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The Trump campaign faces its first real test · Apple News Today

• 0:00
  [MUSIC FADES IN]
• 0:05
  Mark Garrison, Narrating: Good morning and happy New Year.
• 0:06
  It's Tuesday, January 2nd.
• 0:08
  Hope you had a nice holiday season.
• 0:09
  I'm Mark Garrison in for Shumita Basu, who's on maternity leave.
• 0:13
  On today's show, Iowa prepares to make its mark
• 0:16
  on the Republican presidential race,
• 0:18
  the new 2024 laws that could affect your state and your retirement savings
• 0:23
  and why it's okay to be okay or even terrible at a new hobby.
• 0:31
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 0:34
  But first, let's take a quick look at some big stories in the news.
• 0:37
  In Japan, rescuers are working to find survivors
• 0:39
  of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake.
• 0:42
  At least 48 people are dead.
• 0:44
  People on the coast had to seek higher ground
• 0:46
  after the quake triggered tsunami waves.
• 0:48
  Also, a Japan Airlines plane was engulfed in flames at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.
• 0:54
  The airline said all 379 passengers and crew on board were safely evacuated.
• 0:59
  Japan's Coast Guard said one of its planes collided with the passenger jet
• 1:02
  while on its way to deliver aid to earthquake victims.
• 1:06
  Moving to Gaza, where Israel says it'll start pulling some troops out,
• 1:10
  but it also says that the fighting is expected to continue well into the year.
• 1:14
  The U.S. has continued to support Israel's armed forces,
• 1:17
  but also recently pushed for them to change focus
• 1:20
  from large-scale bombing and ground assaults
• 1:22
  to smaller, more targeted operations.
• 1:24
  Gaza officials say the death toll there is around 22,000 people, largely civilians.
• 1:30
  Also, Israel's high court has struck down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's law
• 1:34
  to limit the court's power.
• 1:36
  The move was controversial well before the Gaza war.
• 1:39
  Critics of Netanyahu saw it as an attempt to remove a check
• 1:42
  on the power of his government.
• 1:44
  If he refuses to abide by the ruling, that could throw the country
• 1:47
  into a constitutional crisis, all while it wages war in Gaza.
• 1:52
  And in sports,
• 1:53
  the college football championship game is now set.
• 1:57
  Michigan beat Alabama in overtime yesterday,
• 1:59
  and Washington survived a late scare to beat Texas.
• 2:02
  [START ESPN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 2:02
  [CHEERING]
• 2:03
  Announcer: Washington hangs on and wins the Allstate Sugar Bowl
• 2:07
  in the college football playoff semifinal.
• 2:10
  [END ESPN ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 2:11
  Garrison, Narrating: Michigan and Washington will now play for the title on January 8th in Houston.
• 2:15
  [UPBEAT MUSIC]
• 2:23
  Let's shift now to U.S. politics.
• 2:25
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 2:25
  We're less than two weeks out from the first real test
• 2:29
  of former President Trump's campaign: the Iowa caucuses.
• 2:32
  This comes as Trump faces multiple criminal trials
• 2:35
  and so far two successful efforts
• 2:37
  to remove him from state ballots, first in Colorado, then in Maine,
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  though both states have the decisions on hold while Trump appeals.
• 2:44
  Polls show Trump with a strong lead in Iowa.
• 2:47
  Earlier, we spoke to L.A. Times political reporter Seema Mehta
• 2:50
  about the stakes there.
• 2:52
  Seema Mehta: Right now, it's really, really difficult to see a path for anybody
• 2:56
  but former President Trump to be the GOP nominee.
• 2:58
  If he comes in over 50 and the other candidates are
• 3:00
  in the teens at best, it doesn't look good for them.
• 3:03
  Garrison, Narrating: She says one of the key differences between Trump's 2016 campaign in Iowa,
• 3:08
  which he lost, is that his organization on the ground is now more sophisticated.
• 3:12
  Mehta: In 2015, 2016, he did not have the most organized campaign.
• 3:15
  I mean, he had celebrity, certainly, because of his role as a business person
• 3:19
  and his TV personality, but he did not have a super organized campaign.
• 3:22
  And this time around, they do have a much more efficient campaign.
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  And so, even if he hasn't spent as much time in the states,
• 3:28
  like, you do have people on the ground who are reaching out to caucus goers,
• 3:32
  who are calling people, who are knocking on doors,
• 3:34
  who are getting people to sign commit to caucus cards.
• 3:37
  Garrison, Narrating: Iowa's attorney general is backing Trump, and she told supporters
• 3:40
  that the campaign has the best organization she'd ever seen.
• 3:44
  As for the other Republicans in the race, a strong second place finish
• 3:47
  could be spun as a victory of sorts.
