The Headlines - Republicans Defy Trump in Indiana, and Hundreds Quarantined in Measles Outbreak

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Plus, the Friday news quiz. Here’s what we’re covering:6 Takeaways From Indiana’s Defiance of Trump by Nick Corasaniti and Mitch SmithHow a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed by Megan Twohey and Isabella KwaiSenate Deadlocks on Health Care, Leaving Subsidies to Expire by Carl HulseTrump Signs Executive Order to Neuter State A.I. Laws by Cecilia KangHundreds Quarantined in South Carolina as Measles Spreads by Teddy RosenbluthItalian Cooking, Kohl Makeup and Icelandic Pools Are Recognized by UNESCO by Lynsey ChutelTune 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 is Friday, December 12th. Here's what we're covering. President Trump's push for Republicans to redraw congressional maps in their favor has hit a roadblock. All right, the machine is now closed. Clerk will tally the roll. 19-9-31 knows this bill has been defeated.

In Indiana yesterday, enough Republicans. broke from the president to quash his redistricting effort there. Normally, redistricting happens at the start of each decade after the census, but Trump's been pushing for it early, urging lawmakers in red states to gerrymander their maps to help the GOP pick up seats in the house in the midterms. Trump had some early success with that in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, but he's hit resistance in other states. Efforts in Nebraska and Kansas didn't get off the ground, and none of his persuasion tactics seemed to work in Indiana.

He tried the carrot, hosting lawmakers at the White House, and the stick, raging against them on social media. But Trump couldn't get the numbers he needed. Some of the Republican holdouts said they were worried the redistricting would undermine people's faith

in the integrity of elections. And one Republican state senator said, quote, it's time to say no to outsiders who are trying to run our state. It's possible Trump's overall redistricting effort may backfire against the GOP, since it set off a counter campaign in blue states to redraw maps to be more favorable to Democrats. Many of those efforts are still in the

works. A new investigation from the Times has found that support from Trump administration officials played a crucial role in the release of Andrew and Tristan Tate to influence. in the so-called manosphere, who've helped fuel a brazenly chauvinistic movement around the world. Since 2022, the brothers, who have American citizenship, have been under criminal investigation in Romania. They're accused of coercing dozens of women into pornography. Andrew has also been accused of rape. And until earlier this year, the two had been forbidden from leaving Romania, in part because prosecutors there considered them a risk to the public. So we interviewed dozens of people and reviewed hundreds of pages of private messages and court documents, and we found that the lifting of their travel bans was the culmination of a years-long effort by Andrew Tate to forge alliances with President Trump's advisors and family members.

Megan Tui is a Times investigative reporter. After the brothers were arrested, Andrew Tate shrewdly courted Tucker Carlson, Candice Owens, and other media stars of the right who conducted sympathetic interviews with him. Andrew nurtured relationships with members of the Trump family, first with Donald Trump Jr. and then his younger brother, Barron. Barron admired Andrew and spoke with him over Zoom last year, according to a mutual friend who was on the call. And after Trump was re-elected, some of the Tate supporters ascended into the new administration. One of them, the diplomatic envoy, Richard Grinnell, discussed their case with at least two Romanian officials. And soon after the travel bans were lifted, you know, the prosecutors, according to sources who spoke with us, were outraged.

They didn't want to do this. But the Romanian prime minister thought the Trump administration would be happy with the outcome. The brothers have used their newfound freedom to resume their jet-setting lifestyle and juice their brand. They have traveled to multiple countries, including the United States. And their visit to the states resulted in a new, assault allegation from a woman who said Andrew beat and strangled her in March shortly after his arrival. An accusation he's denied. In response to questions from the Times, a White House official said the administration is not involved in the Tate's legal matters. And the Romanian

prosecutor's office said all of its actions have been legal. You can read the full investigation from Megan and our colleague Isabella Kwai at NYTimes.com. Now, two more quick political updates. Democrats know that Obamacare has failed. They themselves have said so. But with a deadline, quickly approaching, they say we have no choice but to extend this failed policy one more time.

In the Senate yesterday, lawmakers deadlocked on what to do about health care costs, which are about to jump for millions of Americans. Are they going to tell their constituents they voted to double? monthly premiums? Are they going to tell their constituents, I voted to get you sick and go broke? Nearly every Republican voted to block a Democratic effort to extend Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of the month. And every Democrat voted against a Republican bill that would

have replaced the subsidies with payments of $1,500 or less to people on the most basic health insurance plans. With both proposals dead in the water and Congress preparing to leave for the holidays after next week, it's all but certain that many people will see their premiums shoot up next year, potentially doubling or more. And at the White House. You've got 50 states running in 50 different directions. It just doesn't make sense. We're creating a confusing patchwork of regulation. And what we need is a single federal standard. David Sachs, the administration's AI czar, joined President Trump as he signed

an executive order designed to knock down state laws limiting the artificial intelligence industry. Because there's no federal AI regulation, every state in the country has raised to set up its own laws, doing things like banning deep fake videos or requiring major apps like chat GPT to do safety tests of their products. Now, the new order gives the U.S. Attorney General the broad authority to sue states over those laws and overturn those that don't support helping the country achieve, quote, global AI dominance. It's a major win for AI companies. who've carried out a fierce lobbying campaign in D.C. to throw out state regulations. But it's likely to face legal challenges by states and consumer groups,

since it's already sparked widespread bipartisan opposition. Regardless of where you live, if you do not have immunity to measles, I consider that there is a risk of contracting measles. Because we're seeing transmission in one area of the state, and that can easily go elsewhere. In South Carolina, hundreds of people are currently in quarantine, as health officials say a new measles outbreak is spreading.

