It’s Wednesday, July 2. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Jed Rubenfeld on whether the Supreme Court is doing its job; Tyler Cowen on how to vacation properly; Jay Solomon on the darkest hour for the Iranian opposition; Zohran Mamdani’s bad math; and much more.
But first: reasons to be cheerful.
Yesterday, Zohran Mamdani officially triumphed in the Democratic primary in New York City’s mayoral race. The self-described socialist won handily, with 56 percent of the vote in the third round of the ranked-choice vote. Mamdani is something extraordinary: a front-runner to be mayor of New York City who said four years ago his goal is “seizing the means of production” and who defends the slogan “globalize the intifada.”
Viewed from one angle, the rise of a politician with this kind of revolutionary intent is almost unprecedented. Viewed from another, it is a lot less surprising. We live in a populist era, and Mamdani is a left-wing populist who, just like right-wing populist Donald Trump, is thriving in that era.
Writing in The Free Press today, Michael Strain and Clifford Asness argue that left-wing and right-wing populists have a few things in common: They pit “the people” against “the elites”; their worldviews are built on imaginary grievances; and they want more government control of society and the economy. Underpinning all of this, they write, is a unifying idea: “That the average American has it terrible these days.”
That’s wrong, they argue. Cliff and Michael come armed with data to argue that things aren’t nearly as bad as either end of the political horseshoe, whether MAGA or Mamdani, would have you believe.
—Oliver Wiseman
Self-described “travel addict” Tyler Cowen spends on average 160 days on the road per year. He’s traveled to more than 100 countries (including Haiti five times), lived in a tiny Mexican village, and once got caught in a gunfight in Rio. Along the way, he’s picked up one or two tips on how to vacation right.
In the aftermath of a devastating campaign against Iran’s nuclear sites and military facilities, the Iranian regime has turned its eyes away from Israel and the U.S., and toward its own opposition faction. The Iranian government has already arrested hundreds of political opponents—and the worst is yet to come. Jay Solomon reports.
The Supreme Court has just ended its term for 2024-2025. Many expected the court to fold to Trump this year. There was no shortage of contentious decisions, from upholding state bans on gender-affirming care for minors to ruling against “nationwide injunctions” blocking the president’s agenda. These rulings caused some predictable hair-tearing from the left. But was the court dogmatically pro-Trump? Free Press legal columnist Jed Rubenfeld reviews the evidence.
The Senate approved Trump’s multitrillion dollar spending bill in a 50-50 vote Tuesday, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The bill—which introduces sweeping policy changes, cuts trillions of dollars of taxes, and reduces spending on Medicaid—now goes to the House. The president was whipping votes on Truth Social. “To my GOP friends in the House: Stay UNITED, have fun, and Vote ‘YAY.’ GOD BLESS YOU ALL!” Trump wrote.
The Big Beautiful Bill has reignited the row between Trump and former first buddy Elon Musk. Musk said Monday that, with Republicans supporting a bill that raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, it is “time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.” Trump, when asked about Musk’s critiques, signaled he was open to deporting him, saying that “we might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”
California has rolled back the California Environmental Quality Act, a law that many had criticized for severely slowing housing growth and new construction in the state. The overhaul—which had rare bipartisan support—signaled a shift away from the environmental regulation and an attempt to tackle the high housing costs the state has become infamous for.
The U.S. Department of Justice has moved to prioritize stripping naturalized citizens of their citizenship if they commit certain crimes. The memo gives prosecutors wide latitude to pursue denaturalization against criminals, especially in the case of “naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the United States.”
New satellite imagery revealed that Iran has built a new road to, and moved construction equipment into, its Fordow nuclear site, less than two weeks after the U.S. dropped bunker busting bombs on the facility. The site, where Iran enriched uranium deep underneath the surface of a mountain range, is likely being examined for damage by Iranian officials.
Iran-linked hackers threatened to release another trove of emails stolen from Trump officials, including from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. The hackers had previously published emails during the last months of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the threat constituted “an unconscionable cyberattack” and was being investigated by the FBI.
In a concession to the Trump administration, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from female sports teams, restore the records of female athletes who lost to trans swimmer Lia Thomas, and strip Thomas of her titles. The move, which followed Trump’s threats of cutting federal funding in response to UPenn’s alleged Title IX violations, will also include a formal apology for the school’s previous policy on trans competitors in female sports. Read Suzy Weiss’s 2022 story for The Free Press: “Watching Lia Thomas Swim.”
The victory by Mamdani offers lessons to the Democratic Party in terms of how to campaign, and the value of real and meaningful goals rather than vaporous ideology. However it's not good news if he wins because he apparently regards the private sector as a milch cow to support his initiatives. That suggests that under his leadership New York would likely go into financial crisis - as has typified social Democratic regimes except pre-1980s Nordic nations.
Although FDR was not a socialist, the exigencies of the Great Depression and leftist advisors moved him to overwhelming emphasis on government initiatives. They were efficiently run and did much good, but consumed much of the nation's GDP. FDR maintained antagonistic relations with industry that provided most of societal income and jobs. As a result, the nation remained in depression until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. At that point FDR and industry dropped hostilities, and the president of GM was placed in charge of the war productiodn effort. The nation experienced the greatest surge in GDP in history - over 40% in three years.
Mamdani has shown no sensitivity to this history.
Can we get a decent breakdown of this bill everyone is screaming about? I need an honest assessment of what is in it.