The Headlines - Musk’s Drug Use, and Companies Back Off Pride Month

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

Plus, a Friday news quiz. On Today’s Episode:On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama, by Kirsten Grind and Megan TwoheyTariff Rulings Inject New Uncertainty Into Trump Trade Strategy, by Tony Romm and Ana SwansonTrump Officials Intensify Attacks on Judges as Court Losses Mount, by Luke BroadwaterTop Officials Overseeing Deportations Leave Their Roles at ICE, by Hamed AleazizTrump’s Deportations Haunt Workers in the Fields of Rural New York, by Ana LeyCompanies Pull Back From Pride Events as Trump Targets D.E.I., by Jonathan WolfeJapan Welcomes a New Sumo Champ. Surprise: He’s Japanese, by Victor MatherTune 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, May 30th. Here's what we're covering. Today President Trump said he's going to hold a press conference at the White House to say goodbye to Elon Musk. Musk's been talking about his departure from the administration for weeks, wrapping up his role that's been unlike any in the history of American government.

The world's richest man, Musk wielded a huge amount of influence in the White House, though he was never confirmed by the Senate to any official cabinet position. He was the face of Trump's federal spending cuts with his Department of Government Efficiency, gleefully talking about feeding programs into the woodchipper, and he faced backlash from the public for it, too. Marking his exit, Trump wrote, quote, This will be his last day, but not really, because he will always be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific. As Musk leaves Washington, the Times has learned new details about his drug use when he first joined President Trump on the campaign trail. While Musk was stumping for Trump, jumping

around on stage at rallies and donating about $275 million to the campaign, he was doing drugs far more intensely than previously known. He took ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. He told people he was having health issues that matched side effects associated with chronic ketamine use. And he traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall. It's unclear whether Musk continued taking drugs when he started working at the White House and was given the authority to reshape the federal government, but he did exhibit erratic and troubling behavior, insulting cabinet members, garbling his answers in an

interview and gesturing like a Nazi. Musk has previously said he takes ketamine for depression, though he didn't respond to requests from the Times for comment. The White House also didn't respond when asked if Musk had to take drug tests as part of his role. Now, three more updates on the Trump administration. A court ruling blocking President Trump's steep tariffs was in place for less than 24 hours before a separate court paused that decision yesterday, sowing even more confusion for American consumers and the global economy.

The tariffs will remain in effect while a panel of judges now decides whether the president had the power to single-handedly impose the surcharges. In the meantime, Trump officials have been intensifying their attacks on judges who rule against the administration's policies. Three judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said America cannot function if the president is being, quote, railroaded by activist judges.

Two of the trade court judges who originally found the tariffs were illegal are Republican appointees. One was named to the bench by Trump himself. Also, when the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again commission released a report last week on children's health issues, it called this generation the sickest in American history and said its findings were a quote, evidence-based foundation for taking action. But it's now become clear the report cited studies that do not exist. That included fictitious research about drug advertising, mental illness, and medications

for children with asthma. One expert on medical journalism said the errors were characteristic of what happens when you use artificial intelligence, though it's unclear if the commission relied on that technology. The report has since been reposted with corrections. And at the Department of Homeland Security. I have not been satisfied with the numbers. Kristi Noem, Steve Miller, myself, we all want more numbers.

So we expect a fast increase in number of arrests every day. Several top officials have left their jobs, part of a shakeup in leadership as the Trump administration pressures the department to ramp up deportations. The White House says immigration authorities have been arresting about 700 people a day, but it's aiming to get that number up to 3,000. Meanwhile, The Times has been reporting on how the administration's aggressive crackdown is affecting immigrant communities, in particular farm

workers, many of whom are undocumented. I traveled to upstate New York recently and talked to about a dozen Latino farm workers and their family members, and a lot of them are feeling really afraid of being targeted by authorities or being racially profiled. Anna Le covers immigration for the Times. There's been a lot of anxiety these past few months. People have been staying home a lot more than they would otherwise.

They have been avoiding going to the grocery store. They've been avoiding going to church. They told me they won't even sometimes get ice cream with their children. This fear that people have is heightened by the fact that they are living in a place where a lot of voters are Trump supporters. And a lot of people there seem to want these deportations to happen. There is this fear that people are going to get turned in by their neighbors and there is evidence that this happened. I spoke with a man whose

wife hit a deer while she was driving in a snowstorm. She knocked on a neighbor's door for help and instead of getting help, the neighbor called the authorities and reported her for suspicious activity, and she was taken away by ICE. What's happening in upstate New York is happening in farming communities all across the country. It's happening in California. It's happening in Texas. Farm workers will hear about people getting picked up by the authorities, so they'll go

into hiding, and then they come out when they're ready to live their lives again. Then they'll hear about more activity involving law enforcement. So a lot of them told me they're caught in this cycle of fear and anxiety. [♪ music playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes playing, chimes This Sunday is the start of Pride Month, which will be marked by parades and festivals in cities around the country, celebrating the LGBTQ community. In years past, companies big and small had jumped on board to sponsor these events, clamoring

to have their logos splashed on t-shirts and banners. But this year, many companies have backed away. New York Pride has had a quarter of its sponsors drop out or scale back, including Garnier, SkyVodka, and MasterCard, which were all platinum sponsors last year. Target is still participating, but asked for that to go unpublicized.

