The Headlines - Trump Says He’s ‘Just Gotten Started,’ and Anti-Tourism Tactics in Europe

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

Plus, L.A. county’s budget crisis. On Today’s Episode:Trump Marks 100 Days by Vilifying Migrants and Attacking Opponents, by Luke BroadwaterTrump Grants Carmakers Some Relief From His Punishing Tariffs, by Ana Swanson and Jack EwingTrump Says He Could Free Abrego Garcia From El Salvador, but Won’t, by Zolan Kanno-YoungsMore Than 50,000 Workers Go on Strike as Budget Woes Disrupt L.A. County, by Shawn HublerWith Black Enrollment Down, Amherst College Faces an Identity Crisis, by Stephanie SaulEuropean Anti-Tourism Groups Plan June 15 Disruptions, by Lisa AbendTune 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's Wednesday, April 30th. Here's what we're covering. We're here tonight in the heartland of our nation to celebrate the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country. And that's according to many, many people. President Trump took to the stage at a rally in Michigan last night to mark his

first hundred days in office. We've just gotten started. You haven't even seen anything yet. It's all just kicking in. In front of a crowd of 3000, Trump seemed to return to campaign mode, falling back on his false claims the 2020 election was stolen, and going off on tangents about President Biden. Somebody convinced him that he looks great in a bathing suit.

He's 82 years old. Cary Grant didn't look great in a bathing suit when he was 82. You don't look great. The rally was intended to be a showcase of Trump's commitment to American manufacturing. He held it near Detroit, the center of the country's auto industry. But Trump spent much of his speech talking about his border crackdown and deportation numbers. We tried to get it higher, but the courts are giving us a hard time.

The president also dismissed poll numbers that show his approval rating has been dropping ever since he introduced aggressive new tariffs. Trump's approval rating currently sits at 42 percent, according to the most recent Times Sienna poll, historically low for a president this early in his term. Also yesterday, in a concession that his tariffs have been weighing on the economy, the president moved to give American carmakers a bit of relief. He's walking back some tariffs for the companies. Though analysts say even with the tweaks, the cost for car buyers is still expected

to go up by thousands of dollars. And Trump said the changes are only temporary. He's still insisting that automakers move all of their production fully to the U.S. We give them a little time before we slaughter them if they don't do this. We're now seeing the early signs of Trump trying to figure out how to get himself out of the mess that he's put himself in through his trade war. My colleague Jonathan Swan covers the Trump administration. Donald Trump testing out his theory of tariffs,

his theory that he can use tariffs as this weapon against everyone at once and that everyone will bow down to him. That has run up against reality. The trade situation is self-induced. He's basically started these wars, which he now will be looking for peace deals effectively. And the economy right now is in a very, very wobbly place.

Some of the early indicators about business confidence and investment confidence, consumer confidence, these are all warning signs that the White House is looking at and that Trump himself is very aware of. So I think for the next 100 days, everything is riding on the economy. Meanwhile, in an interview with ABC News that aired last night. You could get him back. There's a phone on this desk. I could. You could pick it up and with all the power on this desk. I could. You could pick it up

and I call the power of the presidency. You could call up the president of El Salvador and say, send him back right now. And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that. But the court has ordered you to. President Trump said he could free Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the man his administration mistakenly deported to El Salvador, but he will not. The president's comments undermined previous statements from his administration in which they've claimed there's nothing they can do, despite a Supreme Court order requiring them to take steps to bring him back to the U.S. The judge overseeing the case has accused the administration of willful and bad faith stonewalling. In Los Angeles,

We are tired of asking, and it's time to demand what we want at the bargaining table. More than 50,000 county workers are in the middle of a two-day strike that has ground some public services to a halt. Libraries across the county have closed, ambulances have been diverted from a hospital where workers walked out, and wildfire debris cleanup has slowed. The union representing the workers called for the strike after contract negotiations with the county stalled. The union is pushing for pay increases

and it's accused government officials of retaliating against workers involved in union activity. For its part, Los Angeles County says it's been trying to negotiate and has been warning that it's facing a growing budget crisis on multiple fronts that could throw the biggest county in the country into financial disarray.

It expects cleanup and recovery costs from this year's fires to approach $2 billion. It's been hit hard by the Trump administration's cuts to federal funding. And earlier this month, the county agreed to pay $4 billion to settle thousands of sex abuse claims dating back decades from kids in its juvenile detention and foster care systems. For millions of American high school students, tomorrow is Decision Day, the deadline for them to confirm which college they'll enroll in this fall. And The Times has been looking at the ongoing effects

for schools and students of the Supreme Court's landmark decision ending affirmative action. Since the 2023 ruling, which barred colleges from considering students' race and admissions, Black and Hispanic enrollment has dropped off nationwide, and it's hit some schools particularly hard. That includes Amherst College in Massachusetts which had been a leader in racial diversity. A lot of the black and Hispanic students up there feel a bit of a sense of isolation now and there aren't as many black and Hispanic students as they were expecting there to be in the freshman class. Times education reporter Stephanie Saul recently went to Amherst where black enrollment plunged

from 11% overall before the Supreme Court's ruling to just 3% of this year's class. There was one student from Washington Heights, New York who identifies as Afro-Latina and she said that only one other Black student was in her chemistry class. She had been the only Black student in what's known as the Freshman Seminar. And some students said that at activities, Black Student Union meetings, et cetera,

that the turnout has been affected, and they feel a little sense of disappointment and worry that maybe this will cause a vicious cycle that the next group of students who are being recruited will pick up on this and fewer black and Hispanic students will want to come next year. So they're kind of in a waiting game to see the outcome. Stephanie says that Amherst and other schools have been trying to figure out ways to keep diversifying their classes,

even if they can't consider students race anymore. That includes expanding financial aid and boosting efforts to bring in first-generation college students. This year, Amherst says that about a quarter of students they've offered admission to would be the first in their family to attend college, a record for the school. And finally, travelers may love a European summer vacation, eating tapas in Barcelona, island hopping in Greece, or taking a gondola ride in Venice. But many Europeans are over it. The number of tourists from the US and elsewhere has broken records, overwhelming some cities to the point that they've been putting in measures to keep people away. For example, Venice started charging an admission fee. Dubrovnik and Croatia cut

back the number of taxis and outdoor dining spaces, and cities like Amsterdam have banned the construction of new hotels. Now anti-tourism activists are planning to confront tourists directly to bring attention to housing shortages, overcrowding, and other issues that they say the tourism boom has fueled. The activists met this past weekend to workshop strategies that include blockading tour buses, picketing outside airports, and obstructing historic sites. But the main symbol of their resistance is the humble water gun. Last summer, anti-tourism protesters used the water guns to squirt tourists along

one of Barcelona's most famous streets, chanting, go home. And they haven't ruled out that tactic for this year's protests, which are scheduled for cities across Europe on June 15th. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a look at President Trump's first 100 days with a roundtable of Times political reporters. That's next in the New York Times audio app or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.