The Powers That Be: Daily

Dylan Byers joins Peter to break down 60 Minutes’ star-studded, controversy-shadowed relaunch under Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton: its new correspondents, the internal drama, and whether the show’s reputation—and Weiss’s—survives its September 13th debut. Then they unpack The New York Times’s quest for its own AI search tool, betting that readers want to talk to the paper the way they talk...

Leigh Ann Caldwell joins Peter to break down Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s mounting 2028 presidential calculus, which is colliding with her new single life while she chronicles her egg-freezing journey in real time. The pair walk through her options, her calculated endorsement restraint this primary season, and why encouraging early-state polling numbers still can’t erase real doubts about her genera...

Bill Cohan joins Peter to break down the swift, bipartisan grassroots revolt against data centers and the A.I. companies racing to build them—from Josh Shapiro’s about-face in Pennsylvania to Kathy Hochul’s New York moratorium—and why Wall Street’s trillion-dollar financing spree suggests nobody’s slowing down yet. Then the pair try to wrap their heads around why Bitcoin is suddenly surging after...

The besties Jon Kelly and Peter reunite to examine the New York Times’s uneasy relationship with creator-journalists like Pablo Torre, whose bombshell Clippers investigation—now contradicted by ESPN’s reporting—may not have survived The Gray Lady’s standards desk. Then they turn to MS NOW’s $8-a-month streaming offering, and whether a partisan network can build a subscriber business the way T...

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, who broke last week’s big news about the LA Lakers, joins John to walk through how the $12.5 billion deal came together practically overnight. The two dig into the NBA’s exploding franchise valuations, what kind of owner Iger is likely to be, why LeBron James really left for Philly, and the murky, slow-moving investigation into the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard.

Malique Morris joins Peter to unpack J.Crew’s preppy renaissance—buoyed by buzzy campaigns with Bad Bunny and Jasmine Tookes—and why all that reclaimed cool may not be showing up on the balance sheet. Then they dig into Vette, Condé Nast’s ambitious new affiliate-marketing venture, and debate whether shoppers will really flock to influencer-run storefronts over the retailers they already know.

Julia Ioffe joins Peter to discuss how Trump’s cascading misadventures in the Middle East are hanging over the midterms—driving up gas prices, scrambling party politics on Iran and Gaza, and fueling more insurgent challengers than ever. Then they turn to the president’s renewed tariff threats, and how Israel could become the defining litmus test issue of 2028.

Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to unpack the backlash against Flock, the fast-growing surveillance-camera startup whose automated license plate readers are popping up (and being torn down) across the country. Then the pair examine how Democratic operatives are mining opt-in ChatGPT and Gemini transcripts to craft ads for voters who’ve tuned politics out.

Marianna Sotomayor joins Peter from her home state of Florida to unpack today’s primaries, beginning with Ron DeSantis—still polling above Trump, yet oddly absent from the race to replace him. Then they survey the down-ballot field, from a Senate seat Democrats have all but conceded to House primaries crowded with carpetbaggers.

Jon Kelly and Peter reunite for a California edition of Media Monday, starting with the standoff between AG Rob Bonta and David Ellison, who’s threatening to pull Paramount out of the state unless Bonta drops his antitrust suit against the Warner Bros. merger. Then they turn to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner’s staggering $12.5 billion deal for the Lakers, and the private equity money reshaping sports.

Jonathan Greenberger, the unconventional editor in chief of Politico, joins Dylan to explain how a business-side executive ended up running the newsroom—and what it means for Politico's future. They discuss the relaunch of Playbook and its early scoop streak, the push to make every franchise multi-platform (podcasts, video, events), and Politico's bet that its global footprint can turn political d...

Bill Cohan joins Peter to explain why deep-pocketed investors are muscling into pro sports, from Apollo’s $2.6 billion investment in the Yankees to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger’s $12.5 billion grab for the Lakers. Then the two weigh whether even blue-chip franchises have a ceiling, and whether buyers shelling out record prices have simply gotten caught up in deal heat.

Marianna Sotomayor joins Peter to unpack the stunning collapse of Francesca Hong’s gubernatorial bid in Wisconsin, where a late establishment cash dump and unflattering press erased her double-digit lead against David Crowley. Then they survey the rest of the primary wreckage, from a grassroots Senate upset in Minnesota to a generational shakeup in Connecticut, and what it all says about a Democra...

