The Daily

At the Iowa Republican caucuses on Monday night, Donald J. Trump secured a runaway victory. The only real drama was the fight for second place.Reid Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, takes us inside one of the caucuses, and Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter, walks us through the final results.Guest: Reid J. Epstein, a politics correspondent for The New York Times, andShane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: A letdown for Ron DeSantis: His campaign is running low on cash and faces tough tests ahead.Why coming in second can be a win in early-state contests.Here are five takeaways from Trump’s crushing victory.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, the N.F.L.’s defending champions, is a very loud place. During a 2014 game, a sound meter captured a decibel reading equivalent to a jet’s taking off, earning a Guinness World Record for “Loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium.”Around 11 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, Brian Melillo, an audio engineer for NBC Sports’ flagship N.F.L. telecast, “Sunday Night Football,” arrived at Arrowhead to prepare for that evening’s game against the Detroit Lions. It was a big occasion: the annual season opener, the N.F.L. Kickoff game, traditionally hosted by the winner of last season’s Super Bowl. There would be speeches, fireworks, a military flyover, the unfurling of a championship banner. A crowd of more than 73,000 was expected. “Arrowhead is a pretty rowdy setting,” Melillo said. “It can present some problems.”Broadcasting a football game on live television is one of the most complex technical and logistical challenges in entertainment. Jody Rosen went behind the scene

On Monday, Iowa holds the first contest in the Republican presidential nominating process and nobody will have more on the line than Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor staked his candidacy on a victory in Iowa, a victory that now seems increasingly remote.Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The Times, and the Daily producers Rob Szypko and Carlos Prieto explain what Mr. DeSantis’s challenge has looked like on the ground in Iowa.Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: A weak night for Donald Trump? A Ron DeSantis flop? Gaming out Iowa.From December: Mr. Trump was gaining in Iowa polling, and Mr. DeSantis was holding off Nikki Haley for a distant second.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on

A recent string of attacks across the Middle East has raised concerns that the war between Hamas and Israel is spreading, and might put pressure on other countries like Iran and the United States to get more involved.Eric Schmitt, who covers national security for The Times, discusses the risk that the conflict is becoming an even wider war, and explains the efforts underway to prevent that.Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Attacks have heightened fears of a wider war for the Middle East and U.S.After a Red Sea barrage by the Houthis, a militant group in Yemen, the U.S. and its allies are considering how to retaliate.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Donald Trump has consistently argued that as a former president, he is immune from being charged with a crime for things he did while he was in office.Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains what happened when Trump’s lawyers made that case in federal court, whether the claim has any chance of being accepted — and why Trump may win something valuable either way.Guest: Adam Liptak, a Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Trump’s immunity claim in court.Analysis: Trump says his acquittal by the Senate in his second impeachment trial makes him immune from prosecution.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Across the United States, hundreds of towns and cities are trying to get guns off the streets by turning them over to businesses that offer to destroy them.But a New York Times investigation found that something very different is happening.Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter at The Times, explains the unintended consequences of efforts by local officials to rid their communities of guns.Guest: Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: The guns were said to be destroyed. Instead, they were reborn.Gun control, explained.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Tonight, millions of Americans are expected to tune in to watch one of the biggest sports events of the year, college football’s national championship game. On the field, the game will be determined by the skill of the players and coaches, but behind the scenes, secretive groups of donors are wielding enormous influence over what fans will see.David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The Times, discusses the shadowy industry upending college football, and how it has brought amateur athletics even closer to the world of professional sports.Guest: David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: The best teams that money could buy.A shift that allows booster groups to employ student athletes has upended the economics of college football and other sports while giving many donors a tax break.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York

Fifty years ago, eight Americans set off for South America to climb Aconcagua, one of the world’s mightiest mountains. Things quickly went wrong. Two climbers died. Their bodies were left behind.Here is what was certain: A woman from Denver, maybe the most accomplished climber in the group, had last been seen alive on the glacier. A man from Texas, part of the recent Apollo missions to the moon, lay frozen nearby.There were contradictory statements from survivors and a hasty departure. There was a judge who demanded an investigation into possible foul play. There were three years of summit-scratching searches to find and retrieve the bodies.Now, decades later, a camera belonging to one of the deceased climbers has emerged from a receding glacier near the summit and one of mountaineering’s most enduring mysteries has been given air and light.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. Unlock full access to New York

In a landmark ruling last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent and banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions.The decision eliminated the most powerful tool for ensuring diversity on America’s college campuses and forced college admission officers and high school seniors to figure out what the college admissions process should look like when race cannot be taken into account.Jessica Cheung, a producer on “The Daily,” explains how, over the past year, both students and college officials have tried to navigate the new rules.Guest: Jessica Cheung, a producer on “The Daily” for The New York Times.Background reading: The first high-school seniors to apply to college since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision have had to sort through a morass of conflicting guidance.From June: The Supreme Court rejected affirmative action programs at Harvard and U.N.C.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made avail

