Happy Friday! A humpback whale briefly swallowed a 24-year-old kayaker off the coast of Chile on Saturday before spitting him out unharmed. In a video of the incident, the man’s father can be heard telling him to stay calm, while trying to direct him back to his overturned boat post-spit-out. We’re not sure we’d have the same mental clarity after witnessing a miracle of biblical proportions.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- Hamas on Thursday announced plans to free Israeli hostages as scheduled on Saturday, reversing its previous threat to delay the implementation of a three-stage, U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal. The reversal followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s warning that “intense fighting” would resume in the Gaza Strip barring the terrorist group’s continued release of hostages, though it appears to fall short of President Donald Trump’s demand that Hamas return “all” of the remaining abductees by Saturday. Negotiations to decide the terms of the second phase of the agreement are ongoing.
- An Afghan man reportedly drove a car into a crowd of protesters in Munich on Thursday, injuring at least 28 people. Counter-terrorism police took over the investigation into the incident after authorities found that the suspect, a 24-year-old asylum-seeker who arrived in Germany in 2016, had an “extremist background.” The ramming came on the eve of the annual Munich Security Conference, which is set to be attended by world leaders including Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- Apple and Google reinstated TikTok to their app stores on Thursday, reversing the platform’s removal last month following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a law requiring Chinese firm ByteDance to divest its ownership of the app or face an effective ban. The move reportedly followed assurances by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that the government would not immediately enforce the legislation, which imposes hefty civil penalties on app store owners and servers who allow TikTok to operate. Trump had previously signed an executive order delaying the ban’s enforcement while he seeks to negotiate a deal that addresses lawmakers’ national security concerns about the app.
- Danielle Sassoon resigned from her position as acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on Thursday, in protest of the Trump administration’s order directing federal prosecutors to drop charges against New York City Mayor Adams on Monday. Prosecutors charged Adams in September 2024 with bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. In a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Sassoon—who was appointed by Trump to her now-former position last month—wrote that the decision to dismiss the case was “inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.”
- The Senate voted 52-48 on Thursday to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Sen. Mitch McConnell—the lone Republican dissenter and a polio survivor—released a statement on Thursday expanding on his opposition to Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic. “In my lifetime, I've watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” he said. “I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.”
- The Office of Personnel Management advised federal agencies on Thursday to fire most of their estimated 220,000 probationary employees—that is, workers who have generally held government jobs for around one to two years. Following the push, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it had dismissed more than 1,000 employees and the U.S. Forest Service indicated plans to fire more than 3,400 people. The layoffs marked the Trump administration’s latest effort to dramatically reduce the federal workforce.
- Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota said on Thursday that she will not seek reelection in 2026, paving the way for a crowded Democratic primary in the blue-leaning battleground state. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan already announced plans to run for the Senate seat, and her boss, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election—is reportedly considering a bid. Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig have also been named as possible contenders for the seat.
We can end smoking faster.
‘Make India Great Again’
During Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington on Thursday—his first of President Donald Trump’s second term—the Indian prime minister was in a creative mood. “Borrowing an expression from America, our vision for a developed India is Make India Great Again, or MIGA,” he proclaimed. “When America and India work together, that is, when it’s MAGA plus MIGA, it becomes MEGA!”
The pun may not have been comedy gold, but the prime ministerial wordplay summed up the main theme of Thursday’s summit: greater cooperation between the U.S. and India. As both countries seek to check rising Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, Trump and Modi also sought to smooth over potential tensions that could stem from Trump's aggressive agenda on trade and immigration.
The personal bond between the two men aided in that goal; Trump and Modi have publicly extolled their warm personal relationship since the first Trump presidency. Both self-proclaimed nationalists, the leaders emphasized their closeness in a pair of joint rallies—dubbed “Howdy, Modi,” and “Namaste, Trump”—in 2019 and 2020. During Thursday’s press conference, Trump ...
As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. You can read our 1,275-word item on Narendra Modi’s Washington visit in the members-only version of TMD.
Worth Your Time
- Writing for The Atlantic, David A. Graham argued that Congress has relinquished its duty to serve as a check on executive power—as demonstrated by the Senate’s confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday. “One lone Republican voted against all three: Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, the man responsible for keeping GOP senators lined up behind Trump during his first four years in office. The rest have various justifications for voting more or less in lockstep. They say they were reassured by what they heard in meetings—as though they’ve never seen a nominee fib, and as though that outweighed long histories. They say that presidents deserve to have the advisers they want,” he wrote. “Behind closed doors, they might lay out a different calculation: Voting no on Cabinet members is a good way to tick Trump off while gaining little more than symbolism; better for them to keep their powder dry for real policy issues where they disagree with him. These rationalizations might have made sense for a distasteful nominee here and there, but what Trump has put forward is likely the least qualified Cabinet in American history.”
Presented Without Comment
Mediaite: Trump Questions If Mitch McConnell Really Had Polio After Voting Against RFK Jr: ‘He’s A Very Bitter Guy’
Also Presented Without Comment
Reuters: Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze Stops Anti-Fentanyl Work in Mexico
Also Also Presented Without Comment
Axios: Zelensky to Trump: Putin Pretends to Want Peace Because He’s “Afraid of You”
In the Zeitgeist
It turns out that there’s an Israeli equivalent to NPR Music’s “Tiny Desk Concerts,” called “Aquarium.” But you don’t need to understand Hebrew to appreciate the mesmerizing voice of Doron Talmon, the front woman of the Tel Aviv-based band Jane Bordeaux.
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: Scott Lincicome checked in on the Inflation Reduction Act, Nick Catoggio wondered why Donald Trump’s second term feels different, and Will Rinehart considered our current moment of technological opportunity.
- On the podcasts: Jonah Goldberg and David French join Sarah Isgur on The Dispatch Postcast for a freewheeling conversation on cancel culture, American public schools, and more. And on today’s Advisory Opinions, Sarah and David contemplate the legality of Trump’s federal government overhaul.
- On the site: Kevin Williamson reminds readers that tariffs are taxes, Michael Brown unpacks Vice President J.D. Vance’s message at the Paris AI summit, and Mike Warren reports on how DOGE could affect the Virginia gubernatorial race.