Lauren Sherman joins Peter to unpack how the Olsen twins built The Row into a nearly $400 million luxury juggernaut, and why the brand sits at a crossroads as quiet luxury falls out of fashion. Then Lauren turns to Karlie Kloss’s Bedford Media and its splashy revamp of i-D magazine, from hiring a new editor to the harder task of restoring the youth-culture bible’s long-lost cool.

Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to unpack a cascade of security snafus at the major A.I. labs, starting with the OpenAI model that broke loose from its sandbox and hacked Hugging Face—only for Anthropic and Meta to discover their own models had quietly done the same. Then Ian breaks down Congressman Ted Lieu’s bipartisan Kill Switch Act and the Trump administration’s new, curiously classified framework...

Jon Kelly chats up Dylan Byers, sitting in for Peter Hamby, about the subliminal intentions of David Ellison’s NYT op-ed and the headwinds facing new Business Insider C.E.O. Christian Baesler.

Lauren’s guest today is French journalist and L’etiquette editor-in-chief Marc Beaugé. They go in-depth on the six-part Le Monde series on Bernard Arnault; Marc even watched the standup comedy special released by Xavier Niel, the billionaire investor and husband of Delphine Arnault, so you don't have to. They also discuss the destruction of Bally with its current owner, Michael Reinstein, in the t...

Eriq Gardner joins guest host Dylan Byers to preview the media trial of the century between California and Paramount over the looming merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. Eriq breaks down all of the second- and third-order effects of the case, how it’s affecting the Ellisons and Zaslav, and what it all signals about the growing regulatory power of state attorneys general.

Marianna Sotomayor joins guest host Leigh Ann Caldwell to dig into the week’s big primaries, with a focus on how Abdul El-Sayed’s surprising win over Haley Stevens could help reunite a fractured Democratic Party. They break down El-Sayed’s appeal to younger voters and the biggest challenges awaiting him in November’s general. They also examine Speaker Mike Johnson’s hands-off approach to members w...

Julia Ioffe joins guest host Leigh Ann Caldwell to discuss Republican foreign policy in a post–Lindsey Graham world. They dig into the outsized influence Graham held over Trump’s approach to Ukraine, Iran, and Israel—and what his absence means going forward. They also revisit Julia’s exclusive reporting on Laura Loomer, the MAGA influencer who recently turned from Putin apologist to Zelensky cheer...

Bill Cohan joins Peter to discuss how the frozen Paramount-Warner Bros. merger has left David Zaslav in an awkward spot—hamstrung by deal terms that require the Ellisons’ sign-off on virtually everything. Bill lays out what Zaz can and can’t do while the deal sits in limbo—then considers whether the irrationally exuberant world of Wall Street I.P.O.s can ever actually be reformed.

Jon Kelly and Peter weigh in on the potential fallout from delaying the WarnerMount merger, as Gov. Gavin Newsom raises concerns about what blocking the deal could mean for Hollywood jobs and the state economy. Then the duo chew over ESPN’s recent town hall, where new executive Mike Foss urged talent to “embrace authenticity” and adopt digital trends while keeping their combative on-air personalit...

Marion Maneker joins Peter to report back from a recent round of conversations with the leaders of the four major auction houses about the art market’s big comeback—and the buyers driving it at the top. Marion also explains why the market for sports cards, collectibles, and memorabilia, Pokémon cards included, has gotten so scorching that even the fine art world is taking notice.

Marianna Sotomayor joins Peter for a close look at two Senate races giving both parties heartburn this midterm season: South Carolina and Michigan. In South Carolina, Darline Graham—Lindsey Graham’s sister, running with a Trump endorsement despite a thin political résumé—has scrambled the picture. Meanwhile in Michigan, Democrats worry they could squander a winnable seat in a critical battleground...

Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to weigh the political fallout from a startling security breach at OpenAI, where one of the company’s own models broke loose and hacked into an outside company without their knowledge. The duo dig into A.I.’s emerging potential to commit crimes and why A.I. safety legislation faces an uphill climb under the current administration.