--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, May 30th. Here's what we're covering.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today, President Trump said he's going to hold a press conference at the White House to say goodbye to Elon Musk. Musk's been talking about his departure from the administration for weeks, wrapping up his role that's been unlike any in the history of American government.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The world's richest man, Musk wielded a huge amount of influence in the White House, though he was never confirmed by the Senate to any official cabinet position. He was the face of Trump's federal spending cuts with his Department of Government Efficiency, gleefully talking about feeding programs into the wood chipper. And he faced backlash from the public for it, too.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Marking his exit, Trump wrote, quote, This will be his last day, but not really, because he will always be with us. helping all the way. Elon is terrific.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: As Musk leaves Washington, the Times has learned new details about his drug use when he first joined President Trump on the campaign trail. While Musk was stumping for Trump, jumping around on stage at rallies and donating about $275 million to the campaign, he was doing drugs far more intensely than previously known.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: As you can see, I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA. He took ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. He told people he was having health issues that match side effects associated with chronic ketamine use. And he traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's unclear whether Musk continued taking drugs when he started working at the White House and was given the authority to reshape the federal government. But he did exhibit erratic and troubling behavior, insulting cabinet members, garbling his answers in an interview, and gesturing like a Nazi.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Musk has previously said he takes ketamine for depression, though he didn't respond to requests from the Times for comment. The White House also didn't respond when asked if Musk had to take drug tests as part of his role.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Now, three more updates on the Trump administration. A court ruling blocking President Trump's steep tariffs was in place for less than 24 hours before a separate court paused that decision yesterday, sowing even more confusion for American consumers and the global economy.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The tariffs will remain in effect while a panel of judges now decides whether the president had the power to single-handedly impose the surcharges. In the meantime, Trump officials have been intensifying their attacks on judges who rule against the administration's policies.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Three judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said America cannot function if the president is being, quote, railroaded by activist judges.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Two of the trade court judges who originally found the tariffs were illegal are Republican appointees. One was named to the bench by Trump himself.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Also, when the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again Commission released a report last week on children's health issues, it called this generation the sickest in American history and said its findings were a quote evidence foundation for taking action But it now become clear the report cited studies that do not exist That included fictitious research about drug advertising, mental illness, and medications for children with asthma.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One expert on medical journalism said the errors were characteristic of what happens when you use artificial intelligence, though it's unclear if the commission relied on that technology. The report has since been reposted with corrections.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And at the Department of Homeland Security. I have not been satisfied with the numbers. Kristi Noem, Steve Miller, myself, we all want more numbers. So we expect a fast increase in number of arrests every day.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Several top officials have left their jobs, part of a shakeup in leadership as the Trump administration pressures the department to ramp up deportations. The White House says immigration authorities have been arresting about 700 people a day, But it's aiming to get that number up to 3,000.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, the Times has been reporting on how the administration's aggressive crackdown is affecting immigrant communities, in particular, farm workers, many of whom are undocumented.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: My colleague Anna Lay recently traveled to rural upstate New York to talk with some of them. There's been a lot of anxiety these past few months. People have been staying home a lot more than they would otherwise. They have been avoiding going to the grocery store. They've been avoiding going to church.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They told me they won't even sometimes get ice cream with their children. This fear that people have is heightened by the fact that they are living in a place where a lot of voters are Trump supporters. And a lot of people there seem to want these deportations to happen.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: There is this fear that people are going to get turned in by their neighbors, and there is evidence that this happened. I spoke with a man whose wife hit a deer while she was driving in a snowstorm. She knocked on a neighbor's door for help, and instead of getting help, the neighbor called the authorities and reported her for suspicious activity, and she was taken away by ICE.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: What's happening in upstate New York is happening in farming communities all across the country. It's happening in California. It's happening in Texas. Farm workers will hear about people getting picked up by the authorities. So they'll go into hiding and then they come out when they're ready to live their lives again.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Then they'll hear about more activity involving law enforcement. So a lot of them told me they're caught in this cycle of fear and anxiety.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This Sunday is the start of Pride Month, which will be marked by parades and festivals in cities around the country celebrating the LGBTQ community. In years past, companies big and small had jumped on board to sponsor these events, clamoring to have their logos splashed on t-shirts and banners.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But this year, many companies have backed away. New York Pride has had a quarter of its sponsors drop out or scale back, including Garnier, Sky Vodka, and MasterCard, which were all platinum sponsors last year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Target is still participating, but asked for that to go unpublicized. And in San Francisco Anheuser which had been one of the largest sponsors of Pride there told the executive director earlier this year it would not be providing funding The company said it was no longer in their budget
