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- [00:00]
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Tracy Mumford
From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, June 6th. Here's what we're covering.
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Political Analyst
I mean, what we watched unfold was this remarkable break between two of the most powerful men in the world. And it just utterly collapsed. And it didn't just break down, it severed.
- [00:56]
Tracy Mumford
My colleague Tyler Pager has been covering how the relationship between President Trump and Elon Musk has erupted into a public feud. Musk, who formally left his special government position last week, has been openly railing against Trump's signature domestic policy bill, criticizing it as disgusting and too expensive. Then at a press conference in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump fired back as anticipated.
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Political Analyst
Trump very early on got a question from a reporter to respond to Elon Musk's criticism of the bill.
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Donald Trump
I'm very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here.
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Political Analyst
And Trump just sort of started to unload on him.
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Donald Trump
And I'll be honest, I think he misses the place. I think he got out there and all of a sudden he wasn't in this beautiful Oval Office and he was.
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Political Analyst
And he's got, he said he was very disappointed in him. He said Elon was just self interested in his criticism of the bill. And he started to sort of walk through through a laundry list of complaints about the world's richest man and his former good friend. And then from there, that story just continued to unfold.
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Tracy Mumford
Trump went on to claim that he would have won the 2024 election even without the hundreds of millions of dollars Musk poured into his campaign. Musk was clearly watching the president's comments and took the fight online. Without me, Trump would have lost. He posted on X. That was followed by, quote, such ingratitude. The sparring then gave way to threats. Trump posted about how he could save federal money by terminating billions of dollars of government contracts with Musk's companies. And Musk went scorched earth, claiming that there were References to Trump in government documents related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and indicating his support for a post calling for Trump's impeachment.
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Political Analyst
The thing is, both of these men have a lot at risk for Trump. Elon Musk has promised $100 million for groups controlled by pro Trump allies ahead of the midterms. Elon Musk also controls a powerful platform in X, and he can now deploy that against Trump in a remarkable way. For Musk, there are allies of President Trump, including Steve Bannon, who I spoke with on Thursday, who said Trump should start investigations into Musk. So there's a whole host of ways that this could continue to escalate and we'll see what the next twist in turn is.
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Tracy Mumford
Also yesterday, Trump had a 90 minute phone call with the president of China.
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Donald Trump
By the way, he invited me to China and I invited him here. We both accepted. So I'll be going there with the first lady at a certain point.
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Tracy Mumford
It was the first known conversation between the leaders since Trump took office and massively escalated the global trade war. Businesses in both countries have been in limbo, hoping for some kind of resolution. At the moment, the tariffs Trump ratcheted up over 100% are on pause. But other trade restrictions between the countries are threatening the global supply chain. For example, China stopped exporting rare earth metals, which are crucial to manufacturing everything from cars to computer chips. Some US Factories have already warned they're running out of the stockpiles they had left after the call yesterday, which Chinese officials say Trump requested. The two sides agreed to hold more trade talks, though the Trump administration has said little publicly about what concessions it hopes to get from China. Foreign in the Middle east, officials tell the Times that Israel has been sending weapons into Gaza to arm a Palestinian militia in an effort to fight Hamas. Facing criticism over the allegations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the government has been working with, quote, clans in the territory. Insiders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say that weapons and other support have gone to a militia leader named Yasser Abu Shabaab, who is believed to command a relatively small group in the city of Rafah. Abu Shabaab became notorious last year amid accusations that he had looted and resold truckloads of humanitarian aid intended for hungry Gazans. He disputed that and also calls the claims that he's working with Israel invalid. It's not clear what effect arming a Palestinian militia would have on the security situation in Gaza, but Israel's decision offers a window into the government's struggles to find an alternative to Hamas's rule in the territory and its willingness to experiment with potentially risky strategies to do so. The Israeli opposition leader has warned it could backfire, writing, quote, the weapons going into Gaza will eventually be pointed at Israeli soldiers and civilians. This year, there has been an unusually high number of whooping cough cases across the US more than 10,000, raising the alarm among public health officials. Also called pertussis, the respiratory illness is known for causing bouts of coughing so intense that they can lead to vomiting or even broken ribs. Experts think the jump in cases is likely due to the falling rate of childhood vaccines and that people weren't exposed to whooping cough as much during the isolation of the pandemic. That's left people's immune systems out of the habit of defending against it. My colleague Teddy Rosenbluth on the Times well desk has been talking with infectious disease experts who said there are three main categories of people who should consider getting a booster shot.