A puzzling new pattern has taken hold on American roads: pedestrian traffic deaths, which had been on the decline for years, have skyrocketed.Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Upshot at The New York Times, discusses her investigation into what lies behind the phenomenon.Guest: Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The Upshot at The New York Times.Background reading: Why are so many U.S. pedestrians dying at night?The exceptionally American problem of rising roadway deaths.More theories on the rising pedestrian deaths at night.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Yesterday, we went inside Donald Trump’s campaign for president, to understand how he’s trying to turn a mountain of legal trouble into a political advantage. Today, we turn to the re-election campaign of President Biden.Reid Epstein, who covers politics for The Times, explains why what looks like a record of accomplishment on paper, is turning out to be so difficult to campaign on.Guest: Reid J. Epstein, a politics correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: In South Carolina, Democrats see a test of Biden’s appeal to Black voters.Political Memo: Should Biden really run again? He prolongs an awkward conversation.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

As former President Donald J. Trump enters an election year leading his Republican rivals by wide margins in the polls, multiple court cases are taking up an increasing amount of his campaign schedule. They have been integrated into his messaging and fund-raising efforts, and his campaign staff has been developing a strategy to lock up his nomination, regardless of what happens in court. Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The Times, discusses what Mr. Trump’s campaign will look and feel like amid the many court dates for his cases.Guest: Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Inside Trump’s Backroom Effort to Lock Up the NominationTrump’s Team Prepares to File Challenges on Ballot Decisions SoonIndicted or Barred From the Ballot: For Trump, Bad News Cements SupportFor more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Time

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.Major League Baseball is putting in effect some of the biggest changes in the sport’s history in an effort to speed up the game and inject more activity.As the 2023 season opens, Michael Schmidt, a Times reporter, explains the extraordinary plan to save baseball from the tyranny of the home run.Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Listen to the original version of the episode here.With three major rule changes this season, Major League Baseball will try to reinvent itself while looking to the game’s past for inspiration.Here’s a look at the new rules.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe tod

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.With mountains, intense mud, fast-running rivers and thick rainforest, the Darién Gap, a strip of terrain connecting South and Central America, is one of the most dangerous places on the planet.Over the past few years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of migrants passing through the perilous zone in the hopes of getting to the United States.Today, we hear the story of one family that’s risking everything to make it across.Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York TimesBackground reading: Listen to the original version of the episode here.The pandemic, climate change and growing conflict are forcing a seismic shift in global migration.Two crises are converging at the Darién Gap: an economic and humanitarian disaster underway in South America and the bitter fight over immigration policy in Washington.For more information on toda

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kremlin made it a crime to oppose the war in public. Since then, it has waged a relentless campaign of repression, putting Russian citizens in jail for offenses as small as holding a poster or sharing a news article on social media.Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The Times, tells the story of Olesya Krivtsova, a 19-year-old student who faces up to 10 years in prison after posting on social media, and explains why the Russian government is so determined to silence those like her.Guest: Valerie Hopkins, an international correspondent for The New York Times, covering Russia and the war in Ukraine.Background reading: Listen to the original version of the episode here.Oleysa’s story has underlined the perils of using social media to criticize the war in Ukraine.The authorities are determining who will take custo

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since.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, had been reduced to rubble. Husks of incinerated cars lined the historic Front Street in Lahaina, while search crews nearby made 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: Listen to the original version of the episode here.Nearly a week after the fires started, relatives received little information as search and identification efforts moved

A New York Times/Siena College poll has found that voters disapprove of President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza, though voters are split on U.S. policy toward the conflict and whether or not Israel’s military campaign should continue. Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The Times, breaks down the poll and what it means for U.S.-Israeli relations and Biden’s 2024 campaign.Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a political correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Poll Finds Wide Disapproval of Biden on Gaza, and Little Room to Shift GearsHow Much Is Biden’s Support of Israel Hurting Him With Young Voters?Amid Dismal Polling and Some Voter Anger, Don’t Expect Biden to Shift His StrategyFor more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotif

The accidental killing of three hostages by Israel’s military has shocked Israelis and is raising new questions about the way Israel is conducting its war against Hamas. Afterward, Israel’s defense minister appeared to announce a shift in strategy, giving the clearest indication to date that Israel may slow down its military operation in Gaza after weeks of pressure.Patrick Kingsley, Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, and Hiba Yazbek, a reporter for The Times, discuss Israel’s military campaign and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.Guests: Patrick Kingsley, Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, and Hiba Yazbek, a reporter for The Times.Background reading: Israel Says 3 Hostages Bore White Flag Before Being Killed by TroopsIsrael’s Allies Urge Restraint as Netanyahu Vows ‘Fight to the End’U.S. Urges Israel to Do More to Spare Civilians in Gaza and Pushes Hostage TalksWhat to Know About the Remaining Hostages Taken From IsraelFor more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of e

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald J. Trump is barred from holding office under the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies those who engage in insurrection, and directed Mr. Trump’s name to be excluded from the state’s 2024 Republican primary ballot.Adam Liptak, who covers the court for The Times, explains the ruling and why the case is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times.Background reading:Trump Is Disqualified From Holding Office, Colorado Supreme Court RulesColorado Ruling Knocks Trump Off Ballot: What It Means, What Happens NextRead the Colorado Supreme Court’s Decision Disqualifying Trump From the BallotFor more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or o

Warning: this episode contains mentions of suicide.A recently released study from researchers at Boston University examined the brains of 152 contact-sport athletes who died before turning 30. They found that more than 40 percent of them had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated hits to the head. Most of those athletes played football, and most played no higher than the high school or college level. John Branch, domestic correspondent for The New York Times, spoke to the families of five of these athletes.Background reading:C.T.E. Study Finds That Young Football Players Are Getting the DiseaseAfter the Loss of a Son, a Football Coach Confronts a Terrible TruthFor more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple P