The Trump Voter Taking On ICE. Michael Dell on His $6B Gift to America’s Kids. Plus. . .

It’s Wednesday, December 3. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Michael Dell explains why he just gave $250 to 25 million American kids. Eli Lake on Steve Witkoff’s plan for peace through profit. Announcing Abigail Shrier’s new column. And much more.

But first: She voted for Trump; now she’s protecting her neighbors from ICE.

When I met Aleah Arundale outside her home in Chicago a few weeks ago, she greeted me dressed in a sequined American flag skirt and a sweatshirt with “USA” printed on the front.

Arundale is the type of person who is hard to fit in a box. She’s loud and boisterous, and not just in her fashion choices. She’ll tell you she voted for Donald Trump in the last election because she felt the left had gone too far on social issues impacting her two young kids. She’ll also tell you she agreed with Trump’s pledge to shut down the border and stop the flow of illegal migrants coming into America.

But even as immigration has become perhaps the most charged issue in our politics over the last decade, Arundale has dedicated the last three years of her life to assisting Venezuelan migrant families settle in Chicago—helping them file for asylum, get out of the shelters, find work, food, schooling, and anything else they may need to begin building a life in America. And now, as the Trump administration has brought its crackdown on illegal immigration to her hometown, Arundale is fighting for the people who became her friends but are now being rounded up, detained, and deported.

She calls their treatment “America’s broken promise.”

After my colleague Tanya Lukyanova and I reported on Arundale and her neighbors, we came back to the newsroom with a surprising tale about the people on the front lines of maybe the most contentious fight in America right now. Watch our short documentary, and read our story on the woman who says “you can love this country and still try to make it better.” —Frannie Block

Michael Dell: Why I’m Giving $6 Billion to America’s Kids

Yesterday tech entrepreneur Michael Dell announced he and his wife Susan were putting $250 into savings accounts for 25 million American children. At the White House, Donald Trump called the pledge, which will cost more than $6 billion, “one of the most generous acts in the history of our country.” Writing in The Free Press, Dell explains why he made the donation. “I know firsthand what a financial foundation can do,” he writes. “I started my company with just $1,000.” Read the full account of his extraordinary donation in our pages,

Dell’s gift is designed to complement a new federal initiative—“Trump Accounts”—that gives children $1,000 when they are born. The idea is for Americans to build savings as they grow. But are there unintended consequences to the policy? Veteran economic journalist Peter Coy dives into the pros and cons of the government giving babies money.

Instagram Teen Accounts default teens into automatic protections for who can contact them and the content they can see.

Learn more.

The American Economic Association banned former Harvard president Larry Summers for life. (Mandel Ngan via AFP)

• In Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District, Trump-endorsed Republican Matt Van Epps beat progressive Democrat Aftyn Behn by 8 points. Trump won the district by 22 points last year, and Democrats believe the narrower than usual margin could be an early bellwether for next year’s midterm elections.

• In the wake of last week’s shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration is weighing an expansion of its travel ban from 19 to roughly 30 countries.

• The American Economic Association is banning professor and former Harvard president Lawrence Summers for life, following his resignation from the society. The move comes after emails were released last month showing years of correspondence between Summers and Jeffrey Epstein.

• At Stanford, nearly 40 percent of undergraduates this year are registered as disabled. More than 20 percent at Harvard and Brown are as well. The increase is driven by more students receiving diagnoses for conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. These are all conditions that give students extra time in exams.

• The Justice Department is weighing whether to seek new indictments against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after a federal judge threw out both cases last week. Comey and James are among the political adversaries President Trump had urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute in September.

• Sabrina Carpenter condemned the White House for using her song “Juno” to soundtrack a video of ICE raids, calling it “evil and disgusting” and writing “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.” Her criticism joins a wave of artists objecting to the Trump administration repurposing their music to put a lighthearted gloss on an escalating immigration crackdown.

• Beginning February 1, 2026, air travelers without a REAL ID will have to pay a $45 fee, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday. The fee will cover travel for a 10-day period and is aimed at encouraging travelers to obtain identification that meets stricter federal standards.