It’s Tuesday, January 27. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Simon Sebag Montefiore and Suzane Lentzsch mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Sebastian Junger on how the Democrats lost men. Why did Xi fire his top general—and could the leader himself be next? Arthur Brooks on Brooklyn Beckham and the dangers of family estrangement. All that and more.

But first: Trump’s tactical retreat.

In the first 24 hours after the killing of Alex Pretti by border patrol agents in Minneapolis, Trump administration officials were hyperbolic, inflammatory, and dishonest in their responses to the tragedy. On Monday, amid widespread outrage over the incident and the administration’s reaction, Trump struck a very different tone.

When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Monday about the characterization of Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” by Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, and others, Leavitt said she hadn’t heard the president describe Pretti that way. Trump, meanwhile, said he had “very good” conversations with Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey—who not long ago he accused of “inciting insurrection.” “We actually seem to be on the same wavelength,” Trump said of Walz.

In other signs of a climbdown, border patrol chief Greg Bovino has reportedly been demoted and will leave Minneapolis today. Border czar Tom Homan is being dispatched to Minneapolis. He has favored a deportation strategy focused on people who are criminals and national security threats, rather than the blunt approach agents have taken in the city so far.

Minneapolis remains at a boiling point, but yesterday, at least, the president seemed not to want to raise the temperature further.

Driving this change in direction is criticism from some of the places you usually expect to have unwavering support for the administration’s approach to deportations. Gabe Kaminsky has that story today. Read it here:

Meanwhile, Jed Rubenfeld untangles the legal and political questions at the heart of the Pretti case—and the tactics used by the Department of Homeland Security more generally. Read his latest column here:

—The Editors

Marking Holocaust Memorial Day: Elie Wiesel’s Doctor, and Simon Sebag Montefiore on the Use and Abuse of History

The last witnesses to the Holocaust are dying. As British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore writes today, that makes the war over the meaning of the Holocaust more important than ever. And yet, at this crucial moment, “Holocaust denial, distortion, inversion, and perversion, combined with an eliminationist antisemitism, have made a spectacular comeback.” Read his full essay on how to fight back against these abuses of history.

In a personal reflection, Suzanne Lentzsch recounts her unlikely relationship with Elie Wiesel, whom she treated as a doctor in New York. Raised in Germany in the shadow of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Lentzsch found herself caring for one of the most acclaimed chroniclers of the Nazis’ crimes. Read about their relationship:

How Democrats Lost Men

Sebastian Junger

How did the Democrats lose men? The answer, according to Sebastian Junger, is that the party stripped masculinity of honor, leaving young men ripe for the far right’s victimhood pitch. “Men almost never get access to public honor,” he writes, drawing on a harrowing moment he witnessed in Sierra Leone. Read Sebastian’s full essay on why a party decided to dismiss half the population, and what they need to do differently. Read full story

Will China’s Latest Purge Come for Xi Jinping?

Frannie Block and Tanner Nau

Xi Jinping’s top general was just purged. It was a stunning development that was followed by an equally stunning allegation: that he was leaking nuclear secrets to the United States. But how to make sense of this move at the top of China’s chain of command? Is this a cleanup operation, or the start of a deeper power struggle that could even put Xi at risk? Read full story

Arthur Brooks: Family Estrangement Is a Tragedy

Arthur Brooks

The schism in the Beckham family is a very public example of something that is all too common, writes Arthur Brooks in his latest column. More and more influencers and politicians are telling us to ditch our family members as an act of self-care. But family estrangement is a tragedy. Read Arthur’s column on the damage it can do. Read full story