Warning: This episode contains descriptions of child abuse and domestic abuse.

Over the past few years, a celebrated filmmaker has tried to unlock the mysteries of the pop icon Prince.

Sasha Weiss, a deputy editor at The New York Times Magazine, says that the result is a cinematic masterpiece. How is it possible that nobody will ever see it?

Guest: Sasha Weiss, a deputy editor at The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• Inside Ezra Edelman’s documentary on Prince.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images

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For years, even as fentanyl has killed Americans at an astonishing rate, Mexico has claimed that it was doing everything possible to crack down on production of the drug.

This week, President Trump began using punishing new tariffs to test that claim.

Natalie Kitroeff, who is the Mexico City bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses the surprising result of his tactics.

Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, the Mexico City bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trump’s threats and Mexico’s crackdown have hit Mexican cartels.
• Mexico gave Mr. Trump much of what he wanted. That didn’t fend off tariffs.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Daniele Volpe for The New York Times

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In his first address to Congress on Tuesday night, President Trump took a highly partisan victory lap as Democratic lawmakers openly protested against him.

Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The Times, walks us through the speech, including the reactions to it in the room.

Guest: Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A combative President Trump taunted his political rivals during his speech.
• Here are six takeaways from Mr. Trump’s address to Congress.

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.

Since President Trump took office, Elon Musk and DOGE have wielded an unprecedented level of power to help the administration cut the U.S. government, and they claim to have stopped tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending.

David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains why those claims are not what they seem — and what that tells us about Mr. Musk’s project to shrink the federal bureaucracy.

Guest: David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• DOGE’s only public ledger has been riddled with mistakes.
• The group has now deleted hundreds of claimed savings, worth billions of dollars, from that ledger.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

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On Friday, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in an explosive televised Oval Office meeting and abruptly cut short a visit that was meant to help coordinate a plan for peace.

Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The Times, discusses the clash and its consequences.

Guest: Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, covering President Trump and his administration.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trump berated Mr. Zelensky in a fiery exchange at the White House.
• The public blowup could propel President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to escalate the fight in Ukraine instead of agreeing to peace.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Jim Tucker could hardly believe what he was hearing. It sounded like fiction, a nightmare too outlandish for an unassuming town like his.

It was July 2023, and Tucker was hosting a meeting of the board of Heartland Tri-State Bank, a community-owned business in a small Kansas town called Elkhart. Heartland was a beloved local institution and a source of Tucker family pride: Tucker served on the board with his elderly father, Bill, who founded the bank four decades earlier. All of the board members — the Tuckers and several other farmers and businesspeople — had known one another for years.

That evening, however, they were gathering to discuss what seemed, on its face, an epic betrayal. Over the past few weeks, the bank’s longtime president, a popular local businessman named Shan Hanes, had ordered a series of unexplained wire transfers that drained tens of millions of dollars from the bank. Hanes converted the funds into cryptocurrencies. Then the money vanished.

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This week, President Trump proposed two deals that would require allies to put his needs ahead of their own.

Times’ Journalists Michael Barbaro, Catie Edmonson, Maggie Haberman, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs discuss how, in both cases, Trump got what he wanted.

Guest: 

• Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.
• Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.
• Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, covering President Trump and his administration.

Background reading: 

• Here’s what’s in the House Republican budget, and what comes next.
• What we know about the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: 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.

During his decades-long path to become America’s highest-ranking military officer, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. won the crucial support of President Trump.

That all changed when Mr. Brown publicly talked about a subject that is taboo in Mr. Trump’s government.

Helene Cooper, who covers national security for The Times, explains why General Brown was fired and why it has rocked the military.

Guest: Helene Cooper, who cover national security issues for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• President Trump fired General Brown amid a flurry of dismissals at the Pentagon.
• Democratic lawmakers and retired military officers expressed concern about politicization of the military under Mr. Trump.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Shawn Thew/EPA, via Shutterstock

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.