It's the latest flare-up in what has already been one of the country's worst years for the virus since it was declared eliminated in the U.S. more than two decades ago. South Carolina's state epidemiologist says the outbreak has accelerated since Thanksgiving when many people were exposed at gatherings. In addition to that, we have lower than hoped for

vaccination coverage in the population. She says the fast spread has likely been caused by lagging vaccination rates. About 90% of students in the county at the center of the outbreak have been vaccinated against measles. That's below the 95% threshold that experts say is needed to stop the virus from spreading. So far, people have been exposed at several local schools, along with a church and a health care facility. And local leaders worried that cases could spike even more, with more holiday gatherings. The virus can cause pneumonia

and in rare cases, brain swelling, leading to possible blindness, deafness, and intellectual disabilities. Nationally, the U.S. has seen nearly 2,000 measles cases this year, according to data from the CDC, and three unvaccinated people, including two children, have died.

And finally, some of the most famous landmarks in the world are UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef. The designation is intended to mark places that should be celebrated and protected. But UNESCO also tries to preserve things that you can't just point to on a map, like the unique traditions that make up a culture. This week, the UN group announced what's been added to its list of intangible cultural heritage. Yodeling, a storied pastime in Switzerland, made the cut. Let me go to the face, this is high life music. Please up this for me. Calm down, come down.

So did high life music and dance from Ghana. And also, Suminac. Which is a meal from Tajikistan that's cooked for hours while people sing and dance. The story goes that the singing seasons the food. Also new to the list are hand. made Japanese paper, wearing Arabic coal eyeliner, and Italian cooking, among others. The designation can help drive tourism with people traveling to experience the cultural gems, though there's also the flip side of making something too popular. A journalist coined the term UNESCO side for

that, when crowds can overrun something that's made the UN lists. So let's just all be mindful, and don't everybody go yodeling all at once. Those are the headlines. If you'd like to play the Friday News Quiz, stick around. It's just after the 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, Zoe Murphy, and Paula Schumann.

Now, time for the quiz. We have a few questions about stories the Times has been covering this week. Can you get them all? First up. Okay, did you see what the Seattle FIFA World Cup Committee just did? This week, controversy flared around the upcoming World Cup, in particular, around the theme of one match that's set to take place in Seattle in June between Egypt and Iran. Officials from those country's teams recently said they're outraged about the theme and said that festivities and displays around it should be canceled. What is the match's planned theme?

The answer? It all comes down to a World Cup pride match. LGBTQ pride. In both Iran and Egypt, homosexuality is illegal, and people there can face severe punishments. FIFA has not commented on the pride match, the theme of which was chosen by local organizers. For its part, FIFA bans players from showing support for any political or social issues.

And ahead of the last World Cup in Qatar, it warned players not to wear rainbow gear in support of gay rights, saying they could be given yellow cards. Okay, next question. President Trump has frequently talked about ushering in the golden age in America. And I'm talking about ushering in the golden age of transportation. This week, Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffington. and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., pitched an unusual idea for American airports. They said there should be a space set aside for people to do what while they wait for their flights. A hint?

Yeah, it looks good. Yeah. Two. Three. Duffy actually demonstrated the activity at an airport in Virginia when he announced the idea. Come on. Come on. The answer.

Duffy and Kennedy want there to be fitness stations so people can work out in the terminals. This comes just after Duffy also made a push to get Americans to dress nicer when they fly to kind of class things up. So I guess get ready to have a kind of sweaty seatmate just cranked out 30 pull-ups in their cashmere sweater. And the last question. The Grammy-winning music producer, Timberland, has been making pop hits since the 90s, working with Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott. His latest project, though, is Tata Takumi, who is not real. She's AI, and she is only the latest AI artist to make a splash in the music world. We're going to play you three songs that have been big hits in their own particular genres or categories recently.

Only one of these is a human. Can you tell which one? First up, this is a country song that recently made a splash. You can kick rocks if you don't like how I talk. I'm going to keep on talking and walk my walk. Ain't changing my tone. Ain't changing my song. I was born this away.

Okay, next one is a pop hit. And last one is a song from the Christian charts. Which one is human? The answer? Only the pop hit was sung by a human. That is back to friends by a human. That is back to friends by somber. The other two? Both AI. The Christian hit actually spawned the absolute chef's kissed, perfect headline of the year, when the magazine, Christianity Today, titled their article about the song, quote, the current number one Christian artist has no soul. That is it for the news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, our email is The Headlines at NYTimes.com. I'm Tracy Mumford. The show will be back. on Monday with my colleague Will Jarvis.