Kim Severson

The goat. The pitchman goat is what we just witnessed in that clip.

We fully believe that he is going to continue to play that game.

Mina's showing rods. She's showing rods on the chat. For free?

Show us the rods. Mina's showing rods. She's showing rods on the chat.

Is it true that you passed on the George Foreman grill idea?

What happened? Tell me the story.

Isn't this exciting? You did not come here today to box, right?

All right.

From The New York Times, this is The Daily. I'm Kim Severson. A measles outbreak continues to spread in Texas, where more than 200 people have been infected, one child has died, and health experts are now concerned that low vaccination rates will make it harder to contain.

Right. And of course, there's this other thing that's changed. Trump won and he appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary. Kennedy's been a huge promoter of vaccine skepticism and now, by virtue of his position as the secretary, is in charge of the CDC, which is the leading agency responding to this outbreak. So how is RFK Jr. 's CDC doing so far?

So how do career public health officials view this? What are they thinking about the outbreaks?

Teddy, I wonder if we're going to look back on this outbreak and see it as something of a turning point. I mean, the idea for a long time in this country was that public health meant something needs to be done for the greater good, even if it's distasteful or uncomfortable for the individual. But we're living through a moment where actually individual rights are in the forefront, right?

We have an administration that's embraced that very idea. And it's to the point where even the Secretary of Health won't directly encourage people to get vaccinated.

And that's what's happening in Texas specifically, right? Right. So walk me through this. When did it start and where are we now?

We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced Ukraine had agreed to a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, following talks between the two countries in Saudi Arabia. American officials also said the U.S. would immediately resume military assistance to Ukraine.

It was a major breakthrough after a disastrous meeting in the Oval Office in February between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russian officials did not comment on the US proposal, which was announced just hours after Ukrainian drones had targeted Moscow. Also on Tuesday, the Trump administration continued its dismantling of the Department of Education, announcing that more than 1,300 employees will be laid off. The department will now be about half the size as it was when Trump started his second term.

The president has long promised to eliminate the department, but it's a move he can't make without the approval of Congress. Today's episode was produced by Will Reed and Alex Stern, with help from Muj Zaydi. It was edited by Lexi Diao and Paige Cowett, with help from Mark George. Contains original music by Marion Lozano, Diane Wong, and Dan Powell. It was engineered by Alyssa Moxley.

Our theme music is by Jim Brumberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. That's it for The Daily. I'm Kim Severson. See you tomorrow.

Right. And as I understand, they're much more reliant on natural remedies.

Okay, so you land in West Texas. Take me through how your trip started.

Today, my colleague Teddy Rosenbluth takes us into the epicenter of the outbreak and explains whether its rapid spread and the government's response to it signals a turning point in how America views public health. It's Wednesday, March 12th. Teddy, welcome. Thank you. Like most people, I don't really think about measles being much of a threat.

Wow.

Oh, my goodness. I have never seen a child who didn't react when they got a shot. I know. That poor kid must have been very sick. Very.

So what's her trajectory? Like what happens to a child who gets measles?

Teddy, you spoke with the mother of the girl, the unvaccinated girl who didn't flinch when she got the shot, right? Yes. Well, what was going through her mind?

You may hear about an outbreak, but it gets contained. We all move on. This outbreak doesn't seem to be going away. Can you lay out for me why it's different?

So, Teddy, it sounds like during COVID, when there was so much division over vaccines and that moment when everybody seemed to be in a panic over who they could trust, it was in that moment that Ansley herself lost trust with the broader public health system, which, of course, we know is meant to protect everyone in a community.

We'll be right back. Teddy, how do we eliminate measles in this country in the first place? And I'm asking because these cases are increasing and I want to understand how and I guess if we can stop them at this point.

The end product of medicine's long match with measles, the live attenuated virus measles vaccine.

Right. Many parents think of measles as just a common nuisance. But physicians today know that measles is more than a nuisance.

Supplies of the vaccine are ready for shipment to doctors throughout the country.

And this is that phrase, herd immunity, right? Right. Can you explain it to me a little bit better?

And that's what the United States was able to do, right? It got the vaccination rate high enough, took away the oxygen, and the disease couldn't spread.

That seems kind of head-spinning. So he's got to ride the momentum, right? But he also has to be kind of avoiding an all-out trade war with Trump, cut a deal, still look like he's standing up to Trump. This seems like an incredible needle to try to thread.

So what about Polayev? I can imagine that being a right-wing populist who is compared to Trump is suddenly not a great thing to be in Canada.

Is he trying to put distance between himself and Trump as he shifted his campaign?

It's Thursday, March 13th. Matina, you've been traveling across Canada reporting on what's turned out to be a very big news week. Thank you for taking the time to come on the show. Thank you so much for having me, Kim. So coming into his presidency, I think there was an expectation that Trump might make waves on matters of international diplomacy.

Are either of these candidates articulating what the future of Canada would look like? Are they talking about what would happen if the United States isn't at play anymore?

Mm hmm. Matina, in any good relationship, trust is essential. So in this relationship between the United States and Canada, let's say Trump goes back on the tariffs, decides that he wants things back to the way they were with Canada. Can the relationship be put back together again?

But I don't think many of us had make Canadians really, really angry on their bingo card.

Matina, as always, thank you. Thank you, Kim. On Wednesday, hours after Trump's global tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect, the Canadian government retaliated with new tariffs on $20 billion of U.S. imports. That came as the European Union also hit back with new levies against American goods.

Trump, who earlier this week declined to rule out the possibility that his economic policies would cause a recession, vowed to respond, saying, quote, Of course I'll hit back. We'll be right back. Here's what else you should know today.

