It’s Thursday, January 8. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Marty Makary, Ezekiel Emanuel, and others on to the new food pyramid. Olivia Reingold on Mayor Mamdani’s wild first week. Ken Rogoff on the Donroe Doctrine. Tyler Cowen on why, and how, the U.S. should acquire Greenland. “Middlemarch changed my life.” And much more.
But first: A shooting in Minneapolis—and our politicians’ irresponsible reaction.
On Wednesday morning in Minneapolis, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who had intentionally blocked a group of officers.
Almost the instant this awful news broke, two sharply different narratives didn’t just take hold—but were actively pushed by politicians on both sides of the aisle. To the Trump administration the story was clear: a “domestic terrorist” had been taken out by an ICE agent acting in self-defense. Democratic politicians, meanwhile, labeled it “murder,” the mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to “get the fuck out” of Minneapolis, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz blamed the administration’s “dangerous, sensationalized operations.”
After video of the incident became available, the parallel rushes to judgment only accelerated. Almost entirely absent in the hours after the shooting was the kind of restraint and responsibility that public officials used to show in combustible situations such as this. That’s the subject of our editorial. Read it here:
The Trump administration flipped the food pyramid upside down on Wednesday with the announcement of new dietary guidelines. The news is a huge moment for MAHA, the campaign to Make America Healthy Again, as it casts aside old ways and entrenched interests that proponents blame for allowing America to get sicker and sicker.
But is the new advice any good?
Marty Makary, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and his deputy Kyle Diamantas, lay out the case for the new pyramid in an essay for The Free Press. Read their argument that they have officially ended the era of bad dietary advice from the government:
But what do the outside experts think? We asked Ezekiel Emanuel, Lucy McBride, Vani Hari, and Nina Teicholz for their takes. Here’s what they told us:
It’s been a week since Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor, and he isn’t exactly off to a quiet start in Gracie Mansion. “It took just three hours after his inauguration last Thursday for my phone to start ringing with objections from City Hall staffers shocked by the conduct of their new boss,” writes Olivia Reingold. Read her report on the mayor’s opening moves.
After decades of ignoring South America, President Trump has suddenly turned the United States’ attention southward, starting with Venezuela. Trump says the move is in America’s national interest. But what about the region itself? Kenneth Rogoff examines whether the “Donroe Doctrine” will leave South America better off.
To many, the idea of the U.S. acquiring Greenland is the height of Trumpian insanity. Not so fast, says Tyler Cowen, who understands the president’s interest in the territory but says his strategy is all wrong. Read Tyler’s latest on how Greenland could eventually become the next Puerto Rico, and what it will take to get there.
On Old School: Why Middlemarch Changed This Catholic Priest’s Life
In today’s episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with Dominican friar Father Jonah Teller to discuss what makes George Eliot’s masterpiece worth reading. In a wide-ranging conversation, the two discuss Eliot’s conviction that one small, virtuous life can change the world—plus the political upheaval around reform, the promises and limits of scientific progress, and so much more. Listen to their conversation wherever you get your podcasts, or by clicking the play button below.
U.S. forces captured a tanker flying the Russian flag that had escaped the naval blockade around Venezuela. The U.S. mission succeeded without any Russian interference, but will likely raise tensions between the two nations.
Energy secretary Chris Wright announced Wednesday that the U.S. plans to control Venezuelan oil sales “indefinitely.” “We need to have that leverage and that control of those oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela,” Wright said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that President Trump plans to buy Greenland, rather than taking control of the Arctic nation through military action. Rubio’s clarification came shortly after President Trump signaled increased interest in seizing Greenland last weekend.
The man identified as the shooter at Brown University left behind multiple videos before killing himself inside a storage unit last month. The Department of Justice said that the videos reveal he had planned the attack for years, but do not reveal a motive.
A Texas teachers union filed a lawsuit against the state’s department of education on Tuesday, alleging that officials engaged in a “wave of retaliation” against public school teachers who posted on social media about Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September. “It was in fact a witch hunt,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it plans to withhold social safety net funds from five Democratic-led states over fraud concerns. The decision is the latest in a sweeping crackdown following the Minnesota fraud scandal.
Britain and France pledged to send troops into Ukraine if it reaches a peace deal with Russia. The commitment came after delegations from 35 countries gathered in Paris for another round of peace talks on Tuesday, and signals an increasing global effort to end the conflict.
Nick Reiner’s arraignment, originally set for Wednesday, was delayed until February after his lawyer abruptly withdrew from the case. Reiner had been represented by Alan Jackson, who previously defended Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein; he will now receive a public defender. (For more on the case, read Jonathan Rosen’s essay: “The Reiners’ Tragedy Without End.”)
There’s a whole lot of arms being worn out on those chairs.
I don’t know why anybody is in any doubt about who’s at fault… quite obviously it’s Israel