt

 
 
 
A fully loaded sandwich of Thanksgiving leftovers.
David Malosh for The New York Times

Enjoying what’s left

Author Headshot

By Sam Sifton

I’m the founding editor of NYT Cooking.

 

Good morning. How’d it go yesterday? Was the turkey moist? The gravy smooth? You enjoy the side dishes, the dinner rolls? Were the pies abundant? Did Cousin Amy keep her cool?

I hope so. I hope your Thanksgiving was bathed in the spirit of the holiday — that you gave thanks and were given thanks, that you cooked well or, at any rate, ate well, that you got some time to yourself and with those who care about you. I hope that you were able to sleep in this morning, and that you arose rested and ready for the long slide that leads from today, Black Friday, to the Wednesday dawn of 2025.

Mostly, I hope you have plenty of leftovers. To some — and absolutely to me — they’re the very best part of Thanksgiving.

I start with a leftovers sandwich. For years, I assembled mine on the fly, between slices of toasted English muffin: swipes of mayo and congealed gravy, a daub of cranberry sauce, a shred of turkey, a spoonful of stuffing. I’d smash that together and eat it in three bites, leaving the kitchen feeling as if I could go pro.

But then Sohla El-Waylly came along with a recipe for the best Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich (above) to show me how professionals actually do these things. Her instructions are precise and specific. They lead to joy. Her sandwich is maybe better than the Thanksgiving meal itself.

An overhead shot of a turkey and pasta dish.
Turkey tetrazzini. Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Later on, I’ll make Samin Nosrat’s recipe for turkey tikka masala, a comforting riff on the Punjabi-style curry, to serve with steamed basmati rice, mango chutney and the naan that Meera Sodha taught me to make. I love that meal.

I’ll make turkey à la king, too, with a whisper of sherry added at the end to evoke country estates and grandparents and the children home from boarding school. So fun. I’ll make turkey congee with white pepper, perhaps the pressure cooker’s highest calling, a comforting porridge whether you’re eating in the Montana chill or the shower-room heat of a Florida night.

Maybe turkey tetrazzini? Turkey pho? A stuffing panzanella with cranberry vinaigrette? Those, too, are magic.

And when I’ve harvested all that I can from the bird, when it’s down to bare bones and a few pieces of errant sinew and skin, I’ll make stock. Give thanks for leftovers!

Related: Here’s how long your leftovers will last in the fridge.

More on the holiday

  • Crowds braved the rain for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The police arrested two dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators who briefly blocked the route.
  • A snowstorm in the Northeast threatens to disrupt people traveling home after the holiday.
 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Trump Administration

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a suit and tie, is seen from his chest up before a microphone.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  Kenny Holston/The New York Times

More on Politics

Middle East

China

A panda seated in a lush enclosure
Xin Bao at the San Diego Zoo.  Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times

More International News

  • Canada accused Google of creating a monopoly in its ad-tech business, echoing a similar suit from the U.S. government. The company could be forced to sell parts of its business.

Other Big Stories

  • After a Pentagon official approved a plea deal for three men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks, the defense secretary stripped her authority to make such agreements with any other Guantánamo Bay defendants.
  • Flooding, labor shortages and inflation has made this a difficult year for Christmas tree farmers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Opinions

Some Democrats believe the surge in populism threatens democracy. In fact, voter turnout is high and people are making their discontent heard, Christopher Caldwell writes.

Here is a column by David Brooks on MAGA’s inverted morality.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

A colorful illustration of people and shopping carts.
Sonny Ross

Shopping: Black Friday used to be fun. Now, many shoppers would rather sleep in.

The best deals: Wirecutter has been combing through the sea of sales today, many of which aren’t worth your time. These are the ones worth paying attention to.

A trip: Archaeologists found traces of psychedelics on a mug from ancient Egypt.

Weddings: To encourage more partying, some couples are trading the formal sit-down dinner for a food truck.

Buying time: The U.S. is building an early warning system to detect geoengineering.

Travel: Are airline loyalty programs worth it? Some frequent fliers don’t think so.

Lives Lived: The screenwriter and director Jim Abrahams revolutionized film comedy with straight-faced, fast-paced parody movies like “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun.” He died at 80.

 

SPORTS

Tennis: Iga Swiatek, the world’s No. 2 women’s player, received a one-month ban after testing positive for a banned substance.

College volleyball: Boise State’s volleyball team forfeited a match against San Jose State and withdrew from the Mountain West Conference tournament over a dispute about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

N.F.L.: The Green Bay Packers defeated the Miami Dolphins, 30-17, in a chilly end to the league’s Thanksgiving slate.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A grid of headshots of a dozen members of President-elect Trump’s proposed cabinet.

All of Trump’s cabinet picks have “a look” that embodies his worldview, Vanessa Friedman, The Times’s chief fashion critic, writes. Most of the men have a full head of hair and most of the women have cascading locks and camera-ready makeup. The picks represent a return to traditional archetypes of power and gender through a Hollywood lens. Read Vanessa’s piece.

More on culture

  • The art collector who bought a banana duct taped to a wall for $6.2 million has offered to buy $25,000 worth of bananas from the street vendor who sold the original fruit for 25 cents.
  • For the stylish, pajama sets from small European labels have become souvenirs that signal their discerning taste.
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

A grilled cheese sandwich oozing cranberry sauce.
Armando Rafael for The New York Times

Make a cranberry grilled cheese, and customize it with leftover turkey.

Visit Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Browse the best on-sale beauty products.

Gift a pair of fabulously fluffy slippers.

Upgrade your bedding with these sleep deals.

Take our news quiz.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were filching and flinching.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

November 30, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. I’m away this week, so my colleagues at Wirecutter have written a guide to help you sort out your holiday shopping. —Melissa Kirsch

 
 
 
Two sets of hands hold a gift, which is wrapped in red patterned paper and a white bow.
Thomas Trutschel/Photothek, via Getty Images

Giving love

Author Headshot

By Hannah Morrill

I’m an editor at Wirecutter, covering gifts and beauty.

 

My dad used to hand-write specific, and often unrealistic, gift wish lists for his children to fulfill before every holiday. When I was in college, he asked me for a $30,000 pontoon boat.

And so, for much of my life, I didn’t particularly like the act of giving gifts. It felt dutiful.

But I’ve come around. Especially after I took a remote job — as a gifts editor, of all things! — I needed something to ground my relationships, despite the distance.

Gifting, I realized, is a tactile gesture of love and appreciation. It’s an authentic connection point where no digital analog exists: Dropping a cheap heart in a group chat pales in comparison with almost any IRL offering.

The act of selecting and giving a gift is really a vehicle for showing loved ones how you feel about them. It can be quite beautiful and moving.

But it’s also hard to do it well. (Just ask my stepdad, who has given me the same fire blanket twice.) The holidays only exacerbate that stress.

In the rest of today’s newsletter, I’ll offer some easy-to-follow advice I’ve picked up over the years, share a few of my all-time favorite gifts and show you where to start with Wirecutter’s extensive gift guide coverage.

(And for more of our expert recommendations, sign up for Wirecutter’s weekly gifting newsletter, The Gift.)

Consider secondary hobbies

My colleague Samantha Schoech follows this handy rule of thumb: Think less about your recipients’ main hobbies because they are probably already getting themselves what they need to, say, ski or cycle. Instead, think about their secondary interests. Do they love bookstores, great coffee, tech gadgets, playing with makeup, planning trips? Those are the interests and hobbies to hit.

And if they’re truly single-minded with a hobby, think of your gift as a homage to that pastime, not a part of a go-to kit. A runner might like a pint glass etched with a recent marathon route rather than a new pair of sneakers. A weekend gardener who already has a good trowel may appreciate a botanical paint-by-numbers kit.

Here are a few gift lists for those with a particular passion:

Give an upgrade

Another useful tip: Think of something your recipients have and find something even nicer, sturdier or more functional. Sure, they have a flashlight, but what about a rechargeable LED lantern that looks like a candlestick? They’ve already got a solid hammer, but a true D.I.Y.-er might appreciate this exceptional $300 hammer. Everyone has a phone charger, but do they have a credit-card-thin power bank in a pretty metallic shade?

If you’re looking to treat your recipients to something they’d likely never buy themselves but might use daily, here’s where I’d start:

Surprise and delight

A really great gift surprises the recipient. That can mean a lot of things: Maybe it’s something they’ve never seen before, or something they didn’t know they needed. A few of my favorite delights? A pitcher that looks like a fish. Potato chips in a paint can. And this funny little lazy duck lamp, to name a few.

For more cheeky inspiration:

One last word of wisdom: Sometimes the thing your recipients are always giving others might be a sign of what they themselves would really love. A fire blanket might not be for me, but I know what my stepdad is getting this year.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE WEEK IN CULTURE

Film and TV

Auli’i Cravalho, in a patterned black-and-white dress, leans back with her palms propping her up on a concrete step.
Auli’i Cravalho Sabrina Santiago for The New York Times
  • The Disney movie “Moana” made Auli’i Cravalho a breakout star. Now she’s back in the sequel and making her Broadway debut as well.
  • In “Queer,” Daniel Craig stars as a drug-addled older man who falls in love with a much younger man in the 1950s. The costumes are almost entirely from that era, and they have the dirt to prove it.
  • Ben Stiller plays a man who is made the legal guardian of his four unruly nephews in “Nutcrackers,” one of six movies our critics are talking about this week.
  • Jim Abrahams, a creative force behind “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun,” died at 80. Read about some of the funniest moments from his films.
  • When “Death Becomes Her” was released in 1992, the reviews were mixed. But its visual effects would change the way movies looked.

More Culture

An animated image showing two young dancers in ornate costumes for The Nutcracker.
Hannon Hatchett, 10, and Finlay McCurdy-Van Alstine, 11. Stella Blackmon for The New York Times
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Politics

Justin Trudeau, wearing a blue suit and smiling, walks through a hotel lobby, flanked by men who look like security guards.
Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, leaving his hotel in West Palm Beach, Fla. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
  • Justin Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump. Trudeau is seeking to dissuade Trump from imposing across-the-board tariffs on goods from Canada.
  • During his campaign, Trump disavowed Project 2025, a right-wing policy blueprint. Now, he is filling his administration with people who have strong ties to the document.
  • The mother of Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, wrote in a 2018 email that her son “belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women.” She said yesterday that her email was untrue and that he was “a good father, husband.”

International

Other Big Stories

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

CULTURE CALENDAR

📺 “The Sticky” (Friday): Is there anything that Margo Martindale doesn’t make better? Scary in “Justified,” disturbing in “Million Dollar Baby,” heartbreakingly poignant in “Paris Je T’Aime” and memorable in so many others (“The Americans,” “BoJack Horseman”). Now, she is (finally) the lead in a … maple-syrup heist? I’ll take it. All six episodes drop on Prime Video on Friday.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Pavo al pastor, with meat and salsa on a tortilla on a turquoise plate.
David Malosh for The New York Times

Pavo al pastor

Turkey sandwiches are all well and good for the first few days of post-Thanksgiving feasting, but after the third mayo- and cranberry-sauce-slathered iteration, it might be time to branch out. For that, try Rick Martinez’s pavo al pastor. Based on tacos al pastor, his recipe features warm tortillas filled with shredded roast turkey bathed in a bold, chile-laden sauce sweetened with orange juice and agave. Then, everything is topped with a cranberry-pineapple salsa for color and zing. All out of turkey? You can make these with leftover vegetables, too. The options end only when all your leftovers have been so delectably devoured.

 

REAL ESTATE

A man and woman stand outdoors, leaning on a lamp pole in a park. He wears a blue jacket and she wears a long brown coat.
Abbie Lin and Shaman Kothari in Brooklyn. James Estrin/The New York Times

The Hunt: A young couple, forced from their two-bedroom rental by a new landlord, looked to downsize in Brooklyn. Which home did they choose? Play our game.

What you get for $400,000: A five-bedroom Tudor Revival house in Detroit; a 1925 rowhouse in Philadelphia; or a two-bedroom cottage in Manchester, Vt.

 

LIVING

A collage of multiple Nigerian film actresses, set against a green and pink gradient background.
Looks from the Nollywood movie “Games Women Play” (2005). via YouTube

On Beauty: The rebellious and distinctive makeup of early-aughts Nigerian screen sires.

Overconsumption: The haul is the consumer phenomenon of our time — and the shopping equivalent of a dopamine-chasing overdose, Vanessa Friedman writes.

Unhitched: As their business flourished, the marriage floundered.

Bonne Maman: This French jam company’s advent calendar has become a hot commodity.

 

GAME OF THE WEEK

A football player in a No. 26 Eagles uniform holds a football as he runs past a diving player from the Rams.
Saquon Barkley of the Eagles on Sunday. Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today, via Reuters

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Baltimore Ravens, N.F.L.: Two Super Bowl contenders, both with their own superstar running backs. Saquon Barkley of the Eagles leads the N.F.L. in rushing yards, with 1,392. The Ravens’ Derrick Henry is right behind him, with 1,325 yards. (No one else in the league has over 1,000 yards.) It’s been more than than a decade since anyone but a quarterback won the M.V.P. If either of these backs is going to break the streak, this could be the game that sets them apart. Sunday at 4:25 p.m. Eastern on CBS

 

NOW TIME TO PLAY

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was outback.

Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa

Correction: Thursday’s newsletter included the wrong link for a Wirecutter article about the best white elephant gifts. Here is the correct link.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 1, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, my colleague Javier Hernández writes about a unique night at the opera. We’re also covering Kash Patel, Syria and New York City’s holiday windows. —David Leonhardt

 
 
 
A screenshot of Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in a movie.
Angelina Jolie in “Maria.” Pablo Larraín/Netflix, via Associated Press

Star power

Author Headshot

By Javier C. Hernández

I’m a reporter covering classical music, opera and dance.

 

Even if you’re not a fan of classical music, you’ve probably heard the voice of Maria Callas. As opera’s defining diva and one of the greatest performers of the 20th century, she is omnipresent in our culture, nearly 50 years after she died.

Now Callas is the subject of “Maria,” a film starring Angelina Jolie, which opened this week in select theaters and goes to Netflix on Dec. 11.

“You’ve been hearing Maria your whole life,” Jolie told me. “You just didn’t know it was her.”

As The Times’s classical music reporter, I wanted to understand how a Hollywood A-lister prepared to play an opera star. So I invited Jolie to the Metropolitan Opera in New York one recent night for a performance of Puccini’s “Tosca,” a signature opera for Callas. You can read my story about the experience here.

Jolie’s every move is tracked by the tabloids, especially since her 2016 divorce from Brad Pitt, which is still playing out in court. She at times seemed uncomfortable with my questions. But she spoke candidly about living in the spotlight; the loneliness she sometimes feels; and why she took seven months of voice lessons for “Maria,” which is directed by Pablo Larraín.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll tell you more about Callas and examine the parallels between Callas and Jolie.

La Divina

Callas was born in New York to Greek immigrants in 1923, and became renowned for her silky voice and her ability to give her characters the nuances of real people. Known as La Divina to her admirers, she inspired cultish devotion, and fans would sometimes wait in line for days to get tickets for her performances.

Callas’s personal life also drew attention, particularly her relationship with the shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. He went on to marry Jackie Kennedy, leaving Callas bereft.

In her late 30s, Callas’s voice began to deteriorate. She canceled performances more often and started to retreat from the stage. In 1977, when she was just 53, she died of a heart attack, with only her housekeeper and butler nearby. By that point, her best singing days were already two decades behind her.

A kindred spirit

Jolie told me that she found a kindred spirit in the singer. Callas, too, was exalted and scorned by critics and fans. Her personal life was examined, interrogated and written about. And she, too, was described as intense and elusive.

“I was very moved by the amount she had to fight in her life,” Jolie told me.

In preparing for “Maria,” Jolie watched old interviews of Callas. She was dismayed to see an artist of her caliber asked about her personal life. Jolie was bothered in particular by a “60 Minutes” interview that aired in 1974. Mike Wallace asks Callas at one point, “You mean you’re a man-eater?”

Larraín, the director, told me that both Callas and Jolie had an instinct for mystery. They both knew when to let people in and when to push them out, he said.

“She opens the gate for you to understand and feel what she’s feeling,” he said of Jolie. “And then, out of nowhere, she’s out. And you cannot enter again. And then you wonder.”

Callas’s legacy

Callas can often seem like a mythical, larger-than-life, figure. Her career was preciously short, and most people know her only through recordings, photos and videos.

Yet she is still a towering figure in music. In the opera world, no one has been able to match the power of her voice, her captivating stage presence and her ability to connect with the public.

Jolie said she hoped “Maria” would help bring more people to opera — and to Callas.

“Her music is in the air; it’s a part of the fabric of society,” Jolie said. “An artist is someone who studies life. And she lived fully and truthfully.”

Read our story about Jolie’s night at the opera.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Politics

Kash Patel holding a microphone.
Kash Patel Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
  • Donald Trump said he will nominate Kash Patel, a loyalist with little law enforcement experience, as F.B.I. director. Patel is a critic of the bureau who has called for the firing of its leadership.
  • Trump picked Chad Chronister, a veteran Florida sheriff, to be his administration’s top drug enforcement official.
  • During Trump’s second term, the Senate’s Republican majority may have to choose between defending the institution or bowing to a president dismissive of government norms, Carl Hulse writes.
  • Ben Wikler, who has led the Wisconsin Democratic Party since 2019, announced a bid to be the national party chair.

Middle East

Syrian opposition fighters tear up a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad.
In Aleppo, Syria. Karam Al-Masri/EPA, via Shutterstock

More International News

A person sits on a dirty mattress wearing a full ski mask and sunglasses to mask his identity.
A sophomore chemistry student in Sinaloa, Mexico.  Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Other Big Stories

 

FROM OPINION

Our messed-up dating culture has led to loneliness, anger and, ultimately, Trump, Sarah Bernstein writes.

New Orleans has an advantage in the age of climate change: It knows that every hurricane season poses an existential threat, Nathaniel Rich writes.

Here’s a column by David French on a simple act of kindness.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
At Saks Fifth Avenue. Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

New York: In some of the city’s department stores, the holiday window display is the result of almost a year’s work. Read how they come together.

Travel: Spend 36 hours in Honolulu.

Cold case unit: This little-known squad of New York’s medical examiner’s office uses dogs and DNA to identify the nameless dead.

Life after death: America’s cemeteries are rewilding.

Most clicked this week: Read the story of an I.V.F. mix-up that swapped two couples’ genetic daughters.

Bookstores, gay bars, fresh salt air: How can cities preserve what matters most to people?

Vows: A breakup was just the beginning.

Lives Lived: A. Cornelius Baker spent 40 years working with urgency and compassion to improve the lives of people with H.I.V. and AIDS, by promoting testing, securing federal funding for research and pushing for a vaccine. He died at 63.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

BOOK OF THE WEEK

The cover of “Variation” is an illustration of two blue carp swimming through an underwater forest of large pink peonies.

“Variation,” by Rebecca Yarros: Rebecca Yarros’s stand-alone romance novel is a graceful departure from her best-selling fantasy juggernauts “Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame.” With shades of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “Bunheads,” this winter-appropriate beach read begins with an ocean rescue off the coast of Cape Cod. Hudson, a local Coast Guard swimmer in training, swoops in to save Allie, a wealthy young ballerina, from a sinking rowboat. Metaphors and plot twists abound as Yarros’s story bobs neatly into the future. A decade later, her star-crossed characters land back where they started, for different and equally complicated reasons. The question of whether they’ll find their way back to one another is a fun one to ponder over a slice of leftover pie.

More on books

  • Here are 100 Notable Books from 2024, selected by the staff of the Book Review. How many have you read? How many do you want to read?
  • These new thrillers feature a nosy and deadly 81-year-old, a roadkill-obsessed teenager and a reckless former U.S. marshal.
 

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
The New York Times

Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine.

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Fall asleep to these podcasts.

Read transcendent (and occasionally filthy) new romance novels.

Buy a gift for a coffee lover.

Trudge through snow with winter boots.

 

MEAL PLAN

Pork and ricotta meatballs are combined with rigatoni and marinara in a white bowl with extra chile flakes and a fork and napkin nearby.
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein suggests making easy 20-minute pork and ricotta meatballs; a hoisin-peanut shrimp and slaw that’s perfect for a big group; and a winter squash and wild mushroom curry from the renowned cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey.

 

NOW TIME TO PLAY

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were anticlimactic and claimant.

Can you put eight historical events — including the discovery of penicillin, the building of the Great Library of Alexandria, and the release of Jane Fonda’s “Workout” — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 2, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, my colleague Peter Baker is writing about the pardon of Hunter Biden. We’re also covering Trump, North Korea and the best TV and movies of 2024. —David Leonhardt

 
 
 
President Biden and Hunter Biden climb the stairs into a jet.
President Biden and Hunter Biden.  Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

A familial pardon

Author Headshot

By Peter Baker

I’m the chief White House correspondent for The Times.

 

President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump now agree on one thing: The Biden Justice Department has been politicized.

Biden pardoned his son Hunter last night, brushing away two federal convictions and granting his son clemency for any wrongdoing over the past decade. In his statement announcing the pardon, Biden complained about selective prosecution and political pressure. And he questioned the fairness of a system that he had, before now, defended.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” Biden said. “Here’s the truth,” he added. “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”

Biden’s decision to wipe his son’s convictions on gun and tax charges came despite repeated statements that he would not do so. This past summer, after Hunter Biden was convicted, he said, “I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process.” The statement he issued last night made clear he did not accept the outcome or respect the process.

Trump has long argued that the justice system was “weaponized” against him, and that he is the victim of selective prosecution, much the way Biden has now said his son was.

Similarities and differences

Their arguments are different in important respects. Trump contends that the two indictments against him by Biden’s Justice Department amounted to a partisan witch hunt targeting the sitting president’s main rival. Biden did not explicitly accuse the Justice Department of being biased against his family, but he suggested that it was influenced by Republican politicians who have waged a long public campaign assailing Hunter Biden.

The Justice Department has rejected both accusations. The prosecutions of Trump and Hunter Biden were each handled by separate special counsels, appointed specifically to insulate the cases from politics. Senior department officials have denied that politics entered the equation against either man. There is no evidence that Biden had any involvement in Trump’s cases.

But the pardon will make it harder for Democrats to defend the integrity of the Justice Department and stand against Trump’s unapologetic plans to use it for political purposes. Trump has picked Kash Patel, an adviser who vowed to “come after” the president-elect’s enemies, to be the next director of the F.B.I.

To be sure, the cases against Trump and Hunter Biden are hardly comparable. Trump was charged with illegally trying to overturn an election and, in a separate indictment, with endangering national security. Hunter Biden was convicted of lying on a firearms application form about his drug addiction, and he pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes, which he later paid.

In his pardon statement, Biden sought to appeal to empathy for a father of a son who struggled with drug addiction, framing his decision in personal terms as Hunter Biden faced the possibility of years in prison. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision,” he wrote.

If he had left it at that, that might have been one thing. But it was his attack on the prosecution that raised questions of a dual-track justice system. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution,” the president said. “In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

Read more of Peter’s analysis.

More on the pardon

  • Biden told his son that he would be pardoned during a family gathering for Thanksgiving in Nantucket, Mass. “I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction,” Hunter Biden said in a statement.
  • The pardon covers any offenses Hunter Biden may have committed between 2014 and 2024. That may shield him from prosecution under Trump.
  • Hunter Biden likely would not have qualified for a pardon recommendation under the Justice Department criteria, which suggests full pardons for those who have already served their sentences.
  • Presidents have pardoned family members before. Bill Clinton pardoned his half brother for drug charges, and Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, for tax evasion and other crimes.

Reactions

  • The pardon rattled Washington, The Hill reports.
  • “While as a father I certainly understand President @JoeBiden’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country,” Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, a Democrat, wrote on social media.
  • In an online post, Trump called the pardon “an abuse and miscarriage of Justice” and mentioned the Jan. 6 rioters, whom he has pledged to pardon.
 
 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Trump Administration

More on Politics

Middle East

Fighters atop a tank with a flag of green, white and black bands and red stars.
Near the northern Syrian town of Azaz. Rami Al Sayed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
  • For years, Syria has been able to fight opposition forces with the help of Iran, Russia and Hezbollah. With those allies distracted, rebels have taken the opportunity to seize new territory.
  • Israel has fortified its military bases and demolished Palestinian buildings in central Gaza, a move that suggests it may be preparing to stay long-term.
  • A former Israeli defense minister accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza. Allies of Benjamin Netanyahu said that the comments would hurt the country and help its enemies.

More International News

Police officers in riot gear amid explosions.
In Tbilisi, Georgia.  Giorgi Arjevanidze/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Other Big Stories

A portrait of an older woman.
In Alexandria, Va. Moriah Ratner for The New York Times
  • U.S. diplomats — as part of a deal with China — brought members of the Uyghur ethnic group to America. Read about the secret plan.
  • A lake-effect storm has blanketed parts of Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania in snow.

Opinions

The situation is very, very catastrophic”: Read about a week in the life of Hussam Abu Safyia, one of the last doctors inside a northern Gaza hospital.

There are certain periods of history in which the denial of evident truths gains the upper hand: This is one of those periods, Mark Lilla writes.

Drug overdose deaths are falling in the U.S. — but not everyone is benefiting, Maia Szalavitz writes.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

An illustration of nuclear warheads as chess pieces with one of the black pieces knocked over.
Illustration by Pablo Delcan and Danielle Del Plato

Destruction: The outcome of a secret 1983 Pentagon war game reveals that nuclear escalation inevitably spirals out of control.

Ask Vanessa: How many pairs of black pants is too many?

Vacuums, headphones and gifts: Wirecutter’s journalists spend tens of thousands of hours each year testing products. These are their favorite Cyber Monday deals.

500-year-old walls: Explore the haciendas of central Mexico.

Metropolitan Diary: Shortest cab ride ever?

Lives Lived: Marshall Brickman was a low-key writer whose show business career ranged across movies, late-night television comedy and Broadway. He may be best remembered for collaborating on three of Woody Allen’s most enthusiastically praised films, including “Annie Hall.” Brickman died at 85.

 

SPORTS

A gif showing a football player in blue diving to score a touchdown on a snowy field.
A Josh Allen touchdown. N.F.L.

N.F.L.: On a snow-caked field, the Buffalo Bills earned a 35-10 blowout win over the visiting San Francisco 49ers.

