The Free Press
It’s Thursday, December 19. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: Texas sheriffs take on the cartels; Trump sues the pollster who predicted Iowa for Harris; the marvelous MacKinnon sisters of Mobile, Alabama; and a prize for the person who gets us to one million subs.
But first: Ruy Teixeira, our newest Free Press columnist, helps navigate the Democrats’ self-inflicted political crisis.
For most Democrats, Trump’s win was a shock. For Ruy Teixeira, it was unsurprising. A political scientist and lifelong Democrat, Ruy has been warning for years that the party was prioritizing ideological purity over popular appeal.
His 2023 book with John Judis, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?, could have been a wake-up call for the party. One wonders how the election might have gone if the Harris campaign had read it carefully.
Ruy’s writing has been prophetic on the exact questions Democrats are grappling with as they try to find their way out of the political wilderness. Questions like: Why did so many working-class Americans abandon the party? What happened to the promise of a multiracial Democratic majority? And how should the party pick itself up, dust itself off, and put together a winning coalition again?
These questions are set to be a major theme of our politics in 2025 and beyond, and we can think of no better guide than the man who saw so much of it coming. That’s why we’re thrilled Ruy is now joining The Free Press as a contributing writer.
Every other week or so you can find Ruy right here, helping us make sense of the future of the Democratic Party and the left as they try to figure out how to handle a second Trump term—and how to win in 2028.
Today, Ruy argues that Democrats are still in denial about why they lost the election. In fact, he writes, many of today’s Democrats are culture denialists. That is, they do not consider cultural issues, such as trans athletes in women’s sports and critical race theory taught in schools, to be real issues. But voters disagree. In one postelection survey, the top reason among swing voters not to vote for Harris was the perception that she was more focused on cultural questions like transgender issues than helping the middle class. Another poll tells a similar story.
Read Ruy’s piece, “Voters Sent Democrats a Clear Message. They Don’t Want to Hear It.”
Become One in a Million—and Win Free Press Swag!
You may have heard, even though we’ve been pretty subtle about it, that we’re gunning to get to a million Free Press readers by year’s end. And we are very, very close and decided to sweeten the pot. The one millionth subscriber to The Free Press, whoever he or she may be, will be rewarded with a free lifetime subscription and a tote bag filled with all of our (new and improved!) merch, and all the glory that one person can handle. There will be other surprises for our millionth subscriber. Not a chocolate factory. But something great.
If you’re already a subscriber and want to give the gift of fearless, honest journalism to someone in your life, click here. You may be giving subscription number one million!
A ‘Loco Gringo’ Takes On the Mexican Cartels
The Biden administration’s policies have led to a surge in illegal immigration. President-elect Trump has promised change, but many local authorities say they can’t afford to wait.
That includes Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad County, Texas, who Maddie Rowley profiles in her latest immigration report for The Free Press. Boyd and his deputies have been battling Mexican cartels and human smugglers on a daily basis since 2021. One day, he decided to think outside the box about the problem, launching Operation Lone Star Task Force, which has already wiped out a cartel that was smuggling 100,000 people a year into his state. Why did it work? Read Maddie’s report to find out.
Why Is Trump Suing the Media?
Emboldened by his recent $16 million defamation settlement with ABC News, president-elect Donald Trump has found new targets: Pollster Ann Selzer and her Iowa-based polling firm; The Des Moines Register, which published her work; and Gannett, the newspaper’s parent company. His accusation? Consumer fraud, after Selzer’s poll wrongly predicted a Harris victory in a state Trump went on to win by 13 points.
But this latest iteration of what appears to be “a broader strategy of Trump’s to sue the pants off media companies” is absurd, argues Eli Lake in his most recent column. And, if successful, it could “potentially create a backdoor way to regulate political speech.”
And for more analysis of the Trump lawsuits, don’t miss Michael Moynihan in conversation with Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), about the potential implications for press freedom, and why a tough standard for public officials in defamation cases is “actually exactly what you want.”
The Sugar Plum Sisters
Nothing says “Christmas in New York” like the New York City Ballet production of The Nutcracker. The show, which runs through January 4, 2025, features some of the best ballerinas in the world. Last week, M.J. Koch spoke to two of them.
The pair, Olivia and Mary Thomas MacKinnon, are not only world-class ballerinas, they’re also sisters. Originally from Alabama, the siblings spent their childhoods dreaming of the big stage—and now they’ve finally arrived there. They talk about sibling rivalry, brutal training, and the gift of following their dreams.
The Federal Reserve cut rates yesterday but signaled a more-hawkish-than-expected long-term outlook, which sent the markets tumbling. The S&P 500 fell by 2.9 percent Wednesday, while the Dow Jones posted its tenth straight day of losses. The historic slump marked the worst downward market streak since an 11-day slide in 1974.
On Tuesday, a Manhattan grand jury indicted the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione for murder “in furtherance of an act of terrorism.” Prosecutors argued the murder was “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population” and to “affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder.” But some legal experts argue the terrorism charge is a stretch.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court agreed to take up TikTok’s appeal against a law forcing it to be sold to an American owner by next month. Oral arguments will be heard on January 10. TikTok, which is currently owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, argues that the law violates the First Amendment rights of its American users. But the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected that argument, ruling that “Congress’s decision was considered, consistent with longstanding regulatory practice, and devoid of an institutional aim to suppress particular messages or ideas.” The legislation sets a deadline of January 19 for the app to find a seller in the U.S. or face a ban. The clock is TikToking.
