The Headlines - Democratic Party Faces Debt and Disarray, and Wildfires Force Mass Evacuations in Europe

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Plus, whales on a plane.  Here’s what we’re covering: France and Spain Race to Tamp Down Wildfires Before Heat Wave Hits, by Carlos Barragán and Ségolène Le Stradic In Washington, Netanyahu Faces a Delicate Balancing Act, by Isabel Kershner Trump Backs New Talks but It’s Unclear What He Hopes to Achieve This Time, by Michael Crowley Inside the Phone-Throwing Drama at the Troubled, Broke Democratic Party, by Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal, by Eli Tan and Maureen Farrell How Do You Move 30 Beluga Whales? With Cranes, Planes and Anti-Anxiety Medicine., by Remy Tumin Tune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, July 28th. Here's what we're covering. In France and Spain, firefighters are racing to contain the largest wildfires ever recorded in those countries. The blazes are ripping through parched forests and are now on the outskirts of Madrid and Bordeaux, blanketing the cities with smoke. In France, more than 200,000 people have been displaced from.

from the hardest hit region there, making it one of the largest peacetime evacuations in the country's history. The fires in France are also threatening a hub of aerospace and defense industries near Bordeaux, with factories housing dangerous materials. Employees have already been evacuated from one site where rocket fuel is packed into boosters for missiles. So far, most people have been able to escape the fires. France hasn't reported any deaths. Spanish authorities say two people were killed there. The thing that a lot of people are really worried about is that the window on fighting these fires,

or the immediate window anyway, on fighting these fires, might be closing because temperatures are going to spike again within the next day. Jason Horowitz is the Times Bureau Chief in Madrid. That means that the land will dry, that the fire will move faster, and this is the great fear, because these are wildly unpredictable fires. the winds are bringing them places that no one expects. You have individual fires that are almost joining forces and becoming these megafires. They're eating vast terrain.

So with the raising temperatures, people are increasingly worried. Europe has faced several waves of extreme heat this summer, as it's warming faster than any other continent on Earth. And this week, Spain's prime minister said that the climate emergency is exceeding every threshold and scale that scientists had been warning about. At the White House today. I think it's a good thing to have the opportunity to sit with our good friend, President Trump, and to hear what he has in mind.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to have a high-stakes meeting with President Trump. His visit to the U.S. is time so he can also attend the funeral of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who was a staunch supporter of Israel. Netanyahu said that when he meets with Trump, his top priority will be the war with Iran, which entered its six months today. Trump and Netanyahu went into the war together back in February, but they have failed to deliver the goals they set out of ending Iran's nuclear program and overthrowing the country's regime.

And now the two leaders are being pulled in different directions. Trump is staring down midterm elections where his party could take a hit for what polling shows is a deeply unpopular conflict, and Trump said as recently as yesterday that he wants to negotiate with Iran. But according to a former Israeli military intelligence commander, Israeli leaders would rather see a return to all-out war, because any peace deal would only strengthen the Iranian regime that Israel wants to topple. He told the Times, quote, Israel doesn't want to hear about an agreement. Analysts say that during Netanyahu's visit with Trump today, the Israeli leader is likely to make the case for why the U.S.

should continue the conflict. Georgia, New Hampshire, Michigan, Democratic seats. Big primary coming up in Michigan. In the U.S., there are now less than 100 days until the midterms, where several close, heated battles will determine which party will control Congress. The stakes were high, not just for Maine, but nationwide. There is some momentum for Democrats, with inflation and high gas prices at the top of voters' minds. But my colleagues have learned that inside the party's headquarters at the Democratic National

Committee, things are in turmoil. By far, the most acute issue facing the Democrats right now is money. President Trump has amassed an unprecedented $400 million war chest in a super PAC. And the Republican National Committee adds $128.5 million cash on hand. In comparison, the Democratic National Committee is actually in debt. They have $2 million more in debts than they have cash in the bank. Shane Goldmacher covers politics for the times. He says the DNC is in such financial straits.

