How a Skeptical Critic Came to Love Bad Christmas Movies

Secretary general Mark Rutte has only good things to say about the mercurial U.S. leader and his impact on the world stage.

After months of debate, weeks of tense negotiations and 24 hours of Republican arm-twisting, President Trump has muscled his giant domestic-policy bill through both chambers of Congress. It’s a major legislative victory for the president that paves the way for much of his second-term agenda, and it will have profound impacts across the country. The Times journalists Tony Romm, Andrew Duehren and Margot Sanger-Katz discuss what the legislation changes, and those whose lives it will change the most.

After a eight-week trial whose every turn has grabbed headlines, a jury found Sean Combs, the music mogul known as Diddy, not guilty of the most serious charges against him. Ben Sisario, who has been covering the trial, explains why the prosecution’s case fell short, and Jodi Kantor, an investigative reporter at The Times, discusses what the verdict may tell us about how prosecutors and juries see sexual abuse cases.

With a tiebreaking vote from Vice President JD Vance, the Senate has adopted President Trump’s giant domestic policy bill, which now heads back to the House for a final vote. The legislation is defined by the staggering amount of debt it will create: more than $3 trillion. Andrew Duehren, who covers tax policy, and Colby Smith, who covers the economy, talk about how Republicans have rewritten the rules to make that debt vanish, and why the world is less and less convinced that the United States can handle its debts.

Warning: This episode contains strong language. From the outside, the political movement created by Donald J. Trump has never seemed more empowered or invulnerable. But Steve Bannon, who was the first Trump administration’s chief strategist, sees threats and betrayals at almost every turn, whether it’s bombing Iran or allowing tech billionaires to advise the president. Jeremy W. Peters, a national reporter at The Times, talks to Mr. Bannon about those threats and why, to him, the future of the MAGA movement depends on defeating them.