The Sunday Read: ‘The Trillion- Gallon Question’

For many, the logic seemed unassailable: Giving poor families money would measurably improve the lives of their children. And so a few years ago, social scientists set out to test whether that assumption was right.The results of the experiment have shocked them.Guest: Jason DeParle, a Times reporter who covers poverty in the United States.Background reading: A rigorous experiment appears to show that monthly checks intended to help disadvantaged children did little for their well-being.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Andrew Seng for The New York Times Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

6 Aug 24min

For many Americans, the government’s monthly jobs number was a pretty dull statistic — until a few days ago, when President Trump angrily fired the person responsible for producing it, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Now, from Washington to Wall Street, many people are wondering whether you can still trust federal statistics if the president is willing to just get rid of people who give him facts he doesn’t like.On this episode, Ben Casselman joins The Daily to discuss how the government’s economic data suddenly turned into a national drama.Guest: Ben Casselman, the chief economics correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: President Trump fired America’s economic data collector. History shows the perils of such a move.Until the president fired her, Erika McEntarfer was an economist with bipartisan support.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

5 Aug 29min

In a dramatic act of protest on Sunday, Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives began to flee the state. It is a last-ditch attempt to stop President Trump and Texas Republicans from adopting an aggressively redrawn congressional map that would eliminate Democratic seats — and could help lock in a Republican majority in next year’s elections.Shane Goldmacher, a Times political correspondent, explains this new chapter in the era of unvarnished partisan warfare.Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a political correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The redrawn map, unveiled by Texas Republicans and pushed by Mr. Trump, puts areas of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio that have incumbent Democrats into districts that would now favor Republicans. “We’re leaving Texas to fight for Texans,” Gene Wu, a state representative from Houston and the chair of the Democratic caucus in the Texas House, said in a statement Sunday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

4 Aug 27min

“Am I in trouble?” “Am I secretly bad?” These are questions Meg Josephson, a therapist and author, grew up asking herself. She was constantly trying to anticipate other people’s needs, worried that she was letting other people down. And it wasn’t until she found herself standing in the aisle of a Bed Bath & Beyond, trying to remember her favorite color, that she realized her desire to please everyone was eroding her sense of self.On this episode of Modern Love, Josephson talks about how that realization led her to confront her tumultuous childhood, and what it took to stop “people pleasing.” She then reads the Modern Love essay “My Three Years as a Beloved Daughter” by Erin Brown, about a woman who found a type of love in her best friend’s parents that she had never experienced before, and what that taught her about her own parents.Josephson’s book, “Are You Mad At Me?,” is available Aug. 5, 2025.Find new episodes of Modern Love every Wednesday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadio Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

3 Aug 45min

As the images of starving Palestinian children continue to come out of Gaza and aid groups have confirmed a rising number of deaths from malnutrition, there has been a new round of international outrage, including from Israel’s own allies.Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps, an independent Israeli journalist, discusses whether any of the outcry is resonating with Israeli society.Guest: Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps, an Israeli journalist.Background reading: Israelis are voicing dissent against the war in Gaza.Anger over the starvation in Gaza is leaving Israel increasingly isolated.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

1 Aug 24min

After rolling back a slew of regulations aimed at reversing climate change, and pulling funding for the scientists who monitor it, the Trump administration is now taking its boldest action yet.It’s eliminating the scientific finding at the heart of the government’s ability to fight climate change in the first place.Lisa Friedman, who covers climate policy, discusses the history of the finding, what it did and what happens once it’s gone.Guest: Lisa Friedman, a reporter covering climate policy and politics at The New York Times.Background reading: In a game-changing climate rollback, the E.P.A. aims to kill a bedrock scientific finding.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Ulysse Bellier/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

31 Jul 25min

A major investigation from The Times has found that government pressure to perform more organ transplants is creating greater risk for donors and threatening the overall fairness of the system.Brian M. Rosenthal, an investigative reporter at The Times, explains what he’s uncovered.Guest: Brian M. Rosenthal, an investigative reporter at The New York Times covering America’s organ transplant system.Background reading: A push for more organ transplants is putting donors at risk.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

30 Jul 30min

By almost all accounts, the historic trade deal that was reached between the United States and the 27 nations of the European Union is far better for the United States than it is for Europe.Jeanna Smialek, the Brussels bureau chief for The Times, explains why the European Union gave in to President Trump and the blowback that’s causing.Guest: Jeanna Smialek, the Brussels bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Is the European Union’s tariff deal with the United States good for Europe?The framework agreement is not likely to do much for economic growth on either side. But it avoids new fissures on other foreign policy issues, particularly the war in Ukraine.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

29 Jul 25min