It’s Tuesday, July 1. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Why a dead diplomat is the woman of the moment; understanding the ‘Trump Doctrine’; how Iranian missiles set back cancer research; and much more.
But first: the president’s remarkable winning streak.
Love him or loathe him, you have to admit: It’s good to be President Trump right now. His massive “Big Beautiful Bill” is careening through Congress and is set to land on his desk before July 4. NATO nations, after years of Trump’s prodding and threats, have finally agreed to spend more on defense; the alliance’s secretary-general is even going so far as to call him “daddy,” which Trump seems to enjoy even as it makes the rest of us uncomfortable. And his bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities did significant damage without a single American casualty.
The wins are piling up, both at home and abroad, from a little-noticed peace deal in Africa to the Supreme Court nixing the “nationwide injunctions" Trump kept tripping over. But Trump and his Republican allies should remember that there’s no such thing as a permanent victory in politics. They can coast along on the good news for now, but there are plenty of storm clouds on the horizon.
So how long can Trump’s good luck last? Read Matthew Continetti on his impressive string of recent accomplishments and the many pitfalls waiting for him on the other end.
—Will Rahn
Was She the Greatest Kingmaker of the 20th Century? |
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Pamela Harriman was one of the most cunning operators of the 20th century—though most remember her for the powerful men she slept with. But behind her sultry veneer was a razor-sharp wit and a ruthless instinct for power. “Pamela’s sexual frolics were not the racy rumbles of a good-time girl who loved the high life,” writes Tina Brown. “It was war work, in which Pamela was something of a milky-skinned Madame X, learning U.S. intelligence from her lovers that she brought back to Churchill.” | | |
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I Helped AOC Win. I Understand the Fantasy Zohran Is Selling. |
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Our social media editor Lucy Biggers was once smitten with charming socialist candidates. Now she’s sounding the alarm for young people who are thrilled about socialism but blissfully unaware of its costs. “Hopefully, these young New Yorkers don’t have to live through the downturn of New York City to learn the hard way that socialism never works,” Lucy writes. “Just spend time at the DMV and tell me if you want a government-run grocery store.” | | |
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At the Symbol of Israeli Science, a Cost Too Vast to Calculate |
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On the third day of the Israel-Iran war, two ballistic missiles from Iran destroyed the campus of one of Israel’s top research facilities, the Weizmann Institute of Science, leveling buildings and causing between $300 and $500 million in damages. But how do you put a price on lost discoveries? The strike obliterated years of scientific progress—destroying not just data and equipment, but irreplaceable organic specimens, including human tissue that required meticulous preservation. “For scientists, this is what is truly valuable, because if it’s lost it can never be replaced,” one researcher from the facility said. | | |
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The Iran Strikes and the Trump Doctrine |
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Is Trump an isolationist or an internationalist? He’s neither, argues Yoram Hazony, but rather a secret third thing: a nationalist. According to Hazony, the president’s foreign policy comes down to two ideas: America’s job is to protect its own interests—not police the world—and the only allies worth keeping are those who can become regional powers capable of defending themselves. | | |
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