The Evening: Trump leaves Iowa with momentum

Also, the U.S. struck Houthi targets for a third time.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story January 16, 2024 By Matthew Cullen Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Tuesday. Trump in court after Iowa A third round of U.S. strikes on Yemen Plus, the best and worst at the Emmys Donald Trump arrived in New York after the Iowa caucuses. Doug Mills/The New York Times Trump left Iowa with momentum and a court date The Iowa caucuses could hardly have gone better for Donald Trump. The former president won the first presidential nominating contest by 30 percentage points — more than double the record in the state's competitive Republican races. His dominance codified, yet again, his double-fisted hold on the Republican electorate. Now the race moves on to New Hampshire, where next week's primary is perhaps the last clear chance for one of Trump's rivals to slow him. Nikki Haley has banked on independents there, and one poll this month showed her at 32 percent, just seven points behind Trump. But her third-place showing in Iowa suggested that Ron DeSantis would continue challenging her, despite lacking a clear path forward. "If you have two serious opponents running against him, there's virtually no chance of beating him for the nomination," my colleague Shane Goldmacher said, adding that yesterday's result was "basically exactly what the Trump campaign would have hoped for." All three leading candidates have events tonight in New Hampshire. But first, Trump stopped in Manhattan for the opening day of a trial in a suit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of defaming her after she accused him of rape. His decision to appear, under no obligation, reflected his effort to use the legal threats against him to energize his supporters. Houthi fighters held a rally near Sana, Yemen, on Sunday against strikes by the U.S. and Britain. Associated Press The U.S. struck Houthi targets for a third time U.S. forces carried out a strike today against Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles in Yemen, according to military officials. It was the third attack against the Iran-backed rebel group since a U.S.-led air and naval barrage that hit dozens of targets last week. The strikes, which targeted four missiles that were being prepared to be fired, came after the Houthis launched a new round of attacks in critical shipping lanes. The group attempted to hit an American warship on Sunday, damaged a U.S.-owned commercial ship yesterday and hit a Greek bulk carrier today. Houthi leaders have said they will continue their attacks until Israel withdraws from Gaza. In Gaza, Qatar said Israel and Hamas had reached a deal to allow additional aid into Gaza in exchange for the delivery of medication to Israeli hostages. Also, Israel has been surprised by the extent and quality of the tunnel network beneath Gaza. They now believe there are far more than they once thought: between 350 and 450 miles of tunnels. Supporters of extending the child tax credit in 2022. Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times Lawmakers struck a bipartisan tax deal Top Democrats and Republicans in Congress announced today that they had reached a $78 billion compromise to partly extend a major pandemic expansion of the child tax credit, which cut child poverty rates nearly in half in 2021, and restore three popular expired business tax breaks. The deal would be financed by reining in the pandemic-era employee retention tax credit. Yet the rare bipartisan agreement, spanning both chambers, still faces steep obstacles in a Congress laboring to tackle the basic work of funding the government. Some House Democrats have argued that the legislation should do more to expand the child tax credit, while several Senate Republicans have voiced resistance. A courtyard in Fort Worth, yesterday.  Desiree Rios for The New York Times It's cold in the Deep South A blast of Arctic air reached into the Deep South today, breaking low-temperature records, while the Midwest and the Great Plains faced dangerous below-zero wind chill temperatures. Even New York received its first significant snowfall in almost two years. Another Arctic blast is expected to begin by the end of the week. See what you are in for, and follow these steps to protect yourself and your home. More top news Business: A judge blocked JetBlue's $3.8 billion proposal to buy Spirit Airlines, agreeing with the Justice Dept. that the merger would hurt competition. Courts: A lawsuit claimed that James Dolan, the mogul behind Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks, pressured a woman into unwanted sex. Tech: Elon Musk demanded that Tesla's board give him shares worth more than $80 billion if it wants him to work on artificial intelligence. Nigeria: Shell said that it had agreed to sell its onshore oil and gas business to a group dominated by local companies for $1.3 billion. New York: The suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings was charged with a fourth murder. Supreme Court: Oral arguments are set for tomorrow in a potentially major case that is backed by the billionaire Charles Koch. Business: The World Economic Forum's annual meeting kicked off in Davos. Finance: Goldman Sachs earned $2 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. Health: Diabetes is fueling a rise in amputations in San Antonio. Pets: A dog from Portugal was honored as the world's oldest. Now his age is being investigated. Sports: A Welsh rugby star said he is stepping away from the sport to pursue a career in the N.F.L. TIME TO UNWIND Jesse Armstrong, the creator of "Succession," right foreground, accepted the Emmy Award for best drama. Mario Anzuoni/Reuters The Emmys may have been a send-off for Peak TV Last night's Emmy Awards, which were dominated by the likes of "Succession" and "The Bear," felt a touch more nostalgic than most award shows. One reason was the strike-related delays that left several 2022 shows up for honors. Another reason, my colleague John Koblin wrote, is that they felt like a goodbye to the so-called Peak TV era. The days in which streaming services offer an almost endless supply of new programming