The Headlines - Musk vs. Trump, and a Surge in Whooping Cough

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

Plus, a Friday news quiz.  On Today’s Episode:Trump and Musk’s Unlikely Alliance Breaks Down in Rapid and Public Fashion, by Tyler Pager and Theodore SchleiferAfter Trump and Xi Speak, U.S. and China Agree to Revive Trade Talks, by Ana Swanson and David PiersonIsrael Armed Palestinian Militia to Fight Hamas, Officials Say, by Aaron Boxerman and Patrick KingsleyWhooping Cough Is Surging. Do You Need Another Shot?, by Teddy RosenbluthLand Snorkeling? Townsizing? A User’s Guide to the Latest Travel Lingo., by Elaine GlusacTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today is Friday, June 6th. Here's what we're covering. 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. 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, Trump very early on got a question from a reporter to respond to Elon Musk's criticism of the bill. I'm very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here. And Trump just sort of started to unload on him.

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... 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 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.

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.

The thing is, both of these men have a lot at risk. 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 and turn is. The Trump administration is now working to bring the world together. Also yesterday, Trump had a 90-minute phone call with the president of China. By the way, he invited me to China and I invited him here. We've both accepted. So I'll be going there with the First Lady at a certain point. 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 U.S. 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. 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 Shabab, who is believed to command a relatively small group in the city of Ra'afa. Abu Shabab 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 U.S., 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. So the first situation is if you are a 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 has 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. 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 summer, 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 News series, The Protocol, the story behind medical care for transgender kids. That first episode in the Times News 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, Jan 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 Schuman. Now for the quiz. We've got questions about three stories The Times has covered this week. Can you answer them all? First up. All right. Hello, everybody. Thanks for being here. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took the mic at a press conference this week to express his disbelief.

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 shocked that he agreed with? I'll give you a hint. It has to do with President Trump's signature policy bill? The answer? I agree with Elon Musk. 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 package's cuts to Medicaid and its tax breaks for wealthy Americans. OK, 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. Eye-witness 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 Clicking 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 used 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. Why are you dressed like you're in a boy band? 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. That was his acting debut. Who is the actor? ["Summer of the Hot American Summer"] 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 at the headlines at nytimes.com. The show will be back back on monday and will try a few more questions next friday