It has started asking some vendors not to bill the committee until after the November elections. Beyond the financial issues, Shane says there are also deep concerns about the DNC's leadership. The Democratic National Committee chairman, Penn Martin, is increasingly isolated, been struggling to make connections with major donors, and his frustrations are showing. There was an episode earlier this month where he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide inside the party headquarters, and the incident was in fact reported to the Human Resources Department, and there was a subsequent meeting about his behavior. At this point, with the midterms just around the corner, there are a lot of Democrats that are really urgently hoping that the DNC gets its books and

its business in order, and they are afraid that some of these mismanagement and cash punch issues inside the party could hamper Democrats this fall. Shane says that in response to questions, a DNC official said asking vendors to delay billing is, quote, nothing more than standard negotiations. And the DNC chair, Ken Martin, declined a request for comment. In Louisiana, construction is underway on one of the largest data centers. in the world. The facility, being built for the tech giant meta, could eventually cover roughly six square miles and use seven times as much energy as the entire city of New Orleans. In recent years,

massive data centers like this have faced intense pushback from communities around the country over concerns about energy and water use, among other things. But the Times has found that meta was able to avoid that scrutiny in Louisiana by using secrecy and speed to push the project through. According to dozens of interviews, corporate filings, and other documents, META worked behind the scenes for months with energy company executives and Louisiana lawmakers to lock in the new center before it was announced. There were no public meetings held to discuss the project, and some government employees even signed non-disclosure agreements, which experts say is legal, but raises transparency concerns. Beyond that, Louisiana gave

meta tax breaks that could be worth as much as $10 billion. And state power commissioners allowed the project to go forward without an independent review that would have determined if it was in the public's best interest. That review would have slowed the project down. In all, the Times found, Meta pretty much got everything it wanted. In response to questions from the Times about the project, a meta spokeswoman said it was unfair to call it secret because it went through, quote, established state and local economic development processes. State officials, meanwhile, say they're proud of the deal,

which is expected to generate a thousand permanent jobs and tens of millions of dollars in taxes. Since construction started, some local teachers have already been given $50,000 bonuses using money generated by rising tax revenue. For his part, Louisiana's governor was so pleased with the deal that he codified the process with an executive order called Louisiana Lightning Speed, hoping to attract other projects. The meta deal could become a blueprint for how other companies try and rapidly break ground on new data centers nationwide. And finally, we'll put them into a cradle, we'll lift them up with a crane because they're big

and they're heavy. In Canada, there's an unusual rescue mission underway. You'll put them into their box, you then roll up onto the plane, you secure them in the aircraft, and you are airbound. would ever think that you've gotten a chance to fly with a whale. A mission to relocate 30 beluga whales. Belugas, if you want to get your mental picture going here, are the white ones, which an aquarium staffer told the times are kind of like a hot dog and a marshmallow combined. The animals had been living in an aquatic park in Ontario, but it closed to the public a few years ago, and it's

taken a long time to figure out how to get the whales out of there safely to new homes. Now, aquariums in the U.S. and Europe are working to relocate the mammals, which weigh up to 3,000 pounds and are as much as 16 feet long. To pull it off, the whales are nestled into foam and rubber-lined boxes, driven to the airport with a police escort to avoid any stops and starts that could slosh their water around, and then loaded onto chartered cargo jets. Each whale gets at least one handler who monitors them and ladles water over them. And yes, they do get anti-anxiety meds for the trip, because this has to be pretty weird if you're a whale.

So far, six of the belugas have been successfully relocated, including to the Shed Aquarium in Chicago, where staff say they're cautiously optimistic that the whales will be able to thrive in their new home. Those are the headlines. Today on the Daily. We hear this all the time, that the majority of Iranians feel like they are caught in the crossfires of the United States,

Israel and the regime and they're being squeezed and nobody's really thinking about what they really want. Times reporter Farnas Fasizi on the mood inside Iran right now. You can listen to that in the Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.