Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he’s willing to hold elections if the US and other allies help ensure security. Is that a promise Trump can make as he pushes Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia? Also, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man illegally deported by the Trump administration in March and eventually returned, is now free from immigration custody. Plus, Republicans in Indiana have rejected a redistricting proposal. President Trump successfully pushed other states to redraw their congressional maps to help Republicans win next year’s midterm elections, so why did Indiana’s Republicans break with the president?
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kate Bartlett, Anna Yukhananov, Larry Kaplow and Alice Woelfle.
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WSJ Minute Briefing - Trump Signs AI Order to Curb State Power
Plus: OpenAI rolls out a new version of ChatGPT in a bid to move ahead of competition from Google and Anthropic. And Lulelemon’s CEO plans to step down following a pressure campaign from the company’s outspoken founder. Luke Vargas hosts.
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Marketplace All-in-One - Bytes: Week in Review – Apple’s leadership departures raises concerns over its AI future
There’s been something of a critical mass of high-profile departures and retirement announcements at Apple in recent weeks. Plus, how will consumers be helped or hurt by a potential merger between Netflix and Warner Bros or a hostile takeover from Paramount? And McDonald's pulls an AI-generated Christmas ad because some folks on social media weren't “lovin' it.”
Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Joanna Stern, senior personal technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal for this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”
WSJ What’s News - Washington Tightens the Screws on Venezuela’s Maduro
A.M. Edition for Dec. 12. The U.S. is ramping up efforts to force Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro from power, by sanctioning his family members and oil tankers that provide critical revenue for his regime. Plus, the White House tries to rein in a surge of state AI regulations. And WSJ tech reporter Sam Schechner looks at how OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT update stacks up against competitors from Google and Anthropic. Luke Vargas hosts.
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The Daily - Trump’s Plan to Reorder the World
President Trump has overseen an aggressive foreign policy, including harsh words about Europe and a lethal military campaign in the Caribbean.
Last week, the White House unveiled its new national security strategy, which made Mr. Trump’s true goals clear and alarmed countries around the world.
David E. Sanger, who covers the White House and national security for The New York Times, explains what the strategy is and how it may change America’s global relationships for good.
Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.
Background reading:
- Mr. Trump’s security strategy focuses on profit, not on spreading democracy.
- The policy document formalizes Mr. Trump’s long-held contempt for Europe’s leaders.
Photo: Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters
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.
Start Here - Another Grand Jury Refuses to Indict Letitia James
For the second time in a week, Justice Department prosecutors fail to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James. The U.S. plans to seize the oil from a tanker leaving Venezuela. And Australian teens struggle through their second day without legal access to major social media sites.
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The Ezra Klein Show - Best Of: Zadie Smith on Populists, Frauds and Flip Phones
This is one of my favorite conversations in recent memory — with the writer Zadie Smith.
Smith is the author of novels, including “White Teeth,” “On Beauty” and “NW,” as well as many essays and short stories. Her ability to give language to the kinds of quiet battles that live inside of ourselves is part of why she’s been one of my favorite writers for years.
“We absolutely need to gather in our identity groups sometimes for our freedoms, for our civil rights. There’s absolutely no doubt about that. But for that role to be the thing that is you existentially all the way down — that is something that I personally believe all human beings revolt from at some level,” she told me when we spoke last September, shortly before Trump’s re-election.
It’s ideas like these that I found interesting to revisit now, in a starkly different political climate. In this conversation, we discuss Smith’s novel, “The Fraud,” which Smith wrote with Trump and populism front of mind; what populism is really channeling; why Smith refuses the “bait” of wokeness; how people have been “modified” by smartphones and social media; and more.
This episode contains strong language.
Mentioned:
Feel Free by Zadie Smith
“Fascinated to Presume: In Defense of Fiction” by Zadie Smith
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
“Generation Why?” by Zadie Smith
Book Recommendations:
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
The Rebel’s Clinic by Adam Shatz
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Efim Shapiro. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
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.
The Daily Detail - The Daily Detail for 12.12.25
Alabama
- GOP House Delegate support the passage of the NDAA for 2026
- Congressman Moore is endorsed for senate primary by OH senator Moreno
- Fannie Mae offices to relocate from CA to Birmingham Alabama
- SCOTUS heard oral arguments over IQ levels in death row inmate case in AL
- Scholastic Books under scrutiny after LGBTQ books sold at middle school
- Governor Ivey announces new tractor assembly plant coming to Monroeville
National
- President Trump fully pardons CO elections clerk Tina Peters
- US senate votes down bill to extend Obama care subsidies and tax credits
- Director of National Counterterrorism says 18K people on terrorism watch list now here in the US
- US Navy submits report on Sen. Mark Kelly and his part in subversive video
- Secretary of Ed says $1B in financial aid fraud has been identified & halted
- Dept of Housing says housing prices directly due to mass migration
- Executive Director for BLM in OK indicted on 25 counts involving $
Getting Hammered - Bonus: Karen Vaites and MKH on School Closings, Literacy, and Why Them Kids Ain’t Learnin’ Good
We're excited to offer some interviews as bonus content on Getting Hammered with friends of the show on topics we care about. Today, Karen Vaites, an expert on literacy and curriculum, who really knows the nitty-gritty about how students learn, what works, and what we can replicate. We rant a bit about school closings and Randi Weingarten, then get on to the business of moving forward— the Mississippi Miracle, the Southern Surge, and whether skepticism is warranted. We are optimists. There is good news! We're trying to spread the word and help spread the strategy. That's where you come in.
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Unexpected Elements - Chicken, with a side order of science
Over the Christmas season, it is estimated that some 3.6 million families in Japan will tuck into KFC over Christmas (other fried chicken is available), which inspired the Unexpected Elements team to chew over all things chicken!
First up, we discover that chicken may never have become domesticated if it wasn’t for rice farming. We also ponder whether the chicken or the egg came first (are you Team Chicken or Team Egg)? Next, we find out that humans are surprisingly smart at translating chicken chatter.
We’re then joined down the line by Dr Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum of Natural History, who reveals more about the links between dinosaurs and birds.
Plus, how Brazil became a poultry superpower, and what happens to chickens in tornadoes.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Camilla Mota and Godfred Boafo Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Sophie Ormiston, Ella Hubber and Robbie Wojciechowski