N.B.A.: The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics with a 20-point fourth quarter from Donovan Mitchell. The win confirmed the upstart Cavs as the league’s top team so far.

College football: The Big Ten fined Ohio State and Michigan $100,000 each for a melee after their game on Saturday.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

"Brain Rot" written in black on a white background.
The New York Times

Oxford University Press’s word of the year is “brain rot,” a phrase commonly used on social media to describe the deterioration of a person’s mental state brought on by overconsumption of trivial online content. “Brain rot” triumphed over other contenders including “lore,” “demure,” “romantasy” and “dynamic pricing.”

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

A skillet of cheesy chicken topped with scallions.
David Malosh for The New York Times

Braise chicken in red-pepper paste and flakes to make this reader favorite.

Choose a quality all-inclusive resort.

Get ahead on holiday shopping with these on-sale gifts.

Transform your bun with this sleek pin.

Browse Cyber Monday’s best deals on cleaning products.

Take our news quiz.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were bighead and bigheaded.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 3, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, my colleague Nate Cohn explains that low turnout didn’t cost Kamala Harris the election. We’re also covering Hunter Biden’s pardon, climate change and black pants. —David Leonhardt

 
 
 
A man walking past “Trump Vance” and “Harris Walz” signs in early-morning light.
Voting in Pennsylvania on Election Day. Eric Lee/The New York Times

Persuasion over turnout

Author Headshot

By Nate Cohn

I’m The Times’s chief political analyst.

 

If you’ve been reading post-election coverage, you’ve probably seen one of the big takeaways from the returns so far: In counties across the country, Kamala Harris won many fewer votes than President Biden did four years ago.

With nearly all votes counted, she has about 74 million; Biden received 81 million four years ago. Donald Trump, in contrast, has 77 million votes, up from 74 million four years ago.

The drop-off in the Democratic vote was largest in the big blue cities. In places like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, Trump gained vote share but didn’t necessarily earn many more votes than he did four years ago. Instead, Democratic tallies plunged.

As such, it’s tempting to conclude that Democrats simply didn’t turn out this year — and that Harris might have won if they had voted in the numbers they did four years ago.

This interpretation would be a mistake.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain.

Disenchanted Democrats

For one, the story doesn’t apply to the battlegrounds, where turnout was much higher. In all seven battleground states, Trump won more votes than Biden did in 2020.

More important, it is wrong to assume that the voters who stayed home would have backed Harris. Even if they had been dragged to the polls, it might not have meaningfully helped her.

How is that possible? The low turnout among traditionally Democratic-leaning groups — especially nonwhite voters — was a reflection of lower support for Harris: Millions of Democrats soured on their party and stayed home, reluctantly backed Harris or even made the leap to Trump.

Hands folding away an American flag.
Packing up after a Democratic election-watch party. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times

During the campaign, The New York Times and Siena College polled many of these voters. After the election, we analyzed election records to see who did and didn’t vote. The results suggest that higher turnout wouldn’t have been an enormous help to Harris.

That may be surprising. It’s not usually how people think about turnout. Typically, turnout and party-switching are imagined as independent. After all, millions of voters are all but sure to vote for one party, and the only question is whether they’ll vote. In lower-turnout midterms and special elections, turnout can be the whole ballgame.

But in a presidential election, turnout and persuasion often go hand in hand. The voters who may or may not show up are different from the rest of the electorate. They’re less ideological. They’re less likely to be partisans, even if they’re registered with a party. They’re less likely to have deep views on the issues. They don’t get their news from traditional media.

Throughout the race, polls found that Trump’s strength was concentrated among these voters. Many were registered Democrats or Biden voters four years ago. But they weren’t acting like Democrats in 2024. They were more concerned by pocketbook issues than democracy or abortion rights. If they decided to vote, many said they would back Trump.

The Las Vegas example

It will be many months until the story is clear nationwide, but the data we have so far suggests that the decline in Democratic turnout doesn’t explain Harris’s loss.

Clark County, Nev., which contains Las Vegas, is an example. There, 64.8 percent of registered Democrats turned out, down from 67.7 percent in 2020; turnout among registered Republicans stayed roughly the same.

An empty street, with a “Vote Here for Kamala Harris” sign resting against a bike rack.
Election Day in Las Vegas. Marshall Scheuttle for The New York Times

But this lower Democratic turnout would explain only about one-third of the decline in Democratic support in Clark County, even if one assumed that all Democrats were Harris voters. The remaining two-thirds of the shift toward Trump was because voters flipped his way.

Even that back-of-the-envelope calculation probably overestimates the role of turnout. Our polling data suggests that many of these nonvoting Democrats were no lock for Harris. In Times/Siena data for Clark County, Harris led registered Democrats who voted in 2024, 88 percent to 8 percent. But she had a much narrower lead, 71 percent to 23 percent, among the registered Democrats who stayed home.

There’s no equivalent pattern of a drop in support for Trump among Republicans who stayed home. Indeed, many high-turnout Republicans are highly engaged, college-educated “Never Trump” voters who have helped Democrats in special and midterm elections.

In Las Vegas and elsewhere, our data suggests that most voters who turned out in 2020 but stayed home in 2024 voted for Biden in 2020 — but about half of them, and maybe even a slight majority, appear to have backed Trump this year. Regardless, there’s no reason to believe that they would have backed Harris by a wide margin, let alone the kind of margin that would have made a difference in the election.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Hunter Biden Pardon

  • Biden decided to pardon his son Hunter as Trump picked nominees who pledged to retaliate against his political enemies — and out of concern that Hunter might relapse after years of sobriety.
  • Several Democrats in Congress, especially moderates, criticized Biden’s decision to pardon his son. Some progressive members said the pardon was justified.
  • The breadth of Hunter’s pardon alarmed legal experts, who compared it to Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon and the pardons Trump gave his allies at the end of his first term.
  • Did politics motivate the prosecutions against Hunter, as Biden claims? Few first-time, nonviolent offenders get serious prison time for the gun charge he faced.

Trump Appointments

A Venn diagram of head shots shows what several potential members of the incoming Trump administration have in common: Fox News hosts or contributors, held events at Mar-a-Lago, or ties to Project 2025 or the America First Policy Institute.
By The New York Times
  • Project 2025, Mar-a-Lago and Fox News: Here are the connections among Trump’s cabinet picks.
  • Kash Patel, Trump’s choice to lead the F.B.I., has called for purging bureau officials and replacing them with loyalists, withholding the bureau’s funding and prosecuting leakers and journalists.
  • Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, lost his job running two veterans’ nonprofit groups after accusations of financial mismanagement, pursuing female employees and being drunk at work, The New Yorker reported. (Hegseth’s lawyer declined to respond to questions and accused the magazine of laundering “outlandish claims.”)
  • Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, urged John Thune, the Republican leader, to abide by traditional rules for Trump’s picks. Trump has asked Republicans to circumvent the vetting process.
  • Trump picked Warren Stephens, an investment banker and top Republican donor who once opposed him, to be his U.K. ambassador.

Trump Administration

More on Politics

Supreme Court

A photo illustration of two arms, in black judicial robes, their hands holding gavels.
Chantal Jahchan
  • Who judges the justices? As the Supreme Court privately devised its own ethics code last year, the court’s liberals argued for including a way to enforce it. Their conservative colleagues rejected that.
  • The court heard arguments over whether the F.D.A. acted lawfully when it rejected flavored vaping products that it said appealed to young people. The flavors had names like Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry and Signature Series Mom’s Pistachio.

Middle East

  • Israel launched airstrikes in Lebanon after Hezbollah, a militant group based there, fired into territory Israel claims, straining a cease-fire that took effect last week.
  • Trump said there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas does not release the hostages it is holding in Gaza before his inauguration.

International

A video shows a van driving across a strip of land surrounded by water.
In Tuktoyaktuk, northwest Canada.  Renaud Philippe for The New York Times

Other Big Stories

A fisherman walking on cracked mud at the edge of a reservoir where the water levels have fallen.
Mexico’s Valle de Bravo reservoir. Cesar Rodriguez for The New York Times

Opinions

Today is Giving Tuesday, an unofficial holiday when many people donate to charities.

Kathleen Kingsbury introduces the Communities Fund, a charitable program run by The Times that ensures 100 percent of donations go to nonprofit groups. (Donate here.)

Nicholas Kristof recommends charities that help women and children in the developing world.

Tressie McMillan Cottom recommends supporting victims of Hurricane Helene.

Margaret Renkl recommends charities that connect gardeners to native plants.

Zeynep Tufekci recommends donating to research projects studying long Covid.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

A collection of Squishmallows of various sizes
Squishmallows Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post, via Getty Images

From Pong to Pokémon: See kids’ favorite holiday toys over seven decades.

Workout: Exercise for better sleep.

All inclusive: How to pick the right resort for your next vacation.

Lives Lived: Peter Westbrook was a six-time Olympian who in 1984 became the first African American and Asian American to win a medal at the Games in fencing, a sport long dominated by white Europeans. He died at 72.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Denver Broncos beat the Cleveland Browns, 41-32, in a frenzied game.

M.L.B.: Baseball officials are discussing a new rule, called the Golden At-Bat, in which a team could substitute any player into the game for a single plate appearance.

Golf: Mollie Marcoux Samaan will resign as L.P.G.A. commissioner. Her successor will inherit a rising sport with many issues.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A triptych of black pants: leggings with decorative seam holes, heavily slashed jeans, and track pants.
Simbarashe Cha/The New York Times

Black pants are essential. It is possible to spend years chasing the perfect pair, “permanently twinkling in the distance,” Vanessa Friedman, The Times’s chief fashion critic, writes.

But how many pairs of black pants is too many? Friedman says that each pair should have its own use — slacks for work, jeans for play. But if you wear them, and they don’t get lost in the back of your closet, you can never have too many.

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Assemble this French toast casserole a day in advance.

Shop the Cyber Monday deals that are still going.

See the best gifts of 2024.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was comically.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 4, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. We’re covering what you should know about bird flu — as well as South Korea, Bangladesh and California.

 
 
 
Chickens converging around a person’s hand holding feed.
Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Birds, cows, people

By now, you’ve probably seen some alarming headlines about bird flu, and you may be wondering how worried you should be. I understand the uncertainty.

On the one hand, we have all spent decades hearing alarming stories about strange viruses — like MERS, Ebola, dengue and Zika — most of which don’t end up having a big effect on the U.S. On the other hand, one of those recent viruses turned into the life-altering Covid pandemic.

In today’s newsletter, I want to help you make sense of bird flu, using four questions.

Making sense of H5N1

1. What is bird flu?

It’s an influenza virus officially known as H5N1 (and sometimes called avian flu). It has been circulating for decades, and it attracted global attention in the late 1990s after an outbreak among chickens in southern China.

That outbreak was especially worrisome because it included the first documented human cases of the virus. At least 18 people were infected, six of whom died.

2. Why the recent concerns?

The virus has recently expanded in two ways: across regions and across species. Rather than being concentrated in Asia, bird flu has moved across much of the planet. And it has infected a wider variety of animals, including mammals. (This Times story explains.) Dairy cows in many parts of the United States have tested positive.

The number of human infections is also growing, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows:

A chart shows monthly reported human cases of H5N1 influenza around the world. In October 2024, there were 13 reported cases of the virus, all in the United States.
Source: C.D.C. | Data is through Oct. 2024. | By The New York Times

Most concerning, at least four people have tested positive without evidently having had contact with a sick animal. One is them is a teenager in British Columbia who has been in critical condition. These infections raise the possibility that the virus can move from one human being to another, rather than only from an animal to a person. Human-to-human transmission can lead to much more rapid spread of a disease.

“I’m more worried about bird flu than I have been for a really long time,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, told me.

3. What are the reasons to be hopeful?

There are a few. First, it’s not yet clear whether those four recent cases stemmed from human-to-human transmission. Even if they did, such transmission might remain rare, involving extremely high levels of exposure to the virus. “Right now, H5N1 does not spread easily between people,” said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Second, H5N1 seems to have become less severe in human beings recently. The reasons aren’t clear, Nuzzo says, but one possibility is that a different flu that emerged in 2009 — H1N1 — may confer some immunity for H5N1. Millions of people have since had H1N1.

As my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli says, “Very few people known to be infected with bird flu in the United States have become seriously ill, and none have died.” Still, she notes that viruses evolve, often in ways that lead to more infections. And the upcoming winter could give bird flu more opportunities to mix with seasonal flu and mutate. If bird flu were to spread widely, even a low fatality rate could mean tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S.

4. How can the U.S. reduce the risks?

More testing — of birds, cows and farmworkers — would help. “We know very, very little about how far this virus has spread and how many people and animals have been infected,” Apoorva said. Testing could allow farms to isolate infected animals and people.

A person trims the hair on a cow at a state fair.
In Wisconsin.  Jim Vondruska/Reuters

What about a vaccine? A vaccine for bird flu exists, but the supply is modest. Nuzzo believes the government should help expand production and make the vaccine available to farmworkers who want to receive it. More research on the vaccines also seems important, especially if the virus is evolving.

The bottom line

Rivers, the Johns Hopkins epidemiologist, recently published a book on preventing outbreaks called “Crisis Averted.” In it, she argues that one of the most effective public health strategies is honesty: Experts should level with people, rather than telling selective truths intended to shape behavior in paternalistic ways (as happened during Covid).

When I spoke with Rivers this week, I asked for some truth telling about bird flu. “As an epidemiologist, I’m worried,” she said. “I’m not worried as a mom or a member of my community. It’s not a threat that is imminent.”

But H5N1 bears watching. It is changing and spreading in uncertain ways, and it already presents a threat to many animals and to people who work closely with them.

For more: In Times Opinion, Zeynep Tufekci argues that President Biden should be more aggressive about fighting bird flu before leaving office.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

South Korea

People raising their fists at night.
Outside South Korea’s Parliament. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
  • South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, is facing an impeachment motion after he abruptly declared martial law and then lifted the order hours later.
  • In his declaration, Yoon accused his political opposition of conspiring with North Korea to undermine the country. The leader of the opposing party rejected his claims and lawmakers voted to rescind the order.
  • The order plunged the country into crisis. Troops stormed the country’s Parliament, shares of major Korean companies fell and thousands protested. Now there are vigils calling for Yoon to step down.
  • Yoon had regularly fought with the opposition party, which has used its supermajority in Parliament to block his proposed budget and impeach his close allies.

More International News

Pedestrians and people on bicycles pass a painting of Sheikh Hasina.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh. Elke Scholiers for The New York Times
  • Bangladesh’s previous government siphoned billions of dollars from the central bank, the bank’s interim governor said. He characterized it as a huge heist.
  • China banned exports of rare minerals to the U.S., escalating a trade war.

Trump Administration

More on Politics

Other Big Stories

Opinions

Trump moderated his views on marijuana, crypto and other habits that appeal to young men. “Vice voters” may now be part of the Republican Party, Charles Fain Lehman writes.

The acceleration of technology and the way it replaces human labor help explain declining trust in American institutions, Jessica Grose argues.

Christopher Blackwell is serving a 45-year sentence for robbery and murder. He writes about the regret he feels over the first time he picked up a gun.

Here are columns by Bret Stephens on a candidate to lead the Democratic Party and Thomas Edsall on Project 2025.

 
 

Last chance to save on Cooking before Thanksgiving.

Readers of The Morning: Save on a year of Cooking. Search recipes by ingredient or explore editors’ picks to easily find something delicious.

 

MORNING READS

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Karan Singh

Great reads: These are the 10 best books of the year, according to The New York Times Book Review.

On demand: Amazon and Walmart know that customers spend more when they can get same-day delivery. Here’s how they make it happen.

Tradwife or tycoon? Hannah Neeleman, the woman behind Ballerina Farm, has a picture-perfect life as a Mormon farm owner. We followed her for the day.

Lives Lived: Hal Lindsey was a onetime tugboat captain who became a campus preacher and then the author of “The Late Great Planet Earth,” which blended history and apocalyptic predictions. It was the bestselling nonfiction book of the 1970s. Lindsey died at 95.

 

SPORTS

College football: In the penultimate playoff rankings, Alabama was the big winner. See the rankings here.

ESPN: The network is in talks with Stephen A. Smith on a contract extension of six years and $120 million.

M.L.B.: Bids for Juan Soto, the free agent and the former Yankees slugger, have reached $600 million. He’s expected to decide by next week.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

Three people wearing long, shimmering dresses walk past the camera.
Arriving at the gala for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in November. Michelle Groskopf for The New York Times

Fund-raising galas, which generate donations for cultural institutions like opera houses and museums, are growing ever more extravagant to attract wealthy patrons. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s most recent fete, hosted by Leonardo DiCaprio, featured salted maple espresso martinis, Wagyu short rib and a performance by Charli XCX. It cost about $3 million to stage the party — which brought in about twice that.

More on culture

A woman with a brightly colored necklace, wearing dark eyeglass frames, stands beside colorful artwork on a wall.
Koyo Kouoh Tsele Nthane for The New York Times
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

A bowl of salad with chickpeas, tomato, cucumber, croutons, red onion and herbs.
David Malosh for The New York Times

Make this taverna salad inspired by Greek and Lebanese dishes.

Pick the best blanco tequila.

Camp in a better sleeping bag.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were hometown and townhome.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 5, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, my colleague Jesse Drucker explains why the estate tax isn’t working. We’re also covering a manhunt in New York, Pete Hegseth and albums of the year. —David Leonhardt

 
 
 
mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Photo Illustration by Blake Cale; Photographs by Philip Cheung for The New York Times; Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times; Carly Zavala for The New York Times; Jim Wilson, via The New York Times

A broken system

Author Headshot

By Jesse Drucker

I’m an investigative reporter.

 

The federal estate tax — which is imposed on a tiny sliver of rich Americans when they die — is being eviscerated.

In theory, the tax is simple. A married couple can pass along about $27 million (say in cash or stock) to their heirs tax-free. Anything above that is supposed to be taxed at a rate of 40 percent. But although the wealth of the richest Americans has soared over the past several decades, estate tax receipts have not.

A chart shows estate taxes paid from 2020 to 2024 as a share of the top 0.1 percent’s wealth.
Sources: Internal Revenue Service; Federal Reserve | By The New York Times

To understand what that means, consider this: Revenue from the estate tax has barely changed since 2000, even as the wealth of the richest Americans has roughly quadrupled. If the tax had simply kept pace, it would have raised around $120 billion last year. Instead, it brought in about a quarter of that. That shortfall would be enough to triple federal research funding for both cancer and Alzheimer’s — and still leave enough to double the entire budget of the Justice Department.

There are several reasons the tax isn’t working. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain three important ones.

Anti-tax warriors

The tax has been getting weaker since the 1990s, when a few things happened.

For one, a handful of billionaires, including the Kochs, Waltons and Mars families, funded a lobbying campaign to kill the estate tax. It culminated when George W. Bush signed a law that gradually cut the top rate to 45 percent, down from 55 percent, and gradually raised the size of the fortune that could be exempt. The amount excluded doubled in the 2017 Republican tax overhaul signed by Donald Trump. Now, a married couple can pass down $27.2 million to their heirs without paying a dime of estate tax.

Many of these provisions end next year, but Republicans seem likely to expand them. The incoming Senate majority leader, John Thune, has sought to abolish the estate tax for nearly three decades in Congress. When he jumped from the House to the Senate in 2004, he unseated the Democrats’ leader in part by running against the “death tax.” Now, as the top Senate Republican serving alongside a president from the same party, he’ll have a chance to further gut it or scrap it altogether.

Artful dodgers

A second reason is that the tax system operates differently for the wealthiest Americans. Creative lawyers have stitched together obscure regulations, court decisions and narrow rulings to help the rich pass along their fortunes.

One mechanism is the intentionally defective grantor trust — or, as estate planners have nicknamed it: “I Dig It.” It uses a complicated borrowing strategy to bypass a federal gift tax limit. (The gift tax prevents rich people from giving heirs all their money before they die in order to avoid the estate tax.)

By splitting up ownership among family members, wealthy Americans can also claim that assets moved into the trust are worth less than their previous market value. Trump’s family did this with his father’s portfolio of New York City properties in the 1990s, cutting his gift and estate tax bills. In 2017, Trump’s Treasury Department withdrew proposed regulations that would have curtailed these discounts.

Defund the police

Finally, the I.R.S. struggles to do its job — and that’s by design.

Republicans have led a decades-long effort to defund the agency. That has meant fewer audits for the ultrarich. In the 1990s, the agency audited more than 20 percent of estate tax returns. In recent years, it was less than 4 percent. Congressional Republicans cut $20 billion for law enforcement at the I.R.S. in a recent spending bill.

A chart shows the share of estate-tax returns filed that the I.R.S. audited from 2000 to 2021. In recent years, it was less than 4 percent.
Sources: Internal Revenue Service; Federal Reserve | By The New York Times

Add it all up, and it means that each year the richest Americans pass down approximately $200 billion without paying a dime of estate tax on it, estimates Daniel Hemel, a tax law professor at New York University.

I wrote a story The Times published today about Nvidia’s C.E.O., Jensen Huang, who uses several estate-tax-cutting strategies, including an “I Dig It.” He also has funded something called a donor-advised fund, which reduces his eventual estate tax bill even if that money never goes to charity. He’s on pace to avoid more than $8 billion in estate taxes — or about a quarter of what the United States collects annually from the tax.

The magnitude of his tax dodge sets him apart. But the way he got there is becoming typical.

Related: Trump picked Billy Long — a former Missouri congressman who cosponsored a bill to end the estate tax — to lead the I.R.S.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Manhattan Shooting

A police offer walks in between yellow cordon tape.
Outside New York Hilton Midtown hotel.  Karsten Moran for The New York Times
  • The C.E.O. of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan. A manhunt is underway for his killer.
  • The police described the killing as targeted. Surveillance cameras recorded the gunman waiting outside a hotel before Thompson arrived, then shooting him in the back with a pistol. See video of the gunman.
  • The gunman has not been identified. The police said he fled into Central Park on a Citi Bike, which could offer investigators digital clues.

Pete Hegseth

  • Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to be defense secretary, said Trump still supported him despite allegations of sexual assault and drunken behavior.
  • Hegseth drank heavily while working as a Fox News host and led two veterans nonprofit groups into debt, The Times found.
  • In a radio interview, Hegseth, a veteran, said he drank to deal with combat trauma, but he denied having a drinking problem.
  • Hegseth has said that women shouldn’t serve in combat. He met yesterday with Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, a Republican and combat veteran who is skeptical of his nomination.
  • Trump is considering replacing Hegseth with Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who ran against him for president this year.

Trump Administration

Supreme Court

A lawyer speaking outside the Supreme Court building.
Chase Strangio, a lawyer for the A.C.L.U. Maansi Srivastava for The New York Times

More on Politics

International

A portrait of two Fano fighters holding guns on their shoulders.
In Ethiopia. Malin Fezehai for The New York Times
  • Two years after a civil war in Ethiopia, the country’s north is still reeling from war crimes. Read one young doctor’s story.
  • South Korea’s defense minister resigned. He said he considered himself responsible for the president’s abortive decision to declare martial law.
  • French lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his cabinet. Barnier is expected to resign soon.
  • A flulike disease has killed at least 79 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, BBC News reports. A U.N. team is investigating the nature of the disease.

Other Big Stories

Opinions

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
The New York Times

A Russian satellite could have the power to destroy other satellites with a nuclear blast. To maintain peace, the U.S. needs to build on its space treaty with Russia and China, W.J. Hennigan writes.

Biden’s pardon of his son reinforces the idea that every political party will use the system to benefit its relatives and cronies, the Editorial Board writes.

Here is a column by Carlos Lozada on Hegseth’s views, based on his book.

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 

MORNING READS

A black and white dog with a red collar sits patiently with a stuffed lamb toy balanced on its head. The dog is looking up expectantly, perhaps waiting for a treat or command.
Lamb Chop (top).  Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Second act: For decades, Lamb Chop was a beloved children’s television character. She’s now a best-selling dog toy.

Health: Could dark chocolate reduce your diabetes risk? A study suggests it might.

Survival: Hawaiian crows have been extinct in the wild for two decades. Researchers are trying a new strategy to reintroduce them.

Lives Lived: Rohit Bal was an exuberant designer who created modern Indian couture by updating traditional garments. He died at 63.

 

SPORTS

A black and white photo of Mary McGee, in a polka-dot helmet, crouched on a racing motorbike with speed blur behind her.
Mary McGee via Breakwater Studios/McGee Family

A pioneer: Mary McGee, a risk-loving motorcycle rider who was often the only woman on the tracks she raced on, could be recognized by her pink polka-dot helmet. She died at 87.

College basketball: No. 9 Duke, led by the freshman wunderkind Cooper Flagg, upset No. 2 Auburn, 84-78.

N.B.A.: The Miami Heat defeated the Los Angeles Lakers by 41 points. It was the Lakers’ sixth loss in eight games.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A woman in a dark fur coat and black sunglasses stands on a bright green D.J. booth. A young crowd watches with their phones out.
Charli XCX is on two of the critics’ lists. Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Three Times music critics came together to collate their choices for the albums of the year. “For me, there was no definitive musical statement for 2024, no obvious pathbreaker,” Jon Pareles writes. “But there were plenty of purposeful, heartfelt, exacting and inspired individual statements.” See the full list here.

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Lemon bars, dusted with fine sugar.
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Add olive oil and flaky sea salt to lemon bars for a sophisticated touch.

Stop package thefts.

Work out on a rowing machine.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was embanked.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Correction: An item in yesterday’s newsletter about Biden’s trip to Angola used the word descendants when it should have said ancestors.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 6, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. We’re covering the war in Syria — as well as the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O. shooting, South Korea and NFTs.

 
 
 
An anti-regime fighter stands on a road as displaced Syrian Kurds drive vehicles loaded with belongings on the Aleppo-Raqqa highway.
An anti-regime fighter stands as people flee areas on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria. Rami Al Sayed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rebels on the march

The Syrian Civil War is a long-running tragedy. Since 2011, more than 500,000 Syrians have died, including more than 200,000 civilians, according to human rights experts. Millions more Syrians have fled their homes. The flood of refugees into Europe has been large enough to help destabilize politics in France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere.

Until recently, Bashar al-Assad — Syria’s authoritarian president, who’s responsible for much of the carnage — seemed to be in a dominant position. His forces controlled about two-thirds of the country’s territory, including all the largest cities. The war seemed to have reached a stalemate.

