Chapter 1: What stories defined 2025 according to top editors?
Hey, Jess. Hey, Ryan. How's it going?
Pretty good. How about you?
Not bad. So it's Monday, December 29th. And I know there are some people who are warming up their frigid cars right now, trying to get to work. And then there are some people who are cozy in their pajamas by a fire and have the rest of the week off. Right. Which one of those people are you?
The latter, I think, today. What about you?
So I've got the pajamas. I've got the rest of the week off. But this time of year is so chaotic that... Can I make a case to you for why I think Christmas and Valentine's Day should switch places? Yes. Have I not told you this yet? No. Christmas should be February 14th and Valentine's Day should be December 25th. Why? The reason is because the fall is way too crowded.
You've got Halloween, less than 38 days later, you've got Thanksgiving. Then less than 30 days later, you've got Christmas. It's too busy. There's too much going on. You just saw your family and traveled around Thanksgiving and then you're going to do it again 30 days later. And then you've got the doldrums Of the wintertime, you've got January and February with like nothing to look forward to.
It would be perfect if you just have Valentine's Day, the romance holiday, leading right into New Year's Eve, another romance holiday. You kind of get your date set up for, you know, what you're going to do on New Year's Eve. And then January 1st comes around and that kicks off like six weeks of the Christmas season.
And then at the bottom of winter, you know, you've got Christmas, the middle of February. Right.
I mean, I agree with you philosophically. I think this is a great idea. I'm just not sure who you would pitch it to. The Christian tradition? Look, the Christians have done it before. They've done it before.
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Chapter 2: What is Ryan's bold proposal about Christmas and Valentine's Day?
Tell the Pope. All right, sorry. This is not why we brought you here today. We actually have a little holiday treat. Just one more episode to look back at the biggest stories that define 2025.
Right. We called up the top editors at The Wall Street Journal to ask them what they thought the top stories of the year were, as well as what they're looking ahead to in 2026.
So here's the first one from DC.
Hi, this is Damian Paletta, Washington Coverage Chief at The Wall Street Journal. One of the biggest storylines that we've been following here in 2025 has been President Trump's implementation of his economic agenda, both through a huge tax cut package that passed Congress in the middle of the year, and then all along the way, these tariffs that the president has imposed on a number of countries.
And the tariffs remain a big story. The Supreme Court now is reviewing his power to impose these tariffs. And that's a decision that we could have soon to determine whether or not he can continue to impose tariffs against countries without congressional approval. So that's going to be a big storyline going forward.
The economy is a huge story right now, especially for many Americans who remain unsettled, even though we have low gas prices and a high stock market. Many Americans are feeling a disconnect with this economy, and this is creating mounting pressure on President Trump. That's going to be a big story that we follow in 2026 as the White House is hoping to save the Republican majority in Congress.
It was a very busy 2025, and it's going to be an even busier 2026 here in the Washington Bureau.
Yeah, that Supreme Court ruling on whether President Trump's tariffs are illegal is going to be a really big story.
Who do we have next? I'm Sarah Krause, and I'm the technology and media editor at The Wall Street Journal. The AI race was hands down the biggest story for the tech and media team this year. We've covered the battle for talent among top AI labs like Meta, Google's DeepMind, OpenAI, and Anthropic. The safety concerns that these new powerful tools raise.
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