In what the Trump administration is calling the largest deregulatory announcement in American history, the Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday said it would unwind dozens of regulations, among them protections for wetlands and limits on how much soot can pour from smokestacks.

Most significantly, the administration plans to erase the EPA's legal authority to regulate greenhouse gases by reconsidering decades of science that highlight the dangers of global warming. Today's episode was produced by Shannon Lin, Nina Feldman, Michael Simon-Johnson, and Anna Foley, with help from Alex Stern and Stella Tan.

It was edited by Chris Haxel, Devin Taylor, and MJ Davis-Linn, contains original music by Dan Powell and Sophia Landman, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brumberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. That's it for The Daily. I'm Kim Severson. See you tomorrow.

So let's rewind a little and just remind me of how we got here. We're in a place where Canadians who, to many Americans, seem very, very nice, have turned downright hostile and find themselves in such a political vice.

Right. I think a lot of us did. And no one knew if it was one of the many things that he says that you don't know whether to take seriously or not. For sure.

Right. And we've talked on the show before about the threat of tariffs and the way Trump justified them at the outset. is that he would be using them as a way of forcing our neighboring countries to reduce both migrant traffic and drug traffic from coming into the U.S. But these are not, seems to me, major problems at the border of Canada.

So was there a sense among the Canadian government that this was about something else? Absolutely.

I mean, this seems like an extraordinary moment. Here is Trump on the phone with Trudeau, essentially saying, I don't respect your borders or your sovereignty. How is the Canadian government reacting to all this at this point?

I don't really want to play Canada's therapist here, but what's behind the reaction? Is it defiance? Is it betrayal? I mean, what do you think is unifying the Canadians at this point?

We'll be right back. Matina, you were telling us that what's happening in Canada in response to the trade wars and to the intense rhetoric coming from the Trump administration was beginning to change Canada in some extremely significant ways that really have long-term implications. Can you tell me what you mean by that?

So Canadians know him as a solid economics policy guy. For sure.

From The New York Times, I'm Kim Severson, and this is The Daily. A gloves-off trade war with America is uniting Canadians from all corners of the country against its southern neighbor. Today, my colleague Matina Stevis-Gridneff on what that trade war means for the future of the relationship and how this fight is shifting the country's politics, its culture, and its place on the global stage.

Okay. Can you remind me how this works? So he's serving as prime minister, and then he has to run fairly soon again as prime minister. Can you just give me the little Canadian Parliament 101?

From The New York Times, I'm Kim Severson. This is The Daily. In the coming days, President Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would, at least on paper, follow through on one of his major campaign promises, to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. The catch is, he still needs it to impose his vision on American schools.

Okay, so how did we go from there to where we are now?

Okay, this all sounds pretty drastic, eliminating the entire Department of Education. And I want to understand why he wants to do that. But before we get there, it might be helpful to understand, and I hate to admit that I don't know this, what exactly is the Department of Education responsible for?

OK, Dana, you told us about the investigations the Department of Education has already opened. So Trump is actually embracing the powers of the Department of Education, even as he's talking about eliminating it.

This feels like a big change. And for many parents who send their kids to public schools, should they strap in for a radical shift in what public school is in America?

Dana, thanks for coming on the show.

We'll be right back.

On Sunday, Canada's resurgent Liberal Party chose a new leader, Mark Carney, to succeed Justin Trudeau and to take over the country's response to an ugly trade war with the United States. Carney's a business executive who's never held elected office. In his acceptance speech, he took direct aim at President Trump by rejecting Trump's call for Canada to become America's 51st state.

And by declaring that Canada would not shrink from a fight over tariffs.

Carney will become prime minister in the coming days and is expected to quickly call for an election to ride the wave of anti-Trump sentiment that's energized the Liberal Party in recent days. The race against Canada's Conservative Party is expected to be close. Today's episode was produced by Eric Krupke, Sydney Harper, and Nina Feldman. It was edited by Devin Taylor.

Research assistance by Susan Lee. Contains original music by Pat McCusker, Diane Wong, Alicia Baitup, and Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brownberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly. That's it for The Daily. I'm Kim Severson. See you tomorrow.

So there's not like a federal rule about how much history a kid needs to graduate from high school. The feds do none of that.

So if the department got eliminated, would all those things just, poof, go away?

But why even sign the executive order then? I mean, Trump's not exactly Mr. Follow the law all the time, but this seems pretty open and shut. It's a cabinet agency. So why sign an executive order abolishing it if it stands to be overturned in the courts?

Today, my colleague Dana Goldstein on how Trump is balancing a desire to both dismantle and weaponize the education department. It's Monday, March 10th. Dana, over the past few days, we've been hearing that President Trump has plans to abolish the Department of Education. And even for an administration that's been dismantling agencies across government, this felt pretty big.

And what do we imagine overhauling education would look like?

Okay, so this is part of the overarching idea, like streamline the government, take things out of the federal government's hands as much as possible, save a bunch of money, get rid of workers who may be are perceived to not be needed. This is basically kind of a doge operation. Is that right?

So people who took jobs at these nonprofits that Trump doesn't like, with the promise of having their loans forgiven, would no longer get that benefit?

So Trump is already infusing the American education system with his new vision of what public education should be.

So, Dana, I imagine that when any new administration comes in, the priorities of each department will change a little or even a lot. But it sounds like what you're saying with regards to Trump and the Department of Education is that something much deeper and much more fundamental is going on here. Help me understand how we got here.

You're a veteran education reporter. Talk to us about what's happening.

So essentially, the Department of Education got woven into the body politic as we know it, right?

Yeah, that is an image that is just seared into the minds of a lot of people. Okay, so after George W. Bush, we come to Obama. And what was his vision for American public education?

Okay. So what happened? What changed?