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Other companies have also cited economic uncertainty But Pride organizers see another factor. The Trump administration's crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The head of Milwaukee Pride said corporations he talked to worried they might be penalized or punished by the government, saying, quote, everyone's afraid.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: One specialist in LGBTQ marketing told The Times, corporations have actually been getting nervous for a few years, as there's been growing backlash to the increased visibility of LGBTQ Americans.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But this year's drop in sponsorship has added fuel to criticism that corporations only support the LGBTQ community when there's a financial benefit, a practice some dismiss as rainbow capitalism.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally... Who's boss? It's Hoshou Ryu versus Onosato. This week, the world of sumo wrestling named a new Yokozuna, or grand champion, the highest title awarded in the sport.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Onosato, as he's known, is a 24-year-old who weighs in at 420 pounds. And his ascension is a huge win for Japan, which, despite inventing sumo, has lost its dominance in the last few decades.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Until the 90s, all yokozunas were Japanese, before Mongolian wrestlers started to rule the ring. Onosato is just the second Japanese yokozuna this century.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Japan, sumo wrestling's been losing popularity. It's gotten a reputation for being kind of old-fashioned. The rituals before a match, like bowing and foot stomping, actually last far longer than the match itself, which is over in just seconds.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Many younger Japanese people have turned to other sports instead, particularly soccer. But some sumo fans are hoping Onisato can change that, dubbing him the savior of Japanese sumo.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines, but stick around, we've got the Friday news quiz for you after the credits.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today on The Daily, Rachel Abrams talks with the business owner whose lawsuit may be the downfall of Trump's tariffs. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica Metzger, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Lindsay Gellman, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, Katie O'Brien, and Paula Schumann.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Now for the quiz. All May, we have been giving you a chance to test your news knowledge on Fridays, and we are going to keep it going into June as well. So we've got questions about three stories The Times has covered this week.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Can you answer them all? First up, the stock market surged earlier this week after President Trump pushed back the 50 percent tariffs he said he'd put on Europe. It's a trend economists have taken note of.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Trump threatens high tariffs only to lower or delay them, sometimes within days. That pattern has now even been given its own nickname. Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the taco trade.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: What's your response to that? The term taco trade is an acronym. So your question what does the taco in that stand for I give you a hint The T stands for Trump The answer is Trump always chickens out.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The phrase was first used by a columnist at the Financial Times.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Okay, next question. A team of British men set off a wave of controversy in the world of mountain climbing when they tested out a new way to summit Mount Everest this month.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm going to play you a clip of the organizer of the expedition describing the climb. You'll need to fill in what their key and very divisive innovation was.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The only reason why we are working with and why we are using is to make the climb safer. We can see people dying on Everest every year. And maybe one step to improve this situation and to make climbing high altitude mountains safer.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Can you tell me what the secret sauce was for their experiment? The answer is xenon gas.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Leading up to the climb, about two weeks out, the team inhaled the gas, which effectively tricked their bodies into thinking they were already at high altitude. They were then able to get to the top of the world's highest mountain in less than three days, without needing to acclimate, a process that would normally take weeks.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Interestingly, while very fast, three days is not the record. According to the government of Nepal, the fastest climb of Everest ever was done in 2003 by Lakpa Gelu, a Sherpa who reached the summit in just under 11 hours.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Okay, last question. Your word is eclaircies small. Last night was the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, just celebrating its 100th anniversary. E-C-L-A-I-R-C-I-S-S-E-M-E-N-T. E-C-L-A-I-R-C-I-S-S-E-M-E-N-T. That is correct.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The winner was 13-year-old Faison Zaki from Texas, who won the competition and its prize of $50,000. Now, we're going to test your spelling skills. We're going to back up a few rounds to do that, since you already know how to spell E-C-L-A-I-R-C-I-S-M-E.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: So I will give you a word from the semifinals. Your word is quern. Quern is a noun. This word is originally English. Quern means a simple mill for grinding grain consisting of two circular stones with the upper one being turned by hand.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Okay, can you spell quern? I feel like your brow may be furrowing. Okay, time is up. I'm going to let fifth grader Sarv Darivne, who came in third, give you the answer.
--:-- Sarv Darivne: Korn. Q-U-E-R-N. Korn.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That is correct. Thank you. That is it for this week's news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, what you think about the quiz, you can always email us at theheadlines at nytimes.com. The show will be back on Monday and we'll try a few more questions next Friday. Thank you.
