The Headlines - Mamdani at the White House, and the Coast Guard’s New Policy on Swastikas and Nooses

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

Plus, your Friday news quiz. Here’s what we’re covering:Trump and Mamdani Are Meeting for the First Time. Will They Play Nice? by Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Jeffery C. MaysTrump Accuses Democrats of Sedition, ‘Punishable by Death,’ Over Message to the Military by Shawn McCreeshTrump Plans to Open More Than a Billion Acres of U.S. Waters to Drilling by Maxine Joselow and Lisa FriedmanCoast Guard Says Swastika and Noose Displays Are No Longer Hate Incidents by John Ismay and Minho KimZelensky Says Ukraine Ready to ‘Honestly’ Engage With U.S. Peace Plan by Andrew E. Kramer and Lara JakesNetflix, Comcast and Paramount Submit Warner Bros. Discovery Bids by Benjamin Mullin, Lauren Hirsch and Nicole SperlingTune 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.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, November 21st, here's what we're covering. I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers. If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say so. At the White House today, Zoran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, will meet face-to-face with President Trump,

after the two have spent months clashing publicly. Trump has been falsely calling Mamdani a communist and said he should be arrested. Mamdani has said he wants New York City to help write the playbook for how to defeat Trump and his political movement. While neither side has said what they're going to be talking about today, given Trump's previous threats to send the National Guard into the city

and withhold billions of dollars in federal funding, the stakes are high. Notably, Mamdani has vowed to hire 200 extra city lawyers, in part to push back against the administration. Still, Trump has a vested interest in New York City's success because of his multiple real estate holdings there. And in private, he's described Mom Dani as a talented politician, calling him slick and a good talker. Now, two more updates on the administration. Just to be clear, does the president want to execute members of Congress? No.

Let's be clear about what the president sparked an uproar in Washington yesterday when he accused a group of lawmakers of sedition and shared a post on social media saying, quote, hang them. Trump was targeting six Democrats who'd posted a video reminding troops and members of the U.S. intelligence community that they are obligated to refuse illegal orders. We know this is hard, and that it's a difficult time to be a public servant. But whether you're serving in the CIA, the Army, or Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is critical. That guidance is a standard part of military training. But Trump administration officials have said the lawmakers were encouraging service members to rebel against the president.

We have 1.3 active duty service members in this country. And if they hear this radical message from sitting members of Congress, that could inspire chaos. could incite violence, and it certainly could disrupt the chain of command. In a statement responding to Trump's threat, the Democratic lawmakers said, quote, what's most telling is that the president considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. And the Trump administration has announced one of the president's most significant steps yet to increase the production of fossil fuels, a plan to open up more than a billion acres of coastal waters to new oil and gas drilling.

That's an area more than half the size of the U.S. And under the proposal, the Interior Department would hold leases of federal waters in the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and previously untouched areas off of Alaska. The plan is already facing bipartisan pushback over environmental concerns. California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has said he'll try and block drilling off the coast of his state. And Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida said he's urged the administration to stop any new drilling there. Fishing and tourism industries in the Gulf were devastated by the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, which killed 11 people and spilled millions of gallons of oil. The U.S. Coast Guard has revised its policies on harassment and changed its stance on displaying swastikas

and nooses. In the past, the display of those symbols was clearly referred to as incidents of hatred and prejudice that have, quote, no place in the Coast Guard. But the updated policy, which was signed off on by a top Coast Guard officer last week, raises the bar for whether someone can be punished for it. Displaying them in public will be considered what it calls divisive only if they affect, quote, good order and discipline, unit cohesion, command climate, morale, or mission effectiveness. Displays in private spaces are specifically allowed under the new guidance. In a statement to the Washington Post, the current acting head of the Coast Guard insisted nothing is changing about how the symbols are handled and said things like swastikas

violate the military branch's core values. He later signed a memo saying the Coast Guard does not tolerate the display of hate symbols, but he didn't address the updated instructions allowing them in private. Other revisions to the harassment policy removed protections for transgender troops following President Trump's executive order that barred trans people from serving. It also takes up the issue of hazing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth has championed the practice as a way to instill what he calls a warrior ethos. Under the definition now provided by the Coast Guard, hazing, which can include physical violence, can have a, quote, proper military. or other governmental purpose.

A representative of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights group, called the policy updates a national embarrassment. Ukrainian President Vlomerslansky says he's willing to engage on a peace plan proposed by the White House, even though the Trump administration put it together in consultation with Russia, but not Ukraine.

The proposal, which the White House says, is still a work in progress, comes with 28 points, some of which have been deal breakers for Ukraine in the past. It calls for Ukraine to limit the size of its army, and that the country surrender territory to Russia, even land that it is not yet captured. European officials have been dismayed at the idea of any plan that doesn't include Ukraine's input and theirs, and an EU diplomat said he hadn't heard about any concessions that Russia would have to make under the proposed agreement. It's nice to see you.

Don't worry about. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Zelensky met with U.S. military officials this week in Kiev to discuss what's next. He hasn't committed to any specifics, but some in Ukraine think Washington might be trying to pressure him into settling while his country is in a vulnerable spot. A recent corruption scandal has weakened Zelensky's government.