seem to be coming to an end, John wrote. Luckily, many of the top-quality shows are sticking around. Best dressed? Pick out your favorite outfit from the award show. Keith Negley Learning a language may help stave off dementia Research suggests that speaking multiple languages can delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease by up to five years. Having to inhibit your mother tongue, in theory, makes the brain more resilient to the impairments caused by diseases like dementia. It's not clear whether casually following a language app confers the same cognitive advantage. But the regularity with which you use the second language appears to be more important than when you learn it. Sabato De Sarno introduced his first Gucci collection for men. Gabriel Bouys/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Dinner table topics Gucci's reboot: The label's new creative director ditched his predecessor's pussy bows and brought back some old-school cool. The Ozempic age: The food industry has long marketed its products as impossible to resist. Has that lost its selling power? Text bubbles: Group chats have quietly become the de facto spaces for everything: sharing dumb jokes, grieving or even planning for an insurrection. A reader asked: How much water do I really need to drink every day? Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT WHAT TO DO TONIGHT Linda Xiao for The New York Times Cook: This pimento cheese pie will become a fast favorite for parties. Watch: The season finale of "Fargo" is tonight. Here's what else is on TV this week. Read: Kyle Chayka's new book considers how technology has narrowed our choices. Listen: Check out Ariana Grande's new track, and nine more songs worth listening to. Nourish: We have tips for making sure you eat enough fruits and vegetables. Replace: If you have any of these 17 household items, it might be time for a new one. Compete: Take this week's Flashback history quiz. Play: Here are today's Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT ONE LAST THING The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo in 2014. Noritaka Minami, via SFMOMA A second life for an architectural marvel It's been 50 years since the Nakagin Capsule Tower was erected in Tokyo. Back then, it looked like something out of a science-fiction film: a futuristic tower composed of 140 detachable, single-resident capsules with porthole windows, like a pile of eyes fixed on the city. Now it's gone. After years of neglect, the pods were pulled down one by one in 2022. Only 23 of them could be salvaged. But those orphaned puzzle pieces are embarking on another life across Japan and the world as art spaces, museum pieces and even holiday accommodations. Have an enduring evening. Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Matthew We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com. Continue reading the main story Writer: Matthew Cullen Editorial Director: Adam Pasick Editors: Carole Landry, Whet Moser, Justin Porter, Jonathan Wolfe Photo Editor: Brent Lewis Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for The Evening from The New York Times. To stop receiving The Evening, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

The Trump Train Leaves the Station

A commanding win in Iowa reveals continued dominance, plus: Where is the Houthi conflict heading?; Taiwan, after the election; watch Fareed's take; and inflation comes for Japan? …

View this email in your browser  Insights, analysis and must reads from CNN's Fareed Zakaria and the Global Public Square team, compiled by Global Briefing editor Chris Good   Seeing this newsletter as a forward? Sign up here.   January 16, 2024 The Trump Train Leaves the Station If there was any doubt about GOP support for Donald Trump, the Iowa caucuses dispelled it.   After the former president's commanding victory in Iowa on Monday, New York Times political reporters Michael C. Bender and Katie Glueck argue in the Times' lead piece of post-caucus analysis that Trump's connection to his supporters is "the most durable force in American politics" today, as their headline declares. Bender and Glueck hear from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has advised Trump, that the former president "is not a candidate, he's the leader of a national movement. … No one has come to grips with what's it like to take on the champion of a movement. That's why even as all these legal issues pile up, it just infuriates his movement and increases their anger unbelievably."   As for how Trump has solidified his hold, some point to shortcomings of his GOP rivals. Before the Iowa contest, The Atlantic's Ronald Brownstein observed the caucuses had "lacked energy because Trump's shrinking field of rivals has never appeared to have the heart for making an all-out case against him." More Republican voters were likely open to a Trump alternative, one longtime GOP activist suggested to Brownstein, but neither Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis nor former South Carolina Gov. and former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley found the right message to win them over. When nearly all the Republican presidential candidates raised their hands on a debate stage in August, to indicate they'd support Trump even if he were "convicted in a court of law," they "effectively placed the question of whether Trump is fit to be president again—the most important issue facing Republicans in 2024—out of bounds," Brownstein argued.   To some observers, the GOP appears static. At The Spectator, Freddy Gray mused that Iowa's frigid weather was "also a handy metaphor for the frozen state of Republican politics," with Trump firmly in place as the party's leader. At The Washington Post, conservative columnist Ramesh Ponnuru laments that so far, "the 2024 presidential campaign has done nothing to resolve a long-deferred debate over what it means to be a Republican. ... For nearly a decade, the central question of our politics … has been: What do you think of Donald Trump? The longer they have fixated on that question, the harder it has become for Republicans to answer other ones."   