The Headlines - One Year in Trump’s America, and the Fed’s Big Moment at the Supreme Court

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Plus, the struggle to finish a major Olympic arena.Here’s what we’re covering:How Trump Is Remaking America, State by State, by The New York TimesTrump Links His Push for Greenland to Not Winning Nobel Peace Prize, by Jeffrey Gettleman and Henrik Pryser LibellPowell Will Attend Supreme Court Arguments on Trump’s Effort to Fire Fed Official, by Colby Smith‘Like an Earthquake’: How 40 People Died in a Spanish Train Crash, by Jason Horowitz, José Bautista and Samuel GranadosSuicides Were Frequent at the Golden Gate Bridge. Not Anymore., by John BranchHow Italy Is Racing to Finish an Ice Rink Before the Olympics, by Motoko Rich and Josephine de La BruyèreTune 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 Tuesday, January 20th. Here's what we're covering. My fellow citizens, the golden age of America begins right now. A year ago today, President Trump was sworn in for his second term. I returned to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. He promised a sharp right turn for the U.S.

And the Times has been documenting how that has played out in all 50 states, from immigration to energy policy, to the economy. In Arizona, a 200-acre site that was intended to be a battery factory sits vacant after Trump froze grants and loans for clean energy initiatives. While in West Virginia, the state is getting some of the $600-plus million the administration has put towards boosting coal-fired power plants. In Maryland, roughly 25,000 federal workers have lost their jobs, the highest total in the country, as Trump has slashed the government workforce. In Oklahoma, the United Arab Emirates committed $4 billion to build an aluminum processing plant near Tulsa, part of an effort by the administration to seek investments from the Middle East. At Children's Hospital, Colorado, doctors have stopped prescribing hormone medications to transgender minors after Trump threatened. to pull all federal funding. In Montana, fertilizer prices are up 20% year over year, a result of tariffs in the trade war with Canada.

And in Florida, the state's large Cuban population has been rocked by a record number of deportations. More dispatches on how the president is reshaping life across the U.S. are at NYTimes.com. And today on the Daily, my colleagues take a look at Trump's influence around the world. It's very hard to make long-term assessments about the American national interest right now a year into the Donald Trump presidency. There are going to be areas where Donald Trump's approach to power extracts positive things for America. There are also going to potentially be costs and maybe even very significant costs to the way that he's acting on the global stage. Now, two other quick updates on the administration. The Times has gotten a copy of a text message Trump sent to the Prime Minister of Norway,

in which he gave a new reason for wanting the U.S. to acquire Greenland. Trump said that because he wasn't awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, quote, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace. The message was shared by the Norwegian Prime Minister's Office. The Norwegian leader later said he's explained to Trump multiple times that the Nobel is given out by an independent committee, not the Norwegian government. Trump's comments about the Peace Prize have added to the swirl of concern and confusion in Europe as Trump escalates his attempts to control Greenland, claiming it's critical for U.S. national security.

In a brief interview with NBC News yesterday, he was asked if he would use force to seize the island. He replied, no comment. And Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, will be at the Supreme Court this morning for a case with enormous stakes for the central bank. Powell is expected to listen to oral arguments about whether Trump has the authority to fire one of the Fed's governors, Lisa Cook. While the administration has accused Cook of mortgage fraud,

she's not been charged with any crime. And the court initially ruled in October that she could stay in her post while the case played out. If the justices decide Trump can fire her, it would give him and future presidents more leeway to oust Fed officials at will. though several key justices have seemed intent on keeping the Fed independent from the White House. In Spain, the country's prime minister has declared three days of national mourning

after at least 40 people were killed in a violent collision between two high-speed trains. On Sunday night, the trains, carrying hundreds of people, were traveling in opposite directions on separate tracks, at about 130 miles per hour. The rear cars of one train then derailed and crossed into the path of the other. Survivors described a scene of panic and chaos as people tried to climb out of the mangled wreckage.

A local official said the impact was so intense that some bodies were found hundreds of feet from the crash site. Transportation officials said the incident didn't seem to be the result of human error, speed, or signal problems, calling it extremely strange. They said their initial investigation is looking in part at whether there had been a break in a section of the track. The crash forced authorities to temporarily suspend train service across large swaths of the country. Spain has

the second longest high-speed rail network in the world after China. In San Francisco, the iconic Golden Gate Bridge has been marked with a heavy legacy ever since it was completed in the 1930s. It's been a magnet for suicides. For decades, an average of 30 people each year jumped from the bridge. But records show that last year, the first full year with new netting in place, there were only four deaths. And from June to December, there were none, potentially the longest stretch in the bridge's history. The net installation was a long-term project pushed for by family members of people who died at the bridge. It's modeled off a solution used in the bridge. It's modeled off a solution used in Bern, Switzerland. And the word nets actually doesn't really fully capture the infrastructure

that's been installed. It's a dense mesh of taut marine-grade steel that sits about 20 feet below the public walkway on both sides of the bridge. The project cost over $200 million. Critics have wondered if it will simply steer people elsewhere. But proponents of the nets don't think so, pointing to a study from back in the 70s that showed how most people who'd gone to the Golden Gate to jump and had been persuaded not to, were still alive years later or had died of natural causes. And finally, I recently traveled to Milan less than a month before the opening of the winter games to see the Olympic ice hockey rink. It's one of the big events of the games. And I had heard rumors that it wasn't ready. And when I got there, I saw, indeed, it was not ready.

There were pipes sticking out of the walls, exposed drywall. There were several levels that were blocked off by what looked like black garbage bags. A lot of the big screens and instant replay screens were not installed. So it definitely was a construction site, dust everywhere. Motoko Rich is part of the team at the times covering the games. This is my third Olympics now, and there are always something that happens at the last minute, scandal, this, that, and the other, but to, like, walk onto a construction site. Getting dust all over my backpack and looking up at these seats that are blocked off,

it was a little weird. I talked to Italian Olympic officials and the development. and they said that there are a thousand workers working in shifts around the clock until the beginning of the Olympics to get this rank ready. And they were all beaming this incredible optimism that was a little bit, you know, a bit of cognitive dissonance, you know, looking at the evidence of my own eyes. We also went and visited the city counselor who's in charge of the Olympics for Milan. And he said, look, I'm absolutely confident I'll be ready by February 5th in time for the Olympics that started on February 6th. That's early, he said. Those are the headlines.

I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.