Over the past two weeks, however, anti-Assad rebels have made surprising gains (as these Times maps show). The rebels captured most of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city, and have since taken another major city, Hama. They are heading toward Damascus, the capital.

A map shows where Syrian opposition fighters have advanced in and south of Aleppo since late November, expanding the territory under their control instead of under the control of the Syrian government.
Sources: Institute for the Study of War; Janes | Areas of control are approximate. Advances since late Nov. shown as of Dec. 4. | By Samuel Granados

The war has entered an uncertain new phase. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain why the situation has changed — and how the war affects the rest of the world.

Who’s on Assad’s side?

The Assad family, which has run Syria since a 1970 coup, is Alawite, a minority sect that’s an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The government is secular, but its closest ally is Iran, the most powerful Shiite country. Syria is a core part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” — a network of countries and groups (including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis) that hopes to destroy Israel and reduce American influence in the Middle East.

Geography helps explain Syria’s importance to the axis: Iran funnels weapons to Hezbollah across Syria, for use in Lebanon. Iran and Hezbollah have repaid the favor by sending thousands of militants to fight on Assad’s side during the civil war.

A map shows where Syria is in relation to the rest of the Middle East, including countries like Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon and Yemen. The map also shows where in these countries groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis mainly operate.
By Lazaro Gamio

Russia is another Syrian ally. Syria was on the Soviets’ side during the Cold War, and Vladimir Putin today sees the country as a way to maintain his influence in the Middle East. After the civil war began 13 years ago, Russia sent planes, troops and advisers to fight for Assad.

These ties highlight Syria’s role as a secondary player, but still an important one, in the emerging global alliance that includes China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. (I explained the importance of that alliance in a recent Morning.) Not surprisingly, the U.S. and the European Union view Assad as an enemy. Partly because of his brutality toward his own people, Western nations spent years pushing for Assad’s ouster, including through sanctions that have hobbled Syria’s economy.

Geopolitics also seems to be why the rebels launched their offensive now. Iran is distracted by its conflict with Israel. Hezbollah has been badly weakened by Israel. Russia is focused on Ukraine. All of which has left Syria’s allies less able to send troops and equipment to turn back a rebel advance.

“This was a really opportune moment for the rebels to try to strike at Assad,” said Vivian Yee, The Times’s Cairo bureau chief, who has been covering the war.

Who are the rebels?

Assad’s closeness to Iran and Russia might make it seem as if the U.S. should be allied with the Syrian rebels. But that’s not quite the case. The situation is more complex.

The main rebel group is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or H.T.S., which controls much of Syria’s northeast. H.T.S. is a Sunni Muslim group descended from Al Qaeda, and the U.S. government classifies it as a terrorist group. But it has since renounced Al Qaeda.

“Its leader, known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has restyled himself as a less extreme, more nationalist leader who places more emphasis on toppling the Assad government and replacing it,” said Ben Hubbard, The Times’s Istanbul bureau chief. “What exactly that government would look like is anyone’s guess, but the group remains Islamist in outlook.”

A second, smaller rebel faction is a confederation of less ideological groups that operate mostly near Syria’s border with Turkey and that the Turkish government supports. Many observers believe that Turkey at least tacitly approved the recent rebel push that led to the capture of Aleppo.

Turkey has several reasons to back the rebels. It and Syria have long been regional rivals. Turkey also sees rebel gains as potential leverage that would push Assad to negotiate the return of many Syrian war refugees now in Turkey, Vivian notes. Finally, a strong rebel movement could weaken a Kurdish-led militia that operates near the border and that Turkey considers a threat.

The big picture

As you can see, the geopolitical dynamics are complicated. Turkey supports the rebels partly to weaken a Kurdish movement that is only a marginal player in Syria. And the U.S. opposes Assad but considers his main domestic enemy to be a terrorist organization.

It’s not even clear what the U.S. and its allies want to happen in Syria. A complete victory for either side would likely empower a hostile government in a vital region. A continuing war would have the upside of weakening both sides but would have major costs. It could have terrible humanitarian effects, and wars often destabilize the world in unpredictable ways. “My overwhelming impression,” Ben said, “is that the U.S. just wants the war to go away.”

For more detail, I recommend this article about the rebels, by Vivian, Alissa Rubin and Raja Abdulrahim

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Manhattan Shooting

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
A photo from investigators.  New York City Police Department
  • The police have not yet identified the suspect in the shooting of the C.E.O. of UnitedHealthcare, but they released two images that they say show his face.
  • They are tracking the suspect’s movements over the past 10 days. He arrived in New York on a bus coming from the south of the city and checked into an Upper West Side hostel, an official said. They are also following a lead on a gun purchase in Connecticut.
  • See a map of where the shooter was.
  • The police found words written on bullet casings at the scene, including “delay” and “deny,” possible references to rejected insurance claims.
  • In response to the shooting, Americans have released their deep frustration online about an industry that often denies coverage and reimbursement for medical claims.

Trump Administration

Democratic Party

  • Barack Obama delivered a speech for the first time since the election. He urged his party to engage with alternate views more actively.
  • President Biden’s staff is debating whether he should issue blanket pardons for some of Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them from the “retribution” he has threatened after he takes office, officials said.
  • Democrats had a financial advantage in the election, but the Trump campaign had a shrewd advertising strategy: It focused on streaming services, whose users were disproportionately young and undecided.

South Korea

More International News

People sit at night outside a bar in which a television screen shows the French president giving a speech.
Emmanuel Macron on TV. Teresa Suarez/EPA, via Shutterstock

California

Other Big Stories

Opinions

The New York governor’s new congestion pricing plan is a fair compromise between commuters and city government, Alex Matthiessen writes.

The phrase “you guys” doesn’t imply only men. It has become a universal plural “you” in a language that lacks one, John McWhorter writes.

Here are columns by M. Gessen on the Supreme Court’s trans case and Michelle Goldberg on Kash Patel’s “enemies list.”

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 

MORNING READS

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Erik Carter

Long live NFTs? The craze brought the crypto crowd to art auctions. Long after the bubble burst, some still believe.

Microdosing Ozempic: People are taking tiny amounts of weight loss medications to try to drop pounds while avoiding side effects. Does it work?

Aesthetic: Can you copyright a vibe? One influencer is suing another for allegedly copying her style of posts.

“Rail Force One”: See inside the trains that take world leaders into Ukraine.

Lives Lived: Shalom Nagar was a reluctant 23-year-old Israeli prison guard when he was chosen to hang Adolf Eichmann — the fugitive Nazi war criminal convicted of genocide. Nagar has died in his late 80s.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers, 34-31, for their 11th straight win.

College football: A surprising candidate emerged for North Carolina’s coaching vacancy: six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick.

M.L.B.: The Athletics, a notoriously frugal franchise, signed the starting pitcher Luis Severino to a three-year, $67 million deal, the largest in team history.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A view of people gathering in front of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris in June, with construction barricades at ground level.
Notre-Dame Felipe Romero Beltran for The New York Times

When the Cathedral of Notre-Dame went up in flames in 2019, it was as if Paris had lost part of its identity. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, promised to reopen it in five years, a seemingly impossible task for a job of such scale and importance. But it happened: Notre-Dame is set to open to the public on Sunday. “It’s different when you work on a building that has a soul,” the head of the restoration task force told our architecture critic. “Beauty makes everything easier.”

More on culture

Miranda July seated, posing on an orange velvet couch. She is wearing a mauve top and red tights with a run on the thigh.
Miranda July Dana Scruggs for The New York Times
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Sear salmon in garlic-anchovy butter, which enriches and deepens its flavors.

Drink from an Owala. (We love it.)

Use the best drip coffee maker.

Take our news quiz.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was groundout.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 7, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. As critics issue their year-end lists, we want to know your personal favorites of 2024.

 
 
 
An illustration shows a child holding a teddy bear in a classroom for show and tell.
María Jesús Contreras

Year in review

It’s the most wonderful time of year, and I don’t mean the holiday season, although I’ve heard that people are excited about that too. No, for nerds like me who love to plan out their holiday culture consumption — those whose appetites are always far larger than their capacity for viewing/reading/listening — December is sacred because it is when critics issue their retrospective best-of lists, their verdicts on the best movies, music, TV, books and other cultural artifacts of 2024.

I’ve always thought it a shame that everyone I know doesn’t issue a best-of list. Yes, critics are experts in their fields, completists who have surveyed the landscape of their beats such that their assessments of “the best” are far more informed than the average cultural consumer’s. But I also want to know what my friends and family loved, and why. There’s no easier way to get to know someone a little bit more deeply than by asking them for a recommendation. I have a fantasy of pulling out a bullhorn on my morning commute and asking everyone in my subway car their top five films of the year. I’m not sure anyone would play along with my reindeer game, but if they did, I expect that I’d get a few good recs, some truly nutty ones, and that it would certainly bring a spirit of joy and conviviality to a typically alienating part of the day.

And why stop at the usual categories? Best-of lists are typically limited to the same categories. Tell me your favorite movie, book and song, but I also want to know the best line of poetry you read this year, the best cocktail you devised, the best tradition you started, the best grilling technique, the best piece of advice you received. We’re all living and exploring and absorbing.

And so I ask you, as I do every year, to send in your own highly specific, idiosyncratic, genre-free favorites from 2024. What did you discover? What did you learn? What did you love? Submit your answers here, and I’ll include as many of them as I can in upcoming newsletters.

For more

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE WEEK IN CULTURE

Film and TV

Amy Adams, in a green shirt, runs down a street followed by two dogs.
Amy Adams in a scene from "Nightbitch." Searchlight Pictures, via Associated Press

Art

More Culture

A man dressed in black, poses next to a rack hung with the poncho-like chasubles he designed. Patches of red, green, blue and yellow surround a large cross on the front of the white garments.
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Alain Jocard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
 

THE LATEST NEWS

War in Syria

Fighters in the back of a painted pickup truck.
Rebel fighters in the streets of Hama on Friday. Bakr Al Kassem/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
  • Rebels fighting to depose Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, advanced on another major city en route to the capital. The sudden intensification of the war has led neighboring countries to close their borders.
  • Iran, which for years has helped Assad maintain control of Syria, is now evacuating military personnel from the country.
  • The leader of Syria’s rebel groups told The Times that he was confident his fighters could oust Assad. “This operation broke the enemy,” he said.

Other Big Stories

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 

CULTURE CALENDAR

📺 “Somebody Somewhere” (Sunday): In the second season of this HBO half-hour, a character graces a potluck with St. Louis sushi, a delicacy that combines ham, pickles and cream cheese. It’s delicious. And tough on the gut. That’s also true of this riotously funny, achingly tender comedy created by Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen and Bridget Everett. Everett stars as Sam, a woman who returns in middle age to her Manhattan, Kan., hometown. A sweet and salty heartbreaker about family found and chosen, this show will end its three-season run on Sunday.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Hot apple cider pours from a ladle into a clear glass.
Craig Lee for The New York Times

Mulled Cider

It’s the perfect time to kick off Festive Hot Beverage Season. Why not brew up a big batch of Jacques Pepin’s mulled cider to see you through the weekend? Scented with cinnamon, allspice and cloves, and optionally spiked with bourbon (or rum or brandy), it’s exactly the thing to sip while snuggled under a blanket with a book on a cozy winter afternoon. And if you’ve already started your holiday baking (it is Cookie Week, after all), a little dunking is highly encouraged.

 

T MAGAZINE

The cover of T Magazine's December 8 Holiday issue, with the title "The Last Movie Star." The cover image shows Robert Pattinson leaning on a car.
Photograph by Collier Schorr. Styled by Jay Massacret

Click the cover image above to read this week’s edition of T, The Times’s style magazine.

 

REAL ESTATE

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Alexandra Andorfer and George Croton. Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times

The Hunt: Two young San Francisco renters fled the city for a quieter life. Which home did they choose? Play our game.

What you get for $800,000: A four-bedroom Tudor Revival house in Oklahoma City; a Spanish-style bungalow in West Palm Beach, Fla.; or a Dutch Colonial house in Sioux City, Iowa.

 

LIVING

Two old paperback book covers are shown: One titled “Women’s Barracks,” the other “Never Love a Man.”
Alamy

Paperbacks: Lesbian pulp fiction thrived in the 1950s and ’60s. It offers a portal to early queer expression.

Fashion: These are the 63 most stylish people of 2024, according to The Times’s Styles writers.

A new you: The Winter Arc wellness challenge asks you to lock in for three months. Some adherents take it to an extreme.

Reading space: Interior designers share tips for creating a home library.

 

GAME OF THE WEEK

A split image shows two women in white jerseys holding basketballs mid-play.
Paige Bueckers, left, and Hannah Hidalgo, right. Joe Buglewicz/Getty images, Michael Reaves/Getty Images

No. 2 UConn vs. No. 10 Notre Dame, women’s college basketball: Notre Dame has the nation’s most dynamic point guard duo, Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles. The Fighting Irish look like a championship contender, though they slipped in the rankings after losing two tough games last week. UConn, meanwhile, has Paige Bueckers, the biggest star in college hoops, and the Huskies have not lost a game. But they also haven’t faced a team of Notre Dame’s caliber. Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN

 

NOW TIME TO PLAY

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was phonily.

Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 8, 2024

Ad

 
 

By The Morning Team

 

Good morning. Today, we explain the dramatic end of the Assad regime in Syria. We’re also covering Notre-Dame, the Trump administration and dairy farming.

 
 
 
mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
In Damascus, Syria. Omar Sanadiki/Associated Press

Damascus has fallen

President Bashar al-Assad’s long and brutal reign in Syria has ended. After 13 years of civil war, Syria’s rebel fighters have stormed the capital, Damascus, and claimed victory.

The government’s forces fled without significant resistance as rebel fighters poured into the city. Assad resigned and left Syria, Russia said, but his location could not be confirmed. The rebels appear to have taken over the state television, and they announced Syria to be “free of the tyrant.”

The country’s prime minister, who remains in Damascus, said he would work on a transition government. The rebels called on their forces to stay away from public institutions until they could be formally handed over.

The rebels said they are now continuing their advance into the east. Below, we explain what has happened and what may come next.

What we know

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Areas of control as of 10 p.m. local time Saturday. Rebels stormed into Damascus on Sunday morning. Samuel Granados

The rebels’ rapid advance over the past two weeks was a dramatic end to a yearslong stalemate. (Read The Morning’s explanation of the war.)

Until recently, a coalition of rebel groups had been stuck, pinned into a corner of Syria’s northwest. Then they blazed through the country and took its major cities, including Aleppo, Hama and Homs. They freed people inside many of the Assad regime’s prisons, where he had for decades tortured and executed political prisoners. This weekend, the rebels poured into Damascus.

As rebels entered the city, Syrian government troops reportedly peeled off their uniforms and fled their posts. Gunfire sounded in the city overnight as the rebels celebrated, witnesses said. People left their homes to join them.

Residents stomped burning images of Assad and attempted to topple a statue of his father. (The Assad family has ruled Syria for five decades.) They were unsuccessful in taking down the statue, but left a trash can on its head. As some celebrated, others mourned all they had lost during years of war.

“No one should shed any tears over the end of the Assad regime,” Daniel Shapiro, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said.

What comes next

It’s unclear how the rebels’ victory could reshape the Middle East.

Syria’s neighbors are bracing for instability. Israel’s military said it had entered a demilitarized buffer zone in territory it controls next to Syria. Iraq has secured its border with Syria, according to the official Iraqi News Agency.

The collapse of the Assad family’s long rule could create a dangerous vacuum, The Wall Street Journal reports, and outside powers may maneuver for influence. Assad contained rebel forces for more than a decade with Iranian and Russian backing. But in recent days, Iran and Russia withheld significant military support.

The rebels’ victory could cause some of the millions of Syrian refugees who fled during the past decade to return home.

It’s also unclear who may govern Syria — or what that rule could look like. The leading rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Muslim organization once affiliated with Al Qaeda. It has since renounced Al Qaeda, but the U.S. government classifies it as a terrorist group.

Inside the country, Syria’s foreign ministry has issued a statement that appears to hail the shifting balance of power: “A new page in Syrian history is being written.”

For more

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

International

Notre-Dame Cathedral, illuminated against a dark sky.
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.  Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

Politics

Other Big Stories

A single-story building with a sign proclaiming it to be Cedar Rapids Comprehensive Treatment Center.
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Rachel Mummey for The New York Times
 

THE SUNDAY DEBATE

Should President Biden have pardoned his son Hunter?

No. Biden threw democratic institutions under the bus when he painted the charges against his son as illegitimate. He “promotes the toxic idea that figures like Trump and Bolsonaro — and Hunter Biden — aren’t subject to the rules we plebeians answer to,” Tim Padgett writes for The Miami Herald.

Yes. Not only was Biden right to extend mercy to his son, but he should also extend it to Trump’s enemies beyond Hunter. “Protecting the potential targets of a wrathful president would serve the interests of democracy, effectively short-circuiting Trump’s revenge agenda,” The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin writes.

 

FROM OPINION

Running the government like a business is a popular idea, but some crucial roles of the government — like counterterrorism — are by their nature inefficient, Ray Fisman writes.

Criminals judge risk by the likelihood of getting caught, not the potential punishment. That’s why we need more police and fewer “tough on crime” policies, Jennifer Doleac writes.

Here is a column by Ross Douthat on JD Vance and Elon Musk.

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

MORNING READS

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times; Bottom right: Brian Kaiser for The New York Times

Game time: The Midwestern roots — and woods — of N.B.A. courts.

Easy Rawlins: Walter Mosley’s novels have gangsters, murders and private eyes. They also feature the ups and downs of a real-estate side hustle.

Travel: Spend 36 hours in Dubai.

Dairy: How the messy process of milking cows can spread bird flu.

Most popular: The most read story in The Morning this week was about a woman who met Hunter Biden in a nightclub — and fell in love.

Routine: How Catherine Russell of Off Broadway’s “Perfect Crime” spends her Sundays.

Vows: At the top of her bucket list: saying “I do.”

Lives Lived: Miho Nakayama was a reigning J-pop star as a teenager who later became a critically acclaimed actress, gaining international attention for her starring role in the Japanese drama “Love Letter.” She died at 54.

 

BOOK OF THE WEEK

The cover of “Rental House” by Weike Wang.

“Rental House,” by Weike Wang: There’s something about Wang’s spare, elegant prose that feels like an appropriate counterweight to the glitz and chaos of the holiday season. In her third novel, we follow a New York couple on two vacations several years apart — first to a humble cabin on the Cape, then to a tricked out bungalow in the Catskills. Keru and Nate’s visitors, menus, outings, even the behavior of a beloved sheepdog tell you everything you need to know about the state of their relationship, which comes with more baggage than an airport carousel. Thankfully, none of it is heavy enough to cancel out the humor and humanity of this intelligently escapist tale.

More on books

  • Our columnist shares her favorite thrillers of the year, including a sizzler about literary theft and the tale of a tennis pro who makes questionable choices.
  • “God of the Woods,” “Rough Trade” and “The Hunter” are three of our columnist’s top picks of 2024. Read the full list.
 

THE INTERVIEW

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Tilda Swinton Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times

This week’s subject for The Interview is the Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton. We talked about, among many other things, a creeping meanness in the world as well as the intersection of art, life and political action.

I used to feel as if consuming art was sufficient when it came to forming a political identity and political engagement. Now I think I should have spent more time and energy out in the street and less time and energy in the theater or with headphones on. I’m rambling, but these are things I’ve been thinking about.

I’m liking everything you’re saying, and I’m surfing the wave of it. It’s not a ramble at all. The real question is: Who are we and how must we live? I don’t necessarily want to designate one thing as political activism and another as artistic practice and another as living your life. For me, there ain’t no walls between any of them. Does that explain the attitude?

The life came first.

The life always comes first, and the work comes out of the life. Here’s another thing that I wanted to say: this is a huge thing, this is a bombshell I’m going to lay down.

Go for it.

I wonder whether art isn’t a call to our innate goodness — an opportunity to connect with the empathy machine that cinema is. Since we’ve talked about the rise of the meanness of right-wing politics — let’s use a word that is appropriate here: meanness. What oil might get through that grease? I don’t want to assume that anybody else believes in innate goodness, but I’m declaring that I do. I do believe we were all little children, scared little animals once, including all of those people that we’re thinking about. I don’t know what happened to them to make them this mean, but we have to contact them somehow.

Read more of the interview here.

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

A magazine cover with an image of a chess piece resembling a missile on a chess board. The headline reads “The Most Dangerous Game.”

Click the cover image above to read this week’s magazine.

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Decorate your mantel for the holidays.

Stream these horror movies.

Keep warm on the ski slopes.

Shop for a dining table. Here’s how.

 

MEAL PLAN

Four maple-miso marinated salmon fillets sit on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, garnished with cilantro and sea salt and accompanied by bright green beans and some lime wedges.
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Ali Slagle.

After a heavy week of post-Thanksgiving eating, some lighter meals are in order, Emily Weinstein writes in her Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter. Her picks include maple-miso salmon with green beans and lemon chicken breasts with herbs.

 

NOW TIME TO PLAY

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was meditative.

Can you put eight historical events — including the development of pasteurization, the spread of universal education, and the release of Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 9, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, we’re covering the weakening of Iran. We’re also covering South Korea, India and Notre-Dame Cathedral.

 
 
 
A crowd waving flags.
Celebrations at a border crossing from Lebanon into Syria. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

Iran’s annus horribilis

Most questions about Syria’s future don’t have clear answers. Will the Islamist rebels who have taken over the country create a harsh Taliban-style government? Or do the rebels’ recent hints of moderation point toward something gentler? The situation remains uncertain.

But one implication of President Bashar al-Assad’s downfall seems clear: It caps a remarkably bad year for Iran.

The alliance Iran leads — the “axis of resistance” — has unraveled, as my colleague Alissa Rubin writes. One of Iran’s Middle Eastern rivals, Saudi Arabia, is now in a stronger position as a result. So is Israel, which Iran has long sought to destroy. The United States, for its part, just elected a president whom Iran so despises that its agents considered a plot to assassinate him.

A map of the Middle East shows the countries in which Hamas, Hezbollah, and militias in Syria and Iraq mainly operate.
By The New York Times

In today’s newsletter, I’ll walk you through Iran’s annus horribilis (a Latin phrase for horrible year, popularized by Queen Elizabeth II) and its effects on geopolitics. My colleagues and I will also give you the latest news from Syria.

April: A failed attack

Much of Iran’s weakened position stems from the fallout of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, which Iran finances. That attack intensified the conflict between Iran and Israel.

In April, Israel bombed the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria’s capital, and Iran responded by firing more than 300 drones and missiles into Israel. That response was a failure. Israel worked with other countries, including the U.S., Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to shoot down nearly every missile and drone. The outcome highlighted regional opposition to Iran — and it made Iran look militarily weak.

May: The president’s death

A huge crowd.
The funeral of President Ebrahim Raisi. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, was visiting a remote area when he was killed in a helicopter crash that Iran blamed on dense fog. Raisi’s death created a political void, because he was a protégé and potential successor of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The crash also raised questions about basic competence: Presidents aren’t supposed to die in accidents.

July: A Tehran assassination

When Iran inaugurated its new president this summer, one of Hamas’s leaders, Ismail Haniyeh, traveled to Tehran for the celebration. While Haniyeh was staying in a government guesthouse, Israel killed him with a remote-controlled bomb.

The assassination was another reason to doubt Iran’s strength. Israeli intelligence evidently carried out the bombing by penetrating Iran’s government.

October: Hamas degraded

On a Wednesday afternoon this fall, an Israeli patrol happened upon Yahya Sinwar, the main architect of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, in southern Gaza and shot him. The circumstances — Sinwar was walking around a badly damaged neighborhood, accompanied by a few other militants — underscored how badly the war has weakened Hamas.

Although Israel has not eliminated Hamas, the group has lost much of its leadership and thousands of fighters. It no longer serves the menacing role on Israel’s southwestern border that Iran wants it to.

November: Hezbollah degraded

Israel also spent much of this fall pummeling Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group based in Lebanon that started shelling Israel after Oct. 7, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas. Israel has killed Hezbollah leaders, detonated the pagers of hundreds of fighters and destroyed many weapons.

In late November, Hezbollah accepted a cease-fire that my colleague Ben Hubbard described as a de facto defeat. Like Hamas, Hezbollah is no longer the threat that it was.

December: Assad falls

The overthrow of Syria’s government may be even more damaging to Iran than the degradation of Hamas and Hezbollah. Syria is a nation, not merely a militant group, and its new government will be run by a Sunni Muslim group that is hostile to Iran’s Shiite government.

As Hassan Shemshadi, a regional expert in Tehran, told The Times this weekend, “For Iran, Syria has been the backbone of our regional presence.” Farnaz Fassihi, a Times reporter who has been covering Iran for 25 years, called Assad’s fall “a monumental development that will reshape the balance of power in the Middle East.”

2025: Trump’s return

Donald Trump has been consistently hawkish toward Iran. Still, my colleague Jonathan Swan, who covers Trump, thinks a deal between Iran and the U.S. next year is plausible. “Trump’s victory is bad news for Iran,” Jonathan said, “but it’s also possible that Trump judges that Iran is so depleted, so broken by Israel and in such a weak overall state that the time is ripe for a deal.”

Iran continues to have strengths. It has made progress toward having a nuclear weapon, and it is part of an informal alliance that includes China and Russia. “One thing that Iran has shown is that they have the capacity to play a long game,” said Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

Nonetheless, the change in Iran’s position is stunning. When 2024 began, almost nobody would have predicted the scale of defeat that it has experienced.

The latest from Syria

Someone steps on a photo of Bashar al-Assad.
At Bashar al-Assad’s former residence.  Omar Haj Kadour/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
  • Syria’s civil war began as peaceful protests during the Arab Spring. The poor outcomes of that era’s other revolutions are a warning for Syrians now, Patrick Kingsley writes.
  • Israeli forces crossed the Syrian border and took control of a Syrian mountain. The military said it was necessary to secure the area.
  • Footage shows a chaotic scene after rebels captured a notorious prison. Watch it here.

