The Scramble After a White House Showdown, and R.F.K. Jr.’s Measles Response

I use New York Times cooking at least three to four times a week. I love sheet pan bibimbap. It said 35 minutes. It was 35 minutes. The cucumber salad with soy, ginger, and garlic. Oh my God, that is just to die for. This turkey chili has over 17,000 five-star ratings. So easy, so delicious. The instructions are so clear, so simple. and it just works. Hey, it's Eric Kim from New York Times Cooking.

From The New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, March 3rd. Here's what we're covering.

We are re-exerting peace through strength. After Friday's fiery showdown in the Oval Office, the Trump administration and other top Republicans are doubling down on their aggressive stance toward Vladimir Zelensky. I hope and pray, frankly, that President Zelensky will come to a sense. come back to President Trump, apologize for his behavior there.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Zelensky should be the one to apologize after Donald Trump and J.D. Vance publicly berated the Ukrainian leader for not being grateful enough for U.S. aid. I hope he comes to the realization that we're actually trying to help his country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also criticized Zelensky, saying he was undermining peace negotiations.

And that's what Zelensky did, unfortunately, is he found every opportunity to try to Ukraine-splain on every issue. Then he confronts the vice president. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz went further in an interview on CNN. Are you suggesting...

that President Trump wants Zelensky to resign? We need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war. And if it becomes apparent that President Zelensky's... either personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting in his country, then I think we have a real issue on our hands.

Today, Trump is set to meet with his top national security aides to consider a range of policy options for Ukraine. An official tells the Times that could include suspending or canceling some military aid.

Meanwhile... We are at a crossroads in history today. This is not a moment for more talk. It's time to act. European leaders scrambled to show their support for Ukraine after Zelensky's heated exchange with Trump. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting of the leaders in London, Zelensky included.

European leaders wrapped their arms around Zelensky. It was his first chance after the very bad meeting with Donald Trump to see them in person. And so there were a lot of expressions of support. Mark Landler is the Times bureau chief in London. Keir Starmer had sort of two goals with this meeting. One was to prevent an irreparable rift in the transatlantic alliance. And in order to do that, he really wanted to demonstrate that Europe was ready to step up.

both to spend more money on defense on its own, but also to put together what he's calling a coalition of the willing, which is a number of European countries that will take steps from deploying aircraft. troops. to a peacekeeping force to, in a sense, secure any peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine agree to. And then he hopes that by doing that, he can go back to Donald Trump and say, we've stepped up, we're willing to...

pay a higher price, shoulder more of a burden. And so for that reason, we hope that you'll stay part of this effort. But the second purpose here was to get Europe ready should that transatlantic... alliance really be finished. If this breach cannot be filled, if Donald Trump is really walking away, I think Starmer and Emmanuel Macron of France and other leaders recognize that Europe's going to have to be...

far more in charge of this effort, going to have to take charge of it. And so sort of two different efforts here. One, to keep the alliance together, but two, to start planning for a world in which that may not happen.

This weekend, Israel disrupted the ceasefire negotiations with Hamas and announced it will stop all aid shipments into Gaza. It wants to try and force the militant group to accept new terms. outside of the original agreement. Phase one of the existing deal expired over the weekend. The two sides were supposed to move into negotiations about a longer-term end to fighting.

But now Israel is calling for just a short-term extension of the truce and the return of half of the hostages remaining in Gaza. Hamas immediately rejected the new proposal and called Israel's halt in humanitarian aid, quote, Cheap blackmail. We have known that we've had measles in our community. We are now seeing a very serious consequence of what happens when we have measles in our community.

In West Texas, doctors and health officials have been racing to try and contain a measles outbreak that has sickened more than 140 people and killed one unvaccinated child. The measles death was the first in the U.S. in a decade. The flare-up of cases, which is now spread to New Mexico, is shining a harsh spotlight on the federal response.

Experts say that the Department of Health and Human Services, run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been underplaying the best way to control the disease, vaccines. Kennedy used to run an anti-vaccine nonprofit and has claimed in the past that, quote, measles outbreaks have been fabricated to create fear.

The federal government didn't send out a substantive notice about the outbreak until a month after the first cases were reported. And in televised remarks at a cabinet meeting last week, Kennedy didn't mention vaccination at all. In an opinion piece published yesterday, though, he did urge parents to talk to their doctors about vaccinating their kids. The relatively muted response is a sharp contrast to how a measles outbreak during President Trump's first term was handled.

At that time, officials led an intense public campaign to raise awareness about vaccines that led to more than 60,000 people getting vaccinated.

And finally. And the Oscar goes to? Oh, Anora. The big winner at last night's Academy Awards was Anora. The film about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch won five Oscars, including Best Picture. I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a truly independent film. This film was made on the blood, sweat, and tears of incredible indie artists.

And long-lived independent film. Yeah. Okay. Sean Baker took home four of those awards for directing, editing, writing, and producing the film. He tied Walt Disney's record from 1954 for most Oscars won by a single person in one year. A dream come true. I'm probably going to wake up tomorrow. And the 25-year-old star of Enora, Mikey Madison, won for Best Actress. She's one of the youngest people ever to win the award. She learned Russian for the role.

She also took pole dancing classes and spent time with dancers and in strip clubs to study how they work. I also just want to again recognize and honor the sex worker community. I will... It was a remarkable sweep for a movie that made almost no money at the box office. Last year's Best Picture winner, Oppenheimer, made more than $300 million. Enora took in less than $16 million since it was released in October.

That makes it one of the lowest grossing films ever to win Best Picture. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily. Times reporter Peter Baker on the growing rift between President Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.