Today, we talk about what the hell ICE is wearing out in the streets of American cities, “operator cosplay” which is the phenomenon of yahoos dressing up like they’re in special forces, and we talk a whole lot about ICE’s policy of wearing masks in public. We also continue our long search for the pod’s Joe House and bring on Kang’s college roommate, a veteran Green Beret who explains what ICE is wearing and why.
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Today we bounce from saying goodbye to Ozzy Osbourne to celebrating Billy Joel to talking about Columbia suspending students to the shameful public display of Mahmoud Khalil to Trump's calling Obama a traitor. It's a wild ride. Give a listen.
An explosive whistle-blower report claims that the Justice Department is asking government lawyers to lie to the courts, and that this has forced career officials to chose between upholding the Constitution and pledging loyalty to the president.
Rachel Abrams speaks to the whistle-blower about his career in the Justice Department and his complaint saying he was fired for telling the truth.
Guest: Erez Reuveni, who filed a whistle-blower complaint against the Department of Justice.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Photo: Kent Nishimura for The New York Times
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.
Rahm Emanuel is giving every indication that he’s running for president in 2028—including by coming on Honestly yesterday.
Emanuel, now 65 years old, has spent decades making a name for himself as one of the Democratic Party’s fiercest and most effective partisans—a true knife fighter, and you’ll see that spiciness in this interview.
But can the dealmaker, the guy so adept at pulling the levers of power behind the scenes, really become the front man? And as the party continues to pull leftward, is there really room for an old-school moderate liberal like Rahm to be the standard-bearer? And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, does he have the bedside manner to be president? Or will people love his blunt nature and find it refreshing?
He certainly has a résumé to run on. While still in his early 30s, he became a key adviser to Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, and before he was 40, his career was already the stuff of legend, thanks to stunts like sending a dead fish to a Democratic pollster who had upset him. And after Clinton won the White House in 1992, when staffers met around a picnic table to celebrate their accomplishments, Rahm instead picked up a knife and began listing Democrats he felt were insufficiently supportive of the campaign. “Dead man!” he yelled after each name, jabbing the knife into the table.
His nickname—“Rahm-bo,” after Sylvester Stallone’s fearsome commando—became so pervasive that even his mom started calling him that. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Rahm became the inspiration for a leading character on The West Wing, Josh Lyman.
He spent five years as a top White House aide following Clinton’s victory. Rahm then returned to his native Illinois and was elected to Congress in 2002. In 2006, he was the mastermind of the Democratic Party’s wildly successful effort to retake the House of Representatives, making Nancy Pelosi speaker. In 2008, Barack Obama made Rahm his first White House chief of staff. He guided the new president through his tumultuous first two years in office, a period when Obama signed Dodd-Frank, a massive stimulus package, and the Affordable Care Act, into law.
Then, in 2011, Rahm was elected to the first of his two terms as Chicago’s mayor. And when Joe Biden won the White House, he made Rahm his ambassador to Japan, giving the maybe–presidential contender direct foreign policy experience in what some would argue is America’s most important ally.
Now the question is whether a man who ran Chicago and served every living Democratic president is too conservative for Democrats.
Today on Honestly, Bari asks Rahm how moderates on the left and the right can get elected, about free trade, China, Israel, Iran, Trump, Biden, Obama, Zohran Mamdani, and the American dream—and what his party needs to do to win back Congress in the midterms next year, and the White House in 2028. And more deeply, if the Democrats can ever win a national election again after losing the trust of the American people.
It’s a fascinating conversation with one of the most unique, knowledgeable, and—dare we say—zesty figures in politics today.
The consensus that held American Jewry together for generations is breaking down.
That consensus, roughly, was this: What is good for Israel is good for the Jews; anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism; and there will someday soon be a two-state solution that reconciles Zionism and liberalism — or, at the very least, Israel is seeking such a solution.
Every single component of that consensus has cracked. And as I've been talking to people from different walks of American Jewish life — politicians and rabbis and activists and analysts and journalists — what I realize is there is nothing coming in to replace it.
This column read for “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by our executive producer, Claire Gordon, and Marie Cascione. Fact-checking by Jack McCordick and Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Marina King, Jan Kobal, Kristin Lin and Aman Sahota. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
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.
Zachary Karabell and Emma Varvaloucas shine a light on a powerful form of providing education. This week, they’re joined by Laura Hosman of Arizona State University, creator of SolarSPELL, an offline, solar-powered digital library making education possible where internet access doesn't exist. Discover how SolarSPELL is transforming classrooms from remote Pacific islands to refugee camps in Syria, empowering teachers, and closing the digital divide with nothing but sunlight and ingenuity. They discuss bridging educational gaps, building digital literacy, and proving that when it comes to global progress, there’s plenty that can still go right.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman explains how a rare genetic mutation affecting the enzyme FAAH, and a ubiquitous neurotransmitter called Anandamide may account for unusually low anxiety, reduced drug cravings, and an innate buoyancy, the type of which you might find in a daily podcast host. Plus, Louisville reverses its immigration detainer policy under federal pressure, reigniting the debate over sanctuary cities and local autonomy. And in the Spiel a burial standoff concerning the former President of Zambia.
In the United States, Coca-Cola is typically sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. However, Coca-Cola is introducing a new line of its namesake cola in the U.S. that will be sweetened with cane sugar. This new line is not replacing the existing high fructose corn syrup version but rather offered as an additional option. What does science tell us about the health risks of high fructose corn syrup?array(3) {
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Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who operated a vast network of sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls, died in jail under suspicious circumstances, Controversy surrounding former President Donald Trump includes his past friendship and social ties with Epstein, and now the Republican control Congress which is blocking the release of records in Epstein investigation.array(3) {
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President Donald Trump is suing the publisher and owner of the Wall Street Journal and seeking damages of $10 billion for defamation.
Last week, the paper published an article describing a letter Trump sent to disgraced, self-styled financier Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003. That letter reportedly included a lewd drawing. The president says — without evidence — that he didn't write the letter. The Journal's publisher says they will defend against the lawsuit.
In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote the lawsuit was filed "not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media."
We discuss the president's legal action — and the threat of it — against the media.