American response

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

South Korea

More International News

Snow covers photos of soldiers killed in war next to Ukrainian flags.
A memorial in central Kyiv. Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
  • Volodymyr Zelensky said 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since Russia’s invasion began three years ago. U.S. officials have estimated a significantly higher toll.
  • Records seized by Israel show that Hamas has had a presence in U.N. schools in Gaza. Israel claims the U.N. has tried to minimize the problem, but the U.N. argues Israeli officials are waging an unfair campaign to discredit it.
  • India’s luxury property market is eager to work with the Trump Organization.
  • Notre-Dame Cathedral had its first public mass since its 2019 fire.
  • More than 100 people were massacred in a poor Haiti neighborhood. Rights groups said a gang boss was targeting voodoo practitioners after his son died, blaming witchcraft for the child’s illness.

Politics

UnitedHealthcare Shooting

A person is seen through the interior window of a taxi wearing a black hood and blue medical mask.
In the back of a taxi. NYPD, via Associated Press
  • The New York police released two new images of the man they believe killed the C.E.O. of UnitedHealthcare. See the photos.
  • The police found what they believe to be the suspect’s backpack in Central Park. It had Monopoly money inside, CNN reports.

Other Big Stories

An animation of a pilot in a cockpit during flight, looking around him.
Matthew “WHIZ” Buckley/No Fallen Heroes Foundation

Opinions

Nicholas Kristof examines the winners and losers of Assad’s fall, while Bret Stephens writes that Israel deserves some of the credit for it.

When young women get pregnant, their chances of being murdered more than double. Sara Chodosh tells one woman’s story.

Gail Collins and Stephens discuss Hunter Biden’s pardon.

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 

MORNING READS

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Living small: In Japan, some newer houses are barely wider than a family car.

Four-day workweek: These British companies offered their workers shorter hours. Read what happened.

Metropolitan Diary: A forbidden snack.

Lives Lived: Angela Alvarez was a Cuban-born singer and songwriter who, at age 95, became the oldest performer to win the Latin Grammy Award for best new artist. She died at 97.

 

SPORTS

M.L.B.: Juan Soto agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. It is the largest deal ever given to a baseball player.

N.F.L.: The Kansas City Chiefs skated by the Los Angeles Chargers, 19-17, clinching the A.F.C. West title with four games to play.

College football: The inaugural 12-team playoff is set. See the full bracket.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A photo collage featuring pop stars of the 1980s in performance or in music videos, including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna.
 

Forty years ago, the chemistry of pop stardom was irrevocably changed, Jon Pareles writes. It was a year of blockbuster albums like Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and a redefinition of what pop success could mean for performers. Read Jon’s retrospective of 1984.

More on culture

Jay-Z in a white shirt and black jacket.
Jay-Z Chris Delmas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Spaghetti coated with a creamy-looking sauce, and sprinkled with cheese and black pepper.
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Stir to make an incredible cacio e pepe.

Tackle D.I.Y. projects with the best drill.

Take our news quiz.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was inexact.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 10, 2024

Ad

 
 
Author Headshot

By German Lopez

 

Good morning. Today, we’re covering an arrest in the killing of a health care C.E.O., as well as Syria, Trump merch and winter escapes.

 
 
 
The suspect arrives at the courthouse for arraignment. He looks backward as he is led by police officers.
Luigi Mangione, 26. Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times

An arrest

For five days, the man who killed a health insurance C.E.O. on a Manhattan street seemed to have vanished. But yesterday morning, a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pa., noticed a familiar-looking young man eating a meal and called the police.

Two officers arrived and asked the man if he had been to New York recently. He became quiet, the officers said, and started to shake.

The man, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, appeared to be the one they had been searching for, the police said. In his backpack, he had a gun, a silencer and a manifesto that, officials told The Times, derided health care companies for putting profits above care. He was charged in Manhattan with murder.

The killing, and the dayslong search for the person responsible, brought together three political issues.

First, surveillance. The McDonald’s employee called the police after recognizing Mangione from images that the police released last week. The police were able to get those images — including one where the suspect appeared without a mask — by combing through hundreds of hours of camera footage from streets, a hostel and a taxicab.

Privacy rights activists have criticized these tools in the past. Some thought the police would feed the images into facial recognition technology to find the shooter. But the police credited distributing the photos with cracking this case: Asked about the most important element of the manhunt, the N.Y.P.D. chief of detectives Joseph Kenny said, “It would be the release of that photograph from the media.”

Second, health care. The victim was Brian Thompson, the chief executive of the insurer UnitedHealthcare. Bullet casings at the scene had the words “depose,” “deny” and “delay” written on them, likely references to health insurers and how they treat claims. Mangione’s manifesto, which the police recovered after his arrest, mentioned UnitedHealthcare by name and declared, “These parasites had it coming.”

The killing set off a wave of anger on social media. People used the shooting as a chance to express frustration with the American health care system, and some even hailed the shooter as a hero. Experts warn that the glorification of a killer could help inspire copycats.

Third, ghost guns. When Mangione was arrested, he had a 3-D-printed gun and silencer in his backpack, officials said. These ghost guns are cheap and easy to assemble, and criminals have used them to avoid getting caught. Until recently, people could purchase the parts for these firearms online without a background check. And the components typically did not include serial numbers, preventing the police from tracing them.

The Biden administration imposed regulations on ghost guns, requiring manufacturers and sellers to get licenses, mark the parts with serial numbers and conduct background checks. But people can circumvent the rules by using online instructions to print and assemble their own parts.

What we know about the suspect

  • Mangione came from a life of privilege and promise. He was a high school valedictorian and Ivy League tech graduate. Read more about him.
  • He was from a prominent family in the Baltimore area. The Mangiones own country clubs, a nursing home company and a talk radio station. Nino Mangione, Luigi’s cousin, is a Republican state delegate in Maryland.
  • People who knew Mangione in Hawaii, where he had lived recently, said he suffered debilitating back pain and had recently undergone surgery. He fell out of contact with friends and family about six months ago.
  • He also had a robust online presence. On Goodreads, where users rate books, he wrote a glowing review of the Unabomber’s manifesto.

More on the shooting

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Syria

Abandoned border checkpoints and a destroyed board depicting Bashar al-Assad on the road in Masnaa, Syria, on Monday
Abandoned border checkpoints in Syria.  Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
  • The leader of Syria’s rebels has vowed to find and punish senior officials in Bashar al-Assad’s government, which he just ousted.
  • The Justice Department has charged two Syrian military commanders with war crimes against Americans and others at a notorious prison in Damascus.
  • The roads from Turkey and Lebanon have been clogged with returning Syrians. Millions of people fled during the country’s civil war.
  • Israel, Turkey and the United States are still striking Syria. Read why.

More International News

Trump Administration

A pair of high-top gold sneakers in a box with American flag patterns and the letter T on them.
Limited-edition and autographed Trump high-top shoes. Michelle Gustafson for The New York Times
  • Trump is creating a lot of merch. Everything around him has become something to monetize, including a moment of comity with Jill Biden.
  • More than 75 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter urging senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the health department.
  • Some voters, mostly young men, went from supporting Bernie Sanders to casting a vote for Trump. What unifies them is disdain for the ruling class.

Other Big Stories

Two men in suits and ties walk through a doorway.
Daniel Penny Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

Opinion

An image of two men standing alongside, both looking into the distance.
Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin in 2017. Illustration by The New York Times; source photograph by Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, via Associated Press

With the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, Vladimir Putin has lost regional leverage to Israel and Turkey, Hanna Notte writes.

Here is Paul Krugman’s last column for The New York Times, on the collapse of trust in elites.

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 

MORNING READS

A chef in white spoons a condiment into a glass dish.
Keiji Nakazawa helped lead a revival of 19th-century sushi techniques. Marissa Alper for The New York Times

Chef: One of Japan’s great sushi masters is working quietly in Manhattan.

Calm in a pot: Houseplants can make you healthier.

Modern Love: Days before her son died unexpectedly, they had a surprising conversation about death.

Ask Vanessa: How can I make corduroy look cool?

Hot in here: Are you in perimenopause? The Cut shares symptoms to look for.

Lives Lived: Nikki Giovanni was a charismatic poet, activist, children’s book author and professor who wrote about race, politics, gender, sex and love. She died at 81.

 

SPORTS

N.F.L.: The Cincinnati Bengals eked past the Dallas Cowboys, 27-20, winning in fittingly cartoonish fashion while ESPN aired a “Simpsons”-themed simulcast.

M.L.B.: Juan Soto’s decision to join the New York Mets was swayed by money, of course, but the owner Steve Cohen’s personal touch helped seal his commitment.

College football: Four finalists, including Colorado’s two-way star Travis Hunter, will travel to New York this weekend for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

People on a sandy beach next to translucent blue-green water, with rocks and islands dotting the ocean in the distance.
The Hawaiian island of Oahu. Jake Michaels for The New York Times

Looking to take a break from the cold without traveling too far or spending too much? That’s doable.

Las Vegas is dry, sunny and mild in the winter, and its deserts away from the city are beautiful. San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, is the gateway to a string of beautiful beaches along the island’s northern coast. Read about four other destinations.

More on culture

A group photograph with a row of children seated on a curb and ranks of jazz performers extending up the steps of a building.
“Harlem 1958.” Art Kane
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

A scoop of vanilla ice cream melts atop a gooey bowl of brownie batter and chocolate sauce.
Julia Gartland for The New York Times

Make perfectly gooey chocolate pudding cake in the microwave, and see our most popular recipes in 2024.

Become a better runner.

Get the best duffel bag for your upcoming travels.

Shovel snow with the right tools.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was unknowing.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 11, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. We’re covering the scale of recent immigration — as well as Syria’s prisons, the C.E.O. killing suspect and Saudi Arabia.

 
 
 
A long, serpentine line of people waiting to board a white passenger bus snakes its way down a steep concrete embankment and along a riverbank.
In El Paso in 2022. Paul Ratje for The New York Times

An unprecedented surge

My colleagues and I worked with government officials and outside experts in recent weeks to analyze the magnitude of the recent immigration surge in the United States. We published the results of that analysis this morning.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll give you seven highlights, with help from charts by Albert Sun, a graphics editor at The Times.

1. The immigration surge since 2021 has been the largest in U.S. history, surpassing even the levels of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Total net migration — the number of people coming to the country minus the number leaving — will likely exceed eight million people over the past four years, government statistics suggest. That number includes both legal and illegal immigration.

Never before has annual net migration been close to two million for an extended period, according to data from the Census Bureau and the Congressional Budget Office.

2. Even after adjusting for today’s larger population, the surge is slightly larger than that during the peak years of Ellis Island traffic, when millions of Europeans came to the United States. This chart tells that story:

A bar chart showing the average annual change in the foreign-born population as a share of the total U.S. population. The change is high in the 1850s with 0.6% of the total population. It doesn’t reach a similar share again until the period from 2020 to 2023.
Source: Analysis of data from the Congressional Budget Office and U.S. Census Bureau

3. The share of the U.S. population born in another country has reached a record high as a result. That share hit 15.2 percent in the summer of 2023 (and continued rising over the past 18 months). The previous high of 14.8 percent occurred in 1890, and the share remained high for decades afterward.

It began to decline after the passage of a tough immigration law in 1924. That restrictive era lasted until 1965, when a new law expanded immigration. (On a recent episode of “The Daily,” Michael Barbaro and I told the story of that 1965 law and its unintended consequences.)

A line chart showing that the U.S. foreign-born population has reached a high of 15.2 percent. In 1850 the share is below 10 percent, then it grows to just under 15 percent by 1890, stays high until 1920 and then declines to below 5 percent in 1970.
Source: Analysis of data from the Congressional Budget Office and U.S. Census Bureau

4. President Biden’s welcoming immigration policy has been the main reason for the recent surge. During his 2020 campaign, Biden encouraged more people to come to the U.S., and he loosened several policies after taking office.

Biden administration officials sometimes argue that outside events, such as the turmoil in Haiti, Ukraine and Venezuela, have been the main cause of the surge, and those events did play a role. But the sharp decline of migration levels since this past summer — when Biden tightened the rules — indicates that the administration’s policies were the biggest factor:

A bar chart showing the number of encounters with the U.S. Border Patrol along the southwest border. The number is mostly below 100,000 until early 2021, when it shoots up to around 200,000. In 2024 the number is between 100,000 and 150,000 in the first half of the year, then drops to about 50,000 after June 2024.
Source: Department of Homeland Security

5. More than half of net migration since 2021 has been among people who entered the country illegally. Of the roughly eight million net migrants who came to the U.S. over the past four years, about five million — or 62 percent — were unauthorized, according to an estimate by Goldman Sachs.

6. The unprecedented scale of recent immigration helps explain why the issue played such a big role in the 2024 election. Polls showed that the sharp rise in immigration was unpopular with most Americans, especially among working-class voters, some of whom complained of strained social services, crowded schools and increased homelessness.

The issue appears to have been Kamala Harris’s second biggest vulnerability, after only the economy. Donald Trump made striking gains near the border in Texas, winning six counties along the Rio Grande that he lost badly only eight years ago. And Democrats who outpaced Harris and won tough congressional races — in Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, New York and elsewhere — often criticized Biden’s immigration policies.

7. The recent immigration surge has probably ended. Trump has promised to impose even tougher border rules next year than Biden recently imposed. Trump also campaigned on a plan to deport millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally.

It remains unclear how far Trump will go and whether his plan will remain popular once he begins to implement it. Either way, the pace at which immigrants enter the U.S. has already fallen significantly from the peak levels of 2022 and 2023 and may continue to fall after Trump takes office. Historically, in both the U.S. and other countries, very high levels of immigration often cause a political backlash that leads to new restrictions.

