It’s Thursday, February 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: Suzy Weiss on how Olympic hockey was hijacked. Bethany McLean on how a blog post spooked markets. Rod Dreher on Jesse Jackson’s true legacy. Yuval Levin asks if Trump has run out of ideas. Plus: Why The Brothers Karamazov is the perfect book for Lent.
But first: Epstein’s world, through the eyes of law enforcement.
It’s been a month since the release of the latest—and, according to the Department of Justice, final—tranche of Epstein files. Yet the fallout shows no sign of slowing. In the past day alone, Larry Summers resigned from Harvard over his association with Jeffrey Epstein, and Bill Gates apologized to staff at his foundation about the time he spent with Epstein.
Today, The Free Press is publishing a new set of videos that are buried deep in the government’s trove of data. Earlier this month, we published 14 hours of footage seized from Epstein’s electronic devices. Today’s release contains 12 hours of footage gathered during more than a decade of efforts by law enforcement to investigate Epstein. Tanya Lukyanova scoured the files and found footage of police searching Epstein’s mansion, clips from depositions, and even covert footage of an FBI sting operation to retrieve his infamous “little black book.” These videos show Epstein’s life from the viewpoint of people who tried to bring him to justice—down to the jail in which he died. Watch them here:
—The Editors
The Doomsday Trade |
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A viral essay that envisioned a world where rapid AI adoption leads to economic collapse caused stocks to lose $700 billion in value on Monday. How did a blog post spook markets? Bethany McLean answers that question in her piece for us today. Read her analysis of why the market’s “animal spirits” can’t decide whether AI means human salvation, human replacement, a bubble ready to burst, or all of the above. | | |
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Donald Trump’s State of Exhaustion |
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President Trump spent much of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night patting himself on the back—but barely made an attempt to propose ambitious policies or set new goals, writes Yuval Levin. “It wasn’t the rhetoric of a president eager to govern,” he writes. Read his take on why the Trump administration seems like it may be reaching the point of exhaustion. | | |
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Leave Our Hockey Heroes Alone |
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Why can’t we just celebrate a gold medal? After the U.S. men’s hockey team clinched its victory against Canada, the triumph was soon swallowed by political crossfire. From locker room antics to White House invitations, Suzy Weiss argues that both supporters and detractors are guilty of ruining a “sweet and pure” win by forcing athletes to serve as political symbols. | | |
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Jesse Jackson: Godfather of the Great Awokening |
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Jesse Jackson, who died last week, ran for president twice and became a Democratic Party power broker, but his most durable legacy is as the Godfather of the Great Awokening, argues Rod Dreher. He says Jackson brought identity politics from the streets to corporate boardrooms and university administrations, and argues we are still living with the consequences. | | |
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‘The Brothers Karamazov’ Helped Inspire the Catholic App Hallow |
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"The Brothers Karamazov" is the perfect book for Lent. That’s according to Alex Jones, founder of the prayer app Hallow. In this conversation with Shilo, Alex explains why—and shares how he built the software that is bringing millions of lapsed Catholics back to daily prayer. | | |
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