It’s Thursday, December 18. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Richard Dawkins on P.G. Wodehouse. How Iranian women are defying the regime. Olivia Reingold on how Zohran Mamdani’s win has fractured Jewish families. Plus: Our new history newsletter, Abigail Shrier’s Tough Love, and much more.
But first: Which way, Democrats?
In a televised address from the White House last night, President Donald Trump made his case for why wavering supporters should stand behind him and the GOP ahead of next year’s midterms. And while most political prognosticators expect next November to be a bruising one for Republicans, the Democrats are a party with some internal fights to resolve before they take on the GOP. Today, we take a look at two Democratic primaries in deep-blue cities—and what they say about the divides on the American left.
First, Peter Savodnik reports from San Francisco on the fight to replace Nancy Pelosi. It’s a clash, he says, between “the Angry and Disaffected.” In the angry corner is Saikat Chakrabarti, a wealthy progressive activist and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff. He’s painting his main opponent, Scott Wiener, as a centrist member of the Democratic establishment. But this is San Francisco. The state senator and Pelosi loyalist is undoubtedly a progressive, and notorious on the right for his embrace of “gender-affirming care.” Read Peter’s dispatch on this West Coast clash between “staid progressivism” and the “new radicalism.”
Meanwhile, in New York City, I preview the Democratic primary in New York’s Twelfth district, located in the heart of Manhattan. Longtime congressman Jerry Nadler’s retirement has opened the door to the many ambitious Democrats who hope to replace him in Washington, including his heir apparent Micah Lasher and John Bouvier Kennedy “Jack” Schlossberg, JFK’s only grandson.
Schlossberg, 32, has made a name for himself with his wild social media antics, but will that be a benefit or a hindrance as he looks to land himself one of the most coveted seats in Congress?
—Will Rahn
Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory has fractured Jewish families across New York City, Olivia Reingold reports. Parents, many who view Mamdani as an antisemite and a threat to Jewish safety, were horrified to learn their children supported him. They wonder if they “failed” their kids, who were drawn to the mayor-elect’s socialist promises and anti-Israel postures. Read how the generational divide within American Jewry is playing out in New York City.
In Iran, the regime is retreating from its mandatory veil laws. Women aren’t just discarding their hijabs, writes Roya Hakakian. They are reviving a Persian tradition of democracy that dates back nearly 200 years. She explains why this quiet revolution is a signal that the government has already begun losing its ideological hold on the Iranian people.
A century after Billy Mitchell was court-martialed for sounding the alarm over the U.S. military falling behind its rivals, his warnings still seem eerily prescient. And in the second installment of our new history newsletter, historian Jonathan Horn revisits the prophet of air power and asks whether America is once again punishing foresight instead of preparing for the next war.
Get Jonathan’s fantastic newsletter on this week in American history delivered straight to your inbox:
The next installment of Tough Love with Abigail Shrier drops this afternoon! This week, Abigail answers a mother who really doesn’t want her 22-year-old daughter to get married. Sign up here to receive her column directly in your inbox.
On Old School with Shilo Brooks: The Funniest Writer in the English Language
Richard Dawkins is best known as a formidable evolutionary biologist and biting critic of organized religion. But when he wants a break from polemics and proofs, he turns to P.G. Wodehouse for a belly laugh. Wodehouse’s satire skewered British aristocrats, Hollywood phonies, and self-important moralists with surgical precision. In this episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with Dawkins to find out why the British humorist remains one of the sharpest writers in the English language.
Instagram Teen Accounts default teens into automatic protections for who can contact them and the content they can see.
As the manhunt for the Brown University shooter continues, FBI director Kash Patel has drawn fresh scrutiny for repeatedly publicizing premature or inaccurate investigative updates on social media, reviving concerns about his judgment, competence, and appetite for attention. Despite private criticism inside the Trump administration, Patel appears likely to remain in his post for now, even as his deputy Dan Bongino announced he will be leaving in January.
Moderate House Republicans joined Democrats to force a vote on extending ACA premium tax credits, dealing a blow to Speaker Mike Johnson as millions face higher premiums if the subsidies expire. Johnson insists he hasn’t lost control, but the move highlights growing GOP fractures heading into the midterms.
In an agreement with lawmakers, New York governor Kathy Hochul will sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act into law. Hochul reportedly got several safeguards she had pushed for during negotiations. The bill would allow people with six months or fewer to live to request a life-ending drug cocktail. (Read our report on the version of the bill passed by the state senate, and check out our Honestly debate on medically assisted suicide.)
Pope Leo XIV is expected to accept Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s resignation and appoint Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, as the next archbishop of New York as early as this week. Dolan, long seen as the most influential Catholic clergyman in North America, had sent the pope a mandatory retirement request in February as he turned 75. (Read Cardinal Dolan’s essay for The Free Press on “The Evils of Antisemitism.”)
The average American household is projected to spend nearly $1,000 on heating this winter, up over 9 percent from last year. The rising costs are due to higher electricity and natural gas prices coupled with unusually cold temperatures in some parts of the country.
In a closed-door hearing, former special counsel Jack Smith told the House Judiciary Committee that his team “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the 2020 election and that there was “powerful evidence” that Trump illegally mishandled classified documents.
President Trump said the cost of the new White House ballroom may reach $400 million, twice the initial $200 million estimate. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that construction could continue, denying a request from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to halt the project.
The Oscars will be exclusively broadcast on YouTube beginning in 2029, when the show’s current deal with ABC expires. The event will be free to watch live, with those behind the deal saying the move will promote reach and accessibility “through features such as closed captioning and audio tracks available in multiple languages.”
Hackers have accessed the email addresses, search histories, and viewing activities of Pornhub’s premium users. The hack was reportedly carried out by ShinyHunters, a group that is demanding a bitcoin ransom to prevent publication of the data.
The Free Press earns a commission from any purchases made through all book links in this article.
I have to ask—what extras do folks get for being premium members?
The Medical Aid in Dying Act getting through with those added safeguards is interesting. The six-month timeframe requirement creates this weird zone where prognosis accuracy really matters, and doctors arent always great at predicting terminal progression. I watched a family member go through similar decision-making in another state with comparable laws, and the psychological burden of that ticking clock was intense even with full family support. The debate around these laws often gets framed as autonomy vs ethics, but the practical implementation details, like mandatory waiting periods and psychiatric evaluations, end up mattering way more thanthe theoretical arguments.