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| By The Free Press |
It’s Thursday, July 17. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Cuomo and Adams set up Mamdani for an easy win in NYC; the weird thing about Trump’s SCOTUS winning streak; should your spouse tie your shoes?; and more.
But first: MAGA’s Epstein meltdown.
President Donald Trump continues to rail about what he’s now dubbed “the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” saying his “PAST supporters” have been duped by Democrats into believing that he’s hiding files related to the late New York financier and sex trafficker. “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats [sic] work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” he posted to Truth Social on Wednesday.
Those weaklings apparently include MAGA stalwart Tucker Carlson, who is hosting would-be historian Darryl Cooper on his program tonight for an Epstein special. It’s exceptionally unlikely Cooper has any insight here; a far-right influencer, he’s best known for arguing that Adolf Hitler wasn’t such a bad guy.
We’re not holding our breath, but one thing is clear: 10 days after the FBI and the Justice Department said there was nothing more to the Epstein case, MAGA’s all-out war over the issue shows no sign of slowing.
Today at The Free Press, we take a close look at both Epstein and how his ghost continues to haunt the president and his movement.
First off, Park MacDougald on how the split over Epstein has become the first sustained political crisis of Trump’s second term. But why is it this issue tearing Trump’s political coalition asunder—and why now?
Meanwhile, Freddie deBoer weighs in on why we’re so focused on Epstein. Yes, he argues, there might still be more to uncover, and the world might be much better off without him. But we also have to talk about the truth the scandal obscures: the horrific commonness of child sex abuse, and the many victims and predators who go ignored.
Next up, Daniel Bates—a reporter who has covered the Epstein scandal since 2011—takes a look at what we really know about the con man, his crimes, and his many victims.
And finally, Michael Lind takes a wider angle on the split between Trump and MAGA, and whether the president is really as at odds with his base as it seems.
Some conspiracy theories never die. In rare cases, that’s because the conspiracies are very real. Perhaps we’ll never know the full truth about Jeffrey Epstein. But this is everything we know today.
—The Editors
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On Breaking History: Iran
Restless Nation: The Making of Modern Iran (Part 1) The Free Press |
On the latest episode of Breaking History, Eli Lake dives into the paradox at the heart of Iranian history: how a country that has revolted time and again alway