Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
Senate Republicans revolt over Trump’s fundAfter a highly contentious private meeting today with the acting attorney general, Senate Republicans abruptly abandoned plans to advance a bill to provide $72 billion for President Trump’s immigration crackdown. The reason: Members of the president’s own party had deep concerns about the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion fund to pay people who claim to have been politically persecuted. Republicans had already appeared ready to reject a separate White House demand that $1 billion in security funds for Trump’s ballroom project be included in the bill. But because of Senate rules around advancing filibuster-proof bills, they would have been forced to weigh in tonight on the Trump administration’s unusual new fund. And several Republican senators were unwilling to support it. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, met with senators for two hours, attempting to defend the fund. But multiple senators were left unsatisfied with the lack of guardrails around the money. “It is in real trouble,” Susan Collins, a Republican senator said, adding, “and it should be.” The decision by senators to abandon today’s immigration vote — and leave Washington for a week — underscored the toxic dynamic between the White House and Congress. Republican senators have grown frustrated with Trump’s retribution-driven intervention in recent primaries.
Democrats release a draft report on what they did wrong in 2024The Democratic National Committee made public a draft of an autopsy of the 2024 presidential campaign. The report argues that Kamala Harris’s campaign failed to make an “affirmative case” for her and did not sufficiently separate her from Joe Biden. While the document is missing many sections and is filled with annotations questioning its methods, it reaches some conclusions. Pollsters found that Harris was hurt by a Trump ad attacking her for supporting surgery for transgender inmates. Here are five takeaways. The release was an extraordinary turn of events after the party’s chairman, Ken Martin, had disparaged the document as incomplete and inaccurate. On a call today, Martin apologized for allowing the autopsy to become a distraction. You can read the full report here.
Officials race to address A.I.’s expanding role in our livesGov. Gavin Newsom of California issued an executive order today that aims to help prevent mass job displacement caused by artificial intelligence. He ordered state agencies to explore a range of policies, including subsidizing companies that keep employees rather than replace them with A.I. On the opposite side of the country, New York City’s comptroller called for a city-run “rainy day fund” and warned that the A.I. boom could cost New Yorkers thousands of jobs. In related news:
An emerging El Niño is drawing historic comparisonsThe world is entering a new El Niño phase — the powerful shifts in Pacific winds and water temperatures that can transform global weather patterns, sometimes causing epic droughts and heat waves. Researchers are warning that the emerging El Niño could be one of the strongest on record, and could strain a global system made more fragile by wars. In other environmental news: Scientists found that the pandemic was an “anthropause” that changed how animals use land. More top news
This question comes from a recent edition of the newsletter. Click an answer to see if you’re right. (The link is free.) A painting by which artist sold for $181.2 million on Monday night?
A curtain call for the ‘The Late Show’Nearly 33 years after David Letterman hosted the first episode of “The Late Show” on CBS, Stephen Colbert will host the final episode tonight at 11:35 p.m. Eastern time. Jimmy Kimmel, who hosts a competing ABC talk show, said he wouldn’t air a new episode tonight. Watch CBS tonight, Kimmel told his viewers, then “don’t ever watch it again.” Colbert presided over a heyday of political comedy on late-night. “End of an era?” my colleague James Poniewozik writes. “Maybe the era ended him.” For more: Our critic Wesley Morris wishes a different late-night show was getting canceled.
The San Francisco Symphony names its first female leaderElim Chan, a 39-year-old Hong Kong-born conductor, was just named as the next music director of the San Francisco Symphony. She will become the first woman to lead one of America’s top seven orchestras. Chan told us how she might revive the struggling orchestra, and acknowledged the significance of her appointment in an interview with our classical music reporter. “When it happened, I was like, ‘Oh my God — it’s time,’” she said. “It’s another ceiling broken.”
Dinner table topics
Cook: Roasted rhubarb makes an excellent breakfast or dessert. |
