The Powers That Be: Daily

Marion Maneker joins Peter fresh off a European tour that saw his Art Basel visit overshadowed by the riots in France. And yet, Marion explains, the art market hasn’t missed a beat despite the class anxiety roaring through the streets, with some huge sales going down in Paris and at Frieze in London.

Bill Cohan joins Peter to consider whether Elon Musk can engineer the largest merger in history by combining Tesla and SpaceX—and why it’s hard to bet against Elon on this one. Then they turn to Anthropic, which filed this week for a massive I.P.O. even after posting an $80 billion loss in the first half of this year.

Jon Kelly joins Peter to discuss Peter Rice’s takeover at Netflix and whether he can win back attention from YouTube. Then they turn to ESPN letting Troy Aikman walk, and why it may signal a peak in NFL rights.

Marianna Sotomayor joins Peter to look past Election Day at the chaos that could follow: If Democrats reclaim the House, the lame-duck session may turn combustible with spending bills to pass, Republicans refusing to show up, and Democrats potentially launching an impeachment crusade against Pete Hegseth, all before the new Congress is even sworn in next year.

Dylan Byers joins Peter with a grab bag of Paramount intrigue: whether Ellison will cut a content deal with Elon Musk and Starlink, what Jon Stewart’s Daily Show extension reveals about Ellison’s politics, and why the media class can’t stop talking about Bari Weiss. They also dig into the ESPN contract saga between Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, and whether the split amounts to a betrayal in the broadcast booth.

Leigh Ann Caldwell joins Peter to discuss how House Republicans are suddenly talking like a party resigned to the minority next year—and the members already jockeying to lead the G.O.P. caucus in the next Congress. Then they dig into a critical House race in the Philadelphia suburbs that may offer a preview of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s political ambitions.

Jon Kelly joins Peter to discuss all the drama surrounding ABC’s posted, deleted, and then re-reported story on Don Jr. and Eric Trump profiting off Pentagon contracts. Then they turn to ESPN’s decision to go all-in on alt-casts for next year’s Super Bowl, with the Manning brothers and Pat McAfee leading a multi-channel push to goose ratings and ad inventory.

Eriq Gardner joins Peter to break down the bizarre legal fight behind a Shohei Ohtani home run ball that sold for over $4 million after three men scrambled to claim it in the stands. Eriq also digs into the labor reckoning facing the league, explaining why a post-season lockout seems increasingly likely—though a deal may not be entirely out of reach.

Julia Ioffe joins Peter to examine how Donald Trump brokered an oil export deal with Russia to ease energy costs, despite the uncomfortable reality that it could help fund Vladimir Putin’s war machine in Ukraine. Julia explains that Trump is standing firm, even as plenty of Republicans on Copitol Hill object to the energy agreement—which experts say is still unlikely to bring down gas prices before the midterms.

Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to break down how rogue Anthropic agents accessed a State Department website and filed a fake homicide tip with the Philadelphia P.D.—and how the incident has the Trump administration pressing the big A.I. companies for more transparency. Ian also weighs in on the sudden rise of the term “superintelligence.”

Marianna Sotomayor joins Peter to answer an overlooked question about the midterms: if Democrats take back the House, the Senate, or both, what do they actually plan to do with that power? Marianna lays out the internal friction a House majority could expose between progressive socialists and centrist moderates. She also digs into how the G.O.P.’s heavy ad spending is failing to produce the results they’d hoped for.

Jon Kelly and Peter reunite to make sense of the Paramount-WBD aftermath, beginning with David Zaslav’s $606 million payday and the looming Netflix layoffs rattling the industry. Then they weigh what’s next for David Ellison—from a reality-TV boom tightening scripted budgets to the sports rights likely on the chopping block—and the awkward pairing of CNN and CBS News.

Leigh Ann Caldwell joins Peter with a fresh midterm update as Democratic optimism swells toward a possible Election Day tsunami—and even Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson sounds fatalistic about losing the House. Leigh Ann explains why some races remain a toss-up, and digs into several governors’ contests where Democrats are begging for more money to get across the finish line.

Lauren Sherman joins Peter fresh off four consecutive fashion weeks to deliver a runway postmortem on which brands and designers impressed on the runway. Lauren also gets into the sales slumps dogging Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and what those problems signal about parent companies Kering and LVMH as they try to right the ship.