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Teddy Rosenbluth
So the first situation is if you are preteen, and that's because the protection you get from the whooping cough vaccines wane over time. So by the time you're a preteen, that immunity really fallen off and you're still attending school, which is a place where pertussis spreads easily. Another scenario is if you have a young child in your life that you're planning on seeing. You know, whooping cough is bothersome and disruptive for anyone, but it can be potentially deadly for babies, especially under two months. So experts said in general, if you're planning on seeing a baby, you should really check to make sure you've had a TDAP booster in the last five years or so. And if you can't remember when you've had that booster, it really can't hurt just to get the shot again, aside from maybe having a sore arm. And then the last scenario is if you are pregnant. One of the best ways to protect babies from getting whooping cough is to get vaccinated during your third trimester of pregnancy. And so the immunity actually transfers over to the baby and protects them when they are most vulnerable to dying from the infection.
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Tracy Mumford
Teddy says local public health officials may also advise booster shots for anyone living near an active outbreak. States on the West Coast, Washington, Oregon and California have reported the most cases this year, according to data from the cdc. And finally, the summer travel season is upon us, and the Times travel Desk has been looking at some of the big trends. In some cases, that requires compiling a glossary to keep up. So here we go. One term you might hear this land snorkeling though there's no actual snorkel required. The term refers to going on a walk, maybe in a new place, and really paying attention to all the minute details along the way. The same way that you might hover over a coral reef and watch every little tiny fish on a snorkeling trip, basically take it all in another one. Nocturism, as in nocturnal tourism travel adventures you have at night, whether that's swimming in phosphorescent bays and watching the glow or getting away from city lights to go stargazing. Trend forecasters say there's been a jump in interest in after dark tourist activities in some cases to try and beat the heat of the middle of the day. And lastly, some travel organizers say they've seen a rise in phenomenon chasing people trying to book trips to see natural events like the northern lights or solar eclipses. For the record, the next total solar eclipse will be next summer, August of 2026. It'll be visible in Greenland, Iceland, Russia, Spain and a little bit of Portugal. If you want to get your land snorkel ready in advance, those are the headlines. But stick around. We've got the Friday News quiz for you after the credits. Today on the Daily, you can hear the first episode in the Times new series the Protocol, the story behind medical care for transgender kids. That's next in the New York Times audio app where you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica Metzger, Yon Stewart and me, Tracy Mumford. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, Katie o' Brien, Jill Taylor and Paula Schumann. Now for the quiz, we've got questions about three stories the Times has covered this week. Can you answer them all? First up?
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Chuck Schumer
All right. Hello everybody. Thanks for being here. Thanks.
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Tracy Mumford
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took the mic at a press conference this week to express his disbelief.
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Chuck Schumer
I hear something happened while we were at lunch which led me to say something I didn't think was imaginable. I agree with who was Schumer frankly.
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Tracy Mumford
Shocked that he agreed with? I'll give you a hint. It has to do with President Trump's signature policy. Bill. The answer?
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Chuck Schumer
I agree with Elon Musk.
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Tracy Mumford
Elon Musk's recent bashing of the so called big beautiful bill as too expensive has earned a nod from the Democrats. Though Democrats like Schumer have their own reasons for opposing the bill, they largely disagree with the packages, cuts to Medicaid and its tax breaks for wealthy Americans. Okay, second Question Ukraine pulled off an audacious attack on Russian warplanes last weekend, smuggling dozens of drones into Russia and launching them at air bases across the country. Eyewitness videos from near one of those bases showed plumes of smoke billowing into the air. The whole thing took more than a year to plan, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And it had a code name. What was it called? A Operation Black Widow B Operation Hornet's Nest C Operation Spider's Web the answer? Operation Spider's Web. Ukraine says the attack took out dozens of Russian planes, some of them worth $100 million or more. The drones they use to do it cost as little as $600 each. And last question. This week Nintendo released its highly anticipated Switch 2, the company's first new console in almost a decade. And the ads for it are kind of a nostalgic throwback featuring a big name Hollywood actor who somehow never seems to age.
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Teddy Rosenbluth
Why are you dressed like you're in a boy band?
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Tracy Mumford
Seriously? My super NES commercial from the 90s with my long black duster, indie rocked hair and beaded necklace. That same actor appeared in a Nintendo ad more than 30 years ago when Super Nintendo came out, and that was his acting debut. Who is the actor? Give you a hint? Think clueless, Wet Hot American Summer Anchorman the answer? Paul Rudd. He had no lines in the 1991 commercial, so he has come a long way. As for the Switch 2, Nintendo, like many other companies, has been trying to figure out how increased tariffs will affect the costs. It hasn't raised the price of the console itself yet, which is $449, but it did raise the cost of accessories like controllers. That's it for the News Quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, you can always email us@the headlinesytimes.com the show will be back on Monday and we'll try a few more questions next.