Our full story includes more details, including an explanation of why experts believe recent census numbers underestimate the size of the immigration surge.

Related: Democratic governors are resisting parts of Trump’s deportation agenda. But they’re offering to help him enact stricter border control and deport people convicted of crimes.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Syria

People in a dark room, examining white plastic body bags with cellphone torches.
At a Damascus prison morgue. Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

C.E.O. Shooting

  • Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O., was remembered at a private funeral in his Minnesota hometown as a devoted father to his two sons. He was born to a working-class family and grew up in rural Iowa. Read about his life.
  • A judge denied bail for Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing. Mangione shouted and struggled with the police as they led him into the hearing.
  • The Mangiones are known as a force in Baltimore politics.

Trump Administration

  • Trump named Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission, replacing Lina Khan. Ferguson supports cracking down on big tech companies but opposes regulating A.I.
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to restrict high-fructose corn syrup, vegetable oils and processed foods. Doing so might hurt workers in Trump-friendly areas.
  • Trump chose Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox host and his son Don Jr.’s fiancée, to be the U.S. ambassador to Greece. The announcement came after reports that Don Jr. was seen with another woman.
  • Wall Street is thrilled about Trump’s win, seeing it as a boon to business. Even bankers who opposed him, like Jamie Dimon, are celebrating.
  • Trump made expansive campaign promises on immigration, spending and foreign policy. Many observers doubt he’ll achieve his biggest goals, Peter Baker writes.

More on Politics

International

Firefighters stand in front of a burning multistory building. A burned and overturned vehicle is beside them.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine, in August. David Guttenfelder for The New York Times

Other Big Stories

Opinions

The Supreme Court must intervene over the TikTok law, which is a threat to the First Amendment, Jameel Jaffer and Genevieve Lakier argue.

Here are columns by Bret Stephens on Syria’s opportunity and Thomas Edsall on Democrats’ problems.

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 

MORNING READS

Two nuns behind metal bars in a Spanish monastery.
In Burgos, Spain. Ana Maria Arevalo Gosen for The New York Times

The Great Read: These nuns were excommunicated. But they won’t leave their convents.

Debilitating: Back pain is one of the most common health problems nationwide.

Homes crisis: The U.S. has a major housing shortage. It may not improve next year.

In New York: See our critics’ favorite new restaurants of 2024 as well as their favorite dishes in the city.

Lives Lived: Shuntaro Tanikawa was Japan’s most popular poet for more than half a century — and the translator of the “Peanuts” comic strip. He died at 92.

 

SPORTS

Soccer: Saudi Arabia is expected to win the bid to host the men’s 2034 World Cup today, and critics say the sport’s governing body has rigged the vote for the Saudis. Read our investigation.

M.L.B.: The New York Yankees agreed to an eight-year, $218 million contract with the pitcher Max Fried, making a splash just two days after Juan Soto left for the Mets.

College basketball: AJ Dybantsa, the nation’s No. 1 recruit, will play at B.Y.U. He is the highest-rated prospect in the program’s history.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

A house with a garden and is shown under an enormous hangar.
On set. Federico Rios for The New York Times

Hollywood has long tried to adapt “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” the 1967 novel that helped Gabriel García Márquez win the Nobel Prize. But he always refused, insisting that his novel, in which the real and fantastical converge, could never be rendered onscreen.

That’s changed. Netflix has made the book into a series, not a film, and used special effects to capture its magical realism. See behind the scenes.

More on culture

 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Broiled salmon on a bowl of steamed rice with scallions and slices of cucumber, radish and avocado.
Johnny Miller for The New York Times

Add grapefruit and honey to a miso salmon bowl.

Pick a cat litter that is good for the planet.

Shop for the best deals at Sephora (almost everything is on sale).

Get a better baking pan for the holidays.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was ineffective and infective.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. —David

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13
  • Members
Posted
The Morning

December 12, 2024

Ad

 
 

Good morning. Today, my colleague Emma Goldberg writes about psychedelic drugs in corporate America. We’re also covering Syria, South Korea and Kentucky. —David Leonhardt

 
 
 
Hands holding a bowl with dried mushrooms in it.
Magic mushrooms. Todd Korol for The New York Times

C.E.O.s are tripping

Author Headshot

By Emma Goldberg

I cover business culture.

 

Psychedelic drugs have come a long way. They once belonged to the counterculture (“tune in, drop out”). Now they are finding a home in the C-suite.

LSD, magic mushrooms and some other psychedelic drugs have been federally prohibited since the early 1970s. But people are taking them widely: Researchers at the RAND Corporation estimated that eight million adults in the U.S. used psilocybin (the main psychedelic substance in magic mushrooms) in 2023.

Today, a growing number of business leaders are using psychedelics, according to executives, coaches and researchers I interviewed. We don’t have data on how often they trip, but many executives believe that the drugs can infuse their work with some coveted missing ingredient — calm, vulnerability, imagination. They sometimes take psychedelics on fancy retreats, where they lie blindfolded on mattresses while therapists guide them. I spoke to several of these executives for a story The Times published today.

Corporate leaders are often stressed out, fed up, creatively blocked or emotionally worn. For many in that group, two changes have made psychedelics more appealing. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain.

The creativity push

Corporate culture has been loosening for decades.

Sterile, gray cubicle farms turned into bustling open floor plans. Technology companies added game rooms and ball pits to make their offices zany and colorful — places where workers could anchor not just their professional but also their social lives. Business leaders exhorted employees to exhibit imaginative thinking. (Sam Franklin, a historian, says this came out of a Cold War-era effort to distinguish freewheeling American companies from their rigid Soviet counterparts.)

There’s a reason that people see psychedelic drugs as a way to boost creativity. The drugs increase the amount of information moving around in the brain, according to Robin Carhart-Harris, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. While the brain usually tries to compress information, psychedelics create chaos and disorganization. That’s enticing to people looking for out-of-the-box ideas.

A white-haired man dressed in black, with short-sleeved button-up shirt, sits on a rug surrounded by seating pads.
Murray Rodgers guides executives through their trips. Todd Korol for The New York Times

Guides who lead psychedelic retreats also say that the drugs evoke deep waves of emotion. Some executives I interviewed revisited childhood memories during their mushroom trips. Some of them wept. And one briefly thought he had died.

That kind of emotional openness and disclosure is now routine in the corporate world. Best-selling management guides like Brené Brown’s “Dare to Lead” focus on emotional intelligence. One C.E.O. went viral on LinkedIn for a selfie that showed him crying after he laid off two employees. Executives tell employees to “bring your whole self to work,” a slogan spread in a popular TED Talk and self-help book.

The wellness boom

Business leaders have also become more candid about wellness at work.

Many have deemed mental health not just an appropriate office conversation, but a necessary one. The pandemic sent anxiety skyrocketing and prompted business leaders to make sure their employees felt comfortable discussing stress. Firms spend tens of thousands on therapy apps, meditation classes and stress management workshops. Some offer quarterly or annual mental health days.

As business leaders encourage employees to talk forthrightly about mental health, some are becoming more open about their own struggles — and the unorthodox tools they’re using. Elon Musk posted on X last year about his use of ketamine, a drug that can have hallucinogenic effects: “I have a prescription for when my brain chemistry sometimes goes super negative.”

Most scientists agree, though, that more research is needed on the possible side effects of psychedelics. There is risk when taking any unregulated drug, especially unsupervised.

A big shift

Big names in business (Apple’s Steve Jobs, OpenAI’s Sam Altman) have credited a psychedelic trip with creative insights. Now business leaders tell their colleagues that psychedelics are the reason they’ve become more calm and empathetic in the office.

Take Mark Williamson, the former chief operating officer of MasterClass, who began using psychedelics with a therapist in 2020 when his company was growing quickly. The experiences prompted him to mentor more young colleagues after one of them appeared in a vision during a drug trip.

A former Airbnb executive, Chip Conley, said he had seen friends in the business world use psychedelics to manage their egos and to find a deeper professional purpose — but he worries about corporate figures getting carried away. “There’s a cultural cachet in some communities that suggests that if you’re into psychedelics, you’re cool and open-minded,” Conley said.

Still, researchers are eager to learn whether psychedelics can have a measurable effect on business performance. Leaders get “stuck” in conventional approaches to decision making, said Rachelle Sampson, a business professor who is running a study at the University of Maryland. Perhaps, she wonders, psilocybin can break them of it.

Read my story here. I’ll be answering questions from readers in the comments today.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

THE LATEST NEWS

Clemency

  • President Biden granted clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans, the most pardons ever issued by a U.S. president in one day.
  • Many of those being granted clemency had already been placed in home confinement during the pandemic.

UnitedHealthcare Shooting

Syria

A man with a gun in fatigues turns people from the private residence of Bashar al-Assad.
People are turned away from the private residence of Bashar al-Assad. Nicole Tung for The New York Times

F.B.I. Director

A man sits at a table in a suit.
Christopher Wray Jason Andrew for The New York Times
  • The F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, plans to resign next month. Donald Trump wants to replace him with Kash Patel, whom he views as more loyal.
  • Trump appointed Wray in his first term but soured on him over the Russia investigation, racial justice protests and the F.B.I. raid on Mar-a-Lago. Trump called Wray’s resignation announcement “a great day for America.”
  • Democratic lawmakers praised the service of Wray, a Republican. Congressional Republicans criticized him.
  • Wray called stepping down “the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray” while preserving its values. He got a standing ovation.

Trump Administration

  • Last week, Pete Hegseth seemed unlikely to win confirmation to lead the Pentagon. After Trump backed Hegseth and Trump’s allies threatened to primary senators who opposed him, his chances look better.
  • Kari Lake, a former television anchor and 2020 election denier, is Trump’s pick to lead Voice of America, a federally funded news broadcaster.
  • Far-right militia groups want to help carry out Trump’s plan to deport undocumented immigrants. His transition team seemed to reject the offer.
  • Trump chose a Republican operative who tried to overturn the 2020 election to be chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget.

More on Politics

Other Big Stories

  • South Korea’s president defended his failed martial law decree in a defiant speech.
  • Britain will ban puberty blockers, a gender transition treatment, for anyone under 18, except in clinical trials.
  • Two star real estate brokers, Oren and Tal Alexander, were charged with drugging and assaulting dozens of women. Their brother was also charged.

Opinions

Are you ready for guacamole to become a luxury? Trump’s tariffs could raise the price of many basic goods, Rebecca Patterson, an economist, writes.

Here are columns by Pamela Paul on the joy of womanhood and Charles Blow on making friends after 50.

 
 

The Times Sale starts now: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

 

MORNING READS

People sit in around on couches and the floor. Many have babies on or near them.
A 12-step recovery meeting in Ashland, Ky. Stacy Kranitz for The New York Times

Recovery Inc.: Eastern Kentucky struggles with opioid addiction, but rehab companies are booming there.

Devotion: A girl went missing in South Korea in 1999. For 25 years, her father refused to stop searching.

Black plastic: A study detected dangerous chemicals in household items. See if you need to throw out your spatula.

Pack your go bag: Extreme weather is becoming more common. Experts have advice on how to stay ready for an evacuation.

Ask Real Estate: “I want to renovate my rental. How much trouble can I get into?

Lives Lived: The Amazing Kreskin often said that he did not possess any supernatural powers. His mentalist tricks, relying on body language and suggestion, dazzled audiences and brought him fame on late-night TV. Kreskin — he had a first name, but never used it professionally — has died at 89.

 

SPORTS

College football: Bill Belichick agreed to become the next coach at North Carolina, though he remains just 14 wins shy of the N.F.L. record.

N.B.A.: Trae Young and the Hawks advanced to the N.B.A. Cup semifinals after a win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

M.L.B.: The Red Sox landed the White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet, one of the best players left on the free-agent market, in an expansive trade.

 
 
Ad
Ad
 
 
 

ARTS AND IDEAS

Against a deep red background, Nikki Glaser, in a short, strappy metallic dress, holds her arms up in a victory pose as confetti flutters down.
Nikki Glaser, in her HBO special “Someday You’ll Die.” HBO

It was an eventful year in comedy. Netflix invested in live comedy, while Disney entered the stand-up market. Katt Williams beefed even more than Kendrick Lamar and Drake. John Mulaney and Taylor Tomlinson became talk show hosts. Joe Rogan jumped to the front of the conservative media establishment. See our comedy columnist’s picks for the best of 2024.

More on culture

  • Dries Van Noten, the fashion designer and founder, named a successor.
  • A 30-year-old photographer, Hannah Kobayashi, was found safe a month after she was reported missing, The Cut reports.
  • The National Labor Relations Board ruled that “Love Is Blind” contestants are employees, a decision which could affect how reality show stars are paid.
  • Stephen Colbert joked that he was surprised by the brevity of Luigi Mangione’s manifesto.
 

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%
Christopher Testani for The New York Times

Make mushroom and leek pasta in one pot.

Buy a gift for people who are always cold.

Grate your cheese with better tools.

 

GAMES

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was boycotted.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

 
 

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fliveintent.newyor
The Morning Newsletter Logo

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

phkrause

Read Isaiah 10:1-13

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


If you find some value to this community, please help out with a few dollars per month.



×
×
  • Create New...