On Wednesday, a British court ruled that police could seize more than £2 million ($2.5 million) from self-proclaimed misogynist influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate to settle unpaid taxes. The brothers, who are currently in Romania facing charges of human trafficking and rape, allegedly used a “complex financial matrix” to hide their online business revenue from UK tax authorities. Andrew might have been undone by his own big mouth. At an earlier hearing, police quoted an online video in which he said, “When I lived in England, I refused to pay tax.”
Teenagers are abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana in record numbers, according to an annual national survey led by the University of Michigan’s Richard Miech. The survey, which uses responses from 24,000 students in grades 8, 10, and 12, found that roughly two-thirds of 12th graders hadn’t used the substances in the past 30 days, and neither did 80 percent of 10th graders. This might be welcome news for kids’ physical health, but what’s driving the change isn’t necessarily positive. Experts reckon that the rise in abstinence may reflect an increase in mental health disorders, risk-averse behavior, and a resistance to in-person socializing. Read Kat Rosenfield on why the kids need to drink alcohol, make friends, and accidentally say I love you.
Just five days ago, former football star and former Senate candidate Herschel Walker—who dropped out of college four decades ago to join the NFL—graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Housing Management and Policy. Was he hoping Trump would name him Secretary of Housing and Urban Development? Maybe, but the president-elect had a much chiller gig in mind for the Heisman Trophy winner: ambassador to the Bahamas. Put down those Section 8 plans, Hersch, it’s piña colada time!
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul said Tuesday he believes the unidentified drones reported over New York and New Jersey are from China, echoing comments made by a former Trump national security official to The Free Press last week. Believes is the key word here. McCaul told reporters he wants concrete answers but so far, the only one he’s received from federal agencies is “we don’t know.” Biden, for his part, says there’s nothing to see here. On the latest Free Press Live, we spoke to one expert who thinks the whole thing is mass hysteria. Watch the interview with here.
The House Ethics Committee reportedly voted in secret to release its findings on the conduct of former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz earlier this month. The Panhandle bad boy has been accused of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, showing his co-workers nude female pictures on the House floor, campaign finance violations, and accepting bribes, among other things. Classy! The report will be published after lawmakers leave Washington for the holidays, so go ahead and dust off your old printer—this could be a great stocking stuffer for the resistance lib in your life.
And finally. . . Bitcoin recently hit the once unimaginable valuation of $100,000. And if you’re anything like me, your response to the news was deep, deep regret that you never bothered to actually learn what Bitcoin was and maybe even buy a few. Instead, here I am slaving away over this newsletter. Well, it’s never too late to educate yourself. And I’m going to start with Michael Moynihan’s FP Live interview with prominent cryptocurrency analyst and founder of Into the Cryptoverse, Benjamin Cowen.
"But this latest iteration of what appears to be “a broader strategy of Trump’s to sue the pants off media companies” is absurd, argues Eli Lake in his most recent column. And, if successful, it could “potentially create a backdoor way suing to regulate political speech.”
For years the democrat left has engaged in lawfare against Trump, which was supported, faciltated and promoted by the main stream press (WaPo, NTY, etc) in an attempt to subvert democracy. For years democrat left has attempted to regulate political speech, and free speach. So it is astounding to read Lake's concern that Trump's lawsuits could “potentially create a backdoor way suing to regulate political speech.”
Newsflash to Lake, in America we have the right to bring a lawsuit, whether you like it or not.
I'm getting tired of the growing left wing bias of the Free Press.
Re: Matt Gaetz- He was investigated and cleared . He wasn’t having sex with underage girls, but his accuser and extortionist who lost his political campaign was. And he went to prison. Gaetz was a player. He was young, single and never pretended otherwise. Big deal. I find it ironic that half of his gleeful detractors have suddenly become puritans. Why is there no outrage leveled at Ilhan Omar, Eric Swalwell, Gavin Newsom, Ro Khanna, John McCain, Cindy McCain, Kamala, Doug Emhoff, Arnold Swarzenegger, Scarborough and Brezinski, Willie Brown, Debbie Dingell, Rafael Warnock, Keith Ellison, Ben Cardin…Given their track records ranging from being married to her brother and getting caught in her own with her campaign manager by her second husband, funneling 500k of campaign finance dollars into her married lover’s weed startup( and finished), others ( married)sleeping with Chinese spies, others beating the shit out of their wives and girlfriends, others knocking up their Nannies AND hitting women, another serially cheating on his wife and while married, gets engaged to another woman 30 years his junior,and two who cheated with their married lovers thirty years their senior.And one who’s staffers were engaged in anal sex on the Senate floor , recorded it and not only shared it with other staffers, but put it on an online porn site.
None of them were attacked so virulently, nor did they step down and all of them are corrupt as hell. But Gaetz!!!