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--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. Today's Monday, February 24th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: We're not hearing a good story coming across the TV or out of the papers. Already, our president is ignoring court orders.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Across the country, frustrated and angry voters have been confronting Republican lawmakers as they held town halls back in their home districts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The president says you want to eliminate the Department of Education. Let me see if I can go back. OK.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It was Congress's first recess since President Trump took office, and constituents were waiting for the lawmakers with questions about executive orders, government layoffs, and the work of Elon Musk.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I understand what your DOGE is trying to do. It's a good idea, but I think you need a better spokesman than the one you've got up there.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Trinity, Texas this weekend, Representative Pete Sessions was pushed for answers about how Trump and Musk are trying to slash spending.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: My question to you is if the two people that are making, seems to be making most of the decisions right now, decide to cut Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, will you be courageous enough to stand up to them?
--:-- Representative Pete Sessions: Yeah, so these are good questions.
--:-- Representative Pete Sessions: Sessions appeared unfazed by the questions and by the people shouting over him at some points. He said he could not promise anyone would be insulated from budget cuts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Nationwide, many of the most vocal complaints at the town halls came from people who identified themselves as Democrats. But a number of questions also came from Republican voters, suggesting there could be a broader backlash building for the Republican Party as Trump's policies start to take effect.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In Washington, even some Trump-appointed officials have been publicly pushing back on Elon Musk's latest demands.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: On Saturday, an email went out to government employees. The subject line what did you do this week Musk warned that anyone who didn't respond to it with a summary of their work would lose their job
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The email reached workers across multiple agencies from the FBI to the FDA It even went to sitting federal judges who were not part of the executive branch.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The demand triggered a standoff. Several agency officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, urged workers not to reply.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Some reiterated that they were in charge of their staff, not Musk.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The pushback reflects a growing unease behind the scenes of the Trump administration about Musk's power.
--:-- President Trump: President Trump, however, said Saturday he wants Musk to be more aggressive.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Musk's latest controversial order comes as his team, the Department of Government Efficiency, is claiming that it's cut $55 billion of federal spending so far.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's posted a so-called wall of receipts on its website, But the Times has found that it's marred by accounting errors, outdated data, and other mistakes.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Some contracts they said they canceled were double or triple counted. One line item initially claimed a contract was worth $8 billion when it was $8 million.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The full analysis of Doge's budget claims is at nytimes.com.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The highest share of German voters in decades flocked to the polls on Sunday for an election with massive consequences, not just for their country, but for all of Europe.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The vote came amid deep dissatisfaction with the direction of the country's economy, with immigration in Germany, and with huge questions surrounding Germany's relationship with the United States.
--:-- Jim Tankersley: Jim Tankersley is the Times bureau chief in Berlin.
--:-- Jim Tankersley: One of the big questions heading into this vote was how well the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AFD, party would do.
--:-- Jim Tankersley: This is a party that's categorized as extremist by German intelligence, that has members who have been fined for using banned Nazi slogans, even members who have been accused of trying to overthrow the government.
--:-- Jim Tankersley: And while they doubled their vote share from four years ago and have proven themselves to be a real force to be reckoned with in German politics they will not be included in the new government
--:-- Jim Tankersley: The party that did win was the Christian Democrats a center-right party led by Friedrich Mertz, a businessman who has never run a government ministry or even a small city, but who promised to crack down on immigration into Germany and to roll back regulations and cut taxes in order to restart Germany's economic engine.
--:-- Jim Tankersley: Mertz also appears headed for what increasingly looks like a confrontation with the United States over foreign policy.
--:-- Jim Tankersley: Mertz's victory came right on the third anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, and he has promised to lead a robust defense for the Ukrainians in Europe and Germany, supplying them with more weapons and basically taking on President Trump as he attempts to negotiate a peace with Russia that cuts out Ukraine and the Europeans.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Officials at the Vatican say that Pope Francis is in the early stages of kidney failure.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: They say he's alert, but that his condition continues to be critical, 10 days after he was hospitalized in Rome for respiratory issues.
--:-- Cardinal Timothy Dolan: Yesterday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York City said that he's, quote, in very, very fragile health and probably close to death.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Catholic leaders have been urging people to pray for the 88-year-old pope.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Mental health professionals are sounding the alarm about unregulated AI chatbots claiming to be therapists.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Professionally programmed therapy chatbots do exist. They're set up with scripts and guardrails.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And there's been a hope that they can help make up for a shortage of mental health providers.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But this month, the head of the American Psychological Association said that vulnerable people have been turning to sites filled with user-generated bots that anyone can talk to.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Some are labeled psychologist or therapist, and they can even claim to have a degree from Stanford or specialize in specific techniques.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Unlike therapy chatbots trained by human doctors the fake therapy bots simply echo users beliefs back to them and in some cases reinforce harmful thoughts
--:-- Tracy Mumford: After interacting with one a teenage boy in Texas started being violent towards his parents and a 14-year-old in Florida died by suicide.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Psychologists are warning that these bots need human supervision and federal oversight, especially as the technology advances and they become more realistic.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally...
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I can't believe I'm going to be living in Fairmont Christ.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A new daytime soap opera premieres today on CBS.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Something that hasn't happened this century. Good luck, honey. You're going to need it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Soap operas used to be a centerpiece of afternoon TV.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: People had to get home for their stories.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But the shows have mostly disappeared. Reality TV has taken over.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: People get all their backstabbing, catfighting drama from real people instead.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But now, the new soap, Beyond the Gates, is trying to bring back the form.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It's also the first American soap completely centered on a Black family.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The show is a partnership with the NAACP.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: It follows the wealthy but drama-prone Dupree's in suburban Maryland.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I didn't think that a new soap opera would ever be brought back into the lexicon.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And for it to be a show focusing on a Black family was something that I never imagined would happen.
--:-- Tamara Tooney: Actress Tamara Tooney, who stars in the new show, talked to The Times ahead of the launch.
--:-- Tamara Tooney: She was on soaps in the 80s and 90s and said there's more to them than the stereotype of melodrama and hammy performances.
--:-- Tamara Tooney: It's like there's no such thing as soap opera acting. Acting is acting, and you are being truthful in the moment, whatever the moment is.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Today on The Daily, the controversial methods the Trump administration is using to deport undocumented migrants.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
