It’s Monday, January 26. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Mike Solana talks to the superrich Californians fleeing the Golden State. Joe Nocera on the problem with Donald Trump’s credit-card plan. The shaky foundations of sanctuary cities. Rabbi David Wolpe on Conversations with Coleman. And much more.
But first: The killing of Alex Pretti.
On Saturday morning, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. It was the second such incident in the city this month, and soon afterward, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem gave a press conference to explain what happened.
Noem said Pretti had been “brandishing” his weapon and suggested he was a “domestic terrorist.” According to a post on the DHS’s X account, Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the dead man an “assassin.”
Then the eyewitness videos came out—and told a very different story.
Our editorial today is on the information war that followed the killing of Alex Pretti, and the way in which the Trump administration is taking the American people for fools.
—The Editors
Superrich Californians have been preoccupied by one thing lately: a ballot proposal that seeks to institute a massive one-off “wealth tax.” Mike Solana spoke to 21 billionaires about the proposal, what they stand to lose, and why almost all of them are planning to leave.
David Wolpe, one of the most influential rabbis in America, thinks liberal religion is in decline. In the latest episode of Conversations with Coleman, he talks to Coleman Hughes about that trend—and why it’s such a problem. Listen to their conversation for more on the challenge modernity poses to faith as well as what he saw on Harvard’s campus after October 7 and more.
Trump has proposed a one-year cap of 10 percent on credit-card interest rates to address the affordability crisis, an idea Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren also support. But such a move ignores the economics of credit cards, writes Joe Nocera. Instead of charging consumers less, banks will simply abandon those seen at risk of defaulting. In other words, most Americans would lose their cards.
Last week, Niall Ferguson wrote in these pages that “Trump won Davos, hands down.” But countless commentators and academics rushed to condemn the president’s treatment of our European allies. Today, Niall follows up on his piece by asking why Trump’s full-time haters are incapable of considering the possibility that, like any U.S. administration, this one might get some things wrong and some things right.
The winter storm that hit more than half the U.S. population over the weekend has killed two people in Louisiana and six in New York City. Ahead of the storm, New York governor Kathy Hochul refused federal assistance, writing that “the fastest way to help is for ICE to back off.”
In recordings obtained by Axios, Texas senator Ted Cruz torched President Trump’s tariff policy during private donor meetings, warning that the tariffs would cost Republicans the midterm elections. Cruz also portrayed Vice President J.D. Vance as a “protégé” of Tucker Carlson and accused Vance of pushing Carlson’s anti-interventionist foreign policy. (Read Peter Savodnik’s profile of Cruz here.)
China placed Zhang Youxia, its highest-ranking military official below President Xi Jinping, under investigation for corruption and undermining Xi’s authority. The move is the latest in a series of military purges by Xi, and observers said it suggests that he wants to consolidate power and ensure complete loyalty.
President Trump said the U.S. used a new secret weapon he calls “The Discombobulator” to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Trump said the weapon “made [enemy] equipment not work,” adding that “they had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats would not vote for any spending bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security after the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis this weekend. Funding for more than three-quarters of the federal discretionary budget is set to expire on Friday.
President Trump said he would impose a 100 percent tariff on Canada if Prime Minister Mark Carney completes a trade deal with China. (A week ago, Trump said the deal would be “a good thing.”) Trump wrote on Truth Social: “If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken.”
A majority of Washington’s top lobbying firms reported revenue growth of at least 10 percent last year compared to 2024. Lobbyists say President Trump’s aggressive use of executive power and wide-ranging policy upheavals have supercharged K Street’s business, especially for firms with close administration ties.
The New England Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl in San Francisco in two weeks’ time. The Patriots’ AFC championship is the first since Tom Brady led them to a win in 2018. The Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2015.
Wait so Hochul rejected federal help with the impending snowmegeddon because the thing now for democrats is protecting illegal aliens who have committed criminal acts like child rape, vehicular homicide, human trafficking and drug trafficking, so in general the governor just decided that the people of NY State can go eff themselves in exchange for protecting really evil people. ....and she is proud of this yet too...she says she wants to stop the bleeding of people moving to Palm Beach, so people should just stay and let this moron govern their lives...
Democrats wont vote for a spending bill that includes DHS. Again, this is really the hill they plan to die on? American security can go to hell while they play politics? DHS is alot more than ICE. Funny how they seem to care about Pretti and Goode, but not the average American who has been the victim of a crime committed by Illegals. (Remember how the overwhelming majority refused to stand for the mother of a murder victim or even for that child who is fighting cancer? These are NOT good people.)
It still baffles me that the end all and be all for the democrats is protecting people who came here illegally. Instead of trying to pass comprehensive immigration reform they simply decide that its their thing to protect criminal illegal aliens - not the American People mind you....
Does anyone think its time to look into who is paying for the protests in Minneapolis? Why does the government in Minnesota think they dont have an obligation to keep the protests peaceful? What makes the average person think they can interfere with federal law enforcement of any kind? I am still asking the question why in Minneapolis and not in other cities. ICE is in cities throughout the country-both blue and red- both sanctuary and nonsanctuary cities- and there are no issues like what we see in Minneapolis. Why? What is different? There is something else going on in Minneapolis. Who is funding the protests in Minneapolis? Where is the money coming from? There is alot more going on here than meets the eye...
I guess the persona of Walz being the affable schmuck was just that a persona. He doesn't exactly come off as Mr. Football coach nice guy any more does he? But he does come off still as not exactly all that intelligent though, machiavellian maybe, but not all that bright. I still want to know what he knew about the Somali fraud and when he knew it. Same with Frey.
If you are upset on principle - as people online are claiming - but you weren’t sad about the 7 civilian deaths due to Jan 6, it’s not principle. Both situations were hysterical, emotionally fraught situations with a bunch of overwrought civilians. Both situations were conjured up by their own party’s reckless use of hysteria and hyperbole. Both situations went beyond “nonviolent protest”. Both situations involved deaths that were stupid and avoidable.