It’s Wednesday, June 10. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Niall Ferguson and Haviv Rettig Gur on the latest in Iran. Tyler Cowen down in Mexico. A former jihadist on why he changed his mind. And much more.
But first: What happened after Lyndsey Fifield told The New York Times about her ex-boyfriend, Graham Platner.
Yesterday, Graham Platner secured the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Maine, and will face off against five-term Republican senator Susan Collins in the general election.
It’s a remarkable result given the scandals that have plagued his campaign. There was the Nazi tattoo that he had for 18 years before covering it up this past fall. The allegations of cheating and sexting other women while married to his current wife. The Reddit posts where he called himself a “communist,” insisted that white rural Americans “actually are” racist and stupid, and downplayed sexual assault, writing in one post that people should “just take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.”
And then there are the allegations that came out last week in The New York Times. The Times story detailed Platner’s behavior toward three of his ex-girlfriends. One of them, Lyndsey Fifield, spoke about an instance where Platner yanked her out of a cab after an argument, and another where he twisted her arm behind her back, pushed her into a room, and held the door shut so she couldn’t escape. She also said he cavalierly discussed violence, including threatening to “rape” home intruders. Platner’s campaign did not dispute the rape remarks, but strongly denied any allegations of physical abuse.
What happened after the story was published was, according to Fifield, “disgusting.”
Fifield has faced a vicious backlash for going public about Platner, including accusations that she could be “a scheming liar with a political agenda.” The day after the Times story dropped, Platner’s campaign raised $200,000, its best fundraising day since his main primary opponent, Democratic governor Janet Mills, stopped actively campaigning in April.
Overnight, Fifield’s accusations have become more than just a major development in perhaps the most closely watched race of the 2026 midterm cycle. The story set off a debate about journalistic bias, double standards, and what we expect of candidates for office today.
For our story today, we spoke with Fifield and Jenny Racicot, another woman who detailed Platner’s disturbing past behavior—as well as Genevieve McDonald, who used to work on Platner’s campaign—to understand the real Graham Platner, and what the reception to his ex-girlfriends’ accusations say about the political moment we find ourselves in.
—Frannie Block and Audrey Fahlberg
Who Is Winning the Iran War—and When Will It End?
On Tuesday, the war with Iran reignited—yet again. America pounded Iranian military installations yesterday after Tehran downed an Apache helicopter on Monday. This came just days after Iran fired a ballistic missile barrage at Israel, a move that followed Israel’s targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. President Trump urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to strike back. But Netanyahu did anyway—prompting observers everywhere to ask: Did Bibi just defy the president?
Today, Niall Ferguson joins Rafaela Siewert to unpack the latest in the Middle East, whether the defiance was a genuine fracture or a strategic decoy—and whether the costs of this war will come to outweigh the gains of America, Israel, and the Middle East at large.
With the midterms approaching, leaks from the White House suggest that J.D. Vance and other senior Trump officials are looking for ways to create distance from the war in Iran. But to understand where the conflict stands and what’s next, Haviv Rettig Gur argues, we need to stop seeing the war “as an American political event, and see it for what it actually is: a chapter in a much longer regional story.” Read his latest piece on what comes next, why a U.S.-Iran agreement will never hold, and why the conflict may well last another 20 years.
Mubin Shaikh used to target vulnerable young men online to recruit them into jihadist networks around the world. Then, he changed his mind, left the Taliban, and became one of the world’s leading deradicalization experts. Today, he joins Maya Sulkin to explain how a kid from Toronto ends up firing AK-47s with terrorists, and what it actually takes to bring North American jihadis back from the brink.
Just days before the premiere of the new season of reality dating show “Love Island,” one hopeful cast member was dismissed before the cameras even started rolling—because of old videos that show her saying racial slurs. But when did reality show fans turn into America’s HR department? For the fans, it was never about love, writes Kara Kennedy. “They just want to watch beautiful people fly too close to the sun.”
The World Cup starts this week and is hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Tyler Cowen makes the case for booking a flight south to catch a game. Tyler knows whereof he speaks: He’s written a book about Mexico and visited the country 33 times. He knows its history, its culture, its corruption, and its violence. He says that the things that make it great are the things that make it dangerous. Read his piece to understand why, and for his tips for staying safe while you’re there.
Catch Up on Great Americans
You already know Washington and Lincoln. This month, we’re bringing you tributes to some of our other favorite Americans. Catch up on a few of our latest and greatest ones: Major Garrett on novelist John Steinbeck; Joseph Epstein on Sandy Koufax; Will Rahn on Jack and Bobby Kennedy. And later today, keep an eye out for our latest entry, which is something a little different from Colleen Shogan, former U.S. archivist: a tribute not to a single compatriot, but to a heroic group of great Americans—the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001.
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
THE NEWS
The U.S. struck Iran on Tuesday after President Trump said the Islamic Republic shot down an American Apache helicopter that was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz the day before. “There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured,” Trump said on social media. “Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
NASA announced the names of the four astronauts who will take part in the Artemis III mission to space next year. The crew will be made up of Commander Randy “Komrade” Bresnik; pilot Luca Parmitano; mission specialist Frank Rubio; and mission specialist Andre Douglas. The U.S. hopes to return humans to the moon in 2028.
A report by the Social Security’s Board of Trustees says the program is on track to be insolvent by the end of 2032. On Tuesday, the Social Security Administration said it would slash benefits by 22 percent in the event of insolvency.
Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old accused of killing his parents, director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, is attempting to get part of his inheritance to pay for legal fees. “Like anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and he is entitled to mount his defense with the resources that are lawfully his own,” his lawyers said in a petition filed on Monday in Los Angeles.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping with two days of elaborate celebrations this week, indicating that Pyongyang still sees Beijing—not Moscow—as its primary ally.
In primaries on Tuesday, Maine Democratic voters are expected to nominate embattled candidate Graham Platner to take on longtime GOP senator Susan Collins in the fall. Meanwhile in South Carolina, Trump-backed gubernatorial hopeful Pamela Everette is facing a crowded Republican primary that also features Rep. Nancy Mace, among others.
Lesley Groff, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistants, told a House committee Tuesday morning that she had no knowledge of her late boss’s crimes. (For more on Groff, read Tanya Lukyanova’s deep dive into how Groff escaped unscathed from the Epstein scandal.)
The would be beheader in Northern Ireland has been named Hadi Alodid, 30. He has also been charged with making threats to kill an unnamed radiographer on the same day (after he was arrested) as he was taken for medical examination.
I suspect it will turn out that Alodid who doesn't work and speaks Arabic, not English has severe mental health issues. The Times reported last Sunday that 90% of people who did this sort of thing were known to the NHS and/or the police. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/mentally-ill-killers-known-to-nhs-police-calocane-v3w95szv7 or https://archive.ph/ga7qV
Given what the Nottingham enquiry uncovered, it would be interesting to know if the NHS NI Mental Health services prioritized stats over psychosis.
Something like 93% of Sudanese claims for asylum are accepted because of the violent civil war. He had the legal right to remain and was entitled to free care on the NHS btw. Fine but they need to provide the mental health service for the psychotics then.
There were riots in Belfast last night btw. The idiots burnt out innocent people, including a Ukrainian family. Even Gerry Adams (leader of Sinn Fein during the Troubles) condemned the riots. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/latest-news-sudanese-man-court-belfast-stabbing-riot-60rzdtqwk
Platner's win: "It’s a remarkable result given the scandals that have plagued his campaign." Not really given that a) he essentially ran unopposed and b) Democrats are degenerate racists who always go for the most base, deviant candidate possible. I am not surprised in the least.