It’s Tuesday, July 15. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Christopher Rufo on how to stop universities’ serial abuse of American taxpayers. Chris Cuomo refuses to drop out. What dead birds have to do with the death of Europe. And much more.

But first: Crypto legislation could deliver a new era of financial freedom.

The price of Bitcoin keeps hitting one record high after another—topping $120,000 on Monday—but the price isn’t what makes this a momentous week in the history of crypto. The big news is that Congress is on the verge of passing broad legislation that deals exclusively with crypto. Even more remarkable is that the federal government is looking for ways to support, not outlaw, the technology.

The invention of Bitcoin in 2009 gave birth to a new era of financial freedom in this country. But its libertarian ethos has often been overshadowed by what seems like a never-ending cycle of booms and busts, scandals and arrests, and crypto heroes and villains. President Trump’s political foes love pointing out that his zeal for crypto coincides with his family’s deepening involvement in the industry.

Yet cryptocurrency is an issue on which Trump has governed exactly as he said he would, writes Max Raskin, who has been involved with cryptocurrencies since 2010. The three pieces of legislation that Congress is expected to pass aren’t perfect, but they will allow the market to begin building a structure around the core idea of money belonging to the individual and not the state.

Some people will never stop seeing cryptocurrency as a quirky fad, like Beanie Babies or a glorified Ponzi scheme. But for the 65 million Americans who own crypto, its political and economic legitimacy is arriving at last.

—The Editors

America’s Real ‘Liberation Day’ Is Finally Here Max Raskin Read full story

The Polls Scream Mamdani, But Cuomo Won’t Quit

Olivia Reingold

“If the election were tomorrow, he’d run away with it.” That’s how one billionaire summed up Mamdani’s lead just hours after Cuomo announced he’s staying in the race for New York City mayor. In her latest dispatch from the campaign trail, Olivia Reingold unpacks the new polling and a surprising shift among big-money donors—some of whom are quietly abandoning the former governor for his rivals. Read full story

What Dead Birds Have to Do with the End of Europe

Josephine de La Bruyère

Across Europe, plunging birth rates and brain drain are fueling a demographic unraveling. In Italy’s rural towns, dying traditions like taxidermy signal a deeper collapse—of livelihoods, identities, and ways of life. “All the traditional activities which are carried out outside of cities have profoundly changed in the course of the last decades, if they haven’t already disappeared,” one Italian politician told our Italy correspondent Josephine de La Bruyère. Now, locals wonder: What will vanish next? And is anyone even watching? Read full story

How to Save Higher Ed—And End the Serial Abuse of American Taxpayers

Christopher F. Rufo

Since taking office, Trump has gone to war with elite universities—cutting funding and calling out their failures. In return, universities have pushed back. But behind the noise, there’s quiet agreement: Something is broken in academia. In this open letter, Christopher Rufo urges Trump to seize the moment—to draft a new contract with American universities, one that restores truth, merit, and the pursuit of knowledge at all costs. Read full story

It’s a Fascist! It’s a Communist! No, It’s Superman!

Will Rahn

The press tour for the new Superman reboot went exactly as you’d expect: James Gunn said the hero was an immigrant. Then the White House suggested Trump was the real Superman, and Gavin Newsom fired back: Superman was not only an immigrant but “an undocumented one.” Never mind the culture warriors, writes Will Rahn—the genius of 2025’s Superman is that its “politics don’t cohere and don’t need to.” He’s whatever you want him to be—“woke, rightist, centrist, patriotic, apolitical—what you see is a reflection of yourself, your own beliefs about the world.” Read full story

Why Young People Are Voting to Burn It All Down

How did 62 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 come to hold a “favorable view” of socialism? And is Zohran Mamdani the left’s answer to Trump? Free Press columnist Tyler Cowen and Gen Z economics guru Kyla Scanlon break down the viral populism reshaping the future of the American left.