The Headlines - Trump’s Xenophobic Outburst, and a Planned Donation to 25 Million U.S. Kids

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Plus, the 10 best books of the year. Here’s what we’re covering:Trump Appears to Fight Sleep During Cabinet Meeting by Zolan Kanno-YoungsTrump Calls Somalis ‘Garbage’ He Doesn’t Want in the Country by Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Shawn McCreeshRepublican Wins Tennessee House Race After a Trump-Led Rescue Mission by Shane Goldmacher and Emily CochraneMichael and Susan Dell to Put $250 in 25 Million Children’s Accounts by Nicholas KulishEurope Wants to Get the Word Out: Russia Is to Blame for Sabotage by Lara JakesThose Sky-High Bitcoin Prices That Everyone Said Were Here to Stay? They Left by David Yaffe-Bellany and Kailyn RhoneThe 10 Best Books of 2025 by The New York Times Book ReviewTune 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 Wednesday, December 3rd. Here's what we're covering. It's nice to be with you. Welcome to the final cabinet meeting of 2025. At the White House yesterday, President Trump took time at the top of his cabinet meeting to push back on recent coverage about his age and stamina.

Then I read in the New York Times, is Trump? Trump is sharp, but they're not sharp. There have been questions about how the 79-year-old president, the oldest to ever be elected, is juggling the demands of the job after he appeared to doze off during an event in the Oval Office last month. An analysis from the Times found that he's been keeping a shorter public schedule and doing fewer public events than he did at this point in his first term. Right now, I think I'm sharper than I was 25 years ago, but who the hell does? During the course of yesterday's two-hour cabinet meeting,

as officials went around the room and described their work, Trump again appeared to be fighting sleep at some moments, closing his eyes and seeming to nod off. When asked after if he'd fallen asleep, the White House press secretary pushed back, saying he was listening attentively and running the entire meeting. Meanwhile, as the meeting was wrapping up, Trump unleashed a xenophobic tirade,

railing against immigrants from Somalia. I don't want them in our country, I'll be honest with you. Someone who said, oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country's no good for a reason. He called Somali's garbage, adding to his long history of insulting black people, particularly those from African countries.

Let them go back to where they came from and fix it. Vice President J.D. Vance banged on the table in encouragement. a kind of here-here-here. The president and his aides have been targeting Somalis in recent days amid coverage of a fraud scandal that's taken place in pockets of the Somali community in Minnesota. There, federal prosecutors have charged dozens of people with felonies, accusing them of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars intended to feed kids during the pandemic. Though just a small group of people have been charged or convicted,

many Somali Americans say the scandal is being used as a pretext to attack their entire community. Trump's rant came as the Times learned that the administration is sending federal agents from around the country to Minnesota to launch an intensive immigration enforcement operation. The focus will be on detaining undocumented Somali immigrants who have final deportation orders, though one official said that others could be swept up as well. At a press conference yesterday, the mayor of Minneapolis said he was alarmed by the planned crackdown, saying, quote, Targeting Somali people means due process will be violated. It means that American citizens will be detained for no reason other than the fact that they look Somali.

Now, two other quick political updates. In Tennessee last night, Matt Van Epps, the Republican candidate for the U.S. House, won a special election. that had drawn a flood of national attention. No matter what the D.C. insiders or liberal media say, this is President Trump's party. I'm proud to be a part of it and can't wait to get to work. The race had been seen as a test of how Americans are feeling about the Trump administration. And Republicans poured millions of dollars into holding off a surprisingly strong Democratic challenge in the historically red district. Last year, Trump won there by over 20 percentage points.

Van Epps won by roughly nine. The relatively slim margin could be a warning about the GOP's vulnerabilities going forward. The Democratic candidate galvanized voters by focusing on affordability issues and blaming Republicans for the rising cost of health care. Also, Susan and I are super excited to announce our $6.25 billion gift to 25 million American children. The tech mogul Michael Dell, think Dell computers, and his wife, Susan, said at the White House yesterday that they're making a multi-billion dollar donation to expand the reach of the so-called Trump accounts. The accounts, which the federal government is expected to set up next summer, will give every American baby born in the years 2025 through 2028, $1,000 that will be invested in the stock market.

The Dell's gift will expand the reach of that program, giving $250,000. $50 to most kids up to 10 years old. Many details are still being hammered out, but the Dell said that they hope their donation will inspire other philanthropists, corporations, and state and local governments to also pump more money into the accounts. In Europe over the past few months,

there's been an increasing number of small-scale attacks and acts of sabotage. In Poland, authorities say explosives were planted on a rail line. In Denmark and Belgium, mysterious drone sightings at airports have disrupted flights, and in Sweden, navigation systems for aircraft have been jammed. Military officials and experts have long pointed the finger at Russia, while politicians largely avoided publicly assigning blame. But now that's starting to change. Russia's hybrid actions in Europe are increasingly brazen. Russia is committing state-sponsored terrorism. Officials are calling out Russia more forcefully and more often, leaning into a name and shame strategy. They'd stop short of that

before, hoping to not escalate tensions with Moscow. But since the attacks have only continued, they're changing their approach. European leaders are also talking more openly about how to defend themselves, with Poland activating 10,000 military personnel to protect infrastructure, and in Italy, the defense minister hopes to open a 5,000-person command center to protect against the kind of attacks that have been happening across the continent. The wider public accusations about Russian involvement may help get European taxpayers on board with spending more on similar defense projects. In the last year, Bitcoin has been on a wild ride.

I'm right here watching history be made. Last December, the digital currency hit a landmark value where one Bitcoin was worth $100,000, setting off huge celebrations in the crypto world. This is the highest has ever been. It's ridiculous. By October, Bitcoin's value had climbed even higher to $126,000. But since then, Bitcoin is in freefall today. It has gone under $88,000. Its value has plunged, a racist,

basically all of the gains it made over the course of the year. The downturn is notable because under the Trump administration, which has rolled back regulations on crypto, currencies like Bitcoin have reached a new level of mainstream acceptance, with more and more people buying them. But as crypto has become less niche, its price has started to be affected by broader economic trends. The recent sell-off came just after Trump threatened a major new tariff on China that sent shockwaves through the global economy. Now, with the price of crypto down, many of the dozens of publicly traded companies

that bought into the crypto hype this year have been struggling, announcing share buybacks and management reshuffles. The managing director of one financial firm told the Times that the crypto price roller coaster is a good reminder that the investments aren't, quote, for the faint of heart. And finally, it's almost the end of the year, which means end of year lists.

This week, the critics at the Times revealed their top 10 books of 2025. Some fiction, some nonfiction, there's some horror on the battlefield, romance on a train, sister drama, survival at sea. You can find their favorites at NYTimes.com. Of course, making any list means leaving something off of it. Dave Kim from the book's desk shared one novel that he, wishes made the cut. It's the Tokyo Suite by Giovanna Mataloso. This is a novel about two women. The first is Maid. Her name is Maju, and the second is her boss, Fernanda, who is a hot-shot TV producer. And Maju, the maid, has kidnapped Fernanda's daughter. And we don't know why she's kidnapping her, but

they're on the run. And we get both of their perspectives, we get their internal lives, their histories, their motivations. And it's just a fascinating look at so many themes. Motherhood, class, just a great, sensitive portrait, but also very, very funny. And it moves. It moves very quickly. I really love that book. For more about the critics' favorites and what else almost made the list, check out The Times Book Review podcast. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.