Not everyone is so convinced of Trump's inevitability as the 2024 GOP presidential nominee. Before Iowa Republicans caucused, Charlie Mahtesian wrote for Politico Magazine that the 2024 Republican primary "smells a bit like 2016, when there was near unanimity in the press and the political class that (Trump) didn't have a shot in hell (in the general election) against Hillary Clinton." Envisioning a narrow path for Haley to win the nomination—one that runs through New Hampshire, the next state where Republicans will vote—Mahtesian wrote: "If we've learned anything, it's that the laws of political gravity or axioms about elected politics don't always apply anymore. Traditional voting habits have been thrown out the window. Polling has proved unreliable. And yet here we are, again, operating with utter certainty that the GOP primary is already cooked." Where Is the Houthi Conflict Heading? The US–UK standoff with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants continues, as the group has struck more cargo ships and as the US has responded with more strikes in Yemen. The group has obstructed shipping in the Red Sea, ostensibly in reaction to Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.   At The Atlantic, Arash Azizi notes the Houthis' "tradition of fierce independence" and wonders how much pressure Iran will be willing to apply to rein them in. In an interview at CNN Opinion, Peter Bergen hears from Yemen expert Elisabeth Kendall that the Houthis have been able to withstand heavy Saudi bombardment during Yemen's civil war and are likely to weather US–UK strikes; that they view war "as a way of life"; and that although the Houthis have grown closer to Iran, it's not clear that Iran can really control them. "They're not a direct proxy, and Iran has no command and control directly," Kendall says. "Of course, it would hamper their cause significantly if Iran stopped supplying them with weapons, but it wouldn't stop them." Taiwan, After the Election On Saturday Taiwanese voters kept the island's ruling DPP party in power, elevating Vice President Lai Ching-te to president, despite Beijing's warnings. So far, minor geopolitical consequences have been evident: Taiwan lost diplomatic recognition from the tiny Pacific Island nation Nauru, which said it had severed ties with Taipei. (Taiwan has been engaged in a long diplomatic struggle with mainland China for recognition by other countries around the world.) Amid expectations of stepped-up Chinese military exercises if Lai won, the South China Morning Post's Jack Lau reports: "After a brief lull around the elections on the weekend, the People's Liberation Army has resumed military activities around Taiwan—although not at higher levels."   At the Financial Times, an editorial urges calm on all sides: "The current geopolitical balance around Taiwan is both incendiary and fragile. But it remains immeasurably preferable to the alternative: the eruption of conflict across the straits that could escalate into superpower war." At The New Statesman, Katie Stallard foresaw an impact on US–China relations, writing before the vote: "Rather than acknowledging the agency of the people of Taiwan and the role its own aggression has played in driving them away, China will likely respond to a Lai victory by lashing out at the US, reversing the recent progress between the two nations made when (Chinese leader) Xi (Jinping) met with (US President) Joe Biden in San Francisco in November." Watch Fareed's Take As Israel wages war on Hamas, in retaliation for the terrorist group's horrific Oct. 7 massacres of Israeli civilians, it faces accusations of pursuing genocide against Palestinians. On Sunday's GPS, Fareed argued these charges, brought by South Africa in the International Court of Justice, are "invalid"—while also suggesting the human toll of Israel's military campaign, and public comments including one by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, raise important questions about whether Israel has taken sufficient care to safeguard civilian life in Gaza.   "Israel is a democracy and an open society," Fareed said, "and precisely because of that it will one day have to ask itself whether it acted appropriately in the heat of its anger and sorrow after Oct. 7. Friends of Israel should help it ask those questions now, so that it does not look back on this episode with shame and regret." Inflation Comes for Japan? For decades, Japan's main economic problem has been the opposite of what's plaguing Western economies today: deflation. Annual price changes turned negative in Japan in 1995 and have coupled with relatively slow GDP growth. Having tried long and hard to solve the problem—through low interest rates, negative interest rates, and purchases of Japanese government bonds—the Bank of Japan has finally succeeded, Tokyo-based journalist William Sposato writes for Foreign Policy, as Japanese inflation has edged up toward the central bank's 2% target.   Now that inflation has arrived in Japan, Sposato writes, "the verdict is in: People don't like it. … According to government figures, real wages fell for 20 consecutive months up to November 2023, registering a 3 percent decline year-on-year. … Indeed, while deflation has had policymakers gnashing their teeth as Japan became relatively poorer (some tech jobs pay better in Vietnam than in Japan today), it was good for salaried workers who saw their pay rise modestly while prices would fall around 1 percent annually. … The sticker shock of rising prices has been an unwanted blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is facing a crisis in confidence for no clear reason—except that people don't seem to like his administration. Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden could no doubt commiserate on that front." What did you think of today's newsletter? Send ideas, questions and feedback to globalbriefing@cnn.com   You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for Fareed's Global Briefing. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or sign up to manage your CNN account   Learn more about the CNN app |  Get CNN web alerts  |  Sign up for a free CNN account   ® © 2024 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. 1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318