Inside the Sputtering Campaign of Ron DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida began the race for the Republican nomination with high expectations and a clear argument: that he was a political fighter with a solid record of conservative achievements in his state. Now, he appears to be in a downward spiral.Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The Times, explains why the DeSantis campaign is stumbling so badly.Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Governor DeSantis, who has been losing ground in polls and dealing with staffing, spending and messaging issues, tweaks his messaging and tactics.Here are four major challenges facing his campaign.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.
21 Aug 202329min
The Sunday Read: ‘The Ongoing Mystery of Covid’s Origin’
Where did it come from? More than three years into the pandemic with untold millions of people dead, that question about the origin of Covid-19 remains widely disputed and fraught, with facts sparkling amid a tangle of analyses and hypotheticals like Christmas lights strung on a dark, thorny tree. One school of thought holds that the virus, known to science as SARS-CoV-2, spread to humans from a nonhuman animal, probably in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, an emporium brimming with fish, meats and wildlife on sale as food in Wuhan, China.Another school argues that the virus was laboratory-engineered as a bioweapon to infect humans and cause them harm, and was possibly devised in a “shadow project” sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army of China. A third school, more moderate than the second but also implicating laboratory work, suggests that the virus got into its first human victim by accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research complex on the eastern side of the city, maybe after undergoing well-meaning but reckless genetic manipulation that made it more dangerous to people.If you feel confused by these possibilities, undecided, suspicious of overconfident assertions — or just tired of the whole subject of the pandemic and whatever little bug has caused it — be assured that you aren’t the only one.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. 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.
20 Aug 20231h 2min
How a Paradise Became a Death Trap
Warning: This episode contains descriptions of death.When fires swept West Maui, Hawaii, many residents fled for their lives — but soon discovered they had nowhere to go. Thousands of structures, mostly homes, have been reduced to rubble. Husks of incinerated cars line the historic Front Street in Lahaina, while search crews nearby make their way painstakingly from house to house, looking for human remains.Ydriss Nouara, a resident of Lahaina, recounts his experience fleeing the inferno and Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The Times, explains how an extraordinary set of circumstances turned the city into a death trap.Guest: Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Nearly a week after the fires started, relatives are receiving little information as search and identification efforts move slowly.How the fires turned Lahaina into a death trap.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.
18 Aug 202342min
Hunter Biden’s Legal Problems Keep Getting Worse
A plea deal struck between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden was supposed to bring his years of legal troubles to an end. Instead, that deal has unraveled and a special counsel has been named to take over the case.Michael Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The Times, explains why that turn of events is increasingly pitting the interests of Hunter Biden against those of President Biden.Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The lawyer who represented Hunter Biden in plea negotiations stepped down, saying that he intends to testify as a witness on behalf of the president’s son.Here’s a timeline of Hunter Biden’s life and legal troubles.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.
17 Aug 202326min
Why a Coup in Niger Has the World’s Attention
In a region of Africa where authoritarianism has been rising, Niger seemed to be on a different path of democracy and partnership with the United States.Declan Walsh, chief Africa correspondent for The Times, explains how a military coup has now put all of that in jeopardy and why Niger’s allies still think it’s possible to reverse that coup.Guest: Declan Walsh, the chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The military junta that seized power in Niger said it would prosecute the president on treason charges, while also telling an intermediary that it was open to talks with neighboring countries.“Not another coup as usual”: Here’s what to know about Niger’s crisis.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.
16 Aug 202326min
A Law Used Against the Mafia — and Now Trump
On Monday, former President Donald J. Trump and 18 others were indicted by an Atlanta grand jury, with Mr. Trump and some of his former top aides accused of orchestrating a “criminal enterprise” to reverse the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.Richard Fausset, who covers politics and culture in the American South for The Times, explains why, of all the charges piling up against Trump, this one may be the hardest to escape.Guest: Richard Fausset, a New York Times correspondent based in Atlanta.Background reading:A grand jury in Georgia indicted the former president and 18 allies on multiple charges related to a conspiracy to subvert the will of voters.Here are the latest developments in the investigation.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.
15 Aug 202322min
What Lahaina Lost in Hawaii’s Wildfires
Last week, wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui that became the deadliest in the United States in over a century. The town of Lahaina, once the royal capital of the kingdom of Hawaii, was one of the places hit hardest — its historic center was decimated, including Waiola Church, the oldest on the island and a cherished meeting place.Today, the minister of Waiola Church, Anela Rosa, explains what it means to lose Lahaina and what it will take to rebuild it.Guest: Anela Rosa, minister of Waiola Church in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.Background reading: Lahaina was once Hawaii’s royal capital, and there were fears that some of its oldest buildings had been destroyed by the wildfires.A journey through Lahaina’s endless streets of suffering.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.
14 Aug 202328min
The Sunday Read: ‘The Silicon Blockade’
Last October, the United States Bureau of Industry and Security issued a document that, underneath its 139 pages of dense bureaucratic jargon and minute technical detail, amounted to a declaration of economic war on China. The magnitude of the act was made all the more remarkable by the relative obscurity of its source.In recent years, semiconductor chips have become central to the bureau’s work. Despite the immense intricacy of their design, semiconductors are, in a sense, quite simple: tiny pieces of silicon carved with arrays of circuits. The chips are the lifeblood of the modern economy and the brains of every electronic device and system, including iPhones, toasters, data centers and credit cards. A new car might have more than a thousand chips, each one managing a different facet of the vehicle’s operation. Semiconductors are also the driving force behind the innovations poised to revolutionize life over the next century, like quantum computing and artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for example, was reportedly trained on 10,000 of the most advanced chips available.Though delivered in the unassuming form of updated export rules, the Oct. 7 controls essentially seek to eradicate, root and branch, China’s entire ecosystem of advanced technology. If the controls succeed, they could handicap China for a generation; if they fail, they may backfire spectacularly, hastening the very future the United States is trying desperately to avoid.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. 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.
13 Aug 202334min