On the front lines, Ukraine is running out of soldiers. And Russia is continuing its attacks on infrastructure and civilians. On Wednesday, Russia launched nearly 500 drones and a wave of missiles in an overnight strike. One of the missiles hit an apartment building in the western part of the country, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more. And finally, there's a bidding war underway that could change the trajectory of the entire entertainment industry. Warner Brothers Discovery, the media giant that owns not just the Warner Brothers movie studio, but also HBO and CNN, is up for sale. And three media heavyweights have put in offers for at least parts of the company.

There's the comparatively young whippersnapper Netflix making a play, which could give them control of super lucrative IP like Batman and Harry Potter. There's Comcast, which already owns Universal and NBC, and there's Paramount, which is widely considered to be the frontrunner. Paramount's chief executive, David Ellison, is coming armed with billions from his father, Larry Ellison, who co-founded the tech giant Oracle and is one of the world's richest men. The Ellisons have gone all in on media this year. David Ellison took over Paramount and CBS just this August and is already trying to pull off this massive new purchase of Warner Brothers Discovery. Plus, his dad is one of the investors moving to take control of TikTok in the U.S. If all their plans pan out, that would put the Ellisons in charge of a

massive new media empire stretching from viral videos to TV news to movie theaters. Ultimately, any Warner Brothers Discovery deal, if the company accepts one, will need approval from federal regulators, meaning the buyer will have to win over not just executives, but also potentially the White House. Both David and Larry Ellison have developed close ties to President Trump. Those are the headlines. If you'd like to play the Friday news quiz, stick around. It's just after these credits. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Kate Lopresti, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford, original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Miles McKinley, Zoe Murphy, and Paula Schumann.

Now, time for the quiz. You know the drill, we have a few questions about stories the Times has been covering this week. Can you get them all? First up. I just want to say that Crown Prince Mohammed, we're delighted to have you with us at the White House. Very special, very, very special. President Trump pulled out all the stops to welcome the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, including throwing a lavish black tie dinner on Tuesday night with a packed guest list.

The head of FIFA was there, so was the head of Apple, and there was another guest making his first appearance at the White House in months since his relationship with the president hit a rocky patch. Your question, who was it? The answer? You're so lucky, I'm with you, Eelan. I'll tell you. Elon Musk. Musk and the president, of course, had a dramatic falling out back in June.

Musk posted that Trump was in the Epstein files. Before any of those were released, Trump called Musk's behavior crazy. And Musk walked away, dismissing his time in D.C. as what he called a hell of a side quest. Now, though, the world's richest man seems to have made up with the president as he dips his toe back into politics. Next question. In the U.S., the Motion Picture Association is the group that gives movies their ratings, from the very family-friendly G to the Trey Risque and C-17. Now, get undressed.

The association assembles a group of 10 parents who watch the movies and factor in, among other things, nudity. Y'all want to buy some drugs. Substance use. Nobody makes me bleed my own blood. Nobody. And violence to come up with their effects. official rating. For years, the MPA's been pretty buttoned up about its exact calculations, but now in a new guide that the MPA has quietly rolled out, it's disclosing more specifics

than ever. The guide isn't a hard and fast formula, of course, but based on the new details, we're going to give you some scenarios, and you tell us what rating you think it would earn. A character in the movie drops an F-bomb. What's the rating? That'll get you PG-13, as long as the movie has just one F-word, or the guide says a possible one or two more. Next, the film has weapons, but they're not realistic. They're like laser guns and glowing swords. That's PG. A follow-up, though.

What if the injury from a weapon is evident? So you're like seeing a gunshot wound or knife slashes. That's the kind of imagery that will tip something into an R rating. Next, there are some brief background sounds of sex. That's PG-13. And last one, what if characters in the movie are smoking marijuana? That used to pretty much get you an R. Now, just PG-13, as long as the drug use is infrequent.

Moving on to the last question. Recently, there's been a surge of criticism online over a new suite of products on the market. Today, in what kind of capitalist healthcape are we living in, I give you the skincare line targeting called... The products are aimed at one very particular demographic. Experts like me sounding the alarm about how using the wrong products can actually harm physically. That target audience is what's riling people up. I have so many problems with this. So your question, who are these controversial new skincare products for?

The answer? Want to know what I think is a little bit weird? Skin care for toddlers. Kids as young as three years old. continuing the trend of skin care products aimed at younger and younger audiences. It has many people asking, Does my preschooler really need a face mask? At the same time, people who defend the products say kids want to do everything adults do.

So why not have an age-appropriate option for them, so they're not lathering on acids and retinoles meant for much older skin? Now, if your answer was skincare for dogs, I will actually give you the point because the Times did also cover the growth, beauty category for pets. I learned there are companies out there selling dry shampoo for your dog, and Dolce and Gabana has rolled out a $99 canine perfume that it describes as a, quote, tender and embracing fragrance crafted for a playful beauty routine. That gives me hope for my side project. Nail polish for cats. I'm kidding. That already exists and I'm horrified.

That's it for the news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did our email. email as always is The Headlines at NYTimes.com. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back on Monday.