It’s Thursday, July 9. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Eli Lake on Graham Platner’s attempt to make himself a martyr. Inside the 2028 Republican shadow primary. The immigration hard-liners suing the Trump administration over deportations. And much more.
But first: The war with Iran is officially back on.
At the NATO summit in Turkey yesterday, President Donald Trump declared the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran dead. Iran attacked three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, triggering a wave of U.S. strikes that continued into Wednesday. Trump reimposed the naval blockade and said he wasn’t sure he wanted a deal at all. “We can play games,” he told reporters, “but I’m not sure I want to make a deal. Let’s just finish the job.”
So where do we go from here? Aaron MacLean argues that the administration’s original sin was failing to anticipate Iran’s most obvious countermove: closing the Strait of Hormuz. The ceasefire agreed upon three weeks ago was built on self-deception, with the United States claiming that the MOU required Iran to open the strait when its text said nothing of the sort. Now, with the agreement dead and strikes resuming, Trump faces four choices. Read Aaron on what those options are, and why only one of them offers a real way out.
Meanwhile, as millions gather in Iranian cities to mourn the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad has been hearing a very different story from people inside the country. What the Islamic Republic is staging as a display of strength, she argues, is instead a performance. Read Masih on what’s really happening on the ground.
—The Editors
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Graham Platner Is Not Going Quietly |
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Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner suspended his campaign last night, but his statement wasn’t an apology. Instead, Platner denied the rape allegation made against him and characterized himself as a populist martyr ousted by the Democratic establishment. He may have lost his shot at the Senate, but as Eli Lake writes, “he may have won something even more valuable: an origin story.” Don’t miss Eli’s column on the biggest story in politics this week. | |
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The GOP Shadow Primary Is Already Underway |
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Forget the midterms for a moment: The 2028 Republican presidential race is already underway—and the list of contenders include names other than Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Robert Costa reports on the “shadow primary” of GOP outsiders positioning themselves for the race—and whether there’s a lane for a nominee outside of Trump’s orbit. | |
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Immigration Hawks Are Suing Trump’s DHS for Transparency on Deportation Numbers |
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Whatever happened to Trump’s campaign of “mass deportations”? Some of the president’s former immigration allies think the official numbers are bogus, and now they’re suing the administration for transparency. Audrey Fahlberg reports that the conservative Oversight Project has filed federal complaints demanding that the Department of Homeland Security release a more complete record of its deportations. The Trump administration claims it has deported more than three million illegal aliens, but what’s the true number? | |
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