• 3:50
  Mehta: If one of his rivals, basically Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley,
• 3:54
  if they come in really close to him as a close second,
• 3:56
  that could give them momentum going into New Hampshire,
• 3:58
  and then you head into South Carolina.
• 4:00
  Garrison, Narrating: Currently, "FiveThirtyEight's" national polling average has Trump at 61%,
• 4:04
  Haley and DeSantis are at around 11%.
• 4:07
  [SOMBER MUSIC]
• 4:19
  Now that it's 2024, a bunch of new laws are in effect,
• 4:22
  concerning everything from guns to diversity initiatives to your 401(k) plan.
• 4:27
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 4:27
  There's even a legal development involving Mickey Mouse.
• 4:30
  The "Guardian" has a roundup of all the new gun laws.
• 4:33
  In California, there's a ban on carrying concealed guns
• 4:35
  in parks, playgrounds, churches, banks and other public places.
• 4:39
  In Illinois, it's now much harder to purchase many types
• 4:42
  of semi-automatic assault weapons, including AK-47s and AR-15s.
• 4:47
  Colorado is cracking down on ghost guns, weapons that can be made at home
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  without serial numbers for tracing.
• 4:53
  And Washington state now has a 10-day waiting period on firearms purchases.
• 4:57
  All this comes after another deadly year.
• 4:59
  According to the Gun Violence Archive,
• 5:01
  there were 656 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2023.
• 5:07
  In Texas, a new law gets rid of diversity, equity and inclusion offices
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  at public colleges and universities.
• 5:12
  This one is similar to what was enacted last year in Florida
• 5:15
  and could spread to other conservative states.
• 5:18
  Staying on the topic of higher ed, there's also a big change to help people
• 5:22
  with student loan debt save for retirement.
• 5:24
  Now loan payments can be matched with company contributions to 401(k) plans.
• 5:29
  It's a way for people to pay down their debt
• 5:31
  without missing out on the benefit of 401(k) matches.
• 5:35
  And one of the earliest images of Mickey Mouse is now in the public domain.
• 5:40
  It's the black and white version of Mickey
• 5:41
  from the 1928 animated short film "Steamboat Willie."
• 5:45
  [START STEAMBOAT WILLIE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:45
  [STEAMBOAT WILLIE WHISTLING]
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  [END STEAMBOAT WILLIE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 5:52
  Now that the copyright's expired,
• 5:53
  other creators can put their own spin on it.
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  Some pretty weird stuff could pop up.
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  There's already a trailer for a slasher film
• 6:00
  called "Mickey's Mouse Trap."
• 6:02
  Disney is making clear that the copyright expiration
• 6:04
  only applies to that very early animated version of Mickey,
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  and it'll protect the rights to more modern versions of Mickey Mouse
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  and other characters.
• 6:12
  [VIBRANT MUSIC]
• 6:24
  Finally, a new year can mean a new hobby.
• 6:27
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
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  Maybe you got a knitting set or a pasta maker as a holiday gift,
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  or you're taking up a new sport as part of your 2024 fitness resolution.
• 6:35
  "Vox" argues if you're starting any new hobby,
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  try not to worry if you're not good at it.
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  In fact, it's totally fine if you are terrible.
• 6:43
  This is very tricky advice to take.
• 6:46
  For many of us, it's easier to drop a hobby than to struggle with it.
• 6:49
  And we've come to see not being great at something as a kind of weakness.
• 6:54
  Social media doesn't help.
• 6:55
  People tend to post the most perfectly shaped croissants
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  or the time they nail a yoga headstand,
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  not all the failed attempts before and after.
• 7:03
  But not being immediately good at something is a normal
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  and healthy part of learning.
• 7:08
  Babies aren't good at anything because they're trying so many things
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  for the first time.
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  But unlike adults, they're not self-conscious,
• 7:15
  so they can try and fail until they figure it out.
• 7:18
  Experts say it's best to put your self-esteem aside
• 7:21
  and embrace the new hobby, even if you're lousy at it.
• 7:24
  [MUSIC FADES IN]
• 7:24
  If you enjoy it, that's more than enough,
• 7:26
  even if you don't become the world's best bread maker.
• 7:32
  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
• 7:34
  And if you're already listening in the News app right now,
• 7:37
  we've queued up an episode of our interview show "In Conversation."
• 7:40
  It's an episode from our archive that we think is perfect
• 7:43
  for the start of the New Year.
• 7:44
  It's all about cracking the code to happiness.
• 7:47
  If you're listening in the Podcasts app, just search for
• 7:49
  "Apple News In Conversation" to find and follow the show.
• 7:52
  And I'll be back here with the news tomorrow.
• 7:57
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]