And in San Francisco, Anheuser-Busch, which had been one of the largest sponsors of Pride there, told the executive director earlier this year it would not be providing funding. The company said it was no longer in their budget. Other companies have also cited economic uncertainty. But Pride organizers see another factor. The Trump administration's crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The head of Milwaukee Pride said corporations he talked to worried they might be penalized

or punished by the government, saying, quote, everyone's afraid. One specialist in LGBTQ marketing told the Times, corporations have actually been getting nervous for a few years, as there's been growing backlash to the increased visibility of LGBTQ Americans. But this year's drop in sponsorship has added fuel to criticism that corporations only support the LGBTQ community when there's a financial benefit, a practice some dismiss as rainbow capitalism. And finally, this week the world of sumo wrestling named a new Yokosuna, or grand champion, the highest title awarded in the sport. Onosato, as he's known, is a 24-year-old who weighs in at 420 pounds.

And his ascension is a huge win for Japan, which despite inventing sumo, has lost its dominance in the last few decades. Until the 90s, all yokozunas were Japanese, before Mongolian wrestlers started to rule the ring. Onosato is just the second Japanese yokozuna this century. In Japan, sumo wrestling's been losing popularity. It's gotten a reputation for being kind of old-fashioned. The rituals before a match, like bowing and foot stomping, actually last far longer than the match itself, which is over in just seconds. Many younger Japanese people have turned to other

sports instead, particularly soccer. But some sumo fans are hoping Onisato can change that, dubbing him the savior of Japanese sumo. Those are the headlines, but stick around, we've got the Friday News quiz for you after the credits. Today on The Daily, Rachel Abrams talks with the business owner whose lawsuit may be the downfall of Trump's tariffs. That's next in the New York Times audio app or 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, Lindsay Gelman, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, Katie O'Brien, and Paula Schuman. Now for the quiz. All May, we have been giving you a chance to test your news knowledge on Fridays.

And we are going to keep it going into June as well. So, we've got questions about three stories The Times has covered this week. Can you answer them all? First up, the stock market surged earlier this week after President Trump pushed back the 50% tariffs he said he'd put on Europe. It's a trend economists have taken note of. Trump threatens high tariffs only to lower or delay them, sometimes within days. That pattern has now even been given its own nickname.

Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the taco trade. What's your response to that? The term taco trade is an acronym. So your question, what does the taco in that stand for? I'll give you a hint. The T stands for Trump. The answer is Trump always chickens out. The phrase was first used by a columnist at the Financial Times. Okay, next question. A team of British men set off a wave of controversy in the world of mountain climbing when they tested out a new way to summit Mount Everest this month.

I'm going to play you a clip of the organizer of the expedition describing the climb. You'll need to fill in what their key, and very divisive, innovation was. The only reason why we are working with **** and why we are using **** is to make the climb safer. We can see people dying on Everest every year and **** may be one step to improve this situation and to make climbing high altitude mountains safer. Can you tell me what the secret sauce was for their experiment? The answer is xenon gas.

Leading up to the climb, about two weeks out, the team inhaled the gas, which effectively tricked their bodies into thinking they were already at high altitude. They were then able to get to the top of the world's highest mountain in less than three days without needing to acclimate, a process that would normally take weeks. Interestingly, while very fast, three days is not a record. According to the government of Nepal, the fastest climb of the mountain ever was done in 2003 by a Sherpa who reached the summit in just under 11 hours. Okay, last question.

Your word is A. Claire C. Small. Last night was the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, just celebrating its 100th anniversary. A-clair-si-small. E-C-L-A-I-R-C-I-S-S-E-M-E-N-T. That is correct! The winner was 13-year-old Faison Zaki from Texas, who won the competition and its prize of $50,000.

Now we're going to test your spelling skills. We're going to back up a few rounds to do that since you already know how to spell éclair cismon. So I will give you a word from the semi-finals. Your word is quern. Quern is a noun. This word is originally English. Quern means a simple mill for grinding grain consisting of two circular stones with the upper one being turned by hand.

Okay, can you spell quern? I feel like your brow may be furrowing. Okay, time is up. I'm going to let fifth grader Sarv Darvney, who came in third, give you the answer. Corn. Q-U-E-R-N. Corn. That is correct. Thank you. That is it for this week's news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, what you think about the quiz, you can always email us at theheadlines.nytimes.com.

The show will be back on Monday and we'll try a few more questions next Friday.