This week on the campaign trail, Donald Trump displayed bizarre town hall behavior, Kamala Harris pursued a strategy aimed at Black men, and the first wave of early voting offered a look at the energy of the electorate. Michael Barbaro sits down with the political reporters Lisa Lerer, Shane Goldmacher and Rebecca Davis O’Brien to make sense of it all.

Guests:

• Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.
• Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.
• Rebecca Davis O’Brien, a reporter covering national politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• gop-donors.html">A frustrated Trump lashed out behind closed doors over money.
• harris-charlamagne-interview-trump.html">Five takeaways from Kamala Harris’s interview with Charlamagne Tha God.
• Georgia officialsearly-voting.html"> reported record turnout on the first day of early voting.
• Early voting has started.vote-tracker-2024.html"> Here’s what to watch.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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Yesterday, The Daily explained how control of the House has come down to a few contests in two blue states. Today, we look at the race for the Senate.

Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, explains how the battle could come down to a single state: Montana.

Guest: Carl Hulse, the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, who has covered Washington since 1985.

Background reading: 

• polls-montana-florida-texas.html">Republicans appear poised to take control of the Senate, a Times/Siena poll shows.
• Senator Jon Tester’s fight for survival istester-democrats-great-plains.html"> Democrats’ last stand on the Great Plains.
• The contest is a reflection ofsenate-tester-sheehy.html"> a changed Montana.

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This year’s presidential race looks certain to be won or lost in a handful of swing states where neither party has a clear advantage.

But that is not the case for Congress.

Nicholas Fandos, who covers politics for The Times, explains why control of the House is likely to hinge on what happens in two deeply blue states where Democrats run the show.

Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a reporter covering New York politics and government for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Far from the presidential battlegrounds,races-new-york-california.html"> blue states could decide Congress.
• Trackingelection-swing-districts.html"> the House’s most competitive races.

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After the assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump in Butler, Pa., Congress held hearings on the failures of the Secret Service, and its director, Kimberly Cheatle, stepped down.

Weeks later, another man attempted to shoot the former president, increasing concerns that something had gone very wrong at the Secret Service.

Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, explains why the agency’s failures are indicative of much more troubling issues.

Guest: Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• An exodus of agents left the Secret Serviceservice-staffing-retention-hiring.html"> unprepared for 2024.
• From July: The Secret Service has facedservice-security-roof-trump-shooting.html"> questions about its decisions before and immediately after the assassination attempt in Butler.
• From September:service-trump.html"> The Secret Service had not swept the area where a gunman lay in wait as Mr. Trump embarked on a short-notice golf outing.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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In a special series, “The Daily” examines what a second Trump presidency would look like, and how it would challenge democratic norms.

This episode focuses on former President Donald J. Trump’s growing plans for revenge, which his allies and supporters often dismiss as mere bluster.

Michael S. Schmidt, an investigative reporter at The New York Times, found that when Mr. Trump asked for retribution in his first term, he got it, over and over again.

Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, covering Washington.

Background reading: 

• opponents-investigations.html">Here are cases of Trump rivals who were subject to investigation.
• powers-memos.html">Read excerpts from memos written for Mr. Trump about his powers to prosecute.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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In the campaign for president, this was the week when back-to-back natural disasters became an inescapable part of the race, when Vice-President Kamala Harris chose to meet the press and when Donald J. Trump faced new accusations of cozying up to Russia’s president.

The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Astead W. Herndon, Maggie Haberman and Nate Cohn try to make sense of it all.

Guest: 

• Astead W. Herndon, a national politics reporter and the host of the politics podcast “The Run-Up.”
• Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.
• Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A national Times/Siena poll found Ms. Harristrump-poll-national.html"> with a slim lead over Mr. Trump.
• Republicans have spent tens of millions of dollars onrepublican-transgender-ads.html"> anti-trans ads, part of an attempt to win over suburban female voters.
• The journalist Bob Woodward cited an unnamed aide as saying that Mr. Trump had spoken to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russiaputin-woodward-book.html"> as many as seven times since leaving office.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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For years, research on hyper-attentive parenting has focused on all the ways that it can hurt children.

Now, the U.S. government is reframing that conversation and asking if our new era of parenting is actually bad for the parents themselves.

Claire Cain Miller, who covers families and education for The New York Times, explains why raising children is a risk to your health.

Guest: Claire Cain Miller, a reporter who writes for The Upshot at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• stress-murthy-warning.html">The surgeon general warned about parents’ stress, a sign that intensive parenting may have become too intense for parents.
• general-stress-parents.html">Read the surgeon general’s essay about parent stress.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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On the campaign trail, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are constantly talking about trade, tariffs and domestic manufacturing.

In many ways, these talking points stem from a single trade deal that transformed the U.S. economy and remade both parties’ relationship with the working class.

Dan Kaufman, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explains how the North American Free Trade Agreement broke American politics.

Guest: Dan Kaufman, the author of “The Fall of Wisconsin,” and a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading: 

• tarriffs-economy-trump-kamala-harris.html">How NAFTA broke American politics.
• Both Democrats and Republicans harris-tariffs.html">are expressing support for tariffs to protect American industry, reversing decades of trade thinking in Washington.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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Warning: this episode contains descriptions of war and trauma.

One year ago, Israel suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. The conflict that followed has become bigger and deadlier by the day, killing tens of thousands of people and expanding from Gaza to Yemen, Lebanon and now Iran.

Today, we return to two men in Israel and Gaza, to hear how their lives have changed.

Guests: Golan Abitbul, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, in southern Israel; and Hussein Owda, who was among more than a million people sheltering in Rafah.

Background reading: 

• How Oct. 7gaza-oct-7-year-of-war.html"> sparked a year of conflict.
• Listen tohamas-kibbutz.html"> the first interview with Golan.
• Listen toisrael-gaza.html"> the first interview with Hussein.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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